Fire Hydrant of Freedom

Quote from: Bandolero on October 17, 2011, 02:02:03 PM

Quote from: ya on October 02, 2011, 02:29:52 PM

Pakistan is a state with a major security problem — India — and two mutually-exclusive strategies to deal with that problem: a stable security partnership with the United States, or an increasing reliance on jihadi proxies.

Why is reaching out to China not a viable option?

What sort of outreach/deal would you suggest?

I'm not suggesting anything.

Pakistan has seemingly been cozying up to the Chinese as of late.  China would certainly seem to have an interest in having Pakistani ports available to them.  China and India are not buddies.

I don't see Pakistan as exclusively having a USA or jihadist security enhancement choice.

So much for the Obama is soft on terrorists mantra.

It's not a theory.  It's utter, pure, Rosie O'Donnell/Michael Moore, et al drivel.  What frightens me most is that they would be somebody's primary source of credible information.

"If people carry guns, there will be murders over parking spaces and neighborhood basketball games."

Well it sounds like he hit the nail on the head with this one.  Is the author a DC native?

I have seen an article (I'll see if I can find it) which intelligently suggested that we should think more in terms of Arab than Muslim.  Turkey is not Arab, Iran is not Arab, Pakistan (which has had bouts of democracy) is not Arab.?

As I was preparing that last response I found myself with a nagging thought about both Iran and Turkey that I could not put my finger on.  That both of these nations had reached a level of advancement (at least by Western standards) that other mid-east players had not arrived at.  Perhaps you just answered my internal question.

Regarding Pakistan, my only thought at the moment is thank God Musharraf is its leader.  He strikes me as somebody who is able to think globally at a level that rivals or exceeds many other national leaders, including of the Western world.  Frankly I wish my President were as bright as him. 

At the risk of getting myself in trouble on my first post, nonetheless, there will never be peace for Israel with its nighbors.  Israel's neighbors seek nothing less than the destruction of Israel, if not the outright extermination of all Jews.  The best Israel can ever hope for is a detente, the type that exists with Egypt (bought and paid for by the USA every year).  This detente exists only because of Israel's military prowess demonstrated several times over the past half century.  However, with the recent survival success of Hizballah against the fury of the IDF, the invincibility of Israel had taken a serious shot, and the contenders may start lining up once again.

The fact that Israel is a democracy is of no moment whatsover to its Arab neighbors.  Democracy is not a concept they value or appear to even be capable of valuing when so many have thrown their lot in with a 6th century mindset.  Their basic religion does not tolerate any other religious views whatsoever.  Women, at least in the Islamic dominated cultures, are relegated to the status of a dog.  True democracy (that which gives rise to true individual rights recognition) cannot even start to exist with such an imbalance.  The failure of democracy to take true hold in Iraq speaks volumes.  The closest Islam dominated states in the mid-East will ever come to democracy is the pseudo-democracy that exists in Egypt, which is not much better than the strongman runs the show political system in Syria.