What an utterly defeatist attitude! Just because it is not possible to solve all problems, we should not attempt to solve any one problem.
change the situation to something more understandable, somebody steals your bike and the insurance doesn't pay up and you know who it is, are you going to sit back and let them flaunt it in front of you and do nothing ?
What sort of opportunity has arisen, recently? You surely can't mean the ousting of Saddam? (Which from previous threads I suspect you do). In which case, I can see no more of an opportunity having arisen here than the opportunity to oust Gaddafi or Assad. There haven't been any opportunities. The Americans just decided to stick their noses in (certainly in the case of Iraq). Had there been a real opportunity, maybe the outcome would have been different. Then again, one man's tyrannical regime is another mani's pious observance of Sharia law. Thing is, it's all very well getting rid of tyrants but you have to know what you're going to to afterwards. To think you slay the dragon and the townspeople live happily ever after is just not reality. Look what happened when Tito disappeared. The Americans are pretty good at the dragon-slaying (it's one of their great interests) but completely useless at the happily ever after bit.
The Jewish population of Israel at present stands at 6.1 million,(acording t'interweb). If we start from the basis that none of them belong in Palestine how do you propose to settle the Jewish question ? I remember reading some time ago that HMG wanted to make Uganda a Jewish homeland but I guess the Ugandans would not be happy and another war would kick off. Any other part of the Middle East is a non starter so, what do we do ?
Gaddafi was trying to set up a united Arab bank for years, he was finally gaining traction and had a substantial gold reserve, his aim was to be able to sell oil from the region and be paid in gold again, not American Dollars as had been the case since the late 60's/early 70's, when the USA welched on the deal done at the end of WW2, to set up the Federal Reserve and pay OPEC with gold for oil, USA was just about bankrupted by the Vietnam war, and couldn't afford to continue, so they did a backdoor deal with the Saudi's to change to the US$. So ol' Gaddafi almost got 'er done, then the Yanks squashed him.
"I put forward three points specifically about what were the reasons and intentions of the UK and allied intervention in Afghanistan. You said my points were "cloud cuckoo land". I challenged you to say what was your belief about those three specific points. You have not responded about those points. Instead you prefer to wander off into a host of quite different points. OK, that's your privilege - don't feel obliged to stick to the point if you prefer not to." Pete, I thought my answer was perfectly clear - you asked me to enlighten you, and that is what I tried to do. I'm sorry if my use of English is not up to the academic and philosophic standard that you seem to revert to whenever anyone questions you or argues a point. So, to clarify - No,we did not go into Afghanistan to remove the regime (at least not for any altruistic reason that involved improving the lot of the population). No we definitely did not go there to bring peace and freedom to the, as you see them, poor illiterate peasants. And no, we did not intend to leave as soon as possible.
"What an utterly defeatist attitude! Just because it is not possible to solve all problems, we should not attempt to solve any one problem" But - you have not provided a sloution to the one problem. You have meerly suggested a way of making that problem worse...
"You might try actually reading my posts occasionally before responding to things I have never said. " "Black pot, this is kettle... name-check... over..."
