The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    2014. Karzai catches last copter outta Kabul--does he dangle from the skid or ride inside?

    By jollyroger on Tue, 07/09/2013 - 4:08am |

    We learn today that Prez, whom we now know is famously quick to pique, has just about had it with Hamid Karzai.

    As a consequence, the wisdom that a peace prize and tons of good advice could not impress upon him suddenly shines like a beacon: We're outta here! The sooner the better and no cosmetic troop remnants to decorate the desolation once we embark.

    John Kerry, of "no man wants to be the last to die for a mistake" fame, will no doubt grind his teeth, pore over the Ohio returns from 2004, and lament the thousands he failed to save when he let the presidency be stolen a second time by Karl Rove.

    Obama himself, who, fresh from Oslo let the Generals roll him and then pretended to like it, should properly suffer nightmares, wherein the ghosts of Alexander the Great, Rudyard Kipling and General Gromov play out the Christmas Carol parallel.

    Prez, you feckless putz, what part of Graveyard of Empires did you not understand?

    Comments

    New York Magazine's Daily Intelligencer version of the story has a lovely illustration:


    by artappraiser on Tue, 07/09/2013 - 4:46am

    Screams out for a " thought balloon" dialog box over Obama...caption contest!


    by jollyroger on Tue, 07/09/2013 - 5:13am

      I don't think Alexander would warn Obama against military adventures. The Macedonian's adventure was quite successful.


    by Aaron Carine on Tue, 07/09/2013 - 10:38am

    He conquered, but did not hold, the Pashtuns over the long term. The successor empire in that area produced a " marcb state" Bactria- Sogdiana which was the outer defense of the. Seleucids.


    by jollyroger on Tue, 07/09/2013 - 12:24pm

       He didn't hold it only because of his premature death. And, as you say, Macedonians did hold Bactria for over two centuries.


    by Aaron Carine on Tue, 07/09/2013 - 12:50pm

    point well taken--ill have to do a bit more research cause the Pashtun always claim that they drove him out. 200 years probably qualifies as anyones idea of long term...

    by jollyroger on Tue, 07/09/2013 - 4:38pm

    In the 4th century B.C., Alexander the Great fell afoul of Pashtun tribesmen in today's Malakand Agency, where he took an arrow in the leg and almost lost his life. Milt Bearden, CIA

    by jollyroger on Tue, 07/09/2013 - 6:51pm

    also: Today, U.S. and NATO forces are not fighting "terrorists" in Afghanistan but a loose alliance of Pashtun warrior tribes whose resistance to foreign occupation is legendary. They are descendants of the same Pashtun mountain warriors who battled Alexander the Great, the Mongols, the British Empire and the Soviet Union. All these invaders were eventually defeated.Eric Margolis

    by jollyroger on Tue, 07/09/2013 - 6:55pm

    and: The Pashtun have a long history of uniting to face a common, external threat. They held up Alexander the Great for years — if for no other reason than pure belligerence. Something like that seems to be happening today.Nick Dupree

    by jollyroger on Tue, 07/09/2013 - 7:05pm

      Yeah, but Alexander won, unlike the Soviets and the Americans. He had no regrets--well, he regretted his men refusing to keep fighting, but it wasn't mutiny that stymied the modern wars in Afghanistan.


    by Aaron Carine on Tue, 07/09/2013 - 8:56pm

    Fair enough...we'll swap out Alexander the Great for Dr. Watson...( Maiwand)

    by jollyroger on Wed, 07/10/2013 - 12:33am