In a recent post on the Iraqi Shiites I discussed Reuel Marc Gerecht’s Why the Worst is Probably Over in Iraq which takes the view that the moderate Shiite support for democracy led by Grand Ayatollah Sistani had survived the civil war. In the course of looking more deeply into Gerecht’s his work I found [...]

Although reports are still contradictory and extremely sketchy, the news that Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated looks like it is correct. News sources have few details and Blogs are just breaking it. Blogger Abu Muqawama has the first post I can find that has a reasonably complete narrative: Hospital sources are confirming Benazir Bhutto has, [...]

In a moment of optimism I had hoped that after Musharraf had paved the way for Benazir Bhutto’s return from exile and her narrow escape from a Taliban bomb, Pakistan’s ruling elite were showing signs of uniting against the threat of Islamic radicalism. I was wrong. Whatever plans Musharraf had for a transition back to [...]

Despite Bill Roggio reporting an eroding situation in Pakistan’s Tribal Territories and within Pakistan itself for the past few years I responded with some optimism to Benazir’s Bhutto’s return and her strong speech after a Taliban attempt on her life. Furthermore, I hoped that a report by Syed Saleem Shahzad claiming a Pakistani Army offensive [...]

Richard Landes in The Brits Pig out on Anti-zionism: How Europe Commits Suicide at Augean Stables wonders what is behind the kind of one sided debate put on by the Oxford Union where the pro Israel team is made up of antisemites. It’s hard to figure out which plays more, whether they can’t stand another [...]

The following Pajamas Media overview of an article by Bill Roggio about the situation in Pakistan confirms in some ways the claims made by Syed Saleem Shahzad in the Asia Times Online that I discussed in yesterday’s post while, at the same time, painting a far more dire picture. Bill Roggio looks at the worsening [...]

The reaction by Benazir Bhutto to the attempt on her life has been a ringing speech (video here) in which she has denounced the Taliban and al Qaeda by name. She started by thanking the young men who gave their lives defending her “with their bare hands” distributing honor directly and dishonor indirectly with telling [...]

According to this Jerusalem Post article. Former premier Benazir Bhutto narrowly escaped a suicide bombing that shattered her homecoming procession and killed up to 126 people hours after she returned to Pakistan from exile pledging to fight extremism and promote democracy. Given the central importance of Pakistan in the world’s struggle with terrorism my immediate [...]

One of the few commentators who aggressively tries to address the critical differences between Western culture and Arab culture is Richard Landes who blogs at the Augean Stables and The Second Draft. His essay Honor-Shame Jihad (HJP) is an excellent introduction to the role of honor-shame culture in the Arab Israeli conflict. As he says [...]

President Mushaaraf has been reelected and according to this Reuters report it looks like Pakistan’s supreme court will validate his reelection by the outgoing parliament. Even though I follow events in Pakistan closely Canadian columnist David Warren’s October 3rd column surprised me by asserting that controlling Pakistan is the real goal of the war in [...]