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Showing posts from October, 2012

AFGHANISTAN: HOPE, FANTASY AND FAILURE!

While the people of Pakistan prayed for early recovery of Malala, they were awe-struck by the frenzy created about the incident. Where people die in dozens each day as a result of terrorist attacks, singling out Malala for over glorification was rather intriguing. Our media, especially its electronic component gave a helping hand to their pay masters; or may be it sleep walked into the trap. Sense of proportion was lost, caution was thrown to wind. It appeared as if a high profile head of state had been critically attacked. The only other example of such hype was Raymond Davis case. National leadership fumbled in case of Raymond Davis and had to face the humiliation of Abbottabad attack. This time the Malala incident was being exploited for pressuring Pakistan to undertake military operation in North Waziristan. Once again, national leadership was posturing to cede space and fall into the trap of initiating a military operation. Hopefully, the strategic fiasco has been averted, a...

Blaming the Muslims

By  Philip Giraldi  opednews.com It is perhaps human nature to seek to blame someone else for one's own personal failings. But what is possibly only a misdemeanor in personal interactions becomes rather more serious when entire nations and races are systematically and comprehensively blamed for the failures of other nations to comprehend simple truths. I am, of course, referring to the disastrous foreign policy that we Americans have endured for the past 11 years, which is coming home to roost now in places such as Libya and Syria. Consider what we have been hearing repeated over and over again about the Middle East and other trouble spots. American bullying, preemption, and a policy of might-makes-right have not been the problem; some ignorant folks just dislike us because of our freedom. The United States is "exceptional," which means that it should set the standards for the "free world" and even the not-so-free world, whether they all like it ...

What about Israel’s nuclear weapons?

By   Patrick B. Pexton Readers periodically ask me some variation on this question: “Why does the press follow every jot and tittle of Iran’s nuclear program, but we never see any stories about Israel’s nuclear weapons capability?” It’s a fair question. Going back 10 years into Post archives, I could not find any in-depth reporting on Israeli nuclear capabilities, although national security writer  Walter Pincus  has touched on it  many times in his articles and  columns . I spoke with several experts in the nuclear and nonproliferation fields , and they say that the lack of reporting on Israel’s nuclear weapons is real — and frustrating. There are some obvious reasons for this, and others that are not so obvious. First, Israel refuses to acknowledge publicly that it has nuclear weapons. The U.S. government also officially does not acknowledge the existence of such a program. Israel’s official position, as reiterated by Aaron Sagui, spokesman fo...

The racists and the Islamists in khaki

by  Waris Husain An obstacle that seems to define US-Pakistan relations is the lack of a common enemy recognised by both parties. There is a mutual threat within the military ranks of both nations in the form of infiltrators, using their military training to assist extremist groups. Pakistan’s Army has maintained a double-policy of fostering and punishing extremists within its ranks while  the American military is witnessing a rise of white extremists in its midst  that have planned and executed terrorist attacks against American citizens. Though the US officials have critiqued the Pakistani Army for failing to rout out extremist officers, they run the same risk, if they fail to pay closer attention to the rising amount of American military personnel joining racist militias. This might be an opportunity to stabilise the US-Pakistan relationship, if the two countries emphasise their common internal threats, rather than focusing on their disagreement over externa...

Iran and the big Bomb

As our Nobel laureate President ascended to the podium  on September 25 at the  United Nations  for his last international speech before the  election , we again were the recipients of fine oratory and rhetorical flourish about America’s problems in the world. Focusing on the  Middle East , Central Asia, and North Africa—what’s often misleadingly termed, “the Muslim world”—Obama singled out Iran’s treaty-entitled uranium enrichment activities,  saying  “make no mistake: a nuclear-armed  Iran  is not a challenge that can be contained.” Media reports are awash in misleading narratives, incomplete histories, and outright fiction about Iran and its nuclear program. Obama’s remarks were dutifully transcribed by our stenographer class, as can be expected, despite intelligence-community conclusions to the contrary and the historical precedent of containment as Cold War policy. This follows the latest media scare concerning Iran’s nuclear ...