If nothing else, we can take the opportunity to see what Anna looks like these days.
Russian intelligence officer, Aleksandr Poteyev, who was sentenced for treason in absentia by Russia after blowing the cover of a spy ring in the US, has reportedly died. Moscow, however, is not confirming the news or taking the defector of its wanted list.
"According to some information, Poteyev has died in the US. This data is currently being verified," an informed source told Interfax early Thursday.
Another source confirmed that the news of Poteev's death has reached Moscow, but stressed that "it could well be disinformation aimed at ensuring that the traitor would simply be forgotten."
In 2010, intelligence service colonel Aleksandr Poteyev blew the cover of a group of Russian sleeper agents working in the US.
Back then, ten people were detained by the American authorities, including red-headed femme-fatale Anna Chapman, who launched a successful television career after her involvement in the spy scandal.
The detained Russians were later exchanged for four US citizens accused of espionage by Moscow.
Poteyev and his family were able to flee to the US, with the defector later sentenced in absentia by a Russian court to 25 years behind bars for treason.
Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service stressed that "it's not commenting on reports" of the defector's possible demise.
However, Poteyev will not be removed from the international wanted list despite news of his death, Interfax said, citing an unnamed source.
"Without receiving the official documents confirming his death, he is listed as living and, accordingly, can't be removed from the international search," he said.
Russia's presidential spokesman Dmitry Preskov said that the Kremlin is not concerned by Poteyev's fate.
"It's not an issue for the President and not an issue for the Kremlin," Peskov told the journalists.
According to the spokesman, Moscow also sees no danger of an information campaign launched against it over the death of the defector.
"It's obvious that he's a traitor, but in this case we don't see [any threat]," Peskov said.
The former head of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) Nikolay Kovalev warned that speculation over Poteyev's death may explode.
"There may be conspiracy theories that its 'the long arm of the secret services' that is responsible.' It's now a trend to see Russia behind every event," Kovalev told RIA Novosti.
The ex-FSB head suggested waiting until an official confirmation of the reasons for Poteyev's death by the US side.
"I think an autopsy should certainly be performed and official cause of death announced," he said.
"But I'm still inclined to think that the death was caused by a constant stress; an aggravation of all diseases -- and as a result, the lethal outcome. This is the fate of all traitors," Kovalev stressed. Surely.
We were becoming very concerned they were getting close enough to a sitting U.S. cabinet member that we thought we could no longer allow this to continue," Figliuzzi said.
But Figliuzzi never named the Russian agent in question, even if the BBC ran images of Chapman -- as well as shots of a look-a-like -- during the interview, and now the FBI says he wasn't talking about her at all. Instead, Justice Department officials told ABC News Figliuzzi was referring to another of the arrested spies, Cynthia Murphy.
According to court documents relating to the spies' arrest, Murphy had been in contact with a fundraiser and "personal friend" of Hillary Clinton, who took the office of Secretary of State in January 2009. The fundraiser, Alan Patricof, said in a statement in 2010 he had retained Murphy's financial services firm more than two years before, had met with her a few times and spoke with her on the phone frequently. Patricof said they "never" spoke about politics, the government or world affairs.
Link is to Gateway Pundit - Following paras from Politico:
Chelsea Clinton also had an account on the homemade website domain that Hillary Clinton used exclusively for emails during her time as secretary of state, The New York Times reports. The domain name had a server linked to the family’s Chappaqua, New York, residence. But her real name is absent from the email address.
She used her clintonemail.com account under the cover name pseudonym "Diane Reynolds," which the Times reports she often used when checking into hotels.
Longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin also had a clintonemail.com account, according to the report, an apparent prized symbol of status within Clinton’s vast network of advisers, well-wishers, and hangers-on. According to Philippe Reines, another close Clinton aide and former State Department official, Abedin was the only department official other than the secretary to use a clintonemail.com account.
Clinton tweeted late Wednesday that she wants the public to see emails from the 55,000 pages she handed over to the State Department. Emphasis added. Politico Link
"Often used when checking into hotels." Sounds innocent enough, but how did she pay the hotel tab...'Diana Reynolds' AMEX or VISA? We'll need a second form of ID please. Oh yes, your New York 'Diana Reynolds' driver's license will be fine. Clandestine email systems - clandestine identification docs, credit cards, and bank accounts as well? Hospital visits? Perhaps we're moving into an entirely new arena of political criminality.
#1
Humma is a very weak link. If swillary is not elected in November, look for humma to go on a long term hajj...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/25/2016 7:21 Comments ||
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#2
I suspect promising 'Islamic moderates' and political policy shapers like Humma, ValJar, and Muhammed Fethullah Gülen are all on the same payroll and John Brennan signs the checks, figuratively speaking of course.
Libyan rogue general Khalifa Haftar was likely part of the team as well. Unfortunately, like so many others, he suffered from a control problem and had to be dismissed.
#4
Hillary used used the pseudonym of Dianne Reynolds for her daughter Chelsea when contacting her?
Doesn't every parent do this sort of thing (sarc)? Yoga and wedding planning? Steve Martin had a dog in the "Jerk" named Shithead. Hey, that's not so unusual.
#7
I wonder about other nyms the WH has used, as Lois Lerner used 'Richard Windsor' and the others "all do it". And since some may have missed the Soros leaks, more trails may emerge. I wonder what Soros pseudonym is?
[CHANNELNEWSASIA] A powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar on Wednesday (Aug 24), killing at least three people and damaging nearly 200 pagodas in the famous ancient capital of Bagan, officials said.
The quake, which the US Geological Survey said hit at a depth of 84 kilometres, was also felt across neighbouring Thailand, India and Bangladesh, sending panicked residents rushing onto the streets.
Two girls, aged 7 and 15, were killed in Magway region where the quake struck, according to Myanmar's Ministry of Information.
A collapsed building in a nearby town also killed a 22-year-old man and injured one woman, local police told AFP.
Heavy damage was also reported in Bagan - Myanmar's most famous archaeological site and a major tourist destination 30 kilometres north of the quake's epicentre.
Some 171 of the city's more than 2,500 Buddhist monuments were damaged by the tremors, according to a statement posted by the Ministry of Religious and Cultural Affairs on Facebook.
"Some were seriously damaged," Aung Kyaw, the local director of Bagan's culture department, told AFP.
Photos showed clouds of dust billowing around some of the site's larger temples, with bricks crumbling down their tiered facades.
A police officer from Bagan said a Spanish holidaymaker was slightly hurt when the quake knocked her from the temple where she was watching the sunset.
Scaling Bagan's ancient structures to watch the sun set over the vast plain of pagodas is a daily ritual among tourists and local pilgrims.
One hotel that collapsed in the small town of Amatrice probably had about 70 guests, and only seven bodies had so far been recovered, said the mayor of the town that was one of the worst hit by the quake.
The strong 6.2 magnitude quake razed homes and buckled roads in a cluster of mountain communities 140 km (85 miles) east of Rome. It was powerful enough to be felt in Bologna to the north and Naples to the south, each more than 220 km (135 miles) from the epicenter.
"Tonight will be our first nightmare night," said Alessandro Gabrielli, one of hundreds preparing to sleep in tents erected by rescue workers in fields and parking lots, each one housing 12 people whose homes had been destroyed.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[11131 views]
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A stoning ritual which led to the deaths of about 2,300 people during last year’s hajj will be more tightly controlled during next month’s pilgrimage, Saudi newspapers reported on Wednesday. The period during which pilgrims can perform the Jamarat ritual will be reduced by 12 hours, the Saudi Gazette reported.
The symbolic stoning of the devil will be performed as usual over three days beginning September 11 at Mina, about five kilometres (three miles) east of Mecca’s Grand Mosque, Islam’s holiest site.
But this year there will be no stoning allowed from 6:00 to 10:30 am on the first day, from 2:00 to 6:00 pm on the second day and from 10:30 am to 2:00 pm on the final day, the hajj ministry said.
"This procedure will enable the pilgrims to throw stones easily and will prevent any stampede that may result from overcrowding," the Saudi Gazette quoted ministry undersecretary Hussain al-Sharif as saying.
He did not elaborate on how the new time restrictions would reduce the potential for overcrowding. The stampede was the worst disaster in hajj history.
It occurred outside the five-storey Jamarat Bridge, a structure resembling a huge parking garage which hosts the stoning ritual and cost more than $1 billion to build.
It is almost one kilometre (more than half a mile) long and allows 300,000 pilgrims an hour to carry out the ritual.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[11129 views]
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#1
"Get your Jamarat FastPass™ here!. Get alerts for your scheduled stone-throwing time!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/25/2016 9:22 Comments ||
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#2
Same number or more people, less time. And they think it's going to reduce the rush-and-crush?
Only upside is all the dead are devoted Muslims...
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
08/25/2016 9:36 Comments ||
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The Telegraph engages in an egregious case of special pleading. The Independent reported a few years ago that in the period leading up to the war (1978-1981) the UK sold over £126million of weaponry to the Argentine junta, weapons used against their own forces, and cancelled some orders only after the war had begun in 1982. Unmentioned in the Telegraph report is the value of the Israeli weapons sold to Argentina, but given that a few years earlier the four leading arms manufacturing countries (USA, USSR, Britain, and France) together had 90% of the sales to the Third World, one suspects the harm done to Britain's finest by Israeli weapons was considerably less than the harm done by British weapons given into Argentine hands. The point made by Israel at the time, and heaped with scorn by the Telegraph journalist, that the UK had similarly sold weapons to Israel's enemies, is easily verified by those unprejudiced enough to spend a few minutes exploring the internet.
#1
The point made by Israel at the time, and heaped with scorn by the Telegraph journalist, that the UK had similarly sold weapons to Israel's enemies,
Presumably not during the course of armed conflict. Maybe Israel will send shipments to China during a Sino-US clash on the basis of the same rationale.
#3
Could be all three (hypocrisy, wanking, or what) but probably journalistic "wanking." (O.K., O.K., I just happen to like to say that word--it's one of those British words that says mothing and yet everything) There's a lot of journalistic wanking (another opportunity). going on right now.
#8
We give money to Iran and they repay us by funding Hezbollah and Hamas, both terrorists groups. We buy oil from the Saudis and they repay us by sending terrorists to take down the Twin Towers and crash planes into other buildings. I'm not saying it's right but lets say there are times we are myopic.
Maybe that's what's got their panties in a bunch these days.
Pyongyang has presumably lost a military submarine, US intelligence sources say. The incident comes as a joint South Korea-US military exercise is underway in the region. Uh oh. Pudgy's going to be pi$$ed. That crew better stay dead.
The Pentagon has been watching the North Korean search for the vessel ever since it went missing, through satellites, aircraft and vessels, three US military officials said, as cited by CNN. Did they send out the other sub?
The sources could not determine whether the submarine has sunk or was adrift, however they believe it had "suffered some type of failure during an exercise." Assuming he could fit down the hatch, maybe Pudgy was onboard to direct the effort himself and it sank under his weight.
"About a week ago it went missing and the speculation is that it sank," an unnamed US official told USNI News. "The North Koreans have not made an attempt to indicate there is something wrong or that they require help or some type of assistance," he added. Just ignore them for now. They're known for that kind of thing. If they want help, they'll let you know by trying to extort it.
The South Korean Defence Ministry is currently investigating the matter, AFP reports, citing ministry officials. The Pentagon declined to comment on the matter, the agency says. Maybe the door weatherstripping on the rusty hatch wasn't a good idea after all?
Tensions in the region are growing as the US and South Korea hold joint military drills involving over 15,000 Korean and 300,000 American troops. The exercise reportedly includes mastering ways to repel a possible North Korean nuclear threat. North Korea has already threatened to conduct a "pre-emptive nuclear strike of justice" unless the two countries stop the exercise. People who live in one-bomb countries shouldn't be threatening superpowers with nuclear annihilation, I always say.
Moreover, Pyongyang launched two short-range missiles on Thursday into the Sea of Japan in order to disrupt the drill.
"We're already seeing North Korea starting to issue threats: If the US doesn't stop these exercises or doesn't cancel these exercises, North Korea may take appropriate action," said Bruce Klingner, a Korea expert at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation think tank, as quoted by the Marine Times. Any relation to Max Klinger?
#1
When I posted this a few minutes ago, that image of His Corpulence seemed smaller. Is he growing that fast? Maybe you ought to put a width limit on it. The height limit seems to be fine.
#5
People who live in one-bomb countries shouldn't be threatening superpowers with nuclear annihilation, I always say.
Unfortunately the superpower has given friend and foe good reason to believe that it is a paper tiger with still significant capabilities but zero intent.
[PJMEDIA] Depending on how you view it North Korea is either a nuisance or a growing threat to world peace. Today North Korea fired a submarine launched ballistic missile from a port off its east coast to a point more than halfway to Tokyo. "The missile was fired at around 5:30am (local time) from near the coastal city of Sinpo, where satellite imagery shows a submarine base to be located, and flew about 500 kilometres before splashing into the Sea of Japan, US and South Korean officials said. The projectile landed in Japan's air defence identification zone (ADIZ), an area of control designated by countries to help maintain air security, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported."
North Korea's "SLBM (submarine-launched ballistic missile) technology appears to have progressed," a South Korean military official said." The North Korean missile is based on the Soviet Russian R-27. It's primary targets are clearly Japan and South Korea. Wikipedia writes "the KN-11 is the first sign of a North Korean sea-based nuclear deterrent, which complicates the U.S. and South Korean ability to preemptively destroy the country's nuclear capabilities by threatening a second strike. While there is a chance to take out land-based nuclear sites, ballistic missile submarines ensure that a retaliatory strike could still be launched before it can be found and neutralized."
I have a mission for the US attack submarine fleet, assuming we still have any...
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[11125 views]
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#1
I'll bet there was a U.S. SSN in the first convergence zone.
[FOXNEWS] The massive coal-fired plant in Boardman, Ore., is just four years away from being shut down for good ‐ at that point, Oregon coal production will be no more, after the state became the first in the nation to completely ban coal power.
The mandate, signed into law earlier this year, was the result of an environmentalist-fueled push by the Democrat-controlled legislature. Under the plan, coal production will end once the Boardman plant shutters in 2020 ‐ utilities would still be able to buy coal power from out of state for another 10 years, until a 2030 deadline to end coal use entirely.
But the phase-out already has groups warning that residents are headed for big rate increases and brownouts.
"This is basically a wind mandate," said the Cascade Policy Institute's John Charles, while suggesting alternative energy sources won’t be able to meet the state’s needs. "There's no way wind can physically power the grid because days, weeks on end, wind produces zero."
Coal has been in decline for years. In 2005, coal made up 51 percent of the electricity used in the U.S. Last year, it met 40 percent of the need.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2016 00:00 ||
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[11128 views]
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#1
There was a pro-nuke bumper sticker back in the day - "Let the B*stards Freeze in the Dark." Now they are doing it to themselves. That's progress, doncha know...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/25/2016 7:16 Comments ||
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#2
When I was a youth nearly all schools, businesses, and many homes were heated with coal. Coal powered steam locomotives and nearly all power plants. Somehow we survived. Nobody thought much about the smoke.
I don't think it's about coal or dirty fossil fuel. The investment appears to be moving elsewhere and the power of the gov't is solidly behind the move.
A death panel by any other name would kill just as well.
A 76-year-old veteran committed suicide on Sunday in the parking lot of the Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center on Long Island, where he had been a patient, according to the Suffolk County Police Department.
Peter A. Kaisen, of Islip, was pronounced dead after he shot himself outside Building 92, the nursing home at the medical center.
The hospital is part of the Veterans Affairs medical system, the nation’s largest integrated health care organization, which has been under scrutiny since 2014, when the department confirmed that numerous patients had died awaiting treatment at a V.A. hospital in Phoenix. Officials there had tried to cover up long waiting times for 1,700 veterans seeking medical care. A study released by the Government Accountability Office in April indicated that the system had yet to fix its scheduling problems.
Why Mr. Kaisen decided to end his life was not immediately known, but two people connected to the hospital who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss his death said that he had been frustrated that he was unable to see an emergency-room physician for reasons related to his mental health. "He went to the E.R. and was denied service," one of the people, who currently works at the hospital, said. "And then he went to his car and shot himself."
The worker questioned why Mr. Kaisen had not been referred to the hospital’s Building 64, its mental health center. The staff member said that while there was normally no psychologist at the ready in the E.R., one was always on call, and that the mental health building was open "24/7."
"Someone dropped the ball," the worker said. "They should not have turned him away."
Christopher Goodman, a spokesman for the hospital, said that there "was no indication that he presented to the E.R. prior to the incident." It is unclear if any official record was made of a visit by Mr. Kaisen.
Mr. Goodman said "the employees here at Northport feel this loss deeply and extend their thoughts and prayers to all those impacted by this tragedy."
Mr. Kaisen’s family declined to comment.
Lt. Kevin Beyrer, a Suffolk County detective, said that the F.B.I. was carrying out the investigation into Mr. Kaisen’s death because it had occurred on federal property. He said that the V.A. police had called the county police on Sunday at 12:32 p.m. and that it appeared that Mr. Kaisen had been alone at the time of his death.
The Northport hospital has been under scrutiny for mismanagement and poor care since The New York Times reported in May that it had closed all five of its operating rooms for months after sand-size black particles began falling from air ducts. The office of Representative Lee Zeldin, a Republican whose First Congressional District includes Northport, had been looking into the allegations, Eric Amidon, Mr. Zeldin’s chief of staff, said in an email to The Times in June.
Jennifer DiSiena, Mr. Zeldin’s communications director, said on Wednesday that his office was trying to confirm the details of Mr. Kaisen’s death and "piece everything together."
[ArsTechnica]. “Under internal review,” NSA CTO works part-time for agency’s former chief.
It's the second possible conflict of interest involving former NSA head Keith Alexander.
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.
North Korea
