Geography over ideas and the power of neutrality

The title of this post is from a recent 10 page thesis paper that I wrote for my Modern South Asia class that ended just last week. The paper was graded and handed back to me this week and so I felt it would be cool if I could make my knowledge public knowledge.

But before I dive into the contents of my thesis I should tell you what I'm working on... r3d net. R3d net will be an online resource with both a public interface and a private one. You see I am a jack of all trades. Meaning I've master none of 'em, but I like to explore. All this Internet stuff can be done by us simpletons. With no prior experience I'm building the roots of a web page, ftp server, and other things (like even a wiki!) that are freely available out there including a dns (that is a something.org address) so things are in the works and when I get something somewhat public I'll blog it.

Ok so back to my report. I wrote for Lewis and Clark College so the paper meets all the LC history criteria. The gist of the report was this...

The Bangladesh Liberation War was not just an armed conflict between West Pakistan and East Pakistan that for roughly nine months, but it was an unprecedented event in history in which the supreme protector of democracy (America) allied itself with a military dictatorship (President Yahya Khan of Pakistan) while the supreme protector of communism (The Soviet Union) allied itself with a democracy (Indira Ghandi of India). This event in history was significant of its time, since all foreign policy dealing with freedom and injustice (such as US Foreign policy with Vietnam) was suspended owing to the reality of Cold War Geopolitics which is simply that geography trumps the realm of ideas.

That was the introduction to my paper. The paper goes into the politics surrounding the liberation war. Six main players made of this charade: Bangladesh Freedom Fighters, Pakistan, India, The United States, China, and the USSR. Those made up the main field, all others were either critics or supplementary to either sides' cause. You might be thinking.. a war has alliances and you just said the US backed a non-democracy.. is that really true? Indeed it was. The make of either side of the war was like this..

Side 1: Pakistan
United States- Ally
China- Ally

Side 2: Bangladesh Rebel Forces
The Soviet Union- Ally
India- Ally

The obvious second question would be why? Well it was all geography politics. In the paper I cite that the United States in 1971 was interested in a potential ally with China. You see Soviets invaded a country close to the USSR (Chechlosovokia) and no there was no telling if they were aimed at China next. So in a effort to not alienate China, the United States backed Chinese favorites (like Pakistan) now like all things Geopolitics is like pick-up sticks... its more complex then that. In addition, the United States had backed Pakistan long before that b/c of Pakistan's strategic position to Moscow and the USSR. To lose Pakistan would be to lose the containment plan. It all gets jumbled in twists and turns and the mastermind who messed up any hope of political saving was ole Kissinger. Yeah... Dr. Death had his role too in making a bad situation worse.

As I said earlier... my motivation for setting up r3d net will be so that I can inform better, maybe post better stuff or even post papers like the one I wrote. I've written a lot of stuff for school, I feel that what I've learned from a private college shouldn't be held up as secret information.

Anyway... Get some sun if you can, this weather is all but normal. Even now as I write I'm outside with my lappy absorbing sun rays... So get out there even if it is for a minute or two... Who knows maybe you too will move your workspace outdoors for a bit.

and with that
~J out