Politics as usual: another bad sign for world peace; Obama cowers to pro-Israelis

[Prada]

So what do you think about this video?

http://vodpod.com/watch/823031-eric-...ipelline-video

[BuffedGuy]

So what do you think about this video?

http://vodpod.com/watch/823031-eric-...ipelline-video

Just watched the whole thing while eating my dinner. I can't speak for the host of the show, but it's a good analysis by the guest Eric Margolis. Margolis showed a depth of understanding of the issues and of the history of Afghanistan that is quite simply lacking in politicians and policy-makers nowadays, perhaps because Margolis has covered the region for so long with an open mind.

What impressed me most about Margolis's analysis was how he mentioned the Communist infiltration of the teaching establishment...that really showed that he knew what he was talking about, as these are the sorts of details that a person *must* know before truly grasping what is going on. Furthermore, he did not show tunnel vision, but instead compared the US invasion of Afghanistan to the Soviet one.

One last point: I think it is difficult to say if it was all over a pipeline. I think that the causative factors were multi-factorial. It seems to me that financial reasons (i.e. a pipeline) were coupled with desires of expanding hegemony. I also think that the neo-conservatives have religious/cultural reasons to invade. I don't believe in the validity of the clash of cultures theory, but I do think that *they* believe in it (and so does the opposite side in the Muslim world), and so it then becomes a reality...a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. If both sides *think* there is a clash of cultures or civilizations, then there will necessarily *be* a clash of cultures or civilizations. Just having that sort of thinking causes it to come to fruition.

Lastly, I think that it will take many generations for Afghanistan to sort itself out, but it can only do that if all foreign intervention ceases. I believe that the US invasion is causing a resurgence of extremism in the region, and so what could have sorted itself out in a few generations (the extremism of the Taliban) will now take a lot longer. When a very conservative ruling party comes to power, the next generation is the one who corrects them and puts them in check. We see this process going on in Iran. But it takes a *long* time, and there is no instant soup like the Westerners want and demand. The Americans took hundreds of years to give equality to blacks, yet they expect the rest of the world to shape up instantaneously. It's just not possible.