This is fascinating; Laura Rozen has details of the Italian inquiry into the Abu Omar rendition case. You know the one – when the CIA agents foolishly brought their own roaming mobile phones and spent a fortune staying in Bondesque hotels. The really interesting thing is that the inquiry is throwing up more and more…
Read More the blog cabala and a wall of fireHere’s one political movement struggling with the technological environment, at the Washington Monthly: Frank Luntz, speaking at a panel discussion at the Republican Governors Association yesterday, noted Barack Obama’s enormous email list. “He’s got 10 million names and our candidate doesn’t know how to use this,” Luntz said, holding up a BlackBerry. “There is a…
Read More the third decade, our moveDid I say I like Touchstone? But he ignores the fact that the European left did not soar in the polls within days of the Great Crash. It took a World War and 15 years – does Tony Barber really not know this, or does he not mind displaying faux ignorance so publically? Mind you,…
Read More Thinktanks we can believe inGeorge Osborne is not getting any better. His latest shaft of brilliance is to threaten everyone with a sterling crisis – Chris Dillow has details and more. The problem here is that for a start, he is deliberately beating the water to drive sharks away from his vulnerable ideological underbelly. The Conservatives’ “economic plan” currently…
Read More George Osborne: A National EmbarrassmentThis looks like being the ultimate TYR event. Via Ballardian, yer man from BLDGBLOG is going to be speaking at UCL on the 26th November on Feral Cities and the Scientific Way of Warfare. Quote: At the very least, you’ll get an early preview of Antoine’s forthcoming book – in which he introduces the term…
Read More the stars are right…DSR of the week: Pierre Falcone lives in Hong Kong. From an IP address somewhere in China Netcom’s Beijing metro-area network, too. If you follow the link you’ll find one of the best results is this act of citizen journalism, raising the question of whether or not Jacques Chirac is the Anti-Christ. Astonishing, the kooks…
Read More who’s the anti-Christ now?Whilst I’m on the VBeat, it’s probably about time for an update on the extradition hearings. Here’s the AP wire story on the last court appearance on the 4th of November. Bout’s lawyer is now pursuing a defence based on challenging the legality of extradition, after the main man apparently gave up stalling tactics. The…
Read More doodling wolves on a notepadInformation is filtering through that an Antonov-12 has been lost on take-off from Al-Asad airbase in Iraq on Thursday. So far there is very little available, but we do have a few facts. The ASN is currently describing it as operated by “Falcon Aviation” and states that the entire crew of 7 died. We’re getting…
Read More paranoia is total awarenessYou remember this post? It picked up off Thoreau@Jim Henley predicting that Dick Cheney would try to invoke executive privilege in respect of something he did after ceasing to be Vice President. If there’s one thing we’ve learnt about this man it’s that whatever warped evil you attribute to him will be nothing compared to…
Read More let the cat/noncat out of the bagMacau’s government decides to save a strategically important industry: casinos. Now they really are taking a gamble with public money; shovelling it into a hole in the ground. Etc. There’s actually an interesting sidelight further down the story. It regards Sheldon Adelson, the casino boss who funded Freedom’s Watch, a creepy rightwing campaign group established…
Read More Best. Bailout. Ever!