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With only months left until the U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan (2014), the war-torn country's security forces seem nowhere near ready to take over their own security — that's the devastating message of "This Is What Winning Looks Like," a new documentary British war correspondent Ben Anderson produced for VICE.

Anderson travelled to Afghanistan in December 2012 and followed U.S. Marines with Afghan security-forces-in-training. In many areas of Afghanistan, international troops have taken up an advisory role ahead of the withdrawal, hoping to teach Afghans how to provide adequate security. Yet the transition proves difficult. Anderson witnessed Afghan police officers locking up prisoners without food or water and claiming fuel money for vehicles that had long since been destroyed. Afghan soldiers open fire on areas where children run around. A police commander is accused of kidnapping young boys, abusing them sexually and even killing them.

"If you would go in and shut down all their corruption schemes, you would render them completely ineffective," Major Bill Steuber, the commanding officer of the police advisory team, says.

Anderson's conclusion is grim:

"All it is now is about getting out and saving face. We're not leaving because we achieved our goals. We're leaving because we've given up on achieving those goals," he says. "All the fighting has been to introduce a hated and feared government, who in some areas make the Taliban look like the good guys."

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The marines patrolled the surrounding area daily, but the Taliban were all but invisible. “This is some Vietnam ****,” said one. “Most of the time it’s like we’re getting shot at by bushes.”

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Marine:“Our families know what’s going on,” he growled. “People in the military know, but the general population doesn’t. America’s not at war. America’s at the mall,” he growled. “No one ****ing cares. It’s, ‘What’s up with Paris Hilton now? Britney Spears ****ing this...’ The average American doesn’t ****ing know when people die over here.”

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Marine: “Every day, we get shot at. I finally got to make a phone call today, expecting it to be like, ‘Oh, I miss you so much.’ No. It’s ‘Everything’s fine. I’m partying, having a good life down here.’ Doesn’t even ask me how I’m doing. That’s when I realized that people don’t give a ****. No one even really mentions 9/11 anymore. To me, that’s the whole reason I’m over here. That’s why I went to Iraq, why I joined the Marine Corps. Now we’re here, and I really don’t know why.”

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Afghan Elder: “All we want is security, whether you bring it or the Taliban. We are not supporting war. We support peace and security. If you bring peace and security, you are my king. If they bring security, they are our kings.”

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When an interviewer asked how Siegfrids thought viewers in countries such as Belaruse and Azerbaijan might react to her performance she said: ”I think that everybody should have the right to do that. It’s no big deal, it’s not big deal to me. It’s a show, and it’s about love and love is beautiful in any form.”
The TRT station claimed that the cancellation of the broadcast was due to low ratings, but last year a quarter of Turkish households tuned in to watch.
All Out has launched a petition urging the President of the European Broadcasting Union to address the issue, and to ensure that Eurovision would “uphold the values of unity and love”, as opposed to censoring Krista’s performance.
In the first hour it was live, the petition gathered over a thousand signatures, it has now received the support of over 8,000 people.
“All Out members are not fooled by Turkey’s weak excuse,” Andre Banks Co-founder and Executive Director of All Out said, “It is clear to the world that Turkey pulled the popular Eurovision show simply because two women expressed love through a kiss. Nothing could be more harmless than a kiss between two people.”
“The Eurovision kiss was not revolutionary. Turkish people already saw a kiss between two women on television. Two women kissed during the 2012 Olympics and that kiss was broadcast on Turkish TV,” Andre Banks said, “The world kept turning and the sun came up the next day. Love should never be feared, it is censorship we should fear.”

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LONDON (MarketWatch) — Which euro-zone country is most deeply in debt? The profligate Greeks, with their generous state-funded pensions? The Cypriots and their banks stuffed with dodgy Russian money? The recession-hit Spaniards or the boom-and-bust Irish?None of the above. Actually, it is the sober, responsible Dutch.
Consumer debt in the Netherlands has hit 250% of available income, one of the highest levels in the world. In Spain, by comparison, it has never gone above 125%.
The Netherlands has turned into one of the most heavily indebted countries in the world. It has slumped into recession and shows very little sign of coming out of it. The euro crisis has been dragging on for three years now but so far has only infected the peripheral nations within the single currency. But the Netherlands is a core member of both the euro and the European Union. If it can’t survive in the euro zone, then the game really will be up.
Holland has always been one of the most prosperous and stable nations with Europe — and one of the most pro-EU. It was a founding member of the union, and it was among the most enthusiastic supporters of the launch of the single currency. With a rich, export-oriented economy, and plenty of successful multinational companies, it had much to gain, one would suppose, from the creation of the single economy that was meant to come into being once the euro was successfully launched.



But instead it has started to play out a depressingly familiar script. It is blowing up in exactly the same way that Ireland, Greece and Portugal did — except on a slightly longer fuse.
Low interest rates, set mainly to benefit the German economy, and lots of cheap capital led to a property boom and an explosion of debt. From the launch of the single currency to the peak of the market, Dutch house prices doubled, making it one of the most overheated markets in the world.
Now that has crashed spectacularly. House prices are falling as fast as they did in Florida when the American housing boom turned sour. Prices are now 16.6% lower than they were at the peak of the bubble in 2008. The National Association of Estate Agents predicts another 7% drop this year. Unless you bought your home back in the last century, it will now be worth less than you paid for it — and even worse, probably less than you borrowed on it as well.
As a result, the Dutch are now sinking under a tide of debt. At more than 250%, household debt is even higher than in Ireland and 2 ½ times the level in Greece. Already one bank was rescued by the government, and with house prices still collapsing there may well be more to come. The Dutch banks have 650 billion euros outstanding on real estate that is rapidly falling in value — and if there is one thing we know for sure about the financial markets it is that when the property markets collapse, the financial system is not far behind.

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President Barack Obama has said sexual harassment and assault will not be tolerated in the US military.

His spoke as figures showed reported sexual assaults in the US military rose from 3,192 to 3,374 in 2012.

But as many attacks go unreported, officials estimate the total number of sexual assaults stands at 26,000, up from 19,000 last year.

It comes after the officer tasked with stopping sexual crimes in the US Air Force was charged with sexual battery.

Lt Col Jeff Krusinski, 41, was arrested on Sunday accused of grabbing a woman's breasts and buttocks in a car park in Virginia, police said.

The Air Force has been criticised after a slew of sexual assault cases at its main training centre in Texas.

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In the spirit of doing whatever I can to move things forward in this country, I would like to make myself available to the president of the United States to sit down and talk with him at a place of his choosing -- and discuss the problems facing the country, and maybe working together.

Full Announcement: http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2013/05/14/rush_to_the_president_let_s_talk_it_out

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Federal Europe will be 'a reality in a few years', says Jose Manuel Barroso

A fully fledged federal Europe may seem like "political science fiction" today but will soon become reality for all European Union countries whether inside or outside the euro, Jose Manuel Barroso has said.


The president of the European Commission has fanned the flames of British debate over EU membership by insisting that fiscal union in the eurozone will lead to "intensified political union" for all 27 member states.

"This is about the economic and monetary union but for the EU as a whole," he said.

"The commission will, therefore, set out its views and explicit ideas for treaty change in order for them to be debated before the European elections."

"We want to put all the elements on the table, in a clear and consistent way, even if some of them may sound like political science fiction today. They will be reality in a few years' time."

Mr Barroso's announcement that he will set out plans for a European federation next spring, before elections to the European Parliament in May 2014, will further deepen Conservative divisions over the EU.

[...]

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Members of Greece’s far-right party Golden Dawn party clashed with police in Syntagma Square who prevented them from handing out free food in the iconic central Athens location.

Athens Mayor George Kaminis, banned the food bank, describing it as a “soup kitchen of hatred” because free food would only be given to Greek citizens with identity cards.

After being forced to move on, the anti-immigration party relocated their event to outside their headquarters, and proceeded with their “Greek-only” food handout.

The far-right group, which is also anti-corruption, has seen its popularity rise in recent years and is now the third most popular party in Greece. Golden Dawn won 18 out of 300 parliamentary seats in elections in 2012.

The free food continues to find takers. Unemployment in Greece is at 27 percent and the country is facing further austerity and cuts in order to secure much-needed bailout funds from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

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