Religion as Category, not Subject --- New York: Investigate Police Surveillance of Muslims | Human Rights Watch

New York: Investigate Police Surveillance of Muslims | Human Rights Watch

I think that if the police does like categorizing people into religions in a process to profile people's data in order to prevent crimes, that would be one of the ways to do. However, this time, New York Police clearly chose Muslim as their target, and they specifically watched Muslim people, including even students.

Wait. Why do they so much care about Muslim? I think it may be because of the terrorism that happened on 11 September 2001. A country where the terrorist group lives happened to be Muslim country, and the terrorist group happened to be consisting of Muslim people. I would prefer this way to express. What I want to say is that not all Muslim people have the same idea as the terrorists.

It's way too much. New York Police did too much in my opinion. It would be necessary to carefully see Muslim people because of the background, but what they actually did was very insult and just too much.

Officials showed anti-Muslim video through training of police officers. The video should have not been 'anti.'

I have a lot of things to say, but I don't have time today.

Too much is always too much. It should be avoided.


Yoshi
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North Korea Agrees to Suspend Nuclear Work, U.S. Says - NYTimes.com

North Korea Agrees to Suspend Nuclear Work, U.S. Says - NYTimes.com

This is a great news if North Korea really does so. Now, the head of the state is different from some months ago, and many states are watching how this change would work. Is the new leader better? worse?

The previous leader, Kim Jong-il, in my opinion, was not a person who does what he says. He, in my point of view, does not do what he promises. How about the next one? That's what I'm looking at.

Anyway, this is a good step to disarm one of the dangerous states.

I do hope that North Korea is really hoping to curb nuclear work.

12/5/11 Aid Agencies in Afghanistan Fear Reversals After U.S. Exit (New York Times)

Aid Agencies in Afghanistan Fear Reversals After U.S. Exit

By ROD NORDLAND

Published: December 5, 2011

Although President Hamid Karzai hopes to continue aid to Afghanistan for another 10 years, the American withdrawal from Afghanistan is already being felt among civilian aid workers, raising anxieties that Afghanistan will be abandoned and that the hard-earned development gains will be reversed.


The US provides two-thirds of all development assistance in Afghanistan, but it cut its $4 billion aid budget to $2 billion in the 2011 fiscal year. In 2012, it might be going to cut the budget more.


CARE has lost 80% of its budget here. CARE is deeply involved in setting up schools and improving life for Afghan women. 400 of its 900 workers were unemployed. Other American-based charities are suffering from the budget cut.


Mercy Corps, which is another American-based aid organization, has lost its $32 million "Cash for Work" program in northern Afghanistan and gone to an end. International Rescue Committee's budget for Afghanistan next year is also almost halved to $9.5 million although the committee is still hopeful.


Total foreign aid to Afghanistan in 2010 was equal to the country's entire GDP, $15.7 billion. The World Bank said that this cannot be sustained. By 2018, it is predicted that 90% of that aid will be gone.

12/3/11 Leaders Look to I.M.F., Again, as Euro Crisis Lingers (New York Times)

Leaders Look to I.M.F., Again, as Euro Crisis Lingers

By ANNIE LOWREY and STEVEN ERLANGER

Published: December 3, 2011

European leaders were looking for help from the outside of the continent, but because the International Monetary Fund (IMF) may be able to help, they won't probably get helped by the outside Europe.


Leaders of the 17 European Union nations that use the euro meet to prepare for a summit meeting on Thursday and Friday (Dec. 9 & 10).


European Union leaders have already turned to the I.M.F. to assist smaller nations, such as Ireland, Greece, and Portugal. 


In order to increase IMF funds, American agreement is necessary.

11/30/11 Turkey Moves to Intensify Sanctions Against Syria (New York Times)

Turkey Moves to Intensify Sanctions Against Syria

By DAN BILEFSKY and ANTHONY SHADID

Published: November 30, 2011

The article starts very briefly:

Turkey took steps on Wednesday to freeze the Syrian government’s financial assets, impose a travel ban on senior Syrian officials and cut off transactions with the country’s central bank, sharply escalating international pressure on Damascus in response to its continuing violence against civilians.

Turkish officials said that the latest measures were enacted to follow the Arab League that imposed broad trade sanctions and are part of a developing international effort to strangle Syria's economy and diminish the power of Syrian government.

The Arab League published a list of 17 senior Syrian officials who could face a ban on travel to other Arab countries. The officials include the ministers of defense and interior.

European, American Turkish officials all said:

they believed Syria’s economic troubles could prove the undoing of Mr. Assad, who to date has managed to maintain the allegiance of Syria’s business elite.

The economic sanctions would be a big damage to Syria.

The European Union and the United States were the first to impose penalties, and European sanctions, in particular, harmed Syria’s oil industry, which once contributed as much as a third of the government’s revenue. Though Europe is Syria’s biggest overall trading partner, Turkey and Arab states make up four of its next five biggest, and the Syrian leadership, along with those tied to it, has large investments in the Persian Gulf.

 There's another thing that Turkey decided:

Turkey also decided, given that Mr. Assad continues to ignore the Arab League’s calls for peace and political reform, to divert all of its Middle Eastern trade away from routes that traverse Syria, siphoning off yet another source of income for an increasingly isolated government.

11/28/11 Militants Turn to Death Squads in Afghanistan (New York Times)

Militants Turn to Death Squads in Afghanistan

By RAY RIVERA, SHARIFULLAH SAHAK and ERIC SCHMITT

Published: November 28, 2011

Target killings across Afghanistan have risen. American and Afghan officials believe that many are the work of Haqqani militant network and Al-Qaeda that are charged with killing suspected informants and terrorizing the populace on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.


Military intelligence officials say that the units act as death squads, and they also say that Khurasan has been responsible for at least 250 assassinations and public executions. Khurasan operates mainly in Pakistan's tribal areas.


There is also another group, but its name is not known. The group works mainly in Afghanistan and may be responsible for at least 20 killings in Khost Province over the summer.


The article reports:

It is another indication that the Haqqanis, a mostly Pakistan-based faction, remain the most dangerous part of an insurgency that makes full use of a porous and often ill-defined border, as the NATO strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers over the weekend showed. Though the circumstances of that strike remain murky, it has now further upset relations between Pakistan and the United States, even as it once again demonstrated how havens inside Pakistan remained a critical part of the insurgent strategy. (New York Times)

No matter what happened, the relation between Pakistan and the United Sates has not got worsened.


The percent of assassinations in Afghanistan is growing.

Across Afghanistan, assassinations have jumped 61 percent, to 131 reported killings, through the first nine months of this year, compared with the same period in 2010, according to NATO statistics. United Nations officials say they began noticing a sharp increase in 2010, with 462 assassinations according to their records, double the number from the previous year. The figures may not include many killings in remote areas, like the mass beheading, because fearful villagers never reported them. (New York Times)

11/25/11 Syria Lets Arab League Deadline on Observers Pass (New York Times)

Syria Lets Arab League Deadline on Observers Pass

By NADA BAKRI

Published: November 25, 2011

Syria ignored an Arab league deadline to accept observers to oversee a peace deal to end the bloodshed that has been lasting more than eight months.

Arab League official said:

if the government of President Bashar al-Assad failed to agree by Friday to sign a protocol detailing the mission of the observers, Arab finance ministers would meet Saturday in Cairo to discuss imposing sanctions that could include halting flights to Syria, curbing trade and stopping transactions with the country’s central bank. (New York Times)

 The new sanctions would deal a severe blow to an economy that is already suffering under the European Union's and the United States's.

Turkey said that its foreign minister would hold talks with foreign ministers from Arab nations in Cairo to discuss Syria's failure to admit several hundred military and civilian observers.

The United Nations estimated that at least 3,500 people have been killed since mid-March in the government's crackdown.

11/24/11 Egypt Orders 3 American Students Released, and Journalist Is Assaulted in Detention (New York Times)

Egypt Orders 3 American Students Released, and Journalist Is Assaulted in Detention

By ANTHONY SHADID

Published: November 24, 2011

Egyptian court ordered the release of three American students. The students were arrested during their protests in Cairo's landmark Tahrir Square. A prominent documentary filmmaker, Jehane Noujaim, was also arrested. The students had been during a semester-long study abroad program in the American University in Cairo.

However, that the students had been freed is unclear because there was no immediate confirmation. Interior Ministry officials said that the students just need to be processed through Egypt's court system.

The Egyptian-American journalist, Mona Eltahawy, who was arrested, was freed. However, she was so badly treated:

On her Twitter account, she wrote, “5 or 6 surrounded me, groped and prodded my breasts, grabbed my genital area and I lost count how many hands tried to get into my trousers.” She said the beating and assault stopped once she was transferred from the police to the military, though military interrogators kept her blindfolded for hours. (New York Times)

Eltahawy's accusation, according to a military official in Cairo, Col. Islam Jaffar:

“She complained to me that she was beaten and sexually assaulted by Central Security Forces,” Mr. Jaffar said. “But what did she expect would happen? She was in the middle of the streets, in the midst of clashes, with no press card or form of ID. The press center had not given her permission to be in the streets as a journalist. The country is in a sensitive situation. We are under threat. She could be a spy for all we know.”

The group's Middle East and North Africa program coordinator claimed:

“Filming is not a crime, and authorities must release Noujaim immediately,Tte military and the police must stop using physical violence and detention to silence or intimidate journalists.”

11/29/11 Iranian Protesters Attack British Embassy (New York TImes)

Iranian Protesters Attack British Embassy

By ROBERT F. WORTH and RICK GLADSTONE

Published: November 29, 2011

Iranian protesters attacked the British Embassy territory and a diplomatic residence in Tehran (which is a city in Iran). They tore down the British flag, smashed windows, defaced walls, and detained six staff members. What they are protesting against is Britain's tough new economic sanctions against Iran.

This action surprised even Iranian officials.

Analysts said,

Iran’s leaders, buffeted by the new sanctions, a collapsing economy and increasingly bitter infighting among the political elite, may have welcomed a chance to change the subject. But the episode also appeared to be a shot across the bow aimed at the West, in line with Tehran’s old policies of escalating defiance. (New York Times)

A statement was issued by the United Nations Security Council to call on Iran to protect foreign diplomats and embassy property.

Britain's new sanctions provoked special anger because

they require all contacts to be severed with the Iranian Central Bank, a step other countries, including the Unites States, have not taken. (New York Times)

The embassy attack happened the next day of when Iran's Parliament approved to expel the British ambassador and to downgrade diplomatic relations between Iran ant Britain, due to the Britain's new economic sanctions.

11/16/11 A U.S. Marine Base for Australia Irritates China (New York Times)

A U.S. Marine Base for Australia Irritates China

By JACKIE CALMES

Published: November 16, 2011

President Obama announced that the U.S. planned to deploy 2,500 Marines in Australia to shore up alliances in Asia. However, China accused Mr. Obama of escalating military tensions in the region.

The agreement with Australia has been long discussed since the end of Vietnam War. 

"The president said the moves were not intended to isolate China, but they were an unmistakable sign that the United States had grown warier of its intentions." (New York Times)

"While the new military commitment is relatively modest, Mr. Obama has promoted it as the cornerstone of a strategy to confront more directly the challenge posed by China’s rapid advance as an economic and military power. He has also made some progress in creating a new Pacific free-trade zone that would give America’s free-market allies in the region some trading privileges that do not immediately extend to China." (New York Times)

The U.S. have some bases in the North Pacific area but does not have those in Southern area. Therefore, having a base in Australia, South Pacific, would be great for the U.S. The U.S. is not going to build a base of its own in Australia, but is planning to use Australian military facilities instead.

10/24/11 U.S. and North Korea Begin Groundwork for Talks (New York TImes)

U.S. and North Korea Begin Groundwork for Talks

By NICK CUMMING-BRUCE and CHOE SANG-HUN

Published: October 24, 2011

In Geneva, the United States start two-days talks. American officials have said that they will test the ground for a possible resumption of wider discussion of the nuclear program of North Korea. 

At the end of the first day, in a statement, Mr. Bosworth said:

"I think we are moving in a positive direction. We have narrowed some differences, but we still have differences that we have to resolve.

He described the discussion as 'very positive,' and added: 

"I am neither optimistic nor pessimistic but as I said, we have made some progress. But we have issues still to resolve, ans we will work hard to do that."

 Last week, American officials said that the discussion is to determine whether North Korea is serious about the problem.


In September 2005, North Korea agreed to abandon its nuclear programs in exchange for economic support and diplomatic incentives from other parties to the six-party talks, including China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea as well as North Korea and the United States.
-----terrible levels of malnutrition children
-----6,000,000 North Koreans needing food aid


"Nearly half of North Korean children were chronically malnourished and the situation has been getting worse." (New York Times)

11/11/11 Premier Says Japan Will Join Pacific Free Trade Talks (New York Times)

Premier Says Japan Will Join Pacific Free Trade Talks

By HIROKO TABUCHI

Published: November 11, 2011

Prime Minister of Japan, Yoshihiko Noda said that Japan is going to join the talks of the pacific free trade called TPP, which stands for Trans-Pacific Partnership. Joining TPP is concerned to be encouraging exporters who seek new markets but to endanger farmers: the farmers are very angry about this.

The Asia-Pacific economic summit meeting will be held this weekend in Hawaii, and President Obama is going to promote the far-reaching TPP regional trade agreement. The aim of the agreement is to cut import tariffs to zero. Nine governments are joining the discussion.

Mr. Noda strongly claimed that global competition eventually makes a domestic economy, including a more competitive agricultural sector, stronger.

The United States has been buying more from Japan than it has been selling to Japan. Therefore, the United States has pushed for better access to Japanese markets. One concern for the US is that Tokyo's participation may complicate talks if Japanese government is unable, or unwilling, to commit to slashing some tariffs.


The pact for Japan means lower tariffs that encourage some imports and exports. Of course, the effect reaches to highly protected domestic sectors like farming.


Japan is now just entered the negotiations, but there is already protesting campaign.


Japan's farmers have been protected under very high tariffs, such as 777.7 percent levy on imported rice. Those farmers are protesting the government against the pact.


The protesting campaign is supported by the public, while free trade proponents argue that consumers benefit from cheaper imports, such as of food.


Even members in Noda's Domestic Party strongly oppose Noda's policy, and the party split, dooming his government.


Exporters claim that without the pact, Japan risks being left behind in the world economy. They believe that joining the pact create a better condition for Japan against regional rivals like South Korea.


South Korea already has a free trade agreement with European Union and the United States, whereas Japan doesn't.


Calls for free trade has been discussed at a very high pitch.


Yoko Ishikura, a professor of global business at Keio University in Tokyo, said at a recent economic forum that the government had:

"not done a great hob of explaining the benefits, and the debate has become emotionally charged."

and she added,

"we need to ask, 'what if Japan doesn't join?' That could be the bigger risk."

Thus, there are many supporters for the pact as well as many protesters against the pact. One problem claimed in Japan is that the government is not providing enough information to the public. Many people do not know what would happen if Japan joins the pact. Another problem is that Mr. Noda very quickly decided to join the pact. Whether Japan joins the pact has long been discussed for several years, but a large earthquake happened in March this year, and the government suspended the discussion for a while in order to focus on the damage of the earthquake.  

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The Governments Attending: 9 + Japan = 10 governments.

• Australia (20 November 2008)
• Brunei (28 May 2006)
• Chile (28 May 2008)
• Japan (11 November 2011)
• Malaysia (October 2010)
• New Zealand (28 May 2006)
• Peru (November 2008)
• Singapore (28 May 2006)
• United States (February 2008)
• Vietnam (November 2008)

Source: Wikipedia "Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership"


You may find more details here, Office of the United States Trade Representative, Trans Pacific Partners

Here's my reaction.

11/7/11 Syria Unleashes Assault to Take an Unbowed City (New York TImes)

Syria Unleashes Assault to Take an Unbowed City

By ANTHONY SHADID

Published: November 7, 2011

The Syrian government has started a cruel assault to retake Homs, which is "Unbowed City" and which is the third largest city in the country. The government faces defectors who have prevented the government from seizing the city. The right side is the map (from New York Times).

The specter of civil war

has long hung over Homs, the most tenacious and determined of cities opposed to President Bashar al-Assad’s rule, where the city’s Sunni Muslim majority has closed ranks behind the revolt. This month, parts of the city have become an urban battlefield, with activists saying government forces have killed 111 people in just five days, opposition groups warning of dire shortages forced by the siege and residents complaining of lawlessness by marauding soldiers and paramilitary fighters. (New York Times)

The article provides more details about the background of  the civil war:

In some ways, Homs is a microcosm of Syria, with a Sunni Muslim majority and minorities of Christians and Alawites, a heterodox Muslim sect from which Mr. Assad draws much of his top leadership. Unlike the countryside, where sectarian tension runs deeper, Homs managed to rely on established ties between communities.

But in the past months, those relationships have frayed. While residents say many Christians have tried to remain on the sidelines, tensions have deepened between Sunnis and Alawites, as the most severe challenge to four decades of the Assad family’s authoritarian grip on the nation continues to burn.

11/5/11 Leaving Iraq, U.S. Fears New Surge of Qaeda Terror (New York Times)

Leaving Iraq, U.S. Fears New Surge of Qaeda Terror

By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and ERIC SCHMITT

Published: November 5, 2011

As you may know, the United States has decided to withdraw its troops from Iraq by the end of this year. According to the article, senior American and Iraqi officials are expressing growing concern that Al -Qaeda's offshoot.

"Qaeda allies in North Africa, Somalia and Yemen are seeking to assert more influence after the death of Osama bin Laden and the diminished role of Al Qaeda’s remaining top leadership in Pakistan." (New York Times)

Due to the Death of Osama bin Laden, the organization was certainly weakened and is not likely to regain its prior strength. However, American and Iraqi analysts said "the Al-Qaeda franchise is shifting its tactics and strategies to exploit gaps left by the departing American troops and to try to reignite sectarian violence in the country." (New York Times)

Iraqi analysts express fears that:

ties between Al Qaeda and members of the former ruling Baath Party may be re-forming. “The government is afraid from an alliance between Qaeda and Baath precisely in this time, after the American withdrawal from Iraq,” said Ehssan al-Shemari, a political science professor at Baghdad University. “The security issue is the biggest challenge for the government in the next stage.” (New York Times)

According to General Buchanan,

there are 800 to 1,000 people in Al Qaeda’s Iraq network, “from terrorists involved in operations to media to finance to fighters.” A document released by the military in July 2010 said Al Qaeda had about 200 “hard core” fighters in Iraq. The weak Iraqi economy is providing a large pool of young and vulnerable recruits, analysts say. (New York Times)

11/3/11 U.S. Report Accuses China and Russia of Internet Spying (New York Times)

U.S. Report Accuses China and Russia of Internet Spying

By THOM SHANKER

Published: November 3, 2011

As the title shows, the Untied States accuses China and Russia of internet spying.

According to the new intelligence assessment, "Both China and Russia hide behind the anonymity of proxy computers and dispersed routers in third countries to pilfer proprietary corporate information to accelerate their own economic development." (New York Times)

The report also warns that some allies of the United States are also spying the U.S. information of technology, economy, etc.

The information is assumed to by spied not only bu countries, but also by foreign companies and individuals.

The report was concluded with some recommendations, such as how openly information should be accessible for companies.

11/3/11 Cuba to Allow Buying and Selling of Property, With Few Restrictions (New York Times))

Cuba to Allow Buying and Selling of Property, With Few Restrictions

By DAMIEN CAVE

Published: November 3, 2011

In Cuba, a new property law was announced to promise to allow the citizens and permanent residents to buy and sell.

Pedro Freyre, who is an expert in Cuban-Aerican legal relations said:

"To say that it’s huge is an understatement. This is the foundation, this is how you build capitalism, by allowing the free trade of property.” (New York Times)

However, Cuba officials would not agree and argue:

they are carefully protecting socialism as they move toward economic reform, and the new law includes some provisions that seem aimed at controlling both speculation and the concentration of wealth. 

11/1/11 In Libya, Fighting May Outlast the Revolution (New York Times)

In Libya, Fighting May Outlast the Revolution

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

Published: November 1, 2011

Tripoli, Libya


The article starts with:

Many of the local militia leaders who helped topple Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi are abandoning a pledge to give up their weapons and now say they intend to preserve their autonomy and influence political decisions as “guardians of the revolution.” (New York Times)

Libya’s new provisional government, the Transitional National Council is their issue. 


The position of the Transitional National Council is:

The provisional government’s departing prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, suggested in a news conference Sunday night that instead of expecting the local militias to disband, the Transitional National Council should try to incorporate them by expanding to include their representatives. (New York Times)

According to New York Times:

Militia leaders have already demonstrated their resolve to step into the political process. Before the provisional government named a new prime minister Monday night, local leaders in Misurata — speaking on the condition of anonymity to avoid an open fight with the national council — threatened that if it failed to agree on a candidate they deemed satisfactory, local military councils from cities in western Libya might intercede to decide the question. (New York TImes)

There are two points of views that:

Some point to neighboring Egypt, where the council of military officers that took power at the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak has delayed a transition to civilian control. Others say there is a danger Libya could resemble the chaos in Yemen or Syria because there are several autonomous militias poised to take on a political role. (New York Times)

Electoral democracy seems to start.

The Transitional National Council has pledged in a “constitutional declaration” that within eight months after the selection of a new government, it will hold elections for a national assembly, which will oversee the writing of a constitution. During the uprising, officials of the Transitional National Council vowed to give equal voice to all Libyans, regardless of their location or political position. (New York Times)

However,

leaders in Misurata, a commercial center that withstood a long siege to emerge as the arsenal of Libyan revolt, say they are advocating a four-point set of criteria for representation that would increase their say, at the expense of smaller towns or those who stayed loyal to Colonel Qaddafi: population, size, economic output and “priority in liberation.”

11/1/11 China Seeks $2.4 Million in Taxes From Dissident (New York Times)

China Seeks $2.4 Million in Taxes From Dissident

By ANDREW JACOBS

Published: November 1, 2011

Ai Weiwei is a dissident and also an artist. He has been offered to pay $2.4 million in back taxes and penalties by the government. 

He is challenging this case with lawyers, but there is not certain for him to win. His mother may be going to sell her house, which was given to her by her father to make a payment if his defense fails.

Mr. Ai paused and said  “This is my fate,” he said weakly, “and I have to face it” when he was asked what he would do if his defense fails.


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You may find more information here (Link to New York Times)

10/31/11 Afghan Leader Offers Belated Condolences for U.S. Deaths (New York Times)

Afghan Leader Offers Belated Condolences for U.S. Deaths

By ROD NORDLAND

Published: October 31, 2011

President Hamid Karzai did not express condolence for deaths of the NATO members, who were killed by the suicide attack). 

With two American officials, Gen. John R. Allen, the NATO commander and Ryan C. Crocker, Ambassador, at a national security meeting on Sunday, (in a statement) the president “expressed his heartfelt condolences and sympathies to the family and relatives of those foreign troops and Afghan civilians who were killed.” and added “Afghan people are grieved by the NATO loss of lives and share the pain and sorrow with the families and friends of the troops killed” (New York Times)

However, "In a statement Saturday, Mr. Karzai had expressed condolences only to the families of the four Afghan victims and made no mention of the 13 NATO personnel who were killed, most of them Americans." (New York Times)

"The gaffe came a week after Mr. Karzai, in an interview with Geo Television, a Pakistani network, said his country would fight on the side of Pakistan if Pakistan was attacked by the United States." (New York Times)

But, the statement in the transcript on his website is omitted.

"Mr. Karzai’s spokesman, Aimal Faizi, also said the president had not intended to slight the military victims. (New York Times)

The attack brought the worst outcome for NATO's operation in Kabul during the Afghanistan War. According to early reports from military sources, 13 victims were all American soldiers, but later, officials modified the list:

• 4 American soldiers
• 1 Canadian soldier
• 5 American contractors
• 2 British contractors
• 1 Kosovar contractor

were killed.

Links:

12 Americans Die as Blast Hits Bus in Afghanistan (New York Times) My Blog

10/30/11 Political Shift Seen in Rally in Pakistan (New York Times)

Political Shift Seen in Rally in Pakistan

By SALMAN MASOOD

Published: October 30, 2011

Islammabad, Pakistan.

An antigovernment ralley with more than 100,000 people was led by  Imran Khan on Sunday (10/30) evening.

"The rally represented what supporters and some political analysts said was Mr. Khan’s emergence as a serious challenger to the governing Pakistan Peoples Party and its longtime rival, the Pakistan Muslim League-N." (New York Times)

"The government is not required to call a general election until February 2013, but with a sinking economy, rising inflation, power struggles and terrorism taking a toll on the nation, opposition parties have begun pushing for an earlier date." (New York Times)

"Mr. Khan led 2,000 people in a protest outside the Parliament in Islamabad on Friday, opposing American drone strikes, and he reiterated his stance at the rally on Sunday." (New York Times)

Mr. Kahn said, “My message to America is that we will have friendship with you, but we will not accept any slavery,” he said. “We will help you in a respectable withdrawal of your troops from Afghanistan, but we will not launch a military operation in Pakistan for you.” (New York TImes)