Comments on: McCain Gets Pakistan Frighteningly Wrong With “Failed State” Comment

By: imran khan

imran khan — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 02:48:18 +0000

Frankly its does not matter whether Pakistan was a failed state in 99, its semantics, and thats why Obama decided not to contest it. This is because across all key diplomatic channels and discussions Pakistan has always had the position of a US funded vassal which is 1 step away from being declared a failed state!! Its pointless arguing on a term that defines the state of affairs. On every country dimension Pakistan has been a failure and unfortunately now with the army which is a state within this failed state controling the Nuclear weapons. This is what the world should be scared about specially in a country that was peddling in the nuclear bazaar and almost sold the tech to the Libyans.

By: nitish

nitish — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 13:15:38 +0000

using your preferred definition of 'failed state' - "One of the most common is the loss of physical control of its territory or a monopoly on the legitimate use of force" sharif pretty much formally gave up control of the afghan-pakistan border region by imposing sharia law - "Other attributes of state failure include the erosion of legitimate authority to make collective decisions..." sharif attempted to push through the shariat bill which basically imposed shariah law

The most significant clause is the fifth, which declares that the new Article shall override, "anything contained in the Constitution, any law or judgment of any court.''

oh that quaint silly little constitution.... giving up territorial control and all but abolishing the constitution sounds like a failed state to me, but i guess that's going swimmingly to robert emmet

By: johnblogdog

johnblogdog — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 12:51:50 +0000

Mr McCain’s comment re: Pakistan as a “failed state” may be tragically wrong or horribly inaccurate in context (especially to foreign relations technorati), but it is true or very close to the truth now and McCain could easily use the defense that a military coup, by definition, equals “failed state.”

On Main st. this is not a headline item from this debate unless you aggregate it with your choice of many other fuzzy statements made by the senator. A response in detail from Obama would have been a mistake.

Remember, this presidential contest, including the debates, is a political American Idol event not an objective process to decide who should lead our country.

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 12:06:02 +0000

“This does not describe Pakistan in 1999.”

Sure it does. Hell, it describes Pakistan at every moment in its history, including the present. Large swaths of the country are part of Pakistan in name only.

By: John McCain is old…very, very old. « RobertEmmet

John McCain is old…very, very old. « RobertEmmet — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 05:45:38 +0000

[...] About McCain Gets Pakistan Frighteningly Wrong With “Failed State” Comment [...]

By: McCain gets it wrong on Pakistan, as well! « break the terror

McCain gets it wrong on Pakistan, as well! « break the terror — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 04:32:56 +0000

[...] Huh: Barack Obama missed a golden opportunity against John McCain when the Arizona senator made the bizarre assertion that Pakistan was a “failed state” when Pervez Musharraf came to power. [...]