Has anyone ever measured any long-term change to public
perception based on these massive infrastructure plans?

Do the Egyptians still like Russians because of Aswan? Or the
Indians because of western help with IIT? Or the Pakis with the
billions already wasted in their country?

I suspect we are spending well over a billion dollars a year trucking
supplies into Afghanistan -- and that money goes straight into
Pakistan. I think US cash being spent in Pakistan is probably equal
to the entire dollar proceeds of the Indian IT firms. Are they
grateful for that money?

The problem in Pakistan seems to be overall river management:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/07/100716-
pakistan-flood-farms-river-management-irrigation/

I'm not sure fixing this will be any easier that relieving the problem in
our own country of settlement too close to flood-prone rivers. But if
there any changes that a billion dollars could achieve and sustain, now
could be a good time to invest that money.

Sorry about the broken link in my previous post - if you select both
lines and paste into browser search field, the National Geographic
article should appear (there may be a brief ad to wait through).

By all means, spend the billion or whatever it takes to help the Pakistanis with the flooding crisis and their longer term water management issues; they are experiencing a humanitarian disaster and they are entitled to the help. George Soros, despite the naivity of his politics does wonderful work and can be counted on to have an intelligent plan to help. But no one should deceive themselves into thinking that by helping the Pakistanis, the United States will get any credit from either the government or from the citzenry. With or without the aid, Pakistan will still be the same dysfunctional and paranoid nation spying conspiracies around every corner. Unitl Pakistan is dismembered as a country and divided into four or five nations based on ethnicity, it will continue to be poor, violent and backwards.

Two things might be of interest to Washington Note readers. The incomparable Walter Russell Mead has recently returned from Pakistan and has written a number of insightful and valuable blog posts on Pakistan that can be found here (scroll down to the 2nd 4h and 5th posts),

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/

As long as Steve Clemons mentioned Steve Coll, Steve Coll will be appearing at the 92nd Street YMHA in New York City (92nd Street and Lexington Avenue) on Monday, September 13 at 7:30 pm. His guest will be Eliza Griswold, the author of a new book on the civil war between Muslims and Christians now taking place in both Asia and Africa. The book is called the "Tenth Parallel" and it is a must read for anyone who wants to weigh in intelligently on whether a war of civilizations between the West (represented by Christians and secularlists) and the global south (represented by Islamists) is inevitable. Griswold's book is timely, smart, well-written and temperate. I'm actually going to try and fly up from Ft. Lauderdale to attend the lecture. More information on the program with Coll and Griswold can be found here,

http://thetenthparallel.com/appearances/

I'm a big fan of infrastructure projects. Especially if the country in which they are located has the resources to maintain them. It is just that the mind-set of assuming infrastructure projects will be of value, when the providers of that infrastructure is maiming and killing citizens, and supporting corrupt governments, solely and only to create world environments dreamed up in the fantasies of "we control the world" fascists that seem to control American foreign policy (in the White House, Foggy Bottom, the Pentagon and the myriad of think tanks that abound in D.C.) fools no one. The typical Pakistani opinion maker already knows the saying, "watch the feet, not the mouth". And until the US gives up this elementary school filled with testosterone crazy boy mind-set, and grows up to become reasonable and sound adults, it is a total waste of time. If we all just re-read "The Ugly American", got the essence of its content, and gave up the above mentioned fantasies, we wouldn't need to redeem our name and reputation.

Speaking of the chimera of infrastructure projects, the eternally disingenuous David Brooks, in his column today, finds much to laud in the nation building exercise called the new Iraq. It is incredible how the neocons, and neocon sympathizers can take a multidimensional disaster like Iraq and see only a very narrow range of happy 'facts'. It is another wonderful example of tunnel vision so extreme that it ignores the fetid cesspool in which their happy facts swirl. Turning turds into treasures as it were.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/31/opinion/31brooks.html?hp

So how exactly are we to engage in policy discussion with such divergent realities. Iraq, and surrounding, cascading disasters, are simply folded into the melange of exceptionalist delusion. How come the sentient world -- and maybe even Mr Obama in a lucid moment -- sees a foreign policy disaster unparralled, and probably much greater than Vietnam in it's repercussions?

Interesting that no one here seems to want to talk about the REALITY of American assistance to third world countries when it comes to infrastructure.

Isn't it a fact that what we usually do is send in American companies that provide substandard product at inflated prices, usually paid by the American taxpayer? Bechtel, Halliburton, etc, able to charge obscene amounts for garbage workmanship and un-performed or underperformed work, free from the constraints of competetive bidding, responsible oversight, or accountability for abuses, overcharges, and criminal negligence?

Whats worse, no matter how badly these companies fuck us, the taxpayer, over, (and the country we are supposedly helping), these whoring sacks of shit in DC reward them with more contracts. What, it is a coincidence that most of the worms in Congress end up filthy rich?

The dysfuntionality of the Muslim world so perfectly epitomized by the status of Pakistan is a subject that needs far more debate.

Regardless of anything the United States does or does not do to help with Pakistan's water management issues, Pakistan is likely to remain a failed state far into the future. In this regard, it is similar to so many others of the other 50 or so majority Muslim nations in the world.

The one commentator who has a handle on this that is superior to virtually every other observer is Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Hirsi Ali understands that the confrontation between Western Christians and secularists on the one hand and Islamists on the other really does belong under the rubric of Samuel Huntington’s "clash of civilizations" and she understands that appeasing the Islamic world is unlikely to be viewed as compromise and highly likely to be viewed as weakness.

Of course, unlike many members of the punditocracy, Ayaan Hirsi Ali has firsthand experience of what it’s like to live under threat from extreme Islamists and she also has the experience to know that "moderate" Islam rarely bears any resemblance to what most Westerners call "moderate."

Hirsi Ali had an interesting op-ed in the Wall Street Journal two weeks ago. It can be found here,

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703426004575338471355710184.html

Another interesting and dangerous reality can be understood by watching the reaction of Western intellectuals to the reinvigorated and violent activities of Islamists. When the Ayatollah Khomeini pronounced a death sentence on Salman Rushdie, the instinct of Western elites was to rally to Rushdie's defense. Their reaction now is to recoil in horror not at the violent and bigoted behavior of the Islamists but instead at the intelligent and sophisticated arguments of those who oppose the Islamists. The best evidence of the intellectual sterility of these elites is their inability to come up with a reasoned rebuttal to those who oppose the encroachment of Islamism; instead, these so-called intellectuals fall back on the lazy and intellectually dishonest practice of calling their opponents names. I suppose that’s the best they can do.

Paul Berman has written an interesting book on the subject entitled "The Flight of the Intellectuals." It is available for the Kindle,

http://www.amazon.com/Flight-Intellectuals-Paul-Berman/dp/1933633514

Mark Lynch has written a dimwitted critique of Berman's book that can easily be found at the Foreign Affairs website.

Lynch and his ilk prefer to stick their heads in the sand like ostriches instead of confronting reality.

What is the reality?

The clash of civilizations has already begun and one of the major battlegrounds of this confrontation is Pakistan.

All the water projects in the world won't change that.

I wonder if WigWag also mischaracterized the Katrina tragedy as a dysfunctionality of the Christian world. Probably not.

Hirsi Ali first concocts a "One World" illusion and then faults the Muslim world for not adhering to it.

Then she resurrects what the late Harvard political scientist Samuel Huntington called the "Clash of Civilizations," particularly the clash between Islam and the West (note the precedence). The fact is that any such "clash" has been instigated both historically (the Crusades) and currently (US/Israel invasions of Muslim lands) by the West.

Then WigWag moves on "to the reinvigorated and violent activities of Islamists." I think it's clear that in terms of raw violence, the US/Israel team takes all honors. Nothing burns one up, painfully, like white phosphorous.

A death sentence pronounced on Rushdie? Isn't the man still with us? I guess Khomenei lacks drone aircraft with Hellfire rockets. There would be no need of a sentence, just give the order as Obama does and 'poof'' -- no more Rushdie, and whomever is in his presence.

Yes, the "The Flight of the Intellectuals" is in evidence.

I disagree with POA. That method is true now, but wasn't true always. The Peace Corp did wonders for America's reputation, one American at a time. But just because our current crop of immoral and self-centered government officials do it wrong, doesn't make infrastructure projects wrong to do.

And I totally disagree with Hirsi Ali. The history of the world is a history of evolving consciousness; the latest one, sitting there inside everyone waiting for expression, is the knowledge that one can be optimal in every area of one's life. The dysfunctional governments of Islamic governments are because Islam is anti-individual, anti-personal development; having a basic approach of following all the rules set up by Mohamed. Once the majority of the US people become enamored with this new consciousness, and as a result elect officials who no longer believe the government can do anything other than set up a basic administration of society, stopping permanently this large military, rule the world, consciousness, the rest of the world will progressive follow, and in time all will live as Francis Fukuyama predicted.

Between now and then, we will continue to have major conflicts and natural upheavals.

Further. The best way to cause radical Islam (Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, etc.) to disappear, is to give up trying to run the world, and give supporting corrupt governments, regardless of how many natural resources they control, or regardless of how much they support a foreign policy in one region (think Israel or Egypt), or regardless of how much money they possess (China). Nothing does more to encourage radicalism of any type than a major world power having a totally hypocritical policy.

People, regardless of how poor and uneducated, are not naturally radical. They only become radical after they experience that all appears hopeless except for violence and totalitarian (fascist) philosophies. This have been demonstrated over and over again throughout history. When did you ever hear of suicide bombing before a major power did major oppression? Lebanon under Reagan, Iraq under Bush, and Afghanistan and Pakistan under Bush and Obama.

We can each individually contribute to changing the world by becoming a person who pursues being optimal in all areas of her life: being autonomous, in work consistently experiencing being productive, skilled, creative and contributing to our clients, in relationship repeatedly experience intimacy (richness and fullness), love (deeply valuing others), and dynamic communities (all the members repeatedly mutually empower each other), and having a life philosophy that is practical and works.

"Hirsi Ali understands that the confrontation between Western Christians and secularists on the one hand and Islamists on the other really does belong under the rubric of Samuel Huntington’s "clash of civilizations"" (wigwag)

I understand, Wigwag, that you call yourself a Jew. Therefore, Ignorance of the nuances of "Christian" might well be excusable. But you throw the term around as if you know what you are talking about, and yet you seem ignorant of the spectrum of profession that divides, more than unites, the many varieties of those who claim to be Christians. If you are citing Ms Ali, well fine, but then you might well be a bit more specific about her own use of the term. I understand that her point reinforces your own recent fixation on the "clash", but still, this is quite a careless usage for such a significant division.

"I disagree with POA. That method is true now, but wasn't true always"

Irrelevent. Yesterday doesn't mean jack shit to this issue.

"The Peace Corp did wonders for America's reputation, one American at a time. But just because our current crop of immoral and self-centered government officials do it wrong, doesn't make infrastructure projects wrong to do"

We aren't putting the Peace Corps in place on large infrastructural projects, we are putting corporate criminals in place. So whats your point? We did it right once upon a time, so now that we are doing it wrong we should continue??

"We can each individually contribute to changing the world by becoming a person who pursues being optimal in all areas of her life: being autonomous, in work consistently experiencing being productive, skilled, creative and contributing to our clients, in relationship repeatedly experience intimacy (richness and fullness), love (deeply valuing others), and dynamic communities (all the members repeatedly mutually empower each other), and having a life philosophy that is practical and works"

Ohhhhhhmmmmm. Ohhhhmmmmmmm. Nam Myoho renge kyo......

Ever tried chanting when someone is dumping white phosphorous on your head or fuckin' ya out of your hard earned money by instituting giant governmental policies that you neither endorse nor benefit from?

No. You're wrong. These sacks of shit running the globe at this point of time would LOVE IT if you simply find an oak tree to smoke hash under while practicing your "do onto others" personal campaign of butterfly love.

But the reality is that if we are to change it, we are going to need to get damned hard core, and take it to the streets in mass angry we've-had-enough protest. And sitting on the curbs with flowers stuffed in our butts while some fascist piece of shit deviant (that has been given waaaaaay too much power with waaaaay too little pyschological screening) drags us to a "free speech zone" ain't gonna cut it.

You might achieve some inner peace and tranquility with your sixties approach, (trust me, been there, done that), and I'm sure you'll be a better neighbor, but unless you can get quite a few BILLION other human beings under your oak tree, you ain't gonna change diddly squat in the over-all scheme of things. Hear that sound approaching? Thats a bulldozer, and if you're sitting down, the driver ain't even gonna see you, much less hear "squish" when he runs over you, your flower bed, and your bong.

But I'm with you. Its a damned monstrous windmill, and I'm getting too old, and too tired, to joust.

wigwag, only way world can be saved is to dump
fake currency dollar as soon as possible. Next
step should be Asian Union with policy to nuke
America if any soldier of America will put a foot
anywhere in Asia. Also all energy and food
supplies should be exported from Asia only if
their own needs are satisfied. Also there should
be provisions to reduce the birth rate of white
people, because their skin is faltered (melanin),
their morals are faltered, and they are a threat
to non-white nations because it is very hard for a
white ass to mind their own business and messed up
lives. Moreover, we Asians have a responsibility
to teach morals to cowboys Americans so that their
proportion of non-bastards will rise a bit.
Bastards grow up as sick people and get entangled
into things like vaccines, and Haarp...

Sure,give the people that hate us more of our tax dollars. Not because they are in need but because it can be a "Strategic Opportunity".

Do we ever learn our lesson about sticking our noses into closing doors?

How about we spend a billion dollars on some bridges and roads here? Maybe some jobs? I know the bridge just down the street from my house is falling and could use some money. What about all the sports and after school activities being cut from our CHILDRENS schools? We still haven't fixed our mess from Katrina and the oil spill that suddenly (yeah right...) disappeared and you want to send billions more to another middle east country that hates us

Ya right, pissedoffamerican. Congress lets haliburton and these other no bid contract crooks get away but they are hot onto Roger Clemons tail for lying about taking steroids. Nice priorities congress.

Get those lyers and crooks..... /end sarcasm.

Taxpayers got pilfered billions from banks and other mega corporations and you are chasing a retired baseball pitcher for something he ingested on his own dime/time.

@corners Yeah you are right, when you say USA shold spend its dollars on its own country but unfortunately you are missing the link here. USA has more countries to cover other then US. Besides that how could you simply neglect the suffering people?