Really illuminating diavlog, and great chemistry between two army brats. I hope a repeat performance is not too long in the waiting.

I wonder if Pakistan even has nuclear weapons. Supposedly we turned a blind eye to their nuclear program back in the 80's while the Soviet Invasion of Afganistan was going on, and no doubt Pakistan needed to be perceived by India to have nuclear weapons for purposes of deterrence. On the other hand, Israel seems awfully relaxed about the Pakistani threat. Maybe they know a little secret.

Bob is a compliment-distributing machine Yeah, yeah, a likely story... Freudian wingnuttery?

Quoting BornAgainDemocrat: I wonder if Pakistan even has nuclear weapons...

Ok, whatever you say

Schmidle says that

Updated news on Swat: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT

Fascinating discussion. It's interesting to see someone come up with the raison d'etre for Pakistan being "Well we don't want to be THEM!" and have that override national policy for so long. I'm not sure any security guarantees will do any good as long as a national identity independent of an oppositional one (Why we're Pakistan, vs. Why We're not India) takes root in the collective consciousness. Neighboring India has its own fissiparous tendencies, but also a strong national identity, esecially in its educated and middle classes. But that sort of stuff takes some pride in things other than military achievements, and economic development as well. Quite a change from an attitude of "Our people might eat grass for decades, but we'll get the bomb" that Bhutto inculcated.