Questioning American epistemology on Afghanistan

Thank you Rory Stewart. He writes:

Take, for example, the master-concept behind Obama's surge, namely that in order to prevent Afghanistan posing a terrorist threat it was necessary to launch full-spectrum counter-insurgency operations. It is possible, of course, to expose the curious premises, analogies and chains of inductive logic which imply our activities in 2010 are an efficient way of preventing another terrorist attack. And 20 years from now, we may struggle to explain why we once felt Afghanistan required the deployment of 100,000 troops or the spending $100 billion each year -- why it required far more resources and attention than its more powerful and populous neighbors Iran or Pakistan.

And now I want to take a blunt stab at this one... Is the defense industry not, in essence, a jobs program? Sure it is how we fight wars, but that seems to be the most compelling reason why America spends $100 billion a year on a country now with less than 50 members of al-Qaeda.

Gaza VS West Bank Children

Instead of commenting on this one... I thought I'd leave the floor open here. The commenting part of The Casbah has been rather light of late.

The non-Jewish exodus from Jerusalem

From Haaretz:

"For the first time in our history, we are not sure we can stay, after 1,500 years," concluded one man, now working for the Armenian church after a career spent in the United States. His daughter, born here, can visit, but may no longer live here.

Officials of the church, at the Armenian Patriarchate, share a view held by the mostly Muslim Palestinians -- that Israel's designation of the whole city as capital of the Jewish state means its control of residence and building permits is being used to press Arabs and other non-Jews to give up and leave.

"The withdrawing of ID cards is becoming very serious," said historian George Hintlian, a former Patriarchate secretary. Five local-born Armenians lost residence rights last month, he added.

Non-Jews, a third of today's 750,000 population in greater Jerusalem, have had residence rights but not citizenship since Israel seized the Arab east, including the Old City, from Jordan
in 1967. Israel, which promotes Jewish immigration, says it is not obliged to grant re-entry to other residents who emigrate.

Walid Jumblatt & The Palestinians of Lebanon

Walid Jumblatt speaks great English, does he not?

He once told me that the thing misses about being immersed in politics is "vacationing in the islands near Istanbul." Not that that has anything to do with this video... but a worth-while look into why Lebanon treats the Palestinians so poorly. It is a country so messed up by feudal demographics that it can't even extend a cent of common decency towards the pan-Arab cause... the Palestinians.

But so it is.

Hezbollah & an Israeli strike on Iran

OK Casbahites, a US Congresswomen has said that Hezbollah is aiding a Mexican cartel... and she is a Republican, of course... looking to score points. This story is total BS if you ask me. Hezbollah is into the South American Drug/Money thing, but they understand American deterrence much too well to be fucking with the US-Mexican border. (Just an opinion.)

In other news, check out this by The Gulf Daily News:

MANAMA: Israel is massing warplanes in the Caucasus for an attack on Iran, it was revealed yesterday.
Preparations are underway to launch the military attack from Azerbaijan and Georgia, reports our sister paper Akhbar Al Khaleej, quoting military sources.

Israel was, in fact, training pilots in Turkey to launch the strike and was smuggling planes into Georgia using Turkish airspace, they said.

However, Turkey was unaware of Israel's intention of transferring the planes to Georgia, the sources said.

The unexpected crisis between Israel and Turkey following an Israeli commando raid on an aid flotilla bound for Gaza Strip hit Israeli calculations.

Azerbaijan-based intelligence units, working under the cover of technicians, trainers and consultants, have helped with the preparations, the sources said.

Military equipment, mostly supplied by the US, was transported to a Georgian port via the Black Sea.

Georgian coastguard and Israeli controllers are co-operating to hide the operations from Russian vessels, said the sources.

They point out that according to Israel, it will not be in a position to launch a strike on Iran without using bases in Georgia and Azerbaijan due to the limited capabilities of its nuclear submarines stationed near the Iranian coast.

Meanwhile, Iran's Press TV reported that a very large contingent of US ground forces had massed in Azerbaijan, near the Iranian border. The independent Azerbaijani news website Trend confirmed the report.

Those reports came just days after the Pentagon confirmed that an unusually large fleet of US warships had indeed passed through Egypt's Suez Canal en route to the Gulf. At least one Israeli warship reportedly joined the American armada.

Press TV also quoted Iranian Revolutionary Guard Brigadier General Mehdi Moini as saying that the country's forces are mobilized and ready to face Israeli and American "misadventures" near its borders.