[engtech]

"So, yeah, if a peaceful process of information flow could bring Afghanistan into the Twenty-First Century, I'm all for that."

I'm constantly surprised that when it comes to regime change that there isn't an effort to set up some satellites and air-drop some mobile smartphones with data plans designed with the same principals as one-laptop-per-child.

Look at what Facebook and Twitter did for the Arab Spring.

[smsm42]

The role of Facebook and Twitter in Arab Spring is hugely exaggerated. Yes, people used both to communicate. But nothing was caused by it - it was caused by people being tired by old and rusty dictatorships, which also suppressed their religious thrivings (which btw may be not really all that nice if fulfilled - dictatorship is bad, but formally democratic fundamentalist regime is not really freedom either).

The reason why airdropping mobile phones would not work is very simple - first, they would not work (no electricity, no coverage in most of the territory), second, the ruling powers would execute everybody that uses it. And they are quite good at executing people for ... well, anything they like. Limiting flow of information to majority of people is quite easy, if the regime is ruthless enough to enforce it.

OLPC is possible only with local authorities' cooperation. Without it, it could achieve nothing.