h/t Instapundit
Perennial Democratic White House aide, congressman, Chicago mayor, and ambassador-in-waiting Rahm Emmanuel's sole memorable utterance‐his only candidate for Bartlett's‐is his cynical 2008 maxim that the good guys (i.e., his team) must "never let a serious crisis go to waste." He was speaking of using the financial crisis to usher in sweeping changes to law, policy, the economy, and society that would otherwise not have been possible through ordinary democratic processes.
The same logic applies now to the Democrats'‐and many Republicans'‐insistence that America be flooded with Afghan "refugees." Importing as many immigrants as possible, from cultures as alien to traditional America as possible, is the ruling class's top priority, after protecting its own wealth and power. But since importing millions upon millions of foreigners is the primary tool by which the ruling class maintains that wealth and power‐by suppressing wage growth and dividing the population‐it can be hard to disaggregate these two priorities.
...And now, just like thirteen years ago, our rulers want to use a crisis they created as justification to ram through what they always wanted to do anyway. Which, in this case, is to resettle a hundred or two hundred thousand (the number varies depending on who's speaking) foreigners with no tradition of liberty‐who are indeed from a culture deeply alien, even hostile to, Western civilizational norms‐in your communities.
The justification for this is already being trumpeted: we must save our "allies," translators and such, who helped us throughout our twenty-year failed experiment. This argument, though offered in bad faith, is effective because the vast majority of American consider abandoning an ally to a deadly enemy dishonorable.
But does anyone really believe that America has, or ever had‐even over the duration of two decades‐200,000 "allies" in Afghanistan? That we ever employed even a fraction of that number as translators? The claim is risible on its face.
The regime has in any case already admitted that, of the roughly 111,600 Afghans (as compared to 5,400 American citizens) already evacuated, it has no idea who the vast majority of them are. Our masters tell us that we must save "allies" and "translators"‐and then in the next breath admit that they're indiscriminately taking anyone.
...There surely are some translators or others who really did help American forces and who deserve to be evacuated. If Americans could trust their government to establish and operate a serious vetting system to identify those truly worthy of resettlement‐vouched for, say, by two or more of our soldiers who worked directly with the applicant in the field‐most would support refugee status for such people. But they would number at most in the thousands, not the hundreds of thousands currently in process of resettlement.
...Beyond those (few) genuine allies and translators, America has no obligation to bring over "refugees" at all. Those who claim such a reason on the basis of Colin Powell's "Pottery Barn rule"‐"you break it, you bought it," a rule that Pottery Barn does not actually impose‐are incoherent. For by this logic, the United States is perpetually bound to compound its worst disasters with further deliberate errors: wreck a country, import its citizens. Or is that simply the plan?
Instead of "you break it, you bought it," how about, "when you're in a hole, stop digging"? Why do 2,500 American deaths, 20,000 injuries, and $2 trillion in losses obligate us to take on additional problems and burdens? How do our genuine obligations to a few hundred translators extend across an entire population of more than 37 million? Such arguments are a combination of sophistry and guilt-trip, in the service of ruling class pieties and political (and pecuniary) interests.
[JPost] - In 1787 the American statesman Benjamin Franklin was leaving the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia when he was asked "what do we have, a republic or a monarchy?" He replied, "A republic, if you can keep it." Having won in Afghanistan, the Taliban now have an Emirate, in their own terminology, but they will have to try to keep it.
In some ways, it is a fitting comparison to look at the US leaving Afghanistan in 2021 and the way the British left their former American colonies after the battle of Yorktown in 1781. The US was not really defeated by the Taliban, but many think that this decision to leave marks a turning point in US post-Cold War hegemony on the world stage. That remains to be seen.
The larger question is what the Taliban victory means for them and for like-minded groups. The Taliban emerged out of the chaos of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. They were, as their name suggests, younger men then. The mujahideen, Afghan fighters infused with religion, had pushed the Soviets out, but the Taliban took many years to come to power.
...The horrors the Taliban inflicted on Afghanistan foreshadowed the sectarian genocidal policies of Al Qaeda and its fellow travelers in Iraq after 2003 and then the ISIS genocide against Yazidis and Shi’ites. It was the Taliban who had persecuted Shi’ites in Afghanistan and, like ISIS, they destroyed the historical fabric of Afghanistan. This attempt to erase archaeological and religious history and minorities had a Nazi-like quality to it.
Today’s Taliban is said to be different.
No more bacha bazi boys for the local commanders, no more partnership with the opium trafficking gangs, no more confiscating pretty daughters of the locals to marry off to Talib hard boys, no more beating and killing women not fully covered in a burqa? Maybe at the college-educated top, but down in the trenches we are already hearing reports of old behaviours returned with a vengeance.
That means its "emirate" is one that might flourish if they can get recognition and investment. Unlike the 1990s Taliban, this one has links to China, Russia, Pakistan, Qatar and Turkey. In fact, it appears that some of their special forces had training from some backers. Some of them know how to fly helicopters. They have inherited a small arsenal from the Afghan army and from abandoned US-led Coalition equipment. They have drones, a Blackhawk helicopter and armored vehicles.
...The US has hopes for the Taliban to be able to manage their Emirate responsibly. "The statement is positive. We, our allies, and the international community will hold them to these commitments," US Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad tweeted on August 28. This week he noted that "the Taliban now face a test. Can they lead their country to a safe and prosperous future where all their citizens, men and women, have the chance to reach their potential? Can Afghanistan present the beauty and power of its diverse cultures, histories and traditions to the world?"
...Meanwhile, the Taliban will want to bring in China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia and Turkey for investment opportunities. They will want to neutralize any opposition, such as in the Panjshir Valley. They will also want to get the abandoned equipment left behind working so they can secure the country.
These are big tasks. But they may have support from Qatar and others that will come out in the open now. They will have to decide how much they want to let these foreign countries have a say in running things in Kabul. They have an Emirate, if they can keep it. It remains to be seen if they will want to host Hamas and other groups, like HTS from Idlib, and provide guidance on other terror armies that want to transform into states. There's a story about a cat that decided to become vegetarian.
#2
I was thinking of the time a turtle (against his better judgment) tried to give a scorpion (who promised he wouldn't sting the turtle) a ride across a river. It is an ancient story. The results were exactly what one might expect from reading this intro.
Posted by: Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843 ||
08/31/2021 12:43 Comments ||
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[Townhall] Well, the fiasco that erupted concerning the safe evacuation of American citizens from Afghanistan could have been much less chaotic. The Washington Post had a lengthy piece Sunday detailing the fall of Kabul. It circles back to everything you already know. The Taliban were racing toward reconquering the country. The Afghan government was totally aloof. And everyone in the Biden orbit was on vacation when calamity hit. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani dithered on getting his act together, more concerned about the digitization of the economy than the Taliban threat. The publication noted that he agreed to step aside days before the Taliban took control of Kabul. The US assumed he would be there to help with the transitional government that included the Taliban. Instead, he fled, but here's the real issue.
Buried mid-way through the piece is the Taliban offering the US to take control of not just the airport but all of Kabul. Chaos was engulfing the city as news of the government's collapse spread. Security was a priority. The Taliban offered the US to take control of the city, and we turned them down (via WaPo):
...
The result of this decision by President Biden & Gen. McKenzie is that Khalil Haqqani—an al Qaeda-linked terrorist with a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head—was placed in charge of security of Kabul.
#2
1. The WaPo today had an editorial (not an op-ed) that was highly critical of Biden.
2. I doubt the US could have controlled Kabul with the 6k troops that were, I think, available at that time. There were hundreds of ISIS prisoners released on Aug 5 or so and these would have tried as much as they could to take out any US troops they saw.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
08/31/2021 17:37 Comments ||
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#3
Taliban didn't know how many defenders were in the city. That most likely assumed we had more or they wouldn't have made the offer. Even a few days probably would have helped.
ISIS prisoners should have been kept until after the last American was out. they could act as hostages for good behavior.
I was in Antigua and Dominica last week on a Caribbean cruise. Lovely places, with strict restrictions for getting off the ship. The tour guide on Antigua told us how the Chinese were helping out their small, impoverished little island, independent since 1981. The Chinese finished a new airport there a few years ago and are building several new facilities, including a new hospital. There may be a few Chinese supervisors on these projects, we were told, but the bulk of the work would be done by locals. A few minutes later, I saw several oriental workers doing apparent manual labor.
Someone asked about the white streetlights with little turbines on top, all along miles of highway. Provided by the Chinese, but not all were spinning in the breeze. Perhaps typical Chinese quality?
The next day, we toured Dominica, (independent since 1978) and drove past the "Dominica-China Friendship Hospital", a large, three-story facility. The Chinese will also assist in financing Dominica's international airport. I bet the runways will be long enough to accommodate Chinese jet fighters.
Maybe the Chinese are looking for opportunities for single men and tourists, or perhaps the ‘Belt and Road' initiative will someday turn the Caribbean Sea into a Chinese lake.
I discovered I could read more about these projects on the interwebs. Take a look at the map.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/31/2021 00:00 ||
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#1
Oh, I forgot. China is offering free college education, in China, to residents of Antigua. The tour guide said her brother is there.
Where do they get all the money?
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/31/2021 0:48 Comments ||
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#2
Where do they get all the money?
Fiat Currencies use printing presses, China is no different.
#3
Oh, I forgot. China is offering free college education, in China, to residents of Antigua. The tour guide said her brother is there.
Where do they get all the money?
It's not that much money. They don't have teachers' protection rackets masquerading as unions there. No racial quotas for incompetents, either.
Re the projects - the Chinese are hoping to do the same thing that car dealerships do to make a profit - they get you with the fine print, which the leader who signs it agrees to because of a fat deposit in his new Panamanian bank account. His successor can similarly be paid off to abide by the agreement's terms - after all, it's only taxpayer money at stake, not his newly established secret bank account.
#5
You know all the chicanery European firms used to get up to in terms of paying off local nabobs in these locales? Chinese companies are doing this with CCP connivance. With China becoming a significant market for some of these countries, Beijing has the ability to tank their economies in the short term, thereby making local rulers wary of incurring its displeasure, lest their domestic rivals take advantage of temporary economic discontent to win office in their place.
#6
If China wants to waste their money on ungrateful jerks, let them. They'll soon find out they get no thanks, and it'll save our money.
The joke with the Chinese educating all these third worlders is, the plan is that they go back to their countries and are suceptible to Chinese influence the rest of their lives. But joke's on the Chinese: once they graduate with their bachelor's degrees, they qualify to work in China. Many stay on, having no plans to go back to the hellhole they came from. Even China looks better to them.
#7
The joke with the Chinese educating all these third worlders is, the plan is that they go back to their countries and are suceptible to Chinese influence the rest of their lives. But joke's on the Chinese: once they graduate with their bachelor's degrees, they qualify to work in China. Many stay on, having no plans to go back to the hellhole they came from. Even China looks better to them.
That's not a bad deal for the Chinese - they get a thin slice of foreign cognitive elites. Nothing wrong with fresh blood.
#11
Americans have squandered far too much taxpayer money on Third World, so-called "developing" countries that never seem to actually get developed. Now the Chinese think they have something to gain from squandering their own money.
Never interrupt your enemy when he's making a mistake.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
08/31/2021 13:32 Comments ||
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#12
Foreign cognitive elites? China has 1.3 billion people. They have enough. They're full. They don't need more people. They can educate their own people just fine.
[ENGLISH.AAWSAT] In 2015, when the garbage crisis erupted in Leb ...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers, a practice dating back to the heady human sacrifice days of Baal Moloch. In 2020 Hezbollahblew up a considerable portion of Beirut and many of its inhabitants when its ammonium nitrate faci8lity exploded. They blamed it on... somebody else. It wasn't them though. Trust them on that... , we found ourselves thrown into a strange situation: all the Lebanese, with no sectarian or regional affiliations, were suffering from the problem. At the same time, many villages and towns yelled out: don’t bury "strangers’" trash in our area. The "strangers" were none other than the sons of the villages and towns adjacent to the villages and towns objecting.
Today, with the great collapse, similar sentiments are being yelled out at gas stations: "strangers" are filling their tanks in "our" stations, using "our" gas.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2021 00:00 ||
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#2
E Pluribus Unum - Out of Many, One.
It is America's motto. A vision of something that never existed before - a nation based not on blood or soil, but on the desire to be an American. Micks, spics, wops, kikes, japs, chinks, kinks, wogs, and frogs. It didn't matter. Raise your hand and swear you believe in the Constitution and will defend it against all enemies, both foreign and bureaucratic, and you're in the club.
Ever since we were monkeys, identity politics has been a thing. By transcending tribes, America managed to create an incredible engine for creativity, liberty and prosperity. Not bad for 13 little punk-ass colonies. It is painful to think of it being torn apart for short-term political gain. But here we are.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
I was in Antigua and Dominica last week on a Caribbean cruise. Lovely places, with strict restrictions for getting off the ship. The tour guide on Antigua told us how the Chinese were helping out their small, impoverished little island, independent since 1981. The Chinese finished a new airport there a few years ago and are building several new facilities, including a new hospital. There may be a few Chinese supervisors on these projects, we were told, but the bulk of the work would be done by locals. A few minutes later, I saw several oriental workers doing apparent manual labor. 
Maybe the Chinese are looking for opportunities for single men and tourists, or perhaps the ‘Belt and Road' initiative will someday turn the Caribbean Sea into a Chinese lake.
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers, a practice dating back to the heady human sacrifice days of Baal Moloch. In 2020 Hezbollahblew up a considerable portion of Beirut and many of its inhabitants when its ammonium nitrate faci8lity exploded. They blamed it on... somebody else. It wasn't them though. Trust them on that...
