In fact, part of the Russian narrative is that Russia is an ally to any who are victimized by the West. and there is plenty of evidence for this. R
It seems to be less about the Russian narrative than how Russia decides to project its power by aligning with certain states -- the question is whether Iran will continue to ally with Russia or not after this deal. I don't know the answer to that.
Ehhh....I'm quite surprised you can't even understand this basic idea of perceptions. US narrative of Russia as an 'evil empire' is as much about how they want the world to perceive them, as it is how they perceive Russia.
Narratives and perceptions are irrelevant. As a country, you have what it takes to project your power, or you don't. Power politics is not about perception. It is about actually acquiring and using power. Whether or not USA (or Russia) is portrayed as an evil power, what really matters is whether they have the money and the goods to have other countries align with them. In the case of Russia, they do have technology they are willing to sell to Iran, which the USA will not do. That is what matters, not "perceptions". It is what you can do that matters, not what your image is, at least not any more. In the cold war, there was ideology to be sold, so for every "Amerika" there was some US counter propaganda to sell perceptions of communism/capitalism. No such thing requires to be sold these days, countries operate as swing states and take what they can get from relationships with adversaries like USA and USSR.
What does India have to show for all the "work" on Chabahar? Further, without first securing the land routes through the Khyber, if India does go ahead with building this railway line, we should not at all be surprised if it eventually falls to Jihadis
This is not anything new. Please read up on the work already done with the Iranian government on the
Chahbahar --> Zaranj --> Delaram routes that are already in place. You paranoia about "jihadis" should not stop you from considering reality as it exists -- Iran has its own reasons to cooperate with India on such routes -- the rule of thumb is that Iran, like India, will not refuse to cooperate on matter where it thinks it can derive mutual benefit.
What is our politico-military strategy protect any Iron ore interests that we choose to develop in Western Afghanistan.
Don't believe everything you read...mining and iron ore extraction is yet to generate much revenue for the Afghan govt. or its chinese investors...would be glad to look at some actual figures if that is not the case.
They might not "realize" it, but instinctively, they might be realizing that they might not be able to prop up Pak forever. They will try their best to do it. But they will also be thinking of Plan B if Pak goes down.
The US's only plan is to fund pakistan, and more specifically the paki army, so that they can influence the paki army that controls paki nukes. There is no other plan, AFAICT, and if you think there is, you are going to have to provide examples of events that point in that direction. What we have now is a paki general who graduated from a US military college in charge of Pakistan (Raheel), and that is about all the planning the US has done for pakistan. They can't even stop the Pakis from generating weapons grade plutonium with the help of the Chinese, so I don't quite share your awe about US policy or its influence. From what I can tell, what they are doing is similar to what the Byzantine empire did in their time to retain their power and influence...redirect the pakis to go attack India or someone else, and not target US interests. We can all see how great that has worked for them so far.
Stop being so simplistic. USA will try its best to keep Pak alive for as long as possible. But that doesn't mean that they don't realize that this is increasingly becoming more and more cumbersome, nuisance-ridden, and expensive.
one of is certainly being naive. You really have nothing to support your above claim -- the US has continued and will continue to support the Pakistani army, and all these views of pakistan being "cumbersome etc." is just your own imagination, and certainly there is nothing to indicate the US State dept. shares your views. Not by a long shot.
Indian Foreign policy is quite stupid because we neither understand what our interests are, nor do we know what they will be in the future.
You would have to understand what motivates Indian foreign policy before you can claim to pretend you know what India's interests are, better than those who run Indian institutions. There are plenty of indicators from the news and from the actions of the Indian govt., esp. relating to diplomatic relations with nations in Asia that say otherwise, but you are free to pretend you know better. Pakistan is no longer a priority in India's foreign policy, especially given the rise of a far more powerful and dangerous adversary, China. For example, [url]
http://tuoitrenews.vn/politics/27252/vi ... ooperation[/ur] (from the ASEAN thread)
The NSA was also part of previous governments, and I am sure you do not know any better if there are more people like him in the government now or not, in order to make your claim that he is unique. Granted, he is certainly more competent and sharp than those who held the NSA post earlier, but those who work as part of the Indian govt. are no dummies making him an exception in a sea of incompetents -- that is just your own prejudiced perception of Indian institutions.
. Weren't you just saying that US consider Pak an "ally"? now, you're calling Pak a "mortal enemy" of US. Confusion?
I am not confused, but you seem be. Check the deterrence thread to understand what I mean -- the pakis are tactically pretending to be on the US's side until the time when they no longer have to. But the US is betting on pakis turning their nuclear weapons away from them, and keep funding them. All this talk of US looking at pakistan as a deadweight etc. is just naive nonsense.
From what I can tell from your response, you seem to have a problem comprehending that both can be true at the same time -- reality is a mixture of opposites, and not an either-or thing mostly, and this is true in general. Pakis rent themselves out to anyone willing to fund them, which the US is willing to do, and calls pakistan an "ally" to retain some influence in the paki establishment.
As for pakis and their passive-aggressive hostility to the US, if the paki threads have not taught you anything, then I doubt I can make any difference.
My overarching point is this: Iran will have its own ambitions on NW-India. They will have their own vision of "strategic depth" for Afghanistan. This vision will run counter to Indian interests. (edited) In the future, if we get blinded by "profits" of Iron ore mining without realizing that economic benefits can only be secured for long-term if Politico-military dominance is achieved over Af-Pak, we will pay for it dearly.
don't know why you are going on about Iron ore, that is not anywhere near the common interests shared by Iran and Afghanisthan. The real problem being solved here is to bypass Pakistan in the transit of goods to Afghanisthan and Central Asia. Using Pakistan for transit is untenable given its hostility to India and its refusal to allow India permission for transiting good to Afghanisthan or any of the CAR nations.
As for dominating Af-Pak, what makes you think India is already not doing so? Have you paid attention to all the Afghan police forces and troops being trained in India? Anyway, we will see whether your guy is correct or not in due course. No point arguing about "gut feelings" without concrete evidence in the form of events to back up those hunches.