Yesterday we discussed the legal bully boy who's decided to make a living shaking down bloggers for copyright infringement. As an instrument of oppression it's more effective than calls to "take away the license" of Fox News because it goes after the little guy who's feeding the opinion system. With very few exceptions bloggers can't afford lawsuits. We work for a living and blogging is a spare time activity.
We had lots of suggestions and I've been thinking on the subject for the past 24+ hours. Rantburg's about to complete its ninth year of hoovering press articles relevant to WoT for comment or just for record and I'd like to see year ten. At that point I'm thinking seriously about turning it over to Doc Steve and retiring.
To survive to that point we have to think about defenses, so here are a few points I'd like to emphasize.
Use just the meat of the article. I'm the worst offender in this respect, but we've got to keep articles short and snappy, which means chopping them as soon as the boilerplate starts. Everybody knows the U.S. has waged war against the Taliban since 2001 blah blah blah.
Use our foreign sources. The flavor of the 'Burg comes from Pak Daily Times, Bangla Daily Star, and all the other tasty news organizations that carry the news a day or two (sometimes a week or two) before it reaches the domestic papers. Often the news doesn't make the domestic MSM, which is why we carry more news that's fit to print than the New York Times.
Some of those sources wink in and out of existence without warning. Who among us doesn't miss the Frontier Post, that didn't pay its hosting bill? The Balochistan Post, that was fulminating on Tuesday, gone on Wednesday? Quqnoos is now Tolo News, so the database needs updated and I haven't done it yet. That's my fault and I've got to be more diligent. The Rantburg News page should be more up to date than it is. That's my bad alone.
Add your commentary. Comments can go inline, sidebar, or after you post an article. It's hard to make the "fair use" case if the article's there with no commentary -- what'd we use it for? We know it's part of a continuing series, but it's best if that's obvious enough that we don't have to point it out in court with a $250 an hour lawyer. Or you can pick a subject and write your own article on it from scratch.
Translate the article into Rantburgspeak. I played with the Translate feature, adding it as an option, but regarding it as a toy. Every once in awhile I look at it and discover it's broken or it doesn't work on Firefox or something goofy like that. I'm thinking seriously about building it into the posting process, so it'll replace "gunman" with "gunny," "militant" with "terrorist," "Red Cross" with "Red Thingy" and so on.
Bad's translations from Spanish-language press, by the way, count as original content.
Since we've been carrying more than just WoT, and I'd as soon not give up pages 4 and 6, I'd have to extend the translation process to the Wonderful World of Politix, replacing "political operative" with "ward heeler" or something along that line. Suggestions for both translation processes will be welcome. Keep in mind that we're looking for a more natural translation than Babelfish gives.
I may also add automatic inlines, if I can refine the process enough. When a spokesman for the Taliban says something the following sentence should read "If you can't believe the Taliban who can you believe?" The same might apply to any spokesman for the Pak government or the city of Chicago, or even the city of [fill in the blank].
Give me more suggestions. I'm getting old. My mind's slowing down to slug-like lethargy. If I tilt my head too sharply thought process runs out my ear and stains my collar.
One of yesterday's suggestions was to post the link conspicuously rather than hiding it under the headline. I may do that, or I may take only the base link and show that and leave the full link under the headline. I'm still thinking about it. I've been trying to source articles, which is easiest when I use RSS -- the "[Al Arabiya Latest]" slugs, or "[Iran Press TV Latest]." I may have it insert the base URL if the slug's not present.
On another note, I've been mailing out the 'bloid as soon as I complete it for a couple years now. I've been using my GMail account to send it to a mailing list with about 70 recipients. Last night they all bounced because Google's changed its spam-sniffing engine. I'll have to write a routine to send them directly from the 'Burg's mail server, which involves rebuilding the mailing list. If you want on it, now's the time to let me know. Likewise if you're on it and you're tired of getting the 'bloid in your mail let me know and I'll dump you.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2010 11:53 ||
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#1
Fred, you have provided an excellent site and service. The Rantburg website has provided a source of commented, interpreted, and analyzed news. It has done the work that the MSM is too lazy or agenda-driven to do themselves.
These copyright leeches could end up freezing out the blogging sites and bloggers. I saw reference to a lawsuit yesterday where a man was sued for using a copyrighted article that he wrote.
Suppose the poster writes a few original lines getting at the meat of the article and the site with the original article is linked; is that O.K.? Is a analyzed and commented article really the original copyrighted article? Glenn Reynolds is a Constitutional lawyer at the University of Tennessee. I wonder what he would say about this issue of intellectual property?
#2
Suppose the poster writes a few original lines getting at the meat of the article and the site with the original article is linked; is that O.K.?
Absolutely. Fair use is fair use. The issue with bloggers who have been sued is that the bloggers being sued made no effort at respecting the copyright of the originator of the article.
For example:
From the Las Vegas Tribune:
Amy Kremer, one of the founding members of the modern Tea Party movement, was in Las Vegas this week to help propel Conservative Republican Tea Party activist, Sharron Angle, to victory in the campaign for U.S. Senate to Defeat Harry Reid.
Could be rewritten like:
The Las Vegas Tribune reports that Amy Kreme, who was a founding member of the Tea party organization, was in Las Vegas to help he senatorial campaign of Sharron Angle.
Did we violate copyright?
No.
Did we include salient elements of the original article that could be construed as copyright violation?
Hell, no. We rewrote it. Web crawlers can pick the article apart until hell freezes over and other thing they will get out of it is a lousy bandwdith bill.
The issue is not to paste the article, but if you can't rewrite, only use a little bit of it, i.e. the meat of it.
The alternative is to do what Fred does: Inline comments. What is done at rantburg changes the whole complexion of copyright if commentary is added to the articles. It makes the article a whole new work, and that is protected.
#5
I figured the comments and pictures would make it harder to machine-match to an original. I've also note WaPo uses -- instead of a dash, which I change to -, figuring the -- is a marker of sorts. I've seen that same thing - funny punctuation marks - somewhere else, but with a different marker.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/24/2010 13:57 Comments ||
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#6
The easiest way to get around this problem is a filter for postings so that if the URL content comes from a copyright sensitive site, the posting is automatically abbreviated to just a title.
This is close to how things are right now, the only difference being it is automatic, based on the linked URL, instead of the guesses of posters.
For example, if a link is from http://ap.tbo.com/
it posts as link only, because all their links are AP links.
Free Republic has used "link onlys" for a while now.
#7
My 2 cents. Posters should write the titles different than the articles. The hidden link is ok. The poster can do a snarky executive summary highlighted. Then the reader goes to the link. That would be done for the alpha hotel type of sites that like the lawfare model. The rest of sources should be reported using Fred's model.
We just need to know the hazmat sites.
And yes, Fred, put me on the bloid. You have my email address. The enemy will not quit without a fight, foreign or domestic.
Posted by: Alaska Paul in Hooper Bay, Alaska ||
07/24/2010 14:22 Comments ||
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#8
A few points in response to Fred's and others --
1) Fred -- no deal. The Burg is yours, I'm just a happy worker-bee :-)
2) Use just the meat of the article.
Absolutely. I'm guilty too, but I do try, as the unofficial Rantburg Copy Editor and Style Bitch, to cut the fluff. We should always do that. It's tougher to complain about infringement if we're using only a part of an article.
Readers who wish to post should review our style guide (linked on the main page) and work to trim / rewrite / translate a post. Think of it as an opportunity to teach the MSM how to write.
3) Use our foreign sources.
Absolutely. Who wants to read the NYT for their news?
4) Add your commentary.
Whether serious or snark, your commentary makes the Burg special. I know there is a tendency to post articles 'straight up' without comments if time is limited, but that just sets us up for a complaint. Add your comments!
If you don't have comments to add and don't have the time / inclination to edit, seriously consider just posting a link and letting us mods handle it.
5) Headline and link
I'd personally leave it the way it is.
And now one plea from me -- let's start limiting the non-WoT stuff. Some is unavoidable and helps us understand what's going on in the world. But some of the political corruption, etc., causes us to stray from what makes the Burg unique. Again, I'm guilty too. I point out that posting those stories without commentary also makes it tough for us to defend the Burg -- why is a story about a local crooked Dhimmicrat posted if the Burg is about the WoT?
Just my thoughts. I don't often get to thank Fred for allowing me to mod and have a barrel of fun doing so, but I thank him now.
AoS
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/24/2010 15:44 Comments ||
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#9
snark away! Fair use, baybee!
aside to Dr Steve: you are one stylish bitch great asset. Don't change!
oh wait...you said style...nevermind
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/24/2010 16:02 Comments ||
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#10
As far as the non-WoT stuff, overwhelming WoT stuff, it might work to use a "linkdump" page, sort of like the Sink Trap, which has a good look. For example, I've long admired the *style* of Linkdump.be, even though their content is for the most part crapola, (and some NSFW, be advised.)
What it would amount to is a page of "Ephemera links that posters here found, that they thought someone here might think was interesting." No commentary attached to it, unless interesting enough to mention in the O Club.
It could serve double duty for the mods to put links that were bloating the main page, or had posting errors, without killing them outright. No frets about the double posting of popular stories, or archiving, either.
One of my Golf Buddies is an Exec with the group that owns the Las Vegas Riverview-Urinal. He said as far as he knows the big gripe with the blogs is that some are taking content and posting it as there own. He felt as long as you link to the original and include the byline (Written by Sam Smuck etc.), we should be ok. His statement: "Bring on the links!"
After having dicked around editing out inline ads, filler text, unnecessary paragraphs, etc, I find I often don't add a comment giving the reason I posted the piece - snarky or otherwise.
Hence, a box on the posting page in which a comment must be added would be both helpful and cover the 'fair use' requirement.
Ie, either you post a link or you post the text of an article with your comment.
Born Evelyn Renziehausen in Berlin, Germany, she was introduced in the 1966 Harry Saltzman film Funeral in Berlin, sequel to The IPCRESS File, second in the Len Deighton Harry Palmer trilogy, playing Mossad agent "Samantha Steel" opposite Michael Caine. She later appeared with James Garner in the 1968 film The Pink Jungle as "Alison Duquesne", and in the 1969 film Bird with the Crystal Plumage as "Monica Ranieri". She died of cancer at the age of 60 in Berlin.
Taliban officials say they have captured two U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan's eastern Logar province.
The Taliban made the claim Saturday and the Reuters news agency reports local radio stations were broadcasting offers from the United States to pay $20,000 for information leading the release of the soldiers. The International Security Assistance Force said Saturday it was searching for two troops who did not return after leaving their compound in Kabul City on Friday.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Mission in Kabul tells VOA's Afghan service that three Bangladeshis have been kidnapped in the country's northern Samangan province. Afghan officials said the Bangladeshis were working for a South Korean construction company and blamed the incident on the Taliban.
Earlier, NATO officials said five U.S. soldiers were killed in two separate bombings in southern Afghanistan, where international forces are stepping up their fight against the Taliban.
The International Security Assistance Force said Saturday that four of its troops were killed by the blast of an improvised explosive device, which is commonly used by the Taliban insurgency. Later, NATO announced the death of a fifth soldier in a separate IED attack.
#1
Samer Gul, district chief of Charkh district in Logar province, said Saturday that a four-wheel drive armored vehicle was seen Friday night by a guard working for the district chief's office. The guard tried to flag down the vehicle, carrying a driver and a passenger, but it kept going, Gul said.
"They stopped in the main bazaar of Charkh district. The Taliban saw them in the bazaar," Gul said. "They didn't touch them in the bazaar, but notified other Taliban that a four-wheel vehicle was coming their way."
The second group of Taliban tried to stop the vehicle, but when it didn't, insurgents opened fire and the two occupants in the vehicle shot back, he said.
NATO said a search is under way for the missing service members. According to Gul, one may have been killed and the other taken hostage by the Taliban.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan: A US drone Saturday fired four missiles into a compound used by Islamist fighters in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt, killing at least 11 militants, security officials said.
The missiles targeted the compound in Dwasarak village, about 40 kilometres west of Wana, the main town in South Waziristan district, a senior Pakistani security official who wished to remain anonymous told AFP. "Two US drones fired four missiles, 11 militants have been killed in this attack," he said.
Two intelligence officials, one in Wana and one based in Peshawar, also confirmed the attack.
South Waziristan, considered a militant stronghold, was the scene of a major Pakistani offensive last year.
#3
The CIA (mostly) is fighting an undeclared war in a foreign country and no one bats an eyelid.
Where are all the looney left peace protestors, the earnest but clueless liberals going on about it being 'illegal', the endless negative media coverage?
It's like these missiles magically appear from the skies as somekind of natural event beyond everyones control like lightning or meteorites.
#5
Jousting at hornets nests with toothpics. Technologically impressive when you skewer one on video. During the jousting however, new larvae were hatching by the thousands.
Several Taliban figures, including a former spokesman for the insurgents, have been captured in raids by coalition and Afghan forces across the country, military and government officials said on Friday.
Abdul Hay Motmaen, a spokesman for the Taliban when they ruled Afghanistan, was among those arrested in operations on Thursday night in two villages in Andar district of the eastern province of Ghazni, district chief Shir Khan Yosoufzai said.
The international military force in Afghanistan says it has captured more than 100 senior Taliban figures since April in near-nightly raids targeting the top leaders. However, the successes have not managed to reduce insurgent attacks.
In Kandahar in the south, a joint Afghan and coalition force captured a senior Taliban commander who directed the movement of fighters and equipment through Nad Ali district in Helmand province, NATO said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] A bomb has been detonated inside a mosque in eastern Afghanistan, wounding at least twenty-two people, including a candidate in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Local officials say the explosion was caused by a mine placed inside the mosque during Friday prayers. "Hey! Where you goin' with that mine?"
"It's Friday, ain't it?"
"Oh. Yeah. Never mind."
The blast seriously injured the candidate, Sayedullah Sayed, who was making a speech in the mosque at the time, AFP reported.
The injured were taken to a hospital in nearby Khost city.
The incident took place in Bahramkhail, a village in Khost province's Ismailkhail district, on the eastern border with Pakistan, said General Nawab Khan, the commander of the coordination body for Afghan and NATO forces in Khost.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2010 00:00 ||
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IMO the Bammer may have to push back the July 2011 date for first withdrawal.
Bambi ordered the Pentagon to close down the Guantanamo prison by January 22, 2010. Hmmm.
Liberals are concerned about feelings, not the truth. Words don't mean anything to a liberal except how they make you feel. The majority of the American people are smarter than that.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
07/24/2010 7:57 Comments ||
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#3
"Some" unnamed but couragous pro-administratin "senior military officials" already blaming General McChrystal.
[Al Arabiya Latest] France said on Friday it had given technical and logistical support to a Mauritanian military operation against al-Qaeda's North African wing after receiving no sign that a French citizen held by the group was still alive.
"The terrorist group targeted by the Mauritanian army is the one that executed a British hostage a year ago and has refused to give proof of life or engage in negotiations to release our compatriot Michel Germaneau," the Defense Ministry said.
"(We) confirm that the French army gave technical and logistical support to a Mauritanian operation to prevent an attack by AQIM against Mauritania," it said in a statement, using the acronym for al-Qaeda's North African section.
It did not say whether the hostage had been located or where Wednesday's military operation took place. But it said Mauritania's action had "neutralized" the group.
AL-Qaeda affiliate
Earlier, a Mauritanian official said that Mauritanian troops attacked the base of an al-Qaeda affiliate, killing several "terrorists," without confirming whether the move sought to free the French hostage.
"The operation which targeted a terrorist base is complete," the source said.
"Several armed terrorists were killed and wounded at the base, located in the desert, which serves as a refuge for terrorist fighters from the nebulous al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb," or AQIM.
The source did not specify whether the raid was aimed at liberating Germaneau.
Malian officials said on Thursday that the military swoop involving unidentified aircraft took place in northern Mali where a French national was believed to have been held.
Spain's El Pais daily quoted diplomatic sources on Thursday as saying French special forces had staged a dawn attack aimed at freeing Germaneau, killing six terrorists but finding no sign of the hostage or of the base where he was believed to be held. El Pais said French forces located the base with U.S. help.
Demands for a prisoner swap
AQIM set a July 27 deadline next week for killing Germaneau, 78 -- who was seized on April 22 in northern Niger -- unless its demands for a prisoner swap were met.
AQIM gave France 15 days from July 12 to arrange an exchange and said French President Nicolas Sarkozy would be responsible for the life of Germaneau, a retired engineer who had worked in the Algerian oil sector.
He is the latest in a string of Western hostages who have fallen prey to a new tactic to secure funding used by armed groups in the region, often claiming allegiance to al-Qaeda.
France is the former colonial ruler of several countries in the region, including Mali, Mauritania, Algeria and Burkina Faso.
Officials in France and Niger believe Germaneau is being held in Mali.
The French foreign ministry said it had received no demands from Germaneau's kidnappers but took their threat to kill him seriously.
AQIM killed British tourist Edwin Dyer last year after holding him captive for six months when London refused to yield to the Islamists' demands to free jailed Muslim cleric Abu Qatada, once regarded as Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe.
It is also holding two Spaniards in the region after kidnapping them more than seven months ago: Albert Vilalta, 35, and 50-year-old Roque Pascual.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2010 00:00 ||
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Mauritanian troops attacked the base of an al Qaeda affiliate, killing several 'militants', a Mauritanian official said Friday, without confirming whether the move sought to free a French hostage.
'The operation which targeted a militant base is complete', the source said. 'Several armed militants were killed and wounded at the base, located in the desert, which serves as a refuge for terrorist fighters from the nebulous al Qaeda in the Maghreb," or AQIM. The source did not specify whether the raid was aimed at liberating 78-year-old Michel Germaneau, an aid worker kidnapped on April 19 now facing execution. But a Malian source who has mediated talks to release several Westerners kidnapped in the region told that 'the Mauritanians went to the Sahara where the French hostage was being held. It seems they went to find him but he could not be located'.
The source could not confirm whether troops from former colonial power France were involved in the operation, but said Mauritanian troops were present. 'France was aware of the operation before it kicked off. Now the question is the degree of its involvement', the source added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2010 00:00 ||
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Al Qaeda's Yemen arm said on Friday it was behind the coordinated attacks on security offices in the Arabian peninsula state in which four people were killed, and threatened more strikes on Yemeni targets.
Gunmen on motorcycles stormed police and intelligence offices in south Yemen and opened fire on July 14, part of a series of recent al Qaeda attacks in response to a government crackdown.
'Two squads of the Jamil al-Ambari Martyr Brigades carried out attacks on the dens of oppression and aggression - the political and general security buildings in Abyan province - in two blessed operations', al Qaeda's Yemen-based regional wing said in a statement posted on an website.
Yemen's Western allies fear the regional impact of a failed state in Yemen, right next door to oil exporter S Arabia. Yemen is bogged down in domestic conflicts in its north and south while also fighting al Qaeda, which has struck Western and Arab targets in recent months.
The attacks, including a failed attempt to bomb a US-bound plane in December and a suicide bombing that failed to kill the British ambassador, prompted Sanaa to respond with airstrikes and military assaults. Al Qaeda, which said the July attack was in response to the killing of a militant in Abyan, stepped up its rhetoric against the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Al Qaeda in Yemen previously focused on high-impact strikes against Western and Saudi targets, but appears to have turned its focus to government forces in response to enhanced Yemen-US security coordination and a government crackdown. Al Arabiya television said al Qaeda had also claimed that attack. Yemen's poorly equipped security forces are easier to strike than many Western targets, and the group may hope to capitalise on anti-government sentiment in the south, home to a strong and growing separatist movement.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
AL QAEDA IN YEMEN [AQIY], aka AL QAEDA IN THE ARABIAN PENINULA [AQAP]?, is vowing to initiate TERROR ATTACKS agz the USA iff the US does anything to harm Radical Cleric AL-AWLAKI.
Also in YEMEN > HOUTHIS/HUTHI REBELS are repor up to 49 or 50 dead in fighting between their Militant Group + Yemeni Govt-Army backed Tribals.
MIL FORUM POSTERS > opine that this LATEST OUTBREAK OF SECTARIAN FIGHTING IN YEMEN may induce a SAUDI-IRANIAN MIL CONFRONTATION, PERHAPS EVEN WAR?, IN THE KSA's BACKYARD???
[Bangla Daily Star] Detained Jamaat leaders Motiur Rahman Nizami, Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mojahid and Delwar Hossain Sayedee were shown arrested yesterday in a case filed against JMB leaders in connection with anti-state activities.
Detective Branch (DB) personnel prayed before the Metropolitan Magistrate's Court seeking to show the top Jamaat leaders arrested. Magistrate Tania Kamal granted the prayer.
The DB personnel also sought a 10-day remand for each of those Jamaat leaders mentioning that they have involvement in an attempt to destabilise the situation of the country and carrying out subversive attacks.
After the hearing, the court fixed tomorrow for the hearing about the remand of Jamaat Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami and its Secretary General Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mojahid and July 28 for Nayeb-e-Ameer Delwar Hossain Sayedee.
DB officials said they appealed for the remand of the Jamaat leaders following information extracted from detained JMB chief Saidur Rahman.
Earlier on June 24, police filed a case with Kadomtoli Police Station after the recovery of nine grenades from a JMB den in Kadomtoli.
A top DB official told The Daily Star that Saidur said Jamaat and JMB activists were collecting grenades and other explosives for subversive operations across the country to foil the trial process of war criminals.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2010 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] A criminal was killed in a gunfight between his cohorts and the law enforcers at South Paindong under Fatikchhari upazila of the port city early yesterday. We do not make up these locations. Really. South Pain Dong is a real place, somewhere or other. Not that you could find it on a map ...
The deceased Shawkat alias Sheakaitya, 40, a top criminal on police list, was accused in 14 cases including seven for murder. "He had the death sentence on 12 systems!"
Acting on a tip-off, a joint team of Rab-7 and police cordoned off Mollabari Eidgah area where the gang was holding a secret meeting at around 3:45am, Rab and police sources said. Men, intelligence says there's a secret meeting at...how long has Shawkat been thawing out?
He should be done at about 3:45, sarge.
...at 3:45. We will cordone off the area, be sensed by the miscreants, come under fire, and Shawkat will be caught in the crossfire. Unfortunately, his cohorts will escape.
Sensing presence of the law enforcers, the outlaws opened fire. Retaliatory fire by the lawmen triggered a gunfight. The criminal was caught in the firing line while his accomplices managed to flee. Wow, sarge. It happened just like you said.
What's with him?
He's new.
Shawkat succumbed to his injury at the nearby health complex. Damn, sargeant. Where did you find this guy, in a meat locker?
Why...no. Why do you ask, doc?
The lawmen recovered two firearms, 17 rounds of bullet and 10 bottles of beer from the spot. Oh, boy! Beer!
Killing Purba Banglar commies and miscreants should be your only reward, Mahmoud. Hey, they're cold.
They should be, sarge. We had 'em on ice. With Shawkat.
Police said Shawkat was once an accomplice of Tipu and Osman, two local gang leaders in the area.
Later he joined Kashem chairman, an absconder accused of kidnapping and murder of a local businessman Jamaluddin.
Assistant Superintendent of police (ASP) Babul Akhter of Hathazari circle said Shawkat was trying to establish supremacy in the region after the gang leader Osman was killed in a 'shootout' with law enforcers on January 31 this year. Quite a coincidence, eh, Mr. Assistant Superintendent?
A mystery, boys. A regular whodunnit...
The ASP said police were trying to nab Shawkat after his cohorts Manik, Nasir and Mamun arrested on June 24 made confessions before the court about the murder of Rafik, a cloth trader of Bibirhat.
According to police, Shawkat murdered Nasiruddin, Nazrul,Yunus, Rafik and three BCL activists of the same upazila.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
South Pain Dong is a condition, not a place, IIRC
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/24/2010 16:43 Comments ||
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Google Translate. For a map, click here.
Nuevo Laredo has been the site of an ongoing gun battle between Los Zetas and other gangs since Monday. Information has been spotty to non-existent. Most government communication during this time has been through Facebook and Twitter
Elements of the Mexican 1st Motorized Cavalry Regiment arrived in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas Friday towards the end of a multi-day gun battle between gang members and with local security elements, say Mexican press reports.
Information about the fighting has been very hard to get. Most government communications has been through Facebook and Twitter, nearly everyone instructing citizens to remain indoors. Several Tamaulipas governmental websites had been hacked in recent days as well.
The intergang fighting that has taken place since Monday included "narcoblocks", a tactical developed by Los Zetas involving the use of heavy vehicles. The ongoing battle also included the use of stolen vehicles, including some from Texas.
Los Zetas use these tactics to either constrict movement of police and military forces and to cover their withdrawals from an area.
Typically, heavy vehicles, such as tractor trailers or a buses, are hijacked, driven to a location that block traffic and then the vehicles are disabled before the suspect flee.
The tactic was used extensively last month in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon after the Monterrey commander of Los Zetas, Raul Luna Luna, was arrested. The following day 38 blocks were affected across the city.
Thursday evening authorities encouraged citizens with stolen cars to reclaim them, an apparent hint the battle was over for now.
Elements of the Mexican Army discovered a mass grave containing the remains of at least 50 individuals Thursday, according to Mexican press reports.
The discovery was made when the army was called to an area near the Monterrey-Reynosa highway in the Benito Juarez municipality (county). The bodies were all in graves in a three hectare area known as the Hacienda Calderon, a kilometer from Monterrey-Reynosa highway.
An additional gravesite was found Friday containing the remains of seven more individuals. Officials have say there may be more.
The dead include 36 men and two women, nearly all had tattoos and all had been shot. Officials said that the remains are no more than 15 days old. The graves were discovered when army patrols noticed poor attempts to camouflage the ground.
#2
It doesn't fit the SCM narrative. Otherwise, the 10 million illegals become war refugees. Refugees implies return. As refugees they'd be identified with formal documents, a item that even the UN recognizes. If they are expected to return, like Afghans are doing now, then they can't be granted amnesty to vote Donk.
#3
A Mexican law enforcement official has been charged in San Diego with using his position to help a drug cartel.
Jesus Quinones, a liaison to US authorities with the Baja California attorney general's office, was among 43 defendants named in a federal indictment unsealed Friday.
The U.S. attorney's office says Quinones arranged for rivals of the Arellano Felix cartel to be arrested by Mexican authorities. He also allegedly passed along classified intelligence to drug traffickers.
The announcement followed raids earlier in the day in which authorities arrested 31 of the defendants.
The complaint charges them with conspiracy to conduct a criminal enterprise through racketeering. It alleges the scheme included murder, kidnapping, drug trafficking, money laundering and robbery.
#5
For a brief second one of the 3 letter beasts acknowledged the violence of Juarez, then fell off the wagon into the Mexico sux cuz its neighbor America sux rag. But for a second...
Google Translate. For a map, click here.
Elements of the Mexican Army concluded operations Thursday in the remote village of La Simona, Chihuahua, leaving nine dead and a number of munitions and materiel seized including high explosives, say Mexican press reports.
Wednesday elements of the Mexican 5th Military Zone happened upon a gang held area sparking a firefight. Originally, it was reported that eight civilians died in that exchange, however, Secretaria de Defence Nacional (SEDENA) reported Friday that dead were all gang members. Six men were detained by the army.
La Simona is near the remote logging town of Madera in far western Chihuahua and had previously been the scene of gang mayhem including several murders and the torching of structures including residences in May.
Weapons seized following the firefight: 15 rifles, six handguns, 2536 cartridges, 50 magazines for various weapons, a roll of detonating cord, 50 sticks of Tovex totalling 25 kilograms and six sticks of Detagel.
Tovex and Detagel are brand names for explosives similar to dynamite, typically used in mining and seismography. Tovex was also used in the Juarez car bomb.
Other materiel seized: 40 kilograms of marijuana, five kilograms of marijuana seed, 10 police radios, five radio battery chargers, five satellite phones, 10 vehicles, two ATVs, three bulletproof vests, two tactical vests, two military uniforms and various binoculars and night visions equipment.
A second encounter took place at about 1600 hrs Thursday with a toll of one dead gang member.
No Mexican military were wounded in the two gunfights.
#1
To be placed in charge and assume responsibility of a challenging counterinsurgency effort, then hobbled by a lack of boots on the ground and beset by Rules of Engagement (ROE) which emphasize containment and give battlefield advantage to the enemy, all by an administration unwilling to engage and resource strategic victory whilst at the same time watching young Americans and coalition forces KIA/WIA rise correspondingly will have a debilitating effect on the psyche and staff of any warrior. The only fault with the General I have is with his embedding of leftest journalists, and even that may have been something he was TOLD to do.
The 'neighborhood watch', catch and release police investigatory strategy which we are currently employing in Afghanistan will ultimately lead to the undoing of the entire effort. Much more is known about this virus than is being done about it, or discussed openly. There are and never have been "Strategic Hamlets" only an enemy that moves about freely, crossing international borders from safe haven to safe haven, filling vacumes and enjoying the succor of a sympathetic populous.
Fighting a war of attrition through surgical removal of insurgent leaders only to have them replaced by an endless line of successors is a fools method, and very costly exercise in futility. One could visit the barber shop each Saturday, but limiting the haircut to the clipping of only one or two hairs per visit will fail to produce much in the way of visible progress. Unless our strategy and plan of engagement changes soon we will face the same outcome as the Russian.
General McChrystal was not part of the problem, but if permitted, he could have been part of the solution. I hate to see him gone.
For insightful reading of events which have meaning today may I recommend, Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian 1866-1891 by Robert M. Utley. The perspective of a small and overtaxed military establishment conducting operations in a demanding environment, physically and politically, while bringing civilization to the vastness of the west can be related to the contemporary operations on the world stage today. Of particular note would be chapters three: The Problem of Doctrine, four: The Army, Congress, and the People, and eighteen: Mexican Border Conflicts 1870-81.
Some excerpts:
Chapter 3: The Problem of Doctrine. Three special conditions set this mission apart from more orthodox military assignments. First, it pitted the army against an enemy who usually could not be clearly identified and differentiated from kinsmen not disposed at the moment to be enemies. Indians could change with bewildering rapidity from friend to foe to neutral, and rarely could one be confidently distinguished from another...Second, Indian service placed the army in opposition to a people that aroused conflicting emotions... And third, the Indians mission gave the army a foe unconventional both in the techniques and aims of warfare... He fought on his own terms and, except when cornered or when his family was endangered, declined to fight at all unless he enjoyed overwhelming odds...These special conditions of the Indian mission made the U.S. Army not so much a little army as a big police force...for a century the army tried to perform its unconventional mission with conventional organization and methods. The result was an Indian record that contained more failures than successes and a lack of preparedness for conventional war that became painfully evident in 1812, 1846, 1861, and 1898.
Chapter 4. The Army, Congress, and the People. Shermans frontier regulars endured not only the physical isolation of service at remote border posts; increasingly in the postwar years they found themselves isolated in attitudes, interests, and spirit from other institutions of government and society and, indeed from the American people themselves...Reconstruction plunged the army into tempestuous partisan politics. The frontier service removed it largely from physical proximity to population and, except for an occasional Indian conflict, from public awareness and interest. Besides public and congressional indifference and even hostility, the army found its Indian attitudes and policies condemned and opposed by the civilian officials concerned with Indian affairs and by the nations humanitarian community.
- somehow we succeeded. Sounds very familiar. Let's never forget the enemy is having problems as well. No one want's to spend the time iterating those problems and the impact upon their operations and goals. Reduce your problems, increase theirs. You don't have to 'defeat' the enemy as much as weaken them to the point that other players in the environment will overtake them.
Federal investigators have arrested a 34-year-old Utah man in connection with the April 30 fire that destroyed the Sheepskin Factory in Glendale.
Not all terrorists are Muslim. We should remember that. This guy should be jugged forever.
Walter Edmund Bond was taken into custody Thursday in Denver after allegedly telling an informant that he started the Glendale fire and two fires in Utah because they were businesses that "profited from animals."
At the time of his arrest by FBI and ATF agents, Bond was carrying a backpack, according to an affidavit by Rennie Mora, a special agent for the ATF.
Continued on Page 49
#3
"Bond is charged with one count of arson of property affecting interstate commerce. If convicted, Bond faces a maximum prison term of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine."
#5
To quote one of the Rantburg old timers, this feller is going to experience more than his share of "Recto Terrorism" in the Slammer. Looks like Bubbas' got himself a new Prom Date enroute.
[Dawn] An activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement was killed and six others were injured when armed men attacked its office in Gulistan-i-Jauhar here on Friday night.
The incident sparked violence in the area and minutes later a bus was set on fire. Uninterrupted firing forced traders to pull down shutters and residents to stay indoors.
Parts of Gulshan-i-Iqbal were affected by the firing and main business centres on Rashid Minhas and Abdul Hasan Ispahani roads were closed.
MQM chief Altaf Hussain condemned the attack and demanded the arrest of the assailants.
"It's not clear but early reports suggested that four to six armed men were involved in the attack on the MQM office in Gulistan-i-Jauhar's Block 17," said an officer at the Sharea Faisal police station.
He said that about half a dozen people were injured who had been taken to different hospitals.
One of them died at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.
Witnesses said the attackers came in a car.
"Our worker Rizwan Shah was killed while five other members of the party and a supporter were injured and they are being treated at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Liaquat National Hospital and Aga Khan University Hospital," said Wasay Jalil of the MQM.
He said Azhar Ali, a unit in-charge of the area, was among the injured. He said the MQM chief had appealed to the workers to stay calm.
The incident emerged as a fresh source of tension between the MQM and Awami National Party.
Though the MQM chief asked workers and supporters to stay calm, the deputy parliamentary leader of the party in the National Assembly, Haider Abbas Rizvi, blamed ANP workers for the attack on the unit office.
"There was a lot of people present at the unit office when it was attacked," he said.
"They recognised armed ANP men attacking the office and we believe it's a reaction to the MQM's support for the government's anti-encroachment campaign that led to recovery of 1,800 acres of land."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2010 00:00 ||
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Three people, including the head of a local peace committee, were killed and two others injured in two separate bomb explosions in the Sparay village, Mamond tehsil, Bajaur Agency on Friday. Locals and officials of the political administration said the chief of the Mamond Peace Committee, Malik Ali Sardar Khan, and two other tribal elders and senior leaders of the committee, identified as Malik Gul Muhammad Jan and Malik Muhammad Karim, were killed in two remote controlled explosions in the remote Sparay area of the tribal agency. According to official sources, the first explosion occurred near the residence of Sardar Khan, while the second blast occurred in the centre of Sparay when volunteers of the peace committee were busy in routine patrolling.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2010 00:00 ||
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At least 29 Taliban, including two commanders, were killed and several others injured, during a military operation in Orakzai Agency, a private TV channel reported on Friday. Gunship helicopters of the security forces pounded Taliban hideouts in the Ghandki and Mullapati areas in Upper Orakzai, destroying four hideouts. According to sources, Taliban commanders Zahidullah and Suleman Mehsud were killed, the channel reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2010 00:00 ||
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A police constable was killed and at least five other policemen, including a station house officer and a sub-inspector, were injured in suspected terrorist attacks outside two police stations in the Punjab metropolis, police and witnesses said on Friday.
Police officials told Daily Times that SHO Rizwan Latif, Sub-Inspector Abdul Razzaq and constable Muhammad Aamir, who is a driver of a police vehicle, were injured when a low-intensity timed-device, fixed inside the vehicle, exploded outside the Lytton Road police station.
They said that another police vehicle was also hit by a timed-device blast near the police station, but no one was injured because the vehicle was empty at that time.
Separately, two gunmen opened fire on a police vehicle outside the Gulshan Ravi police station, where Muhammad Saleem, driver of the police vehicle, as well as constables Muhammad Naseer and Muhammad Masood received bullet injuries. All the injured were taken to nearby hospitals, where Muhammad Saleem succumbed to his injuries.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2010 00:00 ||
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[Ma'an] Egyptian authorities seized 20 cars which were to be smuggled into Gaza, security sources said. The cars, without plates, were found in a warehouse in Ad-Duhneyeh near the Rafah crossing on the Egypt-Gaza border.
The sources added that the cars were stolen from citizens in the Egyptian city Al-Arish.
Egypt, under pressure from the US and Israel, began constructing an underground steel wall to block the tunnels last year. An Egyptian official, speaking anonymously to the Associated Press, said of the wall, "It's a big failure," noting that there are hundreds of holes in the barrier, "equal to the number of active tunnels."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
So Egypt builds a security barrier that they knew would be easy to breach. Appeasing the US and Israel with an appearance of co-operating with security concers, yet choosing a material that could be easily breached with a little effort to appease the arab nations and Gaza.
[Al Arabiya Latest] The European Union reached agreement Thursday on a package of sanctions against Iran which targets Tehran's energy sector over its refusal to halt sensitive nuclear work, an EU diplomat said.
Meanwhile, in defiance to the U.N. , U.S. and now the EU sanctions, Iran planned on Friday to issue 11.5 billion euros ($14.8 billion) worth of bonds by March 2011 to help finance development of its energy sector, the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted a senior official as saying on Friday.
Analysts say Iran needs funds to help modernize and expand its oil and gas sector, but Western companies in particular are increasingly wary of investing in the major oil producer due to Iran's nuclear dispute with the West.
"By end of this (Iranian) year (March 2011), we will issue bonds worth 11.5 billion euros to help finance oil and gas projects as well as building power plants," said first Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi.
Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi said in May that Iran needs around $25 billion a year in oil and gas industry investment and could turn into an importer of oil because of the lack of such funds.
One of the world's biggest oil and gas producers, Iran has been hit by U.S. and U.N. sanctions that have frightened away international energy firms.
The Islamic state has increasingly turned to Asian firms instead but they often lack the technology to implement oil and gas projects.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
The US FBI claims their analysis of the TIME SQAURE BOMB reveals that, had it worked, ITS EXPLOSION would've been greater than the OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING [McVeigh] + MAY HAD KILLED THOUSANDS OF AMERICANS [hour of the day]???
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Yesterday we 
Several Taliban figures, including a former spokesman for the insurgents, have been captured in raids by coalition and Afghan forces across the country, military and government officials said on Friday. 
[Bangla Daily Star] A criminal was killed in a gunfight between his cohorts and the law enforcers at South Paindong under Fatikchhari upazila of the port city early yesterday.
[Dawn] An activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement was killed and six others were injured when armed men attacked its office in Gulistan-i-Jauhar here on Friday night. 
Three people, including the head of a local peace committee, were killed and two others injured in two separate bomb explosions in the Sparay village, Mamond tehsil, Bajaur Agency on Friday. Locals and officials of the political administration said the chief of the Mamond Peace Committee, Malik Ali Sardar Khan, and two other tribal elders and senior leaders of the committee, identified as Malik Gul Muhammad Jan and Malik Muhammad Karim, were killed in two remote controlled explosions in the remote Sparay area of the tribal agency. According to official sources, the first explosion occurred near the residence of Sardar Khan, while the second blast occurred in the centre of Sparay when volunteers of the peace committee were busy in routine patrolling.
At least 29 Taliban, including two commanders, were killed and several others injured, during a military operation in Orakzai Agency, a private TV channel reported on Friday. Gunship helicopters of the security forces pounded Taliban hideouts in the Ghandki and Mullapati areas in Upper Orakzai, destroying four hideouts. According to sources, Taliban commanders Zahidullah and Suleman Mehsud were killed, the channel reported.
A police constable was killed and at least five other policemen, including a station house officer and a sub-inspector, were injured in suspected terrorist attacks outside two police stations in the Punjab metropolis, police and witnesses said on Friday.
