Why is Afghanistan so important?
A glance at a map and a little knowledge of the region suggest that the real reasons for Western military involvement may be largely hidden.
Afghanistan is adjacent to Middle Eastern countries that are rich in oil and natural gas. And though Afghanistan may have little petroleum itself, it borders both Iran and Turkmenistan, countries with the second and third largest natural gas reserves in the world. (Russia is first.)
In a recent edition of the
Wall Street Journal, Mary Anastasia O'Grady laments an apparent shift left in the Obama
administration's Latin America policy. Clearly, O'Grady hasn't
been keeping up to date with current events. If she had been, she would
have heard about negotiations underway between the U.S. and Colombia
to establish at least seven U.S. military bases in Colombia.
By threatening to veto the defense appropriations bill if it included money for more F-22 stealth fighter planes, President Obama signaled that he was going to put an end to the way business has been done in Washington. We applaud the president's announcement, but so far it is more symbolic than real.
An awareness of how a range of global
developments is threatening the livelihoods of many millions of the world's
citizens in the early 21st century is sharpening. The realities of climate
change and environmental destruction, widening socio-economic inequality, wars and conflicts, and unsustainable
transport and business models are among these developments.
A FORMER U.S. diplomat turned peace activist advised Guam residents to be wary of the American government's military buildup plan for the island.
"We need to be looking very carefully at what our federal government does to us," said Ann Wright, a retired U.S. Army colonel who spoke to a small crowd on the implications of the relocation of 8,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam during a presentation held Monday night at the University of Guam.
WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Robert Gates is weighing a possible temporary expansion of the US army to ease the strain from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, his press secretary said on Wednesday.
Gates was discussing the idea, backed by Senator Joseph Lieberman, with senior officers to add 30,000 troops to the active-duty army, press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters.
‘MOBY DICK'' is the saga of the American soul, a cosmic contest with an "intangible malignity.'' The sea monster was "the monomaniac incarnation of all those malicious agencies . . . all the subtle demonisms of life and thought, all evil . . . all the general rage and hate'' felt by the human race "from Adam down.'' Onto this enemy, Captain Ahab "as if his chest had been a mortar . . . burst his hot heart's shell.''
It's the slogan of the citizens committees that have formed in the central
Italian city of L'Aquila, hit by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake on April 6, 2009.
And it was on display for world leaders during the G8 summit being held
just outside the city in an area off limits to the local people.
The state Department of Public Safety yesterday suspended a controversial program that distributes high-powered US military weapons to police departments across the state, amid growing concerns with the scale of guns handed out and the lack of oversight involved.
Terrel Harris, spokesman for the department, said yesterday that the program will remain suspended until the completion of a thorough review looking at the way it is run, the weapons involved, and the communities that get them.
