Preliminary thoughts on the National Peace Jirga in Afghanistan by Josh Mull.

Peace Leaders Killed:
Afghan President Karzai has been promoting a peace conference, but in areas where the Taliban is strong, several Tribal leaders including Abdul Rahm and Rahman Gul have been assassinated by the Taliban for praising Karzai’s plans for an all encompassing peace jirga. Recently the Talban has usually urged people personally to make amends before attacking them. If so since these leaders are in areas where the US is having a surge and hands on approach in dealing with the locals, the intense new pressure on these leaders from the US, and what the Taliban ordered left them no room to maneuver. The drone war gets worse every time Hamid Karzai talks of peace. And maybe there are other explanations but the US population needs to realize that there was a real bloodbath from warlords fighting with each other when the Russians left, and there is a generation of men who never had another job but soldier and will seek similar work if they are unemployed especially if the mass influx of funds both given and stolen from the US dries up. I and others would still like the war to end for our own sake and the sake of the world’s shaky economic situation, but images of Afghans cheering in the street or village, and hugging each other because the war is over, can only be in the US imagination.

Events in Greece may lead to Americans taking a new look at our unhappiness over Obama’s bailout efforts and compromises. The idea is becoming popular, that the people whether one considers oneself progressive or conservative should unite against those in charge. I believe this is bad news. In this essay I systematically examine and try to refute the idea that Obama is betraying what he first claimed to stand for.