the resistance

With Ramadan over the faithful from Gaza to Ghazni are loading their weapons to continue the millennial struggle with Christian Imperialism. Judging by the last 1400 years I think it’s safe to deduce that the Ummah will forever oppose the spread of Western Market Capitalism, especially as long as it is imposed by force. This is far from the only part of the world that is resisting the expansion of Western power. Labor unrest in Southern China continues to grow which makes rich people the world over extremely uneasy. How the world’s biggest producer will manage to maintain autocratic authority and economic growth simultaneously is a riddle that many are asking and none can answer. A lot closer to home we have what has been dubbed a ‘narco-insurgency’ in Mexico that has already claimed over 7,000 lives this year alone as the cartels compete to meet the ravenous demand of Americans for narcotics. The Mexican government’s involvement since Calderon took office is incredibly ineffective and has only escalated the violence because as the government focuses on this or that region or organization the other regions and organizations directly profit from it. On our side of the border somewhere in the range of 1 out of every 100 citizens is incarcerated or on probation. The statistics are simply staggering: Blacks compose close to 50% of the prison population but are only 12% of the population/ 70% of inmates are non-white/1 out of every 18 adult males is either incarcerated or being monitored. Whatever your opinions on America, it is undeniable that things have become dangerously untenable. There are many more examples, but if you still doubt, take into consideration the war we are fighting in Central Asia as a prime example of how psychotic the US is behaving.
In the rugged Mountains and Valleys that have been the home of the Pashtuns since they were mentioned by Herodotus some 2,500 years ago they have never tolerated outside rule for long. Alexander the Great had this to say about them in a letter to his mother- “I am involved in the land of a 'Leonine' (lion-like) and brave people, where every foot of the ground is like a wall of steel, confronting my soldier. You have brought only one son into the world, but everyone in this land can be called an Alexander” Persians, Greeks, Turks, Mongols, the British and many many more have found the land impossible to control. It has been fought over by so many Empires that resistance to foreign domination has become a part of tribal culture and led to the development of their code of Pasthunwali. The foundation of their pride, survival and identity is thus based upon age old traditions that have proven effective thus far. The elections that we just imposed went off as probably some of the most ridiculous and corrupt that the 21st century has seen. One American Army Colonel came out to downright mock the US war strategy and the top brass that runs the shit show. His confession says a lot about how we wage war in this remote part of the world. Then of course we have the wikileaks scandal where an intelligence officer handed over a humongous horde of documents showing how the war is actually being conducted. Of course none of this has yet dissuaded the American Government from thinking that a positive outcome is possible… truly impressive optimism. The same sort of optimism that thinks our correctional facilities work even though they clearly don’t. On second thought, that isn’t optimism, that’s chauvinism and cognitive incompetence.