How the Media Used the Bounty Scandal to Stop the ‘Threat’ of Peace in Afghanistan

How the Media Used the Bounty Scandal to Stop the ‘Threat’ of Peace in Afghanistan

This is not a column defending Donald Trump. Across my career, I have said more positive words about the scolex family of intestinal tapeworms than I have said about Donald Trump. (Scolex have been shown to read more.) No, this is a column about context. When The New York Times reports anonymous sources from the…

Seriously, Get The Hell Out Of Afghanistan

Seriously, Get The Hell Out Of Afghanistan

With overwhelming bipartisan support, the House Armed Services Committee has added a Liz Cheney-spearheaded amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which throws severe roadblocks in the Trump administration’s proposed scale-down of US military presence in Afghanistan and Germany. As The Intercept‘s Glenn Greenwald notes, both parties advancing the amendment cited in their arguments the…

Russia Did It Again – Chasing the Bounty Hunters

Russia Did It Again – Chasing the Bounty Hunters

Russia did it again. This time Moscow is accused of “paying to kill Americans”. How criminal! Such things only Americans would do – Washington, the Pentagon, CIA…. Because killing and have killed is in their mindset and bloodstream. That’s what criminals do: They project their own crimes onto others. The latest NYT reporting is, “It’s…

Russia Bounty-Hunter Story Another Pulp Fiction Release

Russia Bounty-Hunter Story Another Pulp Fiction Release

The main peddlers of the alleged Russian-sponsored bounty-hunter scheme in Afghanistan against US troops are the New York Times, Washington Post and CNN. All three have excelled in publishing a series of pulp fiction-style stories over the past four years to discredit President Trump and demonize Russia. From allegations of Russian meddling in elections to…

The Truth About Russian-Taliban Ties Is as Intriguing as the Fake News About Them

The Truth About Russian-Taliban Ties Is as Intriguing as the Fake News About Them

Russia doesn’t exploit the Taliban as a proxy for killing Americans, but seeks to nurture equally close relations with it along the lines of the ones that it presently enjoys with Pakistan. Moscow seems to believe that the group will likely return to power one of these days (ideally through peaceful means), so it makes…

Afghanistan, Garden of Empire: America’s Multibillion Dollar Opium Harvest

Afghanistan, Garden of Empire: America’s Multibillion Dollar Opium Harvest

By resolution 42/112 of 7 December 1987, the UN General Assembly decided to observe 26 June as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking as an expression of its determination to strengthen action and cooperation to achieve the goal of an international society free of drug abuse. The UN General Assembly is committed to developing…