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#KamalaHarris - The Undertold, Undersold Story of Kamala Harris

By Frank Bruni

As a prosecutor, she can make you tremble. But as a trailblazer can she make you cry?

When I saw on Wednesday morning that Kamala Harris had released a short video marking and celebrating her selection as Joe Biden’s running mate, I clicked — eagerly and instantly. I wanted to continue riding my wave of excitement about all the firsts: first woman of color on a major party’s presidential ticket, first Black woman specifically, first Asian-American.

By the time I finished the video, that wave had crashed.

OK, that’s an overstatement. But as I listened to her flat, desultory recitation of her biography and philosophy, I did feel a sense of frustration, and it was familiar. I’d wrestled with the same letdown during the Democratic primary, when the experience of Harris didn’t live up to the idea of Harris. She often skipped or skimmed over facets of her background that she would have benefited from dwelling on. She frequently zoomed past the poetry to the prose, more a steely lawyer rattling off lists than a soulful leader serving up inspiration.

Harris the prosecutor can find the holes in your argument and make you tremble. But can Harris the history-making vice-presidential candidate find the cracks in your heart and make you cry?

That’s certainly not a requirement — most politicians not named Barack Obama fail to do that — and I’m not complaining per se. As I wrote when the news broke, her presence on the Democratic ticket makes total sense in terms of the experience that she possesses, the values that she represents and the contrast that she helps Biden draw between his politics of inclusion and Donald Trump’s politics of division.

I’m articulating a wish, one that’s tied to my belief that a decent future for this country hinges on an end to Trump’s presidency and my concern that Biden and Harris use every arrow in their quivers to defeat him. I’m venting a worry that Harris doesn’t fully use one of her arrows. She did poorly in the Democratic primary because, yes, her campaign was a mess. But she also did poorly because she never discovered the right, stirring way to tell and sell her story.

I want her to discover it on Wednesday night, when she speaks at the Democratic National Convention (or however we’re describing its virtual facsimile). I want her to hold on to it between then and Nov. 3, because I want to call her the vice president of the United States soon after that.

Although Trump would cringe at the following thought and never understand it, Harris reflects this country’s ideals and its reality much better than he does. “Her story’s America’s story,” Biden said when he and she first appeared together as running mates on Wednesday afternoon. He’s right, and I want her to embrace that and flesh it out at every turn.

She’s the biracial daughter of immigrants: Jamaican father, Indian mother, both beckoned to this country of newcomers and transplants. Growing up in California’s Bay Area, she was bused to an elementary school in a richer, whiter neighborhood than her own, so she knows the fact of segregation and the dream of integration from the road she traveled.

She understands how families, despite their best intentions, fray. Her parents divorced, and when her mother found teaching and research work in Montreal, she moved for her middle and high school years to that largely white, French-speaking city. For college she went to Howard, a historically Black university in Washington, D.C., that allowed her to appraise America — its past, present and future — from a different vantage point. From there she forged her own path, with her own rules. She didn’t marry until she was 49. Her husband is white and Jewish and she’s a stepmother to his two children.

What a rich mix of influences: as multiracial, multiethnic and multicultural as the country in which her parents wisely invested their hopes. What a portrait of life as it’s lived, with all sorts of swerves.

In her public remarks she makes references to some of this, but they’re usually just that — references. After she mentioned school busing (“that little girl was me”) to attack Biden in a primary debate for his opposition to it, I went back and looked at the big speech that she’d given to kick off her presidential campaign. Busing was nowhere to be found. In fact her speech didn’t have all that much biographical detail, period, at least if you edited out the professional stuff. It was strikingly impersonal. I recently read much of her memoir, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey,” published shortly before that speech, and came away with the same impression. She gives you less of her history than you expect, not more. She steers away from emotion, not toward it. Maybe that’s what a woman aiming for top jobs in a man’s world has to do. Maybe that’s even more incumbent on a woman of color. A scintilla too angry and you’re unhinged. A soupçon too misty and you’re unraveling.

It’s worth noting that when Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stood in the House last month to call out the misogynistic remarks of a male colleague, she twice stressed that she was speaking from the perspective of principle, not of upset. “I want to be clear that Representative Yoho’s comments were not deeply hurtful or piercing to me,” she said, adding that she was made of tougher stuff than that. She later reiterated that she “was not deeply hurt or offended.” To be at all emotional, she had to establish that she was unemotional.

A male lawmaker wouldn’t have felt that need. John Boehner, the House speaker from 2011 to 2015, certainly didn’t: He was famous for weeping at the drop of an amendment. If Nancy Pelosi behaved as soggily, she’d be savaged.

But in the book “The Firsts,” about the women who entered Congress in record-breaking numbers after the 2018 midterms, Jennifer Steinhauer of The Times notes that several of those newcomers did permit themselves to tear up at appropriate times — for example, when discussing an issue that had greatly affected them or their loved ones — and it came across as authentic, not weak. Maybe the world is changing for the better. Or maybe there’s more allowance for women in House seats than for women in even higher posts.

The Kamala Harris I’ve met and chatted with informally, in person, is warmer and more winning than the version I’ve watched on the stump. More transparent. More accessible.

And I saw flashes of her on Wednesday afternoon, during that appearance with Biden, when her huge smiles suggested that she couldn’t contain her exhilaration. She shouldn’t try. Her story is genuinely exhilarating.

Storytelling is everything. Trump won the presidency with a story about America that appealed to many Americans. It mixed imaginary villains with real ones, lies with truths. But he told it expansively. He told it effectively.

Obama’s rise was rooted in his own story, in the eloquence with which he spoke of Kenya and Kansas and how their commingling inside him was the American dream. I can’t count the number of times, on his path to the White House, that he put a lump in my throat.

Harris’s story is the rival of Obama’s. She just has to give it a comparably mythic shimmer. I know “that little girl” was her. But I want to know more about her, and I want to hear her voice.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/14/opinion/kamala-harris-biden-2020.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

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Bilawal Bhutto Zardari inaugurates People’s Square in the heart of Sindh capital, Karachi

Chairman Pakistan People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that the Federal government is not giving due share from its funds to the Sindh government, therefore, it has collaborated with the World Bank, under compulsion for improving certain key infrastructures in the province, especially in provincial capital.

PPP Chairman inaugurated People’s Square, a public place and underground carparking near Sindh Secretariat for commuters, visitors to the Secretariat and the students of nearby historic educational institutes here today.
He said that  the people of the province would benefit from the People’s Square while the masterpieces of the architecture in the surroundings and the rest of the city as well would also be restored under this Neighbourhood Improvement Project with the assistance of the WB. The project has been named ‘The People’s Square. “We have focused on the solution. We will alleviate the problems of the people of Karachi by making plans in the style of People’s Square. Thanks to the 18th Amendment, financial powers have been assigned to the provinces constitutionally.  We will build such People’s Squares in every district of Sindh, “ he added.
He pointed out that Sindh government has fought the terrorists. The Sindh police and law enforcers have restored peace in Karachi, for which the citizens, police and rangers have sacrificed their blood and lives.
At the inaugural function of People’s Square, Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah, his cabinet members Saeed Ghani, Syed Nasir Shah, Imtiaz Shaikh, Suhail Anwar Siyal, Advisor to CM Barrister Murtaza Wahab and other PPP leaders were present.
Both current and former WB Group Country Director spoke to the ceremony online.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari while congratulating on Independence Day said that today we are celebrating special Independence Day in Karachi and inaugurating projects. I think this project is the beginning of a revolution to reduce the problems of the people of Karachi and to improve the governance of Karachi. The PPP has always paid attention to the problems of the people. We constantly complain that our provinces are being denied their due after the 18th amendment, due to which there is a lack of resources and people are facing difficulties in resolving their problems.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardaru further said that this project is our first phase as other similar projects are also underway in Malir and other districts of Karachi. A similar project would be launched at the Wazir Mansion in Kharadar where Quaid-e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was born and appreciated that Sindh government plants to put sewerage and other utility services networks underground throughout Karachi to protect the historic sites and the people. We are working for the reduction in problems.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the PPP has a very old relationship of close attachment with Karachi as Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto used to teach law at SM Law College and we would also develop Kakri Ground in Lyari where the marriage reception of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari was held.  We believe that if Karachi develops then not only Sindh province but the whole of Pakistan will develop but there are problems and difficulties. We would manage the funds ourselves and the Sindh Board of Revenue achieved its target even during the Coronavirus outbreak in the country. However, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) failed but we want the local governments to also increase their revenue.
He said that PPP is sincere with the capital of Sindh and its people, whoever has the responsibility but we will solve the problems by becoming representatives because we know that one’s statements dont work but one has to work hard. The long standing problems of Karachi could be solved together and slowly because the PPP had found Karachi where terrorists from all over the world were operating here and local thugs had also an abetting role.  The security forces and Police in Karachi have made the greatest sacrifices against terrorism and the citizens here have restored the lights by sacrificing blood and now such an environment has been created for such projects to start.
He said that we respect the mandate of local governments; we are the only province where the local government will complete its term in the same month which is history. Imran Khan abolished local government in Punjab but we did not.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the term of local government is coming to an end and then elections will be held. Sindh government will work at the forefront to solve the problems.
He said that Imran Khan’s government has done nothing for the people of Karachi except lip service. He promised but did not fulfill a single promise, did not give a job and did not build 5 million houses here, and did not complete a single project despite the promise of water supply project.
Reiterating his commitment to projects in Karachi, he said that the federal government has not come up with a single new project for the city but we are starting from today and this is the first phase of projects in the city in collaboration with the WB then in each district we will build People’s Square. We will solve the problems of the people by investing in their infrastructure.
He appealed to the people to support the PPP and said that if we walk together, work together and struggle together, we can give this city its due rights and restore its past glory.

https://www.ppp.org.pk/2020/08/14/bilawal-bhutto-zardari-inaugurates-peoples-square-in-the-heart-of-sindh-capital-karachi/

Bajwa may be trying to smooth things with Saudis, but Imran Khan dreams of Neo-Ottoman world.

HUSAIN HAQQANI

Saudi Arabia has always bailed out Pakistan and given job opportunities. But now Imran Khan’s government is giving it ultimatums and living in a fantasy world.

Pakistan’s army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, is set to visit Saudi Arabia in an effort to end the recent tiff between the partner countries. Foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had brought disagreements between Riyadh and Islamabad out in the open by issuing an ultimatum demanding the Saudis call a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation on the Kashmir issue.

Pakistan has been dependent on Saudi Arabia for years, seeking economic bailouts and jobs for unskilled workers whose remittances help Islamabad’s perennial balance of payments difficulties. But now, miffed Saudis are asking for the immediate return of short-term loans and have dragged their feet over completing an oil deal that ensures flow of oil to Pakistan on concessional terms.

General Bajwa’s intervention to stop the drift in ties affirms the realisation that Pakistan simply can’t afford to alienate the Saudis. Why, then, did Qureshi engage in anti-Saudi rhetoric that was unsustainable? To understand that requires an examination of the overly simplistic populism of Prime Minister Imran Khan and his backers, and the fantasy of many Pakistanis about an altered global order, with Pakistan at its center.

Another Great Game

For decades, especially since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, retired Pakistani generals and civilian writers on strategic issues have spoken about a ‘new Great Game’ in South and Central Asia that would make Pakistan a geopolitical ‘pivot’.

This was an adaptation of British geographer Halford Mackinder’s heartland theory, submitted in 1904 when Pakistan did not exist, the United States was not yet a superpower, and airpower or the military applications of satellite and cyber technologies could not be imagined.

Pakistan’s pre-9/11 involvement in Afghanistan, its support for jihadi militants as an instrument of asymmetric warfare, and its close ties with China were all explained as part of the grand strategy to capitalise on Pakistan’s strategic location and make it a bigger player on the world stage.

Some Americans dismissed it as ‘a grand illusion’, especially in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, which forced Pakistan to seek an alliance with the United States once again. But the theory of Pakistan’s inevitable greatness, notwithstanding its economic problems and its constant dependence on outside powers, has persisted among Pakistanis.

Pakistan at the center

The impending withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, the prospect of a return to power of the Taliban, and the commitment of an economically stronger China, have all played a role in cementing the view that Pakistan would emerge as a key player in a new global order.

According to this outlook, Pakistan benefits from the impending decline of the United States and the rise of China as a global superpower. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) might add to Pakistan’s debt but it also attaches Pakistan and China at the hip. And the two countries share hostility towards India, a country the US and other Western nations see as an ally in their imminent confrontation with an aggressive, totalitarian China.

Believers in Pakistan’s inevitable strategic salience expect that after Afghanistan, the US will also withdraw gradually from the Middle East. In their imagination, Pakistan would then be China’s link to the Middle East, making it Beijing’s go-to satrap in tapping Middle East oil and securing Gulf shipping lanes.

The hope is that Pakistan can then fulfil its old dreams of exercising paramountcy over Afghanistan, resolving disputes with India (including Kashmir) on its terms, and finding its rightful place as the Muslim world’s natural leader and sole nuclear weapons power. Such fanciful thinking is championed by several influential voices, including Prime Minister Imran Khan and his followers. Their allies in Pakistan’s deep state and permanent establishment see value in these ideas for building a more positive national narrative. But they are probably a little more pragmatic in understanding the gap between hopes and reality.

A new Ertugrul

These days, Pakistan’s television commentators frequently talk about the country’s forthcoming grand role in a China-Russia-Turkey-Iran-Pakistan alliance that is destined to defeat the US-Israel-India partnership. Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan has encouraged discussions about this five-country alliance, ignoring the various issues that might hinder cooperation among this diverse grouping. It is not unusual to read in a Pakistani newspaper about the post-Covid world order that would be based on the dreams of Pakistani Islamo-nationalists.The rhetoric in Pakistan is not dissimilar to the neo-Ottoman bombast of Turkey’s Islamist President, Recip Tayyip Erdogan, which ignores Turkey’s currently weak economic prospects.

Imran Khan is a huge Erdogan fan and purveys pan-Islamism as the panacea, not only for Pakistan but for the entire ummah.Pakistan has long embraced pan-Islamism, but it was more a device to address the identity crisis of a nation that was carved out only 73 years ago and conceived just shortly before that. Most Pakistani leaders understood the limits of Islamic unity and allied with the West for economic and security reasons. But Imran Khan seems to believe his own rhetoric.

The cricketer-turned-politician has encouraged Pakistanis to watch a Turkish drama serial Ertugrul, supposedly based on the life of the father of the Ottoman dynasty’s founder, Osman.

Historic records about Ertugrul are scant but the show’s producers and story writers have stretched the few sketchy historic references into a 150-episode period drama.

The show portrays its hero as a great Muslim warrior who overcomes external enemies and domestic traitors to emerge victorious in an early phase of what Erdogan once described as the ongoing “struggle between the crescent and the cross.”

It seems that Imran Khan shares Erdogan’s vision, with the additional twist of putting Pakistan in a more important role in bringing down the West in addition to winning its own battles against Hindu India.

A make-believe world

No one should be fooled by Imran Khan’s external Westernisation to think that his description in parliament of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as a ‘martyr’ was a slip of tongue. It reflects a worldview that has significant support among Pakistanis.

In this backdrop, Imran Khan and his followers do not see Saudi Arabia’s current leader crown prince Mohammed bin Salman as an ally in their Islamist Neo-Ottoman fantasy world, which they hope to create with China’s help.The Saudis now oppose the Islamist ‘Muslim Brotherhood’, maintain good relations with India, and are not willing to engage in knee-jerk opposition of Israel. That upsets Imran Khan as much as it offends Erdogan.Khan engaged with the Kingdom because of Pakistan’s transactional needs, just as he temporarily took off his anti-American cloak to befriend President Donald Trump. But in his heart, and that of most of his supporters, lies the desire for a make-believe global order in which China dominates the world but allows Muslims to remain ascendant in their heartland.

The Uyghurs of China may have a thing or two to teach Pakistan’s armchair jihadis about China’s tolerance for Islam and Muslims. But for now, Khan’s eyes are closed and his foreign minister’s grandiloquence at its peak.

Meanwhile, reality requires that General Bajwa continue to engage in damage control missions like the one he is undertaking to Riyadh now.

https://theprint.in/opinion/bajwa-going-to-saudis-but-imran-khan-dreams-of-neo-ottoman-world/481107/

Opinion: Saudi Arabia's Shocking Snub From Pakistan Is a Bonanza for China and Turkey

Kunwar Khuldune Shahid

Pakistan’s foreign policy has a rule: Say yes to whatever comes out of a Saudi mouth. But last week, Pakistan slapped back. Why? And who will it really benefit? Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi recently launched a shocking broadside at Saudi Arabia, the Gulf state with whom Islamabad has become increasingly close, let alone dependent on.It was a sign of a new configuration in Pakistan’s foreign and economic policies which will have far wider repercussions: the pivot away from Riyadh, towards China and Turkey, is a recognition of a new global cold war, whose most explosive faultlines will include the border between Pakistan and India.

Marking the anniversary of India revoking Kashmir’s special status last week, Qureshi issued a stark and unprecedented warning to Saudi Arabia and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). He demanded Riyadh categorically support Pakistan’s position on the long-disputed territory of Kashmir, threatening that inaction would force Islamabad to ally with other Muslim states over an issue that Pakistan has long framed as a "genocide of Muslims."

Riyadh retaliated immediately, insisting Pakistan repay $1 billion for oil supplies that had previously been repaid in deferred payments. Who stepped in cover the debt with a last-minute loan? China. Six days after Qureshi’s TV offensive, Riyadh ended the loan and oil supply to Islamabad, despite Pakistan’s repeated requests for the renewal of the facility. Such was the magnitude of what Qureshi had said that anything barring his sacking would mean that the state – which in Pakistan translates into the all-powerful military, with complete control over its foreign policy – is fully behind the foreign minister’s claim, even if it is not clear if Pakistan thought through all the repercussions.

A week on, while the opposition parties have opportunistically looked to cash in on the apparent diplomatic curveball, the government’s own reaction has been to talk up relations with Saudi Arabia. But it has pointedly refused to backtrack on the foreign minister’s statement, maintaining that Pakistan would always "protect its interests."