I guess the burning Obama effigy adds some to the context but enquiring minds do want to know … [h/t jason] Afghans shout slogans during a protest in front of the parliament building in Kabul October 25, 2009. Afghan police used fire to disrupt the protest by thousands of people in the capital Kabul on [...]
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Seriously! In the list of horrible waste of tax-payer’s hard earned money exposed by Fox News, I saw this: $50,000 to build a computer model of an ancient city in Pakistan complete with “animated and interactive ‘inhabitants’. If history is our guide, it won’t be long before these inhabitants fall to radical ideologies and turn [...]
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Riazat Butt,Welcome to Slackistan: Pakistan’s first ever slacker movie, The Guardian, Saturday 24 October 2009: That would be, according to Khan, with a one–man crew, no script, no budget, no permission and, at one point, when the Taliban were just 60 miles away from Islamabad. Mumblecore has finally reached Islamabad, and just in time!
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For curious bystanders: the Afghanistan: A Special Issue, Nov 9, 2009, includes a short piece by me. I especially draw your attention to the Priya Satiya and Selig Harrison. And Stephen Walt. Ok, just read the whole forum. Related: Please see Basharat Peer, Outline of the Republic, The Review – National, Oct 22 2009.
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Some reminders: 1. Remembering Afghanistan’s Golden Age by Elizabeth Bumiller. Includes a multimedia essay. 2. Kabul – City Number One by Adam Curtis – documentarian and researcher. (thanks to Arno) 3. Life Before Death by Michael Yon.
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via Babu … Ahab the Arab: Sheikh of the Burning Sand, Ray Stevens, 1962 Silently through the night to the sultan’s tent where he would secretly meet up with Fatima of the Seven Veils, swingingest grade “A” number one US choice dancer in the sultan’s whole harem, ’cause, heh, him and her had a thing [...]
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Ahmad Shayeq Qassem, “Afghanistan: Imperatives of Stability Misperceived“. Iranian Studies, 42:2, 247-274. Similarly, while the Afghan government appeared keen to disarm the predo- minantly non-Pushtun armed groups in the north, northeast and west of the country, it actually distributed more arms to the mainly Pushtun eastern and southern provinces in an effort to institute what [...]
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Kamyar Abdi writes in his review of Small Players of the Great Game (Journal of Iranian Studies, Volume 42, Issue 2 April 2009): The Conclusion to the book is an insightful study of the different approaches of the Russians and the British to the Great Game, and the role of intermediate players in the game, [...]
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On October 1st, 1842 Lord Edward Law Ellenborough (1790-1871) issued a special proclamation from Simla, four years to the day after Lord Auckland had declared a war on Afghanistan. The Government of India directed its army to pass the Indus in order to expel from Affghanistan a chief believed to be hostile to British interest, [...]
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I know that I need to do more than just put photos but, some of us are trying to get ready for teaching, ok? In any case, these are cool pictures. So for the commemoration of the official unification of Germany, two giants walked the streets of Berlin from Oct 1-4th. Die Riesen Kommen by [...]
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Via Manu Bhagavan and the Society for Advancing the History of South Asia: Please support the establishment of an endowed South Asian History book prize by the American Historical Association! Historical work on South Asia has become increasingly prominent and influential in the world academy in recent decades. Numerous books written about the region have [...]
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It only took a month, but I am sorta situated now. Just a week or more and then classes begin. I will post my syllabi here, as soon as I finalize them. And we need to have a discussion on the greatest essays in SA history for pdcs. In the meanwhile, enjoy some more snaps, [...]
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