A nit: "Ezra Klein breaks it all down" should read "Ezra Klein breaks it all down for those expecting a rose garden pony like Caroline got."

Pakistan:

I would venture a guess that the administration is judging something a major threat, when the CIA director flies in to further threaten, despite having already upset Pakistanis to violent levels:

Sources said the Pakistani leaders were stunned by Mr Panetta’s menacing tone and assured him of intensifying the military offensive against militants in the tribal areas.

--Dawn.com, Islamabad, Oct. 1, "CIA chief takes tough line on drone hits"

further excerpt:

...The two-day visit by the chief of the US Central Intelligence Agency comes against the backdrop of an unprecedented increase in drone strikes in Waziristan, repeated aerial incursions into the tribal areas by US-led International Security Assistance Force and revelation of a terror plot being hatched in the region to attack European cities.

The current spike in drone attacks — almost two dozen in September, one of which reportedly took out leading Al Qaeda operative Sheikh Fateh Al Masri on Sept 25 — is being linked to the plot to attack European cities.

According to sources, Mr Panetta snappily demanded full cooperation in neutralising the Europe terror plot, more intelligence sharing and greater ‘operational space’ within Pakistan to avert future threats.

American journalist Bob Woodward has recently disclosed in his book Obama’s Wars that the CIA was using secret ‘pursuit teams’ of elite Afghan fighters in Pakistan for hunting Taliban leaders.

Analysts believe the demand for more operational space pertains to those secret units, whose presence has been denied by Pakistan.

An outline of the information regarding the European plot was shared with Pakistani leaders...

Here and here is Juan Cole on the European terrorist plot a couple of days ago. Interesting that he did not pooh-pooh it as "not really Al Qaeda," which he often does, he merely suggested it was evidence of their goals being adjusted downward. Cole, from the second post: Doing several cities at once would spread panic and is an al-Qaeda MO. The whole thing seems perfectly plausible to me, and while I understand the GWOT fatigue among analysts and commentators, I don’t think it can be dismissed.