The Postmodern Medieval

Robert "Coming Anarchy" Kaplan:

http://dieoff.org/page67.htm

(((Let's invade, "liberate" their nation, then leave armed tribalism.
Freedom and human rights on the march!)))

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200711u/kaplan-democracy
Link: It's the Tribes, Stupid!.

(...) "Pakistan, divided among geographically based ethnic groups, is a nuclear Yugoslavia-in-the-making.

"Our troops are already in Afghanistan. So it is highly conceivable that we will have boots on the ground in Pakistan’s border area with Afghanistan. This is the true frontline in the war on terrorism, where presumably the leadership of al-Qaeda is ensconced. Our troops will find there a deathly volcanic landscape of crags and winding canyons and alkaline deserts 1,000 miles long and 100 miles wide. In this high desert, the tribes rule: Dravidian Raisanis, Turko-Iranian Baluchis, and Indo-Aryan Pushtuns. Neither the British nor any succeeding Pakistani government has managed to subdue them.

"The tribes of Baluchistan and the Northwest Frontier Province don’t require Western institutions because they already have institutions of their own. What we call warlords are often, in reality, tribal elders who settle divorce cases, property disputes, and other civil conflicts for which we resort to the courts or government. If the American military deploys to these badlands in numbers large or small, it will follow the Anbar example of working with the tribes, greasing their palms for information on al-Qaeda, while accepting their social and political way of life.

"There is nothing wrong or cynical about this...."

(((Nothing wrong with it, except that it's practically indistinguishable from the raw tribal life in a post-nuclear holocaust. Ever try living on an Indian reservation? They're big on tribes. And as for living in Yugoslavia... they splintered, and explain to me what was gained by that unpleasantness.)))

"When George W. Bush first ran for president in 2000, he spoke about the need for “humility” in foreign affairs. Now that our troops are practicing what he preached, after years of failure we’re finally seeing some tenuous results. In striving for a new, post-modern order in the Middle East, we have awakened a medieval one, from which we must now build something permanent."

((Yeah, the Dark Ages were pretty permanent. And they were also mighty tribal.)))