Gold- Who Will Bell the Cat

PAKISTAN has been cut to size and Bangladesh is a fact. It now appears that Iran is becoming a military threat to India. It has embarked on a multi-billion dollar arms-buying spree of the most sophisticated aircraft, tanks, warships and other weaponry. But even after Iran has acquired all the ordered arms, India will still have a considerable lead in men and material over the combined forces of Iran and Pakistan. According to the recently released figures of the Institute of Strategic Studies, the combined armies of Iran and Pakistan presently add up to 438,000 men while the Indian army consists of about 830,000 men. India has an air force of 840 combat planes while Pakistan and Iran together have about 400 combat planes with Iran having ordered another 210, giving a potential total of 610. India has 1,700 tanks and is indigenously producing another 100 at least every year, apart from imports from the Soviet Union. Here Pakistan and Iran together have a slight edge with about 1,800 tanks and another 740 on order by Iran. India has 28 ocean going warships while the combined Pakistan-Iran ocean fleet consists of 17 warships. Even if the Iranian and Pakistani figures have been understated, India still has a clear lead except in tanks The sophistication of the armaments Iran is buying is very likely to prove a drawback in an armed conflict as Iran is notably lacking in experience in the operational use of these very complicated pieces of equipment. Nor does it have the technically competent personnel to keep these machines in good working order. Moreover, unlike India, which produces ships, planes and tanks and all kinds of small arms at home and is not that dependent on foreign suppliers. Iran relies totally on foreign supplies and does not even have a small arms or spare parts industry.