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And, yes, I DO take it personally: 02/08/2009 - 02/15/2009
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- Noam Chomsky
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And, yes, I DO take it personally

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Patrick Leahy's Truth Commission

our country so desperately needs this...



you can click here to sign leahy's petition...

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Heading back to Afghanistan

yeah, yeah, yeah... if i'm not a candidate for the dreaded fatal disease of "terminal jet lag," i probably will be soon... i'm writing this in buenos aires prior to heading off to the airport for the long, long trek back to kabul... i go to sao paulo, change for a non-stop to dubai (it's a 14-hour flight), spend friday night there, and fly on to kabul on saturday afternoon where i will see this lovely sign welcoming me to the country, a scene that i so desperately wish was their reality... ah, well... stay tuned...

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Wednesday, February 11, 2009

More ugliness in Kabul

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oh, just lovely... another afghan ministry office in kabul has been targeted by a suicide bomber... the last attack on a ministry took place the day before i was to leave for kabul the end of last october... this one is the day before i leave for kabul for my third trip...
Official: 17 killed, 46 wounded in Kabul attacks

A spokesman for the Defense Ministry says 17 people were killed and 46 wounded in multiple attacks on government building attacks in Kabul.

Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi says that eight attackers also died in the attacks outside the Justice Ministry and other government buildings Wednesday. He says all attackers had suicide vests, but only three assailants set them off.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The coordinated attacks — in the heart of the city and a stone's throw from the presidential palace — come ahead of a visit by President Barack Obama's special envoy to the region.

according to some of the folks at the project i work with, all movement of project folks in the city has been halted... i hit ground there on saturday afternoon... we'll see what the situation is then...

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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Looks like we have a real humdinger on our hands

our current economic mess as compared with previous economic messes...

thanks to daily kos...


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Sunday, February 08, 2009

Travails on the Khyber Pass supply route between Pakistan and Afghanistan

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this is part of the situation i'll be facing when i go back to work in afghanistan this coming week... i land in kabul on saturday...
The Taliban has bombed the main supply route for Nato and US forces in Afghanistan, forcing the US to seek alternative routes. Inside Story looks at the options available to the Obama administration.

from al jazeera...



when i was first there, it struck me just how vulnerable the entire country is on the khyber pass for damn near everthing - food, fuel, supplies of all sorts, and that's not to mention the military supplies... what usually gets neglected in the media reports, including this one from al jazeera, is just how much impact cutting the pakistan supply route has on the afghan people...

(thanks to juan cole...)

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