There is no evidence that the N.S.A. had any role in creating Heartbleed, or even that it made use of it. No, not even a smidgen of evidence. Place photographs of Generals Keith Alexander and Jim Clapper here.
[Iran Press TV] Six of the eight Afghan presidential candidates have rejected partial results that put former foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... , in the lead.
On Sunday, the country's Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced that with 10 percent of the ballots counted, "Dr. Abdullah is leading with 41.9 percent; Dr. Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002, Ahmadzai was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. has 37.6 percent and is in second; and Zalmai Rassoul ... former foreign minister and a very close confidant of Hamid Karzai. Before serving as foreign minister Rassoul also spent seven years laboring as a national security adviser to the president. An ethnic Pashtun born in Kabul, Rassoul was the valedictorian of his class at the illustrious Franco-American school in Kabul, Lycee Istiqal. He has an MD from the Paris Medical School in France..... has 9.8 percent in third position."
The IEC said the front-runner could easily change as counting continues in the coming days.
Following the announcement, the candidates rejected the results and called for an investigation into the allegations of fraud in the polls.
Possible electoral fraud remains an important concern, but the country's election complaints commission said it would take weeks before it rules on the issue.
The UN has appealed for calm until the vote count ends. The counting of votes will continue until April 20 with results expected on 24.
IEC authorities said unless there is an outright winner with more than 50 percent of the vote, there will be a run-off between the two leading candidates at the end of May.
The election came ahead of the planned 2014 withdrawal of US-led foreign troops from Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Abdullah Abdullah (Pashto: عبدالله عبدالله, born on September 5, 1960) is a politician in Afghanistan and a doctor of medicine. He was an adviser and a close friend of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Northern Alliance leader and commander known as the "Lion of Panjshir," who was assassinated in September 2001.[2] After the fall of the Taliban regime, Dr. Abdullah served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan from 2001 until 2005.
KAMPALA: The group of Islamist gunmen who stormed the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi last year, killing at least 67 people, may have entered Kenya from neighbouring Uganda, a senior police official was quoted as saying Saturday.
Ugandaâs police chief, General Kale Kayihura, cited intelligence reports indicating that Uganda had been used as a transit stage. He added that Uganda was also still at risk of attack.
âEven intelligence shows Westgate attackers passed through Uganda,â Ugandaâs government spokesman, Ofwono Opondo, quoted the general as saying during a high-level meeting this week of security chiefs and senior government officials.
â Uganda is being used as a transit route by the terrorists who bomb Kenya,â he added. âWe must ensure there is no disturbance in Kampala.â
Somaliaâs Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab claimed responsibility for the Westgate attack, saying it was a warning to Kenya to pull its troops out of southern Somalia, where they are fighting the extremists as part of an African Union force.
Ugandan troops are also fighting as part of the AU force, and in 2010 Shebab bombers killed at least 76 people in restaurants in the Ugandan capital.
The Westgate gunmen, believed to have numbered just four, were all killed in the siege. Four men are currently on trial in Nairobi on charges of providing them with logistical support, although it has been unclear precisely what route they took to Nairobi.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/14/2014 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Former Vice President for International Affairs Mohamed ElBaradei is accused in a legal case of being antagonistic towards the Egyptian people and army
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2014 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Three armoured buses are now in operation to transport army conscripts in North Sinai, a security source told Al-Ahram's Arabic news website.
The buses -- given to Egypt by the United Arab Emirates -- will transport conscripts between the North Sinai cities of Rafah and Al-Arish -- a road famous for krazed killer attacks on unarmed soldiers travelling on leave.
Dozens of Egyptian police conscripts have been killed by terrorist attacks near Rafah since 2012, many of them while being transported on the Rafah-Arish highway.
The Egyptian military is fighting an insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula, launched after the army's ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... in July after mass protests demanding his overthrow.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Maybe Afghanistan could send them all those MRAPs being left behind.
[Beirut Daily Star] ANI said it received a video on Saturday in which Mourad Ghassas, one of the Algerian diplomats, said he and his colleagues were in good health. He said he was speaking on April 9, ANI reported.
It said that in the video Ghassas called on the Algerian government to negotiate with the Islamists to free them.
ANI said it received the video from Al-Mourabitoun, the group created last year when MUJWA, the Islamist group that kidnapped the Algerians in Gao, and fighters led by veteran Sahara Islamist Mokhtar Belmokhtar, merged.
ANI later removed the story from its website but on Sunday it remained on other Mauritanian websites. No reason was given for the removal of the story but ANI has in the past come under pressure from authorities to limit statements from Islamists on incidents involving Algerian interests.
In a statement issued with the video, ANI said Al-Mourabitoun accused Algerian authorities of not respecting a number of terms of the agreement that led to the freeing of the other three Algerians.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
#1
He smuggled cigarettes, drugs, stolen cars, diamonds, and people, using the money to buy weapons to supply insurgent groups. He also kidnapped for ransom dozens of Westerners, including diplomats, aid workers, doctors, and tourists from France, Germany, Austria, England, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Canada.[4][33] The kidnappings are believed to have netted him what the US State Department estimated as $50 million in ransoms for the Europeans.[17] The global intelligence company Stratfor reported that Belmokhtar commanded an estimated $3 million per European captive.[34][35][36][37][38][39] In 2003, for example, he kidnapped 32 French, German, Austrian, and Swiss tourists in the Sahara Desert, for whom he is believed to have received a $6.5 million ransom.[4][40]
In 2003, the U.S. military had Belmokhtar under surveillance in the desert in northern Mali. Military commanders suggested launching a missile airstrike against him. But Vicki Huddleston, the U.S. Ambassador to Mali at the time, vetoed the operation, arguing that a strike was too risky and that Belmokhtar was not important enough to risk the possible repercussions. General Charles Wald wanted to share intelligence and gear with Algeria and Mali, so they could arrest or kill Belmokhtar, but said that he was over-ruled by civilian U.S. leaders.
[PMNEWSNIGERIA] The Emir of Gwoza in Borno state, Alhaji Idrissa Timta, on Sunday decried the renewed insurgency in the area, saying it had crippled the socio-economic activities in his domain. Gwoza is about 129 kilometres from Maiduguri, the capital.
According to a statement issued in Maiduguri, the Emir said his people have witnessed increased attacks with mass killings by the bully boyz in the last four months.
"The attacks have crippled both social and economic lives in the entire area,'' the statement quoted the emir as saying.
Timta said: "it is sad to say that my people have been blocked from going to the market by the Death Eaters, who kill at will.
"Even the food crops cultivated by them in the last farming season have ended up with the Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... as the harvest were seized by the bully boyz making life unbearable.
"There is an urgent need for the security agents to intensify and change their tactics of operation to stop the mass killings in this area.''
He said the bully boyz had also killed many number people by blocking major highways, and appealed to security agents to intensify patrol on these roads to prevent the attacks.
"If care is not taken my people will completely flee the area to neighbouring states and countries for safety,'' he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Mate, any place with an Emir is crippled from the get go.
[NATION.PK] Chief of Awami Mohammedan League (AML) Sheikh Rasheed has claimed that relations between government and army were tensed and PM Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... would face the music. Way too early for that. They haven't lost another war with India yet.
Sheikh Rasheed was talking to journalists after holding a meeting with Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) said that the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had deliberately appointed a person on Defence Minister post who was disliked by the Army. He predicted that the year could be dangerous for the federal government. He informed that they have finalized strategy to protest on May 11 along with PTI.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[NATION.PK] Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree... today urged Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz-led government not to repeat past mistakes. I quite agree. I always try to make new mistakes.
Speaking at a ceremony today, Khan underscored the need to pull the country out of war against terrorism and bring peace. He said no nation can thrive in a state of war. "Whatever policy is brought, peace should be a foremost priority," he said. He maintained education is the main priority of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... , where PTI is leading a coalition government.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2014 00:00 ||
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[NATION.PK] Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... (JI) Sirajul Haq has said that his party supports the federal government's efforts for establishing durable peace in the country and to bring the country back on track of development and progress.
Talking to journalists after condoling with JUI Senator Ghulam Ali over the sad demise of his father today, Sirajul Haq said dialogue is
the only way for peaceful resolution of the issues. He expressed his hopes that the dialogue process with Taliban would prove result-oriented, and peace will return soon to the country. The JI Ameer termed the statements of Minister of the State for Water and Power, Abid Sher Ali as undemocratic and demanded the federal government to take notice.
While commenting on the peace talks with Taliban, Ameer JI said that the negotiation process with the turbans cannot be sabotaged due to any single incident. He added that the federal government has removed all the deadlocks for peace in the country. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... (KP) generates its own electricity. "Cutting off the province's electricity will be unjust", he maintained. Siraj-ul-Haq alleged that the government was using different tactics to divert the attention of the nation away from the real issues.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2014 00:00 ||
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[NATION.PK] Justice for Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... group held a protest demonstration in the capital city of Islamabad today and called for the removal of Former president's name from a no-fly list.
Participants of the demonstration gathered in front of National Press Club and rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud in favour of Pervez Musharraf and armed force. Demonstrators denounced politician's criticism against the former military ruler and said that Musharraf's term was Pakistain's golden era. They said that the former dictator was being penalized for putting Pakistain on the path of progress and prosperity. The protesters demanded that Musharraf be allowed to travel aboard to see his ailing mother.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Were all the demonstrators ISI people who owed their favored position to Perv?
Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon on Sunday approved the return of Jewish settlers to a contested house in the West Bank city of Hebron, a statement from his office said.
Israelâs Supreme Court ruled last month that settlers were the lawful owners of the building in the heart of the occupied city, ending a legal dispute lasting nearly seven years.
âFollowing the court decision... Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon today (Sunday) approved habitation of the house,â the statement said, adding that the area military instructor had been told to allow âa limited number of families to the houseâ.
The Palestinian Rajabi family has for years said its four-storey building had been taken over fraudulently by Israeli settlers. An Israeli lower court in 2012 accepted their claim, ruling that the settlersâ assertion that they had legally purchased the property âdoes not hold waterâ.
The Supreme Court overturned that judgement on appeal.
The building is near a contested holy site known to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque and to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs in a tightly controlled Israeli enclave where many streets are off-limits to Palestinian cars.
The settlers were evacuated in 2008, and the Supreme Court ruling said they would not be allowed to move back in without defence ministry approval.
The flashpoint city of Hebron, home to nearly 200,000 Palestinians, also comprises some 80 settler homes in the centre of town housing about 700 Jews who live under Israeli army protection.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/14/2014 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] A group of rogue elements affiliated with former US President George W. Bush are plotting new chemical attacks in Syria, an analyst tells Press TV in an interview.
Kevin Barrett said sarin gas for potential attacks similar to the August 2013 deadly chemical raid on Syrians is being manufactured in Tbilisi, Georgia.
"I think we need to put this news out to the world ... about the manufacture of sarin gas at Tbilisi and the fact that a rogue group of Americans is apparently behind this -- people connected with the Bush administration," the commentator said.
Barrett said US President Barack Obama We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us... 's redline warning on the use of chemical attacks a year ago "gave the forces of Evil tremendous motivation to conduct false flag gas attacks in order to blame" the government of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes...
He said the 2013 chemical attack in al-Ghouta was a "false-flag" operation by foreign-backed bully boyz in that country to "bring in the US to bomb Syria."
"So, I'm afraid that the war party in the US is up to its usual tricks," said Barrett.
America's leading mainstream investigative journalist, Seymour Hersh, recently published article exposing the chemical weapons attack in al-Ghouta last August as a false flag provocation.
By the time of the attack, the US and some of its allies blamed Damascus for the chemical attack on al-Ghouta. However, nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits... the Syrian government strongly denied No, no! Certainly not! the accusation, saying the attack was carried out by the bully boyz operating inside the country to draw in foreign intervention. Subsequent investigations by the UN and Russia backed Syria's assertions.
This article starring:
Kevin Barrett
Seymour Hersh
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[Iran Press TV] The Iranian Navy is planning to send its 30th fleet of warships to the Atlantic Ocean, a senior Iranian naval commander says.
I'm comfortably certain we've been re-running this story over and again...
Barring any change in plans, the 30th fleet of the Iranian Navy - which is comprised of Alvand destroyer, Bushehr logistic vessel and a helicopter - will sail to the Atlantic Ocean in the future, Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari told Fars news agency on Sunday.
What about the sea-going tug?
Each flotilla is dispatched to to the high seas after its mission is determined according to plans, he said, adding, however, that Iran's naval fleet are fully prepared to re-adjust their missions at any given moment if required.
"Considering the situation in the region, the mission of warships may change. For example, if attacks by pirates intensify in the Gulf of Aden, changes will be made in the warships' assignments," he added.
In light of this, Sayyari said changes have been made in the mission of the 29th fleet, which consists of Sabalan destroyer, Kharg logistics vessel and two helicopters.
"This fleet will return to the country within the next days and will not go to the Atlantic Ocean," the commander pointed out.
Oh yeah, that fleet. They were supposed to trail their coats off the coast of Baltimore or Charleston or something...
The 29th fleet of the Iranian Navy left Iran's southern port city of Bandar Abbas on January 21 for the Atlantic Ocean in line with the country's policy to safeguard naval routes for its vessels.
How far did they get -- Aden?
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
"Admiral, the 30th fleet has fitted new spark plugs and is ready to put to sea."
[Beirut Daily Star] Syria's Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... said Sunday the three-year war tearing the country apart is turning in the government's favour, state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
reported.
"This is a turning point in the crisis, both militarily in terms of the army's achievements in the war against terror, and socially in terms of national reconciliation processes and growing awareness of the truth behind the (attacks) targeting the country," the television quoted Assad as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2014 00:00 ||
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[Beirut Daily Star] The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... said Sunday that reports of a poison gas attack in a village in Hama province were so far "unsubstantiated," adding that Washington was trying to establish what really happened before it considers a response.
Both sides in Syria's civil war blamed each other for the alleged attack that reportedly injured scores of people Friday amid an ongoing international effort to rid the country of chemical weapons.
The details of what happened in Kafr Zeita, an opposition-held village, remain murky. Online videos posted by rebel activists showed pale-faced men, women and kiddies gasping for breath at what appeared to be a field hospital. They suggested an affliction by some kind of poison -- and yet another clouded incident where both sides blame each other in a conflict that activists say has killed more than 150,000 people.
"We are trying to run this down," said Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, during an appearance Sunday on ABC's "This Week."
"So far it's unsubstantiated, but we've shown, I think, in the past that we will do everything in our power to establish what has happened and then consider possible steps in response," she said.
Opposition groups, including the main National Coalition, said the poison gas attack hurt dozens of people, thought it did not identify the gas used.
State-run Syrian television blamed members of the Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front rebel group for the attack, saying they used chlorine gas to kill two people and injure more than 100. It did not say how it confirmed chlorine was used.
The coalition urged the U.N. to conduct a "quick investigation into the developments related to the use of poisonous gas against civilians in Syria." The coalition also claimed that another chemical weapons attack Friday struck the Damascus suburb of Harasta, though state media did not report on it.
Chlorine, one of the most commonly manufactured chemicals in the U.S., is used to purify drinking water. But as a gas, it can be deadly, with the German army using it in warfare in World War I. The Geneva Protocol of 1925, which Syria signed, banned its use in battle.
The TV report also claimed the Nusra Front was preparing for another chemical attack against the Wadi Deif area in the northern province of Idlib, as well as another area in Hama. The government station did not explain how it knew the Nusra Front's plans.
The videos purporting to document what happened in Kafr Zeita were reminiscent -- albeit on a much smaller scale -- of an Aug. 21 chemical attack near the capital, Damascus, which killed hundreds of people.
The U.S. and its allies blamed the Syrian government for that attack, which crossed a "red line" that President Barack Obama If you like your coverage you can keep it... had said would bring harsh consequences. The attack nearly sparked Western Arclight airstrikes before a negotiated diplomatic settlement saw Assad's government agree to give up its chemical weapons. Damascus denied the charges and blamed rebels of staging the incident.
About half the weapons have been removed from Syria so far. The Syrian government has missed several deadlines, blaming the delays on security concerns.
The opposition also has claimed other, limited use of chemical weapons or poisonous gas attacks near Damascus in recent days.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Yuuuup - 'tis the right of a OWG Globalist "Co-Superpower(s)", along wid sending in its Navy on LR missions into the Atlantic + Pacific.
As I've said times before, its no longer the US-VS-CHINA in Asia-Pacific [World], but now US-VS-CHINA-VS-NUCLEAR-ISLAM, to include Radical Islam's Burqua/Hard Boyz.
Via FrontPagemag's better writers, Daniel Greenfield
By comparison, BorderlandBeat.com, to which Ranturg.com is loosely associated, draws 6,000 readers daily.
Cable channel Al Jazeera America, which launched less than a year ago, is slashing expenses and laying off staff as it struggles to gain a foothold in the US.
"They're not making their numbers or the revenue they thought," said a source. "They have a really convoluted background of people in from Qatar [headquarters]. They really don't get the US market."
Al Jazeera America is averaging just 15,000 total viewers, roughly half those who tuned in to its predecessor, Current TV, according to Nielsen figures.
The channel draws fewer than 6,000 viewers in the 25-to-54-year-old target audience for news.
Thanks to the deep pockets of the owners, Al Jazeera America spent freely in a bid to challenge its all-news TV competition.
It hired 800 journalists, including former ABC news-gathering chief Kate O'Brian, and blanketed the US with a dozen bureaus.
Posted by: Barbara ||
04/14/2014 16:13 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Al Jazeera has started to tank
With a news model that really stank
With viewers too few
For Jiihadi world view
As Gore laughed his way to the Bank
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/14/2014 19:18 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Hah! What was a strange little deja vu goes vertigo moment. "Heyyyyy, I didn't post those!"
Aha! The sincerecist flattery!
When limericists fire as a battery,
Will doggerel lovers
All take off their covers
Or head for the nearest hard-hattery?
#9
First read the headline as "Al Jazeera: America Circling the Bowl" and thought, "get a load of these froggy bastards." A fleeting moment of admiration, like.
#12
Zenobia---Like your limericks! You inspired the twisted muse in me. Heh.
A man was standing behind a dog seated at a desk in front of a typewriter. The man was reading the dog's typing with a frown. The dog looked up at the man and said, "Sure, it's doggerel. What did you expect?"
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/14/2014 20:33 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Nawaz Sharif
Pervez 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
