Debakel in Afghanistan: Biden trägt die Verantwortung für die Demütigung Amerikas

NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: Nach dem Anschlag vor dem Flughafen Kabuls haben die USA erstmals seit anderthalb Jahren wieder Opfer in Afghanistan zu beklagen. Der Präsident lässt mit der desolaten Umsetzung des Truppenabzugs missen, wofür er in der Auseinandersetzung mit Trump stand: Besonnenheit und Kompetenz.

Die Auftritte des amerikanischen Präsidenten in diesen dramatischen Tagen wirken wenig überzeugend. | Stefani Reynolds / Imago
KOMMENTAR
Mit seiner jahrzehntelangen Erfahrung kennt Präsident Joe Biden die Spielregeln der Politik. Er weiss genau, wie eng sein Gestaltungsspielraum ist, bevor in den Zwischenwahlen im kommenden Jahr der Verlust der prekären demokratischen Mehrheiten im Kongress und damit seiner Handlungsfähigkeit droht. Beflügelt von ersten innenpolitischen Erfolgen, entwarf er deshalb im Frühling das Drehbuch für ein amerikanisches Sommermärchen.

Bis zum Independence Day am 4. Juli sollte die Impfkampagne so weit fortgeschritten sein, dass die Vereinigten Staaten auch die «Unabhängigkeit» vom Coronavirus feiern könnten. Am 20. Jahrestag der Anschläge vom 11. September wollte Biden nach dem vollständigen Truppenabzug das offizielle Ende des Militäreinsatzes in Afghanistan verkünden. Und irgendwann dazwischen würde der Kongress mit überparteilicher Mehrheit ein billionenschweres Infrastrukturpaket verabschieden, eines der wichtigsten Anliegen Bidens. All das, so das Kalkül des Präsidenten, könnte seine Partei entgegen den Gepflogenheiten vor Verlusten bei den Zwischenwahlen bewahren. Ein albtraumhafter Sommer » | Meret Baumann | Freitag, 27. August 2021

Biden Faces a Tragedy He Pledged to Avoid

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The president said the evacuation of U.S. citizens and allies from Afghanistan would continue, even after an attack that killed at least 13 American troops and dozens of civilians.

President Biden spoke from the East Room of the White House after the Pentagon confirmed the deaths of the American service members in what officials said were suicide bomber attacks. Credit: Doug Mills/The New York Times
WASHINGTON — It was exactly what President Biden feared most.

His decision to end America’s longest war was driven, he had said repeatedly, by his determination not to sacrifice even one more member of the military on behalf of an effort he had long believed was no longer in the interests of the United States.

But on Thursday morning, the withdrawal he set in motion claimed the lives of 13 U.S. troops, along with scores of Afghan civilians — the first American casualties in Afghanistan in 18 months and the deadliest day there for the U.S. military since 2011.

In searing remarks from the East Room of the White House Thursday evening, Mr. Biden pledged to “hunt down” the terrorists who claimed credit for the bombings at the Kabul airport but said the frantic, dangerous evacuation of U.S. citizens and allies from Afghanistan would continue for several more days.

“To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this: We will not forgive,” Mr. Biden said, using language that had grim echoes of warnings President George W. Bush made after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. “We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay.”

America’s tumultuous exit from Afghanistan has dragged down Mr. Biden’s approval ratings, and the bombings on Thursday surely will open him up to political criticism. But it was unclear what the damage would be to his presidency in the long term, as he exits a war that most Americans want out of as well. » | Michael D. Shear | Published: Thursday, August 26, 2021; Updated: Friday, August 27, 2021

Lindsey Graham Calls for Biden Impeachment »

UK evacuation from Kabul to end in ‘a matter of hours’ »

Hundreds of Britons offer to host Afghan refugees after fall of Kabul: Many have signed up with charities that connect refugees and asylum seekers with hosts around UK »

Antigay Catholic Newsletter Threatens to Out More Priests via Grindr

Giulio Napolitano/Shutterstock
ADVOCATE: The Pillar has suggested in reports it could out several people using the hookup app, including some within the Vatican.

The Vatican is concerned that The Pillar, a newsletter-based publication run by anti-LGBTQ+ members of the Church’s hierarchy who outed a priest using Grindr data last month, is just getting started.

In its initial report, the newsletter claimed that Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, the highest-ranking American cleric who is not a bishop, was likely having sex with men he met through Grindr and had been doing so for years. Burrill resigned as general secretary shortly after the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) was informed of the coming report.

In subsequent reports, the newsletter alleged that it has obtained further online dating app data that implicates high-ranking officials in the Catholic church as engaging in gay sex. Although it has stopped short of outing anyone specific, the concern is that the reports go beyond leaders here in the U.S. (a second report claimed the publication had data showing dating app use within the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J.) but potentially to the highest ranks of the Vatican.

According to a third report, “at least 16 mobile devices emitted signals from the hookup app Grindr” and “16 other devices showed the use of other location-based hookup or dating apps, both heterosexual and homosexual” from “within the non-public areas of the Vatican City State” in 2018, The Pillar alleges. » | Rachel Shatto | Monday, August 23, 2021

Puttin’ on the Style

Many thanks to Charlidos on Pinterest and Tumblr for this great and stylish photo of Tom Hardy.

Just Married !

With thanks to Marriage is so gay. on Pinterest.

Juste une expression d'amour

Nur ein Ausdruck der Liebe / Just an expression of love
With gratitude to Brian Trevor on Flickr for this wonderful and expressive photo.

Michel Barnier to Run in French Presidential Election

Michel Barnier said that limiting immigration would be a key policy pledge. Photograph: Reuters
The EU’s former chief negotiator on Brexit, Michel Barnier, plans to stand as a right-wing candidate against Emmanuel Macron in next year’s French presidential elections, saying that limiting immigration would be a key policy pledge.

“In these grave times, I have taken the decision and have the determination to stand … and be the president of a France that is reconciled, to respect the French and have France respected,” he told the evening news show of TF1 television in a live interview.

Barnier, who is entering an increasingly crowded field on the right, cited his long experience in politics as giving him an edge in the race including the “extraordinary” negotiations to find a deal on Britain’s exit from the European Union. He said during the years-long process he had to work “with heads of state and government to preserve the unity of all the European countries”.

Asked why he wanted to challenge Macron – with whom he had worked closely in the Brexit process – Barnier replied that he wanted to “change the country”. » | Agence France-Presse | Thursday, August 26, 2021

Michel Barnier: «Je veux être un président qui respecte les Français et fait respecter la France» »

Bombs Strike Kabul Airport, Killing at Least 12 US Troops and Dozens of Afghan Civilians

The Defense Department said 12 U.S. service members were killed and 15 wounded in an ISIS suicide bomb attack near an airport gate on Thursday. Many more Afghan civilians were killed and wounded. Credit: Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Two suicide bombers struck a packed crowd outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Thursday, killing at least 12 American service members and scores of Afghan civilians, officials said.

In the final days of its 20-year presence in Afghanistan, the U.S. military sustained one of the highest single-day American tolls of the war.

“Today is a hard day,” said Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., head of the United States Central Command. And he warned that the danger was not over.

“We have other active threats against the airfield,” General McKenzie told reporters at a news conference in Washington.

The bombs were set off near a crowd of families at the airport gates who were desperately hoping to make one of the last evacuation flights out. Gunfire was reported in the aftermath of the explosions.

The Islamic State released a statement claiming responsibility for the attack. » | Eric Schmitt, Helene Cooper, Megan Specia, Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Jim Huylebroek, Matthieu Aikins, Victor J. Blue, Fatima Faizi, Najim Rahim, Fahim Abed and Sharif Hassancontributed reporting. | Thursday, August 26, 2021

Michael Bolton : Soul Provider

Provided to YouTube by Columbia. Views on YouTube: 726,563

Daniel Barenboim – Chopin: Étude Op. 25 No.1 in A flat Major (Live from Pierre Boulez Saal, 2020)

May 15, 2020 • Musical moments are moments of memories, reflection, as a retrospect of the past and anticipation of the future. These are moments that enrich our lives with music that we already know or get to know in the moment of listening. Every two weeks, starting on 15th May, a new Musical Moment will be released by the yellow label performed by prestigious artists like Daniel Barenboim, Yuja Wang, Nadine Sierra, Avi Avital, Albrecht Mayer or Hilary Hahn just to name a few.

The first 'Musical Moment' to be released is performed by none other than conductor, pianr />ist and Chopin connoisseur Daniel Barenboim. Enjoy this first Musical Moment and watch Barenboim's interpretation of Frédéric Chopin's Etude Op. 25 No. 1, recorded in a currently empty Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin.

Barefoot Contessa Makes Beef Bourguignon | Barefoot Contessa/Ina Garten | Food Network

Ina's Beef Bourguignon is just about the comfiest meal ever!

Get the recipe here.

Tote bei Anschlagsserie am Flughafen von Kabul | DW Nachrichten

Aug 26, 2021 • 00:00 Anschläge am Flughafen von Kabul Nach mindestens zwei Explosionen vor dem Airport der afghanischen Hauptstadt sind mehrere Opfer zu beklagen, unter ihnen US-Soldaten. Der Sprecher des US-Verteidigungsministeriums, John Kirby, schrieb auf Twitter, eine der Detonationen habe sich am Abbey-Tor des Flughafens ereignet. Zudem habe es eine zweite Explosion in der Nähe des Hotels Baron gegeben, das nicht weit entfernt liegt. Durch die "komplexe Attacke" sei eine bislang unbekannte Zahl an Opfern zu beklagen.

Unter den Toten sind auch US-Soldaten, wie das Pentagon bestätigte. 03:10 Interview Franz Marty Journalist Franz Marty berichtet live aus Kabul. 07:29 Frauen in Afghanistan bangen um ihre Rechte Bisher geben sich die Taliban liberal im Vergleich zu früher. Sie versprechen, Frauen könnten sich frei bewegen, selbstbestimmt leben, arbeiten gehen. Doch Beobachter sorgen sich, dass die Taliban zur Brutalität gegenüber Frauen zurückkehren werden, für die sie während ihrer ersten Herrschaft traurige Berühmtheit erlangten. 10:10 Interview Magdalena Kirchner, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

Afghanistan - Les talibans à Kaboul | ARTE Regards

Aug 20, 2021 • Le 15 août 2021, Kaboul tombe aux mains des talibans. La mission des forces de la coalition en Afghanistan s’achève, 20 ans après, dans le chaos. Elle laisse derrière elle d'innombrables personnes désespérées et encore plus de promesses non tenues.

Chassé du pouvoir par les États-Unis et leurs alliés en 2001, le mouvement islamiste radical a profité du retrait des derniers soldats américains pour reconquérir le pays à la vitesse de l’éclair. Quel avenir attend la population, et plus particulièrement les femmes ? Alors que ceux qui ont cru à la liberté et à la démocratie risquent d’en payer le prix fort, les personnes qui le peuvent fuient en masse le pays. ARTE Regards a suivi deux hommes et une femme tout au long de l’avancée des talibans : Nasrin Nawa, ex-journaliste pour la BBC ; Wahed Sadad, qui était traducteur pour la Bundeswehr, l’armée allemande ; et Shafic Gawhari, devenu PDG de la plus grande entreprise de médias du pays, Tolo News.

Reportage (Allemagne, 2021, 32mn)
Disponible jusqu'au 20/08/2022

Democracy Now! Top US News & World Headlines — August 26, 2021

Mary Trump: Donald Is Desperate for the Truth to Remain Hidden

Aug 26, 2021 • Mary Trump, Donald Trump's niece, says the former president will do everything he can to avoid coorperating with the House panel investigating the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.

Machtwechsel in Afghanistan: Mindestens 13 Tote nach Selbstmordattentat vor dem Flughafen Kabul, Zeitfenster für Evakuierungen schliesst sich immer mehr

NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: In Afghanistan haben die Taliban die Macht übernommen. Durch den internationalen Truppenabzug herrscht im ganzen Land Chaos. Einzig der Flughafen in Kabul verbleibt als letzte Ausreisemöglichkeit. Zehntausende Ausländer und Afghanen wurden bisher ausgeflogen.

Trotz der Machtübernahme der Taliban sollen Mädchen und Frauen in Afghanistan weiterhin Schulen und Universitäten besuchen dürfen. Laut Uno-Berichten haben die Taliban dieses Versprechen an verschiedenen Orten aber bereits gebrochen. | Stringer / EPA
Vor dem Flughafen Kabul hat sich ein Selbstmordattentäter in die Luft gesprengt. Die neuesten Entwicklungen » | NZZ-Redaktion | Donnerstag, 26. August 2021

The Guardian View on Empty Shelves: A Crisis Made in Government

THE GUARDIAN – EDITORIAL: The pandemic disrupted supply chains, but that issue is being used as political camouflage to disguise the failings of Brexit

Sparsely stocked shelves and unfilled orders cannot be hidden from consumers, nor will it be feasible for the government to pretend they are accidents of nature.’ Photograph: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images
Most of the system that puts food on the 21st-century table is a mystery to the consumer, who is usually happy in ignorance. If the complex logistics – picking, processing, packing, and distributing – make headlines it is because something has gone wrong.

Currently, two very big things have gone wrong, leading to gaps on supermarket shelves. One is the pandemic, which has slowed the movement of goods and people across borders, while raising shipping costs. Any broken link in global supply chains causes a cascade of disruption which affects many countries. But Britain has a second, aggravating condition to contend with – Brexit.

Being outside the EU single market and customs union imposes bureaucracy and friction at borders that British businesses did not previously face. Ending freedom of movement for EU nationals has drained the labour pool from which many industries recruited. Without agricultural workers, food rots before it can get to market. Without hauliers, goods sit unshipped in depots. » | Editorial | Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Gee thanks, BoJo! You got the star prize: you got the keys to Number 10; the rest of us got the booby prize: we go hungry! A clown with a posh accent is still a clown! – © Mark

Nawalny klagt über »psychische Gewalt«

SPIEGEL: In einem Gespräch mit der »New York Times« äußert sich der inhaftierte Kremlkritiker erstmals über seine Haftbedingungen – und erhebt schwere Vorwürfe gegen die russischen Behörden.

Kremlkritiker Alexej Nawalny (Archivbild) | Foto: Moscow City Court Press Service / TASS / picture alliance/dpa
Erstes Interview aus der Haft
In seinem ersten Interview aus der Haft in Russland hat Kreml-Kritiker Alexej Nawalny den russischen Behörden schwere Vorwürfe gemacht. Der Oppositionsführer verglich in dem am Mittwoch veröffentlichten Gespräch mit der »New York Times« seine Strafkolonie in Pokrow 100 Kilometer östlich von Moskau mit einem chinesischen Arbeitslager und sprach von einer Art Gehirnwäsche, der er unterzogen werde.

Die Zeiten von auszehrender Arbeit in sowjetischen Gulags sei vorbei, sagte Nawalny der »New York Times«. Stattdessen werde nun »psychische Gewalt« gegen die Häftlinge ausgeübt. So werde er gezwungen, täglich acht Stunden Kreml-treues Staatsfernsehen zu schauen. Lesen und schreiben dürfe er hingegen nicht. Außerdem weckten die Aufseher Häftlinge, wenn sie einschliefen. Seine Mithäftlingen piesackten ihn hingegen nicht, sagte Nawalny. Er habe sogar »Spaß« mit ihnen. » | nek/AFP | Donnerstag, 26. August 2021

The New Chief Chaplain at Harvard? An Atheist.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The elevation of Greg Epstein, author of “Good Without God,” reflects a broader trend of young people who increasingly identify as spiritual but religiously nonaffiliated

Greg Epstein has been Harvard’s humanist chaplain since 2005. Credit: Cody O'Loughlin for The New York Times
The Puritan colonists who settled in New England in the 1630s had a nagging concern about the churches they were building: How would they ensure that the clergymen would be literate? Their answer was Harvard University, a school that was established to educate the ministry and adopted the motto “Truth for Christ and the Church.” It was named after a pastor, John Harvard, and it would be more than 70 years before the school had a president who was not a clergyman.

Nearly four centuries later, Harvard’s organization of chaplains has elected as its next president an atheist named Greg Epstein, who takes on the job this week.

Mr. Epstein, 44, author of the book “Good Without God,” is a seemingly unusual choice for the role. He will coordinate the activities of more than 40 university chaplains, who lead the Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and other religious communities on campus. Yet many Harvard students — some raised in families of faith, others never quite certain how to label their religious identities — attest to the influence that Mr. Epstein has had on their spiritual lives.

“There is a rising group of people who no longer identify with any religious tradition but still experience a real need for conversation and support around what it means to be a good human and live an ethical life,” said Mr. Epstein, who was raised in a Jewish household and has been Harvard’s humanist chaplain since 2005, teaching students about the progressive movement that centers people’s relationships with one another instead of with God. » | Emma Goldberg | Thursday, August 26, 2021

Renaud Girard: «Rétablir l’axe géopolitique Paris-Londres-Berlin»

Renaud Girard.. Jean-Christophe MARMARA/Le Figaro
LE FIGARO : CHRONIQUE - La France, l’Allemagne et la Grande-Bretagne sentent, qu’elles ont des intérêts politiques communs et que, de leur union approfondie, peut naître une force respectée dans le monde.

Décidé par le peuple britannique lors du référendum de juin 2016, le Brexit est une décision de sortie d’institutions européennes à vocation essentiellement économique. Ce n’est pas un divorce du Royaume-Uni avec ses alliés militaires européens. L’alliance et la fraternité d’armes de Londres et Paris est plus que séculaire. Cette coopération militaire opérationnelle entre les deux puissances les plus combatives du continent européen se poursuit admirablement - y compris dans le domaine nucléaire - grâce aux accords de Lancaster House, signés par Nicolas Sarkozy et David Cameron en novembre 2010. Aucune contingence économique subalterne ne réussira jamais à détruire l’union des âmes qui existent entre Français et Anglais. Les Français n’oublieront jamais que Londres fut la capitale de la France libre.

L’amitié franco-allemande est sans doute plus fragile. Mais elle a quand même derrière elle quelque six décennies. Le 2 septembre 2021,nous fêterons le cinquante-neuvième anniversaire de la visite triomphale d’une semaine que fit le général de Gaulle en Allemagne. Deuxième monnaie de réserve et d’échange du monde, l’euro est directement la fille des couples Giscard-Schmidt puis Mitterrand-Kohl.

Les liens germano-britanniques sont également profonds, fondés aujourd’hui sur une même passion pour le libéralisme et pour l’allié américain, et nourris depuis toujours par un substrat culturel proche, remontant au-delà du XVIIIe siècle et de la dynastie des Hanovre. » | Par Renaud Girard | lundi 23 août 2021