Some Catch-up

Bowe Bergdahl

No, he wasn't a hero.  Also, he wasn't a traitor.

How emotionally disturbed does a young man have to be to walk off a base in a very active war zone, leaving his weapon, armor, and night vision goggles behind?  Maybe it was some sort of psychotic episode.  Maybe it was moral outrage.  Maybe the two are not mutually exclusive.

The five Taliban "leaders," out of the loop for thirteen years, are not likely to present much of a problem to the USofA.  Their successors will not be inclined to step aside to accommodate their return.  Maybe they are propaganda victories, but I suspect their only other use will be as suicide bombers — and I'm pretty sure they won't be volunteering any time soon.  Suicide bombing is for kids.

The Palestinian "Merger"

Bibi is jumping up and down like Yosemite Sam.  I am amused, of course.  Bibi wants the USofA to end all contact with the Palestinians now that Hamas has reconciled with the PLO, but that's not happening.  Abu Masem is a sly old bastard, and I think he's making some good moves right now.

Obama's "War on Coal"

Let the wild rumpus begin!  Okay, it's not Obama's war on coal — the real war is being waged by the natural gas industry.  Natural gas is a much cheaper means to generate electricity than, at the very least, Appalachian coal.  Montana's coal is even cheaper than that, but mostly exported to China, where it brings higher prices.

I guess the "War on Coal" might have some small impact on the midterm elections, but I don't think it will matter all that much.  Employment in the coal industry already has been decimated by natural gas and heavy equipment mountaintop removal.

Back in Iraq

Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, uncomfortable with their "liberal" reputations among the Republican Party's crazies, recently came up with a new way to "redeem" themselves: they are blaming Barack Obama for the current disastrous situation in Anbar Province. If Tea Party nut cases manage to defeat them in primaries, they deserve it — and it might help any Democratic challengers.

The person most responsible for the success of the Al Qaeda linked ISIS group in Iraq is Iraq's leader, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. It was al-Maliki who blocked residual American troops from remaining in Iraq. It was al-Maliki who pushed Sunni politicians out of the Iraqi government, marginalizing all Iraqi Sunni Muslims, and leaving them no potential allies apart from Sunni Muslim extremists.

Hopefully, some of the Sunni tribes in Anbar will continue to resist cooperation with ISIS — but when choosing the lesser of two evils, many are likely to choose Al Qaeda over al-Maliki.

Asshole of the month for November

Well, I was leaning towards Chuck Schumer for his total subservience to AIPAC, and faxed him (remember fax?) to tell him as much, but it is a big world, and Schumer (who is objecting to possible detente with Iran) was outdone.

The winner! : Hamid Karzai, of course.  Somebody on the radio suggested he was "off his meds."  Was he ever on his meds?  Do they even make meds for somebody so totally nuts?

First he called the loya jurga, totally stacked to support him, and then he ignored the loya jurga's demand that he sign the agreement with the USofA immediately.  (I guess those loya jurga guys understand that two billion bucks a year in military aid is not chump change.)  Now Hamid wants to put off signing until April, after the election of a new asshole, who is likely to be one of his brothers or cousins, given the endemic corruption.

Personally, I'd be happy to keep the two billion and tell Karzai to screw himself.  Al Qaeda is comfortably ensconced all over North Africa and the Arabian peninsula, so Afghanistan will hardly make a difference.

Afghanistan, again

Now that the US has been in Afghanistan longer than the Soviet Union was — which also makes our fumbling around there the longest war in our history — it seems like a good time for a review of what's going on over there. The Obama administration is planning to release a "December Review" shortly, but we already know what it's going to say. According to Petraeus and crew, we'll be "making good progress" — military leaders just hate losing wars, possibly more than even presidents do.

On the ground, though, all we're doing is propping up a corrupt government, lining the pockets of warlords and military contractors, and creating a great deal of misery at very great expense. We already know that whatever remains of the original Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden included, is in Pakistan — probably guests of the Haqqani Network, under the protection of Pakistan's ISI. Yes, it's a shame that so many lives had to be lost so that a pack of rich, sleazy bastards could get even richer, but that's what happened, and throwing more lives and money at an impossible situation won't bring any of them back.

Some are concerned that the Iranians will go into Afghanistan if the US pulls out "too soon." If they do, it will be a damned shame for Iran. Afghanistan is not called "the graveyard of empires" for nothing.