34 Comments
Aug 20, 2021Liked by Michael Tracey

The amount of loud shouting and condemnation going on currently is unreal. I thought Trump was very subjectively treated, but I almost feel worse for Biden right now. Biden (for all of his many, many faults) may have made the best Presidential decision in my 30 odd years on this planet. Instead of breathing that huge sigh of relief I feel, we are witnessing just how deep the rot of the MIC runs. It's just incredible. Similar to TDS, I am astounded to see so many typically level minds off kilter on this one. Dude! We just got out of Afghanistan! We already looked like complete idiots. We should be celebrating.

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Good one. All you need to know, re: the media (my resume: Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, and freelanced for countless other magazines like The Nation and wrote op eds in USA Today, etc. 20 years) is that they can always be counted on (always and forever) to be pro-globalist, pro-corporate power, and pro-CIA/Pentagon (read: war). Doesn't matter the network. To this day, Hannity is still wearing FBI and CIA pins on his lapel...MSNBC's Brian Williams is famous for this "big beautiful bombs" commentary over Syria. The one time he was happy about Trump.

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Sorry Mike, but the withdrawal was as the Brits like to say a "massive cock up." Troops pulled out before equipment, Bagram closed down way too early, routes to the airport unsecured, the list of ineptitude goes on and on and I will criticize it as much as I like. That being said, too much of the criticism is directed at Biden. Shocking, I know, and this is coming from someone who cannot stand the guy (decades of reasons to dislike him). Biden is just an empty suit these days. He is lucky if he even remembers what decade it is and can barely even answer questions. I seriously doubt he was involved in the detailed planning of this. He just reads lies off the teleprompter and leaving Afghanistan is a decision I respect him for. No, the people I hate are our usual group of State Department and Pentagon idiots. These empty suits have been useless for decades. If they ever had to work a blue collar job the boss would be constantly yelling "YOU HAD ONE JOB!" It is their job to know things, plan things, and prepare for contingencies. Having a few contingency plans in case a country falls apart while you are leaving just seems common sense, not to mention that these idiots had MONTHS to plan for this. For me the biggest lesson of Afghanistan is that America's State Department and Pentagon is populated by useless, bipartisan, career charlatans and has been for decades.

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I think it’s too broad to say that the media loves war. I know I know. It gets em headlines at the outset. So the beginning of wars is profitable. In that regard, the tragedy and spectacle, yes they love those shock and awe moments.

But Afghanistan for progressives is a war that exported wokeness under a Biden admin, and before that it advocates simple western ideals like sexual equality. If we were to go to war for oil - which is how they protested some of the GWOT actions. Remember the commercials about how driving a (gas) car made you somehow complicit? Of course it has a lot to do with the party in power too. When Republicans go to war it’s for oil and bad. When democrats go to war it’s to save poor people (women) and gays.

I think the global media saw Afghanistan as falling into this latter category. Something Samantha Powers would have urged-on. What did we hear about from elites when Trump was considering his withdrawal? All the complaints were either, “we’re back at safe havens for terrorism” or “but what about all the females that have rights now?” The media chat was largely about the females and the generals were fear mongering about more Al Q hijacked planes crashing all over America.

But the media doesn’t care about terrorism. They care about females in Afghanistan that may lose their rights. That’s what this is about. That’s why the media is angry at Biden and this pullout. It puts women and recycling programs in Afghanistan in peril.

So saying they love war in general probably isn’t specific enough. They like the idea of going to war for - of all excuses - humanitarian reasons.

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Not only that, but I see these pics and videos of Afghanis and they're not all wearing masks! And how are we supposed to know if they're vaccinated?!

It keeps getting worse!!

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We've all got to withdraw our consent from this rotten regime, i.e. the criminal, incompetent, mass-murdering US govt. It's beyond saving.

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Thank you !!! Also -- did you see:

1. US Created Al Qaeda & $2 Trillion War In Afghanistan—Aug 19 – OUTSTANDING Summary

https://youtu.be/rxHrdicNwss

2. 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

3. Roaming Charges: When the Empire of Graveyards Falls in the Graveyard of Empires

Roaming Charges: When the Empire of Graveyards Falls in the Graveyard of Empires - CounterPunch.org

https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/08/20/roaming-charges-23/

BY Jeffrey St, Clair – Aug. 20, 2021 – IMPORTANT: This is incredibly well written !!!

I don't understand why they are not on sub-stack. And -- all the best and thank you for your work, Boris

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founding

Michael, what’s going on in Syria? MSM is silent.

What are the Russians up to?

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founding

Wow a lot of people had to die for us to return from whence we came.

Michael points out that we are being told the war was not the problem, ending the war is the problem. That might suggest we will make the same mistake again, so I ask you, who shall we destroy next?

My bet would be Iran. North Korea, maybe but that would be a tougher sell - insufficiently Muslim.

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