Friday, August 27, 2021

Götterdämmerung

11 Days ago I posted on the Fall of Afghanistan.  I seldom comment on current events and assumed that having written on it, things would continue apace and other than a colossal embarrassment and the effective change in the world order, there was not much more to write on and I could go on to something less depressing.

I was wrong.

As I write this, 13 US Service members have died and 18 are wounded, plus civilians (an early count was 43 killed and 130 injured; I presume both counts will go higher) due to a suicide bomb.  A second car bomb went off elsewhere in the city.  A US General has reached out to the foes they were fighting weeks ago - the foes they have been fighting for 20 years - to "make sure they know what we expect them to do to protect us."  There is the assumption - and fear - that the attacks will continue.  The theoretical leaders of the Current Administration struggle to make updates to the people they supposedly serve:  in a moment when they should be actively and frequently talking to the citizenry, they say nothing or try their best to appear as infrequently as possible.

It is Götterdämmerung.

I understand that I could be accused of hyperbole - after all, although this is terrible event or series of events, this is hardly the end of the country.  The lights still went on this morning and will likely go on tomorrow.  The economy will still be there.  My oatmeal and yogurt will be ready for me when I eat them in the morning.

All true of course.  But beyond the true casualties - the military and civilian dead and the images that will undoubtedly appear of those who could not make it out but will serve as useful pawns for The Orcs (I will not name them) that have overrun Afghanistan - the remaining casualty is the legitimacy of this Administration and its government.

If it is not clear now, it will soon become so that the ongoing series of action which at best are pointless and at worst counterproductive indicate that there is literally no-one of any sense or capability at the helm.  Our enemies have been emboldened past any sane point of reason.

The US will act?  By doing what?  Sending a few troops and then begging to not be attacked?   Say they will support us and then flee in the middle of the night?   The United States has become the lowest cow on the herd order, to be bullied and pushed by anyone and everyone.  Our allies look on with a mixed wonder and horror at what we have become, our enemies rejoice at what we have become, and apparently our leaders have no idea what we have become.

But set aside military action for a moment.  Human rights?  You have enabled by your actions the takeover by the Orcs whom have made very clear - as they are doing now - how they view human rights.  Any and all complaints and excoriations coming from the government or the Current Administration will simply be words, vacuous protestations without anything behind them.  Their attempts at home to enforce what they subjected people to abroad will stand as a rebuke from this time forward.

Finally, of course, is the domestic chaos.  Domestic, you ask? This has happened far and away - how does it impact the domestic? Simply put, by demonstrating their complete and utter ineffectiveness - indeed, their fecklessness and mendacity - they have shown they should not be put in charge of anything.  Infrastructure?   Health Mandates?  Business?  Borders? Can anyone in their right mind believe that having failed abroad so completely, they will do any better here?

In two weeks, an entire era and belief in a system has been gutted.  Whatever comes after this - when the bodies have been returned and the wounded, healed in body but not perhaps in mind, are integrated into society, and the horrific videos of the work of the Orcs is put out for the world to see - it will not be the country that I either grew up in or even knew in the last 20 years.  It will be a rapid shell of top level failure and ineffectiveness attempting to prove it is still what it always was.

I wonder, this time, if everyone else will play along.

31 comments:

  1. You have to understand that you CAN’T negotiate with them. The Taliban are a (very) loose organization of savage warlords each with his own agenda, and none acknowledging any authority greater than their own. Their loyalties extend to their own tribe and that’s it. Even if Biden weren’t a vegetable… any attempt at some kind of civilized policy would fail. A lot of foolish westerners think there was some kind of war to win in Afghanistan. Canada sent “peacekeepers” to the region when there is no piece to keep. Their own people are being mass murdered too.

    Over on Blab, fedpoasting has gone through the roof. Americans are livid and want justice for Biden and our leaders making the situation worse. It doesn’t help when they are goaded every day by a president who is basically in hiding while plane loads of “refugees” are brought in while Americans are MIA or are being killed over there.

    Gawd knows I hate being a voice of restraint…but we ARE being goaded, lied to and played. Prepping right now might be the order of the day.

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    1. Glen - This agrees in theory with what I have read as well, and time will tell if this stays true: if in fact they are loosely organized, they will rapidly devolve into a horrible Civil War.

      "Justice" can be tricky word, especially in situations like this where emotions runs high and things can rapidly spiral out of control. The very highest priority, of course, is to get everyone out as safely as possible. Right along side that - or after that - is to have everyone remotely associated with this decision removed from government. Note I am not - and I can really not think of a time I would - advocating for any sort of violence. What I am asking is as a tax paying citizen for the people I pay to do their jobs and evaluate if their performance has added value. In the private world, a failure which would cost the company an entire product line (A very weak analogy I acknowledge, but the only one that comes to mind) would either be asked to resign or outright fired by the Board of Directors. The same thing needs to happen here.

      Agreed that there are people who are pushing on this for a reaction and doubly agreed that reacting wildly, ineffectively, or inappropriately will solve nothing and make the situation worse.

      And yes, prepping is perhaps more the order of the day than ever.

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    2. Agreed. There should be impeachments, investigations,and inquiries everywhere… but of course… in the real world I just don’t see that happening. The Establishment protects itself and exists to maintain the status quo. The system you want to use is compromised and the only way to rectify it - in my opinion- is outside the system, through other means. The existing institutions are all hopelessly corrupted.

      I am still trying to resolve my stance, but at this point, the way things are going… I will not disavow violence even if I won’t participate in it, for now. Unless our leaders can get those constitutional checks, safeguards and corrective processes going again…violence has to be on the table and they will deserve what they get.

      The gubbimint is bringing this on themselves.

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    3. This is designed chaos.
      A Stoic would council that we ride the tiger.
      A Cynic would council that we slay the dragon.

      I really don't see a political solution.
      Thinking and Acting outside of the just in time paradigm is of critical importance. You must protect you and yours first.

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    4. Glen, I can only hope (and hope can be a thin reedy friend) that the system will function as it should - but in my heart of hearts, I fear it will not. And that leaves things that will completely rend social fabric.

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    5. Just So - Is it designed? Possibly, although given the ineptitude demonstrated in the management of the country to this point, it really just could be vast, incomprehensible mendacity and foolishness. Either way, it is chaos.

      There is one chance for a political solution, but it has to come soon: Congress has to sluice the Administration down to the bedrock. Give them the choice: Leave or be impeached. But that assumes that the Congress has that kind of intestinal fortitude. I see no sign of it.

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  2. Last week, the images of our ignominious departure from Afghanistan, which stirred memories of our departure from Saigon, broke my heart. Then we heard yesterday's news about our Marines and my heart broke again. I am praying...

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    1. Sbrgirl, there is nothing but sadness and horror from this that will impact an entire generation.

      My biggest fear now is another Lebanon barracks incident circa 1982.

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  3. What cannot continue, won't.

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    1. STxAR, many many people are at best trying to sleepwalk past this without realizing the full impact of what is going on.

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    2. I beg to differ. Example; Mexico. If there ever was a zombie republic, Mexico would be it. The government is nothing more than a figurehead for the cartels, who actually run the country. Of course, they're at constant war with each other. The people either bow to the cartels or they're slaughtered. THIS, unfortunately, is the new America if we don't stand up and push back. ...Sometimes you just have to fight...

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    3. My thoughts were tangled this morning. Best I could do. But I agree. The only reason Mexico is a country right now is the money that is sent south. I continue to hope that Americans are different and won't put up with that here. But I'm not sure it is that way any more. Maybe it never was that way. What were the figures on support for the Revolutionary War? John Adams wrote that about a third were for it, a third against and a third didn't care.

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    4. ...And only 3% actually participated... That's where the term "Three percenter" came from...

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    5. Pete, Mexico is a rather shocking presentation of future - and a very real one at that. Power will fill a vacuum.

      For both STxAR and Pete - There is a lot to learn from what has happened in the last 20 years in terms of The Orcs and their tactics and strategies. Someone - obviously not our strategic military staff - should be doing some learning.

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  4. I guess I'm not worried about our appearance to the world on this embarrassing issue. The majority of this will be forgotten before the following year is through. Vietnam and Somalia readily come to mind.

    I received the following meme text: "If you ever feel useless, remember it took 20 years, trillions of dollars and 4 US Presidents to replace the Taliban with the Taliban."

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    1. I've said the same thing, Ed. It wasn't that long ago that the world was in an uproar over Syrian refugees... and those from Somalia. We seem to trade one humanitarian crisis for another. It's certainly taken the spotlight off the issue at our own southern border for the moment.

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    2. Yeah; and now it'll be tens, if not HUNDREDS of thousands of Afghani refugees... What could POSSIBLY go wrong here?...

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    3. Ed, I am not inherently worried - except the US has benefited from its reputation as a military power and a stabilizer for world trade. Without that stability, things will become much less stable and more dangerous. We have left billions of dollars in weapons (and apparently in billions of dollars in dollars as well). That weaponry will either go to those who mean us ill or for reverse engineering by the same folks.

      In terms of forgetfulness, I believe the reality to be that this will be replayed, endlessly, as the whole thing has been recorded all over the InterWeb and we are not even out of Act 1 yet. The people that enabled this farce will undoubtedly like us to forget, but I wonder if the victors will let us.

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    4. Kelly, it does take our eyes off of the current crisis - and means that that crisis will not got solved either. It is now not a question of if a crisis will bury us, but which crisis will bury us.

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    5. Pete, we helped to create that problem by enlisting the aid of the Afghans and then abandoning them (literally) in the dead of the night. From what I have heard, they are not all vetted and perhaps the US (which apparently has an amazing biometric database) will trouble itself to actually check them. But as the option for those that stood with us was pretty much death, I am not sure what else we could morally do.

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  5. "In two weeks, an entire era and belief in a system has been gutted."

    I was an early adopter...

    My moment of real enlightenment (politically) was delivered 18 August 1988, Superdome, New Orleans, LA by George Bush the Elder. The Thousand Points of Light Speech was the end of any hope for Western Civilization. There was a clear declaration to depart the Reagan Revolution and embark on the New World Order.

    They openly declared war on their own people that night, and the masses met the tyranny with thunderous applause.

    There is no political reconciliation in my estimation.



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    1. Just So, I am have always been accused of being late to the party, so at least I am consistent.

      What can they point to now? They have polarized society so much that there will be no coming back - what is there to come back to? What social ground do we share in common anymore?

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  6. The events of yesterday certainly amped up my veteran husband's observations about things.

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    1. Kelly, I can only imagine. As I am sure it has a lot of veterans. And am I very sure many of them are asking why we bothered in the first place.

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  7. It will take a generation for the world to forget what Biden did in Afghanistan, just like it did when we left Viet Nam. Isn't it ironic that while all this was going on, the "vice president" was in Hanoi...

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    1. Pete, my bet is that it will take more than one generation. We have the whole thing effectively live broadcasted and encased forever on the InterWeb and it will play again and again. Every August, we will be treated to it. Every September 11th, we will watch it

      It is ironic - and in incredibly poor taste.

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  8. "It's certainly taken the spotlight off the issue at our own southern border."

    And it's distracted attention away from the election audits too.

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    1. From everything Leigh. It in theory has distracted attention away from everything - except that every single thing it has pulled attention from is also a disaster. There is a disaster limit, and at some point we are going to find the thing to push it over the edge.

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  9. Ed's quote above about the four US presidents, etc. is spot on. Honestly, the issue is so complex, I don't think any of them knew what the hell to do. I am currently reading Barack Obama's memoir, "A Promised Land," which is at once self-serving (as all these types of books are) and incredibly interesting reading the part about Afghanistan while the ill-timed withdrawal of U.S. troops is taking place. He passed it on to Trump, who many argue put in place the framework for what is now happening. Some are saying this could derail the Biden presidency, but see above references to short memories. He has more than three years for plenty of other issues to derail it. We are overdue for a true leader in the White House.

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  10. Bob, agreed that the Previous Occupant put the framework for the withdrawal in place. But the Current Occupant insisted on putting his fingerprints all over it - from my point of view, he now owns the whole mess: He broke it, he bought it.

    Could it be forgotten? Perhaps it will be. But based on the fact that this is being recorded and seen in real time like no other modern military defeat, this will be around for a very long time indeed. I am prepared to see this run repeatedly on the Interweb - and this does not even include what we have not (but undoubtedly will) see yet.

    A true leader would be nice. That said, I do not expect to see another true leader in my lifetime.

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    1. Couldn’t agree more. Current Occupant owns it.

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