Was getting rid of the Taliban worth it?

Were not some of the consequences forseeable? Did we not have experts in Afghanistan telling us how difficult it would be to unify the whole country, given the continued presence of the warlords?

Bin Laden like the drug dealers

On a more hopeful note, also from 30 Giorni, John Paul I and Nikodim. (Yes, it is a sad story, but in the light of eternity, perhaps hopeful.)

Steven Pressfield has a new novel out, The Afghan Campaign, which is set during Alexander the Great's invasion of Afghanistan. (Podcast interview with military.com.) I didn't know he also wrote The Legend of Bagger Vance. It's not clear to me if his Gates of Fire, about Thermopylae, is still being adapted into film. Looks like 300 will beat the other contenders, including a possible remake of The 300 Spartans. Interview with Pressfield about Gates of Fire.

Stax script reviews for 300, Gates of Fire. What if Michael Mann were to direct Gates of Fire? (Some old news.) Does he even still have an interest in the project? Imagine if he had done Gates of Fire instead of Miami Vice. Perhaps he is waiting to see what 300 will be like; not having seen Sin City (and having no interest to), I can't really say if I would appreciate an adaptation of a Frank Miller graphic novel. (I did read FM's Batman-Superman face-off, The Dark Knight Returns when it first came out a loooooooooooooooooong time ago, and I liked it. But I can't say I like the idea behind Sin City; and is 300 historically accurate? As Thomas Fleming tells us, the Greeks were really different.) I've only seen the first 10 minutes of Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead, so I can't say much about his talents as a director.

If the New Scot were going to be around, I'd go see 300 with him, I suppose, he being the Classics lover that he is. Paul Cartledge (faculty page) wrote a book on the Spartans, and he has a new book coming out on Thermopylae. Perhaps we really need to be more like the independence-loving Greeks instead of the decadent Romans. We certainly need to be more like the early Christians.

Which reminds me of Adrian Goldsworthy, who has written on the Roman army, as well on the Punic Wars, Roman warfare, and Roman generals.