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Afghan chaos undercuts Biden's promise of competence


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2021 Aug 18, 2:48pm   163,744 views  1,308 comments

by RWSGFY   ➕follow (4)   💰tip   ignore  






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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

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398   Onvacation   2022 Jul 11, 7:16pm  

Patrick says

the Biden administration has also suggested destroying interstate highways, not because the roads are bad infrastructure but because they were built by a racist society in the 1960s.

Did they really say that?
405   Patrick   2022 Jul 25, 7:02am  

https://www.ntd.com/gen-mark-milley-china-becoming-more-aggressive-in-pacific_813916.html

Of course China is becoming more aggressive. It's hard to imagine a weaker or less competent president.
407   HeadSet   2022 Jul 26, 11:15am  

Patrick says

https://www.ntd.com/gen-mark-milley-china-becoming-more-aggressive-in-pacific_813916.html

Of course China is becoming more aggressive. It's hard to imagine a weaker or less competent president.

Gee, Milley, maybe we should de-woke the military and remove the jab mandate.
410   Misc   2022 Jul 28, 12:52am  

Well, the Army was the 1st branch of the armed services to come out with how badly its recruiting has been this year. Looks like they are gonna be about 33k soldiers less than they want by years end, and this is with the highest recruiting bonuses on record.

I figure the other services are about the same; down about 10% of the numbers they want. Guess the tough guy attitude gets lost when you realize that some trans is gonna order you around. Who would volunteer for that crap?

They are scaping the complete losers of society to get someone to serve,

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-army-plans-new-pre-boot-camp-training-program-for-recruits-who-don-t-meet-standards-as-alarms-sound-on-recruitment/ar-AA102vzL?cvid=1ed730d699e84448af997f8d7bd1544c

Biden in his excellent skills as commander is gonna kick out about 40k troops in the Guard and Reserve for not taking the vaxx. --- Brilliant
411   Patrick   2022 Jul 28, 7:45am  

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/joe-biden-met-14-hunters-business-associates-vice-president


Joe Biden met with at least 14 of Hunter’s business associates while vice president
President Biden has repeatedly denied discussing business with his son


Biden was selling influence over US government policy.
413   Patrick   2022 Jul 28, 3:10pm  

https://notthebee.com/article/new-poll-shows-75-of-democrats-dont-want-sleepy-joe-to-run-again


New CNN poll shows 75% of DEMOCRATS don't want Sleepy Joe to run again
415   Patrick   2022 Jul 29, 10:00am  

https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/playing-chicken-with-the-fates/


Who is surprised that the US government’s war on the American people is not going any better than its sponsored war in Ukraine? The only thing the government is really good at is covering up its crimes, which mainly requires them to do nothing — don’t investigate anything, don’t furnish documents to anyone, don’t answer official letters, slow-walk every required action, and otherwise dodge, duck, deny, deflect, and dissemble.

Now, even that game-plan is falling apart. Some senior officials in the FBI turned whistleblower this week, perhaps desperate to preserve their self-respect, and finally cleared up one of the great mystifications of our time, namely: How is it that the Hunter Biden laptop, stuffed with incriminating memoranda of bribery, treason, and diverse felonies, and in the FBI’s possession for two-and-a-half years now, just sat gathering dust in some sub-sub-basement cubby-hole — while “Joe Biden,” the putative president (or, more likely, the enigmatic claque behind him) was allowed to carry out a demolition of America’s economy and culture?

The answer is one Brian Auten, FBI Senior Analyst, who engineered a scheme to label Hunter’s laptop “Russian disinformation,” which allowed FBI Director Christopher Wray to throw a switch that turned off any further inquiry in the matter beginning in August before the 2020 presidential election. In turn, other senior FBI officials had all the documents pertaining to the decision process on that matter locked up in a special file that would never see the light of day. ...

Turns out that Agent Brian Auten was also involved in favorably vetting the Steele Dossier when it was used to justify FISA court warrants against figures in Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign, part of the RussiaGate operation that disordered and disabled President Trump’s entire four-year term. Well now you know. Perhaps Special Counsel John Durham knows this, too. (If he didn’t before, he must now.) Eventually, Mr. Auten will have to answer for all this, maybe after the mid-term elections. We must imagine that he will implicate many other familiar figures in the process who were on-the-scene at the time, including Peter Strzok, Andrew McCabe, and James Comey, comfortably sitting on the sidelines lo these many years enjoying their book royalties and cable news salaries.

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, says he will hold hearings about this. When? ...

All of this is going to blow open, of course, and all at the same time that two other big things blow up: 1) the realization that the government lied about everything in the Covid-19 story, including especially covering-up the harmful effects of their vaunted mRNA shots, and 2) deepening US economic chaos, including the implosion of markets, derivatives, banks, and the US dollar.

Some observers say that “Joe Biden” has nothing left except to shove the USA into a hot war. Kind of looks like he’s trying — sending US Special Forces to Ukraine’s border, and all. I don’t think he’ll dare cross that line, though. To me, it’s more likely that our government will summon, shall we say, a special sort of doctor from the Intel Community to administer a permanent sleeping med to the Big Guy. Did you see how bug-eyed he was on video the other day? Didn’t even blink for the longest time. Looks like he badly needs sleep… a big sleep… the biggest sleep there is. Wait for it.
417   richwicks   2022 Jul 29, 12:44pm  

Patrick says

https://notthebee.com/article/new-poll-shows-75-of-democrats-dont-want-sleepy-joe-to-run-again



New CNN poll shows 75% of DEMOCRATS don't want Sleepy Joe to run again



I want him to run again and I want him to "win" again.

That will get it through people's thick skulls what has to be done.
418   HeadSet   2022 Jul 29, 7:18pm  

Patrick says

Mr. Auten will have to answer for all this,

Not likely.
419   Patrick   2022 Jul 30, 5:28pm  

https://babylonbee.com/news/white-house-hires-this-is-fine-dog-as-new-press-secretary




WASHINGTON, D.C. — Citing the candidate's qualifications at assuring everyone that everything is fine even when entire rooms are burning down around him, the White House has hired the This Is Fine Dog as its new press secretary.

While Karine Jean-Pierre has been doing a "fine" job of deflecting questions and telling everyone things are great when they are clearly not great, the White House said they wanted to make sure their press secretary "just straight-up lies about things being fine 100% of the time." The obvious choice was the This Is Fine Dog of internet meme fame.

"Mr. Dog, what about record inflation with no end in sight?" asked Peter Doocy at the This Is Fine Dog's first press conference earlier this afternoon. "What are Americans supposed to do when they can't afford basics like food, housing, and gasoline?"

"This is fine," said the This Is Fine Dog in response. He immediately received a standing ovation by the reporters gathered. He raised his paws to settle down the crowd and then said, "This is fine."

At publishing time, the This Is Fine Dog was fired after it was discovered he is not a gay woman of color. He has issued a statement assuring everyone this is fine.
426   Patrick   2022 Aug 2, 9:40am  

https://babylonbee.com/news/biden-drone-strike-accidentally-kills-terrorist-leader-instead-of-car-full-of-children




KABUL — Biden is demanding answers after a precision drone strike in Afghanistan actually killed a real terrorist leader named Ayman al-Zawahiri instead of a car full of innocent children, as is tradition.

"Come on, folks, we all know what drone strikes are for," said the angry President to an LOL Surprise Doll he mistook for a member of the press. "We conduct drone strikes to kill civilians in the Middle East in hopes of stirring up multigenerational hatred for the U.S. which will lead to endless war and help feed the military-industrial complex! How on earth did this actual terrorist get caught up in the mix?!"

Sources in the CIA revealed they briefly deviated from the standard procedure of killing innocents with Hellfire missiles to kill a terrorist, as Biden's poll numbers are down and people like it when presidents kill terrorists.

"The death of this austere religious scholar, while tragic, could produce a 3 to 4 point bump in Biden's approval ratings in time for the midterms," said Fitch Biggenslimes, a columnist for the Washington Post. "That's what really matters here."

Government officials assured the president they will return to their normal business of blowing up chai tea cafes and busses full of aid workers this week.

UPDATE: New reports confirm Ayman al-Zawahiri is still alive and the precision strike actually killed a busload of orphans.
429   Patrick   2022 Aug 4, 9:38am  

https://spectatorworld.com/topic/great-white-house-jettison-biden-harris/

I like it when I can endorse the other side. It makes me feel like I’m part of the big happy family of man instead of just another snarling partisan. So it was with gratitude that I absorbed David Axelrod’s recent observation about Joe Biden on CNN. Pay attention now: Axelrod was the chief strategist for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and what he doesn’t know about the emotional weather of the left is not worth knowing. “There is this sense that things are kind of out of control,” quoth Axelrod when asked about the Big Guy™, “and he’s not in command.” Right you are, Dave! My only question is: what took you so long?

Of course, Axelrod’s devastating admission was not a disinterested or impartial judgment. Nothing Obama’s main men say is that. Every word is calculated for political advantage. But the question is, whose advantage? I am not entirely sure. I am confident, though, that Axelrod’s breathtaking admission was part of the next step in resetting the political chess board. It was another stage in the emergency effort at damage control that the shadowy cadre of people who actually run the United States have been undertaking ever since the full magnitude of Joe Biden’s incompetence became manifest.

Back in March, I predicted that the Democrats were prepping to eject Biden. One sign of that, I said, was the fact that elements of the regime-propaganda secretariat — in this case the New York Times — had suddenly gone off the reservation by admitting that Hunter Biden’s “Laptop from Hell” was not “Russian disinformation” as they and all their cohort had insisted, but was, in fact, the real deal. And not just the salacious stuff about Hunter’s “private” life, but also all the possibly criminal stuff about Chinese involvement with the Bidens’ finances and, especially, Joe Biden’s personal involvement with various schemes involving millions of dollars.

Why would the Times admit such a thing? For the same reason that David Axelrod would make his admission about things spinning “out of control” and Biden being “not in command,” i.e., bonkers.

One of the big problems for the Dems is that before they can do something about Biden himself, they will need to do something about his cackling number two, Kamala Harris. It was the same sort of problem they faced when the regime decided to jettison Richard Nixon. The junta could easily mount televised congressional hearings and cashier Nixon. But then Spiro Agnew, his vice president, would slide into the top spot. That was unacceptable. So the first task had to be to nobble Agnew. Agnew made this easy because there were pictures of him accepting paper bags of cash in exchange for political favors. It will not be so easy with Harris. Her corruption is of a more systemic but less obviously criminal sort.

In one sense, alas, it doesn’t really matter who is tapped to star in the roles of chief and adjutant puppets. As things are constituted now, any likely successors to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be just as beholden to the deep-state regime narrative as they are.

We got a little glimpse into the engine room of that operation when Brian Deese, Biden’s director of the National Economic Council, defended the administration’s disastrous energy policy. So gas is $5, $6, $8 a gallon. What’s the administration’s response to that, a CNN reporter asked Deese? “This is about the future of the liberal world order,” Deese replied, “and we have to stand firm.” The “future of the liberal world order”: what would that be? Why, that would be the Davos-approved global world order in which national sovereignty is diluted and the world’s self-appointed elites are in charge of… well, everything.

Yes, the green, sexually fungible, racially-obsessed agenda will hurt a lot of people. Among other things, it will lead to what one of Obama’s chief science advisers called the “de-development” — that’s Newspeak for “impoverishment” — of the United States. But here’s the thing to appreciate. Factota like Deese are not troubled by the suffering of ordinary people. Indeed, they approve of a certain amount of suffering. Suffering produces dependency, and dependency is an insurance policy for those who cater to it: the bureaucrats who fill the troughs that feed the populace.

The point, of course, is never to end the dependency. The point is to manage in such a way as to perpetuate and expand it. Joe Biden is an errand boy, a figurehead, in the metabolism of this great act of political legerdemain. I suspect that Biden has outlived his plausibility and will soon be retired. Maybe Loopy Liz Cheney will switch parties and run for the Democratic nomination. Maybe she will contrive some way to have the January 6 Committee simply appoint her president. After all, she has already told us who cannot, must not, be president: Donald Trump. If she can do that, who’s to say she cannot have herself appointed by acclamation?

You scoff. But just wait: there are a lot of surprises in store.
430   Eric Holder   2022 Aug 4, 10:52am  

Some say that Biden's admin glaring incompetence in Afghanistan showing complete military ineptitude and lack of coordination within NATO was one of the major bits of information which convinced Putler that he could get away with taking over Ukraine. But there was one tiny and almost obscure bit of info which should've give him a pause: when US and the rest of NATO forces were covering inside Kabul airport and telling their citizens to try to make it there on their own, Ukrainian SOF stationed there were actively going out and bringing back Ukrainian citizens to the airport. Looking back that was a sign of things to come, but Ruscist either didn't know it (I doubt it, as it was reported at the time) or discounted it as insignificant.

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