MD writes in with this article in the Weekly Standard about recent developments in US-India policy –

WITH THE NEWS from Iraq relegated to the back pages recently, last Friday’s State Department briefing–especially since it was not devoted to Condoleezza Rice’s latest fashion statements–attracted little attention. The subject: the evolving strategic partnership between the United States and India. The news? It is the “goal” of the Bush administration “to help India become a major world power in the 21st century.” …A U.S.-India strategic partnership, if fully developed, would be the single most important step toward an alliance capable of meeting the 21st century’s principal challenges: radical Islam and rising China. Unlike our almost erstwhile allies in western Europe, India shares an equal strategic concern with both these challenges. Perhaps even more important, India shares a commitment to democracy that transcends ethnic nationalism–Hindu nationalism, in this case, will not suffice to govern a state that includes 120 million Muslims–and an understanding of the necessity for armed strength. India’s position in South Asia puts it in an essential geostrategic location from both a continental and maritime perspective. In sum, the United States could hardly dream up a more ideal strategic partner.

The article dismisses the sale of F-16s to Pakistan as a symbolic gesture relative to the far larger balance of power issues (truth be told, I hold the minority opinion on the Sepia Mutiny editorial staff – I actually tend to agree with folks like Blank/Weapon Nerd about their lack of real import). Continue reading →

Naeem Mohaiemen, one of the organizers behind Disappeared in America, wrote an interesting essay last summer about how some British Asians are flipping around the ethnic slur ‘Paki’:

About a decade back, Bangladeshi and Pakistani teenagers in England began re-appropriating the dreaded “Paki” word. Once a vicious epithet flung on London streets by white skinheads, the word was now a symbol of an assertive brown community. “Paki Power” graffiti appeared, a clothing label called “Pak1” did the rounds… and Aki Nawaz of punk-asian band Fun^Da^Men^Tal told the press, “We’re not Pacifists, we’re Pakifists!”

“Taking back” racist epithets has long been a cultural touchstone, and a touchy one at that. I took to greeting my British Asian friends with “Paki”, but only when we were alone, never in front of white Brits. One day, I called my friend Usman and his father answered the phone. Mistaking his voice for his son, I launched into “Oii Paki, it’s Naeem!” The long, pained silence on the other end spoke volumes about how the older generation viewed this act of re-appropriation. He was horrified and disappointed in our lack of “historical context…”

Besides the use of “Paki” by British South Asian youth, Australian immigrants have started a gleeful website called “WogLife” and for the Jewish community there’s the in-your-face magazine “Heeb.”

Earlier, Abhi posted about the N word. Mohaiemen riffed:

… Chris Rock explains the ongoing fascination: “This word, it’s . . . the only thing white people can’t do. That’s the only reason . . . anybody writes about it. It’s like white people can’t believe there’s a thing that exists (that) they can’t do…”

Continue reading →