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Today: 67 articles and 243 comments as of 17:34.
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Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Opinion        Politix   
ETA offers peace to Spanish govt.
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
3 00:00 gorb [5] 
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1 00:00 American Delight [8] 
2 00:00 Glenmore [4] 
2 00:00 Cyber Sarge [5] 
4 00:00 Eric Jablow [4] 
3 00:00 Keenster [] 
2 00:00 Dar [4] 
1 00:00 Mike Kozlowski [5] 
1 00:00 Anonymoose [4] 
2 00:00 trailing wife [4] 
2 00:00 Besoeker [4] 
4 00:00 Shieldwolf [5] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
3 00:00 bman [4]
6 00:00 Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division [3]
3 00:00 Anonymoose [5]
2 00:00 Nimble Spemble [6]
3 00:00 Pappy [9]
13 00:00 Pappy [8]
4 00:00 Mike [5]
1 00:00 Glenmore [4]
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1 00:00 Anguper Hupomosing9418 [1]
2 00:00 JFM [10]
2 00:00 Canuckistan sniper [5]
2 00:00 Mike Hunt [6]
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Page 2: WoT Background
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7 00:00 Procopius2k [2]
Page 4: Opinion
5 00:00 KBK [6]
3 00:00 Ebbang Uluque6305 [4]
Page 6: Politix
4 00:00 Besoeker [8]
9 00:00 twobyfour [11]
9 00:00 Procopius2k [4]
39 00:00 gorb [3]
35 00:00 KBK [3]
--Tech & Moderator Notes
Deletion note
Note to miscellaneous: please do not put up posts that link to 'BigPeace', 'BigGovernment', 'Instapundit', etc. With uncommon exceptions, Rantburg does not link to primary blog posts.

We assume that our readers know of these blogs and will read them as appropriate. We are a news aggregator blog, not a blog aggregator.

I've deleted a number of these recently and will continue to do so.

Thanks for your cooperation.

AoS
Posted by: || 09/20/2010 12:33 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Okay.
Posted by: miscellaneous || 09/20/2010 13:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Presume Bill Roggio (Long War Journal) is still acceptable - though a blog it is also primary news and analysis.
Posted by: Glenmore || 09/20/2010 14:50 Comments || Top||


-Obits-
WWII Story: A Good Son
He was 16 when his parents sent him to England, fearing for his life as a Jew in Nazi Germany, and when war broke out he clamored to join the British armed forces. Finally he was accepted, his fluency in German earning him a spot with a secret commando unit. And with that, Manfred Gans set off on a mission: to find his parents.
An amazing story.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/20/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Quite the history.
Posted by: miscellaneous || 09/20/2010 4:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Very impressive--
Posted by: Dar || 09/20/2010 16:47 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Light FOIA reading for those with an interest in the Korean War era.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/20/2010 09:48 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I read the first G-2 assessment...glad to know the CIA was as locked on then as they are now...
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 09/20/2010 13:19 Comments || Top||

#2  I like the early assessment that Chinese involvement in the Korea war is not probable. The CIA, getting intelligence wrong for over 60 years.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 09/20/2010 17:50 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Conspiracy Theory du Jour: Late Egypt president's daughter sues journalist
[Al Arabiya] The daughter of late Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat filed a complaint against veteran journalist Mohamed Hassanein Heikal for implying that her father killed his predecessor Gamal Abdel-Nasser.

Ruqaya Sadat submitted Saturday an official complaint to the prosecutor general accusing Heikal of hinting in a satelite TV show that her father was involved in the killing of late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel-Nasser.

According to the complaint, of which Al Arabiya obtained a copy, Ruqaya Sadat said she was astonished to see that the headlines of several Egyptian newspapers were about Heikal's TV statements which hint at Sadat's involvement in Nasser's death.

"The papers quoted Heikal as saying that Sadat made Nasser a cup of coffee which was rumored to have been poisoned," said the complaint.

Heikal's account of the last day in Gamal Abdel-Nasser's life hit front pages of several Egyptian Newspapers.

The headline of the daily independent al-Dostor read: "40 years later, Heikal drops a bomb about Abdel-Nasser's death." According to the paper, Heika's story implicates Sadat in an indirect way.

Heikal's story
In his TV show, Heikal said he cannot be sure that Abdel-Nasser's death was not natural.

"There is no proof, but there are lots of speculations," he added.

Heikal said that Abdel-Nasser and late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met in the former's hotel suite in Cairo and had a heated argument which Heikal himself witnessed.

"After the argument, Abdel-Nasser looked very nervous so Sadat offered to make him a cup of coffee himself."

Sadat, Heikal added, went into the kitchen and made the coffee after dismissing the Nubian cook who was in charge of Abdel-Nasser's kitchen.

"Sadat brought the coffee and Abdel-Nasser drank it in front of me."

Despite rumors that Abdel-Nasser was poisoned and that the cup of coffee might have been the reason for his death, Heikal pointed out that he found it unlikely that Sadat would do that.

"For humane and emotional reasons, I don't think Sadat did that. Plus, there is no tangible proof and no poison was found in the hotel."

However, Heikal said, Abdel-Nasser knew that his life was in danger and wrote about that himself.

Telling this story for the first time 40 years after Abdel-Nasser's death raised speculations in the media and as to whether Heikal's story aimed at accusing Sadat of killing Abdel-Nasser.

Sadat's immediate family were infuriated at what they saw as a direct accusation the tarnishes the late president's image in front of the Egyptian public.

"What Heikal said inflicted tremendous damage on me and my family and hurt our feelings deeply," Ruqaya Sadat said in the complaint.

Sadat's other daughter, Sekeena, dismissed Heikal's story as false and said in a TV interview that what he said was "totally unacceptable" as well as illogical.

"Abdel-Nasser used to dine at my father's throughout the last two years of his life."
Posted by: Fred || 09/20/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...Well, let's face it: the conventional wisdom here in the West is that Sadat was a saint and martyr for having the courage to make peace with Israel. Sadat made the deal with Israel because he got his clock cleaned but good after the Yom Kippur War went south on him, and he knew that another loss and he'd be put out of his misery. And the fact is that Sadat was every bit as much a dictator as Nasser was, albeit a bit smarter and more realistic than ol' Gamal ever was. Fortysomething years downrange we forget what a complete idiot Nasser was - think Saddam with a more genial attitude, but still big on secret police, prisons, and megalomaniac projects. I don't think Sadat helped Nasser commune with the Prophet any earlier than he otherwise would have - but it can't be ruled out.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 09/20/2010 8:11 Comments || Top||


Britain
Tax cheats to face lie detector test in £1bn clawback
Debt collection agencies will work with HM Revenue and Customs to investigate the records of 150,000 people earning more than £150,000 a year — the threshold for the 50 per cent income tax rate.

It comes after a pilot amnesty, aimed at the medical profession, led to one doctor handing over £1 million in unpaid taxes, and a dentist owning up to a £300,000 bill. Similar campaigns will be aimed at other high-earning professionals, such as those in the law, architecture and elite sports.
After HMRC’s tax collection fiasco, ministers will commission private debt collection companies to claw back £1 billion in unpaid taxes.

Companies such as Capita have pioneered the use of lie detector tests to identify potential fraudsters for the Department for Work and Pensions.

Sources at HMRC suggested that “voice recognition analysis”, which alerts investigators when a caller claiming benefits sounds nervous, could be used to identify those seeking to mislead tax inspectors.

Savers with offshore accounts will also be targeted, with a dedicated team aimed at catching those hiding money in foreign banks.

Legally, private companies lack the power Government agents have to take severe enforcement measures, such as raiding properties.

But sources said pilot schemes showed that even with the limited powers to write and telephone suspects they were far more efficient and effective at clawing back money than HMRC staff.

Companies proved particularly successful at forcing tax avoiders to pay small sums.
Posted by: tipper || 09/20/2010 13:07 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Either the taxes are owed or they aren't. What do you need a lie detector test for?
Posted by: American Delight || 09/20/2010 21:40 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
China suspends senior bilateral exchanges with Japan
Announcing the suspension, China's state broadcaster CCTV said relations with Tokyo had been "severely hurt". It said Beijing had suspended ministerial and provincial-level contacts, halted talks on aviation issues and postponed a meeting to discuss coal.

The announcement came after a Japanese court authorized prosecutors to extend by 10 days the detention of a Chinese captain accused of ramming his trawler against Japanese patrol boats in the East China Sea.

Japanese authorities arrested Zhan Qixiong, the Chinese captain, on September 8, but they have since released his crew and boat.

Mr Zhan's initial detention on suspicion of obstructing official duties had been set to end on Sunday.

The incident took place near the disputed Diaoyu islands - called Senkaku in Japan and also claimed by Taiwan - which lie in an area with rich fishing grounds that is also believed to contain oil and gas deposits.

China has already summoned Japan's ambassador five times and scrapped scheduled talks over joint energy exploration in the East China Sea, in what has become the worst diplomatic row in years between Beijing and Tokyo.

The foreign ministry spokesman on Sunday reiterated Beijing's stance that the detention was "illegal and pointless".

The incident has sparked resentment among the Chinese public.
Stage managed outrage. The Chinese are trying to muscle everyone, including the US Navy, then act outraged when other countries resist.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/20/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That's the way it works with China. They are hypersensitive and anything bad that ever happens is the rest of the world out to get them. Because China is the best country, you see, and everyone is so envious of us. So envious that no conspiracy is too much.
Posted by: gromky || 09/20/2010 0:16 Comments || Top||

#2  I am wondering how belligerent Chinese captains are getting to cause the Japanese to dig in their heels this much. It sounds like the Japanese are a bit PO'd and getting tired of Chinese attempting more control of outside assets.
Posted by: miscellaneous || 09/20/2010 4:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Stories such as this are highly inflammatory. We must be careful that our Sino masters not become riled
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/20/2010 9:31 Comments || Top||

#4  Six weeks -- that is how long it would take the Japanese to put together their first plutonium warhead. They already have the ICBM, they use it to launch satellites into orbit. By the end of six months, the Japanese could have 500-800 thermonuclear warheads built if they so choose. Be careful what you are looking for China, you might just get the Banzai charge faction of the Japanese back in power.
Posted by: Shieldwolf || 09/20/2010 17:03 Comments || Top||


Economy
BP declares deep-sea well 'sealed'
[Al Jazeera] US officials say oil giant BP has finally sealed the deep-sea well that gushed millions of barrels into Gulf of Mexico.
Posted by: Fred || 09/20/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  For some reason, this reminds me of the premature declaration by the psychic in Poltergeist that "This house is clean."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/20/2010 10:54 Comments || Top||


Europe
Swedish ruling bloc retains power
[Al Jazeera] Centre-right re-elected in parliamentary polls and a far-right party wins seats in the legislature for the first time.
Fred does love that photo of Princess Madeleine.
Posted by: Fred || 09/20/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Yes, tw. What's not to love?
Posted by: Glenmore || 09/20/2010 8:18 Comments || Top||

#2  :-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/20/2010 19:12 Comments || Top||


Germany: 4 Die After Blast, Shooting
Snip. AyPee article, summarized: Explosion heard in an apartment building, two found dead in the flames. Woman runs out with a gun, goes to nearby hospital and kills two and wounds one before being shot dead by police.

Moved to Non-WoT per information from Omaing White7048.

- trailing wife at 7:40 a.m. ET.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/20/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  According to this article the woman (41 year old lawyer) killed her ex-partner and her 5 year old son in the apartment building. Then she used some fire accelerant to torch the flat, the explosion was caused by fumes.

After(!) the explosion the woman ran out of the apartment building intermittently shooting, injuring bystanders. She entered the hospital, went straight to the OB/GYN ward and stabbed(!) to death a male nurse. In addition to a small caliber handgun she was carrying a knife.

Police shot her dead in the hospital building.

Even though the MSM would try a cover-up it looks like this is not WOT related, except as an illustration of the fact that a person who is willing to die can create terror very, very easily.
Posted by: Omaing White7048 || 09/20/2010 2:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Polizei shoot to bloody hell moonbat lawyer with numerous bullets of 9mm. Basel Octoberfest continues without further incident. Pass the pretzels and würste please.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/20/2010 8:38 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Good Space Reporting
Posted by: miscellaneous || 09/20/2010 13:07 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Cost for each "stimulus" job: $2M
I'm sure no worker received more than about $100k of pay, which would mean about $200k/job. So where did the extra 90% go? A lot of these jobs were to rebuild infrastructure. I'll bet any politician's life the rest is boodle and goes to help balance cooperative pol's budgets. Can't let government get any smaller, ya know!
Posted by: gorb || 09/20/2010 00:44 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  2 Million in T-bills (@2%) = 40,000 per year in interest.

I'd bet the average "job" pays 40,000.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 09/20/2010 8:00 Comments || Top||

#2  The rest of the boodle "walking around money" at election time?
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/20/2010 9:56 Comments || Top||

#3  I wonder what the salary/benefit costs of the government employees who process all that "red tape" are. I wonder what the "controller" makes.
Posted by: Keenster || 09/20/2010 10:16 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pak Muslims build mosque on Christian graveyard
Posted by: ryuge || 09/20/2010 02:43 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Par for the course.
Posted by: miscellaneous || 09/20/2010 4:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Same as it ever was.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 09/20/2010 9:34 Comments || Top||

#3  My little pooch likes to claim his territory too.
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/20/2010 9:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Don't go into the light!
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 09/20/2010 20:07 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Construction Vehicle Emissions Exceed Goal, so California Will Move the Goalposts
The California Air Resources Board admitted recently that today's off-road diesel equipment will easily meet the state's emission goals for many years to come. However, the board is not giving up on pushing forward its regulatory agenda of monitoring and controlling the emissions of the industry's construction fleets.
So that means we can rachet up the goals to make it even safer until it is perfectly safe in the event there is anyone left to build anything.
"The implementation of this regulation is coming at a time when the contractors can ill afford to fork out millions of dollars to retrofit a fleet of vehicles that has an expected life span of over 30 years," says the Associated General Contractors of California. "Considering that CARB's goals already have been met, enforcing the regulation will only exacerbate the ability to create jobs -- and that's what this state needs right now."
Then, to add fuel to the fire -
In April, AGC presented a study prepared by Sierra Research using CARB's revised data showing that California's fleet emissions are less than 28% of what state officials had estimated. Further, earlier this year, it was discovered the lead scientist in a CARB study on particulate matter falsified his academic credentials.
Oversight. Happens all the time.
Posted by: Bobby || 09/20/2010 10:26 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The regulators are bound and determined to regulate the state out financial existence. Throw the public unions in California into the mix and you have a Greek tragedy in the making. The rest of the country will be asked to foot the bill for California's folly.
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/20/2010 16:45 Comments || Top||

#2  When I first heard the prhase " Man caused disaster", I thought of California.
Posted by: notascrename || 09/20/2010 21:44 Comments || Top||

#3  so California Will Move the Goalposts

Mindlessly heading for zero.

Then what?
Posted by: gorb || 09/20/2010 23:07 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
39[untagged]
6Govt of Pakistan
6Hezbollah
4Govt of Iran
2TTP
2al-Qaeda in Arabia
1al-Qaeda in Pakistan
1Govt of Syria
1al-Qaeda in Iraq
1Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
1Palestinian Authority
1Taliban
1Thai Insurgency
1al-Qaeda

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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.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2010-09-20
  ETA offers peace to Spanish govt.
Sun 2010-09-19
  Yemen's Abyan deputy governor survives Qaida assassination attempt
Sat 2010-09-18
  Yemen foils Somali pirates hijack attempt on foreign ship
Fri 2010-09-17
  Pope visit: Five suspected Islamist terrorists arrested over assassination plot
Thu 2010-09-16
  Dronezap waxes 12 bad boyz in North Wazoo
Wed 2010-09-15
  French parliament adopts ban on full-face veil
Tue 2010-09-14
  Dronezaps All Over the Place in North Wazoo
Mon 2010-09-13
  Mexican marines nab narco-jefe "El Grande"
Sun 2010-09-12
  Mexican police neutralize car bomb in Juarez
Sat 2010-09-11
  Nine years
Fri 2010-09-10
  Mogadishu airport comes under attack
Thu 2010-09-09
  9/11 Koran Burning Cancelled
Wed 2010-09-08
  3rd missile strike in Pakistan in 12-hours kills 5 militants
Tue 2010-09-07
  19 killed in Lakki Marwat suicide attack
Mon 2010-09-06
  ETA declares ceasefire


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