Saturday, June 02, 2012

Edwards trial a ridiculous waste of taxpayer money - Jeff Smith, Special to CNN

(CNN) -- Does John Edwards deserve to go to prison? The jury has decided, and he's walking. - Edwards trial, a waste of money

John Edwards: Once a cheater, always a cheater?

Russia strikes back amid accusations it's not doing enough about Syria violence

(CNN) -- Accused by the top U.S. diplomat of "propping up the regime" of Syria's embattled president, Russian officials struck back Friday by denying arms sales to Damascus and claiming international efforts may have fostered instability and violence. - Gruesome video details Syria horror
Mubarak headed to prison while aides walk

The Loneliness of the Afghan President: Karzai on His Own - TIME

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has one of the toughest jobs in the world — and he's held it for a decade. With NATO forces set to depart Afghanistan over the next couple of years, the pressure on Karzai is only going to increase. The question for his country — and for his legacy — is whether Karzai can finally step up. - News for The Loneliness of the Afghan President ...

Egypt's Mubarak sentenced to life term in prison

The court found no evidence that Mubarak ordered the killings, but blamed him for not using his power to stop days of bloodshed. - Egypt's Mubarak gets life in prison for murder of protesters
Four aid workers rescued in midnight Afghan raid

The queen, Britain's 'most familiar enigma'

For Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, royalty and celebrity don't overlap, a distinction observers credited with helping to preserve the monarchy's appeal. - Queen Elizabeth II is Britain's 'most familiar enigma'

Mubarak trial: Egypt's ex-president jailed for life

An Egyptian court has sentenced ex-President Hosni Mubarak to life in prison for complicity in the killing of protesters during last year's uprising.- Mubarak jailed for protest deaths 

Mubarak jailed for protest deaths



حسنی مبارک به حبس ابد محکوم شد

Friday, June 01, 2012

How U.S. Taxpayers Are Funding the Taliban

The U.S. has been financing both sides of the war in Afghanistan since 2001 as a startling percentage of foreign aid continues to flood Taliban coffers on a daily basis, according to Douglas A. Wissing in his new book, Funding the Enemy: How U.S. Taxpayers Bankroll the Taliban. - How U.S. Taxpayers Are Funding the Taliban -
Afghanistan : Pictures, Videos, Breaking News - huffingtonpost

Hamid Karzai: America could have done better in Afghanistan - Telegraph

Hamid Karzai has spoken of his disappointment at American efforts to secure his country and said at times ties with his main ally had been so strained their alliance had nearly collapsed. - Afghanistan
World News, International Headlines, Stories ... - Time Magazine

A New Front Line in the U.S. Drug War

With Washington’s attention swinging from Iraq and Afghanistan — and with budget dollars similarly flowing in new directions — the United States is expanding and unifying its antidrug efforts in Central America, where violence has skyrocketed as enforcement efforts in the Caribbean, Colombia and Mexico have pushed cocaine traffic to smaller countries with weaker security forces. - News for A New Front Line in the U.S. Drug War

The Curse of an Early Alzheimer's Diagnosis - WSJ

If you were in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, would you want to know?  - The Curse of an Early Alzheimer's Diagnosis

Merkel, Hollande to Press Putin on Syria - WSJ

German BERLIN—German Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to press Russian President Vladimir Putin during talks in Berlin on Friday to side with Western leaders and back further measures against Syria to stem a widening conflict in the embattled country. - Merkel, Hollande to Press Putin on Syria - The Wall Street Journal

Obama Order Sped Up Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran - nytimes

WASHINGTON — From his first months in office, President Obama secretly ordered increasingly sophisticated attacks on the computer systems that run Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facilities, significantly expanding America’s first sustained use of cyberweapons, according to participants in the program.  - Obama Order Sped Up Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran

One Afghan’s Three-Generation Quest for Peace

Though my intention was to help create a book of their stories, in their words, I had one student who brought in a trove of images, letters, and most surprisingly, pictures of Muhammad Ali with his father, as well as New York protest permits.
A Long-Lost Window Into Afghan History - ADAM KLEIN
India Fears for Afghanistan After NATO Withdrawal

Nation’s granny: Diamond Jubilee marks Queen Elizabeth II’s extraordinary 60-year reign

LONDON — The patriotic bunting is ready, the golden carriage on standby, the boats freshly painted, the shops filled with royals souvenirs. - Nation's granny: Diamond Jubilee marks Queen Elizabeth II's ...
News for Nation's granny: Diamond Jubilee marks ...

Portrait of George W. Bush unveiled at White House - washingtonpost

George W. Bush and wife Laura return to White House as President Obama unveils their official portraits - Portrait of George W. Bush unveiled at White House
News for President Bush returns to White House - the hill

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Diamond Jubilee: Britain marks Queen's reign

LONDON (AP) — The patriotic bunting is ready, the golden carriage on standby, the boats freshly painted, the shops filled with royals souvenirs.

- Diamond Jubilee: Britain marks Queen's reign


News for Queen Elizabeth II Has Met 12 U.S. Presidents

John Edwards owns up to 'sins' in wake of mistrial

"While I do not believe I ever did anything illegal … I've done an awful, awful lot that was wrong," Edwards said after jurors found him not guilty of one charge of violating federal election laws. The judge had declared a mistrial after jurors deadlocked on five other charges. -
John Edwards owns up to 'sins' in wake of mistrial - latimes
John Edwards: 'I did an awful, awful lot that was wrong'
John Edwards not guilty on 1 count, mistrial declared in other 5

John Edwards Not Guilty on 1 Count, Jury Hung on 5 Others - ABCnews

A North Carolina jury found John Edwards not guilty on one of six counts in a campaign-finance trial, and declared itself hopelessly deadlocked on the remaining charges, leading the judge to declare a mistrial on those counts. - John Edwards Verdict: Not Guilty, But Hung Jury on 5 Counts
News for Edwards not guilty on 1 count; mistrial ...

How the Afghan war ends -- Japan Times

LONDON — The recentNATO summit in Chicago was mostly about how to get NATO troops out of Afghanistan without causing too much embarrassment to the Western governments that sent them, and a little bit about how to ensure that the Taliban don't take over again once Western troops leave. - News for How the Afghan war ends

Best Teas for Stress and Anxiety - doctoroz

The following teas are all wonderful for helping your body process stress, relax, and heal from the depletion that can occur as a result of long-term stressors. - The Dr. Oz Show

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Mastering the Finer Points of American Slang

While learning American idioms has always been challenging, texting, email and social networks have generated a tidal wave of new slang and abbreviations in English. It is difficult enough to decode "OMG" (Oh my God) "BFF" (best friends forever) and "GTG" (got to go), let alone understand why it's funny to call something a "fail" (but not a "failure"). Mastering the Finer Points of American Slang - The Wall Street J
News for Mastering the Finer Points of American Slang

The American Agenda in Afghanistan: a Civilian’s Review - IAN POUNDS, Kabul

Afghanistan:  Every single day on my way to the orphanage I see dozens of children picking through garbage and begging, one legged men holding hands out, women cloaked in burqas, or chardaris, pleading for food. I see garbage and sewage everywhere, while the few making millions off this war build mansion after mansion and drive around in $100,000 SUVs. Men willing to work for a dollar a day line the streets vying for the one job today.

For the most part, in one long breath this is what western taxpayers have unknowingly funded: the establishment of a police state for the maintenance and protection of a non-functioning and corrupt mega-bureaucracy dominated by war criminals, drug traffickers, human traffickers and even Taliban-like extreme fundamentalists set up to legitimize a parallel universe, a tiny minority indoctrinated into all the trappings of capitalism and consumerism and an oil-based economy. - News for The American Agenda in Afghanistan: a ...

The American Agenda in Afghanistan: a Civilian's Review

UN drugs and crime official urges concerted effort against narcotics

29 May – Highlighting the importance of political commitment and action, the head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Yury Fedotov, today welcomed efforts by the Afghan Government to combat the menace of trafficking and production of narcotics in the country. - UN drugs and crime official urges concerted effort against narcotics
UN-backed survey shows sharp rise in opium production and prices
2011 Afghan Opium Survey

I Don’t Think We Have Been Defeated - Bruce Riedel

Editor's Note: Bruce Riedel discusses his optimism toward the progress of NATO’s mission in Afghanistan in a recent interview with Deutsche Welle, but cautions that the real problem is Pakistan. - I Don't Think We Have Been Defeated in ... - Brookings Institution

داستاد خلیل الله خلیلی مړې پس له ۲۵ کلونو افغانستان ته ولیږدول شو

دافغانستان نامتو شاعر ارواح ښاد استاد خلیل الله خلیلی دمړې پاتې برخې پس له ۲۵ کلونو له پاکستانه افغانستان ته ولیږدول شو. استاد خلیل الله خلیلی د ۱۳۶۶ لمریز کال دثوردمیاشتې پ۱۴ نیټه دپاکستان په اسلام آباد ښار کې له دی نړې سترګې پټې کړې۰ -  داستاد خلیل الله خلیلی مړې پس له ۲۵ کلونو افغانستان ته ولیږدول شو
جسد خلیل‌الله خلیلی در دانشگاه کابل دوباره به خاک سپرده شد

Afghans Who Helped U.S. Forces Still Hope For Visas - NPR

Three years ago, Congress established a visa program for Afghan interpreters and others who might be at risk for their work with the U.S. But so far, few of those visas have been granted, as NPR's Quil Lawrence reports from Kabul. - News for Afghans Who Helped U.S. Forces Still Hope ...
Memorial Honors Americans Killed In Afghanistan

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

America's murderous drone campaign is fuelling terror - Seumas Milne

Hi-tech drone death squads are creating a dangerous global precedent, which will do nothing for US security - America's murderous drone campaign is fuelling terror -

Saddam Hussein's daughter seeking publisher for his memoirs - Guardian

Saddam Hussein's daughter is looking for a publisher for her late father's handwritten memoirs, according to a report from the Arab news channel Al Arabiya. - Saddam Hussein' s daughter seeking publisher for his memoirs

Syria Diplomats Expelled By Governments Around The World - huffingtonpost

PARIS -- Governments around the world expelled Syrian ambassadors and diplomats Tuesday, an unusual, coordinated blow to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime following a gruesome massacre that the United Nations said involved close-range shootings of scores of children and parents in their homes. - Syria Diplomats Expelled By Governments Around The World

Afghanistan: We Forgot History and We Repeated It

The western forces that occupied Afghanistan in 2001 have failed to achieve their military or political objectives and are now sounding the retreat. - Afghanistan: We Forgot History and We Repeated It - Eric Margolis Drug-Financed Salafi Jihadism by Peter Dale Scott - Peter Dale Scott

"افغان حکومت د جنګي جرمونو راپور د نه خپریدو هڅه کوي"

د مدني ټولنو یو شمېر غړي ادعا کوي، چې افغان حکومت غواړي د بشر د حقوقو د خپلواک کمسیون د غړو په ټاکنه کې د ځنډ په راوستو سره د هغه راپور د خپریدو مخه ونیسي، چې په کې د تیرو دریو لسیزو حالات رانغاړل شوي.-  "افغان حکومت د جنګي جرمونو راپور د نه خپریدو هڅه کوي" چرا گزارش جنایت سه دهه جنگ افغانستان به نشر نمی رسد؟

Ryan Crocker Slips Quietly Away -- Kelley B. Vlahos

In other words, they come, they go, and Afghanistan still stands as a paradox and a plague on our high foreign policy aspirations. The sands of time shift ever so slightly, enough for the next head full of steam to thunder out there like an iron belly engine (only to find that, like the others, the tracks only go so far).  - Ryan Crocker Slips Quietly Away
Afghanistan: We Forgot History and We Repeated It - Eric Margolis

Monday, May 28, 2012

Afghan Dam Saga Reflects U.S. Travails - WSJ

Afghan King Mohammed Zahir Shah conceived the dam project in the mid-1940s to irrigate a breadbasket in the desert. President Harry Truman embraced the project as part of the struggle for global dominance with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. - Afghan Dam Saga Reflects U.S. Travails - Wall Street Journal
امریکا د کجکي بند په بیارغولو۴۷۱ میلونه ډالر لګوي

U.S. Winds Down Longer Benefits for the Unemployed - nytimes

Hundreds of thousands of out-of-work Americans are receiving their final unemployment checks sooner than they expected, even though Congress renewed extended benefits until the end of the year. - U.S. Winds Down Longer Benefits for the Unemployed
Long-Term Joblessness Still a Problem

Romney tells vets dangerous world demands powerful military

(Reuters) - Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney chose Veterans Day to proclaim to the American people his conviction that the world is a dangerous place, and the United States must remain its most formidable military power. - Romney tells vets dangerous world demands powerful military ...
Assad faces new international pressure after massacre

عضو کنگره آمریکا: چرا کرزی احساس خطر می‌کند -- دانا روهراباکر - عضو مجلس نمایندگان آمریکا از ایالت کالیفرنیا

از زمانی که رئیس جمهور حامد کرزی، درماه آوریل مانع ورود من به افغانستان شد، پرسش های زیادی در این مورد ایجاد شده است. او در ۲۱ ماه مه در مصاحبه‌ای که با شبکه سی‌ان‌ان داشت، من را متهم کرد که طرفدار تجزیه افغانستان هستم، در مسائل داخلی این کشور مداخله می‌کنم و تهدیدی برای نحوه زندگی مردم آن هستم. -- عضو کنگره آمریکا: چرا کرزی احساس خطر می‌کند
Wolf Blitzer's interview with Hamid Karzai

Blaze at Qatar shopping centre kills 19 - BBC

A fire at a shopping centre in the Qatari capital Doha has killed at least 19 people, local officials have said. - News for Blaze at Qatar shopping centre kills 19
آتش سوزی در قطر دست کم ۱۹ کشته به جا گذاشت

افغانستان به دنبال امضای تفاهمنامه درازمدت با چین است

معاون وزارت خارجه افغانستان می گوید با توجه به نقش رو به افزایش چین در منطقه، افغانستان در نظر دارد با این کشور و برخی کشورهای عضو سازمان همکاریهای شانگهای تفاهنامه همکاریهای درازمدت امضا کند. -  افغانستان به دنبال امضای تفاهمنامه درازمدت با چین است
روزنامه‌های کابل: یکشنبه، ۷ جوزا

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Ongoing conflict severely limits tourism in Afghanistan - usatoday

KABUL, Afghanistan — Tourism was once a significant business in Afghanistan. In the 1970s, about 120,000 tourists visited the country each year, generating millions of dollars in income for Afghans, says Baha. - News for Ongoing conflict severely limits tourism in ...

U.S. Efforts Fail to Curtail Trade in Afghan Opium

KABUL, Afghanistan — For years, American officials have struggled to curb Afghanistan’s opium industry, rewriting strategy every few seasons and pouring in more than $6 billion over the past decade to combat the poppies that help finance the insurgency and fuel corruption. - News for U.S. Efforts Fail to Curtail Trade in Afghan ...
U.S. Efforts Fail to Curtail Trade in Afghan Opium - The New York ...

پول ایران برای جلوگیری از تصویب سند ستراتیژیک هدر رفت

تصویب موافقتنامهء همکاری های ستراتیژیک درازمدت میان افغانستان و امریکا از سوی ولسی جرگهء افغانستان، مسالهء است که در صفحات شماری از روزنامه های چاپ امروز کابل انعکاس یافته است.- پول ایران برای جلوگیری از تصویب سند ستراتیژیک هدر رفت

The West's Afghan Workers Fear NATO Withdrawal

With the German army pulling out of Afghanistan in 2014, hundreds of Afghan workers fear they will become victims of revenge by the Taliban, who have already condemned them as traitors. German authorities are already preparing for a wave of visa applications. - Taliban Death Threats: The West's Afghan Workers Fear
Think Tank Criticizes Germany's Role in NATO - SPIEGEL

Afghan family killed by Nato air strike - Guardian

A Nato air strike has killed eight members of one family at their home in a part of eastern Afghanistan that has seen heavy fighting this year, officials say. - News: NATO strike kills Afghan family – local officials -

میلیبند: له افغانستانه د ځواکونو ایستل به زموږ د قواوو قربانۍ ضایع کړي

د بریتانیا د کارګر ګوند مشر میلیبند خبرداری ورکړ چې نړیواله ټولنه باید له افغانستان څخه د خپلو ځواکونو د ایستلو پرېکړه په دغه هیواد کې د سیاسي حالاتو له پرمختګ سره وتړي او کنې د بریتانیايي پوځیانو د تېرې یوې لسیزې د قربانیو نتیجې به له خطر سره مخامخ شي. - میلیبند: له افغانستانه د ځواکونو ایستل به زموږ د قواوو قربانۍ ضایع کړي
Miliband visits Afghanistan and warns international community must 'up its game'...

China Digs in to Afghanistan | The National Interest

Our visit to Kabul, however, was part of a larger project tracking the interests and influence of a power that is digging in for the long term. As the United States and its NATO allies prepare to pack their bags, China is looking toward a long presence in Afghanistan with mining, energy and transport projects.   - China Digs in to Afghanistan

U.S. Efforts Fail to Curtail Trade in Afghan Opium

KABUL, Afghanistan — For years, American officials have struggled to curb Afghanistan’s opium industry, rewriting strategy every few seasons and pouring in more than $6 billion over the past decade to combat the poppies that help finance the insurgency and fuel corruption. - U.S. Efforts Fail to Curtail Trade in Afghan Opium - The New York ...
U.S. Hopes Assad Can Be Eased Out With Russia's Aid