frandroid

(Somewhat in order. I wanted to have 10 but I'm done at 8. Feel free to give more suggestions and I'll add the ones I like.)

1. The Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
2. Benazir Bhutto coming back to Pakistan.
3. Prachanda taking on the Nepalese army, toppling the monarchy, then running for elections and becoming Nepal's Prime Minister. Whoa. (Started before 2000.)
4. Bush waging war on Iraq and somehow it not totally becoming another Viet Nam.
5. Stephen Colbert's speech at the 2006 Washington Correspondent's Dinner
6. Obama making a serious bid for the Democratic nomination which was Hillary R. Clinton's to lose, then going on to win the general election.
7. Stephen Harper trying to choke political funding to Canadian political parties.
8. The NDP extending a hand to the Liberals to form a coalition with the intent to topple Harper.

I was all against the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, but I'm very curious as to how people in the anti-war movement see pullouts from devastated countries turning countries right back to dictatorships, or civil warfare. I mean we saw what happened in Afghanistan, and what kind of peace was restored. Of course I have a lot more hope in Iraq, which was a socialist country and thus has a well-educated population; but university diplomas cannot do very much against Kalashnikovs and C4. I know that the destruction of a country's infrastructure and then occupation creates a self-fulfilling prophecy justifying the occupation itself. I know that the Americans have done very little in Iraq to actually rebuild the country, other than let KBR build 11 or 14 military bases with foreign labour or whatnot. But the belief that democracy will just emerge unhampered once the Americans/NATO pull out is pure heresy in my eyes. So where's the plan? Like, the Invisible Hand of Democracy is just as much a fable as is The Invisible Hand of the Free Market. So what do people envision, really?