AFTER SPENDING A TRILLION DOLLARS, HAVING 3500 OF ITS & ALLIED SOLDIERS AND OVER 35,000 AFGHANS KILLED AND THOUSANDS MORE MAIMED, THE US LEARNS ITS LESSONS IN AFGHANISTAN

The US & Afghan Taliban sign a peace treaty in Qatar on February 29, 2020. (Picture courtesy Voice of America).

Nineteen years after launching attacks on Afghanistan to initially eliminate Al-Qaeda and later the Taliban, the US realized the futility of war which Presidents George W. Bush and Barak Obama foolishly pursued to eliminate the Taliban and from time to time even claimed false victories. Afghanistan has proved to be a graveyard of Superpowers, starting with the British, the Soviet Union and now the United States.

Better late than never. The good thing about the agreement crafted between the US & Taliban is that it calls for an orderly withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and gradual take over by Afghans. So if the Taliban do not start infighting and the Afghan Government of Ashraf Ghani does not sabotage the deal as under this agreement they will virtually lose all power, then Afghanistan may finally see peace. Although the agreement is worded ridiculously as each clause starts with 'The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recognized by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban', the US already seems to have accepted a Taliban Government in Afghanistan as Part Two, Clause 5 of the agreement asks the Taliban not to issue passports or visas to certain persons as per extract below:

'Part Two:

5. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recognized by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban will not provide visas, passports, travel permits, or other legal documents to those who pose a threat to the security of the United States and its allies to enter Afghanistan'.

The prospect that a thirty-one-year-old conflict may come to an end in Afghanistan which was started by the Soviet Union in 1989 and continued by warring Afghan factions and blown to a full-fledged war post 9/11 by the US, is itself a good thing. The people of Afghanistan have suffered enough at the hands of foreign invaders and at the hands of their own warlords. They deserve peace and prosperity. It is a shame that nearly one trillion dollars have been wasted on the war effort, whereas a fraction of that amount could have brought prosperity to Afghanistan. One hopes the nightmare is over for the resilient nation of Afghanistan and they can now start a march toward prosperity. 

The credit must be given to President Trump for realizing the futility of it all and putting an end to this war. Similarly, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief of Army Staff, General Bajwa deserve credit for bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table time and again even when the accord was faltering.

US Debt Ceiling - Just to Defeat Obama in 2012, will the Republicans sink the US Economy?

The Republican Congressmen and Senators are playing an extremely dangerous game with their nation's finances. In their desire to defeat Barack Obama in 2012, they are pushing the issue of National Debt Ceiling to the brink.

If Congress does not approve an increase in country's debt ceiling by August 2,2011, United States Government will default on its debt obligations at the rate of $4 billion a day. The will result in lowering of US credit rating from AAA and no one will be willing to lend money to US Government unless there is a substantial increase in interest rates.

The interest rate hike will hit the already weak economy hard, pushing unemployment to double digits, the housing market will suffer a down turn like it has never been seen before. Already some 29 million homes are under water i.e. their mortgages are higher than market values, increase in mortgage defaults will bankrupt many US banks and unlike 2008, Uncle Sam will not be able to save them this time as Uncle Sam will itself be bankrupt.

Are the Republicans really this desperate to defeat Obama that they will sink the entire US ship? Many think they are playing brinkmanship and will come good at the last minute to avoid default. I hope they are right, because otherwise they have to be extremely despondent to do this to their own country.

The US default will also impact the World economy. The already suffering European economies of Greece, Ireland, Portugal and others will sink even further, resulting in a possible breakup of EU or the Euro as a single EU currency.

And why are Republicans not willing to increase the debt ceiling even once in Obama's three years, when they raised it no less than seven times in Bush's eight years? Apparently they want more tax cuts for the wealthy and oppose closing tax loopholes for big Corporations. They want to eliminate Medicare and cut Social Security for the poor. The American public knows well that the high debt is a Republican legacy from George Bush's ill planned wars and tax cuts cuts for the rich.

If a default occurs, Obama will probably take the high road and heap entire blame on Republicans and rather than winning the White House in 2012, Republicans could end up losing majority in the House and many Senate seats too.

In case of default, US voters have only themselves to blame for giving Republicans and Tea Party candidates a majority in the The House in 2010 despite George Bush's disastrous eight year Presidency.

West, Get out of Libya. UN Resolution 1973 was to protect Libyans, not kill them.

The UN Resolution 1973 was passed in an emergency situation as Gaddafi forces were about to recapture Ben Ghazi from rebel forces and a mass killing was likely. Essentially, the resolution was to protect Libyan citizens. Instead, U.S., France, Britain and other wetern countries have launched air attacks on Libyan cities and towns, killing a large number of citizens of that country.

The gung ho wetsern powers it seems were hell bent on raiding Libya no matter what. Their actions are illegal and beyond the scope of UN resolution.

It is shameful that UN Secretary, General Ban ki Moon has played in the hands of western powers. Instead of bringing peace, he has brought death and destruction to Libya. UN's mandate is to make peace not war. He should have made his best efforts to bring warring tribes to the table to accomplish peace. Also, UN should have sent in peacekeeping forces to protect Ben Ghazi and other cities, not send in western troops to kill Libyan citizens through air and missile attacks. Ban ki Man has lost his mandate and should resign immediately.

The world has not forgotten France and Italy's reputation as colonial powers. Under their respective occupation of Algeria and Libya, tens of thousands of people were tortured to death. The killings in Algeria were so grotesque that a large number of French citizens staged massive rallies in Paris and called for an end to French occupation. How can the UN mandate these same countries to bomb and kill more citizens of their previous colonies?

US's role in all this also very dubious. While Obama campaigned against war, he seemed only too eagre to start an uncalled for war and bomb Libyan cities. According to General Wesley Clarke (no conspiray theorist), plans were finalized to invade Libya immediately after 9/11 (watch the entire interview below).

UN should call for an immediate cease fire in Libya, ground all NATO aircraft and replace bombings with peacekeeping troops and at the same time help negotiate a truce between the warring tribes. This is not West's fight, it is Libya's internal tribal fight.

WITH EGYPT IN TURMOIL, TIME MAY BE RUNNING OUT FOR ISRAEL TO MAKE PEACE WITH PALESTINIANS

With Hosni Mubarak's impending departure, whatever form a new Egyptian Government takes, one thing is certain, the new Government is less likely to be friendly to Israel.

Tom Friedman is absolutely right when he says that it is time for Israel to make peace with Palestinians and that too in some haste. Prime Minister Netanyahu and his ultra right wing cabinet has dragged its feet to delay a meaningful peace dialogue, but time may be running out for Israel to come to a permanent settlement with Palestinians.

If the present political turmoil continues in the Middle East, Israel may find itself surrounded by countries with new and more hostile Governments who are likely to be much more sympathetic to Hezbollah, Hamas and the Palestinians.

The current Palestinian leadership headed by Mahmoud Abbas, though not fully representative of all Palestinians, still offers Israel a real chance of a permanent and lasting peace. Israel has to be prepared to show flexibility on West Bank and Jerusalem and Palestinians must be flexible on the right of return of refugees.

President Obama should take the initiative and emphasize upon the Israeli Government that time for peace is now and if they miss this opportunity, they could inflict a heavy price on generations of Israelis and Palestinians.

Israel must also immediately release Palestinian political prisoners held in their jails for years. One such leader is Marwan Barghouti. He is potentially the President of an independent Palestinian state. He has the support of all Palestinians and is also well respected by Fatah and Hamas. He is a revolutionary of the modern kind, he wants education for all Palestinians and a peaceful co-existence with Israel.

It is time for Israel to act and act now.

REPUBLICAN PARTY, HEALTH CARE, MASSIVE SPENDING AND THE PUBLIC HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

The Republicans made a calculation at the outset of Health Care Bill that if it can defeat the Bill, it can break and defeat Barack Obama. So, instead of actively participating in debate and helping improve the Bill, they adopted scare mongering and negative tactics. However, their calculation backfired and like Hillary Clinton did during the primary campaign, they too under estimated Barack Obama.

Their alliance with the Tea Party movement, which at best can be described a right wing fringe, may have damaged the Republican Party, especially their appeal to independent voters who now form a majority in the US. The blame for this does not rest solely on Michael Steele's shoulders, but on the entire Republican Party and especially the Senators and Congress members. The Republican Party may have shot itself in the foot.

How can a major political party take a position; "Health care in America is the best in the world, so leave it alone" when 50 million people i.e. 15% of country's population has no health care coverage. Apart from scaring many independent voters, Republicans surely have lost the 32 million people, who will now be entitled to health care coverage under the new bill.

US spends 17% of its GDP on health care and still leaves out 50 million of its people. In comparison, Canada spends only 11% of its GDP on health care, with every man woman and child covered. So, where is the money going - to insurance companies I guess? With ten times the population, US should be able to achieve economies of scale and spend no more that 8 or 9% on health care. If it could cut down the spending to 10% of GDP, the savings will be a staggering $994 billion a year reducing the budget deficit from $1.4 trillion to $406 billion.

So, is this the status quo the Republican Party wanted to maintain? And what about the Tea Party crowd, who love to talk about cutting down big Government, don't they get it? Where was the Tea Party movement when George W. Bush was launching illegal war on Iraq, giving tax breaks to the high earners and turning surpluses into deficits? Why did they not come out on the streets then and not protest even louder about Government spending?

Even with the new Bill, it is quite obvious that US health care system is far too expensive and needs substantial improvement. President Obama should quietly set up a team to study Canadian, British and Scandinavian public health care systems and have them devise the best public health care system possible.

It is imperative that a Public Health Care system be introduced in the US as soon as possible.

PREDICTION - OBAMA TO WIN 353 DELEGATES TO MCCAIN'S 185

Check out CNN's electoral map today at:

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/calculator/

This currently gives Obama 277 delegates to McCain's 122 with 87 Toss Ups. They way current polling trend is going, Obama is likely to win from the toss up column, Nevada, Colorado, Florida, Ohio & North Carolina and McCain Montana. That gives Obama 353 delegates to McCain's 185.

Some McCain states are becoming doubtful of late i.e. Indiana & Montana, but I am inclined to leave these in McCain's column. The popular vote gap may not be so wide, probably between 4 to 6 %.

Barack Obama should win at least 353 delegates if not more and that is a margin of 65:35.

Political Critic: http://politicalcritic.com/ is giving Obama 378:160 margin

Barack Obama likely to Win Texas

Things may not be as bad for Obama as they seemed Tuesday night. In the Texas primary Hillary Clinton leads in primary delegates by 65 to 61. But Obama is leading by a whopping 12% in the Caucus count. So far only 40% caucus results have come in and he is greadually increasing his lead. Even if the ultimate caucus result remains the same i.e. Obama's 56% to Clinton's 44%, Obama will win Texas overall (not counting the Super delegates). This is how the math works out:

Delegate Allocation:
Primary (99% results in) Clinton 65 Obama 61
Caucus (40% results in so far
Obama 56% Clinton 44%
assuming total 67 delegates
allocated on this basis) Clinton 29 Obama 38

Total Delegates Clinton 94 Obama99


Once all the caucus results are in, Obama should claim victory in Texas.

Also he needs to fire his advisor Goolsbee who damaged him tremendously in the Ohio primary by telling a Canadian Consulate employee in Chicago that Obama does not mean what he says about NAFTA. Obama should also address this issue in his next speech and take it head on to put this controversy to rest.

Obama Rocks

Barack Obama's string of eight consecutive victories over the last week with increasing margins seems to suggest that Obama's message is beginning to resonate with all Americans. The breakdown of voters last night was fascinating. He increased his vote amongst women, white males and Latinos. All three categories will play a major part in Texas & Ohio primaries.

Obama's speech last night in Wisconsin was his best so far. It seems he is just getting going and now there is a possibility that the 'Obama Movement' will capture the hearts of Wisconsin voters where Hillary had unassailable lead until recently. Which begs the question, why is Hillary in Texas and not in Wisconsin, shouldn't she focus on Wisconsin first where the primary is on Tuesday? Some more people in her campaign team need to be fired!

The Americans are taking a good look at Barack and they like what they see. Last night CNN showed Senator McCain's speech immediately after Barack's and what a comparison. McCain seemed tired, unenthusiastic and spent.

If John Edwards is considering endorsing Obama, he better do it soon or he will be irrelevant.