On Wednesday 08 Aug 2012 8:35:40 am John Sundman wrote: > I do think your brush is pretty wide,
Actually, Eugen's email from that Pakistani doctor evoked mixed emotions in me. One part of me says "There. As you sow, so you shall reap. All suffering in Pakistan makes me happy" But a more serious part of me says that a solution is actually within reach. The part of the world that is called Pakistan is basically a strip of fertile land on either side of the Indus river and its tributaries. The people in that area have always traded with and travelled to and from what is now India for at least 4500 years (as per existing archaeological proof). Trade with Afghanistan, China and Iran was much more difficult and hazardous because of geography and climate. The border betwen India and Pakistan is artificial in the sense that it is militarily indefensible. No natural barriers exist that can aid either side. No sensible general would draw the border where it is. But that border is maintained to the detriment of Pakistan (more than India) by a combination of rabid islamic exclusivism and military force. Rabid Islamism will negotiate if it finds that its military power is not at an advantage. But the military power of Pakistan (the Pakistan army) has been supported by geopolitics - primarily in the form of US military aid from 1958 to 2011, save for a gap between 1990 and 2001. Pakistani generals (who are publicly proclaimed as allies of the USA) see Afghanistan as "strategic depth" where they can retreat in a war. Being generals who run the economy of Pakistan, they seem to see the world in terms of war, and as islamic jihad, since 1973. shiv
