Monday, August 17, 2009

Forfeited Goodwill Watch

So, Al-Jazeera (yeah, I know) commissions a poll from Gallup in Pakistan. 2,600 people across the political spectrum, in all 4 Pakistani provinces. Might be methodologically flawed for all I know, but doesn't look like it to casual inspection.

And the question is which is the greatest threat to Pakistan - India, the Taliban/Al-Qaeda who are waging an internal civil war in Pakistan, or the USA.



11% say the Taliban. 18% say India. 59% say the United States.

Clearly, President Obama has forfeited the USA's reserves of goodwill.

Other conclusions are possible, of course, for people who realize the globe doesn't revolve around them and their wishes, and who weren't stupid enough to believe nonsense about squandered goodwill in the first place. For instance:

"Pakistan is a Potemkin State with nukes, poor development, limited capacity to deal with its Islamist civil war, justifiably low government legitimacy (note other poll), and a cultural penchant for blaming others