‘Task Forcing’ Afghanistan
Registan has a great post on the dangers of what I’m calling “Task Forcing (121, 145, 626, 77)” Afghanistan.
Classic hunter/killer mission statement:
Fifty Afghans believed to be drug traffickers with ties to the Taliban have been placed on a Pentagon target list to be captured or killed, reflecting a major shift in American counternarcotics strategy in Afghanistan, according to a Congressional study to be released this week.
Excellent diagnosis:
The trouble is, killing the engine of Afghanistan’s rural economy doesn’t address the fundamental problem, which is that opium is an indicator, not a cause, of other, deeper issues like a lack of institutions, severe insecurity, and crap infrastructure.
Opium’s black market connectivity is the key. This is the blunt object approach to solving the problem though.
Crowdsourced Factory + Self Replicating Client Base
Makebot nails both.
Crashing PrankNet
The Smoking Gun has the scoop.
AR Rahman
Glad Rahman’s getting the attention he deserves – both from Slumdog, and now from Fast Company as one of the top 100 creative people in the world.
I’ve been listening to his music since 1995 (in Hindi) but over the last few have been listening to his other-language stuff – Telugu, Tamil, English, etc. Some of the most aurally pleasing stuff out there that sounds good regardless of what the singer is doing.
On the backend though, he’s doing an amazing job mentoring (hunting down choice students at music schools all over the globe) and running the most technologically advanced recording studio in Asia. In an era where musicians are struggling to find a way to get paid, Rahman’s an inspiration and a keystone – especially since he’s not genetically part of the Indian movie business but rather a rare outsider.