Two days ago, a French aid worker was the latest to be targeted by Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. In this case the aid worker, who was reportedly an education specialist from an unknown NGO, was kidnapped by a small group of Taliban members, who in the process killed a young Afghan civilian. Reportedly 19 humanitarian […]
In honor of Election Day here in America, how about we remind the two presidential candidates of a tremendously volatile and challenging issue they will all of a sudden be responsible for; Afghanistan/Pakistan democracy and stability. President-elect Obama or McCain will face quite the number of tests, and defeating the Taliban and Al Qaeda, bringing […]
Just last Thursday, Kazakhstan's thriving capitol, Astana, hosted the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's Heads of Government Council meeting. I could not find many reports about what was accomplished at the meeting besides the official statement from the group's website, which was drier than a drought in the Sahara's. The official statement reported that the group's members […]
Who says Russia has no soft power? Well, Robert Amsterdam, for one. He has argued that the Russian invasion of Georgia illustrated its woeful loss of any sort of diplomatic legitimacy. Outside of polite society, it has been a point beaten to death by such brownshirted bloggers as la Russophobe: “Russia's need to rely on […]
In all the violent incidents that have plagued the people of Afghanistan in its recent history, many have died, but even more have been permanently maimed and disabled. Below is a remarkable video about some of the Afghani disabled and their struggle for rights and services: Because the New York Times, who produced this video, […]
Yesterday, I made a statement that it appeared that the Pakistani government was implicitly alright with the use of US drone predator missile attacks in their territory, as long they avoided civilian casualties. While according to statements by Pakistan's Foreign Ministry and several members of the country's ruling coalition, this is not completely true. The […]
But is it too late to change the established narrative? The BBC reports that “that Georgia may have committed war crimes in its attack on its breakaway region of South Ossetia in August”. Yet the old line about one-sided Russian aggression persists in strength, and spreads to Eastern Europe.
Yet another casualty of the credit crisis: prices for Western European politicians have plummeted. What is the world coming to when a nouveau riche Russian aluminium baron can be suspected of buying an old-schooler-than-thou UK shadow chancellor, member of Oxford's elite Bullingdon club and heir to the third Osborne Baronetcy, all for a bargain $80000? […]
Today I would like to go over recent developments in the conflict spanning the Afghan-Pakistan border as the conflict's many sides (NATO, Afghans, Taliban, Pakistan military, Al Qaeda, and local tribes) have all recently been in the news for various reasons: The Bush administration has authorized even greater use of missile/drone attacks inside of Pakistan, […]
Ever since the Soviet Union's collapse, the region of Central Asia, flush with newly minted states, has struggled to come up with a regional water arrangement to suit all those involved. In recent weeks, the region's governmental leaders have been working on a short-term water sharing deal, and it now appears their work has come […]
This weekend, the liberal think tank INDEM issued a new warning that the country was headed towards a ‘developmental dictatorship’. But Russia wasn't in the mood: it was mourning Muslim Magomayev. Magomayev was the original Soviet mega-star. Throughout the 1970s, he routinely filled stadiums and garnered scores of hysterical groupies, not an easy feat […]
Continuing yesterday's thread, I would like to highlight one major aspect of progress in Afghanistan; the role of women in the workplace and in society as a whole. To do this I will showcase the stories of a few particular women, and unfortunately in their stories there is great suffering and too visible of signs […]
Popular from Press
