Yeh maybe the mission creep turned into hey let’s install some sort of modernity in the Afghan state and military
and that failed in Afghanistan as you mentioned, imho they simply left too early, tho I can understand why
but the same has succeeded in Iraq where the much more dangerous ISIS had their arses handed to them
True that was the original aim and it was achieved. Why then stay so long after the initial aim was achieved and pump billions into the country if that was the only objective though. It seems to me they were also trying to ensure the Taliban would never be in a position to come back into power. They clearly failed in that objective as the Afghans were too tribal and corrupt.
When was such an objective set? By whom? Where?
The original aim was to get Bin Ladin and Al Qaida and any other Islamists who would cause trouble in US
That they done, along way it seems there might been pressure to “nation build” from some sections of US give as that allowed to wash 2+ trillion via military industrial complex but that became politically unpopular as body bags returned home.
But I don’t remember any of the presidents standing up and proclaiming they have some grand geo political objective to make Afghanistan like Germany or Japan post ww2, if anything Bush very quickly got distracted by the Iraq fiasco
I wouldn't be concerned if I were the Russians, sure they have loads of spare Putins
Not so funny that some of the comments take it seriously and it plays into their Trump take on Climate Change.
There is some level of spin going on with regard to America's time in Afghanistan. Yes, in any conventional battle or military engagement America wins, so they won in Afghanistan in that regard, but in terms of achieving a geo political objective they failed as Afghanistan is now run by a regime not in tune with American interests. An insurrectionist movement like the Taliban do not have to win against a conventional force, they merely have to survive, the Taliban not only survived but they grew powerful enough to eventually take over the country from the US puppet regime. So they achieved their main political objective, therefore they won.
My immediate thoughts were would there be a sequel in it.
Did the Chinese give him a polonium stir fry?
Hopefully it's true, I know if I had delusions of grandeur to make Russia great again and it failed that badly I wouldn't be sleeping to well the past two years and at his age stress is a killer.
Given other recent news of leading Russian figures' health that ended up being, well, not quite true, we'll have to put this one in the 'hmmm...' pile for now.
But, oh, how it would serve him right.
Speaking of heart attacks
Source is telegram so may or may not be true and I doubt likes of BBC would be able to independently verify not having anyone in country anymore
“””
The Telegram channel General SVR, reportedly run by a former Russian lieutenant-general, declared in a post:"Security officers of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who were on duty at the residence, heard noise and sounds of falling coming from the president's bedroom.
"Two security officers immediately followed into the president's bedroom and saw Putin lying on the floor next to the bed and an overturned table with food and drinks."
General SVR continued: "Putin convulsively arched while lying on the floor, rolling his eyes."
”””
And then you wonder, if there is foul play, did the Russians assassinate him because he was planning to defect \ share intel.
In fairness, it's entirely possible for a man of that age to suffer a heart attack that is completely coincidental and has nothing to do with skulduggery.
Having said that, a cynical take is completely understandable.
We haven't had many reports of Russian business people or military officials or diplomats falling from windows in a while here.
Well here's Mykola Kobrynets an ambassador for pan European cooperation being heart attacked in a hotel room at a summit in Turkey.
Couple of things - 1. It's no longer a novel event. 2. The situation along the lines appears to have become a stalemate for now, albeit a savage one, so there aren't really any strategic developments to report on.
I would say that if there is a big breakthrough made by either side, it will garner quite significant coverage indeed.
Fake but funny
Well I check everyday for developments, no harm that Ukrainian forces have a bit of time and space outside the media glare to get on with what they have to do - eliminate as many Russians as possible till they get back to their own territory.
Things are going south for Russia with India who are refusing to pay for Russian oil in Chinese currency
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-20/india-pushes-back-against-russia-demands-to-pay-for-oil-in-yuan
This is very funny
…
Indian refiners mostly pay for Russian oil imports in dirhams — the currency of the United Arab Emirates — US dollars, and a small amount of rupees, if oil prices are above the $60 a barrel cap imposed by the US and its allies on Russian oil.
The UAE Dirham is … pegged to the US dollar and protected by US 5th fleet and US Patriot and other systems
Seems like russia had some minor success storming the Terrikon slag mound near Avdiivka. They drove multiple columns across the front and around the back to the only part with vehicle access and destroyed some Ukrainian firing positions. They got decimated in the process but managed to make the mound contested.
Currywurst was "invented" by a woman in Berlin as a means to hide the flavour of the low quality meat they had available just after the war. She actually became very rich as a result of it!
How does one say “this is unsustainable” in Russian
When you get there, broaden your horizons, visit the republics, get the views of the non-ethnic Russians, and see what they think.
It's was an amazing achievement. I think towards the end there was a plane landing at Templehoff airport every three minutes.
I think as well to supply coal they use to use planes with a type if bomb door which use to open over a coal yard and literally empty over the yard and return to be reloaded.
They could have probably used a few more back loads but it in the end the Russians gave in from a combination of embargoes and embarrassment
The 1961 Berlin crisis. Kennedy had no intention of starting world war 3. He was relieved when the wall started going up. “A wall is better than a war”.
I wonder is that where they got their bizarre taste of food in Berlin like the awful curry wurst
Posts deleted
We have another thread where the Israel/Hamas conflict can be discussed
They would not have given up Berlin. They supplied it for nearly a year by air to keep it going.
Crimea again
1930’s trucks!!
https://x.com/noelreports/status/1716098114350682131?s=61&t=DxstfHfpdHZgwdFp-yaZEg
We have come a long way since these guys were surrounded in Mariupol at start of war
Then it seemed just a matter of days and Russia would win, these were dark days, this for me was the first ray of light
What a change
Keyword being further
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