Matt Yglesias

24 Responses to “Pakistan Report”

1. Peter Says:
   November 29th, 2008 at 10:30 am

   Of course Pakistan is vigorously denying any connection to the Mumbai attacks, but their denials just don’t smell right.

2. gregor Says:
   November 29th, 2008 at 10:37 am

   The CAP recommendations seem to be the political/foreign
   policy version of the advice that any new age
   luvy duvy hippie might give to a new parent: we will
   support you no matter what you do- we don’t care that
   you look the other way at the schools teaching deep
   hatred for India and the west, we don’t care that
   you export trained terrorists, we don’t care that
   you harbor terrorists- we are just your friends.

   makes this liberal want to be a right wing BJP nut.

3. Hector Says:
   November 29th, 2008 at 11:44 am

   That CAP report is utterly absurd. Lots of new-age liberal pap about “democracy”, “civil society”, and similar nonsens. The only thing that can save Pakistan is rule by the military, the harsher the better. “Democracy” can never work in Pakistan, the only thing that can work is absolute and untrammeled military rule. it was criminally irresponsible of the civilian parties to encourage Musharraf to step down, and if he ever gets back into power he should make them pay dearly for it.

4. Richard Steven Hack Says:
   November 29th, 2008 at 4:44 pm

   Well, three morons weigh in right off the bat – especially Christian fascist Hector who is too stupid to realize that military rule has been the norm in Pakistan and is the source of its problems.

   While the CAP report is essentially correct in its recommendations, it’s still light on exactly HOW to do all this stuff. And since Obama is not listening to them, but listening to AIPAC-owned Zionist freakazoids like Rahm Emanual and promising to “take the fight to Al Qaeda” in his campaign speeches, well, I just don’t see anything good happening under an Obama administration.

5. Dilan Esper Says:
   November 29th, 2008 at 10:09 pm

   The only thing that can save Pakistan is rule by the military, the harsher the better.

   Hector you sure don’t seem to understand Pakistani politics very well.

   The Pakistani “democrats”, the Bhuttos and Zardaris of the world, such as they are, are still the most likely to favor a western orientation, better relations with India, and secularization. The military, in contrast, would just as soon keep the country in a perpetual state of war with India and sponsoring various forms of terrorism. (Of course, the intelligence establishment is even worse than the military, but the military is bad enough.)

   Look, I do accept that there aren’t a lot of great options over there, but it seems to me that if we are going to bet on any horse at all the “democrats” are probably the better bet.

6. Rishi Gajria Says:
   November 30th, 2008 at 12:13 am

   Hector said “The only thing that can save Pakistan is rule by the military, the harsher the better.”

   You obviously know little about Pakistan’s history. Since independence in 1947 from the British, Pakistan has been ruled by a series of Military dictators. They have had democratic elections thrice in the country.

7. Hector Says:
   November 30th, 2008 at 8:57 pm

   Dilan Esper,

   Past military leaders have, indeed, been responsible for fomenting Islamic jihadist militancy. General Musharraf is, I believe, different. He is a true friend of the United States and of the Sikhs, Hindus and Christians of Pakistan as well as all those Muslims who don’t want to live under Shariah law.

   The entire Bhutto family was a nest of corrupt thieves, and the other party (Sharif’s) was pretty openly for Shariah law, they just wanted it to be enacted ‘democratically’. I have no confidence in either of them.

8. Dilan Esper Says:
   November 30th, 2008 at 10:53 pm

   Hector:

   I actually share your rather perverse admiration for General Musharraf, who could have been a lot worse than he was.

   But you are overlooking that there are lots of people who are a lot worse than either Nawaz Sharif or Asif Ali Zardari. The key is to keep the ISI at bay and to tamp down the Islamist elements of the population, and the military, Musharraf notwithstanding, has been less willing to do that than any of the “democrats” (even Sharif) have been.

9. Hector Says:
   November 30th, 2008 at 11:24 pm

   Dilan Esper,

   Well, you may be right. If in the next few years Pakistani-linked violence decreases, then I will concede that Zardari is a decent leader, and that Musharraf was probably double-dealing. Thus far it doesn’t look good- although it’s true that in fairness to Zardari, he hasn’t been in power very long. These men look like they were largely Pakistani although it’s possible that the Pakistani government knew nothing about it.

10. Hector Says:
    November 30th, 2008 at 11:35 pm

    By the way, it’s not just that I don’t think Pakistan may be well served by democracy. While democracy has worked decently well in India, I still feel that India has missed a lot of opportunity over the last six decades, and that some of that is because its political systems lets everyone have an opportunity at power- even the most hateful, exploitative, and divisive elements of society. The big problem with liberal democracy is that it makes any kind of social change- for good or ill- very slow. And in a country that direly needs systemic social change as much as India- on the economic front, the social front, the gender front, the caste front, and the religious front- that is a very high cost to pay.

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