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I claim BS. The NYT isn't a shill for democrats or Obama.
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"Just puttin on the foil" - Jeff Hanson
“In a democracy, I realize you don’t need to talk to the top leader to know how the country feels. When I go to a dictatorship, I only have to talk to one person and that’s the dictator, because he speaks for all the people.” - Jimmy Carter -
That's not really the claim. The claim is that they're a patsy for the Pentagon, which certainly is a more viable claim (Iraq war, anyone?).
But the fact remains that these mineral deposits haven't suddenly been discovered in Afghanistan. I know for a fact that the US government has been talking to journalists about them for months, if not years. Nor have the Afghans been out of the loop; hell, I've had extended conversations with Afghan governors as well as the Minister of Mines on the topic, and I'm nobody special.
So you do have to wonder exactly why the Pentagon chose to make a big deal about something everyone knew about, and to do it at exactly the moment that they had to admit a serious setback in Kandahar (and not that long after McChrystal was quoted calling Marjah, in the aftermath of our own much-touted Operation Moshtarak, a "bleeding ulcer.") The US, but especially the Pentagon, needed a good-news story in Afghanistan after some really bad months; it looks like they delivered this one to the NYT in a nice shiny package.
And is it a good news story? We'll see, but let's note that the mineral rights will certainly be sold off to foreigners (Chinese, Canadians, Aussies), and the money paid for them will be delivered to one of the most corrupt governments on earth, in a country where millions of dollars a day is smuggled out of the country, most of it headed to Dubai."I have as much authority as the pope. I just don't have as many people who believe it." — George CarlinComment
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Unsurprised, my inner cynic smiles and nods.
Hope you're well, Rufus...Apolyton's Grim Reaper 2008, 2010 & 2011
RIP lest we forget... SG (2) and LaFayette -- Civ2 Succession Games Brothers-in-ArmsComment
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Quite true, in fact the source of all this is old Soviet geological surveys, and possibly others going all the way back to British India, which I took a discreet interest in when I was in Kabul, though the Soviets seem to have been airbrushed out of the story.Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly View PostAny views I may express here are personal and certainly do not in any way reflect the views of my employer. Tis the rising of the moon..
Look, I just don't anymore, okay?Comment
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The Rolling Stone interview that has Gen McChrystal in hot water.
A long but interesting read."I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow
"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark TwainComment
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Got it. Ignorant rubes. Well that restores my faith in the institution.Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly View Post
Also if memory serves its not so much the penagon that Risen has gotten cozy with but moreso CIA."Just puttin on the foil" - Jeff Hanson
“In a democracy, I realize you don’t need to talk to the top leader to know how the country feels. When I go to a dictatorship, I only have to talk to one person and that’s the dictator, because he speaks for all the people.” - Jimmy CarterComment
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I think that article is a thinly-veiled hit piece on McChrystal -- a prop in the ongoing policy battle inside the beltway regarding counterinsurgency capabilities and use. Counterinsurgency has been prevailing in the policy battles, so those who aren't getting their way put this article out.Originally posted by Wezil View PostThe Rolling Stone interview that has Gen McChrystal in hot water.
A long but interesting read.I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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Huh?Originally posted by DanS View Post
It was a series of interviews that McChrystal agreed to and now admits was not a good idea. You notice however he has done absolutely nothing to deny the substance of the piece."I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow
"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark TwainComment
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apparently he's offered to resign..."The Christian way has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found to be hard and left untried" - GK Chesterton.
"The most obvious predicition about the future is that it will be mostly like the past" - Alain de BottonComment
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He crossed the line imho last year when he publicly blackmailed Obama for more troops.
I can't see him surviving a second go round."I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow
"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark TwainComment
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This is just reverse racism. Obama hates white people.A lot of Republicans are not racist, but a lot of racists are Republican.Comment
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You'll notice that the incendiary stuff in the article wasn't uttered by McChrystal, but rather by his aides and advisers. Seems likely that they were mostly drunken ramblings from the time in the bar in Paris.I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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I don't hear him distancing himself from or disputing the comments.
Is it okay if his closest advisers hold such opinions themselves (much less attribute them to their boss)? Shouldn't McChrystal have a problem with that?"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow
"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark TwainComment
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Of course it's OK. They can think what they like.I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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And publicly express them."I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow
"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark TwainComment
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