Afghanistan

 Some people are objecting to the fact that we left Afghanistan with the situation unresolved.  After 20 years its pretty clear we don't know how to resolve the issue.  In fact what exactly is the issue?

Afghanistan is essentially an Islamic State.  It is also famously a place that resists central authority and even more so foreign invaders.

To a large extent they have been able to maintain their independence thanks to their geography.  Whie in a central location they are landlocked and mountainous.  

Nominally they were part of a number of great empires but never really.  The tribes in the mountains weren't worth the effort of true subjugation but were also not strong enough to pose much of a threat.  So they were left alone to herd goats, grow poppies and provide fighters.

The British wanted to subdue them but never could really.  Then the Russians tried.  While the country is fairly easy to occupy, it is very hard to hold because of the mountains, the porous borders and their tactic which reminds my of Ali's rope a dope, you can't really hit them because they aren't where you think they are.

When the Russians were there we supplied them with munitions and training sites.  Once the Russians left they allowed terrorists to use the sites and particularly Al Quaeda.  Some of the terrorists on 9/11 were trained at these sites so it became our first order of business to eliminate them.  We did that rather quickly but then were in Afghanistan for the long haul.

We installed a weak but corrupt central Government, spent billions training a military and lost lives to modernize a country that just wants to be left alone generally.  It all collapsed rather quickly.

We have the ability to monitor significant terrorist activity and destroy it without being in the country.  The politics in this country lead to attacks on the current administration for leaving although the previous administration wanted out also.

In a number of years the country will fade into the list of Stans in that part of the world and be hard to locate for most Americans.

We probably could have left much sooner and have less casualties.  

We should have.

IDA

 Are things getting worse or do we just hear about them faster and with more coverage.  Hurricane Ida just devastated Louisiana but that area has been in the path of hurricanes before.

We all remember Katrina which was really devastating because the levees didn't hold and the City flooded.  It wasn't the strongest hurricane to hit but it was probably the most damaging.

We still don't know the full extent of the destruction but hopefully it is not going to be loss of life as much as loss of property.

I know the electrical grid went out and it will take days if not weeks to repair it.

Lets hope that the area can recover and get back to normal quickly.

Terror!

 I can't imagine the terror felt by people who wake up every day thinking the Government or some group controlling the Government is out to kill them.

I've never felt unsafe even though I was drafted during an active war.  I even knew that certain people were able to manipulate the system, say the former President, if you had enough money or the right connections.  The system wasn't out to get me, I just fit in where I fit in.

Some people today think all sorts of things about the Government. They are stealing your country, pushing dangerous vaccines, taking away your jobs and lying to you about lots of things, like climate change.  I guess the motives vary but these people believe it is because they are real Americans and the less real Americans want them out of the way.

They are convinced that the one leader who understood this had his job stolen from him.  Of course during the four years he was in charge nothing got better, in fact many people ended up dying from the phony virus that he said was a political stunt.

How terrified they must be when they are surrounded by people trying to steal their ability to go mask less.  

In response they are OK with restricting the right of those less real Americans at the ballot box.

Hell, not that long ago they were allowed to use water hoses and police dogs.

Just to protect their rights.  

World Class Deniers

 We are getting out of Afghanistan which will be better protection for America as that recruiting example goes away.  Our support for the corruption going on there, and we knew about it, was inexcusable.  A few more chaotic days,, a few more drone strikes and we will be done except for the refugee problem we created.

I suspect that the Taliban is going to need citizens who can help them so since we are no longer at odds with them maybe many can simply adapt.  I don't anticipate peace there, factions will rise and fight for power, but that is the way it always was.

Hopefully despite the current chaos we inspired a core of men and women to fight for western ideals and a spark is sometimes enough.  

Meanwhile a big hurricane is headed for Louisiana.  I was reading an article saying that climate change is now impossible to ignore.  Really?  We have expert ignorers in this country who while dying of Covid 19 still argue its a hoax.

Call it dedication or stupidity but that's world class denial or ignorance.

Still as Covid rages Louisiana is targeted by a big hurricane.  

I hope they come out OK.

Honor Our Hero's, Be Smart

The manipulators are out in force trying to convince people, anybody really, that all the problems were caused in the last six months.

They ignore the fact that things got pretty messy in the last one.  Still the new administration has to clean up the mess and doing so requires a bit of time and a little patience. 

Afghanistan is almost solved but the fact that we lost Americans at the airport to a terrorist attack is terribly sad.  This was executed by elements of ISIS that while reduced were clearly not eliminated.  We need to avenge these men but what they want is the big bad Americans to stay so they can recruit.

Our continued presence is how they convince young people that we are the invaders and that they need to fight us. 

Staying in Afghanistan would be a terrible mistake and we don't look like we are taking the bait.  How and when we retaliate can be judged after its executed.

Who's to blame for the attack at the airport?  One might say security was bad but the situation is somewhat chaotic.  The large crowds outside the fence presented an easy opportunity and the fact that they were able to get close enough to also impact our troops might be something to be adjusted.  

Not that killing civilians is OK but we live in a world where a suicide bomber can find crowds and kill people fairly easily.  That isn't an effective strategy if it is the people you are trying to win over.

We aren't taking the bait.

Survival Instinct

 We live in a dangerous world.  Its a place where one species has to prey on other species in order to survive.  In turn they are preyed upon.

We consider this the natural order of things and justify the lion killing the antelope as the circle of life.  Not so much so for the antelope who by the way had no issue ending the life cycle of numerous plants.

Some of us have created hierarchies in our minds to justify eating the creatures we consider less conscious or less animate.  Science tells us that we share over 90% of our DNA with plants so how different are they really?

We tend to think that we have escaped this cycle, at least as far as being prey, but that's not true.  I'm not talking about the rare times we get attacked by a shark or another animal, we are prey to micro-organisms that need us to survive.

We host all sorts of bacteria that need us to survive.  In some cases we need them.  Viruses tend to be inherently more destructive since they just want to hijack us so they can replicate.  In doing so they can make us sick or even kill us.  

We have developed defenses but the viruses continue to adapt also and new ones become deadly.  Before science developed vaccines we simply had to live with the risk and many succumbed to things like measles, polio, smallpox, etc.  It was a world where we were lucky to survive childhood and the risk was always there.

We now live in a world where we can combat viruses.  For some reason fairly large swaths of our population won't.  Its sort of like Antelopes who aren't afraid of lions.

They end up as dinner.

Afghanistan? Do You Care?

 Realistically Americans don't really care about Afghanistan.  Many of them couldn't find it on a map.  Outside of being a major supplier of Opium we have no great interest there except to keep others out.

Yes it let terrorists train in the hills but lets not forget that when they were fighting the Russians we financed a lot of what they had.  Knocking our the terrorist camps was worthwhile but we overstayed out welcome, if we ever had one.

The Taliban are not nice people or maybe they are, depending upon how you feel about fundamentalist fanatics who put the teachings of a religion over the rights of individuals.  We tolerate and to some extent encourage similar behavior here.  We have groups who would deny anyone who doesn't conform to their views of religion basic human rights.

Still the news is turning it into a spectacle and until that ends Americans think they care.

They don't and once it's no longer on the news we will realize that.

I feel sorry for the people who are going to be oppressed under the Taliban but its really up to them to put a stop to it.  

We have our own oppressed people to worry about.