WFRL: Get Thee Behind Me, Satan!
Friday, August 7, 2009
Floatin' Powa News Service: Dancing At The Mobster's Ball
US Congressman: Iran is Threat, Not Israeli SettlementsSoon to be residing under the Republican Party Bus with the other dissenters we have Congressman Eric Cantor....
"Any discussion of settlements, any discussion of the issues of living in East Jerusalem, should not take precedent over the primary focus of import which is the growing threat of a nuclear Iran," Cantor said.Fatah Postpones Elections, but Extends Conference
The Elusive Palestinian Center
Silly headline. It is elusive because it does not exist. Death to the Jews!
Israeli settlement freeze 'not enough for Saudis'
Death to Jews!
Headline in "The Christian Science Monitor":
Israel's Jerusalem evictions defy Obama, undermine peace proces
I see.
White House: 'War on terrorism' is overViva La Preemptive Surrender! Always the war begins with the words in your mouth....
It's official. The U.S. is no longer engaged in a "war on terrorism." Neither is it fighting "jihadists" or in a "global war." President Obama's top homeland security and counterterrorism official took all three terms off the table of acceptable words inside the White House during a speech Thursday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. "The President does not describe this as a 'war on terrorism,'" said John Brennan, head of the White House homeland security office, who outlined a "new way of seeing" the fight against terrorism. The only terminology that Mr. Brennan said the administration is using is that the U.S. is "at war with al Qaeda."Turkey hems in its Islamist fringe
Turkey is renewing efforts to crack down on its radical Islamist fringe, even as the movement gains increasing grassroots support.Security forces have been on high alert in 2009 and have conducted several sweeps to round up suspected militants and radicals. The latest raids occurred on July 24 when police arrested almost 200 alleged members of the group Hizb ut-Tahrir during operations in 23 provinces across the country.Pakistan bans 25 militant organisations
According to a police statement, two handguns, a Kalashnikov, four rifles, more than 240 bullets and documents linking the suspects to Hizb ut-Tahrir were discovered. The Islamic organization, which is legal in the United States and the United Kingdom, was outlawed as a terrorist outfit by a Turkish court in 2004.
Hizb ut-Tahrir was founded in 1953 and came to Turkey in 1978 espousing its global aims of establishing an Islamic caliphate and introducing sharia law. According to Emrullah Uslu, an analyst at the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington-based think-tank, "It [Hizb ut-Tahrir] has only recently emerged as a power in Turkey. Now it is starting to gain ground."
Uslu puts this down to two primary reasons: the group's advocacy of a caliphate, which increasingly resonates with observant Turks' nostalgia for the days of the Ottoman caliphate, and its deeply anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli rhetoric, the populist tone of which is being appropriated to significant effect.
Including Hizbut Tahrir.
Pakistan: Local Militants Struggle with Taliban Government for Control of Khyber Agency
Control of the Khyber Agency is important for both the Taliban and the government. The main land route to Afghanistan and the Central Asian states is via the Khyber Pass, now a vital supply route to U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan.European, Muslim nations identified to comprise Philippine peace talks
SEVERAL MEMBERS of the influential Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) are looking at joining an International Contact Group (ICG) that the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have agreed to form to hasten the peace process. In an interview with Palace reporters, MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said among the OIC countries that are likely to join the group are Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The government and the MILF both agreed to establish the ICG during preparatory talks in Kuala Lumpur last month. The ICG will help the two side in implementing any signed agreements.Afghans Pin Hopes on Mining As Taliban Attacks Intensify
Afghanistan's mining ministry, emboldened by its first copper tender and undeterred by escalating violence, is inviting more bids in hopes the industry can eventually drive economic growth and help bring security.
Iran shuts down journalists' associationArmed men raided and sealed the Tehran offices of the Association of Iranian Journalists late on Wednesday, said the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) which also called for Iran to free up to 42 reporters currently jailed. "It is true, it has been closed down," said a member of the Iranian association who declined to be named. "New opposition protest in Tehran
Government actions against media and journalists erode further the credibility and standing of the Government in national and the world opinion," the IFJ said in a statement. Iran has arrested dozens of leading pro-reform politicians, journalists, lawyers and campaigners since the June 12 presidential election which reformists say was rigged in favor of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Power struggle hits Iran's intelligence agency
Beyond the power struggle playing out on the streets of Tehran is a complex battle for control of Iran's intelligence ministry -- a pivotal institution in the regime's repression of dissent. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who began a second term this week, fired Intelligence Minister Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei late last month after Mr. Ejei objected to the president's efforts to name an in-law as first vice president.Iran bans Ramadan umra pilgrimage as swine flu spreads
The departure of Mr. Ejei, a hard-line cleric close to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, two other Khamenei loyalists and nearly 20 other high-ranking officials appeared to weaken the leader's hold over the ministry and strengthen the power of the Revolutionary Guards, Iran's elite military force.
The Guards have been heavily involved in the crackdown on dissent since the disputed June 12 presidential election, and there is an unconfirmed report that the force has created a parallel intelligence service called Tehran intelligence. Mr. Ahmadinejad and many of his closest allies are Guards veterans.
Iran has banned Iranians from performing the umra pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia during the holy month of Ramadan to slow spread of swine flu in the country, a health ministry official said Thursday. The umra can be performed at any time but is popular during Ramadan, which this year starts in August. "Iranians are banned from attending the holy places in Saudi Arabia during fasting month of Ramadan," deputy Health Minister Hassan Emami-Razavi told state television.China Investigates Top Nuclear Official
Everywhere, the purges.... maybe he can share a cell in glorious people's gulag with Kazakhstan's Nuke Chief.
The top official of China’s civilian and military nuclear power programs is being investigated for “grave violations of discipline,” a phrase often used in corruption inquiries, the Chinese Communist Party’s disciplinary committee has announced. The official, Kang Rixin, is the general manager and Communist Party secretary of China National Nuclear Corporation, a vast holding company that is spearheading plans to increase the nation’s capacity to generate nuclear power at least sixfold in the next decade.Mr. Kang, 56, also is a member of the Communist Party Central Committee, the party’s senior ruling body, and sits on the same party disciplinary committee that is investigating him.Former Beijing Airport Director Is Executed
China executed the former head of a huge state-owned airport holding company on Friday, six months after he was convicted on bribery and embezzlement charges involving more than $14.6 million. The executive, Li Peiying, had been the chairman and general manager of Capital Airports Holding Company, a conglomerate that runs 30 airports in nine Chinese provinces, including Beijing’s much-acclaimed new international airport.Africa: China Leads Investment in Continent
China’s state-run news agency, Xinhua, said that Mr. Li was executed in Jinan, a Yellow River city in Shandong Province. The province’s Higher People’s Court rejected an appeal in July.The execution underscored the gravity of the national government’s campaign against official corruption, which President Hu Jintao has labeled a serious threat to stability. Graft, especially at lower levels of government, is woven into the fabric of everyday Chinese life, and disclosures of especially outrageous instances often provoke outcries on Internet chat sites and, sometimes, even street demonstrations.
KAZAKHSTAN: THE FORGOTTEN WOMEN OF THE GULAGEverything old is new again, my friend.
The women’s faces gaze down from the walls, young and old, dark and fair, blue-eyed and brown-eyed. Some look sad, some stoical, some bitter, and some simply confused. These women, who came from all over the Soviet Union, had one thing in common: they had been incarcerated in Stalin’s gulag although they were not even suspected of committing an offense themselves.Bakiyev win in Kyrgyzstan a victory for continuity if not democracy
Their crime? Being married to an enemy of the state, for which they were sent to this prison in Soviet Kazakhstan, ending up in part of the infamous network of concentration camps which stretched across Siberia, down onto the Kazakh steppe. This link in a chain christened "The Gulag Archipelago" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was called Alzhir, a Russian acronym for the Akmola Camp for the Wives of Traitors to the Motherland.
It was not only wives who served time here, but mothers, sisters and daughters, too. There were also children in Alzhir -- and not just the offspring of "enemies of the people." From its inception in 1937 to its closure after Stalin’s death in 1953, the camp witnessed 1,507 births by prisoners raped by their guards. A museum now stands on this quiet spot just outside Astana, Kazakhstan’s capital. The entrance is marked by a striking black and silver monument, the Arch of Grief, whose conical shape represents a traditional Kazakh bridal headdress. Fragments of barbed wire and a watchtower are vivid symbols of the imprisonment.
SNIP
Oh sure, all the world loves their continuity! Continuity Through Fascist Dictatorships Akbar!
Kyrgyzstan's July 23 presidential elections resulted in a decisive victory for sitting President Kurmenbek Bakiyev. While the OSCE has criticised the election process, Bakiyev's peaceful return to power has been welcomed by businesses and international investors as a sign of continuity, though not by democracy advocates.Kyrgyz opposition leader suspects he was poisoned
Kyrgyzstan President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's main opponent in July elections believes he has been poisoned and is leaving the Central Asian country for treatment, his office said Thursday.Alabama guardsman supports troops in Kyrgyzstan
Almazbek Atambayev, 52, who came second in a poll criticized as undemocratic by Western observers, will leave for Turkey on Friday for a week of medical treatment, his spokesman Zhoomart Saparbayev said. "We think it was poisoning. He felt terrible, his fingernails became brown, he vomited and was dizzy," Saparbayev said.
There have been a series of high-profile poisonings in the former Soviet union in recent years, including that of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who was disfigured by dioxin during the 2004 presidential election.
For four months, Lt. Col. Gary Kirk got to play mayor. He wasn't governing a town, though. In fact, he wasn't even in the U.S.Kirk was in Kyrgyzstan helping run the only U.S. air base in the former Soviet Union. The base was known as Manas Air Base until June, when the U.S. renegotiated the lease with the Kyrgyzstan government. It's now called the Transit Center at Manas.Gazprom takes stake in Kyrgyz gas company
30 members of the 165th Airlift Wing return home
Uzbekistan? Supposedly we were evicted from our base in Uzbekistan in 2005. Mmhmm.
Since the beginning of operations in the Persian Gulf, several elements of the Wing have been deployed throughout the region, serving in Uzbekistan, Turkey, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan.Uzbekistan - President receives credentials from two ambassadors
New ambassadors of Georgia and the United Kingdom presented credentials to President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov on 5 August in Tashkent'King Of Uzbek Comedy' Dies In Tashkent
Ten Years After IMU Raids, Central Asia Still Battling Militants
When a small band of armed "refugees" crossed the Pamir Mountains from Tajikistan and seized a small village in Kyrgyzstan in August 1999, they did not appear to pose much of a threat. It has since become clear that the storming of the international stage by those gunmen shattered the hopes of Central Asian governments that they could escape Pakistan- and Afghanistan-style Islamist insurgencies. It also set in motion events that would seriously damage relations among the three states that share the restive Ferghana Valley.
A full 10 years after the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) announced its arrival with the Pamir crossing and villague seizures, the group is now hunted across Central and South Asia and its name is frequently linked to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The IMU's alliances with those two groups began after the IMU joined the Taliban's efforts to fight forces commanded by Ahmad Shah Mas'ud in Afghanistan in the late 1990s.
Then militants from across the Muslim world, particularly Arabs and increasing numbers from former Soviet states with Muslim majorities, flocked to Afghanistan for training, indoctrination, and refuge. The IMU was among them, and after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 led to a U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, IMU members fought alongside Al-Qaeda.
SNIP
Turkey and Russia Strike a Series of Energy DealsWhen Vlad makes offer you do not refuse, comrades of the ottoman ummah.
Russian Tech eyes $3 bln investment in Udokan copper
Russia Military Force Changes to Add Border Strength
Dude must be a freakin' Mensa member:
Russia is reshaping its ground forces into a structure that would enable it to “militarily dominate” most of its neighbors, the head of U.S. intelligence said.No shit, Sherlockovitch!
RUSSIA: AvtoVAZ workers want nationalisation
Hundreds of workers at AvtoVAZ, Russia's biggest carmaker, have demanded the state nationalise the company...Bulgarian Government Suspends Energy Negotiations with Russia
Georgia marks anniversary of war
Russia and Georgia in verbal war
All wars start in the mouth
NATO secretary general wants to go beyond "normal relations" with Russia
Tovarich NATO, there is nothing normal about any of my relations. Would you like to visit the back of beyond? Come, I'll take you!
~ Vladdest in Whole GlowBall!
Putin, Russian subs flex muscles in Siberia and off US East Coast
Vlad will remind world how real man flexes his muscle.
Putin's influence widespread
HA HA HA my friends! Vlad is Glow Ball's Capo di tutti Capiski deluxe! And you all know it! Kiss my ring, insolent proles!
JOHNNY ZEITGEIST Red Beret: Vladimir Putin Conquers the Wilderness
I am loving it.
~ Vlad of the Jungle
The weak get beat: Putin marks 10 years in power
GLORY TO ME IN THE HIGHEST!
~ Vladdyweight Champion of Whole Glow Ball
Russia's Putin strips for stardom, again
Comrades, you know you want me. Never has such swaggering manhood strutted before your sorry eyes with such open arrogance since Yul Brynner as Ramses!
~ Vlad's too sexy for his shirt
Was Goldman Sachs ever even close to failure?Now that Goldman is minting money again, the bank insists that it was never in any real danger. Mr. Blankfein, in an e-mail message this week, disputed his private account, saying Goldman’s survival was never in doubt. Other Goldman executives reject the notion that the bank was rescued at all. “We did not have a near-death experience,” said Gary D. Cohn, Goldman’s president. The government saved the financial industry as a whole, but it did not save Goldman Sachs, he said.Goldman: 2008 commodity redux coming
Goldman's Unexpected GDP Boost
AIG Posts $1.82 Billion Profit, First Since 2007
US Stocks Fall As Investors Grow Nervous About July Jobs Data
Report on Icelandic bank fuels fury
It's Congress vs. ICANN in the battle for Internet authorityThe current three-year working arrangement between the US Dept. of Commerce and the institution that maintains the Internet's top-level domain structure, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), expires at the end of this September. With the Internet being perceived as more of an international platform than an American one, support is growing among overseas legislators including the European Commission for the US Government to let lapse the term of its oversight role, and let ICANN be answerable to an international agency.Austin, Texas: City authorizes agreement for controversial FUSION Center
The round up of dangerous mobsters will likely begin one sleepy Chicken Shit Bingo night at Ginny's Longhorn.
Despite overwhelming public opposition, the Austin City Council voted during its Aug. 6 meeting to authorize an agreement with the Texas Department of Public Safety to establish an operating space for the Austin Regional Intelligence Center, also referred to as the Fusion Center.Raytheon sells its first 'pain ray'
Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo addressed the council and hashed out details of the Fusion Center, which tentatively could be operating by December. The hope of city and law enforcement officials is that the center will act as a tool to combat terrorism and solve other crimes in the area through information sharing on the local, state and federal levels.
Several members of the public, including at least two affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union, voiced their opposition to the establishment of a Fusion Center citing a violation of privacy. Concerns of violations to civil liberties and civil rights were also expressed. The agreement with the DPS will allow for the improvement and leasing of an existing DPS building to house the center.
Funding for the build out and improvements is provided through the Office of Emergency Management Urban Area Security Initiative Grant Fund and was recommended by the Urban Area Working Group and will not exceed $200,000. The council authorized the agreement, but added a motion to hold a public hearing in order to address community concerns regarding the operation of the Fusion Center. The meeting is expected to take place in late September.
As you are no doubt aware, one of the perks of being in the corporate security field is that you get to try out things that would come across as, well, unseemly if put in the hands of the government. While there's been some controversy over the possible use of Raytheon's 10,000 pound "portable" Silent Guardian by the military, it appears that at least one private customer has no such qualms.Science Applications Receives $55 Million Army Task Order
We're not sure exactly who placed the order -- news of an "Impending Direct Commercial Sale" was just one bullet point of many at Raytheon's recent presentation at a NATO workshop on anti-pirate technologies.
The company itself is being mum on the subject, saying that it would be "premature" to name names at the present time, but rest assured -- this is only the beginning. As soon as these things are small enough to fit in your briefcase or glove compartment, every nut in your neighborhood will want one. In the mean time, looks like you're stuck with the Taser. [Warning: PDF read link] [Via Wired]
To do what? WhoTF knows....
San Diego-based Science Applications International (SAIC) is a scientific, engineering, and technology applications company whose roughly 45,000 employees serve customers in the U.S. Department of Defense, the intelligence community, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, other U.S. government civil agencies and various commercial markets.SAIC is a FORTUNE 500®
Deep Domain Knowledge! Solving Problems of Vital importance to Nation and World!
...scientific, engineering, and technology applications company that uses its deep domain knowledge to solve problems of vital importance to the nation and the world, in national security, energy and the environment, critical infrastructure, and health. We do this with the constant and deliberate commitment to ethical performance and integrity that has marked SAIC since its founding.Feds join $3.2 billion Stennis “whistleblower” lawsuit
This must be an example of SAIC's commitment to ethics and integrity:
The U.S. Justice Department has intervened in a so-called "whistleblower" lawsuit that accuses several companies and former government employees of rigging a winning bid on a $3.2 billion computer contract at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.So what do we do then? Give them more contracts, obviously!
The lawsuit, unsealed Wednesday by a federal judge in Gulfport, alleges three former or current federal employees conspired to steer the Stennis contract to Science Applications International Corp. A company started by one of those former employees had teamed up with Science Applications (SAIC) to bid on the contract.
The defendants allegedly shared secret information about the bidding process with Science Applications and chose a type of contract that favored the company's successful bid in 2004. The Justice Department estimates the scheme cost the federal government more than $116 million.
Janet Napolitano: The Cyber Czar?In remarks Thursday at a cybersecurity conference sponsored by the Secret Service, a Homeland Security agency, Napolitano said: "In terms of cybersecurity, we've been living in a cyber 1.0 world and we need to be cyber 3.0 and beyond. Because the minute we start talking about a particular methodology of cyber the cyber bad guys are already moving ahead. This is a very, very rapidly evolving environment in which real crime and real damage can occur."Army Monitoring Protest Groups
Stephen Dycus, a professor at Vermont Law School who focuses on national security issues, said the Army was prohibited from conducting law enforcement among civilians except in very rare circumstances, none of which immediately appeared to be relevant to the Fort Lewis case. Mr. Dycus said several statutes and rules also prohibited the Army from conducting covert surveillance of civilian groups for intelligence purposes.“Infiltration is a really big deal,” he said. He said it “raises fundamental questions about the role of the military in American society.”The Guardian UK: Turning the US army against Americans
Catherine Caruso, a spokeswoman for Fort Lewis, said in a written statement that “the Fort Lewis Force Protection Division, under the Directorate of Emergency Services, consists of both military and civilian employees whose focus is on supporting law enforcement and security operations to ensure the safety and security of Fort Lewis, soldiers, family members, the work force and those personnel accessing the installation.”
An antiwar activist in the state of Washington had been exposed as an undercover informant for the US army, stationed at massive Fort Lewis, south of Tacoma. And in one of those Kafkaesque twists for which our government is renowned, the army is now investigating itself to determine how such an arrangement came to pass.Obama Administration Weighs in on State Secrets, Raising Concern on the Left
The Obama administration’s brief argued, though no one had asked, that the state secrets privilege was rooted in the Constitution.War on Terrorism: CBR Weapons and WMD Terrorism
ProcessProxy Corp. in Ellwood City is in line to get $2 million for a health information technology project in Lawrence CountyHealth information technology project? Now WTF could that be?
Health Information Technology
Project Mission:Administration Plans Overhaul of Immigration Detention System
The mission of the Health Information Technology project is to drive adoption of health information technology to help create a Nationwide Health Information Network, a secure, interoperable system where all stakeholders electronically exchange individual health and healthcare information.
Project Goals:
1) Drive adoption of electronic health records and other information technologies
2) Reach consensus and convergence on open data standards for interoperability
3) Facilitate research of de-identified healthcare data for new treatments, health management, and trends
4)Engage consumers on using personal health records in their health and healthcare management
"We need a system that is open, transparent and accountable," Morton said. "With these reforms, ICE will move away from our present decentralized jail approach to a system that is wholly designed for and based on civil detention needs and the needs of the people we detain."
CREEPIEST PIECE OF THE DAY: Esquire ~ The Last Abortion Doctor
For thirty-six years, Warren Hern has been one of the few doctors in America to specialize in late abortions. George Tiller was another. And when Dr. Tiller was murdered that Sunday in church, Warren Hern became the only one left.
Abortion Doctor Blames 'Hate Speech' For KillingThe young couple flew into Wichita bearing, in the lovely swell of the wife's belly, a burden of grief. They came from a religious tradition where large families are celebrated, and they wanted this baby, and it was very late in her pregnancy. But the doctors recommended abortion. They said that with her complications, there were only two men skilled enough to pull it off. One was George Tiller, a Wichita doctor who specialized in late abortions.
They arrived in Wichita on Sunday, May 31. As they drove to their hotel, a Holiday Inn just two blocks from the Reformation Lutheran Church, they saw television cameras. They wondered what was going on, a passing curiosity quickly forgotten.
But when they got to their room, the phone was ringing. Her father was on the line. "There was some doctor who was shot who does abortions," he said.
They turned on CNN. Dr. Tiller had just been killed, shot in the head as he passed out church leaflets. In their shock, they mixed up the clinic and the church: We were supposed to be there. What if it had happened while we were there? What if he couldn't complete the procedure?
Now there is only one doctor left.
[SNIP]
Without Dr. Hern, she says, she doesn't know what she would have done. It's crazy that he's the only one left. She is grateful, grateful, so grateful that she will be here to raise her son. And as the words tumble and repeat you hear, in the urgency unleashed by her deliverance, a love too sad for sermons, too personal for headlines, a private benediction, the abortionist's reward, the love song of Warren Martin Hern, M.D.
In a profile to be published in Esquire's September issue, Hern said he got hate mail and death threats in 1970 when he started working in family planning. Hern, a friend of slain Kansas doctor George Tiller, said the threats resumed in 1973 when he helped start Boulder's first non-profit clinic.
"I started sleeping with a rifle by my bed. I expected to get shot," Hern told the magazine. Tiller was shot May 31 while serving as an usher at his church. Hern said Tiller's death was the result of 35 years of "hate speech" against abortion providers, something he blames on anti-abortion politicians and commentators.
Valve manufacturer pleads guilty to federal bribery chargesCCI designs and manufactures service control valves for oil and gas, nuclear, and power generation customers. According to the information and plea agreement, from 1998 through 2007, CCI violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Travel Act by bribing numerous officers and employees of national and privately-owned customers in China, Korea, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries to obtain or retain business.DHL to pay $9.4M to settle shipping dispute
The Obama administration announced Thursday that DHL has agreed to pay the government $9.4 million to settle a dispute that the company made shipments to Iran, Sudan and Syria in violation of U.S. embargoes.Intel To SEC: No Ties To 'Sponsors Of Terrorism'
The Treasury Department alleged that the company, which is part of Deutsche Post DHL, based in Bonn, Germany, made more than 300 shipments from the United States to Iran and Sudan between 2002 and 2007 in violation of U.S. embargoes with those countries. The department also alleged that the company failed to keep records of certain shipments to Iran between 2002 and 2006.
The SEC earlier this year had sent a letter to Intel asking the chip giant to describe the nature of its business contacts with such countries as Cuba, Iran and Syria, which have been identified as "state sponsors of terrorism," according to a company filing with the federal agency. In response, the company wrote the SEC saying, "Intel prohibits all transactions with countries identified under certain trade-related sanctions." Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said that, "to the best of my knowledge," it was the first time the SEC has ever raised such a concern with the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company.South Africa's ANC denies arms deals accusations
South Africa's ruling ANC on Thursday denied opposition allegations that the country's arms control body had authorized "dodgy" deals such as a weapons exhibition for North Korea and possible sales to Iran, Syria and Libya. The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) said a number of "dodgy" deals had "slipped through the cracks" when the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) last met in 2008.
A Brave New World For DiCaprio And ScottRisky Biz Blog is reporting that director Ridley Scott will be teaming up with Leonardo DiCaprio to make a movie based on Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. The classic novel tells the story of a future where humans are engineered both scientifically and psychologically to be passive and consistenly useful to the ruling order. Huxley’s vision of the future takes place in 2540 AD. The book was written in 1931. Farhad Safinia, who wrote the script for Apocalypto, is expected to start working on the script for Brave New World very soon.Engineering Earth's Climate Could Be Dangerous
Ya think? Freakin' Obama's Czar of Loon Science Sez:
Presidential science advisor John Holdren said this year he wouldn't rule out engineering the Earth's climate as an option to slow global warming.Men make very shitty gods my friends.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
WFRL: Baby Let Me Follow You Down ~
WFRL: Dostoyevsky's Green Shirt ~
From "The Demons" by Dostoyevsky, 1872
Thanks to StrulZ for this passage:
Pyotr Verkhovensky describes the Shigalyov system to Stavrogin:
Alternative translation:
Thanks to StrulZ for this passage:
Pyotr Verkhovensky describes the Shigalyov system to Stavrogin:
"It's well put in his notebook. (...) He's got spying down. He has each member of society watching the others and obliged to inform. Each belongs to all, and all to each. All are slaves, and are equal in their slavery. In extreme cases, there's slander and murder, but the main thing is equality. The first thing is to lower the level of education, science and accomplishment. A high level of science and accomplishment is accessible only to people of high ability, and there's no need for high ability! People of high ability have always sized power and been despots. People of high ability can't help but be despots and have always corrupted more than they have brought benefit; they are sent into exile or executed. Cicero had his tongue cut out, Copernicus had his eyes put out, Shakespeare was stoned - that's Shigalyovism! Slaves should be equal; without despotism there has never yet been either freedom or equality, but there should be equality in the herd, and that's Shigalyovism! (...) I'm for Shigalyov! There's no need for education, enough of science! Even without science there's enough material for a thousand years, but obedience has to be established. There's only one thing lacking in the world: obedience. The thirst for education is nothing but an aristocratic thirst. No sooner do we have the family or love than the desire for private property arises. We will kill desire: we will foster drunkenness, gossip, denunciation; we will foster unheard-of depravity; we will stifle every genius in its infancy. Everything reduced to a common denominator, complete equality.
(The Demons~ Translated by Robert A. Maguire. Penguin: Harmondsworth, 2008. Page 463)
Alternative translation:"He's got everything perfect in his note-book. (...) Spying. Every member of society spies on the others, and he is obliged to inform against them. Everyone belongs to all the others, and all belong to everyone. All are slaves and equal in slavery. In extreme cases slander and murder, but, above all, equality. To begin with, the level of education, science, and accomplishment is lowered. A high level of scientific thought and accomplishment is open only to men of the highest abilities! Men of the highest ability have always seized the power and become autocrats. Such men cannot help being autocrats, and they've always done more harm than good; they are either banished or executed. A Cicero will have his tongue cut out, Copernicus will have his eyes gouged out, a Shakespeare will be stoned - there you have Shigalyov's doctrine! Slaves must be equal: without despotism there has never been any freedom or equality, but in a herd there is bound to be equality - there's the Shigalyov doctrine for you! (...) I'm for Shigalyov! We don't want education. We have had enough of science. We have plenty of material without science to last us a thousand years. The thing we want is obedience. The only thing that's wanting in the world is obedience. The desire for education is an aristocratic desire. The moment a man falls in love or has a family, he gets a desire for private property. We will destroy that desire; we'll resort to drunkenness, slander, denunciations; we'll resort to unheard-of depravity; we shall smother every genius in infancy. We shall reduce everything to one common denominator. Full equality."
(The Devils~ Translated by David Magarshack. Penguin: Harmondsworth, 1960. Page 419)
Better cut off all identifying labels
Before they put you on the torture table
'Cause somewhere in the "Quisling Clinic"
There's a shorthand typist taking seconds over minutes
She's listening in to the Venus line
She's picking out names
I hope none of them are mine
But you tease, and you flirt...
Never said I was a stool pigeon
I never said I was a diplomat
Everybody is under suspicion
But you don't wanna hear about that
'Cause you tease, and you flirt...
Better send a begging letter to the big investigation
Who put these fingerprints on my imagination?
You tease, and you flirt...
And you shine all the buttons on your green shirt
You can please yourself
But somebody's gonna get it....
Click Me, Tovarich! I'm Prescient!Floatin' Powa News Service: The Sinister Factor Increases Exponentially
US asks Israel for one-year settlement freezeJust long enough for Obamanable to preside over the splitting of Jerusalem....
Palestinian Arabs won't share Jerusalem
More than half the Arabs polled throughout the Palestinian Authority reject President Obama’s notion of sharing Jerusalem with Christians and Jews.Israel vs the world: Drawing battle lines over Jerusalem
For the past 40 years, scores of Israeli politicians have been talking about Israel's 3,000-year-old link to Jerusalem and how the city must remain Israel's undivided capital forever. Former prime minister Ehud Olmert spoke that way for years, especially when he was mayor of the city. But then he became prime minister, changed his tone and - by his own in admission - was willing to compromise on Jerusalem. In a May interview with Newsweek, Olmert said he agreed that the "holy basin" in Jerusalem would not be under Israel's sovereignty, but rather administered by a consortium of Saudis, Jordanians, Israelis, Palestinians and Americans.Hamas trains teens at military camps in Gaza
Hello Mudda.
Hello Fadda.
Here I am at
Camp Intifada!
IDF: Hamas seized 3 UNRWA ambulances
Listen I am certain UNRWA did not pose a struggle...
Angry arguments erupt at Fatah convention
You say Abasshole & I say Hamasshole, let's call the whole thing off.
West Bank: Discord at Fatah Meeting
NO! Infighting among the Fatahsses? Unheard of! Absurd!
Fatah Leaders Applaud Terrorists Who Killed 37
For 38 and over you get a medal!
Old guard "hijacks" Fatah congress, say reformers
Reform this, OK, cause I do not want to hear it.
This is peace according to Fatah
Listen, they all have the same idea of peace: Dead Juden.
Saudi King's 'historic message' to Palestinians applauded
The "arrogant and criminal enemy" would be me and everyone who looks like me. GlowBall Peace through dead Juden my friends!
JEDDAH – Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Countries (OIC), has described King Abdullah’s message to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Fatah Movement as a “guide to all Palestinian factions to put aside their differences and meet their responsibilities in the service of their nation’s cause.”Mideast expert questions Turkey's role
Ihsanoglu’s praise for the King’s words, directed to Fatah as members convened in Bethlehem Tuesday, was joined by Pakistani Foreign Minister Mahmoud Qureshi who said the “unprecedented historic message” expressed the feelings of the entire Ummah.
“The Palestinian cause touches upon every individual in the Arab and Islamic and free world,” Qureshi said. “The personal attention given by King Abdullah to the Palestinian cause is not a new one, since it has always been at the top of his agenda everywhere in the world.”
King Abdullah told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that the split within the Palestinians’ ranks is more damaging to their cause of an independent state than the Israeli “enemy.” In a letter to Abbas marking his Fatah party’s first congress in 20 years, the Monarch stressed that all Palestinian factions need to come together to make an independent Palestinian state possible.
“The arrogant and criminal enemy was not able, during years of continued aggression, to hurt the Palestinian cause as much as the Palestinians hurt their cause themselves in the past few months,” King Abdullah said in his letter.
Dude must read here....
A Mideast expert questions whether Turkey should mediate Israeli-Syrian peace talks because Turkey has an interest in ensuring Syria gets the Sea of Galilee. Syria's main source of water, the Euphrates River, is drying up, and Turkey which shares a border, stops its water in its territory, leaving Syria with a dwindling water supply, Dr. Guy Bechor said in an opinion piece published on the Web site Ynetnews.com.Britain hopes Syria will play more of a role in Mideast
Estimates project the Euphrates will dry up in a decade, he wrote. Drought has plagued Syria for years and threatens the country's second major water source, the Assi River, which also is drying up, he said. Illegal wells dug by residents over the years are no longer in use.
SNIP
Soundbite: Ivan Lewis, minister of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs "Now a very important opportunity, that perhaps hasn't existed in the past, for one of the world's great conflicts to begin to come to an end. That is the conflict in the Middle East."The Missing Envoy
"We want Syria to use its influence in terms of helping to create the conditions now for the two-state solution between the Israelis and Palestinians, which is crucial to the stability of this region," he said.
He emphasized that "only the two-state solution with a viable Palestinian state could secure Israel". Lewis also urged Syria and Israel to resume peace negotiations on the Golan Heights and to normalize bilateral relations "as soon as possible"
Obama has instructed the State department to create a new appointment, U.S. Special Representative for Muslim (Ummah) Outreach, who reports directly to the Secretary of State. This was at the urging of the head of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, who, while at the White House, “urged the U.S. to quickly appoint an envoy to the Islamic bloc” -- which prompted BHO to create the “new office that is responsible for outreach with Muslims around the world.”
LEBANON: Jumblatt Quits Lebanon Coalition, Stalling Cabinet Formation“There is engagement with Syria at the moment, its isolation has effectively ended,” she said. “It’s being courted by the U.S. and Europe, you have Britain talking to Hezbollah and there is a general trend in the U.S. and Europe toward engaging with Iran.” The domestic reason stems from clashes in May last year in which Jumblatt’s militia was routed by Hezbollah. What influence his announcement will have on the power-sharing agreement remains to be seen.LEBANON: Nasrallah: New cabinet will be one of true partnership
BEIRUT: Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Thursday the next government would guarantee true partnership, adding that the formation process had reached the final steps. Speaking during a graduation ceremony, he stressed that the cabinet’s formation course “may take some time, however, we are on the right track.”US terror suspects spoke of 'jihad'
Hizb ut-Tahrir in Canada?US prosecutors played FBI recordings in court as evidence that seven North Carolina terrorism suspects discussed waging jihad, which can mean holy war, as part of a conspiracy to conduct attacks overseas. Prosecutors at the detention hearing in Raleigh used the recordings to argue that Daniel Patrick Boyd, his two sons and four other men, who are all accused of conspiring to carry out terrorism attacks abroad, should remain in custody. An eighth suspect in the case is not in the United States.
SNIP
Sure, in London and Chicago too. But not in Turkey or the West Bank!
Hizb ut-Tahrir in America
See?
Written in INDIA: Xinjiang: China's Palestine
SNIPTrial of Chinese dissident ends without ruling
The recent violence in Xinjiang or former East Turkmenistan, which has left more than 150 dead, is just the tip of the iceberg as to what is happening inside China. China is a country which survives under the iron curtain where the press and free thought processes are censored. People are not allowed to assemble together in social groups. No one is allowed to speak against the government’s policies. The conditions of the ethnic minorities, whether Tibetans, Manchus, Mongols or the Uighurs, are nothing but terrible since the Red Revolution of the late 1940s and the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976. China has followed a Han cultural policy under which the non-Chinese areas of the country have been transformed into Han Chinese areas through systematic ethnic cleansing; thereby the ethnic Tibetans, Uighurs, Manchus and Mongols have been reduced into minorities in their own ancient homelands.
SNIP
A state secrets trial of a Chinese dissident who criticized the government's response to a massive earthquake last year ended Wednesday after three hours with no immediate ruling, his wife and lawyer said.About 50 supporters and relatives of Huang Qi tried to attend his trial in Chengdu in southwestern Sichuan but were barred from entering the court by police, Zeng Li, Huang's wife, said in a phone interview. She said her husband's health has been deteriorating in recent months while in detention.
Huang, 45, long one of China's most outspoken activists, ran a human rights Web site and wrote about parents who had lost their children when badly built schools collapsed in the May 2008 quake in Sichuan that left nearly 90,000 people dead or missing.
The activist is charged with illegally possessing state secrets, an ill-defined charge often used by Communist leaders to clamp down on dissent and imprison activists.
Huang's lawyer, Mo Shaoping, said his client pleaded not guilty. The court, however, would not allow the defense to call witnesses, saying they had already testified on the case in statements made to police, he said.
A verdict will be announced at an unspecified later time, Mo added. Huang faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison if convicted.
Zeng said she hoped the court would acquit Huang, who has been detained for a year and four months, but was not optimistic. "The only reason that Huang Qi is being tried is because he helped the parents of children killed in the earthquake," said Zeng, who spent the day waiting outside the court with the couple's 18-year-old son and their friends.Zeng said the prison's medical center found two tumors in Huang's abdomen but has not treated him. He also later found two lumps in his left breast, but repeated requests for his release on medical parole have received no response, she said.
School collapses and the resulting deaths of children became one of the most charged issues in the aftermath of the earthquake and one that local Communist leaders seemed eager to suppress. Another activist, Tan Zuoren, is to be tried next Wednesday for alleged subversion after he tried to investigate the school collapses and the number of children killed.
Earlier this decade, Huang served a five-year prison sentence on subversion charges linked to politically sensitive articles posted on his Web site. Since his release in 2005, he has supported a wide range of causes from aiding families of those killed in the 1989 military crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square to publicizing the complaints of farmers involved in land disputes with authorities.
In pictures: Iran's election crisisLatest Updates on Iran's Post-Election Crisis
Ahmadinejad sworn in as Iranians battle riot police
UK: Govt defends envoy's presence at Iran inauguration
How is attending the thing, thereby tacitly endorsing it, "hard headed"? Fucking statement is not even attempting to make any sense!
Britain's ambassador to Iran attended the inauguration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday because "hard-headed diplomacy" is required in dealings with the country, the Foreign Office said.White House tries to soft soap their approval of Ahmadinejad
The White House performed an embarrassing retreat last night, withdrawing its description of President Ahmadinejad as Iran’s “elected leader” on the day that he was sworn in for his second term. “Let me correct a little bit what I said yesterday,” Robert Gibbs, President Obama’s spokesman, said as thousands of Iranian riot police beat back protesters outside the inauguration ceremony in Tehran. “Whether any election was fair ... we’ll let [the Iranian people] decide about that.”Iran hangs 24 drug traffickers 'in mass execution'
Hillary Clinton made further amends for an error that reflected the West’s dilemma as it seeks to engage with Iran’s new Government over its nuclear programme. The US Secretary of State expressed admiration for the opposition’s “continuing resistance” to what was widely regarded as a fraudulent election and the brutal crackdown that followed.
Iran may prosecute security, judicial officials
More Bloodshed for Iran
All sides have signaled their commitment to fight on—the regime with in-your-face threats and bullets, former regime insiders with rhetoric and behind-the-scenes maneuverings, and ordinary citizens with the only weapons they have, protests and human sacrifice. Compromise is longer possible. In fact, each side has little choice but to fight on.Iran says it cannot confirm arrest of three Americans
I know, let's send Bill Clinton and Jesse Jackson.... Listen, if this one turns out to be another Reality Politics show like the Nork one, it would telegraph they feel strong, they want to pick up the pace, and they intend to go balls out from now on. We shall see.
"There have been contradictory and vague reports on their arrest in Iran. I cannot confirm or deny the arrests until further investigation," Hassan Qashqavi told state radio. On Tuesday, a local security official in Iran's western Kurdistan province, Iraj Hassanzadeh, told state-run al-Alam television that three Americans had been detained there. "They are definitely Americans," he said. "They were detained four days ago. We don't know whether they are tourists or not. We are questioning them."
Kazakhstan-China $3.3 billion oil deal delayedKazakh and Chinese state oil firms' joint $3.3 billion acquisition of a Kazakh private upstream company has been delayed, Kazakhstan said on Wednesday without providing the timeframe or the reason for the delay.Kazakhstan: Restructuring may reveal emperor's new clothes
Kyrgyzstan faces down Uzbek protests over new base
Kyrgyzstan could build gambling zone near Lake Issyk Kul
All the zones of The Stans are a gamble my purple proles!
Kyrgyzstan's Spiritual Department of Muslims announces Ramadan dates
Spiritual Department of Muslims! They must control the very fabric of time and space as apparently no date occurs without their decree :
According to the Department’s decision, Ramadan is expected to begin on August 21, 2009 and will finish on September 19, 2009.Gazprom to buy controlling stake in Kyrgyz national gas company
Communism Still Stands in the “Stans”
Now this dude MUST be reading here!
The mass media tells us that communism around the world fell with the tearing down of the Berlin Wall in 1989. It’s almost become a proverb. But in some places communism never fell. Communism still stands in the central Asian “stans,” though often under a different name. The “Stans” are Asian, mostly Muslim former Soviet “republics.” Most of the nations’ names end with the suffix “-stan” in the English language (“stan” means “nation” or “land”), and without exception all are still burdened with one-party, brutal tyrannies — along with leadership derived from Soviet-era apparatchiks.Tajikistan says it smashes gang linked to Taliban
And they are all still completely in the Russian political orbit.
One confirmation of this is a 2006 state visit from Uzbek President Islam Karimov and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. “We have a lot of plans with regard to Russia,” Karimov told the press during the visit. “Russia is the anchor, the attracting force, the center around which we will ally within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Cooperation and promote our common interests with Russia’s aid.” Karimov and Nazarbayev pledged fealty to Putin’s Russia. “Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan see their future with Russia. From this standpoint, the Eurasian Economic Cooperation is the organization that will keep us on this track. Nazarbayev and I confirm it,” Karimov said.
In 2008, Freedom House listed nearly half of the countries in the world as “free” (46 percent), with 32 percent as “partly free” and 22 percent as “not free.” The former Soviet “republics” are definitely bringing the global average down. Five of the six nations are flatly listed as “not free,” while Kyrgyzstan was listed as “partly free.” Russia itself, which still includes some officially independent Muslim “republics,” is also listed as “not free.”
SNIP
No one expects The Tajik Smashing!
DUSHANBE - Tajikistan said on Wednesday its security forces had destroyed "an armed terrorist gang" with links to Afghanistan's Taliban, after a string of gunbattles near the Afghan border. The Central Asian state first reported clashes with the militants in early July when they attacked a police checkpoint. It said it had since killed 11 militants and detained 30 men.Tajikistan Says Eastern Part Of Country Returning To Normal
"The group led by Islamist Nemat Azizov has been destroyed completely," Interior Ministry spokesman Makhmadullo Asadulloyev told reporters. Authorities said earlier Azizov, killed last month in a special operation, had also been a member of the larger Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a group which fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Fighting last month was centered around the town of Tavildara, which was the stronghold of Islamic opposition during the civil war that broke out in Tajikistan in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Mirzo Ziyoyev, a former warlord who joined the government but then switched sides again, died in one of the clashes. Tajikistan's Central Asian neighbors Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have also blamed the IMU, previously believed to be inactive, for clashes in recent months.
What passes for normal in Tajikistan?
Trips to Tajikistan are dangerous, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry warns
Yeah, but that's normal!
First ambassador of Brazil accredited in Turkmenistan
Glorious!
BEFORE-AND-AFTER PHOTOS: Vast Aral Sea Vanishing
Talk about a sea change.From 2006 through 2009, Central Asia's vast Aral Sea dramatically retreated, with its eastern section losing about 80 percent of its water in just four years (above, newly released NASA satellite images are animated to show the regression).
The immense body of water, which straddles Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan (see map), was once the world's fourth largest freshwater lake.
But in the past 30 years, 60 percent of the lake has disintegrated, according to NASA's Earth Observatory. In the 1960s farmers in this arid region began diverting water from two major rivers that flow into the lake to irrigate cotton fields and rice paddies.
The Evil Empire Strikes BackThe Russian proverb "trust but verify" gave Ronald Reagan some of his most memorable moments. He produced it repeatedly in interactions with the Soviets, including the 1978 ceremony to sign the INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces) treaty in Moscow. There, he said it first in English, and then in Russian, incurring the displeasure of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.In July 2009 President Obama signed a number of documents in Moscow, and according to sources in the Russian capital and Washington, he received the Kremlin's assurance that Russian troops will not invade Georgia again.Laughing at Russian Nuclear Subs
But Mr. Obama, following the practice of his recent predecessors, shied away from publicly stressing the importance of verification, and emphasized instead the value of trust. But this doesn't work with the Russians. No matter which leader occupies the throne in the Kremlin, Moscow has no plans to waive its proclaimed spheres of influence in most, if not all, the former republics of the USSR.
Idiot American journalist. We will see who laughs last, comrade.
~ Underwater Vladness
Surprisingly few pundits have commented on news that Russian submarines were sighted off the eastern seaboard. More predictably, most of those who did made reference to The Hunt for Red October.Obviously this dude is not reading here!
Why Are Russian Subs Patrolling Off East Coast of US?
Stupid American journalists!!! Use that dried out raisin you call a brain. Why do you think?
~ Vlad Cousteavitch, Frogman Deluxe
At a Pentagon briefing on today, press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters that the submarine patrol had not raised red flags because the Russian navy is free to operate in international waters as much as the U.S. Navy does.Russia Calls Submarine Patrols Off East Coast 'Routine'
You like this routine wait till you should see the next reel, my Oymerikan friends!
~ Vladimir DeMillski
A senior Russian general on Wednesday brushed off American concerns about two Russian submarines spotted off the East Coast of the United States, saying the patrols were routine and suggesting that the U.S. Navy carries out similar missions near Russia.
"I don't know if there is any news in this news for anyone," said Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of staff of the Russian armed forces. "The fleet shouldn't sit on its hands and be idle."
Please take note of how the American and Russian statements are exactly the same.
A Russian nuclear-powered attack submarine, Akula II, was spotted about 200 miles off the coast of Georgia, USA, on Wednesday, August 5, 2009.Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian military, confirmed the presence of the sub in the area, but maintained the operation is strictly for training reasons: “The Navy mustn’t rest dockside,” he said at a press conference.Russia keeping US Humvees as war trophies
You would rather we keep your heads like the Muslims comrades? These were a gift to us from undercover glorious American comrades so just STFU.
A top Russian general says Russia has no intention of returning U.S. Humvees that Russian soldiers seized during the brief war with Georgia a year ago.Deputy chief of the General Staff Anatoly Nogovitsyn says Russia considers the four Humvees to be war trophies and thus has no obligation to give them back.Nogovitsyn told reporters Wednesday that Russia considered the subject closed.The U.S. vehicles were seized in western Georgia. They had been used in joint military exercises in which U.S. trainers were preparing Georgian troops for deployment in Iraq.What has changed since the August War?
It was "the week that buried the new world order", as the first attempt to change borders in recent European history (The Guardian, August 31 2008)Energy overshadows Caspian border disputes
Ya think? My these journalists are getting smarter every day.
Russian Leadership's Backyard Troubles
Listen in Russia we know what to do with troublemakers, foolish headline.
~ Vladdest of them all
Ongoing Ethnic and Political Tensions in the Caucasus Are Becoming a Threat to the Leadership in Moscow....Gazprom Will Ship Gas to Asia in Bid to Curb Reliance on Europe
Putin coming Turkey with complex agenda
Vladimir is a complicated man, no one understands him but his woman!
~ Vlad The Shaft Putin
Shut yo mouf.
RUSSIAN PREMIER PUTIN ARRIVES IN ANKARA FOR ENERGY TALKS
I have arrived! Bring on the belly dancers!
~ Vlad The Impale Her
Economy key to Putin, Erdogan talks
Vladimir Putin Is So Hot
That is right, Comrade! I am like red fire in the pants!
~ Yours Truly, Vladissimo Gigante
Vladimir Putin's tough-guy swimming technique
Because I was not born - I was spawned upstream!
~ Underwater Vladness
Korea Blames Russia for Rocket Launch Delays
If I had a rocket launcher....
Russia's Khrunichev State Space Science and Production Center, which is providing the technology for the project, forced a sixth postponement Tuesday, telling local authorities that it needs further time to address some ``technical issues'' detected during its recent testing of the rocket's liquid-fuel propulsion system.
More time given to developer of Ohio uranium plantA week after saying it wouldn't guarantee a loan for the project, the Obama administration is now offering more time to a company planning a uranium enrichment plant in southern Ohio.Signs of strength, M&A for uranium - FP Trading Desk
The Department of Energy said Tuesday it will hold off a final review of the application from Bethesda, Md.-based USEC (YOO'-sehk) Inc. for at least six months. That's a softening of the department's position from last week, when it asked the company to withdraw the application and come back again in 12 to 18 months.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu says the administration is allowing USEC to test its technology more fully and line up additional financial support for the project in Piketon. USEC CEO John Welch calls it a "path forward" for a loan that the company has said is crucial.
After six weeks of weakness, the spot price for uranium is starting to show signs of strength. Market watchers UxC and TradeTech have reported that low priced material looks like it is cleared from the market, at least for now.“This has purportedly swung the pendulum back into upward price territory,” said Raymond James analyst Bart Jaworski.Depleted uranium headed to Utah
He noted that Uranium Intelligence Weekly (UIW) is more bearish, with its spot price declining to US$46.88 per pound this week from US$48.03.The outlook is marred by a potential Department of Energy sale of US$150-million to US$200-million (or roughly 3-4 million pounds) worth of uranium annually to fund decommissioning at its old gaseous diffusion plant in Portsmouth, Ohio.
“Although it is unclear whether these sales fall within the DOE’s already announced inventory disposition plan, we suspect they do (if not, they represent a radical departure from DOE’s pledge not to adversely impact the market),” Mr. Jaworski said in a research note.
This follows the DOE’s refusal to provide USEC a US$2-billion loan guarantee for its American Centifuge Program in Piketon, Ohio. This setback was a big surprise to many and could translate into higher spot uranium prices over the medium term, the analyst said.“Generally, less enrichment means higher enrichment (SWU) prices, which means utilities would prefer to use less SWU and more natural uranium to produce the same amount of fuel.”
With USEC engaging outside advisors to evaluate its strategic alternatives, Mr. Jaworski thinks Cameco Corp. could be a potential suitor. Meanwhile, his top picks in the uranium space are Denison Mines Corp., Hathor Exploration Ltd., Ur-Energy Inc. and Nufcor Uranium Ltd.
More trains filled with depleted uranium are coming to Utah. Even as state regulators consider a moratorium on new shipments of the radioactive material -- which becomes more hazardous over time -- the U.S. Department of Energy plans to ship another 14,800 barrels of it to the EnergySolutions Inc. disposal site in Tooele County. Part of the $1.6 billion in federal stimulus money for the Savannah River cleanup site in South Carolina will pay for rail cars filled with depleted uranium to be buried in Utah during the next 13 months. "This is exactly the situation we were hoping to prevent by asking the state Radiation Control Board to enact a moratorium on depleted uranium," said Christopher Thomas of the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah.Havasupai Rally to Stop Uranium Mining at Grand Canyon, AZ
The Havasupai have successfully resisted the mine’s operations for more than 2 decades and mining interests are still at it. The company promises to bring economic development and jobs to the area. “[The Canyon Mine] is going to generate jobs as any mine would, 35 to 40 jobs directly for 5 years. Then there’s trucking ore and spin off benefits that would create roughly 60 to 80 jobs,” said Ron Hochstein President and CEO or Denison Mines.Early count shows Niger's Tandja extending power
This is all about the Uranium....
Niger's President Mamadou Tandja looks set to secure another three years in power after this week's controversial referendum on changing the constitution, partial returns indicated on Wednesday. Niger citizens voted on Tuesday in a plebiscite to give Tandja, whose second and final term in power expires in December, three extra years in office without an election.Niger: Police tear gas crowd of female protesters
Tandja's allies say that will allow him to oversee multibillion-dollar investment projects in the poor Saharan country, a producer of uranium. International bodies, other countries and domestic rivals have criticised the power bid as undemocratic and a potential cause of national instability.
NIAMEY, July 15 (Reuters) - Police in Niger fired tear gas on Wednesday to break up a crowd of women protesting against President Mamadou Tandja's plans to hold a referendum on extending his rule, demonstrators said.Rossing South poised to become world's largest uranium mine
The protest marks an escalation of tensions in the uranium-exporting West African state, where Tandja has dissolved parliament and the top court despite criticism of his bid to secure more time in power after his mandate expires.
"Our protest was broken up. The security forces used tear gas to chase us from the Constitutional Court but we are determined to keep up the struggle," said Alhoussaini Ousmane Hadiza, a spokeswoman for the protesters.
Witnesses said nobody was hurt during the demonstration by about 100 women, which is the second to have turned violent since a coalition of opposition parties stepped up efforts to prevent the Aug. 4 referendum from taking place. Lawyers in the desert nation went on a 24-hour strike on Monday to protest against plans to hold a referendum that opponents call an attempted coup d'etat. Bazoum Mahamed, a leading opposition figure, was also briefly detained on Tuesday.
The United States, Canada and West Africa's regional body, ECOWAS, have led the criticism of Tandja's moves. The European Union said it was delaying a payment of budgetary support due to concerns over the referendum. Despite coming to the end of his second five-year term, Tandja says he needs more time in power to carry out political reforms and complete large projects, which include a dam, oil refinery and a uranium mine financed by French nuclear energy giant Areva (CEPFi.PA).
Australian uranium miner, Extract Resources, said preliminary cost estimate study has confirmed its Rossing South uranium deposit in Namibia as one of the world's largest uranium mines. Extract owns the now world acclaimed uranium resource, known as Rossing South, w hich is adjacent to Namibia's oldest uranium mine, Rio Tinto, owned Rossing mine.India Hopes to Open Uranium Trade With Australia
India's top diplomat will attempt this week to persuade Australian officials to permit uranium sales to New Delhi, Asian News International reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 3).
Goldman Sachs Reports Record $100M Trading Days in Q2Behold the bulge in the Gold Man's Sacks my friends!
Bank of New York Mellon Buys Back Warrants
HSBC to Add Outlets, Staff as It Expands in China
Better learn to speak Mandarin, comrades.
Why Won't Barney Frank Just Agree To Audit The Fed?
[insert your own Barney Frank gag here]
Oh yes I did.
Germany plans forced administration of stricken banks
Mine Fuhrer, I can valk!
Germany's Economy Ministry has drafted law on the compulsory state administration of banks threatened with insolvency, a ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.Iceland to Drop Capital Controls in Stages Starting November
UK Serious Fraud Office investigating Iceland
Maybe so they can find out how to best use it to destroy any opposition and to to apply it elsewhere in glorious Glow Ball mine proples?
Britain’s Serious Fraud Office, the public body which investigates large scale financial cases, has been conducting its own investigation into the collapse of the Icelandic banks.Crude futures move above $71 ahead of supply data
Oil Prices to Heat Up Slowly
Coned, Comed Ask for DOE Smart Grid GrantsBetter get righteous before they flick ya light switch.....
'Socialist Joker' Obama portrait goes viralTwo utilities with confusingly similar names – Consolidated Edison Co. of New York and Commonwealth Edison in Chicago – have thrown their hats in the ring as the latest to seek Department of Energy stimulus grants for smart grid projects.
ComEd, as the Chicago-based utility is known, said Tuesday that it would ask for $175 million to help pay for a 141,000 smart meter deployment that will test a variety of alternative pricing plans, in-home energy displays and home area network control systems (see GE, Silver Spring Land ComEd Smart Meter Pilot).
And ConEdison in New York said it would seek an unspecified amount in stimulus grants to help pay for a total of $375 million in smart grid projects it has planned. Those include the deployment of about 40,000 smart meters, adding monitoring to underground and overhead power distribution systems, and building a command and control network for the utility's smart grid systems.
DOE has about $3.9 billion set aside for 50-50 matching grants to fund smart grid projects. About $3.3 billion is aimed at commercial-scale projects, and about $615 million is aimed at smaller-scale technology demonstration grants (see DOE Issues Rules for $3.9B in Smart Grid Stimulus Grants).
STFU or you're a racist, see, Chimpy McHalibuton?
Barack Obama, the ultimate bait-and-switch
You can't say I didn't warn you!
Since Barack Obama has taken office, it is becoming increasing clear that he is not the savior the American people thought they were voting for. For all his talk of change, and all his progressive posturing, it's business as usual in Washington. From the start, Obama was a sort of blank image, an empty shell created by public relations firms and media outlets. He garnered incredible support from the majority of the American people using words like hope, change and unity. Obama never had any real stances on issues or polices.Lewisville man arrested for impersonating federal agent
To quote MIT linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky "Obama’s handlers, the campaign managers, have created an image that is essentially a blank slate. In the Obama campaign the words are hope, change, unity – totally vacuous slogans said by a nice person, who looks good and talks nicely – what commentators call 'soaring rhetoric' – and you can write anything you like on that blank slate.”
The secret life of Molting Twitty?
Collin officials say Morley admitted he was not a real agent, though they still don't know exactly why he was pretending.Digitized Stalking Is the New World Order
"Over the next decade, systems which create and store digital records of people’s movements through public space will be woven inextricably into the fabric of everyday life. We are already starting to see such systems now, and there will be many more in the near future," the report said.The next hot sector to invest in: Energy Weapons (NOC,TXT)
Jewsus save us.
Cybersecurity: A Briefing - Part IICyber leadership takes shape at Homeland Security
Well bully for Bruno.
Jewish security network meets with DHS chief
IDIOTS! Do you not understand the DHS thinks of YOU as the terrorists now?
Leaders of the Secure Community Network met Wednesday in Washington with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. SCN, which coordinates security for North American Jewish institutions, has been working with DHS for a while on security training and assessments, but this was the first meeting with Napolitano since she took office earlier this year. Representatives of the Conference of Presidents and the United Jewish Communities, the two organizations which created SCN, as well as leaders of some other Jewish umbrella groups were part of the session. They discussed the "concerns the community has over the spike in incidents" directed at the Jewish community in recent months, said SCN national director Paul Goldenberg. "The last six months have been extraordinary months for the Jewish community."CACI announces intel, defense contracts
Undisclosed Government Authorities! Previously unannounced!
CACI says the awards, from undisclosed government authorities in the intelligence and national security communities, are for the company to provide technical solutions, and analytical services including document translation services to track and prevent terrorist attacks. Officials say the previously unannounced contracts are worth approximately $133 million.Weapons of Mass Destruction: Government report released on WMD
GAO analysts reviewed DOD's plans for CBRNE consequence management and documents from the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. GAO also met with officials from the Undersecretary of Defense for Homeland Defense, US Northern Command, US Army Forces Command, U.S. Army North, the National Guard Bureau, and some CCMRF units.Exercise focuses on emergencies
DOD has its own CBRNE consequence management plans but has not integrated them with other federal government plans because all elements of the Integrated Planning System mandated by Presidential directive in December 2007 have not been completed.
The system is to develop and link planning documents at the federal, state, and local levels.While the system's framework is established, the CBRNE concept and strategic plans that provide further guidance are incomplete. DOD has had operational plans in place and revises these plans regularly.
And your little dog too.
KANSAS: Hundreds of people are at the Battle Command Training Center at Fort Leavenworth this week practicing what they would do in an emergency. Specifically, they were dealing with a fictional scenario in which a nuclear explosion is detonated in Kansas City, Mo.
The exercise is being used to certify headquarters elements of a chemical, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosive-consequence management response force, or CCMRF, according to Navy Capt. Michael Collins, deputy commander for Joint Task Force Civil Support.
In China, DNA tests on kids ID genetic gifts, careersAll the better for selection and elimination, gwylo. Welcome to GATTACA.
At the Chongqing Children's Palace, experts are hoping to revolutionize child-rearing with the help of science. About 30 children aged 3 to 12 years old and their parents are participating in a new program that uses DNA testing to identify genetic gifts and predict the future.
Trailer for "GATTACA", 1997
Gov't insurance would allow coverage for abortion
I do not see why this is suddenly such big news to people, we knew this weeks and weeks ago.
FEMA Announces Creation Of Children's Working Group
Be afraid, be very afraid.
Health-Care Overhaul Creates Dilemma for Some Catholics
Only for some, you see. Others apparently could give a rat's ass how many babies we feed to Moloch! They should resign from the ~ ism then. But then again, they do not have to because the Pope's continuous "tolerant" silence amounts to tacit papal authorization of all kinds of blasphemy.
Catholics want to "extend health care to as many people as possible...but you can't call it health care if it includes a type of killing. It's as simple as that," says Cathleen Kaveny, a professor of law and theology at the University of Notre Dame.Good for her. Now if Herr Popella had only said something similar - or ANYTHING at all - when The Obamanable triumphantly shit all over Notre Dame and Catholicism, we'd be getting somewhere.
Democrats May Bypass Republicans on Health Plan, Schumer Says
Schumer. Uuuuchhh. And may GOD help those that need a bypass.
DOE: $327 Million new funding for science & energy "security research"
U.S Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that more than $327 million in new funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will go toward scientific research, instrumentation, and laboratory infrastructure projects. Ten of DOE’s national laboratories in six states will be receiving funds, along with researchers at institutions of higher learning across the nation.
“These new initiatives will help to create new jobs while allowing the U.S. to maintain its scientific leadership and economic competitiveness ,” said Secretary Steven Chu. “The projects provide vital funding and new tools for research aimed at strengthening America’s energy security and tackling some of science’s toughest challenges.
SNIP
King Baldwin IV Of Jerusalem's Crowning MomentsThe greatest of the Christian kings to rule Jerusalem during the Crusades began life as a hapless boy who seemed unfit to rule.Israeli Antiquities Authority to search for hidden treasures in attics
That's the staff of Moses? I thought it was mine Bubbe's "valking vere dere are shnakes" stick.
Seriously....This is a terrible thing IMO, very STASI-like. In exchange for being allowed to keep the antiquities? This is insane. WTF are they so afraid of? What are they looking for? I am aware of the level of sophisticated forgery that occurs and the all the political and religious controversies surrounding biblical antiquities - but for them to do something like this, IMO it telegraphs they are looking for something important or sensitive that they already know or suspect someone out there is in possession of.
The Israel Antiquities Authority Tuesday launched an unprecedented campaign to identify private antiquities collectors in Israel and enable them to register their collections in exchange for being allowed to keep the antiquities. Those who meet the authority's criteria and fail to register may be subject to criminal prosecution.Nuke-free world urged on Hiroshima bomb anniversary
And a Koom Bah Humbug to you, you staggering fools.
US hog prices tumble as flu season approaches
HARRAM!
Alaska Cook Inlet oil output to restart next week
Oil production from Alaska's Cook Inlet was expected to restart next week after being shut for months by a series of volcanic eruptions, a spokeswoman for the oil-field operator said on Wednesday. Chevron hopes to restart production at the Trading Bay and Granite Point fields on Monday or Tuesday since the Redoubt Volcano has now quietened down and an onshore oil-loading terminal is being put back into service, said company spokeswoman Roxanne Sinz. The restart was expected to be phased in over a week and production, even when fully restarted, will likely fall short of the 7,500 barrel-a-day level that was normal prior to Redoubt's first big eruption on March 22, Sinz said. 'If we're lucky, it'll probably be a little lower,' she said. Reservoir conditions in the aged fields might have deteriorated during the four-month shutdown, affecting production rates, she said.New Strain of H.I.V. Is Discovered
Redoubt, a 10,197-foot (3,108-metre) volcano located about 100 miles (161 kilometres) southwest of Anchorage, had a series of explosive eruptions during late March and early April. Those explosions unleashed mudflows, floods, showers of rock and billowing ash clouds. Unsafe conditions forced an immediate shutdown at the Drift River Terminal near the base of Redoubt. That shutdown, in turn, caused Chevron to run out of storage space for its Cook Inlet oil, forcing a suspension of production. Although Redoubt is still steaming occasionally, it has not had a big eruption since April 4, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory, the joint state-federal office that monitors and studies Alaska's volcanoes.
European scientists have discovered a new strain of the virus that causes AIDS and linked it to gorillas, creating a mystery about when and how the first patient found to have the strain became infected. It is thought to be likely that this is the first time scientists have documented the jump of a simian immunodeficiency virus to humans from a gorilla. All three other known strains of the human immunodeficiency virus, H.I.V.-1, have been linked to chimpanzees. But genetic tests showed that the new virus was closely related to a recently recognized gorilla virus.Strong 6.1 quake rattles New Zealand
Earthquake of magnitude 5.8 off Romania, Bulgaria
Earthquakes: Take subduction, add water
A University of Utah study has shown how water deep underground helps one of the world's youngest subduction zones in New Zealand, where the Pacific Plate of Earth's crust dives beneath the Australian Plate, mature and paves the way for it to generate powerful earthquakes. The study in the Aug. 6 issue of Nature "expands our understanding of the sources of earthquake failure," says Phil Wannamaker, the study's main author and a geophysicist at the University of Utah's Energy and Geoscience Institute. Understanding how one of Earth's moving tectonic plates can dive or subduct beneath another to create earthquake-generating faults is important because subduction and faulting "are major processes all over the world," especially in the "Ring of Fire" around the Pacific Ocean, Wannamaker says. "It hasn't been on people's minds that fluid-generating processes way out of sight reach up and cause damage right under our feet."
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