NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, 59, talks to SPIEGEL about the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, the need for a reconstruction coordinator and the limits of negotiations with the Taliban.
Its funny (well not really) how NATO has had to pick up the pieces of defending Afghanistan, after the US made all these initial promises to help them rebuild, demolish the Taliban, etc.
But of course if you listen to Donald Rumsfeld, Afghanistan is big success
The Middle East is such a mess right now, and our president (and vice president), talk about bombing Iran. I ask, what planet do these people inhabit?
"Yeehaw" is not a foreign policy!
Posts: 875 | Location: The Emerald City | Registered: 02 January 2007
It's pretty sad how ubiquitous this type of All/Nothing thinking seems to be.
All Taliban are murderers/None are normal human beings.
All Hezbollah are murderers/None are normal human beings.
Hezbollah hadn't fired rockets at Israel for ten years and was becoming largely a political group, yet because of the US mainstream media portrayal of Hezbollah as "All Terrorists", apparently many Americans swallowed this distortion hook line & sinker. It's amazing what fear does to the human mind.
If one isn't consumed by such fear and open to putting oneself in the other persons shoes, it would be easy to see that the death toll of hundreds of thousands of one's fellow citizens resulting from having ones country illegally invaded and bombed might lead many people in Iraq and Afghanistan to also think "You don't negotiate with the murdering Americans."
Many Americans seem able to understand that all Americans aren't murderers, while failing to understand that other groups being demonized in the mainstream US media have a similar diversity of views. It's amazing what humans will do to one another when they confuse media stereotypes for what is actually so.
And this we call an advanced stage of evolution?
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"Thought works by conditioning. It has to get conditioned. You need conditioning to learn a language, to learn how to write, or to do all sorts of things. When the conditioning gets too rigid, though, it won't change when it should." - David Bohm
Posts: 1211 | Location: Southern California | Registered: 16 August 2002
Originally posted by HowardW: It's pretty sad how ubiquitous this type of All/Nothing thinking seems to be.
All Taliban are murderers/None are normal human beings.
All Hezbollah are murderers/None are normal human beings.
Hezbollah hadn't fired rockets at Israel for ten years and was becoming largely a political group, yet because of the US mainstream media portrayal of Hezbollah as "All Terrorists", apparently many Americans swallowed this distortion hook line & sinker. It's amazing what fear does to the human mind.
If one isn't consumed by such fear and open to putting oneself in the other persons shoes, it would be easy to see that the death toll of hundreds of thousands of one's fellow citizens resulting from having ones country illegally invaded and bombed might lead many people in Iraq and Afghanistan to also think "You don't negotiate with the murdering Americans."
Many Americans seem able to understand that all Americans aren't murderers, while failing to understand that other groups being demonized in the mainstream US media have a similar diversity of views. It's amazing what humans will do to one another when they confuse media stereotypes for what is actually so.
And this we call an advanced stage of evolution?
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I guess I am guilty as charged. I made a generalization about the Taliban, and I suppose it was not fair.
When I lived in Tunisia, I was at the home of a local friend there, and they had a picture of Saddam Hussein in their living room area. (Apparently he became a bit of "hero" in the arab world after the first Gulf War) When I was introduced to an uncle (I recall), he started yelling at me in arabic, pointed at the picture of Saddam, and spit in my face. Of course, my friend rushed me out of there, but I believe this man made an assumption about me because I was American.
I think it happens everywhere.
"Yeehaw" is not a foreign policy!
Posts: 875 | Location: The Emerald City | Registered: 02 January 2007
Originally posted by meljomur: I guess I am guilty as charged. I made a generalization about the Taliban, and I suppose it was not fair.
When I lived in Tunisia, I was at the home of a local friend there, and they had a picture of Saddam Hussein in their living room area. (Apparently he became a bit of "hero" in the arab world after the first Gulf War) When I was introduced to an uncle (I recall), he started yelling at me in arabic, pointed at the picture of Saddam, and spit in my face. Of course, my friend rushed me out of there, but I believe this man made an assumption about me because I was American.
I think it happens everywhere.
I understood what you said and agree. To pick it apart is silly.
Sorry to hear the uncle spit on you. I would have considered that rude act justification to retaliate with bad intentions. But, thats also why I'd carpet bomb the Taliban populated middle east and start over.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ "A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user."
Theodore Roosevelt, 1913
Posts: 2404 | Location: Redmond WA | Registered: 04 September 2006
Whether he did or not doesn't concern me. If some Tunesian guy spit on me because he doesn't like the U.S. foreign policies and wants to take it out on me, it's his chioce. I'd then make my choices.
I don't appreciate Irans meddlings in everything that doesn't concern them either. I sure wouldn't spit in the face of an Iranian just cause I dislike his President or leaderships action in the world.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ "A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user."
Theodore Roosevelt, 1913
Posts: 2404 | Location: Redmond WA | Registered: 04 September 2006
This link is purely an example of the latest Bush-headed corporate media propaganda machine, saying through NATO, that the 'evil' Taliban, are the same horrible people as black folk in America, as well as a string of Straw Men going back to Colonial Days and the Native Americans. In this link, the band of rogues is the Taliban of Afganistan. They are immoral, and unintelligent. However, as recently as this week I sense that the subtext of the rhetoric has become severly vitriolic, and venemous. I postulated today while walking the streets of New York in Harlem, that a Conservative freak fringe or REALLY bad group of people has emerged on top of Republicans. Maybe the worst thing you can say about a group is that they are uncivilized-or incapable of electing their own leaders, and I even sense that in the link. The rant goes like this: stupid, dumb and uncivilized; watch for it, folks. Last week Thom Harmann had said, "Let's stop being afraid." Here, here. NO MORE FEARS! GB
Posts: 582 | Location: New York City | Registered: 13 February 2007
I believe this man made an assumption about me because I was American.
... and one post later:
quote:
But, thats also why I'd carpet bomb the Taliban populated middle east and start over.
Don't you think maybe the guy had a point?
You do realize that I made the first comment, not Slab, and I would like to think working as a teacher in Tunisia, I would be considered a bit different type of American than he is. I was just trying to make the point of how I was being judged because of where I was from...
Trust me Slab, I don't think you would attack an angry Tunisian, who just spit in your face.
"Yeehaw" is not a foreign policy!
Posts: 875 | Location: The Emerald City | Registered: 02 January 2007
You do realize that I made the first comment, not Slab, and I would like to think working as a teacher in Tunisia, I would be considered a bit different type of American than he is.
Woops, wow I never thought I'd make that mistake, but there you go, live and learn. Sorry, man.
Posts: 246 | Location: Q | Registered: 25 August 2007
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