- Jun 29, 2013
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We all grew up with the fairy tale happy ending that the good guys will eventually triumph and that the bad guys will eventually go down and pay the price for their badness. Fairy tales is where that idea belongs.
I can recall 20 years ago when posting on political boards first became all the rage arguing back and forth with a pragmatist whom I loathed at that the time but later on came to appreciate.
His experienced viewpoint on matters of escalation and international dominance were not based on military superiority but instead on something he called Elan Moral. A strength of intrinsic identity that transcends both cultural and geographical barriers and cannot be routed out by a missile attack... Or destroyed by a superior army.
He correctly observed that the populations of the Middle East particularly Afghanistan had that very thing....a deep, pure and indomitable spirit such as the original founders of this nation had. He also pointed out that the American identity was in the terminal stages of decline and that it would only be a matter of a decade or two before it was completely gone. He predicted that we would lose all of our adventures in that region because we simply did not have the will or the identity to carry forward the cause despite our Superior power and technology. I argued viciously with him at the time... But no more.
I rest my case with the the recent events of Afghanistan.
Jo
I can recall 20 years ago when posting on political boards first became all the rage arguing back and forth with a pragmatist whom I loathed at that the time but later on came to appreciate.
His experienced viewpoint on matters of escalation and international dominance were not based on military superiority but instead on something he called Elan Moral. A strength of intrinsic identity that transcends both cultural and geographical barriers and cannot be routed out by a missile attack... Or destroyed by a superior army.
He correctly observed that the populations of the Middle East particularly Afghanistan had that very thing....a deep, pure and indomitable spirit such as the original founders of this nation had. He also pointed out that the American identity was in the terminal stages of decline and that it would only be a matter of a decade or two before it was completely gone. He predicted that we would lose all of our adventures in that region because we simply did not have the will or the identity to carry forward the cause despite our Superior power and technology. I argued viciously with him at the time... But no more.
I rest my case with the the recent events of Afghanistan.
Jo
