Hi there, !
Today Sat 11/26/2011 Fri 11/25/2011 Thu 11/24/2011 Wed 11/23/2011 Tue 11/22/2011 Mon 11/21/2011 Sun 11/20/2011 Archives
Rantburg
533281 articles and 1860637 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 69 articles and 104 comments as of 8:33.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Opinion        Politix   
Yemen's president signs power transfer deal
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
3 00:00 Anguper Hupomosing9418 [6] 
1 00:00 USN, Ret. [4] 
3 00:00 Bright Pebbles [2] 
1 00:00 newc [4] 
8 00:00 Anguper Hupomosing9418 [6] 
0 [1] 
0 [1] 
4 00:00 swksvolFF [1] 
3 00:00 Frank G [9] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
1 00:00 DarthVader [9]
2 00:00 Fred [15]
12 00:00 SteveS [11]
3 00:00 GolfBravoUSMC [3]
1 00:00 Anonymoose [10]
0 [7]
0 [7]
0 [8]
1 00:00 Anonymoose [2]
0 [4]
1 00:00 Mike Kozlowski [3]
0 [3]
1 00:00 American Delight [3]
0 [7]
1 00:00 USN, Ret. [10]
0 [6]
0 [7]
0 [7]
1 00:00 JohnQC [6]
0 [2]
0 [8]
0 [9]
0 [8]
0 [5]
2 00:00 g(r)omgoru [7]
0 [3]
0 [6]
Page 2: WoT Background
3 00:00 Frank G [11]
0 [5]
0 [9]
1 00:00 Paul D [7]
5 00:00 Ebbang Uluque6305 [6]
2 00:00 g(r)omgoru [3]
2 00:00 g(r)omgoru [7]
0 [2]
0 [1]
1 00:00 g(r)omgoru [8]
3 00:00 Frank G [12]
1 00:00 Anonymoose [6]
0 [1]
3 00:00 bman [1]
0 [1]
1 00:00 AlanC [2]
0 [6]
0 [7]
0 [7]
0 [7]
0 [1]
0 [2]
1 00:00 Anonymoose [3]
Page 4: Opinion
0 []
1 00:00 JohnQC [1]
0 [1]
2 00:00 Lord Garth [11]
Page 6: Politix
3 00:00 Anguper Hupomosing9418 [4]
3 00:00 SteveS [2]
3 00:00 Anguper Hupomosing9418 [3]
9 00:00 Anguper Hupomosing9418 [4]
9 00:00 crosspatch [2]
2 00:00 Lionel Hatrack3498 [6]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
FBI Arrests 7 Amish For Hair Attack. Really.
Millersburg, Ohio - The leader of a breakaway Amish group allowed the beatings of those who disobeyed him, made some members sleep in a chicken coop and had sexual relations with married women to "cleanse them," federal authorities said as they charged him and six others with hate crimes in hair-cutting attacks against other Amish.

Authorities raided the group's compound in eastern Ohio on Wednesday morning and arrested seven men, including group leader Sam Mullet and three of his sons.
The mullet gang? Well, at least they don't seem to be hairmosexuals.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 11/23/2011 19:26 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  U. S. attorney Dettlebach? Sounds liked an apostate. Steve still rumm shpringa?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 11/23/2011 20:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Mullet prompts Amish hair attack?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 11/23/2011 20:17 Comments || Top||

#3  'Bishop' Mullet is the alleged gang leader. However, the haircuts are the 'soup bowl' type.
Meanwhile, FBI has still made no arrests in the MF Global Holdings ripoff pending further campaign contributions from Jon Corzine.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 11/23/2011 23:00 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Iraq war veteran J.R. Martinez wins 'Dancing With the Stars'
Posted by: Beavis || 11/23/2011 06:14 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
US to stop sharing data on weapons with Russia
The United States said Tuesday that it will stop sharing information with Russia about its conventional weapons in Europe, dpa reported. The move comes after Moscow in 2007 stopped sharing information about its weapons with 29 other countries as part of the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty.

"We have tried repeatedly to bring Russia back to the table because we do believe in the CFE and we think it provides reassurance," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. "But we're at a stage now where, after a number of efforts to salvage this, we don't think it's in our interest to continue to provide data that is not reciprocated on the Russian side."
They stopped in 2007? Took us long enough to respond...
Other US NATO allies are also likely to stop providing information to Russia on their non-nuclear weapons to protest Moscow's noncompliance, Nuland said. The other parties to the treaty will continue to provide that information to each other.
Posted by: Steve White || 11/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  2007?
Posted by: Glolutch Ebbinesh6739 || 11/23/2011 7:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Reset Button™
Posted by: Frank G || 11/23/2011 7:55 Comments || Top||

#3  ...about its conventional weapons in Europe

[flogging a dead horse] Why do we even have conventional forces defending First World countries?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 11/23/2011 8:46 Comments || Top||

#4  How about the UK's data, is the US done sharing that with Russians as well?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/23/2011 10:46 Comments || Top||


Economy
German Bond Auction Fails
h/t Instapundit
... German bond auction went rather badly today. In fact, a lot of commentators are using words like "disastrous". They sold just over half of the €6 billion they had put out to market, the worst such outcome anyone can remember. This comes on the heels of a Spanish debt auction in which the yields on their three month notes more than doubled to 5%. That's a higher interest rate than I pay on my credit card.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/23/2011 16:17 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The link goes to ft.com, which YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR BEFORE VIEWING THEIR ARTICLES. Why even link there? All of us don't have a subscription, you know.
Posted by: gromky || 11/23/2011 17:28 Comments || Top||

#2  I wasn't able to read the original FT article either, but NYT has this:
Weak Sale of Bonds Tests Germany’s Stature in Crisis
FRANKFURT — Germany’s stature as an island of stability amid the financial chaos of the euro zone was challenged Wednesday after an auction of government bonds met slack demand, suggesting that investors are beginning to question whether there are any havens left in Europe. Analysts cautioned against reading too much into a single bond issue...About one-third of a €6 billion, or $8 billion, issue of German bonds found no buyers, twice as much unsold stock as normal, the country’s central bank reported...The sale was one of nine this year that fell short of demand, said Jörg Müller, a spokesman for the German Finance Agency, which administers bond sales. “It’s routine,” he said, adding that demand often tails off toward the end of the year. He said the excess bonds would be sold on the open market, and would not lead to any funding shortages for the government.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 11/23/2011 18:31 Comments || Top||



Europe
Russia prepares first-strike against US Missile shield

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the military to prepare to "destroy" the command capability of the planned U.S. missile-defense system in Europe.
In other words, first strike capability versus command and control facilities - meaning missiles, likely theater nukes.
Russia may also station strike missiles on its southern and western flanks, including Iskander rockets in the Kaliningrad exclave between Poland and Lithuania
why does this Soviet artifact still exist?
both members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union, Medvedev said on state television today.
Depending on spineless Obama to not threaten to return in kind and put the equivalent of Pershing missiles there in response. Betting on a toothless and gutless response from NATO is probably a safe bet.
Posted by: OldSpook || 11/23/2011 10:21 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Lift the test ban and start building a new generation of nukes and delivery systems. If they want a new cold war they can have one.
Posted by: Iblis || 11/23/2011 11:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Hey! As a space nut... if we lift the testban treaty then... WE COULD DO the original PROJECT ORION!

Posted by: Water Modem || 11/23/2011 11:21 Comments || Top||

#3  ..why does this Soviet artifact still exist?

1. It was East Prussia*.
2. It has effectively been ethnically cleansed.

* Some historians view the 19th Century 'German Unification' more as the triumph of Prussian expansion begun under Fredrick the Great via militarism. Given two world wars, no one really has been too concerned about resurrecting the thing or issues about 'right of return'.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 11/23/2011 11:24 Comments || Top||

#4  I knew its history - just wondering why Poland and Lithuania didn't simply split the territory between themselves while the bear was disintegrating.
Posted by: OldSpook || 11/23/2011 11:32 Comments || Top||

#5  The Bear still has nuclear weapons. Poland and Lithuania don't.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 11/23/2011 11:39 Comments || Top||

#6  The US could score points in this one by pointing out that these anti-missiles are to defend Europe against an aggressive missile attack by Iran, so does Russia now have a mutual defense pact with Iran?
Posted by: Anonymoose || 11/23/2011 12:19 Comments || Top||

#7  Walter Modem:Yes! Please!
Posted by: Aussie Mike || 11/23/2011 14:35 Comments || Top||

#8  The threat of a Soviet first strike against Europe was a major threat to Europe until Reagan's Pershing missile installation rendered the first strike a moot point - the western USSR would have been annihilated within minutes of a Soviet hit on western Europe.
So is western Europe more concerned about an Iranian / jihadi missile strike than a strike from zombie Communists?
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 11/23/2011 18:21 Comments || Top||


Dexia Bank Bailout "not feasible"?
Posted by: charger || 11/23/2011 00:32 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


The Grand Turk
Ergodan Apologizes (sort of) for late 1930s massacres of Kurds
An opposition
kurdish
lawmaker from the Republican People's Party said a dozen of his relatives were killed in Dersim
at least 10,000 Kurds died during the massacres; counting both Kurdish and non Kurdish victims of both massacres and forced relocation during the late 30s, it may be as high as 80,000
and lawmakers needed to shed light on the suppression of the rebellion. Erdogan then called on Republican leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, to face up to his party's past.

His offering of the apology appeared to be a political tactic to tarnish the image of Kilicdaroglu, whose family is rooted in Tunceli.

"If there is need for an apology on behalf of the state, if there is such a practice in the books, I would apologize and I am apologizing," Erdogan said in a televised speech. Erdogan said Kilicdaroglu must also apologize because his party
the Kamal Republican
was in power at the time.
One may read about the Dersim massacre here.
Posted by: Lord Garth || 11/23/2011 11:31 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What about the Armenians?
Posted by: newc || 11/23/2011 19:16 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Flood water sensors are NOT IED's
Posted by: newc || 11/23/2011 16:38 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  sure look like pipe bombs to me.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 11/23/2011 19:37 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistan shelves 'obscene' text message ban
[Dawn] Pakistain rowed back on Tuesday from demands that text messages containing nearly 1,700 "obscene" words should be blocked, following outrage from users and campaigners.

On November 14, the Pakistain Telecommunication Authority (PTA) distributed a list of 1,695 words in English and Urdu, the national language, to operators, giving them seven days to implement a filtering system.

But the list was met with uproar, both at the attempt to censor messages and the inclusion of many seemingly innocuous terms, among them "Jesus Christ", "lotion", "athlete's foot", "robber", "idiot", "four twenty" and "harder".

On Tuesday, PTA front man Mohammad Younis Khan told AFP the authority would consult civil society representatives and mobile phone operators on refining a much shorter list of words, giving no timeframe for any eventual ban.

"At the moment we are not blocking or filtering any word," Khan said. "No final decision has been taken in this regard," he added.

A PTA committee with representatives of civil society and mobile phone operators will decide on a "final list of objectionable words" which Khan conceded could be only around "a dozen".

"We have no plan to block any word until and unless it is approved by that committee and it will take time to reach that decision," he added.

A letter accompanying the list on November 14 said filtering was legal under the Pakistain Telecommunication Act of 1996 which prohibits people from transmitting messages that are "false, fabricated, indecent or obscene".

The PTA on Tuesday claimed that the November 14 list was merely "preliminary" and "advice" for operators to adopt a filtering system.

Mobile operators have already detailed their "concerns and reservations"and said they would seek further clarification from the PTA.

"Most of the words mentioned in the list are used legally," lawyer Syed Mohammad Tayyab told AFP.

"Like 420. It is a section of the Pakistain Penal Code," he said.

"The PTA policy is unjust and unfair on the face of it. It needs judicial review," said Tayyab, who is also a senior prosecutor in terrorism cases.

Campaign group Bytes for All had vowed to challenge the order in court, saying "a new, ruthless wave of moral policing" violated rights to free speech and privacy, and made a mockery of the entire country.
Posted by: Fred || 11/23/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  The muslim community of Scunthorpe breathes a sigh of relief.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/23/2011 7:43 Comments || Top||

#2  I never gave it any thought before, but somehow the idea of texting "monkey crotch" to every cell phone in Pakistain has a certain...resonance.
Posted by: SteveS || 11/23/2011 20:01 Comments || Top||

#3  preceded by "Yo Mama's"?
Posted by: Frank G || 11/23/2011 22:39 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
42[untagged]
6Govt of Syria
5Govt of Pakistan
4TTP
2al-Qaeda in Arabia
2Hezbollah
2Govt of Iran
2al-Shabaab
1al-Qaeda
1al-Qaeda in Pakistan
1Taliban
1al-Qaeda in Turkey

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2011-11-23
  Yemen's president signs power transfer deal
Tue 2011-11-22
  Yemen Opposition: Saleh Agrees to Sign Peace Plan. Really.
Mon 2011-11-21
  Colombia Farc rebel radio station 'shut down' by army
Sun 2011-11-20
  Libya: 'the executioner' Abdullah al-Senussi captured
Sat 2011-11-19
  Saif al-Islam Gaddafi captured in Libya
Fri 2011-11-18
  Sufi Mohammad's sons acquitted by Swat ATC
Thu 2011-11-17
  Saleh again refuses to sign power transfer
Wed 2011-11-16
  Missile raid targeted top Shabaab leaders
Tue 2011-11-15
  Suspected suicide bomber killed near Afghan loya jirga site
Mon 2011-11-14
  Syria Calls for Urgent Arab Summit
Sun 2011-11-13
  Syrian brownshirts storm Saudi embassy
Sat 2011-11-12
  Iranian Terror Plot Against Bahrain Uncovered
Fri 2011-11-11
  Mexican minister who fought drug cartels killed in crash
Thu 2011-11-10
  Cash shortage threatens Pakistan flood aid
Wed 2011-11-09
  Kim Jong-il Death Rumors Rattle Markets


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.
18.118.145.114
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (27)    WoT Background (23)    Opinion (4)    (0)    Politix (6)