Malala Yousefzai schoolgirl who survived Taliban attack opens Europes largest public library
ABC Australia - Wednesday 4th September, 2013 United Kingdom Just eleven months after she was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman, Pakistan teenager Malala Yousefzai has opened Europe's largest public library saying books are the "weapons to defeat terrorism". The 16-year-old education campaigner opened the new library in her adopted home of Birmingham in central England.It is less than a year since Malala was flown to ... - See more at: http://www.afghanistannews.net/#sthash.oJpf1YCV.dpuf
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Afghan female military pilot gives wing to young girls' dreams
2nd Lt. Niloofar Rhmani recently became Afghanistan's first female pilot in three decades. But even as she and other women break barriers, many are concerned about life after the 2014 drawdown of Western forces.
Scott Peterson The Christian Science Monitor
When Afghan Air Force 2nd Lt. Niloofar Rhmani received her flying wings in May, she earned an important distinction: The first female Afghan military pilot to graduate in more than 30 years.
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Afghanistan's Karzai rings the changes in security leadership
By Hamid Shalizi Sun Sep 1, 2013 9:02am EDT
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai named his second new interior minister in a year on Sunday, appointing presidential hopeful Umer Daudzai in the security job and underlining a sense of political fragility ahead of next year's presidential vote.
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Official: Taliban Violence Unlikely to Threaten Afghan Transitions
Ayaz Gul VOA News September 1, 2013
ISLAMABAD — Despite a recent spike in deadly Taliban attacks in Afghanistan, authorities there are confident the insurgent violence is unlikely to disrupt next April’s presidential election or pose a major security challenge to Afghan forces past 2014, when NATO will have ended its military mission in the country.
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AEA Worried About IEC Autonomy and Electoral Fraud
TOLOnews.com By Karim Amini August 31, 2013
The newly formed Afghanistan Electoral Alliance (AEA) on Saturday expressed concerns with the government's influence on the functioning of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and the outcome of the upcoming elections.
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CANADA- LOVE OF R TROOPS
Posted this on various boards March 2009- love and devotion of our troops showing them each and all serving abroad and on our homelands- that we are still here- mourning those waiting with God 4 us.... our beloved wounded- visible and invisible (PTSD) injuries and those serving - Afghanistan- global land, air and sea. we are still here... and will be- we love u so much.
Posted in March 2009 honouring Canadian troops waitin on us- we love our Military so much
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=663938793624146&set=a.153203521364345.32932.100000240949070&type=1&theater
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Illinois National Guard soldiers head to Afghanistan
St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Tuesday 3rd September, 2013 oThe Illinois National Guard says about 20 soldiers from a specialized unit are getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan, where they'll work alongside members of the Polish military.The members of the Bilateral Embedded Staff Team will spend two months training in New Jersey and Poland before heading to Afghanistan for six months.The Guard calls the embedded mission "unique," saying ... - See more at: http://www.afghanistannews.net/#sthash.oJpf1YCV.dpuf
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CNN: Afghan police deaths double as international troops exit
Police deaths in Afghanistan have doubled this year after NATO forces handed over security responsibility to poorly equipped and poorly trained local security forces. The country's new Interior Minister, Mohammad Omar Daudzai, said that 1,792 Afghan policemen had lost their lives and more than 2,500 had been injured since March. That's double the number of a year ago
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AFGHANISTAN- God gets another hero and we get broken hearts at home
DoD: Army Casualty Indetified
Staff Sgt. Joshua J. Bowden, 28, of Villa Rica, Ga., died Aug. 31, in Ghazni, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with small arms fire while on dismounted patrol.
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Thousands of Canadian Merchant Seamen died 2 save millions- we love u and thank u
THE BEGINNING OF WWII - September 3 1939
Minister Fantino Marks Merchant Navy Veterans Day
September 3, 2013
Ottawa – The Honourable Julian Fantino, Minister of Veterans Affairs, issued the following statement today to mark Merchant Navy Veterans Day on Tuesday, September 3.
"Those who served in Canada’s Merchant Navy played a critical role both overseas and in Canada during the First and Second World Wars. As they carried desperately needed equipment, fuel, goods and personnel around the world, merchant mariners showed tremendous bravery on the ocean battlefield knowing that their ships were in the middle of enemy action.
"During the Second World War, the Canadian Merchant Navy suffered heavily, losing one in eight sailors from the 12,000 who served on Canadian, British and other Allied merchant ships. Some were captured when their ships were attacked and would spend as many as four years as prisoners of war.
"The men and women of the Canadian Merchant Navy demonstrated courage, fortitude and determination in the two world wars. They kept their ships sailing through the terrible years of unparalleled loss. Today, we pay tribute to all of Canada’s merchant mariners and solemnly remember the more than 2,100 sailors among them who gave their lives so that we could have the peace and freedom we enjoy today.
"Canada will continue to recall the heroic efforts of those who fought for freedom, remember their accomplishments and sacrifices and thank them for service in the name our nation."
For more information on Merchant Navy Veterans Day, please visit veterans.gc.ca.
2013 is the Year of the Korean War Veteran—Canada proudly remembers the heroes of the Korean War and their brave fight to defend the Republic of Korea and uphold freedom, democracy and the rule of law. For more information on Canada’s role in the Korean War, visit veterans.gc.ca.
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CANADA HONOURS SOLDIERS OF SUICIDE WITH MONUMENT- Prayers and love
CANADA- National Military Cemetery Canadians Ottawa, September 15, 2013 . Unveiling of the plaque-shaft dedicate to the soldiers of the Suicide
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=663943340290358&set=a.153203521364345.32932.100000240949070&type=1&theater¬if_t=like
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AFGHANISTAN- hey Nato troops- Winter Olympics Sochi 2014 is coming- hugs and love
Done with respect our Canadian hockey players handle the cultural differences of Russia and Canada with class...... whilst keeping respect 2 Russia (we have been inordinately close since the 70s... and rightfully so- we are so much alike and love our russian players on our teams) from the great young lady country of this world- our Canada
SOCHI WINTER OLYMPICS 2014
NHL players speak out against Russia's antigay laws
by Craig Takeuchi on Aug 26, 2013 at 11:56 am
Sidney Crosby is one of several Team Canada invitees who disagrees with Russia's antigay laws.
Several NHL players, including Team Canada star Sidney Crosby, have joined the legions of international voices that have spoken out against Russia's homophobic legislation.
Special coverage=LGBT
At a news conference on August 25 at Hockey Canada's headquarters to launch Canada's Olympic orientation camp in Calgary, Crosby, who scored Team Canada's game-winning goal in overtime at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, made his views clear.
"For me growing up in Canada, my view has always been that way," he said. "I think that everyone has an equal right to play, and I think we've been supportive of that. With the Olympics and the controversy around that I think those decisions and those laws aren't necessarily something that I agree with personally...."
Washington Capitals goalie Braden Holtby from Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, who is also against the law, feels that athletes shouldn't boycott the Olympics but attend and protest homophobic attitudes.
"It’s hard to go into a country that supports something like that," he said. "I think as athletes we have to find a way to use it to our advantage—gay rights especially but human rights, to really move it forward."
Defenseman Dan Boyle from Ottawa, Ontario, and Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steve Stamkos from Markham, Ontario, also expressed their disagreement with the Russian law.
About 10 of the 47 hockey players at the camp have endorsed the You Can Play project, which is designed to address homophobia in sport.
Meanwhile, on August 25, former Olympians marched in Ottawa's Pride parade for the first time.
http://www.straight.com/life/414881/nhl-players-speak-out-against-russias-antigay-laws
NHL Commercial - Road Trip- 2 sidney, alec and all the boys of NHL- we love u and proved it at the hockey lockout- eh? :-)
AND..
Hey... that's up North with me - Canada
Oh Canada- Classified
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF62J3vxPdQ
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Schubert - Ave Maria (Opera
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bosouX_d8Y
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CANADA MILITARY NEWS: September 2013-Tribute n photos of Canadians Sept. 11 2001-World Trade Center-New York USA/Photos and Memorial 2 Canadians sacrificed Afghanistan- We Remember Always
http://nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2013/09/canada-military-news-september-2013.html
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AFGHANISTAN
Afghan Parties Jockey For Power Ahead Of Presidential Vote
By Frud Bezhan August 31, 2013 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Rival powerbrokers and political parties in Afghanistan have begun jockeying for power ahead of next year's crucial presidential vote, which promises to see the first-ever democratic transition of power in the country.
With the registration of candidates just weeks away, competing political figures and groups have been engaged in closed-door meetings to form alliances and choose candidates they hope can take them to victory in the election, slated for April 5.
The Afghanistan Electoral Alliance is the latest coalition to emerge on the scene. The alliance, consisting of a dozen opposition political groups, announced in Kabul on August 29 that it had formed a "grand coalition" that would select a single candidate to run in the election.
But doubts have already been raised as to whether the group can successfully put their rivalries aside and unite behind a common cause. Despite weeks of secret negotiations, the alliance failed to enter the political scene with a consensus candidate. Its attempts to lure prominent figures from across Afghanistan's ethnic and ideological divide also broke down.
The presidential election is seen as vital to Afghanistan's stability and security, particularly with the majority of foreign combat troops expected to withdraw by the end of 2014. Western leaders have warned that billions of dollars in aid will not materialize unless the election is credible. The election will choose a successor to President Hamid Karzai, who is barred from running for a third term under the Afghan Constitution.
Presidential hopefuls are required to register as candidates between September 16 to October 6, and official campaigning begins in December.
Thomas Ruttig, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, an independent research organization in Kabul, says there is little reason to believe the alliance will succeed in setting aside their differences and uniting under a common aim.
"There are too many strong figures in this coalition who will assume that they will be the No. 1 [candidate], and that will be the breaking point in the end," Ruttig says. "There's not yet this political culture in Afghanistan where people are ready to take a step back and say, 'Okay, I'm not doing it and I'm not the No. 1 because it's better for unity.'"
No Unity, No Candidate
The Afghanistan Electoral Alliance consists of many former warlords and militia commanders of the former Northern Alliance coalition that overthrew the Taliban regime with U.S. help in 2001. Members of the alliance hail predominately from the Tajik, Hazara, and Uzbek minorities.
Key figures in the alliance include 2009 runner-up Abdullah Abdullah; Ahmad Zia Masud, a former vice president and brother of legendary Tajik commander Ahmad Shah Masud; General Abdul Rashid Dostum, a former ethnic Uzbek militia leader; Atta Mohammad Noor, the powerful governor of Balkh Province; and influential Hazara leader Mohammad Mohaqeq.
But prominent technocrats and leaders from the Pashtun community, the largest ethnic group, have opted not to join. They include Qayum Karzai, the president's brother; Ali Ahmad Jalali, a former interior minister; Zalmay Khalilzad, a former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq; and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.
Abdullah was quoted by the Afghan media on August 29 as saying, "We will continue the new coalition, even if we have not reached an agreement with them, because it's a question of the destiny of the country and everyone has the right to express their views."
Ryan Evans, assistant director at the Center for the National Interest, a nonpartisan public-policy institution based in Washington, notes there have been numerous attempts at forging political coalitions in Afghanistan in the past, but most have failed.
In the case of the mujahedin parties -- which came to power after defeating the Soviet Union and the Afghan communist government in the early 1900s -- they splintered along ethnic lines and sparked a devastating civil war.
"Afghan political history is full of ambitious coalitions that bring together leaders, once at each other's throats, toward a common goal," Evans says. "And every single one of these coalitions -- including a few that have involved some of these same men -- fall apart, often violently. I hope they break the cycle, but I doubt they will."
A Very Dark Horse?
The formation of the Afghanistan Electoral Alliance comes amid reports that another coalition is taking shape.
Outgoing President Karzai has said he will remain impartial in the vote and will not declare his support for any candidate. But reports have emerged of secret meetings between the president's camp and prominent political figures to determine their own consensus candidate for the election.
There are reports that he will support Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, an ethnic Pashtun and former warlord. Sayyaf, often credited as the man who brought Osama bin Laden to Afghanistan, is accused by rights groups of war atrocities. He has not commented on the speculation that he may run for president
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Afghanistan backdrop to Xi’s Central Asia visit
Monday, 02 September, 2013, 3:48pm Associated Press- Beijing
"China has a high degree of concern about instability in Afghanistan and considerable alarm that the draw-down could spill over into adjacent countries, including western China," he said.
Xi Jinping visits Central Asia this week amid concerns that a US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan could mean a destabilising exodus of foreign radical fighters from the war zone to homelands closer to China’s borders.
With the pullout deadline just 16 months away, China’s leaders share widespread concerns that Kabul’s own forces won’t be able to maintain security or that foreign fighters who were focused on fighting US troops will now head elsewhere, including other fragile Central Asian nations or even northwestern China.
It’s vitally important for China’s development to have prosperity, peace and stability in Central Asia
Li Xin, Shanghai Institute of Foreign Studies
Xi Jinping’s trip, starting on Tuesday, also is seen as an attempt to shore up China’s trade and relationships with governments in the region, extending Beijing’s influence in an area traditionally dominated by Russia.
"It’s vitally important for China’s development to have prosperity, peace and stability in Central Asia," said Li Xin, a Russia and Central Asia specialist at the Shanghai Institute of Foreign Studies. "The worry is the withdrawal of US troops will have a spillover effect."
Xi’s visits to Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan are his first to the region since taking office as president in March. He’ll end the trip in Kyrgyzstan where he will attend the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a Russian- and Chinese-dominated grouping that Beijing hopes will boost its diplomatic influence in the region to better match its already considerable economic clout.
China surged past the EU as Central Asia’s biggest trading partner in 2010, and did US$40 billion in commerce with the five-nation bloc in 2011. Much of that comes in the form of oil and gas, with two pipelines carrying supplies to China from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.
China, for its part, provides economic assistance and much-needed investment to meet the desperate infrastructure needs of the region and its 66 million people, helming projects such as the 2.3-kilometre Shar-Shar Tunnel linking Tajikistan to China.
Ensuring energy supplies and protecting its investment rank high among China’s reasons for wanting to ensure Central Asian stability. Even more important is its desire to block support for anti-government radicals among the Turkic Muslim Uygur ethnic group that is native to China’s vast northwestern region of Xinjiang and whose members share religious, cultural and linguistic ties to the people of Central Asia.
Uygurs have been fighting a low-level insurgency in China, fired by resentment of ethnic Han Chinese dominance and a form of imported radical Islam that cuts against the grain of their region’s traditional moderate sufi beliefs. Their hardline Islamic sentiments are shared by Central Asian groups such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan, some of which preach violent overthrow of their governments.
This year has been particularly bloody in Xinjiang, with scores killed and hundreds arrested in raids, attacks and riots. It isn’t clear what is fuelling the spike in bloodshed, but authorities have shown their unease by boosting security in the region.
"Beijing is consumed by insecurity," said Andrew Scobell, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation in Arlington, Virginia. "China’s greatest fear is linkups between internal challenges and external threats, notably the Uygur diaspora that spills across national borders."
China believes strong economies and markets in neighbouring states are a key to stability in Xinjiang, said Raffaello Pantucci, a terrorism expert at the Royal United Services Institute think tank in England.
"The government believes that economic development is at the heart of resolving the region’s ethnic tensions, and in order for the region to succeed it needs to have a prosperous region adjacent to trade with," Pantucci said.
China has invested much of its aspirations for bringing stability to Central Asia in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, pushing to expand the grouping’s activities to include joint anti-terrorism exercises and intelligence sharing. Russia favours its own Collective Security Treaty Organisation, but Beijing has nonetheless managed to involve Moscow in SCO as an alternative to US influence in region following the next year drawdown.
China has been conflicted over the US presence in Central Asia. It has argued against a long-term American footprint in the region and urged Kyrgyzstan to close the Manas Transit Centre air base, which supplies troops in Afghanistan. Beijing sees such facilities as part of a strategy to hem in China’s growing power and influence.
At the same time, China has relied on US troops to create the conditions for pursuing its own interests in Afghanistan, including plans to extract vast amounts of copper and coal. Beijing signed a strategic partnership last summer with the war-torn country and in September sent its top security official to Kabul, the highest level Chinese official to visit in 46 years. Beijing also announced it would train 300 Afghan police officers as part of its continuing, low-key aid programme for the nation.
Now that US troops are leaving, Beijing has been hesitant to make new commitments, possibly because it is waiting to see how stable the Kabul government will be, analysts say.
"China considers Afghanistan to be the epicentre of Islamic extremism in the region," Scobell said.
"China has a high degree of concern about instability in Afghanistan and considerable alarm that the draw-down could spill over into adjacent countries, including western China," he said.
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1301870/afghanistan-backdrop-xis-central-asia-visit
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World Bank gives $50 mn to Afghanistan
Afghanistan News.Net - Wednesday 4th September, 2013 The World Bank Wednesday provided a grant of $50 million to the Afghanistan government to help promote economic growth and fiscal sustainability. A pact to this effect was signed between the finance ministry and the World Bank, reports Xinhua. "The grant is being provided by the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's concessional lending arm," the ministry said. Afghan ... - See more at: http://www.afghanistannews.net/#sthash.oJpf1YCV.dpuf
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Hindus Sikhs get one seat in Afghan parliament
Afghanistan News.Net - Wednesday 4th September, 2013 Afghan President Hamid Karzai Wednesday issued a legislative decree giving Hindus and Sikhs one seat in the country's lower house of parliament. With this, the Afghan parliament will now have 250 seats. This follows Karzai's approval of cabinet amendments of Aug 26, a statement by the president's office said. Under Afghan law, the president can issue decrees when parliament is on ... - See more at: http://www.afghanistannews.net/#sthash.oJpf1YCV.dpuf
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AFGHANISTAN: NATO CASUALTIES BY COUNTRY
Country
Total
Albania 1
Australia 40
Belgium 1
Canada 158
Czech 5
Denmark 43
Estonia 9
Finland 2
France 86
Georgia 27
Germany 54
Hungary 7
Italy 48
Jordan 2
Latvia 3
Lithuania 1
NATO 10
Netherlands 25
New Zealand 11
Norway 10
Poland 38
Portugal 2
Romania 19
Slovakia 1
South Korea 1
Spain 34
Sweden 5
Turkey 14
UK 444
US 2270
Total 3371
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Afghanistans forces losing more than a few good men. And women
The Guardian - Tuesday 3rd September, 2013 General Sayed Mohammad Roshandel is not a man who scares easily: he spent years battling both the insurgency and corruption in a violent province on the Afghan-Iranian border, and several more facing down the Taliban in Kabul's crowded, dusty streets, under the full glare of the world's media.But earlier this summer, the officer who had risen from an ordinary background to become head ... - See more at: http://www.afghanistannews.net/#sthash.oJpf1YCV.dpuf
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Karzai must enforce violence against women law
Afghanistan News.Net - Wednesday 4th September, 2013 Afghan President Hamid Karzai should take urgent action to fight child marriage and domestic violence or risk further harm to development and public health, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday. In a 15-page briefing paper, Human Rights Watch highlights the health and economic consequences of marriage under age 18 and violence against women and girls in Afghanistan. Karzai, barred by term limits ... - See more at: http://www.afghanistannews.net/#sthash.oJpf1YCV.dpuf
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Book News Malala Girl Shot By Taliban Calls Books Weapons That Defeat Terrorism
NPR - Wednesday 4th September, 2013 open Europe's largest public library on Tuesday with a speech claiming that "pens and books are the weapons that defeat terrorism." The new library in Birmingham, England, where the 16-year-old is attending school, houses more than a million books and replaces a Brutalist building that Prince Charles once said resembled "a place where books are incinerated, not kept." ... - See more at: http://www.afghanistannews.net/#sthash.oJpf1YCV.dpuf
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PAKISTAN IS FINALLY STEPPING UP- 2014's coming... and never worry about nuclear bomb of Pakistan... CAUSE INDIA'S RIGHT THERE BABY!
Islamabad and Kabul Agree to Relocate Taliban’s Qatar Office
TOLOnews.com By Rafi Sediqi August 31, 2013
In the wake of President Hamid Karzai's trip to Islamabad last week, and over two months after plans for peace negotiations with the Taliban at their office in Qatar unraveled, a top-ranking Pakistani official reported that Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to relocate the Taliban's political office in a renewed attempt to jumpstart the peace process.
Sartaj Aziz, the Pakistani Prime Minister's National Security and Foreign Affairs Advisor, confirmed that officials in Islamabad and Kabul agreed that peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban would need to continue in a location other than Doha, capital of Qatar. However, Mohammad Ismail Qasimyar, the Spokesman for the High Peace Council – the Afghan body designated to lead the negotiations – cautioned that no new host country had yet been decided on.
Back in June, the long-stalled peace process between the Afghan government and Taliban insurgency was kick-started with promise when the opening of a Taliban political office in Qatar was announced. But the talks ended before they began when the Taliban proudly displayed its flag and an "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" placard that officials in both Kabul and Washington claimed violated preconditions for the office's opening and misrepresented it as a type of government-in-exile. Since then, the peace process has seen no official progress while the role of Pakistan as an interlocutor between Kabul and the Taliban has taken center stage.
President Karzai's trip last week to Islamabad was largely to facilitate a conversation between him and Nawaz Sharif, the newly elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, regarding bilateral relations broadly and getting the Taliban back to the negotiating table in particular. Just as Afghan officials have routinely tossed accusations against their Pakistani counterparts for providing support of the Taliban insurgency, in desperation to get the peace process back on track, they have looked to utilize that same leverage Pakistani officials have with the insurgents to push them toward talks.
Paying credence to the idea of Islamabad being a useful intermediary, Pakistani officials have offered continued lip-service to the peace process yet been careful to not speak out against the Taliban. "Islamabad will not support a single group in Afghanistan, but instead, we want the participation of all groups to form a stable Afghanistan," said Mr. Aziz when he spoke about the relocation of the Taliban office.
Nevertheless, even if Pakistan is able to effectually contribute to getting peace talks back on track, many in Afghanistan would likely remain suspicious of their South Asian neighbor and its intentions.
"The government of Pakistan has a new plan to get the country out of the economic crises, but this is only possible when Afghanistan is stable, when trade opportunities are possible and when transit routes are available," explained Mr. Qasimyar. "The government of Pakistan has noticed this issue and for the sake of their own economic gain, they are willing to help Afghanistan in starting peace talks."
Afghan political and security experts are similarly dubious about Pakistan's intentions, but also its ability to live-up to expectations regarding the peace process.
"Pakistan is trying to take the lead during peace talks between the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban, and Pakistan has firm relations with Saudi Arabia, which is why Pakistan wants the Taliban's new office there," said Mir Ahmad Joyenda, an Afghan political expert. "Yet, it is not clear whether the civilian government of Pakistan has the support of its military intelligence for these aims. If not, the Pakistani government's efforts in the peace process will have no significant results."
In the past, the government of Afghanistan's requests for honest and sincere cooperation from the Pakistani government in order to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table went unanswered. Nevertheless, for whatever reason, the new government of Narwaz Sharif has promised to turn over a new leaf.
"This is the new chapter of relations between the two countries, the Pakistani prime minister is committed to stop all meddling in Afghanistan's internal politics, and he is determined to further develop bilateral relations with Afghanistan, believing strongly that Afghanistan's national sovereignty is valued," said Khurrum Dastageer Khan, a Pakistani Cabinet Minister, recently.
Assuming Pakistan and Afghanistan are able to put past differences behind them, however, there is nothing to say a renewed peace process would see a departure from the failures of past attempts. It is at least hard to imagine a simple change of scenery making the difference.
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BLOGS
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: Canadians Sept. 11 2001-World Trade Center-New York USA/158 Canadians sacrificed Afghanistan photos- We Remember Always
http://nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2013/09/canada-military-news-september-2013.html
NATO Secretary General Monthly Press Conference - 02 September - SYRIA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAf9GVWxYNo&feature=youtu.be
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Romanians protest government plans to allow Canadian mining company to dig for gold
By: The Associated Press
BUCHAREST, Romania - Thousands of people have protested government plans to allow a Canadian company to dig for gold in Romania.
The Romania government said last week that its decision — which requires parliamentary approval — to allow Canada's Rosia Montana Gold Corp. to dig for gold and silver is of "special national interest."
With an estimated 300 tons of gold and 1,600 tons of silver, the mine would be the biggest gold mine in Europe.
Protesters are angry over the use of cyanide in the extraction process, and temporarily blocked a Bucharest square.
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change the heading...
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: Sept 1- AFGHANISTAN news- Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, the Nelson Mandela of Afghanistan and hopefully next President 2014/ Pls note the no. countries Girls DON'T get education equality/ Repatriation and Remembering Canada's finest who gave all in Afghanistan 158 photos- God bless Afghanistan and Nato troops/September 11, 2001- photos and list of Canadians -World Trade Center
http://nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2013/08/canada-military-news-sept-1-afghanistan.html
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B.C. man's miracle in the making after axe to the head in Afghanistan
Nanaimo's Trevor Greene and his wife, Debbie, have continued daily with two hours of exercise and therapy since he emerged from a coma.
Photograph by: Submitted , Claudette Carracedo
From Canadian reserve army captain to patient and now researcher and research subject, Nanaimo’s Trevor Greene continues to command attention.
Greene was on a tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2006 when he stopped at a village to speak with a group of elders.
As a sign of respect, he removed his helmet and knelt down to speak. Suddenly, a teenager from behind struck Greene’s head with an axe, nearly cleaving his brain in two.
Defying expectations, Greene survived, eventually emerging from a coma. Barely able to move, he was told to expect about six months of recovery, at which point his physical abilities would plateau.
Instead, Greene and his wife, Debbie, have continued daily with two hours of exercise and therapy.
In a documented study, they are demonstrating the brain’s ability — if not exactly to heal itself — to recover function after a traumatic injury.
Greene, now 48, is able to stand on his own and continues to make progress toward walking on his own.
"Apart from my own recovery, I want to shake up what the conventional wisdom shows," Greene said in a telephone interview from his Nanaimo home.
He is working on a book on climate change to be titled There is No Planet B, Promise and Peril in a Warming World. He is also enjoying being father to eight-year-old Grace and 13-month-old Noah.
It’s hard to believe he was once refused a spot in a rehabilitation centre because it wasn’t prepared for the level of nursing he required. Debbie was even told to put her husband in a care facility.
Greene is now the subject and shaper of a research project involving the University of Victoria, Simon Fraser University and the Vancouver Island Health Authority.
His recovery is a demonstration of what doctors call "neuroplasticity." It refers to the brain’s ability to recover function by rerouting electrical nerve signals along different neural pathways to complete a function that may have been lost to injury.
Neurons — cells that transmit electrical/chemical signals to initiate functions such as muscle contraction — cannot heal themselves or be regenerated. Once destroyed, they are gone for good.
But Greene’s recovery is proof of the ability of remaining neurons to establish new pathways for signals to travel. It’s as if a brain injury causes one neural bridge to collapse, but signals can detour and be sent along a different neural roadway to reach the same destination.
Prof. Ryan D’Arcy, a neuroscientist at SFU and Surrey Memorial Hospital, said this ability to reroute brain signals has been known for about two decades.
But D’Arcy, who has also been working with Greene, said what the former soldier is demonstrating is a previously little-appreciated potential for recovery by engaging the brain’s neuroplastic abilities.
"Many, many people who suffer traumatic brain injuries are still told to expect a little bit of recovery in the first six months to a year, maybe a little longer if they are lucky, and that will be it," D’Arcy said this week.
"In Trevor’s case, he is well outside six years and he continues to show strong gains in his ability to recover and his brain’s ability to reorganize itself to recover function."
Prof. Stephen Lindsay of the UVic department of psychology said much of the research was conducted with magnetic resonance imaging provided by VIHA.
The MRI machines provide specialized images of Greene’s brain while he performs certain functions such as raising his legs. Taken over time, the MRI images show various areas of Greene’s brain engaging or lighting up as his muscular ability improves.
"It’s still the motor cortex, the part of the brain we would expect to be involved with muscular movement," Lindsay said.
"But there are parts of his cortex which are literally missing. So other regions of the cortex, which might have been involved with something like the upper limbs, are now driving movements of the lower limbs."
Part of the MRI tests involved asking Greene, once a competitive rower, to visualize himself rowing. It’s an exercise Greene appears to enjoy.
Lindsay said he can’t see Greene rowing competitively again, but he doesn’t rule out the possibility of Greene propelling a shell again for leisure.
"I would not put any limits on his recovery," he said.
"Trevor is an amazingly disciplined, intelligent and motivated man," Lindsay said. "And he is married to an amazingly powerful, motivated and disciplined woman."
Read more Vancouver Island stories at timescolonist.com
© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist
Original source article: B.C. man's miracle in the making after axe to the head in Afghanistan
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Governor General’s travelling exhibit to tour Canada for two years
August 29, 2013 | Filed underCurrent News,Story Archive | Posted by admin
Sarah Ladik/NNSL photo From left, Layla Campbell, Meghan Campbell and Braden Lamb try out the interactive features in the 'It's an Honour' travelling exhibit when it stopped for one day only in Hay River on Aug. 22.
Sarah Ladik/NNSL photo
From left, Layla Campbell, Meghan Campbell and Braden Lamb try out the interactive features in the ‘It’s an Honour’ travelling exhibit when it stopped for one day only in Hay River on Aug. 22.
While the travelling show in a trailer showcased many of the medals Canadians have won for military and civilian service, the real focus of the exhibit is to tell the stories of those Canadians.
"That’s really what an honours system is about," said Sean Pierce, who was travelling with the exhibit that will tour Canada for the next two years. "It’s about sharing the stories of the Canadians who have won medals and trying to create good role models in society."
The exhibit, called ‘It’s an Honour’, stopped in Hay River on Aug. 22.
The mobile museum is an extension of an exhibit put on in Ottawa by Governor General David Johnston. After viewing the show there, medal recipient and philanthropist Don Taylor decided it should be taken on the road and he funded the endeavour.
While Taylor’s original desire was to see the trailer visit every school in Canada, Pierce said that would take over a generation and the tour has been limited to two years.
"We’re really trying to go places where it would be harder for people there to get to Ottawa," he explained, adding that Hay River definitely fits the bill.
While the hub was the tour’s fourth stop before moving on to Yellowknife, the official launch will be held in Calgary in September.
Part of the Governor General’s mandate is to promote education and Canadian culture and pride across the country, and ‘It’s an Honour’ will attempt to knit together the further-flung regions of Canada.
While the exhibit was only open for one day in Hay River, a few people made it out to the parking lot at Princess Alexandra School where it was set up.
"The trailer was pretty impressive," said Valerie Hiebert-Pollard, who, although growing up in Pine Point and Hay River, was visiting from Cold Lake, Alta. "I liked the history bits and how many of the medals had been awarded to regular Canadians."
She said she saw the trailer as she was walking by with family, but was considering bringing her nephew and nieces back later that evening to see the exhibit.
Pierce said the variety of individuals coming to the show has been astounding everywhere it has been so far, despite it being somewhat targeted at schoolchildren.
"Lots of people are coming in and then bringing others back to come see," he said. "And lots of people are coming in with their own stories to tell."
Beyond the overall positive reception, Pierce said he hopes people walk away from the exhibit with a better understanding of the Canadian honours system, an appreciation for the stories of the people who have served Canada in one way or another, and the knowledge that several of the awards are given to honourees nominated by their fellow citizens.
"That’s really important," he said. "That there are a number of awards for which you can nominate people you know who have really made a difference, and it doesn’t have to be the government coming in and recognizing something extraordinary."
Overall, the exhibit is meant to demonstrate how ordinary Canadians can rise above their daily lives to be extraordinary.
Hiebert-Pollard said she was moved by some of the stories and saw their significance beyond the medals themselves, explaining, "It inspires you to look around and help people out if there’s a need."
– Sarah Ladik
http://www.hayriverhub.com/2013/08/governor-generals-travelling-exhibit-to-tour-canada-for-two-years/
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Military news
PTSD
Canadian soldier Chris Dupee: On PTSD and saving lives
Cpl. Chris Dupee tells the Star about how a video he never planned to shoot has changed his life — and saved some others
By: Curtis Rush News reporter, Published on Fri Aug 30 2013
Almost two years ago, Cpl. Chris Dupee of Barrie posted a gritty video about the anguish caused by post-traumatic stress disorder.
WARNING: Some language is offensive in the video.
The 31-year-old, married father of four talked to the Star about the aftermath of serving in Afghanistan, his website Military Minds, and how the video changed his life. This is an edited version of that conversation.
Are you still in the military?
I work out of Downsview (Joint Personnel Support Unit, which is the Canadian Forces arm that co-ordinates mental health treatment and prepares soldiers to transition into civilian life). I’m setting up to go to school and study social work. It kind of goes hand in hand with what I do.
How long did you serve in Afghanistan?
Photos View galleryCpl. Chris Dupee, pictured with his wife Angel, never planned to film a video about his experiences with PTSD that has now been viewed thousands of times on YouTube.zoom
I served in 2008 and 2009. No injuries.
What happened after?
I got PTSD. I was on base in Petawawa. I did my decompression there. Then I got posted to Toronto. I asked for that posting. It was a big mistake.
Why?
Everything is completely different. If I were to take you and put you on a base, you would think we’re all lunatics because we’re a different breed. You’ve had to become desensitized to normal stuff that you would be sensitive too. You take one of those people out of that base and pop him into Toronto, and everything you’ve known as normal is not normal anymore.
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More VideoSoldiers with PTSD seek comfort at Vimy Ridge
Soldiers with PTSD seek comfort at Vimy Ridge
Can you explain further?
People will look at you like you’re a freak. You’re laughing at stuff you shouldn’t be laughing at. You’re just different. It became a bit of an issue. You segregate yourself and fall into a hole. It was a big shock. I got lost.
What were your issues with PTSD?
You think the nightmares, the sweats. With me, they weren’t my issues. Mine were fitting back in. I wasn’t able to vent as much as I could, so when I did, like punching a hole in the wall, it was that much worse, and my wife and kids were there.
How did that go over in the family?
Try to explain to your kids. I had to lie to them. I had to tell them there was a spider on the wall. It’s bad. The repercussions of PTSD in a family environment are catastrophic.
How do you feel about leaving the military?
I love the military. There is no anti-military bone in my body. I don’t regret anything about it. It just sucks how it’s ending. If I don’t have what it takes to represent my country as a good, healthy soldier, then why do it?
How did the YouTube video, the one of you talking about PTSD, come about?
It wasn’t meant to be. I started a mobile power washing company . . . for washing cars. I don’t do any power washing anymore. We were doing a charity car-wash event for a different charity and my wife’s friend asked her if I would like to do a video about it to drum up support. So, I said yeah. We went to shoot the event and on the way back I started talking about PTSD and my issues. He asked if he could start filming what I was saying. I said OK.
How did you react?
Later on that night, I went back to his house and watched him edit and it looked like it was going to be a PTSD video. Lo and behold, the next day, he showed me the final cut, and it was all about PTSD. I was very apprehensive. There’s such a stigma that goes along with it. I’m labelled now. After a while, I just said, screw it. In the first day, I got 1,000 hits. I was never used to that kind of attention. I couldn’t sleep. I was buzzing, ya know. It’s snowballed since then.
Why is your website and Facebook page now getting media attention?
Nobody has told our story before and how we came about.
How is your website able to help?
We’re not in competition with our organizations. We’re not reinventing the wheel. We’re connecting people with those organizations. You need a dog here? Wounded Warriors is hooking up dogs. You need paperwork done? I’ve got a connection in the Legion. We’re that little bridge, that gap.
Any who are suicidal?
We often get suicidal messages on Military Minds. What we have to do is an intervention. We work with the local (police) to find where that person is. We find out where they are. We’ve got a tech guru on our team and find out where they are. We’ve held many interventions.
You’ve saved lives?
Absolutely. It usually ends up with that person ending up in the hospital for a few days and getting assessed. But you know the point is the guy is still breathing.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/08/30/canadian_soldier_chris_dupee_on_ptsd_and_saving_lives.html
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Russian fighter jets join NORAD for Vigilant Eagle exercise in Alaska
Published: Aug. 30, 2013 at 10:44 PM
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- This year's Vigilant Eagle training exercise for Russian, U.S. and Canadian military planes over Alaska was the most ambitious so far, military leaders say.
Vigilant Eagle 13 began Monday and concluded Thursday, the Armed Forces Press Service said. The annual exercise allows pilots from the North American Aerospace Command, which includes U.S. and Canadian forces, and Russia to practice scenarios where they might have to work together to detect and track hijacked commercial planes.
The exercise was the first in which Canadian fighter jets participated, joining with their Russian counterparts in tracking a hijacked plane. Canadian Maj. Gen. Andre Viens, NORAD's operations director, said it was also the first in which the air forces worked together from start to finish instead of breaking off the tracking, leaving the job to ground sensors.
"So at no time in the past did we exercise having the Russian, Canadian or American fighters all joining up together to have a positive handoff of escort responsibility on a track of interest," Viens said. "This is what we did for the first time this year."
Viens held a joint news conference Thursday with Russian Gen. Maj. Dmitry Gomenkov, commander of the Eastern Military District of Russia's Air and Space Defense Brigade.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/08/30/Russian-fighter-jets-join-NORAD-for-Vigilant-Eagle-exercise-in-Alaska/UPI-92591377917077/#ixzz2dgNNdbCP
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Libraries for Afghanistan thanks to Linda Norgrove Foundation
A network of 40 community libraries will be set up across Afghanistan thanks to the work of a tiny charity in the Outer Hebrides.
Afghanistan Reads – a community literacy project supported by the Linda Norgrove Foundation (LNF) – has been given a grant by the United States International Development Agency (USAID).
The $625,000 grant is specifically to fund a network of community libraries and literacy schemes for women and girls in several communities across Afghanistan. It builds on the success of a pilot project run by Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WAfghan) in partnership with the Linda Norgrove Foundation
http://www.stornowaygazette.co.uk/news/local-headlines/libraries-for-afghanistan-thanks-to-linda-norgrove-foundation-1-3068135
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