By James Petras. Axis of Logic - Wednesday, Jun 16, 2010
Introduction
Despite almost a decade of warfare, including an invasion and occupation, the US military and its allies and client state armed forces are losing the war in Afghanistan. Outside of the central districts of a few cities and the military fortresses, the Afghan national resistance forces, in all of their complex local, regional and national alliances, are in control, of territory, people and administration.
Read more »Did a 2007 report of massive mineral deposits in Afghanistan affect President Obama's 2009 decision to widen the scope of the Afghan war?
Is a recent New York Times article covering up that possibility?
A U.S. Geological Survey has shown that Afghanistan is one of the worlds' biggest depositories of minerals and precious metals. Include on that list, a lithium find that could be as large as Bolivia's, now the world's major source of the rare mineral.
Read more »March 30, 2010 (by Shahid R. Siddiqi - Axis of Logic) Balochistan, Pakistan’s south western province, has evoked much interest among players of regional politics. The US, India, the former Soviet Union and even Afghanistan have toyed with the idea of Balochistan becoming an independent state in their geo-strategic interests.
Read more »January 30, 2010 - Bad news: historian, writer and activist Howard Zinn died on wednesday (1/27) of a heart attack at the age of eighty-seven. We believed he was immortal, but the evidence is hard to deny: one of the most critical intellectuals of our time disappeared.
There would be so much to say to celebrate his work, specially his books.
A People’s History of the United States, presenting American history through the eyes of working people, changed the way we look at history in America.
Read more »January 5, 2010 - The head of the U.S. Army Intelligence in Afghanistan has severely criticized the work of intelligence agencies in the country. In a report of the organization Center for New American Security, Gen. Michael Flynn says that in eight years of war, the activity of secret services, which he describes as "confusing", is only marginally significant in the overall strategy in Afghanistan.
Read more »December 28, 2009 - According to Afghan president Hamid Karzaï, ten civilians, including eight children, were killed last Saturday in an airstrike by NATO forces in the province of Kunar (a mountainous region of eastern Afghanistan).
On Sunday, a NATO spokesman affirmed that there were no reports of civilian deaths in the area.
But according to a senior Western military official (who did not want to be named), it could be an operation by the US Special Forces, conducted independently of NATO and coalition forces.
Ten Afghan civilians killed in military operations
Read more »December 10, 2009 - Between January 2008 and April 2009, 60 drones strikes in the Pakistan tribal areas have caused the death of 701 civilians: among them, only 14 were suspected Talibans. These so-called "targeted executions" started in 2004 under the Bush administration but have drastically increased with President Barack Obama.
For the whole year 2008, there were 36 Predator strikes, with a death toll of 317. Since the beginning of 2009, the number of attacks has reached one per week, and the death toll for 2009 reached 432 in September and might be "improved" by the end of the year.
Read more »December 4, 2009 - While the U.S. President, Barack Obama, expected his NATO allies to send some 5,000 soldiers to reinforce the military strength, NATO Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, has now guaranteed that more than 7,000 troops will be deployed to "finish the job" in Afghanistan.
At the today meeting of foreign ministers of NATO and other countries participating in ISAF mission (ISAF International Security Assistance), Rasmussen said: "The 44 countries of the ISAF have made clear that they are united in this mission. The nations are backing up their words with deeds. At least 25 countries will send additional troops. And I have been offered about 7,000 and more to come. "
Read more »June 05, 2009 - He talks the talk – but will he walk the walk? by Justin Raimondo
The Obama fan club – and by this I mean the media, of course – is already hailing our President’s Cairo speech as the latter-day equivalent of the Sermon on the Mount, and there is no doubt that it was a splendid performance.
Read more »Of course there will be an inquiry. And in the meantime, we shall be told that all the dead Afghan civilians were being used as "human shields" by the Taliban and we shall say that we "deeply regret" innocent lives that were lost. But we shall say that it's all the fault of the terrorists, not our heroic pilots and the US Marine special forces who were target spotting around Bala Baluk and Ganjabad.
When the Americans destroy Iraqi homes, there is an inquiry. And oh how the Israelis love inquiries (though they rarely reveal anything). It's the history of the modern Middle East. We are always right and when we are not, we (sometimes) apologise and then we blame it all on the "terrorists". Yes, we know the throat-cutters and beheaders and suicide bombers are quite prepared to slaughter the innocent.
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