Young cop stops an 83 year old dame for doing 90 in a 65 mph zone:
Madame do you know you have been speeding?
"Of course I know officer!"
"And what is your excuse madam?"
" I was rushing to get there before I forget where I was going!"
That's actually pretty good. It reminds me of my mom.
I bet the cop was stunned by the answer, and forgot to issue her the ticket
What have white Russian people invented recently?
Can anyone name something 21st century that we all use today? I'm curious.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he had met with Russian spies deported from the United States following Russia-U.S. spy scandal and sang patriotic songs with them.
"I met with them," Putin said, answering the journalists' questions whether he met with 10 Russian spies deported from the United States after Russian-U.S. spy scandal.
Ten people were arrested by U.S. law enforcement on June 29 on suspicion of being part of an espionage ring.
After the spy swap deal they were deported from the United States.
Putin, as a former KGB officer, said he had talked for life with the spies.
The premier said they sang songs accompanied by the live music. Among the others, they sang a famous patriotic Russian song "What Motherland starts from".
Commenting on the spies' future, Putin said "they will work".
"I am sure they will work in the decent places, I am sure they will have interesting and bright life," Putin said.
Keyes is a joke, Jenny. He's only tolerated because everyone knows he doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of gaining any elective office. His debates with Obama during their run for the IL senate seat are still on YouTube. Obama crucifies him.
Keyes is proof positive that blacks don't vote on the basis of race. If Keyes ever ran against a white candidate, that white candidate would get 90% of the black vote.
Poor guy. Being constantly compared to the Obama-messiah must become irritating after a while.
Well they might not have many blacks in Russia, but at least the ones they have are a lot smarter than the ones we have. They reject Alan Keyes who is the brightest man in the country and a real black, and they vote in as president the pseudo black mongrol Obama who is an idiot and turning us into the USSR. His latest brilliance is having a committee that will decide which companies the government likes and which ones they don't, not to mention our government will now be able to watch our credit cards. Big brother is here folks.
Get off it Jenny. The creature is a Reactionary Thug.
And trust you to make it racial.
brightest man in the country?
Jesus wept
Why don't you try your hand on translating this song.
Homeland. I will try, but Russian expressions are very much untranslatable
As you can see translation, literal translation from Russian does not give this song justice it deserves
There is no song like a Russian song old or modern it evokes the spirit and soul!
Question: And you won’t say anything else?
Vladimir Putin: Well, you are not asking anything else.
Q: What did you talk about?
VP: About life.
Q: They say you did some karaoke singing together.
Putin arrives in Ukraine for talks with Yanukovych.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin arrived in Ukraine for talks with President Viktor Yanukovych on Saturday.
Putin and Yanukovych will discuss "current issues of Russian-Ukrainian cooperation and other questions of bilateral interest," according to the Russian government's press service.
Yanukovych met with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia on Friday.
Russia-Ukraine ties have strengthened significantly since Viktor Yanukovych replaced pro-Western Viktor Yushchenko as president in late February.
SEVASTOPOL, July 24 (RIA Novosti)
Fallujah massacre is enough to make a normal person sick. Not you of course!
On another side Putin is statesman not just politican Putin is kind of person that comes ones in century .
I am sad for America. I am also sad for fools like myself who worked so hard to get that bastard elected!
When Alan Keyes speaks, he reminds me of Bill Buckley who was considered to be the most brilliant man in the U.S. Why do you call him a reactionary thug, because he's a Christian? Has the U.S. fallen that far?
Not long ago Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter’s National Security advisor, told me that the Ukraine "smelt more like Europe" and that the West should concentrate on bringing Ukraine into Western institutions like NATO and even the European Union.
If I had more time with Brzezinski I would have said that if it hadn’t been for Russian resolve the Mongol and Tartar hordes would have conquered Moscow and quickly afterwards the rest of Russia. They would have turned Russia into an Islamic society that would have undermined the Christian civilization of both Russia and Europe.
Likewise, the Christian-influenced West owes much of the preservation of its religious beliefs to the Constantinople-based Eastern Orthodox Church. Constantine, who converted the Roman Empire to Christianity, moved the centre of the Church to Constantinople and it became the Byzantine Empire.
When the Ottomans ravaged Constantinople in 1453 the Byzantine Empire was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. But later, driven out of Constantinople, the Eastern Orthodox Church moved to Moscow under the patronage of Grand Duke Ivan 111, ruler of Muscovy, leaving a rump Byzantine to limp along until the end of the Ottoman Empire in the early twentieth century. Until 1917 and the red revolution the Tsars believed they were the proper heirs to Eastern Orthodoxy with its pedigree that reaches back to Emperor Constantine.
Russia is many ways, despite its tradition of continuous authoritarianism, has been an important centre of European culture, with its composers, its literature, its art, its ballet and its orchestras. We only have to think of Chekov, Pushkin, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Rimsky Korsakov, Shostakovich, the Hermitage museum and the Bolshoi and Kirov ballet. Only Gogol came from the Ukraine. Indeed there is an argument that no other country has produced so many endeavours in so many of the arts. Ukraine "smells" more European? That’s doubtful.
In the New York Times, Nicolai Petro, an advisor under George G W Bush on policy towards the Soviet Union writes that Ukraine for 300 years was part of Russia: "Given the deep historical ties, it was probably a fool’s errand to try to set Ukraine against Russia [under President Bill Clinton and George W. Bush], especially by forcing Ukraine to chose between Russia and Europe. This is a false choice.....We can have both countries join Europe together".....We should "replace the misguided divide and conquer policy."
Undoubtedly Russia is more European than Ukraine but they should both approach Europe in tandem. Yet as Clinton decided with the East Europeans, waiting for the EU to absorb them was going to be a slow process so he decided to go the NATO route, which was more straightforward and relatively easy to do. Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Putin have all made speeches in which they have argued for Russia to be part of the “European house.” They were ignored. But now the "reset" button has been pressed it is time to reconsider how Russia could enter Europe. As Brzezinski argued in my lengthy interview with him in Prospect magazine, the UK’s most influential intellectual journal, more could have been done under Clinton and Bush to bring the Soviet Union and later Russia into the European orbit. But the same argument applies as it did for the East Europeans. Joining NATO should come first as it is an easier jump. It is in America’s interest to have Russia bound to a major Western institution rather than being tempted to do its own thing. It would also encourage democratising and pacifying elements in Russia, which President Dmitri Medvedev seems to be struggling for. The Russians are clearly reaching for something important beyond their present loose affiliation with NATO. It has proposed a European Security Treaty. Russia is not seeking a way for the fox to enter the hen house.
Russia and West already cooperate on some critical issues- the Iranian nuclear programme, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, climate change, cyber attacks and international crime and trafficking. They could cooperate more on Afghanistan, Iraq, North Korea and the Israel/Palestine conflict, contributing their historical experience and the wisdom that goes with it.
These links need to be tightened. NATO membership is a good way to do it. NATO chains are not that tight. Given its structure that demands unanimity before any action is taken the recent vogue is for "coalitions of the willing." Russia can choose when it wants to be involved in military or peacekeeping action. Meanwhile, inside NATO it can make its voice heard in a way it can’t at the UN. For its part the West would be taking a major step forward in persuading the lion to lie down with the lamb.
Jonathan Power is a London-based foreign policy commentator
A senior commander with Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says the country is now capable of 'producing an endless number of ballistic missiles.'
"Our production lines are running very smoothly," IRGC's Deputy Commander Brigadier General Hossein Salami was quoted by Fars News Agency as saying on Sunday.
Iran has also made enormous progress in the field of air defense, added the top general.
He then touched upon the wide-ranging domain of activities the IRGC is involved in, from economy to war on terror.
He said the IRGC's campaign against terrorism has an 'international dimension' and added 'terrorism and narco-trafficking are closely intertwined.'
The top commander said drug cultivation and trade have flourished in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion of the country.
"The IRGC has undertaken to ensure security in southeast of the country, and has formed an impenetrable bulwark against illicit drugs and organized crime in cooperation with police as well as other(domestic) security and intelligence agencies." the IRGC's deputy chief said.
Elsewhere in his remarks, General Salami underlined anti-Iran sanctions will only further encourage the nation to move toward self-sufficiency.
"Iran is no stranger to sanctions as it has been under sanctions for the past thirty years," he said.
It is amazing
How West tries to portray Iran as an undeveloped country when completely opposite is true!
Galloway will come around. He will be given an offer that he can't refuse.
"Stop" them doing what? They did not invade half a dozen countries, JewSA did! JewSA is toast!
Sure, if they get a few thousand ICBMs. We need to eliminate that possibility.
The ONLY Evil Country in the World is the JewSA, and soon as you stated Western Countries will turn against it.. And it will take more than one to bring the JewSA on its knees..
But this is coming soon, it is already written in the cards and the Credit default papers..
Well, if we all go broke, all 305,000,000 will come to live in your country and turn it into America Part 2. You will enjoy our Rap Music and Big Macs.
I don't think so,
JewSA will be turned into an 'indian' reservation like place or into a huge Fema Concentration camp with food aid from UN. Much of the country will be too polluted with radioctivity to settle or farm..Few free beings in gangs will hide in the forests and caves and will be hunted like animals by those dressed in white coats, the shrinks, and surgeons with all their portable tools to execute lobotomies and other Mengele type of experiments
Those in Fema camps will be heavily doped up with Psychiatric drugs and will be slowly brought to death.. These will reduce the US population to less than 100 million covertly while pretending to be curing them from invented and none exisTent diseases as they already are doing it in the USA..
FIND OUT WHAT YOUR BROTHER WAS GETTING CURED FOR BEFORE HE DIED..
This is all a big bull shit what you are saying.
Why Iran is more dangerous than America or Israel?.
How many countries were attacked in illegal wars by America and how many by Iran?
Howe many innocent children were massacred in Iraq, Afghanistan and Serbia by American bombs and how many by Iranian bombs?
Many is crazy just ignore him. He invented story of him having cancer and later that his brother died in order to attract attention. Man is very unstable high on drugs and alcohol. Not to be taken seriously indeed.
Persian civilization existed while white Anglo-Irish monkeys were hiding in caves and trees and, in the end will persist over the invading Nordic locusts. In the history of civilization, the most destructive event has been the advent of the Nordic locusts.
True, anglonordic caveman could learn lot from old Persian civilization and humble way of life.
Kidnapped Iranian scientist exposes US government as a criminal enterprise
by Justin Raimondo, July 14, 2010
Confronted with the accusation that Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri had been kidnapped by US and Saudi intelligence agencies while on a trip to Mecca, and brought to the US for interrogation, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley averred: We are not in the habit of going around kidnapping people.
To which the only proper response is: Oh, really?
Given the numerous instances of extraordinary rendition in which our government has been engaged, and no doubt continues to be engaged, one wonders how Senor Crowley can say that with a straight face. But then again, being an official spokesman for the US Department of State no doubt requires some sort of facial surgery or, perhaps, an industrial-strength shot of Botox to achieve the desired results.
Now that Shahram has shown up at the Iranian interests section of the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, D.C., claiming to have been abducted by the US and Saudi intelligence services, and tortured, Crowley may want to review his knowledge of US habits.
In March, ABC News released an exclusive report hailing Shahrams defection as a great US intelligence coup, the missing link in the puzzle piecing together a picture of Irans alleged nuclear weapons program. Shahram is said to have worked for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and news of his defection appeared alongside reports of an Iranian secret nuclear facility on the outskirts of the city of Qom.
As it was, the Iranians themselves revealed the existence of the Qom facility and opened it up to inspection by the IAEA, but the matter of Shahrams disappearance appeared to throw a shadow over their efforts at openness. We were to be told that the defector had brought with him a laptop which contained all the secrets of Irans nukes, and this was to be touted as yet more evidence as if this administration needed any Iran was harboring nuclear ambitions in defiance of the international community. According to the people briefed on the intelligence operation, ABC reported, Amiris disappearance was part of a long-planned CIA operation to get him to defect. The CIA reportedly approached the scientist in Iran through an intermediary who made an offer of resettlement on behalf of the United States.
That, at least, was the official story, dutifully relayed to the world by ABC News: Shahram, however, upended their neat little narrative, months later, with a YouTube video that indispensable weapon of counter-propaganda in which he told us:
I was kidnapped last year (2009) in the holy city of Medina on 3 June in a joint operation by the terror and abduction units of the American CIA and Saudi Arabias Istikhbarat [intelligence agency].They took me to a house located somewhere that I didnt know. They gave me an anesthetic injection. When I became conscious I was in a big [voice interrupted] towards America.
During the eight months that I was kept in America, I was subject to the most severe tortures and psychological pressures by the American intelligence investigation groups.
And the main aim behind these investigation teams and the pressure imposed on me was to make me take part in an interview conducted by an American media source and claim that I was an important figure in Irans nuclear program and I had sought asylum in America at my own will. And (to say) while seeking asylum I took some very important documents and a laptop with classified information on Irans military nuclear program in it to America from my country.
This was followed, hours later, by yet another video, in which someone claiming to be Shahram and looking, admittedly, just like him said he wanted to clear up rumors, denied having any political views or that he had betrayed his country, and stated: I am in America and intend to continue my education here. I am free here and I assure everyone that I am safe.
Gee, its a good thing the CIA has their own YouTube channel: now theres a solid investment of the US taxpayers money. But Shahram wasnt done with them quite yet.
On June 29, a third video cropped up, which was played by Iranian television, in which the real Shahram cleared up the mystery:
I, Shahram Amiri, am a national of the Islamic Republic of Iran and a few minutes ago I succeeded in escaping US security agents in Virginia. Presently, I am producing this video in a safe place. I could be re-arrested at any time.
After appealing to Western human rights organizations to intervene on his behalf fat chance! he continued:
The second video which was published on YouTube by the US government, where I have said that I am free and want to continue my education here, is not true and is a complete fabrication. If something happens and I do not return home alive, the US government will be responsible.
All this time Washington had refused to acknowledge Shahrams presence in the US, but when he showed up at the Pakistani embassy an official who refused to be named told the media: He came to this country freely, he lived here freely, and he has chosen freely to return to Iran.
Such evidence as we have indicates only the last of those three assertions bears any resemblance to the facts. Aside from Shahrams testimony, and his presence at the embassy, the high quality of the second video, and the relatively poor quality of the first and third, is suggestive of an effort by US intelligence to cover up a badly botched job.
Whats interesting about this story isnt only the scandal of a kidnapping carried out by our spooks after all, we should be inured to that by now but the role the US media was slated to play if Shahram had gone along for the ride. I wonder which American media source was tasked with interviewing him. Could it be ABC News, the outlet given the exclusive story of his alleged defection just before the Qom story broke? Just guessing there, but amid all the controversy over media folk partying with administration movers-and-shakers, this kind of beach party ought to make us stop and think about the degree to which the media is functioning as an arm of government.
Not that this is anything all that new. Back in the day, youll recall, it was a Washington Post reporter, Dillard Stokes, who, in league with the FBI and the Roosevelt administration, wrote a letter under an assumed name to the defendants in the Great Sedition Trial of 1940, seeking antiwar literature which he proposed to distribute to US soldiers: this was later used as evidence by the prosecution. During the cold war era, the media was utilized by the FBI s red squad to plant stories and spread disinformation, and theres no reason to believe this symbiosis has ended with the coming of the Obama-ites to Washington: quite the opposite, Im sure. We are also all too familiar with cooked intelligence, the smell of it having permeated Washington (and the front page of the New York Times thanks, Judy!) in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.
The signal achievement of the Obama administration may have been to combine these elements of deception, and add to them the crime of kidnapping.
Let no one berate us libertarians for describing the US government as a criminal enterprise: it isnt disloyalty to the country, or even a penchant for overstatement, that drives us to such rhetorical excesses. Its the story of what happened to Shahram Amiri: its the lies, the thuggery and hubris of a ruling elite that believes it can get away with anything. Such is their contempt for the American people and the peoples of the world that they think well swallow any tall tale, no matter how crudely fabricated, because were just not as smart as their cunning selves.
However, it looks like theyre not cunning enough by half, having blown the Shahram operation and exposed their embarrassingly inept tradecraft. They can try to patch up this gaping hole in US credibility by claiming Shahram left only to protect his family from retaliation, but there are certain problems with this.
Since the family wasnt harmed in the year Shahram spent in captivity in the US, one can reasonably infer they were never in an
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -y danger. Indeed, if they were in danger, and the US let him return home because of it, then wouldnt revealing this alleged threat plant suspicion in the minds of Iranian officials that perhaps he had turned over valuable intelligence to the Americans and place Shahram and his family in mortal danger?
In any case, I did warn you far in advance that wed soon be treated to a veritable cornucopia of news stories detailing the nefarious plans of Iranian ayatollahs to nuke Israel, and Brooklyn, too. The Obama-ites are under increasing pressure from the Israel lobby to abandon the CIAs assessment that Iran ended a nascent nuclear weapons program in 2003: Shahrams defection was supposed to have facilitated this development. Instead, the whole scheme backfired, and, rather than making the case for war with Iran, the Shahram affair has confirmed what some of us knew already: that the US government is a criminal enterprise with no morals, no credibility.
Police officer murdered in Russia's Dagestan.
A police officer was killed in an attack by unknown assailants in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, a local police spokesman said on Monday.
"Unknown assailants opened fire on the head of criminal investigation department Maj. Alishab Magomedov while he was on his dacha in the town of Kaspiisk," the spokesman said.
He added that investigators are working at the scene of the crime.
Russia's mainly Muslim North Caucasus republics, especially Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia, have seen an upsurge of militant violence lately, with frequent attacks on police and officials.
The Kremlin has pledged to wage "a ruthless fight" against militant groups but also acknowledged a need to tackle unemployment, organized crime, clan rivalry and corruption as causes of the ongoing violence.
Yeah but what choices did we have? It is so hard for anyone to know; he did give people some hope and maybe that little bit of good will grow even though he has hurt us all so much. Would have Mc Cain helped the people? I really don't know. It is hard to know. We always try to figure out whom will do a better job; but we all believed that he understood what we shouldn't be doing but he didn't. It is a tough job probably to be a president. More regular folks should try to run maybe not sure what the answer is there.
The traitors should not be killed, even though that is the traditional punishment give by the FSB for double agents.
They are entitled to a trial, a chance to be heard and defended by lawyers, and if guilty, sent to prison, but not executed without a fair trial. Modern western nations expect that much from each other.
It might be different if the US had executed the entire spy ring or even one of its members, but since no one was physically harmed, the traitors should be granted some leniency for that.
China might send a man to the moon, for the first time in human history
Moscow prepares sanctions workaround
By Vladimir Socor
On July 14 in Moscow, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko and Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi announced ambitious plans for bilateral cooperation, short-term and long-term. If implemented, these plans would circumvent two sets of sanctions imposed (outside the UN Security Council) by the United States and other Western countries: sanctions against companies that supply gasoline and other refined oil products to Iran and against those that invest in Iran's energy sector.
Moscow hosted the Iranian delegation barely two weeks after the enactment of sanctions by the US, the European Union and other
Western governments against deliveries of oil products (most critically, gasoline) to Iran. Oil companies Shell, BP, and Total have already stopped such sales, with other Western companies certain to follow suit.
Shmatko, however, announced the opposite intention at the joint news conference with Mirkazemi in Moscow: "Russian companies are prepared to perform deliveries of petroleum products to Iran. ... The sanctions in no way affect cooperation between Russia and Iran."
These calculated words signal to Washington (as the main interested party) that Moscow reserves a free hand on this issue. Russia would decide for itself whether, or when and on what conditions, to comply with this set of sanctions or not.
Privately owned Lukoil stopped delivering gasoline and other oil products to Iran in March-April 2010 and withdrew at the same time from a major Iranian oilfield project, citing both existing and then-pending US sanctions. With assets and financial operations in the US, thus being potentially exposed to US sanctions, and with a US company (Conoco-Phillips) among its shareholders, Lukoil has chosen to play it safe on Iran. However, this does not indicate Russian government endorsement of the sanctions.
The Kremlin-controlled Rosneft, Gazprom Neft, and Surgutneftegaz could hypothetically step in and supply refined oil products to Iran, according to a report in Nezavisimaya Gazeta, whether directly or through intermediaries. Due to its shortage of refining capacities, Iran imports between one third and 40% of the gasoline daily consumed in the country. Iran's gasoline import requirements are roughly estimated at 100,000 barrels per day or 20 million liters daily, according to Russia's energy ministry and to Mirkazemi, respectively.
Gazprom Neft, Gazprom's oil subsidiary, is replacing Lukoil in the Anaran oilfield project in Iran, while Sibur, the Gazprom-controlled petrochemicals concern, Russia's largest, has also expressed interest in Iranian projects. Aleksandr Dyukov, chairman and CEO of Gazprom Neft and concurrently chairman of Sibur participated in the Moscow meetings with Mirkazemi. Dyukov's connections with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin date back to the 1990s in St Petersburg.
Iran had already declared its intention to remove Lukoil from the Anaran project in late 2009, allegedly for failing to meet contractual obligations on time. In November 2009, prior to Lukoil's withdrawal announcement, Gazprom Neft and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) signed a memorandum of understanding on Gazprom Neft's entry into the Anaran project. On July 1, 2010, Gazprom Neft vice-president Boris Zilbermints confirmed the intention to go ahead with this project, as part of the company's plan to increase oil extraction from 60 million tonnes at present to 100 million tonnes per year by 2020. Oil extraction in Cuba forms another part of the same plan.
Anaran was originally a project of Norway's Statoil, with Lukoil as a minority stakeholder. Statoil withdrew in 2007, deferring to the US-led sanctions. Two of the project's four blocks, Azar and Shangul, have been explored by Statoil and are estimated to contain 2 billion barrels of oil.
This project's onshore location, adjacent to Iran's border with Iraq, is of particular interest to Gazprom Neft. Directly across that border, the same company plans to develop Iraq's Badrah oil field. There, GazpromNeft leads an international group that also includes South Korea's Kogas, Turkish Petroleum (TPAO), and the Malaysia-based Petronas.
Meanwhile, Gazprom Neft's parent company Gazprom is involved in developing the second and third phases of Iran's South Pars gas deposits. Total of France and Petronas are also partners with Gazprom in that project. US sanctions, however, have resulted in freezing South Pars development for the time being.
Gazprom is keenly interested in routing the vast resources of South Pars (more than 20 phases altogether) away from European markets, so as to prevent Iranian gas from competing with Gazprom in Europe. Thus, the Russian gas monopoly encourages the proposed construction of an Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline - again contradicting Washington, which opposes Pakistan's participation in this project.
Gazprom's policy on this issue is primarily guided by its long-term strategy for dominance in Europe. Its Asia business is subordinated to its European strategy. Within this framework, Gazprom's pipeline-construction subsidiary, StroyTransGaz, offers to build an Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline.
At their Moscow meeting, Shmatko and Mirkazemi signed a road-map agreement on joint oil and gas projects with a 30-year time-frame. The package of documents had been under discussion since 2008 and was updated during discussions on July 12-14 in Moscow. Again, according to Shmatko, "No sanctions can hinder us in cooperating in this sphere".
The stated intentions include: joint development of oil and gas fields; sales of refined oil products and petrochemicals; natural gas transit, swapping, and marketing; creation of a joint bank, using the respective national currencies to finance joint ventures; and holding follow-up discussions on nuclear-generated electrical power. Joint ventures are envisaged both in Iran and in third countries. A round of talks on specific projects is intended for the fourth quarter of 2010.
Whether the Russian government and companies under its control would proceed to breach the US-led sanctions is far from a foregone conclusion (UN sanctions are a separate matter). For now, Moscow is signaling that it does not recognize those sanctions, reserving the right to ignore or circumvent them.
Mirkazemi's invitation to Moscow and its timing are designed to catch Washington's attention and build bargaining leverage. Moscow will probably handle the issue of oil and gas cooperation with Iran as it handles the possible delivery of S-300 air defense systems, or its limited cooperation with Iran's nuclear development program.
It will almost certainly seek US geopolitical quid pro quos in Eurasia in return for limiting or desisting from oil and gas sector cooperation with Iran.
Vladimir Socor is a senior fellow and long-time senior analyst with the Jamestown Foundation. He was formerly a senior research analyst with Radio Free Europe/Radio
They would have succeeded much better if they pretended to be Jews instead of pretending to be Americans
Meanwhile, the current economic situation gives grounds for optimistic forecasts.
That's an interesting find, Marshal. I shall have to search for more on it.
I wonder how these presumably context-driven ads are working... I once read an article about violent crimes against women in Australia, and the Google ad was from some marriage agency...
BREAKING NEWS: Grandpa in Michigan annoys Pravda mods
Yes, the guy has annoyed them once too many times.
But the mods have retaliated.
They have started threads about Grandpa, to tell him how stupid he is.
They recently had held Grandpa in a 'special' status in which anything he said had to be approved by the mods.
Because Grandpas are a dangerous force. They need to be eliminated.
Else chaos will ensue.
Please join me in my campaign against Grandpas.
They should be eliminated.
If those washington gangsters bomb Iran it will be the same result as if Israel had done it.
What amazes me is that most of the rest of the world is only standing by, watching, without criticism or protest.
Iran is a sovereign nation no matter what they use for a government, and they are a member of the UN, and the rest of the UN membership has an obligation, I think, to discourage attacking Iran without just cause.
The UN exists to prevent war. That was the only reason given for its creation.
Not only hasn't the UN done much to prevent an attack on one of its members, it is the very reason for the attack!
Iran's political establishment should be at the UN every day screaming for justice, demanding inspections by the IAEA, and demanding a resolution to cease and desist from sanctions and threats of military attack.
It defies logic to punish a nation that has complied with international law and disavowed nuclear weapons.
She can be my sidekick at any time.
That's because they have already been killed. The western world has already been mentally killed.
The MSM, as it has been stated already thousands of times, is the deadliest weapon of mass destruction, it works directly on the brain and heart of the individuals without hurting arms or legs. Some posters here are a very clear example of what i say...
Just shows what evil bastards they are, imperialists of the worst sort, they would make Hitler cry with envy.
That propensity for overkill is making the USA the most hated country in the world.
Hitler was good for the German people, but wanted to steal the land of the Russians and that is why Stalin fought him, not because he did not like his personality..
Only Americans go to war because
they do not like some one's looks
or personality..
It is all due to Hollywood installed values
Hitler is demonized by Jews for being racist, while Jews in Israel practise exactly what Hitler was preaching
Pretty stupid to criticise Hitler's policies, when Jews have embraced them whole!
Chavez is far more American than the Jewboy who posted this will ever be
Chavez can trace his ancestry all the way to Simon Bolivar, and you skunk can trace yours to some Jewish tailor in Bronx!
By SIMON SHUSTER / MOSCOW Simon Shuster / Moscow – Mon Jul 26, 6:45 pm ET
Whatever their failings, the 10 Russian agents kicked out of the U.S. earlier this month must have done something right to win the adoration of Russia's most famous former spy, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. In a rare bit of candor about his private affairs, Putin described on Saturday how he had personally welcomed the agents home with a pep talk and a patriotic sing-along. But some of his comments left experts scratching their heads. Why was he piling such praise on a group of spies who were, by most accounts, not very good at spying? And what exactly is the bright future he promised them now that they are comfortably back in Russia?
According to two veterans of Russia's foreign intelligence service, most of the things Putin mentioned, including the serenade to Mother Russia, fit into the process of re-integration that spies normally undergo. When asked by a reporter at Saturday's press conference what the spies would do now, Putin said curtly, "They will work. I'm sure that they will have good jobs, and I'm sure that they will have interesting and bright lives." (See pictures of notorious Russian spies throughout history.)
This could mean different things for the different members of the spy ring, says Mikhail Lyubimov, a retired colonel of the KGB and a renowned Cold War spy. The ones who have kept a lower profile through the scandal could be given new identities and moved up within the ranks of the secret service, although it is unlikely that they will be sent back into the field, Lyubimov says. But those who have been more conspicuous, such as Anna Chapman - who was dubbed the femme fatale of the group after her naked photos were leaked to the media - should not hold out hope for a career among the warriors of the secret front.
"Some of them have just been too deeply compromised," Lyubimov says. It would be too dangerous to have them hanging around with other agents when fans are chasing them for autographs, and pornographers are asking them to feature in their movies, as happened with Chapman last week. "So they will be offered jobs in government banks, or other private firms controlled by the state. This would be the normal practice." (See why Moscow admitted the spy suspects are Russian.)
Yet Chapman, for one, does not seem destined to melt back into obscurity. Last week, Angelina Jolie sent her a personal invitation to the Moscow premier of Salt, a spy thriller in which Jolie plays a Russian spy. Although Chapman did not show up, a friend of hers, Cordelia Donovan, who lives in New York City and has been e-mailing back and forth with Chapman since her deportation, tells TIME that the ex-spy had been very tempted. "She's a normal young woman. Why wouldn't she want to be on the red carpet?" Donovan asks. Even more tempting might be the chance to go into politics. The Liberal Democrats, a nationalist party, are considering a place for her on their ballot in the next parliamentary elections. "We've been discussing how we can bring her onboard," party official Ivan Kosenko told TIME on Monday. (See why the spy swap is a sign of strong U.S.-Russia relations.)
Indeed, little seems more valuable in the arena of Russian politics than a background in espionage. Scores of ministers and deputies in the Russian parliament have had ties to the secret service, and Putin himself served as a KGB agent in East Germany during the Cold War. In his time in office, first as President and now as Prime Minister, he has worked to restore the prestige of Russia's intelligence agencies to make them more attractive to new recruits and less ominous to the everyday Russian.
For some observers, this helps explain the nostalgic pleasure Putin seemed to take in welcoming the spies back home. One of the songs they sang was an unofficial anthem of the secret services called "What Does the Motherland Start With?" - it's the theme song from an old Soviet TV show that was almost as whimsical in its depiction of spies as Putin was on Saturday. "Just imagine," he said to reporters. "You have to learn a foreign language as if it was your native tongue. You have to think in it, speak in it, and execute all the tasks set by the Motherland ... Your own children don't even know what you do!"
Such praise for Chapman and her cohorts came as a surprise to Oleg Nechiporenko, an ex-KGB colonel whose cover was blown in 1971 when he was accused of supporting leftist radicals in Mexico. Nechiporenko says the caliber of spies he had worked with then was far higher than those busted by the FBI last month, and many former agents have publicly said that some of the slip-ups exposed by the FBI were downright humiliating. In perhaps the most famous example, Chapman registered a cellphone using a fake Russian name and the address 99 Fake St., and then threw the receipt in a public trash bin where the FBI picked it up, according to the Bureau's affidavit.
But despite the mistakes, Nechiporenko says some kind of reception would still need to be part of a spy's re-integration. "For me there was a banquet, there were medals, promotions, and, of course, I got a raise," Nechiporenko says. "This is all part of the tradition if you're exposed by no fault of your own." Part of the reason for the festivities, he adds, is to smooth a spy's path up the official hierarchy, to make everyone aware that he or she deserves respect.
Yet Lyubimov says Putin went further than usual in this case. To have the most powerful man in the country sing songs and celebrate with a group of agents, and then discuss it publicly, "that is something new," he says. "That shows a new respect for the role of the foreign intelligence service that I haven't seen before. And it probably indicates the attention and care these individuals will get now that they've returned to the Motherland." Whether this means the ex-spies will have new careers in politics or spycraft, Putin seems to have taken a personal interest in making their futures as cozy as possible.
Blix says that Jew war in Iraq was based upon Jew lies
Blix: Intelligence on Iraq was poor
Hans Blix had previously criticised Iraq intelligence, saying it had been dramatised [AFP]
Hans Blix, the former UN weapons inspector to Iraq said the US and UK relied on unreliable intelligence on the potential threat posed by Saddam Hussein ahead of the 2003 invasion.
"When we reported that we did not find any weapons of mass destruction they should have realised ... both in London and in Washington, that their sources [on weapons] were poor," he told a public inquiry in London on Tuesday.
"Their sources were looking for weapons, not necessarily weapons of mass destruction. They should have been more critical of that."
Blix said that his team of inspectors had visited 30 sites based on tip-offs from British and US intelligence but found little other than old missile engines and a sheaf of nuclear documents.
'Scandalous' claims
The Swedish diplomat, who has been an outspoken critic of the war, told five-member inquiry panel that it was "very hard" for Iraq to declare a weapons programme that did not exist.
He said UN resolution 1441, which required Saddam to co-operate with UN weapons inspectors, should have given Iraq the "chance for a new start".
"If they had weapons, which I thought might well be the case, they had an opportunity. Now here it is, they could put the blame on some general or
other," he said.
But when asked whether he felt the resolution, passed in November 2002, gave Iraq a realistic possibility of meeting the requirements, he said: "Yes, except that it was very hard for them to declare any weapons when they didn't have any".
Blix said he first became suspicious about the credibility of intelligence being used when the US and UK claimed Iraq was importing uranium from Niger.
The claims turned out to be based on forgeries that took the International Atomic Energy Agency just one day to discredit.
"I think that was the most scandalous part," he told the inquiry.
The former weapons inspector said the progress towards war in iraq was "almost unstoppable" by early 2003 and the UK was "a prisoner on that train".
Blix revealed earlier this year that he had urged Tony Blair in the month before the invasion, to consider the possibility that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction.
He has also accused the UK and US governments of dramatising the limited intelligence on Iraq's weapons, saying: "The allied powers were on thin ice, but they preferred to replace question marks with exclamation marks".
'Retrospective gloss'
Blix, who conducted inspections in Iraq from November 2002 to March 2003, had warned Saddam of "serious consequences" if he failed to co-operate with his team and comply with UN Security Council resolution 1441.
Earlier this year, Blair told the inquiry in London that Blix had been clear in his reports in the run-up to the war that Saddam was not complying with international demands.
"Hans Blix obviously takes a certain view now," he told the hearing.
"I have to say in my conversations with him then it was a little different."
Jack Straw, the former foreign secretary, also suggested that Blix may have applied a retrospective "gloss" to his actions at the time.
"There are some of those who were involved who sought to give an account of what they were saying at the time without gloss," he told the inquiry earlier this year.
"There are others who have sought to give an account of what they thought they were saying at the time with gloss, and I think the jury is out on which camp Dr Blix is in."
But critics of the war say that Blix should have been given more time to establish whether or not Saddam was hiding stocks of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
Blix is the first foreign witness to give evidence at a public hearing of the inquiry, though others have spoken to the five-member panel, headed by John Chilcot, a former civil servant, in private during visits to the US and France.
Moscow and Washington say they hope FBI arrests of alleged Russian agents will not affect relations between the two. The controversy comes just after a meeting between the U.S. and Russian Presidents. Former MI5 officer Annie Mashon says an inside game among U.S. intelligence agencies could be behind the timing of these arrests.
I believe at least he would be better for workers, peasants and the poor respectively.
Turkey inches forward in EU bid.
Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
A common Customs Code for the three countries will take effect on July 1, 2010.
UNESCO to call on Russia to protect Lake Baikal from pollution.
Pacific Fleet ships join military drills in Russia's Far East.
Troops from Poland’s special service unit, GROM, were involved, Sunday, in a dramatic rescue operation to free two local policemen from the grip of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
How likely is an American attack on Iran?
America doesn't even have the manufacturing capacity to arm those boatload of fighter jets.
Huh? Are you kidding? The only manufacturing left is Military hardware and the Complex supplies 70% of the worlds' miltaries.
Be real.
Dolphin is right america lives for war that's all we do ...america must have the world at war to live...The vampire pigs of america wants and need war.WE are the mercenary of the jew Rothschilds .We fight for that bunch of viper.
He knows that everything he writes is consigned to posterity
The worst thing, is when people complain but do not do anything about it.
Every one of us could write articles to post here, find them on the internet and share them, and create an interesting and high class place to interact, which is what our moderators deserve from us, but very few people actually do so.
Of the people who complain the most, they also contribute in the least.
If they want a big solution, then perhaps they can get out and start gathering and posting topics that are worthy of the site.
As for real Russians, oh there are many! We know who each other are.
The thing that bothers me, is that Americans want to talk to Russians imagining that Russians are some kind of a bearhugging dude, who does things stupidly so they could lagh about him. I had Russian illegal walk into my place one day, he was marvelous small chap Sasha, his American wife kicked him out, does not let him see his kid. He sat there and cried like a child. I gave him five bucks for a hamburger, he left, never saw him again. You see Russians are just like the rest of us!
A fake bus stop ain't half bad compared to some of the other sh!tholes I've been.
This place puts up with my craziness at least.
This forum begins as a blank slate.
All it needs is input.
A single new idea could change the world.
Or not.
Pravda's forum is more like a newspaper that you can write yourself for all to see.
The difference is that the bus stop was fake. The internet is real and Pravda has a real audience.
Anyone interested in Russia will eventually visit Pravda, and then this forum, so the audience is rather larger than the registered membership.
Nobody knows who is Russian and who is not, and what matters are viewpoints, ideas, and information rather than which flag flies over your post office.
There is also a wealth of information available on the forum - IF you are prepared to question your own preconcieved ideas.
When someone is revolting, and he gets his visa revoked,......
. I would like to see them all put in a cage in Guantanamo. And the cage dumped out into the sea, that they so handily polluted
Russia rejects crippling sanctions on Iran
are Economists necessary?
the US probabaly has a higher amount of economists per capita than any other country yet they still can see the obvious problem with their economy No.
If a country has lawyers, that is all the country needs. Lots and lots of lawyers in america.
Ain't that the TRUTH...
People in America don't know much of anything, and neither comprehend nor understand the connection between ANYTHING. In fact, they are not even aware of the possibility of connections, never mind the factuality of it.
In their heads the world just doesn't come together the way it is (or was).
Okay, so twixdog says to yank, 'never take me seriously'
and yank doesn't take the 'reminder' seriously, and just keeps on taking twixdog seriously.
Russia attacks Iran's verbal assault on Medvedev
Indian Yogi Lives Without Food and Water for Over 70 Years
Russia Slams Iran’s Ahmadinejad For Being Overemotional
Russia strongly denounced the remarks from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who stated that Russia was going on a leash of Western states.
If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again.
Don't quit.
Shame the leak didn’t come earlier, says Taliban
Taliban commander welcomes leak because it ‘proves US brutality in Afghanistan’
Now this is someone loyal to humanity rather than any particular idiology, and he is spot-on correct.
Secrecy is required to protect the nation from attack, not to shield the guilty from criminal prosecution.
Let all the dirty laundry be aired in public! Let's see what our government has been hiding from us.
Pussified America wake up! The only people who want your men and women to die for Greater Israel are Jews!
If they gave Jews 500 million to stop lying it would never work!
He is a hero. But he will never get out of the dungeon!
A he is a glutton for punishment and quite insane.
In other words a good man.
It’s No Secret: Afghanistan Is a Quagmire
The Capitalist Extremists have you in their pockets
this is anemergency, we have got to act.
Mayan God unearthed in Guatemala
Christianity isn't so bad in comparison isn't it...?
Well... apart from the abortionists of course.
That is dumb, Marshal. Many people exist without cars and gadgets even today. These things do not bring happiness in the end they are nuisance
You are not reading right, that civilization was not conquered by Conquistadores they came about millenium later!
I feel kinda bad for him. Alzheimers is ravaging his brain and robbing him of any real ability to coherently express emotions and ideas. (...) spamming of articles is akin to a child throwing a tantrum. I seen it with my grandmother. The paranoid OCD, the tantrums. Hopefully he has someone to take care of him, its all downhill from here.
At least the crazy old coot is good for a thread bump.
Indeed, winning hearts and minds with the Bible, bombs and bullets is more important.
Alzheimers is ravaging your jew brain, at a very early age, squandrel!
Would he have done a better or worse job than Putin?
didn’t they come to the hospital and talk to me?” he asked.
Russia Considers Adopting Europe's Experience of Chemical Castration for Pedophiles
Mods insult and then close threads so they can't be challenged
So here is your answer.,(...)
Mods on an 'international' forum should be professional.
Calling posters stupid, clown, obnoxious, illiterate, half-wit and guttersnipe is not professional.
Your representation of Russia is not appreciated by all. I hope that someone in Moscow will realize that.
My opinion. Which I'm sure you will soon erase.
I would only object if mods showed disdain for your color of skin, religion, or nationality. And even then if your nationality is made up of idiots, it is OK by me.
You are a 'protected' poster.
You can say things that us lesser folk are attacked by the mods for. And silenced so you never have to see any challenge.
This is your 'special' place.
And exactly, what is that which I say that you are not allowed to say? Name one!
Blix says that Jew war in Iraq was based upon Jew lies
No Killing Sheep in Courtyards: Moscow Readies Etiquette Guide for Foreigners 17 June 2010 By Alexey Eremenko
A planned City Hall handbook advises against wearing national costumes.
Moscow authorities are preparing an etiquette handbook for foreigners that advises them to speak in Russian, not to walk around the city in national attire and to avoid slaughtering sheep in the courtyard of their apartment building.
City Hall is collaborating with diasporas and scientists to create the “Muscovite’s Code,” a list of nonbinding behavior guidelines to be presented to every foreigner who moves to Moscow.
“There are unwritten rules that residents of our city are obliged to follow, such as not slaughtering sheep in the backyard, not grilling shashliks on the balcony, not walking around the city in national attire, and speaking in Russian,” Mikhail Solomentsev, head of City Hall’s committee for interregional cooperation and national policy, told Rossiiskaya Gazeta.
“Now we want to develop a code to speed up the integration of migrants who take up permanent residency in Moscow,” Solomentsev said in an interview published Wednesday.
“We have asked Moscow diasporas themselves to draft the rules. We’ll study their suggestions and consult with scientists to create the ‘Muscovite’s Code,’ so to speak. When a person moves to Moscow, he will receive a book from his countrymen to tell him what is acceptable here and what is not,” he said.
Solomentsev first announced plans for the “Muscovite’s Code” in 2008, but the idea was put on the back burner.
It is a rare sight to see foreigners walking around Moscow in national costume, and sheep slaughtering is unheard of, except at special locations during Islamic holidays.
Yulia Vaidakova, a spokeswoman for Solomentsev, said Wednesday that she could not disclose any additional details at the moment.
But Ekho Moskvy radio reported Wednesday that the code might be completed by early next year.
Representatives of diasporas contacted by The Moscow Times were cautiously optimistic about the project, which they said may help new migrants integrate, but they warned that it must not infringe on their rights to follow their traditions.
Gavkhar Dzhurayeva, head of the Migration and Law Center, praised the call for dialogue but said “the absurdization” of the discussion might result in serious matters, such as the proper treatment of migrants, being dropped in favor of more controversial issues.
“The idea of a common code for everyone is great, but it must not be reduced to a false intrigue such as dress style, eating habits and behavior patterns,” said Dzhurayeva, who is the former head of the Tajikistan Foundation.
Eldar Guliyev, executive director of the All-Russian Azeri Congress, said people who move to a big city from a village — which includes Russian citizens as well as foreigners — really require help in integrating, but the new norms should be “delicate.”
“Rules are needed, but they must not be something the officials can use against a person’s rights,” he said.
Solomentsev said the handbook would preserve Moscow’s way of life.
“Moscow’s lifestyle is based on Russian culture and centuries-old traditions, and everyone moving to the city must reckon with this,” Solomentsev said.
But he added that Muscovites are “a community that is bigger than a nationality because it is a tangle of various cultures.”
Solomentsev also said the city has more migrant workers than it needs.
WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange on the 'War Logs' 'I Enjoy Crushing Bastards'
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange: "We understand the importance of protecting confidential sources."
Axel Martens
In a SPIEGEL interview, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, 39, discusses his decision to publish the Afghanistan war logs, the difficult balance between the public interest and the need for state secrets and why he believes people who wage war are more dangerous than him.
SPIEGEL: You are about to publish a vast amount of classified data on the war in Afghanistan. What is your motivation?
Assange: These files are the most comprehensive description of a war to be published during the course of a war -- in other words, at a time when they still have a chance of doing some good. They cover more than 90,000 different incidents, together with precise geographical locations. They cover the small and the large. A single body of information, they eclipse all that has been previously said about Afghanistan. They will change our perspective on not only the war in Afghanistan, but on all modern wars.
SPIEGEL: Do you think that the publication of this data will influence political decision-makers?
Assange: Yes. This material shines light on the everyday brutality and squalor of war. The archive will change public opinion and it will change the opinion of people in positions of political and diplomatic influence.
SPIEGEL: Aren't you expecting a little too much?
Assange: There is a mood to end the war in Afghanistan. This information won't do it alone, but it will shift political will in a significant manner.
SPIEGEL: The material contains military secrets and names of sources. By publishing it, aren't you endangering the lives of international troops and their informants in Afghanistan?
Assange: The Kabul files contain no information related to current troop movements. The source went through their own harm-minimization process and instructed us to conduct our usual review to make sure there was not a significant chance of innocents being negatively affected. We understand the importance of protecting confidential sources, and we understand why it is important to protect certain US and ISAF sources.
SPIEGEL: So what, specifically, did you do to minimize any possible harm?
Assange: We identified cases where there may be a reasonable chance of harm occurring to the innocent. Those records were identified and edited accordingly.
SPIEGEL: Is there anything that you consider to be a legitimate state secret?
Assange: There is a legitimate role for secrecy, and there is a legitimate role for openness. Unfortunately, those who commit abuses against humanity or against the law find abusing legitimate secrecy to conceal their abuse all too easy. People of good conscience have always revealed abuses by ignoring abusive strictures. It is not WikiLeaks that decides to reveal something. It is a whistleblower or a dissident who decides to reveal it. Our job is to make sure that these individuals are protected, the public is informed and the historical record is not denied.
SPIEGEL: But in the end somebody has to decide whether you publish or not. Who determines the criteria? WikiLeaks considers itself to be a trailblazer when it comes to freedom of information, but it lacks transparency in its own publishing decisions.
Assange: This is ridiculous. We are clear about what we will publish and what we will not. We do not have adhoc editorial decisions. We always release the full primary sources to our articles. What other press organization has such exacting standards? Everyone should try to follow our lead.
SPIEGEL: The problem is that it is difficult to hold WikiLeaks accountable. You operate your servers in countries that offer you broad protection. Does WikiLeaks consider itself to be above the law?
Assange: WikiLeaks does not exist in outer space. We are people who exist on Earth, in particular nations, each of which have a particular set of laws. We have been legally challenged in various countries. We have won every challenge. It is courts that decide the law, not corporations or generals. The law, as expressed by constitutions and courts, has been on our side.
SPIEGEL: You have said that there is a correlation between the transparency for which you are fighting and a just society. What do you mean by that?
Assange: Reform can only come about when injustice is exposed. To oppose an unjust plan before it reaches implementation is to stop injustice.
SPIEGEL: During the Vietnam War, US President Richard Nixon once called Daniel Ellsberg, the leaker of the Pentagon Papers, the most dangerous man in America. Are you today's most dangerous man or the most endangered?
Assange: The most dangerous men are those who are in charge of war. And they need to be stopped. If that makes me dangerous in their eyes, so be it.
SPIEGEL: You could have started a company in Silicon Valley and lived in a home in Palo Alto with a swimming pool. Why did you decide to do the WikiLeaks project instead?
Assange: We all only live once. So we are obligated to make good use of the time that we have and to do something that is meaningful and satisfying. This is something that I find meaningful and satisfying. That is my temperament. I enjoy creating systems on a grand scale, and I enjoy helping people who are vulnerable. And I enjoy crushing bastards. So it is enjoyable work.
Interview conducted by John Goetz and Marcel Rosenbach
WikiLeaks: Group vows to put more documents online AP
By RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press Writer Raphael G. Satter, Associated Press Writer – Mon Jul 26, 3:46 pm ET
LONDON – It has no headquarters and its public face — a wiry, silver-haired Australian with a physics Ph.D. — carries his desktop computer in a backpack as he moves from place to place.
WikiLeaks is a bare-bones organization on a mission to root out the secrets of the high and mighty, from Sarah Palin to the Church of Scientology. Its founder, Julian Assange, said his group's biggest coup so far — the publication of tens of thousands of classified U.S. military reports on Afghanistan — will likely unleash a new wave of leaks.
"It is our experience that courage is contagious," Assange said Monday, telling reporters at London's Frontline Club that his greatest fear was "that we won't be able to do justice to the material that we're getting in."
According to Assange, the torrent of leaked information being uploaded to his website is enormous, with a reserve of unexamined documents so unwieldy that the site has been more or less inactive since December.
What's in the backlog? The 39-year-old former computer hacker refuses to say.
"We have files that concern every country in the world with a population of over 1 million," he said. "Thousands of databases and files about all sorts of countries."
WikiLeaks has been posting sensitive information to the Web since 2006, when Assange set up the website from a house outside the University of Melbourne. Since then it has published everything from Church of Scientology documents to U.S. Embassy cables, passing along transcripts, secret videos and more. Its enemies have included everyone from British bankers to Kenyan politicians.
Assange has pledged to keep publishing — just as soon as he can get his website reorganized to handle the volume of data rushing in.
WikiLeaks rose to prominence in the U.S. when it published a chilling video shot from the cockpit of an Apache helicopter showing a group of men being gunned down in Baghdad by American airmen. The gunners can be heard laughing and referring to the men as "dead bastards."
The explosive video raised questions about the military's rules of engagement and whether more should be done to prevent civilian casualties. But the title Assange's group gave it — "Collateral Murder" — raised questions about his group's impartiality.
Assange was far more circumspect in his description of the 90,000 or so documents his group had collected on Afghanistan, saying that "there does appear to be evidence of war crimes." He cited what he said were suspiciously high numbers of civilians killed by ricochets, inconsistencies in the number of people killed and wounded, and an incident in which a special operations team attacked a house with missiles.
Still, he added, "it is up to a court to decide really if something in the end is a crime."
The team behind WikiLeaks is small, reportedly just a half-dozen people and casual volunteers who offer their services as needed. Assange has no permanent address and travels frequently — jumping from one friend's place to the next, occasionally disappearing from public view for months at a time, only to reappear in the full glare of the cameras at packed news conferences to discuss his site's latest disclosure.
The nomadism may come naturally: Profiles in the Australian press describe an unsettled childhood and run-ins with the law. The Age has quoted Assange as saying he had been to 36 different schools, including correspondence school. In 1991, while Assange was still a teenager, he was arrested and charged with a series of computer hacking offenses — he pleaded guilty and got off with a fine.
In an interview with Der Spiegel, which along with The New York Times and The Guardian in London was given early access to the leaked files, Assange said he got a kick out of poking the eye of the powerful.
"I enjoy creating systems on a grand scale, and I enjoy helping people who are vulnerable," he said.
"And I enjoy crushing bastards. So it is enjoyable work."
What's Ahmadinejad's problem with Paul the Octopus?
Life can be hard for a psychic cephalopod. One day your countrymen are threatening to turn you into calamari for correctly betting against the national soccer team, the next day you're being denounced as a symbol of western imperialism:
"Those who believe in this type of thing cannot be the leaders of the global nations that aspire, like Iran, to human perfection, basing themselves in the love of all sacred values,"
MADRID — In a significant escalation of Spain's debate over how to handle radical Islam, the Senate on Wednesday narrowly and unexpectedly approved a motion to ban Muslim women from wearing in public the burqa or other garments that cover the whole body.
The vote, 131 to 129, was another setback for the Socialist government of Prime Minister Josй Luis Rodrнguez Zapatero, which had favored more-limited restrictions on Islamic clothing and has instead been pushing to curtail religious fundamentalism through better education.
The Spanish vote comes amid several national initiatives across Europe to restrict the spread of radical Islam and defend liberal values.
In Belgium, the lower house of Parliament has already approved a measure that, if unamended by the upper house, would make it a crime to wear in public ''clothing that hides the face.''
France, which has the largest Muslim population in Europe, has also been inching toward such a ban on the burqa. The measure has the backing of President Nicolas Sarkozy, who recently condemned the garment as ''a sign of subservienc'' rather than one of religion.
In Switzerland last year, a referendum banned the construction of minarets.
While national politicians may be urging a clampdown on the burqa, such moves are still expected to run into legal obstacles. In March, France's top administrative body, the Council of State, warned the government that a full ban would be unconstitutional. A commission of the Council of Europe, the European institution dealing with human rights issues, also recently warned governments against imposing a complete ban that would violate women's individual rights.
Before the Spanish Senate's vote, some of the country's local authorities had already moved to introduce restrictions on the burqa. The issue was especially heated in the region of Catalonia, where the debate over Islam and immigration has become entangled in early campaigning ahead of regional elections later this year. The pending elections may have proved crucial in the Wednesday vote, as senators from the CiU, a Catalan party, surprisingly switched their earlier stance to vote in favor of a burqa ban.
The motion adopted by the senators calls on Spain to outlaw ''any usage, custom or discriminatory practice that limits the freedom of women'' It was drafted and led by politicians from the main center-right opposition People's Party.
Justifying the vote, one of the senators from the CiU, Montserrat Candini, said that ''we cannot tolerate that nobody understands that we are not in favor of banning the burqa''
The Senate's position also came as a surprise because although Spain has become a major European entry point for Muslim migrants from North Africa, few of those immigrants wear either the burqa or the niqab, which does not cover the eyes. A similar argument has also been made by opponents of a burqa ban in countries like France, where only an estimated 100,000 women wear the burqa out of a Muslim population of about 5 million. France, however, already passed a law in 2004 to ban head scarves or any other ''conspicuous'' religious symbol from state schools in order to preserve their secularism.
The Spanish government is supposed to follow the Senate's motion. However, given that Socialist senators opposed the ban, the governing party is likely to seek ways to circumvent the vote.
Anna Terrуn, the secretary of state for immigration, said the Senate vote had ''more to do with the election campaign in which the CiU is involved than with a real discussio'' on the burqa.
Germans, Ukrainians, the Dutch, Russians and Austrians are the main buyers of Polish real estate, shows a report by the Interior Ministry.
According to Polish law, a foreigner who wants to purchase land or real estate in Poland needs to get a permit from the Ministry of Interior and Administration.
In 2009, the ministry issued 313 such permits which allowed foreigners to buy over 1700 ha of land. Foreign companies received 109 permits, with 2 being issued to various diplomatic corps, and 202 to private individuals.
Most land and real estate purchased by foreigners were situated in the industrial region of Silesia, southern Poland, the central region of Mazovia and the coastal region of Pomerania.
Germans, Austrians, the French and the Dutch were the main buyers of Polish real estate in 2009. Most of them bought summer houses in Poland. Meanwhile, Ukrainians and Italians bought mainly arable grounds and woodlands.
Foreigners, especially Ukrainians and Russians, bought 62 apartments in Poland over the course of last year, mainly in Pomerania and Lower Silesia. The Ministry of Interior and Administration refused to grant 145 permits. (mg/jb)
