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.

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