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Cricket and Corruption
I literally could not wait for Londonstani's take on this corruption scandal surrounding Pakistan's cricket team*, so I'm jumping the gun here. My father was a sports writer and my mom a basketball coach, so I grew up surrounded by sports, and I am ecumenically enthusiastic about them. I can take as much interest in an American football game as I can in a rugby game and as much interest in a cricket match as I can in a baseball game. A few years ago, I watched New Zealand play England in a cricket test match at Lord's Cricket Ground, which is as hallowed a ground as hallowed gets. (For Americans used to baseball, think Yankee Stadium combined with Fenway Park combined with Wrigley Field combined with Cooperstown and you get a sense of the place's importance in the game of cricket.) So the news that Pakistan's cricket team had possibly rigged the proceedings somewhat last weeked -- at Lord's of all places -- threw the world of sport (outside America) into chaos.
I have wondered, on this blog, whether or not the world has been holding back from donating to Pakistan due to allegations of corruption and terrorism. Were the people of Pakistan being collectively punished due to the culture of corruption in Pakistan's government and the government's ties to violent extremists? I have only anecdotal evidence to support this, including the testimony of one friend who refuses to donate to the relief efforts in Pakistan because, in his words, "At least when a Hatian power broker embezzles my donation I know he's not going to try to kill me with it."
I wonder, though, if this cricket scandal -- which trust me, America, is a big deal in the Commonwealth nations -- will just re-inforce the world's view of Pakistan as a place hopelessly corrupt and therefore not the kind of place we should be giving money to, even for humanitarian purposes. As Steve Coll argued in the New Yorker this week**, Pakistan has a serious image problem in the eyes of the West. (And we the United States in the eyes of Pakistan.) The people of Pakistan might very well be paying the price right now for that image.
(For more on corruption and the floods, check out this post by Max Fisher at the Atlantic.com.)
*Londonstani can still count on me to bowl for Team Khan vs. Team Ms Henley-on-Thames in the much-awaited 20/20 match. But why do I have to tell his "cousin" when I plan on bowling a no ball? ... Too soon?
**I actually did not agree with the general thesis of Coll's argument, which is that economic development would reduce violent extremism. This sounds true-ish, but where is the evidence to support causality between violent extremism and economic prosperity? I have not seen it.
While this is all shocking,
While this is all shocking, is it surprising? Did you see any of the shenanigans at the Sydney test in their last tour of Australia?
I don't know that this hurts Pakistan's donation intake in itself. Everyone knows the PCB is the most crooked organization in Pakistan. Now the terrorism thing on the other hand...
Great article by Max and
Great article by Max and thanks for the posting Ex.
Max, has come a long way from his Student Government days at Rushmore, hasn't he?
http://mimg.ugo.com/200806/25204/rushmore-play.jpg
Well good to know we'd never
Well good to know we'd never do anything like that. Like throwing a World Series.
Oops.
And while WAAAAYYYYY off topic.
I'm sure the sailors who read this blog will love the chart in here on warships.
http://www.economist.com/node/16886851?story_id=16886851
re:
re: tennessee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hvaeHllwtw
Nice write-up but I’ll
Nice write-up but I’ll comment only on the last paragraph. Economic development is only one factor of violent extremism. We cannot look at it in isolation. In my opinion there are actually five important factors:
1-Poverty
2-Illiteracy (or more properly lack of good education with emphasis on moderation and tolerance)
3-Injustice (social inequality, lack of rule of law)
4-Disenfranchisement (most Islamic states are governed by authoritarian regimes and even the democratic governments are quite unresponsive to the aspirations of the majority)
5-Political disputes. We live in an era of mass media and an inter-connected world. People care about their co-religionists even if they live many oceans apart. Real and perceived political injustices affect people all over the globe.
All these factors have to be looked in conjunction. Economic development, though the most important cause, is not the only cause of violent extremism.
Andrew: Re. the Tennesee
Andrew: Re. the Tennesee twee, may I suggest you write an op-ed for your local home paper?
"...economic development
The evidence runs the other way.
Iran is the biggest example. They couldn't make much trouble if they weren't swimming in oil money. Really poor countries don't make much trouble because they can't. Germany started more wars in the 20th century than Portugal. Burundi doesn't pose a threat.
This entire Rise of Islam and Clash of Civilizations thing only got off the ground because of trillions of dollars of oil money pouring into hostile cultures. Islam has believed in Jihad for over a thousand years, but in recent centuries it was dormant — until they got the cash.
If we want peace — stop paying for oil.
The first case of this kind,
The first case of this kind, that came to light, was the Hansie Cronje (South African) scandal 10 years ago, which again involved Indian betting syndicates. The problem is that cricket, by its nature, is so easy to fix, especially with spot betting. In this case it was three no balls, i.e., the bowler overran the line at the set time. There is the suspicion that this was only the half of it and Pakistans dismal performance in the early tests was also fixed- we'll never know.
Understandably, perhaps, aquantances of Pakistani descent that I've spoken to do not believe this story for one second. Understandably because of the tabloid newspaper involved , the pawltry sum of money- £100k (split between the middle man and players involved), the general Pakistan bashing going on and of course a highly conspiratorial outlook.
Whats sad is that the 18 yr old, up and coming fast bowler Mohammed Amir is alledgedly involved. Cant help feeling that, like the Cronje scandal, it could be a case of an older, respected player leaning on the younger players to get involved. Not sure what any of this has got to do with COIN, but on a positive note there is now a very good Afghan cricket team: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/article7110937.ece
Except that -local- violent
Except that -local- violent extremism in Iran is very low. The Green Movement has remained fairly peaceful. Insurgency is minimal. Their use of proxy militias to pursue a regional agenda is entirely separate from their own economic development - and the countries where they use those militias -are- economically fucked over.
"This ties with a growing
"This ties with a growing body of evidence that suggests that economic shocks help intensify conflicts but not necessarily increase their likelihood." -Chris Blattman
Links to papers here: http://chrisblattman.com/2010/08/30/5443/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+chrisblattman+(Chris+Blattman)
actually, we can be quite
actually, we can be quite confidant that development aid, as currently delivered, does not strongly correlate with reduced violent extremism. part of this is that it's generally targeted at the most fanatical areas, where it's least likely to be effective, while the areas with the highest marginal returns on investment get radically underserved (compare the amount of development aid targeted at helmand and bamiyan, respectively).
fair and shapiro have done great work on this: "Popular prescriptions that Pakistanis will stop supporting militancy when they feel confident in their own economic prospects, or their country's, are not grounded in the data. Respondents who come from economically successful areas or who believe that Pakistan is doing well economically compared to India were more likely to support militant groups, not less."
http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/19922/why_pakistanis_sup...
all their work is awesome, actually, although it might some counterintuitive in some ways...
Corruption? Pakistan? Start
Corruption? Pakistan? Start with their nuclear weapons program:
www.nytimes.com/2004/12/26/international/asia/26nuke.html
As Nuclear Secrets Emerge in Khan Inquiry, More Are Suspected
By WILLIAM J. BROAD and DAVID E. SANGER, December 26, 2004
. . .American intelligence officials and the I.A.E.A., working separately, are still untangling Dr. Khan's travels in the years before his arrest. Investigators said he visited 18 countries, including Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, on what they believed were business trips, either to buy materials like uranium ore or sell atomic goods. In Dubai, they have scoured one of the network's front companies, finding traces of radioactive material as well as phone records showing contact with Saudi Arabia. . .
. . .The breadth of the operation was particularly surprising to some American intelligence officials because they had had Dr. Khan under surveillance for nearly three decades, since he began assembling components for Pakistan's bomb, but apparently missed crucial transactions with countries like Iran and North Korea. In fact, officials were so confident they had accurately taken his measure, that twice - once in the late 1970's and again in the 1980's - the Central Intelligence Agency persuaded Dutch intelligence agents not to arrest Dr. Khan because they wanted to follow his trail, according to a senior European diplomat and a former Congressional official who had access to intelligence information. The C.I.A. declined to comment. . .
. . .Dr. Khan quickly led the agents to Beijing. It was there in the early 1980's that Dr. Khan pulled off a coup: obtaining the blueprints for a weapon that China had detonated in its fourth nuclear test, in 1966. The design was notable because it was compact and the first one China had developed that could easily fit atop a missile. . .
. . .But acting on the Khan problem meant navigating the sensitivities of a fragile ally important in the effort against terrorism.
What the NYT doesn't mention is that U.S. nuclear deals with India are also in breach of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and that the "work-around" - saying that we're only dealing with India's civilian nuclear sector, is nonsense. If we were to crack down on Pakistan's nuclear program, they would demand a similar crackdown on India's nuclear program, and the State Department can't handle such diplomatic and economic conflicts, particularly when Congress and the U.S. nuclear sector (GE-Westinghouse) are so desperate to sell new reactors to India. Their argument isn't entirely specious, since the French are also out to cut a nuclear reactor deal with India, while also playing neocolonial games over Niger-Mali uranium deposits. The NPT itself? Everyone's pissing on it, that much is clear.
"Bringing corruption charges in this place was like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500." - Capn Willard
I have always thought their
I have always thought their cricket performances were a close metaphor for their warfighting. you can pay them off, they don't turn up or just break at the first hint of pressure, then, when you least expect it, they fight tooth and claw to the last man and do you over.
Does Mom and Pop America
Does Mom and Pop America hold back on their charitable giving to Pakistan because of allegations of terrorism and corruption? To answer this question I would first ask: Can Mom and Pop America find Pakistan on map? I would proffer that the answer is NO. The details surrounding Pakistan governance (and the global effects of an unstable government) sadly aren't even on the radar screen of the majority of Americans.
I would further question how much the P-stan government cares (by care I mean- makes it a priority) about the amount of relief rolling in, beyond rhetoric. The press highlights the disparity between United States giving to P-stan vice Haiti, but let's be honest, corrupt and inept or not, the U.S. is still selling P-stan TONS of military equipment and it's going to continue to do so, whether they cheat at cricket, or swindle away the millions in relief which they receive. An even cursory examination of our aid to Africa since the 60's reveals that the United States' aid (and the world's for that matter) is NOT tied to any corruption stop-gaps but rather to short-sighted (and/or self-serving)diplomatic goals (our aid to despots Idi Amin, Mobutu Sese Seko, Mengistu, and Samuel Doe stand as a few glaring examples).
What I want everyone to tuck away in their GI JOE lunch boxes today is that there is a chasmic disconnect within our foreign policy, specifically with regard to how we leverage and assess our military sales, official foreign aid, and private enterprise aid/assistance in the light of long-term diplomatic goals and endemic, rampant corruption with almost every one of those countries. And while I may mock Mom and Pop America's chasmic lack of global situational awareness, the Holy Trinity continues to leap and skip just as cluelessly along the precipice of this bottomless chasm.
"I felt all that Jang all
"I felt all that Jang all over my shin.":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a86cQobU-n4 (World Record Jang)
People in every country take
People in every country take the loan from various creditors, just because that is simple.
Informative posting on
Informative posting on worldwide affairs in addition to the issues. The safety of all everyone has to be a high priority. There are lots of issues that really should be resolved. Superb editorial. free movie download | free movie downloads
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