Our Ridiculous Way of Fighting Wars

“…Our generals (when not playing on Twitter or studying CRT) now present ludicrous theories to us that a few teams of SEALs grabbing a guy and some drones flying around are the same as a division of troops deployed in a town. Yet, we somehow never pacified much of Afghanistan or Iraq after two decades. Is the argument that the German SS troops were not as motivated to fight a guerilla war as Al Qaeda has been (spoiler alert: they planned to do it)? Perhaps, like the SS, Al Qaeda would have realized when 10,000 troops and materiel were in every little town, that resistance was futile? If we deployed in Europe as we did in Iraq and had just a brigade covering all of Bavaria, would the SS simply have surrendered?”

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A tale of two armies: why Afghan forces proved no match for the Taliban

The Taliban have 80,000 troops in comparison with a nominal 300,699 serving the Afghan government, yet the whole country has been effectively overrun in a matter of weeks as military commanders surrendered without a fight in a matter of hours.

It is a tale of two armies, one poorly equipped but highly motivated ideologically, and the other nominally well-equipped, but dependent on Nato support, poorly led and riddled with corruption.

The US aid spending watchdog for Afghanistan warned last month that the US military had little or no means of knowing the capability of the Afghan National Defense and Security forces (ANDSF) when required to operate independently of the US forces, despite spending $88.3bn (£64bn) on security-related reconstruction in Afghanistan up to March 2021.

A 20 year grift.

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Don Martin: The Liberal and Conservative campaigns limp out of the starting gate

OTTAWA — Let’s get the obvious rant out of the way – the Sept. 20 federal election is not necessary, has no coherent rationale to justify Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s $500-million bid for a majority mandate and, worst of all, puts the federal government on hold at the precise moment when a fourth COVID-19 wave will hit the youngest the hardest.

Throw in the tragic Taliban storming of Afghanistan’s capital, leaving behind the hundreds of endangered interpreters and aid workers who helped Canada during its combat mission with no prospect of rescue, and there was a major wobble in the Liberal campaign rollout.

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This is historic

This is historic

A worse President than Obama or Jimmy Carter…

h/t Killer Marmot and Mauser

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Autopsy of a failed war

Our longest war ends in another abject failure

‘Your country just betrayed us.’ So Haji Sakhi, a resident of Kabul, recently remarked to a New York Times reporter. ‘Look at what they brought on us,’ the 68-year-old Afghan continued. ‘They lost the war and just fled the country.’ His they refers to us — the United States of America.

Haji Sakhi’s unsparing judgment deserves sober consideration. Kabul is about to fall to the Taliban, faster than even the most gloomy experts predicted. Our nation’s ‘longest war’ is now ending in abject failure.

How are Americans — at least those few of us who attend to such matters — to apportion responsibility for the outcome? Who or what is to blame for ‘losing’ Afghanistan? Was it ever ours to lose in the first place?

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Christian Hungary Is Not the Problem

Instead of attacking Orban, European progressives should fix their own countries.

The brutal death of a French Catholic priest last week is grimly symbolic of liberal Europe’s direction under its open-borders ideology. The priest was beaten to death by a Rwandan immigrant to whom he had given shelter. The immigrant was a known threat to the French authorities: a year ago he had been arrested for trying to burn down the Cathedral of Nantes.

The French have become accustomed to these horrific stories in recent years. In 2020, a Tunisian immigrant beheaded a woman and killed two others at a church in the French city of Nice. In 2016, two jihadists slit the throat of a French priest, yelling “Allahu akbar” as they left the church.

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Chinese Regime Seeks Advantage in US Departure from Afghanistan

Beijing is taking full advantage of the U.S. and NATO forces’ imminent departure from Afghanistan.

President Biden announced in early July that U.S. forces will leave Afghanistan by Aug. 31, a deadline moved up from Sept. 11.

Meanwhile, the Taliban is rapidly increasing its advances in Afghanistan as the American drawdown nears.

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Iran and Its Two Damaged Wings

The past four decades in which the Khomeinist ideology has dominated Iranian state structures, a new breed of “Iranologists” has emerged in Western academic and media circles. Most old Iranologists saw Iran as a glorious but long dead civilization distinguished by religious tolerance, ethnic diversity and an abiding love of artistic creativity. Those who focused on Iran’s story after the advent of Islam recognized monarchy and the Shi’ite clerical institution that, while at times in conflict, played complementary roles in Iranian society.

With the seizure of power in 1979 by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a new breed of Iranologists emerged to declare the definite end of monarchy in Iran and the advent of a theocratic regime backed by re-energized clergy.

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Jeffrey Epstein employee may testify against Prince Andrew in Virginia Giuffre’s suit

Virginia Roberts Giuffre may have a former employee of Jeffery Epstein on her side in her bombshell sexual assault lawsuit against Prince Andrew.

A man who once worked for the late financier — and claims to have spotted Andrew groping a young, blonde Giuffre near the pool on Epstein’s private island — wants to testify on her behalf, according to a report.

Steve Scully, who spent six years fixing Epstein’s telecommunications, is ready and willing to take the stand in Giuffre’s sensational Manhattan Federal Court case, The Sun reported.

I think this is a Royal “Oh Fuck” moment.

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Maher: Taking Private Jets Is the Most Environmentally ‘Selfish‘ Thing You Can Do, But I and ‘All These Environmentalists Do It‘

On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher admitted that, from an environmental perspective, “there’s nothing probably more selfish you can do than take a private jet.” And the excuses people make for doing so are “all bullshit.” But admitted he does the same thing and said on the climate, “We’re all driving off the Grand Canyon holding hands, it’s the decision we make.”

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Baghdad Blinken Blames Trump Admin For Afghanistan Withdrawal, Claims Exit Is ‘Orderly’: ‘This Is Manifestly Not Saigon’

Amid images of helicopters evacuating key United States personnel from Afghanistan’s capital city, Kabul, and news that the Taliban is moving into the city following Afghan president Ashraf Ghani swift evacuation Sunday, Biden administration Secretary of State Antony Blinken appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” and ABC’s “This Week” to defend President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan in such a swift and seemingly unorganized manner.

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Taliban Boasts of Seizing Black Hawk Helicopters, US Jets After Capturing Kandahar Airport – Video

Earlier, a video emerged on social media allegedly showing Taliban* militants flying in a helicopter that the group had seized from retreating government forces. The insurgent group’s fighters also repeatedly reported capturing small arms and armoured vehicles supplied by the US to Afghanistan.

Some of the military vehicles previously operated by the Afghan Air Force stationed at Kandahar Airport have apparently ended up in the hands of the Taliban* after the terrorist group seized an airbase earlier this week.

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Justin Trudeau is his own worst enemy, but that may not matter in this election

There is a theory, recently expounded by Reuters Ottawa correspondent David Ljunggren, that the weakness of Justin Trudeau’s political opponents might actually work against him.

Trudeau won his initial majority in 2015 partly because of his own charisma, but also largely because of animus against Stephen Harper at the end of his long time in government.

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UK: ‘Force gun owners to face online hate trawl’

Police must trawl through the social media accounts of people applying for firearms licences to prevent those with extremist views from having access to deadly weapons, a former Metropolitan Police chief has said.

The call comes as ministers were urged to classify men who espouse hatred towards women online as potential terrorist threats because they embrace a radical and dangerous ideology.

On Saturday night, Jake Davison, the misogynist gunman who went on a killing spree in Plymouth, was hailed on websites used by incels – involuntary celibates – as a “saint”.  Others called for copycat killings on forums feared to be radicalising young boys as young as 13.

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