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13 May 2011 12:57

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World: Was Pakistan suicide bombing in response to Bin Laden’s death?

  • claim The Taliban claimed responsibility for two suicide bombings in northwest Pakistan that killed at least 80, saying the attack avenged Osama bin Laden’s death.
  • skepticism Local police say they don’t even think the Taliban are responsible. Instead, they’re pinning the blame on a splinter group upset over an attack by the Pakistani Army. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 May 2011 17:46

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U.S.: Mr. Diplomat: Senator John Kerry heads to Pakistan

  • Tense times call for Kerry: The Massachusetts Senator, also head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will be traveling to Pakistan this week, likely to try to smooth things over after what’s been a very rocky stretch for American/Pakistani relations. Kerry has long been a supporter of the aid the U.S. has been providing Pakistan — as we mentioned yesterday, it totals $18 billion over the last nine years — so one might expect a pacifying tact on this visit. Also, in your alternate political history update, we could be halfway through President Kerry’s second term right now.  source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 May 2011 16:44

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World: Pakistan, China eyeing stealth chopper used in Bin Laden raid

  • The perils of leaving footprints: During the U.S. raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan, one of their top secret new stealth helicopters clipped a rotor against the wall surrounding the hideout and was left apparently inoperable. The SEALS tried to burn and destroy it on their way out, but what was left were still large portions of a secret, cutting-edge aircraft downed on foreign soil without permission. As such, Pakistan would like a peek — their officials have already said that they’re “very interested” in examining the remains, and added that they might let the Chinese check it out, too. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 May 2011 21:25

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World: U.S. government: “Real intelligence” found durin Bin Laden raid

  • We expect to learn more how bin Laden communicated, who he communicated with and how often he did it, what guidance did he pass on, what questions were passed on, how he operated, how he ran al Qaeda and what did other people expect from bin Laden.
  • A U.S. intelligence official • Discussing what they’ve learned from the death of Osama bin Laden. Rather than devolving into a mere symbol of al-Qaeda, the official suggested that the U.S. gained “real intelligence” from the raid, though much of that intelligence shows that planned attacks were merely “aspirational” in nature. Still, knowing the inner-workings of an organization known for its coordinated attacks is a huge deal. Other notable news from the raid: The group of Navy SEALS were prepped for a possible fight with Pakistani military and police — which is why the group was fairly large. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 May 2011 17:17

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U.S.: U.S. aid to Pakistan comes under fire after bin Laden killing

  • $18 billion in aid given by the U.S. to Pakistan since 2002 source
  • » Bang for your buck: The above figure is a cause for angst among some U.S. politicians in the wake of the surprising (to say the least) discovery of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan last week. Senators Frank Lautenberg and Susan Collins have made it clear they may not support further funding — Collins says she’s concerned about Pakistan playing a “double-game.” On the other side of the issue, Senator Richard Luger supports continuation of the aid, saying that Pakistan is simply too critical to counter-terrorism to sever financial ties.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 May 2011 14:03

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World: Pakistan pushes back against bin Laden insinuations

  • We didn’t know! In the aftermath of Osama bin Laden’s killing in Pakistan last week, one pressing question has been this: how on earth could a U.S. ally (made so by the billions in aid America gives them each year) acting in competent good faith not have known that bin Laden was living less than a mile from a huge military academy? In a town swarming with retired military officials? Pakistan denies any knowledge or wrongdoing here, but that’s just it — this is a situation in which any admission of wrongdoing is so diplomatically catastrophic that no government would ever cop to it, regardless of how it would make them look. What do y’all think? source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 May 2011 16:37

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World: The real question: Was Osama bin Laden smoking marijuana?

  • They were growing pot on his compound: A recent report by our boy Nic Robertson of CNN notes that the slain al-Qaeda leader may have had an interesting crop on his property. Next to the cabbage and potatoes were potent marijuana leaves, which is interesting for a number of reasons. Osama had longstanding kidney problems, which might partly explain it, but if he was smoking recreationally, that adds a new wrinkle to this story. LOOK AT US, SPECULATING! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

03 May 2011 20:39

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World: UCLA researchers figured out where Osama was two years ago

  • The theory was basically that if you’re going to try and survive, you’re going to a region with a low extinction rate: a large town. We hypothesized he wouldn’t be in a small town where people could report on him.
  • UCLA geographer Thomas Gillespie • Describing the hypothesis that he, colleague John Agnew, and a bunch of students used to figure out that Osama bin Laden was hiding out in the general region near Abbottabad, Pakistan — back in 2009, when such a revelation was unexpected and amazing. “Caves are cold, and you can’t see people walking up to them,” Gillepsie noted, though also suggested he should’ve had a more inconspicuous home, instead of a fortress that stuck out like a sore thumb. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 May 2011 15:52

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World: Bin Laden compound close to Pakistani military academy

  • Where it all went down: The Guardian has a nice article up about the town of Abbottabad, where U.S. special forces killed Osama bin Laden at his compound, pictured above. One of the big early questions raised by bin Laden’s location was his surprising proximity to the Pakistani capitol of Islamabad, and whether the Pakistani authorities had any inklings the al-Qaeda mastermind was hiding in their midst. A less than encouraging tidbit on that front — bin Laden’s compound sat just a “few streets away” from a sprawling Pakistani military academy specializing in training officers. This is maybe the most relevant ongoing geopolitical story to come out of bin Laden’s death, and one which we’ll be watching with interest in the weeks to come. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Mar 2011 15:54

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World: Accusations of a “blood money” payment over Raymond Davis release

  • Some new intrigue in the case of Raymond Davis: It’s being broadly reported in a number of news sources that Davis, the CIA operative who shot and killed two men in Pakistan, was essentially bailed out of the charges with U.S. cash. Sources claim that the U.S. government paid somewhere around $700,000 to the three families of the victims (the third casualty was a man who was run over by a responding emergency vehicle). This is in accordance with a provision of Islamic law known as “blood money,” in which charges are dropped for financial payouts to victim’s families. This is, obviously, a story that is generating a lot of ink and a lot of ire; the U.S. steadfastly denies any such payment was made, and has thanked the victim’s families. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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