The World We Live In !!

In a very shocking development a young 32 year old person, father of four kids looses his life during the filming of a reality show sponsored by Unilever and being produced by their advertising agency Mindshare. Saad Khan was a game show contestant and the host/model Amina Sheikh, who also is the model of Clear Shampoo, gave an underwater challenge to Saad and during the execution of the stunt he apparently lost control, struggled and pleading for help could not recover, the inadequate safety personal and the equipment could not react in time and eventually he drowned Saad Khan, 32 year old young man from Karachi and a father of four kids is sadly the victim, his body was returned to Karachi for burial two days back and the infuriated family has been running from pillar to post but it seems for some awkward reason it fails to catch the media attention and apparently no media house is ready to ‘run the story‘. It is a known fact that the media in Pakistan is usually head over heals on every other lame ass political slander, but surprisingly in Saad’s case this case of gross neglect is not worthy of even a short news item. Might this have anything to do with the influence of Unilever and Mindshare who are giant spenders armed with enormous advertisement budgets.

Teeth Maestro.

SHIMLA : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday expelled senior leader Jaswant Singh from the party, in the wake of him praising Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah in his recent book.

The BJP top brass took the decision to sack Jaswant Singh at the party’s chintan baithak (introspection meeting) being held in Shimla.

The development came even as Jaswant Singh stayed away from the opening session of the three-day meeting which began here today.

The BJP had yesterday distanced itself from Jaswant Singh’s remarks on Jinnah in his new book, “Jinnah – India, Partition, Independence”, with party president Rajnath Singh saying that his views were against party’s ideology.

AAJ TV : Pakistan Ki Awaz.

Then Maj. Gen. Hamid Gul, Director General of the ISI (far left), with William Webster, Director of Central Intelligence, Clair George, Deputy Director for Operations, and Milt Bearden, CIA station chief, at a training camp for the mujahedeen in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province in 1987 (RAWA.org)

In an exclusive interview with Foreign Policy Journal, retired Lt. Gen. Hamid Gul responds to charges that he supports terrorism, discusses 9/11 and ulterior motives for the war on Afghanistan, claims that the U.S., Israel, and India are behind efforts to destabilize Pakistan, and charges the U.S. and its allies with responsibility for the lucrative Afghan drug trade.

Retired Lieutenant General Hamid Gul was the Director General of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from 1987 to 1989, during which time he worked closely with the CIA to provide support for the mujahedeen fighting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Though once deemed a close ally of the United States, in more recent years his name has been the subject of considerable controversy. He has been outspoken with the claim that the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 were an “inside job”. He has been called “the most dangerous man in Pakistan”, and the U.S. government has accused him of supporting the Taliban, even recommending him to the United Nations Security Council for inclusion on the list of international terrorists.

In an exclusive interview with Foreign Policy Journal, I asked the former ISI chief what his response was to these allegations. He replied, “Well, it’s laughable I would say, because I’ve worked with the CIA and I know they were never so bad as they are now.” He said this was “a pity for the American people” since the CIA is supposed to act “as the eyes and ears” of the country. As for the charge of him supporting the Taliban, “it is utterly baseless. I have no contact with the Taliban, nor with Osama bin Laden and his colleagues.” He added, “I have no means, I have no way that I could support them, that I could help them.”

Ex-ISI Chief Says Purpose of New Afghan Intelligence Agency RAMA Is ‘to destabilize Pakistan’ | Foreign Policy Journal.

ISLAMABAD, August 7 — The current Ambassador of Austria in Islamabad has made an attempt to grab the property of former Foreign Minister of Pakistan, the late Agha Shahi.

Heirs of Agha Shahi, including his nephew Agha Zafar Hilaly, who was Pakistan’s Ambassador to Italy and Benazir Bhutto’s Advisor on Foreign Affairs told Arab News that “Ambassador Dr. Michael Stigelbauer is not willing to vacate or pay rent after Agha Shahi’s death in 2006, notwithstanding repeated demands by the Pakistan Foreign Office and a Court Judgment asking him to vacate the premises. To my mind such defiance of a country’s laws are unprecedented and unacceptable.” Read more…

Two months before the eighth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and the beginning of NATO’s first-ever ground war the world is witness to a 21st Century armed conflict without end waged by the largest military coalition in history.

With recent announcements that troops from such diverse nations as Colombia, Mongolia, Armenia, Japan, South Korea, Ukraine and Montenegro are to or may join those of some 45 other countries serving under the command of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), there will soon be military personnel from fifty nations on five continents and in the Middle East serving under a unified command structure.

Never before have soldiers from so many states served in the same war theater, much less the same country.
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Commerce Minister Amin Fahim is on a ‘leisure trip’ to Miami and Virgin Islands, Sweden, Dubai and London, accompanied by one of his friends, Ghulam Ali Nizamani, Member of National Assembly, and a Director to the Commerce Minister, Ali Muhammad Shah. The expenses of the trip are reportedly being borne from the allocation of Export Development Fund (EDF), sources told Business Recorder.

They said that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had approved a summary of Commerce Ministry to send a delegation to Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina, to participate in the Joint Trade Commission (JTC), comprising Commerce Minister, MNA Gulam Ali Nizamani, Senior Joint Secretary Najeed Khawar Awan, and an official from the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP).

Sources said that the Commerce Minister’s choice was the Director attached to him, who is unaware of ABC of trade. On expiry of Prime Minister’s approved official visit date, Fahim extended his tour to five further destinations, for which Rs 2.5 million was obtained from EDF, being managed by TDAP. However, a dispute arose between the Ministry and TDAP over allowances of the Minister and his blue-eyed Director. Read more…

The passionate support for Israel expressed on talkback sections of websites, internet chat forums, blogs, Twitters and Facebook may not be all that it seems.

Israel’s foreign ministry is reported to be establishing a special undercover team of paid workers whose job it will be to surf the internet 24 hours a day spreading positive news about Israel.

Internet-savvy Israeli youngsters, mainly recent graduates and demobilised soldiers with language skills, are being recruited to pose as ordinary surfers while they provide the government’s line on the Middle East conflict.

“To all intents and purposes the internet is a theatre in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and we must be active in that theatre, otherwise we will lose,” said Ilan Shturman, who is responsible for the project.

The existence of an “internet warfare team” came to light when it was included in this year’s foreign ministry budget. About $150,000 has been set aside for the first stage of development, with increased funding expected next year.

The team will fall under the authority of a large department already dealing with what Israelis term “hasbara”, officially translated as “public explanation” but more usually meaning propaganda. That includes not only government public relations work but more secretive dealings the ministry has with a battery of private organisations and initiatives that promote Israel’s image in print, on TV and online.

In an interview this month with the Calcalist, an Israeli business newspaper,

Mr Shturman, the deputy director of the ministry’s hasbara department, admitted his team would be working undercover.

Article By JONATHAN COOK

in Nazareth. Via Counterpunch

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