Zardari: Bambino Diplomacy

Pakistan's top diplmats at the Foreign Office are worried that President Asif Ali Zardari might botch a possible meeting with the Indian prime minister in Moscow.

Why are they worried? Because Mr. President is known to make 'generous' foreign policy concessions on his own, off the cuff and without consulting even his pet dog Maximillian.

It's a joke. Mariana Baabar of The News that broke the story says that "Talking points are being prepared for this meeting both at the Foreign Office and the President House, with the top officials fervently hoping that the President would stick to the script."

The top Pakistani diplomats are obviously crapping in their pants at the thought of giving this advice directly to the President. So to avoid his anger, they are leaking this to the media. One of them was quoted sending this indirect message to Mr. Zardari:

"This Russian meeting will apparently be a very formal one and it is important that the President sticks to the brief that has been agreed upon by all sides. Each and every word will be monitored by the Indians and, unlike the other few times, the President should not be his generous self and give away too much."

My reaction: Hahahahaha. Is Mr. Zardari a kindergarten President?

The 'other few times' that the scared Pakistani diplomat was referring to includes the recent Washington visit where Mr. Zardari, in a conspiracy with his American adviser Husain Haqqani, gave away to India for free the right to use Pakistani land routes for trade. Last year Mr. President decided unilaterally that Pakistan accept no-first-use doctrine for nuclear weapons, effectively neutralizing our deterrence capability. And of course there is that famous example of presidential generosity when Mr. Zardari hit on Sarah Palin, a married woman, before the world media.

Mr. Zardari might have as well founded a new genre in international diplomacy. I call it the Bambino Diplomacy, which refers to his days as young man running his family owned Bambino cinema in Karachi. Bambino Diplomacy is about style, best described by a commenttor, Mr. Tariq Haider, who wrote the following on a website:

"Zardari never was a playboy. In his younger days, he was a street urchin at best, selling tickets in black at Bambino Cinema, Karachi, in collaboration with the manager of Bambino cinema, who later in Benazir Bhutto's prime ministership became Secretary Ministry of Petroleum."