I’m only buying ethical heroin from now on. https://t.co/ljlu4IfoHS
— Esoteric Geoff (@agraybee) August 31, 2021
Speaking of ‘ethically sourced’ opium products…
nigel here can hop his happy ass back into afghanistan any time his country is pleased to do so https://t.co/OqgsiklSjT
— World Famous Art Thief (@CalmSporting) August 30, 2021
A superpower that finds after twenty years that the core mission is unobtainable and the cost in blood and treasure is not insignificant but decides to double down on an indeterminate strategy will not be a superpower for long. https://t.co/RY4sIb5L9B
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) September 2, 2021
the UK pulled its last combat troops out of Afghanistan in 2014. https://t.co/nYDfFJ6tFi
— James Palmer (@BeijingPalmer) August 30, 2021
“…since Suez.”
Let me guess, he then went on to recite The White Man’s Burden https://t.co/8C365bIaHk
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) August 31, 2021
Ah I see Suez—a historical event that has nothing remotely relevant to do with anything today—has entered the chat. Proudly joining its friends Munich and Saigon. The Falklands is in the waiting room.
— Vipin Narang (@NarangVipin) August 31, 2021
The only reason they’re pissy about this is domestic politics having to do with a word that starts in r and rhymes with the name of that group Wyclef Jean was in https://t.co/l7uGzguk1W
— Mike Black (@MikeBlack114) August 31, 2021
America gets its first Franco-Irish president and it’s everything I could have ever possibly wanted https://t.co/Kw4ewHcEYG
— The Mall Krampus (@cakotz) August 30, 2021
The UK: Dumb senile potato-eating papist fuck can burn in hell.
Also the UK: Sources indicate displeasure in Washington regarding recent remarks…
— Starfish Who Just Wants To Grill (@IRHotTakes) August 30, 2021
*A French-Irish Catholic president with a Black Jamaican-Indian VP. Britain will never recover.
— The Mall Krampus (@cakotz) August 30, 2021
Biden, to his credit, actually hates Boris Johnson and has no sympathy for a country that decided to hang itself.
— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) August 30, 2021
Anyway I’m not going to be taking pontification on what makes a superpower from a country that is having to seriously consider putting their nuclear deterrent in another country because their FP is in such shambles a third of the country is trying to leave for a second time
— Mike Black (@MikeBlack114) September 2, 2021
‘Europe’ is BIG MAD, Little Britain warns us!
How Europe soured on Joe Biden https://t.co/uOfHKKS0yE
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) September 3, 2021
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
political goons responsible for Brexit are in no position to lecture about internationalism
piratedan
Just putting down a marker to note my agreement with the inevitable Tony Jay response to the hurt fee-fees of our cousins from across the pond.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
I buy my organic cocaine from Whole Foods and Vermont co-ops
West of the Cascades
We’re only making plans for Nigel … that involve a wood chipper.
Ken
Britain didn’t decide to hang itself. It just thought that Brexit would be this great experience, really stimulating and exciting, reminding it of how great it felt forty years ago, and decided to experiment. With a leather belt and the shower rod.
dmsilev
I had a summer student these past few months, here (virtually) on an exchange program with Oxbridge where she’s studying. We were talking recently about her post-graduation plans, and the answer was ‘go to grad school for a physics PhD, pretty much anywhere outside the UK. This place is going down the tubes.’ So, congratulations British conservatives, you’re driving away at least some of the bright young folks who will spark the next generation of innovation and advances.
Chetan Murthy
@Ken: My safeword is “the wogs start at Calais”.
Chetan Murthy
@piratedan: And we’re *so* here for Tony’s response.
Arclite
Remember when we thought we hit Peak Wingnut back in 2008?
Good times…
Matt McIrvin
I’m sure they’ll be charmed with whatever horror we cough up next, probably President DeSantis if it’s not just Donald Trump again.
prostratedragon
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: Let alone shooting oneself in the foot. (And have they forgotten how many of them are French, from the Norman invasion to the Huguenot dispersion?)
NotMax
FYI.
Five police officers injured and 10 arrests made as anti-vaxx mob runs amok across London
Five police officers have been injured in clashes with anti-vaxxers, as they attempted to storm the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in Canary Wharf and the Science Museum.
[snip]
Footage on social media appears to show that several of the attendees did gain access through a revolving door.
They also obstructed traffic by blocking roads outside the MHRA headquarters on South Colonnade.
The MHRA said the incident is being dealt with by police and refused to comment further.
Protestors were then instructed to proceed from Canary Wharf onto the Tube and head for South Kensington station. Video appeared to show that none of the protestors wore masks despite them being compulsory on TfL.
Protestors reportedly covered their underground train in stickers and shouted at members of the public for wearing masks. Source
scav
I’m still chortling over Baja Scotland (mea culpa and excuses to the far superior actual Baja) and furthermore attempting to rework the usual southern tier joke — although I’m not sure the IQ of the Atlantic would be raised by the addition of little England. My Sherlock Holmes obsessed childhood is frankly appalled with current me.
Kay
If this is so popular, why are they all lying about it? The far Right justices pulling this sneaky, dishonest trick in the middle of the night is one thing- we know about Trump’s low quality hires, no one sensible expected better quality work- but haven’t the rest of these professional hacks been screaming about how they need to police and monitor pregnancies for years?
Why run around lying about it?
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
NotMax
@Ken
Haven’t seen much about whether or not the Royal Navy deployment to Jersey in a post-Brexit fishing dispute has been de-escalated or remains ongoing. Link is from this past May.
scav
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: Even more of a giggle is that the awol beers included Coors and Bud Lite.
MontyTheClipArtMongoose
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: woke coke
Ken
@Chetan Murthy: John Scalzi in one of his recent “Dispatcher” stories (fascinating world concept, by the way) has harsh words for people who think they can go it alone with breathplay.
I’m not sure if that part of the analogy extends to Brexit — Britain was definitely determined to go solo, but would it have mattered if the US or other non-EU country had said “this isn’t going to work out well”? They ignored many such warnings from the EU, as well as from within Britain.
Kay
Can’t the Republican Party base be kept out of schools? They’re obviously dangerous, violent people. They threaten a school several times a week now. Why should normal people have to put their kids at risk of one of these attacks?
We already have state laws about threats of violence in schools as a result of school shootings. Can’t those laws be used to control these people so students can attend school?
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@Kay: republicanism is based on lies: tax cuts pay for themselves, Iraq was behind 9/11, closing abortion clinics doesn’t overturn Roe
NotMax
@scav
Future U.K.: “What did you do in the Great Marmite War, granddad?”
//
Kelly
Surprisingly ballsy first redistricting proposal from Oregon Democrats just published. Four of six Oregon districts would include a slice of the deep blue Portland area. Blumenauer’s 3rd would sweep from East Portland, up the Gorge to Hood River and down to newly Democratic Bend is a real standout. Peter DeFazio’s 4th swaps hopelessly red mid Willamette Valley Linn County for blue coastal Lincoln County.
https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2021/09/oregon-democrats-propose-a-congressional-district-map-that-would-likely-give-their-party-5-of-6-seats-in-us-house.html
RaflW
I was a bit shocked to realize that very last tweet wasn’t Politico Europe. But maybe the Beeb has gotten a bit to Boris-y?
Chetan Murthy
@RaflW: It’s what I’ve read: over the years since the Brexit vote, they’ve gotten obsequiously Tory.
Brachiator
Some Brits are as obsessed with Suez as the American neo-cons who are obsessed with Vietnam. In both cases, they are obsessed with false myths. Neo-cons went into Iraq and Afghanistan to show how real Americans could win a war when weak liberal politicians were not in charge, like they were during the Vietnam era.
With Suez, US President Eisenhower slapped Britain around in public, leaving everyone to see that it was no longer a superpower. Since then, UK Conservative Party leaders and others huff the fumes of the old empire and insist that they still have deep foreign policy wisdom to impart. And then they do whatever the US tells them to do.
All this noise is also a distraction. In the UK, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dominic Raab is trying to avoid questions about why he was on vacation and was slow to come home as the withdrawal was taking shape, why he did not read British intelligence reports suggesting that the Taliban could take over as soon as July, and why he doesn’t seem to know how many British connected people are still in Afghanistan and need to be evacuated.
HumboldtBlue
Helluva night at the US Open. Two teenagers have won big upsets in including Leylah Fernandez the Canuck who defeated Naomi Osaka who melted down in the third set. Young American Frances Tiafoe, 23, just broke the Russian’s serve and has a chance to take set three on his serve.
Just great entertainment.
Aaaaand the Russian just broke Tiafoe back.
LeftCoastYankee
I’d put some money on Turkey being the next into the Afghan quagmire.
Erdogan has Ottoman dreams, but will unlikely remember their near fatal (to the empire) adventures against Timur/Tamarlane.
Splitting Image
I’m sure Biden is capable of having sympathy for a country that has decided to hang itself. He’s been working hard to fix one for months now and I doubt he has time to worry about another one.
I don’t know if Biden hates Johnson or not, but good on him if he does. I doubt Biden hates Johnson as much as I do.
Also, I’m sure there are a few things the U.K. can rag the U.S. on, but how the U.S. managed its retreat from Kabul isn’t one of them. There are times you should just sit quietly and hope someone changes the subject quickly.
frosty
@Kay: I love your comments and your questions. You nail it in a delightfully dry way.
frosty
@Kelly:
Following Maryland’s approach to redistricting, then!
Brachiator
@Splitting Image:
I don’t know. I doubt that Biden thinks much of anything about Boris Johnson. Johnson himself was counting on a Trump presidential victory to provide some key post BREXIT support. But all those schemes fell apart with Biden’s win.
Biden also cares less about the “special relationship” between the US and the UK, and more about the Republic of Ireland and maintaining the Good Friday Agreement. The Tories can’t stand this.
Chetan Murthy
@Brachiator:
As do many of the Dems, and most saliently, Speaker Nancy SMASH.
Richard
Let’s talk about those poppies. If i was a peasant in Afghanistan, and i was concerned about drones, Taliban, Isis K and wahabi fanatics. If it was too dangerous to even just be normal, i would grow poppies.
They don’t require much work and it pays well. On the bad side, there will be all kinds of gangsters and thugs trying to steal your crop and convert you to join them. It is a bad situation.
HumboldtBlue
Oh, and the California state Senate just passed a bill that will see every registered voter gets a mail-in ballot ahead of elections.
Cacti
@Richard: I can’t remember where I read it, but someone gave a synopsis of why any attempts to win Afghanistan were doomed from the start, using heroin farming as an example:
-If we bombed the poppy fields, the farmers would support the Taliban out of necessity.
-If we left them alone, the Taliban would shake the farmers down for money and buy weapons with it.
-If we gave them fertilizer to grow wheat or some other crop, they’d sell it to the Taliban who used it to make IEDs, and would still grow poppies.
Rinse and repeat for 20 long years.
Chetan Murthy
@Cacti: Perhaps Afghan war veteran Laura Jedeed’s incisive post: https://laurajedeed.medium.com/afghanistan-meant-nothing-9e3f099b00e5
Cacti
@Chetan Murthy: Yep, that’s the one.
sab
@Ken: I know you mean //, but Britain forty years ago was a mess economicallly. Maybe they should have looked back at what it was actually like.
Jay
@Cacti:
Afghanistan agriculture was built around wadi’s. Basically covered ditches/tunnels and cisterns, built over a thousand years to divert snowmelt and rivers from the mountains, to the plains.
The Soviets bombed every one they could find and map, because rarely, the Muj used them to move around undetected, laager, and store weapons. The US did the same when it was their turn, but had much better technology on their side.
As a result, many traditional crops could not be grown and long term ag like orchards were destroyed because they could be used as cover/ambush.
The drug dealers would advance farmers both seed, education and an interest free loan against the future crop to tide the farmer over until harvest. If drug eradication programs destroyed the crop, only the loan remained.
Both the Drug Lords, Warlords and Talib were involved in fronting this economy.
Programs to rebuild the irrigation system were less successful than programs to create an Afghan Army. Most of the money was offshored by Corporations with little to show on the actual ground as opposed the power points.
Peale
@Splitting Image: if I recall right Biden was opposed to our humanitarian bombing of Libya, which was largely done at the behest of the UK and France. Just saying…the less attention paid to certain allies, the less humanitarian interventions we might see.
Chetan Murthy
@Peale:
ISWYDT
eclare
@Chetan Murthy:
Powerful essay.
Chetan Murthy
@eclare: She clarifies things: makes the choice stark and doesn’t allow the reader to retreat in to wish-washy-ness. Because of her, I know I am on “Team Taliban” and not “Team Stay Forever”.
I feel like she’s done what my friend once did when (upon hearing me talk about how I was agonistic about the existence of gods) asked if I was also agnostic about the existence of pink flying elephants?
A really powerful and educational essay, yeah.
craigie
I believe the expression “Whatever” is appropriate here.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@Cacti:
At some point we’ll find out military units and/or CIA was in on the poppy trade, no different than past involvements in the Laotian Golden Triangle and running coke for the Contras
HumboldtBlue
This is worth a listen.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@HumboldtBlue:
The Canucks are really handing it to the Yanks – first soccer, then hockey, and now tennis.
Thanks Obama.
eclare
@HumboldtBlue: Truth. Hopefully younger people are figuring out the hypocrisy.
Sloane Ranger
Given the public utterances of certain members of the US Foreign policy and military/intelligence establishment, a phrase including the words “glasshouses” “people” and “live” comes to mind.
At least we have a higher and more evenly distributed vaccination rate than the US, which says something about the fundamental sanity of most of our people.
Barbara
@Sloane Ranger: I don’t think that this was aimed at the UK as a whole but at certain members of its political class.
Sloane Ranger
@Barbara: I know. I just get irritated by foreigners talking about the UK as if we were one undifferentiated mass of people, just as I suspect that many American Juicers get irritated by foreigners talking about Americans in that way!
Barbara
@Sloane Ranger: Sure, although at least here, we are much more likely to talk smack about our fellow citizens than point fingers outward.
JoyceH
@Brachiator:
We’re actually lucky that Iraq turned into such a cluster, or the Neo-Cons would have gotten us into a region-wide war and we’d probably still have half a million troops in the field today. Remember those flabby armchair warriors swaggering around DC declaiming such jaunty slogans as “Everybody wants to go to Baghdad; real men want to go to Tehran”?
Barbara
@JoyceH: Except that they were not personally interested in going to Teheran.
Sloane Ranger
@Barbara: Oh, believe me, talking smack about our fellow citizens is a national pastime in the UK too. It’s just that we tend to close ranks when other people talk smack about any group of us!
sab
@Sloane Ranger: It also says something about the NHS, and easy access to medical care creating a level of trust with medical providers.
I hadn ‘t thought of it before. A lot of Americans don’t have easy access to medical care, so their only contact is through emergency rooms in an emergency. They don’t have a regular primary care doctor that they are familiar with and trust. So they go elsewhere for medical advice.
NorthLeft12
I would just like to clarify that the criticism of Biden is coming from the English, not the UK in general.
And to be specific, English conservatives.
BTW, that western ideology that the whining lickspittle spoke of when he referenced the Sue’s, was colonialism. Good riddance to that rubbish.
Butter Emails
@sab: The upper middle class white people driving the antivax and antimask movements have primary care doctors.
lowtechcyclist
@Chetan Murthy:
She clarifies things: makes the choice stark and doesn’t allow the reader to retreat in to wish-washy-ness. Because of her, I know I am on “Team Taliban” and not “Team Stay Forever”.
This. AFAIAC, her essay is the last word.
She’s especially right that “we use people up and throw them away like it’s nothing.” Happens every motherfucking time we’ve intervened in some other country’s conflict. First, we’ve got to come in and rescue those poor people from the baddies. And once we’re in, our troops have no way of telling apart the people we came to rescue from the baddies we came to rescue them from. They all look like The Other, and soon enough the same people who wanted us in in the first place want us to blow up the whole fucking country.
I’ve been around for 67 years, and may well live another 30, which unfortunately is more than enough time to see this cycle repeat itself at least once more. The thought makes me sick.
Other than to keep it in the back of my mind as one of the obvious counterexamples for that inevitable next time someone tries to sell us on a military involvement in the Third World, I’m gonna stop thinking anymore about Afghanistan for now.
But until then, if anyone brings up the subject with me, I’m just sending them a link to her essay.
Tony Jay
The British Establishment’s current frontmen really are a dizzyingly vapid bunch of over-entitled cocktail party boors, aren’t they? Skilled only in hooting along to the Trash Media’s latest tunes and shovelling public money down the gullets of their pig-lizard hybrid sponsors.
All of their crap over Afghanistan boils down to one thing: it was a terrible idea on every conceivable level, carried out with typical short-termist ineptitude, and it had already failed long ago because corruption and graft was the only form of governance both the Western and Afghan ‘elites’ could agree on, but admitting that would be ‘politically incorrect*’ and ideologically unsound, so around the Buttcloud Whirrlygig we go, filling the schedules with self-serving nonsense until the narrative moves on.
Fuck them. Fuck their bullshit. Fuck their cowardice and, most urgently, fuck their confidence that nothing they say really matters as long as a radicalised minority of English voters keep going balls-deep into feathery fantasy everytime they see an election booth.
Just thank your lucky stars I’m time-constrained and buried in planning for various real-life events, or this venting would have got reallllllly long.
* in the original sense of “something you can’t say because it would impact unfavourably on one’s range of opportunities for political advancement”.
sab
@Butter Emails: A lot of those guys are themselves vaxxed. The antimask is tribe signalling. And a lot of their activity is purely cynical. And the evangelicals are just cultist nuts.
SFAW
BoJo and the Brit “military”/”security” establishment are so pissed, that, to show those bleedin’ Yanks how bleedin’ tough they are, they will despatch Lord Nelson, aboard the HMS Victory, to do battle with the Taliban Armada at
TrafalgarKandahar, off the coast of Afghanistan.That’ll show those Yanks!! Once the Taliban Armada is wiped out, those sodding Yanks will be humbled, and will be forced to hold BoJo in as high esteem as he merits.
SFAW
@Tony Jay:
That would be so unlike you!
On the other hand, your long-form rants are, as they say in Brooklyn, cherce*.
* I.e., “choice,” for Brits wot don’t speak proper English.
SFAW
@lowtechcyclist:
Now you’re going to try some bullshit about how GHWB fucked over the Kurds, as if you didn’t know that GHWB crossed his fingers when he made those various commitments to keep supporting/protecting them.
Tony Jay
@SFAW:
I’ve just been so bloody busy recently. We’ve had various holidays, family get-togethers, interspersed with back-to-work orders, organising festivals, watching the Olympics/Paralympics and arranging for the untraceable murders of those who have offended me most. It’s been a month, I can tell you.
Then again, I’m in the office alone and bored on Monday, I’ll see how nauseatingly angry I am by then and see what happens.