Guns and Butter, for August 24, 2011 - 1:00pm
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"The Way Forward for US/Pakistan Relations" with General Hamid Gul. Background on the US/Pakistan relationship; CIA contractor Raymond Davis; US raid on alleged Osama bin Laden compound; the attack on the Mehran Naval Station in Karachi, the Pakistan Taliban; the Chicago terrorist trial and informant David Headley; Mullah Omar; the way forward. (Encore presentation.)
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I think that you maybe some of you are not used to the Pakistani accents but as someone who is I can assure you that Hamid Gul's English is perfect, what you may not appreciate is that he is a native English speaker, Pakistan was a formerly a part of British India and English is a first language in Pakistan where it is the language of business as well as politics
You need to listen hard to what he is saying, especially his analysis of the abusive relationship between the US and Pakistan, why do you think that there is a civil war going in Pakistan and there is massive social upheaval in what was a very conservative country.
Hello my fellow kpfa archive comments perusers,
I just wanted to notate now, a time when perhaps this archive entry is getting the most views, that I'm going to be posting an important critique of some things Tarpley had to say on last week's show, which I'll post at the page for that show:
http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/72501
... this is because I'd like to get a wide audience if possible, but the way commenting is set up here, thoughts added to aging episodes can go altogether unread, due to there being no "Recent Comments Added" feature on the front page like most radio web sites utilize.
So please, if you would be so kind, navigate to that URL and bookmark it, ready to visit in a day or two and you'll find my important note. Link to it in your various calendar softwares, even.
PEACE!
ps. have you read www.inteldaily.com today? Interesting.
pps. Getting more pertinent, I may as well comment on Gen. Gul. I heard this when originally aired, and he indeed is an impressive personage. But I'm always irked a bit by intellectuals who aren't native English speakers who, though they speak plenty fluently, are sometimes hard to understand due to accents and whatnot. Seems to me that a great job to support is that of translator, and hearing an interview well-translated is all the more enjoyable, as you get to hear a native tongue with all its tonal expression, plus a good translator at work as well. Something for a progressive outfit to pursue across the board, IMO. (I noticed you did post a trnascript to his Sept 2010 appearance on gunsandbutter.org, so I'll be certainly checking back there for further good stuff!)
I want to be careful about how to approach your suggestion that interviews like this be 'translated' in future, Bakunin... but I can't. Maybe you are a little sheltered; unfamiliar with other people in your community who are from other cultures? The fact that very few Americans can speak another language IS shameful... that they would expect all others to serve them perfectly in English even more so.
Frankly, I can live with a few missed words here and there. It is good training for the mind to focus on an accent and catch the different patterns and stresses. It makes you listen closer. Get beyond your consumerist mindset and don't expect to be served by others all the time... make an effort to understand!
zeofredo,
I too wanted to broach that with care, as I'm not hung up around ethnicity or race so I certainly don't want to come off that way. My suggestion is this: offer a good translator to guests who aren't native speakers, with the particular nudging around the fact that hey, this creates a good job for someone and we who study languages and are on the Left are continually in need of such. Of course, many guests would then insist on using their English, which would be hunky dory without question. I don't particularly enjoy missing words myself-- though I surely don't cast blame when I do, considering that I shudder to think how lame my foreign language speaking attempts must sound-- the point being that I listen to tons and tons of podcasts and international radio broadcasts and when I have to debate whether to rewind back and try to hear something more closely, the frustration level climbs.
Where you're way off base is accusing me of consumerism. I'm well to the left of many viewpoints aired on KPFA.. for some concept of my politics, please read up on the figure from whom I've taken my "handle":
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Bakunin
ps. update on my forthcoming analysis of the Tarpley appearance.. still in the works, folks, please check that above link again in a day or two! Greatly appreciated.