By Andrew P. Napolitano
The president's men trash the Constitution to pursue antagonists
Pakistani Ambassador Sherry Rehman resigned Tuesday, citing her party's loss in parliamentary elections as she plans to return to her South Asian nation where she faces a police investigation on charges of blasphemy.
The embattled former ambassador from Pakistan cited threats from "ideologically driven maniacs" as he defied his country's highest court this week by refusing to return home for a hearing into a complex case involving accusations of treason and a shadowy figure who claims the ex-envoy was part of a political conspiracy.
Serving as Pakistan's ambassador to the United States is risky business, as the country's former envoy noted after hearing about the legal threat against the current ambassador.
Talk of a diplomatic divorce has U.S. and Pakistani officials trying to patch things up, and maybe get a little counseling.
U.S.-Pakistan relations are so bad that the two countries should get a diplomatic divorce, but they could still date each other once in a while.
The head of Pakistan's intelligence agency is due in Washington this week, as U.S.-Pakistani relations remain tense and just days after Pakistan's ambassador here demanded an end to U.S. drone attacks against terrorist targets in her country.
The U.S. ambassador to Nigeria compared the terrorist violence in the northern part of the West African nation to the crime wave that gripped New York in the 1980s, as he urged the Nigerian government to abandon "heavy-handed" military tactics and adopt a softer approach in dealing with the Islamic militant threat.
Pakistan's former ambassador to the United States Tuesday denounced a judicial inquiry that accused him of "disloyalty" to Pakistan and claimed he orchestrated a letter to the Pentagon seeking U.S. help in case of a military coup against the civilian government in Islamabad.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday pressured Pakistan to do more to root out the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani terrorist network from its territory, saying that U.S. officials are "reaching the limits of our patience."
The head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee is urging President Obama to protect a blind Chinese dissident reportedly sheltered in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton heads to China for long-scheduled talks suddenly overshadowed by the diplomatic emergency.
A senior Israeli lawmaker is complaining to the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv over the State Department's refusal to issue a visa for another Israeli legislator who once belonged to an outlawed political party on the U.S. terrorist list.
Pakistan's government faced a constitutional threat Monday from the Supreme Court, which began contempt proceedings against the prime minister for failing to reopen a corruption investigation against the president.
Fears of a coup in Pakistan increased Wednesday when the military warned of "potentially grievous consequences" after the prime minister criticized the army chief and the head of the country's spy agency.
Aside from a horde of politicians and journalists, New Hampshire is preparing to welcome foreign diplomats who expect to get an insider's view of the Republican presidential primary next week.
Pakistan's president on Tuesday warned the Supreme Court not to take action in violation of the constitution, referring to a judicial hearing into a secret memo seeking to rein in the powerful military — a scandal that threatens the Pakistani leader.
Mr. Haqqani, now director of the Center for International Relations at Boston University, repeatedly has denied he had any role in the scandal.
"I hope that she will take adequate measures for her safety and that the new government ensures her security in Pakistan," he told Embassy Row.
