Drugs Afghanistan

Peter Dale Scott has a good article on drugs in Afghanistan, in particular about money laundering.

US doesn't care about terrorist threats

NYT editorial saying that many recommendations of the 9/11 commission have not yet been implemented, showing that the US government doesn't really care about the terrorist threat.

Israel threatens Iran with nuclear missiles

Three German-built Israeli submarines equipped with nuclear cruise missiles are to be deployed in the Gulf near the Iranian coastline.

The first has been sent in response to Israeli fears that ballistic missiles developed by Iran, Syria and Hezbollah, a political and military organisation in Lebanon, could hit sites in Israel, including air bases and missile launchers.

The submarines of Flotilla 7 — Dolphin, Tekuma and Leviathan — have visited the Gulf before. But the decision has now been taken to ensure a permanent presence of at least one of the vessels.

North Korea nuclear

Gordon Prather on how Bush pushed North Korea towards nuclear activities.

Korea

Good radio interview with John Feffer on the South-North Korean incident.

Afghanistan civil society and Malalai Joya

Good article on the state of civil society in Afghanistan, including NGOs, political parties, etc.

Also an interview with Malalai Joya, who gives her views about a civil war if NATO leaves, and the possible presence of UN troops after a withdrawal.

NPT summit

The US signed the NPT declaration calling for a NWFZ in the Middle East but then said it regretted it. The reason is that the declaration singles out Israel.
Also, there was an agreement on some steps for nuclear disarmament, but due to opposition from NWS, that didn't go very far.

Iran swap nuclear

Good editorial saying that Obama first endorsed negotiations to conclude a swap deal as shown in a letter he sent to Brazil, but then reneged when the deal was concluded. So Obama is not serious in solving the Iran crisis.

Bush goes to war for economic growth

Nestor Kirchner, former president of Argentina, revealed in an interview with Oliver Stone for his film "South of the Border" that Bush told him that it was a good thing to go to war to revitalize the US economy:

Habeas corpus

Glen Greenwald on habeas corpus and the latest win by a Guantanamo detainee.

NPT Review conference

The conference is almost over and here are some of the sticking points.

An article here.

Iran swap nuclear deal

To what extent did Obama support the swap deal and then opposed it? Apparently Obama had sent a letter to Brazil and Turkey saying it wold welcome the deal but then flipped flopped and opposed it once it was reached. Some articles here and here and the letter is here.

Obama flip flopping

Dilip Hiro on Obama's flip flop on Afghanistan:

Karzai the Menace Becomes Karzai the Indispensable

On assuming the presidency, Obama made no secret of his dislike for his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai. To circumvent his central government’s pervasive corruption, senior American officials came up with the idea of dealing directly with Afghan provincial and district governors. In the presidential election of August 2009, their preference for Abdullah Abdullah, a serious rival to Karzai, was widely known.

When Karzai resorted to massive vote rigging to ensure his reelection and turned a deaf ear to Washington’s exhortations to clean up his administration, Obama decided to use a stick to bring Washington’s latest client regime in line. In a dramatic gesture, he undertook an air journey of 26 hours -- from Washington to Kabul -- over the last weekend in March to deliver a 26-minute lecture to Karzai on the corruption and administrative ineptitude of his government. The Afghan leader had few options but to listen in stony silence.

When, however, Karzai read a news story in which an unnamed senior American military official suggested that his younger half-brother, Ahmed Wali, the power broker in the southern province of Kandahar, deserved to be put on the Pentagon’s current list of drug barons to be killed or captured, his patience snapped.

An incensed Afghan president responded by claiming that the U.S. was deliberately intensifying and widening the war in Afghanistan in order to stay in the region and dominate it. He added that, if Washington’s pressure continued, he might join the Taliban. (He had, in fact, been a significant fundraiser for the Taliban after they captured Kabul in September 1996.)

Obama reacted as he had done in the past. When facing a serious challenge, he retreated. From being a stick wielder he morphed into a carrier of carrots during a Karzai visit to Washington early this month (that, in March, administration officials were threatening to postpone indefinitely).

The high point of the wooing of Karzai -- worthy of being included in a modern version of Alice in Wonderland -- was a dinner Vice-President Joe Biden gave for the Afghan dignitary at his residence. At the very least Karzai must have been bemused. In February, Biden had staged a dramatic walk-out halfway through a dinner at the Afghan president’s palace after Karzai denied that his government was corrupt or that, if it was, he was at fault.

Despite the Obama administration’s “red carpet treatment” and “charm offensive,” Karzai was boldly honest at a joint press conference with Obama when he described Iran as “our bother country, our friend.”

India vs maoists

Maoists have tapped into tribals' resentment at being marginalized in India, and the Indian government is waging a war against Maoists: the real reason is to clear them and tribals of lands rich in minerals so that corporations can go exploit those minerals.

US expands covert activities

The US is expanding its covert activities in the Middle East.

The top American commander in the Middle East has ordered a broad expansion of clandestine military activity in an effort to disrupt militant groups or counter threats in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and other countries in the region, according to defense officials and military documents.

The seven-page directive appears to authorize specific operations in Iran, most likely to gather intelligence about the country’s nuclear program or identify dissident groups that might be useful for a future military offensive.