Name:Samkee Country:Hong Kong Metro:Hong Kong Birthday:2/6/1983 Gender:Female
Interests:listening to soft music, writing, hiking, travelling, cooking (in the memory of slo), meeting friends from all around the world Occupation:Student Industry:Other
AM: i admire the courage of this women, but she makes few valid points. the US installed 'warlords and drug traffikers'...who else was there to install, parliamentarians that don't exist, kings that had been in exile for 30 years, or men who ran clothing shops in california until they were summoned back to be governors?
SC: Two wrongs do not make one right. Why do we accept that the US have the right to "install" a government for the Afghans? Why do we think this occupation by the superpower is justified and legitimate? Why the Taliban is actually gaining more influence in BOTH Afghanistan and Pakistan since the US invaded eight years ago? If we only live in our own ideological world which "good" and "evil" are already decided, we will never understand why even the women living under Taliban hate "democracy" so much.
HS:This lady, with all the respect I have for her has no valid point. She has nothing to say but to attack and curse people who are called ‘Warlords’. I doubt that she even knows the meaning of warlord. Courage is not enough if you don’t know what you talking about, when you are repeating yourself over and over… People, who talk about occupation and what they call it the ‘US installed government’ in Kabul, are more idealistic and emotional rather being realistic and rational. They have no real plan for post US withdrawal from Afghanistan and have no clue what would happen aftermath. Being anti imperialism or against the hegemonic power of the US shouldn't lead you to be irrational and forget the reality. Afghanistan’s dire reality is not like SOAS anti imperialism and dream inspirer lectures of changing the injustice you see in the World. You need to understand the capability of the Afghan political factions in handling their problems, you need to understand the Afghan protracted dilemma against its bloody and complicated political background, and furthermore, you need to understand the Afghan crisis in a regional context and even global context.
ShS: Touching article...the West needs to listen to more people like her. Especially like "We are not a backward people, and we are capable of fighting for democracy...In fact the only way these values will be achieved is if we struggle for them and win them ourselves." It's a real tragedy when people are prevented from fighting their own wars for justice because all the space is occupied by 'two evils'
AM: No one is accepting that the US had a 'right' to invade afghanistan and install a government. but debating the moral legitimacy of US action is fairly meaningless when it has already happened, and is not part of a viable present solution, if there is such a thing in Afghanistan. although i admire her, i agree with haseeb when he says that people like her have no plan for post-US withdrawal. Her only solution is to appeal to a mythological third option--'democratic minded parties and intellectuals', who are the 'hope of afghanistan'. these people have no power in Afghanistan, command no troops, control no territory, own no land...and will flee Kabul the moment international patronage ends, as they have done many times before.
SC: According to the Commander-in-Chief, what the US and its allies could not "achieve" in the past eight years could somehow be done in the next 18 months--can you imagine the level of violence that will take place for this to "work"? Remember, NATO is sending troops, mercenaries etc--i.e. professional killers. But not 10,000s of doctors, engineers, i.e. people who are actually needed to rebuild this devastated country--apparently this is under the remit of "nation building" and could divert resources and attention from the overarching priority of "security".
The whole issue of US legitimacy is a non-starter to begin with--if anything, the US and its allies have consistently frustrated and crushed Afghan aspirations for democracy and development in the last three decades. Hailing the occupation or expecting something good to come out of it on grounds of "realism" actually betrays a dangerous ignorance of the history and practice of US militarism and its effects on subject populations worldwide. Hundreds of thousands are being killed and maimed in that country to sustain these liberal illusions and fantasies.
Let us remind ourselves that the US and its allies propped up both the Taliban and the motley crew of armed factions that calls itself the Afghan government today. They have been full participants in the oppression of women and homosexuals, the eradication of progressive intellectuals and the monstrous reversal of the country's development since the 1980s. They are the ones who killed off Afghanistan's hope of democracy and development for a generation and more. People should stop fooling themselves that the Kabul government is progressive in any shape or form----the few "progressive" individuals are merely window-dressing for a corrupt illegitimate regime as nasty as the Taliban it is "fighting" against. If anything, Karzai's glorious "re-election" is an object example of the sort of "democratic" legacy the US will be leaving when it leaves that accursed land one day.
The temptation to lean onto existing forces to solve these problems is great, but the beginning of true wisdom lies in a frank recognition of the historical roots of this war and in particular, that of US geopolitical designs in the region. Those who claim opposition to US occupation is tantamount to supporting the Taliban and leaving Afghan "democracy" to its own devises are either demagogic stooges of imperialism (to give them their right name) or letting their goodwill get into the way of cold hard historical facts and a very disturbing reality.
MHA: Thanks for linking this article Yosi and a great discussion everyone! As a Canadian whose country is complicit in this "mission," and whose House of Commons has mandated a July 2011 pullout date, I pray for the end of this war and for the Afghan people's unity, strength, and peace.
在這件荒謬的事件中，更可笑的是一位大學教授向電視台表示英國政壇鮮有官商勾結嫌疑之事發生，因為退出政府的高官大都返回所屬政黨效力，與商界很少有關係。這樣讚美英國政治清廉的人真罕有，在香港也許比較多，但這教授與事實不符的偉論直叫我目瞪口呆──前英國首相貝利亞在位十年，繼承並發揚保守黨政策，大大放寬金融監管，方便投資銀行横行無忌，為現今的全球金融危機鋪路。他離職後不到半年，便當上了美國投資銀行摩根大通的「高級顧問」，這份半職為他帶來每年超過一百萬英鎊的額外收入。他是第一位與商界這樣有聯繫所以教授看不清嗎？不過貝利亞的前任保守黨馬卓安於九七年離職，一年後也即加入了美國私人資本投資公司(The Carlyle Group)，前美國總統大布殊(George H. W. Bush)也是該公司的職員。
T: "We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person." Quote from William Somerset Maugham.
C: "Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-incurred immaturity." Quote from Immanuel Kant's Answering the Question: What is Enlightenment?, a good piece of work indeed. Hope that we change because we are continually enlightened but not being gradually assimilated. If the reality sometimes seems too distant, let's hold on to our books--books that keep our mind young and vivid; books that give us hope and passion for life; books that remind us our reasons to live and live in dignity.
"It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person."
