Pakistan

Pakistan’s first large-scale solar power project, the Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park project, was recently inaugurated by Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, representing one of the country’s first clear steps towards renewable energy. The project…

CIA

Pakistan: CIA “Bin Laden” Unit’s Fake Vaccination Ploy Sparked Polio Crisis

Juan Cole

(By Sarah Lazare) A Pakistani official on Thursday slammed the CIA's fake vaccination drive in 2011 for fueling distrust of polio eradication campaigns and driving "attacks on polio workers" as the country grapples with an outbreak of this highly infectious disease. Speaking to reporters at a press briefing, a spokesperson for Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign […]

Drones

The True Costs of Remote Control Drone Wars

Juan Cole

(By Pratap Chatterjee via Tomdispatch) Enemies, innocent victims, and soldiers have always made up the three faces of war. With war growing more distant, with drones capable of performing on the battlefield while their “pilots” remain thousands of miles away, two of those faces have, however, faded into the background in recent years. Today, we […]

Afghanistan

The Longest War: How the US drove potential Afghanistan Allies into the Arms of the Taliban

Juan Cole

(By Anand Gopal via Tomdispatch.com) It was a typical Kabul morning. Malik Ashgar Square was already bumper-to-bumper with Corolla taxis, green police jeeps, honking minivans, and angry motorcyclists. There were boys selling phone cards and men waving wads of cash for exchange, all weaving their way around the vehicles amid exhaust fumes. At the gate […]

Environment

This Saudi prince is accused of killing 2,000 endangered birds while on safari in Pakistan

Juan Cole

Jeez. Happy Earth Day. A Saudi prince has been accused of killing 2,000 endangered birds during a safari in Pakistan earlier this year. More from GlobalPost: These cities are among the greenest in the world The birds, known as houbara bustards, are…

Asia

Top 5 Reasons Solar Energy will Save the World

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) 1. The research and development monies now going into solar energy are great enough to fuel innovation and bring down prices rapidly. First Solar expects solar generation manufacturing costs to fall from 63 cents a watt to 35 cents a watt from now through 2017! 2. Honda is experimenting with a zero-carbon […]

FATA

5 Ways Nevada Rancher Militia Resembles Pakistan’s Taliban

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) 1. Federal versus local control of land Pakistan The Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) of Pakistan is ruled directly from the capital, Islamabad, rather than having an elected provincial government or legislature. The local tribes such as Mehsud, from which the Taliban are recruited, want more local autonomy. Nevada The Federal government […]

Drones

#Notabugsplat: Artists erect a giant portrait of drone victim for pilots (+ Vice Video)

Juan Cole

(By Eric Stoner) A portrait of a drone victim in Pakistan as seen from a drone. (notabugsplat.com) In a brilliant creative action, an art collective with the help of enthusiastic locals unfurled an enormous poster in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of a young girl who lost her parents and two younger siblings to a drone […]

Culture

Pakistani Sufi Anthem: Jhule Lal Dam Mast Qalandar by Nusrat Fateh Ali

Juan Cole

Qawwali is the South Asian Muslim equivalent of African-American Gospel music. This particular song celebrates the thirteenth-century Sindhi mystic, Sayyid `Uthman Marwandi, known as Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (1177 – 1274 AD), a Sufi master of the Suhrawardi order. His epithet means “Red Royal Falcon, the wandering mystic.” He was one of four great masters at […]