Monday, January 12, 2009

Israel Asked U.S for Help With Strike on Iran Nuke Facility

Two well placed sources confirmed to FOX News that Israel last year made "various requests" for U.S. assistance with a planned Israeli air strike on Iran's nuclear program — and that the requests were made directly to the White House because the Israelis were "disturbed and fearful" of leaks from the U.S. intelligence community and "did not trust" Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

One source told FOX News the Israelis approached the Bush White House at least once last summer, possibly twice, and were "slammed down" because senior administration officials felt such assistance would "unravel our position in Iraq."


[No surprise there, though I wish there were. As a nation, we are so royally screwed.]



Gaza: IDF uncovers booby-trapped school, zoo

IDF: More than 650 Hamas Terrorists Killed in Gaza

3 troops lightly hurt by gunshots near Hebron

Mark Steyn: The 'oldest hatred' lives, from Gaza to Florida

Jews in Europe worry about anti-Semitism over Gaza

Israel concerned by anti-Semitic attacks in Europe

Under cover of criticizing Israel, anti-semitism has become trendy

Synagogue, Jewish building attacked in France

Violence erupts at embassy protest

Multiple Attacks on Chicago Jewish Community on Sabbath




Egypt police detain 64 in Delta protest for Gaza

63 injured in Algiers after police clash with crowd at Gaza protest

Turkey arrests 4 more army officers in plot probe

Nine more charged in Turkey over alleged coup plot

Iraqis 'capture leading militant'

Cache with old rockets found in South Lebanon

Iran calls on Brazil to join efforts for Gaza ceasefire

VP-elect Biden in Afghanistan for talks

Time for action against Pakistan: BJP

India-Pakistan: Reality Shock

Iraq pledges it won't deport Iranian group
[Because the US and Iran have common interests there, no doubt.]

What Iranians Are Saying about Gaza - Michael Rubin

Iran to Discuss Russia Swaps at Gas Forum

‘Jordan to Start Red-Dead Project Alone’



Lethal Technology Making Way From U.S. to Iran Via Front Companies

Despite multiple attempts by the Bush administration to halt illegal imports -- including sanctions against several Dubai-based Iranian front companies in 2006 -- the technology pipeline to Tehran is flowing at an even faster pace. In some cases, Iran simply opened new front companies and shifted its operations from Dubai to farther east in Asia, the officials said.

Iran in the past two years has acquired numerous banned items -- including circuit boards, software and Global Positioning System devices -- that are used to make sophisticated versions of the improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, that continue to kill U.S. troops in Iraq, according to documents released by the Justice Department and a new study by a Washington research institute. The deadly trade was briefly disrupted after the moves against Dubai companies in 2006, but it quickly resumed with a few changes in shipping routes and company names, the officials said.

"Without doubt, it is still going on," said one former U.S. intelligence official who investigated Iran's networks.





Turkey in talks with Russia, Ukraine to end gas dispute

Slovakia restarts Soviet-era nuclear reactor

Freezing conditions continue as Spain recovers from a weekend of traffic chaos

Russia Gazprom shuts wells, makes losses in gas row

Russia-Ukraine deal on gas for Europe in doubt

Europeans Clinch a Gas Agreement

[The gas is supposed to be turned back on tomorrow, last I saw. We'll see.]




Russian Officials Among 7 Killed in Copter Crash

The victims included Alexander S. Kosopkin, 51, President Dmitri A. Medvedev’s representative in the lower house of Parliament, and several other federal and local officials.
...
The helicopter was an Mi-171 owned by Gazpromavia, an airline that belongs to Russia’s state gas monopoly, Gazprom.

[Say. That's odd.]



Gas supplies to Armenia stopped by pipeline break

China Cancels Plans for Steel Stockpile

OPEC unlikely to stop expansions

ESPO oil pipeline section opened in Russia

Indian truckers call off strike

24-inch diameter gas pipeline blown up in Dera Bugti

World Bank ban on Wipro, Megasoft too

Turkey's boron exports exceed $500 million in 2008

Rio postpones Brazil iron ore expansion

Alcoa Has First Net Loss in Six Years as Demand Falls

Trans-Texas Corridor plan officially axed, at least for now

Boeing cutting 4,500 jobs

Textron’s Cessna to Cut 2,700 Jobs, 17% of Workforce

Super contango in crude oil creates record inventory level



CSX imposes temporary leave at Greenbrier

About 650 employees of CSX Corp¹s five-diamond luxury resort in West Virginia will be given temporary leave over the next two weeks due to a sharper than normal seasonal decline.

The announcement came days after the railroad company said it was seeking Goldman Sachs & Co.'s advice on what do with the Greenbrier after it lost $35 million last year.
...
The 721-room resort includes an underground bunker that was built during the Cold War to house the U.S. Congress during a nuclear war. The relocation center remained a secret until the Washington Post exposed it in the early 1990s, after which it was decommissioned by the government.


[Say, that's odd, too.]



Obama Wants Second Half of TARP Funds as ‘Ammunition’

Audacity itself as economic experiment

Capitalism Freezes in Worldwide Winter of Discontent




Zimbabwe troops 'eat elephants'
[But do they taste like chicken?]

EU threatens Africa with Precaution

Pirates release Iranian-chartered vessel

Sierra Leone: Health Ministry Reacts to Yellow Fever Outbreak in Bo

DRC: Suspected Ebola cases rise

Three die, 35 hospitalized in cholera outbreak Nigeria's Niger State

Division appears among Congo's rebel leaders

Zimbabwean opposition solicits UN, AU to help locate missing activists

Zimbabwe introduces $50 billion note

Children flee Zimbabwe to uncertain future

For Zimbabwe's Dead, a Final Indignity

Hustle and Flow: The Privatization of Water

Mexico murders soar as drug violence spirals out of control

Ecuador pays Brazil to resolve diplomatic spat

HOME-SCHOOLING: U.N. treaty might weaken families

Obama climate czar has socialist ties
[Yeah, such as Obama himself.]

Fry's VP Indicted for Wire Fraud, Money Laundering

Meltdown 101: Why are auto shows still important?
[bread and circuses, bread and circuses]

ND gets blizzard on top of December's record snow




Magnitude 4.7 - POLAND

Magnitude 5.6 - MID-INDIAN RIDGE

Two earthquakes jolt Sumatra and Papua

Earthquake strikes Victoria's east, measures 3.4 on Richter scale

3.6 earthquake recorded near Ukiah

Rising sea levels, earthquakes to hit B.C., says study

Costa Rica quake deaths reach 19



Small earthquakes continue at Yellowstone

A new series of what are described as a "modest swarm of earthquakes" began Friday in Yellowstone National Park, about 10 miles northeast of the north end of Yellowstone Lake, where a swarm of approximately 900 quakes had occurred between Dec. 26 and Thursday.

The current swarm is located on the northeast corner of the Yellowstone Caldera, according to the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.

The new swarm, so far, is considerably smaller than the first series. The migration of the quakes continues in a north-northeast direction.

The largest of the new swarm of quakes was a magnitude 3.3 recorded at 11:17 a.m. Friday.




And the USGS earthquakes map is still way too quiet for comfort.

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