From the National Priorities Project: A useful set of charts from the National Priorities Project. 54% of discretionary spending is military. That doesn’t include numerous spending areas from homeland security to veteran’s benefits which, by some estimates bring total spending close to one trillion dollars. Veteran’s benefits account for $10 billion per year more than […]
Brian Gruber, budget, military spending, War, War: The Afterparty
As I started research on the countries visited, collating background material and transcribing past interviews, I happened on this advice from Graham Greene, in John Perkins’ “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.” He looked at me intensely. “The important thing is to write about things that matter.” Well then. The purpose of “War: The Afterparty” […]
Cambodia, Choeung Ek, Khmer, Khmer Rouge, killing fields, prison, S-21, Spalding Gray, War: The Afterparty
Read Part One of the interview at http://briangruber.tumblr.com/post/109933161004/kabuls-white-hat-hacker-on-afghan-cybersecurity “X” is a cybersecurity and programming staffer in the Afghan government. We agreed to meet for pizza near Shar-e-Naw Park and to keep his identity anonymous in the interview. He is known in Kabul IT circles as a ‘White Hat Hacker.’ This interview was transcribed by Afterparty editor […]
Afghanistan, Brian Gruber, Hacker, Islam, IT, Kabul, Lycée Esqetlal, Suicide Bombing, Taliban, War, War: The Afterparty, white hat
I worked with Shahid Butt at Charter Cable years ago, a smart, congenial fellow and accomplished marketer. As I posted interviews from my swing through the Islamic world, and pointed remarks about Pakistan’s role in the emergence of the Taliban, he offered some unique insights. I talked with Shahid over Skype one night from my […]
Afghanistan, Brian Gruber, Islam, Kabul, Koran, Mohammed, Pakistan, Quran, Shahid Butt, Taliban, War, War: The Afterparty
While in Kabul doing research for “War: The Afterparty,” I was approached via Facebook by “X,” a cybersecurity expert and programming staffer in the Afghan government. We agreed to meet for pizza near Shar-e-Naw Park and to keep his identity anonymous in the interview. When I mentioned our meeting to the head of a prominent […]
Afghanistan, Brian Gruber, cybercrime, cybersecurity, hack, Hacker, Kabul, War, War: The Afterparty
On my way from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville, I taught English to the delightful students of the CPOC orphanage in Prey Nheak village.
Brian Gruber, Cambodia orphanage, CPOC, Takeo Province, War, War: The AfterpartyBrett Skarbakka is a photographer currently based in Hanoi, Vietnam. His project, 11 Days, “is a quiet memorial to a past scarred by terrific violence, a present changing by acceptance, and a personal way for me to contemplate the conflicting messages of shrouded histories.” We settled in for lunch in a Hanoi pub and compared our […]
11 days, bombing, Brett Skarbakka, Brian Gruber, Hanoi, Kayley Ingalls, Nixon, Vietnam, War: The AfterpartyIn my travels, I ask most every Muslim I meet about Islam and the Quran. In every case, I am told that Islam is a religion of peace, often with great passion. I approach those answers skeptically, as public relations for the religion. And then you meet men like Dr. Saber Perdes, CEO of Kabul’s […]
Afghanistan, Hospital, Jumhuriat, Kabul, Kayley Ingalls, Saber Perdes, Shaira, War: The AfterpartyJay Palevsky and I hunted down Jordan Plitteris on Facebook four decades after our last encounter. We were students at George Gershwin Junior High School 166 in the East New York section of Brooklyn. Jordan and I did our best to disrupt our classes in the most charming or clever manner possible. We finally connected […]
Brian Gruber, China, Hanoi, Kayley Ingalls, Steven Herman, Vietnam, War: The AfterpartyThey don’t get to see magnificent new vistas or stay in hideous, cheap guesthouses…but they are an integral part of the project and seem to be having fun with it. The biggest task for now is transcription, but they are encouraged to expand to write historical backgrounders, and provide context via images and short essays […]
Anaka Allen, Kayley Ingalls, War: The Afterparty