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Former Chadron State player headed overseas

Former Chadron State College men's basketball player Kendrick Holliman has signed a professional contract to play in Luxembourg for the Black Star Mersch, a club team in the Federaton of Luxembourgian... Read More

NSP recruiting new troopers for next camp

Applications for the 2015 Sworn Officers Selection Process for the position of Nebraska State Patrol Trooper are currently being accepted through September 8, 2015, for consideration for the 57th Basic Recruit Camp scheduled to begin on February 22, ... Read More

Meat and Dairy to Eclipse Biofuel in Agriculture Demand

Changing diets in emerging countries will boost global demand for meat and dairy products in the next 10 years, shifting grain supply towards livestock feed as use of crop-based biofuel is curbed by lower oil prices, the FAO and OECD said. In thei... Read More

CNPPID Board Deadlocked on Eminent Eomain Issue

 The Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District’s board of directors deadlocked on a vote at a special meeting Thursday to authorize the use of the District’s eminent domain authority to acquire land associated with the proposed const... Read More

Northfield Elementary playground renovations underway

Volunteers from the Northfield Elementary Booster Club are working to make one of the favorite assets for students new-and-improved for the start of the new school year. Booster Club President Zac Karpf says they are trying to make the entire ar... Read More

Charge to be filed in death of German man

A 29 year old Scottsbluff woman will face a charge of misdemeanor motor vehicle homicide in the death of a 68 year old German man who died as the result of injuries sustained after being struck by a car Sunday evening. Scotts Bluff County Attorney... Read More

July 2, 2015

Wheat Crossroads Co-op/Sidney, 5.38 (-0.01) Crossroads Co-op/Bridgeport, 5.38 (-0.01) Crossroads Co-op/Lyman, 5.38 (-0.01) Farmers Co-Op/Hemingford, 5.33 (+0.06) Frenchman Valley Co-Op/Kimball, 5.40 (-0.01) West Plains LLC/Gering, 5.37 (Steady)... Read More

Casper man dies in I-25 crash north of Wheatland

A 62 year old Casper man died at the scene of a crash Tuesday morning on I-25 north of Wheatland. The Wyoming Highway Patrol announced Thursday that Brad Cool was southbound on I-25 about 5.5. miles north of Wheatland at 6:25 Tuesday morning when ... Read More

Simpson happy and disappointed with recent national meet

After earning the silver medal at the NCAA Division II National Indoor Championships in March and winning the gold medal at the Outdoor Championships in May, he placed seventh among the nation's best long jumpers, most of them now professionals, at t... Read More

Firework retailers expecting sales to end with a bang this week

With a full week of firework sales in the books, retailers are saying sales have been good. However with the long weekend coming up, they are expecting the highest volume of foot traffic in the next few days. Greg Trautman of Fireworks Unlimited ... Read More

Husker frosh leads Australia

Heraklion, Crete - Behind a double-double from Jack McVeigh, Australia pulled off the only upset of the day at the FIBA Under-19 World Championship with a 69-56 win over Serbia on Wednesday. McVeigh posted 18 points 6-of-15 shooting from the field... Read More


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- KNIA / KRLS - http://kniakrls.com -

Pella Hospital Enjoys New Wing

Posted By News On August 28, 2010 @ 6:27 am In Today’s Local News | Comments Disabled

As previously reported on KNIA/KRLS News, Pella Regional Health Center recently renovated its Skilled Care Unit, and those who work in the wing say the improvements are a great help in the care they provide. Zach Kanis, a physical therapist in the Skilled Care Unit explains the benefits of the new wing.

“The new renovations have allowed us to add a therapy room, which is specific to our mission to rehab our patients,” said Kanis. “This room is designed with some of the new, technical equipment to rehab our patients. It’s a great area – it’s perfect for the patient that needs a little bit more time to rehab before they return home.”

The Skilled Care Unit at Pella Regional features 15 rooms, including eleven private rooms, and began accepting patients in December of last year.

Article printed from KNIA / KRLS: http://kniakrls.com

URL to article: http://kniakrls.com/2010/08/pella-hospital-enjoys-new-wing/

Copyright © 2009 KNIA/KRLS. All rights reserved.

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publisher: CommonCrawl
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Knit the City Events

Most of the time if we told you when we were yarnstorming next we’d have to kill you. Which would be a real shame. So don’t ask!

But occasionally Knit the City’s Yarn Corps venture out from the woolly bunker for an official event. This is where we let you know where you can stalk us. It’s good to stalk.

The week's events
Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun
Mar 17, '14 Mar 18, '14 Mar 19, '14 Mar 20, '14 Mar 21, '14 Mar 22, '14 Mar 23, '14


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Posts Tagged ‘Essays’

Media Center: 'How Literature Saved My Life' by David Shields

February 6th, 2013

author photoWHO: David Shields

WHEN: Published by Knopf February 8, 2013

WHERE: The author lives in Seattle.

“A work of contradictions, subversions, depression, humor and singular awareness.

“Essayist and fiction writer David Shields, who stuttered throughout childhood, initially regarded writing as an ideal outlet; now, in his mid-50s, he writes ‘to feel as if, to the degree anyone can know anyone else,’ he has connected with his readers. With a frequently self-deprecating yet engaging tone, the author employs the act of accrual in hopes of guarding against ‘human loneliness,’ and in doing so, creates a personal, modern version of the medieval commonplace book.
“For the bibliophile, references to authors such as Ben Lerner, E.M. Cioran, Jonathan Safran Foer, Annie Dillard, Sarah Manguso and David Foster Wallace, among others, will appeal as voices intersecting on the page. For fellow creative-writing practitioners, how Shield fashions his own anxieties and persona into brief essays provides an alternative model for writing on selfhood. Concerned as much with methods of construction and questions of genre as with subject, Shields meters out nuggets of revelation amid explications of both classical and popular subjects, from Prometheus to Spider-Man.
jacket photo“The book defies easy categorization: It is both a paean to the power of language and a confrontation with the knowledge that literature can’t, after all, fulfill deeper existential needs.” —KIRKUS REVIEWS

Media Resources:
About the book | Author bio | Read an excerpt | Download the jacket or the author photo

Publicist for this title:
Kathy Zuckerman | 212-572-2105 | kzuckerman@randomhouse.com


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Determining a document's Language Type

Is there any way to have a query return the language type(s) of a list of documents based on the returned documents?

I know you can filter using MatchLanguage=CHINESE+ENGLISH (and other languages), but the results would not indicate which documents are of which language. It would be obvious with this one, but if it were say KOREAN+CHINESE+JAPANESE, it would be much more difficult. Also, if there are hundreds of results it becomes difficult as well.

I'm looking for a way to get the language type reported in the results for each document.

Ultimately, I'm trying to create a report that lists how many documents of each language type exists base on the results of a query.

Any ideas? Other than performing a search that matches each of the languages separately.
2 Replies
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John Eakin replied Jul 11, 2011
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Dan Drillich replied Jul 11, 2011
Good Day,

Since autn_language is an implicit parametric field you can get a report via -
action=getQueryTagValues&FieldName=autn_langua ge&text=*&DocumentCount=true

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Articles tagged with: water main break

24 February 2014

Water main break forces schools closed Monday & Tuesday

Posted in Local

Klamath Falls, Ore. -- A broken water pipe is keeping over one-thousand Klamath County students out of class Monday and Tuesday. A 4-inch water main broke sometime Saturday right next to the entran ...


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Fun n Frolic: Badatweetup!!

21 August 2011   No Comment

The first edition of the Baap of tweetups, the Badatweetup got off to an ebullient start. The Abad nucleus mall witnessed the participants share jokes and thoughts with the celebs for the event Kailash and Archana Kavi. The hot discussions stretched from hit movies to Anna Hazare’s protests.

The celebs opened the event with a small introduction on how beneficial the twitter social media is. Archana Kavi was attending her second tweetup was in a very animated mood and reacted to the comments and questions in a very buoyant manner, much to the delight of the tweeting community. Kailash on the other hand was the cool dude who got his twitter account going there at the badatweetup event. You guys can follow him up on twitter Â atÂ http://twitter.com/#!/actorkailash .

The event got together twitter friends from every walk of life from CEOs to photographers from server analysts to hardcore manchester united fans. Exciting prizes were also given away during the event. The next badatweetup is already on its way , you gallans can follow it up right here.!

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Clear Glass Ocean Wave Plate
List Price: $
Price per Item: $19.90 – $28.50
Product Reviews
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Clear Glass Ocean Wave Plate
Item #: GL-TO-101
Handmade in Japan by a community of renowned glass artisans, this elegant plate is perfect for the dramatic plating of desserts and appetizers. Available in two sizes for your convenience, this beautiful glass features the delicate ripples of the ocean. This clear plate provides a gorgeous backdrop for your most elegant culinary creations.

Dishwasher safe
X Microwave Safe
X Oven Safe
X Stove Top Safe

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Last Call ~ Share a Rosh Hashana Recipe, Be Entered to Win a $10 Amazon Gift Card

Just a quick reminder that if you have an awesome recipe for Rosh Hashana, we want to know about it!

Leave your recipe as a comment HERE and I will randomly select one commenter to win a $10 Amazon gift card. Fun!


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Yes, Jake Gyllenhaal Is The Prince Of Persia

Chalk one up for Latino Review! The movie site totally called Jake Gyllenhaal nabbing the leading role of Dastan in the Jerry Bruckheimer produced movie adaptation of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Also confirmed to appear is Gemma Arterton as Tamina, a "feisty and exotic princess" according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Mike Newell is directing the Prince of Persia film based on the 2003 entry, with shooting planned to kick off this Summer. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this story is that I knew how to correctly spell "Gyllenhaal," something I would have preferred to look up rather than dedicate memory to.

Jake Gyllenhaal crowned 'Prince of Persia' [The Hollywood Reporter]


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Rainbow Bridge: Marvel and DC Comics Bring Same-Sex Superheroes into the Spotlight This morning, the ladies of ABC's The View were talking about a celebrity wedding. Happens all the time, right?

But the celebrities in question were the X-Men, not the Kardashians. And the wedding? It's going to be super-fast adventurer Northstar marrying his longtime boyfriend Kyle. Definitely not your typical talk-show fare.

Rainbow Bridge: Marvel and DC Comics Bring Same-Sex Superheroes into the Spotlight

While this storyline was likely in the works for months, the fact that Marvel chose to announce it now probably isn't just coincidence. Marriage equality and gay rights have been an ever-increasing concern in American cultural discourse, an the issue have become only more energized by President Obama's recent personal endorsement of same-sex marriages. So, Marvel's announcement of Northstar's storyline in Astonishing X-Men may just be a case of great timing.

However, rival publisher DC is playing coy with what may be even more ambitious plans. After top editor Dan Didio announced the news over the weekend, DC Comics exec Courtney Simmons confirmed today that they'll be reintroducing one of their "major, iconic" characters as a homosexual. The House of Superman isn't offering any teasers as to who it might be but that report at Comic Book Resources parses Simmons's wording to speculate that it'll be a male character. DC already has Batwoman as a new but prominent lesbian character.

Rainbow Bridge: Marvel and DC Comics Bring Same-Sex Superheroes into the Spotlight

As stated in this CBR article, Didio had previously said that DC's New 52 reboot wouldn't see reinvented characters changing sexual preferences. And there was an embarrassing moment in Northstar's fictional history where he was declared to be part fairy (as in the magical beings). Sigh.

Still, there's a sense that each publisher's trying to be on the proverbial "right side of history" with these moves, timed to hit during LGBT History Month. Of course, there's the naked hope that these plotlines deliver publicity, massive sales and sellouts in each case. But, mercenary motivations aside, if these editorial decisions get executed well, then they'll reflect a measure of the social justice that characters in Marvel and DC Comics spend so much time fighting for.

Oh, I'm putting money on Tim Drake, a.ka. Red Robin, being the gay character that DC brings out of the closet. He's not the current Robin but could still be called iconic, if you wanted to stretch. Who do you think it'll be?


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Careful viewers of the Simpsons  JAN 11 2000

Careful viewers of the Simpsons will notice that Maude Flanders (Ned's wife) sounds a little goofy. It seems the actress that voiced Maude and most of the other female characters on the show left a while ago and the producers replaced her with someone else. Rumor has it that Maude will be killed off later this season (!) and the rest of the female characters won't be written into any more episodes. To me, this seems a little farfetched....I really don't think the show can do much without any regular female characters (excepting Marge, Lisa, and Maggie). Update: more evidence of Maude Flanders' untimely departure (scroll down). Thanks JJG.

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The improvement of beef cattle through breeding methods.

Show simple item record

dc.contributor.author Smith, W.H.
dc.contributor.author Holland, L.A.
dc.contributor.author Ibsen, H.L.
dc.date.accessioned 2012-01-19T18:14:13Z
dc.date.available 2012-01-19T18:14:13Z
dc.date.issued 2012-01-19
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/2097/13343
dc.description.abstract The purebred Shorthorn cattle breeding project has proceeded according to plan this year. The project was planned to facilitate the collection of production data which will be used to devise testing and breeding procedures useful to cattlemen for the improvement of cattle. Pedigree barriers were established in the original College herd for the development of two inbred lines. College Premier 29th, 2368167, and Gregg Farms Hoarfrost, 2492499, have been used as herd sires for this purpose and the inbred lines have been designated as the Wernacre Premier and Mercury lines for these respective sires. An inbreeding program was initiated for the Wernacre Premier line in 1949 and the first inbred calves were produced in 1950. Calves representing the second generation of inbreeding were produced in 1952. The inbreeding program for the Mercury line was initiated in 1952 and the first in bred calves for this line will be produced in 1953. en_US
dc.publisher Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station en_US
dc.relation.isPartOf 1952-1953 Progress Reports en_US
dc.relation.isPartOf Circular (Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station): 297 en_US
dc.subject Beef en_US
dc.subject Breeding en_US
dc.subject Calf crop en_US
dc.title The improvement of beef cattle through breeding methods. en_US
dc.type Conference paper en_US
dc.date.published 1953 en_US
dc.citation.epage 59 en_US
dc.citation.spage 54 en_US
dc.description.conference 40th Annual Livestock Feeders’ Day. Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, May 2, 1953 en_US

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text:
Vegetare Video

Vegetare (which is Latin for “to grow”) is a stop motion animation short which is a visual journey of  the growth and production of food.  The piece features images of crops of cabbages, cauliflower, corn, tomatoes, and eggplant plants growing from seedlings to harvest.

Family farms were once a way of life throughout rural America, but today, many of these smaller farming operations are a thing of the past, rendered extinct due to financial hardships and other agricultural developments. Farmers harness new technologies to help their operations, including weed and insect-resistant biotechnological crops and genetically engineered livestock.

Vegetare was filmed at Rainbow Farm, a local family farm in Madison, OH from June to September of 2010, and presents an intimate view of crops in their various stages of growth, and the cycle of life from planting to harvest.

The music in the piece was composed and performed by Joshua Rodriguez and Mary Vanhoozer.

Vegetare Press Information –
Vegetare Press.pdf

Kristen Baumliér

Kristen Baumliér

Editing / Animation / Special FXs:
Kristen Baumliér

Kristen Baumliér

Music Composition and Performance
Joshua Rodriguez and Mary Vanhoozer


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Loudon Wainwright III On Mountain Stage

May 20, 2013
Originally published on June 20, 2014 3:06 pm

Loudon Wainwright III makes his 14th appearance on Mountain Stage, recorded live at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston, W.Va. Wainwright first played Mountain Stage in 1988 — at that time, he was already regarded as one of America's finest singer-songwriters. Since that time, Wainwright's sardonic, poignant wit has helped him win armloads of awards and countless more fans.

Wainwright describes his newest album, Older Than My Old Man Now, as a "tale of decay," taking note of the fact that he's already lived longer than his father did. Wainwright closes his set in an unexpected way — with a 10-minute, word-for-word recitation of one of his father's columns from Life Magazine.

Set List

  • "Brand New Dance"
  • "Harlan County"
  • "Susie"
  • "In C"
  • "Man And Dog"
  • "Recitation"
Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.


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Dec. 24 First News: Albuquerque Murder "Cold Case" Heats Up With W. Texas Arrest (Listen)

Dec 24, 2013

  A nearly three-decade old cold-case in the murder of an Albuquerque man got hot Monday with the west Texas arrest of a man accused of using aliases for 27 years to avoid apprehension. Albuquerque police say 47-year-old Ramone Astorga-Ramirez was identified in 1986 after the shooting of 27-year-old Paul Dubose during a Duke City altercation. He was indicted in the case in 1987, and faces first-degree murder charges when he’s returned to New Mexico. The Albuquerque Police Department's Cold Case Unit recently took the case and received help from several agencies, including the FBI.

Attorney General Gary King has announced a multimillion dollar settlement with drug manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline over misrepresentations of their diabetes drug Avandia.  King says that New Mexico should net close to 19-million dollars from the agreement that returns 15 million to consumer claims and the rest to Medicaid.  The A-G says multistate action on the same claims would have returned only about one-point-five million to New Mexico consumers. Reports of life-threatening complications, including heart attacks, from Avandia caused tens of thousands of patients in the U.S. to file lawsuits against the company.

Santa Fe’s traditional Farolito Walk takes place from six-to-nine-tonight in the historic neighborhood of Canyon Road and Acequia Madre. Thousands of people attend the annual Christmas Eve event, and the City of Santa Fe says it’s taking every precaution to protect and ensure the safety of all participants. City officials say the neighborhood where the walk occurs will be closed to vehicular traffic during the event. In addition, the city’s police and fire officials will restrict access to the area to residents and business owners only.

Also on the topic of walking in Santa Fe… the Santa Fe Metropolitan Planning Organization reminds the public to fill out its pedestrian survey now… as it will only be taking your opinion for another week. MPO Director Mark Tibbets says planners are developing a pedestrian master plan and want your opinion to: *****Dec. 24 Tibbets-1  :12***** Tibbets says the survey is available on the MPO website: Santa-Fe-MPO-dot-org. He says a draft of the pedestrian master plan will be released in mid-2014.

Next time you’re driving in western New Mexico in your pricey Tesla electric vehicle, you can be rest assured that you can re-charge in Gallup and soon, Farmington too. Tesla Motors has announced that Gallup has opened a supercharger station last week and that Farmington is scheduled to open one next month. The two new stations are part of firm’s mission to expand its supercharger stations nationally. It’s not known how many Tesla vehicles are registered in New Mexico. They range in price from 69-thousand to 130-thousand dollars.

Santa Fe Weather:  Sunny today, with a high near 43. Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 20. Christmas Day: Sunny, with a high near 39


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Rare Spring Tornado Hits Minnesota

(KDLT) Tornadoes and blizzards are two things farmers in the Upper Midwest have to deal with from time to time.

But one Minnesota farmer dealt with both, on the same day.

It was the 20th tornado ever recorded in the month of March in the state of Minnesota.

Lyon County emergency officials recorded video as the storm raced northwards, eventually touching down on Tom and Kim Abraham’s farm in rural Minnesota.

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Bonneville Phoenix Network
 KTAR News
 Arizona Sports
Latest News

News Summary: 10 banks paying $8.5B for abuses

(AP) - PAYBACK: Ten major banks agreed to pay $8.5 billion to settle federal complaints that they wrongfully foreclosed on homeowners who should have been allowed to stay in their homes.

END OF STORY: The settlement ends a process of reviewing foreclosure files required by a 2011 federal enforcement action. The banks include JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

HOW MUCH PER HOME? The settlement covers up to 3.8 million people whose homes were in foreclosure in 2009 and 2010. All will receive some compensation, with an average of $2,237 per homeowner, although payments are expected to vary widely.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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text:
Thursday, November 29, 2007

Choclate Roll!

1.Cocoa-Powder-1 cup
2.Grated Coconut -1 cup
3.Butter-1/2 cup
4.Cashew nuts-2 tbs
5.Arrow Root biscuits- 4
6.Foil paper

1.Smash the biscuits.
2.Mix all the ingredients and make a dough like for chappathi.
3.Place a foil paper on a board and spread the dough on it.
4.Then roll it and keep it in the freezer for few hours.
5.Once it become hard take out from the freezer and cut it into small rolls..

Kids will like the crunchy and yummy choclate rolls!

Anamika said...

Thanks Chithra for visiting my blog site and leaving encouraging words. It helps one to do more. I like your website and the way you have categorized food. I must say, i have to learn new recipes from you and make them here in Botswana. Lets keep in touch.

chithra said...

Thanks anamika for the valuable compliments!

Saju said...

i am new here. Loved ur chocolate roll.will have tot ryt his!KEep up ur good work


text:
On Anniversary Of Benghazi Attack, Libya Still Struggles

Sep 11, 2013
Originally published on September 11, 2013 11:33 am

The deadly attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, which took place a year ago Wednesday, symbolized the violence, chaos and struggles that have defined Libya since the ousting of dictator Moammar Gadhafi two years ago.

The country is split along regional and tribal lines. The government of Prime Minister Ali Zeidan, who is considered a liberal, has little control over either security or the various militia groups that are often better armed than police. The economy has stalled as oil production plummeted recently and is now at about 10 percent of capacity. As Reuters notes, "many Libyans feel little has changed since the 2011 war that toppled" Gadhafi.

Here's a look at where things in Libya stand today:

Zeidan's government appears to be on the verge of collapse. Critics say he has failed to rein in militias and Islamist groups, or to end a strike by workers and guards at oil facilities that has crippled the economy of North Africa's largest oil producer.

This week, Mohammed Sawan, the head of the political arm of Libya's Muslim Brotherhood, said Zeidan, who was elected last October, hadn't done enough to tackle corruption or the militias. He said he was considering withdrawing five ministers of his Justice and Construction Party from the Cabinet. Libya has a broad-based consensus government that includes liberals and Islamists.

"We have waited months for Zeidan's government," Sawan told Reuters. "Had we believed there was a chance for success of even 10 percent, we would... [wait]. The problem is that for Zeidan to stay in power will only worsen this failure."

He said there was growing support for a no-confidence motion against the Zeidan government in the 200-member National Assembly.

He isn't alone in his criticism. Libya's top cleric called on Zeidan's government last week to be sacked for incompetence.

Security is still fragile. A car bomb went off Wednesday near the Foreign Ministry building in Benghazi. There have been drive-by shootings, bombings and kidnappings. The Washington Post reports:

"Even minor disputes escalate into frequent gun violence on the streets. Kidnappings and armed robberies are increasing, and government officials and others have been assassinated with guns and bombs. Militants and arms smugglers easily cross poorly protected borders shared with Niger and Chad.

"The murky security situation is threatening stability in a desert nation with North Africa's largest oil reserves. And it is causing new jitters in a region already on edge over rising violence in neighboring Egypt and the looming prospect of U.S. military strikes in Syria.

"As the postwar government struggles to rebuild after 42 years of dictatorship, it has left security primarily in the hands of hundreds of private militias, which are far larger and better armed than the country's poorly trained and equipped police and army.

"The militias, most of which were formed to oust Gaddafi in the 2011 revolution, range from ragtag outfits of a couple of dozen men to organized forces of thousands of fighters."

Libya's oil exports are critical to its economy, but production has fallen to a 10th of capacity because of the recent strike. This has contributed to jitters in the global oil market. Other OPEC members have increased production, but it isn't enough to offset the fall in Libya's output.

The Associated Press estimated the losses at more than $5 billion. Here's more:

"The closure of onshore oil facilities have driven down production to just 130,000 barrels per day, Libya's Deputy Oil Minister Omar el-Shakmak told reporters earlier this week. An official in Libya's National Oil Corp. said Saturday that figure had risen slightly by the end of the week to 150,000 barrels per day, less than 10 percent of its pre-war levels. He spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.

"Libya was producing 1.6 million barrels of oil per day under Gadhafi and was exporting around 1.2 million barrels daily. Production stopped briefly during the civil war, but picked up within months of Gadhafi's capture and killing at the hands of rebels, who now comprise many of the militias."

Cooperation With The U.S.

Although the U.S. Justice Department has indicted suspects in the Benghazi attacks, Libya hasn't arrested them. Militia leader Ahmed Khattala, one of the suspects in the Sept. 11, 2012, attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others, has been interviewed several times by U.S. news media, but remains free. The New York Times says:

"Some senior Obama administration and law enforcement officials would like Libya to arrest and try the suspects because they do not want the United States to be seen as interfering with another country's sovereignty. But with militias controlling much of eastern Libya, that may not be possible logistically or politically. If the suspects were handed over to the United States, it is not clear whether they would be tried in civilian courts or military tribunals, like the ones in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba."

Reasons For Optimism

For all its problems, some still see Libya as a place that could be peaceful and prosperous and caution that it should not be written off. As Christian Caryl writes in Foreign Policy:

"Libya is not Afghanistan, it's not Pakistan, and it's certainly not Syria. It's a country whose people, with a bit of help from the outside world, fought for eight bloody months to overthrow their dictator. It's a country whose people then voted in a fair and free election for a government led by secular political parties. It's a country where opinion polls show that a majority of the population — a solid 83 percent, according to the latest survey from the National Democratic Institute, believe that democracy is the best form of government. And it's a place where people (in stark contrast to, say, Egypt) still have a largely positive attitude towards the countries of the West. All this means that Libya still has a real shot at becoming a strong and healthy democracy."

Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.


text:
Kukla's Korner

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Entries with the tag: samuel pahlsson

Pahlsson Close To Return

via the Ducks Blog at the OC Register,

Ducks center Samuel Pahlsson, who hasn’t played since Dec. 22 because of abdominal inflammation, is “an option” for Thursday night’s game against the New York Rangers, Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said, but Pahlsson’s return appears more likely to come Friday night against the New Jersey Devils….

Barring a last-minute injury, illness or other unexpected occurrence, Pahlsson is not likely to play against the Rangers. Most likely, Carlyle does not want to put Pahlsson back in the lineup and test him immediately with a back-to-back challenge, given Friday’s assignment across the Hudson River in New Jersey.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Anaheim Ducks, | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: samuel+pahlsson

Pahlsson Will Visit Specialist

from Ducks Blog at the OC Register,

Samuel Pahlsson is tentatively scheduled to see a specialist this week to try and alleviate a perplexingly stubborn abdominal strain, Coach Randy Carlyle said Tuesday.

Pahlsson will make the upcoming eight-game, 15-day road trip and consult with a specialist on Friday. Carlyle said it is the same specialist who helped Minnesota star forward Marian Gaborik recover from a similarly-nagging groin injury last year, and Pahlsson apparently has positive history with him.

“This doctor has got some technique that made him feel really good,” Carlyle said.

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Ducks Enter Camp Shorthanded

from the OC Register,

Goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere said Thursday he expects to miss perhaps the first week of on-ice team drills while he completes recovery from Aug. 6 sports-hernia surgery. Iron-man center Samuel Pahlsson’s immediate future is even more uncertain after he underwent a similar procedure Wednesday in Philadelphia.
Giguere anticipates being ready for the club’s Sept. 29 NHL opener against the Kings in London, but Pahlsson’s club-record streak of 275 consecutive regular-season games played, the league’s seventh-longest current run, is in jeopardy.
“I’m coming along really well,” Giguere said. “The first three weeks, I couldn’t do much, but since then, I’ve been working out pretty hard, riding the bike and doing everything I need to do to get ready.
“I may start skating during the (next) week, but it’s going to be very easy skating. At worst, I’ll probably be a week behind everybody. We’ll just have to see how it goes.”
Just as Giguere experienced problems when he stepped up summer workouts, prescribed offseason rest was not enough to alleviate the abdominal pain that cost Pahlsson considerable practice time during last season’s Stanley Cup playoffs.
“He could have played through this, but it would have been a nagging injury,” general manager Brian Burke said. “The recovery time is 3-5 weeks. We anticipate that if he misses any regular-season time, it will be minimal.”

read on

Filed in: NHL Teams, Anaheim Ducks, | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: anaheim+ducks, jean-sebastien+giguere, samuel+pahlsson

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Thursday, June 11, 2015

Lessons of the Surgical Strike in Myanmar

In the early hours of 9th June 2015, Indian Army’s Special Forces launched a cross-border attack on two rebel camps in Myanmar. The operation was not just a retaliatory response to the 4th June attack on an Indian Army convoy that killed about 18 army personnel, but was also pre-emptive in nature. India must seriously consider setting up a unified Special Forces Command in the wake of a changed geo-strategic environment in the sub-continent.

On 4th June 2015, in one of the worst attacks suffered by the Indian Army in a decade, at least 18 soldiers of the 6 Dogra Regiment were killed and 11 injured when Naga militants ambushed their convoy in Manipur's Chandel district.

The attack occurred between Paralong and Charong villages around 8.30 am when militants used improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) at the convoy.

Most of the bodies were charred, officials said.

They laid an ambush on the road from Tengnoupal and, as an administrative convoy of four to seven vehicles reached the spot, the attack was launched. The attackers detonated country-made mines and opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) - called "Lathods" - on the soldiers of the 6 Dogras, according to reports reaching army headquarters.

This was the first time the Indian Army had lost 18 soldiers in a single strike in 20 years. It was also the first time that RPGs were used by insurgents on the army.

"An elite strike unit of Naga Army, Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) and the Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) carried out the ambush today (Thursday)," The NSCN-K said in a statement issued to the media.

The 9th June Operation –

Intelligence and Planning

Sources said once clearance for the raid was given by the highest level of the government, detailed plans were drawn up for the assault by troops of the elite 21 Para (Special Force) Regiment.

Prior to the operation, intelligence was gathered by operatives who crossed over into Myanmar a couple of days earlier and returned with precise co-ordinates of the terror dens along with photographs.

Once specific intelligence inputs came on the two camps, showing that they were housing several National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K) militants, and of other groups such as PLA (Peoples Liberation Army of Manipur), UNLF (United National Liberation Front) and the MNRF (Manipur Naga Revolutionary Front), the plan for the commando raid moved quickly. "Inputs clearly said that some militants in the camp were involved in the attack on our troops in Chandel last Thursday," one source said.

At a camp in the Ponyu area, the NSCN (K)'s 3rd brigade is based. And among its cadres were those who participated in operations against the Army. In Aungzeya area was the other camp which housed a mixed group of militants. Both camps had about 25 militants.

The Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) had the necessary data ready since many months about the activities of the insurgent groups in the area which is called ‘Greater Nagaland’ by the militants. The local insurgent groups want a ‘Greater Nagaland’ carved out of the Naga-dominated areas in the neighbouring states within India and contiguous areas in Myanmar.

The commandos trained for three days at a make shift camp before carrying out the strike.

The Strike

Contrary to media reports, an Army source said: "There was no heli-drop. It was a one-night, ground operation. We couldn't have carried out a heli-drop because that would have alerted the militants." The SF troops were moved close to the border in advance by helicopters and were dropped off at Manipur-Nagaland junction with Myanmar. On the night prior to the strike, about 20-25 commandos trekked across the porous border into Myanmar. For some stretch of the approach to the target, they crawled in order to avoid detection.

Once on the ground, the contingent of the Special Forces split into two groups and headed for two camps being run by NSCN (K) and KYKL, who are believed to be responsible for the deadly ambush on June 4, they said.

The teams trekked through the thick jungles for at least five kilometers before they reached the training camps. "Each of the two teams was further divided into two sub-groups. While one was responsible for the direct assault, the second formed an outer ring to prevent any of insurgents from running and escaping," the sources said.

The strike by the Indian forces on the two locations across Tuensang in Nagaland and Ukhrul in Manipur lasted about 45 minutes and the camps were annihilated. There are conflicting reports on the number of militants killed in the operation. The army sources state that the militants suffered significant casualties - the number of militants killed has been between 22 and 50. The Indian raiding party returned safely without suffering any casualties.

Thermal imagery was also used to track the operation about which Myanmar authorities were kept in the loop, they said. Mi-17 helicopters of the Indian Air Force were put on standby, ready to be pressed into service to evacuate the commandos in case anything went wrong.  "The operation was carried out based on specific and very accurate intelligence" and the operation was overseen by General Officer Commanding (GoC) of the Dimapur-based 3 Corps Lt Gen Bipin Rawat, the sources said.

The government of Myanmar was reportedly informed about the strike after their offices opened on the morning of 9th June. India and Myanmar have a "Hot Pursuit" Agreement pursuant to which, both the states' forces can cross the border, with consent, if they get any information on militant activity on the territory of the other state. In the past, Operation Golden Bird had been conducted along the Myanmar border in 1995 and Operation All Clear inside Bhutan in 2003.

There is no doubt euphoria, on the successful surgical strike by the troops of the Indian Army’s 21 Para across the border in Myanmar. But one must appreciate the fact that faced with an existential threat, considering that Myanmar may not be a safe haven after all, the militant groups are likely to re-group and respond. Indian forces may have to be on the alert to foil attacks on civilian and military targets in the region in the foreseeable future.

Joint Special Forces Command

It is high time that India establishes a Joint Special Forces Command which will oversee and exercise operational control over the Special Forces of the three branches.

The Special Forces of states like the US, UK and France are placed under a unified command to enable optimal utilization of resources and achieve operational synergy.

In the US, the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) is a unified combatant command which oversees the various Special Operations Command of the four branches of the armed forces, namely, the Army, Air Force, Navy and the Marine Corps. USSOCOM conducts several covert and clandestine missions, such as direct action, special reconnaissance, counter-terror operations, etc. Each branch has a Special Operations Command that is unique and capable of running its own operations, but when the different special operations forces need to work together for an operation, USSOCOM becomes the joint component command of the operation, instead of a SOC of a specific branch.

Joint Special Operations Command is a constituent command of the USSOCOM and is tasked to study special operations requirements and techniques to ensure interoperability and equipment standardization, plan and conduct special operations exercises and training, and develop Joint Special Operations Tactics.

In the United Kingdom, the Special Air Service (SAS), Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) and the Royal Navy’s Special Boat Service (SBS) are under the control of the UK Special Forces, a unified command of the Ministry of Defense.
The proposal to establish a Special Forces Command in India was made in 2012 by a select panel on national security called the Naresh Chandra Committee.

“The Indian concept of employment of Special Forces has yet to graduate from that of tactical in support of conventional operations to strategic employment, as the US [Navy] SEALs,” or the British Special Air Service, said Rahul Bhonsle, a retired Indian Army brigadier and defense analyst. “This will have to be a political decision and would require a high degree of strategic sophistication, which I do not think the Indian political leadership is displaying for now.”

An Army official said India’s special ops forces — which number about 10,000 troops from the Navy, Air Force, Army and paramilitary units — have been used only for conventional warfare and internal security threats. The officer argued the special ops forces should be used for strategic tasks, such as deterrence against irregular threats and asymmetrical warfare.

According to General Katoch, asymmetric war is not launched against the military, but a nation. “Special Forces must be central to asymmetric response, but in the current context, we neither have the political will nor even the military will, and hence have not been able to establish deterrence to this asymmetric war.”

Bureaucratic barriers also may have played a role in the government’s inaction.

“The Indian bureaucracy, which supposedly handles these issues, has neither the expertise nor the structure needed for the purpose. The reluctance to allow the creation of a professional body can only be attributed to the bureaucracy’s fear of losing their clout and turf,” said Venkataraman Mahalingam, a retired Army brigadier and defense analyst.

Not all Special Forces’ operations can be publicly acknowledged or given publicity. In the Myanmar operation, the government of Myanmar had cooperated by allowing Indian troops to carry out the strike. In other situations, the forces may have to be inserted into enemy territory without the knowledge of the host country and objectives must be achieved in utmost secrecy. These types of clandestine operations can be carried out more effectively if a unified command is set up.

Saturday, June 6, 2015

US Special Forces' Operation in Syria - The Killing of Islamic Leader Abu Sayyaf

Unlike other operations of the US Special Forces, the raid which resulted in the killing of an Islamic State leader in Syria in mid-May 2015 did not receive much publicity. The raid, nevertheless, illustrates the effectiveness of the Delta Force and the intelligence gathered on the shadowy organization and its leaders.

The US Special Forces carried out a rare raid in Eastern Syria around the middle of May 2015 killing an Islamic State leader Tunisian-born Abu Sayyaf described as the Islamic State’s “emir of oil and gas.” About a dozen IS fighters were also killed in the raid. The commandos captured the wife of Abu Sayyaf, known as Umm Sayaff and rescued an 18 year old Yazidi woman who had been held as a slave. While details of the operation have not been revealed, it has been reported that that about two dozen commandos belonging to the Delta Force entered Syria aboard Black Hawk helicopters and V-22 Ospreys on 15-16 May 2015 and killed Abu Sayyaf.

“Abu Sayyaf was a senior ISIL leader who, among other things, had a senior role in overseeing ISIL’s illicit oil and gas operations — a key source of revenue that enables the terrorist organization to carry out their brutal tactics and oppress thousands of innocent civilians,” said National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan in a statement.

Oil smuggling provides "a key source of revenue that enables [Islamic State] to carry out their brutal tactics and oppress thousands of innocent civilians". the White House said.

According to an official of the Department of Defense IS fighters who defended the building and Abu Sayyaf tried to use women and children as shields, but Delta Force commandos used precision fire and separated the women and children. The operation, it is learnt, involved close hand-to-hand combat.

The commandos involved in the raid came under fire as soon as they landed near a multi-storey building used by Abu Sayyaf as his residence, in al-Amr, about 20 miles south-east of Deir al-Zour, near the oil facilities that he administered for the Islamic State. Around a dozen Islamic State fighters were killed in the exchange of fire with the US forces. According to reports, Abu Sayyaf “tried to engage” the commandos and was shot and killed. The commandos thereafter took his wife and the Yazidi woman back to the waiting aircraft. The raiding team was back in Iraq with the two women around dawn. Defense Department officials stated that the commandos succeeded in seizing laptop computers, cell phones and other materials from the site which may assist in intelligence assessments.

The objective of the night raid was perhaps to capture Sayyaf alive, but, he was reportedly killed after trying to “engage” U.S. forces. Still, both the Pentagon and the White House hailed the mission as a success, resulting not only in the seizure of some of Sayyaf’s communications equipment and other potentially valuable materials, but also the capture of his wife, Umm Sayyaf, who is also suspected to be a member of the Islamic State and a key player in the group’s terrorist activities.

The Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, in a statement said that the killing of Sayyaf dealt a significant blow to the group. The slain leader was said to be involved in the terror group’s military operations and managed its “illicit oil, gas and financial operations” that enabled the Islamic State to raise funds for it to operate. According to DoD officials, the raid was approved by President Obama. While Carter declared the operation — Sayyaf’s death included — a “significant blow” to the Islamic State, some experts responded to the announcement with caution.

In an interview with the New York Times, former CIA analyst and White House national security advisor Bruce Riedel said it seemed like the raid was “a collection mission, the goal to capture someone or two someones who can explain how ISIS works.”

While suggesting that, in lieu of Sayyaf, “perhaps the wife can do that,” Riedel added, “To me, it demonstrates we still have large gaps in our understanding of the enemy and how it is organized.”

CNN’s analyst Peter Bergen was also skeptical. Pointing out that raids like the one on Sayyaf likely put the Islamic State’s leadership on high alert to operate more carefully, he questioned the real value of the mission.

“Taking out the guy who runs effectively the most important financing stream is obviously significant,” he said. “But what’s really significant is the computer records and all the materials that he would have with him as the head of this financing arm, if indeed that is the case that he is really that important.”

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Putin’s Strategy in Ukraine

[This post may be read along with the author’s earlier post on crisis in the Ukraine]

There is a growing apprehension that if the US and the West fail to stand up to Russia over Ukraine, Europe could descend into a major war.

A former US ambassador to Estonia predicted that Estonia and other Baltic States – all members of the NATO – could be targeted by Russia if Putin is allowed to hold on to Ukraine territory which has been seized by force. Serhii Plokhy wrote in the March of 2014 that if the Russian President’s takeover of Ukraine’s Crimea region succeeded, Russia may seize other parts of Ukraine and beyond like Moldova and the Baltic States which had substantial numbers of ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking minorities.

The genesis of the present conflict goes back to the last days of the Soviet Union whose collapse according to Putin was the “greatest geo-strategic catastrophe of the century.” Putin according to Ukrainian media reports had also questioned the legality of Ukraine’s secession from the Soviet Union in 1991. These two statements of the Russian President should give the West and the US an indication of the enormity of the challenge at hand and to find an amicable solution to the crisis.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in the nineties, the West did not have a strategy to partner Russia, (the successor state of the Soviet Republic) but was instead subjected to Washington’s triumphalism and superiority; it was a sort of imposition of victor’s peace. Russian pride was hurt and national interests undermined by the expansion of the North Atlantic Alliance right up to the Russian border. A partnership with Russia would have weaned Russia away from China and an alliance could have been forged to tackle the rampant jihadism in the form of Al Qaeda and Islamic State in the Middle East and elsewhere. This foresight was sadly missing then. Putin’s game plan, today, is a result of that folly.

Lessons not learnt

The Ukraine crisis must not be viewed in isolation. Russia’s increasing insecurity post-1991 as a result of the policies of the West and the US in particular has played a major role in triggering the conflict. The West did not learn from the 2008 Russo-Georgian War either. Georgia under President Mikheil Saakashvili had sought membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) which served as a major stumbling block to Russo-Georgian relations. During the NATO Summit in Bucharest in April 2008, the then US President George W Bush favoured offering Membership Action Plan (MAP) to Georgia and Ukraine. However, Germany and France opposed the proposal on the ground that it would provoke Russia. NATO stated that Georgia and Ukraine would become members of the alliance and pledged to review applications for MAP in December 2008. The Russian President Putin stated that an expansion of NATO to Russian borders “would be taken as a direct threat to Russia’s security”. Russia’s policy became aggressive after the Bucharest Summit and it actively planned for an armed conflict with Georgia to thwart the latter’s accession to NATO and to bring about a regime change.

Putin’s Strategy and Objectives

Not only has the 2008 conflict with Georgia given Putin confidence, the annexation of the Crimean region with minimum efforts has emboldened the Russian strongman to go all out in eastern Ukraine. According to Michael Kofman “Moscow has found a winning tactic during its annexation of Crimea, and has made it the overarching strategy for achieving interests in broader Ukraine.” Russia’s use of operational ambiguity to create confusion, mobilizing the populace in support of its objectives, and creating points for plausible disengagement all suggest one thing: Moscow has become far more clever and capable than the West originally gave it credit. Western leaders continue to misjudge the nature of Ukraine, and Russia’s plans for it. That led to the loss of Crimea and may conclude in the loss of other regions of Ukraine.

Putin learnt and understood the shortcomings of the erstwhile Soviet military adventure in Afghanistan. He has chosen not to rely on overt and brute military force, rather opting to use proxies and Russian intelligence operatives and Special Forces under the garb of separatists in Ukraine. Russia is also using its conventional build-up to deter/counter any direct response from Ukrainian forces or the West. The West has been anticipating a Russian conventional thrust through its armoured column, which is very unlikely. The military build-up and the threat of invasion is leverage. Though Moscow may exercise the conventional option should its current tactics fail to achieve its objectives. By avoiding the use of its conventional forces Russia has given itself the option to disengage and deny any involvement, and the ability to spread disinformation about the conflict to sow confusion. In the intervening period, the plausible threat of an all-out invasion has rendered the West helpless.

Moscow is not keen to overstretch its army, at least not unless its current plan suffers an unexpected setback. However, even if Russia does invade, it will be a short-term push to break the Ukrainian military and withdraw, as it did in Georgia in 2008. Russia has sufficient military power to hand a crushing defeat to Ukraine’s military, but not an occupation force suitable for Ukraine. However, Vladimir Putin’s strategy is not aimed at annexing Ukraine in the short term. The strategy is to breakup, depriving Kiev of sovereignty in the east.

One thing is certain that Moscow has a huge stake in Ukraine and considering the upper hand Russia has today it would be impossible to expect Putin to surrender that advantage. According to Kofman, at a minimum, Putin would want Kiev to give political status and autonomy to the separatist-held regions, akin to the relationship between China and Hong Kong.

Ukraine is a lynchpin of Putin's plans for Russia, whether it's reassembling a historical empire or shoring up the Russian economy, Conley says. So whatever happens must support that. Kaplan says Putin can't pull back without gaining assurances that Ukraine will never become part of NATO. Ukraine, he said, needs assurances about its sovereignty and energy security.

Another analyst imagined three possible outcomes: A slow-simmering war that lasts for many years. A ceasefire that doesn't entirely satisfy Moscow and Kiev but essentially creates a frozen conflict for a long time. Or a political settlement where Russia withdraws forces from Ukraine and Kiev recognizes the separatists, Kofman said.

"That is the best likely outcome but most difficult to achieve politically," Kofman said of the last scenario. Just as Putin would find it difficult to fritter the gains of the conflict, it would be equally impossible for Kiev to grant recognition to the separatists.

Latest: CNN has reported that the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany have reached an agreement after marathon talks lasting nearly seventeen hours in the Belorussian capital of Minsk. A ceasefire is slated to come into force on 15th February and an agreement for both sides to pull back heavy weapons.

If the ceasefire holds -- which is far from certain -- it could bring to an end a 10-month conflict that has claimed more than 5,000 lives, many of them civilians, and plunged East-West relations to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War. Though the details of the agreement are not available it is likely to have in place a much broader demilitarized zone to run along the current front lines.

A deal was struck in September 2014 in Minsk which had also called for a withdrawal of heavy weaponry, self-rule in the eastern regions and a 30 km buffer zone along the Russian-Ukraine border. However, the deal disintegrated and fighting erupted. Only time will tell whether the parties to the conflict truly intend to put an end to the fighting on the ground.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Paris Terror Attack

At least 12 people including two police officers were killed and several others seriously injured in a terrorist strike at the Paris office of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on 7th January 2015.

Witnesses told French media agencies that multiple gunmen were involved, and that they were seen armed with AK47s and at least one rocket launcher. According to one eye witness two black-hooded men entered the building with Kalashnikov rifles and started firing. They later escaped in a black car. At the time of writing, the Paris police stated that they had no clue about the identity of the terrorists.

French President Francois Hollande visited the scene in Paris's 11th arrondissement. Paris raised its terror alert to the highest setting in the aftermath of the attack, while the gunmen themselves are still reported to be on the run.

The Charlie Hebdo magazine is most famous internationally for publishing a controversial series of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed in 2012.

A year earlier, its offices were firebombed after a spoof issue featured a caricature of Mohammed on its cover.

According to Le Monde, a source said that one of the magazine's cartoonists, known as Riss, was injured during the attack.

The radical Islamic State group threatened to attack France minutes before Hebdo tweeted a satirical cartoon of the extremist group's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi giving New Year's wishes.

This attack comes a day after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned the European Union it should crack down on "Islamophobia" amid rising anti-Muslim protests instead of trying to teach Turkey lessons about democracy.

Erdogan told Turkey's ambassadors posted abroad in a speech in Ankara that they should pursue an assertive foreign policy to represent strong and self-confident "new Turkey" under his rule.

"Believe me it is regrettable that the EU is trying teach a lesson to Turkey instead of trying to tackle very serious threats it is facing," he said.

Erdogan said racist, discriminatory activities and Islamophobia were on the rise in Europe, complaining that racist organisations won sympathy in some Western societies with "each passing day".

"The Islamophobia -- which we constantly draw attention to and warn of -- represents a serious threat in Europe."

"If the issue is not dealt with seriously today, and if populism takes European politicians captive, the EU and European values will come into question," he said.

His comments came a day after controversial German group PEGIDA rallied thousands of people in Dresden for a demonstration against what it calls the "Islamisation of the Occident". One wonders whether the Turkish President will continue to issue idiotic statements even  after this terror strike.

The liberal immigration policy and affording asylum to people from North Africa and Middle East is now undermining the peace and security of west Europe. The West needs to get tough with terror spawning in their backyards and bar entry to so-called refugees from places like Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan and other trouble spots.

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

A Foiled Terror Bid or A Staged Encounter

An unnecessary controversy has erupted over the interception of a suspect boat by the Indian Coast Guard and its destruction off the coast of Gujarat on New Year’s Eve.

On New Year’s Eve, the Indian Coast Guard, acting on intelligence inputs received from India’s premier technical intelligence agency the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) thwarted what could well have been a terrorist attack on India’s off shore assets like Bombay High or on naval bases on the West coast or on a city in a repeat of 26/11. The Coast Guard intercepted a suspicious looking fishing boat reportedly carrying four persons about 365 kilometres (197.08 nautical miles) off Porbandar Coast. The suspect boat is known to have sailed from Keti Bunder, near Karachi and according to a statement (considered to be vague and giving rise to speculations) released by the Indian Ministry of Defence “was planning some illicit transaction”. According to media reports, the NTRO intercepted a call on 31st December 2014 (according to some reports it was 30th December 2014) originating in Karachi about a Pak fishing boat planning to conduct an illicit business in the Arabian Sea. The NTRO is reported to have been tracking the boat right from the time it left Karachi. The NTRO alerted the Coast Guard about the suspect boat, which in turn dispatched Dornier aircraft to trace the vessel.

A Coast Guard vessel CGS Rajrattan was diverted to the area of the suspect boat after it was detected by the Dornier. At the time of interception around midnight of 31st December, the suspect boat was unlit and was not on the usual route adopted by fishing vessels. The suspect boat did not have a name and was approximately 365 kms west-south west of Porbandar. When the Coast Guard vessel warned the boat to stop for further investigation, it tried to escape to the Pakistani side of the maritime boundary by increasing speed. The CGS Rajratan gave chase to the suspect boat for nearly one hour before managing to stop the boat after firing warning shots. The four persons on board the boat finding themselves cornered, hid themselves and set the boat on fire resulting in an explosion. The boat sank in the yearly hours of 1st January 2015 and the persons on board were believed to have been killed in the explosion on the boat.

Pakistan, as usual, was quick to deny the Indian claim that the fishing boat was of Pakistani origin and it was ferrying terrorists and/or explosives. It raised question marks about the incident and denied that such an incident was of India’s making to tarnish Pakistan’s ‘image’. The Pakistanis were not alone. There were seasoned commentators in India and members of the opposition who questioned the veracity of the government’s claim.

A leading English daily, the Indian Express in its article raised several doubts over the encounter including suggesting the “use of disproportionate force” by the Coast Guard vessel. According to the article, “highly placed government sources” had stated that the intelligence had no link to terrorism and made no reference to any threat to India. The article seemed to suggest that NTRO intercepts pointed to small-time smugglers of liquor and diesel ferrying bootleg cargo from Gwadar to other fishing boats which were to have carried it into Karachi’s Keti Bunder Harbour. The article also raised doubts about the weather over the area at the point where the suspect boat was interdicted.

If a section of the media and certain members of the opposition have been foolish to question the government and the security agencies involved in the operation about the veracity of the incident, then it is pertinent to point out glaring lacunae in respect of the   questions raised. Firstly, what was an unmarked fishing boat with lights put doing 365 kms west south-west off Gujarat coast? Secondly, if the persons on board were petty smugglers ferrying liquor or diesel, why did they try to evade capture and flee? Thirdly why did smugglers blow the boat when cornered? Since when did firing warning shots across the bow aimed at suspected terrorists amount to use of lethal force? It is preposterous to even suggest that the Coast Guard personnel shot and destroyed the boat.

If the boat was engaged smuggling as has been suggested in the Indian Express article, between the port of Gwadar and Karachi, a rational explanation is owed to the readers as to what was the boat doing off Porbandar coast? The location of the purported smuggling route Gwadar-Karachi and the point of interdiction are miles apart. Again the theory that those on board were petty smugglers ferrying diesel to India is laughable because diesel is dearer in Pakistan as compared to India. And if it was drugs, then the contraband could have been dumped in the sea and they could have subjected themselves to search by the Coast Guard.
A question has been raised as to the basis on which a boat was intercepted beyond India’s territorial waters. And whether India had committed a breach of international law in so doing? The incident, indeed had taken place approximately around 197.08 nautical miles of the Indian coast, well within India's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Under international law (the law of sea) freedom of navigation is guaranteed and no boarding is generally the norm. However in exceptional circumstances, a naval ship may verify the boarded vessel’s right to fly its flag or may check its documents and further examine the suspect vessel if suspicion persists. In this case the suspect boat did not fly any flag and it was only subsequently identified as ‘Qalandar’. Given the tenuous relationship existing between India and Pakistan and sea route having been taken by Pakistan sponsored terrorists to attack Mumbai on 26th November 2008, India was well within its right to have asked the boat to stop for inspection. Also India’s energy resources are located in the proximity of the interdiction point.

The NTRO-Coast Guard operation can be criticized only on the ground of not having followed the standard operating procedures (SOPs) laid down in the aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai terror strike. In order to avoid a blunder of the scale of 26/11, the Indian Navy was appointed as the nodal agency for coastal security and INS Angre in Mumbai was designated as the Joint Operations Centre (JOC) for the western maritime frontier.

Hotlines to coordinate with various agencies, and state-of-the-art rapid messaging service technology to communicate with ships were installed to thwart any threat in real time. The JOC (West) was to operate under the command Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C) of the Western Naval Command. Non-adherence to any SOPs, howsoever serious it may be, is a matter to be reviewed by the concerned ministry or the Cabinet Committee on Security. However, that cannot be equated with doubts being raised about the encounter itself.

Pakistan while having vehemently denied any link to the suspect boat, captured two Indian fishing vessels with twelve fishermen within 72 hours of the incident.

India cannot afford to let even  a single suspect vessel slip past as had happened in March 1993 and November 2008.  The bottom line is irrespective of the fact whether the boat carried hooch, drugs, diesel or explosives or terrorists, it deserved to be destroyed and the Coast Guard’s action unless there is cogent evidence to the contrary needs to be defended and commended.

Friday, September 19, 2014

Krittika Biswas Case: An Update

The following is an update on the Krittika Biswas incident which took place in February 2011.

The case filed by Krittika Biswas, an Indian diplomat's daughter, against New York City and others, for wrongful arrest and detention on cyberbullying charges, was settled, according to her attorney Ravi Batra.

The incident occurred when Krittika was a 12th grade student at the John Bowne High School in Flushing, New York.

She was arrested February 8, 2011 after her school alleged that she had sent threatening and obscene e-mails to her calculus teacher Jamie Kim-Ross and Ivan Cohill, her gym teacher.

The real culprit, who was uncovered later, confessed to the crime, but was not criminally charged, the suit noted.

The civil suit sought at least $500,000 and $1 million in compensatory and punitive damages, respectively, as well as the termination of Howard Kwait, principal of the John Bowne High School, and teacher Jamie Kim-Ross, who retired recently.

The main defendants were the City of New York, the New York City Department of Education; Howard Kwait, who is employed by the Department of Education; Kim-Ross, a teacher employed by the DOE; Elayna Konstan, chief executive officer of the DOE Office of School and Youth Development; Margaret Maldonado, a police officer; and Larry Granshaw, another police officer.

Krittika joined the school in the 11th grade in 2009. She had differences with Kim-Ross about how many classes she would miss during a trip she was taking to India after her grandmother's death.

Kim-Ross, her math teacher, received the first threatening e-mail on November 8, 2010, and the second one on December 16. Her parents were called to the school and warned of severe consequence, even though Krittika maintained her innocence.

School officials claimed they traced the e-mail's Internet Protocol address to the apartment building where Krittika lived with her parents. Her proficiency in French added to the suspicion because the French word merde (murder) was used in the e-mail.

Kim-Ross and Cohill received two more threatening e-mails on February 6, 2011, after which the police were called in.

At the assistant principal's office, Granshaw questioned Krittika aggressively and asked her to confess to having sent the e-mails. According to the suit, the officer said that if she refused he would handcuff her and take her to 'jail with prostitutes and people with HIV.'

When Krittika did not confess, Granshaw handcuffed her tightly, so as make it extra painful for her, and continued the interrogation, the suit stated.

The next day, at the intervention of Batra, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown freed her without charges. "Judge Brown, as DA Brown is known, took the rare step to administratively dismiss all criminal charges against Krittika based upon my word -- such that Krittika never had to step into a criminal court and pled 'not guilty,' her file was 'sealed,' and she could legally say that she was never arrested," Batra noted.

Though exonerated by the legal authorities, the school insisted on more disciplinary action, suspending her in consultation with Department of Education authorities. According to the suit, Krittika was sent to a 'reform' school where 'alleged criminals' go for their constitutionally mandated education.

Later, she allegedly met the ostensible culprit who may have been upset because he had earlier been asked to leave a class as he had failed his trigonometry regents exam. But no action was taken against him and the suit noted discriminatory practices against South Asians compared to East Asians.

"Having completely won Krittika's case on the law, I advised, and Krittika agreed, with her diplomatic family's support, that in recognition of the warm relations between India and United States, that a just resolution of this case also needed to be mutually respectful in both tone and timing so as to enhance the bilateral relationship," Batra added.

[Source: 18.9.2014]


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Repeal of Healthcare Law Unlikely

Jan 4, 2011

Albuquerque, NM – The 112th Congress convenes Wednesday, January 5, 2011, and Republican members of the House already have plans to repeal the nation's new health care law.

A full repeal is expected to pass with support from the new Republican House majority but the effort is largely a symbolic one. The measure has little chance in the Democratic controlled Senate and it would surely be vetoed by President Obama.

Republicans are also likely to target sections of the massive law for repeal And New Mexico US Senator Jeff Bingaman says there may be parts of the law that need to be changed. But he says overall, the health care reform law is a good one.

The healthcare reform law has been touted as an achievement by President Obama, but it has also produced mixed results for Democrats many Republicans won seats in Congress based on their campaign promises to pass a repeal.


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2013 Legislative Session
9:01 am
Thu May 30, 2013

Redistricting: Battle Over Fair Maps at the Capitol, and in Court

The Texas Senate is holding a public hearing this morning on redistricting.

It’s a chance for people to tell lawmakers what they think about district maps drawn for state House, Senate and Congressional elections.

The legislature is in a special session to adopt permanent maps. Republicans are pushing to adopt the maps used in 2012 elections. They were drawn by a federal court in San Antonio. The court drew those maps after rejecting versions drawn by the legislature. But Democrats say some of the court-drawn maps still aren’t fair enough.

The House will hold public hearings on redistricting Friday and Saturday.

Meanwhile, that San Antonio court is trying to determine how the legislature’s actions could affect an ongoing lawsuit over the voting maps.

Ross Ramsey is executive editor and co-founder of our reporting partner The Texas Tribune. He was at yesterday's court hearing. He gave us this summary:

"The three judges in San Antonio are like the rest of us. They just want to know what’s going on. There’s a bunch of moving parts right now. The legislature is in town talking about ratifying the maps the court drew to get everybody through the 2012 elections. The court that drew those maps is trying to figure out what to do if the legislature passes those. And they’ve got one eye on the United States Supreme Court, where there is a redistricting case out of Alabama that could knock down a part of the federal Voting Rights Act that affects Texas. And they’ve got another eye on a sister federal court in Washington DC, that had the job of pre-clearing the Texas maps and decided the Texas maps had intentional discrimination against them. The court in San Antonio is trying to figure out how to bring all those strings together to maps in place in time for the 2014 elections.”

Ramsey says lawyers from all sides agreed that the Texas Senate maps are acceptable, but differences remain on the maps used to elect the state’s congressional delegation and members of the Texas House.


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Acerca del autor

Glen Anderson
Blurbero desde septiembre de 2007
Nombre Glen Anderson
Mi sitio web
Ubicación Chino Hills, CA
Sexo Masculino
Mi ocupación Professional musician, father and customer service manager.
Mi biografía I grew up on Potsdam, New York and I have played music professionally since the mid 1960's and have been fortunate enough to tour all over the USA and UK before settling in California in the 1970's to start a family. I attended a number of famous rock & roll shows like the first Woodstock, played on stage with John Lee Hooker and Mitch Ryder. I was front row for Jimmy Page with the Yardbirds in 1967 before Led Zepplin, and attended the first CREAM shows at the Cafe A Go Go. I lived the life of a professional musician, and was blessed to attend some of the greatest rock & roll shows of the what I consider the Golden Age of Rock & Roll. Some of these articles were originally published in Vintage Guitar Magazine under my Classic Performances column. I know you will enjoy these recollections of mine and the great photos of these great artists in their prime. Thank you - Glen Anderson


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27 May 2007

Reflections of a Gusano

El Comandante is sounding more like a leftist American blogger everyday.

Perhaps he’s beginning to realize that he’s not needed nor wanted in his island prison and is hoping to be offered a job as a blooger at the Dality Kos or the Huffington Post. Perhaps he’s even a little worried that the Cuban information minister, Ramiro Valdez, may start to censor his reflections since lately his writings have contradicted the regime’s policies.

He needs to step up his anti-Bush anti-America rhetoric if he stands a chance.

In his latest reflections, Fidel calls W an

… apocalyptic person ... He only expresses emotions and constantly feigns rationality.

That's good, but he's boing to have to call him the village idiot and a liar, if he's going to have any success an American Left-Wing blogger.

He ponders the fate of humanity and the horrors of war:

Whom are they going to convince now that the thousands of nuclear weapons in their possession, the missiles and the precise and exact delivery systems they have developed are just to combat terrorism?

This from the guy who was ready to sacrifice every man woman and child in Cuba and most of the planet by plunging the world into a thermonuclear war between the US and the old USSR and who started “revolutionary” wars in Latin America and Africa causing thousands to loose their lives.

And yet as you read the faithful parroting of the Comandante’s reflections on the news wires and on pages of the nation’s newspapers, one never sees any mention of Castro’s own apocalyptic and war mongering past.
So I guess he doesn't really need to write for a leftist blog, since his "reflections" make it most of the nation's newspapers verbatim and unchallanged.

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Maui County Business Resource Center hosts workshops

June 20, 2013
Lahaina News

KAHULUI - The county Office of Economic Development holds free business workshops at the Maui County Business Resource Center in Maui Mall across from Pizza Hut.

"Is Your Business Ready for the Next Level?" will be offered on Thursday, June 20, from noon to 1 p.m.

Are you in need of a training facility, conference room, office space or a commercial kitchen to take the next step in your business? Lokahi Pacific's Pono Center has it all!

Article Photos

Roya Deyhim and Shannon S. Imlay (pictured) will lead the workshop “Legal Advice for Small Businesses & Protecting your Trademarks and Copyrights” on Tuesday, June 25, from noon to 1 p.m.

Evette Lau, small business counselor at the Pono Center, will cover the incubator programs and all of the services available to the community.

Owning a business takes a lot of work, a lot of planning, some restless days and nights and a strong vision.

If it's going to succeed, it's up to you to make it happen.

Chrystal Richardson of CE Wilson Consulting will present a workshop on Friday, June 21, from noon to 1 p.m. to teach how to re-ignite pride in your business and be proud of the doors you open each day.

Participants in the workshop entitled "Pride in Ownership" will get tips on freshening up their business office, paying more attention to their customers, revisiting their branding and remembering the initial passion and vision that drove them to start their business.

What does a sole proprietor or LLC need to do to stay on track? A "Legal Advice for Small Businesses & Protecting your Trademarks and Copyrights" workshop with Roya Deyhim and Shannon S. Imlay will be held on Tuesday, June 25, from noon to 1 p.m.

The workshop will focus on the types of entities and your obligations to legally operate your business, such as having bylaws and keeping minutes.

How can you establish and protect your patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets? This workshop will also provide important information to anyone interested in protecting their creative works and ideas.

Deyhim and fellow attorney Imlay will discuss the options available for new and growing businesses.

"Sales Skills 101 Communicating Your Way to a Better Future" will be presented by TJ Anderson on Wednesday, June 26, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

This workshop will focus on the single most important aspect of selling - communicating.

Whether you want to become a great sales professional, need help communicating effectively in your relationships, or just want to become a more effective communicator overall, this workshop will help you achieve your goals.

On Friday, June 28, from noon to 1 p.m., Bob and Josh Sommers will present "Build Your Business Through Online Customer Reviews."

They will show how to become the most trusted service provider in your industry through the acquisition of five-star customer reviews and referrals.

The vast majority of people looking for the products and services you offer go to a trusted friend for a referral first.

In the absence of a personal referral, they go to the Internet to read what others have written about you and your company, and the company with the most and the best reviews gets all the business.

Over the course of this presentation, you'll discover how to dominate the first page of Google, acquire five-star reviews, increase the number of customer reviews and generate referrals.

Seating for all workshops is limited; call 873-8247 to reserve your seat.

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News Release

For immediate release - January 3, 2012

Libraries to Close for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

The following Lake County Library System Libraries will close for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday, January 16th and will reopen with regularly scheduled hours on Tuesday, January 17th.

Astor County Library located 54905 Alco Road, Astor
Cagan Crossings Community Library, 16729 Cagan Oaks, Clermont
Cooper Memorial Library located at 2525 Oakley Seaver Dr., Clermont
East Lake County Library located at 31340 County Road 437, Sorrento
Helen Lehmann Memorial Library located at 17435 Fifth St., Montverde
Lady Lake Public Library located at 225 W Guava St., Lady Lake
Leesburg Public Library located at 100 E Main St., Leesburg
Marianne Beck Memorial Library, 112 W. Central Ave., Howey-in-the-Hills
Marion Baysinger Memorial County Library at 756 W Broad St., Groveland
Minneola Schoolhouse Library, 100 S. Main St., Minneola
City of Tavares Public Library located at 314 N New Hampshire Ave., Tavares
Paisley County Library located 24954 County Road 42, Paisley
Umatilla Public Library located at 412 Hatfield Drive, Umatilla
W. T. Bland Public Library located at 1995 N Donnelly St., Mount Dora

Fruitland Park Library located at 205 W Berckman St., will remain open but will close at 5 p.m.

For information on upcoming programs visit our website at

Media contact:
Judy Buckland
Program Coordinator

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Pitch perfect

Even though we got a few sprinkles of rain today, it didn’t do much to soften up the ground.

I know; in the past couple of days, I’ve put out three yard signs for the upcoming “Symphony At The Celebration” concert. I have five to put out, but it’s been an incredibly busy week at work, and I’ve only had time to put out three of them. And I’m scared I didn’t do a good job with two of those; the ground is so hard that the little wire stands tended to bend rather than punch through the dirt.

I need to put one of my remaining signs somewhere on North Main Street. I need to ask Dawn for a suggestion, if I can get in touch with her.

Dawn Holley is the long-time chair of the local steering committee for the concert. Up until this year, my title has always been “publicity chairman.” This year, Dawn and I are co-chairs, and Dawn is at a conference this week, so I found myself attempting to stamp pipecleaner signs into what feels like the Bonneville Salt Flats.

No matter. We’re already getting the word out about the concert. Next Tuesday, I’m driving to Tullahoma to appear on a community access cable TV program to discuss it. I’ve been sending out press releases, and two different radio stations are giving tickets away. (It’s not that pricey a giveaway item – adult general admission is $5, and children or students of any age don’t even need a ticket.)

If you haven’t been around me for more than 15 seconds, I have to explain that this symphony concert is one of the great passions of my adult life. The Nashville Symphony has been coming to Shelbyville annually since 1989 (there was, at one point, a year-and-a-half gap when we switched from a fall concert to a spring concert). I attended the very first concert – I think I’ve attended all of the official public concerts – and wrote about it in the newspaper. But it wasn’t until a couple of years later that I became actively involved. The concert had been started by one of our local industries, but when that industry changed hands they dialed back their support and a bank stepped in. The bank was then known as First American Bank, and the late Scott McDonald was its president. Scott was the one who invited me to be a part of the steering committee. A year or two after that, Bedford County Arts Council got involved, and that was how Dawn came into the picture.

Scott McDonald, one of the most community-minded men it’s been my privilege to know, had a vision of the concert as an educational tool. That vision has become even more of a reality in recent years. For the past six concerts, including the one that will take place this month, we’ve rotated among Bedford County’s three public high schools, all of which now have fine band programs. This year, it’s Shelbyville Central High School’s turn. During the first half of the program, the Nashville Symphony plays, and then – just before intermission – the high school band gets to perform a few selections.

After intermission, the symphony plays some more, and then – for the big grand finale – the symphony and the high school band play together on two or three selections, always ending with “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” Traditionally, the piccolo player from the high school band gets to take the solo.

The whole evening is intended to be casual and family-friendly. It takes place inside Calsonic Arena, on the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration grounds, but it has the feel of an outdoor concert. There’s an art show on the arena concourse, with everything from professional paintings and sculpture to crayon drawings by elementary school kids. The Motlow State Community College jazz band performs an hour before the concert proper. Last year, we added the Nashville Symphony’s “instrument petting zoo,” and I deeply regret that Scott was never able to see this, because he’d have been thrilled by it. Trained volunteers are stationed at tables with real symphonic instruments, and kids (or adults, for that matter) are able to pick them up, see how they work, and try them out. I dare you to watch this and not smile. Two years ago, we planned to have the petting zoo, but the Nashville floods – just a week before the concert! – destroyed the instruments used for the program. Last year, we had hoped to have things set up outside the arena, but the threat of rain forced us to use a meeting room inside. This year, we’re hoping for our original plan of having the tables set up outside, so that parents and kids will see the instruments as they arrive and get to try them on their way into the building.

We’ve had some wonderful symphony conductors in the history of the Shelbyville concert, including Karen Lynne Deal and Byung-Hyun Rhee. For five of the past six concerts, however, we’ve been thrilled to have Albert-George Schram, who normally conducts the Nashville Symphony’s pops concerts in Nashville. (I think it’s a mark of the symphony’s special affection for this concert that we get Maestro Schram, who doesn’t do most of the other community concerts.) Maestro Schram, a native of the Netherlands, is funny and accessible, which is really important for a setting where there are a lot of kids and adults in the audience attending their first-ever symphony concert.  I love getting to Calsonic Arena on the afternoon of the concert early enough to watch him rehearse with the high school band. That’s the first time the kids get to rehearse under Maestro Schram’s direction – and they don’t actually get to rehearse with the symphony at all. The actual tandem performance is the first time they get to play together with the symphony.

I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ramble this much. I guess you can tell how much I love this concert, and how proud I am to have played even a small part in its history and development. As I approach a round-number birthday next week, there are aspects of my life in which I’m disappointed and for which I blame myself. This is not one of them.

Anyway, if you’re within driving distance of Shelbyville and would like to see the show, we’d love to have you. We always have a good crowd, but due to the arena’s generous seating capacity we always have tickets at the door. (I take that back – last year or the previous year we ran out of physical tickets, but we’ve never run out of actual seats.)

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