Pakistan

Smart Reads May 20, 2013

May 20, 2013 6:42 pm by Financial Times

By Aaron Hagstrom

♦ An isolated village in northeast China has adopted an “eldercare” model, in which the old look after the even older.
♦ Richard Beeston, the courageous Times correspondent who covered the 1991 Kurdish massacres in Halabja, has died of cancer at 50.
♦ Pakistan’s “crumbling” railways have become an emblem of a troubled past.
♦ Israeli finance minister Yair Lapid has returned to the limelight, in the wake of his unpopular austerity budget.
♦ French chefs are turning from fresh to frozen ingredients, in the face of rising costs.
♦ Researchers have shown the invention of the “humble” shipping container in 1956 explains a 790% rise in bilateral trade over 20 years.
♦ Greece shows rising fertility rates, despite rising unemployment.
♦ In the highest level of US-China military talks held for nearly two years, cybersecurity was the focus.

Tags: cybersecurity, fertility, food, France, Greece, Israel, Pakistan, shipping, Yair Lapid
Posted in Foreign affairs, Smart Reads | Permalink

Smart Reads May 13, 2013

May 13, 2013 2:49 pm by Amie Tsang

♦ There are doubts over how much longer Latin America will benefit from the “commodity supercycle”.
♦ Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former Iranian president, has registered for next month’s election, disrupting the Islamic regime’s plans to hand power to a loyal fundamentalist.
♦ Nawaz Sharif has sealed his third term as prime minister of Pakistan. However, the sense of vibrant democracy has been tempered by Taliban attacks. The New York Times bureau chief was also expelled on the day of voting.
♦ Forty years after Watergate, the BBC looks at the legacy of investigative journalism in the UK.
♦ After the news that Bloomberg’s journalists could see more than Bloomberg’s customers would like them to, Quartz takes a look at the culture of omniscience that pervades the organisation and Hilary Sargent (aka ChartGirl) explains how it works in this neat diagram.
♦ On another note… Britain’s approach to Eurovision might need some fine-tuning. Read more

Tags: Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Bloomberg, commodities, eurovision, Iran, Latin America, Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan, Pakistan election, UK, Watergate
Posted in Foreign affairs | Permalink

Smart Reads May 10, 2013

May 10, 2013 1:36 pm by Amie Tsang

♦ Kofi Anna’s Africa Progress Panel releases a report lambasting Eurasian Natural Resources Corp for “opaque concession trading” costing the Democratic Republic of Congo $725m.
♦ With normal post-recession government employment expansion, US unemployment might be as low as 6.3 percent, but this recovery is different, argues Derek Thompson.
♦ Spain has become a destination for vitro fertilization and there is no shortage of egg donors. Der Spiegel talks to one woman who donated eggs to ease her financial difficulties.
♦ The Bhutto family has been notably absent from campaigning in Pakistan. The FT looks at whether this is the beginning of the end for the Pakistan People’s Party. Read more

Tags: Democratic Republic of Congo, ENRC, Kofi Annan, Pakistan, recession, Spain, unem
Posted in Smart Reads | Permalink

Pakistan’s 2013 election: a primer

May 2, 2013 3:50 pm by Serena Tarling

(FAROOQ NAEEM/AFP/Getty Images)

Pakistan is preparing for its first constitutional democratic handover since partition as it heads to the parliamentary polls on May 11.

The campaign period has been marred by outbursts of violence, especially attacks by the attacks by the Taliban on candidates, rallies and offices of the country’s smaller, secular and liberal parties.

What’s at stake?

There are 342 seats available. Voters elect 272 members on a first-past-the-post basis. The 70 remaining (60 reserved for women and ten for non-Muslim minorities) are allocated to parties on the basis of their showing in the contests for the directly elected seats.

The outcome of this election may also determine which way the wind will blow for President Asif Ali Zardari when his five-year term ends in September. Zardari is widely considered an ineffectual president who has nevertheless proved oddly effective at clinging to power. And although he was forced to step down as co-chair of the Pakistan People’s party, he is definitely considered to be its standard bearer.

Who are the runners and riders for the role of prime minister?

It really boils down to three key players.

The Favourite Nawaz Sharif, leader of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League, is a front runner.

Former Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif attends a meeting of traders during his election campaign in Islamabad on May 1, 2013 (AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/Getty Images)

(Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty)

A force in Pakistani politics for some time, he was ousted during his second stint as PM by former General Pervez Musharraf in a military coup in 1999. A victory in the forthcoming election would herald a third return to power. But is this a Shinzo Abe-style comeback – or more of a Silvio Berlusconi?

The Economist charts a favourable track record that may hint at the former:

“In Lahore alone, a bus system set up last year was opened in January; officials nearly eradicated dengue in 2012; and Mr Sharif built a motorway to Islamabad, the capital, in the 1990s. Such tangible schemes are popular.”

Tags: Bilawal Bhutto, Imran Khan, Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan, Pakistan election, Pakistan Muslim League, Pakistan People's Party, Pervez Musharraf, Taliban, Tehreek-e-Insaf
Posted in Pakistan | Permalink

Smart Reads April 29, 2013

April 29, 2013 2:37 pm by Amie Tsang

♦ In the first installment of our Great Tax Race series, Vanessa Houlder examines how the Netherlands and Luxembourg managed to book more foreign direct investment than the US, UK and Germany together. Exploitation of cracks in the international tax system has ignited intense anger from an austerity-weary public. Matt Steinglass looks at how the Netherlands wants to change its tax haven image, but is wary of scaring businesses away.
♦ Italy has a new government and it has already been met with mayhem.
♦ Just after winning the most votes in Iceland’s parliamentary elections, the head of the centre-right Independence party has said the government needs to focus on restoring growth.
♦ Anne-Marie Slaughter thinks President Obama should keep the Rwandan genocide in mind when weighing up action in Syria.
♦ The 26-year-old Chinese entrepreneur who was kidnapped by the Tsarnaev brothers describes his harrowing experience. The Boston Globe has also pulled together a timeline of the hunt for the bombing suspects.
♦ William Zinsser, author of “On Writing Well”, is still counselling people on the subject at the age of 90. He holds one-to-one sessions with people who read their writing out to him, as he cannot see, and only accepts sandwiches as payment.
♦ Maryam Sharif takes to the street to canvass for her father who is likely to become Pakistan’s PM for a third time: “It’s a beautiful feeling to be loved”. Read more

Tags: Barack Obama, Boston, corporate tax, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Maryam Sharif, Netherlands, On Writing Well, Pakistan, Rwanda, Syria, tax, William Zinsser
Posted in Smart Reads | Permalink

Smart Reads April 23, 2013

April 23, 2013 3:25 pm by Amie Tsang

The Austerity Debate
♦ Europe may have hit the political limits of how far it can go with austerity-led economic policies because of the growing opposition in the eurozone periphery, according to the president of the European Commission.
♦ Tim Harford tells the story of Thomas Herndon, the student who uncovered a mistake in a famous economic paper that has been used to make the case for austerity cuts, and considers what it means for austerity economics.

Italy Deadlock
♦ Choking back tears in his inauguration address, Giorgio Napolitano, who at 87 reluctantly accepted an unprecedented second mandate as Italy’s president, slammed the country’s political parties for their failure to reach agreement and for the “unforgivable” lack of political reforms.
♦ Tony Barber argues that public outrage is not bred only by economic crisis, and that politicians in Italy (and elsewhere in Europe) should get their houses in order.
♦ Italy’s political and economic torpor is epitomised in the ruined and abandoned city of L’Aquila.

Elsewhere
♦ In northwest Pakistan, militants are using bombs as campaigning tactics ahead of the May parliamentary elections.
♦ It’s the UK’s turn to host the G8 and Richard Dowden, director of the Royal Africa Society, wants to know if it will do anything to stop companies avoiding tax in poor countries: “More important than giving aid would be to stop doing bad things to poor countries. The worst thing we – the British – do is to maintain the world’s most iniquitous secret tax havens.”
♦ In the past year, two trillion dollars has not been reported to the IRS because “ordinary Americans have gone underground, and, as the recovery continues to limp along, they seem to be doing it more and more.”
♦ Kidnappings of ordinary Syrians are on the rise as lawlessness spreads.
♦ The byline was borne of a need to make reporters more responsible for what they wrote about the Civil War in the US. Read more

Tags: austerity, Carmen M Reinhart, elections, G8, Giorgio Napolitano, Italy, Kenneth S Rogoff, L'Aquila, Pakistan, Syria, tax, Thomas Herndon
Posted in Smart Reads | Permalink

Smart Reads March 5, 2013

March 5, 2013 3:09 pm by Amie Tsang

Switzerland’s relationship with the rich is under strain – though a divorce is unlikely.
Sergei Ignatiev has been a silent presence at the helm of the Russian central bank for 11 years. The end of his term and the question of succession has “gripped Russian markets, turning the central bank into a hive of intrigue”.
Chinese citizens are increasingly going online to vent their anger over pollution, forcing the government to respond.
There may be great hopes for Xi Jinping, but this year’s parliamentary session is “likely to disappoint anyone who hopes for serious root and branch reform of China’s current political or economic structure”, argues Jamil Anderlini.
A cracking opportunity for nut puns: Iranians are boycotting pistachios even as Persian new year approaches, blaming Iran’s plummeting currency and high inflation.
Drone strikes by the Pakistani military are being falsely attributed to the CIA to avoid criticism from the Pakistani public, according to a New York Times report.
Benjamin Netanyahu has asked for an extension to assemble a government – Time considers why it has been such a challenge.
Joseph Stiglitz says the outcome of the Italian elections has sent “a clear message to Europe’s leaders: the austerity policies that they have pursued are being rejected by voters”. He argues that it is not shortsightedness,but “an understanding that these policies are deeply misguided”.
Seeking clarity on the back-and-forth between Argentina and the US Court of Appeals over payments to Elliott Associates? Felix Salmon has recapped and explained what it all means.
Israel’s transport ministry has introduced new bus lines for Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation in the West Bank, a moved denounced as segregation – a “response to pressure from Israeli settlers who live in the West Bank but are unhappy about sharing buses with their Palestinian neighbours”.
Last but by no means least, the curious tale of Harry Dexter White, chief architect of the Bretton Woods economic system – and, apparently, a Soviet mole.

Tags: Argentina, Benjamin Netanyahu, central bank, China, drones, Elliot Associates, inflation, Iran, joseph Stiglitz, Pakistan, pollution, Russia, Sergei Ignatiev, Switzerland
Posted in Smart Reads | Permalink

In the Picture: Obama, Brennan and the drone issue

February 7, 2013 3:48 pm by Esther Bintliff

A police officer asks protesters to move to the sidewalk during a demonstration in front of a Raytheon company building in Florida in August 2012 (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The CIA’s drone programme may be classified as covert, but it is increasingly in the public spotlight. On Thursday, John Brennan – Obama’s nominee for CIA director, and the driving force behind the White House’s drone strategy – will appear before the Senate. As Geoff Dyer points out, Brennan’s confirmation hearing will offer a rare moment of public scrutiny of the war on terror – and the ethics of targeted killings.

In the FT

George W. Bush ordered about 50 drone strikes during his eight years in office. Obama has taken the approach to a new level, signing off on more than 350 strikes in at least six countries in his first term alone. Geoff Dyer’s analysis from October 2012 points out that the president’s “ventures in modern warfare” have been conducted “in almost complete secrecy, with little congressional oversight and almost no discussion with the public.”

“The technology is not standing still. Down the road are insect-sized drones that could be mistaken for a housefly or spider, which could slip in under a door-sill to record conversations, take photos or even inject a lethal toxin into an unsuspecting victim,” wrote Francis Fukuyama. Meanwhile, military contractors have seen their sales boosted by growing drone use.

Drones have “blurred the line between war and assassination”, argued Gideon Rachman in December. “Somebody suspected of plotting a terrorist attack on the soil of the US or the UK would be subject to arrest and prosecution. But if the suspects are in the tribal areas of Pakistan, they can simply be blown away.” Writing for this blog, Rachman also looked at the cost of American drone strikes in Pakistan.

Tags: Barack Obama, CIA, drones, In the Picture, Pakistan, predator, US
Posted in In The Picture, US foreign policy, War | Permalink

Malala: “I can speak. And I’m getting better”

February 4, 2013 7:20 pm by Esther Bintliff

“Today you can see that I’m alive. I can speak, I can see you, I can see everyone, and today I can speak. And I’m getting better day by day.”

A lot has been written about Malala Yousafzai since she was shot in the head by the Taliban in October. On Monday, we heard the 15-year-old speak, in her first video statement since the attack.

“This is a second life, this is a new life. And I want to serve, I want to serve the people. And I want every girl, every child to be educated.”

The quiet determination in her voice helps explain why the Taliban see her as such a threat. As Adam B. Ellick, the New York Times journalist who made a short documentary about Malala in 2009 put it: “Don’t be fooled by her gentle demeanor and soft voice. Malala is also fantastically stubborn and feisty.”

The Channel 4 reporter Fatima Manji notes that Malala also released statements in Urdu and Pashto on Monday. “One line in Urdu particularly stands out for me,” writes Manji. “Malala says she believes so strongly in education that she would be willing to ‘sacrifi Read more

Tags: Malala Yousafzai, Pakistan, Taliban
Posted in Pakistan | Permalink