ven, 06/24/2011 - 22:06

Withdrawal Symptoms: Afghans Anxious Over Obama’s Out of Afghanistan Plan

US President Barack Obama has finally set out a troop pullout plan for Afghanistan. But amid rumors of businesses shutting down and talk of a likely civil war, many Afghans are wary of what the future holds.
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mar, 01/11/2011 - 14:26

[AUDIO] China in Africa: The Sino-U.S. Soft Power Showdown

The Cold War may have ended decades ago but a battle of ideas rages among a pair of Super Powers rages on today across Africa. The United States and China are engaged in a fierce duel to build influence in this strategically vital region.
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sam, 12/11/2010 - 14:08

Another video, another Christmas in captivity?

Last Christmas, the Taliban released a video featuring captured US soldier Bowe Bergdahl pleading for his life. The latest video clip provides few clues of his whereabouts, but the unscripted “backstory” is more enlightening – and frightening.
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mar, 11/23/2010 - 16:21

‘Professor of War’ Petraeus Rolls Into Town, Armed With PowerPoint

He’s been famously dubbed “the professor of war.” So when top US commander in Afghanistan Gen. David Petraeus addressed students at a Paris campus, he arrived with a teacher’s best weapon: a PowerPoint presentation.
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mer, 06/23/2010 - 10:56

Paris: The ‘most anti-McChrystal city'

Okay, I’ve read the text – or should we say, I’ve squirmed through the offending Rolling Stone article on Gen. Stanley McChrystal.
 

As a resident of Paris, I’m amused to learn that the City of Lights is, to quote a McChrystal adviser, “the ‘most anti-McChrystal city you can imagine.’”
 

For the record, I’m not taking offense. I guess if you’re the top US commander in Afghanistan, soldering through the dust of Helmand and you’d just like a Bud Light Lime, candles and Bordeaux on the table might seem a bit ooh-la-la-la.
 

But I’m being deliberately flippant. There are some serious issues at stake and I’m wondering what the good general is thinking as he makes his way to that White House meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan today.
 

The meeting, by the way, is closed to the press. So we can only guess what will happen behind closed doors.
 

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mar, 06/22/2010 - 15:57

Runaway Lips: The Other Side of McChrystal’s Big ‘Oh Boy’

When the big Gen. Stanley McChrystal gaffe news just broke, experts across the globe were desperately scrolling past near-naked pics of Lady Gaga on the Rolling Stone Web site, seeking the offending piece.
 

But now it’s online and the very first sentence of the Michael Hastings’ piece makes me squirm.
 

‘How'd I get screwed into going to this dinner?" McChrystal asks at the start of the piece.
 

How did he get screwed granting Hastings such access?
 

Yes, yes, America’s top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s latest gaffe is a big “oh boy” even by McChrystal’s standards.
 

In the Rolling Stone article, “The Runaway General,” which portrays him as a lone wolf in typically testosterone-driven, pop-culture magazine prose, McChrystal takes on a slew of Washington bigwigs.

 

He will pay for his folly of course: the top US commander in Afghanistan has been summoned to the White House for a sound drubbing, no doubt.

 

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