Hacker News Reader

Comment by dfc | Hacker News Reader

I dont share the other commenter's criticism of the structure of your comment, but I have to admit to being a little unimpressed with the twitter suggestion. The US/Pakistan relationship is something that I find very interesting and confusing. Maybe the most recent tweets are not indicative of the normal quality? You have to hope that the linked twitter account is not the best source out there. The books you mentioned are certainly part of the standard literature as far as Af-Pak politics goes, but they say little to nothing about the India/Pakistan relationship or the multitude of Pakistan's domestic conflicts.

View on HN

Dr. Fair is an interesting character, she is well versed in Urdu and Punjabi and has travelled Pakistan. Probably few people in US who knows Pakistan very intimately. She is not a political scientist but I think she is into studying languages. Many policy makers including State department do not have depth, at least are more exposed to English press in foreign countries which tend to be "liberal" than their native counterparts, ex. Al Jazeera English is not as loco as Al Jazeera Arabic. So, they get a filtered liberal view, Dr. Fair was able to access the "Greenbook" that military publication by Pak Army for Pak Army consumption, and translate it, and there are major major gaps between the narrative told to the state department vs, what Pakistani Generals and Cadre are talking among themselves.

To dismiss Dr. Fair as some kind of wing-nut, conspiracy theorist (say Zaid Hamid) is insane. You may disagree with her conclusions, but that woman has put some major major work in the field.

She has become such a threat that she was banned from entering Pakistan and one General actually threatened her with Gang Rape (according to her).

"To dismiss Dr. Fair as some kind of wing-nut...is insane."

Lucky me, I gave you no reason to doubt my sanity? I think you replied to the wrong comment.

rumor has it she told the general she didn't think he would be able to perform.

giving an in-depth af/pak primer would not help because most here on hn lack context. plus, if i were to recommend carlotta, or haqqani, or some such i would be accused of any number of biases. best to just give intro books and let the motivated readers dig through the footnotes and explore on their own.

Intro books != the standard literature? But more importantly there is more to Pakistani politics than the Af/Pak conflict. I dont understand why you continue to equate af/pak with the entirety of "the byzantine warren of pak politics."

Reply on news.ycombinator.com