The Gay Girl In Damaskus blogger is a virtual person. A fake:
No individual has been identified who can confirm they have met Araf or spoken to her by Skype or telephone.
…
On an earlier blog, dated December 2007, the author wrote she would post "samples of fiction and literature I am working on. This blog will have what may sometimes seem likely deeply personal accounts. And sometimes they will be. But there will also be fiction. And I will not tell you which is which."
Was the real writer Abe Foxman? See also: The fake Syrian army deserter.
—
Obama pours oil into the Yemeni fire and kills more civilians: U.S. Is Intensifying a Secret Campaign of Yemen Airstrikes
On Friday, American jets killed Abu Ali al-Harithi, a midlevel Qaeda operative, and several other militant suspects in a strike in southern Yemen. According to witnesses, four civilians were also killed in the airstrike.
Abu Ali al-Harthi – hmm? (Also here):
Abu Ali al-Harthi was killed in a car with five of his cell associates – Kamal Derwish, and other four Al Qaeda operatives on 11/03/2002, by a missile from an UAV – Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, on a road 160 km east of the Yemeni capital Sanaa, in Marib province.
Is the CIA just recycling its old terrorist names list?
—
Remarkable: Six former ambassadors to Iran, from Britain, Germany, France, Belgium, Italy and Sweden say: Iran is not in breach of international law
[H]owever, nothing in international law or in the non-proliferation treaty forbids uranium enrichment. Several other countries, parties or not to the treaty, enrich uranium without being accused of "threatening the peace". And in Iran, this activity is submitted to inspections by the IAEA inspections.
—
Greatings from Captain Obvious:
Fukushima nuclear plant may have suffered 'melt-through', Japan admits
When the Japanese government says "may have" we can be assured that it has proof that this indeed has happened.
—
The so-called superpowers. When the Soviets retreated from Afghanistan they:
arranged local cease fires, hired local security forces and paid guerrilla groups not to attack them.
As the U.S. retreats from Iraq its exit strategy:
calls for the military to give cash payments of $10,000 a month to 10 tribal leaders.
—
A little late for doing Respice Finem …
Three month after starting a war that would take "days not weeks" NATO Hopes to Pass the Buck in Libya, But May Not Be Able to Hand Off Responsibility
"We do not see a lead role for NATO in Libya once this crisis is over," the organization's Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Wednesday. "We see the United Nations playing a lead role in the post-Gaddafi, post-conflict scenario." He urged the international body to begin planning to take charge of a transition in Libya.
How pathetic. There isn't even an end in sight of this "crisis" . And what is the UN to do? Occupy Libya against its own SC resolution? With who's troops? I call for sending Susan Rice and Samantha Power. No bodyguards needed. The Libyans will love them. Candy and flowers …
—
Remember this song?
Ninety-nine red balloons
Floating in the summer sky
Panic bells, it's red alert
There's something here from somewhere else
The war machine springs to life
Opens up one eager eye
Focusing it on the sky
As ninety-nine red balloons go by
Seems it was prophetic:
Being on a night watch, a dispatcher of an airbase suddenly noticed a group of bright lights in the sky, which he took for an air attack from Lebanon or Syria.
For 40 minutes, two [Israeli] battle-planes and two helicopters were looking for the mysterious enemy. Finally, it turned out that the lights were really… the constellation of Cassiopeia.
The story reflects the quality of the IDF. And these idiots think about attacking Iran?