schinnas wrote:CRamS wrote: 2. A_GuptaJi asks the question I have directly asked the uneven types, namely, what crime has Iran committed that TSP has not, for all this diplomatic rain dance about the need to engage TSP and give it billions, and other than contemptuously dismissing me, or asking why if MMS engages TSP, US should not, I never got a good answer.
The answer to this partly has to do with the Jewish lobby in US. Iran's belligerent policy towards Israel and its puppet Syria's attitude towards Israel has made Iran a public enemy in US media and power circles. In addition, after Iran's cultural revolution and embassy seize, there is huge personal animosity among US government circles towards Iran's leadership. On the other than Paki Generals and civilian leaders talk and share a beer with US officials and play golf even if they stab Unkil in the back repeatedly, and naive US politicians think they can "work" on Pakis.
No disagreement with this viewpoint, but I think there is one more factor that we do not acknowledge enough - a Pakistani lobby in the US. Pakistanis have built up influence in the US in various ways - mainly through a charming and hospitable RAPE class who have spared no expense to host and accommodate important American visitors to Pakistan - making them feel like Mughal kings, while they have peopled humanities depts with charming Pakistanis to grow and thrive embedded within US society.
Lifting a quote from my own e-book - which is already a bit dated:
An article in the American magazine, The Weekly Standard had this to say in its Nov 5th 2001 edition:
..the attractive character of elite Pakistani officials. Compared with their haughty Indian and chaotic Afghan neighbors, Pakistani VIPs are often wittier, warmer, and more knowledgeable about the insider gossip of U.S. politics. American diplomats and spooks often have a good deal of fun with their Westernized Pakistani counterparts. As one congressional staffer, who frequently visits south-central Asia, succinctly put it, "I like 'em; the Indians are jerks."
A series of Western writers and prominent people have been hosted and feted in Pakistan, and have later served as honorary ambassadors for Pakistan in the Western media.
One prominent example is the famous American pilot, Chuck Yeager, who was a guest of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and who later went on to write paeans about the PAF For many years after the PAF was comprehensively defeated in successive wars with India, Yeager's words of praise of the Pakistan Air Force continued to be quoted, maintaining a reputation for the PAF that extended far beyond its real performance.
Pakistani hospitality has charmed a large number of prominent writers to write positively about Pakistan, and some have gone as far as to make needlessly hostile and malicious references to India in their writings despite strong evidence that their words are misinformed at best, and often just plain wrong. Prominent among people who have written warm words for Pakistan are writers like Brian Cloughley, Eric Margolis and John Fricker.
As recently as June 2002, the Washington Post reported:
It was mid afternoon Tuesday, and Anwar Mahmood, Pakistan's information secretary, was on the phone discussing with an underling how to keep more than 100 foreign journalists happy for the rest of the week...if it keeps the reporters satisfied, he figured, it's worth the $3,000 it will cost his ministry to rent the plane from Pakistan International Airlines...The Pakistani government, eager to make its voice heard, has ordered foreign embassies to expedite visas for journalists...Five times in the past month, the Information Ministry has rented air-conditioned buses to carry journalists to the Line of Control... There they are treated to hour-long military briefings, complete with maps, displays of Indian mortar shells -- and tea sandwiches served on trays by white-gloved soldiers. You won't get such hospitality from the Indian army.
I used to hear on BRF (in the early 2000s) that Americans were so wealthy and so happy that they could not be bought off or impressed by Pakis and that they were in the drivers seat, having bought off Pakis. That view as we know know is totally wrong. The Pakis charmed and buttered the pants off Americans with luxury and lavish attention that even the wealthiest Americans would be hard pressed to find in the US - let alone government functionaries and armed forces officers.
When India was filling up US niversities with studies and un-charming nerds - Pakistan was simply sponsoring children of the rich and famous to occupy paid seats in positions that placed them among the influential in the US
on the metric system? Puzzled by all these - 207 feet, 200 feet, 541 square feet, etc., etc.
and these brainholes claim they develop fighter jet.
has produced a fatwa against terrorism and gotten quite a few interviews and fame in the western world. He has called for martyrdom of his supporters ... While flying in business class in emirates airlines.