We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2010 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/09/we_live_in_interesting_times.html Sat, 24 Mar 2012 15:48:49 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2012 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification WTF, over? This seems to be flying under the radar - Bill Roggio reporting on Talibanistan, otherwise known as “The Islamic Emirate of Waziristan.” Anybody got a view of this that explains it in other than noxious terms? Not questioning Bill - wondering why no one seems to think it's important enough to talk about outside of the blogs. At the end of July MSNBCNewsweek reported on "The Rise of Pakistan's Taliban," an article which highlights the problems of Nation-States dealing with tribes... which is looking to be the defining issue of the early part of this century. Update: The... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/09/we_live_in_interesting_times.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/09/we_live_in_interesting_times.html Wed, 06 Sep 2006 07:13:39 -0600 It sounds like the Koran's offer of "repentence" to me. I'm no expert on the fine point of Islam. However, I have read the Koran cover to cover many years ago. For all but the most hardened repeat offender miscreants (like OBL himself) Islam almost dictates this "repentence" be offered before you really drop the hammer on someone. Remember - there isn't always a clear line between religious/political/social/legal protocols in Islam. The muslims kind if smoosh the whole thing together in one stickly tarball. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/09/we_live_in_interesting_times.html#comment-50199 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/09/we_live_in_interesting_times.html#comment-50199 Fri, 08 Sep 2006 02:47:30 -0600 The only possible upside of this, is if it creates a soft spot where AQ and the Talibs can coalesce, entrench, and pile together, so that they can be smashed later. See, e.g. early Viet Minh defeats. I'm not optimistic this is the plan, however. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/09/we_live_in_interesting_times.html#comment-50119 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/09/we_live_in_interesting_times.html#comment-50119 Wed, 06 Sep 2006 12:10:40 -0600 sweet. this should make it easier for the FSO to draw a nice neat CFL around that border. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/09/we_live_in_interesting_times.html#comment-50106 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/09/we_live_in_interesting_times.html#comment-50106 Wed, 06 Sep 2006 09:11:55 -0600