First days...

So I finally got around to creating a blog, yippee!

Unfortunately, being a lazy sod it's likely that posts will be very few and far between.

Today's musing.... Afghanistan, another bloody disaster. I've just watched a BBC Panorama documentary following 3 Commando Royal Marines on patrol. Have the government learned NOTHING from history?
For Christ’s sake, we've been involved in Afghanistan in one form or another since 1809. The Afghans were fighting each other for hundreds of years before that. We (the British) have been involved in at least two disastrous encounters there before, followed by the Russians who left with their tails between their legs as well.

Armed might will never defeat raw courage and a guerrilla army who are fighting on their home soil, for a cause they are willing to die for. Hearts and minds my arse. The Taleban ARE Afghans, as were the other groups who fought before them. Some of whom WE backed and supplied against the Russians!

Unpalatable as it may seem, the best thing we can do in situations of faction fighting and civil wars is KEEP OUR NOSES OUT. The situation will eventually resolve itself, probably without the result that we want. These internal struggles are often bloody and inhumane, but since the only other option is effectively installing a totalitarian system backed by extreme firepower and an indefinite occupation by our forces, there really is no other long term option.

Bear in mind that both Afghanistan, and Iraq are countries with borders that WE created (prior to British occupation these entities did not exist as countries as we know them).