• On the Fortuitous Poverty of Memory

    On May 17, 1987, a double act of Exocet missiles skimmed through the air and slammed into the American Perry-class frigate the USS Stark. The first Exocet antiship missile punched into the warship “at 600 miles per hour and exploded in the forward crew’s quarters.”  The warhead failed to detonate but managed to smash through […]

  • Pakistan: A Continuing Tragedy

    Perhaps this was a situation of two people and one coffin again. Pakistan’s current US-backed dictator, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, did not want to share the space with Benazir Bhutto, and so the latter had to go. This was certainly the case in 1977, when Brigadier General Zia ul-Haq seized power and removed Benazir’s father, Prime […]

  • Pakistan: Notes on a Tragedy

    In the next few weeks we shall witness a torrent of sorrow and regret, as any such horrific loss of life should provoke.  But clearly the story is unfinished, despite the seeming finality of Benazir Bhutto’s murder. In two suicide attacks inside Pakistan since October, at least 160 have been slaughtered, including the country’s former […]