- #526
ryan albery
- 67
- 1
Fuggin people! It all about respect.
DevilsAvocado said:...confusing...
DevilsAvocado said:Ehh... fun and mischief... I'm completely lost...
Pythagorean said:US finally getting involved?
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Secu...astern-Europe.-Is-it-more-than-symbolic-video
Pythagorean said:US finally getting involved?
DevilsAvocado said:*** CRAZY DANGER ***
Dotini said:The fun part was at the beginning. But sometimes revolutions continue on long after the fun stops.
The mischief was tantamount to taunting a bear with a wooden sword.
mheslep said:I'm curious as to why there's no good arguments posted or given by the US govt, or others, against giving the Ukrainians some non trivial weapons for defense.
nsaspook said:What types of non-trivial weapons, anti-tank weapons, surface to air missiles? What would be our justification for this escalation to a full-blown proxy war with Russia? I can't see how it would be in OUR best strategic interest to do that.
I was active military and in the region (Pakistan,Persian Gulf) during the arming of the resistance fighters in Afghanistan in the 1979-1981 period that suckered the USSR into invading with large forces into that land creating IMO the mess that exist today as Al-Qaeda so I have personal experience on how things can go sideways from what you planned no matter how right it seemed at the time. The easy justification then was the 'Cold War' and that we could control the few radicals that went 'off the reservation' with the weapons we supplied to them. The hard-line anti-soviet officials in our government that oversaw that operation (with long term unintended circumstances) are IMO the main voice behind the current drum beat of supplying weapons to Ukraine.
mheslep said:The Soviets invaded Afghanistan of their own accord. Prior to the invasion Afghanistan had a relatively stable monarchy and parliament, for that part of Asia, which was relatively forward looking both for women and education. It was the Soviets that destroyed the monarchy, inserted a communist government and wrecked the country.
Chronos said:Russia had an obvious interest in securing their black sea naval base in Crimea. I seriously doubt they have any other hidden agenda in Ukraine.
mheslep said:I say Afghans because I've never seen any evidence that those weapons made it to the Arab foreigners like Bin Laden who came to fight the Soviets.
[PLAIN said:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone]Hekmatyar[/PLAIN] was said to be friendly with Osama bin Laden, founder of al-Qaeda, who was running an operation for assisting "Afghan Arab" volunteers fighting in Afghanistan, called Maktab al-Khadamat. Alarmed by his behavior, Pakistan leader General Zia warned Hekmatyar, "It was Pakistan that made him an Afghan leader and it is Pakistan who can equally destroy him if he continues to misbehave."
In the late 1980s, Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, concerned about the growing strength of the Islamist movement, told President George H. W. Bush, "You are creating a Frankenstein."
9K32 Strela-2
mheslep said:Senator McCain is one of the most prominent voices calling for weapons support. I don't know that he qualifies as "hard-line anti-soviet" anymore than many Americans were back in the cold war, but he certainly was not involved in the 1980's US-Afghan operation. Neither was Brzezinski. Whatever his opinion now, then he was in power when US policy was to deter the Soviets by pulling out of the Olympics.
mheslep said:With this said, there is an issue which to my mind does justify a non-interventionist US policy: the Europeans must be first take seriously their own defense, both on the part of Ukraine and by their immediate neighbors. If they will not, then what, ultimately, can (or should) the US do?
...imagine the activity in the White House if Russia was about to move its strategic forces/allies 500 km from Washington...
mheslep said:The Soviets invaded Afghanistan of their own accord. Prior to the invasion Afghanistan had a relatively stable monarchy and parliament, for that part of Asia, which was relatively forward looking both for women and education. It was the Soviets that destroyed the monarchy, inserted a communist government and wrecked the country. Only after the take over did the US supply weapons to the Afghans. I say Afghans because I've never seen any evidence that those weapons made it to the Arab foreigners like Bin Laden who came to fight the Soviets.
Senator McCain ... 1980's US-Afghan operation. Neither was Brzezinski. Whatever his opinion now, then he was in power when US policy was to deter the Soviets by pulling out of the Olympics.
INT: How did you interpret Soviet behavior in Afghanistan, such as the April revolution, the rise of... I mean, what did you think their long-term plans were, and what did you think should be done about it?
ZB: I told the President, about six months before the Soviets entered Afghanistan, that in my judgment I thought they would be going into Afghanistan. And I decided then, and I recommended to the President, that we shouldn't be passive.
INT: What happened?
ZB: We weren't passive.
On 3 July 1979, Carter signed a presidential finding authorizing funding for anticommunist guerrillas in Afghanistan.[2] Following the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in December Operation Storm-333 and installation of a more pro-Soviet president, Babrak Karmal, Carter announced, "The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan is the greatest threat to peace since the Second World War".[12]
If we are to deter the Russians from moving in, we have to convince them that their aggression will entail a prolonged and costly effort. But it will be such only if the Ukrainians resist. Thus, we should be making an effort to negotiate with Russia even as at the same time we should be more open to helping the Ukrainians defend themselves if they’re attacked. The Ukrainians will fight only if they think they will eventually get some help from the West, particularly in supplies of the kind of weaponry that will be necessary to wage a successful urban defense. They’re not going to beat the Russians out in the open field, where thousands of tanks move in. They can only beat them through prolonged urban resistance. Then the war’s economic costs would escalate dramatically for the Russians, and it would become futile politically. But to be able to defend a city, you have to have handheld anti-tank weaponry, handheld rockets and some organization
Does it matter? Khan's party, the PDPA, was unquestionably communist.voko said:Was Mohammed Daoud Khan, the first president of Afghanistan and the immediate successor to king Mohammed Zahir Shah, a communist installed by the Soviets? Cite your sources.
Russia already had access to the Black Sea via their naval base in Crimea, yet Crimea is no longer part of Ukraine. Why would you doubt their agenda in Ukraine, given their troops, weapons, and aircraft are already in Ukraine?Chronos said:Russia had an obvious interest in securing their black sea naval base in Crimea. I seriously doubt they have any other hidden agenda in Ukraine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbigniew_Brzezinski , link 7 is unavailable in US.The Second World War had a profound effect on Brzezinski, who stated in an interview: "The extraordinary violence that was perpetrated against Poland did affect my perception of the world, and made me much more sensitive to the fact that a great deal of world politics is a fundamental struggle."[7]
I pointed out previously how this mis-characterized Afghan history. The Soviets, unopposed, destroyed Afghanistan as a nation, bringing in the foreigner Arabs all before the US was substantially involved.nsaspook said:I don't want to go too far off topic but Brzezinski was then and is now deeply involved our policy with what is now Russia.
Then:
What we saw then was the difference in NSA (national security adviser) and State/CIA on the policy of Russia. (Zbigniew Brzezinski vs Cyrus Vance/Turner)
* 1966-68 - Member of the Policy Planning Council of the Department of State
* 1968 - Hubert H. Humphrey presidential campaign, chairman of the Foreign Policy Task Force
* 1973-76 - Trilateral Commission, Director
* 1976 - James Earl Carter, Jr. presidential campaign, foreign policy advisor
* 1977-80 - James Earl Carter's NSA (national security adviser)
* 1985 - Ronald Reagan's Chemical Warfare Commission , member
* 1987-88 - NSC-Defense Department Commission on Integrated Long-Term Strategy, member
* 1988 - George H. W. Bush National Security Advisory Task Force, member
* 1987-89 - President Reagan's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, member
http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/episode-17/brzezinski2.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone#The_program
Brzezinski gives his view of the limits of the July finding support and his views about our actions during the 80's.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGjAsQJh7OM&feature=relmfu
Now:
...
So what is the end-game for such a strategy, a completely destroyed country like Afghanistan after a 30+ years of fighting?
We need to deescalate the level of violence even if it means in the short term total Russian control of the area to regain stability.
...now deeply involved our policy with what is now Russia
jim hardy said:...wars are thought up by old men for young men to fight.
I certainly hope he was influenced by first hand experience of the Nazis. You?As much as i respect Brzezinski's intellect i cannot help thinking he was profoundly influenced by his childhood.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbigniew_Brzezinski , link 7 is unavailable in US.
Interesting comparison. Kennedy and Kruschev both had first hand experience with World War II, and that missile swap came after a blockade of Cuba, which is a defacto declaration of war, overflights of Cuba by US aircraft, and strong not-going-to-stand public declarations by the US government.Kennedy and Kruschev worked out a missile swap.
... surely grown men can do better than a "Lord of the Flies" ending to this one.
mheslep said:Re Brzezinski, when he say's "he told the President" *before the invasion* in '79, he is talking about Carter. Now how much did Carter do militarily in Afghanistan? After he and Carter, left office, what more can he do but talk?
Thank goodness for that.He doesn't make policy.
mheslep said:Does it matter?
Khan's party, the PDPA, was unquestionably communist.
http://books.google.com/books?id=sZn7q85rWlUC&pg=PA106#v=onepage&q&f=false
mheslep said:I pointed out previously how this mis-characterized Afghan history.
The Soviets, unopposed, destroyed Afghanistan as a nation, bringing in the foreigner Arabs all before the US was substantially involved.
Khan? I did not.voko said:If it does not, why did you bring it up?