Thread: Pakistan, the nuclear menace

Originally Posted by Pragmatist

And Mushariff's days are numbered. He is unpopular with the masses in his country and they have tried to off him more than once. When the day comes he will not be replaced with a friend of the USA, what then?

It's incredibly short sighted for the whiners to whine and not see this simple fact

Yes. Amazingly enough, I'm aware of the fact that Gen Mushy is going to die. He is human, I believe. In the meantime, one uses what one can to get the job done, and when that tool is passed on, one reassesses the landscape and sees what must be done next.

This is called "life". It's also called "history". Since Mushy's there now, we use him. What's the alternative TODAY?

(and have you read Machiavelli?)

It aint just a river in Egypt.

General Mushy is in dire straits. He fired the head of his court system causing a riot from his country's lawyers. He fired his head Judge because he is about to implement more unconstitutional decrees to preserve his power base.

Pakistan has always been a dirt poor countryw ith less then 3% of its people controlling the country through a feudal land system.

Governments have always been military dictatorships that protect the interests of those 3%.

To survive in Pakistan you play both sides of the coin. You tell the U.S. one thing and the Taliban another.

Pakistan sees the Taliban as a valuable ally against India, the Chinese and Russian influence. On the other hand they need US financial assistance so they play both sides.

Pakistan is no friend of Iran. Pakistan's primary concern is India not Iran or Afghanistan and in particular the Kashmir.

Pakistan's intelligence system protects the Taliban and Osama Ben Laden and there is no doubt in my mind the US and Britain have been told if they want Pakistan as a reluctant ally they can't attack the Taliban in Pakistan or go after Osama in Pakistan where he hides.

So we have an impossible stalemate in Afghanistan and a leader in Pakistan who could be assassinated at a moment's notice or replaced by some other military general. Pakistan has only avoided becoming a fundamentalist Islam state because of its feudal lords who won't allow that and love their Western style affluence too much to allow such a thing and will always control their military to protect their power base.

Pakistan is at best a paralyzed cripple both economcially and politically. The idea Pakistan would launch nuclear weapons at Israel is pure fiction. Even if Israel or the US or who-ever had a war or strategic strike in Iran, Pakistan has no strategic interest in protecting Iran nor can it afford to even think about using its nuclear arsenal with India next door.

The most realistic scenario in any Middle East war is that Pakistan will be a source for terrorist financing and hiding but will have no direct role.