O America

Sunday, September 06, 2009 Dr Farrukh Saleem O America they are saying that you want to destabilise Pakistan. Why did America then vote all of its 371,743 votes at the IMF in favour of a $7.6 billion loan to enable Pakistan implement a stabilisation programme? Why did America then goad the so-called FODP pledge $5.7 billion to Pakistan? Why did the full House pass the $1.5 billion a year non-military assistance to Pakistan? Why did the US Senate pass the $1.5 billion a year non-military assistance to Pakistan? Why did the IMF increase financial support to $11.3 billion? O America they are saying that you want our bomb. All that we have is a stockpile of 80 warheads. Your peak stockpile was 32,193 warheads. All that we have to our credit is six detonations. You have gone through 1,054 detonations. All that we have is a missile range of 2,500 km but Washington is 11,000 km away and Tel Aviv 3,500 km. We can't hurt you. You have intercontinental ballistic missiles. You have nuclear submarine-launched ballistic missiles. We have neither. Why would you want our bomb? O America they are saying you are going to colonise Islamabad. Yes, H R 111-151, the Congressional report on supplemental appropriations allocates "$896 million for embassy security, construction and maintenance." There's roughly $200 million for 250 new residential units (meaning that there would be at least 250 new staff). The additional allocation makes sense because if America is going to spend a colossal $1.5 billion every year more Americans must be placed in Islamabad to oversee the spending of such large amounts of US assistance. What doesn't make sense is that colonisers colonise in order to extract profits from the lands they colonise but Islamabad is in the Pothohar Plateau and all that the Pothohar Plateau has is undulating terrain, porcupines, wild boars and mongooses. Just what is the reality about America? America is the biggest economy (America became the biggest a hundred years ago -- when it surpassed England -- and has managed to remain the biggest). America is 4.5 per cent of the world population but produces more than 20 per cent of global GDP. Remember; of the 192 member-states of the UN 191 countries collectively spend $700 billion on defence while America alone spends $700 billion on America's defence. Consequently, if America is in Iraq no power -- other than American public opinion -- can force America out. If America is in Afghanistan no power -- other than American public opinion -- can force America out of Afghanistan. We can continue to dream about bringing America down to its knees but there is a fine line between dreams and reality -- and it's up to us to draw that line. Just what is the reality about Pakistan? America is Pakistan's single largest export market. America is Pakistan's single largest foreign investor. America is Pakistan's single largest source of expatriate remittances. America is Pakistan's largest forgiver of loans. America is Pakistan army's largest supplier. And yet, our Imran Khans insist that "reality is wrong, dreams are for real". Uncle Sam is neither Pakistan's friend nor Pakistan's foe. Uncle Sam has interests and America does everything to protect those interests. We need to conduct our own SWOT analysis -- strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Our strength is that America needs us to neutralise the Al Qaeda threat. Our weaknesses are bigger than the Himalayas. We need to capture all the opportunities and decimate our own threats -- with American help -- along the way. P S: My column "Sugar daddies" (Aug 30) asserted that "sugar is being sold for Rs56/kilo." Mian Shahbaz Sharif telephoned, disputed my assertion and insisted that "sugar was being sold at Rs45/kilo in all areas under his jurisdiction." I checked Lahore and Faisalabad. Sugar was actually being sold at Rs45 a kilo. The writer is the executive director of the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS). Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com