May. 28th, 2009

winterbadger: (british brigade)
It's not just Virginia where they want to pave over military history!

BBC short on a dig at a possible military encampment from the '45.
winterbadger: (french HYW army)
It would have been cool to see this. Bryan and Neta and I toured the palace on a very cold, rainy day and got a sense of what a mammoth palace it must have been at its height. I'd like to have seen the period celebrations!
winterbadger: (pakistan)
Just catching up on The Daily Show from a few weeks back, and JS had the Pakistani Ambassador to the US, Hasan Haqqani. Honestly, it's so hard not to like intelligent, quick-witted, humourous people! And so many moderate Pakistanis (or at least those who appear moderate) fit that bill. Amb. Haqqani really pitched himself perfectly, capping Stewart's remarks with disarmingly apt jokes of his own, then switching to serious evaluation of the situation, then letting loose a friendly but ironic jab at the US.

Of course, more than a little dissimulation was thrown in. I'm sure that even two weeks ago the Pakistani government knew that more than "a few thousand" people had been displaced by the fighting. And the mistakes that had been made in dealing with the Taliban which he freely admitted were all, it was implied, made by other people than the current government. If PM Zardari really did negotiate with the Talibs to show they couldn't be relied on, it was a brilliant stroke, but that has just a little bitt too much a ring of a pat answer to a tricky question.

But it was an excellent performance, leavening humour, frankness, and warning. A real Pakistani charm offensive--and very charming he was. Clearly someone realises that they can get the same sort of exposure for Pakistan's case that they would on the Sunday morning shows by going on TDS, but with a much more supportive questioner in JS.

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