Eggs Laid by Tigers
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Outline of a new strategy in Afghanistan?
Here's Afghanistan, as it appears to three of our GIs, in a New York Times story today. Pretty desolate, isn't it? It seems incredible that such a country has successfully resisted conquest by, in recent times, the British, the Russians, and now by us. How is it possible? It is as if impoverished South Texas were to resist the might of the U.S. government.One possible reason is that we attempt to do too much. Bushco attempted Nation Building im Afghanistan, but "[i]f we set ourselves the objective of creating some sort of Central Asian Valhalla over there, we will lose,” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates now believes. The Times article hints at Hussein's new strategy for Afghanistan and makes for interesting reading. The new strategy is to be unveiled in April.
President Karzai comes in for plenty of complaints for what is seen by Western Powers as corruption, but which seems to me to be no more than pashtunwali writ large.
Remember that traditionally Pashtun, the predominant ethnic group in Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan, live is large, fortified houses controlled by a senior male, and have a code that puts maintaining"honor" above all other virtues. "Honor" includes killing anyone who insults your household, increasing the land -- and by extension the wealth -- of your household, and acquiring more wealth for yourself even if by killing a relative. Sorta like the Central Texas Code of Honor in the late 1800s, only of a much longer duration. (We are mere shadows of our former selves, inone view.)
Pashtunwali has enabled the Pashtun people to hold off invaders from the time of Alexander the Great, and there have been lots of would-be invaders in those thousands of years. There is a small community in Chitral that still speaks a version of Persian used by Alexander the Great.
I think that plans to make the Karzai government less "corrupt"are doomed to failure: Karzai is simply applying his, and his compatriots, code of Honor to the situation as they find it. If we depose Karzai, I think it unlikely that his successor will be more successful at eliminating poppy production than Karzai is, for example. Which is why the new policy outlined in the Times article makes a bit more sense to me, though I still have me doubts about it.
Pashtun kids -- our enemy?
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Here's one definition of pashtunwali, given by Yahoo. There are many. Wikipedia has a longer discussion of it, and there are scholarly articles of interest, too.
Pashtunwali is the Pashtun code of life. The Pashtun, speaking an east Iranian dialect called Pashto, live on both sides of the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Although predominantly Muslim, the Pashtun live according to a cultural code, Pashtunwali, which demands courage, hospitality (e.g., giving shelter to anyone who seeks protection), and revenge—unless the aggressor seeks public pardon. Pashtunwali, however, never forgives shame-causing crimes, especially those involving a woman's honor. Pashtun society is well known for its generations-long cycles of revenge murder. Conflict resolution in the case of murder involves public pardon, forgiveness, the ceding of land, or the giving in marriage of a woman from the aggressor's family to a member of the aggrieved family. Pashtunwali is driven by nang (honor) and tor (shame). As a compendium of cultural customs, Pashtunwali guides a Pashtun's every public behavior and action. Sometimes its many expectations make it difficult for even the staunchest Pashtun to live by the letter and spirit of the Pashtunwali code. "To be a Pashtun is a curse," says a Pashto proverb, "but not to be a Pashtun is a shame."
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Bolivia has an egalitarian constitution; shall we, too?
Bolivia has a new Constitution. For the first time in its history the indigenous people were allowed to vote. The Constitution gives indigenous people effective control of the government. Indigenous people are the majority. Naturally the Wealthy Minority are angry and threaten secession.Most of you will be too young to remember, but Franklin Roosevelt saved American capitalism, in the teeth of her Capitalists, who fought him every step of the way. Folks were getting desperate; angry mumblings ewe re heard in the cities; Anarchist picnics were held by Bavarians in Chicago; preachers in the South were urging a March on Washington; and angry mobs were forming. Revolution was in the air.
FDR put the country back to work; hope stirred; revolutionary fervor died down, WWII took our minds off everything else,and Capitalists were again allowed to make obscene profits.
The excesses of Capitalism have once gain become manifest; millions are out of work and millions more are going to lose their jobs; corporate executives and manners of hedge funds and he like are still making more money than is reasonable.
Hussein is trying to head off a revolution which will surely come if the Capitalists, represented by Republicans in Congress, sauced in thwarting Hussein's plans. Capitalists are as short-sighted now as they ever were, being mesmerized by the bottom line
My Anarchist soul hope Hussein fails. Perhaps a more egalitarian social order would emerge.
The Humanist in me quails at the thought of the suffering that Hussein's failure to rescue the economy would bring about.
I wish I had never read Hamlet. I wish I were not a soul divided. "Thinkpads doth make cowards of us all," as some Hippie paraphrased Hamlet.
But I digress. Hussein has passed another test I set for him.
You may remember that Bushco supported the Wealthy Minority against the Indigenous Majority, resulting in a breach of diplomatic relations between out countries [and, incidentally, interrupting cocaine interdiction out of Bolivia, until Brazil's president provided helicopters to replace the ones that Bushco took away].
In an Time article, mostly favorable to the new constitution, our State Department is quoted as saying:
So good for us. Pretty soon I'll start referring to our president as "President Hussein".
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And for those of you who are more interested in U. S. Marines, cavorting, I give you:
Labels: anacharcy, Bolivia, capitalism, Hamlet, Obama. Chu
Monday, January 26, 2009
Heady times for government employees
The Washington Post reports a new governing philosophy: the question is not whether government be big or small, but whether it works.
Perhaps you saw the excitement with which State department employees greeted Bill's Wife .
I've been a government employee; I felt a small shiver of excitement run down my spine as I read the Post's article. Maybe government can't be made to work, but I'll bet there are many in government who will work their hearts out for a president who
honors their eforts.
This is truly a heady time to be alive.
Meanwhile. if you are able to get away from the Excitement of the Times, I invite you to join me and various United States Marines, cavorting on Queen's Beach, Waikiki.
Life in the Slow Lane ain't so bad if you remember to Dance; and the Fast Lane is, mow-a-days, grand to watch.
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This is the guy that Hussein has chosed to be our Sexretary of Energy. You think he's not serious about climate change?
Labels: climate change, Clinton, Obama. Chu, secretary of energy, shirtless
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Rapture
There's various kinds of joy in this world. This is one kind.Another kind is accompanied by a kinda "dog paddling water" feeling of panicky frustration: now that Hussein's won ["I won," he told Republican legislators who complained about the stimulus -- pardon me, recovery -- package] there's very little for us, the True Believers, to complain about.
In the meantime, as my friend Mona Dean is pleased, frequently, to remind me, there's always time for joyful exuberance.
As she wrote recently,
Life Is Too Short,
Break The Rules, Forgive Quickly,
Kiss Slowly, Love Truly,
Laugh Uncontrollably,
And Never Regret Anything
That Made You Smile.
Life May Not Be The Party
We Hoped For,
But While We're Here, We Should Dance...
Nothing makes me happier!
And Mona Dean's not even a Liberal!
I notice that the talking Heads on MSNBC struggle for new stories, and even Jon Stuart was falling flat until, happily, he remembered never-failing Fox News.
So to me, myself; and to all of us Liberals who morn the passing -- indeed the obliteration -- of our dearest enemy, Bushco, I post two pictures:
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