Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
September 04, 2021

Why U.S. Plans For Revenge In Afghanistan May Not Succeed

The U.S. does not want piece in Afghanistan. There are two reasons for that.

The first is vengefulness.

That an alleged superpower gets kicked out of a country by some local guerilla is too hard to accept. That the rush to the exit has happened in a rather humiliating way, even when caused by U.S. incompetence and not by the Taliban, only reinforces that.

The vengefulness could already be seen in last days of the U.S. occupation. The U.S. forces leaving Kabul not only destroyed military equipment but also the civilian part of the airport.

Murad Gazdiev @MuradGazdiev - 16:06 UTC · Sep 1, 2021

US troops wrecked both civilian terminals as they evacuated from Kabul airport.
All the security cameras were broken, computers destroyed, many glass panes shattered. Electrical cabling was cut, the x-ray machines were broken and even arrival/departure screens overturned Images

None of this was necessary or made any sense. Just days later the U.S. Secretary of State demanded that the Taliban reopen the airport to allow for more brain drain from the country.

Elijah J. Magnier @ejmalrai - 12:11 UTC · Sep 3, 2021

#Kabul airport: the #US totally destroyed the radars and tower control and begged #Qatar to fix it as soon as possible to allow foreigners, Afghan collaborators, and those with adequate visas to leave. Qatar sent a team of technicians and spare parts for the airport to function.

The U.S. continues to withhold Afghanistan's Central Bank reserves and has blocked the IMF and World Bank for releasing funds to Afghanistan. These are a revenge act against all Afghans.

The New York Times tries to (falsely) justify it with an alleged terrorist designation of the Taliban:

“This is a new world,” said Adam M. Smith, a senior sanctions official in the Obama administration’s Treasury Department. “I can’t think of any case in which a terrorist group that’s already designated became the power in charge of a full country.”

He explained that the Treasury Department must soon decide what exceptions, or licenses, it would grant for certain kinds of transactions. It must also determine whether all of Afghanistan, or only the Taliban leadership, remains under sanctions so that the world knows how to engage with the government.

Though some sanctions from July 1999 may still apply to the Taliban, they are not designated a terrorist group and the Taliban leadership like Mullah Baradar are not Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) on the U.S. Treasury's sanction list. Otherwise the U.S. would not have been able to officially negotiate with them.

The Taliban are now undoubtedly ruling Afghanistan. There is no good reason to withhold Afghan government funds from them. They ain't corrupt like the previous U.S. supported government. They do not need the money for themselves but to feed the people of their country.

The second reason why the U.S. does not want peace in Afghanistan is geopolitical. As the former Indian ambassador M.K.Bhadrakumar analyses:

US intelligence has made deep ingresses into the Taliban and has gained the capability to splinter it, weaken it and subdue it, when the crunch time comes. Suffice to say, Taliban will not have an easy time ahead. Washington’s interest lies in creating a “stateless” situation in the country without a functioning central government so that it can intervene at will and pursue its geopolitical objectives aimed at the regional countries.

The unspoken agenda here is to start a hybrid war where the ISIS fighters airlifted by the US from Syria and transferred to Afghanistan, with battle-hardened veterans from Central Asia, Xinjiang, North Caucasus, etc. operating in the regions surrounding Afghanistan.

Russia has recognized the danger as its President Vladimir Putin yesterday explained:

"In the event of [Afghanistan’s] disintegration, there will be nobody to talk to in Afghanistan. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (outlawed in Russia) and many others in the territory of Afghanistan pose a threat to our allies and neighbors. And if we remember that we have no visa restrictions and cross-border travel is actually free, it will be clear that for us, for Russia, all this has great importance from the standpoint of maintaining our security," Putin said.

It means that the U.S. moves will be countered. ISIS in east Afghanistan has already been defeated once. Without access to Afghanistan the U.S. will have trouble to insert more fighters to it. 

Part for the U.S. plan is to again raise anti-Taliban forces like the former 'Northern Alliance' under CIA operator Amrullah Saleh and Ahmad Massoud in the 'unconquerable' Panjshir valley.


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But it turned out that the Sandhurst educated Ahmad Massoud is not a fighter and leader like his father Ahmad Shad Massoud was and that the Panjshir valley can well be conquered. The outer defenses have already been broken. So far the Taliban have taken Dalan Sang and Shutul and crossed the gate to the Panjshir Valley road with little resistance. The are aiming at Bazarak, the administrative center of the Panjshir valley. They have also taken positions on the mountains above the valley and set up blockades in the north to block the escape route and eventual resupplies from Tajikistan.

The Panjshir forces can delay the Taliban's move through the valley by laying mines to block the road and by setting up small ambushes. But they are already sending children into the fight as they do not have sufficient manpower to wage a longer or larger battle.

For now the Taliban do not have to fear any challenge except from disunity within themselves. The forming of a government is taking more time than expected. There still seem to be some discussions between the eastern Haqqani faction and the Kandaharian leadership over who to include in it. But the conflict is not as substantial as some reports let one assume.

Today General Faiz Hamid, head of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence, and a high-level military delegation arrived in Kabul. Pakistan understands that the support of China and Russia for Afghanistan depends on creating an Afghan unity government of mostly technocrats. They will mediate the Taliban towards that.

The negotiator of the Doha agreement, the internationally respected Mullah Baradar, is likely to take the leading position.

Posted by b on September 4, 2021 at 17:29 UTC | Permalink

Comments
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The USA got kicked out of Vietnam and went back, showering its former enemy with capital. Truth be told, the class from which the majority of U.S, soldiers derived got screwed when their jobs were eventually shipped to Vietnam.

Posted by: Maracatu | Sep 4 2021 17:43 utc | 1

The deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructures without military necessity, is a war crime.

Let us therefore confidently expect war criminals to be brought to justice by the US military courts.

Posted by: Leuk | Sep 4 2021 17:51 utc | 2

If ISIS-K poses a threat to BOTH USA and Taliban rule, then who released them from jail?

No clarity on such a question is sought or demanded by Empire Media. Yet they bombarded us with fearmongering about ISIS-K.

!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Sep 4 2021 17:57 utc | 3

Again you blame the stupid racist and ignorant military brass , they should inform their soldiers to be respectful of the country , it’s people and territory , but no they are angry bastards , useless crabs , all because they run lousy war , disrespect the people and their culture and they will do again because there is no an international court of law applies to them , too bad they are making enemies throughout the word and they look very bad indeed

Posted by: Bobby | Sep 4 2021 18:03 utc | 4

Good report.

All US communication is now solely for domestic consumption as the US internationally carries no authority, moral, legal, or political. It is the United States that is going to end up isolated in the world as our former allies and vassals turn to the future. The US, alas, cannot see a future that doesn't represent the past of imperial conquest. The Society of the United States is irretrievably broken, due in large part to the Hate Inc. business model of mass media that mirrors that Establishment's strategy to divide and conquer.

The United States is completely irrelevant in the world now, except to its own people who flail in a wasteland of ubiquitous propaganda and group-think.

Posted by: gottlieb | Sep 4 2021 18:13 utc | 5

Will they ever learn?

Posted by: Ed FOLClorist | Sep 4 2021 18:16 utc | 6

The Taliban survived and won despite the US doing everything it could to kill them. Now mere sanctions are not going to take them down. They survived and won despite the US, not because of anything the US could now sanction.

The defeated Afghan government is not needed by the Taliban, not its army and not its officials.

Those few who were served well by the old Afghan government are the enemies of the Taliban, and it really could not care much if the US now hurts its former friends out of spite of the Taliban.

We need to be realistic about who is Taliban, and who is enemy of Taliban now suffering for our loss. The Taliban itself has no use for the US or anything the US can sanction, which is why it won and the US lost.

Posted by: Mark Thomason | Sep 4 2021 18:17 utc | 7

US intelligence has made deep ingresses into the Taliban and has gained the capability to splinter it, weaken it and subdue it, when the crunch time comes.

If the CIA had such power, it would've used it long ago. It would not wait for the USA to lose the war, instead it would've used it to actually win the war. That's logic, not ideology or analysis.

M.K.Bhadrakumar has a history of being low-key pro-USA/West. He has the bad habit of propping up Western/American prestige in order to do some cheap hits on China and sometimes Russia.

But if the CIA really is significantly infiltrated in the ranks of the Taliban, there's a simple solution: a large scale purge. Joseph Stalin has already taught us how it's done, so I will not delve into the details, but evidently the Taliban will have to create and equivalent of the Cheka to do the dirty job. If you don't like it, become a social-democrat.

The story is much simpler: the USA is now having to divert its relatively dwindling resources to restore order at home. It needs to re-stitch its fraying social fabric - all of which is being amplified by a plague that is ravaging the Empire:

U.S. ravaged by child cases, nurse shortage, vaccine hesitancy as Delta variant rages on

You know how the great empires fall: a combination of defeats abroad and conflicts at home. As the COVID-19 decimates the American people, the question is: is this pandemic the USA's Antonine Plague?

Posted by: vk | Sep 4 2021 18:18 utc | 8

Posted by: Leuk | Sep 4 2021 17:51 utc | 2:

Hear! Hear! But my bet is against the criminals being brought to court in the US. I've known of no instances of criminals incarcerating themselves.

The UN, however, should be able to do something. Perhaps in 20 years when the criminal has its wings clipped and primed for facing justices.

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Sep 4 2021 18:20 utc | 9

@ Posted by: Maracatu | Sep 4 2021 17:43 utc | 1

This is one of the things that always confuse me: from what and where came the American myth that the USA and Vietnam became some kind of geopolitical BFFs after the Vietnam War? Because that's obviously not true.

When the SCS kerfuffle started, there was a theory mixed with a hope in the USA that it would be able to stop and eventually completely neutralize China's takeover of the SCS through an alliance with Vietnam, which would eventually militarily defeat the PLAN in an open naval warfare (if China didn't backed off first, completely giving up all of its pretensions in the region).

China then simply stated the obvious: any conflicts it eventually has with Vietnam will be solved bilaterally, which is how ASEAN traditionally solves all its issues.

That's exactly what happened: China and Vietnam negotiated bilaterally over their conflicts of interests on the SCS issue (which was a zone allegedly rich in oil that would theoretically/arguably fall within Vietnam's economic zone) and the issue was settled after some months. We never heard of the crazy USA-Vietnam alliance again in the American MSM, which silently let it die, as if it never existed.

Then, came the USA advance towards SE Asia to try to isolate China economically. The campaign may have worked with the USA's traditional neocolonies like Malaysia and Singapore, but Vietnam was one of the few nations that firmly rejected the American proposals in their entirety. Vietnam is, by far, the richest (if you exclude microscopic city-state Singapore) and largest nation-state of SE Asia, so a policy for SE Asia that doesn't involve Vietnam isn't worth the ink used to write it.

To top it off, China and Vietnam commemorated together some kind of anniversary that involved their respective Communist Parties some years ago. Their partnership and friendship was reiterated, renewed and reinforced. The Communist Party of Vietnam made a left turn some years ago, reverting their rightist phase of almost giving it all to capitalism - this certainly happened through influence of the example of China, there's no other plausible explanation for this.

So, I ask again: from where did the Americans fabricated the myth they are BFFs with Vietnam?

--//--

@ Posted by: gottlieb | Sep 4 2021 18:13 utc | 5

The USA is very, very far from being irrelevant. But it is not that godlike invincible empire (America Aeterna) that Western Europeans like to screech hysterically on the internet either.

Posted by: vk | Sep 4 2021 18:40 utc | 10

RE: Posted by: gottlieb | Sep 4 2021 18:13 utc | 5

 “It is the United States that is going to end up isolated in the world as our former allies and vassals turn to the future. “

Look on the bright side – where is the positive thinking ?

Finally you will become “exceptional”.

Posted by: MagdaTam | Sep 4 2021 18:43 utc | 11

Posted by: vk | Sep 4 2021 18:18 utc | 8:

You know how the great empires fall: a combination of defeats abroad and conflicts at home. As the COVID-19 decimates the American people, the question is: is this pandemic the USA's Antonine Plague?

No, this pandemic would not be the Antonine Plague because the empire's public at large is too divided on what is the best thing to do and thus cannot definitively point fingers at guilty parties. But the pending financial calamity will be the Antonine Moment that may break the empire into three or four pieces. Fasten your seat belt if you live in the States or have assets there. It is coming soon!

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Sep 4 2021 18:44 utc | 12

I seem to remember great wailing and gnashing of the teeth when Hezbollah won political power in Lebanon.
As opposed to what the US did with the KLA-took them off the terrorist list, and then worked with them to destroy Yugoslavia and build Camp Bondsteel, the hub of their drug running, human trafficking and terrorist training program.
Poof! No longer terrorist, if needed for US terrorism.

Posted by: wagelaborer | Sep 4 2021 18:51 utc | 13

Posted by b at 17:29 UTC

There is no good reason to withhold Afghan government funds from them.

Why even pretend to be this naive? What's the point? Not a single reader of this blog, and least of all, you b, would expect the US to facilitate Afghan reconstruction. Continental integration is what keeps policy makers up at night. Their entire workday focuses entirely on thwarting this integration. You can bet they have pages and pages of various ways to pee in the punch bowl.

So what is the point of purposely embracing the silly narrative of a benevolent US? I suspect it comes from the urge to say "Aha! Silly Americans aren't merely incompetent, they're also awfully mean."

In my opinion, imperial narrative managers are very successful with the immense resources they have at hand. For us to willingly conform to their well trodden path is just making things easier for them. Now who wants that?

Posted by: robin | Sep 4 2021 18:51 utc | 14

Thanks for that welcome update.

The WORLD Bank is showing itself as more a minnow gimp of the US government than a independent actual whole world bank. They just blew their whole face off in their attempt to spite it.

The UN should have a majority vote and get the fuck out of New York and insist anything that claims to be ‘world’ actually is.

The wankers can keep their baseball World Series as no one gives a crap about that.
😆

Posted by: DG | Sep 4 2021 18:53 utc | 15

Posted by: vk | Sep 4 2021 18:40 utc | 10

Appreciate your optimism. I prefer to think of this era of Empire as the "Cold Dead Hands" phase. As in Empire won't be pulled out of its cold dead hands until, well, it's dead. The USA is Dead Empire Walking. Cheers!

Posted by: gottlieb | Sep 4 2021 19:24 utc | 16

I agree with B's analysis fully. Even if the US decides to play the spoiler, the regional powers appear to be ready to help the new Afghan Emirate succeed. It is in their own vital interests to do so.

I also agree with VK about Bhadrakumar's nonsensical comment about US intel supposedly having deeply 'penetrated' the Taliban. That seems illogical.

Yes, there are divisions within the Talib, but I doubt very much that the US has any influence at all over the internal dynamic. They have placed their bets on the Saleh-Massoud clownshow, which is rapidly fizzing out.

In today's installment Bhadrakumar sounds much more realistic:

Quite obviously, as the international community adjusts to the new reality of a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, the brewing revolt in Panjshir is becoming a footnote. Frankly, the revolt never had a chance to blossom into a resistance movement.

https://www.indianpunchline.com/reflections-on-events-in-afghanistan-13/

Posted by: Gordog | Sep 4 2021 19:25 utc | 17

Rather good news from the next world, then?

I'm honestly curious how another Taliban administration will turn out, this time. Just hope they won't blow up statues again.

Regarding finances and possible inflation, I wonder if they will back their currency with gold in any way. I think they very well could, at least for imports. I was surprised to learn that in 2019 Afghanistan exported a whooping 968 million USD worth of gold. According to official figures. That's more than countries like South Korea or Saudi Arabia did. Roughly 1 billion USD, in 2019 that would have been something like 22 tons of gold. Today, that amount would be worth 1.2 billion USD. My belief is 1.2 billion should go a long way in a country like Afghanistan. Especially now with many of the unproductive folk gone.

Also, the poppy fields could be used in a sustainable, productive way. We only think of heroin, but it's not just the drug than can be produced from natural opium. Morphine, codeine, noscapine, papaverine, they can all be derived from opium. Meds against pain, coughing, spasms, all organically produced, I'm sure there's a legitimate market for that.

Posted by: Scotch Bingeington | Sep 4 2021 19:26 utc | 18

Scotch Bingeington

There is a licit market for those poppies.
https://poppygrowers.com.au
https://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/a

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 4 2021 19:33 utc | 19

Bad news for Washington and New Delhi. . .
..from Al Jazeera
Afghanistan: Taliban to rely on Chinese funds, spokesperson says

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has told an Italian newspaper that the group will rely primarily on financing from China following the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan and its takeover of the country.

In his interview published by La Repubblica on Thursday, Mujahid said the Taliban will fight for an economic comeback with the help of China.
“China is our most important partner and represents a fundamental and extraordinary opportunity for us, because it is ready to invest and rebuild our country,” the Taliban spokesperson was quoted as saying in the interview. . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Sep 4 2021 20:09 utc | 20

From the linked NYT article: '“This is a new world,” said Adam M. Smith, a senior sanctions official in the Obama administration’s Treasury Department.'

Adam Smith applies for a job -

Interviewer: Mr Smith, what was your job at the Treasury?
Mr Smith: I was a sanctions officer.
Interviewer: I see, so your job was to approve projects?
Mr Smith: Well, at times, but at Treasury to sanction something was to penalize or prohibit it.

Posted by: Bart Hansen | Sep 4 2021 20:35 utc | 21

Leuk @2 "The deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructures without military necessity, is a war crime."

Agreed.

Yesterday Saker posted an 8-minute YouTube video showing the conduct of US soldiers as the US withdrew from Afghanistan, including destroying equipment (some military, some civilian).

Relates quite a bit to the comment from Bobby @4 too ("angry bastards , useless crabs" not being respectful of the country they're in, and that "look very bad indeed.")

They also graphically demonstrate how they are the product of the broken society that gottlieb @5 describes.

Imagine what it was like for the Afghan people to have been militarily-occupied by the likes of these goons for 20 years.

Watching them throw smoke grenades into the civilian crowds makes it even more believable that many of the Afghans that died after the IS-K attack at the airport were actually killed by gunfire from US/NDS soldiers.

Posted by: Canadian Cents | Sep 4 2021 20:40 utc | 22

Scotch Bingeington @ 18:

I recall reading somewhere online recently (but I forget the source) that in the 1990s the Taliban looked to the Saudis as their model and guide on creating an Islamic society. That would partly explain the harsh Wahhabist style of Taliban rule then.

These days the Taliban is more likely to be aware of the Saudis' links to and support for ISIS and the danger the KSA might pose. The Taliban is more likely now to look to Iran (with its reliance on charity foundations that fund industry) and the society Beijing has built up in Xinjiang with the guidance of local Uyghur authorities (political, economic, cultural, religious) as its models. Xinjiang is a short flight away from Afghanistan once the international airport in Kabul is rebuilt.

Beijing already is dangling the carrot of financial assistance and reconstruction before Kabul. The threat of withdrawing that carrot is also the stick. Russia will wave similar incentives in front of the Taliban. Some local leaders in Afghanistan may still remember what life in Afghanistan was like during the 1970s when the country was more socialist and hosted Soviet technicians and teachers.

Posted by: Jen | Sep 4 2021 20:47 utc | 23

SB @18 I worked as a nurse for many years. We used to give Demerol for pain. Passed it out like candy.
After the US invaded Afghanistan, Demerol was out. Overnight it became as dangerous as Ivermectin! And just like that..... everyone switched to morphine.
It will be interesting to see what happens now that the US is out of Afghanistan. Will Demerol be rehabilitated? Will morphine suddenly become extremely dangerous?

Posted by: wagelaborer | Sep 4 2021 20:59 utc | 24

from the web...
Afghanistan is rich in resources like copper, gold, oil, natural gas, uranium, bauxite, coal, iron ore, rare earths, lithium, chromium, lead, zinc, gemstones, talc, sulphur, travertine, gypsum and marble. . .lithium!

China has had problems with its copper mine in Logar Province, including disagreements with the government (urged by the US?) and efforts to preserve the area as an ancient heritage site. Probably those differences are erased now.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Sep 4 2021 21:00 utc | 25

So the U.S.would prefer a stateless Afghanistan in order to pursue geopolitical goals that it was unable to achieve during the preceding twenty years, when it had virtually complete control of the Afghan government. That has to be a joke, right? I guess it’s true that stupidity has no limits.

Posted by: Rob | Sep 4 2021 21:03 utc | 26

@Jackrabit (3) “ If ISIS-K poses a threat to BOTH USA and Taliban rule, then who released them from jail?”

ISIS-K is working for the U.S. in Afghanistan just as many of its fighters did the same in Syria. The “War on Terror” is huge sick joke. The biggest terrorists are the U.S. and its proxies.

Posted by: Rob | Sep 4 2021 21:10 utc | 27

Rob | Sep 4 2021 21:03 utc | 28

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 4 2021 21:15 utc | 28

Jen @24, re "read somewhere online recently (but I forget the source)" - there was this from M. K. Bhadrakumar:

"As the Taliban reflected over its mistakes in the 1990s and repackaged itself, it realised that much of the opprobrium that it had earned while in power in Kabul had been due to the regime’s excessive dependence on Saudi Arabia and the UAE (which were the only two countries that recognised the Taliban government, other than Pakistan.)

Such excessive dependence led to the Taliban adopting the Wahabbi traits although those were antithetical to the traditional (Deobandi) Islam practised in Afghanistan."

It would be great to see the Taliban and Afghanistan turn away from the Wahhabi extremism that is the US tool for destabilizing and disrupting Eurasia's development, and back to how Afghanistan was in 1978-80s before the US-engineered Wahhabi variant took hold and became dominant:

"For women, the gains had no precedent; by the late 1980s, half the university students were women, and women made up 40 percent of Afghanistan’s doctors, 70 percent of its teachers and 30 percent of its civil servants.

So radical were the changes that they remain vivid in the memories of those who benefited. Saira Noorani, a female surgeon who fled Afghanistan in 2001, recalled:

“Every girl could go to high school and university. We could go where we wanted and wear what we liked … We used to go to cafes and the cinema to see the latest Indian films on a Friday … it all started to go wrong when the mujahedin started winning … these were the people the West supported.”"

John Pilger: The Great Game of Smashing Nations
https://consortiumnews.com/2021/08/24/john-pilger-the-great-game-of-smashing-nations/

Posted by: Canadian Cents | Sep 4 2021 21:20 utc | 29

Try again. Rob, for twenty years US has successfully made Afghan a thorn in the side for Russia and China. It has been a very lucrative venture for CIA off the books money. I wouldn't say the US occupation was unsuccessful unless that is unless you thought US went there to create a peaceful democratic state.
Afghanistan will become part of the US free Eurasia sovereign states block though US will do its best to prevent this occurring.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 4 2021 21:22 utc | 30

Peter AU1 @Sep4 21:22 #32

I think Rob understands this, judging by his following immediately comment (Sep4 21:10 #29).

!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Sep 4 2021 21:33 utc | 31

Re:US War crimes. I have often wondered if part of the desire to keep control by any means and at any cost is born from the realization that the leaders of the US have committed numerous war crimes and the only thing keeping them from being held responsible for this is no one else can hold them responsible as long as they are in charge.

But should the reins ever slip from their slimy hands all the bastards will hang.

Posted by: David F | Sep 4 2021 21:37 utc | 32

Afghan interpreters: Many denied access to evacuation flights
Al Jazeera's Charlotte Bellis reports from Kabul, Afghanistan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLkTmZlJ314
3 minutes.

But the CIA death squads were evacuated.

Posted by: Keith McClary | Sep 4 2021 21:42 utc | 33

RE: Leuk | Sep 4 2021 17:51 utc | 2

"The deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructures without military necessity, is a war crime.
Let us therefore confidently expect war criminals to be brought to justice by the US military courts."

Yep -- any day now . . .

Let us also never forget the US bombing of electrical, water and sewer systems in northern Syria, along with hospitals.

Posted by: AntiSpin | Sep 4 2021 21:45 utc | 34

I am disgusted with this deliberate and spiteful vandalism. It is the hallmark of an undisciplined military, no wonder they lost the war. It is reminiscent of the disgusting and barbaric acts committed by the Zionist occupation army in Palestine every single day for the last seventy years.

I take issue with this gobsmacking falsehood peddled by Adam M. Smith, who has wilful historic myopia:

“This is a new world,” said Adam M. Smith, a senior sanctions official in the Obama administration’s Treasury Department. “I can’t think of any case in which a terrorist group that’s already designated became the power in charge of a full country.”

What about the Irgun, Hagana and Palmarch Zionist terrorist groups?

First they drove out their protectors and facilitators, the British army. Then they drove out the indigenous Palestinians, The Nakba. Murders, massacres, bombing and the destructive principle were and remain its hallmarks.

Then they formed what they called a 'government' and a [shitty little] 'state'. The Hagana became the Army and made war on all its neighbours.

Finally they seized the rest of Palestine and are attempting to drive out those who remain by turning their lives into a living hell on earth.

In short a terrorist and scofflaw 'state', see for example:

https://www.arabworldbooks.com/en/books/israels-sacred-terrorism, The Gun & the Olive Branch, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Bitter Harvest, et al.

Now it is an army with a ghettoised, apartheid and theocratic 'state.'

So who is the real terrorist?

Posted by: Paul | Sep 4 2021 22:26 utc | 35

Posted by: vk | Sep 4 2021 18:18 utc | 8

"As the COVID-19 decimates the American people, the question is: is this pandemic the USA's Antonine Plague?"

No. The Antonine plague killed approximately 8-10% of the empire's population (4-5 million out of ~50 M). Covid has killed 2.7M people out of worldwide population of almost 8 billion, roughly 0.03%. The Antonine plague was over 300 times worse than this seasonal respiratory illness-event. Media hysteria and government incompetence has magnified it out of all proportion. For Covid to be that severe it needs to carry off around 30-35M of the US' population. The Justinianic plague was worse still, but the Black Death was the real game-changer. For a modern plague to usher in real transformation at the economic, social and political level and thereby induce a radical shift in historical trajectory one would need to see 40-50% losses with whole towns and cities disappearing. Covid could be 1000 times worse and not even come close.

Posted by: Patroklos | Sep 4 2021 22:43 utc | 36

@ Rob 28
re: So the U.S. would prefer a stateless Afghanistan in order to. . .

Reminds me of the US strategy in the South China Sea, sailing its warships through China's island territorial waters, and bragging about it, saying that these occupied islands are "disputed territory." . .So is Hawaii.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Sep 4 2021 22:46 utc | 37

Addendum to the foregoing: arguably HIV was a far more significant event with ~30M deaths worldwide. Worldwide population took around 200 years to recover from the Black Death which rapidly and radically accelerated the pressure on the feudal mode of production. We will bounce back from covid just as soon as the media winds down the spin. In the meantime ~$100 billion was transferred to the shareholders of big Pharma. The Antonine plague was a real disaster; this was a well-executed marketing campaign.

Posted by: Patroklos | Sep 4 2021 22:50 utc | 38

I guess the $64,000 question with respect to ongoing US air war on Afghanistan, is "Will Pakistan continue to permit US over flights ?" Absent permission, I suppose the US could just say "Yeah, we're overflying, what are you going to do about it ?" Stay tuned, I guess

Posted by: Stephen T Johnson | Sep 4 2021 22:52 utc | 39

You can't make this stuff up. . .
Afghanistan has to be not like the US!
Reuters:
EU says Taliban must respect rights, guarantee security as conditions for help

The European Union is ready to engage with the new Taliban government in Kabul but the Islamist group must respect human rights, including those of women, and not let Afghanistan become a base for terrorism, the EU foreign policy chief said on Friday.
Borrell said the new government must prevent the country from again becoming a breeding ground for militants as it was during the Taliban's previous time in power. It must respect human rights, the rule of law and freedom of the media. . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Sep 4 2021 22:56 utc | 40

This interference with Afghanistan's internal affairs is not something that China will do, just so long as they have a working government.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Sep 4 2021 22:58 utc | 41

@ Posted by: Patroklos | Sep 4 2021 22:43 utc | 38

The Antonine Plague lasted for decades. Give it time for the COVID-19 to bring the American people and empire to its knees.

Besides, the COVID-19 doesn't even need to kill that many Americans. The USA economy is much more leveraged than the Roman one. Just one domino can be enough.

Posted by: vk | Sep 5 2021 0:28 utc | 42

M.K.Bhadrakumar: "US intelligence has made deep ingresses into the Taliban and has gained the capability to splinter it, weaken it and subdue it, when the crunch time comes"

Pardon? I would think that "crunch time" has already come and gone.

If the US three-letter-agencies hadn't been able to splinter the Taliban during the 20 years of US occupation then I would suggest that this Indian analyst is somewhat mistaken about the omnipotence of said US Intelligence Community.

Certainly the omniscience of the US IC must have been completely lacking - that can not be in dispute - which leads to an inescapable conclusion that US Spooks didn't know what is going on inside the Taliban.

Or, if they did know what was going on, they were powerless to change it.

Either way, Bhadrakumar appears to be smoking some good stuff.

Posted by: Yeah, Right | Sep 5 2021 0:29 utc | 43

Yeah, Right

From what I can make of it, Afghan culture is somewhat similar to the clans of Yemen and Chechnya. When they are not united to see off and outsider they continue their blood feuds and inter clan or inter tribal rivalry. RT have a bit of a doco on youtube of the efforts that were made in Chechnya to finally end the blood feuds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG11uCUluBI

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 5 2021 0:38 utc | 44

Actually the vindictive U.S. kept the war going on against Vietnam going on until the 90s by recognizing and supporting the Khmer Rouge.

“The Carter administration began supporting the Khmer Rouge, who had been relegated to remote rural sections of the country, by financial and diplomatic means.
According to columnist William Pfaff, financial support started by the Carter administration and continued by the Reagan administration to the Khmer Rouge totaled more than $15 million annually.
Despite the fact they had been driven from power, with American support the Khmer Rouge managed to maintain their UN seat – as the Carter administration had refused to recognize the government installed after the Vietnamese invasion.
The remnants of the Khmer Rouge fought a guerilla war until Pot’s death in 1998. There is no precise count of the dead and injured that resulted from the fighting so long after the regime was ousted, but it is known that hundreds of thousands of people were displaced from their homes and became refugees.
The Carter administration’s decision to fan the flames of violence for frivolous reasons – mainly to punish Vietnam for their defeat of American forces five years earlier – was a scandalous example of vindictiveness.”
https://www.counterpunch.org/2016/01/11/jimmy-carters-blood-drenched-legacy-2/

Posted by: Jack Barry | Sep 5 2021 0:39 utc | 45

I’ll say there was a no way the Afghan civil war was so swiftly settled without years of preparation and BACKING with its actual superpower neighbours.
In effect the proxy war between them and the superpower of nato from thousands of miles away. Who had reached their limit and were inevitably going to withdraw after the 2013 showdown in the Mediterranean as has been described on MoA not long ago.

A point on the previous Taliban. It was born out of kids ‘kidnapped’ and indoctrinated as ‘child soldiers’ in the Madrases IN Pakistan. Funded and run by Saudis and the Wahhabi mullahs under SIS and so CIA control. Then sent back to do the dirty work on Russians invited into the country by a elected representative and destroy the evolving Afghan society Quotes from Brezinsky as shown in old interviews at Consortium News attest to that hawkish goon. Who led President Carter the Peanut farmer potus.

Finall these that call for a progrom against these Afghanis who were employed by the despotic conquistadors of the West - I say why destroy your o n human potential? Why cut of that nose to spite the future Afghan face? That is exactly what the departing conquistadors want! That’s what they did in Iraq when they disaffiliated the Bhatist factions and civil servants and inflicted a religious divide where he be hardly existed. There were churches and synagogues across all the ancient lands that had lived alongside each other for centuries.

All these and all people anywhere want is security and a way to progress away from poverty and lack of opportunity. Test they all have mothers and sisters who they would want the best for regardless of what some crazed mullahs from Saudi want them to do for their secret CIA /Western Finance Masters. Who I do t doubt have some infiltrators in the Taliban civil war side - but only enough to know the game was over not actually in a position to traitorously sabotage. Think that Trump was allowed to negotiate from strength by the cfr? Pompeo and ugly moustache Bolton being the direct masters of these perma government forces in the US would have been instrumental
in that process.

The only thing the civil war winners need to do with a to take the whole population for add with the neighbours who will stop ye another bite at the cherry returj by the conquistadors-in century 20-50 years tie as they have always done through history.

Fingers crossed eh?

Posted by: DG | Sep 5 2021 0:47 utc | 46

“I can’t think of any case in which a terrorist group that’s already designated became the power in charge of a full country.”
i recall them giving the Libyan islamic fighting group(al cada)the whole of Libya, to run. They quickly set up slave markets and alot more.

Posted by: RC213V | Sep 5 2021 0:57 utc | 47

It’s obvious why the US wants destabilization in AFG.
I’m not sure how much revenge is at play, rather than hegemonic power.
As Dopey Joe has said, “over the horizon”.

If the US can’t have forever war/opium to fill MIC and CIA coffers, nobody can.
That’s how I see it,

Posted by: Cadence Calls | Sep 5 2021 1:33 utc | 48

quote - "the US could just say "Yeah, we're overflying, what are you going to do about it ?" Stay tuned, I guess

Posted by: Stephen T Johnson | Sep 4 2021 22:52 utc | 41"

right.... being a dick head is what the usa does..what is to stop them from being a constant dick head?? i think i see the answer coming down the pike, lol...

Posted by: james | Sep 5 2021 1:42 utc | 49

The main player here should be Pakistan.
It depends if Pakistan should be more decisive and active in helping the Taliban to become a government.
This is important not only for Afghanistan, but Pakistan as well.

Posted by: Smith | Sep 5 2021 1:43 utc | 50

Peter AU1 | Sep 5 2021 0:38 utc | 46
Moronic cut and paste doesn't cut ice anywhere these days.
The British supplied the Mohammedans in 1800, the wreck of British supply ship Vixen run aground still can be seen in Black Sea! The best account does not come from Historians but from Russian writers.
Marlinsky's Mullah Noor
Lermontov's Poem, Valrik and Герой нашего времени(Hero of Our Times),
Tolstoy: Hajdi Murad!
Chechen war was run out of Baku, by CIA, MI6, Turks etc, with Saudi cash!
Perhaps you should look at ANZAC circus and find out more about At-Turk, running prayer in Jerusalem Synagogue in Hebrew, when he was stationed there as an Ottoman officer, using Jackaroos as canon fodder seems to have worked well, landing troops next door to Constantinople/Istanbul, capital of sprawling Ottoman empire to help defeat communists, when the Banker were where behind the communist take over of Russia.

Posted by: Grishka | Sep 5 2021 1:44 utc | 51

"...so that the world knows how to engage with the government."

The New York Crimes still imagines the Imperialist States of Amerikastan has the automatic right to decide what the world should or should not do.

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Sep 5 2021 1:49 utc | 52

@51 james

The nice thing about drones is you can hack them or shoot them down and it's hard for anyone to persuade its domestic voters into outrage: no lives lost, just a piece of kit gone down.

And I assume it would be drones. Human pilots, if any, would be very high overhead. My assumptions - those who know better please correct as needed.

Posted by: Grieved | Sep 5 2021 1:52 utc | 53

53 "Chechen war was run out of Baku, by CIA, MI6, Turks etc, with Saudi cash!"

There was two Chechen wars. First was Chechens wanting Independence and achieved defacto independence. Second was CIA and their assorted terrorists and wahhabi clerics. Those Chechens that didn't convert to Wahhabism then worked with Russian federation to exterminate the terrorist, be they imported or chechens that had converted to wahhabism and became part of the Russian federation.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 5 2021 2:17 utc | 54

Lara Logan on twitter: cited by b

b posts this:

The Panjshir forces can delay the Taliban's move through the valley by laying mines to block the road and by setting up small ambushes. But they are already sending children into the fight as they do not have sufficient manpower to wage a longer or larger battle.

which linked to Lara Logan who posts this:

Ahmad Farshid killed today fighting for freedom in Pansjir Valley in Afghanistan against the Taliban & al Qaeda terrorists armed w advanced US weapons technology. He was 16 years old. How many more have to die before the Biden Admin stands by America’s allies?

And Lara has a pic of a flush cheeked teen!

This does not pass the sniff test. Note how Lara conflated "Taliban and al Qaeda terrorists armed w advaced US Weapons Technology...." This is a pearl clutching, bleeding heart, R2P nutter.

Propaganda BS. I guess we can be grateful that the boy was not cuddling his puppy as well as the kalashnikov.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Sep 5 2021 2:27 utc | 55

Lara Logan has a good storyboard and one of her links is to the

freeburmarangers dot org/ donations.....

I went there and you just know immediately that you are at home ;)

Note, you will technically be donating to the PayPal Charitable Giving Fund which then remits the donations to Free the Oppressed on a monthly basis without charging any processing fees. PayPal Charitable Giving Fund is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (Federal Tax ID: 45-0931286). You will not receive a donation acknowledgment or receipt from Free the Oppressed. Instead, you should keep your donation acknowledgment from PayPal Charitable Giving Fund for tax purposes.

If you would rather send PayPal funds directly to Free the Oppressed, you can log into your PayPal and send funds to the following email address: [email protected].

By Check
Free the Oppressed
PO Box 912938
Denver, CO 80291-2938

Please make checks payable to Free The Oppressed. Include your email address if you would like an emailed acknowledgment.

Lara needs therapy as well as the paycheck.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Sep 5 2021 2:36 utc | 56

There is no u.s.a design to arm resistance to Taliban through 'ISIS' or 'NORTHERN ALLIANCE'. b has not provided any evidence for either claim.
USA abandoned ship; that's the end of it. They might return if there is some strategic gain in interfering with their politics re: China. However, U.S has economic leverage. Sure, some of the Taliban are happy to live in the stone age, but others will not. Easy way to create a civil war.

Posted by: Me2 | Sep 5 2021 2:45 utc | 57

The US should fund the Panjshir folks if:

1) They can realistically secure a military victory over the Taliban,
2) They are unambiguously better than the Taliban and not just another fanatical armed group,and
3) The US government is better qualified to make these judgments than the countries that border Afghanistan.

Needless to say, none of these criteria are met, much less all three.

Posted by: Donbass Lives Matter | Sep 5 2021 2:51 utc | 58

Me2 #59

Except the world has changed and many others are watching the USA in its late stage empire of dotage and mendacity and betrayal. The US 'economic leverage' $ may not be worth one yuan/ruble right now. While ever there is one Afghani Guaido to bribe you can bet the USAi will be waving $ bill under their nose.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Sep 5 2021 2:55 utc | 59

@ Grieved | Sep 5 2021 1:52 utc | 55... well there is that.. yes, thanks for reminding me...

@ uncle tungsten.. thanks for your posts... stay away from the riff raft!

Posted by: james | Sep 5 2021 4:52 utc | 60

Did the AFG Govt prior to the USA+ZATO Invasion have any Gold? Is so, where were they kept?

How about the Invasion/Occupation Years of 2001-2021?

How about now? Do the Taliban have access to any AFG Gold?

Posted by: IronForge | Sep 5 2021 4:55 utc | 61

Donbass Lives Matter @Sep5 2:51 #60: The US should fund the Panjshir folks if ...

You're not thinking like the Empire Managers and spooks that laugh at our notions of good governance.

More accurate version:

US will secretly fund the Panjshir folks if ...
  1. that provides important capabilities like intelligence gathering, or
  2. that will apply leverage on the Taliban that can be used to:

    • Achieve geopolitical objectives

      Example: threaten to increase funding of Panjshire Resistance if Taliban ally with Russia or China;

    • fashion back-door deals like opium supply for CIA distribution (*).

* CYA disclaimer: assuming that the rumors of CIA involvement are correct.

!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Sep 5 2021 5:09 utc | 62

@Rêver | Sep 4 2021 20:55 utc | 25

Thank you, you are absolutely right. VK is very busy with his/her agenda.

Posted by: Norwegian | Sep 5 2021 7:33 utc | 63

GEROMAN of twitter has links from locals: https://twitter.com/RisboLensky
indicating Panjshir talks have failed and "Fighting ongoing near Rukha and close to Bazarak".

CGTN reports that Qatar techs have the Kabul airport operational and internal flights have resumed.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Sep 5 2021 7:57 utc | 64

@Jack Barry | Sep 5 2021 0:39 utc | 47

Interestingly, the US support for the Khmer Rouge was shared with China at the time. After the fall of the Khmer Rouge rule in Cambodia in 1979, Pol Pot and his closest people held only a tiny strip of land along the Thai border.

I was lucky to visit Angkor in 2019, its profile is in the Cambodian flag and it was the main location of the Khmer Rouge. Angkor is an incredible place both in very recent history and officially for the last ~1000 years or so. However, I saw things there that convinces me its foundation is far older. It must be considered one of the truly ancient megalithic sites in the world.

Posted by: Norwegian | Sep 5 2021 7:59 utc | 65

USA got kicked out of Vietnam and went back, showering its former enemy with capital. Truth be told, the class from which the majority of U.S, soldiers derived got screwed when their jobs were eventually shipped to Vietnam.

Only after decades of sanctions..... Only to exploit their cheap labor.... Only to bolster their claims in the South China Sea..... Only to exploit their oil....

And....

They are still trying....

INDY

Posted by: Dr. George W Oprisko | Sep 5 2021 8:25 utc | 66

Norwegian 67

That cast key to hold the stones together is interesting. Another thing I have been thinking about is the connection of gold to megalithic stone. Anywhere there was megalithic stone, gold was something that denoted status and importance and that includes south America.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 5 2021 8:34 utc | 67

re gottlieb at #5
"The United States is completely irrelevant in the world now, except to its own people who flail in a wasteland of ubiquitous propaganda and group-think."

His remark made me think of this famous (attributed) quote:

"The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." - The text of a cable sent by Mark Twain from London to the press in the U.S. after his obituary had been mistakenly published.

no on in international affairs thinks that the US is 'dead' or 'irrelevant', though many would likely hope for that to come true as soon as possible.

It still is a wounded, weakened beastly dinosaur of an Empire flailing about the world killing millions, and crying havoc and creating tens of millions of refugees......
Its deadly aim is still to be feared, and resisted

Posted by: michaelj72 | Sep 5 2021 8:47 utc | 68

@Peter AU1 | Sep 5 2021 8:34 utc | 69

The feature in my short video is called keystone cuts. It is found in only a few truly ancient places far away from each other, but all around the world. For example, a friend of mine from Peru photographed the same thing in Tiwanaku, Bolivia almost exactly opposite to Angkor. When you find something like that, it is telling you the place is really ancient.

I have no info relating to gold with this. I think gold is recognized as denoting status and importance everywhere, independent of megaliths.

Posted by: Norwegian | Sep 5 2021 10:33 utc | 69

@42 Don Bacon
Borrells demands are to 90% identical with the Talibans own announcements.

Posted by: m | Sep 5 2021 11:01 utc | 70

US troops wrecked both civilian terminals as they evacuated from Kabul airport.
https://twitter.com/MuradGazdiev/status/1433099058684612612

Who are the terrorists?

Posted by: Norwegian | Sep 5 2021 11:05 utc | 71

Re: US and war crimes: fact that nuclear bombing of 2 civilian cities is still not (~70yrs later) declared war crime and crime against humanity tells us enough. Maybe it will someday happen, maybe it won't. But consolation prize is that what US did to the rest of the world for century is coming back home, and will stay there.

Posted by: Abe | Sep 5 2021 11:14 utc | 72

RE: Posted by b at 17:29 UTC | Comments (70)

“None of this was necessary or made any sense.  “

You are mistaken.

All coercive social relations are predicated on vindictiveness and its projection in hopes of “pour encourager les autres” to accept their “subservience”.

Hence resort to vindictiveness was both deemed necessary and made sense to some.

However vindictiveness like other drugs is habit forming in some consumers and in some dispensers, whilst simultaneously facilitating increasing levels of resistence in some others

This process facilitates requiring increasing dosages by some consumers and some dispensers, of which some consumers and some dispensers will die, whilst some consumers and some dispensers will build up aversions and seek alternative “cures”.

There are always withdrawl symptoms to consider if aversions are to be assuaged, and in time transcended.

Those dispensers with limited time evaluation horizons tend not to perceive transcendence but perceive emulation as a function of velocity, there by leading to illusory interpretations of the efficacy of their dispensing, there by becoming complicit in their own transcendence, whilst others engage in activities to increase the trajectories and velocities of transcendence.

“ Why U.S. Plans For Revenge In Afghanistan May Not Succeed “ incoporating notions that some who live in halls of mirrors often see themselves, and as a function of belief in "human nature" project themselves onto others, thereby fighting themselves in some degree.

The lacunae in facility of some dispensers are not limited to limited time evaluation horizons, but include but are not limited to, perception of interactions out-with their chosen frame.

Hence the quotation above is mutating into “Why US hopes for revenge may not succeed world-wide” as a function of “How to drown a drowning man with the minimum of blow-back?”

Posted by: MagdaTam | Sep 5 2021 11:23 utc | 73

Please everyone. The term carrots and sticks is culturally extremely insensitive. It is as if one is dealing with donkeys (thought to be very stupid animals in that part of the world). These are the same donkeys and that kicked the empire out. A little more respect for the Afghans please.

Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Sep 5 2021 11:58 utc | 74

@Posted by: MagdaTam | Sep 5 2021 11:23 utc | 76

The ugly face of revenge....

https://www.rt.com/usa/533935-afghan-withdrawal-gopro-video/

Is one to believe this "army" do not know how to keep themselves healthy by not clogging up toiletts, or that they are not even able to cave a latrin pver there to make theirs there and not shit onto each others waste? What kind of cukture is this they brought to Afghanistan? I very doubt people in Afghanistan does such a thing or even did any time in theri long history...

Why is that they claimed lack of time to withdraw refugees and then they are seen in this video wasting time, especially destroying civil infrastructure? If they passed the days destroying civil infrastructure in the airport, why Sec.Blinken requesed the airport to be open to civil flights in zero coma? Was he trying to paint the Taliban as uncompetent?

If they claim to have been in Afghanistan for 20 years on grounds of "nation-building" and for the poeople there, why in their withdrawal they destroy devices and utilities which can prove useful for evacuating a seriosuly ill person ( helicopters, aircrafts.., or fighting a widlfire, transport a governor in few minutes to a region in crisis?

As I was following the events in Afghanistan in the first times of the Taliban take over, I got to know that the Taliban put themsleves immedaitely to rebuilt Kandahar-Kabul highway, totally destroyed by "nation-builders", plus opening the course of the Hari Rud river clogged by a dam built by "nation-builders" in order to cause severe droughts to the bordering Iranian region...

Summarizing all these events one would say that instead of "nation-builders" as they describe themselves US Americans, they would be most accurately described as "cloggers"...

BTW, they seem to not care at all about the crowd of civilians in the airport, trating them as cattle, but atsome point in the footage you see how they "evacaute" orderly and "giving" them five about a dozen of male in military age with appearance of "jihadists"...Thus, you see that they do it orderly when they want...
Where all these "jihadis" would have been evacuated? I bet it is not the US and that they are preparing some surprise in Europe to commemorate 9/11, as has been warned already by French and Swiss intelligence services...
Illustrating the eternal revenge against Europe which they develop through they payed minions they are placing at the top of every country, except may be former Soviet space, for now...

Posted by: Asha K. | Sep 5 2021 12:06 utc | 75

- @B:

Nope, the US doesn't want "Piece", the US doesn't want "PEACE".

Posted by: Willy2 | Sep 5 2021 12:12 utc | 76

The USA lost a toy of 3 trillion dollars and dead soldiers, no wonder that the kid wants revenge...

Posted by: Virgile | Sep 5 2021 13:20 utc | 77


As crude as this sounds, USA is a bunch of sore losers and do not want to face reality.

Just like they do not want to face the inevitable dollar collapse, but keep doubling down on QE and stimulus to keep the "stock market" and shareholders happy; they will not accept that they cannot uphold a world empire.

Posted by: Harald | Sep 5 2021 13:22 utc | 78

RE: Posted by: Harald | Sep 5 2021 13:22 utc | 78

“As crude as this sounds, USA is a bunch of sore losers and do not want to face reality. “

That is their most engaging quality, closely followed by “The US foreign Policy “Establishment” is credibly dumb to some. “

Posted by: MagdaTam | Sep 5 2021 15:05 utc | 79

Talibans and all neighbours of Afghanistan have learnt the hard way that Americans have always letdown their allies in the region as such they will never trust them and will always support Afgan Taliban Government. The three neighbours China, Russia and Pakistan are powerful Neuclear countries who will never support US to destabilise the region. India though an ally of US will disintegrate if it tries to help US. "US IS NO LONGER A WORLD SUPER POWER"

Posted by: Amjad H. Khan | Sep 5 2021 15:15 utc | 80

RE: Posted by: Asha K. | Sep 5 2021 12:06 utc | 75

“Why is that they claimed lack of time “

Partly to obscure that time/velocities are/were used as tools of vindictiveness and control..

An example sometimes referenced is the “restructuring” of Treblinka in 1942 under the management of Mr. Stangl.

In 1942 Treblinka was in uproar and not fit for purpose.

There were over 800,000 potential “figuren” to process over its designed lifetime, bottle-necks were appearing in the system, and the system was breaking down.

Mr. Stangl's solution was to undermine the “figuren” psychologically by increasing the speed and violence of the constituent processes, rendering the “figuren” objects not subjects, reacting to the what, and no longer contemplating the why.

This facilitated processing of the circa 800,000 “figuren” in a period of circa 330 days with a mean gassing time including input/output and re-setting of circa 20 minutes for each load.

Speed is a method of control – responding to the what is reflexive, responding to the why is reflective.

Contemplating why is taking back control in some measure and hence is a barrier to “productivity”.

Mr. Stangl's methods are replicated world wide, including by the Israelis.

Posted by: MagdaTam | Sep 5 2021 15:30 utc | 81

"“I can’t think of any case in which a terrorist group that’s already designated became the power in charge of a full country.”"
Answer:
Well we have the Zionist entity: Both of the Jewish terrorist groups had been branded as terrorists by the British administrators of the Pallestine mandate and by the British troops.
A partishion plan drawn up by a committee with no right to decide, suggested thet half of Gallilee, the coastline of the Philistines and the Entire Neveev desert be awarded to be administrated the 1/5th of the inhaitants that were Jews. The terrorist bang-started their own state and called it "Israël, even though historic Israël and Judea were both outside their allotted cennel (or pig-run Animal farm.
Great Britain recognized that terrorist state almost at once.
Also, in Indochina the dS of North A recognized the Khmer Rouge state of Kamputchea and supportet that Pulist Pol Pot's accwssion to a seat in the UN till its bitter end an even further. Financing the Khmer Rouge with a billion dollars' worth of weaponry for many years. All this even though the US of North A had previously declared them as "terrorists"
Also,

Posted by: Tollef Ås/秋涛乐/טלפ וש | Sep 5 2021 16:01 utc | 82

Bertold Brecht once grew so pissed-of by both British and Chinese stiff-upper-lipps eleetiest who commented "Oh. how interesting" (Chinese: "Hĕn yŏu yìsi, a!" that he construes this to be an old Chinese curse, i.e. "May You live in interesting times!" . I believe no man nor woman living off Thinktankistan on the Potamac ever would fathom the irony and sarcasm inbred into the story of such remarks made to curse them. "Blessed are the meek and poor of heart --for they shall inherit the sufferings provided them as long-time vacationers in Hell.".

Posted by: Tollef Ås/秋涛乐/טלפ וש | Sep 5 2021 16:47 utc | 83

Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Sep 5 2021 11:58 utc | 74

?
So now there are people checking our privilege and policing our language here to.
Sorry bagboom, you can not take away my carrot and stick metaphor, i literally dont give a f#ck about ur woke language needs and sensitivity.

Per
Norway

Posted by: Per/Norway | Sep 5 2021 17:56 utc | 84

"Rumour" Pakistan troops landed in Pansjhir valley...the loud mouth vice president Saleh has fled to Tajistikan????

Posted by: Jo | Sep 5 2021 21:16 utc | 85

I think that Pepe Escobar has been pretty accurate over the many years.

Inside US Afghanistan pullout, CIA opium ratline, pipeline conflict, new cold war

The alignment of Russia, China and Iran AND India pretty much spells the end of US dictatorial powers in that region. Of course, this doesn't mean the US is going to get out of the area; it'll continue to try to, as someone in an earlier post aptly put it, "look to pee in the punch bowl." But as Belt and Road cranks up the US's power will diminish: petro-dollar is the US's Achilles Heel; that which cannot last forever won't.

Posted by: Seer | Sep 5 2021 21:17 utc | 86

@Per/Norway 84
Per,
My post was not to cancel speech. It is of course your right to use offensive speech, and you have against me.
My post was to show how sensitive this subject is, and how the people on the receiving end feel. No offense intended.

Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Sep 5 2021 22:14 utc | 87

Rob and other barflies that dub ISIS a simpel tool of the US:

You are strangely forgetting the battle of Mosul, the battle of Raqqa, the battle of Kobani and many others. For an extended time there was an de facto alliance between US and Russian forces in Syria against ISIS.

ISIS was created by the Saudi intelligence, ie by an entity that is semiautonomous in realtion to the houses of Saud. That intelligence soon lost control of it's creation, and what we have now is ISIS as a geopolitical actor in it's own right.

Sometimes it can be used as a tool by the CIA, sometimes it shoots and kills US soldiers. You are oversimplifying to the extreme.

And since it's a terrorists organisation and not a guerrilla, it poses no real threat to the Taliban.

Posted by: Jörgen Hassler | Sep 6 2021 8:47 utc | 88

RE: Posted by: Jörgen Hassler | Sep 6 2021 8:47 utc | 88

“ For an extended time there was an de facto alliance between US and Russian forces in Syria against ISIS. “

There has never been a de facto alliance or detente between “The United States of America” and “The Soviet Union” or “The United States of America” and “The Russian Federation” since 1922, when the "Soviet Union" was constituted.

There were periodic for profit contracts between these parties including "lend-lease" which mutated into "lend-buy at interest subsequently" which was discharged/paid off by the Russian Federation in circa 2010.

It ocassionally served the purposes of “The Soviet Union” and “The Russian Federation” not to challenge productions of “The United States of America” that there was an alliance and/or detente with “The Soviet Union”,despite the arrangements made without “Soviet” participation during the Imperial General Staff meeting in London in March 1943 circa 6 weeks after the surrender of Nazi forces in Stalingrad and its environs, or even the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki to dissuade implementation of agreements at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences of the “Soviet” invasion of Manchuria to facilitate the surrender of Imperial Japan.

The times of indulgence of “The United States of America” by others are coming to an end.

Posted by: MagdaTam | Sep 6 2021 9:58 utc | 89

Posted by: Asha K. | Sep 6 2021 11:02 utc | 91

Yeah, they seem dumb as a brick, actually, the Izzies, ever since Bibi came along it's like they've lost their minds. Just like the Nazi's for that matter, much too fond of making enemies. Being extremely brutal doesn't mean you are some sort of genius, it's a very old "tactic", Trump thinks it's great.

As for time and motion studies and all of that marketing bullshit, that is not new or brilliant either. What would be new is if their objective was to enhance and raise the quality of the workplace, rather than find new ways to exploit it. If they wanted to build rather than salvage off. "Hyenas" is such a good word for it.

Look what it's gotten us. Short term gains for a few, long term decline for the nation and the state. And lots and lots of waste. Mediocrities like Trump or your Micron elevated into immovable obstacles in the way.

Those who can create do, those who can't go into management.

Posted by: Bemildred | Sep 6 2021 11:37 utc | 90

MagdaTam @89:

Thanks for that trove of historicist confusion.

I don't know how closely you have been following the last ten years of war in Syria. But this is a fact: there have be but few incidents of US/Russian fire exchange. Since they are on opposite sides, that means that they are coordinating, despite inflammatory rhetoric spewing out of Washington.

As for fighting ISIS, they clearly coordinated their air campaigns. You could see that from where they struck. And not doing so would have been very very dangerous, you know planes being armed and flying at high speed and all.

Since ISIS was (and is) a rogue force, a bit of local under the radar coordination should surprise no one.

Posted by: Jörgen Hassler | Sep 6 2021 14:17 utc | 91

RE: Posted by: Asha K. | Sep 6 2021 10:49 utc | 90
RE: Posted by: Asha K. | Sep 6 2021 11:02 utc | 91

“It is obvious, that the Great Reset is about ruining all economies in the wordl except that of the US so that it can avoid their free fall through the precipice, by continue prolonging the hologram of financial casino with no future prospect... “

The “Great Reset” is a dream predicated on hopes that the mix of stupidity of others and vindictiveness of self still have traction – a yellow brick road amongst many others towards obstacles including cliffs, the progress along which being aided by others.

“One would say they did not learn anything from their ancestors on Mengele´s ways “

History pre-masticated for “we the people” is largely mythical.

The second world war was a war in furtherance of settler colonialism of Germany and Japan attempting to overcome different forms of colonialism as practiced by “The British Empire” and “The United States of America”, all being “informed” by “eugenics”.

This was largely frustrated by “The Soviet Union” which was attempting to build “socialism in one country” a strategy they had been following since 1922 in increasing measure, not since 1928 as “seen” on T.V.

The populations of “The Soviet Union” where eugenics was anathema, were the targets of culling, for various reasons including but not being restricted to “enemies of the peopleness”, “property transfers under duress”, “obstacles to achievement of purposeness”,” burying the evidence after dalliances in “race defilment”, and for other eugenic reasons of “racial purity”, akin to those popular among “American” eugenicists from the end of “The American Civil War” in the hope that others would believe that war had ended rather mutated into different forms.

German eugenics was based and continued to be based post 1945 in significant measure on “American and British” eugenics, “American” eugenicists financing German eugenics from at least 1919 until circa 1947 when these ideas were taken up by some more in American-German association in “The Cold War” which was never cold.

One of the myths proselytised by some of the “Second World War” - which should have been called “The First World War” since the “First” never ended, the bridge being The Treaty of Versailles and contingent actions derived there-from in the 20 year period from 1919 until 1939 as vectors of mutations of forms except largely in the case of Imperial Japan who continued their settler colonialist ventures in Korea from 1910 onwards -, is that the “Second World War” was Hitler's war against the Jews and consequently raise its profile, including by myths that Nazis sacrificed strategic goals to optimise the killing of Jews.

Even a short analysis of train schedules of the Reichsbahn and associates in the period from 1939 until 1945 undermines that contention of primacy assigned to the killing of Jews, but many have probably not studied the original files or the original files of other processes and tend to rely on “virtual reality”.

Dr. Joseph Mengele was the protege of leading eugenists and in his own right was apparently a skilled scientist who had access to resources in Auschwitz upon which to develop his studies which included the killing of his subjects, and on ocassions he also directed the “figuren” to their deaths.

Some others had access to resources in various places such as Dachau upon which to develop their studies which were further developed in “The United States of America” and elsewhere, although the practitioners who made the original studies out-with applications in aeronautics, were not transferred with their families to “The United States of America” with benefit of paperclips, but were used as objects of “evil” to obfuscate the history of those with benefit of paperclips.

It appears that you illustrate the half-lives of myths.

Posted by: MagdaTam | Sep 6 2021 14:41 utc | 92

RE: Posted by: Jörgen Hassler | Sep 6 2021 14:17 utc | 95

“Since they are on opposite sides, that means that they are coordinating, despite inflammatory rhetoric spewing out of Washington. “

An interpretation based on
belief and certainty
always has utility.

Contemporarity
a de facto co-ordination
nor a de facto alliance
nor de facto detente
nor a de facto collaboration make.

Thank you.

Posted by: MagdaTam | Sep 6 2021 14:54 utc | 93

MagdaTam @97:

U weird. U really think what u just wrote means something?

Posted by: Jörgen Hassler | Sep 6 2021 15:10 utc | 94


If Pantshir is now in coltrol of taliban, is this end of the war in Afghanistan now?

The path of discord and division of USA/UK and their puppets just became more narrow.


Posted by: Harald | Sep 6 2021 15:56 utc | 95

Jörgen Hassler @Sep6 8:47 #88

You are strangely forgetting the battle of Mosul, the battle of Raqqa, the battle of Kobani and many others.

YOU are strangely forgetting ... that Obama allowed ISIS to rise, that Turkey bought oil from ISIS, and that Israel cared for its wounded.

=
For an extended time there was an de facto alliance between US and Russian forces in Syria against ISIS.

You forget to mention that USA is not in Syria to fight ISIS. Trump even declared that ISIS had been dfeated/eradicated in Syria. USA says that they remain

And you also forget that ISIS has destablizing countries that USA want a reason to interfere with.

ISIS was created by the Saudi intelligence, ie by an entity that is semiautonomous in realtion to the houses of Saud.

USA, Saudi Arabia, and Israel were planning to destabilize and overthrow Assad for many years before the 2011 "Syrian uprising". This is detailed in Seymour Hersh's "The Redirection", written in 2007(!):

To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.

[Note: much more info available in the article]


When "moderate rebels" were not enough to eliminate Assad, they turned to more extreme jihadis (ISIS).

=
That intelligence soon lost control of it's creation, and what we have now is ISIS as a geopolitical actor in it's own right.

LMFAO. How do you know this?

=
Sometimes it can be used as a tool by the CIA, sometimes it shoots and kills US soldiers. You are oversimplifying to the extreme.

Consider the strange case of the "ISIS attack" that preceded the assassination of Gen. Soleiman. A few mortar shells were lobbed into a US base and it was claimed that a "US contractor" (an Iraqi translator) was killed. The press didn't pay too much attention to the Iraqi nobody because soon afterward, USA attacked PMF/Iraqi troops in retaliation killing dozens. That brought Gen. Soleiman to Baghdad where he was assassinated along with several other high-ranking Iraqi military/security officers.

The ISIS attackers were never found. The Iraqi translator was forgotten. It appears to this observer that it was all a set-up to draw Gen. Suleiman to Baghdad where he could be killed.

And most, if not all, of the 13 US soldiers said to have been killed in an ISIS-K suicide-bombing, were probably killed in a fire-fight with the Taliban that has been covered up.

=
And since it's a terrorists organisation and not a guerrilla, it poses no real threat to the Taliban.

The Taliban appear to think otherwise. I think they probably have a better notion of who is their enemy that you do.

!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Sep 6 2021 17:34 utc | 96

Sorry Jackrabbit, this will be pure humiliation. Don't start your shit with someone who actually knows something.

1 I'm forgetting nothing. I said you were simplistic. Some times ISIS is convenient to empire, some it's not. BTW: Turkey is fighting US allies in Syria, have you noticed? Did I mention that you oversimplify?


2 I'm well aware of why the US is in Syria, but thank you for (not) telling people who don't know. And I never claimed that they are still in Syria to fight ISIS -- 'was' usually points to something that once occurred, but is now over. Or wait bunnyboy, doesn't it always do that?

3 [You forgot to put this one in bold.] It common knowledge, created by Saudi intelligence to destabilise a increasingly shia Iraq. But don't take it from me take it from Podesta, via wikileaks: “We need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region.” What the hell it has to do with Hersh and plans made years before ISIS even existed I don't know. Let's say 'nothing'.

4 Again common knowledge. And again take it from Podesta if you don't believe me: he is taking about reigning them in, i.e they lost control. And the fact that they fought both the US and the KSA in battle, might that be a clue? Or that the bomb in Kabul was directed at US forces, not Taliban? Or that they are fighting US-allied French troops in Africa? Maybe you should try spending less time laughing and more time reading.

5 Sorry, as far as arguments go, this is pure nonsense. And thinking that the US would have 13 soldiers shot dead by the Taliban and then blame it on ISIS to some how regain a foothold in Afghanistan while skipping just a few days later, man that's dillerium for you.

6 I did say they weren't enemies, I said they pose no real threat. Having about 2000 almost exclusively foreign trained and armed terrorists on your territory might make the best of us a bit weary, but it's not enough to destabilise the country. Might well unite it. Don't take it from me, take it from Lenin: terrorism doesn't work.

Posted by: Jörgen Hassler | Sep 6 2021 19:00 utc | 97

Jörgen Hassler @Sep6 19:00 #101:

...this will be pure humiliation.

Yes, it is - for you.

=
Some times ISIS is convenient to empire, some it's not.

LMFAO.

=
What the hell it has to do with Hersh and plans made years before ISIS even existed I don't know.

LMFAO.

=
... take it from Podesta if you don't believe me ...

LMFAO.

=
I did say they weren't enemies, I said they pose no real threat.

LMFAO.

!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Sep 6 2021 19:33 utc | 98

First rate. Please correct the spelling of peace in the opening sentence. Although relatively unimportant, such things are used by the ignorant to justify ignoring or discounting excellent and important information such as this.

Posted by: John Gilberts | Sep 6 2021 21:03 utc | 99

Jackrabbit @98:

Today 3 female ISIS members where returned from Syria to Sweden. Two where taken into custody accused of war crimes, one is still under questioning.

You think that would happen if ISIS was a CIA outfit?

Grow the f**k up, bunnyboy.

Posted by: Jörgen Hassler | Sep 7 2021 15:31 utc | 100

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