First is a news article from the Express Tribune, with the International New York Times. It describes current a propose economic cooperation between Pakistan and China. There is much talk of mutual friendship.
Mentioned by the Chinese ambassador are
Mentioned by the Chinese ambassador are
Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project, t
he largest man-made object
in the world.
Proposed routes for both TAPA, s
upported by the US and China,
and IP, weakly supported by China and vigorously opposed by the US.
Feasibility studies for a railroad link from the Chinese-owned Gwadar deep-water port in southern Pakistan to China have been let by China and Pakistan.. China sees both financial and strategic advantages to the railway: strategic, because oil could be transported from the Persian Gulf, undeterred by the US Fifth Fleet.
The second, from the Center for Global Development, details US economic aid to Pakistan over time. In general, a lot of money went for "security", and the aid money has not been productively spent.
Pakistani are said to hate Americans, in part because of the drum-beat of hatred toward the West in the Saud-funded Madrases scattered throughout Pakistan; and in part because the "collateral damage" of US drone strikes raise intense animosity from the extended families, numbering millions, of those killed or wounded or financially ruined. See, e.g., A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in Yemen.
Pakistani are said to hate Americans, in part because of the drum-beat of hatred toward the West in the Saud-funded Madrases scattered throughout Pakistan; and in part because the "collateral damage" of US drone strikes raise intense animosity from the extended families, numbering millions, of those killed or wounded or financially ruined. See, e.g., A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in Yemen.
We could pressure the Saudi to change their drumbeat to a pro-Western one and it would be a major effort, probably including military action. The Saudis rule over a minority population with unrivaled ferocity and they fear the consequences of Democracy and the Rule of Law above all things.
There is no reason why the US must take all the burn for the drone strikes, except that we want to keep a monopoly on drone technology for a while longer. Islamic radicals harm Western Europe, Russia, and China much more than they harm the US, and our drone strikes protect the World; only we take the born for them.
That burn is a necessary concomitant to global hegemony; I'm pleased that we are the "Hedgemon" (there is such a word: 'one (as a political state) possessing hegemony'"); and not please with the consequences.
We could become great friends with Pakistan and friendship would greatly bolster our competitive advantage over China, but for the drone strikes, which we could share with other nations, and but for our decades-long commitment to prevent Iran from exporting its natural resources. Pakistan desperately needs Iranian natural gas, and the US won't even let Ernst and Whinny participate in financing he Pakistan portion of a pipeline
We have prevailed so far in boxing Iran, for nothing of value to the Nation in return, though the value to the Saudi and their economic friends is great (see US, Chevron, China, and Central Asia); we will not prevail in the long run,; the world hunger for oil is too great. And we will have lost a lot when we finally fail.
China has a natural advantage in its relations with all of Central Asia: the nations share the same land mass. The US is protected from foreign wars, so far, be giant oceans, and disadvantaged by those same oceans when it comes to exerting influence over Asian nations. Our great Navy of-sets the disadvantages, and cannot match the Chinese Gwadar port in South Pakistan, or an express highway running from China to Pakistan.
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