Procrastination: February 2004 Archives

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اتوار 29 فروری 2004Sunday, February 29, 2004

ISI Recruiter

Somebody thinks I am an ISI recruiter. (ISI is the Pakistani spy agency.)

I Wnat To Join Pakisti Intelengenc Agency ISI
ThenHow I Can Join To this Please Send Me Any Email Addess or Website link where i contact to them

I Have No time please Help me i have a big problem
I m a civil person i promissed to you i can not tell about you or your information to another persona

if you will help me i will very thankfull for you

Poor guy! He wants to be a spy.

He promises not to tell anyone if I help him. On my weblog! Oh shoot, now the whole world knows.

He signs off as “a helpless person.” Even his name is a lot of fun: Love Choudhury. Does that mean he loves all Choudhurys?

May be I can refer him to the CIA. I hear they were pretty tight with the ISI.

By Zack at 4:09 AM in Pakistan | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Tall Tales and Hopeless Causes

I have seen only a couple of movies recently. A friend and I wanted to see The Passion of the Christ today but it was sold out. Instead we saw The Last Samurai. it’s an ok movie, but is entirely too predictable. There wasn’t a plot point I couldn’t predict in advance. That becomes tiring. Another problem I had with the movie is that it was unable to make me root for the underdog with the “hopeless noble cause” of the samurais. Ken Watanabe was good as the Samurai chief Katsumoto while Tom Cruise was just Tom Cruise.

Big Fish was a better movie. It was based on the idea of a dying father who likes to tell tall tales about his life. The myths and legends confuse his son but in the end help him understand his dad. It is an interesting premise and was fun, though the ending wasn’t great. But I am not sure if there could have been a great ending for this movie.

By Zack at 1:07 AM in Movies | Comments (2) | TrackBack

جمعرات 26 فروری 2004Thursday, February 26, 2004

The Book Quiz

Loosely Based by Storey Clayton

You’re Loosely Based!
by Storey Clayton

While most people haven’t heard of you, you’re a really good and interesting person. Rather clever and witty, you crack a lot of jokes about the world around you. You do have a serious side, however, where your interest covers the homeless and the inequalities of society. You’re good at bringing people together, but they keep asking you what your name means.

Take the Book Quiz at the Blue Pyramid.

Via Barsaat ke Mausam.

By Zack at 12:04 PM in Miscellaneous | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Snow

Forgive me for getting excited, but this doesn’t happen often here in Atlanta. Since I have been here, I think it has happened only 2 or 3 times. In fact, today looks like the rare event where the snow stays on the ground for a day.

According to the National Weather Sevice,

Today. Occasional rain mixed with snow and sleet this morning. Then a chance of rain and snow in the afternoon. Windy and colder. Additional snow accumulation up to 1 inch. Highs in the low to mid 30s. East winds 10 to 20 mph. Chance of precipitation 80 percent.

Tonight. Mostly cloudy. A 30 percent chance of rain or light snow in the evening. Lows in the lower 30s. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph.

A whole inch. That’s quite a lot!

Emory and Georgia State have delayed opening their campuses today till noon and Kennesaw is closed while Tech is open. I think K-12 schools are all closed as well. I hope you northerners don’t make too much fun of us. At least it snowed this time. We have had school closings based on snow forecast when nothing happened.

Here’s the view from my room.

UPDATE: Kianoush seems to be pretty excited about the snow as well.

By Zack at 10:07 AM in Life , Photography | Comments (4) | TrackBack

اگر کبھی میری یاد آۓ

This poem is for Amber who is always asking me to recite it for her. It’s by the Pakistani poet Amjad Islam Amjad. It has also been sung by Abrar ul Haq. (Warning: I can’t figure out if the songs on muziq.net are legal or not.)

Sorry I can’t translate poetry into English.

یہ نظم عنبر کے لئے ہے کیونکہ وہ مجھ سے یہ نظم سننا پسند کرتی ہے۔ اسے آپ ابرار الحق کی آواز میں سن سکتے ہیں۔ مجھے معلوم نہیں کہ muziq.net پر گانے قانون کے مطابق ہیں یا نہیں۔

اگر کبھی میری یاد آۓ
تو چاند راتوں کی دلگیر روشنی میں
کسی ستارے کو دیکھ لینا
اگر وہ نخل فلک سے اڑ کر تمہارے قدموں میں آ گرے تو یہ جان لینا
وہ استعارہ تھا میرے دل کا
اگر نہ آۓ؟ ۔۔۔
مگر یہ ممکن ہی کس طرح ہے کہ کسی پر نگاہ ڈالو
تو اس کی دیوار جاں نہ ٹوٹے
وہ اپنی ہستی نہ بھول جاۓ!!
اگر کبھی میری یاد آۓ
گریز کرتی ہوا کی لہروں پہ ہاتھ رکھنا
میں خشبووں میں تمہیں ملوں گا
مجھے گلابوں کی پتیوں میں تلاش کرنا
میں اوس قطرہ کے آئینے میں تمہیں ملوں گا
اگر ستاروں میں، اوس خشبووں میں
نہ پاؤ مجھ کو
تو اپنے قدموں میں دیکھ لینا
میں گرد ہوتی مسافتوں میں تمہیں ملوں گا
کہیں پہ روشن چراغ دیکھو تو جان لینا
کہ ہر پتنگے کے ساتھ میں بھی سلگ چکا ہوں
تم اپنے ہاتھوں سے ان پتنگوں کی خاک دریا میں ڈال دینا
میں خاک بن کر سمندر میں سفر کروں گا
کسی نہ دیکھے ہوۓ جزیرے پہ رک کے تمہیں صدائیں دوں گا
سمندروں کے سفر پہ نکلو
تو اس جزیرے پہ کبھی اترنا!!

By Zack at 4:28 AM in Urdu | Comments (19) | TrackBack

منگل 24 فروری 2004Tuesday, February 24, 2004

Urdu/اردو

اردو زبان میں بلاگ

This is just a test to see if I can make this weblog bilingual with entries in both English and Urdu (اردو). Don’t worry this weblog will still be mostly in English. Urdu is my first language but this is my first time typing in Urdu.

There are quite a few things I need help with.

First of all, if you notice any problems like gibberish or misaligned text etc. please let me know.
- UPDATE: RSS feeds have misaligned text because of the right-to-left issue. I have no idea how to fix that. Is there anyone who knows more about RSS who can help?
If anyone knows a better way to write Urdu unicode than to try each key on the keyboard to find the appropriate character, please let me know. The OS I am using is Windows XP.
- UPDATE: This is still my biggest problem.
When I publish my entry, the Urdu characters change to the unicode HTML entities in the edit screen. That makes the editing of Urdu posts very difficult. Is there a solution to that? Please note that I am using Textile 2 formatting and have set the character set for my weblog to be UTF-8.
- UPDATE: Fixed by setting NoHTMLEntities to 1 in mt.cfg. Will that cause any other problems? Ampersand, smart quotes, em dashes etc.?
Right now, I am using <p style="text-align: right"> to align the Urdu text to the right (since it’s written from right to left). Is there a better way? How would I put that in CSS? Also, what if I want an Urdu word in the middle of a paragraph in English or vice versa?
- UPDATE: I have created an urdu class in my CSS and use p[ur](urdu). using MT Textile. I still do want to make it simpler. Also, I am using %[ur]Some Urdu words% for Urdu text within an English paragraph. I need to create similar stuff for English as well.
Also, which fonts can I use for Urdu? Which ones are better looking? Which ones are more likely to be installed on my readers’ machines?
See how the commenter names in Urdu are misaligned with the numbers and the brackets. Is there any solution to that?
- UPDATE: Fixed. It was being caused by the text direction issue. The brackets had an ambiguous direction. They could be left to right if in English text or right to left if in Urdu text. Since the brackets came at the boundary of the change in language, they were somehow being interpreted as in right to left direction. I fixed it by putting <span dir="ltr"></span> around them in the template.

Umair, you are the pioneer in Urdu weblogs. I need your help here.

By Zack at 1:31 AM in Internet , Urdu | Comments (148) | TrackBack

ہفتہ 21 فروری 2004Saturday, February 21, 2004

Weeks 7-10

Start of a new life

On Dec 29th, we went to see the Doc in the morning. We were very nervous, if the heartbeat be there or not?

Dr Darder was there that day. He performed the transvaginal ultrasound. Zack was sitting on a chair next to me while I was lying on my back in that bed. The doctor congratulated us as he saw the heartbeat. Zack could see it from the distance while I was unable to see it. So Dr Darder put the cursor next to that little blinking dot and we were so excited to see it. What a nice way to start a new year.

He also told us to visit them for another week and then start going to my regular ob/gyn.

On Jan 05, I went to the doc and everything seemed ok.They also recommended some good ob/gyn in the area, since my guy is 25 miles away and I want someone near by.

I made the appointment with the regular ob/gyn for 14th Jan 2004.

My first pregnant visit to a regular ob/gyn

As usual I hated the long wait. Also, I am so pampered by going to specialists that ob/gyn gives me the silly PCP visit kind of feeling.

Anyways I visisted my new regular doctors on 14th Jan. They drew lots of blood (which was lost by the lab and I had to redo it) and performed a pap smear.

Doc told me that it will bleed slightly for an hour or so but nothing to be worried. It kept bleeding for three days. Again in desparation, I called my PCOS specialist and they told me to come right away for an ultrasound on Jan 17. The ultrasound was ok and Dr Trieser told me that cervix is just extra-sensitive. Finally the bleeding vanished away.

Another annoying part of my pregnancy

There is no doubt that I am suffering from major cramping etc. But that’s not all. My nose is congested all the time. I can’t breathe, can’t sleep and have no appetite left.

I am seriously allergic to molds, house mites etc. So I thought it must be my allergies. I visited the ENT specialist who told me that I have a deviated septum and may be polyps. Later they found I have no polyps; just suffering from pregnancy rhinitis. And it will get worse before it gets better… which is after delivery.

I can’t take any medicine and they can’t do CT scan to really know the cause, so blame it on the usual suspect… pregnancy.

But so far it has exhausted me. I am unable to eat and whatever I eat I throw up since I have post nasal drip and post nasal drip always make me vomit.

Progress of the fetus

During the 10th week,

The baby now enters it’s fetal period. The average size is approximately 27-35 mm crown to rump length (CRL), or 1.06-1.38 inches. S/he weighs in at 4 grams, or 4 paper clips. Tiny toes have formed. The eyes are largely open, but the eyelids are beginning to fuse, and will stay that way until 25-27 weeks. External genitalia is beginning to differentiate. External ears are completely formed, as well as the upper lip. The biggest accomplishment this week is the disappearance of the tail!

By Amber at 1:38 AM in Pregnancy | Comments (6) | TrackBack

جمعہ 20 فروری 2004Friday, February 20, 2004

Arranged Valentines

A funny episode on Pakistani TV by Avari-Nameh:

During a Valentine’s Day “special.” A — my family would call her “modern” — woman is interviewing an evidently very happy couple.

Hostess: So how long have you been celebrating Valentine’s Day?

Husband: Just a few years now. We’ve only started recently, but we really enjoy it.

Hostess: That’s so wonderful. Tell me, and tell our viewers, how did you two meet and fall in love?

Husband: Actually, we’re first cousins. The marriage was arranged.

Also, check out the comparison of Islamabad to Little Rock, AR in the same post.

By Zack at 8:52 PM in Pakistan | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Weeks 5-6

I was having cramps in my lower abdomen for a few days and I noticed on Dec 16th evening that I have slight dark brown spotting. Spotting continued for next 10 days and cramps starting to become severe.

On the 18th, I freaked out as cramps were getting worse. I had an ovarian cyst couple months ago with similar symptoms, so I called my doc (IVF-NJ/PCOS specialist group). The nurse told me to have an early home pregnancy test and I told her… no way, it has not happened to me in last 7 years so it may not be pregnancy.

She was very polite and asked me to come next morning to have an ultrasound to see what’s going on with my cycle. I love this setup with the fertility specialist. They have 2 or 3 hours dedicated each morning where their patients can just walk in to have a blood test and/or ultrasound and one of the doctors from the group is always there even on weekends. It’s absolutely necessary for women taking IVF treatment but is also a blessing for patients like me who have gynecological issues often and need immediate attention and correct diagnosis.

My last emergency trip to a hospital (rated very best in NJ for its women health) was a very bad experience. I was dying with pain, they diagnosed me wrong without doing any test, X-ray or ultrasound and then started the wrong medicines and asked me to go see my regular specialist, who on my first visit did the ultrasound and right away told me that I have no infection, it’s just an ovarian cyst and then provided me correct line of treatment. So you can tell how much I trust my specialist over the hospital emergency rooms.

We (Zack and me) visited the specialist next morning, Dec 19th. One of the new doctors from their group (Dr Yi) was there that day. I have never met her before. Mostly I go with appointments and only see Dr Trieser or Dr Darder. She did a quick transvaginal ultrasound and told us that it seems like I am pregnant and the bleeding is due to implantation — nothing to be worried about. She also did the blood test and later called me home around noon to confirm the pregnancy. She also asked me to keep visiting every week till the 10th week, when they can say pregnancy is stable.

Who comes to know next — A complete stranger

My company is not doing good in last three years. We are reduced (by force adjustments) from a group of 8 System Engineers to only 2 and this is the last ultimatum from upper management to make a sale of our product or they will close shop.

So I was applying for other jobs. The same last week of Dec, I was negotiating with S, a manager in a very good company and he offered me a good package and I was supposed to confirm Monday Dec 22, that I will join this new company on Feb 01.

When I heard the baby news, I started to take it slow at work and decided not to change jobs. Moving to a new company requires a lot of extra work hours and effort before you make a good reputation. Zack and myself talked and decided it’s not a good time for me to start all over at work front. If I lose my present job in 6 months, so be it, but we should not be taking any risk.

So I told S on monday Dec 22, that I am sorry I can’t join and he was so disappointed and he tried to convince me and asked me if I wanted more benefits etc. I felt kind of sorry too and told him that I just found out I am pregnant and I don’t want to take any risk of extra work load etc.

Everything seems ok but cramps keep getting worse and worse. There were days when I was unable to sit staright in my office.

I told a few of my friends at work… mainly Steven, Rob, Laura and Daksha. I was feeling very tired and sick, could not sleep properly at nigt so I wanted to ask my boss if I can telecommute one day a week. Most of my friends at work told me not to tell my boss. Considering the force adjustments and stuff, they feared that he might use it as a negative impact on my employment continuation with my present company. But my lower abdominal pain was killing me so I decided to trust my boss. When I told him, he reacted very happy and told me to work from home as much as I needed. I was not sure if it was a good idea to share with him or not but I trusted him. It’s very important that you trust your immediate boss at work.

On the 24th Dec, I was scheduled for an ultrasound to see the baby’s heart beat. My doc could not find the heartbeat and he was concerned that it might not be the good sac since I am having such bad cramps. It made me very sad and I did pray a lot for a healthy baby.

My doc told me to revisit on Dec 29th to again check the heart beat. According to him if there will be no heart beat by Dec 29th (6 weeks) then it’s not a good sign.

By Amber at 12:06 AM in Pregnancy | Comments (4) | TrackBack

جمعرات 19 فروری 2004Thursday, February 19, 2004

Weeks 2-3

We don’t know when our baby was conceived. Actually, we have a vague idea. Since we live in different states, we can narrow down the dates to when I was home in Jersey. That comes out to be the thanksgiving weekend from Nov 27–30. But we can’t be more precise because we live apart. So it could have been any one of those days.

You see the conception of our baby was an accident. No, that’s not correct. It was conceived in indifference. Amber has PCOS and PCOS means infertility. So a long time ago, we stopped using any birth control. Condoms after all take the fun out of sex. And the only time we got pregnant before was in 1996 which ended in a miscarriage.

So, hear nutcase relatives of mine (you know who you are), God wasn’t punishing us (by not giving us any kids) for using birth control like you thought. Stop being so crazy and judgmental.

On the other hand, I can’t say that the baby is unwanted or unplanned. We were thinking about a baby and were ready to have one. Our plans just called for this to happen a couple of months and thousands of dollars later.

If you have read Amber’s post, you might wonder if our perspectives are completely different. They were. Amber has always wanted a baby while I have been, ahem, indifferent. However, both of us have been getting closer to the other’s viewpoint recently. This pregnancy is the result.

By Zack at 12:20 AM in Pregnancy | Comments (8) | TrackBack

بدھ 18 فروری 2004Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Blog Milestone

Around 5pm ET today, the weblog passed 100,000 page views according to Sitemeter. It took 9 months since I got my own domain and switched to Movable Type. I understand that some weblogs get more traffic in a day.

In other news, Valentine’s day was very good for traffic statistics. I got a lot of hits for “Valentine Poem.” So much so that this post is now the 2nd most popular of this weblog in the past month.

I have also made some small changes to the weblog. One is the listing of the appropriate categories for each post. This is just to remind Jonathan that he promised to do that on his weblog some time ago.

There are also links to the “about” pages for the authors as well as pages listing all the posts by a specific author on the right sidebar.

If you have any questions whose answers you would like to be on the “about” pages, feel free to ask.

By Zack at 5:16 PM in Internet | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Pakistan and Iran are Arab?

There was a really bad article in the New York Times by Leslie Wayne about Arab Americans backing Bush in this election cycle. Leslie Wayne considers Iranians and Pakistanis as Arab too. Who knew?

Fortunately, I don’t have to debunk it since Jack Shafer of Slate already has.

Juan Cole provides a good summary of languages in the region. He also writes about politics of the different immigrant groups from the Muslim world.

One thing I would add is that Pakistanis have generally been Republicans because of the perception that Republicans have sided more with Pakistan in its conflict against India.

UPDATE: The New York Times has appended a correction to the article today:

A headline yesterday on a front-page article about fund-raising for President Bush’s re-election referred imprecisely to donors described in the article. Not all are Arab-Americans; they include Pakistani and Iranian-born donors.

By Zack at 2:27 PM in International Affairs , Islam and Other Religions , Politics | Comments (23) | TrackBack

Secularism in the Middle East

Talking about the hijab ban in France and plans to allow “painless” female circumcision (also known as female genital mutilation) in Italy, Letter from Gotham writes:

Can somebody please tell me what is the difference in principle between outlawing one religious custom and allowing another? I recognize that wearing a scarf does no harm to anyone. My point is, isn’t the secular society the ultimate authority?

She asks again.

I’m not clear on what he opposes. Is it this particular ruling [hijab ban], or the right of a secular government to ban certain religious practices? [… Should] nice, sanitary female genital mutilations […] be allowed? After all the parents want it. Or does a secular government have the right to interfere in the practice of religious customs?

I think she raises an important point. My opinion is that on the general concept, there are definitely times when the state can and should interfere into religious or cultural affairs. This should be restricted to practices which are barbaric or otherwise restrict the rights of individuals or groups, etc. It is always a good idea to consider whether a specific policy will work or not and what its side-effects will be.

Thinking about this issue, I came across an excellent post at Pedantry.

I’m an advocate of secular government, and I believe secular government can only be a success when religious people demand it as something in their own best interests.

This is very close to my own stance as well.

I think there are legitimate grounds to see in contemporary Islamic legal thought the possibility of a system of laws and governance that need not be excessively unjust or alienating and would certainly draw on more genuinely local traditions than copying European legal and political ideas directly. I think there may even be grounds to think that the development of such a code might be preferable in the real circumstances that prevail in the Middle East to imposing European legal standards.

I prefer to criticise (or praise, when the opportunity arises) modern Islamic politics on the basis of what it wishes to establish rather than because of its religious origins alone. Indeed, having claimed that it is wrong to deny people their religion when they undertake political acts, I can hardly condemn Islamic political ideology for being both political and Islamic. I think non-Muslims could take a far more progressive approach to Islamic politics by criticising it for what it actually proposes rather than for its lack of secularism. When Islamic political activists demand the promotion of social justice because Mohammed commanded it, the secular advocate of social justice should not start getting picky about whether social justice is desirable because it’s what God wants or for more secular reasons. When Islamic politicians demand a second rate status for women or non-Muslims because of something they claim their religion demands, rather than either debate Islamic theology or demand that Islamic politicians establish a secularism neither they nor their constituents believe in, we ought to go and hunt down Islamic political activists with contrary ideas so that we can support their alternatives.

Scott has hit on a very important point here. Most of the Muslim world is not secular. Most people there take their religion very seriously. Also, in most of these countries, the secular elite that have ruled over the years have not really being a smashing success.

There are Islamic political parties in a number of Muslim countries, for example the religious alliance MMA. But a number of secular parties also have some religious character. A secular culture like Europe is not likely in the Muslim world in the near future and we cannot force them to adopt secularism.

The Muslim states should be allowed to develop their own path to a tolerant, good political system. This system would be based on their local culture and religion to some extent.

This obviously does not mean that we allow the extremists like Taliban etc. to take over entire states. Instead we should judge actions rather than a take binary decision between secularism and Islamism. If a political leader advocates for the government to take care of the poor, a la the Alabama Governor, that is well and good. Mistreatment of minorities and women obviously is not.

You might say that the theory is fine but the real world is different and there are a lot of extremist Islamic parties. A counterexample is obviously the Turkish AKP. A number of political parties, both explicitly Islamic and generically Islamic, have been willing to be part of democratic systems. Their actions need to be watched, but there is no reason some of them shouldn’t evolve into liberal democratic parties.

The alternative is not attractive either. Secular dictators which flout the rights of their people can become huge liabilities. US support of such dictators will be seen by the people of those countries as inimical to their interests. Plus these dictators haven’t really done much good. I don’t think Algeria would have been worse under FIS than the military government and the civil war it has gone through in the last decade.

By Zack at 12:01 AM in Islam and Other Religions | Comments (12) | TrackBack

منگل 17 فروری 2004Tuesday, February 17, 2004

پیر 16 فروری 2004Monday, February 16, 2004

Weeks 1-2

First step: Zack is coming home on 27th Nov for Thanksgiving. After a very painful month (Zack’s CRVO problem), finally we are relaxed a little bit.

I got up 25 Nov and realized that I may be ovulating. (I have PCOS and a year back my doc put me on Glucophage which seems to be working in the sense that at least my cycle is regular now). This realization was purely based on the fact that mucous was very watery and clear. So I said to myself… well I missed this window too as Zack will not be here till the 27th (2 days later).

Later I forgot. Zack came home and we had a very nice time. We had friends over for thanksgiving dinner and enjoyed a lot.

By Amber at 3:05 AM in Pregnancy | Comments (2) | TrackBack

ہفتہ 14 فروری 2004Saturday, February 14, 2004

Exciting News

Today (Valentine’s day) is probably an appropriate day to reveal this news.

Amber and I are expecting a baby.

This weblog will now be turned into a full-time pregnancy journal. Just kidding. All your favorite content will still be posted, but there will also be pregnancy-related posts by both Amber and me.

However, I don’t think our pregnancy journal will be as interesting and humorous as fishyshark by Kos.

By Zack at 12:31 PM in Pregnancy | Comments (27) | TrackBack

جمعہ 13 فروری 2004Friday, February 13, 2004

Kucinich at Tech

Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich had a rally at Georgia Tech on Feb 10. I didn’t get a chance to attend. But here is a report from the campus paper.

A delayed flight, however, pushed back the featured speaker’s first showing until around 8 p.m., a little over an hour after the rally began. Still, this did not stop the roughly 250 supporters packed into the Old Architecture lecture hall from rising to their feet to give Kucinich a loud welcome, complete with cheers and hoisted posters.

There was no lack of activity while the crowd waited, either. The rally played host to an entire program, complete with an emcee and multiple speakers and poets. All gave performances or speeches aimed at promoting Kucinich’s platform and criticizing the Bush administration. Musical performances by local band a fir-ju well were interspersed among the speeches throughout the evening. “I was glad to see how many Tech students were here,” said Tim Atkins, Georgia coordinator for Kucinich’s campaign. “We were originally expecting more community people than Tech people, but it was just the opposite.”

While many came to shout their support for Kucinich, others came just to learn more about the candidate or even just to be at a political rally in a presidential election year.

By Zack at 2:50 PM in Politics | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Consistency

The human mind is a strange thing. It has this enormous capacity to hold conflicting and contradictory ideas without exploding.

Consider, for example, this Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Barely half – 52 percent – now believe Bush is “honest and trustworthy,” down 7 percentage points since late October and his worst showing since the question was first asked, in March 1999.

[…]The survey found that nearly seven in 10 think Bush “honestly believed” Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Even so, 54 percent thought Bush exaggerated or lied about prewar intelligence.

[…]While 21 percent said they believe that Bush lied about the threat posed by Iraq, a larger number – 31 percent – thought he exaggerated but did not lie.

It seems a number of people (about 10%) believe that people who lie or exaggerate can be honest and trustworthy!

By Zack at 2:13 PM in Politics | Comments (2) | TrackBack

بدھ 11 فروری 2004Wednesday, February 11, 2004

Fading Stars and Fraying Stripes

In the past few years, a thought has grown in my mind. The seed of it, a nod to inevitability, long layed dormant, but the events of the past few years prompted germination.

The steady erosion of the nation’s manufacturing base and malignant mediocrity of the nation’s primary educational system serve as the soil in which it took root. But, the rain of events following the attacks on the 11th of September brought forth the sprout. First, the shock of the attacks combined with the current administration’s financial recklessness to produce the largest deficits in the nation’s history. As one might expect, the public and private sectors of the nation turned their attention to defensive measures, measures which may protect and will certainly prove costly. Then, the current administration’s arrogant misuse of American Military might to dipose one of many tyrants, secure the free flow of oil and give a swift wack to the hornet’s nest that is the middle east fertilized it.

Rooted in long-standing systemic deficiencies, watered by the current economic downturn and fertilized by growing arrogance at the highest levels of government, the seed sprouted and bloomed. I find the resulting question holding a place in the sun of my attention. Is the United States in a fundamental decline?

By Captain Arrrgh at 10:46 PM in International Affairs | Comments (7) | TrackBack

Humanitarian Imperialism

Referring to the current troubles in Haiti, Tacitus asks:

One might fairly ask whether such chronically failed states might be better off under some sort of permanent protectorate or even colonial arrangement for the maintenance of peace and good governance.

I don’t know why colonialism and empire fascinates some Americans today (see Max Boot, for example)? I thought Tacitus was better than that, but I guess not.

Does Tacitus really think that making Haiti an American colony would improve the lot of the Haitians without much negative repurcussions?

Let’s even forget US-Haiti history (US fear of the slave revolt; its embargo on Haiti; US recognition about 6 decades after Haiti’s independence; US occupation 1915-34; and US support of the Duvaliers). Will Haitians welcome becoming a US colony?

Does Tacitus even know what a colony is? It seems to me that he has a very romanticized idea about imperialism and colonialism.

Now, I won’t deny that the British did do some good things in India. But there are lots of worse examples where imperial regimes destroyed local infrastructure and society.

Also, in a colonial arrangement, the colonial subjects didn’t have much in the way of rights. Nobody asked them whether they would like the empire to take over their land/region/country. Plus there were independence movements in all colonies, some peaceful, others violent.

Doesn’t Tacitus know about the US imperial adventures in the Philippines? The resistance against the US occupation at the start of the 20th century resulted in the death of about 200,000 Filipino civilians, 16,000 Filipino combatants and more than 4,000 American soldiers.

Tacitus makes the same mistake with Nauru and Australia but then admits that he “had no idea” when someone in the comments detailed the relevant history.

Now, I am no big fan of nation-states and wouldn’t mind the incorporation of failed states into others if it led to the overall good. My requirements include the local population agreeing to becoming part of the other country and being given equal rights as citizens, etc.

The naivety and 19th century mentality of some people is, however, very disconcerting.

By Zack at 8:39 PM in International Affairs | Comments (1) | TrackBack

منگل 10 فروری 2004Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Weblog Review

This weblog has been reviewed by a Pakistani IT magazine, Spider. They rated it among the top 5 Pakistani weblogs.

Why did Zack choose to call his blog “Procrastination” and also define the term in the header? Don’t we all procrastinate when we make our blog entries? Apart from that tiny gaffe, Zack has done a pretty good job with his site where one can always find interesting links to visit. The widely traveled 32-year-old used to live in Islamabad six years back before moving to the USA where he is currently a graduate student at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

OK, so I agree “Procrastination” wasn’t exactly creative on my part, but I am not changing it now. However, I have been thinking of changing the tagline (“An excuse to delay work with writings on politics, religion, photography, travel, movies, etc.”) below it. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

I got a well-deserved low score of 2 on design, but made it up with a content score of 4.

Other weblogs in the top 5 include:

Thanks, Moiz for letting me know.

By Zack at 12:36 PM in Internet | Comments (10) | TrackBack

پیر 9 فروری 2004Monday, February 09, 2004

Learn to Become a Terrorist at Tech

The School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech is offering a course on terrorism. I mean student projects in that course include terrorist acts.

For those students who always seem to have a gripe with Tech, a 3000-level special topics class in International Affairs entitled “The Challenge of Terrorism” could allow those idle musings about getting revenge on the Department of Parking to be more than just daydreams.

However, they should probably take a few pointers from Dr. William Hoehn, a visiting professor in the School of International Affairs, first.

“You should make sure your plan works so that you aren’t caught, which means you can’t just blow up a stop sign in the middle of the night,” Hoehn said, describing one of the activities his “Challenge of Terrorism” class undertakes each semester.

As part of an assignment, students address a grievance on-campus, without being caught or reprimanded, by employing methods used by terrorists. A stipend of $10,000 and the option of choosing three co-conspirators in any field at Tech are the only conditions set forth. By pretending to “think like a terrorist,” the students get a unique insight on the issues and challenges that terrorism poses.

“Our kids learn how difficult it is to not be a suicidal terrorist or behind bars and to work with a limited supply of money,” Goodman said.

Not surprisingly, when given the activity of “thinking like a terrorist,” most students usually target Tech parking, food services or the basic freshman computer science courses.

Obvious and popular targets, I guess.

For example, said the Goodman and Hoehn, one student wished to address his grievance of having to take the infamous introductory CS course by assassinating the professor.

That course is a huge greivance of quite a few freshmen.

The student tracked the professor, noting his daily schedule, and determined that the best time to do the job would be during his office hours where he sat alone outside of D.M. Smith.

However, Goodman and Hoehn emphasize that the class is not just about planning terrorist activities; it involves analysis, as well.

For example, the student who chose to target his CS professor failed to explain accurately what the lack of one CS professor would do to the course as a whole.

May be the student thought that this specific professor was uniquely evil.

The students present their terrorist plans in class which are critiqued for errors and practicality.

But the course is not just about committing terrorist acts.

This terrorism class, originally offered four years ago before Sept. 11 occurred, addresses the prevalence of terrorism throughout the world.

Like most International Affairs classes, students are expected to spend much of their time outside of class reading. In addition to studying terrorism as it relates to the U.S. and the Western world, students also study the terrorist regions of Latin America, Northern and Central Africa, Sri Lanka, and many more, attempting to understand why people continue to terrorize others and the impact they have on target populations. Also, the use of technology in those tactics is discussed in great detail.

However, the class is a mix of both traditional and creative activities: multiple choice exams are also mixed in with guest speakers, including former terrorists-turned-peaceniks.

It does seem like a very interesting course.

By Zack at 8:45 PM in International Affairs | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Busy Procrastinating

I am kind of busy with work. So posts will be somewhat infrequent. I am not going on a hiatus, however. I’ll post whenever I am procrastinating from work.

And what better way is there to procrastinate than to tinker with your template! As you might notice, I have been playing with my blogroll. I have dropped Blogrolling and am now using blo.gs. I have ordered the list based on the update time and blo.gs seems to have much better data in that regard than blogrolling. I am using a modified version of Phil Ringnalda’s PHP script to display and update the blogroll.

Tacitus, Josh Marshall, The Poor Man and PixelPile, you need to ping Weblogs.com or blo.gs whenever you write a new post or you’ll stay at the bottom of my blogroll. Both Blogger and Movable Type can automatically ping Weblogs.com.

Oh and Captain Arrrgh has been informed that he has to write posts and not just bask in the glory of his introduction. He’s not as busy as I am nowadays and so I might turn over the blog to him for now.

By Zack at 3:37 PM in Life | Comments (3) | TrackBack

جمعرات 5 فروری 2004Thursday, February 05, 2004

Pakistani Nuclear Proliferation

You probably know the story about nuclear proliferation by Pakistan. I have written related posts here and here. This post brings together some of the news coming out of Pakistan regarding the recent questioning of Pakistani nuclear scientists.

A lot of the articles in The News were written by their investigative journalist, Kamran Khan (Some comments about him by another Pakistani blogger later in this post.)

First came the disassociation of the army from this debacle.

More than a quarter of a century after its nuclear programme was covertly launched during which every effort was made to keep its activities completely secret and most of its transactions remained undocumented and unaccountable, Pakistan’s nuclear programme has now been placed under the strict control of Pakistan Army, which has placed rigorous checks and controls on every aspect of the programme.

[…]A retired Pakistani official, who remained associated with Pakistani nuclear programme for long, said, […] “We were forced to write blank cheques and not to ask for receipts. Administrative checks were difficult to place and devoted and educated human resource was difficult to find,” he said, frankly acknowledging that may be ‘a few’ of the thousands of international complaints and reports circulated to malign Pakistan’s nuclear programme had some merit.

[…]Former officials have informed that Pakistan Army remained actively associated with Pakistan’s nuclear programme since it was launched by the former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1974, but, at several stages “huge un-audited funds” were to be placed at the disposal of the top scientists attached with the programme.

Next came the revelation that there was some official cooperation between Pakistan and Iran on nuclear matters.

Investigators probing the nuclear imbroglio have determined that at least two scientists acted inappropriately and exchanged information with Iran beyond the limit authorised to them by the government in late 1980s, according to senior officials.

Officials said in 1987 former military ruler General Zia-ul-Haq had approved a longstanding request from the Iranian government for an unpublicised cooperation in peaceful nuclear programme. But Zia had specifically limited Pak-Iran nuclear technology to non-military spheres.

“Just before his death in 1988 when I told Zia about Iran’s growing interest in non-peaceful nuclear matters, he asked me to play around but not to yield anything substantial at any cost,” said a top retired nuclear scientist, who asked not to be identified.

The scientist said he was aware that the Iranians were intensely pursuing the matter with General Aslam Beg, Zia’s successor, but did not know how Beg responded to the Iranian request because by that time he was not directly associated with the programme.

[…]”I don’t know about the exact nature of transfer of technology that took place but I knew that nothing moves in Pakistani nuclear spectrum without the knowledge of the chief of army staff,” said a former Pakistani nuclear scientist, who questioned Beg’s press statements, saying while he was the COAS [Chief of Army Staff] the decision making about nuclear programme was with the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and later with Nawaz Sharif.

Officials, though do not discount Beg’s influence and knowledge about the nuclear exchange that took place between some Pakistani and Iranian nuclear scientists in 1989-90, said equally important voice in the nuclear matters during that period was that of Ghulam Ishaq Khan, former president.

The trace of money is always important in such cases.

Foreign accounts used to deposit the proceeds from the transfer of some nuclear technology to Iran have been traced back to at least two senior nuclear scientists, high-level government sources have revealed.

[…]The Iranian authorities have already confirmed the information about these bank accounts that were being controlled by the suspected Pakistani nuclear scientists. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the US government also had the full details of the financial transactions that took place between the Pakistani scientists and their Iranian sources, official sources said.

After a lot of hints in previous articles, this is the first one which directly implicates Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan.

Pakistani investigators have made an independent confirmation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) allegation that nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan had direct ties with international black market dealers who sold non-peaceful nuclear technology and hardware to Iran and Libya, and offered similar deals to Syria and former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, well informed officials have said.

[…]A senior official […] confirmed that Dr [Abdul Qadeer] Khan has been advised to stay home, which is now being guarded by the military intelligence sleuths.

[…]Pakistani investigators and IAEA have no doubt that at least two senior Pakistani nuclear scientists were the main “sources of supply” for the nuclear black marketeers who principally operated out of Dubai.

[…]”Not many years ago when the father of an extremely successful Chinese nuclear programme died the Peoples Daily carried a three-line story on its inside page,” the official recalled while disclosing that since 1988 Dr Khan spent about Rs 50 million to finance media events eulogising his role as Father of Islamic Bomb.

Dr. Khan definitely had a huge appetite for personal publicity.

“Money trail is one solid piece of evidence,” said one official. “But most importantly the governments of Iran and Libya have exposed the racket. They made no attempt to hide their sources as if they wanted to settle score with Pakistani scientists.”

[…]Pakistani investigators said that they have strong reasons to believe that misusing a benign government authority for peaceful nuclear cooperation with Iran, Dr A Q Khan authorised transfer of related information, including blue prints, names of third party contacts to Iranian authorities. He later helped Iran produce centrifuges for the uranium enrichment in early nineties.

Pakistani officials have privately acknowledged that the recent events exposed highest levels of negligence, financial impropriety and security lapses at the Khan Research Laboratory, the nation’s most sensitive nuclear installations throughout the nineties.

We are finally getting some complaints about the army.

“Successive army chiefs and the heads of various military intelligence services looked the other way as insiders volunteered information about all sorts of problems in the highest echelon of the KRL bureaucracy,” said one official source.

[…]Dr A Q Khan?s visits to Iran were in the full knowledge of the ISI as its then chief Lt Gen Asad Durrani, like his boss Gen Aslam Beg, was among the main proponents of Pakistan-Iran defence cooperation.

“If Gen Durrani didn’t know what was going on between the KRL and the Iranian scientists in 1991 and 1992, then it was terrible miss for the ISI,” the former ISI source said.

More dirt on Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan.

An investigation by Pakistani officials is understood to have found evidence to suggest that the key players of an underground nuclear black market that supplied some important elements of nuclear technology to Iran and Libya were tied with Pakistani nuclear scientist, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan. The investigators have, however, not yet been able to fix the responsibility of the most damaging security lapses at the KRL, where the GHQ and the ISI were running a four-tier security system, under two separate brigadiers of the Pakistan Army. “Even during the 1980s and 1990s, when Dr Qadeer was the ultimate boss of the KRL, the security contingents were free from his control and they were only answerable to the Army and their relevant intelligence services,” a KRL source said.

It seems like the military side is getting off scot-free.

Separately, a Dubai-based Sri Lankan middleman, who was a central figure in dealings between Iran and Pakistani scientists has named Dr Qadeer, as his principal contact in Pakistan. This Sri Lankan businessman, who spoke with the IAEA and the Western intelligence agents in Malaysia recently, provided a graphic insight into the current nuclear black market and its association with a few Pakistani scientists.

Official sources disclosed that while the investigation into Dr Qadeer’s financial status was carried out in Islamabad, Dubai, London and some other countries, there are strong indications that some of the KRL scientists, still being questioned by the investigators, were living well within their means and allegation of financial impropriety may not hold against a few of them.

And now some information about the riches of Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan. I should mention that it was well-known in Islamabad that he lived royally.

Not many Pakistanis would even know that the famous “Timbuktu” is a city in the African state of Mali. Even fewer would know that the father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan has built a fabulous hotel there and has named it after his Dutch wife, Dr Hendrina Khan.

Hendrina Khan hotel in Timbuktu was one of the dozens of business and financial undertakings of Dr Qadeer that are now being investigated by the Pakistani intelligence officials, currently probing the IAEA charges that an extensive nuclear black market is tied to a few Pakistani nuclear scientists.

[…]Dr Qadeer’s indirect connection with some Dubai-based companies, including a real estate project and several bank accounts, is also being probed. In Islamabad and in the nearby Bani Gala, the authorities have uncovered Dr Qadeer’s direct or indirect association with at least half a dozen houses, having combined value exceeding Rs 150 million.

Here are some hints of the influence of the Pakistani army on the nuclear program.

While the investigation on financial charges against Dr Qadeer and a few other colleagues continue in full swing, there is an overwhelming view even in the senior brass of the Army that no probe can get to the bottom of the matter unless it finds out the reasons as to why the military guardians and overseers of the nuclear programme failed in their administrative, security and intelligence responsibilities regarding the KRL. “We must concede that there is a growing perception both within the country and abroad that the Army is essentially trying to cover up its failures on the KRL,” said a federal cabinet minister during a private conversation with this correspondent in Islamabad on Friday.

[…]”Briefing on nuclear programme is provided only on the need-to-know basis; I don’t think there is any need for that at this moment,” replied Gen Mirza Aslam Beg, the then chief of Pakistan Army, when former prime minister Benazir Bhutto asked him about the status of the country’s nuclear programme, during a military briefing arranged for her at the Joint Staff Headquarters, a few months after her take-over as the prime minister for the first term in 1989,” according to a retired Pakistani military official who was present on the occasion.

Pakistani officials related with the country’s nuclear programme and several retired military officials confirmed that during her two terms in power Benazir was never invited, despite her repeated requests, to visit the Khan Research Laboratory (KRL). During his first term as the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif was also denied a request to visit the KRL by Gen Mirza Aslam Beg and also by his successor Gen Asif Nawaz, according to a retired corps commander. “Gen Beg kept the programme under such a thick cover that he didn’t even allow the two successive prime ministers to look inside,” said another retired lieutenant general, who had also commanded a corps of Pakistan Army in the 1990s. “What do you do when the army chief thinks that the prime minister of the country is a security risk.”

[…]A serving KRL official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Army as “the guardian of programme” had multi-tier involvement in the KRL affairs. “While Army chiefs gave strategic guidance and regular appreciation to scientists, Army Chief of General Staff was there to iron out significant administrative and financial issues and the DG CD [Directorate General of Combat Development] coordinated research and development,” the KRL scientist said. “Two separate brigadiers had hundreds of troops and agents at their disposal to run an impregnable multi-tier security network at the KRL,” he adds. “The ISI had a separate detachment for the KRL.”

And finally some official statements:

Seven suspects, including Dr Qadeer Khan, remained under investigation for allegedly selling nuclear secrets to Iran and Libya, and a decision on whether to put them on trial would only be made when the probe was complete, Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan said on Sunday.

[…]Dr Qadeer’s house in Islamabad is under 24-hour watch, and security was beefed up on Saturday. “I wouldn’t call it house arrest,” said Sultan. “He is an important figure and there is a probe going on and he is now one of suspects.”

The leaders of the religious alliance MMA acted predictably.

Amir Jamaat-e-Islami Qazi Hussain Ahmad has called upon the people to observe a complete strike on February 6 to express solidarity with Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan and other nuclear scientists. He further demanded an open trial of the scientists in accordance with the law of the land.

Then come reports of a confession by Dr. Khan.

Dr A.Q. Khan, who is credited to have set up Pakistan’s nuclear programme, has admitted to having transferred nuclear technology to North Korea, Iran and Libya , authoritative sources disclosed in a background briefing to Dawn on Sunday.

Abundant evidence to the effect is also said to have been extracted during the almost two-month-long ‘debriefing’ of most of the top scientists and officials of the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), the sources said.

Dr Khan is also said to have accepted the allegation about transfer of nuclear technology to these three countries, in a signed 12-page document which he had submitted to the authorities a few days ago.

As was expected, former army chiefs were absolved of any blame in the matter.

Two former army chiefs were questioned in the probe into nuclear leaks to Iran, Libya and North Korea, but no evidence was found against them, a military official said today. Abdul Qadeer Khan named ex-army chiefs Aslam Beg and Jehangir Karamat in an 11-page statement confessing to selling nuclear secrets to the three states between 1988 and 1997, the official said. “He named two gentlemen, generals Beg and Karamat, who were then questioned,” the military official said on condition of anonymity. “(Khan) said they were in the know. In one case he said he did it on their instructions, but not directly. They asked someone else and that fellow instructed A Q Khan and that man is now dead.” The middleman was the late brigadier Imtiaz Ali, defence adviser to Benazir Bhutto during her first tenure as prime minister from 1988 to 1990. Both Beg, who was army chief from 1988 to 1991, and Karamat, army chief from 1997 to 1998, were “thoroughly” questioned during a two month probe by Pakistani investigators. “There was no evidence found of what A Q Khan was saying, so it could not be sustained,” the official said. “If there is any more evidence of involvement of anyone else they will be questioned, no one is above the law.

Dr. Khan then started his multi-pronged defence strategy. Here is his “friend” and he is also alleged to have provided a taped interview to his daughter who has gone abroad.

Abdul Qadeer Khan told investigators he gave nuclear weapons technology to other countries with the full knowledge of top army officials, including now-President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a friend of the scientist said today. Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistan’s top nuclear scientist, told the friend he hadn’t violated Pakistan’s laws by giving out-of-use machines for enriching uranium to Iran, North Korea and other countries, the friend told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. “Whatever I did, it was in the knowledge of the bosses,” Khan’s friend quoted him as saying. The scientist also said that two former military chiefs — Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg and Gen. Jehangir Karamat — and even Musharraf were “aware of everything” he was doing, the friend said. “I am also convinced that (Khan) couldn’t act unilaterally,” the friend added. Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan denied Musharraf was privy to any transfer of nuclear technology or authorized Khan to do it. “It is absolutely wrong,” Sultan said. Musharraf “was not involved in any such matter,” he said. “No such thing has happened since he seized power in 1999.” Musharraf has headed the army since 1998, and before that held a number of top positions in the military. The official said two individuals, from Sri Lanka and Germany, operated on behalf of Khan in smuggling that began in the 1980s and continued at least until 1997.

Army Chiefs deny any involvement while some scientists and ex-military officers confess.

Beg denied in interviews last week approving or being aware of the sale of nuclear secrets.

[…]President Pervez Musharraf, who has been army chief since 1998, has categorically denied any military knowledge or approval of the nuclear leaks, and has blamed civilian scientists and international black marketeers.

More than a dozen nuclear scientists, engineers and administrators have been questioned during the probe, which was prompted by information from Iran via the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in November.

Around half have been cleared and the probe narrowed last week to three ex-military officers and three nuclear scientists. Apart from Khan, four others have confessed to transferring nuclear expertise but they have yet to be named, an official close to the investigation told.

Another indirect claim, via the religious alliance, from Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan denies any confession.

Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan denied to have admitted in written about transferring nuclear technology to any country, sources reported on Tuesday.

This he told to Chief of Jama’at-e-Islami Kazi Hussein during telephonic conversation held Eid UL-Uzha night, claimed by Ammer-UL-Azeem, Central Secretary of Jama’at-e-Islami Pakistan.

Some of the scientists are “detained” now rather than “being debriefed.”

Pakistani government has ordered to detain four Pakistani scientists for three months who were accused to have given nuclear weapons technology to other countries. The order is implementable since January 31 of the current year, said a report on Tuesday.

The orders of detention of the four under investigation scientists was issued in consonance with the Security of Pakistan Act 1952, Sub-clause B of Section 3, according to Interior Ministry.

The scientists who have been issued the orders included Dr Farooq, Dr Nazir Ahmed, Brigadier (R) Sajawal and Major (R) Islam-UL-Haq.

Here is some information related to the Security of Pakistan Act 1952.

And here are Soliloquist’s comments about this issue.

Leaving aside what kind of dirt ‘foreign’ press’ has been digging up in the IAEA allegations against Pakistani scientists in their ignoble roles in nuclear proliferation, here’s a gleaning from the local press. KK [Kamran Khan], let me also tell u, is much maligned in the Pakistani journalistic cadres because of his alleged links with Intelligence agencies who supply him with fodder for his Investigative reports (I did a research/survey report on the topic at University). Secondly, KK works for a TV channel/Media group which is left with no other option but to discretely toe the ‘official’ line for its survival and success.

I don’t know if the information she provides about Kamran Khan is true or not. I read Kamran’s articles only occassionally.

[…]Such a story, whatever its source, would have never made it to mainstream media if there was not an element of truth to it and had not the govt. given its go ahead. Getting the drift?

I sort of agree with her here. I am not sure what the full story is, but I do see some problems as well as government/military complicity. This is obviously based on my gut feelings rather than any specific information.

Also, reading Kamran Khan’s articles, it is clear that he has had access to present and retired KRL scientists, ISI officers and others. This does not seem possible without some go-ahead from the government (or at least some part of it.)

With the kind of sentiments running high back home and blind devotion to our Nuclear Scientists notwithstanding, could it be that they not succumb to worldly greed? Dr. AQ Khan, some years back was also involved in GreenBelt infringement scandal in the capital. That too was brushed under the carpet, why? Because he was Baba e Bomb.

But at the end of the day, that is the kind of heroes we have. In this case we are talking of ultra secret technical expertise which was not doled out in the spirit of Islamic biradri but for the sheer greed of making money. Personal gain.

I don’t think it would have been any better if it was doled out in the spirit of Islamic brotherhood.

I was a 2nd year student at KU at the time of nuclear detonations (May 28, 1999) and felt as if our nation was raped and rejoiced in it. Shorn of the tattered garments left on us in the name of dignity. Nawaz Sharif was at the crest of a nuclear euphoria and even a Yaum e Takbeer to his portly credit could not save him from being given the boot.

I was in the US at the time and was definitely in the minority who were against the nuclear tests.

Pakistan never signed CTBT or the NPT to its own disadvantage. It was just signing for God’ sake and not an actual ratification (ask US of A) that would have redeemed some post-Chagai esteem amongst the comity of nations. But then again that would have been no guarantee to prevent individual rogue acts as reported these days.

It’s not as if I don’t acknowledge the work our nuclear scientists have done; Pakistan did need a nuclear deterrent in the face of India’s on and off belligerence; and the work done despite all the discriminatory bans and limited conditions is commendable, but it will never be an Islamic Bomb, just as there is no such thing as Islamic Nationhood.

I don’t think a nuclear deterrent has really helped Pakistan. It has just made war more deadly.

And bombs can’t be Islamic, since they are quite irreligious.

You might also want to read Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy’s article. Dr. Hoodbhoy is an activist against nuclear weapons and is Professor of Nuclear Physics, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

UPDATE: Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan admits his proliferation activities and absolves the government on national TV and the Pakistani cabinet recommends a pardon for him. Pretty convenient for everyone!

By Zack at 5:50 AM in Pakistan | Comments (21) | TrackBack

بدھ 4 فروری 2004Wednesday, February 04, 2004

Outsourcing and the Welfare State

On economic issues, I am probably much to the left of the median voter in the US. I am a fan of the social welfare states of Europe. Therefore, I found this paper by Peter Lindert (via A Fistful of Euros) on the effect of a welfare state on GDP interesting.

All our well-known demonstrations of the large deadweight losses from social programs overuse imagination and assumption. There are good reasons why statistical tests keep coming up with near-zero estimates of the net damage from social programs on economic growth. It’s not just that the tales of deadweight losses describe bad policies that real-world welfare states do not practice. It’s also that the real-world welfare states reap offsetting benefits from a style of taxing and spending that is pro-growth.

The keys to the free lunch puzzle are:

For a given share of social budgets in Gross Domestic Product, the high-budget welfare states choose a mix of taxes that is more pro-growth than the mix chosen in the United States and other relatively private-market OECD countries.

On the recipient side, as opposed to the tax side, welfare states have adopted several devices for minimizing young adults’ incentives to avoid work and training.

Government subsidies to early retirement bring only a tiny reduction in GDP, partly because the more expensive early retirement systems are designed to take the least productive employees out of work, thereby raising labor productivity.

Similarly, the larger unemployment compensation programs have little effect on GDP. They lower employment, but they raise the average productivity of those remaining at work.

Social spending often has a positive effect on GDP, even after weighing the effects of the taxes that financed the spending. Not only public education spending, but even many social transfer programs raise GDP per person.

The design of these five keys suggests an underlying logic to the pro-growth side of the welfare state. The higher the social budget as a share of GDP, the higher and more visible is the cost of a bad choice. In democracies where any incumbent can be voted out of office, the welfare states seem to pay closer attention to the productivity consequences of program design. In the process, those countries whose political tastes have led to high social budgets have drifted toward a system that delivers its tax bills to the less elastic factors of production, in the Ramsey tradition.

On the other hand, I am a big fan of globalization, free trade and outsourcing. The move of IT jobs to India and other countries has been in the news lately. Via Virginia Postrel, here is her article in the New York Times about the effects of jobs moving offshore.

The loss of people’s jobs definitely does affect them. And as an industry moves to cheaper places, some of those people need to change careers. This is one aspect where the government and/or US industry could help workers.

[P]rogrammers may need new training. […] To encourage companies to invest in such training, Dr. Mann argues for a “human capital investment tax credit,” similar to the credit for investing in physical equipment. She also believes that the federal aid given to displaced manufacturing workers should be extended to cover information industries. And she suggests that information technology itself may help with job searches, crossing the old boundaries of classified ads.

The article talks about the work of economist Catherine Mann who concludes that:

Globalization of IT hardware production is a model for the global evolution of IT services and software. Although technological change is the most important driver of IT price declines, globalized production and international trade made IT hardware some 10 to 30 percent less expensive than it otherwise would have been. These lower prices translated into higher productivity growth and an accumulated $230 billion in additional GDP (1995–2002). Real GDP growth might have averaged 0.3 percentage points less per year from 1995 to 2002, if globalized production of IT hardware had not occurred.
As IT hardware prices have declined, the importance of IT services and software in the IT package has increased from 58 to 69 percent of IT spending in 1993 and 2001, respectively. Over the same period, growth in software and services spending at 12.5 percent overwhelmed growth in hardware spending at 6.7 percent. In the face of this demand, and enabled only since the mid-1990s by the Internet and standardization of methods, software and services are now beginning to be produced globally. Just as for IT hardware, globally integrated production of IT software and services will reduce these prices and make tailoring of business-specific packages affordable, which will promote further diffusion of IT use and transformation throughout the US economy.
When some production of software and services is done abroad, some jobs will be done abroad too. Recent efforts to quantify IT-related and other white collar job loss “offshore” frequently use the peak of the economic and technology boom as the base for analysis, thus ignoring the business cycle, trend decline in manufacturing employment, dollar overvaluation, and technology bust. Cutting through the technology boom and peak of the business cycle and comparing end-1999 with October 2003, employment in architecture and engineering occupations is stable, that in computer and mathematical occupations is 6 percent higher and in business and financial occupations, 9 percent higher.
Going forward, broader diffusion of IT throughout the economy points to even greater demand for workers with IT skills and proficiency. In the 1990s, investment in IT propelled job growth for workers with IT skills to twice the rate of job growth in the overall economy. Over the next decade, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that job growth to 2010 in occupations requiring IT skills will be more than three times the rate of job growth in the overall economy.
Globalization of software and services, enhanced IT use and transformation of activities in new sectors, and job creation are mutually dependent. Breaking the links, by limiting globalization of software and services or by restricting IT investment and transformation of activities or by having insufficient skilled workers at home, puts robust and sustainable US economic performance at risk.

And she focuses on the only the US. I am interested in the effect of just jobs on the poor countries where these jobs have moved as well. I am pretty sure the rise in the standard of living of Indians and others has been great.

By Zack at 4:06 AM in Economy | Comments (0) | TrackBack

اتوار 1 فروری 2004Sunday, February 01, 2004

Weblog Visitors

Visitors from all over the world
Create your own country map

Amazing how much of the world I have had visitors from.

Afghanistan, American Samoa, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chile, China, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Polynesia, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guyana, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niue, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, US Virgin islands, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yugoslavia, Zimbabwe.

By Zack at 10:33 AM in Internet | Comments (16) | TrackBack