Crossposted from The Political Carnival. Time to vent a little, this time about the rise in very public, very unrestrained emotions that are infringing upon– and therefore reducing the opportunity to have– reasoned, rational discourse. The most recent example of this is the so-called “mosque at Ground Zero”, which in fact is a multi-functional Islamic [...]
It used to be the honorific of Frank Wisner, the first chief of political warfare for the Central Intelligence Agency, used to describe the C.I.A.’s plethora of front organizations and newsmedia stooges that he was capable of playing (like a great organ with many keyboards) for synthesizing any propaganda tune that was needed for the [...]
If you’re at all web-savvy, you’ve probably heard of Digg.com. Founded in 2006, Digg is the reigning king of the social news ecosystem, cracking the top 50 websites in the U.S. and the top 100 worldwide. Its million-plus users democratically filter the torrent of online media, upvoting or “digging” desired content while “burying” rubbish and [...]
Cross-posted from Shannyn Moore’s website and The Mudflats. It feels strange weighing in on a house of worship thousands of miles away, well, at least for me. A proposed mosque two blocks from Ground Zero has Palin tweeting on a Sunday afternoon. According to Politico: Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s City Hall hit back at Palin, first [...]
The drama surrounding Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s departure as the head of US/NATO command presents an opportunity to take a fresh look at the United States’ counterinsurgency (COIN) strategy in Afghanistan. After a speedy crush of Taliban proxy regime in Afghanistan in October of 2001, the United States continued with its strategy of counterterrorism to annihilate [...]
While at the same time a few high-risk investors are sufficiently intrigued by Afghanistan’s potential to take an early look, the ISI sees a bigger stake in the market value of this mine. The ISI had been well-known for their prolific and ambiguous practices and their double standard policy in Afghanistan. The Inter-Service Intelligence which was created in1948, in order to strengthen the performance of Pakistan’s Military intelligence during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, it was formerly in the Intelligence Bureau, which handled intelligence sharing between the different branches of the military as well as external intelligence gathering, but with a puny civilian government in Islamabad, ISI has emerged as the executive branch of Pakistan’s government.
In an op-ed published by The Washington Post, Rabbi David Nesenoff ascribes this incendiary opinion to the legendary journalist Helen Thomas, who was recently forced to retire after the rabbi posted an impromptu interview he had conducted with Thomas on the internet: “The Jew has no connection with the land of Israel.” Nesenoff then writes: “And why? Because, as Thomas went on to explain to me, ‘I’m from Arab descent.’ That’s it? That’s all you got? Do we all travel with only our parents’ stereotypes to guide us, never going beyond them to get to a peaceful destination?”
“The military is the muscle that protects the ruling elite from the wrath of the people,” says Pakistani political analyst Dr. Mubashir Hassan. “Right now, people are out on the street; blocking roads, attacking railway stations, etc. If you read the papers, it seems as though a general uprising has started all over Pakistan.”
Building on my Af-Pak War Racket report, a few recent news items help expose the true drivers of current wars around the world. #1) Wherever there is a war, look for CIA/IMF/private military war profiteers covertly funding and supporting BOTH sides in order to keep the wars raging and the profits rolling in. As former CIA Station Chief John Stockwell explained: “Enemies are necessary for the wheels of the US military machine to turn.
Earlier last month, the Obama administration and Karzai ironed out some bends, but unfortunately, the United States has chosen to take the easy way out of the Afghan dilemma, by showing to the world that Karzai and his Warlords are able to march Afghanistan on the right path toward a democratic and pluralistic society. This type of grandiloquence and discounting Karzai’s unpopularity back home- in single digits even with his Popalzai sub-tribe- is not only cosmetic, but demonstrates insufficient respect to Afghans. In the end, that will not safeguard America’s national security interests nor the objective of helping to secure a peaceful and stable Afghanistan.
