Page 1646 - Enders_Game_Full_Book

"Where will India make its move?" asked Peter. "The obvious thing would be war with Pakistan."
"Again?" said Bean. "Pakistan would be an indigestible lump. It would block India from further expansion, just trying to get the Muslims under control. A terrorist war that would make the old struggle with the Sikhs look like a child's birthday party."
"But they can't move anywhere else as long as they have Pakistan poised to plunge a dagger in their back," said Peter.
Bean grinned. "Burma? But is it worth taking?"
"It's on the way to more valuable prizes, if China doesn't object," said Peter. "But are you just ignoring the Pakistan problem?"
"Molotov and Ribbentrop," said Bean.
The men who negotiated the nonaggression pact between Russia and Germany in the 1930s that divided Poland between them and freed Germany to launch World War 11. "1 think it will have to be deeper than that," said Peter. "I think, at some level, an alliance."
"What if India offers Pakistan a free hand against Iran? It can go for the oil. India is free to move east. To scoop up the countries that have long been under her cultural influence. Burma. Thailand. Not Muslim countries, so Pakistan's conscience is clear."
"Is China going to sit and watch?" asked Peter.
"They might if India tosses them Vietnam," said Bean. "The world is ripe to be divided up among the great powers. India wants to be one. With Achilles directing their strategy, with Chamrajnagar feeding them information, with Petra to command their armies, they can play on the big stage. And then, when Pakistan has exhausted itself fighting Iran . . ."
The inevitable betrayal. If Pakistan didn't strike first. "That's too far down the line to predict now," said Peter.
"But it's the way Achilles thinks," said Bean. "Two betrayals ahead. He was using Russia, but maybe he already had this deal with India in place. Why not? In the long run, the whole world is the tail, and India is the dog."
More important than Bean's particular conclusions was the fact that Bean had a good eye. He lacked detailed intelligence, of coursehow would he get that?-but he saw the big picture. He thought the way a global strategist had to think.
He was worth talking to.