The Blob at Its Worst

We know that the US Foreign Policy Blob has a nearly complete record of failure over the past few decades.

In no particular order, and in some cases multiple times, we have Iran,Vietnam, Cambodia, Lebanon, Panama, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lybia, the former Yugoslavia, (by incompetence) Syria, the Ukraine (referring to the 2014 coup masterminded by Victoria "F%$# the EU" Nuland), NATO expansion, the current bellicose attitude toward China, etc.

None of these provided a meaning improvement in the well being of the people that it was being inflicted on, and non of these provided a long term benefit to the safety and well-being of the United States.

In most cases, the outcome adversely effected both the target and the United States, and some still do to this day.

It is an almost (I don't know of any counter examples off of the top of my head, but my reader(s) might find some) completely uninterrupted record of failure and misery.

The Blob is arrogant, and more importantly it is stupid.

There are different levels of stupid: (in order of increasing stupidity)

• A gazillion CIA plots to kill Castro.
• Supporting the Mujaheddin just to f%$# with Russia stupid.
• Pentagon defense procurement stupid.
• Going up against a Sicilian when death is on the line stupid. (The Princess Bride, watch it, learn it, be it)

And there is:

The senior Afghanistan Expert at the completely inaptly named US Institute of International Peace arguing for a new Opium War in Afghanistan stupid.

Yes,  William Byrd, Ph.D, the self described, "Senior Expert, Afghanistan," is arguing that Afghanistan should keep cultivating opium poppies forever, and for the continuation of the ephedra (a methamphetamine precursor) collection, because there is money to be made in opium addicts and meth heads.

Seriously, this is the f%$#ing Opium Wars all over again, where the British, and later the French, went to war with China in order to ensure that the East India Tea Company, and other white dope dealers should be given unrestricted access to the Chinese people, because there is profit in addiction.

Kind of like the Sacklers on steroids.

While it is true that opium is a significant cash crop in Afghanistan, he gives an estimate of over a billion dollars, which means that less than 1% of the total world market just for heroine goes to the Afghan people, he ignores the enormous costs of addiction, from opium, heroine, and meth.

Given the provenance of the USIP, it is little more than a beard for the US state security apparatus.

It was created by Ronald Reagan and Bill Casey as another CIA cutout, it is completely funded by the United States, and its board, "Must include the secretary of defense, the secretary of state, and the president of the National Defense University."

Perhaps the CIA wants to use drug money to fund a counter-Taliban insurgency, maybe they intend to spend the money on some other misbegotten plan doomed to failure, or perhaps they are protecting drug traffickers whom they find useful, as they did with cocaine in the 1980s.

In any case, what we are seeing is shot sighted, self destructive, and arrogant stupidity once again taking the helm.

I'm beginning to think that if you replaced the senior personnel at the State Department, CIA, and the Pentagon with bobble-head dolls we could get better results.