Hey Zeitgeistacademic and popular culture and politics… for those at work, play and wit's end

The NY Times (along with other outlets) appears to be cautiously declaring Pakistani government victory in a key Taliban controlled town. I suppose this is a good thing militarily, although the human cost is, one can only imagine high (the ICRC can’t get in to find out).

Listed immediately below, as I write, is a story about the spread of violence in Yemen. Key sentence:

Many in Yemen’s own government say the conflict is less about controlling terrain — always a tenuous prospect in this tribally splintered country — than about Mr. Saleh’s struggle to reassert his military powers, in the face of widening insurgencies and intensifying political rivalry in the capital.

Just something to keep in mind when celebrating: some wars aren’t about where the front line is.