It is not too much to think that in the last few weeks the ground beneath their feet has shifted for the military and political teams charged with delivering U.S. policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan. General Stanley McChrystal’s hasty, and ill-becoming dismissal from office has given cause for recrimination that only a few weeks ago […]
I’ll be headed out on a two week vacation tomorrow and will likely not be posting during that period. Don’t cry, Tahera will still be here and I’m not leaving you empty handed. Look down. Yes, some super cool Afghan-related articles to check out! So enjoy these pieces and have a happy American Independence Day. […]
As soon as the Russian spy scandal broke, commentators rushed to lazy pop cultural comparisons: James Bond, the novels of John le Carre, the BBC TV series Spooks. Yet no one seemed to mention the one bit of TV that the operation truly resembles (in structure and scope, not in success of execution): Michael Apted’s […]
Hot Russian spies having sexy spy sex! Hijacking the identities of dead Canadians! Using social networking sites! Burying caches of cash in NY! Praising Fidel Castro! Being all-American! And posting inane and ridiculous status updates on facebook! In fact, the 11 accused of being ‘deep cover’ Russian spies did pretty much anything but acquire any […]
Just a couple items and recommendations: First, I highly recommend checking out this the first part of the New York Times coverage of the deployment of the First Battalion, 87th Infantry. The Times will follow this battalion for the next year as they head to the increasingly restive provinces of Kunduz and Baghlan in Afghanistan’s […]
It looks like Afghanistan does not only have estimated $3 trillion untapped minerals, but also has hidden historical pieces like Buddha’s sculpture. People believed Bamyan was the only province where Buddhiests made their living centuries back, but Ministry of Information and Culture just discovered other precious pieces of Buddhas in south of Kabul in Shadah-i-Salihin […]
Could Obama’s investment in a strong outreach to Medvedev mean that the Russian President, for so long considered a mere window dressing to Prime Ministerial rule, might stick around longer than Putin might like? But as Obama assured Russia of entry into the WTO and resolved the chicken wars, could all this rapprochment be a […]
Here are a few observations from Michael Hasting’s Rolling Stone article Obama-McChrystal seemed to be on same page in terms of actual Afghanistan war strategy/policy – This has been an underreported aspect of the whole incident. McChrystal and his aides were mainly critiquing (if ‘bite me’ is a critique) the political process and not the […]
President Obama did as good a job as was possible in his short speech to the country on Gen. McChrystal’s dismissal and the placement of Gen. Petraeus as the leader of all foreign military forces in Afghanistan. In his talk, President Obama emphasized that this was a change in military leadership and not one of […]
Afghanistan is so boring to cover. Sometimes I just sit at my desk screaming in my head ‘SOMETHING HAPPEN ALREADY!!!’ So Gen. McChrystal is now a goner and Gen. Petraeus is back to save the day yet again. Anyway you cut it, this is a sad situation that can only make a difficult situation even […]
Michael Hastings’s article about Gen. McChrystal and the Afghanistan war effort has not only created quite a stir, but may even cost Gen. McChrystal his job as the leader of all armed forces in Afghanistan. While, I will write more on this important story tonight, I’ll give a few thoughts now. First off, I think […]
Last weekend’s St Petersburg International Economic Forum, meant to showcase Russia’s transition from authoritarian raw materials exporter to pluralistic hub of technology and commerce, hit two snags: an embarrassing gas dispute with Belarus, and a giant penis. If the former demonstrated the limits of Russia’s pledge to move away from energy-centric bully tactics, the latter […]
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