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2012-08-01 Afghanistan

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Posted by Besoeker 2012-08-01 00:00|| || Front Page|| [1 views ] Top

#1 Kevin Lim comments as follows:

The author forgets a few things:-

1. Much of the animus that locals feel against a US presence is from US's fraught relations with Islam in general. In their eyes, America is still very much the Great Satan. China does not have that historical baggage (the Uighur thing being small potatoes compared to the Israeli-Palestinian thing)

2. Part and parcel of the US presence is the desire to impose/create a functioning democracy in a country with no real history of democracy, or the institutions that such a democracy reuires. Also, there is the question of imposing values that however laudable, are alien (e.g. equality to women, respect for minorities, Rule of Law). China has no such qualms. Its there to do business, and it has a rigid non-interference policy. If the Karzai regime is in the seat of power, it will work with Karzai. If the Taliban recaptures Kabul, it will do business with the Taliban. China does not seek to make Afghanistan a better place, and for that reason has the advantage of not challenging the existing power structures

3. China has a lot more money to splash around, and is not gonna be spending it on an expensive military presence. It can BUY itself peace around its areas of economic interests.

I'd have to agree with him that the Palestinian issue buys us a lot of badwill with the Muslim world. Without that issue in the way, they'd spend all their time focusing on other areas of the world where Muslim minorities would like to shuck off their non-Muslim rulers.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2012-08-01 00:17|| 2012-08-01 00:17|| Front Page Top

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