The Ramifications of the U.S. Foreign Policy in Asia & the Middle East

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stuka # 101

When USA cut off all aid to Pakistan in 1990 Pakistanis felt ``abandoned``. The real issue with Pakistanis is that Americans do not share their view of the world. It is hard for USA to share both on practical and moral grounds.

fardi # 102

Show me a large country with a ``clean record``

Small countries can afford to be `clean`. Then most of them are inconsequential.

If American track record was `clean` then nobody would question or suspect anything.

It is not the nation, it is their attitude!

Faridi: True enough. But the pendulum sweeps both ways. If the US withdraws from international treaties and minds it`s own business it is still criticized. The honest truth is that due to sheer size and power, the US is criticized even when it pursues legitimate self interest that other countries do all the time.

#99 by bbabu on May 21, 2003 3:24pm PT

... and in USA you have people like Rumsfeld, Ridge and Ashcroft, who make everything their own business even if you sneeze half way around the world!

faridi #96

`` Canada is liberal and fair and minds her own business. It has no inclination to meddle in other peoples` affairs. ``

Being liberal or conservative has nothing to do with minding your own business. In USA you have conservatives like Buchanan who like America to mind its own business,

ali87 # 97

What is your point ? I am not a spokeperson for US government.

You made ludicrous suggestions that some how the Malaysian dinar backed by gold (you refused to say where Malaysia plans to get the gold) is a threat to the US dollar. I read the Singapore Strait Times regularly. There is a lot of news on Malaysia and Singapore. If you have visited the Penang corridor you would know they have lost thousands of manufacturing jobs to China in recent months. Facts may not count for you. Malaysia is a notch below Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea.

It is true that a lot of countries have hoarding up on dollars printed out by Uncle Sam. If China decided not to purchase dollars for their FOREX reserves US economy will be in a short term downturn. That will affect Chinese economy equally badly because they rely on the US for exports. While US pushes the dollar as a currency of choice other countries go along because they do not have other attractive choices.

#96 by faridi on May 21, 2003 6:40am PT

I think you are missing the point!!! Defending the US is in itself a path to Nirvana(Otherwise I dont see any reason why Indians should be so selfdeprecating vis a vi US) so Logic, Analysis, etc is just does not come in the picture!!

here have a look at mystical yogic flip flops by one such defender...

#82 by bbabu on May 15, 2003 10:49pm PT
YOu wrote..

The strength of the currency is a function of basic economy of the country which prints it. Malaysia`s economy is not a strong one``

I replied...

```` by your argument a kuwati dinar which was valued a few years back at much more than the US dollar means that the Kuwati economy was more stronger than the US economy. ``

and your response..

It is a meaningless statement. The value of one rupee is always greater than the value of one yen. It says nothing about relative strength of Japanese and Indian economies``



#84 by sri on May 16, 2003 8:54am PT

``Well, considering U.S is biggest importer of stuff in the whole world, every thing that they import doesn`t seem attractive at all. Be it coffee, bananas, mangos of Latin america; Electronics assemblies of Indonesia, malaysia, china, thailand, philippines; software services of India, philippines; textiles of latin america, pakistan; Nike, reebok factories of latin america, indonesia; every crappy product of china. What U.S can do is make all of these on their own if ever dollar is worth nothing.``

Sure dear... given the size of the US land, its population etc it would be the largest importer and largest .. blah blah...

However it is not unique. New figures for the europe give figures which are similar. which leads us to fact that US is as developed or undeveloped or large or unlarge as Eurpoe which seems to have a bigger GDP and smaller land area and similar population to the US.

So there seems to be nothing unique about US at least in that aspect, on the fact that Europe imports less than US, at least by your defintion it should be a symbol of strength of Europe.

the Japanese who you like deride so much are sitting on large piles of reserves even after a decade of economic downturn because of their savings which says much about their intelliegence and the US which is a Net Debtor nation. (Now dont go look at how much the govt owes, it is the private corporations which are the biggest debtors)

Sri.. Babu. India is a net importer country. If it imports are cheaper (ie in rupee terms ) then it need not be so dependent on the exports. Also since some of the goods are being imported in US not just because of the cost but because there is shortage of labour.

You can have your choice either the US increases its IT professionals or it manufacturing sector employees as so many are proud of telling that even in this difficult times the unemployment rate is only around 5%.

So where are the people!!?? to get around to doing every thing in US?

Increased automation is a choice which will only make things costlier.

Which brings me to the crux of the Issue. It is the population stupid. Pay back time for the east!!

#95 by bbabu on May 21, 2003 0:54am PT

Probably you missed the point.

Canada is liberal and fair and minds her own business. It has no inclination to meddle in other peoples` affairs. Canada is a proud nation of 30-million strong and holds its head high in the International Community. It is not a hypocrite either.

faridi #94

Canada is more liberal than USA. If Canada was 10 times more powerful than she is now, she would impose severe sanctions on Pakistan for Islamic extremism, excessive military spending, nuclear weapons program, lack of democracy etc.

Be careful for what you wish

#90 by ahmadzai on May 19, 2003 11:40am PT

Canada receives her visitors with open arms. I am glad you had a good time.

++
There is more independent and trustworthy news on international affairs coming out of Canada than from America.
++

Well, CBC and CTV`s reporting is what one can define as journalism. CNN is propaganda machinery. Canada is not giving refuge to anti-American elements. Canada is simply promoting free speech and making sure that it has tools available to protect this constitutional right.

As far as `the shameful invasion and occupation` is concerned, Canada demanded the legitimacy of such a move with UN`s backing, like all other nations. It did nothing to block US efforts. Nevertheless, it was painted as an opposer and less of a friend! :-)

But I guess, we are happy the way things are.

ali87 #92

`` Malaysian dinar is not what Im talking about. It is a gold dinar. Not a national currency backed by gold. ``

Where will Malaysians get the gold ? They do not own any large mines.

USA is not like most countries. A cheaper dollar makes US companies more competitive versus foreign counterparts. It improves the prospects of GM versus Toyota, Lucent versus Alcatel, GE versus Siemens. India or Pakistan do not have the range of products to gain any advantage. USA imports a lot of low end stuff. If a color tv costs $100 instead of $60 it does not matter to American families because of the high incomes. The only people to be adversely hit are companies that import high end products in large dollar value. The other short term impact of the dollar is rise in interest rates and decline in stock market because foreigners ask for higher premiums.

`` Dollar does reflect some of the strength of the US economy. However how much does it accurately reflect this strength. even it is over valued by say 20% this indicates that people are getting cheated out of their value. as you know even a small percentage of GDP makes a enormous difference to the health of countries. even a small percentage can have a overwelhming impact over decades. For eg. if Indian GDP gains by say 4%(over and above the regular growth due to over valuation of Indian rupee, in case India is a net importing country which does not depend much on exports) for 30 years it will make a dramatic impact on peoples lives.``

It depends on whether the country and its citizens can be productive. Over valued rupee makes Indian exports less competitive and Indian jobs are lost. Now a country like Zambia might not have the capability to export anything extra because of a devalued currency. It is a disadvantage to devalue the currency. Also countries with heavy foreign debt like Pakistan have resisted the devaluation.

The other thing about Indian trade deficit is that a lot of industrialists were over-invoicing imports and under-invoicing exports. I believe that Indian business class might have stashed up $200 billlions over 2 decades. This is a more serious problem than devaluation.

`` by your argument a kuwati dinar which was valued a few years back at much more than the US dollar means that the Kuwati economy was more stronger than the US economy. ``

It is a meaningless statement. The value of one rupee is always greater than the value of one yen. It says nothing about relative strength of Japanese and Indian economies.

`` That the countries currency reflect the strength of the economy and all curriencies naturally gravitate towards their relative economic strength is the kind of is the kind of economoic/Ideological Theology which goes unchallenged by most peoples imagination.``

countries like Japan and China have kept their currencies low versus the US dollar to fuel exports to USA. That is a deliberate choice of those governments.

ahmadzai #90

Eric Margolis of the Toronto Sun is a bigot, a Islamic fundamentalist. good riddance !!!

#82 by bbabu on May 15, 2003 10:49pm PT


Malaysian dinar is not what Im talking about. It is a gold dinar. Not a national currency backed by gold.

Dollar does reflect some of the strength of the US economy. However how much does it accurately reflect this strength. even it is over valued by say 20% this indicates that people are getting cheated out of their value. as you know even a small percentage of GDP makes a enormous difference to the health of countries. even a small percentage can have a overwelhming impact over decades. For eg. if Indian GDP gains by say 4%(over and above the regular growth due to over valuation of Indian rupee, in case India is a net importing country which does not depend much on exports) for 30 years it will make a dramatic impact on peoples lives.

by your argument a kuwati dinar which was valued a few years back at much more than the US dollar means that the Kuwati economy was more stronger than the US economy.

That the countries currency reflect the strength of the economy and all curriencies naturally gravitate towards their relative economic strength is the kind of is the kind of economoic/Ideological Theology which goes unchallenged by most peoples imagination.

Faridi:

I am impressed. So you are a real Cannuck. We visited Canada last summer for the first time in our lives, traveling from Chicago to NYC to North of Barrie in Simco County (Orilla, Midlands, Collingwood, etc.). We were mostly in that region driving on the roads less traveled. We visited Toronto only for Casa Loma, CN Tower and once for exploring Dundas from east to west. We liked Toronto from cleanliness point of view. It was much better than Chicago or NYC. Casa Loma is a good example of a person going rags from riches. We enjoyed the grandeur of its interior and its garden too.

I had thought that Canadians would be trying to breakaway the economic shackles, because slogans like `purely Canadian, Canadian Biggest..., 100% Canadian, proud to be Canadian` are very common.

I also heard that you guys had a demonstration some 20,000 strong in chilling weather conditions of March.

Why I asked the question is that I have noticed, but then I may be wrong, that lot of anti-US policy journalists, educators, etc. like Eric Margolis, have made Canada their home. There is more independent and trustworthy news on international affairs coming out of Canada than from America.

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Cannuck is a synonym for Canadian. Casa Loma is a nice spot. :-)

CANADA on US-UK
---------------
Most Canadians are against war and any type of coalition that advance that aim. Mostly people supported the demonstrations. But then again you have a few odd balls too.


PAKISTAN-INDIA Relationship
---------------------------
Most Canadians are not aware about the situation or the history of this dispute. Those who do are neutral. If I may say, Canadian are less biased and fairer than their US counterparts and seem to support what is fair.

SARS
----
SARS is no biggy. There was an initial scare. After the awareness campaign, people are very comfortable.


Canada will not be able to break from the economic dependence on the US. US is our biggest trading partner and I don`t see it happening for a long time to come.

Hope this info helps. BTW, how did you like visiting Casa Loma and Toronto in general?

faridi at # 87:

No it does not hurt at all.

Cannuck - I had always thought that it applied to British Columbia (like Vancouver Cannucks).

So you live in eastern Canada. Hmmmmmm. See if you recognize the building on my homepage :-)

If you don`t mind my asking, what are the political views of Canada on US-UK coalition on Iraq versus peace demonstrations, Pakistan and India relationship, SARS fears in Toronto, etc.?

Do you think that Canada will be able to break from the economic dependence of the USA, at least to some extent?

#86 by ahmadzai on May 17, 2003 9:47am PT

.... of Epcot centre and .....

I am a proud Cannuck. :-) Sorry if this hurts. Yes, it is not hard to pickup the Epcot Ctr.

The punch line was the irony in the WPP and identifying your location. I don`t knnow if you picked on that. I was getting the feeling that the replies were too serious and that was meant as a comic relief. But no one picked on that!


Nets
;-) Yeah baby, yeah .. bring it on .............

faridi @ # 72

``Ahmad Zai Uncle: It says (in your profile) that you are constantly relocating residences from one place to another. And the period during which you are not relocating, you are feverishly looking for places to relocate to. Based on this I have a question: Are you in the Witness Protection Program?``

hahaha Bhateeji, good question.

But tell me first have you taken your mom`s permission to play on the net?

;)

``NB: Tell me that`s not EPCOT Center (FL) in the picture you posted? ``

It is. Aha, at least 1 American recognized it. You made my day, my hour, my minute, my second.

:-)

ladies and gentlemen -- Rumification of US Foreign (Invasion) Policy --

Riyadh.... Casablanca .......

where is that WMD LIAR president -- `al qaida is on the run`..... `we have vanquished the Al Qaida`.....

LIAR LIAR ur pant is on fire...

the credibility of the United States stands shattered all around the world

-- now NOBODY believes anything this war criminal cabal of Deliberately Decieving Donkeys from the White House -- says or does

ali87 :

If depreciating dollar can only mean good times US of A and bad times for the third world countries who are dependent on US importing their stuff. I have the following in another thread....

If dollar is de-valued these are some of the things that could happen :

Suddenly everything will be a lot costlier in the U.S. Prices will inflate. A pen that costs $1 will be $2. People will not have enough money to buy stuff. Economy tanks. OR ``so it seems``. Now why did I say that ? Well, considering U.S is biggest importer of stuff in the whole world, every thing that they import doesn`t seem attractive at all. Be it coffee, bananas, mangos of Latin america; Electronics assemblies of Indonesia, malaysia, china, thailand, philippines; software services of India, philippines; textiles of latin america, pakistan; Nike, reebok factories of latin america, indonesia; every crappy product of china. What U.S can do is make all of these on their own if ever dollar is worth nothing. After all, it has the greatest tropical climate in hawaii,florida, louisiana & Mississippi, smartest brains in silicon valley, abondoned textile and shoe factories in Maine & North dakota, greatest electronics manufacturing technology ( Texas instruments, motorola, intel, AMD) in the whole world , all kinds of abondoned factories in favor of china chinkus. Because most of the infrastructure in U.S. is in place and it has got nothing else to spend its money on. U.S.A is very much Unlike all the third world 5h!tty countries who are piggy backing on the success of america. U.S.A has got the greatest spirit of entrepreneurship in the whole F`ing world.

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ali87 # 81

The dollar is over valued. Make no mistake. It is a blue chip currency for a long time to come. It beats my imagination as to how a Malayasian dinar backed by gold could pose any threat to the dollar. Euro poses a long term challenge for the dollar. The strength of the currency is a function of basic economy of the country which prints it. Malaysia`s economy is not a strong one. It is heavily dependent on multinationals. They face fierce competition from other Asian countries.

#78 by bbabu on May 15, 2003 1:50pm PT

http://www.atimes.com/global-econ/DD11Dj01.html
US dollar hegemony has got to go
By Henry C K Liu


http://www.offnews.info/inteligencia_seguridad/dollar_euro.htm
Review: Dollar vs Euro war


by William Clark

http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_03/wallenwein040903.html
GOLD WILL WIN ``EURO vs DOLLAR`` WAR

Alex Wallenwein

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/op/2003/04/22/stories/2003042200070200.htm
The shadow war: euro vs. dollar

http://www.singlecurrency.co.uk/latest_features_eurodollar.html
The Big Fight: The Euro vs. The Dollar
Tuesday 17th August 1999

while im not saying that the dollar may collaspe in the near or even distance future a diminished role than what it has had uptil now seems to be something certainly possible.

That with political turn against the US the world has taken will see that at every opportunity in the future any country would prefer a economic system where one country calls the shots.

#78 by bbabu on May 15, 2003 1:50pm PT

exactly what is your meaning. That the IMF and World Bank and US leaders gave statements deriding Mahatir is `` a lame excuse. This sounds like a lot of anti-US baiting in the Muslim world``

which world do you live in.

Well there were a couple of articles on the Dollar vs Euro relationship and future prospects do some research on the web.

here is an article on how the dollar fared vs the Iraqi dinar in the last few weeks. I did not verify the exchange rate fluctuation but here is the story..

http://www.mises.org/fullstory.asp?control=1217

Dollar or Dinar?

by William L. Anderson

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ali87 #76

USA gets away with printing paper money because it has assets (companies, real estate, treasury bonds) to sell and a well defined legal system that treats foreign investors fairly. Tell me what assets does most Third World states have.

A lot of third world countries have gone the paper money printing route with disatrous results I may add. It leads to devastating inflation which is a crippling burden on the poor and salaried classes. It is not just financial investments that make US a world leader. It is technical and management skills too. Europe built the Airbus not only because of $$$. They have impressive engineering and manufacturing skills to go along.

While the jump in Indian textile exports will be huge it will be dwarfed by IT enabled service sector.

`` why the gold dinar is a threat to US is better addressed to the US and IMF and world bank who threatned Malaysia and rushed to saudis not to suppourt it. ``

This is a lame excuse. This sounds like a lot of anti-US baiting in the Muslim world.

The only reason for the US action is that there is a consensus among US, Japan and EU states to reduce gold holdings. That is the reason for long decline of gold prices since 1980`s.

A lot of manufacturing jobs in Malaysia are headig for China. They lost the engineering race to India. I am sure Malaysia has more serious things to worry about than a gold dinar.

#55 by bbabu on May 13, 2003 5:05pm PT

Printing paper money on fiat is something that benifits the rich and most powerful countries most notably US while at the same time depriving the poorer countries.

the myth of Inflation balancing out the exessive printing of money does not take into account the disadvantage that other countries face while doing the same thing.

While US companies are world leaders in many industires it is mainly because of the large investments required in these industries which smaller economies cannot afford. Remember such was the case in steel, car making and other industries including Telecom. Telecom saw a dip in fortunes of US companies and of late they have made a come back of sorts.
This leadership will change as the nonwestern countries become big marktets over time wihch will justify investments. I remember California Governer Davis speaking out while inagurating a Biotech park in central california that Biotech will be the next internet of US.
Remember that Japan in 1990 looked all set to gobble up US car companies. The failure of Japan to do well in the computer/ Internet industry benifited US to a very large extent and reversed US`s fortunes. Malaysia manufactures 1/3 of the worlds semiconductor and is the worlds largest exporter (albiet by US companies based in Malaysia).
With the expiry of the quota regime for textiles in US Indian textiles export is expected to jump from $1 billion to 25 billon equaling the projected IT growth or even surprassing it.
Europe had not aavation Industry to speak of Air Bus formed relatively recently took away a subustantial chunk of US business.
Changes are in the offing. That not many socites have changes to stand up to the challenge does not mean they wont in the future.

why the gold dinar is a threat to US is better addressed to the US and IMF and world bank who threatned Malaysia and rushed to saudis not to suppourt it.

#56 by Roshan on May 13, 2003 8:31pm PT

It serves to highlight imminent changes in future. we have moved from actually calling people who predict downfall of US as fools to giving explanations on how even a dead US is bigger than the dwarfs.

A telling indication that even those who oppose this view have internalised its expectation

What, George W. is not a Statesmen?

Just a mere Leader?

Someone please contact Fox News....


Ras

This is regarding Mahathir Mohammed.

On the plus side he has a better record than most third world leaders. He has kept racial harmony, promoted economic development and built some sembalance of civil society.

On the negative side he has institutionalized discrimination against non-Muslims in govt. He has not created a society that can compete with low cost rivals like India and China in the long run. Some people will argue that Malaysia`s success has to more with Malaysia`s 35% Chinese minority rather than Mahathir Mohammed.

ahmadzai #57

`` Now you are towing a typical Indian Government line. The indicators for Pakistan that you have provided not for attack are the exact ones that the USA would have loved to take head on for much fun and long-term gains. Taking on Pakistan under Indo-Jewish propaganda would have provided much more thrills then sending stone age Afghanistan to pre-stone age period.``

It will cost a lot of money to occupy and govern Pakistan. There is no oil revenues like Iraq to finance the occupation. If Musharaff had refused US demands USA would have dismantled some nuclear/missile/military installations. I am sure they can ask Indian military to step up attacks in Kashmir across the LOC.

`` You ignored my writing that when Taliban were rising there was no indication to the USA that they will put on a conservative religious cloak (i.e. changing their educational cloak.) ``

Pakistan has always backed Taleban type Islamic militant groups in Afghanistan. The Taleban had success because of the vaccum caused by Soviet pullout/collapse. Please tell us the differences between Hektmeyar and the Taleban. I am sure a lot of people would be thrilled.

`` Except for one ISI chief by the name of Hameed Gul, all those who followed were trying to curb Talibans. The problem was their support by the Islamists and mass support of Talibans within the Pushtoons of Afghanistan. Believe it or not, Afghan Pushtoons still like Talibans (we can debate that later).``

It is hard for the Taleban to fight without weapons, fuel and money. Most of the fighting (especially 1999 and after) for the Taleban was done by Arab and Pakistani volunteers. I will be glad to post up articles on what the Afghan Pusthoons did when US showed up post Sep-11. It was the Pakistani Jihadis and Arabs who took the brunt of hits from US bombs.
All of the Arab volunteers were entering Pakistan through Pakistan. There is no evidence that a single person was ever stopped.

`` Compare Bhindranwale trapped in Golden Temple with Talibans running wild all over Afghanistan and having substantial support within the Pushtoon belt of Pakistan. How could we control Talibans using our meager resources when the USA has not been able to do it since its control of Afghanistan subsequent to 9/11? ``

Bhindranwale was trapped in Golden temple because Indian army forced him into the temple. He did not last because Indira Gandhi decided to finish him off. It is called political will. I am sure Pakistani army can wipe out Taleban type groups. They lack the political will. Even if you cannot eliminate a group I am sure you can find ways to degrade their capabalities.

USA has deployed less than 10,000 troops in Afghanistan - maybe 3000 combat troops. USA and their Northern Alliance proxies have made at least Northern and Western parts of Afghanistan Taleban and Al Qaida completely free of Al Qaida. Even in the southern and eastern parts iof Afghanistan Taleban forces are on the run with US forces chasing them to the Pakistani border.

`` That happened at a later stage when Pakistanis was served a friendly warning by Clinton. Much damage had been done by that time. OBL had taken control of the cash strapped Talibans using his financial assets and was using the country as a base for launching attacks on the US targets. Pakistani civil society was nearing destruction as Islamic extremist parties having their bases in Afghanistan had begun to run a state within a state.``

As late as 1999 Musharaff blocked attempts by Nawaz Sharif and US to mount commando raids against the Taliban. I do not think Pakistani military got the message till Powell`s now famous friend or foe proposition.

`` Just consider that Pakistan is being treated at par with a much larger, more economically developing and a democratic since its birth India on international issues. If we had shown any mal-intentions in the past or in the presence, then surely the US/West would have snubbed us like anything. ``

There are no limits to your delusion. It does not occur to you that Pakistan has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. I sincerely hope that Pakistani decision makers are not so stupid. Otherwise Pakistan might land up in the flight path of B-52 bombers.

Ahmad Zai Uncle

It says (in your profile) that you are constantly relocating residences from one place to another. And the period during which you are not relocating, you are feverishly looking for places to relocate to. Based on this I have a question:

Are you in the Witness Protection Program?

[All replied kept confidential.]

Thank you.

NB: Tell me that`s not EPCOT Center (FL) in the picture you posted?

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#67 by rsridhar on May 14, 2003 10:12am PT

Nice one. I agree with you.

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#61 by tahmed32 on May 14, 2003 8:56am PT

Maybe so.

Just for fun let`s have a look at this conspiracy theory.

If you compare Mahtir and Musharraf, I think the later is better (at least for the Sharifs). As none of the member of Sharif clan is rotting in jail counter-arguing sodomy charges.

Jail. It reminds me of our still-in-jail `Dude Z` (Asif Ali Zardari).

This can prove to be a cool pointer for General M. Would it not be neat to implicate Dude Z in a simmilar scandal. Hehehehehe!!! Or maybe GM is waiting NOC from DC on that matter.

Remember tabloid`s sensational reporting of finding caches of Viagara and magazines in the Sharif`s Harem during the choatic days of his ouster (capture and subsequent exile).

Go figure!

re:#65 by faridi
I had compared Jinnah and Gandhi in one of my early posts, when i was interacting with YLH (that rebellious kid! where is he nowadays?). I think both these leaders were great in their own way. They strongly believed in the cause they espoused. Md Jinnah truely believed that he was serving a good cause when he asked for a seperate muslim homeland. He was incorruptible, a man of great courage and worked towards his goal tirelessly.
It is for the Pakistanis to figure out if all his ideals have been realized. Did he ever want this perpetual confrontation with India? Did he not envision a peaceful co-existence with India once Pak became a reality? Did he want Pak to be a theocratic state?
India`s apostle of non-violence is remembered only outside India today. He would have strongly disapproved of the number of religious riots that have plagued India. He too wanted the 2 nations to peacefully co-exist and prosper. Had his life not been cut short by an assasin`s bullet, he would have (as planned)walked his way to the new nation of Pakistan to spread his message of peace.
I think both nations have fallen way short of the ideals of their founding fathers. Pakistanis and Indians need (badly) to figure out a way of peaceful co-existence. We owe it to those great leaders.
Sridhar

#64 by ahmadzai on May 14, 2003 9:10am PT

First of all thank you very much for doing what was needed of you.

What are you talking about? Who requested what? ;-)

... your comments on Pak-USA relationship ... half empty ... half full.

I would reiterate, countries don`t have friends. They have interests. This is the very same story with the PAK-US realtionship which is symbiotic in its very nature and all of its forms. We have always been used and will continue to be used by the Yanks until we get our act together. Musharraf phenomena is a short-term development. We have had those in the shape of Yahya, Ayub and Zia my friend.

It`s Pakistan that needs to comply with US`s demands. Thought this is not her eventual Destiny. Her Destiny is to reign supreme the way Jinnah intended it to be. The question is: Who will steer Pakistan out of this whirlpool?

``Hakim Luqman ...``