The world has changed, and it's payback time for British colonialists!

A column and a news story from the Economic Times have provided fuel for this article -- again on British aid to India.
First, Swapan Dasgupta writes about how British perception of Indians have changed over the decades as India's riches grew and Britian's declined. This is throwback to a few centuries earlier, or almost, when India's riches attracted the attention of the robbers in London.
Britain has, right from 1947 when it was forced to give India its freedom, tried to weaken this country and deny it its rightful place in the comity of world nations. That country's sole claim to fame is the wealth it plundered from the rest of the world, mostly India, and the way it brutally killed and pushed to poverty millions of people all over the world.
It has since then tried to keep India and the developing world weak through a variety of instruments, like the Commonwealth of Nations and British aid.
British aid in India has now become a joke, with India saying it does not want it and Britain says it won't stop giving it!
Clearly, there is something nefarious about the whole thing. British aid is going to cultivate Indian lobbyists, throgh non-profits and aid projects for the poor that actually line politicians' pockets.
But this time, with India opting for the French Rafale fighter, it is clear that British bribery is not working. India's decision to go for the Rafale is a sound one, and the Brits just cannot stomach it. As in the Mughal times, now they are hoping to overturn the Indian decision by greasing politicians' palms. The danger with India caving in is that buying British defense hardware will keep in place the unequal relationship that has existed between Britain and India. More importantly, it will help India's riches flow into Britain, again, setting off another round of financial exploitation.
The question that we Indians should be asking is why should we let these robbers get away with what they want. Any India politician who tries to scupper the Rafale decision and give the fighter contract to the Brits should be tried and imprisoned. The Brits' statements on tying aid to fighter contracts is enough evidence for that.
Britain should be let to die a slow, painful death, like the one it forced on many poor Indian artisans and farmers a couple of hundred years back. Those gruesome stories are equally horrible to the Nazi holocaust, just that the Brits were the winner of the World War II and were painted angels in history books.
If India wants to help any country in the West, it should be the United States. The steady stream of jobs that has come our way from the United States is responsible in a major way for our prosperity and economic rise. And we should try to reciprocate by giving the some arms contracts that will help them generate and keep jobs.
True, the United States has sided with the Paks several times but it was not with the aim of economic exploitation -- as was the case with Britain. The Americans were guided by their strategic calculus than economy in such decisions.
The second story is about how the Taliban has promised to capture and kill Prince Harry when he returns to Afghanistan. While we should not condone killing or threats of killing in any way, this statement from the Taliban shows how much the Brits have lost respect, and power, in the region.
They had kindled some of the world's worst, simmering conflicts during their colonial days and continued to stoke them by siding with one or the other party. Now is payback time!
This is called the wheel of Karma. For several generations of Indians who were pained to read about British atrocities and exploitation, with a feeling of helplessness, it is a time of joy. The Brits are getting it back!
With the power of the Internet the people of India can now make sure that our politicians cannot be swayed by British 'aid'. And we have nukes and long-range missiles now if the Brits every try any of their usual shenanigans.
Meanwhile, there is hope that it will not be easy for the Brits to swing the fighter contract their way -- read this article by Rajat Pandit in the economictimes.com.

Pakistan Hurtles Toward Failed State Status

The assassination of Pakistan’s Punjab government by his own guard over his opposition to that country’s draconian blasphemy laws show how much the rot has eaten into Pakistani society. And how near Pakistan is to being a failed state.

The killing muddies the options for United States which is trying to bring the Pakistanis around to its view on terrorism sponsored by militant Islamists.
The stranglehold that Islamists have on Pakistani society has been thrown into stark relief by the governor’s assassination, and makes it even more difficult for the Pakistani government to ignore their power.

The consequences of the murder in broad daylight are clear: the weak Pakistani government is not going to go after the Taliban. Any hopes the Americans have on this count are misplaced.

And that means all that money and armament the Americans are pumping into Pakistan is going to one day add to the military muscle of the Taliban. More dreadful, that day may not be far off when the Taliban actually will rule Pakistan or a truncated form of that country.

So where does all this leave India?

As a nation we should arm and ready for the day when the Americans will throw in the towel and beat a retreat out of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

We may still get American armed support in such an eventuality, but the battle will be ours to fight.

The question is, are the netas and babus in New Delhi up to the task?

Pakistan's classic game - dupe, and get paid

Another day, another report of Pakistani mischief in Afghanistan. Now the NYT says Pakistanis helped the Americans pick up a Taliban leader to scuttle peace talks he had been having with Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai without the ISI's blessings. And the Americans, it seems, fell for it lock, stock and barrel.

At least that latter part is not surprising, considering the Americans have let themselves be fooled by the wily Pakistanis for decades now.

And then there is a report from Somalia that Indian and Pakistani jihadis were killed there. While the part about Indian jihadis should be shocking, that reference should be to Pak-trained Kashmiri terrorists.
What is surprising to me is how deeply involved Pakistan is into all this -- all across the globa -- and how the world is swallowing the explanations that the country's army and government have been forking up time and again to hide their roles.

The world has donated them millions of dollars and they get this in return.

Hmm, may be that should not surprise either. The United States has been doling out billions to Pakistan for years, and what do they get in return? WTC attacks, sanctuary for Taliban ...

It seems like there is no solution to the Pakistani problem but to nuke that country. That is a very extreme solution, I would agree. But extreme situations need extreme solutions. And Pakistan is quickly becoming an extreme situation for the global community -- a gangrene on the world body-politic.

The Obama administration is holding on, hoping that constant engagement would help them bring Pakistanis to march the marked path. I now think that is at best a dream. The Pakistanis won't end their deceit and guile for anything. And why should they -- the more they do it, the more the world is willing to bankroll them.

True, the Pakistani people deserve sympathy and help. But most of that help will be diverted by the jihadist elements in their society and government to harm the very people who extended that help -- if past record is any indication.

Every calamity, political or natural, is just another way for these Islamist terrorists to get money from the world to push their agenda. It is like biting the hand that feeds.

The question now seems to be how much longer the world community is willing to let the Pakistanis continue with their mischief. There is no answer to this. Religious and geo-political considerations would mean the Pakistanis always will have backers, from China to Iran to Jordan.

The only solution will come when the Israelis decide enough is enough.

My own gut feel is if Pakistan is taken off the map, much of the world's terrorism will end. Of course, the world will have to pay a price. But that would be much better than allowing the Pakistanis to destroy world civilization itself.