Afghanistan - A Strategic Analysis

sattar: yes indeed.

majumdar #423 Please dont confuse masadi with facts. :-)

Yes, where would we be without harimau's acerbic wit and intelligence, especially when Chowk is in such dearth of both?!

Masadi sahib,

Re: USSR's great sacrifices in WW-II

I guess it may come as a shock to you that the gr8 USSR was almost an ally of Germany b4 WW-II. They even signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact which allowed USSR and Germnay to partition Poland after its conquests. And then USSR turned a blind eye to German conquest of East Europe. It was only when Germany attacked USSR that it suddenly became the "liberator" And the huge casualties of USSR were in part becuase Stalin's purges had almost completely destroyed the Red Army.

And if USA "colonised" a few countries so did USSR, Afghanistan, the whole of Central Asia and much of Eastern Europe and Central Europe. And it had as many client states in the Third World as USA had. And at least some of USA's clinet states- Taiwan, South Korea, Chile to name a few prospered while the whole of Soviet satellite states in the Third World were f***ed up beyond repair.

Regards

LOL, anil ji, please don't let Harimau's words upset you much. We can simply enjoy his acerbic wit and relish the sharp-tongued artistry he employs to put the rest of us down. Besides, (when he is not saying good things about my friend masanmuthu and advising us to spend time with our respective goats) the man is very intelligent too. :)

Ref anil #304

Don't go out alone. If you get into an accident and get taken to a hospital, the doctors are likely to start harvesting your organs!

Ref vengatramanan #310

[Nonsense, the very idea of meritocracy is a sham. How many of the Einsteins and Rockfellers came out of the so called elite academies.]

Einstein obtained his doctorate at the University of Zurich. Unlike Periyar University or Perarignar Anna University, universities in the rest of the world actually evaluate intellectual contributions before awarding a degree at the doctoral level.

Rockefeller was a businessman and had no need for a college education though he did attend Spencerian College in Cleveland, Ohio, USA for a while.

Prof S. Chandrasekhar studies at Presidency College, Madras when admission was on the basis of merit. He went on to earn a PhD at Cambridge University and later on the Nobel Prize in Physics. With the elimination of merit for admission to colleges under the leadership of Doctor Artist Leader the Fund of Compassion, Presidency College is now known as the place for rowdies to congregate. No useful thing has ever come out of Presidency College. Unfortunately for you and your Masanamuthu-type friends, the Nobel Committee awards the prize based on merit, not absence of it.

Since you claim merit is a sham, why hold examinations at the end of college studies? After all, those exams do rank students according to marks earned. Why not just hand out degree certificates for attending college? Heck, why make the Masanamuthus attend college? Give them a degree along with their SC/ST/MBC/OBC/BC caste certificate so that they could productively spend their young adulthood in the delightful company of farm animals.

Tamil Nadu, the land of Masanamuthus, has 250+ engineering colleges. NASSCOM, the associatio of software companies in India, estimates that only one graduate out of four is employable. That says something about using merit as a criterion for employment purposes.

Why do you think Infosys, TCS, Wipro, IBM, Microsoft, etc., hold aptitude tests for potential recruits and select only those who meet their criteria? Do you think they are filtering out those with "sham" merit?

Your own statements are proof of your mental retardation. Stay home and spend time with your goat.

what was the pakistani analyst umair raja saying about bleeding india?

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008/01/30/story_30-1-20 08_pg3_1

The topping of the cake has come now in the shape of the news that Darra Adam Khel insurgency is manned by the six jihadi outfits that his department and the agencies once used in India, and the six include some who are still “protected” by the intelligence agencies as an “option” against India. Mr Shah should be careful. It is better for him to play his cards close to his chest till the time is right for a “show”. He can come to grief when his statements are investigated after Pakistan’s return to normal rule. *

boom...

US missile' kills 12 in Waziristan

Shamim Shahid
PESHAWAR - Twelve suspected militants are said to have been killed when a missile hit a house in village Khushhali Toorikheli near Mir Ali in North Waziristan Agency in early hours of Tuesday. The killed persons included some foreigners, reported to be affiliated with Al-Qaeda or its associated groups.
A high-intensity missile hit the house of Abdul Sattar Khan in early hours of Tuesday. The missile caused destruction to several portions of the house and resultantly killed 12 persons.
So far no official statement was made regarding the missile attack on the house of Abdul Sattar Khan, believed to be a leading transporter of the country.
However, there is conflicting reports regarding the casualties. Certain circles state that deaths are close to 12. The victims included local tribesmen and four foreigners. Exact identity of the killed was yet to be determined. There are reports that some high-profile militants were also killed in the incident.
Soon after the missile attack, the local militants, mostly linked to Maulvi Abdul Khaliq and Sadiq Noor groups, cordoned off the area. The militants didn’t allow common people to visit the spot, which let many people to suspect or believe that certain high-profile militants were killed in the attack.
It is important to mention that Khushhali Toorikhel and its surrounding areas are considered strongholds of alleged militants since long. A number of militant groups operate in the area. A large number of foreigners are also said to be residing there with the local militants.
The missile attack was considered to be the third one in the recent past in Mir Ali region. Earlier, in mid-November, 2005, a missile hit a house where a known Al-Qaeda fugitive from Egypt Hamza Rabia had taken shelter. Second missile chased Hamza Rabia on December 3, 2006.

tahmed (#412),

Correct about desi babus, but that’s only half the truth. These desi babus are somewhat similar to the other babus … who fail to see the tragedy in bombing hundreds of thousands of civilians … women, children, elderly, men … doctors, postmen, gardeners … in order to get Japan to surrender. Could Japan be forced to surrender without US bombing the two cities? I reckon the answer is probably yes …

There are babus … and then there are babus; and both seem equally oblivious to the central dilemma here.

zeemax #415 true - and the painting is circa 1872. I rest my case. :-)

#413 Posted by tahmed32,

Definition of 'Manifest Destiny' courtesy the painting on Wiki:

This painting (circa 1872) by John Gast called American Progress, is an allegorical representation of Manifest Destiny. Here Columbia, intended as a personification of the United States, leads civilization westward with American settlers, stringing telegraph wire as she travels; she holds a schoolbook. The different economic activities of the pioneers are highlighted and, especially, the changing forms of transportation. The Indians and wild animals flee.

396
Almost universally, the inventor does not own the patent. It's the institution or the company that the inventor works for that owns the patent, whereas the inventor is the holder of the patent. Huge difference, if the patent is worth any money.

#411 zeemax: "mindset" is a very loose term that can be used to mean anything. Thus - indians rant about the "islamic mindset" to take over the world. Pakistanis used to rant about the "akhund bharat" mindset.

If we are to have views that are not totally absurd, we cant have the luxury of making up our own world using subjectively defined concepts like "mindset".

fuzair: arguing whether it was the Soviets or the US that saved the world in WWII from Germany is like arguing whether the left hand or the right hand made the clap sound.

also, more relevant to the subcontinent - the US almost singlehandedly defeated Japan in the Pacific. The other allies were no match for the japanese war machine, and the soviets did not even bother to declare war against the Japanese until the very end to get some easy pickings in the form of territory. If the US had not stepped in, all these desi intellectuals would be working on some field as illiterate laborers as enslaved people today. And tens of millions of indian civilians would have been brutally killed by the japanese - as they did in China. But you wont hear a peep out of desi babus except to shed crocodile tears over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

#408 Posted by tahmed32,

It was never a specific policy, but a mindset, though it was reflected in the Monroe Doctrine.

Now, it is extended to the entire world.