Withdrawal Will Not Be Another Defeat Like Vietnam
- Thread starter Flanders
- Start date
To Iolo/Penderyn: Learn the difference:
1. Capitalism is an economic system that works to perfection for the most people in a severely limited form of government.
2. Socialism is a form of government that works for the least number of people.
3. Socialism and capitalism are, and always will be, incompatible.
2. Socialism is a form of government that works for the least number of people.
3. Socialism and capitalism are, and always will be, incompatible.
https://www.justplainpolitics.com/s...mes-The-Debate-For-2020&p=2981478#post2981478
Geeko Sportivo
Verified User
Opie this is the epitome of OVERTHINKING IT!
I want my 5 minutes back it took me the time I wasted just to read it- and then the time to just try to make some kind of intelligent sense out of all the psychobabble!
Your making wild assessments and jumping to conclusions about things way over your head in order to play out your slanted political narratives.
IN OTHER WORDS YOUR THREAD IS MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING!
WHOOP-WHOOP-DITTY-DITTY-DO!
Hilarious!
I want my 5 minutes back it took me the time I wasted just to read it- and then the time to just try to make some kind of intelligent sense out of all the psychobabble!
Your making wild assessments and jumping to conclusions about things way over your head in order to play out your slanted political narratives.
IN OTHER WORDS YOUR THREAD IS MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING!
WHOOP-WHOOP-DITTY-DITTY-DO!
Hilarious!
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Socialism does not exist. the countries rightys call socialist are capitalistic. They have companies and the people work at jobs like we do here. the difference is what the government does with the taxes. The ones we call Socialistic provide universal healthcare and free education. We privatize that to make profits. Anything that helps the people instead of the masters is labelled with the socialist tag. Yet we shop at Ikea, use Samsung phones, but Volvos and see Scandinavian goods everywhere we go. The idea that there are socialistic countries and we somehow are superior to them is a Repub, wealthy construct not based in fact.
To Nordberg: I will make it simple for you.
Socialism attempts to govern by the tax collector’s morality.
Socialism/Communism is a collectivist form of government. Howard Roarke defines why it cannot survive.
https://www.justplainpolitics.com/showthread.php?108284-The-Labor-Union-Myth&p=2760359#post2760359
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U.N. allies are throwing China Joe under the bus:
The B.S. is already higher than Mount Everest:
British MP Tom Tugenhadt addressed the British Parliament on Aug. 18, 2021
(Video screenshot)
https://www.wnd.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/tom-tugenhadt.jpg
The Washington Examiner's Tom Rogan observed that British parliamentarians "are realizing that Biden's inaugural address pledge to be a 'strong and trusted partner' and 'repair our alliances' might not be worth all that much."
U.S. allies rebuke 'shameful' Biden
By Art Moore
Published August 19, 2021 at 7:30pm
https://www.wnd.com/2021/08/u-s-allies-rebuke-shameful-biden/
Biden is covering up for a United Nations war to be sure, but I would not trust anything the Brits say about “allies”:
https://www.justplainpolitics.com/s...Protect-Hillary-Clinton&p=3403869#post3403869
Democrats will never admit that the United Nations lost the war in Afghanistan. Regardless of how media spins it, or how many Americans died fighting in a United Nations war, the New World Order crowd will never allow the United Nations to take the blame for a military defeat:
The New World Order crowd will even kick their pet monkey, China Joe Biden, under the bus before they tarnish the U.N.’s war record.
The B.S. is already higher than Mount Everest:
British MP Tom Tugenhadt addressed the British Parliament on Aug. 18, 2021
(Video screenshot)
https://www.wnd.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/tom-tugenhadt.jpg
The Washington Examiner's Tom Rogan observed that British parliamentarians "are realizing that Biden's inaugural address pledge to be a 'strong and trusted partner' and 'repair our alliances' might not be worth all that much."
U.S. allies rebuke 'shameful' Biden
By Art Moore
Published August 19, 2021 at 7:30pm
https://www.wnd.com/2021/08/u-s-allies-rebuke-shameful-biden/
Biden is covering up for a United Nations war to be sure, but I would not trust anything the Brits say about “allies”:
Let me add that Australia has always been this country’s most loyal ally in war and in peace not the UK as the Vietnam War proved. The UK fought with us in Korea because it was a United Nations POLICE ACTION. The UK did not fight with the U.S. in Vietnam because the U.N. did not sanction that war.
https://www.justplainpolitics.com/s...Protect-Hillary-Clinton&p=3403869#post3403869
cancel2 2022
Canceled
Iolo/Penderyn
Verified User
Capitalism, kid, exists by robbing the majority of the fruits of their labours, obviously. How else do thieving capitalists get control of government?
Socialism is NOT a form of government. Without exploitation you don't need one.
Yes, socialism and capitalism, like democracy and capitalism, are totally incompatible.
To Primavera: Thanks for reminding me of his gift.
The numbers are staggering when you compare Afghanistan to Vietnam where every American got out:
Now, just in perspective, understand that the French and the British are actually going out and extracting their citizens in Kabul and bringing them back. The French. But the Biden folks aren’t letting the military do that because of the “deal” with the Taliban about “safe passage” to the airport, according to reports. Meanwhile, many can’t get through despite that claim of “safe passage.” It’s madness. Biden is acceding to the Taliban, yet again.
French and Brits Are Rescuing Their Citizens in Kabul, but Here's What Americans Were Hearing
By Nick Arama
Aug 19, 2021 10:15 PM ET
https://redstate.com/nick-arama/202...but-heres-what-americans-were-hearing-n429862
Frankly, I believe China Joe wants Americans killed by the Taliban. What better way to resurrect the U.N.’s war than on the bodies of a few thousand Americans killed by Muslim terrorists?
I cannot decide if Biden adopted the sacrificial strategy on his own, or from his U.N.-loving bureaucrats, or if it came straight from United Nations planners.
To Iolo/Penderyn: You are clearly too stupid to grasp the difference between an economic system and a form of government. So I put together a list of thoughts and observations about Socialism, religion, and charity. You should find at least one thought you can grasp instead of spouting the usual talking points.
My observations are in no particular order of importance:
unfrock
verb (used with object)
1. to deprive (a monk, priest, minister, etc.) of ecclesiastical rank, authority, and function; depose.
2. to divest or strip of a frock.
Also, defrock.
Defrocked clerics are forever disgraced in the eyes of their congregations. So it is with Democrats in high office except that no matter the disgrace they retain the authority to loot the poor box (tax dollars).
NOTE: I capitalize the words Socialist, Socialism, Communist, Communism for the same reason every religion is capitalized: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.
Socialism is a religion. Democrats are Socialists.
Socialism is a theocratic form of government. Socialists go so far as to say that Socialism is an economic system. After years of debating Socialists, I am too tired to repeat the countless ways Socialism is a theocracy.
Supporters of the Paris Climate Accord made my case. Socialists once again attempted to make their case by defending the global warming fraud on economic grounds. They never make their case by defending sovereignty or individual liberties.
NOTE: The pandemic fraud parasites will get trillions more than the climate change parasites will ever see.
Democrats piss into the wind regardless of the stupid things they say because they have no choice. Socialism’s ideology made them tax dollar wealthy. Global warming garbage was designed to make the Socialist priesthood wealthy beyond the wildest dreams of every priesthood that ever lived. For all of their lies and moralizing one fact remains: SOCIALISM IS A TYRANNICAL RELIGION:
religion (noun)
Abbr. rel., relig.
1. a. Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe. b. A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship.
2. The life or condition of a person in a religious order.
3. A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader.
4. A cause, a principle, or an activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion.
I would add:
5. A set of beliefs, a cause, a spiritual devotion to acquiring enormous wealth without contributing anything of value.
I will forever be grateful to the environmental movement for one thing. I am finally seeing Socialism/Communism being defined as a religion on television, and on reputable social media websites. The major change in reporting will not force liberals to defend Socialism as a religion. They will continue to spout the glory of this or that welfare state program, tax dollar funded equality, global obligations, and so on. There is no end to the list of garbage Socialists can turn into a moral imperative.
Incidentally, preventing manmade global warming is a relatively new tenet in the tax collector’s pantheon of morals. Happy to say that President Trump walking away from the Paris Climate Accord challenged the foundation of Socialism’s doctrine:
doctrine (noun)
1. A principle or body of principles presented for acceptance or belief, as by a religious, political, scientific, or philosophic group; dogma.
2. A rule or principle of law, especially when established by precedent.
3. A statement of official government policy, especially in foreign affairs and military strategy.
4. Archaic. Something taught; a teaching.
Let me add every Socialist’s reliance on coerced charity to my argument.
Socialists everywhere can rest easy. Neither Congress nor the courts will touch coerced charity:
Charities push GOP for tax reform change
By Naomi Jagoda - 07/16/17 08:00 AM EDT
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/342154-charities-push-gop-for-tax-reform-change
By Naomi Jagoda - 07/16/17 08:00 AM EDT
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/342154-charities-push-gop-for-tax-reform-change
As a matter of fact the tax code makes every charity involuntary in that the charitable tax deduction forces everybody to fund beliefs they abhor —— most especially Socialism/Communism. In short:
To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical. Thomas Jefferson
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In 1794, when Congress appropriated $15,000 for relief of French refugees who fled from insurrection in San Domingo to Baltimore and Philadelphia, James Madison stood on the floor of the House to object saying, "I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents." James Madison, 4 Annals of congress 179 (1794)
There never was a priesthood that did not yearn for tax dollar tithing. There is no evil worse than coerced charity; that is the misuse of tax dollars. Establishment Republicans and Democrat Socialists/Communists formed an unholy alliance when they funded coerced charity through the tax code —— misnamed the welfare state.
Parenthetically, notice the definition of the noun:
International (noun)
Any of several socialist organizations of international scope formed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Who uses the word International more than Democrats/Socialists?
Charity is either voluntary or involuntary. Parasites believe in coerced charity. That exact belief system is the foundation for every organized religion’s con job. So if the First Amendment is enforced it follows that coerced charity is unconstitutional. It is as simple as that.
It is all about coerced charity. The day the government began using tax dollars to fund “love and compassion” every charity hustler in the world headed for the public trough.
The charitable tax deduction amounts to coerced charity after government parasites take their cut.
The tax collector’s morality is coerced charity because it is a penalty everyone is forced to pay.
Nobody ever discusses coerced charity in relation to the economy. That is odd because coerced charity is the economy —— charity by force has become too big to fail.
Do some research leading up to the XVI Amendment and you will not find one objection to coerced charity —— BECAUSE IT WAS NEVER DISCUSSED —— yet the income tax created today’s Parasite Class.
Voluntary Charity versus Coerced Charity is the only topic when it comes to a debate about repealing the income tax.
Charity is a career choice. As far as I know, a revokable license to practice charity is not required of individual charity hustlers the same way one needs a license to practice medicine or the law.
Every form of coerced charity orders you to put the well-being of strangers before yourself and your loved ones.
There is no greater coercion than the income tax. Not only does the income tax authorize physical coercion by forcing everyone to work for a collective economy they may not agree with —— the income tax imposes coerced charity on everyone. Ultimately, the income tax makes coercion acceptable so long as it justifies a democracy-based economy.
Socialism’s greatest philosophical achievement was in convincing compassionate Americans that coerced charity is the same thing as voluntary charity. The XVI Amendment is, by far, their greatest legislative accomplishment.
The trickiest part was telling Americans what to do rather than tell them what not to do. Once Americans accepted being told how to behave the rest of the Socialist agenda was reduced to a single objective —— replace voluntary charity with coerced charity.
NOTE: Then-Senator Harry Reid even said the income tax (coerced charity) was voluntary:
The income tax funds coerced charity; i.e. the moral justification for the welfare state and all of its inherent evils. Without income tax dollars coming in two results are inevitable:
1. The welfare state cannot be maintained. In other words individuals will not be forced to fund charities, religions, and political causes not of their own choosing. (See the Eric Hoffer quote following my signature.)
2. A tax system for the SOLE purpose of funding necessary government will replace the income tax.
Coerced charity’s success depends upon the public accepting government bureaucrats as morally superior.
The Peace Corps was one of the first coerced charities where the public was forced into paying “volunteers” with tax dollars. “Volunteer” organizations like Americorps is also paid tax dollars. That is in addition to the countless domestic and foreign charities American taxpayers are forced to fund.
Individual liberties was the engine responsible for America’s greatness ——not coerced charity or democracy.
Democracy is a horrible form of government to those who have freedom to lose. Tyranny must follow when absolute political power ends in the hands of the few who distribute coerced charity tax dollars.
Nowhere in Section 8 in Article 1 does it authorize the welfare state. Indeed, America’s Founders would have been appalled at spending tax dollars on coerced charity for the general welfare (liberalism’s so-called common good). Following are a few brief examples of their thinking:
With respect to the two words ‘general welfare,’ I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators. James Madison
An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among the several bodies of magistracy as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others. James Madison
Our tenet ever was that Congress had not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but were restrained to those specifically enumerated, and that, as it was never meant that they should provide for that welfare but by the exercise of the enumerated powers, so it could not have been meant they should raise money for purposes which the enumeration did not place under their action; consequently, that the specification of powers is a limitation of the purposes for which they may raise money. Thomas Jefferson letter to Albert Gallatin, 1817
If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one.... James Madison
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I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer. Benjamin Franklin
The thing that annoys me the most about government-dictated charity is that nincompoops like Nancy Pelosi and Upchuck Schumer truly believe they are more intelligent than America’s Founding Fathers:
Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government. - James Madison
The Utopian schemes of re-distribution of the wealth...are as visionary and impractical as those which vest all property in the Crown. - Samuel Adams
Only use the public purse to fund necessary government clearly enumerated in the Constitution. Philosophical interpretations of the General Welfare Clause double speaks coerced charity.
If the First Amendment continues to protect freedom-loving Americans from the evils of theocracy, it must also protect them from coerced charity.
If the permanent elimination of parasites feeding at the public trough is the goal then every form of coerced charity —— WITHOUT EXCEPTION —— must be constitutionally prohibited and enforced.
The United Nations is by far the most successful charity hustle the world has ever seen. Were I speaking instead of typing I would be permanently hoarse from all of the messages I posted about those bums at the United Nations.
Regardless of anything presidents say —— not one American tax dollar will be taken away from U.N. charity hustlers receive annually.
The ugliest document ever written is the U.N.’s 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is the most devious compendium of coerced charity ever devised.
The Socialist priesthood enforces coerced charity with forced taxation in order to enrich themselves. Resettling huge numbers of economic refugees ordered by the United Nations is the essence of coerced charity. Tax dollar funded charity becomes murderous when U.N. refugees kill Americans.
I do not want anybody in Washington in charge of anybody’s money. What I want is the government restricted to SPENDING the public purse only the amount required to run limited “ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY” government. Necessary does not include coerced charity or any aspect of the welfare state.
Jesus Christ never preached institutional charity. He preached individual responsibility. “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
Voluntary charity is the stuff Good Samaritans are made of. Coerced charity is the stuff dictators are made of. In that sense, I never saw a Socialist/Communist who was not afflicted with a twisted Messianic complex if there is such a thing.
Passing Good Samaritans laws on any level offers the best route to turning America into the country Democrats want. Good Samaritan laws give the government the authority to tell Americans how they must behave, in addition to further enriching the wealthiest members of the Parasite Class. (The rich always get richer when coerced charity goes up.)
The worst part of Good Samaritan laws is that they codify coerced charity. The Affordable Care Act is a Good Samaritan Law.
Trying to blend voluntary and involuntary charity does not standup to scrutiny any more than it worked blending Socialism and capitalism. Good Samaritan laws order involuntary behavior pure and simple. Every other interpretation amounts to verbal calisthenics.
Coerced charity is the most destructive force in the modern world. Throughout history parasites feasting at the public larder had more to do with bringing down every civilization, every empire, every country, every culture, than did any other factor. Coerced charity will bring down America faster than it destroyed long-forgotten cultures.
Successful societies always fail because of parasites. The more successful a society is the more the parasites demand coerced charity until they turn success into failure. There is no societal division more destructive than the one dividing coerced charity from producers. In American society that divide has been widening incrementally for a century.
The propaganda aspect of coerced charity should not be underrated. Go back to the Prohibition era for a comparison. Everyone knew that the police, judges, elected officials, etc., were on the take. The story was that Bootleggers were successful because civil servants were underpaid; ergo; they were susceptible to bribes. Yet today’s government propaganda tells us that overpaid government officials are as pure as Snow White. That image does not stand up to scrutiny.
The education industry has the most money, and the most political clout, being used to implement coerced charity in today’s America. Frankly, I cannot see how any case about the education industry cannot include coerced charity along with all of the rest of the harm the education industry is responsible for.
Ironically, Communist regimes hate organized religions, while they strengthen charity hustlers. If Socialism is about anything it is about coerced charity; hence, Communists will always be in a pickle because they must ensure obedience to the very institution they want to destroy.
Lay Christians obviously believe that coerced charity will eliminate the poor. Proof: LBJ’s War on Poverty clearly refutes Jesus’s wisdom, yet a substantial number of Christians support the welfare state. One cannot agree with coerced charity while proclaiming their love for Jesus.
I do not intend to debate the teachings of Jesus Christ. I am simply pointing out that coerced charity is the antithesis of his message.
T.J. could have been talking about Socialist priests who benefit the most from coerced charity:
In every country and every age, the priest had been hostile to Liberty. Thomas Jefferson
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History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance, of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes. Thomas Jefferson --Letter to Alexander von Humboldt, December 6, 1813
Income tax coercion is more about taking labor than it is about taking real property although the takings overlap in specific cases.
Labor is converted to money. Income taxes are paid with money. Wealthy tax dollar parasites pay their taxes with the labors and skills of the many without parasites having done anything of value to begin with. That applies to parasites who run businesses that are subsidized with taxes, or established and protected by favorable legislation.
There is no difference between a Bible-thumper in the White House and a self-defined spiritual leader. Both make a mockery of the First Amendment.
Organized religions lay out the path to a better life in the hereafter, but only if the path is traveled in this world. Every political movement promises Utopia on Earth.
“This concept appeared throughout history.” It will reappear every time parasites impoverish a nation they lay the foundation for next failed attempt “THE REAL THING HAS NEVER BEEN TRIED”.
Nothing will change until civilization deals with the parasite personalty —— the worker bees —— who tighten the nuts and bolts on the machinery of religion and political philosophy. They are the personalty types who did the killing for the ruling classes in the Ottoman Empire, the Soviet Union, Mao’s China, and Nazi Germany.
Socialists/Communists took credit for writing the U.S. Constitution, creating the nation’s wealth, winning WWII, and everything else that made this country great.
Why do Democrats respond to logical arguments with their beliefs, not logically derived, but memorized from the Democratic Party’s play book?
Addition:
Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst; every other species of tyranny is limited to the world we live in; but this attempts to stride beyond the grave, and seeks to pursue us into eternity. Thomas Paine
Democrat opposition to repealing the inheritance tax has finally defined Socialism as a tyrannical religion, because it too will follow you into the grave, and it does so without claiming God as an ally. Flanders
Is there anybody in the world except Xi Jingping knows they can believe everything Biden says?
On the happy, happy side: What is the world coming to when China Joe does not believe his U.N. pals?
However, the United Nations issued a report last month finding that al-Qaida is present in at least 15 provinces in Afghanistan. And, further, the U.S. no longer has assets on the ground in the country to assess the terror threat.
Biden promised G7 leaders he would keep Kabul secure
By Art Moore
Published August 20, 2021 at 7:02pm
https://www.wnd.com/2021/08/biden-promised-g7-leaders-keep-kabul-secure/
Lest I be misinterpreted, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq all met the preemptive war of self-defense criterion. In short: War policy based on what the United Nations dictates is the problem —— not wars of self-defense. Biden was always too stupid to know the difference. You can bet the family jewels that Xi Jingping knows the difference. That is why they are laughing at a different joke:
On the happy, happy side: What is the world coming to when China Joe does not believe his U.N. pals?
However, the United Nations issued a report last month finding that al-Qaida is present in at least 15 provinces in Afghanistan. And, further, the U.S. no longer has assets on the ground in the country to assess the terror threat.
Biden promised G7 leaders he would keep Kabul secure
By Art Moore
Published August 20, 2021 at 7:02pm
https://www.wnd.com/2021/08/biden-promised-g7-leaders-keep-kabul-secure/
Iolo/Penderyn
Verified User
Flanders - If you think my life is long enough to read pages of tedious waffle, you are wrong. Governments are the central committees of the boss class, and exist wholly to guard its interests.
To Iolo/Penderyn: I will reduce it to one topic your bumper-sticker mentality might be able to handle:
In Bidenspeak “ . . . embarrassing the United States military . . .” means let the Taliban kill Americans:
I understand that the commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division has told the commander of the British special forces at the Kabul airport to cease operations beyond the airport perimeter.
Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue has told his British Army counterpart, a high-ranking field-grade officer of the British army's 22nd Special Air Service Regiment, that British operations were embarrassing the United States military in the absence of similar U.S. military operations. I understand that the British officer firmly rejected the request.
US general tells British special forces: Stop rescuing people in Kabul, you're making us look bad
by Tom Rogan
August 20, 2021 05:25 PM
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...uing-people-in-kabul-youre-making-us-look-bad
I am no fan of British foreign policy, but history tells us that professional British soldiers are hard-knockers. They would never standby and watch enemies kill their countrymen à la China Joe Biden’s foreign policy.
p.s. Lafayette —— give us a call:
The French were able to evacuate their citizens and the Afghans who had assisted them, along with their families, safely out of the country.
French Forces Doing Something in Afghanistan that Biden Officials Said Could Not Be Done
Matt Vespa
Posted: Aug 20, 2021 2:25 PM
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattv...den-officials-said-could-not-be-done-n2594481
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Tucker Carlson crucifies Biden’s supporters because they suddenly realize he is beyond saving.
At the end of the video hear Carlson say “Something else is going on here. We don’t know what it is exactly?”
VIDEO ▼
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6268838671001?playlist_id=5198073478001#sp=show-clips
The global government crowd is losing the United Nations. That is what is happening.
At the end of the video hear Carlson say “Something else is going on here. We don’t know what it is exactly?”
VIDEO ▼
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6268838671001?playlist_id=5198073478001#sp=show-clips
The global government crowd is losing the United Nations. That is what is happening.
Trusted conservative Pat Buchanan blaming NATO for Afghanistan is a ridiculous scapegoat for the United Nations:
In Afghanistan, the mission failure appears complete.
The trillion-dollar project to plant Western democracy in a Muslim nation historically fabled for driving out imperial intruders has crashed and burned after 20 years, and the Taliban are suddenly back in power.
After investing scores of billions in training and arming a force of 350,000 Afghani troops, the U.S. could not stand up an army and a government that could survive our departure.
And the final U.S. departure from Hamid Karzai International Airport may become, like JFK’s Bay of Pigs, a synonym for American debacle.
Nor is the failure ours alone. Many of our principal allies were heavily invested. The British are now attempting to bring their people out of Kabul under the same conditions as ours.
The leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party and possibly the next chancellor of Germany, Armin Laschet, calls the withdrawal “the biggest debacle that NATO has suffered since its founding.”
I never believed a word REPUBLICAN Richard Lugar (1932 – 2019) said about anything:
Remember when they tried and failed to ratify The Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). Way back when then-Senator Joe Biden, and retired RINO Senator Richard Lugar were pushing for ratifying the LOST. Suffice to say that not one United Nations Treaty is good for the American people. The Senate refusing to ratify the LOST was a gift to the American people.
https://www.justplainpolitics.com/s...-In-The-South-China-Sea&p=3776133#post3776133
Three decades ago, after the breakup of the USSR and the end of the Cold War, Republican Sen. Richard Lugar said that NATO, having lost the rationale for its existence — containment of the Soviet Union — would now have “to go out of area or go out of business.”
Cynics might say that, in Afghanistan, NATO did both.
After 9/11, “the most successful alliance in history” invoked Article 5 and backed the U.S. war to oust the Taliban and annihilate the Al Qaeda terrorists who had carried out 9/11. Many sent troops.
But there could be worse to come.
While there are about 4,000 U.S. troops at the Kabul airport, U.S. control does not extend beyond the airport perimeter.
When asked if U.S. troops could enter Kabul and extract American citizens, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin replied, “I don’t have the capability to go out and extend operations currently into Kabul.” Americans in Kabul and other cities must make their own way to the Kabul airport.
The U.S. thus depends today upon the sufferance of the Taliban to let the Americans through the gridlocked highway. Many Afghan allies are being impeded and turned back. Having aided our troops during the war, these Afghan allies face murderous reprisals and retribution.
There are other present perils.
A few mortar shells landing on the tarmac of the lone runway at HKIA, and no plane can fly in or out until the runway is repaired. The arrival of troops and supplies, and any daily departure of 5,000 to 9,000 people, would be halted.
If fighting is renewed, the Americans left in Kabul and other cities become hostages to the Taliban. And there are many more out there than the 52 Americans held by Iran in the hostage crisis that ended the presidency of Jimmy Carter.
The U.S. does, however, retain leverage. U.S. airpower can still do damage to the Taliban, and the U.S. can veto any International Monetary Fund money and cut the Taliban’s access to Afghanistan’s financial reserves in U.S. banks.
Without cash, the Taliban will have a hellish time providing for the necessities the country needs to stay viable.
Right now, the Americans and the Taliban need each other. The Taliban need time to consider their control, and the Americans need time to get their people and their Afghan allies out.
Thus, the Taliban are putting on a moderate face at the top level.
Yet, given the character of the Taliban, as revealed in its previous tenure, and the desire for revenge against those who have been killing Taliban comrades, the future looks grim for those left behind.
When Saigon fell in 1975, its armed forces went into re-education camps — concentration camps. Hundreds of thousands of civilians fled on rafts, many to their deaths in the South China Sea. The Cambodians who backed us underwent a genocide, with a fraction of the entire population annihilated by the Khmer Rouge of Pol Pot.
As for the damage done to Joe Biden’s presidency, it is significant and permanent. The collapse of the regime, and the botched withdrawal of U.S. troops, U.S. citizens and Afghan friends and allies, have tarnished any reputation for competence Biden had.
As for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley and Austin, it is hard to see either surviving long in their positions after learning they did not see coming the imminent and worst foreign policy debacle since the fall of Saigon.
Did the U.S. intelligence agencies see it coming? Did they fail to inform the Pentagon or White House?
After the Bay of Pigs in April 1961, former CIA Director Allen Dulles, who had a role in the failed invasion, was, after a decent interval of six months, cashiered.
One imagines that senior Biden officials’ heads will roll well before that date in the Biden administration. For in this disaster, it seems, no one saw it coming so soon, or becoming so sweeping.
Aftermath of an Afghanistan Debacle
August 20, 2021 by Patrick J. Buchanan
https://buchanan.org/blog/aftermath-of-an-afghanistan-debacle-149926
Iolo/Penderyn
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Lay off the pop, kid - it's destroying you.