The die hards remain, the celebs and want to be celebs down to the E list have left. Perhaps only the true believers will be able to claim that they witnessed history and yet everyone who has left will tell tales of how they were here and watched it. I doubt that half the people here know the difference between the donkey and the elephant and who is blue and who is red.

Speaking of colors correspondent Greg Palkot and I almost had a heart attack when the embassy map showed the state of New York as red before they changed it to blue, apparently the computers colors everything red first , and then you have to change it.

In the next hour I hope to witness history, perhaps that is why working in the media is magic at times, then again anything is better than two weeks ago in Afghanistan.

The hard thing about time differences is that over here it is already tomorrow and yet the time on the East Coast is 8pm. And watching various monitors around the embassy you are beseiged by  the flashing of figures across screens, we cannot contribute much as there is no reaction to results because they are still to be counted. The mood of the party makes me wish that I had spent more time reading celebrity magazines like Hello as the guest list here grows and given that the locals have not figured out how to turn on the air conditioners correctly. Most of the guests sip white wine and try to network amongst themselves. The map on the wall has only two states colored and the cut outs have finally become somewhat irrelevant as almost everyone has had their photo taken with them. It appears that we will still be here at 3am at least providing those chads are a thing of the past.

Afghanistan: September & October 2008

It would be easy to say that the war in Afghanistan is simply that a war between good and evil or a matter of faith depending on how you worship.  How does one define victory, there will be no peace accord signed or will we watch two sides try and rebuild there nations as in previous wars?

The cold hard reality is that no one cares about Afghanistan and never will.  Afghans did not directly blow up the twin towers on 911.  So the question they ask all the time is why are there still foreign troops on their soil.  The enemy is there but is not seen.

After nearly a month in Afghanistan, I look back and see nothing positive.  The role of the American soldier cannot be questioned, each and everyone I met was that of caring.  But we did meet soldiers with the look of defeat who openly questioned the effectiveness of the current strategy.  The look in his eyes was the best mirror to the current situation there.  And that reflection is the look of pointlessness.

Hard cold facts are never pleasant and the reality in Afghanistan is that corruption is pandemic. It is in and at every level of society and this cancer feeds on itself and the more money that is poured into Afghanistan every day, lines the pockets of the corrupt, twenty families now effectively control Afghanistan according to a recent British fact finding mission to Afghanistan.

Fact, you want to become a Police Chief, with a profitable narcotics route through your district – going rate is $150,000 and you get the badge, keep paying those above and take without mercy from those below.

Fact, In Southern Afghanistan, being a farmer, from Lashkar Gar and taking your crop and trying to bring your crop to Kandahar, to sell has become pointless.  Police and Bandits set up roadblocks on almost all roads and by paying all the bribes there is no money to be made.  So why grow crops when if you grow Opium you will have the protection of the local Warlord who in turn controls the Authorities.  The farmer can now feed his family and have safety.

Keep Reading …

Tbilisi, Georgia — Perhaps one the hardest things to come to personal grips with on assignments of this length is the toll of working hours in two time zones, and then having to work them twice or more in a day.

Time zones are probably my greatest enemy in many respects. Here in Tbilisi, we are eight hours ahead of Fox News Headquarters in New York. The effects of this after 12 days on assignment probably really hit home last night, or afternoon, depending on where you are reading this.

The day seems to begin the night before. We have to do a live shot for “Fox Report”, which means we are still working at 3 a.m. So as far as New York is aware, we have finished just after 7 p.m. … but by the I got to bed, it can be 4:30 local … and then to get up and gather the news for the day, I have to be awake again no later than 9 a.m., to get the kit ready from satellite gear to computers, power, cameras, first aid kit checks and the body armor.

Out of the hotel around 10 a.m. (which, remember, is in fact according to New York 2 a.m., and the day has begun.)

We head up the road to the frontline, film for a few hours, then head back to Tbilisi. I try to feed some of the material we have shot on the road so that the channel has material for us to run during the day, and this is before we start our rostered shift of live shots. Our block of lives yesterday was from 3 p.m. to the 7 p.m. shows, New York time, which meant we were going locally from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Then figure on getting up again and doing it again, sometimes the live shift good fall in your favor and we can wrap up by midnight. But you know that all things end, and at some stage life will be back to normal.

As far as what has happened here today, the reality is nothing, but my conspiracy theory for the future has no silver lining.

Outside Gori , Georgia

Well according to all the Russian troops, we’re supposed to be pulling out of positions at noon (that is when the big hand and the little hand on the watch, are together and pointing to the top.)

Now, as they say, try to stay fashionable and explain to me how come when we approached Gori, after the big hand little hand scenario whilst still in the sovereign nation of Georgia.

We approached and past through a Russian Military checkpoint some 10 KM’s outside Gori on the road to the capital Tbilisi.

Only to drive on and come to a complete stop to be turned around by guess who ?

There on the highway leading into Gori, in the country of Georgia was a Russian Officer who said that unless we had Russian Media Accreditation approved by the Kremlin or Russian Authorities, we may not proceed along a Georgian road into a Georgian city that was supposed to of been clear of Russian troops at midday.

Then again the artillery still on the hills dug in, plus the APC’s on the road, ohh and the camp of Russian soldiers.

Driving outside Gori , Georgia

Call me cynical, but I laugh when I got back to the hotel in Tbilisi an hour later and there on an opposition cable network was a running headline banner on the bottom of the screen “Russian Troops begin pullout.” If they bothered to leave the Presidential Suite they occupy on the sixth floor and drive up the road rather than rely on wires from agencies, that have been so inaccurate and propaganda tools for both governments in this conflict, then perhaps they could report the news.

So where does this leave us, the bottom line is I do not believe anything that I have not seen with my own eyes.

And from behind these hazel irises, the Russian troops remain in Georgia.

The next time someone comes up with a time, just double check which day, week, month and year they mean when they say noon.

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