America, Nukes and Pakistan

In an article on nuclear weapons in Pakistan, the “New Yorker explores Pakistan’s relationship with America”:http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/11/16/091116fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=all and comes to a pretty grim conclusion:

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bq. In an interview the next afternoon, an Indian official who has dealt diplomatically with Pakistan for years said, “Pakistan is in trouble, and it’s worrisome to us because an unstable Pakistan is the worst thing we can have.” But he wasn’t sure what America could do. “They like us better in Pakistan than you Americans,” he said. *”I can tell you that in a public-opinion poll we, India, will beat you.”*

That’s probably true.. the only real relationship with America is dependant on the crates of arms they send to the Army and the bribes they give people like Zardari. Some other tidbits from Musharraf:

bq. Musharraf, who was forced out of office in August, 2008, under threat of impeachment, did not spare his successor. “Asif Zardari is a criminal and a fraud,” Musharraf told me. “He’ll do anything to save himself. He’s not a patriot and he’s got no love for Pakistan. He’s a third-rater.”

It’s good that 2 years after his retirement Musharraf finally grew some balls and spoke about “the idiot savant leader of Pakistan, Zardari”:http://ko.offroadpakistan.com/2009/02/a_short_history_of_asif_ali_zardari.html.


bq. During my stay in Pakistan–my first in five years–there were undeniable signs that militancy and the influence of fundamentalist Islam had grown. In the past, military officers, politicians, and journalists routinely served Johnnie Walker Black during our talks, and drank it themselves. This time, even the most senior retired Army generals offered only juice or tea, even in their own homes.

The moral of the story here seems to be to drink more whiskey! A good PR move would be to have all the whiskey drinking generals meet the press, rather than the teetoolers. Heck, why doesn’t the Army conduct a survey to find out the number of whiskey fans in the army?

The article is interesting, and despite knowing how “incredibly stupid Zardari is”:http://ko.offroadpakistan.com/2009/02/a_short_history_of_asif_ali_zardari.html, I’m amazed at how he still manages to suprise me with ever escalating stupidity:

bq. Zardari did not dispute that there were difficulties in the refugee camps–the heat, the lack of facilities. *But he insisted that the fault lay with the civilians, who, he said, had been far too tolerant of the Taliban.* The suffering could serve a useful purpose: after a summer in the tents, the citizens of Swat might have learned a lesson and would not “let the Taliban back into their cities.”

I take back the stupid. There is stupid, than there is super stupid, but “Zardari crossed over into evil land a long time ago”:http://ko.offroadpakistan.com/2009/02/a_short_history_of_asif_ali_zardari.html. He, along with the Pakistan army, were the idiots signing peace deals with the Taliban – not the people they were killing! Let alone the fact that they supported the militant groups in the first place…

One of the problems with Pakistani politicians, or just trying to learn more about Pakistan from is that politicians lie blatantly, twisting history all the time to whatever they want it to mean. This habit is so ingrained that a lot of Pakistani leaders are actually delusional – no one really disagrees with them, except a few newspapers which they don’t read anyways, or tv shows which they don’t watch.

It’s not just politicians – this malaise or truth deficit is present everywhere – from the guy on the street to the ruling class – it’s a lot worse than the 7 blind men trying to describe a elephant – at least they’re trying to describe reality, not making up alternate realities every time they open their mouths.

Whether nukes, taliban, the economy, sugar or one of the many other issues threatening Pakistan, there are multiple blind men describing the fantasy elephants they see in the their dreams.

1 thought on “America, Nukes and Pakistan”

  1. I think the bigger problem, is that the US continues to meddle into places it really has no business meddling in. Their constitution calls for “trade with all, entangling alliances with none”, and yet they’re “entangled” everywhere.

    This zebby character would have been arrested as soon as he landed at the airport, had the US not pushed their previous puppet to do this NRO crap. Now we have to deal with the crap zebby does. If the US wanted him to be the pres so much, they could have elected him instead of bamo. They have no business “helping” decide who becomes the big honcho over here.

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