Myra MacDonald
@myraemacdonald
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South Asia specialist. Author of "Heights of Madness", "Defeat is an Orphan", and "White as the Shroud; India, Pakistan and War on the Frontiers of Kashmir."
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Joined May 2008
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White as the Shroud - on the contested frontiers of India, Pakistan and China.
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I am sympathetic to India’s complaints about terrorism emanating from Pakistan. And I am very dubious about CPEC. All that said, the choice of words here seems unnecessarily undiplomatic and focused on a domestic audience.
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#Pakistan
ex-PM Nawaz Sharif given 10-year jail term (as will happen to any democratically elected leader in Pakistan who tries to assert civilian supremacy).
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There is always truly appalling human tragedy at the heart of
#Pakistan
's political battles. (And 12 hours out of jail to mourn a wife and mother who died without them is nothing.)
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There’s an element of being rude to a guest that India would not have done before. But it’s also striking that Jaishakar reserves his harshest language for Pakistan (the far weaker country) than for China (the far stronger country) nibbling away at its borders.
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I'd not heard this before. French head of ER explaining why Italy suffered so badly. i) Italy has poor primary care so everyone went to hospital ii) Covid-19 patients then got mixed in with other patients. iii) Failure to isolate patients suspected of having the virus.
Pourquoi l’épidémie de
#COVID19
est-elle considérée par Emmanuel
#Macron
comme la plus grave crise sanitaire qu’ait connue la France depuis un siècle ?
L'analyse de
@philippejuvin
, chef du service des urgences de l’hôpital Georges Pompidou à Paris 🔽
#sant
é
#coronavirus
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This non-violent Pashtun protest movement in
#Pakistan
is remarkable. Thousands wait in Karachi for hours while their leader, having been turned away from two national airports, drives the length of the country to address them. Give it the attention it deserves.
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All in all, it looks to me like a government that is letting its own nationalist domestic political imperatives get in the way of intelligent choices about foreign policy.
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Someone just sent me this photo of
#India
from an old globe (I think from the 1930s). Fascinating to see
#Balochistan
marked as a separate entity. Jammu and
#Kashmir
(which I spend my time studying) barely figures.
#Tibet
looms large in it too.
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It looks cowardly and bullying (though the BJP’s domestic constituency will love it.) From a foreign policy POV it lacks sophistication - you attack CPEC, you attack China, making it more likely that China will assert its power against you.
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This is appalling. Allegations of corruption against civilian politicians in
#Pakistan
have long been used by the security establishment to enforce its own dominance.
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Mixed feelings about Glasgow immigration protest. I get the horror at dawn raids and if it happened to someone in my neighbourhood I might well have joined them, but I'm uncomfortable about it being wrapped in anti-English bigotry and a sense that Scots are superior (we're not) >
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Trying to resist commenting on Pakistan while situation so unclear. But I will say that in the years I’ve been following Pak, every time it reaches such a crisis that you think it must change, it doesn’t. It stumbles on, slowly getting worse but never enough to change course.
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In all the discussion of the Afghan debacle, it's important to be clear that the US did not go into Afghanistan originally to build democracy, support women's rights etc. Those were post-hoc justifications. It was a response to 9/11, driven by a combination of fear and revenge >
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This looks unprofessional of the BBC. They should be able to challenge an interviewee without shutting them down. But I’m not convinced it was due to outright bias - more a lack of knowledge on the subject.
Quite gross from
@BBCNews
: our "impartiality" doctrine was used to basically shut down
@CChristineFair
when she explained
#Pakistan
's jihad policy in
#Afghanistan
that has brought us all to this catastrophe — an issue on which there is no "balance" or "other side", factually.
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My view on this is that a journalist's first duty is to the truth and Aarti Tikoo Singh did tell the truth as she saw it. Those who disagree with her should debate on substance. Also much of the U.S. side came across as uninformed, grandstanding and totally lacking in curiosity.
in which I defend the right of the well-regarded
@AartiTikoo
to hold forth on Kashmir
Come on! She's an Anantnag girl!
What the Ilhan Omar-Aarti Tikoo Singh spat at US Congress hearing on Kashmir says about Indian journalism | Newslaundry via
@newslaundry
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Both the PPP and PML-N learned from their experience of the 1990s and signed the Charter of Democracy in 2006. It was a good idea. But there will always be someone ambitious enough to undermine such agreements - this time it was Imran Khan. There will be others.
#Pakistan
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Looking at this photo and wondering when people in the west will recognise this as a modern, extremely right-wing and highly aggressive political movement. Not traditional culture. (And you can do that without judging the individual women in it.)
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India has always had a rather ambivalent attitude to Subhas Chandra Bose, who initially sought Hitler's support and then allied with the Japanese, but was also fighting for Indian independence. That said, I think this is going too far. Dangerously so.
At a time when the entire nation is marking the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, I am glad to share that his grand statue, made of granite, will be installed at India Gate. This would be a symbol of India’s indebtedness to him.
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The suspect was from Pakistan and arrived in France three years ago as an unaccompanied minor. Pakistani politicians who spew hatred against Charlie Hebdo, a magazine no one will ever in see in Pakistan, should be reminded their words can have deadly consequences.
#Paris
knife attack suspect says he was targeting
#CharlieHebdo
: police source |
#terrorism
#France
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In which the Afghan president holds up a mirror to Pakistan. FWIW, I am not convinced that national self-interest should be mixed up with support for human rights, but Pakistan has been doing this for so long, including in Kashmir and Afghanistan, it has no right to complain.
The Afghan government has serious concerns about the violence perpetrated against peaceful protestors and civil activists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
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A classic of the genre. Claiming that white women have no right to speak up for Afghan women, while then speaking on behalf of Afghan women in a Pakistani newpaper and ignoring Pakistan's own support for the Taliban.
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A short thread for UK journalists & foreign correspondents coming new to the
#Scotland
question. When people say "62 percent of Scots voted Remain" what they actually mean is 62 percent of those who voted, on turnout of just 67 percent. It's important to be precise about this >>
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Watching Afghanistan is really troubling. I struggle to find anything sensible to say about it, despite having followed it for years. Perhaps we should start by saying that it’s appalling to let Afgh fall to the Taliban. They are a malign force who will do untold damage.
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It's particularly galling when you see writers who fail to stand up for free speech, as Dalrymple and Mishra do here. They have put themselves on the winning side for now (almost nobody worldwide dares republish the Charlie Hedbo cartoons out of fear of being killed) >>
Excellent piece
Macron has staked France’s global reputation on crude mockery of a figure revered by over a billion Muslims, writes Pankaj Mishra. via
@BloombergQuint
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Good piece by a former policy adviser to Trudeau. Cultivating votes by appealing to minorities about issues in their countries of origin is a dumb thing to do, especially when you don’t understand the issues
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Before everyone gets carried away, it's not the first time there have been raids across the LoC. The Indian public announcement is unusual.
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"Tune into Pakistan's..media, partake in drawing room gossip, or talk to common folk on the street you'll find sympathy with...protestors."
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@DeanMThomson
Count me as one of them. Sturgeon +is+ an attention seeker. And I would be delighted if the media paid more attention to what’s actually happening Scotland, especially social issues, and less on her expensive but empty media spin.
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@ForWomenScot
@NicolaSturgeon
It's not the main point, but the former journalist in me has real problems seeing an audience clap for a political leader like that. We, the public, are not there to cheerlead our political leaders (that's for the party faithful) but to question them.
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FWIW, U.N. resolutions on
#Kashmir
are defunct (read them!) & revocation/voiding of Art 370 and bifurcation look irreversible (that was the whole point of doing it as a fait accompli) >>>
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I might be wrong here, but this, combined with Imran Khan's NYT op-ed, has me leaning towards the idea that Pakistan is seriously offering talks with
#India
. (Caveats in following tweets)
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I am no fan of Humza Yousaf but his series of comments here are right and actually quite moving. You can condemn Hamas, the massacre in Israel, and speak for Palestinian civilians.
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Sometimes Twitter is not so bad. Top trend in
#India
is
#BJPGoToPakistan
while top trend in
#Pakistan
is
#BJPStayInIndia
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> Also India would have been humiliated in Kargil without US support in forcing Pakistan to pull back its troops. Btw I am not saying India should fall into line with the US on Ukraine. But it needs to be more honest with itself on where it stands.
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The casual willingness of so many on here to justify or excuse violence by armed gunmen deliberately targeting women and children is shocking. That will stay with me for a long time.
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So a community standing up for its own? Fair enough and human. But let's not get it tangled up with broader Scottish political virtue-signalling about "refugees welcome". As ever, it's posturing that has little to do with refugees and everything to do with being "not-England".
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We could do with hearing more stuff like this from the govt and journalists - and also giving us more practical details on how it's going to be managed - rather than wasting time on a debate of the government strategy.
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Since Black Label is trending in
#Pakistan
, I should point out that it is spelled "whisky" and not "whiskey". Also, not spelled "honey".
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Along with the revocation of Art 370 on
#Kashmir
, the decision to combine this with bifurcation is striking. The former princely state of Jammu & Kashmir no longer exists even nominally.
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I disagree with Shireen Mazari on just about everything. But if there is one thing I admire, it is that she brought up her daughter to think independently.
#Pakistan
really should give them a break on this & just be pleased when young women think for themselves.
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My piece, as seen from the perspective of Siachen and the increasingly militarised "frontiers" of Ladakh. The Sino-Indian Standoff and a Most Misunderstood Frontier
@WarOnTheRocks
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But I am curious about one phrase “we have already prepared multiple options” for peace talks. He needs to be pinned down on that and provide substance over rhetoric.
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Quoted here saying I don't think outside world is going to rally to support
#Pakistan
over the Indian announcement of cross-LoC raids.
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A sad little spectacle in
#Pakistan
. Everyone tying themselves up in knots to condemn uncontroversial and definitely not new comments by former PM Nawaz Sharif. NSC unanimously terms Nawaz's statement on Mumbai attacks as 'incorrect and misleading'
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If Sturgeon disagrees with UK immigration policy, we should assume she disagrees with the EU's harsh policy too. She is riding a tiger here - the more she cheerleads her left-wing voters, the more her avowed policy of an independent Scotland in the EU drifts out of reach.
2/ I disagree fundamentally with
@ukhomeoffice
immigration policy but even putting that aside, this action was unacceptable. To act in this way, in the heart of a Muslim community as they celebrated Eid, and in an area experiencing a Covid outbreak was a health & safety risk
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Watching Pakistanis across the spectrum rally against France over political Islam is a depressing reminder of how truly right-wing most of its political class is >
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FWIW, I don't think Imran Khan's (s)election as prime minister will make any difference to
#Pakistan
's foreign and security policy, which will continue to be set by the army, albeit with some behind-the-scenes arm-twisting by China >>
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If you are too young to remember the aftermath of 9/11 and too lazy to read about it, you can be very annoying. And you should still be free to express your views. (This democracy business is hard.)
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Only in
#Pakistan
would an opposition leader pay homage to the army chief and you'd wonder what he'd been promised in return.
Chairman PTI Imran Khan called on COAS. Imran Khan felicitated COAS on his prom and appointment. Various issues came under discussion.
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I have been avoiding commenting on the India-China standoff but my only comment after years of trying to make sense of this stuff, is that it’s really hard to know for sure what goes on in these mountains >
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"Generally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous." David Hume.
Scenes from Minar-e-Pakistan: Crowd gathers for Labbaik chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi's funeral.
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Just got vaccinated. Thank you
#AstraZeneca
for producing it, the U.K. govt for securing supplies, and above all, the scientists who worked so hard to get us a vaccine so quickly.
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Has Balochistan revolt become far more powerful than we realise if people are being killed just for talking about it?
http://t.co/2rliesa3I7
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Think this is the strongest statement I've ever seen from DC on an India-Pak crisis. Demands action on Jaish, LeT.
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#Pakistan
has more than 800,000 IDPs fleeing North Waziristan. Barely a mention on Twitter. Pakistan trends are all for Gaza or World Cup.
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Interesting that Musharraf went for the line. Yes of course blame Jaish (they claimed it) but this attack was not ordered by the Pakistani state. To my mind, Pakistan most definitely bears responsiblity for helping Jaish to flourish.
#India
#Pakistan
>>
Maulana Azhar did it. JeM did it but do not malign and blame the Pakistani Govt that they could be involved in
#PulwamaAttack
.
Ex President COAS Pervez Musharraf speaks to India today.
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When India says significant casualties to "the terrorists and those who are trying to support them", assume latter must be
#Pakistan
Army.
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There's no denying the US made terrible errors in Afghanistan. But this gets the chronology wrong. Pakistan was never "closely aligned" with US aims in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and didn't suddenly change course to support the Taliban a few years later >
What’s the relationship between the Taliban and Pakistan? The reality is more complicated than the view that the TB are simply Pakistan’s puppets (as Kabul claims) or that they are completely independent (as Pakistan claims) 🧵🧵 1/n
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We knew
#Pakistan
would not change; didn't expect the confirmation so breathtakingly quickly. Bail for Lakhvi
http://t.co/Ykf95ymIAG
#India
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It will be interesting to see if the threatened cancellation of OCI cards would apply to all those who join protests outside India, or only those who are actually violent. If the former, it would be quite chilling.
#Breaking
Major action against Khalistanis!
Sources:
Properties of fugitive Khalistanis present in the country will be confiscated.
Cancellation of OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) cards of those who cause damage to Indian institutions, consulates and embassies abroad or carry…
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Snow in Gulmarg. (Lots of tourists there too; have never seen so many in Gulmarg before.)
#Kashmir
http://t.co/Tj9lzhqnTf
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Indian action followed strong statement of support for
#India
from Washington over Pakistan "cross-border terrorism"
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I'm finding it increasingly hard to acccept SNP sniping that the money is not enough when they must, or should, know that an independent Scotland would not have been able to borrow a fraction of this money.
The UK Gov could have set out an ambitious plan of at least £80bn or 4% of GDP to reboot the economy and protect jobs. But the cost of the Chancellor's commitment to economic recovery appears to be less than half of that with no apparent increase in capital infrastructure. /1
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Yes, Modi is more hawkish than Congress. But India's impatience with Pak-backed militants is not a function of Modi but of PakMil strategy.
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If I understand this correctly,
#China
’s objection is not to
#India
giving Ladakh Union Territory status per se, but to the inclusion of the Aksai Chin as Ladakhi territory.
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The Pakistani security establishment has always (wrongly) believed
#India
would negotiate better under pressure. Never learns.
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One way of understanding this is to recognise that both
#India
and
#Pakistan
are essentially status quo powers when it comes to Jammu and
#Kashmir
. But there's an asymmetry in rhetoric in that Pakistan claims to be pro-peace while actually undermining it. (1/n)
History supports the view that Pakistan seeks dialogue with India whenever it is in a weak position, writes
@Aparna_Pande
@HudsonInstitute
, only to reinstate conflict once its hand becomes stronger
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As ever, several things can be true at once. India has good reasons to avoid alienating Russia. Its response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine makes it look weak. It may not be the ally to counter China that some in the US - particularly proponents of the nuclear deal - hoped for.
India’s careful, avoid angering Putin at all costs response despite Russia’s blatant aggression vs Ukraine highlights that it remains unprepared to step up to major power responsibilities or be a dependable partner. Disappointing as well as short-sighted given rise of China.
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#Pakistan
's DG-ISI had proposed recruiting jihadis into security apparatus as part of "mainstreaming".
@abbasnasir59
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India has clearly decided that attack is the best form of defence. Not sure it will work. Regardless of the merits of its complaints, that would not justify assassinating a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.
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If they are indeed Indian nationals, I also wonder if it was connected to this latest UK-India agreement.
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Caveat 2) Pakistan state propaganda has long focused on claiming itself as pro-peace in Kashmir even as it used anti-peace means (Islamist militants & nuclear threats) to undermine peace.
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People complain about west not paying attention, but real issue is to convince Pakistan to take the lives of its own citizens seriously >>
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Centrist view. If the WHO hadn't interfered, we'd have called it the Wuhan flu. No one knows where Wuhan is, just as no one knows where Ebola is, and we would have avoided this silly argument about whether or not to say it came from China.
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@tlitb
I have a lot of sympathy with people not wanting to speak out in a Hamas-controlled war zone. What annoys me is that their testimony is treated as equal to witness statements in Israel where speaking out is far less dangerous.
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It allows India to say there is no dispute over Jammu & Kashmir and therefore no grounds for discussing it with Pakistan. But does this also mean India is giving up its claim on the Pak side of former J&K?
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Something people have a hard time grasping. A key aim of major attacks in
#Kashmir
is to force Indian security forces to crack down harder on the local population.
#Pakistan
's proxy war with
#India
is paid with Kashmiri lives. Good to see a former GOC counselling restraint.
Wish to know about IEDs, car bombs, suicide bombers read my piece here for public info.
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Hard to know what to say about this other than that it will happen again.
Sri Lankan manager killed by mob of workers at Pakistan factory
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For a while now I've been thinking that the decolonisation agenda so popular among western leftists could do real damage to India. Seeing a right-wing PM who critics say has dictatorial tendencies celebrating a man who sought support from Hitler tends to support that.
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Second dose of Astra Zeneca done. Thank you to everyone who worked so hard getting us vaccines.
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Main takeaway from this is that if
#Pakistan
put under pressure, it will respond tactically (but not strategically)
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This idea that "as long as women wear the veil, we'll stop killing people" is really troublesome. If this was coming from the western violent far-right (driven by the same principle), we'd be horrified. We should not be accepting lower standards for Afghan women.
“We are ready to give women all the rights that exist in Islam,” Taliban spokesman Shaheen told me. “We ask only one thing, that they observe wearing the veil.”
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>> And given the weak turnout in the Brexit ref in pro-independence areas, you'd never get public support for the kind of spending cuts you'd need for Scotland to join the euro. Scotland simply isn't pro-EU in the way that eg France or Benelux are. Indy is anti-UK, not pro-EU.
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I have unearthed this document from Sept 13, 2001 on a meeting between Armitage and Pakistan's intelligence chief which captures the mood at the time:
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It also does a huge disservice to the many Indian troops in the British Indian Army who fought on the Burmese front against the Japanese, and without whom I doubt the British would have succeeded in preventing a Japanese invasion.
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Actually it is also about territory. See Ladakh (with contested borders with Xinjiang and Tibet) & Gilgit-Baltistan (key road and trade link between Pakistan and China).
Perspective: The Kashmir crisis isn’t about territory.
It’s about a Hindu victory over Islam.
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Caveat 3) For Pakistan to accept a settlement that leaves Kashmir with India, it needs to accept that either the two-nation theory was wrong or at the very least open to question.
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