February 24, 2005, Patriot Games
From Pakistan (because, hey, why should we find out what the hell our government is up to from our own freaking media?), we get this report from the Dawn newspaper on the fact that our proposed sale of Patriot Missiles (good old American anti-ballistic missile technology) to India is... being protested by Pakistan's Foreign Office as... likely to start a regional arms race.
In some sense, we can see Pakistan's point: why go through all the trouble of getting your own nuclear weapons if that irritating regional power nearby that you want to use them on plans on defending against them? On the other hand, given that the Patriot Missles have a perfect somewhat spotty record of actually working
(they were last used extensively during Gulf War I, where nonetheless, some Saddam scuds still made it through to targets in Israel and Saudi Arabia), one wonders what Pakistan is so upset about? Pervez, baby: let the Indians waste their money on this s***!
I understand our thinking on this: all those mundane customer service functions that we've shipped over to Bangalore and Chenai have to be paid for somehow, so if the Indians want to buy our anti-missile technology, why should we complain? (It's this sort of logic that will eventually force us to break down and start selling similar technology to China. And Iran. And North Korea. At some point.)
All isn't beer, skittles and samosas in the local South Asian arms race front: the Dawn piece notes, among other things, that new bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, two points on either side of the India/Pakistan "line of control" within [Jammu and] Kashmir province. One of the issues involved in making this bus line a reality is (I kid you not) landmine clearance along the bus route. (We only joke about these things here in Brooklyn.)
Just part of that wide world out there that periodically lets us know it's out there, even if we'd rather pretend it isn't...
Comments
Maybe, then, we should be selling this stuff to Pakistan, too. Only, when we do, I'd like to know in advance so I can buy some stock in the company that make's 'em.
At any rate, if we don't sell them this shit the Russians will. And if that happens then our strategic alliance with India (I read we have one) is damaged insofar as we lose the capability to intercept missiles from China or, God forbid, from Iran/North Korea (in the not-to-distant future given the liberal penchant for apathy with regard to dealing with douchebag regimes).
Furthermore, I get the feeling we're getting fed up dicking around with Musharraf. The guy just ain't puttin' out. This sale is gonna tighten the screws on Musharraf's life and someone, somewhere, seems to believe that's not a bad thing to do.
Posted by Jihad Jay at February 25, 2005 3:00 AM
Good points all, Jay. We should seriously be assessing all of our international relations most carefully, and the Musharaff regime-- hardly "the democracy" we seem to be touting these days-- should be carefully scrutinized most of all; given its nuclear weapons bazaar (where Iran and N.K. bought their stuff from), its ongoing tensions with giant democracy India, and its seeming inability to capture anyone all that important in AQ despite a consensus that OBL et al. are IN PAKISTAN, our knee-jerk support of Musharaff should, indeed, be questioned.
As I alluded to somewhere else, the decisions we make that DO NOT involve going to war, spending lives and billions of dollars count just as much (sometimes more) in the effectiveness of our policies...
Posted by the talking dog at February 25, 2005 9:00 AM
It's been such a trying week. Won't someone touch my Mr. Wankie?
Posted by Desperate at February 25, 2005 8:43 PM
I knew a policy wonk named Mr. Wankie.
Posted by William Bubba Yeats at February 26, 2005 6:06 PM
I knew a policy wonk named Mr. Wankie.
Posted by William Bubba Yeats at February 26, 2005 6:06 PM
I agree that non-military decisions count greatly in the effectiveness of our policies.
As a warblogger I must not lose site of this because even diplomacy has obvious practical applications much of the time.
When competing interests come into play, however, my first instinct is to observe the biggest picture I can find.
In spite of what I said, I'm still not sure that selling missiles to India is a good idea...it's a bitch...if we do we risk stirring the pot - if we don't the pot risks getting stirred.
If we do, what stops Musharraf retaliating by handing a small nuke to some worthless piece of shit willing to detonate it in downtown L.A.?
This is the Age we live in. Nothing seems too ridiculous...well, except for the two idiots who posted after you did.
Posted by Jihad Jay at February 27, 2005 3:05 AM