16-Mar-12 World View-Afghan strategy in chaos

[John]

16-Mar-12 World View -- Afghan strategy in chaos as Karzai calls for early pullout


India develops asymmetric military strategy for border war with China

** 16-Mar-12 World View -- Afghan strategy in chaos as Karzai calls for early pullout
** http://www.generationaldynamics.com/cgi-bin/D.PL?xct=gd.e120316#e120316




Contents:
Afghan strategy in chaos as Karzai calls for early pullout
Aftermath of bailout of Greece begins
Ireland wants the same deal that Greece got
India develops asymmetric military strategy for border war with China


Keys: Generational Dynamics, Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, Leon Panetta, Taliban, India, Pakistan, Nato, Greece, Germany, Ireland, Olli Rehn, Michael Noonan, China

[OLD1953]

Karzai has gotten into a habit of demanding a pullout and getting the coalition to beg for more time. I think this time he'll get a shock, the world is simply tired of Afghanistan, and if the Taliban promise to stay inside the borders they can have it. That's the prevailing attitude, and Obama will have a hard time not pulling out given the pressure of the election season and the large number of people who'll be pushing for it. Last polls I've seen show the majority of Republicans now think Afghanistan is a lost cause, so the budget savings of an early pullout will very likely result in exactly that, if Karzai keeps pushing for it for a few more days. I'm sure all his security officers are horrified.

Karzai may be the most corrupt single leader in the world today. I seriously believe he'll flee Afghanistan with his millions as soon as there is any sign of the Taliban being close to closing off his escape. Frankly, every time I hear a toilet flush, I figure the substance for at least three better men than Karzai just went down the drain.

The Irish are not going to eat the cost of all this while the Greeks don't. A wholesale disengagement from debt, while orderly, will cause so much pressure on banks and other bond holders that many will fold. It may not be a repeat of the 30's, but it's certainly going to have many of the same results.

The India vs China war is going to go nuclear so quickly that most will be shocked. Me, I'm buying potassium iodide, just had a bottle shipped this morning. I may be too old to really need it, but my grandkids might.

[vincecate]

The American strategy was to disarm the villagers. The Taliban have guns, so once the villagers were disarmed they could control the villages. I really wonder who's side the American leaders were on.

[Trevor]

Well, now that Greece as defaulted, more attention is going to be paid to Portugal. They're nearly as bad off as Greece was, and I'm still betting something is going to happen in Greece within a few weeks.

As for the India-China conflict, we don't know for sure just what will trigger WWIII. It could be this...