Just like every generation gets their own quagmire, every generation gets their own Ollie North:
The CIA is working to arm Kurdish forces with the aim of fomenting a popular uprising in Iran, multiple people familiar with the plan told CNN.
The Trump administration has been in active discussions with Iranian opposition groups and Kurdish leaders in Iraq about providing them with military support, the sources said.
Iranian Kurdish armed groups have thousands of forces operating along the Iraq-Iran border, primarily in Iraq’s Kurdistan region. Several of the groups have released public statements since the beginning of the war hinting at imminent action and urging Iranian military forces to defect. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been striking Kurdish groups and said on Tuesday that it targeted Kurdish forces with dozens of drones.
I wonder how Erdogan feels about this or if he even knew? I am sure this will end fabulously and none of those weapons will slip into the wrong hands and end up being used against us because nothing like that has ever happened before.
The names of four of the first six dead American military members have been released:
The Defense Department has identified four of the six service members who were killed over the weekend by an Iranian attack. All four Reserve soldiers were assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command, based out of Des Moines, Iowa.
Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; and Sgt. Declan J. Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, Iowa, were killed on March 1 in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait by an Iranian drone attack, defense officials announced on Tuesday.
The names of the other two service members killed in the attack have not yet been released.
“We honor our fallen Heroes, who served fearlessly and selflessly in defense of our nation,” Lt. Gen. Robert Harter, Chief of Army Reserve and Commanding General U.S. Army Reserve Command, said in a statement. “Their sacrifice, and the sacrifices of their families, will never be forgotten.”
Killed in a retaliatory drone strike while Trump was partying with billionaires at Mar-a-lago. They won’t be the last. We will be paying a price for this war for a long time to come.
The pathetic piece of shit Noem was in front of the Senate today being grilled, and there were some heated exchanges and she didn’t remember or didn’t know about apparently everything that has happened underneath to and include things she herself said:
When pressed by Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, about why Noem labeled Alex Pretti, who was shot and killed by federal law enforcement in Minneapolis in January, a domestic terrorist without evidence, she would not admit she was wrong.
You can watch the whole Durbin line of questioning here– she’s just garbage and Durbin is too polite. I am just so instantly repulsed whenever I see any of these fucking people. The Tillis grilling is pretty fun to watch:
In other ICE news:
Support for abolishing ICE has hit a new high in this week’s Economist / YouGov poll. Half (50%) of Americans now somewhat or strongly support abolishing ICE. Only 39% oppose abolishing the agency.
This marks the first time support has reached 50% in YouGov polling. Support for abolishing ICE has been steadily growing since January. At the same time, opposition to abolishing ICE has fallen since the start of the year, and now sits at an all-time low.
And in one last piece of ICE news, in North Carolina last year, a Democrat defected to the Republicans on a pro-Ice vote, and she is currently just being destroyed in her primary today, as are several other Dems who were voting with the Republicans.
Wow: In the early vote, it's a blow-out *so far*.
Rodney Sadler, the progessive pastor and activist, leads state Representative Carla Cunningham 75% to 18%.
(Stay tuned as we see how the Election Day vote compares, but that's an ominous start for the incumbent.)
Context:
— Taniel (@taniel.bsky.social) March 3, 2026 at 6:40 PM
So it could be a really big night in NC, and that jackass Republican Dan Crenshaw is being nuked into orbit by a Trump MAGA loser in his primary. They both vote the same way on all the important shit, so I am much happier with a frothing lunatic in the seat than someone the media can give a shiny patina to. Fuck off, Crenshaw, you smarmy shit.
Behold, dinner:
My new dinner hyper fixation (3 out of the last four dinners) has been a massive bowl of tabouli with feta on top with a grilled chicken breast and some castletrevano olives
— Cake or Death (@johngcole.bsky.social) March 3, 2026 at 7:23 PM
I’m off to relax. Be cool.
Texas Primary Results – This Should Be Interesting! (and NC!)
Suzanne
Castelvetrano.
Man, I love tabbouleh. I make it a lot in the summer, when I want cold food. Sometimes I make it with riced cauliflower instead of the bulgur wheat.
lowtechcyclist
Dinner looks yummy!
Gin & Tonic
Feta and olives are two things I just cannot abide. I guess it’s good I’m not Greek.
lowtechcyclist
The local American Legion post, which I drive by several times each week, has had a big sign out front for years that reads, “August 26, 2021 – Never Forget” with 13 flags, one for each soldier that got killed in the Afghanistan withdrawal that day.
Apparently those are the only military deaths in this century that matter to them. Can’t imagine why just those. //
I’m tempted to call them up and tell them it’s time to order some more flags.
Chetan Murthy
@Suzanne: I have loved me some tabbouleh at various points. But it seems complicated to make, and I don’t get takeout often …..
I’d love to find a good recipe that seems easy-peasy.
ETA: and I must confess that I have a somewhat sneering attitude towards parsley (b/c seems so lacking in flavor) and that probably causes me to discount tabbouleh, also.
Westyny
Now I’m hungry. And I just ate.
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
This is after hanging Kurds in Syria and Turkiye out to dry in the face of Assad’s purges and Turkish ethnic cleansing, and blocking Afghan asylum seekers – Afghans and Kurds, people who had worked with US military with assurances they would be evscuated – from emigrating to the US, right? Does anyone in this maladministration actually believe there are any Kurds left who would believe their promises?
dww4
@lowtechcyclist: You absolutely should.
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
Fair epitaph for the entire United States, if not the entire Western world order.
Balconesfault
“I am much happier with a frothing lunatic in the seat than someone the media can give a shiny patina to.”
Exactly why I’m rooting for Paxton to defeat Cornyn after a bruising GOP Senate runoff in Texas.
Chetan Murthy
@Balconesfault: At the end of the day, they’ll [Paxton, Cornyn] vote the same when it matters. Paxton gives a better chance of beating him.
Jackie
I just moved to Winter Haven. Outside of family and my grandkiddo’s soccer community, I don’t know anyone here, yet. But it’s a smallish community, so Capt. Khork‘s death will undoubtedly roil Winter Haven. It was jarring to me, so I can only imagine how locals will react. :-(
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
@lowtechcyclist: Democrats kill people. Republicans demand noble sacrifices.
/s
Wombat Probability Cloud
Where is Eugene Hasenfus when we need him? Stupid repeating itself. Thanks for the food images, very calming, and I hope your relationship with the new pup continues to grow positively. We have a 50% American Akita rescue who, fortunately, bonded with us instantly but had that not been the case it would have been a chore.
Balconesfault
@lowtechcyclist: ” “August 26, 2021 – Never Forget” with 13 flags, one for each soldier that got killed in the Afghanistan withdrawal that day.”
Yeah, today when Americans have been trapped in the Middle East with no warning and no support from our government I’ve been thinking of how much shit Biden got when he’d been warning Americans to get out of Afghanistan for months.
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
@Balconesfault: Let’s not forget that Biden was dealing with a withdrawal agreement “negotiated” by his predecessor, an agreement with the very Taliban who had been the problem back in 2001 to begin with.
Suzanne
@Chetan Murthy: It’s a lot of chopping, which is annoying. But just amazing.
A similar salad that I’ve been making in recent months is this “Jennifer Aniston Salad”. Dumb name, great salad.
FOR THE LEMON DRESSING:
Directions
FOR THE LEMON DRESSING:
FOR THE SALAD:
Add chicken or vegetable stock to a small saucepan over high heat then bring to a boil. Add quinoa then turn heat down to low, place a lid on top, and simmer until quinoa is tender and broth has been absorbed, 12-15 minutes. Fluff cooked quinoa with a fork then scoop into a storage container or large mixing bowl to cool. Once cool, cover then refrigerate until chilled. Can be made a day or two ahead of time.
Add chilled quinoa to a large mixing bowl then add remaining salad ingredients. Drizzle with desired amount of dressing (do not need to use all if you don’t want to!) then toss to combine and serve, or refrigerate for up to 3 days.
Chetan Murthy
@Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq): And the Taliban were actually quite cooperative, worked well with our military to facilitate the withdrawal (b/c they knew which side their bread was buttered on); it was the nutters (who made the Taliban look like well-mannered office workers) who did the dirty deed.
Chetan Murthy
@Suzanne: Thank you! I’ll try it!
Gvg
I am sure the Kurds will take the weapons without trusting us worth a damn. That’s Ok really, sigh. Damn so many messes to cleanup.
I remember thinking we had busted Iraq but owed them a chance to fix things and couldn’t just pull out as soon as we realized, and then realizing even that wasn’t helping. Now we are messing with Iran which was already on the verge of collapse. We could have just let it crumble like the USSR and not been who they blamed, but no. I thought when we get control we should just get out and tell them we were trying to fix ourselves…..but then I wondered who else would try to mess with them? How could we keep others from encouraging chaos? But we can’t. We don’t know enough as we have proven.
Princess
I see Dan Crenshaw is about to lose his primary race in Texas. Does anyone know why? I’m kind of surprised.
different-church-lady
@Princess: Not crazy enough.
laura
I’m more of a fatoush gal myself because I prefer the crisp snap of a jagged heap of toasted pitas tossed at the end of a big Levant salad. Get yourself a pomegranate syrup/vinegar- it will rock your world and ruin you. You’ll not regret it.
Princess
@different-church-lady: That tracks.
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: I am greek, half at least, and I LOVE olives but i HATE feta cheese.
:: shudder ::
WaterGirl
@lowtechcyclist: Please please please call them and say that, and report back!
Jackie
@Princess: Not hateful MAGA enough.
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
@Princess: Is There ever going to be a point where the GQP gets crazy enough to lose votes?
WaterGirl
The 3rd Republican for Senate is holding steady at 13%. I love that.
YY_Sima Qian
Fomenting sectarian civil war in Iran, expanding the geographic scope of the regional war, what could possibly go wrong?
The Kurds are only the 3rd largest ethnic group in Iran at < 10%, they appear to be very concentrated geographically. If some of them take up arms, it will likely be to achieve de facto or de jure independence from Tehran, not overthrowing the regime in Tehran, at least not lead that effort.
Supposedly Israel & the US have also been looking to foment rebellion by the Azeris & the Baluchs. Brilliant! We will have a free for all where Türkiye & Azerbaijan intervene in favor of the Azeris, Türkiye intervening against the Kurds, Syrian Kurds fighting in Iran after having been used & tossed by the US, Pakistan intervening against the Baluchs (because it faces violent Balochi separatism in Balochistan), Israel funding the likes of the MEK, & all the while Israel & the US dropping bombs left & right. Who knows what the GCC states will do. & the IRGCs & the Islamist regime desperate fighting anyone & everyone trying to survive.
Not sure Erbil, or anyone, really wants in on this mess.
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
@YY_Sima Qian: And that is likely the Pollyanna interpretation of what is about to happen there.
Chetan Murthy
@YY_Sima Qian: There is -one- regional geopolitical actor who would believe they benefit from all of what you describe. And it ain’t the US.
Matt McIrvin
Could be worse… you could be having sparkling borscht
youtube.com/shorts/PtSEs08NV2A?si=_dkJhWtHV6ekarhJ
Josie
@WaterGirl:
If you are referring to the Texas R Senate race, the third candidate is Wesley Hunt. He is currently my representative and is as crazy MAGA as Paxton. His voters (if they vote in the runoff) will definitely move to Paxton and Cornyn will not have a chance.
Chetan Murthy
@Matt McIrvin: Ohhhhh ohhhhhh ohhhhhhhh ….. I’ve never had “sparkling borscht”, but IIUC, there’s something called “kvass” that’s …. beet soup that’s been fermented. Or maybe beet juice. Or something like that. I’d really like to try it, sigh. You can’t even get good borscht here in SF, sigh.
The recipe sounds like something a corporate weasel came up with, as a way to sell …. the various canned goods.
YY_Sima Qian
@Chetan Murthy: Yeah, just far enough removed.
I’ve been hearing noises from the more deranged Israeli militarists claiming Erdoğan & Türkiye to be the new dire threat to Israel, poised to replace the teetering ISI. Probably sh*tposters on X for the time being.
Israel is never not under siege, I guess.
Chetan Murthy
@YY_Sima Qian: I’m no historian, but I -do- wonder about what it says about an imperial power, when instead of it -using- its clients, it is -used by- its clients. I wonder what historical precedents there are for this, and what it portends.
frosty
@WaterGirl: I am 0% Greek and I love any kind of olives and feta cheese. When we were in Andalucia last fall we went to an olive oil tasting and before we left we bought a vacuum-pack of a dozen different kinds at a market in Malaga to bring back home.
Belafon
Because we’re not doing enough, we’re now launching operations against Ecuador:
nytimes.com/2026/03/03/us/politics/us-ecuador-trump-military-operations.html?campaign_id=60&emc…
YY_Sima Qian
Iran badly damaged a very expensive early radar in Qatar in the 1st day of the war (sat photo through the link to the X post):
Iran has also just struck the CIA station in Riyadh, & the US Consulate in Dubai.
In other news, it was a Kuwaiti Air Force F/A-18 that fired upon & shot down 3 unsuspecting USAF F-15Es in a matter of minutes. Some friendly fire!
& some people have been agitating for the GCC states to join the fray against Iran. Planes from 6 more air forces, w/ their stirling reputations, wading into air spaces already congested w/ Israeli & US aircraft & projectiles, who have no experience operating alongside the IDF. What could possibly go wrong wrong?
M31
@WaterGirl:
lol my Greek grandfather liked feta but didn’t like olives
YY_Sima Qian
@Chetan Murthy: Funny you say that:
Wise words to ponder on.
Did not know about this detail.
YY_Sima Qian
@Chetan Murthy:
@YY_Sima Qian:
It’s a dilemma for hegemons for as long as there have been hegemons.
The proximate cause for the Peloponnesian War was a case of tails (Corcyra & Corthin) wagging dogs (Athens & Sparta).
Chetan Murthy
Whoa! Whoa! -You- might say so, but I couldn’t possibly comment! I was just speculating about a hypothesis I know I don’t know nothing it’s just a damn mess is all.
*grin
Josie
The Texas Supreme Court just invalidated the late votes in the Dallas area.
ETA: Paxton appealed the lower court decision to extend voting hours.
Another Scott
@Gin & Tonic: My father was 1/2 Greek. He loved black and green olives.
My brother only likes green olives.
I only like black olives.
People are weird. ;-)
Best wishes,
Scott.
hells littlest angel
If you don’t believe olives are a fruit, try some castelvetranos. Mwah!
Jackie
@Josie: GRRRR! Paxton is doing FFOTUS’s stealing the election for him. He’s also buying FFOTUS’s endorsement.
Josie
@Josie: Supposedly they temporarily blocked those votes and asked that they be separated from the votes of people who were in line at 7:00. So it’s not a final decision. I don’t know where it goes from here.
YY_Sima Qian
Not sure I trust any poll associated w/ CBS these days, Bari Weiss might be trying to manufacture consent to Trump’s reckless adventure:
If true, that means most Americans (including a lot of Dems) are A OK w/ pointless, unconstitutional, illegal, & ill-advised wars that destabilize entire regions & kill a lot of foreigners, as long as such wars do not last very long & thus do not immediately inconvenience their lives in obvious ways.
As cynical as I can be, I don’t think such a high percentage of Americans support such a war even if it is short, certainly not the percentage of Dems the above numbers would imply.
Jackie
@Josie: Clusterfuck ordered by FFOTUS. Now we have a preview of how he plans to steal the midterms.
kalakal
@Chetan Murthy:
One power the client state has is to threaten to collapse. If the Imperial power has gotten itself into the position that the collapse of the client would lead to sufficent loss of prestige and/or percieved strategic needs, both military or of resources the imperial power finds itself having to commit more and more resources to maintain the client regardless of the faults of the client, eg corruption, domestic repression, disputes with neighbouring states that, in a neutral country would not be supported. An example would be South Vietnam where the US found itself propping up a series of hopelessly corrupt regiemes which were impervious to US attempts at reform, pouring in huge amounts of military and financial resources because of the ‘Domino Theory’ and the wider context of the Cold War. It even led to American military action in adjacent countries
Chetan Murthy
It’s an OT, and I don’t want to post on Adam’s Ukraine thread, so …. theguardian.com/politics/2026/mar/03/half-reform-voters-believe-non-white-british-citizens-forced-en…
Holey moley! Talk about try-hard pick-me I’m-one-of-the-good-ones! Damn! And for <chef’s kiss>: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Kisin
YY_Sima Qian
The idiocracy knows no bounds:
The historical context for “unleash Chiang”, apparently a John Birch Society slogan:
Chiang Kai-shek was a notorious right wing hard authoritarian ruling a Fascist-Leninst regime (& a staunch Chinese nationalist w/ a small “n”).
Chetan Murthy
@YY_Sima Qian: For more hilarity: politico.com/magazine/story/2015/01/jeb-bush-marco-rubio-relationship-114308/
[ok, ok, lolsob really]
kalakal
@YY_Sima Qian:
My mind literally boggled when I read that. It’s not even wrong
Matt McIrvin
@YY_Sima Qian: Jeb Bush loved to say that for some reason. I’m not even sure he knew the phrase originally referred to Chiang Kai-shek (probably got it from his dad, who surely did know). Rubio probably absorbed it from hanging around Jeb.
Jackie
More voting updates from Texas: Colin Allred is leading his congressional primary race challenge against the incumbent, and Gonzales is leading – not by much – his primary challenger, which proves infidelity and causing his lover to commit suicide isn’t a scandal – if you’re a republican.
Chetan R Murthy
@Matt McIrvin: I remember reading about some campaign event in 2015 where Jeb -indeed- made that …. statement, including wielding the sword and all. I think you’re right that he got it from his Pappy, and never actually understood what it meant. What a putz.
ETA: even the -respectable- Republicans are such unutterable imbeciles.
Jackie
Upset in N Carolina:
Enhanced Voting Techninques
It is amusing how the American conservatives ignore Chiang Kai-shek communist ties.
Melancholy Jaques
@lowtechcyclist:
A “christian” coffee shop in my area (SW Riverside County CA) had a display with 13 flags, never forget, something something Jesus on a table next to the cash register.
You see, when a Democrat is president, every military death is their personal responsibility. Our troops can go into hostile countries, kill people, and blow shit up, but they are not supposed to die. But when a Republican is president, those deaths are caused by people who hate America, freedom, and Jesus. Only thye are to blame.
Shorter: Those are just really fucked up people.
YY_Sima Qian
@Enhanced Voting Techninques: Well, he inherited those ties from Sun Yan-sen, & couldn’t wait to betray the Communists as soon as he took power. I think he always admired Hitler more.
The Leninist party structure survived the purge of Communists, suspected Communists, & Leftists from Nationalist ranks, to this day (the KMT on Taiwan, & heavily influenced how the DPP opposition is organized), but also largely hollowed out. It was the Communists & Leftists who had expertise in mass mobilization (especially in rural areas where the vast majority of Chinese population lived), not the liberals & Rightists.
This deficit became apparent during the 2nd Sino-Japanese War, as the KMT/Nationalists proved inept at mobilizing the peasantry to contest Japanese control of the countryside, behind the nominal front lines, while the CPC generally thrived after surviving some early challenges. The deficit proved decisive during the 2nd Chinese Civil War, which resulted in Chiang fleeing to Taiwan.
YY_Sima Qian
@Chetan Murthy: Thanks for the link! I never knew any of this until today!
Leave it to the “smart” Bush progeny to confuse “Chiang” & “Chang”.
Sister Golden Bear
@YY_Sima Qian: Let’s just say the CBS poll is an…. outlier… compared to all the other polls I’ve seen that show Americans strongly against the war, e.g.
Don’t remember which poll it was, but I believe it showed only 27% —yes it’s that number—supported the war.
prostratedragon
@Suzanne: “It’s a lot of chopping”
Exactly my first thought. A lot. But pretty easy otherwise, and needs no exotic ingredients; better with Italian parsley — the flat kind — and a little fresh mint. I like to spoon it over halved cocktail tomatoes with lemon and olive oil.
YY_Sima Qian
@Sister Golden Bear: Yeah, these are the numbers I have seen elsewhere.
Must be the way the CBS/YouGov poll is structured, & the leading questions we don’t see.
gwangung
@YY_Sima Qian: There’s also the statistical FACT that 5% of all survey results are crap (it’s built into the statistics that there are going to be outliers).
wjca
Kind of appalling that 40% of the population think Trump has ever had anything resembling a plan. For anything.
A couple of generalities (e.g. “racism will sell in this election”), sure. But never a plan anywhere in evidence.
rikyrah
@Gin & Tonic:
Right with you about feta
prostratedragon
Midnight in Chicago
cain
@YY_Sima Qian: I prefer to use the term “Sholay Them!”
Jay
@YY_Sima Qian:
The KMT’s reliance on Warlords, was not going to “rouse” rural folk.
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
@Belafon: Only an idiot would fight a war on two fronts. Only the heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Idiots would fight a war on twelve fronts.
/Londo Mollari
YY_Sima Qian
@Jay: Chiang’s gutted the KMT’s own party building & disciplinary capabilities w/ the broad purges in 1927, so the KMT itself was weakened & its ability to absorb the warlord factions undermined.
Of course, the expressed goal of the CPC & Comintern for the coalition w/ the KMT was to eventually subvert & take over the KMT. CPC members joined the KMT & held dual party memberships. Subverted from w/in was not Sun’s end game for the alliance, & Chiang was not wholly paranoid about the potential threat of the Communists. However, Chiang’s massacre of Communists & Leftists came too early (before defeating the warlords, so he had to accept nominal allegiance in order to “unify” the ROC), & conducted far too broadly (as I discussed above). The suddenness & brutality of the purges alienated many w/in KMT ranks, & liberals/moderates outside of it.
Many KMT commanders who had been on good terms w/ their Communists subordinates, &/or held Communist/Leftist sympathies themselves, purged Communists/Leftists from their ranks per Chiang’s instruction, but allowed them to leave safely. Some disaffected KMT members became secret CPC members, others were secret CPC members who lost contact w/ the Party for decades but never betrayed the cause until reestablishing contact at the end of WW II. They became spies from high w/in the KMT ranks, & would play pivotal roles in the Communist victory in the 2nd Chinese Civil War.
Still, when the CPC launched their own armed uprisings later in 1927, few sympathizers that remained among the KMT ranks joined in, the overwhelming opinion was that the cause was hopeless. The CPC overcame extraordinary adversity & odds throughout its 2+ decades long revolutionary struggle, surviving multiple near death experiences, including the unforgiving forge that was the Long March (where only 1 out 10 made to the end).
I think this formative experience gave the CPC a resilience, adaptability, pragmatism & conservative (Mao’s disastrous utopianism notwithstanding & indeed reinforcing) that set it apart from other Communist Parties whose victories came relatively quickly (as in the USSR), or were handed to them by foreign benefactors (as in Eastern Europe). The 1st gen revolutionary elders such as Deng never lost their faith in the CPC the only possible vessel through which to achieve national rejuvenation, despite their harrowing persecution during the Cultural Revolution, & such faith has continued among some of the 2nd generation such as Xi.
The Vietnamese Communist Party had a broadly similar formative experience (w/ abundant support from the CPC, as well), & that is why the VCP & the CPC are ideologically simpatico, & the Party-Party relationship serves as ballast in the overall Sino-Vietnamese relationship, against the rivaling nationalisms & remaining maritime territorial disputes.
prostratedragon
Scrolled past this several times before finally reading the caption.
Odie Hugh Manatee
Finally clicked on your bsky link and followed ya! Slacker I am but hey, that’s just me.
My brain is turning to mush as there is so much shit hitting the fan right now. Toddler Prez has pretty much broken everything and now he is hard at work blowing the rest up and getting people to kill each other all around the world.
We were worried about Russia or some other enemy and all the while it was the enemy within.
Our political system does not work and really never has. It could be made to work if we had a civil society but that’s out the window…
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@YY_Sima Qian: Could be people are saying we support ending it NOW, if not NOW then soon, if not soon it’s really going to suck.
Baud
Baud
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
Yeah, that poll is weirdly worded. “I disapprove of the war lasting a short time as opposed to a long time.” I don’t think so. Seems more like propaganda. It gives the administration a talking point. (Like how Dick Cheney used Judith Miller and the NYT.)
Baud
Baud
prostratedragon
Comments close March 19, with no public meetings scheduled:
From the substack:
One wonders what is it that people who believe the US is preparing Armageddon expect to get from destroying nature now.
NotMax
@YY_Sima Qian
The Hawaii connection to the Chinese revolution is strong.
Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Park on Maui.
Jackie
Hegseth on tv comparing the Epstein War to an NFL game.
Paul in KY
@Princess: The cool eye patch only gets you so far…
YY_Sima Qian
@NotMax: Yep, Sun Yat-sen & his revolutionary organization received tremendous support from the Chinese diaspora in SE Asia, Hawaii & the US, as well as sympathetic individuals & groups in Japan.
Around the turn of the 20th century was a time when there were many Japanese radial-liberals who held sincere beliefs about working w/ other Asian peoples to liberate E/SE Asia from European & American domination/colonization, & that started from China as the central mass of E/SE Asia.
Mind you, such pan-Asian solidarity liberals/republicans always had to contend w/ the stronger & darker forces in Imperial Japan, staring from the Meiji Reformation. While they were backing Sun’s attempts at revolution in China, Imperial Japan was in the process of brutally subjugating the Korean Peninsula & Taiwan, carrying out wanton massacres n a regular basis.
Overtime, the unrestrained racial supremacists/militarists/imperialists came to dominate Japanese politics, & by the 1926 the last hopes for republicanism/constitutionalism in Japan petered out w/ the end of the Taishō Democracy.
Paul in KY
@YY_Sima Qian: When Joe Stalin is your voice of reason…
Paul in KY
@YY_Sima Qian: IMO, Chiang Kai-shek was a loser, weirdo who was manipulated all the time by his wife.
It tracks then that the John Birch Society and other whack jobs would ‘revere’ him.
YY_Sima Qian
@Paul in KY: Chiang was a shrewd & ruthless operator in seizing & consolidating control over the KMT, & in corralling the numerous warlords into nominal allegiance to the ROC (but he had to concede a lot of autonomy to do so). He then effectively neutered many of these independent warlords during the Sino-Japanese War & the early parts of the 2nd Chinese Civil War. This allowed him to further consolidate his control over most of the ROC, but at the cost of creating significant disaffection among the forces that once belonged to these deposed or neutered warlords. The bill came due through course of the 2nd Chinese Civil War, in the form of low morale among the former warlord forces, atrocious coordination in operations against the Communist forces, & increasing defections.
During the Northern Expedition against the northern warlords in the 1st Chinese Civil War, Chiang was a capable tactical & operation commander. However, at the strategic level, during the Sino-Japanese War & the 2nd Chinese Civil War, he proved impulsive, paranoid, stubborn, myopic, & prone to micromanaging. The detrimental impact he had on the KMT forces during the 2nd Chinese Civil War was on par w/ that of Hitler on the Wehrmacht in the latter parts of WW II,
Paul in KY
@YY_Sima Qian: Thank you for giving me a more nuanced view of him.
WTFGhost
@lowtechcyclist: More than anything, they should understand that Trump left our people out to dry in Afghanistan, deliberately setting troop levels below that needed for force protection.
It turns out that the military planners knew what they were talking about – more “warriors” present might have saved lives.
So for me, yeah, I’ll never forget, but I won’t let someone stick a ring in my nose and tell me I have to blame the wrong person as perp!