The current bits of news, volatile, mercurial coming out of the latest Wikileaks cache is surprisingly easy to bear. Nothing untoward has happened. All the players have played their parts. International politics between the U.S and Pakistan continues in recognizably similar ways as it did yesterday, and the day before. Of course, strategic politics has […]
The 2010 UNDP Human Development Report offers some muted good news for those concerned with the reach of socially structured human welfare and development in Pakistan. However, given the way the good news is structured, recent events in Pakistan suggest that the prospects of Pakistan’s human development look strikingly bleak for the coming few years. […]
As expected, Obama’s maiden visit to India this weekend has been a success. President Obama struck all the right notes, and the First Lady charmed India as she danced with children. The highlight of the visit was Obama’s address to the joint session of the Indian Parliament on Monday where he endorsed India’s permanent membership […]
The Future This dispute could be settled with a classic “land swap”, such as China’s Western claim for India’s eastern one; which is already the international accepted status quo. In fact China has already proposed this twice, once in the the 1950s and again in the early 1980s. Russia struck a similar deal with China […]
This week I came across a really interesting article picked up by Pakistan’s mainstream media. Since Pakistan’s media is free, but predominantly government-owned or overseen, articles are carefully reviewed for content by editors. Pakistani editors heeding the accomplishments of women within the traditionally conservative society is an extremely progressive thing. How well women do (personally […]
Just days before President Obama begins his India visit, the U.S.-Pakistan strategic dialogue is underway in Washington D.C. The talks would focus on the “strategic” relationship between the two countries, a euphemism for more aid money to Pakistan to fight extremists within its borders and help out the U.S. in Afghanistan. Even with almost no […]
The Past Indo – Sino Border In this second installment of our three part series on the Indo-Sino border conflict, we examine the origin of the 190 years old dispute, in order to fleshing-out the historical twist and turns that have brought these two rising powers to their present situation. This conflict was engendered by […]
In two separate articles, the Washington Post and the New York Times revealed that despite having prior knowledge of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the FBI failed to inform their Indian counterparts of the threats looming ahead.
The strangely bizarre and comical launch of Musharraf’s so called Muslim League (or whatever name he is using) forced me to examine Pakistan. And, believe me, this time; I really looked hard not only at today’s Pakistan but also at its short, but awfully tumultuous history. And, it is extremely distressing to realize that nothing, […]
The recent news of threats emanating from Pakistan and Algeria have spooked the American and European public milling about in great and famous cities. But the reasons behind the news that seems to single out machinations wrought in Pakistan remain murky, as they must by dint of the ways and means of intelligence. However, given […]
Bug Out Now, says Obama…
All of this follows on the heels of revelations–more ‘leaks’– from Woodward’s soon to be published best-seller, “Obama’s Wars,” especially a specific and ‘bizarre,’ as Woodward calls it, statement by the President about the nation’s ability to ‘absorb’ another 9/11 type attack, and by inference, the inability of the US government (or any government for that matter) to safequard its citizens from the bombs, bullets, and bacteria that are terrorism’s stock-in-trade.
According to the New York Times, Pakistan’s military is maneuvering to remove the current government. This, according to the paper, is because of corruption and lack of proper response to the flood. What is missing from the report is that once this government is gone, angels and superheroes are going to takeover and they will […]
Zainab Jeewanjee discusses Bob Woodwards book, Obama Wars and it’s reference to Pakistan. As President Obama goes head to head with the military establishment in trying to wind down the war in Afghanistan, he consistently calls for a shift in focus to Pakistan. However, Jeewanjee highlights that the Presidents National Security Strategy from May 2010, offers little, if any clearly spelled out approach to achieving our objectives in Pakistan. She concludes that a more practical, specific approach to Pakistan must exist should the President shift focus to Pakistan as the “epicenter of violence” as the National Security Strategy recommends.
It is true Pakistan has been dealing with awful scenarios one after another since 1947, but at some point, the masses must take charge and work toward changing their destiny. Crisis or no crisis, people in Pakistan by now should have perfected, and if not perfected, at least gotten a good grip on how to […]
Former foreign secretary of India, Shyam Saran has an excellent piece in Business Standard where he argues that staying back in Afghanistan and strengthening its presence there is the right strategy for India. He examines the ‘exit strategy’ from Afghanistan for the U.S. put forth by Henry Kissinger at a recent conference in Geneva. According […]