U.S., Afghanistan War. Taliban Ideology And Western Political Correctness

Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat its mistakes. What were the lessons from Vietnam that should have raised red flags about going full scale to war in Afghanistan as opposed to limited operations with specific objectives? What were the lessons from the Soviet war in Afghanistan that the U.S. chose to ignore? Was it arrogance that made U.S. leaders believe they could achieve what the Soviets proved could not be achieved in Afghanistan? 

Why was there a full scale invasion? What alternatives were there and why were they not pursued?  Why is there no accountability for the leaders that waged the war and for the decisions they made? This includes every president and administration from Bush to Biden. Why the full scale war to begin with, the surges, and then the complete withdrawal and abandonment?

Why has there been little challenge to the religiosity and ideology of the Taliban? What the Taliban follows does not originate with them. Wars and battles are won not only by physical battle, but by defeating the ideologies and beliefs that lead to war. What the Taliban wants, what the Taliban follows, is not limited to Afghanistan. Instead of dismissing it as some kind of rare extremism, it needs to be objectively examined and recognized that it is widespread. Countries that support the Taliban and similar harsh ideologies are not held accountable. Nazism, communism, were openly challenged by the west. The west is afraid to challenge anything that goes under the banner of religion out of political cowardice and fear of offending. 

Secular democracies are strong because of the separation of church, mosque and state. Governments ruled by religion hide their rife corruption and oppression by pretending that they speak on behalf of god. 

Theocracies, no matter the shape, form, or religion they fall under, are almost always corrupt and dysfunctional. The west has become a timid place afraid to stand up on behalf of freedom and the dignity of individuals. This includes the unaccountable social media monopolies that control and manipulate information, schools, colleges and universities that indoctrinate, and more. The Taliban was brutal to minorities, women and girls. They were even brutal to Afghanistan's past, blowing up incredibly rare Buddhist statutes. What they believe, what they follow, is widespread and growing. Instead of dismissing the Taliban as an aberration, it is time to recognize the commonality and harm of the Taliban and the other violent fanatical religious organizations and nations. 

Yahoo News, Zack Linly, Reporting or Validating Prejudice? NYPD Tase Black Man On Subway

 

An article on Yahoo News, written Friday, July 16, 2021, by Zack Linly, has the title, " NYPD Officers Swarm and Tase Black Man On Subway After Accusing Him Of Letting Someone On Without Paying Fare". 

There are videos circulating about the confrontation and arrest on a New York subway train, July 6, 2021. People can draw their own conclusions about police conduct during the incident. One thing that needs to be pointed out is that even if a person thinks they are being arrested unlawfully, it does not give them the right to resist arrest. Resisting or fighting police is not a right. It leads to nothing but the serious escalation of violence and harm.

Reporting about the incident is one thing. Using the incident to validate stereotypes about police or any profession is unprofessional to say the least. Why Yahoo News allows unfiltered opinions that are gross generalizations and stereotypes, even race baiting, to pass as news is inexcusable.

This is the year 2021. It is not 1970. It is not 1960. It is not 1950. For many decades now, large city police departments in particular have diversified greatly. Policing long ago stopped being a white man, often Irish, profession. 

Here are a few of the pearls of wisdom from the article.....

"There's always going to be a rift between Black people and police officers as long as cops believe even the slightest challenge to their authority warrants their reckless aggression and uses of force no matter how minor the original offense was." 

"As if police officers aren't always cursing and talking recklessly to civilians they see a reason to cop (pun intended) an attitude with."

He also alludes to, "fragile blue egos". Perhaps he has independently conducted psychological testing on the hundreds of thousands of cops in the United states, and the thousands in New York City.

He apparently knows what is in the minds of hundreds of thousands of cops, what it is that these hundreds of thousands of separate individuals believe, and how they improperly, in his opinion, talk to civilians. 

As with all professions, there are the good and the bad. What does stereotyping the hundreds of thousands of men and women in a profession achieve? Cherry picking incidents here and there that supposedly validate prejudices and stereotypes does not result in better policing or anything else.

Israel And The Call for Genocide

 The conflict between Israel and Arab must stop being one side takes all with no middle ground. The position that there must be no Israel condemns Israelis and Palestinian Arabs to endless war. From the river to the sea as a call for there only to be a Palestine and for Israel to be destroyed is a call for genocide. It means countless deaths, maiming, wounds and misery on all sides. 

Over one third of the world Jewish population lives in Israel. Jews that were ethnically cleansed and that fled from countries all over the middle east and North Africa and their descendants form Israel's majority population. They cannot return to such places as Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Algeria, Afghanistan, Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Iran and elsewhere where they will face certain persecution and worse. Jews that lived in British controlled Palestine were called Palestinians. They and their descendants know that Israel is the only safe place for them and the other Jews of the middle east and Africa. 

Arguments made on behalf of Palestinian Arabs also applies for the Jews from the middle east and North Africa. Some argue that Palestinian Arabs were driven out from what is now Israel, ignoring those that fled because of war, and that therefore Israel must be destroyed. Palestinian Jews were also driven out from their homes and there were massacres against them in pre-Israel British controlled Palestine. Middle east and North African Jews were ethnically cleansed and driven out from their homes across the middle east and North Africa and forced to flee to Israel, where they are now told they must leave. Unlike Palestinian Arabs, who live throughout the middle east and North Africa, Jews will be persecuted or worse if they step foot on those lands outside of Israel. Israel absorbed its Jewish refugees from the middle east and North Africa. Arab nations did not absorb Palestinian Arab refugees, with few exceptions, preferring to keep this conflict unresolved and ongoing. 

If Arab armies did not attack the newfound state of Israel in 1948, things would be very different today. Years devoted to destroying the small state of Israel from its beginning onward have only given death, misery and pain. 

The word occupation is used a lot in order to dismiss the legitimacy of Israel. Jews have always been indigenous to what is now Israel and the middle east and North Africa. There were Jewish communities and Jewish tribes living throughout the middle east, including in Jerusalem and elsewhere in what is now Israel, and in North Africa for many centuries before the rise of Islam in the 7th century and after. 

Israel did not displace a nation. Palestine was British controlled and before that Ottoman empire controlled. There never was a nation of Palestine. The majority of  what was Palestine was given to a king and is now Jordan. Arabs, not just Jews, migrated to British controlled Palestine as economic opportunities opened up, many of them created by Jewish immigrants. If the king of Jordan was a Jew, the same hatred that is directed towards Israel would be directed towards Jordan.

It is not 1948. Pretending Israel does not exist over 70 years later and seeking its destruction dooms countless people to an endless cycle of war, violence and terror. Israel is the only nation in the world whose destruction is actively pursued. Many nations in this world were built on the ethnic cleansing of their indigenous populations. Yet no one calls for these nations to be destroyed, or for people to leave and give the lands back to the indigenous populations. People that scream Jews must leave Israel because Jews are not native, which is untrue, are not willing to leave themselves from the lands on which they live that were stolen from native populations.

It is not 1948. Millions of Israelis have been born on the soil of Israel and know nothing else. There are large cities, villages, towns, farms, factories and more in a small densely populated nation. Wishing Israel does not exist and trying to make Israel not exist is not going to magically make millions of Israelis and everything built on that land disappear.

Arab and Jew share a small piece of land. They need to figure out together how to share that land without killing each other. Seeking the destruction of Israel means seeking ethnic cleansing and genocide. There has been enough of that in this world. When people say they are against Israel's existence, or against Zionists, not Jews, and want Israel destroyed, that means they are in favor of the destruction, genocide and ethnic cleansing of one third of the world's Jewish population. They absolutely are against Jews. 

If someone truly cares about Palestinian Arabs, if someone truly cares about Jews, they must want an end to this war and fighting. They must do everything they can to get the two sides to see the humanity of the other. Israeli and Palestinian Arab must figure out how to resolve this conflict, through mutual acceptance and tolerance, with steep compromises and concessions made on both sides, without more killing. 

Hamas, Islamic Jihad; The Art of Brainwashing Children, Waging War, And Never Being Held Responsible

 It is politically incorrect to treat Hamas, Islamic Jihad or any of the other organizations determined to wipe Israel off the face of the earth as responsible adults. Instead, they are pampered and treated as victims that are not responsible for any of their actions. It is based on the premise by many that Israel should not exist to begin with, therefore any act of terror and aggression against Israel is legitimate, and any response by Israel is not. 

Hamas and Islamic Jihad made the decision to shoot rockets from densely populated Gaza into densely populated Israel. They knew full well that some of the rockets would fall short and kill and wound civilians in Gaza. They knew full well that some of the rockets would not be intercepted by Israel, and that these rockets would kill and maim civilians on the Israeli side. They knew full well that Israel would respond to the rockets and that civilians in Gaza, including children, would be killed and wounded. 

Those that argue only Israel is responsible for the loss of lives in Gaza, and that hold Hamas and Islamic Jihad once again responsible for nothing, set the stage for these organizations to wage the next war that will result in more children killed and wounded. 

Hating Israel or loving Israel has to become irrelevant. Emboldening violent people and violent organizations to wage war and terror must become relevant, and seen as the evil for which it is. 

It is summer now. Hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza and on the west bank are attending summer camps where they learn warfare, killing, hating Jews, hating Israel, instead of what children should be learning and doing at summer camps. 

Israeli and Arab, including the Arabs now called Palestinian, must learn to accept one another, or at least learn to live with one another without one side or the other believing war, terror and ethnic cleansing are the answer. 

It would have been better if  Jewish children and Arab children attend real summer camps together, instead of brainwashing military training camps that violate all rules about children being used and trained for war. Jewish and Arab children must learn that they live together on the same small piece of land that they must share together. They need to see each other as human beings so that there finally can be peace on that troubled land.