October 19, 2006

Ralph Peters: increasingly out of his tree

I've been on the record as a critic of ex-soldier Ralph Peters' writing since 2002, so this isn't exactly new ground, but I do have to say that the poor old fellow is increasingly out of his tree. His two most recent pieces, on the namby-pambyism of the new American counter-insurgency doctrine, and his redrawing, Sykes-Picot like, of all the borders in the Middle East are, respectively, totally out of touch and dangerously fantasist.

Now, to be fair, I've frequently written here that fixing international borders for all time is not sound. But proposing a U.S.-driven wholesale redrawing, including the dismembering of a nuclear Pakistan, is insanity. (As is one's putting in print, "ethnic cleansing works.")

Posted by BruceR at 04:33 PM

Relief groups: we won't work with Canadian military

Offered without comment:

"They [the Forces] have to get out of this development role," said Rita Karakis, the former head of Save the Children Canada. "That was the disguise the Canadian government used to go into Afghanistan. The reality is that they are not in the development business. They are engaged in an open war with insurgents. If they focused on that, everyone would be better off."

Posted by BruceR at 10:52 AM