Afghanistan: Majority Taliban, and Kabul could fall next year

At least if you go by land area. The Guardian reports the Taliban now control more than half the country at an estimated 54 percent.

The Senlis Council, an independent British think tank, warns the country could be lost entirely, even as the Taliban front line creeps closer and closer to Kabul:

“It is a sad indictment of the current state of Afghanistan that the question now appears to be not if the Taliban will return to Kabul, but when ... and in what form. The oft-stated aim of reaching the city in 2008 appears more viable than ever and it is incumbent upon the international community to implement a new strategic paradigm before time runs out.”

Its 110-page report coincides with an equally severe warning from Oxfam. In a report for the House of Commons International Development Committee the humanitarian and aid agency warns that the security situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating significantly with the country's problems exacerbated by corruption in central and local government.

Senior British and US military commanders privately agree despite their public emphasis on short-term successes against Taliban fighters.

Senlis recommends urgent action, as does Oxfam, but nobody seems to listen or care:

It says that the NATO-led International Security Force of some 40,000 troops should be at least doubled and include forces from Muslim countries as well as Nato states which have refused to send troops to the country.

There is no sign of any move within NATO to send reinforcements to Afghanistan.

While western governments, like the Senlis Council and Oxfam, are increasingly concerned about the lack of effectiveness of President Hamid Karzai's government, there is no agreement about how to solve the problems.

Also interesting to note that “our boy” in Kabul is more and more perceived as less and less effective, kind of like the whole succession of “our boys” in Baghdad.

The domestic political fallout will be huge if the Taliban occupies Kabul in, say, mid-summer 2008, after primaries are over but before the party national conventions. That holds true in spades if Bush’s soul-gazed bosom buddy in Karachi, Pervez Musharraf, continues to dig in his heels about not taking serious action against the Taliban and allies in the Pakistan-Afghanistan borderlands.

Ted Rall was right: If there was a country to invade six yeas ago, it was Pakistan. But, THAT most definitely would have required a military draft.

So much for the whistling in the dark that the subprime crisis won’t affect Texas

D/FW existing home prices are down 3 percent from a year ago. And, that’s worse than the national average fall-off of 2 percent.

Ahh, those were the days… sort of

I taught a year as a part-time non-tenure track adjunct at a college in Michigan which had multiple campuses. This story from the New York Times brought back memories. Adjunct at small colleges and community colleges usually have a bit more time for students in smaller classes than adjuncts at universities; on the other hand, the pay is even lower.

Instead of Iraq, let’s spend more money on science

Cutting to the bone the budget for the world’s largest radio telescope, at Arecibo, is not just stupid, or even asinine. It’s potentially deadly.

We still have no idea how many near-earth asteroids there are.

Cal regulators step in where BushCo leaves federal hole

California AG Jerry Brown is suing 20 companies over lead levels in children’s toys. The suit includes both defendants like Mattel and retailers like Wal-Mart.

But, he’s willing to settle out of court.

IF the defendants agree to increased inspections, among other things.

I’m sure BushCo is so out to lunch that the U.S. DOJ won’t even file an amicus brief on behalf of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Between this, and suits over CAFÉ standards and carbon dioxide emissions by cars, it’s almost as if there’s a parallel United States government in Sacramento at times.

No, Ahhnold himself is far from perfect. But, the California statehouse is more than Der Governator.

You think U.S. environmental enforcement is lax at times? BC sucks up to BP

Try living in British Columbia, where the provincial government is set to sign off on a coal-mining and natural gas exploration project next to both U.S. Glacier National Park and Canada’s Waterton Lakes National Park.

Together, they comprise the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, which is listed by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as one of its world heritage site.

Both the Canadian and US parks also have been declared by UNESCO to be Biosphere Reserves. World heritage sites are said to have outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of all humankind.

Critics also say the mining project runs the risk of spoiling the pristine waters and fragile ecosystem of parks on both the Canadian and US sides of the Rocky Mountains, which have come to symbolize peace and friendship between the two countries.

Chief among environmentalists' concerns are the impact on the area's abundant wildlife, including lynx, wolves and especially grizzly bears, whose mating habits could be adversely impacted by the noisy and intrusive mining equipment.

The company involved? British Beyond Petroleum; obviously moving so greenly beyond petroleum into dirty coal mining.

The natural gas will come from the same coal-bed methane that has dirtied up Wyoming’s Powder River country.

Despite the provincial government’s claims that neither national park has anything to worry about, an international commission recommended against a similar project back in 1988.