For what we fight.

Time I guess for a follow-up to the previous missive, so I'll see what I can do.

I said something about where we're going, so I'll start as usual with something that caught my attention very recently. It (the link above) makes me want to break out the riot gear, but peaceful protest, no matter how clueless, is one of the side-effects of democracy.

This of course also makes allowances for peaceful counter-protests, and there are more and more of these showing up in the US. I have to look to the "right-wing" blogs to find them, but they're documented and in many cases well attended. There are a lot of people, mostly silent and maybe a majority (although I increasingly doubt it) who are pretty fed up with the soft-headed world-view that all anyone needs is a chance to redeem themselves in our country/under democracy/after a slap on the wrist in our judicial system, etc.

My standard approach to that is to grumble that the people who are so in favour of whatever undesirable person it may be should have to sponsor them and have them live with their family. That would rapidly separate all the real pacifist turn-the-other-cheek types from the ideologues manipulating the system for whatever it is their aims are.

This seems off topic, but I think it's necessary to look at the threats to the West. The strengths are largely self-evident: universal education (leave quality out of it for the moment) advanced infrastructure and technology, and our "cultural weapons of mass destruction". The last item is a phrase I've borrowed from Jerry Pournelle and it applies very well in his original usage, relating to Iran. Other places are at least partially resistant to the "charms" of Western consumerism, and I must admit I can relate to a certain amount of that resistance. Just not the part that wants to destroy us to take MTV out of their homes...

The obvious external threat is the same Salafist terrorists that I'm always on about, the clowns that declared jihad against India recently being the most widespread:

The statement -- five pages long and given in Urdu -- mentions insurgencies in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Somalia, the Palestinian territories and Algeria and describes them as a global Islamic movement "aimed at wiping out borders and leading to the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate."

Ok, I see that as something unpleasant, but despite their slipperiness, the jihadi groups can only do a certain amount of damage as long as we keep the pressure on. Frankly, a lot more people are killed in traffic accidents yearly than can be killed by that sort of external threat. The key then is to KEEP it external.

I do feel that I'm getting a little too focused on that sort of thing, so I'm pulling back a bit to look for another threat, but militarily there's not much. Western society has to decide that it wants to survive. If it does that, it will take a real catastrophe (i.e. bigger than WW2, more like asteroid strike or major nuclear war) to take us down.

So, this comes back to the "anti-war" crowd. I can understand (in principle) having an objection to military intervention in another country that gets minding-their-own-business civilians killed. However, there are times that you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet, the omelet being breaking the back of your enemy and preventing them from re-constituting.

That drivel being sent to CF soldiers in Quebec tries to compare a) things the Americans have done and b) Iraq to what Canada is trying to do in Afghanistan. Anyone who accuses Canada of being imperialist lacks clue one, but let's just say that the government said "Gee, you're right, we are baby-slaughtering war criminals, let's pull out and leave Afghanistan to its' fate." What did that accomplish?

First, it proves that Canada won't honour international commitments (don't even mention Kyoto or I'll scream...), then it undermines our allies who think we can straighten that country out, for its' own good and ours. As well, (I won't say "lastly") it's a victory for the ostriches who think if we leave things alone they'll go away.

Anyway, that is a symptom of a problem, not really the problem itself. Honestly, I don't even care so much that they object to our involvement in Afghanistan; opinions are like various orifices, everyone has at least one. Really, it's more because this same lot are affiliated with those "anti-globalization" protest hooligans, and they would make me despair for our chances were they more than a fringe element.

We still have lots of potential, more if "we" can find common cause with India and China. I would say Russia as well, but they seem to want to be difficult, so the jury is out. Well, no more difficult than a lot of other major powers, so there's always hope. This is getting a bit unwieldy, so I'll chop it here. TBC...