Poor Salman Rushdie! Just when I was starting to think it all worked out for him, he goes and gets Knighted by the Queen of England. Now, Pakistan wants him dead again. Get over it, people! Rushdie has a beautiful young wife now, and he’s just trying to go around being an eminence grise or whatever it’s called.
While reading about Pakistan’s ire, I came across the latest survey of “failed states,” an index put together by Foreign Policy Magazine and the politically independent Fund For Peace. Pakistan ranks as #12, between Afghanistan and Haiti. Sudan currently ranks as the number one state most vulnerable to failure. The twelve indicators of instability are political, economic, military and social. You can see the survey here. The more you read about it, the more dejected you will feel, but at least you’ll sound annoyingly well-informed around the water cooler.
On a personal note, the Queen gave my brother-in-law an OBE earlier this year, and thank god Pakistan was willing to stay out of it!