Picture Of The Day

An MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter assigned flies near the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis in the Arabian Sea, Oct. 24, 2011. The Stennis is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility conducting maritime security operations and support missions as part of Operations Enduring Freedom and New Dawn. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Benjamin Crossley

Israeli Army Given The 'Green Light' To Stop Rocket Attacks From Gaza

Israel: Army Has Green Light To Stop Gaza Rockets -- Miami Herald/AP

JERUSALEM -- Israel has authorized its military to take all necessary steps to stop rocket fire from Gaza, including a ground operation, an Israeli military official said Tuesday, as Egypt worked on a truce and said Israel had agreed to delay stepping up its response.

The Israeli government decision stopped well short of ordering tanks to roll into Gaza, and it appeared unlikely that would happen, as rocket fire all but stopped over the past day. The official said the decision authorized the military to act in accordance with the severity of Palestinian attacks, meaning that a ground offensive would be ordered only after massive rocket fire.

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More News On The Israeli Army Being Given The Green Light To Stop Rocket Attacks From Gaza

Egypt: Israel agreed to delay expanding Gaza offensive -- Haaretz
Israel gives Egypt 24 hours to negotiate Gaza ceasefire -- RT News
Israel holds off on Gaza operation at Egypt's request -- Jerusalem Post
Israel: Army has green light to stop Gaza rockets -- AP
Israel Gives Army Green Light to Stop Gaza Rockets, Orders New Jerusalem Housing -- FOX News
Pressure in Israel mounts for response to Gaza missiles -- Globe And Mail

Web Expert Warns Of Cyber World War

Internet security expert Eugene Kaspersky has told Sky a catastrophic cyber terrorist attack is likely.

Web Security Expert Warns Of Cyber World War -- SKY News

A leading internet security expert has warned that a cyber terrorist attack with "catastrophic consequences" looked increasingly likely in a world already in a state of near cyber war.

Eugene Kaspersky is not given to easy hyperbole. But the Russian maths genius who founded an internet security empire with a global reach, clutched at his thick mop of hair with both hands.

"I don't want to speak about it. I don't even want to think about it," he said.

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My Comment: He has a point. The world is already in a state of near cyber war, and it will be a serious attack that will wake us up on how insecure our computer networks are.

The Afghan Surge Fell Short

U.S. Marines prepare to move out on patrol after taking a break during Operation Eastern Storm in the Kajaki Sofla district in Afghanistan's Helmand province, Oct. 15, 2011. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. James Clark

New Afghan War Plan Concedes the Surge Fell Short -- The Danger Room

As the Obama administration winds down its troop surge in Afghanistan, it’s adopted a new political strategy for ending the war. And that new strategy represents a tacit concession that the best the surge could accomplish was rescuing Afghanistan from from the brink of total failure.

What was the surge for, anyway? In one sense, as explained by President Obama, it was merely designed to stop the Afghanistan war from deteriorating. But Obama’s generals promised that it would do more — that it would whup the Taliban into suing for peace. And in the broadest sense of all, it would contribute to the Obama team’s ultimate objective for the region: to “disrupt, dismantle and defeat” al-Qaida.

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My Comment: I usually disagree with Spencer Ackerman .... but in this post .... he is on the money. This is a good summary and analysis .... read it all.

New Details On The Bin Laden Raid Contradicts The White House Version

New Book About Osama Bin Laden Killing Being Shopped to Hollywood (Exclusive) -- Hollywood Reporter

Chuck Pfarrer's book, scheduled for publication Nov. 8, contains new details about the mission that killed Bin Laden that challenge the official White House version of events.

Hollywood's interest in the killing of Osama Bin Laden is about to be put to another test. Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that agents for the new book SEAL Target Geronimo: The Inside Story of the Mission to Kill Osama Bin Laden, by former SEAL Team Six commander Chuck Pfarrer,will be in Los Angeles on Friday shopping film and television rights. Interest from studios and producers is expected to be robust. RWSG Literary Agency is repping the property.

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Update: New Book Disputes Obama Administration's Account of Bin Laden Raid -- Fox News

My Comment: I look forward to the movie.

The Haqani Network Has Deep Ties To Pakistan's Military And Intelligence Community

The US has added a top commander of the Haqqani network to one its main terrorism blacklists. – Reuters Photo

For Pakistan, Deep Ties to Militant Network May Trump U.S. Pressure -- New York Times

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other senior administration officials visited Pakistan in October to demand that Pakistan’s spy agency either deliver the Haqqani network, a virulent part of the insurgency fighting American forces in Afghanistan, to the negotiating table or help fight them in their stronghold in Pakistan’s rugged tribal areas.

But there are any number of reasons why the Pakistanis may disappoint the Americans. Not least is that the Haqqani leadership — contrary to the American emphasis on drone strikes in the tribal areas — does not have to hide in Pakistan’s ungoverned fringes. So close are the Haqqanis’ ties to Pakistan’s military and intelligence service that one might just as well look for them around the capital, Islamabad, or in the closely guarded military quarters of Rawalpindi.

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More News On the Haqqani Network

US sanctions militant Haqqani network commander -- AFP
U.S. sanctions Haqqani network commander -- Washington Post
US Deems Haqqani Network Top Commander a Terrorist -- Voice of America
US hits Haqqani commander with terror sanctions -- Boston.com/AP
U.S. Blocks Assets Of Captured Haqqani Chief -- Radio Free Europe
US adds senior Haqqani Network leader to terrorist list -- Long War Journal

The 'Father' Of Pakistan's Atom Bomb Also Helped Syria's Nuclear Program

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a satellite image of the facility in Al-Hasakah Photo: AP/GeoEye

Syria Enlisted Help Of 'Father' Of Pakistan's Atom Bomb -- The Telegraph

Syria enlisted the services of Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani scientist, in a covert programme to develop a nuclear weapon, it has been claimed.

United Nations investigators say they have identified a previously unknown complex in the far north-east of Syria that bears a striking resemblance to a uranium enrichment plant Mr Khan planned to build in Libya, officials were reported as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

Further bolstering long-held suspicions over the scientist's connections with Syria, the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has obtained correspondence between Mr Khan and a Syrian official proposing co-operation, the officials said.

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My Comment: Syria's blunt decision to not let in nuclear inspectors is very revealing of its goals and intentions. Until this changes .... we can only expect the worse.

China Targeting U.S. Military Firms For Cyber Attacks

Cyberattacks On U.S. Military Firms Traced To China -- CBC/AP

Cyberattacks traced to China targeted at least 48 chemical and military-related companies in an effort to steal technical secrets, a U.S. computer security company said Tuesday, adding to complaints about pervasive internet crime linked to this country.

The targets included 29 chemical companies and 19 others that make advanced materials used by the military, California-based Symantec Corp. said in a report. It said the group included multiple Fortune 100 companies but did not identify them or say where they were located.

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My Comment: Only 48 U.S. military firms targeted by Chinese hackers .... I expected far more to have been targeted.

WNU Editor

The problem with taking 2 days off is that we come back, you spend the rest of the day running around to make up with what you did not do. Today is that day. Sighhhhh .... I will be back to blogging later tonight.

Kyrgyzstan President-Elect Wants US Base Vital To Supply Afghanistan To Close By 2014

Kyrgyzstan To Close US Airbase In 2014 -- Voice of America

Kyrgyzstan's president-elect has told the United States that its Manas airbase has to close when its lease expires in mid-2014.

Former Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev, who won Sunday's presidential election with more than 60 percent of the votes, said Kyrgyzstan would honor the current lease but has no intention of extending it.

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More News On Kyrgyzstan Demanding The Closure Of The US Airbase By 2014

Kyrgyzstan says US has to quit vital Nato airbase in 2014 -- The Telegraph
Kyrgyz election winner says US base poses risk -- Boston.com/AP
US must close Kyrgyz base in 2014: president-elect -- AFP
Kyrgyzstan’s election winner says US air base poses risk, must shut by 2014 after lease ends -- Washington Post/AP

My Comment: 2014 is a long way from now .... and many things can happen by then.