Strategic Depth at Home

sac,

right. what is your point?

Re: Saminashah`s (re)posts,

Ms. Shah, I do not recall seeing any posts saying that womyn were barred from this debate. If it is only men who are participating in it, it is because for (reasons of their own) the Chowk womyn have declined to participate. Scout, Sarwari, and co., want to jump in here and make Ms. Shah happy?

Regards.

RE: Tahmed #156

Actually, that was Deng Xiaopeng who made the comment about the colour of the cats being irrelevant. If I remember correctly, it was because of ``pragmatism`` such as this that Deng was purged in the Cultural Revolution. The cat comment was made--again if memory serves--much before the current opening up to capitalism. It was actually made after the failure of the Great Leap Forward in the early 60s.

Mao was more of a ``progressive`` who preferred to use ideological purity to maintain his personal hold on power (the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution was Mao`s revenge on Pragmatists such as Deng who tried to undo the damage of the Great Leap Backwards) rather than do anything that might help the average Chinese peasant. Deng, for all his faults, was a great leader, more so than Mao. Lets hope that PM is more of a Deng than a Mao.

Regards.

Re: Godot #177


{ Daniel Pearl may have sacrificed his life for the betterment of Pakistan. He is Pakistan`s hero. He will be remembered as such. }




Mr Pearl was a senseless victim of a heinous crime and as such he and his family merit our sympathies. It is certainly our fervent hope that the perpetrators are brought to justice.

But to classify Mr Pearl as a hero and that too for the betterment of Pakistan is pandering to the extreme.

I retrospect, I rarely see Pakistanis ( or Indians for that matter) – particular expatriates … speak such hallowed words for the 4000_( according to TIMEmagazine ) women and children ( neither affiliated with Taliban or Al Qaieda) killed in Afghanistan and dismissed as collateral damage.. They are “Dehumaized” perhaps because they did not have constituency or perhaps they were less human …. Or perhaps we could not capitalize on their deaths by seeming to be more patriotic.

Maybe Sympathies in the West also require a cost benefit analysis….

When people lack a sense of conviction or a sense of sympathy for the thousands of people tortured, detained and killed by the excesses of their own military and police or by other unsolved crimes are merely dismissed as statistic. Rarely do I see a a sympathetic column to the thousands of casualties of war and terror in Pakistan and other third world countries where oppression for the disenfranchised is a way of life….

. And very often we fail to raise our voice against those who are oppressed because it is against the prevailing political opinion….. But I guess that is to be expected - we are a Third world people masquerading as first world stalwarts …….

re saminashah #146:

Your argument impassioned as it is makes no sense. How about we apply the same logic to the article discussing prostitution?

later

-sac

rsridhar #159 You write that schools in the US are scary. In fact it is in these ``playing fields of Eton`` that provide the nursery for Pax Americana: I have had children go through their schools, and this is where certain basic values and attitudes - creativity, honesty, tolerance, appreciation - are promoted right from kindergarten. High schools have their problems, but these are transitory: character is built in the primary and middle schools, and intellect in high schools (particularly for college-bound kids) and in colleges. The values mentioned above are of course also promoted in cadet colleges and certain private schools in Pakistan too, but America leads the world in this field. Of course, the home culture can reinforce or weaken attempts at schools.

nasah #155 on Pearl`s murder you write ``Another black eye for Pakistan. ``

I think it is pathetic that you, like so many Indian posters on chowk, are so obsessed with Pakistan that even a tragic death like that of Mr. Pearl elicits comments only in terms of what it does for Pakistan`s image. Dont worry about image so much, images are hard to define, are easily overshadowed by realities, and change overnight. Worry about the lack of humanity one shows when the personal tragedy of this death is overshadowed by this nationalistic perspective.

Zeemax to poor Sameer

#157

“I have experienced alternate systems like communal Hippy cultures. That is fine too, only that the kid knows who is Mommy but doesn`t know who`s Daddy.

The Honor killing issue, it has something to do with family. The incident you mentioned of the powerful Pashtun had nothing to do with it being a daughter. Daughters are loved more than sons. He would have killed his son just the same.””(ZEEMAX)

Isn’t REALLY LUCKY for -- “the kid knows who is Mommy but doesn`t know who`s Daddy” – because -- if the Daddy would have been a “powerful Pushtun” -- “He would have killed his son just the same”.

What a JUST and FAIR Pushtun!!!

Folks -- this is one of the most PATHETIC PARAGRAPHS we have ever read from a Pakistani Pushtun – in defense of -- the world’s most despicable – most dishonorable -- ACT -- of “Honor Killing”.

And this Zeemax fellow gets the “honor” of writing columns on Chowk.

Shouldn’t we be glad that -- DISCRIMINATION -- is definitely -- NOT -- one of the best VICES of the Editorial Staff of this august board -- called CHOWK.>

Bravo!

Reply #: 150 Assad_K

``Hopefully the criminals will be caught and punished, but I do fear the worst on that score.``

The people who killed Danny Pearl are Kafirs. We will take revenge for Danny`s soul. They do not stand amongst us.

Zeemax

Danny Pearl. May God bless his soul. Another one bites the dust in this madness. May God protect his unborn child and his wife. This is just so wrong. I was hoping he would be rescued. This fight must stop or many innocent lives will be lost.

The senseless killing of Daniel Pearl imposes an urgency on Musharraf and the law enforcement authorities to crack down even harder on the terrorists in Pakistan. The killer must be brought to justice soon. No one in Pakistan has any sympathy to the terrorists who kill innocent people. Musharraf has the blessing of all Pakistanis to hunt down and remove all the terrorists in Pakistan. He should not rest till Pakistan is cleansed of this cancer.

Daniel Pearl may have sacrificed his life for the betterment of Pakistan. He is Pakistan`s hero. He will be remembered as such.

So, finally the Pearl tragedy that was carefully hushed up when the General was being paid is out in the open. A senseless act by hateful people. These people were openly cultivated by folks like Musharraf. All of the hateful murderers involved in the indian airlines hijack were allowed to enter Pakistan and given ISI support.

As long as they were killing Indians in Kashmir it was all part of a ``freedom struggle``. This clown Musharraf has the gall to come to India and lecture us on the profound distinction between ``freedom struggle`` and terrorism. The distinction seemed to be the following: when indians are killed it is always part of a freedom struggle, otherwise it is terrorism.

I am no supporter of the BJP and I am well aware of the many failings of the Indian state. But I am personally glad that 600,000 indian soldiers remain on the border. I dont see any way of dealing with such a sick culture.

The lawyer for one of the kidnapper says Danny was killed because he was Jew. This is horrible.

Pakistanis have been blaming everyone for their own shortcomings. This time it is Jew. Before this has been Hindus. They also dislike America but pretend as friends. They also use Kashmir bogey. What does this country stand for ? Musharaff is the biggest terrorist of all. This pakistan double speak.

RE: Reply #: 159 rsridhar

``Indian culture and family values are based on love and not on some power structure.``

Are you implying that Western culture abjures love? Anyway, I have seen quite a bit of unthinking behavior in Indian culture to know that it is no better (and in some cases worse) than Western culture.

The biggest parent-child problem that leads to the questioning of values here is that the children do not all want to be cookie-cutter doctors or engineers like their parents want them to be. To give you an example, I went to an Indian party and everyone was talking about their kids. The host was embarassed to tell the others that his son was enrolled in the literature program at UC Berkeley!

``Anyway, atleast my brother has decided to send his daughter to a school in India when she is older. I do not have any children but if i did, i would do the same. Schools in US are scary. US however is the ideal place for a higher education.``

Good luck. If you raise your children for half their lives here to imbue U.S. culture and values and send them off to the pressure cooker school atmosphere in India (especially girls), they will end up being USBCDs rather than ABCDs. And your brother will end up whining about how bad India is for his kids.

Rsridar,

``Indian culture and family values are based on love and not on some power structure``

Is this not a gross generalisation? Aren`t all patriarchal structures, (as we are told) based on ``love``, ``family values`` and knowing whats best for women? The role of women in India, China, Pakistan share alot of gender dynamics and inequity. I am sure that there are many Indians who would beg to differ with your claim for many reasons.

arjun

The report was okay, though I am not sure what was the questionnaire and how the survey was conducted. It is important to note that India and Isreil have almost similar ratings.