It's Yet Another Pakistani Nuclear Anniversary Today

Masadi: You need to wipe that foam off your mouth when you write. If it drips on the keyboard, it could cause it to short circuit.

tahmed writes "and so is some really lowly job like shoeshine boy"

How come fleecing humanity as CEO of the big corporations, dressed in Armani and riding SUVs is a prestigeous job and a hardworking, doing an honest day's job shoe shiner becomes "lowly" for spineless folk like tahmed?

No Riaz, my point is no that you are defending or not.
My point is about development ofeconomies with limited resources. There are four or five models that are available, Chinese is one of them, Turkish, Korean, Taiwanese and Latin American are other. Turkish and Latin American countries printed money, Chinese did not, and India not doing that either. Currency devaluations and inflation in Turkey and Latin America were legendary. There is just no short cut.

Regarding Pakistan, India rivalry. I am with you.

tahmed of course you would agree with Okhla, you would gladly sell Pakistan and the world for the desires of your masters- who btw started this war, this farce the Global War on terrorism is not only America's war, it is America's war on the world in its methodology that has by FORCE changed the agenda of the world from pressing issues like hunger and poverty to this BS about terrorism where the nations that do not want to participate in this farce are destabalized using the all too convenient CIA funded thugs and forced to join giving new elaboration to the Bush's BS "you are either with us or with the terrorists". No moron, YOU ARE the terrorist, so you want to say, "you are either with us or with us"-

Re: # 406
Anil, I am not defending Pakistan's record on outsized military spending, just pointing out that India has set the wrong tone as the the bigger nation in the neighborhood.

Neither Pakistan nor India can or should continue this stupid arms race, with India using China as its excuse, and Pakistan citing India's current arms buildup, the largest in its history.

Both need to recognize, in words and deeds, that people are their biggest resource who must be developed and made much more productive.

And don't even talk about China, it has left both India and Pakistan in the dust.
Riaz Haq, PakAlumni Worldwide

okla400: couldnt agree more. i was merely pointing to the fact that things HAVE changed following the swat deal - the true face of the taliban has been exposed. now people talk about putting an end to the taliban - not merely tolerating them, or giving them extra-constitutional powers to "negotiate" with the government as they were. and i am all for that. the taliban started this war, pakistan should end this war when the last taliban is dead, captured, or clean shaven and with a real job (even if the job reflects his low level of education and skills, and so is some really lowly job like shoeshine boy, masadi's boss, and indian IT programmer, or something like that).

Riaz:

Do you know who said that "we would eat grass for 1,000 years, but we will have nuclear bomb" (or something like this)?

It seems your memories are long on India, and very short on Pakistan. You need to change it, if you want to make any significant contribution in your country.

On the largest country statement. Do you know what China did to control its resources to develop coastal China and that too near Hong Kong?

Let me give you a clue, they did not pay farm workers, and even restricted movement of workers from rural into coastal area?

I think you need to be a serious student of development economies. BTW, you, unless you lived in abundance, must have done that for yourself in your family when resources were / are limited.

Don't you think it will be better this way, than the calptomaniac ways in some countries?

Re: # 402
I think the admiration for US and Israel, even envy, is very widely and deeply felt, specially among the Indian middle class who make policy decisions. So I wouldn't rule out the possibility of India becoming more like Israel of its region.

It has already begun to side with US on crucial issues, such Iran's nuke program.
Riaz Haq, PakAlumni Worldwide

Re: # 400
I see hunger and poverty and lack of opportunity as the root cause of most of the ethnic, religious and other forms of violence. And it is further complicated when nations with the largest number of poor and hungry choose to spend more on military than on fighting poverty, hunger and disease.

In fact, letting millions die of hunger each year, is what Amatya Sen calls "quiet violence", a form of ongoing violence that claims far more lives than all of the other causes of violence combined.
Riaz Haq, PakAlumni Worldwide

okhla #400 this CIA inspired rant will just not cut it. Your crying over the taxes that 0.0001% of Pakistanis have to pay when over 80% don't get adequate food due to living below $2 a day seems like an agenda driven pathetic attempt at getting Americas concerns that help its ultra rich at the top of the agenda while sacrificing tens of millions of Pakistanis- wont cut it moron.

TNITC masadi

Riaz:

As I said, Indians are a bit more sensible than to fall into the US trap, although I think that that "trap" is no longer available as Americans are thinking more in terms of a bipolar world divided between themselves and China. There is serious talk of G-2 to supercede G8 and G20. India, too, is thinking of China as a close economic partner and less as a rival. Maybe, if through some miracle, Indians can get their act together and start to develop at a Chinese pace, they may start to think of being rival to China but, as of now, Beijing dur ast.

Re: # 396 riaz sahib,
i understand what u r saying. my main concern is that one comes to a point beyond which we are looking at the law of diminishing returns. at that point, we r simply talking past each other and further complicating,instead of helping, the already complex and difficult situations.

so unless there is some shift in mindsets on both sides, may be we should just give it a rest (beyond, of course, setting the record straight when ridiculous claims are made against the state and the people of pakistan).

just my 2 cents worth ...

Masadi, Riaz & Tahmed,

Fantastic!! Simply Fantastic !!!

So let us all continue to ignore that :

1. In June 2009, some of our own countrymen are supposed to pay medieval taxes like Jiziya and we , politically or judicially, as a nation, are helpless to do anything about it.

2. Our police/ ISI buildings are blownup in broad daylight and we are helpless to do anything about it.

3. We find the hunger statistics for India more important to discuss. Why can we not concentrate on getting/saving our own homeland rather than waste breath/energy on irrelevant rhetoric?

4. Why do we continue to ignore the elephants in the room?

Time to get the perspective right, bros.

Re: # 397
DM,
Beyond warms and fuzzies, I do see long-term convergence of US and Indian interests in the region, mainly driven by the shared fear of the Chinese. Japan and Korea are also suspicious of the Chinese behemoth, and may receive US encouragement of their fears. This US-induced rivalry will essentially prevent the emergence of Asian Union, which would be a perceived win for US, but not necessarily for India or other Asian nations.
Riaz Haq, PakAlumni Worldwide

KHYBER#397:

I do not know what evidence the Indians have provided re. Saeed. In any case, I would be surprised if Indians know anything about Saeed that Pakistanis, esp. ISI, do not know. He is their prized asset and has never done anything against Pakistan. In all probability, he would prove useful to the Pakistanis in dealing with the "good taleban" in Sarhad. If you see the quote I gave of the Prosecutor, he did not say that there was no evidence against him but that no evidence was necessary.
Pakistan gains nothing by going after Saeed who is quite popular for his charitable activities, if not for his lashkari duties.

Riaz:

What you said was true of Bush's America but not of Obama's America. Obama has a different worldview and a very different international agenda from that of Bush.

You may call it wishful thinking on my part but I do not share your views about India. I think that the Indians would fiercely protect their independence in foreign sphere. MMS would say similar warm and fuzzy words when he visits Russia. Indians would certainly have strategic alliance with the US when it suits them but not at the cost of losing their independence.