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Afghan chaos undercuts Biden's promise of competence


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2021 Aug 18, 2:48pm   163,903 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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959   Patrick   2023 Oct 20, 8:10am  

https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/doxxers-friday-october-20-2023-c


With friends like these, we don’t even need Hamas. In a similar story yesterday, Fox ran an article headlined, “Biden administration admits it doxxed US special forces soldiers in Israel, apologizes.” You’d better sit down for this one.

While Biden was in Israel, he “encouraged” U.S. special forces members with a personal visit. Our soldiers were there secretly to help retrieve over a dozen American hostages. But then Biden’s team posted the unredacted photos — which clearly showed four of the soldiers’ faces and their tattoos — on Instagram:




This is the redacted version. Biden posted a clear photo.

Biden deleted the photo an hour later — too late, after hundreds of thousands of views — and only after people started pointing out the terrorists will soon identify these soldiers and then target them and their families. A White House spokesperson told Fox News, "As soon as this was brought to our attention, we immediately deleted the photo. We regret the error and any issues this may have caused."

Biden regrets the error. Is a statement of regret an apology?

Since I’m piling on, the New York Times, which did not report the Biden doxxing story at all, not thinking it newsworthy that Biden doxxed four in-theatre, active-duty special forces soldiers. But the Grey Lady did fret about the poor pro-Hamas Harvard students being doxxed...




Seasoned C&Cers will recall that like Biden, the U.S.’s other worst president, James “Jimmy” Carter, also faced a Middle-East hostage crisis, and also bungled the rescue attempt. It’s like Biden is trying to beat Jimmy Carter.

As Mark Twain said, history doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.
963   richwicks   2023 Oct 20, 6:25pm  

Patrick says






We did NOT have world peace.
971   stereotomy   2023 Nov 1, 10:27am  

Turn a golem into a chad? WFT?
972   HeadSet   2023 Nov 1, 11:21am  

Patrick says





The fool is tool of those who put him there.
980   Patrick   2023 Nov 5, 10:04am  

https://aghostinthemachine.substack.com/p/they-dont-make-war-criminals-like


Now, that got me thinking about the political leaders we have today. People like the current Pedophile-in-Chief, Joe “10% for the Big Guy” Brandon. You’d think overseeing the disastrous and brutally embarrassing withdrawal from Afghanistan would be bad enough for this guy, but no, he had to go and get us involved in another costly, pointless proxy-war with Russia in Ukraine — Ukraine, the country that just happens to be the corrupt banana republic where his family has been running all kinds of criminal schemes, selling out America for pennies on the dollar while neglecting our domestic security issues (like the wide-open southern border).

In many ways, Joe Brandon is a redux of George W. Bush — except for one thing: Bush came across as folksy and likeable; Joe Brandon tries to affect that public image, but it falls flat. Joe Brandon is not charming. At all.

Here’s Joe Brandon trying to sell America on two unaffordable wars at the same time, with all the charm of a venomous reptile...

I don’t know how to feel about the gracelessness of our current regime leaders. On the one hand, I am glad they are not as charming as the bullshitters of bygone eras, since this makes it more likely that people will see through their lies. Indeed, the Brandon Administration is having much less success selling Americans on Ukraine than the Bush Administration did selling us on Iraq. On the other hand, I feel like the brazen buffoonery of the Brandon Administration is insulting. It’s like they hold us in such contempt, they cannot even be bothered to keep up appearances anymore — it’s like a husband who is so apathetic about his marriage that he cannot even pretend to like his wife when they’re at big family events — it’s the kind of open contempt and callous neglect that can only lead to a national divorce, with all that that will entail.

Regular Americans complain about a bad economy. Bill Clinton would have cried fake tears for them and told them how much he felt their pain. Joe Brandon essentially tells them, “Fuck you, chump! This is the best economy in 70 years! Matter of fact, you — and the people like you — are the biggest domestic threat right now!”

At least we know where we stand . . .
983   Patrick   2023 Nov 7, 7:30pm  

https://notthebee.com/article/new-york-times-poll-shows-if-the-election-were-held-today-former-president-donald-trump-would-easily-beat-president-joe-biden-with-over-300-electoral-votes


Another ominous sign for Democrats is that voters across all income levels felt that Mr. Biden's policies had hurt them personally, while they credited Mr. Trump's policies for helping them. The results were mirror opposites: Voters gave Mr. Trump a 17-point advantage for having helped them and Mr. Biden an 18-point disadvantage for having hurt them. ...

I'm starting to think there's a reason why the entire deep state dragon has mobilized itself against Donald Trump.

It's way easier to jail the man than to try to "free and fair election" your way into the White House with a little midnight "fortification" in places like Atlanta or Detroit!
984   HeadSet   2023 Nov 8, 7:14am  

Patrick says

Another ominous sign for Democrats is that voters across all income levels felt that Mr. Biden's policies had hurt them personally

Oh yeah? My state of Virginia just gave the Dems both state houses, seemingly based on abortion rights (Repubs wanted a 15 week ban). When it comes to woman voters, economic issues take a distance second to what woman reflexively see as an attack on their rights.
996   BeneTiberCato   2023 Nov 14, 9:34pm  

Patrick says





(1) I predict that those who actually voted for Biden in 20 will magically do so again in 24. I think their 2024 votes already exist digitally, and are just waiting to be manifested. The voter will not be consulted, does not need to leave their couch.
(2) If there was justice, those who voted for Biden/Harris in 20 should have to keep their bumper stickers and yard signs up in perpetuity, so we can always know who they are. Many of them wear masks outside or when driving by themselves, so that does make it easier.

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