A Cynical Glance At World Events: Would Someone Tell These People…

October 29, 2009

Adam Lovejoy writes: Would someone tell President Barack Obama that he can send as many troops as he wants to Afghanistan but he would still not get the result he hopes for. That is, the resistance to the presence of foreign troops would not subside. It is all very fine for U.S. and NATO commanders in Afghanistan to claim that more boots on the ground would allow to smash the insurgency and, bizarrely, ‘win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people’ – at least that is what General Stanley McCrystal seems to think – but the fact of the matter is that the majority of Afghans would still be treating their ‘liberators’ as invaders. That is why some of the Afghan government troops that are trained by NATO to install democracy in the country actually switch sides, once they feel they have received enough training to become effective fighters for the other side.

And once we are on the subject of Afghanistan, would somebody tell President Hamid Karzai that rigging elections is not really the best way to cling to power, especially when most of the people see you as a puppet of the foreign powers. Mr Karzai has presided over one of the biggest misuse of foreign aid, totalling something like $35 billion, in recent history, so it sort of makes sense for him to stay on and keep the good times rolling. But how exactly will his presence benefit the majority of Afghan people? It is hard to see how he can actually deliver any of his promises, as his influence does not really extend further than the central areas of Kabul. His best bet, if he really would have wanted to serve his people, would have been to help pick a new compromise leader who might have stood a better chance of uniting the nation. Although, of course, until the NATO force remains there it is very difficult to imagine how it is exactly that any President in Kabul would be able to achieve anything.

And staying still in Afghanistan: would anyone please tell the United States and NATO as a whole that dragging Pakistan into the war in Afghanistan was not a good idea. The Americans have pushed Islamabad into launching an offensive against the Taliban in the east of the country by linking its military aid with the Pakistani determination to fight terrorism. This offensive has resulted in the Pakistani government alienating its allies among the tribal leaders and sparking one of the worst campaigns of terror in the country’s history. Already the Taliban fighters have tried to penetrate one of the military bases where nuclear weapons are kept. If things continue as they are Pakistan might find itself dragged into a civil war. But does anyone in Washington care? Obviously not. It appears that President Obama has no policy at all in place for Afghanistan and he simply responds to events by empty rhetoric and promises to continue fighting terrorism while actually inflaming that terrorism. Strange, very strange.

And while we are on the subject of strange things, would someone please tell former British Tony Blair that he is not suitable to be President of the European Union. The man is determined to get the post, probably because it would give him the so much needed immunity from possible prosecution for war crimes, and he just would not accept that his candidacy is simply unacceptable for Europe. It is just that he probably did more than any other politician to split the EU right down the middle during his nasty games with George W. Bush when the two of them launched the illegal war in Iraq. Most European leaders found themselves openly opposing Blair and Bush, and since then the animosity did not exactly go away. Plus, as Blair pretends to be a devout Christina how it is it exactly that he fits into the future project of the EU federal superstate that is distinctly atheist?

And still staying in Britain, would anyone please tell Prime Minister Gordon Brown that he cannot expect to lead the country out of recession by bailing out the bankers and leaving everyone else to struggle for themselves. Brown has chosen to pump hundreds of billions into failed banks that should have been allowed to go down and now he pretends that the rest of the economy would be saved by the money men. No, it won’t. The fact of the matter is that the recession will hit the country even harder next year, with unemployment raising even further, with more and more people defaulting on their debts. And that, in turn, would hit the banks again and they would demand more bail out money, plunging the country into chaos.

And on a completely different subject altogether: would anyone please tell that deeply unpleasant woman, Madonna, the pop singer, that she should stop terrorising the people of Malawi, a small African nation, with her presence. In her latest attempt to ‘save the country from illiteracy’ Madonna is donating money to build a girl’s schools somewhere in the middle of nowhere so that she can then adopt small children indiscriminately without encountering legal difficulties. Why did she choose Malawi and why can’t she be charitable without making a great big spectacle out of it? Charity performed in the glare of publicity is not strictly speaking charity, but more of a self promotion.

– End –

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