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Assad's family caught trying to escape the country, returned to Damascus
Today's Headlines
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Page 4: Opinion
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4 17:22 JohnQC [4] 
1 03:33 European Conservative [4] 
3 15:30 Mike Ramsey [5] 
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3 22:54 Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division [5]
Page 6: Politix
5 22:31 Procopius2k [5]
9 20:05 JosephMendiola [2]
1 19:00 Glenmore []
12 23:32 trailing wife [2]
7 18:19 Richard Aubrey [3]
-Short Attention Span Theater-
It’s Time We Asked: How Stupid is President Obama?
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/30/2012 11:09 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How far is UP, It's limitless.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/30/2012 11:38 Comments || Top||

#2  In a time of economic strain and austerity in millions of American households, the First Lady shuts down Madison Avenue to go on a $50,000 shopping spree in a lingerie store.

Enjoy, Barry.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 01/30/2012 11:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Yes, but with the MSM narrative-not-news no-one will hear it.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/30/2012 12:22 Comments || Top||

#4  Obi-Wan: Who's the more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/30/2012 12:35 Comments || Top||

#5  Smart enough to get elected, get much of a radical agenda passed (so far), and most likely get re-elected.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/30/2012 12:49 Comments || Top||

#6  Apparently smarter than most American voters - at least in '09.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 01/30/2012 13:08 Comments || Top||

#7  A lot smarter than most who voted, and going to do so again, for him.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/30/2012 13:09 Comments || Top||

#8  "Pretty damn"?
Posted by: mojo || 01/30/2012 13:21 Comments || Top||

#9  BO has TOTUS and is kept scripted most of the time. When he's not scripted he doesn't do so well. Most of the Donks are still with him. I don't know about the following groups: Jewish, student, independents. Some have strayed away: I just don't know how many. When one looks at the electoral vote, the election is out there to be won. There is a good chance the Pubs will keep the House and win the Senate contrary to what the pundits and polls are saying. So far the pundits have gotten things wrong much of the time. IMO that many are saying anyone but BO.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/30/2012 13:26 Comments || Top||

#10  Not sure, he has something up there to remember names, pick the right friends, and learn foux accents. I would say clumsy for sure.

I do not think he so much won as Hillary! lost. She forgot in the liberal hierarchy that race trumps gender, and that her experience does not trump race, so she could not recover from some of her statement being counter-narratived, as well as some other stuff. IIRC even poor ol McCain was making strides until the finance collapse, vote on the Bush stimulus fiasco, and full power of the media.

He gets into office, Dem Congress has items lined up right and left, polls start coming in and they realized that it needs to be sold, good thing they just elected the best salesman evah, right? Wrong. Congress needed a sell, President was off doddling in Beerfest, Peace Prize, Olympics, so forth. Such a poor job, even with the media, that not only did the Dems get trounced in '10, they didn't get nearly everything done and done right for their agenda, loose ends, and created an entire political opposition movement which catalized with his dismissals and repugnancy.

The Unions have had to pour a ton of money into putting out his fires. Hillary! has been on a plane nearly non-stop putting out fires caused by the dragging chain of limp diplomacy.

And if I were a collectivist, I'd be pissed too. All he had to do was show up to work, and it was done, and he blew it off for his own image and will quite honestly become such a parody of what the great leaders of collectivism do that they may never recover. If they had any guts they would run Hillary! but after 3 years of being drug about behind Obama's chariot can't blame her for being tired.

Its the half hypocrasy and half incompetence of a person who is simply waiting for the next promotion. And collectivists, you think the last two years has been a headbanger, if he does win you will see a lame duck go through at least the next two years as the last two years, likely without as much Dem in the Senate. So go vote for the machine, they don't care about you, in fact you OWS et all will be so shitcanned over the next 6 months you will actually have a real reason to be pissed.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/30/2012 13:47 Comments || Top||

#11  How stupid? Check the serial number of his birth certificate against others issued on that date.
Posted by: Injun Ebbinens5416 || 01/30/2012 14:17 Comments || Top||

#12  Every new generation has to learn, unfortunately the hard way, through experiencing poor decisions, even at the voting booth. Problem is, old dinosaurs like Pelosi and Reid and Soros lept at this golden opportunity to push through socialism. Future generations will pay dearly for it.
Posted by: Chenter Barnsmell9450 || 01/30/2012 16:27 Comments || Top||

#13  He's not stupid at all, he just thinks we are.
Posted by: Cincinnatus Chili || 01/30/2012 16:29 Comments || Top||

#14  The dark complected people I know will not vote Republican. Why, because "I don't see anything the Republicans have to offer". That's what the young adults have told me. Smart? doesn't matter.
Posted by: Dale || 01/30/2012 18:15 Comments || Top||

#15  I think it was a rhetorical question. After all, Joe Biden was named VP to give him gravitas
Posted by: Frank G || 01/30/2012 19:05 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Militias replacing central government in post-Gaddafi Libya
Posted by: ryuge || 01/30/2012 05:51 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Let freedom reign.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/30/2012 13:10 Comments || Top||

#2  You are free to join the militia of your choice.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 01/30/2012 13:22 Comments || Top||

#3  If you like your turban-bedecked collection of AK-47 wielding militiamen, you can keep your turban-bedecked collection of AK-wielding militiamen.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/30/2012 13:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Ah, the usual militia or tribal model that comes when a country has failed such as Libya or Somalia. I can recall a time when most of the places that are in constant turmoil were not.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/30/2012 17:22 Comments || Top||


Europe
German commemorations avoid Iranian holocaust denial
Posted by: ryuge || 01/30/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm sorry, but this article does not offer a fair view of the situation. We may very well argue about official and non-official contacts the German government maintains with Iran, but Iran's Holocaust denial has always been strongly rejected by Germany.

Marcel Reich Ranicki's tale about his experience in the Warsaw ghetto was a very moving one and has left a deep impression.

Unfortunately the speech seems to be only available in German. (report in English)

MRR recalled how the Nazis in July 1942 informed members of the ghetto's Jewish Council (‘Judenrat’) of plans for the inhabitants' "resettlement to the east".

He told lawmakers that those present "seemed to sense what had happened: that the sentence had been pronounced for the biggest Jewish city in Europe - the death sentence."

IThis was his last sentence and the Bundestag was quiet for half a minute before applause set in.
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/30/2012 3:33 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistan-China alliance: less than meets the eye
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 01/30/2012 11:35 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Notices to ISI, MI
[Dawn] TWO notices coming in rapid succession appear to be the first serious attempt to put an end to the extra-judicial prerogatives Pakistain's secret agencies have enjoyed for decades to run a clandestine empire the prime minister called "a state within a state". The judiciary's jurisdiction has now rightfully expanded to include institutions and elements till now considered beyond the reach of law. This message comes loud and clear from the Supreme Court's decision to issue notices to the ISI and the Military Intelligence in this regard. On Friday, the apex court directed the ISI and the Military Intelligence to submit reports to the SC on a petition that sought action on the law and order situation in the country's largest province. The petitioner, a former president of the Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
High Court Bar Association, had sought the court's help because, he said, the federal and provincial governments had failed to protect life and liberty in Balochistan. He referred especially to the widespread disappearances and mysterious killings. Taking note of the gravity of the situation, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry said it was not the time to sit idle "with our fingers crossed", and asked the ISI and MI to give their view on the petition.

Two days earlier, the SC had summoned ISI chief Lt-Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha, the MI director general, the judge advocate general and the army commanding officer concerned to respond to the petition of a woman who said that one of her sons, a suspect in the October 2009 attack on GHQ, had died in mysterious circumstances, and his body thrown on the road near a Beautiful Downtown Peshawar hospital. Petitioner Ruhaifa said three of her sons were among the eight taken in jug by the intelligence agencies, that there was no due process, and her son, Abdul Saboor, was among the four who were found murdered.

Since the days of Ziaul Haq, the intelligence agencies, especially the ISI, have arrogated to themselves political and 'legal' privileges which are in violation of the constitution and the penal code. They were emboldened in their brazenness because the compliant among the judges failed to uphold the law. Among the many examples of this encouragement by default of the invisible empire is Mehrangate, which involves the unauthorised disbursement of money by the ISI to its favourites to subvert the 1990 election. The judiciary must continue its pursuit of justice for all to prove to the people of Pakistain that 'accountability' is not a shibboleth used to persecute political dissent and that the guilty cannot escape justice because they are in uniform.
Posted by: Fred || 01/30/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  I like the "ISI Stories" image. :-)

The ISI is a "state within a state". The Tribal areas (i.e. the seven "agencies") are states outside the control of the state.

What a mess.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 01/30/2012 8:02 Comments || Top||

#2  "Paki Supremes Feeling Their Oats, scheduled to Tour Glue Factory"
Posted by: mojo || 01/30/2012 14:44 Comments || Top||

#3  mojo,
Good point. Given that the courts have some leverage regarding that decade-old Swiss corruption case involving President Asif Ali Zardari, it makes some sense to keep both sides guessing.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 01/30/2012 15:30 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Why Syria’s Regime Is Surviving a Revolution
...the prospects are quite likely that Assad will be in power when the year ends. If the deadlock goes on without apparent end, the revolution might die down as it did in Iran. Syria will then be another case to show that revolutions usually succeed only when the elite is divided and loses its nerve, rather than being an inevitably victorious response to oppression.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/30/2012 12:49 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Because Russian support precludes "kinetic action".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/30/2012 13:08 Comments || Top||

#2  IIUC, most regional 'experts' do not agree with Mr Rubin in this.

The only questions are-

when will Assad resign
what will happen to him
what will happen to Syria

and

how can Obama claim credit for getting rid of Assad but blame others for civilian deaths
Posted by: Lord Garth || 01/30/2012 19:15 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
57[untagged]
5Arab Spring
3Govt of Pakistan
3Govt of Syria
2al-Shabaab
2al-Qaeda in Arabia
1TTP
1al-Qaeda in Pakistan
1Taliban
1al-Qaeda in North Africa

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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2012-01-30
  Assad's family caught trying to escape the country, returned to Damascus
Sun 2012-01-29
  Nigerian military kills 11 militants in northeast
Sat 2012-01-28
  UN loses count on Syria killings
Fri 2012-01-27
  Sectarian clashes kill at least 22 in Yemen
Thu 2012-01-26
  Woman Dead as Bombs, Bullets Rain on Nigeria Police Station
Wed 2012-01-25
  SEALS Spring Two, Bag Nine
Tue 2012-01-24
  EU imposes sanctions on Iran oil
Mon 2012-01-23
  U.S. aircraft carrier goes through Strait of Hormuz without incident
Sun 2012-01-22
  Syrian Forces Kill More than 50 Civilian as Dissidents Clash with Troops
Sat 2012-01-21
  Terror attacks in Kano, Nigeria, kill at least 162
Fri 2012-01-20
  Aslam Awan of Abbottabad Dronezapped
Thu 2012-01-19
  Bangladesh army says plot to topple government foiled
Wed 2012-01-18
  Syria 'absolutely rejects' calls for Arab troops
Tue 2012-01-17
  Kenyan jets bomb Al-Shabaab bases
Mon 2012-01-16
  Kenya Arrests 29 Ugandans 'Headed to Somalia to Fight'


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