Affentitten

Yes there are plenty of examples, but the Iranian one is particularly damaging because it still resonates today in a region where American troops are in harm's way. Guantanamo detention was a similar issue of "Do as I say, not as I do" that was a virtual recruiting ad for extremists.

JonS and SO live in Wellington, IIRC, so they are not in any danger. But I think SO might have relatives in Christchurch.

It doesn't matter why they might have got socialist, the climate of the time was reds under the bed and so they got rid of probably the best leader that Iran ever had. It's not so much a grudge that is the problem as a major credibility issue. The coup still today allows Iranian leaders like Amahdinejahd to say "Oh sure, they SAY they want to bring you democracy. But look what the USA has meant by that in the past. Another great idea from the country that brought you the Shah and SAVAK".

Mossadeq 1953. The USA felt he was getting a bit too commie. But yes, it basically set up the mother of all hypocrises.

I don't think the truth will ever be known, short of interviewing everyone in Libya and cross referencing. Libya is very much like the system in East Germany or 1984: everyone is informing on everyone else and there is a big devolution of accountability down to the local street/neighborhood committees. There are umpteen different security agencies dealing with internal and external security and nobody knows who to trust. The numbers of people who disappear through this system are anyone's guess.

Some background reading on the Colonel (and I don't mean Sanders.)

In the past the LIbyan airforce has been used to strafe.....the Libyan army.

The phone's been ringing hot today with media wanting to talk about Libya. Sadly it had to take the NZ quake to bump it off the agenda. I'm not so sure that Gadaffi will be ousted, at least without a bloodbath. If he does go, I think it will be more likely that a key defence force strongman will step in to take his own chance. But Gadaffi has been pretty active over the decades in purging anyone in the military with an ounce of ambition.

Sexual attractiveness and proclivity based upon appearance can be misleading. I mean, you've got guys who LOOK gay, but aren't (like JonS) and then there are ones who LOOK straight, but aren't (like Stalins Organist).

And don't forget to ban the media. It's all biased lies anyway.

Just wondering what and how the proof of ID works when you become a candidate in the first place? eg. Anyone in Australia who was going to run for office would have to offer up-front proof of citizenship from amongst a given series of documents. Did Obama not have to do that?

If by "dealing with" you mean "blazing away at with a handgun and wounding after posting notices online threatening armed resistance to any officers attempting to serve warrants".

Remarkable is one word for it: Opinion is sharply divided about the final fate of Neuschwabenland. Some argue that the Nazis abandoned their Antarctic sanctuary in the 1960s and moved to sites in the Andes. Another group claims that the Antarctic Reich still exists and has grown into "a civilization under the ice," home to about 3 million people of German and Ukrainian descent. It's supposed to be somewhere in the Mühlig-Hoffman Mountains, adjacent to the ruins of Kadath, a city founded by settlers from the lost continent of Atlantis. The Redemptionists believe that Adolf Hitler escaped from Berlin in April 1945, traveled to southern Argentina in a U-boat, and from there traveled to Neuschwabenland in a Nazi flying saucer. Hitler supposedly lived in Antarctica until 1952, when he reportedly traveled to the moon and met with aliens from space. These aliens took him to Aldebaran, 68 light-years from Earth. According to the legend, some day Hitler will return with an Aldebarani space armada.

I don't think Gadaffi will depart as meekly as Mubarak. On a superficial level the political mechansims are similar between the two countries in terms of how the varying elites are managed. However things are a lot more rpressive in Libya and I expect that even if the Brother Leader were ousted, Gadaffi 2.0 would step in. He'd just be a General or an Air Marshall instead of a Colonel.

Good graphics on the mean and gear. The mountain rising sheer out of the flat terrain could have done with a bit more work.

You see, when you talk about red wings and sex, I immediately think of what it meant when I were young. As in "I earnt my red wings last night."

Climate change is not the same thing as global warming. Nor do single points describe a trend. The thing is, if I'm even agreeing with people from The Land That Time Forgot, it shows that they are on the right track. (PS: met quite a hotty from Massey University at a conference yesterday....)

At least some of the geographically and educationally challenged Merkuns are

My posts didn't say that.

Did you feel that way about Egypt when you were standing there on the beach watching the Red Sea consume Pharaoh's army?

The army is a relatively honest broker in Egypt and enjoys the confidence of the people. The big news really is the supension of the state of emergency that has been used by the government for the last 30 years to bypass the rule of law. The opposition hasn't 'sat it out' through choice either, since the emergency laws effectively forbid certain types of party and candidates. The real issue here though is that whoever gets the power has still got a basket of **** to deal with: a hugely overpopulated and impoverished nation with a very narrow and weak economy.

What abour Percy?

It's a few years old now and yes, it's the dumbest answers and yes, I could put the same thing together on the streets of Sydney. Funny though. There is a slightly scarier one about 9/11

There are plenty of quirks. Back when I worked for Beyond 2000, I was sitting in an airport cafe having breakfast and when my croissant arrived, the little single serve butter thing (for some reason) said Anchor Butter: Beyond 2000 and in a font that was pretty close to our logo. I called our elgal department's attention to it and they eventually decided they couldn't sue because of the lack of difference between our products (butter vs. a TV science show).

Being a corporate lawyer is largely about justifying your existence by pointing out the bogeyman in every shadow.