Doing this here because it's political as fuck.
See, this here actually fucking cheeses me off more than you can imagine.
Yes, we have had our terrible moments. Slavery, Manifest Destiny, Dollar Diplomacy, and all that other populist, racist bullshit.
But when the one fucking thing you cite all the goddamn time is Afghanistan, I'm gonna laugh in your fucking face.
Why?
Because shit going to hell in Afghanistan wasn't our fault. It was the fault of the Russians, and hilariously exacerbated by the UN by doing exactly what this guy wants - for no one to intervene.
See, here's the BlackAeronaut's quick'n'dirty version.
The USSR props up a Communist regime taking power in Afghanistan, which BTW, has absolutely no popular support - this was a very small minority that the USSR supported because HEY! More Communist Brothers! The USA makes grumbling noises about it, but otherwise stays out of it because, unfortunately, it's not our fleas and not our circus.
Needless to say, an uprising takes place. It's a slow burner, but as it ramps up the USA finally decides it's gonna do something about it.
What does the USA do?
Do we send troops? Advisors? Air strikes?
No.
We provide funding for the war effort, and sell them a few man-portable anti-air missiles.
The Afghans fucking love us. We've empowered them to fight their war for themselves and on their terms.
Exceeeeept there're these guys from Saudi Arabia. They're kinda fucking with things by being generally incompetent because they all think they're their grandfathers in WWII or something. (And we all know that Arabia was ALSO a hot mess back in WWII, so yeah, they're being their grandfathers alright.) But despite these guys mucking things up, the Afghans are successful in ousting the Communists. Once everything was said and done, a provisional government was set up so reconstruction could begin. And boy, was there a lot to do.
See, the USSR, of course, threw it's full support behind the Afghani-Communist regime. Which meant that they sent their soldiers, their guns, their planes, their bombs - pretty much every damn thing except for nukes, thank God. Long story short? It got seriously messy and just about every major city was reduced to nothing.
And this is saying something, really. Because Afghanistan before all this happened? Place was freakin' gorgeous and I don't just mean the landscape. The cities were very much modern and had some great architecture. Had none of this happened, they'd be one of the few First World Nations in that part of the world.
Thus, they had a very long and hard slog ahead of them. Trouble is? All these Saudis were still there, and the Afghans couldn't do much because they had all the money - the money we sent them had been all spent on the war.
Low and behold, these Saudi ass holes begin to create for themselves their little Fundamentalist Hell Hole out of Afghanistan. Oh, and Fuck America. Why? Because. They're Infidels. That's Why. Oh! WELCOME BROTHER BIN LADEN! Yes, we know, that thing in the Persian Gulf was bad. A thousand curses upon those Americans for getting involved!
(PS: We were explicitly invited to that party. By the Kuwaiti people no less. Bin Laden's beef was that they chose America's assistance over Saudi Arabia's. Gee, I wonder why? *cough*taliban*cough*)
Of course, the US makes grumbling noises about the situation in Afghanistan before the UN's general assembly. But we were told to keep our noses out of it because that's an internal matter.
But it's funny how internal matters can spiral out of control and metastasize like a fucking cancer.
And if you think that's just an isolated incident, let me remind you about Japan. In the events leading up to WWII, we left Japan the hell alone, doing nothing more than denying them trade with the US... And then they sent a fleet up our asses with the intent of giving the US Navy in the Pacific a coup de grace.
At the very least we helped them rebuild their country from the ground up once we got done beating the everloving shit out of them for it. God only knows what it'd be like over there if we just left them to their own devices afterwards. *Looks in the general direction of Afghanistan*
So forgive me if dumbshits that can't remember modern history piss me off. Don't paint all of us with the same goddamned brush. How about you look at who's in charge when shit goes down instead?
(05-17-2021, 01:19 PM)Norgarth Wrote:
![[Image: GhyGPiZ.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/GhyGPiZ.jpg)
See, this here actually fucking cheeses me off more than you can imagine.
Yes, we have had our terrible moments. Slavery, Manifest Destiny, Dollar Diplomacy, and all that other populist, racist bullshit.
But when the one fucking thing you cite all the goddamn time is Afghanistan, I'm gonna laugh in your fucking face.
Why?
Because shit going to hell in Afghanistan wasn't our fault. It was the fault of the Russians, and hilariously exacerbated by the UN by doing exactly what this guy wants - for no one to intervene.
See, here's the BlackAeronaut's quick'n'dirty version.
The USSR props up a Communist regime taking power in Afghanistan, which BTW, has absolutely no popular support - this was a very small minority that the USSR supported because HEY! More Communist Brothers! The USA makes grumbling noises about it, but otherwise stays out of it because, unfortunately, it's not our fleas and not our circus.
Needless to say, an uprising takes place. It's a slow burner, but as it ramps up the USA finally decides it's gonna do something about it.
What does the USA do?
Do we send troops? Advisors? Air strikes?
No.
We provide funding for the war effort, and sell them a few man-portable anti-air missiles.
The Afghans fucking love us. We've empowered them to fight their war for themselves and on their terms.
Exceeeeept there're these guys from Saudi Arabia. They're kinda fucking with things by being generally incompetent because they all think they're their grandfathers in WWII or something. (And we all know that Arabia was ALSO a hot mess back in WWII, so yeah, they're being their grandfathers alright.) But despite these guys mucking things up, the Afghans are successful in ousting the Communists. Once everything was said and done, a provisional government was set up so reconstruction could begin. And boy, was there a lot to do.
See, the USSR, of course, threw it's full support behind the Afghani-Communist regime. Which meant that they sent their soldiers, their guns, their planes, their bombs - pretty much every damn thing except for nukes, thank God. Long story short? It got seriously messy and just about every major city was reduced to nothing.
And this is saying something, really. Because Afghanistan before all this happened? Place was freakin' gorgeous and I don't just mean the landscape. The cities were very much modern and had some great architecture. Had none of this happened, they'd be one of the few First World Nations in that part of the world.
Thus, they had a very long and hard slog ahead of them. Trouble is? All these Saudis were still there, and the Afghans couldn't do much because they had all the money - the money we sent them had been all spent on the war.
Low and behold, these Saudi ass holes begin to create for themselves their little Fundamentalist Hell Hole out of Afghanistan. Oh, and Fuck America. Why? Because. They're Infidels. That's Why. Oh! WELCOME BROTHER BIN LADEN! Yes, we know, that thing in the Persian Gulf was bad. A thousand curses upon those Americans for getting involved!
(PS: We were explicitly invited to that party. By the Kuwaiti people no less. Bin Laden's beef was that they chose America's assistance over Saudi Arabia's. Gee, I wonder why? *cough*taliban*cough*)
Of course, the US makes grumbling noises about the situation in Afghanistan before the UN's general assembly. But we were told to keep our noses out of it because that's an internal matter.
But it's funny how internal matters can spiral out of control and metastasize like a fucking cancer.
And if you think that's just an isolated incident, let me remind you about Japan. In the events leading up to WWII, we left Japan the hell alone, doing nothing more than denying them trade with the US... And then they sent a fleet up our asses with the intent of giving the US Navy in the Pacific a coup de grace.
At the very least we helped them rebuild their country from the ground up once we got done beating the everloving shit out of them for it. God only knows what it'd be like over there if we just left them to their own devices afterwards. *Looks in the general direction of Afghanistan*
So forgive me if dumbshits that can't remember modern history piss me off. Don't paint all of us with the same goddamned brush. How about you look at who's in charge when shit goes down instead?