We humans have been fighting each other as long as we have been on this planet. By the time the early nation-states, like Sumer, rolled around, we weer fighting on a grand scale. I have no problem with self defense, but most wars are wars of acquisition. Nations want what others have, and try to take it from them.Okay, that's how it has been. Things are a bit more subtle now, but, in essence, the same. Look at the current scenarios.
No one is attacking the USA. With our nuclear arsenal, we will not be attacked. Yer, we have troops everywhere. Why?
Iraq did not attack us. Terrorists from Saudi Arabia led the 9/11 attacks. Afghanistan did harbor ben Lauder, but we found him in our ally, Pakistan's mountains He's dead, we are still in Afghanistan Iran has not attacked us. N. Korea has not attacked us. Vietnam never attacked us (the Gulf of Tonkin incident was staged' the military's own records admit this). On and on goes the list, and America's troops are still scattered all over the Earth. Men and wo,en are being killed and crippled. Why?
Thar's the easy question. Power. Control. And their stepchild, wealth. Troops are scattered simply to protect American bug business interests. To keep any country that might get a dollar richer off us, under our thumbs.
You say, what about terrorism?. Look at the facts. Most of our terrorism is home grown. Even 9/11 was done by our great allies, the Saudis.
N. Korea? They are just trying to scam is to get money and trade. They know that any attack is suicide.
The creation of nuclear arms, killed the classic idea of war. Now, we fight lottle battles for no reasons other than economic. Or for the display of power. Poiwer is the most addictive drug their is, and its pursuit is a deep mental illness.
There will come a time, sooner rather than later, when the USA will no longer be the big dog. This has happened to every powerful, militant Nation in the history of the World and there is no reason to think we will be the exception. How will we handle that? Well. that is for those coming along now, the younger Americans. Maybe, they will finally, at long last see the lunacy of War. Or, they may choose to go out in a blaze of glory, much like Hitler did in Germany. Or they may just curl up in a little ball and whine. I have no idea. Bur, it will be their choice.
As always, have a fine and Blessed day.
Showing posts with label Afghanistan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Afghanistan. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Monday, February 20, 2017
America - The Fun is Just Getting Started
This is getting to be fun. Over the weekend, our President stunned the Swedish people when he spoke of their recent terrorist event. There wasn't one. True, violent crime has increased in that frozen country, but no bombs, no shootings, not even a knife attack.
We seem to have an ever expanding list of potential National Security Advisors, now that Flynn has left. We still are short a few Cabinet members. Somewhere, at someone's hands, sensitive documents are being leaked. The Russians are dominating discussions. And the fat Korean kid is growing a wee bit more dangerous every day.
The Iranians are paying zero attention to our demands that they stop testing missiles. Syria is a complete disaster and Iraq is not far behind. Afghanistan is a mystery; we seem to no longer have any say in the events there, yet we still have troops present.
We have an unthinkable opiate addiction problem yet, the Afghani government, who are supposed to be at least somewhat friendly, is doing nothing to stop the growing of poppies. I guess that money beats morality. If we want to keep the heroin out, and we have troops and equipment in place, why have we not simply burned those fields. Again, I guess money wins no matter which side you're on.
More time is being wasted on various immigration orders when, in early summer, the Supreme Court is already set to rule on cases brought during Obama's term and these will say what will and won't happen.
Today, I saw a feature on folks perusing literature with an eye on banning offensive works. They are not just talking about pornography. Remember, there have long been those wanting to ban anything not politically correct. Read Ray Bradbury's masterpiece, Fahrenheit 451. In the meantime, I guess I should hide my copies of Huckleberry Finn and Heart of Darkness, after all, they contain the dreaded 'n' word.
We have vast amounts of hard drugs pouring into the Nation by way of Mexico. We have an infrastructure that is collapsing (look at the California dam issue and the massive sinkholes in LA). We have a complete lunatic in Korea merrily building nukes and testing missiles and a barely saner group in Iran doing the same (remember, that branch of Islam is obsessed with their version of the Apocalypse. We have a President who cannot keep his foot out of his mouth and an opposition party who would attack Jesus if he returned and wasn't a Democrat.
Trump is saying that the White House has never run smoother. If you believe that, I want to again remind you that I am the only licensed realtor handling those Moon colonies Newt Gingrich wants to build.
You might as well laugh at the whole idiotic mess.
We seem to have an ever expanding list of potential National Security Advisors, now that Flynn has left. We still are short a few Cabinet members. Somewhere, at someone's hands, sensitive documents are being leaked. The Russians are dominating discussions. And the fat Korean kid is growing a wee bit more dangerous every day.
The Iranians are paying zero attention to our demands that they stop testing missiles. Syria is a complete disaster and Iraq is not far behind. Afghanistan is a mystery; we seem to no longer have any say in the events there, yet we still have troops present.
We have an unthinkable opiate addiction problem yet, the Afghani government, who are supposed to be at least somewhat friendly, is doing nothing to stop the growing of poppies. I guess that money beats morality. If we want to keep the heroin out, and we have troops and equipment in place, why have we not simply burned those fields. Again, I guess money wins no matter which side you're on.
More time is being wasted on various immigration orders when, in early summer, the Supreme Court is already set to rule on cases brought during Obama's term and these will say what will and won't happen.
Today, I saw a feature on folks perusing literature with an eye on banning offensive works. They are not just talking about pornography. Remember, there have long been those wanting to ban anything not politically correct. Read Ray Bradbury's masterpiece, Fahrenheit 451. In the meantime, I guess I should hide my copies of Huckleberry Finn and Heart of Darkness, after all, they contain the dreaded 'n' word.
We have vast amounts of hard drugs pouring into the Nation by way of Mexico. We have an infrastructure that is collapsing (look at the California dam issue and the massive sinkholes in LA). We have a complete lunatic in Korea merrily building nukes and testing missiles and a barely saner group in Iran doing the same (remember, that branch of Islam is obsessed with their version of the Apocalypse. We have a President who cannot keep his foot out of his mouth and an opposition party who would attack Jesus if he returned and wasn't a Democrat.
Trump is saying that the White House has never run smoother. If you believe that, I want to again remind you that I am the only licensed realtor handling those Moon colonies Newt Gingrich wants to build.
You might as well laugh at the whole idiotic mess.
Monday, November 16, 2015
Is Paris Burning? Part 2
Before I continue with history, I must comment on the Presidential news conference I just saw. The definition of insanity, someone once said, is to continue doing the same thing and expect different results. Yet, that is Obama's plan. I will return to this lunacy later.
After WW2, Israel was created out of Palestine and the seeds of our current series of disasters were sown. To keep things brief, just know that wars were fought with their neighbors and refugees flooded Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan. The Palestinians who did not leave were finally shoved into tiny areas and Israel has been squeezing them tighter and tighter ever since. The Palestinians live in a desperate, near hopeless situation and do what most any of us would do, they fight. There have been countless uprisings, each doomed before it started. This did, however prompt the formation of the PLO, and thus began the rise of terrorist organizations. The PLO has since given way to Hezbollah and the madness continues.
After continuous squabbling, Israel and Egypt reached an understanding and very quickly the 2 leaders who signed the treaty were shot. The Palestinians in Lebanon kept attacking Israel and, while unsuccessful, did manage to form a party, Hamas, which took over the Lebanese government in reasonably free elections and The US has been upset about that ever since.
We have been upset before. At one time, Iran was led by a monster, the Shah. He was deposed and, again in fair elections, Iran chose a leader, Mosaddegh. He demanded better pay from England for Iranian oil and when told no, nationalized their oil. This did not sit well with the US or Britain, so we called him a Communist and British intelligence, with the CIA, organized a coup, ousted him and put back the Shah. We didn't count on the stubbornness of the Iranians however and they again ousted the Shah and brought in the Ayatollah Khomeini, threw all Westerners out and have been a mortal enemy ever since.
We did get our way in Iraq, a state created when we broke up the Ottoman state after WW!. After a series of useless monarchs, we got our boy, Sadam Hussein, in power, and he did his job. He went to war with Iran. He didn't win, nor did he lose. The war just sort of petered out, but not before he used the chemical weapons we gave him on the Iranians killing 1000s. Just for good measure, he used them on some of his own people, the troublesome Kurds. By the way, we have admitted we gave these weapons to him, a violation of several International treaties, not to mention all standards of human decency.
As to the rest of the Middle East, things sort of drifted along. Jordan tried to be neutral, Syria's own monster, Assad, played both sides. Saudi Arabia , whose leaders had at least had sense enough to keep control of their own oil, grew rich and fat, and in support of their radically conservative Wahabbist beliefs, poured fortunes into various terrorist groups.
Of course, Libya had as its leader, one of the world's true lunatics, Moammar Gadhafi, who also supported terrorism. Yemen was little known and under the thumb of, yes, another brutal dictator. Qatar was of no importance, neither was Morocco and Algeria ( they seemingly had used all of their energy throwing the French out). The UAE, like Saudi Arabia, grew rich on oil and stayed quiet. Yes, they too have a brutally repressive regime. However, they do build awesome resorts. There has always been a Moslem presence in Africa and, slowly, it gained more and more power.
Further East, we have Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pakistan, since it was created as a place for Moslems to go when India gained independence from India, has spent most of its existence quarreling with the Hindus and oppressing its own people. In this case, that oppression may have been a good idea because their people are very hostile tribesmen who just love fighting, as do their brothers in Afghanistan. This is understandable since there isn't much to do in either country. They are so strictly Islamic that they are forbidden almost anything created after the Stone Age. Those lands are barren stretches of rock, mountains and sand and are worthless, unless you are a goat herder. Well, actually not worthless. Afghanistan, at one time, produced some very fine hashish. I have no idea if they still do that, but they definitely have one other domestic product, opium, and this, we will see in the next installment, is one of the keys to the present problems.
Thus you have a thumbnail sketch of the events leading up to our current environment of terror. Next stop, 9/11 and after.
After WW2, Israel was created out of Palestine and the seeds of our current series of disasters were sown. To keep things brief, just know that wars were fought with their neighbors and refugees flooded Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan. The Palestinians who did not leave were finally shoved into tiny areas and Israel has been squeezing them tighter and tighter ever since. The Palestinians live in a desperate, near hopeless situation and do what most any of us would do, they fight. There have been countless uprisings, each doomed before it started. This did, however prompt the formation of the PLO, and thus began the rise of terrorist organizations. The PLO has since given way to Hezbollah and the madness continues.
After continuous squabbling, Israel and Egypt reached an understanding and very quickly the 2 leaders who signed the treaty were shot. The Palestinians in Lebanon kept attacking Israel and, while unsuccessful, did manage to form a party, Hamas, which took over the Lebanese government in reasonably free elections and The US has been upset about that ever since.
We have been upset before. At one time, Iran was led by a monster, the Shah. He was deposed and, again in fair elections, Iran chose a leader, Mosaddegh. He demanded better pay from England for Iranian oil and when told no, nationalized their oil. This did not sit well with the US or Britain, so we called him a Communist and British intelligence, with the CIA, organized a coup, ousted him and put back the Shah. We didn't count on the stubbornness of the Iranians however and they again ousted the Shah and brought in the Ayatollah Khomeini, threw all Westerners out and have been a mortal enemy ever since.
We did get our way in Iraq, a state created when we broke up the Ottoman state after WW!. After a series of useless monarchs, we got our boy, Sadam Hussein, in power, and he did his job. He went to war with Iran. He didn't win, nor did he lose. The war just sort of petered out, but not before he used the chemical weapons we gave him on the Iranians killing 1000s. Just for good measure, he used them on some of his own people, the troublesome Kurds. By the way, we have admitted we gave these weapons to him, a violation of several International treaties, not to mention all standards of human decency.
As to the rest of the Middle East, things sort of drifted along. Jordan tried to be neutral, Syria's own monster, Assad, played both sides. Saudi Arabia , whose leaders had at least had sense enough to keep control of their own oil, grew rich and fat, and in support of their radically conservative Wahabbist beliefs, poured fortunes into various terrorist groups.
Of course, Libya had as its leader, one of the world's true lunatics, Moammar Gadhafi, who also supported terrorism. Yemen was little known and under the thumb of, yes, another brutal dictator. Qatar was of no importance, neither was Morocco and Algeria ( they seemingly had used all of their energy throwing the French out). The UAE, like Saudi Arabia, grew rich on oil and stayed quiet. Yes, they too have a brutally repressive regime. However, they do build awesome resorts. There has always been a Moslem presence in Africa and, slowly, it gained more and more power.
Further East, we have Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pakistan, since it was created as a place for Moslems to go when India gained independence from India, has spent most of its existence quarreling with the Hindus and oppressing its own people. In this case, that oppression may have been a good idea because their people are very hostile tribesmen who just love fighting, as do their brothers in Afghanistan. This is understandable since there isn't much to do in either country. They are so strictly Islamic that they are forbidden almost anything created after the Stone Age. Those lands are barren stretches of rock, mountains and sand and are worthless, unless you are a goat herder. Well, actually not worthless. Afghanistan, at one time, produced some very fine hashish. I have no idea if they still do that, but they definitely have one other domestic product, opium, and this, we will see in the next installment, is one of the keys to the present problems.
Thus you have a thumbnail sketch of the events leading up to our current environment of terror. Next stop, 9/11 and after.
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