GardenSERF points out an aspect of the AfPak conflict that, for some odd reason, hasn't gotten much play on the US infotainment media, except here.Think about the lessons here:
1) The Great Satan's attention span, along with its tolerance for casualties and bad press, is exceptionally low;
2) Ergo, he'd rather pay Danegeld than withdraw outright or fight to a military victory; and
3) The only real open issue is the size of the bribe.
Kipling explained the phenomenon just about a century ago:
...It is always a temptation to a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say:
"Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away."
And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we’ve proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane...
Iraq...
Soon, Afghanistan....
Perhaps, someday, the North American Autonomous Zones (a/k/a The Restored American States)?
Great picture choice for your blog post. The more things change...
ReplyDeleteGardenSerf laments about the blood of American soldiers and Marines meaning nothing to these people in power. I have a big flash for you. It meant nothing in the 60's when hundreds of thousands of us were forced into involuntary serviture to voyage and die for the GREAT SOCIETY in the jungles of Viet Nam. Back then, you either went to Canada, hid out in the National Guard(like Dan Quayle), or enlisted for extra years to get a non-combat MOS. Read Daniel Ellsberg's book: SECRETS.
ReplyDeleteNowadays, we do not have a draft. What we have are the NEOCONS(Bush, Rove,Rice, Gingrich, & Cheney), the CLINTONISTAS(Rahm Emanuel, Madeline Albright, Kerry, Schumer, and Kennedy) and the puppet Barry. This band of gangsters has made it impossible, by exporting millions of jobs, for a high-school graduate to find meaningful, economically viable employment. The only thing available is the military. Thus, the supply of cannon fodder is assured for their endless foreign adventures. As the song said: When will they ever learn...
You do realize that was from January, right?
ReplyDeleteStill, the blood - it boils...
DD
DD --
ReplyDeleteYup. The point is not just the Danegeld, but the lessons which can be drawn from those who are in the process of defeating Uncle Sugar.
Excellent point, anon. Even bachelor's degrees are like high school degrees now. I saw a job listing for your basic file clerk, and they require a BS/BA.
ReplyDeleteI guess that's so the employer can be REASONABLY sure that products of public schools can at least read simple instructions and write well enough to be understood.
Yet they ignore us over-40s with a proven record and strong work ethic. And knowledge of how far we have fallen in the last 50 years.
All according to plan.
Collecting taxes in Mog:
ReplyDeletehttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703748904575411044272400652.html?mod=WSJ_hp_editorsPicks_3
Men with guns and masks going shop-to-shop in the Mogadishu market passing out slips of paper with a number on it: you will contribute 20 grams of gold to the Jihad and victory of Islam. This method probably buys more rounds-per-gram than my payments to the IRS. You have got to give them credit for cutting out the tax-feeders between the tax-payer and the shooter.
Another article in the same series about a Somali meeting in Turkey proclaims that Somalia is a free trade zone ready for capitalism to arrive. Uhhhhh, what about that Jihad thing?
Cheers.
Was it Thomas Jefferson that said and I can´t quote it exactly but
ReplyDeleteIt is better to spend Millions for War ,but not One cent in tribute.
I´m not saying that we should be in Afghanistan or Iraq, we have strayed to far from the reason we went there to stat with. But it is WRONG to be giving resources in this case money to people that are killing our sons and in all probibillity use the Money to buy supplies for their war against us.
We went to Afghanistan to get Assam Bin Laden for 9-11, now we are building a nation??????
And we went into Iraq because Saddam allegedly had Prohibited Weapons of Mass Destruction???? Somebody had the wrong information, or out right lied on that one. And besides who Prohibited WHO from WHAT. Saddam was a Tyrant and the world is better off without him but that is not our job to displace Tyrants except our own.
Dennis
III
Texas
Since the Constitution, unlike the Articles of Confederation, is such a deeply flawed construct (by the intent of the Federalists), I'd prefer it if we'd call this a restore the American Revolution's Direction" movement.
ReplyDeleteOne need merely to read some L. Neil Smith or Hamilton's Curse: How Jefferson's Arch Enemy Betrayed the American Revolution--and What It Means for Americans Today by Thomas DiLorenzo to see what the goals of the Federalists were from day one.
I'll be the one to say it:
ReplyDeleteThe tactic of extracting the danegeld from one's enemies is a tacitc that could possibly be replicated against the current enemies of the Constitutional Republic. We need to look at SOME of the successful tactics of our current overseas enemies and consider their effectiveness against our domestic enemies.
Just because the Taliban and Al Qaeda are really, really, bad dudes does not mean that NONE of their tactics are usable here. Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
So far as how to get from head-cutting propaganda videos to payday, however, I don't see how that would practically work out.
Am I missing something?
Anonymous 5:17, the Dane Geld is usually paid by the wealthy party in such a way as to command obedience.
ReplyDeleteThe lowland Scots were purchased by the English Kings, leaving the much poorer highland Scots out to dry, eventually. The Campbell's are on my MacGregor ancestors land to this day, the Campbell's were collaborators, bought and paid for.
Better to remove collaborators as soon as they're discovered and take what those offering "Dane Geld" have without their permission and without strings attached. It's almost always stolen in the first place.