Some thoughts

Okay, so I don't really have a lot to say, but thought I'd share a couple random thoughts...

First, on the trip to Dubai...yes, your tax dollars at work. But about half of it was paid for by NATO (not sure who's tax dollars that is). And I don't feel too guilty because for the last 2+ years in Japan, we've paid full state and federal taxes without even living in the U.S. (and therefore not enjoying the services (i.e. police, road construction) taxes are supposed to provide for).

Second...Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, made a visit through here the other day. I saw him a couple times (he had to go just before I could actually shake his hand) and he had dinner with a group of soldiers and airmen. I think Secretary Gates is very popular amongst the military personnel (I am a fan). He obviously has some political backing as well, as he was one of the very few (only?) to stay on during the Administration turnover. Oh, and Team NATO kept asking if it was Bill Gates and if he was handing out $100 bills. Needless to say, they were a bit disappointed.

Finally, a couple notes from my recent trip to Dubai and the pleasure that was flying out of Kabul International Terminal and flying Pamir Airways. The commercial terminal in Kabul isn't much. There's some counters, machines and crowd dividers with 'donated by the people of Japan' or 'Germany' stickers on them. The flight itself wasn't bad after the delays. They served a good meal (even on a 2 1/2 hour flight) and had decent flight attendants. The worst part was hanging out in the terminal (for what wound up to be about 5 hours) with 200 of my closest Afghani friends. We also flew in and out of basically the cargo terminal in Dubai; so it wasn't the nice one with all the shops or anything (though they still had free wi-fi).

One other observation on that...as I was checking in in Kabul, one guy took my bags and moved them up to the check-in line; I gave him a dollar. Another guy wanted some money for him to move me up to the front of the line (I declined) and yet another guy wanted some money to 'get me good seat, window seat, what I like' (I declined again). That gets you thinking about the fine line of 'corruption' (the popular term with Afghanistan) and 'tipping'. For example, in the U.S., you definitely tip the baggage porter (at the hotel, airport, etc.) and airlines now charge like $10 extra for a window or aisle seat. So other than one being more 'shady' than the other, what's the real difference? In the U.S. you also 'tip' on many other occassions for good service (i.e. a waitress, a cab driver). If the argument is that 'corruption' is on a larger scale, I think you only need to look at some CEO bonus payments, especially in the case of federally bailed out banks or carmakers. Something to think about I guess. Personally I guess it comes down to ethics on when you can and cannot accept money and, in Afghanistan, corruption is accompanied by physical threat/violence and the risk of something not happening at all (i.e. if you don't tip a waitress it's not like she'll throw the food in your face and stab your hand with a fork).