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Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Non-WoT        Politix   
Hekmatyar offers truce terms
Today's Headlines
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Britain
Pam Geller has op ed in The Guardian re: Ghailani trial
Below is Geller's conclusion. It's not surprising. What is a surprise is that it is in the Guardian.
They should be tried as the war criminals
illegal combatants actually
that they are, at Guantanamo -- in a military court.
Posted by: lord garth || 11/18/2010 06:02 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I always enjoy the reader's comments at the bottom - so many loonies to laugh at.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 11/18/2010 11:42 Comments || Top||

#2  An op-ed in the Guardian? Well, this should make Charles Johnson's head explode.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 11/18/2010 13:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Well, this should make Charles Johnson's head explode.

confined gases can make spectacular explosions at high pressure
Posted by: Frank G || 11/18/2010 14:46 Comments || Top||

#4  i think Charles may be safe. the internal pressure will be offset by the immense and ongoing constriction of his anal cavity around the outside of his cranium.
Posted by: abu do you love || 11/18/2010 22:39 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Chavez determined to conquer Venezuelan middle class
[El Universal] President Hugo Chavez is determined to conquer Venezuelan middle class, and "all those social strata that have no reason to be enemies of the revolution," he stated on Monday in the award presentation of the Liberator Award to Critical Thought, held at the Ríos Reina auditorium, Teresa Carreño Theater.

Chavez said that the next two years will be crucial to the maintenance and strengthening of his country model. "They are going to be tough (the next two years) because the Yankee empire, its international allies" and also its national allies will do everything they can to overthrow him, he said. "I'm not saying that a coup-d'état is impossible here, I'm just saying that our counterattack is foreseen. Blow against blow," he added.

Moreover, Chavez called to the unity of all "the patriotic, nationalist and conscious currents." And he asked his followers to go ahead and conquer the middle class. "We must go deeper with these popular sectors, to hear those who are disappointed and understand criticism and self-criticism," he recommended.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Moreover, Chavez called to the unity of all "the patriotic, nationalist and conscious currents." And he asked his followers to go ahead and conquer the middle class. "We must go deeper with these popular sectors, to hear those who are disappointed and understand criticism and self-criticism," he recommended.

I have the feeling this looses something in translation.
Posted by: Secret Master || 11/18/2010 0:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Somehow I feel that the middle class will understand this as the threat it is
Posted by: European Conservative || 11/18/2010 0:22 Comments || Top||

#3  Behold, the Obama social justice model.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/18/2010 1:10 Comments || Top||

#4  Wasn't criticism and self-criticism a large part of China's Cultural Revolution? That turned out so well.
Posted by: Gabby || 11/18/2010 12:07 Comments || Top||

#5  Despite the devolution of Venezuela into tinpot dictator status, reaffirming the habit of Latin America to selfdestruct, Venezuela is becomming a major security threat to our interests worldwide. The most recent is the release of information about large used airliners being used for bulk narcotics flights to Africa. Couple this with alliances with the Sandinista, the importation of Cuban intelligence operatives and connections, the non-commercial Iranian airliner flights monthly, and the money laundering activities. This is a major cancer in our hemisphere, and is being ignored, even as it metastisizes in Nicaragua, Equador, and now the tendrils into Coasta Rica and possibly Mexico.
Look south my friends, and see this mess and the Chinese with major assets on the ground (IE Panama Canal for example). Unlike all the previous serious threats where we had an ocean as abuffer, you can get from there to here in a Buick! At least we have a secure, non-porous border between us and them. Oh wait.......
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 11/18/2010 14:02 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Outside View: Facing up to China
Posted by: Jeremiah Flainter9609 || 11/18/2010 21:13 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Economy
TSA's 'Naked Scanners' problem isn't new
[Washington Examiner]
Then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-SD, made a big issue of making sure TSA employees were unionized on a key vote, and that gave the game away. The fans of big government on Capitol Hill had found another of those issues the public strongly supports, which meant cost was no object. In that sort of scenario, politicians are free to load up departments with people who support them and have the public pay their salaries.

Now we have the airlines concerned with safety "protected" by a bureaucracy focused on its own growth and wellbeing. What is happening at the airports should surprise no one. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano informed the public yesterday that it didn't have to use the airlines; we could take some other form of transportation.

That is one description of bureaucrats' Valhalla, a heaven where regulators have fewer and fewer people to regulate, but the same amount of tax money or more to spend on themselves.

All of this could have been avoided by letting the airlines handle security. They had to take over the snow removal desk years ago at O'Hare. This would have put a premium on finding and stopping threats to the system, not frisking grandmothers.

The real issue was not cost for obvious reasons, rather faulty intelligence from the federal government through the FAA. Washington missed the appearance of the boomer despite warnings from an Egyptair crash, along with FBI field agents' worries about Arab students in flight schools, not interesting in learning to land.

Sadly, the lack of response demonstrated typical inertia at headquarters in Washington, which cripples our response to terrorism. The same reluctance to change procedures makes the TSA easy to study and outsmart.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Massachusetts's ObamaCare Light Heap Big Bad Medicine
The highest health insurance costs, the highest medical costs and the fastest rising costs. Massachusetts has them all, thanks to Romney. And they're getting worse.

Meanwhile the Herald reported yesterday that the folks at the beloved Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector created under Romneycare are "cracking down on more than 3,000 residents who are fighting state fines, and has even hired a private law firm to force the health insurance scofflaws to pay penalties of up to $2,000 a year."

Big Brother is watching - and suing - you.

Everything about Romneycare is awful. Until a change in the law this year, it actually incentivized people to go without insurance, or buy a minimalist plan. Then, as Romney's fellow Republican Charlie Baker pointed out, if they get diagnosed with an expensive illness, these people can sign up for top-of-the-line coverage, get their immediate issues addressed, run up a big bill and then drop their insurance and go back to paying the fine for being uninsured.

According to Forbes magazine, these treatments include hospitalization for childbirth or hip replacements. And who was left holding the bag? The "honest" insured, who got stuck with still-higher premiums, and insurance companies like the nonprofit Blue Cross, which is suffering losses under Romneycare.

Forbes also reports that the median annual premium for family plans jumped 10 percent from 2007 to 2009 to $14,300 - both figures much higher than the national average. And if you're a taxpayer, your costs went up even more.

Before Romneycare, you were on the hook for $1 billion for Medicaid and other state health care subsidies. Less than three years later, the taxpayer bill has gone up another $750 million - a 75 percent increase!
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 11/18/2010 10:35 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm paying 400 a month for an individual plan on COBRA and I'd better have it. The illegals got 37 million in freebie emergency room coverage last year. Methadone users on MassHealth got 1.5 million dollars worth of free livery rides to pick up their dose. I probably paid for that too.
And that's probably the tip of the iceberg.
Posted by: tu3031 || 11/18/2010 12:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Obi-Wan Palin, you are our only hope.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 11/18/2010 16:16 Comments || Top||

#3  This is why Mitt Romney, an otherwise decent fellow, will never be President.
Posted by: Steve White || 11/18/2010 16:26 Comments || Top||

#4  Romneycare would have worked or at least not been such a disaster if it had not been amended and amended by the Mass legislature. The latter added mucho mandates, required coverage for all kinds of things, etc.
Posted by: lord garth || 11/18/2010 17:20 Comments || Top||

#5  Are you saying...government f@ks things up?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/18/2010 21:09 Comments || Top||

#6  (Didn't mean to sound the ass, working local and county bs seems a miracle anytime something gets put into place and behaves exactly how it should - off to work on that)
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/18/2010 21:17 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Tireless Efforts to Set off the Lebanese Volcano
Volcanoes dwell under the surface of the earth, and seldom do they move or explode. However,
The infamous However...
when they do so, they take Dire Revenge™ on all what is around them, and over a great distance. They do so with a certain air of 'coldness', despite their extreme heat.

As for the Arab region, the volcano era ended hundreds of years ago, leaving behind nothing but solid, coarse mountains such as Jabal al-Arab in Syria, the Aden mountains, and the renowned Crater district, an area that used to be a crater of an ancient volcano. However,
Another infamous However...
volcanoes in the Arab region have been replaced with other volatile dangers. They are dormant like volcanoes, and explode from time to time, as volcanoes do, and likewise they kill with fire. Yet these dangers are radically different from volcanoes, as they are man-made. We call them wars; tribal wars, sectarian wars, colonial wars, and so on.

We have these man-made volcanoes in Somalia, Yemen, North and South Sudan, and amongst the fighting sects in Leb. They explode, in most cases, within the borders of their own countries, but sometimes they flow over the border, as is the case with Israel's 'volcanoes', which happened to flood in the direction of Leb, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. Man-made volcanoes have other features; for they can sometimes be [externally] controlled, when colonial countries interfere to stir them up, or derive benefits from their 'lava'. We can see evidence of external interference in Sudan, in Darfur, and also in Israel. When the man-made volcano erupts, it is difficult to determine whether it was instigated by a global superpower, a regional country, or by tribal, sectarian and ethnic disputes.

Furthermore, a massive volcanic eruption is sometimes triggered by a small force. These small forces are found on the battlefield, and usually leave behind them dead bodies, pools of blood, widespread destruction, homeless people and starving victims. Yet they are generally backed by much larger powers, which rarely appear on the surface. The only appear in the form of delegations, mediators and representatives. They are seen at high-level conferences, held in elegant halls, where participants exchange threats and menacing messages, using polite words.

If the erupting volcanoes of Somalia, Yemen, and Sudan, have become clear for all to see, then what is going on in Leb now, and these days in particular, deserves to be carefully examined and observed. Volcano experts pay field visits to volcanic zones prior to any expected eruption, to study the volcanic activity, toxic gases, and the ash that is emitted, at temperatures reaching 700 degrees Celsius. Similarly, what is happening in Leb today deserves a close examination by experts, and a careful study of attitudes, statements and threats. Experts should look into the local political situation, where the major actors allow access to some issues, but not others, such as indictments, the International Tribunal, the false witness affair, and Israel's preparations for war.

Furthermore, amidst this festering man-made Lebanese volcano, the memoirs of former US President George W. Bush were published. He explained how he encouraged Israel to wage war on Hezbullies, in the summer of 2006, and how he prevented Israel from ending the war, and forced its duration to be extended. The word "extend" is a very clever diplomatic expression. On the ground, this translated into ferocious air raids, which proved to be most devastating attacks in the war.

Even as a small-time observer, you can deduce that a lot of what is going on now in Leb, has been planned and directed by external powers. This can be seen in current declared positions, escalating challenges, and flagrant diplomatic interventions, made by the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society [Susan Rice], the U.S. Secretary of State [Hillary Clinton],
... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill...
and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, Jeffrey D. Feltman, who specialises in giving audacious statements. The directions given by these external forces are received by local parties, who then try and follow them.

The man-made Lebanese volcano has a local aspect, which is currently being stoked, and also an Israeli aspect, which is being primed to set off a major volcanic eruption. We do not need much evidence in this regard; we can already see the explicit signs:

Firstly, Israel was shaken by the results of the 2006 war, and since then it has launched a campaign to re-train its army. This training encompasses all types of armaments, all kinds of drills, and all sorts of modern weaponry, known as 'smart weapons', on account of their massive destructive capabilities.

Secondly, a French official who visited Israel, and toured the north of Paleostine, alongside the Lebanese border, returned and said that "Israel is now ready to wage war against Leb." He added that "The Israelis informed him that they had completed their military and civilian preparations for war." The French official mentioned an even more alarming piece of news, when he noted that future Israeli Chief of Staff, Gadi Eizenkot, had told him "When the next war breaks out, it must end quickly and forcefully, without paying attention to international public opinion." Why? Because the rate of destruction and killing will be extremely high, and will spark a wave of worldwide protest.

Thirdly, US security magazine, "Defense News", reported that the US administration had decided to store military equipment in Israel, and that this stockpile includes highly accurate air-launch missiles. There is a weapons storage treaty in place, which contains a clause allowing Israel to use those weapons. We should also consider the statement made by current Israeli Chief of Staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, in which he said that "In future wars, Israel will be compelled to use extremely accurate weapons, on a large scale basis." Thus we can interpret that the highly accurate U.S. weapons, which are to be stored in Israel, are the same 'accurate weapons' that Israel will use in the coming war. This suggests that the U.S. is actually preparing Israel for war, as we speak, despite all of Obama's deceptive statements.

Fourthly, the plan to set off the volcano is not only an attack on Leb; Syria has always been a main target. A study carried out by the "Jerusalem Center for Studies and Political Research" showed that Israel would not be able to defend itself, if surrendered the Golan Heights. The study concluded that any settlement with the Paleostinians, with the effect of distancing Israeli troops from the borders of the River Jordan, which are close to the Golan Heights, would effectively turn those borders into a base for potential enemies, including Syria. According to the study, matters become even worse with Syria possessing missiles capable of reaching deep into Israeli territory.

All the aforementioned points indicate that forces are working, on the international and Israeli levels, to set off the Lebanese volcano. The lava would flow towards Syria and beyond, as was the case was in 2005, after the liquidation of martyr Rafiq al-Hariri. The circumstances have changed, but the strategic objective has remained the same.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah



Who's in the News
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2010-11-18
  Hekmatyar offers truce terms
Wed 2010-11-17
  Missile strikes in Waziristan kill 17 20
Tue 2010-11-16
  Stop all settlements and we'll talk: Palestinians
Mon 2010-11-15
  British couple held hostage by pirates freed, reports
Sun 2010-11-14
  Bakri arrested by Leb cops
Sat 2010-11-13
  Fourteen suicide bombers attack Jalalabad airport
Fri 2010-11-12
  Yemen Qaeda Commanders Come through Iran
Thu 2010-11-11
  France Arrests Five Planning Suicide Bombing
Wed 2010-11-10
  Suspect in subway terror sting pleads not guilty
Tue 2010-11-09
  US bans toner, ink cartridges from passenger planes
Mon 2010-11-08
  US missile strikes in Pakistan kill 13
Sun 2010-11-07
  Afghan Taliban threaten death to all talking peace
Sat 2010-11-06
  Al-Qaeda claims parcel bomb plot
Fri 2010-11-05
  Suicide Bomb Kills at least 50 in Mosque in NW and burns lots of Korans
Thu 2010-11-04
  Radical website publishes MP 'death list'


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