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KABUL (Reuters) - NATO took command of the training of the Afghan army and police on Saturday to consolidate efforts on building an effective security force, a vital precondition for the withdrawal of foreign troops. The existing U.S. training mission, CSTC-A, until now responsible for most of the training, is to merge with the new "NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan" (NTM-A), under a single NATO command, commanders said on Saturday at a ceremony in Kabul. Deputy Commander of the new NATO mission Major General Michael Ward said he believed the move would encourage more NATO training personnel to be sent to Afghanistan, helping to speed the expansion of local forces. "I'm very optimistic. We've identified what our needs are and we're bringing those back to NATO to get nations to contribute and we've already seen in this run-up, a significant number of people coming in with exactly the right skills," Ward told Reuters.
KABUL (Reuters) - NATO took command of the training of the Afghan army and police on Saturday to consolidate efforts on building an effective security force, a vital precondition for the withdrawal of foreign troops.
The existing U.S. training mission, CSTC-A, until now responsible for most of the training, is to merge with the new "NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan" (NTM-A), under a single NATO command, commanders said on Saturday at a ceremony in Kabul.
Deputy Commander of the new NATO mission Major General Michael Ward said he believed the move would encourage more NATO training personnel to be sent to Afghanistan, helping to speed the expansion of local forces.
"I'm very optimistic. We've identified what our needs are and we're bringing those back to NATO to get nations to contribute and we've already seen in this run-up, a significant number of people coming in with exactly the right skills," Ward told Reuters.
Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Higher-income Americans should be taxed to pay for more troops sent to Afghanistan and NATO should provide half of the new soldiers, said Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. An "additional income tax to the upper brackets, folks earning more than $200,000 or $250,000" a year, could fund more troops, Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said in an interview for Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital With Al Hunt," airing this weekend. White House Budget Director Peter Orszag has estimated that each additional soldier in Afghanistan could cost $1 million, for a total that could reach $40 billion if 40,000 more troops are added. That cost, Levin said, should be paid by wealthier taxpayers. "They have done incredibly well, and I think that it's important that we pay for it if we possibly can" instead of increasing the federal debt load, the senator said. Other countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization should bear responsibility for delivering half the additional troops needed to secure the conflict zone and train Afghan forces, Levin said. He didn't predict how many troops President Barack Obama would add.
Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Higher-income Americans should be taxed to pay for more troops sent to Afghanistan and NATO should provide half of the new soldiers, said Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
An "additional income tax to the upper brackets, folks earning more than $200,000 or $250,000" a year, could fund more troops, Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said in an interview for Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital With Al Hunt," airing this weekend.
White House Budget Director Peter Orszag has estimated that each additional soldier in Afghanistan could cost $1 million, for a total that could reach $40 billion if 40,000 more troops are added.
That cost, Levin said, should be paid by wealthier taxpayers. "They have done incredibly well, and I think that it's important that we pay for it if we possibly can" instead of increasing the federal debt load, the senator said.
Other countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization should bear responsibility for delivering half the additional troops needed to secure the conflict zone and train Afghan forces, Levin said. He didn't predict how many troops President Barack Obama would add.
ACHIN, Afghanistan -- American and Afghan officials have begun helping a number of anti-Taliban militias that have independently taken up arms against insurgents in several parts of Afghanistan, prompting hopes of a large-scale tribal rebellion against the Taliban. The emergence of the militias, which took some leaders in Kabul by surprise, has so encouraged the American and Afghan officials that they are planning to spur the growth of similar armed groups across the Taliban heartland in the southern and eastern parts of the country. The American and Afghan officials say they are hoping the plan, called the Community Defense Initiative, will bring together thousands of gunmen to protect their neighborhoods from Taliban insurgents. Already there are hundreds of Afghans who are acting on their own against the Taliban, officials say. The endeavor represents one of the most ambitious -- and one of the riskiest -- plans for regaining the initiative against the Taliban, who are fighting more vigorously than at any time since 2001.
The emergence of the militias, which took some leaders in Kabul by surprise, has so encouraged the American and Afghan officials that they are planning to spur the growth of similar armed groups across the Taliban heartland in the southern and eastern parts of the country.
The American and Afghan officials say they are hoping the plan, called the Community Defense Initiative, will bring together thousands of gunmen to protect their neighborhoods from Taliban insurgents. Already there are hundreds of Afghans who are acting on their own against the Taliban, officials say.
The endeavor represents one of the most ambitious -- and one of the riskiest -- plans for regaining the initiative against the Taliban, who are fighting more vigorously than at any time since 2001.
Still the most appropriate song about war
keep to the Fen Causeway
Tehran rejects threats as part of a continuing campaign of psychological warfare against it and calls for more talks on the nuclear issue, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said. In a televised speech Friday night, Ahmadinejad said the West had launched a massive propaganda campaign against the country's civil nuclear program, according to Press TV. "Today, the only tool in the hands of [our] enemies is to wage a psychological war and raise the hue and cry; but they know well that threats will have no impact on the Iranian nation," he said. He said Iran welcomed "talks and interaction."
Tehran rejects threats as part of a continuing campaign of psychological warfare against it and calls for more talks on the nuclear issue, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said.
In a televised speech Friday night, Ahmadinejad said the West had launched a massive propaganda campaign against the country's civil nuclear program, according to Press TV.
"Today, the only tool in the hands of [our] enemies is to wage a psychological war and raise the hue and cry; but they know well that threats will have no impact on the Iranian nation," he said.
He said Iran welcomed "talks and interaction."
Hamas has agreed with other Palestinian armed groups in Gaza not to fire rockets into Israel for the time being to avoid a possible Israeli military reaction, the Chinese news agency Xinhua quoted a senior official as saying on Saturday. "We have agreed with the factions that nobody carries out any action involving rockets for now," Fathi Hammad, Hamas' interior minister, was quoted as saying. But if Israel sent troops to the Hamas-controlled territory, then the militants would have "an open space to respond," Hammad added during a meeting with Gaza journalists, according to Xinhua.
the Israeli right don't want peace, peace frightens them. they need an external enemy to prevent them recognising that their society is bitterly divided and would degenerate into civil war in the absence of that external threat. keep to the Fen Causeway
Harare (AFP) Nov 19, 2009 Zimbabwe's government and a Chinese investment company have signed an eight billion dollars investment deal, the biggest since the unity government was set up, state media reported on Thursday. The signing of five agreements with China Sonangol, a private joint venture with Angola's state oil firm, will target gold and platinum refining, oil and gas exploration, fuel purchase and distribution, and housing, the Herald newspaper said. "The signing... bears testimony to the relevance and efficacy of the Look East policy" adopted by the government four years ago, said Misheck Sibanda, chief secretary in President Robert Mugabe's office. "It is hoped that the co-operation will continue to grow from strength to strength and through such efforts it is only a matter of time before Zimbabwe becomes the jewel of Africa."
The signing of five agreements with China Sonangol, a private joint venture with Angola's state oil firm, will target gold and platinum refining, oil and gas exploration, fuel purchase and distribution, and housing, the Herald newspaper said.
"The signing... bears testimony to the relevance and efficacy of the Look East policy" adopted by the government four years ago, said Misheck Sibanda, chief secretary in President Robert Mugabe's office.
"It is hoped that the co-operation will continue to grow from strength to strength and through such efforts it is only a matter of time before Zimbabwe becomes the jewel of Africa."
PHILADELPHIA -- The trip from a strict Pakistani boarding school to a bohemian bar in Philadelphia has defined David Headley's life, according to those who know the middle-age man at the center of a global terrorism investigation. Raised by his father in Pakistan as a devout Muslim, Mr. Headley arrived back here at 17 to live with his American mother, a former socialite who ran a bar called the Khyber Pass. Today, Mr. Headley is an Islamic fundamentalist who once liked to get high. He has a traditional Pakistani wife, who lives with their children in Chicago, but also an American girlfriend, a makeup artist in New York, according to a relative and friends. Depending on the setting, he alternates between the name he adopted in the United States, David Headley, and the Urdu one he was given at birth, Daood Gilani. Even his eyes -- one brown, the other green -- hint that he has roots in two places. Mr. Headley, an American citizen, is accused of being the lead operative in a loose-knit group of militants plotting revenge against a Danish newspaper that published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. The indictment against him portrays a man who moved easily between different worlds. The profile that has emerged of him since his arrest, however, suggests that Mr. Headley felt pulled between two cultures and ultimately gravitated toward an extremist Islamic one.
Raised by his father in Pakistan as a devout Muslim, Mr. Headley arrived back here at 17 to live with his American mother, a former socialite who ran a bar called the Khyber Pass.
Today, Mr. Headley is an Islamic fundamentalist who once liked to get high. He has a traditional Pakistani wife, who lives with their children in Chicago, but also an American girlfriend, a makeup artist in New York, according to a relative and friends. Depending on the setting, he alternates between the name he adopted in the United States, David Headley, and the Urdu one he was given at birth, Daood Gilani. Even his eyes -- one brown, the other green -- hint that he has roots in two places.
Mr. Headley, an American citizen, is accused of being the lead operative in a loose-knit group of militants plotting revenge against a Danish newspaper that published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. The indictment against him portrays a man who moved easily between different worlds. The profile that has emerged of him since his arrest, however, suggests that Mr. Headley felt pulled between two cultures and ultimately gravitated toward an extremist Islamic one.
WASHINGTON -- The Senate voted on Saturday to begin full debate on major health care legislation, propelling President Obama's top domestic initiative over a crucial, preliminary hurdle in a formidable display of muscle-flexing by the Democratic majority. "Tonight we have the opportunity, the historic opportunity to reform health care once and for all," said Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, and a chief architect of the legislation. "History is knocking on the door. Let's open it. Let's begin the debate." The 60-to-39 vote, along party lines, clears the way for weeks of rowdy floor proceedings that will begin after Thanksgiving and last through much of December. The Senate bill seeks to extend health benefits to roughly 31 million Americans who are now uninsured, at a cost of $848 billion over 10 years.
"Tonight we have the opportunity, the historic opportunity to reform health care once and for all," said Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, and a chief architect of the legislation. "History is knocking on the door. Let's open it. Let's begin the debate."
The 60-to-39 vote, along party lines, clears the way for weeks of rowdy floor proceedings that will begin after Thanksgiving and last through much of December.
The Senate bill seeks to extend health benefits to roughly 31 million Americans who are now uninsured, at a cost of $848 billion over 10 years.
Dr. Robert Zeigler, an eminent American botanist, flew to Saudi Arabia in March for a series of high-level discussions about the future of the kingdom's food supply. Saudi leaders were frightened: heavily dependent on imports, they had seen the price of rice and wheat, their dietary staples, fluctuate violently on the world market over the previous three years, at one point doubling in just a few months. The Saudis, rich in oil money but poor in arable land, were groping for a strategy to ensure that they could continue to meet the appetites of a growing population, and they wanted Zeigler's expertise. There are basically two ways to increase the supply of food: find new fields to plant or invent ways to multiply what existing ones yield. Zeigler runs the International Rice Research Institute, which is devoted to the latter course, employing science to expand the size of harvests. During the so-called Green Revolution of the 1960s, the institute's laboratory developed "miracle rice," a high-yielding strain that has been credited with saving millions of people from famine. Zeigler went to Saudi Arabia hoping that the wealthy kingdom might offer money for the basic research that leads to such technological breakthroughs. Instead, to his surprise, he discovered that the Saudis wanted to attack the problem from the opposite direction. They were looking for land. In a series of meetings, Saudi government officials, bankers and agribusiness executives told an institute delegation led by Zeigler that they intended to spend billions of dollars to establish plantations to produce rice and other staple crops in African nations like Mali, Senegal, Sudan and Ethiopia. "They laid out this incredible plan," Zeigler recalled. He was flabbergasted, not only by the scale of the projects but also by the audacity of their setting. Africa, the world's most famished continent, can't currently feed itself, let alone foreign markets. The American scientist was catching a glimpse of an emerging test of the world's food resources, one that has begun to take shape over the last year, largely outside the bounds of international scrutiny. A variety of factors -- some transitory, like the spike in food prices, and others intractable, like global population growth and water scarcity -- have created a market for farmland, as rich but resource-deprived nations in the Middle East, Asia and elsewhere seek to outsource their food production to places where fields are cheap and abundant. Because much of the world's arable land is already in use -- almost 90 percent, according to one estimate, if you take out forests and fragile ecosystems -- the search has led to the countries least touched by development, in Africa. According to a recent study by the World Bank and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, one of the earth's last large reserves of underused land is the billion-acre Guinea Savannah zone, a crescent-shaped swath that runs east across Africa all the way to Ethiopia, and southward to Congo and Angola. .... Investors who are taking part in the land rush say they are confronting a primal fear, a situation in which food is unavailable at any price. Over the 30 years between the mid-1970s and the middle of this decade, grain supplies soared and prices fell by about half, a steady trend that led many experts to believe that there was no limit to humanity's capacity to feed itself. But in 2006, the situation reversed, in concert with a wider commodities boom. Food prices increased slightly that year, rose by a quarter in 2007 and skyrocketed in 2008. Surplus-producing countries like Argentina and Vietnam, worried about feeding their own populations, placed restrictions on exports. American consumers, if they noticed the food crisis at all, saw it in modestly inflated supermarket bills, especially for meat and dairy products. But to many countries -- not just in the Middle East but also import-dependent nations like South Korea and Japan -- the specter of hyperinflation and hoarding presented an existential threat.
There are basically two ways to increase the supply of food: find new fields to plant or invent ways to multiply what existing ones yield. Zeigler runs the International Rice Research Institute, which is devoted to the latter course, employing science to expand the size of harvests. During the so-called Green Revolution of the 1960s, the institute's laboratory developed "miracle rice," a high-yielding strain that has been credited with saving millions of people from famine. Zeigler went to Saudi Arabia hoping that the wealthy kingdom might offer money for the basic research that leads to such technological breakthroughs. Instead, to his surprise, he discovered that the Saudis wanted to attack the problem from the opposite direction. They were looking for land.
In a series of meetings, Saudi government officials, bankers and agribusiness executives told an institute delegation led by Zeigler that they intended to spend billions of dollars to establish plantations to produce rice and other staple crops in African nations like Mali, Senegal, Sudan and Ethiopia. "They laid out this incredible plan," Zeigler recalled. He was flabbergasted, not only by the scale of the projects but also by the audacity of their setting. Africa, the world's most famished continent, can't currently feed itself, let alone foreign markets.
The American scientist was catching a glimpse of an emerging test of the world's food resources, one that has begun to take shape over the last year, largely outside the bounds of international scrutiny. A variety of factors -- some transitory, like the spike in food prices, and others intractable, like global population growth and water scarcity -- have created a market for farmland, as rich but resource-deprived nations in the Middle East, Asia and elsewhere seek to outsource their food production to places where fields are cheap and abundant. Because much of the world's arable land is already in use -- almost 90 percent, according to one estimate, if you take out forests and fragile ecosystems -- the search has led to the countries least touched by development, in Africa. According to a recent study by the World Bank and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, one of the earth's last large reserves of underused land is the billion-acre Guinea Savannah zone, a crescent-shaped swath that runs east across Africa all the way to Ethiopia, and southward to Congo and Angola.
....
Investors who are taking part in the land rush say they are confronting a primal fear, a situation in which food is unavailable at any price. Over the 30 years between the mid-1970s and the middle of this decade, grain supplies soared and prices fell by about half, a steady trend that led many experts to believe that there was no limit to humanity's capacity to feed itself. But in 2006, the situation reversed, in concert with a wider commodities boom. Food prices increased slightly that year, rose by a quarter in 2007 and skyrocketed in 2008. Surplus-producing countries like Argentina and Vietnam, worried about feeding their own populations, placed restrictions on exports. American consumers, if they noticed the food crisis at all, saw it in modestly inflated supermarket bills, especially for meat and dairy products. But to many countries -- not just in the Middle East but also import-dependent nations like South Korea and Japan -- the specter of hyperinflation and hoarding presented an existential threat.
... a primal fear, a situation in which food is unavailable at any price.
Kill off the 98% of the world population which is currently powerless, rapidly becoming unemployed, by ANY means necessary (bombs, starvation, gas, etc.) leaving only the super-wealthy and a few necessary technicians/engineers/MDs etc. to cater to these survivors. Think about it. Literally Heaven on earth.
What do you say, Republicans/Tories? With me on this one?
Oh yeah. I volunteer to be one of the first to croak. They tried to assimilate me. They failed.
From the Caribbean to Brazil, political opposition to US plans for 'full-spectrum operations' is escalating rapidlyThe United States is massively building up its potential for nuclear and non-nuclear strikes in Latin America and the Caribbean by acquiring unprecedented freedom of action in seven new military, naval and air bases in Colombia. The development - and the reaction of Latin American leaders to it - is further exacerbating America's already fractured relationship with much of the continent. The new US push is part of an effort to counter the loss of influence it has suffered recently at the hands of a new generation of Latin American leaders no longer willing to accept Washington's political and economic tutelage. President Rafael Correa, for instance, has refused to prolong the US armed presence in Ecuador, and US forces have to quit their base at the port of Manta by the end of next month.So Washington turned to Colombia, which has not gone down well in the region. The country has received military aid worth $4.6bn (£2.8bn) from the US since 2000, despite its poor human rights record. Colombian forces regularly kill the country's indigenous people and other civilians, and last year raided the territory of its southern neighbour, Ecuador, causing at least 17 deaths.
The United States is massively building up its potential for nuclear and non-nuclear strikes in Latin America and the Caribbean by acquiring unprecedented freedom of action in seven new military, naval and air bases in Colombia. The development - and the reaction of Latin American leaders to it - is further exacerbating America's already fractured relationship with much of the continent.
The new US push is part of an effort to counter the loss of influence it has suffered recently at the hands of a new generation of Latin American leaders no longer willing to accept Washington's political and economic tutelage. President Rafael Correa, for instance, has refused to prolong the US armed presence in Ecuador, and US forces have to quit their base at the port of Manta by the end of next month.
So Washington turned to Colombia, which has not gone down well in the region. The country has received military aid worth $4.6bn (£2.8bn) from the US since 2000, despite its poor human rights record. Colombian forces regularly kill the country's indigenous people and other civilians, and last year raided the territory of its southern neighbour, Ecuador, causing at least 17 deaths.
US builds up its bases in oil-rich South America
Wonderfully transparent, no? They tried to assimilate me. They failed.
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