Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “Afghanistan”
“Show me bodies floating in water, play violins and show me skinny people looking sad. I still don’t care.” – Popular conservative Sun (a British daily newspaper) columnist Katie Hopkins, commenting on the homeless war refugees from war-torn Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, etc. who are fleeing their militarily de-stabilized and devastated countries after their homes and homelands had been reduced …
Steven Erlanger in the New York Times, asks: Are Western Values Losing Their Sway? Here’s my two cents: The problem with our “Western values” is not the values in themselves, although some are certainly questionable. The real problem is the triumphalism that came with them after the West’s ‘victory’ at the end of the Cold War, a dangerous triumphalism that …
In episode 70 David talks to former soldier John Dowe whether the drug Mefloquine (see Episode 67’s interview with Dr. Remington Nevin) could have played a role in the so-called Somalia Affair. In 1993, the same year as the Battle of Mogadishu and Black Hawk Down, soldiers from the elite Canadian Airborne Regiment were also in a restless and violent part of Somalia. Frustrated with locals sneaking in to steal and sabotage, someone ordered them to start “roughing up” anyone they caught. One group of soldiers interpreted this as setting up a trap. When the searchlight was suddenly turned on the soldiers literally blew one Somali into pieces, and severely injured another. In a second incident, a Somali was captured and beaten to death by two other soldiers.
When photos were released, a public inquiry and criminal investigation were launched, resulting in one soldier trying to commit suicide, one being sentenced to five years, and several others disciplined. The head of the military was forced to resign due to the scandal, and his successor. The Minister of Defence also resigned. Most significantly of all the entire Canadian Airborne Regiment was disbanded.
John Dowe, like many others, has noticed severe personality changes after taking the weekly malaria drug Mefloquine, and he believes that this, along with other factors such as stress, alcohol, boredom and poor leadership, allowed this scandal to occur. In fact, when he walked into the bunker where the Somali was being beaten to death, one of the soldiers doing the beating came up to him and said that “This is not who I am, John”.
John became an activist only in 2014, when he discovered that this drug is still in use by Canadian and other militaries. He is part of a small group of Canadians trying to raise awareness, in cooperation with similar groups around the world.
Although there is no website yet, John can be reached via Email at johndowe49@gmail.com, Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=636190328 and Twitter: @johndowe49.
For more information on the Somalia affair, please see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somalia_Affair
In the American police state, you’re either a prisoner (shackled, controlled, monitored, ordered about, limited in what you can do and say, your life not your own) or a prison bureaucrat (police officer, judge, jailer, spy, profiteer, etc.). When you’re a child in the American police state, life is that much worse. Microcosms of the police state, America’s public schools …
We turn our attention to Europe, compelled by shocking images of refugees’ deaths. To the stories of the stateless having identification numbers written on them and told their trains are headed to a safety, rather than camps. Eerie reminders from the past merge with disturbing pictures of the present. What will be the refugees’ future? War has uprooted half of …
This week’s program offers two perspectives on global capitalism and permanent war. Sociologist William Robinson makes the case that the present state of capitalism may be a “systemic crisis,” something not seen in centuries. Then peace advocate Kathy Kelly relates her experiences from Afghanistan to US prisons, and refutes the notion of”humanitarian war.”
William Robinson teaches Sociology at UC Santa Barbara. Kathy Kelly is the founder of Voices for Creative Nonviolence.
UNITED NATIONS – As tens of thousands of refugees continue to flee conflict-ridden countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria, Western European governments and international humanitarian organisations are struggling to cope with a snowballing humanitarian crisis threatening to explode. Hungary is building a fence to ward off refugees. Slovakia says it will accept only Christian refugees, triggering a condemnation by …
Since the end of World War Two the Central Intelligence Agency has been a major force in US and foreign news media, exerting considerable influence over what the public sees, hears and reads on a regular basis. CIA publicists and journalists alike will assert they have few, if any, relationships, yet the seldom acknowledged history of their intimate collaboration indicates a …
The ideological and physical hold of American imperial power, buttressed by the utopian ideology of neoliberalismand global capitalism, is unraveling. Most, including many of those at the heart of the American empire, recognize that every promise made by the proponents of neoliberalism is a lie. Global wealth, rather than being spread equitably, as neoliberal proponents promised, has been funneled upward into …
The nature of the war in Afghanistan has shifted dramatically in recent months. While the US and NATO continue to be actively involved in the country – their strategic objectives having changed very little since the Bush administration launched the war nearly a decade and a half ago – the complexion of the battlefield, and the parties actively engaged in …
