in Today's News 05.17.09

1.  American Secretary of State.  Has anyone noticed that Hillary Clinton is a terrible Secretary of State (from the point of view of the interests of cryptocracy)?  There were the frequent mis-steps initially, most notably her "reset" fiasco in Moscow. Now comes the disaster in Pakistan on which she took the lead.

Mrs. Clinton during her swing through Asia first sounded the alarm on the need for drastic and immediate action in Pakistan.  The United States evidently felt Pakistan was slipping away into the influence of the Taliban.  Great pressure was put on a reluctant Pakistan to turn loose the Pakistan army in the Swat Valley.  Pakistan complied.

What happened?  The American proposed Pakistani action created one of the largest refugee situations in modern history.  Over a million poor and desolate human beings have flowed out of Swat Valley to squalor in refugee camps.  This crisis now creates a difficulty for the Pakistan government that may well be beyond its resources.  And thereby the pressure to 'slip away' to the Taliban increases.

And so, the American precipitate action has qualitatively worsened an already worrisome situation, from the point of view of the cryptocracy.  Way to go, Mrs. Clinton!!!!

Will the media pay any attention to the human tragedy in Pakistan?  Not likely.  Will the media report the current situation as attributable to Mrs. Clinton's stewardship of American foreign policy?  Not likely.  The media has always given the Clintons a pass, and it won't change now.

And by the way, where is the Pope?  Here we have one million people driven from their homes and their method of making a living.  Most of these people's families have probably lived in the Swat Valley for generations.  Can the Pope manage to say something?  Can he perhaps call for prayers?  How about directing some Catholic relief efforts to Pakistan?  We will see.  Perhaps, the Pope is too busy fighting anti-semitism.

2.  Pakistan.  Question: How does the United States get out from responsibility for the one million strong refugee problem in Pakistan?  Answer: Easy.  First, declare that the number is only 200,000.  Then, say they are all Pashtuns who are the dominant ethnic group in the Taliban.  Then, point out that Taliban members are using the refugees to infiltrate into Karachi.  

See, no difficulty is too big for the prevaricators in the cryptocracy.  The only problem is, they can say this, and even believe it, and they can get the media and the American public to buy it.  But, the reality remains.  Which is there are over one million refugees outside Karachi and the needs of this group are far greater than Pakistan can provide.