Kabul to fall

[Mello Yello 2,302]

15 minutes ago, keelansgrandad said:

Don't know why you are bothering responding to his third degree.

I know.....absolutely shockin' ain't it?......Thanks for your concern.....Keep postin'......

[dylanisabaddog 4,975]

38 minutes ago, keelansgrandad said:

Don't know why you are bothering responding to his third degree.

Good point🙄

[Mello Yello 2,302]

15 minutes ago, dylanisabaddog said:

Good point🙄

Bigger the fool you.....I rest my case......

[dylanisabaddog 4,975]

On 16/08/2021 at 11:36, Yellow Fever said:

Interesting first hand knowledge. Concurs with my comment. The very very sad thing is that when the going gets tough the West it now appears gets going for short term populist reasons. Zero moral leadership. We've now let down badly both the Afghans and Kurds. However what I do hope is that the legacy of education for the women has let the djinn out of the bottle - and more modern attitudes will be inevitable.

Lest we forget we fought our own religious wars only 400 years ago (some are even still tribal here).

We were (and possibly still are) fighting a religious war in Northern Ireland until very recently. The peace process there was started to a large degree by 3 women. The sad fact is that it often takes women to make men see sense. Unfortunately that is unlikely to happen in an Islamic country. 

It would perhaps be a start to remove religious influences from our education system before we start telling other countries what to do. 

As a footnote, there are many who believe that Afghanistan is an economic war hiding behind religion. It is certainly funded by heroin and the Taliban is flooded with Western money from drug sales. Are they using that money to create a fundamentalist Islamic state or are the people at the top taking advantage of those doing the dirty work for them. I have no idea what the answer is to that question 

Edited August 17, 2021 by dylanisabaddog

[Mello Yello 2,302]

The West and the Soviet's have had a go.......It's China's turn next.....

[Herman 9,820]

 

[Van wink 2,994]

Lovely to see them having some fun. Tally-Ho

[Herman 9,820]

Wait till you see the one of them on a trampoline. (Seriously, there is one.)🙄

[FenwayFrank 2,467]

1 hour ago, Herman said:

 

That is bizarre. I see one of them held on to his AK “ just in case “

[Rock The Boat 1,332]

10 hours ago, Yellow Fever said:

I sometimes tell an apocryphal tale many decades ago about a visit I once made to a very secure US government laboratory - at security being a foreign 'alien' passports etc. and questions as to where I'm from - for simplicity at the time I usually answered London. The response was "Where's that?".  I kid you not and I frankly I didn't believe it myself - nor quite sure how to answer that either (fly to New York but keep flying....).

The moral is you can't underestimate the lack of global awareness / education of much of any population - the US example above is the same as in the UK.

I often ponder if you asked the average Brit to name the capitals of US, Canada, Australia and Germany as to how many they'd get right. I suspect 3 out of 4 would be very good! 

apocryphal means something that is often told as true but is probably not true at all. Perhaps you meant something else?

[Iwans Big Toe 312]

On 13/08/2021 at 19:10, Thirsty Lizard said:

Yet another disastrous f*ck up by Donald Trump. 

https://babylonbee.com/news/pelosi-calls-for-impeachment-of-ronald-reagan

 

Edited August 17, 2021 by Iwans Big Toe

[Essjayess 307]

9 hours ago, Mello Yello said:

The West and the Soviet's have had a go.......It's China's turn next.....

China also have a decades long program from the top to replace any form of religion other than its own adherence to state worship..just look at Tibet and in recent years the Uighurs and  many so called Christian denominations have a rough time there to. China certainly has shown expansionist tendencies in the South China Sea but to get involved  with Afghanistan may open up a new can of worms that could be disasterous for itself and the wider region..Iran...Russia...the central Asian "stan" states...it would be a powder keg with nobody knowing what would happen.

[Herman 9,820]

6 hours ago, Iwans Big Toe said:

https://babylonbee.com/news/pelosi-calls-for-impeachment-of-ronald-reagan

 

Who says Evangelical Christians don't have a sense of humour.🙄

[Mr Apples 1,327]

14 hours ago, FenwayFrank said:

That is bizarre. I see one of them held on to his AK “ just in case “

AK-47s on the dodgems, RPGs on the rollercoaster...it could improve the Pleasure Beach experience? 🤔 🤣

Apples

[Yellow Fever 3,821]

15 hours ago, Rock The Boat said:

apocryphal means something that is often told as true but is probably not true at all. Perhaps you meant something else?

I think this kind of tale is often believed to be 'apocryphal' and is often described as such (hence my use of the word)  but as I relate actually wasn't. Of course we can all dance on the head of a linguistic pin which adds nothing to the meaning of the story.

How many capitals did you get (without checking up?) - I is easy, 2 were slippery in different degrees and the last less known.

 

Edited August 18, 2021 by Yellow Fever

[TheGunnShow 5,993]

On 17/08/2021 at 09:04, Yellow Fever said:

I sometimes tell an apocryphal tale many decades ago about a visit I once made to a very secure US government laboratory - at security being a foreign 'alien' passports etc. and questions as to where I'm from - for simplicity at the time I usually answered London. The response was "Where's that?".  I kid you not and I frankly I didn't believe it myself - nor quite sure how to answer that either (fly to New York but keep flying....).

The moral is you can't underestimate the lack of global awareness / education of much of any population - the US example above is the same as in the UK.

I often ponder if you asked the average Brit to name the capitals of US, Canada, Australia and Germany as to how many they'd get right. I suspect 3 out of 4 would be very good! 

Washington DC, Ottawa, Canberra and Berlin, in that order.

As for the situation in Afghanistan, I think the timing's dreadful, but the measure itself is decent. The root cause is Pakistan and the Saudis as far as I can tell from my limited perspective.

Edited August 18, 2021 by TheGunnShow

[Yellow Fever 3,821]

2 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

Washington DC, Ottawa, Canberra and Berlin, in that order.

Yes - you'd be amazed at how many people jump for New York, Sydney etc. Ottawa is less obvious.

[TheGunnShow 5,993]

3 minutes ago, Yellow Fever said:

Yes - you'd be amazed at how many people jump for New York, Sydney etc. Ottawa is less obvious.

I shouldn't be surprised at how ignorant people can be, or be amazed at how little curiosity many people have.

EDIT: Used the sad emoticon not to discredit your post at all, but merely to show my disdain at the situation, or the thought of it at the very least.

Edited August 18, 2021 by TheGunnShow

[Yellow Fever 3,821]

4 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

I shouldn't be surprised at how ignorant people can be, or be amazed at how little curiosity many people have.

EDIT: Used the sad emoticon not to discredit your post at all, but merely to show my disdain at the situation, or the thought of it at the very least.

All I was trying to show was that the parochial lack of knowledge (or interest) overseas isn't just a UK or US thing but common to many 'isolated' insular populations.  Many a Saturday night game show gives examples of people who are totally up to date with the latest pop/soaps but struggle to place many counties on a map or answer that little teaser.

[TheGunnShow 5,993]

Just now, Yellow Fever said:

All I was trying to show was that the parochial lack of knowledge (or interest) overseas isn't just a UK or US thing but common to many 'isolated' insular populations.  Many a Saturday night game show gives examples of people who are totally up to date with the latest pop/soaps but struggle to place many counties on a map or answer that little teaser.

Oh, couldn't agree more there, and that's speaking as someone who's lived in impoverished parts of Germany as well. You'll find them everywhere.

[nevermind, neoliberalism has had it 159]

The chaos created by us in Afghanistan must not continue, even if we feel sour over the many times we lost our campaigns/wars there.

No more blood should be spilled by those who live by international arms concerns rules and corrupt praises. It is the CIA that paid the ISI in Pakistan to set up madrassas teaching a particular political version of Islam to oppose the Russian occupation and the then Government of Najibullah, hey presto the Taliban was born and war lords in Afghanistan adopted it for their own ends.

 

But this was 20 years ago during which not much changed for women or the people of Afghanistan, so to carry on with wars and campaigns to achieve a semi annexation, not by words in congress or Parliament, but by dirty deeds, will fail. It failed in 1836 and it failed for Russia and now for the NORTH ATLANTIC Treaty Organisation..

Doing nothing and trying to cooperate with what is going to happen is the only chance we can give to Afghanistan's civilian population, all else has failed and to throw more weapons and money at it, when China has pledged 4 billion investmebt into the vast mineral wealth, to make goods for us here in the west, is the wrong approach.

Here is a great article by Caithlin Johnstone. Enjoy and forget the false crocodile tears and fairytales about our great humanitarian work there you hear on the national propaganda services.

https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2021/08/15/stop-believing-us-military-invasions-have-noble-intentions-notes-from-the-edge-of-the-narrative-matrix/

[Van wink 2,994]

The way they are packed into the Commons today,  one cough and it could be a full house. Nice of them to get off the beach for a few hours! 

BJ and KS showing very little in terms of leadership and statesmanship, good speech by Theresa May and a number of ex servicemen, a shameful day for the West and particularly the USA. 

[A Load of Squit 5,215]

50 minutes ago, Van wink said:

The way they are packed into the Commons today,  one cough and it could be a full house. Nice of them to get off the beach for a few hours! 

BJ and KS showing very little in terms of leadership and statesmanship, good speech by Theresa May and a number of ex servicemen, a shameful day for the West and particularly the USA. 

Desmond Swayne and John Redwood should go on permanent holidays.

 

[Van wink 2,994]

1 hour ago, A Load of Squit said:

Desmond Swayne and John Redwood should go on permanent holidays.

 

I’m sure Swayne is just a posh way of saying swine, fits really.

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

MPs queuing up to speak is doing nothing to help the situation. Just a pompous way of letting the Government off the hook.

Once again, we invade a nation for regime change and then ignore the outcome.

[horsefly 4,310]

The government offered 3 million Hong Kong citizens a right to emigrate to the UK, but apparently we only have enough capacity to offer 20 thousand Afghanis that opportunity over the next 5 years. I guess the government are well aware that there is not a chance in hell that the Taliban will let people leave if they don't get out very soon. They are being abandoned to a fate of torture and execution. Utterly shameful!

[Rock The Boat 1,332]

9 hours ago, Yellow Fever said:

I think this kind of tale is often believed to be 'apocryphal' and is often described as such (hence my use of the word)  but as I relate actually wasn't. Of course we can all dance on the head of a linguistic pin which adds nothing to the meaning of the story.

How many capitals did you get (without checking up?) - I is easy, 2 were slippery in different degrees and the last less known.

 

I don't know how many capitals I got right as you have yet to supply the answers.

[Rock The Boat 1,332]

8 hours ago, TheGunnShow said:

Washington DC, Ottawa, Canberra and Berlin, in that order.

As for the situation in Afghanistan, I think the timing's dreadful, but the measure itself is decent. The root cause is Pakistan and the Saudis as far as I can tell from my limited perspective.

Afghanistan is a side-show. The real prize and has been for centuries, is India

[Herman 9,820]

Does anyone have a theory on Pakistan's involvement in this? Why would they want these people in charge and why does having a basket case as neighbours help them?

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

I don't think for one minute it is the Pakistan Government encouraging unrest. I think the overwhelming desire by many Pakistanis is a peaceful neighbour.

But it is a fact that so many Taliban actually come from Pakistan whereas the mujahadeen were really tajik and pashtun which are mainly shia from the North.

Its a mess really. Its clear Islamic and Sharia law will be applied by the Taliban, which will make it a mecca for fundamentalists and terrorists.

How can any nation have good relations with them?