Things have gone bizzare in Pakistan. After denying its role and then leaking stories to the press that the Mumbai massacre was planned in Bangladesh, Dubai and a "European country", Pakistan is now saying there is insufficient proof for taking action and asking India for more "proof".
Strangely, at the same time, an Al-Qaeda operative is warning India against taking action against Pakistan.
A terrorist organisation is saying not to attack the country that is hosting it.
This was similar to the threat that the Pakistani Taliban of Behtullah Mehsud gave when he said that his men would fight shoulder-to-shoulder with the Pakistani Army against any Indian attack.
Who is really the Pak army? A professional military or a crazy islamic jihadi outfit?
Think about this for a minute.
This is like Osama bin Laden warning Russia against attacking the US, even though he just attacked the US!!!!
I thought Pakistani Army/ISI was fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda elements in their midst.
But looks like they have been just fooling the world and indeed they are on the same side.
India needs to take this warning very seriously indeed.
It is a matter of time before the next attack occurs on India, maybe just before the Lok Sabha elections.
What should be India's response?
I think it is time to take the attack to the enemy's camp. And this means fighting them were they are based, rather than waiting for them to strike in India.
India needs to send in troops to be based in Afghanistan, across the Durand line and take out whoever is enemical to India like this Al Qaeda member giving open threats.
Pakistan only seems to understand one language - that of military power.
They are not going to take any action on the Mumbai attacks and any further delay on India's part is only going to embolden them to keep giving India a thousand cuts.
How long will the Indian elephant take these taunts? Its been almost 20 years since the Kashmir insurgency was started by the ISI.
Its obvious from today's statement that they want to attack India's economic interests and this has to seen as an effort to prevent India from rising too high economically for Pak to catch up.
India needs to realize that a war has been thrusted on them - even though it is undeclared officially. Encircling the enemy and taking the battle into their own turf is needed before this gets out of hand.
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
The New Great Game
Came across an interesting article on the "New Great Game" wherein the US, Russia, China, India, Pakistan and maybe Iran continue their struggle to gain control over the vast areas of Central Asia. That the Caspian Sea and surrounding areas contain vast resources of oil and other mineral wealth is not in doubt. The issue is who will have access to that wealth.
Russia surely wants to regain the greatness of its past, be it Bolshevik USSR or even the Tsarist version of it. Already it has flexed its muscles in Georgia, giving both the puny Georgians and through them, the US a bloody nose and a clear warning not to interfere in their "near abroad".
The US of course will have none of it and will continue their antagonizing strategy of encircling Russia by inviting Georgia and Ukraine into NATO, like they did with Estonia and Latvia. I wont be surprised if they extend this to the Central Asian states, though their struggles in Afghanistan might prevent this.
Chinese intentions of course is a mystery as usual. Of course, they dont want any power to come near them. They quite like the status quo with a weak Russia and US bogged down in Afghanistan, which might give them an opportunity to re-open a "Silk Route" through the Central Asian states and hope to get some influence over them via trade.
Pakistan in all likelihood would back China as they are slowly becoming a vassal state themselves and without Chinese and US support, might collapse on itself.
Afghanistan is sadly caught in the middle of this and being used by everyone as the doormat, as has been the case for over 200 years.
That leaves India to ponder how to play this great geo-political game which might be hugely important in the next few decades. It has started to dip its toes into this with the construction of the road that links the Iranian port of Chabahar with the Afghan hinterland. From there, it should have access to the vast Central Asian plains. Another effort is today's annoucement of uranium supplies from Kazakhstan, hugely important to push forward the US-India nuclear deal. From India's point of view, allying with the US would be beneficial. There will be a big hue and cry over this from the left and great crying over the loss of soverignity over India's foreign policy.
But in the overall interests of the nation, India needs to realize it needs partners to play this game. Of the great powers, China is at the polar opposite, with Russia and US as the only suitable partners. Russia being a shadow of itself and predicted to decline over the next two decades in population, really there is only the choice of the US to further India's interests there.
I would love to know other suggestions on ensuring India gets access to the resources of the Central Asian states.
PS:
Here's a good article on the links with Kazakhstan - Courting Central States
Russia surely wants to regain the greatness of its past, be it Bolshevik USSR or even the Tsarist version of it. Already it has flexed its muscles in Georgia, giving both the puny Georgians and through them, the US a bloody nose and a clear warning not to interfere in their "near abroad".
The US of course will have none of it and will continue their antagonizing strategy of encircling Russia by inviting Georgia and Ukraine into NATO, like they did with Estonia and Latvia. I wont be surprised if they extend this to the Central Asian states, though their struggles in Afghanistan might prevent this.
Chinese intentions of course is a mystery as usual. Of course, they dont want any power to come near them. They quite like the status quo with a weak Russia and US bogged down in Afghanistan, which might give them an opportunity to re-open a "Silk Route" through the Central Asian states and hope to get some influence over them via trade.
Pakistan in all likelihood would back China as they are slowly becoming a vassal state themselves and without Chinese and US support, might collapse on itself.
Afghanistan is sadly caught in the middle of this and being used by everyone as the doormat, as has been the case for over 200 years.
That leaves India to ponder how to play this great geo-political game which might be hugely important in the next few decades. It has started to dip its toes into this with the construction of the road that links the Iranian port of Chabahar with the Afghan hinterland. From there, it should have access to the vast Central Asian plains. Another effort is today's annoucement of uranium supplies from Kazakhstan, hugely important to push forward the US-India nuclear deal. From India's point of view, allying with the US would be beneficial. There will be a big hue and cry over this from the left and great crying over the loss of soverignity over India's foreign policy.
But in the overall interests of the nation, India needs to realize it needs partners to play this game. Of the great powers, China is at the polar opposite, with Russia and US as the only suitable partners. Russia being a shadow of itself and predicted to decline over the next two decades in population, really there is only the choice of the US to further India's interests there.
I would love to know other suggestions on ensuring India gets access to the resources of the Central Asian states.
PS:
Here's a good article on the links with Kazakhstan - Courting Central States
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