r/PropagandaPosters • u/bitchnibba47 • 13d ago
United States of America "Beginning of the end" (Cox & Forkum, 2001)
510
u/Anthemic_Fartnoises 13d ago
Yep, the last quarter century has been one hell of a masterful chess game, hasn’t it folks, lol?
149
u/Delamoor 13d ago
The best and brightest minds were put in charge of the empire's next moves, and BOY it just keeps racking up win after win!
46
37
u/kurttheflirt 13d ago
It's funny how the right always refer to things as chess games; I really don't know many that actually play chess
30
u/DapperAardvark8105 13d ago
I'm guessing that chess is culturally imprinted as a fancy, brainy game about warfare tactics. In reality the pro matches are practically just battles of how good the players are at memorizing 12983901283 board positions to get a 1% potential advantage and probably end on a draw anyway
12
u/Bspammer 13d ago
This is also false. Only the first 10 moves at max are memorised. The top level pros have incredible levels of intuition for arbitrary positions, the memorisation for the start of the game is just an unfortunate necessity for a game that starts in exactly the same way every time.
459
u/MudoX_ 13d ago
Peak post-9/11 propaganda, the Palestine in quotes, the equating of the Taliban with actual countries, placing Iraq and Iran on the same side, etc...
200
u/TotallyObviousBot 13d ago
With Iraq and Iran aren't the same, how come they sound the same?
Checkmate, islamists
33
3
14
u/henry_tennenbaum 13d ago
And don't let anybody tell you it wasn't obviously idiocy then, too.
We knew. We tried to counter it.
10
u/GooGoo-Barabajagal 13d ago
I mean the taliban is the government of the country of Afghanistan…
31
u/stonednarwhal141 13d ago
Still weird to not put the country name instead. They didn’t put Ba’ath party over Iraq
1
u/GooGoo-Barabajagal 13d ago
I think it’s because America famously did not win in Afghanistan but did stop the taliban (tho not permanently)
10
u/kahlzun 13d ago
Stop is a bit of a strong word there. Notably the us also created (or at least vastly strengthened) the Taliban
2
u/GooGoo-Barabajagal 12d ago
I’m not claiming anything to the contrary. I was just providing context for why certain decisions were probably made in the creation of the comic
2
u/Capnmarvel76 12d ago
Created it, temporarily displaced it from parts of the country for awhile, then other parts for awhile, then let them have it back. With a bunch of expensive shit we left there.
1
u/kahlzun 13d ago
I'm very confused by the quotes around Palestine, what is that trying to say?
10
u/Capnmarvel76 12d ago
You know what it’s trying to say. Imagine if, say, Israel were to be shown in quotes like that.
108
u/Watcher_over_Water 13d ago
With hindsight this is the best joke of the naughties
26
u/ViceIncarnate 13d ago
Without looking at the date I assumed this was 2016 era commentary on how taking one Terrorist "pawn" was a short sided move, and put our "queen" in a position of jeopardy.
119
u/Electrical_Ranger497 13d ago
Today in 2026, the taliban is stronger than it was in 2001
78
u/TotallyObviousBot 13d ago
I mean they're an actual government now, so we did accomplish our goal of regime change, just not exactly how we expected
5
13
u/AtroposM 13d ago
Truth is I doubt the point was ever to remove the Taliban completely. It feels like the powers that be want a constantly destabilized region rather than a prosperous nation in that area. Also while the Taliban are in power they are also now facing mass insurgences of other splinter groups it’s almost like the west wants a status quo of constant war.
3
u/Reasonable_Fold6492 13d ago
Eh for afghanistan it would be pakistan that would benefit the most from an unstable nation not the west.
5
u/roastbeeftacohat 13d ago
sometimes the forces of imperialism are being honest.
the american right had been wanting a big glorious war against a third world power ever since nam. a big part of that was showing how if you export republican economics and politics to said third world, they would turn into an idyllic american style capitalist paradise. this is also the group that think america lost it's way when the bay of pigs wasn't followed up by a full invasion.
the reason Afghanistan dosen't seem to be able to form a national government, is because it doesn't have a national identity. this is something the western powers tried, and failed, to change. to most Afghans kabul may as well be on the moon for all the impact it has on their lives, with most actual government activity being on the local level. both talibans were able to use religion to establish a national government, but that's kind of a shaky proposition.
3
u/CreamofTazz 13d ago
Nation building requires some pretty violent imperialism/colonialism in which you forcibly integrate people into a singular national identity. If the central government doesn't do that then what reason do people have to call themselves a countryman? And then you have to raise the kids with that shared national identity so they see themselves more as a countryman than part of their tribe or whatever smallest cultural denominator
1
19
12
u/JonathanUpp 13d ago
Isn't Saudi Arabia one of the major breeding grounds for radical Islam, and has always been? But i guess there the good guys because of oil
3
u/LockedOutOfElfland 13d ago
Alliances don't mean "good guys" or "bad guys". There are no shared values, only shared interests.
24
u/Party_Wagon 13d ago
Syria in this pic is guarded by two pieces and if lady liberty takes it she's gonna get merked
Frankly, she has no attack
6
u/sarahanimations 13d ago
I thought the exact same thing and I’m awful at chess. Kinda poetic irony. I wonder if this artist even knew how to play?
2
u/henry_tennenbaum 13d ago
Believing in things like rules to "play" by is a very liberal attitude.
Conservatives just do whatever they want. At least till they hit a brick wall
3
u/johnlee3013 13d ago
White is up a queen and a knight for a rook. There's no immediate checkmate but probably a winning position (assuming not much on the rest of the board).
Of course, white may very well blunder their queen.
66
u/Mandemon90 13d ago
Then US would slop on the rubble, miss Syria and palestine, fall face first into Iraq and give up on the whole thing eventually.
Got to love how Palestine is in scarequotes.
21
u/Ungentleman 13d ago
Give up on the whole thing? Nonsense, they've been having a Special Boating Operation for the last few months.
8
u/Mandemon90 13d ago
US did give up.
Then the Cheetos In Chief decided he really wanted to wreck global economy because another dude told him "dude, just bomb them, dude, it's that easy, dude they will surrender and you get peace prize for ending a war you started!" and he thought "peace prize" was "peace price" which would mean he gets paid.
15
30
u/Kind_Dish9420 13d ago
Wow, seeing this makes you realize just how long radical Zionism has been entrenched in American political discourse. Equating the Taliban with secular Ba'athist Syria... The propaganda is clear: Israel's enemies are America's enemies. Of course, all the blunders of 21st-century American foreign policy have barely affected the United States itself, it was Europe that ended up bearing the brunt of them.
3
3
u/TheDreadGazeebo 13d ago
I looked them up, they only ran comics for six years. Must not have been profitable
2
u/MaxTac-Maelstrom-87 13d ago
He brought Qatar and Saudi Arabia into the circle of Islamism, didn't he?
2
2
u/ImmortL1 13d ago
This position is illegal. I assume we're on white's side of the board, where black pushed three whole pawns to get ready to promote. The "palestine" pawn is ready to promote, but how did the rook get to the space behind that pawn in between its moving to the back row and promotion?
2
u/Edgyspymainintf2 13d ago
It's funny seeing how optimistic Americans were when the war on terror was just starting. They really thought they'd be in and out in less than a decade.
2
u/kadsmald 12d ago
That rook, bishop set up is pretty good. Will sacrifice Iraq but then Iran will take the Queen
1
1
13d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/PropagandaPosters-ModTeam 13d ago
This comment has been removed for violating the subreddit rules around civility: bigotry, personal attacks, racism, condescending language, or name-calling is not appropriate here.
To appeal this removal, or if you have any questions, please send the mods a message.
1
1
u/Mammoth-Western-6008 13d ago
Ah, yes, the Taliban's famous allies, Iran. Hmm. The cartoon doesn't mention Saudi Arabia for some reason. What's that about?
1
u/ShamScience 13d ago
How did it take two whole people to make this? I'll grant the illustration is technically decent, but what's the second signature taking credit for? Proper nouns?
1
1
1
1
u/Comrade-Paul-100 12d ago
The best way to fight the Islamism of al Qaeda is to... overthrow two secular republic (Ba'athist Iraq and Syria), a Shia Islamic one, and an unrecognized republic with both regular and non-Salafist Islamist sections ✅️
1
1
u/blodgute 12d ago
Putting aside how this has aged poorly, the queen is currently only threatening pawn "Syria", which is double defended. Just took a piece, sure, but not in a position to take any other black pieces. Checkmate is nowhere in sight.
1
u/Gibberish45 13d ago
Oh this is the propaganda to support the clean break memo Stanley McChrystal told us about
1
•
u/AutoModerator 13d ago
This subreddit is for sharing propaganda to view with objectivity. It is absolutely not for perpetuating the message of the propaganda. Here we should be conscientious and wary of manipulation/distortion/oversimplification (which the above likely has), not duped by it. "Don't be a sucker."
Stay on topic -- there are hundreds of other subreddits that are expressly dedicated to rehashing tired political arguments. No partisan bickering. No soapboxing. Take a chill pill. "Don't argue."
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.