Two of the real reasons that Trump is trying to withdraw us from the international stage are that at some level he can’t admit he knows he’s completely out of his depth in the field of international diplomacy and, of course that he hates the idea of the amount of work it would require of him to play such a part anyway. If it isn’t about photo ops, stirring up his base, or staying out of jail, he isn’t interested.
As to India and Pakistan, they’re just manifesting the sheer and enduring human stupidity of assuming that killing large numbers of ’the others’ is going to solve anything with any kind of permanency. It hasn’t worked for the last four thousand years since we started doing it, and tossing nuclear weapons into that ancient mix certainly isn’t going to improve the odds.
Thank you for your enlightening overview of the India-Pakistan crisis.
But...
My understanding is that Trump is slashing the budgets of every government department except for the military, which will receive a significant budget increase. Why do you say that "...the past three months decimating ... the United States military..." ?
It takes far more than a budget in the upper billions to make a successful military. It requires a strong structure run by a competent, experienced, innovative and dedicated chain of command that’s capable of leadership and execution.
And having arbitrarily eliminated much of the military's top level leadership and having massively denigrated the contributions and competences of major proportions of the personnel of both the officer and enlisted corps of the Armed Forces can't be good for morale or for retention and recruitment for the next several years.
A couple of weeks ago I watched my favorite war satire, The Mouse That Roared. For the first time it had a ‘you are there’ feeling to it in the face of the ongoing destruction of our military and intelligence capabilities. Imagine being invaded and the military and intelligence community are the last to know!
God forbid Trump & his associated band of non compos mentis should get the idea into their heads that they have either standing or capability to expand their dictates to international crises. They can't even manage their own lemonade stands. Indvidually & as a group they remind me of a 6-year-iold parading around in Daddy's clothes pretending to be "big." They clothes are the same, but they're an exceedingly poor fit for the child..... }:(
Thank you for explaining the basics of the situation
This gives China the opportunity to present itself as a valuable ally.
But to whom???
Anyone using the 2025 US as a benchmark. The US gave away soft power terribly.
Two of the real reasons that Trump is trying to withdraw us from the international stage are that at some level he can’t admit he knows he’s completely out of his depth in the field of international diplomacy and, of course that he hates the idea of the amount of work it would require of him to play such a part anyway. If it isn’t about photo ops, stirring up his base, or staying out of jail, he isn’t interested.
As to India and Pakistan, they’re just manifesting the sheer and enduring human stupidity of assuming that killing large numbers of ’the others’ is going to solve anything with any kind of permanency. It hasn’t worked for the last four thousand years since we started doing it, and tossing nuclear weapons into that ancient mix certainly isn’t going to improve the odds.
Thank you for your enlightening overview of the India-Pakistan crisis.
But...
My understanding is that Trump is slashing the budgets of every government department except for the military, which will receive a significant budget increase. Why do you say that "...the past three months decimating ... the United States military..." ?
It takes far more than a budget in the upper billions to make a successful military. It requires a strong structure run by a competent, experienced, innovative and dedicated chain of command that’s capable of leadership and execution.
And having arbitrarily eliminated much of the military's top level leadership and having massively denigrated the contributions and competences of major proportions of the personnel of both the officer and enlisted corps of the Armed Forces can't be good for morale or for retention and recruitment for the next several years.
A couple of weeks ago I watched my favorite war satire, The Mouse That Roared. For the first time it had a ‘you are there’ feeling to it in the face of the ongoing destruction of our military and intelligence capabilities. Imagine being invaded and the military and intelligence community are the last to know!
God forbid Trump & his associated band of non compos mentis should get the idea into their heads that they have either standing or capability to expand their dictates to international crises. They can't even manage their own lemonade stands. Indvidually & as a group they remind me of a 6-year-iold parading around in Daddy's clothes pretending to be "big." They clothes are the same, but they're an exceedingly poor fit for the child..... }:(