tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077210.post116941605415134875..comments2024-03-28T08:37:58.136+01:00Comments on Limited, Inc.: bogosities of the press: Israel and IranRoger Gathmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11257400843748041639noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077210.post-1169446227872333852007-01-22T07:10:00.000+01:002007-01-22T07:10:00.000+01:00I would LOVE to second guess your proposals, right...I would LOVE to second guess your proposals, right down to second guessing other people who second guess them, but <B>only</B> if I get a think tank job and get to do it on television. <BR/><BR/>Actually, aid to the north and the south would have made Hussein a non-entity in the region. He would have lost all face and seen an exodus of people seeking a better life in the supported areas. It could have defanged (an already toothless snake, but no matter) him for good. People aren't all that interested in fighting when there's a reasonably good chance for advancement and some sort of social justice in place. In most cases, redistribution will do. A boomtown version of that could have been had on the cheap. I doubt it would have destablized the region to any harmful degree. There's a quality of resignation in the people of there that only the most vicious repression goads into violence -- though there may well have been headaches for uptight social conservatives coping with different cultural mores. <BR/><BR/>Roger, I'm pretty sure, without even looking, that something like your plan occurred to members of the strategic class. And I think it was rejected out of hand precisely because it didn't involve mass killing, things going "KABOOM!" and a chance to wear the codpiece on a flight deck somewhere. Effectivness has consistently taken a distant last place to the vanity of the political class.Arkadyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05838423612315386095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077210.post-1169443071929705022007-01-22T06:17:00.000+01:002007-01-22T06:17:00.000+01:00Ah, I'm a turkophile, and though the dirty war aga...Ah, I'm a turkophile, and though the dirty war against the kurds served the worst elements, the kurdish sendero luminoso was itself one of the worst guerrilla movements. <BR/><BR/>Really, though, the turks want certain assurances. I doubt I could second guess what those are, or second guess the troubles that my suggestions would lead to. However, I'd have... other suggestions about those troubles. <BR/><BR/>The troubles wouldn't involve mass killing - a minor point for a D.C. think tanker, but I'm such a putz that I think this is an advantage.Roger Gathmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11257400843748041639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077210.post-1169439707929278612007-01-22T05:21:00.000+01:002007-01-22T05:21:00.000+01:00Aid to the north might not have gone over well wit...Aid to the north might not have gone over well with Turkey. They're in a perpetual panic over the Kurds. Of course, it might have done a lot of good for the Kurds, and in Iran and Syria as well.Arkadyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05838423612315386095noreply@blogger.com