Quiet Progress in Afghanistan

A tonic to the general cries of doom and gloom in the graveyard of empires: (H/T: Chequerboard)

The United Nations Security Council, who has issued almost 40 quarterly reports on the situation in Afghanistan since 2001, most recently reported in March that "the number of districts under insurgent control has decreased.… As a result of the increased tempo of security operations in northern and western provinces, an increasing number of anti-Government elements are seeking to join local reintegration programs.… In Kabul, the increasingly effective Afghan national security forces continue to limit insurgent attacks."

If current trends continue, the Invincibility of Insurgency will take another, hopefully final, blow.

I Would Like to Believe Pejman Yousefzadeh...

...that inflation isn't really a problem. I really really would. But when the article he links in support of this thesis offers the following bizzaritude, I can't:

The recent pace [of inflation] can't be sustained, but food and energy will continue to rise.

The hell? In what universe is a consistent rise in food and energy prices NOT inflation? Why on earth would anyone suppose that a rise in the thing that humans and their machines need daily will not drive up prices in other sectors?

It's a plumb good thang I kin dine on
squirrel pies and old shoes.

Preach, Brother

Pezman Yousefzadeh:

I long for the day when arguments in favor of farm subsidies will be viewed with the same disdain as are arguments that the sun revolves around the earth.

Geocentrism, as Ptolemy designed it, was far more sophisticated. No special pleading required.