[ExI] Running up against energy limits

[spike at rainier66.com]

...> On Behalf Of BillK via extropy-chat
Subject: Re: [ExI] Running up against energy limits

>>... spike jones via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> ...… do you want to be armed to the teeth?  Or helpless as a lamb before the slaughter?
>
>>... I’ll taaaaake… guns for 500 please Alex.
>
>> spike
> _______________________________________________


>...If you are in Kabul and deciding to rebel against the Taliban, remember that they are now probably the best armed and equipped militia in the Middle East, thanks to the training and equipment provided by the USA.
What? You mean you really thought the USA training Afghan soldiers meant that they wouldn't fight as Taliban soldiers? Many were already absconding and joining the Taliban while training was in progress. It was all a corrupt scam from the beginning, covered up from the US public.


BillK

_______________________________________________


BillK, that the US left behind all those munitions is unconscionable.  I cannot fathom why they did that.  Many lives will be lost because of it.

Regarding the remaining Americans and allies stranded in Afghanistan, keep in mind there are plenty  who have the attitude of Live Free or Die.  Given the choice of iron fisted religious dictatorship or resistance, there are plenty of us who would take our chances.  I am one of them.  Most of us here would do poorly if a religious dictatorship were to be imposed upon us.  We wouldn't do well with being told: Pray this way or die.

But it isn't as hopeless as it might seem.  Right after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese temporarily had the upper hand.  They debated whether to invade the US west coast.  Admiral Yamamoto decided against it, doubting its success, even if the government ceded.  He is said to have made the legendary comment "There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass."

If he said that, he got it right.

What he was describing is asymmetric warfare.  An army must have some means of identification friend or foe.  The resistance does not.  They could identify an invading army, pick off the pious bastards from a safe distance, disappear into nowhere.

Good chance the resistance fighters would eventually die.  But oh they could extract some major damage on their way out.  We have a popular saying over here in the colonies: Freedom ain't free.  It is bought and paid for by the blood of freedom fighters.

Had the people of Kabul been armed to the teeth and every man, woman and child trained to pick off targets at a distance, the Taliban would not have been eager to invade the place.

spike