Christian Parenti

Who Will Get the Oil?

Christian Parenti — 2007-03-06T05:05:00Z

Iraq's postwar oil bonanza remains a mirage. The country has the second- or third-largest reserves in the world, making petroleum the heart and vast bulk of its economy. Thus in March 2003 did Paul Wolfowitz assure Congress that Iraq would "finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon." American planners predicted that Iraq's oil production would triple to a feverish 6 million barrels per day by 2010. (...)

[March 19, 2007 issue]

- / Nation

Chaos and Fear Stalk Afghanistan on 9/11 Anniversary

Christian Parenti — 2006-09-13T18:23:00Z

Kabul

The fifth anniversary of September 11 finds Afghanistan in a deepening crisis. Security is deteriorating in most parts of the country, due to Taliban insurgency and general lawlessness. Economic development is largely stalled in the south and moving very slowly in the north. Kabul is mired in corruption and layer upon layer of dysfunctional bureaucracy. Bribery is so rampant that even sections of the government have to bribe each other to get simple tasks accomplished. (...)

- / Nation

When GI Joe Says No

Christian Parenti — 2006-04-21T23:15:00Z

A young former US Army sniper wearing a desert camo uniform, an Iraqi kaffiyeh and mirrored sunglasses scans a ruined urban landscape of smashed homes, empty streets and garbage heaps. His sand-colored hat bears a small regulation-style military patch, or tab, that instead of reading "Airborne" or "Ranger" or "Special Forces" says "Shitbag"—common military parlance for bad soldier.

This isn't Baghdad or Kabul. It's the Gulf Coast, and the column of young men and women in desert uniforms carrying American flags are with Iraq Veterans Against the War. They are part of a larger peace march that is making its way from Mobile to New Orleans. This is just one of IVAW's ongoing series of actions. (...)

[May 8, 2006 issue]

- / Nation

International occupation isn't helping Afghanistan

Christian Parenti — 2006-04-01T22:40:34Z

Our Humvee jolts and sways against another cold dirt track in Parwan Province, an hour north of Kabul. On the road, thin shadows from barren winter orchards lie like dark lacework and flicker across the Humvee's hood. photo

A landscape of adobe-walled villages, empty fields and dramatic sharp mountains slides by. Inside the armored Humvee we listen to music on an iPod and two speakers. Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" rolls up on the iPod. The lyrics, though older than most of the soldiers on this patrol, capture the squad's mix of homesickness and political cynicism: "Now Watergate does not bother me/Does your conscience bother you?" No one talks much about Afghanistan.

I am riding with two Humvees from the 164th Military Police Co. to observe the U.S. effort at keeping a lid on the Afghan caldron. I also want to compare U.S. methods with those of the European troops who are taking over an ever-larger part of the military mission here. (...)

- / Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Afghanistan: The Other War

Christian Parenti — 2006-03-09T22:03:00Z

Although President Bush touts Afghanistan as a success, Taliban attacks are on the rise, and the economy ranks among the world's worst. As US reconstruction aid dries up and troop levels decline, the US government is slowly abandoning the country. Christian Parenti reports on a gathering crisis.

Our Humvee jolts and sways against another cold dirt track in Parwan Province, an hour north of Kabul. On the road thin shadows from barren winter orchards lie like dark lacework and flicker across the Humvee's hood and windshield.

A landscape of adobe-walled villages, empty fields, horse carts and dramatic sharp mountains slides by. Inside the armored Humvee we listen to music on a dusty iPod and two speakers that are jacked into the vehicle's nervous system. Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" rolls up on the iPod. The lyrics, though older than most of the soldiers on this patrol, capture the squad's mix of homesickness and political cynicism: "Now Watergate does not bother me/Does your conscience bother you?" No one talks much about Afghanistan. (...)

[March 27, 2006 issue]

- / Nation

The Big Easy Dies Hard

Christian Parenti — 2005-09-09T03:39:00Z

As the last holdouts are forced to evacuate the ruined city, federal, state and local agencies have defaulted to their worst instincts toward the dispossessed: Silence, exclude, control and intimidate. Christian Parenti reports from the scene.

New Orleans

The empty streets of this city present a vista of apocalyptic desolation: wind-ripped roofs, downed trees, smashed fast-food signs, dangling power lines, columns of dark smoke and everywhere heaps of garbage. On a lawn near the Ninth Ward three light brown mules, wandering the city alone, graze peacefully. In the sky above, helicopters drum the air. From the pale, empty stretches of elevated Interstate 10 one can look down on wide expanses of the city where homes are submerged in the flat, brackish floodwater. Strangely, the wind now is gritty and dry.

At first the city appears like a giant conceptual art installation, or the set of some archetypal cold-war disaster movie. But then comes evidence of what this really means: dazed refugees wade through the filthy water or push shopping carts down ravaged streets or wait silently in lines for evacuation. And every now and then there is the stench of abandoned corpses. Officials have no idea how many people are lost, trapped in the attics soon to be dead, or drowned and hidden in their homes. (...)

[September 26, 2005 issue]

- / Nation

The Impasse in Bolivia: Who owns the rain?

Christian Parenti — 2005-07-07T12:45:00Z

The indigenous social movements of Bolivia have ejected another president, the second in less than two years. What they are asking for is a constitutional assembly and the renationalisation of the country's massive natural gas reserves, the second largest in South America. Bolivian petroleum and gas were state-owned until 1996.

Bolivian gas is more than a source of money in the eyes of many people: it is the country's last and best chance of escaping underdevelopment. Sixty-four per cent of a population of nine million live in poverty; many have no electricity or running water, or access to schooling or healthcare. For hundreds of years, Bolivian silver from the town of Potosí funded the Spanish Empire; when the silver ran out the local people were left with nothing. The gas will also disappear: 53 trillion cubic feet is a lot, but it is not infinite. If the wealth from the reserves is not equitably distributed and used to further development, the indigenous majority fear that they will be stuck in poverty for ever. One woman I spoke to summed it up: ‘If there is no gas there is no future in Bolivia.' So the people have taken to the streets again and in huge numbers; many claim they are ready to die before losing this fight. (...)

[Vol. 27 | No. 13 | page 35]

- / London Review of Books

Tear Gas in the Andes

Christian Parenti — 2005-05-27T23:35:00Z

LA PAZ, Bolivia - Bolivia is again in the grip of a major political crisis, marked by parliamentary deadlock and street fighting. Huge marches, thousands strong, have descended on La Paz all week. In the ensuing battles indigenous protesters throw dynamite, stones and bottles, while paramilitary police shoot tear gas and rubber bullets.

The basic question is this: Who will control the nation's massive natural gas reserves, which has jumped to 53.3 trillion cubic feet from just 5.6 trillion cubic feet in 1999? The deeper issue, of course, is the unwillingness of the highly organized and politicized majority indigenous population to suffer through another generation of brutal high-altitude poverty. (...)

- / Nation

Occupied Elections: Journalist Christian Parenti on Voting from Afghanistan to Iraq

Christian Parenti — 2005-02-01T03:17:00Z

We speak with Christian Parenti, correspondent for The Nation magazine and author of the new book, The Freedom: Shadows and Hallucinations in Occupied Iraq. - / Democracy Now!

Diary: The Opium Farmers of Afghanistan

Christian Parenti — 2005-01-21T04:10:00Z

Along the narrow tarmac road linking Kabul to Kandahar you could be in New Mexico: green valleys, with scattered trees turning orange and yellow; clusters of adobe-style walled compounds; and looming above huge barren mountains and empty blue skies. This small road is one of the few signs of progress in an appallingly underdeveloped country; indeed, it is one of only very few paved roads in the whole of Afghanistan. It cost international donors a mere $198 million, and thanks to it remote villages in south-east Afghanistan are building new links with the global economy, though these links aren't always of the sort imagined by donors and planners. (...)

[Vol. 27 | No. 2 | pages 30-31]

- / London Review of Books

Afghan Poppies Bloom

Christian Parenti — 2005-01-12T04:59:00Z

After three years of ignoring opium poppy cultivation in war-ravaged Afghanistan, the United States has suddenly changed course.

The rotund landlord, Mr. Attock, sits on the carpeted floor of his little office and living quarters in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. From this one room he publishes a slight and sporadic weekly or sometimes monthly newspaper, but like most people around here, his real business is farming opium poppy. Mr. Attock's land lies about an hour and a half away in the countryside of Nangarhar province, near the Pakistani border, not too far from Tora Bora. (...)

[January 24, 2005 issue]

- / AlterNet

Who Rules Afghanistan

Christian Parenti — 2004-10-29T03:34:00Z

It is noon in northern Afghanistan, Balkh province. The autumn sky is empty and bright. A tough 60-year-old farmer named Mamood sits for an interview in the shade of a tree. Surrounding us in all directions are fields of marijuana on the verge of harvest. The plants are tall, thick and fragrant, their dark green flowers glistening with potent oils.

[from the November 15, 2004 issue]

- / Nation

Christian Parenti in Afghanistan: Saturday's Elections Were A "Farce"

Amy Goodman, Christian Parenti — 2004-10-12T22:59:00Z

We go to Afghanistan to speak with The Nation's correspondent covering Saturday's election where all 15 of incumbent Hamid Karzai's opponents announced they were boycotting the election because of voting problems. - / Democracy Now!

Postcard From Kabul

Christian Parenti — 2004-10-10T14:51:00Z

Despite a large voter turnout in Kabul and other major cities, the presidential election in Afghanistan has been a farce. Instead of Taliban violence, the balloting was besieged by a wave of fraud and technical errors. All of Karzai's opponents have denounced the vote as illegitimate, triggering a local and perhaps international credibility crisis for the US-appointed President Hamid Karzai and the international occupation of Afghanistan.

The first bad omen was meteorological—a huge dust storm that some Afghans said was a harbinger of a repressive government. Real trouble began at dawn the next day, October 9, when voters found that the indelible ink used to mark their thumbs and prevent repeat voting was washing off. This, combined with the proliferation of fake voting cards, meant that many people were able to cast votes multiple times. (...)

[posted online on October 9, 2004]

- / Nation

"Imposing Imperial Democracy" - Upcoming Afghan Elections Marked by U.S. Pressure, Fraud and Corruption

Juan Gonzalez, Amy Goodman, Sonali Kolhatkar, Christian Parenti — 2004-10-09T02:06:00Z

As the Bush administration lauds the upcoming presidential election in Afghanistan a success in democracy, the elections are coming under criticism for widespread fraud, confusion and pressure from the U.S. to support incumbent Hamid Karzai. We speak with KPFK radio host Sonali Kolhatkar and we go to Kabul to speak Christian Parenti of The Nation. - / Democracy Now!