March 28, 2005
 

Pakistan presses F-16 key and gets help from the US

In the beautiful Mani Ratnam movie Kannathil Mutthamittaal, Madhavan and Prakash Raj are in a conversation wondering about why there're wars between nations and within countries. Prakash Raj gets it dead right when he points out that the developed nations, who manufacture all these weaponry and weapons delivery systems, have stopped fighting wars fifty years ago. But they need to keep the people working in those factories employed and in addition they need to test out their products. Thats where poor developing countries come in.

On Friday, the United States of America announced that it would be supplying F-16s to Pakistan, a decision obviously hailed by Pakistan. India is obviously displeased at the turn of events but strangely it seems happy with the promises made by the US. The fact is that while the US has actually provided Pakistan with aircraft that can deliver nuclear weapons, all it has given India are promises - of co-operation, next steps etc. etc. There is of course the little matter of the sale obviously preventing the closer of a LockHeed Martin plant and laying off US workers.

How will this affect an already smouldering region?

The Acorn's opinions on the sale.

The NY Times also feels that the sale provides fodder for an arms race in the sub-continent.

Rambled @ 4:06 PM

Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

1 comment(s)

Atanu Dey (deeshaa.org) said the same thing.
http://www.deeshaa.org/archives/2004/11/29/index.html#006363
and
http://www.deeshaa.org/archives/2005/03/24/index.html#006440

"Number of people in the world indirectly employeed by the defence industry: 6 billion."

By  Anonymous (Mar 29, 2005, 9:04:00 PM)  

I'd prefer if you posted comments with your real name to add more credibility to your opinions. Obviously comments containing offensive and unsuitable language will be deleted. The opinions in the comments are your own views. You are welcome to provide a URL to your own blog, especially if it discusses issues you find here.