The media is suggesting President Obama will announce his Afghanistan war strategy on December 1st, 2009. In his address to the nation the President is expected to deploy an additional 35,000 troops in support of the strategy. All of this make me as the question who is it we are fighting?

As a result of providing safe haven to Osama Bin Laden, Afghanistan became the target of military forces. The initial goals of the war efforts were:

1. Capture all leaders of al-Qaeda
2. Close every terrorist training camp within the country
3. Hold open elections, allowing the people of Afghanistan the ability to direct their own future

While I have no ability to see what is going on within that country at this very moment, I am very aware Osama Bin Laden has not been captured, thus failing on point number one. As violence continues on a daily basis I would feel safe saying U.S. forces do not have full control of the country. If the military cannot claim military superiority within the country there is no way to say that every training camp is closed, failure point number two. The only success that can be claimed is open elections.

So, where does that leave the U.S.? Who is it we are fighting?

Are we fighting al-Qaeda, are we fighting what remains of the Taliban, or are we really targeting a bunch of pissed off, well armed, opium farmers? I think it is safe to ask if the Government even knows who we are fighting and why we are doing so.

In 2001 a full Congress supported military action; today it seems as if the war is aimless. While I would criticize President Obama for waiting so long to provide the additional troops asked for by the military, the development of a strategy is long over due AND appropriate for the Administration to address.

The military has failed on two of the three objectives, we the people need to know what the strategy is moving forward and who will be accountable for the efforts? The nation needs to see President Obama state the goals for Afghanistan, including a clear outline of who the enemy is and why we are fighting because, at this point, it is a futile effort.

Just look at this title from The Guardian: Britain and US prepard to open talks with the Taliban.

A concerted effort to start unprecedented talks between Taliban and British and American envoys was outlined today in a significant change in tactics designed to bring about a breakthrough in the attritional, eight-year conflict in Afghanistan.

Really… I don’t now what to think and feel but I do know I  have problems with it.

Cancer breakthrough?

I find this article from The Independent to be borderline astonishing.  If true, it sounds like there was a giant leap forward in the treatment of prostate cancer…

Two patients with inoperable prostate cancer have made dramatic recoveries after receiving one dose of an experimental drug that is creating excitement among cancer specialists.

he results were so startling that researchers decided to release details of the two cases before the drug trial – in which the patients took part – was complete. Doctors said their progress had exceeded all expectations. The men were treated at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota in the US, one of the top medical centres in the world.

Let’s not get our hopes up yet, however, as this drug (Ipilimumab) has not experienced the same results in previous studies.  Also, further researcher is expected this fall with larger patient groups.

One thing to note, it very well may NOT be the experimental drug Impilimumab providing the results:

The other cautionary note is that both men received hormone therapy, which in some instances causes dramatic reductions in tumour size by itself.

It will be interesting to watch.

Times Reporter Held by Taliban Escapes

Apparently David Rohde, a New York Times reporter, was captured by the Taliban roughly 7 months ago as he was researching a book outside of Kabul last November. You did hear about this?  Neither did I, apparently the Times had an information embargo concerning the capture due to safety concerns.

“From the early days of this ordeal, the prevailing view among David’s family, experts in kidnapping cases, officials of several governments and others we consulted was that going public could increase the danger to David and the other hostages. The kidnappers initially said as much,” said Bill Keller, the executive editor of The Times. “We decided to respect that advice, as we have in other kidnapping cases, and a number of other news organizations that learned of David’s plight have done the same. We are enormously grateful for their support.”

I’d say this gives the concept of book research a whole new meaning.

Prototype Nokia phone recharges without wires

Now this is just… well… sexy.  A new prototype phone from Nokia is able to recharge without the need for a wired power source.

Nokia, however, has taken another baby step in that direction with the invention of a cell phone that recharges itself using a unique system: It harvests ambient radio waves from the air, and turns that energy into usable power. Enough, at least, to keep a cell phone from running out of juice.

This has the potential to be game changing.  A dead cell phone, or other small electronic device, could easily be a thing of the past.

Simply harvesting radio waves and converting the the collected waves into energy is brilliant.  The funny thing is that genius electrical engineer Nikola Tesla managed to do something very similar to this very thing over 100 years ago.  Even more impressive, Tesla managed to light bulbs over large distances, without wires, in Colorado Springs by using the Earth’s surface.

It’s too bad that the world had to wait over 100 years to put some of Tesla’s research to work.