Afghanistan

There are two schools of thought on withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan. One is that Al-Qaeda has been dispersed and the threat is no longer localized in Afghanistan, so keeping troops there is not an effective use of the military's resources. Moreover, in removing troops from Afghan soil, the Taliban may find less local support making common cause against the invading infidel.  The other is that the Taliban remain a threat to the Afghan government and without an American presence they may will retake control of the country. The modernizing reforms achieved since the US occupation began would be rescinded and the country would revert to the oppressive values the Taliban espouse. 

Where one comes down on this probably hinges on whether one sees the US' role in the world providing a policing presence or as exporting its values (or for some people, neither).  If one sees the US' role only as policing or simply defending the homeland then the troop withdrawal is the obvious answer. If one still sees the US' role as exporting its values, then it should have stayed. 

That Biden chose to leave suggests either that a more inwardly focused perspective is taking hold here (some would characterize it as the "America First" position) or that there has finally been a realization that imposing values on another sovereign nation with a completely different culture and history is harder than it looks. It requires a sustained, often heavy-handed presence which those being "asked" to reform might justifiably see as colonization.

On my watch

My first watch, Itta gave me. I was seven or eight. It was a Timex with an expandable spring metal strap. I can see it vividly in my mind's eye, now fifty plus years on.  Watch number two was my father's old Tissot. He bequeathed it to me when his colleagues bought him a new watch for his retirement. Mr Hughes, the affable Welshman who taught physics at Worthing High, thought it would be interesting to test the luminous hands and dial with a radiometer; it was almost off the scale, perhaps 10 time the legally permitted limit for radioactive sources so my father had a jeweler scrape off the radium infused luminous coating.  

At Imperial I think I may have had a digital watch with a small calculator - all metal buttons.  Next was a chunky Bulova, an electronic analog watch I bought from a catalog while I was working at IBM. Judith bought me my next one, a Kenneth Cole fashion item, chunky and heavy, very masculine (not at all me). Then there was a gap of about 10 years when I didn't wear a watch, instead using my new cell phone if I needed to know the time.

When went back to wearing a watch the Kenneth Cole had stopped (not that long ago now) and I bought the Olevs on Ali Express. I paid $29 for the first one but then found the same watch in a variety of colors, all for $16, in several different Ali Express stores. I now have five or six. The Tissot, which my father assured me was a top of the line Swiss watch (which apparently he had acquired on the black market in Tehran in 1945), needed winding every day and generally had to be adjusted at least once a week to make sure it told the right time. My Olevs have gone over six months (perhaps longer) and have lost (or gained) no more than three seconds. That's real progress, and about time too.     

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Today Britain is mourning the passing of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. After 73 years of marriage, one can only imagine how hard it will be for the Queen to deal with such a loss and ones heart goes out to her. 

While for the most part what the public saw of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip was carefully managed, I was stuck, many years ago, by what seemed to be a tiny glimpse of what their private life might have been like. 

When Imperial College was granted its own independent charter in 2007, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip came to the Exhibition Road entrance for a ceremony celebrating the College's departure from the University of London.  I was able to watch the proceedings which were live-streamed on the Internet.  

After the ceremony was over, there appeared to be a signing of a visitors book. At that point I think everyone expected the feed to be cut, but instead the camera (and more importantly the microphones) were still on.

Prince Philip signed first. For some reason he appeared to be taking his time, while the the Queens waited. To my complete surprise, apparently a little irritated with the delay, she rebuked him: "Oh, do get on with it, you silly old fool" is what I remember her quietly saying to him. 

While initially slightly shocking, on reflection it seemed to me incredibly humanizing and rather endearing. Behind the facade of the pageantry of the monarchy as an institution, here was a couple that had been married for almost 60 years, subject to many of the same emotional stresses and strains common to almost any marriage, a couple that had settled into a very comfortable routine of togetherness. That I found rather heart-warming.