heybruce
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Everything posted by heybruce
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"Shinawats should have been history by now." They might be if the 2014 election had been allowed. The Shinawatra's and their party were at a low point in popularity then. However an election would not have resulted in a government to the liking of the elites, so Thailand had another unnecessary coup instead.
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Assault on Kiev: Russian helicopters swoop above Ukraine's capital
heybruce replied to Chris.B's topic in The War in Ukraine
How long can Russia continue? https://www.wsj.com/articles/russias-economy-is-starting-to-come-undone-431a2878 -
Climate Science Shock: Methane’s Unexpected Cooling Impact Unveiled
heybruce replied to onthedarkside's topic in World News
Source? -
Democracy was never a perfect form of government, just one superior to all others. Do you think a culture of staging coups whenever an elite minority decides it doesn't like the current government is superior to democracy? Once again, no proof of vote buying. Repeating an unsubstantiated claim over and over doesn't make it true.
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Dominion's reputation as a vendor of election machines is at stake, and without a solid reputation in that field the company is worthless. Dominion can't afford to settle. Dominion knows this, which is why Longwood's suggestion that Fox might find something in their discovery process is unlikely. Dominion wouldn't have gone this far if it weren't confident about its systems.
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Unbelievable! In most of government you can be reassigned and disciplined for just the appearance of a conflict of interest. You can and probably will be charged and prosecuted for actual conflicts. How can a Supreme Court Justice get away with this?
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Joe Biden administration blames chaotic Afghan pull-out on Trump
heybruce replied to Social Media's topic in World News
As I posted, a lot of flailing. No President knew what to do with Afghanistan but no President wanted to be the one to pull the plug and deal with the aftermath. Even here it took a split effort between Republican and Democratic Presidents. BTW: I agree with your assessment of Bush and Rumsfeld. I don't know if there ever was hope for "fixing" Afghanistan, but if there was it was lost when the focus shifted almost exclusively to Iraq. -
Thousands flee into Thailand amid renewed Myanmar fighting
heybruce replied to webfact's topic in Thailand News Headlines
If you mean benevolent Western intervention following earthquakes, floods, typhoons, hurricanes, etc., I disagree. If you mean "benevolent military intervention", why limit it to the west? Can you give any example since World War II of military intervention from any power, Western or non-Western, giving beneficial results? Also, while both cases are open to debate, the first Gulf War, which got Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait, and the NATO intervention in the former Yugoslavia, which prevented further atrocities, could be offered as examples of successful military interventions. -
Joe Biden administration blames chaotic Afghan pull-out on Trump
heybruce replied to Social Media's topic in World News
The State Department works with functioning governments. That was not considered before the war. After the government was toppled with no popular replacement, the options were to abandon the country to chaos, impose an open-ended military occupation for as long as it took (probably decades), or flail. The Bush administration chose to flail, though none of the geniuses who actually made decisions realized they made that choice. Once the flailing option was chosen the other two options remained open, but the US public had not desire to pay for indefinite military occupation. So we abandoned the country to chaos. In short, don't blame the State Department for the failure in Afghanistan, blame the Bush administration. -
We Finally Know the Case Against Trump, and It Is Strong
heybruce replied to onthedarkside's topic in World News
You do realize that it is not the purpose of government to entertain, don't you? -
Joe Biden administration blames chaotic Afghan pull-out on Trump
heybruce replied to Social Media's topic in World News
"The Marshall Plan was executed by the military." The military provided aid equivalent to 5% of US GDP and determined how it was to be used in Europe post-WW II? I don't think so. Got any sources to back that up? I don't know what you expected the State Department to do after the Afghan government was toppled with no plan for the aftermath. A problem compounded by all emphasis shifting to Iraq while Afghanistan was still in disarray and insecure. The State Department's job (one of them) is to prevent fires, not put them out. Once a county is secure it can get involved in reconstruction, but it doesn't secure the country. That's why Mattiss commented on the need for more ammunition if State Department funding was cut. -
Democrats who might run for president if Joe Biden does not
heybruce replied to Social Media's topic in World News
Admittedly decades of gerrymandering has resulted in a pathetic state government, and a long history of under-funding has resulted in sub-par public schools. Florida actually has some good public universities, but DeSantis is working hard to change that. However 49% still voted against Trump. All the DeSantis noise gives a misleading impression of the state. -
Democrats who might run for president if Joe Biden does not
heybruce replied to Social Media's topic in World News
Don't pin Trump on Florida, he's a product of New York. -
Joe Biden administration blames chaotic Afghan pull-out on Trump
heybruce replied to Social Media's topic in World News
"...the single most useless governmental agency in modern times: The State Department." That is an incredibly ignorant thing to say. Was the State Department under former Secretary of War George Marshall useless when it implemented the Marshall Plan, helping western Europe recover from World War II? Was Defense Secretary James Mattis wrong when he said "If you don’t fund the State Department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition ultimately,"? Have you noticed that in the 21st Century the US Military has shown that it is very good at winning wars, but not at winning the peace? Winning the peace is the hard part, in fact it's incredibly difficult and the US Military doesn't want the job. We need a competent, well funded State Department for that. Of course before committing to war it would help tremendously if the US in general and the US President in particular would insist on a credible plan for winning the war and the ensuing peace. -
Joe Biden administration blames chaotic Afghan pull-out on Trump
heybruce replied to Social Media's topic in World News
I don't recall that. I recall Obama inheriting two unfinished wars and an economy in freefall. And I remember Trump inheriting a strong economy but insisting "I inherited a mess" in order to explain why he didn't keep his campaign promises. In this case, Biden genuinely inherited a mess caused by Trump's cut-and-run peace plan. -
Joe Biden administration blames chaotic Afghan pull-out on Trump
heybruce replied to Social Media's topic in World News
Really? You don't understand how a plan the requires a semblance of functioning government can fail if there is no such government? -
Work-from-home order issued as Thai city tops world pollution table
heybruce replied to ozimoron's topic in Chiang Mai
It's easy to tell if a field has been burned or not, just as it's easy to tell if a forest has been burned. Withhold payment until the start of the rainy season, then pay only if the fields and forest were not burned. -
Joe Biden administration blames chaotic Afghan pull-out on Trump
heybruce replied to Social Media's topic in World News
It doesn't matter how well planned the withdrawal was or was not. If it depended on the Afghan government lasting more than a day after first contact with the Taliban it was doomed. As noted nobody, not even the Taliban, expected the government to collapse so suddenly.