• Profile logout login

#journalismism#coinccompanyhistoryhtml

Gawker

Share Cancel
   
Upload an image | Add an image URL
×

logging in
  • FAQ. Include # before tag:
  • #tips,
  • #stalker,
  • #opencaption,
  • #internalmemos,
  • etc.

New York, 7:45 AM
Sat Nov 14
48 posts in the last 24 hours

Team

Tip Your Editors:
tips@gawker.com
Tipline: 646-214-8138

Editor-in-Chief:
Gabriel Snyder | Email

West Coast Editor:
Richard Rushfield | Email

Contributing Editors:

Valleywag:
Ryan Tate | Email

Media:
Hamilton Nolan | Email

Politics:
Alex Pareene | Email

Investigations:
John Cook | Email

Entertainment:
Brian Moylan | Email

Nights:
Adrian Chen | Email
Azaria Jagger | Email
Ravi Somaiya | Email

Weekends:
Foster Kamer | Email

Video Editor:
Richard Blakeley | Email

SUBSCRIBE TO Gawker RSS

New: Breaking news and daily top stories via email
4260 Subscribers
Gawker
  • Your version of Internet Explorer is not supported. Please upgrade to the most recent version in order to view comments.
    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Bos'un's Mate Bos'un's Mate
    11/13/09

    In reply to David Pogue Gets Modest Title of 'Visionary'
    Pogue is a very good technology critic and observer, but a visionary? No. #davidpogue
     Reply
    Bos'un's Mate was starred Bos'un's Mate was unstarred
    Image of Mediahohoho Mediahohoho
    11/13/09

    In reply to Politico Challenges Bob Bauer's Credentials, Headlines Story 'Bob Bauer's Credentials Challenged'
    The Republican party will take help wherever they can find it. If no existing (and/or self-respecting) media outlet will not report the spin they want, they simply create a media outlet that will. The only difference between Politico and the Washington Times is that the Times has an intermediary cult between it and the mother ship. Politico has a direct line. #politico
     Reply
    Mediahohoho was starred Mediahohoho was unstarred
    Image of misslinda misslinda
    11/13/09

    In reply to Politico Challenges Bob Bauer's Credentials, Headlines Story 'Bob Bauer's Credentials Challenged'
    Hello Politico? You there? Remember Harriet Miers? Bush's personal attorney who worked on his 2000 campaign? Who he later nominated to the Supreme Court and had to withdraw the bid cause it was just that ridiculous? Yeah *that* Harriet Miers, the one who gives President Obama license to appoint a fucking frog in a bear costume to the position of White House counsel. #politico
     Reply
    misslinda was starred misslinda was unstarred
    Image of If_I_Had_a_Poodle If_I_Had_a_Poodle
    11/13/09

    @misslinda: FROG IN A BEAR COSTUME. OMG. #politico
     Reply
    If_I_Had_a_Poodle was starred If_I_Had_a_Poodle was unstarred
    Image of If_I_Had_a_Poodle If_I_Had_a_Poodle
    11/13/09

    In reply to Politico Challenges Bob Bauer's Credentials, Headlines Story 'Bob Bauer's Credentials Challenged'
    I heard that the editors of Politico enjoy goatfucking. Questions arise whether that is true. But now that it's out there, it would be irresponsible not to investigate it. Also, did they kill anyone?

    Also, did they ask if Atty Gen Gonzo was qualified?
     Reply
    Edited by If_I_Had_a_Poodle at 11/13/09 4:55 PM If_I_Had_a_Poodle was starred If_I_Had_a_Poodle was unstarred
    Image of Trixie from Toronto Trixie from Toronto
    11/13/09

    In reply to Politico Challenges Bob Bauer's Credentials, Headlines Story 'Bob Bauer's Credentials Challenged'
    How do you know those criticizing him didn't contact Politico first? #politico
     Reply
    Trixie from Toronto was starred Trixie from Toronto was unstarred
    Image of Jes St.Lawrence Jes St.Lawrence
    11/13/09

    In reply to Politico Challenges Bob Bauer's Credentials, Headlines Story 'Bob Bauer's Credentials Challenged'
    Kenny, show us on the doll where Matt Drudge touched you. #politico
     Reply
    Jes St.Lawrence was starred Jes St.Lawrence was unstarred
    Image of seyswho seyswho
    11/13/09

    In reply to Politico Challenges Bob Bauer's Credentials, Headlines Story 'Bob Bauer's Credentials Challenged'
    "Questions arise whether incoming White House counsel Bob Bauer's experience as a partisan warrior is appropriate for the position."

    Frankly, I think a few more partisan warriors is exactly what this administration is sorely lacking.
     Reply
    Edited by seyswho at 11/13/09 4:39 PM seyswho was starred seyswho was unstarred
    Image of TheSometimesWhy TheSometimesWhy
    11/13/09

    In reply to David Rohde: There Are More Kidnapped Journalists Still in Pakistan
    Mr. Rohde's situation in this video is a lot like the one he faced when held captive. The picture he painted of that experience was a dark and undecipherable as you can imagine. His insight that our view of the Taliban as some static organization is wholly inaccurate was chilling. It seems to be an ever-changing mass, coming together almost transactionally, and then spinning itself into its next iteration. This kind of inherent confusion was buttressed by the realization that the man who kidnapped Rohde was the man he was supposed to interview, a fact he didn't come into possession of until well into his captivity.

    I don't know what a shit storm looks like, but the more I read about Afghanistan/Pakistan and the marauding hordes that rule its nether regions, I am definitely getting an image.

    And it is not pretty. #davidrohde
     Reply
    TheSometimesWhy was starred TheSometimesWhy was unstarred
    Image of Adah Adah
    11/13/09

    @TheSometimesWhy: It frustrates me when Rohde gives the impression that everyone thinks of the Taliban as a strict hierarchy. I know that when I was in Afghanistan, none of the people I worked with thought of it that way, and we all worked to get a better understanding of the various networks and the differing operational methods between each. For Rohde to come back and say how foolish we all are, and please, let him tell us how it really is, is incredibly irritating. #davidrohde
     Reply
    TheSometimesWhy promoted this comment Adah was starred Adah was unstarred
    Image of TheSometimesWhy TheSometimesWhy
    11/13/09

    @Adah: I appreciate your frustration, but what if what he is reporting is accurate in the sense that our perceptions are inherently flawed because the thing we are trying to perceive defies static perception? That it is morphing every day into something that defies categorization, let alone a coherent policy for engaging militarily.

    I, for one, wouldn't want Mr. Rohde's job, not so much for the obvious danger posed but because the act of communicating what he is learning as the result of being embedded as he is has to be beyond comprehension to most people. #davidrohde
     Reply
    TheSometimesWhy was starred TheSometimesWhy was unstarred
    Image of Adah Adah
    11/13/09

    @TheSometimesWhy: Well, of course the insurgency is constantly changing. But from reading Mr. Rohde's five part series from a few weeks ago, I'm not sure his understanding of it is as great as he thinks it is. He was kept in various rooms for seven months, and his main source of information appears to come from the low level men guarding him. The appearances of high level leaders in Rohde's narrative were remarkable because, by his own admission, they were fairly rare. Now, who knows, maybe when his book inevitably comes out, I'll be proven wrong and Rohde will reveal some remarkable details from these conversations with high level leaders. But he certainly didn't have anything terribly revealing in his Times piece that hasn't been said better and with a greater understanding in many other books. #davidrohde
     Reply
    Adah was starred Adah was unstarred
    Image of TheSometimesWhy TheSometimesWhy
    11/13/09

    @Adah: I don't see how you can take issue with Mr. Rohde for the lack of high-level leaders being conspicuously absent from his narrative. I dare say he was playing the cards he was dealt, so to speak. I think you're losing sight of the fact that his core mission was to interview the man who ultimately kidnapped him as part of an on-going series of reports. A reporter in the field functioning as Mr. Rohde did is per force sending back a mosaic of what he sees. Over-arching analysis isn't the immediate by-product of the kind of reportage he was responsible for. He is essentially a scout, hopefully a very insightful, well-informed one, but given the environmental obstacles to performing that task, i.e., staying alive, I think he did yeoman's work. What his pieces as they appeared in the NYTs revealed was the insanity of our presence there as currently constituted.

    I would hope that people like yourself would wait for Mr. Rohde to have the luxury of some time to distill the sheer viscerality of that experience, and then see what analysis he puts forth. Given what he has been through, it not only seems fair but necessary if we are going to learn anything beyond what he has already imparted. #davidrohde
     Reply
    TheSometimesWhy was starred TheSometimesWhy was unstarred
    Image of Adah Adah
    11/13/09

    @TheSometimesWhy: I think it's unlikely that he got the larger picture of how the insurgency functions from talking to some guards. I understand he goes in for a mosaic piece, but you seem to think this will contribute to ground-breaking changes in how we view the Taliban and the Haqqani Network. I disagree. Rohde went in with an outdated and inaccurate impression of Afghan culture and local Taliban politics. That's what got him kidnapped - that and his threat assessment appeared to be limited to asking the advice of one French reporter who'd interviewed the same Taliban leader a few years ago. Rohde failed to update his own understanding of how the Taliban works. I'm not sure that reflects on the U.S. government's or even better informed citizens and reporters' impression of the Taliban.

    I would recommend Seth Jones's book In the Graveyard of Empires for a much better understanding of our situation in Afghanistan right now, and how our actions along with local Pashtun culture and history have contributed to the rise of the insurgency in the last few years.

    [www.amazon.com] #davidrohde
     Reply
    Adah was starred Adah was unstarred
    Image of gawkimo gawkimo
    11/13/09

    @Adah: Bollocks. Most Afghanis aren't kosher with the Taliban's world view. The Taliban are a foreign influence on Afghanistan from the tribal regions. In the 1970s Afghanistan was a place where hippies used to go to listen to live music and smoke hash. Afghans don't burn down girls schools, the influence of outside Islamist forces (and first-world foreign occupiers) have led to that.
     Reply
    Edited by gawkimo at 11/13/09 7:08 PM gawkimo was starred gawkimo was unstarred
    Image of Adah Adah
    11/13/09

    @gawkimo: In the cities, sure. But the country has always been more traditional and rural, even predating the Soviet invasion. The Afghan monarchy basically controlled the large cities and left huge areas of the population for the local tribes to control. When the Soviets invaded, and during the war that followed, those middle and creative classes left the country en masse, most never to return. Those cities are all a lot less hippie-ish today. About one million fled to Iran, about three million to Pakistan. The Taliban emerged out of those Pakistani refugee camps along the border, from Peshawer down to Balochistan. In that instance, I suppose you're right, but the Taliban was always a Pashtun power, and in some ways that's more important than what side of the border it originated on. Most Pashtuns consider the Pashtun area of Pakistan to practically be part of Afghanistan anyway. In addition, many of these insurgents were already radicalized in the 1970s. It's not al Al Qaeda coming in and changing the poor defenseless Pashtun people. See Gulbuddin Hekmatyr in the 1970s and 1980s.

    I didn't mean to imply that all Afghans are Taliban sympathizers. In this you are correct. But they're a lot more scared of the Taliban than they are of us. If the Taliban (and I'm using Taliban as shorthand for the various insurgent networks active in Afghanistan) tells them to never breathe a word when Americans are around or they'll kill their family, you can bet they're not going to be overly helpful. On top of this, the rural areas are still much more conservative and more likely to be sympathetic to the Taliban than they are to us. Our COIN strategy, if we choose to keep following it, has us supposedly withdrawing from these areas as they are so hard to control. These are the areas where you get your battles of Wanat or battle at COP Keating. #davidrohde
     Reply
    Edited by Adah at 11/13/09 7:34 PM Adah was starred Adah was unstarred
    Image of gawkimo gawkimo
    11/13/09

    @Adah: Even in the traditional, rural countryside: they don't like the Taliban any more than the foreign occupiers. These are tribal folks who will side with anyone (Muslim or otherwise) who a.) Leave them alone and b.) pay them more. These folks don't sympathize with the Taliban for being "more conservative" -- they sympathize with anyone who adheres to a.) and b.). #davidrohde
     Reply
    gawkimo was starred gawkimo was unstarred
    Image of gawkimo gawkimo
    11/13/09

    @Adah: I would also point out that the Mughal Empire basically began in Afghanistan (well, Samarkand, but mostly in what we call Afghanistan today) and those Muslims drank alcohol and depicted Muhammad in paintings. Afghanistan is not the Whahabbist Kingdom we portray it to be. They are moderates when it come to religion -- they are radicals when it come to foreign intervention -- we can thank the Russians for that. #davidrohde
     Reply
    gawkimo was starred gawkimo was unstarred
    Image of Cecil's Wielder Cecil's Wielder
    11/13/09

    In reply to David Rohde: There Are More Kidnapped Journalists Still in Pakistan
    But who is going to play him in the movie adaptation?! #davidrohde
     Reply
    Cecil's Wielder was starred Cecil's Wielder was unstarred
    Image of badasscat badasscat
    11/13/09

    In reply to Detroit: Murder Murder Murder, Kill Kill Kill
    2nd Amendment! #charlieleduff
     Reply
    badasscat was starred badasscat was unstarred
    Image of Mr.choppers - Delenda Carthago Est Mr.choppers - Delenda Carthago Est
    11/13/09

    In reply to Detroit: Murder Murder Murder, Kill Kill Kill
    Is there a Green Zone? #charlieleduff
     Reply
    Mr.choppers - Delenda Carthago Est was starred Mr.choppers - Delenda Carthago Est was unstarred
    Image of MrInBetween MrInBetween
    11/13/09

    In reply to Reporter Doesn't Want His Super-Secret Interview Technique Outed
    When public officials feared people who bought ink by the barrel, this kind of journalistic hubris/hypocrisy might anger people. But now, Skelton's complaint sounds like the final, weak yelp of the last dinosaur. #journalismism
     Reply
    MrInBetween was starred MrInBetween was unstarred
    Image of Dickdogfood Dickdogfood
    11/13/09

    In reply to Early Favorite For Time Person of the Year: Something Stupid
    I won't be convinced that Time is at all serious about their brand of stupid unless they name Glenn Beck Man of the Year. Even "The Angry American" won't cut it. #media
     Reply
    Dickdogfood was starred Dickdogfood was unstarred
    Image of Magister Magister
    11/13/09

    In reply to Reporter Doesn't Want His Super-Secret Interview Technique Outed
    Good point about the hypocrisy, but his complaint really doesn't have a lot of merit, anyway.

    It appears that this records release was a one time event; The spokesperson no longer works for Mr Brown. There will be no future recordings created.

    So, how long does Mr. Skelton sit on information or contemplate a response's meaning?
     Reply
    Edited by Magister at 11/13/09 2:06 PM Magister was starred Magister was unstarred
    Image of Michael Bauser Michael Bauser
    11/13/09

    In reply to Detroit: Murder Murder Murder, Kill Kill Kill
    Another fun "How violent is Detroit?" factoid: Half the City Council plans to be carrying concealed weapons next year:

    [www.freep.com]

    Even the minister who was elected says he receives death threats.

    (I actually work a lot in Detroit's residential neighborhoods. The only safety precaution my employer allows is... a rape whistle. I get some laughs when I tell the locals that.) #charlieleduff
     Reply
    Michael Bauser was starred Michael Bauser was unstarred
    Earlier discussions Other discussions Show all discussions Show featured discussions only Start a new discussion

Login

Enter your username and password.

Please enter a username.
Please enter your password.
logging in
Login via Facebook | Sign Up | Forgot Password?

Reset Password

Please enter your email address to have your password reset.

Please enter your email address.
Please enter a valid email address.
requesting password reset

Register

Registering will give you a user profile and the ability to add other users as friends. To become a commenter, however, you need to audition.

Want to know more? Consult the Comment FAQ and legal terms.

Please enter a username.
Please enter a password.
Please confirm your password.
Passwords are not identical.
Please enter a valid email address.
registration sent, waiting for reply

Submit Your Comment

You don't need to login to comment. Just enter your email address below.

See how your address will be displayed in the Comment FAQ.

Please enter a valid email address.
Please enter a valid email address.
logging in

Login with your Facebook or Gawker account.

Sign up here.



  • Archives
  • About
  • Advertising
  • Legal
  • Help
  • Report a Bug
  • FAQ
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.