A second look at Pakistan
The last three months have been tragically eventful for Pakistan. They began with a suspension of the constitution and now end with the aftermath of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. For a better sense of the meaning of those events I’ve sat down twice w
ith Philip Oldenburg, a scholar at the Southern Asian Institute and professor at Columbia. As a bit of something new we’re pairing those
two conversations on the main page this week as a way of charting the distance from the uncertainty last fall to the chaos this winter.
In both cases our conversations coincided with a splashy cover from a respected news source labeling Pakistan the most dangerous place on the planet (Newsweek’s October 29, 2007 issue and this week’s Economist). Oldenburg has a more moderate view and I hope its helpful to feature a sober voice at a time of significant confusion and, perhaps, hyperbole.
Monday, January 7, 2008
