It's not new that politicians are regarded as having crap stuffed into their heads. However differently they may think of this comment, it's common that they prove this time and again by taking contrasting decisions to popular beliefs. And to me, the American politicians head the list of all such nuts. The latest case in the point is, American think tank has now accepted what CIA and the rest of the world have been saying for ages, that Pakistan is officially aiding terrorism in Afghanistan and the rest of the world and that they have a special ISI team for this. Now, whether it has a special team or whether the entire ISI is out to aid the terrorists, is something that has little significance. I came across two news reports, which I guess make great reading if you are interested. Pakistan Aids Insurgency in Afghanistan, Reports Assert Pakistan Fight Stalls for U.S. When will ya learn, you nincompoop American leader?
The American's are a bit stuck. They want to escape from Afghanistan, without letting it fall back into the hands of the Taliban. They don't want to engage with Pakistan, but also don't want Pakistan's nuclear weapons to fall into the hands of people even more crazy than the current Pakistani government. Mostly, they want to cover their eyes with their hands and pretend that the rest of the world doesn't exist. They have a heavy burden of responsibility, major consequences for failure, and no interest in the work. Really... this is a set-up for a future world where the Americans simply nuke any nation which causes them trouble. It's far less expensive than nation building. It's an approach that makes most American non-interventionists happy, it reduces the cost of national defense, and it provides significant motivations for other nations to clean up their own governments.
Unfortunately, one of the other consequences of using nuclear weapons is that the "moral" gloves come off for every other nation to use them at whim as well. I strongly suspect the consequences of using them will continue to heavily outweigh the use of them, except in the most dire of circumstances. I hate to sound like Joe Biden, but we are nearly at a point where we could do much of what we do with predator drones and human intelligence. Imagine we pull out of Afghanistan today and the current government collapses. The Taliban are going to have to set up shop somewhere. Every time they move into a new capital building, you just bomb it. They put troops on the streets, you kill them. Carpet bomb every last opium poppy field with napalm. Reverse the roles. I guarantee we can prevent them from governing very cheaply and effectively. At some point, they will be begging to play make a deal when they are broke and starving. Then again, I think Israel has the same strategy with Gaza.
They seem to have perfected the art of getting the trouble to their doorstep. Since Bush Sr to Bush Jr, each of their nuts have meddled with other people's business where it was not most wanted. Reacting to 9/11, although is understandable, the first choice for US to fight terrorists was to befriend the leader of them all (Pakistan). When your first step deviated you, you were never going to reach a different end. We laughed in disbelief when the US leader strongly reiterated their wrong choice then. If you remember, we had also laughed when the US forced USSR out of Afghanistan in 1977 or so.
That only complements my point. There are examples of America fighting injustice or muslims like you said but like this time, it has mostly left things inconclusive and in disarray. So0metimes it was on its own or is forced out by its own making. Why? Because it started off on a wrong foot. Well begun is half the job done but this somehow has eluded the wisdom of US leadership. See, this time over, US started off with a mission to capture Osama, cleanse Afghanistan of Taliban and route out terrorism from the face of the earth. But how? It sided with the the biggest terrorist group - Pakistan- captured Saddam Hussain (not finding fault with this but pointing to mistaken priorities along the way) and now leaving Pakistan stronger, flooded with funds, weapons and probably with some combat training. The point is not whether US fights muslims or injustice but why choose wrong bedfellows, why have wrong priorities, why leave battle ground midway? Domestic necessities may be overwhelming after all these years but this long drawn war on terror is its own making. The only incidence I can recollect when US played decisively is in the WWII.
Umm.... in WWII we chose Joseph Stalin as an ally -- one of the worst mass murderers in the history of mankind. Between 1917 and 1987, the Soviets murdered approximately 61 million of their own people -- a number exceeded only by the red Chinese. The United States is so strong that it is easy to mistakenly think of it's vast reserves of strength as being infinite, but they are not. In particular, the last few generations of urban Americans has displayed an almost European predilection towards frippery. The American culture wars could go either way, but in their current state I would not count on the United States to accomplish anything significant in terms of foreign affairs. Instead, I would look to India. India is an up-and-coming nation which is being strangled by the weight of it's own bureaucracy. If the people of India can manage to cut their government down to size, India could surpass China and make Pakistan irrelevant. India could be the next U.S., while Pakistan would be relegated to being the next Mexico.
Yeah, the bureaucracy here breeds a whole lot of corruption, and that's a major hurdle in India's progress. Thats the reason it suffers from bad infrastructure and poor governance in general. But people have risen in spite of the bureaucracy and the government. Most Indian parents consider education as the number one priority for their children, above religion or any other thing. In fact a lot of them stress on the fact that their children should fluent with English (including my own mother!) more than their native language (which could be Hindi, Tamil, Bengali...depending on which part of India you're born). That actually helped a lot in a globalized world... Make the bureaucracy efficient, introduce police and judicial reforms, and 75% of the work will be done. As for pakistan, I agree with you. India's attitude towards it should be of benign neglect, and focus on plugging the loopholes in internal and external security. Gosh, right now only the Pakistani terrorists infiltrate into India...then even the normal Pakistanis will try and enter the country! :|
1. You can go on listing out the negatives about that. Nevertheless, it was conclusive. 2. This is a very interesting observation. I, for one, am not sure whether that day can really come. I am know how fast the US economy has relentlessly grown in between the two world wars and how everything automatically fell into place and the stuff. That was amazing. Both India and China have a very long way before they could ever dream of replicating it, let alone become the next big economy. Regardless of that, Pakistan is getting relegated to an ignorable position at an ever increasing speed. From a state of seeking grants and donations to live it now reminds me of the apocalyptic, self defeating end of the Jurassic Park. I place more weight on this because it came from a commoner. There's a lot of headroom here and loads of confidence and as long as this stays intact, you can afford to put domestic issues on the back burner and move on.
It's very hard for India to be the next US. The United States is the 'big brother' today not just because of their vibrant economy, but because their ship is a lot cleaner than most others. Indians are a completely different breed from Americans, and there's very less I see from Indians in-terms of cleaning up their nation or political landscape. A large proportion of the country is/has been built upon hype; 50% of the economy would fail if companies exporting to the US failed. No country can sustain with a deadly cocktail of super-inflation, a large unskilled workforce and 20% of its population being Moslems. In the long-term, I think India will have a huge Moslem problem, and when that happens it's just going to disintegrate and become another Indonesia or Pakistan, unless the Hindu's decide to wake up and get rid of the extremist Islamist elements within India. Pakistan could never become the Mexico because they're just too fucked up I'm not sure if that's a good thing. The reason why American companies are currently setting up shop in India is because of the cost-arbitrage, as costs continue to increase in India, they will eventually set up show elsewhere and there'll be no need for that kind of workforce. English fluency is great, but I think it's paramount that Indian parents shed the habit of having their children become "desi-zombies" ( Study well, graduate, post-graduate, get a job, get married ). I still think the Indian educational system sucks and just outputs a large number of unskilled people who are not industry-relevant. PS: Curious Fact - my parents insist that I speak the local language at home, Indian city kids speak so much English that they forget their mother tongue.
Oh I agree the education system needs a big overhaul..I discussed that with Will earlier in another thread. There's too much importance given to rote learning, and you're right it helps create zombies instead of a well rounded individual. But I think quite a few people escape the zombie effect in spite of the education system, just like we're progressing in spite of the government. As for your argument that having competency in the English language will not be a bonus in futue..i thing you're being too pessimistic. The very fact that the Indian diaspora has been so successful in countries where they have got the opportunity to excel - UK, US etc. speaks volumes. English will remain the international language of choice for many generations to come, and that will always come in handy for Indians (thank you Britain - the empire strikes back ) Your parents are good!!
It is a mistake to think of dealing with Pakistan's Islamic extremism as a task for the Americans. This is shifting the burden off onto people who have a lot less to lose than India does. The Muslims in Pakistan are more likely to attack India in force than they are to attack the U.S. in force. The Americans can afford to disengage and let the entire subcontinent go to hell -- can the Indians afford to do that? So, while it might be amusing to laugh at the difficulties Americans have dealing with dishonest cultures... it doesn't get you anywhere. You still have Pakistan, teeming with millions of highly propagandized and underfed Islamists -- right on your border. Time to step up. The Americans are in the process of abandoning you, better get busy.
Understand your point, but with a softy like Manmohan Singh for Prime Minister, I doubt much can be done. War against Pakistan is not an option with the nuclear threat, so I'd rather be up for MOSSAD style covert operations against leaders of Islamic terror factories. Unfortunately our Prime Minister thinks that dialogue with that country will lead to a solution. Can't be true for Pakistan...where the army controls the strings...and the citizens are bombarded with propaganda from birth. Its quite a bleak situation..
i have objection on your answer..... you cant justify a war by basing it on a religion..... You can say that we are trying to stop extremism or anything, but dont specifically say any religion (though u pple r against islam i know), since it can cause only problems with no solution.... But if you say that you are fighting with muslims then i would name you a "Terrorist".... there are muslims in US and India then why dont you kill them ? huh Dont mess with me, i dont want to argue here, I am a muslim, i dont think if i have done anything wrong with you that make you to say that you are fighting with muslims (/me.)... and there are millions of other muslims like me... If you talk like that then there is no solution left for the problems of the world.... Terrorism is the problem of all of us, terrorists dont belong to any religion, if they are attaching it with islam, then islam doesnt tech this.... We are fighting hard with terrorism, we have sacrificed more than any nation.... I hope you understand what i wanted to say...
What a retarded statement. Religion is one of the most popular justifications for war in human history. duh! Here's an idea, how about you stop telling me what I can and cannot say? You have absolutely no right to tell me what I can and cannot say and I think it's very important for you and other primitive screwheads like yourself to get that idea through your thick little skulls. The truth is the truth whether you can handle it or not. Then log out and go bury your head in the sand.