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* older news.... *
News · BBC: Euro drops to lowest in 10 months against dollar# 2 March 10 Merde Euro drops to lowest in 10 months against dollar
News · BBC: Belgian beer dispute hits supply of Stella Artois# 15 January 10
News · From the Ministry of re-writing history# 13 January 10 Ваша работа фантастически дорогие товарищи!
My favorite bits:
News · Five more years! Five more years?# 2 November 09 BBC: Hamid Karzai is declared the president of Afghanistan by poll officials as they scrap the second round of the election. Below: at the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial, Info and Map.
News · Another horrible day in Afghanistan# 27 October 09 Los Angeles Times: Multiple bombings kill eight U.S. troops in Afghanistan Do yourself a favor and read this resignation letter (pdf) by a Foreign Service officer and former Marine captain who says he no longer knows why we’re fighting in Afghanistan. Here is an article about his resignation. Below: a bas-relief panel from the National World War II Memorial in Washington. The panels are my favorite element of the memorial. More info here
News · Drool# 21 October 09 The new Apple iMac
Watching · 60 Minutes - General McChrystal# 28 September 09 News · London Times: Alcohol banned at US base in Afghanistan after airstrike that killed 125# 8 September 09 Alcohol banned at US base in Afghanistan after airstrike that killed 125
News · BBC - Karzai closer to Afghan poll win# 6 September 09 (View the complete poll results as of 06 September here)
News · AFG election results as of 2 Sept# 2 September 09 See the latest here Karzai: 1,744,428 47.3% These are preliminary, partial, progressive results. Uncertified. Subject to challenge by complaints. etc etc. A candidate needs 50% to win, to avoid a run-off election between the top two. The thing to watch are all the provinces in the south where Karzai is the man. For example, look at Helmand. Of the votes registered so far Karzai has won 13,000 compared to Abdullah’s 648. And thats just with 15% of the polling stations tallied. News · NYT: Tribal Leaders Say Karzai’s Team Forged 23,900 Votes# 2 September 09 Tribal Leaders Say Karzai’s Team Forged 23,900 Votes KABUL, Afghanistan — Just a week before this country’s presidential election, the leaders of a southern Afghan tribe called Bariz gathered to make a bold decision: they would abandon the incumbent and local favorite, Hamid Karzai, and endorse his challenger, Abdullah Abdullah. Mr. Abdullah flew to the southern city of Kandahar to receive the tribe’s endorsement. The leaders of the tribe, who live in a district called Shorabak, prepared to deliver a local landslide. But it never happened, the tribal leaders said. Instead, aides to Mr. Karzai’s brother Ahmed Wali — the leader of the Kandahar provincial council and the most powerful man in southern Afghanistan — detained the governor of Shorabak, Delaga Bariz, and shut down all of the district’s 45 polling sites on election day. The ballot boxes were taken to Shorabak’s district headquarters, where, Mr. Bariz and other tribal leaders said, local police officers stuffed them with thousands of ballots. At the end of the day, 23,900 ballots were shipped to Kabul, Mr. Bariz said, with every one marked for President Karzai. ... Continue News · LA Times: Gen. McChrystal calls for overhaul of Afghanistan war strategy# 1 September 09
Gen. McChrystal calls for overhaul of Afghanistan war strategy The newly appointed head of NATO and U.S. forces is said to urge an expansion of Afghan security forces and a revamped counterinsurgency strategy that focuses on making Afghan citizens feel safer. Reporting from Washington – A top U.S. and allied commander set the stage for a recommendation to increase the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, calling Monday for an overhaul in strategy to help stem losses that began during the Bush administration and have accelerated in recent months. In a brief statement about his internal report, released by the command in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal acknowledged that turning the war around would be difficult. “The situation in Afghanistan is serious, but success is achievable and demands a revised implementation strategy, commitment and resolve, and increased unity of effort,” McChrystal said. In his report, which was prepared for military leaders, McChrystal did not specifically recommend a troop increase, instead spelling out plans to intensify development of Afghan security forces, improve the country’s government and refocus economic development initiatives, according to a description by NATO officials. ... Continue News · BBC: Afghan polling 'marked by fraud'# 22 August 09 Afghan polling ‘marked by fraud’ A leading group of election observers say there was widespread voting fraud and intimidation during Thursday’s presidential election in Afghanitan. Stuffed ballot boxes, illiterate voters being told who to vote for and biased officials were cited by Afghanistan’s Free and Fair Election Foundation. However EU monitors said that despite widespread intimidation and violence, the vote was generally good and fair. ... Continue News · Afghanistan Imposes News Censorship on Election Day# 19 August 09
An Afghan police officer pointed a gun at journalists at the site where a coalition military convoy was struck by a suicide car bombing in Kabul on Tuesday Photo: Tyler Hicks/The New York Times Afghanistan Imposes News Censorship on Election Day KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban and the Afghan government escalated a war of attrition and propaganda on Tuesday, two days before the presidential election, with the Taliban unleashing suicide bombings and a rocket assault at the presidential palace and the government barring news organizations from reporting on election day violence. ... Continue News · AFP: Soldier in US-led force dies after Afghan bomb# 7 July 09 Agence France-Presse KABUL, July 7, 2009 (AFP) – A soldier in the US-led force in Afghanistan succumbed to injuries suffered in a bomb attack Tuesday, taking to 11 the number of Western soldiers killed in the country in the past 24 hours. “A US coalition service member died as a result of injuries received in an improvised explosive device attack on a convoy in western Afghanistan at approximately 1:00 pm (2030 GMT) today,” the force said. The soldier’s name and nationality was not revealed, but the force is dominated by troops from the United States. On Monday, attacks killed seven NATO soldiers, exemplifying the challenges faced by troops in a bid to quell rising insurgent violence ahead of presidential and provincial council elections next month. Two Canadians and a British soldier also died when their helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing in Afghanistan on Monday, in an incident which the military said was not caused by enemy fire. There are about 90,000 foreign—mainly American troops—stationed in Afghanistan to help the Western-backed Kabul government defeat an increasingly deadly insurgency waged by the remnants of the Taliban.
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