Swedish artist Victoria Bergsman — better known as Taken By Trees, or an ex-member of The Concretes, or the chick in Peter, Bjorn & John’s “Young Folks“, or the lady in the New Order’s 2005 commissioned video for “Temptation” — went to Pakistan earlier this year to record her new album “East of Eden.” Bergsman, [...]

Bigfoot was seen throwing chappals

The song ‘Hey Kaala Bandar (Hey Monkey Man),’ from the fabulous Delhi 6 soundtrack, includes these lines by a British rapper:

But I like the bandarSince he came a lot of things changedMany things have been arranged
There’s way more police in the streetsso I feel safe at night when I go to [...]

Omair Ahmad’s “The Storyteller’s Tale” opens with a poet in front of an open road. Behind him is a city he loved. One that was known for its beauty and now it is burning, ravaged, destroyed. A city that can no longer afford indulgences like poetry and poets. The poet, who speaks some of Ghalib’s [...]

We’ve got one standard for the U.S.:
“… if we have Osama bin Laden in our sights, and the Pakistani government is unable or unwilling to take them out, then… we will take them out.” [Obama]
We conceded to Israel the same right of self-defense after it attacked Hamas training camps and arms caches today, killing over [...]

Here’s a current AdSense ad referencing Pakistan’s Supreme Leerer. We really do need a Romanization standard for Indian languages. Who would’ve thought you could build entire competitors around transliteration-squatting? (thanks, Puneet)

The McCain campaign just did its second damage control interview in a row with Katie Couric. Here, John McCain tries to stanch the bleeding after Sarah Palin contradicted him on Pakistan. He claims that a voter’s question is ‘gotcha journalism.’ Palin calls the president of Pakistan ‘Zadari,’ McCain intercepts a question asked directly of her: [...]

Barely had Pakistanis broken out the mithai and bhangra at the swearing in of a new Prime Minister and the release of judges including boss judge Iftikhar Chaudhry, when the heavies winged in to watch over their investment:
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Richard Boucher, [...]

Moving away from the subject of Iraq, Barack Obama spoke on national security today, calling for a major change in Pakistan and Afghanistan policy and slamming the diversion in the sands of Iraq. He wants to get rid of Musharraf, make Pakistan aid conditional on fighting jihadis and restoring democracy, boost non-military aid, and continue [...]

Pakistani chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was trying to find people whom the dictator had tortured or disappeared without trial. Some were terrorism suspects fingered by the U.S., guilty and innocent alike; others were political prisoners whom Musharraf disliked.
For Chaudhry’s trouble, he was illegally deposed by the dictator and placed under house arrest. This helped trigger [...]

At tonight’s Dem debate, Obama made the obvious point that Dubya has already pivoted toward his policy of targeted terrorist assassinations in Pakistan:

Clinton: … last summer [Obama] basically threatened to bomb Pakistan, which I don’t think was a particularly wise position to take. I have long advocated a much tougher approach to Musharraf and to [...]

The Dem presidential candidates briefly mentioned Pakistan at tonight’s debate. Obama reiterated that backing Musharraf has been a colossal mistake:

Obama: [About a U.S. soldier he spoke with] They were capturing Taliban weapons, because it was easier for them to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander-in-chief… [...]

A Shah of Iran-type situation could result if we enrage the Pakistani populaceAs y’all know, the Prime Directive of Star Trek is non-interference in the internal affairs of an alien civilization. But America’s foreign policy apparatus, whether military or diplomatic, never bought into that hippie-dippy Roddenberry crap. The Prime Directive of our realpolitik is simple: [...]

Experts tell us the first stage of grief is denial:

… the first election returns were barely in Monday night when the U.S. government began pressing victorious opposition leaders not to impeach the former military strongman… U.S. diplomats pushed hard against any effort to dislodge the retired army general who had just suffered a public rejection, [...]

After winning the Wisconsin primary tonight, John McCain repeated his misleading claim that Barack Obama wants to bomb Pakistan:

“…. will we risk the confused leadership of an inexperienced candidate who once suggested bombing our ally, Pakistan…” [Link]
What Obama actually wants is surgical airstrikes against Al Qaeda leaders in tribal areas, not against Islamabad:

It was a [...]