[Dawn] The Afghan embassy in Islamabad on Tuesday denied reports that Afghan government representatives had met with a key Taliban capo imprisoned in Pakistain to discuss peace negotiations.
"No such meeting has taken place. We completely deny any meeting between Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Afghan officials," Zardasht Shams, front man for the Afghan embassy in Islamabad, told AFP.
A source close to Mullah Baradar's family told AFP that Afghan delegates were not given access to Baradar in jail but family members had passed him a message from the Afghan government on reconciliation.
Baradar, a powerful Taliban military chief who has been described as the turbans' second in command was tossed in the slammer You have the right to remain silent... in 2010 in Pakistain.
At the time, the Afghan government and the former UN envoy to Afghanistan said his detention had adversely affected efforts to talk to the cut-throats in a bid to end the decade-long Afghan war.
Mohammad Ismail Qasimyar, a member of Afghanistan's High Peace Council, on Monday said Afghan government officials and members of the Afghan embassy in Pakistain held secret talks with Baradar in prison two months ago.
A Pak security official confirmed Monday an official delegation from Afghanistan had made an initial contact with Baradar two months ago, but the Pak government later denied a meeting.
"The news reports about a meeting between Afghan officials and Mullah Baradar are baseless and incorrect," said the Pak interior ministry in a short statement issued late Monday.
President Karzai has long sought to negotiate with the Taliban but the militia has in public refused to deal with his administration, branding it an American puppet.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/15/2012 00:00 ||
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Egyptian Cabinet ministers and World Bank officials have signed off on a $200 million project aimed at creating 250,000 jobs after more than a year of slow economic growth.
The World Bank says the investments will be spent on financing for job creation by improving the environment for private sector-led growth and education.
Ta daaaa! Egypt has found another sucker to "loan" it money for operating expenses that will never be repaid.
A Russian nuclear-powered attack submarine armed with long-range cruise missiles operated undetected in the Gulf of Mexico for several weeks and its travel in strategic U.S. waters was only confirmed after it left the region, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.
It is only the second time since 2009 that a Russian attack submarine has patrolled so close to U.S. shores.
The stealth underwater incursion in the Gulf took place at the same time Russian strategic bombers made incursions into restricted U.S. airspace near Alaska and California in June and July, and highlights a growing military assertiveness by Moscow.
The submarine patrol also exposed what U.S. officials said were deficiencies in U.S. anti-submarine warfare capabilitiesforces that are facing cuts under the Obama administrations plan to reduce defense spending by $487 billion over the next 10 years.
The Navy is in charge of detecting submarines, especially those that sail near U.S. nuclear missile submarines, and uses undersea sensors and satellites to locate and track them.
The fact that the Akula was not detected in the Gulf is cause for concern, U.S. officials said.
The officials who are familiar with reports of the submarine patrol in the Gulf of Mexico said the vessel was a nuclear-powered Akula-class attack submarine, one of Russias quietest submarines.
A Navy spokeswoman declined to comment.
One official said the Akula operated without being detected for a month.
The Akula was built for one reason and one reason only: To kill U.S. Navy ballistic missile submarines and their crews, said a second U.S. official.
Its a very stealthy boat so it can sneak around and avoid detection and hope to get past any protective screen a boomer might have in place, the official said, referring to the Navy nickname for strategic missile submarines.
The U.S. Navy operates a strategic nuclear submarine base at Kings Bay, Georgia. The base is homeport to eight missile-firing submarines, six of them equipped with nuclear-tipped missiles, and two armed with conventional warhead missiles.
Sending a nuclear-propelled submarine into the Gulf of Mexico-Caribbean region is another manifestation of President Putin demonstrating that Russia is still a player on the worlds political-military stage, said naval analyst and submarine warfare specialist Norman Polmar.
Like the recent deployment of a task force led by a nuclear cruiser into the Caribbean, the Russian Navy provides him with a means of showing the flag that is not possible with Russian air and ground forces, Polmar said in an email.
The last time an Akula submarine was known to be close to U.S. shores was 2009, when two Akulas were spotted patrolling off the east coast of the United States.
#5
What if we did detect it early on? Why would we let on that we did?
Let Ivan believe he's safe.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/15/2012 8:30 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Why would either us or the Russians want to admit the submarine was there, and whether it was undetected? That makes no sense. There is something missing from this story.
#7
I'm a former ASWO. I find it hard to believe that between SATINT, SOSUS and assests in the area we didn't know it was there or on its way (assuming it actually was). They may not have had a fix on it constantly but i would bet money they had datums on it within tolerances
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
08/15/2012 10:29 Comments ||
Top||
#8
I'm with Yosemite Sam on this one. Unless our SATINT and SOSUS have been SEVERELY degraded since the cold war, this sub should have been detected all the way in and all the way out.
During the cold war we would have attack subs waiting behind the SOSUS line like dogs begging for dog treats. Then we'd latch on behind them and follow them wherever they went.
This sounds like a funding story: "The Russians are coming! Don't cut our budget!"
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
08/15/2012 12:29 Comments ||
Top||
#9
"The fact that the Akula was not detected in the Gulf is cause for concern, U.S. officials said."
I so totally believe that he would spill out something that must be top secret.
What do you think is better:
1) The Russians know they've been detected
2) The Russians don't know whether they have been detected
Posted by: European Conservative ||
08/15/2012 13:23 Comments ||
Top||
#10
$$$
That is the story.
The Russians did not send a sub out of their base without a satellite seeing it leave. And where it went, it was tracked. And surprise, it went somewhere. Please, please, send the Navy money.
[An Nahar] French President Francois Hollande ...the Socialist president of La Belle France, and a fine job he's doing of it... on Tuesday promised a tough response to a riot that devastated a deprived neighborhood in the northern city of Amiens overnight.
"The state will mobilize all its means to combat these violent acts," Hollande said after a night of unrest that left 16 coppers injured, a primary school badly damaged by fire and a sports center completely destroyed.
"Security is not only a priority for us, it is an obligation."
Hollande's Interior Minister Manuel Valls was due to visit Amiens later on Tuesday.
The riot, which the local mayor has linked to rising social tension against a backdrop of a deteriorating economy, cast a shadow over Hollande's celebration of 100 days since he was elected.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/15/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Don't SAY it, DO it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/15/2012 2:11 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Deprived? Its a district of benefit leeches, the ones who do actually deprive people of income to fund themselves. Only thing they're really deprived of is ethics.
The daily Berliner Tageszeitung's popular columnist Gunnar Schupelius has called on the Berlin authorities to ban a pro-Iranian regime demonstration slated for Saturday, because the Islamists who planned the march have declared death to the Jews and the destruction of the State of Israel. Pro-Israel and anti-Iran regime groups issued a call to oppose the al-Quds Day protest.
Schupelius wrote that the when the founder of the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, established al-Quds Day in 1979 he "urged Islamists across the globe to conquer Jerusalem and destroy Israel."
Schupelius said the "hate demo" should not be covered by freedom of speech because it incites hatred -- prohibited under German law.
Germany's hate laws bar incitement against minority groups, including German Jews, but are infrequently enforced against expressions of modern anti-Semitism.
The al-Quds demonstration has become an annual event in Berlin since 1996 and merges thousands of radical Islamists, pockets of neo-Nazis and extreme Leftists into an anti- Israel march through the center of Berlin's main shopping district.
The columnist complained about societal indifference in Berlin toward the call to destroy Israel. "I cannot understand the indifference with which we allow hate" and that is why, he wrote, he had penned his column 10 days in advance of the al-Quds day protest.
Schupelius noted that had right-wing beturbanned goons been the force behind the demonstration, the authorities would long since have banned it.
"Instead we see Iranians, Turks and Arabs," he said.
The columnist added that the hate preachers from al-Quds target not only Jews, but also apostate Mohammedans. He cited the case of Iranian rapper Shahin Najafi who is in hiding in Germany because the Mullahs have issued a fatwa (religious order) for his liquidation.
A coalition of pro-Israel and anti-Khomeini system activists and groups are slated to counter-demonstrate on Saturday.
The various groups have organized around the message: "No al-Quds day: Against anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and homophobia! Solidarity with the Iranian democracy movement."
Some of the groups included in the counter-demonstration are the Jewish Forum for Democracy and Against anti- Semitism, the Green Party of Iran, the German-Israel Friendship Society in Berlin/Potsdam, the Pro-Israel-Initiative "neveragain" and AVIVA Berlin, a popular Jewish feminist website.
Meanwhile, ...back at the barn, Bossy had come up with a new idea... the Norwegian daily Dagbladet on Sunday slammed Norwegian peace activists who plan to participate in a "Ship to Gazoo" action to break Israel's naval blockade of the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-controlled Gazoo Strip.
In the Dagbladet editorial, the paper asked in connection with Syria, "Where are the Norwegian activists now? Why do no Norwegian health workers want to do an effort in parts of Syria controlled by the bad boys?" A translation of the article first appeared on the pro-Israel media watchdog website Tundra Tabloids. Dagbladet added, "But on the whole we can probably just conclude that this is an internal Arab conflict, where one cannot bash Israel. Thus Israeli authorities have a point when they criticize the world for neglecting the Syrian population.
And we will ignore then, since there are political and not humanitarian reasons for the Israeli criticism."
In an email to The Jerusalem Post on Monday, Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld, a leading Israeli authority on Norwegian anti-Semitism, wrote, "The Dagbladet article exposes that European multiculturalism is partly characterized by looking away as much as possible from crimes committed by Mohammedans in the Mohammedan world.
Many Western progressives are also humanitarian racists.
That means that non-Western criminals should not be held responsible for their deeds.
Thus there is also little interest in their victims. During [2006's Operation] Cast Lead Norwegian government sources paid for the trip of two extreme leftist Dr. Mads Gilbert and Eric Fosse to Gazoo.
Though they became vile Hamas propagandists, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg called them up saying that the whole of Norway stood behind them. There is no such mileage in the many 'Arabs murder Arabs' realities."
Gilbert did not return multiple Post emails and telephone calls seeking a comment.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has downplayed reports that Israel is moving closer to taking military action over Iran's nuclear program He told reporters, "I don't believe they've made a decision as to whether or not they will go in and attack."
Both Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel's ambassador to the US have recently said that time was running out, but Panetta said the US thought there was still room for talks with Iran. Panetta said, "The additional sanctions have been put in place. They're beginning to have an additional impact on top of the other sanctions."
Panetta took issue with televised remarks on Monday made by Israeli envoy Michael Oren in which he said that the window of time before the need to resort to military action was "small and... getting smaller".
Panetta said, "From our point of view the window is still open."
#1
Israel must know it will likely bear the brunt of Iran's fury ala Terror Ops in the wake of any attack by it agz Iran's NucProgs, espec as Iran does desire to avoid a major US-led ground campaign agz its soil.
The IRGC is intended to possess both proxy Terror, as well as "Main/Military Force" elements under its authority - IMO this infers that Israel will face not only Civie MilTerr Groups but also perhaps uniformed Iranian Commando-SPECOPS strikes.
1980's IRAN-IRAQ "WAR OF THE CITIES/SCUDS" REDUX, except its Israel this time.
Possible given ...
* SINA FORUM > WID RYAN PICK, ROMNEY WOULD SEND A MESSAGE.
Unlike past POTUS predecessors, the GOP + a POTUS Mittens WILL NOT BE FOCUSING ON FOREIGN POLICY THIS YEAR [first Romney term = 2013-2017]???
Remember now, Romney is the one whom repor wants to "BOMB, BOMB, BOMB, BOMB, BOMB IRAN"!
NO "FOREIGN POLICY" = NO BOMBS FALLING ON IRAN.
* SAME > REUTERS - IRAN HAS NO PLAN TO CREATE NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
Hence no reason for Israel andor the US to attack it.
However-r-r ...
* SAME > [US = Pentagon] DEFENSE OFFICIALS WORRY ABOUT IRAN'S EFFORTS TO TRAIN, BUILD MILITIAS TO FIGHT REBELS IN SYRIA.
Juxtapose, wid Syria = Israel, + Rebels = IDF.
Iran wants Syria + Hizbullah-dominated Lebanon to project MilPol power + influence into the Mediterranean, starting wid Iran Navy units + prolly IRGC ground elements.
US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey postulated that an Israeli strike would not annihilate Iran's nuclear program.
"(...) I want to make clear, I'm not privy to their planning," he said. "So what I'm telling you is based on what I know of their capabilities. And I may not know about all of their capabilities. But I think that it's a fair characterization to say that they could delay but not destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities."
I cannot think of a single reason this might have been thought a good idea to say aloud in public.
#5
He's technically right. Short of an impermeable trade embargo, glassing Iran over or somehow zeroing out Iran's oil reserves, *nobody* can destroy Iran's nuke program. As long as they point smart people and loads of cash at making nuclear weapons, there will always be an Iranian nuclear program. Of course, there's something to be said for delaying it with periodic bombing raids, a la Iraq's no-fly zone. Heck - we could even systematically wreck Iran's conventional capability via air raids, after dismantling its air force and air defenses.
It's kind of amusing in retrospect that one of Bush's justifications for the invasion of Iraq was the high cost of the no-fly zone, at $1.3b a year. Live and learn...
#7
Trash the country enough and a few die hards hiding underground with no actual nation above them cease to matter. No need for glassing, it could be done by conventional means. Total infrastructure destruction will cause it to cease to exist just as much as glassing it would.
[Ma'an] The Swedish government has decided to release the Paleostinian Authority from a $28 million loan dating back to 1999, the PA finance minister said Monday.
Minister Nabil Qassis applauded the Swedish government. "The Paleostinian people appreciate the Swedish political and economic support to the PA, which helps build future state institutions," he said in a statement.
The Swedish government had granted the PA a returnable loan in 1999 to fund an electricity project in the Gazoo Strip.
#1
Minister Nabil Qassis applauded the Swedish government. "The Paleostinian people appreciate the Swedish political and economic support to the PA, which helps build future state institutions," he said in a statement.
#3
When 4 out of 5 Swedish Kronor in the social system are spent on "asylum seekers" and "refugees" one wonders who makes these decisions. I have never seen so many people, native Swedes, going through rubbish bins looking for cans and bottles to get the deposit from.
But, oh, I forgot, they should get jobs and live within their means on potatoes and a can of tomatoes.
#6
Similarly, in British law the phrase racial
group means "any group of people who are defined by reference
to their race, colour, nationality (including citizenship) or ethnic
or national origin". [2
[Ma'an] A number of Paleostinians say they are stranded abroad because Egypt has denied them transit visas to return to Gazoo.
Paleostinians in Leb, Turkey, Libya and Kenya have contacted Ma'an, saying they were refused Egyptian visas.
Gazoo residents can only enter or leave the enclave via the Rafah crossing on Egypt's border due to Israel's blockade of Gazoo's other borders and sea port.
Salim, who is in Istanbul, told Ma'an the Egyptian consulate said it had been instructed by the Egyptian government to stop issuing visas to Paleostinians.
Another Paleostinian, who asked not to be identified but is also in Istanbul, said an employee of the Egyptian consulate told him he would not be given a visa "because the Paleostinians killed Egyptian soldiers in Sinai."
A Paleostinian in Algeria told Ma'an he had booked a flight to Cairo but was told he could not board the flight. The airline also refused to postpone his ticket, he added.
Paleostinians have reported problems returning to Gazoo via Egypt since gunnies killed 16 Egyptian officers near the Gazoo border on Aug. 5. Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, has denied speculation that snuffies from Gazoo were involved in the attack.
Egypt swiftly closed the Rafah crossing, briefly reopening it in one direction on Friday.
The Paleostinian director of the border crossing told Ma'an on Friday that the terminal would reopen in both directions Tuesday for three days, mainly to permit travel for humanitarian cases such as Paleostinians seeking medical care abroad, and students.
Hamas believed Moslem Brüderbund President Muhammad Mursi would usher in a new period of harmony between Gazoo and Cairo, but that has yet to materialize because of strategic considerations involving Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel and related military aid from the United States.
"We suffered from the unjust regime of Mubarak that participated in the (Israeli) blockade of Gazoo. Why should we suffer now in the era of Egypt's revolution and democracy?" said Hamas Interior Minister Fathi Hammad.
"The Egyptian leadership is requested to order the reopening of the Rafah crossing to alleviate the suffering of Paleostinians wanting to travel, students, patients, residents in third countries and pilgrims," he said in a statement.
"If Paleostine was not a top priority for you, you should change direction," Hammad added in an unusually sharp rebuke.
[An Nahar] The Syrians have agreed to the candidacy of Algeria's Lakhdar Brahimi as successor to Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... , who has resigned as the United Nations ...When talk is your weapon it's hard to make yourself heard over the sound of artillery... and Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... mediator in Syria, Annan's front man said Tuesday.
"I was asked if it was true that the Syrians had consented to his candidacy and I said yes," said Annan's front man Ahmad Fawzi.
"No decision has been made yet, by him or by the Secretary-General" the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... , added the front man.
Annan announced on August 2 that he is quitting as Syria envoy because of the lack of international support for his peace plan.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/15/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Just make sure to get those expenses in before the 31st, Kofi...
[An Nahar] Security forces are trying to verify unconfirmed reports that former General Security chief Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed was in the car with former minister Michel Samaha during the smuggling of the explosives from Syria to Leb, MTV quoted a security source as saying on Tuesday.
The source noted that "orders were given to let Samaha's car cross the border without any inspection."
Syrian security chief "Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk asked his friends in Leb to capture or kill the witness in Samaha's case," the alleged source claimed.
"What's important is Akkar. Focus your efforts on major rallies or Syrian opposition activists," MTV quoted Samaha as saying in one of the alleged audio recordings that security forces had managed to acquire.
Government deputy Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Sami Sader on Saturday charged Samaha and Mamlouk with forming a group to commit crimes in Leb. The two were also charged with plotting to assassinate political and religious figures.
Media leaks had said that Samaha was working at Syrian orders to prepare explosives to be used in attacks in northern Leb.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wrecked scow, a single surviver held tightly to the smashed prow... LBCI television quoted a top Internal Security Forces officer as saying that "Milad Kfouri, the witness in ex-minister Michel Samaha's case, is a patriotic man and he and his family are under our protection."
The TV network also quoted a security source as saying that "the ISF are committed to providing monthly allowances to Kfouri and his family that do not exceed $10,000."
"The honoring of informant Milad Kfouri will not only be limited to the commendation he received from (ISF) Director General Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, as he will also be decorated with a medal upon his return (to Leb) after the end of the case," the source added.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/15/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Head of the Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... MP Michel Aoun ...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... hoped on Tuesday that the case of former minister Michel Samaha would not be exploited politically.
He said before news hounds the Change and Reform bloc's weekly meeting in Rabiyeh: "Let the judiciary perform its duties in the case."
"I do not take media leaks in the case into consideration," he remarked.
"The judiciary is the only judge in the case and it alone issues a verdict," continued the MP.
Government deputy Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Sami Sader charged on Saturday ex-Information Minister Michel Samaha and Syrian security Chief Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk with forming a group to commit crimes in Leb.
The two were also charged with plotting to assassinate political and religious figures.
Media leaks had said that Samaha was working at Syrian orders to prepare explosives to be used in attacks in northern Leb.
Commenting on U.S. Ambassador to Leb Maura Connelly's warning that Aoun may be the victim of an liquidation, the MP said that the ambassador has denied the report.
As Safir newspaper reported on Tuesday that Connelly had warned Aoun during a meeting some ten days ago that the U.S. Embassy had information that a "terrorist group was planning on assassinating him."
As Safir said that Aoun had inquired about the identity of the terrorist group and Connelly revealed it to be Hizbullah.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/15/2012 00:00 ||
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Global terror group tries recruiting new operatives via radical Islamists' message board; 'jacket wallah' position strangely asks candidates to detail 'previous experience' "My previous detonations include the Mosul marketplace, the French embassy in Mogadishu, the the Wal-Mart in New Delhi..."
Global terror group al-Qaeda is in need of new recruits and like all other modern enterprises, if the buddy system fails -- online message boards just might do the trick.
According to a Tuesday report in Yedioth Ahronoth, the terror group posted an employment opportunity in June, on a message board known as a restricted forum frequented by radical Islamists. The position offered -- "suicide bomber." "Good pay, excellent working hours, great benefits!"
The Arabic want-ad announced a Jihadist workshop meant for dedicated individuals interested in carrying out lone-gunman style attacks and suicide kabooms. The location -- "global."
The ad went into great detail as to the qualities the desired candidate should possess, listing among others "mental maturity, physical fitness, dedication, obedience and the tenacity to see the mission through."
Potential Death Eaters were asked to contact several email addresses, known as fronts for al-Qaeda operatives in the Arabian Peninsula.
They were asked to and provide a résumé detailing their age, state of health, the languages they speak, any foreign passport they have and their academic achievements.
Another peculiar demand -- especially considering the job title -- was for candidates to detail "previous experience."
According to the report, the advertisement read like an ode to suicide kabooms: "The individual concept of Jihad, which is advocated by Jihad leaders, is becoming common knowledge. From now on, one man can carry out an entire jihad."
The pitch goes on to explain that lone Jihadists have better chances of success and lesser chances of getting caught.
The ad also refers interested candidates to a video offering more details on lone-gunman style attacks, titled "You alone are responsible for yourself."
However, ars longa, vita brevis... the job is not meant for everyone: Those with authority issues need not apply, as all potential suicide bombers will be subjected to the supervision of a military council, which will oversee their rigorous training; as well as decide on their intended target.
The al-Qaeda ad stressed that the organization will supply each "Jihad warrior" with the relevant information of their operation.
The terror group also stressed that the targets will only be "individuals who fight Islam and Mohammedans, as well as the enemy's military, financial and communications facilities."
The targets in question were prioritized to include "targets in America, Israel, La Belle France, Britannia and heretics on Mohammedan soil."
Many of the forum's members expressed interest in the ad, and one even suggested adding Germany, Denmark and Sweden to the list, but cautioned members not to share their skills online, as the information might "end up in enemy hands."
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.
The Afghan embassy in Islamabad on Tuesday denied reports that Afghan government representatives had met with a key 
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
Michel Aoun
Global terror group tries recruiting new operatives via radical Islamists' message board; '
