James Bowman at The New Criterion: ‘Singing Those Ne0-Liberal Blues’

This time it’ll be different:

‘Presumably, New York Times readers are unaware that, in Paris, protest movements are always awakening, most of them, like the current one, composed of economically illiterate students reacting against left-wing governments which, having been mugged by reality, periodically make desperate but ultimately futile attempts to undo some of the economic damage caused by themselves or by previous left-wing governments.’

Let there be puppets!

So, on the other side, this time it’ll be different?:

Daniel Larison at The American Conservative on the speculation from some liberal centrists that some neo-cons have cause to join…liberal centrists: ‘Will The Neoconservatives Abandon The GOP?’:

‘Even if the party’s current policy elites stay right where they are, the GOP still isn’t going to be a “party of ideas” until it starts adapting its policy agenda to address contemporary problems.’

Reality is still there to do the mugging, I’m guessing:  IS, Hamas, Hizbollah, Al Qaeda, Wahhabis and Saudi money, Boko Haram, The Taliban, the Mullahs, Putin, Chinese authorities pursuing Chinese interests quite logically….will do enough mugging, perhaps.

Speaking of the Taliban:

Dexter Filkins at The New Yorker: ‘Not Even Kabul Is Safe From The Taliban:’

‘Now Kabul increasingly resembles the rest of Afghanistan. With the attack that unfolded on Tuesday, the Taliban demonstrated, among other things, how easy it has become for them to get inside the city. The building that was struck was run by the N.D.S., which oversees much of the security in the capital. As a result of the recent increase in violence, the mood in Kabul has changed dramatically. All those restaurants, as well as the Gandamack, are closed; the Taverna du Liban was destroyed in a suicide attack. In their place are checkpoints and blast walls.’

Here we are…

As previously posted:

Here’s a documentary on the Green Berets passed along by a reader, which has good footage of what American special forces are being asked to do in Afghanistan: The fierce fighting. The tribal, poor and divided loyalties of what come to be Afghan forces. The thuggish tactics of the Taliban:

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******From a previous post, if you’re interested:

3. Neoconservatives–Often coming from backgrounds of academic social science, chased away from the New Left and ‘mugged by reality’, Kesler’s neoconservatives would include Norman Podhoretz, Jeanne Kirkpatrick, and James Q. Wilson.  On Kesler’s view, they come to distrust ideology, rationalist political theory and have been persuaded by the fact/value distinction. Doubts are bred from within the social sciences and political sciences about how one can be sure of what one knows, especially when that knowledge becomes a source for public policy and a way for a few people to run the lives of many others.

From The American Interest Online: Francis Fukuyama On Samuel Huntington….is neoconservative foreign policy defunct…sleeping…how does a neoconservatism more comfortable with liberalism here at home translate into foreign policy?: Wilfred McClay At First Things: ‘The Enduring Irving Kristol’

Update And Repost- From YouTube: Leo Strauss On The Meno-More On The Fact/Value Distinction?’…Thursday Quotation: Jeane Kirkpatrick – J.S. Mill…

From March 27th, 2009 At WhiteHouse.Gov: Remarks By The President On A New Strategy For Afghanistan And Pakistan…Stephen Biddle At Foreign Affairs: ‘Running Out Of Time For Afghan Governance Reform’

Repost-From Michael Yon: ‘The Battle For Kandahar’…Dexter Filkins Book On Afghanistan And Iraq: “The Forever War”…Monday Quotations-Henry Kissinger…Tom Ricks Via Foreign Policy: ‘American General Dies In Afghanistan; An American Lt. Col. Goes Off The Reservation

Pauline Baker At The American Interest: ‘Unraveling Afghanistan’