An America Presidential hopeful in the throes of America's 4-yearly election turmoil is sometimes compared to a male tiger in the mating season: the tiger (Presidential hopeful) would do anything to impress and win over the watching tigress (the American electorate)! So countries dealing with America in the medium- or long-term should be wary of the short-term pitfalls and posturing that might be involved.
NO RESET ANYTIME SOON! Despite a great deal of talk in the air about the imminence of "resetting" Pak-US relations in the air (through a dubious MoU or otherwise), there is little chance for an enduring "reset" materialising any time soon. This for a number of reasons: To begin with take a look at the parties involved in the case. First there are the two governments represented by Obama there and Zardari here. Then there are the two peoples - 315 million Americans and 180 million Pakistanis.
THE GOVERNMENT-TO-GOVERNMENT PICTURE The present American rulers look down upon the Pakistani government as a vassal, dependent entity, corruption-ridden and by that token, spineless. And no wonder! With cases of rulers' corruption popping up with clock-like regularity (almost one new scam every week) inflation jumping by leaps and bounds, with budget deficit soaring by the month, with interest payments on amounts borrowed from abroad (and squandered on non-productive or corrupt ventures) becoming unsupportable except with more borrowings, with balance of payments sustained a little only by remittances sent down by Pakistanis working abroad in Arab countries (in the main) and in the West, with state-owned enterprises eating away amounts measurable in billions per day, with the government resorting to using State Bank as a note printer just to keep paying salaries and other day-to-day expenses - in short with economy in a mess and the rulers displaying no resolve in their furthest thoughts and actions to "eat grass if necessary" to set things right, America knows it can continue to keep Pakistan on a tight leash, polite diplomatic exchanges notwithstanding.
RESPECT MUST BE EARNED
What about the view from here about the superpower? Under the circumstances described it can only look up to America (controlling most international lending organisations) with the same servile attitude as a village cultivator or bonded labourer looks up to the village money lender or Wadera as the master of his destiny, never to be crossed in word or deed. Whereas law and justice (routinely practised) are in full control of politics in America, massive corruption, personal greed and a lavish living style are the norm among the top politicians - exceptions apart - in Pakistan. How would such rulers gather courage enough to talk to America as one sovereign nation to another, show resolve to "eat grass if necessary" in the process? Why would the American government treat its Pakistani counterpart with respect due to an equal?
WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE ON THE RESPECTIVE SIDES As far as Americans are concerned, their lives are relatively self-centered. When they think of Pakistan at all they probably visualise a country which is the hotbed of terrorism and a haven of the likes of al Qaeda and a country which is in cohorts with Taliban and of not much help to Americans in the war in Afghanistan of which they have had enough. They worry about the ill-effects of the ongoing war on their economy, employment opportunities and personal incomes. They want America out of the war and their men in arms back home pronto. With the Presidential election round the corner the power of their ballet has almost caused the President to panic into making urgent plans to bag up and leave the country in which none of America's declared objectives had been achieved or could be expected to be achievable in the foreseeable future.
VIEW FROM PAKISTAN SIDE
It is difficult to recall a country more thoroughly disliked by the people of Pakistan than America. Apart from the "pragmatic brigade" and those who have benefited from American largesse one way or another or have made it good under the present corrupt and rotting system, the people by and large hold America responsible for starting a war on false or at least unproven pretences (a la Iraq, to quote one other example) against a Muslim neighbour and after scaring the wits out of Musharraf (the cowardly usurper of power in Pakistan) by a midnight phone call, getting the country dragged into a war which brought nothing but disastrous consequences for Pakistan in the form of a colossal financial burden and terrorism across the country. Deadly strikes by unmanned aircraft (drones) controlled and operated from America, from the safety offered by distance halfway across the globe, ensuring no precious American blood was at risk and the death of thousands of innocent and uninvolved people in Pakistan - men, women and children - accepted as "collateral damage", are used as the most preferred form of attack as Muslim blood only is at risk. America forgot that every innocent man, woman or child killed by Drone attacks from above creates new recruits ready to join forces with those out to strike at American interests around the world even at the cost of their own life as a small price to pay for sweet revenge!
KASHMIR
Add to that America's see-no-evil attitude about Kashmir where a deadly struggle for self-determination by tens of millions of Muslims is now being waged by a third generation of suppressed people. America which prides itself on its support for human rights of all kinds is so blinded by its pursuit of India's friendship and subservience to Israel's diktat that it is ready to vacate high moral ground by ignoring Indian atrocities inflicted (through an over half million strong force of occupation) on unarmed millions fighting for their rights since over six decades now for the right granted to them by the United Nations - the right of self-determination. One other important cause of a yawning gap between America and Pakistan is Israel sitting on Muslim lands occupied by it after uprooting millions of Muslims from lands they had lived on for hundreds of years and abetted and supported in this crime of the century by America. Such is the diabolical influence of Israel on American politics and election prospects (exercised through media control, financial clout and downright blackmail by powerful American Jews) that no American politician dare move against Israel's atrocities in Palestine and elsewhere in the Arab world. Look what happened to former US President Jimmy Carter when he dared to anger American Jews by likening Israeli policy in the West Bank to South African apartheid in his book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid".
Israel: America's partner or controller
Not only Hillary Clinton but both hopefuls in the ongoing American Presidential race have visited Israel to express solidarity with Israel in all matters. They dare not speak even about Israel's actions declared illegal by the UNO. "Israel and the United States must think and act together" is the constant refrain. Abetted and pressed by Israel, the so called super power is after Iran's nuclear development program (alleging despite lack of proof and despite international inspections in place) that the program is aimed at developing weapons, Iran's declarations notwithstanding that power production is the main objective. Ignoring the fact of Israel's own arsenal of nuclear weapons - undeclared and unchecked - both Israel and America speak every other day of the possibility of an attack to destroy Iran's nuclear development sites by air attack. There is a feeling in Pakistan that once Iran is brought under the heel, the next target would be Pakistan's nuclear assets, to be achieved through destabilising the country or by other means if not by a direct attack. The suspicion is deep-rooted and not without a logical basis.
NO SILVER LINING
Thus whatever "resetting" arrangements are finalised between the American governments of the period (firmly under Israel's tutelage) on the one hand and governments in Pakistan controlled by corrupt feudals on the other, they are unlikely to last or to survive the test of time for any length of time.
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