Peace Talks with Taliban

The U. S. will hold direct, bilateral peace talks with the Afghan Taliban in Qatar in the next few days.  The Taliban says it wants a political solution.

I’m not expecting much, but the sooner we leave Afghanistan, the happier I will be.

Al Gore Sides With Really Big Oil

Al Gore turned down Glenn Beck’s offer to sell his Current TV network to Al Jazeera instead, owned by the government of Qatar.

Insert your own joke.

Maybe Keith Olbermann will come back.  I think Al Jazeera is about the only network he hasn’t been fired from.

Helping the Wrong Guys in Syria

From “Rebel Arms Flow Is Said To Benefit Jihadists In Syria,” David E. Sanger, NYT:

“Most of the arms shipped at the behest of Saudi Arabia and Qatar to supply Syrian rebel groups fighting the government of Bashar al-Assad are going to hard-line Islamic jihadists, and not the more secular opposition groups that the West wants to bolster, according to American officials and Middle Eastern diplomats.

“That conclusion…casts into doubt whether the White House’s strategy of minimal and indirect intervention in the Syrian conflict is accomplishing its intended purpose of helping a democratic-minded opposition topple an oppressive government, or  instead may be sowing the seeds of future insurgencies hostile to the Unites States.”

We keep pretending that countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar are our friends, but when are we going to finally acknowledge that they’re not and behave accordingly?