The Seminal :: Independent Media and Politics » NATO Summit http://www.theseminal.com Primary Endorsements Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:02:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 en Afghan Students in Bucharest for the NATO Summit http://www.theseminal.com/2008/04/25/afghan-students-in-bucharest-for-the-nato-summit/ http://www.theseminal.com/2008/04/25/afghan-students-in-bucharest-for-the-nato-summit/#comments Fri, 25 Apr 2008 20:00:13 +0000 George Turner http://www.theseminal.com/?p=3071 Here at the Seminal we teamed up with Veracifier.com to produce this video of Afghan students from the University of Kabul speaking about their thoughts on the current situation in Afghanistan. Filmed during my visit to Bucharest for the Young Atlanticists Summit the students were part of a group that had won a scholarship to come to Bucharest and meet with other young people from NATO countries. Amongst the many interesting things that were said by the students was the stress they placed on the need to negotiate with the Taliban who they saw as fellow citizens.

]]> http://www.theseminal.com/2008/04/25/afghan-students-in-bucharest-for-the-nato-summit/feed/ Karzai Showered With Sycophancy http://www.theseminal.com/2008/04/03/karzai-showered-with-sycophancy/ http://www.theseminal.com/2008/04/03/karzai-showered-with-sycophancy/#comments Thu, 03 Apr 2008 09:23:01 +0000 George Turner http://www.theseminal.com/?p=2866 Today, we again linked up with Kabul University live for a meeting with Hamid Karzai. This time however, the Afghans had learned their lesson after yesterday when the students of Kabul University were allowed to speak their minds.

The speech by Karzai was largely unremarkable. He highlighted the huge progress being made in Afghanistan, particularly in the area of health care. He thanked the international community for helping Afghanistan. What more could we expect from a leader who owes his position entirely to foreign intervention.

However the most interesting part of the event was when Kabul University was allowed to ask questions of their president. As I reported yesterday, when given the same opportunity with the Secretary General of NATO the students fired pointed questions.

However with Karzi, not one student asked a question, but rather two students made statements thanking both President Karzi and the international community for all that they had done for Afghanistan and a third made a plea to the world’s media to show the great things happening in Afghanistan.

Both yesterday and today the students who spoke were hand picked by the university, and todays display of sycophancy only served to put yesterday’s exchange into starker contrast.

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