August 18, 2009
This morning, with two days to go, the BBC uncovered evidence of massive Afghan election fraud. Why are we not surprised? Leaving aside the fact that Thus reported this ‘possibility’ back in April, and again yesterday (see previous post) there have been several telltale signs that the promoters of Democracy Inc. are prepared to turn an expedient blind eye to ‘irregularities’ in order to defend the indefensible. John J Kelly. President Karzai failed to turn up for the ‘historic’ first live TV election debate last month, lauded as a sign... More
August 17, 2009
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 to whomsoever they choose. The British army death toll stands at 204, most killed by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and the US death toll is approaching 800 since hostilities commenced in 2001. Last month, military... More
July 16, 2009
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 support for religious fundamentalist elements, simply because he is ‘our man.’ This more or less guarantees an escalation of the phantasmagoric ‘war on terror’ and sustains the very real opium export economy, which does far... More
