Rohanv's Xanga

Pakistani Objections

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:47:57 GMT

Well, things looked good, a bit weird, a bit strained, for a little while, but they looked good.

Kasab confessed. There was a joint-statement at Sharm al-Sheikh. Clinton came, spoke, signed and left.

Those things might have their problems, like what's Kasab's endgame? Why confess now? Or how badly written was that joint statement, and what was the point of suddenly plugging Balochistan into the mix after all these years? (Manasi Kakatkar actually has some pretty good points on why Singh might've agreed to this.) And there were plenty of repercussions to that Clinton visit, from the arguments over what should be done over climate change, to the signing of the End User Defense agreement, and the subsequent walkout of opposition in response.

But a new report in today's NYT, reminds us that ultimately, as far as Pakistan is concerned, we're still playing the same old game,

Pakistani officials have told the Obama administration that the Marines fighting the Taliban in southern Afghanistan will force militants across the border into Pakistan, with the potential to further inflame the troubled province of Baluchistan, according to Pakistani intelligence officials.

Pakistan does not have enough troops to deploy to Baluchistan to take on the Taliban without denuding its border with its archenemy, India, the officials said. Dialogue with the Taliban, not more fighting, is in Pakistan’s national interest, they said.

The report goes on to say that the Pakistani government will continue to consider India as it's top priority (security-wise, that is), whereas the Taliban could even be potential allies once the Americans leave Afghanistan.

They're actually saying this to Richard Holbrooke, the American special envoy to the region, at a crucial juncture when the US-led attack on the Helmand province is just beginning to show some early results. And this is the country that America is giving billions of dollars in aid to. Great.

Even as Obama administration officials praise the operations, they express frustration that Pakistan is failing to act against the full array of Islamic militants using the country as a base.

Instead, they say, Pakistani authorities have chosen to fight Pakistani Taliban who threaten their government, while ignoring Taliban and other militants fighting Americans in Afghanistan or terrorizing India.

Obviously, that's not news to the Americans, it's been true since the US started giving aid to Pakistan in the early years after the Cold War as a deterrent to the Soviets. But they are being more brazen about it, if these reports are to be believed, and also seem to be using it as a crutch at a time when the war-weary Pakistani public seems ready to get rid of the militants.

Do they really need that many troops on the Indian border? Yes, it is convenient to have them there rather than fighting a difficult, dangerous fight against militants and terrorists in other parts of the country, but do they also genuinely believe that a troop reduction on the border will have India capitalising on a situation, when it's to India's benefit that they fight the terrorists? It's hard to tell.

The real question is how the great aid-givers, will choose to react to this information out of the Pakistani government. The Obama administration has constantly stressed the Pakistan is the main front in the war (oh, sorry, Af-Pak), and there have been assurances in Congress that this time aid will be tied in to actual progress. It's time to see how much of that is actually true.

Posted via email from Rohan's posterous

Pakistan ‘created, nurtured’ terrorism: Zardari | Sindh Today - Online News

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 09:46:45 GMT

Check out this website I found at sindhtoday.net

This is a crucial admission and an important point in democratic Pakistani governance, if only because of it'll help build a national conversation about homegrown terrorists.

Zardari: “The terrorists of today were the heroes of yesteryear until 9/11 brought things into a new light,” Zardari said in what he called “a candid admission of the realities” in an interactive meeting with former bureaucrats Tuesday night at the presidency.

“Let us be truthful to ourselves and make a candid admission of the realities… Militancy and extremism emerged on the national scene and challenged the state not because the civil bureaucracy was weakened and demoralised, but because they were deliberately created and nurtured as a policy to achieve some short-term tactical objectives,” he said.

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Protest

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 10:08:02 GMT

It's been a while since I walked out of a movie. So long, in fact, that I can't remember when it last happened (although i'm fairly certain I've done it before.)

But now, Akki, Bebo and their annoyingly loud piece of trash (putting it rather lightly), Kambakkht Ishq has done it.

Warning: DO.NOT.WATCH.

Posted via email from Rohan's posterous

A free-lance prototype: multimedia and entrepreneurial

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:03:08 GMT

via ojr.org

Now this looks like the sort of thing I would want to do right out of college. Work as an international correspondent, wherever they send you, for just enough money that it costs you to travel and live there. Imagine that.

You have to free-lance, and be ready to live with the uncertainty that comes from that, but otherwise, I'm already somewhat of a multimedia journalist, and I'm prepared to go anywhere for pretty cheap, as long as the stories are interesting (and usually, if it's not London, Washington or New York, those cheap stories have to be interesting.

Posted via web from Rohan's posterous

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Create Your Own Thomas Friedman Op-Ed Column

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:23:38 GMT

via mcsweeneys.net

"Last week's events in [country in the news] were truly historic, although we may not know for years or even decades what their final meaning is. What's important, however, is that we focus on what these events mean [on the ground/in the street/to the citizens themselves]. The [media/current administration] seems too caught up in [worrying about/dissecting/spinning] the macro-level situation to pay attention to the important effects on daily life. Just call it missing the [desert for the sand/fields for the wheat/battle for the bullets]."

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A Photo Montage of USC Football - Conquest Chronicles

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:13:27 GMT

via conquestchronicles.com

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Pakistanis turn on Taliban, but resent U.S. -poll | Reuters

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:53:21 GMT

via reuters.com

* Opinion poll shows big swing against Pakistani Taliban

* Overwhelmingly negative views of U.S., Obama also seen

* Pakistanis express opposition to the war in Afghanistan

Some interesting news out of Pakistan, both good and bad.

The good bit, is obviously that public opinion, as far as this new poll conducted by WorldPublicOpinion.org shows that up to 81 percent of Pakistani people view Islamist militants and local Taliban as a critical threat to the country, up from 34 percent in 2007. That's a tremendous increase, if accurate. If coupled with the fact that the poll also shows widespread sympathy with the present government and support for the army, this could mean that Pakistan can now begin to really hit the Taliban and other radicals where it hurts, without worrying about alienating the public.

Meanwhile, the country that has given them billions of dollars and continues to promise plenty more, is still the target of widespread disdain (to say the least.) Pakistanis are still not fond of their American allies, but that doesn't matter as much, as long as they realise that the local militants are the ones that really matter and need to be beaten.

Posted via web from Rohan's posterous

Are humans cruel to be kind? - life - 16 May 2009 - New Scientist

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:11:24 GMT

via newscientist.com

Interesting experiment into our natural tendency to be cruel.

"Last year Karla Hoff, an economist at the World Bank who is currently working at Princeton University, and her colleagues reported the results of experiments conducted in villages in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (American Economic Review, vol 98, p 494). In these tests, two players started out with 50 rupees each. The first could choose to give his to the second, in which case the experimenters added a further 100 rupees, giving the second player 200 rupees in total. The second player could decide to keep the money for himself, or share it equally with the first player. A third player then entered the game, who could punish the second player - for each 2 rupees he was willing to spend, the second player was docked 10 rupees.

The results were startling. Even when the second player shared the money fairly, two-thirds of the time the newcomer decided to punish him anyway - a spiteful act with seemingly no altruistic payoff. "We asked one guy why," says Hoff. "He said he thought it was fun.""

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Secret Operational Capabilities

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 07:02:01 GMT

"It's the stuff of which military novels are written."

So says renowned journalist Bob Woodward (one of the dynamic Watergate duo), about some new secret American technique that they're using in their counter-terrorism effort.

From CBS, via The Acorn

Woodward reports, for the first time, that there is a secret behind the success of the surge: a sophisticated and lethal special operations program.
“This is very sensitive and very top secret, but there are secret operational capabilities that have been developed by the military to locate, target, and kill leaders of al Qaeda in Iraq, insurgent leaders, renegade militia leaders. That is one of the true breakthroughs,” Woodward told Pelley.
“But what are we talking about here? It’s some kind of surveillance? Some kind of targeted way of taking out just the people that you’re looking for? The leadership of the enemy?” Pelley asked.
“I’d love to go through the details, but I’m not going to,” Woodward replied.
…
“Do you mean to say that this special capability is such an advance in military technique and technology that it reminds you of the advent of the tank and the airplane?” Pelley asked.
“Yeah,” Woodward said. “If you were an al Qaeda leader or part of the insurgency in Iraq, or one of these renegade militias, and you knew about what they were able to do, you’d get your ass outta town.”

Can we talk?

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 04:41:46 GMT

It's quite amazing, if I give myself the time to think about it, that I just attended a class with a former Chief Political Correspondent of the New York Times (and grinned when he quite frankly declared, on behalf of most in the media, that "we hate the Republicans, and they hate our guts.")

And then listened to a couple of professors who are close friends with such personalities as Barry Diller (responsible for the 'Killer Dillers') , Joan Rivers, Hunter Thompson and so on.

All the while sitting in a class with a few people that are undoubtedly going to be in the NFL in a few years.

This after living in sleepy, little Doha all my life. (And then if I let myself think about it, living in Doha could be considered by many to be as remarkable as those things.)

As an aside, I'd like to appreciate the tremendous job that Dana Perino has to do. My, I wouldn't appreciate having to be the 'face' of this administration.