O RLY!?

by sepoy on December 13, 2008 · 5 comments

George Packer, in the NYer: “The core problem is that Pakistan is no longer really a country, if it ever was.”

Actually George, the core problem might be that you (read, U.S.) have never understood it as a country.

{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

1 anon December 13, 2008 at 4:09 pm: as if Friedman wasn’t enough now everyone wants to be a pseudo intellectual
2 Sasha December 14, 2008 at 9:50 pm: Long time reader of this blog, one of my favorites. Curious what you think of the Hoodbhoy interview, actually Juan Cole says something quite similar in Salon as well:

THE MUMBAI MASSACRE AND PAKISTAN’S NEW NIGHTMARES

II.
*
The Mumbai Attacks: More Than Meets the Eye

[edited to add link]
3 sepoy December 17, 2008 at 9:33 am: Sasha: I think Pervez Hoodbhoy’s interview was good (a bit simplistic) – though my one quibble is that he continues to defend the Army. Or at least, he defends portions that he believes are good. I just don’t see how the Army can be a force of good in that nation, any more. His broader points stand: the state is in three different civil wars, it is militarily over-extended, and the only solutions are internal growth of civil infrastructures, political dialogues and a reduction of the anti-Americanism.
4 sepoy December 17, 2008 at 9:34 am: or so I said earlier.
5 Akbar December 19, 2008 at 12:02 pm: ….reduction of anti-americanism….” now that is one noble pursuit