Author Archive
By Nail Em Up on Sep 14, 2011 in 9/11, AfPak Border, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Asia, CIA, Civil Liberties & Rights, Counterterrorism, Crime, Current Affairs, Fascism, Governance, Human Rights, India, Jihadists, Media, Print, Muslim, National Defense, National Security, Pakistan, Religion, Sharia Law, Taliban, Terrorism, World | View Comments
Osama bin Laden: killed and al Qaeda: on the run. That’s the balance sheet — more or less — that the U.S. has to share with the world. Meanwhile, its biggest ally in the War on Terror — Pakistan — has nothing to present except that its own people have been terrorized by militants, with [...]
By Nail Em Up on Jul 13, 2011 in AfPak Border, Afghanistan, Defense, DoD, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Aid, Foreign Policy, Media, Blogs, Pakistan, Pentagon, Southwest Asia, State Department, Taliban, Terrorism | View Comments
Only a year ago, the Obama administration decided to ramp up military support to the Pakistani army as part of an effort to persuade Islamabad to do more to combat militants. The new military aid, which was contingent on Congressional approval, was expected to amount to more than $2 billion over five years and would [...]
By Nail Em Up on Jul 6, 2011 in 9/11, Abuse, AfPak Border, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Censorship, Civil Liberties & Rights, Civil Rights, Current Affairs, Entertainment, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Fox News, Hollywood, Human Rights, Islam, Jihadists, Media, Print, Media, Television, Muslim, Muslims & Arabs, National Defense, National Security, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Taliban, Terrorism, Torture, Women and Children, World | View Comments
The tense relationship between Pakistan and the United States has often been described as a bad marriage. Like a couple teetering on divorce but frozen in mutually dependent inertia, the U.S. wants one thing while Pakistan wants another, at least most of the time. This love-hate relationship long precedes the September 11th attacks. The last [...]
By Nail Em Up on Jun 28, 2011 in AfPak Border, Afghanistan, Asia, Corruption, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Aid, Foreign Policy, India, Islam, Media, Muslim, Muslims & Arabs, Pakistan, Taliban, Terrorism, World, World News | View Comments
It’s surprising to many that the majority of Pakistanis support the Islamists and their apologists as the saviors of their religion. But this didn’t happen overnight. The mindset of the large segment of society didn’t change with a blink of an eye. No serious attempt has been made to analyse this phenomenon even though the [...]
By Nail Em Up on May 20, 2011 in AfPak Border, Asia, Censorship, Civil Liberties & Rights, Current Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Pakistan | View Comments
It was embarrassing enough for the people of Pakistan to find out that Osama bin Laden was living in their midst for years. Even more shameful was the realization that their politicians are incapable of questioning the security apparatus of the country. The masses rallied and protested and faced hardships for months to kick General [...]
By Nail Em Up on May 18, 2011 in 9/11, AfPak Border, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Asia, Defense, DoD, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Aid, Foreign Policy, Islam, Jihadists, Media, Media, Print, Muslim, Pakistan, Pentagon, State Department, Taliban, Terrorism | View Comments
One of the most familiar story lines in the beloved comic strip “Peanuts” involved malicious prankster Lucy holding a football and encouraging poor Charlie Brown to kick it. At the last moment, Lucy would pull the football away. Year after year after year, Lucy played Charlie Brown for a sucker. The football remained unkicked. So [...]
By Nail Em Up on May 2, 2011 in 9/11, AfPak Border, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Barack Obama, Bush administration, Commander in Chief, Crime, Current Affairs, Defense, DoD, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, George Bush, Guantanamo, Homeland Security, India, Islam, Jihadists, Media, Media Bias, Media Handling of Story, Media, Blogs, Media, Print, Muslim, Muslims & Arabs, NATO, National Security, Pakistan, Pentagon, President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Southwest Asia, State Department, Terrorism, World News | View Comments
Bin Ladin is dead. Again. In the last ten years he has been reported “killed” at least four times. The only difference this time was that the President of the United States announced the death of the number one terrorist in the world. Above all, this time he was killed not in Tora Bora, not [...]
By Nail Em Up on Jan 6, 2011 in AfPak Border, Bush administration, Censorship, Citizenship, Civil Liberties, Civil Liberties & Rights, Civil Rights, Crime, Current Affairs, Death Penalty, Fascism, Freedom of Speech, George Bush, Hate Speech, Human Rights, Islam, Jihadists, Media Bias, Media, Blogs, Media, Television, Muslim, Muslims & Arabs, Pakistan, Race, Racism, Religion, Sharia Law, Southwest Asia | View Comments
Salmaan Taseer is dead. He’s neither the first politician, first liberal, the first outspoken bullish pugnacious politician who was killed. Nor is he last. There were many, there will be more. He was the sitting governor of Pakistan’s biggest province and was assassinated by his own bodyguard. Does Pakistan suffer today because of his death? [...]
By Nail Em Up on Dec 28, 2010 in AfPak Border, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, CIA, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Counterterrorism, Crime, Current Affairs, Defense, DoD, Foreign Policy, Human Rights, Intelligence, Jihadists, Media, Print, Media, Radio, Media, Television, NATO, National Defense, National Security, Pakistan, Political Strategy, Southwest Asia, State Department, Taliban, Terrorism | View Comments
The Islamabad station chief of the Central Intelligence Agency hastily departed from Pakistan last week after his cover was blown due to a suspected deliberate leak by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. This act is the latest evidence of the tense relationship between the two spy agencies. It is believed that his cover was blown in retaliation [...]
By Nail Em Up on Aug 6, 2010 in Current Affairs | View Comments
For the past several weeks, public has been treated to a spectacle that has swung between national security calamity and out-and-out farce.
By Nail Em Up on Apr 7, 2010 in Barack Obama, Civil Liberties, Civil Liberties & Rights, Civil Rights, Crime, Current Affairs, Death Threats, Fascism, Hate Speech, Health Care, Human Rights, Media, Media Bias, Media Handling of Story, Medicare, Obama-Barack & President Barack, President Barack Obama, Race, Racism | View Comments
Some readers of this blog took exception to my post titled “Fear Itself,” which was published on April 6. I’d like to address the objections. Protest is the American way. The health care bill, a massive piece of legislation, had many elements which some could find objectionable. Mandates are worrying, as is the fear that [...]
By Nail Em Up on Apr 7, 2010 in AfPak Border, Afghanistan, Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud, Barack Obama, CIA, Commander in Chief, Current Affairs, Defense, DoD, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Intelligence, Iran, MSNBC, Media, Media Bias, Media Handling of Story, Media, Print, Media, Television, NATO, NBC/MSNBC, National Security, New York Times, Pakistan, President Barack Obama, Southwest Asia, Taliban | View Comments
In almost every briefing pertaining to South Asia, the U.S. Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Ambassador Richard Holbrooke says that he won’t use the ‘K word,’ by which he means Kashmir. This is sensible of him, knowing that any statement could escalate into an exchange of hot words between India and Pakistan (and India [...]
By Nail Em Up on Apr 6, 2010 in Barack Obama, CNN, Censorship, Civil Liberties, Civil Liberties & Rights, Civil Rights, Current Affairs, Democratic Party, Fascism, Fox News, Freedom of Speech, Hate Speech, Human Rights, Media Bias, Media Handling of Story, Media, Television, NBC/MSNBC, President Barack Obama | View Comments
What sales tactic is the most persuasive? Which emotion, when exploited, motivates human beings to reach for their wallets – or their guns? The answer, of course, is fear. And fear, when stoked by demagogues and poured over a volatile flammable mass only needs one match to create a frightful conflagration. Witness the American “Tea [...]
By Nail Em Up on Apr 5, 2010 in Human Rights, Islam, Media, Print, Muslim, Muslims & Arabs | View Comments
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. – American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald By Fitzgerald’s standards, the wave of anti-veil rhetoric sweeping across Europe has probably catapulted the continent’s politicians into the intellectual equivalent of [...]
By Nail Em Up on Mar 15, 2010 in Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Bush/Cheney, Crime, Current Affairs, Fox News, Hate Speech, Hillary Clinton, Huffington Post, Media, Media Bias, Media, Print, Media, Radio, Media, Television, New York Times, Pakistan, President Barack Obama, Presidential Candidates, Racism, Washington Post, World News | View Comments
Every now and then there are moments in the American media that defy description. Nevertheless they must be addressed. Case in point: Washington Post “media critic” Howard Kurtz’s article today about FOX News Channel’s “reporters’” growing discomfort with the shenanigans of FNC darling Glenn Beck, he of the mighty chalkboard of insanity, his ludicrous fits [...]
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