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Banglar Lathial My prime concern is whether the Russians can sell us technology in a secured manner.
And if they can assure us that, then there shouldn't be any problem.
By the way, China is a big and influential country unlike Bangladesh. Additionally, its Su-30MKK's and MK2's are a bit inferior to that of India's MKI's.
Do you know why Russia doesn't sell offensive platforms to Pakistan? It's very simple! India is the most important military customer for Russia, and they'll never risk losing that kind of customer.
If Bangladesh does indeed acquire any weapon from Russia to counter Indian influence, India will always have an edge simply because of the nature of their military relationship. The Russians are no fools, mate.
Bangladesh is a small country, and it will need to ensure every edge it can possibly gain over India. And Russia is simply not a reliable source.
Of-course, Russians would like money. But giving us an edge is something else entirely. Remember, we are a small country.
Russia and China do generally cooperate together against NATO, but that is a different affair. India wants to keep the neighborhood such that it runs on its own terms. And not on the host countries.
Simply put, we need to keep a low profile while ensuring that we handle things on our own terms. And not on India's.
Being militarily hostile toward India is the last thing we'd want to do for the time being. There are many other factors for Bangladesh to address India's rising influence. Not just military.
And please, mind your language
No problems, I understand your concerns, and although some of them are valid, I think many of them are invalid.
Nowhere do I say that Bangladesh should rely on Russia as the primary source of weapons, but this so called "Indian" influence is overblown.
What's with all this "small country" nonsense? Does Bangladesh have the world's eighth largest population or not? Even those same Westerners that created acronyms like BRIC and other nonsense, did they include Bangladesh in Next Eleven or not (granted BAL ruined much of those prospects but who is to say things won't turn around with capable leadership, intelligent policies and wise decision making??
Secondly, Russia does not sell weapons to Pakistan because of Pakistan's own actions and failures. Pakistan and Turkey are amongst those states that were pro-American puppets during most of the 'cold war', they could not give two hoots to those inept Indians.
China is a far more potent military power than Pakistan X 10, and Russia sold plenty of "higher quality and higher quantity" of weapons to China. That fake country created by Britain is just a Russian client and nothing more. Have you seen how that 'aircraft carrier' has been delayed indefinitely and prices have been hiked numerous times by Russians? They play with "Indians" knowing fully well the incompetence of their client, not vice versa.
Of-course, Russians would like money. But giving us an edge is something else entirely. Remember, we are a small country.
Nonsensical defeatist mentality. Bangladesh is world's eight most populous country, and in 1971, had more people than West Pakistan.
Russians can not be trusted, that is about the only thing I can agree with, but nobody should put all their eggs in one basket. We do not have to counter the Hindutva radicals alone, we also have another tree dwelling troglodyte regime to deal with.
Russia and China do generally cooperate together against NATO, but that is a different affair. India wants to keep the neighborhood such that it runs on its own terms. And not on the host countries.
We should not pay any attention to whatever that illiterate country wants, they even want to re-establish their prehistoric Ram Rajya and create some Hanuman temple or some other bizarre form of atavism suiting their culture.
Now that we agree that China and Russia do work against NATO, and it is also clear that China is the most favourable source of weapons for Bangladesh, we have not many points of contention.
You need to stop viewing Bangladesh's situation through "Indian" or Pakistani experiences with China and Russia. None of them can obtain weapons from both these sources because of their international political affiliations and history, that does not affect us in anyway.
Simply put, we need to keep a low profile while ensuring that we handle things on our own terms. And not on India's.
Being militarily hostile toward India is the last thing we'd want to do for the time being. There are many other factors for Bangladesh to address India's rising influence. Not just military.
It's them who have initiated hostility - remember Peelkhana massacre and reports in their media, even suggesting that BAL head honcho should be rescued from BD if necessary?
We do not need to rush into any project, but we can not dilly dally with them either. It's of utmost importance for BD to strengthen its military offensive and defensive capabilities.
'Military power' is just one component of a comprehensive diplomatic effort. Diplomacy can never be conducted on a level basis without any 'cards' in your hands. Military might is one such card, supporting freedom fighters in all their restive 'states' is another. Forming active alliance with China is another, and leveraging on "Muslim world" is another - Bangladesh is a part of the Muslim world, not a part of the Hindu world.
To our (south) east lies Indonesia and Malaysia, leverage those connections; to our west, lies all the oil rich countries, provide profitable avenues for investment, grants and returns, those 'swashbuckling' Emirs will be rushing in on their gold-plated private jets to pour billions of their surplus earnings. Our policymakers need to know how to attract that cash, just chanting same old "Muslim Brother hood" will not cut it with them (when most of them are American stooges).
Muslim world has more people than that dump of a country intent on establishing a terror state in South Asia with Chanakyabad as its state policy. So, "we" are not small - it's upto us to leverage that connection. Likewise, China has more people (and more of every other important item) than that dump, and it's upto us to leverage that relationship.
I agree with some of your other concerns, like military power being only one component of overall diplomatic leverage, and Russia being not very trustworthy.
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