Reply #10: There is something interesting going on here.

[Henny Penny]

On the one hand you have Blair asking NATO for more troops to send to Afghanistan and NATO saying "No Way Jose!" I think they've met twice this week to try and get these troops, but NATO hasn't budged. And as far as I could see the number of troops requested was quite small just 2500.

So is NATO saying Afghanistan is an unmitigated disaster and it is pointless sending more troops to die there? Or are the other members telling the US et her allies "We've had enough! P!ss off!" A bit of both??

Meanwhile the news this week has shown several British personnel being interviewed about how things are going there and it didn't look good at all. They were openly saying things like "We are getting attacked in our base 5 or 6 times a day" while back in studio the anchor says "while the battle in Afghanistan is going well, the fight at the NATO summit is proving to be much tougher". Unreal.

Then they cut to the troops mothers saying things like " The French aren't pulling their weight" etc and you get the feeling its all the fault of the cowardly French/Spanish/Italians.

Finally Blair gives a speech saying that since Afghanistan is the source of all the terrorism in the world the Europeans need to step in and take control otherwise they can expect attacks in their own countries.... Blair looks pale as a ghost and sounds like he's making a thinly veiled threat.

Just my take on this week's events so far...

Luckily I'm back at work next week and so won't have time to think about stuff so much which is a good thing, 'cos I'm getting a bit worried.