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CounterPunch
February
8, 2003
Pakistan on the Brink?
Musharraf's
Moscow Overture
By ANTHONY GANCARSKI
Fans of the Terror War will be sad to note that
US efforts in Central Asia have suffered yet another setback.
Pakistan's DAWN reports that President Musharraf traveled this
week to Moscow to curry the favor of President Putin in what
Pakistani government officials termed a "new stage"
of the countries' diplomatic relations. Musharraf's intentions
are obvious: to indicate his government's willingness to deal
with Moscow at least as favorably as current client state India
has historically. What may be less obvious to some is what the
strengthening of ties between the two countries says about US
efforts in the Afghan conflict.
One of the more downplayed aspects of
cooperation between the US and Russian governments is what the
Russians actually get out of it. Putin must have gotten some
payoff to stand in a Texas auditorium in front of children and
news cameras and listen to the Cheerleader-In-Chief babble about
seeing into his soul over malteds at Friendly's. Say what you
will about Vladimir Putin, but at least he doesn't string together
cliches jacked from Bill Kristol's dream journal and call them
a State of the Union address.
But I digress. The Russians have a foothold
in Afghanistan and surrounding areas so profound that the mainstream
media can't mention it, lest it shatter the illusion of unimpeachable
US military supremacy. Pakistan sees that, and is forced to take
note, and deal with a country that maintains military and strategic
resources that far exceed its own. Furthermore, Pakistan sees
that the US government, yet again, has made a bunch of promises
on which it has no intention of delivering. All this adds up
to a client state making every reasonable attempt to go into
business for itself, because the current US war is the worst
of both worlds for the beleaguered people of Pakistan: armed
conflict & no payoff. Musharraf realizes that to such a degree
that he can't decide whether Osama is alive or dead; whatever
his answer, Pakistan is shafted.
Pakistani troubles are only amplified
by the periodic threats made by the Indian government, which
the US believes merits Most Favored Nation status from the Musharraf
regime. It is well-known to all parties that India would win
a nuclear pissing match between the two rival regimes. It is
likewise well-known that the US, even if willing to make good
on its promises in the manner it has for Turkey and Israel, likely
couldn't; besides the looming breach of the US Treasury's "debt
ceiling", the failure to "stabilize" Afghanistan
means that a lot of money is being spent on a war of attrition
against a resurgent enemy.
And a surprisingly resourceful one, given
how recent US body counts exceed those of months past. Unremarked
upon in the US corporate media is from where the latest supplies
for Al Qaeda are coming. Aren't our boys over there still "smoking
them out"? If that's the case, then it would be reasonable
to expect that there might be some clues about which regional
power supplies the weapons used for an offensive apparently more
successful than any before it in the Afghan War.
There will be plenty of time to speculate
about who provides the curiously resurgent Al Qaeda's resources.
That said, there will be less time to discuss President Musharraf
in the present tense, if his government's overtures to Moscow
get out of hand. Is it a coincidence that the strengthening of
Pakistain ties with Russia happened around the time Powell alleged
that Iraq's Islamabad embassy was a "liaison for Al Qaeda"
[2/6/03; DAWN]?
If Pakistan begins to move too independently,
acting preemptively without considering the strategic interest
of the US as more important than its own, expect Pakistan to
be declared a hotbed of Al Qaeda activity, and for the expendable
Musharraf to be ousted in favor of a newly-minted moderate military
dictator. The business of statesmanship; governments sending
their poor and their damned to obliterate each other on battlefields.
And we wonder why people rise up in anger, deciding the Koran
has more to offer them than the WTO.
Anthony Gancarski, author of 2001's UNFORTUNATE INCIDENTS, accepts
email at Anthony.Gancarski@attbi.com.
Today's Features
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Powell
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Anthony Gancarski
Peggy
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The Columbia and the Manufacture of Tragedy
Robert Fisk
You Wanted
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Robert Jensen
Powell
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William Hughes
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Ali Abunimah
Dissecting Powell's Speech:
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Phyllis Bennis
Powell vs. Blix
The Case for War Remains Unmade
Rahul Mahajan
Responding
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Is This All You've Got?
Paul de Rooij
Where Are the Incubators, Gen. Powell?
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