"*DO NOT MISS* - The Assets: Series Premiere on ABC on Thursday January 2. The Assets is an eight-part miniseries based on the real life events of CIA counter-intelligence officer Sandy Grimes (Jodie Whittaker). 1985 serves as the backdrop to the final showdown of the Cold War when Sandy and her partner Jeanne Vertefeuille (Harriet Walter) vowed to find the mole that would turn out to be the most notorious traitor in US History, Aldrich Ames (Paul Rhys). Sandy is in a race against time to save the Soviet intelligence officers from being caught and killed. Living her own double life at home, this beautiful wife and mother vowed to stop at nothing until she uncovered the truth. The Assets will look inside the true, personal stories of the conclusion of the Cold War as told by the keepers of the nation's secrets: the CIA.
The Assets stars Paul Rhys (Borgia) as Aldrich Ames, Jodie Whittaker (Venus) as Sandy Grimes, Harriet Walter (Babel) as Jeanne Vertefeuile, Stuart Milligan (Jonathan Creek) as Paul Redmond, Julian Ovenden (Downton Abbey) as Gary Grimes, Christina Cole (Casino Royale) as Louisa, and Ralph Brown
(Withnail and I) as Lawrence Winston. For those of us who follow this sort of nonsense.
[Ynet] Ynet correspondent Roi Kais speaks with citizens of Arab countries who share their views on key events in 2013's Arab world. On top of list -- Morsi's ouster, Syria crisis
2013 was extremely turbulent in the Arab world, as the Egyptian ruler was toppled, the war in Syria continued to claim lives, Leb increasingly faces terror, and Jordan has been struggling to harbor the flow of Syrian refugees..
Egypt
Hiba Hamdi Abu Sayef, 27, a resident of Giza, Egypt, said that for her, the most significant event of 2013 was "most obviously, the second revolution in Egypt. It's not only the most important event in the Arab world, but also the most important event in the whole world. And it is still ongoing."
According to Abu Sayef, "the use of chemical weapons in Syria is a war crime and I'm sorry to say but it's a known fact that war crimes are taken place every year, even by the Israelis on the Paleostinians, and every year human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... are violated.
"The nuclear deal with Iran was a deal everyone was expecting. It was obvious that eventually a deal would be reached. But the revolution in Egypt was surprising to everyone.
"No one -- no politician, state, or analyst would guess that another revolution would take place in Egypt during such a short period of time. Secondly, we're talking about a country that is considered the most powerful Arab nation."
Syria
A human rights activist who requested to remain anonymous told Ynet that for him, the most prominent event of 2013 was undoubtedly the Egyptian military coup and the ouster of the Moslem Brüderbund. He noted that the Egyptian revolution will change the face of Egypt.
The activist also mentioned "the international community's abandonment of the Syrian people," noting most specifically the US, which "was satisfied with Assad's dismantling of chemical weapon after he executed the most heinous crimes against his people, and despite all the promises made by Barack Obama My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it... , who said he would not allow that weapons be used against civilians, he did not keep any of his promises. That encouraged the criminal Bashir al-Assad to continue his nefarious war against the Syrian people."
A representative of the Syrian opposition added the Arab world's disregard of the plight of the Syrian people and the country's bloodshed.
Not only are they ignoring it, they also support the criminal Assad, rejecting the Syrian people and closing doors in their faces even though they are killed or are dying of cold or hunger."
Iraq
The most significant event of 2013 in the eyes of Salo Saler, 26, a Kurdish student in Erbil, Iraq, was the Syrian conflict. According to him, "Syria is torn between Russia, which doesn't want to lose its last ally in the Middle East, and the rest of the world. As a result, tens of thousands of Syrians are murdered and hundreds of thousands are displaced."
Saler noted that Morsi's ouster was not more important this year than the Syrian story. In general, citizens in the Mideast are not used to democracy. As far as I'm concerned, the massacre in Syria and the fact that Assad continues to stay strong is the biggest and most surprising thing."
Jordan
A political commentator who preferred to remain anonymous told Ynet that in his opinion, the most significant event of 2013 was the Egyptian military's coup against 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...
According to him, the coup sends Egypt back in time, as "the revolution was taken out of the hands of Egyptian revolutionaries."
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 the Soddy national face...
Hussein, a Saudi citizen, said that almost every Arab nation witnessed a significant event over the past year, but Morsi's ouster was the key event, because "Egypt is the biggest and most important Arab nation. What the Egyptian army did was good for the Middle East."
He also addressed the change in the Saudi nation's ties with the US, saying that in 2013, "the ties between the two nations have grown cold, especially due to Washington's stance in the issue of Iran's nuclear program and Obama's silence in regard to the Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons.
"In my humble opinion, (US President Barack) Obama is a disaster to the United States' allies in the region, most specifically Saudi and Israel.
North Korea[PJ Media] Every year there are a few events that fly under the radar of the media but have a seminal impact nonetheless. Five PJ Media columnists agreed to contribute their knowledge and expertise to tell us what they consider to be the most underreported foreign news stories of 2013.
Short essays from each at the link.
Andrew McCarthy: The most underreported foreign news story of 2013 is the pogrom against Christians in Islamic countries.
Claudia Rosett: The most underreported foreign story of 2013 is the decline of American power.
Michael Ledeen: Our "news hounds" just don't want to dig into the largely untold story of the ongoing, mostly secret, negotiations between the B.O. regime and the Iranian regime over the fate of several Americans held in Iran.
Richard Fernandez: One of the most underreported stories of 2013 is the one simmering in the background, known mostly to the public through the horror-comic figure of Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished... : . RAND's recent paper, "Preparing for the Possibility of a North Korean Collapse," should be required reading for those interested in the subject.
David Goldman(AKA "Spengler"): China's technological capacity is reaching critical mass. In a few years we will see the old China of smokestacks and cheap labor fade into the past and a new high-tech China emerge, ready to compete with the West.
What's interesting is the claim that there's been no net migration from Mexico to the U.S. since 2007 -- likely in part due to our economic problems, but also (if Mr. Barone is correct) that the reforms in Mexico are providing a little hope for the people there.
Barone fails to note that three important Mexican constitutional reforms have been sent to the states this year that, if approved, will provide for recall elections, re-election and term limits. Right now Mexican politicians at all levels can only serve one term regardless of office.
#1
Started off thinking how far this would go toward improving the immigration problem. Obvious stuff. Then it occurred to me just how hard the Left would be hit if the US had a free, open and prosperous Mexico to deal with. Imagine entrepreneurs moving across the border and starting the next Silicon Valley. Imagine Americans traveling south for the health care (just like Canadians have been doing for decades). Imagine cheap and easily obtainable Mexican firearms traveling north. The list goes on and on, and it occurs that the Left has just as great an interest in keeping Mexico down and is has in keeping blacks uneducated and poor..
#5
Can Pew explain why the Pima county border is closed to Americans? Seems the Coyotes smuggling the immigrants that are not migrating say something a bit different. Then, of course, there is the drug cartels enjoying the free trade north with drugs and the FBI weapons sales heading south... Ya its all good down here...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/01/2014 22:49 Comments ||
Top||
...In America Alone, Mark Steyn envisioned the United States as a beleaguered hope in a dying West. Seven years later, American politics are much less healthy than those of the rest of the free world. America does stand alone. It stands alone in embracing the rule of the left.
...The rule of the radical left in the United States is very much an outlier in the rest of the First World where conservative and center-right parties predominate. The conventional First World response to the economic crisis has been to cut spending and reform welfare, while in the United States has spent more money than ever before and expanded welfare.
Much of Europe now favors less federalism and less immigration. The United States has expanded its federal government dramatically and both Democratic and Republican leaders support amnesty for illegal aliens at a time when immigration is politically toxic everywhere else.
...While the rest of the First World moves on, America remains trapped in the defunct economic and political grip of the left. After dedicating enormous resources to taking over the Democratic Party and then the country, the left has turned the United States of America into its Soviet Union, a country out of time, its economy and society wracked by the discredited political and economic theories of the left.
#1
When voters thinks it's "cool" to elect a guy like Champ without regard to past or qualifications, that's what you get. When voters vote for goodies that may come their way rather than the good of the country, that's what you get. When you have a complicit press trumpeting Champ all along the way regardless of failures and illegalities, that's what you get. We have a chance to correct that in 2014 and again in 2016. Whether or not that happens is to be seen.
#4
The National Review has a cute little article about how New York City investigators were able to obtain fraudulent ballots 97% of the time. link. This quantifies the adventures Project Veritas had across the country during the last election, trying to do the same thing.
[Pak Daily Times] Inaugurating a new Foreign Ministry office building in Islamabad the other day, Prime Minister 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... warned of Pakistain's isolation in the international arena in the wake of the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... supply routes' continued blockade. The blockade by PTI has entered its eighth week, and the PM's reflection on it was a reminder of the US's threat to stop reimbursement of Coalition Support Funds unless the route is reopened. If Pakistain's cooperation dwindles, this is likely to affect the US's disbursements of other aid too. The impact of any such move will damage Pakistain's interests in more ways than one. It would not only be the US stopping aid to Pakistain, the entire aid programme, both bilateral and that of the international financial institutions may come to a grinding halt. A country with depleting foreign reserves and struggling to manage its economic slowdown because of the energy crisis and terrorism cannot afford such adventures with foreign policy. It is high time that the government intervenes and brings some sanity to the ground situation.
No province is constitutionally allowed to interfere in the foreign affairs of the country. The US drone schedule in Pakistain has remained unaffected by the PTI's blockade. The most this protest would do is to further isolate Pakistain and reinforce its image of a dubious and unreliable ally, allegations that still define Pakistain-US relations. Our adventurism with jihadi proxies to sustain a foothold in Afghanistan that complicated things for the US in restoring order there has been the reason for the US's intervention through drones in our country. Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight... should be protesting against Pakistain's Afghan and other foreign policies that feed on extremism and religious fundamentalism. Drones are eliminating those that we chose to nurture, the forces of Evil who are bombing our cities and killing innocent people. Pakistain's image as a hostile country is the last thing that the country wants laid on its fragile economic back.
Unless Imran Khan is gullible enough to think his present path can lead overnight to Pakistain becoming independent of foreign assistance, he should keep himself away from issues that could prove damaging for the country's interests. His argument that it is the US and not Pakistain that is being isolated because of drones is further proof of Imran's inability to understand international affairs vis-à-vis the world's sole superpower. It is about time the federal government takes charge and stops the PTI's insanity.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2014 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#3
I'm not sure. Much of what's in that article is valid, based on my experience. But methinks he might have "drunk a bit too deeply from the cup," as the saying goes.
#4
The article says they're evil, they support terrorists, and...
"The Saudis must have been thrilled theyd pinned it on the Persians. Theres only one country in the world that works harder than the Saudis at demonizing Iran, and thats Israel, Saudis public enemy and secret lover. Israel and Saudi; its like a costume drama, a bodice-ripper, only with a Kevlar bodice and some serious ripping: One wore a kippah, one a thobe; but the more they spoke of their hatred, the hotter burned their love!
I wouldn't say Iran had to do any buying. I'd say they had issues to begin with.
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.
[Ynet] Ynet correspondent Roi Kais speaks with citizens of Arab countries who share their views on key events in 2013's Arab world. On top of list -- Morsi's ouster, Syria crisis
North Korea
Nawaz Sharif
