h/t Gates of Vienna
A long-lost medieval cookbook, containing recipes for hedgehogs, blackbirds and even unicorns, has been discovered at the British Library. Professor Brian Trump of the British Medieval Cookbook Project described the find as near-miraculous. "We've been hunting for this book for years. The moment I first set my eyes on it was spine-tingling."
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/02/2012 2:13 Comments ||
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#2
Now we just need for the POTUS to release one of his skittle-pooping unicorns (that's where Trayvon got his skittles?) to us so we can try the recipe.
An Egyptian trade delegation traveled to Israel on Sunday, in the first trip of its kind since former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... was tossed, Egyptian daily Al Ahram reported.
According to the report, the aim of the visit is to discuss solutions to the problems in the Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZ) agreement between Egypt, Israel, Jordan and the US.
Zimbabwe has indefinitely suspended weddings because it is working on a new certificate to curb marriages of convenience. The suspension saw scores of couples intending to tie the knot being turned away by magistrates' courts over the weekend.
Last week the Registrar General Mr Tobaiwa Mudede unveiled a new marriage certificate saying foreigners were now abusing the system to settle in the country.
In Zimbabwe?!?
He had said the new certificates were ready and would be dispatched to provincial offices countrywide. He said the new document had security features that made counterfeiting impossible.
Of late several Nigerians have been dragged to court for faking marriages with Zimbabwean women so that they can obtain residence permits. Last month a Nigerian businessman based in Harare was charged for marrying two Zimbabwean women using different names. He reportedly married one of the women without her knowledge.
Isn't that counterproductive for the usual benefits of marriage?
This is coming at an interesting time. The Argentinian government has been cooking the economic books, especially with regard to inflation - so much so that the Economist had a detailed article on it recently. Anyone reporting real prices / inflation rate is subject to pressure and even arrest. But they've run out of room to maneuvers, so it's back to the Falklands issue out of desperation.
A group of British and American banks have been threatened with legal action by the Argentine government for advising and writing research reports about companies involved in the Falkland Islands' £1.6bn oil industry.
In what amounts to the start of a new trade war between the UK and Argentina, the banks - understood to include the Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays Capital and Goldman Sachs - have been warned they face criminal and civil action in the Argentine courts.
The threats were made in a series of letters sent to as many as 15 banks by the Argentine embassy in London over the last ten days.
The letter, a copy of which has been seen by The Sunday Telegraph, warns the institutions that even merely writing research notes on exploration companies involved in the Falklands constitutes "a violation of the applicable domestic and international rules".
The news - coming a day ahead of the 30th anniversary of Argentina's invasion of the Falklands which sparked the 1982 conflict - is likely to worsen tensions between the two countries. The Argentine government is continuing to push for sovereignty.
The two-page letter, to which a schedule of legal declarations about the Falkland's ownership are attached, is intended to warn off the banks from any further involvement in the South Atlantic oil industry.
This is coming at an interesting time. The Argentinian government has been cooking the economic books, especially with regard to inflation - so much so that the Economist had a detailed article on it recently. Anyone reporting real prices / inflation rate is subject to pressure and even arrest. But they've run out of room to maneuver, so it's back to the Falklands issue out of desperation.
Especially if there is really oil out there. The graft and corruption on future oil lease sales alone could keep the Kirchners in power another decade.
In what amounts to the start of a new trade war between the UK and Argentina, the banks - understood to include the Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays Capital and Goldman Sachs - have been warned they face criminal and civil action in the Argentine courts.
The threats were made in a series of letters sent to as many as 15 banks by the Argentine embassy in London over the last ten days. The letter, a copy of which has been seen by The Sunday Telegraph, warns the institutions that even merely writing research notes on exploration companies involved in the Falklands constitutes "a violation of the applicable domestic and international rules".
Argentine domestic rules? Um, okay, I'm sure you can make them up. International rules? Which ones? Be specific...
There's so many of them, I sure some sympathetic legal entity will find a few.
Just need to ask some quango, I suppose...
The news - coming a day ahead of the 30th anniversary of Argentina's invasion of the Falklands which sparked the 1982 conflict - is likely to worsen tensions between the two countries. The Argentine government is continuing to push for sovereignty.
The two-page letter, to which a schedule of legal declarations about the Falkland's ownership are attached, is intended to warn off the banks from any further involvement in the South Atlantic oil industry.
In an element that is likely to heighten diplomatic tensions, the letter - written in Spanish - contains the header "2012 - Ano de Homenaje al doctor D.Manuel Belgrano". This is a direct reference to the Argentine economist after whom the ARA General Belgrano was named. The ship was sunk by British forces during the 1982 conflict.
The letter warns the banks to "bear in mind, when offering their opinions, risk ratings and investment recommendations, the existence and characteristics of the above mentioned sovereignty dispute and of the consequences of any unlawful hydrocarbon exploration activities in the Argentine continental shelf in proximity to the Malvinas [Falkland] Islands."
"It should also be borne in mind that . . . participation in those activities will cause companies directly or indirectly involved in them to be subject to such administrative, civil and criminal actions as may be provided for in the Argentive laws governing such activities."
It goes on to threaten that any oil company involved in "unlawful hydrocarbon exploration activities" will trigger legal proceedings.
The letters were sent to the individual banks by the Argentine embassy in London on March 20 and were not signed, but contained the crest of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship. The document appears to be aimed at cutting financial support to the five London-listed exploration companies - together worth a combined £1.6bn - which are active in the Falkland's basin, of which Rockhopper Exploration is the largest by market capitalization.
The recipients of the letters fall into two separate categories - those who are advising the five oil companies and those who have written research notes either on the subject of Falklands oil or on specific companies. The banks and stockbrokers which have undertaken advisory and fundraising roles for the five which are believed to have received the letter include RBS, Credit Suisse, Barclays, and Oriel Securities. Those institutions whose research teams have written on the subject and have been targeted by the Argentine government are believed to include Goldman Sachs, Jefferies and Edison Investment Research.
It is not thought that the letters have been dispatched to the oil exploration companies themselves at this time.
Juliet Blanch, partner and head of the international dispute resolution at law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges, believes the legal threat could be a ploy by Argentina to try and cut off funding to the oil companies rather than having to resort to a protracted legal battle.
Ms Blanch said: "Clearly if Argentina has sent this letter to banks and advisers and not to the independent oil companies themselves, it could be interpreted as a ploy by Argentina to find a way to stop the exploration without having to resort to a legal solution which would be costly, protracted and uncertain. Argentina could be hoping that application of pressure to the financiers might result in a reassessment of the relationship between them and the oil companies."
None of the banks named chose to comment. The Argentine embassy in London did not return telephone calls yesterday.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/02/2012 00:00 ||
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Britain would have to hold its air base on the Falklands unaided for at least a week in the event of another Argentine invasion, a defence pressure group warned Sunday. The UK National Defence Association, which campaigns on military matters, claimed the archipelago was more vulnerable than at any time since the 1982 Falklands War.
In a report ahead of the 30th anniversary of the invasion on Monday, the body said Britain would find it difficult to "protect, reinforce or retake" the South Atlantic islands, largely due to the lack of aircraft carrier strike capability.
"Even in the most favourable circumstances... the deployment of additional fighters and a reasonable war-fighting force would take approximately a week," the report said. "In effect, this means that the British garrison would necessarily have to hold Mount Pleasant airfield and its environs for a week before help arrived. There would be no fighter cover for the landing force and shipping. There is no carrier... There is no question of providing air support using Royal Air Force fighters. There are no bases within range. In-flight re-fuelling, given the number of re-fuels required for a round trip of 8,000 miles from Ascension, would be impossible in the face of the threat posed by the Argentine air force. The UK would be hard put to protect, reinforce or retake the islands... history could well be about to repeat itself -- but this time with a different outcome."
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond told The Times last week that Argentina's ageing aircraft do not present a military threat. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "Unlike in 1982, we have a well defended airfield in the Falklands with ground-based air defences, and continue to have the ability to reinforce by air and sea. People should be reassured by the contingencies that we now have in place compared to 30 years ago. That said, there is no evidence of any current credible military threat to the Falkland Islands."
Britain has held the Falklands since 1833, but Buenos Aires claims the barren islands are occupied Argentine territory.
Diplomatic friction between Argentina and Britain has intensified since 2010, when London authorised oil prospecting in the waters around the windswept islands, which are home to less than 3,000 people.
#4
Hammond is correct about one thing: the Argie air force is aging. I think they still fly Skyhawks and older Mirages. And their transport ability stinks.
So with all the hand-wringing (and it's correct not to be complacent), I don't see the Argies making a move. Right now at least.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/02/2012 7:48 Comments ||
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That's a possibility we shouldn't laugh at. The Brazilians are a 'regional' superpower, and they might be sorely tempted if the Argentines offered them a piece of the action in return for some heavy-duty logistical support or even the 'loan' of a few aircraft and crews. Nobody down there has anything that can take the RAF's Typhoons one on one - but the Brazilian Navy is big enough and well-trained enough (not to mention having a functional aircraft carrier, the Sao Paulo)to land and supply troops for the Argentines - and at that point, attrition starts to rear its ugly head. Can the RN and RAF relieve the islands before the forces there are simply overrun? There won't be any help from the US this time, and it seems likely that The One would offer to 'mediate' a settlement which would leave the Falklands in Argentine hands permanently.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/02/2012 15:09 Comments ||
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#8
If the Brazilians got involved, I can't believe Uncle Sam would stand by while the Brits got hammered.
#12
she's going "Full Evita" blowing populist bullshit and riling up the rubes to distract from her (and her husband's) terrible policies. Inflation is really running at a pace so much higher than the "official rate" that noting and publishing that will get you harassed and arrested.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/02/2012 18:16 Comments ||
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#13
Brit subs were effective last time. With this much advance notice, the Argies would have a hard time getting an invasion force through them to the islands.
#14
That's back when Britain still had a navy. They BARELY have one now. It won't be a one-sided affair this time if they pull the trigger. I think Britain would ask us for help. And BHO would say no, if he's President.
Posted by: Charles ||
04/02/2012 21:27 Comments ||
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Moscow -- Former Soviet spy Leonid Shebarshin, who was very briefly head of the KGB, was found dead Friday in his apartment in Moscow, an apparent suicide, officials said. The 76-year-old left a suicide note, the state-run news agency Itar-Tass reported Friday, citing city police. A weapon was found near the body, Investigation Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said.
The contents of the note were not disclosed "in the interest of the investigation," according to police, the news agency said. Shebarshin was alone in the apartment, it added.
According to Itar-Tass, Shebarshin was born in Moscow in 1935. He served as an intelligence officer under diplomatic cover in Pakistan, India and Iran
Even more interesting...
and took high-ranking positions in the KGB beginning in 1983. He was appointed deputy chairman in 1989. He led the KGB for one day only, on August 22, 1991, and retired the following month.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/02/2012 00:00 ||
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After finding a single shot pistol next to the body, upon examining the eight bullet holes to the temple, the medical examiner declared that it was the most serious case of suicide he had ever seen.
[/april fool]
#3
Who cares once they get what they want in America they will start preying on one another in their own office buildings just like in the good old days of Lenin and such!
North Korea attempted on Sunday to lure foreign tourists to the hermit country to help celebrate a major anniversary, pledging to make "every possible sincere efforts" to show visitors a good time.
Preparations are under way at the scenic Mount Kumgang to arrange transport and lodging for foreigners who have apparently showed "keen interest" in visiting the communist nuclear-armed nation. Carter, Fonda, Belafonte, Moore, Penn, anyone blocking development of a budget for the US, ...
There are no official figures on how many foreign tourists visit North Korea each year, but their cash -- the North charges exorbitant prices for everything from beer to accommodation -- is a major boon to the moribund economy.
The resort at Mount Kumgang, where a South Korean tourist was shot dead by a soldier in July 2008 after allegedly straying from the area, was developed by the South Korean giant Hyundai Asan and opened in 1998.
It once earned the impoverished North tens of millions of dollars a year from South Koreans eager to see the other half of the Korean peninsula, but the tours have been banned since the fatal shooting of the South Korean housewife. I was afraid for my life! I thought she had a frying pan!
The development, which has since been deserted, "is fully open to all tourists in the blooming best tour season of April", a spokesman for the tourism authority in the Mount Kumgang area told state media KCNA.
The spokesman pledged "all kinds of special privileges" to tour firms willing to go there, stressing the North was in celebratory mood for the centenary of the birth of its founding president, Kim Il-Sung, on April 15.
"We welcome all the tourists coming to Mount Kumgang and will make every possible sincere efforts to let them spend pleasant days in the best scenic spot," said the spokesman. No, thanks. I choose life.
The resort in the coastal Mount Kumgang was developed with South Korean money as a symbol of reconciliation between the two Koreas, who are still technically at war after the 1950-53 conflict ended only in an armistice.
But the 2008 shooting there and a general deterioration in ties has seen the North and South fail to agree to find a compromise on tour groups from South Korea returning.
Frustrated with the long stalemate and desperate for foreign cash, Pyongyang last year stripped Hyundai Asan of its exclusive right to run tours to the idyllic area that boasts breathtaking views, lush vegetation and waterfalls.
Foreign tourists face immense restrictions on visits to North Korea, which can ordinarily only be made as part of a closely watched tour group. Most areas of the country are off-limits and visitors are forbidden to talk to the locals.
Pyongyang on Sunday renewed criticism of what it called South Korea's "grave provocation" over Mount Kumgang. Seoul has been lobbying for a blanket ban on all foreign tourists going there.
The North is set to lavishly commemorate the anniversary with various festivals and events including the launch of a satellite that has drawn widespread condemnation from the international community.
Pyongyang insists it is a peaceful space project but Washington and Seoul see it as a disguised missile test banned under UN resolutions.
The North, which desperately needs foreign aid to feed its 24 million people, slammed Saturday the US suspension of food aid over the disputed launch, calling the move an "overreaction". Overreaction or not, you can choose food for the peasants or a test flight for your ICBM program, and nobody cares about your stupid country enough to invade it.
The communist regime under the late ruler Kim Jong-Il set 2012 as the year to become a "strong and prosperous nation". Too bad he's not alive to witness the event.
#3
pledging to make "every possible sincere efforts" to show visitors a good time.
Picturing the graffitti now: "For a good time and real food, call Mrs. Kim at...."
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/02/2012 15:00 Comments ||
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#4
Actually, tourists would be a good thing for NK. I don't mean the usual isolated dog & pony show for some leftist bigwig. I mean swarms of middle class tourists, obviously well fed, wearing warm colorful clothes from Walmart, carrying cheap cameras and cellphones, in herds to big to hide. Let the Norks see how the rest of the world lives. And realize the only thing standing between them and prosperity is their own government and that pudgy kid.
#6
>realize the only thing standing between them and prosperity is their own government and that pudgy kid
We know nothing of how the culture has been ruined by generations of marxism. It might not encourage the reciprocal, stoic & ability to delay gratification that builds wealthy countries.
#7
I believe the Norks typically keep visitors on a very short leash and accompanied by official minders. Any deviation from the government approved path and itinerary would lead to immediate deportation. You would not be allowed to simply travel the countryside and talk to the average North Korean.
Only the official (and fed) party members would be allowed to even see any tourists in designated areas - never mind talk to them.
I think they also hold your passport while you are in the country.
I think I read about some guy getting in to see the big synchronized dance they put on.
#8
There have been tours to North Korea for years now. There's an outfit in Beijing run by a European, Koryo Tours, that does tours to North Korea, and this includes Americans. Individual tours are available, you don't have to go with a group if you don't want.
Standard Independent tour itinerary
4 night tour, Sat - Wed/Thurs
Sat
AM: JS152 Flight Beijing-Pyongyang 11:30 departure, 14:25 arrival.
PM: Customs at Pyongyang airport, meet guides, Mansudae Grand Monument, Arch of Triumph, Fountain Park, transfer to hotel.
OVERNIGHT: Sosan Hotel, Pyongyang
Sun
AM: Kumsusan Memorial Palace (Mausoleum of Kim Il Sung), Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetry
PM: Walk in Moranbong Hill, Kaeson Funfair, Mangyongdae Native House, Pyongyang Metro (2 stations), drive to Mt Myohyang
OVERNIGHT: Chongchon Hotel, Mt Myohyang
Mon
AM: International Friendship Exhibition (Hall of gifts to DPRK's leaders), Buddhist temple
PM: Return to Pyongyang, Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum (Korean War Museum), USS Pueblo
OVERNIGHT: Sosan Hotel, Pyongyang
Tues
AM: Drive to Kaesong, Panmunjom/DMZ, Kaesong Koryo Museum
PM: Return to Pyongyang, Schoolchildren's Palace performance, Juche Tower, Monument to Party Foundation
OVERNIGHT: Sosan Hotel, Pyongyang
Weds
AM: Depart Pyongyang by train departure at 10:10 PM: Sinuiju (DPRK customs), Cross border into China, Dandong city and on through China
OVERNIGHT: On train
#9
we still have an unfinished piece of business that G's itinerary reminds me of: blow up the USS Pueblo. Do it big and spectacular
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/02/2012 19:44 Comments ||
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AFAIK any foreign tourists must also give up their Cell Phones, Laptops, Notepads, + any other Net-capable, etc. Personal Communication goodies.
> No criticisms or observations allowed to leave the country.
> Also good iff Pyongyang decides to kidnap the Tourists like they did post-WW2 + Cold War Japanese, SOKORS.
An Algerian man used a kitchen knife to slaughter his 16-year-old daughter after discovering pictures of American and Turkish actors in her mobile phone.
YANGON: Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi won a seat in parliament on Sunday, her party said, after a historic by-election that is testing Myanmars nascent reform credentials and could convince the West to end sanctions.
Her National League for Democracy (NLD) party announced to loud cheers at its headquarters that the Nobel Peace Prize laureate had won in Kawhmu, southwest of the commercial capital Yangon, raising the prospect of her first role in government after a two decade struggle against dictatorship.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has won, an NLD official announced, referring to Suu Kyi by her honorific title. Myanmars Election Commission had yet to confirm any results from the by-elections for 45 legislative seats.
The United States and European Union have hinted that some sanctions - imposed over the past two decades in response to human rights abuses - may be lifted if the election is free and fair, unleashing a wave of investment in the impoverished but resource-rich country bordering rising powers India and China.
The charismatic and wildly popular Suu Kyi had complained last week of irregularities, though none significant enough to derail her partys bid for 44 of the seats. Suu Kyi made no immediate comment on her victory.
From dawn, voters quietly filed into makeshift polling stations at schools, religious centers and community buildings, some gushing with excitement after casting ballots for the frail Suu Kyi, or Aunty Suu as she is affectionately known.
To be regarded as credible, the vote needs the blessing of Suu Kyi, who was freed from house arrest in November 2010, six days after a widely criticized general election that paved the way for the end of 49 years of direct army rule and the opening of a parliament stacked with retired and serving military.
President Thein Sein, a general in the former military junta, has surprised the world with the most dramatic political reforms since the military took power in a 1962 coup in the former British colony then known as Burma. In the span of a year, the government has freed hundreds of political prisoners, held peace talks with ethnic rebels, relaxed strict media censorship, allowed trade unions, and showed signs of pulling back from the powerful economic and political orbit of its giant neighbor China.
It was rewarded last November when Hillary Clinton made the first visit to the country by a US secretary of state since 1955. Business executives, mostly from Asia but many from Europe, have swarmed to Yangon in recent weeks to hunt for investment opportunities in the country of 60 million people, one of the last frontier markets in Asia.
Voting took place under the watch of small team of delegates from the European Union and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), who were given only a few days to prepare inside Myanmar. They called themselves visitors rather than observers.
Whatever irregularities we saw in the polling stations we visited did not seem to be out of bad will or intentions, says EU delegate Malgorzata Wasilewska. It was more lack of experience or knowledge.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/02/2012 00:00 ||
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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.
Moscow -- Former Soviet spy Leonid Shebarshin, who was very briefly head of the KGB, was found dead Friday in his apartment in Moscow, an apparent suicide, officials said. The 76-year-old left a suicide note, the state-run news agency Itar-Tass reported Friday, citing city police. A weapon was found near the body, Investigation Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said.
North Korea attempted on Sunday to lure foreign tourists to the hermit country to help celebrate a major anniversary, pledging to make "every possible sincere efforts" to show visitors a good time.
