Obama - The Nobleman

The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 to President Barack Obama "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons." [emphasis added]

The Committee then lauds him for "negotiating" peace and nuclear disarmament, as the US President. I guess our President isn't the only sap mistaken as to the actual purpose of his job. It gets better, the Committee then says: "Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened." Basically, they're just saying that Bush was a sun-of-a-gun that messed up the super power that the US once was, so now, we'll give you a nudge, a pat on the back and you can ride the bike on your own. Yay!!!

Personally, I think its a slap on the faces of all those honorable men and woman that busted their behinds and did what they did and were as a result appreciated with the Prize. Lets rehash some of the famous laureates and what they did:

Gorbachev ended a war and donned that map of a birthmark with grace; Anwar Al-Sadat negotiated the Isreal-Egypt peace treaty (which he was eventually assassinated for because lets face it, Islamists hate the Jew); Mother Teresa - well, her name alone now emanates holiness; the 14th Dalai Lama - he was holiness; Arther Henderson advocated disarmament as early as 1908 (so much for the "new international climate" Obama supposedly created); Nelson Mandela, besides working against the Apartheid, the guy served a 30 year prison sentence for being black; Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream and then he got shot; Yasser Arafat was possibly the only man to effectively do something about the Irael-Palestine conflict; Jane Addams: okay, so I don't really know what she did but I remember vaguely that she was the first woman to receive a Prize - It had something to do with women's rights issues I'm sure, and finally Woodrow Wilson created the League of Nations and all that jazz.

There's plenty more we've never heard of and probably never will, but they did something, they changed something and it wasn't because they were the first black president of the US. Its an achievement, but lets move on already!

Lets now revert to some of the organizations that received this award. These include the United Nations (Peace Keeping Forces and Commission for Refugees), Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty, UNICEF, ILO and the like. I'm sure Lehman Bros. could use a boost about now, how about handing the Prize to them this year? No? They helped us all "find ourselves" when we didn't have jobs.

A friend of mine semi-equated Obama to Jimmy Carter (another laureate). Sorry, love, not even close. Not only did Carter work for the Middle East through Egypt and Israel, he worked on the forgotten Latin American states such as Panama, which if I recall correctly, he suffers criticism for to date. What he has done with the Carter Center and what he continues to do today in his capacity as a citizen of the world, is unparalelled. Even the Obama's adopting Bo couldn't top that.

This time I agree with the Republicans. Obama did win because of his "star power". “To be honest,” the president said “I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative [seriously, O, is that even a word?!] figures who have been honored by this prize, men and women who’ve inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace.” Hells yes you don't deserve it! The honorable thing would be to turn it down. That's when I'd stand in ovation for Barack. Le Duc Tho was awarded the Prize for "jointly negotiating the Vietnam Peace Accord" in 1973. He refused it because his country was still not at peace. That, president O, is how its done.

Obama said in his famous speech in Egypt: "I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect..." Tell that to the drones. What he said at the United Nations recently was nothing new. Heads of states have been harping on about how important it is for everyone to be signatory to the NPT and disarmament is the only way forward. We have just become accustomed to glorifying Obama's every move, his every word. Don't get me wrong, I love the guy. I voted for him. But he is also the man that once said "I've now been in 57 states -- I think one left to go." - at a campaign event in Beaverton, Oregon.

So, yes, O, we're just as surprised as you are.

A Country Called Karachi

A dholki without a dholki, plain grey dilapidated cement monstrosities, random monuments of hands, street-signs painted across curbs and reek of the insides of a dead whale. Welcome to Karachi.

It seems the streets are always under construction and greenery is not an option. When asked, a native said that it didn't rain enough for the greens to stay green. I beg to differ... It doesn't rain at all in the UAE, its still lush and bright. Also, it rains plenty. See: The News on people swimming to work and at work.

When driving down one of those awe-inspiring flyovers, I noticed driving instructions and street-signs painted on the boundary walls. Seeing how Urdu is written right to left and we're traveling from left to right, reading those while attempting to drive can be quite daunting, at least for infidels such as myself that have risen from The Punjab. Maybe Karachiites are more educated. Maybe this is just another road hazard waiting for its prey. Either way, whose brilliant idea was that?

As for street signs in Defense and other areas, they were the same color, etc. as advertisements for some donation scheme as well. "Khayban-e-Something to the Left" and right under it "Donate a book". Another confusion is that Karachi doesn't realize that the world counts as follows "1, 2, 3, 4, 5..." The concept of "3" is lost, at least in the "planning" of Defense - the poshest of posh neighborhoods.

Fauzia showed me these wide array's of concrete with slashes in them which were meant to be rain drains. How do they work? The district government sends water-suction-tank-things at night (inspired by the tooth-fairy) and while you sleep, the water disappears. Miraculous, really.

Forget appearances (or the fact that you can't just turn on a tap and get water, you need someone to come fill the tank biweekly... And its a coastal city), I mean its unfair to judge the book by its cover. I blame the shift of the capital from Karachi to Islamabad for the bad state the city's in. Its like the neglected middle child. Poor soul, I feel your pain. The people: don't get me wrong, a whole bunch of my close friends are from this Country, but they may very well be exceptions to the case. Karachi is full of wanna-be-farangi's. There, I said it. Raised in a pretty burger environment myself, I've been accused of the same many-a-time. However, Punjabi's are pretty paindoo at heart. As Fauz would say "you can take the girl out of Punjab, but you can't take the Punjab out of the girl!" And we're proud of it!

I was there for a wedding... Firstly, life comes at Karachiites pretty late. So, events that are bound to kick off around 10 p.m. PST in Lahore, are only beginning to take shape around midnight in Karachi. So when you send out an invite for Thursday, expect people to show up on Friday, early morning. Dates can be so confusing. Obviously it is of little consequence that the next day is in fact a working day. Maybe that's why we moved our capital. Either way, I now understand why we're suffering financially as a country and it has a simple solution, we need to move our commercial hub out of Karachi.

But I will say this, Karachi doesn't mess with its food. Although Punjab is known for its food and lavish spread, Karachi does complete justice to the edibles. That's all I can think of that would link them to the rest of Pakistan. Not to sound ungrateful, I was well hosted (as always) and everyone was more than hospitable, so thank you! But, Karachi so queer! I was less culturally shocked when I moved Stateside!

I must end with these wise words: Lahore Lahore Hai!