Afutilestan XII (Letterman Update)

A new poll conducted by ICOS among young men of fighting age in two of Afghanistan’s most violent provinces shows that 92% of them never heard of 9/11. Democracy Now sums it up: Attacks In other news from Afghanistan, a new public opinion poll of young Afghan men in Kandahar and Helmand provinces has been released by the International Council …

World Fail 101

Intractable international problems continually and increasingly reveal how ineffective— and unethical— it is for any single nation, like the United States, to assume the mantle of “World Sheriff.”

Afutilestan VIII

Rep. Alan Grayson introducing his War Is Making You Poor Act on the House floor As we look back to honor the fallen on Memorial Day, the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan grind on. Afghanistan, in its ninth year, is already the longest war in US History and Iraq, at seven years, is not far behind. On May 21, …

Afutilestan (VII): The Great Game Revisited

Geography is destiny, Napoleon is reported to have said. I began to appreciate that political truism early on, thanks to marathon games of  Risk I  played as a kid.  According to Wikipedia, Risk was originally released in France in 1957, as La Conquête du Monde—The Conquest of the World. It was likely modeled on the period of history that historians …

Afutilestan (VI): Obama’s Decision

Back to the future in Afghanistan Irony often has the most exquisite timing. Today President Obama announces a massive escalation of the war in Afghanistan, doubling the number of troops that Bush left behind. And next week he travels to Oslo to pick up his Nobel War Peace Prize. So, what did those three months of careful deliberation net us? …

Afutilestan

The contents of General McCrystal’s top-down review of Afghanistan ordered by President Obama found its way into the front pages of the NY Times and Washington Post today. As expected, it paints a grim picture and calls for more of everything– more troops, more money, more nation building– on top of the $ 4 billion a month we’re already spending …

Sailin’ Palin: Bush Doctrine— What Bush Doctrine?

YeeeeeeeeeeeHaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwww!!!!!Kill’em all and let God sort’em out!!!!