Thread:
20 years or so ago, I read a book, "Charlie Wilson's War". It was mesmerizing to learn how one flawed man who was a back bench GOP congressman from Texas latched onto cause, made it his own, and ran Russia out of Afghanistan. It wasn't political. It was personal after his many trips to the front lines and paid witness to the suffering in the refugee camps and slaughter that the Soviets were inflicting on Afghan civilians. (more)
At the end of the day, the Mujahadeen prevailed with the weaponry and funding from a multi-national coalition of shady arms dealers, back room deals, and a lot of money. But America failed in the follow up. Wilson pushed hard for schools & education of an Afghan population who over 50% at the time were under the age of 14. Think about that. (more)
An entire generation, those who hate us now, and retook the country after dozens of years of our own subsequent fighting, blood and treasury, are back in charge of the country.
Our own country has become so self-focused. Russia has divided us to the point where our elected legislators fight daily over the same basic plight in Ukraine. Do we fund this fight? (more)
I can not recall, though memory may fail, a single elected representative falling on the side of Russia during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Yet now, we have an entire voting block of the US congress, almost exclusively GOP, who backs Vladimir Putin and his ruthless mercenary Wagner group in subjugating the Ukrainian people, committing war crimes on the daily, and we don't even really know the half of it. (more)
There are no flawed Charlie Wilson's in the legislative body of the United States anymore. We yammer daily - multiple times - about a twice impeached wannabe dictator who would give up Ukraine to his sponsor Putin in a heartbeat. The suffering, destruction, and pillaging of a sovereign country means nothing to these Fox News seeking Christo fascists. (more)
@SSNBubblehead Any more, the levers being pushed in the halls of power are the so-called leaders. Too many of them are self-interested, and will work for those who promise them wealth.
The failure back then haunts us today in so many, many ways both domestically and on the world stage.
I look at the clowns who make the headlines every single day. Not one of them has the diplomatic & truly gutsy drive to make the world a better place. Give me a flawed leader who can work the levers of power and get things done.
I'm not sure they exist anymore. That's the biggest failure of America. And it might be our downfall. (fin)