Uncategorized – Page 3

Security theater in Pakistan

March 12, 2011March 12, 2011 by KO

All over Pakistan, there are nonsensical attempts at security theater. The theater part is done very well, with people roaming around with machine guns, concrete barriers, and lots of ways to make the lives of people miserable in an attempt to really impress those whose lives are made miserable by the security – but the … Read moreSecurity theater in Pakistan

How to create a really twisted ruling class, the golf course edition

March 4, 2011 by KO

People are generally good, and it takes quite a bit of effort to turn them into monsters. You have to start at a young age as that’s when people are most impressionable. One method is to send them to a madrassah, where they grow up mentally stunted and fed mental poison for years, with their star pupils turning into suicide bombers and assassins, amongst other achievements.

That’s one type of twisted, but to rule a country, other skills come into play. How do the children of the ruling class turn into monsters, and go on to wreck havoc on the country? Well, they too get trained in the art of becoming a self centered monster at a young age, and though they might not attend madrassa’s, or the school of how to steal more money than your neighbour, but they do have many institutions in their lives to strip them of their humanity. One is the nanny, and omnipresent servants, but thats a story for another day. Today’s story is about teaching children that it’s ok to hurt people.

Escapees from the land of the pure

March 12, 2011February 21, 2011 by KO

Life is tough in Pakistan if you don’t two the religious line (or at least hide the lack of toeing). Though in this case the victims escaped, hurray for them! Asmaa Azeem is 22, Fatima is 16. They are sisters from Pakistan, seeking asylum in Sri Lanka. Their parents are religious fundamentalists and the girls … Read moreEscapees from the land of the pure

Stephen Cohen on Pakistan’s Road to Disintegration, 2011 edition

January 7, 2011 by KO

A depressing read on Pakistan, including state failure, growing insecurity, govt failure and the increasing reliance on China:

“The fundamentals of the state are either failing or questionable, and this applies to both the idea of Pakistan, the ideology of the state, the purpose of the state, and also to the coherence of the state itself,” Cohen says. “I wouldn’t predict a comprehensive failure soon, but clearly that’s the direction in which Pakistan is moving.” On a recent trip, he was struck by the growing sense of insecurity in Pakistan, even within the military, and the growing importance of China.

Send your ads to Awab, the happy new year edition

December 31, 2010December 31, 2010 by KO

My friend Awab is running a free advertisment campaign to highlight stuff needing highlighting, so here’s my pitch for all the issues hiding in obscure dark corners all over Pakistan, and much deserving of recognition:

How about an ad for all those lonely groups of brigadiers and colonels toiling away in obscurity hatching plan after plan, I mean only the lucky few like Benazir’s plotters end up on the front page of the Tribune, I’m sure the rest could do with publicity too!

Portugal’s non war on drugs

December 28, 2010 by KO

I wonder what Karachi would look like if drugs were decriminalized and brought out of the shadows, like Portugal has done? LISBON, Portugal — These days, Casal Ventoso is an ordinary blue-collar community – mothers push baby strollers, men smoke outside cafes, buses chug up and down the cobbled main street. Ten years ago, the … Read morePortugal’s non war on drugs

A sure shot sign you’re in the third world

December 18, 2010December 18, 2010 by KO

One man supervising another, for a job which doesn’t need much supervision. The picture looks a bit old and faded, but it’s actually ahead of it’s time as this country is still firmly in the black and white age…

Other countries just like Pakistan, but with extra oil

December 2, 2010 by KO

Russia steps up to the plate, but being somewhat more literate it’s descent into a mafia state is done way much better than Pakistan’s ongoing slide…

Russia is a corrupt, autocratic kleptocracy centred on the leadership of Vladimir Putin, in which officials, oligarchs and organised crime are bound together to create a “virtual mafia state”, according to leaked secret diplomatic cables that provide a damning American assessment of its erstwhile rival superpower.

Arms trafficking, money laundering, personal enrichment, protection for gangsters, extortion and kickbacks, suitcases full of money and secret offshore bank accounts in Cyprus: the cables paint a bleak picture of a political system in which bribery alone totals an estimated $300bn a year, and in which it is often hard to distinguish between the activities of the government and organised crime.

Instead of Cyprus, read Dubai and London, and of course, there is no way 300 billion dollars of bribery exchanges hands – even the biggest briber of them all only admits to about 5-6 billion dollars a year, so adding up all the rest we’re probably looking at a figure well south of a 100 billion dollars.

Playing Ostrich with the Taliban

November 24, 2010November 24, 2010 by KO

The more I read about the western world’s adventure in Afghanistan and Pakistan, bombing villages here and there to bits and occupying a country, the more surreal it gets. The latest news is a doozy – the taliban leader the US have been negotiating with for a peace deal turns out to be a fake – an enterprising Pakistani or Afghani out to make a quick buck for himself. Full props to the guy… as to the US Army and what not, no suprise they got fooled yet again:

For months, the secret talks unfolding between Taliban and Afghan leaders to end the war appeared to be showing promise, if only because of the appearance of a certain insurgent leader at one end of the table: Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, one of the most senior commanders in the Taliban movement. But now, it turns out, Mr. Mansour was apparently not Mr. Mansour at all.

This guy strung around NATO for over a year! The suprising, and very interesting thing about the US involvement in Afghanistan and Pakistan is that they get every single thing wrong, over and over again.

The effect of Colonial rule in India

November 15, 2010 by KO

A paper on the effect of colonial rule in India, comparing areas ruled directly by the British against the indirectly ruled ones:

This paper compares economic outcomes across areas in India which were under di- rect British colonial rule with areas which were under indirect colonial rule. Controlling for selective annexation using a specific policy rule, I find that areas which experienced direct rule have significantly lower levels of access to schools, health centers and roads in the post-colonial period. I find evidence that the quality of governance in the colonial period has a significant persistent effect on post-colonial outcomes.

A recent book on Colonial India had pointed out that the gdp per capita for the average Indian fell by over 50% during the colonial period, which also suggests that Colonial rule was not quite peaches and cream for the toiling masses. Of course, the Mughal era before colonial rule wasn’t particularly better. The Mughal’s spent their empire building huge tombs and palaces, and the British did practically the same, except on an island far away with their Indian wealth.