Category: politics

To the ears of Americans, “peace” may sound a bit wispy or abstract – but here it’s a hope-laced word for a lifeline that continues to fray. Thirty years of war have decimated Kabul and much of the rest of Afghanistan.

From the air, loo…king out on a vast panorama of sandy-colored mountains and valleys near Kabul, I wondered: Where are the trees?

They’re gone – destroyed by war and deprivation – victims of countless bombs and the collapse of irrigation.

At home, we push for green sustainability. Here, the streets are blowing with harsh dust, a brutal harvest of war. Full article.

Private contractors hired by the US Government have jeopardised security at the American embassy in Kabul with lewd, drunken conduct and an understaffed guard force at a time of rising violence in the Afghan capital, a watchdog group says. Full article.

here’s an idea: the govt shouldn’t be asked to help with healthcare, neighbors should help one another.

On Pakistan-US relations: “The US invests in our education, health or power crisis, but with no short-term expectations, no pressure, no demands. They act as a friend helping out another friend in need. They wait, patiently, for the long-term di…vidends of this investment: an improved opinion of the US and the elimination of resentment.”

just one question for this woman: what is she smoking!!! the unfortunate full article.

“For the Obama Administration, the Pakistani military’s reluctance to take on the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan doesn’t bode well for the pursuit of U.S. interests. Washington would like Islamabad to confront the groups that pose a direct threat to NATO forces across the border in Afghanistan – the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network.”

tell me again what this war is all about? protecting pakistanis from the extremists or keeping the american occupation viable?
read full article.

Bombings targeted a Pakistani police station and set a NATO fuel convoy ablaze Sunday, killing 16 cadets in the northwest’s Swat Valley and threatening the supply line to international forces in Afghanistan in a separate attack near the border. Full article.

“the problem is that france is a traditionally conservative, catholic country. the visible growth of the muslim population since the second world war is regarded as a threat to the french way of life.” Full article.

remember BCCI, the ultimate banking scandal? it was child’s play. now at UBS, their employees smuggled diamonds in toothpaste tubes in order to save their clients some tax money. and what did they get for all their fraud and tax evasion? the whistleblower got 40 months but the bank CEO got to play golf with obama. wow.

watch it on democracy now!

omg, this is hilarious – and to the point!

Is Using A Minotaur To Gore Detainees A Form Of Torture?

On August 19, the New York Times revealed that the company was, in fact, a central part of a secret CIA assassination program that Dick Cheney allegedly ordered concealed from Congress. Blackwater is also being investigated by the Justice Department for possible crimes ranging from weapons smuggling to manslaughter and by the IRS for possible tax evasion. It is being sued in federal courts by scores of Iraqi civilians for alleged war crimes and extrajudicial killings.

Despite these black marks, the Obama administration continues to keep Blackwater on the government’s payroll. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, Blackwater still works for the CIA, the State Department and the Defense Department to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, and its continuing presence is an indicator of just how entrenched private corporations are in the US war machinery. Full article.

what’s wrong with the people shouting her down, cheering the problems she faces? surreal.

This month, a lot of media stories have compared President Johnson’s war in Vietnam and President Obama’s war in Afghanistan. The comparisons are often valid, but a key parallel rarely gets mentioned — the media’s insistent support for the war even after most of the public has turned against it. Full article.

“The initial turn-off when western feminism comes to the rescue, is the blanket assumption that the victim has no volition nor can respond to adversity with the commensurate degree of outrage because she is so accustomed and desensitised to her own subjugation. It is a strange mix of protective sororal sympathy and smugness.” Full article.