alanjjohnstone
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Its been mentioned before but this article highlights the hypocrisy
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/30/britain-dogs-afghan-people-pen-farthing
The Republican war-hawks have a new campaign to resume the Afghan war
Biden is being told to bomb Afghanistan again until the Taliban return all the US-supplied weapons captured.
From a hazy memory, I have a vague recognition that after the Russians were routed the US had to buy back all their Stinger portable shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles which were so instrumental in the Mujahideen victory against the Russian helicopters.
Somehow I don’t think the Taliban will be handing back all the equipment although some of it will be of no use to the sophistication and training and maintenance required. Those they will no doubt sell on the black market.
For the Taliban, the problems are just beginning
First will be the foreign aid cuts that millions of Afghans relied upon
Secondly will be the sanctions that will be imposed
But what experts say will be the most serious problem inherited is the climate crisis.
https://www.dw.com/en/amid-taliban-takeover-climate-change-could-drive-conflict/a-59025446
“You have a country that is one of the most vulnerable to climate change and any implications as a result of that and without the needed capacities, you’re looking at a human catastrophe,” said Basir Feda, head of the Afghanistan unit at the Berlin-based Berghof Foundation, an NGO that promotes peacebuilding.Even under one of the UN’s more optimistic scenarios for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Afghanistan will likely continue to warm by at least a further 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050. That level of warming would still further decrease the amount of snow available to feeds rivers, making water even scarcer.
While drought will be even likelier, so too will extreme rainfall over short periods, increasing the chances of deadly landslides in the mountainous country. And years of war have robbed Afghanistan of the ability to build capacity to adapt and protect its population.“War is development in reverse,” said Brown. That means that 40 years of conflict have, for instance, also meant a chronic underinvestment in water infrastructure like dams and irrigation. Farmers used to rely on ancient irrigation systems known as “karez,” which avoided evaporation by transporting water underground from the mountains. Maintained by villages, some are still functional, but the vast majority were destroyed or fell into disrepair during the decades of war.
Afghanistan will probably no longer feature in the headlines but the misery and pain and tragedies will not have disappeared.
Some say capitalism cannot fix problems. Sometimes it can
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/30/un-hails-milestone-as-use-of-leaded-petrol-ended-globally
Leaded petrol has ended globally
It only took a century
1.2 million premature lives will be averted and a rise in children’s IQ is predicted
We shouldn’t single out the USA as an exception.
There has been a whole series of extreme weather events across the world that have exposed the vulnerability of even the wealthier nations to flooding, heatwaves, storms.
Hailed by some on the left for ending the ‘forever’ war in Afghanistan against the wishes of industrial-military complex, following up on Trump’s and Pompeo’s Taliban deal, Biden’s Iran policy is accused by them of being the same as Trump’s describing him as a ‘predatory wolf’
“America’s current administration is no different from the previous one, because what it demands from Iran on the nuclear issue is different in words, but the same thing that Trump demanded,” Khamenei said. “The Americans truly have no shame on the nuclear issue, and even though they withdrew from the JCPOA… they now talk in a way and make demands as it was Iran that withdrew,” he added, referring to the deal by its official name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced he was ‘happy’ to “hear [Biden’s] clear words that Iran will never be able to acquire a nuclear weapon and to emphasise that we’ll try the diplomatic route, but there’s other options,”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/27/bennett-happy-as-biden-touts-other-options-against-iran
As to be expected MS, the right in America are expressing anti-Afghan refugee rhetoric
https://apnews.com/article/immigration-151d588fd9f4b33b0a71b9a1226e589b
The warming blob
We often describe it as global warming but it can be quite localised
the blob had warmed 1.5C over the 40 year period, about three times the global average increase in sea surface temperature.
Yet another green reform which will prove ineffective
https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/uk-deforestation-law-climate-change-b1908714.html
environmental charity WWF found exemptions included in the new law mean it “may have a limited impact” on curbing deforestation linked to UK supply chains.The famous quote often used that JFK that he intended to splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces probably is false.
A journalist in 1966 used it in a newspaper article as hearsay that JFK supposedly said it to one of his officials.
JFK replaced Dulles as the fall-guy for the fiasco and brought in a non-intelligence veteran to be director of the CIA.
Dulles became a member of the Warren Commission, most likely to ensure that Operation Mongoose and other plans to assassinate Castro did not become public. He was most likely recommended by LBJ on the recommendation of RFK who also recommended Dulles to monitor the investigations of the Civil Rights murders in the South.
Also to be noted is JFK had earlier experiences with CIA analyses in Laos.
Robert Reich served as secretary of labor in the Clinton administration. He is now a Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley.
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/08/27/only-real-socialism-us-corporate-welfare
“Republicans in Congress rail about how the Democrats’ agenda is chock-full of scary “socialist” policies. We do have socialism in this country—but it’s not Democrats’ policies. The real socialism is corporate welfare…It’s more socialism for the rich, harsh capitalism for the rest.”
He doesn’t clarify what socialism really is but muddies definition it by inferring it is government largesse.
Is Biden really responding to the climate crisis?
Biden’s federal officials will soon resume selling new leases for oil and gas drilling on public lands and waters in response to court rulings against the moratorium on it.
As seen in other countries, the law supersedes the planet
Public Citizen president Robert Weissman called the Biden administration’s disclosure “distressing news”.
“The first, easiest steps to address the climate crisis are to stop making things worse,” said Weissman. “More oil and gas leasing is insane policy in light of the climate crisis.”
25% of the nation’s total carbon emissions can be attributed to fossil fuel extraction on public lands and waters.
Britain’s decision to appoint a new ambassador to Myanmar in July will result in a de facto recognition of the military regime
https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/southeast-asia/uk-myanmar-ambassador-junta-eu-b1908736.html
Should pets get priority over people in a refugee rescue?
