Conservative Conversation and Community
President Trump declines. In a sit-down informal press conference, with the Prime Minister of Pakistan mostly off camera, President Trump answered a series of questions, mostly by foreign journalists, on Afghanistan and Pakistan. Consider his comments as part of a larger information campaign, or public diplomacy, with both leaders and citizens of countries in the region, especially Iran.
The Democrat-Deep State-Media Cover-Up that Protected the Russiagate Narrative — Revisiting the Awan Cybersecurity Scandal with Luke Rosiak Luke Rosiak is an investigative reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation where he broke arguably one of the biggest scandals in the history of the federal government — one the media refused to cover and the […]
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Four years ago a cartoon contest was held in Garland, Texas. Organizers encouraged contestants to draw political cartoons in response to a terrorist attack by Islamic supremacists on the offices of Charlie Hebdo, a Parisian newspaper, in January of 2015, in which a dozen people, including the newspaper’s publishing director Stéphane Charbonnier, were murdered.
This is the winning cartoon, drawn by a fellow named Bosch Fawstin.
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Some years ago, I landed in Bangalore on my way to Delhi (where my parents lived) from Australia. It had been about five years since I had been home and, in the meantime, the country had started to open up. The changes were immediately apparent. I was able to rent a rather plush taxi to pay a visit to my cousin during my six-hour layover (our taxis didn’t use to be plush) and as I sat back and marveled at Bangalore Bengaluru (unrecognizable) a private radio station (private! unheard of!) called Radio Mirchi was playing. I’ll never forget what one of the announcers said (heavy South Indian accent):
MoreThe situation in the nation is sooooo bad because our country’s Vastu needs to be corrected. I propose that we take Kaaaashmir, and put it at Kanyakumari, and Kanyakumari and place it in Kaaaashmir. Whadoyousay?!
So far, two jets have been destroyed near the India/Pakistan border and airlines are suspending all flights. This could be pretty awful. Despite the fact that both sides seem evenly matched in the Kashmir conflict, the India/Pakistan war could erupt and we could see a limited exchange of nuclear weapons.
The problem for Pakistan is that they lack strategic depth. If a war happens, their plan involves invading India and trying to gain enough territory to force concessions. India knows this and has prepared broad defenses. It hopes to draw Pakistan in, run up against the Indian defenses, then go on the offensive and drive deep into Pakistan itself. That’s when the nukes get involved, if India takes too much territory and threatens the integrity of Pakistan.
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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America recoil at the Trump world sleaze revealed by former Trump attorney Michael Cohen in his testimony to Congress, but also realize he’s the least credible witness Congress could have called on the subject. They also worry about escalating tension between nuclear powers India and […]
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Earlier this week, Mary Habeck — a military historian whom I first met some twenty-three years ago when she was an assistant professor and I, a visiting professor at Yale — came to Hillsdale to give a talk for our local Alexander Hamilton Society. Over lunch, she told me something that I did not know — which set my mind a-wandering. Just over a year ago, the Central Intelligence Agency posted online nearly all of the materials collected from Osama Bin Laden’s lair by the Navy Seals who effected his demise.
This is no small trove. There are tens of thousands of pages of material, and items in the collection spell out in detail Al Q’aeda’s dealings with the governments of Pakistan and Iran — among others.
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CNA/EWTN News is reporting that Asia Bibi, the Pakistani Christian woman who was jailed on blasphemy charges against Islam, has been acquitted and freed from prison. This is good news for Asia Bibi and her family, for those who have been praying for her, and for freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Death sentence […]
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“Major League Soccer.” Isn’t that an oxymoron? While I recognize that soccer talent is nonuniformly distributed, that yes some soccer is more skillful than other soccer, already I am overthinking this. Overthinking should be limited by the weight, if any, of its subject. “Pakistan” and “strategic” in the same sentence. If your strategy depends on […]
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Where?
Pakistan, situated strategically next to Afghanistan and Iran, the proud owner of the Islamic Nuclear Bomb and on-again/off-again US ally against Soviets/Jihad/??? since about 1979.
Today I saw What Will People Say at the Scandinavian Film Festival in Sydney. It’s based on Pakistani-Norwegian director Iram Haq’s own story of being kidnapped by her family and sent back to Pakistan.
In the film, Oslo teenager Nisha sneaks her boyfriend into her room for what looks like some innocent snogging and her father busts them and gets violent. After some back and forth with social services Nisha, is basically lured out of protective custody by a phone call from her mother. Her father then drags her off to Pakistan and dumps her with his sister in Rawalpindi.
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Does anyone think that Donald Trump’s military plans for Afghanistan and Iraq are going to make a significant difference regarding Islamist violence? Do you believe that “destroying ISIS” will have any significant impact on terrorism in the long term?
I don’t. And I’m concerned that we are deluding ourselves by pursuing these military strategies as a major goal. So what should we do?
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It’s movie-watching treadmill season now that it’s cold out. I just finished Dukhtar on Netflix. The title means “Daughter.” A mother (in Pakistan, I think) escapes with her young daughter to avoid the girl’s arranged marriage. It’s well done, though with subtitles at the top (it’s easiest to read them when they’re centered at the […]
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It’s a measure of the world’s instability that this story isn’t leading headlines everywhere. In a normal world, cross-border violence between hostile, nuclear-armed nations would merit the front page. India and Pakistan have already fought three wars over Kashmir, so the prospect of escalation to full-scale war isn’t at all beyond imagination.
For the past two months, Modi’s government has been struggling to contain deadly street protests in Kashmir. Residents have been clashing almost daily with security forces. Reportedly, 80 civilians have been killed.
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The Subcontinent got a nice Christmas present on 25 December 2015:
MoreIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise visit to Pakistan on Friday — a significant sign the icy relationship between the two neighbors is thawing.
Iran is recruiting Pakistani Shia fighters for combat in Syria, according to Beirut’s Daily Star:
MoreFor years, websites linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard have posted articles eulogizing Shiite fighters who die in Syria. But two men heralded last month for dying to defend a shrine near Damascus were different from most martyrs given such treatment in the past: They were Pakistanis.The men were part of the Zeinabiyoun, a unit of Pakistani fighters named for a granddaughter of the Prophet Mohammad buried in the shrine, the latest contingent in an Iranian drive to recruit Shiites from the region to fight in Syria….
Meet Fishel Benkhald. My wife and I met him over Twitter late last year, and, because I am also a Jew, I was very interested in his story. We have become “friends” through social media.
Fishel lives in Karachi, Pakistan, and is considered to be the last Jewish citizen in Pakistan, a country of 187 million people. He has made it his mission to be a voice for Pakistani minorities. Over Twitter direct message, he told me (all quotes unedited, to preserve his spelling and grammar):
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If you’ve never heard of Youhanabad (“the City of John”): here. And, yes, there is a Forman Christian College in Pakistan. Please pray for them, and for the people of Youhanabad, and, especially, for the bombers. The bad news that started this: here. And the really bad news: here. But let’s call this the good news: More
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This report from the WAshington Post seems pretty forbidding to me. Pakistan is a Moslem country with atomic weapons developed and ready for use. I shudder to think of what might transpire if the ISIL group or a like crowd gains control of them. Is there any effective action that the US can take? Ought we […]
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