Saying It Like It Is

Very good article in the London Times, with more analysis and candidness on American policy than I've found talked about here. Mr. Maddox is right though; the Kashmir struggle, like the Intifada II, could be a huge monkey wrench in the American foreign policy machine. Personally, I hope we don't take sides too strongly, but if we do, I hope we take sides with India. We need Russia and India - who love each other dearly - much more than we need Pakistan, which is hated by both. At this point Afghanistan is just a big public relations thing for the U.S., not a legitimate national interest. We made our point: anybody who attacks the U.S. is likely to get taken off the map; and now we just need to extricate ourselves in a way that doesn't leave a scar. However Afghanistan ends up a few years down the road, it's going to reflect on the U.S. Frankly, our odds of a PR payoff there are slim.