Syria is rebuilding its chemical weapons capability, according to satellite images analysed by Jane’s Intelligence Review.
Any suggestion that Syria is enhancing the offensive potential of its chemical munitions threatens to provoke a new round of hostilities with Israel as it will be treated as an additional threat to Israel’s existence.
I don’t see how a company that can do all this (or train people to do all this) can be called a mere security company.
It is interesting to speculate what this vast increase in the number of people who are skilled in close quarters combat means for the future. Heck, there are plenty of places that will teach civilians a lot of these skills even if they have no connection to the government.
Close quarters combat is the true martial art of our age (in the original meaning of the term) and it is worth remembering that most martial arts were perfected in times of utter chaos that followed the breakdown of authority.
California’s legislature adjourned from a marathon budget debate after falling one vote short of a $40 billion package of tax increases, spending cuts and borrowing aimed at reducing a record deficit.
Lawmakers went home at 9 p.m. yesterday after spending 28 hours in session while Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Senate leaders worked to secure an additional Republican vote for the package of 27 bills. Schwarzenegger made rare appearances at closed-door party caucuses and urged a quick solution to the impasse.
“We are just searching for that one more vote that we need in order to get that budget done,” Schwarzenegger told reporters after the meeting.
Failure of the package would prolong a four-month stalemate over how to counter a record $42 billion deficit that drained California of cash, left it with the lowest credit rating among U.S. states, forced officials to delay paying bills totaling $3.7 billion and halted $3.8 billion of bond-financed construction on schools, roads and other public works.
The LA Times has more details on the fun and games that are going on.
Edit: This is just to good to pass up….
“I think I’ve already taken more financial risk than would be prudent, but I’ve been operating on the theory that we’re going to get this budget done,” California Department of Finance Director Mike Genest said in an interview. “I’ve probably been too hopeful and too optimistic for too long.”
Ya think?
As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. This chart provides a really good overview of the hideously complex stimulus package without making you read a small book.
A medical theory that has led to dozens of women being jailed for shaking their babies has been called into question by new scientific research.
Child abuse claims often cause the normal standards of evidence to be thrown out the window. There is no doubt that some babies have been shaken so hard that it caused them harm. But as this article points out, some of the symptoms that have been used to prove harm can come from natural child birth. I don’t doubt that at least some people who have been convicted of shaking their babies were innocent.
FEARS are mounting that Ireland could default on its soaring national debt pile, amid continuing worries about its troubled banking sector.
It is hard to tell, but I think an eastern European country will beat Ireland to the punch as far as defaulting goes. Still, it will be forever to Ireland’s shame if they default before one of the Mediterranean countries do. They are supposed to be the ones that are poorly governed.
This week’s rant of the week is the Audacity of Doing Nothing by Philip Greenspun.
The scale of angry comments that he has received is quite amusing. People refused to believe that pain can be good. And they refuse to believe that there is not some magical pill out there that will make the pain go away.
A discussion on the latest evidence on the effectiveness of Satins. Comments more interesting then the post.
The socks that America’s special forces want to wear. Here is the company web site.
Texas tries to decided how it will deal with the fall out if Mexico collapses. The debate centers around the question of whether they should shoot them as they cross the river or build concentration camps? (I am exaggerating for shock value, but actual practices probably won’t differ too much from the spin I am putting on the choices being considered.)