McChrystal – ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

Militarism and Democracy: More on the McChrystal Affair

Perceiving the Subtext and the Context First, let’s begin with the video that the Pentagon might have wanted to make this past Wednesday, 23 June, 2010, regarding President Barack Obama replacing General Stanley McChrystal after the comments the latter made to Rolling Stone. This video reflects the preferred order of events among militarists, and among those who–not […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

General Stanley McTerror: The Shocking Admissions the Media Treated as Unremarkable

THE PROBLEM: Google Search for: “Are you asking about Vice President Biden” = 3,890 results Google Search for: “You better be out there hitting four or five targets tonight” = 154 results ONE EXAMPLE: Vanity Fair, in a supposedly savvy media analysis that pinpoints what it thinks were McChrystal’s biggest mistakes, names the most tasteless, […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Afghanistan’s Eighth Anniversary with Another Crumbling Empire

While no doubt some Afghans will be celebrating the continued, lucrative, presence of another empire in their midst, and the momentary protection offered by armies from 42 nations, others will be celebrating the fact that under their sustained and expanding fire another empire grinds noisily into its eighth year of failure. At the moment, the […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Afghanistan: The Unwinnable War

More U.S. troops to Afghanistan? Why the war in Afghanistan cannot be won By Hugh Gusterson | 21 September 2009 [reproduced with the permission of the author] A number of commentators have remarked of late on the ominous parallels between the situation in Afghanistan today and the quagmire in Vietnam in the 1960s: “The war […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Embedded With the Taliban

From CounterPunch, 03 Sept 2009: Ron Jacobs: Embedded With the Taliban Anand Gopal is a reporter based in Kabul who has reported from all parts of Afghanistan (the following are his statements in an interview with Ron Jacobs): I have some well-placed Taliban contacts and I was offered a chance to come out and see […]