Carrots and Sticks have to include some sticks

I’m a terrible poker player because I can’t seem to bluff anybody, when I have big money on the line my hand shakes, I have a hard time making eye contact and my gut forces me to be conservative when I should be looking to bully people out of pots. I like the game, I love the statistical part of it and if I’m not playing with my own money and felt no repercussions I probably would be able to do OK at it. My issues with the game especially on a low-stakes level is that too many people take themselves too seriously, too afraid to show their hand by even making small talk. . The biggest issue I have with Poker is that I can’t seem to get out when I’m pot committed which is the same reason I can’t seem to drop Reggie Bush in my fantasy football league. He cost me a first round pick, has shown some glimmer but keeps banging me in the ass.

This is what I feel like in Afghanistan at this point, we feel like we are pot-committed and like the jackass who shows up at some garden apartment in Brooklyn for a tournament wearing ray-bands and a headset, you feel like they aren’t playing the same game you are. Look at Pakistan we have showered them with more money in Military aid to stop the Taliban from regrouping and the only thing that has happened is that the Taliban has regrouped and are essentially setting up an Al Qaida Disney World in the tribal regions. We keep throwing money at hoping things will change, at some point you have to realize that giving your bratty kid money you are just paying him off and his behavior will not change. The way you get his attention is by withholding his allowance. Carrots and Sticks have to include some sticks.

Just like I believe it’s completely justified for Ray-Bands Head-set guy to get physically pummeled the second he walks into the guy’s house whose throwing the poker party, I think Obama is completely justified to walk away from Karzai and his group of Soprano type thugs running the show in Kabul. They steal elections, get paid off by everybody, allow a flourishing heroin market to blossom and are still at the mercy of warlords, I’m not exactly sure why we would consider these the people we want to help bring democracy with. I don’t’ want to double-down just because we are pot-committed, I think it’s time to spend some time and money rebuilding our infrastructure, school systems and health-care’s which have all been treated like Guantanamo prisoners.

Neither Pakistan or Afghanistan has shown any stomach for being a real partner in bring down the safe havens because of the corruption which runs through them like alcohol runs through me on a good Friday Night. I say we bring home the troops one brigade per week from Afghanistan and cut our financial aid $1 million dollars per day to Pakistan until we see some progress.

And if that doesn’t work send over the sunglasses-head-phones poker guy to try to negotiate peace with the Taliban.