« Thanksgiving Week | Main | Thanksgiving in War Time »

Comments

British Patriot

Oh really, a reprieve in violence, maybe its inevitable, What with almost a Million dead and radiation sickness and stuff like that. It's bound to catch up with them sooner or later.

D U Munitions
http://prisonplanet.com/articles/november2007/201107_b_Radioactive.htm
Blair, No Remorse
http://www.truthnews.us/?p=882

Maduka

We will need copious amounts of soft diplomatic power to exploit the opening presented to us.

However, we don't seem to do diplomacy and soft power too well nowadays.

I fear.

Frogg, USA

Gateway Pundit has the round-up of all the stories coming out about the Iraqi's returning to Iraq by the thousands over the past days.

Hundreds of thousands are returning!

The Damascus neighbourhoods once dominated by many of the 1.5 million Iraqi refugees, ares almost deserted.

The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) was scrambling to assess the transformation last night. An interim report is expected today. “There is a large movement of people going back to Iraq."

BBC reports thousands a day returning.

Here is the link:

http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2007/11/baghdad-or-bust-iraqi-refugees-surge.html

And, Times Online reports on the "Bagdad or Bust" remarkable return of Iraqis:

Road From Damascus

Iraqis are voting with their feet by returning home after exile

The figures are hard to estimate precisely but the process could involve hundreds of thousands of people. The numbers are certainly large enough, as we report today, for a mass convoy to be planned next week as Iraqis who had opted for exile in Syria return to their homeland. It is one of the most striking signs that not only has violence in Baghdad and adjacent provinces decreased dramatically in recent months, but confidence in the economic and political future of Iraq has risen sharply. Nor is this movement the action of men and women who could easily reverse course and turn back again. Tighter visa restrictions imposed by Damascus mean that those who are returning to Iraq cannot assume that they could quickly retreat again to Syria if that suited them. This is, for many, a one-way decision. It represents a vote of confidence in Iraq.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article2910230.ece

Trully good news to hear!

atheling

"However, we don't seem to do diplomacy and soft power too well nowadays"

Sometimes "diplomacy" and "soft power" (i.e. appeasement) doesn't work. It failed miserably in the 1930's with Hitler.

And some people never learn from history.

Maduka

Atheling,

This is not 1938. The lessons of 1938 still apply, though. However, I think the word "appeasement" is used too often in lieu of a balanced discussion.

We could dismiss the World as being virulently anti-American and unreasonable or blame China for bribing half the World. (Afterall, we have 11 aircraft carriers). Or we could ask ourselves deep questions like:

1. Six years into the "War against Terror", how effective is our response to Aljazeera?
2. Why have we reduced funding for the USIS (United State Information Service)?
3. Why did our public diplomacy effort in the Middle East (lead by Karen Hughes) fail?
4. Why have we abandoned Latin America to Chavez?
5. Are there any lessons we can learn from China's engagement with the developing world?


Steevo

Frogg, its great to read. Thanks. I haven't been to his site in a while, shame on me.

mamapajamas

Maduka,

1. Six years into the "War against Terror", how effective is our response to Aljazeera?

Why on earth shoud we have a "response" to a news agency? If you misspoke and meant Al Qaeda, we're kicking their butts.

2. Why have we reduced funding for the USIS (United State Information Service)?

Funding for government agencies is rarely, if ever, "reduced". What gets reduced is the rate of increase. IE: They ask for a 10% increase, and we give them a 4% increase. To a Democrat, this means we "cut" their funding by 6%. But only Democrats use this new math.

3. Why did our public diplomacy effort in the Middle East (lead by Karen Hughes) fail?

When has diplomacy in the Middle East ever worked?

4. Why have we abandoned Latin America to Chavez?

Who says we have?

5. Are there any lessons we can learn from China's engagement with the developing world?

Yes... completely ignore the environmentalists and pollute the entire world. But that's not a lesson you want bandied about, I think.

fingering girls

Hopefully the security situation in Iraq becomes a reality soon! because the suffering of these poor people must stop

clitoral stimulation

Car bombs in Iraq in a matter of every day, death, cries of desperation for children. I hope this improves and security for the population is normal.

The comments to this entry are closed.

Blog powered by Typepad

ExtremeTracker

  • Tracker