Thursday, December 30, 2010

Social Chaos in Bolivia: Fear to a banking yard and shortage of products | Momento 24

Social Chaos in Bolivia: Fear to a banking yard and shortage of products | Momento 24: "“Yesterday was seen long queues at banks and financial funds, although the Government denied the rumors about the implementation of a “yard”, the dollarization of savings, or an abrupt low dollar exchange rate to 5 bolivianos” as published Jornadanet.com site."

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Most Amazing Images of Earth from 2010 | Planet Earth Satellite Images, BP Oil Spill, Earthquakes & Volcanoes | Our Amazing Planet

This image taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station shows the various layers of Earth's atmosphere during sunset over the Indian Ocean. A brilliant sequence of colors in the image denotes each of the layers of Earth's atmosphere, which are visible here because the picture was taken while the space station had an edge-on, or limb, view of the Earth. From this vantage point, the Earth's curvature can also be made out.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

'Israeli War Crimes' signs to go on Metro buses | KING5.com | Seattle Area Local News

'Israeli War Crimes' signs to go on Metro buses | KING5.com | Seattle Area Local News: "SEATTLE – 'Israeli War Crimes,' the enormous advertisement reads. 'Your tax dollars at work.'

To the right of the image is a group of children -- one little boy stares out at the viewer, the others gawk at a demolished building, all rebar and crumbled concrete.

It's an ad you'll be seeing soon on a handful of Metro buses in downtown Seattle."

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Three Wise Men Follow a Light in the Sky … Off the Los Angeles Coast | NewsReal Blog

Three Wise Men Follow a Light in the Sky … Off the Los Angeles Coast | NewsReal Blog: "On November 8, a mystery missile lit the dusk skies off the coast of Los Angeles. After about 3 days of swearing that no one knew what it was, suddenly the Pentagon swore first that it wasn’t a threat, then that it was “just an airplane contrail,” and that anyone who said different had fallen for an “optical illusion.”" You buying that? If not, you’re in very good company. Within days three well known USAF Generals came out vociferously against those claiming it was anything except what it was. All three not only called this shooting light in the sky a missile, but they continue to stick by it, and are increasingly stunned by the behavior of the Pentagon they know so well.

Maan News Agency: PFLP welcomes Bolivia recognition of statehood

Maan News Agency: PFLP welcomes Bolivia recognition of statehood: "GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has welcomed Bolivia's recognition of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders."

Bolivia charges dozens in destabilization complot | World War 4 Report

Bolivia charges dozens in destabilization complot | World War 4 Report: "Bolivian prosecutors brought charges Dec. 19 against 39 people in an alleged plot to assassinate President Evo Morales and launch an armed rebellion last year. The accused include leading opposition politicians and Gary Prado, the ex-general who captured legendary guerilla leader Che Guevara in 1967. The supposed plot was uncovered in April 2009, when national police killed three suspected European mercenaries in the eastern lowland city of Santa Cruz. The accused deny the charges, calling them politically motivated. Most of those charged are already in custody, but 17 are now living outside Bolivia. The most prominent figure among the accused is Branco Marinkovic, a business leader and former head of the opposition Civic Committee of Santa Cruz, who is exiled in the US."

Monday, December 20, 2010

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Sanctions Are Hurting Iran’s Regime, but Not Enough - By Benjamin Weinthal - The Corner - National Review Online

Sanctions Are Hurting Iran’s Regime, but Not Enough - By Benjamin Weinthal - The Corner - National Review Online: "Berlin — The Islamic Republic of Iran’s economy is in disarray. On Sunday, gas prices surged 400 percent — an increase termed “a great victory for Iran” by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, clumsily trying to find a P.R. escape hatch from his regime’s economic mismanagement of Iran’s energy sector. Meanwhile, riot police have been dispatched to gas stations to suppress possible protests, like those that followed the introduction of gas rationing in 2007. Ordinary Iranians are all too aware that the mullah regime is to blame for the mushrooming cost of a gallon of gasoline (from 38 cents to roughly a $1.44) and for the country’s growing isolation."

Commentary � Blog Archive � The “Palestinian” Campaign

Commentary � Blog Archive � The “Palestinian” Campaign: "As Alana Goodman writes today, the Palestinian Authority has announced that 10 European Union nations will be accepting fully accredited Palestinian embassies. I agree that skepticism is in order about the particulars of this claim, but there’s more to the relentless barrage of PA announcements than mere theatrical foot-dragging. The American focus on the peace process has tended to blind us to the fact that a separate campaign is underway to corner Israel and present it with a set of diplomatic faits accomplis. For this separate campaign, the peace process is not the principal vehicle for concerted action."

It is becoming clear that there is more than recalcitrance on the Palestinian side; there is an alternative plan, which is being actively promoted. A central virtue of this plan for Fayyadists is that it can work by either of two methods: presenting Israel with a UN-backed fait accompli or alarming Israel into cutting a deal from fear that an imposed resolution would be worse.

John Bolton is right. Everything about this depends on what the U.S. does. America can either avert the 2011 plan’s momentum now or face a crisis decision crafted for us by others sometime next year. Being maneuvered into a UN veto that could set off bombings and riots across the Eastern Hemisphere — and very possibly North America as well — should not be our first choice.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Power Line - Extreme Special Forces Extraction, Afghanistan

Power Line - Extreme Special Forces Extraction, Afghanistan: "A Chinook helicopter pilot 'lands' his aircraft somewhere in remote Afghanistan, to extract a group of Special Forces soldiers. It's all in a day's work, apparently:"


Friday, December 17, 2010

Object shot out of sky above Israeli nuclear plant, military says - CNN

Object shot out of sky above Israeli nuclear plant, military says - CNN: "The Israeli Air Force shot down an unidentified flying object over the Dimona nuclear plant in the Negev Desert Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces said.

The object appeared in a designated no-fly zone, the air force was scrambled and the object was shot down, the IDF said.

The object could have been a party balloon, the IDF said, but forces have not yet found the debris to determine what it was.

There have been unconfirmed media reports that it was a motor-driven object. The air force reacted according to procedure when the object was spotted, the IDF said."

U.S. security comes under fire after businessman boards international flight with loaded handgun | Mail Online

U.S. security comes under fire after businessman boards international flight with loaded handgun | Mail Online: "The effectiveness of security at U.S. ports is being questioned after a businessman accidentally traveled on a flight with a loaded handgun in his luggage.

Iranian-American Farid Seif was screened by Transport Security Administration officials at Houston airport in Texas. His hand luggage was also X-rayed before he took off on his international flight.

It wasn't until Mr Seif arrived at his hotel several hours later that he realised that he had forgotten to unpack a loaded snub nose Glock pistol from his luggage before he embarked on his journey."

And a 2007 government audit revealed that undercover agents were successful slipping simulated explosives and bomb parts through Los Angeles's LAX airport in 50 out of 70 attempts. At Chicago's O'Hare airport, agents made 75 attempts and succeeded in getting through undetected 45 times.


Israel can't defeat Hezbollah: Israeli expert | Reuters

Israel can't defeat Hezbollah: Israeli expert | Reuters: "Israel cannot defeat Hezbollah in a direct engagement and the Lebanese guerrilla group would inflict heavy damage on the Israeli home front if war broke out, a former Israeli national security adviser said Thursday."

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Venezuela acquires 1,800 antiaircraft missiles from Russia

Venezuela acquires 1,800 antiaircraft missiles from Russia Russia delivered at least 1,800 shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles to Venezuela in 2009, U.N. arms control data show, despite vigorous U.S. efforts to stop President Hugo Chavez's stridently anti-American government from acquiring the weapons.

The United States feared that the missiles could be funneled to Marxist guerrillas fighting Colombia's pro-American government or Mexican drug cartels, concerns expressed in U.S. diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks and first reported in the Spanish newspaper El Pais.

Commentary � Blog Archive � West Bank Shows There Is a Military Solution to Terror

Commentary � Blog Archive � West Bank Shows There Is a Military Solution to Terror: "In March 2002, Israel was at the height of a terrorist war begun in 2000 that ultimately claimed more victims — mainly civilians — than all the terror of the preceding 53 years combined. Every day saw multiple attacks, and a day without fatalities was rare. But then Israel launched a multi-year military campaign that steadily reduced Israeli fatalities from a peak of 450 in 2002 to 13 in 2007.

Last month, Haaretz published two other statistics reflecting this success: the number of wanted terrorists in the West Bank, once in the hundreds, is now almost zero. And Israeli troop levels in the West Bank are lower than they have been since the first intifada began in 1987."

What produced this victory was the grunt work of counterterrorism: intelligence, arrests, interrogations, military operations, and, above all, enough boots on the ground long enough to make this possible. That wasn’t obvious in advance: as Haaretz reported, many senior Israel Defense Forces officers accepted the dogma that terrorist organizations can’t be defeated, because they have an infinite supply of new recruits. But then-Shin Bet security service chief Avi Dichter, who insisted that “the ‘terror barrel’ had a bottom,” proved correct.

Friday, December 10, 2010

FoxNews.com - Stuxnet Worm Still Out of Control at Iran's Nuclear Sites, Experts Say

FoxNews.com - Stuxnet Worm Still Out of Control at Iran's Nuclear Sites, Experts Say: "“The Iranians don’t have the depth of knowledge to handle the worm or understand its complexity,” he said, raising the possibility that they may never succeed in eliminating it.

“Here is their problem. They should throw out every personal computer involved with the nuclear program and start over, but they can’t do that. Moreover, they are completely dependent on outside companies for the construction and maintenance of their nuclear facilities. They should throw out their computers as well. But they can’t,“ he explained. “They will just continually re-infect themselves.”

“With the best of expertise and equipment it would take another year for the plants to function normally again because it is so hard to get the worm out. It even hides in the back-up systems. But they can’t do it,” he said.

And Iran’s anti-worm effort may have had another setback. In Tehran, men on motorcycles attacked two leading nuclear scientists on their way to work. Using magnetic bombs, the motorcyclists pulled alongside their cars and attached the devices.

One scientist was wounded and the other killed. Confirmed reports say that the murdered scientist was in charge of dealing with the Stuxnet virus at the nuclear plants."

Iran Placing Medium-Range Missiles in Venezuela; Can Reach the U.S. :: Hudson New York

Iran Placing Medium-Range Missiles in Venezuela; Can Reach the U.S. :: Hudson New York: "According to Die Welt, Venezuela has agreed to allow Iran to establish a military base manned by Iranian missile officers, soldiers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Venezuelan missile officers. In addition, Iran has given permission for the missiles to be used in case of an 'emergency'. In return, the agreement states that Venezuela can use these facilities for 'national needs' – radically increasing the threat to neighbors like Colombia. The German daily claims that according to the agreement, Iranian Shahab 3 (range 1300-1500 km), Scud-B (285-330 km) and Scud-C (300, 500 and 700 km) will be deployed in the proposed base. It says that Iran also pledged to help Venezuela in rocket technology expertise, including intensive training of officers"

AP Enterprise: FAA loses track of 119,000 aircraft - CNBC

AP Enterprise: FAA loses track of 119,000 aircraft - CNBC: "Next year, the FAA will begin canceling the registration certificates of all 357,000 aircraft and require owners to register anew, a move that is causing grumbling among airlines, banks and leasing companies. Notices went out to the first batch of aircraft owners last month."

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Everyone Knows Why Clinton Wouldn’t Put Her Promises in Writing

Commentary � Blog Archive � Everyone Knows Why Clinton Wouldn’t Put Her Promises in Writing: "But, as Landler notes in passing, Clinton wouldn’t put her promises in writing so as to allow Netanyahu to sell the deal to his cabinet.


Why were Obama and Clinton reluctant to do so? The reason ought to be obvious even to a child: they had no intention of keeping their promises and wanted to avoid producing a document that would enable the Israelis to cry foul. At the very least, there’s little doubt that once the freeze was put in place, Clinton would have reinterpreted the terms of the agreement to Israel’s disadvantage, if not to repudiate it altogether in the way they have reneged on previous U.S. commitments to Israel, such as George W. Bush’s 2004 letter to Ariel Sharon recognizing Israel’s claim to hold on to parts of the West Bank in a peace settlement. Regardless of whether the Obama peace initiative was a good idea in the first place, this episode provides yet another example of this administration’s inept diplomacy, which has made the already remote chances of achieving peace even more unlikely."

SpaceX Dragon is first privately funded spaceship launched into orbit | Mail Online

SpaceX Dragon is first privately funded spaceship launched into orbit | Mail Online: "The unmanned capsule, named Dragon, launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida, circled the Earth twice and the parachuted into the Pacific, roughly 500 miles off the Mexican coast, a few hours later."

Israel likely to offer heavy 'humanitarian' compensation over Turkey flotilla deaths - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Israel likely to offer heavy 'humanitarian' compensation over Turkey flotilla deaths - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News: "Turkey and Israel near agreement on wording of memo aimed at ending crisis; Erdogan demands Israel say it 'apologizes,' while Israel prefers to use the word 'regrets'."

Cement From Thin Air | Popular Science

Cement From Thin Air | Popular Science: "In 2009 his latest company, Calera, started putting that insight into practice at a 1,000-megawatt power plant in Moss Landing, California. Engineers there spray mineral-rich seawater or brine water through flue gas captured from the plant’s smokestacks. The calcium in the water bonds with carbon in the would-be pollution to form cement. Constantz says the demonstration plant is capable of producing up to 1,100 tons of cement a day and, in doing so, sequestering 550 tons of carbon dioxide. Within three years, he says, Calera will be operating plants in Australia and Wyoming."

Video: A 3-D Tour of All the Known Galaxies, In 90 Seconds | Popular Science

Video: A 3-D Tour of All the Known Galaxies, In 90 Seconds | Popular Science: "This little video, brought to us by NASA Goddard, shows off all of the galaxies we're currently aware of, in one swirling, fluid shot." Basically, it's a 3-D video tour of the universe as we know it at the moment.


Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Conspiracy alert: Is Egypt's shark-attack crisis the work of Israel? - The Week

Conspiracy alert: Is Egypt's shark-attack crisis the work of Israel? - The Week: "Has the Mossad shifted its focus from disrupting Iran's nuclear program to dumping killer mako sharks in the Red Sea? Maybe, say some not-so-reliable sources"

U.S. scrambled to stop Israel-Syria flare-up over Scuds to Hezbollah - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

U.S. scrambled to stop Israel-Syria flare-up over Scuds to Hezbollah - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News: "In an article in the New York Times yesterday, a senior Defense Department official was quoted as saying that Syria had conveyed some Scud D missiles to Hezbollah, mostly in a storage facility under Hezbollah control in Syria. All told, Hezbollah has some 50,000 rockets and missiles of various types, the official said."

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

U.S. drops push for Israel settlement freeze | Reuters

U.S. drops push for Israel settlement freeze | Reuters: "The United States on Tuesday abandoned its effort to persuade Israel to freeze construction of Jewish settlements, officials said, dealing a blow to efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks."

Three Latin American nations -- Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay -- declared recognition of a Palestinian state at the weekend, drawing Israeli condemnation.

Wildfire in Israel - The Big Picture - Boston.com

Wildfire in Israel - The Big Picture - Boston.com: "Wildfire in Israel"

Monday, December 6, 2010

SpaceX's Dragon capsule, first privately owned spaceship, set to attempt launch into orbit

SpaceX's Dragon capsule, first privately owned spaceship, set to attempt launch into orbit: "The future of the space travel will undergo a crucial test Tuesday when the first privately owned spaceship attempts a launch into orbit.

If it succeeds, SpaceX's Dragon capsule will then try to reenter the atmosphere - also a first for a nongovernment-owned spacecraft."

Haifa fire: Israel's top policewoman Ahuva Tomer killed trapped in forest fire | Mail Online

Haifa fire: Israel's top policewoman Ahuva Tomer killed trapped in forest fire | Mail Online: "The fire that killed the Soviet-born Tomer has generated much soul-searching in Israel about the state of the country's leadership, because firefighters had long warned that the neglected state of their operation was a recipe for disaster.

Hours after the blaze broke out on Thursday, firefighters ran out of flame-retardant chemicals. They also did not have a single firefighting plane in their possession."

Sunday, December 5, 2010

High Speed Rail Goes Loco - Hit & Run : Reason Magazine

High Speed Rail Goes Loco - Hit & Run : Reason Magazine: "California's high speed rail project could be shaping up as the awesomest catastrogeddon of 2011.

The California High Speed Rail Authority is committed to breaking ground on a leg of the train that will serve passengers between the unincorporated town of Borden and the half-incarcerated town of Corcoran.

Whether you call it the train from nowhere or the train to nowhere, nobody will be riding it even when it’s done. That’s not libertarian cant: The actual plan for the $4.15 billion leg is that upon completion it will sit idle until other sections of track are completed."

Police Arrest 2 Teens On Suspicion of Causing Israeli Wildfires That Killed 41 People | The Gateway Pundit

Police Arrest 2 Teens On Suspicion of Causing Israeli Wildfires That Killed 41 People | The Gateway Pundit: "Israeli police arrested two teens from the Druze village of Usfiya on suspicion of causing the Israeli wildfires that killed 41 people. Police tracked the fire down to a single source in the forest. The teens were suspected of hurling burning waste products during a picnic."

Friday, December 3, 2010

First Foreign Planes Arrive in Israel to Help Put Out Fires That Killed 41 - Bloomberg

First Foreign Planes Arrive in Israel to Help Put Out Fires That Killed 41 - Bloomberg: "Aircraft from Europe arrived in Israel today to help combat a forest fire near the port city of Haifa that killed at least 41 people and forced 15,000 to flee their homes."

The fire, described by officials as the worst in the country’s history, forced Israel to call for assistance from Europe. Eight planes and three helicopters arrived from Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus and the U.K., an army spokeswoman said, speaking anonymously according to military regulation. Spain, Turkey, Croatia, France, Russia, Azerbaijan, Egypt and Romania have also pledged to send aircraft, Netanyahu’s office said.

Palestinians Enraged After Greek Orthodox Bishop Takes Part in Road Dedication to Monastery | The Gateway Pundit

Palestinians Enraged After Greek Orthodox Bishop Takes Part in Road Dedication to Monastery | The Gateway Pundit: "The Palestinian Authority blasted a Greek Orthodox Bishop in the West Bank for taking part in a road dedication to a 5th Century Monastery. The Israelis built the West Bank road recently to the monastery. The Palestinian Authority said that participating in the dedication gave people the wrong view- that the Israelis are civilized and generous or something."

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Iranian Regime Furious After Finding Star of David On Roof at Airport | The Gateway Pundit

Iranian Regime Furious After Finding Star of David On Roof at Airport | The Gateway Pundit: "A satellite image of the headquarters of Iran’s national airline reveals a Star of David, and government officials in the Islamic Republic are calling for its immediate removal, according to reports."