Archive for the 'Asia' Category

Oh, dear! What can the matter be? Oh, dear! What a calamity.

Fancy such a supposed short-assed, no account, completely crappy kind of crummy country such as Kyrgyzstan having the temerity to tell the mighty US military machine to take a hike.

Oh, dear!

Bet they wouldn’t be as big & brave if they didn’t have their rich Russian & Chinese chums, eh?

Kyrgyzstan leaves US out in the cold

As the Kyrgyz parliament decides to close the only US military base in the country, Rupert Wingfield-Hayes considers the strategic and political impact of the announcement.

(snip)

Manas airbase is one of those peculiarly American creations. Outside the fence it is Central Asia, inside it is the mid-west of the United States.

A land of large white pick-up trucks, stars and stripes and huge, very polite people who insist on calling you “Sir”.

(snip)

But the truth, I knew, is that the Americans are here for one reason only, and it was sitting outside in the shape of 12 large aircraft.

There is nothing very sexy about a KC-135. It is a big drab grey airliner converted to be a flying petrol station.

But KC-135s are hugely important to American and British squaddies on the front line in Afghanistan.

[See map of existing and possible supply routes in the region]

Every time they get into a tight spot with the Taleban, they call in an air strike by fighter jets waiting in the sky above.

Those fighter jets can only remain airborne because of the KC-135s flying out of Manas. There is one circling high over Afghanistan 24 hours a day.

(snip)

… there is little to show for the eight years America has spent here.

Inside the Manas airbase the buildings all look distinctly temporary.

For all their talk of “partnering”, the Americans have not even fixed the broken concrete runway.

They pay a paltry $60m a year in rent. And one day, when their war in Afghanistan is done, they will go home. Unlike the Russians, who have already been here for well over 100 years.

Still, as is so often said by some, sometimes that’s just the way the cookie crumbles. Others, lots less polite, say such stuff as tough shit, get over it, move on, business is business m’boy and so on & so forth.

Read the rest of this extremely interesting, and telling, report right here.

Hmm. Certainly does seem to be an especially super-duper, sort of sooo strategically globally positioned place of seriously significant importance doesn’t it?

(Cross posted from How This Old Brit Sees It)

Since things are moving a million times faster than we could ever even dream of typing, for those who like learning from those at the scene, those on the ground and those in the know, we’re strongly suggesting helping yourself.

MUMBAI - India - Direct Online Mainstream Media Link.

(Cross posted from How This Old Brit Sees It)

Now, please read some of these seriously salient messages being sent from the wider world.

(Cross posted from How This Old Brit Sees It)

Hands up who here (honestly), hasn’t ever hankered to show off … sorta … at least every once in a while?

So take a little look at what we won when we ’showed’ the snapshot below.

And while we’re on the subject … of photography that is … for those with the time and/or slightest interest, here’s a few photos we took on our most recent Turkish trip at the start of this September:

Read the rest of this entry »

As all regular readers will already be well aware, we absolutely abhor all war.

However, we have to admit that the recent South Ossetia related spats twixt Russia and Georgia may, in the grand scheme of several recent politico-military ’sorties’, not be all bad news. For the wider world, that is.

A great deal of distracting drivel regarding the return of an East-West ‘cold war,’ is curently being spouted, while most in the media are either too shy (or seriously too shortsighted) to even discuss something else: “the balance of power.”

Well, we’re certainly not shy. We never were and we never will be.

Anyone who honestly believed that 21st century Russia was a ‘push over,’ is/was sorely mistaken. Also, anyone who thought Turkey was already well and truly bought and paid for, by the West, is soon set for some surprises. In our own (not so), humble opinion, that is.

Even a quick glance at the above pipeline-map should serve to show all & sundry the strategic importance of modern secular Turkey.

When push comes to shove Turkey will take sides with whoever it deems necessary to look after itself and it’s people.

The west needs Turkey far more than Turkey needs the west.

What’s more, it appears that America still hasn’t realised that though one can bully all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, no one can bully all of the people all of the time - not even the US.

Therefore, we’re awaiting with interest, to say the least, further ‘future developments’.

(BIG SNIP)

A U.S. official in Turkey said three U.S. military vessels were heading through Turkey’s Bosporus, a strait that connects the Mediterranean with the Black Sea, to deliver aid to Georgia. Two of the ships were leaving Crete on Thursday. He declined to be named because he was not authorized to give that information to media.

Since Aug. 19, the United States has delivered aid to Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, on 20 flights.

Read the rest of this remarkably revealing, ‘Associated Press’ report right here.

Think about it. Would you really fall fowl of a big burly, next door neighbour who could, at a single stroke, all too easily pull all of your energy plugs?

We damned well doubt it.

(Cross posted from How This Old Brit Sees It)

DUH!!!!!!!!

What do I do now?

(Cross posted from How This Old Brit Sees It)

*

Merhaba.

Anyone following our humble blog, even on only a semi-regular basis, can’t fail to have realised we have an ongoing, passionate love affair with one particular place called Turkey. Or, as almost all British holiday companies and travel agents have long preferred to refer to it as — “Paradise”.

Paradise of course for those who’ve never experienced, nor witnessed, the dirty work of the Kurdish communist, poxy, terrorist, turds referred to as the PKK.

Okay, preamble over. Here’s the horrible headline we’re highlighting today.

Attack at US Istanbul consulate

Turkey has seen armed attacks from a variety of groups over the years

Three policemen and three gunmen have been killed in an armed attack near the US consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul, its governor has said.

The identity of the attackers is still unclear, but they began shooting at 1100 (0800GMT). The police are looking for a fourth man seen with them.

Another policeman and the driver of a police tow-truck were injured in the ensuing gun battle, the governor added.

Read the rest of this report right here.

It’s only fair to say, by the way, that at the time of typing this, no one is certain that this cowardly cretinous attack is definitely the work of the PKK.

But we’ll bet good money that that turns out to be the case. And before anyone begins accusing us of being against the Kurdish people - please pay appropriate attention: what we are (strongly), against is not any entire nation - but any & every terrorist group;whoever, wherever, whatever. Clear enough? Comprendo?

Incidentally, we know for a fact, first hand, that there’s always a lot of crap (continuously), talked about Turkey by folk who’ve never actually accumulated any knowledge (at all) re; this spectacularly sucessful secular Muslim country - other than via (usually), blatantly biased, second-hand hearsay.

For example:
How many reading here were remotely aware of the other face of Istanbul?

Suitably surprised?

We certainly hope so.

(Cross posted from How This Old Brit Sees It)

Ever wondered why we two take off to Turkey at every opportunity?

Well, whether you ever wondered or not …

Ta-dah!!

Thanks to the wonders of we silver surfers’ world wide web, our new fangled digital cameras AND the famous, fantastic “Flickr”, today we can show you just a few reasons why.

Ha! Are we becoming the new David bloomin’ Bailey or what, eh?

Okay, okay, so you’re getting bored. But just have a look at these last two, so we can leave you with a smile on your face.

And, hey! Never mind David Bailey - how about this hunk?

Go on then … have the last laugh.

(Cross posted from How This Old Brit Sees It)

The Taliban and their allies are enjoying a resurgence throughout Central Asia

How badly has Bush failed in Afghanistan and Central Asia? This badly:

Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani journalist of the highest narrative and analytical gifts, is baffled by the West’s almost demented indifference and folly towards Afghanistan and his own country. The stakes are huge. If either state fails, as is highly plausible, global stability will be rocked. The United Nations, Nato, the European Union and, of course, America will see their purposes and credibility set at naught.

Yet, as Rashid writes: “The international community’s lukewarm commitment to Afghanistan after 9/11 has been matched only by its incompetence, incoherence and conflicting strategies — all led by the United States.” Meanwhile, in Pakistan, Washington’s commitment, since 2001, to support President Pervez Musharraf’s military dictatorship rather than to promote the interests of the Pakistani people, “has created immense hatred for the US army and America, hatred that penetrates all classes of society”.

So how did we go from being the liberators of Afghanistan to being primary target of hatred in the region? And how did we allow the Taliban to go from being the despised former rulers of Afghanistan to being a potent political force in the region? Through good, old-fashioned neglect:

Read the rest of this entry »

In case you hadn’t noticed, we’ve been away for a bit.

But now, like it or not, we’re back.

And, like it or not, here begineth the first two penneth of our own barmy brand of blogging, again.

So. What’s one of the very first flippin’ things we find out?

Here’s what. It’s that some sodding things never change.

Never. Ever.

For example, witness what follows:

Our most recently anointed appointed crappy New Labour Home Secretary, Mizz Jacqui Smith, is still as full of shit as she ever was.

And …… that good old Oregonian guy, Gordo over at appletree, is still as great a guy as he ever was.

But you knew that, already.

Right?

By the way, before anyone blinkin’ bothers to bother us by asking us …

The answer is yes.

We missed you.

Honestly. Really.

Exactly as much as you missed us.

İyi Akşamlar.

(Cross posted at How This Old Brit Sees It)