[NYPOST] Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... hasn't been seen in public for more than a week -- and rampant speculation over the Russian president's whereabouts took a wild turn on Friday with reports he was in Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... for the birth of his secret daughter.
The Weekly World News: best damned reporting on the planet...
"Es ist ein Madchen!" or "It's a Girl!" screamed a headline from the Swiss newspaper Blick, which had him in Lugano to witness the arrival of his child with Alina Kabaeva, 31, a retired Olympic gymnast who served in the Russian parliament and now works for a media company.
The paper reported that Putin's daughter was born at the posh Santa Anna di Sorgeno clinic on the Italian border.
Putin reserved two rooms at the clinic -- one for Kabaeva, and one for body guards, Swiss radio channel RSI said, according to the Daily Beast.
Putin himself was staying with friends in the area, the Swiss website Ticino news reported.
Desperate to squash the rumors, the Kremlin released a photo and video Friday of the 62-year old Russian strongman meeting with the head of the Russian Supreme Court.
But there was no way to verify when they were taken, and plenty of reason for suspicion.
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03/14/2015 00:00 ||
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Reuters: "Putin has died on purpose to distract attention from the murder of Nemtsov", tweeted Putin#Vor (Putin#Thief)
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] An Indian bride called off her wedding at the last minute after her groom-to-be failed to answer a simple mathematics question correctly, the BBC has reported.
The woman, Lovely, walked out of the wedding after asking the unfortunate man to add 15 and six -- and he replied 17.
She refused to return, despite the groom's family's best efforts to convince her to stay, because she said he was illiterate. The police were brought in to mediate and both families agreed to return the wedding gifts, the report added.
Lovely's father, Mohar Singh told the BBC: "Just before the marriage ceremony Lovely came to know that [the groom] Ram Baran is illiterate and she refused to marry,"
He said Baran's family had kept him and his family 'in the dark about his poor education'.
He added: "Even a first grader can answer this [the maths test]."
This latest incident comes just days after another Indian bride-to-be dumped her groom at the altar after he collapsed and suffered a seizure -- in that case reports said the groom's family had failed to tell the bride about his epilepsy.
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03/14/2015 00:00 ||
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Sadly, she can't love a man whom can't obey the Associative or Commutative Principles.
#3
So Lovely was out of there at the altar. Lovely has pretty high standards (sarc). Many would not pass. Baran will be forever known as "Bonehead Baran"--there's probably some self-esteem therapy and many other benefits for an illegals in the U.S. if he can just sneak across one of the borders--shouldn't be too difficult.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Fox News announced Thursday it hired former U.S. Navy Seal Rob O'Neill, said to be the soldier who bumped offthe late Osama bin Laden ... who is now beyond all cares and woe... O'Neill will be a contributor to the news channel and "offer military expertise and analysis across various daytime and primetime programs," said a statement from the channel, a unit of Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox.
In a Fox documentary last year, O'Neill was said to have killed bin Laden in a secret U.S. military operation in Pakistain. Ahead of the documentary's airing, O'Neill told The Washington Post that he fired the fatal shot that hit the Al-Qaeda leader at his hideout in the Pak garrison city of Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... in May 2011.
The newspaper said two Seal team members had corroborated his identity.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2015 00:00 ||
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Well, the New York Times sure wasn't going to snatch him up.
Prices for the 5.56mm and 7.62x51mm rifles have spiked with the highest prices seen since I started this column in the summer of 2013. I suspect prices will go down, as the spike is probably a short term one, everywhere but in Virginia where, I understand, they have undergone a change in political sentiment.
I expect 5.56mm and 7.62x51mm ammunition prices to moderate somewhat, but I doubt they will return to the prices we had in 4Q 2014.
The "proposed" ban on M855 5.56mm ammunition has been delayed by the ATF, presumably after protests and the threat of an NRA lawsuit. The threat is not over.The bastards will be back. Meanwhile 7N6 (5.45x39 light ball surplus AK-74) ammunition is still banned even though it too was classified as "armor piercing".
I don't get what all the fuss is about. You know, without getting into whether or not green tip is in fact armor piercing, it strikes me that while armor-piercing ammunition is of some utility in defeating a predatory raid party, you certainly don't need AP to shoot the tyrannical politician or judge who sent them.
Loads.
Rantburg's summary for arms and ammunition:
Prices for rifle ammunition were mostly lower, while prices for pistol ammunition were mostly unchanged.
Prices for used rifles and used pistols were mixed.
Pistol Ammunition
.45 Caliber, 230 grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Munire USA, Tulammo, steel cased, .28 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: LAX Ammunition, Tulammo, steel cased, .28 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (4Q, 2014))
.40 Caliber Smith & Wesson, 180 grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: I.Q. metals, HSM, FMJ, reloads, .24 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: LAX Ammunition, Store brand, reloads, .24 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks))
9mm Parabellum, 115 grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (4Q, 2014)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: South Georgia Outdoors, CCI Blazer, FMJ, .20 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: LAX Ammunition, Pojeda, Steel cased, Reloads, FMJ, .19 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (4 Weeks))
.357 Magnum, 158 grain, From Last Week: -.02 Each After Unchanged (4 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Cheaper Than Dirt, Armscor USA, FMJ, .35 per round
Cheapest Bulk: 250 Rounds: SG Ammo, Geco, Bulk, FMJ, .34 per round (From Last Week: -.02 Each)
Rifle Ammunition
.223 Caliber/5.56mm 55 grain, From Last Week: -.02 Each
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Outdoor Unlimited, Wolf WPA, steel cased, FMJ, .27 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: SG Ammo, Wolf WPA, steel cased, .22 per round (From Last Week: -.06 Each (!))
.308 NATO 145 grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Munire USA, Brown Bear, steel cased, .48 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: SG Ammo, Wolf WPA, steel cased, .45 per round (From Last Week: -.03 Each)
7.62x39 AK 123 Grain, From Last Week: -.01 Each
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Bellagio Security, Unknown Brand, steel case, .23 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Cheaper Than Dirt, Wolf WPA, steel case, .23 per round (From Last Week: -.01 Each)
.22 LR 40 Grain, From Last Week: -.01 Each
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Sportsman Outdoor Superstore, CCI, RNL, .10 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Outdoors Unlimited, Aguilar, RNL, .11 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks))
[Iran Press TV] Eight soldiers are to face court-martial early next week in Ivory Coast over the murder of seven female demonstrators during the post-election violence that plagued the country in late 2010 and the following year.
"Major Gnahoua Dablet and seven other soldiers will be tried on Monday (March 16) for their suspected involvement in the slaughter of seven women in Abobo," military prosecutor Ange Kessi said on Friday.
The military trial comes after a civilian court in the commercial capital of Abidjan on March 10 sentenced the former first lady, Simone Gbagbo, to 20 years in prison for instigating the 2010-2011 post-electoral conflict, which led to the deaths of some 3,000 people.
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03/14/2015 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] The Venezuelan president says the US government is the "only enemy" of the South American country as the international community rallies in support of Caracas.
Washington, and not the American people, remains the real threat to Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro said during a pro-government rally at the Miraflores Presidential Palace in the capital city of Caracas on Thursday.
He went on to say, however, that the Venezuelan people cannot be defeated by any empire today.
"Our people have rejected the aggression of the imperialist US government. It has been a wave of courage because no empire... has been born yet that can twist the arm and defeat the Venezuelan people," Maduro added.
The statements come after US President Barack Obama We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us... labeled the Venezuelan government as a national security threat earlier this week.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2015 00:00 ||
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#4
The wages of not buying a sufficient number of EPA regulators to shut down fracking early enough. Think of all the power from untraceable credit card donations to the Obama campaign in 2008 would have brought.
[Iran Press TV] China is building a second aircraft carrier in a move to boost Beijing's maritime power, a media report says.
Beijing has "accumulated a lot of experience" from the first vessel and has now taken the "next step", Chinese media quoted senior colonel and professor at the National Defense University of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), Liang Fang, as saying.
A second carrier would mark a significant upgrade to China's current Liaoning carrier, a refurbished Soviet-era ship that Beijing acquired from Ukraine.
"The reason we imported the first aircraft carrier is so that we could be capable of building our own in the future," the official said, adding, "And now, just like what some media have revealed, that is what we have done -- built the second aircraft carrier."
Her statements follow recent reports from senior PLA officers on the building of the vessel. Chinese officials sporadically report -- and oftentimes delete -- news of a second domestically built aircraft carrier.
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03/14/2015 00:00 ||
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As per IDRW.ORG, BHARAT RAKSHAK, + TIMES OF INDIA, India has apparently decided to improve or construct its own Mil-capable artificial islands in the IOR.
* TOPIX > INDIA PUSHES BACK AGZ CHINA IN INDIAN OCEAN, + East Asia in general.
#2
Next time a tsunami hits in SouthEast Asia I expect to see Chinese carriers arriving and passing out fresh water and food the way American carriers have done in the past.
Wanna be a great power you gotta act like one, otherwise your just a wanna-be.
[AnNahar] Unhealthy eating, smoking and obesity are threatening a heart disease epidemic in China, where three out of four people are in poor cardiovascular shape, said a study on Monday.
The findings published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology are based on data from 96,000 men and women in the general Chinese population.
Health was classified as ideal, intermediate or poor according to seven behaviors and lifestyle factors set out by the American Heart Association: smoking status, body mass index, physical activity, diet, untreated total cholesterol, untreated blood pressure, and untreated fasting plasma glucose levels.
Just 0.2 percent of men and women in world's most populous country were found to be in "ideal" cardiovascular health, the study found.
Only five percent of men and 22 percent of women ranked "ideal" in terms of four leading health factors: body mass index, physical activity, diet and not smoking.
Cardiovascular disease is currently the leading cause of death in China, and the prevalence of diabetes in China has more than doubled over the past decade.
"Without effective intervention, cardiovascular disease will become epidemic in the near future in China," said the study led by Yufang Bi and senior author Guang Ning of Shanghai Jiao-Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
"Of the seven metrics, adhering to a healthy diet was the least common among all cardiovascular health metrics at 1.6 percent and similar between men and women," said the study.
Doctors urged China to adopt a nationwide strategy for improving the health of its citizens.
"While China is tremendously advanced technologically, the country faces a terrible burden of cardiovascular disease, as demonstrated by this study and others," said Valentin Fuster, editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
"The nation would benefit from a strategic country-wide approach aimed at lessening each of the risk factors, along with regional and individual educational efforts."
#6
Several of the college students I know, who have spent several months at a time in China in the last 3-4 years, have said they lost a lot of weight on the food they ate while there - mostly school cafeteria food & food they got at restaurants they went do. This was not from food poisoning, but due to a change in the content of the diet. They gained nearly all of it back as soon as they got back to the states and resumed their usual diet. None is or was obese.
I was researching school/institutional menus for Chinese primary & middle schools, and found several that had a special menu for obese children.
Some of the senior staffers of the language program look malnourished and stunted (to my medical eye), which I guess may be due to famine in the late 1950's and early 1960's. The staff born after 1980 look much healthier, and are all very slim, and on the short side. Childhood starvation by itself can cause cardiovascular complications late in life.
One thing about smoking, the fraction of Chinese needing old age pensions will be rather small.
[Iran Press TV] The United States is seeking to split Europe away from Russia in order to send its fracked gas to the continent instead of Russian natural gas, a political commentator says.
"The US wants to split Europe away from Russia, further isolating Russia. They want to stop Russian natural gas shipments into Europe... and they want to replace this with US fracked gas," Bruce Gagnon from Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space told Press TV on Friday.
However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... he added the Europeans are not willing to end their business with Russia and they are not satisfied with sanctions imposed against Moscow by the United States over the Ukraine crisis.
"European businesses are suffering from the sanctions on Russia and they're putting a lot of pressure on their governments to end this American war against Russia and Ukraine," Gagnon said.
The analyst also noted that the US can have access to resources in and near Russia with balkanization of the country and breaking the country into smaller parts.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2015 00:00 ||
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I thought it was the US whom wanted to split GERMANY from BFF RUSSIA???
#2
Wonder if Gagnon is stupid or just on Putin's payroll. He sounds like Chomsky, an analysis of the world with very large pieces intentionally ignored will not provide worthy analysis.
h/t Gates of Vienna
[TheLocal.de] Documents going on sale in London show how the Nazis tested V2 rockets, including firing them at their own cities.
The owner of the documents, a private collector, claims that they have never been seen before and that they are the first evidence to show that the Nazis killed their own citizens as a means of testing their weaponry.
Now they are being auctioned in the UK to the highest bidder by UK-based Chiswick Auctions.
Research notes which accompany the documents say that they are final test firing reports for the V2 missile. The reports were issued to 'Kommandostelle S' a highly secretive unit about which little is known.
According to the note, the report describes how V2s were fired against German population centres during the practise phase, and SS units then went to assess the damage.
#3
V2 were a terror weapon that didn't actually kill many people. I do wonder why you would fire into Germany and not into occupied territories though.
h/t Gates of Vienna
Dutch central bank president Klaas Knot has criticised the way France is getting round EU budget rules, the Volkskrant reports.
Knot has described it as 'scandalous' that other EU countries are allowing France to get away with bending the rules, the Volkskrant said on Thursday evening. All EU countries are equal, but some are more equal than others?
[DAWN] The Senate's Standing Committee on Science and Technology issued a letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... earlier this week, expressing fears of the seriousness of sea intrusion along the coastal areas of Sindh and Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... which can result in the sinking of Badin and Thatta in a period of 30 years, followed by Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... The letter stressed that if the matter was not treated urgently, Karachi could sink come 2060.
Can we make it happen sooner?
It also demanded of the Ministry of Water and Power, Navy, National Institute of Oceanography and other national institutions to carry out research studies to prevent such a situation from arising.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2015 00:00 ||
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Karachi could sink come 2060. Solution:
Make 2060 a "Leap Year" - Skip the year 2060 all together, move immediately to 2061 and your troubles are over.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] An Indian bride called off her wedding at the last minute after her groom-to-be failed to answer a simple mathematics question correctly, the BBC has reported.
[Iran Press TV] The Venezuelan president says the US government is the "only enemy" of the South American country as the international community rallies in support of Caracas.
[DAWN] The Senate's Standing Committee on Science and Technology issued a letter to Prime Minister 
