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Supreme Court Rules Unanimously Against EPA Strong-Arming of Regulated Parties
Damon W. Root | March 21, 2012
The Supreme Court handed down a major win for both property rights and due process rights today in the case of Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency. At issue was the EPAs use of so-called administrative compliance orders, which are government commands that allowed the agency to regulate the use of private property without also subjecting its actions to judicial review. In a 9-0 ruling, with the majority opinion written by Justice Antonin Scalia and separate concurring opinions filed by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Samuel Alito, the Supreme Court declared that these EPA actions must be subject to judicial review.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/21/2012
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Tariq Ramadan, enough said. However everything is gist for the mill.
The strategic alliance with the literalists is critical for the West in order to keep the Middle East under control
Israel's ambassador to Egypt has quit Cairo, six months after the embassy was attacked by paid rioters and ransacked in the Egyptian capital.
Officials at the Egyptian airport said Wednesday that two IDF aircraft departed Cairo before dawn, carrying all of the equipment and documents that had been in the embassy.
During the September 2011 attack, Egyptian leaders did not respond to Israeli requests for assistance until the United States stepped in with a personal phone call from President Barack Obama, pointedly asking its military to intervene. Even so, Israeli staff members barely escaped with their lives, and the embassy has since been unable to secure new quarters.
Last week the Egyptian parliament,currently controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood, demanded Israel's envoy be expelled in response to the IDF's defense of southern Israel against rocket attacks from Gaza.
Pakistan does not want the Taliban to seize control of Afghanistan when international forces pull out, according to a leaked account of a meeting with the recently retired head of its intelligence service.
Part of the non-ISI part of Pakistain does not want the Taliban to seize control. The ISI, and a good part of the rest of the country, would be just fine with it...
The country's shadowy Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency has long been accused of siding with the Taliban as part of a strategy to ensure a friendly government in Kabul and to ensure arch-rival India cannot gain a foothold.
However, this year its civilian government has taken pains to insist that any political settlement must be part of an Afghan-led process.
Now, details of an interview with Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, who stepped down as ISI director general last weekend, give an insight into the agency's secretive world and its position on Afghanistan.
The account of the meeting in April last year -- written by a researcher with the private intelligence firm Stratfor and obtained by WikiLeaks -- suggests the ISI fears that a Taliban takeover would have dangerous implications for Pakistan's security.
"We do not wish to see the Talibs dominate Afghanistan," he said. "On the contrary, we want to see a broad-based government that can end the civil war in that country, which has had a disastrous fallout for us. Of course the Talibs will be a key player in a post-Nato Afghanistan, which we feel is necessary for true peace to take place."
Wikileaks no doubt feels like they have a scoop, coming to figure out what we at the Burg knew eight years ago...
#1
So basically the ISI wants the Taliban in place, like before. They just would like to end the war. The key issue for us is to deny Afghanistan as a base for terrorist operations against the US (and others).
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/21/2012 13:46
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So to fight the Taliban the US would be much more effective if it used the MOAB on ISI HQ?
Posted by: Water Modem ||
03/21/2012 13:50
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So, the ISI, which has done everything but cook them breakfast in bed and tuck them in at night, has decided they don't want the Taliban to run the show in Afghanistan?
I am beginning to think the ISI is as fractured into warring factions as Afghanistan. The right hand wants to kill the left hand and neither knows what the other is doing.
Obviously, ISI is dysfunctional and their logic is unworkable. Who in their right mind would think India wants anything to do with a place with scenic beauties named "Hindu Cush"?
I think ISI needs some meds, their paranoia is out of control
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
03/21/2012 14:01
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The key issue for us is to deny Afghanistan as a base for terrorist operations against the US (and others).
I agree, but I haven't come across anything likely to succeed.
Isolating Afghanistan might be effective, but very hard to accomplish, with Pakistan, Iran, China & former Russian provinces surrounding that country.
The imperial method, e.g. saturating Afghanistan with occupying forces & re-forming the society over a couple of generations, is a pipe dream, and insupportable.
Germany has announced that it will sell Israel a sixth Dolphin-class submarine capable of carrying nuclear warheads with an operating range of 4,500 kilometers (2,800 miles).
German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere announced the decision on Tuesday in a joint presser with his Israeli counterpart Ehud Barak in Berlin.
"A further boat will be delivered to Israel and there will be financial help," said Maiziere, confirming that Germany would shoulder part of the cost of the submarine.
Gotta keep the workers on the production line employed...
In November, a German government source had said that the country would pay a contribution of 135 million Euros ($178 million), a third of the cost.
Three earlier-model Dolphin submarines had been delivered to Israel between 1998 and 2000. In 2006, Israel placed its fourth and fifth orders for two more advanced subs. The fourth one is scheduled for delivery by 2013. The fifth and the sixth orders are due for delivery in 2014 and 2016 respectively.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Israel's regular violations of Lebanese airspace are unacceptable and infringe the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.
"We consider violating this resolution unacceptable, especially as far as respect for Leb's illusory sovereignty and airspace is concerned. Regrettably, this is a regular violation by the Israeli air force," Lavrov said during a joint news conference with his Lebanese counterpart Adnan Mansour in Moscow on Tuesday.
Mansour told Russian Foreign Minister that Israeli military has violated Lebanese airspace more over 9,000 times since 2006.
Israel violates Leb's airspace on an almost daily basis, claiming the flights serve surveillance purposes.
Leb's government, the Hezbullies resistance movement, and the UN Interim Force in Leb, known as UNIFIL, have repeatedly condemned the airspace violations.
UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which brokered a ceasefire in the war of aggression Israel launched against Leb in 2006, calls on Tel Aviv to respect Beirut's illusory sovereignty and territorial integrity.
In 2009, Leb filed a complaint with the United Nations, presenting over 7,000 documents pertaining to Israeli violations of Lebanese territory.
Turkey's Prime Minister Office declared that Recep Tayyip Erdogan will pay an official visit to Tehran next week, IRNA reported. The Office said in a statement that the prime minister will pay an official 2-day visit to Iran on March 28 and 29, 2012.
Erdogan is scheduled to meet with Iranian senior officials and discuss bilateral, regional and international issues with them.
Before visiting Iran, Erdogan, heading a delegation including Turkish Foreign Minister and Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, will attend Nuclear security Meeting in Seoul, capital of South Korea.
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NEW YORK: Oil dropped nearly 2 percent as Saudi Arabia sought to knock back the price rise that has threatened the global economy, with the oil minister offering the most detailed argument to date that OPEC nation was prepared to meet any supply shortfalls.
Brent crude settled at $124.12 a barrel, down $1.59 on the day and off earlier lows of $123.20. US crude fell $2.48 to settle at $105.61 a barrel.
Prices dropped after the Kingdom sought to soothe fears about high oil prices, saying that world supplies were well in excess of demand and that $125-a-barrel crude prices were not justified given the anemic state of the world economy.
Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Ali Al-Naimi said the Kingdom had satisfied all of its customers' requests for oil and stood ready to raise output to full capacity of 12.5 million barrels per day (bpd), if needed.
"I want to assure you that there is no shortage of supply in the market," Al-Naimi told reporters at a press briefing in Doha, Qatar. "We are ready and willing to put more oil on the market, but you need a buyer."
Oil is trading above $123, just $24 short of an all-time high, as tighter Western sanctions on Iran threaten to slow the country's exports.
"Oil prices today are unjustifiable on a supply and demand basis," said Al-Naimi. "We really don't understand why the prices are behaving the way they are."
Sure you do, you just can't say it out loud...
He said supply of oil was now out-pacing demand by more than 1 million bpd and that customers were not asking for extra crude.
"From our point of view, we have had no customer not satisfied. We have satisfied every request for every customer that has come asking," said Naimi.
"We ask the customers, 'Do you need more?' and invariably the answer is 'No thank you.'"
Riyadh is now pumping 9.9 million bpd the highest in decades and is willing to produce at full capacity of 12.5 million bpd immediately, should demand warrant, Al-Naimi said. He said he expected output next month to stay at 9.9 million bpd. Saudi spare production capacity now stands at 2.5 million bpd, he said.
"We spent a lot of money building that capacity. We finished building it in 2009, and it is there to be used," said Al-Naimi.
Storage inside the kingdom was full and Riyadh was holding about 10 million barrels outside of Saudi Arabia in Rotterdam, Sidi Kerir and Okinawa, he said. "Our inventories both in Saudi Arabia and worldwide are full."
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#1
None of these political explanations makes sense. Too many fiat currencies in competitive devaluation pursuing too little oil is the closest decent explanation. From our point of view, we have had no customer not satisfied. They never asked me. I want my gasoline for 50% less than it is currently selling for.
North Korean leader Suet Face Kim Jong-un has purged high-ranking military officers to consolidate his grip on power after the death of his father Kim Jong-il, it emerged on Tuesday.
A source familiar with North Korea said Kim Jong-un ordered officials in January to remove anyone caught misbehaving during the mourning period for Kim Jong-il. "We have information that an assistant chief of the General Staff Department was arrested and shot by firing squad on charges of sexual harassment during the mourning period," the source added. Pudgy's trying to get American feminists to cream in their pants, isn't he?
The General Staff Department takes orders directly from Kim Jong-un in wartime and commands the entire North Korean military. There are six or seven assistant chiefs under Gen. Ri Yong-ho, the chief of General Staff. It remains unclear which assistant chief was purged.
A high-ranking government official here said, "To my knowledge, an assistant chief of the Ministry of the People's Armed Forces was also put in front of a firing squad early this year for being drunk during the mourning period."
Kim Sung-min of Free North Korea Radio, a former captain in the North Korean army, recalled that Kim Jong-il also carried out a bloody purge after the death of his father Kim Il-sung in the name of restoring public order. "There is a strong chance that Kim Jong-un is doing exactly what his father did," he said.
Just reminding everyone who the new boss is...
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#1
KJ-un, I told u to call me, and you never did. Now I hear that you're purging again...That can be so unhealthy; especially being as phat as we are...(Don't get me started!)
Let's try it again my little, squared-away Kim-chi bucket. We can go see the Phat Boi movie and "re-start" this bad-boy! Chaz Bono
Pope Benedict arrives in Mexico seven days before campaigns kick off for the July 1 presidential elections. Such a visit would have been unthinkable a generation ago in a nation where references to Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico's patroness, have been enough to annul elections.
The visit also comes as the Mexican Senate debates constitutional changes that would guarantee the right to hold religious services outside authorized places of worship.
Catholic leaders caution against reading too much into the timing of the trip. They say the pope's agenda has nothing to do with domestic politics.
Priest Jorge Raúl Villegas, spokesman for the Archdiocese of León, expects the pope's message to be "encouraging" for a country where a war on drug cartels and organized crime has claimed about 47,000 lives in five years. The crackdown has caused controversy for the church: Some parishes accept "narcolimosnas," or drug alms, from cartels for charitable work.
CAIRO: Thousands of mourners dressed in black gathered in Cairo on Tuesday for the funeral of Egypts Orthodox Christian Pope Shenouda, who spent his final years trying to comfort a disturbed community.
Shenouda, who died on Saturday aged 88, promoted religious harmony, winning respect among the Muslim majority, but his last years witnessed a growth in sectarian tension that worsened with the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak last year.
I cant tell you how much sorrow I have inside me. This was a great, great man and it will be hard to find anyone like him again, said Ivon Mosaed, a 52-year-old Christian Copt who heads an educational institute offering foreign languages courses.
Religious figures from several countries including a Catholic delegation from the Vatican and foreign ambassadors massed in the Orthodox Cathedral as long-bearded Coptic priests wearing bulbous black mitres prayed over Shenoudas body lying in an open coffin, a golden mitre upon his head and a gold-tipped staff in his hand.
A delegation from the ruling military council and several candidates for Egypts upcoming presidential elections attended the funeral. Security was tight, with dozens of police and army trucks scattered around the cathedral and plainclothes police posted on bridges and in streets nearby.
The prayers were led by Bishop Bakhomious, head of the church of Bahaira, a district in the Nile Delta north of Cairo, who will temporally hold the post of pope for two months until a new leader is elected.
I am so sad of course and many of my Muslim relatives are sad as well, said Muslim university student Iman, who was dressed in black and wearing a black veil. He was a decent Egyptian man who was also known for being very wise.
Egypt has seen less of the religious violence and discrimination that prompted members of ancient Christian communities to migrate from Iraq and other Arab countries. But Coptic Christians, who comprise about a tenth of Egypts 80 million people, have long complained of discrimination and in the past year stepped up protests, which included calls for new rules that would make it as easy to build a church as a mosque.
Thousands have paid their respects at the cathedral since he died. For much of the time, Shenoudas body was put in a seated position on a ceremonial throne dressed in gold and red embroidered vestments.
On Sunday, the cathedral had to close its doors several times in an attempt to contain the crowds. Two mourners died killed in the crush, medical sources said.
The burial is expected to take place at the Wadi el Natrun monastery in the desert northwest of Cairo, where the late pope had requested he be interred.
One of Shenoudas oft-repeated sayings, also cited in newspapers, was: Egypt is not a nation we live in, rather it is a nation that lives in us.
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GORENTAS, Turkey Syrian rebel commander Ahmad Mihbzt and his ragtag fighters grabbed their aging rifles to fight Syrian troops advancing on their village, but soon fled under a rain of exploding artillery shells.
We will fight until our last drop of blood, Mihbzt declared a week later in this village across the Turkish border. We just withdrew because we ran out of ammunition.
Like Mihbzts men, rebels across Syria fighting to topple President Bashar Assad lack the weapons that can pose a serious challenge to the regimes large, professional army. Some rebel units have more fighters than guns, forcing them to take turns fighting. Because of ammunition shortages, some fire automatic rifles one shot at a time, counting each bullet.
Rebel leaders and anti-regime activists say rising gun prices and more tightly controlled borders are making it harder for them to acquire arms and smuggle them into Syria. This could tip the already unbalanced military equation of Syrias year-old uprising further in the regimes favor.
The opposition has suffered a series of military setbacks as regime forces have repeatedly routed them in their strongholds, most recently the eastern city of Deir al-Zour on Tuesday.
The weapons shortage has grown so acute that the oppositions disorganized leadership say only military aid can stop Assads forces. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Libya have spoken positively of the idea, but no country is known to be arming the rebels. The United States and many European countries have rejected sending weapons, fearing that it would fuel a civil war.
Idiots. The country is in a civil war this very moment. The US and EU don't want to cross the line that Russia has drawn in the sand...
The weapons problems reflect the fractured, haphazard nature of the rebel movement. The uprising began a year ago with peaceful protests demanding political reform, inspired by the successful revolts in Tunisia and Egypt. Since then, Assad has waged a withering crackdown.
In response, some in the opposition began to take up arms to defend their towns and attack government troops. The local militias and breakaway units from the Syrian army mostly identify with the Free Syrian Army, a loose-knit umbrella group, but they operate independent of each other. The groups, numbering anywhere from a few dozen to a few hundred men, are largely on their own in finding weapons and supplies.
Defectors from the army, mostly low-level soldiers, bring arms and know-how with them. Most have only light weapons, such as Kalashnikov assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. Rebel coordinators say groups have looted heavier weapons from army caches, and activist videos posted online show anti-aircraft guns and anti-tank missiles. But heavy weapons remain rare and have not significantly boosted rebel capabilities.
Smuggling from neighboring countries was key earlier in the conflict. But rebels and anti-regime activists now say Syrian forces have mined many of the smuggling routes from Turkey and Lebanon, and the Turkish and Jordanian governments have tightened border controls to avoid being pulled into the conflict.
Rebel frustrations are clear in the string of poor Turkish villages across Syrias northern border where more than 16,000 Syrians live in refugee camps. The camps host hundreds of rebel fighters seeking to regroup as well as smugglers who trade in livestock, cigarettes and gasoline.
Last week, some 200 rebels with light arms in the Syrian hill village of Janoudiyeh were no match for Assads forces, which shelled the area before sending in troops, said Mihbzt, the rebel commander. His forces fled across the border, about 6 miles from town, and into Turkey. But rising gun prices and strict border controls prevent his men from rearming, he said. So they plan to target border sentries to seize their arms or loot Syrian arms depots.
Other fighters who have found refuge in Turkey reported similar frustrations.
We were forced to fire single shots in clashes because we dont have enough ammunition, said Majdi Hamdo. I have two magazines for my Kalashnikov and one of them has been empty for the past month.
In contrast, analysts say Assads army boasts 330,000 soldiers and highly advanced weaponry, most of it bought from Russia.
While many of its recent weapons purchases like air defense technology and anti-ship missiles cant be used against rebels, they point to a highly sophisticated force.
Joseph Holliday, an analyst with the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War who has studied Syrias rebels, said they will not be able to challenge the army without substantial help, though they can wage an effective insurgency.
There is no possibility in the foreseeable future that theyll be able to pose a real challenge to or defeat the regimes forces in a pitched battle, he said. They can continue to survive. They can attack areas where the regime is not in full control, and they can sap regime forces and get them to play the proverbial whack-a-mole that U.S. forces had to deal with in Iraq.
That means the violence could last. Already the revolt has become one of the bloodiest of the Arab Spring, with the U.N. saying more than 8,000 people have been killed.
Rebels in Syrias south typify this insurgent strategy, where small bands of fighters attack regime targets then disappear into nearby farmland. This week, they bombed a bridge on a key highway to prevent the army from bringing in more tanks.
Activist Raed al-Suleiman said his village of Nawa in Daraa province has fewer than 100 rebels, whom local residents support.
They give them money, food or clothing, he said. Their ammunition is all booty from the regime since no aid is coming from Jordan.
Ahmad Kassem, an FSA coordinator outside Syria, said rebels had recently looted weapons caches in Daraa and outside of Damascus, getting thousands of machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, anti-aircraft guns and missiles.
The seized weapons will give a qualitative jump to our military operations, he said. Its not enough, but sufficient in the meantime to inflict harm on Bashars oppressive army.
Rebel coordinator Mohammed Qaddah in Jordan said some 2,000 fighters in the countryside around Damascus have less than one rifle per man, forcing them to take turns or resort to simpler means.
We use Molotov cocktails and homemade grenades in roadside ambushes because were desperate, he said. But we have no means to arm all our eager men."
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Two teachers and a midwife have been kidnapped by suspected Muslim terrorists militants in the southern Philippines.
The two teachers, both male, were abducted on Monday on their way to work in Iligan City, 810 kilometers south of Manila. They are believed to have been taken by armed men led by a Muslim rebel commander in the area.
On Jolo Island, gunmen seized a 54-year-old midwife on Monday, according to Colonel Remegio Valdez, a marine brigade commander. Valdez said the terrorists initially abducted six healthcare workers from an ambulance, but let the five others go.
Terrorists Militants are currently believed to be holding captive an Australian national kidnapped in December and two European birdwatchers abducted in February.
MOGADISHU: Islamist militants launched mortars at Somalias presidential palace for a second night running, drawing retaliatory fire from African Union peacekeepers in some of the heaviest fighting to rock the capital in months, residents said on Tuesday.
The rebels targeted the palace but the shells landed just outside. There were no casualties, the AUs AMISOM force spokesman, Paddy Ankunda, told Reuters.
Some people living near Mogadishus presidential compound said they would flee the city, alarmed by the fiercest heavy weapons fire in the downtown area since the Al-Shabab rebel group withdrew most of its forces to outlying areas.
The Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents said on Monday they would keep hitting the presidential compound, which also houses key government ministries, with mortars and suicide bombings.
A salvo of mortars on Sunday night killed at least five refugees from a single family, and came less than a week after a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the gate of Villa Somalia, as the presidential palace is known.
Publicly AMISOM says it is not clear where the short-range mortars aimed at Villa Somalia being fired from. However, the heavily protected complex is normally considered beyond the range of mortars launched from outside the Somali capital.
AMISOM said the militants also briefly attacked government troop positions in Mogadishus southern suburbs, near a roadblock known as Ex-control set up on one of the main roads into the city center. The peacekeepers reported no casualties.
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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar said on Monday he does not expect an Israeli strike on Iran due to Israel's international isolation.
The senior official in Gaza told Ma'an that Iran continues to support the Palestinian cause and the Hamas movement, but denied Israeli media reports that Iranian leaders are training Palestinian factions in the Egyptian Sinai.
Zahhar met Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in Tehran on Thursday, thanking the country for supporting Palestine without expecting anything in return. Noooooo...
Your winnings, sir.
Oh. Thank you! Thank you very much!
Zahhar has made conflicting statements about the role Hamas would play if Israel attacked Iran. Probably bleed all over them...
Speaking to the BBC for a report published March 7, Zahhar said Hamas would respond to Israeli attacks on Gaza but would not get involved "in any other regional conflict." He added: "We are not part of any political axis."
Zahhar told the BBC that Hamas lacked the power to respond from a territory that is still under siege, occupied and recovering from previous Israeli offensives. Too many "victories", Warty?
He later disavowed the comments in an interview with the Iranian Fars news agency and said Hamas would respond to Israel and its allies in the event of an attack on Iran. Hmmmmm...that was quick. Somebody freeze his bank account?
"Retaliation with utmost power is the position of Hamas with regard to a Zionist war on Iran," he said. We're goin' under the mattresses again, boys!
Jeffrey Goldberg, who writes for Bloomberg and the Atlantic, was stunned by the optimism he heard from senior Israelis about the consequences of an attack. To sum up his findings, top Israelis including (apparently) the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister, have reached the following conclusions about the consequences of an attack:
o If it acts soon, Israel has the capacity to set the Iranian nuclear program back by five years.
o There is a significant probability that a successful attack on Iran will energize Iran's internal opposition, leading ultimately to the downfall or at least the crippling of the Iranian government.
o President B.O. will not retaliate against Israel.
o Rather than launch massive retaliation against Israel, Iran will try to downplay the assault (as Syria and Iraq did in the past), perhaps launching only a few token missiles in response.
o Fearing massive retaliation, Iran would not attack American ships or targets in response.
#2
a successful attack on Iran will energize Iran's internal opposition, leading ultimately to the downfall or at least the crippling of the Iranian government
Highly unlikely, unless coupled with airdrops of hundreds of thousands of handguns & ammo into Iran with DIY directions on their use.
Filed under the rubric: Shining Path still exists?
Link is in Spanish
A member of the Peruvian Sendero Luminoso or Shining Path Maoist guerilla group was captured in Ecuador Tuesday, according to Spanish language reports.
Luis Gelacio was captured in the village of Naranjal in Guayas province in the southeast of Ecuador by an Ecuadoran intelligence unit of the anticrime police squad.
Gelacio is wanted by Ecuador for a 1998 attack on a police station in the village of San Jacinto in Tumbes province. He is also suspected in the murder of a Peruvian police officer, Cesar Castro.
Gelacio had been living in Naranjal under an alias.
WASHINGTON The Obama administration on Tuesday granted exemptions from U.S. economic sanctions to 10 European Union countries and Japan because they have significantly reduced their purchases of petroleum from Iran. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
Whom no one confuses for John Foster Dulles...
gave the waivers to Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Japan, meaning that banks and other financial institutions based there will not be hit with penalties under U.S. law for 180 days.
The guy just loves giving waivers out...
President Barack Obama has until March 30 to determine whether oil prices and supplies are sufficient enough to levy sanctions later this year on countries that still buy oil from Iran. Pending that decision, another 12 nations including India, China and South Korea that are deemed to be major importers of Iranian oil have until the end of July to take similar steps or face sanctions.
In a statement, Clinton lauded the countries granted exemptions, noting that the actions they had taken to reduce their imports from Iran were not easy.
They had to rethink their energy needs at a critical time for the world economy and quickly begin to find alternatives to Iranian oil, which many had been reliant on for their energy needs, she said. We commend these countries for their actions and urge other nations that import oil from Iran to follow their example.
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#1
Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain those are the ones within range of the Russian pipeline. Don't understand Japan though.
#3
These waivers take the bite out of the sanctions. More toothless actions, just like the League of Nations did with sanctions against Italy after their invasion of Abyssinia in 1935. The League did not include oil in their sanctions, so the list did not hurt Mussolini and he used the sanctions as a morale and propaganda tool.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/21/2012 17:16
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My family has told me to quit picking on the monkeys that are sending our country into the toilet( hope the sand embargo puts the fear of God into the primates in Iran). I will never respect or take an order from the garbage ruling our country ever .
* FREEREPUBLIC > [Daily Mail.UK] "WE HAVE A DUTY TO PREPARE FOR THE WORST": PETER KING WARNS IRAN HAS HUNDREDS OF HEZBOLLAH AGENTS IN US.
King says the Fed knows they're hhheeeeeerrreee.
Once again, iff any Israeli milstrike intentionally or accidentally causes a few or many Mullahs in Tehran to go boom, WILL IRAN ORDER ITS TERROR PROXIES TO TAKE OUT THE WHITE HOUSE + US CONGRESSCRITTERS???
Ayatollah Khamenei has warned that Iran will retaliate "on the same level" to any US, Israeli attack, but that is at best open to a high degree of subjective interpretation on the part of Iran.
The Nigerian military has shot dead 11 members of Islamist militant group Boko Haram in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri, a spokesman said.
They died during a shootout in the capital of Borno state, he said. But Boko Haram said its members had been picked from their homes by the army's joint task force and killed.
If claims that the 11 Boko Haram members were picked up from their homes are true, it would represent a strong-arm tactics by the army, the BBC's Mark Lobel in Kano reports.This could possibly inflame the situation further - similar to the violence in 2009 when then Boko Haram leader Mohammed Yusuf died in police custody, our correspondent adds. Really. Wouldn't want "inflame" terrorists. Just kill 'em instead.
Jeffrey Goldberg, who writes for Bloomberg and the Atlantic, was stunned by the optimism he heard from senior Israelis about the consequences of an attack. To sum up his findings, top Israelis including (apparently) the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister, have reached the following conclusions about the consequences of an attack:
o If it acts soon, Israel has the capacity to set the Iranian nuclear program back by five years.
o There is a significant probability that a successful attack on Iran will energize Irans internal opposition, leading ultimately to the downfall or at least the crippling of the Iranian government.
o President Obama will not retaliate against Israel.
o Rather than launch massive retaliation against Israel, Iran will try to downplay the assault (as Syria and Iraq did in the past), perhaps launching only a few token missiles in response.
o Fearing massive retaliation, Iran would not attack American ships or targets in response.
BAGHDAD: At least 27 bombs struck cities and towns across Iraq yesterday, killing at least 51 people and wounding nearly 250, despite a massive security clampdown ahead of next week's Arab League summit in Baghdad.
It was Iraq's bloodiest day in nearly a month, and the scale of the coordinated explosions in more than a dozen cities showed an apparent determination by insurgents to prove that the government cannot keep the country safe ahead of the summit.
"The goal of today's attacks was to present a negative image of the security situation in Iraq," government spokesman Ali Al-Dabbagh said. "Security efforts will be escalated to counteract terrorist groups' attacks and to fill loopholes used by them to infiltrate security, whether in Baghdad or other provinces."
Yesterday's deadliest incident occurred in the southern city of Kerbala, where twin explosions killed 13 people and wounded 48 during the morning rush hour, according to Jamal Mahdi, a Kerbala Health Department spokesman.
"The second explosion caused the biggest destruction. I saw body parts, fingers, hands thrown on the road," 23-year-old shop owner Murtadha Ali Kadhim said. "The security forces are stupid because they always gather at the site of an explosion and then a second explosion occurs. They become a target."
They may not be the smartest but no one is questioning their bravery...
Blasts also struck in the capital, in Baiji, Baquba, Daquq, Dibis, Dhuluiya, Kirkuk, Mosul, Samarra, Tuz Khurmato and Dujail to the north, in Fallujah and Ramadi to the west, and Hilla, Latifiya, Mahmudiya and Mussayab to the south. Police defused bombs in Baquba, Fallujah and Mosul. Most of the blasts targeted police checkpoints and patrols.
Security has been stepped up across the city's checkpoints, where thorough searches have backed up traffic for hours in recent days. In the northern city of Kirkuk, two car bombs exploded near a police headquarters, killing nine people and wounding 42, police and health sources said. In Baghdad, a car bomb killed four and wounded 11.
Police in Baquba said they had found and defused nine bombs, including one in a booby-trapped car which was parked on the road with a decapitated body.
Somebody has a really nasty sense of humour.
By late afternoon, the toll from all the bombings compiled by Reuters fstood at 51 killed and 239 wounded.
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next week's Arab League summit in Baghdad. a target rich opportunity, for some.
Three unidentified rebels with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) were killed and another four were captured in the border town of Arauquita by army troops with the Columbia 8th Division, according to Spanish language news accounts.
Reports say the operation which led to the encounter was aimed at capturing four unidentified FARC leaders.
BEIRUT: Rebels fighting to oust President Bashar Assad quit the eastern Syrian city of Deir Al-Zor on Tuesday in the face of a fierce army assault, the latest in a string of setbacks for opposition forces.
Government troops also shelled residential areas in the cities of Hama and Homs, and the nearby town of Rastan, killing at least 10 people, while a soldier died in a raid on an army checkpoint in the south, opposition sources said.
The lightly armed rebel forces have been forced into retreat across the country in recent weeks, with the army using heavy armor to chase them from towns and cities, chalking up its latest victory in Deir Al-Zor, which lies on the road to Iraq.
Tanks entered residential neighborhoods, especially in southeastern areas of Deir Al-Zor. The Free Syrian Army pulled out to avoid a civilian massacre, a statement by the Deir Al-Zor Revolution Committees Union said.
After failing to hold significant stretches of land, analysts say the rebels appear to be switiching to insurgency tactics, pointing to bloody car bomb attacks in two major Syrian cities at the weekend and the sabotage of a major rail link.
Assad, fighting for the survival of his family dynasty which has ruled Syria for more than four decades, faces growing pressure from foreign powers, including ally Russia, to grant daily cease-fires that would enable humanitarian missions. His forces have been accused of torture and arbitrary executions while trying to put down the insurgency, but advocacy group the Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday the armed opposition was also guilty of serious offenses.
Syrian rebels released an army general abducted in the Damascus suburb of Douma in return for prisoners and bodies of insurgents and civilians held by police, an opposition source familiar with the deal said on Tuesday.
Naeem Khalil Odeh has been released in return for several prisoners and 14 bodies, the source said from Douma, referring to the general, adding that he had been seized last week.
Homs became the epicenter of the year-long rebellion against Assad and has been repeatedly targeted by government troops, who are believed to have swept most rebel gunmen from the city.
There has also been fighting further to the north around Hama, and opposition sources said Syrian tanks had bombarded the city early Tuesday to try to dislodge Free Syrian Army rebels who had resumed operations there despite several army sweeps.
The Free Syria Army has proved little match for Assads well-armed security apparatus, and experts said the opposition appeared to be changing tactics.
Car bomb attacks in the capital Damascus and second city Aleppo killed at least 30 over the weekend, while rebels also destroyed a railway bridge linking Damascus to Daraa, according to official Syrian media.
The Syrian opposition prematurely tried to hold territory and take on the Syrian Army. This was a bad and costly mistake, said Joshua Landis, the head of Middle East Studies at the US University of Oklahoma.
In the new phase of the battle that is shaping up to combat the Assad regime, opposition leaders are likely to champion new tactics of militancy and Islamization, he wrote on his blog Syria Comment.
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5,086 people have been killed and 8,485 others have been wounded since the insurgency in southern Thailand flared up eight years ago, a university announced Tuesday.
Deep South Watch of Songkhla University reported that during the 98 month period from January 2004 to February 2012, a total of 11,542 violent incidents related to insurgency took place in Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and four districts of Songkhla.
Of the deaths, 1,952 were Buddhists and 2,996 Muslims. The religion of the 139 others was unspecified. Of the injuries, 5,141 were Buddhists, 2,751 were Muslims while the religion of the remaining 593 was unspecified.
The latest incident took place in Narathiwat province when villagers spotted two terrorists insurgents hiding a homemade bomb inside a orchard. Local villagers alerted the authorities. Rangers went to the scene and found the bomb buried under a fruit tree. The explosive device was wired and ready for use.
A Mohammedan woman was barred from serving on a jury yesterday because she refused to remove her veil.
In an extraordinary ruling, a judge said she could not sit on an attempted murder trial because her full face covering, known as the niqab, concealed her expressions.
The woman was about to take the oath in the case at Blackfriars Crown Court in London when the judge interrupted to ask if she was prepared to remove the garment which covered her whole face, apart from a narrow slit through which her eyes could be seen. Judge Aidan Marron QC, said it was 'desirable' that her face was 'exposed' during the trial and asked her to remove the veil.
When she refused she was told to stand down and a white male member of the jury pool was sworn in in her place.
In the presence of the rest of the jury, Judge Marron said: 'I wonder whether I can address the lady who is veiled. Would you prefer not to remove your veil in this particular case?'
The woman, who was wearing western clothing including a fitted grey jacket, replied: 'Yes.'
Judge Marron added: 'I entirely understand that, but in this particular case it is desirable that your face is exposed, so I'm going to invite you to stand down. I hope you understand.'
The ruling, which is thought to be one of the first of its kind in Britannia, has sparked outrage.
Yesterday Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, said: 'This is totally unacceptable. I really can't understand why facial expressions could have any impact on the judge, the judgment or anyone else in a trial. It has no relevance. I'm speechless that you can exclude someone on the basis of the way that they dress. It's very worrying that a judge is being prejudiced against women wearing a veil.'
Official guidelines state that veils can be worn in court although senior judges should decide on a case-by-case basis.
In 2007, the Judicial Studies Board's equal treatment advisory committee said Mohammedan women should be permitted to wear the garment as long as it did not interfere with the administration of justice. The guidelines said: 'Each situation should be considered individually in order to find the best solution in each case.'
It also says forcing a woman to choose between participating in a court case and removing the veil could have a 'significant impact on that woman's sense of dignity', and could serve to 'exclude and marginalise' her.
The rules say a judge may wish to consider excusing jurors in niqabs if a challenge is made by one of the parties, provided there is a genuine basis for the objection. The guidance followed a case at an immigration court in Stoke-on-Trent in 2006 where the judge, George Glossop, ordered an adjournment because he was having difficulty hearing legal executive Shabnam Mughal.
In 2007, a Mohammedan female juror who was accused of listening to a hidden stereo under her headscarf was cleared of contempt of court when the Attorney General's office ruled there was insufficient evidence. Ruhela Khanom, 20, faced a possible unlimited jail term for allegedly listening to her MP3 player while a defendant was giving evidence.
#2
How would you be able to tell if another person had taken her place?
Maybe an assassin with a whole different agenda, say simply to gain access ti the courtroom?
The judge was RIGHT.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/21/2012 12:41
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That the defense tolerated having a Muslim on the jury in the first place showed incompetence. A lawyer could exclude one with just a few questions.
1) Do you accept that Crown law is the supreme law of Britain and all of its subjects?
2) Do you believe that atheists, Christians, Jews and homosexuals should be treated before the law as equal to Muslims?
3) Do you believe that women are equal to men and that women in legal authority may sit in judgment over men?
Summary: Mexican President Felipe Calderon may flee to a foreign country to avoid attempts on his life by the drug cartels against which he has directed his military.
Brazillian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has reportedly offered asylum to Calderon when Calderon's term is up in December, 2012.
CAIRO: Egypt will launch a scheme on Saturday to reduce its budget deficit by selling plots of land near Cairo to Egyptians living abroad, the housing minister said on Tuesday, with the aim of raising $15 billion over four years.
Okay, as an ex-pat Egyptian I can put my excess cash (mostly stolen and taken out of the country in the first place) into the Caymans ... hmmm, nah, too far away. Okay, I can buy a fashionable apartment on the Left Bank in Paris ... hmmm, nah, too many infidels for now. Okay, maybe a country house in Mauritania ... hmmm, nah, it's Mauritania after all. Say, I got it! I'll buy a house back in the mother land that's about to implode!
The deficit has widened since last year's popular uprising hammered the economy, cut tax revenue and led to demands for higher salaries and more benefits. The government has forecast a budget deficit of 144 billion Egyptian pounds ($23.9 billion) in the fiscal year to June 30, about 8.7 percent of gross domestic product.
Yet no one seems to ask how it is that Egypt gets itself into this sort of trouble time and time again.
Housing Minister Fathi Abdelaziz el-Baradei told reporters the government planned to offer an initial 8,000 plots in at least two satellite cities near Cairo via a website, and said Egyptians living abroad would be able to reserve the plots as of Saturday.
They include 800 square meter lots in Sheikh Zayed City that the government will sell for $675 per square meter and 400 square meter lots in Badr City for $250 per square meter.
The government said in a 10-page economic plan it sent to parliament this month that it hoped to raise as much as $15 billion from the land sales over four years. It is also working on plans to raise foreign currency by selling certificates of deposit to Egyptians living abroad and Islamic sukuk bonds to foreign institutions.
What kind of idiot foreign institutions would be so foolish as to put their investors' funds at risk by investing them in Egyption sukuk bonds, whatever those are?
Egypt has been negotiating a $3.2 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, which now has a team in Cairo, to help it avert a fiscal crisis.
Don't worry, Champ will bow and Uncle Sugar will cover it...
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Cairo doing an Athens???
* WAFF > GREEK GOVT. WANTS TO SELL POSSESSIONS [State assets] TO TURKS | GREECE SEEKS TURKS IN BUYERS FOR ASSETS IN ECONOMIC REVERSAL.
Even various CHINA BLOGGERS, PERTS would like to see China demand foreclosure on US Sovereign Territories + Cities, etc as payment for America's huge = "crushing" debt to China.
NO NEEDS FOR USDOD-VS-PLA WAR, ONLY NEED BANKS + LAWYERS???
BEIJING -- China has urged South Korea to remain calm and restrained over North Korea's planned rocket launch next month,
Easy for you guys to say...
a diplomatic source said Tuesday, a day after Seoul condemned the plan as a "grave provocation."
Beijing conveyed the stance to Seoul during a meeting on Sunday between Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Fu Ying and Lee Kyu-hyung, the South Korean ambassador to China, the source said. At the meeting, Fu also expressed "concern" over the North's plan to launch a satellite on the back of a long-range rocket, the source said.
North Korea has rejected criticism of the planned rocket launch by its neighbors South Korea and Japan as well as their military ally, the United States, which sees the North's satellite launch as a disguised missile test.
China, the North's last-remaining ally, also voiced rare concern during a meeting between Zhang Zhijun, China's vice foreign minister and Ji Jae-ryong, North Korea's ambassador in Beijing, according to a report by Xinhua news agency.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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a "grave provocation." moreso than shelling your landmass or torpedoing warcraft? Is it the puppets or the masters that have no cohones? Bad parenting all around.
#3
The DPRK is accusing the ROK of engaging in a wily dastardly, unfair "smear campaign" agz the North's good name.
* OTOH INDIAN DEFENCE FORUM > NORTH KOREA DENIES ROCKET LAUNCH WILL BREAK US PACT.
* SAME > CHINA SAYS IT HELD "FRANK" TALKS WID NORTH KOREA ENVOY.
* SAME > NORTH KOREA INVITES IAEA, CLAIMS US DEAL STILL IN FORCE.
versus
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > CHINA'S MARITIME EXPANSION COULD GO BEYOND TAIWAN: EXPERTS. SCS Region to as far west as Africa.
ARTIC = TAIWAN, + possibly the Daoyutai Islands [Japan = Senkakus], are the ONLY ISSUE(S) THAT MAY CAUSE A MIL CONFLICT BETWEEN CHINA + THE USA.
Again, China sees its sovereign reunification wid Taiwan as its all-important key to breaking of the barriers of the "First Island Chain" + gaining strategic access into WESTPAC + ultimately CENTPAC, EASTPAC. ITS WILLING TO FIGHT A MAJOR CONVENTIONAL ANDOR NUCLEAR WAR OER TAIWAN, WHERE ANY INCURRENCE OF MASSIVE/
PROHIBITIVE PLA CASUALTIES IS NOT AN ISSUE.
The Daoyutai Islands [+ Okinawa?] are there for protection + defense of Taiwan, + OKINAWA-TAIWAN-PHIL CORRIDOR INTO WESTPAC.
Twelve Mexican police officers were ambushed and killed near a remote southern town where locals earlier found 10 human heads, prosecutors said Monday.
The officers were ambushed on a highway Sunday hours after the heads of seven men and three women were found near a slaughterhouse in the mountain town of Teloloapan, an official with the Guerrero state attorney general's office told AFP.
"A convoy of state and municipal police that was on patrol was attacked, and sadly 12 police officers died," Guerrero state security spokesman Arturo Martinez Nunez later told local media.
MOGADISHU - Heavy fighting between a government-allied militia and al Qaeda-linked rebels in central Somalia killed dozens of fighters on Tuesday, residents said, as Islamist militants also stepped up attacks in the capital.
Dusamareb, 560 km (350 miles) north of Mogadishu and the capital of Galgadud region in central Somalia, has been under the control of the Ahlu Sunna militia group for years. Residents said al Shabaab, which controls two other towns in the region, stormed Dusamareb early on Tuesday, looting shops and cars before they were repelled by Ahlu Sunna.
"The death toll has now risen to about 50, this includes five civilians. Al Shabaab also kidnapped a local elder they linked to the (Ahlu Sunna group)," Ali Hussein told Reuters from Dusamareb.
Hussein said he counted the bodies of 27 al Shabaab members in front of a police station and another seven outside the city. He saw eight bodies belonging to Ahlu Sunna.
"The death toll may rise as more dead are reported to be lying under the trees in the outskirts of the city. The fiercest part of the war took place a few kilometres outside," he said.
Al Shabaab's military operations spokesman, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, said the group had taken Dusamareb but then left for "military tactical reasons".
Ahlu Sunna commander Abdi Hussein said his group had regained control of Dusamareb after killing dozens of al Shabaab fighters.
There's your 'military tactical reason' for the retreat...
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/21/2012
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Are comments fixed yet?
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2012 10:56
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#2
I think that fixed it...
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2012 10:56
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#3
thx!
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/21/2012 11:08
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#4
Bright Pebbles, can you shoot me an email?
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2012 11:12
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Israeli army weekly Bamahane will be required to send its articles to the chief education officer for approval before publication, after senior officers were outraged by an article in the Purim issue about soldiers dressing up as women and performing as drag queens when off duty.
The officers were particularly infuriated by a photo of an Armored Corps officer wearing a gas mask and red boots with heels. The article interviewed two soldiers in drag, who claimed that the phenomenon could be found in many Israel Defense Forces units, including elite intelligence Unit 8200.
Bamahane has written liberally about homosexuals in the army. Some articles have drawn fire, while others have been published without controversy.
In 2001, for example, then Chief Education Officer Elazar Stern blocked publication of an edition with a cover story that featured a picture of a colonel holding the rainbow flag under the headline, "This is how I came out of the closet."
Stern shut down the paper for a week. He said, "I closed Bamahane because publishing a cover story like that in the paper coming out before Memorial Day was tasteless."
Similarly, a story for Family Day in 2010 on a lesbian couple drew fire over the type of family the newspaper chose to portray. By contrast, a lengthy article on five homosexual soldiers serving in combat units that came out for Gay Pride Week in 2011 generated no criticism at all.
The X-47B drone took its first recorded flight in September and the Navy announced it will be able to refuel itself by 2014.
The move will allow the X-47B to remain in flight well beyond 3,000 nautical miles, a long time, 10 times the ability of a traditional manned fighter. And it will be doing it with no one at the controls. Not only will there be no pilot in the cockpit, there won't be one anywhere. The drone will be programmed to fly autonomously and this ability may be the first in a whole new era of military action conducted by independently operating machines.
These robot weapons will have a human programmed flight plan and the ability to be overridden, but they're already raising some concerns. W.J. Hennigan at The Los Angeles Times talked to computer scientist and robotics pro Noel Sharkey who wrung his hands makes a good point. "Lethal actions should have a clear chain of accountability," Sharkey says. "This is difficult with a robot weapon. The robot cannot be held accountable. So is it the commander who used it? The politician who authorized it? The military's acquisition process? The manufacturer, for faulty equipment?"
Good questions. After all, the X-47B will be doing its own thing for indefinite periods of time. Hennigan points out that while flying, the drone will also conclude what type of weapons it's carrying, decide if it's under a possible threat, when it needs to be refueled, and where to find an aerial tanker.
The UAV will even perform the Navy's most difficult maneuver and land on the deck of an aircraft carrier. As Northrop Grumman's X-47B program manager, Carl Johnson says, "[The X-47B] will do its own math."
#1
The drone will be programmed to fly autonomously and this ability may be the first in a whole new era of military action conducted by independently operating machines.
I remember fly-by-wire trials in heavy thermals and storm fronts. Only the standby pilots saved (most) of the aircraft.
Must have a good history of remote piloting with the UAV fleet to aid the programming scenarios.
#5
Must have a good history of remote piloting with the UAV fleet to aid the programming scenarios.
Artificial Intelligence, after a few decades of unfilled promises, has made some big leaps lately with the advent of probabilistic robotics. It may sound wacky, but it seems to work. Witness Google's self-driving car which has gone 100,000 miles all on its own.
#7
It's one thing to have an independently operating drone orbiting over a target. I am one of those who would like to have a human pull the trigger to actually launch a weapon.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
03/21/2012 16:59
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#8
Rambler, count on the fact that it will be a human who authorizes any missile launch. The concerns of Noel Sharkey are unfounded.
These articles are written to plant the rogue robot concern in the heads of the reader. That way the writer can pat himself on the back for being edgy. What the writer should actually do is slam his fingers in a door and call himself stupd, cause stupid is as stupid does.
One security officer was killed and another two wounded in a special operation in Dagestan that killed two terrorists militants.
On Sunday morning, security officers blocked a private house in the village of Novosasitly in central Dagestan where a group of terrorists militants was hiding.
The investigative department said, "The active phase of the special operation in the village of Novosasitly is over. Investigators are working on the scene. During the special operation, one security officer was killed and another two injured.
"According to preliminary data, two militants have been killed. However, it is not ruled out that the bodies of other militants may be found during the search of the house."
#1
I have a feeling that BO&theDems have carefully crafted a 2013 withdrawal promise as a campaign plank.
Hope it addresses the coming 130k unemployed with PTSD.
#2
Interesting Article Besoeker. Thanks. Not sure what the real point that the writer was making Though. Poll stats on the popularity of the war? Thats policy making by asking the misinformed in most cases. That America doesnt like long wars? Which country does? "Winning wars" in an asymetrical conflict - nope - old school concept, just like "declaring wars", "frontlines" and smoothbore muskets.
Wars almost by definition leave power vaacums, or at least unstable areas. The trouble with the Stan is that the other power options are butt ugly. But in reality they are Afghan problems. There are now over 173,000 Afghan troops. likely 50% effective. They have the support of the Afghan people (so says their polls). Its time to extract in a measured way without the ticker tape parade, that can wait, --- get the tired ones back and reconstituting for what is coming next. (and there always is a next it seems). Let the ANA assume large areas of the country. They either will step up or they won't. When the Afghan people see that the Taliban is fighting their own and not foreigners, my view is that the support for the T will dwindle quickly. Those who went through Vietnam can point to a different result - and that outcome is possible, but as crappy as Karzai's govt is, its not by a long shot the govt of South Vietnam that had lost almost all credibility.
The USA deserves more credit for what it has accomplished over there. The change is dramatic and for the positive, despite the naysayers. The initial reasons (good ones) to take out the AlQaida threat, remove OBN, build up the Afghan govt (in a reasonable democratic albeit far from perfect model) have all happened. Unless the world wants to fix the drug problem (not happenning) then Afghanistan is past its due date.
#5
That's an angle I had not considered: maybe in this war, we have an "ally" that deserves a screwjob like the South Vietnamese (undeservedly) got. I certainly would not shed tears over Hamid's head on a pike. Just chop the thing up into tribes and be done with it (and we can support the tribes against each other to keep them busy - cheaper and less of our own blood being shed).
#7
I like what you say Spook but we aren't very good at chopping. Even when we're part of the empowered mass.
Persia and the Ottoman empire became a mess after only 50 years. But that 50 years of instability enabled US to exploit some natural resources. Does AFG actually have anything of value?
Hope we spray the fields with some sterilization agent on the way out.
#8
Iff the Bammer or POTUS Successor taint careful, the next war in [post-2014] Afghanistan = AFPAK will be part of the larger war agz Iran.
Iff the Mullahs make good on their strategery, a US-Iran war WON'T be another "IRAQ 2003" - it'll be longer + worser.
"VIETNAM WAR II", except the Commies, NVA + VC, may have Tac Nukes-WMDS + their own INternational Terror networks to fight wid, + of course anti-US "Great/Nuclesr Powers" = Brinkmanship.
Iff the Mullahs have their way, A DE FACTO US-ALLIED GROUND OCCUPATION OF HALF OR MOST OF IRAN PROPER WILL NOT MEAN VICTORY. BUT ONLY BE A PORTION OF A LARGER REGIONAL OR TRANS-REGIONAL BATTLEFIELD.
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.
NEW YORK: Oil dropped nearly 2 percent as Saudi Arabia sought to knock back the price rise that has threatened the global economy, with the oil minister offering the most detailed argument to date that OPEC nation was prepared to meet any supply shortfalls.
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar said on Monday he does not expect an Israeli strike on Iran due to Israel's international isolation.
Jeffrey Goldberg, who writes for Bloomberg and the Atlantic, was stunned by the optimism he heard from senior Israelis about the consequences of an attack. To sum up his findings, top Israelis including (apparently) the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister, have reached the following conclusions about the consequences of an attack:
A 
MOGADISHU - Heavy fighting between a government-allied militia and al Qaeda-linked rebels in central Somalia killed dozens of fighters on Tuesday, residents said, as Islamist militants also stepped up attacks in the capital.
Israeli army weekly Bamahane will be required to send its articles to the chief education officer for approval before publication, after senior officers were outraged by an article in the Purim issue about soldiers dressing up as women and performing as drag queens when off duty.
The X-47B drone took its first recorded flight in September and the Navy announced it will be able to refuel itself by 2014. 
