Former British soldier, Ben Slater’s, mission to evacuate 400 Afghans via a third country has failed. His staff have been turned away at a land border. Slater called on the Foreign Office to help his staff escape after ‘complete disaster’ at border
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House divided: the abortion line
The court’s order, which rejected an emergency request by clinics and abortion-rights advocates, marks a turning point in the legal battle over abortion rights and comes the day the Texas ban went into force. While not a final ruling on the measure’s constitutionality, the court’s action validates, at least temporarily, a novel attempt by Texas …
Taliban kill squad using US biometric data
The Taliban has mobilized a special unit, called Al Isha, to hunt down Afghans who helped US and allied forces — and it’s using US equipment and data to do it. NY Post
The new Southwest Pacific campaign
“What gulag?” I said. “The construction crew,” he said: the men in blue jumpsuits from China. Their barracks were straight out of a Russian novel, he said, puffing on a cigarette. Didn’t I know I was living smack in the middle of a huge story? Politico
US strips Mideast to face China
This is in keeping with the strategies of presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump of reducing U.S. forces in the Middle East in order to minimize risk. Trump, however, increased the United States’ air defense capabilities in the region after Iranian drones struck a Saudi oil facility in 2019. The Biden administration’s withdrawal appears to …
Elder Versus Newsom: A Battle for the Soul of America
Roger Simon writes: In a sense, the current governor and the editor of the state’s most prominent paper are correct, this recall election is about values. But are they the values of a rich class ….
Jordan Peterson on the improbability of Elon Musk
“And he’s still alive.”
Biden lectures himself against nation building
In the call, Biden offered aid if Ghani could publicly project he had a plan to control the spiraling situation in Afghanistan. “We will continue to provide close air support, if we know what the plan is,” Biden said. Days before the call, the U.S. carried out air strikes to support Afghan security forces, a …
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The mass executions begin
When Taliban fighters seized control of Kabul two weeks ago, the invading units made a beeline for two critical targets: the headquarters of the National Security Directorate and the Ministry of Communications. Their aim — recounted by two Afghan officials who had been briefed separately on the raid — was to secure the files of …
“They should also have thought of securing it”
But it also contains details on the individuals’ military specialty and career trajectory, as well as sensitive relational data such as the names of their father, uncles, and grandfathers, as well as the names of the two tribal elders per recruit who served as guarantors for their enlistment. This turns what was a simple digital …
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There are 500. Will you take 5?
On Saturday night I had just sat down to have a drink with a friend when he got a call. He apologized for having to take it, but it was urgent: it was about the Afghan women’s orchestra. They were stuck in Kabul and desperate to get out. He was involved in the effort to …
The horizon goes both ways
New at the Belmont Club. The enemy always gets a vote, however masterful Washington’s new plan.
Joe Biden “will remember” British comments about his mental acuity
Joe Biden “will remember” comments about his mental acuity emanating from senior figures in the UK, and will “bear a grudge” against Britain, sources told the Telegraph Telegraph
Biden says China still withholding ‘critical information’ on Covid origins
President Joe Biden said Friday that China was withholding “critical information” on the origins of Covid-19 after the US intelligence community said it did not believe the virus was a bioweapon — but remained split on whether it escaped from a lab. Yahoo
Pakistan won Afghanistan
Pakistan, nominally a U.S. partner in the war, was the Afghan Taliban’s main patron, and sees the Taliban’s victory as its own. But now what does it do with its prize? NYT
Biden vows revenge — and to leave by Aug 31
The US president has also reaffirmed the 31 August deadline for troops to leave Afghanistan and says forces will fly out as many people as possible before that date. SBS
Biden covid origin deadline ends with bupkis
But with no “smoking gun” and limited access to raw data, discussion of the science has played out in a haze of circumstantial evidence … international scientists tasked with studying the virus’ origins warned Wednesday that another crucial window is “closing fast”: the shrinking opportunity for any thorough scientific study to be completed. As time …
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‘Making Neville Chamberlain look competent.’
Kentucky’s Republican congressmen are asking President Joe Biden to keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan until all Americans and Afghan allies have been evacuated. McClatchy
Empty evacuation flights, empty promise
A failure of leadership threatening national security
The Biden administration has exposed itself as incapable of making basic prudential decisions, and then compounding it with outrageous statements by the president, Pentagon brass, and the State Department that have many Americans asking, “What were you thinking?” The Hill