This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- Pakistan’s incoming prime minister Sharif condemns American drone strikes
- Pakistan’s Taliban peace negotiations concern Afghanistan
- Eurozone unemployment at historic highs
Pakistan’s incoming prime minister Sharif condemns American drone strikes
Nawaz Sharif
Pakistan’s incoming Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, is reportedlyin command in the Pakistan branch of the Taliban, Tehrik-e-TalibanPakistan (TTP). Sharif on Friday expressed “serious concern and deepdisappointment” over the drone strike. He said that he would ask theUnited States to “exercise restraint and give peace a chance”:
The drone attack is not only a violation of thecountry’s sovereignty and territorial integrity but also an actionthat has been declared a violation of international law and UNcharter.
And aide to Sharif said that the drone strike was highly regrettable,policy which would ensure greater exercise of care and caution in theuse of this technology.” Dawn (Pakistan)
Pakistan’s Taliban peace negotiations concern Afghanistan
Sharif has been advocating a negotiated peace with the TTP and is nowblaming the U.S. for a breakdown in the negotiations. The wholenegotiated peace concept is a fantasy, as if the TTP-linkedLashkar-e-Jhangvi would ever give up targeting Shia and Sufi shrinesacross Pakistan and Afghanistan. (See “17-Feb-13 World View — Another horrific bomb attack targets Shias in Quetta, Pakistan”) Nonetheless, a politician’s job inany country is to promote such fantasies.
Sharif, 63, has been prime minister twice before. During the 1980s,when the Afghan government was backed by the Soviet Union, Sharifbacked the jihadists who were a precursor to the Taliban; he thenbacked the Taliban when they took over in 1997. The brutal Talibangovernment was not dislodged until the American invasion ofAfghanistan that followed the terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001.
Now, many Afghan leaders foresee a repeat of Sharif’s earlierpolicies, including support for a Taliban coup against the currentgovernment in Kabul. Sharif’s plans for peace negotiations with theTTP (Pakistan Taliban) are seen as a way of allowing TTP to redirectattacks away from Pakistan and to join with the Afghan Taliban toattack targets within Afghanistan. According to one Afghan MP:
There can be no hope his policies will lead to animprovement in relations with Afghanistan. He was the individualwho set about destroying this country once the pro-Soviet regimecollapsed, and we are still burning in that fire.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting (London) and The Nation (Pakistan)
Eurozone unemployment at historic highs
Unemployment reached 12.2% in the 17-nation eurozone in April,marking a new record since the EU began tracking the figures in 1995.Unemployment reached record levels in France, while youth unemploymentreached 40% in France and Italy and 65% in Greece. Europeanofficials are now increasingly concerned about a social breakdown fromthe financial crisis, as happened in 1933 when the Nazis came to powerin Germany.
At the same time, consumer price inflation was at 1.4% in May, farbelow the predicted level of 2%. The weak inflation is expected tolead to pressure on the European Central Bank to “print” a lot moremoney in the form of quantitative easing, though that hasn’t helpedthe general economy so far. And in Japan, where the Bank of Japan hasbeen pouring out astronomically high amounts of quantitative easing,the core inflation rate fell 0.4% in April for the sixth straightmonth of decline.
As I’ve been saying on my web site for almost ten years now, from thepoint of view of Generational Dynamics what we’re seeing now is aworldwide deflationary spiral, the first since the 1930s. This iscaused by generational behaviors and attitudes, and no amount ofquantitative easing can stop it. Reuters and Japan Times
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif,Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, TTP, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi,Afghanistan, Soviet Union,eurozone, unemployment, France, Italy, Greece, Japan
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