Category: Geopolitical Brouhaha

What’s in a name?

U.S. Renames Buildup ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’.

Can’t tell your players without a program

An interesting New York Times article (courtesy of Yahoo) about who the “Northern Alliance” is, and who the other players in Afghanistan are that are being courted. I do worry, of course, that in our efforts to throw out the Taliban (who, frankly, regardless of whether they are bin Laden’s best friends or worst enemies, are eminently worth of being thrown out) that we’ll end up with yet another group perceived to be a US puppet and who turn out to be less-than-worthy rulers. Happened before, way too many times.

Afghanistan Is Like Nothing You’ve Ever Seen, Soviet Vets Say

A rather sobering tale. The Soviets had their own problems, of course. But, still ….

I’m actually sorry I missed Bush’s speech last night. Evidently it was — well, not spectacular, but a lot better of a speech than most people thought him capable of.

It sounds like bin Laden is the target of the hour, going beyond “prime suspect” into the realm of “we want him, give him to us, or face the consequences” messages to the Taliban. There’s further sabre-rattling going on, and indications are we may see air and missle strikes Real Soon Now.

Which is stupid, because those are just the things to be least likely against terrorist groups like this, but most effective at hurting innocents.

The Taliban, of course, are saying, “Show us the evidence,” though there’s certainly reason to believe they’re being disingenuous in their request. No such evidence seems to be forthcoming, though, which either means it’s Secret, and revealing it would endanger the sources we got it from, or else it’s not convincing, and the Administration is moving forward with this simply to be seen as Doing Something.

I sure hope it’s the former.

I’ve seen a couple of different versions. Here’s the “real” one, from Salon.com, where it seems to have been initially published (and, ahem, copyrighted).

Ansary makes some very good points about what is at stake in any “war” against Afghanistan and the Taliban, what might be necessary, and whether that’s not exactly what bin Laden wants. It’s not easy reading, because it flies in the face of what so many people want to believe and do — and, in the end, might have to do, regardless, since there aren’t a lot of alternatives — but it’s reading that has to be done.

As I write, we have Israeli military forces firing frickin’ missiles into buildings where they think Palestinian leaders or security forces are. And if a few bystanders get killed, c’est la vie.

In the meantime, Palestinians are sending suicide bombers into pizza parlors. That’s productive.

Actually, if I were leading the Palestinians, I’d be following the Israeli tactic. Target soldiers. Target officers. Target leaders. Not only would that lend credence to the idea that you are fighting a war against your oppressors, and give you more support from the outside world, but it might make those same Israeli leaders more willing to talk peace.

At the same time, while the Israelis are scoring hits, in the long run they’re merely fragmenting (figuratively, as well as literally) the Palestinian leadership. Which means that negotiating with anyone is going to be increasingly difficult.

And, frankly, Israel is losing the publicity war. Sure, every pizza parlor the Palestinians bomb simply tars their whole “side” as a bunch of terrorists. But when Israel uses tanks and jet fighters and attack helicopters to blow up buildings, they come across as a Goliath vs. the Palestinian David. And we know who to root for in that competition. It’s even worse when collateral damage (i.e., innocent bystanders) get fragged in the process.

I found it morbidly amusing that Arafat has been trying to get the UN Conference on Racism, Intolerance, Xenophobia, and Related Stuff to declare Israel to be acting in a racist fashion toward the Palestinians. There’s arguably something to that — but it seems to me there’s a large degree of blackness in the kettle making the accusation at the pot.

As long as it’s a battle of Jews vs. Muslims, or Israelis vs. Palestinians, it’s a racist, ethnicist, xenophobic problem, on both sides.

I don’t know what the answer is. Sometimes I think we should just bomb the whole region down into a glassy plain. Other times, I think the Israelis should simply move the Palestinians (including in Gaza) lock, stock, and barrel into the West Bank, build a big wall, and then say, “That’s yours, this is ours, ’nuff said.”

I don’t think either of those is a good answer. But both are temptingly neat and simple (and bloody and final).

Peace — peace strong enough to get the majority of folks involved committed to it — has been so close, so many times. And there is so much bloody blame to heap on both sides, that neither can wear a white hat. I have to condemn, first and most of all, any side whose tactics are explicitly terrorist, who act in the most racist fashion because they consider anyone on the “opposite side” — wearing a uniform or not — to be an enemy. But the Israelis have more than tarnished their own shield here, between heavy-handed military action and police state tactics against anyone even suspected of being a Palestinian terrorist.

I would wish a pox on both their houses, but that’s clearly already the case. Because the biggest losers here are the haters, but the ones who merely want to live a life of peace and dignity, raising their families.

Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, Protestant protesters (“Those bloody Catholics are marching their bloody Catholic kids through our Protestant neighborhood on the way to their bloody Catholic school as a deliberate provocation!”) are throwing bricks and frickin’ home-made bombs at schoolchildren.

As far as I’m concerned, any “credit” the Protestant activists up there had by facing off against a truly bloody terrorist organization (the IRA) has been squandered by their own terrorist tactics.

Okay. Enough of those depressing tactics. My blood pressure is already too high.