UPDATED (8/23): Afghanistan And Its Neighbors; China And Those Uyghurs

America, China, Foreign Policy, Globalism, Individual Rights, Islam, Jihad, Military, Neoconservatism, Propaganda

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“The Uyghurs, the Uyghurs; China is oppressing the Uyghurs. Our values, our values; being an American means you must fret about the Uyghurs. You hear me, hillbilly? In fact, you can’t be an American unless you worry about the Uyghurs.” (Watch me!)

That’s the bobble heads on TV. As dumb as fuck, bereft of any deep, historical or geopolitical insights—they mouth shallow talking points, extracted from Wokipedia.

These TV twits and twats are used to telling their receptive, equally “knowledgeable” audiences that China has “thrown a million Uyghurs into prison camps.”

True (not that it’s any of our business).

What the dummies on the idiot’s lantern don’t tell you is that, “Uyghurs count among thousands of foreign jihadists active in Afghanistan, mostly enlisted in Taliban ranks.”

I’m not saying China is justified in interning a Jihad-prone population living in its midst, but neither are the overlords of the West (see “Our Overlords Who Art in D.C (2010)”, if you want to know how “overlords” drifted into such popular use) justified in jailing January 6 protesters  without due process, allowing the banning of innocent, law-abiding citizens from the banking establishments, threatening those who defend their homes with incarceration, on and on.

And it is about American dissidents that I care.

While menstrual America frets over “the images, the images, oh the images (“the children, the children)” coming out of Afghanistan; the grown-ups (or the men) in the region, whose countries abut Afghanistan, have gotten together to ensure that Jihad doesn’t spill over into their countries. It’s called acting in the national interest.

Excellent analysis in “Afghanistan’s neighbours are preparing for life with the Taliban: Regional powers are not looking forward to it. But they cannot agree on what to do about it.”

UPDATE (8/23): “What Beijing has offered the Taliban so far is an open hand and a hint of legitimacy. In late July, China invited some Taliban leaders to meet Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing. It was a significantly public gesture to demonstrate goodwill toward the insurgent group. In exchange, Taliban leaders pledged to leave Chinese interests in Afghanistan alone and not to harbor any anti-China extremist groups.” (NPR)

Sounds like China has a modest foreign policy. Striking not a military blow, but an agreement. If only…

*Images courtesy The Economist

UPDATED (8/22): The Empire’s Pilot And His Cargo

America, Foreign Policy, Homeland Security, Journalism, Military, Terrorism

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The image you see here shows “inside a U.S. Air Force C-17 plane that left Kabul for Qatar on Aug. 15 (Courtesy of Defense One).”

Media “reporting” on Afghanistan is not reporting, but, rather, an unremitting gush, in an effort to create a state of heightened sentimentality, sentiments of the right kind, of course. That involves a constant reference to the “American retreat from Saigon, Vietnam, in 1975.” Truly repulsive.

I see a special commendation in the future of the Empire’s Pilot, who made a decision to airlift more Afghanis—not Americans, mind you—than his C-17 (“workhorses of the airlift are four-engine Boeing C-17A Globemaster jets which combine excellent cargo capacity, long range and short-takeoff and landing capability“) would ordinarily carry.

The pilots initially thought 800 passengers were on board, according to an apparent audio clip from the flight, in a plane that can carry up to 164,900 pounds. “How many people are on your jet,” an unidentified person asks the flight. “800 people on your jet? Holy cow.”

“Make no mistake,” slobbers Forbes, “lifting six times more people than an aircraft is designed to seat is a heroic achievement of logistics, skill and sheer grit.”

Not that these inept journalists ask for an accounting—but reading between the lines, it is my impression that very few Americans—in the mere hundreds—have been airlifted to safety. I guess Americans are not quite as pushy.

Besides, while funded by Americans, the US military’s allegiances are global and humanitarian. Our soldiers are trained to be “a global force for good.” In 2009, that indeed was “the U.S. Navy’s recruiting slogan,” for a while.

The slogan was ditched then, but it is perfectly apropos now, since recruits are inculcated with a thoroughly cosmopolitan, even anti-American, sensibility.

By the sounds of it, very few Americans are on these flights.

Via US News:

A defense official said about 5,700 people, including about 250 Americans, were flown out of Kabul aboard 16 C-17 transport planes, guarded by a temporary U.S. military deployment that’s building to 6,000 troops. On each of the previous two days, about 2,000 people were airlifted.
Biden said 169 Americans had been brought to the airport from beyond its perimeter, but he provided no details.

UPDATE (8/22):

MORE PLEASE: Young, military age men:

 

Biden Decamps From Dark Ages Afghanistan, Infuriates Dems, GOPers And Globalists: BRAVO!

America, Foreign Policy, Globalism, Homeland Security, IMMIGRATION, Iraq, Military, Republicans, Terrorism, War

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The best thing about Joe Biden’s decisive departure from Afghanistan was that he angered the girls and the “girly boys” of the networks as much as he infuriated the jingoists at Fox News and the globalists the world over.

How good is that?!

As always, David Vance and myself do get serious, and dish out hard, immutable truths, via podcast and video, so listen up or watch!

LISTEN: “Biden Decamps From Dark Ages Afghanistan, Infuriates Dems, GOPers And Globalists: BRAVO!”
https://hardtruthwithdavidvanceandilanamercer.podbean.com/e/biden-decamps-from-dark-ages-afghanistan-infuriates-dems-gopers-and-globalists-bravo/

WATCH: “Biden Decamps From Dark Ages Afghanistan, Infuriates Dems, GOPers And Globalists: BRAVO!”

Afghanistan And The Sunk-Cost Fallacy

Argument, Democrats, Economy, Foreign Policy, Homeland Security, Military, Neoconservatism, Republicans, War

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Joe Biden is right in his “Remarks on Afghanistan“: “… if Afghanistan is unable to mount any real resistance to the Taliban now, there is no chance that 1 year — 1 more year, 5 more years, or 20 more years of U.S. military boots on the ground would’ve made any difference.”

Tempting as it may be for right-thinking conservatives and paleolibertarians, in particular, to use the inevitable collapse of the charade in Afghanistan against Biden—honesty demand we avoid it.

TV Republicans, no doubt, will join the shrill CNN females and their houseboys, who love nothing more than to export the nanny state, in bashing Biden for his decisive withdrawal. The president said, “I stand squarely behind my decision. After 20 years, I’ve learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw U.S. forces.”

Falling into the Republican line of partisan, tit-for-tat retorts is wrong. The man made the right choice—as opposed to Barack Obama’s. Afghanistan was a war Obama had adopted.

Beware especially the military men, who will flood Fox New with the sunk-cost fallacy. As I explained in “GOP Should Grow A Brain, Join The Peace Train“:

Military movers and shakers are heavily vested in the sunk-cost fallacy—the irrational notion that more resources must be committed forthwith … so as to ‘redeem’ the original misguided commitment of men, money and materiel to the mission.

“To that end, repeated ad nauseam is the refrain about our ‘brave men and women of the military,’ whose sacrifice for [Afghani] ‘freedoms’ will be squandered unless more such sacrifices are made.

The Skeptic’s Dictionary dispels this illogic: ‘To continue to invest in a hopeless project is irrational. Such behavior may be a pathetic attempt to delay having to face the consequences of one’s poor judgment. The irrationality is a way to save face, to appear to be knowledgeable, when in fact one is acting like an idiot.’

Besides, it’s time the military heed its paymasters, The American People, a majority of whom don’t want to send U.S. soldiers back into Afghanistan.”