THE QUESTION WE RARELY GET AN ANSWER TO: WHO’s ON FIRST

TALIBAN OFFENSIVE UNDERWAY
BUSH MIDDLE EAST MEETING NOT EXPECTED TO DO MUCH
MURDOCH ADMITS; I AM THE BOSS

Well it seems to be true. NATO and the US are on the verge of losing Afghanistan. Look for a major escalation of western forces or an embarrassing defeat. Reuters is reporting that the situation has reached a crisis. An if this happens, will we as in Vietnam, destroy the city to save it?

Militants seen educated in cyber training camps

LONDON (Reuters) - The conflict in Afghanistan has reached “crisis proportions”, with the resurgent Taliban present in more than half the country and closing in on Kabul, a report said on Wednesday.

If NATO, the lead force operating in Afghanistan, is to have any impact against the insurgency, troop numbers will have to be doubled to at least 80,000, the report said.

“The Taliban has shown itself to be a truly resurgent force,” the Senlis Council, an independent think-tank with a permanent presence in Afghanistan, wrote in a study entitled “Stumbling into Chaos: Afghanistan on the brink”.

This story echoes an earlier report I referenced yesterday in London’s Independent by an excellent jornalist, Kim Sengupta:

More than half of Afghanistan is back under Taliban control and the Nato force in the country needs to be doubled in size to cope with the resurgent group, a report by the Senlis Council think-tank says. A study by the group found that the Taliban, enriched by illicit profits from the country’s record poppy harvest, had formed de-facto governments in swathes of the southern Pashtun belt.

The Afghan government and its Nato allies strongly deny the Senlis version of what is taking place in the country and say the extent of alleged Taliban control - 54 per cent - is a major exaggeration. In particular, British troops in Helmand have, in recent months, recovered territory lost to the Islamist group.

IRAQ HORROR

The McLatchey newspapers report:

BAGHDAD — Gunmen in Baghdad’s Shaab neighborhood stormed into a house not far from an Iraqi police checkpoint and killed 11 members of an Iraqi journalist’s family, witnesses and journalism organizations reported Monday.

BUSH IS PLAYING PEACEMAKER

Meawnhile President Bush is getting ready to host Israel and some Palestinians—Hamas has been excluded.
And not surprisingly, last night there was this report: (GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Leaders of the Islamic militant group Hamas called Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a traitor Monday and vowed to reject any decisions made at the Mideast peace conference in the United States.)

I always thought that the purpose of a peace initiative is to bring enemies to the table, not avoid confronting tough isssues. As everyone who follows these events knows this is not just a Palestinian-Israeli conflict. There are conflicts within Israel and among Palestinians and the Arab world. We rarely hear the voices of those who don’t buy into the US playing a Big Brother role. That may be why despite all the meetings, delegations, emissaries and contact groups, trios, quartets and quintets, so little real progress has been made for DECADES.

And where is our media in all this? Are they playing an independent role or acting as a dissmination belt for government ideas and right wing thinktankers. Check out this debate out from Al Jazeera. Its pretty wild but at least voices were heard and strong feelings were expressed. No, its not the ravings of a Bill O’ Reilly but a real debate.

DEATH SQUADS IN KENYA?

Lawyers say 8 000 Kenyans killed in sect crackdown

M&G: More than 8 000 Kenyans have been executed or tortured to death since 2002 when police launched a crackdown on a banned, politically-linked sect, a group of Kenyan lawyers said on Sunday. Security forces launched a crackdown on the Mungiki sect after it was banned in March 2002.