Pakistan Budget 2013

Interesting Budget indeed, Don't mind the extra taxes on luxury items, or direct taxation. Increase in VAT and increase in its scope(even to Milk) is indeed a BAD idea. It would effectively raise the price of Milk and related items like Butter cheese etc. by 16% by immediate effect for packaged ones and in the near future for Gawala Milk and products.
But again its hardly surprising as One can recall This team was the one which introduced VAT in Pakistan during the late 90s at the first place raising prices by 15% at the time. But where the hell is austerity? And NO I do not mean petty issues like PM house or Government house. Rs.500 something Billion Rs development budget at this point in time is outrageous Surely other more productive areas (industrialization anyone?) areas can provide employment instead of Bridges to nowhere...They would probably yield less kickbacks and commissions for Lohaar though

The Fourth and Fifth Generation warfare,Turkey and Pakistan

So..The Foreign backed unrest starts in Turkey too..
I feel it won't succeed in Turkey for a number of reasons. Their attachment and love for their religion(by far) would be a deciding factor eventually...they have the will infrastructure(by far) and Forces to defend themselves. Unlike Libya Somalia Sudan Yemen and Afghanistan. Their  infrastructure,forces, love for their religion and attachment to their heritage(that of Islam) are far superior then many other countries entangled in this crisis.

Their armed forces are professional(although lack Nuclear Umbrella) but still its by far the most Superior the "conspirators" have face to date that have faced such kind of warfare. comparable to perhaps only Pakistan where Fourth and Fifth Generation are being waged . Its easily noticeable,a simple rule of the thumb I have to judge a country. The countries which have fought wars,pitched battles(Syria and Egypt) in the past and have good conventional forces are not very easy to digest even in the most vicious of fourth generation war(Syria). Fourth and Fifth generation warfare have failed to perish Pakistan after more then a decade of Very Direct NATO and CIA involvement. Apart from Providence I personally attribute this fact to a couple of reasons, two of them being:

1. A professional Army which is designed to fight foreign incursions and all out war.
2. Tolerance Threshold of People..People refuse to chase shadows and make unreasonable choices despite economy in near collapse. Artificial Chronic power shortage touching 50-70% electricity outages. As the media puts it "Log bayhis hein". I would gladly say behis nai aqal valay hein that they are not going in streets because idiots like Hamid Mir asks them to.

It is of interest and requires further research about the over use of agitation to Remove Ayub in the 60s has a part to play in it. After all no one wanted a person like Bhutto in Power which he turned out to be. And since 1970 elections his party has never been able to form a government in Punjab Province despite I donno..CIA Deals.. Assassinations(General Zia) NRO.. What have they not tried but PPP never had a majority in Punjab after their role in 71. General Zia might have been a good man,but it is the sad truth that sometimes he patronised idiots like Nawaz Sharif and in 77 it was the people who suffered. What I think is they also have a memory in the back of their minds about 1977 agitations leading to nowhere. I am aware of the counter argument that removal of Bhutto alone was a great deal and 77 was a success. In my Opinion Memory of the Political Chaos to nowhere during the 90s further "enlightened" people.

Another reason that historians would note is, this campaign in Pakistan and Turkey is fundamentally flawed. You can not expect to make fun of Kargil,equate it with 71 and our so called "Debacles" (as the enforces of CIA backed war put) in 65. Except creating a list of discredited people,among them some sad old Alcoholics like Nusrat Javed and Hassan Nisar,killing more then a hundred thousand Pakistanis in direct terrorist actions and effecting tens of millions in indirect actions and opportunity costs this war is basically a stalemate and has gone nowhere.
Even a further escalation for 5th Generation war(which is an evolving concept if you ask me) did't help much.

My advie to PTI about their boyish hopes and dreams

To my Friends who think Imran Khan is some kind of Super Hero.. Must not go overboard when trying to defend a liberal. The very belief that one thinks only one is right and refuses to even accept a shred of reason wars have been fought..We must never become the demon we are fighting...
After all we are still double minded about if ENDS justify the means? Are we not?
Graveyards are filled with people who once had a good intention but ended up killing..hundreds..Thousands..Millions in some cases..Do you think thats how Gaddafi thought things would turn out when he took over? What about Idi Amin? Do you think a young Gandhi or a young Nehru imagined they would end up killing millions? Do you think Hitler at Munich thought he would end up killing tens of millions? A young passionate Stalin(Hard to imagine but bare with me)?
What about General MacArthur who considered Nuking Korea? He gave this speech:
"
I am closing my 52 years of military service. When I joined the Army, even before the turn of the century, it was the fulfillment of all of my boyish hopes and dreams. The world has turned over many times since I took the oath on the plain at West Point, and the hopes and dreams have long since vanished, but I still remember the refrain of one of the most popular barrack ballads of that day which proclaimed most proudly that "old soldiers never die; they just fade away."

Have an open mind. Do NOT act like the people you are fighting