Wake up, media! While we obsess over Obama's visit to Denver and Khmer Rouge trials and GM/Chrysler revamps, only the venerable New York Times noticed - and placed on its front page -- the fact that Pakistan had reached a wide-ranging peace agreement with the Taliban, allowing the organization self-rule in Swat province. I worry that this may be the spark that leads Obama to fulfill his campaign warning that he might directly invade Pakistan. I certainly do not favor military intervention, but I also do not adhere to the international diplomacy view that "all deserve a voice at the table." Ideological catastrophists whose philosophies require the murder of dozens, thousands or millions, be they Khmer Rouge, Sendero Luminoso, or Wahhabists, deserve no place at anyone's table. Thanks to the wisdom of the Pakistan government, Swat residents who own DVD players or satellite dishes will be beheaded, just like the wife of that TV station owner in upstate New York who urged understanding of Islamic traditions. Isn't Medieval life fun?
4 comments:
This is going to create a humanitarian refugee crisis, too, already reports of women, children, westernized people trying to leave Swat Valley en masse.....
I hadn't heard about the man who beheaded his wife. That brutality is no greater here than it is over there, and yet how shocking. As appalling as it is, I hope it will wake people up to what happens in other parts.
Certain factions of these poor, middle eastern countries welcome unrest and violence the same way some citizens in this country use disasters as a reason to loot. Islam is not to blame for all the unrest, poor judgement and lack of morality does the trick!
Certain extremist factions in the U.S. welcome unrest and violence as long as the targets are some group they disapprove of -- gays, liberals, Hispanics. Looting is small time compared to what the right wing has been doing for decades.
-Brian
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