In this mailing:
- Con Coughlin: The Real Winners of the Afghan Election: The Taliban
- Burak Bekdil: Greek Islanders Want Their Life Back
- The Cost of Legalized Cannabis?
by Con Coughlin • February 20, 2020 at 5:00 am
Of the country's 9.6 million registered voters (among a total population of 37 million), a total of just 1.82 million votes were counted. Of these, nearly one million were discarded due to irregularities, meaning that Mr Ghani achieved his victory by winning a paltry 400,000 votes, which can hardly be described as a commanding mandate.
The result should serve as a warning to US officials as they enter a crucial phase in peace talks with the Taliban about the organisation's true motives.
Far from having an interest in achieving a negotiated settlement of the long-running Afghan conflict, the Taliban's ultimate goal is to persuade the Trump administration to end its military presence in the country so that it can once again seize control of the country and turn it into a safe haven from which Islamist terrorists can again plot their devastating attacks against the West.
The announcement that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani (left) has emerged as the victor over opposition candidate Abdullah Abdullah (right) in the country's election contest could well prove to be a hollow victory so far as the survival of Afghanistan's fragile democracy is concerned. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
The announcement that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has emerged as the victor in the country's election contest could well prove to be a hollow victory so far as the survival of Afghanistan's fragile democracy is concerned.
Declaration of the election's outcome, which took place in September last year, was delayed because of allegations of vote-rigging in the contest, as well as claims that many Afghans did not vote because of intimidation tactics by the Taliban.
Even when the final result was announced this week, with election officials confirming that the 70-year-old Mr Ghani had narrowly claimed victory with 50.64 percent of the vote, the main opposition candidate, Abdullah Abdullah, continued to insist that the contest had been marred by massive fraud and technical problems.
by Burak Bekdil • February 20, 2020 at 4:30 am
"We want our islands back... We want our lives back!!!" — Posters across Greece's northeast Aegean islands.
The owner of the beautiful tavern... "recollects how the 'refugee business' works... the distance between the Turkish mainland and Lesbos is shortest here (just five miles): "It's 1,500 euros per person and one boat takes up to 60 persons. One boat's turnover is thus 90,000 euros if it travels once a day."
At Moria, the largest camp on the island of Lesbos, 19,000 refugees presently seek shelter at a facility with a capacity of 2,840 people.
In 2016 Ankara and Brussels reached a deal in which the EU committed six billion euros ($6.6 billion) in migrant assistance and a more liberal visa regime for Turkish nationals in return for Turkey stopping migrants from crossing. The deal has not stopped the refugee flow from the Turkish coast. Turkey claims that so far, only about $2 billion has been paid.
"Theloume piso ta nisia mas..., Theloume piso ti zoi mas!!!" echo poster slogans across Greece's northeast Aegean islands, inviting locals to debate the poisoning refugee catastrophe: "We want our islands back... We want our lives back!!!". Pictured: The town theater in Mytilini, capital of Lesbos island, bedecked with a protest banner. (Image source: Burak Bekdil)
Locals are angry. So are the refugees. Tens of thousands of migrant have illegally landed here, on the islands of Greece, since 2015. Some leave, some stay but most wait to be "processed' in the hope of finding their ways into Europe's richer countries, such as Germany.
"Theloume piso ta nisia mas..., Theloume piso ti zoi mas!!!" echo poster slogans across Greece's northeast Aegean islands, inviting locals to debate the poisoning refugee catastrophe: "We want our islands back... We want our lives back!!!" Lesbos, an island situated on the easternmost corner of Europe and neighboring Turkey, is one of the victims that once was a paradise.
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