#1
The analogy is simple - Vietnam sucked up a huge amount of the weaponry being handed out to revolutionary movements by the communist bloc. Millions of Chinese starved to death because Mao had to keep the Indochinese guerrillas hip deep in artillery shells and SKS rifles. The Soviets probably took a fair amount of damage to their economy because of the huge weapons-related loans to their proxies that were never paid back.
Afghanistan is fulfilling a similar role. Without Uncle Sam pulverizing the jihadists there, the quasi-NGO jihadi financiers and armorers will shift their attention to other targets. People who say that the war is taking up too much money are nuts. The military-industrial complex has spent about 5% of GDP during the War on Terror - roughly the average for the past 6 decades. It's the welfare state complex that's been killing us - it went from a low single digit % of GDP at the beginning of the 19th century to about 30% today.
#2
It's the welfare state complex that's been killing us - it went from a low single digit % of GDP at the beginning of the 19th century to about 30% today. Posted by Zhang Fei
But, but, but that's where the 'urban party' VOTES are located!!!
#3
It's the lack of perceptible results that has Americans turning against the conflict and making excuses for why. When debt looms badly money issues take the forefront.
Basically the US needs to figure out what to do about Pakistan if we are ever to seriously deal with Afghanistan. We are not ready to do that.
#8
...Senior Executive Service (SES) and Civil Service(GS-14/15)revolving-door, deeply-embedded careerist Marxists just agitating and doing the anti-Christ's work...Destabilizing things at any DOD-related Agency/Department on the "Home-Front".
[Dawn] Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, lying on the periphery of the heartland of the Moslem world, appear to be islands of stability in the stormy sea that is the Moslem world. There we have seen relative stability come after wise politicianship and good governance has brought under control the various evils that afflict the other parts of the Moslem world.
Malaysia's ethnic harmony between the indigenous Malay and the Chinese and Indian minorities came after years of able leadership and affirmative actions, which brought the Malays closer to par with their Chinese and Indian counterparts. Indonesia, after years of fruitless efforts, under successive military-supported dictators, to expand its territorial limits eventually not only gave up such ambitions, but even ceded part of the territory it held and granted greater autonomy to other areas. It could then reduce the influence of the military in politics and get on with the job of exploiting its rich natural resources to usher in an era of prosperity and economic well-being for the people.
Are there lessons to be learnt from the experience of these countries? Clearly, the chief lesson is that we must have stable and able leadership which even while looking after its own interests frames policies, both domestic and foreign, to serve the domestic agenda of promoting the economic well-being of its people and eliminating the causes of ethnic and sectarian strife.
But to my mind the even more important lesson is that the administrative structure must be improved and depoliticised. We started with an administrative structure that was the envy of countries like Malaysia. It was recruited on merit. Today, with notable exceptions, posts in the bureaucracy have become gifts that the politicians dole out to their favourites or sell to the highest bidder. Today, no conscientious police officer dare arrest even a killer without checking his political connections.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Nonsense. Malays ethnic harmony came after a civil war that sent the bulk of their Chinese population into Singapore where they created their own state.
Ethnic harmony still doesn't exist in Indonesia where they slaughtered Chinese back in the day and currently slaughter Christians when the opportunity presents itself.
Brunei on the other hand is a speck of a nation with oil wealth. Perhaps they are stable, I don't know.
If they are harmonious its because they slaughtered big and early.
#2
To the extent that they are stable, it is because they have deviated from Arab Muslim doctrine. Indeed, the violence that Malaysia and Indonesia have seen lately is due entirely to the importing on Arab Islam into these countries.
"Depoliticizing the administrative structure" is simply not in the DNA of Middle Eastern culture.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
04/26/2012 11:28 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Indonesia, after years of fruitless efforts, under successive military-supported dictators, to expand its territorial limits eventually not only gave up such ambitions, but even ceded part of the territory it held and granted greater autonomy to other areas. It could then reduce the influence of the military in politics and get on with the job of exploiting its rich natural resources to usher in an era of prosperity and economic well-being for the people.
