Political Challenge Quotes
_0_PostageStamp_47x47.jpg "Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Navy Adm. Mike Mullen gives an interview to John Dickerson during the CBS news program Face the Nation in Washington, D.C., July 5, 2009. During the interview, Mullen discussed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, North Korea's recent missile tests and his recent visit to Russia. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley, U.S. Navy/Released)"){kind=small}
Ronald Reagan who had always preached “never attack a fellow Republican” challenged Ford, a sitting President.
This was a private speech he made to his corruption inspectors. At this point in time, there was extensive corruption of the millions of local officials of the ruling Communist Party then a generation of two from the idealism of the original communists who fought in the Chinese Revolution. The common people were beginning to complain and demonstrate against local officials who were making things worse by what even the heavy handed Chinese party leaders considered heavy handed. The inspectors were coming under great pressure as the anti-corruption campaign was producing a blowback from local officials and the corrupt officials were so numerous that they could represent a destabilization threat in a political culture where stability was the highest priority. The anti-corruption campaign was an attempt to regain “party discipline”. See Quotation 643893.
East Pakistan—now Bengladesh—revolted and declared independence. The military cracked down committing atrocities against the rebels who asked India’s help. India intervened and Pakistan declared war on India and then suffered a humiliating defeat. Pakistan was isolated and distraught when Bhutto tried to rally the nation. What was fascinating, that there was very little damage to the non-military infrastructure of Pakistan. Their military bases and many of their major weapons systems and warplanes were destroyed, but in terms of the economy Pakistan was not in any crisis at all. However, Pakistan was and still is a militarily controlled nation where the president and prime minister, when civilians, have little significant power. The Pakistani people have been brainwashed by successive military leaders to believing that they were a superior military power and many of the religious leaders preached that their Islamic faith had to be protected from the Hindu Indians by strength of arms. The crisis was one of confidence and the only reason there was any economic consequence was that Pakistan would use immense sums of public revenue to not only rearm but also develop a nuclear capacity. This was the crisis—Pakistan would be poor for years because of military spending, See {623844} . The loss of East Pakistan (Bangladesh) actually made Pakistan much richer, The per capita earnings of East Pakistan was much lower, and East Pakistan was the most expensive part of the country to support (not counting military expenditures.) Ironically, with a military government paranoid about India with more control and more money, Muslims living in India had more freedom and were economically better off than the Muslims of Pakistan.
