July 6, 2021 The PTI government's outbursts on foreign policy issues stem from a lack of nuanced understanding of determining factors and drivers which underpin Pakistan's relations with the outside powers. It is more noticeable in the context of Pakistan-US relations. The latest pronouncements like "absolutely no" and "partner in peace and not in war" by Prime Minister Imran Khan are political rhetoric and a public snub to the US, not subtle diplomatic messaging, bordering arrogance which tends to hurt Pakistan's objectives in foreign policy, strategic orientation and its posture in international relations towards dealing with still the dominant superpower. They aim at only securing brownie points with his galleries. It is even more degrading to weaponise Pakistan-US bilaterals for public point-scoring when Washington has not even asked for bases as PM's NSA Moeed Yousuf clarified.