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Qaeda in Yemen offers bounty for killing US ambassador, troops
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
15:30 2 21:16 Grunter [2]
13:00 1 16:52 lord garth [1]
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11:07 11 20:39 Airandee [2] 
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Possum or not, the show must go on in Brasstown, N.C.
In November, Raleigh, N.C.-based Judge Fred Morrison sided with PETA, ruling that the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission did not have legal grounds to issue special permits for Logan to capture and display the opossums.

"Citizens are prohibited from capturing and using wild animals for pets or amusement," Morrison wrote in his opinion. "Hunters must afford wild animals the same right Patrick Henry yearned for: 'Give me liberty, or give me death!"

While Logan said the event will go on, he was evasive about what exactly will happen at Clay's Corner tonight at midnight. Will there be a show of defiance with a live opossum? Will it be replaced with a stuffed opossum, or Repurposed roadkill?

The event featured roadkill opossum about 10 years ago, when PETA first came after Logan.

"We cleaned him off, propped him up pretty and froze him in the freezer," said Logan.
Morrison: You can't lower the possum!
O'Possum: You can't lower the deficit!
Posted by: KBK || 12/31/2012 15:30 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Call out the boys and deh dawgs, let's meet up at Kings Mountain.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/31/2012 16:51 Comments || Top||

#2  "Five pounds of possum in my headlights tonight,
If I can run him over everything'll be all right..."
Posted by: Grunter || 12/31/2012 21:16 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Cairo: the city vanquished? The Muslim Brotherhood and the ruralisation of Egypt
Posted by: tipper || 12/31/2012 13:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hani Shukrallah has been traveling in leftist circles for his entire journalist career. He occasionally has moments of islamorealist clarity but they are generally quickly replaced by a desire to see a western plot or a zionist plot or exploitation of the workers by capitalists. This editorial leans toward a bit toward realism but it will fade.
Posted by: lord garth || 12/31/2012 16:52 Comments || Top||


Fifth Column
Kaul: Nation needs a new agenda on guns
The thing missing from the debate so far is anger -- anger that we live in a society where something like the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre can happen and our main concern is not offending the NRA's sensibilities.

That's obscene. Here, then, is my "madder-than-hell-and-I'm-not-going-to-take-it-anymore" program for ending gun violence in America:
  • Repeal the Second Amendment, the part about guns anyway. It's badly written, confusing and more trouble than it's worth. It offers an absolute right to gun ownership, but it puts it in the context of the need for a "well-regulated militia." We don't make our militia bring their own guns to battles. And surely the Founders couldn't have envisioned weapons like those used in the Newtown shooting when they guaranteed gun rights. Owning a gun should be a privilege, not a right.
    The men at Breed's Hill and at Valley Forge, the ones who fought against the Redcoats, were militiamen. The brought their own guns. There's nothing at all badly written in the second amendment. The Founders were thinking in terms of what happens if government starts imposing Stamp Acts or something.
  • Declare the NRA a terrorist organization and make membership illegal. Hey! We did it to the Communist Party, and the NRA has led to the deaths of more of us than American Commies ever did. (I would also raze the organization's headquarters, clear the rubble and salt the earth, but that's optional.) Make ownership of unlicensed assault rifles a felony. If some people refused to give up their guns, that "prying the guns from their cold, dead hands" thing works for me.
    We never did declare the CPUSA a terrorist organization. As a matter of fact, it wasn't and isn't illegal to join the CPUSA. Both they and the NRA is a good example of the first amendment right to peacefully assemble and associate. But those of a dictatorial preference will be in favor of repealing the first amendment, too.
  • Then I would tie Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, our esteemed Republican leaders, to the back of a Chevy pickup truck and drag them around a parking lot until they saw the light on gun control.
    The writer documents himself as being a vicious brute who shouldn't be allowed close to any position of power or even influence. He should seek therapy. And the fifth amendment guarantees against anyone being tied to the back of a Chevy pickup truck and dragged, or in fact any other cruel and unusual punishment. But the writer probably wants to repeal that, too, it being so badly written and such.
And if that didn't work, I'd adopt radical measures. None of that is going to happen, of course. But I'll bet gun sales will rise.
The writer's bitch is about the Sandy Hook school shootings. He's in favor of banning guns despite the empirical evidence that shows that crime rates go down in concealed carry states.

That massacre of babies was a horror. I still don't like to contemplate it and when I saw those little faces on the cover of a magazine I almost bawled. Despite the fact that that guy killed himself I consider it to be a strong argument in favor of the death penalty.

Even more, I'd call it a strong argument in favor of public mental health institutions -- what we used to call "crazy houses" back in the heady days of my youth. Those were emptied in response to another really neat liberal idea, that of "mainstreaming." I don't think they permanently institutionalize anyone but the catatonic and the guy who shot President Reagan, and every once in a while they talk about letting him out. Instead we have crazy old ladies walking the streets shouting at invisible beings, lots and lots of homeless people, and potential baby killers living their self-centered lives among us, just waiting.
Posted by: Beavis || 12/31/2012 12:14 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I posted a few retorts to the various commenters there via Facebook. I won't bore you with reproducing them, they are the sorts of things you've heard from me before.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/31/2012 14:50 Comments || Top||

#2  For those who haven't seen the Demand a Plan pushback.
Posted by: KBK || 12/31/2012 16:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Kaul is a scary individual with what he advocates. He cares little for freedoms or for law.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/31/2012 16:53 Comments || Top||

#4  No, gun sales rise because of rhetoric this this, Kaul. This article of badly written, and Kaul's lack of understanding on the 2nd is a symptom of a lack of education, especially in History. Also there were some pretty nasty weapons around back in the day, and men hardened to the realities of life, without the option of picking up nicely pressed and packaged candied tofu from the Des Moines alternative grocery store.

If a heeler would get rid of the 2nd, getting rid of the 1st is easy and then you could start banning NRA, and Bingo Night (competes with the lotto doncyaknow), not the right kind of Unions, VA centers, you know whatever it is peeving you at the moment Kaul.

I guess after you get everyone disarmed and, just going to take a wild guess that you personally will not be able to apprehend either member you mentioned, mob tie them to a truck and drag them, you will miss the point that loose mobs and people will find a way to harm others they do not like, and will fail to denounce yourself and file papers to ban trucks.

We could as an exercise use the same language is different for the 3rd. Sure it says soldiers, but does that not also include other federal agents? It should, should it not Kaul? Perhaps next time the olde river floods and a cadre of federal agents and employees decend upon Iowa will they be billeted in private homes? Any children at home Kaus? Any interest in hosting a FEMA Youth fresh out of boot who has nothing but contempt for his post, for midwesterners, for people who do not think the Fed is the supreme. One agent per bedroom, you get the couch, make sure that frige is full, hope they don't notice the heirloom trinketbox. Or your green legislation error or dangerous weapons. Or your daughter.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/31/2012 16:57 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
OWS organizer arrested after police find 'a bomb and weapons' in their apartment
From across the pond. A couple of neo-radicals having their Bill Ayres and Bernardine Dohrn moment of fun. (A footnote: OWS was supported by Barack Hussein Obama and other prominent Donks.).
The daughter of a prominent New York doctor and her Occupy Wall Street-organizer boyfriend were arrested after police discovered an explosive used for making bombs and a cache of weapons in their upscale New York City apartment, it was claimed.
But Michael Bloomberg is more concerned about sugary soft drinks...
Morgan Gliedman, 27, and Aaron Greene, 31, were taken away from their home in Manhattan's pricey Greenwich Village on Saturday. Gliedman, who is nine months pregnant, is the daughter of a top Brooklyn cancer doctor and was educated at the Dalton School, an exclusive New York prep school attended by the likes of Anderson Cooper and Claire Danes.
Makes sense. It's usually the children of the wealthy and powerful who have the idle time to become radicalized by the codswollop they learn at elite schools...
Greene went to Harvard University for his undergraduate degree and did graduate work at the Kennedy School of Government there, as well.
Like I was just saying...
The New York Post reports that police found seven grams of HMTD, a high explosive powder that was reportedly used in the 2005 London Underground bombings.

Officers discovered bomb-making instructions, including one document titled 'The Terrorist Encyclopedia,' according to the newspaper.
Bill Ayers would be so proud...
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/31/2012 11:07 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The headline got truncated. Should read:

Occupy Wall Street organizer boyfriend arrested after police find 'a bomb and weapons' in their apartment
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/31/2012 11:19 Comments || Top||

#2  If this had been Tea Party people, we'd get breathless unending alert coverage from the MSM Ministry of Truth. So, this will be consigned to the web, Drudge, and maybe Fox.
Posted by: P2kontheroad || 12/31/2012 11:55 Comments || Top||

#3  More details.
Posted by: tipper || 12/31/2012 12:20 Comments || Top||

#4  Ooooooh, Greenwich Village. A hot bed of Tea Party zealots and right wing gun nuts.
How deep can the Times bury this one?
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/31/2012 14:32 Comments || Top||

#5  Cops found the stash in the couple’s West Ninth Street home Saturday when they went there to look for Gliedman, 27, who was wanted for alleged credit-card theft

Using OPM to advance The Cause. Ah, the benefits of an elite school education.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/31/2012 14:35 Comments || Top||

#6  How deep can the Times bury this one?

Well, it ain't on their web page...
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/31/2012 14:37 Comments || Top||

#7  Hell they'll be on t-shirts in days, quality tees the good shit, trendy. You watch.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/31/2012 16:39 Comments || Top||

#8  Awwwwwwww...

Greene was held without bail after he appeared in state court in Manhattan on Sunday. Gliedman, who was nine months pregnant when she was arrested, went into labor and gave birth to a baby girl named Melanie, police said. She was hospitalized and had not yet appeared in court.

Authorities said both defendants had drug problems.

"The whole situation's sad," said attorney Lisa Pelosi, who represented Greene. She declined further comment. Greene is due back in court Friday.

Police went to the apartment in Manhattan's Greenwich Village on Saturday morning with a search warrant stemming from a possible credit card fraud by Gliedman, after a tip warning authorities of explosives inside the home. The tip came from a couple who had met Greene and Gliedman in Washington Square Park recently, and said they noticed the cache when they went to their apartment a few weeks ago, Kelly said.

I can see it now. Mummy and daddy's hired big money mouthpiece, "Members of the jury, he was a Svengali! who manipulated a naive, impressionable young woman! She lived in fear of him! She couldn't leave!"

10 years probation. Tommy Harvard pulls 20 to life at Attica...The End.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/31/2012 19:18 Comments || Top||

#9  Patty Hearst laughed
Posted by: Frank G || 12/31/2012 19:48 Comments || Top||

#10  Just plead Stockholm Syndrome, they were in thrall of The Bammer.
Posted by: Injun Stalin7884 || 12/31/2012 19:56 Comments || Top||

#11  These folks should move to Chicago and help Obama write a book.
Posted by: Airandee || 12/31/2012 20:39 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Pregnant US woman Caitlan Coleman missing in Afghanistan with husband
The family of a pregnant American woman missing with her husband in Afghanistan have made a fresh appeal for her safe return.

Caitlan Coleman, 27, is due to give birth in January and needs urgent medical attention, her father told the Associated Press news agency.

James Coleman said she had been travelling with her Canadian husband across Central Asia.

There are fears they were abducted, but no ransom has been demanded.

No militant group has said it is holding the couple and AP says when it contacted the Taliban two months ago, a spokesman said no Taliban members were involved.

The couple last contacted their family on 8 October from what Mr Coleman described as an "unsafe" part of Afghanistan.

It is not clear how they entered Afghanistan and what exactly they were doing there - they had also travelled through Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
Posted by: tipper || 12/31/2012 11:03 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  More money than sense?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/31/2012 11:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Pregnant and stupid. Too bad kids usually inherit those genes if they live long enough.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 12/31/2012 11:46 Comments || Top||

#3  She's 8-1/2 months pregnant and is "travelling across Central Asia" with hubby?!

What the hell is WRONG with her? What's wrong with her husband?

If she didn't want the kid, she could have gotten an abortion months ago in Canada, or the U.S. Instead she takes off for Afghanistan to get a full-term abortion of her child, her husband, and herself.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara || 12/31/2012 12:19 Comments || Top||

#4  THAT is totally INSANE. Low-information travelers? Maybe they thought they could go on a peace mission... Maybe they believed O and decided to take a tour on how much those countries have improved under the lecherous eye of Hillary and DickTater O.

Sure hope they get out safely. Will have some TRUE tales to tell a waiting media... uhmm, wouldn't count on ever hearing any of it.

Posted by: ex-lib || 12/31/2012 14:41 Comments || Top||

#5  Darwinism at work
Posted by: mossomo || 12/31/2012 14:55 Comments || Top||

#6  Considering the pregnancy...more liked FORCED Darwinism on an innocent.
Posted by: ex-lib || 12/31/2012 19:09 Comments || Top||

#7  Utterly clueless.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/31/2012 19:29 Comments || Top||

#8  How can it be so, in this day and age?
Posted by: Injun Stalin7884 || 12/31/2012 19:58 Comments || Top||

#9  Stupidity knows no time or season, Injun.
Posted by: Barbara || 12/31/2012 21:13 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Pentagon To "Temporarily" Fire 800,000 If No Cliff Deal; Chaos To Ensue
Posted by: tipper || 12/31/2012 09:48 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I was just thinking (yeah, a scary thought), what would be the effect on Social Security if everyone was required to join in pols, bureaucrats, teachers the works.

Take control of their pension funds to the amount they should have been paying in for the last 10 to 20 years and go forward from there. They could all keep any other pension/retirement fund that their employers provide as long as the employers want to keept on providing after their half of SS is due.

What daya think? Would that set a fox amongst the chickens?
Posted by: AlanC || 12/31/2012 10:23 Comments || Top||

#2  So sit back, grab the popcorn, and watch as algos proceed to respond with furious stupidity to every single unsourced, unvalidated, and untrue rumor and various other flashing red headlines.

As for those millions of people who, like the guy in the basement in Office Space, and like the New Normal Schrodinger cat, are employed and unemployed at the same time but certainly unpaid, better luck next time.


I just Love America, the people spoke in November, they wanted more of the "Obama Magic".

Employed and unemployed at the same time! Magic.

Well, sit back and relax, let us see the Congress and the President pull a Rabbit out of a Hat.

Presto ALGOS!

Posted by: Au Auric || 12/31/2012 10:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Anyone with masochistic tendencies can watch live webcast from Senate floor
Posted by: tipper || 12/31/2012 11:46 Comments || Top||

#4  This is an old, tried and true government trick. If the money runs out find something to cut that will piss people off the most.

So when schools want more money they don't cut administrators, new building or benefits. Oh no. First thing to go are kindergarten teachers. Local government? Fire and police of course.
Posted by: Iblis || 12/31/2012 11:58 Comments || Top||

#5  Iblis, my wife is a kindergarten teacher and you couldn't be more right. Most every year we sweat the new budget to see if she's funded.

Of course she's also been told to make sure she spends every last nickle of budget allocation on supplies etc. so there's no surplus. If there's a surplus they'll cut the budget.

Screw them all.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/31/2012 12:29 Comments || Top||

#6  Iblis - I heard that described many years ago as "The Admiral's Barge Syndrome", said barge ferrying Admirals from the Pentagon to the Hill across the Potomac, so they don't have to weaste time in traffic. Threaten to cut the budget and the Navy does not shut down the Admiral's Barge, they cut an aircraft carrier.

"You make me go on a diet and I'll cut muscle, not fat."
Posted by: Bobby || 12/31/2012 17:12 Comments || Top||

#7  First civilians to go are those up against "the Gray Ceiling", Tipper. Not judged on lack of merit but flat maintenance cost. Good luck bringing back this experience from AFG, IRQ, BOS, PAN, GRE and all the other dirty little encounters since the start of VTM/CMB/LAO. Before the end of this administration[sic] there will be need of them.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/31/2012 18:33 Comments || Top||

#8  Mrs. Ret. works for BUMED and is not worried; she heard occasional talk about one day a month furlough. but that was 2 weeks ago, she's been on leave since then......
Perhaps she will have new word on Wednesday night.
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 12/31/2012 18:59 Comments || Top||

#9  Perhaps she will have new word on Wednesday night.

I'll find out as well when I get back off leave about the same time.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/31/2012 23:24 Comments || Top||


Preener in Chief
Barack Obama is, of course, very far from a deft executive, and in the course of 2011 and 2012, especially on fiscal issues, we learned that it was the latter outcome that would come to pass. Our various budget showdowns have all begun with attempts at a House-White House deal and have all ended with a House-Senate process (or more precisely a Senate-House process, with apologies to the Constitution's origination clause). Obviously the fact that Obama is a Democrat and not a Republican has given these deals their general direction, but the details have been worked out in Congress. This has been in part because both Boehner and Obama seem to think a House-White House deal has to a big bargain, but it's also in part because a divided congress just naturally makes such deals difficult.

The election apparently hasn't changed that, and the fiscal cliff "process" now seems to be making its way toward roughly the same conclusion. This has to do with the president's ineptness at negotiation (and indeed at much of anything except self-congratulation and campaigning) but, again, it also has to do with the dynamics of a divided congress, which would take a truly exceptional chief executive to overcome. But you wouldn't have to be all that exceptional to accept this reality and make the most of it, rather than spend the days leading up to the conclusion of each of these fiscal showdowns desperately trying to draw attention to yourself and make your role look more central and significant than it is. The president's appearance on Meet the Press today was downright pathetic in this regard, as have been his various press statements in the past few days. This sort of preening and lecturing from a politician who has basically just failed to do his job is bizarre.
Posted by: Beavis || 12/31/2012 09:23 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The president's appearance on Meet the Press today was downright pathetic in this regard

ALL his appearances are pathetic! ALL!
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/31/2012 19:33 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Syria And Jordan Clash Along Border
Most significant skirmish since start of Syrian revolution.

Jordanian civilians living near the border with Syria reported heavy festivities between the Jordanian and Syrian armies late Saturday night, during which the Syrian army allegedly crossed the border and used attack helicopters.

Residents of Ramtha, located 2 miles from the Syrian border, told the Islamist Jordanian daily As-Sabeel that they flocked to their rooftops to view the heavy exchange of fire near the Ramtha border crossing around midnight Sunday morning. No report of military festivities appeared in the Jordanian mainstream media.

One Syrian shell landed near a mosque in Ramtha, Qatari news channel Al-Jazeera
... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means the Peninsula, as in the Arabian Peninsula. In recent years it has settled in to become slightly less biased than MSNBC, in about the same category as BBC or CBS...
reported on Sunday, causing Jordanian tanks stationed at the border to return fire towards Syria. Al-Jazeera reported a state of panic among Jordanian residents of the border area, some of whom left their homes after the shelling shattered their windows.

Syrian opposition activists told Al-Jazeera that heavy festivities are raging between forces loyal to Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Scourge of Qusayr...
and the Free Syrian Army in the southern Syrian city of Daraa. As-Sabeel speculated that the shelling -- described as the most significant border incident since the start of the Syrian revolution in March 2011 -- was the result of massive defections from the Syrian Army, which the government was attempting to curb.

Residents of southern Syria have fled southward across the Jordanian border to escape the violent uprising that has plagued the country for 21 months. Nearly 500,000 Syrians have already found refuge in neighboring Jordan.

A Jordanian soldier was killed at the border on October 22 while trying to prevent forces of Evil from infiltrating into Syria. In August, a Jordanian soldier was injured while assisting Syrian refugees fleeing the regime to enter Jordan.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/31/2012 06:43 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  O is gonna end Jordan too, right?
Posted by: ex-lib || 12/31/2012 18:21 Comments || Top||

#2  I think we have a pool started on the subject of which gov will O topple next.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/31/2012 19:01 Comments || Top||

#3  LOL. Ok, well count me in on Jordan then...followed by Lebanon... followed by... "Game Over" in at least the strategic sense. Israel will defend itself however, with or without the USA.
Posted by: ex-lib || 12/31/2012 19:08 Comments || Top||


Economy
Tax Refund On Hold Possibly
Posted by: Dale || 12/31/2012 06:01 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I know several in the auto industry drooling over tax refund monies. They have invested allot in the used car sales. Hundreds of cars purchased at auctions. Many expensive repairs to pass state inspections(State Inspectors are aggressively looking over everything). People in distress are letting repairs go. Walking away from monthly payment so repossession process is big now. People are even walking away when repair bill can't be paid.
Posted by: Dale || 12/31/2012 6:12 Comments || Top||

#2  .. then up to 100 million taxpayers..

There are about 315 million in the population. It's just not a 47vs53 thingy.

Nothing better to motivate the American taxpayer to adjust his/her withholding so he/she only owes a couple hundred every year rather than let the Treasury sit on his/her money like a interest free loan.
Posted by: P2Kontheroad || 12/31/2012 8:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Somehow I suspect that people who don't pay any taxes but are expecting a big Earned Income Credit 'refund' won't have to wait.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/31/2012 8:55 Comments || Top||

#4  I have my payroll deductions set up so that the government didn't get much of anything until I wrote a check to go with my 1040 and State filings. Put the equivalent $$ for payroll tax withholdings into a separate banking account to earn interest (well, they used to anyway). That way I didn't have to 'wait' on IRS to issue refund, plus they don't get to use MY money until I say so.

Some folks may find this dangerous and, for a person who doesn't manage their money well, it can be.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/31/2012 9:50 Comments || Top||

#5  Nothing better to motivate the American taxpayer to adjust his/her withholding so he/she only owes a couple hundred every year rather than let the Treasury sit on his/her money like a interest free loan.

Damn straight, the withholding angle was set up during WW Deuce (never let a crisis go to waste)to keep the boys from worrying. Send it in, then get it all back.... not many soldats had income tax due... but hey!

Posted by: Shipman || 12/31/2012 10:33 Comments || Top||

#6  not many soldats had income tax due... but hey! My dad told me he knew of some redneck GIs in WWII who were OK with serving, but would not tolerate having money sent to the revenooers.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/31/2012 10:39 Comments || Top||

#7  The IRS has yet to publish an instruction booklet for filling out the tax forms, leaving tax preparers in a holding pattern.

"How they are going to handle this?" said John Roth, senior federal tax analyst for CCH, a tax services company. "We are in virgin territory."


Somehow, the American Virgin Islands spring to my mind, you know one of the 57 States of the United States. The last tax haven of the banking and insurance industry, 87% Democrat, pay no taxes into the US System, a pure welfare state.
Posted by: Au Auric || 12/31/2012 11:14 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Senate faults Obama, who vows Benghazi fix
Obama blamed security "sloppiness" in the deadly attack on the U.S. mission in Libya as a new bipartisan Senate report faulted the White House.

Obama told the NBC News program "Meet the Press" he agreed with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's decision to carry out all 29 recommendations made Dec. 18 by an independent review board that was highly critical of the State Department for failing to identify and respond to security risks before four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed in the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi.

The recommendations by the five-member Accountability Review Board, led by retired U.S. Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering, included sending 225 additional U.S. Marine Corps guards to embassies and consulates and revamping how the State Department adjusts security at posts based on threat warnings.

"My message to the State Department has been very simple, and that is we're going to solve this," Obama told "Meet the Press" in a rare interview. "We're not going to be defensive about it. We're not going to pretend that this was not a problem. This was a huge problem, and we're going to implement every single recommendation that's been put forward."

Obama said a key review board finding -- that the State Department relied too heavily on local Libyan militias to safeguard the compound, leaving diplomats and other U.S. personnel highly vulnerable -- was similar to a finding in internal administration reviews.

"It confirms what we had already seen, based on some of our internal reviews. There was just some sloppiness, not intentional, in terms of how we secure embassies in areas where you essentially don't have governments that have a lot of capacity to protect those embassies," Obama said.

Four State Department officials were removed from their posts a day after the report was release

Posted by: tipper || 12/31/2012 05:29 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Inspector Clouseau is on the job. He will get to the bottom of this Behghazi affair with a little more time. He's still working on Fast and Furious.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/31/2012 12:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Cut him a little slack, after all, he had the Sandy solution worked out in just a couple of days--in fact, he had a ready solution worked out before it happened.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/31/2012 12:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Sandy Hook solution
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/31/2012 16:51 Comments || Top||

#4  How come we are just now finding out that bammy was going to carry out all 29 of Hillary's fixes. did he provide a batting order for that implementation?????
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 12/31/2012 18:24 Comments || Top||

#5  Well...doesn't that make me feel better.
Posted by: Christopher Stevens || 12/31/2012 21:20 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraq cities hit by wave of deadly explosions
At least 11 people have been killed and more than 40 injured in a series of explosions across Iraq, officials say.

In the deadliest single attack, seven people were killed in the town of Mussayib, to the south of the capital Baghdad.

At least two people were killed in the southern city of Hilla when a bomb exploded in a busy street.

Violence has decreased in Iraq since its peak in 2006 and 2007, but insurgent attacks remain common.

In the northern city of Kirkuk, the security forces were hit hard by what appears to be a series of co-ordinated attacks.

In one incident, a bomb went off as a police unit dismantled a rocket, killing two policemen and wounding four civilians.

The city has been a source of dispute between the Iraqi government and the Kurdish minority.

In the eastern province of Diyala, at least 10 people were wounded in an attack on a Shia procession.
Posted by: tipper || 12/31/2012 05:05 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Obama lets terrorist slip through U.S. hands

This article starring:
Ali Mussa Daqduq
Posted by: tipper || 12/31/2012 04:08 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Daqduq is Lebanese and a commander in Hezbollah, the Iranian-armed Shiite group with a record of terrorist attacks against Americans dating back to the 1983 bombings of the U.S. Embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut. U.S. military officials accuse Daqduq of masterminding attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq, including one in 2007 near Karbala in which Shiite militia members killed five American soldiers, four of them after being abducted and tortured."

What terrorist? I didn't see any terrorist. ALL terrorists have been eliminated by my administration. But we've got more work to do. Folks. Now, about those new taxes I need....
Posted by: ex-lib || 12/31/2012 18:57 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
U.S. covering up and revising radical Islamic ties to terrorism
Posted by: tipper || 12/31/2012 01:48 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ridiculess.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/31/2012 12:59 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Syria rebels 'beheaded Christian and fed him to dogs' as fears grow over Islamist atrocities
This is what I call news you can really sink your teeth into, a real dog-bites-man story.
Syrian rebels beheaded a Christian man and fed his body to dogs, according to a nun who says the West is ignoring atrocities committed by Islamic extremists.

The nun said taxi driver Andrei Arbashe, 38, was kidnapped after his brother was heard complaining that fighters against the ruling regime behaved like bandits.

She said his headless corpse was found by the side of the road, surrounded by hungry dogs. He had recently married and was soon to be a father.

Sister Agnes-Mariam de la Croix said: 'His only crime was his brother criticised the rebels, accused them of acting like bandits, which is what they are.'

There have been a growing number of accounts of atrocities carried out by rogue elements of the Syrian Free Army, which opposes dictator Bashar al-Assad and is recognised by Britain and the West as the legitimate leadership.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 12/31/2012 00:19 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "FEAR'S GROW"

Have people not been paying attention? These fear's have been full grown and bearing fruit for decades (really centuries).

This is what you get with the RoP! Damn it!! Pay Attention!!!
Posted by: AlanC || 12/31/2012 7:12 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe Assad's not so bad after all...
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/31/2012 7:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Then again, maybe Assad had this done just to get me to say what I said....
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/31/2012 7:39 Comments || Top||

#4  How bad was Mubarak or Daffy Duck?

Sometimes the devil you know IS the better option.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/31/2012 9:37 Comments || Top||

#5  Reminds of of the poem The Gods of the copybook heading, (Kipling) one part of which is:

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/31/2012 10:06 Comments || Top||

#6  CF, all too much of what passes for civilized society these days reminds me of that poem.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/31/2012 10:16 Comments || Top||

#7  Idiots.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/31/2012 18:29 Comments || Top||

#8  Arab "SPRING" and all. Then there's this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qvo4_hMrF4&feature=player_embedded

I dunno...maybe it's just me, but the warm and fuzzy kum-ba-yah revolutions in the Middle East are starting to seem more like a Thugs R Us takeover Taliban style.

We cannot "import" the values that informed the American Revolution. I know that's not what O is even trying to do, but that's what he's trying to sell as a justification.
Posted by: ex-lib || 12/31/2012 18:42 Comments || Top||

#9  Or maybe he's selling it more as a 60s movement on steroids.

But... wasn't the 60's more ANTI-WAR? Hmmm....

Suharto was DickTater Soetero's boyhood idol, so go figure.
Posted by: ex-lib || 12/31/2012 18:44 Comments || Top||

#10  In any case, he has almost succeeded in creating an extremist Islamist Sharia-bent Moslem Brotherhood influence/controlled "crescent" around Israel, which is part of the end game.
Posted by: ex-lib || 12/31/2012 18:46 Comments || Top||

#11  In any case, he has almost succeeded in creating an extremist Islamist Sharia-bent Moslem Brotherhood influence/controlled "crescent" around Israel, which is part of the end game.

Previously it was a secular, fascist Arab Nationalist crescent around Israel, which didn't succeed -- repeatedly -- ex-lib. And in those days their economies could much better support warlike ventures. Now they've got serious population issues coupled with food shortages, and in countries like Syria and Libya the common folk are shooting off weaponry at each other instead of toward Israel.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/31/2012 23:51 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Five to hang for Saudi diplomat's murder in Bangladesh
[Al Ahram] A Bangladeshi court Sunday sentenced five people to death for the murder of a Saudi diplomat in the capital Dhaka in March this year, a senior police official said.

Khalaf al-Ali, 45, the head of Saudi citizen affairs at the embassy, was shot while taking a late-night walk near his home in the city's Gulshan area. He was rushed to hospital where he died three hours later.

"The Speedy Trial Tribunal in Dhaka sentenced five people to death today (Sunday). Four of the convicts were present when the judge gave the verdict," said deputy commissioner of police Anisur Rahman, adding that the fifth had evaded arrest and was sentenced in absentia.

Police had blamed the murder on a mugging incident gone wrong in Dhaka's posh Gulshan district. They enjugged
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
four of the muggers in July and recovered the pistol they used to shoot Ali as well as a car.

The diplomat had been living alone in a rented apartment in Gulshan for several years.

Bangladesh authorities made sure the case was heard by the country's fast-track court, which has sentenced hundreds of people to death for crimes mostly related to Islamic militancy.
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Bangladesh authorities made sure the case was heard by the country's fast-track court, which has sentenced hundreds of people to death for crimes mostly related to Islamic militancy


why don't we follow their lead?
Posted by: Frank G || 12/31/2012 9:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Sounds good to me, A court for Islamic extremists.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/31/2012 18:32 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Protestors rally against Libyan militias
[Magharebia] Roughly 2,000 people rallied in Benghazi on Friday (December 28th) to demand that militias made up of former rebels who helped oust Moamer Qadaffy disband and join the army or police, AFP reported.

"Our demands are: dissolve all militias and make their members individually enter the army or police force," activist and law student Bilal Bettamer said at Friday's protest. And we want all pro-Qadaffy and Qadaffy-era criminals to be removed from the police and army. We want to end this stalemate between the army and militias."

Former rebels who have refused to join the security forces insist that the authorities first purge themselves of remnants of the Qadaffy regime.
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Caribbean-Latin America
Death toll of 18,960 in Venezuela so far this year
[El Universal] Killings skyrocketed, even though no statistical cut-off has been made yet. Based on the numbers managed at the Scientific, Criminal and Forensic Investigation Agency (Cicpc), through Monday, December 17, murders nationwide totaled 18,960. This means that every two hours five Venezuelans were slain, that is, 66 in every 100,000 inhabitants.

Last year ended at 18,850 murders. Therefore, while this year has not ended yet, it overtakes the number of 2011, at least by 110. This is true, regardless of the 21st security plan implemented by the Venezuelan government. "All Life in Venezuela" Mission entered into force last June as an umbrella plan to finish insecurity off.

Based on the breakdown made by the officers, firearms were used in 80% of recorded cases. In the remaining 20%, sharp edged weapons and others were used. Disclosed numbers do not include the cases of "inquest into cause of death."

Nevertheless, people who died for resisting arrest are indeed included in the statistics produced by the sources.

In 2009, according to Cicpc, 16,094 people were killed. In 2010, former Minister of the Interior and Justice Tareck El Aissami noted, there were 14,500 killings. The available numbers this year were provided by the senior officer in his annual report. This meant a 10% decline compared with 2009. Anyhow, in 2011, a 30% rebound was recorded.

If all that was not enough, NGO Observatorio Venezolano de la Violencia (Venezuelan Violence Watch, OVV) reckons that 2012 will end at 21,692 people dead as a result of crime, for a nationwide rate of 73 deaths in every 100, inhabitants.
I think they meant per 100,000, rather than three quarters of the population being bumped off. The U.S. rate for 2011, according to the FBI Uniform Crime Report, was 4.7 per 100,000. Pakistain's (official) murder rate is 7.8 per 100,000. Honduras is the murder capital of the world, at 91.6 per, at least according to Wikipedia.
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran MP: West behind terrorist attacks against Shias
[Iran Press TV] An Iranian politician says the West is behind terrorist attacks against Shia Moslems, addressing a recent deadly bombing attack in southwestern Pakistain.

Javad Heravi made the remarks in an interview with ICANA, Majlis (the Iranian Parliament)'s official news agency, on Sunday.

He noted that, “Terrorist attacks and heinous crimes against Shias are planned by the West” as Shia principles are against those of the West.

He also stated that the hatred against Shias has grown among atheist groups and Wahabis, and that such actions are all preplanned.

Earlier on Sunday, an attack in southwestern Pakistain on Shia pilgrims, who were on their way to Iran, claimed the lives of at least 19 people.

The attack took place after a bomb destroyed a convoy of three buses carrying Shia pilgrims in the Mastung district, some 30 kilometers (18 miles) south of Quetta in the Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
province.

Reports say a number of women and kiddies are among the dead.

A senior government official in Quetta, the capital of the Balochistan province, said the buses were carrying some 180 Shia pilgrims.
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Jordan says can handle any Syrian chemical threat
[Al Ahram] Jordan says it is prepared to deal with any potential chemical weapon threat posed by the ongoing violence in neighboring Syria, but adds it will not enter "any alliance" to protect itself.
Jordan, the U.S. and others have expressed concern
...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended...
that Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Horror of Homs...
could use chemical weapons in a last-ditch effort to save his regime.

Information Minister Sameeh Maaytah did not provide details on Jordan's capabilities to thwart a chemical attack in remarks carried by the official Petra news agency Sunday.

But other Jordanian officials have said U.S. and British military experts have provided training in protecting civilians in case of a chemical attack on Jordanian territory.
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


India-Pakistan
India gang-rape victim cremated as UN chief calls for action to protect women
[Guardian.CO.UK] The United Nations
...what started out as a a diplomatic initiative, now trying to edge its way into legislative, judicial, and executive areas...
secretary general, the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon,
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
has called on the Indian government to take urgent action to protect women following the death this weekend of a 23-year-old student of injuries sustained during a brutal gang rape in Delhi.

"Every girl and woman has the right to be respected, valued and protected," Ban said in a statement in which he welcomed current efforts by the government but called for "further steps and reforms to deter such crimes and bring perpetrators to justice".

The intervention of the UN takes the fall-out from the incident two weeks ago to a new level and underlines the damage it has done to India's international image, already battered by repeated corruption scandals, a huge power failure earlier this year and slowing economic growth.
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "huge power failure earlier this year" their grid is a shambles. Power is not on all the time. Shut off everyday I understand to keep the system running.Power lines hang low in the streets where to pass you must lift the lines.
Posted by: Dale || 12/31/2012 8:40 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
China buys Tu-22 production line from Russia
For the third time in 7 years (first one being in 2005, second earlier in 2012) several websites in China are reporting that China and Russia have agreed for Beijing to buy the production line for the Tupolev Tu-22M3 bomber at a cost of 1.5 billion USD.

Once in service with the Chinese Naval Air Forces the Tu-22M3 will be known as the "H-10″.

The deal struck with Russia comes with 36 aircraft (and engines): an initial batch of 12 followed by a second batch of 24 aircraft are thought to be on order. The Tu-22 will be employed in the maritime attack role and will be used to attack targets from low level (to avoid radar detection).

The Tu-22 is a Soviet supersonic, swing-wing, long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber. It was developed during the Cold War and it is among the farthest things to a modern stealth bomber. However, it was upgraded, it will get updated with (indigenous?) systems and, with a range of about 6,800 kilometers and a payload of 24,000 kg, it is still considered a significant threat to many latest generations weapon systems.
Similar idea in terms of a strategic strike aircraft to the B-1B, though not as good a platform. Give it modern avionics and anti-ship missiles and it could be a pretty decent ocean denial platform, particularly against Korea, Vietnam or Taiwan.
Especially if the deal with Russia includes the Raduga Kh-22 (AS-4 'Kitchen') long-range anti-ship missile.

The deal could represent a significant change in the strategic balance in the region.

The Tu-22 bombers will give China another tool to pursue the area denial strategy in the South China Sea and the Pacific theatre; a fast platform to launch cruise missiles, conventional or nuclear weapons in various regional war scenarios. In other words, a brand new threat to the U.S. Navy in the region.
It would be a threat but one our Navy could (should) handle. But the Koreans, Vietnamese and Taiwanese would be hard pressed to counter, and even the Japanese Navy could have issues.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No sweat, this is just what the F-14 was designed to counter. So all we gotta do is invade Iran and steal some.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/31/2012 4:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Those 'Kitchen' missles have been a pretty serious threat for some time now.
As to F-14 availability, we should just go out to Davis-Mothan and de-cocoon a bun.....what? you mean we cut them all up to keep parts out of Iran's hands? Might as well destroy all the SR-71 tooling too while you're at it......
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 12/31/2012 11:10 Comments || Top||

#3  I think the Lawn Darts can handle it :-)
Posted by: Steve White || 12/31/2012 11:41 Comments || Top||

#4  Lawn Darts don't have the weapons range.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/31/2012 12:26 Comments || Top||

#5  Lawn Darts don't have the weapons range.
Sure they do; just send the KA- 6 Tankers with them. Oh wait, another fine decision to kill carrier based refueling assets......
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 12/31/2012 18:30 Comments || Top||

#6  You're talking flight range.

I'm talking long-range weapons. Air-to-air missiles.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/31/2012 23:19 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Qaeda in Yemen offers bounty for killing US ambassador, troops
[Fox News] Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen is offering a bounty of gold worth $160,000 to anyone who kills Gerald M. Feierstein, the U.S. ambassador to Yemen.

According to the News Agency that Dare Not be Named, the group announced that it will pay tens of thousands of dollars to anyone who kills the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa or an American soldier in the country.

The group offered 3 kilograms of gold, worth about $160,000, for killing Feierstein, and said it will pay 5 million Yemeni riyals ($23,000) for anyone who kills an American soldier.

The offer is valid for six months, the AP reported.

The bounties were set to "inspire and encourage our Mohammedan nation for jihad," the Al Qaeda statement said, according to the AP.
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia

#1  ..."inspire and encourage our Mohammedan nation for jihad peaceful inner struggle," which can normally be achieved by killing infidels.
Posted by: American Delight || 12/31/2012 7:05 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Mauritania arrests British Islamist
[Magharebia] Mauritania reportedly arrested a British citizen attempting to cross the desert on foot to join al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in Northern Mali, The Times reported on Saturday (December 29th). The arrest occurred on the border between Mali and Mauritania on Wednesday during his attempt to cross the Sahara desert.
So his name isn't Nigel, eh?
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa

#1  Most likely a convert or a Pakistani/Somalian unemployed wannabe jihadi
Posted by: Phash Stalin7278 || 12/31/2012 7:38 Comments || Top||

#2  And here I was thinking it was it was a Scottish-Bedouin chiropractor pretending to be T.E. Lawrence...
Posted by: Pappy || 12/31/2012 10:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Nigel and I a walking went
When alas we spotted three maids in a tent
Since they be three and we be two
I bucked one and Tim bucked two!
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 12/31/2012 11:51 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Central African Republic crisis: Bozize promises coalition
[BBC.CO.UK] Central African Republic
Formely the Central African Empire, though everybody tries not to mention Emperor Freddy lately.
leader Francois Bozize has said he is ready to form a national unity government with rebels, as they continue their advance towards the capital Bangui.

Mr Bozize's remarks came after a meeting with African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
chairman Thomas Boni Yayi.

He said he would hold peace talks with rebels in Gabon, and would step down when his term ended in 2016.

The rebels told the BBC they would consider the president's offer.

They had pledged to depose Mr Bozize unless he negotiated with them, but have also said that it is not their aim to enter government themselves.

This article starring:
Francois Bozize
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He said he would hold peace talks with rebels in Gabon, and would step down when his term ended in 2016.

We are hopeful for a similar outcome here in the States as well Francois, but it has nothing to do with your tenure.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/31/2012 1:06 Comments || Top||

#2  More Chinese lebensraum to pay for the liberation war in twenty years time. Meet the new bwana, same as the old bwana, but much worse.
Posted by: Injun Stalin7884 || 12/31/2012 17:26 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Top 5 Mexican Drug War Stories of 2012

For a map, click here

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

The evolving events collectively known as the Mexican Drug War has had many memorable events, most of them awful, but a few not so much. These events are listed for their impact, not the body count.

5: Reduction of violence in Ciudad Juarez

Not exactly a bleeding lead, but violent crime in Ciudad Juarez in Chihuahua has been reduced by 57 percent from the year before starting last January. Partly due to the efforts of soon-to-be retired Juarez police chief Julian Leyzaola Perez, but mostly because the Juarez cartel can't get top leaders for La Linea, the Juarez Cartel's enforcement wing, as capable as Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez, who was detained in August, 2011. His replacements keep getting busted.

4: The death of Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano

The death of Lazcano Lazcano in September was a watershed event at least for the Los Zetas drug cartel. He was caught in the open while attending a ball game when a Mexican naval infantry patrol rolled up on the area and was fired on by Lazcano Lazcano's security detail. His death at the hands of Mexican marines was preceded by the death of the nephew of governor of Coahuila Ruben Moreira Valdes, who was attacked on orders of Lazcano Lazcano.

3: The gun battle in Choix in Sinaloa state

A total of 54 bad guys lost their lives last May in and around the northern Sinaloa municipality of Choix, then El Fuerte and later in Guasave, mostly from exchanging gunfire with rival cartel gangs and a few from Mexican security forces. The organizations' shooters came from the Sinaloa, Los Zetas, Beltran-Leyva and Juarez cartels.

2: The (May 13th) Mothers' Day Massacre at Cadereyta, Nuevo Leon

A total of 49 individuals, most of them innocents, were butchered by Los Zetas operatives and found on May 13th at Cadereyta in Nuevo Leon state. On the traditional Mexican Mother's Day another massacre took place where 18 others were butchered in Jalisco state with a number of others escaping capture. The subsequent and public finger pointing was probably one of the precipitating events which led to the split within Los Zetas, only partially resolved with the death of Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano,

1: The election of Enrique Pena Nieto

The return of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) was the top story of 2012 in and out of the politics because it presaged a tremendous change in Mexican security policy, if you ask El Presidente, anyway.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Ranburg.com
Posted by: badanov || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I may not comment much here, but thank you for keeping us informed on the doings south of the border, badanov.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/31/2012 6:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Like the rodeo cowboy, the only payment I get is a slap on the back and an attaboy.

So, thanks for lo tipos palabras (kind words)
Posted by: badanov || 12/31/2012 10:09 Comments || Top||

#3  I for one am keeping my head in the sand, none of this is reasonable.
:(
Posted by: Shipman || 12/31/2012 16:37 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Erdogan: Syria awaiting 'sacred' birth
Ick.
[Iran Press TV] Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Syria is preparing for, what he calls, a sacred birth that will replace Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
The Scourge of Hama...

"We can see very clearly that God's help is close. Don't forget victory comes to those who are patient," Erdogan told Syrian refugees at a camp in Akcakale in the Sanliurfa province on Sunday.

"Every sacred birth is painful, and now Syria is preparing for a sacred birth, through which the will of all Syrian people will take power," said the Turkish prime minister, whose country is accused of being a key member of an international front attempting to destabilize Syria.

Tensions have been running high between Syria and Turkey, with Damascus
...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...
accusing Ankara -- along with Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face...
, Qatar, La Belle France, and the United States -- of backing deadly militancy that has claimed the lives of many Syrians, including security and Army personnel.

Moaz al-Khatib, the president of the so-called National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, stood at Erdogan's side on Sunday.

Khatib on Friday said that he had rejected an invitation from Russia for talks aimed at restoring peace in Syria. "We have clearly said we will not go to Moscow. We could meet in an Arab country if there was a clear agenda."

On December 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin
...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile...
called for the establishment of "a democratic order" that "reflects the Syrians' will" and underlined the need for a political process to establish peace in Syria.
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  LOL sacred birth indeed, if it's from Syria it'll have 3 eyes and be blind.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/31/2012 10:11 Comments || Top||

#2  "Sacred" you mean Non-Islamic?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/31/2012 18:19 Comments || Top||

#3  "sacred' as in '...the Ex-Lax is finally working..."
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 12/31/2012 18:25 Comments || Top||


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Birthday Gam Shot 12/27

Chandra West [Filmography](age 42)


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/31/2012 0:31 Comments || Top||

#2 

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/31/2012 0:35 Comments || Top||

#3  Ahhh.... Chandra...a clear Golden Globes winner if I ever saw one....
Posted by: Warthog || 12/31/2012 10:57 Comments || Top||

#4  ...likes to put the puppies up front...
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/31/2012 11:02 Comments || Top||

#5  DD shopping days left until next Christmas?
Posted by: gorb || 12/31/2012 14:10 Comments || Top||

#6  Birthday Gam Shot

Michèle Mercier [French][Filmography](age 73)



Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 01/01/2013 4:09 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Hillary Clinton hospitalized after doctors discover blood clot
[NBC Politics.NBC News] Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
... sometimes described as America's Blond Eminence and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Charles Evans Hughes ...
was admitted to a New York City hospital on Sunday after doctors discovered that a blood clot had formed, the State Department said in a statement.
Blood clot WHERE?

I've checked multiple news sources and no one says.

Now this is an area within my subspecialty, so permit me to mount my soapbox.

Given what we are told, there are four reasonable potential locations --

1) leg below the knee. That could be due to inactivity stemming from her concussion. We usually do NOT treat these with anti-coagulants. However, 20% of below the knee thrombi will propagate to above the knee so they should be monitored at frequent intervals (ultrasound). We do use NSAIDs, rest and physical therapy.

2) leg above the knee (proximal deep vein thrombosis, DVT). This is a serious medical situation. About 20% of these will break off and cause a pulmonary embolism, and 5 to 20% of those (1 to 4% of all proximal DVT) are fatal. We treat these immediately with a proper anti-coagulant (heparin followed by warfarin or with a low-molecular weight heparin such as Lovenox). A patient usually is hospitalized for a proximal DVT though lately we've had success keeping them at home with daily or twice-daily Lovenox injections. There is some enforced reduction in activity but we don't like to keep people immobile, since immobility is one of the risk factors to get a DVT in the first place.

3) pulmonary embolism (PE). This is serious and can be life-threatening, indeed fatal. These require immediate hospitalization, immediate anti-coagulation, and careful monitoring. There are a number of complications that may occur, from right heart failure to arrhythmias, circulatory collapse, pneumonia, etc.

Both a proximal DVT and PE require a diligent search for why they occurred. The usual causes are 1) advancing age 2) immobility 3) trauma 4) cancer 5) genetic pre-disposition to clotting 6) use of certain medications (e.g., oral contraceptives). Recurrence is common, particularly in the time period following cessation of anti-coagulation (usually done for 6 to 12 months).

4) blood clot within or just above the brain (e.g., subdural hematoma or traumatic brain contusion). If this, the cause is almost certainly trauma from a fall. I note this is how Katherine Graham, past publisher of the Washington Post, died -- she slipped and fell and suffered head trauma with a bleed and clot. These are, of course, extremely serious. Note that head trauma with a bleed/clot is very different than a DVT/PE situation.

So again I repeat my question -- where is the clot?

If #2, #3, or #4, and I were her doctor, she wouldn't be doing anything other than house rest and computer solitaire for a couple weeks until I knew that I had the problem well in hand.

That no one will say, and that we now see that there is and has been a fair bit of the story withheld, and that there has been phony stories put out there (e.g., partying in the Dominican), suggests to me that there is something serious going on.

She's entitled to privacy in her medical affairs as a person. But as Secretary of State, we the public need to know if she can do the job or not.
Philippe Reines, a deputy assistant secretary, said in the statement that the clot stems from a concussion Clinton sustained several weeks ago.

Reines said that Clinton, 65, is being treated with anti-coagulants at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan. She will be monitored there for the next 48 hours, he said.

"Her doctors will continue to assess her condition, including other issues associated with her concussion," he said. "They will determine if any further action is required."
Of course they will. Again, where is the clot?
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Isn't warfarin one of the key ingredients in rat poison?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 12/31/2012 0:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Rat poison indeed Rambler...since rats can't perform a reverse peristalsis (throw up) they ingest the Warfarin (Coumadin as an Rx) and bleed out internally. I've been on the stuff for years due to AF. Careful monitoring is required.

Fred has it right..if this is due to a fall and she is manifesting a subdural hematoma...serous indeed.

Despite our political differences...I wish her a speedy recovery.
Posted by: Warthog || 12/31/2012 0:23 Comments || Top||

#3  IMA thinking....stroke.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/31/2012 0:32 Comments || Top||

#4  --- Much has been withheld.
--- Another possibility: She could have suffered an intimal tear in a carotid or vertebral artery (1) with a clot forming around that or (2) leading to a carotid artery dissection with intramural hematoma.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/31/2012 0:34 Comments || Top||

#5  An arterial tear and clot is possible, particularly after a fall, but many times (not always and not even usually) in that scenario there is an associated stroke (CVA). There's been no report of a stroke. So I think that scenario is less likely, but I wouldn't take it off the table.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/31/2012 1:05 Comments || Top||

#6  ---Much has been withheld.

Does indeed appear that way. Very FDR'ian. If we begin seeing her in a golf cart....well. I must say however, an impaired Hildebeast would be an improvement over a narcissistic, spiteful Champ.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/31/2012 1:17 Comments || Top||

#7  So what you are saying, Besoeker, is that Hillary is being primed for the analog of FDR's third term.

Posted by: no mo uro || 12/31/2012 6:50 Comments || Top||

#8  If Hillary had a stroke, the general public would be the last to know. I recall Gabby Giffords holding on to her office long after it was obvious she was not up to the job.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/31/2012 9:18 Comments || Top||

#9  long after it was obvious she was not up to the job.

Um AH, how could you tell the difference between the past & the present? That's a fitting description for Shillary from day one.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/31/2012 9:41 Comments || Top||

#10  The 'Burg is miles ahead of the MSM in quality of reporting on the issue.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/31/2012 10:37 Comments || Top||

#11  NBC claims that blood clots stemming from concussions cannot be treated with blood thinners.

My own observation is that blood clots are frequently associated with frequent flyers and our Secretary of State has most certainly been a frequent flyer.

Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/31/2012 11:14 Comments || Top||

#12  What the NBC reporter is saying, and he is correct to say this, is that a clot associated with traumatic brain injury (my scenario #4) is one in which you do NOT treat with anti-coagulants, as that can make the bleeding (which caused the clot) worse. Indeed it can be a fatal mistake.

This is why, when someone has a stroke, we always get a CT or MRI scan prior to starting anti-coagulation: we anti-coagulate for a thrombotic stroke (clot) but not for a hemorrhagic stroke (bleeding).

For a subdural bleed, if she had one as a result of trauma, one would NOT treat with any sort of anti-coagulation whatsoever.

All of this makes me think that she's had a DVT or PE, but it sure would be nice if she and her team (or her BOSS) were forthcoming with details. The last thing we need right now is a crippled Secretary of State.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/31/2012 11:37 Comments || Top||

#13  "But as Secretary of State, we the public need to know if she can do the job or not."

She never could. How does a blood clot change that?
Posted by: Barbara || 12/31/2012 11:57 Comments || Top||

#14  How can the docs be so certain she has a blood clot but so uncertain about its location? What kind of generalized symptoms would manifest that would indicate a clot?
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/31/2012 11:58 Comments || Top||

#15  Fainted, or fell down drunk?
If she had/has a bleeding stroke from the chronic drinking she would certainly be clotting now.
She may also be immobile and speechless.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/31/2012 13:18 Comments || Top||

#16  From Instapundit: “The suppression of information — the site of the clot — suggests 2 radically different theories: 1. fakery/exaggeration to evade testimony, or 2. something horribly serious. I read Sepkowitz to exclude the middle ground.”
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/31/2012 14:57 Comments || Top||

#17  Hillary is at NY - Presbyterian in Manhattan.

This is a place with a very good reputation.

They don't admit you unless there is a problem.

They don't shoot you with anti coagulants unless there is a serious reason to do it.
Posted by: lord garth || 12/31/2012 16:10 Comments || Top||

#18  They found it:

"In the course of a routine follow-up MRI on Sunday, the scan revealed that a right transverse sinus venous thrombosis had formed. This is a clot in the vein that is situated in the space between the brain and the skull behind the right ear. It did not result in a stroke, or neurological damage. To help dissolve this clot, her medical team began treating the Secretary with blood thinners. She will be released once the medication dose has been established. In all other aspects of her recovery, the Secretary is making excellent progress and we are confident she will make a full recovery. She is in good spirits, engaging with her doctors, her family, and her staff."
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/31/2012 17:32 Comments || Top||

#19  Heck, she may never be able to testify. How unfortunate - for the country. She will never be held accountable.

She should stay out of Ft Marcy Park, and away from buses.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 12/31/2012 17:33 Comments || Top||

#20  Looks like Fred's Case#4.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/31/2012 18:03 Comments || Top||

#21  "She is in good spirits(perhaps sedated), engaging(possible eye movement, but not speaking) with her doctors, her family, and her staff."
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/31/2012 18:14 Comments || Top||

#22  Looks like Fred's Case#4.

The comments in pi--er, salmon--are from Dr. Steve White.
Posted by: Angie Schultz || 12/31/2012 18:28 Comments || Top||

#23  Fell up a flight of stairs, slipped on the toilet, and bonked her noggon on the showerhead, she did.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/31/2012 18:57 Comments || Top||

#24  "She is in good spirits(perhaps sedated), engaging(possible eye movement, but not speaking) with her doctors, her family, and her staff."

Bill: "Best New Years Eve, evah! C'mon honey, Hillary's not coming home tonight..."
Posted by: Frank G || 12/31/2012 19:11 Comments || Top||

#25  "Mr. Clinton, we can bring in a cot so you can stay with Mrs. Clinton if you'd like?"
"Heh...on New Yeah's Eve? Ah don't think so, hunny. Y'all got plans fer the night? Ah always had a thang fer nurses..."
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/31/2012 19:24 Comments || Top||

#26  just hope tonight's "dates" are willing
Posted by: Frank G || 12/31/2012 19:49 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
US sends forces to Chad amid crisis in Central African Republic
[Iran Press TV] The United States has sent its military forces to Chad under the pretext of protecting the lives of American citizens in the neighboring Central African Republic (CAR).

In a Saturday letter to House Speaker John It is not pronounced 'Boner!' Boehner
... the occasionally weepy leader of House Republicans...
and Senator Patrick Leahy
...Democrat Senator-for-Life from Vermont, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, source of more leaks than a plumber could keep up with...
, US President Barack Obama
B.O....
informed Congress that several private US citizens and embassy personnel were evacuated from CAR’s capital city, Bangui, on December 27 and that 50 US troops were sent to Chad.

“Although equipped for combat, this stand-by security force was deployed solely for the purpose of protecting US citizens and property, if necessary, until the US embassy personnel and private US citizens have been safely evacuated from the Central African Republic,” Obama said.

“This action has been directed consistent with my responsibility to protect US citizens both at home and abroad, and in furtherance of US national security and foreign policy interests, pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct US foreign relations and as commander in chief and chief executive.”

Washington suspended the activities of the US embassy in Bangui on December 27.
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Exxon & others have some pretty big operations in Chad, unlike (AFAIK) Central African Republic or Mali.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/31/2012 7:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Does Susan Rice have investments there?
Posted by: tipover || 12/31/2012 16:03 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Two Iraqi protesters wounded by gunfire
BAGHDAD - Bodyguards for a senior Iraqi politician opened fire to disperse angry anti-government demonstrators and two people were wounded in the country’s west, an official said.

The shooting happened near the city of Ramadi during a visit by Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Saleh Al Mutlaq, according to Anbar provincial council member Talib Hamadi Al Dulaimi. It was unclear if the gunshot wounds were caused by intentional fire or happened accidentally. It is often difficult to assign blame for gunfire injuries in Iraq, where weapons ownership is common.

Al Mutlaq is one of the government’s most senior politicians, and despite his post he has been a frequent critic of the Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki. Although his visit was not announced in advance, he likely would have expected to find a sympathetic crowd in Anbar.

At one point during his visit, a dispute broke out and shots were fired after demonstrators insisted the official show support for their protest by submitting his resignation from the government.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
Chavez dwindling
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is suffering more complications linked to a respiratory infection that hit him after his fourth cancer operation in Cuba, his vice president said in a somber broadcast on Sunday.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro flew to Cuba to visit Chavez in the hospital as supporters' fears grew for the ailing 58-year-old socialist leader, who has not been seen in public nor heard from in three weeks.
Sort of like our secretary of state, almost...
Chavez had already suffered unexpected bleeding caused by the six-hour operation on December 11 for an undisclosed form of cancer in his pelvic area. Officials said doctors then had to fight a respiratory infection.
Pneumonia? Not a good thing to have happen in a post-op recovery for recurrent cancer.
"Just a few minutes ago we were with President Chavez. He greeted us and he himself talked about these complications," Maduro said in the broadcast, adding that the third set of complications arose because of the respiratory infection.

"Thanks to his physical and spiritual strength, Comandante Chavez is confronting this difficult situation."

Maduro said Chavez's condition remained "delicate" - a term he has used since the day after the surgery, when he warned Venezuelans to prepare for difficult times and urged them to keep the president in their prayers.

"We trust that the avalanche of love and solidarity with Comandante Chavez, together with his immense will to live and the care of the best medical specialists, will help our president win this new battle," Maduro said.
"But if not, you folks had better get used to me being in charge."
A senior government official in Caracas said the New Year's Eve party in the capital's central Plaza Bolivar had been canceled. "Everyone pray for strength for our comandante to overcome this difficult moment," the official, Jacqueline Faria, added on Twitter after making the announcement.

Chavez's allies have openly discussed the possibility that he may not be able to return to Venezuela to be inaugurated for his third six-year term as president on the constitutionally mandated date of January 10. Senior "Chavista" officials have said the people's wishes were made clear when the president was re-elected in October, and that the constitution makes no provision for what happens if a president-elect cannot take office on January 10.

Opposition leaders say any postponement would be just the latest sign that Chavez is not in a fit state to govern and that new elections should be called to choose his replacement. If Chavez had to step down, new elections would be called within 30 days.

Opposition figures believe they have a better shot against Maduro, who was named earlier this month by Chavez as his heir apparent, than against the charismatic president who for 14 years has been nearly invincible at the ballot box.

Any constitutional dispute over succession could lead to a messy transition toward a post-Chavez era in the country that boasts the biggest oil reserves in the world.
'Messy transition' being the code-phrase for a coup by the Chavistas and outright dictatorship. In the name of the 'people', of course...
Posted by: Steve White || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  As Instapundit often says: "Faster, please"
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 12/31/2012 0:08 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm trying to find my microscopic violin, but having problems remembering where I left it.

Maybe I'll just hum a few bars of Shostakovich's
String Quartet No. 6 in G major.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/31/2012 9:36 Comments || Top||

#3  How about some flowers laced with ebola?
Posted by: gorb || 12/31/2012 14:05 Comments || Top||

#4  The Finest Health Care in the Western Hemisphere.
Mikey Moore told me...
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/31/2012 16:19 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Egypt to strengthen ties with Hezbollah
Egypt will develop its ties with Hezbollah, recognizing it as a “real political and military force,” said an Egyptian official to Lebanese press. The announcement signals a U-turn in policy where Egypt had accused the group of operating terror cells.

In an interview with Lebanese publication the Daily Star, Egyptian ambassador to Lebanon Ashraf Hamdy said that his country’s newly-elected Islamist government would build “tight” relations with Hezbollah. He stated that the ruling Muslim Brotherhood was “stretching out its hand” to its neighbors with a view to developing its foreign policy and furthering interests.

“You cannot discuss politics in Lebanon without having a relationship with Hezbollah. It is a real force on the ground. It has a big political and military influence in Lebanon,” Hamdy stressed to the Daily Star. He went on to deny reports that a delegation from the political group had already visited Egypt for negotiations, but conceded that he had met with Hezbollah political bureau members for discussions “to understand each other better.”

Commenting on Hezbollah’s open support for embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad, Hamdy emphasized the need to “keep all the parties in Lebanon away from what is happening in Syria. Not only Hezbollah.”

Egypt’s relations with Hezbollah were strained during ex-President Hosni Mubarak’s reign. The worsening in relations can mainly be attributed to Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel and Egypt’s refusal to intervene to support Gaza-based Palestinians during Israel’s 2008 incursion into Gaza. Mubarak was ousted in last year’s uprising that was intended to usher in a new era of democracy in Egypt.

Hamdy said that recently Egypt’s internal conflicts had impeded the progress of Muslim Brotherhood’s foreign policy ambitions and stressed that progress would perhaps take longer than initially thought.

“To expect 180-degree shifts in strong positions take some time. Due to what is happening domestically in Egypt, it might have meant that we have been a bit slower than expected,” noted Hamdy. However, he stated that Egypt’s “intrinsic soft power” in the region would be instrumental in mediation with antagonistic forces in the region.

“Egypt will reveal itself as a real regional power and a ‘doer’ on the regional scene and we are keen to show that,” concluded Hamdy.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
ANP troops kill Boumerdès terrorist
[Magharebia] The Algerian army killed a terrorist around midnight on Friday (December 28th) in the village of Dar Bouni, 50km east of corpse-littered Boumerdes, El Watan reported. He was ambushed while trying to visit his family. Since the beginning of the year, military operations have eliminated some fifty Orcs and similar vermin in the region.
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria could turn into "hell", UN envoy warns in Cairo
He warns while safely ensconced in Cairo.
United Nations-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi Sunday warned that the conflict was worsening in Syria and could "turn into a hell", but said a political solution was still possible, DPA reported.

"This political solution includes a ceasefire, the formation of a transition government with full powers and other steps leading to elections," he said in Cairo, apparently referring to agreements reached in Geneva in June at the Action Group for Syria meeting.
Nothing, nothing gets past the UN diplomatic crew...
The veteran Algerian diplomat said that a delay in implementing the peaceful solution would risk turning Syria into a new Somalia and jeopardizing global security.
The latter maybe but Syria would have a long ways to go to become Somalia. Somalia has had a two thousands year head start...
"The situation in Syria is very bad and worsening," he said after talks with the head of the Arab League Nabil al-Arabi.

"The pace of deterioration is increasing," he added, hoping that a solution could be reached before the second anniversary of the Syrian uprising in March. "Syria has two possibilities: either a political solution fulfilling the legitimate aspirations of Syrian people or Syria could turn into a hell."

Brahimi met with al-Assad in Damascus earlier in the week, but did not share details of those talks. The peace envoy also met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Saturday.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Threats, to be ignored.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/31/2012 18:21 Comments || Top||

#2  "turn into"?
Posted by: Barbara || 12/31/2012 19:28 Comments || Top||

#3  My thought exactly, Barbara.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 12/31/2012 19:35 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egypt to Start Foreign Exchange Auctions as Reserves Plunge
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
“The current level of foreign-currency reserves constitutes the minimum and critical level that must be preserved” to meet necessary needs like repaying external debt and importing “strategic commodities,” the central bank said in the statement.


Is food a strategic commodity?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 12/31/2012 3:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Wonder what kinda yield those bonds are going to have?
Posted by: Shipman || 12/31/2012 4:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Yeah, that could be fun Shipman.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/31/2012 9:52 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Blast outside cinema house injures one in Peshawar
[Dawn] A blast at the gate of a cinema house in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
’s Faqirabad area injured one person early on Sunday, DawnNews reported.

The blast occurred at the gate of Shama Cinema near Bacha Khan Chowk in Faqirabad area of Peshawar, according to police sources.

No casualties or major damage was reported after the blast.

A passerby suffered minor injuries as a result of the blast, who was discharged from the hospital after basic medical treatment.

Security forces cordoned off the area as investigations into the incident went underway.
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Africa Subsaharan
Zimbabwe human rights chief quits in protest
[Al Ahram] The chairman of Zim-bob-we's human rights
...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you...
commission, appointed to help curb rights violations, has resigned citing inhibiting laws and lack of resources, a state daily reported Saturday.

"The critical reason for my resignation is the legal framework... within which the Zim-bob-we Human Rights Commission is expected now and in the future, to carry out its mandate," The Herald newspaper quoted Professor Reg Austin as saying in a statement.

"As a national human rights institution the commission must be independent and properly capacitated."

Austin cited sections of the Zim-bob-we Human Rights Commission Act and electoral laws that he said impinged on the commission's work.

The commission was appointed in 2009 as part of a raft of reforms agreed on by parties in the country's power-sharing government to guarantee fair and peaceful elections.

Austin once complained about the absence of a proper office for the commission and lack of equipment that rendered the commission ineffectual.

The rights group Zim-bob-we Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) said Austin's resignation indicated a serious threat to the protection of human rights.

"This resignation is an unequivocal statement of the condemnation of the current operating framework particularly the excessive powers of the executive," it said. "Lack of effective powers and independence of the commission to investigate and take strong action where human rights violations have been brought to its attention and its inability to independently investigate and take strong action in relation to electoral-related violations."

Zim-bob-we is soon expected to hold elections to choose a successor to the power-sharing government formed by veteran President Bob Muggsy Mugabe
Octogenarian President-for-Life of Zim-bob-we who turned the former Breadbasket of Africa into the African Basket Case...
and long-time rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

Previous elections in Zim-bob-we have been marred by violence and intimidation.
Unbelievable as it may seem...
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "This resignation is an unequivocal statement of the condemnation of the current operating framework particularly the excessive powers of the executive," it said. "Lack of effective powers and independence of the commission to investigate and take strong action where human rights violations have been brought to its attention and its inability to independently investigate and take strong action in relation to electoral-related violations."

We can definitely relate Reggie.

Posted by: Besoeker || 12/31/2012 0:47 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemen Says Stopped Iranian Arms Vessel
The London-based Arab newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat quoted a high ranking Yemeni Coast Guard official as saying that the navy stopped an Iranian arm ship trying to deliver weapons to the rebels in the country.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


India-Pakistan
Only men to run anti-polio drive in Bajaur
[Dawn] The administration of Bajaur tribal region has finalised security arrangements for the upcoming anti-polio
...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set...
campaign starting from Dec 31 (tomorrow) and decided to deploy one security official with every polio team, while female workers would not take part in the campaign.

This was decided in a meeting of health and administration officials here on Saturday.

Bajaur Agency, aka Turban Central
...Smallest of the agencies in FATA. The Agency administration is located in Khar. Bajaur is inhabited almost exclusively by Tarkani Pashtuns, which are divided into multiple bickering subtribes. Its 52 km border border with Afghanistan's Kunar Province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistain's strategic depth...
political agent Abdul Jabbar Shah, agency surgeon Dr Jehanzeb Dawar, representatives of the WHO and Unicef, and officials of the administration and local health department attended the meeting.

They discussed various issues related to the anti-polio campaign, security plan for health teams and possible threats. Officials of the local health department and representatives of the WHO and Unicef briefed the participants about the anti-polio activities and the overall situation in this regard in the area.

“Though overall response of people to anti-polio drive in the region is satisfactory, the staff wants more protection keeping in view recent attacks on polio workers,” they said.

Speaking on the occasion, the political agent said that the administration was taking all possible steps to provide security to the health teams.

“We are aware of the security of health workers and the administration will provide foolproof security to them during the coming anti-polio campaign,” he said.

The meeting decided that the female workers would not take part in the anti-polio campaign in the region and only male workers would vaccinate children. It also decided that one levies force official would accompany each polio team, while tribal elders and members of peace committees of the entire agency would also be deployed with the health teams during the anti-polio campaign.

Meanwhile,
...back at the alley, Slats Chumbaloni was staring into a hole that was just .45 inch in diameter and was less than three feet from his face ...
the health department has completed arrangement for the anti-polio campaign in the agency, staring from Monday (tomorrow).

Talking to news hounds here at Khar, assistant agency surgeon Dr Ikramullah said that 222,480 children would be vaccinated across the region, while 622 vaccination teams would take part in the campaign.
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Ar last it's being run.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/31/2012 18:16 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Explosion at Coptic church in Misrata kills one
[Libya Herald] An kaboom near the Coptic Orthodox Church in Misrata late yesterday evening killed one Egyptian man and left another three injured.

The kaboom, reported to have been caused by a bomb, targeted a services building connected to the church in the city of Misrata, killing the Egyptian national and wounding three others at the same time.

News broke this morning when the Egyptian embassy in Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
received a call from Bishop Timotheus Bishara Adla, head of the church in the Libyan captital, informing them that the church building in Misrata had been targeted by an kaboom, Foreign Ministry front man Amru Rushdi said today.

Egypt's chargé d'affaires in Libya, Hatim Abdel Qader, immediately contacted the Father Marcus Zaghloul, head of the church in Misrata, to check on the welfare of the other church members. The embassy's consul in Misrata, Tariq Dahroug, also visited the church to inspect the damage.

Staff at the Egyptian embassy in Tripoli have contacted the Interior and Foreign Ministries to hold urgent discussions about improving security arrangements around Coptic churches in Libya.

At the moment, it is not known who targeted the church or why they carried out the attack in Misrata yesterday.
Update from Ynet:
Bomb at Egyptian-run church in Libya kills 2

Egypt's Foreign Ministry says an kaboom at an Egyptian Coptic church in Libya's third largest city, Misrata, has killed two people and maimed two others.

The statement by the Foreign Ministry says Sunday's kaboom killed two Egyptian citizens working at the church in preparation for traditional New Year's Eve mass.
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Salafists


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
'Syria forces kill militants, seize Israeli-made arms'
[Iran Press TV] The Syrian Army has reportedly killed several foreign-sponsored orcs, and confiscated a large cache of Israeli-made weapons from Islamic fascisti attempting to cross into Syria from Jordan.
Israeli-made weapons? Oh, noze!
Syrian government forces launched attacks against bully boyz inside and outside the western cities of Idlib and Hama on Sunday and killed a large number of them, the official SANA news agency reported.

The forces also rendered ineffective large supplies of arms, ammunition, and explosives, held by the bully boyz in their hideouts. In addition, the government forces destroyed four locally-made missile launchers.

Also on Sunday, a unit of the Syrian armed forces and border guards ambushed Islamic fascisti attempting to cross into Syria from Jordan near the al-Mataeieh village in the Daraa countryside, and confiscated Israeli-made weapons.

''The seized weapons included Israeli-made Lau missiles, along with various other weapons, munitions, and modern communication devices," a Syrian official said.

The official added that many foreign bad boyz were potted and injured during the raid.
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  I just used Google to try to find out what a "Lau" missile was and was unsuccessful after three pages, partly because it's used as a US military designation for a wide variety of bolt-to-the-airframe missile launchers for aircraft.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 12/31/2012 0:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Could be a misspell. Have a look at LAR.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/31/2012 0:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Could also be a misspell of LAW (M-72 Light Antitank Weapon). Vietnam era but I understand they have started making them again for use against personnel.
Posted by: tipover || 12/31/2012 0:34 Comments || Top||

#4  LAW does sound more likely.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/31/2012 0:38 Comments || Top||

#5  Possibly from old South Lebanon Army stocks?
Posted by: Pappy || 12/31/2012 14:38 Comments || Top||

#6  Trying to picture the reaction from the islamonuts when they find out the weapons they held in their hands were touched by the cootie-laden juices.
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 12/31/2012 18:22 Comments || Top||

#7  If they're pros, they're probably laughing about it.

If the weapons get found before they're used, it's the Israelis' fault.

If they don't, they get used against Assad, and it's still the Israelis' fault if someone finds out about it.

No downside.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/31/2012 23:13 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
6 injured in S Philippines bus bombings
[Iran Press TV] Police and military officials say two buses have been targeted in bombing attacks in southern Philippines, leaving at least six people injured.

Senior police official Rolen Balquin said on Sunday that improvised bombs were used to target the buses near the town of Isulan late on Saturday.

Regional military front man, Colonel Prudencio Asto stated that four passengers, a driver, and a conductor were maimed during the incident.

The vehicles caught fire and firefighters were called in, he added.

"Initial findings of the explosives and ordnance team revealed that the kabooms were caused by an improvised bomb made out of ammonium nitrate, fuel, and oil with common nails," Asto told news hounds.

No one has grabbed credit for the bombings so far, and no motive has been determined.
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf


India-Pakistan
Cough syrup toll rises to 33
[Dawn] Pak authorities are investigating allegations that cough syrup has killed 33 people over the past three days, a government official said Saturday, the second time in recent months medicine is suspected of causing multiple deaths.

The deaths occurred in the eastern city of Gujranwala and nearby villages, said local official Abdul Jabbar Shaheen. Another 54 people thought to have consumed the syrup are also being treated at city hospitals. Officials believe the victims drank the syrup to get high, he added.

Tests show the victims' stomachs contained dextromethorphan, a synthetic morphine derivative used in cough syrup that can have mind-altering effects if consumed in large quantities, said Shaheen. Investigators are trying to determine if the victims drank too much syrup, or whether there was a problem with the medicine itself, he said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Dextromethorphan (DXM or DM) is an antitussive (cough suppressant) drug. It is one of the active ingredients in many over-the-counter cold and cough medicines, such as Mucinex DM, Robitussin, NyQuil, Dimetapp, Vicks, Coricidin, Delsym, TheraFlu, and others, including generic labels. They must be hitting this stuff in large doses.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/31/2012 13:44 Comments || Top||

#2  "the victims drank the syrup to get high"

How very un-islamic.
Posted by: Barbara || 12/31/2012 16:13 Comments || Top||

#3  Serves them right. More should drink it to get Hig.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/31/2012 18:04 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Obama: Republicans unified around protecting the rich
[Iran Press TV] US President Barack Obama
Ready to Rule from Day One...
has blamed congressional Republicans for the so-called fiscal cliff deadlock, saying their refusal to raise taxes on the rich is the main obstacle to finding a solution to the looming economic crisis.

"They (Republicans) say that their biggest priority is making sure that we deal with the deficit in a serious way, but the way they're behaving is that their only priority is making sure that tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans are protected," Obama said in a prerecorded interview for NBC's “Meet the Press” program that was broadcast on Sunday.

"That seems to be their only overriding, unifying theme," the US president added.

Obama also warned that the failure to reach a deal on taxes and spending cuts would have serious consequences for the US economy.

"If people start seeing that on 1 January this problem still hasn't been solved, that we haven't seen the kind of deficit reduction that we could have had, had the Republicans been willing to take the deal that I gave them...then obviously that's going to have an adverse reaction in the markets," he said.

The president noted said the priority was to ensure taxes do not rise for middle-class families, saying that would "hurt our economy badly."

"That's something we all agree on. If we can get that done, that takes a big bite out of the fiscal cliff," he said.

In response to Obama’s comments, House Speaker John It is not pronounced 'Boner!' Boehner
... the occasionally weepy leader of House Republicans...
issued a statement, saying Obama should not cast blame on Republicans for a possible failure to avert the nearing crisis and that the president was equally responsible.
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I, me, they. I, me, they. I, me, they.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/31/2012 0:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Keynesian Kenyanian logic sez we're all bloody rich!
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/31/2012 1:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Obama: Republicans unified around protecting the rich

Really??? How many banksters have you sent off to the Federal Bureau of Prisons in the last term for their market activities that lead up to the 2008 crash and market manipulation? Can we mention MF Global? /rhet question

Now there's campaign donation protection!
Posted by: P2Kontheroad || 12/31/2012 8:46 Comments || Top||

#4  Our governing class is united around protecting the rich. Statement is purely a smokescreen.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/31/2012 9:25 Comments || Top||

#5  Say hi to John Corzine for me, will ya?
Posted by: Pheting Gleaque9435 || 12/31/2012 9:44 Comments || Top||

#6  "...then obviously that's going to have an adverse reaction in the markets."

Since when has Obama cared about markets?
Posted by: Raj || 12/31/2012 10:48 Comments || Top||

#7  Class warfare continues.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/31/2012 12:45 Comments || Top||

#8  Easy enough to fix.
Begin taxing luxury goods:
1) cars over $30k
2) non-commercial boats
3) housed providing more than X sqft per occupant
4) property providing less than X $ of declared income per unit
5) private aircraft providing less than X $ of declared income per passenger seat mile
6) second 'residences', etc...
A good start.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/31/2012 13:24 Comments || Top||

#9  Well, The One did want a luxury tax on corporate jets.

Wonder if anyone would think this would repeat, though.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/31/2012 14:53 Comments || Top||

#10  It really has become clear that Champ's marxist beliefs ("from each according to his ability, (now itis clear that if you make more than others that is your ability and is expected of you), to each according to his need (and they, the elites, will define the baseline)".
Class warfare is both a way to harness the envy of the masses, and their resentment that others have what they don't (notwithstanding any judgement of their efforts to do the things needed to gain more, work, education, initiative, persistence), as well as a tool to create over time a leveling of expectations from equality of opportunity (American vision of limited government and capitalism) to equality of outcome (socialism/communism in all the dreary variants that have failed).

The bite comes as people begin to see that the fundamental principle of property ownership, whether it is physical, material or capital (wages) is the heart of the change, along with the reversal of the role of government (elites) from servant to master. Many, many of our fellow citizens comprehend nothing of the way the system was based on the idea of true property rights, immune from the reach of government beyond the taxation taken at the inception of ownership. The most egregious example is of course the estate tax, at any level, since it reflects multiple levels of taxation in its creation, and literal confiscatory governmental power at its taking at death, creating an essential life-estate status for any and all property. This is now devolving through the "progressive" tax structure to wider levels that rival or surpass the rates of serfdom in mideval Europe during the feudal ages. People are becomming wage-serfs again, but also now suffer the egregious taking of their earnings disproportionately to pay for the ruling class and their special wards, the 47% of the populace who are essential takers, not makers, and whose voting power is manipulated through emotive slogans and media for the ignorant (broadcast tv and the scerotic print organs in their death throes).

All this sets the stage for the next true requirement, that pesky 2nd amendment, and the need to disarm the burdened class as much as possible, since the true intent of the 2nd amendment was the power to create a standing militia for the common defence, and that was able to resist tyrannical central government, now an ominous portent on the horizon, so much more quickly that ever imagined even a decade ago. (The founding fathers knew their history and grounded in Hobbs, Locke and Rousseau, also saw the power of the Barons and the militia to compel King John to sign Magna Carta, a cautionary tail worthy of knowing).

I know this is a screed my friends, but it is heartfelt and cathartic, and might resonate for many of you as we await the "change" this truly evil man has planned. I am more fearful than at any time in my life for the future of the nation and our form of government.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 12/31/2012 15:30 Comments || Top||

#11  They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

The second Amendment guarantees the other freedoms. We are not like other countries where basic rights have been given up as a knee-jerk reaction to singular horrible events caused by deranged individuals. As Americans we are sorry and we grieve but our fundamental rights do not hinge on the acts of the unhinged. If politicians react to such events by chipping away at basic freedoms, they do not understand and or they care little for these basic rights. These rights were maintained across the more than two centuries since we became a country with the blood of patriots. To give up these rights easily is the path to tyranny, statism and dictatorship. History in Europe and other places tells us that giving up these basic rights invites tragedies far larger than the local tragedies we have witnessed recently.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/31/2012 16:38 Comments || Top||

#12  But, I thought it was about the ATM Machines. What about the ATM Machines?
Posted by: newc || 12/31/2012 20:57 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Bloodbath awaits Syria if militants gain control: Historian
[Iran Press TV] A US-based historian has warned that Syria would become the scene of an "colossal bloodbath" should militants gain control of the crisis-hit country.

"If the Free Syrian Army, if this [Syria's militia group Jabhat] al-Nusra gang of death squads in particular should ever gain power over Syria or large parts of Syria, we would witness a colossal bloodbath that would certainly be the biggest in the current century," Webster Griffin Tarpley told Press TV on Sunday.

Tarpley said militants are trying to install "an independent, terrorist emirate" similar to Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

"It would be a genocide machine unleashed in the Eastern Mediterranean," he warned.

Tarpley also drew a parallel between the ongoing Syrian unrest and the 1990s' Lake District of Africa genocide, saying, "And it would rival what we saw in the Lake District of Africa back in the 1990s that would be a genocide of Shiites, of Alawites, of Christians, Melkites, Maronites...Orthodox and others, also people who are politically not acceptable to these killers and also foreign citizens, tens of thousands of people from other countries who would also be candidates for execution."

The American author said militants "are becoming more and more impudent and arrogant and insolent" toward Russia and the US for the latter's insufficient support for them.
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  A Muslim "genocide machine". No known antidote as I understand it, which leaves only quarantine and isolation.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/31/2012 0:56 Comments || Top||


Europe
French magazine to commit more blasphemy
[Iran Press TV] French weekly Charlie Hebdo, known for its publishing of cartoons insulting Islam's most revered figure, Prophet Muhammad (PTUI!), says it is planning to publish more blasphemous cartoons.
Y'know, I've been liking La Belle France more and more every day...
The magazine made the announcement on Sunday, saying that a special edition with cartoons on the life of Prophet Muhammad (PTUI!) will be published on Wednesday.

"If people want to be shocked, they will be shocked," said Charlie Hebdo editor, Stephane Charbonnier.

In September, the same magazine published cartoons blasphemous against the Islamic sanctities, provoking widespread outrage worldwide.

The publication led to the temporary closure of several French institutes and cultural centers in some Mohammedan countries.

The September 19 sacrilegious caricatures appeared in the periodical after the emergence of a US-made film that insulted Islam's holiest figure.
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Global Jihad


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Al-Assad troops kill nearly 400 people in Syria's bloodiest day: LCC
[Al Ahram] Bashir al-Assad regime troops killed at least 397 people on Saturday in what could be Syria's bloodiest day since the beginning of the of the 21-month-old conflict, the opposition Local Coordination Committees (LCC) said on their official Facebook page Sunday.

By the end of Saturday, the LCC managed to document 397 deaders, including more than 20 children and 20 women. Some 227 deaders were reported in Homs, "220 of them were field executed in Deir Balbah," with 62 in Damascus
...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations...
and its suburbs (10 in Nashabiya), 40 in Aleppo (13 deaders in Tal Refaat ), 22 in Deir Ezzor, "including 15 unidentified bodies," 17 in Daraa, 14 in Hama, 10 in Idlib, and five in Raqqa

The LCC also documented 399 points of shelling in Syria. Some 34 sites were shelled by warplanes, two by white phosphorus bombs, three by vacuum bombs, five by cluster bombs, 152 by heavy calibre artillery, 124 by mortar, and 80 by missiles and rockets.

The Free Syrian Army clashed with regime forces in 112 locations. The FSA shelled several military centres inside Mazzeh Military Airport using domestically-manufactured rockets.

The FSA managed to repel an attack of the regime's army in Darayya. In Daraa, the FSA pushed back a military convoy after their withdrawal from Busr Al-Harir. The FSA also destroyed military equipment of the regime's army.
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Africa North
Jebel Akhdar courts suspend work over security situation
[Libya Herald] Courts in the Jebel Akhdar have temporarily suspended their work in the region until the security situation improves, a local judge told Libyan news agency LANA today.

Chairman Abdul Aziz Mustafa Al-Trabelsi, head of the Court of Appeals for Jebel Akhdar, said that the courts had suspended their work until improvements were made in security arrangements for their buildings and workers.
"Please don't let them kill us!"
He said that the poor security situation in Derna was preventing the courts from carrying out their work properly, pointing to threats made against members of the judiciary in recent months.

Al-Trabelsi gave no indication of how long he thought that the courts' work would be suspended for in his statement to LANA today.
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran starts navy drills in Strait of Hormuz
[Al Ahram] Naval commander Habibollah Sayyari said the "Velayat 91" drills would last until Wednesday across an area of about 1 million square kilometers in the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Oman and northern parts of the Indian Ocean, IRNA said.

Sayyari said the goal of the maneuvers were to show "the armed forces' military capabilities" in defending Iran's borders as well as sending a message of peace and friendship to neighboring countries.

Iranian officials have often said Iran could block the strait - through which 40 percent of the world's sea-borne oil exports pass - if it came under military attack over its disputed nuclear program.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Africa North
Security raid on Tunisian "terrorist" cell
Tunisian security forces stormed a house to arrest suspected terrorists on Sunday and a woman was killed in the subsequent shootout, the Interior Ministry said, DPA reported. Five members of the alleged cell were captured alive, one of them injured, during the operation in a poverty-stricken suburb of the capital Tunis.

The ministry said authorities tracked down the group in the house after a tip-off, and one of the group opened fire as officers closed in. The woman was killed in the exchange of fire, it said.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan
Missing Georgian serviceman found dead in Afghanistan
Georgia, Tbilisi, Dec. 30 -- Georgian serviceman Georgy Kikadze, who has been reported missing since December 19, was found dead in Afghanistan on Saturday.

Georgian Minister of Defence Irakliy Alasania told journalists that today is the hard day for him.

"We have informed the family of the deceased, and I personally apologized to the mother of the deceased for being too optimistic commented that Kikadze alive, I condole the family and friends," the minister said, noting that the circumstances of the death of the serviceman will be announced after the investigation.

The Minister stressed that Georgia has a lot of responsibility, taking part in the NATO operation in Afghanistan. 1700 Georgian troops [have served] in Afghanistan. During this time, Georgia lost 21 people dead.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Thank you Georgia, Albania, and Romania for your assistance in AFG. Good soldiers all!
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/31/2012 0:58 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Hezbollah's Cocaine Jihad
More on the goings on in Chiapas.
Faced with dwindling Iranian funding, Shiite terror group partners with Mexican narco mobs; uses millions of dollars in drug money to support weapon acquisition habit

Chiapas is one of Mexico's most exotic federal districts. But the magical forests, appealing Indian communities, colorful towns and intriguing archeological sites -- that serve as main tourist attractions -- hide a political hell.

In the mid-1990s, a leftist resistance group which calls itself The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) made Chiapas its home. Its attempts to fight the Mexican Army repeatedly failed, but the Zapatistas are still very active in the district's rural areas. Chiapas is considered a dangerous place, where every home has an arms arsenal of its own; and like many other places in Mexico, Chiapas' streets have become the battlefield where the government and local drug lords wrestle for dominance.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Britain
Hedge funds reap record profits from bets on QE
Funny how it works that way .....
Super-rich hedge fund financiers emerged as the big winners from the Bank of England's money printing programme in 2012, as pensioners and savers were made to struggle with shrunken incomes.

The Bank of England has pumped £375bn of money into the economy since the start of its QE programme in 2009. Much of the high-rolling industry bet that quantitative easing (QE) would boost global markets and those that stuck to the strategy made record profits.

Hedge fund expert Philippe Bonnefoy said: "The masters of equity and credit trading strategies have done their homework in 2012 and reaped benefits turbocharged by an ocean of government-sponsored liquidity."

The industry's success will sit uneasily with savers and pensioners who have been condemned to rock bottom interest rates and reduced annuity payments caused by QE-induced low gilt yields.

Saga, the pensioner lobby group, has claimed that QE has contributed to a 9% drop in real incomes among the over-50s since early 2008. And the Bank has conceded that the beneficiaries of QE have been the investor classes while those relying on income have suffered.

Last year saw a resurgence of some of the biggest and best-known hedge funds in the world, according to the latest figures collected by HSBC.

Posted by: lotp || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Surely not HSBC, not this one...

http://www.senseoncents.com/2012/12/hsbc-money-laundering-scandal-more-racketeering/
Posted by: Injun Stalin7884 || 12/31/2012 16:27 Comments || Top||

#2  And then there's this...

http://www.senseoncents.com/2012/12/libor-scandal-this-is-racketeering-folks/

Trebles all round!!!
Posted by: Injun Stalin7884 || 12/31/2012 16:57 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Security threats Polio workers refuse to go to field in Mohmand, Swabi
[Dawn] Lady health workers and other staff of anti-polio
...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set...
campaign have refused to carry out fieldwork in Mohmand tribal region and parts of Swabi district citing threats to their life after recent attacks on vaccination teams in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
, Nowshera and Charsadda districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  The US should be punished for designing and distrubuting vaccines that make Muslim wee-wees fall off.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/31/2012 7:45 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Los Angeles warns against gun sex
[UPI] Los Angeles officials have warned people against firing guns into the air when celebrating the New Year -- anyone caught doing so could face a $10,000 fine.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said firearm misuse is on everyone's minds going into the holiday, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

"Firing into the air weapons in celebration puts innocent lives at risk," Villaraigosa said last week. "Nothing ruins the holiday season like an errant bullet coming down and killing an innocent."

Villaraigosa said authorities will pursue criminal charges for anyone caught in possession of a weapon in public. Anyone found guilty faces a fine of up to $10,000 and a possible three-year jail sentence.
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Muzzles in the horizontal when locked and loaded please. It's for your own protection.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/31/2012 0:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Arson and looting are okay though.

/Maxine Waters (D - Perpetual Anger)
Posted by: Pappy || 12/31/2012 11:04 Comments || Top||

#3  "Nothing ruins the holiday season like an errant bullet coming down and killing your own stupid-ass self."
Posted by: SteveS || 12/31/2012 17:00 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Moroccan police arrest 30 protestors
[Magharebia] Demonstrators protesting against rising prices of water and electricity clashed with police in Marrakech, AFP reported the interior ministry as saying on Saturday (December 29).

"Thirty people were tossed in the clink
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
Friday in Marrakech for organising an unauthorised demonstration," the ministry statement said, adding that these people committed "acts of violence and vandalism" and threw stones at law enforcement officers and citizens.

Witnesses told AFP that roughly 60 people were maimed when coppers used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the protestors. One witness claimed four of them were in a serious condition.
Posted by: Fred || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran imports over half of needed corn
Iran imported 3.5 million tons of corn in the current year, more than half of 5.85 million tons which is needed by the domestic market, the Fars News Agency reported. The corn imports were valued at $1.2 billion, according to the report.
Egypt is not the only Islamic country that can't feed itself...
Iran's corn production amounted to 1.73 million tons in the current year, nearly unchanged compared to the year before.

India, Indonesia, and Russia were the three top corn producers in Asia with 20 million tons, 8.9 million tons, and 7.5 million tons of output, respectively.

Iran's corn production rose from one million tons in 2010 to 1.3 million tons in 2011, which showed a 30 percent increase. Production of other types of grain in Iran increased from 4.7 million tons in 2010 to five million tons in 2011.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/31/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  By corn they mean insanity. Iran only cranks out 74% of their internal Crazy demand, the rest must be imported using precious Persian funkadelia.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/31/2012 16:50 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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1Global Jihad
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1Abu Sayyaf

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

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2012-12-31
  Qaeda in Yemen offers bounty for killing US ambassador, troops
Sun 2012-12-30
  Pakistan reports 21 tribal policemen kidnapped, found dead
Sat 2012-12-29
  At Least 15 Killed in Sect Attack in North Nigeria
Fri 2012-12-28
  Militants kill two, kidnap 22 Pakistani soldiers
Thu 2012-12-27
  Somalia sets 100 days for Al Shabab militants to surrender
Wed 2012-12-26
  6 Killed in Attack on Nigerian Church
Tue 2012-12-25
  Drone Strikes Kill Six Qaida Suspects in Yemen
Mon 2012-12-24
  Tunisia arrests 16 al-Qaeda suspects
Sun 2012-12-23
  Egypt vice-president resigns on final day of referendum
Sat 2012-12-22
  Scuds pummel Syrian rebel positions
Fri 2012-12-21
  U.N. Security Council Approves Mali Intervention Force
Thu 2012-12-20
  Yemeni President Restructures Army, Removes Saleh Cronies
Wed 2012-12-19
  Three more polio workers shot in Pakistan; eight dead in 48 hours
Tue 2012-12-18
  Syrian rebels take control of Damascus Palestinian camp
Mon 2012-12-17
  Rebel Offensive In Hama

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