Today Cindy Sheehan, the activist mom, whose son died in the war on Iraq gave up her protest against the Iraq war. With all due respect for her, I think she has done the right thing.
While I am not condoning the war in/on Iraq, there are reasons why I think it cannot be stopped now.
Why did the US start the war?
The US started the war on misleading claims that Saddam Hussein had WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction for the uninitiated), which was a crock of horse manure to start with! My take on it is that George Bush Junior wanted to finish what the Senior could not for one and the second one being Iraq having some of the largest deposits of oil – lets face it, the war was for oil and nothing else! So the war was launched and Saddam was hung. Unfortunately, and I mean it in the most sincere way, what started as a means to end Saddam’s dictatorship, ended up becoming a war on terror, with Al Qaeda joining the rebels against the American occupation in Iraq. So what should have been capture and get out became a war that neither George Bush not any of his team actually thought through!
What are the choices we have today?
George Bush orders his army to get out of Iraq, which is something that will make Messrs. Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton et al. happy, but leave Iraq in a state of conflict with no solution in sight in the near future something they did not anticipate – The Middle East is a cauldron with so many conflicts and George Bush, instead of making the world a better place to live has done exactly the opposite. He has managed to alienate the entire Middle East, parts of Europe and most people on the face of the Earth, hate him for going to war. To put things in perspective, the Americans are fine with having a dictator, who will tow the American line, no matter what - look at President Musharaff in Pakistan for example! No matter what he does and there is ample evidence to the effect that Al Qaeda is re-grouping in Pakistan – the Americans simply look the other way!
The only other choice is for Americans to stay in Iraq and ensure that all the warring parties come to the table and trash out a goal for the common good of the country. While, this is easier said than done, there is no other choice.
So the Americans are stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea with no chance of redeeming all the bad will they have managed to generate against themselves and in the process made the world a worse place to live in!
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Friday, February 16, 2007
New Climate Pact
So finally we have a new Climate pact that will save and preserve the planet for our future generations. We might actually, if this becomes a law, give a decent legacy to our children (never mind the other not so great ones!).
My bone of contention is that there apparently was a consensus on the fact that developing countries also will need to face targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions as well as rich/developed countries.
My question is: How did the so called rich countries get rich in the first place?
Ans: Industrialization
What is the main driver for industrialization? Greenhouse fuels such as coal, petrol, diesel etc.
So since the World War II when the world began to industrialize, countries which had some amount of money during that period in time, started using up more of these fuels to, fuel their economies! Presto - they became rich! Nada a thought to what will happen to the atmosphere, global warming, yada, yada, yada!
Suddenly countries such as the US, which refused to sign the Kyoto protocol woke up to the actual reality of global warming and why? Most of the rich in that country did not have a ski resort to go to as there was no snow during their holiday season - Thanksgiving through to the New Years. When it did arrive, in late January 2007 and is still very much winter now (as on February 16th 2007), it brought some devastation with it!
So we suddenly have Mr. George Bush referring to the climate and its effects in his State of the Union address!
So what is the prospect facing developing countries because of this?
Developing countries do not have enough freedom to get rich because they have curbs but the developed countries had no such rein to hold them back!
My thought on this: While I completely agree with the fact that developing countries also should have targets to limit emissions, i firmly believe that the developing countries should have much more stiffer targets than developed countries do!
Secondly, when responsible developing countries (Key word: Responsible) decide to go the Nuclear way - Kindly do not put a spoke in their wheel - They need all the energy they can get!
Thirdly, because of the mess the rich countries have already contributed to, they should have a fund for developing cleaner fuels in the developing countries!
While, I might sound jingoistic, why should any citizen of this world be deprived of getting rich while the rich constantly get richer?
My bone of contention is that there apparently was a consensus on the fact that developing countries also will need to face targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions as well as rich/developed countries.
My question is: How did the so called rich countries get rich in the first place?
Ans: Industrialization
What is the main driver for industrialization? Greenhouse fuels such as coal, petrol, diesel etc.
So since the World War II when the world began to industrialize, countries which had some amount of money during that period in time, started using up more of these fuels to, fuel their economies! Presto - they became rich! Nada a thought to what will happen to the atmosphere, global warming, yada, yada, yada!
Suddenly countries such as the US, which refused to sign the Kyoto protocol woke up to the actual reality of global warming and why? Most of the rich in that country did not have a ski resort to go to as there was no snow during their holiday season - Thanksgiving through to the New Years. When it did arrive, in late January 2007 and is still very much winter now (as on February 16th 2007), it brought some devastation with it!
So we suddenly have Mr. George Bush referring to the climate and its effects in his State of the Union address!
So what is the prospect facing developing countries because of this?
Developing countries do not have enough freedom to get rich because they have curbs but the developed countries had no such rein to hold them back!
My thought on this: While I completely agree with the fact that developing countries also should have targets to limit emissions, i firmly believe that the developing countries should have much more stiffer targets than developed countries do!
Secondly, when responsible developing countries (Key word: Responsible) decide to go the Nuclear way - Kindly do not put a spoke in their wheel - They need all the energy they can get!
Thirdly, because of the mess the rich countries have already contributed to, they should have a fund for developing cleaner fuels in the developing countries!
While, I might sound jingoistic, why should any citizen of this world be deprived of getting rich while the rich constantly get richer?
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