I’ve had it up to here with the MSM, especially the NYTimes and it’s clone, the International Herald Tribune. Today’s IHT has an article on how reporters in India were aghast that Bush “Blamed” the rice shortage on Indians eating too much.
But of course, he never said such a thing, and shame to the IHT […]

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Right now, apart from the US Democrat Nomination “race”, Western world media attention is focussed on the Burma Crisis.  Burma (aka Myanmar) is suffering a combination of natural and man made disasters.  And the West is getting hot under the collar about it because the Burmese Military Junta wants to be seen to be the […]

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One of my emails notified me that a Michael Crescenz, a classmate of mine, will be buried Monday May 12 in Arlington Cemetery. He was killed 40 years ago, in Viet Nam. Ah, it’s been many years since I thought of Michael, and even then I remember him as a young boy, not as the […]

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From Churchill’s Parrot blog
“To me the greatest issue in this part of the world is not deserting Israel.”
- Sir Winston Churchill
There is at present but one flag upon Earth’s moon; for only a society which values the liberty and enterprise this flag represents could achieve such a miracle. That flag yet stands alone, a colorful […]

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Make the people keep voting until they vote the “correct” way and until Mugabe is declared “President” again.  Except that Mugabe can never even claim to be the legitimate President of Zimbabwe.  From now on even his African neighbours will look askance at this ancient leader of terrorists with a mixture of condescension, amusement, pity […]

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Anyone who’s watched news coverage about Iraq over the last 25 years or so has probably seen Tariq Aziz. He was a part of Saddam Hussein’s inner circle from the first day the dictator took power. However, unlike ‘Chemical Ali’ and the rest of Saddam’s henchman, Aziz was never a strong man for the regime.
He […]

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Twenty-four babies, and forty children under the age of six, were among some 250 people rounded up on Friday, and crammed into “filthy cells” at a small prison in one of Harare’s southern suburbs.  (Christina Lamb and John Makura, Sunday Times.)  Their parents were accused by police of “voting incorrectly” during the elections.  Meanwhile in […]

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I’ve often written about borderless crime being committed with a click of a mouse, as well as, the lines that law enforcement jurisdictions impose, which can make investigative and prosecution efforts, frustrating.
The Attorney General and the Justice Department are announcing a new strategy to go after the problem.
From the press release on fbi.gov:
Today, Attorney General […]

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When it comes to information being compromised, a lot of it can be traced to simple human error a.k.a. “stupidity.”
A glaring testament to this fact is being reported by the New York Post:
Hundreds of Ground Zero workers were exposed to potential identity theft when stacks of payroll sheets - which included their names and Social […]

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Recent headlines have focussed on the “cargo of death” shipped from China to Zimbabwe last week, but in an even more sinister development, Chinese troops have been seen on the streets of a Zimbabwe town… (Daily Mail)  Chinese and North Korean troops were also in evidence alongside Mugabe’s own troops when he attended a rally […]

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The spineless Mufti is at it again with his “healing” touch, this time aimed for those across the LOC in POK. Offstumped examines his new hairbrained ideas.
First it was his daughter with talk of joint management of Jammu & Kashmir with suggestions of reserving seats in the legislature. Next it was him with talk of […]

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This fascinating memoir by James Heaphey is set mainly around an American Air Base for nuclear bombers in Morocco, North Africa; it combines treachery with extreme violence and danger, and is narrated with the stamp of authority that can only come from one who has been there, seen it and done it.
Characters include Arabs, Berbers, […]

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Back in the 80s when stale Doordarshan fare was all one had to go by, it was not unusual to have Indira Gandhi and later on Rajiv Gandhi dominate the headlines. Two decades have gone by and we are in a new century, competition arrived a decade ago and with it multiple news channels. But […]

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A wave of fear is sweeping across Zimbabwe as terror reigns, not only in towns and cities but also in rural areas, where people are beaten and otherwise punished for having supported the opposition.  Cathy Buckle this week quotes one victim from a small country town telling her, “…it is terrible, there are injured people […]

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Offstumped question for the new week:
Is a benign neighborhood a pre-requisite for a functional and sustainable democracy ?
It is definitely true of all of Western Europe. The more recent converts to democracy in Eastern Europe are still sorting things through but by and large the unstable ones are those with troubled borders and not so […]

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Petreus giving his testimony was on CNN last night..
Instapundit has his testimony here
My summary: Not all sweetness and light, but a hard slog, getting there slowly. Sounds about right.
But seeing Petreus testify reminded me that straight talkers who have quiet authority and integrity tend to play well on television, but politicians who talk too much […]

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From Churchill’s Parrot blog. 
Hilarious and nauseating at once is mankind’s chronic inability to retain wisdom acquired at the cost of much blood, toil, tears, and sweat. This tragicomedy was played out for us in no uncertain terms upon our recent Stateside pilgrimage to one of the more forgotten shrines to the cause of Liberty: the […]

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Terrorism takes center stage with the recently arrested SIMI activists on their way to Bangalore for narco-analysis and the confession by Sababuddin on his involvement in the IISC attack, Offstumped takes a hard look at the anti-terrorism record of the erstwhile SM Krishna led Congress government.
In the aftermath of 2006 IISC attack this story appeared […]

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“…We stand exhausted and betrayed at this critical moment in Zimbabwe’s crisis…” Cathy Buckle wrote from Zimbabwe on Sunday.  The fact that the results of the presidential elections – due a week ago – have still not been announced makes it a dead cert that Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party lost them. 
Zanu-PF is demanding a […]

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Perhaps because I have lived in countries with insurgencies, I’m a little cynical about the US press covereage of Iraq. They seem willing and able to report Iraq as Viet Nam, while I see it as Colombia, or Algeria, or Luzon, or maybe even Mindanao.
The problem? The politicization of coverage as an “us versus them” […]

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“John McCain is not a warmonger and should not be described as such,” Ms. Psaki [an Obama spokesperson] said. “He’s a supporter of a war that Senator Obama believes should have never been authorized and never been waged.”
This statement was made in response to a radio talk show host who called Sen. McCain a “warmonger” […]

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In Colombia, the narco “insurgent” group FARC is being decimated by a “carrot-stick” approach by the Colombian President Uribe.
After years of a “talk nice and let’s negotiate” President, where FARC used truces and safe zones to regroup and fight again rather than to negotiate, the present government is hitting hard, but offering amnesty to those […]

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Yesterday a Dutch parliamentary member called attention to a short internet based documentary, called, “Fitna!” It has broadcast through the entire world community and clearly shows the side of Islamic militancy that unfortunately is happening throughout the world. The documentary really causes quite a bit of discontent among Muslim and Jewish faithful cultures. It should […]

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When Sonia Gandhi breaks her sphinx like silence to talk of Terrorism it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. For those wondering why here is an Offstumped refresher which should also serve as a reminder for why questions of her patriotism and foreign origin are fair game.
First this 8th July 2007 post from Offstumped […]

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According to Zimbabwe’s Business Day, Robert Mugabe has (privately) conceded defeat in the Presidential Elections to his family and to his closest advisors, including the military and police chiefs. 
“Mugabe has conceded to his closest advisers — the army, police and intelligence chiefs. He has also told his family and personal advisers that he has lost […]

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The Zimbabwe elections are in chaos (Reuters).  While the country waits in tension, Robert Mugabe has not been seen in public since casting his vote on March 29, and opposition candidate for President, Morgan Tsvangirai is claiming victory (BBC)…  Suspicions remain that the long delayed results of the elections are being caused by manipulation of […]

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Last week, six planes coming in to land at Sydney airport have had green lasers pointed at their cockpits in what seems to be a coordinated attack, in which three or four different lasers were pointed at airplanes landing at that airport.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the attack was bad enough that they closed […]

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We were taught in the theories of international relations that democracies do not go to war. That notion however somehow seems lost in the erratic behaviour of the US administration regarding Pakistan. During the eight year long dictatorship in this country which also witnessed unprecedented assault on the American Twin Towers, the attitude of the […]

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Iraq, and it really doesn’t matter how you spin it, it has been a disaster. Saddam lost his head (literally), the video taken by a cell phone was brutal! Five years into this ‘weekend excursion’ and trillions of dollars later, what have we achieved?
The ‘Shock and Awe’ aspect was lost after the first week of […]

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by T.K. Kenyon “After finding explosives and about 1000 USD worth of Iraqi money in a stolen car in New Mexico, the FBI has ruled out terrorism. WHAT?”

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