I know, right? I wake up this AM and see this shit:
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Letās see how the unmatched wisdom of Trump handles this.
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I predict a whole lot of nothing, because clearly something something Hillary, Obama, Deep State, Democrats.
Or worse yet heāll use this as an excuse to start a war in the region knowing full well that this would gain some popular support and distract from the impeachment inquiry. Since day 1 heās practically been foaming at the mouth to start a new war somewhere to sate his fragile ego.
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Not being snarky: I donāt think he cares at all.
Heās been planning to do this for years; Gen. Mattis left in protest of this plan. Trumpās stated concern is for US troops and our own land and if that causes a genocide, well, it seems he feels we shouldnāt have been there in the first place.
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Iād be interested if the 1000 or so US forces removed from Kurdish areas actually go home or are just reassigned to Afghanistan or some other place.
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They have been telegraphing this specific move for years now, so this isnāt exactly a surprise. Plus, given their history with the Kurds in Turkey whoāve been agitating for their own state for a very long time now, any Kurdish nationalist
And I kind of take exception to people seconding guessing experts who arenāt in the hard sciences. Social science might not be entirely scientific, as it involves people, but people in those fields do ACTUAL research to back up possible outcomes. These arenāt just guesses and opinions that people are going on, this is actual research in history and current political/social structures that can help guide this work. Iām getting a little sick of being told over and over again itās not as valuable as others kinds of knowledge. I know thatās not what youāre saying here, but there are plenty of people who put scare quotes around the title of experts for these kinds of fields, and the entire reason for doing so is to discredit them. Itās a more acceptable form of anti-intellectualism, I think.
To gain a strategic advantage at home, with regards to ginning up nationalist support for other policies, and to deflect deficiencies with the regime onto other groups. Itās the same old authoritarian tactics being used once again.
I do get what you mean, though. From my own point of view, it makes no sense at all. But then again, I donāt think you or I spend our days figuring out how we can profit off the misery of others, while thatās the authoritarian mindset in a nutshell.
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Given what Iāve read or heard about how those US forces feel about 1. their Kurdish allies and 2. the order to abandon them, I wouldnāt be surprised if they have āchronic transportation difficultiesā that require them to stay and stand with the Kurds. Or that they take leave and decide to vacation in Northern Syria.
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Yeah, I can see how what I wrote would bring up bad feelings about people who suggest that history (or any other field of study) isnāt meaningful because it isnāt reproducable the way physics is. Sorry.
The distinction I meant to make wasnāt physicists vs historians. It was people who do real research to come up with honest conclusions and are honest about the reliability of those conclusions vs people who inform the political consensus who likely have agendas that are more important to them than truth-telling. I drew that using the easy mental frame of a dichotomy between chemists and TV pundits. I have a genuine ambivalence about where to put intelligence officials in the model.
For me the real disconnect comes in that I think Iām actually very good at thinking of how to profit off the misery of others, and itās hard for me to understand how someone could be very good at that without that same skill allowing them to see why they shouldnāt do that. Ultimately in the prisonerās dilemma everyone should just cooperate.
But Iām reminded of the slime mold that grew into the shape of the Tokyo subway system. Authoritarians who seem to have a knack for profiting off the misery of others are probably mostly stupid as fuck.
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And I knew thatās not what you meant, too, so no hard feelings. But there is a lot of that going around. Iām not just talking about historians, either, as our job is really not predicting the future. That is much more in the field of sociologists and political scientists. Generally speaking, I find the entire line of thinking that all that happens is that people make up opinions to be coming from a wildly uninformed place, which I know youāre not.
Sure. And generally speaking, a chemist talking about chemistry vs. a rando news pundit, most people will more than likely assume the chemist has more to say on that issue than old rando. But there is far less respect given to social sciences on TV, generally speaking.
Doesnāt that depend on the intelligence official? A bureaucratic official, with no political ties to a particular administration is likely more reliable than a pure political appointee. And we still have to focus on bias there, but there are going to be different kind of biases at play - one thatās specifically politically motivated and one that is more in line with a kind of status quo mindset. None of us are free from bias, but someone who is a political appointee is just that - there to express the view point of the administration (which ever party it is). In theory at least, a bureaucratic intelligence official has long term stability with their job, and are there to serve the the system itself (pledging an oath to the constitution, etc). It really comes down to being to evaluate the individual on their own merits and accepting some level of bias, because we all have bias.
Bureaucratic intelligence officials have their own biases, of course, that we should most certainly criticize, but that comes with a larger criticism of the system itself. And some do come through in a defense of whatās right - Daniel Ellsberg is a great example of that.
Individualism is a hell of a drug? The mind set of doing whatever you need to do to get ahead and profit off any given situation is part of reinforcing the hierarchies we live within, I think. If you see everyone else as competition instead of fellow human beings, itās easy to fuck them over.
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Waiting for Republicans to finally turn on Trump after the latest betrayal and disaster:
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May I interest you in a cemetery plot?
Do you want some food and water while you wait?
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He just thinks heās a congressman, when heās really just Mr. Green Jeans, growing weed for the kiddies around him.
Looong wait there, Spanky.
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When itās going great, polls edition:
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There is a little slice of southern Turkey, that was taken from them in the armistice following WWI, when the area was divided among the British and French and new borders were drawn up - just a thin wedge. The Turks have wanted this little piece of land back ever since. Killing the Kurds is a dual windfall for them. (See SykesāPicot Agreement):
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Itās not just me, right, Jim Jordan on the left there is looking really, really tired in these TV appearances to defend Trump?
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Itās gotta be emotionally draining having your soul sucked out through your unmentionables on a daily basis by a guy who still wouldnāt piss on you if you were on fire.
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To be fair, pissing on people might be something Trump would do even if they werenāt on fire (allegedly).
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Agree on principle, because thatās you, me and a thousand and 1 mutants reading this and trying to relate. But on the level that it was those peopleās personal choice to ink a deal with Satan Himself, they get what they signed up for. So, no sympathy from me. Not even sure they had souls to begin with. I, like the rest of us, just want them all gone.
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