Pak Tea House » Entries tagged with "Iran"
Pakistan should support Iran as its long-term policy
By Prof Farakh A Khan: (Iran: it holds 10% of oil and 15% of gas reserves of the world, population 76,900,300, literacy (over 15 years) 80%, life expectancy 70.86, area 1,648,195 sq. km. Wikipedia, 2012) Iran is in the hot seat these days with its nuclear development plan. The US and Israel fear that Iran is developing a nuclear bomb and are threatening to bomb nuclear sites in Iran. If Iran is bombed what would be the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reviews
Israel and Iran: On a collision course to Hell
By Saad Hafiz: The world waits with bated breath as Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad square off on Iran’s nuclear program. Bibi, who was recently referred to as a “Liar” by French President Sarkozy and the combative Ahmedinejad who dismisses the Jewish Holocaust, are hardly leaders who can be trusted at the helm in this delicate confrontation. For the moment, Israel’s top leaders are employing the good cop bad cop routine with Iran. Bibi is implying that an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities is imminent while ceremonial President Peres seemingly opposing unilateral action is saying that “Israel will first of all see what the world is doing.” Nobel Peace Prize winner Peres added: “We don’t want to jump alone, we are part of the civilization of the … Read entire article »
Afghanistan: Where’s the exit strategy?
Raza Rumi The Afghan imbroglio has now come to haunt the region and perhaps the globe as well. Thirty years of destruction and violence have left a stateless and vandalized polity where the great powers of our age are scrambling for bits and pieces of territorial and political control. Alongside this, the regional players with great delusions of grandeur about their strategic interests and military might i.e. India, Pakistan and Iran are also picking up battles attempting to reinvent history or reaffirm their jingoistic sense of nationhood. There is no question that the US invasion and subsequent battles in Afghanistan were unjust and destructive. More so, the operations of a mammoth war machine have become deeply unpopular within the US and other countries, which comprise the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, NATTO, Pakistan, strategy, Taliban, USA
How Reluctance to Debate Religion Has Resulted in a Total Quagmire
Raza Habib Raja has authored this exclusive post for PTH. We welcome his original thoughts and courage to express them. Raza Rumi I have often been much more amazed not at the religious fanaticism of the few, but at passivity of the moderate majority. And although skeptics will cast their doubt but the fact is that Pakistan on the whole has a moderate population, particularly when compared to countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia etc, where large sections of population are thoroughly radicalized. In Pakistan comparable fervour is dominant only in pockets. Yes this is a country which has Taliban but it is also a country where people have largely voted for PPP and PML (N) (which is a moderate conservative political party). This is a country which despite being conservative has … Read entire article »
Iran Bars Music in Private Schools, May Impose University Code
From Saudi Arabia to Iran to Afghanistan to Malaysian and Indonesian provinces, we can be sure of one extremely important social measure that an Islamic religious government takes when it comes to power; enforce women modesty. An Islamist may not have much of a social or economic agenda. But he will make sure that a woman is covered first and foremost. For our readers more in tune with the current Iranian social and political situation, your comments on this thread would be most appreciated. (PTH) Published at Bloomberg.com By Ali Sheikholeslami in London June 1 (Bloomberg) — Iran has barred private schools from teaching music, saying it clashes with the establishment’s Islamic values, following a push to enforce moral standards that may lead to a national dress code for university students. “The use of … Read entire article »
Filed under: human rights, Iran, Islam, Pakistan, public policy, Religion, Rights, Women
…On the Birth of Balochistan Liberation Army
The Stunning Investigative Story on the Birth of Balochistan Liberation Army By Tariq Saeedi in Ashgabat, Sergi Pyatakov in Moscow, Ali Nasimzadeh in Zahidan, Qasim Jan in Kandahar and SM Kasi in Quetta MARCH 1: Deception and treachery. Live and let die. The ultimate zero sum game. Repetition of bloody history: Call it what you may, something is happening in the Pakistani province of Balochistan that defies comprehension on any conventional scale. Four correspondents and dozens of associates who collectively logged more than 5000 kilometers during the past seven weeks in pursuit of a single question – What is happening in Balochistan? – have only been able to uncover small parts of the entire picture. However, if the parts have any proportional resemblance to the whole, it is a frightening and mind-boggling picture. … Read entire article »
Filed under: baluchistan, Islamabad, Pakistan, Pakistan-India Peace Process, quetta, Religion, Taliban, Terrorism, violence, war, Zardari
Understanding Islamic Revival In Its Proper Context
By Yasser Latif Hamdani My secular comrades and friends will probably disagree with me or maybe not, and it is nothing less than sacrilege for a self proclaimed secularist like myself to say so, but the core values of any civilization are drawn from the dominant religio-cultural system. There are contributory factors from other minority strains but ultimately the way society is organized is around the religio-cultural system the majority of its adherents follow. So for … Read entire article »
Moving Towards a Global Afghan Taliban Settlement
Stratfor Analysis January 25, 2010 will be remembered as the day when much of the planet buzzed about diplomatic talks with Afghanistan’s Taliban movement. The chatter comes in the context of a number of conferences that will be held over the course of the next week that focus on dealing with Afghanistan’s jihadist insurgency. The countries being represented at the meetings — including the United States, the Central Asian states, Europe, Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, India and China — have a stake in what happens in Afghanistan. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Army, FATA, Great game, India, Iran, Islam, Islamabad, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan, quetta, Religion, strategy, Taliban, Terrorism, USA
Pakistan And US – A Balancing Act
By Yasser Latif Hamdani There are some fundamental truths that both Pakistanis and Americans need to understand about our mutual relationship especially in Afghanistan : 1. Pakistan and US are natural allies. I know the fashionable in India and the US like to talk of a “natural alliance” between their two countries but both India and the US must realize that theirs can be at best a mercantile relationship. Natural alliances are not necessarily based on hollow idealism and grandiose but ridiculous propositions like the “arcs of democracy”. If this was true, Pakistan and Russia would be natural allies but they are not. Natural alliances are based on convergence of geo-strategic objectives and in the case of Pakistan the long term interests of Pakistan and US will always coincide in this region. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Great game, Imperialism, Pakistan, strategy, USA, World
OBAMA’S LATEST SURGE: A TIGHT BALLOON IN HOT AIR
(A Brace for Bloody Winters) By Samson Simon Sharaf The long awaited Obama Speech is over. It is to wait and see the impact of the third surge in a highly destabilized, charged and violent region. The endgame if one dares, is not what Secretary Clinton wants us to believe. I would describe the new strategy as a tight balloon in hot air that may rapture even before it reaches close to its objectives. The speech makes all the right noises of an establishment given up on the doctrine of ‘Shock and Awe’ that promoted absolutism in distant lands. It recognizes Pakistan’s integrity, sovereignty and welfare of the people. Following intense lobbying between State Department and Pentagon, there appears a lead role for the Pentagon working in tandem with Joint Special Operations Command … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Army, Pakistan, Terrorism, USA, violence, war
Political Absolutism
Brigadier Samson Simon Sharaf US Strategic mind is obsessed with dominance. A constant drift from a measured military response to countervailing strategic dominance is visible. At the heart of such thought is the containment and control of Eurasia in which Pakistan constitutes the formidable Southern Front.Past fifty years have witnessed the gradual rise of neo strategists who believe that use of covert violent activities can achieve political objectives both in tandem and whilst bypassing the defence establishment. They reflect aspirations of cartels, energy giants and economic czars riding the technological edge. This primacy of civilian leadership over military affairs ignited a new debate during the Korean and Cold War especially in formulation of evolving nuclear doctrines. The mathematicians and social scientists were the first generation of civilian nuclear strategists. At the … Read entire article »
Energizing Peace
By Saleem H Ali and Parag Khanna Foreign Policy The lessons of geography appear to be ignored by policymakers in Washington D.C. these days. The Obama administration is pursuing tenuous negotiations with Iran regarding its supply of low-enriched uranium, in the hopes of taking the first step to erase the longstanding animosity between the two countries. It is also rethinking its Afghanistan and Pakistan policy to emphasize reconstruction and economic development. These two strategies are unfortunately disconnected — despite the fact that Afghanistan shares a 600-mile-long strategic border with Iran. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Economy, India, Iran, Pakistan, Taliban, USA
The Baloch insurgency is no bluff
By Rahimullah Yusufzai, The News, November 03, 2009 Shafiq Ahmed Khan described himself as a Balochistani, spoke about the rights of the Baloch people and publicly mourned and condemned the assassination of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti at the hands of Gen Pervez Musharraf. Even then he was killed by those who insist they are fighting for the Baloch cause. … Read entire article »
Filed under: baluchistan
Jundallah vs. The Mullahtariat
By Pepe Escobar Fasten your seat belts; it’s gonna be a bumpy ride. As a crucial subplot of the New Great Game in Eurasia, Balochistan – on both sides of the Iran-Pakistan border – promises turbulence aplenty. Welcome to United States General Stanley McChrystal’s self-fulfillment prophecy – “Chaos-istan” in action. … Read entire article »
Filed under: baluchistan, Iran, Pakistan
Using Rape and Media Scandals as a Weapon against Women
By Aisha Fayyazi Sarwari Vulgarity is vulgarity, no matter what mouth it comes out of – Maya Angelou Well then so is bullshit. Because that is what it would be called if someone asked President Obama in a public forum what his wife, Michalle Obama thought about the Iranian nuclear weapons program. … Read entire article »
Filed under: USA
Recent Comments