Quote Originally Posted by wm View Post
This line of thinking seems to be a variation on the missionary movement of the 18th and 19th Centuries or another way of taking up Rhodes' "white man's burden." We have gotten ourselves into the current state of affairs by forcing together coalitions of folks who didn't really want to be so forced. It is not our prerogative to reaggregate these sub-groups into other alignments of our choosing. It is up to the sub-groups to decide with whom they ought to aggregate. About all we should do is make sure that they have the opportunity to do so peacefully. We should not stand by as things like "ethnic cleansing" occur. As you point out, we need to be culturally astute enough not to make the kind of mistakes or idiocies, as you describe them, so that we don't end up adding more fuel to the fires we are trying to help contain and eventually extinguish.

I am reminded of the lessons I learned as a youth soccer coach: "The game is the greatest teacher. Rather than teaching them how to play, give them a controlled environment and let them figure it out from there."
I agree completely, and that was my point: The whole Nation Building attitude is a variation on the missionary movement. Our role should be limited to providing a level of stabililty that gives them time to sort out how they want to structure their society. We should focus less on "democracy" and think more along the lines of how a tribal council, for example, is representative of the people, and in a way that they are accustomed to.