Karzai’s China-Iran dalliance riles Obama By M K Bhadrakumar Great moments in diplomatic timing are hard to distinguish when the practitioners are inscrutable entities. Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s visits to China and Iran within the week rang alarm bells in Washington which were heard in the Oval Office of the White House. Karzai’s two days…
How much authority does Pope Benedict XVI still enjoy? Vatican faces test of moral credibility in this expanding abuse scandal. The Catholic Church can never recover as long as its Holy Shepherd is seen as a black sheep in the ever-darkening sex abuse scandal. Allegations that Pope Benedict XVI may have had detailed knowledge about…
Amusing Bill Maher to Democratic Party: “Your poll numbers may have descended a bit, but so did your testicles.” New Rule: You Can’t Use “There Will Be No Cooperation for the Rest of the Year” as a Threat If There Was No Cooperation in the First Half of the Year Even before the Democrats got…
Drugs, terrorism and shadow banking Mar 26, 2010 11:28 EDT banking | drugs | terrorism The trouble with moving big amounts of cash, from a criminal’s point of view, is threefold. It’s bulky, it’s heavy and it smells. A stash of $1 million in mixed bills weighs around 100 pounds (50 kilos). Specially-trained dogs can…
My Lunch With Felix — By Kevin Drum | Fri Mar. 26, 2010 6:48 PM PDT Here’s a random assortment of topics from my lunch with Felix Salmon today at Eat Chow in Costa Mesa. He had the shrimp tostada and I had the swordfish, with olives and truffle parmesan fries on the side. Enjoy….
An American charged with helping plan the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, moved effortlessly between the United States, Pakistan and India for nearly seven years, training at a militant camp in Pakistan on five occasions, according to a plea agreement released by the Justice Department last week. The odyssey of David C. Headley, 49,…
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I’ll be the first one to tell you: BlackBook is an awesome place to work, and Chris Mohney is among the most awesome people in New York you can work for, of which we all know are few in their numbers. And I’m not just saying this because he’s advised my career so well (“you’ll…
Story Highlights Bin Laden threatens Americans Al-Qaeda leader says any captured Americans to be killed if 9/11 “mastermind” is executed. Bin Laden warns US of more attacks Bin Laden deplores climate change Bin Laden claims plane bombing News CENTRAL/S. ASIA Bin Laden threatens Americans Osama bin Laden has in a new audio recording threatened to…
Pakistan’s War of Choice By MICHAEL E. O’HANLON Peshawar, Pakistan WHAT are Americans to make of all the good news coming out of Pakistan in recent weeks? First, the Afghan Taliban’s military chief, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, was arrested in a raid in February. Around the same time, several of the Taliban’s “shadow governors” who…