Justin Logan@JustinTLogan
Petraeus misled the American people as to how the war in Afghanistan was going when he was in charge. He's still eliding plain facts and misleading them.
When it came time to defend their government's survival, the ANSF evaporated.
thehill.com
Petraeus shoots down Biden’s claim Afghan army wouldn’t fight
3:20 PM · Aug 17, 2021
10 Reposts · 117 Likes
Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias
Jokes aside, this is the self-interested reason for the Taliban to try to say and do reassuring things.
They are better off if people with useful skills stick around. Doesn't mean they'll do it, but there is a case for it.
Samuel Hammond 🌐🏛 @hamandcheese
This raises an interesting question: How does the Taliban staff a functional government if officials with technocratic expertise leave en masse? Like, their central banker just fled the country. Does the Taliban have a child solider handy who happens to read lots of econ blogs? https://t.co/TBVY845sKu
3:25 PM · Aug 17, 2021
12 Reposts · 225 Likes
Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias
People seem to have pre-baked their takes that the withdrawal implementation was a total disaster, but as of today the airport has been secured and the Taliban is allowing evacuations to continue.
3:28 PM · Aug 17, 2021
1.81K Reposts · 11.5K Likes
Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias
lmao now they're asking for international aid money so they can crack down on opium production
3:32 PM · Aug 17, 2021
10 Reposts · 330 Likes
Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias
1) Emitting carbon dioxide
2) Driving on crowded roads
3) Talking about shifts in Hollywood's output since the 1990s without noting the fundamental role of technological and economic shifts in driving cultural trends.
Joseph Majkut @JosephMajkut
What things are free today that should cost money, in your opinion?
1:56 PM · Aug 18, 2021
4 Reposts · 254 Likes
Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias
Would watch this movie
Hugo Lowell @hugolowell
New: Afghan ambassador in Tajikistan says President Ashraf Ghani escaped with $169m worth of cash in bags before Kabul fell to the Taliban, BBC reports.
2:05 PM · Aug 18, 2021
19 Reposts · 221 Likes
Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias
Joe Biden, history's greatest monster, changed his mind in response to events!
Peter Baker @peterbakernyt
Biden, 2002: "History is going to judge us very harshly, I believe, if we allow the hope of a liberated Afghanistan to evaporate because we are fearful of the phrase nation-building."
Biden, 2021: "Our mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to have been nation-building."
2:43 PM · Aug 18, 2021
65 Reposts · 1.18K Likes
Eyes on the Right@EyesOnTheRight
Imagine if we took those people in and let them help with the space program.
Adam Housley @adamhousley
1/2 Imagine if in WWII we had captured Nazi/Italian/Japanese generals and leaders…held them…then released them back into their respective countries once the rebuilding began? Sounds dumb doesn’t it? Well we did that in Afghanistan and now he is running the slaughter.
5:03 PM · Aug 18, 2021
135 Reposts · 893 Likes
Maia@EGirlMonetarism
> fraud in an experiment about dishonesty
Damn if only they signed a statement promising the data wasn't false BEFORE submitting it
Data Colada @DataColada
Colada98 - Evidence of Fraud in an Influential Field Experiment About Dishonesty
https://t.co/R1wemJfemq https://t.co/2kyrEk4GyD
5:15 PM · Aug 18, 2021
5 Reposts · 85 Likes
James Medlock@jdcmedlock
Industrial policy pickup line: “hey babe, do you like industrial policy? because you make me want to learn by doing”
Matt Darling 🌐💸🌇 @besttrousers
Lots of interesting stuff in @yayitsrob's article on the Industrial Finance Corporation.
Here's my favorite - doing manufacturing in the US is important because learning by doing is the best way to build the tacit knowledge we need for a productive economy. https://t.co/76Eebyupby
6:19 PM · Aug 18, 2021
13 Reposts · 142 Likes
Brian Schaffner@b_schaffner
partisanship is a strong predictor of being anti-vaccine, but much less so when the risks are greater
7:18 PM · Aug 18, 2021
105 Reposts · 380 Likes
Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias
This is basically the 2020 Democratic primary.
8:37 PM · Aug 18, 2021
131 Reposts · 2.38K Likes
Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias
As a Chinese government propaganda guy told me in 2008, “China won the war in Afghanistan” [villainous laugh] https://t.co/mR0xTkuR9c
Stephen Walt @stephenWalt
A lot of smart people seem to have lost their bearings this week. If the era of US primacy is ending—a highly debatable proposition—it’s not because we are finally leaving #Afghanistan. It’s because we stayed too long, squandered lives & $$, and didn’t invest wisely at home.
2:12 AM · Aug 19, 2021
14 Reposts · 121 Likes
Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias
I'm not saying it was a mistake to install a defense minister known for atrocities, corruption, and alienating the plurality ethnic group I'm just asking why the implementation of the "put the corrupt atrocity guy in charge" policy was so poorly executed.
csmonitor.com/World/Latest-N…
2:51 AM · Aug 19, 2021
17 Reposts · 143 Likes