Ike, this interesting program was broadcast tonight here in the US...and you can watch it over the net at the link below.
----------------------------------------------
"Return of the Taliban"
"After the fall of the Taliban five years ago, some experts warned of a nightmare scenario in which the Taliban and Al Qaeda would escape from Afghanistan into neighboring Pakistan and set up new command centers far out of America's reach.
That nightmare scenario has now come true. The Taliban controls large parts of the lawless tribal areas along the border. In a video obtained by FRONTLINE, the Taliban demonstrate their brutal brand of justice. After executing 17 people, said to be thieves, in front of a crowd of hundreds, they hung the bodies on poles for three days. "We have killed these people and sent them to God," a Taliban gunman says to the camera. "God will bring them to justice."
FRONTLINE correspondent Martin Smith ("Hunting bin Laden"; "Truth, War and Consequences") returns to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and presents a rare look inside this secret sanctuary in "Return of the Taliban." In a region long suspected of harboring Osama bin Laden and strictly off-limits to U.S. troops, Smith explores the complex web of alliances among the Taliban, Al Qaeda fighters and the Pakistani military, and analyzes the consequences for U.S. policy.
After 9/11, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf pledged his country's support to America's fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, but he has struggled to control his own military and intelligence services -- which have long supplied money, weapons and military advisers to radical fighters in Afghanistan...
pbs.org
------------------------------------------
This period in history reminds me of the post WWII era when various regions were lining up on each side of what would come to be known as the 'iron curtain'.
Now we are in the process of discovering which areas are going to remain, as Zachary said, "desert islam". And which will opt to join the secular countries of world.
- Is the new 'iron curtain' going to slice through Pakistan??
- Is North and South Korea a model for the future Pakistan??
As I've posted before, it seems obvious that there is some factor of 'Moores law' at work in the development of solar panels. And either solar, fusion or some other less polluting, more economical energy sources are inevitable - what will happen to the oil producing areas of the ME as the cash flow from oil drops while the population keeps rising??
In an effort to prevent the 'exportation of terrorism', is the 'free world' going to end up isolating the areas of 'desert Islam' via a virtual quarantine? (the fence between Israel and Palestine being a symbol of the future for most of the ME?).
And how about the problem France and other Euro countries face in integrating some now alienated Islam neighborhoods?? We here in the states have struggled for many, many decades with the two population groups who did not choose to immigrate here - Native and African americans. Maybe Europe should follow the casino model which has developed here in the past few decades - allowing casinos to operate only on the indian reservations has done a great deal to end the social and economic alienation for many native tribes. It's certainly not perfect, but the best program so far.
And that brings me to one last ?, how long until all Islam evolves enough to allow itself to be subjugated under a sectarian government?? (hopefully not as long as it took my ancestors...the dark ages was a very, very long period of time).
Best of luck, Jerry |
