Nuclear Viagra and Nationalist Virility

Re: Harish Sharma and the viagra/phallus league

Excuse me? I beg your pardon? Bretheren? What bretheren? The ``bretheren`` from across the border were all frothing at the mouth and made no bones as to what they thought about their ``brethren`` across the border. These brethren also included some extra BJP elements..... dare I say even counter BJP elements??? Pakistan`s status quo of whatever existed in terms of an economy and defence was flushed down the toilet by Vajpayee and his band of nuke happy bannyas. Some people can go on saying that nuke tests were the reflection of Nawaz Sharif`s phallic tendencies til they are blue in the phallus, but the truth of the matter is that in a world where the boys in the west would rather burn wheat than give to the starved of africa, Pakistan was waving bye bye to all and any kind of investor confidence and investors as a whole. There goes the economy. Next is Pakistan`s security concerns. Did anybody lose sleep over that snake in the grass Advani`s comments? Think he was playing a game of May fool with us? The people of Pakistan were panicked enough that they were demonstrating quite vogourously. That gave rise to concerns of a mulla revolution. Personally I`d much rather have Nawaz Sharif than a fanatic and that too with a nuclear weapon. He would have showed all Pakistanis especially the saner elements phallus where the sun doesen`t shine. What then?
We have to be realistic and admit that the nuke tests by the bannyas changed everything for ever and the old days weren`t coming back. Pakistan had to respond. What else could we have done? waited for 15+ year old F16`s that have been siting in the desert sun for more than a decade? That was to be our response to a nuclear neighbour? What else could have we done, I ask all my phallus waving freinds.

regards
Hassan

Was there really a choice for Pakistan NOT to react to Indian Nukes?
No nukes on our part would have been viewed as a weakness and mind you not only by India but the rest of the world too. Note the Hue and Cry raised by the Paki bombs as compared to the mild protests to Indian nukes in the pre-pakinuke time. NO one expected us to respond the way we did because lets face it we had the reputation of spineless eunuchs, eager for dough.
India`s hormone rush had to be checked. It is like a moronic giant that has no clue as to where its going/doing, has no clue about managing its gangly structure, what with the absence of a fully functional brain (BJP) that really is not possible.
Laaton kay bhoot baaton say nahin mantay

Re: Waheed Malik: Jun-17-98 2:13:31 EST

(“...India never recognized us as a country, BUT SINCE NOW WE ARE HERE...what to do but to move
on...”)

This is quite a paranoid idea, and unfortunately one that is widespread in Islamabad circles (that ‘they’ never recognized ‘us’). In reality, this is NOT true. The two countries have formal diplomatic missions and recognition has never been an issue. This is what war-mongers want you to believe and most people (unthinkingly) fall for it. Just wait and see. As soon as some kind of interim settlement is reached on the Kashmir issue (which will have to be made an Internationally administered INDEPENDENT territory) Bharat and Pakistan will become allies and trading partners. I only hope and pray that before they reach that stage (which is eventually inevitable) they have not killed off fifty million people in a nuclear exchange resulting from some paranoid miscalculation or mere accident.

(“...and being an independent country, our soveriegnty needs to be protected, There is a time for dialogue and then there is a time for standing up...No one is waging a war against India, the psychological balance had to be attained....”)

“Independent country” and “sovereignty” are indeed impressive sounding words, but lets take a moment and think what they really mean.

Lets begin with the question of what a ‘country’ really is, or should be? Is a COUNTRY just an idea: represented by a flag and some institutions of power which are controlled by a small private club whose membership is closed to the general masses?

Or should a country be more than that? Should a truly independent country not be based on providing equal protection of the law and justice and economic opportunity to all?

Please do tell me what, in your enlightened opinion, a country should be? And what does Pakistan actually represent? And what is the true cost of this ‘independence’? And who is paying this cost? And who benefits from it? And, in the end, is it worth the sweat, blood, tears, pain, hunger and misery of 99% of 140 million people to continue to keep this cancer-riddled, worm-infested and putrefied corpus “sovereign” so that the remaining 1% (of which, Waheed sahib, you and I are a guilty party) can continue to pretend that we are one of the SEVEN? Wake up, brother Waheed, the 21st Century is just around the corner and the Cold War has been over almost a decade ago. The age of Nationalism is coming to close with the Global Village being the model for the future. Are we going to evolve towards global humanism and rise above the pettiness of Nationalism or are we going to get extinct?


(“...we made this techo move ...we are still a living breathing country and not almost quite dead yet...!!”)

Indeed not just quite yet! The breathing, however, is only accomplished by IPPR (Intermittent Positive Pressure Respirator) devices.

(“...a dialogue with India is fruitless...those BJP b-a-s-t-a-r-d-s don`t have the ears which accept reason...”)

This is patently absurd. If The Ulster Unionists and the Irish Republicans can talk peace, if Arabs and Israelis can conduct dialogues, if North and South Korea can find common grounds there is no reason to insist that the people of the Subcontinent cannot find peaceful ways to co-exist.

(“...Do you REALLY P-H-U-C-K-I-N-G believe that Indian government is open to ``talks`` and ``reason``....if so then the burden is on you....!”)

This present BJP government is only a transitory burp in the Subcontinent’s history. These fascists are nothing more than a fart of the undigested gases from the bowels of Bharat. Their 17 party coalition will crumble in no time, especially if we don’t react to their saber rattling. They want us to react so that they can keep their own people’s attention focused on external threats instead of the real issues. Sadly, this is exactly the politicians in Islamabad also want. Thus the leaderships in Islamabad and New Delhi have a community of interests and they both continue to hoodwink their respective populations into believing that their “sovereignty and independence” is threatened so that the people’s attention remained focus on bogus non-issues inter-state rivalry politics and the present sorry state of affairs go on and on and on.


(“...Can you imagine life in a province with 700,000 active troops...!!..”)

The British created two political systems. One system for running their own country and one system for running those colonies which they ruled. The tragedy is that when the British left, we kept the structure of state intact which they had left behind. That state structure is the real problem NOT the individuals that run it.

The real enemy of the people is the Federal State structure itself, and not this or that government. Governments come and go, but the bi-polar state structure remains intact and it is this that we need to identify as the enemy. New Delhi is as big (if not bigger) a culprit as Islamabad when it comes to brutalizing its dissident civilian populations. Thus we have the examples of Tamil Nadu, Nagaland, Baluchistan and Bangaladesh. The emancipation of the Subcontinent requires the DISMANTLING of the imperialist federal states enshrined in New Delhi and Islamabad. This is the crux of my political outlook in the context on South Asia.

(“...Like I said the first time, Why do you even bother...?”)

I bother because I dream of a day in the future when we’ll have an economically and socially progressive South Asian region where our children’s children could live and peace and prosperity.

Re: BG: Jun-17-98 17:8:23 EST

(“...if pakistan were an emotionally mature and secure nation -- if we had something to be truly proud of like a good living standard for our population or grass-roots movements for social justice that taught the rest of the world some lessons or even a decent governtment -- we would not feel so threatened by our neighbors to respond to their mind games...”)

I couldn’t agree more. Thanks for your utterly sensible comments, I only hope more people could think as clearly.


Re: Harish Sharma: Jun-17-98 21:27:3 EST

(“...I`d rather think that Nazis were mere fascist, not christian fascists. Or perhaps you`d like to brand fascism with religion -- I can`t help but point out the ``Viagra laced`` reply of yours -- a minor croaking match of
sorts...”)

The Nazi’s may not be Christian fascists, but perhaps you’ll agree that the Mogul Emperor Aurangzeb WAS as Islamic fascist. I consider his to be such because he was driven by religious zelotry just as the RSS crowd behind the present BJP junta is driven. This is not a reflection of my “clannish” views in favor of this or that group. I equally condemn all bigotry be it Hindu, Muslim, Tutsi, Hutu, Serbian or whatever. This is why I suggested that you did not properly read and understand what I was saying, because you seem to be decrying exactly the same ills that I lament over. As for the personal taunt at your reading skills, please accept my apology for the unwarranted insult.

...SR

Good one, Sohail!
I dont understand what all the criticism of your article is about. Freud may be passe, but evidently vajpayee and his buddy nawaz are not down with the post-mordernist lingo; they are still using phallic/macho metaphors. nuclear viagra is apt indeed.

enjoyed your responses thoroughly. of course, like you implied, if pakistan were an emotionally mature and secure nation -- if we had something to be truly proud of like a good living standard for our population or grass-roots movements for social justice that taught the rest of the world some lessons or even a decent governtment -- we would not feel so threatened by our neighbors to respond to their mind games. unfortunately, like many a `man` who is insecure about his `masculinity`, showing off mine, in response to yours, seems to have been the unfortunate, but predictable, choice.

well said, yet again.

regards.

Re: F. R. Khan: Jun-15-98 21:4:19 EST

(“...[ask] any people in the world, throughout history, who have seen their sovereignity, dignity and independece trampled under an occupier`s boot...why...the answer will be; we did not have the means to defend ourselves...”)

You must get full marks for stating the obvious. However, your grade drops when we notice the irrelevance of your statement to the MATERIAL strategic balance in the Subcontinent both before and after the vulgar display of radioactive fireworks. You along with the millions in the crowd are simply swayed by symbolic emotionalism. Common sense is indeed uncommon.

Re: Syed Ahmed: Jun-15-98 23:26:39 EST

Speaking with calm reason is a perilous endeavor and I applaud you for it. Unfortunately, we are faced with the phenomenon of “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds”. This is actually the title of a book by Charles Mackay, an Englishman, who published it in 1841 and it has become an all time classic. In it are countless historical examples, from ancient times onwards, where masses of people engaged in beliefs (and actions based on those beliefs) which, a neutral observer could only call ‘delusions’ and their consequent actions as ‘madness’. The historian of tomorrow will classify today’s events in South Asia similarly.

Re: Saima Shah: Jun-16-98 7:50:35 EST

(“...desire to dominate. This domination need is survivalist. So far in human history and evolution the dominant specie is the survivor and king...”)

Evolution is also full of examples where a certain survival strategy (or characteristic) which helped survival under one set of circumstances becomes a detriment to survival when circumstances change radically.

We live in radically changed times from those of our grandparents and the mentality which may have helped yesterday could lead us to obliteration tomorrow. Unfortunately, many of our Neanderthal brethren do not understand this basic truth.

Re: muhammadakraja: Jun-16-98 14:7:52 EST

(“...the core problem in our society. winning at all costs irrespective...”)

There are some situations where there are no winners, and where the living envy the dead. Sadly, we seem to be in a big hurry to get there.


Re: Harish Sharma: Jun-16-98 18:2:36 EST

(“...I`m very disappointed at the Tone of the article, attaching religious overtones to the fascisism...”)

Dear Harish Sharma: You have obviously not taken the time and trouble to read what you seem so eager to condemn. If you HAVE read what I wrote, then I can only suggest that you take a basic course in remedial reading and comprehension skills.

Having said this, I must hasten to add that I concur with your sentiments.

I suppose you were put off by my use of the phrase “Fascist Hindu rulers” in reference to the BJP/RSS crowd. They are every bit ‘Hindu fascists’ as the Jamaat-i-Islami hard-liners are ‘Islamic Fascists’. So what is your hang up?

Re: temporal: Jun-16-98 23:55:57 EST

(“...Like news report of Viagara II, I wonder if the mad scientists are now working on smart nukes?..”)

Mad scientists indeed. Abdul Qadeer and Abdul Kalam are the modern-day counterparts of ‘Harut’ and ‘Marut’ (mentioned in sura Al-Baqarah) who ostensibly came to Babylon and gave humanity dangerous knowledge of the magic which was could cause much harm. (To be precise, their `magic` caused discord between the sexes -- but that`s a minor detail, the analogy is still valid).

...SR

VIAGARA II --- MINUS ILL EFFECTS

Sohail: I share the despair. After all the efforts on and off the Chowk the rats farted. Petty legends in their own minds, they must have thought they have roared back at the wolf.

I was away, admiring Anotnio Gaudi. when the fart was registered on the scale. Perhaps a mixed blessing.

I felt as if my favourite younger sister, despite all advice and counsel, ran off to marry an undesirable urchin. And is pregnant now. Somewhere, sometime in future, we/I would reconcile to the reality. But for now.......

Like news report of Viagara II, I wonder if the mad scientists are now working on smart nukes? Smart nukes that can target a specific section of the populace---One that can eliminate the ignorant mullahs or the western elites; the feudal lords or the haris; the deobandis or the ahl-e haidis!

Sohail, keep your pencils sharp. Good prose.

regards

To: ALL

Thank you for all of your comments and opinions. Most of you who have responded seem to have misconstrued my intent.

This was a piece written out of a sense of despair and frustration. My sense of despair stems from the somber realization that we now stand much closer to nuclear annihilation than was the case before the two rounds of detonation orgy (which the irresponsible fascists of Hindustan began and the unimaginative leaders of Pakistan copied).

What frustrates me is the utter lack of a sense of seriousness and responsibility that should come with so grave a turn of events. Instead, there was a widespread display of shameless machismo and an atmosphere of festivity after Pakistan came out of the nuclear closet.

The nuclear cat is out of the bag in South Asia. Even before this round of testing, everyone knew both countries had nuclear capabilities but there was a fig-leaf covering the vulgarity of being openly nuclear. Hindustan had already removed the fig-leaf once (in 1974) and therefore nothing MATERIALLY changed when the BJP fascists went on their testing rampage on May 11 and 13. It was a round of PsyOps (psychological operations), and Pakistan fell for it.

Pakistan, on the other hand, had nuclear capability since 1984 but had not found it necessary to test. The nuclear deterrent was in place and everyone in New Delhi, Washington, London, Paris, Moscow and Peking knew it. But then the Hindu fascists in New Delhi, for whatever misguided reasons, decided to look scary by flexing their nuclear muscles and the Pakistanis walked into the trap and reacted in panic.

The fact that Pakistani leadership decides such matters not in a proactive manner but as a reaction to someone else’s actions is disturbing. This shows lack of initiative and imagination. It also demonstrates that Pakistani strategy is not determined by its own independent policy but is a mere knee-jerk reaction to others. Thus by our reactive policy we also demonstrated that in fact it is New Delhi who actually gets to manipulate Islamabad’s choices and not the Pakistani leadership on its own initiative.

It is not possible to put this genie back into the bottle and thus the debate of whether we should or should not have done this or that has been rendered academic.

Re: Waheed Malik (Jun-12-98 0:32:38 EST)

I am sorry that my comments upset you, but perhaps the above clarification explains where I come from. It is obvious to me that we both share the same goals, only our paths are very divergent. There is two specific remarks I wish to address:

1) (“...bordering villages in Kashmir, where one has to constantly look for cover for fear of bullets and shell...”)

Waheed sahib, you are taking a narrow view of the matter and looking at it in terms of black and white only. In reality most of the canvas is painted gray.

The issue of Kashmir, though an important factor in the Pak-Hind relations, is not a valid enough excuse to risk total devastation of the Subcontinent by deploying nuclear weapons. The Kashmir issue is more likely to be resolved by policies that lead to the de-militrization of the region and not by escalating the risk of annihilation. The color of blood is red, regardless of whether it flows from the veins of a Muslim or a Hindu.

You are again reacting emotionally. Please THINK it through with a cool head.

2) (“...You .. lumped the South Asians, into one big heading ``monkeys``...and kissed another white ass...”)

Here, you take a somersault and actually identify with your brethren from the other side of the border and react against my “kissing of white ass”. This is encouraging as it had the desired effect. Perhaps, at some level you acknowledge that due to their amateurish and juvenile emotional symbolism of the people of South Asia have more in common with each other than they like to believe. This recognition may be grounds to build upon. If we realize that this nuclear display was just that: A DISPLAY of SYMBOLIC AGGRESSION, then it may be easier to understand why I was reminded of a similar behavior display among the squirrel monkeys.

Thank you for your comments, and have a nice one.


Re: Imam urf Chowkidar

Thanks for sharing your humorous wisdom, but I was really not intending for it to be a discussion on the size of anybody’s penis, symbolic or otherwise. My intent was merely to point towards the macho idiocy and symbolic aggression by giving the example of our arboreal cousins from South America.


NAJAM MAHMUD: Jun-12-98 22:54:41 EST

(“...Another one of those pseudo intellectual rhetoric that my appeal to the hypocritical west but not to
people of Pakistan who have to live under the Indian threat..

...The only option we had was to protect our security and integrity and that only happens if one has the
ability to deter the enemy which we do, and the nation is proud of it...”)

First of all, this “pseudo intellectual rhetoric” was not designed to “appeal” to anyone. Winning popularity contests is not my favorite pastime, so perhaps you are only saying that to express your displeasure at my disgust over what you think will “protect our security” and of which “the nation is proud”.

Pakistan has had the deterrent ability since 1984. If exploding a device was going to guarantee national security then our leadership could (perhaps should?) have taken that step in their own time long ago. After all Hindustan HAD already exploded once in 1974. It was no news that New Delhi had the bomb. Yet, Pakistan never felt the need to follow suit on account of “security” concerns. The strategic balance was the same both before May 11 and remained the same between May 11 and May 28, and is still the same. Nothing has changed in that arena. What did change was the PSYCHOLOGICAL BALANCE.

In 1974 when Indra Gandhi exploded the nuclear device there was a sense of panic followed by a sense of resignation. Then Zulfikar Ali Bhutto said we shall build a bomb even if we have to “eat grass” and he started the ‘build-the-bomb’ program. Ten years passed and Hindustan did not destroy Pakistan which it could have easily done had they really, really wanted to. Then in 1984 we finally got the bomb and let Hindustan know so that from then on they would behave themselves. The so-called strategic balance has been in place ever since. Many in Pakistan wanted to show-off that we have it, but the top leadership decided that to do so would gain nothing since Hindustani generals knew full well what we did or did not have.

Now we got an inexperienced and upstart fascist government in New Delhi which has a slim majority with a seventeen party coalition and they bungled up by pandering to the militants and went on a nuclear testing orgy. That was a meaning display of machismo which did absolutely NOTHING to change the material strategic balance. However, the emotional balance of the Pakistanis was upset and THAT is the problem. When national policy is based on emotionalism at the peril of material reality, disaster usually follows. Pride and slogans may get the juices flowing but it does not change the cold realities on the ground. Now that the nuclear deployment has begun, more and more people are going to be involved in the weapons program and the spread and deployment of these doomsday devices is going to increase and THAT in and of itself poses the biggest risk and security threat. We all remember the Ojhri camp fiasco, don’t we? Imagine what would happen if nukes were also involved in such an accident. Please try to see the cold realities beyond your emotions.

Re: masood: Jun-13-98 13:14:46 EST

You speak wisely and I hope you are right that this will lead to a better future by opening people’s eyes.


Shehzada Taimoor: Jun-13-98 14:18:7 EST

(“...Your thought proecesse are still pretty much Freudian....In the present era Erikson Rules...”)

You are quite correct, sir. An old dog learns only a few new tricks. It was handy to use a Freudian analogy. Hope the modernists will forgive my transgression.


Ras Siddiqui: Jun-13-98 22:17:56 EST

(“...Let us now hope that they can fully digest this new nuclear status...``Nukes are not toys, boys``...”)

I sincerely hope that extreme care will be taken and we shall transform into a proficient, competent and capable people when it comes to handling the nuclear devices. Indeed, these are NOT toys.


Rahman : Jun-15-98 13:24:2 EST

(“...You should not use any words which normally can not be used in muslim literature. We should keep our decency in language. You are representing the image of Pakistan and Islam therefore please be carefull...”)

Rehman sahib, please accept my apology for having offended your Islamic sensibility of decency. That wasn’t the intent as I have explained in the responses above.

However, allow me to take a tangent here and point out that this concern over APPEARANCES is partly responsible for many of our ills. We are a people who constantly stay in denial of reality and are obsessed with form and style while we neglect substance. Perhaps we should pay more attention to substance and less to style.

...SR

The crux of so called nuclear virility is the huMAN desire to dominate. This domination need is survivalist. So far in human history and evolution the dominant specie is the survivor and king. Civilization has a long long way to go before it realises that domination may not be necessary for survival or that it may not be Moral in any way. I doubt that this kind of enlightenment will reach us any time soon. Right now the best that the race has reached is to try and dominate through `more just and fairer` means. For instance more money. Domination is still seen as the ultimate goal.

I vote: `We need more people like M.k. Gandhi``!!!.:-)

RE: F.R. KHan.

How do we defend ourselves with Nuclear weapons ?
Kill ourselves :-). Except for the deterrent effect - nuclear weapons are not pliable.

Where is the peace dividend of this nuclear
umbrella ? inquiring minds want to know.

What is the cost of this umbrella ? and who pays?
HOw many babies have to die of diarrhea from unsafe water, how many will die because of lack
adequate health care, How many children must slave
12 hrs a day to produce that rug in your living room? Certainly not my children, will you pay that cost in terms of your child`s welfare ?

Since we are all ``ready to eat grass`` as long as it is some poor bastrad in some god forsaken
village? That my friend is courage.....

All we need now is the National anthem, and Mr Rabbani`s prescription of viagra to show our virility.

What does it really matter? As Keynes said, ``In the long run we are all dead any
way.``

It matters. When the choices of survival are limited, threats are openly hurled and the neigborhood Viagra flows, Pakistanis had only the
choice they have now made. Let us now hope that
they can fully digest this new nuclear status.
``Nukes are not toys, boys``

Ras

I am glad, that you think its to enhance the believe in ones potency.Glad because I feared even worse and still more primitive,i.e total misstrust in the world where anything and everything is percieved as a threat to the very existance.We are not underdeveloped for no reason,if india and pakistan have found this to be necessary for the betterment of its people,than our goals in life both as individuals and as nations, our ability to learn from mistakes, and to see the bigger pic. and not the least our very approach to solving problems shows room for improvement. Now on this happy note...........

Another one of those pseudo intellectual rhetoric
that my appeal to the hypocritical west but not to
people of Pakistan who have to live under the Indian threat. Things cannot be looked in isolation we may believe in a non-nuclear world but when your neighour threatens an attack on your territory and deploys nuclear Weapons than you can only take such detached high level ` in the air ` view if you are mlies away from the country.

The only option we had was to protect our security and integrity and that only happens if one has the ability to deter the enemy which we do, and the nation is proud of it.

``Mine is bigger than YOURS`` HA HA HA that was fantastic..