Double Digit Economic growth for Afghanistan

Upon hearing this, I'm as skeptical as anyone. Really, Afghanistan has growth comparable to the rates of India and China? Well, for one, as the article notes, they're starting much lower than either of the two Asian Giants. But its interesting to hear such news coming from landlocked and war torn country and somewhat hopeful as well. Obviously the biggest prerequisite for a growing economy is political stability, which has been a problem for Afghanistan for most its existence. American support is crucial and if Obama gets his way, then America is out as of 2012; or at least in terms of active military presence. This says nothing for the future of American bases though. Whether the nation can pull out of the trend is dependent on quite a lot of other factors, but the New York Post article sheds a hopeful light on the future of Afghanistan.

Read the Article here

Pakistan supporting the Taliban insurgency

Or at least that's what it seems based on a new cache of documents released by Wikileaks. According to the documents, which are classified as reliable by the US military, Pakistan's Intelligence and Spy Agency are working directly with the Taliban and Al Qaeda to coordinate resistance and suicide attacks. As much as I dislike Obama's foreign policy for dealing with Afghanistan, he ran on the premise of expanding the fight into Pakistan, which he did with the bombing of several regions. I wonder if his campaign promises are going to take him further into Pakistan's borders than he anticipated.

The New York Times sums up the release here.

The last dictator in Europe.

Looks like Lukashenko's time is up and Russia is making its move against the former Soviet Republic. It's no secret Russia has had Belarus in its pocket for some time now, in fact, the two are part of one "union state" though each has its own leadership. Russia is going to have to careful in their plans, to completely absorb Belarus might ward off some of the other nations which have shown recent interest in the "union state" or "customs union," namely Ukraine. But its obvious Lukashenko's time is up and Russia is ready for new leadership, for which ever reasons they have.

But the part that most interests me is the method Russia is using to dethrone the puppet President, they're highlighting his human rights abuses and authoritarianism and rallying the support of the Russian people. They did the same thing in Kyrgyzstan, as the article has noted. It seems now, Russia is growing increasingly capable with the power of the people.

Read the article here

Japanese-Russian Relations

I thought this a fascinating article in the Moscow Times by the former defense minister of Japan, Yuriko Koike on the topic of the Russian occupied Chishima Islands. On the whole I doubt that the Russian government will give the islands back or consider such a thing lightly or any time in the future. But it is interesting to note that the issue is still in the minds of the Japanese. As Asia heats up over the next decades, this issue may grow in its significance.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/russias-lost-opportunity-with-japan/410824.html

Venezuela severs relations with Columbia

It seems Venezuela has cut off diplomatic relations with its neighbor Columbia, which in the olden days this meant war. Now, nations go great periods of time without diplomatic negotiations and I don't honestly think this immediate action will lead to war. However, I think it is an indication of the coming conflict between the two South American states, whether overt of covert. Columbia has the backing of the USA and seems to be doing well for itself in recent times. Venezuela, on the other hand, appears to be in decline from its previous heights and has found some support from rivals of the USA. A war in the region would be disastrous for both states, let's hope it doesn't happen.

http://warnewsupdates.blogspot.com/2010/07/venezuela-breaks-diplomatic-relations.html

Egyptian President Mubarak terminally ill?

Read here.

Quite an interesting and possibly scary notion that the Egyptian president may be on his way out. Egypt is not the most stable country an a succession crisis is not what the region needs at this time. Although, perhaps Mubarak has taken steps to avoid such a crisis given that he's been much much more aware of his condition than it seems the rest of us have. Time will tell...

Big Brother

The Washington Post did an in-depth report on the ever growing top-secret world of the US government. The article is definitely worth a read, or if you're hurried a quick scan; but it should not be ignored. It does an excellent job in expressing how unwieldy and ineffective America's secret intelligence agency has become by focusing on the various problems plaguing the top-secret world. It covers the turf battles amongst the agencies, the problems of an overdose of information, the budget problems and the greatest problem of all: Congress keeps pumping money into it.

A particular quotation from Major-General John Custer caught my eye. It sums up the situation well, "...after 4 1/2 years, this organization had never produced one shred of information that helped me prosecute three wars!"

And a most accurate assement by the Washington Post from early in the article furthers the case, "...lack of focus, not lack of resources, was at the heart of the Fort Hood shooting that left 13 dead, as well as the Christmas Day bomb attempt thwarted not by the thousands of analysts employed to find lone terrorists but by an alert airline passenger who saw smoke coming from his seatmate."

More here...

Colombia coming into its own

In a time of emerging-market juggernauts, Colombia gets little notice. Its $244 billion economy is only the fifth-largest in Latin America, a trifle next to Brazil, the $2 trillion regional powerhouse. Yet against all odds Colombia has become the country to watch in the hemisphere. In the past eight years the nation of 45 million has gone from a crime- and drug-addled candidate for failed state to a prospering dynamo. The once sluggish economy is on a roll. Oil and gas production are surging, and Colombia’s MSCI index jumped 15 percent between January and June, more than any other stock market this year.

Read the rest here

Is the US deploying misiles outside of China?

Possibly. Time Magazine has an interesting article on the Ohio-Class submarines now appearing on China's border. These subs are outfitted with Tomahawk Cruise missiles, as opposed to the Nuclear Trident missiles they carried during the Cold War war. According to Bonnie Glaser, cited in the article, the US is bolstering it's forces in the Pacific and naturally, the regional power, China, is going to notice.

Here's the article:

Photos from Afghanistan

A collection of photos coming out of America's longest war courtesy of the Big Picture.

http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/afghan_06_30_10/a01_24008185.jpg