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Jul. 29th, 2004
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(no subject)
Jul. 29th, 2004 03:56 pmKABUL (AP) - Medecins Sans Frontieres pressed ahead Thursday with its plan to leave Afghanistan because of deteriorating security, but offered hope to dismayed government officials that it could make a swift return.Hurray for the continuing liberation and democratization of Afghanistan, and the Just War that brought it to this happy state! If you voted for Bush and this war, give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back. With any luck Iraq will be in this good of shape in a year or two.
The medical relief agency, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said Wednesday it was quitting because the government failed to act against a warlord suspected in the June 2 slaughter of five of its staff, illustrating how violence has impeded humanitarian aid.
20 June 2002 - A Marshall Plan for Afghanistan, without the good things
...As noted in the Ad Hoc report,It is important to maintain in friendly hands areas which contain or protect sources of metals, oil and other national resources, which contain strategic objectives, or areas strategically located, which contain a substantial industrial potential, which possess manpower and organized military forces in important quantities, or which for political or psychological reasons enable the U.S. to exert a greater influence for world stability, security and peace.(6)This might be taken as a concise summary of the entire cold war, and indeed the wars of imperialist expansion that preceded it. Those who control the industry, raw materials, and military power control the world.
The Marshall Plan, then, had nothing to do with feeding the hungry and everything to do with making sure that those parts of Europe with the most to offer in terms of economic and military power remained under US control. The unparalleled economic commitment represented by the Marshall Plan was conceived not from generosity but from fear: policymakers believed that if they didn’t act decisively to revive western European economies, they would lose their hold on the incredibly important strategic and economic power of the region and its colonies.(7)
In this context, a “Marshall Plan for Afghanistan” seems laughable. Afghanistan has no industry to offer, no commodity-rich colonies, and poses no threat to the profits of export businesses in the US. And unsurprisingly, we find that the American “commitment” to Afghanistan has amounted to soaring rhetoric and deeply underfunded UN humanitarian programs.
In better news, at least the US is doing something about the genocide in Sudan
(no subject)
Jul. 29th, 2004 03:56 pmKABUL (AP) - Medecins Sans Frontieres pressed ahead Thursday with its plan to leave Afghanistan because of deteriorating security, but offered hope to dismayed government officials that it could make a swift return.Hurray for the continuing liberation and democratization of Afghanistan, and the Just War that brought it to this happy state! If you voted for Bush and this war, give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back. With any luck Iraq will be in this good of shape in a year or two.
The medical relief agency, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said Wednesday it was quitting because the government failed to act against a warlord suspected in the June 2 slaughter of five of its staff, illustrating how violence has impeded humanitarian aid.
20 June 2002 - A Marshall Plan for Afghanistan, without the good things
...As noted in the Ad Hoc report,It is important to maintain in friendly hands areas which contain or protect sources of metals, oil and other national resources, which contain strategic objectives, or areas strategically located, which contain a substantial industrial potential, which possess manpower and organized military forces in important quantities, or which for political or psychological reasons enable the U.S. to exert a greater influence for world stability, security and peace.(6)This might be taken as a concise summary of the entire cold war, and indeed the wars of imperialist expansion that preceded it. Those who control the industry, raw materials, and military power control the world.
The Marshall Plan, then, had nothing to do with feeding the hungry and everything to do with making sure that those parts of Europe with the most to offer in terms of economic and military power remained under US control. The unparalleled economic commitment represented by the Marshall Plan was conceived not from generosity but from fear: policymakers believed that if they didn’t act decisively to revive western European economies, they would lose their hold on the incredibly important strategic and economic power of the region and its colonies.(7)
In this context, a “Marshall Plan for Afghanistan” seems laughable. Afghanistan has no industry to offer, no commodity-rich colonies, and poses no threat to the profits of export businesses in the US. And unsurprisingly, we find that the American “commitment” to Afghanistan has amounted to soaring rhetoric and deeply underfunded UN humanitarian programs.
In better news, at least the US is doing something about the genocide in Sudan