doucheness noted, Dems retreat to push less-disgusting candidate?
The Democratic nominee for Illinois lieutenant governor has dropped out of the race less than a week after winning the nomination amid a political uproar about his past.
Scott Lee Cohen announced his decision Sunday night at a Chicago bar. fitting location
The pawn broker and owner of a cleaning supplies company won the nomination Tuesday. Since then, it has become widely know that he was accused of abusing his ex-wife and holding a knife to the throat of an ex-girlfriend. Cohen's Motto: "Family Values"
The girlfriend herself had been charged with prostitution. He also admits using steroids in the past.
Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, who would have been paired with Cohen on the November ticket, U.S. Rep. Danny Davis and Sen. Dick Durbin all had urged Cohen to leave the race. "please"
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/07/2010
20:44 ||
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#1
"he was accused of abusing his ex-wife and holding a knife to the throat of an ex-girlfriend"
So this was a secret until after he got the nomination?
Who ratted him? More importantly, since this sounds like actions the police would have been called for, why didn't the media investigate the candidates' backgrounds and find this out before the primary? In the tank for the Dems, I know. But what changed?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/07/2010 21:09
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#2
..and holding a knife to the throat of an ex-girlfriend.
I thought cut-throat politics was what it is all about in IL. You know the Chicago way. Girlfriend should have been packing heat, in a Colt way too.
Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, accused of masterminding the Mumbai attacks, said the only solution to problems between India and Pakistan is the "liberation of Jammu and Kashmir, failing which radical groups would resort to the "option of jihad".
He also warned India that the liberation of the erstwhile state of Hyderabad was also on the JuD's agenda.
Addressing a gathering of about 10,000 people at the Mall Road here to mark 'Kashmir Solidarity Day', Saeed said this is the message he would convey to Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram if he came to Lahore during his upcoming visit to Pakistan.
"We are not against composite dialogues. I ask Chidambaram to first come to Lahore before going to Islamabad and hold talks with me. I will tell him a solid solution to the problems between India and Pakistan," said Saeed, accused by India of masterminding the Mumbai attacks.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/07/2010
17:19 ||
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#1
since Hyderabad is in the middle of India that would be interesting if it were to switch sides. East Pakistan had enough troubles not being directly connected to West Pakistan, this would be strategically far worse.
#3
he liberation of the erstwhile state of Hyderabad...
There's ALWAYS just one more thing. I think the Indians realize this, but it's good to keep in mind here when the apologists trot out their lines ("If *only* they would do thus and such, there would be no more jihad...") *SPIT*
After that, the Pakistan as envisioned by the man who actually coined the name - Choudhary Rahmat Ali...
Rehmat Alis concept of Pakistan was nebulous, impractical and fantasy-ridden. It was to include the entire northwest of India, Kashmir, the Kathiawar peninsula, Kutch, and several enclaves deep within UP, including Delhi and Lucknow. There were to be two independent Muslim states besides Pakistan: Bangistan comprising Bengal and Assam in the east and Osmanistan in the south. These two were to form a federation with Pakistan. The 243 principalities or Rajwaras were to be divided among caste Hindus and others and then herded together in a ghetto called Hanoodia. As for the Sikhs, they were to be pushed into an enclave called Sikhia. Other races and religions were to inhabit an encampment by the name of Hanadika. Every non-Muslim was to remain subservient to the master race he called The Paks. And yes, the subcontinent was to be renamed Dinia. He did not say how he was going to bring all that about.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/07/2010 18:40
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#5
Since India has accused Hafiz Mohammad Saeed of masterminding the Mumbai attacks and Pakiwakiland won't turn him over.... why doesn't India make an example of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed with an ending that denies him all those virgins...
#7
DAILY TIMES.PK > TALIBAN "DIG IN" AGZ BIG ASSAULT.
WORLD MIL HISTORY > typically, poorly-trained Militants are be no match for professional military or even paramilitary forces. IMO THE TALIBS + ALIGNED ARE MORE LIKELY TO "SHOOT-N-SCOOT" ONCE THIS OFFENSIVE BEGINS - they will suffer some combat casualties, but mostly will attempt to intentionally withdraw/fall back into regions of neighboring sovereign countries, + resume AFPAK fight again later.
REAL QUESTION > HOW MIL SECURE [porous] ARE THE BORDERS OF RUSSIA, CHINA, + INDJUH TO COVERT MILTERR PENETRATION??? E.g. CHINA > was repor sending more PLA Army-Police forces to XINJIANG in part as BLOCKING FORCE AGZ CROSS-BORDER INFILTRATION FROM AFPAK.
#1
How many people died at Three Mile Island? The Luddites usually ignore deaths and injuries in the creation of energy in more traditional venues. Oh, and 'safe' solar energy - how many die every year from sun exposure skin cancers? These energy related employees make modern civilization possible. My thanks and condolences to their families.
It's not often you have an article on the internet that is so dumb it is actually fiskable, but then this is AP...
Disclosure: My lovely bride is Chinese and she tells me the Chinese government versus Google kerfuffle is due in large part to an ongoing anti on-line pr0n campaign by the Chinese government.
Google has been warned to rein in online pr0n.
Google's accusation that its e-mail accounts were hacked from China landed like a bombshell because it cast light on a problem few companies will discuss: the pervasive threat from China-based cyberattacks. The Chinese government has repeatedly denied the government is the source of the attack.
The hacking that angered Google Inc. and hit dozens of other businesses adds to growing concern that China is a center for a global explosion of Internet crimes, part of a rash of attacks aimed at a wide array of targets, from a British military contractor to banks and chemical companies to a California software-maker. Rantburg's last attack, guess what percentage came from China? About 11 percent. The largest percentage? The from good old USA. Internet crime is pervasive everywhere, not just on China, but everywhere.
The government denies it is involved, and it reiterated that last week. Speaking in Paris, China's foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, said China itself "is the victim of pirate attacks" and the international community must fight the phenomenon together. I believe the Chinese government.
But experts say the highly skilled attacks suggest the Chinese military, a leader in cyberwarfare research, or other government agencies might be breaking into computers to steal technology and trade secrets to help state companies. They probably are doing it, just like every other government on earth. It's called espionage.
"Chinese hacking activity is significant in quantity and quality," said Sami Saydjari, president of the consulting firm Cyber Defense Agency and a former U.S. National Security Agency official.
Officials in the U.S., Germany and Britain say hackers linked to China's military have broken into government and defense systems. But attacks on commercial systems receive less attention because victims rarely come forward, possibly for fear it might erode trust in their businesses. A dirty little Internet security secret. There is very little you can do to prevent a break-in. You can only hope to detect and manage the aftermath.
Google was the exception when it announced Jan. 12 that attacks hit it and at least 20 other companies. Google says it has "conclusive evidence" the attacks came from China but declined to say whether the government was involved. Google declined to say because the Chinese government probably wasn't involved.
Google cited the attacks and attempts to snoop on dissidents in announcing that it would stop censoring results on its China-based search engine and leave the country if the government does not loosen restrictions.
Only two other companies have disclosed they were targets in that attack -- software-maker Adobe Systems Inc. and Rackspace Inc., a Web hosting service. Racksoace probably hosts a fair amoiunt of hacked computers which are abandoned.
Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at Finnish security software-maker F-Secure Corp., said his company has detected about two dozen attacks originating from China each month since 2005.
"There must be much more that go completely undetected," he said. If there are more than are detected, you're already pwned.
Hypponen said a large British military contractor with which his company worked discovered last year that information had leaked for 18 months from one of its computers to an Internet address in the Chinese territory of Hong Kong. He said similar attacks on military contractors were found in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland. Decided to read the outbound http requests didja?
Saydjari said other researchers have told him of dozens of U.S. companies that have been attacked from China but said he could not disclose their names or other details.
A key source of the skills required might be the military. China's army supports hacker hobby clubs with as many as 100,000 members to develop a pool of possible recruits, according to Saydjari.
#2
Ok, mods. I have to call foul on why 3 posts I attempted late (Friday?) night were never added. I had interspersed my posts with highlighted commentary, appropriately placed, and chose to label them 'opinion'.
All 3 never showed up. 2 of the 3 were pretty darned important to politics and awareness and were in no way 'fluff' articles. In fact, they were important, little-exposed public documents published by our government.
Losing faith, I am. (at least Bama has another loss...Colts)
If mods want my email, I'll happily provide it. Show me how w/o posting it publicly.
#3
logi_cal, I am usually not on the Burg late in the day so I'm not sure what happened in this case. However, if you submitted these articles close to midnight Eastern (Fred's) time, it's possible they weren't noticed. Submissions that come in after late evening are usually reset to publish when the Burg rolls over at midnight. That reset has to be done manually by a mod. If your articles came in after the mods queued up the ones for the new day they might not have been noticed / reset. In that case they would end up in limbo, I think.
Just one possibility ....
Note also that not every submission is published. Sometimes we get duplicates. Sometimes articles are judged to be not quite a good fit here. But that's the exception, not the common event. I'm guessing yours fell through the cracks due to the late hour at which you submitted them.
#4
Rantburg's last attack, guess what percentage came from China? About 11 percent.
If you are wrangling a bot net, the attacks are going to come from someplace with a lot of computers, like the U.S. That says nothing about who is controlling it.
A SENIOR official at Amnesty International has accused the charity of putting the human rights of Al-Qaeda terror suspects above those of their victims.
Gita Sahgal, head of the gender unit at Amnesty's international secretariat, believes that collaborating with Moazzam Begg, a former British inmate at Guantanamo Bay, "fundamentally damages" the organisation's reputation.
In an email sent to Amnesty's top bosses, she suggests the charity has mistakenly allied itself with Begg and his "jihadi" group, Cageprisoners, out of fear of being branded racist and Islamophobic.
Sahgal describes Begg as "Britain's most famous supporter of the Taliban". He has championed the rights of jailed Al-Qaeda members and hate preachers, including Anwar al-Awlaki, the alleged spiritual mentor of the Christmas Day Detroit plane bomber.
#1
You'll note that even in the midst of sniveling that he is being persecuted, he plays the political martyrdom card. I'm almost surprised that he doesn't blame "racism", in that he is at least 1/1056 percent black.
He needs to tell it to the judge, after being read his rights.
"You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence."
#6
Only thought about it in terms of how others would react. Truly self centered. The fact that this POS is still sucking up my air is prove of cowardice. Loser.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
02/07/2010 17:43
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#7
If he'd rather die, then perhaps he should, and decrease the surplus population.
That's not mine, its Dickens'
But its just as true today as it was back then.
#17
Pete Townsend has a new gig as an actor. He played a leading role in an episode of a Brit TV drama called Dangerous Davies. He was pretty good as well.
#4
Radical Islam is gener trying to destabilize + cut off the whole of CENTRAL-EAST-SOUTH ASIA as base for their so-called OWG CALIPHATE = GLOBAL ISLAMIST-JIHADIST STATE; or in the altern large NUCLEARiZED enclaves from same - iff the US doesn't know it already, they should by now.
Also read, ISLAMIST CONTROL OF ASIA'S NUKES = FUTURE POST-US ISLAMIST NUC ASIA = CALIPHATE.
MILPOL-NUKE DIALECTICISM = NUKE PRAGMATISM > DEV YOUR OWN, + ANDOR GET CONTROL OF SOMEONE ELSE'S.
KATHMANDU: Twelve years after Mirza Dilshad Beg, a controversial and powerful Nepali MP with links with Dawood Ibrahim and the ISI, was gunned down on a public road in Kathmandu by a rival gang, a Nepali media baron, also rumoured to have the same connexions, shared the same fate.
Jamim Shah, a Nepali of Kashmiri origin who headed the Space Time Network, was gunned down in broad daylight near the French Embassy in Kathmandu's crowded Lazimpat area on Sunday, close to the Indian and British Embassies. Police told TNN two masked men on a motorcycle fired at Shah's car around 2.55 pm, hitting both him and his chauffeur, Mathura Man Malakar. Shah, in his 40s, was shot in the chest and died while being treated at the nearby Teaching Hospital. Malakar has been hit in his left thigh.
Though police were informed about the number of the motorcycle, no arrests had been made till the time of writing this report. Shah ran the Channel Nepal television station that in 2000 instigated anti-India riots when it falsely reported Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan as saying that he hated Nepalis. Four people died in the violence that followed and scores of Indian shops and businesses came under attack. Though the channel was banned for some time, it was lifted once the furore receded.
Shah also ran a newspaper, Space Time, that carried anti-India propaganda. In 2004, he came under the ire of the Indian government who asked Nepal to freeze the assets of Space Time Network, alleging that it was funded by Dawood. Shah is also believed to have had ISI links. However, he had stoutly denied both allegations.
Shah's killing comes after the arrest of Yunus Ansari, son of former Nepal minister Salim Miya Ansari. Ansari was caught recently after Nepal police busted a fake Indian currency network that ran from Karachi. Yunus Ansari is currently behind bars.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/07/2010
09:27 ||
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How far will it go? That stage set in Denver made me think about classical history, specifically Rome, and even more specifically Caligula, who became convinced he was a god:
In AD 40 Caligula began appearing in public dressed as various gods and demigods such as Hercules, Mercury, Venus and Apollo.
I'm not saying it will come to pass in exactly that way, and that Obama will declare himself to be a deity. In fact, I'll even go on record as saying he won't. Nevertheless, something is very wrong with this man, and it is growing stronger every day.
#3
I have been lectured in this forum for comparing our White House Wizzard to Emperor Gaius. Others seem to have arrived at the same conclusion however.
Redneck Jim, you're skating really close to being banned. There are very few things that get people banned here. One of them is repeated race baiting of the not so subtle sort you're indulging in.
#1
Muslims in Europe and America are watching what is happening to Muslims in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan, and they will take revenge for all Muslims across the globe.
#2
Like I have said so many times before. This guy deserves to be in the cross hairs of my scope. He belches hate, he can see no difference between military and civ target, he want to destroy our constitution and way of life. For that he is an enemy of our nation and deserves to die...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
02/07/2010 16:22
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#3
TOPIX/WOLRD NEWS > [Breaking]CBS NEWS:ANWAR AL-AWLAKI ORDERED ABDULMUTTALAB ATTACK ON DETROIT AIRLINER.
The world's first Swiss Army knife' has been revealed - made 1,800 years before its modern counterpart. An intricately designed Roman implement, which dates back to 200AD, it is made from silver but has an iron blade. It features a spoon, fork as well as a retractable spike, spatula and small tooth-pick.
Experts believe the spike may have been used by the Romans to extract meat from snails.
The 3in x 6in (8cm x 15cm) knife was excavated from the Mediterranean area more than 20 years ago and was obtained by the museum in 1991.
The unique item is among dozens of artefacts exhibited in a newly refurbished Greek and Roman antiquities gallery at the Fitzwilliam Museum, in Cambridge. I smell Piltdown Man and a rush of visitors to the FitzWilliam Museum, but look at the pictures at the link and you decide.
#3
I have a problem with this artifact because it has a fork. Forks were not used until several centuries after this artifact is said to have been produced. Forks were used primarily by royalty and the aristocracy and were not brought to Italy until much later:
in the 11th Century, a Byzantine wife of a Doge of Venice brought forks to Italy. The Italians, however, were slow to adopt their use. It was not until the 16th Century that forks were widely adopted in Italy.
This artifact, by having a fork, would be at least a thousand years "newer" than it is reported to be.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/07/2010 15:46
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#5
Crosspatch,
Read the reader's comments to the original article. Apparently the Egyptian were using the fork long before the Romans. The fork was one of many things that was forgotten during the dark ages.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
02/07/2010 17:10
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#6
"Meat from snails" > D *** NG IT, there goes FRANCE's argument out the window that ROME = JULIUS CAESAR, etc. are to blame for their Escargot dishes.
#7
"Apparently the Egyptian were using the fork long before the Romans. The fork was one of many things that was forgotten during the dark ages."
Yeah, but that can't be the case as we would have turned up forks in archeological digs from before 535AD. We don't. So far there are no Roman forks that predate the Dark Ages save this one that I am aware of.
The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling My Way' in karaoke bars over the years in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fueled. But the news media have recorded at least half a dozen victims in the past decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the My Way Killings.'
The killings have produced urban legends about the song and left Filipinos groping for answers. Are the killings the natural byproduct of the country's culture of violence, drinking and machismo? Or is there something inherently sinister in the song?
Whatever the reason, many karaoke bars have removed the song from their playbooks. And the country's many Sinatra lovers, like Mr. Gregorio here in this city in the southernmost Philippines, are practicing self-censorship out of perceived self-preservation.
Karaoke-related killings are not limited to the Philippines. In the past two years alone, a Malaysian man was fatally stabbed for hogging the microphone at a bar and a Thai man killed eight of his neighbors in a rage after they sang John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Roads.' Karaoke-related assaults have also occurred in the United States, including at a Seattle bar where a woman punched a man for singing Coldplay's Yellow' after criticizing his version.
Still, the odds of getting killed during karaoke may be higher in the Philippines, if only because of the ubiquity of the pastime....And Filipinos, who pride themselves on their singing, may have a lower tolerance for bad singers.
Indeed, most of the My Way' killings have reportedly occurred after the singer sang out of tune, causing other patrons to laugh or jeer....
Posted by: Mike ||
02/07/2010
07:47 ||
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#2
"My Way" has something unique about it. It was noted that many years ago in the US, there was a very popular national radio talent show, which ran for years, but every single contestant on the show who sang "My Way", won.
There have been a few other song phenomena, such as "Gloomy Sunday", which in the 1930s was alleged to have resulted in many suicides (though little evidence exists today, as suicide was seen as shameful, so was not reported as such, as a rule, in the newspapers.)
And I'm sure many people have very deep feelings about songs like, "Don't Worry - Be Happy", that either makes them want to hurt and kill, or at least think they are developing a brain tumor.
#3
I can definitely see wanting to kill if someone sings John Denver. As a veteran of Asian karaoke, if anyone puts on Hotel California it's going to be a "Kill Bill"-style massacre with the singer, his friends, the karaoke girls, the songs computer, and any other bystanders getting slaughtered with great malice...and I'd get off at a jury trial with justifiable homicide...
#6
Early on in the WoT, an unnamed CIA agent remarked that there was a foreign enemy combatant holding site nicknamed The Hotel California. He said there were some particularly nasty elements to the place that put a whole different, and grotesque, complexion on the lyrics.
from 2011 to 2020, the administration projects total federal spending of $45.8 trillion against taxes and receipts of $37.3 trillion. The $8.5 trillion deficit is almost a fifth of spending. In the last year (2020), the gap is $1 trillion, again approaching a fifth: spending is $5.7 trillion, taxes $4.7 trillion. All amounts assume a full economic recovery. The message: there's a huge mismatch between Americans' desire for high government services and low taxes.
Second, almost $20 trillion of the $45.8 trillion of spending involves three programsSocial Security, Medicare (health insurance for those 65 and over), and Medicaid (health insurance for the poor). The message: the budget is mainly a vehicle for transferring income to retirees from workers, who pay most taxes. As more baby boomers retire in the 2020s, deficits will grow.
Third, there is no way to close the massive deficits without big cuts in existing government programs or stupendous tax increases. Suppose we decided to cover all future deficits by raising taxes. Taxes would rise in the 2020s by roughly 50 percent from the average 19702009 tax burden.
#3
Now read the Foxnews.com exclusive on the oversized WFP budget for Afghanistan, with the US paying 47% of their budget. It ain't gonna happen--better get prepared for massive social unrest. I just hope any stringing up at the lampposts target those really responsible, who will remain namelsess for the sake of RB, although we all know who I'm thinking of.
WAFF > COME HOME UKRAINE|UKRAINED ELECTIONS CARRY GLOBAL RAMIFICATIONS [Potential Elex of PRO-RUSSIA,PRO-RUSS LANGUAGE-CULTURE Prez Candidate Victor Yanukovich opens the door for GREAT RUSS INFLUENCE IFF NOT DOMINATION OF THE EU VIA UKRAINE]???
HMMMM, HMMMM, MUSLIM TURKEY vs. COMMIES-FOR-FASCISM-FOR-COMUNISM RUSSIA.
Read, [anti-US?]COMMIE, ISLAMIC COLLUSION ONA LARGER GEOPOL = MULTI-NATION LEVEL???
India's longest range nuclear-capable Agni-III was successfully test-fired from the Wheeler Island, off the Orissa coast on Sunday.
The more than 3,500-km range home-grown ballistic missile, believed to be most lethal of the weapon systems developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientists, was test-fired at 10.50 hrs and covered the pre-designated range with 100 per cent accuracy, top officials told The Hindu from Wheeler Island soon after the successful launch.
The solid-propelled, two-stage missile can carry nuclear warheads weighing up to 1.5 tonnes. It is 17 metres tall and has a launch weight of 50 tonnes with a two-metre diameter.
When contacted, V.K. Saraswat, Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister and Director-General, DRDO, said it was a fantastic launch and a "hat-trick for Agni-III with three successes". The trajectory went perfectly according to plan till the last decimal place, he said. "It gave us full range and pinpoint accuracy," he added.
Avinash Chander, Agni-III mission director, called it a "perfect success", stating that all the mission objectives were met. Chander, also the Director of Advanced Systems Laboratory - which designed and developed the Agni-III - said all the events listed in the launch were executed with accuracy and described it as a "thrilling experience".
A. Sivathanu Pillai, CEO and MD, BrahMos Aerospace, called the success an "important milestone for the country. It will lead to induction of the missile". The success would bring credit to DRDO scientists, he said.
W. Selvamurthy, Chief Controller, Life Sciences and Human Resources, DRDO also termed it as an "important milestone in developing the country's defence and developing the second strike capability. The flight proved the robustbness of all the systems and software".
With the third consecutive success of Agni-III, he said "it is now a proven missile. It is a big morale booster for our missile scientists and institutions", he observed.
A top DRDO missile technologist said the mission was a "good success and the trajectory of the flight was excellent. Everything worked well, including all payload systems", he added.
Even though the missile did not carry a live warhead, its nuclear triggering mechanism worked well. Instead of a nuclear warhead, it carried chemical explosives, the missile technologist added.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/07/2010
07:17 ||
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Posted by: john frum ||
02/07/2010 7:26
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#2
Some more tests scheduled:
K-15 missile
The coming weeks/months will be hectic for the DRDO with one more launch of K-15 missile this month from a submerged pontoon off the coast of Visakhapatnam. The pontoon will simulate the conditions of a submarine. K-15 had been launched earlier from submerged pontoons, but this is a different version. The first version, called Mark-1, is being fitted into the indigenously built nuclear-powered submarine named Arihant.
After the K-15 missile clears the water medium, it climbs 20 km into the air and can destroy targets 700 km away. The missile forms part of the DRDOs Sagarika project.
Shourya, which is the land-version of the underwater-launched K-15 missile, will have its second flight around June from the Integrated Test Range at Balasore, Orissa.
The fourth flight of Indias interceptor missile, which can knock out adversarial ballistic missiles at an altitude of 130 km, is scheduled for September. The DRDO has already scored a hat-trick with three of its interceptor missiles confronting incoming enemy ballistic missiles in a hit-to-kill mode.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/07/2010 7:43
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#3
NEWS KERALA > IRANIAN FM MOTTAKI: AFGHAN/TALIBAN EXTREMISM WILL SPREAD TO INDIA [ + CENTRAL ASIA].
SECOND BRANCH OF ABOVESSAME > will spread to ARAB STATES = rest of MUSLIM WORLD due to arrogant reckless AMER INTERVENTION = US-SPECIFIC UNILATERAL INTERFERENCE IN MUSLIM, COUNTRY, REGIONAL AFFAIRS where it isn't wanted.
After the worst military base massacre in U.S. history, officials acknowledged that they failed to "connect the dots" -- the shooter had been corresponding with an imam tied to al-Qaeda and had condemned the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as a war against Islam. But Fort Hood gunman Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan wasn't the only one working on a Texas Army base the day of the shooting who had links to radical Islamists.
At Fort Bliss, an experienced military trainer was teaching soldiers about his Muslim faith. He, too, had denounced government counterterrorism efforts, and public records show he and some of his closest associates had ties to terrorism suspects. But when The Dallas Morning News first inquired about the instructor, Louay Safi, military officials praised him. Only later did they say that Safi had been suspended from working on military bases pending a continuing criminal inquiry.
Safi is a senior official of the Islamic Society of North America, the country's largest Muslim organization. ISNA has been consulted for years by Washington and is described as a partner in the fight against terrorism. In addition to serving as ISNA's communications director, Safi runs its program certifying Muslim chaplains for work in the U.S. military and prison system. He publicly denounces terrorism and advocates peace.
Safi was also named by government prosecutors as an unindicted co-conspirator in one terrorism case in 2005. His last two employers were implicated in other government terrorism investigations while he worked for them. He was never charged, nor included among the targets of those investigations. But Safi has called the widespread raids on Muslim organizations after 9/11 "a campaign against Islam" -- a term that 9/11 Commission director Philip Zelikow says is part of "the jihadi narrative."
Safi has also complained that Muslims are treated differently from Christians and Jews when they do wrong. They are unfairly identified by and questioned about their religion, he says, treatment that can lead to isolation and aggression. "The extremist ideology responsible for violent outbursts is often rooted in the systematic demonization of marginalized groups," Safi said in an Internet posting after the Fort Hood shooting.
Some view Safi's rhetoric as incendiary. Zuhdi Jasser is a Navy veteran who founded the American Islamic Forum for Democracy and has spoken publicly about the dangers of politicizing Islam. He said Safi's "separatist mindset of the world against Muslims" is the "mindset that created Hasan."
Safi would not answer most questions from The News. But in a brief interview, he said the legal assaults on him and his associates even as Washington sought their advice represented the government's divided approach to Islam. "There are those who are prejudiced and would like to deny Muslims their rightful place in this country," Safi said, "and there are people who are more open-minded. It's as simple as that."
Safi's case, however, is anything but simple. It illustrates not only the divisions in dealing with Islam but also the difficulty in knowing which dots to connect. "You have a schizophrenic government and a schizophrenic institution," Zelikow said, referring to ISNA. "The schizophrenia cuts right into how the government views the whole Fort Hood affair. We don't know whether to treat him [Hasan] as part of an international conspiracy or as a lone wolf who happened to have gotten solace from a radical imam." Much, much more at link. Well worth reading.
#1
You have a field commander over ruled for making obvious what any middle grade officer and NCO knew for years of females exploiting pregnancy to avoid hard and hazardous duty. Given that for thousands of years, soldiers who used a self inflicted wound to achieve the same avoidance have faced severe punishment or death.
You have the PC attitude demonstrated in dealing with Muslims who have clearly shown behaviors that pose a threat.
Now they want to change DADT. The PC attitude that corrupts the senior officer corps will insure that acts of adultery, sexual harassment, and fraternization that get straights punished and kicked out will get gays a 'look the other way' treatment as well. We're about to destroy small unit integrity. Anyone who was in the Army during the end of the Vietnam era and just afterward, knows the destructive and corrosive effect of the loss of small unit integrity. It took years to rebuild.
And the common thread is the political corruption of the senior officer corps to be handmaidens to PC whims rather than have the integrity to resign or retire to acts one knows will undermine good order and discipline.
#3
How to handle Islamists: Well know from the leader of the enemy that Islam respects the strong horse, so perhaps we should not act weak at every opportunity hoping to ingratiate ourselves.
We should also make it clear that since people keep telling us that Jihadists are not acting in the name of Islam that we will not treat them with the respect due of true Muslims and stop coddling their every need.
#4
Compare wid DAILY TIMES.PK > HILLARY: AL QAEDA THREAT TO US GRAVER THAN NUCLEAR IRAN. AQ = symbolic of NON-TRADITIONAL ORGANZ STATE OR GROUP TERROR NETWORKS.
* NOT-AN-INTERNATIONALLY-RECOGNIZED-SOVEREIGN-COUNTRY/POLITY
* Dozens, 00's, to FEW 000's of armed Militants, $$$ Suppors per Group.
* NUKE, WMD-ARMED, OR HAS RELIABLE ACCESS TO SAME VIA OTHER GROUPS, TO INCLUD ADVANCED MILSYS = C4ISR, etc.
IOW, THEIR MULTIPLE WIVES, CHILDREN, LOW-TECH TENTS + CAMELS, ETC. ARE PARKED OUTSIDE THEIR SPACE/HI-TECHY, AIR-CONDITIONED, "READY" NUCLEAR MISSLE STATIONS OR COMBAT TRAILERS???
#5
As for MAJOR HASAN, to paraphrase various NETTERS.POSTERS > IFF THE CIA CAN ALLOW ITS EMPLOYEES-AGENTS TO "MOONLIGHT", WHY NOT THE FBI, ATF, + USDOD, etc Fed Agencies.
E.g. IFF MAFIA = "LEGAL" CRIME = FELONY-PENAL CRIME(S) = MALICES AFORETHOUGHT COMMITTED + PROTECTED WIDIN PUBLIC LAW + BUREACRACY, WHY NOT "LEGAL" TREASON, OR ANYTHING ELSE???
DADT, Pregnant Women, Alcoholics, and Muslims. Did I mention Alcoholics? Re-read that: Alcoholics. That is not a typo. Because if the military has to send you to "rehab" because you can't function you can be gone from your unit for weeks and/or months. Like a mini-vacay or almost like a trimester of being pregnant. One virulent alcoholic in my last and final duty station was away for I think two months between leave and rehabbing it? Not that he was ever really "there" even when he was.
Notice anything? They all want more back than what they give. (Thats not even including any threat they pose to themselves and others) How will Officers hopefully combat the PC problem? Simple. Use tools at their disposal. That being vigilance. Knowing your co-workers. Knowing how they think, act, and not just what they say. Sun Tzu kind of stuff. Counseling/ merit/ performance reviews/ JAG/ OERS, etc. If Officers want to boot somebody guaranteed they can do it if they are tacticians worth their salt. (Many are, many arent)By the same token if someone wants out bad enough, they can find a way out. It just calls for vigilance. There is a reg for everything. Everyone makes mistakes minor and some make major ones. Magnify the mistakes, build a case, get them out of commission. I have a very Machiavellian view of the Military because I served and being female, had to maneuover around some b.s. to survive. BTW, I completed my entire contract and left when it expired because I didn't want to re-up. Alot of stuff going on in the service would make you sit up and take notice. They are breaking Regs all over the place.
Posted by: Ulinegum Dark Lord of the Munchkins9474 ||
02/07/2010 23:15
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This two paragraph book review, of From Fatwa to Jihad: The Rushdie Affair and its Legacy by Kenan Malik, seemed appropriate for the Opinion page
When Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against Salman Rushdie in 1989, he didn't want only the author of The Satanic Verses killed -- he pronounced that: "All those involved in its publication who were aware of its contents are sentenced to death." Even this wasn't cause enough for the then Conservative government to denounce the fatwa. Instead, from Geoffrey Howe to William Waldegrave to Margaret Thatcher herself, statements of sympathy were proffered towards those who may have felt that their religious sensibilities had been offended.
The legacy of the incident is the current fearfulness of any expression that may insult Islam, coupled with a contrasting suspicion or fear of Islam itself. The situation is worsened by multiculturalism, which has created a tribal feeling among different faiths and races, says Malik, who agrees with Amartya Sen that what we actually have is not multiculturalism but "plural monoculturalism".
An terrorist insurgent killed during in a sustained exchange of gunfire with a combined force of provincial rangers and soldiers in the violence-plagued southern province of Narathiwat on Saturday was involved in attacking a school bus and army bases in the past.
Thirty-five-year-old Korseng Ahamad, a leading member of the Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) terror insurgent group which operates in the restive South, was shot dead while five other jihadis militants were able to withdraw after combined government forces attacked their makeshift shelter on a mountain in Ruso district. One of the escaping jihadis militants was wounded, officials said.
According to the authorities, Mr. Korseng was a suspect in attacking on a school bus, raiding a ranger camp at which three rangers were wounded and assaulting army bases in the area several times in the past. Soldiers, rangers and tracking dogs are now searching for the five terrorists insurgents who escaped during the attack.
Every political community includes some members who insist that their side has all the answers and that their adversaries are idiots. But American liberals, to a degree far surpassing conservatives, appear committed to the proposition that their views are correct, self-evident, and based on fact and reason, while conservative positions are not just wrong but illegitimate, ideological and unworthy of serious consideration. Indeed, all the appeals to bipartisanship notwithstanding, President Obama and other leading liberal voices have joined in a chorus of intellectual condescension. I'm not sure why we need read past this point.
It's an odd time for liberals to feel smug. But even with Democratic fortunes on the wane, leading liberals insist that they have almost nothing to learn from conservatives. Many Democrats describe their troubles simply as a PR challenge, a combination of conservative misinformation - as when Obama charges that critics of health-care reform are peddling fake fears of a "Bolshevik plot" - and the country's failure to grasp great liberal accomplishments. "We were so busy just getting stuff done...that I think we lost some of that sense of speaking directly to the American people about what their core values are," the president told ABC's George Stephanopoulos in a recent interview. The benighted public is either uncomprehending or deliberately misinformed (by conservatives). Yass, it's just a PR challenge!
Liberals have dismissed conservative thinking for decades, a tendency encapsulated by Lionel Trilling's 1950 remark that conservatives do not "express themselves in ideas but only in action or in irritable mental gestures which seek to resemble ideas." During the 1950s and '60s, liberals trivialized the nascent conservative movement. Prominent studies and journalistic accounts of right-wing politics at the time stressed paranoia, intolerance and insecurity, rendering conservative thought more a psychiatric disorder than a rival.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/07/2010
06:48 ||
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With the 2010 elections in the fall the adolescents will be voted out of office and the Adults will take over again. Trust no voter under the age of 35 - still in their extended adolescence
#2
Because they are not Libs. Classical liberals believed in equal opportunity not equal outcome. Classical liberals recognized the sanctity of private property. Classical liberals just didn't mouth the concept of equality but practiced it. These are Socialist. They are very effective making everyone else avoid using that term because they know if they revealed their true selves their power would significantly diminish. Now Socialist believe in a superior ruling class. They are that superior caste. Why shouldn't they be condescending? /rhet question.
#4
I am Democratic, that said, I am NOT "A" Democrat.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/07/2010 12:12
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#5
Progressive is actually a better term. Classic Progressivism is NOT democratic. It posits a belief in the "perfection" of humanity as imposed by a select wise elite. Not surprisingly early progressives were much enamored by fascism. They still are, but will obfuscate or hide these views.
The attitude that "we're better than you" and "we know what's best for society" is a fundamental part of progressive belief.
Sarah Palin chose a gathering of tea party activists on Saturday as the backdrop for her first major political speech since accepting the Republican Party's nomination for vice president 18 months ago. With her remarks, greeted with wild enthusiasm here and carried live by all three major cable news networks, Palin moved firmly to reestablish herself as a politician capable of national office.
She bounded onstage to cries of "run, Sarah, run" and then delivered a stinging rebuke of President Obama while striking a populist, even folksy tone. Serving up fiery rhetoric with a broad smile, she attacked the administration's policies on the economy and on national security, assailing in particular the decision to read Miranda rights to the man accused of attempting to bomb a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day.
"Treating this like a mere law enforcement matter places our country at great risk because that's not how radical Islamic extremists are looking at this," Palin said to thunderous applause. "They know we're at war, and to win that war we need a commander in chief, not a professor of law standing at the lectern."
In a 40-minute speech at the inaugural National Tea Party Convention, she embraced the grass-roots movement of disaffected conservatives, calling it "ours," and said that "America is ready for another revolution." She called the country's national debt a "generational theft," adding that "many of us have had enough."
She pointed to GOP victories in New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts as evidence of voter unrest, and she said in response to a question that the Republican Party "would be really smart to try to absorb" as much of the tea party movement as possible.
By delivering a paid keynote address at a convention other politicians had avoided because of allegations of profiteering, Palin displayed one of the traits that has electrified her anti-establishment followers: a talent for persistently and defiantly flouting the conventional rules of politics. Huh? Several paragraphs later -
She was reportedly paid a $100,000 speaking fee, and she told attendees Saturday that she will return the money "to the cause."
Yet the movement shuns any semblance of political elitism. And although many activists here embrace Palin as a spokeswoman, they are deeply divided over whether they want her as their leader - or whether they want any leader at all.
Palin understands this. "I caution against allowing this movement to be defined by any one leader or any one politician," she said Saturday night. "The tea party movement is not a top-down operation. It's a ground-up call to action... This is about the people, and it's bigger than any king or queen of the tea party, and it's a lot bigger than any charismatic guy with a teleprompter."
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/07/2010
06:28 ||
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#1
I do like her charm and wit, but she needs to be a cabinet official in a new administration before she runs for Pres. She certainly wouldn't get the kid gloves treatment by the press which the Kid in Chief got.
#4
I say the "clean-up" is in Washington, not aisle 2. I've venture he'd receive no challenge in a face off. It is what it is. Let the man speak his mind freely.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/07/2010 12:11
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#7
I do NOT want to see Palin run for president in 2012. Although she's more qualified that Obama to be president (I mean who isn't), I don't think she can win. Between the (continuing) hatchet job the media will do and sabotage by supposed "allies" in the GOP she'd end up losing. And this country will not survive eight years of an Obama administration.
Redneck Jim, you're skating really close to being banned. There are very few things that get people banned here. One of them is repeated race baiting of the not so subtle sort you're indulging in.
Enough.
And Besoeker coy little periphrases around racist language are out of bounds at Rantburg - by anyone.
#11
Palin at this point is nothing but a distraction. The liberals were wholly effective in destroying her image when she ran last year. Of course, she enabled them with some of her extremely weak responses. She serves no one but the left who use her as a charicature of a conservative, pushing that charicature forward in order to hide or obfuscate the conservative message. The more she stays in the background the better, although I doubt her ego will permit that.
#12
Word of the day....'Periphraseis' Don't be a Pariphrascist! (yes with an 'i' not an e) Damascus road experience needed. Recommend selected readings from Walter Williams, Thomas Sowell, or Armstrong Williams, but only after the roadways are safely cleared and estrogen refill can be fetched.
#13
Mrs.Palin is following as similar trajectory as Ronald Reagan. She should continued to hone her communications skills in mass media as she has started to do already.
If she is good for 2012, she should run, but my gadvice would be she should continue in the mass media until 2016. By then she will be unstoppable.
#14
couldn't disagree more, remoteman. I'm with Bad on this, but I think 2012 is way too early for her. She should build her credentials, learn, and build her party stature and base
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/07/2010 14:32
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#15
periphrases - English plural of periphrasis from Greek peri around, near and phrasis speech . FWIW
It's been 37 years since I took classical Greek as an undergrad, but I do remember the basics.
#18
She has a whole lot of work to do IMO to establish her credibility. Quitting as governor was not something that did that for me.
It's called shaking loose of your attackers and IMO it was a non-obvious and necessary tactical move on her part, one which yields nothing but benefits.
#21
I also didn't know what it meant either. I take it doesn't mean Hockey Night In Canada....
I think she should wait and hone her media skills and simply _show_ people she isn't the bimbo the media portrayed her as. Between that and get a top notch team.
#23
Reagan had Screen Actors Guild Presidency, then GE under the tutelage of Lemuel Boulware (for whom Roger Ailes may prove to be a stand in, and then 8 years as Governor of California. That's a lot of experience. Few are in that league. Palin certainly isn't. Which is too bad, because she appears to have her head screwed on straighter than anybody since Reagan.
(I had to look it up too, which really surprised me as I do know what HCMFIC stands for.)
Republican senator George LeMieux of Florida has done the math. If government spending were reduced to its 2007 level, we'd have a balanced budget (with a $163 billion surplus). Returning to the 2008 level of spending, the budget would be balanced in 2014 (a $133 billion surplus). And in both cases, that's while keeping the Bush tax cuts across the board and indexing the loathed alternative minimum tax for inflation.
"Could we live with what we did in 2007?" LeMieux asks--the "we" a collective reference to Congress, the federal government, and the country. He thinks so. Because of the recession, "most Americans are living with less than they had in 2007."
LeMieux's ideas on curbing spending haven't gotten much attention. That's because of who he is, a 40-year-old appointed rather than elected senator filling out the final 16 months of the term of Mel Martinez, who resigned. He's not running for election this November. In fact, he's never been elected to any office. (Nor is he related to Mario Lemieux, the hockey legend.)
When LeMieux arrived in Washington last September, he was struck--appalled, really--by one thing. "You come in thinking Washington is out of control," he says. "And spending is out of control." But it's actually much worse than that. After working as chief of staff for Florida governor Charles Crist, then managing a large law firm in Ft. Lauderdale, LeMieux found the spending habits on Capitol Hill "bizarre."
"It stands in sharp contrast to what the real world is like," he says. For the state government in Florida, "the biggest thing in town" is the quarterly report of how much revenue has been collected. "We could only spend what was coming in."
Not so in Washington. "No one asks what we're taking in," LeMieux says. "And no one gauges" how much to spend based on that amount. "After a while you get used to it," he says. At least he assumes that's what occurs. LeMieux hopes that doesn't happen to him. "I haven't bought in," he says. He won't be in Washington long enough to become inured to the spending binge.
When he talks to fellow senators about the need to slash spending, LeMieux thinks some of them dismiss his fervor as the result of inexperience. "He'll learn soon enough we don't do that kind of stuff here"--that's the way they regard him, LeMieux suspects. And he's probably right.
He prefers the Florida approach, which is similar to what other states do to meet their balanced budget requirement. In 2007, "storm clouds" of the looming recession began to appear. With diminishing revenue, the state could do three things: cut spending, raise taxes, or find new sources of tax revenue.
click here
The state began to pare its budget, from $73 billion in 2006 to $70 billion in 2007 and even lower to $66.5 billion last year. As the law mandates, there was no deficit. LeMieux cites this as the opposite of the Washington practice. Estimated spending for 2010 is $3.8 trillion based on revenue of $2.2 trillion, leaving a humongous $1.6 trillion deficit.
After four months in Washington, LeMieux is willing to support "anything" to bend the spending curve. Last week, he joined Republican senators Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn in seeking a yearlong ban on earmarks, which fund special projects for individual states or congressional districts. "I've made the decision to voluntarily disarm," he says. He'll propose no earmarks for Florida.
LeMieux is convinced that earmarks are, as DeMint insists, "the engine that drives the train." A senator is bound to vote for an appropriations bill, no matter how bloated, if his earmarks are in it. "That's the way you get 10 percent, 15 percent, 20 percent increases in spending," he says.
A balanced budget amendment, a constitutional amendment giving the president line item veto authority, legislation to kill duplicative federal programs--the senator is for all of these. He thinks agency heads should submit annual budgets with a 5 percent cut across the board as "a healthy exercise in efficiency." "I'll bet you could cut 20 percent out of the budgets of agencies" without any loss in efficiency. Washington would scream.
Yeah, I know some of you can't stand anyone or anything pro-Hillary, but read this posting from Hillbuzz. They know Dem politics and they have a nice little plan for getting them where it hurts most....right in their pocketbooks and right in their donors' egos.
#1
Very few of the people who attend these events want it know they are attending them. Theyre there for the pictures, only, not so much the cause. So, using FEC records to identify the top donors to the 60 Democrats in the Senate currently, then organizing letter writing, email, and telephone campaigns to ask these top donors, politely, to stop donating to these Democrats will severely curb DNC fundraising efforts in 2010.
#2
the DNC is already less important than the various PACs, etc.
The Hildabeast already has HillPac and NOWPac.
Her bigger enemies are the various anti Hillary PACs.
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/07/2010 9:50
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#3
Essentially the Tea Party is being advised to make an attack run on the formerly Clinton-controlled DNC, It would supposedly help out the Tea Party, but more likely would benefit Hillary (Hillary's team set up a fund-raising mechanism outside of the Party several years ago).
Kinda like smugglers handing out guns to the natives.
[Iran Press TV Latest] An Iraqi militant group says they kidnapped a US citizen because the Iraqi government reneged on its promise to obtain the release of members of the group held in US-run prisons and arrested more of its members.
On Saturday, the League of the Righteous said they abducted US military contractor Issa T. Salomi, 60, a US citizen of Iraqi origin.
The Pentagon said he went missing in Baghdad on January 23.
"This is a direct response to the arrests of leaders of our group two weeks ago," an unidentified member of the group said. "We will resume attacks against the occupiers and this abduction is the first of our actions," he added.
An almost two-minute Internet video showed the captive man, wearing a US military uniform, reading out the group's demands for the release of detainees who had "resisted occupation" and "never been involved in any serious crime against their fellow innocent Iraqis."
Salomi, pictured against a black flag bearing the militant group's name, also called for the conviction of employees of US security firm Blackwater, since renamed Xe Services, accused of killing unarmed Iraqi citizens in the capital's Nisoor Square in 2007.
"The second demand is to bring the proper justice and the proper punishment to those members of the Blackwater company who have committed unjustifiable crimes against innocent Iraqi citizens," he said in the video.
"I also would like to relay the justifiable demand of the Iraqi Islamic resistance for the complete withdrawal from Iraq, so that Iraq can become a sovereign nation."
This is the first high-profile kidnapping of a foreigner in Iraq since the same group kidnapped British IT expert Peter Moore and his four bodyguards, also Britons, in Baghdad almost three years ago.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2010
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#1
say a prayer, he's a local - El Cajon, CA
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/07/2010 10:47
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Any peace negotiations with the Taliban in Afghanistan must involve women, a United Nations committee on women's rights warned on Friday following talks in Geneva. Oh, yeah. That'll work. Theory, meet practice. They're Pashtuns, you nitwits!
"Any agreement reached with the Taliban in Afghanistan should include a clear commitment to respect and protect women's rights", the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women said in a statement.
The 23-member U.N. experts' body urged the Afghan government and its international allies "to ensure women representatives are included in peace, development dialogues and negotiations with the Taliban."
Committee members also expressed their "deep concern at the exclusion of Afghan women from the high level decision-making" at the international London conference on Afghanistan late last month.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2010
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says Tehran is ready to sign a deal with the major powers to exchange some of its low-enriched uranium for higher-grade fuel.
"Iran sees good prospects for a comprehensive agreement and the aspects of the nuclear fuel swap are being seriously studied," Mottaki said on Saturday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
He went on to say that the plan to swap Iran's low-enriched uranium for higher-grade nuclear fuel will pivot on supervision by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The fuel exchange can start once an agreement has been reached, he added.
"Tehran has already accepted the idea of striking a deal with the world powers on exchanging some low-enriched uranium for higher-grade fuel for the Tehran reactor to use to produce medical isotopes. However, there are some doubts and suspicions in this regard which must be allayed," Mottaki noted.
The Iranian foreign minister stated that the amount of uranium to be exchanged will be determined by Iran's needs and through dialogue with the main parties involved in the talks on Iran's nuclear program.
"All countries should be allowed to exercise their rights, and there must be a balance between countries' rights and their responsibilities in international bodies. No country should be forced to fulfill its responsibilities while it is stripped of its legitimate rights," Mottaki said.
Iran says that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it is entitled to the peaceful application of nuclear energy.
The country expects to generate 17.5 percent -- 20,000 megawatts -- of the country's electricity demand through nuclear energy over the next two decades.
Over the years, Washington and its allies have accused the Islamic Republic of pursuing a military nuclear program.
However, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities and has found no evidence of the diversion of nuclear material.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2010
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#1
MOUD has repor ordered Iran's nuclear agency to stay on STANDBY FOR FUTHER ENRICHMENT [read, TO THE MOON LIKE CHINA] in case the UNIAEA doesn't surrender to Iran's genteel demands.
* ION TOPIX > CHINA NOW IN THE LEAD FOR RACE BACK TO THE MOON.
Which, ironically, this was part of My surreal or subjective DREAM BACKGROUND, among other, many yaers for GUAM-, WORLD-SEEN EXPLOSIONS ON THE MOON VEE COMET APOPHIS 2029-2036.
** WAFF > US DARPA WANTS TO OVERRIDE EVOLUTION AND MAKE IMMORTAL SYNTHETIC ORGANISMS [Death-resistant].
Support your Local ANTI-HUMAN, PRO-COLONIAL ANNIHILATION, SEXY SLINKY CYLON BABE-QUEEN!
D *** NG IT, PAN-USDOD UNMANNED VEHICLES + MOON EXPLOSIONS + KILLER CYLON BIKINI BABES, WHOM SAYS THE GLOBAL WARMING APOCALYPSE ISN'T REAL -
USDOD HAS THE [proto-]MOTHER/BASE SHIPS, JAPAN HAS THE ROBO BABES!?
Clearly the only way to find/learn the Truth is to have wild dirty-deed sex wid 'em [FUTURAMA > SNOOT SNOOT episode]. THE THINGS "TRIPLE X" VINCE DEISEL DOES FOR HIS COUNTRY.
A Yemeni court handed down a 15-year jail sentence against the fugitive brother of Shiite rebel leader Abdul Malak al-Houthi after convicting him of carrying out acts of terror.
The court found Yahia al-Houthi guilty in absentia of plotting the murders of important figures, including the American ambassador in Sanaa. It also convicted him of being in a terrorist organization, assaulting the constitutional order, disseminating tendentious information and contacts with foreign powers.
Houthi, who has fled to Germany, was elected to parliament in 2003 on the ticket of the General People's Congress of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, but his parliamentary immunity was lifted late last year.
His brother heads the Zaidi Shiite rebels who have been fighting Yemeni troops in the northern mountains since 2004.
The defense ministry's online newspaper, September 26, said on Saturday that eleven Houthi rebels were killed in their stronghold of Saada.
This article starring:
Abdul Malak al-Houthi
Yahia al-Houthi
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2010
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A rocket launched by Iran on Wednesday was made in the North Korean style, a South Korean expert claims. Chae Yeon-seok, a former president of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, said Thursday the rocket engine, as publicized by the state-run IRNA news agency, seems to be the same as North Korea's Rodong missile, though Tehran claims it was made with indigenous technology.
Iran successfully tested the satellite rocket Kavoshgar-3 on Wednesday. It has four engines tied up together with a thrust of 128 tons. "The Safir-2 launched by Iran last year had one engine for Rodong missiles, which have a thrust of 32 tons. From the appearance, the engine of the Kavoshgar-3 seems to consist of four engines used in the Safir-2 with four times the thrust, Chae said. "It seems to have the same propulsion system as the Unha-2, an expendable carrier rocket launched by North Korea last year."
Iran also publicized the specifications of its next-generation satellite rocket Simorgh on Wednesday. Chae said since the Simorgh has 143 tons of thrust, that would be four 32-ton Rodong engines plus a small 15 ton-thrust engine.
According to Chae, the propulsion system of the Simorgh is an upgraded version of the Unha-2. Experts say the Unha-2 used a jet-vane system, which places heat-resistant graphite wings at the aft portion of a missile instead of a control rocket. "Making a rocket engine is difficult as it needs to endure high temperature and high pressure at altitudes of several hundred km," Chae said. "It seems that North Korea acquired the know-how by studying Scud missiles from the Soviet Union, and Iran learned it from North Korea."
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/07/2010
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Twenty three Yemeni government soldiers have reportedly been killed by Houthi fighters in two separate incidents in northern Yemen.
Fifteen Yemeni government troopers lost their lives in an ambush on a military supply convoy in the Wadi al-Jabara district, while the other 8 soldiers were killed in clashes in the city of Saada.
The Yemeni offensive against Houthis, which was joined by Riyadh in November, has so far claimed the lives of many civilians and displaced thousands of others from their homes in northern villages.
The developments come as the Houthi fighters offered to accept the six conditions for a truce originally set by the government at the end of last month.
Yemen has stepped up its military operation in the region despite the offer by the Houthi leader to end the six-month conflict.
Posted by: Fred ||
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No one, that is, except for reporters, editors and lawyers at the New York Times, which has according to an avalanche of first-, second- and third-hand accounts been working on a piece about Gov. David Paterson that, depending on who you talk to, could prove to be anything from mildly embarrassing to politically apocalyptic.
The last few weeks have brought two major eruptions of rumors concerning Paterson's private life: reports of nuzzling at a New Jersey restaurant and being caught in semi-flagrante in a utility closet in the Governor's Mansion -- stories that Paterson and his press office have vehemently denied.
According to sources who have actually been interviewed for the Times' story, its central narrative is the role played by members of Paterson's inner circle in his personal and political activities.
Rumors about a possibly publication date for the story have ranged from Monday to today; the latest suggests Sunday, but it's hard to believe that the Times would hold the story much longer when knowledge that it's pending has put every other reporter in the Capitol and elsewhere on the scent. Possible reasons for delay include editorial fine-tuning and thorough legal review.
Someday, a sociologist might be able to use an analysis of the rumors currently flying around the Capitol as their dissertation topic. Information from credible sources slowly becomes wilder as it spreads out. Sometimes, the chain of information is circular: A calls B, who calls C; then C calls A, who discovers that the story has changed markedly on its journey.
The Times, of course, won a Pulitzer for breaking the story of Eliot Spitzer's transgressions. Living in anxiety that the paper could be on the verge of dropping something of similar impact won't make for a happy weekend at the Governor's Mansion.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2010
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#1
So David Paterson ain't nothin but a hound dog, in the Chetaah Woods tradition ? He musta walked into the utility closet by mistake, thinkin it was the elevator in the Govners mansion. I can understand that bein blind and all.
h/t: Doug Ross @ Journal (via Business Insider)
20 reasons we're in for a world of economic hurt. The most significant?
Unemployment: businesses retract in fear over health tax mandates, cap-and-trade, card check, and heaven knows what else. In December, 6,130,000 workers had been unemployed for 27 weeks or more -- another Obama record. That's the highest total since they started keeping track in 1948.
In December, there were also nearly one million "discouraged" workers. Those are the folks who've given up looking for work and are therefore not counted in the official stats. You guessed it: it's another Obama record -- the highest level ever recorded.
25 state unemployment insurance funds are already broke and 15 more states are on track to go bust within 24 months. States are now borrowing tens of billions from the federal government, which also is guaranteeing all losses incurred by the "job shop for unemployed Democrats" called Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
More than 37 million Americans currently receive food stamps with around 20,000 joining the club each and every day. Never mind that unchecked use of food stamps encourages dependency, single-parent families and crime. Those are facts, you see, and unimportant to Democrats.
Public-sector unions like the SEIU have rung up some unbelievably outrageous bills for states, counties and cities. And many locales are simply going broke, burdened with underfunded pension plans and overly rich compensation packages. For example, more than 6,100 retired California government workers receive pensions in excess of $100,000 from CalPERS. The states' unfunded liabilities: as much as $3.2 trillion.
The delightful Democrat inventions of Social Security and Medicare are doomed. Millions of baby boomers are retiring and the trillions they poured into the systems during their working years were stolen by bureaucrats -- swept into the general fund and spent. There's no way to make the math work. It's that simple.
The U.S. federal debt has exploded since 2006, doubling in three years to $12.3 trillion and headed much, much higher with the proposed Obama budgets. Who will purchase the debt? What will happen when interest rates inevitably rise, adding huge additional interest payments to the debt? Just thank a Democrat.
How has the government responded to this dire situation? Has it tightened its belt? Hell, no. Last week, Senate Democrats last week raised the debt ceiling, which will allow the U.S. national debt to reach approximately $14.3 trillion. That's $48,000 for every man, woman and child in the country.
So how is the U.S. funding its operations? Why, through a massive Ponzi scheme that would make Bernard Madoff blush. The Federal Reserve bought nearly 80 percent of all U.S. Treasuries issued in 2009. In other words, the entire Democrat-controlled government is a pyramid scheme -- and taxpayers are the suckers at the bottom.
99 weeks of unemployment compensation. Unchecked welfare payments. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Disastrous socialized retirement and health care systems that are nothing more than gigantic Ponzi schemes.
And that's before socialized medicine, cap-and-trade, card check and other disastrous policies -- hawked incessantly by the Party of Economic Destruction -- that simply choke free enterprise.
Democrats must be crushed in November at the ballot box, before it's too late. (Note: Charts and Graphs at Original Article)
Posted by: Tom- Pa ||
02/07/2010
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#5
The real problem, which can be agreed on by both the left and the right, is that the national government "is out of control".
To a great extent, this is because of the 17th Amendment, the Direct Election of Senators, in 1913, which took away the ability of the individual States to balance the power of the national government.
It was made worse by the 16th Amendment, the Income Tax, of the same year, which gave the national government extensive control over the people, as individuals. While the US has never had a particularly good means of funding the national government, this wasn't it.
So the repeal and replacement of these two amendments, plus and awful lot of other administrative problems that have evolved over 200 years, need to be taken care of by a Constitutional Convention.
While generations have been raised with the idea that such a convention would be "unthinkable" or radical, in fact, the opposite is true. It will be held because there is no other choice, and it will be remarkably conservative in character. Not seeking change, but a restoration of political and government balance.
Two-thirds, or 34 States must agree to convene a convention, and three-fourths, or 38 States must approve any changes. This prevents radicalism in any way, shape or form.
Some of the big possible measures being debated right now:
1) Other possible amendments: balanced budget; line item veto; flat Income Tax; commerce clause limitations; national debt controls and debt cancellation; a Posse Comitatus amendment; a War Powers act; a Martial Law and National Guard activation amendment; a State nullification act; and a national government reduction act--to disassemble unconstitutional parts of the US government at the direction of the convention.
2) A way to compel the POTUS with a writ of mandamus, other than by impeachment. Strict limits on presidential memos and signing statements (that are right now causing a constitutional crisis.)
3) Restructuring of the judiciary to a more modern table of organization. Limitations on federal appeal of State laws (especially death penalty). Limitations on resources and timetables of federal judicial actions. Criminal and tort reform. Prohibition of federal judges forcing States to appropriate funds or create "special masters" over State laws.
4) Establishing a constitutional review court underneath the SCOTUS, which reviews congressional acts, and can declare line item unconstitutionality, that congress must again vote to approve. A judicial line item veto, of sorts, that can be overridden by congress. Such a court might require a petition by 1/3rd of congressmen to review a law.
5) That any elected official, appointed officer, employee or agent of the national government who interferes with the convention, or refuses to carry out these directives by the convention after State approval, can be relieved from their duties and position of authority, with a temporary agent appointed by the convention to carry out these changes.
The convention will have a one year time limit to reach an agreement on changes, or be dissolved unless 2/3rds of the States agree to its continuation. But once agreed to by 3/4ths of the States, the convention will remain seated until those changes are carried out, and can, by simple majority vote, relieve or even order the arrest of those interfering with or refusing to carry out their decisions. These arrests cannot be appealed with a writ of Habeus Corpus, and will remain in effect until the conclusion of the convention.
6) The convention may require new elections, or in the case of US Senators, State appointments. The sitting US government will be prohibited from submitting any of its own constitutional amendments for the duration of the convention.
7) By current law, no elected federal official can be a delegate to the convention, and States may choose to prohibit attendance by any federal official, officer, or appointee. The location, security, and provision of the convention are likewise solely under the control of the States.
#9
Besoeker and badanov: Oddly enough, some of the constitutional changes being discussed today were actually put into the Confederate constitution, as they knew they were needed *then*, and are still issues today.
It is downright amazing that out here, in Internet land, the ordinary public are debating constitutional issues in ways never done before except among scholars and legal experts.
The 10th Amendment movement is in full swing, and to keep up the momentum, States are now being encouraged to create delegations to visit other States, to discuss the issues surrounding a convention.
As time goes by, hopefully someone of consequence, like Sarah Palin, will publish a book of the issues and arguments, which will find its way into every State legislature, and other nook and cranny in the US.
It goes beyond the typical left and right politics, and becomes an issue of "saving the United States", or "letting it collapse into a permanent depression corporate failocracy."
#10
So how is the U.S. funding its operations? Why, through a massive Ponzi scheme that would make Bernard Madoff blush. The Federal Reserve bought nearly 80 percent of all U.S. Treasuries issued in 2009.
It's not a ponzi scheme when the government buys its own debt. That is printing money. It's a ponzi scheme when China, etc buy US debt or debt from any government whose debt is out of control (long list), because the debt can never be repaid in real dollars.
#15
Moose is saying that some element in American society can go outside the normal constitutional means of reining in presidential power by filing a writ of mandamus, essentially asking the court probably in the case SCOTUS, to order the POTUS to do something he doesn't want to do, or hasn't done.
As far as I know no one has ever filed nor had approved a writ of mandamus ordering any constitutional element to do something.
It would be unprecedented mainly because it would upset the constitutionally mandated scheme of checks and balances, handing the judicial branch much more power than the other two.
In the event of a writ of mandamus against POTUS, most presidents' reaction would be: "Now,enforce the order."
#16
Mom: The writ of mandamus issue began in earnest with Marbury v. Madison, when a federal judge ordered the POTUS to follow his legal ruling, and the POTUS refused.
This meant that ever since, the only way to force the president to comply was by impeachment. But since that time, the power of the president has so expanded, that he is both above the law, and answers to no one.
It is coming to a head with presidential signing statements, where in effect the president says that he is interpreting a bill to say whatever he wants it to say, and that he is only going to enforce those parts he agrees with.
In addition, presidential memos are used to create new parts of the executive branch at the whim of the president, and executive orders determine how the bureaucracy carries out their own extra-constitutional regulations and requirements that are effectively laws never voted on by congress.
The bottom line is that there must develop some ordinary process by which the president can be prevented from carrying out unconstitutional actions, and required to carry out the law.
This is because impeachment, like a constitutional convention, has become extraordinarily hard to bring about. The POTUS cannot remain above the law, and constitutional limitations on his power.
#17
Thank you for the summary, Moose. I will reread the article, thread, and wiki again tomorrow until I get the concept. In the meantime, this helps a lot.
#18
WAFF > BRUSSELS JOURNAL > HOW MUSLIMS DEFEATED THE US [US Army Soldier's Letter from Iraq]. US is suppor + propping up anti-democratic regimes hostile to both Radical islam as well as the USA, + seemingly doing the work of the Islamists by projecting milforce everywhere in Muslim World + using scarce USD $$$ to train + educate local Muslims in lieu of their own Govts
[Techs, econ transfers which can be used or turned agz US in time].
* NEWS KERALA > DOMINICAN REPUBLIC FEARS MIGRATION FROM HAITI. Approxi 30-50K Haitians are believed to had fled oer the borders into DR since the quake; up to 700K-1.)MILYUHN Haitians are believed to be undocumented + ilaready illegally resding in DR.
THE DR NEEDS A BAMMER BAILOUT???
* ION, HAITIAN GOVT. OFFICIALS > are repor demanding CASH, BENEFITS FOR THEMSELVES before they will release vital quake assistance to the masses.
Medine Memi was found in a sitting position with her hands tied, in a two-metre hole dug under a chicken pen outside her home in Kahta, in the south-eastern province of Adiyaman.
Her father and grandfather have since been arrested and are due to face trial over her death. Her mother was also charged but has since been released.
Media reports said the father had told relatives he was unhappy that his daughter -- one of nine children -- had male friends. The grandfather is said to have beaten her for having relations with the opposite sex.
A postmortem examination revealed large amounts of soil in her lungs and stomach, indicating that she had been alive and conscious while being buried
Although honour killings are not infrequent in Turkey, the especially gruesome manner of Medine's death has shocked the nation. normal honor killings don't shock anyone
Official figures have indicated that more than 200 such killings take place each year, accounting for around half of all murders in Turkey.
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/07/2010
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#1
NEWS > UNITED NATIONS: TALIBAN MUST GUARANTEE WOMEN'S RIGHTS, EDUCATION [Govt. Power-sharing Deal].
* WAFF > CHRISTIAN FILIPINO MIGRANTS FORCED TO CONVERT TO ISLAM, e.g. FILIPINA MAIDS, to keep their overseas jobs in SAUDI ARABIA + MIDDLE EAST.
[Dawn] Twelve people, three FC personnel among them, were injured when a bomb exploded near a hotel on the busy Jinnah Road on Saturday.
CCPO Shabbir Sheikh said the bomb was fitted into a motorbike and a time device was used to detonate it.
He said the motorbike was parked outside the hotel because the terrorists wanted to target innocent people just to create harassment.
In a statement released to the media late in the night, the Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the explosion.
According to sources, the hotel owner after suspecting the presence of an unattended motorbike, had informed police about it. However, the device went off before the arrival of bomb disposal personnel.
"Three vehicles, including a mobile of the Frontier Corps, were hit when the bomb exploded," Mr Shaikh said.
The injured FC men were taken to the Combined Military Hospital and the nine civilians were admitted to the Civil Hospital.
The blast damaged glasses and windowpanes of the hotel, nearby shops and other buildings.
Pieces of exploded motorcycle lay scattered over a radius of 200 meters.
The Jinnah Road remained closed for two hours. It was opened after clearance by bomb disposal personnel. Markets in the area, however, remained closed.
Bomb disposal personnel said four to five kilograms of explosive was fitted into the bike.
The CCPO said that pillion riding had been banned and police had been ordered to impound all vehicles and motorcycles without number plates.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2010
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Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfikar Ali Mirza has appealed to the ulema demanding investigations completed within 48 hours to withdraw their ultimatum, and dispelled the impression that the Iranian Jundullah was involved in the Chehlum attacks.
Talking to newsmen after presiding over a meeting of the law-enforcement agencies held on Saturday to mull over the Karachi situation, he said it was not logical to give investigators a timeframe of 48 hours.
He appealed to the ulema, who at a press conference on Friday gave the police 48 hours to complete their investigations, to withdraw their demand.
He said elements behind the Ashura blast were also involved in Friday's twin blasts.
He said the suspects were misleading the investigators by claiming that they belonged to the Iran-based banned outfit Jundullah.
He said elements belonging to the tribal areas were more likely to be involved in the carnage. "However, it would be premature to say anything with certainty till the probe is completed," he added.
The minister said investigations were under way and facts would be made public when the process completed.
Answering a question about the combing of the parking lot of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, he said the bomb was concealed in a tin container.
He said since there were fumes and particles of chemicals and explosives in the air after the second blast, it was not possible for any dog to detect the explosive device at the JPMC.
In reply to a question as to why the bomb-detecting equipment was borrowed from the Civil Aviation Authority, he said police often sought help from other organisations on such occasions, which was a routine practice.
He denied that the Sindh police had a shortage of bomb-detecting equipment.
Replying to a question about the failure of the police to provide proper security on the Chehlum day, he said it was a major achievement of the police that the main mourning procession, which was the real target of the terrorists, was provided complete security.
Dr Mirza said the police had received information that some terrorists might be present in the main mourning procession.
He said he with the IG of Sindh visited the main procession and appealed to the ulema to move quickly so that the procession could reach its destination as soon as possible.
He said because of tight security, the terrorists could not hit the main procession and instead selected sites where police presence was not as strong.
He said it was not possible to screen each and every vehicle as there were hundreds of thousands of vehicles on Karachi roads on any day.
Earlier, he presided over a meeting that reviewed the overall security situation in Sindh, especially Karachi.
The meeting was also attended by Home Secretary Arif Khan, IG Sultan Salahuddin Babar Khattak, Director-General of the Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) Maj-Gen Liaquat Ali, Karachi CCPO Waseem Ahmed, the DIGs of the east, west, and south zones, and senior officers of intelligence agencies.
The home minister called for joint efforts to arrest the culprits involved in the Chehlum bomb blasts.
The police and Rangers were directed to start their raids for the arrest of absconders, proclaimed offenders and criminal elements under their joint action plan.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2010
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[Dawn] Security forces captured Damadola, Taliban's stronghold 15 kilometres north of Bajaur Agency headquarters Khar, on Saturday, military sources said.
According to the sources, the capture was one of the 'major successes' achieved by troops since the launch of operation Sherdil on Aug 6, 2008, in Bajaur.
Damadola town, in Mamond tehsil, is the native town of Maulana Faqir Mohammad, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan's deputy chief. Until four years ago, it had been a stronghold of Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat Muhammadi.
According to security forces and the political administration, militants had established a number of training centres and underground bankers in the town. Maulana Faqir and his close associates used to issue directives to their men from the area.
The place came into limelight after US drones carried out four attacks over the past four years. A number of local and foreign militants, including Maulana Liaquat, a close aide of Maulana Faqir, were killed in the strikes.
According to sources, troops captured Damadola on Saturday morning after overcoming stiff resistance by militants. They said that although troops had cleared key points of the town, a few pockets were still under Taliban control.
The sources said that most of the militants had been killed in the operation and a number of them might have been buried alive in underground bunkers and hideouts.
APP adds: An operation was launched by security forces and volunteers of Qaumi Lashkar on Jan 27 to clear Damadola of terrorists.
An FC spokesman said that during the operation a number of hideouts and bunkers had been destroyed and 60 terrorists killed. Seven soldiers lost their lives.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2010
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The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a British research institute focusing on international security, said on Wednesday that Russia has become the main exporter of weapons to Latin America thanks to the purchases made by Venezuela in the past year.
The increase is partly due to the restrictions on arms sales imposed by the United States, traditionally the main supplier of arms to the region, on several countries, including Venezuela. The US considers that those countries are not cooperating enough to fight terrorism.
However, two of the countries with the largest defense budgets, Colombia and Mexico, remain faithful to US military arms, while other countries have "diversified suppliers."
The report says that Russia, which was the world's second largest arms supplier in 2008, has signed military agreements with Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia. Venezuela, which in 2007 became the second largest buyer of Russian weapons, bought in recent years military equipment worth USD 4 billion, said the report.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/07/2010
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The North Korean regime is purging senior military and party officials. In the Workers' Party, the heads of the financial and economic sections have been sacked over the disastrous currency reform and international sanctions, and in the military, officers in their 70s and 80s from the era of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung are making way for younger military leaders in their 50s and 60s.
Young blood and fresh ideas. Goody.
In the Workers' Party, three key economic figures have been replaced. Finance Director Pak Nami-gi was apparently axed on Jan 20, taking the fall for the failed currency revaluation late last year. "Room 39" bureau director Kim Tong-un was recently replaced by his deputy Jon Il-chun after having managed the regime's secret coffers for 36 years. A source says that Kim Tong-un was replaced because he was put under a personal travel ban by the EU in December last year and it was difficult for him to manage overseas funds for the North Korean leader.
Han Kwang-sang was apparently promoted from first deputy of the finance and accounting department to head, which has been vacant for a long time. The department is in charge of managing party funds. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il last month tapped Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong-il, who is familiar with Chinese affairs and served as the chief negotiator to the six-way nuclear talks, as the head of the party's department for international affairs. An intelligence officer in Seoul says the appointment of Kim Yong-il is likely related to the international sanctions, which were imposed after the North conducted its second nuclear test.
Several military leaders in their 70s and 80s have disappeared from the scene due to old age and chronic disease, including Marshal Ri Ul-sol; Jo Myong-rok, director of the Army's General Political Bureau; and Ri Yong-mu, vice chairman of the National Defense Commission. They have been in the military since the era of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung. Defense Minister Kim Yong-chun has also not been seen in public for more than two months, apparently due to ill health. He had been the chief of the Army's General Staff for more than 10 years after Kim Jong-il succeeded his father.
Rising military leaders are Gen. Ri Yong-ho, the current chief of the Army's General Staff, and Kim Jong-gak, vice-director of the Army's general political department. Both are, though not exactly youthful, in their 60s. A North Korea source says Ri is an artillery expert and may have been behind North Korea's recent firing of artillery shells into waters near the maritime border in the West Sea. Baek Seung-joo, chief of the Center for Security and Strategy at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, says, "Many North Korean military officers in their 50s and 60s were assigned to the general political department, which checks the loyalty of the military to the North Korean leader." They will play an important role in consolidating the succession to the heir apparent Kim Jong-un, he added.
Analysts say that the party purges are an attempt to appease growing popular discontent after the failed currency reform led to skyrocketing prices, while the replacement of top brass is a move to prepare for the succession. Dongguk University professor Kim Yong-hyun says, "To ease public dissatisfaction with the currency revaluation, North Korea needs to replace financial officials responsible and adopt a new policy." Given that the priority that the North puts on the military, the military reshuffle may be aimed at laying the foundation for heir apparent Kim Jong-un to take power.
A North Korean source says Kim Jong-un has a post in the Defense Commission and is exercising his influence over personnel changes in the military.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/07/2010
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#1
So, first, you destroy the economy, wrecking the budding merchant class, and second, you fire the economy ministers for causing the problem, thus gaining control of the nation's finances by appointing replacements. I'll have to remember that one for my next Evil Genius class.
#2
No, first you wreck the economy. Then you take over finance, insurance, health, and auto production. Oh wait, we're talking about North Korea ... never mind
AMERICAN and British troops poised to assault the Taliban stronghold of Marjah have begun targeting insurgent leaders for assassination.
Military sources said special forces had been infiltrating the town on kinetic' missions jargon for armed attacks. Special forces guys have been going in on assassination missions with the aim of decapitating the Taliban force,' one said.
At the British base of Camp Bastion and the adjoining Camp Leatherneck, the US marine base, troops and munitions have been airlifted in by night to avoid enemy rockets. It is clear that international forces are on the brink of a big battle. All yesterday morning, the thud-thud-thud of heavy machineguns and the crump of mortars filled the air.
In a break from traditional military secrecy, American, British and Afghan commanders have announced that Marjah, the last town in Helmand under Taliban control, will be attacked.
Operation Moshtarak (Together') will be by far the largest offensive since General Stanley McChrystal, the American commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, instigated his counter-insurgency strategy, backed by President Barack Obama's 30,000-troop surge'.
About 1,000 Taliban, mostly Afghans but with some foreign fighters in their ranks, are believed to be in Marjah, an opium centre and local headquarters for bomb-making and sending out suicide bombers.
Military sources described the use of publicity as a psychological tactic to intimidate the Taliban into laying down their weapons or fleeing.
The risks are huge. By surrendering the element of surprise, the coalition has given the insurgents time to dig in and expand an already extensive tunnel network. Taliban diehards are known to have been placing bombs along alleyways, roads and in a network of irrigation canals.
Around Marjah is a mass of canals in a neat grid, the kind of terrain that's difficult to clear, easy to defend,' said a military source.
There was little evidence of a Taliban retreat this weekend. Reached by satellite telephone, a Taliban commander expressed defiance. Said Mawlawi Abdul Ghafar vowed he would never lay down his arms.
We've got experts and brave fighters who have fought and killed the infidels,' said Ghafar, 38, who commands 120 fighters in what he called the first battle circle'.
With overwhelming force and air power on the allies' side, the outcome is in little doubt.
Success in Marjah, however, will not be judged on who wins the battle. Late in the day, military commanders have accepted that the solution to the eight-year war will be political, not military.
According to McCrystal's strategy, clearing the Taliban from strongholds such as Marjah is only the first step towards clear, hold and build'.
In the past, Nato would clear Taliban fighters from towns, but without sufficient troops to remain and secure it. The Taliban simply returned, flushed out any hapless police and seized back control. It was deeply dispiriting to troops who paid a high price in deaths and injuries, and it instilled a deep streak of scepticism in ordinary Afghans.
For now, the local population is sitting on the fence,' said Frank Ruggiero, the senior American civilian representative in southern Afghanistan, who has hundreds of millions of dollars at his disposal. The money is to implement Washington's plan to make Afghanistan sufficiently stable for it to begin to withdraw troops by the summer of next year.
They've seen us come and make promises before, and then [we] leave,' Ruggiero said. They're not coming down off that fence until they are sure that they are secure, that a local policeman is going to be at his post in the morning and that the Taliban are not coming back.'
In Marjah, the plan is to move quickly to set up a local administration and to provide jobs such as clearing roads and canals. You have to give people something they can see,' said Ruggiero.
The question being asked is whether the Taliban will choose to slink away and wait 18 months for an American withdrawal to begin. It is a high-stakes game, and the people of Marjah are expected to be at the heart of it this week.
#1
The title of this news item alone, will have the bleeding hearts PC Brigade spluttering into their " Fair Trade Decaffeinated Coffee "
Posted by: Dave UK ||
02/07/2010 7:56
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#2
The irony is also that SF much prefers to do the Hearts & Minds activities, since it is a lot more challenging and ambitious than doing the rough trade.
With H&M, SF guys can often end up as de facto provincial warlords, with hundreds of followers. One less heralded such individual not too long ago became not only the most powerful prince in one of the -istans, but the conduit of that entire nations activities with the US. He could have easily ruled that entire country.
#3
There's something oddly medieval about this tactic. What's next, are we going to start having champions issuing challenges to single combat?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/07/2010 8:57
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#4
I had always thought that that would have been a great propaganda tactic during the early WoT. Too bad we have exactly zero propaganda to discredit anything the enemy says about us.
#7
it's a lot easier to achieve a political settlement with a dead enemy
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/07/2010 13:37
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#8
Interesting. I want to see just what our special forces can do. Hope there are Barrett equipped snipers in the mix. Terrorize the terrorists
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
02/07/2010 14:06
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#9
ALso on DAILY TIMES.PK > SCHOOL BOMBING EXPOSES "OBAMA'S SECRET WAR INSIDE PAKISTAN" [expanded covert ops] | BRITISH NEWSPAPER CLAIMS OBAMA HAS DRAMATICALLY EXPANDED US COVERT WAR AZG EXTREMISTS IN PAKISTAN.
Hamas on Saturday said it wants "Zionist war criminals" brought before the International Criminal Court over last year's Israeli war on Gaza as rival Fatah denounced the Islamist group's regret over deaths of Israeli civilians.
"We ask the United Nations to transfer the matter to the ICC so that the Zionist war criminals can be brought to justice," said Mohammed Faraj al-Ghul, justice minister in the Hamas administration of the Gaza Strip.
However, he also said he expected that the United States would block any such move.
"We expect that the American administration will intervene to block these criminals being judged," Ghul said.
The statements from Hamas came following criticism from Palestinian rivals over its expression of regret over the deaths of Israeli civilians during the Gaza war a year ago.
A spokesman for the Fatah party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he was "stunned" at the remark in a report to the United Nations this week and said Hamas should apologies rather to fellow Palestinians for deaths and injury caused when Hamas routed Fatah forces to seize control in Gaza in 2007.
In a statement from the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Fatah still holds sway, spokesman Ahmed Assaf urged Hamas "to apologize first to the Palestinian people for its bloody coup which has ... caused the worst damage to the Palestinian cause."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2010
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#1
Ahmed Assaf urged Hamas "to apologize first to the Palestinian people for its bloody coup which has ... caused the worst damage to the Palestinian cause."
By your own admission, Hamas' war criminals. Going to take them before ICC for "the worst damage"? Thought not.
#2
TOPIX > PALSTESINIANS FAVOR BIN LADEN, AHMADINEJAD OVER HAMAS. Hezbollah's NASRALLAH also recieved high marks, OBAMA preferred oer Arab Leaders.
* SAME > SYRIA SAYS IT WILL BACK LEBANON IFF ISRAEL ATTACKS, + SYRIA SIGNALLING TO ARAB WORLD ITS WILLINGNESS TO FIGHT ISRAEL, + SAUDI PAPER: HEZBOLLAH ORDERS HIGHER ALERT IN LEBANON.
* SAME > KHAMENI: WEST CAN'T SAVE ISRAEL {tells Paleo Leader ISRAEL"S DISAPPEARANCE/OBLITERATION IS CERTAIN, IMMINENT].
[Quqnoos] Afghanistan will not "bribe" the Taliban into any deal and will not pay them, Foreign Minister Zalmay Rasul said.
"We are not going to bribe them to stop fighting. These people need, if they can come on board and drop their guns, they need to live," Rasul said on the sidelines of the Munich security conference on Friday.
According to Rasul, Afghanistan needs to provide Taliban fighters who renounce violence "land, agriculture, whatever they need, so they can start to learn and have a proper life. The issue is not to pay them money or bribe them."
The Taliban have said they will not enter into any "deal" with the Afghan government or the West to bring peace to Afghanistan, and their fighters will continue to die to achieve a victory.
Rasul made clear however that "there are elements within the Taliban -- Pakistani Taliban but some Afghan Taliban -- they have links, closer links with al Qaeda and those people cannot be reintegrated or reconciled so we need to fight them."
Rasul praised the improved relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, saying "our priority will be improving relations with neighbours in regional cooperation because we cannot solve the issue of fighting against terrorism and extremism only in Afghanistan."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2010
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#1
Of course not. They'll call it 'welfare' which we have practical experience with and that lasts for many generations.
[Iran Press TV Latest] One of the two generators of Gaza's only power plant has been shut down due to a shortage of fuel, cutting power to around 50 percent of the residents of the Gaza Strip. No doubt the Zionist entity will turn the fuel supply on if you fire enough rockets at them.
The Gaza Energy Authority announced on Saturday that the remaining amount of fuel is enough to operate the other generator until Sunday morning.
The capacity of Gaza's only power plant has been curtailed to 30 megawatts, and power may have to be cut to another 10 percent of the residents of the Gaza Strip if bad weather continues since it causes electrical malfunctioning, the energy authority added.
The fuel for the plant is purchased from and delivered by Israel, via trucks through the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza.
The Gaza Energy Authority has called on international parties, Arab states, and members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference to end Gaza's power crisis by holding the Ramallah-based Ministry of Finance responsible for decreasing the fuel allowance into Gaza, which it said mirrored Israel's blockade policy on the Strip.
A European Union contract paying for fuel shipments expired on November 30, 2009, Kan'an Obeid, the deputy manager of the Gaza Energy Authority, said on Thursday.
While the EU had been providing the service after the contract expired, EU officials recently notified the Gaza Energy Authority that they would no longer pay for the fuel shipments unless the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah drafted a new agreement and payment scheme.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2010
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#1
So the reason for the fuel shortage is that Palestinians stopped paying for fuel delivered. Be still my bleeding heart.
[Dawn] Fourteen people were killed and two injured on Saturday after a group of armed men opened fire on them in a village in Gujrat district.
The multiple murders happened in Sirya village, near Kotla Arab Ali Khan, some 30 kilometres from here, on Saturday.
According to police, the murdered men were installing a hand-pump at an outhouse when their rivals attacked them with sophisticated weapons.
Six of the dead were relatives and belonged to the Ilyas group and the rest were workers and passers-by. They were identified as Ishtiaq Anwar, Mohammad Arshad, Mohammad Farooq, Fida Husain, Raja Mohammad Akram, Imran Akram, Rizwan Akram, Sajjad Akram, Qamar Shahzad, Ziaullah, Mohammad Akbar, Mohammad Yasir and Waqar.
The injured were identified as Tahir Anwar and Khurram. The bodies and the injured were taken private hospitals in Kotla and Kharian.
Sources said the attackers belonged to the Dhenda group whose two men were killed last year.
The motive behind the killing was said to be old enmity continuing for 15 years. About 40 to 50 have fallen victims to the feud. Five women of families belonging to the Ilyas group were killed in different attacks last year.
The district police officer suspended the SHO of Kakrali police station after the incident.
Family members of those killed held a demonstration outside the police station in late night. According to sources, they refused to burry the bodies till the arrest of the killers.
Tension gripped the village and extra police personnel were deployed to prevent any untoward incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2010
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Iraq's leaders have told a panel of seven judges to issue a final ruling on 500 candidates who seek to run in next month's general elections.
On Wednesday, the electoral commission said the judges had ruled that the candidates can stand in the March 7 polls.
The judges decided to reinstate the candidates, who had been disqualified after being accused of having connections with Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime, saying they would examine their files after the polls and would eliminate them if they were found to be Baathists.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki then decided to convene parliament to debate on Sunday what his government considers an "illegal" decision, AFP reported .
A statement from Maliki's office on Saturday said leaders had "agreed on the need to resolve the issue of those barred (from the elections) according to the law."
"If the appeals court says soon that they will settle the matter, then there is no need for the parliament session," al- adviser Maliki Yasin Majeed told The Associated Press on Saturday.
The Baath Party has been outlawed in Iraq.
On Saturday, al-Maliki met with Parliament Speaker Ayad al-Sammaraie, Chief Justice Madhat al-Mahmood, and other government officials to discuss the controversy.
Majeed said all agreed that the dispute must be settled before the campaign season officially begins on February 12.
Some Sunni leaders have threatened to boycott the election if the ballot purge stands. That, in turn, risks throwing the election into chaos and its results in doubt.
The election, which was originally scheduled to be held in January, will be the last major election in which the US military helps with security.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2010
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According to 61 percent of respondents, Venezuelan outlook is grim. They consider, in general, that the country is heading for "the wrong way" and describe current situation as "bad or very bad." Sorta like how Americans feel. Wonder what we have in common?
This was the result of the socio-political monitoring poll conducted this year by marketing research firm Hinterlaces. The poll shows that only 37 percent of the Venezuelan population considers that the reality is completely different. "Things are heading in the right way" and the general situation of the country is "fair to good."
These figures are in line with other discouraging data for supporters of the ruling party: a large percentage of the population disagrees with several measures taken by the government in the last few months.
According to the report, 78 percent of respondents rejected that RCTV Internacional was forced off air from the cable system by a government decision, versus 18 percent of respondents that supported the measure. 64 percent of respondents consider that the decision made by the government with regard to media threatens freedom of expression whereas 31 percent consider that it does not affect free press.
This could explain why 61 percent of respondents supported student protests which have urged the government to respect freedom of expression, to stop harassing media, and to take effective actions to improve public utilities such as water and electricity, which have been seriously affected by rationing.
The research shows that if parliamentary elections would take place next Sunday, 34 percent of Venezuelans would vote by independent candidates, 28 percent would vote by pro-Chávez candidates and 26 percent by opposition candidates.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/07/2010
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#1
You can buy the initial support of the majority by using the assets of the minority, but 1) you run out of assets to use, and 2) they don't stay 'bought' and always want more.
[Al Arabiya Latest] UN atomic agency chief Yukiya Amano said Saturday that Iran's foreign minister made no new proposals to him on a possible nuclear fuel deal during a meeting in Germany.
"There was not a new proposal. We exchanged views," Amano told reporters after meeting Manouchehr Mottaki on the sidelines of a security forum in Munich. "I didn't receive the counter-proposal."
Asked if he was confident of a breakthrough on a deal, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head said: "I am not providing my perspective. Dialogue is continuing and should be accelerated, that is the point."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2010
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#1
I believe the Fat Lady is warming up. From Drudge: Defiant Iran set to begin higher enrichment of uranium
[Dawn] As the death toll in Friday's twin blasts rose to 33 on Saturday, the police launched investigations into the attacks with serious professional flaws in their approach and made no effort to obtain the readily available CCTV footage from the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), the scene of the second explosion that killed more than a dozen people.
The investigators also faced handicaps because the surveillance cameras installed in the area adjoining the site of the first attack -- the Shahrah-i-Quaideen flyover -- by the city government and the Sindh IT ministry to help the traffic police are not yet operational. Such cameras had provided technological edge to the investigation into the Ashura bomb blast followed by arson attacks.
"We have gathered a number of facts to reach a final assessment," said DIG for investigation Ghulam Qadir Thebo, heading a four-member investigation team, including three other senior officers. However, he responded in the negative when asked about the acquisition of the CCTV footage from the JPMC.
"In addition to the police, there are other teams of investigations looking into the incident. We are coordinating with the people concerned and the process is in its initial stages."
A senior official at the JPMC said the footage of the emergency unit, released by the health department, shows there were a number of other CCTV cameras installed inside the hospital, monitoring movements in the health facility.
"We have six cameras installed outside the emergency unit," said the head of the casualty at the JPMC Dr Seemi Jamali, who is also a director of the federally-administered hospital.
"Similarly, there are a couple of wards of the hospital, which are being monitored through the same surveillance system. After Friday's incident and suspension of emergency services, our department is fully operational."
With no such technological option available for the first incident, the investigators now plan to look into the traffic movement on Sharea Faisal preceding the attack on the bus carrying people to the Chehlum procession. They are obtaining footage captured by the city government' command and control centre through a camera installed at Karsaz.
"Almost hour-long footage before the first blast has been acquired from the city government's facility to spot any suspects travelling on Sharea Faisal to reach the spot of the first target. The police and other investigation agencies are taking care of this footage," said an official.
However, movements on other parts of one of the city's busiest roads remained unrecorded as nearly half-a-dozen surveillance cameras installed by Sindh's IT ministry on Sharea Faisal for the assistance of the traffic police have yet to become operational.
"The installation of these cameras has been completed, but they have not been linked up to make them operational," said a source in the police's traffic section.
"Of the total 40, a few cameras installed across the city to regulate and monitor traffic movement, cameras at the Tipu Sultan, Baloch Colony, Drigh Road, Star Gate, Kala Board, FTC Bridge, Regent Plaza and the Mehran Hotel intersections have been made operational mainly for demonstration."
A number of investigators kept visiting the sites of the two blasts and police now look for forensic examination of different objects collected at the scenes.
"The two blasts were of similar nature as emerged from their modus operandi," said Mr Thebo, the DIG for investigation. "And the bomb recovered and defused further strengthened our findings that computer monitors were used in the two attacks. We have collected samples and chemical examination would further determine the nature of explosive used, but it's not C-4, which was used in previous bomb attacks in the city."
He said the remains of the motorcycle used in the first blast had been moved for a forensic examination, which would establish its make and features such as registration.
"The numbers of the reiteration, engine and chassis were punched. We are waiting for the result of the forensic examination, which would help determine facts about the motorbike," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2010
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[Dawn] The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan are spending almost Rs.3.6 billion on around 15,000 of its fighters in the country, said Governor of the NWFP Owais Ghani, on Saturday.
Ghani said that the militant group is able to spend extraordinary amounts of money due to the funds it receives from the opium trade in Afghanistan. He claimed that opium being smuggled out of Afghanistan amounts to approximately 93 per cent of the world's supply.
The governor also stated that Pakistan is situated at the geo-political fault line and the prevailing circumstances are the destiny of our country. He said that only a political solution can deliver in the region, military action was no more a realistic solution.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2010
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A senior Iranian military official is warning Gulf Arab nations not to buy U.S. missile defense systems, saying they can easily be thwarted. The chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, General Hassan Firouzabadi, was quoted Thursday by Iranian state news as saying the Patriot missiles can be made ineffective through simple tactics. And who would know more about the Patriot system than the Iranians?
Iran has accused the United States of trying to create divisions between Tehran and its Arab neighbors by deploying U.S. missile defense systems in Gulf nations.
On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton defended U.S. efforts to bolster the defense capabilities of regional allies, as Iran defies international calls to curb its nuclear program. Clinton said the U.S. must remain aware of Iran's refusal to meet its obligations under the United Nations Security Council and the UN nuclear agency. She spoke after meeting in Washington with Bahrain's foreign minister, Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa.
The Bahraini minister said the defense measures are not aimed at provoking Iran, but to protect international interests in a region critical to the shipment of oil.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/07/2010
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#1
I remember the Patriots being deployed in GW1. Haven't they been improving ever since?
#4
Yep, it was designed to shoot down aircraft for which you only have to disrupt the airframe to degrade its ability to fly and deliver. Proximity detonations are adequate. For a missile you near a direct hit or very near hit. It's Newtonian physics. With an aircraft you have the speed difference that you can shoot a missile. If the missile misses you still have time to reengage again. That's known as look-shoot-look. With a ballistic warhead you don't have that luxury since its moving too quickly, so you ripple fire at least two missiles in sequence, so if one misses you still have a last chance to make engage with adjustments made in flight by the second missile before ordnance arrives on target. That means even with a successful engagement the very best you're going to get is a 50% probability of hit. Add to the fact that the ability of long range engagement was limited by the time of launch detect, which was data streamed back to the States and then retransmitted back to the firing unit at the technology of the time, minimized response time. The fact they were able to engage any of the targets was remarkable. However, since the SCUDs themselves were largely a political weapon rather than a tactical weapon, the Patriot adequately served the same purpose in response.
Since GW1 the system has been modified, both in detection, launch, and engagement ability to do the job that it originally was never intended for.
#7
He is right, they are very easy to defeat. All he has to do is keep to himself and not threaten anyone. As long as his planee stay in his airspace he is as safe as it gets...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
02/07/2010 11:00
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#7 As safe as the Airbus was when it was hit by a missile courtesy of the US Navy. If I remember correctly it was in Iranian airspace at the time.
Please THINK the next time you want to utter a threat.
#9
CS - traversing the narrow Straits of Hormuz, it's arguable if it was in Iranian airspace when the Vincennes shot it down. It would not be a stretch to speculate the aircraft and passengers were sacrificed for PR by a regime that is currently executing political opponents. The idea that the CO and crew of the Vincennes would knowingly target a non-hostile civilian aircraft is nonsense
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/07/2010 16:31
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#10
Again, even iff IRAN gets NUKULAAR + OTHER ADVANC STARGEIC WEAPONS, IMO it will prefer to stay on the GEOPOL-DIPLOM DEFENSIVE while letting the VARIOUS NUCLEAR MILITANT-TERR GROUPS DO ALL THE WARRIN' AND NUKE BLOODLETTING AGZ THE US-WEST.
The US + ALLIED > IMO, in IRAN, ETC. MIND, the US, etc. will no longer be able to attack sovereign ISLAMIST NUCSTATE(S) WIDOUT SERIOUSLY VIOLATING SOME SORT OF UNSC ANDOR INTERNATIONAL TREATISE, ETC. REGARDLESS IFF THE US HAS EVIDENCE OF DE FACTO COLLUSION WID NUC MILTERRS.
IOW, THE LONGER THE ECON TROUBLED = RECESSION-DEPRESSION-SUFFERING US FAILS TO DEFEAT RADIC ISLAM, 2012-N-BEYOND IT MAY NEVER BE ABLE TO DO.
Which suits the Islamists + Moslem World fine becuz, in their mil history, they fight [Predatory]LONG WARS OF DECADES-N-GENERATIONS, NOT US, WESTERN-STYLE "SHORT/BRIEF WARS" = "TOTAL WARS".
PROTRACTIVE LIMITED WARS OF ANNIHILATION, NOT SHORT TOTE WARS OF ANNIHILATION.
Recall that the Vincennes was only in Gulf because the Iranians were illegally attacking neutral shipping and US warships escorting them. If the Iranians had refrained from acting illegally or had simply accepted Iraqui offers for peace, the Airbus would never have been shot down. It was a tragic accident, at worst one captain's negligence, nothing more. And it would never have happened if the Iranians had not been wildly aggressive.
Perhaps you should THINK before you post.
I hope your aim is better in the field.
Posted by: Some guy ||
02/07/2010 23:17
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Russia has indicated that it will agree to any new sanctions against Iran only if the punitive measures target the country's nuclear program and not its economy.
"If in future hypothetically, if new sanctions are imposed, we are sure that sanctions should be limited to non-proliferation only," Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov told reporters in the German city of Munich.
The sanctions, he explained, should "not be expanded to cultural, humanitarian, economic parts of Iranian activity."
The annual security conference was also attended by the Iranian Foreign Minster, Manouchehr Mottaki, who was upbeat on his meeting with the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, Yukiya Amano.
"Today I had a very good meeting with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano," Iran's top diplomat said on the sidelines of the conference in southern Germany.
When asked about the nature of the discussions, the IAEA chief said their meeting had "covered a variety of areas."
"That included of course in Iran and the Tehran research reactor. We had a very interesting discussion, and on my part I can currently say that dialogue is continuing and should be accelerated," he added.
The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany, also known as the P5+1 group, failed to agree on new punitive measures against Iran last month.
The West has been pressuring Tehran to accept a UN-backed draft deal which requires Iran to send most of its domestically produced low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad for conversion into a more refined fuel for the Tehran nuclear reactor that produces medical isotopes.
Iran, however, has not accepted the proposal, calling for "concrete guarantees" for the return of the refined fuel since some Western countries, namely France and Germany, have previously failed to honor their nuclear commitments to Tehran without any repercussions.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday declared that Tehran would have "no problem" sending out its stock of LEU for further refinement into the nuclear fuel required for the Tehran reactor.
EU and US officials have, however, rejected Iran's concerns, accusing the Islamic Republic of trying to buy time to delay planned sanctions on Iran's entire energy sector, including its oil and natural gas industries.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2010
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Yemen has handed over to Houthi rebels a timetable to implement the government's ceasefire terms, in an effort to end the conflict in the north of the country, a Yemeni presidential adviser said on Saturday.
"The security committee has drawn up a timetable ... and it has been handed over to (rebel leader Abdul-Malik) al-Houthi through mediators," Abdul-Karim al-Iryani told reporters.
"If he signs it, the war will stop," he said, adding that committees including rebel representatives would be set up to oversee the implementation of the six truce terms.
The rebels have said they would accept conditions set by Sanaa for a ceasefire that include the removal of rebel checkpoints, withdrawal of forces and clarification of the fate of kidnapped foreigners.
The government says the rebels must also return captured military and civilian equipment, stay out of local politics and end border hostilities with forces of neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
The government's initiative revived tentative feelers to end six years of fighting following the death of 23 Yemeni soldiers in twin rebel attacks in the northern mountains.
Rebels ambushed a military supply convoy in Wadi al-Jabara district on the road between the province of Saada on the Saudi border and Al-Jawf province farther east, killing 15 soldiers on Friday, tribal chiefs said.
Rebel fighters killed another eight soldiers in clashes on Friday in Saada town, the rebels said on their website. A military source confirmed that rebels had launched an offensive against the town from the suburbs, but said it had been repulsed and that several rebel fighters had been killed.
The rebels also attacked the home of a leading trial chief in Saada province, Othman Mujalli, who is a member of the Yemeni parliament and recently rallied to the government, provincial officials said. Mortar fire killed Mujalli's son, Hamid, and four other civilians, they said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2010
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#1
Hey, King Abdullah--why not take off the gloves and firebomb Sa'ada into glass? Give the Houthis a final deadline to accept terms of surrender, and if they don't agree, then accept NO terms EVER and obliterate them.
Posted by: American Delight ||
02/07/2010 14:01
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The Saudi Arabian Air Force has launched a new round of assaults on northern Yemen, causing devastation and more civilian casualties.
The Houthi fighters said on Friday that the Saudi warplanes had launched more than 25 attacks on the areas, wounding two women and destroying four civilian residences.
A number of soldiers stormed two houses in the Shia-populated Sa'ada Province, but were ejected by the locals. Eight servicemen were killed in the ensuing conflict, including a lieutenant identifies one Ahmad Nasser Saleh al-Jamili.
The Saudi military released more than 174 rockets and mortars on the areas of al-Dhaher, Qamamat, Ghafereh, al-Rammadiat and Shada.
The Houthis have been resisting the aerial bombardments since November, when Saudi Arabia joined the Yemeni central government's maximized armed campaign against the Shia fighters.
The government has accused the Houthis of violating the terms of an earlier ceasefire agreement by taking foreign visitors hostage. Riyadh, on its part, claims that the Houthis had been engaged in cross-border attacks on the Kingdom.
The Shia fighters, however, say they are defending their people's civil rights, which Sana'a has undermined under pressure from the Saudi-backed Wahhabis -- adherents to an extremely intolerant interpretation of Islam.
The raids by both sides, meanwhile, rage on despite a number of peace initiatives by the Houthis.
Posted by: Fred ||
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U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday confirmed that North Korea would remain off the U.S. list of states sponsoring terrorism. In a letter to Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill, he said that the U.S. administration prepared a classified report on the conduct of North Korea between June 26, 2008 and Nov. 16, 2009, which concludes that it "does not meet the statutory criteria to again be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism."
Obama implies that there is no evidence to prove that the North's recent activities were related to international terrorism. Despite calls from some officials for the Stalinist state to be put back on the list for political reasons, the administration apparently decided that such a move could spark international controversy.
The U.S. reviewed the possibility of putting Pyongyang back on the blacklist with congressional approval last year. Some congressmen, including Republican Senator Sam Brownback, urged the administration to put the North back on the list last year when it declared the Sept. 19, 2005 denuclearization agreement null and void, fired a long-range missile, and conducted a nuclear test.
The George W. Bush administration took Pyongyang off the list of state sponsors of terrorism in 2008, when it appeared to be cooperating in denuclearization efforts.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Blame the childish, ignorant American public--not politicians--for our political and economic crisis. tough choice where to place this - but we don't yet have an "untalented elitist asshole socialist media" category, so I guess it goes here. If you see Jacob, punch him in the gunt and say: "this is for the people who pay the taxes, asshole"
But the gown is surpassing lovely, and the hat is to die for!
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/07/2010
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#1
Count De Monet - Sire, the peasants are revolting! King Louis - You said it. They stink on ice.
#2
Even larger majorities oppose the kind of spending cuts that would reduce projected deficits, let alone eliminate them. Nearly half the public wants to cancel the Obama stimulus, and a strong majority doesn't want another round of it. But 80-plus percent of people want to extend unemployment benefits and to spend more money on roads and bridges. There's another term for that stuff: more stimulus spending.
Where to start?
Unemployment insurance is not stimulus spending. It is government relief, a far cry from stimulus, and it is nominally at least self-funding.
Back in the 70s an economic stumulus was supposed to means free money to get the general public spending.
Now it means borrow money and rain cash onto top of any number of political pet projects,
That's not stimulus spending either.
Projected deficits will become even worse if the federal reserve decides to raise interest rates, and will be bad enough with the current administration's policy of expanding welfare rolls and subsidizing pet industries.
Tax cuts will work, but at this moment they will lead to another bubble similar to the one the current administration is blowing.
The only fix is the only one that hasn't been tried and that is a massive reduction of government scope, power and expenditures at all levels. Not cut spending, not reduce spending, but wholesale elimination of any non constitutionally mandated programs ( defense, border control, and other traditional government functions ( painfully limited federal law enforcement ) )
Top of the list to be eliminated: ( not cut, not reduced, but wiped out ) PBS, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae, the US Department of Energy, and the US Department of Education.
For every revolution, there must be casualties. Those are my top six.
#4
Nah, Frank, don't punch the twit. He'd see it as vindication, and you'd just get bloodstains and puke on your nice shirt.
Far better to just smile and outthink the sorry little bastard and his hallelujah chorus. It wouldn't be that hard, really. He's so busy patting himself on the back for regurgitating what must be a "secret" talking point (remember that Time Mag rant about how the public is so shtooopid not long ago? Expect to see more in the future for a while until Axelrod sees that it's not really working all that well.)
Look, if he was so bloody brilliant as he imagines himself to be, he wouldn't be the third or fourth or whatever writer to harp on this theme, now, would he?
Let him emote loudly in public. Let him vent somewhere that gets more traffic than DU or Daily Kos. Let it out there so that the vast independent majority sees exactly what the "hopeychangey" people they voted into office really think of them when they won't follow orders.
#7
If there are ignorant people out there, Jacob, perhaps it's because they are educated by the media, after learning whatever-passes-for-education-these-days in the politically-correct public schools.
But more and more folks are watching Fox News.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/07/2010 5:56
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Jake, you are buggie.
Jacob Weisberg -(born 1964) is an American political journalist, serving as editor-in-chief of Slate Group, a division of The Washington Post Company, and a columnist for the Financial Times. He served as the editor of Slate magazine for six years, until stepping down in June 2008.[1] He is the son of Lois Weisberg, a Chicago social activist and connector celebrated in Malcolm Gladwell's book The Tipping Point. Weisberg's father, Bernard Weisberg, was a prominent Chicago lawyer and, later, judge. His parents were introduced at a cocktail party by novelist Ralph Ellison.
#9
Besoeker is correct. Social Security and Medicare are the big handouts. They were created after the passage of the 17th amendment, to provide for more democratic election of senators.
This tipped the balanced government our founders created. Too much democracy, too little monarchy and aristocracy.
Franklin also said, when asked what kind of government the Constitutional Convention had created, "A republic, if you can keep it." We are about to find out.
#10
Another hole in the bottom of the bucket are the hordes that are now taking their doctor's slip of "100% disability" to the lawyer who assists them in applying for Social Security disability. There is is a huge spike in these claims that no one is talking about. They are what I call the southern nouveau-rich. Too young to be retired, but well enough to motor their Cadillac Escalades to the department stores.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/07/2010 14:49
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#15
You want stimulus and to provide jobs perhaps we should build a nice wall (think great wall of China) along the Southern Border. That'll provide work for Americans, and a tourist attraction for the future. It might also slow down the number of illegals when the economy picks up again.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Four British lawmakers facing criminal charges over their expense claims are arguing that they are above the law, while some of their colleagues have yet to repay taxpayers' money.
The four MPs, three from the ruling Labour party and one from the opposition Tories, have stated that parliamentary privileges protect them from the law, reports said on Saturday.
However, Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer said he was charging Elliot Morley, David Chaytor, and Jim Devine under the Theft Act 1968. If convicted, each faces up to seven years in jail.
The accused face charges of false accounting but say they are innocent and are pressing to have their expenses claims handled by parliamentary authorities.
Lord Hanningfield, the Tory (Conservative) peer and leader of Essex County Council, faces six charges. Last year, a Daily Mail report said he had withdrawn £100,000 over seven years for staying in London despite living just 46 miles from the capital.
Hanningfield quit his post as the council's leader and stepped down as a Tory frontbencher but denies the charges.
Starmer said Saturday that Hanningfield had "dishonestly submitted claims for expenses to which he knew he was not entitled."
On Thursday, as many as 390 current and former British MPs were ordered to repay a total of more than one million pounds in undue claimed expenses.
Last year, a leaked document detailing the MPs' claims showed that a great number of British parliamentarians, and some ministers, had claimed large sums for their personal expenses from public funds.
The scandal has sullied the reputation of the country's three main parties, but some of the MPs have claimed the overdrafts were due to accounting "mistakes."
Posted by: Fred ||
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1 British pound = 1.5603 U.S. dollars - 1,560,300 - 2010 Rolls Royce Ghost. MSRP: $247,000 - Six RR's
Somali pirates have demanded $15 million, the largest amount of ransom so far, from UK ship Asian Glory reportedly carrying hundreds of modern cars and weapons.
The ship, headed to Saudi Arabia, was coming from Singapore when the Somali pirates hijacked it, a Press TV correspondent reported. The UK ship was reportedly carrying expensive cars and modern weapons for Saudi Arabia to launch additional attacks on Yemen's Houthi fighters.
The largest amount of money given so far for the release of a ship in the Gulf of Aden was $7 million, which was given to a Greek tanker last week.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2010
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#1
How the hell do you let an arms carrying ship get captured by pirates?
#2
ION UK NEWS KERALA > EXPERT: AL QAEDA PLANS "IRA-STYLE" TERROR STRIKES INSIDE BRITAIN.
IOW, one day IRELAND may stand alone agz DER KAMELFUHRER ADOLF/JOZEF AHMED + his ISLAMIST EURABIA.
* SAME > [Nigerian]NOBEL LAUREATE: UK, NOT NIGERIA, IS A BREEDING GROUND FOR ISLAMIST TERRORISTS. Argued that attempted Detroit Airline Bomber ABDULMUTTALAB was radicalized in the UK, NOT Nigeria, hence the UK should be on the US TERROR-WATCH LIST OF COUNTRIES, not Nigeria???
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.
After the worst military base massacre in U.S. history, officials acknowledged that they failed to "connect the dots" -- the shooter had been corresponding with an imam tied to al-Qaeda and had condemned the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as a war against Islam. But Fort Hood gunman Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan wasn't the only one working on a Texas Army base the day of the shooting who had links to radical Islamists.
An 
Sarah Palin chose a gathering of tea party activists on Saturday as the backdrop for her first major political speech since accepting the Republican Party's nomination for vice president 18 months ago. With her remarks, greeted with wild enthusiasm here and carried live by all three major cable news networks, Palin moved firmly to reestablish herself as a politician capable of national office. 
Republican senator George LeMieux of Florida has done the math. If government spending were reduced to its 2007 level, we'd have a balanced budget (with a $163 billion surplus). Returning to the 2008 level of spending, the budget would be balanced in 2014 (a $133 billion surplus). And in both cases, that's while keeping the Bush tax cuts across the board and indexing the loathed alternative minimum tax for inflation.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says Tehran is ready to sign a deal with the major powers to exchange some of its low-enriched uranium for higher-grade fuel. 
A rocket launched by Iran on Wednesday was made in the North Korean style, a South Korean expert claims. Chae Yeon-seok, a former president of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, said Thursday the rocket engine, as publicized by the state-run IRNA news agency, seems to be the same as North Korea's Rodong missile, though Tehran claims it was made with indigenous technology. 
The North Korean regime is purging senior military and party officials. In the Workers' Party, the heads of the financial and economic sections have been sacked over the disastrous currency reform and international sanctions, and in the military, officers in their 70s and 80s from the era of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung are making way for younger military leaders in their 50s and 60s. 
A senior Iranian military official is warning Gulf Arab nations not to buy U.S. missile defense systems, saying they can easily be thwarted. The chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, General Hassan Firouzabadi, was quoted Thursday by Iranian state news as saying the Patriot missiles can be made ineffective through simple tactics. 
Blame the childish, ignorant American public--not politicians--for our political and economic crisis.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Four British lawmakers facing criminal charges over their expense claims are arguing that they are above the law, while some of their colleagues have yet to repay taxpayers' money. 
