Letters to the Editor
macgupta
Published Letters: 375
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The truth
[Read the article: Peggy Noonan is a serious "grown-up"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The assassination of Ms Bhutto is a tragedy, no doubt. But it is also blowback.
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?D=2007-12-27&ID=215706
"Benazir Bhutto’s first advent as Prime Minister coincided roughly with the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan where Pakistan was spearheading the American effort. Since strategic aims had been met, it would have been logical for the self-proclaimed Pakistani democrat Prime Minister to wind up the Islamic fundamentalist Mujahideen bases in Pakistan and their nurseries. No such thing happened.
On the contrary "Benazir Bhutto, who became the Prime Minister in 1989 had a profoundly different perception of the role and utility of Islamist terrorism. Convinced that Pakistan’s destiny lay in strategic alliances with such countries as Syria, Iran, China (PRC) and North Korea, Benazir Bhutto’s Islamabad re-examined all aspects of Pakistan’s involvement in Afghanistan and the world of State-sponsored terrorism became an instrument of crucial significance for Pakistani policy. Islamabad now committed to furthering Islamism in the heart of Asia . . . Islamabad recognized the growing specter of confrontation with the United States over strategic posture in the region. Still Islamabad shifted to active support for militant Islamism."(2)
As a follow-up of Benazir Bhutto’s policy of exploiting Islamic fundamentalist terrorism as a state-sponsored tool, Pakistan was flooded with about 16000-20000 Islamist militants from over 20 countries all freely given visas for Pakistan. The Soviets had withdrawn from Afghanistan and surely they had not come for Afghanistan’s liberation. They had come for training in Pakistan and to fight for Pakistani state-sponsored Jehads from Kashmir to Central Asia.
General Zia as military ruler of Pakistan for eleven years preceding Prime Minister Bhutto could not achieve what she achieved in terms of Islamic fundamentalisation of Pakistan: " In the quest for Islamic violence the camps of the Islamist Afghan resistance in Pakistan became to Sunni Islamist terrorism what Lebanon had been for radical leftist terrorism. Pakistan became a place of pilgrimage for aspiring Islamist radicals." (3)"
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Happy 2008!
[Read the article: Oligarchical decay]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What a somber note to end the year with! But perhaps 2008 is the year to start turning some of this around. We can hope.
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Here's how it can happen.
[Read the article: Oligarchical decay]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Seven years ago, I had never contributed to a political campaign, never written to my Senators, nor to my Congressman; had never attended a political meeting of any kind, not signed any petition for anything significant. (I still haven't volunteered for direct contact campaigning - don't want to be negatively effective :) ). All that has changed in the last seven years, and especially in the run-up to the 2006 elections.
Among other things, I've learned that I'm blessed with one of the best representatives (Rush Holt) as certified by GG.
In the recent telecom amnesty flap, I left phone messages for Reid, Obama, Clinton, made a contribution to Dodd, faxed one of GG's articles to Reid's office. Later I learned I was one of half a million, that was really inspiring.
Multiply me by a million (which I'm certain is surely and certainly happening, and likely with more enthusiasm for this than I will ever have for politics) and the ground will begin to shift. It has to.
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@Timberman
[Read the article: Oligarchical decay]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]How true!
-Arun
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@shooter242
[Read the article: Oligarchical decay]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]http://news.findlaw.com/newsmakers/john.edwards.html
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The origin of the market
[Read the article: Oligarchical decay]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In my view, the first markets, the first protection rackets that tried to shake down traders, and the first demand for protection from such all came up pretty much together.
Anyway, markets exist everywhere, even if as illegal, black markets in Soviet states (or heroin trading in Afghanistan). For markets to be a driver of progress however, the rule of law is essential.
IMO, most people here are making a fundamental mistake in ascribing moral virtues to markets, corporations, etc.; I might as well describe the strength in steel as a moral virtue. It seems to me that far too many people have reverted to a form of animism. The worship of the Free Market is like the worship of Steel - absurd if it goes anything beyond an appreciation of its properties, and how we can use them to achieve our purposes.
Likewise, Steel and Free Markets make certain things possible that would be impossible without them, and thus certainly influence our purposes. But neither can properly set our purposes; neither is an end in itself.
Certainly I want to live in a world with steel, markets, corporations. But the virtue or lack lies in how we use these things. The free market will make for the most efficient production and allocation of slaves should we choose to let it do that. Or we can engineer the market to reward inventiveness via patents and copyrights. It is our choice.
Corporations enable people to work together very effectively for a common economic purpose. The problem we have is that we have given corporations a say in the laws governing corporations; but what the laws governing and purposes of corporations ought to be really belong to We, The People. Just as Congress has let slip its reins and given the Executive control over its own accountability, we have let corporations become accountable only to themselves.
We live in an engineered system, not a God-given one, and not a Natural one. Engineering of any kind cannot afford to be ideological, it has to worry about the feasibility, the cost and affordability of its solutions. Engineering and intelligent compromise are virtually identical. We build bridges with the materials we have, not with hypothetical stuff that is infinitely strong, extremely light and lasts forever.
Engineering systems that work with humans is the hardest of things; the Founding Fathers engineered a pretty good system, all things considered. They warned us of its flaws, too, and GG's essay highlights where some of those are showing today. The corrective mechanism is also supposedly there - We, The People. Our fear is we are not adequate to the task.
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On an inspiring note...
[Read the article: Oligarchical decay]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/12/29/6049/
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@shooter242
[Read the article: Oligarchical decay]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You should use your degree in googling and look up "pre-market economy".