This is a pretty good assessment. Follows is the.... 'so what.'
As the collapse of the ANDSF became apparent, the Afghan government scrambled to put together a new force composed of various militias. Three influential warlords â Atta Muhammad Noor of Jamiat-e-Islami, Abdul Rashid Dostum of Hezb-e-Junbish and Haji Muhammad Muhaqiq of Hezbe-e Wahdat Islami Mardom-e Afghanistan â met to forge a joint front against the Taliban and coordinate their struggle with the ANDSF.
However, the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif to the Taliban forced them to flee the country. The collapse of the ANDSF even before the US withdrawal was completed and the way the gains of the so-called âwar on terrorâ have been reversed will reverberate for years to come. The thousands of fighters freed by the Taliban from Bagram Airbase, including those from al-Qaeda and other groups, will pose a major security challenge in the region and beyond. Emphasis added
[Spiked] Everyone is saying itâs like Saigon in 1975. Helicopters evacuating an American embassy. Chaotic, distressing scenes at the local airport as American allies, or just plain fearful people, desperately try to flee the country. American officials convincing absolutely nobody with their unhinged claims that the âmission has been successfulâ (in Anthony Blinkenâs words). Itâs clear for all to see, commentators insist: Kabul in 2021 is a replay of Saigon in 1975. America humiliated, its enemies ascendant.
#1
The strategy for the "War on Terror" was paying danegeld to peoples of the Islamic world and simultaneously sending the message that one could get political concessions from the West without resorting to terrorism.
Since the West has ZERO civilizational confidence this was perhaps the only option.
It was also pure self-destructive madness.
Looking e.g. at these randomly selectedvignettes, how could anyone have ever believed that this would not end in a disaster?
BLUF:
[Radio Free Europe] The Talibanâs stated revenues of $1.6 billion corresponds with figures provided by the United Nations Security Councilâs Sanctions Committee, which in May said the groupâs earnings "range from $300 million to upwards of $1.5 billion per annum."
The key to rising revenues has been profits from mining, growing from $35 million in 2016 to $464 million in 2020, according to one of the Taliban members interviewed, who added that China and the United Arab Emirates were the biggest buyers of the raw materials.
The illicit opium trade also remained a major source of revenue for the Taliban. Around 90 percent of the worldâs heroin comes from the Helmand River valley, a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan.
The Taliban taxes poppy farmers and is also involved in the trafficking of narcotics to neighboring countries, from where they end up in Europe and North America.
"Yaqoobâs efforts to control and expand the organizationâs finances mean that these plans can, according to officials close to him, be bankrolled to the tune of almost $2 billion a year," says the report.
#2
Cause those who are charge with waging war collect all the fancy toys but don't know what war has been since the middle of the last century. There is no substitute for destroying the enemy's means of conducting war. In this case destroying the enemy's base of operation, which was and is Pakistan. Further, it means breaking and killing on a large scale. That is too icky and uncomfortable for too many, they have no will to conduct war so engage in 'precision' and 'surgical' approaches as a substitute which is kabuki theater masquerading as war.
THOUGHTS ON AFGHANISTAN, from a senior military officer with whom I am acquainted:
"Of course, I blame President Biden for the disastrous retrograde operation still unfolding. But let us not allow that to deflect us from heaping even more blame on military leaders. They stonewalled President Trump rather than beginning deliberate preparations to exit the country when he told them to"
#7
Home court advantage + it was never about "winning" as far as CIA, Pentagon and the Beltway Bandits were concerned. All way over Tucker's poor little head. He tied those bow ties too tight for too long before he got too weak to keep doing that...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/18/2021 12:35 Comments ||
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#8
Does Insta whatever he is at the moment still thing Jake Tapper is an honest journalist? He yused to slaver over the guy.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/18/2021 12:39 Comments ||
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#9
The locals know that at some point the foreigners will leave and the savages will still be there so most will never go all in to save their country.
China's state media is now producing propaganda content for Ibram X. Kendi and promoting Critical Race Theory, depicting whites as racist for an English-speaking audience. It really makes you think.
Not an opinion, check youtube, look at independent filmmaker reports.
The average Chinese citizen, maybe through social circumstance and not through choice, appear to be quote horribly racist.
#4
I'll let you on a little secret. Asians, the whole of Asia not just China, are incredibly racist from Western point of view. We do not have any concept of racism but colourism, which gives rise to Asians hating brown or black coloured skin cuz for them it's just plain undesirable and dirty. People are very subtle while discriminating against coloured people.
If you are white or fair skinned person, you'll be treated like a royalty. In India or in any South Asian country, we have fairness creams or face washes to magically change our dark skin into a fair one, demand for a fair-skinned spouse and even cleverly shame children with darker skin tone. From a very early age every Asian is told that darker skin is ugly. Thus, it's no surprise that Chinese media would jump on to shame Americans 'for being racist' because many of you easily buy into that stuff.
#6
they would just mow them down and not give a shit.
Posted by: Chris ||
08/18/2021 10:04 Comments ||
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#7
Oh, you mean like CBS, ABC, CNN and NBC? Can't help wondering if the Chinese get these ideas from our media or if our media get it from the Chinese.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
08/18/2021 12:33 Comments ||
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[RedState] There is some speculation floating around social media (mostly, but not totally, from the right) that Democrats may try to pull the 25th Amendment card on Biden to push him aside and bring Kámala Harris Former Oakland mayor Willie Brown's former mistress, then a senatrix from California, and then a former 2020 Dem presidential hopeful. She dropped out because she was polling in negative numbers because of racism. Her father is a Marxist professor emeritus at Stanford and her mother is an Indian of the Hindoo tribe. She is reputedly the proud descendant of a long line of women. Joe Biden picked her for her skin tone, feeling she could also bring in the Native American, women's, and bimbo votes. She's an outstanding exemplar of the Peter Principle, proudly displaying her level of competence in her handling of the Biden Border Surge forward in an effort to save face in this moment of geopolitical crisis. It is some of the same speculation you saw several times when the Left called for members of the Trump administration to turn on Trump and invoke the amendment.
However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... the Democrats have put themselves into such a terrible position that they absolutely cannot get rid of Biden through this means, or else they give up the only chance they have to get anything through the Senate, and they would definitely hurt their electoral chances in 2022 and 2024.
In August of 1974, Gerald Ford became the President of the United States after Richard Nixon resigned. In order to get a Vice President, Congress had to approve Nelson Rockefeller.
"Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress," Section 2 of the amendment explains.
This last happened in 1974, when Vice President Gerald Ford — himself a replacement for Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, who resigned after being accused of tax evasion — replaced President Richard Nixon. Ford nominated Nelson Rockefeller to serve as his vice president, according to the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.
This is a problem for the Democrats. Kamala Harris is currently the tie-breaking vote in the Senate, and Republicans are only crossing over if Mitch McConnell supports a bill or if he realizes the Republicans will lose the fight anyway. He has a very tight grip on his caucus, and he can get his 50 votes whipped if he wants to make a stand. So far, he hasn’t had to. But there is a lot of power to be had in a 50-50 Senate with no tie-breaking vote, and he will take advantage of it.
So, Kamala Harris becoming the President via the 25th Amendment means the Democrats lose their tie-breaking vote in the Senate, and without a 51st vote, there is no way for the Democrats to break a tie in the Senate in order to confirm a replacement Vice President. They are effectively stuck.
[Arutz 7] - Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, a leading Religious Zionist rabbi and the dean of the Orot Shaul Yeshiva in Tel Aviv, on Wednesday ruled that medical staff may prioritize vaccinated coronavirus patients over those who refused the vaccine.
Discussing a situation in which two coronavirus patients are waiting for medical treatment - one who is vaccinated and one who could have received the vaccine from a medical standpoint but refused - Rabbi Cherlow said it is preferable to prioritize the vaccinated patient.
However, he clarified that his statement does not apply to urgent situations in which every moment matters, emphasizing that in such situations, only the usual medical considerations should be taken into account, and it should go in accordance with the urgency of each person's situation.
..."This stems from natural justice, and from the simple principle that a person is responsible for his actions, and that his personal choice must never harm others."
#1
On the surface it's a reasonable idea. But. If you let people legally smoke and drink alcohol, can you later deny them healthcare they have paid for, via taxes or contract (unless the contract states outright that that's the deal)? Same with vaxx. If it's optional at all, it can't be use as a criterion to deny someone their rights, unless we are talking about "rights" granted by the state.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/18/2021 9:39 Comments ||
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#2
Well, MM ask any smoker if they pay higher health insurance premiums.
#3
Some do, I'm sure. Some lie and go to great lengths to not smell like ciggies when they go for physicals. Here in America, Obamacare has made a chest x-ray something you see in a 50's movie.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/18/2021 9:50 Comments ||
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[Red State] I wrote earlier about how the debacle in Afghanistan may have been intentional because Joe Biden previously said he thought we should just pull out and didnât need to be concerned about the allies we left behind. "F*** that," he reportedly said in 2010. "We donât have to worry about that. We did it in Vietnam, Nixon and Kissinger got away with it." So it appeared it was always his intent to just pull out, no matter the cost.
That was pretty horrible to read â that indeed he was looking at Vietnam actions as a model of what he could get away with.
But that isnât all. He blamed Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger. But that wasnât who was responsible. Guess who was involved in 1975, too? You guessed it â Joseph R. Biden and the Congressional Democrats.
#1
NYTimes, March 20, 1975: Defense Secretary James R. Schlesinger after a closedâdoor meeting with the Senate Armed. Services Committee on military sales to Saudi Arabia, said that the âniggardlyâ approach of Congress toward military aid, to the Saigon Government was the âapproximate causeâ for withdrawal of South Vietnamese forces from provinces in the Central Highlands. Mr. Schlesinger saw North Vietnam taking advantage of South Vietnam's defensive move to launch what he described as âa major offensiveâ particularly in Military Regions. I and II in the northern part of South Vietnam.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/18/2021 10:32 Comments ||
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#3
Nixon was long gone by the time Saigon fell. But don't count on Joe to remember minor details like that, especially when it was Democrats in Congress who withheld military supplies for South Vietnam.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
08/18/2021 14:59 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Former Oakland mayor Willie Brown's former mistress, then a senatrix from California, and then a former 2020 Dem presidential hopeful. She dropped out because she was polling in negative numbers because of racism. Her father is a Marxist professor emeritus at Stanford and her mother is an Indian of the Hindoo tribe. She is reputedly the proud descendant of a long line of women. Joe Biden picked her for her skin tone, feeling she could also bring in the Native American, women's, and bimbo votes. She's an outstanding exemplar of the Peter Principle, proudly displaying her level of competence in her handling of the Biden Border Surge
[Red State] I wrote earlier about how the debacle in Afghanistan may have been intentional because Joe Biden previously said he thought we should just pull out and didnât need to be concerned about the allies we left behind. "F*** that," he reportedly said in 2010. "We donât have to worry about that. We did it in Vietnam, Nixon and Kissinger got away with it." So it appeared it was always his intent to just pull out, no matter the cost.
