afghanistan
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Another sad day in Afghanistan
Written By: - Date published: 6:50 am, August 5th, 2010 - 136 comments
New Zealand has suffered its first combat death in Afghanistan. This is an increasingly deadly war as the foreign forces slowly lose ground. They have suffered nearly two thousand dead now – more in the past two months than in the first 3 years. No-one knows how many Afghans have died.
Truth out on wars
Written By: - Date published: 7:04 am, July 27th, 2010 - 13 comments
Deputy PM and leader of the Lib Dems, Nick Clegg, caused a bit of a sensation last week when he pronounced Britain’s involvement in the Iraq war illegal. And yesterday Wikileaks published a massive cache of American military files exposing the truth about the war in Afghanistan. Not a good week for warmongers.
The golden curse
Written By: - Date published: 10:05 am, June 17th, 2010 - 15 comments
You know, if we don’t give those mining companies some more free seismic data, rent-free access to our most precious natural environments, and only demand low royalties when they dig up our minerals, we’ll lose them to the lucky country. That’s right, Afghanistan. It’s sitting, quite literally, on a gold mine and it makes ours look like small change.
Backlash over media favouritism
Written By: - Date published: 11:10 am, May 4th, 2010 - 52 comments
Tracey Watkins is less than chuffed over the way the media were used on John Key’s ‘secret’ Afghanistan trip:…Equally troubling was the control exerted by the Prime Minister’s Office over access – Key refused to make room for journalists from the country’s two biggest media companies, Fairfax and APN. Even state broadcaster Radio New Zealand was left in the cold.
Allied with murderers
Written By: - Date published: 10:25 am, April 7th, 2010 - 41 comments
Wikileaks has revealed footage shot from a US Apache helicopter in Iraq in 2007 as they callously murder a dozen Iraqi civilians. Every time you read of some wedding convey being shot up or a houseful of ‘insurgents’ being bombed remember this video and remember that our soldiers are now part of the combat force that is committing these same barbaric acts in Afghanistan.
Mining our national parks for the US war-machine
Written By: - Date published: 12:01 pm, March 23rd, 2010 - 23 comments
Most of the world’s supply of the key rare earth metals comes from China. That’s a strategic problem for the US, which needs rare earths for high-tech military equipment. They don’t want to be dependent on the world’s other superpower, and potential adversary, for their military hardware. Is it a coincidence that the Nats are so keen to let foreigners mine for rare earths in our national parks?
Goff calls for SAS to come home
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, March 3rd, 2010 - 48 comments
The Nats put the SAS in Afghanistan out of a Boy’s Own worldview that glamorises war and violence by authority. But war isn’t a game and we shouldn’t be fighting unless it’s for a good cause. Our solders shouldn’t die or kill to prop up Hamid Karzai’s corrupt regime.
Penny-wise, pound foolish in Afghanistan
Written By: - Date published: 9:07 am, February 1st, 2010 - 7 comments
Foreign Minister Murray McCully is refusing to contribute any New Zealand money to a fund that will buy-off the Taliban’s foot soldiers. The so-called ‘ten dollar Taliban’ are often not ideological but motivated by Taliban cash. By giving them more lucrative and less dangerous options, the Karzi government and its international supporters hope to deprive […]
The SAS, the media, and Key
Written By: - Date published: 11:53 am, January 24th, 2010 - 50 comments
I don’t think the SAS should be in Afghanistan. That said, there are good reasons why the activities of the SAS on deployment are meant to be kept secret. Both the media and John Key have behaved incredibly irresponsibly. Do the publishing of pictures and the name of Willi Apiata after he apparently took part […]
Key adopts Bush foreign policy
Written By: - Date published: 12:12 pm, January 11th, 2010 - 37 comments
“We’ve got no intention of cutting and running from Afghanistan,” the Prime Minister said from his holiday home in Hawaii.* If you’re a keen watcher of political rhetoric, you might recognise that phrase – Bush used to accuse Democrats of wanting to ‘cut and run’ from Iraq. It’s not just rhetoric, John Key’s foreign policy […]
Fighting for democracy?
Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, November 20th, 2009 - 15 comments
Lance Corporal Joe Glenton is facing prison after speaking out at an anti-war rally. A British soldier was arrested on Monday for speaking out at an anti-war rally and refusing to return to fight in Afghanistan. Lance Corporal Joe Glenton has been charged not just with desertion, but with new charges under the Armed Forces […]
Ominous
Written By: - Date published: 9:40 am, November 1st, 2009 - 8 comments
Estimated number of US troops now in Afghanistan: 68,000. Number of troops US General Stanley McChrystal is currently asking for in addition to that: 40,000. Number of troops during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan at its height that resulted in defeat: 108,000.
Pup on the pull-aside
Written By: - Date published: 11:52 am, September 22nd, 2009 - 21 comments
Two stories from today’s Dominion give a hint as to what might be muttered under their breath as Key and Obama pose for the cameras at the upcoming UN reception: Key to Obama: “I’m sending more troops to Afghanistan – they’ve promised me verbally they won’t torture prisoners.” Obama to Key: “I’m not, until I’ve […]
Clueless
Written By: - Date published: 1:00 pm, September 9th, 2009 - 21 comments
John Key has admitted he didn’t bother to get detailed briefings before sending our SAS to kill and possibly die for a corrupt regime in Afghanistan: Hon Phil Goff: Was the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade, John Allen, correct in stating on Q+A on Television New Zealand on Sunday that ‘we didn’t advise the Government to send […]
The mire
Written By: - Date published: 5:10 am, September 7th, 2009 - 16 comments
Last month’s Time magazine has an article that starts “to understand why the United States is losing in Afghanistan…” It’s a bombshell phrase, all the more for the fact that the reporter makes the statement in passing, as accepted fact. The article goes on to detail how Western money is going to fund the Afghan […]
More votes than voters
Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, September 2nd, 2009 - 12 comments
The Economist has an article on the recent election in New Zealand’s current region of conflict – Afghanistan. The title of the article says it all really, so that is the title of the post. But here are a selection of depressing quotes from the article to make people realize why this is currently a […]
Phil Goff speaking on the SAS deployment
Written By: - Date published: 8:02 pm, August 19th, 2009 - 9 comments
Goff’s speech on deploying the SAS
Written By: - Date published: 10:20 am, August 19th, 2009 - 12 comments
Apart from when it’s customary, at maiden speeches, valedictories, and the Budget, it’s a rare speech that warrants a standing ovation in Parliament. Phil Goff got one yesterday for his speech on the urgent debate into the deployment of the SAS to Afghanistan. The text is here but it’s the delivery that really makes it*. Competent, […]
Afghanistan for the Afghanistanians
Written By: - Date published: 10:53 pm, August 11th, 2009 - 65 comments
It was a bit strange listening to Key’s interview on RNZ yesterday morning about deploying the SAS to Afghanistan. He kept on awkwardly saying ‘the people of Afghanistan’ rather than just ‘the Afghans’ or ‘the Afghanis’*. The reason soon became clear: “[if they take any prisoners] they’ll be handed over to the Afghanistanian government…. I […]
What are we fighting for?
Written By: - Date published: 2:30 pm, July 28th, 2009 - 60 comments
A reader sent through this article from the Guardian by Malalai Joya, who was the youngest woman to enter the Afghan parliament before being suspended for denouncing the warlords and war criminals sitting beside her. Almost eight years after the Taliban regime was toppled, our hopes for a truly democratic and independent Afghanistan have been […]
Our traditional allies
Written By: - Date published: 6:53 pm, July 27th, 2009 - 67 comments
It seems the US want us to commit our elite SAS troops to Afghanistan. I’m not a big fan of the Taliban but I’m not a supporter of occupations either. Morally I think we can supply engineers and the like for reconstruction (assuming that’s what they do). But the SAS has only one purpose and […]
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