South of West

• Arrested American Diplomat

  Posted: January 29, 2011, 1:48 pm by Rob Crilly

  U.S. Embassy Calls for Release of American Diplomat Islamabad, January 29, 2011 – The United States Embassy in Pakistan calls for the immediate release of a U.S. diplomat unlawfully detained by authorities in Lahore. The diplomat, assigned to the U.S. … Continue reading →

• Dial-up to the Rescue in Egypt

  Posted: January 29, 2011, 12:55 pm by Rob Crilly

  This week has seen me sitting on the foreign desk of The Sunday Telegraph, which mean basically monitoring Egypt. There was a moment of panic yesterday when we lost contact with our two correspondents in Cairo. With mobile phones down … Continue reading →

• A Fool and His Money

  Posted: January 27, 2011, 5:36 pm by Rob Crilly

  George Clooney’s Satellite Sentinel Project is beaming back information from the border between north and south Sudan. The first details provide a vivid insight into what is happening there that could have been obtained by, er, just asking someone who … Continue reading →

• How a Fire Extinguisher Might Have Doused the Tunisian Protests

  Posted: January 23, 2011, 12:11 pm by Rob Crilly

  The guards and clerks gathered on the steps of the governor’s headquarters in Sidi Bouzid, laughing and shouting at the fruit peddler outside. As Mohamed Bouazizi climbed atop his fruit cart clutching a plastic bottle of paint thinner they urged … Continue reading →

• Tunisian Food (Part 1, depending largely on how long I am here for)

  Posted: January 20, 2011, 10:51 pm by Rob Crilly

  When it arrived in the empty Tunisian hotel restaurant, looking like an oversized samosa, I was put in mind of nothing more exciting than a Findus Crispy Pancake. Not a great start. But closer inspection revealed that the shell was … Continue reading →

• Turabi’s Web

  Posted: January 19, 2011, 7:55 pm by Rob Crilly

  So Hassan al-Turabi is once more back in prison, something of a home from home for him since he fell out of bed with President Omar al Bashir. Still, it gives him a chance to catch up on his reading. … Continue reading →

• South Asia Reading Challenge: 1. Curfewed Night

  Posted: January 13, 2011, 5:03 pm by Rob Crilly

  Is there a future for foreign correspondents – outsiders who parachute into a war zone, report on what they see, hang around for a bit and then go home? Now that anyone with a laptop and an internet connection (or … Continue reading →

• Postcards from Hell 9: Water Features

  Posted: January 12, 2011, 10:44 am by Rob Crilly

  In my admittedly limited experience, failed states tend not to go in for water features (Somalia’s coastline not being admissible as I’m fairly certain it was there when the country had a functioning government that stretched as far as the … Continue reading →

• South Asian Reading Challenge: Bina Shah’s List

  Posted: January 11, 2011, 11:49 am by Rob Crilly

  Author Bina Shah has signed up to the South Asia Reading Challenge. Here is her list Granta Pakistan The Scorpion’s Tale by Zahid Hussein The Cloud Messenger by Aamer Hussein The Wandering Falcon by Jamil Ahmed Claire Chambers’s book on … Continue reading →

• Stick to Basketball George

  Posted: January 11, 2011, 9:02 am by Rob Crilly

  Sometimes, even I get sick of my own cyncism. Sometimes I make a deliberate effort to be more positive. I bite my tongue when a well-meaning gap year student tells me they’ll be digging latrines in Uganda, where manual labour … Continue reading →

• First list and First Review

  Posted: January 10, 2011, 7:59 pm by Rob Crilly

  OK, so we’re up and running in the South Asia Reading Challenge. We have our first review in, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini reviewed by Hareem Sumbul Bhatti. And we have our first list in, from Mike Gallagher, who … Continue reading →

• A Haven of Sense

  Posted: January 10, 2011, 12:19 pm by Rob Crilly

  Religious hordes throng Karachi, spewing intolerance, anger and ignorance. Ordinary people – far from extremists – and even supposedly educated lawyers laud an Islamist assassin. The BBC asks whether Pakistan has passed a tipping point. But there is another Pakistan, … Continue reading →

• Sometimes Bashir Knows What He’s Talking About

  Posted: January 8, 2011, 10:40 am by Rob Crilly

  Al Jazeera’s interview with President Omar al Bashir of Sudan just a couple of days before the South votes on secession is making headlines. In it he says that the South will face instability if it chooses independence from Khartoum … Continue reading →

• Pakistan Gears up for UK Beer Wars

  Posted: January 6, 2011, 8:56 am by Rob Crilly

  So what is the British curry lover, in search of the perfect dining experience, to do? You’ve ordered your chicken tikka marsala and need something similarly authentic to wash it down with. If, like me, that means an Indian lager … Continue reading →

• The Wit and Wisdom of Salman Taseer

  Posted: January 5, 2011, 9:05 am by Rob Crilly

  In his own words, 140 characters at a time, here are some of his most acute observations on Twitter in the past few months Apple is worth more than $300bn. In other words much much more than 180mn Pakistanis. Something … Continue reading →

• Salman Taseer

  Posted: January 4, 2011, 6:28 pm by Rob Crilly

  In November a Christian woman was sentenced to death in Pakistan after being convicted of insulting the Prophet Mohammed. It was unusual because Asia Bibi was thought to be the first woman on death row for the offence. On the … Continue reading →

• Referendum Reading

  Posted: January 4, 2011, 9:18 am by Rob Crilly

  Only a few days now to the referendum in South Sudan. Here’s a few things that I have been reading… Clooney Falling into Bin Laden’s Trap – aside from the hysterical and silly language, there is a serious point here … Continue reading →

• South Asia Reading Challenge

  Posted: January 3, 2011, 1:07 pm by Rob Crilly

  One of the joys about moving from Africa to South Asia is the massive array of  writing connected with this part of the world, in contrast with my old home – where the history and legends were passed on by … Continue reading →

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes