Links: Geopolitics

• Honduras:
  • John Nichols, Totalitarian Rightists Put Orwellian Spin on Honduras Coup, The Beat blog at TheNation.com, 02 July 2009.
  
  
  • Greg Grandin, Battle for Honduras -- and the Region, The Nation, thenation.com, 12 August 2009 [31 August 2009 print edition].
  
  
  • Robert Naiman, Coup Protestor Gang-Raped by Honduran Police, CommonDreams.org, 25 August 2009.
  
  
  • * Benjamin Dangl, The Road to Zelaya's Return: Money, Guns and Social Movements in Honduras, truthout, truthout.org, 22 September 2009.


• Lockerbie:
  • Daniel Tencer, Was Pan Am 103 bomber freed in exchange for oil?, The Raw Story, 29 August 2009.
  
  
  • Jason Allardyce , Lockerbie bomber 'set free for oil', Times Online, timesonline.co.uk, 30 August 2009.
  
  
  • * Chris Floyd, Outrageous Behavior: Bogus Bluster From Bigwigs Hides Lockerbie Truth, Empire Burlesque, 05 September 2009.


• Japanese Politics:
  • Martin Fackler, With Bold Stand, Japan Opposition Wins a Landslide, The New York Times, NYTimes.com, 30 August 2009.
  
  
  • Mark Lander and Martin Fackler, U.S. Is Seeing Policy Thorns in Japan Shift, The New York Times, NYTimes.com, 01 September 2009.
  
  
  • Amitabh Pal, New Japanese Leadership Causes Discomfort in the U.S., The Progressive, 03 September 2009.


• China & Natural Resources:
  • Gene Laverty, PetroChina to Buy Athabasca Oil-Sands Project Stakes, Bloomberg.com, 31 August 2009.
  
  
  • John Duce and Gene Laverty, PetroChina Agrees Biggest North America Acquisition , Bloomberg.com, 01 September 2009.
  
  
  • Timothy Williams, China Oil Deal Is New Source of Strife Among Iraqis, The New York Times, NYTimes.com, 05 September 2009.
  
  
  • David Goldman, The sticky dollar reserve system, Inner Workings Blog Archive at Asia Times, 14 September 2009.
    "China would swap its whole US$2 trillion portfolio of US Treasury securities for food, energy and mineral producing capacity, except that no-one will buy their Treasuries, and no-one will sell them the farmland, oil fields and mines."


• Afghanistan:
  • Elizabeth Rubin, Karzai in His Labyrinth, The New York Times Magazine, 04 August 2009.
  
  
  • Derrick Crowe, In Afghanistan, We Know Failure When We See It, The Huffington Post, 31 August 2009.
  
  
  • Juan Cole, The U.S. is spread dangerously thin in Afghanistan, Salon.com, 03 September 2009.
  
  
  • Juan Cole, Afghanistan Roiled by NATO Air Strikes that killed almost 100, Informed Comment, 05 September 2009.
  
  
  • Juan Cole, EU Foreign Ministers Condemn NATO; German Opposition Attacks Merkel on Afghanistan; Kunduz Residents Furious at West, Informed Comment, 06 September 2009.
  
  
  • Paul Craig Roberts, Indefensible Nation: US Hypocrisy Astonishes the World, CounterPunch.org, 07 September 2009.
  
  
  • M. K. Bhadrakumar, Afghan war reaches a tipping point, Asis Times, 08 September 2009.
    
    "The North Atlantic Treaty Organization's air strikes in the northern province of Kunduz on Friday, which killed or injured more than 100 people, have left Afghan blood equally on the hands of all NATO countries. The incident shows this is no mere fight against terrorism; it is about NATO's role as a global political organization and the "unfinished business" of the Cold War - as well as about defining the new world order."
  
  
  • Pepe Escobar, Enduring Freedom until 2050, Asis Times, 08 September 2009.
    
    "In only 450 days, the number of troops in Afghanistan has swelled from 67,000 to 118,000. Since 2001, the United States has spent $179 billion in the country, while its European allies have burned $102 billion. The tragicomedy is clear: the US and its allies will do - and spend - whatever it takes to implant military bases on the doorstep of Russia and China, and to get their gas pipeline on track."
  
  
  • Tom Engelhardt, Afghanistan by the Numbers: Measuring a War Gone to Hell [Tomgram: Measuring Success in Afghanistan], TomDispatch, TomDispatch.com, 08 September 2009.
  
  
  • Chris Floyd, Metrics of Monstrosity: Free Falling in Afghanistan, Empire Burlesque, 09 September 2009.
  
  
  • Pamela Constable, After Rescue, Recriminations: Afghans Angry Over Death of Interpreter In Raid That Freed N.Y. Times Reporter, The Washington Post, 10 September 2009.
  
  
  • M. K. Bhadrakumar, Why the US is afraid of 'Afghanization', Asis Times, 12 September 2009.
  
  
  • Conn Hallinan, Afghanistan: What Are These People Thinking?, Antiwar.com, 13 September 2009.
  
  
  • Juan Cole, US Dependence on Northern Supply Routes destabilizing North, Threatening Central Asia, Informed Comment, 14 September 2009.
  
  
  • William Pfaff, All U.S. Presidents Need a War to Call Their Own — and Obama Has His, Truthdig.com, 16 September 2009.
  
  
  • Joe Klein, The Afghanistan Problem: Why Are We in Helmand?, Time, 17 September 2009.
  
  
  • * Juan Cole, Is Afghanistan Vietnam or Iraq? Arguing with Obama and Rubin, Informed Comment, 17 September 2009.
  
  
  • Derek Henry Flood, A dangerous new Afghan road opens, Asis Times, 18 September 2009.
  
  
  • * Ann Jones, Meet the Afghan Army: Is It a Figment of Washington's Imagination? [Tomgram: Ann Jones, Us or Them in Afghanistan?], TomDispatch.com, 20 September 2009.
  
  
  • Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Karen DeYoung, Changes Have Obama Rethinking War Strategy, The Washington Post, 21 September 2009.
  
  
  • Eric Schmitt and Mark Mazzetti, Taliban Widen Afghan Attacks From Base in Pakistan, The New York Times, NYTimes.com, 23 September 2009.
  
  
  • * Rory Stewart on Afghanistan, Bill Moyers Journal, 25 September 2009.
  
  Taliban:
  • Gareth Porter, The ISI and the Taliban: U.S. Officials Protect Pakistan Aid to the Taliban, CounterPunch, 05 August 2009.
  
  
  • Jean MacKenzie, Are US taxpayers funding the Taliban?: USAID probes the possibility that contractors give a cut to the Taliban, GlobalPost, 02 September 2009.
  
  
  • Juan Cole, US Aid Monies May support Taliban Activities, Informed Comment, 04 September 2009.
  
  
  • Syed Saleem Shahzad, Taliban put their heads together, Asis Times, 19 September 2009.


• John Feffer, Book Review: US hegemony slips into history, Asia Times, 12 September 2009.
  
  review of:
  
  Terrence Edward Paupp. The Future of Global Relations: Crumbling Walls, Rising Regions. Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
  (Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.)


• Sreeram Chaulia, Netanyahu plays a Russian rope trick, Asia Times, 15 September 2009.