... and come up with a plausible excuse if you don’t fancy attending.
I've always wondered why people feel the need to do that? I just say no or no, thanks. You need to have a very good memory to recall what yarn you've spun when questioned at a later date.
I feel more than curmudgeonly about some things that are going on at the moment, and but regarding Afghanistan … words fail me … it was always going to end like this, once the West decided to arm the Mujahideen against the Russians in the 80s, rather than join the Russians to defeat them … the Russians recognised the Mujahideen as the source of dangerous terrorism, but we were so entrenched in our view of Russia as the enemy that we carried on fighting a proxy Cold War long after it was over. I’m afraid the west caused this and we will pay the price … sadly so will the Afghans we sold down the river.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I feel more than curmudgeonly about some things that are going on at the moment, and but regarding Afghanistan … words fail me … it was always going to end like this, once the West decided to arm the Mujahideen against the Russians in the 80s, rather than join the Russians to defeat them … the Russians recognised the Mujahideen as the source of dangerous terrorism, but we were so entrenched in our view of Russia as the enemy that we carried on fighting a proxy Cold War long after it was over. I’m afraid the west caused this and we will pay the price … sadly so will the Afghans we sold down the river.
I've been saying this for decades. A mess entirely of our ( the West ) making. Who'd have thought when you arm, train, and finance folk, they'd want to use this to gain power??
... and come up with a plausible excuse if you don’t fancy attending.
I've always wondered why people feel the need to do that? I just say no or no, thanks. You need to have a very good memory to recall what yarn you've spun when questioned at a later date.
Me, on the phone to Chris-P-Bacon, “Hi, Chrispy. Do you fancy popping over for coffee and cake in the summer house on Thursday?”
Chrispy, “No.”
Me, thinking to myself, “Well you can piss off, then. I won’t ask you again.”
I've been saying this for decades. A mess entirely of our ( the West ) making. Who'd have thought when you arm, train, and finance folk, they'd want to use this to gain power??
My signature refers
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
... and come up with a plausible excuse if you don’t fancy attending.
I've always wondered why people feel the need to do that? I just say no or no, thanks. You need to have a very good memory to recall what yarn you've spun when questioned at a later date.
Me, on the phone to Chris-P-Bacon, “Hi, Chrispy. Do you fancy popping over for coffee and cake in the summer house on Thursday?”
Chrispy, “No.”
Me, thinking to myself, “Well you can piss off, then. I won’t ask you again.”
Very true!, maybe “sorry, I can’t make that day, hope to see you at …”, without any elaboration, is better than either a lie or a brutal “no”.
Carmarthenshire (mild, wet, windy). Loam over shale, very slightly sloping, so free draining. Mildly acidic or neutral.
Did anybody actually believe that Afghanistan would actually end up being a democracy in the Western style? Every region was actually controlled by the internal group who could exert most control. The various other nations involved in keeping the peace were in reality just keeping those groups in power by adding to their ability to exert control. Once western military support left the reversion to the status prior to their arrival was inevitable.
I feel for the younger people there who had dared to believe they would be free to think and act freely.
My brother travelled in Afghanistan in the 1970's, as part of a much bigger trip. He really admired the people, who he said were so resourceful, and did so much with very little. Tradegy indeed.
The biggest reason for failure was that the Afghans were trained to call in the allies when things got difficult. They were never equipped to fight the insurgents and taliban on their own. Whilst the Americans were there in force they were never trusted and only given the backroom jobs whilst the allies did the fighting.
The Americans learnt from Vietnam but they didn't do the job of helping the fledgling, moderate Afghan state look after itself. Afghan airforce relied on us engineers to service what planes they had. Like Vietnam where they tried to train the Vietnamese they had to teach them English before training could happen as manuals etc were in n English only. It didn't work turning Vietnam into a Vietnamese fight as it was never going to work in Afghanistan.
Add in petty power struggles and corruption that's endemic. Then there's opium. Taliban regime banned in m at first but then due to oppo from farmers they allowed it and took their cut. The moderates too, or us money to cut back n as well. Now taliban are back they'll be getting a good cut again. They're well financed for sure.
Afghanistan is barely governance as a single entity. Sooner or later a regional warlord will separate from the taliban as an independent. It's a famously difficult country to conquer and control. AIUI even the great military leader Alexander the Great got stopped in modern day Afghanistan.
I do not see it is a guaranteed terrorist hotbed even with the taliban but the west and other external influences could certainly make it very inevitable. They've lost the war so far but it can get a lot worse if they mess up their response and ongoing dealings with the taliban and surrounding nations.
More gems on Freecycle this week. Some bloke is asking on every local group for school uniform including a skirt and tights. Maybe it's for his daughter but going by previous experience I wouldn't rule out him wanting it for personal use Someone else is asking for a flat screen TV but specifically nothing under 32".
My wife has been trying to give away some baby stuff too. Plenty of interest, lots of emails back and forth to arrange but no one actually turning up to collect it.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Posts
You need to have a very good memory to recall what yarn you've spun when questioned at a later date.
I’m afraid the west caused this and we will pay the price … sadly so will the Afghans we sold down the river.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
A mess entirely of our ( the West ) making.
Who'd have thought when you arm, train, and finance folk, they'd want to use this to gain power??
Chrispy, “No.”
Me, thinking to myself, “Well you can piss off, then. I won’t ask you again.”
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
The Americans learnt from Vietnam but they didn't do the job of helping the fledgling, moderate Afghan state look after itself. Afghan airforce relied on us engineers to service what planes they had. Like Vietnam where they tried to train the Vietnamese they had to teach them English before training could happen as manuals etc were in n English only. It didn't work turning Vietnam into a Vietnamese fight as it was never going to work in Afghanistan.
Add in petty power struggles and corruption that's endemic. Then there's opium. Taliban regime banned in m at first but then due to oppo from farmers they allowed it and took their cut. The moderates too, or us money to cut back n as well. Now taliban are back they'll be getting a good cut again. They're well financed for sure.
Afghanistan is barely governance as a single entity. Sooner or later a regional warlord will separate from the taliban as an independent. It's a famously difficult country to conquer and control. AIUI even the great military leader Alexander the Great got stopped in modern day Afghanistan.
I do not see it is a guaranteed terrorist hotbed even with the taliban but the west and other external influences could certainly make it very inevitable. They've lost the war so far but it can get a lot worse if they mess up their response and ongoing dealings with the taliban and surrounding nations.