Have the CIA and its friends, including reportedly the King of Thailand, almost completed their coup in Thailand?

On 15 December 2008, Thailand's parliament elected Abhisit Vejjajiva, as the new prime minister. (Thai opposition leader elected PM)

Outside parliament, rocks were thrown at cars belonging to politicians who voted for Abhisit.

Abhisit is a British-born, Eton-educated, Thai-Chinese 'toff'.

He leads Thailand's opposition Democrat party.

The Democratic Party are associated with the thuggish, right-wing People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD).

In elections at the end of 2007, Abhisit and his Democrats were heavily defeated by Thaksin's allies.

The Democratic Party is known as the 'cockroach party', partly because of its links to various sinister godfathers.. (Profile: Abhisit Vejjajiva)

On campaign trips to the populous and relatively poor north of Thailand, Mr Abhisit has been pelted with rotten vegetables. (Profile: Thailand's new Eton educated prime minister)

In Chiang Mai, the home town of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Thaksin supporters are preparing to join a mass rally in Bangkok in a move to hinder the Abhisit-led government and stop it delivering its policy statement in parliament. (Rocks thrown at MPs' cars at parliament)

Abhisit may not be as bad as his party is alleged to be. He has promised many populist policies, including free health care, free education and an increased minimum wage.

~~~

On 30 November 2008, Aangirfan had 4,723 page views (Sitemeter)

Aangirfan blogspot gets around 50,000 page views per month (Sitemeter)

Aangirfan.blogspot.com traffic rank (Alexa):

Switzerland 110,198
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Images of Bush ducking the fast-flying shoes at a Baghdad press conference, aired repeatedly on Arab satellite TV networks, were cathartic for many in the Middle East, who have for years felt their own leaders kowtow to the American president.

So the sight of an average Arab standing up and making a public show of resentment was stunning. The pride, joy and bitterness it uncorked showed how many Arabs place their anger on Bush personally for what they see as a litany of crimes -- chief among them the turmoil in Iraq and tens of thousands of Iraqi deaths since the 2003 U.S. invasion.

The reaction explains in part the relief among Arabs over Barack Obama's election victory, seen as a repudiation of the Bush era. But it also highlights the task the next president will face in repairing America's image in the Mideast, where distrust of the U.S. has hampered a range of American policies, from containing Iran to pushing the peace process and democratic reform.

“This proposed rule would remove the so-called ‘extra balancing test’… which states: ‘To the extent permitted by other laws, the DOE will make records available which it is authorized to withhold under [the FOIA] whenever it determines that such disclosure is in the public interest’,” according to the December 9 proposal published in the Federal Register.

“This additional [public interest balancing] test requires DOE to make available records that could be withheld under the FOIA exemptions, if DOE determines that disclosure would be in the public interest. DOE is proposing to remove the extra balancing test, because it goes beyond the requirements of the FOIA, and imposes unnecessary administrative requirements on DOE.”

It is true, by definition, that the balancing test in the existing DOE regulation “goes beyond the requirements of the FOIA,” because it encourages disclosure of records the release of which is not legally required.

But in an apparent non-sequitur, DOE also said that “the extra balancing test does not alter the outcome of the decision to withhold information, as DOE already incorporates Department of Justice guidance in applying exemptions when determining whether or not to make a discretionary release of information.”

The difficulty with that statement is that current Department of Justice guidance on discretionary release does not require explicit consideration of the public interest in disclosure of exempt information. To the contrary, it promotes withholding of exempt information and promises to defend agencies whenever they legally withhold such information.

In effect, the existing DOE regulation incorporates the 1993 FOIA policy enunciated by then-Attorney General Janet Reno (and long since abandoned by other agencies) which encouraged discretionary disclosures unless there was a “foreseeable harm” to a legitimate government interest. And the proposed new DOE revision reflects the 2001 FOIA policy of Attorney General John Ashcroft, who discouraged discretionary releases (though he did not prohibit them) and urged withholding of records whenever there was a “sound legal basis” for doing so. As noted in a November 19, 2001 Defense Department memo (pdf), under the Ashcroft FOIA policy “Discretionary disclosures are no longer encouraged.”

It is interesting to observe that with the current DOE FOIA regulation in effect there has been a striking difference in FOIA implementation between the Department of Energy and other agencies.

Earlier this year, for example, President Bush ordered executive branch agencies to provide comments on the recommendations of the Public Interest Declassification Board for improving declassification practices. Requests under the Freedom of Information Act for copies of these comments were consistently rejected by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies. These agencies correctly noted that the comments were inter-agency deliberative materials that were exempt from disclosure under FOIA exemption (b)(5).

But one agency released its comments in full, despite the availability of an exemption: the Department of Energy. (See “Energy Dept is ‘Committed’ to Improving Declassification,” Secrecy News, June 5). In other words, it appears that the public interest balancing test and the approach to FOIA that it represents do alter the outcome of the disclosure decision process at DOE.

In comments on the proposed regulation submitted by the Federation of American Scientists, we argued that “there is a widespread and well-founded expectation that the incoming Obama Administration will rescind the Ashcroft FOIA policy and define a more forthcoming disclosure policy. In light of that probable scenario, I would urge DOE to cancel its proposed revision of [the public interest balancing test], or else to suspend action on it for six months while the new Administration prepares new government-wide FOIA guidance.”

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In a study (pdf) prepared for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the JASONs concluded that “No foreign threat in HFGW is credible, including: communication by means of HFGW; object detection or imaging (by HFGW radar or tomography); vehicle propulsion by HFGW; or any other practical use of HFGW.”

Gravitational waves were predicted by Einstein’s general theory of relativity and their existence has been indirectly confirmed by experiment. But up to now they have never been directly measured.

“Unfortunately, relativity and gravitation theory have, over the last century, been the subject of a great deal of pseudo-science, in addition to real science. Therefore, in evaluating ambitious claims about gravitational applications, one must consider the possibility that the claims are misguided and wrong,” the JASONs advised. “There is no substitute for seeking expert scientific and technical opinion in such matters.”

A copy of the new JASON report was obtained by Secrecy News. See “High Frequency Gravitational Waves,” October 2008.

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The letter’s recommendations on combating excessive government secrecy included brief reference to a proposal stressed by the Federation of American Scientists for a fundamental review of agency classification guides to eliminate obsolete or unnecessary classification instructions.

Establishing such a review may be even more important than revising the executive order on classification or rescinding of the Ashcroft policy on FOIA, both desirable steps but which are only loosely coupled to daily secrecy decisions. By comparison, revising agency classification guides — which specify what information shall be classified at what level — and updating them to eliminate spurious secrecy requirements would have immediate favorable consequences for agency practice, particularly since many classification guides have not been reviewed for years. (See “Overcoming Overclassification,” Secrecy News, September 16, 2008.)

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“Iran’s Nuclear Program: Status,” updated November 20, 2008.

“Iran: Ethnic and Religious Minorities,” updated November 25, 2008.

“Iran: U.S. Concerns and Policy Responses,” updated November 24, 2008.

“Presidential Libraries: The Federal System and Related Legislation,” updated November 26, 2008.

“Nonmarital Childbearing: Trends, Reasons, and Public Policy Interventions,” November 20, 2008.

“Border Searches of Laptop Computers and Other Electronic Storage Devices,” updated November 17, 2008.

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Donations may be made online here. You may also send a check payable to the Federation of American Scientists, earmarked for Secrecy News, here:

Federation of American Scientists
Attn: Secrecy News
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Washington, DC 20036

Federal, military and postal employees can make contributions to FAS by selecting #11539 in the Combined Federal Campaign’s national/international charity list. To earmark such a contribution for Secrecy News, please notify us so that we may allocate it properly.

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HANNITY: Well, Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney -- and I read a story about him, that when he's involved in a case, this guy won't take a break, won't even take a day off until the case is finished. So he's fairly relentless as he goes forward here. Now, I watched his statement the other day very, very closely when this all came out, and what he said was, "There's no allegation in the complaint that the president-elect was aware."

I found that as sort of almost like a parsing of words, because the word "president-elect" was mentioned -- what -- I think some 44 times, Karl, which I think is a pretty high, high number.

India's air force was preparing for a likely strike against Pakistan following the Mumbai terror attacks, Pentagon sources told CNN.

The report quoted three Pentagon officials as individually confirming the Untited States has information about Indian air force personnel preparing for a possible mission against Pakistan.

One official told CNN the Indian air force "went on alert" after the Nov. 26 attacks in India's financial capital. The attacks ended after three days, leaving at least 170 dead, including foreigners.

India, which captured one of the 10 terror suspects alive, says the suspect has said all the attackers were Pakistani nationals and that the massacre was planned by the Laskhar-e-Toiba militant group in Pakistan.

CNN reported its sources offered few details about the Indian preparations, but added it is the first public indication the two nuclear weapons powers were closer to a conflict in the days after the attacks.

One official told CNN India's preliminary preparations may have allowed it to speedily strike suspected terrorist training camps and targets inside Pakistan. But during this time, U.S. officials were pleading with India to exercise restraint, the report said.

CNN said a spokesman for the Indian air force declined comment on the report.

He hired specialist architects, sending them to India to measure the dimensions of the real Taj Mahal, and brought six Indian technicians to his building site across the border… Moni imported marble and granite from Italy, diamonds from Belgium and used 160 kilogrammes (353 pounds) of bronze for the dome.

As reports have come in about the “$58 million structure”, there’s been speculation on a diplomatic “fracas” between India and Bangladesh and questions about whether a building can be copyrighted.

It would be nice if someone actually went and visited the building site.

Several Bangladeshi bloggers did just that this past weekend. They reported paying unusually high fees for motorized rickshaws to the site, and an admission charge that was high by local standards. The building itself was underwhelming:

Local tiles on a plain and simple brick structure… even the tiling work is that of an amateur… the structure is still incomplete. Even if after all this they want to put Italian marble where will they put it? All the visitors were upset and were feeling cheated. …After 10minutes we realised that there was nothing to see inside. We left. On the way back we spoke to other visitors and there was only one word going around — “what a scam!”
From Bibortonbadi, translated by Aparna Ray for Global Voices

Bloggers noted that the filmmaker in question is notorious for making cheap Bollywood knockoffs, and consider this the architectural equivalent of such chicanery. The fact that the newspaper story ran during Eid has increased the traffic, as families decided to take Eid trips to visit the “attraction”.

Video from the underwhelming replica.

Bloggers are particularly incensed at local media’s role in the scam. Bibortonbadi called one local paper to complain and was told that the paper had simply published an AFP story without any verification:

I was surprised to note that the leading dailies of the country did not do any verification before writing about these false claims such as 400crores BD Taka (58mn USD), 172 diamonds, Italian marble etc. Is 400crores a child’s play? When someone claimed to have spent that kind of money, did they (the MSM) not find the time to verify these tall claims before publishing them as is? At best they would have had to travel for about 1.5hours to do this verification. Is there such dearth of news in this country (that there is no need to verify - anything will do) or can money power get anything published these days? At best only 3/4 crores were spent.

It’s pretty common for professional journalists to complain about poor factchecking in blogs, and the possibility that bloggers will hype stories that professional journalists would have quickly and easily debunked. Here’s a classic counter-example: an international press agency hyped a story which helped rip off Bangladeshis, who used blogs to debunk the story. Here’s hoping the international outlets hyping the story will pick up on the corrections as quickly as they seized on the story.

Thorough coverage of the fake Taj scam on Global Voices.

The Nativity Trail 2009

The Alternative Tourism Group (ATG) and Siraj Center for Holy Land Studies proudly announce re-inaugurating the Nativity Trail from Nazareth to Bethlehem in 2009.

Now, 2000 years after the historic journey of Joseph and Mary, the modern city of Bethlehem invites you to make a symbolic and historic journey by walking Palestine's Nativity Trail.

This walking trail was originally inaugurated in 1999. However, the route has been recently researched again and modified to suit the new changes on the ground

Meeting the people while walking the Nativity Trail will be an opportunity to meet a diverse range of people: Franciscan priests on Mount Tabor, Muslim clerics at village mosques, Greek Orthodox monks in desert monasteries, hillside farmers and their families, small-town shopkeepers and craftspeople, Bedouin shepherds watering their flocks at ancient cisterns, and many more interesting people.

The Nativity Trail is an opportunity to understand the Geopolitical situation in the Holy Land by observing it while walking through the valleys and mountains of Palestine. It gives the participants the chance to have a first hand experience of the situation on the ground.

The Nativity Trial is not just a trip; it is a journey of dialogue, openness and interaction with new people.

Participants will be able to understand the Flora and Fauna of Palestine and the Bible, and will be able to embrace the culture that lasted in Palestine for thousands of years.

Dates: 12 Mar 2009 until 23 Mar 2009
23 Apr 2009 until 04 May 2009
08 Oct 2009 until 19 Oct 2009
29 Oct 2009 until 09 Nov 2009
12 Nov 2009 until 23 Nov 2009

13 Dec 2009 until 24 Dec 2009 ( Christmas Trail)

For more information about the Nativity Trail please visit our website:

www.atg.ps; www.sirajcenter.org

You are most welcome,

ATG and Siraj

George S. Rishmawi Coordinator,
Siraj, Center For Holy Land Studies
Beit Sahour, Schoold Street
P.O.Box 48
Palestine
Email: george@sirajcenter.org
abusaliba@yahoo.com
abusaliba@gmail.com
abusalib@p-ol.com
Website: http://www.sirajcenter.org
Tel: +972 2 274 8590
Fax: +972 2 274 8774
Mobile: 0599 180 872
USA number: 1 989 607 9480
&

http://www.atg.ps/

About Us The Alternative Tourism Group (ATG) is a Palestinian NGO specializing in tours and pilgrimages that include critical examinations of the history, culture, and politics of the Holy Land.

Palestine is a unique country from all perspectives; history, religions, cultures etc. What made this country so famous from old times until our day is its rich history related to the old human presence in this area as well as it is the home of the 3 monotheistic world religions; Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Not only that, but also because of the never ending wars that this country experienced and still experiences. We in Palestine and in the Alternative Tourism Group (ATG) would like to invite you all to come here, learn about history, religions, conflicts, culture, traditions etc. In this place, one can have a life experience that can never be found elsewhere. Check out our one-day tours! NEW: A Code of Conduct

Tree Planting Programme 2009 Palestine & Palestinians

Nativity Trail

Code of Conduct

this is long overdue. the spineless so.called journalist who are the mouthpieces of imperialism should be ashamed of themselves that almost eight years on none of them thought of doing something to this devil dog.

In fact, earlier this year the MPAA had to release a statement saying ‘they made a mistake’ in the figures. Nevertheless, the $6 billion figure in question has been quoted a lot, with MPAA chairman Dan Glickman still using it in almost every public talk, to convince his listeners of the seriousness of the ‘piracy’ issue. According to the MPAA there is more bad weather ahead, as it is now worried that piracy might flourish in the current financial climate.

“If you look at the situation, the current economic crisis makes this problem much more serious than before,” Glickman said recently at a forum, adding, “If we don’t protect IPR (intellectual property rights), our economic losses will be far worse.” The MPAA will of course leave no excuse unused to justify its anti-piracy measures, nothing new there. Although there are no studies that show how illegal downloads actually affect sales at the box office, there has been a significant bump in the number of BitTorrent users recently.

One should always be cautious to interpret these two events as having a causal relationship. However, after several months of relatively slow growth, BitTorrent sites have seen a dramatic increase in visitor numbers this fall. Since September, the number of peers tracked by The Pirate Bay has nearly doubled from 14 million in early September, to 25 million now. Other BitTorrent sites such as Mininova, Torrentz and BTjunkie report an increase in downloads, searches and web traffic, ranging from 25 to 50 percent over the same time frame.

This increase, even if it is directly related to the economic downturn, is not necessarily linked with a drop in box office grosses or DVD sales. ‘The Dark Knight’, which is the most downloaded movie on BitTorrent in 2008 sold millions of DVDs, and grossed a record breaking billion dollars in cinemas worldwide. That does not really sound like a ‘bad year’ to us.

Post from: TorrentFreak

Just took a test that I can not classify as anything better than bogus. EQ my ass!

via Tiia

Your Score: 48

45 - 54

Congratulations! You have very high emotional intelligence. This is good news! EQ counts for twice as much as IQ and technical skills combined in determining who will be a star performer. Your level of EQ likely has been and will be a driver of your high performance for years to come. Areas to work on: While you are doing well - don’t forget to take time out of your busy day-to-day activities to stop and reflect on what brings you the greatest meaning in your life. If we fail to do this on a regular basis, we risk becoming tranquilized by the trivial. Sedated by the small details. Yes, deadlines need meeting and goals must be achieved. But if we are working toward goals that are not in alignment with our key values and greater purpose, we face becoming hostile and cynical - losing the reason we are doing ‘all of this’ in this first place! This translates into less joy and enthusiasm for our work - resulting in a diminished ability to be effective, at ease, and on purpose. As William James said: I have no doubt whatever that most people live, whether physically, intellectually, or morally, in a very restricted circle of their potential being. They make use of a very small portion of their possible consciousness… much like a man who, out of his whole body organism, should get into the habit of using and moving only his little finger… We all have reservoirs of life to draw upon, of which we do not dream.