The All things Political Topic - The Night never knew that its end was fleet.

[Gorth]

So far 60 dead and 100+ wounded. Including 13 killed Americans in the Kabul Airport attack. ISIS Afghanistan currently being held responsible...

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58349010

At least 60 people have been killed and 140 others wounded, a senior health official in Kabul told the BBC.

The Pentagon confirmed US service personnel were among those killed - 11 US Marines and a Navy medic.

The bombings came hours after Western governments had warned their citizens to stay away from the airport, because of an imminent threat of an attack by IS-K, the Afghanistan branch of the Islamic State group.

[rjshae]

That many people packed closely together are prime terrorist targets. We need remote scanning technology or something.

[ComradeYellow]

Brits Fear Collapse of Containment of Russia and China in Aftermath of Biden’s Afghanistan Decision (larouchepub.com)

Whilst I don't believe the Afghanistan debacle is in and of itself a catalyst for "Failing to contain" the East, apparently the bad psychological stigma of it was more damning than I realized, in the U.K. especially.

Nope, what will be decisive on the prospects of China's rise as an economic superpower will be how China handles the situation in Afghanistan.  If they can somehow manage BRI and peaceful relations through the country, and help its reconstruction and stability, China wins. 

If they botch it...whelp then they're just another wannabe up and comer like the USSR.

[BruceVC]

1 hour ago, ComradeYellow said:

Brits Fear Collapse of Containment of Russia and China in Aftermath of Biden’s Afghanistan Decision (larouchepub.com)

Whilst I don't believe the Afghanistan debacle is in and of itself a catalyst for "Failing to contain" the East, apparently the bad psychological stigma of it was more damning than I realized, in the U.K. especially.

Nope, what will be decisive on the prospects of China's rise as an economic superpower will be how China handles the situation in Afghanistan.  If they can somehow manage BRI and peaceful relations through the country, and help its reconstruction and stability, China wins. 

If they botch it...whelp then they're just another wannabe up and comer like the USSR.

You right as usual, if China can stabilize Afghanistan they will win because Afghanistan is of such geopolitical significance. I have been waving my Chinese flag and I want to start learning Mandarin because of this possible outcome 

[Elerond]

China's silk road project (their project to acquire natural resources from middle east) forces them to try to stabilize Afghanistan, but there is quite little will in China's leadership to undertake any military operation, so they main strategy will most likely to just throw money to it (meaning that they will give funds Taliban so that they would handle it) and hope that everything works out. But there is high risk that it just causes more problems for them thanks to high levels of corruption that Afghanistan is plagued of and lack of any forces that actually could try to control population of 31 million which is facing starvation and economical collapse.

Russia will put their spoon in the mix as it is in their interest to prevent extremist to get foot hold in Uzbekistan and Tadžikistan 

Also Iran and Pakistan have their own interest in the area and they aren't necessary stability of governance in Afghanistan

[Darkpriest]

I think, that Lithium rich soil will make Iran, China and Russia co-operate, just to show middle finger to US. 

They already planned also naval maneuvers for late 2021-early 2022 in the Persian Gulf?

Pakistan might also be on board with the stabilization. 

 

The anti-sentiment can make really odd people work together. You've experienced that internally in the US against Trump. 

 

Btw, not only US did leave biometric data and tools to use it, but apparently they shared the list of co-workes with Taliban so they could be let through Taliban checkpoints... 

 

[Elerond]

Terrorist groups in Afghanistan are mainly funded by people in Pakistan and Iran

Talibans are extremists Sunnis where Iran is controlled by nationalist Shias. Talibans have long history of oppressing people in Hazara minority which Afghanistan's largest Shia population (4 million), and there are  Hazara population also in Iran (500k) and Pakistan (1 million).

China will not stop oppressing Uyghurs which will feed extremist Sunnis in neighboring countries.

Russia has it own Lithium sources and mines in Afghanistan are against its economic interests

Anti-sentiment is not long living when those who are against aren't around (as democrats infighting in US show us). 

Stabilization of Afghanistan requires major effort and is expensive and excepted returns aren't at least yet big 

[ComradeYellow]

5 hours ago, BruceVC said:

You right as usual, if China can stabilize Afghanistan they will win because Afghanistan is of such geopolitical significance. I have been waving my Chinese flag and I want to start learning Mandarin because of this possible outcome 

Not sure if sarcasm,  but Afghanistan is certainly of geopolitical significance, it's not only sandwiched between China and its allies but it also contains trillions of dollars of natural resources such as copper, petroleum, and lithium, the latter which is used to power car batteries and cell phones aka a crucial resource for the 21st century.

Why else would the U.S. spend 2 decades in there?  Not just for ideological reasons, but economic ones as well.  Same as Iraq. If China's approach to foreign policy is successful where the U.S. has failed, it would be both a financial and moral catastrophe for the West.

[Elerond]

13 minutes ago, ComradeYellow said:

Not sure if sarcasm,  but Afghanistan is certainly of geopolitical significance, it's not only sandwiched between China and its allies but it also contains trillions of dollars of natural resources such as copper, petroleum, and lithium, the latter which is used to power car batteries and cell phones aka a crucial resource for the 21st century.

Why else would the U.S. spend 2 decades in there?  Not just for ideological reasons, but economic ones as well.  Same as Iraq. If China's approach to foreign policy is successful where the U.S. has failed, it would be both a financial and moral catastrophe for the West.

Probably not natural resources as they have allowed China to buy and control  Afghanistan's oil, gas and copper reserves for 10 years (Afghanistan's oil reserves were founded in 2010 and in 2011 Afghanistan signed an oil exploration contract with China National Petroleum Corporation three and currently only oil fields there).

Currently it is only suspected that there are rich lithium resources in Afghanistan because of its geologic setting, currently there are little lithium production in Afghanistan.

[Malcador]

Reading about the ANA hardware the Taliban now possesses, some real alarmist commentary.  Granted most of it seems the complaining about why US citizens can't get similar gear, so maybe I'm sipping a poisoned well.   Pretty sure an M16A4 with a Trijicon isn't the King of Kings, though.  I guess they can sell it on, probably best for the Blackhawks and any other aircraft.

[ComradeYellow]

3 hours ago, Elerond said:

Terrorist groups in Afghanistan are mainly funded by people in Pakistan and Iran

False.  Terrorist groups are funded by all extremist Sunni followers with any amount of wealth, all across the ME.  Some have high influence in various governments such as Saudi Arabi, some are just lay-lows with money to spare.  Nationality is not really a factor.

 

8 minutes ago, Elerond said:

Currently it is only suspected that there are rich lithium resources in Afghanistan because of its geologic setting, currently there are little lithium production in Afghanistan.

*Ahem*

The Taliban now control one of the largest lithium deposits on the planet (tekdeeps.com)

[Elerond]

8 minutes ago, ComradeYellow said:

False.  Terrorist groups are funded by all extremist Sunni followers with any amount of wealth, all across the ME.  Some have high influence in various governments such as Saudi Arabi, some are just lay-lows with money to spare.  Nationality is not really a factor.

 

*Ahem*

The Taliban now control one of the largest lithium deposits on the planet (tekdeeps.com)

Actually correct: ISIS-K gets almost all its funding from Pakistan. Majority of Taliban's fund also come from Pakistan and Iran is second and after that comes Saudi sources (Qatar as largest source). Iranian sources also fund lots of other terrorist organisations (as Taliban is till classed as terrorist organization) in Afghanistan. Funds don't come at least directly from governments but wealthy patrons in those countries.

Article should say one of the largest suspected lithium deposits. Some one would actually need to do geological survey first to make sure that there are actually lithium there.

[Guard Dog]

1 hour ago, Malcador said:

Reading about the ANA hardware the Taliban now possesses, some real alarmist commentary.  Granted most of it seems the complaining about why US citizens can't get similar gear, so maybe I'm sipping a poisoned well.   Pretty sure an M16A4 with a Trijicon isn't the King of Kings, though.  I guess they can sell it on, probably best for the Blackhawks and any other aircraft.

LOL I’ve heard that complaint  too!

hey they are selling some of that stuff and excepting bitcoin as payment. It’s not too late!

[Raithe]

For the twitter discussion points..

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Old news, but I think this is a pretty interesting article on local politics. 

https://www.hcn.org/issues/53.1/south-economy-when-covid-hit-a-colorado-county-kicked-out-second-home-owners-they-hit-back

[HoonDing]

When Taliban says "jump", Biden asks "how high?"

[Hurlshort]

19 minutes ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

Old news, but I think this is a pretty interesting article on local politics. 

https://www.hcn.org/issues/53.1/south-economy-when-covid-hit-a-colorado-county-kicked-out-second-home-owners-they-hit-back

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

9 minutes ago, Hurlsnot said:

Leave it to Hurlsnot to downplay the dire plight of vacation homeowners.

[ComradeYellow]

29 minutes ago, HoonDing said:

When Taliban says "jump", Biden asks "how high?"

Whatever happened to "Xiden"?

[Guard Dog]

If my house was worth over 4 million I couldn’t sell it fast enough.

[Gfted1]

Everyone with a second home should have it forcibly seized and liquidated to fund UBI and UHC.

[Amentep]

1 hour ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

Old news, but I think this is a pretty interesting article on local politics. 

https://www.hcn.org/issues/53.1/south-economy-when-covid-hit-a-colorado-county-kicked-out-second-home-owners-they-hit-back

“I’m certainly not ‘rich.’ I’ve worked for my entire life to have the properties I own,” wrote one group member.

“Our money supports all of the people in the valley,” wrote one man. “Where is the appreciation and gratitude for the decades of generosity?” wrote another.

In late April, Moran sent an angry message to a local server who had criticized the second-home owners, posting his note to the GV2H Facebook group as well. Moran, who had apparently left the server a large tip, called her comments “a betrayal of the good people who have been gracious to you.”

Totally things non-rich people say.

[Malcador]

Moran, indeed.

 

[Guard Dog]

How much money does it take to be considered rich anyway? Is there a number? Or is it like Potter Stewart said (about something else) you just know it when you see it?

Edited August 27, 2021 by Guard Dog

[Amentep]

7 minutes ago, Guard Dog said:

How much money does it take to be considered rich anyway? Is there a number? Or is it like Potter Stewart said (about something else) you just know it when you see it?

Dunno, I just found the juxtaposition of quotes from the article amusing.