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Collective Punishment for Corruption and Terrorism in Pakistan?
An article in the Financial Times this morning intimated that perceptions of both government corruption and support for militant groups are causing international donors to keep their pocketbooks closed in supporting victims of the floods in Pakistan. I do not know enough to say one way or another, and the UN humanitarian aid chief, John Holmes, says it's too early to tell. But the statistics so far are interesting. The United States and the United Kingdom have pledged the most aid thus far to Pakistan: $76m and $32m, respectively. But the earthquake in Haiti generated $1b in pledges within 10 days. Pledges by the international community to areas affected by the 2004 tsunami were similarly robust (~$7b). Are the people of Pakistan now suffering because of the corruption of their leaders, real and perceived, and the support, real and perceived, given by the Pakistani military and intelligence services to militant groups?
I'm sure that plays some
I'm sure that plays some role, but the key determinant of aid in response to disasters tends to be the length and drama of the initial catastrophe. A devastating earthquake or a tsunami happens over a matter of minutes. A hurricane or typhoon hits over the course of a number of hours. A flood produces fewer dramatic images, and no sudden disjuncture. The water rises, inexorably. Eventually, it subsides. It's much tougher for the scale of the devastation to register. It also produces a far lower immediate death toll, and there's nothing that focuses international assistance like a gaudy mortuary bill.
So "collective punishment" is a little strong. There are, at the very least, multiple factors at work here. If you want evidence of that, look to the Islamic world. Egypt, Iran, and Oman have pledged varying amounts of direct, in-kind aid; Turkey and the UAE, in addition to their own in-kind aid, have added a little more than $1 million apiece; and OPEC has kicked in the princely sum of $500k. I very much doubt that reservations about the ISI can account for the conspicuous lack of aid from the Gulf States.
Finally, I'd add that your Haiti counterexample falls short. In Haiti, donor nations had tremendous freedom to operate, and to oversee the distribution of their aid, ensuring that it wouldn't flow through corrupt channels. Pakistan has hardly sunk to the same level of disfunction as Port-au-Prince, and isn't about to cede a similar degree of its sovereignty to international agencies and foreign states. And that, too, plays a role.
Punishment == absence of
Punishment == absence of billion-dollar checks. I, too, am being punished by these unjust donors. I sympathize with you, O oppressed people of Pakistan!
Nothing could more perfectly exemplify this fscked-up relationship. When USG pays Pakistan, is it giving freely out of the generosity of its heart? No, it is paying a debt it owes for its longstanding oppression of the noble Pakistani people. No person with any sense could see it otherwise. Why pay, when you don't owe? America pays, so she must owe.
Hence, not paying a debt == punishment. This is exactly the relationship between my stepfather and his fscked-up teenage son, now in his 20s. Daddy doesn't pay my cell-phone bill == Daddy is an evil tyrant == Molotov cocktail in Daddy's office. USG set out to parent the world and now finds itself responsible for a bunch of 50-year-old teenagers.
The un-PC hatefact stereotruth is that Haitians are just a lot more cool and fun. Haitian music >= Pakistani music. Haitians in NY - good hard-working peoples with only contempt for the "element." Pakistanis in NY - hell cab drivers at best, suicide bombers at worst. Pakistanis in Britain - nuff said. So why shouldn't we think of Haitians as our lovable obedient playful little adopted black children to the south, and fund them generously? They appear to be exactly that. Whereas Pakistan == major ongoing foster parenting disaster.
Pakistanis are not Haitians and there's nothing wrong with that. Haiti needs our love and support and stern guidance. Pakistan needs a job, or maybe a war. India is a pretty tough nut - but maybe they could invade Iran? With no warning at all?
Talk about an assault from the rear. That'd really make the Ayatollahs sit up straight in their chairs - massive, impromptu Kursk type tank battles in West Baluchistan. Also it could be coordinated with the IDF. "Meet you in Baghdad, Moshe." Don't tell me Foggy Bottom couldn't arrange this if they tried - real change in the Middle East. With live streaming drone video. The 21st century just got a whole lot more fun. Fsck yeah.
Great comments, Cynic!
Great comments, Cynic!The scale and impact to
The scale and impact to crops, property, and economics of the Pakistan flooding suggests this is going to impact the Afghanistan war front significantly. 40-50x more people have been displaced compared to hurricane Katrina, and 1/2 of the Pakistan GDP has been lost in a single stroke. The impact of natural disaster on wars suggests the flooding represents either a tremendous opportunity or a tremendous setback for military activities in the region - but I think it is very hard to look at the extent of the disaster and claim it will have only a minor impact.
It has been suggested the government of Pakistan could legitimately fall because of this disaster.
According to Pakistan's own government figures, 1 in 10 people in the second largest Muslim country in the world has been directly impacted by this natural disaster. On a day where the politics of America surrounds the Manhattan mosque issue and American opinion on Muslims fills in our newspaper op-eds, all that rhetoric goes hand in hand with the complete absence of private American citizen financial donations during a huge humanitarian disaster on a scale much greater than Haiti.
Whatever the reasons for the absence of American attention or compassion through donations - the whole Pakistan flooding topic top to bottom is worth more analysis than what I've seen to date by national security experts.
This flood will determine
This flood will determine the fate of afghan war, more than any particular strategy or commander. Hail, Mother Nature !
Are the people of Pakistan
Are the people of Pakistan now suffering because of the corruption of their leaders, real and perceived, and the support, real and perceived, given by the Pakistani military and intelligence services to militant groups?
It doesn't account for all of it Floods are difficult to assess and communicate the extent of the crisis, and are common experiences everywhere there are rivers, even though that has nothing to do with whether flooding causes huanitarian disasters of any magnitude in a given place), but nevertheless I think they clearly are.
Cynic, As always, the
Cynic,
As always, the overwhelming generosity of the Gulf Arabs/Oil states never fails to amaze me. Don't they even think about themselves and their own futures/infrastructure needs? I only hope that Aramco, my magazine of choice, will cover this massive output with an indepth article with lots of glossies.
Just for once, I'd like to
Just for once, I'd like to hear one person argue that, before the last bank account of the last Pakistani multibillionaire is down to its last seven figures, the fattest fat cat on Nantucket should on his 17th amended return contribute a single cent to any effort to redress the Pakistani state's gross internal negligence and incompetence.
Especially when that state, externally, is blatantly involved in assisting people who are fighting American forces. And especially when funding it, or parties within it, blatantly encourages these assaults. Talk about Thomas Jefferson! Those who quote him don't know him. TJ would have wasted Islamabad from space, five years ago.
USG is a beneficial organization established to serve the interests of its trustees, America's citizens. Frankly, why should the State Department be out buying votes in Pakistan? Why should it care about Pakistani public opinion?
If the answer is that USG is worried that Pakistanis, if they don't like America, will hurt America physically, the trustees are not getting a lot of security for their kajillion annual dollars. Moreover, even if USG could not defend America's borders from Pakistan and its quaint Central Asian neighbors, a declaration of almost hilarious incompetence, behaving in this way is not the best way to earn the respect of the Pakistanis, a traditional people whom Americanization has not yet wholly ruined.
Rather, Pakistan is an honor culture in which a "firm and manly" posture - as James Monroe put it - earns approval and respect. Behaving like a four-foot dwarf homosexual eunuch does not earn approval and respect, and paying the Jizya while ISI operatives are out bagging Americans like quail sends a signal known all too well in the land of the Bacha Bazi. If the Obama had anything in his pants, they think, he would not spread himself before us in this manner. Maybe all those rumors about Man's Country are true. Hence, the more dollars America sends, the more she is condemned. My theory is predictive - is yours?
Therefore, those who seek to aid Pakistan do not have American interests at heart. So why are they out buying Pakistani votes? Because here is the big secret of US foreign policy - when you work for State, you're a big shot in every country but America. You develop clientitis. If you are a US diplomat in Pakistan, you are a playa in Islamabad. Are you a playa in Washington? Maybe a little, but not so much. Primary loyalties follow naturally.
Anyone who nominally serves the American electorate, but in fact is basically a collaborator in global anti-Americanism, is in violation of his fiduciary responsibility, and should be discharged without hesitation. We, the real American people, NASCAR retards unite, should insist that the entire State Department move to Pakistan - and take their goddamn mosque with them. I'd advise some swim lessons, too.
Pakistan is able to build
Pakistan is able to build nuclear weapons, fund fighters in A-Stan, Kashmir, and the occassional operation in Bombay. So, they should be able to handle their own flood. Any American that donates cash to these people are morons. You already gave via your tax returns.
I think the people of
I think the people of Pakistan may be suffering because the earthquake in Haiti happened first. You can't top a disaster except with a bigger disaster, and 200,000 dead is pretty big.
The people of Pakistan may be suffering because Western media believe, with cause, that their employees are somewhat more likely to be murdered in Pakistan than they would be in Haiti, Chile or China. This discourages reporting, particularly reporting with pictures. Without pictures, a story dies in the developed world.
The people of Pakistan are suffering, and will probably continue to suffer, because of a giant con embedded in the great Islamic ummah. It's nothing specifically Islamic, in the sense of being drawn from the Koran, but is rather more a tradition. The con is that Arab problems are the problems of all Muslims, but the reverse is not true. Every Pakistani, Nigerian and Indonesian Muslim is supposed to believe his faith is under assault in any conflict between Arabs and non-Arabs, especially when Jews are involved. A disaster like the floods in Pakistan, or the genocide in Darfur, will draw shrugs across the Arab world, particularly in the wealthier areas. And that's just the way it is.
Finally, from what I can tell, the people of Pakistan may be suffering from a monumental natural disaster on a scale that no amount of assistance from any quarter could help lessen much, at least in the short run. This is the really significant thing: not only that many hundreds of thousands of people have had their homes and livelihoods obliterated, but that changes in weather patterns could lead to more floods in future years. Not all natural disasters have major political consequences. This one could, consequences very difficult to see from here.
Let them build their Mosques
Let them build their Mosques in Canada or the UK, or we'll have thousands of Christians (and Hassidic Jews) piss on their front steps every day before dawn prayers. That is a promise.
Haiti is small, impoverished
Haiti is small, impoverished and was a failing state. Pakistan is the fifth(?) largest country in the world, has a substantial middle class, has nuclear weapons and a large national ego, and so might be expected by potential donors to be more capable of handling its own problems than was Haiti.
Well, here in Norway the
Well, here in Norway the pakistani diaspora leaders have gone on tv and asked people to only give tonorwegian organiations, since most of the direct aid gets eaten by corruption. As for Moldbugs question on why we should help, i would suggest that the Aceh operation post-tsunami by us navy was the single most succesful coin ation in the last ten years.
Regarding AM's tweet about
Regarding AM's tweet about Gov. Christie's support of the mosque near the WTC, this should be no surprise to anyone that follows Christie. He is an "open-borders" type of republican in the mold of GW Bush, Karl Rove, and Senator Juan McCain (although Juan has now flip-flopped in order to beat back border warrrior JD Hayworth).
Many liberal pundits say that the only person who could put an end to this mosque controversy would be GW Bush and one of his standard "islam is a religion of peace" speeches. Christie and Bush love the diversity of barrios and mosques: more brown people for low wages and a convenient way to show their "compassionate conservatism."
"As for Moldbugs question on
"As for Moldbugs question on why we should help, i would suggest that the Aceh operation post-tsunami by us navy was the single most succesful coin ation in the last ten years."
Yeah, that would explain why only about 30% of Indonesians had a favorable opinion of the US from 2005 through 2008 according to the Pew Global Survey. Because they just loooooved us after we helped them! Happily, our approval rating in Indonesia jumped up after we elected their boy Barry Soetero.
And we've thrown nearly $20bn in aid at Pakistan since 2001 -- if that doesn't help, just how much money do we have to throw down the rathole before we admit that "aid" is not an effective tool of "COIN"?
If a country acquires its
If a country acquires its own nuclear weapons it should be responsible for its own internal security and disaster relief. If the Pakistanis are truly strapped, perhaps they could auction their arsenal for some badly-needed aid. I would be happy to chip in some cash in order to get those weapons off the street.
visitor: Small secret:
visitor: Small secret: pretty few people liked you pre-sotero. But they stopped hating you in Indonesia post tsunami. Whats more, it disproved the great satan-image in pictures on television for the whole of asia to see.
"they stopped hating you in
"they stopped hating you in Indonesia post tsunami"
You have asserted this, but I'd like to see you prove it. Poll data like Pew certainly indicates otherwise.
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Every Pakistani, Nigerian and
Every Pakistani, Nigerian and Indonesian Muslim is supposed to believe his faith is under assault in any conflict between Arabs and non-Arabs, especially when Jews are involved. A disaster like the floods in Pakistan, or the genocide in Darfur, will draw shrugs across the Arab world, particularly in the wealthier areas. And that's just the way it is.
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