Abu Dhabi, UAE- I have a new piece in today’s Asia Times about the overall decline of the security environment in Kabul and the collective West’s political will to do something about it. Five more years of Karzai rule is…
The Lifeline
Abu Dhabi, UAE- My friend Phil Stebbing, celebrated British filmmaker and luminary in the Kabul expat scene, has launched a project called The Lifeline. The Lifeline is a three team documentary project with a global scope where the separate crews…
All Hail Karzai! To the Victor Go the Spoils…
Kabul, Afghanistan- Well you all heard what happened yesterday, the great Karzai has been ratified another 5-year mandate to run Afghanistan into the ground even further. To paraphrase former CIA dog of war Milt Beardon, “What are we gonna bomb…
Dr. Abdullah and the Fabled City
Kabul, Afghanistan- Dr. Abdullah announced his withdrawal from the presidential race here yesterday. I have a piece in today’s Asia Times if anyone wants to read a bit more on the announcement. This was rumored and it seemed that…
Prisoner of the Caucasus
Birkiani, Georgia- I returned to Georgia’s once infamous Pankisi Gorge yesterday after visiting the area seven years ago when it was hyped to be one of the most dangerous places in the world (which it sort of was). Revisiting…
Young Stalin
Gori, Georgia- This photo hangs in a museum that has not been updated since it opened thirty years ago at the twilight of the Brezhnev era. It is the B-side to the photo on the cover of Simon Sebag Montefiore’s Young…