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Rebels seize Assad's last stronghold in Idlib
Today's Headlines
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
FIFA Has Clinton Foundation Ties; World Cup Host Qatar Gave Millions
.[The Daily Beast] Both Bill Clinton and his family's charity have been tied to soccer's governing body, as well as Qatar's disastrous World Cup bid.

And just like that, another Clinton Foundation donor is in the news.

The Clinton global charity has received between $50,000 and $100,000 from soccer's governing body and has partnered with the Fédération Internationale de Football Association on several occasions, according to donor listings on the foundation's website.

Several top FIFA executives were arrested Wednesday in Zurich and face corruption charges stretching back two decades, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Involvement with the embattled body extends beyond the foundation to Bill Clinton himself. The former president was an honorary chairman of the bid committee put together to promote the United States as a possible host nation for the 2018 or 2022 World Cup.

When the U.S. lost the 2022 bid to Qatar, Clinton was rumored to be so upset he shattered a mirror.

But apparently Qatar tried to make it up to him.

The Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, partnering with the State of Qatar, "committed to utilizing its research and development for sustainable infrastructure at the 2022 FIFA World Cup to improve food security in Qatar, the Middle East, and other arid and water-stressed regions throughout the world," according to the Clinton Foundation website.

The cost of the two-year project is not listed on the Clinton Foundation website, but the Qatar 2022 committee gave the foundation between $250,000 and $500,000 in 2014 and the State of Qatar gave between $1 million and $5 million in previous, unspecified years.

FIFA, which has never been a bastion of ethics, was heavily criticized for awarding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup to Russia and Qatar, respectively, in part because of their abysmal human-rights records.

The Guardian reported in 2013 about "appalling labor abuses," including possible forced labor and worker death on Qatar's World Cup infrastructure projects. It is also considered to be too hot to play soccer in Qatar in the summer.

No Qatari officials have been arrested, but Swiss authorities announced Wednesday that they had opened criminal proceedings into the allocation of the Qatari and Russian World Cups. They have also seized documents from FIFA's headquarters and gained access to the Swiss bank accounts of executives they suspect of "unjust enrichment" and money laundering
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/29/2015 02:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What's the point of being a whore if you don't let people buy you?
Posted by: ed in texas || 05/29/2015 7:55 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 05/29/2015 20:42 Comments || Top||


Bartender sentenced after man drinks 56 shots and dies
[STUFF.CO.NZ] A French bartender has been convicted of manslaughter after serving a man 56 shots of alcohol, killing him.

Giles Crepin admits that he made a mistake by displaying the 'shots record' on a noticeboard in the 'Starter' bar. He will serve a four month prison sentence and is banned from working in bars for a year.

The 56-year-old Renaud Prudhomme broke the shots record in the Clermon-Ferrand bar, drinking 56 shots in one sitting. This included 30 'shooters' - a straight shot of spirits or a hard mix - in just under a minute.

Each shooter included between 20ml and 40ml or hard alcohol, meaning Prudhomme drank at least a litre of spirits.

Crepin told Prudhomme "only 12 to go" as he neared the bar's existing record of 55.

Prudhomme was carried home by his daughter and friends. Emergency services were called and he died in hospital the following day.
Posted by: Fred || 05/29/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I can remember wishing I would die.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/29/2015 11:05 Comments || Top||

#2  "only 12 to go"

Man vs. Booze
Posted by: DepotGuy || 05/29/2015 12:13 Comments || Top||

#3  I note that this it not one of the Anglosphere countries, infamous for their tradition of drunken sots, nor one of the Slavic ones, ditto, but France -- known for its gastronomical appreciation of the finest things, and ever controlled.

The wonder is that no one stuck a finger down the man's throat after, that by throwing up the poison he'd not die of it.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/29/2015 12:26 Comments || Top||

#4  "Portejoie said that the dead man's daughter had pushed him to break the record. He also noted existing alcohol abuse and respiratory problems."

Wonder if she was upset or dancing a jig the following morning.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 05/29/2015 15:57 Comments || Top||

#5  Assuming a 1oz shot, that's 1.6ish liters. Shooters are notorious for being weak on the liquor. Should've stuck with beer. Much harder to consume fatal amounts.
Posted by: Lowspark || 05/29/2015 16:29 Comments || Top||

#6  Except beer forces you to spend a lot more time in the John.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 05/29/2015 16:50 Comments || Top||

#7  Lightweight!
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/29/2015 17:19 Comments || Top||


Baltimore Residents Fearful Amid Rash Of Homicides
[BALTIMORE.CBSLOCAL] A 31-year-old woman and a young boy were shot in the head Thursday, becoming Baltimore's 37th and 38th homicide victims so far this month, the city's deadliest in 15 years.
What a good idea! Put the animals in charge of the zoo.
Meanwhile,
...back at the Alamo, Davy was wondering if Buck was okay. He suspected he wasn't...
arrests have plunged: Police are booking fewer than half the number of people they pulled off the streets last year.

Arrests were already declining before Freddie Gray died on April 19 of injuries he suffered in police custody, but they dropped sharply thereafter, as his death unleashed protests, riots, the criminal indictment of six officers and a full-on civil rights investigation by the U.S. Justice Department that has officers working under close scrutiny.

"I'm afraid to go outside," said Antoinette Perrine, whose brother was shot down three weeks ago on a basketball court near her home in the Harlem Park neighborhood of West Baltimore. Ever since, she has barricaded her door and added metal slabs inside her windows to deflect gunfire.

"It's so bad, people are afraid to let their kids outside," Perrine said. "People wake up with shots through their windows. Police used to sit on every corner, on the top of the block. These days? They're nowhere."

West Baltimore residents worry they've been abandoned by the officers they once accused of harassing them, leaving some neighborhoods like the Wild West without a lawman around.

"Before it was over-policing. Now there's no police," said Donnail "Dreads" Lee, 34, who lives in the Gilmor Homes, the public housing complex where Gray, 25, was chased down. "People feel as though they can do things and get away with it. I see people walking with guns almost every single day, because they know the police aren't pulling them up like they used to."

Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said his officers "are not holding back," despite encountering dangerous hostility in the Western District.

"Our officers tell me that when officers pull up, they have 30 to 50 people surrounding them at any time," Batts said.
Posted by: Fred || 05/29/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No harm in being a good guy and going with affirmative action, is there?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/29/2015 2:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Inquiring minds might ask, isn't it all buried here somewhere ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/29/2015 3:42 Comments || Top||

#3  You get more of what behavior you reward.
Posted by: ed in texas || 05/29/2015 7:42 Comments || Top||

#4  ..yes, you get more of that which you reward and less of what you punish. Hasn't changed in 4000 years (no matter how hip, modern, or urban you may be can overcome that).
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/29/2015 7:57 Comments || Top||

#5  At least the police aren't shooting down black men. That's the important thing, right?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 05/29/2015 9:18 Comments || Top||

#6  Comeon - take it easy on the poor Mayor! It isn't as if someone could have predicted what would happen when you do away with the Rule of Law and stop arresting criminals!

(/SARC - of course anyone with two brain cells to rub together could have seen this...)
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/29/2015 9:32 Comments || Top||

#7  If the charges against Baltimore officers involved in the Freddie Gray incident were dropped this afternoon, Baltimore policing would return to normal [whatever defines normal] tomorrow.

This isn't about the concern for the safety of police officers, or worries about litigation. This is about their brothers, tools for survival, and the ability to do their job.

Let the anarchy continue, the problem will eventually self-resolve.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/29/2015 10:22 Comments || Top||

#8  Is may be just my personal impression, but, it seems to me that: whenever affirmative action invoked on behalf of a group---the main winners are the worst members of that group.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/29/2015 12:37 Comments || Top||

#9  Besoeker, if the charges against the officers were dropped, riots would break out within hours. The police, hamstrung by the mayor, would let city burn. After all, the rioters and looters are just seeking justice, right?

If I were a Baltimore police officer, I would seriously consider resigning.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 05/29/2015 13:37 Comments || Top||

#10  Fact is most blacks pay little attention to black-on-black crime and then fill the streets when a criminal is called by a cop. They've created the environment and need to rethink a few things about their relation to law enforcement.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 05/29/2015 16:00 Comments || Top||

#11  Wall the city off, toss in all the hand guns and assault rifles the thugs can use and let nature take its course.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/29/2015 16:33 Comments || Top||

#12 
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/29/2015 17:21 Comments || Top||

#13  #11 Wall the city off, toss in all the hand guns and assault rifles the thugs can use and let nature take its course.

Somebody call Snake Plissken. My script for "Escape from Baltimore" is almost done.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/29/2015 17:34 Comments || Top||

#14  Wall the city off, toss in all the hand guns and assault rifles the thugs can use and let nature take its course.

Toss in Obama, Eric Holder, Lynch, and the Racist Twins Jackson and Sharpton for good measure - unarmed.
Posted by: Crazyfool || 05/29/2015 19:47 Comments || Top||


New Law Limits What Minnesota Bounty Hunters Can Wear, Drive
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- A new state law aimed at reining in Minnesota bounty hunters forbids bail bondsmen from using certain-colored uniforms, or vehicles with emblems that the public might mistake for sworn officers.

The law passed with little public airing. Those behind it acknowledge it's designed largely with bounty hunter Stew Peters in mind. He's a private bail enforcement agent known to wear a police-like uniform and drive around in a specially equipped SUV similar to those used by law enforcement.

Peters says he'll abide by the law but is annoyed with the premise and process of passage. He denies impersonating a police officer and says he's out to apprehend bail jumpers.

The Minnesota Professional Bail Bonds Association wasn't involved in crafting the law, but the group's president is supportive of its intent.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/29/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Looks like Dog the Brownie Hunter.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 05/29/2015 7:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Notice they simply alter the packing of the job/profession rather than review and alter the entire process of 'bail' and recovery.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/29/2015 7:51 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
Duncan Hunter accuses Army of retaliation with criminal investigation of whistleblower
[Wash Times] A member of the House Committee on Armed Services is accusing the Army top brass of launching a criminal investigation against a Green Beret war hero as a way to retaliate against the congressman.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican, has battled Army headquarters on a number fronts in recent years, such as a faulty ground intelligence network and what he considers unprofessional treatment of soldiers denied or stripped of awards.

The ill feelings erupted in a heated exchange with Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, Army chief of staff. At a 2013 hearing, Mr. Hunter, a former Marine officer and a committee activist, accused the Army of holding back off-the-shelf technology that helps soldiers in Afghanistan find the enemy.

"I'm tired of somebody telling me I don't care about our soldiers," Gen. Odierno shouted.

Now, the Army's Criminal Investigation Command is investigating Lt. Col. Jason Amerine for his collaboration with Mr. Hunter's staff on legislation to overhaul the Obama administration's hostage policies and hopefully win the freedom of captured Americans.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/29/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Cause in this Administration and its apparatchiks 'caring' is far more important than accomplishing anything viable.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/29/2015 7:55 Comments || Top||

#2  my Congresscritter. We love him
Posted by: Frank G || 05/29/2015 13:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Happy enough with him up in Carlsbad.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 05/29/2015 16:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Odierno, an Obama creature. Field Artillery to staff weenie, to architect of the Obama abandonment of Iraq.
Posted by: OldSpook || 05/29/2015 19:17 Comments || Top||

#5  FYI it was him and his division that fumbled the overrun of the Sunni areas which resulted in the insurgency growing like mad there - including his ROE that had patrols back on base instead of Gen McMaster's "engage and stay" strategy that ultimately broke the insurgency after Odie was out of the way. He did end up carrying out McMasters proven successful strategy during his command of the MNF, after JCF pretty much forced the issue at the behest of President Bush.

He is also the architect of the shrinking of Army manpower to 450K - instead of publicly fighting for whats right, he goes along and gets along.
Posted by: OldSpook || 05/29/2015 19:24 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Puntland launches Bossaso port expansion project
BOSSASO, Somalia -- The President of Somalia’s Puntland Government Dr. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali has launched Bossaso port expansion project on Thursday, Garowe Online reports.
More room for hijacked ships!
Government has not disclosed further details on the duration and costs allotted for Bossaso port infrastructure upgrade. It is unclear whether Bossaso port renovation contract stipulates expansion of terminals and shipping network facitilies due to shallow water harbor and increasing cargo volume.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/29/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Saudi Arabia beheads another Pakistani drug trafficker
[DAWN] Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
on Thursday beheaded a convicted Pak narco, adding to what a United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
rapporteur called a "very disturbing" surge in the kingdom's use of the death penalty.

Ihsan Amin was executed in Riyadh after being convicted of heroin smuggling, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

He became the 90th person put to death this year, compared with 87 for the whole of 2014, according to AFP tallies. About half of those executed have been foreigners.
Posted by: Fred || 05/29/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Narcos

#1  "No, No! We said atomic bomb, not opium! Get it right!"
Posted by: ed in texas || 05/29/2015 8:07 Comments || Top||


World Cup sponsor logos redesigned to protest labor abuses in Qatar
[THEVERGE] Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates...
has come under intense criticism in the lead-up to the 2022 World Cup, amid reports that new stadiums and luxury hotels are being constructed under labor conditions that amount to modern-day slavery. Nepalese workers, who comprise about 20 percent of Qatar's migrant labor force, were dying at a rate of one every two days as of late last year, according to The Guardian, often due to extreme heat and poor safety standards. The country's kafala labor system also ties migrant workers to their employers, who can confiscate passports and withhold pay as they see fit. Last week, The Guardian reported that many Nepalese workers were denied leave to attend funerals held after a massive earthquake struck their home country last month.

The revelations have spurred some to pressure World Cup corporate sponsors to take a stronger stand. Coca-Cola, Visa, and Adidas have publicly expressed concern
...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended...
over the labor practices and have called for reform, though activists fear that mere statements may not do enough to raise broader awareness. To that end, some amateur designers have taken a far bolder tact, reworking the sponsors' logos to more accurately reflect the human costs of the event they're financing.
Posted by: Fred || 05/29/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sort of skipping the sports broadcasters who reap the money from the 'sponsors'?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/29/2015 9:36 Comments || Top||

#2  This isn't new - the conditions have been there for a couple of decades now.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/29/2015 9:44 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russian Opposition Leader's Illness Raises Fears Of Foul Play
[The Guardian] A Russian opposition leader is in intensive care in a Moscow hospital, and a lack of clarity about the cause of his sudden illness has raised suggestions of foul play. Vladimir Kara-Murza was a close associate of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was assassinated in February, and works with a civic organisation founded by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former oil tycoon and opponent of the Kremlin.

First City hospital said 33-year-old Kara-Murza remained in a grave condition on Thursday, two days after he was admitted. The Interfax news agency, citing the hospital’s chief doctor, said he appeared to be suffering from pancreatitis and double pneumonia.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 05/29/2015 01:39 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  he tried the sushi
Posted by: Frank G || 05/29/2015 13:24 Comments || Top||

#2  The whole Vladimir Borgia Putin thing has gotten old.
Posted by: Lampedusa Jones6552 || 05/29/2015 16:55 Comments || Top||


Donetsk chief negotiator could be investigated


For a map, click here. You can enlarge the map, if you open it separately.

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

Donetsk People's Republic chief negotiator in ongoing peace talks between Donetsk and Lugansk and Ukraine, Denis Pusilin, has been publicly -- albeit not officially -- charged with abuse of power, according to Russian language news sources.

An individual identified as an analyst, Roman Manekin posted an online petition which states that Pusilin has been negotiating with his Ukrainian counterparties to offer changes in the Donetsk constitution that would aid in reintegrating Donetsk as an autonomous political unit within a Ukrainian federation.

At the moment both Donetsk and Lugansk are independent republics.

The issue of autonomy versus independence has been a touchy topic with officials in both breakaway republics, many of whom have changed their stance in favor -- or against -- independence since the first ceasefire, known as Minsk I.

Pusilin has been on the Donetsk ceasefire negotiating team since Minsk I. Donetsk has had a foreign ministry since last fall, but its head, Aleksandr Kofman noted only a few days ago that the reason his department is not part of the contact group in multilateral talks is because, according to Kofman, the negotiating team are trained lawyers.

Officials in both Donetsk and Lugansk are extremely sensitive to issues relating to independence. The official stance of Lugansk president Igor Plotinitsky has been that Lugansk is to be integrated into the Russian Federation, a stance which in part has caused a small civil war within a civil war in both Lugansk and Donetsk, pitting Cossack units, whose commanders want independence, against military units for both republics.

The civil war within a civil war has cost the lives of a few top commanders at the hands of Russian special forces, colloquially known as "Green Men". Although he denies it, Plotinitsky was publicly charged with involvement in the murder of the popular commander, Alexei Mozgovoy last weekend.

At the moment, peace talks are stalled in the wake of remarks by Ukrainian president Piotr Poroshenko, who said Wednesday that he will not talk with the political leaders of Donetsk or Lugansk about any proposed settlement in the now year old war.

Donetsk president Aleksandr Zakharchenko responded, in context of Poroshenko's remarks and the Ukrainian shelling of Gorlovka, that he reserves the right to respond at his discretion instead of holding return fire. Since the February Minsk II ceasefire, rebel fores have consistently claimed their forces have held fire in response to Ukrainian fire.

Meanwhile, at the contact lines exchange of fire continues between the two combatants.

The Donetsk Ministry of Defense official, Lt. Colonel Eduard Basurin said that Ukrainian forces have fired on rebel forces in several localities including western Donetsk, Gorlovka and Shirokino.

In western Donetsk city, rebels claimed that Ukrainian forces hit targets at Spartak, Oktyrabrsky mining district and at the airport.

In Gorvlovka, rebel officials say Ukrainian artillery hit targets, killing five civilians, wounding nine, and damaging residences.

Gorlovka has been the scene of exchange of heavy artillery between the two combatants since the start of the year, with little respite.

Ukrainian defense officials said Thursday that rebel forces have fired weapons in western Donetsk, including mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns and small arms.

Ukrainian officials say that rebel forces fired on them at Shirokino using mortars, grenade launchers, anti-aircraft guns and small arms.

Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on Twitter. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraina by clicking here.
Posted by: badanov || 05/29/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Exclusive: Russia masses heavy firepower on border with Ukraine - witness
[REUTERS] Russia's army is massing troops and hundreds of pieces of weaponry including mobile rocket launchers, tanks and artillery at a makeshift base near the border with Ukraine, a Rooters news hound saw this week.

Many of the vehicles have number plates and identifying marks removed while many of the servicemen had taken insignia off their fatigues. As such, they match the appearance of some of the forces spotted in eastern Ukraine, which Kiev and its Western allies allege are covert Russian detachments.

The scene at the base on the Kuzminsky firing range, around 50 km (30 miles) from the border, offers some of the clearest evidence to date of what appeared to be a concerted Russian military build-up in the area.

Earlier this month, NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
military commander General Philip Breedlove said he believed the separatists were taking advantage of a ceasefire that came into force in February to re-arm and prepare for a new offensive. However,
you can observe a lot just by watching...
he gave no specifics.

Russia denies that its military is involved in the conflict in Ukraine's east, where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting forces loyal to the pro-Western government in Kiev.
Posted by: Fred || 05/29/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Putin rules deaths of Russian troops in 'special operations' a state secret
[The Telegraph] Critics accuse Russian leader of imposing an effective blackout on news of death of soldiers as Moscow continues to deny involvement in Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin has declared all deaths of Russian soldiers during "special operations" to be classified as a state secret, in a move that comes as Moscow stands accused of sending soldiers to fight in eastern Ukraine.

An order signed by President Putin on Thursday makes it a criminal offence to divulge information about the peacetime loss of its soldiers. The order comes amid mounting evidence of the involvement of Russian troops in the over year-long conflict in Ukraine.

Last week, Moscow-based opposition activists published a report on the deaths of members of an elite Russian army reconnaissance unit, whom they claim were killed while on duty in eastern Ukraine.

Vadim Korovin and Ruslan Leviev say their report, which involved exhaustive investigations and photos of the soldiers' graves, proves that the men were serving members of the Russian military at the time of their deaths on May 5, and not volunteers.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/29/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Furthermore, they are no longer allowed to die without written permission in triplicate. Failure to get said permission before becoming deceased will result in court martial and removal from service, retroactive to the prior pay period.
"He wasn't in the Army anymore when he died. We don't know anything about it."
Posted by: ed in texas || 05/29/2015 7:47 Comments || Top||

#2  'State Secret' like the physical entity known as Area 51 is a state secret.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/29/2015 7:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Yet another thing that Zero admires Putty-poot for.
Posted by: AlanC || 05/29/2015 9:10 Comments || Top||

#4  More must be dying than Putin is comfortable with.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/29/2015 13:04 Comments || Top||


Czech General Petr Pavel's Bear Warning
[Bus Insider] The future chairman of the NATO Military Committee has issued some dire warnings about Russia's ability to occupy the Baltic States.

Czech General Petr Pavel, who is scheduled to become chairman in June, warned on May 27th that Moscow would be able to conquer the three Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania within two days even despite the former Soviet republics' NATO membership, according to the Czech news site CTK.

This is largely due to the complexity of the NATO decision-making process, along with the small geographic area of the Baltics. Russia could take advantage of NATO's relatively slow-moving command structure to blitz across the three countries in a matter of hours.

"On the one hand, one of [NATO´s] disadvantages is its complex process of decision making. It is because NATO has 28 members who have to reach consensus on all conclusions," Pavel told CTK.

"From the technical point of view, if I consider how many forces Russia is able to deploy in the Baltics, the size of the Baltic countries and the density of forces on their territories, the Baltics could really be occupied in a couple of days."

According to Pavel, the key military and political processes of NATO are not synchronized to allow for a split-second response. Whereas NATO's rapid reaction forced could be mobilized and deployed within two days, the political consensus needed to make that decision could take substantially longer to reach.

And until there is a consensus that the Russian advance has triggered the NATO alliance's mutual defense obligations, NATO military forces would have to remain on the sidelines.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/29/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Surprise meter?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/29/2015 2:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Liberum Veto strikes again.
Posted by: charger || 05/29/2015 12:08 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Courtesans and samurai
h/t Instapundit
A courtesan washing her hair, fearsome samurai warriors and a mother tenderly watching her sleeping child are among the characters to feature in rare photographs of Edo-era Japan set to go on display in London for the first time this weekend.
The pictures, which date from between 1863 and 1877, were taken by Felice Beato and are among the earliest examples of coloured photography ever produced.
Beauty is truth
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/29/2015 03:02 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  As someone commented on Instapundit none of the Samuraii have topknots. Anyone know what that means?
Posted by: rjschwarz || 05/29/2015 15:51 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Love-marriage couple's kin scuffle on court premises
[DAWN] LAHORE: Relatives of a love-marriage couple had a scuffle on the premises of Lahore High Court here on Wednesday. As the relatives of the couple reached the court, men and women of the both families exchanged harsh words over the love-marriage issue and subsequently had a scuffle.

The parents and relatives of the girl tried to drag her along, asking her to leave her husband whom she had married without their consent.

However,
a person who gets all wrapped up in himself makes a mighty small package...
the relatives of her husband rescued her.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Big Shirley was still trying to snatch Nunzio bald-headed. She was already halfway there...
security personnel and some lawyers intervened and took the couple to the court.

Asad of Pattoki filed a writ petition in LHC stating that he contracted love-marriage but his wife's parents lodged a false kidnap case against him.

The court permitted the girl to go with her husband and adjourned the hearing till June 2.

Recently, LHC chief justice had taken strict notice of such incidents, directing the security personnel to ensure protection of litigants at least on court premises.
Posted by: Fred || 05/29/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Nawaz, Shahbaz acquitted in old corruption case
[DAWN]
Posted by: Fred || 05/29/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


International-UN-NGOs
UN: Fewer hungry people in the world despite wars, poverty
[Ynet] The number of hungry people around the world has dropped to 795 million from over a billion a quarter-century ago despite natural disasters, ongoing conflicts and poverty, the three UN food agencies said Wednesday.

Countries in East Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean showed the most progress in reducing hunger, thanks in part to economic growth that didn't exclude the poor, investments in agriculture and political stability, the agencies said in their annual State of Food Insecurity report.
In other words, despite the best efforts of war mongers, jihadis, and Communists/Socialists around the world, capitalism is making a difference.
The report found that a majority of the countries monitored - 72 out of 129 - have met the UN's ambitious Millennium Development Goals to halve undernourishment by 2015.

"The near-achievement of the MDG hunger targets shows us that we can indeed eliminate the scourge of hunger in our lifetime," said UN Food and Agriculture Organization's chief, Jose Graziano da Silva.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/29/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, when you have a lot of small wars and starve off all the hungry people, it sort of follows that you'd have less of them.
Posted by: ed in texas || 05/29/2015 9:23 Comments || Top||

#2  I figger they all moved to the US of A. How else do you account for all the new illegal democratic-voter immigrants
Posted by: Bobby || 05/29/2015 14:22 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Selling the Desert's Water-Conservation Lessons
h/t Gates of Vienna
The Israeli farmers who pioneered the revolutionary technology known as drip irrigation weren't trying to solve one of the world's most urgent problems. They were just trying to survive. They lived in the desert, and they didn't have enough water to grow their crops. One day, they met an engineer named Simcha Blass who told them about his amazing new invention.

In its simplest form, it was little more than a hose with holes in it. But behind each hole was a sophisticated little device called a dripper, a sort of button-like valve that emitted just the right amount of water. Snaked along a row of crops so that the holes were positioned directly above the roots, the hose could direct each precious drop of water directly to the plants, growing a bigger bounty while using a fraction of the water.

The farmers decided to start manufacturing these hoses, and over time, they improved upon the technology, perfecting the drippers that regulated the flow of water, and connecting the pipelines to computers that could determine exactly how much water each plant needed and when.

...The company, Netafim, was founded in 1965 on a kibbutz in the Negev Desert in the south of Israel, near Beersheva, and is today based in Tel Aviv. Although the company won't share its profit records, there's no question that Netafim has done very well as the global demand for water has grown increasingly intense. In the last 35 years, Netafim's revenues have climbed from $60 million to more than $750 million, and its workforce has grown from a handful of kibbutzniks to more than 4,000 people on every continent but Antarctica. With a 30 percent market share, it's the leading drip-irrigation company in the world.
There are makers, takers, and fakers. And, I guess, we know who's who.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/29/2015 04:33 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  there's no Joooo-killing interest in using this tech, ergo, Paleos have water shortages
Posted by: Frank G || 05/29/2015 21:36 Comments || Top||


Study Predicts Decades Of Global Cooling Ahead
h/t Instapundit
A new study out of the United Kingdom predicts the Earth is about to go through a major climatic shift that could mean decades of cooler temperatures and fewer hurricanes hitting the United States.

Scientists at the University of Southampton predict that a cooling of the Atlantic Ocean could cool global temperatures a half a degree Celsius and may offer a "brief respite from the persistent rise of global temperatures," according to their study.
"Let assume---just for the purposes of discussion, that planetary orbits are not circular."
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/29/2015 02:55 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  NTSA
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/29/2015 8:19 Comments || Top||

#2  What? The AGW money tree about picked off?

Picked off the Global Cooling, next ice age, money tree back in the '70's? It's regrown and ready for harvest again?
Posted by: AlanC || 05/29/2015 8:54 Comments || Top||

#3  The important thing is that the climate is changing!!!! We (the government) must do something!
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 05/29/2015 9:05 Comments || Top||

#4  ... "brief respite from the persistent rise of global temperatures..."

That darn temperature rising since the end of the last ice age! We must do something about it!!!
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/29/2015 9:14 Comments || Top||

#5  Temperature rises every day and then plummets! Something must be done! Send money, allow additional regulation, and ignore the fact that your 'betters' don't seem to be taking the problem seriously.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 05/29/2015 15:54 Comments || Top||

#6  Climate is a social construct. It does not exist.
Posted by: Lowspark || 05/29/2015 16:02 Comments || Top||

#7  Do Not Go There, OS.
Posted by: OldSpook || 05/29/2015 19:10 Comments || Top||


The US Navy shows off its strange new war-changing ships
Last week's Culebra Koa 15 (CK 15) exercises in Hawaii were the last chance for some fun in the sun before two of the US Navy's newest -- and most unusual -- ships get deployed.

The USNS Montford Point is not just the first ship of its class, it's the first of its kind. The ship "became fully operations capable and delivered to Military Sealift Command just last month," Lieutenant Commander Brian Tague of the US Navy's Military Sealift Command told VICE News in Hawaii. It practically has that new-ship smell.
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 05/29/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm sure Chinese are shuddering in fear.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/29/2015 2:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Montford Point is basically one of the Dockwise heavy lifters, like the Navy keeps having to rent. (Remember the Cole being brought home?) It's like having to call a wrecker three times when your car keeps breaking down, and deciding to buy your own wrecker.
The others are test outs that have been around for a few years.
I'm more curious about how the USNS Mercy Hospital ship managed to run into the Arizona Memorial a couple of days ago.
Posted by: ed in texas || 05/29/2015 7:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Montford Point will more likely carry a port opening package like the currently leased American Cormorant and Strong Virginian. They look odd, but when you look at their mission cargo the utility is obvious.
Posted by: Hupesh Ebbusomp5266 || 05/29/2015 9:37 Comments || Top||

#4  Had the opportunity to 'party' with crew from the Mercy in Bahrain during Desert Storm;'Although crew had high percentage of wimmins ( leading edge at the time) there were 2 things they liked to do, just like any sailor. One was drink. a lot.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 05/29/2015 10:02 Comments || Top||

#5  @#4: The other thing, I presume, is singing ditties?
Posted by: Hupineger Glomomp52169 || 05/29/2015 13:49 Comments || Top||

#6  HG; perhaps.......
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 05/29/2015 14:43 Comments || Top||

#7  Perhaps not . . . .
Posted by: gorb || 05/29/2015 18:44 Comments || Top||

#8  Nice, but is it SOLAR/GWCC-COMPATIBLE = ENVIRONMENTALLY-CORRECT???

1960's-1970's = 2015 Guam Taotamonas wanna know.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/29/2015 19:30 Comments || Top||


Government
Meet the first Muslim judge of California
[DAWN] There is silence in Superior Court Judge Halim Dhanidina's courtroom in Long Beach as he hands out judgement to a man found driving without a license.

As the proceedings continue after lunch, the judge continues to speak to the man in monosyllabic but firm replies. It doesn't matter to the people inside the courtroom what faith the judge belongs to, but it is a different matter once he is outside it.

Halim Dhanidina, 42, is the first ever Moslem judge in the state of Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,. Though people outside seem surprised to read about him in the newspapers in Los Angeles, the judge seems to have accepted the praise, encouragement and brickbats that came with the confirmation of his appointment.

Comments on the Internet ranged from calling him a 'Jihadist judge' -- as the Los Angeles Times quoted in its report -- to a 'Sharia judge'.

Seated behind a big black desk in his office, with the wall behind him displaying drawings by his two children, Halim,in a crisp white shirt with a yellow tie and grey pants, says he didn't know he was the first one from his community to be a judge in LA County's Superior Court or in the entire state.

"It was something I learned about only when I filed my application," he says. "For there to be only one Moslem judge in a state as big and diverse as California came as a surprise to me."

"My peers didn't noticed it until it was mentioned in the news reports," Halim adds. "It was meaningful to the governor's office because they wanted to publicise it."

His appointment, which came on a Friday in May 2012, elicited all kinds of response. In the ensuing days, he received emails, phone calls from Europe, Africa and Asia, congratulating him and wishing him the best.

"I didn't know that apart from myself, my appointment would be momentous for so many people all over the world," Halim says.
Posted by: Fred || 05/29/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Making fun of Europeans, were you?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/29/2015 2:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Give us a little break, it's California. The granola bowl state - fruits, flakes, nuts. The sane ones have been emigrating for years.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/29/2015 8:00 Comments || Top||

#3  It will be fun to see how San Fran Sicko and Hollyweird adapt to sharia law. From a safe distance, that is...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/29/2015 8:02 Comments || Top||

#4  The sane ones have been emigrating for years.

And...the not so sane as well.
Posted by: Woozle Scourge of the Wee Folk4194 || 05/29/2015 8:17 Comments || Top||

#5  The sane ones have been emigrating for years.

And how do they vote in their new places?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/29/2015 12:38 Comments || Top||

#6  Either he judges well according to the law or he gets overturned on appeal. No big deal.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 05/29/2015 14:06 Comments || Top||

#7  CUrious how Spanish-speakers (who tend to be Catholic) will respond.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 05/29/2015 14:22 Comments || Top||

#8  This guys seems pretty matter-a-fact. Which is about what you want in a judge. Also, how is having a Muslim judge any worse than having a Marxist judge? They've had those for a quarter of a century.
Posted by: Secret Master || 05/29/2015 19:28 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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1al-Nusra
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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2015-05-29
  Rebels seize Assad's last stronghold in Idlib
Thu 2015-05-28
  Airstrikes kill at least 80 in deadliest bombings of Yemen war
Wed 2015-05-27
  Shiite militia claims ISIS leader killed near Fallujah
Tue 2015-05-26
  Suicide bomber blows himself up during Rangers operation in Karachi
Mon 2015-05-25
  Syria: IS executes hundreds in Palmyra
Sun 2015-05-24
  Prayer leader explodes in mosque
Sat 2015-05-23
  Kunar Drone Strike Kills Four Taliban
Fri 2015-05-22
  Air strikes kill 15 militants in North Waziristan
Thu 2015-05-21
  Kurds advance against Islamic State in northeastern Syria
Wed 2015-05-20
  IS Attacks Syria Druze Village, Battles for Palmyra
Tue 2015-05-19
  US drone strike in North Waziristan leaves six 'militants' dead
Mon 2015-05-18
  ISIS confirms Ramadi capture
Sun 2015-05-17
  US special forces kill senior IS leader in Syria: Pentagon
Sat 2015-05-16
  Jury sentences Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death for marathon attack
Fri 2015-05-15
  Belmokhtar's Jihadist Group in N. Africa Pledges Allegiance to IS

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