The US & others working with Pakistan

[MCMasterChef]

Can I ask, do you mean end our ties with Pakistan, or with the Musharaff regime?

In the light of the widespread public protests against his dismissal of the former Chief Justice Chaudry there, it's debatable how much longer he'll be able to cling to power; and while Musharaff finds the specter of Islamist takeover useful to rationalize his continued value to the States, I believe the Islamist parties last polled somewhere around 12%.

While Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif's parties have no shortage of blemishes in their past themselves, I think writers like Stephen Cohen (The Idea of Pakistan) and Hussain Haqqani (Pakistan Between Mosque and Military) make a good case that some of Pakistan's greatest problems can be traced to the military's regular usurpations of the democratic process, more than the demagogues like Zia Jr — while not something to be ignored, he and those like him are symptoms of a larger problem.

[SteveMetz]

Can I ask, do you mean end our ties with Pakistan, or with the Musharaff regime?

In the light of the widespread public protests against his dismissal of the former Chief Justice Chaudry there, it's debatable how much longer he'll be able to cling to power; and while Musharaff finds the specter of Islamist takeover useful to rationalize his continued value to the States, I believe the Islamist parties last polled somewhere around 12%.

While Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif's parties have no shortage of blemishes in their past themselves, I think writers like Stephen Cohen (The Idea of Pakistan) and Hussain Haqqani (Pakistan Between Mosque and Military) make a good case that some of Pakistan's greatest problems can be traced to the military's regular usurpations of the democratic process, more than the demagogues like Zia Jr — while not something to be ignored, he and those like him are symptoms of a larger problem.

I actually meant Pakistan. I think any alternative regime there is going to be even worse than the current one. The bottom line is that the perceptions and objectives of the Pakistani public and elite are so diverse from our own that I don't see grounds for cooperation.

It's harsh, but I think all we can do is downgrade ties, control Pakistani immigration to the United States, and be prepared to take out or control their nuclear weapons if necessary.

[goesh]

Mullah Omar, DNO (director nuclear operations) ???

"....be prepared to take out or control their nuclear weapons if necessary."
(stevemetz)

Amen

[SteveMetz]

Mullah Omar, DNO (director nuclear operations) ???

Look at the bright side--he only has one eye so there's a decent chance that if he fires one off toward us it will actually hit Venezuela. Or some other foreign country like Southern California.

[Jedburgh]

...It's harsh, but I think all we can do is downgrade ties, control Pakistani immigration to the United States, and be prepared to take out or control their nuclear weapons if necessary.

How about something simple, like stop importing from Pakistan? It ain't China, but we get plenty of sheet sets, soccer balls and weightlifting gloves from the Pakis. If you realized how bad security is along the entire factory-to-port supply chain in that damn place, how strong (not to mention corrupt and linked to the bad guys in the NWFP) is the Pathan presence in the trucking and "security" industries, and how much of an ugly joke it is to even begin to consider Port Qasim for CSI status....

[120mm]

Of course, stopping the importation of US dollars INTO Pakistan would be tops on my list....

[Jedburgh]

Of course, stopping the importation of US dollars INTO Pakistan would be tops on my list....

...the U.S. government puts a bit of official pressure on domestic companies to continue doing business with Pakistan, despite the threat, in the hope that it will contribute to stability there.

[MCMasterChef]

Considering Pakistan is already precariously close to state failure by a number of criteria as it is, I have to say I'm not really clear on how economic boycott / trade cessation could be seen as an ideal strategy for managing the problems it presents... or how we 'take out' their nuclear weapons without risking the irradiation of the subcontinent.

[goesh]

- we may have no choice but to pray for the bad aim of one-eyed Omar if Musharraf falls and fundamentalists get their paws on nukes, or succumb to major blackmail, hegemony via escalation in Kasmir and a massive Taliban escalation in Afghanistan. With Mullah Omar's fingers on the red buttons, I opt for massive irradiation.