BruceVC

I have to be honest, do you know what is one of the worst things about the Taliban taking control of Afghanistan? Its the interviews and truly emotional comments from numerous Afghan women who are educated or work for Afghan education NGO that promote equal education and gender equality Its really sad because they all feel understandably hopeless about the future for women in their country I was in Afghanistan in 2007/2008 for 5 days and I only stayed in Kabul but it was exciting to be in a country where simple things like equal education were recognised and you could see the real progress that was being made since the US occupation. Its depressing to think of all this progress becoming negated by the barbaric Taliban

Thats definitely healthy, nice lunch choices 🍲

Any links you can share about this potential development?

But that honestly doesnt look unhealthy at all, its looks like you have meat,bake-beans and mash and gravy, I am not sure what the white item is ? What part of that meal would be considered unhealthy?

I agree with you about the threat posed by both Russia or China. And when I say threat I am not suggesting WW3 but rather a world that is not united globally through shared economic and political goals and governments that espouse Democratic principles like the importance of a transparent legal system, a free media and freedom of speech You also played a part in helping me realize where the greatest problem lies in addressing several geopolitical objectives and China is the greater threat. So thanks for that You can reason and understand Russia and their political aspirations even if I dont agree with how they approach certain things. But the CCP has this alien view of political dogma that is extremely difficult to understand or accept when you see the problems with parts of it being implemented and practised

Maybe you dont personally care about the perception that gets created by a president or PM and what they say in public. But for most people who believe in living in any prosperous and sustainable country the President does matter because he represents the elected and governing political party and he guides and shapes the entire direction of the country Bidens comments were ill-advised and badly informed and yes reflects badly on the Democrats ....but its also not the end of world because the US was justified in leaving Afghanistan. Its the way they left and the failure to do it in a phased approach that will be criticised I was watching a good interview on the valid reasons for the US withdrawal, 3 reasons to justify the withdrawal The US cannot be involved in an " endless " war especially when you cant win this war in the traditional sense The US cannot be more interested and committed to defeat the Taliban than the actual Afghan security forces...and the quick collapse of the Afghan security forces supports this important point Their are more pressing and real global challengers like addressing Chinese hegemony than this conflict. I tend to agree with this point from a priority perspective

GD I know you are well versed at the " Summon Gromnir " spell but before you invoke this incantation are you ready for the outcome? Gromnir will appear in the smoke...and he wont be happy

Thats seriously terrible.....whats wrong with you, especially when its true

The utter collapse of the official Afghan government failing to make any stand to the Taliban should be remembered as one of the greatest failures of any governments security forces to do their job...its egregious and an unequivocal failure of how any government should function This should reflect negatively on how Biden handled the understandable withdrawal of US forces....especially how Biden handled the withdrawal after he said "Afghanistan will be fine after the US pulls out " But one thing in credit to his decisions is when he said " I dont want Afghanistan to become the problem of yet another US president " ....sure he delivered on that outcome but its the way he addresed it that historians will remember....

https://news.yahoo.com/afghan-president-ghani-flees-country-145644024.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall I am stupefied that the official Afghan army of 350k trained people could acquiesce to the Taliban so easily....Kabul has fallen with NO resistance No this is not the consequence of the USA " betraying " their partners. At the very least Ghani could have presented military resistance in some way ....he had an army and airforce FFS !!! If after 20 years of support from a foreign country you cannot even make some stand in the interest of your own country them you need to accept the consequences of this cowardice and lack of action Yes its a pity so many lives were lost in the last 20 years but at least AQ was defeated in Afghanistan and Bin Laden was killed ....so the invasion and the 20 years of US involvement wasnt a complete waste

https://www.cfr.org/timeline/kurds-quest-independence Its more complicated than the Kurds just wanting an autonomous zone in Syria, they wanted an independent state in Iraq and Turkey as well But the point being the US doesn't control the borders of any country outside its own territory so an unrealistic expectation was set . The US cant grant any group independence unilaterally so you need to raise this with the governments of Iraq, Syria and Turkey

Okay I get it now, its not really a joke because the Kurds were expecting something that the US cannot grant or give them The Kurds want part of Turkey as their own independent state, Turkey will never agree to that so I am not sure why an unrealistic expectation was set and how anyone thinks the US can assist ?

I dont get it, I assume its a joke but I dont get it ?

I am huge fan of Central American food and especially their love and appreciation of pork, my favorite meat overall I have watched numerous Bizarre Foods and Delicious Destinations tv shows with Andrew Zimmerman where he visits central America numerous times. The food stalls and food markets look amazing https://www.travelchannel.com/shows/bizarre-foods/episodes/nicaragua

" Dr Manhattan " .... The thought of that really made me laugh, I am just thinking of that scene in the movie where he defeats the Viet Kong, for the USA, and they all start praying to him

Italy is an amazing country with each province having its own distinct history, culture and most important unique food culture. My sister worked at an Italian restaurant in southern Italy that did training in food specific to the region and she was telling me how different food can be in parts of Italy If you want to watch a brilliant TV series that illustrates this try to watch this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Tucci:_Searching_for_Italy

Yes but the original military objective was the destruction of AQ in Afghanistan and Bin Laden seeing justice for 9/11 I dont mean to repeat myself but what I am saying is the defeat of the Taliban was not part of the initial objective. Yes it became part of trying to enable Afghanistan to become a modern and functioning country which the US and its allies tried to achieve but failed for several reasons So if Kabul falls to the Taliban the reasons for this failure shouldn't been seen as primarily because " the US failed to defeat the Taliban militarily due to a bad strategy " .....their was no effective strategy to defeat the Taliban for numerous reasons and most of them are not about the US. Like the corruption that Elerond mentioned and the Pakistan border

The thing is we mustnt forget the salient and most important reason the US and its allies invaded Afghanistan and overthrew the barbaric and anachronistic Taliban. It was only because of 9/11 and the Taliban were giving refuge to AQ and specifically Bin Laden The Taliban were given the option before the invasion to hand him over and they refused. So the invasions primary objective was the destruction of AQ in Afghanistan which the US more or less achieved They also became deeply involved in attempts to rebuild Afghanistan since 2001 and lots of effort was put into that like spending over $1 Trillion in aid and training the Afghan army and police several times. But it was never about sustaining the new Afghan government permanently either financially or militarily And since the Taliban cannot be " defeated " militarily for several reasons that arent the US fault ,like the reality of the porous Pakistan border where the Taliban cross when they want and find succour and shelter in tribal controlled regions of Pakistan, their is no real military objective So the pullout is understandable, I just dont think its been done in the right way considering the real imminent collapse of the country. Biden should have done the withdrawal in a staged and phased approach and just assess each phase before moving on to the next one As I mentioned previously this will reflect on Bidens legacy especially if Kabul falls....then we will all witness terrible human rights abuses

Im still busy with Kingdoms of Amalur, its still fun so I havent stopped it yet. I have just killed the Balor which was another incredibly easy final battle....same as all the battles but that is part of the enjoyment. Its more like an interactive RPG narrative because the battles and quests are so easy And its enjoyable but no challenge in combat skill and strategy And also I have never played an RPG with so many side quests...I have stopped doing any of them and I am now focusing on the main quests only so I can finish this game

Im watching several entertaining shows like Chicago PD, Med and Fire. The new Law & Order Organised Crime and a few others like Helstrom I am also watching again the entire True Blood series, one of the greatest shows of all time in the fantasy and supernatural genre 🧛‍♂️

Kanie how did ancient man play RPG....no one thinks to ask this question 💫

Sure, its not a surprising development that African or ME countries have a Toyota, or similar manufacturer, dealer selling vehicles. This is normal in most countries But this has nothing to do with fueling war or somehow holding the likes of Toyota responsible for how ISIS gets their vehicles

Thanks Elerond, what a good link I am so glad you recognised what Hoonding was talking about because he normally posts cryptic or confusing comments that some people assume is just trolling but its normally linked to a real event or some historical truth. But of course he often then creates his own " truth " about these events which sometimes is some really hilarious example of race baiting or blaming Colonialism\Whiteness ...but he is funny

I think you and I may be on the same page if I understand your point but I am not sure exactly what you mean by " Toyota blitzkrieg " I assume this is about solutions to destroying the Taliban ?

I am seriously considering creating a separate thread where I am looking for feedback and personal stories from all members about what advice they can give others about the best way to get an effective ( and this is a real topic because one of the current global challengers is the fact that some degrees dont help you get a job that creates a sustainable revenue stream) university degree and how to able to fund it and not be left with crushing debt. Because as I mentioned I am well aware how not having pay for degree is a huge relief So in your example would you have been able to go to University without that initial athletic scholarship ? And then obviously you worked hard at school and you were academic and did well enough to qualify for a legal degree but how much did that allow you to study law .....or did you initially study something else? So what I mean is did the athletic scholarship automatically grant you access to study law without the initial school requirement or did you still have to achieve certain final grade 12 marks before you could quality for an athletic bursary ?