Christopher Hitchens has made a short list of things he'd like to see before cancer or some other unforeseen malady dictates the final chapter of his life. The list gets The Propagandist seal of approval:
Hitchens says that as he thinks about the rest of his life, he thinks about the books he'd still like to write, time with his three children — and how he should spend it. And he thinks of the obituaries he'd like to write, listing Robert Mugabe. Joseph Ratzinger. Henry Kissinger.
"It does gash me to think that people like that would outlive me, I have to say," he says. "It really does."
And he mentions other things he'd like to live to see: the end of the Kim Jong Il regime in North Korea, Osama bin Laden on trial, the World Trade Center rebuilt. Hitchens measures his own time, against the world.
Nicholas Kristof gets it so very wrong, in his editorial in the NY Times on October 23rd, where he argues for a reduction of American troops in Afghanistan and for a peace deal with the Taliban. In seeking to convince himself that this turn of events will not be harmful to Afghan women, he optimistically provides some astoundingly slim anecdotal evidence to convince us that the Taliban are really not so bad. He promotes mosque-based “education” for girls that exclude western involvement, as an alternative to a real education system where girls and boys have full and equal rights to high quality education (and which, inevitably, requires outside funding. So far, I don’t see Saudi Arabia stepping forward to foot the bill).
He doesn’t venture very far into what the outcome of Taliban negotiations might look like, what will potentially be lost (women’s rights, democracy, economic growth, and all the advances in human development indicators made since 2003). Nor does he even pay lip service to what Afghans have to say on the matter, such as the findings of...More >>
Is the story a microcosm of the Chinese business relationship with Africa? Unfortunately, it seems so. Even in China's draconian system at home, which outlaws labour unions, it's hard to imagine an incident of this nature. We might infer that these managers thought they could get away with this sort of brutality in this renewed Heart of Darkness where the rules of their contracts (if any such documents exist) likely suggest that there are no rules. And they yet might get away with it.
Not all the facts are in, yet. The Chinese operators say their supervisors were attacked. But then the story gets weird. They say the managers "fired into the air". Well, you don't wound 11 people by firing into the air. You might hit some trees. Maybe a passing bird. Or, if they were inside, the ceiling. Perhaps a ricochet or a randomly falling bullet would hit one...More >>
The Truth: In 2006, when I was speaking at the women's conference of the World Peace Forum in Vancouver, I found a pile of flyers in the hallway that were left by a "peace" group on Saltspring Island. "Get Out of Afghanistan Now!" was the heading. On the flyer it said,
"Afghanis do not want us in their country. They have been fighting this war or that since the beginning of time. They are an inherently bloodthirsty, warrior people. They will never change, and we will never win. They thrive on violence."
I quickly reworked the speech I had planned to give, and instead, I read the text of this flyer to the...More >>
A prominent author writes a book on the controversial subject of funding Islamist terrorism. In the course of the book, the name of a prominent Saudi banking family claimed to be involved in the funding of terrorism is exposed.
In an effort to silence any discussion on the subject, members of the Saudi family commence a defamation lawsuit in London, the “libel tourism capital of the world”. The English High Court, presided by Justice Eady, the same judge who has a rather ignominious track record for finding in favor of defamation suit plaintiffs, then determines that the sale of a mere 23 copies of the book through UK online retailers and the availability of the first chapter on an ABC website was sufficient to grant jurisdiction to the English court.
Having secured jurisdiction in England where the burden is upon the defendant to prove that defamatory allegations are true (as opposed to the US where the burden is upon the plaintiff to prove falsity), members of the Saudi family are awarded money damages and an...More >>
Myth #4: Western military involvement in Afghanistan is all about American geopolitical interests there.
The Truth: Many people, especially folks who think they know a thing or zip about Afghanistan, believe that the International Coalition is only there to support American lust for cheap natural resources. This is wrong on sooo many levels. Let’s review a few.
If petroleum – the mineral most favored by the Bush Administration – were the primary motivation for stationing NATO soldiers in Afghanistan, then why would former President Shrub have diverted a majority of the resources necessary...More >>
The Truth: The reality is that most of those individuals and organizations insisting that NATO’s role in Afghanistan is an imperial enterprise are unconcerned with what Afghans want. If they were concerned, discovering the opinions, thoughts and ideas of Afghans would have been an early priority when forging a position that influences the actions of our own government, and impacts the lives of Afghan men, women and children.
Though among most stoppists there is little pretending to care about the fate of Afghans, when queried, they will often say something along the lines “they don’t want us there,” despite the evidence to the...More >>
Myth #2:The Afghan women’s movement wants foreign troops to leave now.
The Truth: While all Afghans likely want foreign troops to leave their country eventually-- like when there is peace-- many activists and civil society organizations are anxious over what will become of them in the absence of an international security presence, as expressed by some of the women quoted here. Since the Taliban target and have murdered many prominent women including politicians, reporters, government workers and women activists, many women expect to be promptly killed should a Taliban government ever return to power. Many Afghans feel that the international community should wind down its...More >>
Nicholas Kristof gets it so very wrong, in 
Zambian miners protest over low wages. The response of the Chinese mine overseers? Shoot them
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A prominent author writes a book on the controversial subject of funding Islamist terrorism. In the course of the book, the name of a prominent Saudi banking family claimed to be involved in the funding of terrorism is exposed.
American lust for cheap natural resources. This is wrong on sooo many levels. Let’s review a few.
what Afghans want. If they were concerned, discovering the opinions, thoughts and ideas of Afghans would have been an early priority when forging a position that influences the actions of our own government, and impacts the lives of Afghan men, women and children.
This is the second in a series on popular myths about Afghanistan. For Myth #1, read 
