Subscribe RSS

Archive for October, 2009

‘Long War’ Theory: Looking Deeper into the Heart of Darkness

October 31st, 2009 by admin | No Comments | Filed in afghanistan, antiwar, militarism
David Kilcullen, 'Long War' Theorist

 

Kilcullen's Long War

By Tom Hayden 

The Nation

Let us say, hypothetically, that American forces kill or capture Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar, enabling President Obama to declare victory and bring our troops home. Would he? Not according to the Pentagon's plan for a fifty-year "Long War" of counterinsurgency spanning Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Horn of Africa, the Philippines and beyond.

Military intellectuals envision a prolonged cold war against Al Qaeda, with hot wars along the way. It happens that the Long War is over Muslim lands rich with oil, natural gas and planned pipelines. The Pentagon identifies them as hostile terrain where Al Qaeda and its affiliates are hidden.

Among the top experts responsible for this fifty-year war plan, concocted in 2005 in windowless offices in the Pentagon, is Dr. David Kilcullen, a former Australian soldier, an anthropologist, former top adviser to Gen. David Petraeus and current aide to Gen. Stanley McChrystal. Kilcullen is a media favorite, the subject of a long New Yorker profile by George Packer, glowing columns by David Ignatius in the Washington Post and weighty late-night conversations with Charlie Rose.

(more...)

email2friend

Afghan War and the Need to Stop It

October 31st, 2009 by admin | No Comments | Filed in afghanistan, antiwar, pushing obama

Afghanistan Election
Fraud and the High
Price of Empire

By John Nichols
The Nation

09/10/2009  - It is amusing, if remarkable, that there are still some players in Washington who try to maintain the fantasy that Afghan President Hamid Karzai governs with anything akin to legitimacy.

Karzai, an alleged oil industry fixer awarded control of his country by occupying powers, has always served with strings attached.

And the Afghan people have been quite aware of that fact.

It is true that, at different points over the past eight years, Karzai has enjoyed measures of popular support, thanks to alliances with warlords and drug dealers, the inflaming of ethnic rivalries and an awareness that he was the one distributing all those billions of dollars from the United States.

(more...)

email2friend

Critical Tool: Understanding the Right and Its Divisions

October 31st, 2009 by admin | No Comments | Filed in racism, rightwing

Roots of Right Wing

Populist Rage - Realignment

By Chip Berlet
Huffington Post

There is a seismic shift occurring in the political Right as established organizations scramble to respond to the new wave of right-wing populism.

The Republican Party and its largest single voting bloc, the Christian Right, are split in how to respond to the rapid emergence of a right-wing populist movement outside their control as reflected in the teabaggers and townhallers.

That was clear at the 2009 Values Voter Summit in Washington, DC this past weekend. Some speakers made repeated attempts to reach out and embrace the angry teabaggers and townhallers, while the more moderate speakers praised their "patriotism" but urged toning down the rhetoric. This reflects a larger split inside the Republican Party.

(more...)

email2friend

Hello world!

October 20th, 2009 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Uncategorized
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

email2friend