Italy and NATO Deny Paying Off Taliban

The Times said that Italy paid off the Taliban to keep the peace in parts of Afghanistan patrolled by Italian troops. In mid-2008, French troops took over the Surobi regions after Italy. Shortly after, ten French soldiers were killed, while no attack was reported when Italy was in control. The Times reported that Italy had paid "tens of thousands of dollars" to Taliban commanders in the Surobi district and came to an agreement that they do not attack each other. The newspaper cited Western military officials, including high-ranking officers at NATO, speaking on condition of anonymity. However, the NATO spokesperson and Italy's Premier seriously deny the statement of the Times by saying the report was "groundless". Until now, the "truth" from the report isn't admitted by any involved country and continues to bring down the reputation of NATO (and other countries).

NUCLEAR PEACE

It is commons sense that weapons cause war; war is bad, so weapons are bad. Nuclear weapons, being the most destructive of weapons and capable of complete annihilation, are then obviously the worst -

- as according to the often fallacious logic of today's liberal bourgeois, thinking like all reactionaries without actually understanding the issue.

Nuclear weapon capability has in recent decades has spread faster than one could say "nuclear disarmament". In proper reactionary fashion, nations have chosen to get rid of these nuke-abilities through UN resolutions, sanctions, and helping spread anti-nuclear sentiments among the general public .

Yet, the very basic premise that nuclear weapons and world peace are mutually exclusive, is FALSE. The first nukes - dropped onto Japan - were a main contributor to the end of WWII, saving thousands of lives that would have been lost through conventional warfare. Throughout the Cold War, the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) along with both superpowers possessing nuclear capability, ensured that none of the thousands of nuclear weapons were actually used. Yes, there are more parties involved in today's nuclear arena, but the game theory is still the same. Not only would MAD prevent nukes from being used, it would prevent any conventional war - saving uncountable lives. In addition, nuclear weapons would shield smaller nations from foreign imperialistic infringements on sovereignty.

The same idea was (more eloquently) iterated in an old Newsweek cover article by Jonathan Tepperman: http://www.newsweek.com/id/214248

Obama will discuss for more Troops to Afghanistan

According to the white house spokesman, Obama will be discussing the number of troops needed in Afghanistan this Friday. The rise of violence in Afghanistan by the Taliban have let the Obama administration into another major challenge (as this is the 9th year of the war). The highest US commander in Afghanistan called for another 40,000 to put their counterinsurgency tactics into action. Later, he "informally" requested more resources during a talk with Obama last week. But some are saying that he is treating the informal request over the formal needs of more troops. But Obama's spokesman told the press that he was not considering such things and the formal request of more troops will come as first priority. Since the war had started, 865 American soldiers and 570 allied troops were killed in action, and the public support for the war had dropped sharply for the last past two years. "Our troops are waiting for an answer. The Afghan people are waiting. Our enemy, the Taliban, is not waiting" said Republican Ted Poe.

9 years had passed, thousands of soldiers had sacrificed for the country, and still the war is not over yet. And who is this to blame? The answer, the only answer, Bush. Due to the overreaction and unintelligent decisions of the Bush Administration, the citizens of the United States have to clean up the leftovers for them. What the Bush administration should have done instead was to just finish off Iraq and return. The problem with the USA is that they think themselves as the Big Brother, the global police, always telling what the world should do. And then look at their own country now, there's over taxation, racism, high job losses, health care and education failure, and then lastly a series of failed administrations. All the failed decisions results in major impact to the citizens.
So what I seriously suggest Obama to do is just let everything go, let Iraq and Afghan go, let the government there figure out themselves. Due to the great influence of the US, foreign countries also loss numerous lives while fighting alongside with the US troops. It is finally the time for the US to lower their heads and clean-up what they messed up when they started this "Vietnam" war.

Article Via CNN