[Pak Daily Times] The US Congress is on the verge of passing a National Defence Authorization Bill that places conditionalities on Pakistain's military aid, including Coalition Support Funds reimbursements. The aid has been made contingent on the US Defence Secretary certifying to Congress that NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... 's supply route through Pakistain is open and that the country is taking demonstrable action against al Qaeda and other Death Eater groups active along the Pakistain-Afghanistan border. On his recent visit to Pakistain, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel had said that there are many options open to the US to withdraw equipment from Afghanistan, and all of them more or less are in its use. However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... the route passing through Pakistain being less expensive and less cumbersome, is required to be kept open, unhindered, to facilitate the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Hagel had also warned Pakistain about the changing mood in Congress regarding the supply line being blocked as a protest against drone strikes. The federal government has done nothing about the PTI's blockade. Now with matters coming to a head, it has become necessary for the federal government to intervene and stop the PTI from making things more problematic for the country. PTI wants the US to leave this region and now when that moment has arrived, Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems... 's preying on the NATO supply routes to put pressure on the US smacks of impatience and meddling in foreign policy. Parties in power in the provinces are not permitted constitutionally to interfere in matters that could affect the relationship between Pakistain and other countries, that too adversely.
As far as the NATO supply lines are concerned, it cannot be taken as an open and shut case. Layers of legal and strategic complexities bind Pakistain from moving against the NATO routes. Pakistain's position is too weak to demand treatment of choice from the US, especially when the country has been losing leverage for not fulfilling its commitment to eradicate militancy from the country. Being a frontline ally in the war against terrorism, Pakistain's first obligation was to assist the US in rooting out militancy from Afghanistan. On the contrary it became a safe haven for the Afghan Taliban. Pakistain's credibility to fight militancy is so poor that the US defence authorisation bill seeking certification from the Defence Secretary that Pakistain is taking demonstrable actions against al Qaeda and other Death Eater groups active along the Pak-Afghan border and that the military and other aid to Pakistain would not be used against ethnic groups such as the Baloch, Sindhi and Hazara or religious minorities such as Christians, Hindus and Ahmedis poses a tall order. The bill also requires Pakistain to diminish the threats posed by Improvised Explosive Devices and cross-border firing attacks against US coalition and Afghan cops in Afghanistan.
Imran Khan and for that matter the federal government have to come to terms with the reality that Pakistain is not in a position to pull the US's strings. Inviting US wrath at this time might become detrimental for Pakistain and invite international isolation. Afghanistan is still not in a settled state and requires international assistance, especially that of the US to maintain security, and Pakistain's position in this equation is very crucial. That holds the promise of both opportunity and risk.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/23/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Pakistan Yemen and Somalia are failed states.Libya,Egypt and Sudan not far behind.
Posted by: Paul D ||
12/23/2013 11:52 Comments ||
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#2
If Pakistan is at a crossroads, they plan ti bomb it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/23/2013 15:55 Comments ||
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[Pak Daily Times] The United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... General Assembly (UNGA) has passed a resolution that includes strictures on drones. It calls for the international community to follow international law in regards to the drone strikes. The resolution was tabled by Pakistain and other countries concerned about the escalating drone attacks by the US. Whilst the US has been carrying out drone attacks since 2004 in an attempt to decapitate the al Qaeda and Taliban hydra, this means of unconventional warfare has been receiving plenty of bad press recently. Ever since last month's report by Amnesia Amnesty International, in which a detailed field study of three drone attacks in Pakistain's tribal regions revealed that collateral damage in the drone war is more than envisioned before, focus has shifted on to the drone attacks and their effects. The report even went so far as to say that drone attacks were akin to war crimes.
This is all well and good. It is heartening to note that the UN is urging more transparency and caution where drone strikes are concerned but there are still questions. What does UNGA have to say about the provisions in international law on 'hot pursuit', i.e. when the enemy strikes from another territory and the drones pursue them? This is what has been happening when Talibs attack US forces in Afghanistan from their sanctuaries in Pakistain. Hot pursuit is very much an accepted means of self-defence to go after the enemy. The snuffies who use our soil to attack Afghanistan must be taken out one way or the other; instead of having boots on the ground, which is unacceptable to Pakistain, drones allow for more precision and a lot less civilian casualties. Unfortunately, in a war, collateral damage is inevitable. It is best to use means that ensure the minimum of such damage. Not much is said about the people living in these tribal areas, people who have gone on record as saying that they actually prefer the drones to no action at all. Their lives have been made miserable by the heavy weight of the snuffies on their heads.
The media in Pakistain and our politicians, whilst harping on about the UNGA condemnation have failed to mention that the drone bit was only a small fraction of the entire resolution, a bit of an afterthought as part of a much larger resolution on human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. and the like. The UNGA resolution however, may only be seen as a moral victory as UNGA resolutions are non-binding. Only the UN Security Council has the authority to actually implement such a resolution. Meanwhile, ...back at the wrecked scow, a single surviver held tightly to the smashed prow... in Pakistain, we have passed another anti-drone resolution in the National Assembly, but we need to understand that without drones our bad boy problem might get even worse than it already is. It is a mess out there and if someone is willing to clean it up, we should welcome it.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/23/2013 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Recent events in North Wazoo Agency (NWA) point to the hotbed of terrorist faceless myrmidons the area has become incrementally over time. A military check post at Mirali was hit by an explosives laden suicide truck attack the other day while the soldiers were saying their prayers. Five soldiers were killed and 34 maimed. The rescue party evacuating the dead and injured was also ambushed, which invited a counter-attack by the military in which the attackers were finally killed after a prolonged firefight that has given rise to claims that civilians, including women and kiddies were killed as collateral damage. ISPR denies this, pointing out that operational commanders are under strict orders to avoid civilian casualties. The military's effective response appears to be a departure from previous practice, which was reinforced by local understandings with bad boy groups of a 'live and let live' type. It is being reported that the attackers were Uzbeks and Turkmens, many of whom have made FATA, and particularly NWA, their home for many decades stretching back to the origins of the Afghan wars. ISPR has also stated that this was a localized self-defence action and does not signal the start of a generalized offensive in NWA, something many knowledgeable observers have been demanding for many years, but which has proved a nettle the military is reluctant to grasp. Under former COAS General Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... , the military's posture appeared to revolve around the fallout of such an operation as well as the necessity of ownership of any such move by the politicianship. Then and now, that ownership appeared conspicuous by its absence, morphing since the new government came to power into harping on about talks as the preferred option to bring peace, with lately Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... 'conceding' the possibility of 'other measures' if the talks fail. All the eggs the government (and Imran Khan Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
12/23/2013 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Terrorism nowadays is breeding mainly in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... , FATA and in every nook and cranny of the country. This is emphatically a direct result of Pakistain's confrontation with the Arab mujahideen and the Taliban
There is no accepted definition of terrorism but different countries and think tanks define it in conformity with the effects of local exploitation from it. Terrorism has increased acutely in recent years. New strategic challenges are being faced by the world in the wake of 9/11. The study of terrorism is multidisciplinary, spanning a number of fields, including political science, psychology, criminology, sociology, history and many others. Terrorism is generally raising more questions than the answers being provided. It is true that various aspects of terrorism have been tackled in recent years, including radical group affiliation, civil violence and suicide terrorism. There have been many discussions calling for a closer look at the root causes but there has been no substantial improvement in this area.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
12/23/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Generally, a lack of democracy, lessening civil liberties and absence of the rule of law are preconditions for many forms of domestic terrorism.
Like Bible-toting gun lovers and TEA partiers, I suppose.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/23/2013 12:39 Comments ||
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Disclosure: I have never seen Duck Dynasty, nor do I intend to start. In fact, when the NCAA Final Four ends, I prolly won't switch on the TV to watch until the Hall of Fame game next August.
Talk about bizarre. The writer, a business reporter for the L.A. Times, of all things, starts with Phil Robertson, calling him a bigot and ends up criticizing Bobby Jindal, Republican governor of Louisiana for his remarks in support of Robertson.
This article is the kind of insightful and deep analysis you come to expect from the professional left.
By Michael Hiltzik
I got the gist of the "Duck Dynasty" thing after my first and only viewing: bunch of rural jackasses who somehow struck it rich get brought into our living rooms to be laughed at by the rest of us aristocrats. This has been confirmed recently. A writer is calling Duck Dynasty the show that got away. It was intended to belittle the media's political opponents, but instead the basic decency of the stars have destroyed that. A&E is trying to regain control by chucking Phil Robertson out the window.
Well, all right. When the archetype first appeared on television via the "Beverly Hillbillies" it was also enormously popular, but also taken as an illustration of how TV was living down to its condemnation by FCC Chairman Newton Minow as a "vast wasteland." A&E totally agrees and will do something about that when they finish distributing the profit they make from the show.
In any event, A&E knew what it was doing when it put these people on the air, so its show of indignation in "suspending" one of them for speaking out against gays and the aspirations of African Americans falls a little flat. Again: Robertson did not "speak out against gays", rather he expressed a preference and his lack of understanding of that activity.
What's truly ghastly, however, is the reaction of a couple of political figures. Sarah Palin's opinion isn't worth the eleven words I've just written to dismiss it.
Which eleven words? The first sentence of this paragraph has thirteen words, the second, containing Gov. Palin's name, contains fourteen. I know math is hard, but this is the kind of counting usually learnt in first grade.
But Bobby Jindal still holds down office as the governor of Louisiana. That raises the question: Has it become acceptable again for an American politician to embrace unashamed bigotry? Bigotry existed long before Phil Robertson got his mug in front of a camera, and will exist when long after the worms are through with you, Michael. The article writer's beef was with Robertson's observation that blacks were happier under segregation. They may or may not have been, but that was the man's experience. That doesn't make him a bigot.
In the old days, news that public funds (via the Louisiana state film and television incentive program) had helped finance racism and gay-bashing of the variety espoused by Phil Robertson, the outspoken duck dynast, would have presented a moral dilemma and created a political embarrassment for a governor. Most self-respecting political leaders would have run away from association with such views; that's the essence, after all, of the "leadership" part of the equation.
Not for Jindal. His only public statement on the matter thus far has praised Robertson as a member of a family of "great citizens of the State of Louisiana." He defends Robertson's views on the "it's a free country" principle, which as a debating point generally gets dropped by most people before the fourth grade. "Everyone is entitled to express their views," he says. After the fourth grade, we assume that the right of self expression shouldn't exist.
In Jindal's seven-sentence statement, not a word of defense for gay people so crudely mocked by Robertson. Not a word to remind us that the life of black sharecroppers in Louisiana's Jim Crow era was not "godly" or "happy." Prolly because Jindal doesn't agree and wouldn't include it in his statement.
In January of this year, Jindal lectured his fellow Republicans on the need to "stop being the stupid party." Remember? He talked about how the Republican brand had been damaged by its candidates' "offensive and bizarre comments." That was supposed to represent the launch of a new GOP outreach to communities that had been excluded by Republican doctrine, including the gay and minority communities. Republican doctrine is supposed to be freedom, free markets and human dignity for all, not just the aggrieved class. There can be no outreach if you do not hold to basic principles.
But that was eleven months ago. Now, according to Jindal, Republicans are supposed to embrace offensive and bizarre comments. The party's transformation into a marginal and regional movement thus continues. Jindal has made himself the biggest jackass in the story, and his career as a national political figure the thing to be laughed at.
#3
Sorry, I don't see any racism. Robertson only said that the blacks he knew who were close to his own class didn't express any particular animosity against whites. If you have any other quote from him, let's see it.
#4
Hummm... Snowy, who's the Congressperson in his corner of the swamp? Possible Mr. Robertson takes the bit in his teeth, you can't buy the kinda PR this guy is getting.
#6
I LIKE Mr. Robertson. He believes and has good Values. He isn't afraid to stand up for his beliefs against the fascist PC Left, and he is trustworthy and decent.
If I needed a man at my back in a Quang Ngai swamp or up in Quang Tin west of Monkey Mountain in Eye Corps...I would trust Robertson with the second squad and let him do flank.
I think God would be satisfied that Robertson will play on the better team.
I don't have a lot of affection for pinkboys either. Its OK by me they can live and not breed ( they can't ) in California. Dwayne and Bruce can do as they like, as long as they aren't teaching my son in school or telling me how to spend my money.
Free Country is RIGHT., you PC Leftist nazi, and no apologies.
#9
Interesting that he brings up "Beverly Hillbillies".
Any time some anti-Christian bigot jackass like Hiltzik in the entertainment industry spews about how they just respond to the market and have no political or religious axe to grind, I just want to ask them about the Rural Purge (google it for those who don't know what it was).
The ugly truth is that the coastal leftists who control TV programming routinely let their politics determine who goes or stays, and their contempt for all things rural and authentically Christian has been manifest for more than forty years.
A popular show that showed people saying grace to end each episode? That was going to be taken out one way or another, since people of Hiltzik's religious and political persuasion hate Christians and would at minimum disenfranchise them all and probably wipe them out if they could.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/23/2013 11:31 Comments ||
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#10
The only explanation for this article is that Hiltzik is deeply prejudiced against South Asians, and can't stand the fact that one, Piyush Jindal, has become the two-term governor of an American state.
Posted by: Matt ||
12/23/2013 11:38 Comments ||
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#11
Which eleven words? The first sentence of this paragraph has thirteen words, the second, containing Gov. Palin's name, contains fourteen.
The fact that Hiltzik is a business reporter and can't do basic arithmetic makes me wonder about the rest of his articles.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
12/23/2013 11:54 Comments ||
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#12
Re. Robertson's observation that blacks were happier under segregation - a reasonable observation, and one that says nothing of causation: the implication was that the cure for segregation carried unintended consequences in the breakdown of the family unit and morality, and that those breakdowns have led to decreased happiness bamong blacks, and everyone else.
#13
Ha ha, probably got in a tizzy and got the eleven words right, but went back and added something then forgot to re-sum.
I don't watch the show, as by the genre in general, but I have seen it. There is a lot going on there - they are witty, funny, accomplished, dedicated, and most of all genuine.
The parents and kids can watch it and both be entertained. Urban people can either point and giggle or learn something, Rural people see a good time and even success in Rural culture, there are solid family values to be admired.
I know I'm in a rural setting - it seemed like 1 in 4 Halloween costumes had something to do with the Roberstons, as well as the winning scarecrow. That happened because the Robertsons are genuine, which is more than we should expect from someone who can't re-count the words he just typed.
Beverly Hillbillies. You dork, that is a fish out of water plot, just like Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Trading Places, or Son in Law. Your best choice for your potty break would have been Hee Haw.
#14
Robertson never said that blacks were happier under segregation. Here's the quote:
I never, with my eyes, saw the mistreatment of any black person. Not once. Where we lived was all farmers. The blacks worked for the farmers. I hoed cotton with them. Im with the blacks, because were white trash. Were going across the field.... Theyre singing and happy. I never heard one of them, one black person, say, I tell you what: These doggone white peoplenot a word!... Pre-entitlement, pre-welfare, you say: Were they happy? They were godly; they were happy; no one was singing the blues.
Where's the racism? Or is it illegal, or at least completely beyond the pale, to mention that there is a black equivalent to Robertson's social stratum?
And I'm willing to bet that a majority of his black acquaintances would agree with his remarks on homosexuality and the bible.
#16
And while I'm here, I'd like to recommend Fred's book, Phoebe Clayton, as a great example of people from different races and social classes living happily together with mutual love and respect.
#17
Looking at what is happening in America from down under..the GAP between main stream Americans and their values and the left/media/socialist who think they are informed and elite is becoming so very very evident.
#18
urbanist vs non-urbanist. Cuddled in their NIMBY echo chamber cocoon sustained by the energy, food, clean water, and resources they leach off of those they have so much disdain for.
#19
I have been to Monroe. I have been to West Monroe. The Ouachita River runs right smack down between the two. The Whites are in one Monroe, the Blacks are on the other side of the river in the other Monroe.
That is just how it is. And no one is complaining about it either in Monroe or in West Monroe.
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[Pak Daily Times] Terrorism nowadays is breeding mainly in 
