Afghanistan and India; Iraq and Serbia--two cases for American non-intevention

Earlier today I posted that PM Karzai of Afghanistan seeking closer ties with India to the detriment of Pakistan appears to be one of the reasons for the US beginning attempts to oust him.

Here's some more meat to that Reuters story, and be sure to note the Iranian connection:

KABUL, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai and India's foreign minister opened a new road on Thursday that will help link Afghanistan with a port in Iran and challenge Pakistani dominance of trade routes into the landlocked country.

The 220-km (135-mile) road in the southwest Afghan province of Nimroz is the centrepiece of a $1.1 billion Indian reconstruction effort in Afghanistan. It has drawn sniping from Pakistan, worried about its rival's growing influence there.

India, denied access through Pakistan, hopes to be able to deliver goods to Afghanistan through the Iranian port of Chahbahar, and this has triggered fears in Pakistan it is being encircled.

"This project symbolises India's strong commitment towards development of Afghanistan," said Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Did you know, by the way, that India has already expended $1.1 Billion in rebuilding efforts in Afghanistan?

Now put this together with the new Iraq-Serbia arms accord and increasingly warm diplomatic relations (a relationship that dates back to the good old days of Saddam and Slobo):

BAGHDAD (AFP) – Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki pledged to strengthen ties with Serbia after meeting the country's defence minister on Thursday, as a withdrawal of US troops edged closer.

Maliki said the countries needed to move beyond the necessary supply of weapons to Iraq's army and police force, signalling intent to work closely on "other vital aspects" of policy.

"We are at the beginning of a process of rebuilding and reconstruction," Maliki said in a statement, noting Serbia had already trained a number of Iraqi students and that closer co-operation would follow.

Military ties between Baghdad and Belgrade resumed in September 2007, seven years after they ceased when late autocratic Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic was ousted in a popular uprising....

"We have friendly relations with Iraq, we want to maintain and develop these relations," Sutanovac said.

"We are ready to provide all that Iraq needs... training Iraqi cadres in the field of military medicine and putting the potential of the Military Academy at their disposal," he added.

We cannot micro-manage the world. The US idea of employing old heavy-handed Cold War tactics either to isolate Iran or to buck up Pakistan is about as smart as using the Keynesian economic strategies of the 1930s to fix the post-industrial, information-based economy of 2009.

Oh. Oops. Never mind.

The Obligatory Libertarian Tax Day Post

The most disturbing factoid that I learned on Tax Day was that the average American must now spend a full twenty-four hours filling out tax forms. That's three work days. Or, think of it this way: if you had to put in two hours per night after dinner to finish your taxes, that's two weeks (with Sundays off). I saw a talking head economics professor on some Philly TV channel pontificating about how Americans procrastinate. He was laughing. The IRS guy they interviewed actually said, "Tick, tick, tick." You have to wonder if Governor Ruth Ann Minner and her cohorts put in twenty-four hours pondering whether or not to give Kraft Foods $708,000 of our State taxes while demanding that school districts return $8-10 million each?

New Warfare: I started my posts with a discussion.....

.....on Unrestricted warfare . The US Air force Institute for National Security Studies have developed a reasonable systems approach to deter non-state violent actors who they label as NSVA's. It is an exceptionally important report if we want to deter violent extremism and other potential violent actors that could threaten this nation and its security. It is THE report our political officials should be listening to to shape policy so that we do not become excessive in using force against those who do not agree with policy and dispute it with reason and normal non-violent civil disobedience. This report, should be carefully read by everyone really concerned with protecting civil liberties while deterring violent terrorism and I recommend if you are a professional you send your recommendations via e-mail at the link above so that either 1.) additional safeguards to civil liberties are included, or 2.) additional viable strategies can be used. Finally, one can only hope that politici...

More of This, Please

Or perhaps I should say, "Less of this one, please." Or how about just, "None of them. Ever again. Please....For the Love of God." Sunshine State Poll: Grayson In Trouble The latest Sunshine State/VSS poll shows controversial Democratic incumbent Alan Grayson trailing former state Senator Dan Webster by seven points, 43 percent to 36 percent. A majority of respondents -- 51 percent -- disapprove of the job that Grayson is doing. Independents have an unfavorable view of him as well, by a 36/47 margin. Grayson has ignored the conventional wisdom that a freshman should be a quiet member who carefully tends to the home fires. The latest controversy involves his " Taliban Dan " advertisement, where he explicitly compares his opponent to the Taliban, and shows a clip of Webster paraphrasing Ephesians 5:22 -- "wives, submit to your husbands." An unedited version of the clip shows that Webster was actually suggesting that husba...

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