As Obama visits India, Pakistan looks to Russia for military, economic assistance

[AbhimanyuShrivastav]

Talking about fragile mindset and feeling jittery, one just has to look back at Indian reaction at the news of Russians supplying gunships to Pakistan.

Yes.. The Russian gunships are really looking good in PAF colors.. Oh Wait !!

 

[Mr.Nair]

Assistance assistance assistance assistance assis...............



and the 7th fleet is still on its way for 'assistance'

There was a film in hollywood also that US is going to strike pakistan with their fleet for 'assistance'.These days fiction become real, who knows...

 

[13 komaun]

Don't know about that film but i played call of duty in which Navy SEALS kills ISI operatives supporting terrorism.


Call of Duty: Black Ops II - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[MohitV]

Indians behaving like a Basanti who is been touched up for the first time....feeling all wanted. !!
Talking about fragile mindset and feeling jittery, one just has to look back at Indian reaction at the news of Russians supplying gunships to Pakistan.
And bravado should be shown on the borders against a matching force unlike the Indians who feel brave by attacking visiting performers and players....... Bravo.

i do agree with ur first part a bit......but not a single pakistani player has been attacked......ahem ahem srilankan players ahem ahem ........even u know that pakistani performers are respected and employed in india or else why would indians attend pakistani band events that too en mass......indians cheered for pakistan in commonwealth and other events.....



that middle finger issue was raised because ur player was showing it to the crowd with children in it


now its obvious that a few from a crowd of any country would say bad things to the opponent country players....the player should control his rage and should show some sportsman spirit.....did amla show middle finger to the white audience when they called him terrorist ???

 

[Dalit]

This is a good development. Pakistan needs to start cooperating on various levels with regional players such as China and Russia. This includes trade and military relations. Every effort needs to be made to improve relations on various level. The time that we put our eggs in one basket is long gone.

The fact that many Western media outlets are even reporting such news should be enough indication that they do care. They are following Pakistan's recent interactions with China/Russia with keen interest.

 

[Bagha]

This is a good development. Pakistan needs to start cooperating on various levels with regional players such as China and Russia. From trade to military relations. Every effort needs to made to improve relations. The time when we put our eggs in one basket is long gone.

The fact that many Western media outlets are even reporting such news should be enough indication that they do care.

Even if Pakistan wants to partner with Russia won't partner with them. Russia doesn't have China's compulsion i.e. protects its energy supply route in case of direct war. But isn't Pakistan a bit close to India. And in future when conventional reserve of oil would end and using shale reserve starts , then China won't care about Pakistan that much . Also if they they build a pipeline to Russia. This is :The harsh truth.
Also China doesn't need proxies to scare India , as USA needed during Nixon era because it has land border with India.

 

[Dalit]

Even if Pakistan wants to partner with Russia won't partner with them. Russia doesn't have China's compulsion i.e. protects its energy supply route in case of direct war. But isn't Pakistan a bit close to India. And in future when conventional reserve of oil would end and using shale reserve starts , then China won't care about Pakistan that much . Also if they they build a pipeline to Russia. This is :The harsh truth.
Also China doesn't need proxies to scare India , as USA needed during Nixon era because it has land border with India.

As an Indian, you can keep thinking that way, but Russia has already made huge strides in improving relations with Pakistan. That's an undeniable fact. Russia, Pakistan and China in particular share certain common interests. These interests surpass economic/pipeline deals. Russia and Pakistan are bound to improve relations even at the dislike of India. Whilst India is cosying up with the US, Russia too can make new friends. Russia has demonstrated this quite bitterly to India.

Russia is providing RD-93 engines for JF-17. Even when India has nagged relentlessly. Russia is providing Pakistan with much needed choppers. Russian firms have shown a lot of interest in assisting to build oil/gas pipelines. Russia is keen to improve trade relations with Pakistan. Putin has shown a lot of goodwill towards Pakistan. Of course, this goodwill isn't free lunch, but who says that the relationship between India and the US is based on charity? All relations are based on interests. You don't have to teach me that. Similarly, the US is seeking a police officer role from India. It's give and take buddy. Don't ever think that your relation with the US is free from trial and error. Kissinger once said, "To be an enemy of America can be dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal". Never forget that.

Pakistan will always be of strategic value and the US recognizes this too despite getting closer to India. Let's not get overexcited about India's mighty prospects. India has its limitations. Every country has its strength and weaknesses. That includes India.

As for China abandoning Pakistan. That can only be an Indian wet dream. Nothing more. It ain't gonna happen.

 

[trident2010]

Russia don't give aid and free stuff. You need to pay for each nut and bolt you buy from Russia .. lolz

 

[Bagha]

As an Indian, you can keep thinking that way,.......................... .................................All relations are based on interests.

After all that you do agree with me . Good. You should know that there is no friend in itn'l diplomacy. Russia won't go that far with Pakistan , which would endanger it's ties with India.
You may argue that there is China with enough economic firepower to offset any such loss.
Because if Russia breaks ties with India , no one can off set that loss.
Suppose I do business of Rs. 10 ( suppose it is a huge amount) with you.
And I do business of Rs. 5 with your neighbour.Will I stop gaining that extra 5 rupees because you say that 10 rupees is already a lot. That doesn't make any business sense. Of course if it was business of 10 paise involving a lot of risk , I would have stopped that. But that isn't the case with Russia and India. Phewww I don't type this much , hope you appreciate my point.

 

[Dalit]

After all that you do agree with me . Good. You should know that there is no friend in itn'l diplomacy. Russia won't go that far with Pakistan , which would endanger it's ties with India.
You may argue that there is China with enough economic firepower to offset any such loss.
Because if Russia breaks ties with India , no one can off set that loss.
Suppose I do business of Rs. 10 ( suppose it is a huge amount) with you.
And I do business of Rs. 5 with your neighbour.Will I stop gaining that extra 5 rupees because you say that 10 rupees is already a lot. That doesn't make any business sense. Of course if it was business of 10 paise involving a lot of risk , I would have stopped that. But that isn't the case with Russia and India. Phewww I don't type this much , hope you appreciate my point.

We'll see Nostradamus. No need to repeat yourself.

 

[About.to.be.banned]

We'll see Nostradamus. No need to repeat yourself.

No need to be Nostradamus. A bean counter could predict future of Ruso-Pak ties.

It is cold hard count of Nickle and Dimes, nothing personal.

 

[singh sahab]

That is the story of the 'Land of Pure'. Always looking for assistance, Be it USA China or In this case Russia. And still they feel proud. I wonder when Pakistan will be able to assist some country instead of getting assistance.

 

[k_arura]

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — As the United States forges closer ties to India, neighboring Pakistan is looking for some new friends. Officials hope they have found one in Russia — a budding partnership that could eventually shift historic alliances in South Asia.
In recent months, Pakistani military and political leaders have reached out to Moscow, seeking to warm ties that have been frosty since the Cold War. In November, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Islamabad and signed a military cooperation agreement with Pakistani generals. Pakistan is now hoping to finalize plans to buy three dozen Russian Mi-35 helicopters and more closely coordinate efforts to counter terrorism and narcotics. Pakistan also wants Russian assistance to stabilize chronic energy shortages.

The moves come as Pakistani leaders grow increasingly nervous that their traditional alliances could erode, if not crumble, in the coming years. For much of its history, Pakistan has been an ally of the United States, while Russia had stronger ties to India, even backing it during that country’s 1971 war with Pakistan. But now that most NATO troops have left next-door Afghanistan — and the Pakistani army is straining to overcome Islamist militants on its western border — officials here fear that the United States’ regional interest is tilting toward India, Pakistan’s eastern neighbor and archrival.

“Of course we are concerned,” said one senior Pakistani military leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The balance of power is being tipped toward India, and that is not good, and it’s been done with the help of the Western World. That is why we are looking at various markets, because conventional [military] parity is the only recipe for peace and stability.”

Pakistan’s efforts to kindle ties with Moscow come as relations between the West and Russia continue to worsen, which may prompt it to look for new trading partners in Asia. Pakistanis are also worried the Indian army is moving toward dominance in the conventional arms race.

Those concerns were magnified this week, when President Obama met in New Delhi with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Obama and Modi vowed to strengthen cooperation on defense and energy matters, and they announced a deal that they said should smooth the way for American companies to invest in Indian civilian nuclear plants.

Since Pakistan was partitioned from India in 1947, the two nuclear-armed countries have fought three major wars. So when Obama was the guest of honor at an elaborate military parade in New Delhi this week, it was viewed with skepticism on this side of the border.

“To be very honest, we think Obama has gone one step too far,” said Maria Sultan, chairwoman of the Islamabad-based South Asian Strategic Stability Institute, an organization with close links to Pakistani military and intelligence.

In another sign of the unease, Pakistan’s powerful army chief, Raheel Sharif, traveled to China last weekend to solidify long-standing military and economic ties between the two countries. China is Pakistan’s largest arms supplier, having sold or transferred it nearly $4 billion in weapons since 2006, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which monitors arms sales.

The United States, with about $2.5 billion in arms sales to Pakistan over the past nine years, is the country’s second-largest arms supplier. In December, Congress also authorized $1 billion in additional funds to Pakistan for its continued support of counter-terrorism operations. But it is unclear how much American aid will flow to Pakistan in the coming years.

Tasnim Aslam, spokeswoman for Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Pakistan doesn’t want to “put all of its eggs in one basket.”

“It’s a multi-polar world, and its in our interest to engage all the poles and forge relationships,” said Aslam, who earlier this month led a high-level Pakistani delegation to Moscow to discuss future ties.

Noting Secretary of State John F. Kerry had a productive visit to Islamabad two weeks ago, Aslam said Washington shouldn’t read too much into Pakistan’s outreach to Putin. But some Pakistani lawmakers offered a more pointed view of Pakistan’s rapprochement with Russia.

“Pakistan’s historical mistake after its inception was to establish close ties with the United States but to ignore the Russians,” said Haji Muhammad Adeel, a lawmaker who chairs the Pakistani Senate’s foreign relations committee. “We went to war with Russia in Afghanistan, and that brought us gifts of terrorism, extremism and drugs. Now Pakistan is trying to forge friendly ties with Russia to correct the mistakes of past.”

Despite that outreach, it remains unclear whether Pakistan’s efforts to bolster ties with Russia will pay off.

Russian diplomats in Islamabad declined to comment on the two countries’ relations. But Russia is India’s largest arms supplier, with $18 billion in sales since 2006, according to SIPRI.

Yury Barmin, a Russian foreign policy expert based in the United Arab Emirates, said he doubts Russia would risk its relationship with India by also selling arms to Pakistan. He said he suspects Putin, who visited New Delhi in December, is using Pakistan as leverage over the Indian government so it doesn’t get too close to the United States.

“It’s the way Russian diplomacy works,” Barmin said. “They find a pressure point, but then they go to India and release the pressure and say, ‘Hey, we are not developing that relationship anymore.’ ”

But Rifaat Hussain, an Islamabad-based defense expert, said the West should not underestimate the potential for a realignment of strategic ties in Asia.

“There is now a visible strain with Moscow’s relationship with the United States, and Moscow has moved much closer to China, which I think facilitates Pakistan’s relationship with Russia,” Hussain said.

As Obama visits India, Pakistan looks to Russia for military, economic assistance - The Washington Post

As the saying goes "A Day Late and a Dollar Short". Its hard to buy life insurance when you have jumped off the 100th storey and are on the 10th on the way down

That is the story of the 'Land of Pure'. Always looking for assistance, Be it USA China or In this case Russia. And still they feel proud. I wonder when Pakistan will be able to assist some country instead of getting assistance.

When (and if India accepts which it should not IMHO) it begs to become part of India once again!

 

[singh sahab]

As the saying goes "A Day Late and a Dollar Short". Its hard to buy life insurance when you have jumped off the 100th storey and are on the 10th on the way down


When (and if India accepts which it should not IMHO) it begs to become part of India once again!

Care to explain please?

 

[Storm Force]

Pakistan looking for new friends says cb4

Sounds desperate

Looking for assistance

I assume this means money and weapons

Abd you wonder why USA ran to new Delhi