AMERICA WINS AGAIN

Growing up during the height of the Cold War, I, along with most Americans, thrilled every time we bested the Soviets, regardless whether the venue was international politics or the playing field. Winning the 1960 Olympics hockey championship, JFK's forcing the Russkies to back down over missiles in Cuba in 1962, being first to visit the moon in 1969, were never to be forgotten highlights of that endlessly scary era.

But it is with sadness that I note a deadly besting, of sorts, with one of Russia's more ignominious accomplishments; the length of time it took them to realize the futility of conquering Afghanistan. Today, November 27th, marks the 51st day of the tenth year of Uncle Sam's attempt to conquer Afghanistan, one day more than the 3,337 days Soviet Russia tried to prop up their puppet communist regime against a popular uprising between December 27, 1979 and February 15, 1989. Substitute America's puppet Hamid Karzai for the Communist puppet Mohammad Najibullah, and our economic decline for the Soviet implosion during their war, and you begin to understand the warning: Afghanistan, Graveyard of Empires.

We Americans cheered when the Soviet system collapsed in 1991, due to squandering of its wealth on endless interventionism and enriching the Soviet elite. It's likely the average Russian is pondering America's emulation of Russia's road to ruin and muttering: "Foolish Americanskis...didn't learn a damn thing from our mistake".

Also published in the Chicago Sun Times, November 30, 2010