Clipmarks | Nato Clips

The Savagery of a Surge That Failed

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 11:08:15 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks:

He didn't scream. Instead, the sight induced a sort of catatonia; he picked up the head, cradled it in his arms, and started walking aimlessly. He carried on like this for days, until tribal elders pried the head from his hands and convinced him to deal with his loss more constructively. He decided he would get revenge by becoming a suicide bomber and inflicting a loss on some American family as painful as the one he had just suffered.

The Taliban are as uninterested in social services and human rights as the Karzai government or the international forces, but they know how to turn a world of poverty, insecurity, and death from laser-guided missiles to their advantage.

Washington spends about $100 million a day on this war - close to $36 billion a year - but only five cents of every dollar goes towards aid. From this paltry sum, [..] "a staggering 40% has returned to donor countries in corporate profits and salaries".

Clip Source: www.atimes.com

Surging in Afghanistan

When, decades from now, historians compile the record of this Afghan war, they will date the Afghan version of the "surge"

to sometime in early 2007.

a growing insurgency was causing visible problems for US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces

In response, the international forces retaliated with massive aerial bombing campaigns and large-scale house raids. The number of civilians killed in the process skyrocketed.

During the same period

the rising civilian death toll and the decaying economy proved a profitable recipe for the Taliban, who recruited significant numbers of new fighters.

They also won the sympathy of Afghans

This last surge, little noted by the media, failed miserably, but Washington is now planning another one, even as Afghanistan slips away. More boots on the ground, though, will do little to address the real causes of this country's unfolding tragedy.

Afghanistan Conflict Rapidly Worsening

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:00:55 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: What a mess.

Nato troops given new mandate to attack heroin drug barons in Afghanistan

NATO accused of sheltering Afghan heroin trade

Karzai's brother denies links to drug trade

Nato happy to ignore explosion in Afghan opium output, says Russia

Clip Source: www.spacewar.com

US report says Afghanistan conflict rapidly worsening

Concern over Afghanistan's downward spiral rose another notch Thursday, amid reports of a draft US intelligence assessment detailing its slide into corruption, drugs and insurgent violence.

The New York Times said the draft National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) casts doubts on the ability of Afghan President Hamid Karzai to stem the resurgence of the Taliban.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said

"I would just cite that Afghanistan is a difficult place. It has made progress since 2001.

we are doing a review to see what more we can do,"

So far, the administration has promised one combat brigade by February, citing constraints imposed by the war in Iraq.

the breakdown in central authority in Afghanistan has been accelerated by rampant corruption within the Karzai government and by increasingly sophisticated insurgent attacks from safe havens in Pakistan

heroin trade by some estimates accounts for 50 percent of Afghanistan's economy

Moscow calls for anti-U.S. alliance

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:31:15 GMT

clipped by: spirithiker
clipper's remarks: While Russia has insisted it was not intending to supplant NATO, Mr Medvedev made it clear that the US-dominated alliance was partly responsible for the war in the Caucasus by its failure to rein in Georgian "aggression".

This is the result of the U.S. throwing its weight around the world for far too long. It is human nature that if one person is constantly directing policy onto everyone else then that person is going to be knocked down for being perceived as a bully.

The time has come for the U.S. to relax its role as self appointed world police and let other nations handle their own affairs or we will be “uninvited to the party”.

Hopefully, future U.S. presidents will bury this old school ‘might is right’ mentality that Bush/Cheney revitalized when they took office.

Clip Source: www.canberratimes.com.au

THE President of Russia has called on Europe's leaders to create a new world order that would minimise the role of the United States.

Mr Medvedev spoke of a Russia that was "absolutely not interested in confrontation", and outlined plans for a new security pact to ban the use of force in Europe.

Mr Medvedev sought to show that the US was at the root of all the world's problems. He blamed Washington's "economic egotism" for the world's financial woes and then accused the Bush Administration of taking Europe to the brink of a new cold war by pursuing a deliberately divisive foreign policy.

While he called for a cooling of the noxious rhetoric that had blighted East-West relations over the past two years, Mr Medvedev clearly laid the blame for the deterioration on the US, which he said was again viewing Russia through the prism of the Cold War. "Sovietology, like paranoia, is a very dangerous disease, and it is a pity that part of the US Administration still suffers from it," he said.

Tags: russia, u.s., foreign policy, cowboys, bush, cheney

Afghanistan code red

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 23:37:40 GMT

clipped by: deb2012

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

The White House has launched an urgent review of Afghanistan policy, fast-tracked for completion in the next several weeks, amid growing concern that the administration lacks a comprehensive strategy for the foundering war there and as intelligence officials warn of a rapidly worsening situation on the ground.

Analysts have concluded that reconstituted elements of al-Qaeda and the resurgent Taliban are collaborating with an expanding network of militant groups, making the counterinsurgency war infinitely more complicated.

Alarms were first sounded early this year,

But seven months would pass before the administration, distracted by issues as serious as the Iraq war and as far afield as the Olympics, was seized with the urgency to put a new strategy in place.

the temporary deployment of 3,500 more Marines, an appeal for more NATO troops and presidential authorization for U.S. commando raids into Pakistan -- the downward spiral continued

U.S. military deaths

have risen to the highest levels

Tags: war on terror, politics

Battle Hymn of the New Socialist Party

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:26:42 GMT

clipped by: davboz
clipper's remarks: The Chicago New Party - 1996

Clip Source: sniff.numachi.com

The cloth cap and the working class, as images are dated. For we are Labour's avante-garde, and we were educated. By tax adjustments we have planned to institute the Promised Land And just to show we're still sincere, we sing The Red Flag once a year

It's one step forward, one step back. Our dance is devilish daring A leftward shuffle, a rightward tack, then pause to take our bearings. We'll reform the country bit by bit, so nobody will notice it Then ever after, never fear, we'll sing The Red Flag once a year

So vote for us, and not for them, we're just as true to NATO, And we'll be calm and British when we steer the ship of state-O

Clip Source: www.chicagodsa.org

And if we abandon public education, that is what will happen. Public schooling is the one institution left to us all that we own together and whose future will create our shared future.

The New Party

Barack Obama, victor in the 13th State Senate District, encouraged NPers to join in his task forces on Voter Education and Voter Registration

US tells NATO to help stop opium trade in Afghanistan

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:03:10 GMT

clipped by: Nathan_7870

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - The United States called on NATO allies on Thursday to allow the alliance to attack the Afghan opium trade, which it said was bringing the Taliban up to $80 million a year.

NATO's operations commander, Gen. John Craddock, has asked the 26 NATO countries for authority to attack laboratories, trafficking networks and drug lords to stem a trade helping to finance a worsening Taliban insurgency.

Germany and several other NATO states are wary of extending the role of the NATO mission, whose long-term aim is to create conditions for Afghans to take over responsibility for their own security.

Some are concerned it could worsen the violence and might cause civilian casualties that could turn Afghans against foreign forces.

Proponents of the plan argue it is essential if NATO is to reduce violence in the longer term, and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the drugs trade was bringing the Taliban $60-$80 million a year.

NATO mulls expanding its drug role in Afghanistan

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:03:11 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: great headline

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

BUDAPEST, Hungary - The United States on Thursday will push NATO allies to order their troops to target Afghanistan's thriving heroin trade in a bid to stem the flow of drug money to the widening insurgency against the troubled international military mission.

A two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers comes amid an increase in violence that has created doubts about whether Western forces can win the war against the resurgent Taliban militants.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates will seek more troops, equipment, funding and other contributions to the Afghan war from the allies.

The U.S. plans to beef up its own troop strength with an extra Army brigade early next year and as many as three additional brigades in the following months. The increases reflect concerns that Afghanistan is becoming the key battlefield in the fight against international terrorism.

NATO's top commander believes cutting the estimated $100 million that the Taliban and their al-Qaida allies receive

each year

Tags: mull

Hey Sarah--Read this, you liar!

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 01:14:11 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: She claims we don't kill civilians....

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

KABUL - Up to 3,200 civilians have been killed in NATO and US action in Afghanistan since 2005 but compensation payouts have been far lower than in other global cases, according to research by a US professor.

Afghan men, allegedly killed in a US-led forces operation in Asmar district in the eastern province of Kunar. Up to 3,200 civilians have been killed in NATO and US action in Afghanistan since 2005 but compensation payouts have been far lower than in other global cases, according to research by a US professor. (AFP/File/Niamt Karab)

The use of air power is growing, raising risks for civilians, University of New Hampshire professor Marc W. Herold says in research released on the anniversary of the October 7, 2001 launch of the invasion of Afghanistan.

Herold, who runs the Afghan Victim Memorial Project, says his research shows between 2,699 and 3,273 civilians were killed in direct action by international forces in Afghanistan from 2005 to so far this year.

A Better Strategy on Opium in Afghanistan

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:07:36 GMT

clipped by: oscarrob
clipper's remarks: The statistics are bleak and we are pursuing typically myopic policies in Afghanistan. Hitchens (whose writing I think is superb) makes a great case for a different approach.

"in the short term, hard-pressed Afghan farmers should be allowed to sell their opium to the government rather than only to the many criminal elements that continue to infest it or to the Taliban. We don't have to smoke the stuff once we have purchased it: It can be burned or thrown away or perhaps more profitably used to manufacture the painkillers of which the United States currently suffers a shortage. (As it is, we allow Turkey to cultivate opium poppy fields for precisely this purpose.)"

Clip Source: www.slate.com

suicide bombings in Afghanistan were up 27 percent in 2007 over 2006, commenting that Mullen "should have added that they are up 600 percent over 2005, and that all insurgent attacks are up 400 percent over 2005."

the number of attacks on World Food Program convoys, on relief workers, and on prominent Afghan women. All of these show a steady upward curve,

depressing figure is the index of civilian casualties caused by aerial bombardment from NATO forces: This year will show a large increase in these, as well, and that is one of the chief concerns underlying Sir Sherard's bleakly expressed view that the current U.S.-led strategy is "destined to fail."

Afghanistan's poppy fields,

produced 93 percent of all the world's opium.

the vast bulk of the revenue from this astonishing harvest goes directly to the Taliban or to local warlords and mullahs. Meanwhile, in the guise of liberators, NATO forces appear and tell the Afghan villagers that they intend to burn their only crop.

Tags: afghanistan, strategy, drugs, war, war on terror

Conviene farla a casa.

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:07:32 GMT

clipped by: mignolo

Clip Source: www.corriere.it

Camionista ucciso dopo un litigio

L'uomo si era fermato a fare pipì in alcuni cespugli vicino al cancello di un bar. Il proprietario gli ha sparato

LA DINAMICA - Secondo la prima ricostruzione fatta dai carabinieri, nel pomeriggio il barista stava verniciando con il padre una cancellata della loro casa, che è vicina al bar. Picchi è arrivato con il camion, si è fermato a bordo strada ed è andato a fare pipì vicino ad alcuni cespugli in fondo allo spiazzo. Quando il barista lo ha visto, è nato un litigio a distanza. Rientrato in casa a prendere la pistola, Michele Maggio avrebbe sparato per paura. Sembra infatti che, poco prima di fare fuoco, abbia visto il rivale mettere una mano in tasca come se volesse prendere qualcosa. La vittima è stata colpita alle gambe e alla schiena. Il barista lo ha trascinato dietro a due contenitori per i rifiuti e ha chiamato il 118, ma per l'uomo non c'è stato nulla da fare.

Female fighters: We won't stand for male dominance

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 04:27:52 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

"We want a natural life, a society that revolves around women -- one where women and men are equal, a society without pressure, without inequality, where all differences between people are eliminated," says Rengin, the head of a female battalion of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

Rengin joined the PKK in this mountain enclave in 1990, when she was just 14, after she says Turkish forces killed her father. She says she wanted to fight for Kurdish rights and women's rights.

"Women grow up enslaved by society. The minute you are born as a girl, society inhibits you," she says. "We've gone to war with that. If I am a woman, I need to be known by the strength of my womanhood, to get respect. Those are my rights. And it was hard for the men to accept this."

Much of the outside world views the PKK with suspicion. It's been labeled a terrorist organization by the United States, Iraq, Turkey and NATO.

Tags: women, turkey, social, rights, society

Facts and figures were flying around in the debate between US vice-presidential candidates Joe Biden

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 21:56:30 GMT

clipped by: Nerfzilla

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Biden and Palin debate

Facts and figures were flying around in the debate between US vice-presidential candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin.

The BBC News website took a look to see which claims were accurate.

THE US COMMANDER IN AFGHANISTAN

Claim: Joe Biden said that the US "commanding general in Afghanistan said the surge principle in Iraq will not work in Afghanistan". Sarah Palin responded by saying that "McClellan did not say definitively the surge principles would not work in Afghanistan".

Fact: On 2 October, the Washington Post quoted the head of the Nato-led coalition in Afghanistan, Gen David McKiernan, as saying: "The word I don't use for Afghanistan is 'surge'."

Verdict: Mrs Palin not only got the name of the US commander in Afghanistan wrong, but it would seem she also distorted his position.

Facts in Biden/Palin debate (1)

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 03:47:30 GMT

clipped by: Yassin_M

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

THE US COMMANDER IN AFGHANISTAN

Fact: On 2 October, the Washington Post quoted the head of the Nato-led coalition in Afghanistan, Gen David McKiernan, as saying: "The word I don't use for Afghanistan is 'surge'."

Verdict: Mrs Palin not only got the name of the US commander in Afghanistan wrong, but it would seem she also distorted his position.

“The Age of the Warrior”

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:16:43 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: Well colour me surprised, we're not winning. And we're part of the problem? Who knew??

Clip Source: www.informationclearinghouse.info

“The Age of the Warrior”

Afghanistan is back in the news

The British ambassador to Afghanistan has been quoted in a French newspaper as saying that the American military strategy in that country is “destined to fail.” Ambassador Sherard Cowper-Coles’ critical comments about the NATO operation in Afghanistan were part of a leaked memo from a French diplomat. He also said: “The coalition presence–particularly the military presence–is part of the problem, not the solution.”

The British ambassador’s leaked statements were published just as the top US commander in Afghanistan called for 3 additional combat brigades, that is over 10,000 soldiers, to be immediately deployed to Kabul. General David McKiernan told reporters in Washington DC Wednesday that Americans were facing a ‘tough fight’ in Afghanistan that “might get worse before it gets better.”

Robert Fisk on the U.S. Elections, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Israel-Palestine

Real Video Stream - Real Audio Stream - MP3 Download

No grounds for war with US - Russia

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:33:08 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.news.com.au

No grounds for war with US - Russia

RUSSIAN President Dmitry Medvedev said he sees no ideological grounds for war with the US despite strained relations.

The Associated Press reports relations between the two countries are at a post-Cold War low, and were further damaged by Russia’s war with Georgia in August.

Mr Medvedev said yesterday the Cold War was based on differences that do not exist today.

“We do not have such ideological differences around which a new cold or any other kind of war could start,” he told AP.

He warned that NATO needs Russia more than Russia needs NATO, and that the outcome of the US presidential election in November shouldn’t affect relations between Moscow and Washington.

Tags: russia, us, war, relations, georgia