Posted on 04/23/2009 6:05:51 AM PDT by seniorobserver
Is Pakistan May 2009 a déjà vu of the fall of Saigon(1975) and Teheran(1979)? The Taliban is currently 60 miles away from Islamabad and moving as a result of a feckless Pakistani army. Pakistani President Zardari, an established thief of sovereign funds during his late wife’s tenure as head of Pakistan in the 1990’s worth a reported $1.8 billion, just received $1.5 billion in US aid to fight the Taliban form Obama in February, yet the exact opposite happens, the Army collapses(it never happened under 7 years with Musharraf as Pakistani leader). On Wednesday April 22, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton position herself to the coming fall by stating Pakistan posed a "mortal threat to the security and safety" of America and the rest of the world. Perhaps she was also throwing diplomatic rival Richard Holbrooke under the bus as he is Obama’s special emissary in the region.
If Pakistan falls to the Taliban, it will be the first major sign of a collapse of Obama’s foreign policy. Besides his “Blame America First” world tours, Obama’s only real foreign policy initiative has been to send troops to Pakistan and Afghanistan. He think he knows Pakistan because he visited his mother there in the 1980’s as a college student while she worked for a relief agency most likely on an Indonesian passport as Barry Soetoro, as it was a hostile environment to Americans.
The fall of Pakistan to the Islam extremists will cause severe dislocation in financial markets, with equities retreating back to their March lows. Keep a weather eye out for potential storms on the horizon,
” He think he knows Pakistan because he visited his mother there in the 1980’s as a college student while she worked for a relief agency most likely on an Indonesian passport as Barry Soetoro, as it was a hostile environment to Americans. “
ZING
There are much worse things to fear if the Pakistani Gov falls to the Taliban. Those Pakistani nukes come to mind. There will be more to worry about than money should those nukes fall into the hands of the Taliban.
Bingo!
Maybe they'll decide to use those nukes rather than lose them.
Without our ability to transit Pakistan to provide logistical support to our troops in Afghanistan, it will become very difficult to execute the war.
Indeed, Pakistan’s nuclear capability combined with North Korea’s recent missile projection demonstration represents a clear and present danger to world stability.
I do not think Indonesia recognizes dual citizenship
When his mother married her Indonesiain sugar dad and moved to Indonesia, the boy had to become a citizen to attend school there, so Lolo Soetero adopted him
When you are adopted, a new birth certificate is issued
I would bet that Barry Soetero is still...Barry Soetero
On Wednesday April 22, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton position herself to the coming fall by stating Pakistan posed a “mortal threat to the security and safety” of America and the rest of the world.
My question is: where is India in all this? They stand to lose the most from this scenario.
They would be tickled pink to lose 20 percent of their population to Pakistan, the Muslim population that is.
India can then "test" nukes on it's territory to their hearts content, although the UN won't like it, and would no doubt send India angry letters for doing so.
The alternative, allowing the Taliban to take control of Pakistan and it's nuclear arsenal, is unthinkable. BUT almost garauntied with Obama the moron at the wheel.
If Pakistan's gov't falls the chaos will certainly provide an opportunity to grab the nukes with the added bonus of Obama's first foreign policy failure.
I am not ashamed to say ....." I want this fraud to fail and fail miserably!
They just might be stupid enough to nuke the Kashmir region if they can refrain themselves from going after Israel.
They are 60 miles away from the capital. When do you reckon they'll start the campaign to quell this advance? I haven't heard a peep from either country, but that might be a good thing.
Pakistan's Nuclear scientist- under house arrest after Bush destroyed the nuclear arms trade axis of evil Pakistan was running- will no doubt be reinstated to his former glory, and Iran will be on top of the list to "speed along", as well as N Korea, and now, the short fat little Munchkin Chavez.
It represents much more than a danger to world stability, it is a disaster of biblical proportion.
We won't be waiting to see IF there is a nuclear threat, we will be waiting for WHEN we are bombed.
One of the things the Bush administration did was secure the Pakistani nukes with digital locks.
Here’s some info:
Pakistani nukes already under US control: Report
20 Nov 2007, 2028 hrs IST
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2556824.cms
WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are already under American control even as analysts are working themselves into a lather on the subject, a
well-regarded intelligence journal has said.
In a stunning disclosure certain to stir up things in Washington’s (and in Islamabad and New Delhi’s) strategic community, the journal Stratfor reported on Monday that the “United States delivered a very clear ultimatum to Musharraf in the wake of 9/11: Unless Pakistan allowed US forces to take control of Pakistani nuclear facilities, the United States would be left with no choice but to destroy those facilities, possibly with India’s help.”
“This was a fait accompli that Musharraf, for credibility reasons, had every reason to cover up and pretend never happened, and Washington was fully willing to keep things quiet,” the journal, which is widely read among the intelligence community, said.
The Stratfor commentary came in response to an earlier New York Times story that reported that the Bush administration had spent around $100 million to help Pakistan safeguard its nuclear weapons, but left it unclear if Washington has a handle on the arsenal.
Over the past fortnight, even since the crisis in Pakistan broke and eclipsed every other geopolitical story, including Iraq, US officials and analysts have been speaking in different voices on the subject of a jihadi takeover of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.
Some officials have expressed deep concern at the possibility and suggested US is ready with contingency plans to defang Pakistan of its nuclear weapons, while others have tried to assuage Islamabad by saying they believe the country’s military rulers have good custodial control over their crown jewels.
On Monday, a State Department official once again addressed the issue and hinted that Washington was in control of the situation.
“... ultimately, the major responsibility for that falls with the Pakistani government. They have made public comments to the effect that the arsenal is secure, that they have taken a number of different steps to ensure that,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
“We ourselves see no indication to indicate to the contrary. It is secure. We obviously have an interest in seeing that it is secure,” McCormack added.
Stratfor , too, appears confident that the Bush administration has a handle on Pak’s nukes.
Not everyone is so sanguine. In a separate commentary over the weekend that had some US and Pakistani analysts blowing their gasket, two prominent Washington commentators detailed a US military action plan inside Pakistan, possibly with the cooperation of moderate Pakistani forces, to seize the nuclear arsenal if there was imminent danger of an extremist takeover.
“As the government of Pakistan totters, we must face a fact: the United States simply could not stand by as a nuclear-armed Pakistan descended into the abyss,” proposed Frederick Kagan and Michael O’Hanlon, analysts at two Washington DC think-tanks. “One possible plan would be a Special Forces operation with the limited goal of preventing Pakistan’s nuclear materials and warheads from getting into the wrong hands.”
Pakistan’s own leaders have spoken about the subject — of nuclear weapons falling into extremist hands —with different emphasis and objectives.
General Pervez Musharraf has suggested continued Western support to his military regime is the best way to prevent the nukes from falling into extremist hands, an “after-me-the-deluge” argument that some analysts see as unabashed blackmail.
The country’s opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has also invoked the loose nukes scenario to urge US to abandon the military regime, which she says has given rise to growing extremism and fissiparous tendencies that increase the danger of the nuclear arsenal going awry.
Officially though, Islamabad is touchy about any commentary on its nuclear arsenal, and goes into transports of hysteria to assert that it is a responsible country with good command and control over its crown jewels.
In the latest outburst, the country’s out-going foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri asserted that Pakistan is fully capable of securing its nuclear assets and some Western lobbies are busy in creating confusion taking the advantage of ongoing conditions in Pakistan.
The multi-layer security structure of the nuclear assets has a strong command and control system in place and there is no need for anyone at home or abroad to worry about the security of these assets, he insisted.
But judging by the volume of worried commentary and analysis the subject is now getting, there aren’t many takers for such assurances and the last word on the matter hasn’t been said or written.
People say Obama is Carter II.
It looks like he is about to become Johnson II.
This is chapter one of “7 Deadly Scenarios: A Military Futurist Explores War in the 21st Century” by Andrew Krepinevich.
Kinda getting scary out there...it’s good to know we got Barry O........ /sarcasm
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