Dude what are you smoking?

The Armed Forces Journal, self described as the world's largest publisher of defense periodicals meeting the highest standards of independent journalism, has recently done an article called Blood brothers: how a better Middle East would look. The article written by Ralph Peters, author of many a spy thrillers and op-ed including his latest on Iraq, Dude where is my Civil War, has described a Middle East where the biggest losers are the ‘unnatural states’ of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, and the biggest winners would be a Free Kurdistan, an Arab Shia state, a greater Baluchistan and an expanded Afghanistan.

The survey starts with noble intentions, that the current borders in the Middle East as “…drawn by self-interested Europeans” and that these “[borders] generate more trouble than can be consumed locally.” Then Mr. Peters support his thesis by exposing the wrongs suffered by the “cheated” population groups, such as the Kurds, Baluch and Arab Shia. Sadly, the Palestinians are not mentioned as a “cheated people”, the Israel Issue is shelved and the collateral effects of the Shock and Awe campaign are ignored.

In the wake of Nawab Akbar Bugti’s death, rumored to be by the American supplied bunker busting bombs used shamelessly by the Pakistan Army, a Greater Baluchistan seems a likely probability. However the vision of a depleted Pakistan as a Punjabi-Muhajir establishment stretching from Karachi to Islamabad (although I would argue that this would include Peshawar) ignores a fundamental issue, i.e. would the Pakistani Pashtuns would like to become a part of a Tajik lead Afghanistan?

Lastly, Mr. Peter dreams of a Kurdistan, “as the most pro-Western state between Bulgaria and Japan” are as deeply flawed as his visions of a ‘modern’ Afghanistan or a ‘democratic’ Arab Shia state. Traveling in the land of Kurds or Tajiks, it is clear that their politics are ultimately patterned by their faith. If Mr. Peter believes that cafes in Diyarbaqar or Baqlan are cheering the pro western democracies for appeasing Israel as Beirut was reduced to ashes then the question arises, Dude what are you smoking?