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Today: 50 articles and 277 comments as of 22:28.
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14 alleged Islamic extremists detained in Belgium
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
8 00:00 JosephMendiola [6] 
7 00:00 49 Pan [5] 
4 00:00 JosephMendiola [5] 
3 00:00 Alaska Paul in Homer, AK [2] 
3 00:00 JosephMendiola [6] 
1 00:00 JosephMendiola [6] 
5 00:00 bigjim-ky [4] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
6 00:00 Besoeker [2]
2 00:00 john frum [5]
0 [3]
1 00:00 Woozle Elmeter 2700 [5]
12 00:00 trailing wife [4]
5 00:00 .5MT [3]
6 00:00 bigjim-ky [2]
0 [7]
3 00:00 gorb [5]
0 [5]
0 [6]
0 [3]
0 [7]
0 [3]
Page 2: WoT Background
15 00:00 Jolutch Mussolini7800 [6]
0 [3]
12 00:00 Pappy [5]
1 00:00 bigjim-ky [10]
0 [9]
3 00:00 bigjim-ky [3]
2 00:00 bigjim-ky [2]
15 00:00 JosephMendiola [7]
6 00:00 49 Pan [6]
4 00:00 bigjim-ky [2]
0 [5]
0 [6]
Page 4: Opinion
18 00:00 JosephMendiola [5]
1 00:00 bigjim-ky [7]
15 00:00 JosephMendiola [3]
Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
11 00:00 newc [6]
8 00:00 JosephMendiola [7]
3 00:00 Ebbang Uluque6305 [4]
Page 6: Politix
5 00:00 newc [4]
5 00:00 bigjim-ky [2]
6 00:00 JosephMendiola [4]
3 00:00 Procopius2k [2]
14 00:00 Hupeper aka Broadhead6 [4]
1 00:00 mhw [4]
5 00:00 DMFD [5]
6 00:00 DepotGuy [4]
19 00:00 Deacon Blues [4]
16 00:00 GolfBravoUSMC [2]
12 00:00 rjschwarz [8]
Bangladesh
Govt decides to lift state of emergency from Dec 17
The government has decided to lift the state of emergency from December 17, in consideration of overall administration, with the approval of the President.
Posted by: Fred || 12/11/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  When has bangladesh NOT been in a state of emergency?
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/11/2008 16:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Apparently from December 17th until now.
Posted by: gorb || 12/11/2008 20:46 Comments || Top||

#3  So how long does an emergency have to go before it is declared a chronic condition?
Posted by: Alaska Paul in Homer, AK || 12/11/2008 21:42 Comments || Top||


Britain
Bank of England may reduce rates to 1694 level
Posted by: tipper || 12/11/2008 07:05 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hardly a valid comparison, in view of the fact that England was on a gold standard way back then.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/11/2008 7:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Standard journalism - distort and give misleading information instead of just telling the story.
Posted by: gromky || 12/11/2008 8:06 Comments || Top||

#3  That was the year in which Queen Mary II died. Maybe they are trying some subtle English wit.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/11/2008 9:04 Comments || Top||

#4  ION TOPIX > EIGHT SCARY, SCARY PREDICTIONS > Pert whom claims to had forecasted the curr US crisis believes THERE MAY BE NO BOTTOM TO THE US, GLOBAL RECESSION - iff Amers are lucky, we may see a POSSIBLE RECOVERY COME YEAR 2010 or 2011, IFF THERE IS A "RECOVERY"; + EXPERTS:US, GLOBAL RECESSION COULD LAST FOR YEARS [not just 2009 = early 2010]???

ALso, REDDIT > DER SPIEGEL > A HUNDRED LITTLE NAPOLEONS - IS ANYONE IN CHARGE OF TODAY'S NON-POLAR WORLD?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/11/2008 23:19 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Mexico and the war against drug cartels
Worth reading for the insights into security issues.
Mexico's war against drug cartels continued in 2008. The mission President Felipe Calderon launched shortly after his inauguration two years ago to target the cartels has since escalated in nearly every way imaginable. Significant changes in Mexicos security situation and the nature of the drug trade in the Western Hemisphere also have occurred over the last 12 months.

Mexicos Drug-Trafficking Organizations
Gulf cartel: As recently as a year ago, the Gulf cartel was considered the most powerful drug-trafficking organization in Mexico. After nearly two years of bearing the brunt of Mexican law enforcement and military efforts, however, it is an open question at this point whether the cartel is still intact. The groups paramilitary enforcement arm, Los Zetas, was the primary reason for Gulfs power, but reports of Zeta activity from this past year suggest that the much-feared group now operates independently. Without the Zetas, the Gulf leadership has struggled to remain relevant.

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: lotp || 12/11/2008 07:39 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Banditos vs. Rurales. Same as it ever was.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/11/2008 9:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Wonderful. The "success" of the Calderon crackdown resulted in a doubling of the drug-related murder rate. How much more success can the Mexican polity survive without collapsing entirely?

I have to wonder how much of the Colombian actual success story is a result of the shifting of the drug-empire's centre of gravity northwards to Mexico.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 12/11/2008 11:15 Comments || Top||

#3  And how much is the natural consequences of decades of single party rule and its endemic corruption of the party, the state, and the culture? The cancer spread long ago, this is a late term attempt to apply heavy chemo-therapy with the drug war simply being one of the protocols in the process.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/11/2008 11:51 Comments || Top||

#4  He doesn't seem to have much of a choice. Let them run wild and have the U.S. all over your case, crack down and have a war, go nuclear and have a domestic backlash. Whatever they do, it won't be quick or easy, but they can't let this spiral out of control and affect the tourism market, which it is on the verge of doing, or they are screwed.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/11/2008 15:31 Comments || Top||

#5  A big fence to stop smugglers and a willingness to shoot those that come across the border in force would do wonders.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/11/2008 21:44 Comments || Top||

#6  A Guam patron whom used to work and travel between California and Mexico argued that, IHO, Mexico's greatest prob is that its ruling or political elites prefer personal Power Corruption and Control, espec of other people's $$$, to the well-being of thier own people and nation.

He also opined that MANY MEXICANS SNEAK OR COME INTO CALIFORNIA BECUZ THINGS ARE MUCH CHEAPER AND ABUNDANT OVER THE RIO GRANDE THAN INSIDE MEXICO, THEIR OWN COUNTRY. In addition,that Many Mexico Govt Oficials and Police will always find ways to screw Americans out of $$$, espec iff leaving Mexico to enter back into the USA via Border security checkpoints controlled wholly by Mexico, to include the covert planting of drugs either to travel into the USA or else to put innocent Amers in Mexi jails in order to "legally" extort monies from US sources.

GENERALLY, PATRON > DESCRIBES MEXICO AS MOSTLY A GANGLAND COUNTRY AND GOVT, ONE WHICH DOES ANYTHING IT WANTS TO WID OUTSIDERS, INNOCENT OR NOT. THE GOOD NEWS FOR TOURISTS/VISITORS IS THAT MANY MEXIS LIKE THE RUSSIANS DESPITE THE LATTER USUALY NOT HAVING $$$ LIKE THE GRINGOS NORTH OF THE RIO GRANDE.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/11/2008 22:49 Comments || Top||

#7  Thanks LOTP, its been a while.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 12/11/2008 23:46 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russians Buy Jewelry, Hoard Dollars as Ruble Plunges
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/11/2008 13:44 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I thought America was going to no longer be a world player and we were going to go down the toilet?
I guess that was only as long as oil was over 140 a bbl.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/11/2008 16:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Even though most of these hoarded dollars are probably made in NKor, it is fascinating that they don't hoard Yuros, or what have you.
Posted by: Spike Uniter || 12/11/2008 19:16 Comments || Top||

#3  I thought the various features of the Euro would make them a prime target for counterfeiters.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 12/11/2008 20:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Actually, those NKor dollars are pretty good. If the Fed keeps printing bonds, they may have to be tapped to pick up the dollar production when inflation hits, to include throwing in those already in circulation.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/11/2008 21:40 Comments || Top||

#5  Surely, due to proximity, it would be easier for Russians to acquire Euros than dollars? Excluding North Korean forgeries, I mean.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/11/2008 22:35 Comments || Top||

#6  LOL TW! Sometimes you're very funny! ;-)

USD is ubiquitous. Most countries' foreign currency reserves are in USD. Back in Czech during commie rule, black markets operated predominantly on USD or DM to a lesser degree, rarely on UKĀ£ or CAD. It was the same elsewhere in Eastern Block. Mighty buck rulez.
Posted by: Spike Uniter || 12/11/2008 22:54 Comments || Top||

#7  Mostly unintentionally, I fear, Spike Uniter dear. I didn't realize our currency was collected so assiduously. Rantburg U rules!
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/11/2008 23:00 Comments || Top||

#8  ION RUSSIA, WORLD MIL FORUM > RUSSIAN ARMED FORCES RADICALIST REFORMS MAY LEAD TO DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES IN MILITARY READINESS/
PROFICIENCIES, NATIONAL ECONOMY.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/11/2008 23:29 Comments || Top||


Europe
Police arrested over Greek teen's death
Greece plunges into further chaos on the fifth day of clashes between the police and youth which began following the death of a teenager. The clashes were followed by a general strike on Wednesday and two policemen have been charged with the killing of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos.

Police in riot gear defended the legislature against thousands of protesters who were furious at the death of the 15-year-old Grigoropoulos and they then turned to the government and shouted, 'Sack Karamanlis', AFP reported.

When the first results of the ballistics reports pointed out that Grigoropoulos was killed by a bullet ricochet, the controversy started.

Two police officers have been held in police custody since Sunday. Epaminondas Korkoneas, 37, was charged with voluntary homicide and 'illegal use' of his service weapon and is still in custody by an Athens magistrate and his partner, Vassilios Saraliotis, 31, was charged with being an accomplice and also ordered to remain in custody. Korkoneas is alleged to have killed Grigoropoulos on Saturday during a clash with around 30 youths in the central Athens district of Exarchia.

This is while the incident has led to riots outside the country itself with around a dozen Turkish protestors smearing red paint over the front of the Greek consulate in Istanbul, and the Greek embassies in Moscow and Rome were also targets for fire bombers.

Elsewhere, airlines cancelled dozens of flights, and the country's two largest unions called for "the democratization of the police and an end to violent and arbitrary acts by state organs."

The country is frustrated at the police as well as the government's economic policies. In a televised speech, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis pledged up to 10,000 euros to stricken businesses, plus a tax freeze and government-guaranteed loans to rebuild burnt property. "The government is determined to consolidate the feeling of public safety and to help businesses get back on their feet," he said.

In spite of the chaos in his country, Karamanlis's office has confirmed that he will be attending a European Union summit in Brussels that starts on Thursday.
Posted by: Fred || 12/11/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Gee, and they did all this without guns?
Maybe they should outlaw rocks.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/11/2008 17:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Lest we fergit, GREECE also has on-going sectarian issues vee MACEDONIA OR PRO-MACEDONIAIN ACTIVISTS as per NAME, HISTORY, ETHNICITY, + LAND BORDERS.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/11/2008 23:38 Comments || Top||

#3  OOPSIES, my bad, forgot GREECE versus ALBANIA versus SERBIA/FORMER YUGOSLAVIA.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/11/2008 23:39 Comments || Top||


African immigrants riot in Spanish village
(SomaliNet) There have been serious riots between Moroccan and black African immigrants in a village in southern Spain.

The violence erupted in La Mojonera in the province of Almeria when a Moroccan man stabbed a Malian immigrant to death. The Moroccan man was later arrested.

Moroccan shops were attacked and ransacked, and rubbish containers and cars were set alight during the rioting. It took the Spanish police several hours to restore order.
Posted by: Fred || 12/11/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  WAFF/TOPIX/OTHER > ATHENS WARNS RIOTS COULD SPREAD TO OTHER CITIES IN EUROPE + SOLIDARITY RIOTS SPREADS TO EUROPEAN UNION + GREEK RIOTS COULD SPELL THE END OF EUROPEAN UNION, DEMOCRACY???

D *** NG IT, MORIARITY, ONCE AGAIN DO YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON'T SEND IN THE MARINES AND AIRBORNE!?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/11/2008 23:35 Comments || Top||


Home Front Economy
Once you have paid the Danegeld...
JPMorgan Chase & Co offered $400,000 on Wednesday to help pay severance to laid-off workers occupying a Chicago factory, whose protest symbolizes resentment over the federal bailout of big banks while workers suffer.

JPMorgan Chase's offer, announced by Rep. Luis Gutierrez, who has been mediating the dispute, follows on Bank of America Corp's pledge to make an unspecified, limited loan to Republic Windows & Doors on behalf of the 250 workers.

The worker sit-in that began on Friday has become a symbol of Main Street resentment of the federal bailout of Wall Street banks, which Bank of America has tapped for $15 billion and JPMorgan for $25 billion.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/11/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Great.

I work for one of those mentioned big banks and we are laying off staff right and left. If you are lucky you get a month or two of salary for severance when let go.

Oh dopey me - I should have gone to work for a window manufacturer instead. Well, that or a car company that builds shitty cars that no one wants.

Merry Freekin Christmas
Posted by: GORT || 12/11/2008 8:10 Comments || Top||

#2  'Pay to Play'... even in Chicago factory closings.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/11/2008 8:16 Comments || Top||

#3  Good luck, GORT.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/11/2008 8:33 Comments || Top||

#4  If the banks just stop lending then they won't have any of these problems.

Posted by: DoDo || 12/11/2008 14:05 Comments || Top||

#5  That's only about $2,000 apiece, not what I'd call a fortune. I'd rather have Republic get the loan and collect my unemployment for the 2 weeks I was laid off.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/11/2008 15:27 Comments || Top||



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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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In no particular order...
Steve White
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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2008-12-11
  14 alleged Islamic extremists detained in Belgium
Wed 2008-12-10
  Hamid Gul to be 'declared terrorist'
Tue 2008-12-09
  Masood Azhar confined to his headquarters
Mon 2008-12-08
  Paks torch 160 NATO supply trucks
Sun 2008-12-07
  Al-Shabaab set up regional administration
Sat 2008-12-06
  Suspected US missile kills 3 in Pakistan
Fri 2008-12-05
  Iraq Presidency Council approves US troop pact
Thu 2008-12-04
  Italy: Police arrest two Moroccan terrs
Wed 2008-12-03
  Abu Qatada back in jug
Tue 2008-12-02
  Zardari sez not to do anything rash
Mon 2008-12-01
  Pak Army Brass Turban: Baitullah Mehsud, Fazlullah are Patriots!
Sun 2008-11-30
  Last gunny killed in Mumbai, ending siege
Sat 2008-11-29
  Sadrists claim security pact 'illegal'
Fri 2008-11-28
  1 terrorist holed up in Taj
Thu 2008-11-27
  Indo security forces engage ''Deccan Mujaheddin''


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