One of the European parliament's most influential members, the German Christian Democrat Elmar Brok, has declared that Standard & Poor's decision to downgrade the credit ratings of nine eurozone member states is part of a "currency war" being waged by the United States against the euro and Europe itself. Riiiight. All because of that. Nothing to do with spending beyond your limits and bankrupting your nations. Nevermind the fact that S&P downgraded the US last year. Any political party with the word "Christian" in its name strikes me as less than purely objective. Can you image the partisan outrage if there were a dominant "Christian" political party in the USA??? Don't worry, the 'Christian Democrats' have thoroughly emasculated the religious part of 'Christian' in their name. I think they used garden shears...
They're what Germans think of as 'center-right'. Angela Merkel's party.
In an interview with the Germany daily Die Welt, Brok said that "the downgrade is a targeted attack on Europe by the American rating agency." Insisting that there were no "plausible grounds" for the downgrades, Brok continued, "Consequently, the S&P downgrade is a matter of interests. They have declared a currency war on us." Declared you too irresponsible to invest in you mean. We kinda want our money back with gain. The whole reason behind investing, yes? He conveniently forgets that the Euro rating agencies aren't exactly tossing rose petals in front of him and his colleagues...
Asked whether he meant that the United States is "waging financial war" on Europe, Brok specified, "Certain forces in the USA, in particular in the world of finance. It is evident that their one and only aim is in this way to promote Anglo-Saxon interests at Europe's cost." "They want to shatter the eurozone, in order to make money," he added. Ah yes, the Brits bailed on your plan for Eurodomination, too, didn't they? Ev'ryone knows the Brits are our junior partners in all doings...
A member of the European Parliament since 1980, Brok is presently the foreign affairs spokesperson of the parliamentary group of the European People's Party (EPP). The EPP, which includes the German Christian Democrats, has the largest group of deputies in the parliament. Brok was previously, from 1999 to 2007, chair of the parliament's foreign affairs committee. According to EUobserver, he is expected to reclaim the latter post when committee chairs are reshuffled next week. The editors of Die Welt emphasize that he "is known as an excellent connoisseur of the USA." Excellent connoisseur of bullshit propaganda, maybe.
#8
We Brits bailed cos it was a crap idea , sore losers
Posted by: Mac in Aus ||
01/18/2012 17:15 Comments ||
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#9
And it wasn't even snark.
I don't know this man, nobody does.
Actually nobody knows anyone elected to the EP.
OK, maybe two or three: One is Schultz, famous for having been insulted by Berlusconi, and a woman, who plagiarized her thesis and was know for being "Mrs Absent".
I do remember a Brit, Nigel Farage, who called Van Rompuy (who is the leader of somewhat aka president of the EU), he had "all the charisma of a damp rag and the appearance of a low-grade bank clerk"
Washington has agreed to allow the importation of M1 Garand rifles from Seoul, reversing its earlier decision to ban the shipping of the weapon used by South Korean and U.S. soldiers during the 1950-53 Korean War, a senior defense official said Wednesday.
The U.S. government approved the imports of some 86,000 of the rifles, said Lee Sun-chul, deputy defense minister for force and resources management.
The historic firearms are expected to be sold to American Korean War veterans and their families in time for the 62nd anniversary of the Korean War, which falls on June 25 this year.
Kim Mi-sung, an official of the force and resources management office, said the defense ministry received an approval letter from the United States on Sept. 2 last year that stated Washington agreed to allow the importation of the M1s.
She noted that the U.S. government, however, rejected Seouls proposal to export some 600,000 M1 Carbines, which were also used in the Korean War, as they come with a magazine that can carry multiple rounds unlike the Garands.
We plan to announce a bid later this month or in February for the selection of agencies to sell the M1 rifles to Americans, Kim said. The U.S. has been reviewing legal procedures for the approval of a third party transfer.
The official said Korea plans to purchase locally developed K2 rifles with the money raised by selling the M1s.
The Obama administration blocked the purchase of 87,310 M1 Garands and 770,160 M1 Carbines in 2010, saying the American-made antique rifles could potentially be exploited by individuals seeking firearms for illicit purposes.
The move, however, triggered strong criticism among gun collectors, who said the U.S. government was being excessively concerned about possible firearm incidents involving the aging semiautomatic rifles.
In February last year, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester and Rep. Cynthia Lummis proposed bills for an amendment of the Arms Export Control Act to guarantee that U.S.-made military firearms classified as curios and relics will not be blocked from importation.
The legislations allow firearms more than 50 years old, considered antiques or relics and lawfully possessed by a foreign government, to be imported into the United States through properly licensed groups and sold without written permission from the U.S. State or Defense Departments.
A senior defense ministry official, however, raised the possibility that the U.S. government may cancel the plan to allow the purchase the M1s, saying Seoul has yet to finalize negotiations with Washington.
``We have yet to receive confirmation from the United States over our proposal, he said. The U.S. government may change its position at the last minute due to political considerations.
M1s were made first in 1926 and used during World War II and the Vietnam War. The carbines were first produced in 1941 and used during the 1950-1953 Korean War.
They currently sell for around $220, according to another defense ministry official.
#1
She noted that the U.S. government, however, rejected Seouls proposal to export some 600,000 M1 Carbines, which were also used in the Korean War, as they come with a magazine that can carry multiple rounds unlike the Garands.
Not too well informed. The M1 Garand holds 8 rounds.I do believe that's multiple.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/18/2012 19:11 Comments ||
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#2
I'd like one of them M1s.
Lt. Hanley had one of those in the old Combat TV show.
#4
The ditz in the article was trying to say detachable magazine holding more than 10 rounds. I have never understood the fear of high capacity magazines since most of them are for smaller lighter calibers. The 8 shot clip in the M1 Garand lets the shooter put 8 .30-06 rounds into someone, which is more than enough. Besides, this is Zero and his crew trying to look reasonable for the flyover country primary voters, and still hold the hands of the gun grabbers by disallowing the carbines to be imported. And one more point, a good quality Korean War vintage M1 Garand that is not shot out is worth more like $800-$1000, not a couple of hundred; and the carbines are worth $500-$600 in the same condition.
#5
I'd like me a Garand. Son-in-law has one and that m effer kicks like a mule. The recoil is pretty heavy. I have a FN FAL which shoots the .308. 30-06 is a pretty big round and I can't imagine having to haul several hundred rounds that size as a grunt.
#7
The Obama administration blocked the purchase of 87,310 M1 Garands and 770,160 M1 Carbines in 2010, saying the American-made antique rifles could potentially be exploited by individuals seeking firearms for illicit purposes.
Yeah, wouldn't want those to slip over the Mexico, right?
[An Nahar] Kuwait has decided to deport stateless people who took part in protests demanding citizenship which turned violent, newspapers reported Tuesday.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Central Agency for Illegal Residents, which deals with the stateless people known as bidoons, chaired by Interior Minister Sheikh Ahmed al-Humud al-Sabah, al-Anbaa newspaper reported.
Other measures included dismissing all bidoons from the army and the police force if they or their children attended the protests, and evicting them from housing provided by the government.
The government also decided to confiscate security IDs from any protester bidoons, their only form of identification, and cancel their applications for Kuwaiti nationality.
Riot police used tear gas, water cannon and batons to disperse thousands of bidoon protesters on Friday and Saturday, injuring scores and arresting more than 100 people, according to activists.
Kuwait says only 34,000 out of the 105,000 bidoons present in the Gulf state are eligible for citizenship, while the remaining 71,000 are citizens of other countries who must produce their original passports.
About 43,000 of them are Iraqis, 16,400 Saudis and the rest are Syrians, Iranians, Jordanians and other nationalities, according to official statistics published Tuesday by al-Watan daily.
The government promised that bidoons who produce their original passports will be granted long-term residence permits, in addition to free public services and schooling.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
he government promised that bidoons who produce their original passports will be granted long-term residence permits, in addition to free public services and schooling.
If you confess, we promise, we will use lube and it'll be fun!
For a map, click here. For a map of Chihuahua state, click here
By Chris Covert
A top Chihuahua state cabinet official charged individuals who spread the story of mass suicide of Tarahumara Indians as "tinged with evil" and "irresponsible", according to Mexican news reprots.
Rafael Servando Portillo, Secretaria de Fomento Social del Gobierno de Chihuahua, or Secretary of Social Development of Chihuahua told writers at Mexico's Organisacion Editorial Mexicano (OEM) news offices, that the story of a mass suicide last December was totally false.
Last Sunday an indigent peasant leader, Gardea Ramon, recounted a story in an interview at an independent television station in far western Chihuahua state, saying that 50 Tarahumara Indians had collectively committed suicide presumably because the victims were unable to provide for their families.
The television interview had been given prominent play in some social media circles, so much so the story reached some national media,such as Milenio news daily and Proceso, the leftist weekly magazine.
To date, however, no bodies have been found which would verify the story. Indeed in a nation which recently experienced two of the largest mass graves discoveries in its modern history in Durango city in Durango state and in San Fernando municipality in Tamaulipas state, the finding of such a large number of bodies would be de rigeur in establishing the story.
In stories recently published in Mexican press, unidentified non-governmental organizations have been trying to establish a pattern by reporting a number of orphans have appeared in some areas, suggesting the suicide rumors could be true. But if NGOs have an opportunity to create a statistic from anecdotal information, they will create a statistic which will then be transcribed by a pliant press as established fact. To date NGOs have failed to do so, suggesting suicide stories are probably apocryphal.
Indigent Indian groups and others in the Mexican Sierra in the north have suffered a massive crop failure due to a drought and record cold. The problems are so severe, the word famine is being used even in larger news outlets in Mexico. While the famine -- to call it what it is -- may not be as widespread as one in Somalia, for example, the near total lack of food has galvanized some sectors of Mexican society into rapidly bringing relief to the area.
Many Tarahumara Indians living in higher altitudes in the Mexican Sierras will -- and have already, due to the early and extreme cold -- temporarily migrate to lower altitudes and hole up for the winter in the many caves in the region. It is unclear what those families do for food during that time. A Mexican official told the press Monday that many areas in the Chihuahua Sierras are not suffering from a water shortage at all, especially in the higher altitudes.
Much of the drought has affected the desert areas to the immediate east of the Mexican Sierras, where ranching is done.
Servando Portillo told OEM that his organization has already begun their relief efforts in the region delivering 6,000 food aid packages consisting of 50 kilograms each of rice and beans, two kilograms each of sausage and dried milk to be delivered every two weeks, and blankets.
The first of the aid is to be delivered to the village of Pitoreal in Bocoyna municipality, which is about seven kilometers south of San Juanito.
Servando Portillo also said some of the aid is coming from private groups as well as government departments, such as the Fundaci"n del Empresariado or Business Foundation.
According to Servando Portillo, the crisis has affected 22 municipalities of Chihuahua state and 260,000 individuals in 64,000 families.
El Diario de Coahuila news daily posted a Notimex wire service story on its website Tuesday that the Mexican Red Cross is planning delivery by January 21st of 55 metric tons of food and 4,000 clothing items, also to Bocoyna. The Mexican Red Cross said it has already delivered 220 metric tons of aid to 42 municipalities in the region, including Bocoyna, Urique, Guazapares and Morelos municipalities in Chihuahua state.
The Mexican Red Cross has already made aid deliveries to San Luis Potosi and Hidalgo states, according to the Notimex.
In related news, a Partido Revolucion Democratica (PRD) federal deputy has proposed that every legislator donate one day's salary to the relief effort.
Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo, a Nayarit deputy proposed the Chamber of Deputies Standing Committee meet Wednesday to condider his proposal. Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo said legislators cannot "remain oblivious" to suffering of the 250,000 affected by the crisis.
#4
I've read interesting things about the Tarahumar. They are known for great physical stamina, running long distances and eating peyote. Hmmmmm. Could be the peyote has something to do with the stamina. But they are NOT Somalians.
#5
According to the reports I ahve read, there is no dought in the Sierras, especially aboev the snow line. There was, however, an early killing frost which wrecked a number of crops the Taramhumara use in subsistence farming.
Dunno about water run off from there. The agreement amongst Mexican government officials is that cattle on the approaches to the Sierras and in the desert have suffered from a lack of water due to the drought.
I read a report yesterday which said Zacatecas state harvested no, as in zero alfalfa for all of 2011 due to the drought, which does affect cattle and other livestock.
The upshot to all this is that no one is lying. There is a severe food shortage which willl likely not be alleviated anytime before harvest next fall, and the Tarahumara are the hardest hit.
#6
But if NGOs have an opportunity to create a statistic from anecdotal information, they will create a statistic which will then be transcribed by a pliant press as established fact. To date NGOs have failed to do so, suggesting suicide stories are probably apocryphal.
Deliciously, pointedly true, even if nobody else will say so. Beyond reporting stories nobody else covers consistently, the two sentences above ought to be the making of your reputation, badanov.
[NY Times] Reawakening a debate on what the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... should do when one of its members threatens its democratic principles, the bloc's executive arm opened legal proceedings on Tuesday against Hungary, which critics contend is sliding toward authoritarianism.
It had been more than 10 years since the union faced a similar dilemma, when an Austrian coalition government included a far-right party. Austria was forced into semi-isolation when the bloc's other countries severed political ties.
The government of Hungary, by contrast, is being taken to task on technicalities rather than the wider claims that it is undermining democracy, centralizing power and destroying pluralism.
On Tuesday, the European Commission, the union's executive arm, said it was starting proceedings over Hungarian measures that threaten the independence of the country's central bank and its data-protection authority, and over rules on the retirement age of judges. Ultimately, Hungary can be forced to change rules that breach European law or, if it refuses, can be taken to the European Court of Justice.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2012 00:00 ||
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NEW DELHI - India and China said on Tuesday they would work toward peacefully resolving their disputed Himalayan border while improving management of the region by establishing a committee.
The sides agreed to set up a working mechanism on border management to deal with matters related to maintaining peace and tranquilty in the frontier areas. A joint statement, released after two days of meetings in New Delhi, says that holding to the 1993 Line of Actual Control would be significant for enhancing mutual trust and security while the final boundary is determined.
The planned secretarial-level joint committee, meanwhile, would meet once or twice a year to improve cooperation, though it would not be involved in drawing the final boundary, the statement said. Officials from both sides declined to speak with reporters after the talks. The border dispute centers on two regions now controlled by India Arunachal Pradesh in the far east, and Aksai Chin located within the region of Kashmir that is also disputed with Pakistan.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told reporters in Beijing on Tuesday that India and China had been holding a practical dialogue on the border issue since 2003, and the year 2012 will become a year of cooperation and development, according to Press Trust of India.
This weeks talks, involving Indias National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon and Chinas State Councilor Dai Bingguo, had been delayed from November. Though no reason for the delay was given at the time, local newspapers had blamed tension following Indias refusal to cancel an international Buddhist conference being attended by the Dalai Lama.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/18/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Not according to certain veteran Indian General whom believes all signs point to coming Chinese blitz attack in the Himalayas ...
* ION DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [WSJ.com] INDIA MUST KICK CHINA OUT SRI LANKA: WILLIAM AVERY | EX-US DIPLOMAT SAYS INDIA MUST BLOCK CHINA IN SRI LANKA.
AVERY = INDJUH must concentrate on the "Finlandization" of Sri Lanka, + increase Defence + Regional Econ Persuasion/Influence iff it hopes to effectively counter China + PLA in its backyard.
#3
It would be characteristic of the Chinese for both things to be true, Joe.
The Chinese carried out a Pearl Harbor-like surprise attack during the Korean War that killed a lot more than 3000 GI's. But for some reason, no one has held them to account in the way that the Japanese were held to account. No Pearl Harbor Day equivalent for the Chinese attack. Instead of a Day of Infamy, we have a day of amnesia.
Its bad enough that the Navys newest ship has had wicked problems with corrosion, missed out on the latest naval wartime missions and is generally something of a Frankensteins monster. Now the Pentagons top weapons tester has found problems with its abilities to find and withstand mines which is a big problem for a ship thats supposed to be the Navys minehunter of the future.
Thats the assessment of the director of the Operational Testing and Evaluation office, summing up a years worth of trials for the Littoral Combat Ship, the Navys cherished and expensive next-generation ship for warfare close to a shoreline. Little wonder that defense analysts think the ship is headed for the budgetary chopping block, even though the Navy wants 55 of the things and only has three.
The report finds that the Littoral Combat Ships systems for spotting mines, the AN/AQS-20A Sonar Mine Detecting Set and the Airborne Laser Mine Detection System, are deficient for their primary task. That deficiency, if uncorrected, will adversely affect the operational effectiveness of a ship thats already not expected to be survivable in a hostile combat environment.
In other words, right now, the Littoral Combat Ship could stumble, Mr. Magoo-like, into a minefield like, say, the narrow Strait of Hormuz or the coasts of China or North Korea and then its lights out. If the Littoral Combat Ship is going to carry the sonar and laser systems that its currently scheduled to carry, then like Fat Joe and Raekwon, it must respect mines.
Some necessary caveats apply. Just because the testers think theres something wrong with a ship, truck, plane or gun doesnt mean the program in question is doomed. Testing is how you discover flaws before they put someone in uniform at risk. And with the Littoral Combat Ship, those flaws might actually be less damaging than with some other ships, because everything the ship carries is designed to be modular meaning you can swap out and substitute most everything on the hull.
At the same time, the inability of the Littoral Combat Ship to withstand a sustained assault places a lot of stress on its minehunting systems. As designed, it wouldnt, ideally, go anywhere near a mine field, explains Chris Johnson, a spokesman for Naval Sea System Command. Its not designed to take a mine strike. Its designed to send off-board sensors and systems to find and then neutralize the mine. Emphasis on ideally.
America has forgotten that mine hunting is hard, says Craig Hooper, a vice president for Austal, one of the companies building the Littoral Combat Ship, and if the work the Independence-variant [Littoral Combat Ship] is doing today re-energizes the mine warfare community and enables those specialists to acquire resources to defeat this threat, then America is better for it.
Johnson tells Danger Room that the report is just one snapshot in the life cycle of the ships mine-hunting packages. Were certainly not going to just put an unproved system on the Littoral Combat Ship, he says. As it stands, both systems are scheduled to be ready by 2014.
But its not like these are the first woes of the Littoral Combat Ship. The first two ships the third was christened Saturday have been hundreds of millions of dollars over budget, years behind schedule and without obvious uses in foreseeable naval scenarios. Its vulnerabilities have freaked out at least one blogger for the U.S. Naval Institute, who pronounced himself stunned that the Navy has moved forward with a warship design that is not expected to fight and survive in the very environment in which it was produced to do so. And now naval analysts are whispering that they expect the budgetary knives to come out for the ship when the Pentagon unveils its next budgetary blueprint in a few weeks.
Johnson cant comment on the budgetary fate of the ship. I can say that, as of now, the Navy is very happy with the prices its getting on the LCS [Littoral Combat Ship] class, he says. So, no budgetary mines in the waters that is, if the Littoral Combat Ship could even tell.
#1
America has forgotten that mine hunting is hard...
America has forgotten many things which have to be relearned by people dying. It does this every 20-30 years or so.
Mine detectors of the future are just begging to be USDs (Unmanned Surface Drones). Perfect for cheaper and somewhat expendable robotic craft that patrol the sea lanes for mines and if they are sunk it isn't a huge loss for the Navy. Hell, they could even have mini-drones that peel off the USD and Kamikaze into the mine to destroy it.
Seriously, why the fuck is the Navy still trying to make a modern version of the WWII mine sweeper that can't actually sweep mines?
#3
That deficiency, if uncorrected, will "adversely affect the operational effectiveness" of a ship that's already "not expected to be survivable in a hostile combat environment."
Hmmmmmm...I think I've found a possible problem here.
#5
As I understand it, the LCS is also supposed to be relatively stealthy. Unfortunately,mines don't use radar.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/18/2012 22:05 Comments ||
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#6
UW Mines per se in future could very well be Drones themselves, or in the alternate serve as static or mobile carriers which can fire cheap VHE drones + torpedoes as well as be employed as dedicated mines.
#8
The USN trades/crafts skilled knowledge-base folks have done their bit, and are retiring.
The new crop of engineers, of almost any discipline, obviously try very hard and get things done.
However, IMHO, due to their dumbed-down curricula in many ways; they struggle to attain the "nuts "n bolts" gut intuition that their predecessors had.
Our latest, technically advanced multi-function hand-held devices, are so astoundingly fast, integrated, powerful and open-ended, that many become self-satisfied; yet wary of the next giant tech leap forward.
#9
UW Mines per se in future could very well be Drones themselves
Only if the target is submarines or other high vale targets.
Mines are a poor country's naval weapon and a richer country's area denial weapon. They're cheap, plentiful, hide easily and in tiny amounts, drive your opponents nucking futz having to tie up assets to find and neutralize them.
Mine hunting is slow, dangerous work. Think of walking through a dark warehouse in your stocking feet, with welding goggles on, a penlight in your hand, and you're trying to find a raw egg on the floor without stepping on it.
The Navy got this brilliant idea that you can do stand-off mine countermeasures and not have to build a specialized ship. So instead you tie up a multimillion-dollar ship that can be better used doing other things.
#10
However, IMHO, due to their dumbed-down curricula in many ways
Mr. Wife disagrees, Bugs Glomoque3110, based in his own experience as a Chem.E. hiring and managing young engineers to do R&D and other things (the engineering training in problem solving is very useful far beyond the formal applications of the education). It's his opinion (I just asked him) that it's always been during the first five years of work experience that the kids come to understand how to apply what they learnt in school, and in every generation the old hands grumbled at the ignorance of the young whippersnappers.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
One of the European parliament's most influential members, the German Christian Democrat Elmar Brok, has declared that Standard & Poor's decision to downgrade the credit ratings of nine eurozone member states is part of a "currency war" being waged by the United States against the euro and Europe itself.
_Holy_Roman_Emperor.jpg)
Reawakening a debate on what the 
