Tag Archives: Afghanistan

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Cadence of Conflict: Asia, October 25, 2021

Taiwan was thrust into a position without being asked. In 1971, the United Nations removed the Taipei-seated government known today as “Taiwan” and switched to recognizing the Beijing-based government known as “China”. The Taiwanese were elbowed out of the global forum. Now, the US is working to bring Taiwan back in, but not the same way as in 1971. If the trend continues, China and Taiwan would both have a place in the General Assembly, though no government would admit that outcome quite yet.

At the same time Washington swoons the world and Taiwan toward each other, we hear the old fashioned, non-Trump, typical vibrato from the Biden administration. Biden’s own China ambassador nominees says China can’t be trusted. That kind of diplomacy is rooted in neither Trump’s success-at-any-cost focused strategy nor the moderate go-along-to-get-along mantra. Washington Democrats have read the polls and calculated that hating on China is popular with the electorate. This administration will blame and shame China more than Trump. Expect a WWI style war reparations ending to the coming scuffle, not the rebuilding WWII effort MacArthur did in conquered Japan.

Afghanistan’s failure is a false signal to China, but the Beijing echo chamber sees it as a true sign the US is weak. They don’t get it. America wanted out of Afghanistan. And, Americans won’t want post-Afghanistan disaster to hit Taiwan. China is an election campaign whipping boy, but can’t figure out that because China doesn’t know what an election really is.

Indo-Pacific

Afghanistan hurtling toward collapse, Sweden and Pakistan say // CNN

Taiwan

Taiwan, US discuss UN participation // Taipei Times

China warns against ‘wrong signals’ as Biden suggests US would defend Taiwan // Guardian

Biden’s pick for China ambassador says ‘we cannot trust the Chinese’ on Taiwan // Guardian

Military Faceoff

Flashback 10 years…
China Freaked Out: The Navy Surfaced 3 Missile Submarines Simultaneously // 19FortyFive

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Encore of Revival: America, September 6, 2021

The culture war in America rages. Biden is a disheartened president, distraught over the loss of his son. This affects his ability to console the family of a lost soldier. The public dissents and supports along political lines because Biden hasn’t dealt with his grief of the past six years. In that context, he oversaw an exodus from Afghanistan.

Any political strategist would have known that Biden was overladen. American voters also thought so. Biden is not the enemy, but whoever put him in office with an apparent intention that things would happen as accordingly as they did. With McCarthy on the move against an evermore unpopular social media empire, it looks more and more like Biden was meant to play the fool in a Trump comeback.

The Supreme Court handed down a ruling that people can be sued, nothing new, except that it was about abortion. More and more, the Court is not as evenly divided as it once was. Recent decisions have split by wider margins than just one justice. Here, each of the four dissenters wrote their own opinion: Roberts had his usual love for bureaucracy, Breyer found his point of order to support his political ideology, while Kagan and Sotomayor loudly think abortion is constitutional anyway. Being no longer simple black-and-white in its rulings, the Court is operating closer to the healthy way it should.

Law

What the Texas Law Really Means for Abortion in America // Politico

White House

Abortion:
‘A Private Matter’: Joe Biden’s Very Public Clash With His Own Church // Politico

Biden, Still Grieving His Son, Finds That Not Everyone Wants to Hear About It // DNyuz

Republicans

Analysis: McCarthy threat offers dark preview of possible Republican House // CNN

Soc Media, Cybersecurity & Tech

Facebook mistakenly labels black men ‘primates’ // France 24

Pandemic

US to be removed from EU travel ‘safe list’: report // The Hill

Israel

Global Jewish population numbers 15.2 million // Jerusalem Post

NATO Focus

Biden will place U.S. support for Ukraine front and center during Zelenskyy visit // CNBC

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Cadence of Conflict: Asia, August 23, 2021

The White House’s distinction between Far Eastern allies and Afghanistan is consistent with the US strategic pivot during the Obama years: away from the Middle East, toward China. While China interprets the befuddled Afghanistan withdrawal as an indication that the US will not defend Far Eastern allies, the US interpretation implies a deeper concentration of military power. Each government’s policy indicates a deep belief in its own respective statement.

Taiwan’s president took the jab from Taiwan’s own, homegrown COVID vaccine. So, while Taiwan can claim one vaccine, Trump can claim all others. This further asserts Taiwan’s capability of standing on its own. Hong Kongers face the music, no matter the injustice. The world is watching. China’s response that Afghanistan is an indication that Taiwan should distrust the US serves mainly as a signal to Western readers that China indeed is a bully. Again, China doesn’t think they think so.

China

China Sends NUCLEAR BOMBERS to Taiwan // YouTube @ China Uncensored

Chinese military satellite damaged by Soviet rocket is the ‘first major orbital collision in a decade’ // Yahoo UK Finance

Taiwan

COVID-19: Tsai Ing-wen to get locally made vaccine today // Taipei Times

US’ Taiwan policy unchanged: official // Taipei Times

Afghan abandonment a lesson for Taiwan’s DPP: Global Times editorial // Global Times (China Govt)

Hong Kong

Hong Kongers plead guilty to ‘national security’ charges // Taipei Times

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Encore of Revival: America, August 23, 2021

Afghanistan is an epic mess. ISIS is back on the scene. China and Taliban take every chance to make their own public statements while the main Biden doctrine is to valiantly run away.

More deeply disconcerting is President Biden’s response to journalists to deny claims. NATO has egg on its face, but Biden puts on a performance during his press appearance that NATO allies are exuberant about how great everything is going. He specifically says that he hasn’t heard any bad opinions from any NATO member. He had the same response that he hadn’t heard about the poll indicating lack of voter confidence.

When confronted with a dissenting opinion, Biden’s defense is that he hasn’t heard about it, even though he was just informed. We’ll see if the pattern continues.

Joe Biden knows how government functions in the mechanical sense, and he is very good at standing confident with egg on his face—acting like there isn’t any egg on his face. He’s good at that. So, America’s government will continue to function on some level. Perhaps this was the “Neo-Con” plan in looking the other way when voters complained last November. But, Biden doesn’t have the mojo to keep the engine running—and the American public sees that more and more.

Trump

Trump joins Dan Bongino on Fox News // YouTube @ Fox News

White House

Biden denies
Reporter confronts Biden on poll showing Americans don’t find him competent // YouTube @ Fox News

Live: Biden Delivers Remarks on Afghanistan // YouTube @ NBC News

Violence, Radicalism & Terrorism

US most wanted Al Qaeda terrorist Khalil Haqqani reappears in Kabul alongside Taliban with $5million bounty on head // The Sun

Monopoly & Big Greed

Scientists Say Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates-Backed Mining Venture Could Threaten Arctic Ecosystem // Daily Beast

Natural Disaster

22 dead, many missing after 17 inches of rain in Tennessee // AP

Culture & People

Italian student, 22, who tattooed Covid certificate barcode on ARM becomes TikTok star after scanning into McDonald’s // The Sun

Royal Family

Queen orders senior Palace aides to plan legal fightback after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s hurtful attacks // The Sun

NATO Focus

Afghanistan’s crisis underscores the U.S.’s shifting place in the world // Greenwich Time

ISIS terror threat forces US military to establish alternate routes to Kabul airport // CNN

After Afghanistan, the Pax Americana is over – as is Nato. About time too // Guardian

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Encore of Revival: America, August 16, 2021

Competence and tolerance! The Taliban has taken over Afghanistan. The former president, hated from both Taliban and a third party in Afghanistan, fled to Tajikistan. At press time, the 36-acre American embassy was near fully-evacuated if not completely. Taliban leaders pledge tolerance, cooperation, and no retribution against allies of the former government. They say they want a relationship with the United States. The American ambassador requested to stay.

Will we see peace and promises kept? That has yet to be seen, but the promise is a first step and will be remembered by God. Muslims claim to worship the God of Abraham. We’ll see the Taliban’s part in that too, and the Times will help everyone remember.

From America’s perspective, look at Biden’s leadership. Such turns of events did not happen under Trump.  Biden blames his predecessor. Trump supporters may argue sowing and reaping—that coup begets coup. Biden’s election hinged on anomalous results in precincts with proven rule-breaking. That doubt was never cleared-up in the minds Trump supporters, though they have been smeared. That doesn’t seem like tolerance from the party of tolerance and choice. Nor does pressure—social, legal, or commercial—for vaccines seem like “choice” from the party of choice.

So, in the minds of Trump supporters, who may believe that coup begot coup, the Taliban’s “tolerance and cooperation” in Afghanistan may not pan out. But, we’ll have to wait and see. A promise kept from the Taliban would be welcome.

Did Trump stir the pot with his rhetoric? Maybe. But, the Capitol revolt in lieu of unresolved election irregularities and table pounding from Trump was as bad as it got. In the minds of Biden supporters—according to their votes and what followed—, the situation in Afghanistan is preferable to the Tweets of Trump. Some might reconsider their votes on both sides.

The big issue is leadership and results. Taliban strategy to take over Afghanistan did not consider the response from the former US president as much as it considered the response from the current US president. During the tenure of the current US president, the Taliban won and the US ran. Voters can see things for what they are.

Scandal, Graft & White Collar Crime

Cuomo resigns: What we know, what we don’t and what’s next // AP

Markets, Economy & GDP

Consumer sentiment measure falls to pandemic-era low, sees one of largest drops on record // CNBC

Monopoly & Big Greed

Elon Musk mocks Blue Origin’s moon lander after the company argued against SpaceX winning a $2.9 billion NASA contract // Business Insider

How the U.S. military plans to replace the iconic Humvee on future frontlines // CNBC

Bill Gates pledges $1.5 billion for climate change projects if Congress passes infrastructure bill // CNBC

Some Amazon customers are cutting Prime after Jeff Bezos’ trip to space: ‘I am over paying’ for ‘a zillionaire’s rocket ride’ // Business Insider

Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates are among the billionaires paying a total of $15 million to fund a search for metals used in electric vehicles // Yahoo News

Natural Disaster

As of Sunday evening:
Death toll of powerful earthquake in Haiti soars to 1,297 // AP

Pandemic

Man is stabbed in LA when fight breaks out at a protest over pushing back against vaccine mandates // Daily Mail

Mid East

Taliban claims cooperation, tolerance
Afghan president flees country for Tajikistan: official // Taipei Times

‘They are coming’: US diplomats await flights out of Kabul as the Taliban advance and fear spreads in the capital // Stars and Stripes

Taliban sweep into Afghan capital after government collapses // AP

The day before…
Biden braces for brutal defeat in Afghanistan // Axios

Afghan president flees country as U.S. rushes to exit with Taliban on brink of power // NBC News

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Encore of Revival: America, February 24, 2020

At what point is a government agency no longer allowed to invent a fake crime that was not committed, investigate people known to be innocent for this known-to-be-fake crime, then imprison those people investigated for taking steps to survive that agency breaking the law?

Afghani peace progressing in the wake of home-bound American troops is carrying Trump to an even greater landslide second term. But, it's not enough to distract from the FBI's damage to its own reputation. With Bernie Sanders as the Democratic nominee apparent, and knowing that his base hates government corruption as much as they want to bring troops home, talk of government agency abuse will be so high in the upcoming election that avoiding fundamental changes to the FBI will be unavoidable. To say the least, Comey overreached.

The American Left, along with the closet Left in the political establishment, is loosing their grip on themselves, now that they've lost their grip on government. They want to accuse a man of something that didn't happen, then call a witness, and, if that witness denies the events of what didn't happen, accuse that witness of lying. Such a witness was about to be thrown in prison, Roger Stone, at the age of 67. People who believe that what didn't happen didn't happen intervened and stopped him from being thrown in prison for alleged lies in an investigation that shouldn't have happened.

Today on the Left, voters and elected officials alike, are angry about Roger Stone not going to prison. His true crime is not lying to the FBI, but being a friend of the president they don't like. The line that distinguishes voters who want him in prison from those who don't isn't a line that runs along boundaries of an FBI investigation, but a line between voters who believe there was Russian corruption with Trump in 2016 and those who do not.

They had their impeachment and trial. They didn't get the outcome they wanted. Now, they are pushing evermore, all the while telling themselves that they are saving the country. Little do they know or realize that it is party politics, and the idea that only an irrelevant few hold a different view, that endangers America. This was supposed to be a country of respect between people who disagree. But, now we see the truth: Christians and non-Christians were never going to be able to get along because the non-Christians wouldn't allow it. And, I'm not defining a Christian as a "Sunday morning attendee". The Bible-based value of "love for enemies" and giving fair treatment to the opposition is unique to Christians. Interestingly, so it is between the Right and Left of America. Perhaps this is a foreshadowing of the coming global conflict and the even greater conflict between God's Holy Angels and the Satanic, fallen rebellion that has lasted thousands of years. continue reading

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Cadence of Conflict: Asia, January 20, 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQrpM6sveIQ

China is engaging in "rapid expansionism"; this is different from the slower-moving modes of Russia and, until Trump, the United States. During Obama, Russia took back Crimea—after that fling Nikita Khrushchev had in giving Crimea to Ukraine when it wasn't his to give. Russia has also been crawling its influence in Syria, softly with Iran, and shrewdly using China as an effective puppet.

America, though not an empire seeking to claim more within its political borders, propelled power through military bases around the world. Once the Chinese got over their phobia of technology—a disease it long had, which even led up to the Opium Wars—they looked beyond their bubble and saw America's non-border expansion. But, they still haven't seen Russia's soft-handed expansion for what it is. 180 military bases in China's backyard didn't bode well with China's neediness for receiving endless heinie kisses.

Thankfully, Trump is slowly recalling propelled American power—consider Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey, and now Iraq. He is not the archetypal "neocon" expansionist. But, other than Trump, America did have its own soft form of expansionism.

China, different from either of the two soft expansions of America and Russia, is engaging in a more rapid, rude, speedy expansion. The Chinese don't care how they come across to others because they have been knocked off their emotional rockers, having seen that the world doesn't regard them to be a fraction of what they think themselves to be. This speed has alarmed the nations of the world like a body's immune system responding to a spreading virus or cancer. Even India is on alert.

Russia played its card well—or maybe we should say Russia played its China well: expansion backed by Russia, which upsets the global balance, and Russia doesn't get blamed for it. China doesn't know what its speedy expansion, mainly against Taiwan and India, will do because China hasn't been paying attention to the rest of the world for most of human history.

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Cadence of Conflict: Asia, December 24, 2018

China detains two Canadians with remark and in the wake of a single Huawei executive's arrest. Given the surfacing connections the executive's family had to Mao, China likely views the value of arrested people as equally balanced; the West merely views China as having committed three criminal acts.

Huawei has gotten into more and more trouble the more it has been in the spotlight. Now, Europe even has its doubts. China's sources of money and influences are drying up more and more.

But, an opinion article from Bloomberg invariably proves that some car makers managed to keep their technology out of the hands of China—mainly by keeping it out of China until it was out of date. Moreover, China has made proposals within its government to allow foreign companies to keep their technology secret. So, that should end any and every doubt about what a wonderful place China is for any and all manufacturing.

On the military side, China is announcing that it is finally pursuing the same quiet submarine technologies that the US, Russia, and India are also pursuing. So, that's it. The West should give up because, after all, China is going to win.

The US, however, is in a different position. If China were to initiate a conflict with the US, say by attempting to assert control over Taiwan "by force if necessary", China might not get as much help from its rumored spy partner, Russia. Taiwan is unlike Crimea, which held a referendum with overwhelming favor to return to Russia. And, with the US out of Russian-interested territories, like Syria and Afghanistan, there is little Russia would have to object to in the US following its own law to defend Taiwan, already on the books. A recessed Congress is certainly willing.

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