Editor's Note: The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium online newsletter published by the founder of WND. Subscriptions are $99 a year or, for monthly trials, just $9.95 per month for credit card users, and provide instant access for the complete reports.
Promotional image for Pakistan's air force |
Sunni Pakistan is signaling a shift in its regional priorities by deliberately drawing closer to neighboring Shiite Iran, despite resistance from fellow Sunni Saudi Arabia, according to Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.
Significantly, the move to link with Iran is also in open opposition to U.S. goals for the region.
"Evidently, there is growing consternation in Riyadh that a tilt in the 'balance of forces' in the Persian Gulf region may ensue if Tehran and Islamabad draw closer together," said M. K. Bhadrakumar, former career diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service.
TRENDING: Jihad against Christians is due to … climate change?
He said that collaboration between Islamabad and Tehran contradicts the Saudi notion that the Shiite-Sunni schism is the dominant view of Middle East politics. Pakistan and Iran increasingly have been in harmony on Afghanistan, the rise of terrorism in the region and on increasing economic cooperation.
They also are considering setting up a trilateral mechanism that also involves Afghanistan to counter drug trafficking.
In recent discussions, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei told Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari that the "real enemy" of Pakistan and national unity is the West "and the U.S. on top of it." Zardari said that Pakistan regards Iran as a "model of resistance and path to progress."
Pakistan and Iran want to set up a free-trade agreement and have a currency-swap arrangement to allow them to use their countries' two national currencies in bilateral trade transactions. They also plan to complete a gas pipeline project by 2015. The pipeline means that Pakistan could receive up to 50 percent of its energy needs from Iran.
"The project holds the potential to elevate the Iran-Pakistan relationship from the realm of rhetoric and hyperbole to a genuinely strategic plane," Bhadrakumar said.
For Iran, developing a close relationship with Pakistan is a boon since it is a major Sunni country and a traditional ally of Saudi Arabia.
- Switzerland/Russia: Moscow looking Westward
- Germany: Nuke cutbacks create new dependency
- Russia/Venezuela: Weapons for nothing
- Cyprus/Turkey: Politics and standoff in EU
- China/Iran: Sanctions? What sanctions?
Keep in touch with the most important breaking news stories about critical developments around the globe with Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence news source edited and published by the founder of WND.
For the complete report and full immediate access to Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, subscribe now.