Center for a New American Security

There's more that connects drone attacks and the AirBlue crash than the fact both relate to Pakistani airspace. Huma Yusuf writes in the Dawn newspaper that in Pakistan the thread of poor governance runs through terrorism and natural disasters.

As Huma points out, where government fails to provide, extremist groups see plenty of opportunity:

Looking at Pakistani public opinion from abroad is like reading a Philip Pullman novel. The picture you see resembles the reality you are accustomed to, but somewhere along the line it seems history took a different turn and you are actually looking at something similar but very different. And it's that superficial familiarity that actually make the differences so much more jarring.

Nine days is a long time in Pakistan these days.

Since Londonstani went off on his (mostly) road trip around Pakistan a lot has happened. Not much of it has been good.

Kerry Lugar is the talk of Islamabad. And as tempted as Londonstani was at first to assume everyone was referring to a new pop star rival to Britney it turns out Kerry Lugar is actually a piece of US legisation that triples non-military aid to Pakistan.

We all know that Pakistan is key to Afghanistan. And it's clear that Pakistan is in trouble. How comes, everyone wonders, is that the people that rule Pakistan don't get it?

This article in the Daily, a Pakistani national newspaper, gives you a very good idea of how the movers and shakers see Pakistan's present predicament.

The basic ideas are that:
1. All of Pakistan's internal problems come from Indian activities run out of Afghanistan.

Not to overload everyone with NYT copy, but it's very worth reading this op-ed by Egyptian writer Alaa al Aswany outlining the wry but hopeful eying of President Obama by people in the Muslim world.