Yes, this is precisely the kind of foolishness I meant. The sort of cleverness that keeps revelling in getting out of serious trouble, without ever bothering to figure out or to think about how that trouble happened in the first place.
- If Pakistan had played its cards well, and had not behaved in an idiotic manner in 1947, there would never even have been hostilities.
- If Pakistan had not played the 'non-state actor' card in 1947, and fallen in love with the idea, it might not have tried playing the same card every time, in every hour of need,
- whether in 1965, in the form of SSG troops sent in to masquerade as ordinary citizens rising up in revolt;
- or in 1971, encouraging the Bihari Mussalman and the Bengali Islamist to join and butcher dissident Bangladeshis;
- or against the Soviets, joining in and attacking the Afghan state on the grounds of religious rescue of a friendly nation, and arming the mujahedin to the hilt with some of the American arms received, all the while proclaiming piously their complete disinvolvement with events across the border;
- or in 1999, pretending blithely that all was well, and that some hot-headed activists had taken completely unilateral and disconnected advice; or in Mumbai, again, butchering civilians in cold blood and absolving themselves of all responsibility;
- or by hiding OBL next to their cadet school and being wholly astonished by his detection and execution by an American raiding force which came through and went back without any let or hindrance;
- or today, propping up the Taliban with matchsticks on all sides, and again proclaiming even more loudly than on other occasions that they were not involved, that the Taliban leadership may or may not be present in Pakistani cities, but Pakistan had no knowledge about it;
- If Pakistan had not practiced militarism as a key factor of their national identity, and
- allowed their generals to subvert the process of governance, through the instrumentality of an officer found unfit for front-line service and protected by an extension of his career as well as the unfortunate death of the best candidate for the job; an officer who promoted himself Field Marshal without having displayed any leadership in war;
- allowed half of its total existence since independence to pass under military rule;
- allowed one war-losing dictator to be succeeded by another;
- allowed a sickening sycophant and an obscurantist to kill the legally elected prime minister and take power for himself, and possibly ruining Pakistan's prospects to stay on the civilian path;
- tried to adjust the line of control in its own favour, and been hoist by its own petard;
- allowed bizarre schemes to be proposed and implemented to correct earlier setbacks, without taking into account a broader and more universal disapproval of the fairly obvious adventuring displayed;
- allowed more dictators to come in by supporting the clinging to power of a particularly short-sighted general who had already caused humiliation to the state;
- continued to weaken and undermine the civilian leadership, without taking the vital leadership role themselves;
- If Pakistan had not displayed unbounded, unlimited aggression towards its neighbours, east or west, and I could add more than 10 examples of this behaviour, then
then there would have been no reason to fear anyone, no reason to think about your neighbour being seven or eight times bigger. There would have been no reason to become a nuclear power. Pakistan wantonly sought out danger and made enemies, to east and to west, and now tries to take credit for provoking war and making war, and then defending herself.
Perhaps that thought, that feeling of inferiority and dealing with shoddy goods is in your own mind, since I never mentioned anything of the kind. Nor did the living standards of Indian people come into my comment: again, probably a private nightmare of your own.
What I did mention was that you are being thrown a fribble, and the long-term consequences of this economic equivalent of a lollipop will cost you a lot. As other smart initiatives of the Pakistani administration has cost a lot.
That is precisely what I am saying. You are well on the way to becoming North Korea. Congratulations on your statesmanship and foresight.
Yes, indeed. Yet another bogey that you are creating, by irritating your former BFF and provoking them at every step. It was these allies, who are still formally your allies, whom Pakistanis used to cite as helping to ensure their survival against India, for instance, and Russia, when Russia had entered Afghanistan and was breathing down the neck of Pakistan. Now you seem to be hinting that these mighty friends are about to be provoked by yet another misadventure, which you will no doubt describe as a bold move for political independence, and you have better friends in place already.
Quem Deus perdere vult, Dementat prius.
You have hit gold. Dani is gold.
He was a scholar in BHU who was insulted and told to go to Pakistan, and he did. There he became their brightest star in history and archaeology.
Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. As the bloody Sangh Parivar never found out and never will.
The rest you will find beautiful; he is a very high scholar.
There is a wonderful story about his journey to South Korea. His hosts ensured that he was comfortable and left him preparing to retire to bed. In the middle of the night, they heard him shouting and rushed to his room, fearing the worst. They found him holding an ordinary flask of water, on which there was an incription in Korean. "What has happened? What is the matter?" they asked fearfully. "I can read this!", the great man shouted, "I do not know the words, but I know what they sound like!" And he proceeded to pronounce the words, to the utter astonishment of the Korean hosts, who recognised the sounds immediately.
Dani was adept in Brahmi script, and had recognised the Korean script as a variant of Brahmi. He later pieced together his midnight discovery and found that the Korean script had indeed been adapted from Brahmi.
But that was the kind of scholar he was.
You lucky man.
For the rest,
Yes, this is precisely the kind of foolishness I meant. The sort of cleverness that keeps revelling in getting out of serious trouble, without ever bothering to figure out or to think about how that trouble happened in the first place.
Source:
https://defence.pk/threads/china-sa...h-china-sea-clash.437956/page-3#ixzz4Da7vdjjJ
