Blogging Around

My first comment was on Anna's blog about Assef and Bellatrix Lestrange, and how their childhoods, lives and beliefs on "less worthy or pure" people are shockingly similar:

Anna, I agree with you 100%; I thought of this connection too. You point out how Assef and Bellatrix both enjoy killing and torturing; how they are being commanded by others but how they are so adept at commanding. I also want to point out how in the end, they were bested by others of an opposite alignment, in both cases good people who were acting purely in the defense of others (Sohrab and Mrs. Weasley). Both Assef and Bellatrix had a warped belief of what was the good thing to do; Assef thought that joining the Taliban was his call from God and that Bellatrix thought doing Voldemort's bidding was the highest calling. I really enjoyed reading your blog, because as I stated earlier, I thought of this connection too and you came up with many points I missed, and those points made me realize the incredible similarity between these two characters.

My second response was to Alex's blog about Afghanistan and how NATO supports the United States' occupation of the country:

Alex, I think that you nailed those connections you made to Kite Runner and Charlie Wilson's War. I agree with you on the fact that our intervention may cause harm to this country but I hope it does not. In the article, President Obama said, “This is not an American battle, this is a Nato mission,”. Assuming that we can hold the president to his words, then I think its safe to trust that if there is a third party (NATO) involved, that it will not allow the situation in Afghanistan to get out of hand, and that, like Mr. Williams said, it will encourage construction/government/education projects after the US leaves Afghanistan. But this, we can only hope.