"The U.S. Marshall Plan after World
War II was a completely successful mix of carrots and no, not sticks, but rather
an index finger. … 'You Germans are still worth something to us, despite being
Hitler's subordinates and having been defeated by us. We won’t leave you hungry.
We will help you rebuild. But in return we expect from you a political system
that will not degenerate back into a threat."
A sign in German promoting the Marshall Plan reads: 'Peace, Freedom, Properity.' Is a massive, $15 billion Marshall Plan approach the ultimate answer to the woes in Pakistan?
The international community
has two options for handling the disaster: a morally good one or a morally and
politically better one. The morally good but politically shortsighted option was
spelled out by Germany's president [Christian Wulff]. The pathetic
response of the Pakistani government, he says, mustn't prevent us from helping those
who need it. Not even the much-talked about risk of money falling into the
hands of the Taliban should apply as an argument against generous giving. Reputable
relief organizations are in fact well-enough established to join with their
local partners to get relief supplies into the proper hands. So the first
message of Christian Wulff is don’t be afraid to donate.
However, we shouldn't allow
the future to be obscured by an absolutely legitimate humanitarian gesture of
the moment. The truism that in every catastrophe an opportunity lies is true
here as well. And as hard as it is to lapse into politics when confronted with
the suffering millions, that is precisely what needs to happen, primarily because
of these people. It is they who need a future, and certainly not one that looks
like the past. For in many parts of the country, that past consisted of mostly of
being innocently caught up in the spiral of war and the "war on terror", which meant only
one thing for the majority: oppression and violence.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
"A Marshall Plan", said
the ambassador. And whether he knew it or not, that's a good approximation of what
Pakistan needs right now. The American Marshall Plan after World War II was a completely
successful mix of carrots and no, not sticks, but rather an index finger.
"You Germans are still worth something to us, despite being Hitler’s
subordinates and having been defeated by us. We won’t leave you hungry. We will
help you rebuild. But in return we expect from you a political system that will
not degenerate back into a threat." And the Germans in fact developed -
perhaps first less out of conviction than gratitude for the help - a resistance
to anti-democratic, even terrorist machinations.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
Constant
threat from the sky
What does this have to do
with Pakistan? The country and the entire region have been repeatedly pillaged
by wars small and large, open and covert, military and propaganda - between the
major powers and their ever-changing enemies. Especially the West, led by the
U.S., has done all kinds of things to undermine its own credibility. The
Taliban, cultivated in Pakistan to attack their arch enemy and occupier of Afghanistan,
the Soviet Union, is now synonymous with terror, indiscriminate bombing and every
evil imaginable, and is subsequently being confronted. In some parts of
Pakistan, where today floods are raging, the alleged fight against terror was widespread
just a few months ago - and for residents, the constant threat from the sky due
to the drones of their “friends” was particularly noticeable.
So now - the U.S, Europe, and
Russia - have a chance to take political action with real meaning to the flood
victims, while also being in their own interests. Not with loans, that come
with future liabilities, as has been suggested by the World Bank (did anyone hear
that we’re actually demanding money from Afghanistan for their military “liberation”?);
and not with the pittance of a half a billion dollar global donation, which
would only allow reconstruction and not hope for better things.
The Marshall Plan that we
would need would be closer to what Pakistan has calculated - $15 billion. Roads,
schools (5,000 of which are thought to have been destroyed!), agriculture with a
stable income outlook - to put is solemnly: a future; an alternative to rising support
for the Taliban, which isn't rising because of faith, but out of disgust with stagnation
and violence.
A "new Afghanistan"
built in the Hindu Kush was the justification offered by the allies for fighting
there. Next door in Pakistan, they may have a chance to build something new without
it first being destroyed by war; something new which, by the way, could promise
us all more security by stabilizing this tottering nuclear power. This opportunity
may be small. But anyone who looks at what the military alternative has left behind
elsewhere may say: it cannot end any worse.
In Pakistan, they say rescuers
lack helicopters. How about if ISAF in Afghanistan temporarily does without a
few? That would perhaps be a start.
