tyreay

hkbajwa, I saw the arrests they are making in Pakistian, on the TV. It mentioned radio show hosts and many others. Just wanted to check with you and make sure you were un-effected. Hope all is ok, my friend. Ty

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Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong. ~Richard Armour

There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle. ~Alexis de Tocqueville

pensacola_niceman

It's a Muslim country. How could there not be political unrest and violence?

tyreay

Gee, lets see, maybe Bush's puppet President is pulling some stupid shit?

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Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong. ~Richard Armour

There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle. ~Alexis de Tocqueville

baloney_detector

I hope that you are ok too, hkbajwa.

And I hope that constitutional justice and democracy prevail in Pakistan.

garysher

Musharraf has called elections in February.

America has to wait until next November

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hkbajwa

hahahahaha.. well thanks for your concern guys.. truly appreciated.. but no need to worry.. i'm not in any danger here. But let me give you guys a low-down on the situation.

The imposition of emergency was NOT a surprise.. in fact even i was shocked at the non-chalance exhibited by most people about it. The fact is that the circle within which i move in pakistan really likes musharraf. My way of life is less threatened by Musharraf than it is by anybody else.

The simple fact is that we have crappy alternatives. Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif are both failed ex-prime ministers with mile long charges of corruption, embezzlement, nepotism, intimidation and exploitation behind them. Neither will do Pakistan any good.

Our chief justice is also corrupt. Of course this is hardly anything for other politicians or lawmakers to get outraged about since they are all just as guilty of like transgressions.

It is true that Musharraf has more or less shut down the electronic news media. THis is of grave concern since the media was the one factor that was actually helping build some sort of political consciousness in pakistan.

I honestly can't tell where we are going right now, but personally i'm not worried. Even the strictest type of military rule that musharraf may bring with him, will be more likely to work out for the country than an assortment of crooked politicians.

But then again i'm a musharraffite... his era has been the best i have seen in this country

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Love for all, Hatred for none

hkbajwa

alli can say is that it's pretty ignorant to claim a causal link between being a muslim country and the civil unrest that is so common in a thrid world country.

I could just as easily claim that the genocide in Rwanda was because the people weren't muslim.

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Love for all, Hatred for none

pensacola_niceman

Well, I'm currently living in a Muslim country (Iraq) and I just heard a round of mortars go off a few minutes ago. Try to name one Muslim nation that is totally at peace and the only one I can think of is Jordan. All that being said, I share my concern along with everybody else and hope you remain safe.

Katczinsky

United Arab Emirates is probably the best example; but, if you think about it, no country is "totally at peace". What do you consider to be less peaceful? Nations with incidents of home-grown terrorism, or nations that are aggressive toward other states? Because our own country has both characteristics.

There are a lot more reasons why those countries are at war than religion. The Middle East has been, historically, a hotly contended region. You can see obvious reasons why geographically; it is a pretty strategic location controlling commerce between the East and West, it controls vital waterways and trading routes, it has precious resources. Not to mention world cultural significance (Jerusalem).

Obviously, it would be a contradiction for a Jain or Buddhist to blow up a marketplace, so I wont deny that religion reinforces the violence and vice-versa. However, much of the Muslim world hasn't had the same kind of enlightenment that western and other eastern cultures had simply because they haven't had the opportunity (they're too busy fending off imperialism and rivalries). With all the geo-political problems and utterly hopeless situations Muslims find themselves in in some of these countries (especially Palestine), ideas like paradise after martyrdom catch on. In this way violence begets violence, and only calm begets calm. For this reason the Iraq war is a contradiction; we're trying to spread western democracy at the end of a gun (not to mention we're asking a historically oppressed culture to accept their national, secular, and democratic identities before their religious/cultural identifiers ([Sunni, Shi'a, Kurd, etc.]).

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Political Compass:

Economic Left/Right: -9.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.72

garysher

Most predominantly Muslim nations are peaceful and stable, including the Gulf nations (Bahrain, Saudi, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait), Malaysia, Indonesia, Egypt, India etc.

Iraq and Palestine are the exceptions rather than the rule.

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