Unbelievably sad news

http://www.skateistan.org/blog/tragic-loss

for those who didn’t see the film it’s worth a watch, kids just wanted to be kids

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8dYtWXCYE8[/video]

Not nice 🙁

Truly terrible news. This brings home not only the uncertain and outright dangerous circumstances in which they live. The true casualties of the Afghan situation…

Not seen the vid but clicked on the Skateistan link. Really knocks the steam out of a guy, reading about such tragic events.

Wasnt aware of skateistan but what a fantastic idea. Brings home the harsh reality of life out there. So sad.

Terrible. Makes you angry. Which inadvertently leads to wars… It’s messed up.

So sad what’s happened to that country and it’s people all in the name of American imperialism in the late 70’s/early 80’s – in 1979 the Shah of Iran (american patsy) abdicated and the CIA felt they had lost a strategic position in the middle east so they funded the mujahideen purely to antagonise and draw the Soviets in to a war they could not win at the expense of the Afghan people who the Yanks did not give a toss about – an ideal situation for the CIA as no Americans would die (or so they thought) and according to de-classified records they estimated a loss of 300,000-400,000 afghans for the conflict which they felt was acceptable – in fact over 1,000,000 died and the conflict displaced over 5,000,000 and destabilised many other countries in the area. By the mid 80’s the US was supplying the mujahideen with over $700,000,000 of military aid and over 70,000 tons of arms a year – good business for the US arms industry eh?.

After the soviet withdrawal the US reneged on it’s commitment to rebuild the country and handed it over to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia giving them free reign to do whatever they wanted with the country as in the eyes of the CIA and the washington war mongers their job was done.

Disgusting state of affairs that makes my blood boil and America still tries to dictate it’s idea of world policy……sometime you reap what you sow and deserve what you get. I for one have little sympathy for what has come back to haunt America, shame we had to get dragged into it by that contemptible vile Blair.

BTW – I do have direct experience of the country and it’s people, along with family members staying there in the 1960’s/70’s so i feel i have the right to speak about it however i see fit.

Anybody who has studied US foreign policy in Latin America in the 60s and 70s will share your disgust. I did and I do.

Nail and head hit there. American policy and action at its worst playing out over such a long timescale.

Cheers folks, heartening to know that others may consider my point of view to be valid and hold truth, i fully expected to get flamed or a possible banning for the above post as from past experience of speaking out on the subject of Afghanistan and US involvement i’ve been punched, slapped, spat on and reported to my local police as a terrorist sympathiser and brought in for questioning for publicly expressing my views as above (yeah…really!).

I’d like to make it clear that i bear no ill-will on the citizens of the USA as such, certainly not the ones who protested against the so called war on terrorism, however the others who were baying for blood and retribution?….lets just say i’d best keep quiet bout my opinion of them.

globalti : I’ve a limited amount of knowledge garnered from reading about Latin American involvement – “when states kill latin america, the us and technologies of terror” is an unsettling read and i’m relatively well informed about the Monroe Doctrine, Guatemala and the Cuban scenario but not to such an extent as my passion for Afghanistan and on another matter…… whilst i have my reservations regarding the true nature of Hugo Chavez due to reports from friends who have lived in the country i feel it should be left up to the Venezuelan people to decide their own future for themselves.

Perhaps we should invite all the educated and informed to emigrate from the US then proceed to build a wall round the country, not to keep others out but rather to keep the idiots in.

Nail and head hit there. American policy and action at its worst playing out over such a long timescale.

Considering the Taliban beheaded 17 for attending mixed-sex party with music and dancing a couple of weeks ago it’s probably a matter of time before they approve of this too much. They’re not on this planet to have or allow fun just blindly worship some fantasy god.

Without getting too political; it’s just a crying shame that these children were considered acceptable collateral damage by their own people.

It’s a wonderful story brought sharply into contrast by the tragic murder of some of the kids. Irrespective of how they got to their current state, I agree with some of the above that it’s horrifying that Afghans feel this is a legitimate way to get their point across.

whilst i have my reservations regarding the true nature of Hugo Chavez due to reports from friends who have lived in the country i feel it should be left up to the Venezuelan people to decide their own future for themselves

Lets not pretend the Venezuelan people get to decide. Chavez controls the media totally yet still only just won the referendum to allow him to stand for a 3rd term. Only the fact he’s so ill (quite possibly fatally so) with cancer might stop this and then subsequent terms. I agree, every nation has a right to self-determination but Chavez is hardly someone to hold up as a paragon.

Perhaps we should invite all the educated and informed to emigrate from the US then proceed to build a wall round the country, not to keep others out but rather to keep the idiots in.

Fine, but what about when the rest of the world builds a wall around the UK? This country is far from innocent in the matter – in fact you could just as easily say the US copied Britain.

Nevertheless, this is a desperately sad story…

Lets not pretend the Venezuelan people get to decide.

There’s nothing to pretend. I am not aware of any government anywhere in the world which does not recognise Venezuelan elections as free and fair.

As an example this is the position of the European Union which represents 26 member state :

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the elections in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

The European Union extends its congratulations to the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the national political forces and its people for the elections to the National Assembly of September 26th.

The EU notes with satisfaction that the elections took place in a peaceful manner.

The EU welcomes the participation of all political forces in the country and the return of multiparty representation to the National Assembly, which provides a good basis for a renewed and fruitful political dialogue for the benefit of all Venezuelan people.

The EU appreciates the positive role played by national electoral observation organisations. The EU notes that the Venezuelan National Electoral Council accredited more than 200 international guests to accompany the day of the election. No long-term international electoral observation missions participated.

The European Union looks forward to continuing and reinforcing its relations with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in all matters of common interest and reiterates its willingness to support its democratic institutions, social inclusion and sustainable development.

http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/cfsp/116787.pdf

And the Organization of American States which represents the 35 independent states of the Americas, including the USA, also fully recognises Venezuelan elections as free and fair.

The only people pretending that Chavez is not the freely chosen leader of Venezuelan people are the US neo-conservatives and their friends.

Although ironically and bizarrely these same people explain away Chavez’s obvious popularity with the Venezuelan people by claiming that he promotes popular policies.

Yes that’s right, they castigate him for the heinous crime of being a “populist” ie, doing things which are popular with the people. Whilst at the same time claiming that ‘the Venezuelan people don’t get to decide’.

somafunk

I’ve not studied the history in depth but I believe you could reword your first post, replacing ‘American’ with ‘British’ and moving the dates back 100 years or so.

British Imperialism through the centuries has some very low points.

m1kea : Yep, I fully agree with you with regard to our shameful imperialistic past and we as a nation and people should never forget the debt we duly owe to so many nations around the world but your attempt to draw a parallel with the CIA led, congress sponsored (that’s the key element) and sanctioned slaughter of an estimated 500,000 Afghani’s can be described as woefully incorrect to say the least.

Please take note that the US congress agreed that the loss of 500,000 innocent lives (actual figure 1million+) was a price worth paying to antagonise the Soviet Union into partaking in a war that they knew they would never win – the Soviet influence in northern Afghanistan was relatively benign before the CIA hatched their superplan to bring about the destruction of the communist machine through unlimited use of US citizens/taxpayers money to fund and equip, or rather bribe various tribal Afghan factions into forming a common alliance to fight against an enemy of the United States, Note : The Soviets were not considered an enemy of the Afghans, i make this point to reinforce the fact that the Soviets did do some commendable humanitarian work in the country, however i admit that they also had their own agenda but it pales into insignificance compared to the might and wanton warmongering of the CIA.

BTW : My fathers elder sister after she finished her Art degree (1969) travelled to the country via an overland trip on her Vespa when she was 22 and ended up being employed as a senior Art and Antiquities lecturer in Kabul university for 15 years till she had to leave due to the shelling in 1985, she arrived back in this country for my 15th birthday full of the most amazing stories and photos, i constantly pestered her for more and more details till she finally gave in the following year, we both returned for a 2 month trip (and 2 months off school 😀 ) for my 16th birthday to her friends house in the relatively safe Herat province nr the Iran border the following year, this is why i have a fascination and love for the country, the genuine Afghani people are the most hospitable hosts as found anywhere in the world and i will defend them from the so called western voices who would rather the country was levelled flat.