So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

His welfare is of my concern
No burden is he to bear
We'll get there
--He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother,
The Hollies

Presidents don't have power,
their purpose is to draw attention
away from it
--Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,
Douglas Adams

I'm so glad we had this time together,
just to share a laugh and sing a song
Seems we just get started
and before you know it
Comes the time we have to say
so long
--Carol Burnett Theme
____________________

The brothers are tight. If push comes to shove, Afghan President Karzai is ready to give his U.S. partners the old heave-ho.

The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, has said he would side with Pakistan in the event of war with the US in a surprising political twist that is likely to disconcert his western allies.

"If there is war between Pakistan and America, we will stand by Pakistan," Karzai said in a television interview. He put his hand on his heart and described Pakistan as a "brother" country.

The Guardian article quotes Karzai in a Geo television interview following his last visit with Ms. Clinton in which he said, "Afghans 'will never betray their brother'." The New York Times said Karzai's stance would "mystify his Western backers"; another called his statements "baffling".

However, Karzai's words are neither baffling nor mystifying. Brother as used by Karzai is not simply a phrase of regional fellowship -- Karzai is speaking of the Islamic Brotherhood, which will trump and outlast any gringo undertaking. He'll take the roads and money, though.

Blood is thicker than water. Partnerships are lovely in their salad days, but given a few thickets, most are ready to step off for greener pastures. Partners remain so as long as there are mutually beneficial interests (unless legalization enters into it, with treaties or marriage.) But brothers? Well, they are always there.

The palletized bundles of bills were nice, thanks, but we are getting down to the nitty gritty as Secretary of State tough grrrl Hillary Clinton presses Islamabad to ferret out the Haqqani network in the once-and-forever "lawless region of Waziristan".

But her bravado is for naught, as the Haqqanis are a design feature of a lawless region, and Karzai undercut her in the television interview less than a day after her departure:

"[Karzai] said Afghanistan owed Pakistan a great debt for sheltering millions of refugees over the past three decades, and stressed that his foreign policy would not be dictated by any outside power.

"'Anybody that attacks Pakistan, Afghanistan will stand with Pakistan,' he said. 'Afghanistan will never betray their brother.'"

So that's the long and short of it. One of the supreme ironies is the ironclad conviction of the neoconservatives that kitting them out with the trappings of American democracy will win them over to our side. Even Donald Rumsfeld said that America "had no dog in the Afghan fight" and should avoid nation-building after a punitive raid, he of messy democracy fame. He knew, that sly master of the abstruse koan (Vanity, Machismo and Greed Have Blinded Us.

Turns out they are just like us (or them), and they will cleave to their doctrinal brethren, come hell or high water, despite the booty.

Untruth or Consequences

Insanity - a perfectly rational adjustment
to an insane world
--R. D. Laing

We are here to awaken from
our illusion of separateness
--Thich Nhat Hanh

Insanity is the only sane reaction
to an insane society
--Thomas Szasz
__________________

The ability to maintain sanity in a insane world has been frequent question here at RAW. We wonder; Can we maintain sanity only by accepting insanity as our daily ration of reality?

An example of which we speak is the current brinksmanship over a few trillion dollars and the debt ceiling, as though our existence hinged upon this amount. We languish while a recent Brown University study estimates the final bill for the Iraq and Afghanistan adventures at $3.7 to 4,4 trillion (and the fat lady is not gonna sing anytime soon.)

Buried in yesterday's Wall Street Journal was statement that NATO will continue bombing Libya because Muammer Qadaffi has no legitimacy. Did Qadaffi ever have legitimacy in this or any other arena? If then, why not know?

Page Two explains that Afghan President Karzai quickly appointed another half-brother, Shah Wali, to replace the government post vacated by his now dead half-brother Ahmed Wali (Karzai Appoints Brother in Kandahar). It seems the endless supply of Wallys will secure the Karzai's control of the Kandahar region. Now that is democracy in action; thank you, America!

So, we are bombing the hell out of Libya because its leader lacks legitimacy, while concomitantly supporting the illegitimacy of one of the most corrupt governments on the face of the earth. In one scenario we kill to oppose illegitimacy; in another, we kill to support it.

Why do Americans grind their teeth over the debt cap while having no difficulty throwing away $trillions in foreign shit holes?

Where is the sanity? After taking my meds and settling into my Ikea Poang chair, the idea hit Ranger like a ton of bricks: "What's the big deal?" It was not exactly a Thich Nanh Hanh moment, but it was clarity nonetheless. So some drug-dealing, nepotistic person is getting one over on all of us taxpaying U.S. citizens paying for a hypocritical, insane war. What do I care, except that we are back to $trillions spent and a whole lot of people fucked up in the process, which in my book is a good approximation of national insanity.

Didn't we do a similar tango here in Florida in the 2000 Presidential lotto? In our version, Governor Jeb Bush handed the presidency to his brother George W. Bush. Again, what is the big deal? A lot of sound and fury, but the result is a foregone conclusion. How can we criticize the Karzai cabal (Kabul) when the U.S. uses the same playbook?

Insanity may be a coping strategy in America today.

Friend or Foe?

I can't stand this indecision
Married with a lack of vision
--Everybody Wants to Rule the World,
Tears for Fears
________________

Afghan President Hamid Karzai recently "led mourners during a burial ceremony for a former Afghan president killed in a coup three decades ago that led to 10 years of Soviet domination."

President Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan and 17 family members and associates were executed inside the presidential palace in Kabul during a communist-inspired coup in 1978. Their bodies were discovered last year (7 Afghan Militants killed in US-led Coalition Raid).

Khan established Afghanistan as a republic with himself as president after overthrowing the monarchy of Mohammed Zahir Shah in 1973. It was a return to strongman rule, and any resistance to Khan was suppressed. Khan purged his army, installing acolytes. So the person being honored by international representatives was actually a revolutionary and strongman militant insurgent.

Why is he being honored if this is what we are fighting against in Afghanistan? This guy is their hero, yet he is the same type of person we are killing today. Why don't we just let the Afghanis play their own little internal power games and get our armed forces out of this family feud?

Why is our ambassador recognizing a dictator, when our stated purpose is to install a democracy?