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#America - “The culture of celebrity,” - Our republic will never be the same

By Michael Gerson

August 16, 2018 

From the beginning of the American republic, its founders obsessed about how it all would end. “Democracy never lasts long,” said John Adams. “There never was a Democracy Yet, that did not commit suicide.”

George Washington used his farewell address to warn that partisan “factions” could tear the country apart. The Federalists worried that domestic disunity could be exploited by hostile foreign governments. James Madison, in particular, feared that liberty might be lost by “gradual and silent encroachments of those in power.”

Check. Check. Check.

But there is one factor in our politics that the founders could not have predicted: the debilitating infection of celebrity culture.

Were Washington to be resurrected, it would be difficult to explain how history’s most powerful nation, after surviving a civil war and global conflict, turned for leadership to a celebrity known for abusing other celebrities on television. It is the single strangest development in American history. And we have only begun to process its consequences.

It is not that American leaders have never been famous. Dwight D. Eisenhower was one of the most famous men in the world for organizing victory in World War II. Ronald Reagan was famous for his acting career but also for being governor of California and an articulate conservative.

Fame usually has some rough relationship to accomplishment. Celebrity results from mastering the latest technologies of self-exposure. Ingrid Bergman was famous. Kim Kardashian is a celebrity. Franklin D. Roosevelt was famous. Donald Trump is . . . not in the same category.

Within its proper bounds — confined to stunts on a desert island or in a fake boardroom — the ethos of reality television is relatively harmless. Transposed to the highest level of politics, it is deeply damaging.

This is not only a matter of preferring a certain style of politics (though I think we should do better than the discourse of unhinged tweeting). The problem is a defect of spirit. The founders generally believed that the survival and success of a republic required leaders and citizens with certain virtues: moderation, self-restraint and concern for the common good. They were convinced that respect for a moral order made ordered liberty possible.

The culture of celebrity is the complete negation of this approach to politics. It represents a kind of corrupt, decaying capitalism in which wealth is measured in exposure. It elevates appearance over accomplishment. Because rivalries and feuds are essential to the story line, it encourages theatrical bitterness. Instead of pursuing a policy vision, the first calling of the celebrity is to maintain a brand.

Is the skill set of the celebrity suited to the reality of governing? On the evidence, not really. Our celebrity president, as on North Korea, is prone to take credit for nonexistent accomplishments. As on the border wall and the travel ban, he deals in absurd symbols rather than realistic policies. As on Russia policy, he is easily manipulated by praise. As on the revoking of former CIA director John Brennan’s security clearance, he uses the power of his office to pursue personal vendettas. Instead of yelling at the television when people displease him, he now has the power to hurt them in practical ways.

When a real estate developer attacks an enemy in the tabloids, it is a public-relations spectacle. When the president of the United States targets and harms a citizen without due process, it is oppression.

But the broader influence of celebrity culture on politics is to transform citizens into spectators. In his book “How Democracy Ends,” David Runciman warns of a political system in which “the people are simply watching a performance in which their role is to give or withhold their applause at the appropriate moments.” In this case, democracy becomes “an elaborate show, needing ever more characterful performers to hold the public’s attention.” Mr. Madison, meet Omarosa.

Trump is sometimes called a populist. But all this is a far cry from the prairie populism of William Jennings Bryan, who sought to elevate the influence of common people. Instead, we are seeing a drama with one hero, pitted against an array of villains. And those villains are defined as anyone who opposes or obstructs the president, including the press, the courts, and federal law enforcement. Trump’s stump speeches are not a call to arms against want; they are a call to oppose his enemies. This is not the agenda of a movement; it is the agenda of a cult.

Will the republic survive all this? Of course, it will. But it won’t be the same.

Pashto Music - SARDAR ALI TAKKAR - چه خمار مستي تری وځي، شراب څه ترخی ایبه وي

#PPP Music Video - Shaba Bacha Dhol Baja

#PPP Music Video - Bhutto - Benazir

#Pakistan - End-Game

By Najam Sethi

Maulana Fazal ur Rahman’s long march/dharna promised a big bang in D Chowk in Islamabad but has seemingly retreated with a whimper. His obedient supporters will now partially block some roads and arteries until his demand for the prime minister’s ouster followed by fresh elections are met or, failing that, he is obliged to shift gears into Plan C, whatever that might be. This tactic will certainly keep him on the front page – albeit reduced from four columns to two and even one in due course – even if it doesn’t succeed in outing Imran Khan. But, surely, the Maulana has known this truth all along.

This brings us full circle to a set of questions we have asked from the outset: What are the real motives behind Maulana’s dharna? Why was the Maulana adamant on launching it in November? Why didn’t the PPP and PMLN join forces with him, especially since they have the most to gain from ousting Imran Khan?

A second initiative seems to have got unstuck too. That is Shahbaz Sharif’s efforts to put ailing Nawaz Sharif on a plane to London for medical treatment. But it suddenly transpires that the PTI government won’t let Nawaz Sharif out of sight without compelling him to cough up Rs 7 billion – the amount of corruption attributed to his account by two judges – that would, in effect, amount to a confession of guilt on his part. Wags say that Imran Khan has put a spoke in the “understanding” reached between Shahbaz Sharif and the “Establishment”, which would lead to the more ominous conclusion that the government is no longer on the same page with the partner who “selected” it and put it there in the first instance.

Is there a common factor that might explain these two new developments?

The Maulana has been hard on the Establishment, constantly accusing it of disrepute for aligning itself so closely with a “failed” prime minister and incompetent government. He has gone so far as to publicly accuse it of “disappearing” persons, rigging elections, selecting Imran Khan and abandoning the cause of Kashmir. In contrast, Shahbaz Sharif purrs like a kitten whenever the “Establishment” finds mention and Asif Zardari is conspicuous by his studied silence on the same subject. What is it about November and the Establishment that puts Maulana Fazal, Shahbaz Sharif and Imran Khan on high alert and compels them to tug in so many different directions and ways?

Let’s stop pussyfooting about the subject. Everyone and his aunt has been speculating for months about one issue that is dead-lined for resolution end-November when the term of the current army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, ends. Government ministers have proclaimed that this is a non-issue since an extension in tenure for three years has already been granted to Gen Bajwa and President Arif Alvi has confirmed signing the relevant notification. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, this notification remains in the pocket of Gen Bajwa and has not been officially notified in the public domain even though a couple of journalists have been “shown” it unofficially.

Is it conceivable that Maulana Fazal ur Rahman’s behavior, no less than that of Shahbaz Sharif and Imran Khan, remains contingent on whether or not General Bajwa agrees to serve as army chief for three more years? One might imagine that the Maulana’s backers would like the business of extensions to be done away with in the larger institutional interest of the army and are hoping General Bajwa declines to accept the extension. Equally, Shahbaz Sharif and Asif Zardari are taking no chances siding with the Maulana, just in case Gen Bajwa decides to stay on as the most powerful player in the arena. But it is Imran Khan’s behavior that is both intriguing and revealing. On the one hand, he has signed away the extension; on the other, he hasn’t put it in the public domain; on the one hand, he is constantly at pains to insist that the government and Establishment are on the same page; on the other, he is clearly not on the same page as the Establishment in so far as dealing with the political opposition is concerned.

The Establishment is concerned that another Martyr – and a popular Punjabi one to boot – would severely undermine its institutional interests. It may also be concerned about the disunity in the country provoked by Imran Khan’s obsession to wipe out the leadership of the PPP and PMLN at a time when Pakistanis are heaving under the yoke of severe economic pressures and hostile regional powers may be conspiring against the country.

Has the Maulana been conveyed some assurances? Certainly, Imran Khan’s latest spanner in the works would suggest a degree of boldness that can only result from the knowledge or perception that General Bajwa has decided to go home. He would be a very foolish man to take this stance if he knew that Gen Bajwa aims to wield the stick for another three years.

#Pakistan - The problem of child marriages

     By: Saira Shahliani

The problem of child marriages continues unabated in many developing countries. Our country is also not immune to this issue. This is one of the causes of many socio-economic problems plaguing Pakistan such as overpopulation, high maternal and child mortality rates, stunting and wasting of children, and so on. In order to tackle this issue, it is time to increase the minimum marriageable age up to 18 years throughout Pakistan for both genders along with launching an awareness campaign in this regard.

People do not have adequate knowledge about the risks posed by early marriages. Recently, I had the opportunity to visit a social gathering where I was questioned what early marriage is! This phenomenon intrigued me and I came to the conclusion that indeed it is the inadequate understanding of this issue of early child marriages which is predominantly responsible for the issue of early child marriages.

Additionally, lack of proper employment opportunities has also contributed in this regard. As the downtrodden sections of society are unable to afford education, health and other such facilities, they deem it necessary to get their offspring married as soon as possible, mostly before their 18th birthday. One of the reasons is that they are not able to look after their children or even to properly feed them, and an easy way out is to get their daughters married at an early age.

Early marriages are also the cause of many medical complications. Stunting and wasting of children are the most threatening of them. Due to child marriages, unplanned pregnancies are prevalent, resultantly the expectant mother, as well as her child, does not have an adequate intake of the required nutrition, which leads to stunting and wasting amongst the children. As the first 1000 days of life for new-born children are the most important, if they will not be provided with the nutritious diet, there is a danger that they may suffer stunting and wasting. Increased maternal and child mortality rates are other perils with regard to child medical complications arising out of the marriages taking place before 18 years of age.

There is a need to curb this unchecked rise of child marriages throughout Pakistan. First and foremost, the existing laws pertaining to the child marriages should be amended and the minimum marriageable age for both the genders should be changed to 18 years. The Sindh Assembly has passed the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2013 and fixed 18 years as the minimum marriageable age for boys as well as girls. 16 years is fixed in other provinces as thr minimum marriageable age, so this should be amended by other assemblies following in the footsteps of the Sindh Assembly. Such a move may face resistance from orthodox religious leaders, but they should be convinced and taken on board in this step. Furthermore, the government and the civil society should take holistic steps for creating awareness against the child marriages so that the public may know about the risks of the early marriages.

It is time we realised the dangers of early child marriages and took comprehensive steps in this regard. Beginning from amending the existing laws and substituting 18 years as the minimum marriageable age and raising awareness can be game changers in eradication of the menace of early marriages. The role of ulema is indispensable in this respect, hence they should be motivated for playing their vital role.

If we do not realise this threat then we are bound to cause more damage to individuals, families and to the society at large. Thus, there is a need to check the child marriages at the earliest.

EDITORIAL: Blast in #Balochistan

Pakistan’s relative calm is now occasionally breached with blasts or targeted killings in Balochistan. On Friday, it was again in the grip of bloodshed when two Frontier Corps (FC) personnel were martyred and five others injured in an explosion in Quetta’s Kuchlak area. The explosion is believed to be caused by an improvised explosive device (IED) that hit the vehicle of the patrolling personnel in the old Kuchlak Bypass area. The injured are being treated for their life-threatening injuries, and we pray for their early recovery. A similar IED blast had claimed the lives of a Rapid Response Force sniper on Quetta’s Double Road area on October 15. On October 21, another IED blast targeted law enforcement agencies personnel on Quetta’s Spinny Road where at least two policemen and as many civilians were injured.
The recent blast puts Kuchlak under the spotlight again. In September, this area saw the targeted killings of clerics associated with the Afghan Taliban. Of the two prayer leaders killed within days, one was the brother of Afghan Taliban chief Haibatullah Akhun­dzada. The other deceased was also an Afghan citizen and had been the imam of the mosque for many years. Though those attacks were considered to be the aftermath of the internal fighting between Taliban ranks, the recent blast targeting the FC personnel may point to the fact that the Taliban are targeting local law enforcement agencies. If this is true it is very sad that the Taliban or their sympathizers in Kuchlak, who are pledging peace in Afghanistan in dialogue with the US, China, and Russia, have resorted to violence against the law-enforcement agencies. In the wake of the recent attack, it is imperative for agencies to launch an operation on a massive scale and purge the area of local and foreign militants. Their presence will keep creating multiple security challenges to the writ of the government and local populations, such as Shia Hazaras.
Balochistan and the federal government should also revisit the political and economic fault lines of the province stemming from the sense of deprivation prevailing for decades. The launch of the Gwadar Port and other China-Pakistan Economic Corridor related projects offer enormous opportunities for the people of Balochistan. Very soon, the mine-and-mineral-rich province will see the tide of riches and prosperity coming to its people. This can happen at the earliest if the province is at peace.

https://dailytimes.com.pk/501346/blast-in-balochistan/

#Pakistan - Intolerance dragging country into quagmire, warns Bilawal Bhutto

Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said the country is facing the worst kind of intolerance in the modern days, adding that injecting political weeds and extremism into national politics were damaging the whole society far from our comprehension.

In his message on International Day for Tolerance being observed by the Unites Nations on Saturday, he said that democracy was being weakened under a plan where the election process was getting replaced with selection to make the people of Pakistan irrelevant in governance and decision-making affecting the very fate and future of the country.

Bilawal said the PPP leadership had always promoted tolerance to create an egalitarian society based on justice, equality and peace. “However, our founder prime minister Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was judicially murdered and the first elected woman prime minister of the Muslim world Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was brutally assassinated,” a statement quoted him as saying. Still president Asif Ali Zardari raised “Pakistan Khappe” slogan, he said, adding that previously, president Zardari suffered 12 years in jail without any conviction and now he had been incarcerated for more than 150 days without any FIR, reference and on mere hollow accusations.

The PPP chairman said that the man who was the tallest symbol of tolerance in Pakistan had been deprived of a duly required medical treatment, including access to his personal doctors, as his health was worsening day by day. He pointed out that the PPP was promoting tolerance in Pakistan because it belonged to the segments of society who wanted their future generations to flourish in the country instead of those spreading intolerance here, but dreaming to raise and settle their future generations elsewhere except Pakistan.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/570058-intolerance-dragging-country-into-quagmire-warns-bilawal

Terror training camps still active in Pakistan

Shishir Gupta

External affairs minister S Jaishankar's statement this week that Pakistan has developed a terrorist industry comes in the backdrop of reports that trained Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) suicide attackers have infiltrated Jammu and Kashmir in October and that the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) leadership is in constant touch with their handlers in Rawalpindi GHQ.

© Provided by HT Digital Streams Limited Pakistani soldiers guard the Gaddafi Stadium ahead of a cricket series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, in Lahore. Image used for representational purpose only. (Photo: AP)

In an interview with French newspaper Le Monde, Jaishankar said the eradication of anti-India terrorist groups is a pre-condition for dialogue with Pakistan.

South Block confirms that terror training camps of LeT, JeM and Hizbul Mujahideen are still active in Pakistan despite the public posturing of Imran Khan government. India sent a specific list of locations, including Google map co-ordinates of 24 prominent terror training camps in Pakistan to the country after the Pulwama attack but none of these camps has been shut down to date.

The names of camps include Abdulla bin Mashood (LeT); Balakot (JeM); Barali/Fagosh 1 & 2 (LeT); Barnala (HM); Bhawalpur (JeM); Batarsi camp 1 & 2 (LeT & JeM); Chelabandi (LeT/JeM/ HM) and Daura-e-Azeemat (HM). Many of these camps are located in Occupied Kashmir, Manshera, Peshawar, Bhawalpur and Lahore.

According to security agencies, JeM's operational commander Mufti Abdul Rauf Asghar along with his brother Maulana Ammar met their handlers in Rawalpindi GHQ on November 10 seeking financial help, removal of restrictions on the terror group and instructions for future action.

Indian intelligence inputs also say that two LeT suicide attackers, Osama and Abdullah infiltrated the newly created UT in early October after undergoing a so-called purification course and with the approval of senior LeT leadership.

While the hunt is on in J&K for these two, the state police has killed no less than 150 terrorists this year including 70 Pakistani nationals.

When EAM Jaishankar talked about terrorist factory, he was also talking about Pakistan's other options in targeting India. As recently as September 23, Pakistan based Ranjeet Singh Neeta's Khalistan Zindabad Force tried unsuccessfully to send a cache of AK-47 rifles, pistols, satellite phones and ammunition across the international border.

Pro-Khalistan terrorists currently being given shelter by Pakistan include Harmeet Singh and Lakhbir Singh of International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF); Paramjit Singh Panjwar of Khalistan Commando Force (KCF); Gajinder Singh of Dal Khalsa and Wadhawa Singh Babbar of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI).

Members of Indian Mujahideen group, who planned and executed blasts in India between 2005 to 2013, are also now freely operating in Pakistan. These include Iqbal and Riyaz Bhatkal, Mohasin Choudhary, Afiff Hassan Siddibappa and Mohammed Rashid.

The fugitives taking shelter even today in Pakistan are all the principals accused in 1993 Mumbai bomb blast cases, engineered by global terrorist Dawood Ibrahim. His associates including Anees Ibrahim, Tiger Memon, Chhota Shakeel, Mohammed Dosa and Fahim Machmach also operate freely in Pakistan.

https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/newsindia/terror-training-camps-still-active-in-pakistan/ar-BBWS18H?li=AAggbRN

Imran Khan’s Pakistan is only for the military middle class, not for everyone

Husain Haqqani 
 21 August, 2018  

Instead of offering concrete suggestions for economic policy, Khan continues to rail against the alleged corruption of his opponents.

Imran Khan’s first address to the nation as Pakistan’s prime minister devoted more time to discussing ending corruption, improving education, and ensuring better garbage collection in cities. He said little about ending Pakistan’s reputation as a terrorist safe haven or how he might face the country’s relative global isolation.

The reason for Khan’s choice of priorities is the same as the reason why several members of his cabinet are individuals who also served in the military dictatorship of General Pervez Musharraf. The issues he listed matter to his support base, which essentially comprises the pro-military salaried class.

Most of them were comfortable during Musharraf’s rule and would be happy to be led to the lost paradise by an energetic civilian celebrity.

That is not to say corruption, lack of education and sanitation are not important issues. They are. But they are a result of Pakistan’s state of permanent crisis, not the reason.

Moreover, Pakistan’s constitution makes provincial governments responsible for education while garbage collection is the responsibility of local governments. Neither falls under the prime minister’s purview although his attention could certainly help improve service delivery in both realms.

Still, that is insufficient reason for the newly selected prime minister of a nuclear-armed country to speak like a mayor or a provincial leader and avoid addressing matters that interest the rest of the world.

Khan is the latest celebrity who has translated his success as a cricket star into high political office. That he did so with the help of Pakistan’s ubiquitous intelligence services and the military is not in doubt. But even if he had succeeded all on his own, he would have had the same handicap that celebrity leaders have everywhere else.

As Michael Gerson recently posed the question in The Washington Post in context of another celebrity leader, “Is the skill set of the celebrity suited to the reality of governing?”

“The culture of celebrity,” Gerson wrote, “elevates appearance over accomplishment”. In this culture, “rivalries and feuds are essential to the storyline,” and “it encourages theatrical bitterness. Instead of pursuing a policy vision, the first calling of the celebrity is to maintain a brand”.

Celebrities seldom get the scrutiny that politicians do before their rise to power. The celebrity, according to Gerson, is likely to use “the power of his office to pursue personal vendettas. Instead of yelling at the television when people displease him, he now has the power to hurt them in practical ways”.

Khan’s rise to power was based on painting his rivals as venal and corrupt. He has now promised to put them on trial for corruption. But, as Pakistan’s history has repeatedly shown, accusing civilian leaders of corruption with the help of a subjugated media is easier than convicting them through due process.

Within 48 hours of being sworn in, Khan discovered that his assumption of lavish expenditure on the prime minister’s official residence from the exchequer by Nawaz Sharif was wrong. Apparently, Sharif dutifully wrote cheques to reimburse his personal expenses and those of his family.

Other similar revelations probably also await. Middle class Pakistanis might like Khan’s claims about transforming the prime minister’s house into a university or reducing expenses on catering for official events. But catering expenses are a drop in the bucket of Pakistan’s huge deficit, and the gimmick of transforming a residential building into a university might end up incurring significant costs.

For several decades, salaried Pakistanis – soldiers, civil servants, doctors and engineers often employed by the government and their offspring who have grown up in government residences and cantonments – have been fed a simplified national narrative.

Pakistan, they are told, is a special country created by God and endowed with natural wealth and productive people. The common explanation for Pakistan’s relatively uninspiring economic performance is that the country’s riches are regularly plundered by corrupt politicians and civil se

Every backdoor intervention in Pakistan’s politics has been predicated on the assumption that an honest leader can help recover the billions of dollars siphoned off from the economy and stashed in bank accounts abroad, although no large-scale repatriation of stolen Pakistani wealth has ever occurred.

It is not unusual for Khan’s supporters to talk about overseas property and ‘billions of dollars’ in Swiss accounts that would, if brought back, help Pakistan become collectively wealthy.

Instead of offering concrete suggestions for economic policy, Khan continues to rail against the alleged corruption of his opponents and promises prosperity based on ‘bringing back the nation’s looted wealth’.

But this narrative ignores the economic explanations for flight of capital or why corruption in Pakistan does not result in local capital formation as it does in countries like South Korea or China. Corruption is indeed endemic in Pakistan but it is not the only explanation for Pakistan’s economic problems.

Khan will keep his base happy with such nationalist rhetoric, while ignoring questions such as why the per hectare yield of its major crops is almost half of most other countries, why Pakistanis consume 34 per cent less calories on average than the rest of the world, or why the value of Pakistan’s cotton textiles exports is less than that of Bangladesh while Pakistan is the world’s fourth largest cotton producer and Bangladesh produces negligible amount of cotton.

Fulmination against corruption has become the economic equivalent of conspiracy theories explaining the country’s insecurity. In popular sentiment, just as conspiracies have made Pakistan weak and vulnerable, its destined economic greatness has been thwarted by corruption, not poor policy choices.

But a nation’s performance depends on sensible policies, not rhetoric and God’s special endowments. Even after Khan has improved garbage collection and put all his ‘corrupt’ opponents on trial, Pakistan’s debts won’t see a drop and exports and remittances will continue to fall short.

Unless, of course, core problems discouraging investment, productivity and exports are addressed. These include religious militancy and poor relations with neighbours, which have economic consequences that Khan’s base simply does not wish to acknowledge.

On the domestic front too, Khan cannot rely on his base alone. As US political analyst, Charlie Cook, recently observed, “Politics is supposed to be an exercise in addition, not subtraction or division.”

With a razor-thin parliamentary majority (176 out of 342), Khan will soon have to reach out for support beyond his base, which might entail deals and reconciliation that he has always decried. The deal-making began even to reach that slim majority.

Pakistan’s military leadership and the judiciary have their own crisis of credibility to deal with. Having put their weight behind Khan’s election success, they cannot afford to be seen as extensions of just one political party forever.

As permanent institutions of state, the judiciary and military need to regain the respect (or at least regard) of other political groups and factions and would soon have to reach out to critics to restore political balance.

Khan’s celebrity status might not prove enough to deal with Pakistan’s myriad challenges.

#Pakistan #PPP - Bilawal says IMF policies destroyed country’s economy

• PPP chairman says joblessness has become a major issue in the country due to poor economic policies.
• Bilawal says PPP has no knowledge of Fazlur Rehman's plan A or C.
• PPP cannot initiate or become part of any civil disobedience movement: Bilawal.

Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardai has said that the policies of International Monetary Fund (IMF) have brought the country's economy to the brink of destruction.

He expressed these views while speaking to media persons in Islamabad on Friday.

Bilawal said that the PTI-led government has completely destroyed Pakistan's economy and surrendered to the IMF.

The PPP chairman highlighted that joblessness has become a major issue in the country due to poor economic policies.

To a question he added, “Imran Khan will not remain prime minister for long as the people have become fed up of his ill policies," he maintained. He said the selected PM will have to step down and next year people will see a new prime minister.

Regarding JUI-F's ‘Azadi March', he said that PPP has fulfilled its responsibility regarding the protest march as its leaders participated in it from Karachi. “We have no knowledge of Maulana Fazlur Rehman's plan A or C," he remarked.  However, he pointed out that Fazlur Rehman is in contact with PML-Q leaders these days.

He said the PPP cannot initiate or become part of any civil disobedience movement.