<If relatively rational and unemotional Russians and Americans can get close to a flash point>
C2, are you trying to become a comedian? That's hilarious. Even compared with "the volatile folks inhabiting the ME".
Osama, for one, is quite calm and rational [more or less]. You might not like his opposition or his methods, or intentions, but he's not what I'd call volatile, at least in his demeanour as seen on tv. His transcripts are lucid enough too.
Heck, General Boykin is less lucid, reducing the conflict to his top-class god vs Islamic Jihad's low-class god.
I don't think Osama says that King George II's god is unworthy. Just that Bush is unworthy and so are USA policies on the middle east.
<the delusion that Jihad is responsible for bringing down the Soviet Union because of its defeat in Afghanistan is alive and well, and a core part of Jihadi lore. >
I hope you aren't one of those delusional Americans who think that Raygun brought down the Berlin wall and defeated the Soviet Union. What the USA did was, partly, though they didn't do anything about Hungary or Czechoslovakia, was prevent Soviet Union expansion, though they failed in Vietnam. The collapse of the USSR was an internal affair and not surprising.
Gorby was not in the mould of the old murderers who would use any degree of carnage to retain control. He was the essential difference. The coup when he wouldn't use the old methods was a day late and a dollar short.
If Raygun had ganged up with Gorby, they could have brought Afghanistan to civilization a couple of decades ago, but no, the delusional and irrational and emotional Americans had to continue with supporting the wrong side. The Twin Towers would be still standing if Raygun and Gorby had dealt with Islamic Jihad and Osama back in the 1980s in Afghanistan.
Even now, the delusional and irrational Americans abjure the UN, not realizing that they are passing up an opportunity while they still have the ability to recast it into an institution fit for the 21st century. This failure will probably be a bigger failure than that of supporting Osama's gang against Gorby. Who would you vote for? Gorby or Osama? Well, the USA voted big time for Osama. Rational? Hardly.
Mqurice |
