The Talibanistan scare
Pepe Escobar shows how Obama & his disciples are no less inclined to panic-mongering to justify military adventures than the Bush administration. Any time you hear the media get breathless, and that breathlessness is mirrored by government saber-rattling, be very afraid. US involvement in the region (including support for Musharraf) pushed the Taliban into Pakistan in the first place… but our memories are short. We still think that if the first pill made us sick, more of the same pill will make us well.
Mount up, General Obama!
Apocalypse Now. Run for cover. The turbans are coming. This is the state of Pakistan today, according to the current hysteria disseminated by the Barack Obama administration and United States corporate media – from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to The New York Times. Even British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said on the record that Pakistani Talibanistan is a threat to the security of Britain.
But unlike St Petersburg in 1917 or Tehran in late 1978, Islamabad won’t fall tomorrow to a turban revolution.
Pakistan is not an ungovernable Somalia. The numbers tell the story. At least 55% of Pakistan’s 170 million-strong population are Punjabis. There’s no evidence they are about to …
Stan Moore:
I think Bin Laden figured out correctly how to bleed an empire until it is white. Loosely put, if it costs your enemy a million times more to kill your low level solders and you have half the enemy’s population, then by engaging the enemy through provocation and extending the conflict you inevitably win.
America has no sense of proportion or self control. The same mentality that calls for monetizing intellectual properties on the internet embraces the need to “enemize” other peoples with whom one is in competition in business or for resources. American cannot simply compete fairly on the world market and prosper through legitimate trade because the profits are too low for the elite’s liking.
So, America must play unfairly in business and commerce and manufacturing, and if other nations challenge America’s techniques and hegemony, they become enemies. America, instead of investing in education and excellence in recent times, invested in offensive military assets as a means of projecting power, intimidating rivals and bullying or outright killing the competition.
Unfortunately, the Koreans and then the North Vietnamese and later the Somalis and Iraqis and now Afghans and Pakistanis have figured out that it is better to fight than to surrender and that David can defeat Goliath as Muhammad Ali defeated George Foreman with the rope-a-dope. To defeat Foreman, you have to take some punishment, but with tactical prowess the punishment can be managed and the opponent allowed to tire himself ultimately into submission.
Americans are in a hurry for everything, including warmaking. They want quick victories with enemy acquiescence. When the enemy refuses to acquiesce and plays by its own rules, with patience and deliberate strategizing to perform combat operations at times and places of its own choosing and avoid the most painful direct confrontations, eventually it can win.
The Taliban defeated the Russians with American assistance. They patiently endured initial American assaults and occupation and learned how to survive and how to parry the offense of the aggressor. In some ways, they used the martial philosopher of aikido founder Ueshiba Morehei, who many feel was the greatest martial artist practioner ever. Ueshiba was famous for maintaining his own center of gravity and almost surreal sense of awareness to duck, block, and evade the powerful thrusts of his opponents. He could almost win without lifing a finger.
The Taliban are armed and dangerous, but they are also patient and aware and committed. Their eventual victory is assured unless the U.S. chooses to destroy the whole country, and even then they ultimntely win.
30 April 2009, 12:54 pmMark:
I don’t have any time for giving these Taliban religious maniacs any “props” for being “patient and aware.” They are ultimately only opportunists. This radical brand of Islam (Wahhabism) has been around a long time. The vast majority of muslims have rejected this nonsense just as most christians reject the snake-charming and poison-drinking of radical fundamentalist X-tian offshoots. It’s interesting to note that the places in the world where wahhabism is taking off are the places where the US “democratization” programs are most active.
The US has created such a world of misery by it’s international fascism that the civilian populations of places like Pakistan have little choice beyond a corrupt and brutal government (Fully sanctioned by the US) and a brutal and ugly religious movenment whose only legitimacy is it’s anti-imperial stance. The Taliban are no Hezbollah who have deep community ties and whose local legitimacy is unquestioned.
9 May 2009, 12:38 pmHenry:
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13524
Afghanistan: Heroin-ravaged State
By Prof. Peter Dale Scott
Global Research, May 8, 2009
Why one should think of Afghanistan, not as a “failed state,” but as a heroin-ravaged state
10 May 2009, 5:34 pmHenry:
http://www.ericmargolis.com/political_commentaries/taliban-terror.aspx
TALIBAN TERROR
10 May 2009, 5:35 pmPARIS May 04, 2009
The worldly French and British who are taught history and read books are looking with wry amusement and some pity on the Americans who are now gripped by a renewed bout of Taliban terror.
Sean:
@ Mark, above –
Mark, what exactly are the “Taliban,” in your mind? Are you aware of how they were created, and how vaguely the term “Taliban” is tossed about, much like “al Qaeda” was in 2003-2006? What gives you the idea that the “Taliban” are so fearsome, such a problem for an average American citizen? Have they done something to you? If so, what have they done to you, and how did you identify them as “Taliban”?
16 May 2009, 2:14 pm