Friday Night Nonsense: Hammond's Audi RS6 vs Skiers French Alps Race - Top Gear - BBC

Haven't done Top Gear for awhile, so enjoy the treat.

One crazy race, Top Gear stylez!

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New row over Colombia-US accord

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk President Uribe's deal with the US has caused concern in the region Colombian opposition groups have reacted angrily after details of a controversial military deal with the US were made public. Under the 10-year deal, the US military will not only have access to military bases, but also be able to use major international civilian airports. US personnel and defence contractors will also enjoy diplomatic immunity. President Alvaro Uribe says the agreement will help rid Colombia of drugs gangs and left-wing rebel groups. But leading opposition senator Gustavo Petro, of the left-wing PDA party, said the deal amounted to a virtual US occupation of Colombia. They reveal that the US military will have access to seven Colombian army, navy and air force bases and also be able to use civilian airports under conditions that have still not been made clear. The deal has led to a worsening of already strained ties between Colombia and Venezuela.

Venezuela has broken off diplomatic relations with Bogota and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has warned that Colombian military bases could be used by the US to attack his country.

Other countries in the region, including Brazil and Chile, have also expressed concern.

The BBC's Jeremy McDermott, in Colombia, says Colombia is increasingly isolated in the region, but does not seem to care, just so long as it has US support.

Saudi Royal Air Force carries strikes against Yemeni rebels

clipped from www.huffingtonpost.com SAN'A, Yemen — Saudi Arabia sent fighter jets and artillery bombardments across the border into northern Yemen on Thursday in a military incursion apparently aimed at helping its troubled southern neighbor control an escalating Shiite rebellion. The Saudis – owners of a sophisticated air force they rarely use – have been increasingly worried that extremism and instability in Yemen could spill over to their country, the world's largest oil exporter. The offensive came two days after the killing of a Saudi soldier, blamed on the rebels. The offensive immediately raised concerns of another proxy war in the Middle East between Iran and Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally. Shiite Iran is believed to favor the rebels in Yemen while Saudi Arabia, which is Sunni, is Iran's fiercest regional rival.

The same dynamic has played out in various forms in Lebanon, where Iran supports the Shiite militant Hezbollah and Saudi Arabia favors a U.S.-backed faction, and in Iraq, where Saudi Arabia and Iran have thrown support to conflicting sides in the Sunni-Shiite struggle.

A top Saudi government adviser confirmed "a large scale" military operation underway on the Saudi-Yemeni border with further reinforcements sent to the rugged, mountainous area.

"It is a sustained operation which aims to finish this problem on our border," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. He said Saudi troops were coordinating with Yemen's army, but Yemen's defense ministry denied the Saudis were inside the country.

The northern rebels, known as Hawthis, have been battling Yemeni government forces the past few months in the latest flare-up of a sporadic five-year conflict. They claim their needs are ignored by a Yemeni government that is increasingly allied wit

Jon Krakauer: McChrystal's Explanation For Pat Tillman Cover-up Is "Preposterous"

clipped from www.huffingtonpost.com Little attention has been paid to Gen. Stanley McChrystal's back-story and his rise to the height of military command of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Before becoming the voice of gravity and a champion of higher troop levels in the eight-year long war, McChrystal's resume was sullied by a controversy in that same theater: the misclassified death of Pat Tillman. McChrystal was the head of Special Operations command in Afghanistan during Army Ranger (and former football star) Pat Tillman's death. McChrystal was the one who approved paperwork awarding Tillman a Silver Star despite knowing (or at least suspecting) that he had died in fratricide and not, as originally determined, enemy fire. This was once a big embarrassment for the army and, to a lesser extent, McChrystal himself (though he has copped to making an innocent mistake). But when the general was elevated to top spot in Afghanistan this past spring, relatively few publications revisited the affair.

That may change. On Sunday, journalist Jon Krakauer joined the Meet the Press panel to discuss his new book on Tillman's death called Where Men Win Glory. Krakauer offered a harsh assessment of McChrystal's conduct during that period and even stressed that the General's explanations upon reflection were "preposterous" and "unbelievable."

Newt Gingrich Too Liberal?

Oh boy!

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Friday Night Nonsense: HL2 - Civil Protection: Halloween Safety (Ross Scott)

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Friday Night Nonsense: He just yelled fire in a crowded theatre.

clipped from www.xkcd.com

CNN's Fareed Zakaria interviews author Tom Ricks - Afghanistan & Pakistan

Interesting stuff, although you have to take what Ricks says with a grain of salt. He is enamored with America's Imperial view of itself to see through it's weaknesses.

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Scientist spying for Israel busted by the FBI

clipped from www.huffingtonpost.com WASHINGTON — A scientist credited with helping discover evidence of water on the moon was arrested Monday on charges of attempting to pass along classified information to an FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer. Stewart David Nozette, 52, of Chevy Chase, Md., was charged in a criminal complaint with attempting to communicate, deliver and transmit classified information, the Justice Department said. Nozette was arrested by FBI agents and is expected to make his initial appearance in federal court in Washington on Tuesday. Law enforcement officials said Nozette did not immediately have a lawyer. At Energy, Nozette held a special security clearance equivalent to the Defense Department's top secret and "critical nuclear weapon design information" clearances. DOE clearances apply to access to information specifically relating to atomic or nuclear-related materials.

An affidavit suggests why FBI agents posed as agents of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad to conduct the sting operation.

From 1998 to 2008, the complaint alleges, Nozette was a technical adviser for a consultant company that was wholly owned by the Israeli government. Nozette was paid about $225,000 over that period, the court papers say.

Then, in January of this year, Nozette allegedly traveled to another foreign country with two computer thumb drives and apparently did not return with them. Prosecutors also quote an unnamed colleague of Nozette who said the scientist said that if the U.S. government ever tried to put him in jail for an unrelated criminal offense, he would go to Israel or another foreign country and "tell them everything" he knows.

The complaint does not allege that the government of Israel or anyone acting on its behalf violated U.S. law. In Jerusalem, Israeli government officials had no immediate comment.

The affidavit by FBI agent Leslie Martell s