Asia As One Vast Spongy, Overpopulated Mass.

Submitted by Charles Griffith (United States), Oct 28, 2009 at 16:57

Was glad to read your last sentence as a confirmation of sorts of my long held opinion that America does not belong in any part of Asia; while at the same time attempting to maneuver large numbers of ground forces and to maintain the mountains of their required materiel to be shipped half way around the world. A serious risk to our young service people's lives, not to mention the stupendous drain from our Treasury.
Geography and population and demography and culture are overwhelmingly against us. Observe the sheer numbers involved. Our resources are finite.

The immediate parts in the news today, central, south and west Asia are divided and contained among artificial borders drawn literally by hand on maps after the end of the First World War. When the Allies defeated the Ottoman Empire, a lucrative vacuum was filled almost instantly by the French and British, and this in conjunction with the rise of Arab nationalism has created the volatile mix of tribal, ethnic, and religions which we naively think we can alter on a lasting basis . The establishment of lasting, peaceful working democracies amongst these centuries' old deathly factions is futile. The concept is simply too alien.

Instead, let us concentrate (literally) on much smaller elite special forces and unmanned aerial vehicles. These are controlled from America itself. Immediately, the question of accurate local human intelligence is raised, however the elite special forces' carefully coordinated total effort should well supplant the ad hoc marketplace rumors of today.

This is a balance we simply must accept.

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