Afghanistan

[Paul Calf]

Alternative things you might be able to do:
- Join a local anti-immigration raids group (there are more ways you might be useful than you think)
- Join protests outside of Home Office installations.
- Donate to local clothes drives etc. for refugees who are here.
- Donate to cash UNHCR or Red Cross

While having a poke around looking for anti-raids group, I found this:

http://antiraids.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/anti-raids-zine.pdf

Might be useful.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Having weighed up my options: Afghanistan or County Kerry I have decided to visit County Kerry. Apologies but see you another time, Afghanistan.

[Fambo Number Mive]

Labour's Neil Coyle focusing on the real issues when asking questions of Raaaaab.

[jobotic]

Probably pissed

[idunnosomename]

huge security risk now they know what our head of state looks like.

[chveik]

now they've gone too far. push the red button

[Paul Calf]

"Was not..."

Diction of a cunt. Dicktion.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Neil Coyle. Others have opinions such as "a wretch" and "dismal" and "beyond parody"

Myself? Meh, you'll have to pay me to find out.

[H-O-W-L]

"Was not..."

Diction of a cunt. Dicktion.

Was it not your sin that trapped the unicorn?

[Buelligan]

Just watched this very good short film from DoubleDown News on Afghanistan.  Worth a watch if you have nine minutes.

[WhoMe]

Watched Bitter Lake again last night. The last half hour is just the most grim comedy. Afghani villagers pointing out neighbours they have disputes with to the British troops as Taliban. Troops supporting the local police, who are no more than the local warlord's militia, which gets the troops attacked by locals, and eventually the police as well, and the troops assuming every fucker attacking them is Taliban. It's an operatic uberfuck.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

It really is extraordinary. Benefits from Curtis taking a real long step into the background in terms of his narration. Although some earlier stuff made a bigger impression at the time, I reckon Bitter Lake is the one I would recommend to people in terms of pure engulfing impact, sinking into the misery and pain.

Anyway, back to the clowns he was exposing:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58453258

Scout leader says, "Everyone got it wrong"

Apart from the countless articles anyone could freely find outside the MSM that predicted exactly what happened, but no, I suppose they are just some fringe loonies.

[buttgammon]

I've never actually seen Bitter Lake and am only a couple of episodes into the newest Curtis series, but I've semi-accidentally found myself reading and watching lots of Afghanistan stuff lately and I have a long journey tomorrow, so I'm going to watch this.

For a depressing account of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, I'd recommend Svetlana Alexievich's book Boys in Zinc, which caused a lot of upset at the time of publication in the early 90s. It's grim as fuck though.

[jamiefairlie]

Watched Bitter Lake again last night. The last half hour is just the most grim comedy. Afghani villagers pointing out neighbours they have disputes with to the British troops as Taliban. Troops supporting the local police, who are no more than the local warlord's militia, which gets the troops attacked by locals, and eventually the police as well, and the troops assuming every fucker attacking them is Taliban. It's an operatic uberfuck.

Yes and operatic is a great word to use. You just want to scream 'look just stop for a minute and try to work out what you're trying to do here'

[MikeP]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-58393231

Well who'd have guessed, they should have invaded Pakistan not Afghanistan.

What's the general feeling here about how KSM was treated under interrogation?

I think they probably went a bit over the top...

[Buelligan]

_{DI Keith Fowler, the intrepid "American Eagle"}

[king_tubby]

Mohammed was waterboarded at least 183 times, something described as "near drownings". He was subjected to rectal rehydration, stress positions, sleep deprivation, forced nudity, and told his children would be killed.

He would confess to multiple plots during that time. But a Senate report later found that much of the intelligence supposedly produced had been made up by the detainee.

So, torture doesn't work? Unlucky for David Miliband and Lee Hurst!

[Consignia]

So, torture doesn't work? Unlucky for David Miliband and Lee Hurst!

You say that now, but what if it was your baby strapped to a time bomb?

[Paul Calf]

Yes and operatic is a great word to use. You just want to scream 'look just stop for a minute and try to work out what you're trying to do here'

They're trying to keep Central Asia weak, chaotic and divided so there's never a real possibility that there'll be peace and self-determination in the region. They've been doing it for at least 200 years and it's working quite well.

[bgmnts]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-58393231

Well who'd have guessed, they should have invaded Pakistan not Afghanistan.

What's the general feeling here about how KSM was treated under interrogation?

I think they probably went a bit over the top...

It's common knowledge now that American intelligence probably could have stopped that attack, or at least knew about it in advance, and could have easily gotten their guys after the fact. They just decided not to for some reason. Why they wanted to spend decades in Iraq and Afghanistan boggles my mind but ho hum the damage is done.

[Buelligan]

When the Bush administration first took office, it appointed 32 executives, paid consultants, or major shareholders of weapons contractors to top policymaking positions in the Pentagon, the National Security Council, the Department of Energy (involved in nuclear weapons development), and the State Department.

http://worldpolicy.org/report-ties-that-bind-arms-industry-influence-in-the-bush-administration-and-beyond/

[idunnosomename]

Why isnt Tony Blair in prison

[EOLAN]

And of course Democrats aren't unhappy to jump on the board of Lockheed Martin and the like either. Former Afghanistan General Dunsford under the Obama admin has a leading role with them now, getting huge media coverage to discuss what America should do going forward about war but never a mention about his potential conflict of interests.

[Buelligan]

Why isnt Tony Blair in prison

It's not as if there aren't opportunities in the market now the CIA are farming out their black sites.  I expect he has a few non-executive directorships and shareholdings but just doesn't want to wave them in our faces.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Jonathan's Freedland now against Western intervention after 20 years hard slog of batting for war mongering scum. See how long that lasts.

[Mrs Wogans lemon drizzle]

It really is extraordinary. Benefits from Curtis taking a real long step into the background in terms of his narration. Although some earlier stuff made a bigger impression at the time, I reckon Bitter Lake is the one I would recommend to people in terms of pure engulfing impact, sinking into the misery and pain.

Anyway, back to the clowns he was exposing:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58453258

Scout leader says, "Everyone got it wrong"

Apart from the countless articles anyone could freely find outside the MSM that predicted exactly what happened, but no, I suppose they are just some fringe loonies.

On Bitter Lake,  no doubt it's a good watch but some of the connections he makes just seem to be stretching things to sit in his narrative. 

[Mrs Wogans lemon drizzle]

I see that the Taliban have banned woman's sport.  Can't say I blame them.

[Sebastian Cobb]

On Bitter Lake,  no doubt it's a good watch but some of the connections he makes just seem to be stretching things to sit in his narrative.

One of my mates describes a lot of Curtis' work as "posh tin foil", seems about right, I'd say Hypernormalisation is probably the one I'm least sceptical about.

[Mrs Wogans lemon drizzle]

One of my mates describes a lot of Curtis' work as "posh tin foil", seems about right, I'd say Hypernormalisation is probably the one I'm least sceptical about.

Yeah that's a decent analogy.  It just winds me up how he presents everything, no matter how tenuously connected, as a fact.

[Buelligan]

I can't speak for everything or even everything that Curtis presents but I'd say of the individual things I've seen him present, he's less about stating facts, more about provoking questions.  Questions that usually desperately need consideration given the gangster's charnel house capitalism, neoliberalism and weapons manufacture are making of our world.