Monday, February 15, 2016

The Age of Never-Ending War...




*  *  *

If you believed America’s longest war, Afghanistan, was coming to an end... be advised: It is not.

Departing U.S. commander Gen. John Campbell says there will "need" to be U.S. boots on the ground “for years to come.”

* FOLKS... YOU DO REALIZE AFGHANISTAN IS HALFWAY ACROSS THE GLOBE - RIGHT?

* FOLKS... IF WE HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO WIN A WAR AND KEEP IN WON OVER THE PAST FIFTEEN YEARS...

(*MIGRAINE HEADACHE*)

* WHAT DOES THAT TELL YOU...???

* AMERICA IS BROKEN, MY FRIENDS - AND YES... THAT INCLUDES OUR MILITARY.

Making good on President Obama’s commitment to remove all U.S. forces by next January, said Campbell, “would put the whole mission at risk.”

* Er... THAT'S NO LONGER OBAMA'S "COMMITMENT." IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. IT SHOULD... BUT IT WON'T.

“Afghanistan has not achieved an enduring level of security and stability that justifies a reduction of our support. … 2016 could be no better and possibly worse than 2015.”

Translation: A U.S. withdrawal would risk a Taliban takeover with Kabul becoming the new Saigon and our Afghan friends massacred.

Fifteen years in, and we are stuck.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

Nor is America about to end the next longest war in its history: Iraq. Defense Secretary Ash Carter plans to send units of the 101st Airborne back to Iraq to join the 4,000 Americans now fighting there.

There is thus no end in sight to the U.S. wars in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, nor to the U.S.-backed Saudi war in Yemen, where ISIS and al-Qaida have re-arisen in the chaos. Indeed, the West is mulling over military intervention in Libya to crush ISIS there and halt the refugee flood into Europe.

* SHOULDN'T EUROPE BE... HALTING THE REFUGEE FLOOD INTO EUROPE?

Yet, despite America’s being tied down in wars from the Maghreb to Afghanistan, not one of these wars were among the three greatest threats identified last summer by Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

“Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security” said Dunford, “If you want to talk about a nation that could pose an existential threat to the United States, I would have to point to Russia … if you look at their behavior, it’s nothing short of alarming.”

* GEEZUS... WHAT A FRIGGIN' IDIOT. CHINA IS OUR GREATEST THREAT. AND NORTH KOREA PROBABLY REPRESENTS "NUMBER TWO."

Dunford agreed with John McCain...

* RIGHT THERE YOU KNOW THIS GUY DUNFORD IS A TOTAL TOOL.

(*SHRUG*)

...that we ought to provide anti-tank weapons and artillery to Ukraine, for, without it, “they’re not going to be able to protect themselves against Russian aggression.”

* GEEZUS FRIGGIN' CHRIST... THESE BASTARDS WANNA GET US INTO A WAR AGAINST RUSSIA! FOLKS... LOOK AT A MAP! REVIEW HISTORY! THIS IS INSANITY...

(*SHAKING MY HEAD*)

But what would we do if Putin responded by sending Russian troops to occupy Mariupol and build a land bridge to Crimea? Send U.S. troops to retake Mariupol? Are we really ready to fight Russia? The new forces NATO is moving into the Baltic suggests we are.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

* IF YOU FOLKS THINK WE'RE SCREWED NOW... WAIT TO SEE WHAT AN AMERICA AT WAR WITH RUSSIA BECOMES! THESE PEOPLE ARE INSANE!

Undeniably, disputes have arisen between Russia, and Ukraine and Georgia which seceded in 1991, over territory. But, also undeniably, many Russians in the 14 nations that seceded, including the Baltic states, never wanted to leave and wish to rejoin Mother Russia.

* BEYOND THAT... AGAIN... LOOK AT A FRIGGIN' ATLAS, PEOPLE!

How do these tribal and territorial conflicts in the far east of Europe so threaten us that U.S. generals are declaring that “Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security?"

* ANSWER: THEY DON'T.

* FOLKS... JUST BECAUSE CHANCES ARE YOU DON'T HAVE LOVED ONES WHO WILL BE DOING ANY FIGHTING... DON'T THINK WE HERE AT HOME WON'T FACE SEVERE NEGATIVE REPERCUSSIONS FROM ANY CLASH WITH RUSSIA.

* FOLKS... REAL LIFE IS TURNING INTO A SECOND-RATE PAPERBACK THRILLER... (BUT THE STAKES - AND POTENTIAL COST - ARE NO GRAPHIC COMIC BOOK.)

Asked to name other threats to the United States, Gen. Dunford listed them in this order: China, North Korea, ISIS.

* RUSSIA SHOULDN'T EVEN BE ON THE LIST, LET ALONE LISTED AT #1. WE'RE LITERALLY PICKING A FIGHT... AND HAVE BEEN PICKING THIS FIGHT... WITH A COUNTRY THAT BY ALL RIGHTS SHOULD BE OUR ALLY AGAINST CHINA.

* FOLKS... THE OLIGARCHY IS INVESTED IN CHINA. THE OLIGARCHY DOESN'T CARE ABOUT ANYTHING BUT THEIR WEALTH AND POWER. THE PEOPLE RUNNING OUR COUNTRY ARE DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY. YOU KNOW IT'S TRUE!

But while Beijing is involved in disputes with Hanoi over the Paracels, with the Philippines over the Spratlys, with Japan over the Senkakus — almost all of these being uninhabited rocks and reefs — how does China threaten the United States?

* CHINA IS OUR ENEMY, PAT. AND CHINA THREATENS BOTH OUR NEAR EAST, FAR EAST, AND PACIFIC RIM ALLIES AND THE SANCTITY OF BOTH THE SEA LANES AND THE TERRITORIAL SOVEREIGNTY OF LONGTIME FRIENDS AND ALLIES. BUT BEYOND THAT... CHINA WANTS AN "EASTERN" FOCUSED WORLD WITH THEMSELVES AS ITS LEADER; RUSSIA ON THE OTHER HAND SIMPLY WANTS TO BE A "PEER" TO THE UNITED STATES. AGAIN... FOLKS... LOOK TO HISTORY! RUSSIA AND CHINA ARE NATURAL ENEMIES. AND SINCE CHINA IS OUR ENEMY...

(*SIGH*)

America is creeping ever closer to war with the other two great nuclear powers because we have made their quarrels our quarrels, though at issue are tracts and bits of land of no vital interest to us.

North Korea, which just tested another atomic device and long-range missile, is indeed a threat to us.

* AS I'VE BEEN SAYING...!

But why are U.S. forces still up the DMZ, 62 years after the Korean War? Is South Korea, with an economy 40 times that of the North and twice the population, incapable of defending itself?

* NOPE... OBVIOUSLY NOT!

Apparently slipping in the rankings as a threat to the United States is that runaway favorite of recent years, Iran.

Last fall, though, Sen. Ted Cruz reassured us that “the single biggest national security threat facing America right now is the threat of a nuclear Iran.”

* WE DEFINITELY DON'T WANT IRAN TO GET THE BOMB - DO WE? I KNOW I DON'T!

“Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded,” wrote James Madison.

“No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare,” Madison continued.

* MADISON WAS RIGHT!

The prospect of this [once] free Republic enduring is... well... doubtful.


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