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Brits blame both Biden & Trump for the Afghan turmoil – Mail poll – politicalbetting.com

Today’s Daily Mail is running a JL Partners poll carried out yesterday on the Afghan crisis and the findings are above.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Emirate_of_Afghanistan
It’s just not cricket
Like the rate of our intervention.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/08/17/scottish-government-wants-make-emergency-covid-powers-permanent/ (£££)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/08/17/exclusive-pension-triple-lock-watered-government/ (£££)
Some people are comparing the chaotic end of US involvement in Afghanistan to the final days of South Vietnam. They’ve got it wrong. What’s happening in Kabul is more akin to the Bay of Pigs under JFK or the disaster in Iran in 1979. That failure cost Jimmy Carter the presidency in 1980, and Afghanistan could cost Democrats the White House in 2024.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/08/17/afghan-debacle-will-destroy-biden-presidency/
But two well-placed sources tell us the true number of troops was actually much lower - closer to 50,000
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What's the betting the US has been paying salaries for 300k.
https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/1427790831226916867
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/womens-sport/2021/08/16/afghanistans-first-female-paralympian-denied-chance-travel-tokyo/ (£££)
Boris Johnson -31
Drip… drip… drip…
Right.
Yet I defy anyone to watch the film and come away thinking there was any point to it all. Overwhelming military technology was being deployed in the middle of nowhere to no worthwhile purpose and a lot of people die.
"Donald Trump’s Former Defence Secretary Mark Esper has accused Trump of having "undermined" America’s 2020 deal with the Taliban by pushing for US troops to exit Afghanistan without the Taliban meeting the conditions of the deal, setting President Biden up for failure from the start."
ETA does this mean I'm sort-of first?
Edit to add, this is the piece that the tweet thread is based: https://www.covid-datascience.com/post/israeli-data-how-can-efficacy-vs-severe-disease-be-strong-when-60-of-hospitalized-are-vaccinated
https://twitter.com/PaulNuki/status/1427247002430197764
On the current numbers, it looks entirely possible that Linke does not make it into parliament, and that SPD + Green is tantalisingly close to a majority.
Afghanistan Is Your Fault
The American public now has what it wanted.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/08/afghanistan-your-fault/619769/
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Agreement_for_Bringing_Peace_to_Afghanistan
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51689443
It received some criticism at the time.
Though not from our defence secretary.
UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace: "I welcome this small but important step towards the chance for Afghans to live in peace, free from terrorism... We remain absolutely committed to building an Afghanistan that is a strong partner for decades to come"
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/18/on-the-day-kabul-fell-i-refused-to-leave-i-am-not-ready-to-give-up-on-afghanistan-yet
https://youtu.be/tF4DML7FIWk
And the judges say....4.5, 4.5, 3.5, 5.0, 4.0, 4.0....
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/matt-cartoons-august-2021/matt-cartoon-august-16/
State pensions expected to rise by 2.5% next year - below the rate of inflation - as Conservatives break triple lock pledge
Ministers are concerned inflation - another measure it could be pegged to - will be too high by September
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/pensions-triple-lock-could-be-broken-by-below-inflation-rise-m66bxs9h0
On topic, that poll shows how mixed people's emotions are. Must say I'm in the 'wasted effort' category, but if the Taliban have used the last few years to 'liberalise' a little, maybe all is not lost.
VICE news have a video report from areas they already held where a sheep rustler was getting tried and sentenced by a "Taliban court"* to a hand being chopped off.
Then asked will things like stoning be back for adultery, the answer of course, that is what Sharia tells us.
* I.e one bloke who says did you do it, while beating him with a stick, right i think you did it more than once, guilty...next....
https://twitter.com/chris_herd/status/1427528882148814868?s=20
That isn't demonstrating general purpose obstacle traversal. That precise course terrain was programmed in.
What the pandemic has done is increase the number of airy speculations about the future of work, city centres, high streets and so on.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/pensions-retirement/news/retirees-lose-11000-state-pension-triple-lock-fiddle/
https://www.wsj.com/articles/these-people-who-work-from-home-have-a-secret-they-have-two-jobs-11628866529
It makes you wonder if the twitterati actually bother to read what they post, let alone think about it.
Working two jobs at the same time is easier in the United States than here, of course, thanks to the different ways we process income tax. HMRC is likely to give the game away when it updates your tax code. I have worked with one contractor, however, who quite blatantly had another contract on the side.
We're about to completely wash our hands of the mess we created and let people suffer. Because the Brexit Tory vote in England thinks that man with beard is coming here to take all the jobs and the benefits and blow us up. For shame.
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/540989-us-wasted-billions-of-dollars-in-afghanistan-watchdog
They shouldn't be competitive, of course.
Definitely not unknown in contracting space though, especially if you can find companies in different time zones. I know a few people doing this, they can get away with 9 or 10 hours a day across both contracts, charging a full day rate to each.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=3wc23FQZeTE
His guest, Lex Fridman, is a fascinating character who also has a long-form interview podcast.
https://twitter.com/fatshez/status/1427893128003039238
@JohnnyMercerUK revealing what he hopes to say later... https://twitter.com/JohnnyMercerUK/status/1427888568945553413
https://twitter.com/benrileysmith/status/1427894180249055237
Mr. B, in the Middle Ages, and ancient world, a general approach taken was that surrendering was best done immediately, or not at all.
General such as the Black Prince or Alexander the Great tended to be lenient to those who gave up, but if surrender was offered later then harsh terms at best were imposed (if not slaughter).
That being so, why would the Afghan army, apparently unable to operate its fancy US gear due to lack of support, fight an unwinnable war for the sake of the people who had just abandoned them, in exchange for certain death rather than potentially being able to keep on living?
And why didn't the US consider this?
In truth, the Government has little political headroom to be overly generous to Afghanistan asylum seekers given the ongoing crisis in the Channel and changing public opinion, so I expect any programme to be limited in number and qualified to specific categories of Afghanis who directly aided British forces.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/08/17/afghan-debacle-will-destroy-biden-presidency/
You can think it was a mistake to have gone in there in the first place but, having put our hand in the mangler, now feel it's now our responsibility to stabilise the situation and not cut and run.
Saying anything else will have the same effect as Merkel’s comments a few years ago, and lead to a mass exodus across Europe. The UK will be taking thousands of refugees from Afghanistan, but we have to do everything we can to stop the Channel boat crossings, which are costing lives and enabling smugglers.
As I said above, the vast amount they've spent in building an army which can't operate independently was an utter waste.
But considering this would mean that the pull out/peace deal would have to be called off. The pull out was now Policy.
The stocks were sold; the Press was squared:
The Middle Class was quite prepared.
There is a variant of groupthink in policy making in governments and large organisations. The "Great" come to a common belief. This may be bollocks. But it becomes "Writ".
Information that contradicts this "Writ" becomes heresy. And so it is ignored and the bearer of the information is often suitably chastised.
Later, after the disaster, the Leader asks "Why didn't someone tell me?"
She has to maintain her "no refugees by boat" stance to keep the Faragists at bay, while simultaneously 'welcoming' thousands of Afghans.
Unless they arrive by boat...
Pretty much sums up Britain’s impotence in the current crisis. Maybe they should just leave it there and go back on holiday.
https://twitter.com/afneil/status/1427896249177493504