Pakistan has outed our station chief. The military says any American plane or copter in it's airspace will be shot down. There is a large portion of the Pakistan population that want the U. S . out of Pakistan. The intel dept. in Pakistan has been outed that so called retired intel officers were protecting and supporting obl. The military has been humiliated by not picking up the copters violating pakistan's airspace. The government has to quiet it's obl supporting population, explain it's inability to secure it's airspace, explain why it's intel has been involved in hiding obl to the U. S. and try to keep it's government from getting a no confidence vote. You can bet that the U. S. has been putting pressure on the Pakistan government because of the windfall of info found in obl's compound. I'm sure there was lots of payoffs to pakistan's intel chiefs and army generals. How do you think this will turn out? What if we find some other top target and our plane or copter is shot down by a a a pakistan surface to air missile? Where is this relationship going and can the paki government stay in power because of it's U. S. support?
It's complicated and we need each other right now. We cannot support our forces in Afghanistan without Pakistani supply lines and airspace. They cannot afford to lose US military aid or they will lose any upcoming war with India. Neither nation trusts each other and people at home despise each other. We need to wrap up our ground commitment in Afghanistan, at which point we no longer need Pakistan logistically. Then we hold all the cards. And we must wait until some things straighten themselves out in Pakistan. There is clearly a major split between the educated, western-oriented middle and upper classes and the large illiterate, desperately poor underclass which is being radicalized. Just like Iran, these things will work themselves out the way they always do. Revolutions, civil wars, coups, and secessions.
I need to review some terminology but I think the proper phrase is "preemptive war". Is this considered a defensive action or not? I thought wars of aggression were supposed to be illegal, according to international law. When are you allowed to launch a "preemtive war"? think I butchered the spelling here...
It is if you are the preemptor, such Japan attacking the United States at Pearl Harbor. To the receiving nation, preemption is always regarded as a "sneak attack". In Korea, China was never attacked. China moved into Korea to support its weaker ally, North Korea.
I just used your analogy. Comparing individual rights to geopolitics is apples and oranges. Attack is offensive, not defensive. A defending force can counter-attack as a part of an overall defensive strategy. In this case, though, there was nothing preemptive for the Chinese. The US was already engaged with a separate nation. Also, there's no such thing as a preemptive war. A nation can conduct a preemptive strike(s) against another nation which can/will inevitably lead to war. War is an extension of politicy.
The chinese viewed north Korea as a buffer state aginst a perceived western imperialist stronghold in south Korea. The Chinese had been dominated by many diffrent powers in it's recient past. Just as the ussr used the Warsaw pact countries as a buffer to the west, china used north korea the same. When they had seen that buffer state disappearing they thought they had no choice but defend that buffer from the outside world. It actually worked out for them. Even though the USA had no imperialist notion aginst them, in their eyes if north Korea fell they were next.
Back on the topic of Pakistan , does anyone else have grave concerns in regard to the paki nukes? If the army and intel forces of Pakistan will protect obl, would these same players give away a nuke to use aginst us? I think if a nuke would be used aginst us by terrorist, it will have come from one stolen from Pakistan. The same group that hid obl would be the ones that would give one to the terrorist. I have no faith in Pakistan what so ever. If another war between India and Pakistan ever erupts , I hope India completely destroys Pakistan and turns it into a glass top desert for a thousand years.
The Pakistani nukes are intended for India. Pakistan is obsessed with India. They have no delivery system to hit America. They will never use them for the same reason nobody else does . . . they are deterrents. Pakistan is unlikely to engage in a war with the US that they cannot possibly win. Not every radical muslim has the agenda of attacking the US. Only Al Qaeda, really. They are extremely unlikely to give control of a nuclear weapon to a terrorist group because they lose control at that point and it could be used against anyone including them. They have no desire at all for a terror group to use a nuclear weapon against the US with Pakistan's return address on it. One Trident submarine in the Indian Ocean could rain nuclear explosions on Pakistan and they know it. Pakistan has played this very badly. They wanted to end up in control of Afghanistan when the US pulls out and so have played all sides against each other including harboring the Taliban and possibly Al Qaeda. Why? Paranoia about India. Now they run the serious chance of pushing the US from their side to India's side in the region. India has not threatened us. They have more ties with American than Pakistan, they are not muslim, and they are a democracy, unlike Pakistan.
These are all rational thoughts of a sane man that isn't consumed with religous hate. The crazy Muslim death to the infidels types with plenty of cash and a chip on their shoulder scare me. It wouldn't take very much for a nuke to disapear during a time of government unrest. There are people that would gladly nuke our azz if they had a bomb and I'm sure their is a Muslim nut with a bag of cash trying to get one now. I had thought the paki army was led by professional officers but now I don't believe that the army is in total control of it's leaders. Obl was found next door to their version of west point. That tells me the military was protecting him. If they want the ultimate revenge, I can see a tatical nuke being given to the Taliban to use on an American base in afganistan to drive out the infidals. Then the pakis will say it wasn't theirs. India was trying to make them look bad. It's far fetched I know, but anything is possible when religion is involved in a Muslim country that see obl as a sort of profit- that we killed.
