The Gay Russian Demonstrators were in St. Petersburg.

If anyone knows anything about Russia they would know St. Petersburg is very European in its culture and has been for a long, long time.

It has a notation in Russian society similar to NYC and it's frequent progressives agenda including fighting against food abuse and large drinks.

Basically, St. Petersburg gets on many Russians last nerve. It is also a beautiful city and carries pride with Russian society. So, in many ways, if there was going to be Gay Rights demonstrations they would have started in St. Petersburg. 

Aug 2, 2013
While holding a one-man protest (click here) against LGBT rights violations in Russia, activist Krill Kalugin was attacked by a group of Russian paratroopers in St. Petersburg today. The paratroopers were celebrating Russia’s Paratroopers day, which honors military servicemen.

According to Animal New York’s translation of a video of the attack, paratroopers approached the man and began pushing him around after saying they did “not agree with” his actions.

The Olympics are coming up and every Russian with an agenda knows there will be intense interest by the international community during that time. Hello?

China did well when they hosted the Olympics, but, the social rules are well enforced in China and no new rules were necessary. The Olympics went on while there were human rights abuses in the nation. One of the reasons the Olympics occur every four years in two different seasons is to promote good will and progress toward peace. If every Olympics looked like a G anything meeting with Globalists everywhere, some how it just would not be the same. Go figure.

While Gay Rights is an important subject and Europe has a high level of status for their gay communities; Russia has decided this eruption of demonstrations by their gay community is opportunistic. Quite frankly it is. 

The Gay Community in Russia has made a statement. No one is going to forget it. The way to assist the community is to work within a framework that won't disrupt lives and livelihoods. The best path is to have the USA State Department carry the agenda forward while advocating for their freedoms of expression to minimize victimization. I am quite confident Russian diplomacy will point to the fact the USA has only recently realized a Court overturn a Clinton era law and there really isn't any overall right for their gay community to marry. They would be correct. 

The USA has a way to go yet before they are solid examples of freedom and diversity. In the meantime, activists will seek attention and those viewing it will worry about them, demand fair treatment and ask international observers to insure their well being. It is the way of the world.

The Olympics will go on and again we will celebrate athletes being ambassadors for their countries. There is no excuse to boycott the Olympics. The USA has no 'moral authority' in the treatment of their gay community to make such a stand. 

The reason President Obama is not meeting with President Putin ahead of the G20 is because it has been assigned to lower level diplomacy.

The truth is there is no reason for high level meetings because there was no progress made to any of the issues facing the two countries. There were treaties to sign or any 'next thing' to do that is left to either President. 

The bull-only about Snowden is American propaganda for media pundits.

MOSCOW, August 7 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow (click here) is disappointed by the cancellation of US President Barack Obama’s planned visit to Moscow for a bilateral summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a senior Kremlin aide said Wednesday.

The two heads of state were scheduled to hold talks in Moscow ahead of a gathering of the Group of 20 major economies on September 5 in St. Petersburg.

“We are disappointed by the decision made by the US administration to cancel Obama’s visit to Moscow in September,” Putin's top foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov, told reporters.

“It is clear that this decision has been prompted by the situation regarding former US spy agency employee Edward Snowden, [a situation] which was not created by us,” Ushakov said....

The 'tough talk' of the pundits was never heard from either President. Snowden is AGAIN a scapegoat.

I think what Julia Ioffe knows about Russia is more than appropriate. (click here) Her opinions are fairly accurate. Once again Russia is the evil empire. Will the propaganda of the USA ever do without it?

The fight for Gay Rights is everywhere. It is not just in Russia. The incident in St. Petersburg didn't result in a national hunt for homosexuals.

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR and STEVEN LEE MYERS 
Published: August 6, 2013

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel (click here) plan to meet here in Washington with their Russian counterparts on Friday for a day of talks that could determine the fate of a September summit meeting between President Obama and the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin....

The boys haven't been doing their homework and now they have to catch up. Secretary Kerry has had a family emergency and Hagel has been harassed over "The Sequester," so everything that was supposed to be accomplished before President Obama arrived in Russia for the Putin meeting hasn't been addressed. There is no business for either leader to  address. They aren't meeting for 'the old days' and reminiscing. These meetings are suppose to be productive.

Quite frankly it has been a standard for some time now to allow Russia to be moved to the back burner while other issues were more pressing. Times up!

...State Department officials on Tuesday afternoon confirmed the meeting with Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, and Sergei K. Shoigu, the defense minister. Jen Psaki, the State Department spokeswoman, said the four officials would discuss “a number of pressing bilateral and global issues.”

“There’s a lot to discuss,” Ms. Psaki said. “A lot of issues we work together on. I expect those to be the thrust of the conversation."

Russian officials sounded a similar theme.

“We expect a very intensive discussion, all the more so because there are quite a few sharp, controversial and difficult questions,” Sergei Ryabkov, the deputy foreign minister, said Tuesday.... 

There better be very intensive discussions because the people of the USA are flyin' tired of the lack of progress on many fronts including non-proliferation, Syria, Iran and North Korea and hostile parking of missiles at the Russian border.

Edward Snowden is NOT the issue with the problems within the NSA and their intimate relationship with Wall Street. Edward Snowden is a whistleblower. Russia has consented to allow him a space on Earth until more is known about his future. There are many citizens of the USA viewing the NSA program as a problem and Snowden admirable to bring it forward at his own peril.

At least Russia is willing to entertain the safety of a man that is wrongly accused by the USA while Wall Street gets away with it all. The American people don't need any more injustice in their understanding of their country. That is oppression and we are all opposed to it. The politics in the USA have become oppressive and a burden to the people. Real oppression. Fiscal and status oppression of citizens. At least Edward Snowden has relief from the invasive government agenda of the NSA and their Wall Street partners. 

Indeed. One has to wonder why FOX News staff always looks like deer caught in headlights.

It is interesting, isn't it? The conservative states actually have few and few mental health beds than prison beds.

...It is now extremely difficult.(click here) It is now extremely difficult to find a bed for a seriously mentally ill person who needs to be hospitalized. In 1955 there was one psychiatric bed for every 300 Americans. In 2005 there was one psychiatric bed for every 3,000 Americans. Even worse, themajority of the existing beds were filled with court-ordered (forensic) cases and thus not really available....  

But, of course, there is no need for gun control. I don't believe I have to state anything else, do I? Next time Wayne La Pierre states the problem is mental health in the USA, remember this.
   
This information is a little dated, but, maybe Governor Jan Brewer loves Obamacare because she knows there is no real funding for mental health in Arizona which resulted in an attempted assassination of an Arizona USA Congresswoman. 

 
Using 2004–2005 data not previously published, we found that in the United States there are now more than three times more seriously mentally ill persons in jails and prisons than in hospitals. Looked at by individual states, in North Dakota there are approximately an equal number of mentally ill persons in jails and prisons compared to hospitals. By contrast, Arizona and Nevada have almost ten times more mentally ill persons in jails and prisons than in hospitals. It is thus fact, not hyperbole, that America’s jails and prisons have become our new mental hospitals.

The trend in the conservative states has been to remove more and more mental health beds. So, when a parent of a young man realizes he is dangerous and seeks to have him treated, there simply isn't any help and/or mental health beds to be found. They are left to wander inside their own lives and minds, until, they perform a heinous act and then they are considered criminally insane and locked away. 

The shooter in Arizona was known to have mental health issues, but, remained undiagnosed and walked into a Walmart and purchased all the guns and ammunition he wanted. 

The only way of ending gun violence in our nation is to control the guns in circulation. 

When Wayne La Pierre states most gun owners want their guns, he knows there is a level of fear in this country based on the fact, 'There are crazies with guns.' He knows the people will stand with him when it comes to gun control.

I sincerely doubt anyone will find large donations to mental health facilities by the NRA, their donors, members (Life time or otherwise) or gun industry. They have to spend monies on propaganda to prevent the truth from being known.

Go ahead, America. Live in fear. It serves the purpose.

.

Good news for the filmmakers of "Blackfish."

Dr. Laela Sayigh of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (click here) has conducted extensive research into the intelligence of the Free Ranging Bottlenose Dolphins most of her career.

This is a small sample of her work and reflects none of her mentoring of her graduate students. She has stated the signature whistles of Bottlenose dolphins change after having contact with humans. She has a library of signature whistles from her acoustic research which demands the least contact requirements with this species. At the time when they have contact with her research team, she has known specimens of the change in their whistles. 

No research reveals the reason why, but, it might be the whistles of these mammals including the complicated singing of Humpback Whales are sophisticated ways of talking about their oceans to enhance their survival. We just don't know and I am not sure we need to know as it would be exploited and possibly lead to their extinction by others with different agendas for the biotic life on Earth.

Jones, G., and L. Sayigh. 2002. Geographic variation in rates of vocal production of free-ranging bottlenose dolphins. Marine Mammal Science. 18: 374-393.

Sayigh, L. S. 2002. Signature whistles. In Encyclopedia of marine mammals, ed. B. Wursig and W. Perrin. Academic Press: San Diego, pp. 1081-1083.

Allen, M., A. Read, J. Gaudet, and L. Sayigh. 2001. Fine scale habitat selection of foraging bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) near Clearwater, Florida. Marine Ecology Progress Series 222: 253-264.

Sayigh, L. S., P. L. Tyack, R. S. Wells, A. Solow, M. Scott, and A. B. Irvine. 1999. Individual recognition in wild bottlenose dolphins: a field test using playback experiments. Animal Behavior 57:41-50.

Tyack, P. L. and L. S. Sayigh. 1997. Vocal learning in cetaceans. In Social Influences on Vocal Development, ed. C. Snowdon and M. Hausberger, pp.208-233. Cambridge University Press.

Marine Mammals have larger brains PER BODY MASS than humans. That includes whales. They are very intelligent, gregarious survivors in very large bathtubs around the globe. That is not a minor accomplishment deserving recognition as reason for their endangered protections.
 

By Meeri Kim, Published: August 6

...“The main implications of such findings (click here) is that humans are not the only mammals that retain memories of others for long periods,” said SUNY-Buffalo psychologist Eduardo Mercado III, who was not involved in the research.

Prior to the new study, published online in the journal “Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B,” much of what had been known about dolphin memory was anecdotal. This recorded feat of long-term memory puts dolphins in the same field as other highly intelligent creatures, including some monkeys and elephants, both of which have been known to recognize unrelated members of their species after time apart.

University of Chicago scientist Jason Bruck studied 56 bottlenose dolphins that were moved between six different institutions — including Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo, the Minnesota Zoo and an aquarium at Disney World in Orlando — over a period of 20 years. They were typically transferred for breed, ing purposes, which somewhat mimicked the shifts among pods of dolphins in the wild.

That approach gave Bruck a record of the animals’ social histories, which would be nearly impossible to collect for wild dolphins. The dolphins studied were separated for as long as 20 years...

Congratulations to Yemen to preserve it's sovereign nation.

7 August 2013
 
...'Audacious plot' (click here)
The BBC's correspondent in Washington, David Willis, says it appears that Yemen was at the centre of a complex and audacious plot which - had it succeeded - would have given al-Qaeda control over a crucial aspect of the country's infrastructure.

Yemeni government spokesman Rajeh Badi said the plot involved blowing up oil pipelines and taking control of certain cities - including two ports in the south, one of which accounts for the bulk of Yemen's oil exports and is where a number of foreign workers are employed.

"There were attempts to control key cities in Yemen like Mukala and Bawzeer," said Mr Badi.

"This would be co-ordinated with attacks by al-Qaeda members on the gas facilities in Shebwa city and the blowing up of the gas pipe in Belhaf city."...

The man loves cars.

It is available on E-Bay for $24.99.

Presidential Limousine Barack Obama Beast 1/43 Scale Diecast 2009 Cadillac DTS (click here)

The International Reception Terminal at the largest airport facility in East Africa.

Aug. 7, 2013

Firefighters (click here) stand in a damaged portion of the airport. Many of the responding emergency crews were from private security firms.

Noor Khamis / Reuters

President Uhuru Kenyatta needs to allow a through investigation of the cause of this fire.

From "allAfrica.com"

Kenya's Main International Airport On Fire (click here)

Flights at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport have been diverted to other airports following a major fire that broke out, grounding operations.

The fire was in addition to this crash. A coincidence?

By Margaret Wahito, 6 June 2012
Nairobi, Kenya — Operations resumed (click here) at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport after nine hours of interruption caused by an EgyptAir aircraft 849 plane that veered off the runway and got stuck while landing on Wednesday morning.

Officials at the largest and busiest airport in East Africa for local and international flights said the plane, was eventually pulled away at about noon and most of the scheduled flights at the time took off.

The Kenya Airports Authority said the plane was carrying 123 passengers from Cairo, when it overshot the runway at 3.30am....

The women were so very, very brave in that court room.

And now the house is being demolished. (click here) Thank you.

Open Letter to Reinhold Reince Priebus

Dear Mr. Priebus,

Unfortunately, this will bring attention you don't deserve, but, it has to be said.

I am sure it is disheartening to many within Wall Street to have a decent President in the Oval Office that values the people of this nation as people and not commodities. Goldman Sachs was issued one of the highest fines of a bank on Wall Street. Their employee was found to be involved in breaking the law and was slapped on the wrist with three years in prison. As recent as this past month, JP Morgan was fined for mischief and this past year there was a challenge by stockholders to Mr. Dimon's leadership. I know of what I write. Wall Street would much prefer to have a manipulated and corrupt Republican/Tea Party President in the White House.

There are Americans who understand how deeply corrupt the values of the RNC have become to maintain control the laws of the USA since 2000. The election of 2000 was rigged through the Former Governor of Florida. It is obvious. It is known and no can deny it. This is not simply politics or sour grapes. There are solid facts that back that reality. Today, the Former Governor Bush would never have gotten away with it.

The Former Governor Bush's Secretary of State purged the voter rolls in Miami-Dade County, no different than the current Republican Governor Scott attempted in 2012. It is known. It is a fact. It is a blatant grab for power because the RNC cannot win elections on the issues in a fair and transparent election. There are many nations where the politicians attempt and succeed the same thing. The UN usually sends in monitors to follow those elections. An example is the 2009 Afghanistan elections. This is not a mystery to many Americans, so what I am writing here is a fact, not fiction, regardless of your denial.

Currently, the GOP Governors of 2010 are attempting to destroy the unions, primarily the Public Sector Unions in the name of a balanced state budgets. That is also a lie. It is known. It is a fact. This methodology, including the activities within ALEC, is an assault on the USA Constitution. It is manipulative at the very least, removes States Rights and homogenizes the States into a parallel Wall Street governing body to remove the rights of the people. 

The Wisconsin Recall elections of Scott Walker told it all. $80 million was spent in the governor's recall race. This compares to $37.4 million spent on the 2010 Wisconsin gubernatorial election. Of that $80 million the Barrett Campaign was out spent by over two to one by "Outside Wisconsin Donors." The top ten donors of that recall election were SuperPacs, except, for three unions that backed the people. Those unions fell into 4th, 5th and 6th place on the top ten list. If those three unions were eliminated from being among the top ten donors to that election there would be no major funding for the Democrats.

That fact can be found here: http://www.citizenkoch.com/

Destroying unions that advocate for the Middle Class to support the USA economy in a sustainable reality is Anti-American. If it weren't for unions the USA Economy would have third world status. It is known. It is a fact. The stark example of that is the fact Wall Street is realizing it's highest profits while the USA is still seeking to grow an economy without their interest. In 2008, the banks took their Bush Bailout and ran to exploit other markets. It can be speculated Wall Street didn't want the USA back on it's feet under a Democratic President. The RNC/Tea Party needs to stop begrudging the American people the American Dream. Your leadership of the RNC/Tea Party political party clearly illustrates the desire to win elections at any cost including undermining the USA Constitution.

Mr. Priebus, your RNC/Tea Party is as corrupt as it comes. I suggest you clean up your act and run honest elections rather than attempting to poison the electorate through SuperPacs, ie: Karl Rove's Crossroads has a less than one percent success rate, and manipulating an election's outcome through gerrymandering, creating issues to obstruct voting and purging election voter rolls.

Mr. Priebus, your complaining is beginning to sound very tired when the facts are known. The resistance the RNC/Tea Party is receiving is not political so much as a demand to preserve our Constitution and the right of every American to upward movement, including an education leading to the American Dream. The destruction of our economy and the devastating USA Debt is unprecedented in it's etiology of Republican Presidencies.

There is much the RNC needs to improve on and I suggest you get started rather than ranting like a spoiled child. 

Best regards.

I hear Murdoch's Movie Division is intact and producing a movie about Jeb Bush. Yes? I get the distinct feeling Priebus hates the First Amendment, besides unions.

Why don't you just admit it Priebus, you don't want to face news organization that actually might level honest questions that don't align with SuperPac banter?

I mean you have got to be joking. "Hillary the Movie" caused the worst case of corruption of our political system and it isn't going to be rebutted? Too bad.

Between Murdoch and Howard Hamm it would appear as though some of you folks are having a difficult hanging on to your wives, though. You all might want to reflect on that a bit.

You haven't got a 'thing' about women, successful women besides, do you?

The film that cracked the case (click here)

By Philip Rucker,January 22, 2010

David Bossie, a veteran Republican campaign operative who made his mark investigating the Clintons, thought his group could offer a conservative answer to Michael Moore's successful films. After Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" premiered in 2004, Bossie's Citizens United group released "Celsius 41.11."
And after it became clear that Bossie's longtime enemy Hillary Rodham Clinton would run for president, Citizens United released another flick: "Hillary: The Movie." Featuring a who's-who cast of right-wing commentators, the 2008 film takes viewers on a savaging journey through Clinton's scandals. The sole compliment about the then-senator comes from conservative firebrand Ann Coulter: "Looks good in a pantsuit."
But "Hillary: The Movie" never became a blockbuster. The Federal Election Commission restricted Citizens United's ability to advertise the film during the 2008 primary season, a decision that Bossie and other conservative activists saw as a threat to their freedom of speech.

"W" now owns a medical device. A life saving medical device.

Ain't those annual physicals with all that preventive care something, though?

He is off to a good start. Sixty something can be average for anyone to have coronary blockage. Plague is a disease. Seriously. It is genetic, but, also acquired. He needs to listen to his to his doctor. NO MORE CHAIN SAWS for a few months.

Anti-coagulants and chainsaws dont' mix. I mean that now. No fooling around until you get clearance.

But, he is a lucky man. He will see his cardiologist regularly and do what is best for his new condition. And he probably won't need heart surgery in the near future. I don't expect he'll ever be on the same list as Dick was. I wouldn't expect it.

He needs to develop a sensitivity to what his body is telling him now. Men have a difficult time listening to their bodies and appreciating it's gift of warning signs.

I've got the greatest story. This is absolutely true.

A 91 year old man was brought to an emergency room with chest pain. It was decided he was having a heart attack, placed on drips and taken to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.

After the first enzymes came back his cardiologist came to his bedside. The elderly man looked at the cardiologist with affection as if a son. He stated, "Well, what are we going to do this time?" 

The cardiologist smiled a big smile, "This time it  is going to be medicine. Can't do anymore bypasses like I did four times before over the last 40 years."

True story. My Maternal Irish Grandmother had a weak heart. She developed pneumonia one year and died at the age of 94 years old. 

Live a long life, Mr. Bush. Be happy and love your wife and children.

August 6, 2013

Former president George W. Bush (click here) is in "high spirits" after heart surgery Tuesday morning, his office said.
During a physical examination Monday, doctors found a blockage in an artery of the former president's heart, said Bush spokesman Freddy Ford.
"At the recommendation of his doctors, President Bush agreed to have a stent placed to open the blockage," Ford said.
The procedure at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas went off "without complication" early Tuesday, Ford said.
The news caught the political world by surprise....

Did everyone hear from the NEXT Governor of Texas?

That woman is incredible. She is going to be President someday. She knows Texas inside and out. She openly condemns racial discrimination, poverty, voting rights legislation, the attacks on the children and women's health in Texas. I mean to tell you, she is a walking miracle for the people of Texas.

From "The Insurance Journal." Add to their losses that of FEMA and there is MORE structural debt.

Why do Republicans (Tea Party) never want to provide funding to disaster areas? Because they have added so much STRUCTURAL DEBT to the USA Treasury there is no room to breath. 

Think about it. 

From the years 2001 through 2009 the Republicans (Tea Party) ran rates of Structural USA Debt so high that when the same Republicans had to raise the debt ceiling they refused until the last minute and showed the world exactly how outrageous their spending is without intentions to pay it on time, hence, the credit rating change. What do you think caused the credit rating change of the USA? The STRUCTURAL DEBT did and the fact the treasury received less monies than ever before in ratio to the debt owed.

Less money into the USA Treasury because of lost jobs, disappearing wages, loss of equity of Americans and complete realization there is more hatred of the Middle Class taxpayer than the world ever realized.

The Republicans did all that spending with complete abandon to what laid ahead and then came Superstorm Sandy. The GOP is the worst governing body in the USA. The absolute worst with no respect for our children, the nation's brain trust (why not hand out more visas than pay for education - you know, hire the 'wetbacks), minorities and the inequity in their wealth and upward mobility or unions and their ability to grow and develop the Middle Class and economies.

THE STRUCTURAL DEBT of the USA has and is the problem and the Republicans (Tea Party) do not respect those that lent the money to make it all happen for them for eight long years only to face a recovery to the USA economy in the Trillions while the people of this nation lost the American Dream.

The President's report about having a recovering housing market is nothing short of a miracle.

By M. Scott Carter
August 5, 2013

The May storms in Oklahoma (click here) that produced two EF-5 tornadoes, destroyed thousands of houses, resulted in 46 deaths and sent damage estimates above the $5 billion mark, were extreme examples of a years-long pattern of storms that has the insurance industry wondering what’s next.
Dan Ramsey, CEO of the Independent Insurance Agents of Oklahoma, said the past five years have been very difficult ones for insurance companies that write policies in Oklahoma.

“The thing is, the lesson is still being learned,” Ramsey said. “This is the fifth year in a row that portions of Oklahoma have been devastated. It’s a disturbing trend.”

It’s also expensive....

...“It’s a picture that is disturbing,” Ramsey said. “When you’re paying out 14 cents more than every dollar collected, that’s a problem. Insurance companies can’t survive that way.”
He said the problem has become so bad that at least three insurance companies announced they would no longer write policies in Oklahoma due to high losses.
“If the trend continues, it could be a problem,” he said. “You have to have a stable insurance market to encourage economic development. If the insurance industry isn’t there, things stop.”...

Who is going to write these policies? Howard Hamm? I think most of the oil profits he gets went mostly to his ex-wife if I am not mistaken. Who is going to write these policies? The petroleum industry while they leak methane and produce CO2 fuels? Who is going to write them? I'll give you one guess. The USA people will have to write them. The cost to the USA Treasury should first be paid by the oil subsidies and end this moral travesty!

I thought it refreshingly pleasant to realize a company respects the land, it's heritiage and the people.

I would imagine the speculation is due to the fact the American people have become used to abuse of their land to benefit corporate exploitation. 

See. Land has wealth. Not all of that wealth is realized in dollars.

August 06,2013
Essar Steel Minnesota, (click here) which is currently building a taconite mine near Nashwauk, released a statement today stressing that, despite having mineral rights in the area, the company does not want or plan to close the Hill Annex Mine State Park in Calumet....

...Despite speculation by some, Essar does not believe the park should be closed.  Essar has always looked at the Hill Annex State Park as an opportunity to show the history and future of mining at a single location.  We think the park should be improved and Essar is interested in exploring the possibility of being helpful to that cause...

I do believe the USA and Russia have official plans to discuss Mr. Snowden.

A protester carry a portrait of Edward Snowden during a demonstration against secret monitoring programmes PRISM, TEMPORA, INDECT and showing solidarity with whistleblowers Edward Snowden, Bradley Manning and others in Berlin July 27, 2013.(Reuters / Pawel Kopczynski)
August 06, 2013

Edward Snowden (click here) remains in an undisclosed “safe place,” tasting local food and adjusting to Russian life, according to his lawyer. The NSA leaker is waiting for his father to arrive, who will help make decisions about Snowden's situation and security.

Snowden’s father is expected to arrive in Russia by the end of the month, after receiving an invitation from his son’s attorney, Anatoly Kucherena.

“The invitation was forwarded and it was accepted,” said Lon Snowden’s lawyer, Mattie Fein, as quoted by ITAR-TASS news agency. “I can’t tell you the exact date of his arrival, but it’s going to happen in August.”

Kucherena expressed hope on Tuesday that Lon Snowden will “get a visa in the next couple of days.” The same goes for Edward Snowden’s US attorney and several of his American friends, who received similar invitations to come to Russia....

Entering Iraq was such a mistake. It kept Russia from being a continued ally to stabilize the region.

When the USA was attacked by bin Laden's al Qaeda on September 11, 2001 the entire global community was one, including Russia. They sent the first medical unit to Afghanistan when it was obvious the USA was sending troops.

The world identified with these events and wanted the end of al Qaeda. If Afghanistan had remained the focus of the USA's only war in the region it would be very different today.

When Bush and Cheney turned the "War on Terror" into a war for natural resources BEGINNING with Iraq and viewing every other sovereign nation as having potential for 'harboring terrorists' the entire community, including traditional allies, postured away from the USA's new aggressive determination.

Today because of the wrong headed Techno Wars that create more so called terrorists than it kills the USA has accomplished less than nothing in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

I had often wondered what would occur if the USA were to leave. Tajikistan has a large Afghan border to it's south and only a stone's throw from the Kashmir region of India and Pakistan. The Pakistan tribal regions and Tora Bora are only a small jog to the south from Kashmir. So, to estimate the region with Taliban unrest will be stable is not realistic. I am confident President Putin expects a great deal of mischief shortly after the USA exists.

It is not as though Russia is not empathetic for the continued killings in Afghanistan either.

MOSCOW, June 2 (RIA Novosti) – As many as 97 girls at two schools (click here) in northern Afghanistan have fallen sick after a suspected gas poisoning, the Pajhwok news agency has reported.

A total of 77 girls at a school in Maimana, in Faryab province, and another 20 girls at a school in Behsud, in Sar-e Pol province, fell ill after reportedly smelling gas during the classes.

“When the girls started fainting, the teacher noticed a man running in a school ground,” one of the victims told the agency. Investigators also believe the girls could have fallen ill due to heat and insanitary conditions at schools.

Poisoning attacks at Afghan schools are often staged by the Taliban who are against education for women. The country’s education ministry said some 550 schools and lyceums were recently closed over security concerns....

So, while Americans and their media worry about their embassy closings and potential kill of Ayman al Zawahiri while attempting to raise their ratings, the rest of the world has other plans. I think this time, with new Russian bombers and a concern for the allies that were once the old Soviet Union, the Taliban will find unwelcome outcomes to their plans to carry out terror of the Afghan people or should I say the Tajiks.

01/08/2013
NOVO-OGARYOVO
August 1 (RIA Novosti)

President Vladimir Putin (click here) has instructed the Russian military to assess the risks of the withdrawal of US and international coalition troops from Afghanistan and help Tajikistan face potential threats after the pullout, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Thursday.

“President Vladimir Putin’s orders are straightforward: to assess all risks and to help the Tajik armed forces face these risks,” Shoigu said after talks between Putin and his Tajik counterpart, Emomali Rakhmon.

Shoigu said a program to modernize the Tajik army might cost up to $200 million and involve repairs of existing equipment as well as purchases of new weaponry.

The program would be implemented in three stages – in 2013-2015 – and in two five-year periods later on, he said....

It is far more interesting to realize, if the USA maintained it's focus on Afghanistan it would all be over by now and stability returned. I thought that was the original plan, right? Destroy al Qaeda and prevent further spread of the global cancer. My, my how wrong could I be. And the cancer did indeed spread, now didn't it? And all the money besides. STRUCTURAL DEBT OF THE BUSH/CHENEY FOREVER WARS. It had to end sometime.


An army trooper at a checkpoint Monday in Sana, Yemen.
6 August 2013

It follows (click here) the sudden closure of 20 US embassies and consulates on Sunday.

This was prompted by intercepted conversations between two senior al-Qaeda figures, including top leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, US media said.

The Pentagon said the US Air Force was flying workers out of the capital, Sanaa, on Tuesday morning....

I am looking forward to a renewed relationship with the Iranian people.

In complete honesty, the USA and Iran has not had a productive relationship since 1979. And even that isn't much of a record. The relationship with Iran has been through USA leadership assigned to Iran.

If Secretary Kerry is able to build a productive relationship with Iran's new leadership, it will be the first since the Shah was removed. I am wishing for success. It would be a major development between the two countries and may even overshadow a Nobel Peace Prize for any peace accord between Israel and Palestine. It would be good for both countries.


There is much ill will that has occurred during all those years. It would be wonderful to put the past behind us and build on solid ground of understanding, prosperity and a future of peace for all our children.

By Marcus George and Yeganeh Torbati

DUBAI | 

Tue Aug 6, 2013 12:51pm EDT

Rouhani, (click here) seen in the West as a relatively moderate leader, told his first news conference since taking the oath on Sunday that he was "seriously determined" to resolve the dispute and was ready to enter "serious and substantive" negotiations.

Hopes for a diplomatic resolution to the nuclear issue have risen with Rouhani's victory over conservative rivals in June, when voters chose him to replace hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with a cleric whose watchword is "moderation".

Western countries and Israel have said in the past that they believed Iranwas trying to achieve nuclear weapons capability, but Tehran says its program is purely for peaceful needs.

There are major deserts in every corner of the world

As a matter of fact, with the Climate Crisis, the size of the deserts are growing due to long and sustained drought.

This is a daylight chart. The hours of daylight can be known to justify the building of such a facility. All that is necessary to understand the feasibility of a solar collector such as the solar trough is to plug in a longitude and latitude and obtain the length of daylight.

As a rule, ie: Bakersfield, California, there are no clouds in a desert otherwise it would not be a desert.

Deserts usually have very low rainfall under NORMAL circumstances and considering Earth is become a prune in this manmade troposphere the justification of such a facility is long overdue! 

No different than Chernobyl. Problem after problem after problem and now the facility is a structural tax on the Japanese people.

When a wind mill or a solar facility goes down it simply has to be repaired or replaced. What is everyone thinking? 

No waste issues, no long term structural problems and land that can be reclaimed over a short period of time if there are other and better forms of energy than those that damage the troposphere.

I am waiting and hoping for the day the Sahara Desert is harnessed to provide global energy. Or at the very least Europe. Hot Oil Solar Heaters make great steam power.

It is called a Solar Trough. (click here) The same can be done in the deserts of the USA. The temperatures of the oil rise to 800 Fahrenheit or higher with absolutely no danger to employees. The sun does all the work and the folks that work at the facility simply monitor the panels and oil lines. The oil runs into boilers to make steam and the steam turns turbines no different than any other energy facility in the country.

Is to too much to ask to actually have an energy infrastructure that doesn't burden the society it is suppose to serve? The petroleum industry, the nuclear energy industry and the coal industry all create long term structural problems for taxpayers in the USA. Why are we doing this?

The crippled Fukushima plant has suffered water leaks and power cuts in recent months

5 August 2013 
Japan's nuclear watchdog (click here) has said the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is facing a new "emergency" caused by a build-up of radioactive groundwater.
A barrier built to contain the water has already been breached, the Nuclear Regulatory Authority warned.

This means the amount of contaminated water seeping into the Pacific Ocean could accelerate rapidly, it said.

There has been spate of water leaks and power failures at the plant, devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Its operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), has been criticised heavily for its lack of transparency over the leaks....