Archive for July, 2009
U.S. Special Forces Briefing to Congressman Exposes Involvement in 19 Latin American Countries During 2009 Including Honduras
July 6th, 2009Via: Wikileaks: This confidential US Special Forces (7th, US Southern Command), briefing dated 17 May 2009 was created for Florida Congressman Miller. Although unclassified, it specifies a For Official Use Only (FOUO) distribution restriction. On page 7 of the document, it is proudly proclaimed that the 7h Special Forces Group has conducted missions in every […]
Programmer Steals Software That Runs Goldman Sachs’ Automated Trading Systems
July 6th, 2009Update: Programmer Out on Bail Via: Reuters: A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc computer programer accused of stealing secret trading codes from the financial firm has been released from federal custody after posting bail, authorities said on Monday. Sergey Aleynikov, 39, was arrested by the FBI on Friday and charged with “theft of trade secrets.” […]
Afghan Drug Trade: “Most of the government officials are involved.”
July 5th, 2009Via: McClatchy: When it’s harvest time in the poppy fields of Kandahar, dust-covered Taliban fighters pull up on their motorbikes to collect a 10 percent tax on the crop. Afghan police arrive in Ford Ranger pickups — bought with U.S. aid money — and demand their cut of the cash in exchange for promises to […]
Flood of Afghan Heroin Fuels Drug Plague in Russia
July 5th, 2009Via: McClatchy: The drugs usually reach Russia from Tajikistan and Kazakhstan in trucks or, in smaller amounts, tucked away in train compartments or nervous travelers’ stomachs. The trade is nothing new in Russia, but after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, it exploded. Afghan opium production climbed from 3,400 metric tons in 2002 to […]
U.S.-Built Bridge is Windfall for Illegal Afghan Drug Trade
July 5th, 2009Via: McClatchy: In August 2007, the presidents of Afghanistan and Tajikistan walked side by side with the U.S. commerce secretary across a new $37 million concrete bridge that the Army Corps of Engineers designed to link two of Central Asia’s poorest countries. Dressed in a gray suit with an American flag pin in his lapel, […]
Virologist to Make His Case for Lab Origin of Swine Flu
July 5th, 2009Via: Peter’s New York: Back in April, when the first cases of swine flu were diagnosed in Mexico, Gibbs examined the genetic structure of the virus that had been posted on a public database. His analysis led him to speculate that the virus may have been the result of a laboratory error. He contacted the […]
Fears for the World’s Poor Countries as the Rich Grab Land to Grow Food
July 5th, 2009A pants shitting, must read. Via: Guardian: The acquisition of farmland from the world’s poor by rich countries and international corporations is accelerating at an alarming rate, with an area half the size of Europe’s farmland targeted in the last six months, reports from UN officials and agriculture experts say. New reports from the UN […]
UK Spy Chief’s Family Details Posted on Facebook
July 5th, 2009You can click the link with confidence. I made sure that I linked to a version of this story that won’t show you the new head of the SIS in his Speedo. Via: AP: He’s the spy who came in from the beach. Holiday snapshots and family details about the newly appointed head of Britain’s […]
NSA Plans Massive Data Center in Utah
July 5th, 2009Via: The Salt Lake Tribune: The National Security Agency was so confident that its nearly $2 billion plan for a new data center in Utah would be approved by Congress that it began designing the facility last November. NSA budgeting documents also indicate that the design of the 1-million-square-foot center should be completed by February, […]
India Joins Russia, China in Questioning U.S. Dollar Dominance
July 4th, 2009Via: Bloomberg: Suresh Tendulkar, an economic adviser to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said he is urging the government to diversify its $264.6 billion foreign-exchange reserves and hold fewer dollars. “The major part of Indian reserves is in dollars — that is something that’s a problem for us,” Tendulkar, chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic […]
