13
1

Afghan chaos undercuts Biden's promise of competence


 invite response                
2021 Aug 18, 2:48pm   161,705 views  1,308 comments

by RWSGFY   ➕follow (4)   💰tip   ignore  






....
The shambolic unravelling of America's withdrawal from Afghanistan comes from a yet to be written textbook of "how to lose at everything". Warnings hadn't been heeded, intelligence was clearly totally inadequate, planning was lamentable, execution woeful.

Let's just focus in on one thing - although there are any number that are worthy of examination.
The withdrawal came during the "fighting season" - a phrase I have to say I have always found rather odd. But in Afghanistan there is a fighting season which starts in spring - and then in winter, when the country freezes over, there is a time when the Taliban go home to their tribal homelands. Did no-one think that it might have been better to have ordered the withdrawal for the dead of winter when Taliban forces weren't there, poised to fill the vacuum?

The end result might have been the same - a Taliban takeover - but it would have almost certainly led to a more orderly drawdown. Yet the Biden administration wanted an eye-catching date. They wanted the withdrawal completed by 11 September. Twenty years on from 9/11 - an artificial, self-imposed deadline.

...

Biden's election campaign could be boiled down to three messages to distinguish himself from Donald Trump. First, he would be more empathetic. He would be more competent. And instead of "America First", it would be replaced by the mantra "America is back".
But in his address yesterday, there wasn't a whole lot of empathy towards the thousands of Afghans who've helped Americans these past 20 years. On competence, even his biggest cheerleaders would struggle to say the withdrawal of American troops has been anything other than shambolic.
And after the bewildering events of the past few days, how exactly is America back?

...

But on the policy itself, Joe Biden is utterly defiant. He summoned up his inner Harry Truman and made clear in his speech that the buck stops with him. He was, however, happy to distribute blame in much the same way that a muck spreader disperses manure in all directions. The Afghan leadership weren't up to it, the Afghan armed forces had no fight in them; Donald Trump had negotiated a bad deal.

...

A fascinating nugget from a briefing that's just been given by Joe Biden's National Security Adviser. Since the fall of Kabul, Jake Sullivan revealed, Biden hadn't spoken to another world leader. Wasn't that just a bit surprising, given that there were a lot of other nations - including Britain - who'd committed vast resources to Afghanistan?

...

When the G7 gathered in Cornwall and the Nato nations met in Brussels the sense of relief was palpable among the prime ministers and presidents that a more outward looking American president was in charge. But given what has unfolded - how America has been humiliated, how Joe Biden embarked on a policy he was cautioned against by these leaders - there is now a good deal more wariness.
And who will feel they have gained most from America's departure - apart from the Taliban, of course? Why, three countries near Afghanistan - Russia, Iran and China. I'm not sure that is what Joe Biden had in mind when he said after his inauguration that "America is back".



https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-58252174?source=patrick.net

« First        Comments 1,165 - 1,204 of 1,308       Last »     Search these comments

1177   Patrick   2024 Apr 29, 12:01pm  

https://jameshowardkunstler.substack.com/p/pep-talk-on-a-dark-day


What’s most appalling is that our governing apparatus is visibly willing that to happen. When Barack Obama warned America to not underestimate Joe Biden’s ability to fuck things up, was that some kind of joke? After all, it was Mr. Obama and his fellow blobsters — the cabal of Intel spooks, covert Marxist bureaucrats, lawfare ninjas, globalist megalomaniacs, post-liberal think tankers, weapons grifters, degenerate billionaires, and assorted mentally-ill camp followers — who inflicted Joe Biden on the body politic. And then ran him on the country like some demon algorithm designed to wreck the USA as fast as possible. ...

And how did the opposition to that epic divergence into bad faith turn so flabby? How did the Republican Party roll over and wheeze so feebly while the FBI ran amok swatting grandmothers in dawn raids, and the US attorney general made justice a whore, and a Republican Congress allowed the Frankenstein agency of Homeland Security to flood the country with its enemies and give them gobs of operational cash? If Mr. Trump was unappetizing to them as a leader, why were they unable to produce an alternative figure of standing and stature at least equally resolute? They look like traitors and cowards. ...

Meanwhile, prepare for action. It’s obvious that the enemies of the people don’t intend to rest. They are going to try to play out this string to the last move because otherwise a lot of them will be going to jail, or might even hang for their wickedness. Once they turned criminal, there was no turning back. They have dishonored themselves and they’re trying to dishonor their country.
1184   Ceffer   2024 May 3, 10:02pm  

I have to admit, this one cracked me up.
Patrick says




1189   Patrick   2024 May 7, 5:11pm  

https://justthenews.com/accountability/media/media-tires-biden-avoiding-interviews-after-president-giving-fewest-over-40


Biden gives fewest interviews of any president in 40 years, raising questions among friendly media

The Basement Campaign? During his first three years as president, President Biden has given 89 interviews, compared to former President Donald Trump’s 300, and former President Obama’s 422.
1200   stereotomy   2024 May 10, 3:39pm  

That looks like a jew semite.
1202   Patrick   2024 May 15, 9:28am  

https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/lobstering-wednesday-may-15-2024


NBC ran a fishy story yesterday headlined, “Red Lobster closing at least 99 locations as its future comes into question.” ...

But the CEO of Thai Union Group, the seafood chain’s largest shareholder, implicitly blamed Bidenomics: “The combination of Covid-19 pandemic, sustained industry headwinds, higher interest rates and rising material and labor costs have impacted Red Lobster, resulting in prolonged negative financial contributions to Thai Union and its shareholders,” Thiraphong Chansiri, Thai Union Group’s CEO, said in a statement.
1203   Patrick   2024 May 15, 9:35am  

https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/lobstering-wednesday-may-15-2024


Given our struggling businesses and the shrinking pocketbooks of our consumers, is this a good time for a trade war? Despite Biden running against Trump’s China tariffs in 2016, they are good now, since a barely-cognitive care-home resident thinks so. Lost in the chatter yesterday about Biden’s economic flip-flopping was the fact these are more sanctions. Aljazeera ran the story yesterday under the headline, “Biden slaps new tariffs on Chinese imports, ratcheting trade war.” ...

Biden’s hypocrisy knows no bounds, and so forth. He’s doing exactly what he criticized Trump for during the last election cycle, and he’s doing exactly what the United States government has made into a national pastime for the well-connected. But that’s not the real story.

The real story is that the sanctions war against China just shifted into the highest gear. They skipped all the intermediate gears. No ramping up or anything. It’s economic nuclear war. The new ‘tariffs’ affect an estimated eighteen billion in annual imported Chinese goods like steel, aluminium, semiconductors, electric vehicles, critical minerals, solar cells and for some reason, cranes.

And it’s not just any little warning tariff, either. Biden has quadrupled import duties on Chinese electric vehicles — a jump of more than 100% — and doubled duties on semiconductor tariffs — up 50%.

Why do I call it economic war? Well, for one thing it was right there, in the Aljazeera article:

"China immediately promised retaliation. Its Ministry of Commerce said Beijing was opposed to the tariff hikes by the United States and would take measures to defend its interests."

For another thing, they told us this would happen, not even three weeks ago. Headline from Politico, April 26th:




But even though a child could connect these dots, useless corporate media is dutifully reporting the fake Biden narrative, that the tariffs are somehow intended to help the U.S.’s economy, instead of admitting the truth: this is part of the Ukraine war. Sanctions catastrophically failed against Russia — which is why they’re not calling the tariffs ‘sanctions’ this time — and Biden blames China.

« First        Comments 1,165 - 1,204 of 1,308       Last »     Search these comments

Please register to comment:

api   best comments   contact   latest images   memes   one year ago   random   suggestions   gaiste