Karzai the New Diem

The Sunday Times: Reports in depth on the stormy meeting between President Karzai of Afghanistan and the Obama Envoy, Richard Holbrooke, it seems that Karzai was being bullied to have a second round of elections in Afghanistan. This does recall the problems that the Kennedy Administration had with Diem of South Vietnam, Diem would not listen to US concern about his running of the Government, in the end the Kennedy Administration gave the green light for coup against Diem. This was the worse mistake of the Kennedy Administration, after the removal of Diem there was no stable government in South Vietnam, the the history lesson to Obama don't push a shaky barn, you might end up with no barn and barren land. In simpler language, if you get rid of Karzai you could end up with no leader that has support in Afghanistan and you end up being the Government of Afghanistan, does Holbrooke want to Viceroy of Afghanistan?

No More US Troops for Afghanistan Yet - Fox News

Fox News: Reports that the US Commander in Afghanistan, General McChrystal will not ask for more troops now but later on in the year, but he will ask for more kit. If this is the result the Obama White House will be very happy, its in the trenches over Health Care Reform, Liberals would not be happy in supporting a surge for Afghanistan, Obama would need Republican support, that might cause friction with his Liberal base. On the other hand President Obama might need Republican support at the end of the year for a surge, can he afford to burn them on health care reform and expect them to support him down the line, one wonders does the Obama White House think that far, so far they are not the best First Term Term, that goes to the Reagan Administration and the Chief of Staff James Baker.

The Afghan Election and the Obama Administration

The New York Times: Has an interesting Editorial on how the Afghan election will effect the Obama policy on Afghanistan. The perceived flawed election, in other words it was fixed or even better the Chicago way to run elections might not help the Obama Administration in selling its policy on Afghanistan, the NYT writes the following, " Obama administration officials had hoped that the election would show that Afghanistan was moving forward enough to justify more money and troops..." As BBC News reported the US is very concerned about the election outcome, this has caused tension between the USA and Afghanistan Governments, thus Obama faces two problems, the election in Afghanistan could cause people to go on to the streets as in Iran, this would be massive headache for Obama, also the Liberal NYT is building the same negative stories that caused the US voter to go negative on Iraq. Also the Obama White House has caused friction with the CIA, it would not matter if the USA was not fighting two Wars but it is, thus expect the CIA to leak against the Obama Administration, Obama really could be the next LBJ.

Families sending Kit to Afghanistan

The Times: Reports on one soldiers family sending out thousand pounds of kit to Afghanistan. I nearly fell out of my chair when I read this story, we have just lost another soldier on Saturday and our troops need their families to send out kit, kit that they should get from the MOD. This is a national disgrace, this is fighting a war on the cheap, its out of World War One when it comes to the treatment of our Armed Forces Personnel. It can be argued that UK PM Gordon Brown is not fit to be a PM in a time of War. Brown is no Winston Churchill in a time of War. UK PM Brown wants to fight a war on the cheap, sorry Mr Brown but war is a serious business, our troops need the kit and extra and troops, either support our Armed Forces or take them out of theatre. This is national disgrace folks, lets support our troops.

Death in Afghanistan

MOD: Reports that a British soldier has been killed in Afghanistan, the soldier was a " Royal Marine " Thus since 2001 the UK has lost 208 of its Armed Forces Personnel in Afghanistan, of that number, 177 have died in combat operations and another 31 have died due to illness, accidents or other incidents. I ask myself what will be the total number lost after we leave Afghanistan, after we leave can we look back say it was worth it, Iraq on the whole was a disaster, both Iraq and the USA wanted us out, thus Afghanistan is the country we cant lose, if Great Britain is to mean something, we have fight and we have to send more kit and troops, its that simple and harsh. If we are forced out in Afghanistan we might as well become another Belgium, needing the help of others aka 1914 and France in 1939/40.

STEALING from the POOR

The Times: Reports that New Labour is cutting benefit to the poorest families in the UK. I thought Labour was created to help the poor not to penalise them for being poor. In the USA Obama is throwing money at the poor through his economic package, while in the UK we are taking food in many respects from the mouths of the innocent. It seems the UK Government can save the banks but will allow people to starve, the Conservatives would never try to pull this kind of vile underhand policy move, it can be argued that UK PM Gordon Brown as the political instincts of the Captain of the Titanic.

President Obama, the US Justice Department vs The CIA

The New York Times: Reports on the decision by the US Justice Department under Eric Holder to investigate the CIA over its methods post 9/11, the NYT writes the following, " Few cabinet officers are closer to Mr. Obama than Mr. Holder,.... Aides said that they could not rule out that the two discussed the matter..." It seems that President Obama is out to get the CIA, this is bad mistake by the Obama White House, it should recall its has two wars to deal with, Afghanistan and Iraq, the CIA leaked the Bush White House to distraction, if it wants to it can make Obama's first term hell, they are the CIA, Obama is Chicago politician, the CIA has the National Security Agency that spies on everybody, thus lets hope the Obama White House is totally clean or they might find that leaks come out when they least want them and they spend rest of the time having to deny stories that make them look bad. At the end of the day you don't win against the CIA, when your President you need them more than they need you, Obama will find over the next few years that his main enemy is not the Republicans in Congress but the CIA and their leaks, they are experts, even better than Chicago politicians.