22Feb 2009
By Bill Noxid
The most disturbing consequence of the election of the first African-American president is the delusional rush to pretend that this country that was founded ( and continues to function ) on genocide and slavery, is somehow “past” racism. Obviously, nothing could be further from the truth, and the fact that society as a whole still refuses to face it is – as Attorney General Eric Holder stated clearly – nothing less than cowardice.   Just Google “Coons in the White House” if you need an example of just how “far” we haven’t come.
If you need another example, watch the response of the “typical white man” that is Pat Buchanan when faced with such reality. I would gladly point to another perpetrator of archaic racist fear, deflection, and denial, but MSNBC doesn’t seem to have any other representatives.  The fact that Buchanan is on from 6am ( Morning Joe ) to 6pm ( Hardball – which airs again 7-8pm ), makes the perspective they wish to represent and enforce continuously and unavoidably evident.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-STQd1gB2c&feature=channel_page Continue Reading »
16Feb 2009
By Syed Irfan Ashraf
Talibanisation is a carefully designed package comprising an assortment of soft and hard parts. Both are used as it is against the rules of the deadly game to nurture one category while ignoring the other. No one understands this better than journalists working in the north-western conflict zones of the country.
During the last four years the media and the militants were not averse to one another, with extensive coverage being given to the subversive activities of the Taliban. In fact, the media earned a controversial reputation for glorifying villains as heroes. But the honeymoon period is over now, making it hard for those reporting on the conflict to perform their duties without fear or favour. Continue Reading »
09Feb 2009
By Adil Zareef
PAKISTAN‘S interior adviser has announced a crisp new strategy for Swat, the details of which have not been divulged, although it was mentioned that Al Qaeda, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Tanzeem-i-Islami and the Tora Bora and Qari Mushtaq groups needed to be tackled. Fortunately, it has dawned on the authorities that the militants’ objective is not simply the imposition of Sharia but the destruction of Pakistan.
But the adviser was frugal with information when it came to details of civilians killed and injured and schools pulverised. It is only when the horrors of Swat abate that the enormity of the death and destruction wreaked on the peaceful Swatis will truly emerge.
The state’s being in perpetual denial has horrified both independent analysts and those living in the NWFP’s war-ravaged areas. The people here have been subjected to a sense of brutal insensitivity by the government and the latter’s obfuscation of the facts. Political parties stand motionless or speak with muffled voices. Continue Reading »
05Feb 2009
This time the Pakistan army confronts a devil that does not go away by merely shouting at. The devil shouts back.
By Anwaar Hussain
What is Pakistan army doing in Swat? This is not how an insurgency is fought. Recently, for example, in a single day’s blitz, 45 innocent people were blown to bits to get just one militant. This is the kind of collateral damage even the Americans would shirk from. This is not, repeat NOT, how insurgencies are fought.
When insurgency is to be countered, certain abiding facts need to go down loud and clear with the aspirants. First, there has to be a will to win. No will, no win. Next, in a counterinsurgency the population will give its loyalty to the side that will best protect it. This is why the chief goal of insurgents is to deprive the population of that sense of security. Through violence and bloodshed insurgents seek to generate a climate of fear by demonstrating the authorities’ weakness and inability to maintain order. At the same time, sham justice is provided through brute force to a few to further alienate the people from their governors. Last but not the least however, and for the reasons just mentioned, artillery shells lobbed from over the horizon have never won insurgencies, men with their boots on the ground have. Continue Reading »
01Feb 2009
By David Cole
The story of America’s descent into torture in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, has been told now by many writers. Mark Danner, Jane Mayer, and Ron Suskind have written brilliant expositions of the facts, showing how the drive to prevent the next attack led the administration’s highest officials to seek ways around the legal restrictions on coercive interrogation of suspects. After the abuses at Abu Ghraib came to light, the military itself commissioned three detailed investigative reports, including highly critical ones by Major General Antonio Taguba and by a panel led by former defense secretary James Schlesinger. Among other factors, they blamed ambiguity in the standards governing interrogation-an ambiguity ultimately attributable to the attempts at evasion directed from the top. Congressional committees have held numerous public hearings into the use of coercive interrogation tactics at both Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo. The Center for Constitutional Rights, the ACLU, and the NYU Center on Law and Security have each published collections of official documents, which effectively indict the government using its own words. Continue Reading »
19Jan 2009
By Irfan Husain
THIS year will see a large number of celebrations at campuses and scientific institutions around the world to mark the 200th year of the birth of Charles Darwin, and the 150th year of the publication of his seminal work.
Widely regarded as one of the three most influential thinkers of the 19th century, together with Freud and Marx, Darwin has had a stronger impact on our thinking than the other two giants of the era. Since its publication in 1859, his explanation of how life evolved on the planet has been subjected to rigorous criticism and analysis. Generations of scientists have tested it in the field and in the laboratory. And to date, it remains the only scientific explanation of how life on Earth has developed over the millennia. Continue Reading »
