Thoughts on Nation Building

A blogger I respect suggested that the US needed to become involved in nation building in places like Yemen and Somalia. While I understand the sentiment that those countries have people not that different from us who will embrace our concept of nation building - that sentiment is wrong.

Inside every Somali there is NOT an American screaming to get out. In both Somalia and Yemen, male children are often used in human cock-fights where the children, pitted against each other are the subject of wagers. Sometimes a wounded, partially blinded or maimed child has a weapon advantage over a healthy child. I suggest that another viewing of the feature film "Blackhawk Down" is in order. The international community's failure at nation building in these places that are no more than open sewers has been well documented.

Establishing the Rule of Law (as generally understood outside Islam) in places such as Mogadishu is futile unless you sterilize the place and start from scratch. It's also true in hell holes such as Darfur. In places such as those, the strong-man version of Islam holds sway and Darwinian selection is the rule when evaluating who will life and who will die. Our track record, as with those of other civilized nations (including Islamic Countries) is universally dismal.

Nobody will care for my solution: Reciprocity.

If the inhabitants of an African nation outside the law (Somalia comes to mind) engages in piracy on the high seas or some other contemptible act, we respond by destroying a piece of Somali infrastructure. True, there is not all that much worth the price of a bomb. But that sort of conduct is understood in the barbaric nations - where OUR success requires a pagan (practical) ethos. Nothing else seems to work.