Steve Pieczenik - OPUS 128 Line of Control RAW
Aired: 2019-02-28
Duration: 05:10

[00:00:02]  Hi, this is Dr.
[00:00:03]  Pchenik and today I'd like to talk about the Line of Control.
[00:00:06]  That was written by the Op Center book series in 2001 by myself and Jeff Rovin.
[00:00:14]  But today I want to talk about it in a more serious fashion.
[00:00:17]  The line of control is the line that goes through Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
[00:00:22]  Why is that important?
[00:00:24]  Because India and Pakistan are at war again.
[00:00:27]  The problem is we have two nuclear powers, and once they go to war, which has been going on since 1948, we will have a serious nuclear crisis.
[00:00:37]  And unfortunately, I don't think our government is prepared for it.
[00:00:40]  Because I do not think the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is qualified to handle such a serious problem.
[00:00:46]  Let me get into detail.
[00:00:48]  1948, India and Pakistan broke away.
[00:00:53]  Pakistan had 300 million Muslims.
[00:00:55]  India had 1.3 billion Hindus.
[00:00:58]  Since that point of time, there's always been conflict between the two countries over a country in between called Kashmir, which is two thirds controlled by India, one third by Pakistan.
[00:01:10]  1971, India and Pakistan went to conventional warfare and Pakistan lost again.
[00:01:16]  It was divided into two countries, Pakistan and part of Pakistan East was made Bangladesh.
[00:01:22]  Then in 2008, Pakistan went into trouble again and went into Mumbai.
[00:01:27]  And killed about 150 people in India.
[00:01:31]  Now, what's the problem with Pakistan?
[00:01:33]  Pakistan is really a failed state.
[00:01:36]  That means there are very few institutions.
[00:01:38]  I do not say that with denigration.
[00:01:41]  I know the general in charge of Pakistan, Yahub Kam, who I admired.
[00:01:45]  Ijaz Galani, the head of Islamic Brotherhood, was with me at MIT. However, it is a failed state that has been funded by Saudi Arabia, and it is completely dominated by Sunnis.
[00:01:57]  It is also dominated by the ISI, the Inner Service Intelligence Service, which funds and sponsors terrorism in Afghanistan, in India, and Iran.
[00:02:08]  What happened a couple of weeks ago?
[00:02:10]  Pakistan funded a group that killed Several hundred Iranian Revolutionary Guards in southern Iran.
[00:02:19]  That was a very serious problem.
[00:02:21]  We didn't do anything about it because we're not qualified to do anything about it.
[00:02:26]  But Russia and China warned Pakistan to be careful.
[00:02:30]  Instead, Pakistan again went in and killed 40 paramilitary Indian officers a week ago.
[00:02:39]  And in turn, India flew its jets into Pakistan for retaliation.
[00:02:44]  Modi, the head of India, does not want a war.
[00:02:47]  The generals in charge of Pakistan have said nothing.
[00:02:50]  The problem with Pakistan as a failed state is that it's funded by Saudi Arabia, who funds it to the billions of dollars.
[00:02:57]  So it acts as a surrogate for Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman.
[00:03:01]  And in turn, the Israelis help the Saudis.
[00:03:04]  And so what we have here is an unholy alliance What am I really saying?
[00:03:16]  What I'm saying is that we do not have the qualifications to deconflict this area.
[00:03:22]  Mike Pompeo Who I thought was capable of handling international affairs.
[00:03:27]  He really did not do a good job.
[00:03:29]  I thought President Trump did a brilliant job in North Korea, but Pompeo should have a treaty already signed for the president.
[00:03:36]  That's inexcusable.
[00:03:38]  In turn, I tried to figure out why Pompeo had failed.
[00:03:41]  I looked at the background.
[00:03:42]  I thought he was number one at Harvard.
[00:03:44]  Number one in West Point.
[00:03:46]  And it turned out he was.
[00:03:48]  But it turned out also he's a fan of the Heritage Foundation, Frank Gaffney and Richard Perle.
[00:03:53]  So he doesn't have any intellectual gravitas to really understand how to do strategy, tactics, and political psychology.
[00:04:01]  That's a failure of the system.
[00:04:03]  They promote people from within who are neoconservatives.
[00:04:07]  I've said this to Trump before.
[00:04:09]  If you have John Bolton, you have a neoconservative.
[00:04:11]  You have Elliott Abrams.
[00:04:12]  You have Zalmay Khalazad.
[00:04:14]  And you have many others who have created wars in Iraq and do not understand how to deconflict major wars like India and Pakistan.
[00:04:24]  What in fact will happen?
[00:04:25]  If it goes to a nuclear war, which it can very easily go, China and Russia will have to step in.
[00:04:32]  China can control Pakistan.
[00:04:34]  Russia can control India.
[00:04:36]  In turn, what we really have here is a problem in which Mike Pompeo has to resign.
[00:04:42]  We need a new Secretary of State who understands South Asia, who understands North Korea, and an American capacity that's filled with psychological insights.
[00:04:52]  Let me quote Hanfei, H-A-N-F-E-I, a philosopher from China in 233 B.C. who said the following, To be a tough, brilliant leader, one must often create theories and laws that are opposing the worldviews.
[00:05:09]  Dr.