oh please! we are painting the figure as if russia offered some fighter jet or a tank or a missile or some other defence deal to pakistan.
header says, russia hopes and there is a big difference between something happening and something being hoped for, and these are economic ties being discussed and not some strategic or defence deals.
and what did pakistan get at the end:
a trade delegation from pakistan which had no proper program charted out, where people were more interested in trying to figure out who will officially represent pakistan. the whole fiasco was taken as a rude gesture by the russians.
a president who was supposed to stay in moscow for two days, but who touched down in the morning and the moment the discussions between him and medvedev were over he left with out even a lunch, which the poor fellow had on flight back home.
what did russia have to offer pakistan on the floods, some sympathy and beyond that?
was there any discussion on afghanistan, and of what use could pakistan be to russia?
fighting terrorism, drug trafficking and international crimes are the three issues they discussed and the end result? any MoU signed?
last time musharraf went, he returned empty handed, this time zardari went and yet again returned empty handed. we are trying to make heads and tails of a meet which was nothing but a failure. big deal!
india still has a significat trade with russia something we plan to double over the next few years which means that many more jobs for the russians, over 200 JVs/defence deals at various stages of execution, 16 nuke plants and all this will get them 10s of billions of dollars. all this assures them a lasting partnership for times to come with an economy which is growing at a rate of average 8% (+) for the past 5 years, and which is expected to hit a double digit figure this fiscal or next.
will the russians endanger all that for a country which is best known for its terror export, for a country which goes through a turmoil every now and then, a country which is a bankrupt state sustained by the USA? and the country which sustains pakistan, the USA, will they allow that entry to the russians, let alone the russians, even the chinese are not happy with them who till date have offered a partly 1.5 m usd aid which is much less to what india has offered.
on one hand there are 10s of billions today which will translate to 100s of billions tomorrow and on the other hand there is a parasite state, and i am pretty sure russians are much more wiser than what we are giving them credit for, and they pretty well know who is where amongst priority list and where their interests lie. there is only that much pakistan can offer, beyond that they are a burden, a burden only americans are ready entertaining.
