By Ciaron O’Reilly
For the past 6 months we have maintained a daily vigil outside the Ecuadoran embassy in solidarity with Julian Assange, WikiLeaks and the people of Ecuador. Ecuador has granted political asylum to Julian Assange. The embassy is located next to Harrod's in Knighstbridge. London. It is surrounded by British police.

Irish Nobel Laureate Mairead Maguire is in Afghanistan to join the Afghan Peace Volunteers' Demand for Cease Fire and Negotiation.

By Buddy Bell
Kabul- On October 24, two days before Eid, an opinion piece published in the elite US journal Foreign Policy extolled the fact that US forces are winning in Afghanistan, adding, "Why doesn't the media notice?" In the article, the author suggests that Taliban forces are so decimated and demoralized that they have been resigned to orchestrating "sensational attacks to give the perception narrative is winning out and to reassure followers."

By Johnny Barber
On this International Day of Peace I am sitting in Kabul, Afghanistan with a handful of youth that want nothing but peaceful coexistence in their lives. This in some respects is like a dream because their entire lives have been surrounded by war, death, corruption, and struggle. Peace has been in short supply. For three years the Afghan Peace Volunteers have worked to develop friendships across ethnic lines in Kabul and various provinces throughout Afghanistan. The work has been difficult, trust is hard to come by in this war torn land, but they are adamant that non-violence is the only way forward. I have sat with similar groups in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq, America and Israel. Rarely are their voices heard over the drums of war.

by Hakim and Kathy Kelly
"Stop fighting," suggests Farzana, a brave 22 year old Afghan stage actress. Significantly, her statement is in sharp contrast to what seems to be the democratic world's unquestioned modus operandi of today, exemplified by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's pet-phrase for Afghanistan, 'Fight, talk and build.'

by Kathy Kelly and Hakim
Two days ago, we spent three anxious hours in an outer waiting area of the "Non-Immigrant Visa" section of the U.S. consulate here in Kabul, Afghanistan, waiting for our young friends Ali and Abdulhai to return from a sojourn through the inner offices where they were being interviewed for visas to come speak to audiences in the United States.