Our Top Story Tonight | Perpetual war is here — and Americans are getting used to it Ron Smith October 9, 2009 | A new poll shows a substantial majority of Americans have resigned themselves to the reality of our nation's perpetual foreign wars. They don't like it, but they see it happening and know there is nothing they can do about it. The poll, conducted by Clarus Research Group, showed that 68 percent of us agree with idea that we won't either win or lose the war in Afghanistan, now eight years long, but will instead just remain there. The image of flies and flypaper again swirls in my head, just as it did at the time of the invasion of Iraq. We invaded these places and now we're stuck there, and President Barack Obama is likewise stuck, not on flypaper, but on the horns of a dilemma: Does he send tens of thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan, as his area commander, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, has publicly demanded, or does he change strategies a la Joe Biden and rely more on special ops and drones to harass the Taliban and kill whatever members of al-Qaeda we can find? The news is filled with stories about this showdown and the political consequences of what the president may decide to do. There are some calls for Mr. Obama to fire Mr. McChrystal for acting like Gen. Douglas MacArthur did during the Korean War, when he challenged the strategic decisions of President Harry Truman. The counterpoint, as is always the case, comes from people who say the civilian leadership should stay out of the way and let the generals wage war however they decide. That's more or less the position of the Republicans in Congress. That this subservience to the Pentagon would make the United States a sort of gargantuan Honduras doesn't seem to bother these people. | 1 | Massive war games showcase deepening India-US ties
12 Oct, 2009 | India and the United States began a massive joint military exercise on Monday, underscoring their deepening security ties they view as crucial in a troubled South Asia region. Hundreds of soldiers using heavy transport aircraft and battle tanks are participating in the biggest-ever war games between the two countries which were on the opposing side of the Cold War but now seek to build strategic and military ties. The two countries share security concerns centred around Pakistan and Afghanistan, and New Delhi seeks to enlist American support to press Islamabad to tackle militants on its soil. They also both share concerns about a rising China. | 2 | India keen to bring peace with Pak: PM
Oct 12, 2009 | London: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that India is keen to bring peace and harmony with Pakistan. Singh stated this in a message to 'Pakistan-India Friendship Forum, UK' on the occasion of the Eid and Diwali celebrations at the C and L Country Club this weekend. "We are very keen to bring peace and harmony between the two countries," the Prime Minister said in the message. | 3 | 40 police cars, 100 officers, one copter mobilized to chase 2 thieves
13th October, 2009 | SAITAMA — According to police, the two are accused of robbing a 55-year-old woman who was on her way home just after midnight in Tokorozawa on Sunday. Azami grabbed the woman’s purse containing about 10,000 yen, and got into his car with the girl, who was acting as lookout. About four hours later in Kawagoe, they struck the car of a 36-year-old man, severely injuring him. The two suspects ditched their vehicle and ran away on foot. | 4 | Okada, Pakistani foreign minister holds talks in Islamabad
12th October, 2009 | ISLAMABAD — Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada met Monday with his Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, to assure him of Japan’s continued support to the country that is working to defeat terrorism and reform its economy, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said. Okada, who made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Sunday and traveled to Pakistan the same day, will also hold talks with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari later Monday. Okada’s visit to Afghanistan and Pakistan comes as Japan is considering how to boost its contribution to rebuilding Afghanistan while planning to terminate its refueling mission in support of U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in and around the country. Okada met with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who expressed hope that Japan would continue the mission. But Okada told Gilani that Japan is considering what kind of actions it can take after ending the mission. | 5 | Ogata visits Baghdad to increase aid
| CAIRO--Sadako Ogata, president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, met with Iraqi government leaders in Baghdad on Sunday to discuss increased Japanese assistance for efforts to rebuild the war-ravaged country. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki called for cooperation in technical training. Ogata told him that Japan is prepared to play a role in the civil sector, including power generation, agriculture and water works. comment: A bit frugal with their reportage in English they are :) | 6 | Chavez says Obama did "nothing" to deserve Nobel
Oct 11, 2009 | CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's socialist leader Hugo Chavez said on Sunday that U.S. President Barack Obama had done nothing beyond wishful thinking to earn the Nobel Peace Prize. Chavez, who has mixed praise for Obama personally with criticism of his government's "imperialist" policies, said he thought it was a mistake when he read the U.S. leader had won. | 7 | Obama's Nobel Prize Is More of a Burden than an Honor Claus Christian Malzahn 10/09/2009 | The Nobel Peace Prize has come too early for Barack Obama. The US president cannot point to any real diplomatic successes to date and there are few prospects of any to come. It used to be the rule that the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to politicians if they could point to tangible political successes. American presidents and politicians have consistently been recipients of the award: Theodor Roosevelt received the award in 1906 for his role in securing a peace deal between Russia and Japan. Woodrow Wilson was honored with the prize in 1919 for his work on the creation of the League of Nations, the precursor to the United Nations. Martin Luther King was presented with the award in 1964 for his commitment to civil rights for African Americans. The former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was even controversially given the nod in 1973 for his role in negotiating an end to the Vietnam War. Now it is the turn of the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, who was awarded the prize on Friday for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples," in the words of the Nobel committee. | 8 | George Shultz on the Drug War MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY OCTOBER 11, 2009 | When George P. Shultz took office as Ronald Reagan's secretary of state in 1982, his first trip out of the country was to Canada. His second was to Mexico. "Foreign policy starts with your neighborhood," he told me in an interview here in the Canadian capital last week. "I have always believed that and Ronald Reagan believed that very firmly. In many ways he had [the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement] in his mind. He paid a lot of attention to both Mexico and Canada, as I did." Mr. Shultz, now a co-chair of the North American Forum—which pulls together members of the business and government community for an annual pow-wow—is still paying a lot of attention to the American neighborhood. | 9 | Delusions of grandeur: Militia video warns President Obama to leave the country by Oct. 15 David Neiwert Oct 10, 2009 | It advises President Obama and other prominent people ("Our Dear Leader and co.") to "leave now and give us our country back" and to do so by next week. "If you stay," the silent video message continues, " ‘We, The People’ will systematically dismantle you, destroy you and reclaim what is rightfully ours. ... "We are angry and we are ready to take back the rights of the people. We will fight and We will win. ... | 10 | The Uneducated American PAUL KRUGMAN October 8, 2009 | If you had to explain America’s economic success with one word, that word would be "education." In the 19th century, America led the way in universal basic education. Then, as other nations followed suit, the "high school revolution" of the early 20th century took us to a whole new level. And in the years after World War II, America established a commanding position in higher education. But that was then. The rise of American education was, overwhelmingly, the rise of public education — and for the past 30 years our political scene has been dominated by the view that any and all government spending is a waste of taxpayer dollars. Education, as one of the largest components of public spending, has inevitably suffered. | 11 | 13-yr-old kills 41 in Pak market
13 October 2009 | PESHAWAR: A devastating suicide bomb hit northwest Pakistan killing 41 people on Monday, as the military geared up for an assault on Taliban The bomber, reported to be aged about 13, flung himself at a military convoy passing through a busy market in Shangla, a northwest district near Swat where the army claimed to have flushed out Taliban rebels after a fierce offensive. | 12 | Terror attack in Shangla; 41 dead, 60 injured Khalid Khan 12 Oct, 2009 | ALPURI: At least 41 people, four soldiers and three policemen among them, were killed and 60 others injured when a teenage suicide bomber struck a military vehicle at 11am in a crowded market in Alpuri on Monday. It is the latest in a string of attacks amid warnings of an imminent offensive against insurgents in South Waziristan. | 13 | 'The Greens Are About to Churn Up Germany's Party System' 10/12/2009
| The small state of Saarland is about to become a test tube for a new political alliance that could transform German politics. The Green Party has voted to form a government in the first three-way coalition with its former arch-rivals, the conservative CDU and the business-friendly FDP. It's a bold and risky move, say commentators. Germany's Greens, now the smallest party in the federal parliament after scoring 10.7 percent in the Sept. 27 election, are accustomed to punching above their weight. As junior partner to the center-left Social Democrats in the federal government from 1998 to 2005, they made what had been a conservative industrial society more environmentally friendly and tolerant. They were the driving force behind the phasing out of nuclear power stations and an array of social reforms that included more liberal laws on same-sex partnerships. Now they are spearheading an experiment in a small regional state that could eventually transform the nation's political landscape. Even though they won just 5.9 percent of the vote in an Aug. 30 regional election in the tiny south-western state of Saarland, with a population just over 1 million, the Greens have emerged as kingmakers in a new three-way alliance with former arch-rivals. They have also managed to wrest a string of policy concessions and are likely to get two cabinet posts in Saarland -- even though they only have three seats in the state assembly, out of a total of 51. | 14 | French physicist questioned as terror suspect
12 Oct, 2009 | PARIS: A French physicist working at the world’s largest atom smasher who is suspected of links to al-Qaida appeared Monday before a magistrate who will decide whether to file preliminary charges against him. The 32-year-old Frenchman of Algerian origin, who works on the Large Hadron Collider, is suspected of involvement with Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, a North African group that targets Algerian government forces and sometimes attacks foreigners. He was arrested Thursday in France. | 15 | I have no faith in Indian courts: Kasab
Oct 12, 2009 | Pakistani gunman Ajmal Kasab said he had no faith in Indian courts and pleaded for transfer of the 26/11 case to an international court but his plea was rejected on the ground that it was 'misconceived'. "I have no faith in Indian courts and this case may be transferred to an international court," pleaded Kasab in an application to the court. Kasab, facing charges of killing 183 people and injuring several others in the Mumbai attacks along with other suspected Laskher-e-Taiba operatives, had moved the application written in his own hand in Urdu. | 16 | India says will take up Saeed case with Pakistan
Oct 12, 2009 | New Delhi: Disappointed at Lahore High Court's decision to scrap terror cases against Jamaat-ud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, India said it would take up the issue with Pakistan as it was given to understand that formal investigation would be conducted against him. "Our talks with Pakistan Foreign Minister was somewhat on this line that formal investigation would be done on Hafiz Saeed with reference to Mumbai," Krishna told reporters while referring to his meeting with Shah Mahmood Qureshi in New York on the sidelines of UN General Assembly last month. | 17 | Meet The Senators Who Voted Against The Franken Amendment Jason Linkins 10- 7-09 | I think that all homo sapiens can understand how the mere thought of an organization that receives government money through contract mechanisms being tangentially involved in setting up a fake tax shelter for a fake pimp and his fake prostitution ring of fake prostitutes can justifiably lead to lawmakers going absolutely cross-eyed with white-hot, impotent rage. But what happens when a similarly taxpayer-endowed contractor attempts to cover up employee-on-employee gang rape by locking up the victim in a shipping container without food and water and threatening her with reprisals if she report the incident? Somehow, it doesn't engender the same level of anger! Credit new Senator Al Franken however, for introducing an amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill that would punish contractors if they "restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court." You'd think that this would be a no-brainer, actually, but that didn't stop Jeff Sessions from labeling Franken's effort a "political attack directed at Halliburton." Franken, of course, pointed out that his amendment would apply broadly, to all contractors, because otherwise, 'twould be a bill of attainder, right? Right? | 18 | Heavy infant in Grand Junction denied health insurance Nancy Lofholm 10/12/2009 | GRAND JUNCTION — Alex Lange is a chubby, dimpled, healthy and happy 4-month-old. But in the cold, calculating numbered charts of insurance companies, he is fat. That's why he is being turned down for health insurance. And that's why he is a weighty symbol of a problem in the health care reform debate. Insurance companies can turn down people with pre-existing conditions who aren't covered in a group health care plan. | 19 | Afghan member of panel investigating vote resigns
12 Oct, 2009 | KABUL: One of the two Afghans on a UN-backed commission looking into vote fraud in the August presidential election resigned Monday, citing interference by foreigners. Officials acknowledged that errors and miscommunication have plagued the investigation into alleged cheating in the August ballot. Once the election results become clear, President Barack Obama is expected to complete a review of Afghan strategy to cope with a deepening insurgency and decide whether to accept a recommendation by his top commander here, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, for up to 40,000 more troops. The top UN official in Afghanistan has said ‘widespread fraud’ marred the Aug. 20 vote, highlighting the extent to which the poll is undermining the credibility of the Afghan government. | 20 | Pak jets pound Taliban hideouts
13 October 2009 | KHAR: Pakistani fighter jets bombed suspected militant hideouts on Monday in a tribal region where the military had previously declared victory A series of attacks over the past week shows that the Taliban have rebounded and appear determined to shake the nation’s resolve as the military plans for an offensive in South Waziristan. | 21 | 'Bosnia Has to Take the European Path'
10/12/2009 | The international community has given leaders in Bosnia-Herzegovina just over a week to come up with constitutional reforms. SPIEGEL spoke to the international administrator in Sarajevo, Valentin Inzko, about the ongoing obstacles to creating a functioning state. The pressure is mounting on local leaders in Bosnia-Herzegovina to agree upon constitutional reform by a deadline of Oct. 20. That was the message after a top level international delegation made its way to Sarajevo on Friday to discuss ways of overcoming the political stalemate in the country. | 22 | Germany's New Government Faces Reality Check
10/12/2009 | Two weeks after the German election, the new coalition government is struggling with the consequences of the economic crisis. Both the Christian Democrats and the FDP want to lower taxes to please the electorate, but the country's massive budget deficit means that cost-cutting and tax hikes are more realistic. When politicians are forced to abandon big plans, they tend to come up with all kinds of excuses to explain their change of heart, talking about everything from unfavorable circumstances to modified forecasts. The leadership of Germany's pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) is turning to a no less tried-and-true approach: assigning the blame to others. | 23 | Russia's ruling party triumphs in local elections
12.10.2009 | According to official results reported Monday, United Russia captured a wide margin in elections which are being widely viewed as a test of Russia's democracy. Leonid Ivlev, a member of the Central Elections Commission, told reporters that the ruling party had garnered almost 80 percent of seats up for grabs in the 75 regional and local elections held up and down the country on Sunday. Ivlev said Putin's party picked up 107 of the 135 regional seats and 189 of the 235 seats available in municipal legislatures. | 24 | India set to be global leader in tech services: Forbes chief
Oct 12, 2009 | Mumbai : India is set to become a global leader in technology services as software companies move up in the value chain, while the weak dollar has hurt the US economic recovery, the Chairman and CEO of business publisher Forbes said on Saturday. "You have to make the distinction between pumping in money in immediate emergency response to the near collapse of the financial system and when the immediate crisis is over," Steve Forbes, 62, said, when asked what he made of the US government's response to the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression. | 25 | Obama Under Pressure to Get Tough on Iran
10/06/2009 | American mistrust of Iran is growing, despite the cautious rapprochement at last week's talks in Geneva. US President Barack Obama is coming under increasing pressure to take a hard line since the revelation that Iran has a second, previously undisclosed facility for uranium enrichment. The president sat in front of her, casually dressed in an open-necked shirt. There was no one else in the room. It was the moment German Chancellor Angela Merkel had been waiting for. And then she asked the question that only he, the leader of the Western world and commander-in-chief of the US armed forces, could answer: Was the United States truly determined to bomb Iran because of its nuclear program, if all threats came to nothing and all ultimatums had expired? | 26 | The Cost of Corporate Communism Dylan Ratigan October 7, 2009 | Lately I have been using the phrase "Corporate Communism" on my television show. I think it is an especially fitting term when discussing the current landscape in both our banking and health care systems. As Americans, I believe we reject communism because it historically has allowed a tiny group of people to consolidate complete control over national resources (including people), in the process stifling competition, freedom and choice. It leaves its citizens stagnating under the perpetual broken systems with no natural motivation to innovate, improve services or reduce costs. | 27 | Japan, U.S. to accelerate Futenma talks ahead of Obama visit
13th October | TOKYO — Japan and the United States agreed Monday to accelerate talks on the planned relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station in Okinawa ahead of President Barack Obama’s visit to Japan next month. Visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell told reporters he gave Akihisa Nagashima, Japan’s parliamentary defense secretary, an explanation about the current transfer plan for the air station in downtown Ginowan to the coastal region of Camp Schwab in a less densely populated area in Nago. ‘‘We tried to answer every question and we agreed that this process will continue,’’ Campbell said. ‘‘We hope to have real progress over the course of the next several weeks in preparation for President Obama’s visit here to Japan in early November.’’ Campbell and Nagashima met also to coordinate their views ahead of U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ trip to Japan next week. | 28 | Japan, China agree to draw up food safety promotion plan
11th October, 2009 | BEIJING — Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao agreed Saturday that the two countries will draw up a new initiative to ensure food safety, in the wake of a case involving tainted Chinese-made frozen dumplings that made people ill in Japan. Hatoyama proposed a ‘‘food safety promotion initiative’’ during talks with Wen in Beijing. The initiative would involve ministerial-level talks, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said. But the two leaders, however, failed to make progress on a dispute over gas field development in the East China Sea, only agreeing that the two countries will make greater efforts to solve the issue. Hatoyama told reporters that he had proposed that the two countries cooperate in exploring for gas in the area so as to turn it into ‘‘a sea of friendship.’’ Wen expressed support for Hatoyama’s proposal despite the difference in the way the issue is publicly perceived in the two countries, according to the Japanese prime minister. | 29 | S Korea, Japan say no aid until N Korea disarms
9th October, 2009 | SEOUL — The leaders of South Korea and Japan took a united front Friday in saying North Korea should not be offered aid until the communist regime takes concrete steps to dismantle its nuclear weapons program. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said he agreed with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak’s view on withholding aid to Pyongyang "as long as North Korea does not take specific actions" over its nuclear and missile programs. | 30 | Six sentenced to death for riots in China's Xinjiang
12 Oct, 2009 | BEIJING: A court in western China’s Xinjiang region sentenced six people to death on Monday in the first trials over July five riots that left nearly 200 people dead, state-run television reported. eople to death on Monday in the first trials over July five riots that left nearly 200 people dead, state-run television reported. During the rioting, members of the ethnic Uighur minority — most of whom are Muslims — went on a rampage in attacks directed mainly at members of China’s dominant Han ethnic group. | 31 | Taliban wealthier than al-Qaeda: US official
13 Oct, 2009 | WASHINGTON: The Taliban are in much stronger financial shape than al-Qaida and rely on a wide range of criminal activities to pay for attacks on US and coalition forces in Afghanistan, a senior Treasury Department official said Monday. David Cohen, the department's assistant secretary for terrorist financing, said the extremist group extorts money from poppy farmers and heroin traffickers involved in Afghanistan's booming drug trade. | 32 | Beck Tries to Kill Parody Website Ed Brayton October 5, 2009 | I don't know if you've ever seen the Did Glenn Beck Rape and Murder a Young Girl in 1990 website, but it's fairly amusing. It's a political satire of the style of argument Glenn Beck likes to engage in, which involves requiring that someone prove a negative ("prove you didn't do X") and making claims in the form of an interrogative ("Hey, I'm just asking questions here. I'm not saying he did this. What's wrong with asking questions?"). Well now Beck is trying to kill the site by making a formal complaint (PDF) to an international internet governing body, the World Intellectual Property Organization. He wants the domain name taken away from the person who registered it. | 33 | Cartels Face an Economic Battle Steve Fainaru and William Booth October 7, 2009 | U.S. Marijuana Growers Cutting Into Profits of Mexican Traffickers ARCATA, Calif. -- Stiff competition from thousands of mom-and-pop marijuana farmers in the United States threatens the bottom line for powerful Mexican drug organizations in a way that decades of arrests and seizures have not, according to law enforcement officials and pot growers in the United States and Mexico. Illicit pot production in the United States has been increasing steadily for decades. But recent changes in state laws that allow the use and cultivation of marijuana for medical purposes are giving U.S. growers a competitive advantage, challenging the traditional dominance of the Mexican traffickers, who once made brands such as Acapulco Gold the standard for quality. | 34 | German military guns reportedly sold illegally on Afghan, Pakistan black market
12.10.2009 | German military pistols are being sold on the black market in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The weapons were sent in 2006 and were intended for local police and army personnel. Arms dealers in the region told German public radio that hundreds of German weapons were for sale carrying a price tag of over 680 euros a piece (href=",000). | 35 | Russia, China put differences aside in favor of business
12.10.2009 | Despite continuing distrust and differences of opinion, Russia and China still have much to gain from mutual cooperation, which is why the focus of Vladimir Putin's visit to Beijing is about what can be gained not lost. Trade and energy deals worth an estimated $5.5 billion (3.7 billion euros) will be on the table during Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's three-day visit to China. But despite signs that bilateral relations are running smoothly, some experts believe the two nations are banding together out of a common distrust of other powers rather than a desire to become closer allies. | 36 | Matsui 1-for-3 as the Yankees advance to AL championship series
Oct. 13, 2009 | MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (Kyodo) Hideki Matsui went 1-for-3 with a walk as the New York Yankees swept the Minnesota Twins with a 4-1 win Sunday to advance to their first AL championship series since 2004. Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada both hit solo homers in the seventh inning off Carl Pavano to put the Yankees ahead 2-1. Posada and Robinson Cano added RBI singles in the ninth at the Metrodome. | 37 | North Korea fires 5 short-range missiles off its east coast
Oct. 13, 2009 | SEOUL (Kyodo) North Korea test fired five short-range missiles off its east coast on Monday, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported. Details of the apparent missile tests were not immediately available, but Yonhap quoted a government sources as saying the missiles were launched south of Musudan-ri in North Hamgyeong Province. First reports said the North had launched only two missiles, but later reports said the number was five. | 38 | India tests nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missile
12 Oct, 2009 | BHUBANESWAR, India: The Indian military successfully test-fired two short-range nuclear-capable missiles from a site in the east of the country on Monday, a defence source said. The Prithvi-II ground-to-ground missiles were fired from a test range in Chandipur-on-sea in Orissa state, a source at the Defence Research and Development Organisation said. | 39 | Climate talks concluding with rich-poor rift wide open
09 Oct, 2009 | BANGKOK: Two weeks of crucial UN climate talks were concluding Friday after exposing huge rifts between rich and poor nations, just weeks ahead of the deadline for sealing a planet-saving global deal. Only five negotiating days remain, in November, before 192 nations converge for a critical December showdown in Copenhagen, where they must agree on a treaty to tackle global warming. Without rapid action, scientists say, the world faces catastrophe in the form of drought, flooding, famine and forced migration. | |