Sunday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Sunday, October 12, 2025
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6 comments
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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October 12, 1960
One of the legends of UN history is a tale that spread across the world and the decades. Did then Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev remove his shoe and bang it on a desk in the UN General Assembly Hall in 1960?
In the “I haven’t been paying attention to that part of the world recently,” category, the Taliban has attacked Pakistan https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgmzmn4971zo
But don’t worry, the USA USA USA is going to get back its base in Afghanistan, or something.
Trump has apparently forgotten he was President on January 6, 2021.
https://nitter.net/GovPressOffice/status/1977253387927478642
@Richard Gardner:
I saw this and I’ll admit it surprised me as rather foolish. Pakistan has a real military – an air force, for example – the Taliban does not.
@Michael Reynolds:
So did Russia in the 80s and the United States in the 00s-10s. This wouldn’t be Afghan paramilitaries’ first rodeo against an allegedly superior military power.
@DK:
They’re fighting in the open, not up in the mountains. And the latest news is that the Pakistanis are rolling over the Taliban and have seized the border positions. I’m surprised that these smart and very experienced guerrilla fighters got themselves into a conventional fight with the Pakistanis.