Hi there, !
Today Wed 05/20/2009 Tue 05/19/2009 Mon 05/18/2009 Sun 05/17/2009 Sat 05/16/2009 Fri 05/15/2009 Thu 05/14/2009 Archives
Rantburg
531692 articles and 1855967 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 57 articles and 188 comments as of 12:33.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Opinion        Politix   
Tamil Tigers say they surrender
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
3 00:00 JosephMendiola [] 
0 [] 
1 00:00 Glenmore [] 
3 00:00 ed [] 
12 00:00 DarthVader [] 
2 00:00 gromky [] 
2 00:00 SteveS [] 
2 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [] 
0 [] 
5 00:00 JosephMendiola [] 
1 00:00 gorb [] 
15 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [] 
7 00:00 JosephMendiola [] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
0 []
6 00:00 Gaz []
7 00:00 JosephMendiola []
4 00:00 Barbara Skolaut []
1 00:00 Nimble Spemble []
0 []
6 00:00 ebrown2 [5]
0 []
1 00:00 Anonymoose []
1 00:00 Redneck Jim [1]
1 00:00 lord garth []
4 00:00 Frank G [1]
0 []
8 00:00 Redneck Jim []
0 []
5 00:00 Frank G []
Page 2: WoT Background
4 00:00 Zhang Fei [1]
1 00:00 Redneck Jim []
2 00:00 tipover []
0 []
1 00:00 paul2 []
4 00:00 JosephMendiola [1]
0 []
0 []
8 00:00 Frank G []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
8 00:00 Cyber Sarge []
0 []
9 00:00 JosephMendiola []
1 00:00 rabid whitetail [1]
0 [1]
1 00:00 Procopius2k []
0 [1]
3 00:00 trailing wife [1]
0 []
Page 4: Opinion
19 00:00 Cornsilk Blondie [3]
9 00:00 JosephMendiola [1]
4 00:00 JosephMendiola []
Page 6: Politix
0 []
17 00:00 Frank G []
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Brit Dad Nicked for Soliciting Hooker for Son
Another one? Why are so many Brits certain their sons will not be able to lose their virginity in the usual way and the average timing?
A DAD took his 14-year-old son to a red-light district -- to find a prostitute to take the lads virginity. But the streetwalker they propositioned was really an undercover cop who nicked the man, 42.

A court heard yesterday how the father -- who cannot be named -- was driving with his son at midnight when they saw the "hooker", codenamed Sarah, by a street corner. Adrian Harris, prosecuting, said: "He pointed at the woman and said, 'Will she do? The boy answered, 'Yes.

"He did this as his son was a virgin. The father thought this was taking care of that." The Polish dad asked Sarah: "Hello, baby. How much for a proper s*** for him?" As he knocked her price down £5 to £20, Nottingham police officers moved in.

The married dad admitted trying to get a woman to have sex with a child and got a ten-month suspended jail term with a supervision order.

Matthew Smith, defending, said: "He has a thorough sense of shame about this."
Of course he does. That's why he tried to do it in the first place.
He's ashamed he got caught ...
Judge Jonathan Teare QC, at Nottingham Crown Court, told the man: "You have a duty of care towards your son and that is to look after his moral welfare, not to break him in to sex by way of a prostitute."
Posted by: Pappy || 05/17/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  When questioned further, the father explain the pork chop that hung around his son's neck was to get the family dog to play with him.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/17/2009 8:42 Comments || Top||

#2  I think it is heartwarming to see a father and son engaging in shared activities. So many parents don't take the time.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/17/2009 14:19 Comments || Top||


Deputies: Banana used as gun in holdup, then eaten
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Authorities in North Carolina say a store owner and a patron thwarted a teen accused of trying to carry out a robbery by concealing a banana beneath his shirt to resemble a gun.
Is that a banana in yer pants or are ya just glad ta see me?
Winston-Salem authorities say 17-year-old John Szwalla entered the Internet cafe Thursday and demanded money, saying he had a gun.
"Anybody moves ya get a 'nana in da ear!"
The owner, Bobby Ray Mabe, said he and a customer jumped Szwalla, holding him until deputies arrived. While they waited, Mabe says the teen ate the banana.
"What gun? aint yall ever seen a man eat a banana? Hokay, nobody moves or I trow da peel onna floor!"
Mabe says deputies took pictures of the peel.
Was it a shutterpeel? How many rounds of rind?
Forsyth County Sheriff's office spokesman Maj. Brad Stanley says deputies joked about charging Szwalla with destroying evidence.
I can just see these pictures in the local crime museum.
Szwalla faces a charge of attempted armed robbery. Jail officials say he doesn't have an attorney.

Posted by: Deacon Blues || 05/17/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Jail officials say he doesn't have an attorney."
Or a clue, apparently.
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 05/17/2009 9:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Now he has no bananas.
Posted by: Skunky Glins 5*** || 05/17/2009 19:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Mabe says deputies took pictures of the peel.

Kid may be convicted, but I bet he gets off on a peel.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/17/2009 19:37 Comments || Top||

#4  Oh, that one hurt, Steve S. I wish I'd thought of it.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 05/17/2009 20:33 Comments || Top||

#5  "nice try kid, looks like you're carrying a plantain"
Posted by: Frank G || 05/17/2009 20:42 Comments || Top||

#6  LOL...Steve's a peel comment.
Posted by: GirlThursday || 05/17/2009 20:44 Comments || Top||

#7  This has "FRUIT VS. VEGETABLE" written all over it.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/17/2009 22:32 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Funny Sports Headlines (NSFW)
In case you need a distraction from all the crap that's happening in the world.
Reminder: please highlight your comments when posting an article or a link. It's the button on the top row with the heavy yellow underline. Or you can use the HTML code listed below the textbox for Hilite.

Thank you for your consideration,
trailing wife for the moderators
Posted by: Greash Uneretch3088 || 05/17/2009 15:02 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Test results of 68 suspected swine flu cases, negative -- Egypt
The number of pig culled since the start of the national preventive campaign against virus on May 1 till Friday has hit 36,000
Egyptian Health Ministry announced on Saturday that the number of persons who have been admitted to hospital for suspected infection with Influenza A subtype virus (H1N1) hit 68 but the test results came negative.

"No laboratory-confirmed infection has been reported in Egypt so far," the ministry's spokesman Dr. Abdulrahman Shahin told reporters here. "The last four suspected cases in the country included a 50-year old Egyptian woman, a Colombian, 35, and two Chinese nationals," he revealed.

The number of pig culled since the start of the national preventive campaign against virus on May 1 till Friday has hit 36,000, the medical official added. The medical surveillance measures being implemented by the ministry covered 1,335 passenger flights, 67 ships and four cars carrying a total of 172,731 passengers arriving in Egypt from countries hit by the epidemic, he said, adding that no swine flu victim has been spotted among the passengers.
Posted by: Seafarious || 05/17/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  May we forget this overblown "crises" already?

It is as if any "crises" is one of convinience anymore. I just wanted the CDC to look at it and make a simple statement.

Just wanted "good enough for government work" thing in motion as no one mentioned it after about 800 cases. Remind me to never alarm anyone about flu again .
Posted by: newc || 05/17/2009 0:27 Comments || Top||

#2  You are wrong and have no idea why.

Right now, the Egyptians are scared half to death, because of the three major *Avian* flu sub-groups, the one in Egypt is regarded as the most dangerous. It has killed 23 Egyptians, but more importantly, it has turned to a less lethal pediatric form, which is far more easily spread from child to child. This gives it "access" to human influenza, with which it can swap RNA.

Meanwhile, back in the US, also terrified of the emergence of H5N1 Avian flu, the emergence of a weak H1N1 in the late spring has everyone rattled, because normally the *only* time late spring flu emerges is as a prequel to a far more dangerous flu in the last half of the year.

While the *assumption* is that a potent H1N1 strain could reemerge from July-December, the truth is that the overall conditions that cause a late spring flu may be "type indifferent", so it might signal the breakout of the H5N1 Avian flu.

In any event, the late spring flu is a "dress rehearsal" for the health authorities. The last chance to get their act together before a good probability for a severe flu.

On the plus side, if it is a severe H1N1 flu, then only about 100,000 Americans will die. But if it is an H5N1 Avian flu, estimates are anywhere from 1-30 MILLION.

Have a nice day.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/17/2009 9:32 Comments || Top||

#3  "But if it is an H5N1 Avian flu, estimates are anywhere from 1-30 MILLION."

Well, that would certainly please the Left, 'moose, since they think there are too many people here and elsewhere.

With any luck, they'll be among the dead....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 05/17/2009 9:42 Comments || Top||

#4  Keep your pantry stocked with a month's worth of supplies just in case, a good thing to do anyway; cough into your elbow rather than your hand, and wash or Purell your hands thoroughly every two hours while awake, which should reduce your chances of catching anything by 90%. Thus you will be doing your bit to help prevent the spread of anything, should it come. Oh, and get both the pneumonia inoculation now, and the flu shot as soon as it becomes available in the fall.

There, now. We're covered in case something does happen, and can relax in the meantime. Thank you as always for the background, Anonymoose.

Barbara, 9/11 created a great many silent apostates on the Left. A major flue epidemic would bring a great many more to the dark side -- inescapable reality has a way of doing that.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/17/2009 10:34 Comments || Top||

#5  tw, I would also reccomend staying away from salad bars.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 05/17/2009 15:29 Comments || Top||

#6  Ummm, Why would Salad bars be any worse than restaurant-going in general?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 05/17/2009 16:59 Comments || Top||

#7  you're better off worrying about the door handles on the entry and exit. Even better, don't touch you eyes without washing first. simple rules. If you avoid all microbes and viruses, you'll have NO natural defenses. Live life, don't lick door knobs and be smart around sick people
Posted by: Frank G || 05/17/2009 17:03 Comments || Top||

#8  All the utensils at a salad bar are used by everyone who goew to the salad bar. You don't know how many infected people have handeled the tongs.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 05/17/2009 17:05 Comments || Top||

#9  Contaminated tongs are a definate no go! I always just reach in.... barehanded.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/17/2009 17:12 Comments || Top||

#10  Shopping carts, just think of the germs! It really gives people like bare handed Besoeker a chance to share the wealth on those babies.
Posted by: GirlThursday || 05/17/2009 17:40 Comments || Top||

#11  trailing wife: There is a stir going around the serious influenza forums, looking for available ways to lower the potentially hideous mortality rate of H5N1, and they have come up with some potentially powerful discoveries:

http://www.medpagetoday.com/InfectiousDisease/URItheFlu/5411

"Statin drugs, normally used for high cholesterol, may reduce mortality by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by 40%."

This may very well include the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome that kicks in about five days after Avian flu symptoms are displayed, and on its own has a 50% mortality rate. (Lungs are shredded, death by oxygen deprivation to internal organs.)

Of the about 150 known inflammatory mediators (cytokines, oxygen free radicals, and coagulation factors), that are released in the deadly "Cytokine Storm" effect that causes ARDS, there is an over the counter recipe being devised that might be able to stave off ARDS in the first place by inhibiting a critical few.

This is essential, because once you develop ARDS, you must have an oxygen ventilator (not just generator) to survive, and these are in critical shortage in the US, nationally our having only about 102,000 ventilators.

So an effective OTC recipe is a very high priority. Each of its four parts are essential, inhibiting central cytokine effects.

The first is an ACE-2 blocker, normally an Rx hypertension drug. Its substitute is 10,000 IU of Vitamin D.

The second ingredient is common Benedryl, or the equivalent, a histamine-1 inhibitor.

The third ingredient is Tagamet, or the equivalent, a histamine-2 inhibitor normally used for acid reflux.

The fourth ingredient is Advil, Ibuprofen, or the equivalent, which inhibits prostaglandins.

These four, together, may be enough to limit the immune overreaction to Avian flu, and save the lives of especially young people, between the ages of 25-44, who are most likely to develop ARDS.

Another factor is the recent discovery that having low levels of ordinary Vitamin A may result in twice the normal blood level of Tumor Necrosis Factor - Alpha (TNF-1), which is a major immune system mediator, and may in overabundance be responsible for a host of immune problems such as arthritis.

It is also perhaps the primary immune factor involved in the Cytokine Storm. So it is good to carefully maintain your RDA of Vitamin A, during flu cycles, but don't overdo it, because too much is toxic.

As an aside, Vitamin D is a hormone, which should not be taken as a supplement unless needed, because doing so may cause your body to limits its natural production of Vitamin D.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/17/2009 17:44 Comments || Top||

#12  A bit off topic but in relation to Moose's post on flu countermeasures, wonder whether OTC weight loss drugs like Orlistat (Alli) that inhibit cholesterol absorbtion would interact good or bad with the flu countermeasures described. A lot of the young aged 25-44 are taking Alli these days, and they block some absorbtion of certain things. Potentially good or bad, dunno.
Posted by: GirlThursday || 05/17/2009 18:31 Comments || Top||

#13  'moose is right on this one. There's good reason to believe that a fair portion of the teens and young adults in north America in particular will be vulnerable to a more virulent H1N1 fall flu.

Whether or not this Fall sees a serious pandemic, we are overdue for one and it is likely to be more severe than historical ones here because of global air travel, generational demographics and the fact that the US and Canada skipped some precursors a few decades ago that have left many Europeans with partially matching antibodies.

If and when such a pandemic hits, authorities expect as much 40-50% of the workfoce either dead, ill or caring for ill family members for substantial stretches of time. Think about the implications of those absences for keeping the water and power infrastructure working, the finance system functioning, public order maintained ... and then think about the cascading failures those absences would create during a health emergency ...

That's what government pandemic flu plans envision, including those of the military that I've seen.
Posted by: lotp || 05/17/2009 20:15 Comments || Top||

#14  The only clue I can find is that it seems to increase the absorption of one of the class of Statin drugs, pravastatin, that includes half a dozen of them, including Crestor.

This gets terribly complicated in a hurry, but a lot of top experts are highly motivated to come up with an OTC alternative, and soon.

I spend a lot of time reading dry medical papers and perusing influenza research forums, and am more than happy to give Rantburg a heads up if I find a lifesaver.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/17/2009 20:29 Comments || Top||

#15  "I spend a lot of time reading dry medical papers and perusing influenza research forums, and am more than happy to give Rantburg a heads up if I find a lifesaver."

Thanks, 'moose.

I love Rantburg U. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 05/17/2009 20:34 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Nigeria says 13 oil workers rescued
Warri, Nigeria -- Nigerian security forces said Saturday that they had rescued 13 oil workers abducted in the last week, including nine foreigners, and destroyed a key militant camp in the heart of Africa's biggest oil industry region. The army said its forces, using gunboats and helicopters, would continue an offensive to drive out militants from the creeks after the hijacking of two oil vessels and attacks on troops in southern Delta state.

The fighting in the OPEC member nation so far has had little effect on global crude oil markets. "We will carry on with our operations until we stabilize the situation," said Col. Rabe Abubakar, spokesman for the military task force in the Niger delta. He said two soldiers were wounded in the fighting.

The Niger delta's main militant group has declared an "all-out war" and warned oil companies to evacuate staffers after three days of heavy clashes with the military. Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron and other energy companies working in the area were given until Saturday by the militants to remove their workers.

The military on Friday freed nine Filipinos and four Nigerians who had been seized two days before when their oil vessel MV Spirit was hijacked by militants near Warri. A total of 20 people were believed to have been on board the ship, chartered by state oil firm NNPC.

The rescued crew members told reporters that two Filipinos were killed and at least five were wounded by crossfire. "We thought we were going to die as bombs were coming down," said one.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/17/2009 02:02 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In a previous event of this kind Chevron was sued (unsuccessfully, last I knew) by abductors because Chevron 'allowed' the Nigerian military to carry out a rescue op and abductors were harmed.
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/17/2009 8:19 Comments || Top||


Uganda's President Museveni tells Kenya to Apologise
The dispute between Kenya and Uganda over the ownership of Migingo Island has taken a new angle with president Museveni demanding an apology from some sections of Kenyans "who are insulting Ugandans".
It's a speck of an island in Lake Victoria between the two countries. See a photo and background article here. It's a place only smugglers could love. Therefore, the two countries will go to war and suffer horrific casualties.
The president, who refused to retract his alleged attacks on Kenyan Jaluos, instead told a press conference of Uganda and Kenyan journalists at Entebbe Airport yesterday that Kenyan politicians, specifically Lands Minister James Orengo, must apologise for calling Ugandans hyenas.
Over here the children chant, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me." Besides, everyone knows Ugandans are actually vultures, soaring high and free above the world while they wait for something to die, not a skulking trapezoid of a spotted animal whose females look like well-endowed males.
Mr Museveni said the BBC took his "Jaluos are mad" remark out of context, insisting that the reference was only to those who uprooted the railway line in Nairobi, not the entire Luo community.
Posted by: Pappy || 05/17/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Bahraini MP says Tourists scaring the Fish(ermen)
An MP wants to ban tourists from using the Bander Al Dar Port because most women are scantily clad while others behave inappropriately by kissing and cuddling in public. They also crowd the port, causing a nuisance to fishermen in the area who use the port regularly, says MP Sayed Haidar Al Sitri.
Insert joke about fisherman, fishing and scantily clad maidens here.
He alleged that some women waiting at the port to be transported to Al Dar Islands committed acts against Bahrain's culture.

He said they were "disrespecting the country's culture with their skimpy clothes and display of public affection in front of fishermen".
Posted by: Pappy || 05/17/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The fishing boats rear ending each other?
Posted by: ed || 05/17/2009 14:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Why not, ed?

It's a moslem country, so undoubtedly the fishermen usually are.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 05/17/2009 14:55 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Medvedev concerned over NATO drills in Georgia
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Saturday he believed that the ongoing war games of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in neighboring Georgia would add strains to the already tense situation in the Caucasus region.
Yes, but so would doing nothing, at least for the Georgians.
"I think they will add nothing to the pan-European security but will on the contrary increase tensions," the Russian leader told reporters here after his talks with visiting Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. He reaffirmed Moscow's opposition to the drills, deeming them provocative and unhelpful in the wake of last summer's armed conflict between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia.

Medvedev said the Russian suggestions on signing a pan-Europe security treaty aimed to form a new ground for understanding in association with non-NATO members.

The drills, codenamed Cooperative Longbow/Cooperative Lancer 2009 command-and-staff exercise runs from May 6 to June 1. The full-scale exercise began on May 11 with over 1,300 troops from 19 NATO allies taking part. NATO tried to allay Russia's concerns, saying on several occasions that the exercise had been planned before the Georgia war and was not aimed against Russia which was invited to take part in the exercises but shunned the invitation.
It will, however, make it more difficult for the Russkies to invade prior to June 2nd.
The trans-Atlantic military alliance affirmed that the drills in Georgia aimed to improve interoperability between NATO and partner countries, within the framework of Partnership for Peace, Mediterranean Dialogue and Istanbul Cooperation Initiative programs, and will not involve any light or heavy weaponry.

Meanwhile, Medvedev hailed as "crucial for the entire Europe" the Russian-Italian partnership for the South Stream gas pipeline which will be commissioned by December 31, 2015. The deadline for commissioning the South Stream gas pipeline has been set by the signing corporate agreements between Russia's Gazprom and Italy's Eni on Friday. The two sides have agreed to raise the capacity of pipeline from 31 billion to 63 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to Europe a year via Bulgaria and Serbia.
Posted by: Seafarious || 05/17/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Looks like Medvedev has Georgia on his mind.
Posted by: gorb || 05/17/2009 3:46 Comments || Top||


Europe
Turkey's military education hinders professionalism
Retired Gen. Yaþar Büyükanýt, former Turkish chief of general staff, admitted early this month that the military's involvement in politics up to its neck was the main reason for the Ottoman Empire entering into a process of collapse, as well as the period of Committee of Union and Progress, between 1908 and 1918. He made those remarks as well as other revelations during a program aired by local Channel D on May 7. Turkish Armed Forces' (TSK) continuous emphasis of its “special place in Turkey” that has been standing as an obstacle not only in Turkey's democratic progress, but also as an obstacle to the transition of the TSK into a professional armed forces able to meet the needs of the 21st century onward.

The problem behind these phenomena lays TSK's education system, i.e., its ideological curriculum that teaches the young brains starting the military school at the age of 14 that they are the ones who are tasked to defend secular republic principle laid down by Turkey's founder Kemal Atatürk. As a novelty to this rhetoric, Gen. Baþbuð stressed the “secular democratic” character of the nation that the TSK attaches importance to. Turkey's civilian education system is also problematic in the sense that it does not allow pupils to argue what they are thinking but, rather, they learn the textbooks by heart. The military education system is more problematic as it gives a task to the military members in the very beginning of their career at the military schools to defend and to be the guardians of the secular Turkish Republic and, if necessary, to intervene in politics through different sorts of coups under Article 35 of the TSK's Internal Service Law.

“Military students are brought up with an ideology that they are the defenders of Atatürk's secular principles and that civilians constitute a danger for the republic. Military students are taught: ‘You have to be at alert all the time against the political authorities elected by the unconscious public. This is your historical duty,'” said former military Prosecutor Ümit Kardaþ in an interview with Sunday's Zaman. This mission imposed by the military resulted with five different sorts of military interventions in Turkey, he recalled.

Technological innovations applied within the TSK do not seem to help, either, to transform the military in a positive sense.

“The TSK used to have their statements read after each coup through the then-state-owned radios. But now there are hundreds of radio channels as well as television stations. Instead, now the TSK releases memorandums issued against the governments through their own Web sites. This is how TSK uses technological innovations,” Kardaþ noted, referring to the April 27, 2007 e-memo posted on the Web site of the TSK.

The fact that TSK has a problematic and an outdated curriculum came to be known by the public when a circular was issued to all of the military headquarters by then-Turkish chief of general staff, now retired Gen. Hilmi Özkök, a circular which was published in Radikal daily on July 8, 2004 and not denied by the military. In this circular, Özkök ordered the TSK to change its education system to catch up with the needs of the 21st century and to adopt themselves to the changing concepts of the threats.

Almost 16 years ago, the TSK set up an Education and Doctrine Command (EDOK) in Ankara similar to the US Army's Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), which has been updating the Turkish military's doctrines in line with changes taking place in the world. There is a US lieutenant general based at EDOK in Ankara, assisting the Turkish officers in updating the TSK to the new sorts of threats.

The TSK's training is now much better than in the past, said a Western military officer familiar with the Turkish military, adding, however, that even if EDOK is about 16 years old, these kinds of headquarters take time to mature.
Posted by: || 05/17/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Turkey's military education

Is the only thing that kept Sharia away for 80 years---but all good things end.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/17/2009 6:01 Comments || Top||

#2  So, what, they should change? This is why Turkey is a semi-modern country and not a craphole like Syria or Libya or the rest of them.
Posted by: gromky || 05/17/2009 6:36 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Utah GOP governor is Obama's pick as China envoy
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama reached across the political divide Saturday and named Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, a possible GOP White House contender and top John McCain supporter, to the sensitive diplomatic post of U.S. ambassador to China.

With the selection, Obama may have sidelined a potentially formidable moderate Republican from the 2012 presidential field. For Huntsman, it's a chance to burnish his credentials and position himself as a viable hopeful — perhaps for 2016 if Obama is seen as a strong candidate for a second term in 2012.
I didn't see a Utah governor being a front-runner in 2012 ...
Fluent in Mandarin Chinese from his days as a Mormon missionary in Taiwan, the 49-year-old Huntsman is a popular two-term governor who served in both Bush administrations and was national co-chairman of Arizona Sen. McCain's campaign against Obama last year. Huntsman has made a name for himself advocating a moderate agenda in one of the nation's most conservative states.

With Huntsman at his side, Obama said in brief remarks in the White House Diplomatic Reception Room that he made the appointment "mindful of its extraordinary significance. Given the breadth of issues at stake in our relationship with China, this ambassadorship is as important as any in the world because the United States will best be able to deal effectively with global challenges in the 21st century by working in concert with China."

Huntsman recently made headlines for encouraging his party to swing in a more moderate direction if it wants to bounce back from the 2008 elections, angering some conservatives.

"I knew that because Jon is not only a Republican, but a Republican who co-chaired my opponent's campaign for the presidency this wouldn't be the easiest decision to explain to some members of his party," Obama said. "But here is what I also know: I know Jon is the kind of leader who always puts country ahead of party."

Huntsman said he never expected "to be called into action by the person who beat us. But I grew up understanding that the most basic responsibility one has is service to country. When the president of the United States asks you to step up and serve in a capacity like this, that to me is the end of the conversation and the beginning of the obligation to rise to the challenge. I stand here in my final term as governor with plenty to do. I wasn't looking for a new job in life, but a call from the president changed that."
He's a good choice for the position, and if he's tired of being governor, let him go to China. His bio suggests that he has a bit of wandering in his soul.
Huntsman ended his remarks with his favorite Chinese saying, speaking in Mandarin: "Together we work, together we progress."
Posted by: Steve White || 05/17/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Good opportunity to stock up on yuan before serious inflation hits the dollar. Then shop around to start up a business in a real pro-capitalist environment afterward.

I didn't see a Utah governor being a front-runner in 2012 ...

Don't underestimate making 'lots' of contacts for non-traceable small card donations/transfers for the election fund. Doesn't even have to be restricted to Buddhist monks.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/17/2009 8:47 Comments || Top||

#2  "But I grew up understanding that the most basic responsibility one has is service to country."

Try very hard to remember, Gov. Huntsman, that the person appointing you has the exact opposite understanding.

Sounds like Huntsman is a very good person for the ambassadorship - so what's Bambi's real motivation?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 05/17/2009 9:37 Comments || Top||

#3  so what's Bambi's real motivation?

China....................................Utah
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/17/2009 10:37 Comments || Top||

#4  So what's the going rate for a Utah governorship? Let's ask Blagojevic...
Posted by: Seafarious || 05/17/2009 11:05 Comments || Top||

#5  so what's Bambi's real motivation?

Name a Donk who's tasted power and ask yourself, would you trust them? Particularly with an important post with the largest bond holder of US capital.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/17/2009 12:56 Comments || Top||

#6  There's this from HotAir on May 5, 2009
Obama campaign manager: I fear Jon Huntsman the most in 2012

There is one republican presidential candidate that President Barack Obama's campaign manager fears the most in 2012...and his name is Jon Huntsman Jr.

This week for Governor Huntsman, good things are coming in threes.

Not just the fear from the Obama campaign, but also an important phone call and a weekend spent testing the waters in a key primary state.

While no republican presidential candidate yet makes Obama's team "shake in {their} shoes...," President Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe, tells the U.S. News and World Report that Governor Jon Huntsman makes him, a "wee bit queasy...I think he's really out there speaking a lot of truth about the direction of the party."

To which Kirk Jowers of the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics says, "Huntsman has positioned himself in a great place right now because he is the only presidential candidate really running in the middle right now."

Huntsman spent the weekend in Michigan which is a key G.O.P. primary state.
Posted by: Sherry || 05/17/2009 13:41 Comments || Top||

#7  For Huntsman, it's a chance to burnish his credentials and position himself as a viable hopeful -- perhaps for 2016 if Obama is seen as a strong candidate for a second term in 2012.

What are the odds that the GOP will nominate someone who was a de facto member of the Obama administration?

Posted by: charger || 05/17/2009 15:10 Comments || Top||

#8  After this afternoon's slobbering love affair in South Bend, Barry's probably sorry he didn't select a Catholic. I had no idea he was such a follower of the Catholic faith. Jeremiah Wright.... did he even exist?

Ironic, the "agree to disagree respectfully" rhetoric spewed by Jenkins and Barry. Yes, also very rich...."soldiers and lawyers opinions may differ." Too bad Barry's hero Abe Lincoln could not have done the same. We could have saved the lives of 600,000 soldiers. Of course we might have still had slavery today....but.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/17/2009 16:44 Comments || Top||

#9  It's clear as a bell, Obama's looking for trouble with China to help kill his most dangerous domestic foe, either politicaly (Not able to campaign at home) or literaly have him dead.

If I were Huntsman i'd say "Thanks, but no thanks".
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 05/17/2009 16:45 Comments || Top||

#10  Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

Plus, what RJ said.
Posted by: no mo uro || 05/17/2009 17:40 Comments || Top||

#11  Great. The lovechild of John McCain and Mitt Romney. Bammo can have him, and good riddance.
Posted by: Iblis || 05/17/2009 18:29 Comments || Top||

#12  Huntsman has made a name for himself advocating a moderate agenda in one of the nation's most conservative states.

I don't know him, but that just screams RINO. Plus, if he is in bed with McCain, Bambi can have him.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/17/2009 21:29 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Indian Army getting set to launch Agni-II missile
CHENNAI: Preparations are under way for the launch of India's ballistic missile, Agni-II, from the Wheeler Island, off Dhamra village on the Orissa coast, on May 19. The Army will conduct the launch with the missile technologists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) present as "observers."

This will be the fourth launch of Agni-II, which can carry nuclear warheads over a distance of 2,500 km. The Army has already deployed Agni-II in its arsenal.

DRDO officials said this launch was to "prove the effectiveness of the system and the readiness of the user [Army]" in firing the missile. Since the Army had already inducted the missile into its arsenal, it would pick an Agni-II at random from a clutch of missiles and fire it to test its effectiveness. DRDO officials called it "a repeat launch" to provide training to the Army personnel. "It is entirely the Army's show. We will only help them in case of any technical issue," they said. The missile would lift off from a rail-mobile launcher.

Agni-II is a two-stage surface-to-surface missile, powered by solid propellants. It weighs 17 tonnes and can carry a nuclear warhead weighing one tonne. The missile is 20 metres long. It has been designed and developed by the Advanced Systems Laboratory, a unit of the DRDO, in Hyderabad.
Posted by: john frum || 05/17/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I must think differently than the rest of the world, they see no problem redying a missile for a week or more?
But I think If it takes more than a minute to ready and fire a missile, then it's worthless.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 05/17/2009 12:27 Comments || Top||

#2  One must crawl before one can sprint.
Posted by: Seafarious || 05/17/2009 12:56 Comments || Top||

#3  The Agni-2 itself can be launched in under 15 minutes.

They delayed the test because of the Indian elections. There was the possibility of a complaint to the electoral commission that this was an attempt by the governing party to burnish its credentials before the voters. The commission has stopped the distribution of housing for slum dwellers etc until after the elections. Two of the Slumdog Millionaire kids got caught up in all this.
Posted by: john frum || 05/17/2009 13:09 Comments || Top||

#4  I wasn't speaking only of the Agni-II.

How about a few weeks ago when NORK took a full week or more to "Fuel" their missile?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 05/17/2009 16:35 Comments || Top||

#5  INDIA is also unhappy at PAKIS, etc. desire to extend sovereignty to its offshore continental shelf = INDIA FEELIN' "THE SQUEEZE"???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/17/2009 22:30 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Rediscovering Old Military Communications Technology
Archaeologists and volunteers armed with special flares will fan out over part of the Four Corners region on Saturday to study how early Navajos could have used smoke signals to warn against invaders.

There are more than 200 pueblitos — usually high on rock outcroppings overlooking the San Juan Basin — that archaeologists believe were built by Navajos three centuries ago to protect against Spanish explorers and neighboring tribes.

"If you hear an enemy approaching, you climb into these things and pull up the ladder, and you can seal yourself in for a while," said Ron Maldonado, program manager of the Navajo Nation Historic Preservation Department.

The sites in the area where New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah meet feature the remains of what were once formidable structures made of stacked sandstone. The theory is that Navajos bunkered down inside the pueblitos and possibly used smoke to send warnings across long distances, said Jim Copeland, an archaeologist with the Bureau of Land Management in Farmington.

Copeland said experiments in the early 1990s showed the method of warning could work in general, but scores of new sites have been identified since then and scientists want to know more about how the signals could have been relayed. Improved computer modeling and analysis has refined the idea of an "early warning system."

"We're still trying to confirm long distance and questionable views," Copeland said. "A lot of them are kind of no-brainers. You can pretty much see from A to B, but A to C was sort of questionable and that's the kind of thing we want to test."

The volunteers planned to reach some of the remote defensive sites by noon Saturday. Their mission: To set off their smoke signals and scan the horizon for other columns of smoke.

Much of the Four Corners area is known as Dinetah, the ancestral homeland of the Navajos. The tribe's traditional creation story centers on the area.

"The Dinetah essentially is the emergence place of the Navajo," said Ron Maldonado, program manager of the Navajo Nation Historic Preservation Department.

Tree-ring dating shows most of the sites are from the early 1700s, said Patrick Hogan, associate director of the University of New Mexico's Office of Contract Archaeology. He researched the sites during the early 1990s, when oil and gas development began to boom and archaeological surveys became necessary.

Overall, Hogan said, researchers are interested in better understanding the early social organization of the Navajos and the connections between their communities.

"One way to think about linking these larger communities is which defensive sites have line of sight to each other," he said. "They aren't going to have line of sight to all of them. They're going to be in clusters, and those clusters might give us a basis for then defining larger cooperating groups."

While more than 200 defensive sites have been documented, Copeland said he's certain that others are out there, collapsed and hidden under centuries of sand and brush.

"Until you walk up on it or someone points you in that direction, it's just sitting out there waiting," he said.

The sites that are part of the smoke signal experiment are on land managed by the BLM, Copeland said.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/17/2009 16:48 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ironically, the US Army used the similar idea of the heliograph, using mirrors and sunlight, in the same region, for much the same purpose, but against the Indians.

"Major W. J. Volkman of the US Army, demonstrated in Arizona and New Mexico the possibility of carrying on communication by heliograph over a range of 200 miles.

"The network of communication begun by General Miles in 1886, and continued by Lieutenant W. A. Glassford, was perfected in 1889 at ranges of 85, 88, 95, and 125 miles over a rugged and broken country, which was the stronghold of the Apache and other hostile Indian tribes."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/17/2009 16:53 Comments || Top||

#2  (around a hundred years later.......1985 style communication punk rock style:

Go to top of deforested hill
Take out can of aqua net
Light steam of hairspray on fire.
Posted by: GirlThursday || 05/17/2009 21:01 Comments || Top||

#3  An OLDIE BUT A GOODIE!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/17/2009 22:27 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Burma Bars Prominent Lawyer from Aung San Suu Kyi Trial
A prominent Burmese lawyer says the military government revoked his license after he applied to represent opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in her upcoming trial. Aung Thein said he received a dismissal letter from the government Friday. Khin Maung Shein, one of his associates, also had his license revoked.

Aung Thein has represented political activists in the past, and was recently jailed for four months for contempt of court.

Aung San Suu Kyi faces charges related to an incident last week in which an American man, John Yettaw, swam to her lakeside residence and hid inside. The Nobel laureate, who has been detained for 13 of the past 19 years, is accused of breaking the terms of her house arrest by housing Yettaw. She could face up to five years in prison if found guilty. Her lawyers insist the man was an intruder. Yettaw also faces charges.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/17/2009 01:36 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "housing Yettaw"

But to requote her famous speech "It is not power that corrupts but fear."

Or maybe what actually corrupts is swimming booty calls. I mean, he swam over, is that like having a stripper gram show up at your door? What was that experience like, Ms. Buddhism? I thought Buddhism was about controlling urges and desires?
Posted by: GirlThursday || 05/17/2009 11:48 Comments || Top||

#2  She's only human! The American guy however has some balls, or he did!
Posted by: Kofi Claitle6576 || 05/17/2009 14:17 Comments || Top||

#3  Deport swimmer boy to Singapore for a righteous caning.
Posted by: ed || 05/17/2009 14:20 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
57[untagged]

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

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

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
Click here for more information

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

Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2009-05-17
  Tamil Tigers say they surrender
Sat 2009-05-16
  Sri Lanka president declares victory in civil war
Fri 2009-05-15
  60 Talibs killed in Swat
Thu 2009-05-14
  Morocco dismantles Salafiya Jihadiya cell
Wed 2009-05-13
   113 deaders, thousands flee Somalia festivities
Tue 2009-05-12
  Pak commandos dropped into Taliban stronghold
Mon 2009-05-11
  200 Taliban killed in Swat operation
Sun 2009-05-10
  Scores dead as drone hits S. Wazoo Mehsud stronghold
Sat 2009-05-09
  1.2 million people leave Buner, Swat other areas
Fri 2009-05-08
  Gilani orders all-out war on Pak Taliban
Thu 2009-05-07
  Sufi Mohammad's son killed in Lower Dir shelling
Wed 2009-05-06
  Mashaal: Hamas wants 10 year cease-fire
Tue 2009-05-05
  Pirates captured after attacking the wrong ship
Mon 2009-05-04
  Khaled Mashaal re-elected Hamas political leader
Sun 2009-05-03
  64 civilians killed in Lanka hospital attack

Better than the average link...



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.
35.153.134.169
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (16)    WoT Background (23)    Opinion (3)    (0)    Politix (2)