Blackwaterization

While Pakistan continues to explode, the hoped for public disavowal and retaliation against the Pakistani Taliban has not come.

While I am all too familiar with the ubiquitousness of conspiracy theories in certain countries, and the fact that sometimes, they are really not all that far off base in places like Russia, Georgia and other countries were criminal mafias, government and business are inextricable linked, this idea that Blackwater (no trying to rebrand itself as Xe) is being paid to commit attacks such as the one against the Meena bazaar in Peshawar and the International Islamic University in Islamabad is particularly baffling and disappointing.

Even young, educated Pakistanis that are not particularly religious are voicing these claims and not particularly blaming the Pakistani Taliban.

The Pakistani Taliban, for their part, are once again being pro-active and jumping on these popular themes in their own, increasingly sophisticated media.

This is not going to end well. Sometimes, you really do reap what you sow.