Hard News: Watching the Watchmen
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Yes, obviously legalising the trade would go a long way. If only it was an idea as palatable politically as war.
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the American Acronym Offensive continues:
The War Against Drugs - has become twaddle,
The War Against Terror - is just f**ked......while America remains the largest consumer
of, and panderer to, both...
but don't worry. China has their number... -
In fact excuse me for saying so but I find the way you caricature said opinion pretty galling.
I meant to apologise for being a bit tart immediately under the comment. And it would be great if all those things happened. But it just seems unlikely in the extreme. Enough so to make it hard to take seriously as a practical solution.
Surely the US has been trying for a long, long time to prevent groups like the Taliban getting weapons?
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Surely the US has been trying for a long, long time to prevent groups like the Taliban getting weapons?
Since the Americans stopped providing them - and if history is repeating, one would imagine Russia and China would be happily, covertly supplying those... Pakistan seems pretty porous in that area too...
so it's just business as usual for the armourers of the world! -
Relatedly, how many here can, without referring to any reference material (including Google or other websites), say what the speed limit is after passing an "accident" sign until you have passed the scene of the accident?
30kph would be my first guess.
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30kph would be my first guess.
Too high by half.
But don't feel too bad, because I once acted as scorer/marker for a fire brigade driving challenge and almost none of the competitors, nearly all of whom were qualified to drive fire appliances as urgent traffic, would've passed even the theory test for a car licence, never mind a class 2. At least one of them said 50km/h in answer to that question.
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And also Gio, seriously, in absolutely non-snarky mode, RAWA seems to imply that no one is supporting democracy in Afghanistan, but that's what UNAMA has been doing on the back of a UN Security Council mandate.
And whatever the problems with Karzai, he did win at least one relatively free and fair election in which 41% of the votes were cast by women. The US has given him any number of tellings-off. Should they depose him?
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Surely the US has been trying for a long, long time to prevent groups like the Taliban getting weapons?
Not that long. As late as early 2001, the US government gave the regime a $40 million plus gift in echange for their declaring the opium trade impious (I know, you can't make this shit up, can you?). Things changed in a rush after 9/11, but then how did they try to disarm the Taliban? There is a lot of diplomacy that needs to happen - with Russia, with China - and a willingness to make the hard decisions to stop the illegal drug traffic that funds that trade. It's not impractical, it's just not the way we do things. Which means that it's in fact impossible, because we simply won't change - but that in itself is appalling and inexcusable.
So yes, the continuing presence of NATO troops may be in fact in the short term the only means of preventing even greater destruction and loss of life. But that also underlines the madness of our politics, and besides it is no long-term solution. So I'm grateful to RAWA and Emergency and all the other activists who insist to point out that there are in fact alternatives beyond the current left-right consensus that we should give war (yet another) a chance.
(I'm not completely insensitive to those polls of male Afghanis either. But the relatively high support to the continuing presence of the troops must also be understood in the context of the available alternatives. With several guns pointed at your head, you may choose the guy who looks less likely to shoot you. But he's still got a gun to your head.)
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Surely the US has been trying for a long, long time to prevent groups like the Taliban getting weapons?
If by 'a long long time' you actually mean 'since they stopped spending billions of dollars making sure Afghanistan was awash with modern weapons'.
The Pakistan/Afghanistan border region is one of those places in the world where you can buy an AK47 in exchange for a packet of cigarettes. And you'd be ripped off at that price.
Most of the recent western combat casualties have been caused by IEDs, not 'combat' per se.
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And since it's time for everyone to have a drink (except Christiaan), allow me to say I value and appreciate the contrary arguments. I've been a bit contrary myself.
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Most of the recent western combat casualties have been caused by IEDs, not 'combat' per se.
IEDs are the major cause of civilian deaths too.
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Not that long. As late as early 2001, the US government gave the regime a $40 million plus gift in echange for their declaring the opium trade impious (I know, you can't make this shit up, can you?).
I remember when that came out. That shit was wack.
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And whatever the problems with Karzai, he did win at least one relatively free and fair election in which 41% of the votes were cast by women. The US has given him any number of tellings-off. Should they depose him?
I think the issue of RAWA and other groups was how the election was come to, in a manner that pre-selected the winner simply because there was no alternative. But I really have no element to judge that. Whilst pleading a vast amount of ignorance, I often think of it in relation to the first Italian elections of the 1860s, that attracted similar denunciations from Italian radicals. And one can understand why - they hadn't fought for decades to put the house of Savoy in charge.
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(Having a drink now.)
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(Having a drink now.)
Ditto. This stuff sure makes your head hurt. Feel a bit more enlightened, or at least slightly less dimwitted ;-)
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I find being required to fucking justify my opinion quite useful.
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I'm still fucking working on it. I mean the being justified and ancient, at the same time. Why are we swearing?
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business as usual for the armourers of the world
Quite. It's probably not 'illegal' or covert trade that's causing most of the problem. No refs, but I recall hearing many years ago that over 80% of the global arms trade was conducted by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (you know, the ones who veto any resolution that might overturn their cosy world while they arm both sides of any conflict).
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justified and ancient
Now, since you allow me to digress, I saw a poster on a wall at the weekend with KLF on it.
Are they reforming and coming to NZ.
Or is it the Khandallah Liberation Front?
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At the Athens Paralympics I picked up an Afghan Tee Shirt.
On the front it said: "Never Mined..."
On the back it said: "More than 10 Afghans are killed or injured each day by mines and unexploded ordinance. Help Afghan Amputee Bicyclists for Rehabilitation and Recreation.(AABRAR) to assist men women and children recover from their injuries"
It then gave a web site www.aabrar.org. But this one has been hijacked(?) and I found a link to the real one here
I'll take a bet the number is increasing each day. Given a bit of dough in years to come, Afghanistan will be a big player in the Paralympics. Lots of recruiting potential. Just like the returned legless / armless / shot up Yanks and Brits.
Dubya done good! Yeee Haaa! "Ar's gonna get me some oirl"
PS To the pedants: Note the word "Afghan" as describing someone from Afghanistan. -
I don't have the time or energy to debate that, but what you're effectively saying is that there are no absolute human rights. No amount of moral relativism is going to get you past the savage, and unique, element of gender in what the Taliban did, and would do again.
Not at all, in fact I'm a big fan of Sam Harris' work on neurology and morality. What I was alluding to (in saying we aren't all that different from the Taliban) is Daniel Quinn's argument that since the Agricultural Revolution (and hence the ability of some to control who eats and who doesn't) one culture has emerged (the Takers) and pretty much annihilated the rest (the Leavers, or hunter-gatherers). The main trait that we all share is the idea that we have the right way to live and everybody else should live like us. This didn't exist, his argument goes, before Takers emerged as part of the Agricultural Revolution.
As an aside you might be interested to read his alternative theory on The Fall of Man, Cain and Abel, and the knowledge of good and evil:
http://ishmael.org/interaction/qanda/Detail.CFM?Record=619You seem to have you skirted responding to any of my arguments that these wars are not only designed to deal with other matters but that they actually pose a threat to pretty much everything, potentially even human existence. There may be practical matters to deal with now that occupation is a reality but it seems to me you use this to avoid actually stating a position on the legitimacy of these invasions in the first place (bearing in mind future ones are surely to come). Do you actually condemn the invasion of Afghanistan or do you somehow see it as largely "humanitarian intervention"?
In other words, do you think the lessons of WWI and WWII in the form of Article 51 are valid or are you of the pro-war liberal and American-right position that says powerful states should sweep it under the carpet?
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With no other comment, other than that it is interesting (since I'm still reading it), an interview with Ahmed Rashid.
The hattip must be given to the fascinating and lyrical Manan Ahmed on Twitter.
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If there was no black market in heroin and addicts got their supplies from pharmacies, there would be no illicit profits to be made. It'd also be way healthier for the smackheads.
Doubt that. I'd rather have a puff of opium any day than drink a liquid pharmaceutical alternative. However if it was legalised, those horticulturists who produce a crop of opium could operate a legitimate business, without the stigma attached.
I'd send in H2.
I thought the Hummers were already there.
.That shit was wack.
Sorry but, all the Afghani shit I have ever tried is totally wack. :)
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Well I was kind of interested until this:
As an aside you might be interested to read his alternative theory on The Fall of Man, Cain and Abel, and the knowledge of good and evil:
Sorry the Fall of Man, is a biblical fantasy. We are the way we are because of our lowly origins, we are monkeys. Not because of we did something wrong somewhere and fell out of favour with some celestial dictator. The urban/rural divide has been the bane of humanity since foreva. Reading metaphors into biblical narratives is a mugs game.
The whole Daniel Quinn/Ishmael thing just looks dodgy. -
Yes, my attention dropped away again when this was restated;
wars are not only designed to deal with other matters but that they actually pose a threat to pretty much everything, potentially even human existence.
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