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US left Bagram Airbase at night with no notice, Afghan commander says

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One Afghan soldier by the name of Naematullah told the AP the Americans had “lost all the good will of 20 years by leaving the way they did, in the night, without telling the Afghan soldiers who were outside patrolling the area.” Switching off the lights suddenly was “like a signal to the looters,” Raouf agreed

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https://visionnewspapers.com/20-years-not-even-a-note-us-left-bagram-a
ir-base-in-middle-of-the-night-without-telling-new-afghan-commander-reports/


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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

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I'll never forget Rumsfeld saying, in beating the drum for an invasion of Iraq,
https://www.gatorcountry.com/swampgas/threads/donald-rumsfeld-dead-at-
88.506613/page-2
"He has weapons of mass destruction and we know where they are."

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I remember warning my conservative friends and family circa 2002
https://www.tigerdroppings.com/rant/politics/i-remember-warning-my-con
servative-friends-and-family-circa-2002/97081401/
That the surveillance state the warmongering Neocons Bush/Cheney were setting up would eventually be turned on conservatives.

They sneered and snickered at me “you sound like a liberal! What are you one them conspiracy theorists? That’s just to catch them goat herders”

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Rumsfeld died ...
https://www.snipershide.com/shooting/threads/donald-rumsfeld-died.7084
477/
Never met a war he didnt love.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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Donald Rumsfeld Tore My Country Apart

By Rasha Al Aqeedi
Ms. Al Aqeedi, a commentator on Middle Eastern geopolitics and contemporary Iraqi politics and society, is the head of the Nonstate Actors program at the Newlines Institute.

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:

Maybe this ...

City, University of London Institutional Repository
The goal is not democracy, it is instead serving its own economic interests and stability. (Robinson)
https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/23278/1/Nouri%2C%20Bamo.pdf

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Other than that, searching with Gibiru under +Rumsfeld eulogy got me this "Now that's some strange stuff. We got nothin. Perhaps try something a bit less esoteric." Apparently nobody eulogized him. Sure. And I have a few bridges to sell.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
That vision of Rumsfeld's funeral was just ... eeeww. But no worse than the man himself.

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Too bad there are many more like him still warming chairs in the Administration (ANY administration) and on CNN/MSNBC etc.

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Nord Stream 2 ‘Deal’ Is Not an American Concession, It’s Admission of Defeat
July 23, 2021

All in all, Washington’s virtue-signaling is one helluva gas!

After much arm-twisting, bullying and foghorn diplomacy towards its European allies, the United States appears to have finally given up on trying to block the giant Nord Stream 2 project with Russia. What an epic saga it has been, revealing much about American relations with Europe and Washington’s geopolitical objectives, as well as, ultimately, the historic decline in U.S. global power.

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Visualizing Asia's Slide Into A Dangerous New Ballistic Missile Race
Saturday, Jul 24, 2021 - 11:00 PM

The last couple years of military build-up and standoff between China and the United States in the South China Sea has resulted in fears of a new dangerous arms race, as smaller nations in the region rapidly bolster their defenses in order to avoid being "caught in the middle" which would result in having to be overly dependent on one side of the tensions.

A new Reuters report chronicling the growth in regional missile stockpiles says China is "mass producing its DF-26, a multipurpose weapon with a range of up to 4,000 kilometres, while the United States is developing new weapons aimed at countering Beijing in the Pacific."

This has resulted in other countries once on the sidelines now "buying or developing their own new missiles, driven by security concerns over China and a desire to reduce their reliance on the United States" - the report underscores.

"Before the decade is out, Asia will be bristling with conventional missiles that fly farther and faster, hit harder, and are more sophisticated than ever before - a stark and dangerous change from recent years, analysts, diplomats, and military officials say," the report adds.

The below map and infograph from Reuters visualizes the emerging 'Asia-Pacific missile race'...




From the report, here's a list of who has the growing arsenals and their reach in the region...

US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) plans to deploy its new long-range weapons in "highly survivable, precision-strike networks along the First Island Chain," which includes Japan, Taiwan, and other Pacific islands ringing the east coasts of China and Russia.
Japan, home to more than 54,000 U.S. troops, could host some of the new missile batteries on its Okinawan islands, but the United States would probably have to withdraw other forces... Japan has spent millions on long range air-launched weapons, and is developing a new version of a truck-mounted anti-ship missile, the Type 12, with an expected range of 1,000 kilometres.
Australia recently announced it would spend $100 billion over 20 years developing advanced missiles.
South Korea fields the most robust domestic ballistic missile program, which got a boost from a recent agreement with Washington to drop bilateral limits on its capabilities. Its Hyunmoo-4 has an 800-kilometre range, giving it a reach well inside China.
North Korea recently tested what appeared to be an improved version of its proven KN-23 missile with a 2.5-ton warhead that analysts say is aimed at besting the 2-ton warhead on the Hyunmoo-4.
Taiwan has not publicly announced a ballistic missile programme, but in December the U.S. State Department approved its request to buy dozens of American short-range ballistic missiles. Officials say Taipei is mass producing weapons and developing cruise missiles such as the Yun Feng, which could strike as far as Beijing.

David Santoro, president of the Pacific Forum, was cited in the report as forecasting that "missile proliferation will fuel suspicions, trigger arms races, increase tensions, and ultimately cause crises and even wars."

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