June has been a good month for political upheaval and mass protest.
Peru (
update),
China, and
Iran were discussed here previously. But how many of the following were you aware of:
Canada,
Thailand,
Honduras,
Venezuela,
Bangladesh,
Kashmir,
Pakistan, and
India? The latter four reflect a quite serious electricity shortage throughout the Indian subcontinent, during a record-breaking heat wave that has
caused over 100 deaths. But don't worry, not everyone is dealing with life-threatening problems. In
Israel 30,000 turned out to protest a parking lot. Meanwhile,
Indymedia continues to cover all the bourgeois first-world protests you've never really wanted to know about.
posted by shii
on Jun 30, 2009 -
8 comments
Joshi (a slideshow).
High in the Hindu Kush, north of troubled Swat and just South of
Chitral are three
valleys where the last of the
Kalasha people live, and the
legend of Alexander is strong.
No census has been performed since 1998, but
most experts put the current Kalasha population at about 3,000. (
wiki ).
posted by adamvasco
on May 11, 2009 -
7 comments
On the Militant Trail [Most recent of four articles with links to preceding pieces] Renowned Asia Times correspondent
Syed Saleem Shahzad visits Peshawar, capital of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province and takes a journey with the Taliban through the Swat valley. His four-part series of articles examines the differing natures and strategies of various Taliban groups, describes a government counter-insurgency campaign gone seriously awry and finds indications that "a major battle will be fought in Pakistan before the annual spring offensive even begins in Afghanistan this year."
posted by Abiezer
on Feb 6, 2009 -
15 comments
One of the
kings of nuclear proliferation has his own website. No mention of house arrest though.
posted by brookeb
on Jan 29, 2009 -
10 comments
Pakistan in Peril. "The relative calm in Iraq in recent months, combined with the drama of the US elections, has managed to distract attention from the catastrophe that is rapidly overwhelming Western interests in the part of the world that always should have been the focus of America's response to September 11: the al-Qaeda and Taliban heartlands on either side of the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan."
[Via]
posted by homunculus
on Jan 21, 2009 -
30 comments
"Authored by the U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM), the Joint Operating Environment (
JOE 2008,
pdf) outlines a strategic framework and forecasts possible threats and opportunities that will challenge the future joint force." One portion picked out by the media: Mexico and Pakistan are the two countries most likely to undergo "
sudden collapse".
[more inside]
posted by 445supermag
on Jan 15, 2009 -
7 comments
India, as she is today,
was carved out of
British India, in 1947 when the left and right hand sides of the country became the new nation of Pakistan (
East and
West) respectively. While the history of Islamic influence and
subsequent tolerance and intolerance goes back centuries to the first advent of the
Mughal invasion, it has been said that the
post Independence troubles of the modern nations of India and Pakistan
stem from this sundering. In
1971, war brought
forth Bangladesh from the former East Pakistan on India's eastern border.
The Partition, as this holocaust is known,
embedded in
current day Indian memory,
history, culture,
movies,
books,
TV serials and music, was an
unimaginable horror of
slaughter and bloodshed. This separation was
not in the plans of the Mahatma, and it is said he was assassinated by Hindu
fundamentalists for letting it happen.
What future awaits the Hindus and Muslims who have lived
side by side for hundreds of years?
posted by infini
on Nov 26, 2008 -
37 comments
"Fog of War" cited by United States Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad. He was
speaking to journalists to clarify reports concerning his
unauthorised contacts with foreign government officials, among them Asif Ali Zardari; a then contender to succeed Pervez Musharraf as president of Pakistan.
Earlier this year he was being touted as a possible successor to Hamid Karzai as President of Afghanistan as seen in
these two
articles.
So
who is Zalmay Khalilzad?
Neo con and
oil businessman.
[more inside]
posted by adamvasco
on Sep 10, 2008 -
8 comments
Right at the Edge. "The Taliban and Al Qaeda have established a haven in Pakistan’s tribal areas along the Afghan border. This is where the war on terror wil be fought – and possibly lost."
posted by homunculus
on Sep 5, 2008 -
62 comments
Pakistan’s Phantom Border. "Pakistan is often called the most dangerous country on earth. Increasingly, its people would agree. Despite nearly $6 billion in U.S. military aid for the border region since 9/11, the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and homegrown terrorist groups have eroded the border with Afghanistan, inflicting a steady toll of suicide bombings. Going where few Westerners dare—from Taliban strongholds to undercover-police headquarters—the author sees what’s tearing the country apart."
posted by homunculus
on Jun 22, 2008 -
24 comments
Limited nuclear war would damage ozone layer. Apart from the human devastation, a small-scale nuclear war between India and Pakistan would destroy much of the ozone layer, leaving the DNA of humans and other organisms at risk of damage from the Sun's rays,
say researchers at the
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics.
Michael Mills at the LASP and his colleagues used computer models to study how 100 Hiroshima-sized bombs would affect the atmosphere.
They say that their scenario – in which each country launches 50 devices of 15 kilotons – is realistic, given the countries' nuclear arsenals.
"The figure of 100 Hiroshima-sized bombs compares pretty accurately to the approximately 110 warheads that both states reportedly possess between them," agrees Wyn Bowen, professor of non-proliferation and international security in the War Studies Group at King's College, UK.
Here is an
earlier 2006 report by Michael Mills about the devastating effect even a limited nuclear war would have on the ozone layer.
posted by KokuRyu
on Apr 9, 2008 -
55 comments
First, a bit of an
introduction to the game of
Cricket (youtube) for those of us who may not be
familiar with the
sport. Next, a few
clips (1, 2, 3, 4) on how
awesome the
Gentleman's Game can be (and you thought we didn't do anything but roam around in our white pants and cotton shirts...). But, if that wasn't enough for you, then here's a taste of
Twenty20 Cricket (the
fast,
fast paced version of the game), and the new
DLF Indian (pdf) Premier League. (This is in addition to the
One Day Matches, which were instituted to bring in a bit more excitement into the game during the 1970's, prior to which the match only consisted of
Tests. However, some purists still maintain that the game would've been better served had it not been
commercalized to the extent that it has, and still prefer the leisurely pace of the original format to its current incarnation.)
[more inside]
posted by hadjiboy
on Mar 20, 2008 -
56 comments
Why He Went Nuclear. Before he was the infamous father of the "Islamic bomb," A.Q. Khan was just another midlevel scientist working at a research job in Amsterdam. Here, the story of how he betrayed his employer and set out to create a worldwide bazaar in lethal weapons.
posted by chunking express
on Nov 20, 2007 -
19 comments
The China Factor in Pakistani Politics "Pakistan’s alliance with China, which supports Islamabad’s confrontation with India and underpins its hopes for economic growth in its populous heartland, is probably a lot more important to Islamabad than the dangerous, destabilizing, and thankless task of pursuing Islamic extremists on its remote and impoverished frontiers at Washington’s behest."
posted by Abiezer
on Nov 8, 2007 -
12 comments
The man who knew too much. "He was the CIA's expert on Pakistan's nuclear secrets, but Rich Barlow was thrown out and disgraced when he blew the whistle on a US cover-up. Now he's to have his day in court."
posted by homunculus
on Oct 13, 2007 -
21 comments
We have lost on the way the lesson of living together,
We are now even scared of each other.
They are others whose faces are on your hands,
Your hurts are a deep sea -- our wounds are deep.
The stories that are being spread in our names are lies,
This is not us.
Words of a Pakistani pop song Yeh Hum Naheen [This is not us] hitting the charts, attempting to
spread the message that all muslims are not terrorists,
story via Salon.
"
Produced and written by a British Muslim, Waseem Mahmood, at the request of his two sons, "
Yeh Hum Naheen" offers a welcome counterpoint to the images of troops storming the Red Mosque, or fundamentalist mullahs preaching jihad. But the key to the song's success lies neither in its production values or deft depictions of average Pakistanis going about their daily lives, but in its heartfelt expression of pain. "
posted by infini
on Aug 25, 2007 -
26 comments
The Shanhai Cooperative Organization. [wiki] When Moscow and Beijing engineered the creation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) six years ago, I am not sure if they foresaw its emergence as an important actor in the international order. Iran, India, Pakistan and Mongolia, currently observers, are lobbying hard to get accepted into this club. The US request for membership was rejected two years ago.
posted by delmoi
on Aug 23, 2007 -
14 comments
"A group of teenagers, en route to attend a rock concert, lose their way when their car runs out of fuel in the dead of night. They find themselves in an unfamiliar rural backwater where they are confronted by flesh-eating zombies and a psychotic cannibalistic killer dressed in a sheet. It could be the plot to a thousand Hollywood horror films but while these teenagers may dress, talk and smoke dope like young Americans they are in fact young Pakistanis, and the film -
Zibahkhana or Hell's Ground -
is the first modern horror film to be filmed in Pakistan."
posted by brundlefly
on Aug 15, 2007 -
12 comments
The
Wagah border, that separates the countries of Pakistan and India, is the scene of some very eccentric
pomp and ceremony during the lowering of the flags on either side, and the opening and closing of the gates of the opposing forces.
posted by hadjiboy
on May 27, 2007 -
57 comments
Aptitude Schmaptitude! While the state of mathematical incompetence in this country has been much lamented, most famously in Paulos's brilliant 1988 book Innumeracy, it is still tacitly accepted . . . Being incompetent in math has become not only acceptable in this widely innumerate culture, it has almost become a matter of pride. No one
goes around showing off that he is illiterate, or has no athletic ability, but declarations of innumeracy are constantly made without any embarrassment or shame.
posted by jason's_planet
on May 3, 2007 -
140 comments
Murder at the Cricket World Cup. The world's most civilised game just took a turn for the sinister. Less than 24 hours after Pakistan (rated fourth in the world) was
roundly trounced by Ireland (first appearance at the Cricket World Cup), the almost universally-liked Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was found unconscious in his hotel room and
died in hospital. Jamaican police have just announced that based on the autopsy results they're treating the death as murder by manual asphyxiation.
This isn't the first time in recent history that Pakistan has been
embroiled in
scandal, nor the first time that
Metafilter has discussed it, but this is in a whole new league. Is it a
match-fixing scandal connected to far-Eastern betting syndicates, or something else?
posted by Hogshead
on Mar 22, 2007 -
40 comments
Regularly marred by casualties, the two-day
Basant festival in Pakistan leaves 11 dead and more than 100 injured. Kite flyers often use strings made of wire or coated with ground glass to try to cross and cut a rival's string or damage the other kite, often after betting on the outcome.
Previously mentioned on mefi, the practice was banned in 2005 because the sport has become increasingly deadly. The ban on kite running was temporarily lifted for this year's festival.
In an obvious flip-side, the ban proved to be a huge loss to the kite-twine manufacturers.
posted by beta male
on Feb 26, 2007 -
11 comments
“Maybe, yes, I am a diva.” Meet Ali Saleem, known on Pakistani TV as Begum Nawazish Ali, hostess of a popular talk show.
Mr. Saleem’s portrayal ... a middle-aged widow who, in glamorous saris and glittery diamonds, invites to her drawing room politicians, movie stars and rights advocates from Pakistan and India.
posted by amberglow
on Jan 3, 2007 -
21 comments
