Abby Martin reports on the 10th anniversary of the CIA’s first drone strikes in Pakistan, looking over Breaking the Set’s coverage of drone strikes since the beginning of show first aired.
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From Oct. of last year, Caitlin Dewey writing in the Washington Post:
… Read the restA Pakistani journalist attempting to shame Malala Yousafzai conspiracy theorists — of which, it turns out, there are quite a few — may have accidentally fueled their conspiracies when a parody he wrote about Yousafzai’s life was taken as truth.
Nadeem Paracha published the satirical piece, “Malala: The real story (with evidence),” on the Web site of the Karachi-based newspaper Dawn this week. It skewered, in high absurdist fashion, those in Pakistan who believe that Yousafzai is a CIA plant, a money-seeking opportunist or some combination of the two. While the story originally ran without a disclaimer, it becomes pretty obvious that it’s parody after the fourth or fifth paragraph:
Malala was not born in Swat and neither is she a Pushtun. A respected medical doctor in Swat, Imtiaz Ali Khanzai, who runs a private hospital and clinic in Swat told our reporters that he has a DNA report that proves that Malala is not Pushtun.
Abby goes over a new Amnesty International report that finds that 141 countries in the world practice torture methods, including everything from severe beatings to waterboarding, while the top ten recipients of US foreign aid are all members of that list.
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Pic: zscout730 (CC)
A Pakistani court has cleared a nine month-old or charges that he planned a murder and threatened the police. Kids today!
… Read the restWeeks after he was fingerprinted and appeared in court on an attempted murder charge, baby Mohammad Musa Khan is no longer living under the shadow of a criminal conviction. His case has been termed absurd, ridiculous and a sign of a justice system in need of reform.
A Pakistani court ruled Saturday that charges against the boy, who was reportedly 9 months old when he was charged, will not be pursued. The case began when police faced resistance as officials tried to cut off gas service in the neighborhood. Police said .
Musa and his family were charged with “planning a murder, threatening police and interfering in state affairs,” says.
The case sparked widespread disbelief and ridicule, after a video showed Musa in court holding his milk bottle as he sat on his grandfather’s lap.
In the future, America’s textbooks will debate his presidential performance, while around the world he is immortalized as a famed mascot for sexual stimulants. Raw Story reports:
Despite unpopularity there for his frequent drone attacks, President Barack Obama is the new face of contraband Viagra in Pakistan.
Pakistan, where Viagra is banned, has a thriving black market for erectile dysfunction drugs. The little blue pills are often smuggled in through Afghanistan, and take up shelf space alongside drugs of dubious quality and origin.
Agence France-Presse, whose reporter calls Obama an unwitting “symbol of power and virility,” shows covers of the contraband drug alongside interview with merchants. Shopkeepers claim various reasons that clients buy the drugs; one explains that “they improve the duration of those who have destroyed their youth through masturbation.”
A malicious psychic presence, mysterious gas leak, mass hysteria, or some combination thereof? The Express Tribune reports:
Nearly 25 female workers of a Landhi garments factory fell unconscious in the aftermath of an exorcism to get rid of ‘evil spirits’ in the workplace on Monday.
“The factory seemed to be overtaken by a genie or evil spirit,” claimed Farzana Naseem. “A spiritualist was called to this morning to get rid of the suspected ‘jinns’ but as soon as he began reciting different verses, the workers began falling unconscious while others ran out shouting and screaming for help.”
Rescue teams were called in to the factory, Casual Sports Wear. The rescue workers insisted, however, that there was a mysterious gas leak which caused the workers to faint.
“I do not believe the workers were possessed,” said Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre deputy executive director Dr Seemin Jamali. “But this hysteric influence might have played out as a ripple effect.”
Abby Martin calls out the corporate media for its coverage of 16 year old Pakistani activist, Malala Yousafzai, highlighting her heroism promoting education against the Taliban, but omitting her important message to Obama about ending US drone strikes in her home country.
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Repurposing something to say the opposite is punk as fuck, and magick in my book.
via Gizmodo
… Read the restPakistani-American artist Mahwish Chishty was originally trained in painting miniatures in her native Lahore. But these days, Chishty is also emerging as a notable conceptual artist abroad, treading the potent line between Pakistani and American culture. Yesterday, in an interview with Mother Jones, Chishty discussed her paintings of American drones—which she covers in traditional Pakistani ornamentation.
More than 2,000 people have been killed in drone strikes in Pakistan since the early 2000s, mostly in the rugged northwest. The proxy war, Chishty says, “triggered her imagination,” and she began a series of paintings that feature the familiar shapes of the MQ-9 Reaper and other UAVs covered in ornate decoration. The patterns are borrowed from a tradition amongst truck drivers in Pakistan, who cover their vehicles in rich ornamentation and color as a means of pure self-expression.
Drone wars to come? PolicyMic reports:
… Read the restIn the lead up to Pakistan’s general election on May 11, former cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan has again vowed to shoot down American drones if elected. Given that most polls show Khan ahead of Nawaz Sharif (previously thought to be the favorite), there is a very real chance that Khan will become Prime Minister.
Drone strikes have increased dramatically under President Obama, and while Pakistan has always been publicly opposed to attacks conducted by the CIA, the possibility of a prime minister who has promised to shoot down the drones could make things very awkward for the U.S.
Khan has long been a fierce critic of the U.S. drone war in Pakistan, leading anti-drone protests and even being removed from a plane and detained by U.S. immigration officials on a trip to New York last year. According to Khan, he was “interrogated on [his] views on drones” while he was detained.
