Farewell. The Flying Pig Has Left The Building.

Steve Hynd, August 16, 2012

After four years on the Typepad site, eight years total blogging, Newshoggers is closing it's doors today. We've been coasting the last year or so, with many of us moving on to bigger projects (Hey, Eric!) or simply running out of blogging enthusiasm, and it's time to give the old flying pig a rest.

We've done okay over those eight years, although never being quite PC enough to gain wider acceptance from the partisan "party right or wrong" crowds. We like to think we moved political conversations a little, on the ever-present wish to rush to war with Iran, on the need for a real Left that isn't licking corporatist Dem boots every cycle, on America's foreign misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. We like to think we made a small difference while writing under that flying pig banner. We did pretty good for a bunch with no ties to big-party apparatuses or think tanks.

Those eight years of blogging will still exist. Because we're ending this typepad account, we've been archiving the typepad blog here. And the original blogger archive is still here. There will still be new content from the old 'hoggers crew too. Ron writes for The Moderate Voice, I post at The Agonist and Eric Martin's lucid foreign policy thoughts can be read at Democracy Arsenal.

I'd like to thank all our regular commenters, readers and the other bloggers who regularly linked to our posts over the years to agree or disagree. You all made writing for 'hoggers an amazingly fun and stimulating experience.

Thank you very much.

Note: This is an archive copy of Newshoggers. Most of the pictures are gone but the words are all here. There may be some occasional new content, John may do some posts and Ron will cross post some of his contributions to The Moderate Voice so check back.


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Thursday, November 12, 2009

Obama to ask for greater Chinese Involvement in Afghanistan

By Steve Hynd


According to the Financial Times:



As US President Barack Obama prepares to make a final decision on whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, his visit to Beijing next week will be an opportunity to press China to become more involved in the conflict.


Since the start of the year, the Obama administration has been quietly encouraging Beijing to become much more engaged in Afghanistan, according to diplomats, officials and academics briefed on the discussions, with possible options including greater humanitarian assistance and sending military police to help train the Afghan police force.


...The Obama administration, which has said it wants China to be a partner on many global issues, had hoped to organise an �inter-agency� meeting for Chinese officials in Washington before the president�s visit, where they would be briefed by all the different US government departments involved in Afghanistan and Pakistan. However this has yet to take place. The US also hopes Beijing will occasionally use its influence with Pakistan, a close ally, towards shared strategic goals.


�This is a golden opportunity for China to be seen by the west to be on the same side,� said David Shambaugh, a China expert at George Washington University, who said China should consider both civilian assistance, such as building infrastructure, and police training. �It is a test case of whether China will become a real partner.�


There's a lot of potential in a greater Afghan role for China and I'm glad to see the administration has been quietly exploring the possibility. Australian Colonel Matthew Hall, former chief analyst for Combined Forces Command - Afghanistan, says that NATO should provide China with a chance to further its international standing and position in the region by encouraging it to take an active role. China has also been sending its own signals that it might not be averse to greater involvement, in the right circumstances - although those circumstances would probably have to include a U.S. withdrawal timetable.



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1 comment:

  1. ZifnabNovember 12, 2009 at 8:13 AM

    China has also been sending its own signals that it might not be averse to greater involvement, in the right circumstances - although those circumstances would probably have to include a U.S. withdrawal timetable.
    Although? You make it sound like it's not something we'd fucking love to do.

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