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Thomas Paine

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

8 November - Late Links

A sergeant mounted on a reconnaissance vehicle...Image via Wikipedia

Allies charm Canada to stay in Afghanistan

The U.S., Britain and NATO headquarters spearheaded a stealth diplomatic charm offensive to keep Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan until 2014, mindful that too much pressure could "blow up" their efforts

( Have you had a look at 'Military' in the Topical Index ?  It takes an entry like ABCA armies to start to make sense of the mythic muddle sacrificing blood offerings of the young to Mars, God of War. 

Canadian and Afghan national army soldiers pat...Image via WikipediaGulf War Song - Moxy Früvous

 Rebranded for the day, few changes need to be made.

Should we stay and  continue to imprison for torture while insincerely flaunting our nonexistent reputation for fairness ? It's nonexistent these days : just check on the conduct of Canadian mining operations in the Third World. )

Afghan plan includes up to 1,000 troops

 ( Hey, this is a good idea ! We can do what the Yanks did when they 'left' Iraq !  Fake it. BTW Is there a Mission which is likely to be accomplished by the military and sold to the Canadian electorate ? Right. I thought not. There's a good reason those 'pep talks' are kept secret...and it's not fear of the Taliban. )

 Global PostCanadian soldiers supporting Operation Endurin...Image via Wikipedia( If this is NATO's notion of prime real estate I'm glad it isn't my travel agent )

Afghanistan War: In Kabul, a feeling of being under siege

A man came up to me on Chicken Street the other day, took my hand, and asked me if I were Christian. Not a good sign, I thought. Happily all he wanted to tell me was that Muslims believed in Jesus as a secondary profit, but that the Americans were a fearful people.
He said that Russians walked around Kabul freely and openly in their day. We Americans, however, were always closed off behind our fortresses. He said many of the Russians were Muslims. He suggested if Americans became Muslim they would not be so afraid.
Mohammad Nasib, American-trained and helping to run a constructive NGO, said he’s confused about Americans and NATO. As a matter of fact he said most Afghans are confused.
“What is going on?” We are fighting the Taliban and yet the Americans are saying we are bargaining with them. Can NATO be helping the Taliban?
It’s a common rumor.
Americans say the Taliban are fractured into at least five major groups, and even more sub-groupings. In other times “you knew the phone to pick up to end the war,” said the senior official. “Now we don’t have that phone number, and this is unique in American history.”
Swiss Secrets:
Blowing the whistle on Swiss bankingCanadian soldiers in Afghanistan were the Cana...Image via Wikipedia
Seven Circles of Juarez:
Inside the hell of Mexico's drug war
Africa's Middle Class:
Striving to develop a continent
Silicon Sweatshops:
An investigation of the world's supply chains
Guatemala:
Unearthing a massacre
After the Fall:
20 years since the Berlin Wall came down
Backpacking to Babylon:
In the footsteps of Alexander the Great
Life, Death and the Taliban:
Understanding the Taliban — a multimedia reportStanding by on a hilltop, Soldiers with the 10...Image via Wikipedia

 Afghanistan Sun

 Obama backs India's quest for U.N. permanent seat 

U.S. President Barack Obama endorsed on Monday India's long-held demand for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, a reflection of the Asian country's growing global weight and its challenge to rival China.

India says a seat on the council would reflect the importance of the G20 nation as its trillion dollar economy helps spur global growth and its government exerts more and more influence over issues from Doha trade to climate change talks.

 Congolese citizens sue Canadian mining company, alleging complicity in massacre 

Congolese citizens have moved to file a class-action lawsuit against a Canadian mining company, alleging that it played a key role in a massacre in their country six years ago.

According to the application filed Monday in Quebec Superior Court, victims' relatives are seeking unspecified damages from Anvil Mining Limited (TSX:AVM).
The suit claims that Anvil provided logistical support — like planes, trucks and drivers — that helped the Congolese military quash an October 2004 rebel uprising in the central African country.
It alleges that more than 70 people were killed in the ensuing incident while countless others were beaten, tortured and raped upon the military's arrival in the port city of Kilwa.
The company is accused of providing planes and trucks that ferried in the soldiers, and carted out victims to be executed.

 Afghanistan War: Let the transition beginCanadian Forces personnel carry the coffin of ...Image via Wikipedia

Michele Flournoy, U.S. under secretary of defense for policy, has acknowledged in public statements that NATO members are under pressure to demonstrate progress to their domestic constituencies by the Lisbon gathering, scheduled to begin Nov. 19.
“The long pole in the tent here is growing Afghan capacity in the security forces,” she told American Forces Press Service. “[This] must be addressed if we’re going to be in a position to transition to greater Afghan lead for security.”
There’s that word again.
(  There is no evident nor immediate threat of a transition to candor and clarity. )

Michaëlle Jean begins UN job

Jean was officially named UNESCO's special envoy to Haiti at a ceremony in Paris on Monday.
She is recognized by the international organization for her dedication to the reconstruction of the country following the earthquake last January.


Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/11/08/jean-unesco.html?ref=rss#ixzz14lHQr4sr
( mm. Earthquake,occupation,relief sidetracked,disease already on the rise...and the Corexit Plagues. Should be a fun place. )

 

U.A.E. slaps visas on Canadians

A U.A.E. embassy staff member noted that every U.A.E. citizen has always needed a visa to enter Canada, including diplomats and the embassy's head of staff.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/11/08/canada-uae-visas.html?ref=rss#ixzz14lIEAQMh

 News Headlines - Reuters

 War stories a hit on Facebook 

Suicide attacker strikes Pakistan mosque, killing 50 

"The attackers are wild, not human; anything can be expected from them," said an official, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, information minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
"Militants can't be eliminated until the U.S., Afghanistan and Pakistan share information."

Prisoners suffer bed linen beatings in HMP Forest Bank

Young inmates at HMP Forest Bank in Salford are being tied up in their bed linen and beaten by other prisoners


New History or a New Mirage
Echoing Edward Said, the legendary Palestinian scholar, Antoine Raffoul addresses the ambiguities of Israel’s "new historians" who, with the clear exception of Ilan Pappe, condemn the occupation but fail to question the legitimacy of the Zionist State. They denounce the 1967 borders but not those violated in 1948. For as long as their celebrated revision of Israeli history continues to evade this core issue, the "new historians" will continue to be part of the problem, not the solution.

The Democratic Party Debacle and the Demise of the Left-Center Left: A Worldwide Trend
Barack Obama’s and the U.S. Democratic Party’s recent electoral defeat is only a forerunner of future losses for similar ruling parties in much of the Western world. The so-called Left-Center Left is everywhere paying a high electoral price for sacrificing the working class in order to save bankers and profitability, reaping hostility and rejection among its natural constituency. James Petras analyses this unfurling phenomenon.
( One would think that impersonating the 'Left' has been a good gag for con-servatives aka con-liberals : chameleons of convenience in a bipartisan chimera of representative government via the political bagman. It is so much more genteel to lament constant promotion of murder than to openly flaunt one's enthusiasm, don't you think ?  Wiseguys R U$ )

No Quarter
  • Vote For Nancy, Early and Often!! - 3 hours agoThis is too damn good to pass up. Please sign this Daily Kos sponsored petition to keep Nancy Pelosi on the job. She’s the face of the Democrats that American needs to see (and recoil from) every ni...
  • Democrats in Denial, Headed to Irrelevancy - 4 hours agoWhen Dems swept Republicans in 2008 there were immediate predictions that Republicans would be vanquished to the political wilderness for at least a generation, if not more. Well, how did that work o...
  • Sayonara, Nancy * Open Thread - 4 hours agoThe Democrats are imploring Nancy Pelosi to step aside, and Fox News has obtained the proof (!) … Even the New York Times agrees that Nancy needs to go … Mike Allen and Jim Vandehei (not two reporters...
  • The Great Cheese Paradox (Or, Your Tax Dollars Going in Circles) - 7 hours agoWe are a fat people. The government warns us that keeping trim is a major way to prevent health problems and reduce health care costs. Why, eating less fat is downright patriotic! Or is it? ...
  • A Salute To Veterans - 10 hours ago

The Lord works in mysterious ways – and the Foreign Office keeps it all quiet



Spanish Prime Minister Sends Condolences Message to Raul Castro 

RAW Story

Narco-violence and political repression threaten Latin American press

Latin American media leaders warned Sunday that press freedoms in the region are under threat from narco-violence in Mexico and political repression in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador.

What to eat less of to live a longer life

Food shortening your life

According to new research, eating less of certain carbs will turn off the 'grim reaper' gene. » Specific ones to avoid


Yahoo revises Web mail: social networking, content-based ads, still no free downloading

At midnight, Yahoo introduced a redesigned version of its Web-mail site, Yahoo Mail. And then a funny thing happened: Nothing. No Twitter chatter, no Facebook comments by friends, no late-night posts on the usual tech blogs. If you ask a randomly-chosen Yahoo Mail user what's new about the site, you're likely to hear "it's purple"

Internet TV Wars: Yahoo and Samsung Step Up to Google and Sony 

The two companies are going to sell Yahoo-connected TVs in 26 more nations.

Florida Oil Spill Law

 Epitaph for Science Blogs - which aren't refreshing

Related articles
** "Canada considers"  That would be a novelty. When did going there at all ever get debated in the House ? For that matter....how many times have putative 'training missions' turned into combat ? Vietnam experience in the U.S. and Australia might lead to sage observations about that framing.
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Posted by opit at 12:01 AM
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