Potemkin Nation

The title of this blog post doesn´t refer to Russia, unfortunately!

It seems we just *have* to continue talking about Afghanistan. Below is John Michael Greer´s take. He connects the debacle in Kabul to the current crisis in the United States, and comes to some pretty startling conclusions...

I don´t think he´s wrong, though (although I don´t really like when JMG is right, tbh). 

Just one little quibble. JMG points out that the Saigon regime managed to stay in power for three years after the US troops left, while the Kabul government fell within three weeks. It seems to be even worse than this, since the American troops - if I understand this correctly - were in Kabul still a few days ago. Maybe some are still actually there, trying to locate United States citizens? So it´s more like three days, three hours or even right under the nose of the US troops! 

Btw, it seems Sweden, at any rate, *is* willing to continue sending aid money to various projects in Afghanistan, although I don´t see how this is possible if the Taliban are in control. Perhaps the Swedish government (which acts as if Kabul was a municipality in Stockholm) is simply grand-standing...

Let´s be brutally honest. If America falls, Europe will have to face Russia (and China) alone. France, Germany and Italy will probably make a deal with the Russians (and the Chinese). The UK is a joke. This might create yuge problems for places like Poland, Estonia and...Sweden. 

Can´t say I like it. But unless Japan gets the bomb and sends its Pacific fleet to the Baltic, that´s what the future has in store. 

Potemkin Nation