Another Chinook in Afganistan

The Taliban

The Islamic fundamentalist who call themselves the Taliban are still causing problems. Despite incredibly prolonged military efforts of NATO and the United States, the Taliban are still a force that can inflict damage. Despite the endless resources being invested in their extermination they still manage to make it to the news with yet another item of ruthless bloodshed. Although the combined forces of today's modern super powers have been labouring in Afghanistan for a very long time we don't seem to be seeing much in the way of improvement.

Another Chinook is downed

This Wednesday, the 30th of May the Taliban have claimed another hit on American forces in Afghanistan when they shot down a Chinook helicopter carrying 5 American soldiers and 2 other military passengers. According to the report there were no survivors. This is not the first Chinook helicopter to be shot down by the Taliban and they seem to be doing it with ease and impudence. When will this stain of terror finally be exterminated permanently? One would think that in today's modern world of the 21st century we would be exempt from the involvement in such pointless conflict and bloodshed. For us the battle against terrorism is the fight to bring enlightenment to the world. This is no less a religious cause than the Islamic Taliban cause of exterminating the unbelievers (which is us!). One can only hope that all peoples will become more enlightened in the near future.

Questioning the Official Castro Story

The official story is that Fidel Castro is recovering nicely after several intestinal surgeries. Now, after several months of intravenous feeding, he is eating and maintaining his generous 80 kg of weight. This is nice to hear and perhaps we should rejoice that one of the oldest leaders of the modern world is still with us. Unfortunately, the news of the past years has shown us that such reports are often much exaggerated. It is easy to remember that Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader also "joked with his doctors" while he was probably already dead or at least brain dead. Yasser Arafat has not been the only aged leader who has joked with his doctors while actually being comatose and completely unable to communicate. Fidel Castro is certainly no youngster and has played a prominent role in the world politics. Even so, it would be nice to believe that Castro, who has always played his hand as being sincere with his people, is maintaining his reputation and the truth is that he is healing nicely. This seems to be well supported by the optimistic and candid nature of his letters to his people. He does not say that everything is fine. He says that he can now eat food. This gives the feeling that although the famous leader is currently down, he will be back soon enough. As convincing as it seems it is not beyond politicians to manipulate people's thoughts in just such a way.

Cuban Leader is Gettting Better

Fidel Castro, the fearless leader of the Cuba announced on July 31st that he was giving over the government of Cube to his 75 year old brother because he was going to undergo abdominal surgery due to intestinal bleeding. Since then, we have heard occasional announcements regarding his health. While very little surrounding the operation is clear it is apparent that Castro has undergone more than one operation and for a prolonged period of time was receiving his nutrition via an intravenous line. For a long time there seemed to be a conflict between the official reports that stated that the Cuban leader was getting steadily better with his health was improving and various news papers that seemed to indicate that his situation was grave and getting worse. Today, though, Castro has written to the public his official announcement that he is indeed improving. He can now eat regularly and no longer requires intravenous support. Although it is unclear when he will make his first live appearance, it seems that we will be seeing more of good Castro. Castro has managed to play an important part in politics for years. Now, he is 80 years old and still very much in power. The Cuban state runs smoothly and efficiently with very little complaints. It would be nice to see such stability continue with the leader that we have come to know and love. The question is, how true are these reports? This I will discuss the next time...

Iran is Scary

Iran is developing nuclear weapons and we are doing nothing about it

After having described the current Iranian situation, it is time to paint the picture as it seems to be. Iran has done nothing to reduce it's nuclear development programs. It has only expanded it's enrichment programs. The Iranians even state that they have no intention of reducing their programs. Not only that, all this is true of the programs that are known to the U.N. and the security council. Even the International nuclear energy agency admit that they don't know what is really going on. The Iranians are currently under a strict religious Muslim reign that leaves very little room for the existence of unbelievers. Since under the title of unbelievers it is possible to include practically everyone else everywhere, this sounds very scary. The Iranians are rapidly developing a massive nuclear arsenal that could easily blast the entire world back into the stone age and all the U.N. are doing is placing sanctions and assembling talks. Even as these words are being written the threat continues to develop. It seems like the U.S. training in Kuwait have a job to do and it seems like a pity to keep them waiting. Perhaps it is time to enter Iran and save the world before it is too late? It would seem like it is high time to act quickly and do what needs to be done. The price of war is high but the consequences of delay would seem to be much higher.