Sunday, April 18, 2010
Can You Say "Dumb"...?
I didn't have any idea that NATO was this much in favor of helping break the law!
This little piece from PTShamrock shows just how stupid this whole NATO thing really is!
NATO has rejected an appeal made by Russia for eradication of opium fields in Afghanistan, arguing that the sole source of income in the region cannot be removed.
Addressing a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council on Wednesday, head of Russia's Federal Drug Control Agency (FSKN) Victor Ivanov said "Afghan opiates led to the death of 1 million people by overdose in the last 10 years, and that is United Nations data.
Is that not a threat to world peace and security?" The Russian official tasked NATO forces with "normalizing the situation in Afghanistan" which includes "the elimination of drug production."
Meanwhile, NATO spokesman James Appathurai voiced understanding for Russian concerns, given the country's estimated 200,000 heroin and morphine addicts and the tens of thousands dying each year as a result of their addiction.
However, he went on to say that the Afghan drug problem had to be handled carefully in an effort to avoid alienating local residents. "We share the view that it has to be tackled," the spokesman said."But there is a slight difference of views," Appathurai added.
Did they actually say that they didn't want to alienate the locals? What the hell ...? The only source of income? SO WHAT? If what they are doing is causing so much damage, they need to find another source of income. That's my opinion!
That's like saying bootlegger's should be allowed to make whiskey because it's the only source of income for them! Which, by the way, I'm more in favor of than growing and harvesting opium!
Smells a lot like major kick-backs to me...but we all know NATO wouldn't have any part of that, right?
man, let's get some coffee and sit outside for a bit. It will help to clear the bad smell!
HJ, I've read a couple of articles on that, and initially thought the same. But then I thought about the growing of coca in Bolivia and Peru, the US has a problem with drugs (understatement, big problem) and condemns the growing and tries to eradicate it there. But coca (the plant, not the drug) has been a part of the Indians of the Altiplano culture for 1,000s years. They need it to help survive in the rarefied air at high altitude in the Andes. I guess opium has been a part of Afghan culture for a similar period, so I kind of agree, that unless you educate these opium growing peasants to grow something else, you can't just say stop because it will never happen.
ReplyDeleteMy other knee-jerk reaction (and I have posted on this in the past) is that if the US or Russia or anywhere else has a drug problem, then they should fix the problem in their own backyard.
AV
Mornin' Jim...have to say I agree with AV pretty much. Anyone for Toklas brownies? Just kidding. Have a great day.
ReplyDeleteTwo wrongs don't make a right???. . . . Of course, it's not like Russia hasn't had a chance at it themselves in Afghanistan. On the other hand, I'm troubled by any nation invading the borders of any other nation to correct their "deficiencies." Where will it end? I think the UN is a huge mistake. Just no simple solutions to any problem these days. Gets depressing.
ReplyDelete~Liz
Don't know what this comment has to do with today's post.
ReplyDeleteI Hate Google Comments thingy.
I was over at Wyn's blog, cannot leave a comment because I don't have a google account. Can't get one because google says I already have one, but they won't give me any info on it.
I can not comment on any blog with google comments thingy.
At least I can read them.
thanks for letting me vent
AnnaMouse
So what you're saying here is it's OK for a foreign body of government to come into your country wearing funny clothes and packing tons of military gear and burning your crops and maybe killing a few of you because you resist their attempts to take away your livelihood.
ReplyDeleteHow about we let the UN come into Iowa and destroy farmers corn because somebody makes high fructose corn syrup out of it and some fat little ass sitter gets addicted to sugar. How do you suppose that would go over?
I have a better idea, lets let NATO seize all the assets of the late great British Empire and have the money used to combat the drug trade they made so prevalent? You know, the drug trade that ran along the silk road to china.
I'm in no way FOR drugs, and agree that they cause untold billions in monetary damage, and God only knows how much pain and suffering. I despise drugs, I used to use a lot of them, but you and I both know that demand is not dictated by supply.
I can say "DUMB" and a bunch of nations banding together under some cute acronyms, pounding their chests in self righteous hyperbole, invading a sovereign nation to remedy "unintended consequences"? Well, that's dumb.
IMHO of course.
Good Morning My Special One,
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with the others, we cannot keep over stepping our bounds. Yes educate them to grow better crops so they can sustain their lives.
Coffee on the patio sounds wonderful as someone dear to me used to say to blow off the stink.
Hey AV...
ReplyDeleteI have to admit to a bad case of ignorance with the whole picture. I just got very upset when I read this article...and my reaction was more out of the wording than the facts.
I should do more research about a problem before I mouth off about it, I guess!
Like you said, the problem should be addressed at home first, before we go running amuck in other places.
Hey, thanks for coming by today!
Hey Momlady...
AV did make some valid points, for sure. I have admitted to a sore need to do more research on the whole situation before doing a half assed post on it.
I don't apologize for my hatred of drugs, but don't want to be a part of another invasion of bullies to "take care " of the business of someone else.
A real can of worms, isn't it?
Thanks for coming by!
Hey LizBeth...
I'm certainly NOT in favor of invading another country to "fix it", because we have seen over the course of history how completely that fails.
I wish I was smart enough to come up with an answer, but I'm not.
Like you said...gets depressing, for sure.
Thanks for the visit!
Hey Angrywhiteman...
If I sounded like a warmonger, it was out of anger and certainly unintentional.
I certainly wish I knew what a good answer was. These folks wouldn't grow these crops if the demand wasn't there.
Like AV and others have pointed out, the problem starts with the demand and not the production.
As far as NATO goes...I don't like them, never have. I can't really see what purpose they serve anymore.
So what's the answer? You tell me because I certainly don't know!
With so much money to be made in the production, it will never stop. As long as the demand is there, drugs will find a way into our market and the dealers will always manage to get enough to feed the monster of addiction!
Lord, what a mess!
Hey JoJo...
ReplyDeleteMore problems than answers, I'm afraid! I can only hope that somehow someone can find a solution that we all can live with.
Like Angrywhiteman said, we have to deal with the demand first before we try and be a part of the solution.
I don't know what else we can do. It's a sad situation all around, that's for sure!
Hey, thanks for coming over today!
Is there any chance Russia is just trying to eliminate the competition in Afghanistan for their own gain? Makes you wonder doesn't it. Anytime the enemy wants to get rid of something, it sure looks like it's for their own monetary good and also letting someone else do their dirty work. Thanks for another great lesson.
ReplyDeleteHey Mechanic...
ReplyDeleteI think that this goes back to wanting to solve the problem of stopping addiction by stopping production...when maybe it should be the other way around.
I don't know what the approach should be...but I don't think that it is an easy fix, for sure!
Thanks for coming by today!
Awwwkkk, don't it all just give you a giant headache!? Common sense is just on the downhill slide. I, too, don't know the answer to much of this stuff, but seems like no one else does either! I may need something a little stronger in my coffee today--maybe cream to mellow me out!
ReplyDeleteBlessings to you my friend. CottonLady
Hey Cottonlady...
ReplyDeleteIt does indeed give me a headache trying to figure it out. No easy answers!
Have to stick with something I do know...if I can remember what that is anymore!
Hey, I appreciate you coming by today!
Navy operates its own coffee roasting plants.
ReplyDeleteAt two huge roasting plants located at Oakland, Calif., and Brooklyn, N.Y., carloads of green coffee beans are received from South and Central America, graded and stored. Different blends of coffee beans are poured into a mixer, then shot up a compressed air chute into the roasting ovens. These roasters are capable of roasting up to 500 pounds of beans every 15 minutes. Next the coffee is ground and packed 20-pound vacuum tins or 50-pound bags for distribution.We could take lessons from the Navy about how to make a good cup of coffee.
Hey Ted...
ReplyDeleteNow that sounds like a place that I should visit! Nothing like the smell of fresh roasted coffee!
Wonder if they give out free samples?
Thanks for coming by today!
Here where I got the info http://www.seabeecook.com/cookery/cooking/good_coffee.htm
ReplyDeleteSingapore has no drug problem. For
ReplyDeleteabout 25 years the first time you are caught with illegal drugs they hang you until you are dead.
There are zero volunteers for this program.
Perhaps there is a better way.
ReplyDeletePlace large barrels of dope at
the fire station. Put a sign
HELP YOURSELF. IT'S FREE.
The garbage truck can pick bodies each morning. That removes the profit motive. That should thin out the dope users.
See how important coffee is to our Defense Department.They have thier own coffee Plants.Notice nothing mentioned about Tea!
ReplyDeleteI don't think anyone should think or feel you owe an apology this is a subject that needs addressing for sure.I have seen far to many lives destroyed by drugs. I don't blame you for getting angry you just said what you felt over the article. Thats what your blog is all about and thats why you have so many followers. :)
ReplyDeleteI posted more pics today. Thats what mine is about. :)
Hugs
HJ, I have done the same, got angry over an issue and bleated as a knee-jerk. We are all allowed to do that, it is only when we have the ensuing input that we calm down and think rationally.
ReplyDeleteOn Tomus, I have written about drugs. Not a user, never even tried, managed 59 years on coffee. Ooops, isn't that a drug?
I can even laugh about them. Check this story n my Nether Region: http://netherregionoftheearthii.blogspot.com/2010/04/only-in-australia.html
btw, I am impressed; the US Navy brews its own coffee; the New Zealand Navy have their own beer...
My coffee is nearly done for the day, it's beer o'clock.
AV