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10 Nov 09

Millions more turn against Gordon Brown's war|14Nov09|Socialist Worker

  • Brown’s strategy appears more threadbare than ever. Some 232 British soldiers have now been killed in Afghanistan, 95 this year alone. Public support for the war is at an all-time low.
08 Nov 09

Phil Marfleet: Egypt's Deepening Crisis (June 1976)

  • As the situation becomes more desperate, Egypt has moved closer to, its American patrons. More arms deals have been signed, and a 1.8 billion dollar aid programme agreed. The bulk of this money will go to food subsidies (estimated £511 million this year) and payment for previous loans. At the same time relations with Russia have reached an all-time low. In mid-March trade and diplomatic agreements were torn up, and Russia denied any military facilities in Egypt. Aimed at disciplining Moscow for its failure to produce more arms, or to reschedule the enormous Egyptian debt, the move was seen by many as an irrevocable step towards the West. Sadat kept his Moscow line just open, however, by signing a new agreement on trade in early May.
  • Simultaneous with the break with Russia Sadat ordered Prime Minister Salem to introduce a full programme of ‘austerity measures’. This must be a bitter joke for the millions of Egyptians whose lives are already unbearably austere, especially in view of the wave of luxury consumption which followed the lifting of import restrictions. ‘Conspicuous consumption and corruption provokes anger and invites retribution’. (Sunday Times 29.3.76) Within two weeks Egyptian workers had responded with strikes and demonstrations. As reported in Socialist Worker (3.4.76) seventeen thousand textile workers at Damietta struck in protest at the withholding of bonus payments. Salem’s police attacked them with batons and teargas. In Cairo several hundred workers marched to demand wage increases to keep up with price rises, and for better living conditions. Sadat commented that ‘strikes, disturbances and pressure from any element against the government are strictly forbidden.’
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01 Nov 09

The Angry Arab News Service/وكالة أنباء العربي الغاضب: Obama is stuck in the folly of his policies

  • Obama is stuck. If he sends 20,000 more troops, conservative will say: he did not send enough troops. If he did not send additional troops, his critics will say that he is abandoning the mission and reversing course when he argued throughout his campaign that the war in Afghanistan is a war of necessity. Obama will not win, and he will be exposed as the a replica of Bush in foreign policy. In fact, if you look at it: Obama deviated very little from the path of Bush-Cheney in defense and national security.

Obama meets with top generals

  • The president appears committed to adding at least 10,000 to 15,000 troops to Afghanistan in an effort to bolster the training of Afghan Army and police officers in the country. Current plans call for the U.S. to double the size of the Army and police to about 400,000 in the hope that they can take over security responsibilities from the U.S.
  • In contrast to Iraq, where there was significant dissension on whether or not to deploy an additional 30,000 troops in 2007, the top brass have been mostly united in the support of McChrystal's call for more troops in Afghanistan.
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