ninme

Mark Steyn:

The ”realpolitik” types spent so long worshipping at the altar of stability they were unable to see it was a cult for psychos. The geopolitical scene is never stable, it’s always dynamic. If the Western world decides in 2005 that it can ”contain” President Sy Kottik of Wackistan indefinitely, that doesn’t mean the relationship between the two parties is set in aspic. Wackistan has a higher birth rate than the West, so after 40 years of ‘’stability” there are a lot more Wackistanis and a lot fewer Frenchmen. And Wackistan has immense oil reserves, and President Kottik has used the wealth of those oil reserves to fund radical schools and mosques in hitherto moderate parts of the Muslim world. And cheap air travel and the Internet and ATM machines that take every bank card on the planet and the freelancing of nuclear technology mean that Wackistan’s problems are no longer confined to Wackistan. For a few hundred bucks, they can be outside the Empire State Building within seven hours. Nothing stands still. ”Stability” is a fancy term to dignify laziness and complacency as sophistication.

Oh and this is an intelligent point:

Given all that went on in America, Britain, France, etc., during the interminable ”extra mile,” it would be idiotic to assume that, with an almighty invasion force squatting on his borders for six months, Saddam just sat there listening to his Sinatra LPs. He was very busy, as were the Islamists, and Iran, and Syria.

The result is not only an insurgency far more virulent than it would have been had Washington followed my advice rather than Tony’s and gone in in August 2002, but also a broader range of enemies that learned a lot about how ”world” — i.e., European — opinion could be played off against Washington.

From Iraq is going to be just fine. He mentions again Condi’s presidency.

ninme crosses her fingers