Daniel Pearl's Beheader in Pakistani Custody:In a major catch, Pakistani authorities today nabbed a top militant suspected of beheading the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002.Jews Detained for Kneeling on Temple Mount
Rao Shakir, a suspected member of banned Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, was arrested from Bhara Kahu on the outskirts of the federal capital late last night, police said. The militant is believed by the police to be closely linked to al-Qaeda and Taliban groups and their commanders.
Pearl was abducted from Karachi in 2002 while doing a story on militant funding. His remains were later found in a grave on outskirts of the port city. Shakir is also linked to several terrorist strikes, including a suicide attack on a bus of a spy agency, the suicide bombing of the Marriott Hotel last year and an attack in Rawalpindi.
Two Jews were detained by police and held for hours on Sunday morning for the simple act of kneeling while on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The two, Yosef Ben-Avraham of Shilo and Yekutiel ben-Yaakov of Kfar Tapuach, were on the Mount as part of the Holy Temple Festival held in Samaria beginning on Saturday night.TEHRAN TIMES: No peace without Hamas
It seems to me that the chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Mahmoud Abbas, and the political leader of Hamas, Esmail Haniyeh, cannot afford the luxury of internal squabbling when they have a real foe to contend with.Fatah convention draws Palestinian exiles
Perhaps the Palestinians should get themselves a new president; someone who is able to unite and inspire, on which count both Abbas and Haniyeh have failed dismally for different reasons. The late Yasser Arafat may have had his faults but he was at least recognized by all Palestinians as 'our man'.
Senior Fatah Official Recommends Strategic Alliance with Iran
Fatah leader in East Jerusalem, Hatem 'Abd Al-Qader, called on his movement to form a strategic alliance with the Iranian Revolution regime, in light of the impasse in the negotiations between the PA and Israel and the danger threatening Jerusalem. He stressed that he was speaking in the name of Fatah, not the PA.US-trained Palestinian security forces reluctant to face down Fatah "thugs"
Idiots... it has zero to do with being "scared", they are simply on the same side.
Palestinian Authority security forces have balked at stopping attacks by Fatah operatives.Dancing With Damascus
Palestinian sources said PA security forces trained by the United States refused to protect a music festival in the West Bank city of Nablus in late July. The sources said officers from the PA National Security Forces and police allowed Fatah militants to burn down the so-called Nablus Shopping Festival in protest of the Western influence.
"These were forces who underwent what the United States insisted was the best training possible and they were scared to face a handful of thugs," a PA security source said.
Since taking power nine years ago, Syrian strongman Bashar Assad has: turned his country into a safe haven and transit corridor for jihadists en route to Iraq; funneled sophisticated munitions to Hezbollah and probably Hamas; sought to build an illicit nuclear reactor with North Korean help; mostly failed to liberalize Syria’s economy and resisted liberalizing its politics; publicly declared that Israel would never “become a legitimate state even if the peace process is implemented”; and ruled while Syrians have been implicated by a U.N. investigator in the 2005 assassination of Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.AN ORACLE AGAINST DAMASCUS
So, naturally, President Obama has made Syria a prime target for diplomacy as part of his new Axis of Engagement.
מַשָּׂ֖א דַּמָּ֑שֶׂק הִנֵּ֤ה דַמֶּ֙שֶׂק֙ מוּסָ֣ר מֵעִ֔יר וְהָיְתָ֖ה מְעִ֥י מַפָּלָֽה׃
Forest fire erupts in central Syria
A forest fire erupted Sunday afternoon in the forests of Abu Kbeis in Hama Governorate in central-western Syria and north of Damascus, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported. Fire fighters, civil defense teams and helicopters are fighting for controlling & extinguishing the flames, the report said. Commander of the Hama Fire Department Maj. Thaer al-Hasan said the fire was large and difficult to extinguish due to rough terrain in the fire area and hardness of enveloping the fire, despite the massive efforts made by rescue teams, SANA said. It is still unknown what caused the fire and the amounts of trees it destroyed.Chinese envoy visits Syria
What dead Muslim Uighurs? Kill the Juden! FREE PALESTINE!
Report: Caspian Air Crash in Iran Caused by Explosion of Fuses Being Shipped to HezbollahChina Confidential reported on July 16 that sabotage was suspected in the Caspian Air crash in Iran that claimed 168 lives. An Italian newspaper reports that the crash was caused by an explosion of fuses the passenger plane was secretly carrying for delivery to Iran's Islamist Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, and that a number of Revolutionary Guards Corps members were among the crash victims. Click here for the story.Iraqi army officers pulled $4.8-million bank heist
China Confidential intelligence experts believe the explosion was manmade and intentional, not accidental. Iran is likely to blame Israeli intelligence for the disaster; but China Confidential sources suspect the crash was the result of an Iranian plot, possibly undertaken by conservative rivals of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or a secret organization of regular armed forces officers.
There is increasing concern on the part of the Iranian regime that elements of the regular armed forces could rise up against the Guards Corps.
When thieves shot dead eight guards and made off with $4.8 million in one of Iraq's biggest ever bank heists last week, fingers quickly pointed at the Sunni-led insurgency. Extremists must be turning to crime to finance their activities, so the hypothesis went, and $4.8 million would pay for a lot of bombs.OIC Nations Should Have Common Halal Certifying Body
But after a series of arrests and a sweep of a government compound in recent days, Iraqi police now say the culprits were in fact Iraqi army officers attached to the elite unit guarding Shiite Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi.
Four soldiers were in custody Sunday, including a captain and a lieutenant, and the money has been recovered, authorities said. Four other soldiers are still being sought. Officials have been quick to discount the possibility that Abdul-Mahdi, or his powerful political faction, the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, were involved.
"They executed the operation for personal reasons, exploiting their profession as officers in the army and their presence in the area," Interior Ministry spokesman General Abdul Kareem Khalaf told a press conference. "It had nothing to do with supporting terrorism," he added.
Mazhab:Darhim Hashim, the Chief Executive Officer of International Halal Integrity Alliance presented his topic on the development of Halal Standards for the Organisation of Islamic Conference.
He presented his findings, which state that out of 57 O1C member countries less than five have Halal Certification Bodies, less than half of the countries have Halal import regulations and none has a domestic Halal Act.
However, he said Halal-related organisations exist in non-O1C countries for example, USA and Australia.
He said five factors are considered in the development of Global Halal Standard, which include the five "mazhab, science, industry, Ummah and Shariah"
Madhhab (Arabic: مذهب [mæðhæb], pl. مذاهب [mæðæːhıb]; transliterated Urdu: mazhab) is an Islamic school of law, or fiqh (religious jurisprudence). In the first 150 years of Islam, there were many such "schools" - in fact, several of the Sahābah, or contemporary "companions" of Muhammad, are credited with founding their own. The prominent Islamic jurisprudence schools of Damascus in Syria (often named Awza'iyya), Kufa and Basra in Iraq, and Medina in Arabia survived as the Maliki madhhab, while the other Iraqi schools were consolidated into the Hanafi madhhab. The Shafi'i, Hanbali, Zahiri and Jariri schools were established later, though the latter two schools eventually died out.
Iran is ready to build a nuke, they are just waiting for the Ayatollah's order ...Iran has perfected the technology to create and detonate a nuclear warhead and is merely awaiting the word from its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to produce its first bomb, Western intelligence sources have told The Times. The sources said that Iran completed a research programme to create weaponised uranium in the summer of 2003 and that it could feasibly make a bomb within a year of an order from its Supreme Leader.Swiss diplomats ask Iran about missing Americans
Dig this. We send some Swiss Cheese to ASK them. Ever so politely, I am sure...
Iranian court warns against criticizing proceedings
Iran's Khatami condemns "show trial" confessions
Glow Ballin' Khatami in reality does not give one flying rat's ass about the accused, he is using this as a political wedge to remove Ahmadi Nejad and install his own "faction" which includes Mousavi, who will be no better for the Iranian people or the world than the regime currently in power.
MOUSAVI: DEFENDANTS WERE TORTURED BY REGIME
And if he takes power believe me he will torture his enemies in turn....
Iran restates support for China's efforts to safeguard unification
What 10,000 missing Muslims? Unification through dead Uighurs, my Chinese friends!
Iranian Acting Foreign Minister Hossein Sheikh al-Islam said Sunday Iran supports China's efforts to safeguard its national unification, territorial integrity and social stability. In a meeting with Wu Sike, China's Special Envoy to the Middle East, Sheikh al-Islam said Iran hopes to enhance bilateral cooperation with China in a comprehensive way. Iran is also willing to enhance communication and consultation with China on international and regional issues, he said.
Defectors tell of Burma's secret nuclear reactorTwo of Asia's most oppressive regimes may have joined forces to develop a nuclear arsenal, according to strategic experts who have analysed information supplied by a pair of Burmese defectors. The men, who played key roles in helping the isolated military junta before defecting to Thailand, have provided evidence which suggests Burma has enlisted North Korean help to build its own nuclear bomb within the next five years.Remeber that NORK boat we were following everywhere a couple months back? It was on it's way to Burma. A run from this June 22nd post:
Details supplied by the pair, who were extensively interviewed over the past two years by Professor Desmond Ball of the Australian National University and Thai-based Irish-Australian journalist Phil Thornton, points to Burma building a secret nuclear reactor and plutonium extraction facility with the assistance of North Korea.
China, Myanmar sign oil pipeline agreementS. Korean, US Nuclear Envoys to Meet in Hawaii
OK Babba Where TF is Myanmar?
Myanmar is BURMA
By all accounts Myanmar is also where the Nork Nuke ship is supposedly headed:US Navy Destroyer Tails North Korean Ship May Be Steaming Towards MyanmarNorth Korean Ship With Suspicious Cargo Heads For Myanmar
Shadowed ship for Myanmar
US Destroyer Shadows N. Korean Ship
Sinopec denies seeking change to oil price system
State-owned Sinopec Group, China's leading oil and gas company, denied reports on Monday that it was seeking changes in the oil pricing mechanism, which it said allows speculators to anticipate official price changes. The official China National Radio (CNR) reported on Sunday that Sinopec Group was in discussions with peer oil firm CNPC and the top economic planner to fine-tune the new oil pricing mechanism, which was put in place in January.Oil Trades Near One-Month High on Speculation Demand to Recover
"The current oil pricing mechanism is too simple and transparent, which often leads to speculation and product hoarding. This is not good for a stable oil market order," CNR said, summing up the opinions of unnamed CNPC and Sinopec sources.
Speculators Stabilize Oil Prices: Here's Proof
Norway, Spain, India, China, Russia and Brazil have all signed oil exploration agreements with Cuba
Japanese army prisoners in Tajikistan: Slave labor for good memorySixty years ago the last Japanese prisoners left Tajikistan. However, there are still people in Tajikistan that remember when Japanese came to this land and when they left it. I got interested in the lifestyle of those Japanese prisoners. My search led me to the village of Plotina of Spitamen rayon. Japanese army prisoners spent most of the time here working for the construction of Farkhad hydropower plant construction. In the mid 1940s the telephone operator Alexander Zubov worked at one of nine construction areas here. According to Zubov, Japanese army prisoners arrived in August-September of 1945. They were involved in the construction of the administrative buildings, residential houses, plants, roads, dikes, power transmission lines. He says there were about five thousand prisoners. Among them there were both officers and soldiers.TAJIKISTAN: Dushanbe Quadrilateral Moot!
SAY IT TEN TIMES FAST! Or at least use it as a band name.
For all practical purposes, the unusual quadrilateral security summit conference of the presidents of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Russia, held at Tajikistan capital Dushanbe, has paved the way of another regional bloc that is assigned the task of promoting relationship among the four states in all spheres of activities, particularly economic development. The way deliberations progressed only reflects that the moot has been a resounding success because all partners of the conference shared identical concerns about growing challenges thrown by militancy and extremism in Pakistan and Afghanistan in particular and vowed to put up a joint fight against the menace hoping that the entire world would throw its weight behind them in the fight against the threat which has taken the globe as its hostage.Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan envoys meet in Tehran
Afghanistan and Pakistan are both fighting bloody insurgencies led by militants while Tajikistan is concerned that the instability will spill over its porous border with Afghanistan. Russia, meanwhile, is keen to sharpen its profile in Afghanistan and Pakistan, two countries where it has had only a limited role to play since the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989.
The three countries also signed a draft agreement for creation of a joint commission which is to be approved by foreign ministers later.Tajikistan: Irrecoverable Losses
Tajikistan: Survival through revival of ancient craftsNorthern regions of Tajikistan have already received what is known throughout Russia as Load 200. The Abdukhalimovs (father Azimjon, 31, mother Dildora, 31, and children Nozimjon, 13, Makhliye, 11, and Parviz, 10) returned from Russia in caskets in 2007. The family was murdered by neo-Nazis (first the children, then the adults) who tried to burn the bodies afterwards.
The number of the caskets shipped from Russia to Tajikistan remains more or less unchanged. According to the Sogdi Regional Division of the Immigration Service of Tajikistan, 52 two bodies arrived in this region from Russia in the first five months of 2007, 69 in the same period of 2008, and 65 in 2009. The authorities usually chalk them off to natural causes and accidents. Independent sources, however, say that most labor immigrants in Russia fell victims of the underworld - Russian criminals or ethnic gangs (some of them comprising immigrants too).
According to official estimates, there are more than 600,000 Tajik labor immigrants in Russia alone. Mass layoffs are expected to bring this figure down so that 200,000 Tajiks will go home. The army of the unemployed in Tajikistan two years ago numbered 60,400 and only 15,500 vacancies were available (three applicants for every vacancy or so).
All crafts are ancient, my friends. Look, they have driven them to basket weaving. Isn't that what they make you do in the loony bins after the chemical lobotomy?
Bakiyev Inaugurated as Kyrgyz President for Second TermTajikistan gained sovereignty nearly 17 years ago. Civil war that lasted five years took over 100,000 lives and made as many women and children widows and orphans. The war devastated national economy, both industry and agriculture. Tajikistan has not recovered yet: unemployment grows, factories idle.
The situation being what it is, people are left to their own devices. Thievery and murder, human traffic, frauds, prostitution are booming. Very many are convinced that there is nothing to be done about corruption anymore. Suicide appears the only solution to the problems of many. According to official reports alone, 478 tried to take their lives in Tajikistan in the last two years. Over 100 suicides were logged in the Sogdi region alone in the first five months of 2009.
In the meantime, some people retain optimism and refuse to paint it all black. Some people in Tajikistan aspire to revive ancient crafts. The Khamidovs live in Kulangir, a village in the Bobojongaful district. Domullojon Khamidov, 51, the father of four, and his sister Shakhodat Khamidova, 47, the mother of three, decided to resurrect the sabadfobi - weaving of the sabads or baskets.
The OSCE said its monitors noted incidents of ballot box stuffing, multiple voting and even vote buying, and it concluded that the polls did not meet "key international standards." President Bakiyev took power in 2005 after violent street protests forced his predecessor, Askar Akayev, to resign.Modern election campaigning and propaganda in Kyrgyzstan
A narcologist, even!
The narcologist Jenishbek Nazaraliev is also involved in active campaigning. His colorful portraits remind of narcotic profession of the doctor. His slogan is "everything is in your hands". It is interesting to note that about 70% of Nazaraliev’s posters have been already removed. At the same time, nearly all the posters, promoting current President, are left untouched.Turkmenistan:Unknown struggle with dope
Dig the language in this thing .... a "threat to the gene pool"
Turkmenistan combats drug trafficking within the national program of drug enforcement and aid to drug-addicts adopted for 2006-2010. Fighting this evil, Turkmen services pool efforts with foreign countries and international organizations like the UN, OSCE, and others. Unfortunately, intensiveness of trafficking and the number of addicts in the country refuse to lessen.Gazpromtrans to purchase 20 diesel locomotives in Kazakhstan
Drugs are openly sold in Turkmen cities and villages. Their ready availability is recognized as a threat to the gene pool. Hence establishment of the State Drug Enforcement Service a year ago, a structure coordinating efforts of the national systems of health care and education, general public, local authorities, law enforcement agencies, and the army to eradicate this evil.
Kazakhstan: Silent bombs for the Motherland
Filmmaker Gerald Sperling spent five years making his documentary on the fallout from the Soviet Union's nuclear testing in Kazakhstan.Kazakhstan: The prohibited book of Rakhat Aliyev
The Russian version of "The God Father-in-Law", the book of Rakhat Aliyev, published in Germany, is distributed via internet in PDF format to everyone, willing to read it. Supernormal readers’ interest to "The God Father-in-Law" is fueled by the prohibition of Prosecutor-General’s Office of Kazakhstan to read and distribute the book, revealing (in the opinion of Prosecutor-General’s Office) the state secrets. Otherwise, one can be persecuted and sentenced to three years of imprisonment.Kazakhstan considering merging function of central bank and financial regulator
It has to be mentioned that former son-in-law of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and the former Ambassador of Kazakhstan in Austria, Rakhat Aliyev, published a book, where he shared everything he knew about his former farther-in-law. Here are the titles of some chapters of this book: "If I was Nursultan I would have three wives", "Nazarbayev makes his first million", "The person who stole the elections", "Who makes money on Astana", "Small weaknesses of Nursultan Abishevich" and so on. We are not going to share and cite the electronic email address where you can request free e-copy of Aliyev’s book in Russian language – the point is that the General Prosecutor’s Office prohibited that and, therefore, everyone will have to find and read the book personally, not counting on the reviewers’ opinion.
Sound familiar, serfs?
Kazakhstan could combine the National Bank of Kazakhstan and the Financial Supervision Agency (FSA) into one uber-regulator as part of planned post-crisis reforms, Samruk-Kazyna chairman Kairat Kelimbetov said in a newspaper interview last Thursday.Miss Kazakhstan Olga Nikitina drops out of Miss Universe pageant
STFU OK? English not Igor's first language.
Olga Nikitina, Kazakhstan's representative to Miss Universe 2009 in Bahamas, dropped out of the competition probably because of financial difficulties. Twenty-year-old Olga who stands 6"0' is a big missed in Miss U. She is Miss Kazakhstan Universe 2008.
Uzbekistan: "Rabble-rousers" are not welcome in the Oliy Mazhlis, Dammit!Uzbekistan started the preparation for the elections to Oliy Mazhlis (parliament) and local Kengash (councils) of deputies, scheduled to December of 2009.Uzbekistan: Students prohibited to approach the US Embassy in Tashkent
The goal, pursued by Uzbek mass media, is to make everybody "subordinate" through promotion and non-publication of critical opinions. As a result, the person is forced to buy the newspapers, full of "entertainment".
Ferghana.Ru sources in Tashkent say that administration of colleges and universities demand written reports from their students on every visit to the US Embassy.Uzbekistan is one of the major destabilization factors in the regionOnce a week the US Embassy organizes an interesting and informative conference for local students and pupils. Visiting Americans and Embassy officials are invited to these conferences to talk on absolutely harmless subjects. Judging by ads and flyers, the conferences only aim to give the locals a chance to hone their language skills. Students and pupils are encouraged to speak up by friendly officials and the very atmosphere of the meetings. Hollywood movies are sometimes run without translation which also helps young Uzbeks resolved to master the English language.
The Embassy's Information Resource Center offers free literature for English-learners, computer software, and all sorts of teaching aids on US culture, education, economy, and literature. Nothing is requested from visitors in return - no cloak-and-dagger stuff, no anti-Uzbek propaganda.
It does not prevent the regime from perceiving the US Embassy as recruiter. Every event organized by the Embassy is inevitably regarded as a lofty demonstration of American superiority over Uzbekistan.
Digging trenches on the borders is never a good sign mine proples
After the events in Khanabad Uzbekistan started the erection of concrete walls, digging the ditches and trenches at the border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan without any preliminary agreements. The emerged tensions became the subject of analysis by international experts that again focused the attention on peculiarities of Uzbek foreign policy in the region.Georgia Accuses Russia Of Shifting South Ossetia Border
Border is where I say border is. Go ahead, cross this line, tovarich. Knock this battery off my shoulder, comrade. You will see. Now dig.
~ Mad Vlad The Most Bad
There is something symbolic in the date of the Putin's visit to Ankara
There is something symbolic in the date of the RF Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visit to Ankara. If we recall that a year ago exactly on these days broke out the Georgian-South Ossetian war, which put the region on the verge of catastrophe, then the visit of Putin to Turkey can be attributed to the list of planned chances. But if we also recall that it was exactly after this war that the Turkish Premier introduced the Caucasus Platform of Peace and Stability, it can be assumed that Vladimir Putin goes to Turkey not only to discuss the customs problems emergent between the two countries, but also to settle some more serious issues...No Respect for Russia In Its Own Backyard
We have many ways of teaching respect, silly proples. Better you should respect right away rather than force us to reveal what these many ways are.
~ Your Friend Vlad
The sharpest slap in the face came from Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, who instructed his top diplomats to develop closer ties with the West and called the Russia-Belarus union “a failed project.” Lukashenko’s Foreign Ministry issued a bold statement that reaffirmed Belarus’ recognition of Georgia’s sovereignty over Abkhazia and South Ossetia, despite Moscow’s persistent prodding that Minsk recognize them as independent states.Three government workers, policeman killed in South Russia
Unfortunately these three had to be schooled in respect.
~ Glorious Supreme Comrade Vladimir Putin
Three workers from Russia's Emergency Ministry were gunned down in the Ingushetia region on Sunday and a policeman was shot dead overnight in nearby Dagestan, underscoring simmering tension in the country's south. "A car opened fire on the road and killed three employees of the Emergency Ministry," Ingush opposition website www.ingushetiyaru.org said. Ruslan Koloyev, acting head of the Emergency Ministry in Ingushetia, Russia's smallest region and one of its poorest, told state television the workers were unarmed and heading to begin their Sunday morning shift when they were shot at. Two died immediately and the third died upon arrival in hospital, Russian news agencies reported.In Russia, witnesses risk their lives
Nothing is clean in Russia. This is legal nihilism.
Valery Kazakov was almost to the prosecutor's office when the killers caught him. He was shot as he cut through an alleyway, and when he stumbled bleeding into the street, a man bent down to stab the final breaths out of him.Russian Government Set to Renege on ExxonMobil Deal
It was 3 o'clock in the afternoon, in the heart of the sleepy town of Pushkino. As far as the townspeople were concerned, it was a public execution. Kazakov, a former police officer, was believed to have been on his way to testify in the corruption case against the former mayor.
It has been a year now, and Kazakov's widow holds out little hope of justice, shrugging off the idea with weary skepticism. Police recently arrested the alleged killer, but that's just a "technical detail," Maria Kazakova says. She wants to know who put the hit on her husband, who ordered and paid for it.
"Maybe we'll find out, if the killer isn't killed before he starts talking." Kazakova pauses, staring down into her coffee cup. "Nothing is clean in Russia."
SHOCKA not!
Action man Putin ties transmitter on whale!
Glorious Underwater Vladness!
Action Vlad Putin it on thick
Illegal. Illiberal. Ill-FatedNow that the U.S. government is indeed running G.M., after having divvied up failing Chrysler between itself, Canada, the United Auto Workers, and Fiat, ifs worth stepping back and taking measure of this almost unthinkable chain of events. After decades of Europe and most of the West enjoying the fruits of selling off state ownership in private industry, the U.S. is going on a nationalization bender. An inventory of the steps that led us here leads to three inescapable conclusions: This bailout is illegal, illiberal, and ill- fated.
Treasury secretary won't say whether tax increases needed
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says the U.S. must cut the annual federal budget deficit, now more than $1 trillion, for the economy to have a sustained recovery and he’s not ruling out new taxes.
He said the country needs to understand the Obama administration will do what’s necessary. He did not detail how the government plans to shrink the deficit, though he said overhauling the health care system and lowering costs are essential. “When we have recovery established, led by the private sector, then we have to bring these deficits down very dramatically,” he told ABC’s “This Week” in an interview broadcast Sunday. “
And that’s going to require some very hard choices. And we’re going to have to do that in a way that does not add unfairly to the burdens that the average American already faces.”
Goldman Sachs + JP Morgan = Banksters
I don't want folks to think it is just Goldman Sachs. It is actually a Congress that is fully owned by the Banksters, and the Banksters include JPMorgan, Bank of American, Citigroup, AIG, etc.Wake up America . . . it is already too late, but just maybe we have a chance if you wake up.Transcript: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Alan Greenspan
~ Mike Morgan
Iceland Will Lift Capital ControlsSTEPHANOPOULOS: I did want to get to that. And as we pull out of the recession, the other big worry going forward is deficits. You heard that from the Chinese this week. Our next guest, Alan Greenspan, has warned this as well.
And Senator Charles Grassley, the Republican ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee has cited CBO estimates, Congressional Budget Office estimates, that your budget will add $9 trillion to the national debt over the next decade.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY (R-IA), RANKING MEMBER, FINANCE COMMITTEE: Our debt, as a percentage of the economy, will grow in excess of 80 percent, a level also that has not been seen since this country was in World War II.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANOPOULOS: That is a very, very high level. And I know you believe that passing health care is essential to getting the deficit under control, but independent analysts also say that even with that, you're going to have to find new government revenues.
The former deputy treasury secretary, Roger Altman, said: "It is no longer a matter of whether tax revenues must increase, but how." Is he right?
GEITHNER: George it is absolutely right and very important for everyone to understand that we will not get this economy back on track, recovery will be not strong and sustained, unless we are -- can convince the American people that we're going to have the will to bring these deficits down once recovery is firmly established.
Tovarich, you won't believe, we just bought Iceland. Cheap!
Iceland's central bank on Friday outlined plans to begin lifting capital controls later this year, a day after the International Monetary Fund said it postponed a meeting to review its funding for the country.Iceland debates: Autonomy or cash
Elsewhere, Standard & Poor's Corp. said it raised Ukraine's foreign-currency rating outlook to positive from stable, reflecting what it said was the government's progress in implementing budget and financial-sector changes to comply with IMF conditions. In Iceland, the central bank said it will begin lifting capital controls once foreign-currency reserves are adequately stocked, which it said should happen by November.
Restrictions on capital flows were installed late last year in an effort to support Iceland's krona after banks virtually collapsed and the country tottered on the brink of bankruptcy. The news followed a plan by Iceland to apply to join the European Union, which would require eventual euro adoption, and measures to recapitalize the banking sector -- both steps toward reintegrating with Western economies.
What is this autonomy you speak of?
~ God of ChaChing
Just months after an epic banking collapse forced Iceland into the arms of the International Monetary Fund, this island nation is locked in a fierce debate over how to pay off its creditors without ceding too much of its independence.News suppressed in Iceland
And so it begins. Or ends, depending on the point of view.
'Vibrant Response' to train troops for disastersI have already reported on this but this an informative piece.
The CBRNE was transferred to U.S. Northern Command's Joint Task Force Civil Support in October 2002. JTF-CS provides support from active, guard and reserve members, and civilians, who are all commanded by a National Guard general officer. CBRNE is designed to work with federal agencies like the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Center for Disease Control, to aid, restore and prevent casualties in instances of major disaster.So, why is the National Guard hiring “Internment / Resettlement Specialists?”
A somewhat disturbing ad recently appeared on internet employment sites, the ad in question was placed by the National Guard. Apparently, the Guard is now looking for people to work at internment camps.New Military-Civilian Terror Prison EyedHere is the ad as it appeared:
“Correction Officer Internment / Resettlement Specialist”
“As an Internment/Resettlement Specialist for the Army National Guard, you will ensure the smooth running of military confinement/correctional facility or detention/internment facility, similar to those duties conducted by civilian Corrections Officers. This will require you to know proper procedures and military law; and have the ability to think quickly in high-stress situations. Specific duties may include assisting with supervision and management operations; providing facility security; providing custody, control, supervision, and escort; and counseling individual prisoners in rehabilitative programs.”
The Obama administration is looking at creating a courtroom-within-a-prison complex in the U.S. to house suspected terrorists, combining military and civilian detention facilities at a single maximum-security prison.Homeland Security, Defense Departments plan domestic operations?
Several senior U.S. officials said the administration is eyeing a soon-to-be-shuttered state maximum security prison in Michigan and the 134-year-old military penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., as possible locations for a heavily guarded site to hold the 229 suspected al-Qaida, Taliban and foreign fighters now jailed at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba.
The officials outlined the plans -- the latest effort to comply with President Barack Obama's order to close the prison camp by Jan. 22, 2010, and satisfy congressional and public fears about incarcerating terror suspects on American soil -- on condition of anonymity because the options are under review.
The Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security recently notified law enforcement agencies and associations, such as the National Association of Chiefs of Police, about the Obama Administration's interest in using the military during "emergencies."
Government officials reported that the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator W. Craig Fugate met with the Commander of the US Northern Command, General Gene Renuart, to discuss "pre-disaster planning, response and recovery in support of the federal response to the 2009 hurricane season as well as wild fires, floods and other potential disasters."
The meeting reinforced the important relationship between the two organizations and focused on the operational role of US Northern Command and what resources and skills they bring to any major Federal effort related to all-hazards preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation. It was also an opportunity to meet operational leaders who would fill key positions in those support efforts."NORTHCOM plays a vital role in disaster response in support of state and local officials," Fugate said. "I am impressed by their commitment to teamwork and interoperability. They are leaning forward and are solutions-oriented partners among the nation's emergency response team."
"We are committed to teaming with and supporting our civilian partners," added Renuart. "If our federal partners, state and local officials are successful in responding to contingency operations, then ultimately we are successful. We look forward to our continued collaboration and cooperation."
However, many law enforcement executives and organizations went on the record saying they did not appreciate the prospect of federal troops usurping the authority of local and state law enforcement agencies or the role of the National Guard unit currently under the control of governors.
Found in "WORKERS LIBERTY":Reflections on Fascism & Communism
In the article that follows, Julius Jacobson – a revolutionary activist, anti-Stalinist socialist and writer from the age of 14 to his death – reflects on the nature of Stalinism and its apparent similarities to Fascism. He exposes some of the realities of Stalinist politics and organisations and contrasts them to a genuine, independent socialism. Jacobson provides us with some powerful arguments for the debates and battles to come. Just as Cicero demolished Mark Antony, we must do the same with the Stalinists.Barack Obama and General Electric:
Why MSNBC & NBC Supported Obama So Vociferously
State legislators oppose “Obamacare” as violation of states' authorityA “Negotiated Settlement” of the Olbermann-O’Reilly Media War
Yesterday Dakinikat wrote a post on the “negotiated settlement” in which Keith Olbermann of MSNBC and Bill O’Reilly of Fox News were silenced by their respective corporate masters, General Electric and News Corp. Here’s a little refresher. From The New York Times:
At an off-the-record summit meeting for chief executives sponsored by Microsoft in mid-May, the PBS interviewer Charlie Rose asked Jeffrey Immelt, chairman of G.E., and his counterpart at the News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch, about the feud.
Both moguls expressed regret over the venomous culture between the networks and the increasingly personal nature of the barbs. Days later, even though the feud had increased the audience of both programs, their lieutenants arranged a cease-fire, according to four people who work at the companies and have direct knowledge of the deal.
GE and News Corp were concerned that the long-running feud between Olbermann and O’Reilly was hurting the parent corporations’ business interests.
The Obama Administration: Pursuing Zero Economic Growth?
President Barack Obama talks about restoring economic growth. But his science adviser, John Holdren, once called for zero economic growth while writing with Paul and Anne Ehrlich--who predicted mass starvation in the 1970s.Pentagon eyes accelerated "bunker buster" bomb
The non-nuclear, 30000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP, which is still being tested, is designed to destroy deeply buried bunkers.Raytheon to Supply Electronic Patient Tracking System to Long Beach"The Air Force and Department of Defense are looking at the possibility of accelerating the program," he said. "There have been discussions with the four congressional committees with oversight responsibilities. No final decision has been made."
The precision-guided weapon, built by Boeing could become the biggest conventional bomb the United States has ever used.
Electronic Patient Tracking System? Sounds ominous to me.
Obama's Anti-Human Programs almost complete
This is the dawning of the age of Homo Stultus...
The Anti-Humans: STUDENT RE-EDUCATION IN ROMANIAN PRISONS
by Dumitru Bacu
This is a testimony from behind the curtain, from beyond the tomb. I leave to the victims the right to judge.
India to attain uranium self-sufficiency by 2013A report carried by the Indian Express said “with the Jadugoda uranium mill in Jharkhand expanded and the proposed expansion of Turamdih mill expected by next year, uranium production would go up”. It said uranium exploration was underway at Tummalapalle in Andhra Pradesh and extraction was expected to begin by 2013, the chairman told the paper. “We are also working to explore uranium at Gogi near Gulbarga in Karnataka,” he said and expressed the hope that a proposed project at Meghalaya would also be cleared soon, the report said.INDIA: Police trace possible uranium ore smuggling route
Authorities have traced a possible route used for smuggling uranium ore from Meghalaya to Bangladesh via Assam after the arrest of five persons with some uranium ore-like substance in Assam's Dhubri district. The five were arrested with 2.5 kg of suspected uranium from Hatsinghimari on Friday last and the substance has been sent for tests, Dhubri SP Partha Sarathi Mahanta told PTI over phone.Radioactive waste dump expansion possible in Utah
During interrogation of the arrested persons, it was revealed that the radioactive substance was being smuggled from Meghalaya and was meant to be sold across the international border, he said. The recovery put the security forces on an alert in view of the fear that the porous Indo-Bangla border was being used by militants to smuggle uranium and other such substances, mainly found in Meghalaya.
Uranium Contamination Haunts Navajo Country
It was one year ago that the environmental scientist showed up at Fred Slowman’s door, deep in the heart of Navajo country, and warned that it was unsafe for him to stay there. The Slowman home, the same one-level cinderblock structure his family had lived in for nearly a half-century, was contaminated with potentially dangerous levels of uranium from the days of the cold war, when hundreds of uranium mines dotted the vast tribal land known as the Navajo Nation.Uranium, the Havasupai, and drinking water in the Colorado River Basin
The scientist advised Mr. Slowman, his wife and their two sons to move out until their home could be rebuilt. “I was angry,” Mr. Slowman said. “I guess it was here all this time, and we never knew.”
The legacy wrought from decades of uranium mining is long and painful here on the expansive reservation. Over the years, Navajo miners extracted some four million tons of uranium ore from the ground, much of it used by the United States government to make weapons. Many miners died from radiation-related illnesses; some, unaware of harmful health effects, hauled contaminated rocks and tailings from local mines and mills to build homes for their families.
Now, those homes are being demolished and rebuilt under a new government program that seeks to identify what are very likely dozens of uranium contaminated structures still standing on Navajo land and to temporarily relocate people living in them until the homes can be torn down and rebuilt.
On July 21, 2009, Obama Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced a two year "time out" on new uranium mining claims on nearly a million acres of federal land near the Grand Canyon, in response, it seemed, to the protest of environmentalists, and, Native Americans, who still suffer cancers and other illnesses at rates many times higher than the general population, consequent to uranium mining on or near tribal lands.
Cause for celebration? Not in the least. Salazar's announcement is straight out of Orwell's 1984. This two year "time out" is no time out at all, because new mining claims are not the issue. More than 10,000 uranium claims have been staked on federal land immediately surrounding the Grand Canyon in the last three years. According to Roger Clark, Air and Energy Director of the Grand Canyon Trust, if even 1% of these claims become mines, they could seriously contaminate both ground and surface water surrounding the Grand Canyon, which drains into the Colorado River and contributes to the drinking water of 30 million people in the Lower Colorado River Basin, in Arizona, Colorado, and California.
On the day that Salazar announced his faux time out, the Native Havasupai, who make their home at the base of the Grand Canyon's South Rim, began gathering to host a weekend teach-in and speak-out against uranium mining at Red Butte, a Havasupai sacred site they hope to defend from contamination and desecration by Denison Mines' plan to reopen its nearby Arizona One uranium mine. Denison, a collaboration of Dennison Mines, Inc. and Uranium International, was then reported to be only one Arizona air quality permit away from reopening the mine closed 20 years ago.
The American South As Warning To The Nigerian NorthHere then is the warning: unless a brand new generation of sufficiently dissatisfied Northerners forty-years-old and below rises up to take radical stock of things; unless they categorically reject a dependency mentality that ties the fate of the North to the Niger Delta’s oil at the expense of developing the vast agricultural and mineral potentials of Arewa land; unless they understand that our envisioned Nigeria of the future will not tolerate the retrogressive born-to-rule mentality of their elders; unless they understand that northern leadership, as currently constituted, is too moribund to think beyond oil and too wicked to think beyond narrow class interests; unless they study how scrupulously the old and current guard of the northern elite have applied the strategies of the white slavers in the Deep South of the United States to make a total mess of the North and Nigeria; and, most importantly, unless they understand why the Deep South has had to play catch up with the rest of America for so long, the North will continue to lag behind and play catch up for another foreseeable century even with its stranglehold on the centre, quota, federal character, and other foolish strategies designed to slow down the pace of development in the rest of Nigeria. Let’s hope that the odious rulers of Nigeria will let her have another century.The search for ice on the moon heats up
And Raytheon is three lengths ahead...
Special sensing technology developed by Raytheon for the US Navy's miniaturized radio frequency system is aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), one of two spacecraft hoping to find photographic evidence that the polar regions of the moon contain ice. Until now, man hasn’t been able to confirm if there is ice on the moon because it is thought to exist only in permanently dark patches, or poles, on the lunar landscape – which means we haven’t been able to take detailed photos yet. NASA in particular is interested in determining the extent to which lunar ice exists, if at all, as the agency prepares for future manned exploration and possible habitation on the moon.This will be given top priority because Uranium has recently been found on the moon
The Selenological and Engineering Explorer, a Japanese space probe surveying the lunar surface, has discovered Uranium on the moon using a gamma-ray spectrometer. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's probe also discovered iron, calcium, titanium, magnesium, silicon, thorium, and potassium. The result provides a potential power source for a future lunar base and/or mining operation. Known uranium deposits on earth should last another century but extraction is environmentally damaging and very expensive.Was the spot on Venus a volcano?
Volcanic eruption created changes in Ethiopia
He said that bigger eruptions and earth quakes are expected to happen in the next five years.Woman prepares for next killer quake
Come hell or high water — she's actually expecting both — Nobue Kunizaki will be ready when the dreaded earthquake finally hits central Japan, whether it's next month or years from now. She's anticipating a temblor that already has a name — Tokai — as well as estimates on where and how mightily it might strike, a guessing game that has rattled even this earthquake-prone nation. But no one, perhaps, is shakier than the petite 39-year-old. She has built a new "ninja house" with high-tech gadgets and design features that she hopes will withstand the force of the next quake for at least long enough for her family to escape. Go ahead and call her Japan's Chicken Little, the Earthquake Lady or Calamity Queen; others in this suburban community just outside Tokyo do.Magnitude-5.1 quake shakes off waters of Guam
6.4 earthquake shakes eastern Indonesia's Papua province
The Last Jews of Saida
Rare Buddhist treasures unearthed in Gobi Desert
Is a voice from the past sending a warning about the future?
The relics, which include statues, artwork, manuscripts and personal belongings of a famous 19th Century Buddhist master, were buried in the 1930s during Mongolia’s Communist purge, when hundreds of monasteries were looted and destroyed.Raytheon's Military Exoskeleton Rides the 'Iron Man' Publicity Wave
Sometimes publicity comes from unexpected places. Recently, an article in the May issue of Popular Science drew comparisons between a robotic suit being developed for military use and the title character in the movie 'Iron Man'. As a result, Raytheon Company's Exoskeleton, which has been in development since 2000, is now garnering a good deal of attention through its association with the blockbuster film.DHS renegotiates licenses with Microsoft, Oracle
