You Go Girl!

Geopolitics: On Friday, in Helmand Province Afghanistan, 1000 US Marines along with hundreds of British and Afghan soldiers launched Operation Cobra’s Revenge, marking the first time that Osprey tilt rotor aircraft have ferried troops into combat. So far the Marines have cleared away 300 Taliban landmines and roadside bombs and killed 16 bad guys. They are fighting in a valley nicknamed “landmine alley” because it is densely packed with the explosive devices. On the other side of the border in Pakistan, the Pak Army is stepping up operations and killing bad guys at a similar pace to the Marines. Military experts are saying that once the surge troops are in place the Marines and the Pak Army will finally be able to work together with “anvil and hammer” tactics. To make these tactics work the CIA is being authorized to radically step up drone flights deep inside Pakistan. This is wildly unpopular with Pak voters and civilians but the Pak Army wants the extra drone flights. Hillary is telling the Pak public that there is no timeline for US withdrawal in Afghanistan, hinting that talk of an exit strategy is a smokescreen to distract American peaceniks. You go girl!
In the USA, conservatives are comparing Obama’s surge speech last week to similar speeches given by Winston Churchill and JFK at turning points in WW II and the Cold War, saying that Obama’s speech wasn’t as stirring and inspirational, especially with all the references to an exit strategy. Conservatives are entirely missing the point. In the Long War the American population does not need to be inspired or motivated. It is best for the stock market (and the Pentagon) if the American public ignores the Long War. The less attention American voters and the media pay to it the better. Consider the only conflict in US history that truly resembled the Long War, the 14-year long Philippine Insurrection of the early 20th century. The US signed a treaty after 2 years of war and told the public that the conflict was over, even though it continued to rage for 12 more years. Americans were much easier to hoodwink in the old days (bullish). The lack of public attention in that ancient conflict allowed the Marines to fight and win over a course of time so great that the public would surely have revolted if they’d been aware of what was happening.
In the same vein, after Obama’s speech there was a big peace rally in San Francisco (several hundred people). The peace march was only four blocks long because many of the protesters needed canes to walk. Most of them had protested the Vietnam War and are in their 60s and 70s. The peace movement is un-cool, a bunch of aging hippies trying to recapture their youth. Today college kids protest tuition hikes and trees getting cut down on campus, not war. Obama is cool. Peace is not.