Friends, the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan", a.k.a. the Taliban, is back! The dissolution of the U.S.-backed Afghan government and its military forces unfolded a whole lot faster than anyone expected after our decision to withdraw our military contingent, and now Sleepy Joe has egg on his face. As you'll see in this article, he's adamant that he did the right thing, and the Afghans themselves are to blame for their country's predicament:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-afghanistan-address
He's not without a point, of course -- our Afghan allies really were screw-ups -- but that doesn't make Biden's withdrawal the best policy choice. In my opinion, we had a lid on Islamic extremism in Afghanistan, and we were able to prevent Russian, Chinese, Pakistani, or Iranian domination there, with the simple deployment of a small number of special forces and the use of U.S. air power. Biden gave all that away to save a few billion dollars a year and maybe one or two U.S. casualties over the same stretch of time. Ergo, I conclude that Biden erred, especially when you consider the immense suffering and death which the Taliban will unleash. Draw your own conclusions, as this guy does. He says Biden is Jimmy Carter all over again:
https://nypost.com/2021/08/15/this-is-joe-bidens-jimmy-carter-moment/
Meanwhile, President Trump remains banned from Twitter for life, while friends of the Taliban are tweeting away like mad. C'est la guerre.
https://www.foxnews.com/tech/trump-barred-from-twitter-but-taliban-spokesman-tweets-away
In other news, the "news" really is in the eye of the beholder. I mentioned a couple of days ago how lefties simply aren't hearing about the border crisis, because the people who tell them what to think, and what to think about, don't want them to. It's extraordinary, and here's more evidence of it:
Meanwhile, as concerns about crime skyrocket, you might wonder if another feature of the 70s and 80s will become salient once again: the debate over the death penalty. Democrats, much as they did in days of yore, are turning against the death penalty. They say it's cruel and racist. Most Americans, though, support capital punishment, at least to one degree or another. As their fears of criminals escalate, their support for the death penalty will rise even higher. Could Republicans batter Dems over the head with their "softness" on crime in 2022 and 2024, as they did in the Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Bush I eras? Maybe...
Finally, speaking of our old friend Dick Nixon, it was he who abolished -- fatefully! -- the gold standard way back in 1971. This article describes that decision and the circumstances that surrounded it. Now, up to 2021, it would have been hard to argue that the retreat from the gold standard, and the new policy of relying on "fiat currency" instead, had worked out badly for the West, and the world in general. Growth has been decent since the 70s, inflation and interest rates have been fairly low, and standards of living have surged. The danger of relying on a currency backed only by the "good faith and credit" of the government, though, is that politicians may someday raid the "piggy bank" of public debt and printed money too often, and the whole house of cards will come crashing down. Are we nearing such a financial apocalypse? I dunno. You tell me.
Dr.Waddy from Jack: To the consummate leftists who use pore 'ol Kumbayaa Joe, any compromise or degradation of our economy is but a step to its destruction and its command replacement by a Marxist regime.
ReplyDeleteI fear you're right, Jack: either the economy will carry on growing, and the Dems will find new ways to feed on it like parasites, or it will collapse in a heap, in which case they will say that we need big government and the welfare state now more than ever! In neither case do the Republicans have a very good retort.
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack: Iwent to look at recent commentary on Afghanistan at this site. You were right; it was a mistake to withdraw and that lends further credence to your opinion that to withdraw from Iraq would be an even worse mistake. Whether or not the Korean War was a "police action" was a debate in the 50s. I remember it from the barbershop I went to then. I do not think any American police deaths to be excuseable but common sense says that they will happen. Due to its relatively low present casualty rate, perhaps our protectorate in Afghanistan now could have been seen as a "police action" requiring a permanent garrison similar in intent to those we have maintained in Germany and Korea. We could do it, especially because our presence there has "coincided" with a distinct lack of Al Queda on our soil. Supposedly Khalid Sheik Muhammad said, " we'll just wait you out". What, until he qualifies for Social Security and makes regular trips to laugh at the 9-11 site as he once did? What? 25 years, 50. . . ? Of course for a cause which makes much presumption on the basic tenets of a religion it thinks it champions, that may be but a moment compared to centuries. I think had President Trump still been in office, he would have played cat and mouse with the Taliban and would have smacked Taliban overreach down, including staying there and not leaving, if necessary. Kumbayaa Joe has not such street smarts, despite his beer and a shot pretensions.
ReplyDeletetest from jack
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack: OK, here I go again and whatever factor keeps erasing my comments; you are not going to cancel me! The news from Afghanistan is disturbing in the extreme. Joe Biden is a decent person and I wonder that anyone with a conscience could endure the guilt engendered by his bumbling. So, I think he'll soon leave office to one who can casually assert no responsibility for this abomination. Well, that was the plan anyway, yes? Let sweet old Joe clear the way and then put him out to pasture.
ReplyDeleteJack, my understanding is that Trump's plan to "leave" Afghanistan involved maintaining special forces, and perhaps air power, in place...and that sounds like a far better plan! Having said all that, I think what we did in Afghanistan has little to do with the current state of Al Qaeda. We had to fight Islamic terrorism GLOBALLY to put it on its heels. We need to keep up the pressure too.
ReplyDeleteI'm a lot less sanguine that Sleepy Joe will step aside. He's as cantankerous as he is inarticulate!