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Afghanistan passes 'barbaric' law diminishing women's rights | World news | guardian.co.uk
Rehashed legislation allows husbands to deny wives food if they fail to obey sexual demands

Afghanistan has quietly passed a law permitting Shia men to deny their wives food and sustenance if they refuse to obey their husbands' sexual demands, despite international outrage over an earlier version of the legislation which President Hamid Karzai had promised to review.

The new final draft of the legislation also grants guardianship of children exclusively to their fathers and grandfathers, and requires women to get permission from their husbands to work.

"It also effectively allows a rapist to avoid prosecution by paying 'blood money' to a girl who was injured when he raped her," the US charity Human Rights Watch said.

by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Aug 14th, 2009 at 04:11:25 PM EST
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Wrote about this tonight in an essay: Karzai legalizes rape, sells out Afghan Shia women for votes.
by Magnifico on Fri Aug 14th, 2009 at 07:29:36 PM EST
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There goes our justification for waging war in Afghanistan to prop Karzai's regime in order to "defend Afghan women from the prospect of Taleban rule".

But we knew this already. The Taleban swept to power in the 1990's because the US/Pakistan/Saudi-supported Muyahedeen had established an oppressive islamist regime. And those warlords then became our allies the Northern Alliance. Already in 2001 when Laura Bush was trotted out to sell the Afghan invasion as a women-liberating operation we knew it was bullshit, and for exactly this reason.

The peak-to-trough part of the business cycle is an outlier. Carnot would have died laughing.

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Aug 15th, 2009 at 03:20:44 AM EST
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insert yet another pithy comment:

"Mission Accomplished"
"We've always been at war with EastAsia"
"You can't make omelettes without breaking eggs"
"It's definitely worth it"

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Sat Aug 15th, 2009 at 05:26:09 AM EST
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"Nobody could have foreseen..."

The peak-to-trough part of the business cycle is an outlier. Carnot would have died laughing.
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Aug 15th, 2009 at 05:30:20 AM EST
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don't worry; the situation will turn a corner in 6 months

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Sat Aug 15th, 2009 at 06:42:54 AM EST
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I remember a funny little cartoon in which Bush is running around a building repeatedly, all the while bragging about all the corners his projects are turning.

- Jake

If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Sat Aug 15th, 2009 at 03:14:06 PM EST
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