Sweet Sub-Saharan salvation! The outside world is finally, finally, finally looking to truly invest in the future of Africa…and this interest in the continent is certainly going to trigger other parties to get into the game as well! The country kicking off this race for investment and influence in Africa is none other than India! Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh just finished a three-day tour of Africa in which billions of dollars of credit and infrastructure aid has been promised, the first-ever serious long-term investment strategy in the region of the planet that has long been marginalized. All the pundits are raging about how this sets India in competition with China, who has long been a investor in Africa focused on resource extraction. But the Avenger knows there is much more to the story than that! Africa stands to gain big-time, long-term from the events being initiated right this second, so tune in an find out the bigger impacts to the region, to India, and the world!
Yes, yes, yes, there is tremendous hype and pomp and circumstances surrounding the death of Osama Bin Laden by US forces who covertly invaded Pakistan and took out the head terrorist honcho of al-Qaeda a couple of weeks ago. While much attention has been focused on the man since his death, and the future of his death-wielding terrorist group, and even on how this affects US power/prestige in the world, the Plaid Avenger believes the biggest impacts of bin Laden’s locational transfer to hell will be most felt by the Afghanistan Taliban…who will be ‘legitimized’ and become an accepted power player in Afghan politics.
Say what? Yeah, confusing stuff! That’s why the Avenger did this two-part series to unpack it for you:
Part 1 goes over the differences between the main groups involved in the chaos in this neighborhood, including the goals and objectives of the Afghan Taliban, the Pakistani Taliban, and al-Qaeda.
Part 2 offers 5 reasons why the death of Osama bin Laden will influence the US, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the wider world to accept the Afghan Taliban as a legitimate component of a future stabilized Afghanistan.
The Avenger also points out some relevant insight into the dangers of a growing Pakistani Taliban, and what this might mean for future US/Pakistani relations. And he wants your opinion on how that should be proceeding as well…
Let?s finish up this plaid Af-Pak mini-series with a final furious summary and chaotic catch-up of current events. In the last 2 weeks, the Pakistanis re-opened their border to allow NATO supply lines to resume running through their territory, AND the US just wrote Pakistan a $2 billion check for foreign aid?.what a coincidence! NOT!
The Avenger also tries his best to empathize and explain the reasons why the Pakistanis are so passionately pissed at the US/NATO?and offers several succinct scenarios which have arisen since the NATO invasion of Afghanistan which have served to totally tank US/Pakistani relations.
Synopsis: For the final installment of this three-part series on the calamity and chaos that is the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, the Plaid Avenger talks about the particular problems of note that are causing the consternation for the world. The Pashtuns in this border region have been fired by the friction/hatred between Afghanistan and Pakistan, blowed up and and bombed by the Soviets, and further manipulated by the Pakistani ISI….all of which have helped spawn the birth of the Taliban, which is now the group fighting the US/NATO as well as the Afghan and Pakistani governments too. This Taliban monster is now out of control and split into two different factions which are separately challenging the existence of both Afghanistan and Pakistan itself. Learn the how, when and why is this angst-ridden Avenger rant!
Synopsis: For the final installment of this three-part series on the calamity and chaos that is the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, the Plaid Avenger talks about the particular problems of note that are causing the consternation for the world. The Pashtuns in this border region have been fired by the friction/hatred between Afghanistan and Pakistan, blowed up and and bombed by the Soviets, and further manipulated by the Pakistani ISI….all of which have helped spawn the birth of the Taliban, which is now the group fighting the US/NATO as well as the Afghan and Pakistani governments too. This Taliban monster is now out of control and split into two different factions which are separately challenging the existence of both Afghanistan and Pakistan itself. Learn the how, when and why is this angst-ridden Avenger rant!
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