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Only in an extremely naive world would you get downvoted for this. Is HN becoming a less enlightened place? Do we truly believe that we went to Afghanistan sole

by Aetius 16y ago

Only in an extremely naive world would you get downvoted for this. Is HN becoming a less enlightened place? Do we truly believe that we went to Afghanistan solely for the terrorists??

tkahn6 16y ago
For what purpose do you believe we went into Afghanistan? For their opium? [Edit: Afghanistan, not Iraq.]
- baguasquirrel 16y ago
  It is a pretty strategic location on the Silk Road, that's for sure.
  - hga 16y ago
    Which in an era where silk and the like goods travel by container ship means...? ... OK, if not for the instability it would be useful for pipelines, but what else? (Serious question.)
- Aetius 16y ago
  Firstly, because we had a valid pretext for war (Taliban et al). But very important too is the fact that wars are profitable. And not from a resource standpoint; war production itself (e.g. weapons manufacturers, engineering firms to rebuild, etc) is highly lucrative and there certainly were agents lobbying on behalf of those companies, and pivoting themselves to be in a position to provide services "in the event of a conflict". That resources were actually discovered during occupation is just icing on the cake.
david927 16y ago
Less enlightened? HN sadly has never been very politically enlightened when it comes to America and geo-politics. Edit: And I think that's because HN has a heavy American user base, and I don't think Americans get very good news (or are even very interested in the complexities of modern geo-politics). Good or bad, I think that's a fair assessment. So what you get are a lot of: "America is in Afghanistan and Iraq for altruistic reasons that have nothing to do with the resources under these people's feet."
- Wolf_Larsen 16y ago
  > and I don't think Americans get very good news (or are even interested...) What a stupid thing to say. Do you think that Americans who visit HN are prone to bouts of Fox News watching? Do you think Google News or bbc.co.uk is censored here? > HN sadly has never been very politically enlightened when it comes to America and geo-politics. This thread in particular shows great enlightenment on geo-politics. Just read the top comments.

by Aetius 16y ago

Only in an extremely naive world would you get downvoted for this. Is HN becoming a less enlightened place? Do we truly believe that we went to Afghanistan solely for the terrorists??

tkahn6 16y ago

For what purpose do you believe we went into Afghanistan? For their opium? [Edit: Afghanistan, not Iraq.]

baguasquirrel 16y ago
It is a pretty strategic location on the Silk Road, that's for sure.
- hga 16y ago
  Which in an era where silk and the like goods travel by container ship means...? ... OK, if not for the instability it would be useful for pipelines, but what else? (Serious question.)
Aetius 16y ago
Firstly, because we had a valid pretext for war (Taliban et al). But very important too is the fact that wars are profitable. And not from a resource standpoint; war production itself (e.g. weapons manufacturers, engineering firms to rebuild, etc) is highly lucrative and there certainly were agents lobbying on behalf of those companies, and pivoting themselves to be in a position to provide services "in the event of a conflict". That resources were actually discovered during occupation is just icing on the cake.

david927 16y ago

Less enlightened? HN sadly has never been very politically enlightened when it comes to America and geo-politics. Edit: And I think that's because HN has a heavy American user base, and I don't think Americans get very good news (or are even very interested in the complexities of modern geo-politics). Good or bad, I think that's a fair assessment. So what you get are a lot of: "America is in Afghanistan and Iraq for altruistic reasons that have nothing to do with the resources under these people's feet."

Wolf_Larsen 16y ago
> and I don't think Americans get very good news (or are even interested...) What a stupid thing to say. Do you think that Americans who visit HN are prone to bouts of Fox News watching? Do you think Google News or bbc.co.uk is censored here? > HN sadly has never been very politically enlightened when it comes to America and geo-politics. This thread in particular shows great enlightenment on geo-politics. Just read the top comments.