[Leica] : Cell Phone Parts at the Gate - Kabul NOW MAJOR QUESTION?

[richard at imagecraft.com (Richard Man)]

Afghanistan has the misfortune of sitting right in the middle of the Silk
Road. Which also means every conquering empire builder likes to go there and
maintains a "controlling interest." Who he controls the route, controls the
trade.

And that's before any religious overtone.

On Sun, Oct 10, 2010 at 10:17 AM, <tedgrant at shaw.ca> wrote:

>
> Hi Hugh,
> Very nice for a change seeing three young guys without AK47's slung over
> their shoulder and eyeing you as though some alien from another planet. And
> without the usual facial expression of.. "Another infidel to kill when I 
> get
> a chance look!"
>
> A question came up yesterday while a few folks were having a quiet
> afternoon looking at pictures from the battle areas of the Middle East and
> the people of the sub-continent and the question was..... And some neat
> images from the Summer Olympics.
>
> "THIS IS COMPLETELY OFF TOPIC! HOWEVER MAYBE A LEARNED PERSON OUT THERE CAN
> ANSWER IT?"
>
> Given North America, Canada & USA were settled by huge numbers of poor
> people from Europe, farmers and thousands of just plain ordinary everyday
> folks who struggled to survive the winters like they'd never experienced.
> And thousands of miles of just huge open plains and mountains of nothing.
> And yet it evolved into the countries we see today. Big cities, paved 
> roads,
> great looking shopping and residential areas and beautiful wilderness where
> we can move about without fear.
>
> AND NO GUNS! Well in Canada it is illegal to carry a gun without a permit
> from the police. They rarely give permission! Yes we do have some bad ass
> types who use them for some kind of gang related crap over drugs and
> hookers. But it's extremely rare and when caught they go to jail.
>
> So how is it we evolved to the thriving modern countries we are, when there
> was nothing here a few hundred years ago? Compared to the people of the
> middle east, sub-continent wherever on that side of the world who have been
> there thousands of years and it always appears they are still wallowing in
> slums, dirt roads of the past thousand years? And they were there long
> before anyone sailed to North America with nothing, in many cases nothing
> but the clothes on their back?
>
> So what was? Is? The defining element that made one part become such
> thriving countries? While nearly every photo we see from the subcontinent
> and middle East on the other side of the world, they're still living in the
> conditions of 2 - 3 thousand year ago. And not any better off? How did we 
> do
> what we've done in a few hundred years when they've had many thousands of
> years?
>
> The City of Dubai of course isn't included because it is "modern." Well I
> suppose it depends whose money is running the operation.
>
> Any answers folks? Well it's a weekend so lets have a break from all the
> Leica misery! ;-) Please don't msake it too heavy duty and just keep it
> simple. Thank you
>
> cheers,
> Dr.ted
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>



-- 
// richard <http://www.imagecraft.com/>
// icc blog: <http://imagecraft.wordpress.com>
// photo blog: <http://www.5pmlight.com>
[ For technical support on ImageCraft products, please include all previous
replies in your msgs. ]