East is East and West is West
and Never the Twain Shall Meet (5/24)
If Canadians believed Kipling they wouldn’t parade to celebrate the glory of the Canadian Army in Afghanistan. What kind of business drives them into Central Asia anyway? Immigrants come from East to West mostly to westernize. Are Westerners going East to ‘Easternize’? The USA follows an imperial policy that’s as old as the world. Canada, even as an ally, doesn’t have to loyally follow in all its steps. Do gooders should seek and act where they are needed and asked, which is not the case now. All the turmoils in Central Asia, as in other parts of the world, have the stigma of civil wars. Who was first, the egg or the chicken? By the same token, what was first, Western intervention or terrorism? Opinions may diverge and the answer will never be clear. The only thing we know intuitively is that non intervention strangles the terrorists more than the activism that has been going on for years. The majority of populations want peace and will follow peace, leaving the ideologies to self centered fanatics.
#105 Open Bouquet, excerpt May-June 2008