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There is a rapidly growing political demand for making American officials accountable for the failures of the Afghanistan War, with a focus now on the military leadership and top generals' role in keeping forces there for 20 years despite all the signs they knew the war was unwinnable. One indication of a new political stage for the issue is the fact that Afghanistan War veterans Republican Joe Kent, running for a House seat in Washington state, and Democrat Lucas Kunce, running for a Senate seat in Missouri, have both called for such accountability, questioning the war's continuation despite evidence it could not be won. Kunce has said that the "right call" would have been to get out of Afghanistan in 2002 or 2003. Kent has charged that U.S. commanders in Afghanistan "have been lying for years, because they want to keep these wars going." |
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For the handful of nations armed with nuclear weapons, the circumstances under which they'd be used are always an important consideration. This is particularly true of the United States, which has one of the world's largest arsenals, and is the only nation that has used nuclear arms offensively during a war.
Often debated, but as yet never confirmed, is the possibility of "no first use," a promise to the world that the US won't attack anybody with nuclear arms. At present, China is the only nuclear power with a no first use policy, while India has a somewhat more limited promise not to nuke non-nuclear states. The US has so far refused calls to take such a position.
President Biden is in the process of debating a new nuclear posture like finally making a "no first use" pledge. The Obama Administration was reportedly close to such a move, but ultimately changed its mind. |
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi said Tuesday that Israel will continue to launch attacks to "destroy" Iran's capabilities, including its civilian nuclear program. "Operations to destroy Iranian capabilities will continue, in any arena and at any time, and the operational plans against Iran's nuclear program will continue to be developed and improved," Kohavi said. While the IDF has not launched an overt attack inside Iran, the Israelis frequently carry out covert attacks against the Iranian nuclear program. Most recently, Iran has accused Israel of attacking an Iranian nuclear warehouse with a drone in June. The attack damaged equipment belonging to the International Atomic Energy Agency, and Iran is calling on the nuclear watchdog to condemn the incident. |
| Bush and Cheney sold the war, Obama normalized it, Trump disowned it, and Biden had the courage to end it. Cecil Rhodes once said he would annex the planets if he could, and the United States, over the past four decades, has nursed an ambition quite as otherworldly. Everyone (we believed) would choose our way of life if only they had the chance. It followed that we should try to get them there through arts and manners and commerce and, if necessary, through wars. The wars would, of course, be fought against the enemies of freedom, even if the enemies were their neighbors and compatriots. |
Spying activity is often driving tensions between NATO and Russia. This is the case in the Baltic right now, where US and British surveillance planes are very visibly active around the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. The surveillance is being conducted by RC-135W, planes that conduct electronic surveillance, surveying the electromagnetic spectrum in the area to gather intelligence. |
President Joe Biden did what his three predecessors could or would not: halt a seemingly endless war. It took two decades, but American troops no longer are fighting in Afghanistan. An important aspect of the US withdrawal was closing Washington's bases, which once spread across the country. Uncle Sam left Bagram Air Base, America's biggest facility in Afghanistan, on his way home. However, some 750 American military facilities remain open in 80 nations and territories around the world. No other country in human history has had such a dominant presence. Great Britain was the leading colonial power, but its army was small. London had to supplement its own troops with foreign mercenaries, as in the American Revolution. In wars with great powers Britain provided its allies with financial subsidies rather than soldiers. |
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