46 thoughts on “Thursday’s Papers”

          1. ian-oG

            It’s fine, sure I am just wishing my life away, as today is somewhat of a bonus I am going to make the absolute most of it.

            Now, let see…..oh yeah, work.

            Feck.

            ;)

    1. Cú Chulainn

      Having a go at their closest ally in frustration at their impotence.. they are at it again..

    2. John

      And look at bidens record so far
      Not even 7 months into the job and we see Saigon 2 and the Taliban now rearmed with the best weapons in the world

      And who is he blaming ? Trump and calls the afghans cowards

      Then he gets on a helicopter and hides in camp david
      Well done democrats you have done more to distabelise the Middle East than a eon of Donald trump

  4. jungleman

    Note how the conservative papers mention the criticism of Biden in their headlines and only mention the similar criticism of their own PM in the small print.

    1. Rosette of Sirius

      Biden deserves the evisceration he’s getting. Trump may have set him up but Biden well and truly knocked it out of the park.

        1. Rosette of Sirius

          Hey, it wasn’t a challenge-response kinda comment. Was just expressing my own exasperated thoughts as an extension of your point – which I agree with. Cool the jets. Boris, Raab and their ilk deserve their infamy and did we ever expect anything else from the conservative press? Jeez, when even the Star forgoes a story about seagulls or someone’s knickers, you know it’s bad.

      2. Junkface

        Biden deserves to be commended for finally pulling out of that endless war, rife with corruption, money laundering, child abuse. Trump didn’t have the balls to pull out because he’s a coward and could not face up to the US Army generals, they talked him into not pulling out last year.

        As much as I think Biden is mentally deteriorating, he did what 3 other presidents could not do. Forever wars are a sign of absolute corruption. The withdrawal was always going to be a mess.

        1. Rosette of Sirius

          Biden should have ensured all relevant international stakeholder were appropriately briefed and prepared as best as they could have been before withdrawal. From national governments, NGOs, IGOs and especially the UNHCR. He’s created what will become the world’s most significant humanitarian crisis in decades and lord knows what else will follow.
          That and he now hands over all that lovely lithium to China.

          1. Nigel

            That unilateralism is the sort of reckless behaviour you’d ecpect from Trump but not Biden, so why why exactly he acted like Trump in this is a fairly important question.

            Be weird if ten years from now China collapsed because of this…

        2. Junkface

          He was relying on exaggerated intelligence from US generals (lying to themselves for decades) and full blown lies from Afghan leadership and army generals. Have you seen them trying to train the Afghan men into soldiers? Its hilarious, they are just terrible at this. The most unreliable army on the planet. They folded without even fighting, as they were paid by the Taliban in many zones not to even bother fighting. The US paid their wages, for their equipment, probably too generous with the finances. The Afghans leaders have been milking the hell out of the USA since day one in 2001. There was no way to ever pull out without dire panic from the everyday Afghan people. They were pawns in a cruel game.

          1. Nigel

            While the military and the White House lied about everything to do with Afghanistan, I suspect Biden knew exactly the state of things, which was why he had no choice but to pull out after Trump’s peace deal with the Taliban, which apears to have been simply giving Afghanistan to the Taliban. I suspect the withdrawal will be classified as a success purely because it got US personnel out, whatever about the Afghans.

          2. jungleman

            If they had helped Afghanistan to create an actual legitimate economy, things might be different today. The US never really had control of the country, just a few cities. It was a half-assed occupation and any improvements were superficial and temporary. They never cared about improving the lot of the Afghan people.

        3. John

          I am sure the people of Afghanistan agree with you
          Apparently India is hopping mad as this has serious implications for Kashmir

          When you invade a country you at least stabilise it

          And history shows Afghanistan is not a nation you occupy
          The brits learnt that the soviets did but the yanks well they got their asses well and truly kicked

          A colossal cock up

      1. GiggidyGoo

        Another case of Sheelpe ‘r Us not reading beyond the first paragraph.

        ‘My patient sat at the edge of his bed gasping for air while he tried to tell me his story…’
        She then tells us ‘He could not breathe. His wife and two young children were at home, all infected with COVID’

        Sure, yeah, right. The ‘patient’ would prefer to sit and tell a story, though gasping for breath. Some people will believe anything. Even Bruce Y Lee

        It isn’t an opinion piece at all. It’s one ANITA SIRCAR looking to expand her horizons into story-telling.

    3. Micko

      Oh man that’s a crazy piece – some of the quotes!

      “ If you believe you can ride out the pandemic without getting vaccinated, “you could not be more wrong. This virus will find you.”

      I see Covid 19 is doing it’s best Liam Neeson impression now.

      I will find you, and I will kill you. *

      .
      .
      .
      With a 99% chance of me not killing you

  6. Birdie

    This housing market is bleak (Irish Examiner headline story). Started listening to the latest Reboot Republic podcast, they have two extremely well spoken architects on about the new Heinz development in Drumcondra, well worth a listen.

    1. Bitnboxy

      Go on out of that. Throwing more money at people (most of whom already have enough for a deposit) via a “Help to Buy” scheme in a chronically dysfunctional and overheated housing market- shur, what is the worst that can happen?

    1. Mr T

      1000s of US citizens are now stranded in Afghanistan, as it emerges that Biden administration tore up a plan from previous Admin. to evacuate all US citizens from the country.

      Taliban have an iron ring around Kabul airport, so no US citizens can get there.

      1. goldenbrown

        and presumably any Irish and the rest too

        Taliban really have this in the bag, everyone seems to have completely underestimated them (and their allies)

        is there a good old fashioned hostage situation unfolding here I wonder (turn those money taps back on or else…)

        ?

        1. ian-oG

          I’m not sure there will be hostages, seems this version of the Taliban actually have a thing for PR no matter how transparent it seems. I guess they want to be able to run the place and be able to grow rich off the lithium deposits without the US bombing the mining sites?

          I think for the next while we will see a less overtly aggressive Taliban (from the wests point of view that is) and I doubt the likes of Al Queda will get much of a look in – for now.

          The Chinese and Russians are circling looking for all that lithium and other resources so a steady, stable Afghanistan is what they will want for the time being. Imagine what they could do with all that cash they are sitting on? A new Saudi Arabia type of state built on strict Sharia law is a likely desirable outcome for them?

          However, on a human level its still going to be bad, but it will not be as public as in the past. For the west, out of sight will be mostly out of mind.

          4. ian-oG

            I’d say she would give it very serious consideration alright.

            ”So lads, lets not call it a Jihad, too many negative connotations. Lets instead call it an intense campaign of specific educational ideological discussion”.

            ”Lets stop calling it a stoning, lets call it a permanent re-evaluation of ideas via naturally and locally sourced, carbon neutral vectors.”

          5. Otis Blue

            + 1

            Exhibit A

            “Essentially all that can be said is Ireland in the first half of the 20th century was a moralistic, inward looking, anti-feminist country of exaggerated religiosity which most of us knew already.”

            Small bit of tweaking on this humdinger from the Tuam babies controversy and I’d say the mullahs would go for it.

            Row brews over Terry Prone Tuam babies email http://jrnl.ie/1721252

    2. John

      Meanwhile China Russia Iran turkey are laughing their socks off at a failed superpower and a leader that is in power for seven months and has just made one big mess

      Trump of course is also laughing his socks off as this is truly down to Biden kamilla and maybe Nancy might take the knee wearing an Afghan scarf instead of the Ashanti scarf

    1. goldenbrown

      closer to home the entire football system across the water is quietly in a major twist over this at present

      BUT this is a very niche subject however….with you or I average joes if we lose 1-2% of our performance it’s not great but realistically doesn’t affect us too much…meh…but with top end professional athletes? even a fraction off is enough to relegate these guys into the minor leagues and kill their career

      also Pat Cash aging very well fair play to him

      1. SOQ

        Yes- I would think it is a serious issue right across all professional sports right now. Their cost benefit analysis’s is very loaded towards cost.

  10. Verbatim

    The Chinese state media ridiculed the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, saying that the seizure of power by the Taliban was “smoother than the change of the president in the United States.”

  11. John

    They do have a sense of humour the Chinese
    Mary trump was interviewed by news talk about her uncle the Donald
    She referred January the 6th as an insurrection
    I presume they are referring to that smooth transition

    The Taliban now have billions of dollars of the US weapons
    Enough to keep them going for decades

Comments are closed.

Sponsored Link
Broadsheet.ie