As Pakistan has forced its way into America's national con sciousness over the past few years, bookshelves have grown crowded with publications devoted to deciphering the murky politics behind this nuclear-armed nation in perpetual crisis. The latest entry to this roster, "The Pakistan Cauldron: Conspiracy, Assassination and Instability," is a welcome one, and comes to us from James Farwell, a strategic communications guru and longtime adviser to U.S. Special Operations Command and Strategic Command.

 Tragic is the word most often used to describe the life of Syed Saleem Shahzad. A celebrated Pakistani investigative journalist, Shahzad nearly became a household name in May 2011 after his mysterious murder made international headlines. Reviled by terrorists and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) alike for his penetrating reporting, months before his murder the forty-year-old reporter repeatedly warned friends of specific threats to his life from Pakistani intelligence agents. One day after publishing a report about militant infiltration into Pakistan’s security services, Shahzad was kidnapped. His body was found, dumped in a canal and bearing obvious signs of torture, two days later. Widespread accusations leveled at the ISI inside Pakistan were privately echoed by U.S. officials, marking another grim chapter in the history of the world’s most notorious intelligence service. 

Kashmir CM calls for revoking AFSPA; NATO open to BMD cooperation with India; India and China spar over South China Sea; Pakistan grants India MFN status

U.S. publicly exposes Pakistan's double game; An Af-Pak divorce?; Kabul turns to New Delhi; Afghan dependence on foreign aid troubling

You could be forgiven for dismissing the latest diplomatic spat between the United States and Pakistan as just another hiccup in a long-estranged marriage. Trading accusations and navigating diplomatic crises has become a weekly affair for this deeply troubled alliance. But the broadside launched against Pakistan by the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in congressional testimony on September 22 represents a rupture so dramatic that its significance is difficult to overstate.

Pakistan looks to reform FATA governance... sort of; China upgrades missiles, India upgrades missile defense; India and China spar at sea; Maoists still threat #1

JeM making a comeback; China clears NSG hurdle, will send nuke reactors to Pak; UN removes Taliban sanctions, but negotiations hit a snag; Indian gov. under pressure from anti-corruption protesters

Pakistan tests new tactical nukes; Chinese leader visits Maldives but India still #1; No sign of progress on U.S.-India military pacts; Troubling signs in the Afghan north

Pakistanis doubt bin Laden raid; U.S., Taliban "accelerate" talks; Russia balks at India's fighter snub; Pak to China: Build naval base at Gwadar

United Russia takes sides in the "tandem";
New anti-bribery bill ratchets up costs of corruption