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Afghan chaos undercuts Biden's promise of competence


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2021 Aug 18, 2:48pm   162,665 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

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495   Patrick   2022 Sep 21, 10:56am  

https://spectatorworld.com/topic/do-biden-words-even-matter-anymore/


Do Biden’s words even matter anymore?
As his staff once again rushes in to clarify, it isn’t clear who’s running the country

September 20, 2022

Biden has done fewer interviews than any modern president, and this week it wasn’t hard to see why. When the president was overseas attending the funeral of Queen Elizabeth, the White House was once again scrambling to clarify who was in charge.

On the subject of Taiwan and China, Biden once again stated that Taiwan would be defended militarily should mainland China stage an invasion to reclaim the island. Before the show was even over, the White House had put out a statement saying that America’s One China policy remains unchanged.

Yet most telling was when Pelley accompanied Biden to the Detroit Auto Show, and he took note that the convention was going on without masks or social distancing or vaccine mandates. Pelley asked Biden very directly, “Is the pandemic over?” “The pandemic is over,” Biden responded. “We still have a problem with Covid. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. It’s — but the pandemic is over.” This wasn’t a gaffe. This wasn’t a slip-up. He reiterated it again in his response.

This left the White House in yet another bind on issues from student loan forgiveness to immigration restrictions to vaccine mandates, all of which to one degree or another are premised on the idea that we’re in a pandemic. Biden’s words could jeopardize legal cases his administration might be preparing. ...

... who is in charge? Is it Ron Klain, the White House chief of staff? Is it domestic policy adviser Susan Rice (who doesn’t get enough attention for her role)? Is is the White House communications team? Is it the Easter Bunny, who was called in to corral his boss during an event last Easter?
496   Eric Holder   2022 Sep 21, 11:57am  

Patrick says

Do Biden’s words even matter anymore?
...
On the subject of Taiwan and China, Biden once again stated that Taiwan would be defended militarily should mainland China stage an invasion to reclaim the island. Before the show was even over, the White House had put out a statement saying that America’s One China policy remains unchanged.


Meh, big noise about nothing: this doesn't change strategic ambiguity, if anything it makes shit even more ambiguous.
497   Patrick   2022 Sep 21, 4:25pm  

https://slaynews.com/news/rand-paul-biden-not-in-charge-white-house-his-own-wits/


Republican Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has blasted Democrat President Joe Biden over mounting concerns about who is leading the White House.

Paul argues that Biden’s recent gaffes prove that the president is not “in charge of the government” or “fully in charge of his wits.”

The senator was responding after Biden made several statements during a CBS “60 Minutes” interview that were later “corrected” by unnamed White House officials.

Biden told CBS’s Scott Pelley on Sunday that “the pandemic is over.”

However, Biden administration officials scrambled to “clarify” the president’s comment with contradictory statements after the interview was broadcast.
499   richwicks   2022 Sep 23, 2:12am  

ad says

They don't want hearings and investigations into Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan.


Americans don't give a shit about that.

They care about inflation and corruption. They don't care about boondoggle wars. Did you even know the US is still bombing Syria? For what purpose?

Doesn't matter anyhow, the intelligence agencies run our "elections". Democrats will retain both houses most likely.
500   RWSGFY   2022 Sep 23, 7:55am  

Patrick says


https://spectatorworld.com/topic/do-biden-words-even-matter-anymore/

Do Biden’s words even matter anymore?
As his staff once again rushes in to clarify, it isn’t clear who’s running the country



Do Putin's words even matter anymore? As his staff rushes in to clarify...

MOSCOW, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Friday that Moscow was not threatening anybody with nuclear weapons, and that open confrontation with the United States and NATO was not in Russia's interests, state news agencies reported.

"We are not threatening anyone with nuclear weapons," the Interfax agency quoted Ryabkov as saying at a conference on Friday.

502   Patrick   2022 Sep 23, 11:56am  


@ClayTravis
1h
The stock market has dropped below 30,000 for the first time since 2020 & is now down substantially since Joe Biden took office, inflation is at a forty year high, & mortgage rates are now over 6%. Biden is a disaster. 46 days until the midterms. It’s the economy, stupid.
504   HeadSet   2022 Sep 23, 7:09pm  

richwicks says

Doesn't matter anyhow, the intelligence agencies run our "elections". Democrats will retain both houses most likely.

Yep. But explained away by Trump getting in legal trouble, abortion, and gas falling below $3.00 in many states.
506   Patrick   2022 Sep 23, 9:59pm  

https://notthebee.com/article/our-president-has-no-idea-where-he-is

Well, he's not actually "our" president at all, since the election was massively and provably fraudulent, but point taken. Pedo Potatus is senile.
511   Patrick   2022 Sep 28, 3:42pm  

Biden can't remember that Walorski is dead, probably killed by his own FBI:


Reporter: "The confusing part is why, if she and the family is top of mind, does the president think that she's living and in the room?"

KJP: "I don't find that confusing."

Reporter: "I have John Lennon top of mind just about every day but I'm not looking around for him."

I'm just wondering what it will take for one of these reporters to simply ask: "The president thought a dead woman was alive today. Will he take a cognitive test to prove to the American people that he isn't senile?"
514   Patrick   2022 Sep 29, 4:42pm  

Today:

522   AD   2022 Oct 2, 12:59pm  

That is why even Orange Girl or Raggedy Ann (Psaki) said on NBC News Chuck Todd's show that this midterm has to be about abortion and not about the Biden Admin.

You know that the Dems biggest fear is the Repubs having enough of a mandate in the House to have investigations and hearings that rival that of the Clinton Crime Family back in the mid 1990s such as about Waco, etc.

I think Biden Racketeering Operation is a lot less sophisticated as the Clinton Crime Family, but Biden has the advantage that the mainstream or corporate media is completely in the Dem's pocket.

That is going to be the challenge of the Repubs as far as getting the truth out in regards to Democrat criminal use of FBI, the Afghan pullout, the open border, the fentayl crisis, etc. Its going to have to deal with the mainstream media trying to cover for the Democrat's.

I see the proverbial stock price of major news outlets like Wall Street Journal rising a lot during this period.

.
524   Patrick   2022 Oct 2, 2:36pm  

https://slaynews.com/news/accuser-bidens-bring-back-some-decency-speech-you-sexually-assaulted-me/


Tara Reade worked for Biden in the 1990s when he served as a Delaware senator.

She accused Biden of sexual assault and said back in 1993 that Biden pushed her up against the wall and forcibly penetrated her with his fingers.

Reade alleges that Joe Biden used his resources to silence her and that “there has never been a proper investigation” into what happened.

After videos of Biden’s Friday remarks emerged on social media, Reade fired back.

“You sexually assaulted me when I worked as your staffer Joe Biden in 1993 then used your power and resources to silence me,” she said in a post on Twitter.
527   PeopleUnited   2022 Oct 3, 11:50am  

While it is possible that Russia uses nukes against the USA, it would likely only do so if they can do it without us knowing. Covertly where the culprit is unknown or ambiguous. Nuking us would lead to bigger loses for them, and they don’t seem to have a death wish. Mutually assured destruction is a real thing.

Israel however, I could see them nuking Iran to destroy their nukes preemptively. Iran might not care about mutually assured destruction.
528   Eric Holder   2022 Oct 3, 12:40pm  

PeopleUnited says

While it is possible that Russia uses nukes against the USA, it would likely only do so if they can do it without us knowing. Covertly where the culprit is unknown or ambiguous.


The very second Ruscists nukes move an inch the USA will know.
530   AD   2022 Oct 3, 11:09pm  

Reade waited too long, even though she waited cause when Biden was picked to be Obama's VP, she was too afraid to speak out.

And it did not help that Reade was publicly a supporter of Biden's opponent Bernie Sanders.

Reade got crushed cause the Dem Party put all their support behind Biden.

.
531   PeopleUnited   2022 Oct 4, 5:41am  

Eric Holder says



The very second Ruscists nukes move an inch the USA will know.


Don’t be so sure. Nobody is good enough to catch everything every time. And would we even be able to believe them if they told us it was Russia? They told us for 4 years that Russia/trump stole the 2016 election, and that was a bold faced lie.

But as far as nukes go all it would take is a submarine parked off a major city that snuck in unawares. Like I said, they (people watching for foreign subs) may be good but they are not perfect.
532   Eric Holder   2022 Oct 4, 10:51am  

PeopleUnited says

Don’t be so sure. Nobody is good enough to catch everything every time.


We know where theirs are and they know where ours are. The delivery platforms are not easy to move w/o being traced either. I know it's fashionable to proclaim that "nobody can know where the enemy are and what are they doing" (and it might be true in case of Rucists completely missing Ukie pre-offensive build-up), but nuke stuff is monitored very well.

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