Toy Soliders

Being a soldier anywhere is hard work, but particularly in Africa. While unnamed wars still drag on, the continent is now seeing a bit of a reprieve from the last several decades of fighting seen in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Angola, Mozambique, Somalia; the list goes on. On my last trip to Congo, I was struck…

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Ni Paix Ni Guerre

Neither peace nor war. It says so much. This is how eastern Democractic Republic of Congo was described in a report that was developed on the joint assessment trip that I wrapped up last week (though I’ve stuck around DRC – in Goma now – for a couple of additional weeks). As you can see…

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They Hate Us

According to a recent study by Reuters: They hate us. Afghans are pissed off. And really, can we blame them? Americans back home are isolated from the affects of our foreign policy. Even here in Kabul you can be if you want to. We are certainly isolated from the people. We’ve been occupying an already…

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Generational War

Following up on my last post, in a way, I wanted to reflect a bit on our association, or lack-there-of, with war. I was out the other night with a couple of American professors from the baby boomer era. The woman mentioned that she felt a responsibility towards Vietnam as it was her generation who…

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