was announced by the Trump administration but it was quickly changed and without waiting for any result of that. So those quick changes in the relation and competition between the big power I think they had an impact in Afghanistan and I absolutely agree with the position that many of the countries they were worried about premature withdrawal of the US forces but at the same time they would also have concern for their continued presence of the US forces in Afghanistan. So that contradiction has put the Afghanistan people in a very vulnerable situation. I think that difference is one of the mistakes that we all made was that because initially there was a suggestion that the venue of the negotiation should be rotational basis. It should be the first meeting should be in two-and-a-half and the view of the Afghan government was that these meetings should take place away from the region so there is less influence of the regional conflicting interest into that and at the same time there was also stressing that we need a regional consensus, the kind of a consensus that was existed around the bone agreement during that time but it was very fractured during this time and then many countries had offered that they want to host that but actually that didn't happen because the excuse was the COVID it was that the Qatar was not happy that all the entalement was not happy and in fact the Taliban position was supported by the Qatar in the US that all the rounds of the discussions should continue in Qatar. I think there was also another factor when there was too much differences between the position of the different side of the conflict so there was the lack of enable impartial facilitator mediator I think that was also something that we missed and finally those initiatives that was launched at the last minute if they were focused in the beginning I think that could have produced a much better result whether it was the Istanbul conference in the back channel where General Carter started or the senior level meetings in the push on all sides and I think that was made at the last minute when the time was too late and the leverage was gone and I think the Afghanistan government has lost its erosion of legitimacy of the Afghan government in the eye of the people has started dramatically when the direct talks between the US and Taliban has started when the Afghan government was not a single time mentioned in the Doha agreement as a side of the negotiation which was always said the intra-Afghan negotiation or negotiating with the Afghan and that brought the Taliban of the centrality of the game and sidelined in the Afghan government and this was how the scene was set for a kind of a failure and everybody was knowing from the outset Thanks for that and Steve, two questions then that flow to you one, I'm curious from your UN perspective what's your analysis of the approach to having an address for the Taliban in Doha and then secondly, this question of an international mediator of course the UN is often but not always looked to as one of the sources for international mediation how do you see in your own view this issue that I assume raised of a mediator that is neutral and not a party to the conflict maybe facilitating negotiations more effectively Thanks, I also remember I forgot to talk I was asked about the UK position and General Carter's discussion with the Pakistani Chief of Military I mean, I think firstly it's important to remember as far as UK Pakistan is concerned the relationship is very difficult there are a very large number of what we call British born Pakistan is in the UK so British Pakistan relations are always difficult, delicate and the UK places a lot of importance on getting on well with Pakistan and prioritises Pakistan over many other countries in the region various other countries would say and General Carter seems to believe he's a very political animal he's no longer Chief of the General Staff Chief of the Defence Staff he seemed to believe every word the Pakistani military were telling him up until even a couple of days before the fall of Kabul by saying oh no the Pakistan is assured me they're not supporting the Taliban etc etc so I do think you have to aim off for the UK's position on Pakistan which is not necessarily helpful to Afghanistan I on the office I mean I thought it was a good idea I think having an address, a formal office or a known address where an official Taliban presence was whom people could engage with was important and a very good idea then you knew you were dealing with people who were linked directly you know to the leadership and to you know so it ended up as the political mission and such like and you knew they had the right connections because prior to that with all the informal engagements you were trying to work out whom you were speaking to on the Taliban side you know it's quite clear who was who in the Republic Government but it wasn't quite clear in the 2009-2010 period exactly to whom I was speaking and what their reporting lines were so I think the office was a good idea the original there were lots of ideas where it should be but the Taliban were quite clear it couldn't be in a country which had contributed troops to the efforts to get rid of them or the subsequent peacekeeping so then Turkey and various other places being suggested were rejected so Qatar was not an illogical choice at that time as to a mediator what sort of mediator do you have you know the UN as the Pakistanis correctly identify you know has no real power so if you have the UN as the mediator without the right backing it's a very weak form of mediation it's more like you know as I was saying suggesting better facilitation and I think that would have been helpful but again the Qataris would determine that nobody if anybody was going to be in the room it was going to be the Qataris and nobody else should be in the room I mean I was in Bosnia when Ambassador Holbrook you know bullied the parties into making a deal over Bosnia a datum and a piece of water data but America was then in a very different position it was the powerhouse that was going to force put new force on all sides if they didn't comply they had grudging acquiescence perhaps you know from Russia and the other key members of the contact group that had been established for Bosnia whereas this was a completely different set of negotiations and circumstances and no one country could bully and that's why I said I think you know the five countries the Russians identify were the five that could have actually bullied had they been united enough but the greater power the greater conflicts between these superpowers or world powers, Russia, China, America, Iran, Pakistan, etc made that the idea of them all getting together with an ideal end state in mind much more difficult and you know I think as we go forward that's the other issue it's going to be who is going to provide the leadership of the region to push forward a united view I think everybody's too busy on other things Thanks for that we have time for two more questions I'm going to read one from an audience member and then I've got a broader one to finish Barney Rubin asks, I assume a very specific question I'm going to expand it a little bit he says from 2010 to 2013 do the Afghan government hear a consistent message from all parts of the US government regarding a political settlement and I want to expand that a bit and also ask Khabibah for your view after I assume you know Chris Colenda in the previous panel talked about stovepipes or columns versus a united effort and just in general both in that time period but in your overall dealings as senior officials of the Afghan government to what extent did you hear different positions from different agencies as you interacted whether it was on the peace process or our attempts to help Afghanistan with governance the first you assume I think during that period as I said that there was a convergence of the policies and as you know that there was something the differences from between the US president and the Afghan president on the civil and casualities and the military operations on the corruption and merit based apartments so I think that also had an impact and at the same time during that period there was efforts or push from the US side for finalizing the BSA and SBA strategic partnership agreement and also the by natural security agreement and at the same time there was also the path for moving forward for the peace negotiation I think that was all I call it as a miss opportunity there was a relative that the peace was from a position of relative strength there was more leverages and at the same time because of those differences and at the same time the way the Doha office was openly or integrated although before that the day before that and Barney was remembering and I am remembering that we did all the coordination in terms of the opening of the office the statement of the US the statement of Qatar the statement of the Taliban the statement that will be issued by the Afghan government India was a big meeting and before that President Karzai chaired that meeting with all the political leaders and the high peace consul and the condition was set that there was a plan that the first meeting will be with the US after the opening of the office immediately followed with the meeting with the Afghan government at the same place in the same location and then that was something that could move forward yes there was the opening of the office the exchange of the prisoners starting the negotiations so I think that was something as I later I hear from the political commission of the Taliban who later he resigned that was a plan that was approved by their leadership but actually by symbolism and by the way that the office was opened I think that opportunity was missed from my point of view I believe that of course we missed a lot of opportunity I remember some of the meeting or especially track two meetings that have been held in different in different place with Mr Rubin I was one of the track two in Istanbul and he was clearly sharing with us that the American are leaving the country you have to make your own decision or something that to have your own plan I was really very upset that it is not a kind of Afghanistan I said the same words that Afghanistan not is a carbon that Russian are coming and leaving without any responsibility and now American are coming and leaving without responsibility I mean that it could be a kind of responsible withdrawal that all the time we were telling so the problem was that of course there was not kind of consensus for the definition of peace and inside the country and also outside from the Afghan leader with the international community and even with the US for example if we can see the have a look to the bone conference that what was the outcome of bone conference the constitution and the equal rights for men and women and the human rights commission establishment of human rights commission and when we see the US Taliban agreement that there was not any single word about the women issue and one of the consultation meeting that with the journalist it was 2018 that Zalma Khalilzot made with different journalists and from CLEED group, Najiba IUB some of you may know her it was published in the which is the 8th of 8am so she asked that because Zalma Khalilzot was sharing the roadmap of peace and she asked that okay where is the place of women on the route of your in your roadmap Khalilzot said I'm quoting her I mean the IUB I can only tell you that the American army and soldier will not die anymore for Afghan women's rights so this is controversial from the first mission from bone of course we were grateful from all the support that we got from the international community but they would draw without taking any responsibility just announce the quick fix announcement of peace process damage everything so it could be possible if we could give for example the U.S. thank you the U.S. this week 18 months but for the this negotiation at the Doha just we have been pushed from different side to be quicker and quicker peace cannot be within a month or within some months so it will take time and more I mean first of all to building trust and I mean starting point and after that we missed a lot of opportunity. Thank you. Thank you for that. And in the very brief time that we have remaining, I just want to ask both Chris Janet and Steve a question, hopefully on an optimistic note, that one thing that seems remarkable is no country in the world has recognized the Taliban. So they all see problems with their rule. The region in particular has not, including Pakistan. And the region, along with the rest of the world, is calling for greater inclusion for political action within Afghanistan. Given that common position, is there anything in particular that you see as an extra opportunity to keep this momentum forward with the region and the international community supporting it? Well, it's absolutely right that nobody has so far recognized the Taliban. And that, of course, is a contrast to last time they got into power 25 years earlier, at least three countries, the Emirates, Saudis, and Pakistan jumped on that opportunity. But we do see that the many neighboring countries are developing working relationships with the Taliban, de facto letting their embassies, letting Afghanistan's embassies be staffed by the Taliban, associate, and so forth. So I do think we see a gradual adaptation. And talking about the distance, of course, it's easy to be very critical about that. But as we said earlier in this discussion, geography matters.  That being said, I think all neighbors continue to be extremely worried about what it is that will emerge out of the Taliban, of Afghanistan, and the Taliban rule, and therefore also continue to hedge their bets. I think Tamana Salikuddin said it in the first panel that the upside of an engagement with the Taliban is, from the current perspective, very, very limited. But that doesn't mean that the downside of no engagement isn't quite significant. So I think regardless of what we think, a level of consistent engagement with the Taliban will be necessary, recognizing fully that we will not see dramatic reform within the Taliban, neither in the short nor the long term. Very brief final word, Steve. Yes, so I would agree with all that. I think the region, the big powers in the region are somewhat distracted, clearly. Iran has its own internal issues as well as issues with the West, if you like, on the nuclear issue. China has, of course, just had its party congress, but they are looking at Taiwan. And China has also been reluctant to get heavily involved in leading foreign policy initiatives outside its immediate sphere of influence. So Russia obviously obsessed with Ukraine initiatives. So I can't see a major power taking the lead. Pakistan would be the obvious choice, but that would then, of course, backlash in other ways. And if one Central Asian Republic, like Uzbekistan, for example, decides to take an initiative, then the others may get a bit upset. The UN has just appointed new special representative, Secretary General, who's a Kyrgyz lady, a former temporary president of Kyrgyzstan. So one hopes that the UN may be able to play a role in trying to bring the region together. But in the short term, I can't see the region coming together in any powerful way to put pressure on the Taliban. I think they will take this pragmatic approach of engagement, but I can't see them taking a very positive way. On the other hand, if the Taliban continue to deny people human rights, representational rights, I can see some of the countries getting more upset by the marginalization and depression of what they might regard as their minorities in Afghanistan and therefore more support going towards some form of armed resistance again. And then we're back in that cycle, which no one wants to see. So I'm not that optimistic, so I think it'll bubble along for some time to come. That's all the time we have. I want to end with an observation from both panels that in some ways, as difficult as it is to get the different elements aligned for peace, you also need to be ready for them. And so we might have some time, unfortunately, but we should focus on readiness so that when the moment comes, people know what they want, speak with one voice and can seize the moment. Thank you very much for everyone here, for everybody joining online. I appreciate the panelists. Please join me in thanking them. Thank you.


Hi everyone happy Saturday, Joe for and happy Halloween Joe for jaspys case breaks calm coming at you with jaspys big hit express Multisport series 5 a product curated by us just for you. This is Ram team break number 13 Be sure to read all the rules in the in the rules page on jaspys case breaks calm This is a high-risk high reward. So please check that out before you join any of these breaks But a lot of amazing stuff that we could find out of here Big thanks to all of these folks for getting to break number 13. Lucky 13. I hope Thank you. Yeah, there's all the teams right there. So let's copy all the teams Put them into this list right here and Let's get the list of boxes Which is on the hit list list if you check your break schedule always check that break schedule folks and There's the case numbers right there. Let's roll all three of those lists Randomize all three of those lists two and a six eight times names and teams first one two Three and eighth and final time. I don't think it's the PSA show Jack. I think it's something else John down to chase I think a collective of local collectors All right two and a six eight times For the teams. I think Nick should be stopping by the shop if he's around if I remember I'll ask him four five six seven and Eighth and final time after eight. We got the Dodgers World champs my Dodgers Dodgers group down to the raised Hallikens group All right And I'll oftentimes by your first names in just a second so you can see all all the groupings of your players right there But there you go John Josh Adam Douglas Matthew Dan Ben Adam Jeremy King Gabe Matthew Matt Chase Nick Oliver Darren Josh And trades are allowed if you want to trade you got to trade the whole group for another group of teams Josh Eric D. Alameda Dale Jeremy 33 Spencer Taylor Matthew Jeremy 33 Adam Ben Taylor Nick Gabe and Chase Let's sort by your first names now There you go. So you can see All the all the groupings here for your names All right, there you go If you need to see that again, definitely let me know now eight times once again for the cases one two three four five six seven and Eighth and final time case on top after eight is going to be case 23 so let me go look for case 23 all right, there it is Show you the case number right up here in the top camera. There it is case 23 Any trades? Let me know if there anyone will leave the video running and let me know if there's any trades No, what what did I what did I say? I don't watch I? Don't even know who Ken Dominic is Megan. He's he me Am I him? We didn't get cute with the case numbers Jack So we're not we're not putting like LeBron's and I mean it could be randomly everything's random But could it could be randomly placed in there, but no not in non-intentionally All right looks like no trades. So why don't we just trade close of the trade window trade window close TWC in the chat Let's flip screens Let's flip it and rip it Good luck everybody. We've got more in the storm. So keep at it True can do another I don't know. We can do a little bit. How many did we do yesterday? We probably do the same amount we did yesterday today He points and does just for it's a It's a good It's a good radio and hosting broadcasting trick Megan. It's better to say To say you and engage each individual even though every individual knows there's multiple people on things, but it's better to say you Instead of for you guys or for them or for all of you doesn't feel as personal and I contact is good. I contact with a camera and say you And he's like me. Yeah me If you listen like like talk radio and stuff you can see See how they do that All right first one out of the gate boys and girls is bang whoa the four out of ten Tom Brady leaf cue autograph That's pretty nice. He's in Patriots colors. It goes to the Patriots In fact, if you paid attention to the to the rules page on Jasper's case breaks calm You would have known that already Pat's where you at That will be for Taylor Dwyer with the Royals Patriots Hawks combo That's a nice one. He's pretty good. He's having a nice season In fact that I feel like that buccaneer seems getting better each week, which is kind of scary next one out of the gate is Gilded signatures for the Sixers Julius Irving Wow 35 out of 49 He's pretty good. Who has the Sixers. That's for Gabe Plunkert with the Bangles Sixers Combo, right next one. We've got are there two Rams on here dual NFL shield newly minted dual NFL shield Van Jefferson and Cam Acres One of one That's pretty nice. Who has the rent and I feel like both of those players are pretty solid, too They've got some good upside. I know Cam Acres been getting some work Van Jefferson getting some targets here and there Mets Rams Cavs combo Darren Redding All aboard the big hit express Yeah, great case so far Jack. I agree. It's a ball been pretty good. There's Darren. There you go, man. Congrats This is our first graded card of this case Take a peek at the grade. It's just a regular 9-5. It's a baseball player 9-5 BGS 9-5. It's wow 2014 tops update Mookie bets rookie Mookie bets Two-time world champion Mookie bets one with my Dodgers. Thanks, Mookie Appreciate that This is Red Sox edition Who's got the bow socks? That'll be for Spencer Jordan and the Red Sox Kings combo These update cards are really nice, too. All right next one Be sure to follow us on social media at Jasper's breaks on Instagram where we do personal breaks and at Jasper's breaks on Twitter We kind of do more up to the minute kind of stuff there. All right Like hey, I'm on air All right a thick card right here. Who are you? What is oh a bat knob? Have we been keeping track of the bat knobs on the cell sheet? It's Justin Morneau game use bat knob Wow one of one for the Rocks from tier one baseball That is awesome. That is great. I love pieces of the lumber That's the Rockies Packers Wizards combo. That is Matthew Nielsen Matthew All aboard the Big Head Express And the last one boys and girls Good luck one train whistle number to five or less in every case a lot of times It's two to three in every case. What do we have here? I? See basketball. I see a number 24. I see a Kobe Bryant relic 10 out of 25 Kobe miss this guy Lakers Who's got my Lakers that's goes to Nick Stover and the Marlins Panthers Lakers combo RIP Kobe Bryant, I'm Joe for Jasper's case breaks calm. Thanks for watching. Thanks for breaking with us I will see you next time for the next one. Bye. Bye


Okay good afternoon. I'll talk about Bergen which is a medieval town at the coast of western Norway. It was founded in 1770 according to written sources and developed into the main town of Norway during the 12th century. It is surrounded by a lot of or quite large area with both land resources but also the coastal area which is important for for transport and which made this also which was made the base also for that the the town could be so important because it controlled during medieval time the trade along the coast of of Norway. Northern Norway had to go into Bergen before they could have contact with other foreign countries. It became part of the Hanseatic League and was the northern most office in this trade organization. In Bergen there has been a lot of archaeological excavations and the first big one was after a fire in the northern area of the medieval town in in 1955 but at that time botanical remains were only collected when they saw it as a big remains which they saw not shells and some cherry stones and and plums and so on and so it was not until the 1970s that we started with more regular collaboration between archaeologists and botanists and the natural sciences took part also in the excavation and and also from the 70s we have got a lot of new poll diagrams so I'll start with talking a little bit about the development in the surroundings of the town. We have a big lake some 20 kilometers south of the center of the town and the poll diagram from this site have been used to reconstruct the vegetation development the vegetation cover in different time periods. Then we have used a new methodology the landscape reconstruction algorithm it's called it's developed by Shinya Sugita and by using this it's possible to transform the pollen percentages into vegetation cover. We still don't get the perfect picture of the vegetation in different time periods but it's closer to reality than the pollen percentages and what we see here is that between 80 to 50 and 70 to 50 the forest is clear you see there is a stepwise opening the the green is forest so it gets less and less forest but especially after 250 AD and in medieval time we have the maximum heather cover in the area and heather was very important along the coast the heat lamps they were used for whole year grazing and that meant that people could have more grazing animals that probably needed that and that's what is reflected in those curves and we think that the increase we see in the Viking age may be connected to the need for wool for the safe on the Viking ships and then when it comes to medieval time it probably also reflects the need for food so meat to the town the increasing population in town which need food the pattern we see around Bergen is also found along the whole coast of Norway we have used the same methodology to reconstruct the vegetation development but and to the right you see some selected taxa and the darker the color the more of that taxa and you see that for Kaluna it's especially in the northern part of the area we should have something to find but but it's in in the north that we have the really high value so it shows this importance of the heat lands in that northern part but you also see that there is a decrease in the diseases for us that was probably nearly completely cleared for agriculture and we see the large extension of meadows pastures and cereal fields so it was agricultural area outside the town both north of Bergen and south of Bergen and this opening of the landscape is also reflected in in drawings from the from the town we don't have drawings older than the 16th century but it shows that the the surroundings were grazing areas and we have also some pollinator from a lake just outside you see on the right hand side there's a small lake coming in and that indicates that there were cultivation outside the town in medieval time but the longest core we have is from what was earlier a marine basin in the northern part of the town behind this harbor area and that shows three types of deposits in the in the bottom we have marine sand and yucca and then we have sand with a lot of wood chips and on top of that we have this typical organic waste which we get in the medieval towns with a lot of mosses wood chips nutshells and all this organic material and when we look at the pollen composition in these you see that in the bottom layer we have the the normal it's brasses and it's rhumax when nukulus comes in showing grazing areas in the prehistoric time period but then when we come to medieval time it's something completely different we get the species like vipia fava we get a lot of cereals compared to what we have in the bottom layers we have papava heliantum and also miracle it's very common and I have forgotten to write I see on the right hand side the most common species of of these centaurians it's that's good there and you see that is absent from the lower layers and and then it is what does this show and of course it doesn't show the vegetation surrounding this bay it is the waste that has been thrown into the that earlier basin and this is an illustration made by James Grave it's back to 1982 but I think it quite well shows the situation where we can have local pollen we can have regional pollen but but it's this pollen coming with the plants that have been used and also the pollen adding to this plants that have been used which can dominate some of the the deposits and that is what is the case in this in this case I think and he also investigated some grains grains and chaff and straw of cereals and found that they contained a lot of pollen grains both from the species investigated but also from the species growing together with the cereals the weeds growing there and in Bergen or in the area surrounding Bergen we have now investigated several countryside contexts with cultivated fields and this is our sites where we have samples from the late Viking Age we don't have so many from the medieval time but it gives the same pattern and what is especially important is that we we see very clearly we have both palm data and macro remains and what are the common weeds in in this area and Santoréa Cihanus and Papaver is not found on the countryside of of our region so these these species tells us about import of cereals to the town and according to written sources also cereals were an important import product to the town so Papaver and Santoréa Cihanus those are are okay they are weeds in a cereal case I have a bit more problem with Heliantum it's not growing in Norway at all but it's found in several of the samples so it it must have been growing in the vicinity of the areas where the cereals comes from I think or from some other plant material that we are not aware of yet yeah because it it shows the context at least with some other countries and also Wikiafaba was imported to Bergen and that is very common in these samples and showing at least in the start some foreign trade myrica on the other hand is growing outside Bergen it's very common there it's used for a lot of purposes and was an important beer spice before hops and also in fact partly simultaneously with the hops later on and we found that in in large quantity so that shows the utilization of the near surroundings of the town and we had a network project Hansa network project looking at plant material from medieval time in Germany, Poland, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway and what we could see was that we had fewer species in Bergen than especially in in Poland Germany that was a pattern also in the others in the other countries so but what was very common in all our samples and if we look at the number of contexts that are now included in or was included in in that project we see that the berries which could was growing just outside the town they could collect and could trade or had connections networks with the hinterland they were very common present in 20 to 30 percentage of the samples or the contacts that were investigated there is one very rupus chameleurs which also can show trade with northern Norway it's very common in in the north and we know that it was transported the whole coast down and also from in fact Norway to the Mediterranean there are written sources telling about this on on Sicily for instance but then in addition to these in quite many samples we have no oh sorry we have Vitis speakers and you glance and that shows the import to the town from distances far south of of Norway do glance or one is a bit underrepresented because it's present as single fine in very many contexts and we but we don't know the age of it and therefore they are not included in in these tables but we we see how people used post or had a context both on this long distance and also in the shorter distances to the near countryside and what is very commonly found in the town is hazelnuts we have thick layers of hazelnuts but when you look at the phone diagrams so that the upper there to the left where we have tried to reconstruct vegetation cover the the phone diagram I showed first that shows that there are nearly no kurilus left in medieval time in the surroundings of Bergen and also a local diagram down to the right shows that it I'll say it was present around Bergen but it's not in the quantity that could have contributed to all these hazelnuts which we find in in Bergen so there it's it's connections to some fjord areas in a bit longer distance from the town and we know also that it was a very important export from Bergen both in in medieval time and later so we see this mixture of of local and foreign trade and I think this spot from from Bergen from the 16th century summarized a bit of that it was found in just some ways deposits out in the harbor area and we found it was so the dominant species in this was the figs a lot of seeds of figs but also that probably strawberry, blueberry, rosemary, all these local species were also present but then we we also analyzed the pollen and that was dominated by cereals and there were also a lot of calluna vulgaris which is a common species in in the honey so we see that the seeds and the pollen gives very different patterns or they complement each other and very often in these medieval towns we it's only seeds that are analyzed but I think it's very important that we analyze both the pollen and the seeds to get the better representation of what is present yeah so that was what I had planned system thank you


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