Baird been busy; two condemnations and a congratulatory press release in one day!

Check it out.

The congrats are for the brave Afghan people, especially the women, who voted in the Presidential run-off to determine which western flunky will take the reins of power from our flunky Karzai.

This is most probably a moot question. Whoever is the lucky winner will be lucky to get their loot out of the country once the last US troops leave. Canadian troops, by the way, are long gone, even though we promised the brave Afghans time and time again that "we're not the sort to cut and run."

Then we have the condemnation of the downing of a "large Ukrainian military plane". That plane was ferrying Poroshenko's storm troopers to the east to slaughter his own people. Of course, "slaughtering their own people" is what the guys we don't like do. When our friends do it, it's somehow Russia's fault.

That was the case when 48 pro-separation demonstrators died in Odessa on 2 May. Trapped in a building set alight by a fascist mob, most of the demonstrators were beaten to death or shot to death when they tried to escape the inferno. Canada was gravely concerned, but it was clearly Russia's fault.

Baird's other condemnation today was for the kidnappers of three Israeli teens from an illegal settlement in the occupied territories. Of course that should be condemned, as should the illegal settlements, as should the IDF killing of two Palestinian teens on 15 May, as should the fact that hundreds of Palestinian teens are incarcerated in Israeli jails, as should any number of abominations committed by our besties in the Middle East.

What's most galling about Baird's press releases is that they always claim to speak for "Canada", as in "Canada condemns" or "Canada congratulates"...

Foreign Affairs should post a disclaimer notifying the world that John Baird speaks for John Baird and his Conservative Party, not for Canada.

US puppet Karzai claims US not respecting Afghan sovereignty

Well duh!

Afghan sovereignty? Who the hell is US-installed and CIA paid-for Karzai to piss and moan about Afghan sovereignty?

Of course the US has no respect for Afghan sovereignty! Who does Karzai think provided all those billions he has stashed in Dubai and Switzerland? Does he believe for a moment those riches were a reward for his stewardship of Afghan sovereignty?

Let's set the record straight; Karzai was never about Afghan sovereignty; he was installed by the US and has been maintained in power by the US as the best of a bad lot, at least from the US perspective.

So when the puppet ignores the strings and embarks on initiatives such as freeing Taliban prisoners, he knows in advance that he's going to ruffle a few feathers.

I'm betting there's a Hellfire missile attached to a drone with Karzai's name on it right now.

Crunch time for Karzai

Never during Karzai's ascent to power has any serious person doubted that he was anything other than America's flunky in Kabul.

The current debate about the future of US troops in Afghanistan after all US troops leave Afghanistan is just the latest instalment in a long-running charade. In the first instance, the very fact that anyone is having such a debate would make Orwell blush. You're either leaving or you're not.

The privileged classes in Afghanistan know what side of the debate they're on. No one knows better than Karzai himself that a complete withdrawal of the US means the end of the comprador kleptocracy that he has led for over a decade.

At the same time, he needs to preserve at least the appearance of some shadow of Afghan sovereignty. This is mainly for the benefit of the west rather than Afghans. It allows our elites to portray Karzai as something other than a puppet. "Oh look what a hard bargain the man is driving in the name of Afghan sovereignty."

In Afghanistan "the people" know better.

They know that lasting peace will never come with American boots on the ground.

They know that even a "bad" peace is to be preferred over unending war.

They know that "sovereignty" is an empty fraud if it is imposed by a foreign occupier.

And Karzai well knows that they know.

Karzai's puppet strings are showing

Just yesterday the world's media were celebrating the handover of power from ISAF to Afghan forces.

And what a great story it was! After twelve years of occupation the Afghans are finally stepping out on their own!

Asserting themselves!

Taking over the leadership in their fight with the Talibs!

Then the story comes out that on the very day that NATO/ISAF hand the reins to the Afghans, the US is entering into negotiations in Doha with the Taliban.

Without inviting their bumboy Karzai to the party!

That automatically debunks an entire news-cycle's worth of bullshit about the Afghans taking charge of their own destiny, don't you think?

Karzai certainly thought so.

Which leaves both the pretend handover and the negotiations with the Taliban up in the air for the foreseeable future.

But this impasse won't last long. Karzai is all too well aware of who butters his bread.

Another "ally" gives US the finger

Yesterday it was Hamid Kazai claiming that the US has been playing footsies with the Talibs behind his back.

Today it's Paki wunderkind Zardari inaugurating a new pipeline construction project  that will bring natural gas from Ahmadinejad's Satanistan to our nuclear-weapons equipped besties in Pakistan.

As an aside, I must say that is one honkin' robust "gas" pipeline that we see in the AJE photo on the link. Looks way more like an oil pipeline to me.

It's starting to look like none of these folks give a shit what Uncle Sam thinks...  

Sharp dressed men; worlds best dressed leaders

Alright, now we know why Muammar had
to go... who the hell wears medals on a T-shirt?

Nigeria Big Boss Goodluck Jonathan rocks the
bowler hat like nobody else!

Afghan Supremo Hamid Karzai wears the coolest cape since
Batman!

Karzai rolls back womens' rights in Afghanistan

Afghan President Hamid Karzai today announced that from now on women in his country would be “strongly encouraged” to observe the Taliban-era restrictions on their dress and conduct.

He did not go on to define what he meant by strongly encouraged, but some forms of strong encouragement have included beatings, the use of battery acid, and stoning until dead.

The Sharia-based code of conduct prohibits women leaving their homes without the supervision of a male relative. They will also need to be covered in full burqa. Heather Barr of Human Rights Watch has said this represents a sell-out of Afghan women in an attempt to appease the Taliban ahead of US-Taliban negotiations about the future of the country.

The future of the country is of course a done deal. America has tired of this endless morass with no identifiable victory in sight. There are bigger fish to fry. The future of half the Afghan population is a small price to pay to get out of this mess.

US taxpayers on hook for $250 million to finish Canadian legacy project in Afghanistan

Remember the Dahla Dam?

It was to be Canada's signature project in Afghanistan. It was trotted out regularly as an example of Canada's humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan.

Well, turns out the "we-don't-cut-and-run" Canucks left the job in disarray when they cut and ran.

Don't know what they spent their tens of millions on, but apparently not much happened in the way of dam rehabilitation. Knowing the Canadian way, it's likely that ten years didn't really provide enough of a time window to do much besides planning, setting out parameters and protocols, and funneling money to various Karzai-related intermediaries.

That, and write a few feel-good news stories about it.

Now that the planning is done and Canadians are long gone, the US Army Corp of Engineers are looking for a few good contract proposals for finishing the job.

It's all there on the fbo.gov website, solicitation number W5J9LE-12-SS-0003.

The Corp estimates that the job will cost in the range of $100 to $250 million to complete.

In case your thinking about submitting a proposal, be aware that there's a timeline for completion. The US Army wants the job done by December 2014.

That's America's cut-and-run date and they want to have the project wrapped up in time to turn it over to the Taliban.

Rival peace talks assure successful end to Afghan fiasco

The news has been out there for a while now that the Taliban, the evil-doers we kicked out of power back in 2001, have opened an office in Qatar for the sole purpose of negotiating with the US.

What might they be negotiating? The Hindu website has a pretty good take on that. First, the Taliban negotiating team wants themselves taken off the US "Kill or Capture" list. Makes a certain amount of sense, I guess.

Can you really have a serious talk with someone who has you on a hit list?

Next, release all Taliban prisoners wherever they might be held.

Beyond that, it's all about making the US/NATO capitulation look like some sort of victory. We're literally pleading with the Taliban to make us look good as we high-tail it out of there.

Meanwhile, back in Kabul, Afghan President Hamid Karzai is mightily pissed that the surrender talks have started without him. He is the leader of the country, after all. He has retaliated by convening separate peace talks with the Taliban in Saudi Arabia.

Duelling peace talks, as it were.

There's a bit of a novelty involved here, in that the Taliban are humoring Karzai by agreeing to meet with him. In the past, they've refused direct negotiations with Karzai's regime, claiming he's just an American stooge. While anyone who has followed the Afghan fiasco knows that's true, this does seem to indicate a bit of mellowing in the Taliban position.

So it's peace talks here and peace talks there and peace talks all round as we prepare to declare victory and move on to the next fiasco.

Iran.