It may be cloudy today. Today should be drier and less windy. Last night was so windy I could hear it whistling through the trees and feel the house shake. (Update: it is warmer--about 45F. And nice bright sun.)
Reading today:
This piece on Responsible Statecraft. I thought, at the time, that Afghanistan was understandable though a bit of an over reaction. It was like hitting a gnat with a sledgehammer. We didn't hit the gnat--bin Laden survived until the Obama Administration. It cost more than 3X the number who died in the 9/11 attack and a couple of trillion dollars. And, as the article said, accomplished none of our nebulous goals. We blundered in without the least knowledge of the history, sociology, religion(s) or any other significant information about the country and the region. Oh, I forgot, we did know there was oil there. And, when it came to Iraq--we were lied into it. There were no "weapons of mass destruction."
I have one more disquieting thought about nebulous goals. It seems to be happening again. When the Russia started their "special military operation" (war by any other name), the support for Ukraine was somewhat muted because no one expected Ukraine to hold out against the Russians. The miraculously the Russians proved unbelievably inept and the Ukrainians proved to be the opposite managing to push the Russians back to nearly where they started. Then the goals started changing. Now Ukraine wants not only the Donbas but Crimea as well. Nebulous goals that keep getting bigger.
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