The first goal in life, our first breaths, are taken to survive..... the Cossacks certainly survived and thrived, more perhaps in their homelands than anywhere else...Fine bit of singing, if you enjoy the thoughts of galloping towards battle, with swords clashing, cannon and rifle shots etc, etc...
Clear images too, of what those men wore, their customs and outlook writ upon their frames.
Meanwhile, the US government strategy of avoiding battles by paying ransom is coming to the fore.....
A good article in the Guardian names the players and the amounts involved.
Once again, the names are familiar, sons and cousins of ministers and warlords, and the amounts run to billions, around 10% of the US money spent on war goes straight to Afghan "Security firms." (link).
So it seeems that all the talk of "new tactics", or "improved weapon systems", or even increasing troop numbers is simply adding good money to bad.
From another angle, there`s an Afghan minister, who alleges that some of the foreign troops, rather than shutting down the poppy fields, are actually profiting from the drug trade.
Nah... who`d a thunk it(link).
To say that the "war on terror" has become a sad and tangled parody of all wars is perhaps an understatement, but it has started to resemble in parts, the plot of the Joseph Heller novel, here`s a lovely clip or two from the film, with insights
4 comments:
I love that tune, I am pretty sure I've heard that in English.
I wrote an article on our tax dollars been used to keep the Taliban from killing us by bribing them. They even have a frigging office to make deals but I have been sitting on it.
You know, along with everyone else that can I would not doubt if area allied commanders take a piece of the action too.
Hi Jim, The song`s been about for a few centuries I think, it`s typical cossack fare, plenty of "Ooo-mph".
Yes, not just the Americans, but the Italians too have been accused of paying protection money... the war has gone on so long, it`s no wonder that some of the soldiers see personal profit and survival as being more important than marching up and down some dusty track in the Himalayas!
Hi Landsker!
Been awhile. My daughter talked me into signing up for Facebook and I've got dozens of cousins on there, so I've gotten sidetracked from blogging.
It seems like they've finally hit on the solution there in the Stans. Just pay everybody off! Even the other Pres. candidate I'm betting got some dough to back out. It's now the second best(next to the US)government money can buy!
Hi Paul,
How goes life,?... The facebook (and twitter)thing certainly is an intrigue, the younger generations here have it on their mobile `phones...
Like a mexican cyber-wave....:)
The idea that we give soldiers billions worth of arms to attack the "enemy", and then even more money to pay the "enemy" from attacking them is a farce..., but it`s been going for centuries, in one way or another...Bullets or little brown envelopes .
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