tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post7132120398589020906..comments2024-01-28T03:56:39.351-08:00Comments on TOM CLARK: Blood spilled over a bookUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-6383944212656224192016-08-11T07:36:09.604-07:002016-08-11T07:36:09.604-07:00Hilton, I believe the Baloch people are primarily ...Hilton, I believe the Baloch people are primarily Sunni, at least in Iran, where that fact has been a problem for them. <br /><br />Today...<br /><br /><a href="http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2016/08/uneasy-calm.html" rel="nofollow">Uneasy Calm</a><br /><br />Please do catch me up on your investigations. <br /><br />There is an awful lot to explore here, the tribal, ethnic nuances, grudges between valleys and so on, going back to... and then there is now. <br /><br />We stand together in the darkness out beyond the darkness.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-33119920320797525062016-08-10T12:59:35.032-07:002016-08-10T12:59:35.032-07:00Thanks, Tom and billoo. The murky collaboration be...Thanks, Tom and billoo. The murky collaboration between Taliban and Pakistani intelligence services has been well documented, and hideous. It's an incredible crescendo of horror around the entire region, for which the US bears much (although not all) responsibility. What I'll investigate are the issues compelling Baluchi separatism. Are Baluchis Shia (I think so) and feel oppressed by dominant Sunni? How are they exploited? A lot to explore. Again, thanks. And be safe.Hiltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04497545378045907642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-17200580503503662242016-08-09T18:23:41.600-07:002016-08-09T18:23:41.600-07:00Hilton and billoo, very grateful for your words al...Hilton and billoo, very grateful for your words always. <br /><br />Hilton, thanks for being interested in and also for being honest about being confused about what is, to us here, an incredibly baffling subject.<br /><br />I know little more about this subject than the next Murican.<br /><br />billoo on the other hand knows much much more, he is located right there, indeed I believe there was a service today for the Quetta victims in the very city in which billoo works, lives, abides by, respects the book, in much the same sense and ways we out here would hope to do, and many of the same books, so in that sense we're all involved together... though billoo comments under restraint here, perforce, and discreetly; whereas we, Hilton and I are merely routinely surveilled for future reference, billoo is surveilled with a possibility of immediate consequence, so his caution is understandable. <br /><br />Balochistan, located in SW Pakistan, is that nation's largest (44% of Pakistani landmass), poorest (desperately so, with very low levels of income, education, literacy), least populous (less than 15 m), and most remote province; also its richest in natural resources (natural gas, copper, gold); and, most important, most critically situated in terms of present global geopolitical realities.<br /><br />"The province is bordered by Afghanistan to the north and north-west, Iran to the south-west, Punjab and Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas to the north-east. To the south lies the Arabian Sea. Balochistan is located on the south-eastern part of the Iranian plateau. It borders the geopolitical regions of the Middle East and Southwest Asia, Central Asia and South Asia. Balochistan lies at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz and provides the shortest route from seaports to Central Asia. Its geographical location has placed the otherwise desolate region in the scope of competing global interests for all of recorded history."<br /><br />The history, languages, and culture of the people of Balochistan and the Indus Valley are ancient and unique unto the place itself, but at present the economic and political interests of Pakistan determine its fate, and there are many interests and many players. A development deal with China is ongoing and has created targeting opportunities for terror groups. The Indian intelligence service (RAW) has been said by some to be abetting if not, through proxies, actually perpetrating acts of terror in order to destabilize the government of Pakistan. The Pakistan Army and security service however seem to be currently the likeliest candidates for involvement in the insane Quetta atrocity. The seamless shifting and shapechanging and morphing of jihadi groups makes it likely that IS and Taliban are in fact interchangeable brands employed by pretty much the same bunch of actors, who don't want things like books, education (non Sharia), law (secular) to exist in their world. It appears that these gangs are the agents of convenience, though the otherwise unintelligible failure of Pakistan to provide security at an event which exposed virtually the entire legal, journalistic and civil infrastructure of the region, more or less offering up a perfect plum of a target -- which was, indeed, plucked --- is pretty much impossible to explain without bringing in thoughts of complicity. <br /><br />My entirely uninformed speculation from very far away would be that the government of Pakistan is playing the extremely dangerous game of juggling the violent jihadis, Iranians, Afghans, and so on, playing them off against one another, using some groups as proxies, persecuting or pursuing or pretending to pursue others, with no transparency in any of it, and continuous risk of something happening like this atrocity.<br /><br />The result of which was:<br /><br />Death Toll=97 total 62 Lawyers 29 Civilians 02 TV Reporters 01 Doctor 03 Law enforcement staff 171 severely injuredTChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-39889984562698235632016-08-09T13:42:49.612-07:002016-08-09T13:42:49.612-07:00Tom, just met a good friend of mine. He works in S...Tom, just met a good friend of mine. He works in South Punjab on energy issues. His fellow activist was just assassinated- probably by the ISI- last week. I think you're spot on here. They've created monsters ( and it seems clear, though who knows in these murky waters, that a lot of them are still controlled by the agencies). I hope you understand that I'm reluctant to say much more. At my university we organised a talk on Baluchistan. We were told in no uncertain times by the agencies to close it down. A week later one of the speakers we invited went to speak in a hastily reorganized talk in Karachi. The woman who organised it was gunned down. With China in its only going to get worse.<br /><br />The fall out of the Saudi-American-Pak military nexus continues...billoohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10716970909272480118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-79547801368834905922016-08-09T08:16:08.163-07:002016-08-09T08:16:08.163-07:00Horror upon horror. The blood-soaked book a tellin...Horror upon horror. The blood-soaked book a telling image. However, I don't understand enough about the Baluchistan issue, which seems to be yet another separatist movement. Clearly, anti-ISIS, etc. Tom, do you know a source?Hiltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04497545378045907642noreply@blogger.com