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Space is an incredibly, and unrelentingly, harsh environment to exist in. The station is literally rotting, and it's getting to the point where the things that

Space is an incredibly, and unrelentingly, harsh environment to exist in. The station is literally rotting, and it's getting to the point where the things that are breaking aren't really fixable. It's time to ol'yeller it and build something else. This isn't your classic car that can be restored to like-new condition, this is orders of magnitude more complex, and it's an incredible feat of humanity that it's lasted as long as it has. It's not really a waste of money inasmuch as, the things you put into space are consumables, and you have to replace them before they turn back into dust. Also, as a complete aside, and unrelated to any of the above, why do you think we left all that hardware in Afghanistan? Don't you think we could have recovered at least almost all of it if we'd wanted to? Because it wasn't like we were really having a ton of hot combat at the time. And, if we could, why didn't we? It certainly wasn't cost, the MIC has the unlimited money cheat turned on so cost isn't a factor in anything really. Couldn't have been public perception, being that it was almost universally viewed as a blunder. When I look at it though, I don't see a blunder, I see a strategic move. Have a look at a map, who's next-door neighbors with Afghanistan? Iran. Does Iran get along with Afghanistan? No. Why don't they get along? Afghanistan is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, Iran is overwhelmingly Shia Muslim, and those two groups HATE eachother. Iran, by far, as the better military forces, so, if you want to keep those two countries busy murdering eachother for the foreseeable future, well, you "give" a bunch of semi-modern military hardware to Afghanistan, obviously. So the real question is how much is that strategic move worth? It's cost somewhere ~6 trillion dollars since 2001 to run military operations in the middle east. We left ~8 billion dollars worth of hardware in Afghanistan, so, if that strategy works, well, it's substantially cheaper than just fighting a hot war with Iran, probably by a few decimal places.

SllX 2y ago
This is the most optimistic spin I’ve ever seen on how we pulled out of Afghanistan and while I’m not sure I believe it, I kind of want to.
- deleted 2y ago
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- jtriangle 2y ago
  It's the only way I've found to explain it that actually holds up to scrutiny. That's not to say it's correct, just that it's the best I've found.
  - SllX 2y ago
    You have a compelling argument. The only reason I’m suspicious of it is that it is just that compelling.
    - panick21_ 2y ago
      It isn't even remotely compelling if somebody knows anything about the region that doesn't really on a bunch of ignorant tropes.
panick21_ 2y ago
> Afghanistan is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, Iran is overwhelmingly Shia Muslim, and those two groups HATE eachother. That such a hilarious oversimplification. You are just bumbling into a highly complex issue throwing around generalizations. The issues between Iran and Afganistan are overwhelmingly about water rights, not some religious battle. Iran supports different groups within Afganistan, including Sunni and Shia. > if you want to keep those two countries busy murdering eachother for the foreseeable future, well, you "give" a bunch of semi-modern military hardware to Afghanistan, obviously. Except Afghanistan is not using those things to fight Iran at all. There is no hot war. Afghanistan can't really operate that stuff anyway, what they do is simply sell it as parts to finance the government. And as it looks right now, a war with Central Asian countries that the US certainty wouldn't want is far more likely then a war with Iran. > When I look at it though, I don't see a blunder, I see a strategic move. If you want to 4D galaxy brain yourself out of any bad choices by the government you certainty can but its just complete nonsense. The reality is these process are simply not planned out. Communication between militarily and politics are terrible. Sometimes things just are what they are.

SllX 2y ago

This is the most optimistic spin I’ve ever seen on how we pulled out of Afghanistan and while I’m not sure I believe it, I kind of want to.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
jtriangle 2y ago
It's the only way I've found to explain it that actually holds up to scrutiny. That's not to say it's correct, just that it's the best I've found.
- SllX 2y ago
  You have a compelling argument. The only reason I’m suspicious of it is that it is just that compelling.
  - panick21_ 2y ago
    It isn't even remotely compelling if somebody knows anything about the region that doesn't really on a bunch of ignorant tropes.

panick21_ 2y ago

> Afghanistan is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, Iran is overwhelmingly Shia Muslim, and those two groups HATE eachother. That such a hilarious oversimplification. You are just bumbling into a highly complex issue throwing around generalizations. The issues between Iran and Afganistan are overwhelmingly about water rights, not some religious battle. Iran supports different groups within Afganistan, including Sunni and Shia. > if you want to keep those two countries busy murdering eachother for the foreseeable future, well, you "give" a bunch of semi-modern military hardware to Afghanistan, obviously. Except Afghanistan is not using those things to fight Iran at all. There is no hot war. Afghanistan can't really operate that stuff anyway, what they do is simply sell it as parts to finance the government. And as it looks right now, a war with Central Asian countries that the US certainty wouldn't want is far more likely then a war with Iran. > When I look at it though, I don't see a blunder, I see a strategic move. If you want to 4D galaxy brain yourself out of any bad choices by the government you certainty can but its just complete nonsense. The reality is these process are simply not planned out. Communication between militarily and politics are terrible. Sometimes things just are what they are.