http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-274670

I think you are quite right to remind us of that neglected proto-intifada. I have often thought that there are many parallels between the Arab uprising in 1936-39 and the second intifada. Not least of which was the amount of internal Arab fighting – the Hamas takeover of Gaza was a stark reminder of this habit. I believe much may be learned by studying this period in history, but unfortunately I have not yet found the time…

Yon talks also about the tribal component to the “wars” in the south of the PI. Note further that somebody (Doug?) on BC linked to Stephen Pressfield’s blog which contains an interesting assertion that the whole issue is the reaction of tribalism to an intrusion from the outside. This is consistent with Pryce-Jones and Lewis’ understanding of the mentality of islam as I understand them. So we are faced with a chicken/egg issue.

Perhaps the integrity of our soldiers and sailors (as described in Yon’s pieces) is the key to breaking the mindset that leads to the recurring slaughter. That may well be their part of being a Great Generation.

BTW Ive had the honor of meeting a bunch of these people. They are not common, but they are. They are not great, but they are. They are ready and fitting heirs to their WWI WWII, Korea and VN predecessors. They are all pros and do us proud every day.

Yon and Totten are doing God’s work in documenting their efforts and accomplishments. Godspeed to them.

Parris agrees w/Yon:

But put your eye to the other end of the telescope, step 40 paces back from the kinetic situation, and ask what it’s for. It’s to support the building of a secure, freestanding state in Afghanistan. This is not happening. The elections this summer cannot but return President Karzai, an arch survivor focused only on survival, in whom the world has already lost confidence and can have little reason for future hope. Mr Karzai’s paralysing chess game of alliances, stand-offs, jobs and favours does not represent a regrettable failure to do anything with the power he has won. It is the way he won it and the only way he can keep it.

Meanwhile, brute force can almost always hold its ground, and an American surge should bring a little more security. But for what? The ground may be cleared by guns, but there is no viable politics here waiting to occupy it. And until what? Until the Americans try to leave.

So the fortunes of war are irrelevant. To save your sanity, your solvency and perhaps your life, it’s important not to grasp the detail, or it will bankrupt you, kill your sons and break your heart. Don’t hunt for truth. Don’t dissect. Don’t delve. Don’t help. Don’t peer at the demented jigsaw puzzle of dollars, capital letters and committees, or shuffle the pieces around: they don’t add up to a country. Push aside your microscope, fetch your telescope and put your eye to the wrong end. The devil is not in the detail.
The devil is in the whole damn thing.

[Note: Readers who have been tracking this morning’s news reports about a “serious confrontation” between the US and Iranian Army in the Gulf, might recall that I was the first to report on the Iraqi oil terminals in the North Arabian Gulf during my first embed in 2005.

The security of these facilities is the shared responsibility of the Navy’s of several Coalition member nations. The dispatch, called “Critical Nodes,” is published in its entirety below:]

Read more…

(I missed the date!)

Jews dismiss F1 boss’s apology for praising Hitler

Sistani – The one who said it was the Shia’s responsibility to take care of all Iraqis, Sunni and Shia alike.
(don’t remember if he included the Kurds!)

—

Obama, the African Colonial

Many conservative (East, West, South, North) African-Americans like myself — those of us who know our history — have seen this movie before.

Here are two main reasons why many Americans allowed Obama to slip through the cracks despite all of his glaring inconsistencies:
First, Obama has been living on American soil for most of his adult life.
Therefore, he has been able to masquerade as one who understands and believes in American democratic ideals.
But he does not.

Barack Obama is intrinsically undemocratic and as his presidency plays out, this will become more obvious.”
Well, it’s already obvious to us.
All these czars that have no accountability to legislative forces? They are not approved by Congress like cabinet secretaries are. He’s announced 13 or 14 czars. He’s running the car companies.
He’s running the mortgage and banking business. He’s done this without the process of Democratic legislation.
He’s just declared it fiat, and his party is in power in the House so they’re letting him do this. “Second, and most importantly,” she writes, “too many Americans know very little about Africa. The one-size-fits-all understanding that many Americans (both black and white) continue to have of Africa might end up bringing dire consequences for this country. Contrary to the way it continues to be portrayed in mainstream Western culture, Africa is not a continent that can be solely defined by AIDS, ethnic rivalries, poverty and safaris. Africa, like any other continent, has an immense history defined by much diversity and complexity. Africa’s long-standing relationship with Europe speaks especially to some of these complexities — particularly the relationship that has existed between the two continents over the past two centuries. Europe’s complete colonization of Africa during the nineteenth century, also known as the Scramble for Africa, produced many unfortunate consequences, the African colonial being one of them.”

The African colonial politician (ACP) feigns repulsion towards the hegemonic paradigms of Western civilization.
But at the same time, he is completely enamored of the trappings of its aristocracy or elite culture.” She’s pegging Obama here, just pegging him.
He’s totally caught up in the trappings of aristocracy or elite culture, taking the plane up to New York, flying the kids over to Paris. This is the stuff about the job he loves, he’s enamored of it.

“The ACP blames and caricatures whitey to no end for all that has gone wrong in the world. He convinces the masses that various forms of African socialism are the best way for redressing the problems that European colonialism motivated in Africa.

However, as opposed to really being a hard-core African Leftist who actually believes in something, the ACP uses socialist themes as a way to disguise his true ambitions: a complete power grab whereby the ‘will of the people’ becomes completely irrelevant.

Like imperialists of Old World Europe, the ACP sees their constituents not as free thinking individuals who best know how to go about achieving and creating their own means for success. Instead, the ACP sees his constituents as a flock of ignorant sheep that need to be led — oftentimes to their own slaughter.

Like the European imperialist who spawned him, the ACP is a destroyer of all forms of democracy.
Here are a few examples of what the British did in order to create (in 1914) what is now called Nigeria and what Obama is doing to you…