Sunday, August 28, 2011

Demoted

Pakistan has been demoted:

Since the founding of modern India in 1947, the Indian Navy has placed most of its forces on the west coast, to deal with the threat from Pakistan. The east coast fleet was much smaller, and a much less desirable assignment for ambitious naval officers. That has changed. Now, China is the official “major threat” and Pakistan is rapidly declining as a challenge to Indian naval superiority off its west coast. This shift can be seen in the construction of new naval bases on the east coast.

At some point, Pakistan's people will start to realize that India really doesn't want to invade and conquer their country (I mean, really, Pakistanis can barely govern Pakistan. Why would India want to try?). If this understanding sinks in, the privileged position of Pakistan's military in staking out large amounts of the budget and even controlling a large part of the civilian economy--all justified on the threat of Indian invasion--will be in jeopardy.

This will be the biggest threat to Pakistan's military.

UPDATE: Welcome Bharat Rakshak readers. You aren't the only ones shifting forces in response to China.