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Why Pakistan is unlikely to crack down on Islamic militants
Democratic Underground Latest Breaking News — ... to speak publicly. Pakistan has been given "a pretty unequivocal message" to end ISI support for the militants and shake up the top ranks of the intelligence agency, the senior NATO defense official said. On Friday, however, Pakistan vehemently rejected the allegations of ISI involvement in the Indian Embassy blast, which killed 41 and injured 141. U.S. officials and experts said there's little chance that Pakistan will take any of the actions it's been asked to take. Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/46178.html

Why Pakistan's Military Won't Change Its Ways
Newshoggers.com — ... By Cernig Following on from my earlier posts, here's McClatchy's Jonathan Landay with a great bit of analysis. "The fact that we're reduced to trying to send messages to the Pakistanis by putting stories in (newspapers) tells you we don't have any good options," said a former senior intelligence official knowledgeable about South Asia. "It also suggests that the high-level, face-to-face contacts haven't worked so far. The trouble is, these kinds of public threats are likely to backfire." For one thing, the Taliban and other ...

While I’m Puttin’ the World to Rights
Unqualified Offerings — ... ( McClatchy ) and smacks your gob. Jonathan Landay:"One thing we never understood is that India has always been the major threat for Pakistan," said former U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Wendy Chamberlain , now the president of the Middle East Institute. At some point, Cernig popped his jaw back into place and wrote Anyone who paid attention knew India and Pakistan had fought four wars before 9/11, ferchrissakes. Every analysts and expert on the region knows India has always been Pakistan’s bugbear and drives the Pakistani military’s thinking. This is another of those ‘no-one ...

Clueless
Obsidian Wings — ... by hilzoy Cernig at Newshoggers posted an excerpt from a McClatchy article on Pakistan that includes this astonishing statement: ""One thing we never understood is that India has always been the major threat for Pakistan," said former U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Wendy Chamberlain, now the president of the Middle East Institute." Just. Shoot. Me. Now. If we -- or at least those of us who are responsible for South Asia policy -- didn't understand this, we should have our collective heads examined. I'm trying to think ...

Zardari Gives A Lesson In Glibness
Crooks and Liars — ... , he said that was all in the past and that his government had full control of Pakistan’s military. “Our democracy is trustworthy” he said. Yet in recent months, Zardari’s government have tried at least three times to exert more authority over the shadowy ISI, and have had to climb down each time after pressure from the military. The ISI was ...