Long delayed Afghanistan post

The US had a rushed, somewhat chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan as the Afghanistan government and military collapsed. Not the first time the US has been in this position, and it wasn't as bad as Vietnam. Maybe I'm making excuses for my country, but we deserve some credit for trying and also some credit for admitting failure. 

It's back in the news 2.5 years later, perhaps because of the elections this fall. NO, of course because of the elections this fall. 

I don't know how badly Biden fucked up the withdrawal. My guess is that most of the nastiness was already baked into the cake. That includes Afghan allies running alongside planes. That includes some deaths of Afghans and Americans, people left behind, equipment left behind, and the other mess that comes with a messy withdrawal. 

This article from September 2021 explains that Biden didn't have much choice. The Taliban wanted the US out, and it wasn't going to allow 2500 American troops to stay. 

The mythical 2500 troops that the US could have kept came up again in the political theatre this month too. The military are still pretending we coulda, woulda, shoulda. In this case, we should have kept enough troops to continue securing Bagram airbase. No, I'm not buying that the Taliban would have allowed it. 

I'll also repeat (or maybe state for the first time here) that Trump didn't have a plan. His exit probably would have been as chaotic or worse. His high aide, Stephen Miller, didn't want any Afghan allies settled in the US, and wasn't making any solid plans for them. So Trump crowing that he would have done better is all bullshit. 

Image: NPR

Links from months ago

Charlie Munger, a billionaire investor who is also associated with Warren Buffett, is 97 years old and throwing money into a social experiment in student housing. His idea: students don't need windows to the outside in their dorm rooms. The results aren't good, but he's on his second project in this dream. The first was a dorm for 600 grad students at U Michigan. The second is for 4500 students at UC Santa Barbara. 

A NYT article about how the Biden administration can fight misinformation.. 

The president of Belarus is weaponizing migrants--flying them into Belarus, then dumping them across the borders at the neighbors he doesn't like. 

Ethnic studies will be required for graduation in California high schools. Sounds like a good idea! Not so different from having mandatory health education.

The fast, unorganized withdrawal from Afghanistan happened in part because the Taliban weren't going to extend the ceasefire into September. 

A different kind of misinformation. An anti-BLM claim that Irish slaves were treated worse than African slaves. The story is tracked down, debunked, and shown as the propaganda it is. 

Image: youtube/kobeissi

Interesting links again

How to lose your job at Google. Write a memo about how Google is mishandling diversity issues and has an intolerant leftist bias. While the author did make some blanket statements that I consider erroneous and patronizing, he emphasized evaluating people as individuals, and was against group discrimination. He seems to have lost his job because views he expressed outraged too many within the company. Simply put, his views didn't line up with a dogma of many, and he lost his job because of it.

Signs of war in Korea. The military choices in Korea aren't great. If the US decides on a military offensive against N. Korea, typically there would be a build-up of military resources and a withdrawal of civilians. Of course, that signals a military step to N. Korea, and they might strike because of it. It seems to me that an unannounced, substantial attack would be more effective. However, a deadly response from N. Korea has to be expected. I don't see any military response with minimal casualties. A write-up of the possibilities and their disadvantages.

Rational approach to Russia. I'm suspicious of most American opinions about Russia. Political blogs are awash with Russian shills and bots commenting. Partisan politics has overshadowed clear thinking. So I wondered what the Germany policies toward Russia are. Here's a summary.

New strategy in Afghanistan. Actually, somewhat the same strategy, but with some more troops and maybe stronger tactics. Afghanistan will not be fit to defend itself anytime in the foreseeable future, so it makes sense to try to minimize the terrorists Afghanistan would harbor. Trump talked of winning and peace, but reality is that the military mission is successful with much less than that--such as the avoidance of Afghanistan becoming a major terrorist training and safe zone.

An archive of Trump's lies. This might be handy. However, I wonder whether the Washington Post would be archiving the lies of Hillary Clinton as carefully.

Image: washingtonpost.com

Late additions. List of Arpaio outrages in honor of his pardon by President Trump. This is only a partial list. I visit my parents in Phoenix, and remember Arpaio having a peaceful speaker arrested at an evening meeting because he didn't like her viewpoint. Arbitrary arrests didn't even make the outrage list.

Description of Hurricane Harvey. The aspects that caused it to flood so much of east Texas.

So many stories

I didn't publish this when I first started writing, and now there's been a flurry of stories to follow. Someday I may catch up on my writing, but not yet. However, I'm posting this belated piece today. 


Has Obamacare failed? This article shows pretty clearly that the answer depends on where you live. Some places, yes. Some places, the market is still doing well.

What to do in Afghanistan. Trump likes his top national security adviser McMaster, but disagrees with his plan for Afghanistan. So what will happen?

Voter fraud claims turn nasty. Imagine someone claimed you shouldn't be on the voter rolls. Let's say they lied about you, said you didn't live at your address, etc. Unfortunately, this happened statewide. Read about it.

Which states can't meet pension obligations? That's a good question. This article has one of the best graphs I've ever seen to show the answer. My state (Mass) - so-so. Not as bad as I feared.

Conservatives for riots? This article discusses how an associate of video sting con artist James O'Keefe tried to bribe a progressive organizer to arrange riots for Trump's inauguration. Sounds very sinister. Then I realized that she was probably trying to do a video sting, not actually trying to arrange false flag riots.

List of lies. Donald's. I don't want to go through the whole list, but it's good that somebody compiled one. I'm glad it wasn't me.

The 10-Day Diet. How to lose a bad choice for communications chief in 10 days. But before he's completely forgotten, read this hilarious piece about him calling up a reporter and forgetting to say the magic words "off the record" or "background." Some communications chief.