The Taliban’s strategic game of ‘smoke and mirrors’ that helped them seize Afghanistan and shock the world – How the Taliban played Trump and weaved a web of influence across Afghanistan – ABC News

Like the rest of the world, the Taliban was watching Donald Trump’s America and ultimately what they saw was an opportunity, according to counter-terrorism expert Professor Greg Barton…

“When Donald Trump signed a peace agreement with the Taliban back in February last year … they [the US] were sucked in by a smoke and mirrors trick,” he told the ABC.

Dr Barton likened the Taliban’s participation in the peace deal to magicians’ craft.

“You’re so busy looking at what they’re doing with their left hand, you don’t see what they’re doing with their right,” he said.

“This whole peace treaty, largely conducted in Doha, was a deliberate distraction designed to lower the guard and to see what they could get out of Trump’s America.”

The Taliban knew America wanted out, and fast.

What they got was an “audacious” deal that included the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners.

Crucially, the Afghan government and leader Ashraf Ghani were largely excluded from the peace deal process.

“The deal signaled to regional actors that they needed to hedge their bets and start making provisions for the end of the Ghani regime in Afghanistan,” global security and strategy expert Dr Benjamin Jensen wrote for the Atlantic Council.

The stage was set.

Source: The Taliban’s strategic game of ‘smoke and mirrors’ that helped them seize Afghanistan and shock the world – ABC News

Poor Management of the Eco-System Leads to So Much Distress — FunWritings

When environmental protection awareness is built in a great way More people get to see a brighter day

Poor Management of the Eco-System Leads to So Much Distress — FunWritings

A Powerful Voice … The Voice Of The Future

Filosofa's Word

Dear friends …

I haven’t been blogging much this week, and likely won’t for the next few days, for my “little bit under the weather” has worsened and I just don’t feel up to doing much besides sleeping.  But no worries … I will bounce back … soon, I hope.  Meanwhile young Greta Thunberg is back with a powerful piece that we should all take note of …


This Is the World Being Left to Us by Adults

Greta Thunberg, Adriana Calderón, Farzana Faruk Jhumu and 

The authors are youth climate activists from Sweden, Mexico, Bangladesh and Kenya, working with the international youth-led Fridays For Future movement.

Last week, some of the world’s leading climate change scientists confirmed that humans are making irreversible changes to our planet and extreme weather will only become more severe. This news is a “code red for humanity,” said the…

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Rain falls on peak of Greenland ice cap for first time on record | Greenland | The Guardian

Scientists at the US National Science Foundation’s summit station saw rain falling throughout 14 August but had no gauges to measure the fall because the precipitation was so unexpected. Across Greenland, an estimated 7bn tonnes of water was released from the clouds.

The rain fell during an exceptionally hot three days in Greenland when temperatures were 18C higher than average in places. As a result, melting was seen in most of Greenland, across an area about four times the size of the UK.

The recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded it was “unequivocal” that carbon emissions from human activities were heating the planet and causing impacts such as melting ice and rising sea level.

In May, researchers reported that a significant part of the Greenland ice sheet was nearing a tipping point, after which accelerated melting would become inevitable even if global heating was halted.

Source: Rain falls on peak of Greenland ice cap for first time on record | Greenland | The Guardian

Column: I’m Black. Larry Elder is ‘a clear and present danger’ to Black Californians – Los Angeles Times

I won’t lie. Few things infuriate me more than watching a Black person use willful blindness and cherry-picked facts to make overly simplistic arguments that whitewash the complex problems that come along with being Black in America.

And throughout his career — as a radio host, as a talking head for Fox News and now as a gubernatorial candidate — Elder has made a point of doing just that, usually with a lot of taunting and toddler-like name-calling of his ideological enemies in the process.

As longtime political consultant Kerman Maddox put it: “Larry Elder goes out of his way to be at odds with the leadership in the Black community and at odds with the thinking in the Black community.”

Erika D. Smith is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times writing about the diversity of people and places across California. She joined The Times in 2018 as an assistant editor and helped expand coverage of the state’s housing and homelessness crisis. She previously worked at the Sacramento Bee, where she was a columnist and editorial board member covering housing, homelessness and social justice issues.

Source: Recall candidate Larry Elder is a threat to Black Californians – Los Angeles Times

L.A. COVID mask mandate at outdoor venues: What to know – Los Angeles Times

The order applies to outdoor events that attract crowds of more than 10,000 people.

In those cases, attendees must “wear face masks at all times, except when actively eating or drinking,” the order from the Department of Public Health states. That’s further defined as “the limited time during which the mask can be removed briefly to eat or drink, after which it must be immediately put back on.”

Source: L.A. COVID mask mandate at outdoor venues: What to know – Los Angeles Times

The truth is most Afghans don’t head west to Europe | openDemocracy

My research shows that, until recently, many Afghans, especially young men, did not necessarily head to Europe to become refugees. Many of the young men I worked with in Afghanistan and Turkey in 2017 and 2018 had other, more mundane motivations for migration. These young Turkmen-speaking men from northern Afghanistan embarked on dangerous journeys through Pakistan and Iran to reach Turkey. There, they found jobs in the country’s construction and service industries, or as cooks, waiters, and cleaners. A few worked in a garment factory, and the clothes they made were exported to markets in the Middle East and Europe.

These men had strong social ties to their communities back home in Afghanistan, meaning hardly any were interested in migrating to Europe. Instead, they worked illegally in Turkey, under exploitative conditions and in constant fear of deportation. They aspired to masculine ideals – wanting to be the breadwinner, to provide for their families, and to achieve the social status and prestige that comes with marriage. An arranged marriage, in which the bride is chosen by the groom’s parents, is still considered the most prestigious route to matrimony and household formation in Afghanistan.

And so they sent remittances home to support their families and saved some money on the side towards a bride price. The marriage market has changed, and Afghan rural household resources, based on land and agriculture, are no longer sufficient – cash is instead required to pay a hefty bride price. Large, expensive weddings have also increasingly become the norm. After five to six years, the men would return to their villages to get married and start families. This circulatory mode of itinerant existence – working in Turkey and providing for families back home in Afghanistan – has come under intense pressure due to the pandemic, closed borders in the region, and armed conflict in Afghanistan.

Source: The truth is most Afghans don’t head west to Europe | openDemocracy

JSU coach Deion Sanders promotes COVID-19 vaccine in Mississippi

Two weeks before the Jackson State football season opener, coach Deion Sanders is encouraging the public to get vaccinated.

Jackson State corporate sponsor Walmart came to campus on Friday to offer free COVID-19 vaccines from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sanders was the spokesperson on the social media video promoting Walmart bringing the vaccination clinic to campus.

Source: JSU coach Deion Sanders promotes COVID-19 vaccine in Mississippi