March 09, 2005
Commentary:
Too many battles have been lost with premature declarations of victory...
By Jack Grant...which is why I have been very uncomfortable with much of the chest-thumping proclamations regarding the demonstrations in Lebanon against the Syrians.
There are a significant number of people in Lebanon who disagree with the anti-Syrian factions. While I take the numbers quoted with a huge grain of salt, I have seen live broadcasts of the demonstrations both anti and pro (one of the advantages of being in a similar time zone), and I can say that the pro-Syrian demonstration was much, much larger than the anti-Syrian demonstrations, conceivably larger than the sum participants in the anti-Syrian demonstrations.
I am not saying that the anti-Syrian demonstrations are meaningless, nor am I saying that there are not positive things happening in many places in the MidEast. What I AM saying is that things have gone off the rails in that region far more often than they stayed on to the seemingly logical and rational outcome, therefore caution in coming to conclusions that trends are irreversible is not only wise, it is mandatory.
Posted by Jack Grant at 17:40 on 9 March 2005It's nearly 2 decades since Reagan and some still believe he singlehandedly beat the Soviets. I say, let 5 years of peace and democracy go by, minimum, in that region b4 new paradigms are declared. DAN
Posted by: Dan Schneider at March 9, 2005 08:41 PM"Chest-thumping" proclamation???
Oh, c'mon, Jack. Hardly. There'a a suggestion, a possibility, that "Shrimp Chub Bush McHitler" may not have gotten it completely wrong.
After all the Buah-bashing, and shrillness, and venom that has POURED forth from certain quarters in recent years, I will unapologeticlly take some smug satisfaction in watching 1) some of them back down, and 2) others of them refuse to do so.
Good point, Dan. "Everybody knows" that the nuclear-freeze movement and the anti-Pershing missile protestors beat the Soviets, er ... well ... not "beat" because "beat" implies a wholly improper competition, but let us say caused the Soviets to see the rational peaceful side of the West and thus motivated them to dismantle their (now unecessary) empire.
Posted by: The Commissar at March 10, 2005 03:04 AM
