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Thanks for the reply

Reader comment on item: Libyan Blues
in response to reader comment: Nostalgic for better memory

Submitted by Kepha Hor (United States), Aug 30, 2011 at 17:35

1. I seriously doubt that the identity of the Libyan rebels was known to anyone in Washington. And, if you didn't notice, I always thought the Libyan intervention a huge and irrational mistake.

2. Yes, China's economy may surpass the USA's in 5 years--but it has to be distributed over three times the population. It will have to meet a revolution of rising expectations--apparently already there, since there is a lot of labor unrest in the country. And, it looks like it's also taking our American route of printing funny money. Still, it did learn some home lessons from the days when most people's vitamins (vegetables and the occasional scrap of meat or fish) was purchased on the black market, which in turn was fed by stealing the produce of communized agriculture.

3. The record of US support for jihad--well, it began when Carter belatedly recognized that Brezhnev wasn't going to give the US respite when Brezhnev saw that the US was calling it quits in the Cold War.

4. You won't get any argument from me that Nixon was cynical, Kissinger was one of the most over-rated men in Washington before Hillary Clinton came along, and that ultimately, the USA got no strategic advantage from its opening to Communist China.

5. The part of the former Socialist world with which I am most familiar also had WONDERFUL free medical care, praised by every major newspaper from Los Angeles to West Berlin (at least back in the 1970's)--and it featured care for the average person administered by someone who could barely read and write, administer a shot of fructose, and, if you were really lucky, he'd get a bunch of people together to chant political slogans while The Chairman's thaumaturgic red book lay on your afflicted part (although a Christian, I am similarly sceptical of Pentecostal claims).

6. Yes, Turkey is a barbaric country, and I need no lessons in the horrors of the 1890's, World War I, and things that followed.

7. Being, at present, a minion of one of America's socialist organs (the public school system), I assure you you didn't have free education anywhere. I doubt that the people who taught you math, science, and Leninist theory in the old Poland made do with no salary, and the money to pay them--even if in ration tickets-- had to come from somewhere.

My main point is that you impute to America an influence over the global jihad which it simply doesn't have. Taking the Sherki Turkestan crowd, for example, I doubt the US Government has three employees who can read Tarim Basin Turki ("Uyghur" is badly educate guess imposed by the Great Father of the Peoples).

As for China, I know it too well to be grateful for its purchasing our debt--and you won't get any argument fromm me that our American elites have been horribly irresponsible over the past 3/4 of a century. We Americans should've noticed a lot sooner that we had reached Aristotle's point where polity becomes "democracy"--the have-not majority recognizes that it has the political power to vote the minority's money into its collective pockets.

And, re America and Greece, you get no argument from me on the comparison. We're reaching the point where no government is able to play Santa Claus. Even I can recognize the wrong balance between production and consumption.

You guessed right that I am not descended from Polish nobility. I am, however, related to small farmers who handled marginal land on the periphery of a great Old World emperor, as well as to a long line of petty bourgeoisie and wanderers as well. However, the lives of High-level Cadre and their children in places I've seen is perhaps as close as I've ever seen to a class that can live off the sweat of serfs.

And, again, as for the global jihad, may it soon meet its Jan Sobieski.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (51) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
1Libyan post Qaddafi [84 words]ZeenaOct 24, 2011 11:07190333
6Those rebels are diverse [94 words]Michael Hanni MorcosOct 21, 2011 17:20190257
2I sadly agree [100 words]William EastAug 30, 2011 22:01188980
1Europe,Libya and Nato. [109 words]donvanAug 29, 2011 11:40188936
2Libyan Blues Comment [124 words]Shirley Ann AddyAug 27, 2011 14:40188900
1And I fear ... [14 words]W. ZimmermannAug 25, 2011 17:41188850
1Take The Oil [41 words]morris wiseAug 25, 2011 12:20188840
1America's jihadist friends from the 80-ies and 90-ies are welcomed back [1517 words]IanusAug 25, 2011 08:45188838
1Nostalgic for Gomulka? [324 words]Kepha HorAug 26, 2011 18:12188838
1Nostalgic for better memory [1712 words]IanusAug 29, 2011 08:17188838
Thanks for the reply [650 words]Kepha HorAug 30, 2011 17:35188838
3New Poland and global jihad - Zbigniew Brzezinski instead of Jan Sobieski ! [2791 words]IanusSep 2, 2011 10:03188838
The More Things Seem to Change-the More They Stay the Same [755 words]M. ToveySep 7, 2011 15:45188838
5Libyan Greens [99 words]PHILIORAug 23, 2011 19:05188791
1Libya [77 words]REXAug 23, 2011 14:35188788
1Islam is Marching Again [285 words]Arlinda DeAngelisAug 23, 2011 14:05188784
2Deliver me from Pessimism, Please! [190 words]john w. mcginleyAug 23, 2011 12:02188731
principles of interventionism [576 words]lucretiusAug 23, 2011 03:57188679
2Empowering Islamists and its lethal blow back....... [125 words]Adina Kutnicki, IsraelAug 23, 2011 03:40188677
Good Comment [133 words]Peter HerzAug 28, 2011 16:12188677
Who are those guys? [21 words]StephenAug 23, 2011 02:43188676
1Shout "Allahu Akbar" and America will help you. [68 words]IanusAug 26, 2011 17:37188676
The rebels in Libya [178 words]PrashantAug 23, 2011 02:34188675
2"Freeing" Bosnia [135 words]IanusAug 26, 2011 15:14188675
"Freed" was probably a wrong choice of words [17 words]PrashantAug 27, 2011 01:28188675
2I'm Astounded - NB [92 words]helen porathAug 23, 2011 01:47188674
3I'm astounded [141 words]helen porathAug 23, 2011 01:19188673
2"Though this be madness yet there is method in it". [108 words]IanusAug 29, 2011 08:59188673
1Happy about Libya. [136 words]Bob StrubleAug 22, 2011 22:37188663
A valid concern [79 words]Ralph WhaleyAug 22, 2011 22:13188661
1Good Analysis [22 words]Salomon s MizrahiAug 22, 2011 21:13188653
qaddafi [33 words]jerome HenenAug 22, 2011 21:11188652
Time to rejoice or repent? [241 words]Ghulam Muhammed, MumbaiAug 22, 2011 20:24188648
Ghulam Muhammed lacks knowledge [94 words]Salomon MizrahiAug 23, 2011 22:32188648
Repentence Required of Both the West and the East [311 words]M. ToveyAug 25, 2011 11:35188648
1Pipes's Libya Blues [277 words]Dan RusenAug 22, 2011 20:11188645
1Libyas Colors [13 words]Jay1Aug 22, 2011 20:02188643
3"Western forces will have brought civilization's worst enemies to power" -- no surprise there; part of a pattern [36 words]MarkAug 22, 2011 20:01188642
The World According to Islamic Terrorists. [84 words]Tom DundeeAug 22, 2011 19:56188641
2The world according to Zbigniev Brzezinski [796 words]IanusAug 26, 2011 17:12188641
1Realpolitik / Realislamik [61 words]HesperadoAug 31, 2011 00:23188641
Partition still an option? [62 words]John in Michigan, USAAug 22, 2011 19:35188636
Requiem for the Middle East Status Quo [586 words]M. ToveyAug 22, 2011 19:30188634
LIBYAN REBELS TAKING POWER [173 words]JACQUES HADIDAAug 22, 2011 19:28188633
Correct on Libya [52 words]Sidney KavinAug 22, 2011 19:22188632
1Libyan mistake [51 words]HenkAug 22, 2011 18:20188626
1No mistake but purposeful policy-making [134 words]IanusAug 26, 2011 17:52188626
1Shia not Sunni [44 words]George M Weinert VAug 22, 2011 18:02188625
1Situation in Libya; who'se going to be in charge? [58 words]William A. Caro, M.D.Aug 22, 2011 17:54188623
To Lates Vee Gets Too Schmart [28 words]Barry BlackAug 22, 2011 19:47188623
The problem worsens [20 words]aspaciaAug 22, 2011 23:34188623

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