Musharraf plays Bush
Two big articles in the two big dailies (WaPo, NYTimes) discussing how Bush has misplayed (has been outplayed by) Musharraf in their relationship.
The most damning bit is from the NYTimes.
The most damning bit is from the NYTimes.
Experts in United States-Pakistan relations said General Musharraf has played the union masterfully, by convincing Mr. Bush that he alone can keep Pakistan stable. Kamran Bokhari, an analyst for Stratfor, a private intelligence company, who met with General Musharraf in January, said the general views Mr. Bush with some condescension..
“Musharraf thinks that Bush has certain weaknesses that can be manipulated,” Mr. Bokhari said, adding, “I would say that President Musharraf doesn’t think highly of President Bush, but his interests force him to do business with the U.S. president.”
posted by mikevotes at
3:02 PM
4 Comments:
No mystery there. Bush believes in tight military control and killing as many terrorists/islamists as possible. If he has a complaint it's that Musharraf isn't killing enough.
By
Anonymous, at 3:51 PM
Just out of curiosity, is there any world leader or diplomatic corps that this administration has outthunk?
By
mikevotes, at 4:31 PM
"is there any world leader or diplomatic corps that this administration has outthunk?"
Howard in Australia, maybe. Poland and Macedonia, perhaps. The last two have been completely suckered by Bush dangling NATO/EU membership in front of them if they play ball by Bush's rules. Howard is more of a willing victim than anything else.
The India nuke deal was supposed to be Bush's big diplomatic breakthrough, but that's pretty much in the can now. After years of telling our allies that they can't make megabucks off India's nuclear industry, Bush then turns around and says it's okay if American companies want to do it, though. It would be irresponsible to let anyone else make all of that money. In the end, India's Communist Party killed the deal because it required inspections. My money is on India "out-thinking" the Decider and getting its way.
In the big picture, though, Bush is more akin to diplomatic bozos like Chavez. The world has pretty much learned how to pull Bush's strings.
By
Todd Dugdale , at 5:05 PM
Actually, you are dead on right. I was thinking in terms of rivals and enemies, but, hell yeah, look at the job we did on Britain. We got them to sign up for our misbegotten war and turned THEM into the terrorists target.
As for your second point, the Bush administration overextended leaving everyone else able to tip our balance.
By
mikevotes, at 9:16 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home