RWC Unfiltered 7-14-2011

In a study of 200,000 ostriches over a period of 80 years, no one reported a single case where an ostrich buried its head in the sand

A newly-released State Department cable highlights the continued funding of Al Qaida in Pakistan and other regional states and reveals collaboration between Islamabad and Beijing in blocking terrorist financing sanctions.

The Dec. 30, 2009 cable, labeled “secret,” said “some officials” of Pakistan’s ISI intelligence service “continue to maintain ties with a wide array of extremist organizations, in particular the Taliban, LeT and other extremist organizations.”

“These extremist organizations continue to find refuge in Pakistan and exploit Pakistan’s extensive network of charities, NGOs, and madrassas,” the cable said.

“This network of social service institutions readily provides extremist organizations with recruits, funding and infrastructure for planning new attacks.”

Pakistan internationally tried to block United Nations sanctions against Pakistan-based or affiliated terrorists “by requesting that China place holds on the nominations” of people to be sanctioned.

“China recently placed a technical hold on the designation of three Pakistan-based or affiliated terrorists nominated by India, although China did not prevent the most recent Pakistan-related U.S. designation nomination in June,” the cable said.

John Tkacik, a former State Department China specialist, said the Chinese-Pakistani cooperation against the United States is part of China’s global strategy of pursuing and abetting things that complicate U.S. security.

“In December 2009, China was still reluctant to be seen as openly supportive of terrorist organizations sponsored by its ally Pakistan,” Tkacik said. “But I think Beijing is less concerned now.”

“China is now engaged in massive mining investments in Afghanistan and its main interest there now is staying on cordial terms with the Taliban and with Taliban allies in Pakistan.”

No word in the English language rhymes with “MONTH.”

CIA Director-designate retired Gen. David Petraeus told Congress last week that he is going to focus heavily on cyber threats to U.S. security, a focus that will likely mean greater intelligence-gathering efforts against China, among the most aggressive at conducting cyber attacks. (see related stories in this issue)

“As one of the CIA’s enduring missions, I will focus on CIA’s efforts to collect intelligence on foreign cyber threats,” Petraeus said in written answers to questions to the Senate Intelligence Committee. He said he plans to make cyber security a top priority at CIA, which has been reoriented in recent years as a human-intelligence gathering spy service.

Petraeus said in a prepared statement that China was among the top targets of the agency’s spies and analysts, along with new developments in the Arab democracy movement, the evolving capabilities of state and non-state actors and proliferation of weapons.

“At CIA, we must protect the secrets entrusted to us while ensuring we are collecting, analyzing, and sharing the intelligence required by this nation?s network defenders,” Petraeus said.

“Moreover, I will work together with other community elements to ensure that we are effectively pursuing the foreign threats to our nation’s networks, while also emphasizing world-class protection of our own information and networks.”

The CIA will be tasked to gather “actionable intelligence” on cyber threats “to better prevent, defend, and mitigate against threats, and, when necessary, to recover from threats and attacks against our nation’s networks,” he said.

Petraeus disclosed that the CIA has a program to detect insiders who steal classified information.

The CIA Insider Threat Detection Program continues to evolve, he said. “The program seeks to ensure that all data is protected by default with a tightly managed network, which allows only a restricted class of users to remove data from the classified network.”

“Unfortunately, there will always be spies among us, and the Agency’s goal must be to quickly identify and isolate the trusted insider who is misusing access,” he said.

Chandler (CHAND-luhr) noun:1. One who makes or sells candles.2. A dealer or supplier in other goods, for example, a ship chandler. Etymology from Latin candela (candle), from candere (to shine). Ultimately from the Indo-European root kand- (to shine) which is also the source of incense, incandescent, candid, candida, and candidate (in reference to white togas worn by Romans seeking office). Earliest documented use: 1389.

Under the Obama administration, a controversial government project that rans guns into Mexico has contributed to fraudulent statistics seemingly targeting U.S. gun owners.

The misleading data raise questions about the intentions of Project Gunrunner, which some believe could be a defining scandal for the Obama White House.

In February 2008, William Hoover, Assistant Director for Field Operations of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, testified before Congress that over 90 percent of the firearms that have been recovered in or intercepted in transport to Mexico originated from various sources within the U.S. It turns out private gun dealers were encouraged to sell hundreds of guns even after reporting the pending sales to ATF as suspicious federal agents OK’d the bogus sales.

Mexico says it will sue the U. S. in international court for what it says was a direct attack on the country by arming drug cartel gangs that have murdered 40,000 people there in just the past year. Reportedly AG Holder has withheld vital information from Congress investigating His and Obama’s knowledge and role in the deadly scheme gone wrong.

Donald Duck’s middle name is Fauntleroy.

China has manufactured counterfeit Cisco computer network router parts and attempted to sell them to the U.S. Marines, the plot was disclosed during a Senate hearing last week.

U.S. officials told the Senate Judiciary Committee June 22 that China remains the most aggressive state at ignoring copyright controls and counterfeiting an array of high-technology products.

Erik Barnett, assistant deputy director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stated that earlier this year the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a criminal conviction for trafficking and counterfeit Cisco network cards.

“The defendant had a contract to sell genuine Cisco network cards to the United States Marine Corps,” he said.

“The court noted that the criminal case began when a shipment from China was intercepted by a Customs and Border Protection officer who suspected that the Cisco parts were not genuine and were counterfeit.”

The agent informed authorities and it led to a case involving a 51-month prison term for the illegal parts trafficker.

Cisco Systems, Barnett said, worked with ICE agents to identify the counterfeits and assisted with the investigation.

“Most troubling is that counterfeiting is no longer limited to luxury brands and high-end goods,” he said. “It has infiltrated almost all segments of commerce wherever there is a price point at which criminals can make a profit, with absolute disregard for the significant impact on public safety.”

Jason Weinstein, deputy assistant attorney general within the Justice Department’s criminal division, said during the hearing that “there is virtually no type of IP crime for which China wouldn’t be at or near the top of the list of concern.”

“It’s not just piracy and it’s not just online piracy, but it’s manufacturing counterfeit DVDs. It’s fraudulent software. It’s counterfeit goods. Trade-secret economic espionage, China is all over some of our biggest cases in that area too,” Weinstein said.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said: China is among the most egregious violators of American intellectual property rights.

“From my time on the Intelligence Committee, a great deal of the public information that has come out about the major attacks and hacks on U.S. corporations and infrastructure has traced that back to China.”

“China appears to be the most dangerous and active nation-state actor, malefactor, in this area, and the administration has recently signed a letter of intent with China’s ministry of public safety on law enforcement cooperation in this area, given the extent to which not only is this behavior seeming to emerge from China but it often seems to be sanctioned,” he said.

Whitehouse said China’s state-run companies are similar to the pirates of the 1880s that traveled with letters of marque from a country or principality. In the days of fighting sail, a Letter of Marque and Reprisal was a government license authorizing a private vessel to attack and capture enemy vessels and defacto extending the protection of the navy of the issuing nation.

“They were essentially private actors, but they had that going on behind them, and I think that it appears that a lot of the activity coming out of China is basically privateers who are operating with the knowledge and the implied consent, perhaps, of the government,” Whitehouse said.

General Patraeus. new head of the CIA, says he’s making cyber security his immediate priority

My forebear Thomas David Cochrane was Great Britain’s most successful privateer. He once captured an entire French squadron by renting a chatteau, throwing a party , getting the enemy crews roaring drunk, and sailing their ships out of harbor with scarcely an oath being uttered.

Voters remain skeptical about U.S. military involvement in Libya, with a plurality still opposed to further military action in the north African country.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 24% of Likely U.S. Voters now believe the United States should continue its military action in Libya. Forty-four percent (44%) oppose further action there, while 32% are undecided.

Last week Italy withdrew its support barring NATO from using its bases to attack Libya.

A normal person will die from total lack of sleep sooner than from starvation. Death will occur about 10 days without sleep, while starvation takes a Few weeks.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived for an unannounced visit to Afghanistan last week and stated that a quarter of France’s 4,000-strong contingent would be pulled out by the end of 2012,  Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s younger half-brother, Kandahar strongman Ahmad Wali, was shot dead by a bodyguard at his home.

This was no coincidence–it was Taliban’s way of refuting once again the accounts of the situation in Afghanistan presented by US, British and French leaders after more than a decade of relentless warfare as having little resemblance to reality. This was the object of four insurgent terrorist attacks in the two weeks since June 28.

The attacks underscore the Afghan army and police are nowhere near ready to shoulder the burdens of security in the absence of foreign forces. Taliban for its part  demonstrated the futility of US and NATO leaders discussing timetables for the security handover to President Karzai’s regime because the insurgents were fully capable of derailing them.

China is strengthening its position with the Taliban which it sees as prevailing in Afghanistan and most likely to control remote resource rich areas.  Afghanistan has large deposits of: gold, copper, iron, mercury, lead, and rare metals such as cesium, lithium, niobium, and tantalum. Tantalum, which is also known as coltan, is a rare element essential in the manufacture of cell phones, computers, and digital cameras. Lithium is necessary for high-tech batteries, specialty glasses and ceramics, and for some high-performance metal alloys. Niobium is used in steel alloys. China is interested in these deposits and sees its best access through the Taliban after Obama pulls out.

“Bookkeeper” is the only word in English language with three consecutive Double letters.

in 2008, 78 percent of Jews voted for Barack Obama. The only group giving Obama greater support, probably closer to 90 percent, was African-Americans. Even after Obama revealed his hostility to the state of Israel by his insulting behavior at the White House directed at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, American Jews, while distressed, continued to overwhelmingly support President Obama, and presently support him by a large majority.

A Gallup poll conducted in February 2010 that 48 percent of Democrats supported Israel and 70 percent of Republicans did. Those figures are permanently seared in my mind.

If Jewish New Yorkers and others who support Israel were to turn away from the Democratic Party in the SPECIAL congressional election to fill the seat vacated by disgraced Congressman Weiner (D) NY and elect the Republican candidate to Congress in 2011, it might very well cause President Obama to change his hostile position on the State of Israel and to reestablish the special relationship presidents before him had supported. His own reelection will be decided next year in 2012. The outcome of the 2011 congressional special election in the 9th Congressional District will certainly get his attention the 9th is the most Jewish District in the nation and overwhelmingly Democrat.

That special election will be September 11, 2011.

The creosote bush, which grows in the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan deserts, has been shown by radiocarbon dating to have lived since the birth of Christ. Some of these plants may endure 10,000 years, scientists say. If only they could talk

Three separate locations were struck by explosions during the rush hour of Wednesday, July 13,  in India’s financial capital: the crowded Dadar, hub for millions of commuters, the famed jewelry market and the Opera House business district. Three years ago, terrorists besieged the city killing 166 people. The Indian Home Ministry spokesman said it was too early to comment on the nature and cause of the blasts. Workers who had not yet left their offices were advised not to venture out. At least 13 people have been killed and 81 injured in the blasts.

According to some reports, the blasts were timed for the birthday of Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, the sole surviving gunman from the 2008 attacks.

The Pakistani Lashkar e-Taibe, which is linked to al-Qaeda, was accused of carrying out those attacks.  Counter-terror sources note that the blasts coincided with a visit to Washington by the Pakistanian Inter-Service-Intelligence ISI agency, Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha, for a meeting with the incoming CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus.

The home ministry confirmed it is a terrorist attack and has rushed to the stricken city three teams of the newly-created National Intelligence Agency including forensic experts.

ost people were injured at Zaveri Bazaar, close to police headquarters, where Mumbai’s bullion traders and jewelry shops are located, and at Opera House, where diamond exporters have their offices and workshops.

India has insisted that the Pakistani ISI secretly backs the Lashkar e-Taibe terrorists and therefore had a hand in the 2008 attacks on Mumbai. U. S.relations are severely strained

ISI - is the Pakistan intelligence agency; a powerful and almost autonomous political and military force; has procured nuclear technology and delivery capabilities; has had strong ties with the Taliban and other militant Islamic groups

Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, Inter-Services Intelligence

international intelligence agency - an intelligence agency outside the United States

Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Pakistan, West Pakistan - a Muslim republic that occupies the heartland of ancient south Asian civilization in the Indus River valley; formerly part of India; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1947

Take the last two digits of the year in which you were born - now add The age you will be this year, The results will be 111 for you and everyone else on the whole Earth.

Neptune has arrived at the same location in space where it was discovered nearly 165 years ago. The blue-green giant planet. Neptune is the most distant major planet in our solar system. German astronomer Johann Galle discovered the planet on September 23, 1846. At the time, the discovery doubled the size of the known solar system. The planet is 2.8 billion miles (4.5 billion kilometers) from the Sun, 30 times farther than Earth. Under the Sun’s weak pull at that distance, Neptune plods along in its huge orbit, slowly completing one revolution approximately every 165 years.

The giant planet experiences seasons just as Earth does, because it is tilted 29 degrees, similar to Earth’s 23-degree-tilt. Instead of lasting a few months, each of Neptune’s seasons continues for about 40 years.

Neptune has an intriguing history. It was Uranus that led astronomers to Neptune. Uranus, the seventh planet from the Sun, is Neptune’s inner neighbor. British astronomer Sir William Herschel and his sister Caroline found Uranus in 1781, 55 years before Neptune was spotted.

Shortly after the discovery, Herschel noticed that the orbit of Uranus did not match the predictions of Newton’s theory of gravity. Studying Uranus in 1821, French astronomer Alexis Bouvard speculated that another planet was tugging on the giant planet, altering its motion.

Twenty years later, Urbain Le Verrier of France and John Couch Adams of England, who were mathematicians and astronomers, independently predicted the location of the mystery planet by measuring how the gravity of a hypothetical unseen object could affect Uranus’s path.

Le Verrier sent a note describing his predicted location of the new planet to the German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle at the Berlin Observatory.

Over the course of two nights in 1846, Galle found and identified Neptune as a planet, less than a degree from Le Verrier’s predicted position. The discovery was hailed as a major success for Newton’s theory of gravity and the understanding of the universe.

Galle was not the first to see Neptune. In December 1612, while observing Jupiter and its moons with his handmade telescope, astronomer Galileo Galilei recorded Neptune in his notebook, but as a star. More than a month later, in January 1613, he noted that the “star” appeared to have moved relative to other stars. But Galileo never identified Neptune as a planet, and apparently did not follow up those observations, so he failed to be credited with the discovery.

Next March, 2012 the 7th billionth human will be living on this earth. In mid-1968 there was half that number.  The 6th billion total was reached in 1999.10 billion will be reached in 2050. Americans reached 300 million in 2007, ergo one in 30 on Earth will be an American.