Afghanistan...
I was coming home from work and I caught a blurb of a radio interview on NPR with Sonali Kolhatkar author of "Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence"
What she said really got me thinking, and I would like to re-iterate what was said on here.
It's not bombs that save and liberate nations, its not the intelligence communities nor the
government sanctions that render the supposed "hostile" nations docile, nor is it the way to bring democracy to a region.
on a side note, (you can't give a person democracy or freedom they have to want it. Freedom isn't free and it's never one through violence, aggression, and hatred beset by an opposing faction)
In many if not all cases, You win the war by winning the people, meaning, if you want the taliban and afghani's to separate themselves from extremists, its through ECONOMICS.
Economics is the name of the game, Thomas Friedman calls it the "Golden Straight-Jacket" because it forces you to play by the rules if you want to continue getting resources, revenues, and growth in ones country. This example is best met by the country of CHINA. The more and more they globalize, the more and more they don't step out of line.
In Afghanistan, As an average citizen there are only 2 choices on how to make a living. Either 1) Grow Poppy seeds, which are used to produce Opium, or 2) Join the taleban, who provide food, shelter and security.
If America wants to spread democracy, they must spread choices, and if they want to curb fundamentalism, they need to give the Afghan people options on how to survive,
No one is building up social welfare programs on a large scale. The troops may be administering vaccines and cereal and medicine to the people, but
aren't providing any means as an alternative to the "2 choices". So when the american soldiers leave, the taleban is back and in power because they are
giving afghans the means to survive.
The foundation on how to defeat fundamentalism is through economics.
Because you won't change and/or de-radicalize your ideologies and culture if not given the opportunity to advance your social status and affect your future.
There are 3 sequential spheres of change that transfer a region
The first is Economic Change,
-once this change is enacted it is transformational to a region and starts a place on an upward slope of progression.
Secondly is Cultural Change
- Economics affects the culture because it is forced to change to compete with the new lifestyle.
and lastly, is Political Change
- Once the culture is changed, the policies to support that culture change and grow along with it as well.
Its a progression, and sequence that is the only way to bring a nation farther away from extremism and violence.
If you don't believe me, look at history and see if any nation in history through its own means and not by being conquered by others has used self-determination to better itself. Of the top of my head i can think of Brazil, the Nordic countries, and even India is using globalization to its advantage. Its not perfect but its a damn better start then capturing
and killing combatants to transform a nation.
What she said really got me thinking, and I would like to re-iterate what was said on here.
It's not bombs that save and liberate nations, its not the intelligence communities nor the
government sanctions that render the supposed "hostile" nations docile, nor is it the way to bring democracy to a region.
on a side note, (you can't give a person democracy or freedom they have to want it. Freedom isn't free and it's never one through violence, aggression, and hatred beset by an opposing faction)
In many if not all cases, You win the war by winning the people, meaning, if you want the taliban and afghani's to separate themselves from extremists, its through ECONOMICS.
Economics is the name of the game, Thomas Friedman calls it the "Golden Straight-Jacket" because it forces you to play by the rules if you want to continue getting resources, revenues, and growth in ones country. This example is best met by the country of CHINA. The more and more they globalize, the more and more they don't step out of line.
In Afghanistan, As an average citizen there are only 2 choices on how to make a living. Either 1) Grow Poppy seeds, which are used to produce Opium, or 2) Join the taleban, who provide food, shelter and security.
If America wants to spread democracy, they must spread choices, and if they want to curb fundamentalism, they need to give the Afghan people options on how to survive,
No one is building up social welfare programs on a large scale. The troops may be administering vaccines and cereal and medicine to the people, but
aren't providing any means as an alternative to the "2 choices". So when the american soldiers leave, the taleban is back and in power because they are
giving afghans the means to survive.
The foundation on how to defeat fundamentalism is through economics.
Because you won't change and/or de-radicalize your ideologies and culture if not given the opportunity to advance your social status and affect your future.
There are 3 sequential spheres of change that transfer a region
The first is Economic Change,
-once this change is enacted it is transformational to a region and starts a place on an upward slope of progression.
Secondly is Cultural Change
- Economics affects the culture because it is forced to change to compete with the new lifestyle.
and lastly, is Political Change
- Once the culture is changed, the policies to support that culture change and grow along with it as well.
Its a progression, and sequence that is the only way to bring a nation farther away from extremism and violence.
If you don't believe me, look at history and see if any nation in history through its own means and not by being conquered by others has used self-determination to better itself. Of the top of my head i can think of Brazil, the Nordic countries, and even India is using globalization to its advantage. Its not perfect but its a damn better start then capturing
and killing combatants to transform a nation.
posted by Alphaprimer at
9/20/2006 08:32:00 PM
1 Comments:
Absolutely true. We can look at other crises around the world and apply the same logic.
By
Cairogal, at 1:58 PM
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