Thousands block NATO supply line to Afghanistan

Activists of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) shout slogans as they arrive to
 attend a protest rally in Peshawar on November 23, 2013
(AFP Photo / A Majeed)

10,000 protest US drone attacks

• NATO supply line blocked in Pakistan.
• Let's face facts.  The US is not wanted by just about anyone in Pakistan.  The Muslims in the streets hate westerners, burn churches and attack Christians.  Running NATO line trough Pakistan is crazy at best.  But there is no choice.

Thousands of demonstrators protesting US drone strikes in Pakistan blocked a main road Saturday in the Peshawar province used to transport NATO supplies to and from Afghanistan.

The protests was led by the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which is led by Imran Khan, a former international cricketer now turned politician.

They were supported by their allies in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government and they were also joined by the Jamaat -i-Islami (JI) and the Awami Jamhoori Ittehad (AJIP) political parties.

“We will put pressure on America, and our protest will continue if drone attacks are not stopped,” Khan told reporters reports RT News.

“We are here to give a clear message that now Pakistanis cannot remain silent over drone attacks,” said Shah Mehmood Qureshi, a senior member of the PTI, addressing the protesters.

Imran Khan has been a fierce critic of US drone attacks, arguing that they violate Pakistan’s sovereignty. Khan said that the Pakistani government is doing nothing to stop drone attacks except for issuing statements of condemnation and that the protest would continue indefinitely. 

Khan stressed that NATO supplies would not be allowed to pass through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, formerly called North-West Frontier Province, and added that the province’s PTI-led government had the mandate to block NATO trucks from passing through its territory.

Earlier Imran Khan had warned that NATO supply routes will be blocked if continuing US drone strikes in Pakistan threaten the country’s peace talks with the Taliban. 

Party workers from the PTI and the JI travelled to Peshawar from across Pakistan and an estimated 10,000 people participated in Saturday’s protests. The protesters shouted anti US slogans such as “Stop drone attacks” and “Down with America”. 

“I am participating in today’s sit-in to convey a message to America that we hate them since they are killing our people in drone attacks. America must stop drone attacks for peace in our country,” Hussain Shah, a 21 year old university student, told Dawn, Pakistan's oldest and most widely read English-language newspaper.

American drones are performing regular extrajudicial killings of Islamist leaders, accompanied by the collateral damage of many civilian casualties.
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Strict security measures were in place Saturday, with 500 police personnel on duty. Trucks were directed to use an alternative route, although Tahir Khan, a government official, said there was normally little NATO traffic Saturday as most of the trucks arrive by Friday night to clear the border crossing.

Also see Daily Times of Pakistan

Activists of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) arrive to attend a protest rally.
(AFP Photo / A Majeed)

 

NATO supply trucks.

Long and Exposed Supply Lines.
NATO supply lines from both the north and south.  Very, very long supply lines running through hostile lands to an even more remote and hostile Afghanistan.  Long, exposed military supply lines are never a good idea, plus the expense to supply a large modern army is insanely high. 

And the supply trucks go Boom

Smoke rises from NATO supply trucks following a strike by militants on a U.S. base in the Torkham area near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the strike.

(Rahmat Gul, Associated Press / September 2, 2013)

Read More: Los Angeles Times.

US & NATO encourage Afghan poppy production

Making the world safe for drugs

A funny thing happened on the way to Afghanistan, the US

and NATO protected poppy producers from the Taliban.

The "War" on Drugs  -  Silly, and you thought the war in Afghanistan was about terrorism.

The Taliban was eradicating poppy production as "un-Islamic".  Then in comes NATO and poppy farmers are allowed to grow their crops again.

Today, with 87,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan, cultivation of poppies has hit record levels as NATO forces prepare to exit the country. The UN warned warlords may be the biggest benefactor of the situation.

The report, the Afghanistan Opium Survey for 2013, provides little cause for optimism among countries that have witnessed a surge in incidences of heroin abuse among their populace since US-led forces started a military offensive against the Taliban on Afghan soil in 2001.

Afghanistan, long the world’s main heroin supplier, has seen its total area of poppy seed plantations explode to 516,000 acres - a 36 percent increase from 2012, according to the report, released on Wednesday reports RT News.

Last year, the war-torn Central Asian country accounted for 75 percent of the world’s opium supplies; Jean-Luc Lemahieu, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Afghanistan, has said in the past that supplies may reach 90 percent of the global total this year.

US Soldiers guarding opium in Afghanistan?

There is a single anti-Israel photo at the end of this video that I do not like. 

But 99% of the video is so cleaver that I felt I needed to post it.  Let those

with open minds view it and decide for themselves.

Afghan Drugs

A Russian point of view - poppy production had been nearly abolished.

 

The new data surpasses the previous record set in 2007, when 477,000 acres were cultivated, according to the UN drug watchdog. Total opium output is estimated at 5,500 tons, up 49 percent from 3,700 tons in 2012.

With profits from opium cultivation nearing $1 billion, or 4 percent of gross domestic product, insurgency groups like the Taliban will only benefit from the cash crop.

A massive inflow of cash connected to the sale of opium has helped the Taliban insurgency, which imposes a tax on poppy farmers in areas it controls, in addition to the outright participation in the selling and transferring of the crop.
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Afghan government officials and tribal warlords have also helped themselves to a piece of the opium trade action.
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"The short-term prognosis is not positive," said Jean-Luc Lemahieu, as quoted by Reuters. "The illicit economy is establishing itself, and seems to be taking over in importance from the licit economy."
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One reason for the surge in opium cultivation is the lack of political will, which is noticeably lacking with April presidential elections on the horizon, Lemahieu said. Afghan President Hamid Karzai is ineligible to run again, while some of the potential candidates receive their financial support from poppy producers.
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The US-led coalition has rejected any crop eradication operations by its soldiers for fear of bankrupting farmers and forcing them to join the insurgency, a policy criticized by Russia, among others.
  

2001 Blast from the Past Article
But only a "crazy" fringe person would suggest that the US and NATO went into Afghanistan in order to keep the supply of drugs flowing.  Only a conspiracy nut would suggest that governments want to keep their populations in a perpetual drugged stupor so they will not question their Masters.  It would be wrong to say these things, so I will not do it.

Fast forward to 2013
Afghanistan, long the world’s main heroin supplier, has seen its total area of poppy
seed plantations explode to 516,000 acres - a 36% increase from 2012.

87,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan

This October 2013 map displays approximate numbers of forces provided to ISAF by Allied and other contributing nations, and countries responsible for ISAF Regional Commands.
See more at:  ISAF.nato.int/troop numbers.

US, Romania break ground on missile defense system

SM-3 launch from the USS Lake Erie.  The SM-3s are going to Romania.

 

Russia - 'The missiles are pointed at us.'

Moscow has demanded legal guarantees from Washington that missile defense systems deployed in Europe would not target Russia's strategic nuclear deterrence capabilities. Washington has refused to grant Russia such assurances.

 

 

In the "How to win friends and influence people department". 

The question of the day:  is the US trying to create a new Cold War with Russia in order to justify endless military spending? 

Obama and hacks in both parties painted Russia as the spawn of Satan during the Syria crisis.  Never mind that the Russians were simply defending their ally of 40 years.

Now we come to Romania.  On Oct. 28 the nation started building a military base, which will host a U.S. ballistic missile defense system as part of the NATO system.  NATO claims the missiles are directed at Iran.

The plan is to have the Deveselu base in southern Romania operational in 2015. It will house SM-3 interceptor missiles and radar equipment reports Hurriyet Daily News.

‘Serious partnership’

Russia has voiced strong opposition against the missile defense plans, fearing they could jeopardize its own security. Romanian President Traian Basescu and U.S. Under-Secretary of Defense for Policy James Miller attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the Aegis Ashore missile defense system.

Romanian Defense Minister Mircea Dusa said: “This is a serious partnership with the U.S. It is the first capability of its kind being deployed here in Eastern Europe.”
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(L-R) US Vice Adm Syring, Romanian President Basescu, Miller, US Undersecretary of Defense for
Policy and Dusa, Defense Minister shovel during the ceremony. AFP photo

Romania’s participation in the NATO system constitutes the second phase of the missile defense. The first part of the system, an early warning radar station in Turkey, went operational in January 2012. Aside from Romania, other elements of the system will be built in Portugal, Poland, and Spain.

The issue of the US missile shield in Europe has been a longstanding bone of contention in Russia-US relations. Moscow has demanded legal guarantees from Washington that missile defense systems deployed in Europe would not target Russia's strategic nuclear deterrence capabilities. Washington has refused to grant Russia such assurances, citing a need to protect Europe from ‘rogue states' like Iran and North Korea.  

On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov "missile defense remains a burning issue," adding that Russia’s position is well-known.

"We are ready for a constructive dialogue with the US and NATO and are open to finding a compromise, but let's not pretend that the incessant talks that there is nothing within the scheme of the American-led ABM that needs to be changed, nor that it’s not against Russia,  that all this talk can somehow settle things,” Lavrov said reports RT News.

Lavrov said Russia is interested in strengthening all aspects of strategic stability, regional stability the neutralization of threats through political and diplomatic means.

Earlier this month, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said there is yet to be mutually beneficial cooperation between Russia and NATO on the issue of the missile defense program, as not all the security concerns of Russia are being taken into account by its partners.

A bilateral agreement to deploy missile interceptors inside Romania was signed at the Pentagon one day after the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The planned interceptors include the land-based SM-3 ballistic missile defense system.  

Happy Birthday Afghanistan - 12 Years Old and No End in Sight

Afghanistan - The gift that keeps giving.

The war that never ends because "peace" does not make

profits for the military-industrial complex.

Why no declaration of war?  -  A proper and Constitutional Declaration of War is always made against a government of another nation.  A declaration is made and later a peace treaty is signed and hostilities end.  But these vague "authorizations of force" appear to have no end.  Thus the wars and war profiteering can go on and on.

Dead or wounded soldiers?  No problem.  The politicians always provide an endless stream of fresh young men to feed the war machine.  But I am just a "crazy" anti-war Conservative.

The war in Afghanistan officially began 12 years ago. To put it in perspective, the last time we didn't have boots on the ground in Afghanistan, Obama was still an Illinois state senator, the first iPhone was six years away from release and "Friends" was still on the air.

In the past 12 years, at least 2,146 members of the U.S. military have died while serving in Afghanistan. This figure includes four American soldiers who were killed by an IED explosion in the south of the country on Sunday.

A recent study found that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will end up costing taxpayers between $4 trillion to $6 trillion. Unsurprisingly, most Americans think their tax dollars have been wasted.

As the conflict drags on, tensions between Afghans and international soldiers of the NATO coalition have only gotten worse. According to the Economist, one in seven of all NATO service member deaths this year "has been at the hands of the very Afghan troops the coalition is trying to help and train."

In August, an Afghan soldier opened fire on his Australian colleagues at a military base, killing three. In September, three NATO troops were killed by a man wearing an Afghan army uniform.

So the Afghan War goes on and on with no real plan from the politicians about an exit.  So what else is new?

The common soldier always pays the price.
The top generals and liar hack politicians remain safe behind the lines far from
danger, but they are the first to parade themselves on TV to claim "credit" or
place blame for any given war.

Afghan Guides, 2nd Anglo-Afghan War - 1879.
The British fought three Afghan wars.  It changed nothing, Afghanistan stayed the same.  But it did make the politicians and companies that make weapons feel better.
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But don't worry, either next year or in ten years the politicians will find some "vital" issue and go into another war somewhere.  The dead and wounded vets from the old war will be forgotten as our leaders seek glory on some new battlefield.  

Officers of the 10th Hussars at Jellalabad - 1879
South West of Jellalabad in North Eastern Afghanistan.
See The Battle of Futtehabad.

45th Rattray's Sikhs guard Afghan prisoners during an advance
through the Khyber Pass.



Maiwand, Afghanistan 1880
British Officers with Captured Cannon, Second Anglo-Afghan War, 1880. 
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
See The Battle of Maiwand.



Afghanistan 1869
Not much has changed.  Sher Ali (center) surrounded by court officials, tribal leaders, and sons.

Islamist Turkey arms, funds and trains Syrian rebels

NATO member Turkey backs Islamists

The main opposition party has accused Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of being the main financier of the radical Islamist groups in Syria, claiming the state’s assets have been mobilized for these groups.

“If you bring foreign radical elements into Turkey, train, arm and finance them, then it has a cost,” Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said yesterday at a meeting with economy reporters. Turkey’s 900-km border with Syria is only “a border on paper, but in reality those borders have turned into a parking area,” said Kılıçdaroğlu.

Asked the reason for the increase in discretionary funds of the state, Kılıçdaroğlu cited Supreme Court of public accounts reports of the budget being approved without being submitting to the parliament reports the Hurriyet Daily News.

Stressing that this implementation was unacceptable, the CHP leader said nobody could talk about democracy unless the budget was controlled.
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The CHP asked the government what it had used the discretionary fund of the state for. He argued that Prime Minister Erdoğan tried to manipulate people’s perception as if the CHP was connected to some terrorist organizations.

“You are the one who is connected, sitting at the table with terror organizations. You are the one who brought al-Qaeda into Turkey and armed them,” said Kılıçdaroğlu.


Turkey brought war to doorstep by supporting Syrian rebels

_________________________________

Turkish Pianist Sentenced To Ten Months In Prison For “Insulting Islam”

An İstanbul court on Friday sentenced Turkish pianist Fazıl Say to 10 months in prison on charges of insulting Islamic religious values in comments he made on Twitter, after a retrial ordered by a higher court.  

.

The İstanbul 29th Court of First Instance in April ordered the retrial for Say after the defendant appealed a ruling by the İstanbul 19th Peace Court that sentenced him to 10 months in prison. The court delayed the announcement of the verdict and said Say would be sent to jail if he commits a similar crime in the next five years reports Today's Zaman.

The İstanbul 19th Peace Court on Friday announced its decision after the retrial, upholding the 10-month prison sentence, but this time did not delay the announcement of the verdict -- paving the way for the pianist to appeal the verdict at the Supreme Court of Appeals.

In early April, Say posted controversial tweets questioning whether heaven in Islamic belief is like a brothel or pub, because the Quran says there are rivers of wine and houris (very beautiful women) in heaven for those who commit good deeds while they are on Earth.

Among Say's most controversial tweets were “I am not sure if you have noticed, but where there is a louse, a non-entity, a lowlife, thief or fool, they are all pro-Allah.”

Say also tweeted about a muezzin who recited the evening call to prayer in 22 seconds, questioning whether he was in a rush to reunite with his lover or go to a rakı table.

Say explained his controversial tweets as verses from a poem by Omar Khayyam, a Persian poet.

The prosecutor's office has found that Say's statements run contrary to the first and third points of Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). These points concern the offenses of “fomenting hatred and enmity among the public” and “insulting religious values.”

 

Afghan Warlord - 'America has failed. The Taliban will return.'



A former warlord, Ismail Khan is now calling for
the West to rearm him and his fellow
former mujahedeen leaders.

The international coalition "has taken away our artillery and tanks and turned them into scrap metal."
- - - Ismail Khan



(From Der Spiegel)  Ismail Khan grabs a pointer, taps it onto an area west of Herat and says: "This is where I came across the border from Iran with 17,000 men in 1996, during the Taliban era.

Then we continued through Faryab and Mazar to Faizabad and back to Herat." He drags the pointer to the north and then to the east, sweeping it across all the wind turbines and power plants, as if they were nothing but hindrances. "My militias fought bravely everywhere," says Khan.

But when he mentions the Taliban, he is also talking about the future. He foresees a return of the fundamentalist Taliban, the collapse of the government in Kabul and the eruption of a new war between ethnic groups.

He sees a future in which power is divided between the clans as it was in the past, and in which the mujahedeen, the tribal militias seasoned by battles against the Soviets and later the Taliban, remain the sole governing force.

But when he mentions the Taliban, he is also talking about the future. He foresees a return of the fundamentalist Taliban, the collapse of the government in Kabul and the eruption of a new war between ethnic groups.

He sees a future in which power is divided between the clans as it was in the past, and in which the mujahedeen, the tribal militias seasoned by battles against the Soviets and later the Taliban, remain the sole governing force.

The 'Lion of Herat'

In truth, the 65-year-old minister is still what he was 30 years ago: a mujahed, or warlord, although he doesn't like the latter term. "The Americans and English tried to discredit us with that word, until they realized that they couldn't do without us in their fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban," Khan, now an older, more peaceful man, says with a smile.

But he is also a man who had entire armies march across the Hindu Kush Mountains in the 1980s to fight the Soviets. He was one of the commanders in the ensuing civil war, in which Afghanistan's ethnic groups -- the Tajiks, Hazara, Uzbeks and Pashtuns -- massacred one another and laid waste to the capital Kabul.

Khan, governor of the most important province in western Afghanistan until 2004, was known as the "Lion of Herat." He still prefers to be addressed by his former title of Emir. But then he became too powerful for the Americans and President Hamid Karzai, so they removed Khan from office and brought him to Kabul to keep a closer eye on him.

He was finally given the somewhat laughable position of water and energy minister, despite his feeling that he should have been offered the job of defense or interior minister instead. "I'm not in this position voluntarily," says Khan.

"Ah! the Generals! They are numerous,
but not good for much!"
Aristophanes
(446 BC – c. 386 BC)
Generals and politicians have always loved to play war games with the lives of their soldiers.  If they die or are torn apart there are always more to replace the fallen. 
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The Afghanistan War strategy was doomed from day one.  Afghanistan is larger in size than Nazi Germany which took millions of troops to subdue.  It is also over four times the size of Vietnam which 1.8 million allied troops could not control.  The small Allied force was never able to control Afghanistan.  The smart strategy would have been to arm and fund local Afghan warlords to do the heavy lifting backed by Allied air power and a small number of trainers and support.   

The year 2014 is approaching, and with it the withdrawal of NATO troops. When Khan appears in public today, it is with the demeanor of the mujahed. "We cannot allow Afghanistan to be destroyed once again," he said publicly late last year. He has also said that government forces are powerless in large parts of the country, that Afghans should arm themselves once again, new recruits should enlist and the command structures of the former militias ought to be reestablished.

The international coalition "has taken away our artillery and tanks and turned them into scrap metal."

"Instead, they have brought Dutch, German, American and French girls to our country, along with white soldiers from Europe and black soldiers from Africa, who were supposed to bring security to Afghanistan. They have failed," Khan said in a speech at a rally in Herat.

"So you believe that the Taliban will return as soon as NATO is gone?"

"The arrogant Americans drove the most important Taliban out of Kabul, bombed the rest from the air and then ended the war," says the minister. "So far, 2013 has been the bloodiest year yet in Afghanistan. The Taliban are in all the villages once again. They want all the power. Our army won't be able to stop them."

"And you could stop them?"

"We have 20 years of combat experience, and we defeated a superpower. We can deal with the Taliban too," says Khan, leaning back in his chair. "But not this army," he adds, waving his hand in the direction of the defense ministry. The Afghan army, trained by the West, has lost 63,000 men, or one in three soldiers, to desertion in the last three years.


To read the full article go to Der Spiegel - International.