Rudyard Kipling"
āWhen you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldierā
General Douglas MacArthur"
āWe are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.ā
āIt is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.ā āOld soldiers never die; they just fade away.
āThe soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.ā
āMay God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .ā āThe object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
āNobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
āIt is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
China Losing Pakistan, Calls America and India 'Enemies' - Gordon G. Chang , Author, commentatorby
Wednesday, August 25, 2021
Newsweek : As China makes gains in Afghanistan, the regime is suffering severe
setbacks in neighboring Pakistan, where resentment against Chinese
interests is widespread.
Two suicide bombings in Pakistanālast
week and last monthāhave taken the lives of 11 Chinese nationals and
cast doubt about the viability of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
CPEC, as the $62 billion plan is known, is the centerpiece of Xi Jinping's Belt and Road (BRI), his global infrastructure initiative.
China
has blamed both the U.S. and India for complicity in the deadly
bombings. Beijing could take action against them, thereby engulfing the
world's major powers in conflict.
On
Friday, a boy suicide bomber killed two Chinese children traveling in
the last car of a convoy on the Gwadar East Bay Expressway, a CPEC
project. China is caught in the middle of long-running disputes in
Pakistan, especially between the oppressed Balochs and Islamabad, and
there is little Beijing can do to ensure the security of its workers and
dependents in-country. The Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack.
Gwadar,
a Chinese-built port on the Arabian Sea, has been hit by weeks-long
protests that shut down the city. Those disturbances have been directed
in part against illegal Chinese fishing in nearby waters.
The Gwadar disturbances follow a suicide bombing, on the 14th of last month, targeting the Dasu dam,
another CPEC project. The explosion forced a bus into a ravine, killing
nine Chinese nationals. The attack is believed to be the most deadly
incident against Chinese interests in Pakistan.
