You can find the clash of civilizations very sharp in Pakistan. Poor rural people suffered under the flood recently very hard. On the other hand Pakistan has high tech nuclear weapons. Also some Taliban are hiding there. There's also a conflict with India. On the other hand the administration tries to stay in peaceful contact with the USA and other Western countries. Maybe the future of global politics will be decided by the fact, how politics develop in Pakistan. That could be as difficult as to dismantle a large tanker ...
photo by Zahid Hussein Photo-Journalist (Pakistan News Pictures), Karachi – click on the image to enter his flickr photo collection…
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Flickr Comments 
I know exactly what you mean!! I was in Pakistan for business many many years ago.. and what a surreal experience. It is a country of old culture and complex history. It is also a country of paradoxes, as you pointed out so well. We were driving one morning, passing women bundled up in layers, armed with brooms made of wooden twigs, and a plastic bucket, sweeping the actual road. My colleague blurted out “This is a country that split the atom??”
My exposure there is one I always look back to as one of the most unusual and unique experiences I have ever had. And ironically, the most humbling. I never ever learned to appreciate how lucky *I* am while learning so much about one culture that is so different, so full of surprises, and beautiful in its subtle ways.
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I really appreciate your pointing out how Pakistan contains small sections of many attributes of the world at large, many of which appear to conflict with each other on the surface but which actually may coexist more peacefully than we in the West would believe possible. Maybe we need to study Pakistan a lot more closely, do you think?
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dear granbee, I just saw, that you on twitter are discussing death penalty in Iran – crucification etc. – at first I noticed the photo journalism of Zahid Hussein via the following photo document:
title=”Public Hanging” by zahidpix, on Flickr
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Continuing to maintain the open line of communication will be imperative to the survival of US/Pakistan relations in the coming months/years. It must survive for peace sake.
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http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,818112,00.html
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