When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
Russia

Pakistan And Russia - Another Tricky 'Reset' With Global Consequences

Pakistani soldiers
Pakistani soldiers
Sergei Strokan

MOSCOW - While much has been made of a “reset” in the relationship between the United States and Russia, Pakistan is also trying to find a new starting point in its relationship with Russia, which has yet to recover from Pakistan’s cold-war alliance with the United States.

This would-be reset has had both setbacks and steps forward in recent days, but Russia’s historical alliance with India, Pakistan’s main geopolitical enemy, threatens to overshadow attempts by the two countries to work together in the Central Asian region.

It should first be noted that no Russian leader has visited Pakistan in the past 44 years. The government in Islamabad thought that chill was going to end late last month when President Vladimir Putin was expected to arrive for a summit with Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. But at the last minute the summit was cancelled after Putin informed Islamabad that he would not be able to make the meeting.

Putin’s office said that it was due to scheduling conflicts, but the refusal stung, and provoked an outcry in the Pakistani media.

Later that same week, the head of Pakistan’s armed forces, Ashfk Pervez Kayani, arrived in Moscow on a four-day visit. This might have been a sign that Russia is finally willing to work with Pakistan, clearly an important player in Central Asia, a region that includes several formerly Soviet countries which Russia considers part of its sphere of influence.

Pakistan has been trying to establish a military technology partnership with Russia for years, and hopes that Kayani’s trip will bring them closer to an agreement.

Weapons and strategic alliances

The experts say there are two main clouds hanging over Russia-Pakistan relations. One of them is the lack of agreement on whether Gazprom, the Russian state-owned gas giant, will participate in the construction of a major pipeline from Iran to India via Pakistan. Gazprom was apparently unhappy that the Pakistanis insisted companies be chosen through a bidding process.

The biggest challenge for the two countries’ reset, however, is Russia’s relationship with India. That alliance dates from the cold war, and Delhi’s stance has always been that its allies should not sell a single bullet to Pakistan.

Now, experts say, Russia is reevaluating that approach. “India will continue to be Moscow’s most important partner in the military technology arena, both in volume and in potential," explained Ruslan Pukhov, the director of the Center of Strategic Analysis in Moscow. "But Russia was really unhappy about Delhi’s attempt to diversify its sources for new weapons, which India is increasingly buying from Western countries."

Pukhov says that Moscow is communicating to Delhi that Russia too can diversify its military technology connections, by a warmer relationship with Pakistan.

The situation in Afghanistan is one of the reasons Russia is more interested in working with Pakistan. “Pakistan influences the situation in Afghanistan to an enormous degree. Moscow is already racking its brains trying to figure out how to provide for its own security and the security of borders in the south of the former Soviet zone after NATO and the U.S. leave Afghanistan," Pukhov said. "If Russia continues to turn away from Pakistan because of its relationship with India, it will be working against its own security interests.”

Nonetheless, Russia’s relationship with India, although it would not prevent all military trade with Pakistan, will certainly limit the scope of weapons sales.

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Migrant Lives

They Migrated From Chiapas When Opportunities Dried Up, Orchids Brought Them Home

An orchid rehabilitation project is turning a small Mexican community into a tourist magnet — and attracting far-flung locals back to their hometown.

They Migrated From Chiapas When Opportunities Dried Up, Orchids Brought Them Home

Marcos Aguilar Pérez takes care of orchids rescued from the rainforest in his backyard in Santa Rita Las Flores, Mapastepec, Chiapas, Mexico.

Adriana Alcázar González/GPJ Mexico
Adriana Alcázar González

MAPASTEPEC — Sweat cascades down Candelaria Salas Gómez’s forehead as she separates the bulbs of one of the orchids she and the other members of the Santa Rita Las Flores Community Ecotourism group have rescued from the rainforest. The group houses and protects over 1,000 orchids recovered from El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve, in the southeastern Mexican state of Chiapas, after powerful storms.

“When the storms and heavy rains end, we climb to the vicinity of the mountains and collect the orchids that have fallen from the trees. We bring them to Santa Rita, care for them, and build their strength to reintegrate them into the reserve later,” says Salas Gómez, 32, as she attaches an orchid to a clay base to help it recover.

Like magnets, the orchids of Santa Rita have exerted a pull on those who have migrated from the area due to lack of opportunity. After years away from home, Salas Gómez was one of those who returned, attracted by the community venture to rescue these flowers and exhibit them as a tourist attraction, which provides residents with an adequate income.

Keep reading...Show less

The latest