Charlie Rose

REMant  01/12/2010 05:59 PM Report

I agree with his interpretation re Pakistan obviously. But I don't see how if Karzai is less than desirable, with all his warlord connections, the outcome can be made desirable, i.e., without the warlord connections. The best we can hope for is to have a less than fully democratic govt that can keep the Taliban at bay, and that will depend entirely on their ability to either control the ppl, or otherwise keep their support. Whether they can do that will depend to a great extent on how the ppl, and probably more importantly, their tribal leaders, feel about the Taliban. Karzai's greatest strength is likely that he is Pashtun and I think that must be why the admin persuaded Abdullah to step aside (for I feel certain they did).

Regarding yesterday's Mullen interview you should see the the interview with him on Al Jazeera, which has just been posted on the website: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/12/200912424926404830.html. The fellow who did it, Shihab Rattansi, an outstanding interviewer, asked all the tough questions and doesn't stick equivocations. He zeroed in on the counter-terrorism aspect, and Mullen eventually was forced to say he wasn't going to discuss operations in Pakistan.

I obviously disagree with Kerry's economic analysis, tho I don't disagree with the idea of either health care or enviromental-energy reform. I just disagree with the admin's methods. The Germans tax gas to subsidize the building of wind farms, etc. We'll never do that. Cap and trade is okay, and they should be using that for health care, too, given that not only will we not tax ourselves, but the Fed will not stop printing money. It would be better in both cases to balance the budget, including the Fed's budget. This is the reason for the partisanship in the Congress. For myself, I cannot see the reason why we cannot agree to become fiscally responsible, but besides the corruption, there is just this inbred enthusiasm and conceit of ours, which will just not face reality. We will not be like Europe, until we in fact are like Europe. That may take several more wars, and God knows what else.