Overall, a great piece but I'd like to address one or two of your main points and hopefully scratch some of your itches. With regards to your "Main complaint", please refer to Batman Begins. The League of Shadows were determined to watch "Gotham tear itself apart". They wanted a long, lingering death for the city (in Batman Begins, it would have been the Scarecrow gas making them mad. In TDKR, it would have been the distinct lack of authority allowing mayhem to ensue). They wanted it's deep seeded corruption to eat itself from the inside. They wanted to make an example of it for the world to see. And obviously, they would have liked to have escaped before the bomb went boom. The trigger was just a threat and a precaution to anyone trying to mess with them i.e. the government/armed forces. They had no intention of doing it themselves, it was always on a timer. Even the bomb was a product of Gotham.Another point I'd like to make is regarding Bruce Wayne's knee - it was clearly a mental issue. Yes, he has virtually no cartilage, but if you've read ANY prolific Batman tales, Batman usually conquers all by sheer will and determination. The physical impairment of the knee shows Batman is already half broken before Bane breaks him completely. He is not mentally ready to become the Bat again, he still has some demons to face (have you watched "Sherlock" on the BBC? John Watson has a similar ailment that miraculously heals.). It's more of a metaphysical condition than physical problem. (Now before you start retorting "but the doctor says he has a problem and has an x-ray to prove it, just think of the amount of sportsmen and professional wrestlers that were told by doctors their careers were over yet they carried on for many years after). It's merely an excuse (or a new mask?) that allows Bruce to keep telling himself that his Batman days are over and remind him of how much he is hurting from losing Rachel.Oh, and the stabbing by Talia was NOT meant to be a fatal blow. She wanted Batman to watch Gotham in it's final hour of need, unable to help, before the whole sh*thouse went up in flames.Most of your other points are/can probably be explained by editing issues. The film's main problem was trying get far too much in (Catwoman and Robin could have been left out and these plot holes might have actually been explained for example) and as a result, some things just weren't explained properly/were left on the cutting room floor. If the film makers had just streamlined the cast, it could have been as good as TDK. As is, it's another Spiderman 3. A decent romp but lacking in clarity and compromised by time constraints.
