Oh, no, not at all. I don't come to HN to reconcile myself to what's happening in politics and foreign relations (possible exception: zoning; I'm a housing activist). I generally feel like in these kinds of discussions, I'm doing things right if neither pole of the argument happening on HN thinks I'm on their side; the only thing I'm sure about is that this stuff is complicated.

Thanks for the detailed response! I could pick at it, but that's not the spirit of where we're at at this point in the thread.

Oh, by the way: Charlie Wilson's War --- the book is much better than the movie.