I’m traveling. Your open thread

6 thoughts on “I’m traveling. Your open thread”

1. Nir Rosen’s article on Afghanistan is a must-read.
   http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/23612315/how_we_lost_the_war_we_won
   Combine that with the news that General Petraeus, who takes over CENTCOM in less than two weeks, has launched a major reassessment of U.S. strategy for Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and the surrounding region. Experts and military officials involved said Petraeus is already focused on at least two major themes: government-led reconciliation of Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the leveraging of diplomatic and economic initiatives with nearby countries that are influential in the war.
   Obama has said that he will listen to his military commanders. With SecDef Gates now warning about increasing the US military footprint in Afghanistan and the possibility of Petraeus’s study recommending sensible steps there is some basis for hope. Just a little.

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3. Thanks for this space, H. About time some real coverage emerges on the vicious and vile attacks on women in the DRC, where the levels of atrocities are enormous, and a silent world looks away. Of course, the question of whether the so-called West or the rest for that matter, has a role in supporting recovery and healing in the DRC is a matter of debate, I am grateful to be able to spread the word here. It seems creative and compassionate foreign aid indeed can be utilized to support severely underfunded locally-inspired womens initiatives all over Africa.
   http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/18/world/africa/18congo.html?_r=1&ref=africa&oref=slogin

4. Thanks for this space, H. About time some real coverage emerges on the vicious and vile attacks on women in the DRC, where the levels of atrocities are enormous, and a silent world looks away. Of course, the question of whether the so-called West or the rest for that matter, has a role in supporting recovery and healing in the DRC is a matter of debate, I am grateful to be able to spread the word here. It seems creative and compassionate foreign aid indeed can be utilized to support severely underfunded locally-inspired womens initiatives all over Africa.
   http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/18/world/africa/18congo.html?_r=1&ref=africa&oref=slogin

5. One of the things that worries everybody is that the Israelis might go and bomb the Iranians between the US eletion and the inauguration of the new president.
   Economic growth is driven by Electricty Generation capacity and Telcommunication Density coupled with km of hardtop roads.
   In the Middle East there is a requirement for power supply to drive desalination plants particularly with the present drought empying the reservoirs behind the dams. The only option that is economically viable is the use of a coupled nuclear power station.
   It is iniquitous that the five million inhabitants of an arid corner of te Mediterranean should have a de facto veto by F-16 on the construction of power stations anywhere within 2000 km of Tel Aviv.
   This becomes very relevant now that the Turks are looking at buying Russian nuclear stations.
   So how do we disarm the Israelis without finding ourselves watching an evacuation of the population of Tel Aviv across the beaches to naval transports as somebody’s armoured divisions close in through the Jezreel Valley a few years later?
   The Bushehr reactor and the process of bringing it into service next year forces us to face the irrationality of the present situation where a heavily armed loose cannon may decide to provoke Armageddon by following its own inward looking logic.
   Let us say a prayer for the people manning the SAM batteries around the reactor and hope they never need to use their weapons.

6. What ever became of Riverbend?
   You will all note that 22 October is the first anniversary of Riverbend’s last posting.
   http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
   It is to be supposed that she is either still in Damascus admiring Jebel Quaisun or that she is following a course in modern literature somewhere.
   Riverbend’s value lay in her humanisation of the Iraqi population. Just as reading Laila and Heba’s blogs gives the amorphous “palestinians” a human face so Riverbend gave the Iraqis a human face.
   It was really hard to think of Iraqis as the enemy, as you read her descriptions of the antics of the US army and the Puppets as she loved to describe the Iraqi government.
   Her sorrow at the deaths of her friends and colleagues
   I would really have loved to read her commentary on the US elections.
   It is only when you see Syria and realise that Iraq must have been something similar that the full horror of what we have done in invading and destroying a functioning modern state.
   Trully the extent of the crime will only be captured when the indictment in front of the International Criminal Court is published and the extent of the damages estimated.
   Perhaps Riverbend might help write it.
   Wherever she is, I wish her well.

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