THE BREAKUP OF THE REGIONAL HISTORICAL ORDER

The map above shows how the neighbourhood of modern nation-states in central south Asia was shaped by British, Russian and Ottoman influences: lands that were part of the old Persian state were ceded under British and Russian influence — to become incorporated into newer colonial influenced entities such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan as well as the Southern Caucasus region. The British in doing so were constructing a regional “bulwark” arrangement (Afghanistan + Indus Valley areas — later Pakistan) to protect their Indian imperial possession from Russia…whereas Russia itself was expanding south. The British bulwark later centred on the new state of Pakistan, which was duly “inherited” the Americans for use from 1947 onwards.

At this momentous time in history, we are witnessing the break-up of rotten global political structures that have dominated the world for the better part of the past 100 years and produced ruinous consequences. Few are aware of them really, and perhaps fewer would even care to know — after all, the world of today is about how best to let one’s guard down and “kick back”.

However the roots of these structures date much further back — to the time when the “modern” scientific and technological age of mankind had dawned in Europe, known as the Renaissance. A thought provoking map pictured above is concerned with only a certain portion of these structures, albeit a crucial part. Again it exposes secrets such as those not known or comprehended on the ordinary or day to day levels of society and discourse, in regard to issues about which common people hold very different if simplified perceptions but which affect them very fundamentally.

A study of this map reveals territories which were appropriated arbitrarily from the old Persian state by imperial Britain, during the period in which that empire was constructing the main defensive bulwark for its prized “Jewel in the Crown” (the Indian “Raj”) — the 300-year plunder of which catapulted a small island off Europe’s Atlantic coast to a global paramountcy never before seen. The bulwark in question was intended to stave off the only actual foe in the world that the English race has ever really had, at least in “modern” times: Russia — whether Imperial Tsarist, Soviet or the post-Cold War “republican”. To be fair, the map mentioned also shows territory nibbled from Iran by Russian treaty obligations of a similar nature.

Russia is the biggest state in the world, a vast Eurasian land empire that began to acquire its present shape and proportions in the late 18th Century under Empress Catherine the Great when Britain was adding the finishing touches to its “Company’s” domination of India under King George III. Russia is a far cry from a tiny island nation dominated by greedy proprietor types. This rivalry would initiate a chapter known as the “Great Game” in central south Asia which began 250 years ago, covered several phases and effectively began to end only two years ago. The Great Game is perhaps the most profound, intense and prolonged yet “insidious” geopolitical conflict between aspiring global powers of modern times, though it goes practically unnoticed.

Returning to the bulwark alluded to above, it was to remain in place even after Great Britain had relinquished its direct hold on its Imperial Indian Jewel after 1945 and passed the torch on to its North American protégé which was a British offshoot that had taken off on its own and grown separately to a side, in as phenomenal a manner as its parent had. The central south Asian bulwark structure was also duly transferred over to America with all the appurtenances thereto, for use by them under new conditions and as required. If the old conditions meant that the bulwark was to defend British India from Russian encroachment — the new conditions would require it to defend America’s Middle Eastern (Petroleum related) interests, also from a now even bigger Soviet Russia…. Just as the plunder of India was instrumental in propelling Britain to global dominance, Petroleum is likewise the lifeblood without which modern technological civilisation cannot do. At least presently.

This British made geostrategic bulwark had comprised of territory which was delineated phase wise into two separate national-state components, known to the world as Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan being more sophisticated was a sort of proxy command centre, while Afghanistan is physically nearer to being a buffer than anything else. This whole area was the ancient transit route for Eurasian hordes into the settled and rich Persian and Indian lands and therefore was peopled by the children and remnants of such types…who with their unruly and fractious ways, could not coalesce to form stable nations or settle down, but instead act happily as buffer material for others interested. Therefore only such arrangements were needed so as to keep such political entities in basic shape and in existence, for the fulfilment of their core geopolitical purposes. These were not “welfare” nations crafted ideally to prioritise their citizens’ comfort, development and wellbeing, but were mere geopolitical instruments that were peopled and ruled by robbers and cutthroats at all levels, always ready to rent out their treacherous services, and be willing to render any mischief required.

To describe the consequences this bulwark produced in its various stages of usage and existence is not intended here, as that would necessitate a lengthy digression from the topic at hand. Suffice it to say that as its life and utility have ended, the structure is also now ramshackle and derelict and no longer tenable to maintain. It in fact has become a source of unpredictability and danger in itself, besides a location where plagues of many types can harbour breed. The language I have employed may be high on metaphor, but its meaning should be clearly apparent to all.

As for the condition of the bulwark itself — Afghanistan is a pile of ashes and in ruins due to the events of the last forty years, but was never much of a place to begin with in modern times…and since the Pashtun-Afghan ascendancy over eastern Iran/Khorasan. I am not talking about the glory days of ancient imperial Persia and its fabled province of Bactria, which died out 1000 years ago just as the Afghan rise was beginning. Afghanistan is now under the Pashtun Taliban and I don’t expect that we can do much about its condition in the foreseeable future.

Pakistan is teetering on the brink of overall financial and complex systemic breakdown. It has been in a steady decline ever since it helped its Anglo-American patrons win the Jihad and Cold War — but its death warrant was signed towards the end of 2021 when the US fled Kabul and effectively abandoned this geopolitical theatre, letting the Taliban retake its hub after having spent twenty years waging its “longest war” and pouring trillions of Dollars down a black hole. The Taliban this time are not only limited to the borders of the Durrani state, but exist as the TTP in Pakistan’s Pashtun-Afghan regions. This time they are not the pliable Pakistan Army intelligence and strategic asset they were when originally created in 1994 and for many years thereafter. They are now among the major enemies of the Pakistani state — or what remains of it. And as far as America is concerned, the Taliban are a Pakistani headache that they alone should now deal with. Most Pakistanis will never have the decency or shame to admit to their lowly role playing and shortcomings, and will instead prefer to wax eloquent and vulgar with twisted and yet ridiculously comical conspiracy theories in a crude attempt to conceal their ugly truths.

The political novice and maverick “Islamic sex icon” style guy ruling Pakistan, Imran Khan, after years of making a mess of governance as is always the case here — tried to use his popular cricket star charisma and public image in offering a way out of this predicament. He was a guest of Vladimir Putin in Moscow on the very night that Russia launched its Ukraine operation, and threw his full support behind his host’s action. But this was a costly miscalculation on his part, owing to his naive comprehension of geostrategic realities in particular those of Pakistan — and it cost him his career less than two months later when America, angered by his action ordered his removal, and their traditional proxies commanding the scene here were only too happy to comply thinking that it might somehow rekindle for them the old favours and bounty of their former patrons that were now dwindling. In a way fraught with ironic significance, this man’s attraction for the Pakistani masses centres around his embodiment of the cricket game’s glamour, one of the main symbols of the awe-inducing British colonial elitist privilege. And contrary to most perceptions now being propagated, Pakistan’s terminal decline indications actually manifested during Imran Khan’s tenure in office — rather than as a result of his ouster; he was already being cursed in that connection, but Pakistani public memories are not only short, they are prone to deception too.

Where do things stand as of now for the continued existence of Pakistan? Let us apprise ourselves of what those in charge of running Pakistan think. Shorn of all tinsel and jargon, their simple philosophy is: “We are happy as long as we are dogs of one or another. But we would like to become the dogs of masters who treat us kindly, pet us regularly, and give us nice bones from time to time…and provide us with good kennels (immigration) when the going here gets rough”. The sad aspect is that they refuse to realise that their old masters no longer need them in the buffer role they have so comfortably been accustomed to playing over the past 200 years or so. And although they would look around for new masters in case the old ones distanced themselves — they tend to regard Russia and China in the same light, which is simply not viable as the geostrategic aims and political principles of these Eurasian powers are drastically at odds with greedy Anglo-Saxon privateer individualism, and they do not have any place for accepting a class of pet dogs either…at least not of the two-legged coolie variety. This is difficult for those to understand who have no principles to begin with.

The loudmouthed Pashtuns on both sides of the Durand Line, on the other hand — are rascally yet unsophisticated and low maintenance thugs for hire no matter how rich or powerful they ever get. One supposes that they are meant to be like that. They will always gladly descend to any dirty role if they get their hands on only one thing — money. Their natures and motivations are otherwise very twisted and complex to fathom, but money has a way of cutting cleanly through such Gordian Knots. Their main attribute is their unbeatable negative potential and they are capable of little else. The British placed them as accessories and hirelings in the charge of their trusty Punjabi servants. It was the Pashtun negative potential which nurtured the revival of modern Islamic fundamentalism in its Jihadi form — which eventually treacherously rebounded on both the Americans and Punjabis. That is the only good outcome in this for me in this situation.

It is clear that an interesting mess lies ahead….and I wish all these unsavoury characters Godspeed!