The Nation may have pulled down its story on Husain Haqqani, but Russian psy-ops operatives continue to target Pakistan.
Prominent among them is Adam Garrie of Eurasia Futures fame, the same person whom NP has written about consistently in the last two years. In 2018 Eurasia Futures had to issue an apology to Jang Group over false allegations related to Cambridge Analytica. In 2019 Garrie wrote a piece praising Imran Khan as best Prime Minister Since Quaid e Azam.
As an expose of Adam Garrie, carried out by the Washington Examiner shows, “A unique hybrid of Ceaser Flickerman (from the “Hunger Games”) Withnail (from Withnail and I), and a fat Sherlock Holmes, Garrie is someone who wants to be noticed.” Titled ‘Adam Garrie, or how Russian propagandists play their game,’ The Washington Examiner story argues “Russia loves folks who can go onto its propaganda networks and spew Kremlin talking points in English.”
Further, “Garrie’s performance was a true gem. Not for any analytical substance, but rather in the insight it provides us on Russian propaganda messaging towards the West. Garrie begins by explaining how the United States is “no longer a democracy,” but instead a kleptocracy. Here we see the Kremlin’s never-ending effort to spread scorn about American political credibility and social stability.” As The Wash Examiner story points out “It’s all nonsense, of course, but the Russians know all they have to do is persuade one more viewer to become just a little bit more disillusioned. They’re in this for the long game. And while their tactics might be simple, they’re also extremely clever.”
Just recently Adam Garrie wrote a piece titled ‘Pakistanis Confuse Enlightened Despotism For Presidential Systems,’ in which on the one hand he undertakes Russian Psy ops targeting democracies especially Presidential ones (like the US) arguing that “presidential systems are the least efficient, most corruptible, most prone to deadlock, most conflicted and the most pseudo-democratic.” Ironic that a Russian psy ops operative would target Presidential systems as that is what Russian is itself!
Turning to Pakistan, Garrie argues that Pakistan’s problem is not the parliamentary system as much as its leaders. “the fault lies with the fact that so-called strongman presidents (the worst of which was Musharraf) have often subsumed power during times of crisis and in so doing, they suspended the normal operations of the parliament – thus stunting the nation’s political development in the process. This has allowed dynastic political mafias masquerading as normal political parties to take turns monopolising rule during times when a fledgling and immature parliamentary system has been restored. In this sense, Pakistan’s parliamentary system has not been allowed to develop properly because of multiple presidential figures who have interrupted the natural course of its development.”
According to Garrie what Pakistan needs is “a strong patriotic party political system was able to take the place of the corrupt dynastic mafioso party political system that has for decades been dominant in Pakistan, true progress could be made. This ought to be the goal of those who seek the stability of enlightened despotism without its clear drawbacks. Instead of one enlightened individual, proper parliamentary systems allow for enlightened groups of individuals to form meritocratic and patriotic parties that lead to vastly more sustainable progress and stability than even the best versions of enlightened despotism ever could do.”
So Garrie calls for Pakistan to create “a new military-police force ought to be formed to enforce anti-corruption laws with all the vigour and professionalism of the Army and ISI.” And for there to be “a High Council of Foreign Affairs And Regional Security. Such a Council would be comprised of a combination of highly patriotic independent experts, military commanders, ISI officials, some elected members of the National Assembly, representatives of all provinces and a small number of directly elected individuals. All and all, the Council ought to start with 15 members with the aim to expand as credible, strategic and intelligent patriotic voices rise to the fore.”
