A war is just if there is no alternative!
Quoting Livy cited by Machiavelli, IMHO it is time for us to get our troops out of the Middle East. The Colonialists went there in the first place (as others) to exploit resources. South America had that experience with us, including our support of dictators to run them during the Soviet conflict who were trained at our School of the Americas and who are in some instances still out there killing innocent people.
Needless to say, I, as most of us, worry about what the Taliban would do to women in Afghanistan if we leave it to them. But they are abusing women even with our presence there and the Afghans will have to resolve their own problems.
I recall a conference at which an Egyptian was joking that one could divorce a wife by saying so once rather than three times. I pointed out that the loss of women's contributions was precisely what was causing Egypt's economic failures.
Our own loss has been school teachers as women enter the professions rather than having nursing, school teaching, etc. as options.
But we cannot impose democracy on nations resistant to it simply by throwing more troops at them and increasing the loss of lives of all involved. People have to evolve within their own frames of reference and our wars have largely had the effect of driving out educated people from both Iraq and Afghanistan who were being killed and exploited by the remaining crudely uneducated, poverty-stricken, remnants.
We are fully aware of our failures in both of these nations, but do not want to think about them or let them be publicized by our TV channels from which most harassed Americans get their news -- thus the Tea Party and the recent election outcomes.
Where we go from here, I cannot guess. It looks as though stasis will be the name of the game as the U.S. falls ever further behind our global competitors.
Obama had better start moving before it is too late.
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent [blind copies]
Needless to say, I, as most of us, worry about what the Taliban would do to women in Afghanistan if we leave it to them. But they are abusing women even with our presence there and the Afghans will have to resolve their own problems.
I recall a conference at which an Egyptian was joking that one could divorce a wife by saying so once rather than three times. I pointed out that the loss of women's contributions was precisely what was causing Egypt's economic failures.
Our own loss has been school teachers as women enter the professions rather than having nursing, school teaching, etc. as options.
But we cannot impose democracy on nations resistant to it simply by throwing more troops at them and increasing the loss of lives of all involved. People have to evolve within their own frames of reference and our wars have largely had the effect of driving out educated people from both Iraq and Afghanistan who were being killed and exploited by the remaining crudely uneducated, poverty-stricken, remnants.
We are fully aware of our failures in both of these nations, but do not want to think about them or let them be publicized by our TV channels from which most harassed Americans get their news -- thus the Tea Party and the recent election outcomes.
Where we go from here, I cannot guess. It looks as though stasis will be the name of the game as the U.S. falls ever further behind our global competitors.
Obama had better start moving before it is too late.
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent [blind copies]
posted by Ed Kent at 8:46 AM
1 Comments:
You are right about the wars. We need to get out immediately. I wish the news channels would go to families and villages that have been harmed by our bombs and air it every night. People need to see the damage war does.
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