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Yes, it's me! Mark Steyn of that ilk - and today I'll be doing something you won't be seeing Kamala the Bringer of Joy without at least three months of negotiations, which brings us conveniently to the end of November. Nonetheless, I'll be doing my non-Kamala and taking an hour of questions on whatever topics you want to raise: collective bargaining, the valued status of Ukraine as a longstanding Nato member, the passage of time, whatever. Our Clubland Q&A starts live around the planet at 3pm North American Eastern - which is 8pm British Summer Time/9pm Central European. If you chance to be elsewhere, do check local listings below.
Lots going on around the world, including the United Arab Emirates objecting to the arrest of the Telegram guy by nixing its deal for French fighter jets:
Aside from being a citizen of the UAE, Mr Durov is also a citizen of St Kitts & Nevis. So he's a subject of the same king I am. Will His Majesty be joining his fellow emirs in getting tough with Macron?
America? It is three years since the fall of Kabul. Stephen Soukup quotes a certain "niche Canadian":
It became utterly predictable that the entire endeavor would, in the end, constitute a terrible waste of time, treasure, and lives. In fact, the inimitable Mark Steyn DID predict it, with eerie accuracy, almost an entire decade before the disastrous withdrawal took place:
'Six weeks after the last NATO soldier leaves Afghanistan, it will be as if we were never there. Before the election in 2010, the New York Post carried a picture of women registering to vote in Herat, all in identical top-to-toe bright blue burkas, just as they would have looked on Sept. 10, 2001. We came, we saw, we left no trace. America's longest war will leave nothing behind.'
When he wrote those words, Steyn's assessment seemed, perhaps, overly pessimistic. In reality, they turned out the opposite. It took fewer than six weeks to erase nearly all remnants of the American presence. More to the point, what wasn't erased – what we did, in fact, leave behind – were billions of dollars of sophisticated weapons and munitions that have made the Taliban far stronger than ever before and, as a consequence, far less likely to be unseated from power a second time.
How is it that beribboned buffoons like Thoroughly Modern Milley are taken seriously? Why would you hire a former Joint Chief of Staff for anything?
On the home front, I've never been a "Back the Blue" guy, for far too many reasons like this:
Shocking moment dog is shot dead by police officer in front of children and mom a month after he killed other pooch with service vehicle
My town has a one-man police department. It briefly had a two-man police department, but the deputy had a temperament not dissimilar to the guy above. I'm happy to say I played a small part in getting rid of him.
Glad to talk about any aspect of the above, or whatever else is on your mind.
Whether or not you're a member of The Mark Steyn Club, you can listen to our Clubland Q&A live as it happens wherever you chance to be on this turbulent earth: Club membership is required only to ask a question. We love to hear from brand new members, and especially appreciate those who are having such a great time in these parts that they've signed up a chum for a Steyn Club Gift Membership. Among the additions to our ranks in recent days are newbies from around the globe - from Amherst (New Hampshire) to Auckland (New Zealand), from Lafayette (Indiana) to La Batllòria (Catalonia), from Palo Alto (California) to Pardes Hanna (Israel). Whether you've joined this week either for a full year or a see-how-it-goes experimental quarter do shoot me a head-scratcher for today's show.
But, if you're not interested in joining, no worries, as they say in Oz: We seek no unwilling members - and as always the show is free to listen to, so we hope you'll want to tune in. So see you back here at 3pm North American Eastern - which is 8pm in London, 9pm in Paris, 10pm in Jerusalem; half-past-ten in Teheran; midnight-forty-five in Kathmandu; 3am in Singapore and Honkers (sorry about that); 5am in Sydney and Melbourne; 7am in Auckland, and a rather more convivial hour for the kippers and kedgeree in His Majesty's Dominions eastward across the Pacific, where you're so far ahead I've probably already lost my appeal by now...