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.
" ... 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" ...
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.
"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.
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.
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…
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
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.
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...
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.
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.
Well said, Ed.
" ... 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" ...
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
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.
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.
"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.
Excellent work as usual good sir!!!!! < 3 < 3 < 3 < 3 < 3 < 3
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.
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?
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
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.
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...
Facebook's Partner: The Atlantic Council (5 Frightening Facts) (rumble.com)
https://rumble.com/vleq6v-facebooks-partner-the-atlantic-council-5-frightening-facts.html
Facebook's Partner: The Atlantic Council (5 Frightening Facts)
YouTube demonetizes Jimmy Dore for criticizing AOC -- by using her own words
YouTube Suppresses Jimmy Dore's Criticism Of AOC - YouTube
These reflections help to inform folks. Thanks Ed!