When will it come up for us for our complicity?

I vote locally and nationally. I did the anti war protest thing. Hell, I drove people to the polls so they could vote in 2004. What can an average person of conscience DO? I'm all ears.

That's completely mad.

We haven't learnt much since the seventies, but one thing that seems to be pretty clear is that you don't sell weapons to Middle Eastern tribes in order to fight the war against communism terror.

I'm ... almost ... speechless.

sorry if I sounded snarky chew. I guess my point of view is that even though we fight against the idiocy, in the end, we are all in it together. And yea, this arms sales is completely insane. I really don't know how to make it stop. It's hard not to cry right now.

Whoo, giving arms to Pakistanis! Nuclear war with India can only be... 10 years distant? 20? Even if it's just an India-Pakistan war, the global effects will surely sink a US economy dependent on cheap Indian labor. Not like we're not already foundering economically. Oh well, problem for a future generation; invest in bombs, nigga.

... directly finance a separate tribal paramilitary force

Ah, c'mon, guys! Get real. How can you argue against this? It's a tried-and-true strategy that always works out for the best! Isn't it?

This article reminds me of the craziness detailed in the New Yorker article on Iraq linked to in this FPP.

I'd be all for ending foreign adventures in far off places, if the foreigners would stay off my lawn. But until they will, I'm with the majority of Americans who, as of an August, 2007 Gallup poll, were all for pitting some of 'em against the rest of 'em, on their lawns in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Keeping pressure on adversaries at their end of the field just seems like much better strategy than dealing with them in our Red Zone. For one thing, it's hard to find Americans who will fly combat missions over New York and LA, and I, for one, think it's a lot better to rebuild Kabul and Islamabad, if it comes to that, than, say, Denver and Chicago.

Probably cheaper, too, if New Orleans is any guide.

No worries, MonkeyButter, we're coming from the same place. (((((MB)))))

:(((Chew))):

Well, we could always put a hard closure on US borders and tightly regulate every foreigner who wants entry.

[ Side note: Do you really want to destroy MetaChat with hard politics? ]

^ sorry, mischief, just venting, no destruction intended. That is all.

heheh

I hear ya, paulsc, but in my limited analysis, this type of plan has always escalated problems rather than ameliorated them.

Specifically, the US arming of the mujahadeen after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan poured half of the foundation for Al-Quaida. (The other half was the US support for the Saudi royal family, and consequent American proximity to Mecca.)

The problem is, AK-47s routinely outlive the political motivations that distribute then.

On preview - mischief, border policy is a wholly different question.

What could possibly go wrong?

I'd like to go back in time and fix everything with hindsight.

With foresight: batten down the hatches, it's going to be a bumpy decade.

I vote locally and nationally. I did the anti war protest thing. Hell, I drove people to the polls so they could vote in 2004. What can an average person of conscience DO? I'm all ears.
posted by chewatadistance 19 November | 08:24

This mirrors my experience exactly, chewatadistance. I got over 20 women to sign up in 2004, and I felt really good about the whole thing. Then: Ohio, capitulation, etc.

I have no idea what to tell you.