>>>yep there are real characters out here. It somehow amusing that those stereotypes you see on the TV and in movies actually exists in real life. I've met some of those when I visited the US. My first reaction was, this cannot be true, they are joking are they?
>>>
>>>In europe, we have learned from our not so distant past that the world is much more complex than when looking it from only one angle. We have learned through centuries of propaganda and war that things are not so simple. In europe we had to learn to live with eachother. We've been flooded with all kinds of different religions. We've had our holy wars. And we still are fighting hard to work on a united europe where we had to sort out our differences through diplomacy rather than taking up the arms for everey little dispute. This explains why europeans are not on the front line when it there is a conflict in the world. Call it pasivism. the other side is the US where they had very few conflicts and nothing compared to the massive slaugthering in europe. In the US it seems very black and white. You're good or you're bad. Nothing in between. If you're not with them, you're against them. I'm not going to generalise, but a lot of people there did not learn from the past. They have their own fixed view by lack of the need to think differently. The problem is that they often have the bigest mouth you'll ever see and have no problem to use force to let you assimulate, which of course in the long run will work counter productive as they've got no idea where they stick their nose into.
>>>
>>>BTW, this is one of my favourates: I've laughed my ass off.
>>>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HPZpYKCpwY
>>
>>The puppet seems to be wiser then the master. The title of this thread holds some truth. ::)
>>
>
>As the one who started this thread, allow me to retort ;-)
>
>The title was simply a shortened news headline. I was mightily irritated at Karzai for saying the U.S. needs to be patient, after all the time and money we have spent there already. Propping him up for most of that time, I might add, which I am sure is why he spoke. He is more interested in the good of Karzai than the good of Afghanistan. He has subsequently said he thinks the U.S. should remain in Afghanistan for another "15 or 20 years," at which point he thinks his country might be able to handle things without U.S. assistance. Does that seem at all reasonable to you?

Somehow you missed ::).

And yess he is 100% reasonable.
He will survive for another 15-20 years? After that the country will go without him anyway.

There will be no ruler good for this area (even our idea of country might not fit.) Not the next 1000years or so.

Agnes

1HPZpYKCpwY