
 |
|
May 13, 2013
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Dec. 10, 2008
/ 13 Kislev 5769
The world's most corrupt democracy
By
Jack Kelly
| >
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Some countries are mistakes. Most of the mistakes are in Africa, where 19th Century
European colonialists carved up the continent without regard to the settlement
patterns of native tribes, or in the Middle East, where after World War I Britain
and France carved up the corpse of the Ottoman Empire to suit their needs of the
time. An example is Iraq, which cobbled together three groups will little in common
and less fondness for each other to create a kingdom for a Saudi prince who had been
useful during the Great War.
The colonists are long gone, but the consequences of their mistakes endure. Copious
amounts of blood have been shed in civil wars between hostile tribes lumped together
in the same artificial "country." The most egregious example is the genocide in
Rwanda in 1994 in which up to a million people were killed.
The colonial mistakes in Africa and the Middle East were driven by arrogance and
greed. But the most dangerous mistake was caused by an excess of political
correctness.
Pakistan was created in 1947 when Britain granted independence to the crown jewel of
its colonies, India. British India consisted of what are now the countries of
India, Pakistan and Bangla Desh.
Muslims had ruled India for roughly 800 years before the arrival of the British, and
did so brutally.
"The Mohammedan conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history," wrote
the historian Will Durant. "It is a discouraging tale, for its evident moral is
that civilization is a precarious thing, whose delicate complex of order and
liberty, culture and peace may at any time be overthrown by barbarians invading from
without or multiplying within."
Muslims feared the Hindu majority would treat them as badly as they'd treated the
Hindus before the British came, so they insisted on a country of their own. The
result was Pakistan, a collection of disparate groups who have nothing in common
except their religion.
A clue to how big a mistake Pakistan is is its name. "Stan" is a suffix, which
means "land of." Thus, Kazakhstan is the land of the Kazakhs, Uzbekistan is land of
the Uzbeks, Turkmenistan is land of the Turkmen, and so on.
So who are the Paks? PAK is an acronym for Punjab, Afghan and Kashmir. The
Punjabis are the largest ethnic group in Pakistan (45 percent). But the Afghans are
in another country, and much of Kashmir is in India.
The divorce between India and Pakistan was acrimonious. Millions of Hindus fled
from their homes in the Punjab and Bengal, while millions of Muslims fled from
India. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed.
Since partition, Pakistan has started, and lost, two wars with India over Kashmir
and in 1970, one over Bengal, then known as East Pakistan, now the independent
country of Bangla Desh.
Pakistan's politicians have put the acquisition of personal wealth ahead of any
other consideration, making theirs the most corrupt democracy in the world.
"No matter their political allegiance, Pakistan's party bosses stole everything in
sight, reducing the country to stinging poverty and stunning violence," wrote
retired Army LtCol. Ralph Peters, who has traveled frequently in Pakistan.
The Muslims who insisted upon partition were wrong. India has been a parliamentary
democracy since independence, and has treated its 160 million strong Muslim minority
pretty well. India has become one of the world's great powers, while Pakistan has
been sinking into a sea of corruption.
"If India had stayed in one piece with Hindus and Moslems democratically competing
in political parties, it would be a superpower today, larger and stronger than
China," said Jack Wheeler, a frequent visitor to both India and Pakistan, who
publishes a popular newsletter on world affairs.
"But in place of an Asian superpower, we have two militaries at each other's
throats, both armed with nuclear weapons, and presenting the world's best chance for
nuclear war."
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Jack Kelly, a former Marine and Green Beret, was a
deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan
administration. Comment by clicking here.
Jack Kelly Archives
© 2008, Jack Kelly
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
Matt Davies
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Jack Ohman
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Dan Wasserman

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|