Lost in a Lost World (Page 24)

ghostgeek: Afghanistan is an unhappy land that's been fought over from the year dot:

The land that is now Afghanistan has a long history of domination by foreign conquerors and strife among internally warring factions. At the gateway between Asia and Europe, this land was conquered by Darius I of Babylonia circa 500 B.C., and Alexander the Great of Macedonia in 329 B.C., among others.

Mahmud of Ghazni, an 11th century conqueror who created an empire from Iran to India, is considered the greatest of Afghanistan’s conquerors.

Genghis Khan took over the territory in the 13th century, but it wasn’t until the 1700s that the area was united as a single country. By 1870, after the area had been invaded by various Arab conquerors, Islam had taken root.

During the 19th century, Britain, looking to protect its Indian empire from Russia, attempted to annex Afghanistan, resulting in a series of British-Afghan Wars (1838-42, 1878-80, 1919-21).

[ https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/asia-jan-june11-timeline-afghanistan ]

ghostgeek: What's clear is that anybody who invades eventually leaves.

ghostgeek: And the Afghans carry on fighting amonst themselves.

chronology: Ghost Old Boy you are stereotyping people.

It is unlikely the Afghans are any more unhappy than any other people. And it is pretty depressing the United States is leaving Afghanistan. American Servicemen have done a brilliant job in clearing Land Mines from Afghanistan left by the Soviets. Every day of the week, somewhere in Afghanistan, a civilian, usually a child, is blown up by Russian era mines. The Pentagon has spent a small fortune trying to organise mine clearing in the country. Washington has funded Mine Clearing charities to the tune of around 800 million dollars. This effort has saved thousands of Afghan lives.

It is a real loss to the Afghan people that Americans are leaving. But the U.S. can take pride in saving so many innocent lives from land mines.

Zanjan: As noted, Afghanistan has always been invaded - their people didn't invade others. They're tribes just trying to survive on their own land. I think they do need help to stay alive, and it's possible Biden will do something towards that. If not, other countries can offer aid.

They know the Taliban will invade and kill them, their wives and children; it doesn't make sense for the world to sit around and watch that when asked for help.They are our brothers and sisters!!

This isn't an internal dispute, it's genocide by bloodthirsty terrorists - those aren't Muslims.

chronology: Well zan, America has done a brilliant job in Afghanistan with clearing up the landmines. It has been long expensive and dangerous. But after 20 years and 800 million dollars extensive areas of Afghanistan are landmine free.

Mr Biden and Ms Jen Psaki have the often really difficult task of trying to convince the American public that commitment to making places like Afghanistan and Iraq safe places is in the interest of everyone. But most Americans probably wonder what America is doing cleaning up the mess left by Russia in Afghanistan. Although Russian Army Officers who served in Afghanistan probably are thankful for the American clean up efforts.

Fractured fairy tale:

Zanjan: Gee, how old was that talk? He didn't include confirmed visits from UFOs belonging to a peaceful advanced society.

You know, anybody can find fault in anything, especially pointing out the obvious. People who can't do complain. Let's listen to someone who has ideas to fix things.

chronology: Mr Hedge's is a really deep thinker Zan. But even he may not appreciate the rapid advance of Robotics and AI. Not just every day, but every hour somewhere in the world new apps are developed for Robot's. Humans are as good as redundant now.
Even most professional worker's know they are destined for the Housing Project's to live on the same economic level as other unemployed workers. But even people like Mr Hedge's have no answer to that problem.

The biggest challenge ahead is for government's to establish full on birth control programs, bigger than has ever been seen before.

But for younger lawmakers there may be some apprehension about even their future. As older people being driven by level 5 self driving cars through empty cities 70 year's from now, only a occasional elderly person around. It may be a real puzzle for them to guess what the next big step will be on the post human world. Most likely AI will develop synthetic life that will replace itself like they replaced humans.

ghostgeek: The way America was described in the video, it made me think of the Roman Empire as it slowly declined.

Zanjan: The USA doesn't have an empire so isn't worried about its people running away, except for the rich guys who shelter in the Bahamas. Good for them - that's hurricane alley.

chronology: Well zan I reckon Mr Nixon was right when he talked the Russians out of scrapping the Soviet Union back in 1975.

Mr Nixon knew America would be standing alone as the single world power. He knew America would be trapped into one conflict after another. You could imagine Ms Jen Psaki at White House briefing trying to explain how American Peace Efforts are working out everywhere from the Falklands to the mid East to the Balkans.

Thankfully today there is Russia, China and the EU. America is not the only power keeping the lid on the dustbin.

Fractured fairy tale: Yes it does Zanjan Its Fats every definition of a Empire What do you think 600 milatry bases around the world are for then

ghostgeek: Comparing America, Russia, China and the E.U., it seems to me that it's the U.S. that has spread itself the most across the globe. Consider where its fleets operate:

The 2nd Fleet - Area of Operations: Atlantic Ocean.

The 3rd Fleet - Area of Operations: Eastern and central Pacific.

The 4th Fleet - Area of Operations: Caribbean, Central and South America.

The 5th Fleet - Area of Operations: Middle East (Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf).

The 6th Fleet - Area of Operations: Mediterranean Sea.

The 7th Fleet - Area of Operations: Western Pacific and Indian Ocean.

ghostgeek: When America's economic sinews begin to age, as they seem to be doing now, that far-flung navy will become an ever increasing burden on its tax payers.

ghostgeek: That's what happened with Rome and its army, until one day the burden could no longer be carried and the collapse began.

Fractured fairy tale:

Fractured fairy tale: Only Gonna get Worse Now it Seems To Be Turning Into a Giant soviet Union That Spies and Distrusts its own Citizens and every one else , all helped along bye Usefull Idiots

ghostgeek: The U.S. Air Force’s top officer wants the service to develop an affordable, lightweight fighter to replace hundreds of Cold War-vintage F-16s and complement a small fleet of sophisticated—but costly and unreliable—stealth fighters.

The result would be a high-low mix of expensive “fifth-generation” F-22s and F-35s and inexpensive “fifth-generation-minus” jets, explained Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Brown Jr.

If that plan sounds familiar, it’s because the Air Force a generation ago launched development of an affordable, lightweight fighter to replace hundreds of Cold War-vintage F-16s and complement a small future fleet of sophisticated—but costly and unreliable—stealth fighters.

But over 20 years of R&D, that lightweight replacement fighter got heavier and more expensive as the Air Force and lead contractor Lockheed Martin packed it with more and more new technology.

Yes, we’re talking about the F-35. The 25-ton stealth warplane has become the very problem it was supposed to solve. And now America needs a new fighter to solve that F-35 problem, officials said.

[ https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2021/02/23/the-us-air-force-just-admitted-the-f-35-stealth-fighter-has-failed/?sh=eb048191b169 ]

Fractured fairy tale: Yeah We Brought into That Fiasco and all the Promices After 20 years and all Money Spent
I still don"t think theres any Operational Air Craft

Zanjan: I'll have you guys know that in my own lifetime, Canada had the third largest navy in the world, after Great Britain and the USA. It has fewer ships now but is still mighty because its the Royal Canadian Navy, which is actually an arm of Great Britain's navy.

We don't need our navy for warfare because this type of battle device is passe.

Today, the largest navy in the world belongs to the People's Republic of China. Now ask us which navy is the BEST. It's one thing to have capability, another to have mastered the skills.

Zanjan: The USA does have the largest Air force in the world but war is no longer profitable so the future is in space programs. I expect the USA will downsize their war machine and take a more supportive role with allies.

Meanwhile, the defense budget, however many times it's ramped up, has been sucked into a black hole. For more than 20 years, the Pentagon hasn't been able to complete a financial audit. We hear stories of notorious overcharging and financial waste but Congress does nothing about that. There's the worm.

chronology: Zan, the Pentagon has a peace keeping machine, not a war machine.

You are correct in that the way ahead is for the United States to establish 'Pax Amiricana'. This would involve the leading nations cooperating together to not just end conflict situations, but to help improve the lives of all people. It can be done.
Ireland had a seemingly unsolvable conflict. It was not that the good folks of dear old Ireland were bad, or Britain was bad. It was just all groups in Ireland had given up on ever agreeing on anything. Bill Clinton threw his White House full on into establishing exit routes for all the arguing groups to sit down and talk out their differences and try to establish a peaceful end to the conflict. The result is the Peace Agreement.
South Africa is another example of how seemingly impossible arguments can be solved.
If the world had supported Americans in ending the crisis in Iraq there would never have been the complex liberation back in 2003. Americans would never have been left to establish a new post Saddam Iraq alone. But the world has to get on board with the USA and work together on these crisis sites.
The USA has done amazing work sponsoring mine clearing in Afghanistan. But now America is leaving the country, people will still be getting their legs blown off by old Russian mines. Sad but true.

ghostgeek: Whatever the U.S. has done in the past, it's always the future that counts and that isn't looking so rosy. Not with the growth of China:

EVERETT, Wash. — As they conduct bombing and surveillance missions around the globe, today's U.S. military pilots rely on aerial refueling aircraft built as early as 1957, when the Soviet Union dominated American security fears, the average home cost $12,000 and "I Love Lucy" was debuting new episodes.

The cost of keeping those aging jets in the air has grown sharply while the military awaits a next-generation refueling plane whose rollout has been repeatedly delayed by design and production issues.

The Air Force’s two-decade effort to field a 21st-century tanker, one of several premier air systems whose development has been beset with problems, is emblematic of the challenges Pentagon leaders face in seeking to maintain the U.S. military’s shrinking edge over its chief competitor, China.

The United States, once the world’s undisputed military superpower, has been struggling for years to efficiently update its arsenal and field new technology in cutting-edge areas such as hypersonics and artificial intelligence, at a time when some senior officials warn that China could be within five years of surpassing the U.S. military.

[ https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/china-us-military-technology/2021/03/31/acc2d9f4-866c-11eb-8a67-f314e5fcf88d_story.html ]

ghostgeek: It's like a rerun of the time when Rome was struggling to hold back the barbarians who were threatening to rampage across the Empire's frontiers.