Emergency in Pakistan

[TCO]

you don't need troops for that. So bring them home. Are you ****ing brain dead?

[DinoDoc]

You're the one here saying stupid ****.

[TCO]

maybe so, but you're not even following assertions. Go write your paper.

[Kuciwalker]

This is going to be fun.

[Darius871]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
This is going to be fun.

Yeah, real fun

[germanos]

from the BBC:

Another politician, former cricketer Imran Khan, said he had been placed under house arrest.

He blamed the increasing extremism in Pakistan on Gen Musharraf, saying: "When you stop all legal and constitutional ways of people challenging [the president], then the only ones who challenge him are people with a gun".

ain't that the truth

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Victor Galis

One can hope he stays in power, or that pro-democracy forces topple him, but the risk of Islamists with nukes . (Might be a good time to dust off the old Stealth Nation Technology.)

Why do you care if the Islamists have a few? The Americans and Israelis have them, and they are clearly insane, racist, anti-democratic human rights violators.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Agathon
Why do you care if the Islamists have a few? The Americans and Israelis have them, and they are clearly insane, racist, anti-democratic human rights violators.

Well, there's that little matter of bin Ladin having declared war on America and having said that every American man, woman and child should be killed. I'd rather he not get his hands on Pakistan's nukes.

[Darius871]

Originally posted by Zkribbler
Well, there's that little matter of bin Ladin having declared war on America and having said that every American man, woman and child should be killed.

So what, Israel and America kill all sorts of innocents too, and they're hypocritical about it to boot![/red herring]

[SlowwHand]

Oh, go away.

[Guynemer]

While Pakistan lacks the technology to launch a nuke at the US or Israel, it isn't out of the realm of possibility that a nuke could be smuggled into those countries courtesy of a fundamentalist Islamist regime in Islamabad.

Of course, were that to happen, Pakistan would likely be looking at war not only with the US, but also with the trio of nuclear powers at their doorstep. Bin Laden and his ilk may be bat**** crazy and profoundly evil, but they are not stupid.

[snoopy369]

More likely they give Iran the nukes in exchange for help with India...

[Theben]

Originally posted by Guynemer
While Pakistan lacks the technology to launch a nuke at the US or Israel, it isn't out of the realm of possibility that a nuke could be smuggled into those countries courtesy of a fundamentalist Islamist regime in Islamabad.

Of course, were that to happen, Pakistan would likely be looking at war not only with the US, but also with the trio of nuclear powers at their doorstep. Bin Laden and his ilk may be bat**** crazy and profoundly evil, but they are not stupid.

Except we can't blame an entire nation b/c of a few nutjobs. Plus there's still the greater likelihood of a launch against India.

[Guynemer]

Originally posted by Theben


Except we can't blame an entire nation b/c of a few nutjobs.

You wanna bet what happens if some nutjobs set off a nuke from Pakistan in the US?

Plus there's still the greater likelihood of a launch against India.

Again, I doubt that. China sure as **** wouldn't be excited to have a lunatic fundamentalist regime on their border, and if Pakistan starts throwing nukes around, you can bet your ass that China is gonna be all over them like white on rice. Russia and their Central Asian friends would be likewise perturbed.

[Darius871]

Originally posted by Guynemer
Of course, were that to happen, Pakistan would likely be looking at war not only with the US, but also with the trio of nuclear powers at their doorstep.

Why is it a given that anyone other than the U.S. would retaliate against Pakistan for a clandestine nuclear attack against the U.S.? Russia and China would likely offer little more than moral condemnation. We're not talking about a spy unit in Civ2 here.

Originally posted by Guynemer
Bin Laden and his ilk may be bat**** crazy and profoundly evil, but they are not stupid.

1) Past speeches by Bin Laden and his ilk imply such a "rotten house" view of the U.S. that they might falsely assume a few decapitating strikes (let's say NY, DC, & LA simultaneously) plus a dash of divine providence would break our will to retaliate decisively.

2) Even if #1 isn't the case, why would Bin Laden's ilk have any apprehension about risking Pakistan's annihilation in exchange for striking devastating blows to the U.S.? Their movement would still live on in other countries.