Aurielius

I believe the west is in an analogous position to the 3rd century Roman Empire. The cost of maintaining our military to be global capable is not so slowly bankrupting us. Soon we will have to be parsimonious with our military assets because our ability to replace our war fighting machines is not equal to current battlefield attrition. Both Republic and Empire were held together by a shared sense of belonging to something worthy of preservation. Once they lost that the end was inevitable. I always wondered what a Roman watching the barbarians crest their last line of defense was thinking….at this rate I might find out.

"Diplomacy is just an extension of warfare played across a table instead of a battlefield." There is always the implied threat of escalating to the battlefield.

The LEFT believes in censorship? It's the RIGHT, that's taking away our rights to protest, to vote, among other things. The right blames the left, for what the Right is actually doing. It worked in 1930s Germany too. Kindly name any Liberal who has been censored or banned on Twitter, YouTube, Google or Facebook. The cancel culture is a liberal creature. Nice try but the left most closely resembles Nazi Germany of the 1930's. The left's modus operandi is indoctrination of the youth before they have the ability to realize that they are being used in a much larger game. Doxing, boycotts and racial stereotyping are left wing tactics that Goebbels would approve of. ANTIFA are your Brown Shirt SA street thugs. You lot decry Voter ID but are perfectly willing to mandate Vaccination ID's. Liberal hypocrisy seeming has no bounds or shame for that matter..

Conspiracy is what the left calls uncomfortable examinations of their widely held opinions that pass for fact. The founders believed in Free Speech , the left believes in censorship.

Biden's excuses have run their course. To say out of one side of your mouth that you planned for all contingencies and out of the other that you had no idea that the collapse could be this fast is duplicitous in the extreme. There is no reason that idiot Gen. Miley should not also be held accountable also. To evacuate the military before you evacuate the civilians is a disgrace. The current estimates are between 10-15k Americans and friendly Afghans (who most certainly will be executed) left high and dry outside of the Bagram air force base, this is worse than Saigon. Trusting the Taliban to allow our friendlies out is much akin to trusting Himmler to politely escort the Jews out of Nazi Germany. Our in house democrat apologists will find some reason why this is acceptable but it stinks to high heaven.

<snip> Anyone who has ever spent time in the green and tan will tell you that the President has NO control over the tactical operations in the field. The president can say "I want x, y and z, but it is his JCS and Commanding Generals which create a strategy to make the Presidents desires a reality. And the Generals only make strategy. The actual tactical plans come from the commanders in the arena. And those tactical plans are implemented by junior officers in the field, and executed by grunts. So blaming Bush or Biden, or Obama or (gulp) even Trump for the tactical failure is wrongheaded. For the original policy and the direction given to the JCS et al, absolutely. But if the strategy failed in the field, it is the tactical planners and fields commanders that f%^ked things up. Real world, a rich man says I want to go to the airport. His secretary makes the reservations for the ride and sets the time and place. The chauffeur drives the limousine. Is the rich man responsible if the chauffeur runs a red light and hits another car? Or gets lost? Or falls asleep? More real world, Truman fired Dugout Douglas Mc Author because, as an arena commander, his tactical plans for the Pacific War failed to follow the strategic direction that the President had been given by the military commandants in Washington. He was f%^cking things up at too high a level and Truman got fed up. You need to read your history, MacArthur was fired for his insubordination in Korea not the conduct of the Pacific War. I know the Pentagon, I served there and most of them are notable for their brown noses not their military acumen. Who you decide to listen to is on you not your predecessor. Just as Obama reaped the accolades for getting UBL though the ground work was Bush's, Biden was holding the controls when Kabul fell.

My argument was strictly military and you have not refuted it's premise. A commander is responsible for the welfare and conduct of his men, that military truism goes back to the Peloponnesian Wars. Biden is our C*&C , he gets to take credit for well performed military missions as well as take responsibility for cluster f**ks.

It's quite amusing to read the rationalizations of why this cluster f**K is not Biden's fault. This has nothing to do with the strategic withdrawal from Afghanistan. A retreat while in contact with the enemy is among the most difficult of maneuvers to pull off. Biden is in charge therefor it's his fault on how it was handled. You cannot excuse the C&C of grand tactical errors unless you would like admit he doesn't know what he is doing. This is going to go down historically as the Fall of Saigon 2.0

<snip> I'm not sure any honest scientist denies climate change at this point. I suppose what is actually still debated is how quickly is man pushing the planet to a point of no return. Humans and hominids have survived some climate change in the past. However the populations were much, much, much smaller and were able to move (since these creatures and then modern humans were able to cross into other continents and were migratory anyway.) Our reliance on tech may just have a very detrimental impact on us this time around. I believe that Climate Change is generally agreed upon by rational people, the rate and what drives it is the only debatable point. We all agree that the train is moving, the remaining question is what speed it will have when it reaches the station. I believe that Homo sapiens will survive no matter changes occur but whether civilization as we know it will survive is another matter altogether. We are the first species capable of destroying the planet in more than one way, a unique distinction. A comforting thought is that given millions of years Earth can repair the damage of almost anything, even us.

You're ridiculously predictable with have a bad case of target fixation....... so intent on getting off a shot you can't see the approaching deck. Maybe you should invest in the 64 pack after all.

<snip> Quoting population statistics is not an argument that (1) the country is overpopulated and (2) the citizens are encouraged to breed like rabbits. Ironically, you accuse me of making a straw argument while strawmanning what I wrote. I recommend you take a reading comprehension refresher class. You might want to read the second sentence before diving straight into proto ad hominiem attacks. Your use of the classic 'name one' whataboutism, expected no rebuttal, I named two with a caveat which you ignored (no surprise). I think you will need sharper crayons than what is currently in your pack.

Name one. India 1370 million, while the planets most populated nation China stands with a population count of 1400 million. I cannot speak to the level of governmental encouragement but the numbers speak for themselves. The actual list is quite a bit longer but two should suffice for your straw argument.

Einstein smoked a pipe how does your rating system adjust for that? :laugh: FYI..I don't smoke but did and I don't mind if others do so as long as it is not inside my house.

@Hey You It's always droll reading your 'poke the bear' posts. :thumbsup: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Central Point: Free Speech is exactly that, an open unbiased mind does not fear it, try to censor it or shut it down. Ideologues rarely are open to considering the validity opposing ideas since they have already found the one and only 'truth'.

I too could unnecessarily flex in all my posts by including cuneiform along with the English translation, but I'd be concerned about looking like a pretentious git.... Most here cannot read Latin so an approximate translation is provided so they may enjoy Cicero's acid humour. However if you know any Sumerian political satire by heart, be my guest.