What will Tuesday August 31, 2021 look like at Kabul’s airport? Will it look like this?
My guess the answer is yes. With a population of 38 million people and a Kabul population of 4 million people where were the defenders of their city?
The United States has failed to protect those in Afghanistan who were our guides, interpreters and coordinators. My country is racing to leave that country as if it was a burning building and everyone is piling onto others to reach the exit.
Our exit date was not set by the Taliban. It was set by President Joe Biden. While he and his predecessor were correct in wanting to withdraw from Afghanistan, the execution of withdrawal will go down in history as a major failure.
America’s “allies” are all wondering if the United States will stand by its commitments. Would this country come to the aid of Taiwan if attacked by China? Or will we stand by as Russia continues to annex more parts of Ukraine?
The foreign policy of the Joe Biden administration emphasizes repairing the U.S.’s alliances, which Biden says have been damaged under the Trump but our actions in Afghanistan send a different message.
Biden at the age of 78 has probably decided not to run for a second term. That decision frees him to do the things that past presidents were unable to accomplish.
Looking like it’s been carved from the cliffs it’s planted on, Bran Castle in Transylvania is the very picture of ‘spooky.’ Although much history has passed through and around this medieval fortress, one infamous historical figure—once intimately linked to the castle—is now thought to have never set foot in it. ‘Dracula’s Castle,’ as the Romanian tourist board began calling Bran Castle in the 1970s, wasn’t the home of Vlad the Impaler, the brutal 15th-century ruler of Wallachia. And Bram Stoker, author of the novel that Vlad inspired, didn’t base his Dracula’s Castle on this castle. (One of Vlad’s actual lairs was Poenari Castle, a mountaintop ruin about two hours west.)
While it turns out Bran Castle has little to do with the bloodsucking Count, it most certainly looks the part from the outside based on the movie version.
Based on my own family, on my mother’s side, the people of Romania in days gone by very superstitious. Hexes and threatened hexes or curses were part of the family that came to America. Sadly I have no powers. But then again perhaps people do sense there is something strange about me and few will be my friend.
The film was actually shot at Shea’s Castle, near Lancaster, California and does not look like the castle in the movie.
Richard Haass writing for the Brookings Institute in April 2000 wrote “Twenty-five years after the ignominious American withdrawal from what was then South Vietnam, this much is clear: the United States lost the war, but won the peace.”
The Pentagon on Sunday said it activated the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, ordering U.S. airlines to provide flights for the Afghanistan evacuation. The order reminded me of Dunkirk 1940. Reported in this article “861 pleasure craft and fishing boats were essential to the operation’s success in the shallow waters around Dunkirk.” It was the military defeat of an army on a beach of France and was a sad day in WWII. The British government claimed the retreat a victory. These are the kinds of words spoken in 1984 where white is black and defeat is victory. This article copied from THE CONVERSATION.
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For Britons, Dunkirk is one of the proudest moments of World War II. The evacuation of 338,226 troops and other personnel from the beaches of northern France – which took place between May 26 and June 4 1940 – was an act of stubborn defiance by a plucky island nation against Hitler’s blitzkrieg. It was a victory snatched from the jaws of defeat.
Yet this was anything but a military success. Quite often we now forget the catastrophic defeat that led to “Operation Dynamo”.
On May 10, 1940, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) – totalling approximately 400,000 at the height of the campaign and commanded by Lord Gort – was deployed in Belgium, alongside its allies, as part of a defensive line against German invasion. But by May 13, German units had pierced French defences and crossed the River Meuse near Sedan, close to the Belgian border in northeast France. Within a week, German panzer divisions had reached the French coast south of Boulogne, trapping the BEF and the French 1st Army in a small pocket around the channel ports, cutting them off from the main Allied force.
The British retreat to Dunkirk was controversial. But poor planning, intelligence, leadership, and communications had left the Allies in a desperate situation.
Prime minster Winston Churchill had promised the French that the BEF would play its part in a coordinated counterattack against the German flank. However, Lord Gort was preparing to evacuate his troops, apparently with the blessing of the secretary of state for war, Anthony Eden. To escape annihilation, the BEF staged a fighting retreat to the coast, and rescue plans were hastily made, including appeals for owners of “self-propelled pleasure craft between 30 and 100 feet” to contact the Admiralty.
Covered by rear-guard actions by both British and French units, exhausted troops converged on Dunkirk. Naturally, there was panic and chaos on the beaches. The town and port were bombed and time was running out. Discipline was often tested: historians have found anecdotal evidence that order was sometimes restored through the severest of measures, with guns being trained on troops by their own officers and men.
French involvement
Crucial time was bought by those covering the retreat. At Lille, the French 1st Army fought German forces to a standstill for four days, despite being hopelessly outnumbered and lacking any armour. The French forces forming a perimeter defence around Dunkirk were all either killed or captured.
British forces covering the retreat also paid a high price. Those who were not killed in the fighting became prisoners of war. But even that was no guarantee of safety. At the village of Le Paradis, 97 British troops who had surrendered were massacred by the SS. At least 200 Muslim soldiers of the French army met with the same fate.
Men of the 2nd Royal Ulster Rifles awaiting evacuation at Bray Dunes, near Dunkirk, 1940.
As the quays of Dunkirk had been destroyed, evacuation had to take place from the shore itself, justifying the foresight of the Admiralty to co-opt the small ships. Troops were transported by these small craft to larger vessels of the Royal Navy and French Navy under frequent harassment from the Luftwaffe. Remarkably, however, Hitler was persuaded to halt the advance on land in favour of air strikes against the men on the beaches. The limitations of isolated air operations and the deteriorating weather that reduced the number of sorties (missions) flown probably saved many British and French lives.
The BEF was rescued, but this was far from a victory. More than 50,000 men had been lost (killed, missing, or captured) and an enormous number of tanks, guns, and trucks had been left behind, too.
Victims of spirit
The spirit of Dunkirk – the pride that the British people felt after the successful rescue of the country’s men – had its own casualties, too. The crucial role of the French army has subsequently been forgotten. The RAF, criticised for failing to cover the troops on the beach adequately, actually sustained huge losses of its own, as did both the British and French navies. German errors – particularly the aforementioned halt order – that allowed the escape to happen are understated.
Dunkirk has become the focal point for this moment in history, but other rescue missions took place that are not as well remembered. In total, over 558,000 British, French, Polish and Czech personnel were rescued from the beaches of northern France between May and June 1940 – an additional 220,000 to those who were evacuated from Dunkirk.
Most significantly, the role of the “little ships” has come to dominate the story of Dunkirk. Though these 861 pleasure craft and fishing boats were essential to the operation’s success in the shallow waters around Dunkirk, they were less significant in evacuations elsewhere. The boats are often viewed as an integral part of the people’s war, even though most of these ships were crewed by Royal Navy personnel, not civilians.
As novelist J.B. Priestley put it in his BBC radio broadcast of June 5, 1940:
What began as a miserable blunder, a catalogue of misfortunes and miscalculations, ended as an epic of gallantry. We have a queer habit – and you can see it running through our history – of conjuring up such transformations. Out of a black gulf of humiliation and despair, rises a sun of blazing glory.
The military–industrial complex describes the relationship between a nation’s military and the defense industry that supplies it, seen together as a vested interest which influences public policy.
Dwight Eisenhower, 34th president of the United States
President Eisenhower’s farewell speech to the nation the retiring president warned of the dangers of allowing a Military-Industrial Complex to take control of the United States. The Military-Industrial Complex is a term that denotes a symbiotic relationship between a nation’s military, economy, and politics.
The U.S. sent to Afghanistan nearly 600,000 small arms, 76,000 vehicles and 208 airplanes to Afghanistan’s military and police from 2003 to 2016, according to a 2017 Government Accountability Office report, one of the few such compilations. The U.S.-led military coalition documented deliveries of 174 Humvees, nearly three million rounds of ammunition, and nearly 100,000 2.75-inch rockets during the period, night-vision goggles and even small drones for intelligence gathering.
The Department of Defense has a handful of arms manufacturers. You may recognize some or the names: Colt, Daniel Defense, Remington Arms Company, and FN America. FN is also working to help develop new guns featuring revolutionary technology. Lockheed Martin Corp. is the largest arms manufacturer in the world. Boeing, Northrup Grumman, and Raytheon rely on the U.S. military for anywhere from 44% of their revenue (Boeing) to 89% of their revenue (Lockeheed).
“FN America was recently down-selected and contracted to produce two prototypes for the U.S. Army’s Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle program,” says Greg Livermore, FN’s vice president for product management.
All of those arms manufacturers are now trying to negotiate a situation that will result in fewer arms sales. Don’t you know they will be promoting another war? They don’t care where it is and how many lives are lost or how many injuries are sustained?
It was WWII followed by the Cold War that created jobs for Americans in those arms manufacturing companies. Many have said that wars are what keeps America out of depressions.
Larry Elder is running to be elected California’s next governor if Governor Gavin Newsom is recalled. Elder is the front runner in most polls. These are quotes collected by CNN. The recall election will be September 14.
Larry Elder has a long history of making disparaging remarks about women.
“Glass ceiling? Ha! What glass ceiling? Women, women exaggerate the problem of sexism,” radio host Larry Elder said in a 1996 ad for his radio show.
His disparaging comments have been as recent as January 2017, when he deleted a tweet that implied women taking part in the Women’s March were too unattractive to be sexually assaulted, according to the Los Angeles Times.
In another previously unreported comment from a January 2017 radio show, Elder mocked women attending the Women’s March as “obese.”
Elder suggested in a video news conference with U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) that he would end the “war on oil and gas” and the “attack on the logging industry,” adding that he would reduce regulation of fracking and deemphasize wind and solar power, which he called “not very efficient.”
“For somebody who’s never run a business to tell business people… ‘I’m going to jack up your price of labor, and you’re going to deal with it,’ to me, it’s offensive, The ideal minimum wage is $0.00.”
Are you OK with Larry Elder’s views on the issues he has discussed? If so, go ahead and vote for him but don’t be surprised about the outcome.
President Biden blamed the chaotic fall of Kabul on the failure of the Afghans to fight back, in a defiant defense of his decision to withdraw troops. That does not excuse his administration’s failure to recognize the possibility that the country could be taken over by the Taliban in days, not months.
No doubt there will be hearings in Congress but they will be political in nature and will accomplish nothing. The president is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces and he alone has the power to move and remove the military as he sees fit once the Congress authorizes military actions. Congress has also given the president the authority to act militarily in emergencies.
It was President Harry Truman who authorized the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended WWII. The first bomb, dropped on the city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, resulted in a total death toll of around 140,000. The second, which hit Nagasaki on 9 August, killed around 50,000 people. Truman offered no apologies.
While Biden said the words “The Buck Stops Here” he gave an 18 minute speech on Wednesday August 17 placing blame for the chaos at Kabul’s airport on everyone but his administration.
For most Americans who remember it, the end of the Vietnam War is inextricably linked with images of chaos: desperate residents of Saigon climbing the walls of the U.S. embassy, sailors on navy vessels pushing helicopters overboard to make room for more refugees. Few people know the full story behind the city’s controversial mass-evacuation in April 1975. Told by survivors and key figures in the exodus, Last Days in Vietnam unearthed new footage and reexamines those events in a way that raises questions about contemporary conflicts in Irag, Afghanistan, and with ISIS.
The final 24 hours of the Vietnam War were no less ugly than all the years that preceded them. This grainy photo says it all.
It was reported repeatedly that Afghanistan’s army was four times the size of the Taliban’s fighting force. That the Afghanistan army had all of the latest weaponry. The army had 20 years of training by the United States army. Despite those facts the Afghanistan army disintegrated when confronted by Taliban forces.
The American flag has been taken down at the Kabul embassy. The president of Afghanistan has reportedly left the country. Afghan aides to the US military (translators, interpreters, and other who worked in the US embassy) fear for their lives and are searching every avenue to leave their country.
Afghanistan is a tribal tribal country that historically was governed by an Emir. An Emir is not a king. He is selected by the tribes. The population of the country consists of numerous ethnolinguistic groups: Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Aimaq, Turkmen, Baloch, Pashai, Nuristani, Gujjar, Arab, Brahui, Qizilbash, Pamiri, Kyrgyz, Sadat and others.
The Western world has tried to install democracy in Afghanistan for more than 100 years. They are happy with their way of life that is guided by the Koran.
Undoubtedly there will be a movie titled “Last Days in Afghanistan.”
A U.S. Chinook helicopter flies over the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021.
Re-write of Charlie Daniel’s “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”. Words by Eric Hanke and posted on Facebook.
The Devil went down to Texas, He was lookin’ for some votes to steal.’Cause the cities and towns, are more black and brown And they tend to keep it real.
Said I know that folks are dyin’, I’m just here to run my race. If people freeze, or get some disease At least they know their place.
I’m in a band of demons, We were forged in hell. If you’ve got the coin, we’ll let you join But if not, you’re SOL.
You see we lost in Georgia, So we gotta make a stand. I’m building walls, ’cause if Texas falls That’s it for our little band.
If you want to beat me, If you think there’s any hope, Have all your friends defeat me Get em registered to vote.
Abbott you can play your fiddle, call your sessions too. But the people here in Texas, are dyin’ ’cause of you. You sold your soul, so long ago, of that there is no doubt, Come this next November, we’re gonna vote you out.
Canada has become the destination for many people fleeing violence in their home country. Has the United States relinquished its moral authority? Was the Statue of Liberty given to the wrong nation?
By Alex McKeen Vancouver Bureau, Toronto Star Fri., Aug. 13, 2021
Canada has announced an expanded program to resettle Afghan refugees as territories in Afghanistan fall rapidly to the Taliban.
Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino said Friday the program will welcome 20,000 Afghans, targeting those who belong to groups vulnerable to persecution by the Taliban.
Those groups will include: “Women leaders, human rights defenders, journalists, persecuted minorities, LGBTQI members, and family of previously resettled interpreters,” Mendicino said.
The government made the announcement amidst pressure to expedite its program to resettle those who were employed by Canada during its efforts in Afghanistan, such as interpreters.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland on Friday acknowledged what she called Canada’s “moral duty” to help resettle Afghans who have worked for Canadian Forces and the Canadian Embassy.
Under the newly extended resettlement program, those families will be eligible. Mendicino said they will be able to come to Canada through family-class sponsorship and refugee programs.
What will the likes of Orval Faubus (past Governor of Arkansas), Strom Thurmond (past senator from South Carolina), George Wallace (Former Governor of Alabama) do in the 21st century? It was Wallace who said, “Segregation Now, Segregation Tomorrow, Segregation Forever.” It was President Eisenhower, a Republican, who sent who sent troops to Little Rock to enforce integration of their high school.
U.S. Census officials released data Thursday revealing the most sweeping picture of America’s racial and ethnic makeup in a decade.
“These changes reveal that the US population is much more multiracial, and more racially and ethnically diverse, than what we measured in the past,” said Nicholas Jones, the director of race, ethnicity, research and outreach for the Census Bureau’s population division.
The white, non-Hispanic population, without another race, decreased by 8.6% since 2010, according to the new data from the 2020 census. The U.S. is now 57.8% white, 18.7% Hispanic, 12.4% Black and 6% Asian.
“The presence of the Hispanic or Latino population as the second-most prevalent group spanned the entire continental United States, with large numbers of counties in every region,” census officials said.
White Supremacists are frightened about what will happen as the White population declines. What will the country look like racially in 2030? Whites will have dropped to 55.8% of the population, and Hispanics will have grown to 21.1%. The percentage of black and Asian Americans will also grow significantly. Predictions are that White people will be less than half the population by 2045 an will continue to decline.
My guess is White segregationists will be moving into gated communities.
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