Terrorist Islamic Republic of Pakistan (TSP): Feb. 12, 2011

[sanjaykumar]

The deafening silence was a give away.


That was a good call.

recall however that a newspaper man for NYT was abducted but that was kept under wraps at the request of NYT.


Of course newsmen have often been agents.

[GuruPrabhu]

deteted OT

[sum]

CIA's revenge move may target Pak diplomats

The Central Intelligence Agency is contemplating trapping or targeting Pakistan nationals serving as diplomats abroad in retaliation against double-murder accused US diplomat Raymond Davis' continued detention in a Lahore prison.

The Davis detention issue seems to be taking its toll on US-Pak relations, which were already strained over stepped-up drone strikes in Pakistan's militant-infested tribal region and disagreements over the war in neighbouring Afghanistan.

To avoid a popular backlash in a country where anti-Americanism is rife, Pakistani officials have said that the matter is sub judice and up to the court, even though the US insists the Davis' detention is illegal under international agreements, and that he must be released on the grounds of diplomatic immunity.

As per the sources, the situation is proving to be the loss of not just the cover of an agent but also that of a key asset of the CIA.

"It is unlikely that they (American intelligence apparatus) would let it go without returning it to the Pakistani counterparts one way or the other," they added.

Though the article is completely hot air and am sure CIA will not dare try any such thing, no harm in letting the Pakis brown their pants with such psy-ops.

Hope that the "sources" in the article speculating all this were SDREs...

[Pranav]

What Anatol Levien was basically saying was that it is better to give Afghanistan to the Pakjabis than to lose their services.

What he may not understand is that the "West" has lost its grip on the Pakjabi mind. Humpty Dumpty is broken.

[shiv]

The way things are going, there is not much US would be able to do when this steaming piece of shit is ready to spontaneously flush itself down. The only mystery is whether MEA will en-cash this opportunity, call for India-Pak peace talks at the critical point, or just sleep through the whole thing as if nothing happened.

Dhiman-ji the problem with the statement IMO is that the first sentence suggests that Pakistan will flush itself down the toilet - an event that calls for no action whatsoever from the observer except perhaps cheering The second sentence asks about encashing the opportunity.

Perhaps the truth is that Pakistan is not actually flushing itself down the toilet because the US has its head stuck in the toilet bowl and the action needed is really for the US to take its head out?

[shiv]

Regarding that meeting:

Notice the statement: "The US had to point out that once beyond a tipping point the situation would be taken over by political forces that could not be controlled".

It basically means that US has all kinds of laws which can be used to punish Pakistan, but it is not using them due to strategic reasons. But if the Pakis decide to take on Americans, the US Congress will get the green signal and their lawyers will argue how Pakis are eligible for new sanctions everyday. This is similar to Paki nuclear proliferation when US laws were selectively used to advance their strategic interests (i.e., the laws were not used in any principled way.)

The other side of the coin is an on-the-street political reaction in Pakistan that will prevent even the army from arranging for the release of Davis.

[RajeshA]

Regarding that meeting:

Notice the statement: "The US had to point out that once beyond a tipping point the situation would be taken over by political forces that could not be controlled".

It basically means that US has all kinds of laws which can be used to punish Pakistan, but it is not using them due to strategic reasons. But if the Pakis decide to take on Americans, the US Congress will get the green signal and their lawyers will argue how Pakis are eligible for new sanctions everyday. This is similar to Paki nuclear proliferation when US laws were selectively used to advance their strategic interests (i.e., the laws were not used in any principled way.)

The other side of the coin is an on-the-street political reaction in Pakistan that will prevent even the army from arranging for the release of Davis.

shiv saar,
Regarding the possibility of driving a wedge between the Pakistanis and the Americans, some suggestions.

At the moment, the Americans are telling the Pakistanis, that should this Raymond Davis story gain traction in United States media, or should the Republicans take this up to humiliate the President, then all bets are off. It would be difficult to stop this from snowballing.

I think, there is a lot of electric truth to this.

So, the best thing is to get this to snowball. The Raymond Davis frenzy in Pakistan is already in full swing. What still needs to happen is for this to get some traction in USA also.

I think some headline like "Diplomat Raymond Davis tortured by Pakistani security officials" could do the trick!

If Raymond Davis wants to get out of there really quick, then Pakistanis upon reading this, would really get panicky, and would let him go! Consequence - Lahore burns!

If the Pakistanis - Kiyani, Zardari, Nawaz Sharif, fearful of the reaction of Pakistanis, decide to still keep him in custody and continue with it in the courts, then you have your Snowball in Washington. So Obama is forced to get tough with Pakistanis and that too publicly. Pakistanis too get pissed off. And you could see a divorce. In any case, the President is forced to bring Raymond Davis back home, one way or the other, and not leave him in the custody of Pakistanis, where he could be "tortured again"!

Perhaps Raymond Davis may even comply with this little BRF request and punch himself in the eye! Best time would of course be just before he is produced in the court for his hearing!

[VikramS]

hnairji:

I have made some comments about your post (TSP/USA/China) in the Managing the TSP Failure thread.

[Ambar]

Something's brewing ..

PESHAWAR: An American (US) national Aaron Mark Dehaven was arrested from Peshawar for overstaying illegally in the country on Friday, DawnNews reported.

According to the sources the US national from West Virginia was arrested from University Town area, as his visa had expired on October 23, 2010, he had been taken to an undisclosed location.

A case against the American had been filed under the Foreigners Act. The US embassy said they were looking into the matter.

[Suppiah]

Shall we do a Letterman style 10 ways India can throw some monkey wrench on TSP-GOTUS love fest...

10. Diggy issues a statement that since RSS/BJP are worse than Taliban, India should sign a side deal with them - they keep their purity to themselves, we help them...after all Indian Railway employees thru their crass negligence have killed more Indians each week than Taliban has done in their entire history.
9. Manmohan issues a serious statement with poker face that 'Our foreign policy is non-aligned for a good reason - look at how Unkil has his way in TSP on the RD affair'
8. Send Sitaram Yechury to advise Gilani on how to deal with Americans. Since he has successfully trained the Nepali Maoists on how to be India-friendly, he can do a wonderful job.
7. BJP issues a statement berating MMS for bending over backwards to please Unkil when brave Pakistanis are standing up with courage and fortitude.
6. NRam interviews Romila Thapar for Chindu - she throws new light on the Taliban, explaining clearly and scientifically , logically how there was no such thing as Bamiyan, Buddha is a myth and hence Taliban could not have destroyed the statues. There were one or two bone fragments near the Bamyin site which clearly shows the site was Islamic and not Buddhist. The rest is RSS propaganda onlee...MMS promptly announces review of India's policy towards Taliban.
5. As a CBM, Indian Oil is asked to allot a petrol bunk to Mullah Diesel in Mumbai CBD.

[A_Gupta]

Google considers this to be a legit. news source!!!
http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=77845

The two suspicious oorganizations Islamic Jihad Union and Islamic Movement Uzbekistan (IMU) are leading networks with trainers from Russia, India, Uzbekistan and Chechenya. It may be recalled the former leader of IMU, Tehir Yuldashev had trained hundreds of militants during pre 9/11 period. Tahir Yuldashev was arrested and sent to Guantanamo Bay but returned back to emerge much stronger during 2004. During 2005-6 Yuldashev organized several terrorist units which remained operative against Pakistan.

It is believed that foreign agencies in volved in the training of militants also led to the creation of so-called Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TPP) under the leadership of Baitullah Mehsut whose brother Abdullah Mehsut was also arrested and was handed over to U.S. forces.

[A_Gupta]

Shades of Jinnah!
http://www.thefridaytimes.com/25022011/page26.shtml

During a protest rally held recently (for such ‘events’ are routinely ‘held’ nowadays), some born-again Faiz lovers were heard openly expressing their displeasure at marching with trade union activists who did not “smell good”.

But this is what happens when you hand over a poet’s life, vision and work to a bunch of children who will quote him in their blog or join his facebook fanpage and ‘hold’ virtual vigils in his memory. They can never replace real activism, and they never will, because real activism means de-classing yourself and giving gut and blood to the things you believe in.

[CRamS]

RajeshA:

My opinion: US has drawn one red line in thick to TSP, and that is another Faizal Shehzaad type even attempted terror attack on mainland USA. If TSP were to cross that red line, all bets are off, we will see an Iraq-style aireal bombardment of Pindi. Listen to what Uneven, who has the pusle both on TSPA and US govt, had to say on the Bakara show. Exactly the same thing. The RD affair just noise at the moment IMO. Although, this is not what some TSP Professor had to say on NPR wth Tom Asbrook, he is making a bigger deal out of it.

http://onpoint.wbur.org/2011/02/24/davis-case-pakistan

BTW: As an aside, my man Tom Ashbrook is a liberal intellectual and an indo-phile. And he has in the past covered some good positive stories about India, and India US relations.

[Nandu]

CIA's revenge move may target Paki diplomats

Has the statute of limitations expired on Munir Akram's domestic violence charge?

[Singha]

it has to be much worse, like catching a paki diplomat/retired-general or two smuggling fake currency or drugs in some western country. or identifying stashed away black money as terror funds and blocking those accounts.

[surinder]

The mutual mara mari could become too ugly for the both to handle. These gang wars can be tough business. The smaller of the two in terms of power can be pummelled pretty badly. The see eye aey beebul already have s core to settle with eye yess eye---the bumping off of their station in a'stan 6 or so mo back.

But RD bhai sahib cannot be taken down that easily. The lahoris are doing what they are expert at: exaggerated display of aggressive manly strength, but on confronted with real enemy they become icons of reasonableness (not my observation, but stolen from the book by Prakash Tandon, "The Punjabi Century"). They are not going to win, just as they have not won anything for the last 64 years.

[Muppalla]

My opinion: US has drawn one red line in thick to TSP, and that is another Faizal Shehzaad type even attempted terror attack on mainland USA. If TSP were to cross that red line, all bets are off, we will see an Iraq-style aireal bombardment of Pindi.

Nothing of that sort will happen. I will bet on that and we are giving too much of credibility to US capabilities. Let us put a acheivements after 9/11 as a progress report and see what is achieved by US after 9/11. Nothing at all is achieved other than stripping and molesting the air travellers in US. There are no red lines for US and no one can influence US regarding TSP. Period.

Pakistan is a rentier state and we concluded that on this very thread. The elite sections (RAPE and Army types) will do whatever it wants. US needs these sections and these sections need US. The fight on the streets and drone attacks are simply to determine how much US needs and how much these sections want to give. Inspite of all the rhetoric, niether US will completely remove these sections nor these sections will antogonize US to point of no return. It is just wild dreams that internet generates.

Lal-masjid is an example of how much US can ask them to do and what TSP can deliver. Kunduz is another example of how much TSP can extract from US. Davis dude is nothing. Even if TSPA gives that guy to US nothing earth shattering is going to happen. Too much nonsense, TSPA will just bomb its own population to smithereens and divide them to pit each other on others. In the best case scenario it will ask US to do drone attacks on those who are opposing too much about Raymond Davis.

US-Pak realtions are exactly same in 1960, 1970, 1990 and even today. It is just illusionary and a lot of spin if anyone writes otherwise. India or Indians (NRI or other types) has no influence in changing US course. The reasons are not about abilites or intentions, but US is not willing to even discuss changes to their relationship with their buddy. From a US perspective Pak is a willingly helping nation in the scheme of things for US.

We read too much into 9/11. It is once in a blue moon stuff. Even if another 9/11 happens what is the loss? Not much except for an year of stock losses and increased military sales. Rhona-dhona is all TV stuff. The guys behind thinks thru and in the bank for the buck analysis they will still give a top secret paper saying Al-Quaida and Pak are still usefull tools and let us not remove them. The problem comes if 9/11 type stuff occurs at-will by Pak. They have to do say every month a 9/11 and that is impossible.

IMO even if US as world power goes down, Pak will go down is also not true. What is the meaning of going down for a country like Pakistan? The state's creation is to make sure that there is a pestering buddy next to India the purpose is being served.

US is too cruel and brutal country and that is a fact and if we talk any other nonsense away from this fact then that is what is called hot-air. Even in its loss, it created a Vietnam that cannot recover for another 100 years from the day it was bombed.

[ramana]

CRS,
Redline/Wedline is all bakwas. US is not a pre-eminent power and hence can't draw redlines. It can draw them on the sands on the seashore of TSP obstinacy.
In sama and bheda the obstinate one will get his way.

"Mondivadu ranju kante balawantudu!" Telugu original

[sanjaykumar]

We read too much into 9/11. It is once in a blue moon stuff. Even if another 9/11 happens what is the loss? Not much except for an year of stock losses and increased military sales. Rhona-dhona is all TV stuff.


Only somebody who interacts little with Westerners can believe this.


Two lines stand out from 2001. "History begins today" and 'While you are dealing with this reality, we will create another reality for you to deal with".


It sure wasn't the Pakistanis to stammer those words.

[Muppalla]

^^^
If you go by rhetoric then 9/11 is tooooo big for the US. But if you see the action report there is nothing it did. It destroyed Saddam Hussain who is anyway not powerful. In AfPak, what did it achieve? NOTHING.

For a guy who is not in the emotion/TV stuff., it will be - (1)let us deal with the stuff (2) These guys are required for all the harakiri we do around the world. (3) Yeah there are some bstds who pulled this 9/11 but we should not destroy the boat as we have tooo many useful ones. (4) Let us put some defensive postures like handling the croutches and balls of every airline passenger with fingers.

That is exactly what they are doing. Rest is pure rhetoric.

[brihaspati]

Shall we do a Letterman style 10 ways India can throw some monkey wrench on TSP-GOTUS love fest...

Suppiah ji,
I humbly protest and pose my doubts :

10. Diggy issues a statement that since RSS/BJP are worse than Taliban, India should sign a side deal with them - they keep their purity to themselves, we help them...after all Indian Railway employees thru their crass negligence have killed more Indians each week than Taliban has done in their entire history.

What happens to the Maoists, hain ji? You cannot do this, you will have to put the Taliban as worse than the Maoists, since cutting a deal with the Maoists was an earlier and still standing demand not yet met, how can Diggy Leo prove his political integrity!

9. Manmohan issues a serious statement with poker face that 'Our foreign policy is non-aligned for a good reason - look at how Unkil has his way in TSP on the RD affair'

No, Manmohan ji issues a statement with surprising "assertiveness" with embelishments of impromptu poetry, as part of impromptu foreign policy, that 'Our foreign policy is impromptu and adhoc for a good reason - look at how Unkil has his impromptu and adhoc way in TSP on the RD affair'

8. Send Sitaram Yechury to advise Gilani on how to deal with Americans. Since he has successfully trained the Nepali Maoists on how to be India-friendly, he can do a wonderful job.

Send Prakash Karat, Teesta Setalvad and Digvijay Singh as interlocutors to Gilani to be advised by Gilani as how best to listen to the separate parts of Gilani's body as to their separate and mutually exclusive claims as to how India should be parcelled out to various claimants from Gilani's body parts.

7. BJP issues a statement berating MMS for bending over backwards to please Unkil when brave Pakistanis are standing up with courage and fortitude.

BJP boycotts the Parliament and does not let anyone shout anything, prompting Pranav Mukherjee to threaten apoplexy. [Sincerely, the BJP at the Parliamentary level is too much of gentlemen/women to be up to the shenanigans]

6. NRam interviews Romila Thapar for Chindu - she throws new light on the Taliban, explaining clearly and scientifically , logically how there was no such thing as Bamiyan, Buddha is a myth and hence Taliban could not have destroyed the statues. There were one or two bone fragments near the Bamyin site which clearly shows the site was Islamic and not Buddhist. The rest is RSS propaganda onlee...MMS promptly announces review of India's policy towards Taliban.

Romila Thapar shows that no Buddhist at Bamyian wrote down at the time of the alleged destruction of the Buddhas that they had suffered the trauma of the destruction. Surely if it was actually taking place and they suffered, they must have written it down? There are no independently verifiable contemporary documents available of the destruction, except claims by the alleged destroyers themselves - which could be purely an exaggeration for propaganda purposes. Any films or photogoraphic claims placed must therefore be a forgery. Since the images apparently do not exist, the existence must be mythical. If archaeologists claim to find traces of destruction, then it must be kept in mind that stones do not "speak". It is professional historians alone and not archaeologists who have the right to interpret archaeological evidence.

The destruction claim is an attempt by Hindu fascists to malign Islamists who were always peaceful and sometimes boastful propagandists onlee. If any bone is found it must be that of the Bactrian camel. If it is cow-bone then it shows Hindu presence since Hindus ate beef. If it is Arabian camel, it proves presence of Arabic settlers and not Afghans - which can be used by Hindu fascists to claim invasion - and therefore this cannot be allowed. Goats were popular with the Greeks, so goat bones cannot be found there - since Greeks were not known to be Islamists in India. Only sheep, of the type slaughtered at Mecca, or best Bactrian camel, can be allowed to be found. Preferably the bones existing from the time of the Indus Valley civilization proving presence of Islam there from before the birth of Muhammad, and its fundamental contribution to all aspects of Indian civilization.

MMS deputes Digvijay to formulate a package for the Taliban, whose legitimate aspirations all stem from lack of development and economic growth. The package includes financial support for development of the spiritual side too which can only be done under Christian missionary initiative. The Taliban only decapitate and skin alive one missionary family, which must of course be seen as a great improvement from the barabaric Hindu fascist practice of roasting. After all, MMS reminds us rightly that all progress do not come in an instant and we have to wait for it to happen gradually.

[RajeshA]

CRamS ji,

I am quite interested in how this drama with RD develops in the USA! CNN, etc. have started some downhill skiing by calling RD a CIA contractor, which sounds like the guys who themselves are real baddies, like CIA Contract Killers, et al, which I guess is White House's way of saying, they will try to get him released but he is not really one of our boys, he is an outsider, so lets not get all too uppity if Pakistanis keep him for a while.

On the other hand, if the U.S media starts portraying RD as an American Hero, as a Diplomat, as an American who needed to kill two evil ISI hitmen in self-defense, then it means the White House is really interested in getting him out and wouldn't mind twisting Pakistan's arm in the process.

Anujan ji is right that is also a signal to India and others, that Pakistan is no poodle of America.

Each new day, the Pakistani Authorities keep Raymond Davis locked up and conduct court proceedings against him, the average Pakistani regains more of his self-confidence and confidence in Pakistan Govt., mostly in Nawaz Sharif, but more importantly in Kiyani.

For Punjabi Taliban and TTP to keep on hitting TSPA, and still retain public sympathy, it is important that TSPA is seen as an American stooge! The RD Affair changes that perception.

I presume the Pakistanis are telling the Americans to let the judicial process against Raymond Davis proceed, and at the end of it, they will give him back!

If Obama agrees to it, he may contribute to a more stable establishment in Pakistan, but he will be losing a lot also - he will be losing the authority that America needs to command, so as to be taken seriously as a superpower in the region. In fact, the Pakistanis are telling the Americans that USA should allow the Pakistanis to show to the world that the Emperor has no clothes, and after they have shown it, they would be willing to give the Emperor his robe back, but then it becomes useless.

Secondly, USA would have to curtail its intelligence operations in Pakistan and give in to the demands of ISI, that all US intelligence be collected through their own services.

One consequence of the Emperor being shown naked is the effect on US-Indian relations. Till now, a part of the Indian establishment is being told that India has outsourced our Pakistan policy to the US, but for a very good reason - because they have influence in Pakistan. Now if that claim is shown to be hollow, as it perhaps already has started to be seen, then some in the Indian Establishment would use this incident of American powerlessness to tell others that such a policy is hollow, and America cannot look after India's interests in Pakistan. So the Emperor starts losing his pants in India also! From the US side, that would be catastrophic. The influence USA has built in India is to a large extent based on India's perception that USA can move things in Pakistan. Of course it would be a positive development for India's national interests if we take off our colored glasses.

The fact, that Raymond Davis Affair is an issue of one American, possibly having diplomatic immunity, and USA being unable to get him released, is a major issue exactly because it seems to a minor problem. Let's not forget that the White House (Obama), the State Department (Hillary Clinton) and Congress (Senator John Kerry) all have had a go at it, and still the problem persists. This is exactly how powerlessness is measured.

So there is a lot at stake!

[Anujan]

Pakistani Spy Agency Demands Data on C.I.A. Contractors: NYTimes

Pakistan’s chief spy agency has demanded an accounting by the Central Intelligence Agency of all its contractors working in Pakistan, a fallout from the arrest last month of an American involved in surveillance of militant groups, a senior Pakistani intelligence official said Friday. {Raymond Davis was probably trying to penetrate Sarkari "non-state actors"}

“Treat us as allies, not as satellites,” said the official of the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence {Friends, not Masters }

Gen. Jehangir Karamat, who runs a think tank based in Lahore, both sides agreed to try to “arrest the downhill descent.”

others wanted to use the Davis case as a bargaining chip to get the withdrawal of a civil lawsuit filed in Brooklyn last year that implicates the I.S.I. chief, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha

[ramana]

Didn't someone say in the end it is all about David Headley not singing in US prison?

[Anujan]

David Headley has already sung all his songs in US prison by now. In any case, where is the guarantee that CIA wont violate their agreement? This might be subtly different. The current takleef seems to be the case registered against Pasha in the US. Headley might sing in US court (he is required to assist in "investigations") against Pasha.

[ramana]

Maybe he sang the contacts being probed by RD?

[Airavat]

Google considers this to be a legit. news source!!!
http://pakobserver

How do so many third-rate paki websites manage to get listed in Google News???

Many of them are not even reporting news, just passing gassy opinions. Is there any way to report such sites as not legitimate?

[shiv]

Google considers this to be a legit. news source!!!
http://pakobserver

How do so many third-rate paki websites manage to get listed in Google News???

Many of them are not even reporting news, just passing gassy opinions. Is there any way to report such sites as not legitimate?

Google wil do anything that they are paid to do. Those Paki news sites must be paying to get noticed.

[Ravi Karumanchiri]

^^^^
OT but seemingly necessary – begging mod’s indulgence.

Google search results are not paid-to-rank. That’s what Google Ads are for (off to the right hand side, and sometimes, in the shaded area at top). The search results themselves, are ranked by way of an algorithm, and Google is constantly tweaking its algorithms to improve the quality of the search results.

One of the biggest determinants of “page rank” – and this is what drives me nuts about BRF – is the number of links that point to a given page. Pages with more ‘inbound’ links are ranked higher by Google and all other search engines. When people on BRF post links to a TSP newspaper, and then other people quote those people, and include those links; the result is the ranking ‘promotion’ of that TSP newspaper!

And then someone asks, “How do so many third-rate paki websites manage to get listed in Google News???” ……………………AAARRRGHH!

To remedy this phenomenon, I’d like to propose a solution: From now on, BRF posters who want to include a link to a TSP newspaper, should replace a common part of the web address with something that a Googlebot-and-the-like cannot resolve, but which a human would know to fix. I propose we do this with the ‘double slash’ that comes after the ‘http:’, with the all caps 'SLASHSLASH' so therefore, the above TSP website should henceforth be referred to as http:SLASHSLASHpakobserver (notice how the phpBB forum app doesn't hyper-link underline it anymore).

This will, rather quickly, demote TSP newspapers in the Google rankings.

Please spread the meme, and before too long, we’ll not see any TSP newspaper on the first page of Google hits.

PS: Also, Google just today upgraded their 'Chrome' browser to enable users to remove particular websites from search results returned through the embedded Google search bar.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/ ... es-in.html

Finding more high-quality sites in search
2/24/2011 06:50:00 PM

Our goal is simple: to give people the most relevant answers to their queries as quickly as possible. This requires constant tuning of our algorithms, as new content—both good and bad—comes online all the time.

Many of the changes we make are so subtle that very few people notice them. But in the last day or so we launched a pretty big algorithmic improvement to our ranking—a change that noticeably impacts 11.8% of our queries—and we wanted to let people know what’s going on. This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites—sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.

We can’t make a major improvement without affecting rankings for many sites. It has to be that some sites will go up and some will go down. Google depends on the high-quality content created by wonderful websites around the world, and we do have a responsibility to encourage a healthy web ecosystem. Therefore, it is important for high-quality sites to be rewarded, and that’s exactly what this change does.

It’s worth noting that this update does not rely on the feedback we’ve received from the Personal Blocklist Chrome extension, which we launched last week. However, we did compare the Blocklist data we gathered with the sites identified by our algorithm, and we were very pleased that the preferences our users expressed by using the extension are well represented. If you take the top several dozen or so most-blocked domains from the Chrome extension, then this algorithmic change addresses 84% of them, which is strong independent confirmation of the user benefits.

So, we’re very excited about this new ranking improvement because we believe it’s a big step in the right direction of helping people find ever higher quality in our results. We’ve been tackling these issues for more than a year, and working on this specific change for the past few months. And we’re working on many more updates that we believe will substantially improve the quality of the pages in our results.

To start with, we’re launching this change in the U.S. only; we plan to roll it out elsewhere over time. We’ll keep you posted as we roll this and other changes out, and as always please keep giving us feedback about the quality of our results because it really helps us to improve Google Search.

Posted by Amit Singhal, Google Fellow, and Matt Cutts, Principal Engineer

[shiv]

To remedy this phenomenon, I’d like to propose a solution: From now on, BRF posters who want to include a link to a TSP newspaper, should replace a common part of the web address with something that a Googlebot-and-the-like cannot resolve, but which a human would know to fix. I propose we do this with the ‘double slash’ that comes after the ‘http:’, with the all caps 'SLASHSLASH' so therefore, the above TSP website should henceforth be referred to as http:SLASHSLASHpakobserver (notice how the phpBB forum app doesn't hyper-link underline it anymore).

This will, rather quickly, demote TSP newspapers in the Google rankings.

Please spread the meme, and before too long, we’ll not see any TSP newspaper on the first page of Google hits.

2+

Now that is serendipity. Thanks for the gyan - will try and implement it

[Singha]

the RD case is a stick for realistic elements in GOI to beat the rosy eyed ones with.

if the POTUS and Hillary after direct intervention cannot get their man out of jail, what chance does the emperor have in getting pakistan to do what *india* wants (not even what the US wants or needs) ? zero!

someone in media should write about the emperor's wardrobe slip and GOI entering into a new piss process with the out of control 'pet' which even its 'owner' cannot bring to heel.

[SBajwa]

Sikandar Hayat Khan died in 1942 IIRC and infact also signed the Pakistan Resolution.

Just to put some records straight!!

lots of people who signed "pakistan resolution" from 1940 onwards and before 1946, did not believe that Pakistan is a reality! they thought it is not reasonable and will never happen! but British made sure that It happened! they were only exposing their "islamic" ties and hoping that India remains one all over at that time.

signing pakistan resolution before 1946 does not mean that these guys agreed with current 2011 pakistan (this include Iqbal, who wrote Sare jahan se acchaa hindustan hamara).

So!! I think it is a failure of us Indians to not realize this and fix it in 1940 (when pakistan resolution was declared by Jinnah) and value all the dumb pakistanis in 2011 as same before 1946. (no doubt that pakistan is the dumbest place on earth just because of their name!! but all they need is a hard lesson from their big brother and they will fall into their place and big brother is nobody else but India and Indians) but Irony is that Indians are way too much into defense (we got rid of that part now don't worry is 100% totally wrong thinking)

[ramana]

I was going to post earlier. Sikander Hayat Khan was referred to in Savarkar's "Indian War of Independence" foreword as having helped smuggle copies of it to British India. In other words he was an Abhinav Bharat member.

[Hiten]

I propose we do this with the ‘double slash’ that comes after the ‘http:’, with the all caps 'SLASHSLASH'[/b] so therefore, the above TSP website should henceforth be referred to as http:SLASHSLASHpakobserver (notice how the phpBB forum app doesn't hyper-link underline it anymore).

instead of having yo type in SLASH SLASH, 1 could also run the offending URL through a URL shortner, like http://j.mp/ OR http://bit.ly and share that shortened URL instead. It will continue to remain a URL & will save the trouble of having to replace the words with the symbol each time to access the site

Also AFAIK Google is not able to resolve these shortened URLs into the original links. Hence, they will accrue no back links


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an otherwise unremarkable article that does not say anything that peole here would not already known or heard

Pakistan in peril
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/artic ... n-in-peril

but what is really remarkable is the vile & venal intent being displayed by the lady in cooking up facts for a given parameter

“In both Pakistan and India you have all this ‘God bless’ stuff and ‘the scriptures say,’ “ says Christine Fair, assistant professor at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. “Both countries have been hit by 9/11, and in both religiosity has become a national identity.

[ArmenT]

instead of having yo type in SLASH SLASH, 1 could also run the offending URL through a URL shortner, like http://j.mp/ OR http://bit.ly and share that shortened URL instead. It will continue to remain a URL & will save the trouble of having to replace the words with the symbol each time to access the site

Also AFAIK Google is not able to resolve these shortened URLs into the original links. Hence, they will accrue no back links

Not true. Google does follow HTTP 301 and 302 redirects to the ultimate destination URL. You're better off delinking the site the way Ravi suggests above.

[svinayak]

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but what is really remarkable is the vile & venal intent being displayed by the lady in cooking up facts for a given parameter

“In both Pakistan and India you have all this ‘God bless’ stuff and ‘the scriptures say,’ “ says Christine Fair, assistant professor at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. “Both countries have been hit by 9/11, and in both religiosity has become a national identity.

THey look at the audience and make this kind of statement. They would not dare to make this in front of Indian audience. This is well managed pony show going on in the west for the last 30 year. Even Kaplan says in 2011 that India should not be compared with Pak. But who is making the comparision. Not Indians but only them.
This is psy ops narration has been the most successful. Now they are trying on PRC vs India

But they dont want to compare democracy and rule of law. Avoid mentioning which is not applicable. It is only for the Indian ears. Others dont matter.

[Suppiah]

A much simpler approach...just use brf nicks---Yawn,Dung etc...no bot can figure that one and all humans (and most Pakbaric animals too) can understand ...

[Airavat]

When people on BRF post links to a TSP newspaper, and then other people quote those people, and include those links; the result is the ranking ‘promotion’ of that TSP newspaper!

But even non-newspaper utter rubbish paki sites, that are NEVER linked in BRF manage to get listed in Google News! This is not about results in Google web search but Google News.

But never mind. I found the answer at the official Google News Forum:

In general, Google News aims to promote original journalism, as well as to expose users to diverse perspectives. There are no human editors selecting stories or deciding which ones deserve top placement. Ranking in Google News is determined based on a number of factors, including: Freshness of content, Diversity of content, Rich textual content which would help users searching for information to find your articles

In addition to these guidelines, there are some technical factors that could affect the ranking of your site in Google News. These factors include other relevant sites linking to your site, and including descriptive and accurate TITLE and ALT tags with your articles.

AnjaliSharma
Google Employee

You can report dubious paki sites at the official Google News Forum.

[abhishek_sharma]

Article by a Paki on aid to Pakistan

http://afpak.foreignpolicy.com/posts/20 ... elp_itself

[abhishek_sharma]

Why the West should stop fighting with the Taliban for hearts and minds, and start letting the Islamists try their hand at governing

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2 ... libanistan