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Foreign Affairs (News/Activism)

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  • Ten years after his death, Pat Tillman's spirit lives on in a military scholar program

    04/19/2014 7:56:21 AM PDT · by Oldeconomybuyer · 7 replies
    Contra Costa Times ^ | April 18, 2014 | by Mark Emmons
    Ten years after the death of Pat Tillman in a remote Afghanistan pass, monuments to his memory are everywhere. A stone marker in San Jose's community of New Almaden. An 8-foot statue in Glendale, Ariz. The Pat Tillman Stadium at Leland High School and the Tillman Tunnel that Arizona State football players run through. But the most fitting tributes to an admired man are not found in concrete and bronze. They are living legacies of flesh, blood and passion -- the Tillman Military Scholars. Nearly 300 active-duty service members, veterans and spouses inspired by Tillman's story have received college scholarships...
  • Are The Swiss Going Crazy? $25 Minimum Wage Referendum In May

    04/19/2014 6:56:07 AM PDT · by Cheerio · 25 replies
    ZeroHedge ^ | 04/18/2014 | Pater Tenebrarum
    Most of our readers probably know what we think of minimum wages, but let us briefly recapitulate: there is neither a sensible economic, nor a sensible ethical argument supporting the idea. Let us look at the economic side of things first: for one thing, the law of supply and demand is not magically suspended when it comes to the price of labor. Price it too high, and not the entire supply will be taken up. Rising unemployment inevitably results. However, there is also a different way of formulating the argument: the price of labor must not exceed what the market...
  • This brazen cynicism of Putin's words about "drunken miners"

    04/19/2014 6:41:59 AM PDT · by UMCRevMom@aol.com · 8 replies
    censor.net ^ | 4-19-2014
    04/19/14 14:48 "What do you know about the Sun, if you've never been in mine!" Chairman of the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine Mykhailo Volynets called the statement of Russian President Vladimir Putin relatively Ukrainian miners cynical. During straight line with the Russians and residents of Crimea, Putin said that the sea on the peninsula is very dirty and there bathe drunken miners. "This is a cynical attitude brazen man who believes that he reckless. Miners - noble people and they just despise such a man," - said in comments Volinets TSN.ua about saying Putin tells Tsenzor.NET. In...
  • Drone strike in Yemen kills suspected al Qaeda militants

    04/19/2014 6:08:22 AM PDT · by McGruff · 6 replies
    CNN ^ | April 19, 2014 | Hakim Almasmari
    A drone strike in Yemen killed at least 15 people on Saturday, including 12 suspected al Qaeda militants, three Yemeni Defense Ministry officials told CNN.
  • Both at Home and Abroad, Obama's Presidency is Floundering

    04/19/2014 5:48:16 AM PDT · by Kaslin · 40 replies
    Townhall.com ^ | April 19, 2014 | Donald Lambro
    WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama is getting a number of critical report cards on his foreign and domestic policies lately. Here at home, Janet Yellen, in her first monetary policy address as the head of the Federal Reserve Board, said the labor markets were still weak, and that it will likely take two years or more before the U.S. fully recovers from its recession. Ouch. If Yellen's forecast proves right, this means it will have taken Obama's administration nearly eight years to lift our economy out of its long and painful lethargy. She expressed grave concern that the economy's 6.7 percent...
  • What Really Happed at the Bay of Pigs

    04/19/2014 5:24:45 AM PDT · by Kaslin · 64 replies
    Townhall.com ^ | April 19, 2014 | Humberto Fontova
    (You always hear and read of a “fiasco,” a “defeat” a “disaster” at the Bay of Pigs, 53 years ago this week. But you rarely hear about the cause. Here it is.) "They fought like tigers," writes the CIA officer who helped train the Cubans who splashed ashore at the Bay of Pigs 53 years ago this week. "But their fight was doomed before the first man hit the beach." That CIA man, Grayston Lynch, knew something about fighting – and about long odds. He carried scars from Omaha Beach, The Battle of the Bulge and Korea's Heartbreak Ridge. But...
  • Why Not Arm the Jews In Ukraine?

    04/19/2014 3:32:00 AM PDT · by Kaslin · 20 replies
    Townhall.com ^ | April 19, 2014 | John Ransom
    As finger-pointing and accusations tumble out about whether Russian nationalists or Ukrainian nationalist are responsible for flyers in eastern Ukraine demanding that Jews register with local municipalities, the most important thing is being lost in the shuffle. Without Vladimir Putin stirring the embers of Russian nationalism in Crimea and in Ukraine into a flame, it wouldn’t have happened in the first place. "We are skeptical about the flier's authenticity, but the instructions clearly recall the Nazi era and have the effect of intimidating the local Jewish community," U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League Director Abraham Foxman said in a written statement according...
  • Gazprom Buys Kyrgyzgaz for $1 Plus Debt

    04/19/2014 3:07:57 AM PDT · by Olog-hai · 14 replies
    Moscow Times ^ | Apr. 10 2014 15:26
    Russia’s top natural gas producer Gazprom has signed a deal to buy 100 percent of shares of Kyrgyzgaz for $1 and assumed the responsibility to repay $40 million of debt owed by the Kyrgyz gas producer, Itar-Tass reported. Gazprom also pledged to invest no less than 20 billion rubles ($560 million) in the next 5 years in the Central Asian republic’s 700-kilometer gas distribution grid upgrades. …
  • Iran Gets an Unlikely Visitor, an American Plane, but No One Seems to Know Why

    04/19/2014 2:07:05 AM PDT · by opentalk · 20 replies
    NY Times ^ | April 17, 2014 |  MICHAEL CORKERY, JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG and THOMAS ERDBRINK
    President Obama has warned that Iran is not open for business, even as the United States has loosened some of its punishing economic sanctions as part of an interim nuclear pact.Yet on Tuesday morning, Iran had an unlikely visitor: a plane, owned by the Bank of Utah, a community bank in Ogden that has 13 branches throughout the state. Bearing a small American flag on its tail, the aircraft was parked in a highly visible section of Mehrabad Airport in Tehran But from there, the story surrounding the plane, and why it was in Iran — where all but a...
  • Pentagon Moves to Block Russian Spy Plane in American Skies

    04/19/2014 1:42:36 AM PDT · by Dallas59 · 30 replies
    The Daily Beast ^ | 4/18/2014 | The Daily Beast
    Russian surveillance planes already fly over America, thanks to a long-standing treaty. But a new, ultra-sophisticated spy plane has U.S. military and intelligence bosses spooked. The Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. military and American intelligence agencies have quietly pushed the White House in recent weeks to deny a new Russian surveillance plane the right to fly over U.S. territory. This week, the White House finally began consideration of the decision whether to certify the new Russian aircraft under the so-called “Open Skies Treaty.” And now the question becomes: Will the spies and generals get their way?
  • Mugabe speaks to the BBC

    04/19/2014 1:18:19 AM PDT · by Berlin_Freeper · 13 replies
    newzimbabwe.com ^ | 18/04/2014 | Roy Agyemang
    IF there is one thing Robert Mugabe dislikes as much as “ruffian” British politicians, it is journalists working for the British media – especially the BBC. Accusing the corporation of one-sided reporting and of being a mouthpiece for the UK government, the controversial Zimbabwean President had refused to grant an interview to any journalist from the broadcaster for14 years.
  • EU lawmakers smooth way for class actions against cartels

    04/19/2014 1:17:25 AM PDT · by Olog-hai · 1 replies
    Reuters ^ | Thu Apr 17, 2014 5:18pm BST | Foo Yun Chee
    European lawmakers on Thursday eased the way for cartel victims to claim compensation from companies under new rules that also shield price-fixing whistleblowers from being the main target of million-euro lawsuits. The green light from the European Parliament came nine years after the European Commission broached the idea, seeing it as an additional tool, on top of fines, to deter companies from breaking antitrust laws. According to the Commission, only one in four cartels and antitrust infringements faced damages claims in the last seven years. Its 2010 estimate put the cost of unrecovered damages of infringements at over €20 billion...
  • Keystone XL pipeline will not be completed this year, U.S. agencies told

    04/19/2014 1:04:46 AM PDT · by canuck_conservative · 22 replies
    National Post [Canada] ^ | April 18, 2014 | Alexander Panetta
    ...The announcement made it clear that Canadian pipeline backers will not get the answer they wanted in time for the summer construction season, pushing completion of the project until 2015 — at best. The State Department said it needs more time to prepare its recommendation to the president because the pipeline route is mired in uncertainty. A legal dispute is underway in Nebraska over the route and it is unlikely to be resolved before next year.... Speculation had been rampant about whether the Obama administration might try to punt the politically sensitive decision until after this year’s midterms. That’s because...
  • Britain's Labor Party hires ex-Obama aide Axelrod to help in election

    04/19/2014 1:00:21 AM PDT · by Berlin_Freeper · 15 replies
    latimes.com ^ | April 18, 2014 | Henry Chu
    LONDON – Setting up an intriguing election battle, Britain’s opposition Labor Party announced Friday that it had hired President Obama’s chief campaign advisor to help the party return to power next year over the ruling Conservatives. The decision to recruit David Axelrod means that the 2015 British election will pit two of Obama’s strategists against each other. Working for the Conservatives is Jim Messina, who, like Axelrod, toiled on both of Obama’s presidential campaigns and who served as his deputy White House chief of staff during his first term. “David is used to tough fights, and he is going to...
  • EU Focuses Pressure on Israel to Make Concessions, Restart Talks

    04/19/2014 12:50:21 AM PDT · by Olog-hai · 8 replies
    INN ^ | 4/18/2014, 6:00 PM | Ari Soffer
    EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton called on Israel to reverse recent announcements regarding construction in Judea and Samaria in order to advance peace talks. Ashton said she viewed with “great concern” an Israeli decision to declare an area near the Gush Etzion Bloc south of Jerusalem as state land and the recognition of Jewish rights to the disputed Peace House in the Judean city of Hevron, a statement from her office said Friday. Ashton also lashed out at the “demolition of Palestinian property and the confiscation of EU humanitarian aid”. …
  • WWI in color photos

    04/18/2014 8:52:59 PM PDT · by DeaconBenjamin · 29 replies
    Austrian Soldier, Eastern Europe, 1915 German troops in Berlin, 1914 Ambulances in Palestine, 1918 French trenches, 1916 Senegalese troops, France, 1917 Dead Italian soldiers, Italy, 1915
  • Former Blue Angels commander relieved of duty amid misconduct probe

    04/18/2014 7:26:32 PM PDT · by Jet Jaguar · 30 replies
    LA Times ^ | April 18, 2014 | By Tony Perry
    One of the Navy's top officers has been relieved of duty because of alleged misconduct while he was commander of the famed Blue Angels aerial demonstration team, the Navy announced Friday. Capt. Gregory McWherter was relieved of his post as executive officer of Naval Base Coronado. The action was taken by Vice Adm. William French, commander of Navy Installations Command. McWherter was commanding officer and flight leader of the Blue Angels from November 2008 to November 2010, and then from May 2011 to November 2012. The Blue Angels are based at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. French's decision "was based...
  • Putin's Office Threatens To Mobilize

    04/18/2014 6:41:24 PM PDT · by Greetings_Puny_Humans · 53 replies
    The Interpreter ^ | 04/18/14 | The Interpreter
    Putin's Office Threatens To Mobilize | 2014-04-18 19:26:13 In a significant escalation of rhetoric, not only does Putin's press secretary admit that there are Russian troops on the border with Ukraine, but he says that they are there to respond if Russia is driven "into a corner." RFE/RL reports: Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has confirmed that Russia does have troops near the Ukrainian border and that some of those forces are stationed there "on a permanent basis." Peskov said additional forces are in the area along Russia's border with Ukraine but only "as reinforcement aganst the background of what...
  • Dmitry Tymchuk's military blog: More Putin lies

    04/18/2014 6:38:39 PM PDT · by WhiskeyX · 8 replies
    Dmitry Tymchuk Blog, Kyiv Post ^ | April 18, 2014, 9 a.m. | Dmitry Tymchuk
    2. Extremist acts continue in eastern Ukraine. There is unrest in Stakhanov [Luhansk Oblast] – which by the way, is the homeland of Yuriy Karyn, one of our IR [Information Resistance] coordinators. Pro-Russian mongrels are going berserk in Donetsk. However, the situation is uneasy in other regions, as well. Today, the representatives of local authorities in Zaporizhya oblast [region] spoke about possible extremist activity. We have our own information about this. According to our data, airplanes with “Putin’s tourists” on board landed at the Saky airfield in Crimea. They were loaded into vans with Zaporizhya plates. Nothing good can come...
  • Museum of U.S.-Nato Aggression Opens in Vladikavkaz

    04/18/2014 6:05:18 PM PDT · by Zhang Fei · 26 replies
    The Moscow Times ^ | Apr. 17 2014 19:48 | The Moscow Times
    A museum dedicated to the victims of U.S. and NATO military aggression has opened in the North Caucasus city of Vladikavkaz. The exhibition, which is housed at the National Scientific Library of North Ossetia, opened Thursday to visitors over the age of 16, and displays artifacts "attesting" to "the state terrorism" of Western nations, organizer Vyacheslav Lagkuyev said, Interfax reported. Among the themes of the exhibition are the conflicts in Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan — each of which has its own display in the museum. The U.S. war in Vietnam and the NATO bombing of Serbia are also detailed in...