They ought to be interested!

Post #9,079 by GBert 9/14/01 11:46:40 AM Reply	They ought to be interested! Russia has been fighting a bloody war with islamic fundamentalism-inspired foes for a very long time, from Afghanistan through Chechnya (remember the Moscow apartment highrises blown up with many hundreds killed?). Moslem nationalism was one of the centrifugal forces cited in Amalryk's "Will the Soviet union survive until 1984" as undermining the Soviet Empire (I remember reading my dad's copy in the very early '70s, amazed at the predicted dissolution of the seamingly monolithic power.) We will need their support, as well as the support of many others in the region. I hope whatever actions we take can have the support of the "common people" in the region as well. During WWII, the allies were seen as a liberating force by most Italians (particularly after 1943 of course) even though the bombings of cities were often terrible. I believe many Kuwaitis probably felt similarly in 1991. Will this sort of thing be possible? If not, the coming struggle will be indeed long, costly, and gruesome. Giovanni
Post #9,107 by marlowe 9/14/01 12:50:36 PM Reply	It's certainly helpful but... they were helpful in World War II as well. And we all know what that led to. Yeah, yeah, they're not Communists anymore. But Marxist-Leninism was never much more than a symptom. Lenin was just another Czar with a different religion. And now there's this Putin guy repressing freedom of the press and making alliances with China. Well, they had a few years of democracy, plus a hideously perverted version of capitalism. Maybe it's influenced them a bit. Scenario: American and Russian troops overrun Afghanistan from opposite sides and meet in the middle. There's a war crimes tribunal for bin Laden and his buddies, who get what coming to them, despite most of them insisting that they were only following orders. Then the two allies have a falling out. The Russian half of Afghanistan becomes a tributary, kept in poverty by systematic looting. The American half gets a Marshall Plan and the forced establishment of democracy and the rule of law. Fifty years later we're buying luxury cars from them. Of course I'm ignoring so many differences between then and now that they defy enumeration. But what happens can't be entirely unlike the first time. [link\|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html\|http://www.angelfir...e/index.html]
Post #9,126 by Andrew Grygus 9/14/01 1:45:01 PM Reply	Errr . . what are they going to loot from Afghanistan? They had just about nothing to start with and the Taliban took the "just about" part. [link\|http://www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #9,145 by marlowe 9/14/01 2:50:51 PM Reply	Hmmm... let's see. Knitted yarn blankets! Really cool looking dogs: [link\|http://www.akc.org/breeds/recbreeds/afghanhd.cfm\|http://www.akc.org/...afghanhd.cfm] Explosives. [link\|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html\|http://www.angelfir...e/index.html]
Post #9,262 by dmarker2 9/15/01 2:51:15 AM Reply	Re: HEY!!! Back off turkeys !!! - the Afghani .... Russian battle relic market is mine, mine, mine (including all the other mines). I have copyrighted it all & applied for the patents. Just back-off !!! Cheers mates Doug (Hmmm, how can I create a world market for Afghan dust - What about chocolate coated Afghan camel dung - I must consult captain Yosarian - gotta get there before Milo Mindbender moves in) (appologies to the characters in Catch-22)
Post #9,307 by boxley 9/15/01 3:19:46 PM Reply	sorry my choc moose nugget patent applies why did god give us a talleywhacker and a trigger finger if he didnt want us to use them? Randy Wayne White

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