While teachers are being laid off in Brockton, storefronts are empty from Needham to Dorchester, and so many people are still struggling to find work, I am disappointed that Stephen Lynch yet again voted with Republicans to commit another … [Read more...]
John Kerry, post-1971
Ineffably Kerryesque:"I'm not going to prescribe without greater in-depth analysis and briefing,'' he said. "I want to make that judgment very, very carefully.'' … [Read more...]
Afghanistan: downbeat update
Gen. Stanley McChrystal's comments today in Brussels on Afghanistan remind me of BP's analysis of the Gulf oil spill. He temporizes and distracts from the main point: it's a continuing disaster with no known solution or end point.I think it … [Read more...]
As Goes Korengal, So Goes Afghanistan?
In today's NY Times, Washington Post and NBC Nightly News, it was reported that U.S. forces are withdrawing from the Korengal Valley region in northeastern Afghanistan. Those forces will be redeployed elsewhere in the country as it … [Read more...]
Time for an Afghanistan Withdrawal Timetable
More than eight years after the United States launched our involvement in Afghanistan, I am very concerned that continuing to operate a military-centric nation-building strategy in that country is not in our national security interests, and … [Read more...]
BREAKING NEWS: President Obama in Afghanistan!
President Obama is in Afghanistan Initial reports are that this was a surprise visit, and his focus is both on supporting good governance there, such as the judicial system, rule of law, and rooting out corrpution AND building a … [Read more...]
Obama on 60 Minutes on war and the economy
Second troubling topic. Croft asked about the recently announced Afghanistan surge & withdrawal strategy. The core reason for the strategy that Obama offered, as I understood him, is that the border region between Afghanistan and … [Read more...]
Afghanistan Accountability #2
A few days ago I said here that someone should record and check current claims by the Obama Administration about what the Afghanistan troop surge will accomplish against reality at intervals of 1, 1.5 and 2 years. Gen. McChrystal helped us … [Read more...]
Afghanistan’s Tajiks and Pashtuns
Juan Cole points out in a recent Salon article something I've heard elsewhere. Afghanistan is plurality Pashtun, but the armed forces are heavily Tajik. In other words, the armed forces are not representative of the country. Worse, they're … [Read more...]
The Proposed War Tax
Cross-posted from Blue News Tribune. Alan Khazei gets credit for bringing this idea to the Senate race, though I didn't see it on his website. City Year co-founder Alan Khazei kicked off the primary campaign's final televised debate by … [Read more...]