My latest external publication is an article on ForeignPolicy.com that discusses the plight of President Asif Ali Zardari. An excerpt is at the end of this post.
I have been blogging less frequently in the past two months, but you can catch me regularly on the John Batchelor Show, Saturdays at 9:30PM EST (770AM-NY, WABCradio.com, [...]

Bilawal and his younger siblings were publicly unveiled in Multan this July. Each gave a speech that was in English save for some greetings and slogans in Urdu. The speeches were very hollow. The kids spoke on working for the poor, but failed to articulate any pro-poor policies. Asifa spoke of [...]

President Asif Ali Zardari gave his second address to parliament today.  Again, it was in English, so a majority of Pakistanis had no idea what he was saying.  Not a great idea since Zardari faces a credibility gap with most Pakistanis, many of whom see him as an American puppet.
Vis-a-vis the Muslim League – Nawaz [...]

Federal Minister of Information Sherry Rehman has resigned from the cabinet.  The dramatic move comes after President Asif Ali Zardari decided to block the transmission of GEO News and make it difficult for Pakistanis to view other channels, such as Aaj Television.
Through resigning Rehman regains some of the legitimacy she has lost during her service [...]

Politics makes seemingly strange bedfellows.  But alliances are always based on interests.  
Pervez Musharraf and Asif Zardari called Altaf Hussain to give him props on yesterday’s rally to protest the desecration of Benazir Bhutto’s posters (which was vigorously condemned by Nawaz Sharif several days earlier).
There are also reports that last week Musharraf called Zardari after [...]

Asif Zardari’s quest to consolidate power in Pakistan proceeds without much political opposition.
Today, he replaced the retiring Chief of Navy Admiral Afzal Tahir with Vice Admiral (now Admiral) Noman Bashir, who superseded Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Asaf Humayun.
Admiral Bashir also happens to be the brother of the Zardari-appointed foreign secretary, Salman Bashir,  who replaced [...]

On Monday, Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ashfaq Kayani visited Siachen Glacier, the world’s highest battlefield. It was his second publicized visit to the line of control since assuming leadership of Pakistan’s army.

KAYANI: A “NATIONAL CONSENSUS” ON KASHMIR
Both visits occurred after controversial statements from President Asif Ali Zardari regarding the Kashmir conflict.  On both occasions, [...]

On Saturday, a group of less than 500 politicians annointed Asif Ali Zardari as the next president of Pakistan. It was less the victory of democracy, and more that of small-minded elites.
These politicians have bandwagoned around Zardari — a man bankrupt of achievement, aptitude, moral rectitude, and public esteem, blamed by many for the downfall [...]