http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7396366.stm

- Are we seeing a once formiddable alliance fall utterly apart here?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7396366.stm

- Are we seeing a once formiddable alliance fall utterly apart here?


It was never really formidable and yes. This is what happens when one makes deals with the "devil" as Bush/Cheney seemed to have a habit of doing.

"Pakistan's army has warned that the aggressive US policy will widen the insurgency by uniting the tribesmen with the Taleban."

So, we lose if we go after the terrorists, because it will unite the tribesmen with them, making them stronger. And, we lose if we rely on Pakistan to police their own territory, because they are doing little and allowing the terrorists to grow stronger.

If we pull our money out of Pakistan, in terms of trade and arms deals and whatever other agreements our treaty with them includes, they will surely be able to turn to the Chinese or Russians for a similar arrangement.

Dealing with these folks over there is a lose - lose situation.

Just another in our long line of self-created enemies. This time, they have F-16s (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/US_faces_the_F-16s_it_supplied_Pakistan/articleshow/3482718.cms)!

There was no way this was going to last. We only had an alliance b/c of how close they were to our targets and like everything else in the world we make promises half ass them, arm them with things they can use against us, and then it falls to shit when our attention turns elsewhere.

/crack

U.S.-led troops retreat after Pakistani forces fire warning shots: officials

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/09/15/pakistan-us.html


Cheers,

The alliance was basically:

We pay you alot of money, you pretend to help us.

Wait, you mean giving despots massive amounts of military bribes and then violating their territorial sovereignty as often as you feel like even though you know it infuriates the despots and the public wasn't a well thought through plan?

Golly gee, say it ain't so.

LMAO Malse,

well thought through plan?


With less than six months to go why would they start now??

It was never close. Our administration threatened to bomb them back into the stone age (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5369198.stm) if they didn't cooperate with our invasion of Afghanistan. We also bribed them many hundreds of millions of dollars and in the end, Musharraf (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pervez_Musharraf) got tossed out of office in Pakistan. It took threats by Saudi Arabia (who also bribed the Pakistanis by subsidizing the price of oil in Pakistan) to keep them from prosecuting the guy and then executing him (maybe in that order, maybe not), it is likely that he'll spend the rest of his life in exile in Saudi Arabia.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7628890.stm

- Little update.

I sent that to a friend this morning and sighed - the message came back: "that whole part of the world is a writeoff for us". And since all we ever cared about over there was securing the oil pipelines in the first place, it seems particularly poignant that all we could do this week (other than watch our banking system collapse) was whine and play petulant dirty pool about the German/Swedish new agreement with Russia to build a 1200km natural gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea to supply Northern Europe and the UK...

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,579677,00.html

Europe is split into four groups when it comes to Russia:
- Those who only care about gas and oil, and nothing else, ie Germany.
- Those who want to hurt Russia because they're either afraid, ie the Baltics, or angry, ie Britain.
- Those who don't care about the response, as long as it's united, ie France.
- Those who think they can control Russia because they're best friends, ie Silvio Berlusconi.

It's fun over here :P

In an effort to get non-election threads going, can any one make sense of this quote for me. :)

"Just as we will not let Pakistan's territory to be used by terrorists for attacks against our people and our neighbors, we cannot allow our territory and our sovereignty to be violated by our friends," Zardari said Thursday. "Unilateral actions of great powers should not inflame the passions of allies."

Umm, frends, really friends. if we were truly your friends you'd trust enough to let us pursue these bastards hiding in your damn country. Have a bad feeling we're headed down 29 miles of bad road with Pakistan in the coming months especially if the geezer and his third wife are elected.....oops, shouldn't have mentioned the election, sorry.:devil

In an effort to get non-election threads going, can any one make sense of this quote for me. :)



Umm, frends, really friends. if we were truly your friends you'd trust enough to let us pursue these bastards hiding in your damn country. Have a bad feeling we're headed down 29 miles of bad road with Pakistan in the coming months especially if the geezer and his third wife are elected.....oops, shouldn't have mentioned the election, sorry.:devil

when we drop a bomb In his country and it kills innocent people, friend or no friend, they have to react or people will have the leaders head!

Pakistan is not a friend of the US; they are an ally that collects a check on the first of the month to keep them smiling in our direction. Unfortunately, now that they have nuclear capability, and the security of those weapons is doubtful with the terrorists living within their borders, we are going to be forced to maintain this pseudo-friendly relationship and continue budgeting tax-payer monies for these 'allies'.

Umm, frends, really friends. if we were truly your friends you'd trust enough to let us pursue these bastards hiding in your damn country. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080926/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_us

I disagree. This has been one of the key flaws on the 'war on terror.' We marched uninvited into a sovereign nation, then looked shocked when the occupation didn't go as planned. "Suspicions" of terrorism are not reason enough to parade through someone else's backyard. This seems like such an easy situation to diffuse. The US says, "Oh, very sorry about that, we respect you, thanks for your help, we'll stay back from your boarders." Pushing shit like this is how world wars get started.

'Umm, frends, really friends. if we were truly your friends you'd trust enough to let us pursue these bastards hiding in your damn country.'

- I have to agree with Kanyli, no ally has the right to drop bombs and launch campaigns in an allied country. I'm sure Britain has terrorist cells hiding out here somewhere, but that doesn't mean you should be allowed to unleash B-52s.

- I have to agree with Kanyli, no ally has the right to drop bombs and launch campaigns in an allied country. I'm sure Britain has terrorist cells hiding out here somewhere, but that doesn't mean you should be allowed to unleash B-52s.

Are you saying you do not trust our pin-point accuracy, laser guided weaponry?

I'm sure Britain has terrorist cells hiding out here somewhere, but that doesn't mean you should be allowed to unleash B-52s.


Yea that would be a poor reason. now if ya wanna talk things like the Spice girl's, Oasis and Boy George. thats a whole new can of Biscuits!

Yea that would be a poor reason. now if ya wanna talk things like the Spice girl's, Oasis and Boy George. thats a whole new can of Biscuits!


Wasn't 'The Spice Girls' the nickname given to Boy George and George Michael?


Anyway, send those two, along with the five Spice Girls, to Pakistan for a cultural exchange.

'Yea that would be a poor reason. now if ya wanna talk things like the Spice girl's, Oasis and Boy George. thats a whole new can of Biscuits!'

- I can only agree and yield to that argument /bow