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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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Iran Offers to "Help Stabilize Afghanistan"

By Steve Hynd


Yesterday, at the Rome conference, Iran offered to help NATO stabilize Afghanistan in return for some quid pro quo from the US.



"Iran is convinced that a regional approach is needed to stabilise Afghanistan but clearly we need the support of the international community, including the United States," Mohammad Ali Qanezadeh was quoted as saying.



There are lots of good reasons why that's not an empty offer. Iran's influence in Afghanistan, particularly the area around Herat is stronger now than ever before. The "pearl of Afghanistan" was built with money and engineers from Iran, not NATO nations. Electricity is plentiful, violence is low, the streets are paved, there are several new medical facilities.


There's also a road link to Iran's big port at Chabar. There's to be a rail link completed soon too - built by Indian engineers, who are also improving the Chabar port for the Iranians.



"India has proposed expanding the capacity of the port, currently working at its full handling capacity of 2.5 million tonnes of cargo per year from two active berths, by five times and linking it to the Iranian town of Bam, on Afghan border, with a railway line. From there goods are proposed to be taken to Afganistan through the Zaranj-Delaram road, built by India, which in turn links up with the garland highway connecting all major Afghan cities."



Sanctions on Iran are consequently undermined by the US position in Afghanistan, since India *needs* Iran onside for its own national interests.


To see just how ignorant most Americans are of what's happening in and around America's longest foreign misadventure ever - there's a Fox News online poll running right now: "Should Iran Play Role in Afghanistan's Future?" 88% of the 11,400 Fox fans so far have voted "no", that Iran's involvement "would mean catastrophe for Afghanistan and the West." But how would they stop it? That's not mentioned. Only 8% get it right: "It's impossible to exclude Iran".


When the dust settles Iran will be one of the winners from the war in Afghanistan, just as it has been from the war in Iraq.



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1 comment:

  1. SRW1October 20, 2010 at 6:38 PM

    Would it be widely off the mark to speculate that the number or responders not aware of the stubborn little fact that Iran is one of Afghanistan's neighbors was 88%?

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