... you can talk all night.
***
"The twelfth of May, 1796, in north Italy, at Tavazzano, on the road from Lodi to Milan. The afternoon sun is blazing serenely over the plains of Lombardy, treating the Alps with respect and the anthills with indulgence, not incommoded by the basking of the swine and oxen in the villages nor hurt by its cool reception in the churches, but fiercely disdainful of two hordes of mischievous insects which are the French and Austrian armies...."
ADDED: The play is "The Man of Destiny" by George Bernard Shaw (at The American Players Theater in Spring Green). There's another performance today at 1 pm, and I see one ticket available. There are 2 more performances, one of which is currently sold out and another, on the 28th — also a matinee — that has one ticket available. The "man of destiny" is Napoleon. As the play begins, Napoleon will be sitting at that table...
NAPOLEON (intent on his map, but cramming himself [with food] mechanically with his left hand). Don't talk. I'm busy.What? No Sharpie?
GIUSEPPE (with perfect goodhumor). Excellency: I obey.
NAPOLEON. Some red ink.
GIUSEPPE. Alas! excellency, there is none.
NAPOLEON (with Corsican facetiousness). Kill something and bring me its blood.
GIUSEPPE (grinning). There is nothing but your excellency's horse, the sentinel, the lady upstairs, and my wife.
NAPOLEON. Kill your wife.
GIUSEPPE. Willingly, your excellency; but unhappily I am not strong enough. She would kill me.
NAPOLEON. That will do equally well.
GIUSEPPE. Your excellency does me too much honor. (Stretching his hand toward the flask.) Perhaps some wine will answer your excellency's purpose.
NAPOLEON (hastily protecting the flask, and becoming quite serious). Wine! No: that would be waste. You are all the same: waste! waste! waste! (He marks the map with gravy, using his fork as a pen.)
Posts
128 comments:
Taliban to take sharpie off front page.
This man?
‘What kind of people would kill so many in order to seemingly strengthen their bargaining position?" he tweeted. "They didn't, they ... only made it worse!"
Well, duh. Why didn’t he know that before scheduling such a meeting? Incompetence in a dangerous world...
Add a pith helmet on a hook somewhere and it would work for me.
I have a good portentuous look that goes well with this setup. Something for the edification of all mankind is certainly being drafted on that table.
Also a good portentuous snore that goes well with napping that chair.
I don’t know the subject of the performance, but that is one lovely set. Very well done.
We lost the war on terror when we started negotiations with the Taliban.
Field Marshall steve uhr: "We lost the war on terror when we started negotiations with the Taliban."
LOL
Between Inga and Steve Uhr you could actually lose brain cells reading their "sage" foreign policy and military strategy recommendations.
Play set halfway between Saratoga and Waterloo?
readering, did you ever brush up on your WW2 understanding gaps?
Article about Obama's time at Columbia University in 1983, but nobody who went to Columbia remembers seeing him.
I guess he wasn't the BMOC.
Really this is like ataying in vietnam if you held saigon and perhaps some of the central highlands is that a vixtory?
“To trust the Taliban to control al-Qaeda, ISIS-K, and other radical Islamist groups present in Afghanistan – as a replacement for a US counter-terrorism force – would be a bigger mistake than Obama’s Iranian nuclear deal.”
“Any peace agreement which denies the US a robust counter-terrorism capability in Afghanistan is not a peace deal. Instead, it is paving the way for another attack on the American homeland and attacks against American interests around the world,” he added.
“President Trump should learn from President Obama’s mistakes. Be smart, take your time, and listen to your national security team.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/457762-graham-warns-trump-on-taliban-deal-in-afghanistan-learn-from-obamas-mistakes
I enjoy Althouse when I want a survey of articles on the internet. She does find interesting things to look into. I can't imagine doing this everyday. Sometimes taking a week long break from the computer (outside of work) is refreshing. I would go mad reading and responding to everything on this blog. She is a different kind of creature.
The taliban control 60% of the country, 18 years later, whats wrong with this picture?
How far is it from "Man of Destiny" to Manifest Destiny?
Now staging bases are problematic, we crossed over from uzbekistan and tadjikstan, some forcea through pakistan which is the hornets nest.
LOLOLOL
Inga is so discombobulated she is linking to Lindsay Graham who just mere days ago was a nazi!!
Inga is a case study in someone who outsources all of her thinking!
But only all of it...all the time.
The good news? In about 17 minutes she is likely to ompletely reverse herself.
Again!
I dont trust the taliban or their qatari redoubt but tell me where this ends.
Can we be serious for a moment?
"Inga said...
Well you Trumpists, soon there will be an end to your Trump worship, with the end of the investigation and when the results are revealed for the entire world to see. I just hope you all won’t have some mental breakdown over what will happen. The Nation will survive, but I’m not so sure some of your psyches will."
2018
they called him "Voldemort" or "He who must not be named_
How an Élite University Research Center (MIT) Concealed Its Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-an-elite-university-research-center-concealed-its-relationship-with-jeffrey-epstein
MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito resigns after New Yorker exposé shows he quietly worked with Epstein to secure anonymous donations
https://www.businessinsider.com/mit-media-lab-director-joi-ito-resigns-new-yorker-epstein-2019-9
I am to assume that President Trump is NOT supposed to bring troops home from the middle east like every single Democrat running for President has promised to do?
Epstein was like le chiffre except virgin islamss or dominic greene of quantom, finanxiers or ngo operators with vast networks
Are they i cant tell what they want, except the geen nude eel.
Trump’s Bad Deal with the Taliban. Under peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, the administration seems poised to give away everything America has fought for in Afghanistan since 9/11.
A more informed source than Field Marshal Drago.
Christian Yellich is making his case for 2nd consecutive MVP award...game winning 2 out double in the bottom of the ninth to lead his team to victory tonight. Two hits, 3 stolen bases, 3 walks- doing whatever it takes. Great win for a team with a ton of key injuries.
A more informed source than Field Marshal Drago.
An idiot of the first water who knows nothing. We have been there since 2001 and no change. Only an absolute fucking idiot would want to stay more.
So whats the strategy im all ears,
readering said...
Taliban to take sharpie off front page.
Only if CNN restores Alabama to the US map. Idiots all over tonight.
A play set in Napoleons first Italian campaign?
I am shattered. If there is one I should know what it is. But I don't.
You have made me doubt myself Althouse.
But I think I still want that chair.
Khalizhad was there at the beginning before the invasion, of course afghanistan is not the problem its pakistans sanctuaries to the east, and iran at the west
Why wasn't I informed of this?
Narr
Heads will roll!
Shaw had as about much insight into Napoleon as he did into Stalin. To be fair though, the play was written in 1897 and there were no totalitarians in Shaw's world at that time.....When Napoleon first met that Polish Countess (Marie Walewska?), he took the liberty of raping her. She accepted it as part of the courtship ritual. She was the only one of his lovers to ever visit him on Elbe. That's not the stuff of a Shavian romance. I bet the play was chosen because there's a cross dresser in it.
Now france was a revolutionary power, the fledgling nation was close to a naval engagement with them.
Trump Tweets Video of CNN Saying Alabama Was Under Threat From Dorian After CNN Said They Never Were
Re Taliban and etc.
It is all one. Consider the connections - China backs Pakistan against India, Pakistan backs Taliban, US has issues with China, as does India. India just this month escalated the Kashmir issue with the Pakis. And then there is the NK situation which is also a Chinese proxy. And it all gets more complex from there.
The Great Game was never just one "game", it was everything, all games in every venue to hand.
Everyone is pressuring everyone else through proxies, or proxies once removed, and playing all angles on every front. The core here is China. That business isn't just a trade war. "Peace" will come with not just a trade agreement, but a bunch of tacit understandings. Or not.
The jacobins were totalitarians
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1992-06-17-9202140909-story,amp.html
It was performed when i was in college
Inga said...
“The FBI/DOJ was spying on every member of the Trump campaign. Including Trump.”
For good cause. We don’t need Russian assets in seats of power in our American government.\2018
And its a resource play with the rare earths discovered about 10 years ago
Inga said...
“I freely admit I'm one of those. These are men who were prosecuted and spied upon in an attempt to bring down a sitting president, based on a fake dossier and a warrant that shouldn't have been even granted.
Own it, lefties.”
And you people own putting Putin’s puppet in Office. When this is all said and done you Trumpists and Republicans won’t be able to live this down for decades.
"Man of Destiny", Shaw, then. Never read it.
I guess I have to now.
Inga said...
“The notion that President Trump is controlled by the Kremlin is ludicrous on its face. President Trump ended the war on American Energy.”
What they wanted was for sanctions to be lifted and guess what, they got what they wanted. “Well give you the emails we hacked from the DNC if you lift sanctions, should you win.”
Conspiracy to violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
And then to make matters worse...Obstruction of Justice
Yet ukraine got javelins, poland got a base, their prime merc outfit was waxed at deir er zour.
Of course we have evidence now this russian studf is just bunkum
-- just think-- now this is progress!!
ThinkProgress, a Top Progressive News Site, Has Shut Down
https://www.thedailybeast.com/thinkprogress-a-top-progressive-news-site-is-shutting-down
The Red and the Black. Stendhal.
From the filings from dubilier other documentation. Jane austens novels happened in the span of the napoleonic war, you could only see glimpses because the press was heavily censored as was the mail.
The taliban has murdered almost 2000 US troops since 9/11. If trump wants to cozy up with them why Camp David? They’ll never be able to get the smell out. Can’t they meet in some shithole country?
I see we have two field marshalls tonight. Do you and Inga know anything ?
Qatar which distributes xte phones through out the middle east, through a third party.
Whatever agreement is deemed necessary to get out of the mess in Afghanistan is worth making. Like Vietnam, it's a war we should never have gotten involved in and, just as in Vietnam, we failed to learn from the failures of those before us. Aside from Israel, the ME is a rat's nest we should avoid whenever possible. We no longer depend on the oil. Let the EU fight for their share of it.
"Do not allow our very stupid leaders to sign a deal that keeps us in Afghanistan through 2024-with all costs by U.S.A. MAKE AMERICA GREAT!"
-Donald Trump, 21 Nov 2013
We don't need negotiations. Just leave. Only two weeks ago two more American soldiers were killed in that pointless, idiotic war. The notion that we have to nation-build Afghanistan to protect ourselves from future terrorist attacks is farcical. The Taliban hosting of bin Laden was primarily a function of Mohammed Omar's personal relationship with him.
I guess Farmer and I posted simultaneous and quite similar sentiments. ;-)
Finished "Ball of Collusion" by Andy McCarthy. Great explication of the entire Russian hoax. Obama was spying on the Trump campaign under a phony pretext of Russian collusion.
McCarthy is a little too hard on Trump for his intemperate tweets and various reactions, but, on the whole, excellent book.
After 18 years the afghan army has proven unwilling or unable to effect project much past kabul.
We used a small force to eject the taliban, now they regrouped in pakiatan, which proves the folly of allowing them the bomb but thats another matter.
Mccarthy once upon a time vouched for pat fitzgerald when will he get a clue?
Turtle — so you were the one on Sept 12,2001 arguing against the invasion? I never would have guessed.
J Farmer — really? No reason to worry about another 9-11 or worse because it was all based on a personal relationship between terrorists. How sweet.
We are in league with India to build a railroad from the Iranian border through Afghanistan. The goal is to bypass Pakistan entirely and thereby discontinue using the Karachi Ports as a logistics supply hub for U.S./NATO ops in the region. For this strategy to succeed we need to come to terms with Iran and the Taliban. This will happen and Pakistan will be rendered irrelevant except to China to which it will become very costly and burdensome ally. Afghanistan will become a buffer against Chinese expansion and the Islamic elements (i.e., the Taliban) controlling the country will become a very painful and dangerous thorn in China's side. Afghanistan will ally itself with the restive and rebellious Islamic elements in western China which will work to destabilize Beijing's authority in that region. China will have to commit military forces to the western provinces which will become a military, political, and economic quagmire for Beijing. Among other consequences this will compel Beijing to curb its overseas adventurism and will certainly place great stress on China's economy.
This is the Great Game as it will unfold in the coming years. In the circumstances it makes excellent strategic sense to establish relations with the Taliban and Iran. The goal is to put China on the defensive and ultimately to cut it down to size; and the strategy for achieving this goal is to encircle China and hold it in an ever-tightening vice-like grip.
This will succeed. This is will be the great struggle of our time. Welcome to the Game.
Now I urge all of you to read my preceding post and think it through. None of you here have demonstrated an understanding of what is going on in that part of the world. I have provided that understanding.
Turtle — so you were the one on Sept 12,2001 arguing against the invasion? I never would have guessed.
Granted this question was not directed me, but I'll answer: yes and no. We could have sent special forces into Afghanistan to go after Al Qaeda and launched punitive strikes against Taliban positions as needed. We did not need to overthrow the entire government and then try to put something in its place. That was naive and utopian. It's no wonder that just a little over three years later, Bush said that the goal of US foreign policy would be "ending tyranny in our world."
Well that sounds more practical, but we face much of the same problems, where would we stage from, qatar has assured us they will not allow us to use al udeid for long periods
Shaw was basically a Fabian, which is kind of worse than being a Commie or Fascist since they are dead and gone and we are still stuck with the Fabians. That said, he was a hell of a writer.
@Steve Uhr:
J Farmer — really? No reason to worry about another 9-11 or worse because it was all based on a personal relationship between terrorists. How sweet.
The 9/11 hijackers arrived in the US on commercial airliners with visas. How does nation-building in Kandahar protect us from that?
Inga: "A more informed source than Field Marshal Drago."
Those cats were all running the show under obama for 8 years.
Why. Didn't. They. Win?
LOLOLOL
The experts who couldnt win are lecturing others!!
I couldnt think of a more appropriate crew from whom Inga could take her cues.
The good news?
Again, in about 17 minutes Inga will reverse herself.
The Taliban's real (and proximate) enemy is China not the U.S. and the Taliban knows it. They don't like us but they hate China and its Pakistani satraps and they are desirous of aiding their persecuted co-religionists in China's western provinces. That is why we are undertaking to establish a working relationship with the Taliban and also that is why this working relationship will indeed come into being.
The geostrategic tectonic plates are shifting.
narciso:
Everything is changing, shifting. Wait and watch. I'm not saying it won't get messy. It will most certainly get messy and it will take time. But it will be interesting and I think it can all work to our favor.
narciso: "Yet ukraine got javelins, poland got a base, their prime merc outfit was waxed at deir er zour."
Take it easy. You will completely befuddle our easily misled Inga.
Did you know that even at this late date she STILL believes in the hoax dossier?
LOL
Its true. Just ask her and let the fun begin!
Turtle — so you were the one on Sept 12,2001 arguing against the invasion? I never would have guessed.
I'm sure you would never have guessed. As a matter of fact, I saw it as a quagmire from the get-go and knew that our involvement in Afghanistan would be no more successful nor profitable [except, of course, for private contractors] than that of Russia.
9/11 and its associated issues are history. No longer relevant. Islamic terrorism is no longer relevant. The jihad movement is a spent force. Middle Eastern oil is irrelevant. Let it all go. The Game has changed and we're changing with it. The Game is with China. And we're the ones taking the initiative in the new Game. Forget about those silly little islands China is building in the South China Sea. That's small beer. The Chinese are very worried and very brittle and we're starting to wrong-foot them. China is worried about its western provinces, worried about ramping up of a trade war, worried about our technological edge, worried about Hong Kong. Most of all they're worried that Trump's has an ace in the hole, a nuclear option, in the form of a devaluation of the dollar.
@Roughcoat:
How are our negotiations with the Taliban supposed to achieve what you are talking about? Do you believe that Khalilzad understands that as his goal?
The Taliban will never be defeated unless you kill every single member and every single member of their families and all of their friends. To defeat them requires an act of genocide. Inga and Steve, are you willing to countenance such an act? Yes, the US can defeat them, but it requires a remorseless will to exterminate them and the peoples from which they arise.
I will just assume neither of you are willing to do that (nor am I). We either leave or we stay forever- it really is that simple. It won't matter if we give it another decade, we will face the same choice just a decade later and likely with another thousand service men dead.
I will say this- I think any agreement you make with the Taliban is irrelevant- it is only being considered for face saving purposes. I wish Trump would just pull out already, but he has spent too much time listening to the likes of Graham who, for some reason, thinks there is some sort of victory that can be achieved before leaving. It is all nonsense at this point- we haven't defeated the Taliban after 18 years, and it won't happen in the next 50 either unless we are willing to do what I described above (and if we did that, we may well create the next Taliban in their place). Trump's instincts on this are completely right, but has been conned into staying another 2 1/2 years. I am guessing we will still be there when Trump leaves office in 2025.
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
While
@BarackObama
is slashing the military, he is also negotiating with our sworn enemy the Taliban--who facilitated 9/11.
2:14 PM · Jan 13, 2012
Ya just gotta laugh.
Via Lucianne: The Seattle Times reports that Seattle's city council is considering legislation which would ban all new homes and buildings within city limits from using natural gas, and mandating that these edifices must use electric heating and cooking.
Councilmember Mike O’Brien will likely introduce the legislation next week. If passed, it is expected that the regulations will go in effect next summer.
"We know that some people rely on natural gas at home and on the natural-gas industry for jobs, so we want to be thoughtful about how we transition," O'Brien said. "But in the meantime, let’s not continue to make the problem worse."...
They’re cray-cray.
Inga: "Ya just gotta laugh."
Indeed you do. Just 17 minutes ago you were against negotiations yet you praise obama...who negotiated!!
Now that IS funny.
Thats okay. By tomorrow morning your comments tonight will be but a distant and vague memory.....
Here is the really ridiculous thing about it all- Obama could have withdrawn from Afghanistan any time after Bin Laden's death, but he had boxed himself in when he ran on the idea that Afghanistan was the good war and Iraq was the bad one. Neither action made any sense as a nation building action- it was always an exercise in futility. Bush was an idiot for pursuing the actions the way he did- all those lives lost and treasure expended, and for what today?
@Yancey Ward:
I will say this- I think any agreement you make with the Taliban is irrelevant- it is only being considered for face saving purposes.
Agree completely. Any agreement wouldn't be worth the paper it was written on. How could we possibly enforce such an agreement? Re-invade and occupy the country?
My favorite Shavian play, and I know of what I speak, having performed in and directed a number of them. Not many can boast of having done "Arms and the Man" as dinner theater and succeed handsomely. Back when I was young and hawklike I wanted to star in "Man of Destiny" but I lost out in audition to a slightly more seasoned actor. Later I was glad of it as the director had his Bonaparte eating spaghetti with his hands.
No war should be fought unless you are prepared to annihilate the enemy. No war can be won until the enemy concludes that losing is less expensive than winning.
Hickenlooper has a point.
“You’re looking at the condition of women if we completely pull our troops out of there. You’re going to see a humanitarian disaster that will startle and frighten every man, woman, and child in this country,” he said. “We’re going to turn our backs and walk away from people that risked their lives to help them build a different future?” The Taliban banned women from attending school and working. According to Amnesty International, during the Taliban years “a woman could be flogged for showing an inch or two of skin under her full-body burqa, beaten for attempting to study, stoned to death if she was found guilty of adultery.”
It still surprises me, though, when I think about Napolean's arc. The Battle of Lodi, the background to this drama, was 19 years before Waterloo- almost two decades. History I didn't live through always seems more concentrated in time even when I know the actual timelines.
Two hundred years from now (assuming, of course, that the US Armed Forces aren't still fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan at that time), someone will be looking at the Afghanistan Campaign of the United States as a historical manner and will thinking to himself, "Wow, I always think of that only lasting 3-5 years, and am always shocked it took 30 before President Ivanka Trump finally pulled the troops out and declared victory."
I dont believe you Inga.
Everyone knows that all other societies are better than the horrible US society. Everyone knows that because thats what the lefties have been saying for decades.
Besides, the vast majority of the voting combat troops are Trump supporters. Gee, we cant keep those deplorables in Peoples Paradises!
For the record, I supported military operations in Afghanistan in the aftermath of 9/11. I remained convinced that a military response was as correct as it was necessary and justified. In fact I think we were too restrained in our actions. But I'm no longer interesting in arguing this issue. History has passed it by. We might just as well be arguing about the decision by the Athenians to send an expeditionary force to Syracuse. Let the dead bury the dead. Let's focus on China.
The Alabama/Dorian thing just shows you how unhinged and reckless the media have become. When Chuck first brought this up, I checked the internet immediately because I remembered the initial forecasts had the storm crossing Florida and emerging into the Gulf, and I immediately found exactly those forecasts- they were the top search results when I time limited the search parameters on Google. So, it has been amusing watching Trump's enemies make fools of themselves over this- that video from CNN is just the icing on the cake.
Sharpiegate post-mortem
Here is the top result I found that night: Dorian Update from August 28th as the storm was getting set to pass the US Virgin Islands.
How are our negotiations with the Taliban supposed to achieve what you are talking about? Do you believe that Khalilzad understands that as his goal?
The answers to both questions are implicit in the strategy I outlined in my post. In part this strategy does indeed entail a cessation of kinetic military operations by conventional military forces in Afghanistan, as well as draw-down of military forces in that country. We will continue to operate in south-central Asia but mostly our actions will be in the form of OOTW. We will be working with the Taliban and the Taliban will work with us not because they like us but because they'll need us to help them deal with the Chinese and China's Pakistani minions. And, yes, I believe that Khalilzad understands all this. More's to the point, it doesn't matter what he understands. Because for the most part we'll be gone, and nature will take its course -- and in this instance, nature is China's relentless belicosity in the service of their drive to dominate all of Asia.
Trump planned to assassinate the bastards at Camp David.
Some traitor leaked the info, so Trump "canceled the meeting".
Nadler Calls for Congress to investigate Maher....developing..
The situation in south-central Asia is presently somewhat analogous to the situation that obtained in Southeast Asia after we called it quits in Vietnam. In the aftermath of our withdrawal China took a long hard look at the new strategic calculus formed by the Communist North's victory and concluded it didn't much like what it saw. So they decided to commit to supporting the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia and invaded Vietnam. The result was a savage big-scale war which was little reported on in the West -- and which China won, at least in the sense that it achieved its objective of chastising Vietnam and putting it in its geostrategic place.
Today the Chinese are looking at Afghanistan and in the same way, and in the same way they are not liking what they see, the more so because the U.S. seems to be moving in the direction of reaching an accommodation with the Taliban.
And with that comment, I must bid you adieu for the night. Time to sign off and go to bed.
Roughcoat, you're a fine fellow, but what do the Taliban care about China, which is a Pakistani ally, and Pakistan basically creates the Taliban. And how is Iran going to come to see eye-to-eye with us?
And we have “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
The minute Roe v Wade is overturned.....
I could swear it’s the Lefties who insist cultures are equal; there’s no better or worse.
Can’t complain about The Taliban be for open borders.
And wait wait wait, China beat Vietnam in 1979? That's not how I remember it.
FrankiM said...Ya just gotta laugh.
--
Easy enough.
Everyone..per Inga..view ME strategy through 2012 lens.
Last word on the issue: Nation building doesn't work.
We were encouraged by the postwar results in Japan and Germany,
but it doesn't seem to work under primitive circumstances.
Mockturtle
The abject failures nation building in postwar Japan and Germany prove your point. It just never works does it?
George Bernard Shaw looked into the future and wrote "Man of Destiny", a play about Napoleon Bonaparte (that Althouse quotes) but he also projects what we can expect from Emperor Trump in the future. Shaw's writings are entertaining; so enjoy this exchange between Napoleon and Giuseppe the Innkeeper:
GIUSEPPE. Will your excellency—
NAPOLEON (intent on his map, but cramming himself mechanically with his left hand). Don't talk. I'm busy.
GIUSEPPE (with perfect goodhumor). Excellency: I obey.
NAPOLEON. Some red ink.
GIUSEPPE. Alas! excellency, there is none.
NAPOLEON (with Corsican facetiousness). Kill something and bring me its blood.
GIUSEPPE (grinning). There is nothing but your excellency's horse, the sentinel, the lady upstairs, and my wife.
NAPOLEON. Kill your wife.
GIUSEPPE. Willingly, your excellency; but unhappily I am not strong enough. She would kill me.
NAPOLEON. That will do equally well.
GIUSEPPE. Your excellency does me too much honor. (Stretching his hand toward the flask.) Perhaps some wine will answer your excellency's purpose.
NAPOLEON (hastily protecting the flask, and becoming quite serious). Wine! No: that would be waste. You are all the same: waste! waste! waste! (He marks the map with gravy, using his fork as a pen.) Clear away. (He finishes his wine; pushes back his chair; and uses his napkin, stretching his legs and leaning back, but still frowning and thinking.)
GIUSEPPE (clearing the table and removing the things to a tray on the sideboard). Every man to his trade, excellency. We innkeepers have plenty of cheap wine: we think nothing of spilling it. You great generals have plenty of cheap blood: you think nothing of spilling it. Is it not so, excellency?
NAPOLEON. Blood costs nothing: wine costs money. (He rises and goes to the fireplace. )
GIUSEPPE. They say you are careful of everything except human life, excellency.
NAPOLEON. Human life, my friend, is the only thing that takes care of itself. (He throws himself at his ease on the couch.)
GIUSEPPE (admiring him). Ah, excellency, what fools we all are beside you! If I could only find out the secret of your success!
NAPOLEON. You would make yourself Emperor of Italy, eh?
GIUSEPPE. Too troublesome, excellency: I leave all that to you. Besides, what would become of my inn if I were Emperor? See how you enjoy looking on at me whilst I keep the inn for you and wait on you! Well, I shall enjoy looking on at you whilst you become Emperor of Europe, and govern the country for me. (Whilst he chatters, he takes the cloth off without removing the map and inkstand, and takes the corners in his hands and
the middle of the edge in his mouth, to fold it up.)
NAPOLEON. Emperor of Europe, eh? Why only Europe?
GIUSEPPE. Why, indeed? Emperor of the world, excellency! Why not? (He folds and rolls up the cloth, emphasizing his phrases by the steps of the process.) One man is like another (fold): one country is like another (fold): one battle is like another. (At the last fold, he slaps the cloth on the table and deftly rolls it up, adding, by way of peroration) Conquer one: conquer all. (He takes the cloth to the sideboard, and puts it in a drawer.)
NAPOLEON. And govern for all; fight for all; be everybody's servant under cover of being everybody's master: Giuseppe.
GIUSEPPE (at the sideboard). Excellency.
NAPOLEON. I forbid you to talk to me about myself.
GIUSEPPE (coming to the foot of the couch). Pardon. Your excellency is so unlike other great men. It is the subject they like best.
NAPOLEON. Well, talk to me about the subject they like next best, whatever that may be.
GIUSEPPE (unabashed). Willingly, your excellency. Has your excellency by any chance caught a glimpse of the lady upstairs?
"I immediately found exactly those forecasts- they were the top search results when I time limited the search parameters on Google."
Doesn't matter. The media knows the truth is out there, what they are doing is creating a false narrative by Repetitive Assertion.
6 months from now the "normals" will all believe Trump lied about Alabama and endangered thousands of lives. And the history books will feature a "moderate conservative" over at WaPo or the NYTs confirming it.
When you try to explain the real forecasts to the normals, they will look at you like you are a loon.
Just like "Bush Lied, Troops Died". I bet I can find a dozen people here that still think Bush lied about WMDs in Iraq.
We lost the war on terror when we started negotiations with the Taliban.
"Bill Belichick is an idiot, he should have ditched the Erhardt-Perkins offensive and gone back to the run and shoot", I yelled at TV as my fat ass slipped off the barstool.
MOAB diplomacy seems to have an impact.
Send Antonio Brown’s agent to negotiate. Or have the taliban sign with the Pats with the incentive clauses for good behavior and all.
We won the Afghan war many years ago. What we are losing is the peace, the rebuilding that comes after the war.
So what? That’s not our war and there’s no reason we should continue, especially given we’re not willing to do what needs to be done to win this peace.
Pull out, leave them to their own designs. We can always come back and bomb like we did last time if they threaten to export their problems again.
Lefties had an opportunity to vote for the green nude eel but they voted present. It’s like they don’t believe in the stuff they’re selling.
Maybe Dr. .nosakare can assist?
Remember: if you screw up the plumbing, stuff gets wet and shitty; if you screw up the electrical stuff burns and people die.
The Middle East is electrical.
Will continue prepping the house for putting it on the market. A little paint here, a touch of carpentry there. Our real estate friend suggests next spring, but I've made the mental commitment to sell and so prefer not to delay.
There's a bit of a chill in the air this morning. I love this time of year.
I still think the best solution is to pull out and invite each surrounding country to move in and take over a slice of Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is too big for any one country to occupy - even the Afghans themselves - but each could manage a slice and they would all be Moslem, which removes the Crusader aspect.
And they would all have the Taliban problem to keep them occupied for a while.
@gadfly
Thanks for quoting that passage! That was excellent, no?
Napoleon lived before the era of Sharpies.
Last night I dreamt of an Althouse post. The heading was "... AND THE HORSE YOU RODE IN ON!" and it had something to do with with a sudden action by Trump, but I could not tell exactly what. There were pictures and comments to a tweet, but when I tried to focus on one, it went blank.
It was all very vivid though.
GBS's Napoleon was certainly as witty and talented as DJT. I suspect that GBS admired him. But a Legion D'Honneur of Deplorables is not likely again unless gun confiscation re-sparks Lexington and Concord.
@Althouse:
Do you always try to get seats in the same area of the theater?
I had a girlfriend back in the day that did theater, so I would see the same show multiple times.
I noticed that where you sit in relation to the stage somewhat changed the experience (like: sitting off at the sides, you had one actor with his/her mostly back to you for significant periods of time, while the actor on the other side was a more directed view, and that actor's performance would then tend to take priority of what was happening on stage, regardless of plot elements).
I am Laslo.
Ken B said...
Mockturtle
The abject failures nation building in postwar Japan and Germany prove your point. It just never works does it?
This probable the most ill informed statement I've ever seen on the interwebs
You cannot possible compare the cultures of Germany, or Japan with Middle east Muslims. Imperial Japan is closer, but still not close. Muslims have been killing infidels since Mohammad. They have no sense of time. The war is permanent. Always fighting, always killing, always dying. the 10 year old boy kills to revenge the death of his ancestors.
It is impossible to explain how stupid a comparison this is. (or are you saying we need to nuke Afghanistan, and let God sort things out? I would consider that)
The abject failures nation building in postwar Japan and Germany prove your point.
That was REbuilding, which is different than trying to foist civilization on a population which can't handle it.
Afghanistan is not "The Middle East" exactly. The Taliban is more tribal 11th Century and control of the opium trade. The Baghdad and Istanbul caliphates are just legends of the Koran to them.
Ann Althouse said...
"Napoleon lived before the era of Sharpies."
Get. Out!!! For reals?
Althouse. You crack me up.
Napoleon lived before the age of Harpies as well.
Now where did my letter "s" go?
Sadly I can imagine that this canting windbag is exactly Althouse’s idea of great comedy.
Did Mockturtle say that it wouldn’t work in Afghanistan particularly or just that nation building doesn’t work. The latter. So iwoan2 and fern you guys just cannot read.
Ken B counters: Mockturtle
The abject failures nation building in postwar Japan and Germany prove your point. It just never works does it?
Japan and Germany were helped to rebuild infrastructure that we had helped destroy. The nations did not need rebuilding. The Japanese and Germans had strong and unified nations. What we often try to do is construct a government in our own image in a country that neither understands nor desires democracy or progress nor is willing to shoulder the responsibility of maintaining it.
I have to say Roughcoat's analysis is spot on--fantastic secular realpolitik. Our obsessions over the last 20 years are being outgrown by developments, and resources are wasted in the GME. China vs Islam, overlapping all the political and economic factors, which are of world-historic proportions and provide world-historic risks and opportunities, are the future, not turrist bases up in them thar hills.
In 2001 I thought the Afghanistan reaction was justified, but it quickly spiraled out of control--and has remained there--for the usual reasons.
Our elected policy makers and the bureaucratic limpets they attract are NOT
repeat NOT our best and brightest. They are particularly ignorant of the history and culture of other places (and usually, being all-American elites) contemptuous of both.
Our professional military, on the other hand, are far better at their jobs than the amateur statesmen are at theirs. By being so good, and having such a competitive, can-do attitude, they end up encouraging the delusions of their bosses. And as in all institutions there are those more than willing to encourage delusion in furtherance of their own ambition.
Lacking any strategic goal ("Nation-building" is not a goal or even a process, it's a political fantasy pushed by people who weren't ridiculed enough as children) there can be no strategy. No strategy, no victory.
Leaving is at least an achievable goal; as to all this ridiculous "what about all the poor Afghan girls?!?" it is to laugh.
For 18 years we've tried the warcry of "We're Infidel Perverts and We're Here to Save You!"
and nobody is impressed.
Now if Trump did cancel, that's a real shame, because the reason for getting quit of that shithole war is that NO ONE CAN CONTROL THE PLACE. Does he expect the Taliban to control every crazy? Makes no sense, but then, see paragraph three above.
Narr
Reagan or Nixon would have declared victory and left
Well said, Narr. And I strongly suspect that the Taliban attack was intended to have this very effect. Both Al Qaeda and the Taliban prosper by our presence there. For all their public protestations, they don't want us to leave.
As to GBS, we read Major Barbara. I barely remember any of it, and though I recognize his importance (according to those who cared) and wit, his writings never attracted me.
The bits of dialogue excerpted strike me as about on a level with the genre: clever writer plays on the ignorance and prejudices of his audience to give them the impression that they are actually above all that now . . . The genre of "'Great Man' Put In His Place Hundreds of Years Later" comes in the comic version as here and in "Time Bandits." Woody actually made it funny in "Love and Death."
Hegel called the academic version "The Schoolmaster's Trick"--subtly convince the student that you're a better man than Alexander, because after all, you never conquered the known world.
That said, I'm not saying I wouldn't see the play if I had the opportunity. I hope a good time was had by all.
Narr
GBS envied Boney's height
2:14 PM · Jan 13, 2012
Ya just gotta laugh
It's now 2019 you stupid, stupid person.
Why are people referring to Inga? I thought she was banished!
She was, db. But she rises like a phoenix from the ashes of her exile with a new identity. Every time.
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