#us afghan peace deal

[mariacallous]

British exceptionalism means that we do not like to think of our politicians as extremists. Official paranoia, state-sponsored lying, half-mad ideas that play to bigoted prejudices: these evils do not afflict dear, sweet, safe old Blighty.

You need only glance at the press or watch the BBC to know that policies and politicians we would have no problem identifying as radical right if they appeared in Europe or the Trumpian corners of the United States, are treated as mainstream here in the UK.

To be fair, Rishi Sunak is not a typical strongman leader. He is small (5ft 5in) and without physical presence, oratorical skill, or a definable sense of purpose.

Sunak’s manner varies from  wide-eyed chirpiness when discussing his strangely marginal political passions – banning smoking, recruiting more maths teachers – to petulance when confronted with difficulties: “He comes across as snippy, and comes across as thin-skinned — which he is, when people challenge him,” said one former minister.

Labour politicians believe he will fall apart under the scrutiny of a general election campaign.

And yet this mediocre member of the superrich (our modern Malvolio married rather than earned his wealth) who received the best education the Western world can offer at Winchester college and Oxford and Stanford universities, is by any reasonable definition an extremist.

Sunak’s only saving grace is that he is as useless at extremism as he is at everything else and thus there is a limit to how much damage he can cause.

Within the past few hours Sunak passed into law the power to send asylum seekers to the quasi-dictatorship of Rwanda. The deportees will include genuine refugees, the victims of human trafficking, and Afghans who risked their lives serving the British armed forces in the war against the Taliban.

I have no doubt that radical right politicians across Europe would like to possess the same powers. But as things stand only Rishi Sunak has them and is able to set them to the Orwellian task of remoulding reality.

The UK Supreme Court ruled that the government could not deport people to Rwanda because it is not a safe country. It’s a quasi-dictatorship under Paul Kagame, a genuine and genuinely frightening strongman, who is engaged in covert warfare against neighbouring states. There’s no real judicial independence and the Rwandan government breached the terms of a previous asylum deal it had entered into with Israel.

The UK government has got round these objections by announcing that reality is now what Rishi Sunak says it is.

Sunak’s legislation declares that Rwanda is a safe country, even though it isn’t. From now on, an asylum seeker trying to stop the UK deporting him cannot use the actual existing repressions on the ground in Rwanda to challenge the government in UK courts.

Sunak says Rwanda is safe so it must be so. Maybe Sunak will move on to declare that black is white and 2+2=5, but for the time being he is limiting himself to creating an imaginary African republic where all is peace and light.

Lord Anderson, who as a former adviser to the UK state on terrorism is hardly a knee-jerk softie, put it well when he said of the government’s plans to end judicial oversight

“If Rwanda is safe as the government would have us declare, it has nothing to fear from such scrutiny. “Yet we are invited to adopt a fiction, to wrap it in the cloak of parliamentary sovereignty and to grant it permanent immunity from challenge. To tell an untruth and call it truth.”

To insist that lies are the truth is extreme. It is also the logical conclusion of the Brexit policy of concerted lying in the service of political ends, which has been running since 2016.

And speaking of Brexit and before I go any further, I should note that, with the exception of Geert Wilders, no European far-right leader advocates taking his or her country out of the EU. But Rishi Sunak was all for Brexit, and promised that “our nation would be freer, fairer and more prosperous outside the EU”.

We know how that went.

And we almost certainly know how the Rwanda deportations will go. They will fail, and Sunak will be a failed extremist because what he wants is impossible.

Look at it from the point of view of a right-winger who is furious that tens of thousands are crossing the English Channel and entering the country illegally. Throughout his life the Conservatives have betrayed him.  

David Cameron promised to reduce migration from the hundreds to tens of thousands, and failed to deliver. Brexit promised to return control of our borders. Instead, small boats cross the channel in a parody of the Dunkirk evacuation, while legal immigration has gone through the roof.

No pro-European politician would ever say this, but it does not mean that people have not noticed. By leaving the EU, the UK swapped European migrants who were largely white and, if they had a religion, it was Christianity, for migrants from the rest of the world who are largely not white and, if they have a religion, it is unlikely to be Christianity.

Despite all this Sunak is still bellowing that he will stop all the boats, which is as impossible as David Cameron’s fake promise to reduce migration to the tens of thousands.

He is bellowing because Conservatives are terrified that Reform (the latest Farage party) will send the Tories down to a landslide defeat.

They are trying to unite the right by assuming that right-wing and radical-wing voters are stupid, and won’t notice the attempt to con them with impossible promises.

It’s not working. At the moment we are in an unprecedented situation, where Labour enjoys a poll lead on immigration.

For those on left who say there is no difference between Starmer’s Labour and the Tories ought to notice that Labour holds that lead even though it is absolutely opposed to the Rwanda obscenity, when Tony Blair’s Labour party would probably have gone along with it.

In the Commons yesterday, Stephen Kinnock, Labour’s shadow immigration minister, tore into the government.

He pointed out that the cost of the vain attempt to save Sunak’s skin – will be about “£2 million per deportee”. As only a few hundred are ever likely to go, tens of thousands more will be left “in expensive hotels, stuck in a perma-backlog at a staggering cost to the taxpayer.”

Assuming, that is, anyone goes at all.

 Yesterday Sunak made a rather pathetic admission that no plane will leave for 12 weeks. We shall see. Despite the government’s best efforts to rewrite the law and threaten the European Court of Human Rights, there can still be legal challenges which may last until the next election.

Cynics say the government would like nothing better than the flights to be stopped so it can blame left-wing lawyers in the campaign. I think they are attributing intelligence to the prime minister he does not possess.

Put like this, the UK’s failed extremists do not seem so reprehensible.  But look at what they have done. Since David Cameron in 2010 they have never explained the necessity for immigration in an honest conversation with the public.

They have pandered to right-wing and radical right-wing sentiment and then infuriated voters by making promises they could never keep. In doing so they have prepared the ground for genuinely extremist politicians.

We have already paid a price for their trickery with Brexit and I doubt the full bill is in yet.

We are fortunate that Rishi Sunak is too hopeless to be dangerous. We may not be so lucky in the future.

[kp777]

By Brett Wilkins

Common Dreams

March 18, 2024

"In this pivotal moment in human history, the United States must lead a new global movement based on human solidarity and the needs of struggling people."

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday called for a "revolution in American foreign policy" that replaces "greed, militarism, and hypocrisy" with "solidarity, diplomacy, and human rights."

In a lengthy piece published in Foreign Affairs, Sanders (I-Vt.) asserted that "it is long past time to fundamentally reorient American foreign policy," a shift that starts with "acknowledging the failures of the post–World War II bipartisan consensus and charting a new vision that centers human rights, multilateralism, and global solidarity."

"If the goal of foreign policy is to help create a peaceful and prosperous world, the foreign policy establishment needs to fundamentally rethink its assumptions," the democratic socialist senator wrote. "Spending trillions of dollars on endless wars and defense contracts is not going to address the existential threat of climate change or the likelihood of future pandemics. It is not going to feed hungry children, reduce hatred, educate the illiterate, or cure diseases. It is not going to help create a shared global community and diminish the likelihood of war."

"In this pivotal moment in human history, the United States must lead a new global movement based on human solidarity and the needs of struggling people," Sanders argued. "This movement must have the courage to take on the greed of the international oligarchy, in which a few thousand billionaires exercise enormous economic and political power."

Sanders' article examines U.S. foreign policy since World War II, underscoring commonalities between the many wars and acts of aggression perpetrated by Washington over the decades.

"Dating back to the Cold War, politicians in both major parties have used fear and outright lies to entangle the United States in disastrous and unwinnable foreign military conflicts," the senator wrote, noting the U.S.-led war in Southeast Asia in which as many as 3 million Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians and more than 58,000 American troops were killed.

Sanders also highlighted the U.S. record of perpetrating or backing coups in Iran, Guatemala, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Chile, and other countries, "often in support of authoritarian regimes that brutally repressed their own people and exacerbated corruption, violence, and poverty."

"Washington is still dealing with the fallout from such meddling today, confronting deep suspicion and hostility in many of these countries, which complicates U.S. foreign policy and undermines American interests," he wrote.

Sanders then moved on to the 21st century, when the George W. Bush administration responded to the 9/11 attacks by committing "nearly 2 million U.S. troops and over $8 trillion to a 'Global War on Terror' and catastrophic wars in Afghanistan and Iraq"—the latter "built on an outright lie."

The senator continued:

The Iraq War was not an aberration. In the name of the Global War on Terror, the United States carried out torture, illegal detention, and "extraordinary renditions," snatching suspects around the world and holding them for long periods at the Guantánamo Bay prison in Cuba and CIA "black sites" around the world. The U.S. government implemented the Patriot Act, which resulted in mass surveillance domestically and internationally. The two decades of fighting in Afghanistan left thousands of U.S. troops dead or wounded and caused many hundreds of thousands of Afghan civilian casualties. Today, despite all that suffering and expenditure, the Taliban is back in power.

"I wish I could say that the foreign policy establishment in Washington learned its lesson after the failures of the Cold War and the Global War on Terror," Sanders wrote. "But, with a few notable exceptions, it has not."

"In the past decade alone, the United States has been involved in military operations in Afghanistan, Cameroon, Egypt, Iraq, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen," he noted. "The U.S. military maintains around 750 military bases in 80 countries and is increasing its presence abroad as Washington ramps up tensions with Beijing. Meanwhile, the United States is supplying [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's Israel with billions of dollars in military funding while he annihilates Gaza."

"U.S. policy on China is another illustration of failed foreign policy groupthink, which frames the U.S.-Chinese relationship as a zero-sum struggle," Sanders said. "For many in Washington, China is the new foreign policy bogeyman—an existential threat that justifies higher and higher Pentagon budgets."

Revisiting a major theme from his two Democratic presidential runs, Sanders contended that "economic policy is foreign policy."

"As long as wealthy corporations and billionaires have a stranglehold on our economic and political systems, foreign policy decisions will be guided by their material interests, not those of the vast majority of the world’s population," he said. "That is why the United States must address the moral and economic outrage of unprecedented income and wealth inequality, in which the richest 1% of the planet owns more wealth than the bottom 99%—an inequality that allows some people to own dozens of homes, private airplanes, and even entire islands, while millions of children go hungry or die of easily prevented diseases."

"The benefits of making this shift in foreign policy would far outweigh the costs," Sanders wrote. "The United States must recognize that our greatest strength as a nation comes not from our wealth or our military might but from our values of freedom and democracy."

"The biggest challenges of our times, from climate change to global pandemics, will require cooperation, solidarity, and collective action," he added, "not militarism."

[richincolor]

New Releases - Week of November 28, 2022

We're looking forward to several new releases this week. Two feature family stories and one is nonfiction.

House of Yesterday by Deeba Zargarpur Farrar, Straus Children’s

Taking inspiration from the author’s own Afghan-Uzbek heritage, this contemporary YA debut is a breathtaking journey into the grief that lingers through generations of immigrant families, and what it means to confront the ghosts of your past.

Struggling to deal with the pain of her parents’ impending divorce, fifteen-year-old Sara is facing a world of unknowns and uncertainties. Unfortunately, the one person she could always lean on when things got hard, her beloved Bibi Jan, has become a mere echo of the grandmother she once was. And so Sara retreats into the family business, hoping a summer working on her mom’s latest home renovation project will provide a distraction from her fracturing world.

But the house holds more than plaster and stone. It holds secrets that have her clinging desperately to the memories of her old life. Secrets that only her Bibi Jan could have untangled. Secrets Sara is powerless to ignore as the dark truths of her family’s history rise in ghostly apparitions—and with it, the realization that as much as she wants to hold onto her old life, nothing will ever be the same.

Told in lush, sweeping prose, this story of secrets, summer, and family sacrifice will chill you to the bone as the house that wraps Sara in warmth of her past becomes the one thing she cannot escape…

We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds Roaring Brook Press

What’s more important? Knowing the truth or keeping the peace?

Seventeen-year-old Avery Anderson is convinced her senior year is ruined when she’s uprooted from her life in DC and forced into the hostile home of her terminally ill grandmother, Mama Letty. The tension between Avery’s mom and Mama Letty makes for a frosty arrival and unearths past drama they refuse to talk about. Every time Avery tries to look deeper, she’s turned away, leaving her desperate to learn the secrets that split her family in two.

While tempers flare in her avoidant family, Avery finds friendship in unexpected places: in Simone Cole, her captivating next-door neighbor, and Jade Oliver, daughter of the town’s most prominent family—whose mother’s murder remains unsolved.

As the three girls grow closer—Avery and Simone’s friendship blossoming into romance—the sharp-edged opinions of their small southern town begin to hint at something insidious underneath. The racist history of Bardell, Georgia is rooted in Avery’s family in ways she can’t even imagine. With Mama Letty’s health dwindling every day, Avery must decide if digging for the truth is worth toppling the delicate relationships she’s built in Bardell—or if some things are better left buried.

We’re in This Together: A Young Readers Edition of We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders by Linda Sarsour Salaam Reads / Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers

You can count on me, your Palestinian Muslim sister, to keep her voice loud, keep her feet on the streets, and keep my head held high because I am not afraid.

On January 17, 2017, Linda Sarsour stood in the National Mall to deliver a speech that would go down in history. A crowd of over 470,000 people gathered in Washington, DC, to advocate for legislation, policy, and the protection of women’s rights—with Linda, a Muslim American activist from Brooklyn, leading the charge, unapologetic and unafraid.

In this young readers edition of We Are Not Here to be Bystanders, Linda shares the memories that shaped her into the activist she is today, and how these pivotal moments in her life led her to being an organizer in one of the largest single-day protests in US history. From the Brooklyn bodega her father owned to the streets of Washington, DC, Linda’s story as a daughter of Palestinian immigrants is a moving portrayal of what it means to find your voice in your youth and use it for the good of others as an adult.

[hellsitesonlybookclub]

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Agatha Christie

Chapter 15-16

CHAPTER XVI AN EVENING AT MAH JONG That night we had a little Mah Jong party. This kind of simple entertainment is very popular in King’s Abbot. The guests arrive in goloshes and waterproofs after dinner. They partake of coffee and later of cake, sandwiches, and tea.

On this particular night our guests were Miss Ganett and Colonel Carter, who lives near the church. A good deal of gossip is handed round at these evenings, sometimes seriously interfering with the game in progress. We used to play bridge—chatty bridge of the worst description. We find Mah Jong much more peaceful. The irritated demand as to why on earth your partner did not lead a certain card is entirely done away with, and though we still express criticisms frankly, there is not the same acrimonious spirit.

“Very cold evening, eh, Sheppard?” said Colonel Carter, standing with his back to the fire. Caroline had taken Miss Ganett to her own room, and was there assisting her to disentangle herself from her many wraps. “Reminds me of the Afghan passes.”

“Indeed?” I said politely.

“Very mysterious business this about poor Ackroyd,” continued the colonel, accepting a cup of coffee. “A deuce of a lot behind it—that’s what I say. Between you and me, Sheppard, I’ve heard the word blackmail mentioned!”

The colonel gave me the look which might be tabulated “one man of the world to another.”

“A woman in it, no doubt,” he said. “Depend upon it, a woman in it.”

Caroline and Miss Ganett joined us at this minute. Miss Ganett drank coffee whilst Caroline got out the Mah Jong box and poured out the tiles upon the table.

“Washing the tiles,” said the colonel facetiously. “That’s right—washing the tiles, as we used to say in the Shanghai Club.”

It is the private opinion of both Caroline and myself that Colonel Carter has never been in the Shanghai Club in his life. More, that he has never been farther east than India, where he juggled with tins of bully beef and plum and apple jam during the Great War. But the colonel is determinedly military, and in King’s Abbot we permit people to indulge their little idiosyncrasies freely.

“Shall we begin?” said Caroline.

We sat round the table. For some five minutes there was complete silence, owing to the fact that there is tremendous secret competition amongst us as to who can build their wall quickest.

“Go on, James,” said Caroline at last. “You’re East Wind.”

I discarded a tile. A round or two proceeded, broken by the monotonous remarks of “Three Bamboos,” “Two Circles,” “Pung,” and frequently from Miss Ganett “Unpung,” owing to that lady’s habit of too hastily claiming tiles to which she had no right.

“I saw Flora Ackroyd this morning,” said Miss Ganett. “Pung—no—Unpung. I made a mistake.”

“Four Circles,” said Caroline. “Where did you see her?”

“She didn’t see me,” said Miss Ganett, with that tremendous significance only to be met with in small villages.

“Ah!” said Caroline interestedly. “Chow.”

“I believe,” said Miss Ganett, temporarily diverted, “that it’s the right thing nowadays to say ‘Chee’ not ‘Chow.’”

“Nonsense,” said Caroline. “I have always said ‘Chow.’”

“In the Shanghai Club,” said Colonel Carter, “they say ‘Chow.’”

Miss Ganett retired, crushed.

“What were you saying about Flora Ackroyd?” asked Caroline, after a moment or two devoted to the game. “Was she with any one?”

“Very much so,” said Miss Ganett.

The eyes of the two ladies met, and seemed to exchange information.

“Really,” said Caroline interestedly. “Is that it? Well, it doesn’t surprise me in the least.”

“We’re waiting for you to discard, Miss Caroline,” said the colonel. He sometimes affects the pose of the bluff male, intent on the game and indifferent to gossip. But nobody is deceived.

“If you ask me,” said Miss Ganett. (“Was that a Bamboo you discarded, dear? Oh! no, I see now—it was a Circle.) As I was saying, if you ask me, Flora’s been exceedingly lucky. Exceedingly lucky she’s been.”

“How’s that, Miss Ganett?” asked the colonel. “I’ll Pung that Green Dragon. How do you make out that Miss Flora’s been lucky? Very charming girl and all that, I know.”

“I mayn’t know very much about crime,” said Miss Ganett, with the air of one who knows everything there is to know, “but I can tell you one thing. The first question that’s always asked is ‘Who last saw the deceased alive?’ And the person who did is regarded with suspicion. Now, Flora Ackroyd last saw her uncle alive. It might have looked very nasty for her—very nasty indeed. It’s my opinion—and I give it for what it’s worth, that Ralph Paton is staying away on her account, to draw suspicion away from her.”

“Come, now,” I protested mildly, “you surely can’t suggest that a young girl like Flora Ackroyd is capable of stabbing her uncle in cold blood?”

“Well, I don’t know,” said Miss Ganett. “I’ve just been reading a book from the library about the underworld of Paris, and it says that some of the worst women criminals are young girls with the faces of angels.”

“That’s in France,” said Caroline instantly.

“Just so,” said the colonel. “Now, I’ll tell you a very curious thing—a story that was going round the Bazaars in India….”

The colonel’s story was one of interminable length, and of curiously little interest. A thing that happened in India many years ago cannot compare for a moment with an event that took place in King’s Abbot the day before yesterday.

It was Caroline who brought the colonel’s story to a close by fortunately going Mah Jong. After the slight unpleasantness always occasioned by my corrections of Caroline’s somewhat faulty arithmetic, we started a new hand.

“East Wind passes,” said Caroline. “I’ve got an idea of my own about Ralph Paton. Three Characters. But I’m keeping it to myself for the present.”

“Are you, dear?” said Miss Ganett. “Chow—I mean Pung.”

“Yes,” said Caroline firmly.

“Was it all right about the boots?” asked Miss Ganett. “Their being black, I mean?”

“Quite all right,” said Caroline.

“What was the point, do you think?” asked Miss Ganett.

Caroline pursed up her lips, and shook her head with an air of knowing all about it.

“Pung,” said Miss Ganett. “No—Unpung. I suppose that now the doctor’s in with M. Poirot he knows all the secrets?”

“Far from it,” I said.

“James is so modest,” said Caroline. “Ah! a concealed Kong.”

The colonel gave vent to a whistle. For the moment gossip was forgotten.

“Your own wind, too,” he said. “And you’ve got two Pungs of Dragons. We must be careful. Miss Caroline’s out for a big hand.”

We played for some minutes with no irrelevant conversation.

“This M. Poirot now,” said Colonel Carter, “is he really such a great detective?”

“The greatest the world has ever known,” said Caroline solemnly. “He had to come here incognito to avoid publicity.”

“Chow,” said Miss Ganett. “Quite wonderful for our little village, I’m sure. By the way, Clara—my maid, you know—is great friends with Elsie, the housemaid at Fernly, and what do you think Elsie told her? That there’s been a lot of money stolen, and it’s her opinion—Elsie’s—I mean, that the parlormaid had something to do with it. She’s leaving at the month, and she’s crying a good deal at night. If you ask me, the girl is very likely in league with a gang. She’s always been a queer girl—she’s not friends with any of the girls round here. She goes off by herself on her days out—very unnatural, I call it, and most suspicious. I asked her once to come to our Girls’ Friendly Evenings, but she refused, and then I asked her a few questions about her home and her family—all that sort of thing, and I’m bound to say I considered her manner most impertinent. Outwardly very respectful—but she shut me up in the most barefaced way.”

Miss Ganett stopped for breath, and the colonel, who was totally uninterested in the servant question, remarked that in the Shanghai Club brisk play was the invariable rule.

We had a round of brisk play.

“That Miss Russell,” said Caroline. “She came here pretending to consult James on Friday morning. It’s my opinion she wanted to see where the poisons were kept. Five Characters.”

“Chow,” said Miss Ganett. “What an extraordinary idea? I wonder if you can be right.”

“Talking of poisons,” said the colonel. “Eh—what? Haven’t I discarded? Oh! Eight Bamboos.”

“Mah Jong!” said Miss Ganett.

Caroline was very much annoyed.

“One Red Dragon,” she said regretfully, “and I should have had a hand of three doubles.”

“I’ve had two Red Dragons all the time,” I mentioned.

“So exactly like you, James,” said Caroline reproachfully. “You’ve no conception of the spirit of the game.”

I myself thought I had played rather cleverly. I should have had to pay Caroline an enormous amount if she had gone Mah Jong. Miss Ganett’s Mah Jong was of the poorest variety possible, as Caroline did not fail to point out to her.

East Wind passed, and we started a new hand in silence.

“What I was going to tell you just now was this,” said Caroline.

“Yes?” said Miss Ganett encouragingly.

“My idea about Ralph Paton, I mean.”

“Yes, dear,” said Miss Ganett, still more encouragingly. “Chow!”

“It’s a sign of weakness to Chow so early,” said Caroline severely. “You should go for a big hand.”

“I know,” said Miss Ganett. “You were saying—about Ralph Paton, you know?”

“Yes. Well, I’ve a pretty shrewd idea where he is.”

We all stopped to stare at her.

“This is very interesting, Miss Caroline,” said Colonel Carter. “All your own idea, eh?”

“Well, not exactly. I’ll tell you about it. You know that big map of the county we have in the hall?”

We all said Yes.

“As M. Poirot was going out the other day, he stopped and looked at it, and he made some remark—I can’t remember exactly what it was. Something about Cranchester being the only big town anywhere near us—which is true, of course. But after he had gone—it came to me suddenly.”

“What came to you?”

“His meaning. Of course Ralph is in Cranchester.”

It was at that moment that I knocked down the rack that held my pieces. My sister immediately reproved me for clumsiness, but half-heartedly. She was intent on her theory.

“Cranchester, Miss Caroline?” said Colonel Carter. “Surely not Cranchester! It’s so near.”

“That’s exactly it,” cried Caroline triumphantly. “It seems quite clear by now that he didn’t get away from here by train. He must simply have walked into Cranchester. And I believe he’s there still. No one would dream of his being so near at hand.”

I pointed out several objections to the theory, but when once Caroline has got something firmly into her head, nothing dislodges it.

“And you think M. Poirot has the same idea,” said Miss Ganett thoughtfully. “It’s a curious coincidence, but I was out for a walk this afternoon on the Cranchester road, and he passed me in a car coming from that direction.”

We all looked at each other.

“Why, dear me,” said Miss Ganett suddenly, “I’m Mah Jong all the time, and I never noticed it.”

Caroline’s attention was distracted from her own inventive exercises. She pointed out to Miss Ganett that a hand consisting of mixed suits and too many Chows was hardly worth going Mah Jong on. Miss Ganett listened imperturbably and collected her counters.

“Yes, dear, I know what you mean,” she said. “But it rather depends on what kind of a hand you have to start with, doesn’t it?”

“You’ll never get the big hands if you don’t go for them,” urged Caroline.

“Well, we must all play our own way, mustn’t we?” said Miss Ganett. She looked down at her counters. “After all, I’m up, so far.”

Caroline, who was considerably down, said nothing.

East Wind passed, and we set to once more. Annie brought in the tea things. Caroline and Miss Ganett were both slightly ruffled as is often the case during one of these festive evenings.

“If you would only play a leetle quicker, dear,” said Caroline, as Miss Ganett hesitated over her discard. “The Chinese put down the tiles so quickly it sounds like little birds pattering.”

For some few minutes we played like the Chinese.

“You haven’t contributed much to the sum of information, Sheppard,” said Colonel Carter genially. “You’re a sly dog. Hand in glove with the great detective, and not a hint as to the way things are going.”

“James is an extraordinary creature,” said Caroline. “He can not bring himself to part with information.”

She looked at me with some disfavor.

“I assure you,” I said, “that I don’t know anything. Poirot keeps his own counsel.”

“Wise man,” said the colonel with a chuckle. “He doesn’t give himself away. But they’re wonderful fellows, these foreign detectives. Up to all sorts of dodges, I believe.”

“Pung,” said Miss Ganett, in a tone of quiet triumph. “And Mah Jong.”

The situation became more strained. It was annoyance at Miss Ganett’s going Mah Jong for the third time running which prompted Caroline to say to me as we built a fresh wall:—

“You are too tiresome, James. You sit there like a dead head, and say nothing at all!”

“But, my dear,” I protested, “I have really nothing to say—that is, of the kind you mean.”

“Nonsense,” said Caroline, as she sorted her hand. “You must know something interesting.”

I did not answer for a moment. I was overwhelmed and intoxicated. I had read of there being such a thing as the Perfect Winning—going Mah Jong on one’s original hand. I had never hoped to hold the hand myself.

With suppressed triumph I laid my hand face upwards on the table.

“As they say in the Shanghai Club,” I remarked, “Tin-ho—the Perfect Winning!”

The colonel’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head.

“Upon my soul,” he said. “What an extraordinary thing. I never saw that happen before!”

It was then that I went on, goaded by Caroline’s gibes, and rendered reckless by my triumph.

“And as to anything interesting,” I said. “What about a gold wedding ring with a date and ‘From R.’ inside.”

I pass over the scene that followed. I was made to say exactly where this treasure was found. I was made to reveal the date.

“March 13th,” said Caroline. “Just six months ago. Ah!”

Out of the babel of excited suggestions and suppositions three theories were evolved:—

That of Colonel Carter: that Ralph was secretly married to Flora. The first or most simple solution.

That of Miss Ganett: that Roger Ackroyd had been secretly married to Mrs. Ferrars.

That of my sister: that Roger Ackroyd had married his housekeeper, Miss Russell.

A fourth or super-theory was propounded by Caroline later as we went up to bed.

“Mark my words,” she said suddenly, “I shouldn’t be at all surprised if Geoffrey Raymond and Flora weren’t married.”

“Surely it would be ‘From G,’ not ‘From R’ then,” I suggested.

“You never know. Some girls call men by their surnames. And you heard what Miss Ganett said this evening—about Flora’s carryings on.”

Strictly speaking, I had not heard Miss Ganett say anything of the kind, but I respected Caroline’s knowledge of innuendoes.

“How about Hector Blunt,” I hinted. “If it’s anybody——”

“Nonsense,” said Caroline. “I dare say he admires her—may even be in love with her. But depend upon it a girl isn’t going to fall in love with a man old enough to be her father when there’s a good-looking young secretary about. She may encourage Major Blunt just as a blind. Girls are very artful. But there’s one thing I do tell you, James Sheppard. Flora Ackroyd does not care a penny piece for Ralph Paton, and never has. You can take it from me.”

I took it from her meekly.

[news-venue]

Terrorism remains a major threat to regional and global peace: PM Narendra Modi

While charing a virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Modi said, "Terrorism may be in any form, in any manifestation and we have to fight together against it." 

NEW DELHI: In a veiled reference to Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday told leaders of the SCO nations that the grouping must not hesitate to criticise countries supporting cross-border terrorism as an instrument of state policy and there must not be any “double standards” in combating terrorist activities.

With Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin listening, Modi said at a virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) that “decisive action” is required to deal with terrorism and terror financing.

Chairing the summit, Modi talked about the growing importance of the SCO and said, “It is our shared responsibility to understand each other’s needs and sensitivities and resolve all challenges through better cooperation and coordination.”

The remarks came amid the lingering border row between India and China.

In his opening remarks, Modi also highlighted the need for boosting connectivity but asserted that it is essential to respect the basic principles of the SCO charter, especially the sovereignty and territorial integrity of member states while making such efforts.

There has been increasing global criticism of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

India has been severely critical of the BRI as the project includes the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

On Afghanistan, the prime minister said the situation there has a “direct impact on the security of all of us” and it is important to ensure that Afghan territory is not used to destabilise neighbouring countries or to encourage extremist ideologies.

The prime minister also touched upon the global food, fuel and fertiliser crisis, highlighted the need for reform of the SCO and welcomed Iran as the new permanent member of the SCO.

However, one of the major focus areas of his speech was combating the threat of terrorism.

“Terrorism remains a major threat to regional and global peace. Decisive action is necessary to meet this challenge. Terrorism may be in any form, in any manifestation and we have to fight together against it,” Modi said.

“Some countries use cross-border terrorism as an instrument of their policies; give shelter to terrorists. The SCO should not hesitate to criticise such countries. There should be no room for double standards on such a serious issue,” he said.

The prime minister also strongly pitched for deeper mutual cooperation to deal with terror financing and noted that the SCO’s RATS (Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure) mechanism has played an important role in this.

“We should also take more active steps to prevent the spread of radicalisation among the youth of our countries. The joint statement being issued today on the issue of radicalisation is a symbol of our shared commitment,” he said.

The virtual summit under India’s presidency was attended by leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iran as well. The prime minister also spoke of various global challenges.

“The global situation is at a critical juncture. Food, fuel and fertiliser crisis is a big challenge for all the countries in the world surrounded by disputes, tensions and epidemics,” he said, without making any specific references.

“Let us think together whether we as an organisation are capable of meeting the expectations and aspirations of our people? Are we able to meet the modern challenges,” he asked.

“Is the SCO becoming an organisation that is fully prepared for the future? In this regard, India supports the proposal for reform and modernisation of SCO,” he said.

On the situation in Afghanistan, Modi said India’s concerns and expectations regarding that country are similar to those of most of the SCO countries.

Modi said ensuring humanitarian assistance to Afghan people, formation of an inclusive government, the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking and ensuring the rights of women, children and minorities in that country are “our shared priorities”.

“The people of India and Afghanistan share age-old friendly relations. Over the past two decades, we have contributed to the economic and social development of Afghanistan,” he said.

“We have continued to send humanitarian aid even after the events of 2021. It is essential that the land of Afghanistan is not used to destabilise neighbouring countries, or encourage extremist ideologies,” he said.

The prime minister also batted for boosting regional connectivity.

“Better connectivity not only increases mutual business but also increases mutual trust. But in these efforts, it is essential to respect the basic principles of the SCO Charter, especially the sovereignty and territorial integrity of member states. “

After Iran’s SCO membership, we can work for better utilisation of Chabahar Port.

The International North-South Transport Corridor can become a safe and easy way for the landlocked countries of Central Asia to reach the Indian Ocean,” he said.

“We should realise its full potential,” he added.

India has been pushing for the Chabahar port project to boost regional trade, especially for its connectivity to Afghanistan.

Modi also called for removing language barriers in the SCO.

“We would be happy to share India’s AI-based language platform, Bhashini, with everyone to remove language barriers within the SCO. This can become an example of digital technology for inclusive growth,” he said.

Modi said the SCO can become an important voice for reform in other global institutions including the UN.

The prime minister also welcomed Iran as the new member of the SCO.

“At the same time, we welcome the signing of the Memorandum of Obligation for SCO membership of Belarus,” he said.

“Today, the interest of other countries in joining SCO is a proof of the importance of this organisation,” he added.

“In this process, it is necessary that the basic focus of the SCO remains on the interests and aspirations of the Central-Asian countries,” Modi said.

[sleepysera]

12.22.22 Headlines

WORLD NEWS

Russia: Zelensky’s visit shows neither Ukraine nor US want peace (BBC)

“Russia has strongly criticised the visit to Washington by Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, accusing the US of fighting an indirect war against it. President Joe Biden has pledged $1.85bn (£1.45bn) of military aid for Ukraine - including an advanced missile system to help guard against Russian attacks. In a defiant address to US lawmakers, Mr Zelensky welcomed the assistance. But Russia's US ambassador said these "provocative actions" would lead to an escalation with severe consequences.”

Transgender Rights: Gender self-determination to be granted in Spain, Scotland (AP)

“Spain’s lower house of Parliament Thursday passed a law that allows people over 16 years of age to change their legally registered gender without any medical supervision. On the same day, the Scottish Parliament passed a bill to make it easier for people to change their legally recognized gender. The approval makes Scotland the first part of the U.K. to have endorsed allowing people to declare their gender on documents without the need for medical certification.”

Afghanistan: Taliban arrest women protesting against university ban (BBC)

“The Taliban have arrested five women taking part in a protest in the Afghan capital, Kabul, against the ban on women attending universities. Three journalists were also arrested. Protests are also understood to have taken place in the Takhar province. Guards stopped hundreds of women from entering universities on Wednesday - a day after the ban was announced.”

US NEWS

US Congress: Senate reaches deal on $1.7T package (AP)

“The Senate appeared back on track Thursday to pass a $1.7 trillion bill to finance federal agencies through September and provide roughly $45 billion in military and economic assistance to Ukraine after lawmakers reached agreement on a final series of votes.”

Weather: Hundreds of flights cancelled as winter storm and cold sweeps the US (BBC)

“A powerful Arctic winter storm is making its way through the US and parts of Canada, bringing with it frigid temperatures and flight delays ahead of the busiest travel days of the year. More than 100 million people across the US are under winter weather alerts, and snowy conditions are expected to wreak travel chaos this weekend. Major airports have already cancelled flights in anticipation of the storm.”

Mexico: Arizona to remove shipping container wall from border (AP)

“Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey will take down a makeshift wall made of shipping containers at the Mexico border, settling a lawsuit and political tussle with the U.S. government over trespassing on federal lands. The Biden administration and the Republican governor entered into an agreement that Arizona will cease installing the containers in any national forest, according to court documents filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Phoenix.”

[thesheel]

The ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) rose to prominence rapidly in Afghanistan in the last 2 to 3 years, but their emergence was highlighted in the wake of the Taliban taking control of Kabul and American forces evacuation.  ISIS-K is a South Asian affiliate of ISIS that originated in Afghanistan and Pakistan in early 2015. Khorasan is a regional term that is used to represent the territories covered by modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other regional countries. The manpower of the group was recruited by a faction separated from the Afghan Taliban and another faction separated from the Pakistani Taliban. Both of them teamed up to pose a new significant threat to the security of both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Although the situation in Pakistan is under control, principally due to the military offensive against the terror groups, Afghanistan still remains the breeding ground of the ISIS-K. After the peace deal with the Afghan Taliban, the major rivalry in the war-torn country has shifted from Taliban Vs. USA to ISIS-K Vs. The USA.  ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the attack on Kabul airport, which resulted in the death of more than 160 Afghans and 13 US service members. With this, both the Taliban and the US have a common enemy in the form of ISIS-K. Top Pentagon officials, including General Mark Milley, have already indicated an attack on US soil from Afghanistan, which depicts a worrying state of affairs. Recently Panama also detained some Al-Qaeda members who were trying to enter the US with immigrants, which is a clear depiction that all eyes are on US security these days. [caption id="attachment_10164" align="aligncenter" width="768"] The rise of ISIS-K poses significant threat to the security of the US as well as the top military leadership has indicated an imminent attack in the upcoming months[/caption] ISIS-K is an only Security Threat to the US in Post War-on-Terror Era Attacking on the US seems to be the only goal for ISIS-K right now, considering that they are at a crossroads with the Taliban right now. ISIS-K is an anti-Taliban faction, and the Taliban's government in Afghanistan is a sign of death for the group. Currently, the US-Taliban agreement mentions that the Taliban will not let any group use Afghan soil against external attacks. It means that in case of an attack, the US-Taliban agreement will stand canceled, which will be a win-win situation for the ISIS-K.  The warning of military leadership cannot be ruled out because the newly formed Afghan government of the Taliban does not have the capacity and experience to prevent the operation of these terrorist organizations. These terrorist organizations, ISIS-K and Al Qaeda, have roots in multiple countries, and they always try to expand their network.  The Panama foreign minister recently told US officials that the number of immigrants trying to enter the US through Panama has increased from 800 per month to 20,000 per month.  But the point of worry is that she made a claim that Panama authorities caught several individuals from those immigrants who have links with Al Qaeda.  She also told reporters that thousands of those immigrants have already crossed the border of the USA and are in the USA right now. This should serve as an eye-opener for the Biden administration, as connecting all the dots is showing a dangerous sign. [caption id="attachment_10166" align="aligncenter" width="475"] The former President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai blamed the US for the emergence of the ISIS-K in Afghanistan, saying that the US intentionally installed them in the region as its proxy[/caption] The US and the Taliban Need to Counter Al Qaeda and ISIS-K Together USA and Taliban can prevent the expansion of ISIS-K in Afghanistan if they act on common grounds. The announcement of President Biden that the USA would exempt some of the Afghan civil servants from the Taliban era of 1996-2001 from the terror-related ban list can improve the relations between the two stakeholders.

But there are many factors at play that are creating systematic hindrances right now. Firstly, if the USA wants to work with the Taliban, it has to recognize the rule of the Taliban, which would hurt the USA's long-standing point of view. It will push the Biden administration into troubled waters as it will be an exception of defeat on an international stage. Secondly, the Taliban lacks logistics and intel experience to counter terrorist threats on their own.  For instance, the Islamic State Khorasan attack on Hamid Karzai international airport exposed this weakness of the Taliban.  Thirdly, there is an ambiguity that the Taliban does not have links with these terrorist organizations. Shahab Al Muhajir, who is an ISIS-K's leader, for instance, was the Haqqani group commander in the past before leaving for the Islamic State. As this Haqqani network is a close associate of the Afghan Taliban, it is worrying many stakeholders about the intermingling of the two organizations.  Furthermore, according to the report of the United Nations, tens of thousands of fighters are gathering in Afghanistan from the countries of Central Asia after the US withdrawal & Taliban takeover, and are joining the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and ISIS-K.  This is creating a trust deficit in American power corridors that the Taliban can play a dual game with the US just for the sake of getting international recognition. The USA needs to keep its eyes open while dealing with the Taliban against ISIS-K. Otherwise, the expansion of the Islamic State's caliphate could endanger the USA land in the longer term.  The recent United Nations counterterrorism officials reported that the terrorist attacks in Afghanistan by ISIS-K have increased from 21 to 77 during the year 2020 to 2021.  The global power can face a similar attack on its land if it does not act pre-emptively against these terrorist groups. [caption id="attachment_10167" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Pakistan, China and Russia are most concerned about the emergence of ISIS-K in Afghanistan as all of them are regional countries that hold the key to curb the ISIS in Afghanistan.[/caption] Final Thoughts The way to counter ISIS-K is to collaborate not only with Taliban leaders but also with the regional countries, especially China, Russia, and Pakistan.  Only collective consensus against the common enemy can bring fruitful results. Secondly, there is a need to put the leaders of these militant groups on the travel ban lists.  In addition to this, the US and regional countries should provide Taliban training and help on a milestone basis.  Because Afghanistan is a nurturing ground for Al Qaeda and ISIS-K, and Taliban can prove to be effective in countering them on a ground basis.

[alwaysfirst]

US issues 'worldwide caution' alert after Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri's death

Aug 03, 2022 11:02 IST New York , August 3 (Always First): The US State Department has issued a worldwide alert after the death of Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri. Yesterday, President Joe Biden announced that the most wanted terroriast Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in a drone strike in Kabul and added that "Justice has been delivered." "On July 31, 2022, the United States conducted a precision counterterrorism strike in Afghanistan that killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's deputy and successor as leader of al-Qa'ida. Al- Zawahiri was one of the masterminds of the attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001, and had continued to urge his followers to attack the United States," the US State Department alert on Tuesday (local time) said. "Following al-Zawahiri's death, supporters of al- Qa'ida, or its affiliated terrorist organizations, may seek to attack U.S. facilities, personnel, or citizens. As terrorist attacks often occur without warning, U.S. citizens are strongly encouraged to maintain a high level of vigilance and practice good situational awareness when traveling abroad," it further said. Zawahiri was one of the world's most wanted terrorists and a mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks was killed in a drone strike carried out by the US in the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday. Zawahiri, an Egyptian surgeon, was deeply involved in the planning of 9/11 and he also acted as Osama Bin Ladens personal physician. The strike was conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and was carried out by an Air Force drone. An official claimed that al-Zawahiri was the only person killed in the strike and that none of his family members was injured. Meanwhile, the Taliban confirmed the killing of Zawahiri and condemned the drone strike carried out by the United States in Kabul over the weekend. In a statement, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that a strike took place on a residence in the capital and called it a violation of "international principles." A loud explosion echoed through Kabul early Sunday morning, according to Tolo News. "A house was hit by a rocket in Sherpoor. There were no casualties as the house was empty," Abdul Nafi Takor a spokesman of the Interior Ministry had claimed earlier. US secretary of state Antony Blinken said that the Taliban had grossly violated the Doha Agreement by hosting and sheltering the Al-Qaeda chief. "By hosting and sheltering the leader of al Qa'ida in Kabul, the Taliban grossly violated the Doha Agreement and repeated assurances to the world that they would not allow Afghan territory to be used by terrorists to threaten the security of other countries," Blinken said in a statement. The US and the Taliban signed a peace agreement in February 2020 under the Presidency of former US President Donald Trump. The deal stated the withdrawal of the US troops from Afghan soil and the Taliban would abate violence and guarantee that its soil will not be a safe haven for terrorists. In the statement, Blinken said the Taliban also betrayed the Afghan people and their own stated desire for recognition from the international community and normalisation of ties. Zawahiri's targeted killing comes a year after the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban's takeover of the country. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) added a "deceased" caption under the profile image of Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri on its website. (Always First) Read the full article

[swldx]

BBC 0425 2 Aug 2022

9915Khz 0358 2 AUG 2022 - BBC (UNITED KINGDOM) in ENGLISH from TALATA VOLONONDRY. SINPO = 55334. English, dead carrier s/on @0358z then ID@0359z pips and newsday preview. @0401z World News anchored by Gareth Barlow. The US has killed the leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a drone strike in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden has confirmed. He was killed in a counter-terrorism operation carried out by the CIA in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Sunday. Mr Biden said Zawahiri had "carved a trail of murder and violence against American citizens". "Now justice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more," he added. Zawahiri took over al-Qaeda after the death of Osama Bin Laden in 2011. He and Bin Laden plotted the 9/11 attacks together and he was one of the US's "most wanted terrorists". Officials said Zawahiri was on the balcony of a safe house when the drone fired two missiles at him. Other family members were present, but they were unharmed and only Zawahiri was killed, they added. A Taliban spokesman described the US operation as a clear violation of international principles. Under a 2020 peace deal with the US, the Taliban agreed not to allow al-Qaeda or any other extremist group to operate in areas under their control. Catastrophic climate change outcomes, including human extinction, are not being taken seriously enough by scientists, a new study says. The authors say that the consequences of more extreme warming - still on the cards if no action is taken - are "dangerously underexplored". The White House has warned that China may respond to Nancy Pelosi's mooted visit to Taiwan with military provocations. This could include firing missiles near Taiwan, or large-scale air or naval activities, spokesman John Kirby said.Mrs Pelosi, the US House of Representatives Speaker, is on a tour of Asia. India has confirmed its first death caused by monkeypox in the southern state of Kerala. This is the fourth monkeypox death reported globally, outside of Africa. Mexican government to temporarily occupy private land for the Maya Train Project. A team of archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have uncovered a crypt in the Maya city of Toniná, containing cremation burials used for making rubber balls in ritual ball games. @0406z "Newsday" begins. MLA 30 amplified loop (powered w/8 AA rechargeable batteries ~10.8vdc), Etón e1XM. 250kW, beamAz 315°, bearing 63°. Received at Plymouth, United States, 15359KM from transmitter at Talata Volonondry. Local time: 2258.

[porphyriosao3]

[WP] Monsters regularly come to 24/7 stores, and the night shift workers just don’t fucking care. They interact peacefully.

Late night shifts at the Circle Star were different.  This part of the city was rough enough as it was; I grew up here, I knew.  Went away for a long time, not that it kept me from getting stuck back right where I started.  If it wasn't the local gangs causing troubles, it was the crackheads or assorted other loonies.  My friends all thought I was a total fool for working any job, let alone night clerk at the local bodega, but it had its up side.  For one thing, I didn't have to deal any more.  It wasn't a lot of money, but it was enough to keep me able to survive, and being legit took a lot of drama out of a life that had never been very easy.  Parole was a lot easier when I could tell whichever pig they stuck me with "nah, I got a job, it's all good, staying clean" and mean it.  For another thing, I got to know a lot of the folks on the block in a way that let them talk to me and feel like they knew me without having to be afraid of me.  I could speak on the street without folks cutting their eyes at me, wondering what I wanted, what my angle was... I was just Jimmy.  I liked it.

The customers were pretty normal in the early hours.  Ole Miz Jackman buying her case of beer.  Every damn night, this woman bought a case of Old Mil.  I started to wonder where the money came from, but hey... we all find our peace where we can I guess.  Uncle Rudy liked our sandwiches, and I'd fix him one special most nights.  Tina and Gina from next door would come through all painted up for the night and buy Gulpees to use as props for the roadside show.  They loved me because they said I "didn't judge".  Who the hell was I to judge?  I'd done shit myself I wasn't proud of, no way I'm gonna look down on them for making ends meet.  There was a laundry list of other regulars.

Once it got to be midnight, things changed a little.  We stayed busy; Circle Star was in a good spot, so we did a good amount of business round the clock.  The crowd changed, though.  Lot of people came in late wearing long coats, big hats, even veils and stuff.  I didn't care; they were polite.  Some of the voices were strange, but accents are always a little hard to decipher, aren't they?  I won't lie, I did get a little freaked out the first time I saw a tail peeking out from under a raincoat.  The guy whose tail it was caught me looking.  He froze, gave me a mean look like I was going to say something.  I did, too.  He had a bag of mini Reese's cups in his hand so I said "You gonna buy those?"

"How much?"  He sounded hoarse and weird, like English hurt his mouth.

"Seven ninety eight," I answered.  I looked back at where the tail had been but it was gone now.  He grinned like I was joking.  Dude had way too many teeth; no wonder he sounded strange.

"Seven...?  That seems high," he said.

"Yeah well we ain't in the best neighborhood, jack.  Insurance costs money."  For real, this dude wants to bicker with me about the price in a hood bodega?  "That's the price, you want it, pay it."  He nodded, like I'd said something smart.  I don't remember if he bought it or not, but after that I started paying attention.  I started to wonder if word had gotten around somehow, because the differences got a lot more blatant, too.  Women with snakes eyes, hissing at me for Cokes... People in trench coats with long hairy claws and hidden faces buying sandwiches, like even boogeymen need pastrami on rye.  Some homeless lady came in smelling like cigarettes and incense, and I saw her wings.  She tried to talk but it was all choral singing sounds, no voice.  I gave her a sandwich for no charge.  Even angels end up homeless sometimes, seems like.  I finally got some regulars with the different crowd (that was what I called them in my mind, the different crowd).  The guy with the tail never came back, but one of the sandwich-eating boogeymen got to where he came in all the time, his name was Harold.  There was a I-don't-know-what all dressed up in a burqa like one of those Afghan women I saw on TV; I don't know what it was but I do know no human body moved like that, not even close.  It came in most nights but never spoke, just bought tins of sardines or anchovies, paid in coins, and left.  Never gave a name, of course.  Big Fred used to squeeze in through the door to shop for him and his brother once a week.  I don't know what an ogre does with all those baked beans and lunchmeat, but like everyone else I was happy to take his money.  All part of the 'hood I guess.

It was the last Friday of the month, and I knew the dude was trouble when he came in.  Money was always tight around here at the end of the month, but this wasn't some old lady who could only afford cat food.  It was maybe two, three o'clock in the morning, and the bars had booted everyone out.  He was tweaked, spinning hard and high on something that gave him too much of an edge to be in the Circle Star.  I didn't know him; never seen him before, but he came in like he knew me.  All "my man" this and "my man" that, a million pointless questions with a jittery, desperate energy that told me things weren't going well for him, not by a long shot.  I had a baseball bat behind the counter, but I didn't want to use it.  The last thing I needed was trouble; my parole officer had just switched again and the new guy was a total prick.  Even showing up on a police report would be a pain in my ass for a while to come.  Unusually for the Circle Star, the place had been dead all night, too.  Nobody was coming in, and so the place was empty when he made his move.

Before I knew it I was looking down the shaking barrel of an old and badly-kept gun.  Ain't this about a bitch, I thought sadly.  All those years I spent learning to field strip and clean weapons and I'm about to die to a filthy nine millimeter with a barrel full of pubes.  I knew he was too strung out to let me live, and my bat wasn't going to do much in a gunfight.  I was shocked to hear the door chime go off, but ducked down while the dude was distracted.  I hoped whoever it was wouldn't get too hurt, but... they were on their own.  There was a weird slurping noise instead of the gunshot I expected.  Something clattered on the counter.  When I stood up, there were two tins of sardines there and... nothing else.  The empty eye slot of a burqa looked back at me, and something moved in there that wasn't an eyeball.

"Thanks," I said, trying very hard not to look around.  "Uh... no charge today."  The hood bobbed and a covered hand swept the cans away.  The robes were bigger than usual, but hey... none of my business.  The robed figure started to glide away and I called out.  "Uh... one thing.  That gun... if you ditch it, do it somewhere where it won't be found.  I don't want a kid to get hold of it.  OK?"  I hadn't been stared at like that for a while, and never by something where I couldn't even see the eyes, but that shit's important.  Too many kids get hurt playing with stuff they find down here.  Finally it nodded once and glided off.

Like I said, late night shifts here are different.  But it's still the 'hood.  We all watch out for each other, and hey... at the end of the day, we all have to eat.  Right?  So uh... you gonna buy those?

[mariacallous]

The U.S. military retreated from Afghanistan two years ago, leaving behind weapons that are now turning up in far-flung trouble spots where terrorists are fighting and killing America’s allies. In markets that have sprung up across the southern and eastern badlands, where the hottest fighting of the war took place, merchants with Taliban permits are offering U.S.-made automatic assault rifles and handguns for sale alongside hardware from Russia, Pakistan, China, Turkey, and Austria. Business, like terrorism, is thriving.

Under weather-beaten tarps slung across wooden poles, in isolated strip malls deep in the desert, or laid out on dusty carpets along bumpy tracks off the major highways, these ad hoc weapons bazaars are offering rockets and bombs, shoulder-fired grenade launchers, night vision goggles, sniper rifles and scopes, and ammunition. The wares are priced in afghanis, rupees, and dollars; recent price increases reflect the business acumen of one of the world’s richest criminal cartels that has sought to keep tight control on supply.

Left-behind American assault rifles command a premium: an M4 in good condition can fetch up to $2,400, a status symbol with as much cachet in the Himalayan tribal belt as a luxury handbag in Manhattan. In contrast, a Pakistan-made knock-off of an AK-47, the world’s most ubiquitous killing machine, can go for as little as $130.

It’s a new arms race—and it’s threatening global security. The Taliban, allies of if not quite affiliates of al Qaeda, are at the center of a global smuggling web that earns billions of dollars from heroin and meth. Now they appear to be funneling small arms to like-minded extremists inspired by their victory, not least next door. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Pakistan’s torn northwest tribal regions and separatists in restive Balochistan are using made-in-America weapons to kill police and soldiers in an escalating war against the Pakistani state.

Dramatic TTP videos show apparent attacks on Pakistani police and army outposts by militants armed with American weapons and using night vision and thermal sights, which Afghan Peace Watch said in a new report are “highly sought-after accessories supplied to Afghan Special Forces.” The report quotes a Taliban fighter in Nangarhar province, bordering Pakistan, as saying night vision items sell for $500 to $1,000.

“The proliferation of such arms has not only made it difficult to combat terror networks regionally, the night vision equipment, in particular, is used to target Pakistani security personnel and police on a daily basis,” said Iftikhar Firdous, editor of the Khorasan Diary, an independent organization based in Pakistan that monitors non-state groups.

U.S. assault weapons have reportedly been used in recent attacks by non-state groups in Kashmir, bitterly divided between India and Pakistan, and in Israel’s Gaza Strip. Yasin Zia, formerly a general with the Afghan Army and now leading the opposition Afghanistan Freedom Front, said weapons are also likely going to TTP operatives relocated, in a deal between the Taliban and Pakistan, to northern Afghanistan. “They won’t be welcome and will need to defend themselves” against hostile locals, Zia said.

For the Taliban, who’ve made so much money from other illicit trades, arms deals are just another source of income: The Taliban likely control and tax the new black market, said Asfandyar Mir, a South Asia expert at the U.S. Institute of Peace. And as the Taliban (and allied terrorist groups) seek new recruits, few things talk more eloquently than fancy, deadly kit.

The ubiquitous AK-47 flooded into the Afghan mujahideen for their 1979-1989 war against the Soviets. Easy to maintain, easy to use, lethal, and manufactured more widely than any other gun in history, the AK-47 became the symbol of insurgents everywhere. But it’s still a low-end weapon. Terrorists who are moving on up trade up. TTP and Islamic State propaganda shows “a general trend toward the gradual replacement of Kalashnikov rifles with NATO weapons,” Firdous said. Militants are shown “armed with M24 sniper rifles; M4 carbines with Trijicon ACOG scopes; M16A4 rifles with thermal scopes; M249 machine guns, AMD-65 rifles, M4A1 carbines, and M16A2/A4 assault rifles,” he said.

Thanks to both American largesse and Taliban smuggling networks, those arms are going everywhere. Experts say the same routes that proffer drugs, gems, and assorted other contraband get weapons to Islamist terrorists like al-Shabab in sub-Saharan Africa and Islamic State affiliates in the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and the same Persian Gulf countries that produced Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda in the first place. Apart from Afghanistan, where the insurgency ended in victory in August 2021, the number of people killed in terrorist attacks is rising, according to the Global Terrorism Index. The Taliban, who funded their war with drugs and other contraband, continue to reap the profits of death.

And the American largesse that created the Taliban’s boon in the first place was staggering. The U.S. Department of Defense estimated that left-behind stockpiles of arms and vehicles were worth $7.12 billion of the $18.6 billion spent from 2002 on arming the Afghan security forces. “This included roughly 600,000 weapons of all calibers, nearly 300 fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, over 80,000 vehicles of several models, communications equipment, and other advanced materiel such as night vision goggles and biometric systems,” according to the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). After the military exit in the summer of 2021, SIGAR quoted a Taliban official as saying, “The group took possession of more than 300,000 light arms, 26,000 heavy weapons, and about 61,000 military vehicles.” That’s on top of what they already had.

Much of this could have been predicted. U.S. material was used by the Taliban for years before the republic collapsed, sold by corrupt, impoverished, or demoralized Afghan forces. The Pentagon never got a handle on exactly what went where.

“What happened in Afghanistan is probably the largest case of diversion in modern history, with the huge quantities of weapons and ammunition that the Taliban received,” Justine Fleischner, a war and weapons expert and head of research at Afghan Peace Watch, told Foreign Policy. “You had a system whereby, of course they know what went into Afghanistan, but there’s no record of what was used, what was broken, what was lost, what needed to be repaired, what was in service, what was out of service. Diversion was happening for the entirety of the U.S. engagement in Afghanistan.”

Research by Afghan Peace Watch and the Small Arms Survey found that weapons markets are proliferating in southern and eastern Afghanistan and in neighboring Pakistan, offering weapons and other equipment from the Afghan battlefield. Clandestine factories are churning out counterfeit guns, like AK-47s. Workshops set up with U.S. funding are back in business, servicing small arms and light weapons as U.S.-trained specialists are invited back to work for the Taliban regime, said Habib Khan Totakhil, Afghan Peace Watch’s founder. Efforts to disarm civilians and demobbed Taliban supporters have fizzled, as it’s just too difficult to keep track of them, and many former fighters regard their guns as their own, rather than the state’s.

The Taliban, Firdous said, have ostensibly banned weapons exports, with much the same energy as it has tackled opium production. The clampdown has led to tighter supply and higher prices—but little more.

“There is much evidence to suggest that these weapons will continue to flow from Afghanistan, making it more difficult for nation-states to combat non-state actors,” Firdous said.

[thenationview]

Taliban remove human rights commission 'due to budget deficit'

Taliban remove human rights commission ‘due to budget deficit’

The Taliban have dissolved the former Afghan Human Rights Commission. In addition, extremist leaders in Afghanistan have fired four other branches and committees of the former US-backed government. These include the Supreme Council of National Reconciliation, a Security Council that brokers a peace deal between the government and the Taliban before taking power, and a committee that oversees the…

[saddayfordemocracy]

The Taliban has retaken control of Afghanistan!

As Taliban fighters took Kabul on Sunday evening, roaming through the halls of the abandoned presidential palace, the group issued a statement: It would soon revive Afghanistan’s former name.

The country that was built in the wake of the 2001 U.S. invasion at a cost of over $2 trillion would revert to the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.” (That’s the name the country bore between 1996 and 2001).

The Taliban, which means "students" in the Pashto language, have been waging an insurgency against the Western-backed government in Kabul since they were ousted from power in 2001.

The group was formed by "mujahideen" fighters who fought Soviet forces in the 1980s with the backing of the CIA.

Emerging in 1994 as one of several factions fighting a civil war, the Taliban gained control of much of the country by 1996 and imposed its own strict version of Sharia, or Islamic law.

Men were forced to grow beards. Women were forced to wear burqas, flowing garments that cover the entire face and body. Schools for girls were shuttered. Women who were unaccompanied in public places could be beaten. Soccer was banned. So was music, aside from religious chants. The Taliban government held public executions in Kabul’s Ghazi Stadium.

There were photos of children dying of preventable illnesses in a dilapidated pediatric hospital. Images of the ancient Buddhist statues pulverized by the Taliban because its leaders considered the stone images to be idolatrous. The sea of refugees and displaced people living in makeshift tents across the region.

The group is infamous for its use of suicide bombers and has been accused of assassinating top Afghan officials and holding kidnapped Western citizens for ransom.

Only four countries recognised the Taliban when it was last in power: neighbouring Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Turkemnistan.

After sheltering Osama bin Laden and key al Qaeda figures in the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, the Taliban would fall after a US-led military coalition launched an offensive on 7 October 2001.

Despite being ousted from power, the Taliban would continue a guerrilla war against the Western-backed governments and US-led forces in the country.

Around 150,000 British military personnel have served in Afghanistan over the past 20 years, and 457 have been killed.

Also, 2,448 American service members have died in the conflict.

The Taliban entered into talks with the US in 2018 and struck a ‘peace’ deal in February 2020 which committed the US to withdraw its troops while preventing the Taliban from attacking US forces.

However, the Taliban have continued to kill Afghan security forces and civilians...

If there is 1 image that symbolized the brutality of the Taliban regime in 90s, it was that of a woman in a blue burqa being executed in public in KBL’s stadium.

An Afghan judge hits a woman with a whip in front of a crowd in Ghor province, Afghanistan August 31, 2015. REUTERS/Pajhwok News Agency.

A member of the Taliban's religious police beating an Afghan woman in Kabul on August 26, 2001. The footage, filmed by the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, can be seen at pz.rawa.org/rawasongs/movie/beating.mpg

The cover of the Aug. 9 issue of Time magazine features a photo of Aisha, an 18-year-old Afghan woman with a mutilated nose. Time Inc./AP

[the-demure-abstract]

Pulled from a blog:

The new Taliban leader of Kabul is a guy that Trump had released...

Trump made a huge deal about 40 men left in Guantánamo, but he released 100 times that many terrorists just for the hell of it.

"The release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners, which the United States agreed to in a February deal with the insurgents that also began the phased withdrawal of American troops, faced opposition from the Afghan government, which is holding the prisoners. After prolonged pressure from the Trump administration, Mr. Ghani released 4,600 prisoners from a list provided by the Taliban but called for consultations over 400, who he said were accused or convicted of major crimes, including murder, that were beyond his authority to pardon."