"And why, even US has friendly relation with even worse than "thugs and terrorist regimes" like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.'
What makes them "worse" than Iran, the #1 exporter of terror in the world, and the state sponsor of Hezbollah which was involved in two major attacks on the US military (Lebanon Marine Barracks, Khobar Towers)?
"What makes them "worse" than Iran, the #1 exporter of terror in the world, and the state sponsor of Hezbollah which was
involved in two major attacks on the US military (Lebanon Marine Barracks, Khobar Towers)?"
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia (and even Iran) are not your usual (and petty) "thugs and terrorist regimes". Although I would rate
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia a few rungs higher than Iran for several reasons, the fact is these countries (and by extension
with NK and China) fall in a seperate catagory.
You can call countries like Libya, Sryia, Nigeria, Sudan, Uganda, Venezuela, Cuba (and the list goes on) as "thugs and
terrorist regimes".
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia ....(and to some extent Iran) are the powerhouses of global Pan-Islamic jihad. These countries have invested a significant amount of their human capital, financial, military, technological, industrial rescources to build and globally maintain an efficient network of terrorist syndicates to be used as a weapon for limited and low intensity warfare against their perceived enemies. This is no mean feat achieveable by some petty "thugs and terrorist regimes". The global terror network run Pakistan, Saudi Arabia do not just systematically and efficiently destabilises the entire region but also (as demonstrated on 9/11) has in its reserve the capacity to strike at the heartland the "sole-superpower" on the other side of the world. They choose their target, their timeing and place and they do so from hiding inside remote mountains. One can only marvel at their efficient human (civilian), military and intelligence network (and coordination amongst them) that have
penetrated most of the civilised world. All this requires enormous funding, training, human capital, intelligence and an
efficient command and control structure, and to top it all an....... effective strategy to keep the whole terror industry
invisible. The one reason why Pakistan and Saudi Arabia remains unscathed even after so much, is because these countries have
diplomatically invested heavily on creating a deception that their governments are cooperating on GWOT. There governments
are in effect a front to deceive the world and conseal/incubate there their "fourth arsenal" (and one of the most effective
arsenal). Add to that, Pakistan's nuclear missile is not just a weapon to demonstrate military/technological prowess but also
a part of that effect strategy to threaten/blackmail countries (contemplating pre-emptive action or retribution) into
adopting a more accomodating and non-confrontational approach in dealing with Pakistan. In other words what you can think of doing to Iraq or Iran, you cannot think of doing the same to Pakistan. In the absence of Pakistani nukes, what do you think US or India would have done with Pakistan?
Iran carrying out attacks on US allies or overseas US assets does not make it #1.
Although Iran happens to be in the same catagory as Pak, the reason why I rate Pakistan several places higher than Iran is because:
1. Iran is militarily(nuclear or conventional)/economically/technologically no match for Pakistan. Pakistani scientists are helping Iran with its nuke tech and not the other way round. Compare the size of Pakistani army and Pakistan's defense budget with that of Iran.
2. Pakistan backed Mujahideens beat back (and that ultimately resulted in the disintegration of ) the Soviet Union. This is an enormous accomplishment. In contrast Iran got beaten by a much smaller Iraq.
3. Pakistan gave birth to the Taliban and harbours the worlds most dreaded terror org "Al Quaida". The Iran backed Hizbolla (also active in Kashmir) would look like kids in front of Taliban and Al Quaida.
4. Pakistan has the world's highest number of Madrassas. According to one newspaper, half of the worlds terrorist organisations originate in Pakistan. 70% of the worlds terrorists are trained in Pakistan or are Pakistanis or Saudis. Almost all the worlds most dreaded Islamic terrorists have some link with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
Even if Iran falls in the same catagory, it comes nowhere near Pakistan or Saudi Arabia.