A follow-up on the Afghanistan article focusing on three issues.
1. The NGO workers
2. The Afghan girl on the cover of Time
3. A few more comments on regional issues and a link.
First listening the BBC today... the fiancée of the British doctor Karen Woo was interviewed, who assured the BBC she was not a Christian, but a humanist.
Secondly, apparently one of the Americans was a Mennonite associated with a group out of Pennsylvania. I don't really know much about the others, if anyone wants to share, please feel free to do so.
The British fiancée expressed bafflement as to why the Taliban would accuse them of proselytizing. But as I said, from the standpoint of the Sacral Taliban, all Western agendas are also Sacral and since the West is 'Christian'...introducing or supporting Western-isms are to them...a form of proselytizing.
They're wrong of course in terms of Biblical Christianity, but quite right in terms of culture and the Sacral way of defining it. Their country is subject to military and cultural imperialism. Guerilla warfare demands they control the population and the propaganda war. There are no civilians in Total War.
That said, what they did was murder.
I also wanted to comment regarding the poor young woman on the cover of Time who has been disfigured. I hope everyone understood, this is a tragedy. I don't want to downplay her story or the thousands of other tragedies in that region. I was fighting back tears listening to the report on the BBC today. Why? Because I think the American forces need to go in there and conquer? It's already been tried and failed for almost ten years. They've failed to stop these aspects of Pashtun culture. To ask the question, should we stay to help such as these it to deny the almost decade long reality. And it is also a failure to understand why these cultural issues are amplified. When you're country is invaded, you turn to conservatism. It's no different with the Pashtun's.
Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, said Goldwater. Well, to a Pashtun, he could simply say...Extremism in the defense of Pashtun liberty is no vice.
I was emotionally distraught because she's someone's daughter, someone's sister, someone's niece and cousin. It's a horrible story. It's the story of war, and a country that has been pushed beyond the point of humanity.
The Russians supported the coup in '78 and invaded in '79 and certainly bear much of the blame. But I really doubt the planners and schemers in Washington considered the morality and long term effect of the actions in 1979 and throughout the 1980's. Brzezinski openly admitted years ago they initiated the pro-Mujahideen policy months before the Soviet invasion and deliberately tried to goad them into invading.
Proxy wars are easy to walk away from, but the people can't walk away. They have to live or die with the fallout often maimed, raped, and as refugees. It sounds noble to support freedom fighters (who somehow become terrorists when they're on the wrong side). I expect nations and empires to play these games. They'll never stop.
But I expect something more from people identifying themselves with Christ. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank rated 5th most influential by the respected publication, Foreign Policy is the darling of the Christian Right. Heritage was a vocal proponent and important ally of the Reagan administration, helping to draft, analyze, and implement a foreign policy which can charitably be described as amoral.
Reagan perhaps deserves the title of "King of the Proxy-wars," as the United States quietly and not-so-quietly supported wars all across the globe and often backed the dictators who served their interests. The Heritage Foundation helped in developing these plans and often was directly involved in working with the representatives of the various 'freedom fighter' movements in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
From time to time I order Christian books and my name is placed on a mailing list. A few weeks later I have to spend a lot of time on the phone trying to get Focus on the Family and all the rest to quit sending me materials. But I reserve nothing less than vitriol for the Heritage Foundation, and finally had to get pretty mean to get them to remove me from their mailing list and never put me back on it. One of these days I will type out or scan one of their surveys which I saved. It is an expression of witchcraft. I know that sounds odd, but witchcraft is at its heart manipulation and their surveys serve no other purpose. The questions cannot be answered honestly, framed entirely in their terms and categories. It is flagrantly mendacious and fraudulent attempt at gathering and shaping information to suit their agenda. Even if you agree with their politics, a Christian has no business having anything to do with such a cabal.
I am also including a link to another AsiaTimes article I found to be insightful. It assumes the validity of the American presence in Afghanistan, which I do not. However it offers an interesting possibility for American policy wherein they would effectively and practically divide the country into two. Establishing a new government in the west and the north, this Tajik-Uzbek-Hazara zone would be largely stable and under an American proxy (perhaps in Herat?) free from Persian and Central-Asian influence. Then the United States could treat the south and east (Pashtunistan) as a military-conflict zone. Would it work? I don't know. It would all depend on Pakistan, because that is and would increasingly be their base of operations. The Americans would try to bring in groups like IAM to win over the people, but the kettle across the Durand Line (Pak-Afghan border) would be boiling over. I don't support this plan, but I found it interesting the author seemed to be thinking outside the box. I don't think the Americans will go for it, because it all could blow up in their face. A face they at present want to save by a careful draw down, leaving behind key strategic facilities and paid-allies to try and maintain security concerns....the Afghan people are on their own.
A final note...Brzezinski a renowned expert and architect in the realm of geo-politics identified Central Asia as the key to hegemony and domination in a book called 'The Grand Chessboard' written in 1997. Central Asia is viewed as the pivot of Asia, holding key geo-strategic importance due to its geographical and cultural relationships centered between Persia, China, Russia, and the Indian sub-Continent. It gets complicated but I'll simply say, gas, oil, minerals and also stopping the advancement of powers like China and Iran as well as keeping down the Russians, as they were quite down in 1997 when Brzezinski wrote the book. Whoever controls this region can in-effect dominate or at least help define several key geo-political issues. This the 21st century version of the Great Game and the time is soon coming when everyone will have to show their hand...and America will come up wanting it would seem. What will the fallout be if America is forced to abandon its Eurasian strategy?
There's no telling where this will all go. Certainly before the century is done, American satellites such as Japan and South (or Unified) Korea will break free from American control. There are already strong currents in these countries to indicate this. The United States is trying to re-establish ties with former proxies like the Philippines and Indonesia, perhaps to keep an Asian footprint? Will an American failure in Central Asia, give the impetus for the American satellites to formally break away? Will it give China boldness to assert itself in Taiwan? Probably not yet, but all these things are on the table. China is a great variable. I'll bet South Korea and Japan are itching to build up military deterrents so they can be genuinely free from America and China. Since 1945 for Japan and since 1950 for South Korea....they've been forced to rely on American military presence and thus American domination. If you don't believe these countries are satellites, look into their politics. Look into Mexican and Latin American politics. The United States doesn't want the 'stars and stripes' flying over their capitals. That means responsibility and open accountability. It's far better to use approved political agents, diplomatic pressure, intelligence, economic power, and military bases. This is the American Empire, invisible to those who refuse to look, but a Colossus, a Beast, to those whose eyes have been opened.
With the fall of the Soviet Union the Cold War ended. But since 1991 the United States has been engaged in a clandestine war against Moscow trying through diplomacy and economic warfare to remove them from the chessboard so to speak.
I'll repeat what I've written elsewhere. How would the United States react if Russia invaded Costa Rica, helped precipitate the division of Mexico and then entered into military alliance with some of these states, and started building military bases in Quebec? Washington would have declared war long before the list was complete.
And yet the United States has aggressively tried to bring Eastern Europe not just out of Moscow's sphere into non-alignment, but specifically into the EU and NATO. NATO has been one of America's key tools for administering and controlling Europe since its inception. The United States has established military bases behind what was the Iron Curtain, waged war on former Soviet and historic Russian allies in Serbia, tried to establish missile bases in Poland and the Czech Republic. They tried to gain control of Ukraine through proxies and tried to place Georgia in NATO, right on Russia's volatile backdoor. It wouldn't be long before the instability of the Northern Caucasus demanded a NATO intervention. Or at the very least, Russia would be prevented from exercising power on their volatile back doorstep. Such actions might provoke NATO troops and interests in the region. What would a NATO presence mean for Azerbaijan, especially in light of Iran?
The United States has acted aggressively toward Central Asia, waging war in Afghanistan and building bases in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Again remember Brzezinski's argument regarding Central Asia. Think about pipelines and the recent trillion dollar-plus mineral assessment in Afghanistan.
Yet in the American press, it's Putin who is the aggressor. Putin may not be a nice man, but his actions are hardly aggressive. They're logical. Russian actions in Ukraine, the Caucasus, and Central Asia are largely in response to American aggression and in part to keep China from growing in the region as well. Uzbekistan is the key, Brzezinski insisted. It is the core of the Central Asian core and many have suggested the recent unrest in Kyrgyzstan is part of a Russian strategy toward Uzbekistan. There are also issues with the Russian banks and economy which have been extensively written about elsewhere.
Consider all these things the next time you hear someone say,
They're defending our freedom.
They attacked us.
I looked into his eyes and saw KGB.
They hate us because we're free.
They hate us because they're evil.
America is a force for good in the world.
America is a Christian Nation.
If you agree with what I've written here, you can appreciate how hollow and sometimes wicked such statements can be.
This isn't about Christian America engaged in good works. This is Beasts at play. The many Babels building their towers trying to establish the pseudo-Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. Their false prophets preach false gospels, and their followers worship idols.
And woe to any who get in their way!
Christians are not deceived. They know their source of authority, who their King is, and they already dwell in His Kingdom. They alone can see through the deceit and they alone can offer hope to the downtrodden...people like the Afghan girl with no nose or ears...mutilated by those who seek a 'pure' kingdom. The history of the Christian church tells many similar tales. The agents of a Beast in the past used to do the same thing to a group I call the medieval underground, but they did it in Christs' name.