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| Photograph of Mongolia by Palani Mohan |
He walked slap bang into a hyper-real world. Everything had been shut down. Every trace of psychic disturbance that could be tracked. Every reason for being. Every trawl rope catching trails of fortune. He did not say anything because there was nothing to say. He no longer wished to cooperate. He no longer wished to be a subject of interest. They had hidden in the undergrowth for millions of years; and the ability to hide, passed down through all those lives, through combinations of DNA and drifting souls, had been essential for survival. There wasn't going to be a future without a past; if that made sense; but he wasn't reaching back.
All the time, all the way, through that undergrowth, big Marmoset eyes high in the trees or buried behind green, peeping out, it wasn't just that, it was everything. The time for cooperation was over. It had simply created too many problems, attracted all the wrong attention. He wasn't a military operative; he had no intention of being captured. They could hide in the ordinary forever, and nobody would ever know.
He saw them on rare occasion. "You have on old soul," a man said to him in Bangkok; "you meet them sometimes." And for a while they had been curious friends, meeting up around Soi Seven or Soi Eleven. An old Bangkok hand; his friend eventually dived back into the swirl of drunkenness, incompetence, euphoria and despair that was a bust; and he would only ever hear, after that, disjointed stories of what had happened to him.
He didn't have his address, or he would have gone to visit him. Throw yourself under a bus; by far the best thing to do. Captured and captured, allured and alluring, disappointed and triumphant, experimental dross on a sea of words, a crowded world full of too many words, of the cleverest age in the history of mankind. And so it went, he said.
"See you," he had said, after they had dinner in a tiny restaurant on Soi 11, all new to him, familiar to his newly acquired friend.
Was he dead now?
Quite possibly.
Fallen from a balcony.
An accidental overdose.
A premature heart attack.
Oh cheer up you old bastard. Let go of all attachment; and it all comes back to you; these fleeting times.
THE BIGGER STORY:
President
Barack Obama has authorised the first sustained deployment of special
forces to Syria, the White House says, reversing a long-standing
refusal to put US boots on the ground.
Obama allowed a deployment
of 'fewer than 50' special operations personnel in the north of the
war-ravaged nation, in a bid to strengthen forces fighting the Islamic
State group, spokesman Josh Earnest said.
While US fighters are
believed to have previously carried out covert missions in Syria, they
had not been deployed there on a continuous basis.
For over a
year, the US has led a 65-member coalition that has conducted air
strikes against more than 13,000 Islamic State targets in Iraq and
Syria.
But that has had only a limited impact in stopping the jihadi advance.
Efforts
in Syria have been plagued by the complexities of a civil war that has
killed more than 240,000 people since March 2011 and prompted the most
serious refugee crisis since World War II.
Obama has been
reluctant to involve the United States in another ground war in the
Middle East, backing opposition groups that are an uneasy mix of Kurds,
Turkomen, Shiite and Sunni Arabs.
Many have proven keener to fight Syrian President Bashar al-Assad than the Islamic State.
Obama
was recently forced to scrap a half billion dollar mission to train
Syrian opposition fighters, who had come under sustained attack from
Assad's forces, IS fighters, Iranian-backed Hezbollah, groups linked to
Al-Qaeda, and, more recently, Russian air strikes.
- See more at:
http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2015/10/31/us-to-send-special-forces-to-syria.html#sthash.RywgOBjv.dpuf
http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2015/10/31/us-to-send-special-forces-to-syria.html
resident
Barack Obama has authorised the first sustained deployment of special
forces to Syria, the White House says, reversing a long-standing
refusal to put US boots on the ground.
Obama allowed a deployment
of 'fewer than 50' special operations personnel in the north of the
war-ravaged nation, in a bid to strengthen forces fighting the Islamic
State group, spokesman Josh Earnest said.
While US fighters are
believed to have previously carried out covert missions in Syria, they
had not been deployed there on a continuous basis.
For over a
year, the US has led a 65-member coalition that has conducted air
strikes against more than 13,000 Islamic State targets in Iraq and
Syria.
But that has had only a limited impact in stopping the jihadi advance.
Efforts
in Syria have been plagued by the complexities of a civil war that has
killed more than 240,000 people since March 2011 and prompted the most
serious refugee crisis since World War II.
- See more at:
http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2015/10/31/us-to-send-special-forces-to-syria.html#sthash.RywgOBjv.dpuf
President
Barack Obama has authorised the first sustained deployment of special forces to
Syria, the White House says, reversing a long-standing refusal to put US boots
on the ground.
Obama
allowed a deployment of 'fewer than 50' special operations personnel in the
north of the war-ravaged nation, in a bid to strengthen forces fighting the
Islamic State group, spokesman Josh Earnest said.
While US
fighters are believed to have previously carried out covert missions in Syria,
they had not been deployed there on a continuous basis.
For over
a year, the US has led a 65-member coalition that has conducted air strikes
against more than 13,000 Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria.
But that
has had only a limited impact in stopping the jihadi advance.
Efforts
in Syria have been plagued by the complexities of a civil war that has killed
more than 240,000 people since March 2011 and prompted the most serious refugee
crisis since World War II.
President
Barack Obama has authorised the first sustained deployment of special
forces to Syria, the White House says, reversing a long-standing
refusal to put US boots on the ground.
Obama allowed a deployment
of 'fewer than 50' special operations personnel in the north of the
war-ravaged nation, in a bid to strengthen forces fighting the Islamic
State group, spokesman Josh Earnest said.
While US fighters are
believed to have previously carried out covert missions in Syria, they
had not been deployed there on a continuous basis.
For over a
year, the US has led a 65-member coalition that has conducted air
strikes against more than 13,000 Islamic State targets in Iraq and
Syria.
But that has had only a limited impact in stopping the jihadi advance.
Efforts
in Syria have been plagued by the complexities of a civil war that has
killed more than 240,000 people since March 2011 and prompted the most
serious refugee crisis since World War II.
Obama has been
reluctant to involve the United States in another ground war in the
Middle East, backing opposition groups that are an uneasy mix of Kurds,
Turkomen, Shiite and Sunni Arabs.
Many have proven keener to fight Syrian President Bashar al-Assad than the Islamic State.
Obama
was recently forced to scrap a half billion dollar mission to train
Syrian opposition fighters, who had come under sustained attack from
Assad's forces, IS fighters, Iranian-backed Hezbollah, groups linked to
Al-Qaeda, and, more recently, Russian air strikes.
'The point is
to get some guys on the ground, get eyes on, work with units that are
there fighting (Islamic State) and see what more is possible,' said one
official.
The source also said that weapons would not go to the
Kurdish People's Protection Units, known as the YPG, who have recently
been accused of war crimes by Amnesty International.
The White
House denied the move was a reversal of Obama's pledge not to put
combat troops in Syria, saying Americans would not be 'leading the
charge up the hill.'
'Our strategy in Syria hasn't changed,' said Earnest, rejecting accusations of 'mission creep.'
- See more at:
http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2015/10/31/us-to-send-special-forces-to-syria.html#sthash.RywgOBjv.dpuf
President
Barack Obama has authorised the first sustained deployment of special
forces to Syria, the White House says, reversing a long-standing
refusal to put US boots on the ground.
Obama allowed a deployment
of 'fewer than 50' special operations personnel in the north of the
war-ravaged nation, in a bid to strengthen forces fighting the Islamic
State group, spokesman Josh Earnest said.
While US fighters are
believed to have previously carried out covert missions in Syria, they
had not been deployed there on a continuous basis.
For over a
year, the US has led a 65-member coalition that has conducted air
strikes against more than 13,000 Islamic State targets in Iraq and
Syria.
But that has had only a limited impact in stopping the jihadi advance.
Efforts
in Syria have been plagued by the complexities of a civil war that has
killed more than 240,000 people since March 2011 and prompted the most
serious refugee crisis since World War II.
Obama has been
reluctant to involve the United States in another ground war in the
Middle East, backing opposition groups that are an uneasy mix of Kurds,
Turkomen, Shiite and Sunni Arabs.
Many have proven keener to fight Syrian President Bashar al-Assad than the Islamic State.
Obama
was recently forced to scrap a half billion dollar mission to train
Syrian opposition fighters, who had come under sustained attack from
Assad's forces, IS fighters, Iranian-backed Hezbollah, groups linked to
Al-Qaeda, and, more recently, Russian air strikes.
'The point is
to get some guys on the ground, get eyes on, work with units that are
there fighting (Islamic State) and see what more is possible,' said one
official.
The source also said that weapons would not go to the
Kurdish People's Protection Units, known as the YPG, who have recently
been accused of war crimes by Amnesty International.
The White
House denied the move was a reversal of Obama's pledge not to put
combat troops in Syria, saying Americans would not be 'leading the
charge up the hill.'
'Our strategy in Syria hasn't changed,' said Earnest, rejecting accusations of 'mission creep.'
- See more at:
http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2015/10/31/us-to-send-special-forces-to-syria.html#sthash.RywgOBjv.dpuf
President
Barack Obama has authorised the first sustained deployment of special
forces to Syria, the White House says, reversing a long-standing
refusal to put US boots on the ground.
Obama allowed a deployment
of 'fewer than 50' special operations personnel in the north of the
war-ravaged nation, in a bid to strengthen forces fighting the Islamic
State group, spokesman Josh Earnest said.
While US fighters are
believed to have previously carried out covert missions in Syria, they
had not been deployed there on a continuous basis.
For over a
year, the US has led a 65-member coalition that has conducted air
strikes against more than 13,000 Islamic State targets in Iraq and
Syria.
But that has had only a limited impact in stopping the jihadi advance.
Efforts
in Syria have been plagued by the complexities of a civil war that has
killed more than 240,000 people since March 2011 and prompted the most
serious refugee crisis since World War II.
Obama has been
reluctant to involve the United States in another ground war in the
Middle East, backing opposition groups that are an uneasy mix of Kurds,
Turkomen, Shiite and Sunni Arabs.
Many have proven keener to fight Syrian President Bashar al-Assad than the Islamic State.
Obama
was recently forced to scrap a half billion dollar mission to train
Syrian opposition fighters, who had come under sustained attack from
Assad's forces, IS fighters, Iranian-backed Hezbollah, groups linked to
Al-Qaeda, and, more recently, Russian air strikes.
'The point is
to get some guys on the ground, get eyes on, work with units that are
there fighting (Islamic State) and see what more is possible,' said one
official.
The source also said that weapons would not go to the
Kurdish People's Protection Units, known as the YPG, who have recently
been accused of war crimes by Amnesty International.
The White
House denied the move was a reversal of Obama's pledge not to put
combat troops in Syria, saying Americans would not be 'leading the
charge up the hill.'
'Our strategy in Syria hasn't changed,' said Earnest, rejecting accusations of 'mission creep.'
- See more at:
http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2015/10/31/us-to-send-special-forces-to-syria.html#sthash.RywgOBjv.dpuf
EPA
