An Image…

By Awaam

We see many trash picker children around our homes and streets daily. Chatting and giggling while digging through the massive garbage dump at every corner to support themselves and their families in most cases.

I never saw anyone stopping for them and asking why they have got to do all this and at such early ages? Where do they come from? What are their names? No one ever asked. Because it does not matter. We as a society have absorbed the fact that at every garbage heap there must be a few little children probing it, picking from it, and the worst eating from it. It’s a shame that it is not shocking to see it happening.

Abeel, a 12 years old boy, is also one of those many children. I saw him this morning through the window while sitting in my office, doing something after which I could not resist but to go to him and ask him why has he to do this. He had lit fire in the stove which he had made from the bricks and stones near the trash container and was cooking something in a mud pot. When I went near I saw it was maggy noodles boiling inside it.

Tony Blair and the imperial temptation in Britain and America

Thomas Ash- OpenDemocracy

Why did Tony Blair decide to go along with, and even cheerlead for, the invasion of Iraq almost seven years ago? I don’t pretend to know the full explanation. But ahead of his testimony to the Chilcot Inquiry on Friday – which I would guess is more likely to devolve into a media circus than to provide a truly satisfying answer to this question – it is worth considering one factor many informed commentators consider key. I have in mind the imperial temptation in British politics – the desire to “punch above our weight”, reshape the shaken kaleidoscope of the world, or whatever description you favour (there is no shortage of purple prose to choose from). In his illuminating history of twentieth century UK politics, Britain Since 1918: The Strange Career Of British Democracy, David Marquand illustrates how leader after leader has fallen prey to this temptation, Blair included.

I was reminded of this history by a recent exchange in the higher-browed reaches of the American blogosphere which is well worth your time. The debate was prompted by a thoughtful but flawed essay by conservative Jim Manzi in the journal National Affairs which made the following claim:

Women’s bills revisited

By Zubeida Mustufa

Hats off to the women who lobbied for the two bills on sexual harassment, and managed last week to move them a step further towards becoming the law. At long last the ruling coalition partners mustered enough courage to take a stand on women’s rights in this matter.

At one stage the Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Bill and the Criminal Law Amendment Bill had appeared to be in the doldrums, given the resistance from the religious parties. Another bill, the Domestic Violence Bill, which was passed by the National Assembly, lapsed when it was not adopted by the Senate within the stipulated 90 days.

PROSPECTS FOR PAKISTAN

Jonathan Paris

This Report analyses the prospects for Pakistan over a one to three year time horizon. It looks at economic, political, security, and bilateral issues. There are three possible scenarios for Pakistan over this relatively short time horizon; Pakistan probably will avoid becoming a “failed state” and is unlikely to find a “pathway to success” but, as Pakistan confronts a myriad of vexing challenges, the most likely scenario is that it will “muddle through”.

1. Economy

Looking at the economy optimistically, in just over 20 years, Pakistan will surpass Indonesia and become the fifth most populous country and the one with the most Muslims. Its youth bulge provides it with a baby boom which, if educated and employed, could provide its economy with a demographic dividend long after the equivalent bulges in China and India have aged and retired. Pakistan has an opportunity to leverage its domestic consumer market to attract multinationals and build up competitive economies of scale in industries like food, electronics, autos and engineering for the export market. Peace with India would turn Pakistan into an energy transit point and geographic hub for a possible South Asian boom.

Dealing with brutal Afghan warlords is a mistake

Nick Grono and Candace Rondeaux in the Boston Globe

Boston Globe

 

AS WASHINGTON rolls out its latest troop surge in Afghanistan, all eyes are on the violent south and east of the country to see whether the additional military muscle will bring stability. But outside observers are looking in the wrong place: They ought to focus on the backroom deals the United States is preparing to make with some notorious warlords, as these will determine the long-term effectiveness of President Obama’s strategy.

While the White House has paid lip service to the importance of good governance in Afghanistan, the reality is that co-opting violent warlords is at the heart of a plan that will likely result in further instability. One of the warlords who may soon star in the new US efforts to rebrand fundamentalists as potential government partners is Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a brutal Afghan insurgent commander responsible for dozens of deadly attacks on coalition troops. As a mujahedeen commander during the civil war in the 1990s, Hekmatyar turned his guns on Kabul, slaughtering many thousands of Afghans, with his militias raping and maiming thousands more.

WEARING BURQA WILL NOW BE A CRIME?

Asghar Ali Engineer

Now a draft bill is under consideration of French Parliament imposing a fine of Euro 700 on any woman wearing burqa covering her whole body in any public place and her husband twice as much if he forces hear to wear burqa. This is for the first time that women would be penalized for wearing burqa. Earlier France had banned Muslim girls wearing hijab in schools. It argued that these religious symbols interfere with its commitment to secularism and its secular culture.

In fact nothing happens without political ideology being behind it. This measure is being   championed by rightwing politicians who are exploiting anti-Islam feelings in France among a section of people under the cover of secularism. However the socialists are opposed to any ban on burqa though they are also not in favour of women wearing burqa. They feel women should be discouraged rather than banning burqa (which includes covering face).

Rental Power Projects to Hike Power Rates

While the minister for water and power has once again promised of zero load shedding in the next three to six months through Rental Power Projects, The Asian Development Bank [ADB] has laid the claim bared by terming it impossible.

The ADB was tasked with third party evaluation, by the federal cabinet to examine government’s agreements for additional 2250MW capacity through 14 rental power projects [RPPs]. The Bank, according to a news reports, has debunked the RPP scheme of the government in a report submitted to the government committee by saying that the agreements had been ‘signed in haste’ and without examining in detail the fiscal and contractual obligations of the government. The Bank disagreed with the claim made by Water and Power authorities that the rental tariff will range between 13-18 cent per unit, and observed that it would actually be between 14-22 cents per unit, which will make the electricity produced by RPPs substantially more expensive than what the government has claimed.

Jim Al-Khalili: Islam’s House of Wisdom will rise again

Sanjida O’ Connel

Quantum physicist Jim Al-Khalili grew up in Iraq and has become an expert on the golden age of Islamic science. He explains to Sanjida O’Connell how science in the Muslim world will flourish once more

Few westerners know about the golden age of Arabic science. How did it come about?

The Arab empire was hugely powerful by late 8th and early 9th century; its rulers were getting taxes from across the empire and had money to spend on translations and patronage of scholarship. About this time the House of Wisdom was set up in Baghdad by one of the Abbasid caliphs, al-Ma’mun. It began as a translation house, translating Greek texts into Arabic and rapidly started to attract the greatest minds in the Islamic world, while Arabic became the international language of science. There was also a strong influence from Persia ; an Arab scholar once said, “We Arabs have all the words but you Persians have all the ideas.”

Whose war are we fighting on our soil?

We need to identify our enemy. America is not our enemy; it may not be our friend either. American policies are guided by national interest and we should not expect a country to have policies otherwise. Our enemy is the people who would have us believe that Islam provides only for a monolithic society in which different cultures or sub-cultures cannot co-exist; rather they have to be merged with the “Islamic” culture.

By Hussain H Zaidi

WHILE terrorists are on the rampage, society is in disarray and the economy is in a shambles, there is a split in public opinion on whose war we are fighting.

Is the fight against terror being waged in the country’s mountains and plains, in the streets and markets, in mosques and on campuses, essentially America’s war and Islamabad is being used merely as a pawn on the chessboard of Washington’s counter terrorism strategy? Or is it our own war, which we have to wage and win with or without the US involvement.

A section of intelligentsia as well as politicians argues that the war against terror is essentially America’s war — a reaction to the 9/11 attacks — and the hell that let loose on the people of Pakistan is the result of the country’s role of a frontline ally of the US in the campaign against extremism.

Preaching games

By Nadeem F. Paracha

Much has been lamented about the Pakistan cricket team’s pathetic surrender against Australia in the second Test at Sydney. Much more will be said about the lack of experience, talent and a prominent backbone in the Pakistan team.

Inzimam’s exit and the delayed actions taken by the board to root out the Jamaat’s weight from the team did clear the air a bit, but the culture of fatalistic unfolding in times of non-religious on-field pressures that the Jamaat’s influence seems to have injected, remains.

Very little however is being said about the psychology that triggers long periods of haplessness and sheer lethargy in a team culture such as Pakistan’s. Gone are the days of flowing flamboyance the Pakistan cricket team became famous for, and the somewhat audacious displays of snatching victory from the figurative jaws of defeat cultivated by captains such as Mushtaq Muhammad, Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram and especially, Imran Khan.

Guantanamo: The Definitive Prisoner List

By Andy Worthington

Eight years after it opened, 574 prisoners have been released from Guantánamo, 42 under Obama. Six have died. 198 remain.

Back in March, I published a four-part list identifying all 779 prisoners held at Guantánamo since the prison opened on January 11, 2002, as “the culmination of a three-year project to record the stories of all the prisoners held at the U.S. prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.” Now updated (as my ongoing project nears its four-year mark), the four parts of the list are available here: Part One, Part Two, Part Three and Part Four.

Haiti earthquake – help urgently needed

Dear Reader,

It’s clear that the tragedy from the devastating earthquake in Haiti is off the charts, and unprecedented, in terms of death and destruction.  It is being called the disaster of the century. There is an incredible challenge ahead to save people who have survived, and begin to rebuild some semblance of a livable society.  I know AlterNet readers will be ready to help  those organizations with a track record.

With more than 200 aid workers already on the ground in Haiti, Oxfam is one such organization. Please, help them with their relief efforts if you can.

Don Hazen
Executive Editor, AlterNet.org

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Last night’s earthquake in Haiti has left the capital city of Port-au-Prince in ruins.
The damage is catastrophic; more than 2 million people have been affected, but the human toll is still unknown. Haiti’s president has said the impact on the country is “unimaginable” and estimates that thousands have died.

Donations are urgently needed to rush aid to the area – please give now >>

The initial earthquake struck just before sundown and as many as 28 powerful aftershocks continued throughout the night – the darkness made initial recovery efforts nearly impossible.
Oxfam has four offices in Haiti and over 200 highly-experienced aid workers on the ground. They are already responding to the situation where our assistance is most needed, but we need your help immediately – these first hours are critical for saving lives.

Donate now and help us respond to this emergency.