jcp@brl-tgr.ARPA (Joe Pistritto <jcp>) (09/22/84)
'Reactionary big landowners' eh? From the film I've seen of the Afghan resistance, it looks like most of the fighters are lucky to own the turban on their heads, much less any appreciable amount of land. I've met 'reactionary big landowners' in India, and they don't look like the type to run around blowing up bridges, etc. (There are such folks in Afghanistan, incidentally, and the *WERE* against both the previous gov't (Amin), and the current gov't (Karmal & the Soviet Army), which were/are both trying to establish a Soviet style government system in Afghanistan. But the resistance to BOTH governments was by the mostly illiterate people living outside the major cities who didn't want the central government (never a powerful force in Afghan history) controlling their lives. (Gee, as a Republican, that sounds familiar...) When the Russians invaded, they had to make up a good story about 'powerful landowners and reactionary elements', etc. (It wouldn't do to have the mighty Soviet Army putting down peasant rebellions now would it? Sounds too Czarist for your typical Russian propagandist). This sort of misinformation has been used COUNTLESS times by the Russians and their friends, (for instance: Angola, Grenada (before the invasion), Nicarauga (sp?)). The last time the Russians tried to dominate Afghanistan, it should be noted that the 'great world power' at the time drove them out, mainly by helping Afghan rebels, and then finally by a small invasion themselves. (This was, of course, the British Empire protecting its investment in India). -JCP-
piet@mcvax.UUCP (Piet Beertema) (09/23/84)
<...>
True. The Russians were "invited" by the Afghanistan "government" exactly
the way the Americans once were "invited" by the Vietnam "government".
There's nothing "reactionary" or "fanatic" in establishing that.
The parallels go even further: it's a war that will keep them busy for
years too and there's no chance for them on a definite "victory".
--
Piet Beertema, CWI, Amsterdam
...{decvax,philabs}!mcvax!pietmartillo@mit-athena.ARPA (Joaquim Martillo) (09/26/84)
Piet Beertema should come live in my neighborhood which is mostly Vietnamese and make some of these ridiculous parallels between Vietnam and Afghanistan. Somehow in both cases a lot of refugees ended up fleeing to the USA and a lot of Vietnamese and Afghanis have ended up as slave laborers in the USSR.
sjf@foxvax1.UUCP (S.J. Foley ) (09/27/84)
Bravo! I wish Piet Beertema could come and live in Dorchester or Brighton Massachusetts. I have often thought of extending that same invitation. -Steve Foley-
amir@digi-g.UUCP (Amir Vafaei) (09/28/84)
I would feel too low to even try to argue with some one like you who can not discuss thing intelligently and has to swear along with normal garbage coming out of his mouth. But once in awhile I can get low, so dont call people your mother's name. What I had said was that whether a coup happened and the guy was in power just for a day, whether you recognize that government because of that or not, it is a government. Since the old government was over thrown for good or bad, that is not the point. The point is that the old ruler was gone and some one new with some backing of the army or what have you has replaced the old one and declared a government. Also it seems to me that your view point of the world is only limited to what the "Opinion Makers" on the T.V or newspaper put in there. Fortunately I am not like that and I am quite familiar with that area mainly by leaving close by to it and in similar conditions as Afghanistan.