NationStates Jolt Archive


Democracy in Pakistan and Rule of Law in Saudi Arabia.

BogMarsh
07-08-2006, 11:24
Pakistani woman, jailed for being raped in Saudi Arabia, deported.

It ain't new.
Bush never bombed Pakistan.
I don't even think he THINKS about bombing Pakistan.
The country isn't lawless.

In the case of Saudi Arabia, no one is claiming it is democratic.
No one is claiming said Kingdom is lawless.
I'm certain that Bush won't bomb it. He's kinda close with those people...



http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2006/04/26/pakistani-woman-jailed-for-being-raped-in-saudi-arabia-deported/

Source: http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2006/April/subcontinent_April924.xml&section=subcontinent&col=

Despite being a Democracy, and officially having Rule of Law, Pakistan enjoys the nicest of relations with said medi-evil Kingdom.

Pakistan in itself is no exception: the USA and the UK also have the best of official relations with said medi-evil Kingdom.
Philosopy
07-08-2006, 12:21
I think US/UK relations with Saudi Arabia are likely to sour when Iraq is more stable. At the moment it's a case of having to climb into bed with them because they are seen as the best of a bad bunch; when there is a friendly democracy in the region, the influence of Saudi Arabia will fall.
BogMarsh
07-08-2006, 12:24
I'd imagine that one of the key differences between Blair&Bush and me is that there is no power on this Earth that could persuade me to share a bed with ANY State that tolerates the slightest hint of Shari'a.
Philosopy
07-08-2006, 12:27
I'd imagine that one of the key differences between Blair&Bush and me is that there is no power on this Earth that could persuade me to share a bed with ANY State that tolerates the slightest hint of Shari'a.
Unfortunately though, States sometimes have to be act based on utility rather than morality. I suppose the thinking is that it's better to turn a blind eye to 1,000 people being abused to stop 10,000 being killed.
BogMarsh
07-08-2006, 12:34
Unfortunately though, States sometimes have to be act based on utility rather than morality. I suppose the thinking is that it's better to turn a blind eye to 1,000 people being abused to stop 10,000 being killed.

If we were talking about Utility, we would have been invading that medi-evil kingdom, and not handing Saddam a lifetime-achievement-award.
Philosopy
07-08-2006, 12:37
If we were talking about Utility, we would have been invading that medi-evil kingdom, and not handing Saddam a lifetime-achievement-award.
You couldn't invade Saudi Arabia without opening up an almighty conflict. Plus, the US/UK coalition would struggle to invade the Isle of Man right now, with the committments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I don't particually like the policy towards Saudi Arabia, I just don't see any viable alternative.
BogMarsh
07-08-2006, 12:42
You couldn't invade Saudi Arabia without opening up an almighty conflict. Plus, the US/UK coalition would struggle to invade the Isle of Man right now, with the committments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I don't particually like the policy towards Saudi Arabia, I just don't see any viable alternative.

See, that's the we-shoulda-done in 2003. Matter of fact, shoulda done that in 1991.

Our failure to get to grips with the homeland of OBL is a strategic error of the first magnitude.
Imagine we'd been bombing SWEDEN because the Luftwaffe had bombed London.

As the fracas in Lebanon proves, an almighty war with muslim Arabs is no reason to quake in your boots - unless you are Denmark.

Come mr Saudiman, hand over al Qaeda
Air Force come, and it flattens your home
Cruisemissile
Tomahawk
Atom BOMB!
Air Force come, and it flattens your home.
Philosopy
07-08-2006, 12:45
See, that's the we-shoulda-done in 2003. Matter of fact, shoulda done that in 1991.

Our failure to get to grips with the homeland of OBL is a strategic error of the first magnitude.
Imagine we'd been bombing SWEDEN because the Luftwaffe had bombed London.

As the fracas in Lebanon proves, an almighty war with muslim Arabs is no reason to quake in your boots - unless you are Denmark.
Lebanon and Iraq are very good examples of why war is a very blunt instrument to be using. Holy wars will never succeed; you can kill people, but you will never kill faith.
BogMarsh
07-08-2006, 12:46
Lebanon and Iraq are very good examples of why war is a very blunt instrument to be using. Holy wars will never succeed; you can kill people, but you will never kill faith.


We don't have to kill a faith - we have to kill an infrastructure.
As it happens, that is a remarkably easy job.
Philosopy
07-08-2006, 12:48
We don't have to kill a faith - we have to kill an infrastructure.
As it happens, that is a remarkably easy job.
Destroying infrastructure does not destroy the will to resist. Human life is a remarkably fragile thing; it does not take much effort for such people to strike back and hurt you.

Is tossing a country into civil war and chaos really better than working with it?
BogMarsh
07-08-2006, 12:53
Is tossing a country into civil war and chaos really better than working with it?

Good question: what if that country is the 3rd Reich?
What if that country condones slavery?
What if that country is en empire of darkness?

In the case of a country and a nation that supports Shari'a - I'd say it IS.

Destroying infrastructure does not destroy the will to resist. Human life is a remarkably fragile thing; it does not take much effort for such people to strike back and hurt you.

This disregards the fact that infrastructure can so destroyed that all exertion of will becomes impossible and irrelevant. ( or - why did the population of Egypt decline from 25 million in 652AS to about 3 million when Napoleon arrived? )
I am not saying that we should do so.
What I am saying is that eradicating an idea IS feasible.
Philosopy
07-08-2006, 13:00
Good question: what if that country is the 3rd Reich?
What if that country condones slavery?
What if that country is en empire of darkness?

In the case of a country and a nation that supports Shari'a - I'd say it IS.
War is sometimes the only option available, it is true. But total eradication - I would hope that we are more civilised than that.
Minaris
07-08-2006, 13:15
War is sometimes the only option available, it is true. But total eradication - I would hope that we are more civilised than that.

Don't get your hopes too high now... the government has a way of applying a double standard to itself... it'lll do as it pleases. We have seen that with the whole "Mess-o-potamia" deal.
Demented Hamsters
07-08-2006, 13:28
You forgot to mention that Pakistan is basically a military dictatorship, having overthrown a democracy whenever it doesn't do what the military wants.
And that it has been implicitly supporting al Qaeda.
And that it has draconian Shariat laws.

But somehow that's all ok with the US and UK. Cause at least it's not as bad as Iraq was, what with it's military dictatorship, unproven support of al Qaeda and secular society.

All about bringing democracy and liberty...
BogMarsh
07-08-2006, 13:42
War is sometimes the only option available, it is true. But total eradication - I would hope that we are more civilised than that.

At the same time, I also hope we are too decent to suffer any shari'a state to exist, wherever it may be on our globe.
BogMarsh
07-08-2006, 13:43
Don't get your hopes too high now... the government has a way of applying a double standard to itself... it'lll do as it pleases. We have seen that with the whole "Mess-o-potamia" deal.


That's no double standard,
there is one single standard: behave as we say - or get bombed.