Afghanistan was an opium producing colony. In the Helmand province alone opium production shot up 400% when it was under occupation by British troops. The US and NATO troops guarded the poppy fields. The drug money was and continues to be one of the main sources of liquidity for the international banking system, as well as a primary source of funding for international terrorism.
And let's not forget...opium is the source of wealth for many pharmaceutical firms in the business of hawking opioid drugs derived from it. See Alex Gibney's new documentary The Crime of the Century https://youtu.be/SkU75sBdjdU.
The opium wars have never ended, and probably never will. Troops serving in Afghanistan were told the poppy fields and marijuana fields were off-limits to any military mission, from a reliable source.
Indeed Bert, it just goes to show how disingenuous much of the media coverage of the Afghanistan situation is. In reality, the opium trade has not really changed much since the time of the British East India Company and the opium wars. Now we just have more legitimate financial outfits like HSBC, Wall Streets banks and others to manage the whole thing.
They don't need gun boats anymore.
There is a wonderful book, "Dope Inc: Britain's Opium War on the World." It just demonstrates how the drug trade hasn't really changed over the centuries, in fact, it's only become more organized. It's quite intense. It was also known as "the book that drove Henry Kissinger crazy" lol.
And then there is the famous picture of the NYSE Chairman Richard Grasso Embracing A FARC Commander...
At one level this sounds strange, but then when we consider how the drug epidemics happen and how the drug cultures are created, where now in many places the drug culture IS the culture, it's not random, or just some sociological phenomenon like many charlatans wish to believe. It is very very organized, as you well know and can attest to personally.
I too have had people personally tell me stories about the poppy fields being off limits and guarded.
So yeah, this is really the story people should be focused on rather than stories that are meant to tug at people's heart strings without ever talking about doing real justice. If we really want to honor the soldiers who fought, why not expose and bring to justice those who run these criminal operations at the top, and those who lied to get us into wars in the first place.
The media is total psyop garbage. They'll never ask the right questions.
Well said. I see we travel in the same circles with your reference to Catherine Fits. Always a pleasure to meet like minded travelers. Substack is a great place for free thinkers.
Beautiful. So apt at describing our enemy and ourselves. We have fallen so far in those 21 years. I don’t know who runs this country anymore and it sure feels like we are as fractured as any. Not even the worst of times brings us remotely close together anymore.
U.S. history post WW2 has been weaving this story. We have been falling for a lot longer than 21 years - it is only now presented to us in stark relief (as so did the fall of Vietnam 50 years ago.)
Even during the democratic debates Tulsi Gabbard was pretty much the only one coming out against endless wars. And given how she was treated by both her fellow politicians, mainstream media and Big Tech I think it is over simplifying the issue by blaming neocons.
" ... unable to form an inclusive whole; unable to wade beyond shallow differences in sect and identity in order to provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to themselves and their posterity ..."
Thank you!
Shallow differences in sect and identity - and yet those shallow differences are precisely what are being treated as "fundamental" ...
Weaponizing patriotism and love for the advancement of fascism and the destruction of progress should have been a cancer targeted for surgical extermination since the assassinations of the Civil Rights movement. The same mindset that killed a President for the blood money of warlords is still pervasive throughout the 'Deep State' and evident on all the Cable News Channels. Fighting this treasonous rot is more important and more depressing than ever. I maintain creative outlets and connections to the natural world to sustain my integrity.
"Uncertainty is the enemy of freedom" -Probably someone smart who thought of this before me
It is far too common these days, for politics to hinge on vague statements with undefined terms. "You are either with us, or against us" is a great example of how uncertainty is used to consolidate power because no one wants to be "that guy" who lets the terrorists get away. In practice, as we saw, this leads to people conceding ground they would not otherwise give up. This leads to people allowing vague laws with vast potential for abuse slipping past them, like the Patriot Act. What the process should have looked like is a very clearly defined request for access to specific data. "We want access to location data of these specific people" What we ended up with instead is a global mass surveillance program where the people supposed to catch the terrists are gathering vast amounts of data on everybody because it isn't clear what is and isn't allowed. As you have talked about, it is very easy to end up justifying it to yourself because after all "I am the good guy" and since the law around it is so vague it isn't immediately obvious that the program is overstepping its authority and infringing upon the rights of innocent civilians.
And of course everyone is too afraid to speak up about it because they are uncertain about whether or not it is wrong. After all, if you were to start asking too many critical questions you might be seen as "that guy" who is no longer "with us". Pun not intended.
Thereby not saying that the patriot act would be defensible if it was better written, but rather that the lack of transparency alone should have been more than enough to shut it down
I don’t know how we fix this. The Establishment has infested every institution down to the core. They don’t even need to flex their muscle when it comes to said institutions, they’ve got their own Marxist Brownshirts to destroy your homes in riots without even giving the order, and keyboard warriors to destroy your career and reputation for criticising the dogma!
They have every aspect of power in their hands and they have every possible method to surveil us.
I feel hopeless, they could do anything they want to us and we wouldn’t be able to stop us, we’d be nothing more than a statistic and a paragraph in a textbook 50 years from now, declaring how righteous it was smiting us…
BlackRock is the biggest and most influential in the world financial corporation, with the deepest pockets. They institutionally own everything, colluded with banks, other entities; in partnership and collaboration with WEF, UN, US and other govts., the Fed. The Big Brother itself.
My sympathy to you and your generation you are a product of the drunken euphoria of my generations victory over Soviet aggression and godless occupation. I find they irony of Americas decent and Russias accent meets at the crossroads of Afghanistan just a we are witnessing the transverse now and how the United States has lost much of it's Religious moral center over the years since the collapse of the Soviet Union at the same time Russias rise from the ashes of said Soviet on the wings of a more Religious center.
Thank you for all you've done and are doing to to clean up your space of your generation. Hind site truly is 20/20 we would all be in a better place if we would have been willing to look at our selves through Soviet Eyes instead of fighting so hard to make others look at themselves and the world through our eyes and that's why we failed in Afghanistan in my opinion at the risk of coming off as proselytizing there can be a place for modiste religion it's needed to cork the bottle of extremism weather the extremism is Religious or Secular
Considering our own history on this continent - wonder which is worse, aggression and godless occupation or aggression and occupation in the name of God ...
We should offer equal sympathy to the generation who was sent to fight in Vietnam, an era that at least on paper, that still had a religious moral center. Answers aren't always so easy.
Since the discussion wanders into religion and morality, I think it important to recognize America's religious extremism. https://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org
Trump’s Pledge to Exit Afghanistan Was a Ruse, His Final SecDef Says. Chris Miller now says talk of a full withdrawal was a “play” to convince a Taliban-led government to keep U.S. counterterrorism forces.
Perhaps Biden should be given Nobel Peace prize instead to swindler Obama...
Afghanistan was an opium producing colony. In the Helmand province alone opium production shot up 400% when it was under occupation by British troops. The US and NATO troops guarded the poppy fields. The drug money was and continues to be one of the main sources of liquidity for the international banking system, as well as a primary source of funding for international terrorism.
And let's not forget...opium is the source of wealth for many pharmaceutical firms in the business of hawking opioid drugs derived from it. See Alex Gibney's new documentary The Crime of the Century https://youtu.be/SkU75sBdjdU.
The opium wars have never ended, and probably never will. Troops serving in Afghanistan were told the poppy fields and marijuana fields were off-limits to any military mission, from a reliable source.
Indeed Bert, it just goes to show how disingenuous much of the media coverage of the Afghanistan situation is. In reality, the opium trade has not really changed much since the time of the British East India Company and the opium wars. Now we just have more legitimate financial outfits like HSBC, Wall Streets banks and others to manage the whole thing.
They don't need gun boats anymore.
There is a wonderful book, "Dope Inc: Britain's Opium War on the World." It just demonstrates how the drug trade hasn't really changed over the centuries, in fact, it's only become more organized. It's quite intense. It was also known as "the book that drove Henry Kissinger crazy" lol.
And then there is the famous picture of the NYSE Chairman Richard Grasso Embracing A FARC Commander...
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0202/S00069/the-real-deal-the-ultimate-new-business-cold-call.htm
Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words!
At one level this sounds strange, but then when we consider how the drug epidemics happen and how the drug cultures are created, where now in many places the drug culture IS the culture, it's not random, or just some sociological phenomenon like many charlatans wish to believe. It is very very organized, as you well know and can attest to personally.
I too have had people personally tell me stories about the poppy fields being off limits and guarded.
So yeah, this is really the story people should be focused on rather than stories that are meant to tug at people's heart strings without ever talking about doing real justice. If we really want to honor the soldiers who fought, why not expose and bring to justice those who run these criminal operations at the top, and those who lied to get us into wars in the first place.
The media is total psyop garbage. They'll never ask the right questions.
Good thing there is Substack ;)
Well said. I see we travel in the same circles with your reference to Catherine Fits. Always a pleasure to meet like minded travelers. Substack is a great place for free thinkers.
when I was reading your second to last paragraph, it didn't even cross my mind that you weren't referring to the U.S.
It applies to Denmark as well
Beautiful. So apt at describing our enemy and ourselves. We have fallen so far in those 21 years. I don’t know who runs this country anymore and it sure feels like we are as fractured as any. Not even the worst of times brings us remotely close together anymore.
Thanks as alway and be safe Ed.
U.S. history post WW2 has been weaving this story. We have been falling for a lot longer than 21 years - it is only now presented to us in stark relief (as so did the fall of Vietnam 50 years ago.)
Until there is a clear light placed on the systemic war profiteering neocons that kept the war afloat for 20 years, it will be repeated. Great article
Even during the democratic debates Tulsi Gabbard was pretty much the only one coming out against endless wars. And given how she was treated by both her fellow politicians, mainstream media and Big Tech I think it is over simplifying the issue by blaming neocons.
Agreed. I did simplify it to what I believe is the a central driving force.
Fair enough. As long as everyone behind the wars are held accountable for their involvement. And hopefully without it ending in a civil war.
" ... unable to form an inclusive whole; unable to wade beyond shallow differences in sect and identity in order to provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to themselves and their posterity ..."
Thank you!
Shallow differences in sect and identity - and yet those shallow differences are precisely what are being treated as "fundamental" ...
Well said, Ed.
Your thought processes when joining the military sounded very familiar. I had the same motivations and regrets. 71 to 74 Army. You are spot on here.
Weaponizing patriotism and love for the advancement of fascism and the destruction of progress should have been a cancer targeted for surgical extermination since the assassinations of the Civil Rights movement. The same mindset that killed a President for the blood money of warlords is still pervasive throughout the 'Deep State' and evident on all the Cable News Channels. Fighting this treasonous rot is more important and more depressing than ever. I maintain creative outlets and connections to the natural world to sustain my integrity.
"Uncertainty is the enemy of freedom" -Probably someone smart who thought of this before me
It is far too common these days, for politics to hinge on vague statements with undefined terms. "You are either with us, or against us" is a great example of how uncertainty is used to consolidate power because no one wants to be "that guy" who lets the terrorists get away. In practice, as we saw, this leads to people conceding ground they would not otherwise give up. This leads to people allowing vague laws with vast potential for abuse slipping past them, like the Patriot Act. What the process should have looked like is a very clearly defined request for access to specific data. "We want access to location data of these specific people" What we ended up with instead is a global mass surveillance program where the people supposed to catch the terrists are gathering vast amounts of data on everybody because it isn't clear what is and isn't allowed. As you have talked about, it is very easy to end up justifying it to yourself because after all "I am the good guy" and since the law around it is so vague it isn't immediately obvious that the program is overstepping its authority and infringing upon the rights of innocent civilians.
And of course everyone is too afraid to speak up about it because they are uncertain about whether or not it is wrong. After all, if you were to start asking too many critical questions you might be seen as "that guy" who is no longer "with us". Pun not intended.
Thereby not saying that the patriot act would be defensible if it was better written, but rather that the lack of transparency alone should have been more than enough to shut it down
Excellent work as usual good sir!!!!! < 3 < 3 < 3 < 3 < 3 < 3
I don’t know how we fix this. The Establishment has infested every institution down to the core. They don’t even need to flex their muscle when it comes to said institutions, they’ve got their own Marxist Brownshirts to destroy your homes in riots without even giving the order, and keyboard warriors to destroy your career and reputation for criticising the dogma!
They have every aspect of power in their hands and they have every possible method to surveil us.
I feel hopeless, they could do anything they want to us and we wouldn’t be able to stop us, we’d be nothing more than a statistic and a paragraph in a textbook 50 years from now, declaring how righteous it was smiting us…
What do we do?
We keep searching for the truth and spreading it to any and all who will listen, and we lead by example of non compliance and civil disobedience.
You realize that the brownshirts fought marxists, right? The brownshirts were the fascists. If you're going to whine, learn some history.
Hey Ed. I believe I found entity who stand behind all of the mess unfolding, yet in regards to Afganistan:
BlackRock Engineering and Technology - http://blackengtech.com/aero_def.html
"Specifically, our professionals bring expertise and domain leadership within DOD, DOJ, Treasury, Intelligence, Financial Services, Technology, and Healthcare industries."
Here's BlackRock's U.S. Defense iShare ETFs, Funds and Holdings:
1) https://www.ishares.com/us/products/239502/ishares-us-aerospace-defense-etf
2) https://www.blackrock.com/us/individual/products/227803/blackrock-lifepath-2040-portfolioclass-i-fund
My tweet on what they're heading us into & thread with sources:
- https://twitter.com/Very_0wn/status/1423544260255617030?s=20
- https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1415014012203331588.html
BlackRock is the biggest and most influential in the world financial corporation, with the deepest pockets. They institutionally own everything, colluded with banks, other entities; in partnership and collaboration with WEF, UN, US and other govts., the Fed. The Big Brother itself.
My sympathy to you and your generation you are a product of the drunken euphoria of my generations victory over Soviet aggression and godless occupation. I find they irony of Americas decent and Russias accent meets at the crossroads of Afghanistan just a we are witnessing the transverse now and how the United States has lost much of it's Religious moral center over the years since the collapse of the Soviet Union at the same time Russias rise from the ashes of said Soviet on the wings of a more Religious center.
Thank you for all you've done and are doing to to clean up your space of your generation. Hind site truly is 20/20 we would all be in a better place if we would have been willing to look at our selves through Soviet Eyes instead of fighting so hard to make others look at themselves and the world through our eyes and that's why we failed in Afghanistan in my opinion at the risk of coming off as proselytizing there can be a place for modiste religion it's needed to cork the bottle of extremism weather the extremism is Religious or Secular
Considering our own history on this continent - wonder which is worse, aggression and godless occupation or aggression and occupation in the name of God ...
As George Jr said at the beginning of this and making your point
'we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in this world:
We should offer equal sympathy to the generation who was sent to fight in Vietnam, an era that at least on paper, that still had a religious moral center. Answers aren't always so easy.
Agreed especially considering how the Vietnam veteran was treated when they came home by all the enlightened anti war crowd
Since the discussion wanders into religion and morality, I think it important to recognize America's religious extremism. https://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org
it was an illegal war of aggression from the beginning; like the others . . .
Trump’s Pledge to Exit Afghanistan Was a Ruse, His Final SecDef Says - Defense One
https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2021/08/trumps-pledge-exit-afghanistan-was-ruse-his-final-secdef-says/184660/
Trump’s Pledge to Exit Afghanistan Was a Ruse, His Final SecDef Says. Chris Miller now says talk of a full withdrawal was a “play” to convince a Taliban-led government to keep U.S. counterterrorism forces.
Perhaps Biden should be given Nobel Peace prize instead to swindler Obama...
Now it's clear that you, Ed, see what others don't see. Frankly speaking, I didn't know that all. Much respect.