I'm glad I never worked for the CIA.

Never as far as I know.

I do have to admit that I like reading foreign language newspapers. It would have been super to have a job where they sent me to exotic places to meet people and get them to provide us with sensitive information.

On the other hand, I have been saying that it is idiotic to ignore Islamic Fundamentalism for a long time: especially before the fall of the Shah. I remember the Iranian Protesters who camped out in front of Foyles in London showing pictures of SAVAK brutality. I always wanted to ask them if they were sorry the Shah Fell, but never did.

Charlie Wilson's War was a recipe for failure, yet no one had the balls to come out and say it. Well, other than me, but I have never been in that much of a position of power to do that much. I can write things, but they have about as much of an effect on policy as my blog posts.

On the other hand, I am pretty sure Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are happy they didn't get (re)elected president. I know I am happy I never made it with the CIA since they have shown what clowns they are.

I am amazed that anyone would admit to working for them these days because what happened was pretty obvious. It has been obvious it was coming for a long time.

Unfortunately, it's like the joke about the World Famous French lover who was on a game show as a lifeline. The punch line is that he wouldn't have done anything the contestant suggested.

Maybe they need to go and find some experts.

It was going to be a failure.

Take a country which went "Socialist" and then was "invaded" by the Soviet Union during the cold war. Forget that the country in question is next door to an Islamic Fundamentalist state (Iran), or at least one that had a problem with Islamic Fundamentalists. Toss in Cold War blindness that the Soviet Union is "the Evil Empire". Then fund Islamist warriors, the Mujahideen, to fight in that country.

And you have a recipe for disaster.

Especially since the Mujahideen dislike the United States as much as they hated the Soviet Union. To them, the "West" was the "Evil Empire", which included the idiots who were funding their battle in Afghanistan.

This was the confrontation of Realpolitik and Idealism. Which is worse, communism or Islamic Fundamentalism which has the goal of destroying the west?

The blowback happened on 9-11 and 7/7 along with other Islamic Attacks in London and France. The Zastava AKSU used at the Bataclan was bought legally from Florida.

The Taliban doing their impression of US Militia Members on 6 Jan 2021

Not that gun control will totally disarm the Islamic fighters since they have the technology to keep cranking out guns. Sort of like the AR15 underground can keep cranking out AR15s for as long as the 80% receivers are lying about. Unfortunately, like the problem with Islamic Fundamentalism, the US gun problem was allowed to fester due to the same mistakes in judgement which allowed Islamic Fundamentalism to get out of hand.

I look at the pictures of the Taliban with their assault rifles and beards and it reminds me of the current state of US politics. What will the outcome of the mess that the world finds itself in?

Oligarchies are also totaliaraian states.

While someone may not like "collectivist" belief such as socialism or communism, they should start to realise that monopoly capitalism and Oligarchic societies are just as dangerous a proposition. In this case, I am referring to "Big Tech".

I left Fesses de Bouc in late July because I was getting tired of its attempts to control my opinions. I have long disliked Microsoft and Google for various reasons, mostly due to their poor quality products.

Yes, there is an alternative, but I'm not really happy with Ubuntu 20.04. The misspellings this time are due to the fact that the mouse is out of whack in this iteration of Ubuntu. That means the zoom is also.

I am writing on a nearly microscopic screen.

But, that's an aside.

Youtube is censoring various news sources, usually right wing ones. I may not agree with Skynews Australia on most points, but it's one of the only places to get dissenting opinions about the Biden Administration. They have been shutdown from posting for the last few days by Youtube, which is part of Google's empire.

The concept of Free Speech is to allow for dissenting opinions in the marketplace of ideas. Shutting down dissenting opinions, especially ones which aren't commonly held is dangerous to society.

Creepy Joe and Horrible Harris probably wouldn't be in charge of the show had the dirt on them been aired early on. Now, it's looking like there will be a republican party landslide. "Another 1994".

Update: Sky News was banned by Youtube for alleged violation of its Covid-19 policies.
https://www.6pr.com.au/disgusting-sky-news-australia-banned-from-youtube-over-covid-19-misinformation/