march 24th, 2007
what has led to all these sudden attacks of conscience?
along with the fact that that jamaluddin person was allowed to advertise his idea about the "land of the pure" being broken up.
there is something brewing.
it's not that the americans have suddenly discovered what a cheat musharraf is. they knew that at least as far back as the evacuation from kunduz, afghanistan in 2002 or 2003 when mushy airlifted a large number of senior pakistani army officers who had hitherto been fighting as part of the taliban forces. the yanks allowed this, because they had something to hide too.
so why the sudden fuss? maybe it is psy-ops to make mushy behave, but it does appear that there's more. as sherlock holmes might have said, "the game's afoot."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/16/wganges16.xml
not that this makes any difference to india. but it is curious.
corrected link: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-pakistan20mar20,0,2782530.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
4 comments:
the link is incorrect.
I've been thinking about this too. War-on-Terror die-hards are upset at Musharraf's two-facedness in undermining the WoT. Anti-WoT Atlanticists are upset at Musharraf's two-facedness in supporting the WoT. Nobody likes a Janus.
I'm wondering if I was wrong to say that the Europeans would be happy about Gwadar. Maybe it's the opposite. Maybe the globalization-fearing Europeans are afraid that Musharraf is about to pipe all that precious Middle Eastern oil over to energy-hungry China.
In old world pre-globalization geopolitics, the enemy of my enemy was always a friend. But nowadays, he could attack me too. Previously, China was only a threat to its immediate neighbors, which is why the Europeans could afford to be pro-China. Now, China's globe-trotting, resource-grabbing, hyper-exporting ways are threatening to inundate the shores of Europe. (Now China is even building a jetliner! Airbus-obsessed Europeans watch out!)
Musharraf's opening of Gwadar with Chinese help has now opened a potential floodgate of opportunity for Pakistan. This would be the new Silk Road for them. Use Gwadar to send all the Gulf Oil and African resources over to China, while also using it to send the Chinese goods back to the Gulf and Africa.
Another thing Atlanticists might be frightened of: Gwadar could give Russia a long-sought warm-water port that it was never previously able to obtain. So really, the entire Shanghai-5 grouping, including Russia, China, CARs, Pak, could benefit from Gwadar.
India, Europe, USA, Japan, ASEAN would find themselves at a sudden competitive disadvantage compared to this emerging Sino-Islamic axis.
That would also be good reason all to make common cause against Musharraf.
There is absolutely nothing brewing.
It doesn't matter who holds the title of Pakistani Head of Government. The people running the country will always be ISI officers aligned with the Wahabi fundamentalists from Sudia Arabia.
These same Wahabi fundamentalists are major players in financing the massive U. S. budget deficits.
Given these simple facts, any notion of a 'U. S., ASEAN, Europe, Japan, India' alliance against Mushi (who some on this board seem to admire) is, of course, ridiculous.
TallIndian, Saudi is not as wedded to Taliban as ISI is. As we can see, Saudi envoys have made repeated trips to persuade Taliban to abandon AlQaeda, and to abandon their anti-US ways.
The fact is that Saudi is fundamentally dependent upon the US for security, and is even warning the US that it will not tolerate a US withdrawal from Iraq, which would allow the conflict to spill over across its borders. Pakistan on the other hand, definitely wants the US to leave the region, and is waiting for the opportunity to re-commence its Taliban game.
You're clearly underestimating the importance of Gwadar. This port of transit will become the basis for a deeper Sino-Islamic nexus that the US cannot compete against.
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