You might have heard of the term "Satellite State", that is states under the de-facto control of a neighbouring powerful state (like the Soviet Union). It is roughly synonymous with a puppet state.
We can do a similar analysis of the neighbourhood of the most powerful state in the world, the US. For many decades, centuries even, Latin America has been thought of as United States' "backyard". Military coups backed by the US were common and many of the states had top military officers trained by the US in the infamous "School of the Americas" (also called the "School of the Assassins"), in Fort Benning (it has since changed its name).
Here is a very nice map of US activities in Central and South America under 11 US presidents, starting from Eisenhower.
This is old stuff, to be sure, you might already know this. But the US is a global power and it carries out often similar policies elsewhere in its domain. They are of course modified to local circumstances. You can immediately see links between US and Pakistan military in this framework.
Here are a couple of links (via The Angry Arab News Service) on the background on a topical event, the French strikes in Mali and the hostage crisis in Algeria.
We can do a similar analysis of the neighbourhood of the most powerful state in the world, the US. For many decades, centuries even, Latin America has been thought of as United States' "backyard". Military coups backed by the US were common and many of the states had top military officers trained by the US in the infamous "School of the Americas" (also called the "School of the Assassins"), in Fort Benning (it has since changed its name).
Here is a very nice map of US activities in Central and South America under 11 US presidents, starting from Eisenhower.
This is old stuff, to be sure, you might already know this. But the US is a global power and it carries out often similar policies elsewhere in its domain. They are of course modified to local circumstances. You can immediately see links between US and Pakistan military in this framework.
Here are a couple of links (via The Angry Arab News Service) on the background on a topical event, the French strikes in Mali and the hostage crisis in Algeria.
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