Can we claim to be strong if we depend on the US?

"The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies and deceit, thinking our leaders are fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more." This was Donald Trump's tweet on New Year's Day, making Indians tingle with pleasure. Pakistan has not only been providing safe haven, it has been providing arms, intelligence and training as well. Trump's attitude is more realistic than previous presidents, wrote S Sirohi, but will it last. Why depend on the US, why can't we declare Pakistan a terrorist state, cut off all diplomatic and trade relations, and build a wall along the border? Because we don't want to "jeopardise" international relations said the Home Ministry in response to a private member's bill to declare Pakistan a terrorist state. Yet India reacted strongly against the US when our diplomat Devyani Khobragade was arrested and humiliated in the US in 2013. The removal of concrete security barriers around its embassy in Delhi shook the US government. So, we can take on the US over an insult to one diplomat but we cannot take action against a failed state that sends terrorists into India to kill our soldiers and citizens. Maybe, because our politicians travel on diplomatic passports, and, if one can be arrested, why not another, guilty of more serious crimes like accepting bribes or money laundering? If soldiers die throw taxpayer money at their families and as for ordinary people, with 1.3 billion population, who cares. Ordering 'surgical strikes' inside Pakistani territory maybe dangerous for soldiers, but is good for political bombast, without the slightest danger to politicians. The Congress is blamed for 'minority appeasement' in its quest for Muslim votes but the BJP, which is in power at present, is supposed to be 'Hindu nationalist'. What is it afraid of? Trump has openly supported protesters in Iran, shouting for the removal of the regime. In October Trump refused to certify the Iran nuclear deal and announced new sanctions on the Revolutionary Guard. Inflation and unemployment are causing widespread anger, especially among the youth. Trump's refusal to certify the nuclear deal, signifying no increase of trade with the US, may have caused despair to reach boiling point. The regime is panicking but is unlikely to collapse unless the armed forces refuse to obey orders to shoot, as happened in the Romanian revolution which started when Nicolae Ceausescu was visiting Iran. Irony indeed. Mainstream media in the US are muted in reporting protests in Iran. Meanwhile, a Pentagon program has found proof of Unidentified Flying Objects, or UFOs. If they can link up with aliens from an advanced civilisation the US will become invincible. We should certainly make friends.