The turn-arounds our host cites: occupied France , apartheid South Africa, and those which he does not, for example, Russians who overcame the outright "schande" of the Yeltsin years to form the patriotic, self-confident Russia of today; the Afghanis who, true to form, added two more "empires" to their graveyard; Vietnam who sent both Fr…
The turn-arounds our host cites: occupied France , apartheid South Africa, and those which he does not, for example, Russians who overcame the outright "schande" of the Yeltsin years to form the patriotic, self-confident Russia of today; the Afghanis who, true to form, added two more "empires" to their graveyard; Vietnam who sent both France and USA packing, the struggle for Algiers where the French won the battle but lost the war, the emergence of modern Turkey where, after an extra four year armed struggle against the victors of WW1, the Turks tore up the Sevres Treaty; The Lebanese Hezbullah who fought the zionists to a draw in 2006 and are challenging them as I write...these are all existence proofs that change and improvement are possible, and there are grounds for "hope". IMO the PMC will vanish, sooner rather than later, and the world will see better days. We may have to go through hell to get there, but no matter. There are many who will not rue the exchange w/o any histrionics. Keep the faith. The Good will prevail!
I find it striking that there is not a word he wrote about those resistances that wouldn't also fit the mentality of anti-Putin Russian dissidents (who are often, but not always, "PMC"). That is to say, this is exactly the sort of situation that they think they are in, whether they are right or not (especially the situation of anti-apartheid South African whites). One might find all kinds of moral and practical differences between modern Russia and apartheid-era South Africa, sure - but the "resistance" mentality is the same. This suggests to me that bloody-mindedness is not enough.
The turn-arounds our host cites: occupied France , apartheid South Africa, and those which he does not, for example, Russians who overcame the outright "schande" of the Yeltsin years to form the patriotic, self-confident Russia of today; the Afghanis who, true to form, added two more "empires" to their graveyard; Vietnam who sent both France and USA packing, the struggle for Algiers where the French won the battle but lost the war, the emergence of modern Turkey where, after an extra four year armed struggle against the victors of WW1, the Turks tore up the Sevres Treaty; The Lebanese Hezbullah who fought the zionists to a draw in 2006 and are challenging them as I write...these are all existence proofs that change and improvement are possible, and there are grounds for "hope". IMO the PMC will vanish, sooner rather than later, and the world will see better days. We may have to go through hell to get there, but no matter. There are many who will not rue the exchange w/o any histrionics. Keep the faith. The Good will prevail!
I find it striking that there is not a word he wrote about those resistances that wouldn't also fit the mentality of anti-Putin Russian dissidents (who are often, but not always, "PMC"). That is to say, this is exactly the sort of situation that they think they are in, whether they are right or not (especially the situation of anti-apartheid South African whites). One might find all kinds of moral and practical differences between modern Russia and apartheid-era South Africa, sure - but the "resistance" mentality is the same. This suggests to me that bloody-mindedness is not enough.