Pakistan. Pakistan. Pakistan. (Oh and India too)

The Casbah got a comment on one of those flurries of articles I put up yesterday that got me thinking: Out of all the fuss that I made on the Lebanese Election; the Sons of Iraq program; the hardliner government in Israel, a failed state in Pakistan would be the greatest threat to the greater Middle East.

And it's been interesting to watch how Western news agencies have tried to cope with this fact. Everyone knows that Pakistan is the story of the year; yet, not to many in the West really understand the place. The majority of the reporting the West sees is basically monopolized by underpaid Pakistani journalists who are handed a camera and are ordered to "point it at the bearded insurgent with the RPG." Some plan eh?

So yeah, it's time to get smart on Pakistan and South Asia. One easy way to get an on the ground 101 to just about any country is to read their national newspaper. And from reading it, it would seem safe to say that the Pakistani's are a little pissed off at the moment:

Mr. Obama used a domestic event to ‘accidentally’ declare war on Pakistan. Now his team is trying to encourage the Pakistani military to seize power. The Americans destroyed Pakistan’s stability through the Benazir-Musharraf deal in 2007. They are doing it again. Here is the easiest way of telling the Americans to: Lay off, stop lecturing us on India, stop supporting separatism, and mend your ways in Afghanistan.

There is not a single towering personality in the Pakistani landscape today, with enough credibility, strong personality and effective communication skills, to stand up and tell U.S. President Barack Obama: You are a liar.

Londonstani, that grown-up over at Abu Muqawama, broke this article down into the top five points that we in the West should take away:

1. All of Pakistan's internal problems come from Indian activities run out of Afghanistan.
2. Pakistan's present "democratic" rulers are useless and owe their positions to America.
3. The real story is that the U.S. has failed in Afghanistan
4. London and Washington have a hidden agenda in cosying up to India.
5. The US wants to invade and dismember Pakistan


If I came out of this post, this article, Londonstani's five points, with anything, it's that it's time to start reading the Pakistani press and listening to their populous grievances. Seemingly everything Pakistan has a problem with has something to do India. Why can't the West get this fact? Perhaps it is because they aren't reading The Casbah...