"Collective Psychosis" in Pakistan?

[Marauder06]

http://www.theatlantic.com/internat...d-is-collective-psychosis-in-pakistan/277298/

It may not be the most dangerous place in the world, but, with its mix of political instability and nuclear capability, it's plausibly the most dangerous place for the world. Yet according to Husain Haqqani, Americans have a chronically hard time understanding why.

"I do believe that Pakistan is a dangerous place," Haqqani said, speaking withThe Washington Post's David Ignatius and retired U.S. general Stanley McChrystal at the Aspen Ideas Festival today, "but ... not for the reasons the Americans think it is. The Americans don't get Pakistan."

U.S. foreign policy naturally looks for levers to pull. But what if, despite all the complexity among all the issues where the U.S. has been looking for levers, there is, after all, a central, defining issue with no lever connected to it? "It's not America's problem to solve Pakistan's problem," Haqqani said. "It's Pakistan's problem to solve Pakistan's problem."

So what's the problem?

Haqqani's account here is rather meta: The problem is a dominant and determining sense of collective insecurity that prevents Pakistan from understanding its situation in the world.

 

[LimaOscarSierraTango]

http://www.theatlantic.com/internat...d-is-collective-psychosis-in-pakistan/277298/

Interesting article, although Haqqani seems slightly contradictory (unless I am misreading something) when it says:

"It's Pakistan's problem to solve Pakistan's problem."

and then

"... if America is available to us, we will use it like Korea did or Taiwan did,"

I guess we can be used as part of their problem solving if they know how to use us. Oh wait, they are pretty good at using us already...
I like the optimism, unfortunately, I don't see any changes anytime soon.

ETA the obligatory Fuck Pakistan.

 

[AWP]

Solving Pakistan's problems would require another war, one we don't have the stomach to fight. Until then, we'll hope and dream that PK sees the light and walks the path of the righteous. With a warm sun on our face and spring flowers in bloom, American and PK can then confront a world gone mad as equal partners commited to justice, equality, and freedom.