Whatever it is, it isn’t a free and fair Afghan election. At least the media are finally admitting it (Thus passim) even if the reason is largely the upsurge in military casualties. Saturday’s lethal car bomb outside NATO headquarters in Kabul was a cynical signal from the Taliban that they can more or less get [...]
Category Archives: Afghanistan
Afghanistan's 'democratic' election – a Karzai shoe-in aided by Western media indifference?
July 16, 2009 – 10:52 am
In the interests of transparency, I have made no secret of my support for Dr. Ashraf Ghani’s Presidential candidacy (Thus passim). I don’t know much about the other candidates (and should do) but it appears crazy to endorse the Karzai regime, which has presided over a culture of warlord cronyism and corruption which has increased [...]
Torture scandal reveals a fatal flaw in the UK-US 'Special relationship'.
March 21, 2009 – 6:36 pm
“British policy fails because we behave too much like an ineffective old Jeeves, even when Bertie Wooster has gone berserk.” By Timothy Garton Ash. Britain’s Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, responded to my article about possible British complicity in the torture of Binyam Mohamed (Thus passim) with a reader’s letter in the Guardian, disputing its accuracy. [...]
Torture is naughty, barbaric and illegal – except when we do it
March 18, 2009 – 4:09 pm
This week, Britain’s foreign minister will present the Foreign Office’s annual report on human rights violations around the world. For anyone who cares about Britain and human rights, it will feel difficult to ask about anything except the British government’s own entanglement in a case of torture. By Timothy Garton Ash The evidence, so far [...]
It's Sunday, so it must be Islamabad
December 14, 2008 – 4:37 pm
UPDATE: They seek him here, they seek him there. Gordon Brown has moved on to Pakistan, wearing the same suit and tie, where he has applied pressure to allow the Metropolitan Police to ‘interview’ one or more of the Mumbai bombing suspects. The strategy is simple. Render them to London, buy them an Oyster Card and invite [...]
Now Gordon has spun off to Afghanistan – make that Pakistan (see above)
December 13, 2008 – 5:16 pm
. . . . “I’ll put a girdle about the earth in forty minutes” Puck, Midsummer Night’s Dream We heard this morning that UK Gordon Brown has broken off his constructive discussions with EU leaders to appear in Afghanistan to mourn the death of four British soldiers, killed in two bomb incidents, one where a [...]