Western officials, the Afghan government and Taliban-linked mediators have been engaged in secret negotiations to bring elements of the group into Afghanistan's political process, Al Jazeera has learned. The talks, which have been taking place in Dubai, London and Afghanistan since the beginning of the year, have proposed the return of Gulbaldin Hekmatyar, the former Afghan prime minister, who has been in hiding for seven years, to Afghanistan. Hekmatyar is the leader of the Hezb-i-Islami forces, a faction of Afghanistan's Hezb-i-Islami party, and is purported to be in the northwest tribal region of Pakistan. His forces fight alongside the Taliban and are considered a terrorist organisation by the United States forces in Afghanistan.
Western officials, the Afghan government and Taliban-linked mediators have been engaged in secret negotiations to bring elements of the group into Afghanistan's political process, Al Jazeera has learned.
The talks, which have been taking place in Dubai, London and Afghanistan since the beginning of the year, have proposed the return of Gulbaldin Hekmatyar, the former Afghan prime minister, who has been in hiding for seven years, to Afghanistan.
Hekmatyar is the leader of the Hezb-i-Islami forces, a faction of Afghanistan's Hezb-i-Islami party, and is purported to be in the northwest tribal region of Pakistan.
His forces fight alongside the Taliban and are considered a terrorist organisation by the United States forces in Afghanistan.
DON SAO HONG, Thailand: After months of clinging to the hope that Southeast Asia might avoid the worst effects of the global economic crisis, layoffs across the region have gathered pace, governments are announcing sharp falls in economic growth and lawmakers are passing a raft of stimulus packages. Economic woes are high on the agenda at the summit meeting of the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations this weekend. Here in the northeastern corner of Thailand, the unemployed, still paunchy from lives in the big city, have begun to trickle back to their villages. While the crisis in the West centers on insolvent banks, home foreclosures and swelling unemployment, in Southeast Asia economists predict that one hallmark of the downturn will be the exodus of workers back to the family farm.
DON SAO HONG, Thailand: After months of clinging to the hope that Southeast Asia might avoid the worst effects of the global economic crisis, layoffs across the region have gathered pace, governments are announcing sharp falls in economic growth and lawmakers are passing a raft of stimulus packages. Economic woes are high on the agenda at the summit meeting of the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations this weekend.
Here in the northeastern corner of Thailand, the unemployed, still paunchy from lives in the big city, have begun to trickle back to their villages.
While the crisis in the West centers on insolvent banks, home foreclosures and swelling unemployment, in Southeast Asia economists predict that one hallmark of the downturn will be the exodus of workers back to the family farm.
RAMALLAH, Feb 27 (IPS) - Red-faced and unusually tongue-tied Israeli officials were forced to try and explain to U.S. Senator John Kerry during his visit to Israel last week why truckloads of pasta waiting to enter the besieged Gaza strip were not considered humanitarian aid while rice was.Kerry, chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, visited the coastal territory on a fact-finding mission. The purpose of the visit was to assess the humanitarian situation on the ground and the level of destruction wrought by Israel's three-week military assault on Gaza, codenamed Operation Cast Lead. During his visit to Gaza it came to the senator's attention that Israel had prevented a number of trucks loaded with pasta from entering the territory.
The bodies of dozens of officers have been found stuffed into drains and buried in shallow graves at a border compound in Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital, following a mutiny by hundreds of guards. The corpses of at least 66 people were unearthed at the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) headquarters on Friday, two days after a revolt by hundreds of border guards protesting over pay and conditions. Al Jazeera's Nicolas Haque in Dhaka said: "The senior officers killed are just the first out of the mass graves. "There are flies all over the place, you can smell gun powder. There is an eerie feeling ... the smell, the tension and the drama are palpable."
The bodies of dozens of officers have been found stuffed into drains and buried in shallow graves at a border compound in Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital, following a mutiny by hundreds of guards.
The corpses of at least 66 people were unearthed at the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) headquarters on Friday, two days after a revolt by hundreds of border guards protesting over pay and conditions.
Al Jazeera's Nicolas Haque in Dhaka said: "The senior officers killed are just the first out of the mass graves. "There are flies all over the place, you can smell gun powder. There is an eerie feeling ... the smell, the tension and the drama are palpable."
President Barack Obama has announced the withdrawal of most US troops in Iraq by the end of August 2010. In a speech at a Marine Corps base, he said the US "combat mission" in Iraq would officially end by that time. But 35,000 to 50,000 of the 142,000 troops now in Iraq will stay on into 2011 to advise Iraqi forces, target terror and protect US interests. Mr Obama praised the progress made but warned: "Iraq is not yet secure, and there will be difficult days ahead." Some Democrats are concerned that the timetable falls short of his election pledges on troop withdrawal.
President Barack Obama has announced the withdrawal of most US troops in Iraq by the end of August 2010.
In a speech at a Marine Corps base, he said the US "combat mission" in Iraq would officially end by that time.
But 35,000 to 50,000 of the 142,000 troops now in Iraq will stay on into 2011 to advise Iraqi forces, target terror and protect US interests.
Mr Obama praised the progress made but warned: "Iraq is not yet secure, and there will be difficult days ahead."
Some Democrats are concerned that the timetable falls short of his election pledges on troop withdrawal.
Of course, it might just be a calm phase... but what speaks against this is the fact that as soon as the Americans started doing COIN after years and years of absolute bumbling, they got these real positive results. Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
White House aides told Jewish leaders on a conference call today that the United States will boycott the United Nations' World Conference on Racism over hostility to Israel in draft documents prepared for the April conference. The aides, including an advisor to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, Jennifer Simon, and longtime Obama advisor Samantha Power, said the administration will not participate in further negotiations on the current text or participate in a conference based on the text, sources on the call said. They left open the option of re-engaging on a "much shorter, much different text," a source said.
White House aides told Jewish leaders on a conference call today that the United States will boycott the United Nations' World Conference on Racism over hostility to Israel in draft documents prepared for the April conference.
The aides, including an advisor to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, Jennifer Simon, and longtime Obama advisor Samantha Power, said the administration will not participate in further negotiations on the current text or participate in a conference based on the text, sources on the call said.
They left open the option of re-engaging on a "much shorter, much different text," a source said.
Chrysler and General Motors (GM) took the bottom two spots, respectively, in Consumer Reports magazine's new automaker for reliability, even as the pair seek billions more in federal loans to stay afloat. The third of Detroit's Big 3 automakers, Ford Motor, fared better at fourth from the bottom, also beating Suzuki. First place went to Honda (HMC) for the third-consecutive year, followed by Subaru, Toyota (TM) and Mazda. Next came a tie by Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Volkswagen and BMW, among the 15 makers rated. They were followed by Hyundai, Volvo and Mitsubishi.
The third of Detroit's Big 3 automakers, Ford Motor, fared better at fourth from the bottom, also beating Suzuki.
First place went to Honda (HMC) for the third-consecutive year, followed by Subaru, Toyota (TM) and Mazda. Next came a tie by Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Volkswagen and BMW, among the 15 makers rated. They were followed by Hyundai, Volvo and Mitsubishi.
You know, I got chewed out by quite a few people at dKos for pointing out that the Big Three made shitty cars. They told me to go read Consumer Reports.
Oops. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
But they won't do that, because Detroit is full of morons. American cars are shit. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
"The survival of the human species is by no means an obvious thing. There are very severe threats to survival. We learn about them all the time. The threat of environmental destruction is much too real to put to the side. The threat of destruction by weapons of mass destruction -- that has come very close many times. We just learned at the time of the Cuban missile crisis, a terminal nuclear war was averted by one word by one submarine commander who countermanded the order to send off nuclear missiles.
Chomsky Capitalism searches out the darkest corners of human potential, and mainlines them.
Two I can think of immediately are when the USS liberty was attacked off Egypt in '67, it was believed by the US fleet off turkey that it had been the russians. Protocol said the response had to be nuclear. The Admiral refused what was, in effect, a direct order.
In the late 80s the moscow missile defence received cnfirmation of a US missile launch. The man in charge could see no reason why the US would do so and believed it was a technical glitch and so held a response until the point when Moscow should have been hit by a missile. It later turned out it was a US radar test. For saving the world, the commander was demoted in disgrace. keep to the Fen Causeway
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
