Links For Friday

Stuff to read as you count down to the weekend:

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a non-binding resolution on Turkey's (really, the Ottoman Empire's) conduct against the Armenians in World War I, calling it "genocide". Fair enough actually. But I do eagerly await the U.S. government terming the mass murder and relocation of Native Americans also as "genocide". Not naive in the slightest to expect that, yes? Keep your eye on that ball, kids, we should hear on this very soon.

Ad of the year, right here, from Pepsi, featuring Messi, Henry, Fat Frank, Evil Drogba, Kaka and Arshavin. The last shot of Messi is priceless -- "Thierrry?". Hahahaha. Classic stuff.

This story was all over the Twitterwebs this week. It's hilarious. Pakistan is billing the U.S. for services offered in the so-called war on terror, and is not being paid in full, because they think we're lying. Honestly, I wouldn't put it past us, though I obviously don't know which side is right. But isn't it hilarious that bargaining on the international stage replicates my mother talking to her darzi?

Osman has a fantastic column laying into the PCB administration. Must read.

Good news! AIG is going to pay out executive bonuses. Again. After suffering losses of billions of dollars. Again. Just an all-round classy crowd, these guys.

It's the final countdown on health care reform. Will it go through? Who the hell knows? But it's been a long, bumpy ride, and one hopes it gets over the line. Read Ezra Klein's reaction to Obama's "Let's finish this thing" speech.

This was probably my favorite read of the week, an in-depth look at the intersection of local crime and local politics in Karachi from Newsline. Really superb piece. It's really sad that there aren't book-length treatments of this stuff out there (trust me, I've looked). It is my aim to write a political history of Karachi one day. I don't know when -- there's at least two or three other book projects I have in mind that would probably take priority over this -- but if I remain in good health in fifteen or twenty years or so, it will be done.

If you're an IR or Poli Sci student, you've seen these quantitative-qualitative methodological battles before. Doesn't make them any less entertaining every time they happen.

Freakonomics tries to figure out if men are better drivers than women. Please. Anyone who's ever seen a woman try to parallel park should know that this is a stupid question.

Even by Tom Friedman's standards, this was a really perplexing and inane column; basically, we're supposed to take the word of a corporate CEO that cutting corporate taxes and giving corporate subsidies is a good thing. Yglesias' take on this is excellent.

Carlos Tevez says that if John Terry had done what he did to Wayne Bridge in Argentina, well...let him tell it. "In my neighbourhood if you do that, you lose your legs, or more – you don't survive."

A piece in Slate that our London-resident readers will relate to. It's on how easy it is to get lost in London, and how the signs aren't exactly super-helpful. My view on this is that "old" cities are always more difficult to navigate than "new" cities, because the latter are built on a grid. Growing up and watching Hollywood movies, I never understood how the cops knew they were going north or west or whatever when in a car chase; in Karachi there's no conception of this stuff (in fact, back home it's even worse than that, because all directions are given with reference to landmarks, not street names). It took me about 17 seconds to get to a grid city to figure out how intuitive it really is. If you get lost in America, you're an idiot, I'm sorry.

And finally, did you know that Barack Obama is a 130-year old Pakistani? Don't believe me? Check out his ID card.

Happy weekend, everyone.