Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Family Feuds, Wild East Style



The Phyllis Chesler Organization

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Family Feuds, Wild East Style

by By Phyllis Chesler
Huffington Post
July 2, 2013
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Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal had a front page story: As U.S. Pulls Out, Feuds Split Afghanistan's Ruling Family. This title is both comic and tragic but it is not "news".
"A Ruling Family feud" is Afghan history and, perhaps, psychology. Afghan Emirs and Shahs seized thrones mainly from their brothers, half-brothers, uncles and nephews. Rulers were routinely tortured and murdered by their relatives; some were allowed to live, but with their eyes gouged out.
This is, indeed, the Wild East and it was always very wild. Afghan rulers have always used their deals with Britain, Russia, and Germany to accomplish their own ends. Stealing as much money, land, and power from as many Afghan people as possible and sharing it with one's family members is the norm in Afghanistan—as is stealing from your own family. Educated and modern-thinking Afghan men, who envisioned a more progressive and lawful Afghanistan, have been known to rot in jail, in cages, and in holes for twenty years, where their torture was uniquely gruesome, and administered by psychopaths in the employ of whoever ran the country.
By definition, business as usual in the Wild East, means hiring only your family members—then spying on them, and assassinating them when necessary.

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