> In fact, if Marx or Engels were president, given their views on India and
> Scotland and the Mexican-American War, and given their belief in the abiding
> awesomeness of Western European civilization and general contempt for
> non-Western European societies, I think they would be all for the Afghan
> War. They would think Obama was a wuss who should be spreading capitalism
> (the prerequisite for socialism) more vigorously, destroying backward,
> rural Afghan society and bringing it into the modern age. You know, like the
> Soviets were doing (minus the spreading capitalism part).
>
> This of course assumes that Marx and Engels would not have changed their
analysis in light of the last 150 or so years of history. And its also hard
to imagine any scenario where either would be "president". Overall, this is
just absurd conjecture.