Music and Foreign Policy
A little over 17 days till the wedding and things are coming into place. The little things are finally getting done, like hiring musicians and a DJ. I’m at the point were things simple need to get done; no more time for research and exploration. And to my slight surprise, things are progressing nicely. There is still a lot we have to do, but much of it needs to be done on the days right before the wedding (and on the wedding day). The only remaining item of contention is a family dinner the night before the wedding. I would like a nice dinner with my family and Lindee’s family. Sounds easy, doesn’t it?
Right now I am reading Charlie Wilson’s War, a book that my brother highly recommended. It is about how the US backed Afghan fundamentalists in their Jihad against the Soviet Union in the 1980’s. If you don’t know much about how the US government works, than you will find this book mind-blowing; however, I am finding it rather mundane. The writing is only average and the author insists on telling the life story of every single character when they are introduced. This kills any sense of momentum. More on the book when I am done.
The lesson that should be learned from the Afghan war against the Soviets is the same that Augustus Julian learned more that 1600 years ago (I read Julian, but Gore Vidal a few months ago and thought it was very good). The simple foreign policy lesson is that the enemy of my enemy may not be your friend. In Julian’s time, this proved itself over and over again (his predecessor hired barbarians from northern Europe to attack the Gaul’s. The barbarians won, but decided to stay in Gaul and occasionally attacking Roman outposts). In the 80’s the US gave money and weapons (paid for by US taxpayers) to Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and a host of other country’s that we not find ourselves aligned against. Today we are giving huge sums of money to other Iraqis and Afghans (supposedly better ones) as well as Pakistan (which has a military dictatorship and nuclear capabilities). This is billions of dollars that could be spend on education, social services, tax refunds, our even our own military. The lesson is that it is unwise to bribe someone to be your friend with something that they can one day use against us. We have to think long-term. Instead of arming a new Iraqi government will expensive guns and weapons, maybe we should spend out money to buy as many weapons from as possible from the population. Tell ammunition manufacturers that the US will give huge sums of money if they can keep their weapons out of Iraq. Treat your friends like your friends and your enemies like your enemies.
Right now I am reading Charlie Wilson’s War, a book that my brother highly recommended. It is about how the US backed Afghan fundamentalists in their Jihad against the Soviet Union in the 1980’s. If you don’t know much about how the US government works, than you will find this book mind-blowing; however, I am finding it rather mundane. The writing is only average and the author insists on telling the life story of every single character when they are introduced. This kills any sense of momentum. More on the book when I am done.
The lesson that should be learned from the Afghan war against the Soviets is the same that Augustus Julian learned more that 1600 years ago (I read Julian, but Gore Vidal a few months ago and thought it was very good). The simple foreign policy lesson is that the enemy of my enemy may not be your friend. In Julian’s time, this proved itself over and over again (his predecessor hired barbarians from northern Europe to attack the Gaul’s. The barbarians won, but decided to stay in Gaul and occasionally attacking Roman outposts). In the 80’s the US gave money and weapons (paid for by US taxpayers) to Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and a host of other country’s that we not find ourselves aligned against. Today we are giving huge sums of money to other Iraqis and Afghans (supposedly better ones) as well as Pakistan (which has a military dictatorship and nuclear capabilities). This is billions of dollars that could be spend on education, social services, tax refunds, our even our own military. The lesson is that it is unwise to bribe someone to be your friend with something that they can one day use against us. We have to think long-term. Instead of arming a new Iraqi government will expensive guns and weapons, maybe we should spend out money to buy as many weapons from as possible from the population. Tell ammunition manufacturers that the US will give huge sums of money if they can keep their weapons out of Iraq. Treat your friends like your friends and your enemies like your enemies.
Comments
- Bribe not Bride.
- "Enemies like Ememies" if you use the plural "friends".
- Huge sums of money if "THEY" not "the".
- Second to last word, "youR".
Write your blog in MS Word. It will underline some of these grammer mistakes.
Also, the book rocks the house. You are just in a bad mood cause you know you will be wiping up doodie off your babies butt until 2008. You know...dad gave us the "Parent Curse". (I hope you have children, just like you!)
The things in Charlie Wilson's War that were really surprising was that he got on the Defense Appropriations Sub-Committee. Members are usually very senior, and I have no idea how young Charlie got on. The other surprise is that the Russians never got India to attack Pakistan (or both attacked, one of each side of the country). I would have thought the idea of Pakistan building a nuke would have compelled the Soviets to move quicker. However, I do not consider out mild support of the Afghans surprising. So we spend a billion dollars a year, which is chump change. In the mid 1980's we were spending $400 billion a year on the military. Charlie Wilson could do it because it was easy to do. The interesting part is that it was something new and it worked.