The War on Terror /Central Asia/Mid East/Africa thread

[BurtReynolds]

I didnt say I was a libertarian. I'm just anti-government.

[Rob]

I didn’t say I was a government apologist or whatever it is you said

[BurtReynolds]

good. keep it that way!

[elliseamos]

Come you masters of war...

[BurtReynolds]

[simple schoolboy]

I didnt say I was a libertarian. I'm just anti-government.

[verb_to_trust]

“Small government” is just something some people say, they don’t really mean it.

Lol

[simple schoolboy]

I was wondering when we'd see one of the Taliban 'Red Groups' in Kabul. With all the captured ACOGs a boy could want, why does the first guy have an iron front sight, no optic, and no rear sight? Guessing those are non-ballistic chinese helmets, but hey, style points.

Went down a youtube shorts rabbithole and a good chunk were Patriotic Indian independence day showing all manner of non-Indian Operators.

The US/ NATO style from GWOT is being mimiced pretty much everywhere. Soon the armed forces of every country are going to be wearing the same multicam pattern, carrying AR-Pattern Rifles (even the Russians are getting on board) and using similar helmets and optics.

If the Azeri special forces weren't carrying AK-74 or AK-100 pattern rifles, they could've been confused for some Polish SF.

[Bi_3]

It's interesting to see the scale at which violence is unfolding in Afghanistan, which is appears to be small and localized. So far. Are the Taliban just waiting until the NATO forces are cleared so they don't have as much resistance? Are their benefactors (China, Pakistan, etc.) holding them in check? Are they really reformed? I don't know. My nationalist side hopes that the psyop piece of the occupation, namely having an entire generation grow up under western-style, internet connected democracy (or something resembling it), has worked to some extent and the Taliban know they cannot go back to medieval rule. I guess we will see in 5 years what type of cake we have baked.

[dimejinky99]

I believe him. Why else would they wanna lock him up for 170 years

[E.H. Ruddock]

Trump says the Taliban are good fighters who have been around for a thousand years. Our next president, everyone. We're really stuck in a cycle of crappy leadership, aren't we?

[tragabigzanda]

FUCK ICE

[VinylGuy]

I didnt say I was a libertarian. I'm just anti-government.

[4/5]

“Small government” is just something some people say, they don’t really mean it.

Unfortunately I think this is usually true. But there are some people who mean it. You just wont find them in governmental power or cheering for either team.

Libertarianism is like a young hot chick you could get down with for a bit, but you know ahead of time you’ll have to grow out of it. Some choose not to. Whatever.

Maybe a cartoon version (which lots of libertarians invite upon themselves). But also, there wouldn't have been a 20 year war on terrorism or a war on drugs or mass incarceration, etc., etc. I know there's other things that you (and some that I) support that wouldn't happen either, but there are some significant things that you probably would happily accept if they had gotten to make those policy decisions.

[tragabigzanda]

FUCK ICE

[Bi_3]

No knowledge or opinion on assange’s specific claims but this “war” has always been about corporate profits. Criticizing the humanitarian crisis unfolding now is a bit like criticizing a car for its lack of empathy: it’s not what it was designed to do.

Yes biden made the right move in pulling out, and then bungled the execution to a humongous degree, and now deserves all the criticizing coming his way. But our 20 year stint was never about spreading democracy or freedom or any of that shit. The well ran dry and the getting is looking good in the Ukraine, so time to pivot.

Let's avoid using "critical analysis" to dumb this down to the "if racism profit results then the real motive was racism profit". The war was in response to 9/11 and about stopping the next Al Qaeda attack by disabling Afghanistan as a safe haven (the inverse of what we had been doing when the Soviets were there). To do that we needed a military occupation. When it became increasingly apparent the Afghans would/could not run the nation in the model we were forcing on them, which was required for us to have a permanent operating base, then it became about each subsequent administration avoiding the perception of another Vietnam (exactly what is happening in the media today) and here we are 10 years later. Trump negotiated the end, freed 5k+ Taliban fighters, and Biden executed the end which has completed a pull out that has going on for over 12 months... but in reality a lot longer as the Taliban has controlled huge sections of the country for years.

[Rob]

“Small government” is just something some people say, they don’t really mean it.

Unfortunately I think this is usually true. But there are some people who mean it. You just wont find them in governmental power or cheering for either team.

Libertarianism is like a young hot chick you could get down with for a bit, but you know ahead of time you’ll have to grow out of it. Some choose not to. Whatever.

Maybe a cartoon version (which lots of libertarians invite upon themselves). But also, there wouldn't have been a 20 year war on terrorism or a war on drugs or mass incarceration, etc., etc. I know there's other things that you (and some that I) support that wouldn't happen either, but there are some significant things that you probably would happily accept if they had gotten to make those policy decisions.

I was mostly messing around, referring to those cartoon versions of online libertarians like Burt. My whole life I’ve heard “small government” but it was usually Republicans using that in an economic sense - low taxes, fewer services, free markets… but they never talked about those 3 examples you give (they actually grew those polices). So were they small government? The left tends to want less government in the social sphere (replacing the war on drugs, less incarceration, getting the government out of the bedroom or decision to marry, etc… but they want more services for the people, even if it means higher taxes. Why is that automatically the big government side? I guess I just think for most people, it doesn’t really boil down to big or small government. More about what you think its priorities should be.

[surfndestroy]

“Small government” is just something some people say, they don’t really mean it.

Unfortunately I think this is usually true. But there are some people who mean it. You just wont find them in governmental power or cheering for either team.

Libertarianism is like a young hot chick you could get down with for a bit, but you know ahead of time you’ll have to grow out of it. Some choose not to. Whatever.

Maybe a cartoon version (which lots of libertarians invite upon themselves). But also, there wouldn't have been a 20 year war on terrorism or a war on drugs or mass incarceration, etc., etc. I know there's other things that you (and some that I) support that wouldn't happen either, but there are some significant things that you probably would happily accept if they had gotten to make those policy decisions.

I was mostly messing around, referring to those cartoon versions of online libertarians like Burt. My whole life I’ve heard “small government” but it was usually Republicans using that in an economic sense - low taxes, fewer services, free markets… but they never talked about those 3 examples you give (they actually grew those polices). So were they small government? The left tends to want less government in the social sphere (replacing the war on drugs, less incarceration, getting the government out of the bedroom or decision to marry, etc… but they want more services for the people, even if it means higher taxes. Why is that automatically the big government side? I guess I just think for most people, it doesn’t really boil down to big or small government. More about what you think its priorities should be.

One of the reasons I favor UBI (universal basic income) is to get a smaller government. You get UBI but we scrap social housing, school lunches and a whole slew of other poverty reduction programs.

[tragabigzanda]

FUCK ICE

[verb_to_trust]

Skinning cats is such a fucked up phrase