[WSJ] Joran Van der Sloot, an alleged suspect in the unsolved disappearance of U.S. student in the Caribbean, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to the 2010 murder of a young Peruvian woman during a closely-watched trial in this city.
Mr. Van der Sloot admitted in a Peruvian court that he killed 21-year-old Stephany Flores in a hotel room in Lima on May 30, 2010 after meeting her in a casino.
The murder of Ms. Flores, daughter of a wealthy Peruvian businessman, took place five years to the day after U.S. student Natalee Holloway disappeared.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
He blamed on PTSD caused by the Natalee Holloway case.
While Obama and the current political class in Washington fiddle...
The Navys top officer detailed Tuesday the strategy for making sure the South China Sea and Western Pacific remain open to international shipping, saying an emerging China might try to limit access in the region.
The remarks by Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, represented a frank assessment of Chinas potential power grabs as it continues a military buildup that includes more ships and anti-ship weapons.
Adm. Greenert spoke a week after President Obama presented his military strategy, which states that the armed forces will put renewed focus on Asia and the Middle East. The Obama strategy mentions China as a regional power that can affect U.S. security in a variety of ways.
Appearing at the Center for a New American Security think tank, Adm. Greenert was more specific.
Over the long term, China will have the greatest potential, I view, to affect the economic and the security dynamics throughout the region and perhaps the world, he said. Their economic strength has grown. They have great regional capability and capacity, and its growing.
And under circumstances, that capability could limit access in the region.
The admiral said the Navy has deployed 100 of its 285 ships, and half are in the Western Pacific.
About half of those are forward deployed naval forces in and around Japan, he said. Thats the most advanced air wing we have, the most advanced cruisers and destroyers, ordnance, anti-submarine warfare. And we screen our sailors and our commanders very carefully. We put our best in the Western Pacific.
The admiral suggested that China, which is suspected of cyberattacks on U.S. military and industry computer networks, also is targeting ships at sea.
The first and most significant area will be the Western Pacific, and that is where the vast majority of our afloat cyberinvestments are right now today and will be in the future, he said.
Unstated by Adm. Greenert is the fleets future size. The new strategy will produce a military smaller than the current 1.4 million active force. Analysts say the Navy faces the prospect of remaining with fewer than 300 ships for years, even though its goal is 320 or more.
Max Boot, a Council on Foreign Relations analyst who is advising the Mitt Romney presidential campaign, said several of Chinas neighbors, including communist Vietnam, are looking to the U.S.
The Chinese navy has become very aggressive in trying to push out the navies of the Philippines, Japan and other local powers to extend Chinese sovereignty beyond what international law would allow, Mr. Boot said. Everybody would like to see China have a peaceful rise.
But there are also very strong militarist and nationalist tendencies that we see in China, with a lot of blood-curdling rhetoric coming from the Peoples Liberation Army about making war against the United States.
He added: I think we have to preserve the balance of power in the Pacific. But unfortunately, right now, I see the balance of power tilting against us. And I see a further tilt unless we actually increase our defense spending and expand the size of our Navy, in particular, which I think is at a dangerously low level.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/12/2012 00:00 ||
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A Pert argued a few days ago that the USN will need a minima 346 ships iff it hopes to effectively oppose/counter the rise of China + PLAN.
Again, IMO China is unlikely to make any concessions on SCS unless it gets de facto = absolute sovereignty + control of Taiwan, + prolly the Daoyus [Senkakus = Japan] to help defend Taiwan, which Japan + ROK + ASEAN are not going to support unless they get their own Nuke Arsenals + roles in US-led GMD-TMD.
* ION CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > [China-Defense-Mashup] TAIWAN CLAIMS CHINA TEST-FIRED JULANG-2 SUBMARINE LAUNCHED BALLISTIC MISSLES [SLBMS].
* IIRC MARIANAS VARIETY = Legally or illegally, seems CNMI-based Chinese Migrant-Workers wanna come to GUAM because of the on-going poor econ situation in the CNMI [Saipan = No Jobs, no $$$].
The Polish military prosecutor who shot himself in the head on Monday just moments after cutting short a press conference claims he had a US$782,000 contract on his head.
Colonel Mikolaj Przybyl said Tuesday his suicide attempt was an effort to expose what he called serious corruption in defence procurement contracts and said there was a contract out to kill him.
Przybyl shot himself on Monday during a break in a press conference in Poznan, western Poland, at which he had spoken about issues his office was probing, notably claims of high-level corruption in the Polish military.
My act was influenced by the cases I am investigating: one of them is the most serious involving financial issues in the Polish military, Col. Przybyl told Polands PAP news agency Tuesday as he recovered from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his cheek.
He is expected to leave hospital within days.
He said his act was intended to prevent the dismantling of the institution of military prosecutors, and that his recent high-level corruption probe had sped up steps being taken to get rid of military prosecutors and replace them with civilians.
I was defending the people, whom I know and who do excellent work. I wanted the prosecutors office to survive, he said.
In his news conference, Col. Przybyl had criticized media leaks from the ongoing probe into the 2010 crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others, mostly senior Polish military officials, in Smolensk, western Russia.
Reporters at the conference said Col. Przybyl then asked them to leave the room so that he could take, in his words, a break.
#1
Colonel Mikolaj Przybyl said Tuesday his suicide attempt was an effort to expose what he called serious corruption in defence procurement contracts and said there was a contract out to kill him.
So does he want the 782 grand now? This reads like a bad Polish joke.
#1
Again, the way to put a damper on this crap would be for the judge to announce that the victims were honorable, and and it is the murderers who have brought unpardonable shame and dishonor to their family.
And the media should be encouraged to back the judge in this, by doing the character assassination that they do best, portraying the victims as wonderful, virtuous people, and the murderers as vile, filthy, sinful animals who should be despised and shunned.
#5
Cruel interrogators the world over may wish to pop by a courtroom here to get schooled in a brilliant new torture technique put someone, anyone, in a room for a few hours with Tooba Mohammad Yahya and just see how long he lasts.
Excerpt:
Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles have a range of more than 6,000 miles (9,656 km) and can travel at speeds of up to Mach 23 (15,000 mph or 24,000 kph) and reach heights of up to 700 miles (1,120 km) above Earth.
The weapons can reach altitudes higher than the International Space Station, which orbits Earth at an altitude of about 220 miles (354 km), when they hit the peak of their flight trajectories. Hmmmmm....verrrrrrry interesting.....
#2
Could be a nice launch platform for MIRV'ed kinetic kill vehicles or an SM-3 derivative that can reach out even further. That'd be fun to watch...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/12/2012 13:40 Comments ||
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#3
Uh, they'd be Multiple Independently Targetable, since they would be going after sats, and therefor not doing any reentry, but you get the idea...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/12/2012 13:43 Comments ||
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#4
All ICBMs are suborbital otherwise, what would be the point? The "Ballistic" part means that the missile follows a parabolic path once the engines cut off.
So Muggsy, I agree.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/12/2012 13:55 Comments ||
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A non-suborbital, could go into orbit and circle around until given orders to deorbit, dropping on a target with minimal warning. Then your only problem is if something breaks in the harsh environment up there.
I'm sure we have some treaties (or used to) that outlawed that sort of thing during the cold war.
#6
I guess it would then be called an orbital weapon. :-)
Apollo and the space shuttle were not ICBMs either.
I will grant you that the Mercury spacecraft did ride on top of a modified Redstone ICBM booster. But both Mercury-Redstone 3 and 4 were suborbital shots.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/12/2012 16:51 Comments ||
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Muggsy and Mike: OK, not so interesting.....<sigh>
h/t Instapundit
Former U.N Ambassador John Bolton is set to endorse Mitt Romney and will join his top team of foreign-policy advisers, according to people close to the campaign.
#1
I think that the Republican leadership has put its foot down and said that Romney will be the nominee, no matter what the rank and file want. Because they decree it so.
#2
While it's not clear what the rank and file want, it's also not clear that they have any great choices.
Newt is a toad of a human being.
Perry (aka Mr. Competence) has run a terrible campaign.
Santorum is a nice guy but he's not presidential.
on-Ray aul-Pay is a kook.
If we had Jeb, Sarah, Christie, Daniels and Rubio in the hunt it would be different. But you go into an election with the candidates you have, not the ones you wish you had.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/12/2012 8:50 Comments ||
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#3
Bolton's endorsement carries some weight with me. Especially when attached to statement he would be a Romney advisor.
I do like the idea of candidates announcing some of their desired appointees and advisors while running.
#6
I think that the Republican leadership has put its foot down and said that Romney will be the nominee, no matter what the rank and file want. Because they decree it so.
It's almost as if they want four more years of Barack Obama.
#7
I think the Republican leadership would prefer another four years of Obama to having a conservative Republican. They truly hate and fear conservatives almost pathologically.
In all truth, I think many RINOs have bought into the idea of the "inevitability of socialism". All they care about is that it doesn't happen too quickly. Once they're dead, they don't care if the ship sinks.
#8
I think that's a little harsh. The Pub leadership dearly wants to get rid of Obama. Their thinking is just .. conventional.
Conventional wisdom is that you run to the center, that you place a premium on organization, on a candidate who is good in a debate, and who raise the money to run an effective campaign. Given the choices, they think Mittens is the man to do that. Mitt does all those things, and his own vision is conventional, in that it fits well with the Pub establishment.
So no surprise that they favor one of their own.
The Pubs want to win. The establishment just doesn't see a full-blooded, full-throated conservative as a winner. It's too unconventional.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/12/2012 12:38 Comments ||
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#9
I think the leadership of the RNC are the most comfortible with Romney, since he is basically like them. Also, at this point with the implosion of pretty much every other candidate, they don't have much choice either.
#10
I saw in our local newspaper this morning that Governor Haslam (TN) has endorsed Mitt Romney. Currently the Republicans have the edge in governorships; 29 vs. 20. There may be enough discontent in the electorate with the current state of the economy that they will vote for anyone but BO.
#11
The republican leadership gets their news from the main stream media + Fox. They have a distorted world view.
It is also important to realize they look at tracking polls and such from the primary states (where candidates spend time and money) and don't pay as much attention to the rest of the their nation (where the candidates don't). National polls saying Romney is a dog are somewhat meaningless.
If letting the Rockefeller establishment wing of the GOP have Romney means the conservative wing turns its attention and resources down ticket to the Senate and House, it's more of a silver cloud with a dark lining.
The President only gets to sign the laws the legislature passes. I want a House and Senate that will repeal health care, not a President who can't sign off because they didn't repeal.
#13
Oh good Lord! Will everyone of you please look at Steve White's absolutely spot-on comment (#2) above. There isn't any other electable candidate running. Period. End of story. Mitt has his weaknesses, no question, but he is a far far cry better than the incompetent bozo we have in the White House now. Will he be the perfect conservative? No, at least I highly doubt it, but unless you want the bozo to win again, you all better get behind Mitt, or at least hold your nose and vote for him.
#14
I don't think the primary has been as much of a disaster as it has been made out to be...head shaking moments, yeah, but everyone had their 15 minutes of primetime to get their message out. As an observation, there has been quite a bit thrown at mittens and nothing really has stuck, not even the latest all-in dogpile, something which would be approached at some point between now and November...just an observation.
Without both the House and Senate, it will not matter anyways.
Whoever the candidate is, and however many spoonfulls of sugar you might need, start with this: Imagine obama's behavior without the need to pay fig leaf lip service to a re-election. If the Republican ends up being a duck, primary his ass.
In the meantime, barry is already campaigning and not even being bashful about it. One second nobody knows he has a bus and suddenly he is out cruising primary stomping grounds. Then he has his stupid little presser with everyone behind him looking just right...nothing from the press and it will only get more aggressive.
#17
Personally, I'm just looking at hunkering down and trying to ride out the resulting socialism-heavy or socialism-light (to be followed by socialism-heavy in the next election).
#18
Glenmore: No, because I believe that's out of the question. IMHO, Hillary has had it with playing second fiddle to some bumbling twit. She's already had to endure it in her marriage - and BHO is no Bill Clinton. VP would just add insult to injury. At this point, I think she either runs for the Dem presidential nomination, or accepts that she's had a good run of it and turns to her own pursuits.
I agree with remoteman. A ham sandwich would be better than the bozo we've got - and good thing, because it looks like a ham sandwich is gonna be the alternative.
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.
Joran Van der Sloot, an alleged suspect in the unsolved disappearance of U.S. student in the Caribbean, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to the 2010 murder of a young Peruvian woman during a closely-watched trial in this city.
