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Ron J gives us data from 2008, but forgets to add that in 2009 the civilian deaths caused by anti-government forces have doubled. This is not quite as laughable an error as sartesian's hallucinations about the motive power of anti-Russian animus. The syllogism that Ron J provides is however a real gem; Ron J makes the elementary error of confusing the validity with the truth of the argument (where for example does he prove the NATO intervention is an act of, or in the service of, imperialism?) Of course NATO should not be allowed to operate unless it can be held to a much higher standard than the Taliban, and since NATO will have to operate under serious budget constraints and will thus have to rely to aerial bombardment and drones to protect its undermanned deployments to whom alone Obama is ultimately acountable (though do remember that he was accused of treason by Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton for criticizing the military strategy as *only* leading to civilian deaths), it has proven that NATO is structurally incapable of being held to a higher standard. So yes given real world constraints humanitarian intervention seems likely to fail, to be counterproductive, and to be immoral. But don't go marching on as if opposition to NATO on the grounds of its structural limitations is a great thing. All this means is that there is nothing on the ground to stop the Taliban offensive and force reconciliation among the political parties and ethnic groups. Obama thinks that giving a withdrawal date will force the parties to recognize that they can't rely on NATO to bring stability and will thus force them to the table--he seems to be taking a page out of Jonathan Steele's book. Vijay Prashad has some hope in regional bodies. I think that the situation is very serious, much more serious than parochial and bombastic people appreciate. Rakesh > ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
