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How and Why the Taliban Won, by Eric Zuesse

Posted by straightlinelogic 3 years, 8 months ago to Government
31 comments | Share | Flag

From my introduction to the article on Straight Line Logic (https://straightlinelogic.com/2021/08...

People fighting for their homeland have, among other advantages, a moral advantage against an occupying power. They’re fighting for what’s theirs, not to steal and dominate what isn’t. It’s a lesson America’s revolutionary ancestors knew in their bones, but one most Americans have ignored, at staggering costs in blood and treasure, through America’s string of failed invasions and occupations since World War II. It’s also a lesson that should, but won’t, make those who presume to rule us quake. While the government is part of America, it is no longer of America (our rulers now pride themselves on their separateness), just as our puppet governments in the lands we’ve occupied have been part of those countries, but not of them. In other words, the government is an occupying power in our land, and is destined to meet the fate of so many occupying powers.


All Comments

  • Posted by teri-amborn 3 years, 7 months ago
    This article brims with very astute observations.

    I've been saying for quite some time that the "Military" isn't the problem...however the MIC IS !
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  • Posted by mccannon01 3 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Your decisions are good ones and the best way to be informed is very often to read publications you may not usually agree with. As I said, I liked the article you posted and after reading amhunt's post I took a closer look and even went on to read more articles from the same source. Then I asked, who are these guys? I never heard of these people before and now, thanks to you, I will check them out from time to time. Like reading the NYT, once you know who they are you know the [possible] slant.
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  • Posted by Lucky 3 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    There may be some truth in that proposition- cannot change a culture, but it is not a truism.
    Take a look at South Korea and especially Japan.
    Cultures do change, over fairly short time periods.
    One example among many to consider- the United States.

    After a re-read, I think the article is more wrong than right. Calling governments of the UK since 1600, and of the US since 1945, as thoroughly corrupt shows no knowledge of history or powers of observation. As an example of a thoroughly corrupt government, there is - was, the government of Afghanistan, now gone.

    Just one point- Taliban 80,000 troops, government 300,000 'strong', meaningless. That 300,000 would not even have been a number of names on a list. It is/was a number useful only for getting money from the US government.
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  • Posted by Dobrien 3 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Can’t argue with this either.
    “Mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 is inappropriate and can’t be introduced,”affirmed Vladimir Putin
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  • Posted by Dobrien 3 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I always appreciate your posts:)
    Like most everything , you must sort the wheat from the chaff. I believe Putin said most of the western world is run by Satanic pee doe files.
    I find that to be accurate. But he also jails his opponents and is ruthless according to reports.
    These are some other related statements he made in 2013

    “Policies are being pursued that place on the same level a multi-child family and a single-sex partnership, faith in God and belief in Satan,” Mr. Putin said.

    “Excesses of political correctness have reached the point that serious consideration is being given to the registration of parties whose aim is to promote pedophilia,” he said. Mr. Putin was referring to a court in the Netherlands that earlier this year overturned a ban on a pro-pedophilia association there.

    The Russian president cautioned that the phenomenon is a “direct path to degradation and primitivization, to a deep demographic and moral crisis.” He said people in many European countries are “embarrassed and afraid to speak about their religious beliefs.”
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  • Posted by 3 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I'm aware of Strategic Culture's provenance. I make my decisions to post based on an article's contents and that is all, not the site it comes from. I would have posted this article and said the same things about it if it had been written by Vladimir Putin. In fact, I've posted a few of his speeches and articles. I've also posted material from Ayn Rand and many other authors somewhere between the two.
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  • Posted by amhunt 3 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I did find the article interesting because of the unusual "takes" on events. Thanks for tracking down the source -- it gives one a better perspective re. the article.
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  • Posted by mccannon01 3 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Nice catch, amhunt. All in all I thought this was a very good and informative opinion article with a few twists (see my rambling post elsewhere here), but I missed that one.

    Your post made me look up the source and found this: "The Strategic Culture Foundation is a Russian think tank that primarily publishes an online current affairs magazine of the same name. It is regarded as an arm of Russian state interests by the United States government." Notice there is a global warming article in the same publication that is way off kilter.
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  • Posted by amhunt 3 years, 8 months ago
    "The billionaires really control their country. After all: America is a thoroughly corrupt country, just as any imperialistic country is. (All imperialistic countries are controlled by their aristocracy. And every aristocracy is corrupt.)"
    This is patently bullshit! While I would agree that the American Government is thoroughly corrupt, America is NOT thoroughly corrupt. One wonders if the whole purpose of this article was to assert that one line lie. The Gulch is one obvious counter example.
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  • Posted by term2 3 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I think as our society became richer, people regarded "feeling good" more important than "surviving" in practical terms. Life was just too easy. How can one say that "feeling good" isnt important, and its a compelling argument which has gripped our society.
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  • Posted by j_IR1776wg 3 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Yes it is. Since I'm an old guy, I have no fear of dying. It is my children and grandchildren who will suffer and I am frustrated by my inability to turn the tide.
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  • Posted by term2 3 years, 8 months ago
    Afghanis are muslims who WANT to be ruled by sharia law. We tried to force that change on them, but its not what the Afghanis wanted. When we announced we were leaving, they just went back to what they wanted. Kind of simple.
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  • Posted by Burtb0 3 years, 8 months ago
    I understand the "no more foreign wars" concept, but if China takes over Taiwan, the US economy goes into the toilet for 10-15 years while we figure out how to make IC's in the USA (or more likely Mexico , since the establishment is loath to take on the radical environmentalist, and building IC-FAB is 3 times more expensive in the USA-regulations, cleaner process-, even without all the cost of delays from Earth first lawsuits.)
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  • Posted by Burtb0 3 years, 8 months ago
    Was Holding the 38th parallel in Korea a loss?
    Seems like it did a lot of good, keeping S. Korea from becoming a concentration camp like the north.

    We get a lot of IC's and Cars from S. Korea today, but it was run as a dictatorship (authoritative regime) till 1980.
    That was working with the culture.

    MacArthur also worked with the Japanese Culture.
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  • Posted by j_IR1776wg 3 years, 8 months ago
    The Taliban won because they have a mission i.e. to convert every human to Islam or to tax those who wont convert for the privilege of living on an Islamic Earth. America has no mission. The people running this government do not believe in or agree with the concepts of Individual Rights, or limits on their power, or a fully capitalistic economics economy. America will continue to lose wars until it finally collapses completely.
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  • Posted by $ blarman 3 years, 8 months ago
    Biggest failure of the US military since WW II was to ignore the individual cultures of the lands they attempted to "free." From Vietnam to Korea to Yugoslavia to Iraq and more, Americans have an almost pathological denial of the glacial pace of change which is normally required to effect true cultural transition in a nation. In most cases it takes three generations or about 75 years. And that's in a nation which is willing to give up its European roots in favor of a market-based economy and representative government. When dealing with religious zealots, you may never get them to give up without first destroying the religion upon which they are based.
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  • Posted by mhubb 3 years, 8 months ago
    the taliban also "won" because we were not allowed to tech them the German and Japanese lesson of 1945
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  • Posted by Dobrien 3 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Leaves are falling all around
    It's time I was on my way
    Thanks to you I'm much obliged
    For such a pleasant stay
    But now it's time for me to go
    The autumn moon lights my way
    For now I smell the rain
    And with it pain
    And it's headed my way

    Ah, sometimes I grow so tired
    But I know I've got one thing I got to do

    Ramble on
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  • Posted by Dobrien 3 years, 8 months ago
    ThanQ very true. Our fellow Americans have been played for years by the propaganda machine. The brainwashed believe we have good intentions to assist oppressed people.
    All one has to do is look at what Paul Bremer did in Iraq. One example is the ancient seed bank from the Fertile Crescent in Mesopotamia was Virtually illegal to use by Monsanto ‘s aggressive patent campaign following Bremer ‘s quiet elimination of pre Sadam’s ousters Iraqi patents.

    This struck a nerve with me.
    “Our corrupt leaders tend to ignore it, because they don’t want to understand how repulsive they are to virtually anyone but their own boot-lickers.”
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  • Posted by mhubb 3 years, 8 months ago
    how they won?

    simple
    the traitors called democrats
    just like Vietnam

    and no sale
    islam is the occupying power in all nations it is now in
    no the United States
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  • Posted by $ BobCat 3 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I enjoyed your reference to Jefferson, Bomb,Burn, and go home. That is so right!
    But the prevailing attitudes of the bleeding hearts and corporate greed ($$$) have lead us down the wrong path.
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