Greetings. As president of United States -- or, if you prefer, the Great Satan -- I have have been following with keen interest the vigorous post-election debate and vibrant political dialogue which has been taking place in your great and noble Islamic Republic of Iran over recent days. It has been both educational and fascinating, and as a sports fan I have thrilled to the pageantry, the suspense, and the fast-paced, hard-hitting action. I have to say It's been as exciting as a double overtime game seven NBA final between the Lakers and Celtics! Like millions of others around the world, I can't wait for the exciting conclusion of your distracting nail-biter so I can finally focus on my big health care project at the office. (Now that's what I call a real crisis!) But no matter who prevails in your hard-fought contest, you can rest assured that I will be out there in the stands watching, and ready to congratulate the team who brings home Tehran's coveted Golden Centrifuge Cup.
Now, I know that our two nations have had our differences in the past, and so it would be totally understandable if some of you were possibly upset my previous statements expressing "troubled concern" and "measured consternation" over your current situation. Please, do not interpret those statements as somehow taking one side or the other. I was not trying to be provocative or inflammatory, and far be it from me to interfere or play favorites. As we say over here in the Great Satan, "I don't have a dog in this fight," and so I was merely "calling 'em like I see 'em." Frankly, if America is going to regain respect as a geopolitical superpower, we need to make the tough call to sit quietly on the sidelines. That's why I have instructed my diplomatic team remain strictly neutral and to "let 'em play." With time and patience, I hope you will come to think of us as a bigger, flatter version of Switzerland. With less yodeling.
To clarify, my only real concern is over sportsmanship. In democracies like ours elections can sometimes be difficult and messy. "Politics ain't beanbag," as we also say over here. As I learned on the basketball courts and ward precincts of Chicago, the birthplace of modern Democracy, a hard fought game sometimes involves a little trash talk, an occasional sharp elbow, or a mysteriously malfunctioning scoreboard. But this doesn't mean we always have to resort to flagrant fouls, or angrily shooting our opponent in the parking lot, just because he showboated after a layup. Let's all remember the lesson of Ron Artest -- charging into the stands and savagely beating a heckler might feel good at first, but in the end it just might mean losing that big shoe contract with Nike.
And so I encourage both sides in this exciting contest to "keep it cool," and "play within yourself." Whether you are a "shirt" or a "skin," let's all respect the game. Are you a member of the Revolutionary Guards who just laid out a student demonstrator with a vicious, bone-jarring hit? Instead of taunting him, offer your hand to help him back to his feet. This will be a polite sign of mutual competitive respect before your next vicious, bone-jarring hit. Are you the student demonstrator? After collecting your teeth, congratulate the Guard on his his awesome hit. This will let the Guard know that you are a good sport, and committed to continue your dialogue without preconditions. At the end of the day, we need to leave our differences on the court and start focusing on the dangerous enemy who threatens all of us: Dick Cheney.
Let's also remember a good sport is gracious in victory and defeat. If you find yourself way ahead, don't run up the body count just to impress the UN poll voters. Act like you've been there before! If you're on the losing side, don't try to prolong the inevitable with ticky-tack fouls and time-outs and Hail-Allah trick protest formations. You gave it your best shot, but the fat lady is beginning to sing. So let's cue up Queen on the stadium PA, pass out the commemorative t-shirts, and get ready to douse the winning mullahs with Gatorade. After the victory parades, I'd love to host the winners at the White House for some sort of ceremonial diplomatic photo-op.
In the final tally, the only thing that matters in the diplomatic arena is sportsmanship. As we say here, "it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game." I am certain that the best team will prevail, because as we also say, "winners never cheat and cheaters never win." And in the words of Raiders legend Al Davis, "just win, baby." The most important thing is that you get this distracting sudden death shootout over with, because it's really screwing with my legislative agenda. Not to mention my sleep schedule.
Until then, I would like to offer my sincere congratulations to the eventual winners, and best wishes in your upcoming playoff series with the Tel Aviv Fightin' Zionists. I've already programmed it on my TiVo!
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/18/2009
19:24 ||
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Last August, when Barack Obama introduced Joe Biden as his choice for vice president, he praised the Delaware senator's strength in foreign policy and defense issues -- areas widely thought to be weaknesses in Obama's resume.
"Joe Biden is what so many others pretend to be -- a statesman with sound judgment who doesn't have to hide behind bluster to keep America strong," Obama said at the time.
But five months into his vice presidency, Biden appears to have been pushed into the background, focusing on overseeing the implementation of Obama's $787 billion stimulus package, the creation of jobs and other domestic matters as the president and former rival Hillary Clinton -- and even former Sen. George Mitchell -- deal with the growing crises in Iran and North Korea, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and rewriting the way America deals with a hostile Muslim world.
By comparison, Biden's predecessor, Dick Cheney, was after five months already being called the most influential vice president ever. Even though Cheney didn't face any immediate crises at the outset of the Bush administration, he arguably became a co-planner in the U.S. war on terror after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Five months into the job, as different as Obama is from Bush, there appears to be an even more dramatic difference between Biden and Cheney.
"Joe Biden is Mr. Outside and Dick Cheney was Mr. Inside," said Lee Edwards, a presidential historian at the Heritage Foundation, who described Biden as very visual and vocal while Cheney worked behind the scenes.
"I would say we don't really know how much influence Biden really has, whereas early on we knew Cheney wielded significant power," Edwards said.
Even now -- in "retirement" -- Cheney appears to be grabbing more headlines than Biden as he has repeatedly criticized Obama's national security policies, arguing that they are making the United States less safe.
Biden fired back in April, asserting that Cheney was "dead wrong" and that the exact opposite is true. He added that Cheney had been part of a dysfunctional decision-making system in the Bush administration.
"Look, everybody talks about how powerful Cheney was," Biden said. "His power weakened America, in my view. Here's what I mean by that. What I mean by that was, there was a divided government."
He added that Cheney had his own sort of national security council, in addition to the actual National Security Council, and that Cheney would side with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in disputes with Secretary of State Colin Powell.
But since then, Biden has slipped back into the background, delivering a few commencement speeches, officiating at a groundbreaking ceremony for the start of his "Road to Recovery" tour, and apparently not being part of the inner circle on foreign policy -- the field of expertise that was the basis for his selection.
Instead Biden has promoted his role in Obama's administration as that of a catalyst to better decision-making.
"The strength of this administration is that the president and I work in concert," he said. "I am very straightforward in my views. I am as strong ... I hold them as strongly as I ever have."
Biden declared early this year that he intended to "restore the balance" of power between the presidency and vice presidency, something he claims Cheney upended.
Instead Biden has been attending economic meetings and taking light-fare overseas trips, including to Germany and Latin America.
Biden also heads the Task Force on Middle Class Working Families. But he's drawn far more attention for his political blunders, including a hotly disputed claim that he privately rebuked Bush when he was president.
In contrast, five months into Cheney's vice presidency, after running Bush's transition team, he was operating out of four offices -- two on Capitol Hill by virtue of his role as president of the Senate.
Cheney also was the point man in two of Bush's biggest pre-9/11 priorities: energy and missile defense. He also was a potential tie-breaking vote in a closely divided Senate.
Shirley Ann Warshaw, a presidential historian at Gettysburg College and author of the new book, "The Co-Presidency of Bush and Cheney," said Biden has been used as vehicle to deliver the Obama administration's message, while Cheney crafted the Bush administration's.
"Delivering the message and crafting the message are very different things," Warshaw told FOXNews.com, noting that Biden was largely excluded from Obama's transition while Cheney hired virtually everyone.
"There will never be another vice president to match Dick Cheney," she said.
Warshaw said Biden doesn't hold as much sway as Cheney did because Obama has a strong team of inside players, led by White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and senior policy adviser David Axelrod.
"President Bush did not have a political insider as a sounding board to the equivalent of Rahm Emanuel," she said.
And when it comes to foreign policy, considered Biden's greatest strengths, Warshaw said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "is wary to give him too much leeway."
Another factor, Edwards told FOXNews.com, is that "Biden was and is a creature of Congress, while Cheney is a more skilled practitioner in the executive branch."
"I think Biden, by reason of being a senator, is a loner, even within in the party," he said. "I don't know if he represents a significant part of his party. Cheney still represents a significant part of his party."
Edwards said history will view Biden "as a rather typical vice president, somebody who was chosen because it was felt he would bring some balance and some strength to the campaign and help the presidential candidate win. And that's the case with more vice presidents than not."
But Edwards added that each man was perhaps the best fit for each president.
"I think that Cheney was what Bush needed because he had the experience and the knowledge and could get things done," he said. "I think Obama came to the presidency with the agenda already set. He knew what he wanted to do. In that sense, he hasn't need a strong guy as Bush did."
#1
my $0.02:
W had the humility and the self-confidence to allow for a Dick Cheney as VP, and give him exceptional power. The left saw that as a weakness on W's part, when it was really a strength based in his grounded sense of self. Cheney also didn't usurp W's power.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/18/2009 18:42
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And while the king was looking down,
the jester stole his thorny crown...
#3
Biden was picked as VP because he is old school DONK. Zero used him to get the rest of the DNC to buy in to his fraud. Now he is pushed to the side, like the pawn he is. Welcome to Detroit politics Biden and the DNC you amatures....
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/18/2009 22:09
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#3
Be sure to include a good supply of paint in the cargo. After you off one attempt, I'm sure the former threat will have radio the mother ship of the intended target. Just slap another coat of paint and troll for the next miscreant. Good hunting.
#4
I'd think that to be more effective a transformers type of system that would help to change the silouette, and some of that paint which changes colors depending on the viewing angle.
On June 2, as Congress debated global warming legislation that would raise energy costs to consumers by hundreds of billions of dollars, the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) released an 880-page book challenging the scientific basis of concerns that global warming is either man-made or would have harmful effects.
In Climate Change Reconsidered: The 2009 Report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), coauthors Dr. S. Fred Singer and Dr. Craig Idso and 35 contributors and reviewers present an authoritative and detailed rebuttal of the findings of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), on which the Obama Administration and Democrats in Congress rely for their regulatory proposals.
The scholarship in this book demonstrates overwhelming scientific support for the position that the warming of the twentieth century was moderate and not unprecedented, that its impact on human health and wildlife was positive, and that carbon dioxide probably is not the driving factor behind climate change.
The authors cite thousands of peer-reviewed research papers and books that were ignored by the IPCC, plus additional scientific research that became available after the IPCCs self-imposed deadline of May 2006.
The Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) is an international panel of nongovernment scientists and scholars who have come together to understand the causes and consequences of climate change. Because it is not a government agency, and because its members are not predisposed to believe climate change is caused by human greenhouse gas emissions, NIPCC is able to offer an independent second opinion of the evidence reviewed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). NIPCC traces its roots to a meeting in Milan in 2003 organized by the Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP), a nonprofit research and education organization based in Arlington, Virginia. SEPP, in turn, was founded in 1990 by Dr. S. Fred Singer, an atmospheric physicist, and incorporated in 1992 following Dr. Singers retirement from the University of Virginia.
#1
The scholarship in this book demonstrates overwhelming scientific support...
My god, Galileo, don't you understand, the serfs aren't ready for real science. We must have a couple yearsdecades centuries to prepare them for the truth. /sarc off
#2
Along the lines, was out golfing last night. Weather report said no rain till maybe this weekend, yet any local knew that the afternoon heat would fire up storms. Only the hard core delusional showed up and got 1 hole in before skampering to safety from the lightning.
Now, I know there is a difference between micro and macro forecasting, but I was part of the few who said damn the obvious I'm sticking to the forecast model and hoping for golf. Wow was I wrong.
A dreaded dacoit, who had held a strong posse of 400 Uttar Pradesh policemen on tenterhooks for over 52 hours, was today shot dead here but not before police lost four of its men.
Ghanshyam Kewat, carrying a reward of Rs 50,000 on his head and had been a terror in the area dotted by forests on the Uttar Pradesh-Madhya Pradesh border, had fled from a house in Jamuali village from where he was firing indiscriminately at the police, but was surrounded by the force and gunned down.
There were reports earlier that the dacoit had managed to give cops the slip.
On Wednesday three policemen were killed and six others injured in a fierce encounter with the dacoit and his gang.
"The encounter which started yesterday morning at Jamauli village is still on till late this evening," Director General of Police Vikram Singh had said on Wednesday, adding that additional forces had been sent to the spot, around 120 km from Allahabad.
"Company commander PAC Beni Madhav Singh and constables Shamim and Iqbal were killed in the encounter while IG, PAC VK Gupta, DIG Chitrakoot SK Singh and four others -- Navendra Singh and Akram of STF, Dileep Kumar Tiwari and Rajendra Singh -- were injured," the officer said on Wednesday.
Both Gupta and Singh received bullet injuries on their lower abdomen and were admitted to SGPGI after being air lifted to Lucknow.
When asked why the police was taking so much time in winding up the operation, Singh said: "Such encounters cannot be tailor made. We have all type of weapons that can be used in such situations. But we are conducting the operation in such a way that no harm could be made to villagers, their property and livestock."
"They are using .303 rifles, double and single barrel of .312 bore and hand grenades," Singh had said.
When asked about the gang, the DGP said it was "residual gang" of dacoit Baccha Kewat, who was killed earlier by the police. He said that teams of Special Task Force (STF), Special Operation Group (SOG), PAC and force and officers of nearby districts like Allahabad, Banda and Kaushambi have surrounded the area.
Posted by: john frum ||
06/18/2009
14:52 ||
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The United States has stepped up pressure on Israel regarding the Gaza Strip: Three weeks ago it sent Jerusalem a diplomatic note officially protesting Gaza policy and demanding a more liberal opening of the border crossings to facilitate reconstruction.
U.S. and Israeli sources say the note was followed by a verbal communication clarifying that the Obama administration thinks Israel's linkage of the case of abducted soldier Gilad Shalit and the opening of the crossings was not constructive.
#1
since the Gazan representative government (i.e.: Hamas) is involved in the continued holding of his remains, linking for purposes of collective punishment is totally appropriate
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/18/2009 15:24
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Maybe if Obama and friends (Carter, Clinton, etc) are nice enough to hamas and the arabs and the iranians, that will stop the price of gasoline from continuing to rocket upwards. Oh wait - I forgot - they Like seeing it rocket upwards - it benefits their good friends AND fights global warming at the same time.
One of those news stories that you don't know whether to file under "the economy," "lurid crime tales," or "seedy politicians," or all of the above. Shopping Becomes a Challenge as Auto-Industry Collapse Adds to City's Woes
DETROIT — They call this the Motor City, but you have to leave town to buy a Chrysler or a Jeep.
Borders Inc. was founded 40 miles away, but the only one of the chain's bookstores here closed this month. And Starbucks Corp., famous for saturating U.S. cities with its storefronts, has only four left in this city of 900,000 after closures last summer.
There was a time early in the decade when downtown Detroit was sprouting new cafes and shops, and residents began to nurture hopes of a rebound. But lately, they are finding it increasingly tough to buy groceries or get a cup of fresh-roast coffee as the 11th largest U.S. city struggles with the recession and the auto-industry crisis.
No national grocery chain operates a store here. A lack of outlets that sell fresh produce and meat has led the United Food and Commercial Workers union and a community group to think about building a grocery store of its own.
One of the few remaining bookstores is the massive used-book outlet John K. King has operated out of an abandoned glove factory since 1983. But Mr. King is considering moving his operations to the suburbs.
Last week, Lochmoor Chrysler Jeep on Detroit's East Side stopped selling Chrysler products, one of the 789 franchises Chrysler Group LLC is dropping from its retail network. It was Detroit's last Chrysler Jeep store.
"The lack of retail is one of the biggest challenges the city faces," said James Bieri, president of Bieri Co., a Detroit-based real-estate brokerage. "Trying to understand how to get it to come back will be one of the most important keys to its resurgence — if it ever has one."
Detroit's woes are largely rooted in the collapse of the auto industry. General Motors Corp., one of downtown's largest employers and the last of the Big Three auto makers with its headquarters here, has drastically cut white-collar workers and been offered incentives to move to the suburbs. Other local businesses that serviced the auto maker, from ad agencies and accounting firms to newsstands and shoe-shine outlets, also have been hurt.
The city's 22.8% unemployment rate is among the highest in the U.S.; 30% of residents are on food stamps.
"As the city loses so much, the tax base shrinks and the city has to cut back services," said Margaret Dewar, a professor of urban planning at the University of Michigan. That causes such hassles for retailers as longer police-response times, as well as less-frequent snow plowing and trash pickup.
While all of southeast Michigan is hurting because of the auto-industry's troubles, Detroit's problems are compounded by decades of flight to the suburbs. Hundreds of buildings were left vacant by the nearly one million residents who have left. Thousands of businesses have closed since the city's population peaked six decades ago.
Navigating zoning rules and other red tape to develop land for big-box stores that might cater to a low-income clientele is daunting.
The lack of grocery stores is especially problematic. The last two mainstream chain groceries closed in 2007, when The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. sold most of the southeast Michigan stores in its Farmer Jack chain to Kroger Corp., which declined to purchase the chain's two Detroit locations, causing them to close.
A 2007 study found that more than half of Detroit residents had to travel twice as far to reach a grocery store than a fast-food outlet or convenience store.
Michelle Robinson, 42 years old, does most of her shopping at big-box stores in the suburbs. When visitors staying at the hotel near her downtown office ask where to shop, she sends them to a mall in Dearborn, 12 miles away.
A few retailers are thriving. Family Dollar Stores Inc. has opened 25 outlets since 2003. A handful of independent coffee shops and a newly opened Tim Horton's franchise cater to workers downtown.
Discount grocer Aldi Inc. opened stores in the city in 2001 and 2005. A spokeswoman said the chain is "very bullish" on Detroit. Farmer's markets draw crowds looking for fresh produce.
Olga Stella, an official at the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, works to persuade businesses to move to the city. She says companies have underestimated Detroit's economic potential and that Aldi and Family Dollar are proof there's money to be made here.
Meanwhile, the former Lochmoor Chrysler Jeep is now Lochmoor Automotive Group, a used-car dealership and repair shop. Gina Russo, daughter of the dealer's longtime owner, is being groomed to take over the family business. She has agreed to start selling small pickup trucks made by India's Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.
#1
What's that old story about somebody in Detroit wanted to apply for a building permit for a house and noone in city hall had a clue how to issue one.
#2
perhaps a Youtube Vid of the typical Detroit (Democratic-run) City Council mtg would provide a good explanation. Might I suggest the one where John Conyer's lovely wife calls the Mayor "Shrek"?
Your town is f*cked because your industry was run into the ground and the income-producers fled your welfare-city taxation and ethnic Beirut
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/18/2009 21:11
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Detroiters continue to vote in the same scum for the past 35 yrs - it's insanity writ large. The place is a pig sty. I'll never move back.
The floor was covered with black ash and steam was coming out of it. Students were forced to lie on the ground and roll across it. If they hit someone elses feet, they'd get hit with baton. The guards kept asking, "are you going to make revolution?"
Later, they were continuously told to look down and then up. After a few minutes of staring at the ground, they would receive a kick to the face. "why aren't you looking at the ground?" they'd then say.
One student was injured in the eye earlier. He said his eyes were hurting badly, said losing eyesight. He then received a kick to his face. Another student with a broken leg, and in the corner, they didn't treat well.
Almost no water offered. Students were lined up in 5s one behind another, and a little water was poured over them quickly. One of the head officers asked jokingly if their thirsts were quenched. The officers responded saying yes. The head officer then asked "then why is one in corner dying?" Soldiers took a hose and shot boiling water at all of them.
Another ugly and dirty torture was sexual torture. They are so embarrassed that they don't want to say what happened. Once transferred to police station, the sexual torture continued.
The students were taken later to security police. They were taken to a press conference with Chancellor Dr Rahbar and a member of Majlis. The students were given shirts to cover up their blood, and the government media showed up to report. The Chancellor said the students of Tehran University were fine, but that they would still look into the allegations that the Basij had treated students poorly.
How is it possible in a country claiming to be islamic that such crimes to humanity could happen? Who is responsible for these actions? Why is the interior ministry that is supposed to protect the people a place of torture?
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
06/18/2009
12:56 ||
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#1
At least they weren't waterboarded.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/18/2009 15:39
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#2
Students were forced to lie on the ground and roll across it. . . The guards kept asking, "are you going to make revolution?"
Its there, clear as day..pad puns and double entendres are an obvious violations of human rights!
A war of words erupted in Pakistan's tribal belt today as pro-government tribal commanders fired verbal salvoes against the embattled Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud while the army pressed ahead with its plans to invade his South Waziristan lair.
Qari Zainuddin, a fellow Mehsud tribesmen who has risen from obscurity in recent months, accused the warlord of being an Indian and Israeli agent. "He is working against Islam," he told Geo television. Another commander, Turkistan Bhittani, launched a more fanciful slur that Baitullah, who has a $5m US government bounty on his head, is in the secret employ of Washington.
The comments underscored the tangled web of jihadi politics and personalities facing Pakistan's army as it prepares for a battle that could determine the future of Pakistan. They came as missiles fired from what is thought to have been a US drone were reported to have killed nine militants in South Waziristan.
Mehsud, the leader of Pakistan's largest Taliban grouping, has become the country's top hate figure for launching suicide attacks and allegedly orchestrating the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007. His mountainous stronghold is also home to hundreds of al-Qaida fighters, possibly including Osama bin Laden, although most experts believe he is hiding further north in the tribal belt.
Fresh from its success in Swat, where the Taliban have been driven from the main towns, the Pakistani army hopes to isolate Mehsud in South Waziristan through a combination of military strikes and alliances with friendly tribal commanders.
The newly aggressive approach has won generous praise from a previously sceptical US government. But while tribal allies such as Zainuddin oppose Mehsud, they also support al-Qaida and fight western troops in Afghanistan. "We have reservations that this is going to work," said a senior western diplomat in Islamabad. The operation has unofficially started, with troops imposing an economic blockade on Mehsud territory, sealing off approach roads and rounding up supporters. Helicopters and warplanes have pounded targets in Janni Khel district on the fringe of Waziristan.
Anwar Kamal Marwat, a tribal leader from the nearby district of Lakki Marwat, witnessed the violence. "There was no hand to hand fighting. It was all artillery and air attacks," he said. Women and children fleeing the fighting had been permitted to shelter in his area, a traditional courtesy in tribal warfare.
The Mehsud campaign is likely to be far tougher, and bloodier, than the six-week Swat operation. "It will be long, and too many people will die on both sides," said Sailab Mehsud, a veteran local journalist.Handled wrong, it could stir a wider revolt among fiercely independent tribesmen. Mass arrests of Mehsud tribesmen had stirred great anger, said Mehsud. "People say that they will shift to Afghanistan or join Baitullah," he said.
Mehsud may strike back with violence in the major cities. Two days ago authorities in Peshawar closed the city airport, apparently indefinitely, after threats of attack.
"I saw four regiments of the middle guard, conducted by the Emperor, arriving. With these troops, he wished to renew the attack, and penetrate the centre of the enemy. He ordered me to lead them on; generals, officers and soldiers all displayed the greatest intrepidity; but this body of troops was too weak to resist, for a long time, the forces opposed to it by the enemy, and it was soon necessary to renounce the hope which this attack had, for a few moments, inspired."
Marshall Ney
Posted by: Mike ||
06/18/2009
12:45 ||
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#1
Appropriate that Ney is quoted. Ney is whom many say cost Napoleon that battle. The mishandling of Grouchy is more likely.
The feisty California lawmaker felt the need to remind an Army brigadier general of that fact Tuesday during a hearing before her Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, where the military officer testifying had the apparent gall to call Boxer "ma'am."
Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was testifying on the Louisiana coastal restoration process in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. He began to answer one of Boxer's questions with "ma'am" when Boxer immediately cut him off.
"You know, do me a favor," an irritated Boxer said. "Could say 'senator' instead of 'ma'am?'"
"Yes, ma'am," Walsh interjected.
"It's just a thing, I worked so hard to get that title, so I'd appreciate it, yes, thank you," she said.
"Yes, senator," he responded.
However, Walsh surely meant no disrespect, as military protocol advises that officers may use "sir" or "ma'am" when addressing anybody higher than them on the chain of command.
"We would call them 'sir' or 'ma'am' or 'senator such-and-such'," Army spokesman Lt. Col. Nathan Banks said. Banks said any of those terms would be "appropriate" when addressing a senator.
According to one guide, the Navy and Coast Guard typically use "mister" or "miss" to address officers below the rank of commander, and "sir" or "ma'am," or a specific title, to address anyone at that rank or higher.
"You can never go wrong by using 'Sir' or 'Ma'am,' but it is a nice touch if you can properly address a senior officer," says the guide, Military Protocol: Uniformed Services.
Tuesday's hearing was hardly the first time a military officer used those terms during sworn testimony. The same day at a Senate Armed Services subcommittee hearing, two Navy officials repeatedly referred to Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., with the title, "sir."
"Yes, sir," Navy Vice Adm. Bernard McCullough said when answering questions.
#6
A$$ Hole came to mind but I fear the wrath of P4 (Periwinkle Posting Police Person). From now on I shall refer to Babs, California's Junior Leftist, as Senator Hole.
CrazyFool, thanks for showing me the path to moderation.
#9
I think of them more as madams, in a Mustang Ranch sort of way.
Posted by: ed ||
06/18/2009 15:25
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#10
No need to insult the Mustang Ranch, ed.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/18/2009 15:32
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#11
I recall people expecting US presidents to use MILITARY protocol in how they give salutes to military people. Whats so wrong with a Senator insisting on Senate protocol?
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/18/2009 15:34
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#12
A$$ Hole came to mind but I fear the wrath of P4 (Periwinkle Posting Police Person). From now on I shall refer to Babs, California's Junior Leftist, as Senator Hole.
GolfBravoUSMC, you are a delightful silly! I've never been thought of as a multiple before (P4!!!!) -- I shall treasure the thought always. :-) For the record, that A$$ Hole complies perfectly with my point #1, but Senator Hole certainly describes the senator perfectly.
#14
liberal hawk, title and ma'am/sir are interchangeable,as even the Queen of Great Britain and the Commonwealth is addressed as "ma'am" after the first, full blown "your royal highness" at the beginning of the conversation. It is the senator who is incorrect, although perhaps she'd be better pleased to be addressed by being addressed with the full pomp of "the honourable senator from the state of California."
I suspect this is a bit of egregious bullying by the honourable senator. Else she is the kind of woman who has the Senatorial coat of arms embroidered on all her underthings, like the wife of a newly minted baronet.
#16
LH, I don't see a problem with either "sir" or "ma'am". Both convey respect and acknowledgement of a position of respect or authority, be that position Senator, General, or Your Royal Majesty.
I confess I don't get what Senator Boxer was reacting to. The General was being respectful and addressed her in a proper way.
If the Senate prefers that Senators be addressed as "Senator" by witnesses at a hearing, they should say that. Then it would be proper to address her as "Senator Boxer" in a hearing, and not "ma'am".
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2009 16:26
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#17
"LH, I don't see a problem with either "sir" or "ma'am". "
And I have no problem with a Bill Clinton style sloppy salute. What you or I have a problem with really isnt at issue.
I have not had the honor or pain of testifying before a Senate committee, but its always been my understanding that you say "Senator". Period. If that is not the standard protocol, and I am under the wrong impression, I apologize.
Who knows why she is being tetchy, maybe she didnt sleep well. Its odd that the right wing blogosphere is grabbing onto this, when they are quite capable of going on for pages on the importance of military protocol.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/18/2009 16:31
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#18
Look on the bright side, at least it wasn't a junior officer who let a "hoooah" instead of a yes slip out in the course of the conversation! That's always embarrassing kind of like someone who accidentily farts in yoga class in a weird posture.
#19
Boxer had no idea that the General was being respectful. Her "correction" therefore ranks up there with Dan Qualye's potato comment. It's epic stupid from a self-important harpy.
#20
um, okay LH. Iblis is spot on. Sir or Ma'am works & the Gen was clearly respectful. I've addressed a Gov, a senator, the undersec & and an underdep w/both and none acted like this lady did. It wasn't that she even asked to be addressed as "senator" - though it came off petty - it was the melodramatic comments she made afterwords and the peacocking for the camera. Dressing down your military subordinates and ignorantly insulting them (aka clinton's saluting) is a fine way to earn lasting enmity from us who serve...though I doubt Boxer cares.
#21
"Else she is the kind of woman who has the Senatorial coat of arms embroidered on all her underthings" Thanks TW I got an image I shall never recover from.
#23
This is kerfluffle is good for our side. From now on there will be the opportunity to force her to hide her anger in public by calling her 'ma'am'. This helps do to her reputation what Chris Matthews did to his by referring to his tingling legs.
#26
When Queen Noor of Jordan visited here at Texas Tech back in the 80s, faceless university bureaucrats saw fit to hand out a protocol guide to any of us peasants who might chance to find ourselves in the presence of this august personage. Among other things, it told us to always address the personage as "Your Majesty" rather than as "ma'am." I threw a fit, pointing out that it was entirely proper to address the honest-to-God Queen of England as "ma'am," and if it's good enough for her it should be good enough for Queen Noor, a former airline hostess namedLisa Halaby.
#27
I'm an American, and Your Majesty is a fine title for some tinpot potentate. The Honorable Senator from California is by far a step above any Majesty, anywhere; however, the Senator should not trifle with any American Citizen, even a General.
The Iranians are accusing Obama of meddling even though Obama says he doesn't want to meddle. It seems this offers a great opportunity for Obama to meddle! How about giving a serious speech or statement in which he says something like:
The government of Iran has accused the United States of America of interfering in their domestic affairs. I wish to forthrightly deny this accusation. America has not intervened on the part of the heroic forces of reform and democracy as they daily risk their lives in their noble struggle. The United States of America is sincere in its desire to open a new era of franknes and cooperation between our two great nations. Therefore we will work with the unelected government currently in power which is brutalizing its own people as the whole world can see. And we will gladly work with the heroic people of Iran as they struggle against daunting odds for a better life for themselves and their children should they succeed in their peaceful Jihad for justice.
I'm only partly joking. It seems to me that Obama is a master of passive aggressive rhetoric. We certainly saw that skill on ample display during the primaries and general election. Why not use it on the international stage as well. Only problem is that Obama would probably leave off the last sentence.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/18/2009
11:37 ||
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#1
The mullahs have to be nervous that Obama may yet come out strongly for the opposition in Iran. He is very good at doing 180 degree turns on important issues. I'm impressed that we have both conservations and SF loonies coming together in support of the Iranian people. It's a rare kum-bi-you moment(I really have no idea how to spell it). Wouldn't it frost a bunch of people if Sarah Palin and the dopey SF mayor would hold a rally together for the Iranian people.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/18/2009 14:22
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#2
A suggestion, more in character, if I may.
The government of Iran has accused the United States of America of interfering in their domestic affairs. I wish to forthrightly apologize for this interence. deny this accusation
A calm Sunday breakfast might have been ruined after a glance at the Washington Post's front page on June 14.
A chart below the fold explained that under Obama's federal spending proposals, the U.S. would be required to borrow $9 trillion during the next decade.
That's $9,000,000,000. The Post compared that, in today's dollars, to the financial burden of World War II: $3.6 trillion. That's not all of Obama's spending plan. That's only the part that's in the red.
Continued on Page 49
#2
IIRC, this morning's radio said 44% were for BO's Plan, 34% of the scummy Trunks were against it, and 22% needed to see more details.
If the 22% would wake up, it'd be 66% against...
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/18/2009 12:49
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#3
they wont wake up. that is why the Trotskyites took over the public education 50 years ago... to make sure they wouldn't understand nor be interested...
Bread! Circuses!
Posted by: abu do you love ||
06/18/2009 14:43
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#4
What mask?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/18/2009 15:34
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#5
IMHO the goal is to get as many people directly or immediately indirectly relient on government money as soon as possible so that when 2010 comes around nobody will be willing to vote themselves out of a job.
Should have just put it in obamariffic notation 9E+12.
#6
Regarding their combativeness against British Colonial Rule and their subsiquent imprisonment by the British, Mrs Onyango said that the combative spirit shown by her husband and her son, Obama's Grandfather and father, during Kenya's bloody independence struggle had passed down through the generations to the future president. "This family lineage has all along been made up of fighters," she said. "Senator Barack Obama is fighting using his brain, like his father, while his grandfather fought physically with the white man." The President of the United States, born acording her in Mombasa, Kenya.
In his speech on health care to the American Medical Association, President Obama explained why the U.S. has "failed" (yet again) to provide comprehensive reform that "covers everyone." He had a list of the failing people, who "simply couldn't agree" on reform: doctors, insurance companies, businesses, workers, others. And "if we're honest," he said (ergo, disagreeing with this is dishonest) we must add to the list "some interest groups and lobbyists" who have used "fear tactics."
It seems to me, if we're honest, that one other contributor to the health-care morass should have been on the president's list: Congress. Indeed a close reading of Mr. Obama's speech suggests he holds the political class innocent insofar as he blames everyone else but them. Can this be true?
Back before recorded history, in 1965, Congress erected the nation's first two monuments to health-care "reform," Medicaid and Medicare. Medicaid was described at the time as a modest solution to the problem of health care for the poor. It would be run by the states and "monitored" by the federal government.
Continued on Page 49
National Review's Rich Lowry has a different take on the Obama-Carter parallel than Will Collier did yesterday.
Say this for him: Barack Obama is not making Jimmy Carter's mistakes in Iran. Carter arguably didn't do enough to support an Iranian government faced with a popular revolt; Obama isn't doing enough to support a popular revolt against an Iranian government. Carter's foreign policy was achingly idealistic; Obama's foreign policy is cold-bloodedly "realist." Ultimately, though, both presidents share a deep naïveté, even if it has slightly different iterations. For all the talk of Obama's realism, he is pursuing a policy driven by a fantasy about international affairs that all disputes can be resolved through negotiations and governments can be talked out of their interests. He is giving the Iranian demonstrators the cold shoulder partly because he believes he can deal with Khamenei and persuade him to give up Iran's nuclear-weapons program. The chances of this happening are quite remote. Fundamentally, then, Obama isn't turning his back on the protestors out of hard-headedness but on account of a gauzy illusion, although one with a realpolitik veneer.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/18/2009
10:48 ||
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British summers could soon be akin to those in the drought-ridden Mediterranean and our winters characterised by severe flooding, according to a new report on climate change.
UK Climate Impacts Report predicts extremes of temperature will hit the UK if global temperatures continue to rise.
The report is the Met Office's most comprehensive assessment yet of what might happen by the middle to end of the century.
The head of climate predictions at the Met Office, James Murphy, told Sky News Online: "Certainly we would expect much warmer wetter winters to be part of the story and also a risk of drier summers.
"The report will confirm some of the broad storylines that have emerged before. However, what it does for the time is to quantify the risks associated with different levels of change."
The Met Office climate experts used their software to run 400 different computer models. They wanted to understand the range of future climate changes the UK might have to deal with over the next 100 years.
The Met Office came up with three scenarios - low, medium and high - depending on how much carbon we emit over the next century. Even the medium climate predictions are gloomy - for example, in 2003, more than 30,000 people, and perhaps as many as 70,000, died in a Europe-wide heatwave.
The report warns that even if we can constrain global temperature rise to 2C, such record temperatures could occur every other year. Under the worst possible scenario, temperatures could rise by up to 8C by 2080.
The consequences of that would be catastrophic.
With 75% of the UK's land given over to agriculture, farmers will be among those most affected by changes.
At Otter Farm in Devon, Mark Diacono has already started to grow peaches and apricots and even has a small olive grove. He told Sky News Online: "It's not often you get to look into the future and we're absolutely committed to certain levels of climate change, so you've got to adapt to survive.
"Otherwise, the changes are going to be forced on you.
"You've got to try to make your farming and growing more resilient."
While some of today's predictions may look alarming, the experts say there is still time to stop the worst from happening if we are prepared to make the necessary changes.
#6
In 2003, more than 30,000 people, and perhaps as many as 70,000, died in a Europe-wide heatwave.
I thought that had more to do with families going on vacation and leaving the grandparents at home unattended and without air conditioning. On the plus side, it saved a bundle on the national health care budget.
With 75% of the UK's land given over to agriculture, farmers will be among those most affected by changes.
My God. British wine again?!
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/18/2009 20:16
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#8
How many people died last winter due to cold/storms?
Do they really want cold, cold winters with massive snowfall?
Or is the climate right now (or a few years ago) perfect, and it must never change?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
06/18/2009 21:29
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ISLAMABAD -- Suspected U.S. missile strikes pounded the hide-outs of a Taliban commander in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least eight people, government officials said.
Suspected. Heh. Could have been the Ruritanians ...
Shahab Ali Shah, the top administrative official in the South Waziristan tribal area along the Afghanistan border, said the missiles hit close to the villages of Gharlamai and Nandaran, about six miles (10 kilometers) west of the Wana bazaar area. He said the death toll could rise as villagers dig through the rubble.
Two Pakistani intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to media, said a training center of Taliban commander Malang Wazir between the two villages was the target and that nine people were killed.
Two other intelligence officials, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said four missiles were fired at two sites. They put the casualties at eight dead and about two dozen wounded.
Ali Khan Wazir, a shopkeeper, said Ruritanian drone aircraft had been flying over the area for hours before the explosions. He said Taliban vehicles were seen rushing to the scenes.
Suspected U.S. missiles fired from unmanned drones have repeatedly struck South Waziristan, most recently on Sunday after nearly a one-month lull. The strikes have generated a backlash over civilian casualties.
Wednesday's strikes come as the Pakistani military has started pounding militant targets in the area with airstrikes. The highly anticipated operation is seen as a potential turning point in the yearslong and sometimes halfhearted fight against militancy in Pakistan. It could also help curb Taliban attacks on Western forces in Afghanistan.
But while Washington has been pushing for the offensive, on the heels of a similar operation in the Swat Valley, fighting in the lawless tribal region will likely be the toughest yet for Pakistan's military, testing both its combat capability and the government's will to see it through. The Swat offensive has triggered a wave of retaliatory attacks by militants across Pakistan that have been blamed on Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, whose base is in South Waziristan.
More than 100 people have died since late May in suicide bombings on targets including police and security buildings, mosques and a hotel catering to foreigners. The attacks have fueled anti-Taliban sentiment in Pakistan that in turn has emboldened the politically weak government of President Asif Ali Zardari.
#3
3dc,
The report says 4 missiles, two targets; does not say if a time lag beteen missiles nor whether the second target was a Tali-transport rushing to the scene. One can hope...it would be a change...
#4
A US missile attack killed at least nine militants at a South Waziristan training camp today ahead of a planned ground offensive by the Pakistani army on the mountainous tribal region.
Two or three pilotless American aircraft fired at least four missiles at a camp near the village of Raghzai, witnesses said. A building was destroyed and four local militants and five foreigners, including Arabs and Turkmenistan nationals, are thought to have been killed.
Yesterdays target was inside the territory of Mullah Nazir, a militant leader who has close links to Mullah Omar, the Afghan Taleban leader, and recently formed a loose alliance with Mr Mehsud.
US and British officials say Mullah Nazir has launched regular attacks on US and Nato forces over the border in Afghanistan, but Pakistani officials do not consider him a threat to Pakistan.
Local officials say the camp in Raghzai was run by one of Mullah Nazirs lieutenants a man named Wali Mohammed, who is also known as Malang Wazir. They said it was not immediately clear if Wali was among the dead and locals were still searching the ruins of the camp for more casualties.
#2
Why were these tweets in English? Why were all of these profiles OBSESSED with Iran?
Uh, because English is our planetary language? Because there is an 'event' of international interest currently playing out in Iran? Bah, let's go back to the faked moon landing or Obama being the anti-Christ.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
06/18/2009 11:15
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#5
That moon landing was not faked by gum...saw the flag myself in the intro to Independence Day. Then again, Jeff Goldblum was in charge of a media organization in that film...
#6
I always do what Twitter tells me to do, and I'm sure the Iranians are rioting because they all got Twitter accounts and are doing what they are told. Therefore I am sure it is a Zionist plot. I'm surprised they didn't think of this before. /sarc
#7
I was astonished to click on a link to youtube on one of the tweets and see cell phone footage of chaos in Shiraz, which had burning stuff and lots of masked people walking around shouting "death to the dictator" and "we will kill those who killed our brothers". Yah, it was on youtube that I saw footage of the actual shooting of the 7 peeps at the basij post. Quite amazing and different that the reports in the media. After being shot at from the building for quite some time the crowd, which was not running away, erupts into cheers when someone throws a fire bomb at the building. Can't get more real than that. So I'm basically saying that this guy is an idiot and I wouldn't take his stock advice either.
#8
I am somewhat peaved to have Hitler in my random nic. I did not cjoose this. I rarely post here but was previously known as HupailingEbbuns which was a better nic.
#9
But, the hitler bit fits right in this thread!... Thus... showing that RB as spontaneously evolved into a fully formed IA!
The Singularity can't be far.
As for that guy, well, I love a good PCT, but find th emost compelling ones are those with a spiritual side - IE easier to accept the notion of a "NWO" if it's driven by mega-trends and ideologies, themselves pushed by spiritual forces (Principalities and such, rather by human puppeters. Would you REALLY rate kissinger as a viable, credible Power-behind-the-curtains???
Anyway, this conspiracy theory is very, very bad, because it's all about three guys in kippa twitting to harm those Misunderstood Mullahs, complete with the usual bit about israeli nukes. I guess the demos must be holograms.
Not that this would change things much, IIRC, the pasdarans have been called in, where the Chain-Swinging Bikers From Hell proved insufficient, "Elite Forces" shooting AK's into a crowd will do very fine.
It's a plot better suited for a John Le Carre novel.
Two Japanese men are detained in Italy after allegedly attempting to take $134 billion worth of U.S. bonds over the border into Switzerland. Details are maddeningly sketchy, so naturally the global rumor mill is kicking into high gear. Are these would-be smugglers agents of Kim Jong Il stashing North Korea's cash in a Swiss vault? Bagmen for Nigerian Internet scammers? Was the money meant for terrorists looking to buy nuclear warheads? Is Japan dumping its dollars secretly? Are the bonds real or counterfeit?
The implications of the securities being legitimate would be bigger than investors may realize. At a minimum, it would suggest that the U.S. risks losing control over its monetary supply on a massive scale. The trillions of dollars of debt the U.S. will issue in the next couple of years needs buyers. Attracting them will require making sure that existing ones aren't losing faith in the U.S.'s ability to control the dollar.
The dollar is, for better or worse, the core of our world economy and it's best to keep it stable. News that's more fitting for international spy novels than the financial pages won't help that effort. It is incumbent upon the U.S. Treasury to get to the bottom of this tale and keep markets informed.
Think about it: These two guys were carrying the gross domestic product of New Zealand or enough for three Beijing Olympics. If economies were for sale, the men could buy Slovakia and Croatia and have plenty left over for Mongolia or Cambodia. Yes, they could have built vacation homes amidst Genghis Khan's Gobi Desert or the famed Temples of Angkor. Bernard Madoff who?
These men carrying bonds concealed in the bottom of their luggage also would be the fourth-largest U.S. creditors. It makes you wonder if some of the time Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner spends keeping the Chinese and Japanese invested in dollars should be devoted to well-financed men crossing the Italian-Swiss border.
This tale has gotten little attention in markets, perhaps because of the absurdity of our times. The last year has been a decidedly disorienting one for capitalists who once knew up from down, red from black and risk from reward. It almost fits with the surreal nature of today that a couple of travelers have more U.S. debt than Brazil in a suitcase and, well, that's life.
Let's assume for a moment that these U.S. bonds are real. That would make a mockery of Japanese Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano's "absolutely unshakable" confidence in the credibility of the U.S. dollar. Yosano would have some explaining to do about Japan's $686 billion of U.S. debt if more of these suitcase capers come to light. Counterfeit $100 bills are one thing; two guys with undeclared bonds including 249 certificates worth $500 million and 10 "Kennedy bonds" of $1 billion each is quite another.
The bust could be a boon for Italy. If the securities are found to be genuine, the smugglers could be fined 40 percent of the total value for attempting to take them out of the country. Not a bad payday for a government grappling with a widening budget deficit and rebuilding the town of L'Aquila, which was destroyed by an earthquake in April.
It would be terrible news for the White House. Other than the U.S., China or Japan, no other nation could theoretically move those amounts. In the absence of clear explanations coming from the Treasury, conspiracy theories are filling the void.
On his blog, the Market Ticker, Karl Denninger wonders if the Treasury "has been surreptitiously issuing bonds to, say, Japan, as a means of financing deficits that someone didn't want reported over the last, oh, say 10 or 20 years." Adds Denninger: "Let's hope we get those answers, and this isn't one of those 'funny things' that just disappears into the night."
This is still a story with far more questions than answers. It's odd, though, that it's not garnering more media attention. Interest is likely to grow. The last thing Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke need right now is tens of billions more of U.S. bonds -- or even high-quality fake ones -- suddenly popping up around the globe.
#1
Think about it: These two guys were carrying the gross domestic product of New Zealand or enough for three Beijing Olympics. If economies were for sale, the men could buy Slovakia and Croatia and have plenty left over for Mongolia or Cambodia.
#5
It's just an Asian scam with fake bonds that bear issue dates of the 1930s.
Has happened before. Any assumptions that these papers could be real are simply ridiculous.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
06/18/2009 14:53
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#6
"Blest paper credit! Last and best supply!
That lends corruption lighter wings to fly!
Gold imp'd by thee, can compass hardest things,
Can pocket States, can fetch and carry Kings,
A single leaf shall waft an Army o'er,
Or ship off Senates to a distant Shore,
A leaf, like Sibyl's, scatter to and fro
Our fates and fortunes, as the wind shall blow:
Pregnant with thousands flits the scrap unseen,
And silent sells a King or buys a Queen.
A new type of nuclear reactor that is designed to be manufactured in a factory where standardization could eventually reduce the cost big time
rather than built at a power plant could cut construction times for nuclear power plants almost in half the time required to build the plant increases the financing costs in to the stratosphere
and make them cheaper to build. That, in turn, could make it possible for more utilities to build nuclear power plants, especially those in poor countries. The design comes from Babcock and Wilcox, a company based in Lynchburg, VA, that has made nuclear reactors for the United States Navy ships for about 50 years.
Two other features of the design could also cut down on operating costs. First, each reactor will be housed in a containment structure big enough to store all of the waste generated by the plant during its 60 year life span, eliminating the need for a separate storage facility. That could be especially important, as nuclear plant operators may have to store their own waste while they wait for the government to provide a permanent storage facility, which it is obliged to do by law. but which Congress has screwed up
Second, the reactors are also designed so that fuel has to be replaced only once every five years, instead of the usual two years. That will increase the amount of time that the plant can operate.
Posted by: Lord garth ||
06/18/2009
09:30 ||
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea may fire a long-range ballistic missile toward Hawaii in early July, a Japanese news report said Thursday, as Russia and China urged the regime to return to international disarmament talks on its rogue nuclear program.
The missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2 with a range of up to 4,000 miles (6,500 kilometers), would be launched from North Korea's Dongchang-ni site on the northwestern coast, said the Yomiuri daily, Japan's top-selling newspaper. It cited an analysis by the Japanese Defense Ministry and intelligence gathered by U.S. reconnaissance satellites.
The missile launch could come between July 4 and 8, the paper said.
While the newspaper speculated the Taepodong-2 could fly over Japan and toward Hawaii, it said the missile would not be able to hit Hawaii's main islands, which are about 4,500 miles (7,200 kilometers) from the Korean peninsula.
A spokesman for the Japanese Defense Ministry declined to comment on the report. South Korea's Defense Ministry and the National Intelligence Service - the country's main spy agency - said they could not confirm it.
The independent International Crisis Group think tank, meanwhile, said the North's massive stockpile of chemical weapons is no less serious a threat to the region than its nuclear arsenal. It said the North is believed to have between 2,500 and 5,000 tons of chemical weapons, including mustard gas, phosgene, blood agents and sarin. These weapons can be delivered with ballistic missiles and long-range artillery and are "sufficient to inflict massive civilian casualties on South Korea."
"If progress is made on rolling back Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, there could be opportunities to construct a cooperative diplomatic solution for chemical weapons and the suspected biological weapons program," the think tank said in a report released Thursday.
Because that's what's been missing so far, a cooperative diplomatic solution by gum!
It also called on the U.S. to engage the North in dialogue to defuse the nuclear crisis, saying "diplomacy is the least bad option." The think tank said Washington should be prepared to send a high-level special envoy to Pyongyang to resolve the tension.
Of course they want a diplomatic solution. That's all they can think of because the use of force, subterfuge or coercion, especially by the U.S., is icky. And if another few hundred thousand Nork citizens die of starvation, well you can't make an omelette, etc ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2009
09:26 ||
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#1
Well, since Alaska isn't part of the US "homeland", then I guess Hawaii isn't either...
Posted by: George Ebbetle5594 ||
06/18/2009 11:58
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#3
I suspect this reporter is more clueless than usual. For example, any missile fired from North Korea East almost has to fly over Japan. Towards Hawaii would be right over Tokyo. However, this missile is being fired from the northwest. So they might as well say that it is targeted to New Guinea.
on 9/11/01, I was treated to one of our local "Hawaiian Sovreignty" types holding forth about how it was too bad the Americans got hurt, but it was no skin of their nose.
a couple of years ago they raised the age of legal consent - all the way up to 16, over the outraged screams of the locals (male variety of course).
So if Kimmie get's lucky it not like he hit the US or something.
#10
All the enemies are playing up as they see Barry as weak!!!! paul2
Obama is not weak. He is definintely taking it on as his responsibility to destroy America's future. The America that started with British colonies. The same nation, Britain that imprisoned and tortured his grandfather and briefly imprisoned his father in the Kenyan Mau Mau uprising.
Regarding their combativeness against British Colonial Rule and their subsiquent imprisonment by the British, Mrs Onyango said that the combative spirit shown by her husband and her son, Obama's Grandfather and father, during Kenya's bloody independence struggle had passed down through the generations to the future president. "This family lineage has all along been made up of fighters," she said. "Senator Barack Obama is fighting using his brain, like his father, while his grandfather fought physically with the white man." The President of the United States, born according Mrs Sarah Onyango in Mombasa, Kenya.
#11
WASHINGTON The United States has positioned more missile defenses around Hawaii as a precaution against a possible North Korean launch across the Pacific, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday. "We do have some concerns if they were to launch a missile to the west in the direction of Hawaii," Gates said.
Gates told reporters at the Pentagon he has sent the military's ground-based mobile missile system to Hawaii, and positioned a radar system nearby. Together the systems theoretically could detect and shoot down a North Korean missile if it came to that.
"Without telegraphing what we will do, I would just say ... we are in a good position, should it become necessary, to protect Americans and American territory," Gates said.
#12
GUAM K57 > seems SECDEF GATES has approved the deployment of a US THAAD MislSys to the ALOHA STATE = HAWAII as just-in-case protection agz any NOKOR missle. JAPANESE MEDIA also repors that Nokor's test missle, likely an IMPROV LR TAEPONGDONG-II, may also be flown agz OKINAWA [read, JAPAN] + GUAM, + that CHINA will prob be angered iff any FAILED ENGINE SECTION OF NOKOR'S MISSLE FALLS INTO THE CHINA SEAS???
The U.S. Army has ordered 38.4 million rounds of .300 Winchester magnum ammunition for its newly modified M-24 sniper rifles, as well as similar SOCOMs Mk13 models.
The new ammo will cost about $1.30 per round. The .300 Winchester magnum will be ordered in minimum lots of 56,160 rounds (117 boxes of 480 rounds each). The entire 38.4 million rounds will last a while.
All this is in response to requests from snipers for a longer range weapon, but not one as bulky and heavy as the 30 pound .50 caliber rifle (which is good to about 2,000 meters).
Thus the army is modifying existing M24 rifles to fire the more powerful .300 Winchester Magnum round. It was felt that this gave the snipers all the additional range they needed, without requiring a much heavier rifle. SOCOM has been using this approach since the early 1990s.
The calls were loudest from snipers operating in Afghanistan, where U.S. Army and Marine Corps shooters wanted a sniper rifle that can consistently get kills out to 1,800 meters. The current 7.62mm round was good only to about 800 meters.
The 300 Winchester magnum is a more powerful, but not much larger, round than the current 7.62mm one. By replacing the barrel and receiver of the $6,700 M24 sniper rifle, for about $4,000, you can fire the .300 Winchester Magnum round.
This is longer (at 7.62 x 67mm) than the standard 7.62x51mm round, and is good out to 1,200 meters. An improved version of the round is expected to extend that range another 200 meters or so.
There was another option, and that was to replace the barrel and receiver of the M24 sniper rifles to handle the .338 (8.6mm) Lapua Magnum round. Thus you still have a 17 pound sniper rifle, but with a round that can hit effectively out to about 1,600 meters.
British snipers in Iraq, and especially Afghanistan, have found the Lapua Magnum round does the job at twice the range of the standard 7.62x51mm round. The 8.6mm round entered use in the early 1990s, and became increasingly popular with police and military snipers.
Dutch snipers have used this round in Afghanistan with much success, and have a decade of experience with these larger caliber rifles. British snipers in Afghanistan are also using the new round, having converted many of their 7.62mm sniper rifles.
Recognizing the popularity of the 8.6mm round, Barrett, the pioneer in 12.7mm sniper rifles, came out with a 15.5 pound version of its rifle, chambered for the 8.6mm. But the U.S. preferred the lighter .300 Winchester magnum solution. This also speaks volumes about the quality of our shooters. Most good riflemen are hesitant about targets over 500m. 1800m is Tiger Woods.
#3
The .300 is the gold standard. Nice to see them get what SOCOM has had for years. They deserve to be able to reach out like this.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/18/2009 12:32
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#4
The Dutch have snipers?
I suppose all of you knew?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/18/2009 12:40
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#5
U.S. Army and Marine Corps shooters wanted a sniper rifle that can consistently get kills out to 1,800 meters. The current 7.62mm round was good only to about 800 meters.
I call BS. What sort of rifle sighting system is good for a mile? Come on, the guy in the crosshairs is almost invisible at that range, even with a magnified scope.
#6
10X magnification is typical for 7.62x51mm. At 1600m I imagine they will want to upgrade the scope to 16X. That's a view of 75m at 1200m. I have seen 20X scopes on civvie .50cal Barretts.
Spotting scopes typically are 60X. That's what would be used to find targets at long range. At that mag, the spotter can determine just how pious the target is from beard length.
Posted by: ed ||
06/18/2009 14:56
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#7
Gromky, longest confirmed kill is 2430 meters in Afghanistan on the .50 cal BMG McMillan Tac-50. Note the word 'confirmed'. Multiple witnesses, not just the sniper team. Many unconfirmed (except by shootee) at 2000 to 1000 range. No one bothers to keep score.
I think the 2430 kill was with a 16x scope, but can verify if you want.
Tac-50 is too heavy to hill hump though; currently going on a diet to about 16-18 pounds. Carbon fiber enhanced barrel cut the weight by more than 7 pounds, improved accuracy, plus reduced mass stock.
300 Win Mag is ok, too much muzzle blast/flash for a small improvement in range. Everyone should have a 16 pound .50 cal. 7.62x51 doesn't have the range. 338 Lapua has same blast problem as 300 Win Mag (only more so) but has more reach.
Look for a 2800 meter .50 in the near future. :)
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
06/18/2009 15:21
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#8
Carbon fiber enhanced barrel
Now that is interesting. I think that carbon fiber wrapped barrel liners are used in the latest tank cannons to keep weight down and increase stiffness.
Posted by: ed ||
06/18/2009 15:35
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#9
A lot of my buddies who hunt combination large (elk, moose) and medium (deer, antelope) game at ranges of 200 to 400 yds with some regularity find the 300 Win Mag to be the ideal round, and it's hard to argue against it. A round which delivers 3200 fps with a 200-220 grain pill is pretty devastating and flat shooting at the same time, better than the 30-06 family and defintely better than the 308 family. At ranges under 300 yds, it's good for any animal on the planet. If I chased a lot of the bigger critters at long range I'd move up from my assorted and beloved 7mm calibers to this one.
Three downsides - it does kick like a mule, it's loud as hell (but no worse than a BMG), and the brass is expensive - it's a belted case which works in a slightly longer action, vs the nonbelted 308 and 30-06 families.
I second those who praise shots over 1000 yards. For those who've never shot much, it's hard to explain what an achievement that is.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
06/18/2009 15:41
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#10
longest confirmed kill is 2430 meters
Mother of Pearl! At that range, the bullet drop must be feet rather than inches.
#11
My Canadian military buddies have related that there have been a few detached retinas from shooting the 50. Too much recoil too many times = retina problems.
#13
Canadians use .338 for a lot of their work, or so I was led to believe (due to some personal dislike of the .50, and the 338 Lapua being "designed" for long range sniper work)
#14
Original bolt .50 cals had a reasonable probability of detaching retina, some sooner than others. Worst effect on shooter (rarely seen) was tearing of connective tissue to heart and aorta rupture. Typically, the shooter is 'displaced' 8-12 inches; not conducive to maintaining concealment (but hey, that big plume of flame from the barrel isn't either).
Most recent news: using advanced materials like acoustic to optical phonon shifting materials, recoil-reducing hydraulic couplers (think howitzer actions), and other stuff, the energetic impulse has been/is being changed from a 'spike' to a broader, time-longer hillock-shaped curve. Energy is still the same, except it is 'felt' over a longer period of time. Net result is almost pleasant to shoot; experienced .50 shooters (not me) equate it to feeling like a .243 now. I hesitate to put forth the actual numbers, but the instrumented gun reduces felt recoil by more than 75%. Oh, and that is without a brake (they help with recoil but were always tough on the spotters). No more 'displacement' effects, etc unless you weigh 90 pounds. The plume can/will be whipped as well. 16 pounds is the goal; not there yet. A breakdown gun is in the works so the weight can be distributed among team members. Stand by.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
06/18/2009 17:47
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#15
"the drop was 8 feet and the windage adjustment 15 feet"
Good grief, AB!
How do you even do that?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/18/2009 17:54
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#16
Drop at 1000 yards is 300 plus/minus 10 inches, depending on bullet BC.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
06/18/2009 17:54
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#17
A friend of mine is a game warden over in the southwestern part of the state. He's been asked several times to kill dangerous bears. He tries to get as close as he can, but there have been times he's shot from 400-500 meters away. Firing a weapon in the plateaus and gullies of southwestern Colorado is a chore at any time. He's estimated that he's had to offset as much as ten feet from his target on many occasions. He says it's the worst when you have 800 feet elevation difference between you and the target. His advice: NEVER shoot UP at a target - missing isn't the worst thing that can happen.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/18/2009 19:00
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#18
What caliber, OP?
Posted by: no mo uro ||
06/18/2009 19:29
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#19
CO? 300WinMAg or else 308Win (7.62 NATO) is likley
WASHINGTON Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton fractured her right elbow during a fall Wednesday, her chief of staff said.
Clinton was on her way to the White House when she fell and injured her elbow, chief of staff Cheryl Mills said in a statement released late Wednesday. Clinton was treated at The George Washington University Hospital, just a few blocks from State Department headquarters, before going home. She will undergo surgery to repair her elbow in the coming week, Mills said.
"Secretary Clinton appreciates the professionalism and kindness she received from the medical team who treated her this evening and looks forward to resuming her full schedule soon," Mills said.
Clinton had been scheduled to join actress Angelina Jolie on Thursday morning at a Washington event marking World Refugee Day. That event has been removed from Clinton's public schedule.
We wish Ms. Clinton well as she recovers from her injury.
#1
same pantsuit as in the "Hug from Hillary" yesterday
ugh
Posted by: Lord garth ||
06/18/2009 9:28
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#2
Hope she wasn't.....confused, disoriented and unable to answer questions and exhibited behavior that led the board the President to question his her capacity to serve."
#3
"Clinton had been scheduled to join actress Angelina Jolie on Thursday morning at a Washington event marking World Refugee Day. That event has been removed from Clinton's public schedule."
As the proud owner of an impacted radial head fracture I can state that you are perfectly fine with just a sling, no cast necessary. Plus you get advanced weather warnings for the rest of your life.
When Barack Obama decided that questions from the German press about his trip agenda in that country were too pesky, he told the reporters, "So, stop it all of you!" He just wanted them to ask things he wanted to talk about. Well, what politico wouldn't want that?
OK, dad. We'll behave.
And according to a new Pew Research Center poll, we are behaving...like fans. On domestic press, it showed that "President Barack Obama has enjoyed substantially more positive media coverage than either Bill Clinton or George W. Bush during their first months in the White House" with "roughly twice as much" Obama coverage about his "personal or leadership qualities" than was the case for either previous president.
Continued on Page 49
Government efforts to stop the flow of guns from the United States to Mexico have suffered in recent years from having no clear plan to combat gunrunners affiliated with drug cartels, investigators have concluded. The Government Accountability Office, which is delivering its findings to Congress today, noted that federal agencies only recently began coordinating with Mexican counterparts on ways to stop gunrunning along the border.
Investigators were critical of two agencies - Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - for not working together. Until early June, the GAO says, "the U.S. government did not have a strategy that explicitly addressed arms trafficking to Mexico."
Investigators said that without a strategy, "individual U.S. agencies have undertaken a variety of activities and projects to combat arms trafficking to Mexico."
Citing ATF data, investigator Jess Ford says that over the past three years, more than 90 percent of the firearms traced after being seized in Mexico have come from the U.S.
"While it is impossible to know how many firearms are illegally trafficked into Mexico in a given year, over 20,000, or around 87 percent, of firearms seized by Mexican authorities and traced over the past five years originated in the United States," Ford says in testimony prepared for a House subcommittee hearing today.
#3
What was that statistic? Something like only 15% of the guns seized in Mexico are ever traced? So that means 90% of 15% or... 13.5% of guns seized in Mexico can be traced to the U.S. Well now, that's certainly the kind of number that means we should entirely upend how we do things here!
#5
I cannot even get ammo at my local gun store. Must all be going to Mexican narcotraffickers. Not for a minute do I believe narcoterrorists are getting their guns from the U.S. Why get them from the U.S. when you can buy them from the Mexican military or police? Or from surrounding countries? Or on the international blackmarket? Besides, some of the stuff that has been shown in the news are RPGs, fully-automatic weapons, grenades, etc. things most of us don't have access to.
#6
Friend of mine before being deployed last mentioned, "I don't understand why we are going to (the northeast) during winter in order to train for our deployment to Iraq. Why not send us off someplace like NM to work the border. We could get used to tough terrain, warm climate, many of us communicating across language and culture differences, approach with the mentality of perhaps getting shot at, and at the same time work protection on the southern border?"
Makes more sense then this crock about responsible gun owners being the fault of Mexican drug and human traffic violence because the government skirts its responsbility to enforce the US border.
What I would like to know is how many of that great number 87% of seized weapons are from ordinary citizens buy guns in the US because the Mexican military and/or trafficers won't sell guns to average citizens for fear of the sheep turning into rams.
#7
The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come From U.S. While 90 percent of the guns traced to the U.S. actually originated in the United States, the percent traced to the U.S. is only about 17 percent of the total number of guns reaching Mexico.
That includes Some guns, he said, "are legitimately shipped to the government of Mexico, by Colt, for example, in the United States. They are approved by the U.S. government for use by the Mexican military service. The guns end up in Mexico that way -- the fully auto versions -- they are not smuggled in across the river."
Posted by: ed ||
06/18/2009 16:08
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#8
Also: 68 percent of the guns that were recovered were never submitted for tracing
You can interpret that 2 ways.
1. Guns submitted for tracing were done so randomly, so if ALL guns were trace, 45% would be found to have US origin, including stolen Mexican military arms.
2. The 2/3 not submitted for trace were done so because many were obviously not American manufacture or import. That would imply that if all were traced, between 17 and 45% passed through US control.
Posted by: ed ||
06/18/2009 16:30
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#9
I guess the optimum question should be whether or not the vast majority of the weapons used or seized are of the AK or M16 family or their derivatives. I have a feeling most of the weapons would be from the M16 class based on the US supplying military weapons to Mexico and her neighbors as well as gun smuggling. I would be more concerned about Mexico being awash in AK's which could mean new destabilizing forces making inroads.
#10
This attempt by Obama's DHS Secretray and others in the fedeal government to link weapons in Mexico to the US is another stealth attempt to use treaty language and other international mechanisms to inhibit our 2nd amendment. The only problem is, the statistics and innacurate misrepresentations of the truth at best, or flat-out lies at worst.
The statistic is designed to suggest overwhelming weapons seizures are sourced in the U.S. But is really a two-part misdirection:
1. Only the weapons requested for trace are cited, a small percentage of the weapons seized, and only those weapons legal for sale in the US are among those traced.
2. The overwhelming, and alarming weapons seized in Mexico from the narco-traffickers and high caliber auto and semi auto assault rifles, most of which come into Mexico across the souther and sea borders, and are used by cartels, Los Zetas and other participants in the cartels/trafficking organizations.
This is more of the traditional democrat/liberal/progressive tactic of misdirection of actual policy intent and prevaricating with apparent facts.
Since I spend a great deal of my time actually paying some attention to the SW Border, this kind of Washington BS makes me crazy.
Next big lie will be the DHS/FBI/US DOJ focus on white supremacist groups as a major domestic threat. As soon as Obama's polling falls far enough becasue of the American public's overwhelming buyer's remorse at buying a total Manchurian Candidate, they will trot out the "RACIST" and "SUPREMACIST" GROUPS, who are legitimately a minor concern, but recast them as a major threat. Then they will have polling data that dissects these groups and makes them very visible. Why, because polling, especially on sensitive issues, directs public opinion more that it reflects it, especially push polling. All this will keep the One with high approval numbers, grossly misrepresenting what people really think, and maginalizing his critics as racist. Remember, Alinsky taught the big O to focus, polarize and personalize enemies as a tactic to destroy or neutralize them....
A gap-year student who vowed to battle British soldiers with a Koran in one hand and a Kalashnikov in the other has been jailed. Mohamed Abushamma, 21, was intercepted by anti-terror police in Turkey as he attempted to travel to Afghanistan to join pro-Taliban fighters. The youth hoped to enter Afghanistan via its northern border with Tajikistan, after trekking over the mountainous border between the two countries. Once there, he hoped to join mujihadeen fighters engaged in bloody fighting with coalition troops.
At Croydon Crown Court yesterday, Judge Mr Justice Bean sentenced Abushamma to three-and-a-half years' imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to preparing for acts of terrorism. His friend Qasim Abukar, 21, who travelled with him to Turkey, was cleared of the same offence by a jury earlier this month, despite going on the run in the middle of his trial.
Mr Justice Bean told Abushamma: "You have pleaded guilty to preparing for acts of terrorism. You decided to travel to Afghanistan to join the mujihadeen. In that country, you were seeking to overthrow the government by force, fighting against the government and the coalition forces, assisting them in order to advance the ideological cause of militant Islamism. Fortunately, you were intercepted in Turkey before you could reach your destination. I accept that what you have done is nothing like as grave as actually committing a terrorist outrage, or even attempting one, but it is a grave and serious offence."
The court heard that in April last year, British anti-terror police received intelligence that Abukar and Abushamma were going to try to reach Afghanistan. As there are few direct flights to Kandahar, Abushamma was attempting to reach it by flying to Turkey, then taking a connecting flight to Tajikistan before trekking overland. The pair flew to Ankara on April 17, but were intercepted near the Turkish capital by police the following day. When they returned to Britain on April 21, both men were arrested, with Abushamma admitting in November last year that he had hoped to pursue violent jihad in Afghanistan. Prosecutor Alison Morgan told the court than in an email sent to his father and sister before his departure for Turkey, Abushamma "clearly indicated that he would be fighting with a Koran in one hand and an AK47 in the other."
Abushamma, who was due to start a course at University College London in September last year, decided to fight violent jihad after being radicalised by reading extremist websites. His lawyer Imran Khan told the court his client was from an illustrious' family - his grandfather was a general and his great-grandfather was the first president of the Sudan. His parents had sent him to study medicine in the Sudan, after he failed to get into medical school in Britain when he only got an A and two Bs at A-level, but he refused to stay there and returned to Britain. He had also spent a year studying Arabic in Egypt. Mr Khan urged the judge to give his client a suspended sentence, telling the court that he had repented of his actions and was now working to try and dissuade other young people from extremism.
Abushamma, of Britannia Row, Islington, North London, admitted engaging in conduct in preparation for committing acts of terrorism. Abukar, of Dartmouth Park Hill, Upper Holloway, North London, denied the same charge. He was acquitted after claiming he thought he was going on a trekking holiday' when he travelled to Turkey, and that he had been deceived by his co-defendant. He absconded halfway through his trial and has not been seen since.
Al-Rooters goes into full-bore useful idiot mode for this outrageously unbalanced bit of "reporting"
In the rustic villages of Thailand's Muslim south, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's promise of large-scale development aid to tackle a brutal insurgency sounds all too familiar. "Money can't change what's happening, no one can buy an end to the problems here," said Yousuf, referring to a shadowy five-year rebellion that has claimed nearly 3,500 lives in the southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat. "It's the policies of Thai governments that are to blame," he said in a village tea shop in Pattani. "They have to understand that our way of life is different to other Thais and money won't make a difference".
Other villagers gave similar views on Abhisit's three-year plan to win "hearts and minds" by pouring 54 billion baht ($1.58 billion) into the region bordering Malaysia. They are ethnic Malay Muslims who speak Thai as a second language, and dismiss the plan to boost fisheries, rubber and palm oil industries as another example of Buddhist Bangkok's failure to understand a region more than 1,000 kms away. "Corrupt officials will keep the money for themselves. This is a useless idea," Arware said. "It could end up in the hands of the militant groups. Investment won't stop the violence."
Bearmah, a burly Muslim with teeth stained by sickly-sweet tea, said a better idea would be to withdraw the 30,000 soldiers deployed in the region and scrap an emergency decree that grants them broad powers of arrest with immunity from prosecution. "The rebels are fighting the military. We don't need them here because we can protect ourselves," he said, smoking a hand-rolled cigarette. "The emergency laws let them arrest innocent people, jail them for a month, and sometimes they torture them -- how can this win hearts and minds?," he said. No quote from any of the teachers who make it to school alive each day because of the soldiers, nor from any parents who want their children educated. Otherwise people would get the impression that surrender might not be a great idea.
The three provinces were part of an independent Malay Muslim sultanate annexed by Buddhist Thailand a century ago, and its people have long resisted Bangkok's attempts to assimilate them. A separatist insurgency from the 1970s and 1980s resurfaced in 2004, and attempts by successive Thai governments to quell the unrest with military force, investment and even free cable television have all failed.
The violence has intensified in the last two weeks, with Buddhists and Muslims among the 31 people killed and more than 50 wounded in the all too familiar gun and bomb attacks, for which no credible group has claimed responsibility. The unrest has heaped more pressure on Abhisit's coalition government as it struggles to revive an economy hit by a global downturn and protracted political strife since a 2006 coup removed ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Nestled in the jungles of Pattani, villages like Ban Taluboh have been traditional strongholds of Abhisit's Democrat Party. But few here believe his government, or any other, is capable of ending the violence. "Each government is the same," said Abdulloh, who like many southern Muslims wears a traditional "kapiyoh" skullcap and checked sarong. "They have never listened to the people. Our culture is a Malay culture and we follow the rules of Islam."
Bearmah said the failure to arrest the gunmen who shot dead 10 Muslims at prayer in a Narathiwat mosque on June 8 had intensified peoples' feelings of injustice and resentment. "If they really want to end this violence, they have to arrest these killers," he said, rejecting Bangkok's denials security forces were involved in the mosque attack. "I suspect the authorities are behind it, because no one has been arrested," he said. "Muslims don't kill other Muslims praying in a mosque." he said with a straight face
A Seminole man received a threatening e-mail from an entity calling itself the Ishmael Ghost Islamic Group and then he received an apology from a university in North Cyprus where the e-mail was generated.
Philip von Rohr received the e-mail on June 10. The group described itself as "confirmed Islamic Hired killers and Suicide aids," and said members had been sent to assassinate the e-mail recipient and members of the email recipient's family. The e-mail is the generic sort in which the addressee isn't actually named. Von Rohr's name doesn't appear in the text.
The e-mail author said von Rohr had offended a member of "our gang," and that the member had ordered the assassination "after he made sure he acquired every information about you and your family," according to a copy of the e-mail provided by von Rohr. It was when the member was presenting the group with the information that another member of the gang claimed he knew someone in the e-mail recipient's extended family. That member asked that the e-mail recipient be pardoned, and the group agreed he could if von Rohr sent $800 to a receiver in London. The money would purportedly be used to help Islamic expatriates move out of the United States.
Von Rohr said he took the e-mail to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office where he said he was told by a receptionist that it was the latest scam out of Nigeria. He was then given a brochure on fraud recognition. He said he also filed a report with the FBI.
The e-mail address from which the message was sent was Amir.Hedayat@emu.edu.tr. Von Rohr did a little research and found the emu stood for Eastern Mediterranean University, which is located in Famagusta, North Cyprus. Von Rohr complained. Then he received an apology from Gurol Ozkaya, the general secretary of the university.
In e-mails sent to von Rohr, 50, and The Tampa Tribune, Ozkaya explained the problem. He said frequently the institution's 18,400 e-mail users receive spam requesting the user names and passwords of the e-mail users. In the most recent scheme, the e-mails asking for the user names and passwords had the extension, @emu.edu.tr, which is the same as the university's, Ozkaya wrote. Although the university warns the e-mail users about these frauds, four users thought the institution itself wanted the information and compromised their accounts by sending them along. Then, via the e-mail accounts of the four, the death threats were sent to other Internet users. The four had no idea this was going on, Ozkaya wrote.
The university has suspended the four e-mail accounts that were compromised, he wrote. A Web page that was reported to be the hosting site of the threats has been suspended as well, Ozkaya wrote. The university is also making sure that its server does not allow any e-mail from the four addresses from which the credentials were sought, he said. In addition to von Rohr's, the university received three other complaints, Ozkaya wrote. In his apology, he wrote that he would have the institution's computer center issue yet another warning.
"It was a scary thing," von Rohr said. "I pretty much 95 percent realized it was a hoax, but there was a little doubt and I felt I should talk to someone or report it."
PEOPLE for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is upset with US President Barack Obama killing a fly during a televised interview. PETA is sending President Barack Obama a Katcha Bug Humane Bug Catcher, a device that allows users to trap a house fly and then release it outside.
"We support compassion even for the most curious, smallest and least sympathetic animals," PETA spokesman Bruce Friedrich said.
#2
Maybe Obama should have paused the televised interview with CNBC correspondent John Harwood?
"Excuse me, could someone get over here and remove this fly? I don't CARE if there's a deadline for this interview's completion! This is a living creature that must be taken care of. Much more important than the American Citizens I'm working to help."
Come on! If a fly is ok to protect, then is a mosquito? They are about the same size. Both are irritating and carry diseases, but yes, mosquitos could possibly give Prez Obama the West Nile Virus.
What about slugs in the garden? Does PETA allow the chickens to eat flies and gnats and slugs and tomato hornworms? If hornworms are allowed to live, they WILL find and eat their fill of corn and tomatoes until humans have nothing to eat. So... how is letting the chicken do IT's thing any different that a human taking care of them?
IT'S A BUG!
Has PETA set a limit for their "beliefs"? Their website looks like they are using this to sell some bug-catcher thing. Unbelievable controversy when there are so many more things to think about.
We had a bug problem till the Brown Recluses came in. We harbored some stray cats for 'em now can't get rid of them. Thinking a pack of Dochsunds next...
#5
Should this one be filed under "Moonbat Fratricide"?
Posted by: Mike ||
06/18/2009 10:46
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#6
Methinks the Secret Service should've wrestled this fly to the ground.
Barry chastised for killing flies? PETA might've finally jumped the shark. Even with the usual loons.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/18/2009 16:59
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#17
Wonder if He is going to get a shirt that says "I killed 7 with one blow!" Yes I know it was one fly but he could have killed 7 if they were around (sarcasm)
The Criminal Court Wednesday found two Kuwaiti men guilty of recruiting youths to go to Afghanistan to fight the US forces in Kabul and sentenced them to five years in jail.
Case papers indicate the arresting officers investigations revealed the main accused, identified only as Abdullah E., worked for the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs and met the second accused, Mohammed A., inside a mosque in the suburb of Dhahr. According to the arresting officer, the men are members of groups who consider the governments and rulers infidel.
Case papers also indicate on Jan 30, 2008, Mohammed arranged Abdullahs travel to Pakistan via Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Dubai and Iran. He provided Abdullah with the money he needed for the trip. When Abdullah reached the province of Waziristan, he joined a training camp and stayed there for 20 days. During that period he received training on the use arms and ammunition. However, he failed the test and was caught consuming drugs. Abdullah was forced to return to an area bordering Iran where he met an unidentified person from another Muslim group. When the person discovered Abdullah was a drug addict, he shot him in the foot to force him to return to Kuwait. Upon arrival at the Kuwait International Airport on Jan 25, 2009, he was arrested and whisked away for interrogation.
Sensing a new "ethic of service" in the country, first lady Michelle Obama says community service and volunteer organizations can thrive and, with mutual support, rise to meet the challenges they face during hard economic times.
"I'm feeling it. People really want to get involved and turn their frustration [about economic challenges] into action," Mrs. Obama said Tuesday as the keynote speaker at the Greater DC Cares Business and Nonprofit Philanthropy Summit and Awards luncheon in downtown Washington.
"Communities are built and rebuilt by regular people," she told about 500 civic leaders, including Brearn Wright, principal of Truesdell Elementary School, and Catherine C. Martens, president and chief executive officer of the local Make-a-Wish Foundation.
Celebrating 20 years, Greater DC Cares trains volunteers, places them with needy organizations, provides professional development for businesses and offers emergency preparation and response.
The organization presented awards Tuesday to businesses and nonprofits that made exceptional contributions.
Bates White LLC was given the Greatest Impact on a Local Nonprofit Award, and Deloitte LLP and the Jewish Social Service Agency of Alexandria were honored with the Community Impact Award.
Tom Raffa, president of Raffa P.C., and Jonelle S. Wallmeyer, executive director of ACT for Alexandria, were presented Social Value Leadership Awards.
Mrs. Obama, a former community worker in Chicago, was quick to thank the attendees for making her and the president feel so welcome "in our second home" since moving into the White House in January. "What day was that again?" she teased.
The first lady said she understood from firsthand experience how difficult it can be to run a nonprofit, especially when fundraising dollars dry up.
She explained to the group that when she ran Public Allies, an AmeriCorps youth program in Chicago, she also struggled with payroll, fundraising and paperwork.
"It's necessary work, but sometimes it can drive you nuts," she said, as many of the community leaders in the group nodded and chuckled in agreement.
Mrs. Obama encouraged the community leaders at the event to support one another, because when push comes to shove, "private counsel" among community leaders means a great deal.
Mrs. Obama heralded the passage of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which will triple funding for volunteer organizations.
"In order to make service a priority, we need the capacity to welcome new volunteers," she said.
For her part, the first lady explained that in addition to relying on her peers in the community, she was buoyed while working in Chicago by seeing people from various backgrounds come together.
She said she recruited everyone for Public Allies, from college graduates to ex-felons, and she encouraged the luncheon attendees to learn from her example.
"That's when the magic happened. You see the kid from Harvard and the kid with a GED both so full of promise," she said.
Mrs. Obama closed her remarks by saying that she and the administration will be tapping the talent of the Washington nonprofit community for its ideas and inspiration.
"As tired as you may be, we're going to need you. We can change the way the world sees us."
#1
Mrs. Obama closed her remarks by saying that she and the administration will be tapping the talent of the Washington nonprofit community for its ideas and inspiration.
#3
Would these be like those paid volunteers from AmeriCorp CA?
Anyone able to match up gang control with community organizing? If they matched up that would be...interesting. Otherwise it still smells of unionizing neighborhoods which would only further fractionalize urban areas IMHO. Do these organized communities get spiffy uniforms and badges?
Or how bout this:
With the surplus of the service minded funemployed, we have a rail system which could cart out the mandatory volunteers to the hinterlands for crop planting and harvest since, it being against the law to use farm equipment on account of the dirt and exhaust they pollute the atmosphere. Not to worry, all hand non-pointy and safe edged scythes will be made from recycled SUVs and hand stitched hemp tents will be provided, as well as the training for water conservation and digging 6' deep tornado shelters. After 2 sessions of 6 weeks each successful completion ensures government loans. Multiple session completers will qualify for a Biomass Operations Social Service and Environmental Savior position (will be acronymed for newspeak of course) where you will may be issued a horse and upgrade duties to include control of water and gasoline for distribution to emergency and visiting dignitary services. If unfortunately there is an accident your family will be awarded a bag of Service Beans which can be proudly planted in your Urban Community Greenhouse in your honor and dedicated service.
An Iranian provincial prosecutor has warned that the "few elements" behind post-election unrest could face the death penalty under Islamic law, an Iranian news agency reported Wednesday.
Mohammadreza Habibi, prosecutor-general in the central province of Isfahan, said these elements were controlled from outside Iran and urged them to stop "criminal activities," Fars News Agency said.
"We warn the few elements controlled by foreigners who try to disrupt domestic security by inciting individuals to destroy and to commit arson that the Islamic penal code for such individuals waging war against God is execution," Habibi said.
"So before they are stricken with the law's anger they should return to the nation's embrace and avoid criminal measures and activities," he said.
It was not clear if his warning applied to just Isfahan or the country as a whole.
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Excellent op-ed piece in the NYT that explains how Short Round and Khamenei started laying the groundwork for their own revolution after the previous election four years ago.
By DANIELLE PLETKA and ALI ALFONEH
JUST after Iran's rigged elections last week, with hundreds of thousands of protesters taking to the streets, it looked as if a new revolution was in the offing. Five days later, the uprising is little more than a symbolic protest, crushed by the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Meanwhile, the real revolution has gone unnoticed: the guard has effected a silent coup d'état.
The seeds of this coup were planted four years ago with the election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. And while he has since disappointed his public, failing to deliver on promised economic and political reforms, his allies now control the country. In the most dramatic turnabout since the 1979 revolution, Iran has evolved from theocratic state to military dictatorship.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2009
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#2
Disenchantment with clerical rule has been growing for years. To the rural poor, they epitomize the corruption that has meant unbuilt schools, unpaved roads and unfulfilled promises of development.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. The typical blindered Westerner's view. Rural Iranians don't care about development as long as they can live their lives the way their grandparents did. They don't care if their sons can get jobs in computer companies and buy them bigscreen TVs.
#3
Um no, grom, the rural Iranians do care and have made it clear they care. Yes, they like their simple country ways, but they also like paved roads, village medical clinics, and clean water.
As do most people.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2009 9:11
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#4
"Five days later, the uprising is little more than a symbolic protest, crushed by the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps"
One doesnt have to get all creepy Sullivanish to find the above statement, well, premature at best. Michael Ledeen finds it "silly" (I would love to see Sully quote Ledeen against Pletka - I guess its enough Sully is acknowledging Totten as a "good neocon" he probably doesnt have the stomach to note that he and Ledeen agree)
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/18/2009 12:26
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#5
Where is the state department in this?
They've been crying about an Iranian revolution for years, how much involvement have they had thus far? Is propping up twitter all the revolutionary feeling they can muster now?
and...did Hillary break her elbow in some losing arm wrestling match to decide Iran's future with the empty suit?
Clicking the title will take you to an English language blog run by an Iranian ex-pat with good sources. If you have other such sources -- run by Iranians, in English, on the side of the protesters, use the 'Link' function in the comments box and post in comments here. It would be much appreciated!
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2009
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The United States may hold 50 or more trials of detainees being held at the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Attorney General Eric Holder told lawmakers Wednesday. US Attorney General Eric Holder detailed the plan before the Senate Judiciary Committee, as the Obama administration pushes to meet a year-end deadline to close the controversial prison.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss ...
Under the plan, about 56 inmates would face trial by US authorities, while a separate group of detainees would be transferred abroad. A third group would not be released or face trial, Holder said officials were working on how to handle these inmates, including possibly crafting new legislation to hold them.
Gee, this sounds so-o-o-o-o familiar ...
Senate Republicans had mixed remarks of Holders plans, with one republican, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, at the hearing criticizing Holder as "too soft" on terrorism after releasing several of the Bush administration memos authorizing harsh interrogation techniques, and another, Senator Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, backing the proposed plan to bring about 25 percent of the current 229 inmates to a civilian or military trial.
Graham told Holder "I think you're on the right track," endorsing an independent trial to review and validate military and intelligence information used to as the basis of holding the detainees.
A former close aide to Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud has said the US, India and Israel are behind the Taliban commander, who he termed the biggest enemy of Islam, Dunya News reported on Wednesday. Qari Turkistan told Dunya News that the cause of his differences with Mehsud was his attacks on mosques and madrassas, explosions in markets and the slaughtering of religious scholars and troops -- "which is not Islam".
He said jihad was being fought in Afghanistan, Kashmir and Iraq but there was no jihad in Pakistan. He said he hoped the operation launched against Baitullah would succeed within a month. Qari claimed he had the support of a majority of the Mehsud tribes, adding that Baitullah is only supported by Chechens, Uzbeks and between 300 to 400 Mehsud tribesmen.
#4
G(r)om - don't you know? Everything that happens anywhere in Muzzie-land is the fault of the US, India, and Israel, whether any of them had even a whiff of an idea of supporting it or not.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/18/2009 19:05
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North Korea is rushing to withdraw money from its overseas bank accounts after the United Nations imposed financial and other sanctions for its nuclear test, a report said. South Korea's Dong-A Ilbo newspaper, quoting sources in Beijing, said the North had begun withdrawing funds from accounts in Macau and elsewhere for fear they would be frozen. The paper said funds were being pulled out of almost all the communist state's foreign accounts held either by individuals or trading firms.
It's awfully hard to engage in any sort of non-criminal trade without a bank account.
It gave no details.
The mere threat of sanctions is enough to make the rats scurry ...
But when you are one of the rats trying to leave a sinking ship in the middle of the ocean...
"As the sanctions are in place, the possibility exists. We are trying to verify the news report," a National Intelligence Service spokesman told AFP.
Security Council Resolution 1874 passed last Friday calls on UN member states to expand sanctions first imposed on the North after its initial nuclear test in 2006. It calls for tougher cargo inspections, a tighter arms embargo and new targeted financial restrictions to choke off revenue for Pyongyang's nuclear and missile sectors.
Last week, before the resolution was passed, South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper said Seoul had given Washington details of 10-20 bank accounts held by North Koreans in China, Switzerland and elsewhere. It said the accounts were suspected of being used for transactions related to counterfeiting, drug dealing and money laundering.
It does make it difficult for the current #1 son to party in Geneva without a bank account... and not every venue takes a forged American Express card.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2009
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#1
I shall not wish NORKS success this time. The game is over. I call their bluff now. What do you say Bambi?
#3
Macau and nork again. I recall that Macau is an SEA banking center, but not the primary one. Just enough 'off' to attract/not be put off by nork business? Maybe the parentage of any $100 bills secured in macau vaults should be looked into. And where did the billions in bonds come from (the recent Switzerland seizure)? Pure conjecture on my part, but there is an odor.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
06/18/2009 7:18
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Don't be hard on those Nork $100 bills. I suspect starting next year, the Treasury will need a lot of help in printing the suckers. You know the time before the Treasury just gives up and tells everyone that producing them on your color laser printer is actually more expensive than they're worth. 1.6 Trillion served /sarc off
#5
Could this be a prelude to the missile test and a possible attack on South Korea?
If the North Koreans were to attack, they would want their money in-hand, and in dollar denomination or else in gold, to avoid monetary consequences for failure.
The recent wave of attacks on mosques and clerics, who are vocal against terrorists, aims at scaring them, Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer said on Wednesday. Talking to Dunya News, Taseer said clerics had united against the Taliban. "The ulema are in agreement now and have declared these people terrorists who have nothing to do with Islam." He said he had told President Asif Zardari and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to set up a 'joint central command' to curb terrorism across the country. The governor said that this was not the time to blame each other, but to unite against terrorism.
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To: the ladies and gentlemen of Rantburg, including those of you who aren't sure you (or that other guy!) merit the title. For the record, yes you do, as I define those terms.
From: trailing wife, speaking as the wielder of the periwinkle Cluebat with its lovely trailing ribbons
Subject: How not to get banned, either temporarily or permanently
I've noticed a deterioration in the quality of some conversations here recently, which has driven me to the use of stronger-than-usual language and resulted in the banning of several regular posters. Clearly some of you have forgotten, or never knew, what "Civil, Well-Reasoned Discourse" actually is.
Here goes:
1. Cussing and picturesque language is ok, suitably asterisked of course, if it helps to make your point. Nastiness is not. If you can't tell the difference, consult a kindergartner or your mother. Or you can ask in the O Club, which is open to all who wish an imaginary drink and real off-topic conversation, and can be accessed from the yellow bar in the right-hand column of the front page. AutoBartender stocks Yuengling beer (I think I spelt that right), two of OldSpook's favourite single malt Scotches (I think one is 12 year old Balmorie, but I'm not good at remembering such things), and makes the best margaritas this side of reality. AB's club soda with lime is pretty good, too.
2. Racist or sexist language is never ok. In fact, any -ist language is not ok. If your mother would object, do not post it. If your mother was prone to make statements that started, "All (blacks/whites/men/women/Mexicans/Gays/Jews/Arabs/whatever) are (your negative attribute here)", you may borrow my mother for the purpose. You do have to give her back afterward, as I'm rather fond of her. If your statement contains a cliched stereotype, do not post it, even if you think the stereotype is true. Again, if you are not sure, ask at the O Club, or don't post it.
3. Advocating assassination of, or harm to, any American citizen is strictly forbidden. It does not matter how justified your dislike may be.For the purpose of this discussion, the term American includes the politicians and citizens of all members of the Coalitions in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is always open season on War On Terror bad guys: one of the moderators is quite willing to spot for you if you have Osama bin Laden in your gunsights. I think I'm more likely to get to shake the hand of the man or woman sending Predator drone missiles toward the guest house of a certain mullah in Quetta, but I'm quite willing to be wrong.
4. Any statement that begins, "I'm probably going to get banned for this" is a bad idea. Your subconscious is very, very smart -- listen to it.
If you are sinktrapped, it's because you broke one of these rules and got caught. If you are banned, either temporarily or permanently, it's because you keep breaking the rules, even though warned. In other words, because you stubbornly insist on being stupid. Nym changing will not fool any of the moderators, not even me, because your IP address is visible to their X-ray eyes.
Only Fred Pruitt, our host, can un-ban you. You can try e-mailing him about it, and you may persuade him that you are sincere in your promise to reform. But, using someone else's computer to post about how unfair it was that you were banned will just get that person's IP address banned, too. In one particularly egregious case recently, an entire city was banned. No doubt the rest of its inhabitants eagerly await Fred's return to health, cursing the idiot who caused their Rantburg withdrawal symptoms.
Thank you. Tea and cookies are being set up as you finish reading this... and of course there is something a little stronger on the sideboard for those who need more than tea.
#2
Now I'm scared....I've never seen Trailing Wife use her cluebat, so far her wit has been more than sufficient to slice up any that dare cause her grief.
Since we don't know her cluebat's rating in megatons, I suggest all the bad people hang out somewhere far far away from me. I don't want to end up coated in long-pig flavored soot.
*tips his hat to TW, then gallantly finds a nice quiet hole, where it's dark and safe to lurk in.*
#3
People still won't get it. I moderate on another site and no matter how clearly you put it, some mouth breathing dolt is always crossing the line. I'm just glad I can vent a little here at Rantburg. Cheaper than therapy, I'll tell ya. ;)
#5
Cute, Besoeker. And oh, so true! Sadly, it's end users like me who drive them to that attitude. My apologies to all the Help Desk men and women I drove to quiet gibbering over the years.
Silentbrick, Gabby, y'all are two of the many delightful people here at Rantburg who have a high probability of never being at the receiving end of a Cluebat. I haven't seen many banned, or even many needing sinktrapping, relative to the number of interesting, educational, and amusingly snarky posts each day.
DarthVader, Fred provided these tools precisely because some will insist on their inalienable right to break the house rules, forgetting that a) Rantburg is Fred's private property, and he can close it to the rest of us should we annoy him enough, and b) even public spaces have rules and limits on behaviour, eg. you can't use a corner of the public library as your private toilet, or even as a nice open space to practice football cheers.
#6
you can't use a corner of the public library as your private toilet...
Obviously TW, you never been to the downtown branch of the Seattle Public Library. just 4 blocks up from world famous Muskatel Meadows. But I digress...
Having said that. Thanks for all the Mods of all colors (and cluebat megatonnage) for their efforts. You efforts are what makes Rantburg one of the most decent places I've seen.
#9
Thank you all for the work you do to keep Rantburg a forum for all with a topic or question, snipe hunters, and lurkers who who tire of washing diarrhea of the keyboard out their eyes.
#10
How about Carter or Fonda? Do we get any kind of exception for them? They may be legal citizens by birth, but they really belong somewhere else, even though they don't seem to be willing to move there themselves.
Would it be OK to wish a painful natural death upon someone?
#11
It's one thing to attack people for their personal or political views, and another to call attention to their cerebral failings. Carter and Fonda fall in a category all to themselves. I just like to sit here and dream of all kinds of nasty things to do to people who have no clue to how their views - and frequently actions - harm others. Rantburg is the prime source for my target list. I know I sometimes either come very close to the edge, and occasionally over it, and I've had my hand slapped by several of the mods. I try to remain within reason, but sometimes, I just have to vent. Being banned for a couple of days is serious enough that I hold my tongue in check again until the next extremely stupid event pushes me over the edge again. This being a "cultured barbarian" ain't easy work!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/18/2009 13:56
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Of course the ban on wishing-anyone-ill also does apply to the POTUS (and TOTUS) of which there may be some questions about his citizenship...
#14
Having been on the recieving end of threats of violence against my family and myself by a couple of former frequent posters here because of, for all things, my views on international labor markets, I can only say that I appreciate a little civility.
Let's save our vitriol for those who really deserve it and not eat our own, and what vitriol we have, let's use it wisely where it can have the most effect.
Thanks, TW, and BTW your book is next in queue for my reading pleasure.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
06/18/2009 15:04
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#15
Clearly, my next task is to learn how to add a moderator comments, in glorious highlighter colour, to another's post in a thread. But since I'm still climbing the [very high] learning curve, I'll have to do it the old-fashioned way.
It's truly an honour to serve [man] here, JohnQC. ;-) I'm grateful to be given the opportunity by such a wonderful community. no mo uro, happy reading... although I've no memory of what I recommended. Poor, long-suffering TOTUS is not in the no-threats category, CrazyFool, but may yet spontaneously combust from the strain. Old Patriot, I agree some individuals make it very difficult to remain civil, let alone well-reasoned, but you know we only give you a time-out for your own good. You are so much better at it than you used to be, my dear! I've no objection to mocking those who choose to be stupid as they so clearly deserve (eg dear, dear Ms. Fonda and her masculine counterpart, the former president James Earl (Jimmy) Carter -- who I trust is loved by both wife and mother -- or our chew-toy trolls); but, death will come to them soon enough -- there's no need to so much as wish aloud that it be hurried, gorb.
Hopefully funky skunk is using this opportunity to reflect on the error of his ways.
Willy, nobody could turn a phrase, or a couple of vitriolic paragraphs, like .com. But I'll bet if you go back to his best posts you'll find he accomplished that without breaking Fred's rules -- .com was one of nature's gentlemen as well as a gifted writer. I miss him, too. We are woefully diminished by the absence of those who no longer make Rantburg their other home, even as new voices have come to enrich the conversation.
#16
If I may, I will skim over the usual paeans to RB & the mods, straight to the criticism.
I think that the echo has got louder since the banning of certain characters, such as Aris Katsaris. I rarely agreed with anything that he said; although he was good on facts, his opinions & judgements were invariably bad.
Point is, the debate was lively and in depth to the extent that it would seem intimidating to the trolls of the present ilk, who would probably rather watch him be ripped limb from limb by the adults and hopefully learn something (like I did) rather than risk looking like an idiot throwing turds and right-wing-nuttier-than-thou statements into the fray.
In the absence of an effective opposition, the debate becomes more of a snarkfest, with people competing over who can be the snarkiest.
However I do also recognise that, the fact that RB now represents the political opposition does not help, as the wing nuts are likely to get inflamed by the driveby "bitter-clinger-racist" chants from smug Obammunists.
However what you get wrong is still far outweighed by what you get right, so thanks again. My only suggestion would be to actively re-engage on the left. Its the only way to win back power.
#18
I agree with you to a point, Admiral. I've hated it every time anyone, with the exception of Boris, has been banned, and for precisely the reasons you just gave. If we exclude all argument from the other side we're just chanting, not discussing.
But we have to have rules. Personal attacks are one of the rules. We don't allow them. That's why Aris is banned, not for his opinions, which were subject to debate.
Another rule is calling for people to be killed (other than those wearing turbans and grimacing in our general direction). That includes Jane Fonda and The Worst President Ever. You can hope out loud that they catch gonorrhea and die, but advocating the expenditure of ammunition puts you in the same category the enemy. That's the way they conduct civil, well-reasoned discourse. That's how funky skunk made the pooplist.
Another rule, less well-defined, I think, is trolling, which I define as showing up for the express purpose of firing up flame wars. There have been a few bans I'd not have made, but I'm in kinda sorta objective agreement. Like Zenster.
The other stuff should be obvious to reasonably well-mannered people. We're not racists here, and if you are then go someplace else. This isn't a pörn site. Most of us aren't particularly concerned if you like boys (or girls as inappropriate), though I think most of us are against making it mandatory.
We don't have time for conspiracy theories. B.O.'s obviously got something to hide with regard to his birth certificate, but you can bet your last piaster that there's not going to come an episode where the last election's overturned because it turns out he's actually Indonesian, Kenyan, or Guatamalan. Things don't work that way. Maybe if he's actually an alien from Arcturus, complete with tentacles and eleven eyes...
I don't want to see the site become boring because everybody has the same opinion. At the same time there are some fairly standard standards of good manners, and there are some subjects that cause people to roll their eyes.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2009 17:13
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#19
I gotta' tell ya' TW, as a sometime commenter and frequent reader, I have found the "back and forth" between commenters here to be more civil than some sites I read. Having said that, if at any time I have offended anyone by what I've said; it was not intentional and I apologize.
Keep up the good work.
#28
A Spanish bar is attempting to provide an outlet for uncivil discourse: It's encouraging clients to insult its staff and offering free drinks for original or hilarious abuse..Polish-born bar owner Bernard Mariusz said he thought people needed somewhere to release their frustrations at a time of economic crisis, employing the Spanish language's rich store of earthy obscenities.
"That way they won't let it out on their family," he said.
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran said Wednesday it is investigating reports of violence at a Tehran University dormitory in the wake of rallies sparked by last week's disputed election. The aftermath of anti-riot police actions at Tehran University shows smashed computer terminals.
Tehran University students told a CNN iReporter that government forces staged a massive crackdown early Monday at the university's dorm. Some students were detained in the raid. Students jumped out of windows to escape the Iranian police forces who threw tear gas and beat students, according to the iReporter, a former Tehran University student who now lives outside Iran. He did not want to be identified for security reasons.
CNN has been unable to confirm the account because of restrictions on international media in Tehran.
Parliament speaker Ali Larijani on Wednesday called for an "unbiased report" by the team of lawmakers appointed to look into the "unfortunate incidents" at the university dorm, according to Iran's government-funded Press TV. "There has been news of unfortunate incidents taking place in parts of the city such as the Tehran University dormitory, and it appears that hidden hands are at work to feed foreign media outlets with propaganda," Larijani said.
The investigating lawmakers have spoken to Tehran University students and other officials and are demanding the release of the detained students, Press TV reported. The lawmakers are also calling for the arrest and punishment of those who perpetrated the violence and for students to be compensated for their loss, according to Press TV.
The CNN iReporter said one Tehran University student e-mailed him as the assault on the dormitory happened between 1 and 5 a.m. Monday. "So around 4 a.m., he sends this very frightening e-mail. He says, 'Right now Ansaar [pro-government] forces are outside of buildings and threatening students to, 'Get out of the rooms like good boys.' Thank God the night is going to be over soon. Please pray for us!'" the iReporter told CNN.
A couple hours later, the student wrote, "Some students jumped out of windows to save themselves and got injured, but the shameless forces even beat and arrested those too. ... Some of the arrested students are released after more beating and interrogation, others are missing."
The iReporter said he believes Iranian students have "a very important role" in Iranian politics, but noted that the current protests in Iran are more than just a student movement.
"At least the perspective that those forces have is that the students are at the leadership of this movement," he said. "This might or might not be true especially right now because all the people are involved in this protest and it's not only students. They have a very important role here."
There have been reports of crackdowns on other Iranian universities. Amateur video posted on YouTube showed several injured people identified as Isfahan University students.
Amnesty International said it appeared students were also targeted at Tabriz University in northwestern Iran when security forces entered dormitories there and detained 10 students. Amnesty also reported similar crackdowns on university students in the cities of Shiraz, Mashhad and Zahedan.
The human rights agency called on Iranian authorities to "end attacks on students."
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2009
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#1
If it's ok for the New Black Panthers to control who gets to go the the polls in Philadelphia, and ok for ACORN to cast votes for dead and brain-dead people then what's the problem with the Basiij and Republican Guard influencing the Iranian elections?
On this day in history: June 18th.
1429 French forces under the leadership of Joan of Arc defeat the main English army under Sir John Fastolf at the Battle of Patay. This turns the tide of the Hundred Years' War.
1778 British troops abandon Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1858 Charles Darwin receives a paper from Alfred Russel Wallace that includes nearly identical conclusions about evolution as Darwin's own. This prompts Darwin to publish his theory.
1873 Susan B. Anthony is fined $100 for attempting to vote in the 1872 presidential election.
1923 Checker Taxi puts its first taxi on the streets.
1940 "Finest Hour" speech by Winston Churchill.
1959 Governor of Louisiana Earl K. Long is committed to a state mental hospital; he responds by having the hospital's director fired and replaced with a crony who proceeds to proclaim him perfectly sane.
1981 The AIDS epidemic is formally recognized by medical professionals in San Francisco, California.
1983 Space Shuttle program: STS-7, Astronaut Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space.
1996 Ted Kaczynski, suspected of being the Unabomber, is indicted on ten criminal counts.
Every dictator is determined to make his own mistakes by Ramin Ahmadi
Monday June 15 was a turning point in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It was the first time that demonstrations against the government reached nearly 3 million in Tehran. Five other cities, Tabriz, Urumeyeh, Shiraz, Rasht and Isfahan, joined the action with several hundred thousand people taking to the streets.
By all accounts Monday was also the bloodiest day of the new democracy movement. Plainclothes men belonging to Iran's notorious paramilitary force, the Basij, opened fire on the protesters, killing more than a dozen and injuring many more. In a Tehran University dormitory, five students were shot to death and many more were injured. Another city, Shiraz, witnessed multiple bloodbaths.
Tabriz, Shiraz and Tehran are now officially under martial law. The death toll is still not clear but the outcome of this violence is. On Wednesday people came out wearing black, mourning in solidarity with families who lost their loved ones. Evening hours are spent on the rooftops, voicing protest with slogans like "God is great," "Ahmadinejad is Pinochet but Iran will not become Chile," "Bye Bye Ahmadinejad," and "He can see the halo but can't see millions of people."
I have watched with horror the new footage of violence committed against the youth almost every hour. In at least one film clip, Arabic-speaking men treat a young protester like a piece of meat getting ready to be cut in the local butcher shop. The activists report seeing many of these Arabic-speaking men among the anti-riot police force in the streets of Tehran. This poses a special problem for students committed to nonviolent protest. The cornerstone of nonviolence strategy is to talk to your oppressor, to remind him of your humanity and to show him his family members in the crowd. How do you do all that when your oppressor has been imported from abroad, selected from oppressed, poor Palestinian or Lebanese communities?
The Iranian regime is also rounding up foreign reporters. A few European correspondents were forced to pack their bags and leave. Others have been confined to their hotel rooms. They were told that the Iranian government can no longer insure their safety. CNN's Christiane Amanpour went on the record as having bought the government story and told CNN's Larry King that the Iranian government probably didn't want to have reporters' blood on its hands. But the truth is likely elsewhere.
The expulsion of foreign journalists is another ominous sign indicating that more bloodshed is planned. The government has made a calculated decision to confront demonstrations with pure force. It believes that the excitement of the people over the election results will be short lived. That the movement can be contained and the majority's will can be subdued using massive force and unimaginable brutality. In preparation for that scenario, it plans to isolate the country from the rest of the world as much as possible.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2009
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#1
Christiane Amanpour ... told CNN's Larry King that the Iranian government probably didn't want to have reporters' blood on its hands.
A liberal - a person who lies as much to themselves as they do to others.
Japan has decided to ban all exports to North Korea. The move comes in response to the North's latest nuclear and missile activities.
Starting June 18 until April next year, all exports to North Korea will be banned, along with an entry ban for foreigners who violate laws restricting trade and money transactions to the North. The measure comes on top of an earlier ban on exports of luxury goods following the North's first nuclear test in 2006.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said the sanctions may be removed if the North renounces its nuclear pursuits and addresses the issue of North Korea's abductions of Japanese citizens back in the 1970s and 80s.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2009
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#1
The comments at the Politico link are pretty much as you'd expect, 'til you reach this gem (Lack of paragraphs and rational thought in the original):
This is a direct attack on Schedulers, not an issue of formalities in regards to salutations! If Elizabeth had been a Richard and the request was sent to ?Dick? I don?t think we?d be reading the same poorly reported hill vomit! Shame on you Anne- for authoring such nonsensically crap, and at the same time thank you for reminding us that bad journalism and reality TV style editing still make the headlines. Scheduling is not for the faint of heart, the really nice, nor the pushovers. The biggest complaint I received while I was Scheduler was that I was too accommodating and nice. The schedulers who are praised and succeed are the ?bad guys? and cover for their Boss, while demanding respect for the crucial role they play. The suggested correlation between calling Elizabeth by a nick-name and not getting a meeting is absurd! The email correspondence that you left out because it was deemed unrelated is a great way of covering your ass, as I?m sure if you actually reported a story with all the facts and information there wouldn?t have been much of a story at all. Only because I have a scheduling trained eye- It is obvious to me that the this request was handled improperly, in that two or more lobbyist were requesting this meeting- were not corresponding with each other, made novice mistakes and/or purposely requested the same meeting to confuse the scheduler and move it for the kill during the mess. It?s the old bait and switch- Lobbyist A: You send the request to the scheduler, then I will send a request as well that looks slightly different. The scheduler will get confused, drop the ball, and then will have to schedule our meeting to make amends. Lobbyist B: Great idea, you address your email to Elizabeth and I?ll address my to Liz Lobbyist C: Great idea guys, and then I call the office and leave 2 voicemails daily, follow up with an 80 page fax and then harass the front desk because I know Elizabeth is there, she just doesn?t want to talk to us. - And yes, it worked! They got a rise out of Elizabeth, most likely their meeting. I would like to make a request that the facts of this article be checked and that Anne Schroeder Mullins? connection with the scheduling world and the lobbyist in this article be reviewed! I am starting to smell a conflict and a smear campaign at the expense of Elizabeth?..Politico take action and responsibility for this misuse of the press to propel a personal agenda! Ethics should include the press taking donations from lobbyist as well! I hope all your paperwork is in line Anne- and that you and your friends are exposed! To my fellow schedulers: Viva La Resistance!
#4
I wonder where Politico got these emails in the first place. I suspect that the person on the receiving end got ticked off and forwarded the pile to one of his buddies, or maybe a slew of his buddies. If he did, that would be a truly spectacular revenge.
As somebody who commented on the Politico site said, "She forgot that emails are forever."
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Iran's most powerful military force is warning online media of a crackdown over their coverage of the country's election crisis. The Revolutionary Guards, an elite body answering to the supreme leader, says Iranian Web sites and bloggers must remove any materials that "create tension" or face legal action.
It is the Guards' first public statement since the crisis erupted following the presidential election last Friday.
Iranian reformist Web sites as well as blogs and Western Web sites like Facebook and Twitter have been vital conduits for Iranians to inform the world about protests over the declaration of election victory for hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The government barred foreign media Tuesday from leaving their offices to report on the street protests.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2009
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Rat Boy's Brownshirts.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
06/18/2009 1:02
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#4
Now if we could only get them to warn ABC, CBS, MSNBC, and the other left wing shills over here...
Posted by: Francis ||
06/18/2009 12:16
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in fairness to the leftwing shills, New York Times, BBC, and even, god save us, the Guardian have been doing yeomans work in getting news out of Iran. To give credit to right wing shills, Wall Street Journal I am told is doing a great job as well. In the blogosphere the good work has been across ideological lines, including lefty Huffington Post, neocon Michael Totten, and hysterical Andrew Sullivan.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/18/2009 12:22
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yes lh, some sites and media are following it
Not so much however for NBC, ABC, CBS and CNN. I remember a CNN guy saying that they whitewashed the coverage of Saddam's depredations in order to keep access (hey what's a few tens of thousands of torture victims anyway when you could get one or two newsbreaker interviews with a deputy to the dictator).
Posted by: Lord garth ||
06/18/2009 15:25
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#7
Afaict the problem with cable news isnt ideological, its that theyd rather cover celebrity "news". CNN has been doing better, but only after they were shamed into it.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/18/2009 15:30
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Credit where due, indeed, liberal hawk. (I;m glad you're back!) The Wall Street Journal has a female reporter, with what sounds to be an Iranian name, on the ground in Tehran. She did a telephone interview with NPR today in the early afternoon.
North Korea's highest court recently sentenced two American journalists to 12 years hard labor for attempting to report on the plight of North Korean refugees in China. Those refugees are fleeing a humanitarian catastrophe caused by a regime that has allowed more than one million people to die of starvation and killed 400,000 more over 30 years in its gulag-style prison camps. An uncertain number of North Korean refugees -- probably between 100,000 and 400,000 -- live a precarious existence in China, facing the constant threat of forced repatriation.
One of those refugees, a woman named Bang Mi Sun who managed to flee a second time after being repatriated and sent to a North Korean labor camp, recently said, "If I had a chance to meet with President Obama, I would first like to tell him how North Korean women are being sold like livestock in China and, second, to know that North Korean labor camps are hell on earth."
Continued on Page 49
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06/18/2009
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"If I had a chance to meet with President Obama, I would first like to tell him how North Korean women are being sold like livestock in China and, second, to know that North Korean labor camps are hell on earth."
1. You ain't got a snowball's chance in hell of that meeting.
2. He doesn't care.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/18/2009 15:38
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A cheque for Rs 75,000, given by the government to one of the victims of a suicide attack on the Rescue 15 building in Lahore, has bounced, with the bank citing shortage of money in the national exchequer, a private TV channel reported on Wednesday. Muhammad Azhar, who was injured in the attack, told the channel a representative of the Lahore district commissioner's officer visited the hospital and gave cheques to those injured in the attack. He said he was also given a cheque for Rs 75,000, but bounced. The bank claimed there was no money in the national exchequer.
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06/18/2009
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The ethnic Korean guide who accompanied two American journalists sentenced to a labor camp in North Korea last week has been arrested by the Chinese security authorities, said a South Korean pastor who organized the reporters' trip in March.
Chun Ki-won, a Christian pastor and human rights activist, said the guide, Kim Seong-cheol, was arrested in China after he managed to evade North Korean guards on March 17, the day Euna Lee and Laura Ling were caught near the China-North Korea border on the Tumen River while reporting on North Korean refugees.
"I believe the Chinese arrested Kim to question him about the journalists' situation," said Chun, who declined to provide further, personal details on Kim.
Or to shut him up, or at least to stash him away. He's not going to do well.
Chun said he introduced Kim to Lee and Ling, journalists for the San Francisco-based Current TV, upon their request in January. "Current TV wanted to send Caucasians on this reporting trip," Chun recalled. "But I told them reporting on refugees had to be carried out in secret and having Caucasians would make them stand out."
This smells to high heaven. Euna Lee is ethnically Korean -- born and raised for part of her life near Seoul. Her parents still live there. It's pretty clear that she was on this trip for her language skills, since she's a film editor without other obvious reporting experience, and CurrentTV is a small operation with a tight budget. She's NOT caucasian. Kim may have been there to help with translations and to serve as a gofer and fixer, but the statement above is odd.
And furthermore, why NOT send caucasians? For example, send Katie Couric. She isn't going to skulk around, and skulking around is overated anyways -- the big blonde American can still get the story while in full view. And Katie will certainly be cautious with her well-toned skin and not do something stupid like cross the border to pick up a pebble.
Chun said he arranged meetings with refugees for the journalists. "I told them never to cross the border," he said.
The pastor added Lee, who was "fluent in Korean,"
see ...
... called him twice a day to provide him with updates.
More and more it's looking like the Norks knew the two reporters were in Yanji and decided to grab them: Ling because of the reporting her sister had done that had embarrassed the Norks, and Lee because she's South Korean. Kim they let go, and the remaining question about personnel was how Mitch Koss, the CurrentTV producer who was in the vehicle with the other three that day, managed to get away. Did the Norks not care about him? Not see him? Or did he do a Sir Robin? And if he ran, that meant they were on Chinese soil -- if they were on the Nork side, there was a river between him and China.
Late Tuesday, North Korea charged the two journalists were trying to stage a "smear campaign." "At the trial the accused admitted that what they did were criminal acts prompted by a political motive to isolate and stifle the socialist system of the DPRK [North Korea] by faking moving images aimed at falsifying its human rights performance and hurling slander and calumny at it," a report on the official Korean Central News Agency said. "We are following with a high degree of vigilance the attitude of the U.S. which spawned the criminal act against [North Korea]."
I have an idea: why don't we have our Secretary of State send the Norks a message that they release the reporters or we find and close each and every foreign bank account they have?
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2009
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Taliban commander Qari Zainudin Mehsud has said he is not in favour of attacks against the Pakistan government and blames Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud for all terrorist acts in the country. Talking to a private TV channel on Wednesday, Zainudin said Islam did not permit attacks inside Pakistan, adding it was the issue of attacks inside Pakistan, which was the basis of his differences with Baitullah Mehsud. He said they had allied with Baitullah against non-Muslims and not for attacks inside Pakistan.
In response, TTP commander Hafiz Saeed, while also talking to a private TV channel, said Zainudin was not part of the TTP and as such was not authorised to speak for them. "He does not belong to the TTP and is working at the behest of the government," he said.
Police on Wednesday arrested three suspected terrorists, including two would-be suicide bombers, in Rawalpindi; a suspected Taliban from a mosque in Peshawar's Kissa Khawani Bazaar; and a notorious terrorist from the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group in Karachi. Police also seized suicide jacket, a hand grenade, two pistols, 90 rounds and 2 kilogrammes of explosives. The man arrested in Karachi -- identified as Irfan Islam alias Lamba -- was wanted by police and his name was listed in CIA's Red Book for 2009.
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06/18/2009
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Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, on his first official visit to Washington on Wednesday, said Israel will not accept an "complete freezing of settlement" as part of direct talks with the Palestinians.
Following a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Lieberman told reporters that Israel has no "intention to change the demographics balance" in the West Bank cities of Judea and Samaria, and "so we cannot accept this vision about absolutely, completely, freezing of settlements."
"I think we must keep natural growth," Lieberman added. Israel had some "understanding with the previous George W. Bush administration and we tried to keep this direction. Israel is ready for immediate direct talks with the Palestinians," Lieberman, leader of the ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, said.
Clinton,standing next to Lieberman, expressed differences on whether communication between Israel and then-Bush administration committed the Obama administration to allow some settlements activities to continue. "In looking at the history of the Bush administration, there were no informal or oral enforceable agreements," she said, repeating earlier statements on the matter. Clinton reiterated President Barack Obama's call a put a stop to all settlement activity on occupied land, stressing it as "an essential part of pursuing the efforts leading to a comprehensive peace agreement and the creation of a Palestinian state next to an Israeli Jewish state that is secure in its borders and future."
The US announced today Obama administration Mideast envoy Senator George Mitchell will travel to Paris, France on June 25th to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to work on an agreement on the settlements and address other concerns on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
"There are a number of critical concerns, many of which overlap in their impact and significance, that will be explored in the coming weeks as Senator Mitchell engages more deeply into the specifics as to where the Israelis and the Palestinians are willing to go together," Clinton said. Clinton added that past negotiations have shown that Israels stance is lively to evolve into something that can lead to the creation of a Palestinian state, as Israeli leaders "have moved to positions they never would have thought they could have advocated."
Closing Kaesong would be a good start; the SKor industrialists can afford to lose the money; the Chinese investors and the Norks can't.
WASHINGTON, June 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and U.S. President Barack Obama strongly urged North Korea to immediately halt its provocative actions, saying threats and belligerent behavior will only result in serious consequences.
The leaders said a peaceful coexistence is still an option for the communist North, but that it can only be obtained through peaceful negotiations.
"I want to be clear that there is another path available for North Korea. A path that will lead to peace and prosperity," the U.S. president said in a joint press conference with Lee shortly after their summit talks at the White House. "That destination can only be reached through peaceful negotiation and denuclearization."
The South Korean president said North Korea must understand that "they will not be able to gain compensation by creating crisis."
"President Obama and I urge the North Koreans to fully give up their nuclear ambitions and become a responsible member of the international community," he added. The South Korean head of state arrived here Monday on a three-day official visit.
Obama said Seoul, Washington and the rest of the world will begin "serious enforcement" of sanctions already placed on the North by U.N. Security Council resolutions if Pyongyang continues to be provocative and belligerent. "I want to emphasize something President Lee said, that there has been a pattern in the past where North Korea behaves in a belligerent fashion and, if it waits long enough, it is rewarded. I think that is the pattern they have come to expect. The message we are sending them is that we are going to break that pattern," the U.S. president said.
The South Korean president hinted that Seoul could become the first to break the pattern, noting that his country could be forced to shut down a joint industrial complex in North Korea if the communist nation continues what he called "unacceptable" demands for wage increases and fees.
"We urge North Korea not to make any unacceptable demands because we really do not know what will happen if they keep on this path," Lee told the press conference, adding that more than 40,000 North Koreans currently working for South Korean firms will also lose jobs if the industrial park closes.
Lee called for close cooperation between Seoul and Washington in dealing with Pyongyang, saying a firm alliance between the two will make North Korea think twice before taking any steps it might regret.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2009
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Thousands of Iranians swarmed the streets of Tehran on Tuesday in rival demonstrations over the country's disputed presidential election, pushing a deep crisis into its fourth day despite a government attempt to placate the opposition by recounting a limited number of ballots.
Iran's supreme ruler drew a firm line against any threats to the regime, warning Iranians to unite behind the country's Islamic system as authorities imposed severe restrictions on independent media.
After days of dramatic images of Iranians protesting the declaration of victory for hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the government said employees of foreign media could only cover events authorized and announced by the government.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made an extraordinary appeal in response to tensions over the disputed election, which has presented one of the gravest threats to Iran's complex blend of democracy and religious authority since the system emerged from the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
"In the elections, voters had different tendencies, but they equally believe in the ruling system and support the Islamic Republic," Khamenei said at a meeting with representatives of the four presidential candidates. "Nobody should take any action that would create tension, and all have to explicitly say they are against tension and riots."
A day after a massive opposition rally that ended in deadly clashes with pro-government militiamen, Iran's main electoral authority said it was prepared to conduct a limited recount of ballots at sites where candidates claim irregularities took place.
Reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi has called the election an "astonishing charade," demanding it be canceled and held again.
His representative, reformist cleric Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, reiterated that demand Tuesday after a meeting of the Guardian Council, calling along with representatives of two other candidates for an independent investigation of voting irregularities. The Guardian Council is an unelected body of 12 clerics and Islamic law experts close to the supreme leader and seen as supportive of Ahmadinejad.
Mousavi said Monday he believes the council is not neutral and has already indicated support for Ahmadinejad.
"If the whole people become aware, avoid violent measures and continue their civil confrontation with that, they will win. No power can stand up to people's will," Mohtashamipour said. "I do not think that the Guardian Council will have the courage to stand against people."
A spokesman for the Guardian Council, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, did not rule out the possibility of canceling the results, saying that is within the council's powers, although nullifying an election would be an unprecedented step.
In the afternoon, the government organized a large rally in Tehran, as if to demonstrate it also can bring people into the streets. Thousands waved Iranian flags and pictures of the supreme leader, thrusting their fists into the air and cheering as speakers denounced "rioters" and urged Iranians to accept the results showing Ahmadinejad was re-elected in a landslide Friday.
"This nation will protect and defend its revolution in any way," Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, a prominent lawmaker and Ahmadinejad supporter, told the pro-government crowd in Vali Asr Square.
He called on Mousavi's supporters to accept the results and press their complaints through legal means.
"After all, in all elections there will be losers and winners, naturally," he said. "This should not cause a rift between the people."
The appeal for unity failed to calm passions, and a large column of Mousavi supporters -- some of them with green headbands and their faces masked against tear gas or to hide their identities -- marched peacefully along a central avenue in north Tehran, according to amateur video.
A witness told The Associated Press that the pro-Mousavi rally stretched more than a mile (1.5 kilometers) along Vali Asr avenue, from Vanak Square to the headquarters of Iranian state television.
Security forces did not interfere, the witness said, and the protest lasted from about 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Other witnesses told the AP that about 100 people continued the protest in front of state TV past 9:45 p.m. The witness spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisal.
Mousavi appeared to be trying to harness the days of street rage into a more carefully directed campaign of civil disobedience. In a message on his Web site, he said he would not attend Tuesday's demonstration and urged his supporters not to resort to violence.
The Web site said Mousavi and his supporters planned another large demonstration along the path of Monday's massive protest, for Wednesday afternoon. It said they have asked the Interior Ministry for permission but didn't say whether they got a response or if they would go ahead if rejected.
Ahmadinejad, who has dismissed the unrest as little more than "passions after a soccer match," attended a summit meeting in Russia that was delayed a day by the unrest in Tehran. That allowed him to project an image as Iran's rightful president, welcomed by other world leaders.
In Washington, President Barack Obama expressed "deep concerns" about the legitimacy of the election and post-voting crackdowns but declined to term Ahmadinejad's re-election a fraud.
"I do believe that something has happened in Iran," with Iranians more willing to question the government's "antagonistic postures" toward the world, Obama said. "There are people who want to see greater openness, greater debate, greater democracy."
After images were shown around the world of Monday's mass protests and violence, authorities said foreign media, including Iranian employees, could only work from their offices, conduct telephone interviews and monitor official sources such as state television.
The rules prevent media outlets, including The Associated Press, from sending independent photos or video of street protests or rallies.
Also Tuesday, foreign reporters in Iran to cover last week's elections began leaving the country. Iranian officials said they will not extend their visas.
At least 10 Iranian journalists have been arrested since the election, "and we are very worried about them, we don't know where they have been detained," Jean-Francois Julliard, secretary general of Reporters Without Borders told AP Television News in Paris. He added that some people who took pictures with cell phones also were arrested.
A Web site run by former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi said the reformist had been arrested.
Saeed Hajjarian, a prominent reformer, also has been detained, Hajjarian's wife, Vajiheh Masousi, told the AP. Hajjarian is a close aide of former President Mohammad Khatami.
Iranian state radio said seven people were killed in Monday's protests -- the first confirmation of deaths from the demonstrations that started Saturday after the election results were announced. It said people were killed during an "unauthorized gathering" at a mass rally after protesters "tried to attack a military location."
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06/18/2009
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The Interior Ministry has advised the home departments of all four provinces to beef up security, while revealing that suspected terrorists are planning to stage suicide attacks on places of worship in Lahore. Based on intelligence reports, the Interior Ministry has claimed that suspected terrorists are planning to stage suicide attacks on mosques, imambargahs, churches and other places of worship in Lahore. Sources said the ministry has also claimed that Qari Zafar from Miranshah is planning to abduct senior army officers residing in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The intelligence report has revealed that a three-to-four member group is planning to conduct the abductions. Since the government launched a security operation in Malakand division and Swat on May 2, the Taliban have staged suicide attacks on a hotel in Peshawar, a mosque in Nowshera and a madrassa in Lahore.
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Iranians have taken to the streets in the wake of the country's disputed elections, but behind the public face of the election protests lies a deeper power struggle.
In the corridors of power, analysts see a battle between Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the reformist former president.
Khamenei had publicly endorsed Mahmoud Ahmadeinejad, the incumbent president, whose resounding election victory over Mir Hossein Mousavi, his main rival, prompted a wave of protests and allegations of voter fraud. Rafsanjani, on the other hand, has been a vocal critic of the president.
One of Iran's richest men, Rafsanjani, like Mousavi, is also one of the old guard of the 1979 Iranian revolution. "It [the election dispute] represents the conflict between two schools of thought in Iran," Mahjoob Zweiri, a professor in Middle East politics at the University of Jordan, told Al Jazeera.
"The first one, which is represented by the supreme leader, says Iran should stay a revolutionary state, and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani wants the state to move on - to become a modern state, a pragmatic state. This is actually the root of the conflict we are seeing in the streets of Tehran.
"I think the support which Mousavi has been seeing from Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is because Mousavi agrees with Rafsanjani on that principle."
Pre-election dispute
Iran's shadowy political machinations spilled out of the corridors of power and into view in a television debate ahead of the elections.
Ahmadinejad said that Mir Hossein Mousavi, his opponent, was backed by politicians who he said were corrupt, and named Rafsanjani.
Infuriated, Rafsanjani wrote a public letter to Khamenei, accusing the Supreme Leader of remaining silent in the face of such accusations. "If the system cannot or does not want to confront such ugly and sin-infected phenomena as insults, lies and false allegations made in that debate, how can we consider ourselves followers of the sacred Islamic system," he charged in his letter. It was a rare and unusual public rebuke of Khamenei.
Power struggle
The supreme leader's decision-making powers are said to be absolute, but Iran's Assembly of Experts also wield considerable political clout. Rafsanjani is chairman of the 86-member body, which appoints the supreme leader and monitors his performance.
It seems unlikely that Rafsanjani would move to oust Khamenei, but the assembly could - in theory, at least - remove the supreme leader from office, if his actions are deemed un-Islamic or if he is unable to carry out his sworn duties.
With the street protests putting pressure on Iran's political leaders, it was rumoured that Rafsanjani and Hassan Rohani, Iran's former chief nuclear negotiator, were in the city of Qom, seeking a meeting of the assembly. Khamenei's surprise decision to ask the 12-member Guardian Council to investigate the alleged election improprieties has suggested to many he is feeling the pressure.
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Government security forces detained key elements for the riots that occured during the past few days in the Iranian capital, said Minister of Intelligence and Security Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehei on Wednesday.
Ejehei told reporters after a cabinet meeting that "we indentified a number of key elements that caused the riots in Tehran and arrested them."
He also told the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) that personnel of his ministry and other security services used resources available
Facebook, Twitter, CNN footage, the RB DS&TP, etc...
to identify violators of the law and security, namely those who were involved in vandalism and violence.
He indicated at the intention to refer the arrestees to the judiciary for punishment.
LH, I laughed my ass of just at the name of the link.
"iranian-authorities-must-respect-and-nurture-debate"?! On what planet? 'Cuz it sure ain't this one.
Amnesty are clueless twits.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/18/2009 13:26
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#7
Obviously an NGO cant force anyone to do anything.
Posts 1 and 2 seemed to imply Amnesty was silent.
They are not. It would be well for folks to do some easy research.
It is VERY odd to both condemn an organization for being silent, and then to laugh at them for speaking.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/18/2009 14:48
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#8
Way to take a noncommittal stand for freedom and against evil that we have seen so often and come to expect from the left. The only evil is taking a stand for liberty. "The Iranian authorities must learn to respect and nurture debate, not seek to close it down." as the mullahs order their dogs to beat and shoot demonstrators. Almost as forceful Chairman Obama's as "It is up to Iranians to make decisions about who Iran's leaders will be."
Guess what? The Iranian mullahs have already who the leaders will be. It's them. To paraphrase one of Obama's political idols, "Debate comes from the barrel of a gun." You listen or else.
Posted by: ed ||
06/18/2009 15:17
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#9
The Iranian mullahs have already decided
Posted by: ed ||
06/18/2009 15:18
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#10
O(shit) cannot ever be wrong, it'll spoil his imitation GOD stance, he's waiting to see who wins, THEN he'll declare "He was behind them all he time"
SOP
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/18/2009 16:14
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#11
"Obama's political idols"
What the f*** are you talking about? Are you claiming Obama is a Maoist? When y'all talk like this, it just makes it hard to take you seriously, y'all are as bad as Andrew Sullivan.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/18/2009 16:26
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#12
Remember who taught Barak Obama throughout his most impressionable teen years? Frank Marshall Davis, a self admitted hardline Maoist and possible baby daddy. You can bet your soon to be worthless bank account Obama was regaled in the tales of the Great Mao.
I do believe Obama is a communist at heart, whether he gravitates to Maoism or the "small c" communism of Ayers is not important. He can't openly admit it like "Uncle" Frank, but his policies show his hand. But his lifelong association, work, friendship and mentorship with hardline communists of the likes Davis, Alinsky, Wright and Ayers when no public attention was focused on him tells more of the real Obama than any Trinity United Jedi mind trick. Does that seem normal to you?
Barak Obama was steeped in communism growing up, chose to work, play and worship with communists (Marxist being the nice term) all his life and you want me believe he is some warm and fuzzy John Kennedy? Bullshit.
Posted by: ed ||
06/18/2009 16:54
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#13
I had teachers in my teen years who were socialists, who were orthodox Jews, who were Castro admirers, who were Roman Catholics, and a guy who subbed for my English teacher who was I think, an IRA supporter.
Somehow I never became any of those things.
You are doing guilt by association, and it isnt pretty. Liberalism, including Classical Liberalism, judges people by their own words and actions.
Oh, and BTW, Marxism vs Communism is a very meaningful distinction. Marx may have written the Communist manifesto, but by 1880 Marxists were called socialists, and the word Communist was revived for followers of Leninism.
Which is not to say Obama is a Marxist. He obviously is not.
warm and fuzzy John Kennedy? If you go by guilt by association, you get non warm and fuzzy types pretty fast for JFK. Also for Gerald Ford, who at one time was associated with America Firsters. And Ronald Reagan, who was probably close to as many genuine lefties as Obama.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/18/2009 18:00
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#14
Well, let's see...nationalizing the banks, nationalizing GM, nationalizing health care...if it quacks like a duck I'm guessing it's a duck.
#15
Welcome back, LH. I think this is what Fred said when he posted in today's thread about civil, well reasoned discourse that "If we exclude all argument from the other side we're just chanting, not discussing."
#16
Are you still close friends with them, 25 years into adulthood? Are they the god parents of your children? Did you kick off your political campaign in their house? Did they kick off your fund raising by having each member of the family, including children, contribute the maximum legal amount?
Did you seek out work with them to learn communist organizing techniques and then apply them throughout your subsequent career? Did you voluntarily go to their place each week for 23 years for indoctrination and racist diatribes?
judges people by their own words and actions.
Like nationalizing the largest industrial company in the nation? Like effectively taking control of the nation's largest banks. Like paying Brown Shirts to organize on your behalf, even through illegal means. Like accepting untraceable foreign money to fund a run run for office to implement the most massive transfer of wealth in history?
If it looks, acts and smells like a skunk, it's a skunk.
Oh look, "Socialist" Obama Sr that Jr claims to admire so much: Obama,Sr. stakes out the following positions in his attacks on the white paper produced by Mboyas Ministry of Economic Planning and Development:
1. Obama advocated the communal ownership of land and the forced confiscation of privately controlled land, as part of a forced development plan, an important element of his attack on the governments advocacy of private ownership, land titles, and property registration. (p. 29)
2. Obama advocated the nationalization of European and Asian owned enterprises, including hotels, with the control of these operations handed over to the indigenous black population. (pp. 32 -33)
3. Obama advocated dramatically increasing taxation on the rich even up to the 100% level, arguing that, there is no limit to taxation if the benefits derived from public services by society measure up to the cost in taxation which they have to pay (p. 30) and that, Theoretically, there is nothing that can stop the government from taxing 100% of income so long as the people get benefits from the government commensurate with their income which is taxed. (p. 31)
4. Obama contrasts the ill-defined and weak-tea notion of African Socialism negatively with the well-defined ideology of scientific socialism, i.e. communism. Obama views African Socialism pioneers like Nkrumah, Nyerere, and Toure as having diverted only a little from the capitalist system. (p. 26)
5. Obama advocates an active rather than a passive program to achieve a classless society through the removal of economic disparities between black Africans and Asian and Europeans. (p. 28) While we welcome the idea of a prevention [of class problems], we should try to cure what has slipped in .. we .. need to eliminate power structures that have been built through excessive accumulation so that not only a few individuals shall control a vast magnitude of resources as is the case now .. so long as we maintain free enterprise one cannot deny that some will accumulate more than others .. (pp. 29-30)
6. Obama advocates price controls on hotels and the tourist industry, so that the middle class and not only the rich can afford to come to Kenya as tourists. (p. 33)
7. Obama advocates government owned and operated model farms as a means of teaching modern farming techniques to farmers. (p. 33)
8. Obama strongly supports the governments assertion of a non-aligned status in the contest between Western nations and communist nations aligned with the Soviet Union and China. (p. 26)
Posted by: ed ||
06/18/2009 18:22
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#17
The left have so corrupted the language that words have have lost almost all meaning. A quick history of the leftist dialectic.
Communist -> Marxist -> Socialist -> Progressive = Commies without a Secret Police force. Spit.
Posted by: ed ||
06/18/2009 18:27
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#18
#16 - that's a schooling, LOL
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/18/2009 18:37
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#19
And who will be in charge of my daughter's (and future kids) 3 month mandatory volunteer service, and where will she have to go to serve?
And the plans to nationalize health care and agriculture?
It is good to see you again LH, don't think I'm piling on, but it took me years to unlearn the BS I was taught in public school (all the history and literature classes a kid could elective, but business and economics were scarce, logic and critical thinking unavailable except one government class - a person was cool until a person said a 4 letter word like Bush or Dole in a good way) and this was not podunk HS, but one of the crayon jewels of the state. Many of my classmates still have their heads up their arse; not saying I'm always right but can participate in a learning session rather than them toeing a coffee house line.
Of course they do. They're thugs, and we are their worst nightmare ...
ISTANBUL, TURKEY -- Five days into the vast and sometimes violent street demonstrations over Friday's contested presidential election, Iran blamed the United States for "intolerable" interference in its domestic affairs.
President Barack Obama had specifically said he was avoiding being seen as meddling, saying it was "not productive, given the history of US-Iranian relations."
And you can see how well that worked. It's far better to take a stand because you're going to be blamed anyways ...
State television has portrayed the violence at rallies supporting defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi as the act of "hooligans." But as more video footage and news of peaceful daytime rallies and violent nighttime clashes break out through the restrictions placed upon the foreign media in Iran (most of it reaching the world anonymously through YouTube and Twitter), the contours of the power struggle have been coming clearer.
The protests are turning into an outlet for the myriad frustrations of Iranians, beyond rejecting the election result. State news services reported that the Revolutionary Guards had acted against "deviant news sites" backed by the US, Britain, and Canada that were encouraging unrest.
Grainy footage showed protesters carrying a wounded comrade as they raced from a clash. Another scene show a young man with a bleeding arm, and others rushing to bandage him.
The magnitude of the protests have prompted Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei -- who will reportedly give the sermon himself at this week's Friday prayers -- to call for calm.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2009
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Surely this report has gone viral in the alternate reality-based community...
Weapons Advisor Jean-Francois Fechino on Wednesday noted that Gaza, during the Israeli war, was a test field for weapons for the military industry. Fechino, a military and environmental expert, was part of a fact-finding mission spearheaded by the Arab Commission for Human Rights,
Oh stop right there. Arab Commission for Human Rights? Oh, it is to laugh ...
... which visited Gaza and compiled a detailed report about the crimes committed by Israel, as well as the weapons used, added that there is ample evidence that depleted uranium, Dime and other weapons were used by the Israeli army during the Gaza war.
He further stressed that the new weapons used are not yet included in the international conventions that guide conduct during wars.
Fechino also pointed out that the Israelis used phosphorus bombs as offensive weapons and not as weapons to hide their movements, adding that Dime -- Dense Inert Metal Explosive -- was proved to be extensively used.
Another weapon, the GBU-39, which Israel purchased 1,000 from the United States in October 2008, was also used, he noted, saying each GBU-39 bomb weighs 113 kilograms and has the penetration capacity of bombs that weigh 900 kilograms.
Fechino said that these are intelligent and smart bombs
Not just intelligent, not just smart, they're intelligent and smart!
... that can be redirected to their target, they can explode on the surface or under. This bomb, he said, was filled inside and out with depleted uranium, as one GBU-39 carries 75 kilograms of depleted uranium.
"If the 1000 bombs were used against the Philadelphia corridor that would be equivalent to 75 tons of uranium, which in turn is the equivalent of 16 nuclear bombs of the one bomb dropped over Hiroshima," he said. He added that such a spread of depleted uranium under the soil of the Philadelphia corridor carries with it the option of radiation that would result in different cancer diseases and could also lead to the birth of babies whose genes have been modified forever.
Conveniently forgetting that there is a way why it's called depleted uranium ...
Another weapon used, he said, was the Fuel-Air Explosive bomb derived from Napalm, an internationally-prohibited material. He said such a bomb "opens the gates of hell", noting that the heat that results from this bomb reaches 3,000 digress Celsius, and its speed of ignition is three times the speed of sound some 3,000 kilometers per hour, resulting in absorbing the oxygen in the surface of the explosion, which in turn leads to the suffocation of those who have not been killed by injury or flames.
This weapon, Fechino noted, destroys traces of any other weapon used.
And then they destroy any traces of themselves. Very tricksy, these juice weapons.
#7
Perhaps then they could air deliver some of those concrete obama heads, kinda like giant bowling balls. And since everybody knows there are gumballs on the inside they could use the shell to rebuild housing while having a sweet delicious treat.
And those explosions - fireballs from Elijah's mouth. He's back and he. is. pissed.
And 3 Hiroshimas equals 1 Tokyo, which could mean a new 300 mph train will sprout from the ground by the end of the year.
They should have known better since the corridor shares its name with an American city, where they play an American football team called the Eagles, of course the symbol of America - so its obvious a zionist juice ambush plot.
Oh, the ACHR must be one of those nouveau hustler agencies.
#8
Israel needs to put a hit out on this guy. Just make sure it's non-deadly. Parylize him from the jaw up, so he'll stop making such absolutely assinine comments. Break his fingers all the way up to the elbow so he won't be able to write. Then send him back to France, where they'll look after him until he dies of old age. MAKE THE ARABS PAY FOR EVERY CENT OF HIS CARE AND RECUPERATION - preferably the Saudis, where the money can be siphoned off from the funds they use to undermine other nations. Oh, and make him sleep on a bed made from depleted uranium, just to really warp his already twisted little mind.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/18/2009 14:19
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#9
This weapon, Fechino noted, destroys traces of any other weapon used.
So I guess the secret is to use this bad weapon after using all the other bad weapons so that dipshits like Jean-Francois won't be able to figure it out and will have to get real jobs.
BAGHDAD Iraqi forces on Wednesday arrested a man suspected of being involved in last weeks assassination of a leading Sunni member of Parliament, Iraqi officials said.
Excellent and good job by the Iraqi forces.
Around 1 p.m., a quick-response force raided a house in the western Baghdad neighborhood of Ghazaliya, an area once controlled by Sunni insurgents, and detained a man described as the mastermind behind the killings of Harith al-Obaidi, the lawmaker, an aide and three bodyguards, said Brig. Gen. Nomon Dakhil Jawad, the commander of the force. General Jawad identified the suspect as Ahmed Abid Uwaid al-Luhaibi, a member of the Awakening, a government-backed Sunni paramilitary force. The general said Mr. Luhaibi was also an assistant commander in the Islamic State of Iraq, a Sunni jihadist group.
Maj. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf, a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior, confirmed the arrest but said it was too early to say what role Mr. Luhaibi might have played in the killing.
Mr. Obaidi, his aide and his bodyguards were shot at point-blank range in a mosque on Friday afternoon, shortly after Mr. Obaidi had given a sermon. Mr. Obaidi was the leader of the main Sunni bloc in Parliament, as well as a strong critic of human rights abuses in Iraqi prisons.
An officer on the government committee investigating the assassination, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said Mr. Luhaibi was linked to the weapon used in the killings.
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06/18/2009
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Somali government forces attacked rebel strongholds in Mogadishu on Wednesday, triggering battles that killed at least 22 people, including the capital's police chief, witnesses and officials said.
Residents cowered in their homes or took cover behind buildings as mortars slammed into the city. Rebels wearing headscarves and ammunition belts draped over their shoulders were seen arriving from the outskirts of the capital to join the battle. The government only controls a few blocks of Mogadishu with the help of an African Union peacekeeping force that guards the air and sea ports and other key government installations.
Different insurgent groups control the rest of Mogadishu, and their goal is to topple Somalia's Western-backed government. "A mortar landed on a neighbour's house and killed two people and injured four others," witness Abdiwali Dahir said from one of the two areas of southern Mogadishu where the fighting was under way. Police spokesman Col. Abdullahi Hassan Barise said Mogadishu police chief Col. Ali Said died in the fighting but was unable to provide details about how that had happened. Said had led the capital's police force for about two years.
Another witness, Farah Abdi, said he saw five corpses lying in the capital's streets. Speaking in a telephone interview as the sound of heavy gunfire echoed in the background, Abdi said three of the victims were civilians and that the two others appeared to be of a rebel fighter and a government soldier. An administrator at Mogadishu's Medina Hospital, Ali Ade, said it had received 39 wounded people, with three of them dying.
In another part of southern Mogadishu, an Associated Press reporter saw six bodies lying in a street outside a home that had been hit by a mortar. A grieving Somali woman identified one of the victims as her son. "A stray mortar landed on these young men who sought refuge in our house," said the woman, Hawo Hassan. "It is a tragic day. The fighting occurred after a surge of violence in Somalia's capital in May had killed about 200 people as insurgents battled the government and its allies.
In another development on Wednesday, UNICEF condemned the looting of its supplies and the continued occupation of its compound in the southern Somalia town of Jowhar by an rebel group. Looted supplies include nutritional supplements for about 40,000 children under the age of three, the agency said in a statement. UNICEF said al-Shabab militiamen on May 22 occupied the compound when they took control of Jowhar, which had been an operational hub for the agency's humanitarian work in southern and central Somalia.
Refugees: The world's largest refugee camp in Kenya hosting Somali refugees is bursting at the seams, aid groups warn, asking that Kenya grant more land to host the hundreds of Somalis arriving in the UN-run Dadaab cluster every day.
#2
Kenya should take over the Dadaab camp and begin training everyone over the age of ten to fight. Supply them with rifles and ammunition, and let them decide whether they'll live as animals in a pen, or go home and clear a piece of land for themselves. There are more refugees than armed soldiers from all the clans combined. Let THEM solve the problem of who is going to be their leaders in the time-tested manner of open warfare. Whatever government the end up with will be far stronger for having been the result of having to actually work for it. WE may not like it, but it's not our government.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/18/2009 14:06
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Some useful nuggets here, but watch out for NYT bias.
With Iran's political establishment at war with itself, a central question lurking behind the post-election tumult is which side the country's highly influential clerics will back. So far the mullahs -- a potentially critical swing vote -- have remained largely silent, with the notable exception of a few prominent grand ayatollahs, including one who attacked the vote count as "a gross injustice" on Wednesday.
The clerics and their thousands of pupils, concentrated in the holy city of Qum, are a generally conservative lot,
No, they're not 'conservative'. They're Khomeinist, which makes them radical islamicists and totalitarian. That's not conservative, though the NYT reporter would like to think that.
... who have been known to jump into the political fray en masse only when a clear winner starts to emerge. And few religious leaders have yet to join the tens of thousands of Iranians expressing their fury by marching through the streets of Tehran and other cities.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
NY Times ceased being a news source years ago. It is hard to record history without them but I manage quite well. I prefer to not even traffic their site.
#3
Im not sure what you mean when you say Qom isnt 'conservative'. Do you mean they are activists violating the Shiite traditions of quietism? Or that they arent supporters of what we in the US call conservative? If the former, I agree, and perhaps a better word would be reactionary. Khomeinism is paradoxical - its a revolutionary movement, and a mass mobilization movement (and thus modern) but its a reaction against the disruption of traditional conservative society by secularist modernization under the Shah - in that sense it is VERY much like Western fascism. And, I would add, without going all nutjob on you, it is, IF you discount for totalarianism, terror support (Huge IF, I know), etc at least distanly related to certain fundamentalist movements in the US. Like fascism, Khomeinism uses modernist mobilization techniques and war against foreign enemies to assuage the anxieties of a conservative population threatened by change.
As for Moussavi not being liberal - again, are you making the banal (and generally useless) quible between "classical liberalism" and "progressive liberalism" - its not uncommon in the blogosphere for "classical liberals" to get jealous about a word whose meaning had evolved by the time of Lloyd George (let alone FDR) Or that the Teherhan protestors arent really liberal in either sense since the majority are likely to accept SOME from of legal islamism that violates our view of seperation of religion and state? Or are you asserting that Moussavi is really closer to Rafsanjani "pragmatic khomeinism" than to the Teherean strett? The latter is an interesting and complex issue - I think its clear that even during the campaign Moussavis public position was different from that when he last held office, and his position may have evolved further due to his movement. Politicians are sometimes captives to their supporters, and their enemies. I think especially of the biographies of both Gorby and Yeltisn in this regard.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/18/2009 11:40
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#4
Im not sure what you mean when you say Qom isnt 'conservative'. Do you mean they are activists violating the Shiite traditions of quietism? Or that they arent supporters of what we in the US call conservative? If the former, I agree, and perhaps a better word would be reactionary. Khomeinism is paradoxical - its a revolutionary movement, and a mass mobilization movement (and thus modern) but its a reaction against the disruption of traditional conservative society by secularist modernization under the Shah - in that sense it is VERY much like Western fascism. And, I would add, without going all nutjob on you, it is, IF you discount for totalarianism, terror support (Huge IF, I know), etc at least distanly related to certain fundamentalist movements in the US. Like fascism, Khomeinism uses modernist mobilization techniques and war against foreign enemies to assuage the anxieties of a conservative population threatened by change.
You are relying on two big straw-men in this supposition: that western conservatives are the way they are because they're a bunch of frightened country mice hiding from societal change, and that the only difference between conservatism and fascism is in degree or the volume of the megaphone.
Both of these arguments have been very useful for the left over the last half-century, especially in getting people to _stop thinking_ and vote for the left, but that doesn't mean the rest of us believe in them.
#5
"that western conservatives are the way they are because they're a bunch of frightened country mice hiding from societal change"
I said no such thing. I did not generalize about conservatives, of whom there are many varieties. I did state that there are right wing movements in this country whose social roots are analogous to those in other countries where people feel threatened by change. We can argue about exactly which movements those are and what their relations are to mainstream conservatives, or whether their specific explicit grievances are justified but I think its undeniable that they exist.
"and that the only difference between conservatism and fascism is in degree or the volume of the megaphone." I did not say that either. Again, I was not speaking about conservatives in general. I WAS attempting to distance MYSELF from folks like Andrew Sullivan who sometimes elide the profound moral distintion between say, someone in the US whose fear of gay rights leads them to support a referendum on marriage, and someone in Saudi Arabia whose fear leads him to support hanging gays.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/18/2009 12:18
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#6
I did state that there are right wing movements in this country whose social roots are analogous to those in other countries where people feel threatened by change. We can argue about exactly which movements those are and what their relations are to mainstream conservatives, or whether their specific explicit grievances are justified but I think its undeniable that they exist.
Please be more specific if you could LH. I generally find your positions to be well thought out, but I think that if you're going to make this assertion you should name names.
Not trying to bait you. I'm curious what you think.
#7
"whose fear of gay rights leads them to support a referendum on marriage, and someone in Saudi Arabia whose fear leads him to support hanging gays."
actually supporting a state referendum is constitutional & w/in the law. Many libs love state referendums, especially if it endorses a cause they believe in. It's when they lose at the referendum ballot box (cali gay marriage three times) that those conservatives (and blacks and hispanics) who supported the referendum are all now homophobes or whatever.
#8
Now nothing shakes up a pitch man like getting what he thinks is a good throw hit right back at'em and into center field.
In many ways continued negotiations, what seems to be the preferred method of relations with Iran, will now be even more difficult as either dinner jacket will be shown as a totalitarian, a new leader with a tenative grasp of power, or civil uprising with no official figurehead to deal with other than the clerics.
If that is what the administration meant by dealing with Iran anyways it isn't articulated very well. In any case real decisions with real consequences are imminant, and where salesmen and managers are seperated.
#9
OK. I'll take your word for it that you were trying to distance yourself from those similar arguments people like Sullivan were making.
As for the whole 'social movement' thing... I think it underestimates the degree to which radical islam borrows from other radical movements of the 20th century, whether the communsits or the real fascists of Italy or Spain.
I may write something on this later on in the week in opinion, but I'm gonna get ready to turn in now.
At least 10 people have been killed by a mortar bomb blast at a mosque in the Somali capital Mogadishu, say reports. It was unclear clear who fired the mortar but it came as pro-government forces continued to battle radical Islamist guerrillas in the city.
The fighting has killed more than 250 people - civilians and combatants - since it erupted last month.
Dadir Ali Jes, who witnessed the mosque attack, said he believed at least 13 people had been killed in what he said was "the most terrible incident".
Meanwhile UNICEF, the UN's children's agency, says Islamist fighters have looted its supplies being held in the southern Somali town of Jowhar. Hannan Sulieman, Unicef's acting Somalia representative, said the UN workers "strongly urge that humanitarian work not be impeded in any way", and called for the immediate release of looted supplies.
Two chances of that, slim and none ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#4
If this keeps up, there won't be any male citizens in Somalia by the end of the decade. Of course, that will open the place up for Chinese immigration, since there are far too many men in China, and far too few women. Beats stealing them from North Korea...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/18/2009 14:01
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Lahore City Police Chief (CCPO), Pervez Rathore, talking to newsmen in eastern Lahore city said that [one of] the terrorist[s] involved in Sri Lankan cricket team has been arrested and seven other terrorists of the attack including the mastermind have been identified.
He said the arrested terrorist has been identified as Zubair alias Naek Muhammad and he belongs to, hitherto unknown, Tehriki Taliban Punjab (TTP) militant group. He added that he is a retired low-ranking army officer.
And not noticeably Foreign, mind you.
The CCPO identified the mastermind as Aqil alias Dr. Usman alias Rana Hanif and said that he was also involved in attacks on former President Pervez Musharraf. He said further that all the involved militants belong to Southern Punjab belt and hoped that they will be soon arrested.
About ten militants attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore while on way to the Cricket Stadium on 3rd March. The attack left seven people including five policemen dead and six Sri Lankan players injured.
SEOUL, June 17 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean advance team left for the North on Wednesday to prepare for upcoming inter-Korean talks over a joint industrial venture, but prospects for any meaningful settlement are low following a stern message from President Lee Myung-bak. The working-level officials will settle procedural matters, such as schedule and facilities, with their North Korean counterparts, said Lee Jong-joo, a ministry spokeswoman.
Friday's talks are a follow-up to an earlier round last week, during which North Korea demanded a four-fold wage increase for its workers at the complex and a 31-fold raise in rent. The demand would lift the wages to US$300, from the current $70~80, and the rent to $500 million, from the $16 million South Korean developers paid when the park opened in 2004. It remains to be seen how North Korea will respond to Lee's flat rejection.
"We urge North Korea not to make any unacceptable demands because we really do not know what will happen if they keep on this path," Lee said, with Obama at his side in the White House Rose Garden on Tuesday (Washington time).
Continued on Page 49
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Deputy Director of the Middle-East and Central Asia Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Amor Tahari attributed on Wednesday the slow of economic growth in the oil-rich countries to the retreat of oil and gas exports.
Briefing reporters here on the IMF report on the outlook of the Middle East region, Tahari said it is difficult to predict the future economic tendencies especially those relating to the economies that depend heavily on oil exports.
The main indications of the IMF show that the world economy is likely to resume growth in early 2010, he said.
The cash flows from the oil-rich countries of the Middle East to overseas investment are pivotal to the world economic recovery as they helped prod demand in the developed economies in 2009, Tahari pointed out. He expected the unemployment and poverty rates in the oil-importing countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to keep going up, thus adding to economic and social strains in these countries. The average economic growth rate in countries of the region dropped from 5.7 to 2.6 percent in 2008.
These countries need to maintain growth rates ranging between 6 and 7 percent for several successive years in order to alleviate their social and economic strains, he said, noting that a 2 - 2.5 percent growth rate is insufficient.
The IMF report, of which KUNA received a copy, predicts that the oil-exporting countries of the Middle East would achieve growth rates ranging between 2.3 and 3.8 in 2010.
The IMF officials recommended adoption of good-governance in the financial and economic institutions in the region in order to overcome the current challenges.
Six members of the Iranian football team have worn green armbands during a World Cup qualifying match against South Korea in Seoul. The players wore the colour adopted by the opposition presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi in an apparent show of support.
Most of the players had removed the bands in the second half.
According to some tweets I saw, they were pretty well threatened with death and the deaths of their families if they didn't remove them.
The team's captain, Mehdi Mahdavikia, was the only one of the players to keep his armband on after half time. It was suggested the other players had been ordered by the coach to remove their bands.
Fans from Iran staged a protest outside the stadium to show their support for the demonstrations at home. One of their banners read "Go to hell dictator", and they chanted, "Compatriots, we will be with you to the end with the same heart".
During the match they held up green paper signs reading "Where is my vote?" and waved Iranian national flags emblazoned with the plea, "Free Iran".
The game in Seoul ended in a 1-1 draw.
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#1
Yeah. "Free Iran" in English. Wonder which crowd they were playing to. Wonder who the fans were in the first place!
A top Republican US lawmaker called Wednesday for Congress to pass tough new sanctions targeting Iran and condemned Tehran's crackdown on post-election protests as "a horrible human tragedy."
"We are witnessing, in Iran, a horrible human tragedy. You've got a government there that has been seen crushing its people in the streets of Tehran," Republican Representative Eric Cantor told AFP.
"How do you expect to trust, to engage with, a regime like that? How could we ever tolerate a regime like that having nuclear weapons?" said Cantor, the number two Republican in the House of Representatives.
Cantor said the US Congress should quickly pass legislation aimed at choking off Iran's gasoline imports and foreign investments in its energy sector to break its defiance of global demands to freeze its suspect nuclear program.
"We can send a message very quickly to our allies and the rest of the world that we mean to live by our commitments that we do not want Iran to become a nuclear power," said the lawmaker, whose home state is Virginia.
US efforts to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons must hold firm whether or not Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ultimately prevails in his disputed electoral bout with rival Mir Hossein Mousavi, said Cantor.
"It's very clear that democracy in Iran is somewhat of a mystery and that clearly the clerics in that country are the ones that control the levers of power. And our policy vis-a-vis Iran needs to reflect that reality," he said.
Cantor also said the Obama administration had not sufficiently criticized the official crackdown on protests by Mousavi supporters.
"Their silence on the issue of human rights violations is very troubling to me. America has a moral responsibility to stand up for human rights around the world and to condemn the abuses that are occurring in Tehran today," he said.
Obama has said he is "deeply troubled" by the violence in Iran, but that Washington cannot be seen as "meddling" in the Islamic Republic's affairs, and said that he will continue his policy of reaching out to Tehran.
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#1
"Their [the Obama administration] silence on the issue of human rights violations is very troubling to me."
This sniping of the O-Teams tepid response to Iranian election seems eerily reminiscent of the ankle biters that couldnt resist criticizing Bush at every turn. In fact, there is a cogent argument to be made that a measured reaction is the best course in the early stages of such events. Lets face it - an Iranian Peaceful Protest is an anomaly and more likely an oxymoron. So it would seem that if there are any more of those fire-bomb your way into a military facility thingies it might be best if the motivations were viewed as strictly domestic.
#2
This sniping of the O-Teams tepid response to Iranian election seems eerily reminiscent of the ankle biters that couldnt resist criticizing Bush at every turn
Would that be the same Bush who freed 50 million people in Iraq and Afghanistan from thugocracies? The one who said in his inaugural address
"All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you."?
SteveS, I think you would agree that The President should be more circumspect when it comes to statements about rapidly evolving events as opposed to an inaugural address but point taken. I was thinking more along these lines. When it came apparent that Raul Castro was about to ascend to Grand Poobah of Cuba, Bush broadcasted an address urging the people of the island to rise up to demand their liberty.'' Good for him! Not surprising, instantly there was some critical of the President's speech. They called it a stale approach and said it would threaten to make the United States irrelevant on the island.'' And guess what they all had an agenda.
It seems to me most of the criticism of Obama on this one is less about righteous indignation and more about political carping.
(Crumbled cookie)
#4
At this point we dont know obamas motives (I will discount the "barry hates freedom" folk)
Is he A. staying quiet cause he genuinely thinks speaking out more strongly would hurt the protestors?
or B. Staying quiet cause he expect dinnerjacket to win, and he is afraid that speaking out would interfere with talking to dinner jacket
or C. He hasnt yet figured out how to say what he wants to say
If B, thats really bad. For one, its at some level highly cynical. Sacrificing Iranians for O's diplomacy. Maybe thats the only realistic course, but its still so at odds with O's optimism about the world, his "We can change" etc, its way too embarassing to admit. Its also probably wrong. For one thing, there is a real chance Dinnerjacket is on the way out. And even if he isnt, does it matter. On the one hand theres no guarantee diplomacy with dinner jacket is going anywhere anyway. On the other hand we have managed arms deal with folks we've criticized on human rights (reagan and the USSR)
if the motive is A, is a different story. Without a MUCH clearer picture of the situation in Iran, I cant say whether it is right or not. Ive seen reasonable arguments both ways. I suspect that O could go much further without doing harm, but his position, if incorrect, does not strike me as unreasonable.
I also think the motive is in part C. O isnt an off the cuff guy. Look at how he fumbled on the russian invasion of Georgia. He likes to take several weeks, examine all the angles, and then do a tour de force speech that purports to understand every side, and reconcile them all in his wisdom.
BUt the situation in Iran MAY be moving too fast for that.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/18/2009 12:35
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#5
atour de force speech that purports to understand every side, and reconcile them all in his wisdom.
#6
i hope the many levels I mean are visible in that
I find his intelligence quite real, and his rhetoric sometimes really quite good - unfortunately he is all to well aware of that, and I think often it shows.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
06/18/2009 16:38
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#8
I'd like to throw a couple more takes on the deal.
() He may have been taken by surprise.
() He must continue to push the domestic policies while the window is still open; anything else would be a distraction.
() Supporting protests against the government would be counter to the attempts to demonize the spend-then-tax protests in the US.
His track record shows his great confidence in the uncontested layups and hesitent in dynamic situations while he figures how to make a situation work for him. In a word predictable.
What might be more telling is dinner jacket's Russian trip a la Frankin to Senate in order to validate claim and control, legitimacy. Meanwhile, the centrifuges continue to churn so a bit of controlled civil discourse would work in favor of the bomb wanters, help in identifying dissent leaders, and work as a sort of pressure release. A risky game sure, like those people at parties who use a lighter to put gas in their closed hand then light it to make a fireball - its a great party trick unless it blows up in their face.
#9
Pat Buchannan agrees w/letter (A) as per his discussion on hannity today. I'm not sure what O's doing, he might end up moving closer to W's original position or he'll deal w/dinnerjacket and take more flak for tacitly supporting a fraudulently elected leader. Either way can't be good for him. Not that mousavi was going to be any better. I doubt O will do anything covert to help the protestors but I could be wrong.
#10
Buchanan's an isolationist and IMHO a closet antisemite. When he speaks so lovingly of Arab dictatorships at times, I can't take his sudden care for the Iranian People seriously. I heard him on Hannity, and it still pisses me off PMSNBC puts him on as the "house conservative". F*ck Pat Buchanan. Also IMHO O is voting "present" because he doesn't want to answer that 3AM call.
Iowahawk has his version of Obama's speech to teh Iranians - I'll post it in Opinion page
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/18/2009 19:24
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#11
liberalhawk, you left out the strong possibility that Obama doesn't know WHAT he thinks (not just how to say it). He has a strong ideology, but not much in the way of inconvenient principles, from the looks of it.
KABUL (AFP) President Hamid Karzai defended Wednesday his pick of vice-president for his bid for re-election, saying Mohammed Qasim Fahim was a choice for unity and an Afghan government not influenced from "outside".
A former anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban military commander, Fahim has been accused by Human Rights Watch as well as Afghan and other international critics of abuses including murder during Afghanistan's nearly three decades of war. Western officials, some close to the United Nations, have alleged that he is also linked to gangs that are today involved in crimes such as kidnapping and drugs smuggling.
There were "too many allegations in Afghanistan against our personalities, against our people," Karzai said. "Look, in America during their war of liberation and during the civil war and afterwards, a lot of people were celebrated as heroes. Afghanistan has heroes of its own, and so has Europe heroes of its own," he said.
Karzai dropped Fahim from his ticket in the first-ever presidential election in 2004 reportedly under pressure from Western allies. But since the ouster of the extremist Taliban regime in 2001, Afghanistan has become home for people from former communists to mujahedeen and villagers.
"That is the Afghanistan I want to continue to preserve and take us to a next stage of stability," Karzai said. "So the choosing of Fahim as my vice-president was a decision that I made for the good of the country, for the unity of the country, for the strength of Afghanistan, in which it has a government that is Afghan and not influenced from outside."
The president also reflected allegations of rights abuses by figures in his government back onto the thousands of Western troops here to fight insurgents. The troops have killed hundreds of civilians in error in their operations against insurgents, but the militants kill more ordinary Afghans in their attacks.
Human rights groups must "also begin to pay attention to the plight of the common people in Afghanistan who are suffering every day at violence perpetrated against them by various military forces, by various accidents," Karzai said.
Karzai has been the de facto leader of Afghanistan since the ouster of the Taliban in a US-led invasion. He is among 41 candidates for the August 20 presidential elections, the second in Afghanistan's turbulent history. The signs are that he has a good chance of success despite his failure to rein in a Taliban-led insurgency and rampant corruption.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2009
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In an interview with Dutch magazine Vrij Nederland, NATO's Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer argued that the alliance's approach to the reconstruction of Afghanistan was misguided. He believes that making individual member states responsible for specific provinces hindered international cooperation.
De Hoop Scheffer, who is stepping down from his position on 31 July, added "the fact that all countries think they are champions of reconstruction obstructed actual civil and military cooperation. Every country was out for itself. Looking back, I would have gone for a closer combination of military effort and reconstruction. Perhaps I should have judged that better five years ago."
Perhaps.
De Hoop Scheffer was appointed head of NATO in 2004, not long after it took over leadership of the allied campaign in Afghanistan.
Despite what he calls 'Herculean' challenges, he insists that NATO has made significant improvements in Afghanistan. "There are schools, economic activity and roads are being built." He believes NATO has successfully managed to respect Afghan culture and religion.
Integrity
The NATO chief defends himself against claims that his appointment was a reward for Dutch support for the US-led invasion of Iraq. "That is patent nonsense," he said. "Do you really think President Chirac or Chancellor Schröder would have approved my appointment because the Netherlands supported George Bush's policies? That would be an enormous overestimation of my and the Netherlands' importance."
Asked whether his appointment can be regarded separately from Dutch support for the war, he admitted "if the Netherlands had been against the invasion of Iraq that would not have improved my chances. But the insinuation that it supported the war to ensure my appointment is an insult to my integrity and I resent that. It was a political decision made in the Netherlands at the time, one which I still support."
De Hoop Scheffer said he is certain that the parliamentary committee investigating the decision-making process behind the Netherlands' support for the invasion of Iraq will agree with him. The Davids' committee was set up in January 2009 by Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende.
I, too, always readdress decisions taken the better part of a decade ago, which I believe were correct.
The NATO chief also talked about his future and his relationship with presidents Bush and Obama. "I think you'll be seeing my face pop up again on the international stage."
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
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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.
Last August, when Barack Obama introduced Joe Biden as his choice for vice president, he praised the Delaware senator's strength in foreign policy and defense issues -- areas widely thought to be weaknesses in Obama's resume. 
British summers could soon be akin to those in the drought-ridden Mediterranean and our winters characterised by severe flooding, according to a new report on climate change.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea may fire a long-range ballistic missile toward Hawaii in early July, a Japanese news report said Thursday, as Russia and China urged the regime to return to international disarmament talks on its rogue nuclear program.
The Criminal Court Wednesday found two Kuwaiti men guilty of recruiting youths to go to Afghanistan to fight the US forces in Kabul and sentenced them to five years in jail.
A former close aide to Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud has said the US, India and Israel are behind the Taliban commander, who he termed the biggest enemy of Islam, Dunya News reported on Wednesday. Qari Turkistan told Dunya News that the cause of his differences with Mehsud was his attacks on mosques and madrassas, explosions in markets and the slaughtering of religious scholars and troops -- "which is not Islam". 
North Korea is rushing to withdraw money from its overseas bank accounts after the United Nations imposed financial and other sanctions for its nuclear test, a report said. South Korea's Dong-A Ilbo newspaper, quoting sources in Beijing, said the North had begun withdrawing funds from accounts in Macau and elsewhere for fear they would be frozen. The paper said funds were being pulled out of almost all the communist state's foreign accounts held either by individuals or trading firms. 
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran said Wednesday it is investigating reports of violence at a Tehran University dormitory in the wake of rallies sparked by last week's disputed election. The aftermath of anti-riot police actions at Tehran University shows smashed computer terminals.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, on his first official visit to Washington on Wednesday, said Israel will not accept an "complete freezing of settlement" as part of direct talks with the Palestinians. 
Thousands of Iranians swarmed the streets of Tehran on Tuesday in rival demonstrations over the country's disputed presidential election, pushing a deep crisis into its fourth day despite a government attempt to placate the opposition by recounting a limited number of ballots.
Government security forces detained key elements for the riots that occured during the past few days in the Iranian capital, said Minister of Intelligence and Security Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehei on Wednesday.
BAGHDAD Iraqi forces on Wednesday arrested a man suspected of being involved in last weeks assassination of a leading Sunni member of Parliament, Iraqi officials said.
At least 10 people have been killed by a mortar bomb blast at a mosque in the Somali capital Mogadishu, say reports. It was unclear clear who fired the mortar but it came as pro-government forces continued to battle radical Islamist guerrillas in the city.
Lahore City Police Chief (CCPO), Pervez Rathore, talking to newsmen in eastern Lahore city said that [one of] the terrorist[s] involved in Sri Lankan cricket team has been arrested and seven other terrorists of the attack including the mastermind have been identified. 
Six members of the Iranian football team have worn green armbands during a World Cup qualifying match against South Korea in Seoul. The players wore the colour adopted by the opposition presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi in an apparent show of support.
