Few share our privilege, power and freedom – hence responsibility
Other consequences, all deleterious, flowed from the militarization of foreign policy. In Afghanistan and the United States, so intimately ensnarled over all these years, the income gap between the rich and everyone else has grown exponentially, in large part because in both countries the rich have made money off war-making, while ordinary citizens have slipped into poverty for lack of jobs and basic services.
-Ann Jones, writing from Afghanistan.
“Little of that [bad news] is expected to be mentioned publicly at the Chicago meeting [of NATO]. Mr. Obama and the NATO allies, European and American officials said, must instead present a picture of success that includes the possibility of reconciliation talks with the Taliban and a NATO withdrawal that is coming only after a job well done.”
-The New York Times explains how the Afghan disaster will be “presented” at the upcoming NATO summit. A European official added, “The most important thing now is the messaging.”
The NFL playoffs have reached their zenith, and soon will come the Superbowl – the mother of all American Spectacles. Baseball may still be the national pastime, but football is America’s favorite sport now. Though, strangely, no other country on earth is seriously interested in it. No one will ever like it as much as… Continue reading The Superbowl and the Super Brawl
“If you are the 4th-poorest country in the world, you have a long way to go. When you try to train an army, they have an 80% illiteracy rate… It’s gonna take a long time.” Former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, on Afghanistan. We’ve been fighting in Afghanistan for seven years, five months, and… Continue reading Afghanistan: Time to Leave