Stop feeding power to men! They had their turn and now we are in a race only to extinction. For 300,000 years matriarchy built our body and brain and language. Time to turn back to an evolutionary success story and feed power back to women. The ottoman islamists knew this well.
As you write yourself, free elections will only lead to a clear win for Hamas. Not exactly a result desired. So what is the alternative? First, I think the US and all of the West need to understand that what we call democracy is not working in the Arab states of the Middle East. The “Arab spring”, and especially its aftermath, proved this beyond the shadow of a doubt. What is the alternative? I don’t know and neither does anybody else. Which means, unfortunately, that a solution appears to be unattainable. Which is very sad.
The best times Afghanistan had, it had, I would submit, under Soviet-backed President Najibullah. And in my view this should form the blueprint for both post-war Gaza and, when there is the armed force to achieve it and the critically necessary suppression of support from Pakistan, post-Taliban Afghanistan.
Not democracy, but an imposed regime that works with the minorities who always opposed the jihadis and now support this regime, under a leader picked from such a minority. Someone like Mosab Hassan Yousef in case of Gaza.
But in case of Afghanistan, nothing can be done without dealing with Pakistan decisively. Pakistan was the conduit through which the US pushed their extremely misguided support for mujahideen in the 80s - the support that backfired severely, including 9/11. But far from being a mere US proxy, it was Pakistan that aided and abetted the Taliban in its conquest of Afghanistan in the 90s, and it was Pakistan where the Taliban found refuge and kept bases during American control of Afghanistan (which worked far, far worse than the Soviet attempt). I'm not saying the "dealing" has to be military in case of Pakistan, no bombs is always better than bombs when possible, but there must be SOME way to ensure that any Taliban fighters trying to shelter in Pakistan are shot or imprisoned and any bases destroyed, whether by Pakistani force or an expeditionary force. Whose force it would be, and whose force would kill off the Taliban in Afghanistan, is still quite unclear.
Of course "bring back the Russians" is not happening, not least because of Russia's own catastrophic, criminal blunder in Ukraine, but also because this isn't the USSR any longer. The ideological apparatus that helped Najibullah, and Karmal before him, suppress jihadi propaganda and institute meaningful land reform is simply not there anymore. But one can learn from the experience of the Soviets without physically bringing in any Russians. At least in Gaza, where the "whose force" part is not that much of a problem.
Stop feeding power to men! They had their turn and now we are in a race only to extinction. For 300,000 years matriarchy built our body and brain and language. Time to turn back to an evolutionary success story and feed power back to women. The ottoman islamists knew this well.
There are a lot of smart, educated Palestinian women that should be brought into the political process.
As you write yourself, free elections will only lead to a clear win for Hamas. Not exactly a result desired. So what is the alternative? First, I think the US and all of the West need to understand that what we call democracy is not working in the Arab states of the Middle East. The “Arab spring”, and especially its aftermath, proved this beyond the shadow of a doubt. What is the alternative? I don’t know and neither does anybody else. Which means, unfortunately, that a solution appears to be unattainable. Which is very sad.
I have a general idea.
The best times Afghanistan had, it had, I would submit, under Soviet-backed President Najibullah. And in my view this should form the blueprint for both post-war Gaza and, when there is the armed force to achieve it and the critically necessary suppression of support from Pakistan, post-Taliban Afghanistan.
Not democracy, but an imposed regime that works with the minorities who always opposed the jihadis and now support this regime, under a leader picked from such a minority. Someone like Mosab Hassan Yousef in case of Gaza.
But in case of Afghanistan, nothing can be done without dealing with Pakistan decisively. Pakistan was the conduit through which the US pushed their extremely misguided support for mujahideen in the 80s - the support that backfired severely, including 9/11. But far from being a mere US proxy, it was Pakistan that aided and abetted the Taliban in its conquest of Afghanistan in the 90s, and it was Pakistan where the Taliban found refuge and kept bases during American control of Afghanistan (which worked far, far worse than the Soviet attempt). I'm not saying the "dealing" has to be military in case of Pakistan, no bombs is always better than bombs when possible, but there must be SOME way to ensure that any Taliban fighters trying to shelter in Pakistan are shot or imprisoned and any bases destroyed, whether by Pakistani force or an expeditionary force. Whose force it would be, and whose force would kill off the Taliban in Afghanistan, is still quite unclear.
Of course "bring back the Russians" is not happening, not least because of Russia's own catastrophic, criminal blunder in Ukraine, but also because this isn't the USSR any longer. The ideological apparatus that helped Najibullah, and Karmal before him, suppress jihadi propaganda and institute meaningful land reform is simply not there anymore. But one can learn from the experience of the Soviets without physically bringing in any Russians. At least in Gaza, where the "whose force" part is not that much of a problem.