Is this a fail?

Detail: Mehrab
Mausoleum of Syeda Ruqqaiya
Southern Cemeteries
Cairo, Egypt

Pakistan stresses me out.
I should elaborate.
I don't mean, I shove candy corn in my mouth as I study biology before a high school exam stresses me out.
Or outline every spare minute of my time on a huge calender designed by Post It that I bought for my college dorm room before finals week stresses me out.
Pakistan the country stresses me out in a different way than anything else has ever stressed me out before.

Every time you open any news source, for example, some one's got something to say about it.
The Huffington Post for example. They recently published a story that highlights Zardari's recent idiot move. Announcing his belief that Pakistani Intel believes Bin Laden dead. (Yep, read it here). Gilani (PM, Pakistan) attempts to pick up the slack by saying:

"I don't know what are the comments of the president, but at the same time, I must clarify this, that nobody knows about Osama bin Laden," Gilani said. "We don't know about it, whether he is alive or dead."

However, Zardari's already done significant damage by saying that his intelligence agencies:

"obviously feel that he does not exist anymore," but he didn't explain how or when they reached that conclusion, and quickly qualified his comment by saying bin Laden "may be dead."
"That's not confirmed. We can't confirm that," he said. "It's still in between fiction and fact."

What does that even mean? Good job Zardari. Way to win respect of half the world. Which is why I believe half the world, including Hillary Clinton have lost their faith in you. This is additionally why, vested in their own interests as usual, the U.S. media is spreading a culture of mass panic again talking about the imminent collapse of the country that my parents, grandparents and a whole host of other people I love live in.
Baby acne springs up across my forehead (I told you Pakistan stresses me out).

Here's an argument different from what most of us have been hearing. Feel free to argue your hearts out with me, I'm open to many ideas. In my opinion, the United States may have their best interests at heart. Their media, their reporting, and their Secretary of State may still want what they want out of Pakistan.

Juan Cole seems to think Pakistan is safe- and he looks at the polling, the behavior in the voting booth, the history of political geography, and assesses them bit by bit here.

Did you know that the Pakistan military is the 6th largest? While they haven't won any wars, they haven't exactly suffered any internal mutiny of severe significance. Last but not least, remember Bajaur (Yeah, most people don't)? Al-Qaeda faced a crushing defeat by the Pakistani army. There goes that argument that Pakistan's not actually capable of fighting the Taliban. More like unwilling. Why? Probably because they're using the U.S. aid they're recieving to bribe the Taliban to attack Afghanistan because they're pissed at Karzai for his deals with India.

What Cole sees is that Washington's afraid of anything that resembles democracy in Pakistan- he goes as far to say tell Obama "Caveat Emptor." (Let the Buyer Beware). Suspicious much?

I'm not entirely sure what I think. The opinions expressed above are mostly Juan Cole's. I'm eager to believe him because I want my country to be safe. I do believe that Pakistan's bribing the Taliban- that one for me is easy to believe. And I do believe that Pakistan is more than capable of fighting the Taliban if they wanted to. But I don't understanding Washington's nervousness about a civillian elected government in Pakistan- although I recognize their opposition to it from the beginning.

As for the baby acne on my forehead,
the words Pakistan and Taliban appearing in the headline news together are the cause of my bad skin problems, I know it.