Yemen and Al Qaeda and the U.S.
It is now officially recognised, as this Blog predicted months ago, that the Yemen is now a major base of Al Qaeda and more potent than the core organisation in the Pakistani tribal areas. This underscores the point, which the politicians and the military of both the U.K. and the U.S seem unable to grasp, that in terms of terrorist threat, the Afghan war is not only pointless but inflammatory.
I do not know how long we have to go on like this. In my whole life there has never been a time before, when the foreign and defence policy of America and Britain has been quite so farcical, the prognostications of the generals so wishful and the statements of political leaders so stupid, all in combination and at variance with the clear facts of the matter, which even amateurs can see.
As the campaigning in the Mid-Term elections reveals, America is nervy and uncertain. There is a peculiar alliance between honest believers in the American ideal, the flat earthers and the outright nutters. How this will pan out in Congress will not be known for a couple of days. What is known is that these military futilities are poisoning America at its roots. It is losing its wealth and its confidence and is not winning its wars. Terrorism can be fought with good intelligence, vigilance and drones. What cannot be so easily dealt with is a loss of confidence by Americans in their system of government. Al Qaeda does not need to damage America, if it can entice America to damage itself. This is what is now happening. It has to stop.