tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36646589.post742871852307085282..comments2023-10-30T19:03:59.225+01:00Comments on David Seaton's News Links: Off to Yemen to drink the YemenadeDavid Seaton's Newslinkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00269813419598042699noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36646589.post-1571574132708923972010-01-13T18:45:06.059+01:002010-01-13T18:45:06.059+01:00More analogies with Afghanistan - I'm reading ...More analogies with Afghanistan - I'm reading up on Yemen since that appears to be our next war. It turns out the Russians tried to make Yemen socialist in the mid '60s using Egyptian soldiers. 70,000 Egyptian soldiers could not subdue the tribal areas of Yemen.<br /><br />I get the impression that in Yemen, like Afghanistan, the central governement has never controlled the whole country, there is a large Shia minority, it has a culture that is clan/tribal based, they don't like outsiders much, and most of the country has never been ruled by foreigners. When the Saudi family conquered the parts of the peninsula the British had no interest in, they stopped at Yemen.<br /><br />There are apparently already American military "advisors" in Yemen, and the drone attacks have been going on for some time.<br /><br />This suggests that Obama is following the footsteps of LBJ - reformer, brought us Medicare and civil rights, and is chiefly remembered for Vietnam.Forensic economistnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36646589.post-24410631686267902192010-01-12T15:35:09.054+01:002010-01-12T15:35:09.054+01:00A bit OT perhaps but interesting background on som...A bit OT perhaps but interesting background on some earlier exploits by British troops in Yemen (aka Aden) - troops behaving badly.<br />"Yemen: taking another beating from the West"<br />Link <a href="http://www.troopsoutmovement.com/oliversarmychap12.htm" rel="nofollow">here</a><br />And we wonder why we're not so popular in the Middle East!Mike Doylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08883239399467042838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36646589.post-60747085288802105882010-01-10T17:33:21.925+01:002010-01-10T17:33:21.925+01:00I didn't see a resolution of the globalization...I didn't see a resolution of the globalization-versus-Islam conflict in your denouement. <br />_____________________<br /><br />In a sense the "resolution" will mean the end of "globalization", if by that we mean a seamless world without effective frontiers, obstacles to trade or nogo areasDavid Seaton's Newslinkshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00269813419598042699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36646589.post-42103839046192844092010-01-09T22:11:33.378+01:002010-01-09T22:11:33.378+01:00I didn't see a resolution of the globalization...I didn't see a resolution of the globalization-versus-Islam conflict in your denouement. <br /><br />Nor does it take into account what, e.g., the Christian Science Monitor article, <a href="http://arunsmusings.blogspot.com/2009/12/londonistan.html" rel="nofollow">cited on my blog</a> notes.<br /><br />" “There are basically two meccas,” argues Egyptian-born Mamoun Fandy of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. “There’s a Mecca that Muslims should visit, and the mecca of jihad that is London.” — quoted in the Christian Science Monitor<br /><br /><br />PS: from the same article<br /><br /> “I’ve felt for a long time that if radical Sharia law comes to the rest of the world it will start on the streets of London,” says a Pakistani expert on militant Islam who asked not to be identified....The Pakistani analyst, who has close ties to London mosques, argues that nearly every Pakistani radical he knows in London has gone through a “night club” phase. They try out a “clubbing life” that is ultimately unsatisfying. “They try to experience something like a dream of life in the west. About a year later they show up in the mosque, grow beards and are ‘good Muslims,’” he says."Arunhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03451666670728177970noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36646589.post-65995399800461219022010-01-09T16:38:46.645+01:002010-01-09T16:38:46.645+01:00Thank you Pirate Laddie for catching my horrible e...Thank you Pirate Laddie for catching my horrible error... If I had written "Victor Mature-like" it would have been OK, but "Solomon" was unforgivable.David Seaton's Newslinkshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00269813419598042699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36646589.post-48464315027295997552010-01-09T15:34:20.765+01:002010-01-09T15:34:20.765+01:00Bookmarked this. Thank you after sharing. Definite...Bookmarked this. Thank you after sharing. Definitely benefit my time.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36646589.post-75806602235202578772010-01-09T15:24:57.930+01:002010-01-09T15:24:57.930+01:00Very good assessment -- perhaps a bit optimistic, ...Very good assessment -- perhaps a bit optimistic, but we need some sunlight from time to time. Only problem: you mean SAMSON, not SOLOMON in your pillars of the temple reference, right? -- Pirate LaddieAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36646589.post-69612174811298153172010-01-09T15:00:59.812+01:002010-01-09T15:00:59.812+01:00This is a very excellent summation of what lies ah...This is a very excellent summation of what lies ahead, David. If it is obvious to you, I wonder why it is not obvious to the leaders in the West. <br /><br />Are we so short-sighted as to not see the end game here? The most pressing long-term security initiative the United States must forge is energy independence. <br /><br />I think that the Bush/Cheyney administration (being traditional Texas oilmen) saw the beginning of this century as their last chance to appropriate the control of the global oil supply. They miscalculated badly, depending too much on the fragile nature of the petro-dollar corruption that keeps all of the "moderate" regimes in power. In the meanwhile, our reactionary approach to the Islamic world as a whole has made that fragility even more evident. <br /><br />We in the U.S. have wasted valuable time by putting all of our eggs in the petroleum basket. Putting sustainable green energy initiatives aside as too expensive in the short term, prudent leadership would have expanded the investment in newer technology nuclear power to reduce the economic shock we will inevitably face when we no longer have friends in high places in the oil producing countries.<br /><br />An energy-independent West no longer has to take sides in what is clearly internal Arab/Muslim politics. We could then leave the Chinese to sort it all out.bobbonoreply@blogger.com