3 ms·

Look at the Portuguese fighting retreat from their India colonies twenty years earlier and ask what was the point of the violence? Look at the west's war in Vie

Look at the Portuguese fighting retreat from their India colonies twenty years earlier and ask what was the point of the violence? Look at the west's war in Vietnam and ask what was the point? Look at the Falklands and ask???

082349872349872 6y ago
I'm surprised The Onion hasn't updated their classic article https://www.theonion.com/u-s-to-give-every-iraqi-3-544-91-let-free-market-cap-1819567206 https://www.theonion.com/u-s-to-give-every-iraqi-3-544-91-le... for current estimated expenditures. An alt-history counterfactual theory: if the US had not supported the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan might've joined the Warsaw Pact and then had a peaceful revolution (like almost all the rest) around 1989, with all the attendant advantages for a better version of this century. The following claims to be 1980's afghanistan, but I can't tell if the Boney M soundtrack was original or not: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZRZLwLXU3E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZRZLwLXU3E (Boney M was apparently popular in Afghanistan, but other videos with the same dancer are to more indigenous tunes) maybe better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrxgwM8h7ek&t=30 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrxgwM8h7ek&t=30
- PoachedSausage 6y ago
  The same could be said about the interference of the US and UK in Iran. Our whole history in the area seems to be one shot after another in the foot.
pjc50 6y ago
One of those is not like the others: there never was an indigenous population on the Falklands. It was uninhabited until claimed by Europeans. It was the Argentine occupation that was "pointless" occupation of the colonists against their will. (To be fair, the UK's defense of the Falklands was also hugely expensive, caused significant loss of life and may eventually have proved unnecessary, but at least it was a valid position under international law)

082349872349872 6y ago

I'm surprised The Onion hasn't updated their classic article https://www.theonion.com/u-s-to-give-every-iraqi-3-544-91-let-free-market-cap-1819567206 https://www.theonion.com/u-s-to-give-every-iraqi-3-544-91-le... for current estimated expenditures. An alt-history counterfactual theory: if the US had not supported the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan might've joined the Warsaw Pact and then had a peaceful revolution (like almost all the rest) around 1989, with all the attendant advantages for a better version of this century. The following claims to be 1980's afghanistan, but I can't tell if the Boney M soundtrack was original or not: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZRZLwLXU3E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZRZLwLXU3E (Boney M was apparently popular in Afghanistan, but other videos with the same dancer are to more indigenous tunes) maybe better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrxgwM8h7ek&t=30 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrxgwM8h7ek&t=30

PoachedSausage 6y ago
The same could be said about the interference of the US and UK in Iran. Our whole history in the area seems to be one shot after another in the foot.

pjc50 6y ago

One of those is not like the others: there never was an indigenous population on the Falklands. It was uninhabited until claimed by Europeans. It was the Argentine occupation that was "pointless" occupation of the colonists against their will. (To be fair, the UK's defense of the Falklands was also hugely expensive, caused significant loss of life and may eventually have proved unnecessary, but at least it was a valid position under international law)