A season of scams
New Delhi has been unusually hot lately. WikiLeaks, that slow smelter of our world, ‘exposed’ what the Dilliwallas were nearly convinced about: that in its previous edition, the present United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had stuffed free floaters of parliament with loads of cash so they would vote for it during a floor testing ritual in July 2008. The votes were necessary for the government to survive. The government was necessary for the nuclear deal to get by. It had been done in the past. There was an immoral norm which the UPA government followed. Allegedly.
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How the PPP fumbles and fails
The PPP is the Kamran Akmal of public relations. Put its representatives behind a microphone and they will flail and fumble over their words. It is one of the conundrums of our time, on a par with the continued existence and relevance of Zaid Hamid, how the likes of Rehman Malik can continue displaying rank insensitivity and political cowardice.
After the unsurprising yet shocking assassination of minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti, the interior minister decided to make the brutal slaying all about himself. He wanted to assure the inquiring media not that the killers would be apprehended and brought to justice but that none of this was his fault. Washing your hands off something is one thing. Rehman Malik rinsed his hands with soap, bleached his fingernails and rubbed anti-septic all over his palms.
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A history of anti-Americanism in Pakistan
In 2009 the monthly Herald published the results of an elaborate survey that it undertook to determine the extent of anti-Americanism in Pakistan. The findings suggest nothing that we do not already know.
Though anti-Americanism during the Cold War (1949-89) was mostly the ideological vocation of pro-Soviet leftists, today (some twenty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union), one can safely suggest that America is experiencing its most detested hour.
It hasn’t been hated across the board with so much fervour as it is today, mainly thanks to the bungling of the arrogant Bush administration and its utter deficiency in the art and skill of empathetic and prudent diplomacy.
__________________________________________________________________________
How the PPP fumbles and fails
After the unsurprising yet shocking assassination of minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti, the interior minister decided to make the brutal slaying all about himself. He wanted to assure the inquiring media not that the killers would be apprehended and brought to justice but that none of this was his fault. Washing your hands off something is one thing. Rehman Malik rinsed his hands with soap, bleached his fingernails and rubbed anti-septic all over his palms.
__________________________________________________________________________
A history of anti-Americanism in Pakistan
Though anti-Americanism during the Cold War (1949-89) was mostly the ideological vocation of pro-Soviet leftists, today (some twenty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union), one can safely suggest that America is experiencing its most detested hour.
It hasn’t been hated across the board with so much fervour as it is today, mainly thanks to the bungling of the arrogant Bush administration and its utter deficiency in the art and skill of empathetic and prudent diplomacy.
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