Kerry-Lugar Bill – A Pyrrhic Victory it is simply a case of mismatch of expectations.

Syed Kamal (1937 to 2009): Aisa Bhi Hota Tha #3 Posted by barristerakc on November 8, 2009 1:59:48 pm
Thanks for the remembrance. Syed Agha Kamal Shah was my maternal grand-father and originally belonged to Meerut (with Afghanistan Link). His cousins are Naseer Uddin Shah, the actor in India and his elder brother, General Zameer Uddin Shah who’s the deputy chief of Indian Army.

Interesting - Naseer Uddin Shah and General Zamee related to him. Actually this is not surprising - even Asif Iqbal grew up in India (Hyderabad). When the Pakistan team was in India na dhe was captain - the Chairman of BCCI was a Ghulam Ahemd - his uncle.

What is still surprising BarristAKC is that there are still references to Afghanistan and far off places - though if you ask Naseer Uddin Shah or the General - they will give you a rather blank look

The MF Husain Controversy: Identity, Intent and the Rise of Militant Fascism Re: # 199 who against whom

The MF Husain Controversy: Identity, Intent and the Rise of Militant Fascism Re: # 194 pew:I don't know. You may be right when you say, "politicians are victims of their own stereotypes (and even ignore election results where mullahs get trounced every time) of the "masses", and secondly because mullahs quickly resort to street violence". The squeaky wheel tends to get the oil.

The reason is simple. These people do not have a positive influence, but their nagative influence is huge. The argument that these guys lose deposits in elections is a mischievous one - they lose their deposits in individual constituencies, collectively they are reasonably substantial. And unless you have strict visa regimes (permit schemes really) like in China or the former USSR you cannot stop these guys congregating in huge numbers from all over the country in one place.

The Idea that Akbar could stop these guys and others cannot is similarly mischievous. Akbar had the power of life and death over his people - absolute ruler. The others (e,g Bhutto et al) were democrats at heart - though if only Bhutto followed the path of Nehru he would have been alive today. The comparison is like trying to compare apples and oranges. The exception was Zafar - but Zafar had otehr interests and his stopping the jihadis had more to do with the fear of the goras - the jihadis in typical fashion allowed Zafar to save their lives, while his was lost.

Writ of the State ooops re article...nothing much to say really. sorry.

Writ of the State Re: # 8 an interesting way of looking at things. I must admit, you are the first to provide this first hand description below (in #8). Yes, everyone is worhty of this term - those who encouraged it, those who perpetrate it, those who provided the wherewithall - everyone is culpable. Dont you think

Book Review: The Shadow of the Great Game – The Untold Story of India’s Partition Re: # 222 can it be raised by other means? This is a question which needs to answered seriously. According to some stuff I have read, two weeks is the current limit. The IMF/Wb are not doling it out either.

Book Review: The Shadow of the Great Game – The Untold Story of India’s Partition Re: # 218 Zeemax, maybe the Yanks want to set up a parallel NGO-govt-of-pakistan, just in case the current elite burn themselves

Book Review: The Shadow of the Great Game – The Untold Story of India’s Partition Re: # 215(T)

Book Review: The Shadow of the Great Game – The Untold Story of India’s Partition Re: # 212 I wonder how the American Ambassador will communicate with the President and FM of Pakistan? WIll she/he venture out of the township or summon them to the fortified township (with all the BC searches thrown in as a favour)?

Book Review: The Shadow of the Great Game – The Untold Story of India’s Partition zee: from the article arjun posted: Washington pushes for greater action by the government against the Taliban.

Is there a pattern here?

(a) loans could converted to aid if good behaviour is apparent?
(b) pushing Pakistan to the edge so that the elite realise what is "good" for them?

Hey America, Come Join The Civilized World! Re: # 86 China taking over pipe dreams. Here is a possible reason,

Western Europe (and now eastern europe), Australia, Canada, Mexico, SAmerica and the USA still lead the world in wealth. More importantly, they trust the USA more than any other country. The rest of the world does not trust anyone and each other. Only when trsut develops will things change. Right now as things Stand, china will not be trusted by anyone other than themselves. Even on the periphery of China no country trusts it. Secondly, China and other countries do not have the consumptive power of the West (see the list above) nor do they have the natural resources to support their own consumption (which the west has).

Romair, keep smoking that pipe

Hey America, Come Join The Civilized World! Re: # 24 Similarly, just because pakistains go to India for heart operations does not mean anything more than that the people there can do these operations not that they are universally available for the same price as is available to the people from Pakistan

Hey America, Come Join The Civilized World! Re: # 24 the greek system is like the desi system (T). The Greeks are no different from the South asians - as complex as perplexing and as confounding.

Hey America, Come Join The Civilized World! Tahmed32 - before all of this debate the American have to decide

whether Medical care

(a) is a previlige (as itis in many 3rd world countries)
(b) is a right as in in many civilised countries.

Once you decide on this you can then talk about the others. Currently the healthcare industry in the US is 20% of the GEP (and its sometihng of the order of £trillion dollars) and it does not do as well as many other countries where the spend is a lot less and achieve a lot more (on many counts including mortality post 50 years of age). Astounishingly, in the us more than 50% of personal bankruptcies (across all ages) is due to health care issues (which rises to some 80% in the post 60 years age group). Donot youthink tihsis scandalous - apart from some 45 Million not having insurance, and many more having stringent exclusion clauses (I know of a professor (of BioChemistry to boot) who does not have insurance for her cancer care and was surprised to see that she could get it starigh away when she stayed her in the UK for a 3 year period initially and now has moved here).

Nothing wrong with the system in the US only that it has become too profit orientated - which needs to be moderated. Infact what needs to be doen is to exlcude these companies from being a part of the Pensions Provision Market and it might sort it self out.

Hey America, Come Join The Civilized World! Re: # 18 in most system the privilege never goes away. Even in the UK, you can top up your NHW with private healthcare insurance.

What it does is that it helps you jump a few places for non-emergency work, but you eventually end up in the NHS care post operation. For major operations (heart etc) NHW is the best since for these there is no queue and you also get better care.

In the UK and in Canada you get treated if you are in the country and it is the same level of care as the rest f us. In the US that is not the case. I have experience of this - and it was not until I let slip I had full private healthcare plan (which they then took 30 minutes to verify) that I was given proper treatment. Where as here in the UK, that has never been the case.