Obama can pronounce Pakistan in a non-annoying way.
Just watching the announcement of Richard Holbrooke and George Mitchell as envoys to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the Middle East. While ME does not seem to be anything groundbreaking so far, I liked how Holbrooke was quick to not pigeonhole Pakistan, saying that what one sees of the tribal areas is not the same for the entire country.
And surprisingly, Obama is actually prononuncing Pakistan as PA-kistan, not Paykistan! Perhaps his memory of his Pakistani friends and his visit to Pakistan has actually helped him recall how its pronounced.
Eventually the country’s links to the tribal area activities will be exposed, it is an open secret and only a matter of time.
Halbrooke’s first task will be, to talk to the multiple power centres within Pakistan, and identify the one that controlled the bad elements.
The corrective action would then follow, to take the whole nautanki to its logical conclusion, there is no escape.
I noticed Obama’s pronunciation about the motherland during the first presidential debate. It was quite amusing to me that when he said “if Pakistan is unable or unwilling to act, we will” I actually enjoyed his correct pronunciation rather than his ominous warning.