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Afghanistan War Games

Korea, Afghanistan and the Never Ending War Trap. There are more parallels between an unfinished 1. Northeast Asia and an ongoing 1. Central and South Asia than meet the eye. Lets start with North Korea. Once again the USSouth Korea Hunger Games plow on. It didnt have to be this way. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov explained how Russia together with China developed a plan which proposes double freezing Kim Jong un should freeze nuclear tests and stop launching any types of ballistic missiles, while US and South Korea should freeze large scale drills which are used as a pretext for the Norths tests. Call it sound diplomacy. Theres no conclusive evidence the Russia China strategic partnership floated this plan directly to the administration of US President Donald Trump. Even if they did, the proposal was shot down. The proverbial military experts lobbied hard against it, insisting on a lopsided advantage to Pyongyang. Worse, National Security Adviser H R Mc. Master consistently lobbies for preventative war as if this is any sort of serious conflict resolution. Meanwhile, that plan for an enveloping fire around Guam remains on Kim Jong uns table. Larry Leisure Suit Uncut. It is essential to remember the plan was North Koreas response to Trumps fire and fury volley. Kim has stated that for diplomacy to work again, it is necessary for the US to make a proper option first. As in canceling the Ulchi Freedom Guardian war games featuring up to 3. US soldiers and more than 5. South Korean troops. South Korean President Moon Jae in dutifully repeats the Pentagon mantra that these Hunger Games, lasting until August 3. Computer simulations gaming a very unlikely unilateral Pyongyang attack may qualify as defense. But Kim and the Korean Central News Agency interpret the war games in essence for what they are rehearsal for a decapitation, a pre emptive attack yielding regime change. No wonder the KCNA insists on a possible catastrophe. And Beijing, crucially, concurs. The Global Times reasonably argued that if South Korea really wants no war on the Korean Peninsula, it should try to stop this military exercise. Cant pack up our troubles. It would be a relief to defuse the drama by evoking that great World War I marching song Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag And smile, smile, smile. But this is extremely serious. A China North Korea mutual defense treaty has been in effect since 1. Under this framework, Beijings response to Trumps fire and fury was a thing of beauty. If Pyongyang attacks, China is neutral. But if the US launches a Mc. Master style pre emptive attack, China intervenes militarily on behalf of Pyongyang. As a clincher, Beijing even made it clear that its preference is for the current status quo to remain. Checkmate. Hunger Games apart, the rhetorical war in the Korean Peninsula did decrease a substantial notch after China made its position clear. According to a Beltway intel source, that shows the US and Chinese militaries, as the US and the Russians in Syria, are coordinating to avoid a war. Evidence may have been provided by a very important meeting last week between the chairmen of the US and Chinese Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford and General Fang Fenghui. They signed a deal that the Pentagon spun as able to reduce the risk of miscalculation in Northeast Asia. Among the prodigious fireworks inherent to his departure as White House chief strategist, Steve Bannon nailed it Theres no military solution, forget it. Until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that 1. Afghanistan War Games' title='Afghanistan War Games' />Monday night, the militarys commander in chief stood before troops and a warweary nation to explain what he described as a dramatically. SovietAfghan War Part of the Wars in Afghanistan and the Cold War Mujahideen fighters in the Kunar Province of Afghanistan in 1987. Afghanistan War Games' title='Afghanistan War Games' />Seoul dont die in the first 3. I dont know what youre talking about, theres no military solution here, they got us. And extra evidence in the they got us department is that B 1. B heavy bomber decapitation practice runs out of Andersen Air Force Base in Guam have been quietly suspended. This crucial, largely unreported fact in the air supersedes rhetoric from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Pentagon head James Mad Dog Mattis, who previous to Bannons exit were stressing  strong military consequences if North Korea chooses wrongly. Once again, its all about BRINow lets move to Afghanistan. Mad Dog Mattis once famously said it was fun to shoot Taliban fighters. Known unknowns Don Rumsfeld was more realistic he moved out of Afghanistan toward Iraq because there were not enough good targets to bomb. Anyone who spent time workingreporting on the Afghan Hindu Kush and the southwestern deserts knows why the proverbial theres no military solution applies. There are myriad reasons, starting with the profound, radicalized Afghan ethnic divide roughly, 4. Pashtun, many recruited by the Taliban almost 3. Tajik, a great deal of them urban, literate and in government more than 2. Hazara Shiites and 1. Afghanistan War Games' title='Afghanistan War Games' />Uzbek. The bulk of Washingtons aid to Kabul throughout these past 1. Government corruption is cataclysmic. Warlords rule. The Taliban thrive because they offer local protection. Much to Pashtun ire, most of the army is Tajik. Afghanistan War Games' title='Afghanistan War Games' />Tajik politicians are mostly close to India while most Pashtun favor Pakistan after all, they have cousins on the other side of the Durand line enter the dream of a future, reunited Pashtunistan. On the GWOT Global War on Terror front, al Qaeda would not even exist if the late Dr Zbig Grand Chessboard Brzezinski had not come up with the idea of a sprawling, well weaponized private army of demented jihadis cum tribal Afghans fighting the communist government in Kabul during the 1. Add to this the myth that the Pentagon needs to be on the ground in Afghanistan to prevent jihadis from attacking America. Al Qaeda is extinct in Afghanistan. And Daesh does not need territory to concoctproject its DIY jihad. UEIATWNVSs/hqdefault.jpg' alt='Afghanistan War Games' title='Afghanistan War Games' />When the myth of the US in Afghanistan as a categorical imperative is exposed, that may unveil what this is all about business. And were not even talking about who really profits from large scale opiumheroin trade. Two months ago the Afghan ambassador to Washington, Hamdullah Mohib, was breathlessly spinning how President Trump is keenly interested in Afghanistans economic potential, as in our estimated 1 trillion in copper, iron ore, rare earth elements, aluminum, gold, silver, zinc, mercury and lithium. This led to the proverbial unnamed  US officials telling Reuters last month that what Trump wants is for the US to demand some of that mineral wealth in exchange for assisting Kabul. A US Geological Survey study a decade ago did identify potential Afghan mineral wealth  gold, silver, platinum, iron ore, uranium, zinc, tantalum, bauxite, coal, natural gas and copper worth as much as US1 trillion, with much spin dedicated to Afghanistan as the Saudi Arabia of lithium. And the competition once again, China is already there, facing myriad infrastructure and red tape problems, but concentrated on incorporating Afghanistan, long term, into the New Silk Roads, aka Belt and Road Initiative BRI, along with its security cooperation arm, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Its no secret the Russia China strategic partnership wants an Afghan solution hatched by Afghans and supervised by the SCO of which Afghanistan is an observer and future full member. So from the point of view of neoconneoliberalcon elements of the War Party in Washington, Afghanistan only makes sense as a forward base to harassstallthwart BRI.