PAUL GRAHAM: Owen Schalk is a writer of short stories, novels, political analyses, and essays on film and literature. He is a columnist at Canadian Dimension, and has written for Alborada, Monthly Review, Protean Magazine, and many other publications. His most recent book is entitled Canada in Afghanistan: A story
Continue readingTag: afghanistan
Views from the Beltline: Islam—is the fear justified?
When it comes to religion, I am not a believer nor am I a student of theology. I am but a mere observer, much more inclined to fact than faith. I don’t have a high regard for any religion but there are things about most that I appreciate. Buddhism, for
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Will the poppy ban sink Afghanistan’s economy?
“All compatriots are informed from the date of the issuance of this decree, poppy cultivation is absolutely prohibited in the whole country and no one can try to cultivate the plant.” With this decree, the Taliban banned the growth of poppies, thus threatening 80 percent of the word’s opium supply.
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: The American retreat punishes the Afghan people
The Taliban are in a celebratory mood. Afghanistan has just defeated its third Western empire and they can take the credit. The Afghans humiliated the British in the 19th century, the Russians in the 20th and and now the Americans in the 21st. Unfortunately, however, you can’t warm your home
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Smriti Mallapaty reports on new research suggesting that vaccines provide only partial protection against the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19. Sarath Peiris asks when Scott Moe and his minions will be held accountable for sacrificing hundreds of lives and thousands of
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Cut What?
Bernie Sanders has spent the past several MONTHS asking publicly (and privately?) what other Senators want to cut Neither the media nor the Senators themselves have an answer, but the press continues to ask BERNIE when he will be doing the cutting!! WHAT!https://t.co/dRzQRDAoYD pic.twitter.com/FurJRZk3SU — Brett "Unions 2021" Banditelli (@banditelli)
Continue readingThe Maple Monarchists - Blog: Pinpointing the exact day a Taliban return in Afghanistan became inevitable
The world was shocked earlier this month when the Taliban effortlessly retook control of Afghanistan. Ever since a great deal of ink has been spilled trying to explain why. Some hold this to be a direct result of the manner in which the USA withdrew from the country. Some argue it is due to longstanding issues with political corruption in
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Friendly Fire
Or war crime? Our report from last night on the awful ISIS attack outside Kabul airport as families still search Kabul's morgues for their loved ones.. Many we spoke to, including eyewitnesses, said significant numbers of those killed were shot dead by US forces in the panic after the blast
Continue readingKersplebedeb: Afghanistan: The End of the Occupation [AnneBonnyPirate.org]
The US Embassy in Kabul being evacuated. [This article was originally posted to the authors’ website, AnneBonnyPirate.org, on August 17, 2021] Nancy Lindisfarne and Jonathan Neale A lot of nonsense about Afghanistan is being written in Britain and the United States. Most of this nonsense hides a number of important
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: All the Queer Theory in the World will not help the Women of Afghanistan – “Mel T”
This letter published in the Scottish newspaper The National. It is a letter that would likely not see the light of day here in Canada where we seem to be beholden to a small subset of society that demands we disbelieve our eyes and perceptions to order to ‘be kind’
Continue readingAlberta Politics: This is not a setback, it’s a rout – the war in Afghanistan is all but over and the Taliban insurgency has won
Suddenly, the provincial capitals of Afghanistan are falling like bowling pins to the Taliban. As of yesterday, the New York Times reported, only four major cities remained in the hands of the Afghan government. One of them was Kabul, the capital. Two of them were besieged. The last Soviet troops
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: The Biggest Political News of the Day
We are having a baby!!!! @gurkirankaur_ and I are so excited for this new adventure! pic.twitter.com/ULyw8EfQnO — Jagmeet Singh (@theJagmeetSingh) August 12, 2021 Congrats to Jagmeet Singh and his wife. Oh, and there’s an expected election call for Sept. 20th. Twitter Top Trends, (not edited):"Is it safe? What's the ballot
Continue readingAlberta Politics: With the Taliban on the cusp of controlling Afghanistan once again, we owe it to our dead to ask, ‘Was it worth it?’
Yesterday morning, the New York Times reported the Taliban is on the cusp of total victory in Afghanistan. The Times being the Times, of course, it didn’t put it quite that way. Former Liberal prime minister Jean Chretien (Photo: Jason Paris, Creative Commons). “The Taliban Close In on Afghan Cities,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Calling Peter MacKay! Could you remind us what we were fighting for in Afghanistan again?
Peter MacKay, former Harper Government defence minister and one of the dimmer candles to cast his flickering light Canadian affairs, turns out to have been a prophet after all! Who would have guessed? Back in 2008, when Canada’s role in the long war in Afghanistan had grown considerably in its
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the United States – Moving toward Ameri-exit
The fact that the US is still entangled in Afghanistan has all but left the news media in the United States. I certainly hope that powers involved here can keep their agenda focus and actually produce some results. The status quo quagmire needs to end. From the Asia Times –
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Afghanistan: Where Low Tech Continues to Conquer The Most Advanced Military in the World
In a uncanny sort of way the slow motion failure of the US war effort in Afghanistan is a testament to the fiercely stubborn nature of our species. The US has total control of the air, real-time satellite imagery, and soldiers equipped with the best (and most expensive) military equipment
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Stephen Harper’s Paris speech to Mojahedin-e Khalq: No laws were broken; appropriate interests were served; get over it!
Many readers would be offended if someone were to suggest the Roman Catholic Church was a former terrorist organization with cult-like attributes. Still, wouldn’t terrorism be a fair description of the Inquisition, the brutal effort to root out heresy carried out from the 12th to the early 19th centuries by
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: I’ve Got an Idea to Rescue Justin From His Slump
Unfair or not, Justin Trudeau has taken a hit in the public’s mind over his pretty clumsy trip to India. With JT et famille sporting an elaborate wardrobe of Bollywood’s best fashions, the Indian press took the piss out of him pretty relentlessly. The local scribblers piled on. Now Trudeau’s
Continue readingA BCer in Ottawa: Eating up the Hill: Chicken Tandoori Kabob at Afghani Kabob Express
I was first introduced to the cuisine of Afghanistan during the last nomination cycle, as an Afghan restaurant in Scarborough became one of our regular post-canvass meal destinations. I enjoyed it and, since I moved to Ottawa, Afghani Kabob Express at Bank and Lisgar has been a regular dinner stop.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Never mind apologies, it’s time for Canada’s Tories just to admit Jack Layton was right about talking to the Taliban
PHOTOS: Jack Layton in Edmonton in 2011. Below: Forgettable Harper Government foreign minister Lawrence Cannon (Photo: Abigail Veronneau, Wikimedia Commons) and Peter MacKay, who took some of the cheap shots at Mr. Layton in 2006 (Photo: Department of National Defence, via the Wikimedia Commons). Never mind the apologies. That ship
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