Why China's fighter jets are making history in India-Pakistan conflict | Asia News Week | ABC NEWS

00:11:16
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y50NEzshir8

Summary

TLDRThe recent use of Chinese J10 jets by Pakistan to target Indian fighter jets has rekindled tensions in a complex geopolitical landscape. Analysts discuss the implications of this incident, noting that it marks a significant moment in showcasing Chinese military prowess against Western platforms, raising concerns for U.S. interests in the Indo-Pacific. Both nations are seen to be escalating rapidly without a clear path to de-escalation. The discussion highlights the differing states of governance in Pakistan and India, the impact of domestic pressures on military decisions, and the significant role of information control and misinformation in shaping narratives. The evolving situation has implications for defense industries and could lead to broader regional discussions about military preparedness and strategic alliances.

Takeaways

  • ✈️ Pakistan utilized Chinese J10 jets against Indian fighters, escalating tensions.
  • 📉 Concerns rise over the effectiveness of Chinese military technology.
  • 🌏 The situation impacts regional stability, particularly for Taiwan.
  • ⚠️ There is a lack of calls for de-escalation between India and Pakistan.
  • 🏛️ Domestic pressures influence both countries' military strategies.
  • 🤖 Misinformation complicates public perception and narratives on both sides.
  • 🔍 Historical context shows evolving military and political landscapes.
  • 💰 High interest from defense contractors in light of the recent events.
  • 📊 Military preparedness of both nations is balanced but strained by resources.
  • 📜 Potential for future dialogue hinges on democratic developments in Pakistan.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    US officials confirmed Pakistan's use of Chinese J10 jets in missile attacks against Indian fighter jets, marking the first significant testing of Chinese military equipment against Western platforms. This development raises concerns in international defense circles, as it emphasizes the potential escalation of military confrontations amid nuclear tensions between Pakistan and India. The implications extend beyond the subcontinent, potentially affecting the dynamics in regions like Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific as countries consider the reliability of Chinese military technology.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:11:16

    The ongoing military tensions between India and Pakistan reveal a deeper shift in the balance of power, with India gradually moving towards a more authoritarian regime under Hindu nationalism while Pakistan struggles with its military rule and economic crises. Both countries are in a precarious situation with no apparent desire for de-escalation, unlike previous confrontations. The political pressures in both nations contribute to the escalation, emphasizing the role of domestic narratives in the conflict.

Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • What recent event escalated tensions between Pakistan and India?

    Pakistan used Chinese J10 jets to launch missiles against Indian fighter jets.

  • How does this event affect geopolitical dynamics in the region?

    It brings into question the effectiveness of Chinese military technology and may shift defense strategies in neighboring areas, including Taiwan.

  • What historical parallels are drawn with the current situation?

    While there are similarities with past confrontations, the lack of immediate calls for de-escalation marks a significant difference.

  • How prepared are the military forces of both countries?

    Both armies are reasonably prepared but face limitations in resources and modernization efforts.

  • What role does domestic politics play in the escalating tensions?

    Domestic political pressures in both countries may drive leaders towards aggressive posturing to maintain or consolidate power.

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  • 00:00:00
    US officials have confirmed Pakistan
  • 00:00:02
    used Chinese J10 jets to launch missiles
  • 00:00:05
    against Indian fighter jets. What are
  • 00:00:08
    some of the geopolitical impacts?
  • 00:00:12
    I think there there are books that going
  • 00:00:14
    to be written about it and I think
  • 00:00:15
    there's a lot of interest going on
  • 00:00:16
    around in the in the defense circles and
  • 00:00:18
    the air circles on this. uh Pakistan and
  • 00:00:20
    India is a very interesting case because
  • 00:00:22
    these two countries can you know uh
  • 00:00:24
    escalate the situation under the nuclear
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    umbrella and it says for the very first
  • 00:00:28
    time that the Chinese equipment and
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    Chinese air power has been you know been
  • 00:00:33
    tested on ground and the results are
  • 00:00:35
    phenomenal uh from Britay now how it
  • 00:00:38
    plays out into you know the defense
  • 00:00:39
    contracting industry is something that
  • 00:00:41
    is going to be very interesting the
  • 00:00:42
    Loheed Martin martins the raons and
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    others will be looking at very closely
  • 00:00:46
    they will be talking to the US
  • 00:00:47
    government over here to open their
  • 00:00:48
    checkbooks And there's going to be also
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    a lot of interest in the in the Indian
  • 00:00:53
    side to have that sort of recognition
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    that they perhaps need to diversify uh
  • 00:00:57
    their equipment as well. So so there's
  • 00:00:59
    going to be a lot of you know the this
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    this event alone is going to open up a
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    lot of more different conversations
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    which which we're going to be seeing in
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    the next few months. If I can come in
  • 00:01:08
    there on what Hussein just said, I
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    completely agree with him and this has
  • 00:01:11
    consequences which go far beyond India.
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    The fact that the that this is the first
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    time that Chinese military equipment has
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    brought down or d or or shot western
  • 00:01:20
    platforms absolutely modern western
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    platforms has huge implications huge
  • 00:01:24
    consequences for a place like Taiwan and
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    the Indoacific. Uh this is something
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    which is going to play out in a big
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    manner. A situation like this has never
  • 00:01:31
    emerged earlier. There have been lot of
  • 00:01:33
    question mark questions about the
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    quality and the uh uh and the
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    effectiveness of Chinese military
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    equipment. But so far what we have seen
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    over the last 48 to 72 hours uh the
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    equipment has actually performed well
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    against western platforms and this is
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    going to have massive geopolitical
  • 00:01:48
    consequences and we're going to see this
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    play out in a in a in a very very big
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    manner uh in in the in the coming weeks
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    and months. It's been described as the
  • 00:01:55
    country's worst confrontation in more
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    than two decades. But how have recent
  • 00:02:00
    events been different to previous
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    escalations? Hussein, if we could start
  • 00:02:04
    with you. They're very different in many
  • 00:02:06
    ways, but they are also very similar and
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    scripted in many other ways. And I guess
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    it goes down to two key issues over
  • 00:02:13
    here. One is the nature of the two
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    states that has evolved over the years.
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    In the past 70 years, Pakistan has uh
  • 00:02:19
    come to become a a very hardcore
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    military regime where there is a
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    military rule. uh lot of problems
  • 00:02:26
    related to human rights and domestic
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    issues and India has become more of a
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    sort of a the largest democracy in the
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    world yet sliding towards
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    authoritarianism and the second point is
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    the related to the shift in the balance
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    of power in the past couple of decades
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    we have noticed Pakistan's economy to be
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    literally on the brink of crisis uh
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    having lot of trouble domestically and
  • 00:02:45
    the political crisis economic crisis and
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    the India is on the cusp of a a very
  • 00:02:50
    different kind of a trajectory in terms
  • 00:02:52
    of economic growth so I think these
  • 00:02:53
    these B the differences in the nature of
  • 00:02:55
    the state and the balance of power is a
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    recurring pattern of why the they're
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    constantly having these you know
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    inflection points and standoffs over
  • 00:03:04
    Kashmir and over the lojasthan and
  • 00:03:06
    Sashan would you broadly agree with that
  • 00:03:08
    what does each country stand to lose or
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    gain if the if the situation were to be
  • 00:03:13
    escalated?
  • 00:03:15
    No, absolutely. I completely agree with
  • 00:03:17
    him. The nature of the two states and
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    particularly the the the transformation
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    of the Indian state or the sudden change
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    in the Indian state not only to
  • 00:03:25
    authoritarianism but to a a very strong
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    strident kind of Hindu nationalism under
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    under m under under Mr. Modi has altered
  • 00:03:32
    the nature of altered the nature of the
  • 00:03:34
    Indian state and the and the way in
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    which it responds to to Pakistan. But to
  • 00:03:39
    come to your question proper as such you
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    know one of the the most difficult and
  • 00:03:44
    dangerous things this time is that there
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    is no talk about deescalation as such
  • 00:03:48
    you know we both the countries seem to
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    be climbing up the escalation ladder
  • 00:03:51
    very quickly. So whether you look at
  • 00:03:52
    2016 2019 you know 2008 2001 at all
  • 00:03:57
    points in time there was a desire for
  • 00:03:59
    both sides to deescalate very quickly
  • 00:04:01
    you know to find an offramp and get onto
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    it. This time unfortunately for what we
  • 00:04:06
    have seen in the last three or four days
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    there seems to be a race to the bottom
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    almost you know people may call it a
  • 00:04:11
    ladder but actually it's a race to the
  • 00:04:13
    bottom where where both sides are trying
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    to target each other and hit hit at each
  • 00:04:17
    other and now we have the US vice
  • 00:04:19
    president's statement saying that they
  • 00:04:20
    are not that he's not interested the
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    United States is not interested if if
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    two countries are fighting a fighting a
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    war United States has been the most
  • 00:04:28
    honest broker which has even if not an
  • 00:04:30
    honest broker it has been an
  • 00:04:32
    interlocutor which has tried to bring
  • 00:04:34
    the bring peace between the two
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    countries or reduce tensions between the
  • 00:04:37
    two countries. And if the United States
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    says that then then I'm really worried
  • 00:04:41
    about the situation. It really is a
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    tense time at the moment and a lot of
  • 00:04:44
    our audience is probably wondering how
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    prepared are the two countries armies uh
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    if an outright war were to break out. So
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    the the uh the armies of the two
  • 00:04:55
    countries are reasonably prepared. I
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    wouldn't say that they are fully
  • 00:04:58
    prepared or they are the they are at the
  • 00:05:00
    top of their game professionally. you
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    know uh in Indian India's military has
  • 00:05:05
    not really had the kind of resources
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    that it needs for modernization under
  • 00:05:08
    Mr. Modi which is a big surprise because
  • 00:05:10
    he's a nationalist leader and that would
  • 00:05:12
    have meant that he would have devoted a
  • 00:05:13
    large amount of resources for building
  • 00:05:15
    up the military. There's also short
  • 00:05:16
    shortage of soldiers there. There is a
  • 00:05:18
    there's a large amount of you know large
  • 00:05:20
    quantum of Indian soldiers who are
  • 00:05:21
    committed on the China border because of
  • 00:05:23
    the ongoing border crisis with China
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    which has essentially not been resolved
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    for the for for the for the for the past
  • 00:05:29
    5 years. Pakistan you know as we just
  • 00:05:31
    heard has had its own share of economic
  • 00:05:33
    and political problems. Pakistani army
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    feels besieged in a certain manner
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    because of the political situation
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    inside the country and there's a lot of
  • 00:05:40
    pressure on the Pakistani military to to
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    prove its credibility. But let's be
  • 00:05:44
    clear rather than looking at the overall
  • 00:05:46
    numbers between India and Pakistan we
  • 00:05:47
    should look at the local balance of
  • 00:05:49
    power and the local balance or the
  • 00:05:50
    regional balance of power on the border
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    itself is more even more evenly
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    balanced. The two armies the two
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    militaries are more evenly balanced.
  • 00:05:58
    India does not have the kind of sway
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    which it would look like if you were
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    look at the overall or gross numbers
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    because those those numbers are a part
  • 00:06:06
    of those numbers is also dedicated
  • 00:06:08
    towards the China border. Hussein what
  • 00:06:10
    are your views on that?
  • 00:06:12
    So the way I'm going to try to you know
  • 00:06:14
    uh capture what Shashad just said is
  • 00:06:17
    essentially India will have to
  • 00:06:18
    comprehensively defeat Pakistan while
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    Pakistan basically basically does it you
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    know has to make sure that it doesn't
  • 00:06:25
    really lose. So there is that uh there's
  • 00:06:28
    that feeling that u you know India
  • 00:06:30
    doesn't have the level of resources and
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    modernization that it needs to you know
  • 00:06:34
    uh uh really comprehensively defeat
  • 00:06:36
    Pakistan and Pakistan isn't despite the
  • 00:06:39
    fact that it doesn't have the economic
  • 00:06:40
    base or the political struggle but it
  • 00:06:42
    does have some level of uh military
  • 00:06:44
    infrastructure institutions and as we
  • 00:06:46
    have seen the air power to defend
  • 00:06:48
    itself. Now the issue over here is also
  • 00:06:50
    related to you know the domestic
  • 00:06:52
    consequences and much of what we see
  • 00:06:54
    right now I believe is being driven by
  • 00:06:56
    the domestic pressures. Uh Prime
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    Minister Modi has a huge compulsion uh
  • 00:07:00
    because of the recent downing of the
  • 00:07:03
    airplanes and uh the terrorist attack in
  • 00:07:05
    Kashmir that he had to respond. On the
  • 00:07:07
    Pakistani side as well we have a
  • 00:07:09
    military regime a very uh strong
  • 00:07:11
    dictatorship over there which uh
  • 00:07:13
    naturally is losing ground domestically.
  • 00:07:16
    So it becomes very convenient as well to
  • 00:07:18
    launch an external war to mobilize
  • 00:07:20
    domestic support uh against former prime
  • 00:07:22
    minister Imran Khan and be able to have
  • 00:07:24
    that sort of command and control inside
  • 00:07:26
    the country. So it's a lot driven driven
  • 00:07:28
    by the domestic uh politics as well and
  • 00:07:32
    taking control of the narrative has
  • 00:07:34
    historically been integral when tensions
  • 00:07:36
    have flared like this between India and
  • 00:07:38
    Pakistan. Tell us more about the
  • 00:07:40
    information war that's also being waged.
  • 00:07:42
    Susant
  • 00:07:44
    yeah it's a funny little thing you know
  • 00:07:47
    truth is the first casualty in war and
  • 00:07:49
    even in times when there was no social
  • 00:07:50
    media no digital platforms no no digital
  • 00:07:53
    technologies you know coverage of war
  • 00:07:55
    was always very difficult and getting
  • 00:07:56
    the actual news was very very difficult
  • 00:07:59
    but what we have now both on the Indian
  • 00:08:02
    side and the Pakistani side but
  • 00:08:03
    particularly on the Indian side is very
  • 00:08:06
    very tight control of information
  • 00:08:08
    supported by an ecosystem of absolutely
  • 00:08:11
    you know lunatic uh social media handles
  • 00:08:14
    and these these digital platforms which
  • 00:08:16
    have which have gone bonkers. You know
  • 00:08:18
    both the countries, both the
  • 00:08:20
    governments, both the establishment have
  • 00:08:21
    such a tight control over their o over
  • 00:08:24
    their media. It is highly possible that
  • 00:08:26
    both sides can declare victory or the
  • 00:08:28
    people of the both sides can believe
  • 00:08:30
    that they have won and this may allow
  • 00:08:32
    the situation to
  • 00:08:34
    deescalate rather you know rather rather
  • 00:08:37
    happily without without an escalation
  • 00:08:39
    because both sides can believe
  • 00:08:40
    simultaneously that they have won
  • 00:08:42
    irrespective of what the situation is on
  • 00:08:44
    the ground. Uh just to talk about the
  • 00:08:45
    example you said about the Indian the
  • 00:08:48
    few Indian fighter jets being being shot
  • 00:08:50
    down reportedly as has been reported by
  • 00:08:52
    CNN, New York Times and others. What we
  • 00:08:54
    what we have on the Indian side is not a
  • 00:08:57
    single newspaper has even spoken about
  • 00:08:59
    this fact. There's not even a single
  • 00:09:01
    line of reportage on the claims even
  • 00:09:04
    alleging that that an Indian fighter jet
  • 00:09:06
    has been shot down or a few Indian
  • 00:09:08
    fighter jets have been shot down. So the
  • 00:09:09
    Indian population continues to believe
  • 00:09:11
    that nothing of that sort has happened.
  • 00:09:13
    Meanwhile in Pakistan there is there
  • 00:09:15
    there is news which is going on that
  • 00:09:17
    that more than five Indian fighter jets
  • 00:09:19
    have been shot down by the by the
  • 00:09:20
    Pakistani air force. So you know
  • 00:09:22
    essentially Pakistanis can believe that
  • 00:09:23
    they have succeeded Indians can believe
  • 00:09:25
    that they have succeeded and both can
  • 00:09:27
    hopefully even though they cannot live
  • 00:09:29
    happily ever after but still somehow
  • 00:09:31
    find a way in which they can be happy
  • 00:09:33
    about the outcome of the of the war
  • 00:09:35
    irrespective of the reality. I I agree
  • 00:09:37
    with Susant on some of the points and in
  • 00:09:39
    fact I think between the India and
  • 00:09:41
    Pakistan standoff disinformation is
  • 00:09:42
    winning on both sides and that kind of
  • 00:09:44
    is a you know a good ramp ramp up for
  • 00:09:47
    both of these countries because they're
  • 00:09:48
    going to be really essentially targeting
  • 00:09:50
    to their audiences. my best uh you
  • 00:09:53
    know outcome from this could be and I
  • 00:09:56
    believe that we have to address the root
  • 00:09:58
    cause on this and that is that the the
  • 00:10:00
    this the shift in the palace of power
  • 00:10:02
    but more importantly the nature of the
  • 00:10:04
    two states are too off at the moment and
  • 00:10:07
    you have these authoritarian regime in
  • 00:10:09
    India which is emerging in the largest
  • 00:10:11
    democracy but in Pakistan we have a very
  • 00:10:13
    hardcore full-scale military uh military
  • 00:10:16
    regime which is backed by you know the
  • 00:10:17
    American IMF money and all of that so I
  • 00:10:20
    do believe that if the the long-term
  • 00:10:22
    democratic and development interest of
  • 00:10:24
    Pakistan are preferred over the
  • 00:10:26
    short-term security interests of the
  • 00:10:28
    United States then we could possibly
  • 00:10:30
    have a sort of return of democracy and
  • 00:10:32
    you know the the country on a on on a
  • 00:10:34
    pathway where it has credible leadership
  • 00:10:36
    that can negotiate and bargain or
  • 00:10:39
    perhaps a sort of peace dialogue with
  • 00:10:40
    India which could be you know uh more
  • 00:10:42
    sustainable that that's what my thought
  • 00:10:44
    would be really interesting to get both
  • 00:10:47
    your views Hussein Nadim and Susant
  • 00:10:50
    Singh thank you so much.
  • 00:10:52
    Thank you. Thank you.
Tags
  • Pakistan
  • India
  • Geopolitics
  • Chinese Military
  • J10 Jets
  • Nuclear Tensions
  • Air Power
  • Defense Industry
  • Domestic Politics
  • Military Preparedness