Sunday, August 23, 2009

Pakistan is a nuclear nation. I don't know how to quantify a limit on comments like that below.

Pakistan: No cease fire during Ramadan (click title to entry - thank you)
...Pakistani forces arrested three men wearing suicide vests who planned to attack parliament, an intelligence agency and other public buildings, Interior Minister Rehman Malik told CNN.
Malik did not specify where or when the men were caught, except to say it was within the last four weeks, CNN reported.
Pakistani soldiers have been engaged in intense fighting with Taliban militants headquartered along the northwest border with Afghanistan.
The militants have said they would stop fighting during the month of Ramadan, which began Saturday and traditionally is considered a time of peace. Malik, however, said the promise was not to be trusted....


The dead guys replacement. Got that? This is the DEAD GUY'S replacement. Who needs to be worried?

In this image taken on Nov. 26, 2008 Pakistani Taliban deputy Hakimullah Mehsud is seen flanked by his comrades in Orakzai tribal region of Pakistan. (AP / Ishtiaq Mehsud)

Is Pakistan's Taliban movement on the way out? (click here)
By SAEED SHAH
McClatchy Newspapers
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan's extremist Taliban movement is badly divided over who should be its new leader, and analysts and local tribesmen say the al-Qaida-linked group may be in danger of crumbling.
A wave of defections, surrenders, arrests and bloody infighting has severely weakened the movement since its founder, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed Aug. 5 in a U.S. missile strike. The announcement this weekend that Hakimullah Mehsud, a 28-year-old with a reputation as a hothead, would succeed him is likely to further widen the split.
Hakimullah has support from Taliban groups in Orakzai, where he is based, and Bajaur, both parts of the wild Pakistan tribal zone that borders Afghanistan. But the heart of the Pakistani Taliban movement lies in the Waziristan portion of the tribal area, where the warlike Mehsud and Wazir clans live and where a commander named Waliur Rehman is backed as the next chief. Rehman was very close to Baitullah Mehsud.
"There's no way that the Mehsuds and the Wazirs are going to accept Hakimullah as chief. During his lifetime, Baitullah had given every indication that when he's no more, Waliur Rehman is the next guy," said Saifullah Mahsud, an analyst at the FATA Research Centre, an independent think tank in Islamabad. "Waliur Rehman is a cool, calm, calculated guy, a very good listener... That's why the Taliban had liked Baituallah so much, he was a very cool guy, a very calm guy."...


George Walker Bush and Richard Cheney pat a Coup Leader on the head and handed him billions US to use the Pakistani air space and hoped he wouldn't be assassinated. How do you put the brevity of what is occurring in Afghanistan and Pakistan with the Taliban on the shoulders of a man that wants to put trust in generals to secure the region from becoming a greater threat to the USA?
How do you answer the war raging in areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan with sanity after the USA was rerouted into a war in Iraq?

Is Obama facing hard choices? I don't know if that is even a legitimate question.


Obama facing hard choices on Afghanistan war plans (click here)
By RICHARD LARDNER, Associated Press Writer Richard Lardner, Associated Press Writer – 48 mins ago
WASHINGTON – As public support for the war in Afghanistan erodes, President Barack Obama soon may face two equally unattractive choices: increase U.S. troops levels to beat back a resilient enemy, or stick with the 68,000 already committed and risk the political fallout if that's not enough.
Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, is completing an assessment of what he needs to win the fight there. That review, however, won't specifically address force levels, according to Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
But military officials privately believe McChrystal may ask for as many as 20,000 additional forces to get an increasingly difficult security situation in Afghanistan under control. And one leading Republican is already saying McChrystal will be pressured to ask for fewer troops than he requires....


40 suspects held in NW Pakistan search operation (click here)

2009-08-23 18:25:15
ISLAMABAD, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Security forces have arrested militants from various areas of Swat in northwestern Pakistan while houses of two commanders have been destroyed.
The private Geo quoted sources as saying that the security forces arrested 40 suspects during the search operation in Beshbund, an area of Charbagh tehsil in Swat while houses of two extremist commanders in the area of Sertaligram were destroyed.
Meanwhile, two extremists surrendered themselves to the forces in Gul Jabba, an area of tehsil Kabal.
All markets and bazaars in Mingora, the main town of Swat, are open Sunday despite the weekly holiday.
Curfew has been relaxed in various areas of the district.
Curfew will be relaxed up to 21:00 (1500GMT) in Mingora, Kabal and Kanju, up to 18:00 (1300GMT) in Khwazakhela, Matta, Warshkhela, Peochar and Madyan.


North Pakistan Missile Strike Kills 13 (click here)
By VOA News 21 August 2009
Pakistani officials say at least 13 people are dead in a suspected U.S. missile attack on a militant hideout in Pakistan's North Waziristan region.The officials say the strike, early Friday, destroyed a home in a village, Dande Darpa Khel, near the region's main town, Miranshah. Security officials say women and children were among those killed. Some of the casualties were said to be Afghans....

We didn't 'bailout' GMC so they can play in Germany ! American Cars. American Workers. NOW !

You aren't doing this to us AGAIN !!!!!!!!!!!

The halls of Wall Street are lined with 'Slimeballs.'

Germany needs a buyer for their auto factories.

NOW !

I really dislike the word 'Boycott,' don't you?


2001 Opel Astra Extreme

...Directors were briefed on the Opel sale during their two- day gathering, Renee Rashid-Merem, a GM spokeswoman, said today in an e-mail. She said no recommendation was made on Opel because talks are continuing.
The board held a series of sessions to set goals, review future product plans for Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC, and move forward on strategic decisions we need to make,” Chairman
Ed Whitacre said in a statement.
The meeting brought together the six holdover directors for Detroit-based GM with seven new appointees led by Whitacre, the former AT&T Inc. chief executive officer and chairman. Opel and committee assignments were among items on the agenda, people familiar with the matter said.
Directors drove some of GM’s planned models, including the Cadillac SRX sport-utility vehicle and CTS Sport Wagon as well as the electric Chevrolet Volt, according to the statement.
New vehicles are part of the strategy for ending losses at the biggest U.S. automaker, which left bankruptcy protection on July 10 as a new company majority-owned by the Treasury. Predecessor
General Motors Corp. filed for Chapter 11 protection on June 1....




Merkel says GM decision on Opel urgently needed (click here)
Sun Aug 23, 2009 6:38am EDT
"By Dave Graham BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her regret at General Motors' failure to choose a buyer for its German unit Opel, and said that a decision was ''urgently'' needed for the carmaker's future....

...In an interview with German ZDF television due to be broadcast later on Sunday, Merkel said she felt there might be a conflict of interest between GM and countries with a stake in its European operations, but that progress was being made....






GM Might Sell Chevy Volt Technology in Future, CEO Says (click here)
By James M. Amend

Wards Auto.com, Aug 13, 2009 3:41 PM

BROWNSTOWN TWP., MI – General Motors Co. President and CEO Fritz Henderson says he does not “rule out” selling lithium-ion battery packs to other manufacturers from the auto maker’s new plant south of Detroit, as well as other technologies to be used in the upcoming Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle.
However, such a strategy would be difficult because the pack’s T-shaped design is unique to the Volt. Henderson also does not rule out union representation at the plant, which as a wholly owned subsidiary does not fall under the national master labor agreement.
Some experts have suggested sharing Volt technology as a means for GM, fresh from a 39-day trip through bankruptcy, to widen its revenue stream, but Henderson disagrees.
“I wouldn’t rule that out if the opportunity were to arise,” he says, “but I wouldn’t necessarily see that as a large revenue stream.”
Henderson echoes the same sentiment regarding the Volt’s larger propulsion system, called Voltec. GM has said the technology will be used in an Opel Ampera C-car for the European market in 2011....

The Arctic Tropical Storm? Is that correct? Bill will be an extratropical depression when it passes the Arctic Circle?

...social gaming company Playfish (click title to entry - tahnk you) has an office in the Arctic Circle? According to Chief Operating Officer and co-founder Sebastien de Halleux, Norway, best known for ice hotels and the Northern Lights, is now home base for a cadre of social gaming experts. If you'd like to go off the grid for a while, and you're not afraid of the dark, Playfish happens to be hiring a web and graphics designer for its Tromso.


August 23, 2009
1330z
UNISYS Water Vapor GOES East Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop)



The Arctic Circle is approximately 66° 33′ 39″ (or 66.56083°) north of the Equator.

"Bill" is expected to pass 60 degrees north as an Extratropical Depression on August 27, 2009 at 0600 gmt. As a side note, the first storm of the 2009 season was Tropical Depression One that lasted 30 hours between latitudes 37.30 north and 40.30 north. Something tells me that Arctic Ocean Ice and Extratropical Depressions don't mix well. Of course, according to the Republicans there is no such thing as Global Warming. Right. Sure. And I was born yesterday.