The Birth Pangs of Inherited Democracy
The head of Pakistan’s largest political party is on summer vacation from college. Here’s a video excerpt. The best moment begins at 1 minute 10 seconds, when Bilawal Bhutto Zardari screams his head...
View ArticleMusharraf vs. Shahbaz: Who’s the Better Singer?
Pakistan now has two leading singing political figures, Pervez Musharraf and Shahbaz Sharif. I think they’re both good. Below is Mush singing while president, in the same hall in which the infamous...
View ArticleThe Bhutto-Zardari Kids Go Public
Bilawal and his younger siblings were publicly unveiled in Multan this July. Each gave a speech that was in English save for some greetings and slogans in Urdu. The speeches were very hollow. The kids...
View ArticleZardari in the Crosshairs
My latest external publication is an article on ForeignPolicy.com that discusses the plight of President Asif Ali Zardari. An excerpt is at the end of this post. I have been blogging less frequently in...
View ArticleOPED — Only way to end the Afghanistan war: US peace deal with the Taliban
Here’s my latest, an oped in the Christian Science Monitor. I will try to discuss the topic more expansively in a blog post here. Stay tuned. My apologies for the extended absence. I’ve been busy....
View ArticlePakistan Dives into the Persian Gulf
The always-important Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan visited Pakistan this weekend to ensure that the country’s major power brokers are behind Saudi Arabia and Bahrain as the latter faces a possibly...
View ArticleAttacks on Pro-Taliban Politician Point Toward Intra-Jihadi Divide
Maulana Fazlur Rehman, a leading Pakistani Islamist politician, was the target today of a second suicide bombing attack in as many days. The attacks on Fazl, who heads his own faction of the Jamiat...
View ArticleGilani Gambles by Siding with Kayani
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani addressed Pakistan’s National Assembly tonight in Islamabad on issues surrounding the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden. His speech, which was in English and began...
View ArticleWhat’s going on with Zardari?
Here’s my hypothesis on what’s really going on with President Asif Ali Zardari: Zardari’s heart is in poor condition. He may have had a heart attack or doctors detected severe blockage in his arteries....
View ArticleThe Imran Khan Phenomenon (Foreign Policy)
For ForeignPolicy.com, I profile Imran Khan, rising Pakistani politician and chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf party. Click here to read it.
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