Samihullah is just the kind of returned refugee his country needs. Aged 30, with a wife and two children, he was well educated in the camps across the border in Pakistan. After the Taliban were pushed out in 2001, he returned home and joined the Afghan Ministry of Education, where he helped to rebuild the higher-education sector. But not any more.

I found him working as a security guard at the UN’s World Food Programme headquarters in Kabul. With allowances he earns a total of $270 a month there, compared with $50 at the Afghan higher education. The decision to move jobs was not a hard one.

But it is the international system that is sucking Afghanistan dry. Any returnee who speaks English can be guaranteed a job at a higher level in the UN, or the myriad big NGOs that have set up shop in Kabul.

Ashraf Ghani, who was Finance Minister in the first year after the Taliban fell, and is now chancellor of Kabul University, says the international community has failed Afghanistan. Rather than build up the government, it has created a parallel system that has actively weakened the capacity of Afghanistan to run its own affairs.

Mr Ghani’s greatest fear is that by failing to empower the Afghan government, the world could be helping the Taliban to regroup, as they feed on the resentment of people at the slow pace of change. He says “The cheapest way of bringing development and security is government.”
independent.co.uk

“I have no embarrassment at all. No shame.” Bono says it himself, in the course of his luvvie interview with comic Eddie Izzard, and that’s a typically ‘disarming’ tactic. But don’t be disarmed: Bono’s shamelessness is of a whole different order from anything we’ve seen before, and it crosses new frontiers in the edition of the London Independent that he allegedly ‘edited’ today (16 May).

For a day, you see, it’s the RED Independent. (The capital letters in RED are obligatory, for some reason.) Much of the paper is given our to plugging Brand RED, this corporate PR strategy that sees a few big companies buy Bono-bestowed credibility in return for some shillings to Africa. If the word for Bono is indeed ‘shameless’, then the word that comes to mind in relation to the newspaper itself (a usually credible outlet in Irish mogul Tony O’Reilly’s media empire) is ‘prostitute’.

Much of Bono’s RED Indy is online, but its special qualities are best appreciated on paper. RED is somehow related to the colour red anyway, so we get a front-page created by celebrity artist Damien Hirst, soaked in red and declaring “NO NEWS TODAY” and an asterisk leading to the small print: “Just 6,500 Africans died today as a result of a preventable, treatable disease. (HIV/AIDS)” So far, not terrible, highlighting the issue and its absence from the conventional Western news agenda. But why does it say “Genesis 1.27” on the cover? That’s the line about how “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Since Bono is responsible for creating this paper in his image, does that mean he’s God?

It’s not an entirely facetious question. Certainly this edition, largely given over to Africa and AIDS, creates an image of a continent in dire need of an outside Savior. On page after page, in stories, photographs and advertisements, Africans are presented as pathetic victims, often children. No Africans write about Africa. Only one is presented in an interview as having any agency at all, Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. It is remarkable that even for the sake of appearances Bono is incapable of hiding his essential paternalism.
counterpunch.org

The Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Ministry Monday issued a communique expressing that “the government of the United States climbs to new heights of cynicism and shamelessness, when it tries to tie Venezuela to its particular vision of international terrorism.”

In this way, the Venezuelan Chancellery reacted to the US move to ban the sales of weapons to Venezuela for considering that Hugo Chàvez Government is not “cooperating enough” to fight terrorism.

“Behind its despicable accusations is a useless campaign of shame designed to isolate Venezuela, destabilize its democratic government and prepare the political conditions for an attack,” said the communique.

The Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Ministry ensured that, among other plans, Washington intends to handicap Venezuelan defenses. “There is too much clarity to obscure it with accusations and shameless acts,” the document added.

“We ratify that Venezuela will not succumb to pressures. It will firmly resist the attacks of this nature and counsels not to confuse the cowardly and opportunistic expressions of some, with the will of the people. This is an error that they have committed recently with other people that pay dearly with their dignity, but who also must pay with the price of aggression.”

The communique stressed that Venezuela “not hesitate to close its fist to respond to aggression, verbal as well as material, as undertaken by an immoral government with an aggressive nature.”

“If not ‘collaborating’ means not supporting the virtual genocide that it (US) practices against the Iraqi people and failing to condemn it with all one’s might before all the possible forums, then under no concept or pretext Venezuela is not willing to ‘collaborate.'”
eluniversal.com

Welcome to London, President Chavez!
President Hugo Ch‡vez of Venezuela will today become the second head of state–after the Queen–to be welcomed to London’s City Hall. When it comes to the social transformation taking place in Venezuela, the political qualifications often necessary in our imperfect world can be set aside. It is crystal clear on which side right and justice lies. For many years people have demanded that social progress and democracy go hand in hand, and that is exactly what is now taking place in Venezuela.

Pentagon covert ops have left the CIA in the dust for some time. ‘The Defense Department is building up an elite secret army with resources stretching across the full spectrum of covert capabilities. New organizations are being created. The missions of existing units are being revised,’ William Arkin wrote for the Los Angeles Times in 2002. ‘The increasingly dominant role of the military, Pentagon officials say, reflects frustration at the highest levels of government with the performance of the intelligence community, law enforcement agencies and much of the burgeoning homeland security apparatus. It also reflects the desire of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to gain greater overall control of the war on terror’. Insulated from outside pressures, armed with matchless weapons and technology, trained to operate below the shadow line, the Pentagon’s black world of classified operations holds out the hope of swift, decisive action in a struggle against terrorism that often looks more like a family feud than a war.
kurtnimmo.com

Between about 40,000 and 100,000 civilian deaths have resulted so far from our war in Iraq and its inevitable aftermath. Blair and Bush justify these deaths. They do so partly by the line of thinking that these deaths were not intended by them or our men. They did not intend to kill innocent people. They would have chosen to avoid it if this had been possible consistently with their goal.

This claim of rightness is moral nonsense. It is worse than that. It is moral viciousness.
counterpunch.org

…The main plan calls for a rolling, five-day bombing campaign against 400 key targets in Iran, including 24 nuclear-related sites, 14 military airfields and radar installations, and Revolutionary Guard headquarters.

At least 75 targets in underground complexes would be attacked with waves of bunker-buster bombs.

Iranian radar networks and air defence bases would be struck by submarine-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles and then kept out of action by carrier aircraft flying from warships in the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf.
theherald.co.uk

…Russia has opted for democracy. There are no serious indications that it will deviate from this strategic direction. But the purely Russian nuances, such as stronger statehood or tougher morality will manifest themselves with time. Finally, as any sovereign state, Russia will be defending its interests in the world arena – the stronger the country, the tougher its policy. There is nothing to be scared of. But it would be logical to expect Russia after some time to have strategic interests near U.S. borders. After all, doesn’t Ms. Rice talk today about U.S. strategic interests at the Russian borders? The U.S. is certainly right about globalization.
en.rian.ru

MOSCOW, May 10 (RIA Novosti) – President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that a ruble-denominated oil and natural gas stock exchange should be set up in Russia.

Speaking before both chambers of parliament, cabinet members, and reporters, Putin said: “The ruble must become a more widespread means of international transactions. To this end, we need to open a stock exchange in Russia to trade in oil, gas, and other goods to be paid for with rubles.”

“Our goods are traded on global markets. Why are not they traded in Russia?” Putin said.
en.rian.ru

Iran to require oil payments in euros
TEHRAN, May 15 (UPI) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Friday that in July Iran will abandon dollar payments for its oil and natural gas exports in favor of euros.

The move comes amid a standoff between Tehran and Washington over Iran’s nuclear fuel enrichment program. The Bush administration insists the program is cover for a nuclear weapons program, a charge that Iran denies.

All current international oil transactions on the New York Mercantile Exchange and London’s International Petroleum Exchange are priced in dollars.

Middleeastforex.com reported May 13 that Ahmadinejad announced the change Friday during a visit to Baku, Azerbaijan.

Many political observers see the decision as an attempt to pressure Washington, which is attempting to line up other U.N. Security Council members to act against Iran for its nuclear policies.

Iran has also proposed establishing a euro-based Iranian oil bourse to compete with NYMEX and the IPE. The proposal was first put forward in the beginning of the Third Development Plan (2000-2005), and began to receive serious attention in 2005.

Some observers speculate that the Iranian switch to euros could negatively affect the dollar, as many central banks from oil importing nations could choose to stock up their currency reserves with euros rather than dollars.

US asks Pak to abandon gas project with Iran
ISLAMABAD: The US has asked Pakistan to abandon the seven billion dollar gas pipeline planned to Pakistan and India ahead of next week’s visit by a high-level Iranian delegation, a newspaper reported on Monday.

“The US has asked Pakistan to distance itself from the pipeline, but the leadership is adamant in its refusal to the constant US demands,” The Nation quoted a senior government official as saying.

Iran and Pakistan have said the project would forge ahead despite US reservations. Pakistan said the project is vital to meet the country’s growing energy needs.

The Pentagon’s defence scientists want to create an army of cyber-insects that can be remotely controlled to check out explosives and send transmissions.

The idea is to insert micro-systems at the pupa stage, when the insects can integrate them into their body, so they can be remotely controlled later.

Experts told the BBC some ideas were feasible but others seemed “ludicrous”.

A similar scheme aimed at manipulating wasps failed when they flew off to feed and mate.

The new scheme is a brainwave of the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), which is tasked with maintaining the technological superiority of the US military.
bbc.co.uk

Darpa’s Far-Out Dreams on Display
…Mighty Isis: Darpa wants to start planning for a blimp, three times the size of Goodyear’s, that would keep watch over an entire city.

Hovering 70,000 feet above ground, the ISIS (PDF) airship (short for Integrated Sensor Is Structure) would use a giant, flexible radar antenna to give, in the words of Darpa program manager Larry Correy, a “dynamic, detailed, real-time picture of all movement on or above the battlefield: friendly, neutral or enemy.”

“We will apply this technology to track people emerging from buildings of interest and follow them as they move to new locations,” said Darpa’s Paul Benda. “Imagine the impact it will have if ISIS tracks the movement of individuals for months. Hidden webs of connections between people and facilities will be revealed.”

Such a system is meant to keep tabs on urban combat zones — abroad, of course. But there’s no reason ISIS couldn’t float over New York or Chicago or Kalamazoo.

US pharmaceutical companies have long known that the potential market for their products is limited by the finite number of sick people; so they have turned to the healthy for further expansion of their markets, using exploitative, fear-inducing advertising techniques.
mondediplo.com