Why You Owe the Taliban an Apology

The Taliban not only took over Afghanistan, they preserved its political institutions, restored law and order, destroyed ISIS, and even made it safe for tourism. According to CNN:

About 691 tourists visited Afghanistan in 2021, rising to 2,300 the following year and 7,000 in 2023, according to the Associated Press, citing Mohammad Saeed, head of the Tourism Directorate in Kabul. More than 10,179 have visited the country since August 2021, a spokesperson for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Tourism told CNN.

That’s a more than 1,000% increase. Think of how totally humiliating that is for the USA and NATO. The Taliban regime is literally safer for international tourists than the “western-style democracy” receiving hundreds of billions of dollars in military and humanitarian assistance.

Not only did the rules based world order get defeated by the Taliban, they’re unable to even replicate the victory elsewhere.

Apparently, designing cool flags is the only thing NATO-sponsored rebels are good at.

The CENTCOM Airstrikes Suggest Syria Is Deteriorating

Nothing good is happening from the American perspective. Even as a cynic, I am actually astonished at how fast this situation is deteriorating. Yesterday’s CENTCOM press release was basically a template. An extremely vague description of bombing “ISIS” along with a boilerplate justification and a copy/pasted quote from a general. If you ask why I’m … Read more

Will Russia Leave Syria?

Here’s a quick write-up I shared to Quora yesterday. Apparently I am the minority in this opinion and have been arguing with people about it, including Russians, funnily enough. Russia has two major bases in Syria, Tartus and Latakia. Rebel forces have control of the surrounding areas at both of these bases. They could attack … Read more

How Much Longer Does Ukraine Have?

With accelerating Russian gains in Donbass and the implied political shift accompanying Trump into office next month there is an equivalent increase in speculation about how much longer the war will last. That is a tough question so let’s quickly review what happened from the start of the SMO. First off, it is fair to … Read more