Here are some bits out of an A-Pee story. Click the link to read the whole article if you are interested.
A notorious street gang accused of terrorizing a neighborhood for years and killing a sheriff's deputy was the target of a coordinated assault by hundreds of law enforcement officials Tuesday.
"Our goal is to ... move these people out, occupy this community and support the law abiding people that deserve to live in dignity here." Gee. They've been a part of the community for years now. Why the sudden rush? They sure as hades aren't going anywhere any time soon.
Aside from murdering rivals, dealing drugs, graffiti tagging and other gang crimes, the gang is accused of making threats and carrying out acts of violence against police officers, culminating in two attacks that rocked the law enforcement community last year. It's part of their .. err, .. "inalienable" human rights.
Then on Aug. 2, 2008, off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Juan Escalante was shot dead in front of his parents' home in the Cypress Park neighborhood northeast of downtown. {Channeling Edith Bunker} "Oh, I get it."
Even before the killing, authorities were investigating the Avenues, but his death magically increased the urgency of the operation. Earlier this year, police charged three men in Escalante's death and a fourth suspect remains at large. Next time, don't kill the cop. Just graze him maybe? Oh, and for you second-class "citizens" out there, don't get any ideas about going all vigilante and doing our job for us. You're just an individual and they don't fear you. Authorities will come down on you like a ton of bricks and even the gang memebers will pity you. Authorities have our phoney-baloney jobs to protect here, after all.
The 222-page indictment also alleges Avenues members posted inflammatory remarks on Web sites, including "Avenidas don't get chased by the cops. We chase them," and, "Avenidas don't just hurt people. We kill them." Such statements are also apparently are part of their human rights and no cause for concern.
Members of the largely Hispanic gang would also spray paint racist threats around neighborhoods to intimidate black people, according to prosecutors. Another part of their de-facto rights. As long as they don't kill anybody that someone in power cares about.
"This indictment attacks a criminal organization that has terrorized a community for generations," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Brunwin, the lead prosecutor in the case. "With all of the information magically collected over the past year, we assembled an indictment that led to dozens of arrests this morning and will make a significant difference in the neighborhoods in northeastern Los Angeles." Well, it will if they rinse and repeat a few times, anyway.
Tuesday's operation marks an decade-long ongoing focus on the Avenues gang, which gets its name from a series of streets running through the area.
Though incarcerated, Mexican Mafia leaders are able to communicate with street gangs through conversations on cell phones that are smuggled into prisons, as well as by passing folded notes to visitors. Oh, I get it. Now that I look at a prison as more of an office building than a facility for incarcerating and isolating criminals. And if some folks are considering blocking cell phones in schools or movie theatres, then why the he11 don't they block prisons? They abdicated their rights when they broke the law severely enough to go to prison AFAIAC. Just wonderin', you know. Keep them warm, dry, fed, healthy, and moderately entertained if you must, but cell phones are a luxury not a right and certainly not a necessity.
Authorities don't seem to give a $hit about this problem as long as gang members confine their criminal behavior to other gang members and "deserving" civilians like drug users. This mentality is self-defeating. The gangs occasionally kill a few of their own (and some of the "deserving" population like drug addicts) and it looks like they are cleaning up the problem for the authorities. But the problem is that they created the problem in the first place! This is not a chicken-and-egg problem that makes it impossible to decide where to start. Deport or incarcerate the gang members until they figure it out and the problems will go away. And keep them from talking to each other while on the inside. Monitor all communications.
And when they scatter like flies to other states that are more lucrative and less of an existential problem then they ought to be greeted with the same hospitality.
#2
Too bad it took a dead deputy before they decided to do something. I went to a party once in another part of LA (neighbor's sister) that turned out to be infested with Avs, although I didn't know it at the time (durrr stupid white guy).
Notice how the media mentions the ethnic cleansing against blacks in a single line and then never expounds on it?
#3
You do think the technology to block cell phone transmissions in a prison wouldn't be hard ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/22/2009 17:34 Comments ||
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#4
Authorities don't seem to give a $hit about this problem as long as gang members confine their criminal behavior to other gang members and "deserving" civilians like drug users.
More like watching twenty plus years of COPS and watching the locals side with blood rather than the law. It doesn't matter what the crime is, it's one's own over the community as a whole. How about facing that for years on end. Sorta takes the edge off of making the effort in some hoods. Still waiting for an Anbar Awaking here.
The lawyers for the parents of Rifqa Bary assured the court today that there is no such thing as honor killing in Islam. The attorneys who are employees of CAIR said that Rifqa's concerns were unfounded.
Taqiyyah. There may be no honour killing in Islam, but there is plenty done by Muslims.
#2
need to stall this proceeding until she turns 18
Posted by: lord garth ||
09/22/2009 7:12 Comments ||
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#3
Mother of Dead Dallas Girls Calls Their Murder An Honor Killing The mother who lured her two young daughters, Sarah and Amina, to their tragic deaths at the hand of their father, Yaser Said, now regrets what she did. Downplaying her own role, or rather, insisting that she is innocent, Patricia (Tissy) Owens calls the murder of her daughters an honor killing by an evil man. Despite years of paternal child abuse at home, Tissy now insists that she had no idea that Yaser was actually going to kill the girls whom he sexually and physically abused and whose too Western ways enraged him.
But does she have 4 male muslim witnesses?
Posted by: ed ||
09/22/2009 7:13 Comments ||
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#4
We have honor killings in Western culture. Generally in areas not subject to the strictures of law. Here tribal families kill the rapist. In their culture, tribal families kill the raped.
#8
It's all rather Monty Pythonesque, isn't it?
"There is no cannibalism in the British Navy, absolutely none, and when I say none, I mean there is a certain amount."
All quite delusional and funny. Except for the dead girls.
The gene pool had a little chlorine added. Rescuers are searching for a Chattanooga man who washed away into an underground culvert as children watched after boastfully daring friends to a $5 bet that he could swim in a neighborhood ditch overflowing with rainwater. "Hey, watch me do this!"
Fire Department spokesman Bruce Garner said Monday that firefighters rescued Albert Miller, who also jumped in the gushing ditch Sunday, but one man remained missing.
Leslie Townsend said Monday that he and other relatives were watching Sunday as his uncle, 46-year-old Sylvester Kitchens, went shirtless into the overflowing ditch beside their house in east Chattanooga, planning to catch overhead vines 100 feet away. Kitchens disappeared into the culvert and a search is continuing.
Townsend said his uncle dared everyone to bet him $5..
[Straits Times] A VIETNAMESE worker and two colleagues who went to his aid suffocated to death inside a vat of fish sauce, police and news reports said on Monday. This is the fabled nuoc mam of the heady days of my youth. Very tasty, once you get used to the smell...
Much more interesting than plain soy sauce. Not usually as interesting as this particular batch, however.
The accident happened Saturday at a fish sauce plant in Cam Ranh township of coastal Khanh Hoa province, said a police officer who refused to be named. Cam Ranh didn't have any nuoc mam plants when I was there. I believe it consisted of about 125 buildings, of which 75 were engaged in a single industry...
One worker got into trouble after climbing in to fix a pipe, prompting his co-workers to try to rescue him, the Nong Nghiep (Agriculture) Vietnam newspaper reported. "Hey! Get down from there!"
"Whu- whu- whoops! [SPLASH!][Swooooon!]
"Hang on, Nguyen! We're comin'! [SPLASH!][Swooooon!]
All three died on the spot, it said. [gurgle]
Police were still investigating the deaths, the policeman told AFP. "Oh, how could this ever have happened?"
"I dunno, Inspector."
Vietnamese fish sauce, a widely-used condiment, is made from a mix of anchovies and salt which is left to distil for more than a year in three-metre-high (10-feet-high) wooden vats. That's how it happened, alright.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Uhhh, the home made stuff was not made that way......
Posted by: James Carville ||
09/22/2009 1:14 Comments ||
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#2
Could've been worse....could've been a vat of sriracha sauce.
Honduran authorities have imposed a curfew after the dramatic return of ousted President Manuel Zelaya.
Mr Zelaya has sought refuge inside the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa and hundreds of his supporters have gathered outside. He said he had crossed mountains and rivers to return to the capital, where he said he was seeking dialogue.
Figured out he was disposable, did he ...
Likely he appeared magickally inside the embassy wearing dark glasses and waving a Brazilian diplo passport, fresh from Finland Station. Everyone was just so surprised.
In a televised address, interim leader Roberto Micheletti demanded that Brazil hand over Mr Zelaya to stand trial. Mr Micheletti said Brazil would be held responsible for any violence.
"A call to the government of Brazil: respect the judicial order against Mr Zelaya and turn him into Honduran authorities," he said. "The eyes of the world are on Brazil and Honduras."
Mr Zelaya's return took officials by surprise, with Mr Micheletti at first denying the deposed leader was in the country.
It looks like the nightmare scenario for the coup leaders. They've done everything in their power to prevent Manuel Zelaya's return - sending soldiers to prevent his plane landing in the days after the coup, and later to the border to stop him crossing from Nicaragua.
The confirmation that Mr Zelaya is back will have come as a humiliation for Roberto Micheletti and damaged his authority inside the country.
Or confirm everyone's worst fears ...
The interim government has been condemned around the world for the coup, but has consolidated its control. Mr Zelaya's return now brings the crisis back to the boil.
And that's why he came back ...
The interim government has been playing for time - hoping to cling to power until new elections set for November. It is no longer in control of events and looks more vulnerable than at any time since the coup.
As tension inside Honduras increased, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Mr Zelaya's return must not lead to violence. "It's imperative that dialogue begin... (that) there be a channel of communication between President Zelaya and the de facto regime in Honduras," she said.
In images broadcast on national television, a smiling Mr Zelaya wearing his trademark white cowboy hat appeared on the balcony of the Brazilian embassy waving to a crowd of supporters. Shortly afterwards officials imposed the 15-hour curfew, starting at 1600 (2200 GMT) on Monday.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said neither his country nor the OAS had played any part in Mr Zelaya's return, the Associated Press news agency reported.
Other than host him in their embassy ...
OAS chief Jose Miguel Insulza also called for calm, telling Honduran authorities they were responsible for the security of Mr Zelaya and the Brazilian embassy.
Technically true, but Insulza is a tool of the lefties.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Seems like a good opportunity to tell the Brazilians to close down the embassy in 24 hours and get the hell out.
Posted by: ed ||
09/22/2009 7:09 Comments ||
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#2
Still using the COUP lie, I see.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/22/2009 18:03 Comments ||
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The interim Honduran government and the spokeswoman for the United Nations in Tegucigalpa denied that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya had returned Monday to the Central American country.
Roberto Micheletti, the former Congress speaker designated to lead the country after Zelaya's ouster, and UN spokeswoman Ana Elsy Mendoza both denied that Zelaya had taken refuge at the United Nations office in Tegucigalpa.
Sources at the Honduran Embassy in Washington told the German Press Agency dpa that Zelaya - who had been expected to speak before the UN General Assembly in New York this week - had returned to his country.
'The president is already in Honduras,' an embassy source said.
The source gave no details as to the ousted president's precise whereabouts, but local media that back the leader said he was at the local UN offices. Past attempts by Zelaya to return to his country have ended in standoffs.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2009 00:00 ||
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Former US president Jimmy Carter says that Washington may have played a role in a failed coup against Venezuelan leftist leader Hugo Chavez in 2002.
"I think there is no doubt that in 2002, the United States had at the very least full knowledge about the coup, and could even have been directly involved," Carter told Colombian paper, El Tiempo, on Sunday.
In April 2002, a civilian-military junta ousted Chavez for about 48 hours, but he returned to power again.
Former administration of president George W. Bush denied any US involvement in the failed coup.
Carter also said that he believed Chavez was elected in a "fair" vote in 1999, and had carried out necessary reforms for Venezuela during his initially term.
However, Carter says Chavez is now consolidating political power, making it "almost impossible" for the Obama administration to establish friendly relations with Venezuela.
"International relations would be better if he [Chavez] would stop his attacks and insults against the United States," according to the former US leader.
He also said he was worried by the Venezuelan president's drift towards "authoritarianism."
Carter added that he felt Chavez's popularity at home and his influence abroad had been "diminished."
President Chavez, an outspoken critic of US policies, is considered a powerful leftist leader in Latin America allied with other leftist governments in the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
The fact that Chavez is still in power does suggest the CIA was behind it.
#2
At times ima mazed that Jimmy Carter doesn't make himself puke when he talks.
Now that Obama is the House, Chavez is drifting toward authoritarianism and consolidating political power, making it almost impossible to establish good relations.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/22/2009 1:05 Comments ||
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#3
Every time this moron opens his mouth I get a nose bleed.
I can only imagine what BO will be like in about 25 years...........egad
Posted by: James Carville ||
09/22/2009 1:16 Comments ||
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#8
The sad old man combines the cumulative effects of a long series of mini-strokes with an unending need for attention -- from anyone -- and a complete lack of proper upbringing. No? Then he's got his moral poles reversed. Perhaps a properly aimed lightning strike would help.
#9
Like when he was on the Plains school board and tried to stop the state from building a Negro elementary school on the same block as the white elementary school because the two sets of children would mix walking to school?
I disagree with Fred though. James Buchanan is the worst President of all time.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
09/22/2009 8:35 Comments ||
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#10
JB was a lousy President, unequal to the job, in a situation that was impossible. But what were the long term deleterious consequences of his Presidency? Carter has left a legacy that looks to last at least 20 years more.
#11
Agreed, Nimble. Buchanan was awful, but virtually anyone in the Presidency at that moment would have looked bad with the two halves of the country reaching the unreconcilable point. Carter, on the other hand, created or hugely exacerbated most of his problems and managed to be a disaster in both domestic AND foreign policy. In foreign policy he was so obviously weak that Russia felt free to invade Afghanistan and we also had the Iran disaster. In domestic policy: awful inflation, interest rates, and unemployment.
#12
Too bad few learn the lessons of history. Carter's failed policies are being repeated by the same Progressive libs now in power, with the same advisors at times. I'm afraid Carter is gonna lose the status as worst POTUS ever after just one year into his term.
#13
"Carter also said that he believed Chavez was elected in a "fair" vote in 1999, and had carried out necessary reforms for Venezuela during his initially term"
Perhaps he's right and the 1999 election was a fair one. I believe there were a couple since then, however. One of which was monitored by Carter and his folks (who declared it fair at the time).
#14
When Clinton prepared for military strikes against Iraq in 1998, he griped about former President Jimmy Carter. "[Republican Senator Bob] Dole will support me," he told Branch. "Carter will probably criticize me. Carter always criticizes, but he doesn't have much positive to say."
From "Clinton on Gore: I Thought He Was in Neverland" in Mother Jones.
Ousted Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya returned Monday to the capital city of Honduras, where he said he is planning to meet with his critics to arrange for his return to power. Zelaya was seized by the Honduran military in his pajamas and sent into exile on June 28. "I have never seen the sky so blue and beautiful," he told CNN en Español in a telephone call from the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
So Brazil is in on this right alongside Chavez ...
I have returned so that dialogue can carry on in my own land and in my own city," he said. "I hope that in the next few hours we'll be able to communicate with the coup plotters."
"For the moment, thanks to [Brazilian] President [Luiz Inacio] Lula, ... we have protection here."
Zelaya called on the armed forces to allow the matter to be resolved through dialogue. "They're members of the pueblo," he said. "We look for immediate dialogue. ... Our position is peaceful, it always has been."
He said thousands of people had taken to the streets of the city in support of his return. Zelaya said he spent Sunday night in Guatemala, and that his trip to Tegucigalpa took more than 15 hours. "There was a lot of security and roadblocks," he said. "There is a lot of persecution, a lot of fear in our country."
So how did he get in? Fifteen hours? Was he smuggled in the back of a van that parked outside the Brazilian embassy?
In a written statement, the secretary general of the Organization for American States, Jose Miguel Insulza, confirmed Zelaya's presence in the embassy and called on "the actors involved in this process" to be calm. He said the de facto government "should make themselves responsible for the security of President Zelaya and of the Brazilian Embassy."
The only way to do that is to take Mel into custody ...
Zelaya's return comes as the United States has stepped up its call for the current Honduran government run by de facto leader Roberto Micheletti to restore Zelaya to power.
Earlier this month, the United States revoked the visas of Micheletti, 14 supreme court judges and others. The United States also said it was terminating all non-humanitarian aid to Honduras in a bid to pressure the interim government to end the political turmoil and accept the terms of the San Jose Accord, which was brokered by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias. The accord calls for Zelaya's return to power.
The political crisis stemmed from Zelaya's plan to hold a referendum that could have changed the constitution and allowed longer term limits. The country's congress had outlawed the vote and the supreme court had ruled it illegal.
Micheletti and his supporters say that Zelaya's removal was a constitutional transfer of power and not a coup. The United Nations has condemned Zelaya's ouster and does not recognize Micheletti's government. While the United States has called Zelaya's ouster a coup, it has not formally designated it a "military coup," which, under U.S. law, would have triggered a cutoff of all non-humanitarian aid. Senior State Department officials said the Obama administration was reluctant to make the formal designation in order to preserve its flexibility for a diplomatic solution.
A presidential campaign in Honduras kicked off this month. However, the United States said it would not support the outcome of the elections unless Zelaya was restored to power.
And you wonder why the folks south of the border don't like us ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I blame Sec of State Hillary Clinton for playing along with this charade. You knew a commie symp like Obama would go along, but I always thought Hillary was smarter. Apparently she's a totalitarian at heart too. Expect to hear this back in 2011
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2009 11:04 Comments ||
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#2
Nope, she just does what her GODBAMA tells her to do.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/22/2009 18:06 Comments ||
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#3
We went through this when Condoleeza Rice held the job. The Secretary of State is the conduit of the president's positions. Should she have differences, she argues her position in private. Either he is persuaded, or she is, or she steps down.
#4
did she step down? No. She doubled down. Commie symp
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2009 21:26 Comments ||
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#5
So what's it like in Honduras? Heavy tropics like Vietnam and Cambodia? I think I read that you want to be on the Astroid side because the climate is better. All the development occured on the Pacific side thanks to the great Spainish colonists.
Russia's top general said on Monday that plans to deploy missiles in an enclave next to Poland had not been shelved, despite a decision by the United States to rethink plans for missile defense in Europe.
But a former Russian diplomatic negotiator indicated he thought the deployments in Kaliningrad region, bordering Poland, unlikely to go ahead. Alternative U.S. proposals for sea-based defenses appeared less likely to raise Kremlin objections.
President Barack Obama's decision to scrap a land-based missile defense system has been welcomed by Russia, which had threatened to deploy short-range Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad if the United States refused to drop the plans.
The Kremlin always said Russia would only deploy the missiles as a counter-measure if Washington went ahead with its missile shield. Moscow said the shield threatened its national security and would upset the strategic balance in Europe.
On Saturday Russian deputy defense minister Vladimir Popovkin said in an interview that "naturally we will scrap the measures that Russia planned to take" in response to the shield and specifically named Iskander deployment as one of them.
When asked about the matter on Monday, the chief of Russia's general staff, Nikolai Makarov, said: "There has been no such decision. It should be a political decision. It should be made by the president."
"They (the Americans) have not given up the anti-missile shield; they have replaced it with a sea-based component," Makarov told reporters on a plane from Moscow to Zurich.
The general was accompanying President Dmitry Medvedev on a trip to Switzerland.
It is highly unusual in Russia for two senior officials to contradict each other publicly on a sensitive matter of national and international importance.
It was not immediately clear why Makarov had done so, though some sources suggested the general might have wanted to emphasize that such an important decision could only be taken by the president and should not be announced by a deputy minister.
Former Russian diplomatic negotiator Roland Timerbayev of the Center for Political Studies Russia (PIR) said clarity on Russia's position would come after Medvedev meets U.S. President Barack Obama in New York on September 23.
"There's a diplomatic game going on, the whole thing will be decided when the two leaders meet in a few days time. I don't think this may be a stumbling block," said Timerbayev.
Makarov represents Russia's military, not the government, said Timerbayev, who felt there was little reason for Russia to oppose any sea-based missile shield.
"The sea is open to anyone, this is the right of any country to use the freedom of navigation, even if the U.S. were to send it (shield-carrying vessels) to the Mediterranean or the Baltic. The same is true for Russia of course."
The missile shield was conceived by the administration of former president George W, Bush to guard against any attack by "rogue" states such as Iran and North Korea. Iran has consistently denied Western accusations it is developing nuclear weapons and poses any threat to the region.
#3
Well, guns don't kill people, but... access to cheap (cheap because inexpensive to make, and spread around like a flu virus by those nice commies bent on arming every third worlder) certainly has led to **much** unnecessary violent death around the world.
So, yeah, too bad for Mr. Kalashnikov, too bad for the Izmah workers, but, still, it's a very satisfying bit of poetic justice.
Won't change things, but, still, nice slap in the face.
#7
I have nothing against the right to keep and bear arms, as a matter off act, but, just think of the consequence of the FLOODING of AK in africa, in Asia, everywhere. I don't "blame" the AK gun, it's just an object, I blame the PEOPLE who basically armed every two-bits insurgents, warlord child soldiers, militia looters,... to the point that the AK is figured proeminently on various FLAGS and group logos (think : hizbullah) as THE symbol of the "armed struggle" (hint : not a fight for freedom, except if you define "freedom" as international communism used to do).
So, yeah, you can herd your population into gulags if they are not armed; totally agree, and I even believe RKBA should be an human right.
BUT, again, you can also arm drugged up children and have them raze entire villages, because AK are so cheap, plentiful, easy to use and efficient (relatively to hacking people to death). Not just that, think of what it meant to tribal warefare, plenty of infighting among lots and lots of "traiditonal" societies in africa notably. Now, AK have replace spears, that does change things a bit.
Armed societies are NOT civil societies! Civil societies are civil societies, armed or not. Screwed socieyties, on the contrary are even more screwed up when armed. Don't know what somalia would be today without all that soviet weaponry, doubt they would be Switzerland (some fundamental differences, I'd say), but I don't see how that isn't a big aggravating factor. Not the main cause, but not an help, neither.
Anyway, again, I don't blame the guns, most probably, should the AK never have been designed, something else would have taken its place, or if not, well, there were and still are HUGE surplus of WWII weaponry floating around the world, pretty beat up and vintage by now, but still plenty serviceable.
Soviets NEVER had to answer for their crimes, and I do think that flooding the world with cheap weaponry (and NOT to people fighting not be herded into gulags, quite the opposite) is part of that ongoing criminal heritage.
So, yeah, that slap to the face michael kalashnikov and all the people in the russian small arms business is sweet. F*cked by the blowback of their own policies, now that they are in a business...
Belated, ultimately meaningless (already, what, 80+ millions of AK & knock-off's in circulation???),... but sweet.
#8
Simple image, think of a career criminal that sell weapons at a loss to any street gang he thinks can give him leverage, and after a while complains that now that he's trying to make a profit being a legit arm dealers, he finds that he fueled his own competition. Not good for him? Gee, I'm sorry. Not good for the neighbourhood? Sure!
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2009 21:27 Comments ||
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#11
Wish I had time to really get into this, but alas.
Bottom line: don't adopt the terminology of the enemy. Guns are never too cheap, too big, too small, too scary looking or anything else. The second you go down that path you are opening the door for well meaning politicos to take away your fundamental rights. Don't do it. That's why we talk about these rights as fundamental. They are not available for tinkering. They cannot be traded away for government goodies. And they must not be abridged because someone thinks this or that gun is too cheap.
U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs speculates that a unified Korea could overtake G7 countries like France, Germany and Japan in economic strength. In a report Monday, Goldman Sachs projected that given North Korea's potential, a unified Korea will in 30-40 years be on a par with or overtake G7 countries except the U.S. in dollar GDP.
Though North Korea's planned economy system looks on the verge of collapse, it offers a large and cheap competitive workforce and a wealth of natural resources whose value is 140 times larger than its GDP in 2008. A combination of South Korea's technology and funds and North Korea's resources and workforce would be a powerful force, the report said.
It speculates that the reunification of the two Koreas will proceed in three stages: transition (2012-2027), integration (2028-2037) and maturity (2038-2050).
North Korea's per capita income will reach half of South Korea's about 20 years after the integration stage, and the growth rates of the two Koreas will converge at the maturity stage, the bank speculates. A unified Korea will follow the China/Hong Kong reunification model, which allows two political and economic systems to co-exist, rather than the German model, which envisages one side giving aid to the other, the bank speculates.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
Yeah...30-40 years. That assumes they're not rebuilding Seoul over the radioactive remains of the previous Seoul. 30-40 years...ha. Germany is 20 years into it and they're still having huge integration problems in the East.
#6
Doesn't hurt that China and Japan are going to face a massive demographic problem soon. If the North heads out as migrant workers and the South continues an industrial economy and exploiting resources in the North they might do very well.
Then again the North might just implode and take the neighborhood with it.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/22/2009 13:31 Comments ||
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#8
Espec given PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > {Madeleine ALbright] USA NO LONGER INTENDS TO BE THE WORLD'S NUMBER ONE STATE.
D *** NG IT, WHY NOT - THE FRENCH ARE NOW THE AGGRESSIVE = BRUTAL GERMANS, THE GERMANS ARE SURRENDERING LIKE FRANCE, BRITAIN = VICTORIANA HAS PMS, + RUSSIANS ARE NOW THE REAL AMERICANS = PRO-DEMOCRAY WESTERN MATERIALIST CONSUMERS??
As iff the above wasn't enuff, my FASCIST MALE BRUTE GUAM BOONIE GUARD DOGS ARE CONTROLLED BY THE MOTHERLY COMMIE ASIAN MINGA MOTHER CAT MAFIA > time to cue GEN. CORNWALLIS + BRITISH ARMY PLAYING "THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN" AFTER THE BATTLE OF YORKTOWN.
I just know that wily Mother Cat has a COMMIE AIRBORNE, CCCP-CCCC PATCH, ETC. tattoo under her fur.
Chinas military now possesses most of the sophisticated weapon systems found in the arsenals of developed Western nations, the countrys defense minister said in comments published Monday. This is most likely not true, but it is what Chinese people will internalize and believe. It's the reason for the huge military parade on October 1st, the 60th anniversary of PRC's founding. 60 is a round number in Chinese, like 100 for us (12 zodiac houses times 5 element cycles). It means, "we Chinese are strong now, we are not inferior any more, we are SUperior." China doesn't really recognize a relationship between equals, someone is always on top.
Many of Chinas systems, including the J-10 fighter jet, latest-generation tanks, navy destroyers, and cruise and intercontinental ballistic missiles, match or are close to matching the capabilities of those in the West, Liang Guanglie said in a rare interview posted on the ministrys Web site.
This is an extraordinary achievements that speaks to the level of our militarys modernization and the huge change in our countrys technological strength, Liang said.
But an analyst said the claim was likely directed at the Chinese public and exaggerated its technological prowess.
The ministers remarks come ahead of the countrys biggest military parade in a decade scheduled for the Oct. 1 National Day in Beijing. That event will showcase much of the countrys most advanced equipment, the fruit of a booming economy and nearly two decades of annual double digit percentage increases in the defense budget.
Liang said he believed the parade would display the image of a mighty force, a civilized force, a victorious force. It's all about image and face. How will the USA respond to regain the face it's lost by China's successful parade? Sabotage is the answer that would come first to any American, however the Party is clever, knows that wreckers are about, and is taking extreme precautions to make the military parade a flawless success. USA should have an even bigger parade of its own, and invite all of NATO send forces to attend...perhaps that way USA could make a bigger parade, but China would still be best because China is all one people not mongrel mixed people like hip-hop McDonald's USA.
#1
Begging to differ, but Chinese generally don't "exaggerate" when it comes to their national security.
Chinese know as well as anyone force correlations isn't just a "dick contest."
Even if the correlations don't match up, if the Chinese say they can match up well with any western nation, they usually have good cause for saying so.
#6
well, if they're all in one location....fixing that should be simple.
display the image of a mighty force, a civilized force, a victorious force.
-I think you'd actually have to fight someone to be able to say that, but I digress.
#7
I think they have to say these obvious (to outsiders) untruths. The average Chinese knows that huge sums have been spent on the military. He also knows that corruption is rife in the military. If there's nothing to show for the huge expenditures, then it's just another black mark on the government's record - another blot to which would-be insurrectionists can point.
#8
WMF > NZ "SCOOP" NEWS: CHINA TO BUILD REGIONAL INTELLIGENCE, MISSLE MONITORING STATIONS IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN [South Pacific = mostly Micronesia, Polyn islands.]TO WATCH THE US MILITARY AND SUPPORT POWER PROJECTION. CHIN-LED LOCAL, REGIO ECONOMIC DEV FOLLOWED BY MILITARY VENTURES. E.g. The CHIN-built Station on KIRIBATI can easly recce the US ARMY MISSLE TEST RANGE-BASE AT KWAJALEIN, MARSHALL ISLANDS.
#9
* SAME > A STRONG RUSSIA IS NOT IN CHINA'S BEST STRATEGIC INTERESTS SAVE FOR KEEPING THE US, NATO OUT OF ASIA.
i) STRONG RUSSIA means PERMANENT LOSS OF MONGOLIA + possibly XINJIANG [W,NW China]TO RUSSIAN SPHERE; + OBSTRUCTION OF CHIN'S RISE TO SUPERPOWER STATUS.
ii)WEAK RUSSIA MEANS:
* CHINESE TROOPS CAN MOVE INTO SIBERIA + CENTRAL ASIA [ Pro-Chin "Living Space" in North Asia]
* TOTAL BREAKUP/DISMEMBERMENT OF RUSSIA AS AN SOVEREIGN ORGANIZED ENTITY.
* END OF RUSS-LED REGIONAL, STRATEGIC COMPETITION COMPETITOR AGZ CHINA.
* REDUX OF THREATS TO NORTHERN CHINA e.g. RECOVERY OF MONGOLIA
* ACCESS, CONTROL OF RUSS VAST RESOURCES
* SAME > RUSSIA WILL NOT ACCEPT US MISSLE DEFENSE IN EASTERN EUROPE AS LONG AS THERE IS A US MIL PRESENCE IN OUTER MONGOLIA; + THE LOSS OF THE STRATEGIC HIGH GROUND OF OUTER MONGOLIA TO THE WEST THREATENS THE EXISTENCE OF BOTH RUSSIA AND CHINA.
* SAME > AFGHAN INSURGENCY AND US MISSLE DEFENSE IN EASTERN EUROPE IS COVER FOR US STRATEGIC IMPERIALISM IN EURASIA: PAYMENT OF US GLOBAL DEBT BURDENS. ISOLATION OF RUSSIA AND CHINA
[breakup into multiple weak states].
#4
I suspect that what is going to 'force' the issue is the growing uncollected property taxes facing more and more local governments. They need the money and paper laundering is going to be cut short when the local pols, regardless of the wishes of bankers and developers, finally force sheriff sales resulting in new mortgage papers and holders.
You're wrong. Banks don't decide on the volume of credit in the economy, the regulator does. Banks job is to allocate the credit to the most profitable uses, with too much credit being produced it will flow into consumption (and over investment) and thus an inevitable bust will occur.
The fact that there was FAR too much credit in the economy was regulated into existence. This will push down yields and thus eliminate profits.
A-Pee story. Rest at link.
French police razed a squalid camp used by illegal immigrants in scrubland near the English Channel port of Calais on Tuesday, using backhoes and buzz saws to clear away the precarious dwellings of a fragile population, mostly Afghan minors, who were led away stunned and sometimes sobbing.
The destruction of the site known as "the Jungle" ends the migrants' dreams of a new life across the Channel in Britain but signifies what France hopes will be a new era in European immigration control. People who lived there tried night after night to sneak across the Channel.
"The law of the jungle cannot last eternally," said Immigration Minister Eric Besson, who ordered the destruction of what he called "a lawless zone where smugglers reign."
He blamed a lack of coordination among European nations' immigration laws for the problem and said he looks forward to tougher border controls "ideally" by the end of the year.
Police scuffled with humanitarian volunteers who have long helped the immigrants, but no injuries were reported.
Up to 800 illegal immigrants camped near the port and in smaller "jungles" around Calais until months ago. However, hundreds began leaving as the expected date to raze the encampment approached. Officials said 278 people mainly from Afghanistan and nearly half of them under 18 were led out of the encampment of homemade tents and strewn with garbage piles and infested with maladies like scabies.
On the first day of his civil trial in the so-called Clearstream affair, former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin who is a man on Monday accused President Nicolas Sarkozy of pursuing him for political reasons.
Turnabout being fair play, and all that.
Mr. Villepin is accused of involvement in a smear campaign against Mr. Sarkozy and 38 other plaintiffs dating back to 2004, when Mr. Villepin and Mr. Sarkozy were ministers in President Jacques Chirac's government and jockeying to succeed him. The case centers on a leaked list, since determined to be fake, of people including Mr. Sarkozy said to hold secret bank accounts at Clearstream, a financial clearinghouse in Luxembourg. The accounts were supposedly linked to kickbacks related to the sale of French frigates to Taiwan.
"I am here because of the determination of one man, Nicolas Sarkozy," Mr. Villepin said before taking his place on the defendants' bench. "I will leave free and vindicated."
Prob'ly not exactly that, but no doubt you'll get the occasional weekend and Christmas holidays with your family if you're well-behaved.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/22/2009 00:00 ||
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former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin on Monday accused President Nicolas Sarkozy of pursuing him for political reasons
Actually it's because Carla is jealous of your hair, Dominique.
#2
The case centers on a leaked list, since determined to be fake, of people including Mr. Sarkozy said to hold secret bank accounts at Clearstream, a financial clearinghouse in Luxembourg.
#5
They don't say when he gets to read his poetry. That should settle things without need for further discussion. He is published, you know.
He actually made a very grandstanding and theatrical speech at the beginning of the trial, flanked by his daughter and wimman, was much commented here (politically targeted, expiatory lamb, Justice will prevail, etc, etc...), basically tried to bask in the same verbal glory that his UN iraq war got him.
But, after all, why not??? Can't blame him to fall back to his schtick.
This whole mess is just so sordid, it's not a complex, elaborate international intrigue, it's... a petty rivalry between two long-time insiders of the french Enlightened Elites, one shiraq retainer vs a former shiraq retainer who dared dfey his fallen Capo... all this in the contxt of a shady, endless squalid backstory of an HUGE arms deal kickback (billions of vanished money, and quite a few witnesses deaths).
"villepin" is such a windbag, can't see how he still is such a legend in his own mind, he may loathes "lowly politicians" (he's after all a member of the french Civil Servant Elite, those people come and go, he stays), but his record is one failure after an another, some being just hilarious, like the 1997 assembly dissolution & subsequent new elections (that were supposed to give shiraq all the Elan he needed and get him of the pro-balladur/shiraq failed rival majority, since "villepin" vision was of a surge of the french people toward the Leader... turned out to be a complete left tsunami that made shiraq a lame-duck president for the last ***5*** years of his 7 years mandate. Good work dude).
Ps : REAL name of "de villepin" is GALOUZEAU. His nobility title is just a title his family ***bought*** very recently (50's IIRC???).
As US President Barack Obama prepares to meet his Russian counterpart, the White House asks the Pentagon to launch a radical survey into the country's nuclear weapons for a possible cut in the US arsenal.
The US president has reportedly dismissed the first draft of Pentagon's "nuclear posture review" as being too timid.
Obama has demanded big changes to the US nuclear arsenal, a move that could ultimately accomplish his goal of abolishing nuclear arms totally, European officials say.
Be careful what you wish for, O Europe, lest you get it.
"Obama is now driving this process. He is saying these are the president's weapons,
I don't see how he drew that conclusion, beyond the two year old's classic, "I want it. Mine!".
and he wants to look again at the doctrine and their role," one official said according to The Guardian.
According the report, the goal to redraw the nuclear blueprint for the US nuclear doctrine included: Reconfiguring the US nuclear force to allow for an arsenal measured in hundreds rather than thousands of deployed strategic warheads; redrafting nuclear doctrine to narrow the range of conditions under which the US would use nuclear weapons; exploring ways of guaranteeing the future reliability of nuclear weapons without testing or producing a new generation of warheads.
The report comes as Obama prepares to take the rare step of chairing a watershed session of the UN Security Council on Thursday.
The US president is also set to meet with his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, where he is expected to touch on the nuclear arsenals around the globe.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2009 00:00 ||
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Be careful what you wish for, O Europe, lest you get it.
#2
Obama wants the nuke levels so low that we would be very vulnerable to a first strike. Take out a ballistic missile sub and nuke one in port and fully 1/2 of America's nuclear force would be wiped out.
In addition, warheads levels would be so low that we could never use them, even in response to a first strike. To retaliate against any country could leave warhead levels so low that any group of dictatorships could gang up and devastate the United Sates while our remaining nuclear force would be too low to respond effectively. But that's part of the neo-communist plan, isn't it?
Posted by: ed ||
09/22/2009 12:42 Comments ||
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The scientist who is at the forefront of the row over the alleged failure of Indias 1998 thermonuclear test said on Monday that the country needs a "series of thermonuclear bomb tests" in order to be able to "protect the nation's security" from China.
"We are totally naked vis-À-vis China which has an inventory of 200 nuclear bombs, the vast majority of which are giant H-bombs of power equal to 3 million tonnes of TNT," a note circulated by K. Santhanam, former Chief Adviser (Technologies) of the Defence Research Development Organisation, at a press conference addressed by him said.
Mr. Santhanam reiterated his earlier claim that the thermonuclear device had been a failure, "totally incapable of weaponisation," and urged the government to lift the unilateral voluntary moratorium on testing announced in May 1998.
The scientist, who represented the DRDO at the Pokhran-II tests, disputed National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanans recent contention that he (Santhanam) had no idea of what he was talking about and did not have access to all the data. The NSA, he said, "is barking up the wrong tree."
Mr. Santhanam pointed to Chinas stockpile of nuclear weapons and asked whether India would prefer using the 3,500-km Agni-III missile with a 25-kiloton fission warhead as the core of its credible minimum deterrence, instead of mounting a larger warhead.
As to what prompted him to raise the issue 11 years down the line, Mr. Santhanam said interpreting the test results took time but he had given a confidential report to the government towards the end of 1998.
He said the government could consider setting up a panel of independent and eminent retired scientists to evaluate the 1998 test data and prepare a confidential report.
Asked whether he had factored in the international consequences of India testing afresh, Mr. Santhanam said it was for the government to weigh the political, economic and strategic costs. The "pain of testing" was unlikely to be as severe as it was being made out. "In any case, it [testing] was better than our current situation of dar dar ke marna (dying out of fear)," he said.
Posted by: john frum ||
09/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Maybe they could purchase several hundred of the ones we don't want anymore at a friendly rate. Save both nations a lot of cash and helps both out with regards to China.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/22/2009 0:38 Comments ||
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#2
A 25-kiloton fission warhead isn't much of a deterent.
I wasn't aware that India didn't have the H bomb.
Well now I know that in any future confrontation with China they are screwed.
People who suffer a traumatic brain injury from a car crash or other mishap are more apt to survive if they had been drinking at the time of the injury, according to a study published Monday.
The finding "raises the intriguing possibility" that giving alcohol to brain injured patients may improve outcome, the study team suggests in the Archives of Surgery.
Alcohol and driving "is and will always continue to be bad -- it contributes to over 40 percent of traffic-related fatalities," first author Dr. Ali Salim of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles emphasized in an email to Reuters Health.
"However, of those patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury who survive their initial insult, those with alcohol in their system seem to have a slight survival advantage compared to those without alcohol in their system," Salim noted.
Among a little more than 38,000 people who suffered moderate to severe brain trauma between 2000 and 2005, 38 percent had alcohol in their system when they arrived at the hospital.
Compared to people who hadn't been drinking before the accident, those who had been drinking were younger (average age 37 years vs. 44 years) and they had less severe injuries. The traumatic brain injured drinkers also spent less time on a ventilator and less time in the intensive care unit.
And, according to Salim and his colleagues, fewer of the drinkers than the non-drinkers died in the hospital (7.7 percent compared with 9.7 percent).
However, the lower death rate among the drinkers was "tempered" by an apparent increase in complications for patients who had been drinking before the accident, the investigators note.
Exactly how alcohol may protect the brain after trauma is unknown. One thought is that alcohol may lessen the body's inflammatory response to the injury.
"There still needs to be further investigation as to the mechanisms of this association we found before we can consider this as a treatment option," Salim emphasized.
#1
Thanks. I'll put this with my 17,349 other good reasons to drink.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/22/2009 13:25 Comments ||
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#2
I can handle the drinking part, but beer? Yuck. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/22/2009 13:49 Comments ||
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#3
I was in the orthapedic ward of a UK hospital in the late 1960s and everyone got a bottle of beer a day. Except me, I was too young. I assume this was standard practice at the time.
#2
Another factor ignored, as exemplified by the gang article above, is the tendency of 'utes' to engage in destructive behaviors. When you off the kids around 20, it tends to mess with the average senior dropping off at 80+ in the stats.
#2
The lawyers will have a field day when it is discovered after the first crash that there are 150 broken necks.
Posted by: ed ||
09/22/2009 9:47 Comments ||
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#3
Most military troops are in good shape. This is not a good option for children, elderly, disabled, obese or just plain "out of shape". In addition the injuries in a hard landing look to be increased due to side loads and a lap belt. A tort lawyers dream.
#5
Don't have to have a crash, just slamming on the brakes would be enough. I've been in a taxi situation when someone blew a red light, needless to say I was impressed by the stopping ability of such a large piece of equipment, and remind fellow travelers to mind the good cabin crew when they say keep the seatbelt fastened until parked.
#1
Apart from more foreign donor aid, the main traditional avenue is to issue more government debt. But the Vietnamese government has failed to sell any bonds in five consecutive public auctions between March and July this year.
The shape of things to come for quite a few countries.
#3
I get such comfort in the idea that we should be looking to these communist utopias for insight as to the direction our country is headed. North Korea for currency issues, Cuba for health care, Zimbabwe for inflation, Honduras for constitutional matters...etc. etc.
When I look in the mirror, I dont see a female, Sergeant Major King said. I see a soldier.
Looking back on her years in the Army, Sergeant Major King says she can think of few occasions where men challenged her authority because she was a woman. And when they did, she said, I could handle it.
Asked if women should be allowed into frontline combat units, she said yes, but only if they meet the same standards as men. While she says most women cannot meet those standards, she believes she can. As if to prove her point, she scored a perfect 300 on her semiannual physical training test last week, doing 34 push-ups and 66 situps, each in under two minutes, then ran two miles in 16 minutes 10 seconds (well below the required 17:36 for her age group.)
But before she started her test, she characteristically noticed something amiss. Can you believe that? the sergeant major asked no one in particular. A bag of garbage outside my Dumpster.
#1
Get down hero and beat your freakin face! Up, down, up, down. Yep went thru boot at ft Relaxin Jackson. Memories to The evilest DS'es (predictably). Were. Female. Midol was in short supply.
#3
"Get down and beat your face" was a frequently heard phrase on Ft. Jackson, which was a command to drop and do push ups for trainees.
Isn't Slick sleeve is an Airforce not so much Army term for those with no rank?
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.
Rescuers are searching for a Chattanooga man who washed away into an underground culvert as children watched after boastfully daring friends to a $5 bet that he could swim in a neighborhood ditch overflowing with rainwater.
[Straits Times] A VIETNAMESE worker and two colleagues who went to his aid suffocated to death inside a vat of fish sauce, police and news reports said on Monday. 
Former US president Jimmy Carter says that Washington may have played a role in a failed coup against Venezuelan leftist leader Hugo Chavez in 2002. 
