What sort of “incompetence” explains the decisions made by the US in the Afghanistan withdrawal?
This post is basically a variation on the old “fools or knaves?” question, only on steroids.
Our precipitous and disastrous leave-taking from Afghanistan – which is still ongoing – is obviously incompetent, but incompetent on a level that even a five-year-old child of modest intelligence could have foreseen and avoided. The premature closing of Bagram (please read that link; it’s important), the abandonment of armaments and vehicles, the failure to remove Americans and Afghan interpreters in a timely fashion, the previous jettisoning by the Biden administration of a plan to evacuate safely, all bespeak of planners who are either ignorant and amateurish on a scale previously undreamt of, or have malign intent. Or perhaps both.
This goes beyond – way way beyond – the more ordinary poor decision-making and subsequent second-guessing that usually follows any operation gone wrong (such as, for example, the decision in Iraq to disband the Iraqi Army). Human beings are fallible, but this seems to be more than that. The question is: what is behind such abysmal failure?
It can’t be explained merely by Joe Biden’s addled, impatient brain, and the fact that he’s commander-in-chief. His generals should have resigned rather than obey such orders. They did not, nor are they doing so now. So at the very least, the rot goes all the way through the upper echelons of this administration (but we already knew that) to the military and beyond. We sort of knew that, too, prior to this episode, but I don’t think we knew how bad it had gotten and how even the most basic principles of the military had been abandoned.
But again, we are left with the same fools vs. knaves dilemma, restated this way: are they all just looking out for the own careers, the gaining of more power, and the furtherance of their leftist/woke politics? Or is it worse? Are they criminally treasonous, out to utterly destroy this country rather than merely transform it into some leftist establishment?
That I have to ask these questions is unutterably sad. But events dictate them.
1. American elite, including the U.S. military, is now stuffed to the brim with mediocrities. And mediocrity doesn’t just describe intellect but character.
2. The British press is reporting that Prime Minister Boris Johnson tried to contact Biden to talk about Afghanistan and Biden didn’t respond until a day and a half later.
So, while Biden obviously still has some good moments, there are obviously either moments where he’s all but non-functional or the people around him are terrified he could become non-functional if pressed too hard.
That means we’ve got a decision-maker who can’t be reasoned or argued with. Notice in all the reports of the supposed briefings Biden got on the likelihood of Afghanistan’s collapse, I don’t believe we’ve heard about ANY sort of argument or strong exchange of words. Now combine that with a military and intelligence community that just spent the previous four years undermining and almost openly defying their Commander-in-Chief.
A compromised leader gave an order to mediocre subordinates who have gotten used to not following orders. That’s the best I can come up with.
Mike
This is a difficult one to answer. I think it is some of both fool and knave. Biden has a long public history of misreading foreign policy situations, and for poor decision making when it comes to strategic issues. He has also shown himself to be callous and uncaring about others, foreign and domestic. So I think he decided to do this regardless of the consequences, and didn’t care.
As for those advising him, they clearly misunderstood and misread the reality on the ground in Afghanistan – they were completely surprised at the way this played out.
Expecting them to do the honorable thing and resign is unrealistic, I doubt they understand and believe they did anything wrong.
Fool? Knave?
Why are we still talking about this??
…Anyway, it looks like the words “lie” and “liar” have been transformed:
https://nypost.com/2021/08/18/the-media-refuse-to-call-biden-a-liar-on-afghanistan-despite-the-evidence-unlike-what-they-did-with-trump/
Yes, “lie” has definitely been rehabilitated:
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/468744/
And so have “restore international reputation”:
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/468760/
(OTOH just change “restore” to “transform”…)
And this is kinda cute (but no, NOT the Bee):
https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2021/08/18/socialist-magazine-founder-fires-staff-for-socialist-organizing-confesses-he-felt-ownership-of-what-hed-made-n409945
Looks like for “Biden”, redefining words is all the rage; though not as popular as simply ignoring Afghanistan…and hoping it will all go away.
“Biden” really ought to—officially—create a Department of Magical Thinking. Problem there is that it will be hard, if not impossible, to choose a person to head it…since there are so many overqualified Democrats to choose from. (No doubt he’ll hire all of them to head it, since that would obviously work in this case.)
MBunge:
Then why would they follow his orders, if they were used to not following orders? His orders were obviously disastrous on the face of it. At the very least, the consequences were bound to embarrass them. The obviousness of the disaster is what makes it hard to understand except in terms of malign intent.
My hunch is: both.
There is no question incompetence is legion in our Elites; including politicians, government functionaries and military brass. There is also no question our elite institutions ascribe to policies that are at odds with reality.
However, I think there is a cabal of knaves encouraging this. For example, I don’t think General Milley is in on the grift, but I think people who are know if you promote someone like Milley to lead an institution and imbue that institution with PC and Woke mandates, a man like Milley will wreak exactly the type of havoc desired.
Many, many more fools than knaves, but a few knaves flipping switches and greasing gears.
On the RMS Titanic: women and children first, captain and crew last. A ship run by honorable men who took their duty seriously.
On the USS Biden: captain and crew first, women and children last. A dishonest, greedy, power mad crew with only their own careers and interests in mind.
In a move that will probably surprise no one here, I’ll argue for “fools.”
These people are not used to having their ideas challenged. Look at how defensive Biden was under very mild questioning from Stephanopoulos. I recall that Tom Friedman did an interview around 2004 or 2005 with progressive Muslim students who were repeating all of the popular progressive bromides of the time about how awful the US war on terror was. Friedman nodded along, but then pointed out that the folks who flew airplanes into buildings on 9/11 were Muslims purporting to act in the name of Islam and that it was not unforeseeable or per se unreasonable that the US would react. The students just sat there stone-faced.
It’s been a decade and a half since anyone not on the right has been able to offer even that mild a criticism of leftist thought without being written off as a bigot or worse. To conclude that all of one’s adversaries are dirty racists is also to give oneself permission to ignore all criticism. When all criticism becomes illegitimate, is it really surprising that folks will begin to believe crazy things about easy solutions?
I think Biden, Obama, etc. really convinced themselves that we were the entire problem in the Middle East and that peace would break out as soon as we left.
Bauxite, Joe Biden doesn’t know his son and brother were being handed wheelbarrows full of cash from foreign interests? No idea. Didn’t get any cut on the take?
Obama didn’t understand what Rezko was doing? Believes Michelle earned her book deal based on her stellar, Princeton thesis?
Lara Logan on tucher Carlson suggested the Pakistan ISI were collaborating with the Deep State and wanted this to happen: https://www.facebook.com/TuckerCarlsonTonight/videos/367782578125633/
Made plausible by meeting between NSA, ISI bigwigs just before this happened.
…. meeting between NSA, ISI bigwigs just before this happened:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1637362
Woke or not, those at top levels must realize how cognitively compromised Biden is. Much of leading is staying on top of things, taking names and kicking ass as necessary. Biden is incapable of this.
With a leadership vacuum, slackness sets in and turf infighting replaces Doing the Job. Of course, all the woke crap makes it worse.
I don’t get the sense of malevolent knavery, just a lot of “not my problem” and “I guess it will work out.”
If the key military leverage that the US had in Afghanistan was air power, turning over Bagram airbase to the Afghans in early July (evidently without giving them much advance notice or coordinating plans) was a big mistake. It would have made a lot more sense to defend and use our own airbase to ferry out the tens of thousands of civilian support personnel before pulling the last of the troops. The thinking on our side had to have been that the Taliban wouldn’t get to Kabul for several more months.
I’m usually a believer in Hanlon’s Razor, i.e. Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. But in this case I have to ask Cui Bono?
It would help if we knew exactly who was running things.
“Then why would they follow his orders, if they were used to not following orders?”
They didn’t. That’s why this mess happened. Remember, getting out of Afghanistan was set in motion by Trump. I have ZERO doubt the initial expectation was that Biden would reverse course and stay in Afghanistan. I think that left the military and spooks to do the absolute bare minimum to get out while remaining mostly in denial about what was happening.
And let’s be real. Does anyone think Biden was getting regular updates on the status of our Afghanistan withdrawal plans? Does anyone think he was regularly asking questions or applying any pressure?
Remember, Don Rumsfeld literally did believe we could go into Iraq, take out or severely damage the military/governing structure that had been running the country for decades, then almost immediately get out while some alternative security/governing force magically arose out of the populace. And Don Rumsfeld was a man of genuine merit.
I would bet money that whenever issues like getting civilians out or what to do about military equipment in Afghanistan came up, the reflex was to think “Ah…we got time to worry about that later” because none of the people in charge of getting out actually wanted to get out and no one was putting any heat on them to do their damn jobs.
Mike
Anyone remember the MTS Oceanos?
Previously I thought incompetence, but as it continues with French and British working to get their people out, this looks more like a planned result. Add in our southern border, and continuing Wuflu, someone is trying to collapse the country. Look to Soros minions i would guess.
Remember, Don Rumsfeld literally did believe we could go into Iraq, take out or severely damage the military/governing structure that had been running the country for decades, then almost immediately get out while some alternative security/governing force magically arose out of the populace.
His plan was that the Iraqi military would provide security and a new general more palatable to the American people would replace Saddam.
Unfortunately the leader of a war profiteering chicken hawk family from Wyoming decided against the original plan and behind the banks of Bush, Rumsfield and Blair decided to disband the Iraqi army and unemployed or the bureaucrats including those who just members of the Ba’ath party for job sake.
American elite, including the U.S. military, is now stuffed to the brim with mediocrities. And mediocrity doesn’t just describe intellect but character.
Christopher Rufo has published some correspondence he’s received of one Stephen Squeri, CEO of American Express. Their HR people designed a program of harassment and gaslighting directed at white employees. Rufo has been collecting written material on the program from employees who were forced to participate. Squeri, when answering an inquiry about it (the name of the customer who inquired is blanked out, but the man must have juice if Squeri is responding from his personal e-mail account) lies through his teeth.
Steven Sailer and Dennis Prager have been writing about this recently. The dynamics of competition in institutions have over a period of 30 years generated in institutional leadership a claque of people who lie like other people breathe, who can hardly begin to ask themselves whether a statement is true or false. Business leaders, politicians, journalists, higher ed administrators, public health officialdom, the military flag rank officers, your local school board and school administrators are all chronic liars.
The thinking on our side had to have been that the Taliban wouldn’t get to Kabul for several more months.
James S:
Last night I read a Ranger reaming the Biden administration for Afghanistan. He said he was trained to make plans for if things work out for the best, for the worst, and the most likely in between. It was clear Biden’s people did not have a plan for the worst.
If Kabul had held to the end of the month, the withdrawal would have worked out “good enough.”
The second problem was the inability of the Biden team to respond as it became obvious things were going sideways.
His generals should have resigned rather than obey such orders. They did not, nor are they doing so now.
Perhaps there’s a complex combination of ignorance and delusion going on here. Maybe these generals decided to not believe what their subordinates were telling them? Or they simply chose to interpret the situation in an unrealistically optimistic way?
And now that everything has gone to hell, perhaps they’re hoping that they won’t ever be held to account? Is Biden going to fire them? Probably not, unless things get much worse (which is certainly possible) as doing so would be like admitting that things aren’t at all going well. Biden seems reluctant to accept any responsibility here. He’s not taking any questions other than a very softball interview with Stephanopoulos who is widely know to be the friendliest possible creature to any (D) administration.
So perhaps these generals are hoping to ride it out and keep their cushy positions, like Andrew Cuomo hoped to do. Maybe it’s a little delusional, but maybe not.
How realistic is it to expect any accountability from this administration? I guess it depends on how bad things get for them. If things continue to worsen, and Bidens numbers continue to crater, only then will some heads roll.
At this point my guess is that they’re perhaps 80% fools and 20% knaves. This complete disaster really isn’t in their interest, it doesn’t benefit them. But they didn’t care enough to prevent it, and now they’re hoping to ride it out.
Unfortunately the leader of a war profiteering chicken hawk family from Wyoming decided against the original plan and behind the banks of Bush, Rumsfield and Blair decided to disband the Iraqi army and unemployed or the bureaucrats including those who just members of the Ba’ath party for job sake.
The decision was made by Paul Bremer, a quondam Foreign Service officer retired into the consulting business. He reported to Donald Rumsfeld. Mr. Bremer had no particular association with Richard Cheney. The one name figure within the political establishment he did have such an association with was Henry Kissinger.
Exactly who in Richard Cheney’s family qualifies as a ‘chicken-hawk’?
Lara Logan was great! She should be National Security Adviser or Secretary of State.
The fact is that probably 200 people need to be fired over this and I doubt a single person will be. That’s a huge, huge problem.
I like a good conspiracy theory more than the next guy, but I don’t see it for Afghanistan.
Right now, the left controls the White House, Congress, a surprising amount of the military, the media, academia and big tech. They’ve got their boots on the rest of our necks.
However, this horrifying display of incompetence jeopardizes their control. The elections in 2022 and 2024 were already looking iffy. Unless the master knave plan requires Democrats being beaten badly, I don’t see it.
Why did they allow this to happen?
Because this is the result they wanted.
But first, who is they? They are the actors in the deep state that actually want to stay in Afghanistan. These people have a vested interest in a continuing US military presence there. See, if you want to fix this problem with all those Americans stranded in Afghanistan you’ll want to send troops back to secure Bagram and other areas. It’s the forever war.
And all those Americans stranded there are merely useful idiots. What kind of depraved mind doesn’t care about Americans? Follow the money…those who will profit from lengthy arms supply contracts. They don’t want the gravy train to end.
But, but, they will be blamed, ostracized, prosecuted. Don’t be naive. If there’s anything we’ve learned from the last 5 years is that the deep state protects their own.
Prediction…many of officers in charge of this debacle will retire before they can be called to account by the senate.
Another useful idiot will take the blame instead. Joe Biden.
And why let a perfectly good crisis go to waste?
I’m reminded of the The Far Side cartoon: “Yes, they’re all fools, gentlemen … But the question remains, ‘What KIND of fools are they?'”
https://ifunny.co/meme/yes-they-re-all-fools-gentlemen-but-the-question-remains-39jJULoI2
In the case of the incompetent Afghan withdrawal, it’s almost impossible to separate foolishness from knavery. The woketarian Left now has unbelievable power over the country’s institutions. In this instance, the relevant institutions include the military, the administrative state, the security and intelligence services, and their propaganda arm (media and social media).
They have no real opposition, and the only reason they get out of bed in the morning is to expand their bureaucratic kingdoms. The tiniest peep of opposition gets attacked as racist or bigoted. This gives rise to the political strategy of “no one to the left of me.” Given these driving forces, how can we get good government, diplomacy, strategy, tactics, etc. “Good” has been redefined — or more accurately, “successful” has been redefined. Biden is a success. Austin is a success. Milley is a success. As long as they keep moving to the left, they’ll continue to be successes. In their world, the Afghan withdrawal is not a failure. All that bad noise will die down, and their careers will float ever upward.
Avi, I believe that you are completely off base. I know it is fashionable in some quarters to blame Cheney for everything since the dawn of time; but, it was Colin Powell and Dick Armitage who ended up calling the signals after the successful campaign to overthrow Sadaam. After all, conventional wisdom dictates that the military fights the war, the Stated department manages the peace. Or mismanages in the case of Iraq.
Interesting stories out today that McCain officially called Blinken a danger to the country, and to the men and women who served, when Obama nominated him for Under Secretary in 2014. Now, he is in an even better position to do harm. BTW, Blinken was on record saying that Afghanistan would be finished in 2014. Deep state personified.
Supplementing “Dorothy Hooks” links above re: Lara Logan / Tucker Carlson –
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2021/08/18/lara-logan-carries-a-big-trumpet-about-afghanistan-if-the-u-s-government-wanted-it-to-be-different-it-would-be/#more-215573
Yes to huxley’s comment about planning from the Ranger. The administration, and Biden, appear to have engaged in magical thinking. We mean well, getting out is the right thing to do, and it will be fine. Sprinkle fairy dust!
See the graphic here, comparing a halfway sensible person’s Afghanistan withdrawal plan, and what the Biden gang actually did, with their “plan” ending in “magic.”
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/468798/
None of us know enough to be sure, so any guess is as good as another.
My guess is that, 1) Biden was allowed to make the decision.
2) Austin and Milley advised against it but not strongly, they both think first and last about career. As bucking the powers that be would ensure that there would be no corporate sinecure awaiting them.
3) This debacle is intended to credibly force Biden out. Thousands of American hostages will ensure Biden’s departure.
The Taliban have given our people till 9/11 to get out. Present estimates are that 10-15k Americans are in country. Austin admitted that we have no capability to go get those Americans. No way are we going to be able to get out more than a few thousand out, if that.
4) The VP that Harris will be directed to nominate will prove to be her permanent replacement. They know she can’t handle the job. That replacement will be a combination of Cuomo and Obama. Who do they have with the needed smarts and ruthless hate for America?
What’s next, video of the Cloth Headed Dummy smoking crack on Hunter’s laptop? How bad can these maroons be?
“Who do they have with the needed smarts and ruthless hate for America?”
Hillary for one.
Kate:
OMG. Jennifer Rubin is asking one of our questions!
That’s spooky.
Huxley, yes, when he’s lost Jake Tapper and Jennifer Rubin, it’s bad.
And her question is a very good one. The Brits and the French (!!) are running sorties out of the airport to rescue their people. Why aren’t we? US troops are reportedly forbidden to venture out of the airport, and Americans are unable to break through the Taliban cordon to get in.
Wow… Hillary! Well, she has the ‘qualifications’ they require. Somehow I doubt that she and Harris would tolerate each other. But then Harris might have an accident. Some “domestic terrorists” get their hands on a Javelin and take out Airforce One just as its taking off or landing.
“US troops are reportedly forbidden to venture out of the airport, and Americans are unable to break through the Taliban cordon to get in.” Kate
Orders from the highest of levels…
geoffb; Geoffrey Britain:
What about appointing Obama? The 22nd Amendment may not forbid him being appointed VP and then succeeding to the presidency. It only mentions a third election being prohibited. It’s not clear how the courts would decide.
This debacle didn’t come about through stupidity and incompetence, it was allowed to happen by Biden’s handlers and the One World Wonders that run this administration. What a great cover for getting billions of dollars of advanced weaponry into the hands of their friends; thousands of Americans that can be held for ransom or used as bargaining chips and, what’s more, the opportunity to airlift thousands and thousands more Muslims into the US as refugees. Make way Hairbrush, Nebraska, here come your new neighbors. This wasn’t Biden’s doing. This was the workings of his handlers and other BHO types who ache to change the racial make up this country with all its emphasis on self sacrifice, hard work, delayed gratification, competency, self worth, success and other hated ‘white’ values and cultural norms.
We are hostages now to the Taliban. Every night there will be beheadings and torture shown on national TV and the Net. Our national network of discourse will be focused on this one scintillating topic. No president can stand this nightly humiliation,
The only way out now is to reverse course and go back into the only Afghan airport that remains under our military control, the Hamid Karsai International Airport. We have to start a new Afghan Recovery War and make this a honeypot for all the Taliban in the Kabul region. From this sizzling new war, we have to spread out special forces and start bringing in ALIARs (Americans left in Afghanistan and related people). This will require dropping new communication devices to ALIARS spread over the countryside and trying to collect them into groups suitable for sneak fast helicopter transportation to the Airport. Much at night. It will be super exciting stuff.
Once we get ALIARS out, we can leave Afghanistan forever and start messing around with any nuclei of international terrorism that will germinate in Afghanistan like ISIS or Al Quada….using our B-52’s and space weapons and directed rocketry.
“This wasn’t Biden’s doing.” Maybe, but he is the head carbuncle of the junta so apportion the scorn, mockery, derision, and disgust to all involved, starting with the Big Guy and moving on down to all his multitude of minions. I would include Dr. Jill in the cast of minions. His are not the amusing, cute minions from Hollywood IMO.
@neo:
True, I hadn’t considered that.
Though reading through the entire 25th it seems such a clumsy thing that I don’t see them managing to remove him using it.
[scene: Pentagon Planning Department office. Wall calendar says March, 2021]
Col. SUBORDINATE: [puts last sheet in binder labeled “EVAC PLAN”]
[enter Gen. MILLEY]
Col. S: Oh, General, I just finished…
Gen. M: [interrupting] Colonel, you know that we in the Pentagon and the folks over at State think it’s a bad time to get out of Afghanistan. You understand that, right, Colonel?
Col. S: Um, yessir.
Gen. M: As I thought. Now, I’m about to meet with the President, and he’s probably going to ask if we have any evacuation plans. Do we have any completed evacuation plans, Colonel?
Col. S: Um, … [pauses, sweeps binder off desk into wastebasket] … no?
Gen. M: That’s what I thought. Good day, Colonel.
[later, the Situation Room]
Pres. BIDEN: General, I really want to get out of Afganistan right now, and I don’t really care what we have to do to get it done.
Gen. MILLEY: Mr. President, we talked about this before, we and the folks over at State…
Pres. B: [petulant] No! I want out NOW.
Gen. M: Sir, we’ve been working on plans but nothing’s completed yet…
Pres. B: [suddenly raging] I don’t care what we have to do! Get us out or I’ll have you keelhauled!
Gen. M: Uh, sir, that’s really a Navy thing…
Pres. B: KEEL. HAULED.
Gen. M: Yessir. Right away, sir.
What about appointing Obama? The 22nd Amendment may not forbid him being appointed VP and then succeeding to the presidency.
I believe Biden would have to resign or the Vice presidency remains occupied. BTW, the 12th Amendment has this phrase “But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.”
Ok…Art Deco just saved me from day drinking by digging that phrase out of the 12th Amendment. The mere mention of 0 back on White House grounds was about to send me over the edge & into the liquor cabinet.
But I’m wondering about the wiggle room around that word “election.”
Incompetence. It is legion. It’s tempting to single out individuals and groups and put the boot in for one’s own partisan personal satisfaction. I love nothing more myself with my morning coffee.
But objectively it’s more incompetence. The West has not been selecting for competence in just about any field for a generation and in some for rather longer. Our Elites are utterly rotten and self-absorbed. To get into their psychopathologies and reality disconnects would take too long and besides it’s all been said here before by many of us.
Knavery will always be with us. Root cause of West’s current ills are its elites *and their belief systems* — they will simply have to go, one way or the other.
Dem / Repub
US / Russia + China
My Pet Economic Theory / Yours
These are all Look! Ponies!
China and Russia are going to take advantage of Western disarray. That’s a given. Events of the past days suggest that it would be better to clean house at home and regroup before going for a picnic in the Teutoburg Forest or steaming full ahead for Tsushima.
“Why did they allow this to happen?
Because this is the result they wanted.”
I’m fully on board here.
Once you get the American Empire in freefall though, who steps in as figurehead? I’m not seeing The Grand Pantsuited Zombie coming out of retirement & I damn sure know no one wants to leave Willy Brown’s Best Friend in the job too long…she’s just insufferable.
So who do they move to the head of the queue?
Permit me to introduce you to Generaloberst Kurt Freiherr von Hammerstein-Equord who will now opine on the proper selection of Officers for senior postings:
“I distinguish four types. There are clever, hardworking, stupid, and lazy officers. Usually two characteristics are combined. Some are clever and hardworking; their place is the General Staff. The next ones are stupid and lazy; they make up 90 percent of every army and are suited to routine duties. Anyone who is both clever and lazy is qualified for the highest leadership duties, because he possesses the mental clarity and strength of nerve necessary for difficult decisions. ***One must beware of anyone who is both stupid and hardworking; he must not be entrusted with any responsibility because he will always only cause damage.***”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_von_Hammerstein-Equord
Now you never see this when BCG and McKinsey come calling with their PowerPoint slides.
They’re knaves, the lot of them. And fools. But, chiefly, knaves.
Zaphod:
Good stuff! When I first saw the name, I thought you were making it up. But no.
Fascinating fellow. Actually managed to oppose Hitler and help Jews without being killed. He was relieved of his duties for his “negative attitude towards National Socialism”. Though the Gestapo kept an eye on him.
Died of cancer in 1943.
How did he show up on your radar?
@Huxley:
He may not show up much on BCG and McKinsey’s Pathological PowerPoint slides, but you can be sure he regularly stars in my Kraptaculous Keynote presentations! 🙂
It’s a name which sticks in the memory. I can’t remember where I first learned of him. But would have been back in the Golden Years of Blogging post 9-11 via someone else’s blog post or comment.
Have you ever seen the great Peter Norvig’s Gettysburg PowerPoint?
http://www.norvig.com/Gettysburg/
Zaphod:
Yeah, that’s pretty much how I figured Lincoln did the Gettyburg Address!
…Golden Years of Blogging post 9-11 via someone else’s blog post or comment.
Sounds like the sort of nugget Steven Den Beste might have pulled out of his bag of tricks at USS Clueless. RIP.
huxley:
There were a lot of milblogs in the early 2000s and that’s where I recall the warning about energetic stupid officers being an asset for the enemy, that and the “Good Idea Fairy.” And of course the “PowerPoint Rangers.”
“But I’m wondering about the wiggle room around that word ‘election.’ ”
Probably wiggles just like “a tax” did when certain pressures are brought to bear.
“wiggles just like ‘a tax'” – Yeah…cause for great concern.
It’s afternoon now…I can drink.
Xi and Putin are now more convinced than ever that we are now a soft, rich target.
Putin is caggy enough to realize though that assuming that we’re finished is at best premature. I expect him to get aggressive and bring the Ukraine under his ‘protection’.
Xi however may have embraced the view that Hitler reportedly had of Americans in 1939. When the CCP takes Taiwan with no meaningful consequences, it will encourage Xi to envision further ‘adventures’.
@GB:
I don’t think Xi wants Hawaii. He might have the complexion of a pineapple, but he doesn’t live on them. Pots of honey are more his thing.
If he wants anything else not called Alaska, why should you care?
Americans caring (whether out of cynicism or pure hearts depending whom) about fates other foreign peoples and then bitching about their inevitable ingratitude is on the same level as Hitler in the Bunker complaining that the Germans weren’t worthy of his greatness and efforts on their behalf. Yes. America is not Hitler. Still: Just. Stop.
Leave Winnie the Pooh alone long enough and he’ll have to move on Eastern Siberia. That’ll be one for the ages. Watch it on Netflix.
You’ll be too busy doing what I’m not allowed to discuss here to even notice anyway, by that point.
Since the current establishment is so hopeless, why not simply outsource it to guys who can Get Things Done?
https://www.unz.com/pgiraldi/israels-secret-arsenal-its-not-so-secret-anymore/
Interesting article in Unherd https://unherd.com/2021/08/the-intellectual-who-lost-afghanistan/
The Swamp wants endless war. A successful exit, even with a later Taliban takeover was not likely to provide it. They will try to turn this into a reason to go back in, it is hard to know how it will play out.
However, even though the Swamp thinks it is the USA it is not. The Boomer Democrat Party is running out of people. The Fit is hitting the Shan.
Back to an unlikely but interesting possibility: Biden leaves, Kamala is unable to get her choice for VP approved. GOP takes both Houses with huge majorities, Trump is elected Speaker, Kamala resigns or is impeached, Trump returns with Desantis as VP.
Zaphod
Philip Giraldi is an insane anti Semite who belongs in a straitjacket.
Geoffrey Britain: “Putin is cag[e]y enough to realize though that assuming that we’re finished is at best premature. I expect him to get aggressive and bring the Ukraine under his ‘protection’.”
The Baltic states may be on that menu as well. Could be a replay of 1939-1940, only faster and more “kinetic” this time. Ironic, since Estonian intelligence played a crucial role in getting Russiagate started. Here’s former USN intelligence officer J.E. Dyer of Liberty Unyielding from January of this year:
“Also this week, the entire cabinet of Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas resigned due to a corruption scandal. The president of Estonia has asked the leader of the opposition party, Kaja Kallas, to put together a new government.
It is a peculiar coincidence that Estonian intelligence, alongside that of Italy and the Netherlands, figured with remarkable prominence in the allegations about Russia interfering in the U.S. election, and in particular that Trump and/or his team was involved, in 2016.
Ratas was not the prime minister at the time. He took office in November 2016 (months after the allegations from Estonia were reportedly forwarded to John Brennan). Then-president Toomas Hendrik Ilves, the close associate of George Soros, left office in December 2016, shortly after Ratas assumed office.”
Source: https://libertyunyielding.com/2021/01/16/trumps-end-of-term-another-dead-cat-bounce-in-the-operational-sequence-of-events/
Philip Giraldi is an insane anti Semite who belongs in a straitjacket.
I think ‘weird’ and ‘sinister’ are better descriptors for him. IIRC, he claims to be a CIA veteran. They can sure pick ’em.
well he does have his tells, maybe hanging around turkey, in the 00s, but he had some interesting leads re the awan bros, the legend of the apollo plant, is old news,
“Exactly who in Richard Cheney’s family qualifies as a ‘chicken-hawk’?
is that a serious question?
and Cheney overrode everyone and disbanded the Iraqi Army
5000 dead Americans later , but he and his war profiteering friends did well.
and Bremer teaches skiing
@ Dick Illyes “Interesting article in Unherd”
https://unherd.com/2021/08/the-intellectual-who-lost-afghanistan/
A very good essay about Ghani – biographical, analytical, and drily witty.
Author Will Lloyd is skeptical about the stories of his escape by cash-loaded chopper, but I agree with this comment:
Samir Iker:
That story about the helicopter full of cash sounds really funny.
But I will only believe it is true if the NYT refuses to cover it, Twitter bans anyone who mentions it and Snopes publishes a report stating it was “mostly false”