Ron Paul especially during the Republican debates put a damper on the march toward war with Iran, far more than any intentional peace leader did.

Ron Paul is not always one vote against the many. He was the central figure in the unsuccessful fight to stop Congress from offending Turkey by officially declaring a World War I massacre of Armenians to be genocide. At that time he urged friendship with Turkey to quickly withdraw US troops from Iraq through Turkey,

www.ronpaul.com/2010-03-04/ron-paul-to-congress-dont-stir-the-pot-with-armenian-genocide-resolution/
A critical article that lets one know that Ron Paul put his neck out wakeupfromyourslumber.com/node/4773
Fortunately today in Iraq there is an uneasy alliance between Kurds and Sunnis as Kurds are all but forced to defend the rights of the Sunni minority in Iraq, because without the Sunni input they are a clear minority in Iraq with all national decisions then Shiite based. However I believe Ron Paul's past suggestions for Iraq fits well in Afghanistan to stop US potential withdrawal from Afghanistan from being extremely messy. Turkey could be the go-between in the temporary logistics involving withdrawal. Remember at the end of the Vietnam War helicopters on the US embassy roof taking Americans and top Vietnamese officials out of the country and a wholesale exit of people who now go back to Vietnam to visit every chance they can.

If the US decided to leave Afghanistan in a hurry, the last memory for Americans might become that of an unberka-ed woman in the back seat of a jeep demanding to be taken out of the country. Insisting she won't allow the jeep to be taken out of the country without her remaining inside of it.

The US with Turkey as a go-between, could avoid the mess, by offering to leave Afghanistan providing the Taliban agree to allow autonomy for six months for the city of Kabul with Turkish peace keepers at the city's borders.

The war in Libya ended in a bloodbath in Gaddafi's hometown as the new government forced the residents to fly the new Libyan flag. Six months later the victorious tribes were feuding with themselves. And rather than being distracted from their feuding, agreed to autonomy for that town. A six month cooling-off period might make things less tense in Kabul, as Taliban leaders argue about other matters.

The US now pays $60 million for an airbase in Kyrgyzstan. The rent went way up after the US was asked to leave but instead, offered the exuberant rent,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transit_Center_at_Manas
Rather, the US could pay $30 million for 6 months rent for Kabul to remain an autonomous region for six months, and then the rent doubles and the US continues to pay if other donors are found, in the womens' movement and European civil liberties movements. The US could also instead of sending money to Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan on the northern supply line to Afghanistan, hire Turkish peace keepers to guard the city's borders.

The second year the rent for Kabul will double with any US participation being cut in half.

When China took over Hong Kong they decided not to interfere much in Hong Kong's domestic affairs so as not to kill the golden financial goose,
http://www.chinaexpat.com/2007/07/01/hong-kong-chinas-golden-goose.html/
So Kabul as a financial hub with more open values than the countryside could conceivably be a long-term situation.

To change the subject a little I want to thank Ron Paul and the Ron Paul Movement for more than a fresh look at the subject of war and peace.

Working for peace was left to the peace experts who were dominated by a guilt-based theory of improving things. Economics was left to the economists, ordinary people were thought not to know enough to get involved.

What is planned for the upcoming election, if Ron Paul doesn't get in the way, is for Democrats to claim that Romney is lying about creating jobs because he is rich and represents the rich, and Republicans claiming that Obama is lying about creating jobs because he hasn't yet created many, events in Greece determining the next President of the US. Each sound-bite political ad leading to an ever more ignorant electorate. Quoting sound-bite, instead of engaging in stimulating debate, actually decreasing the ability of the brain to learn as much.

We are still at the stage with science of believing that only scientists can argue whether trying to create a black hole on earth is safe. Ron Paul has changed the climate for allowing ordinary people to join the conversation only experts participated in the past.


I personally grew up in the guilt-based peace movement and before the Ron Paul movement never met anyone working for peace not interested in promoting guilt. I don't believe the claim that most of the trouble in the world is caused by Western Imperialism. True President Bush overthrew Saddam, something that senior officials thought inadvisable, and something for us to be guilty of, but in the bloodbath that followed between Sunnis and Shiites I think the only thing the US caused was to add US deaths to the carnage. The US might have actually prevented the carnage from including Kurds and Turks in a massive way. I am interested in meeting others, besides myself, interested in working hard for peace yet not feeling compiled to placr massive blame for things going wrong on the US?

I think the Nobel Peace Prize should go to people that deserve it even though I suspect people like Ron Paul would turn it down.

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Richard Kane