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Pakistan cuts off phone and internet services on election day

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Re: Pakistan cuts off phone and internet services on election day

#61
post #40

The craziest thing is that Pakistan has nuclear weapons. And not only that, the weapons are at the disposal of the local (very high ranking) commanders. It also is a country where the military is really in charge, only occasionally giving back the control to a civilian government. Sometimes people think that Eastern Europe is the most likely place to get nuked, or perhaps some American carrier off the coast of China.…

> in reality it's both Pakistan and India Pakistan’s top brass is anti-India. They’re also somewhat rational. If Pakistan’s nukes are launched, it’s because the zealots took control. At that point, I’m betting on Israel or even one of the Arab monarchies (if not Islamabad itself) [1]. [1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Sh...

>They’re also somewhat rational

It only takes one generation to forget everything.

Re: Pakistan cuts off phone and internet services on election day

#62

Pakistan is a sad tale. A country of 200 million+ with almost no future. The elites are busy milking what’s left of the country before it flames out. The idiotic IMF continues giving them loans to support the extremely corrupt system..the US government also supports the extremely corrupt military. This is what happens when corruption is built into the culture of your society and religious/tribal hullabaloo is more pr…

The issue is foundational cannot be changed.

From Abottabad to Worse https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2011/07/osama-bin-laden-2011...

Re: Pakistan cuts off phone and internet services on election day

#63

Pakistan is a sad tale. A country of 200 million+ with almost no future. The elites are busy milking what’s left of the country before it flames out. The idiotic IMF continues giving them loans to support the extremely corrupt system..the US government also supports the extremely corrupt military. This is what happens when corruption is built into the culture of your society and religious/tribal hullabaloo is more pr…

Just wait until the elites figure out they can also milk China for port access that doesn't require transiting the south china sea?

There's just the small matter of the Himilayas dividing mainland China from Pakistani ports.

Re: Pakistan cuts off phone and internet services on election day

#64
post #8

2018 Algeria shut down internet during school exam season. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/21/algeria-shuts-... "Algeria is not, however, the only country to take such radical steps during exam season: Syria, Iraq, Mauritania, Uzbekistan and several Indian states reportedly block access to the internet. Ethiopia shuts down social media."

South Korea shuts down air travel during the nation wide university entrance examination.

Re: Pakistan cuts off phone and internet services on election day

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes there's some of loss of the sense of absolute democratic purity. But then Aristotle saw that tradeoff against real polity quite some time back. I think your point (that people ought to be smart and strong enough to withstand all and any malign influence(?)) made a lot more sense 20 years ago. In the Internet and AI influence age I think things have significantly changed. It's the integrity of the democratic proce…

“Disinformation” is always a smokescreen. All nominal (keyword) democratic processes are filled with disinformation: standard advertisement. Those who want peace, lay down your own arms as well (no takers). Like almost 2 years of election circus in the US federal election. > I think your point (that people ought to be smart and strong enough to withstand all and any malign influence(?)) That’s absurd. I don’t concept…

Here's a document I am currently reading for my research [0]. It contains some interesting definitions I hope you find helpful.

[0] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2021/6536...

Re: Pakistan cuts off phone and internet services on election day

#66
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm, I tried to follow but that seemed a little elaborate. I think if someone tried to pull-off what you described (declaring a candidate disqualified within a week of an election) you'd have civil unrest or worse on your hands regardless any information flows.

Like I said, it is one plausible interpretation of events. It started almost a year ago, and it's been reaching a crescendo roughly last week. And since this is Pakistan, civil unrest is quite common anyway. Heck, there's an entire article on the start of this election cycle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022%E2%80%932023_Pakistan_pol... Specific sources to back up my claims: - "So it used the court system to declar…

Sorry I did not realise you are describing a sequence of events that actually happened/are happening. Yes I am looking though my (UK) lens of a slightly saner election (I hope), not one where civil unrest is already the backdrop.

Re: Pakistan cuts off phone and internet services on election day

#67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, do Polish people not consider themselves part of the West? Genuine question. I've met and worked with quite a few Poles since moving to the EU and my current takeaway is that it's in a really interesting fusion time between West, East, and some more mysterious third thing.

"The West" is a very murky sort of definition. Arguably the colloquial "Cultural West" is what is on the Western side of what used to be called the Iron Curtain. Poland was definitely on the Eastern side of that.

Iron Curtain was a political, not cultural border. Western civilization usually includes all European catholic countries, i. e. also Poland. (Huntington is a notorious example)

Re: Pakistan cuts off phone and internet services on election day

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

No it doesn’t. Stop trying to patronize a country’s dire situation to push your false narrative.

Trying to wha? This is just too freakish of an accusation to respond to.

Re: Pakistan cuts off phone and internet services on election day

#69

This is pretty indefensible and indicates the results of this 'election' are likely fixed.

Why does it indicate that?

Every election in every country took place without Internet or (meaningful amounts of) cell phone service not that long ago.

Re: Pakistan cuts off phone and internet services on election day

#70
post #8

2018 Algeria shut down internet during school exam season. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/21/algeria-shuts-... "Algeria is not, however, the only country to take such radical steps during exam season: Syria, Iraq, Mauritania, Uzbekistan and several Indian states reportedly block access to the internet. Ethiopia shuts down social media."

South Korea shuts down air travel during the nation wide university entrance examination.

I was curious, so I googled…

- “The government grounds aircraft or reroutes flights to keep students from getting distracted during the biggest test of their lives.”

- “ On the streets Thursday morning, you could hear more sirens than usual, because anyone running late to the competitive exam can call for a free police escort to rush them straight to the test site.”

- “Success is defined narrowly. Get a high score on the Suneung to get into a high-ranked school. Go to a good school to get hired at a South Korean chaebol — the term for a mighty mega-conglomerate, like Samsung. They power the Korean economy.”

Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/11/12/455708201/...

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