'Russia used to be the Soviet Union. Afghanistan made it Russia, because they went bankrupt fighting in Afghanistan. Russia. … The reason Russia was in Afghanistan was because terrorists were going into Russia. They were right to be there. The problem is, it was a tough fight. And literally they went bankrupt; they went into being called Russia again, as opposed to the Soviet Union. You know, a lot of these places you’re reading about now are no longer part of Russia, because of Afghanistan.”
So comforting he's in charged.
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Well they do say, if you think you understand Afghanistan, you don't understand Afghanistan.
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Eric Newby’s ‘ A short walk in the Hindu Kush’ is a good read. He went to do some climbing in Afghanistan in the years immediately after WW2.
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In a sense though he is right, isn't he?
It's been an accepted view that Afghanistan was Russia's Vietnam - a foreign intervention too far that bogged them down, cost too much, caused dissent at home, and in some measure contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union?
There were other causes as well of course, but for a 10-year old that's not bad?
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I somehow thought the style was familiar and then remembered “1066 and all that.!
Compare with:
“The Scots (originally Irish, but by now Scotch) were at this time inhabiting Ireland, having driven the Irish (Picts) out of Scotland; while the Picts (originally Scots) were now Irish (living in brackets) and vice versa. It is essential to keep these distinctions clearly in mind (and verce visa).”
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A good lesson from history here for Trump on the dangers of immigrants and the effectiveness of walls.
“While the Roman Empire was overrun by waves not only of Ostrogoths, Vizigoths and even Goths, but also of Vandals (who destroyed works of art) and Huns (who destroyed everything and everybody, including Goths, Ostrogoths, Vizigoths and even Vandals), Britain was attacked by waves of Picts (and, of course, Scots) who had recently learnt how to climb the wall, and of Angles, Saxons and Jutes who, landing at Thanet, soon overran the country with fire (and, of course, the sword).”
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Thu 3 Jan 19 at 10:02
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>> I somehow thought the style was familiar and then remembered “1066 and all that.!
>>
Yes, that's exactly it. More than a grain of true showing through the howlers, and with a very slightly enviable dig at the writers of real history.
Coincidentally, I am at this precise moment repairing my much-thumbed original Penguin edition which lives in the "amusing books to read in the loo" section
(Have you read Craig Brown's 1966 and All That ? Even funnier, I think.)
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>> In a sense though he is right, isn't he?
>>
>> It's been an accepted view that Afghanistan was Russia's Vietnam -
Not sure the parallel works, that vietnam caused the yanks to descend in chaos with a mad criminal dictator trying to rewrite history at the helm.
Oh Hang on.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 3 Jan 19 at 15:10
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With some relevance to the above discussions, might I recommend the following book (what I got for Christmas) on the grounds that:
it's about motoring
It's about a Great Big Adventure
It's about Trump
It tells you pretty well why those that voted Trump did so
The Author is virulently anti-Trump
It's funny - almost indistinguishable from Bryson, if you like him
www.amazon.co.uk/Another-Fine-Mess-Tim-Moore/dp/1787290298/
Last edited by: Crankcase on Thu 3 Jan 19 at 19:54
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Thanks for that info. I’ve read and reread his travel book ‘Frost on my moustache’ . I won’t give away the joke in the title. But it amused me.
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The book Prisoners of Geography is fantastic for getting the bigger picture about why Russia's relationship with Afghanistan was so fractious, along with pretty much every other unfriendly pair of countries you might care to mention.
(Spoiler: it's mainly our fault).
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Welcome back FF. How's life on the flight line?
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>> (Spoiler: it's mainly our fault).
Funnily enough, that seems to be pretty common denominator.
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>> it's about motoring
>> It's about a Great Big Adventure
>> It's about Trump
>> It tells you pretty well why those that voted Trump did so
>> The Author is virulently anti-Trump
>> It's funny - almost indistinguishable from Bryson, if you like him
>>
>>
>> www.amazon.co.uk/Another-Fine-Mess-Tim-Moore/dp/1787290298/
Well assuming its not "A torrent of glib snot." and all the other reviewers are nearer the mark, I have just bought it for my Caribbean cruise kindle list
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What an inept idiot he really is...
In his announcement, Mr Trump speaking of US Troops, said: "They're all coming back and they're coming back now."
One month later....
Trump told reporters: "We're going to be removing our troops. I never said we were doing it that quickly".
www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46775308
I wonder what he thinks of his own competence.
Last edited by: VxFan on Wed 29 Jan 20 at 10:29
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He's a grotesque bully.
Unfortunately, despite their outward friendliness, this is a trait that runs deep in very many Americans.
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I wonder what he thinks of his own competence.
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Rates it very highly I would imagine, remember he believes he's an expert in almost everything.
youtu.be/YA631bMT9g8
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>> I wonder what he thinks of his own competence.
>> >>
>>
>> Rates it very highly I would imagine, remember he believes he's an expert in almost
>> everything.
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>> youtu.be/YA631bMT9g8
>>
The man is a textbook Narcissistic Personality Disorder sufferer, and is clearly mentally unwell.
Excessive self admiration and unrealistic claims of achievement, demands praise and adoration from people, and reacts with anger and personal insults when he doesn't get it. Clearly believes he's specially gifted and unique (the video above is a perfect illustration), and has no regard whatsoever for the feelings of other people. He demonstrates on a near daily basis a willingness to mock, personally insult or publicly humiliate and discredit people, including former close aides and friends, if he thinks it furthers his agenda, or makes him look strong to his followers. Then you have the endless trolling and other nonsense over Twitter, which can only be rationally explained by his constant need for attention.
I don't actually dislike him. The man is genuinely mentally ill, IMO.
Last edited by: DP on Mon 7 Jan 19 at 08:33
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In terms of the Presidential "approval rating" (incidentally, you can ask Alexa for that number, as it's updated regularly), Trump floats about at 40. If you look at previous Presidents, whilst it's clear his best figure is lower than all the others, his worst figure is still better than a number of previous Presidents.
Of course, this takes no account of, for example, previous Presidents having a blip for a particular crisis, whilst Trump's are consistent, but anyway, that's numbers for you.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_approval_rating
Last edited by: Crankcase on Mon 7 Jan 19 at 09:53
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>>
>> I don't actually dislike him. The man is genuinely mentally ill, IMO.
I think you'd dislike him if you were dealing with him yourself.
I had the experience of trying to engage with a person who behaved in what seemed to be a remarkably similar way to Trump. Fortunately she was/is not a position to damage the entire world.
Truth changed for her. She would deny having said things, and claimed to have a different recollection. It was not unusual for her to lie even when she must have known she was lying, and must have known that the people she was lying to, knew it too. If it went unchallenged, it was as good as the truth after that.
I could give some stunning examples of barefaced dishonest dealing but they would identify her.
The funny thing was, she had her staunch supporters too. She was in a position of some responsibility and a little authority. To those who went with her flow, she was friendly and generous to a fault - often over-generous. But when her will and control-freakery was resisted, she turned nasty.
As one who very publicly challenged her fairly regularly I was told several times by members of her fan club how wrong I was and how kind and thoughtful she was.
This was before and during Trump's campaign and election. I was struck immediately by the similarity.
Malignant narcissism, I think it's called. I feel some sympathy for her now, at least until I reflect on the damage and division she caused, but I certainly didn't at the time.
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>>Truth changed for her. She would deny having said things, and claimed to have a different recollection. It was not unusual for her to lie even when she must have known she was lying, and must have known that the people she was lying to, knew it too. If it went unchallenged, it was as good as the truth after that.
I knew someone like that. Almost impossible to deal with and poisonous within a team.
Ultimately I had her dismissed. She subsequently lodged just about every complaint you can think of against me. Even named people who would confirm specific events which had never happened.
The most dangerous people are always those who believe their own fabrications.
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Trump's concise history of Afghanistan and Russia - sooty123
