May 17, 2015

If True, Pakistan Is Making A Big Strategic And Political Mistake

Excerpts from, "US officials: 'Saudis set to buy nuclear weapons from Pakistan'" by Yasmin Kaye, International Business Times, May 17, 2015:
Saudi Arabia is said to have taken the "strategic decision" to acquire "off-the-shelf" nuclear weapons from ally Pakistan, senior US officials told the Sunday Times.

"For the Saudis the moment has come," a former US defence official told the Sunday Times last week.

"There has been a long-standing agreement in place with the Pakistanis and the House of Saud has now made the strategic decision to move forward."

"We know this stuff is available to them off the shelf," the intelligence official said, adding that it "has to be the assumption" that the Saudis have decided to become a nuclear power.

A senior British military officer also told the paper that Western military leaders "all assume the Saudis have made the decision to go nuclear."

"The fear is that other Middle Eastern powers — Turkey and Egypt — may feel compelled to do the same and we will see a new, even more dangerous, arms race."
It has to be said from the outset that all statements from U.S. and British officials on any issue in the Middle East, especially when nuclear or chemical weapons are involved, have to be viewed as highly suspect, for obvious historic and common sense reasons. These guys have no credibility. They lied about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, and then lied that they lied about it in the first place.

But, it is within the realm of possibility that the shitheads who rule Pakistan have decided in a backroom deal to give some of their sizable amount of ill-gotten nuclear weapons to Riyadh. If true, Pakistan would be going down with the sinking Saudi ship in the region.

Pakistan's government made a smart and thoughtful move by not rushing to join the criminal Saudi-US attack on Yemen. But it is still wedded to the dying Saudi royals for financial reasons.

Officially, they say they give military support to Saudi Arabia to protect the holy cities and mosques, but they are not under threat from anyone. The truth is that they depend on Saudi money to keep their government and economy afloat.

It must be remembered that Pakistan was born a mercenary nation. It sold its military services to Washington during the Cold War in exchange for aid. And its leadership is so corrupt, and so greedy for money and power, that it sees no moral or political problems with trading nukes for billions.