Oh policy, where art thou?

In the last 24 hours or so, I: a) read that Prince William and Kate are engaged (good for them, I think they'll be a fine couple), b) saw Bill Nye faint on stage (don't worry, he's fine), and c) heard my professor say that US policy was essentially dictated by Sarah Palin's tweets (no, not fine at all).

With regards to the last point, the majority of this class has been spent discussing how the US didn't really have a foreign policy for the Middle East for, hmm, quite a few decades actually. Well, okay, it's a little silly to have one all-encompassing, one-size-fits-all-no-alterations-needed policy that could fit the area roughly between the Mediterranean, Central Asia, the Sahara, and the Indian Ocean. But even when you boil it down to, say, Iraq or Iran, there were periods you could say were devoid of policy or strategy. The Middle East countries did what they wanted, and the US chased the laser pointer. Or chased each other, if you take the whole Clinton vs the neocons story.

In an interesting coincidence, Joshua Foust brought up this point today in his aptly named post Don't Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight... Over Afghan Strategy. He focuses more on how strategy is being undermined by partisan backbiting and poking-sticks-into-motorcycle-tyres:

And what to make of all the public and contradictory wrangling over positions, troops and strategy? This is, sadly, what Washington has become in recent years: a mad dash, in public, for power, influence and triumph at all costs.

I don't want to overly criticise the US political system, because the UK system sure as hell is not the paragon of a democratic, multi-partisan government. I mean, we have a debate chamber where the two parties literally sit across from each other with two sword-lengths of space being the main barrier against anyone emulating a football fan after 90 minutes and the same number of beers. But most of my four years here has been highlighted by campaigns, debates, and political commentary, sandwiched between a presidential and a midterm election. And based on my observations, once you're in office, it's like juggling with fire between implementing your own policies and overturning the previous guy's (not always mutually exclusive). Does anyone get a breather?

Oof. Where was I?

Oh yes, policy. Yeah...there isn't really a clear policy for Afghanistan right now. And while I'm interested in how policy is implemented, I don't like the politics that it has to piggyback on. And after writing all the above, I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this post now for real. I did swear at the beginning of this blog that I would try and remain as nonpartisan as possible, but I think I've gone the other way and become rather nationalistic, whoopsies.

I promise I'll write something a little more cultural-oriented next time. While I do like to write about policy and politics, it does get pretty cut and dry, and I'm the kind who will spend hours looking up the exact national costume of country A in time period B just because it's culturally very, very cool.

What do Afghan food and Thanksgiving have in common?

Pumpkin.

Yup.

Professor gave me leave to post about something non-news related, so how wrong can one go when blogging about food? I mean, look at This is Why You're Fat. I've checked that website out enough times to have a cholesterol-induced coma just from looking at the pictures.

My first taste of Afghan food was in 2009, while I was interning in Washington DC. Before I took off for the capital, I bombarded my cousin for tips on how to survive without dying of starvation or wandering into the wrong quadrant and getting mugged. Her response: "try the Afghan Grill at Adams Morgan!" (No tips on safe areas, thanks cuz.)

So I did.

Adams Morgan was a pretty good meeting point, as a friend of mine was also in DC and we figured why not grab a bite together? Even with the frequent delays on the Red Line, it wasn't too difficult to get there. The escalators, on the other hand, were probably one of the scariest things I've had to go on. Call me a wimp, but I hate heights. And I hate escalators that are so long you look like you're descending into the bottomless pit of 300 as you get on at the top, and steep enough to go climbing on with belays and possibly a pickaxe.

Anyway, back to the food. Afghan Grill is this tiny little place on the 2nd floor of one of the townhouses around the corner from the station, and there weren't a lot of people there when we arrived (early evening), but the staff were pretty friendly and got us a window table. Then we looked at the menu.

The specialty was Kadu Buranee, which is lamb with pumpkin, yoghurt, and rice. But I didn't go for it (which I should have), and my friend got it. I instead chose Qabili Palao, which was lamb (or chicken) with raisins and carrots.

About 15 minutes later, a plate the size of my head was plonked down in front of me piled high with rice and lamb. Let the demolition begin.

I have absolutely no idea how authentic the food was. It looked reasonably true to style. I mean, there are Chinese restaurants all over the world; some are the genuine thing, others sell stuff like "chop suey". I'm sorry, I'd never heard of the stuff until I LEFT China. But besides authenticity, I just need to know if at least tastes good.

And this rice and lamb was good. Sweet, thanks to the raisins and whatever they'd cooked the carrots in, and pretty tender too. Then I tried a bit of my friend's dish, and MMM PUMPKIN AND LAMB. The lamb was more of a meat sauce covering the pumpkin, so you got to mix it into the rice and therefore use only one utensil to eat the whole thing.

It really didn't take us long to polish off what we could, and even then there was some rice left. "Would you like some dessert?" Uh, no thanks, unless you want us to explode a la Mr. Creosote. We did try Turkish coffee though, which is a pretty interesting experience when you forget - and then remember - that the grounds are supposed to remain in your cup after the coffee has been boiled.

So in a nutshell, I really liked the place. The only drawback was the price, which is on the steep side for a semi-hole in the wall even for DC. Nevertheless, I went back a few weeks later, dragging another friend along. We thought we'd get smart and order appetizers to reduce the portion size. Until my friend ordered the appetizer sampler.

We waddled home.

Grab bag

Ah, this post is late, I know. Mea maxima culpa. Aaaand I don't have one fixed topic to blog about, so here are a couple of vignettes.

First, the shameless yet serious plug: as part of my writing class, we are creating a service project, and in particular we are providing resources for those who are victims of bullying, especially through means such as Facebook. Wall Watch is currently campaigning for better support from Facebook if there is an apparent case of bullying using their network. We are also setting up a page that combines links for various programs and hotlines that you can access in one go, covering issues such as cyberbullying, suicide prevention, physical bully (still happens unfortunately), and LGBT-related bullying. I know that there are plenty of programs out there, but the recent rash of teenage and young adult suicides as a result of ongoing, very public bullying indicates there is some way to go, whether it be a lack of awareness or lack of access to the right resources.

Now, foreign news: Well, there's not much good news at the moment, with different armies pushing against each other constantly like really disjointed versions of the German and British lines at the Somme. You gain some ground, and you lose it elsewhere; even as progress is being made by NATO forces in the south, the Taliban have been slowly creeping across the north. NATO allies are now reassessing their future role in the conflict, as Sweden has chosen to reduce its troops from 2012, while the Czech government has chosen to do the complete opposite and increase its troop numbers, and Canada is evaluating its own progress. And when entire police units decide to abscond, it's easy to feel particularly morose about the whole situation.

What about domestic news? I've always liked the colour red. And one of my school colours is cardinal, which is pretty close. On the other hand, as of Tuesday, the House of Representatives is now distinctly red. Probably the one time where I haven't cheered to see it. US politics is probably the one time I've leaned towards the colour blue. So what happens now? I'm not entirely sure. Political campaigns in the US are ridiculously long in my opinion; even before the midterms were over certain candidates were already focusing on 2012. What does that mean for the legislature? It's really too early to say at this point. With the House in one pair of hands and the Senate in another pair, bipartisanship is going to be important, more than before.

Finally, the lighthearted moment: fainting kittens.