Showing posts with label Afghanistan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Afghanistan. Show all posts
Monday, March 20, 2023

Iraq in Retrospective

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 This is a comment I posted on Kevin Drum's post l ooking back at Iraq, which you should read: "Wish I was blogging then so I'...
Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Fifth Act--Relying on Connections

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I blogged earlier about  Eliot Ackerman's Fifth Act ,  Thinking about it some more--one thing stands out is the reliance on personal c...
Sunday, December 04, 2022

Afghanistan and US

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 Just finished Elliot Ackerman's " Act Five, America's End in Afghanistan ". I liked it very much. While the title might i...
Tuesday, October 19, 2021

The Role of Intermediaries

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 Started reading Sarah Chayes, " Thieves of State, Why Corruption Threatens Global Security ". Early on she generalizes between Ea...
Friday, September 10, 2021

Malkasian's Afghan War

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 I commented earlier on Carter Malkasian's " The American War in Afghanistan ".  I've now finished the book and have some ...
Monday, September 06, 2021

The Afghan Learning Curve

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 Carter Malkasian's " The American War in Afghanistan " has gotten some good reviews and a lot of attention, since its publica...
Wednesday, September 01, 2021

How Many Refugees Should We Take

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 I would take all the refugees who pass basic security checks. It's not realistic to advocate for open borders; too large and rapid a fl...
Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Carter Malkasian--The American War in Afghanistan-I

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 The book is being widely quoted in the media as we grapple with the ending of 20 years of conflict. It's highly rated on Amazon, and ...
Wednesday, August 25, 2021

American Citizens Left Behind?

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 Prediction:  One thing which will happen: regardless of the efficiency of the airlift from Kabul, there will be American citizens left behi...
Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Second Thoughts

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My opinion as expressed in my post on Afghanistan is different than Kevin Drum's as expressed here and here.   And perhaps deviates fro...
Monday, August 16, 2021

Buck Stops With Biden

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I remember Harry S, and his buck stops.  I think that is right.  I don't know that Biden did anything which led to today in Kabul, but i...
Sunday, August 15, 2021

I Should Have Blogged Earlier

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 Memory is fallible.  Blog posts are reliable, at least recording the moment. IIRC when GWB sent our forces into Afghanistan I was dubious, ...
Monday, June 21, 2021

9/11 20 Years On.

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 Just finished "Without Precedent: the Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission" by Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton.  Curiosity piqued by com...
Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Contrarian on Bounties

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Big hullabaloo now about the possibility  that Russia has offered bounties to Al Qaeda [Taliban] to kill American soldiers/contractors. Wh...
Tuesday, December 10, 2019

A Look Back at Afghanistan

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IIRC, I was dubious of GWB's war in Afghanistan.  Memories of Vietnam and the "Man Who Would Be King", etc. were big in my min...
Thursday, April 05, 2018

Good News from Afghanistan

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My title is four words, very surprising to find them in the same phrase.  Someone, I think Noah Smith , recently wrote there's an imbala...
Sunday, October 01, 2017

Vietnam on TV and in Iraq and Afghanistan

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Have now watched most of the Burns/Novick Vietnam series (missing the first one but I'd just completed the Lagevall book) and the last m...