Articles of the year 2010

The Americans have been playing with the future of nations by manipulating personalities in the present, and have by and large succeeded. In the History of the Americas the name Banana republics came from the wars fought over lucrative banana exports. With the US Government deciding the winner after considerable blood had been shed. Invariably the wars could be seen to have been initiated by the US interests.

The two cases wherein results have gone horribly wrong for them are in Iran and Iraq, in the case of the latter the final results are not in yet. As the conditions in Iraq are descending into a fully blown civil war---chaos, with extensively armed militias roaming the cities firing or car-bombing ostensibly at random, but with American interests targeted. An Iraq that had under Saddam Bagdad was a highly sophisticated city, with all the amenities a citizen could require, medical, power, water, sewage disposal, education. These facilities were far more advanced than in some of their neighbouring countries. Now the people of Iraq have no water, or electricity. And are moving towards anarchy, where anything can happen.

A similar situation exists in Afghanistan where the American think tanks advised an outright attack, complete with troops on the ground, after a vicious air assault on a completely defenseless country, one that still has not understood the American motive behind this brutal assault. In the Northern areas of Pakistan a state of chaos has been created which threatens to derail the fragile fledgling democracy that has just been cobbled together. The Wikileaks are exposing the Pakistani leadership, whose insecurities are already well known to the public at large, and these fears could create havoc in the region. This area is far more important than the Southern Atlantic, for it produces 90% of the free world's oil, and if in the wrong hands could bring about Chaos in the world economy. The world can do without bananas, but finding an alternate supply to the Middle East oilfields is impossible.

So the wizards in the Langley think tanks should brush up on their Chaos theory, and realize that the Mathematicians playing with irrational numbers, and theoretical models may not translate easily onto the ground realities in a complex peoples. The region consists of people – many irrational, with suicide now accepted as a weapon. The millions of barrels daily, and a nuclear bomb in the background is too high a stake to pin the west's hope on a dictator unsure of even leaving the safety of his Palace. The myth of his widespread following has already been discarded, and the mantle is being passed on to his sister. Will the following move with the mantle? In Pakistan the Americans have got it wrong twice.

This time the Americans should realize that a sham democracy which has been propped up by an ambassador, who obviously did not have a right connect with the people. Cloistered as she was, a Viceroy in ambassadorial robes, she was being fed the lines she wanted to hear. The reality was far from the truth. As Ambassador Patterson herself admits that Zardari is hated, she forgets to state that it is the American Government that is the next most hated. Her endorsement of the Zardari nomination must have been hugely embarrassing to the Saudi and UAE, two staunch allies of the Americans. The Obama administration should put away the Bush doctrines, as an aberration of the American policy, and spell out a new policy that brings peace to the fore. If Obama is to be remembered it must be as someone the world could trust. When the balance sheet of the Bush regime is drawn up, the hawks in his administration, tried, to make huge amounts for big business and to conquer the rest, but have failed miserably by generating colossal hatred amongst their own people.

It is still not too late to talk peace to the world. It should be worth remembering that the US has 40,000 troops on the ground in Afghanistan, and exit strategies are being drawn up. Would it not be that much better if the American presence and funds were used by American Corporations in investing in the Afghan people. Not to mention the Billions that have been siphoned away from Pakistani progress by a corrupt Musharraf regime at the diktat of the Bush administration. Pakistan has suffered greatly under the 'do more' policy, which should be replaced by a friendly approach. It remains to be seen if the 'friendly for a price' Mullahs can replaced quickly. That should have been the response of Ambassador Patterson—to recommend the sacking of such persons. We Pakistanis would warmly welcome such interference in our affairs Not the imposition of NROs being put into place to wash away criminal acts. Nor the resistance to the restoration of Justice Chaudry. President Obama should take note that these two recommendations of Ambassador Patterson were roundly rejected by the National Assembly, and the People,s march. She cannot deny both, for Wikileaks have reproduced her cables.. President Obama should replace those officers left over from the Bush regime who are still infecting the Pentagon from such thoughts of war.