BAILOUT BOOGIE!
DEBT RELIEF?
BRITISH RETREAT FROM KABUL, 1842
The next three topics will give all who pay their bills, work hard for a living and have supported our efforts in Afghanistan, a sinking feeling.
Prolific and insightful blog friend Dan of tdaxp.com posted this about the pending bail-out being considered for the American auto industry. After reading this, one can understand why it costs about $2000 more to produce an car from the Big Three, than any of their foreign competitors.
UPDATE: Thomas Barnett sounds off on the bailout. Why bailout Detroit?
And if that story doesn't make you feel sick, read on:
Dan writes about the mortage bailout and sets up the link with these words:
Do you have a mortgage you pay every month? Or were you saving up to make a big down payment.
Then you made the wrong decision.
Smart borrowers have simply stopped paying the mortgages, letting them (unlike you) qualify for bailouts from the federal government:
And for anyone who missed this! Here is a story about the latest brain f**** by whoever is in charge of logistics support for our military effort in Afhganistan.
U.S. military officials in Afghanistan did not have much detail about Monday's attack in northwestern Pakistan, but said the supply convoy was carrying at least two Humvees and numerous water tank trailers.
As many as 70 armed militants attacked two convoys within 30 minutes at the Khyber Pass, a mountain pass that links Pakistan and Afghanistan, local officials said. The pass is located in Khyber, one of seven semiautonomous tribal agencies along the Afghan border.
U.S. military spokesman Maj. John Redfield said he did not know how many transport trucks were stolen, but some reports said militants took as many as 13.
More at:
Taliban militants were driving around in captured US army Humvee armoured vehicles in Pakistan's tribal region close to the historic Khyber Pass last night after hijacking more than a dozen supply trucks travelling along the vital land route that supplies coalition forces in Afghanistan.
Anyone who can read would have been aware of the danger of traversing the Khyber Pass, and ensured proper security.
This from a story filed on August 31, 2008.
Using age-old guerrilla tactics, they hijack or destroy the ponderous lorries creeping up the narrow road and sell the contents in local bazaars to finance new raids.
A prominent, independent tribesman from the Khyber region, who cannot be named for his own safety, told The Sunday Telegraph that the Pakistani army was close to losing control of the pass.
A prominent, independent tribesman from the Khyber region, who cannot be named for his own safety, told The Sunday Telegraph that the Pakistani army was close to losing control of the pass.
Read more:
And this report from July 2008.
Source: Reuters
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, July 9 (Reuters) - Gunmen attacked a Pakistani military supply convoy in a northwestern region near the Afghan border, killing four paramilitary soldiers and wounding four, a government official said on Wednesday.
The attack late on Tuesday was the first major assault on security forces in the Khyber region since they launched a sweep on June 28 to push back militants threatening the city of Peshawar.
The ambush was on a remote road linking two military outposts to the south of the Khyber Pass, through which fuel and other supplies are trucked to U.S. and other foreign forces in Afghanistan.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, July 9 (Reuters) - Gunmen attacked a Pakistani military supply convoy in a northwestern region near the Afghan border, killing four paramilitary soldiers and wounding four, a government official said on Wednesday.
The attack late on Tuesday was the first major assault on security forces in the Khyber region since they launched a sweep on June 28 to push back militants threatening the city of Peshawar.
The ambush was on a remote road linking two military outposts to the south of the Khyber Pass, through which fuel and other supplies are trucked to U.S. and other foreign forces in Afghanistan.
And this warning sign from another century.
Until the First Afghan War the Sirkar (the Indian colloquial name for the East India Company) had an overwhelming reputation for efficiency and good luck. The British were considered to be unconquerable and omnipotent. The Afghan War severely undermined this view. The retreat from Kabul in January 1842 and the annihilation of Elphinstone’s Kabul garrison dealt a mortal blow to British prestige in the East only rivaled by the fall of Singapore 100 years later.
First Afghan War-Kabul and Gandamak
And this:
In Afghanistan, Little Has Changed in 200 Years - Ben MacIntyre, Times
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And this post from pavocavalry of Understanding Each Other, Diversity and Dissent.
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I have never seen the war in Iraq being a redux of Vietnam, but Afghanistan is turning out to be a horse of a different color.
If you make it this far, and have read every link. You are dismissed to either seek out a stiff libation, or a bottle of Pepto-Bismo to calm your stomach.
1 comment:
Thanks for the shout-out!
Definitely a blood-pressure-raising post.
On the good side, the GM bailout may be in trouble...
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