transmission

There was a major news story yesterday, barely appearing on the radar in U.S. markets in spite of it's impact. You might want to learn up on it since it happens to coincide with the U.S. troop buildup in Afghanistan. The Pakistani government has agreed to a truce with the Taliban, effectively giving them control of the Swat Valley, a hugely strategic portion of Pakistan which is within close proximity to the countries three most important cities (Peshawar, Rawalpindi, and Islamabad). Here is the sound of a government in defeat: "Pakistani government officials insisted the truce with the Taliban and the switch to the Shariah, the Islamic legal code, were consistent with the Constitution and presented no threat to the integrity of the nation." The Eastern world, being geographically closer, looks at the situation with considerably less detachment. IBN India lends a little perspective: "By agreeing to a ceasefire with the Taliban group TNSM run by Sufi Mohammed, now controlled by his son-in-law "Radio Mullah"- the government is cutting a deal with groups that have killed thousands of Pakistani soldiers, blown up more than 200 girls schools forcing some 80,000 of them to stay home. They have beheaded hundreds of people, many of them women accused of 'adultery', convicted by their ad-hoc Shari'a courts in public executions and clamped a reign of fear across the area. To agree to their terms is to reward their cruel lawlessness by making them the law." You may have noticed the reference to 'Radio Mullah'. That would be an allusion to Maulana Shah Dauran, host of the Swat Valley 'must listen radio' show 'Voice of Sharee`ah' (aka 'Maulana Fazullah'), the program where you can tune in and find out whether your number is about to come up and your head is about to come off. I summarized this operation a few weeks ago, and if you missed it, you might find it worthwhile to read it now. Radio can be a powerful weapon, and Maulana Shah Dauran has used is successfully. He can act unencumbered in a portion of Pakistan that is now truly his own turf. Of course the broadcasts will continue, and until/unless stopped, their influence will increase. ____________________________________________ I needed a hard break there before veering off into the comparatively trivial topic of Mullah Rush and his brethren. There are fascinating parallels to be found between 'Voice of Sharee`ah' and the 'Voice of Dittoheads'. To begin with, both sources despise the systems that they are imbedded in, pray for their failure, and dedicate their considerable influence into hastening their fall. It was kind of instructive, was it not, that National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Pete Sessions recently bragged about how his party was adapting the tactics of the Taliban. Metaphorically speaking of course. Many of the remaining Republican members of congress are dedicated followers of the Limbaugh doctrine, but all of them have a deathly fear of the retribution that will befall them should they dare offend the great man. Just think about that. It's hard to mentally process, but it's true - people in leadership rolls who cower in fear at the sound of a pompous loudmouth who used to force his maid to score him OxyContin and Xanax. Howling with indignation at losing what is rightfully theirs, Rush and his minions long not just for victory and the vindication it brings, but much like the Taliban, they seek vengeance, a proper reckoning for those who dared challenge them. Hit it, boy. "The left, the Democrat Party, will not control the government forever... they're going to lose down the road. They will not control government forever, and when our turn comes, we are going to turn the power of government against the left. We are going to investigate them. We are going to hold public hearings. We are going to humiliate them. We're going to nationalize their unions... We are gonna turn the power of government against the left, and against Democrats in ways they cannot imagine. They will not know what hit them. They are using the law. They are using government to advance a cause that is un-American. We are going to use the power that the left is centralizing in the federal government to punish them, to break 'em up, and to make them pay for this... We are taking names. We are taking names now. We are monitoring who on the left is going to deserve payback, and it's going to be hell." - Rush, 2/11/09.

Joy Division 'Transmission'