In Washington, “everything comes down to China.” At least, that’s how CNN sees it. (Read article here.) After describing how Biden’s administration justifies nearly all its domestic policies on a “need to strengthen the country to better compete with China,” CNN p[...]
Archive for the ‘Foreign Affairs’ Category
Should General Milley be fired?
General Mark Milley (bio here), as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is America’s highest-ranking military officer. Following revelations that, after the attack by Trump supporters on the U.S. Capitol, he twice called China’s top general “to assure him Trump did not have plans[...]
September 15th, 2021 - 8:43 pm § in Foreign Affairs
Americans don’t understand the Taliban
Taliban leaders had a massive brawl after disagreeing over which of them did the most to boot the US out of Afghanistan, report says Two factions in the Taliban leadership fought each other late last week, the BBC said. They disagreed over who did the most to kick out the US, and who should get [&he[...]
U.S., U.K. working to arm Australia with nuclear subs
The United States and United Kingdom are working together to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines, CNN reported on Wednesday, September 15, 2021 (read story here). Australia has a small navy, with fewer than 20 large combat ships, which includes 6 diesel-powered submarines (details here[...]
September 8th, 2021 - 8:53 pm § in Foreign Affairs, Politics
Rumors about U.S. military gear in Taliban hands are greatly exaggerated
Trump claims the U.S. left $83 billion of military equipment in Afghanistan. That’s the total U.S. military aid to the Afghan government over the 20 years of American involvement. Only $18 billion of that was equipment. The rest went for paying Afghan soldiers and contractors; buying uniform[...]
Canadian election: Could Trudeau lose?
He sure could, the polls suggest. As of Saturday, the Conservatives led the Liberals, 35.5% to 33.4%, although by Sunday this had dropped to 34.9% to 33.0%, demonstrating the volatility of public opinion a little more than two weeks before the September 20 nationwide election for seats in Parliament[...]
The Afghanistan Papers
With U.S. troops now completely out of Afghanistan, most Americans don’t want to hear about that country anymore, much less read an entire book about our war there went awry. Nobody learns anything from the mistakes of the past anyway. So this posting will be very short. The Afghanistan Papers[...]
August 30th, 2021 - 9:37 pm § in Foreign Affairs
Is a bloodbath coming in Afghanistan?
“With the U.S. military now out of Afghanistan, the task of evacuating tens of thousands of Afghan allies left behind falls to nongovernmental organizations and international aid groups — who say they are unable to tell them where to go next,” NBC News reported on Monday, August 30, 2[...]
August 26th, 2021 - 1:37 pm § in Foreign Affairs, Politics
Lindsey Graham’s stupid idea
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) isn’t the dumbest Republican senator. That would be a contest between Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL). But Graham is no military strategist. He did serve in the military. After graduating from law school, Graham joined the Air Force and was commissione[...]
August 24th, 2021 - 7:24 pm § in Foreign Affairs
Will the Taliban endure?
Andrew Latham, a Canadian academic (c.v. here) who teaches at a Minnesota liberal arts college, doesn’t think so. His argument is the Taliban are a “constellation of factions and tribes, drawn from different ethnic and linguistic groups” that will dissolve in the absence of a commo[...]