Journalist Ga Ga
And here I am referring to the old-style Gaga, not the later, derivative, Ga Ga (89 million views? Really? What is Yerbolat doing wrong?). Now that Obama has made a decision on the New American Way in Afghanistan, everyone gets to say something about it. It’s probably not a coincidence that that everyone’s favorite hot new blog, The Security Crank, came out just a

McChrystal method
As outsiders we are for the most part unable to penetrate the complex layers of power and society in Afghanistan.  Our reality is filtered through our various interlocutors, translators, advisors, officials, tribal leaders, etc. and it often feels like I am stumbling around in the dark feeling the walls and trying to move forwards.  Assuming that this is a general handicap of Western interventionists in the country, and not a weakness particular to myself, it presents the single largest obstacle to having a positive impact and undermining the long-term drivers of the insurgency. Using a similar logic, COIN doctrine recognizes that the counterinsurgent requires effective l

Always On The Brink
This week has seen the production of a lot of straight-up BS on Central Asia. Christian has posts going after things reported about Tajikistan and Uzbekistan that don’t pass the whiff test. In both cases, stereotypes of Central Asia as a mysterious land of danger offer the tiny gloss of plausibility needed to get downright ridiculous stories to press. (That’s probably overly fair to LWJ, which has never seen a “Some dude joined Al Qaeda and WE&#

Water Management in Central Asia
The recent post on Jatrophetic prompted me to post this news about glacial retreat in Kyrgyzstan. Geologists have recently brought to attention the significant melting of Kyrgyz glaciers Adigene and Petrova. This story is only one in a series of warnings surrounding global glacial retreat in countries around the world. From Kilamanjaro to the Himalayas, we are seeing a threat to water supply across the board. As in the case of the Kyrgyz glaciers, many

Jatrophetic
It sounds great. “Cultivation is uncomplicated.…The plant can grow in wastelands and grows on almost any terrain, even on gravelly, sandy and saline soils. It can thrive in poor and stony soils, although new research suggests that the plant’s ability to adapt to these poor soils is not as extens