You cannot stop an enemy willing to die....

Pakistan's pain increases with attack today in Lahore. They cannot stand toe to toe with the Army so they hit softer targets only to cause more pain.

Two new lists out this week

Don't make vacation plans at any of these places I suggest watching the slide show. Also the list of ongoing conflicts has been released check the religion of most of those countries not hinting at anything ya know. The last one is a wiki reference so take it as you will.

A little world wide news.

From the Asia Times wow is all I have to say to this. For those not familar with the Asian Times it is not the most U.S. friendly publication on the planet. Not that it is a bad thing as analysis often needs both sides of the story.
A Pakistani cleric convention has declared that the Taliban are agents of the U.S. and India. WTF? well if it gets the people behind ridding themselves of these monsters then yeah I guess I buy it. This is from the Pakistani Daily Times.
According to GEO T.V. there is a new name for the Taliban "miscreants?" And apparently today the Pakistani military killed some of them.
Good news and bad in Afghanistan. The coalition made a very successful drug raid but Afghani anger towards civilian deaths in airstrikes increases. Afghanistan is two steps back one forward. Waiting on the review of my last paper on Astan I will have it posted in the next week or two. The insurgency is tied as much to the Afghan economy as it is to Islam. If the local farmer could make enough money on his own to not take payment from the Taliban to plant an IED, or provide assistance in an ambush that would aid a great deal. However the Pashtuns are warriors and do not like missing out on a fight.

Fighting in Somalia Complex? don't say

Islamic militants are fighting an Islamic government because the government is not hard line enough. AQ is now in the area helping al Shabaab. Last year the U.S. launched airstrikes in Somalia and back Ethopian troops as they invaded the country. Now the African Union is calling situation complex. Well no kidding with proof that Eritria is backing the insurgents this may again bring Etheopia into the conflict. Ethiopia, Somolia, and Eritria three of the poorest countries in the world and have been fighting for longer than anyone can remember it is no doubt the situation is complex.

N. Korea Nuke

N. Korea pops a Nuke about 10-20 Kt range. Japan is furious and I do not think it will take them long to develop their own nuclear program. South Korean forces went on high alert. Even China is mad. I think the Great Leader thought he was out of the limelight too long and wanted to get the world's attention.
Of course N. Korea is a proliferator of missile technology and it will be interesting if/when we find out if Iran sent some people to watch/help with the test. Watch the news the next few days folks.

gotta love the Wife

This woman proof reads all of my papers for school on topics she has little interest in and in some cases finds scary especially when I am going on about the FATA of Astan. For those that have read this blog and there are two of you those are popular topics. This weeks is on Astan and the fact that the ongoing insurgency hurts its ability to create domestic power and build its economy and the lack of a economy beyond poppy production hurts fighting the insurgency. As the going rate for poppy day labor is $25 per day.

Anyway God, Thor, Buddha, etc love her she puts up with and me.

White Phosphorous

Willie Pete is nasty nasty stuff and is not supposed to be used as an anti personel weapon. The rounds in the picture look brand new. Since half the world uses 82mm mortars no telling where they came from since I cannot read the writing on the shells to see if they are cyrillic, Chinese, etc. Of course from an enemy that does not have problems poison gas on school girls this is not surprise. Well here is my theory on the issue unload a battery of 155mm WP rounds on the next bunch we catch coming into the country and give them a taste of it.
I know this will not happen because we do not fight that way but it would be nice.