Shame on Harper, shame on Obama and shame on us all. The Toronto Star reports today that "this week the first war crimes trial under the Obama administration will feature its only remaining Western prisoner and one who was 15 when captured." 

A secret CIA report, brought to light last month by Wikileaks, reveals the cynical battle plans for the "war of perception" being waged over public opinion in Europe about NATO's war in Afghanistan. The four-page document is well worth reading, mainly to see exactly how cyncial the powers-that-be are when assessing the public.

A few months back, I wondered aloud if Canadians were killing and dying for Kandahar's Al Capone. Since then, there have been new revelations bolstering the case for gangster metaphors in describing the Karzai family at the head of the NATO-backed regime in Afghanistan. President Hamid's half-brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, has come under particular scrutiny. Julius Cavendish writes in the April 3 UK Independent:

I attended this year's Left Forum in New York, a gathering of thousands of progressive academics and activists held March 19-21. I spoke at a panel co-organized by the Canadian Peace Alliance and the Campaign for Peace and Democracy on the topic of the war in 'Af-Pak'.

The final plenary on March 21 featured a tribute to Howard Zinn, with actor-teacher-activist Brian Jones performing Zinn's Marx in Soho. With the Forum being held at PACE University in Lower Manhattan a stone's throw from Wall Street (and not far from Soho), the play was a joyful reminder that the ideas of both Zinn and Marx will resonate until the global dictatorship of Capital is brought to an end.

Yesterday’s Globe and Mail featured one of Ottawa’s worst kept secrets as its front page story: the United States will be officially requesting that hundreds of Canadian troops remain in Afghanistan after the 2011 pull-out from Kandahar. The article implies that such a continued military role would not contradict the 2008 parliamentary motion on the war:

The 'Olympic Truce' continues to be nothing more than a sick joke for the people of Afghanistan, as at least 27 more civilians were killed in a NATO bombing in Uruzgan on Sunday.

There is one big Winter Olympic country, however, that has (by sheer coincidence) given a nod to the values represented by the idea of a Truce during the Games. The government of the Netherlands has collapsed over the issue of the war, which is very big news indeed. Dutch troops, who have been stationed in Uruzgan, will be on their way out in six months. The Guardian reports:

Both the Vancouver Olympics and NATO's offensive in Afghanistan's Helmand Province are now a week old. Sadly, very few media outlets have picked up on the story of the blatant hypocrisy of launching this offensive during the so-called "Olympic Truce". Nor have many in Canada given space to critical perspectives on 'Operation Moshtarak'.

Last week, I wrote a piece in the Georgia Straight about the war in Afghanistan and the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver:

Because sometimes it's better to laugh than cry ...

Lawrence Cannon, Canada’s foreign minister, is on his way to London for a major international conference on the future of Afghanistan, January 28. Hilary Clinton and other high level representatives from the NATO countries will be present, as will embattled Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

One wonders if this major global media focus on Afghanistan was part of the Harper government’s calculation in proroguing Parliament. The torture and abuse of Afghan detainees is also an issue in several European countries, and so the less riled up the Canadian press corps is from any fresh revelations back home, the better.