Thanks for sharing your thoughts in a historical point of view. You have echoed my thoughts about how the possibilities exist for a boomerang effect of separatists creating problems for Russia in North Ossetia.

I just finished reading a book by Winston Churchill about the UK battling the Islamic forces in the Sudan. Just change the country UK to USA and the enemy Mahdi to Bin Laden, and it is the same story.

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Activists Taking Action: Unified Patriots

While reading your summary, I was thinking “just like Pakistan and Waziristan” when I came to your remark saying the same thing. In my own mind, I think of these areas as being like “no go” areas in large cities where even the cops don’t have a grip on things.

As you said, if areas such as these don’t get resolved, we’re all in for a world of hurt. While the no-go areas in a major American city present a problem for a limited area, these international trouble cells may be the enablers of world-wide terror attacks, such as Afghanistan under the Taliban.

have caused most of the troubles of the last century and promise more of the same for this century. The one good thing about the old Soviet Union was that its brute force kept the …stans and all the other disparate provinces in their sphere in check. We didn’t have to deal with it there but had a full plate with the irredenta of the British, Dutch, and French Empires and plenty of Soviet mischief-making therein.

By your definition of things, the entire Nation-State system has been in trouble since Westphalia. THere have always been holes in the N-S system, places that were always disputed or odd. In fact, by weakening the Holy Roman Empire, Westphalia created a whole number of German principalities that, today, we’d think in this way- right dead in the middle of Europe.

Worldwide, these sorts of “Dead Zones” have been part of the game for a good long while- just ask Afghanistan and all the wars that occured there in the 19th Century. In fact, the only time when you didn’t have this issue was the age of High Imperialism, at least on paper. As it turns out- yeah, lots of dead zones in Imperial Authority, too.

In fact, I’d argue that, really Westphalia created this situation. It’s just part and parcel of the Westphalian agreements- we’re going to have them, we’re going to dispute over them. It’s fashionable to say Westphalia’s failing, but, really, I find such arguements lack historical perspective. Basically, by most evidence, Westphalia’s been failing since 1648. And it shows all the signs of continuing to be in the process of failing for a long, long time.

and has for weeks. You will be a major cite!

great column man

nt

Might you drop me an e-mail at your convenience?

joshua.trevino
{at}
trevinostrategies
[dot]
com

By Moscow Rules. . . .

will be Pakistan / India like split ups or re-drawing of maps.

Kurdistan coming out of part of Turkey and Iraq along ethnic lines … that sort of thing.

Steve Herrigan, the guy Fox always sends to hurricanes and makes him stand outside on camera, just delivered a crazy report from Georgia.

I am paraphrasing, but this is basically what he said:

“One minute we were hanging around calmy with Russian forces when out of control, hummiliated, and totally undisciplined GEORGIAN irregulars started firing on us. These GEORGIAN irregulars are out of control and humilitated. These Georgians will shoot at anyone they can get away with, and that seems to include reporters”.

I find it interesting that the Fox News “guy that they make stand in hurricanes” is so sure that the irregulars were Georgian, and that the Russian forces occupying Georgia we quite calm.

From what I hear, even from Human Rights Watch, and the President of Georgia, it is the Russian irregulars that are commiting genocide, rape, and looting.

Again, did my cable company switch Fox News with Pravda?

Steve Herrigan is so stupid he can’t even keep the actors straight.