Second paragraph of third section:

Мы еще там гибли, а нас уже здесь судили. Раненых привозили в Союз и разгружали на задворках аэропорта, чтобы народ не заметил. Не знал...Никто из вас не задумывался: почему после службы в армии в мирное время молодые парни возвращаются с орденом Красной звезды и медалями "За отвагу" и "За боевые заслуги". ( Read more... )

The more I hear and read about Afghanistan, the more I realise I don't know. I recently attended a conference of experts where a full day was taken up with discussions of how quickly, and with how much dignity, Western troops can realistically be withdrawn; this not being one of my areas of expertise, I mostly sat and listened ( Read more... )

Hosseini's second novel tells the story of two women married to the same man in Kabul over three decades of Afghanistan's turbulent history. I did not think it was as good as The Kite Runner; the writing seemed much less spontaneous, the history lessons for the reader intrusively didactic, the plot pretty obvious (and even a bit twee in places). ( Read more... )

8) The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini

I think I bought this when some recommendations algorithm suggested I might enjoy it - can't remember now which one. Anyway, I started off thinking that it was rather better than Ian McEwan's Atonement; by the end I no longer thought so, but still glad I read it. Things I liked: the portrayal of childhood, ( Read more... )

Christopher Hitchens writes, for once, much that I agree with on the war on drugs. However I think it's over-optimistic of him to hope that the entire policy will be scrapped just because it is bad for Afghanistan; he points out himself that it's also bad for Bolivia, Colombia, and Mexico, and as far as I can tell that hasn't caused the slightest ( Read more... )