I have a feeling that all the Pakistani bravado today is converging in a particular direction. Firing of the Pakistani ambassador to US, stoppage of NATO supply line, closing of Shamsi base, emerging popular dissent under Imran Khan, giving India most favored nation status, thanking the Taliban for keeping the truce on Ashura and virtually no serious bombings in big cities for the past couple of months point to the very expedient nature of this conflict.
Americans are not the only ones thinking about some viable and 'honorable' exit strategy. With Pakistani government entering its last year before elections, it wants to gain a moral high ground against the opposition.
I am afraid Israel will lash out in an ill perceived perception about the future consequences of the Arab Spring. Just imagine if Egypt, Libya Tunisia, Syria and Lebanon join hands to support Palestinian cause in some 'concrete' way.
Israel is neither stupid nor toothless. They are extremely cunning and highly experienced. Iran is just a step in the ladder for them. Excessive maneuvering before a surprise attack is a quintessential Israeli stratagem. Loss of a battle or two is trivial.
Pardon my aggressiveness professor. I was just carried away a bit. Its just very hard for me to accept anything coming from NATO especially USA on face value owing to their historical record. In case of Libya, there are so many variables pointing opposite to the popular direction. An oil rich country with a whimsical dictator and a distrusting citizenry emboldened by the Arab Spring was too much in my opinion for her erstwhile colonial masters to pass on. Any popular uprising can be easily 'converted' into a civil war if required.
Mob justice is not right SUPER390. I think everybody agrees on that too. Would you also love to see Wall-street managers shredded by the OWS protesters?
Probe or travesty of probe. Lets see if they'll probe into these: Hospital bombing Killing civilians and more and more Terrorizing civilians Abusing Detainees Executing prisoners
A little summary of NATO's charade in Libya is always helpful.
Ofcourse the residents of Misrata and Benghazi were more dear to NATO than Homs, Hama, Manama(Bahrain), Qatif(KSA), Gaza, ............ How altruistic of the NATO nations to carry out thousands of sorties in an R2P turned regime change scenario to prevent 'humanitarian crisis'. I can't with any reasonable conscious buy into that crap.
P.S. I am not saying that the residents of Misrata and Benghazi were rightfully suppressed but the foreign actors changed a purely indigenous movement for democracy into a mere tool to further their own strategic interests.
My only question is why everybody is so mum, including Aljazeera, about the murder of Qaddafi and especially Mutassim. Founded and largely funded by the Qatari royals, Aljazeera fell from grandeur in my eyes because of this Libyan affair. They were ostentatiously biased. They never talked about Qatari ground troops, never even squeaked about the repeated calls for truce by the Qaddafi regime, no follow up was provided on Abdel Fattah Younes's killing, almost complete blackout on news about Libya after Qaddafi's killing and consistently downplayed the civilian damage caused by the Nato bombings.
Aljazeera's sense of journalism has changed. It is reminiscent of Qatar's ulterior ambitions as the region's top broker. Bending and twisting events to bring about an acceptable change in perception.
The dictator is gone but the ones replacing him are hardly different. They did whatever was necessary, by hook or crook, to achieve their objectives. They have blood on their hands. Saif will most probably be put up for show to legitimize NTC's rule but his brother wasn't that fortunate. Summarily executed, Mutassim's killing is a blatant war crime. The funny thing is, nobody will object. Nobody. As the 'evil' has been replaced with a blessed evil, tame and acquiescent.
Everybody is saying lets not go that path again. Lets not be duped again. Don't let those scoundrels make another phony war on fraudulent evidence. But what is being done to bring the perpetrators to justice? Nothing. That is is the limit nobody wants to or knows how to cross. There will be no indictments or convictions or independent tribunals for the millions killed. For we are doomed to repeat this travesty of justice again and again and again. We are going to repeat until we replace this profound indifference with empathy.
I have always wondered why everybody is so bent on Iran not having Nuclear weapons of its own. All the veto members in UN have them. They have exploded tons of them in experiments all over the world and even in space. One of them even tested theirs live in the far east. Isn't it just because might is right. Just because they control the UN, they can force anyone to their will while their own stockpiles are getting rusty. Hypocrisy at its best as far as I can see.
Karzai is not mad.As a former Unocal executive, he is as sharp as anyone out there. Rabbani's assassination might have unhinged him temporarily but he is jut testing his options. He is willing to get cozy with Pakistan now while his earlier statements were quite hostile. That is jut an expedient politician at work.
Taliban's alleged public statements categorically deny any chance of talks while ISAF boots are still on the ground. Communication on back channels notwithstanding, I don't see why a rationale mind would not want to keep a post-invasion insurance when that prerogative seems to lie in the hands of ISI.
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I have a feeling that all the Pakistani bravado today is converging in a particular direction. Firing of the Pakistani ambassador to US, stoppage of NATO supply line, closing of Shamsi base, emerging popular dissent under Imran Khan, giving India most favored nation status, thanking the Taliban for keeping the truce on Ashura and virtually no serious bombings in big cities for the past couple of months point to the very expedient nature of this conflict.
Americans are not the only ones thinking about some viable and 'honorable' exit strategy. With Pakistani government entering its last year before elections, it wants to gain a moral high ground against the opposition.
I am afraid Israel will lash out in an ill perceived perception about the future consequences of the Arab Spring. Just imagine if Egypt, Libya Tunisia, Syria and Lebanon join hands to support Palestinian cause in some 'concrete' way.
Israel is neither stupid nor toothless. They are extremely cunning and highly experienced. Iran is just a step in the ladder for them. Excessive maneuvering before a surprise attack is a quintessential Israeli stratagem. Loss of a battle or two is trivial.
Pardon my aggressiveness professor. I was just carried away a bit. Its just very hard for me to accept anything coming from NATO especially USA on face value owing to their historical record. In case of Libya, there are so many variables pointing opposite to the popular direction. An oil rich country with a whimsical dictator and a distrusting citizenry emboldened by the Arab Spring was too much in my opinion for her erstwhile colonial masters to pass on. Any popular uprising can be easily 'converted' into a civil war if required.
Mob justice is not right SUPER390. I think everybody agrees on that too. Would you also love to see Wall-street managers shredded by the OWS protesters?
Probe or travesty of probe. Lets see if they'll probe into these:
Hospital bombing
Killing civilians and more and more
Terrorizing civilians
Abusing Detainees
Executing prisoners
A little summary of NATO's charade in Libya is always helpful.
Ofcourse the residents of Misrata and Benghazi were more dear to NATO than Homs, Hama, Manama(Bahrain), Qatif(KSA), Gaza, ............ How altruistic of the NATO nations to carry out thousands of sorties in an R2P turned regime change scenario to prevent 'humanitarian crisis'. I can't with any reasonable conscious buy into that crap.
P.S. I am not saying that the residents of Misrata and Benghazi were rightfully suppressed but the foreign actors changed a purely indigenous movement for democracy into a mere tool to further their own strategic interests.
My only question is why everybody is so mum, including Aljazeera, about the murder of Qaddafi and especially Mutassim. Founded and largely funded by the Qatari royals, Aljazeera fell from grandeur in my eyes because of this Libyan affair. They were ostentatiously biased. They never talked about Qatari ground troops, never even squeaked about the repeated calls for truce by the Qaddafi regime, no follow up was provided on Abdel Fattah Younes's killing, almost complete blackout on news about Libya after Qaddafi's killing and consistently downplayed the civilian damage caused by the Nato bombings.
Aljazeera's sense of journalism has changed. It is reminiscent of Qatar's ulterior ambitions as the region's top broker. Bending and twisting events to bring about an acceptable change in perception.
The dictator is gone but the ones replacing him are hardly different. They did whatever was necessary, by hook or crook, to achieve their objectives. They have blood on their hands. Saif will most probably be put up for show to legitimize NTC's rule but his brother wasn't that fortunate. Summarily executed, Mutassim's killing is a blatant war crime. The funny thing is, nobody will object. Nobody. As the 'evil' has been replaced with a blessed evil, tame and acquiescent.
Everybody is saying lets not go that path again. Lets not be duped again. Don't let those scoundrels make another phony war on fraudulent evidence. But what is being done to bring the perpetrators to justice? Nothing. That is is the limit nobody wants to or knows how to cross. There will be no indictments or convictions or independent tribunals for the millions killed. For we are doomed to repeat this travesty of justice again and again and again. We are going to repeat until we replace this profound indifference with empathy.
I have always wondered why everybody is so bent on Iran not having Nuclear weapons of its own. All the veto members in UN have them. They have exploded tons of them in experiments all over the world and even in space. One of them even tested theirs live in the far east. Isn't it just because might is right. Just because they control the UN, they can force anyone to their will while their own stockpiles are getting rusty. Hypocrisy at its best as far as I can see.
Very interesting. Juan, keep up posts like these. A view from the peripheries of the conflict are always refreshing.
Karzai is not mad.As a former Unocal executive, he is as sharp as anyone out there. Rabbani's assassination might have unhinged him temporarily but he is jut testing his options. He is willing to get cozy with Pakistan now while his earlier statements were quite hostile. That is jut an expedient politician at work.
Taliban's alleged public statements categorically deny any chance of talks while ISAF boots are still on the ground. Communication on back channels notwithstanding, I don't see why a rationale mind would not want to keep a post-invasion insurance when that prerogative seems to lie in the hands of ISI.