SamSpade
Well-Known Member
I still see posts by people irate that the "Russians paid Taliban a bounty for Americans killed" - and seriously, I don't get it.
For one thing - Aghani government has been clear that the Taliban have been receiving military aid from Russia almost since the beginning - Bush, Obama, Trump - doesn't matter who - they've been helping them.
So there's that - what is Trump supposed to do, say, hey Russia, stop that. It's not as though they won't deny it, will stop doing it and will care whether or not a Democrat says it or a Republican does. It's also not as though our military doesn't already know this.
For another - if they're paying the Taliban to do something they ALREADY intend to do - how much could it be? Because we've had like 9 deaths in Afghanistan this year, and estimates of Taliban profits just from heroin smuggling is in the billions. They're also being helped by money from Pakistan - which ironically is getting aid - from US. Ditto Europe, which through - can't remember the name of the fund - is trying to rebuild infrastructure in Afghanistan, but much of that money is going to the Taliban or against U.S. forces.
So - for 18 years they've been getting money from heroin - from Russia - from Pakistan - and indirectly - from US - they've been getting weapons and supplies from the same sources -
And we're supposed to have a cow over the fact that they may have offered a bounty to do what they already intend to do? This is like offering some punk a dollar to thump some kid AFTER you've helped him rob all the banks.
IF they did it at all - it's a pittance in comparison to what they've been doing for almost two decades. The logic is bizarre. It's like saying Iran is paying Palestinians to kill Jews. Yeah, like that's news. Oh, you meant a bounty. So the hell what. What's the difference between THAT and bombing, shooting and killing them otherwise, like they've been doing since 1948.
I have to think the ONLY reason the story gets traction is that if your only intention is to rile people up who WON'T read past the headlines, it's political. It has no value except a really, really lame way to insult Trump and imply that he WANTS Russians to kill our guys.
For one thing - Aghani government has been clear that the Taliban have been receiving military aid from Russia almost since the beginning - Bush, Obama, Trump - doesn't matter who - they've been helping them.
So there's that - what is Trump supposed to do, say, hey Russia, stop that. It's not as though they won't deny it, will stop doing it and will care whether or not a Democrat says it or a Republican does. It's also not as though our military doesn't already know this.
For another - if they're paying the Taliban to do something they ALREADY intend to do - how much could it be? Because we've had like 9 deaths in Afghanistan this year, and estimates of Taliban profits just from heroin smuggling is in the billions. They're also being helped by money from Pakistan - which ironically is getting aid - from US. Ditto Europe, which through - can't remember the name of the fund - is trying to rebuild infrastructure in Afghanistan, but much of that money is going to the Taliban or against U.S. forces.
So - for 18 years they've been getting money from heroin - from Russia - from Pakistan - and indirectly - from US - they've been getting weapons and supplies from the same sources -
And we're supposed to have a cow over the fact that they may have offered a bounty to do what they already intend to do? This is like offering some punk a dollar to thump some kid AFTER you've helped him rob all the banks.
IF they did it at all - it's a pittance in comparison to what they've been doing for almost two decades. The logic is bizarre. It's like saying Iran is paying Palestinians to kill Jews. Yeah, like that's news. Oh, you meant a bounty. So the hell what. What's the difference between THAT and bombing, shooting and killing them otherwise, like they've been doing since 1948.
I have to think the ONLY reason the story gets traction is that if your only intention is to rile people up who WON'T read past the headlines, it's political. It has no value except a really, really lame way to insult Trump and imply that he WANTS Russians to kill our guys.