October 4, 2009 by mike.

And it is clear that global warming means more frequent devastating storms and weather events. The low lying areas of the world are going to take the brunt of the damage. Places like the Phillipines, the Maldives, Bangladesh, the Mekong Delta, Florida and New Orleans. The question remains when will the people around the planet recognize the absolute necessity of the most fundamental change, the development and implementation of a global response, the retooling of the neoliberal capitalism model to a just and egalitarian development model?

It’s been a long time coming, but I know that change is going to come.

clipped from www.google.com Typhoon Parma kills 15 in the Philippines MANILA — Large parts of the northern Philippines were flooded and without power on Sunday after Typhoon Parma killed at least 15 people, as authorities warned of another storm looming to the east. Exactly one week after storm Ketsana dumped the heaviest rains in more than 40 years that devastated Manila, killing nearly 300 people, Parma ripped through the north of the Philippines’ main Luzon island on Saturday. Many areas in the north remained blacked out and cut off from communication on Sunday as Parma left the country and hovered over the South China Sea. Roads were submerged or littered with fallen trees and toppled power lines. The state weather bureau warned of more misery as Typhoon Melor, monitored about 600 kilometres (370 miles) to the east, was expected to enter Philippine maritime territory by Monday afternoon before blowing north to eastern China or Japan.

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October 4, 2009 by mike.

I guess the US needs to check its hubris against this fundamental historical fact.

Even aside from the probability that certain post-Soviet sources are likely enthusiastically sending weapons and munitions back to Afghanistan to get even with the US for Charlie Wilson’s War, there is certainty of defeat dictated by the facts on the ground.

Steep ground.

Steep, rocky ground.

Perfect terrain for sniping and allowing a small mobile force to wreak havoc against large and powerful armies. The only approach that works is an airwar that will necessarily kill civilians and create new populations willing to send martyrs to us for retribution.

“We will win the war in Afghanistan” makes about as much sense as “the beatings will continue until morale improves.”

I feel terrible for all the people suffering and being killed or injured in this amazingly stupid military exercise.

The foolish Bush planners gave us an unnecessary war in Iraq to test their theories on shock and awe, the best and the brightest a few decades ago gave us the Vietnam War, and we appear poised to repeat the best and brightest mistake in Afghanistan. The pertinent question is the same one that arose with the Vietnam War, “how do you ask a man to be the last soldier to die for a mistake?”

clipped from www.cnn.com 8 U.S. troops killed in battle with militants in Afghanistan KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) — Hundreds of militants attacked American and Afghan troops in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, opening fire on an outpost from multiple locations with rockets, mortars and heavy-caliber machine guns, according to an initial U.S. military report on the battle. At least eight American troops and two members of the Afghan National Security Force died — the largest number of Americans killed by hostile action in a single day in more than a year, according to CNN records. The fighting lasted about 12 hours, with the militants firing down on the joint U.S.-Afghan outpost from ridgelines above the base, a senior U.S. military official with direct knowledge of the first reports told CNN. The official said the report was preliminary and subject to change as more information came in.

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