Troops already outnumber Taliban 12-1 in Afghanistan

There are already more than 100,000 international troops in Afghanistan working with 200,000 Afghan security forces and police. It adds up to a 12-1 numerical advantage over Taliban rebels, but it hasn't led to anything close to victory.

Now, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan is asking for tens of thousands more troops to stem the escalating insurgency, raising the question of how many more troops it would take to succeed.

The commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, says the extra forces are needed to implement a new strategy that focuses on protecting civilians and depriving the militants of popular support in a country where tribal militias may be Taliban today and farmers tomorrow.

The White House said Tuesday that President Barack Obama has nearly finished gathering information and advice on how to proceed in Afghanistan, where bombings killed eight more American troops. With October now the deadliest month for U.S. forces in the war, many experts question the need for more troops.

"The U.S. and its allies already have ample numbers and firepower to annihilate the Taliban, if only the Taliban would cooperate by standing still and allowing us to bomb them to smithereens," said Andrew Bacevich, a professor of international relations and history at Boston University, and one-time platoon leader in Vietnam.

"But the insurgents are conducting the war in ways that do not play to (allied) strengths."

@'AP'

Date-rape drink spiking 'an urban legend'

Widespread spiking of drinks with date-rape drugs such as Rohypnol and GHB is an "urban legend" fuelled by young women unwilling to accept they have simply consumed too much alcohol, academics believe.
A study of more than 200 students revealed many wrongly blamed the effects of a "bad night out" on date-rape drugs, when they had just drunk excessively.
Many are in "active denial" that drinking large amounts of alcohol can leave them "incoherent and incapacitated", the Kent University researchers concluded.

@'Telegraph'

However, as George Pitcher quite rightly points out here it is rapists that rape NOT alcohol!

Brother of Afghan President Is on C.I.A. Payroll

Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a suspected player in the country's booming illegal opium trade, gets regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, and has for much of the past eight years, according to current and former American officials.

The agency pays Mr. Karzai for a variety of services, and those financial ties and the agency's close working relationship with him raise significant questions about America's war strategy, which is currently under review at the White House.
@'NY Times'

Smoking # 37

Monica Bellucci by Ellen Von Unwerth

Icon

"(Women) are not just there to be admired, they are there to be enjoyed."--Ellen Von Unwerth

Three girls, one boy; "Action!"

Ellen von Unwerth, Pajama Party, 1995. 16"x20", gelatin silver print

Meanwhile over at (son of)...

Tracklisting:
1. Theme
2. Low Life
3. Annalisa
4. Religion
5. Public Image
6. Belsen Was A Gas
7. Attack
8. Problems
9. Public Image (encore)
10. Annalisa (encore)

Vocals - John Lydon
Guitar - Keith Levene
Bass - Jah Wobble
Drums - Jim Walker

Much like the Belgium show this tape is a must have for its historical value if nothing else. The band play a similar set with two major differences. One being the omission of the PiL song 'The Cowboy Song' and the addition of the Pistols song 'Problems'. Now I can understand why they played 'Belsen' to a degree since there was question to its authorship, but 'Problems' is clearly a Pistols song and it even sounds like Wobble wasn't that familiar with it on the tape. This would be the last time they would play it of course. The tape as a whole is a pretty good sounding audience recording with some minor static all throughout, but nothing too obtrusive. This being the second gig the band played, and one of the three that feature the true original band make it noteworthy.

NB
This is taken from the original bootleg cassette. The bootleg LP version of the gig 'Recorded in Paris When No One Was Looking' has slightly poorer sound quality, and does not feature the 2nd encores of 'Public Image' & 'Annalisa'. 'Religion' has also been transposed from between the first versions of 'Annalisa' & 'Public Image', to after 'Problems'.

HERE

The Grateful Dead - Hard To Handle

Pigpen belts it out during this 1970 concert in Canada from 'Festival Express'
Best YouToob comment from cassidy3268:
"...at 2:13 Jerry steps into the engine,at 2:38,,he's home..2:59 circling the planets...3:21...??? 4:01,,the look on his face is precious ...5:01..coming back to earth.... F#$%.....!!!!!!"
(Thanx SirMick)

Embrace the darkness with Fever Ray for this very special Halloween-themed RA podcast.

Tracklist
01. Neil Young - Guitar Solo 1
02. Yo La Tengo - Everyday
03. Journey To Ixtlan - Corpse On The Mesa
04. Jad & David Fair - Nosferatu
05. Zola Jesus - Devil Take You
06. Bruce Haack - Mean Old Devil
07. Krause - Duo Canopolis
08. Burial Hex - Will To Chapel
09. Suicide - Ghost Rider
10. Amadou & Miriam - Ja Pense À Toi
11. Shackleton - Death Is Not Final
12. Entombed - Night Of The Vampire
13. Maddalena Fagandini - Interval Signals
14. Burundi: Musiques Traditionnelles - Chant Avec Cithare

Karin Dreijer Andersson is one of the most enigmatic figures in electronic music. The driving force behind Fever Ray and one-half of brother/sister team The Knife, she's been responsible for some of the most beguiling music of the past half-decade. It's music that's often frightening—whether she intends it to be or not—because of the way she twists, masks and terrorizes her own voice, a haunting one-of-a-kind sound that has quickly become a trademark. "It is interesting what you find scary, and especially within music," says Andersson.

And that's the major reason why we asked Andersson to put together a very special RA podcast in advance of Halloween, featuring tracks that could soundtrack the season. Some are obvious (Shackleton, Burial Hex), some less so (Bruce Haack, Amadou & Miriam) and some take on a new resonance because of the context (Neil Young, Krause Duo). But as Andersson herself puts it, "I think the eclectic and wide range of music makes it more dynamic and more intense. The tracks affects each other, they get even more mean." We think that once you get done listening to this mixtape-like selection from Andersson and the rest of the Fever Ray touring group, you'll no doubt agree.

Get it
HERE

RePost - JaJouka by TimN (ink, pencil, collage, screenprint and lots more coffee!)

(Click on image to enlarge)

'Brian Jones Presents the Pipes of Pan'
'Apocalypse Across The Sky - featuring Bachir Attar'
'The Next Dream'
'Live in France 1980'

Joujouka/Jajouka/Zahjoukah

"The Master Musicians of Jajouka are an ensemble of full-time Moroccan musicians who live in the small rural village of Jajouka, which is in the Jibala hills south of Tangier. For them, music isn't a part-time interest or a mere hobby; it's an integral part of their day-to-day lives."

U.S. official resigns over Afghan war

Foreign Service officer and former Marine captain says he no longer knows why his nation is fighting

Cpl. Jeremy Foley of Bloomington, Ill., left, and Spec. William Makenzie of Pendleton, Ore., soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, fire mortars in the Pech Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar province. (AP)

When Matthew Hoh joined the Foreign Service early this year, he was exactly the kind of smart civil-military hybrid the administration was looking for to help expand its development efforts in Afghanistan.
A former Marine Corps captain with combat experience in Iraq, Hoh had also served in uniform at the Pentagon, and as a civilian in Iraq and at the State Department. By July, he was the senior U.S. civilian in Zabul province, a Taliban hotbed.
But last month, in a move that has sent ripples all the way to the White House, Hoh, 36, became the first U.S. official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war, which he had come to believe simply fueled the insurgency.
@'Washington Post'

A very interesting post by Glenn Greenwald over at Salon.

I-@-#-$...testing...

Scurvy
I need you to test this for me properly!
1 - 2!!!
Testing!
(OK we have NEW computer up and running...)

As well as a 'roadie-extraordinaire', Scurvy was also the best man at my wedding and was the model (ahem) for 'Si the serial killer' in 'The Preacher' (that is the model as in his likeness not...)
He is also to be found displaying his acting skills in the forthcoming video from The Saturdays!
(It is to be hoped that Scurvy will reprise his role of Si in the forthcoming live action film adaptation!)

US Drug Czar Urges Police to Advocate Against Legalization

White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske's thinking about drug addiction has moved from disdain to enlightenment over the past decade, but the former police chief views drug legalization as a "non-starter" and is urging law-enforcement officials to speak out against the idea.

A new Justice Department policy directive not to prosecute legitimate medical-marijuana programs in states that allow medical use of the drug has sparked concerns in some precincts that the Obama administration is laying the groundwork for legalizing the drug -- or at least blurring the distinction between legal and illegal drugs.

However, in an Oct. 6 speech (PDF) before the 2009 International Association of Chiefs of Police Annual Conference, Kerlikowske, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), was clear in his opposition to legalization. Scorning a recent opinion published in the Washington Post by two members of the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), Kerlikowske urged the police officials at the conference to advocate against legalizing drugs.

"We owe it to the people we serve to speak out about the unintended consequences legalization would have and the toll it would take on the health and safety of our communities," said Kerlikowske, who announced that ONDCP is creating a new fellowship program in order to give a policy platform to law-enforcement personnel who have firsthand knowledge of drug problems.

"Recycling the same people through the system, the default approach in place now, is not working," Kerlikowske later added. "But let me be clear: A balanced and more effective approach does not mean legalization. It does mean being smarter about drug policy."

@'Join Together'

Read the whole article and then...weep!
You are wrong my friend especially with your comments about how much harm legalisation would cause.

UK police spotter cards: What they look like and how they work

This kind of highly confidential document – pictured above – is rarely seen by the public.

These so-called "spotter cards" are issued by police to identify individuals they consider to be potential troublemakers because they have appeared at a number of demonstrations.

The photographs are drawn from police intelligence files. This card was apparently dropped at a demonstration against Britain's largest arms fair in 2005.

H is Mark Thomas, the comedian and political activist. Asked why it was justifiable to put Thomas, who has no criminal record, on this card, the Metropolitan police replied: "We do not discuss intelligence we may hold in relation to individuals."

Thomas had been acquitted of criminal damage after attaching himself to a bus containing arms traders at a previous fair.

The Met said: "This is an appropriate tactic used by police to help them identify people at specific events … who may instigate offences or disorder."
@'The Guardian'

Mark Thomas: Doth I Protest Too Much?