Deviations From the Mean

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Russia is restarting air patrols and working hard to beef up its military while the powers that be in Washington, DC assure us that there is no danger of reentering a cold war. Do these geniuses really expect Russia and other nations to stand quietly by as the US spends as much annually on its military as the rest of the world combined?

From the Russian point of view the United States has been pretty darn aggressive with its military over the past six years. Not only have we moved to grab Iraq and to build permanent bases in the Middle East we plan to build missile systems close to Russian borders.

Prior to the US lead invasion of Afghanistan some five years ago the Islamic Taliban had almost eradicated the growing of poppies and the production of opium. Drug use is forbidden under Islamic law and the Taliban were ruthless enforcers of the law.

The story is quite different today. The Taliban and corrupt warlords are cooperating in reaping immense profits from the drug trade. Often at the point of a gun they are forcing poor farmers to grow their crop of choice, poppies, which are used for opium production.

I stumbled across the following posting today which compares the British military approach taken in Iraq with the American.

While the post is nearly three years old it is well worth reading as it sheds light as to why the war in Iraq was lost long ago.

The heavy handed tactics used by American forces have made far more enemies than friends, not only in Iraq, but throughout the world.

For every insurgent killed there are probably ten or more ready to seek revenge and to take their place.

Am I dreaming? A bad dream at that.

Over the past few days military planners at the Pentagon, top ranking military brass, and senior administration officials have been discussing the implementation of late stage Vietnam policies as a possible solution to the disaster in Iraq.

Excuse me, but didn’t we lose the Vietnam War? Of course, officially we declared victory and withdrew but most historians, except for those employed by the government, would question the validity of the declaration of victory.