Key quote from this story about an apparent Italian mob hit in Germany:
The slayings in Duisburg, an industrial city in Germany's Ruhr region, marked the first time a southern Italian crime syndicate has exported a vendetta, according to Italian officials.
The syndicate, known as the 'ndrangheta, is based in Italy's Calabria region, linked to crime around the world, and today considered even more dangerous than the Sicilian Mafia
This incident would be mostly a curiosity here, were it not for the fact that there's good evidence that the boundary between organized crime of various sorts and terror groups is growing increasingly tenuous. Leaving aside hard drugs, which have financed the Taliban and others for some time, the Pentagon is concerned about street gangs morphing into urban insurgencies. When you stir in large immigrant slums, as with the French muslim banlieus, the mixture is more dangerous than authorities are admitting..
My community newspaper (not WaPo or WaTi) reported the local synagogues are finding swastikas and MS-13s spraypainted on their buildings...
MS-13 is a huge example on our side of the Atlantic. And they're making alliances with Islamists.
. . . One thing you don't want to say when you are a candidate for President is that you "feel very good" about being in Pahrump, Nevada. Pahrump, Nevada, is -- for those who know -- the whorehouse capitol of Nevada, and hence, as far as legal brothels go, the whorehouse capitol of the United States. Now that might be the normal metaphysical environment for politicians of all parties, but it just isn't done to glory in it. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
08/17/2007 06:52 ||
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#1
Ladies of the Evening and Pols, both servicing their clients for generations. A visit with either means you have less money and they have more. Actually, it does seem an appropriate setting. Wonder if Bill was working the crowd.
#6
I've long thought it would be a good idea to set up a brothel in Nevada specializing in celebrities.
Using a website in which subscribers can name a top ten list of celebrities they would want to have sex with, along with a dollar amount they would be willing to put in escrow to pay for it.
If the celebrity is interested, they can contact the website and only then see pictures of their "top fans". And if they are interested in turn, then a meeting is arranged in Nevada after the money has been placed in escrow.
Of course "most" celebrities wouldn't be interested, but some would be. And celebrities would also obsessively check the website to see what their ranking is among their peers. The more fans willing to pay for sex with you, the more popular you are.
There would be non-disclosure agreements to sign, as well as hotel accommodations paid for by the client and agreed to ahead of time. The usual.
As someone once remarked, "In Hollywood, you are either working or starving." So it may not be as unreasonable as all that.
British Broadcasting Corp. said Friday that its Russian-language FM broadcasts have been taken off the air by its Moscow distributor, which called the programs "foreign propaganda."
The decision by Bolshoye Radio and similar moves by two other radio stations in the past year leaves the BBC's Russian-language services available only on medium- and short-wave broadcasts, the BBC said.
Bolshoye Radio's parent company, financial group Finam, said that its license did not allow it to retransmit BBC's programs and that the station will instead focus on originally produced material.
"It's no secret that the BBC was established as a broadcaster of foreign propaganda," company spokesman Igor Ermachenkov told The Associated Press.
Ermachenkov said management made the decision without outside interference. However, the move comes amid criticism that President Vladimir Putin's government has stifled media freedoms as part of an effort to increase Kremlin control over Russian political life. It also comes as British-Russian relations have soured, in part over the poisoning death of a former KGB agent.
As Russia heads into parliamentary elections in December and a presidential election in March, observers say government influence over news media appears to be at its strongest since the end of the Soviet era.
Several foreign language broadcasters have seen their programming curtailed or pulled off the air in Russia in recent years. Last year, Russian authorities dramatically curtailed the number of stations broadcasting Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of America news programs.
The BBC said the licensing documents it received in May 2006 allowed almost one-fifth of Bolshoye Radio's content to be produced externally. Richard Sambrook, director of BBC Global News, called on the station to respect the original agreement.
"We cannot understand how the license is now interpreted in a way that does not reflect the original and thorough concept documents," he said.
Relations between London and Moscow have plummeted to their lowest level in years.
British prosecutors have demanded that Russia hand over a businessman they have accused in the death of Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB agent and British citizen who died of radioactive poisoning in London last year.
Russia has refused, saying it is constitutionally barred from extraditing Russian citizens. It has also waged a public relations campaign accusing Britain of trying to recruit spies in Russia. "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!" -- Captain Renault, 'Casablanca'
Increasing production of biofuels to combat climate change will release between two and nine times more carbon gases over the next 30 years than fossil fuels, according to the first comprehensive analysis of emissions from biofuels.
Biofuels - petrol and diesel extracted from plants - are presented as an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels because the crops absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow.
The study warns that forests must not be cleared to make way for biofuel crops. Clearing forests produces an immediate release of carbon gases into the atmosphere, accompanied by a loss of habitats, wildlife and livelihoods, the researchers said.
Britain is committed to substituting 10% of its transport fuel with biofuels under Europewide plans to slash carbon emissions by 2020.
"Biofuel policy is rushing ahead without understanding the implications," said Renton Righelato of the World Land Trust, a conservation charity. "It is a mistake in climate change terms to use biofuels."
Dr Righelato's study, with Dominick Spracklen from the University of Leeds, is the first to calculate the impact of biofuel carbon emissions across the whole cycle of planting, extraction and conversion into fuel. They report in the journal Science that between two and nine times more carbon emissions are avoided by trapping carbon in trees and forest soil than by replacing fossil fuels with biofuels.
Around 40% of Europe's agricultural land would be needed to grow biofuel crops to meet the 10% fossil fuel substitution target. That demand on arable land cannot be met in the EU or the US, say the scientists, so is likely to shift the burden on land in developing countries.
The National Farmers Union said 20% of Britain's agricultural land could be used to grow biofuels by 2010. However, the researchers say reforesting the land would be a better way to reduce emissions.
Biofuels look good in climate change terms from a Western perspective, said Dr Spracklen, but globally they actually lead to higher carbon emissions. "Brazil, Paraguay, Indonesia among others have huge deforestation programmes to supply the world biofuel market", he said.
The researchers say the emphasis should be placed on increasing the efficiency of fossil fuel use and moving to carbon-free alternatives such as renewable energy.
#3
Increasing BioFuel production to limit the impact and funds of Muslim terror supporting nations is a good thing.
If sufficient biofuels could be produced without significant adverse consequencies it would be a good thing. However, massive adverse consequences have already happened (vast areas of tropical rainforest cleared) and it will only get worse as the demand for biofuels increases.
The promotion of biofuels is set to be the worst ecological disaster of my lifetime. Nothing else compares.
And to think just a few years ago, there were serious proposals to turn all land in the UK above 300 meters into parkland - introduce bear, wolves and other extinct animals - because the land was no longer needed for agriculture.
Our milk costs have already gone up 150% because of a lack of corn feed.
Oil shale --- great.
Pig poop methane --- wonderful.
Nuclear power --- fine by me.
Ethanol power --- not worth it.
#7
Ethanol has become about 50% more efficient in just the past 8 years (more corn/acre, more ethanol per bushel, less natural gas per gallon of ethanol, more byproduct per ton of corn).
If you use old data, ethanol looks bad. Five years from now ethanol may look even better than today. Furthermore almost every ethanol plant has space available to add capacity for cellulose/glucose to ethanol operation when that becomes practical and because of the existing plant, adding that capacity will be less expensive and significantly increase the growth rate of cellu + gl 2 ethanol production.
No, Ethanol production isn't perfect but it is improving and has more promise than people give it credit for.
#8
Yes, mhw, but even *with* all those variables, it's still less efficient (in mpg or kpg) than gasoline, requires hundreds of thousands of acres more planted in corn (which, itself is very fertilizer and water intensive to grow), and effect a ton of other markets (beef and pork prices, milk prices, corn/grain to "poor nations" etc.). Finally, I've read stats that even if we (the USA) planted ALL of our current cropland in corn for ethanol, it'd only replace like 12% of gasoline needs.
As a *small* answer in our energy issues? Sure.
As a *single majik bullet answer? Not in a million years!
Posted by: BA ||
08/17/2007 15:16 Comments ||
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#9
Ethanol production is not a magic bullet but in the scheme of a larger energy policy it makes sense.The production of ethanol consumes 15% of the corn the other 85% is made into other valuable by-products and feed that can be feed to cattle.So making ethanol out of corn is creating the most effecient use of our corn.When production hits fullstream I suspect that the feed by-products will be in pentiful supply lowering cost to producers and consumers.Ethanol makes good energy sense and good economic sense.
#3
Tell them their reactor is causing it, it'll only stop when the reactor is deactivated. (I don't notice an excess of brains in NORK, worth a try)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/17/2007 6:12 Comments ||
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#4
So, Halliburton's Flood Division finally got their targeting down-pat, eh? Of course, I'd rather them get it spot-on and target Kimmie's palace.
Posted by: BA ||
08/17/2007 8:37 Comments ||
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#5
Naw, sink their reactor in a huge mud pit/sinkhole, then innocently ask for mort time to deliver aid. (Exactly twice as long as they've been stalling, oh and the portion they have to provide is the first 25 million.)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/17/2007 18:58 Comments ||
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#6
Flame me all you want:
We should interdict all relief and disaster aid until Kim permits verifiable closure of his nuclear facilities. I don't farking care if we gun relief flights out of the sky. No more foreign support for this ongoing crime against humanity.
Either we take steps to ensure creation of massive public unrest inside North Korea or we watch BILLIONS more dollars swirl down the porcelain orifice. The entire East Asian quadrant is being destabilized by Kim to the tune of untold BILLIONS of dollars in security measures. Better we apply the stranglehold now than wait for some new military catastrophe. The North Korean people cannot possibly suffer any more than they do now.
The Six Party Talks have shown ZERO progress to date and it's time to tighten the choke collar on these scurvy dogs. Isn't it about time to learn our lesson from pissing away all the millions we spent on Indonesian tsunami aid?
British military commanders are reviewing contingency plans for the evacuation of up to 22,000 Britons from Zimbabwe after months of rising violence and food shortages.
The Ministry of Defence has been asked to look urgently at what logistical help it could provide amid real concerns in Whitehall about Zimbabwes slide into chaos. Diplomatic sources said that the review was focusing on a civil contingency plan, which included seeking help from neighbouring countries. There is no plan to send in troops. Military evacuation from a third country would only be used as a last resort, one source said.
Under existing plans, Britons would be advised to take routes out of Zimbabwe into South Africa and to head for a former military base at Artonvilla in Limpopo province. The MoD has been asked to consider whether it could help in the airlift of Britons from the region. The diplomatic sources said that if the MoD were unable to do so, chartered commercial aircraft would fly the evacuees to Britain.
At the last count there were between 17,500 and 22,000 British nationals still living in Zimbabwe. If there was an evacuation they would be entitled to bring their families and dependants with them, which is what happened when we evacuated British passport holders from Lebanon last year, an official said.
#5
If they've been foolish enough to stay there or go into Zim for any length of time, then perhaps they should be left there. (Yeah, I know that's not gonna happen)
#10
I think those the Brits intend to evacuate are the remaining Zimbabweans that are British passport holders - lots of families moved to Rhodesia in the 1950s, and have members who did NOT surrender their British passports to the governments of either Rhodesia or Zimbabwe. So, in the main, white settlers, Indians, and mixed race peoples are to be evacuated - the Africans who did not file the proper paperwork when they could have in the 1980s are SOL.
#12
Thought you were better than taht, Tu, very cheap shot, and anny moose, get a fucking grip. These White people better than any of you. At least they fought a Terrorist war.
#13
I can't speak to how the news is in Zim, so I suppose it could be possible that the country going to hell in a handbasket just snuck up on the locals.
Britain, go get thos people, but only give them one chance. They don't get to change their mind later.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
08/17/2007 19:48 Comments ||
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#14
Well, Mike, I can speak for those people, and I can tell you how it turned out, just as it is going to turn out for the West: Politics will win the War. Rhodesia was the first real Terrorist war, and you guys did not give a shite, gambling on who would win the elections. Still the same today.
And pussies like Anonymoose draw Darwin Awards for Rhodesians, phwah.
#15
Rhodesia, you're largely correct about America not giving a shiat. We didn't have much of a dog in the fight as we looked at it as a British colonial adventure coming to an end.
Unfortunately, the Rhodesians got the shaft. They had the country they worked hard to build turned into crap.
I still stand by my statement. Give the locals one opportunity to come back on the taxpayers dime. After at, they have to pay their own way back. Its likely that it will get messy there sometime soon and Britons deserve a chance to come to Britain.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
08/17/2007 20:41 Comments ||
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Southern Africa's political leaders rallied round Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, and publicly lauded as a hero the man who has brought his country to the brink of total collapse.
Barf.
Mr Mugabe was greeted with cheers, applause, dancing and laughter from fellow dignitaries when he arrived in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, for the two-day summit of leaders of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC). Mr Mugabe, 83, smiled broadly as he acknowledged the rapturous welcome.
Zimbabwe's combative justice minister, Patrick Chinamasa, accompanying Mr Mugabe, said: "There are no political reforms necessary in my country. We are a democracy like any other democracy in the world." Human rights organisations say all Zimbabwean parliamentary and presidential elections since 200 have been heavily rigged, but the justice minister said: "We have a most efficient electoral system. I can't see how a system can be more transparent or any fairer."
As Mr Chinamasa spoke, reports surfaced that a 15-year-old boy and a security guard were crushed to death as hordes of shoppers had tried to buy scarce sugar in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo.
#5
I just rolled in from Zibabwe...and are my balls tired...HIIIIIIIIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Posted by: Bob ||
08/17/2007 10:54 Comments ||
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#6
Just when you think Arab tribalism is this world's scourge, African leaders meet the challenge and prove just who invented the original concept. Each and every one of Mugabe's fan club should be garrotted slowly and then left on a street corner for the dogs to eat.
#7
"British military commanders are reviewing contingency plans for the evacuation of up to 22,000 Britons from Zimbabwe,.....which included seeking help from neighbouring countries". (From the article above).
Well, I have no faith in the British plan, if that is what they call a plan. Most Zimbabwean British Passport holders will have taken the gap by the end of the year, from what I can gather. The ones that stay will be old Rhodesians who have decided to die there.
(Sorry, both articles go together, only one comment).
#8
"British military commanders are reviewing contingency plans for the evacuation of up to 22,000 Britons from Zimbabwe,.....which included seeking help from neighbouring countries". (From the article above).
Well, I have no faith in the British plan, if that is what they call a plan. Most Zimbabwean British Passport holders will have taken the gap by the end of the year, from what I can gather. The ones that stay will be old Rhodesians who have decided to die there.
(Sorry, both articles go together, only one comment).
Several people are feared dead after the military attacked armed gangs in Nigeria's oil city of Port Harcourt. Reports suggested both militants and military personnel were killed in subsequent fighting, but officials have not yet confirmed any fatalities.
It follows clashes that raged last week between powerful rival armed gangs that left at least 15 people dead.
Militant groups in the Niger Delta say they are fighting to gain more local control over the region's oil supplies.
Residents in some parts of Port Harcourt described blazing buildings and streets deserted except for men on motorbikes carrying automatic weapons. Others said they had seen helicopter gunships firing into the city, as well as armoured personnel carriers near government offices.
The fighting followed an operation by the military against the base of one of the major gang leaders in the city, Soboma George.
Major Sagir Musa said the gang leader was "linked to different kinds of atrocities in terms of hostage-taking, killing and maiming of innocent citizens". "Members of the joint taskforce made a surprise attack on the hideout, and in the process, Soboma George is suspected to have been killed," he said.
The army said it arrested a number of militants during the raid, but he was not among them. For most of last week rival gangs fought pitched battles around the city leaving many dead, mostly bystanders.
New York, August 17, 2007(AKI) The killing of two Indonesian domestic workers by their employers in Saudi Arabia this month highlights the Saudi governments ongoing failure to hold employers accountable for serious abuses, campaign group Human Rights Watch warned on Friday.
Seven members of a Saudi family who employed four Indonesian women as domestic workers brutally beat them in early August after accusing them of practicing black magic on the familys teenage son, HWR reported.
Siti Tarwiyah Slamet, 32, and Susmiyati Abdul Fulan, 28, died from their injuries. Ruminih Surtim, 25, and Tari Tarsim, 27, are receiving treatment in the intensive care unit of Riyadh Medical Complex. Saudi authorities have detained the employers.
"The brutal killings of these Indonesian domestic workers occurred in an atmosphere of impunity fostered by government inaction, said Nisha Varia, senior researcher in HWR's Womens Rights Division.
Not only do the authorities typically fail to investigate or prosecute abusive employers, the criminal justice system also obstructs abused workers from seeking redress, she added.
Approximately 2 million women from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and other countries are employed as domestic workers in Saudi Arabia. They are routinely underpaid, overworked, confined to the workplace, or subject to verbal, physical, and sexual abuse, according to HWR.
The shocking case of the four Indonesian maids is symptomatic of wider abuse, HWR says. Besides being victims of abuse themselves, many domestic workers are subject to counteraccusations, including theft, adultery or charges of fornication in cases of rape or witchcraft.
Saudi authorities and embassies of domestic workers home countries receive thousands of complaints of labor exploitation or abuse each year. Many more cases most likely go unreported, HWR said. During visits to Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka in November and December last year, Human Rights Watch interviewed Sri Lankan domestic workers sentenced to prison and whipping in Saudi Arabia after their employers had raped and impregnated them.
An Indonesian domestic worker was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 2,000 lashes for witchcraft, commuted from an original death sentence. The Indonesian embassy did not learn about the arrest, detention or trial of the worker until one month after the sentencing.
#1
We employed several Philippino maids over a 7 year period in Singapore. The practice is probably better regulated in Singapore than anywhere else. For example, conviction for any kind of physical abuse of a maid meant an automatic prison sentence (minimum 6 months), and there was a steady stream of stories in the press about maid abuse.
Our maid had a room with its own entrance on the side of the house and we took the attitude, if she did her job, then her life was her business. As a result our house became Maid Central for the neighbourhood, with constant stream of them coming to tell their tales of woe.
On several occasions, chinese neighbours came to complain that their maids had been sneaking out to come to our house. My response was predicable, i.e. piss off.
I hate to think what happens in a place like SA. Whatever you read will just be the tip of a very large iceburg.
#2
Killing your domestic staff rather than firing them is more convenient in that you do not have to bother with severance pay or unemployment claims. However, you then need to hire another maid to dispose of the bodies.
A fresh lawsuit was filed against former BNP lawmaker Shahidul Islam Master on charge of extortion. Ruhul Amin Pintu of Boalia village under Moheshpur municipality filed a Tk 3 lakh extortion case with Moheshpur police station against the former BNP lawmaker of Jhenidah-3 constituency on Wednesday night. The other accused are former lawmaker's brother-in-law Master Shahidul Islam,
Rafikul Islam of Valaipur village, Mohiuddin, Golam Faruk of Fatepur village, Lutfor Rahman of Camp para, Bahazzel Hossain, Tazul Islam, Montaj Tarafdar, Aminur Rahman, Ashra Ali, Shahidul, Akbar Ali and Kamruzzaman. In the case statement, the plaintiff alleged that when he went to Moheshpur Sadar upazila on January 28, 2005, the accused swooped on him near the office of the former BNP lawmaker and demanded Tk 3 lakh from him.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2007 00:00 ||
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Pressure for a referendum on the controversial European constitution grew last night amid growing signs of public concern and fresh claims that voters are being misled. All three main parties originally pledged a referendum on the original EU draft constitution. And yesterday, there were claims that the new document was essentially a revival of the constitutional settlement famously rejected by referendums in France and Holland in 2005.
The Open Europe think-tank published research showing the new draft was exactly the same length as the rejected constitution and contained similar threats to British sovereignty.
According to the think-tank, which campaigns for a more flexible, open Europe, the original constitutional treaty ran to 63,000 words. When the new proposals, involving a series of amendments to existing treaties, were put together in a consolidated text, the proposals new treaty came to the same length. Open Europe also sought to debunk the Government's argument that the new draft was substantially different from what went before. Neil O'Brien, the Open Europe director, said that although ministers insisted they had now inserted new "red lines" and opt-outs into the revised proposals, those safeguards were in the original constitution. Open Europe also raised concerns that the proposed new arrangements would end Britain's veto in foreign policy in 11 key areas including terrorism and mutual defence.
#2
They've never been keen on the concept of "...We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness...",
as amply demonstrated by those obstructing a plebiscite by the people on the EU Constitution (re: Britain).
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called for an end to presidential term limits on Wednesday to extend his rule and consolidate a self-styled socialist revolution in the OPEC nation.
"Compañeros y compañeras, it is a fact of history that when a nation becomes prosperous the rich - plutocrats you might call them - are to be seen everywhere!"
The leftist former soldier also proposed eliminating central bank autonomy, strengthening state expropriation powers and giving himself control over international reserves as part of an overhaul of Venezuela's constitution.
"Who better than a man on horseback, a man of simple pleasures and tastes, like me, to protect this Great Nation of ours from the perils of being taken over by the rich!"
Chavez's left-wing policies have sparked the ire of critics and US officials who brand him an authoritarian menace and accuse him of using Venezuela's oil wealth to undermine democracy, but his majority poor supporters have handed him repeated electoral victories.
"We Venezuelans are simple folk. We prefer the simple things in life, unlike those greedy, avaricious bastards up north!"
Unveiling his constitutional reform plans, which need to be approved in a referendum vote, Chavez said presidential terms should be extended by one year to seven years without restrictions on re-election. Under the current constitution, Chavez is in his second and final term and could not be elected again after it ends in 2012. The reform proposal would allow him to stay for as long as he keeps winning elections. "If anyone is going to say this is a project to enthrone oneself, no," Chavez said. "This is only a possibility, a possibility that depends on many variables."
"I, a simple captain, am attending to those variables."
In his lengthy speech to a loyal Congress that stretched until midnight, Chavez said the government should be able to control assets of private companies before winning court expropriation rulings. He also said the maximum workday would be reduced to six hours from eight hours per day, and proposed providing social security benefits to informal workers like cab drivers and street vendors as part of his campaign to instil "21st Century Socialism".
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
You forgot the part where anyone who votes against me gets deported or shot depending what mood I am in.
Posted by: Hugo Chavez ||
08/17/2007 3:00 Comments ||
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#2
"I doubt there is any country on this planet with a democracy more alive than the one we enjoy in Venezuela today."
HUGO CHAVEZ
the Venezuelan President, announcing plans to alter the country's constitution to allow him to stand for office indefinitely
Courtesy of Time "Quotes of the Day"
The pic of him is classic by his quote. I wonder if he just woke up one day and decided he was the god of Venezuela. He's one of the crazy ones fo' sure.
Posted by: NOLA ||
08/17/2007 6:25 Comments ||
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#3
Hugo Chavez: Dictator, or just a dick? News at 11.
Posted by: Ol Dirty American ||
08/17/2007 8:40 Comments ||
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#4
What is the problem with term limits? If you are President For Life, you only need one term.
President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, will attend an unprecedented show of joint military force today amid fears that the Russian leader is trying to turn an increasingly powerful central Asian alliance into a second Warsaw Pact.
The United States will be anxiously watching the military manoeuvres - held under the auspices of the six-member Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) - from afar after its request to send observers was rejected.
Founded in 2001, the SCO, which includes the four central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyztan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as well as China and Russia, is rapidly gaining a reputation as an anti-Western organisation.
Washington has plenty of reasons to be uneasy. Founded in 2001, the SCO, which includes the four central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyztan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as well as China and Russia, is rapidly gaining a reputation as an anti-Western organisation.
That image seems to be one that Mr Putin is happy to cultivate. Analysts say that the Russian president believes the organisation is emerging as a bloc that is rapidly becoming powerful enough to stand up to the West.
Russia's most pro-government newspapers, often used by the Kremlin as propaganda vehicles, yesterday proclaimed the arrival of an "anti-Nato" alliance and a "Warsaw Pact 2". At the annual SCO summit in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek yesterday, Mr Putin praised the alliance's growing strength. "Year after year the SCO becomes a more significant factor in strengthening security and stability in the central Asian region," he said.
In a thinly disguised swipe at Washington, which mirrored earlier attacks on American "unilateralism" and "diktat", he added: "We are convinced that any attempts to resolve global and regional problems alone are useless."
For the most part, the summit's agenda concentrated on promoting energy co-operation in central Asia, whose vast resources have elevated the region's geopolitical importance.
#4
Agree wid #1. In any case, DIALECTICSM-REALISM says we still have to trust Putin's comments. The new surreal "FULDA GAP 2" then, is the entire Muslim World + East Asia-Pacific + espec ALCAN-NORAM per se.
Russia is resuming a Soviet-era practice of sending its bomber aircraft on long-range flights, President Vladimir Putin has said. Mr Putin said the move to resume the flights after a 15 year suspension was in response to security threats posed by other military powers. He said 14 bomber aircraft had taken off from seven airfields across Russia. The move came a week after Russian bombers flew within a few hundred miles of the US Pacific island of Guam.
"We have decided to restore flights by Russian strategic aviation on a permanent basis," Mr Putin told reporters at joint military exercises with China and four Central Asian states in Russia's Ural mountains. "In 1992, Russia unilaterally ended flights by its strategic aircraft to distant military patrol areas. Unfortunately, our example was not followed by everyone," Mr Putin said, in an apparent reference to the US. "Flights by other countries' strategic aircraft continue and this creates certain problems for ensuring the security of the Russian Federation," he said.
In Washington, a state department spokesman, Sean McCormack, said Russia's decision was "interesting". "If Russia feels as though they want to take some of these old aircraft out of mothballs and get them flying again, that's their decision," he told reporters.
Russian media reported earlier on Friday that long-range bombers had been flying over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. A Russian air force spokesman said several pairs of bombers were in the air "accompanied by Nato planes," Itar-Tass news agency said.
Nato said it was aware of the flights but had no comment on whether the Russian bombers had been accompanied by Nato planes.
Itar-Tass quoted Russian air force spokesman Alexander Drobyshevsky as saying: "At present, several pairs of Tu-160 and Tu-95MS aircraft are in the air over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, which are accompanied by Nato planes."
In last week's incident near Guam, the Russian pilots "exchanged smiles" with US fighter pilots who scrambled to track them, a Russian general said.
The US military confirmed the presence of the Russian bombers near Guam, home to a large US base. Last month two Tupolev 95 aircraft - dubbed "bears" according to their Nato code-name - strayed south from their normal patrol pattern off the Norwegian coast and headed towards Scotland. Two RAF Tornado fighters were sent up to meet them. Russian bombers have also recently flown close to US airspace over the Arctic Ocean near Alaska.
Putin's 2nd term in office is coming to an end. He's looking for an excuse to stay on for a 3rd.
#2
Hey that's OK, Those Bears are already old and more long range flights only accelerates their fatigue. Maybe if Putty poot ever thinks he'll really need them they will either be down for structural repairs or maybe (wish, wish) suffer an in-flight breakup. Of course for the crews that would suck, but sometimes the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.....
#6
Dammit, Darth stole the words off my keyboard again.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/17/2007 19:11 Comments ||
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#7
I had this sudden mental picture of a stealth B-2 Hovering just aft and above the russian bomber, those things don't have rear-view mirrors.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/17/2007 19:21 Comments ||
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#8
See also UPI.com > IS THE SCO BECOMING ANOTHER WARSAW PACT ORGANIZATION? Scoop - RUSSIA likely still gives relations wid Western Europe and SSSSSHHHHHHH USA higher priority, and may not be too thrilled about working wid other SCO nations.
*IONews affecting CHINA, DEFENSENEWS > INDIA plans to build to build roads, airfields, strongpoints along/next to disputed territory wid China.
#9
Guys, cut Putin a little slack. Russia is crumbling beneath him. The empire is gone and the Russian people are so demoralized that the population is collapsing. So he is going to do whatever he can to try to stop the slide (National Conception Day?) and needs a bogeyman to rally against. Better the West who is just going to chuckle and ignore him than the Chinese who might take offense, kick his ass and occupy Siberia. Besides Bearbaiting is time honored tradition among American aviators.
#10
"If Russia feels as though they want to take some of these old aircraft out of mothballs and get them flying again, that's their decision," he told reporters.
Is it just me, or does this quote and the quote by Nicholas Burns about "peace can only come through strength" (in the $30 billion military aid package we're giving Israel) give you all hope that our newer State spokesmen have a lil more CO Jones than previous Staties? Or am I just reading into their quotes what I want to happen w/ State?
Posted by: BA ||
08/17/2007 22:24 Comments ||
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A U.S. Marine Corps search-and-rescue helicopter crashed during a training flight over southwest Arizona, killing four people on board, officials said Friday. One person survived.
The HH-1N Huey crashed about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Yuma on Thursday. The wreckage was discovered early Friday, and three Marines and one Navy sailor were pronounced dead at the scene, said 1st Lt. Rob Dolan, a spokesman for the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma. The injured Marine was transported to Yuma Regional Medical Center and is listed in stable condition. The names of the dead and injured will not be released for 24 hours under standard military policy, Dolan said.
The chopper assigned to the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma was last heard from at about 4 p.m. Thursday, Marine Sgt. Ryan O'Hare said. The aircraft was flying on a routine training mission near the Army's Yuma Proving Ground, a sprawling 1,300-square-mile (3,367 square kilometers) military reservation along the Arizona-California border used to test combat systems and helicopters.
God bless these servicemen, their families and all those who know and love them.
#1
I don't think people realize how dangerous "normal" non-combat operations can be. We live about 70 miles from Ft. Bragg, and about 120 miles from Camp Lejuene. It seems that every few weeks there are reports of some soldiers or Marines killed or injured in the evening news.
My son was a US Marine on active duty 1996-2000. My biggest worry at the time was that he would be killed or seriously injured in an accident. That was without any combat. I can't imagine how hard it must be for family of people in Iraq and Afghanistan.
NEW DELHI: If Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was China's head of government he would have been shot for "bluffing" to the nation over a controversial nuclear deal with the United States, former defence minister George Fernandes said.
The landmark agreement opens the way for civilian nuclear cooperation between the two countries, but critics say it will eventually hurt India's nuclear security because of U.S. laws on nuclear trade governing the pact.
"What has emerged is that the prime minister of the country has betrayed the nation by continuous bluffing, something unbecoming of the head of the government," Fernandes, who was part of the previous Hindu nationalist-led government, said in a statement.
"If it were China, they would have settled it with one bullet in his head," the maverick veteran politician said in the statement sent to Reuters on Friday.
The deal aims to give India access to U.S. nuclear fuel and equipment for the first time in three decades despite New Delhi having tested nuclear weapons and not having signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Both the Hindu nationalist opposition and communist allies of Singh's Congress party-led coalition have attacked the historic nuclear deal, saying it was an unfair and unequal pact.
Singh has strongly defended the deal, saying it is crucial for India's development and would not impact New Delhi's foreign or security policies.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/17/2007 16:34 ||
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A group of leading editors in Nepal have accused Maoists, who are now part of the interim government, of attacking press freedom through a "sinister pattern of intimidation and threats".
Ten editors of leading newspapers, magazines and a television station said that Maoist unions, demanding better conditions for workers, had even entered newspaper offices to physically threaten journalists. Their statement, issued late on Wednesday, comes days after a Maoist-affiliated labour union obstructed the publication and distribution of the Himalayan Times and the Annapurna Post, leading dailies published in the capital Kathmandu. "We didn't have such a serious attack on press freedom even during the direct censorship of media after the king's coup in Feb. 2005," the statement said. "We ask that the Maoist leadership ... honour its stated commitment to protect press freedom and not to incite attacks on the media," the editors said. The Maoist labour groups, which have also disrupted the production of other newspapers and a radio station in recent weeks, say they want better pay and service conditions for their workers in the media.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
The damn chinese should get their whiney spoiled brat commie Moaist assholes out of Nepal,phuque china
FAISALABAD: President General Pervez Musharraf said here on Thursday that he would be re-elected from the current assemblies and in uniform "at any cost" before October 15, Online reports.
Gen Musharraf flew here to rally support for his re-election from legislators belonging to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) from Faisalabad and Sargoadha divisions. He told them that presidential elections would be held between September 15 and October 15. "The president told the parliamentarians that he is going to contest the election in uniform and it is fully according to the law and constitution," Minister for Textile Industries Mushtaq Ali Cheema told Reuters, after Musharraf met with more than 100 legislators from the national and provincial Punjab assemblies. "We assured full cooperation and support to him and told him we stand by him."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
He doesn't sound like he's going to take no for an answer.
#3
The Aussie $ tanked this week. Down 12% against the USD and more against the Yen. Everyone is unwinding Yen borrowings and selling (previously bought) AUD. The era of cheap money is over down here. It's the biggest story of the year and the MSM (dismal as always) is completely oblivious to it.
Malaysia's Islamic opposition party demanded Friday that Gwen Stefani be forbidden from performing in the country, saying the U.S. pop singer would corrupt Malaysia's Muslim-majority youth.
Kamarulzaman Mohamed, an official of the fundamentalist Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, said Stefani's planned concert in Kuala Lumpur later this month would promote promiscuity, worsening an existing "teenage social problem." "The issue is that Gwen Stefani brings with her a bad image. The way she dances, the way she dresses it's not proper," he told The Associated Press. "When our teenagers see this, it will induce them to behave improperly."
Earlier Friday, members of the party, the only opposition party to rule a state in Malaysia, handed a two-page memorandum to the organizer, Maxis Communications Bhd., to call off the Aug. 21 concert. They also submitted a memorandum to the Kuala Lumpur municipal authorities. Their protest, however, is unlikely to have any effect, and preparations for the concert are well-underway, and Stefani has promised to dress modestly.
Following a similar protest by the 10,000-member National Union of Malaysian Muslim Students earlier, organizer Maxis pledged that Stefani will follow the local code of ethics for foreign artists, which bans the unnecessary baring of skin. The Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry said enforcement officers would meet Stefani before the concert to remind her about local guidelines and monitor her stage act. I'm sure they'll all be scrutinizing her 'decency' very closely. Very, very closely.
Under the official guide to performing in Malaysia, a female artist needs to cover from the top of her chest to her knees including shoulders. No jumping, shouting or throwing of objects on stage or at the audience is allowed. Performers can also not hug or kiss and their clothes must not have obscene or drug-related images or messages.
A local company, which organized a Pussycat Dolls concert last year, was fined 10,000 ringgit (US$2,857, 2,091) after the U.S. all-girl group was found to have flouted decency regulations.
Posted by: ryuge ||
08/17/2007 08:29 ||
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#1
Jeebus, I would say their turbans would explode when they get word that Christina A. and Beyonce are coming also, but then I remembered the Indonesian don't wear turbans.
Posted by: BA ||
08/17/2007 9:05 Comments ||
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#2
sounds like Kamarulzaman Mohamed got a tingling in his naughty parts while slo-mo'ing a Stefani music video, huh?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/17/2007 9:08 Comments ||
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If their muslim values are so compelling, why do they have to worry about their adherents becoming corrupted? Wouldn't muslims just shun all these bad things on their own? Shouldn't they be expected to? Aren't they confident enough about their religion to believe that their people won't be drawn away from the magic of islam?
Instead, they ban performers, music, TV, literature, art, etc., cover women from head to toe, get insulted when others eat pork, beat people for not praying, kill converts, etc.
#5
"Let's see. If we flout the decency rules, sales of albums and stuff goes up %1500. But we will have to pay a $3000 fine. Decisions, decisions. I guess we'll have to vie for 'artistic integrity' on this one. Is there any way she can have a 'garment malfunction' on stage?"
#6
Kamarulzaman Mohamed, an official of the fundamentalist Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, said Stefani's planned concert in Kuala Lumpur later this month would promote promiscuity, worsening an existing "teenage social problem."
He then asked for front row seats, a blanket, and a couple of gallons of hand cream...
INDONESIA'S Intelligence Agency had ordered several assassination attempts against leading human rights activist Munir Thalib before poisoning him on a trip to Europe in 2004, a police investigation has revealed.
The claims, presented to a Jakarta court yesterday, reopened hearings into the controversial murder case. They should also force President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to reform the feared agency and prosecute senior officials, human rights groups said.
A new investigation was ordered by Dr Yudhoyono after an initial murder conviction of an off-duty Garuda pilot and alleged intelligence agency (BIN) agent, Pollycarpus Priyanto, was overturned last year.
The police team interviewed other BIN agents, who revealed they had also been ordered to try to kill Mr Munir before the October 2004 presidential election.
Iran's judiciary chief has publicly criticised President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for needlessly changing top officials, in a rare intervention in politics by one of Iran's most respected clerics, media reported on Thursday.
The criticism by Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi comes in the same week the president unexpectedly replaced his oil and industry ministers, amid continued economic problems in Iran. "Unfortunately, the treatment of some managers is the source of heavy blows to the Iranian system," Shahroudi said in a speech to the Iranian audit court on Wednesday reported by the ISNA agency and picked up by all moderate newspapers. "If we repeatedly change managers and ministers, nothing will improve," he said. "It should not be done in a way that if we want to groom an eyebrow we end up by poking out the eye," Shahroudi commented, using a traditional Persian proverb.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Iran's judiciary chief has publicly criticised President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for needlessly changing top officials
#2
the wisdom of the persians is really something, if only they could get rid of these asshats and really get down to business. I like them for the most part
[Always on the lookout for innovations in the world of science to bring before my readers, I am of course a subscriber to that indispensable compendium of pharmacological data, The Physicians Desk Reference. Combing through the pages of the latest edition of this classic, I note the following new products to emerge from the labs of our pharmaceutical companies the worlds best!]
Ahmadinezam (uranium caliphate)
Description: Mild psychedelic, enhances out-of-body and religious experiences.
Indications and Usage: Ahmadinezam is indicated where attempted transplant of foreign tissue has been rejected. It has also proven effective in the symptomatic relief of excessive rationality.
Contraindications: Ahmadinezam is mildly radioactive (~100kBq/g) and should be handled with care.
Adverse Reactions: The most pronounced adverse reaction, observed in approx. 10 percent of cases on clinical trial, was moderate dwarfism. Also observed at low to medium frequencies (2-5 percent): strabismus, facial rash (resulting, for male subjects, in inability to shave), loss of some highly specific motor functions (e.g. ability to knot necktie).
Barax (obamalic articulate)
Description: Regulates melanin production.
Indications and Usage: Effective with patients suffering from chronic situational dermatochromal anxiety i.e. self-perception as not black enough when among African Americans yet too black when among other groups. Barax induces a chameleon effect increased/decreased melanin production corresponding to perceived average shade of nearby persons.
Contraindications: Barax is contraindicated in patients with non-health-threatening anxiety levels and should not be prescribed for patients with well-established perceptions of their own racial identity.
Adverse Reactions: May cause severe mood swings, from amiable passivity to sudden aggression. What can I say---it's Derb
#1
and this comment to the bbc by a lgf reader was perfect:
I notice you make no mention of the >7000 edits made from the BBC IP addresses.
Two that stand out are the change to George W. Bush's middle name, from Walker to W*nk*r. Also someone at the BBC changed "terrorists' to 'freedom fighters'.
There are many more or this ilk, all biased in the usual BBC institutional anti-US, anti-war, left wing direction.
For partial list of BBC edits people might like to look here, some of them are just amazing!
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=26669#c0316
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.
. . . One thing you don't want to say when you are a candidate for President is that you "feel very good" about being in Pahrump, Nevada. Pahrump, Nevada, is -- for those who know -- the whorehouse capitol of Nevada, and hence, as far as legal brothels go, the whorehouse capitol of the United States. Now that might be the normal metaphysical environment for politicians of all parties, but it just isn't done to glory in it. . . .
Southern Africa's political leaders rallied round Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, and publicly lauded as a hero the man who has brought his country to the brink of total collapse. 
Several people are feared dead after the military attacked armed gangs in Nigeria's oil city of Port Harcourt. Reports suggested both militants and military personnel were killed in subsequent fighting, but officials have not yet confirmed any fatalities. 
Pressure for a referendum on the controversial European constitution grew last night amid growing signs of public concern and fresh claims that voters are being misled. All three main parties originally pledged a referendum on the original EU draft constitution. And yesterday, there were claims that the new document was essentially a revival of the constitutional settlement famously rejected by referendums in France and Holland in 2005.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called for an end to presidential term limits on Wednesday to extend his rule and consolidate a self-styled socialist revolution in the OPEC nation. 
A group of leading editors in Nepal have accused Maoists, who are now part of the interim government, of attacking press freedom through a "sinister pattern of intimidation and threats". 
FAISALABAD: President General Pervez Musharraf said here on Thursday that he would be re-elected from the current assemblies and in uniform "at any cost" before October 15, Online reports.
