During the 19th and 20th centuries, European powers (chiefly the UK) and Japan used the opium trade to weaken and subjugate China. During the 21st century, it seems that opium is being used against Iran, Russia and the former Soviet republics
When Queen Elizabeth II addressed her subjects on Christmas Day she continued an old tradition and also provided cover for a criminal enterprise. Rixon Stewart explains
The death of the Welsh Guards commanding officer is a huge prize for the Taliban
Formerly the world’s foremost producer of heroin and opium, the Taliban had effectively shut down Afghanistan’s drugs trade. This was the real reason for its invasion – not “terror” – and drugs production has been booming ever since
“Make no mistake, NATO is not winning in Afghanistan,” warns a report directed by Gen. James Jones, who says: “What is happening in Afghanistan and beyond its borders can have even greater strategic long-term consequences than the struggle in Iraq”
The former head of Pakistan’s military intelligence warns that western forces may be forced to leave Afghanistan by the end of next year; as Canadian PM, Stephen Harper, threatens to pull Canada’s troops unless NATO sends in more soldiers
Just like Bush Snr’s ‘War on Drugs’, the invasion of Afghanistan has provided the drugs trade with a new lease of life. Now the opium trade, which was effectively broken by the Taliban, is flourishing like never before
It seems like history is repeating itself in Afghanistan and in more ways than one
Afghanistan has just seen its biggest opium harvest ever. Former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, reports on a web of intrigue involving, President Putin’s friends, Alexander Litvinenko and the production of heroin on an industrial scale
The Taliban virtually shut down the production of opium thereby threatening the global drugs trade. But now, five years after the US led invasion, poppy growth is at an all time high. Prompting some to wonder if that wasn’t the real reason for invading
As the Anglo-American occupation of Iraq now unravels, the forgotten disaster in Afghanistan, the first “victory” in the “war on terror”, is perhaps an even more shocking testament to power
The near collapse of peace in this savage land is a narrative erased from the mind of Americans