When it comes to prognosticating, the most dangerous game political scientists play (game theory can be quite scary though), about Afghanistan’s future, you could do a lot worse than Central Asian analysts Joshua Foust and Ahmed Rashid. In two recent pieces, Foust in the New York Times and Rashid in a lecture in Philadelphia, each […]
Following the current events in Afghanistan is not for the faint of heart, but one specific recurring story is by far the most distressing for me: The continuous attacks on education facilities, teachers, and most appalling, students by extremists. While modern Afghanistan has never been home to a strong educational system, ever since the Taliban […]
Once the foreigners who dared to push Russia from the podium have been taken care of (via strategic bombers and lethal psychological warfare), heads will roll over the country’s worst Olympics in history, assured Medvedev yesterday. But whose? Well, sports minister Vitaly Mutko says it wasn’t his fault; it was the stoopid new sports, dastardly […]
The Washington Post has a fascinating article on the uranium market in Kazakhstan, complete with extensive photo galleries. The most illuminating aspect was the arrest of Mukhtar Dzhakishev, the former chief executive of the state nuclear firm Kazatomprom. According to the Post, “the KNB, local successor to the KGB, accused him of transferring the rights […]
Even some Americans were offended when commentator Mike Milbury excoriated Russia for their ‘Eurotrash game’ against Canada. But what other way was there to describe the studied, ironic detachment of Ovechkin, or the arrogance and entitlement of that underachieving yet pampered sore-loser- Plushenko. Not even his self-awarded Platinum Medal (NO JOKE!) could prevent the end […]
It is now the 10th day of what Gen. Petraeus called the ‘initial salvo’ of the mission in the former (can we call it that?) Taliban stronghold in Helmand Province. The fighting has been been fierce, yet sporadic, as reports of American soldier, Afghan army, and civilian deaths slowly roll in (Here’s a video of […]
The Dutch Christian-Democrat, Christian Union, and Labor Party coalition-led government has collapsed and it seems likely that a national election is in the offing. What does this has to with Afghanistan? Well, one of the major reasons for the collapse of the Parliamentary partnership was the Netherlands troop presence in Afghanistan’s volatile southern Uruzgan province. […]
‘Khodorkovsky was the only one of the oligarchs who forgot that he was an oligarch, that is, a crook. He decided that because he’d stopped stealing from the company that he was a great businessman, a builder of value! The other oligarchs, when they saw the fuzz, knew they should run. But Khodorkovsky forgot.’ That […]
Foreign Policy Magazine has produced some memorable photos documenting the Marja offensive: Check out more here.
Russian people are used to humiliation and oppression, but they always draw the line at Lake Baikal. This is a lesson that PM Vladimir Putin should have considered carefully before giving his chum and Russia’s richest man Oleg Deripaska (pictured above) the green light to begin polluting the UNESCO-protected national treasure. When the Soviet government […]
In what will surely go down as one of the most important moves made possible by the American troop surge and shift to Gen. McChrystal’s COIN/Special Operations strategy, thousands of American, British soldiers, partnered with thousands more Afghan troops, are as we speak attempting to dislodge the Taliban from one of their strongest home bases […]
Nabucco, the gas pipeline that will transport energy to Europe without Gazprom, has always been tentative. Turkmenistan, the main supplier, seems to have over-stretched itself, with export promises to China, Russia, and Iran. The other main source, Azerbaijan’s Shah-Deniz field, is under dispute with Turkey over pricing. OMV, an Austrian firm, isn’t sure there is […]
A couple days ago, I gave my latest views of the US use of drone assassination attacks, especially their substantial increase of usage by the Obama administration, in Pakistan. I am overall very pro-Drone use, but believe we can overuse them as a strategic tool. Here is a video of some members of the Wall […]
Now that Yanukovich has won, has Ukraine finally rejected the Orange Revolution and returned to Russia’s fold? Not so fast. In one of the great ironies of the election, Yanukovich’s clean campaign and victory in the most transparent election in his country’s history embodied the values of the 2004 revolution that ousted him, while Timoshenko’s […]
Some good stuff to stuff your brains with! Troops, Troops, and Less Troops – To supplement the 30,000 American soldiers headed to Afghanistan this year in President Obama’s Afghan plan, it was expected approximately 10,000 other NATO troops would also follow suit. Unsurprisingly, this is turning out to be difficult to accomplish. Germany has ponied […]