Boris to blame?

[cromwell]

I have posted before that BJ is on borrowed time IMO. This is a time for 'boring' statemen who can reach calm measured decisions. BJ always the maverick, flies by the seat of his pants and relies on his instincts. Having said all that the sight and sound of the posturing in the HOC yesterday with few notable exceptions was excruciating. May has her own axe to grind and is fast turning into Edward Heath mark 2 sadly, and Starmer - give me strength!

Is Boris to blame? Well yes he is because for good or bad the buck stops with him but we have to question the intelligence here, what was the armed forces' advice if any? All doesn't hang on Biden

Well I think it naive if you believe we have much choice,our political masters jump to the yankee bark and have done so for far too long.

we are a free nation with our own intelligence and agenda. Are we now so in awe of them that we can no longer function?

Ermm sadly yes

Aren't we head of the G7 at present? Are phone lines humming for cross nation action. If the Taliban acts true to form and there is little to say that they won't, it won't just be us in danger from them.

We can't rely on the yanks anymore,we need to be strengthening the european arm of NATO,I can see on the horizon because of this event many calls to rejoin the eu any takers for a bet to the contrary?we shouldn't but do need to make plans to protect ourselves.

[T00ts]

I have posted before that BJ is on borrowed time IMO. This is a time for 'boring' statemen who can reach calm measured decisions. BJ always the maverick, flies by the seat of his pants and relies on his instincts. Having said all that the sight and sound of the posturing in the HOC yesterday with few notable exceptions was excruciating. May has her own axe to grind and is fast turning into Edward Heath mark 2 sadly, and Starmer - give me strength!

Is Boris to blame? Well yes he is because for good or bad the buck stops with him but we have to question the intelligence here, what was the armed forces' advice if any? All doesn't hang on Biden we are a free nation with our own intelligence and agenda. Are we now so in awe of them that we can no longer function?

Aren't we head of the G7 at present? Are phone lines humming for cross nation action. If the Taliban acts true to form and there is little to say that they won't, it won't just be us in danger from them.

[Barry]

But he's all we've got for the time being so let's hope he's at least half capable. If he becomes a complete walking disaster area in these times of crisis, any unelected Tory replacement is likely to be even worse.

Whether Boris is to blame or not, his popularity amongst the Tory leader ratings has plummeted.
The Tory party is famous for stabbing its leaders in the back and as with Thatcher, May and others, Boris will be despatched.
He will not be PM when the next election is fought, I feel certain of that. I'll be pleased in one respect, because he is an immoral serial liar. He's betraying the Conservative ethos with his swing to the left and the sooner he goes the better. In another respect, as Borchester will say, he is very entertaining and some of the others in the Tory party are downright boring.

[patman post]

For how long has the govt known about the US withdrawal from Afghanistan — 6 months, 12 months, 18 months — and was that time too short to make appropriate arrangements for the UK's own orderly withdrawal? 


Were the intelligence services really so unaware of the ability of the Taliban to take over the country in a matter of days? 


Why weren't the appropriate senior cabinet members prepared to become directly involved when it became clear the Taliban was taking over Afghanistan? 


Boris surrounded himself with Brexiteers. Few of the cabinet have shown themselves to be particularly bright, and now Brexit is done the PM should be searching for able replacements. But the only changes have been forced by outside circumstances.   


As PM, Boris is in charge and is therefore responsible...

[papasmurf]

Will be saying that's the way to do it

I thought political correctness banned Punch and Judy Shows a long time ago.

[cromwell]

I think there IS a way, but the successor to the Nuremberg trials won't be our friends if we go down that road. And given SampanVikings posts on the specific sect of Islam the Taliban follow, much of Pakistan, all of Saudi and a fair few others won't be happy and they've got nukes.


Israel will be laughing it's balls off though. And Starmer will be so well impaled on the fence you'd think he was a victim of a resurrected Vlad.....

Will be saying that's the way to do it
https://youtu.be/K6LmZ0A1s9U

[johnofgwent]

Reality check no. 1 - Britain alone could only hold back the Taliban as long as they are willing to be held back.

I think there IS a way, but the successor to the Nuremberg trials won't be our friends if we go down that road. And given SampanVikings posts on the specific sect of Islam the Taliban follow, much of Pakistan, all of Saudi and a fair few others won't be happy and they've got nukes.


Israel will be laughing it's balls off though. And Starmer will be so well impaled on the fence you'd think he was a victim of a resurrected Vlad.....

[Sampanviking]

Britain could hold the Taliban without the US quite easily but Biden has made a big mistake and cooked his goose over this. He has revealed himself (maybe) to be the senile buffoon he advertised himself as.

The big question is how would UK forces move in and out of Afghanistan. The yanks may have been big and bad enough to bully land and air corridors through Pakistan and Turkmenistan, but even for the yanks, these corridors are in the process of closing. Neither of these countries would give the UK time of day.

[HDQQ]

Bojo-The-Clown is not capable of running anything.

But he's all we've got for the time being so let's hope he's at least half capable. If he becomes a complete walking disaster area in these times of crisis, any unelected Tory replacement is likely to be even worse.

[HDQQ]

Britain could hold the Taliban without the US quite easily but Biden has made a big mistake and cooked his goose over this. He has revealed himself (maybe) to be the senile buffoon he advertised himself as.

Reality check no. 1 - Britain alone could only hold back the Taliban as long as they are willing to be held back.

Reality check no. 2 - Donald Trump was the "senile buffoon" whose administration signed a bi-lateral withdrawal agreement with the Taliban that didn't even involve the Afghan government.

It seems that US withdrawal from Afghanistan is the only thing that Trump and Biden agree on. I happen to believe they are right. Yes - I even think the dreadful and disgraced Trump was right on this. The way things have played out in the last few weeks is not good but did anyone predict the Taliban taking over so quickly? Did anyone predict that the Afghan military would mostly not fight the Taliban and the Afghan government would flee the country?

[papasmurf]

Well, I am sure the Taliban are well aware of any pitfalls Smurphy and as Boris ain't actually running foreign policy any longer and is relying on go betweens who the Taliban respect mine sounds like good advice from here.

Bojo-The-Clown is not capable of running anything.

[Sheepy]

Mineral deposits usually means being ripped off by global mining companies or foreign countries.

Well, I am sure the Taliban are well aware of any pitfalls Smurphy and as Boris ain't actually running foreign policy any longer and is relying on go betweens who the Taliban respect mine sounds like good advice from here.

[papasmurf]

a chance of prosperity as Smurf was telling us about the mineral deposits yesterday.

Mineral deposits usually means being ripped off by global mining companies or foreign countries.

[Sheepy]

I don't agree Sheeps,British security and military chiefs are fearful the yanks will pull the plug at the airport without much warning.

We really do need to be looking elsewhere for our security,we don't and have never had a special relationship....we've danced to their tune when required.

Ah well, we aren't dancing to their tune because they don't hold the cards, the Taliban do though they took the country pretty much without a fight and like I said laid out their stall, no doubt they have a few problems of their own with the panic caused at Kabul airport, personally I would have thought it made more sense to work them, after all, it will be them who will be running Afghanistan in the future and with peace comes a chance of prosperity as Smurf was telling us about the mineral deposits yesterday.

[papasmurf]

In another thread on here someone claimed the population of this sand - strewn shithole was 31 million.

Apparently the population is 39,961,035 (and counting.)

https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/afghanistan-population/