Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Notations On Our World (Special Edition): An #OutsiderWall re #Afghanistan



 

We present a "snapshot" of the developments on #Afghanistan:

Biden: 'I stand squarely behind my decision' on Afghanistan

Biden: 'I stand squarely behind my decision' on Afghanistan

President Joe Biden defended his decision to withdraw all U.S. military forces from Afghanistan Monday amid the collapse of the country's government.

Read the full story here.



Monday, August 16, 2021

Notations On Our World (Weekly Edition): An #OutsiderWall On the Week That Was


 It was one of the more challenging weeks in our World as Afghanistan's Government collapsed and its' President fled the Country, The US flag was brought down and taken to Kabul Airport, fires continued to rage on around the World, Canada faced an election, our Home State of California is facing an election with the possible recall of Governor Newsom, China continued its' inroads around the World, the COVID delta variant continued to wreak havoc in Iran, the Southern part of the United States and the Lambda Variant reared its' ugly head in the United States & as the second-largest country in Africa, Ethiopia was faced with civil war. 

We present a snapshot of the week that was in our World with thoughts from the Guardian of London, the New York Times, the Financial Times, The Washington Times, The Bulwark & the Economist of London: 




As US pulls out of Afghanistan, journalists fear for their lives
Taliban fighters are seen in Kunduz city, northern Afghanistan, on August 9, 2021. Suspected Taliban militants recently killed journalist Toofan Omar and kidnapped Nematullah Hemat. (AP/Abdullah Sahil)
In Afghanistan, as violence escalates against the backdrop of the ongoing U.S. military withdrawal, suspected Taliban militants killed an Afghan journalist and kidnapped another, and Taliban fighters shot at a car carrying two Afghan journalists. CPJ continues to call on the U.S. to act to save Afghan journalists’ lives. “Over the past 20 years, independent media has proliferated in Afghanistan,” CPJ’s executive director, Joel Simon, wrote in an op-ed in The Washington Post“But unless the U.S. government intervenes to bring them to safety, an entire generation of reporters will be lost.”
China likely to recognize Taliban as Afghan rulers with fall of Kabul

China likely to recognize Taliban as Afghan rulers with fall of Kabul

China has been laying the groundwork to recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, flying in the face of the U.S. warning the group about isolation from the international community.

Read the full story here.

Cold comfort, of a sort

The IPCC delivers its starkest warning about the world’s climate

Observations of changes now taking place make the science more accurate, but not more reassuring

Related

Where is climate change being felt most acutely?

A 3°C world has no safe place

The war in Afghanistan

The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan is gathering pace

Six of the country’s provincial capitals have fallen in quick succession. More will follow


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Blame Biden for Afghanistan’s Return to the Dark Agesa

SHAY KHATIRI: Executions, sex slavery, ethnic cleansing—and yet the president says “I do not regret my decision.”

A curse on both your houses

Will the rich world’s worker deficit last?

It will depend on whether the people who have left the workforce can be lured back

A mixed-up slowdown

The prospects for developing countries are not what they once were

Twenty years on, growth in the BRICs has slowed

Related

 

→ Read more: Unrest and economic underperformance haunt the emerging world

A gallop into the unknown

Peru’s left-wing new president pushes for a new constitution

But it remains unclear how radical Pedro Castillo can be


The disaster scenario

What if bitcoin went to zero?

A thought experiment helps uncover the links between crypto and mainstream finance

Death from above

The shadow war between Iran and Israel

What an attack on an oil tanker says about Iran

Imperfect harmony

Racial prejudice rears its head in Singapore

The city state is less racially harmonious than its government likes to thin