Afghanistan, Ghowr Province: an opium village [Ed. note: Connor O’Steen writes of going to an opium village in Afghanistan’s Ghowr province to do the necessary research to admit Nasim to the orphanage […]
Letters from Afghanistan: installment #3
Nasim’s story:Â making and unmaking terrorists by Connor O’Steen It turns out the road between [location excised] and [location excised] is currently held by the Taliban, so until NATO clears things up […]
Letters from Afghanistan: installment #2
by Connor O’Steen Editor’s note: Our guest is currently in Afghanistan working for PARSA, a non-governmental organization (NGO) specializing in microeconomic development with an emphasis on women and children. He’s often in […]
Letters from Afghanistan: installment #1
Editor’s note: Our guest, Connor O’Steen, is a special correspondent to Scholars & Rogues. He’s currently in Afghanistan working for PARSA, a non-governmental organization (NGO) specializing in microeconomic development with an emphasis on […]
PBS and NBC's symbiotic sins of omission
On Tuesday night, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams and Newshour with Jim Lehrer presented two telling examples of how omitting information shapes public perception with regard to civilian casualties.
Nota Bene #25

Got hot links if you want ’em. In a New York Times article on Memorial Day, “The Wars We Choose to Ignore,” David Carr writes: “Even as we celebrate generations of American […]
Attack Iran? Why not just paint targets on the backs of kids like those on PBS's "Carrier"?

After the National Intelligence Estimate last November which reported that Iran had no nuclear program since 2003, many of us breathed a sigh of relief. It was official: When it came to […]
Nota Bene #22

Got hot links if you want ’em! In “Mr. Cool’s Intensity” in the Washington Post, David Ignatius writes of Obama’s reluctance to write off Rev. Wright. There’s “an instinctive American fondness for […]
You can't tell the players in Iraq without a scorecard

Years ago, when Bosnia-Serbia-Kosovo was aflame, I found myself tuning out the conflict because of difficulty tracking all the warring factions. Afterward, I read a book on the subject, Michael Parenti’s “To […]