Ahmadinejad & Those Who Forget History
So the hard right in this country is rooting for Ahmadinejad. And, not coincidentally, so is bad guy Hugo Chavez. Strange bedfellows indeed.
Sometimes it seems like there is no learning from history. Experience doesn't matter and wisdom eludes us. This is not a new thing, not the tragedy of modern times. It is a deeply human form of denial and obduracy.
The English lost their Empire in Afghanistan, as did the Soviets. We thought, or God help us still think, we can do better. The French lost both their Empire and their dignity in Vietnam. But we thought we could show them a thing or two. The Communists in Weimar Germany supported Hitler because they thought that he would be so obviously inept that they would come to power sooner. Their motto was: "Nach Hitler, uns." Or, "After Hitler, us." Didn't work out for them, for Germany or for the world.
This is the type of thinking that is behind the Neo-con support for Ahmadinejad. Not that they get a vote, but still it is revelatory of their stubborn refusal to learn from history. Making bad things worse seldom sets the table for making things better. It is often easier to fix a leak than repair the consequences of a flood. See Hurricane Katherine.
The world is difficult enough, violent and irrational enough that we do not have to make them worse on purpose. Helping find more moderate people to talk with--even fruitlessly--seems better than helping sustain monsters whom we can bomb. As Churchill remarked "Chaw chaw is better than war war."
©2009 Jonathan Dobrer
www.Dobrer.com
There's finally some financial news that will put a smile on most people's face – Al Qaeda is broke. The reports that Al Qaeda is broke came straight from the well on this one. Al Qaeda's head in Afghanistan, Sheikh Mustafa Abu Al Yazid sent out a communicate that they were almost bankrupt, financially. (They are definitely morally bankrupt.) They won't likely get any fast cash either, as funding sources for them are monitored. Osama bin Laden was wealthy at one point, and has vast land holdings, but the jihad is evidently very expensive, and they can't get enough to equip the mujahidin with. No payday loans are going to be made, as many benefit when Al Qaeda is broke.