Posts Tagged ‘Afghanistan’
Thanks to Wikicommons.
US Army: Our bad… US apologizes for air strikes which killed Pakistani soldiers.
Oil Report: Obama’s Bad. Administration found to be at fault for underestimating BP oil spill.
US Gov.: Taliban’s Good? US supports peace talks between Afghan government and Taliban.
The USA is desperately trying to stabilize the feisty and difficult country of Afghanistan. It’s been 10 years and progress is, well… elusive. It doesn’t help that the current President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai is a little feisty and difficult himself. New suggestions of corruption in his government are complicating things… as the cartoon above suggests! (Cartoon by KAL)
General David Petraeus is an important guy you need to know about… he is running the difficult US combat operation in Afghanistan. But now he’s got another worry, this time in the USA. It’s “Islamophobia”. That’s the obsessive fear of Islam that seems to be gripping some people in the country at the moment.
Recently, a pastor in Florida, Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center, has devised a movement that involves burning the Quran (the holy text of the Muslim faith) on this coming September 11 to make a statement against Islam.
General Petraeus is trying to tell Jones and his followers that this is a bad move and could endanger U.S. troops in Afghanistan even more. There’s already been a demonstration in Kabul, Afghanistan, against Jones and his plan. An article in the Wall Street Journal explains,
…military officers said they hoped that Gen. Petraeus’s statement—an unusual move since military commanders rarely get involved in politics—would convince Mr. Jones to change his plans.
Thanks to Wikicommons.
Fishing Fuels Fued? North Korea seizes South Korean fishing vessel after claims of fishing in Northern territorial waters.
Tragedy strikes aid workers. Ten people involved with providing medical care to Afghanistan’s remote areas slain by Taliban.
Floods continue to strike Asia. With Pakistan flood waters still high mudslides and floods kill 127 in China.
American military forces have been at war for nearly a decade; the conflict in Afghanistan is the longest war in American history. Our soldiers risk life and limb to serve their country.
However, they risk more than just that. Even those who escape physically unscathed can have wounds to deep for others to see.
It is hard for us living in the comfort of our homes to understand, as conflict blogger Tim Lynch describes, that
The amount of responsibility placed on the shoulders of 21, 22 or sometimes younger men who lead fireteams, squads, and platoons exceeds by several orders of magnitude, that placed on their peers in the civilian world.
Thanks to Wikicommons.
As if fission didn’t anger the US enough… Iran announces start of fusion power program.
Is N. Korea actually at fault? Questions over supposed torpedo attack on South Korean ship.
US Soldiers captured. Taliban forces seize two US soldiers in Afghanistan.
Thanks to Wikicommons.
It is hard to find good news in Afghanistan these days.
It is the longest war in US history… allies are leaving… and there are reports that the Taliban is stronger than ever.
Yikes.
But there is at least one remarkable success story coming out of Afghanistan.It’s the daring tale of a Non-Governmental Organization that risks life and limb to help citizens of Afghanistan: …read more.
Thanks to Wikicommons.
In case you weren’t following last weeks news there has been a major (or should we say general) change of command in Afghanistan. The head of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, has resigned his position.
Why?
In a new article in Rolling Stone Magazine, titled appropriately “The Runaway General”, some of McCrystals’ unflattering opinions about higher ups leaked out.
The general first encountered Obama a week after he took office, when the president met with a dozen senior military officials in a room at the Pentagon known as the Tank. According to sources familiar with the meeting, McChrystal thought Obama looked “uncomfortable and intimidated” by the roomful of military brass.
The Rolling Stone article that got General McChrystal fired does a great job of preempting on why he got fired:
Although McChrystal has been in charge of the war for only a year, in that short time he has managed to piss off almost everyone with a stake in the conflict. …read more.
Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, courtesy the Rolling Stone
The Earth shattering article in Rolling Stone mentioned in the post above could have long term fall out for more people than General McChrystal. We all could be hurt.
How? By a breakdown between the media and the military.
A piece on NPR discusses what is the likely impact of this fallout on further media inquiries to senior officials. According to James Kitfield of the National Journal, senior officials are going to assume that there is always some downside to talking to the media, making it something they should not do, especially if they want to keep their job.
“The trust between the military and the media has just been shot out of the water.” – Kitfield
Do you think the media deserves a place alongside the military? Or is military information too sensitive to be broadcast in any sort of way? Did McChrystal deserve to be sacked even in the face of an article that painted him in a negative light? Spend some time thinking about this one – it goes to show that the media is capable of being a force in politics and a major actor in public policy.
Thanks to Wikicommons.
Do you ever have trouble focusing? We at US Democrazy sure do during our staff meetings. Sometimes we face this same problem when writing a post; with so many interesting things on the Internet it is hard to choose just one.
In the spirit of this we are proud to present three interesting works from across the blogosphere. Let’s start off by looking at…
How to really “play” soccer.
After a questionable call in the US-Slovenia game canceled a US goal American’s are wondering the legitimacy of soccer referees. Well Henry Carey provides an interesting explanation of how the subjectivity of refs is just part of the game:
What, really, is the difference between cheering the guile of a fantastic dribbling and admiring the crafty deception of eliciting the call of a non-existent foul? The goal in soccer, after all, is to win the game, and one way to do that is to influence the referees, who like government regulators, have a crucial and difficult job and are themselves flawed human beings
Speaking of corruption and human fallibility lets take a look at… …read more.
A while ago, President Obama revealed his new plan for Afghanistan. For those of you who don’t remember (Okay, I’ll admit it. We need a refresher too!), the plan included aid that would help Afghanistan’s development.
Some of the aid money goes directly to local tribal elders, who then disperse it in the community.
Back in the 1990s, when similar outlays of cash were made available to the tribal elders, the Taliban would go to the elders and demand the money. Today, the newly resurgent Taliban is trying the same trick.
However, now, some tribal leaders are standing up to the Taliban.
Their actions come with consequences. Recently, elders who have refused to give money to the Taliban have been shot.
This is a shocking reminder of the dangers that threaten progress in Afghanistan.
Still, the resolute opposition by some tribal elders to the Taliban’s demands is an interesting new development.
It could indicate that Obama’s strategy for civilian aid might be working. What do you think? Is Obama’s plan wise?
To quote a USDEMOCRAZY post from last week: “We’ve all been caught in compromising situations before, but hopefully they haven’t been released to the Internet. This time, the U.S. military isn’t so lucky.”
Looks like the U.S. military just has bad luck.
The same site that leaked the first video, WikiLeaks, is planning to leak another video exposing another military massacre.
The video isn’t out yet, but it will show previously classified footage from US warplanes that had been tapped to bomb Taliban positions in Farah province, Afghanistan last year. Instead of killing Taliban fighters, they killed anywhere from 146-86 civilians.
Thanks to Wikicommons.
Some people are describing Afghanistan as a gigantic mess. Luckily for the USA, we have our good friend Hamid Karzai, the President of Afghanistan helping us out! Right? Uh…Well… shall we just say… our good friend Mr. Karzai… is not our good friend. …read more.
Don’t cry for me, China. Google moves its Chinese search engine from the mainland to Hong Kong, ending censorship.
That’s one small step for Virgin Galactic… Tourist space ship makes its first test flight.
The price of peace in Afghanistan? Insurgents offer terms to Afghan government for ending of bloodshed.
Mixing oil and water for a good cause. Former Presidents Clinton and Bush promote the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.
The best thing Frankfurt has made since the hot dog. Obama musical opens in Germany.
Audacious attack in Afghanistan, Militants strike hard in Kabul. Are we going to have another “green zone” fight on our hands?
We’ve told you the story of Google’s fight in China (also see cartoon below). Yahoo is backing them, and taking some heat for it to.
Talking Points Memo reader Bernard Avishai has an interesting insight into the Massachusetts special election.
What if you don’t have a prayer of shooting your target? The Pentagon will give you their blessing.
