A few days back the Aiwan-e-Sadar [Presidential Palace] was utilized as the a wedding reception hall to host the wedding ceremony of our Prime Minsters Gilani’s sons wedding – its just surprising that the entire country suffers the worst economic crisis but oblivious to all this suffering our leaders continue to live lavishly utilizing public property for their own advantage. I’m infuriated at such blatant misuse of public office, when is all this going to stop!! will they ever consider it their duty to ‘work for the people of Pakistan’ the people who got them there in the first place !!
[MiniLinks] Sepia Mutiny: Parties in Political drag
Sepia Mutiny asks some very compelling questions about the impact of the US elections on Pakistan. Doesn’t Obama sound like a Republican, with his insistence that US national security should take a precedence over the sovereignty of other countries? & McCain, in his objection, is forced to sound like a Democrat, talking about soft power and how American arrogance can lead to more support for terrorism. The candidates continue with their positions frozen at some point over the summer, with neither one of them raising this change in tactics, and the moderators ignoring it as well. This conspiracy of silence is quite bizarre. Read the entire post on Sepia Mutiny
[MiniLinks] Sarah Palin’s ‘Folk’ Problem – NewsWeek
Yes, she won the debate by not imploding. But governing requires knowledge, and mindless populism is just that—mindless. Do we want leaders who are everyday folks, or do we want leaders who understand everyday folks? Therein lies an enormous difference, one that could decide the presidential election and, if McCain and Palin were to win, shape the governance of the nation – NewsWeek Cover Story
Hot pursuit or breach of territorial integrity in Pakistan
Amjad Malik writes specially on the issue of US incursions in Pakistan
As Pakistan is paying the price for flirting with United States yet again and did not learn anything from Russian invasion results and being in the rock and hard place, the country is viewed by many that its giving too much to the Americans but according to the USA not enough, hence unilateral incursions. These attacks whether through missiles or land operations are fatal for state sovereignty principle as it not only establishes might is right principle but exposes a trust deficit amongst operators of war on terror at international front. King Abdullah rightly pointed out some intelligence failures and lack of cooperation at that front and insisted the need of joint Intel set up internationally to combat this menace which is affecting us all. When we look at UN charter, the forum which was set up to avoid war and to reaffirm faith in human rights and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligation of treaties can be maintained, and the tolerance was the key and there was agreed prohibition of armed forces save in the common interest. Article 2(4) of the UN charter says that ‘All members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purpose of the United Nations.”
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[MiniLinks] Mad Dog Palin : Rolling Stone Magazine
Rolling Stone magazine does a very interesting editorial. which boasts a very worrisome cartoon depicting McCain and Palin to say “The scariest thing about John McCain’s running mate isn’t how unqualified she is – it’s what her candidacy says about America” – the dirtiest jab was when they said “Not only is Sarah Palin a fraud, she’s the tawdriest, most half-assed fraud imaginable, 20 floors below the lowest common denominator, a character too dumb even for daytime TV” Ouch!
President Kirdari: McCain & Obama debate on Pakistan
In roughly 37 odd days from today, The United States of America will be electing its 44th President. Though the elections are limited to only the citizens of United States of America but the outcome of electing the new President has a far greater global impact then being limited to the confines of the borders of US of A. In recent times Pakistan has come under an greater scrutiny and is considered a hotspot to become a core discussion issue during the first Presidential debate and both candidates shared their opinions about the various US-influenced problems in Pakistan.
McCain kicked off the Pakistan series by offering a more soft and understandable approach, he suggested in taking the people of Pakistan into confidence on the war on terror and moving forward hand-in-hand to irradiate the menace of terrorism, he said “We’ve got to get the support of the people of Pakistan. He [Obama] said that he would launch military strikes into Pakistan“, to which Obama quickly reacted “Nobody talked about attacking Pakistan. — if the United States has Al Qaida, bin Laden, top-level lieutenants in our sights, and Pakistan is unable or unwilling to act, then we should take them out.”
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