Say It Ain't So

Afghanistan is falling back into the hands of the Taleban, a report by an international think-tank has claimed.

The Senlis Council has blamed international forces for failing to achieve stability and security.

The Senlis Council, which provides advice on foreign policy, security and development, claims nothing has been done to address widespread poverty in Afghanistan.

Its report, Afghanistan Five Years Later: The Return of the Taleban, says that the Taleban have a strong psychological and de facto military control over half of the country.

"Nato is caught in a trap in a way. They are faced with a deteriorating situation, they cannot do the core job of helping reconstruction," Emmanuel Reinert, executive director of the Senlis Council, said.

Opium war 'making enemies

British and US efforts to decimate the opium industry in Afghanistan have "hijacked" nation-building attempts in the country, and are driving support for the Taliban, a report said today.

The highly critical study of the five years since the US-led invasion found that Afghans are starving to death despite international donor pledges and that the foreign military presence was "fuelling resentment and fear" among the local population.

The report, by the Senlis Council, an international policy thinktank, said that the US-led international community had "failed to achieve stability and security" in the war-torn country and that attacks were perpetuated on a daily basis.

Of course Opium helps fuel that armed resistance.......as it did with the War against the Soviet Union.....

Commentary: Pakistan fuels Taliban's resurgency

Some of the opium bounty greases the relays for Taliban to operate in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, which Pakistan also denies despite having lost at least 700 soldiers fighting Taliban and their al-Qaida allies in these same areas.
Since the liberation of Afghanistan in November 2001, the area under opium cultivation has grown by almost 60 percent to 400,000 acres. And this despite draconian eradication campaigns by Britain and the United States. Now well over half the country's GDP is derived from narcotics trafficking. Warlords and drug lords -- frequently one and the same -- are represented surreptitiously in President Hamid Karzai's central government, which also includes a minister for "counternarcotics."
Taliban's resurgency in southern Afghanistan has impacted five provinces where crop substitution was abandoned to the exigencies of counter-guerrilla operations. Taliban also encourages poppy farming for levied protection.

And why is that....perhaps because the Taliban and bin Laden Inc. are hiding in the terrorist state next door...

General Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, will also visit Kabul on Wednesday for anti-terrorism talks with Karzai. Fighters cross between Afghanistan and Pakistan through their porous 2,450-km-long border. The two neighbours routinely accuse each other of not doing enough to stamp out attacks along the frontier where Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda and Taliban fugitives are believed to be hiding.

And of course he will bring good news with him.....that the Pakistani government has negotiated a truce with the Taliban..in the Northwest....allowing the Taliban to reinforce their troops in the Southeast of Afghanistan......yep NATO is screwed......

The Pakistani government and pro-Taliban fighters have agreed a deal aimed at ending five years of conflict in Waziristan on the Afghanistan border.
Hundreds of Pakistani troops and pro-Taliban fighters have been killed in the government's attempt to assert its authority in Waziristan as part of the US-led "war on terror". Under the agreement, the pro-Taliban forces have agreed to stop attacks both in Pakistan and in Afghanistan.

Pakistan Backs Taliban, al-Qaeda in Afghanistan: ANP

He said with agreement the Taliban operative in tribal areas were given free hand to carry out disruptive acts in Afghanistan. After the agreement, the Taliban would boldly launch insurgencies in Afghanistan. He said: "Pakhtun of Pakistan will never accept such series of current violence should be on in Afghanistan."

Also See:

Pakistan

Afghanistan

War

Opium





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A Murder of Crows in Canada's Murder Capital

One crow for sorrow,
Two crows for joy,
Three crows for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five crows for silver,
Six crows for gold,
Seven crows for a secret never to be told.

When you have more than one crow, as in a flock of crows they it is called a " murder of crows."

Crows and ravens have often been popular symbols of evil and death. They play the part nicely and are quite appropriatly dressed. They are of course scavengers and so tend to hang around dead creatures (a gathering of crows, by the way, is called a murder). Their racous caws are considered omens of death in folklore. If crows gather or caw in the vicinity of a house it is expected someone will die there soon

This summer has been a real crow one. Crows everywhere. Can't remember the last time we had this many crows around. Now crows of course are carrion birds who hang around the dead.

Crows, and especially ravens, often feature in legends or mythology as portents or harbingers of doom or death, because of their dark plumage, unnerving calls, and tendency to eat carrion. They are commonly thought to circle above scenes of death such as battles.

So perhaps it is appropriate that this summer was one that had a murder of crows abounding in Murder City.

Edmonton leads nation in homicides

Coincidence? I think not.

Edmonton had 44 homicides, 10 more than in 2004. This resulted in Edmonton having the highest homicide rate among all CMAs, at 4.3 per 100,000 population. Edmonton's rate was its highest since 1981, when CMA statistics were first collected.

The crows hang around where the dead are. And this years homicide rate in Edmonton remains high.

By this time last year, there were 22 homicide cases in the city of Edmonton, including the slayings of pregnant mother Liana White, 29; convenience store clerk Dilbag Singh Sandhu, 29; infant Alexis Grant; and cab driver Hassan Mohammed Yussuf, 41. This year, there have been only 14 cases, five of which have been solved. Eight homicide victims were shot to death, four stabbed, one beaten and the cause of one victim's death has not yet been released. Edmonton area homicide capital

And we are experiencing a serial murderer killing the cities inner city prostitutes Along with vehicular homicide that makes Edmonton sound just like LA.
Teen charged with second-degree murder after road-rage incident


Of course Crows and Ravens are the colour of death and Anarchy.
And they are anarchistic in their practices of mutual aid.


The Corvids - crows, ravens, jays, magpies and jackdaws, are the Einsteins of the bird family; no other birds even come close to matching their intelligence. Crows live in close knit family groups. They communicate -- some 23 distinct patterns of caws have been interpreted -- and they cooperate with each other.

Not only amongst themselves but in relation to carnivores. It has been reported that ravens will circle prey for wolves in the North. Working as air reconnisance, and eating the left overs of the wolves kill.

Ravens should not be confused with Crows. They are smarter, larger and have apparently told one journalist; 'Nevermore'





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NATO Lies

So who is telling the truth here....hmmmm, certainly not NATO.

A deadly two days

NATO officials insisted the continuing operation has been a success, saying an estimating 200 Taliban rebels had been killed and 80 captured. The Afghan Defence Ministry earlier put the number of rebel deaths at 89, adding there also had been some civilian casualties.

The Taliban dismissed the NATO claims as wildly exaggerated.

"They are saying that they have killed 200 Taliban, but they did not kill even 10 Taliban," said Mullah Dadullah, the Taliban military commander for south and southeastern Afghanistan.

"They are just destroying civilian homes and agricultural land. They are using the media to do propaganda against the Taliban," Dadullah said.

Also See:

Friendly Fire

Afghanistan

War





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Canadian Death Toll In Afghanistan

For those who are keeping track, and who isn't, espcially those of you with office pools here is a break down of who has killed our troops in Afghanistan.

Total killed: 33

Killed by Taliban or Insurgents: 10

Suicide Bomber: 5

Accidents: 13
(including land mine explosions often misidentified as 'roadside bombings' in the press)

Killed by Friendly Fire/American Air Force: 5


It's a tie between suicide bombers and Americans bombing us.

And we have had more accidental deaths then deaths at the hands of the Taliban.

Accidents and Friendly Fire have killed more Canadian troops than the Taliban and suicide bombers. And half those accidents were from landmines.

Afghanistan is one of the heaviest mined countries in the world. In spite of eight years of intensive mine clearance, in 1999 only 146 square kilometers of mined area have been cleared. An area of 713 square kilometers remains to be cleared. Landmines kill or maim an estimated ten to twelve people each day in Afghanistan. It is believed that almost 50 percent of landmine victims die due to lack of medical facilities.

This is a really succesful mission so far. For instance this weekends big push against the Taliban resulted in five more Canadian soldiers deaths. Three by the Taliban, one by American friendly fire, one in a plane crash (accident).

The monument to Canadian soldiers who've died on duty in Afghanistan since 2002, situated outside of the Canadian headquarters at Kandahar airfield
Photograph by : CP PHOTO/Murray Brewster

Also See:

Friendly Fire

Afghanistan

War





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Deja Vu

US error kills Canadian, stalls attack on Taliban
PANJWAI DISTRICT, AFGHANISTAN -- Canadian soldiers were minutes away from launching an attack against the Taliban when a US warplane mistakenly fired on them yesterday, killing one soldier, injuring more than 30 others and forcing a pause in the Canadian ...

Gee when have we heard this before oh yeah at the begining of the war in Afghanistan.

Invasion of Afghanistan (2002): 4 (13%) *note* fatalities were Canadian Soldiers, not American. Caused when a US fighter pilot dropped a 500 lb (228 kg) bomb while Canadian soldiers were performing a live fire exercise on April 17, 2002 [1]

Of course it is difficult to tell our troops apart from the Taliban.

So for short sighted US Air Force Pilots here is a clip and paste for their dashboard.

Taliban














Canadians















Also See:

Friendly Fire

Afghanistan

War





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The Real Labour Day

Every day is multi-national corporation day in the U.S. Even the supposed Labor Day in September has evolved into another excuse for department store sales and other venues of consumerism.

My Blahg has posted the 'official' history of Labour Day.

Peter J. McGuire, a bosom buddy of Samuel Gompers in the American Federation of Labour, introduced Labour Day, in order to counter the commies, anarchists, socialist workers in the labour movement who celebrated the real Labour Day; May Day.

Labour Day was typical of the Craft Union movement who share more in common with the bosses then they ever did with 'unskilled', black, immigrant and women workers. Scratch a 'trade' unionist and you find a skilled worker who just wants to be the boss. The revolutionary workers movement and its unions like the IWW continue the tradition of celebrating the real labour day.

As for this Labour Day here are the usual platitudes from the labour fakers.

Labour Day message: Workers built Canada; they and their unions help keep it strong

Labour Day message from the Ontario Federation of Labour

CAW President Buzz Hargrove's 2006 Labour Day Message: Made In Canada Matters

Will labour ever have its day?

Labour Day launch for final bid to win a Canadian anti-scab law

How is working life on this Labour Day?

CLC’s 50th anniversary

Tony Martin’s Labour Day Message


And the stories about working people and working in Canada, remember us, we create all the wealth.


We call it Labour Day for a reason -- workers started it

Back to the grindstone

Labour Day doesn't work anymore

Income share down but job security grows

Canadian workers this Labour Day are basking in the greatest job security most have ever known, thanks to record levels of employment and an unemployment rate that is hovering near a more than 30-year low of just 6.4 per cent.

Yet, their share of the income pie has been shrinking, and still is.

In contrast, the share of national income going to profits has been rising and now is hovering near an all-time high.

The real meaning of Labour Day should be:

Fire Your Boss and take control of the means of production.

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Our Mission In Afghanistan

It seems the usual shrill voices of the blogosphere both Liberals and Tories are all agog and aghast at Jack Layton and the NDP position of Bringing Our Troops Home. It seems they are upset with Jack saying that our current Mission in Afghanistan has no purpose.

BoundbyGravity tries to explain the mission to us unbelievers, so I left a comment there.

Going back over my articles on Afghanistan I thought I would repost what was said when we first took over operations in Kandahar. back in February.

In case y' all had forgotten.

Brig. Gen. David Fraser, future multinational commander, speaks during a press conference Thursday in Ottawa

"This mission is about Canadians helping Afghans," Fraser said yesterday as he repeatedly stressed the mission is "not just about combat operations."

We are prepared to kill if we have to," he said. "But that is not my mandate, to just go out and just kill. My mandate is go out and help the Afghans address the challenges that face them," he said.

And if you read my posts below you will see I have consistantly criticized the mission in Afghanistan. So I think I have every right to say Bring Out Troops Home Now.

Also See:

Afghanistan

War

NDP






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Tim Hortons

"Things that Can Kill you in the Sea"

Opps. There is irony in this. Sad but ironic.

Steve Irwin, the TV presenter known as the "Crocodile Hunter," has died after being stung by a stingray in a marine accident off Australia's north coast. Mr. Irwin was filming a documentary on "Things that Can Kill you in the Sea"

He had been lucky up until now.

Irwin made news headlines in 2004 after involving his infant son in one of his crocodile stunts.

Irwin held his son Bob, who was a month old at the time, in one arm while he dangled a piece of chicken over the snapping jaws of a four-metre crocodile.

He later acknowledged that he should have done things differently and officials in Australia's Queensland state decided not to file charges against him.

Aww crikey mate we' ll miss ya.

He was the best thing for nature TV shows since the Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom.


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Our Values

Interim Liberal Leader Bill Graham says the soldiers "died serving their country and protecting the values we all cherish."

You mean this value?














Or perhaps he believes that the War On Drugs is a Canadian value.....

UN Reports Highest Ever Levels of Opium Production in Afghanistan


Also See:

Afghanistan

War


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