Another Post From Mythusmage (Who is the Wrong Gender to be Kathy Kinsley 
Through the above link you can read Austin Bay’s Weekly Standard article on the war in Iraq, and what could follow.
What could follow?
Not just efforts to free Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt, but efforts outside the Middle East. The freeing of other nations in South and Central Asia, followed by the formation of an alliance with the goal of providing protection to the current Russian republics and autonomous regions against any action on the part of the People’s Republic of China
Iraq is the first step. With a democratic Iraq; a strong, prosperous Iraq we would have additional resources for this task. Personnel we can call upon to train other armies, as we are training the new Iraqi Army. Think of a democratic Pakistan with an American/Iraqi trained military. A Pakistan that can and will come to the aid of other Asian republics threatened by invasion of any sort.
Big things are coming, we are getting ready for them if my thinking has any validity to it. Let us hope we continue on this path.
9 Comments
Don’t believe Pakistan can crawl out of that snakepit it has made for itself to play any enobling role. Color me cynical, never mind.
Meantime Iran’s Supreme National Security Council chief Hasan Rohani said his country will stand by Syria if the Arab state is attacked.
“We have always maintained excellent relations with Syria, and in case it is attacked, it can always depend on the solidarity of its friends, and Iran is a faithful friend,” Rohani was quoted as saying Friday in French daily Le Monde. http://tinyurl.com/5knul
Good, they can kiss the dust together.
A wise bit of advice says to never underestimate your enemies. Neither should you underestimate your friends. With an honest democratic government Pakistan is capable of much more than many would think. The trick here is in an honest government. The only way to get that is through true democracy, not the half-assed effort Pakistan was doing before.
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The people of Pakistan make an honest effort the country could make solid progress.
Agreed. “Honest” is the key. But how would that come about?
Heh - many apologies, mythusmage.
The honest answer is that most of the posts I’ve commented on before on this blog have all been by Kathy, so I made an honest mistake.
I’m with you on this broadly, although none of us will be able to completely foresee the specifics. In general, I think freedom and democracy are going to advance even further and faster over the next fifty years as they did over the last fifty.
Wits0: By opening up the process to everybody in Pakistan. Not just the elites, as was the case previously. Pakistan was a machine democracy. Various political machines ran things from behind the scene, and this led to the rampant corruption the infested the Pakistani political scene. Think Tammany Hall to get an idea.
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Russell: You are forgiven. Go now and misattribute no more.
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Seriously, I agree. We can lay out what we hope or expect happens, but surprises can pop up. After all, China has it’s opposition, and that could forestall any Chinese adventurism.
Alan… Well, you could always change your sex.
Just a quick comment on additional resources. Don’t forget we’ve also got an army being trained in Afghanistan. And they’ve just opened an officer’s school.
And we’re training the militaries for Mongolia, the Stans, and a number of other nations in the area. Last I heard Mongolia had a battalion in Iraq, undergoing training and gaining some combat experience.
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The plan is that the Mongolian Army will form the core of a resistence movement should China invade. Keep the Chinese tied down and divert resources from the main front.
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Get the feeling Washington is thinking ahead?
“Get the feeling Washington is thinking ahead?”
Despite my instinctive sarcastic responses, I actually do think Washington is thinking ahead, in ways it hasn’t done for many, many years. That’s one of the biggest and strongest reasons I voted for Bush this time around. This administration seems more focused on the truly long term than any administration I’ve seen before (although I am only 26, so what do I know?). They get beat up for it all the time because we live in a society that thinks six months is “long term.”
Addendum: Which is not to say that they’re really all that great at it - just better than what I’ve seen before.