Political correctness at it's worst and best.
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- Thread starter bd popeye
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Not a problem if they find another POC to replace him.
I once consider that 2020 is a unique year in which decade happens, but 2021 says hold my beer.
Harry Harris is a POC, unless they decide that Asia isn't.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
That right there is a microcosm into why modern America fails so much and so hard. First black secdef, first women VP, these people are getting those top positions primarily because of what they are rather than because of what they can do. And to be frank, Biden got in primarily because of who he wasn’t. You could put Darth Vader or whatever the latest internet famous cat/dog is on the ticket and he would probably have won with a bigger margin than Biden.
Also, it’s hilarious naive to speak of consequences when it comes to western politics. What serious consequences have any western politician ever suffered that is in any way shape or form proportional to their sins and screw ups? Even Nixon, that most universally hated and derided of US Presidents never seen the inside of a prison cell and got to live the rest of his live in luxury. That is the other major problem with western democracies - zero real or meaningful accountability for even the worst screw ups and lies no matter how much damage is caused. Once you rise above a certain level, you become immune to all consequences of your actions.
Biden and his team (Jake Sullivan, Austin Blinken et al) made a classic mistake of focusing too much on the grand strategy while neglecting the tactics
Their strategy was sound, make a strategic withdrawlal from the region in order to fully focus all the US efforts and resources towards the Indo-Pacific, containing China.
The problem was the tactics of how they went to actually implement such a strategy at the ground level in Afghanistan. They totally botched it, made a mess out of it, destoryed any (remaining) US credibility in the world, damaged US relations with NATO/EU etc.
Defence secretary Mr. Austin is especially at fault here. As a decorated and experienced general in the military he should be the first to know the difference between strategy and tactics and how easy it is for things to totally get out of control if the tactics are not thoroughly studied before implemented on the ground.
Jake Sullivan holds equal responsibility for not speaking the truth to the President and holding his ground against any hastily drawn plans.
Blinken, IMO, holds the least responsibility. It was probably his department that wisely thought about withdrawing from Afghanistan and then focusing againt China. His department wasn't responsible for the US troops withdrawal or any ground command of troops.
Their strategy was sound, make a strategic withdrawlal from the region in order to fully focus all the US efforts and resources towards the Indo-Pacific, containing China.
The problem was the tactics of how they went to actually implement such a strategy at the ground level in Afghanistan. They totally botched it, made a mess out of it, destoryed any (remaining) US credibility in the world, damaged US relations with NATO/EU etc.
Defence secretary Mr. Austin is especially at fault here. As a decorated and experienced general in the military he should be the first to know the difference between strategy and tactics and how easy it is for things to totally get out of control if the tactics are not thoroughly studied before implemented on the ground.
Jake Sullivan holds equal responsibility for not speaking the truth to the President and holding his ground against any hastily drawn plans.
Blinken, IMO, holds the least responsibility. It was probably his department that wisely thought about withdrawing from Afghanistan and then focusing againt China. His department wasn't responsible for the US troops withdrawal or any ground command of troops.
Nixon had that bad luck of getting caught what he for did. I think the worst thing he was totally immoral by the standards of even American politics is stopping negotiations with the North Vietnam between Johnson admin for the sake of his election by promising the Communists ''a better deal''. Everything else by him wasn't so bad compared to other presidents.
If anymore incidents occur, well China will be the least of his worries
Obama already moved 60 to 70 of America's naval strength towards the Pacific already. The bulk of the strength is already there. Any resources gained from Afghanistan won't affect much. However, pulling NATO operations from Afghanistan does free lot of resources for US's allies. Since they have less resources to spread around. It will enable US allies to use their resources more efficiently in IndoPacific. I think US should have hold down the fort for a few more years while their allies withdrew from Afghanistan.
It is also about freeing political, diplomatic capital while also reducing their ground forces footprint which would allow for a greater shift away from the Army on the military and towards the Airforce and Navy
Withdrawal from Afghanistan is definetely beneficial for the US. The issue is that the US totally botched and thus caused a lot of self-inflicted damage