China has good reason to stay quiet By Peter J Brown The US Air Force’s (USAF) launch of the mysterious robotic X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle – a small, unmanned reusable space plane which resembles but is dwarfed by the much larger space shuttle – from Florida on Thursday came just hours after the launch from California of the Falcon Hypersonic Test Vehicle-2 (HTV-2). The HTV-2 is an unmanned glider developed by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) which was reportedly supposed to travel more than 4,000 miles (6,437 kilometers) on its test-flight in just 30 minutes. While the … Continue reading China has a secret Spaceplane in production?

By Gareth Porter WASHINGTON – The Pentagon was still trying to spin its report on the war in Afghanistan issued last week as holding out hope because the instability had leveled off, even as some news outlets were noting that it documents the continued expansion of Taliban capabilities and operations. The most significant revelation in the report, however, is that General Stanley McChrystal and the United States-North Atlantic Treaty organization (NATO) International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) joint command now acknowledge officially that the Taliban insurgents dominate a vast contiguous zone of heavily populated territory across southern Afghanistan that McChrystal regards … Continue reading Pentagon map belies Taliban’s sphere

Militants write their answer in blood By Syed Saleem Shahzad ISLAMABAD – When villagers of Karamkot near the town of Mir Ali in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal area on Friday came across a bullet-riddled body they thought at first it was just another little-known person killed by militants on suspicion of being a traitor, as often happens in the area. The tag attached to the body told another story: it was retired squadron leader Khalid Khawaja, a former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) official and a close friend of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden during the resistance in Afghanistan against the Soviets … Continue reading Sticks for Takfiri Mullahs – no more carrots!

By Victor Kotsev As the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, the United States Air Force’s new robotic mini-shuttle, made its maiden flight into space last Thursday, many of the details surrounding the spacecraft remained veiled in secrecy. It is known that the X-37B project is based on a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) model which was earlier scrapped, probably reducing costs, and that the project is entirely funded by the Department of Defense’s black box. However, its total budget is unclear, as is its exact mission – “classified experiments” – the location of its mission control and the duration of … Continue reading US military’s robotic shuttle spooks Iran

General Petraeus’ Thirty Years War By Spengler Memo to heads of state: beware the clever general who turns up at a tough moment, and says “Leave it to me: I can fix it for you.” Two examples come to mind. The great field marshal of the Thirty Years War of 1618-1648, Albrecht von Wallenstein, taught armies to live off the land, and succeeded so well that nearly half the people of Central Europe starved to death during the conflict. General David Petraeus, who heads America’s Central Command (CENTCOM), taught the land to live off him. Petraeus’ putative success in the … Continue reading Petraeus’ and the Thirty Years War!

PopJolly Burglars have twice in the past six weeks broken into a Dutch prison and stole television sets from cells whilst inmates were furloughs, a spokesperson for the justice ministry said on Wednesday. The prison is located in the town of Hoorn, about 26 miles north-east of Amsterdam which houses inmates nearing their sentences. The Dutch government calls the facility a “very modestly protected environment,” which helps prisoners transition back into society. The thefts happened on two separate weekends between March and April.  The ministry has still not been able to confirm how the burglars breached the prisons security twice. … Continue reading Burglars break into prison to steal inmates TVs

A pilot has been accused of a hit and run after his airplane a Beehcraft Bonanza crashed into a car. Ken and Carol Marcoux said they were watching planes land at the Boulder, Colorado municipal airport on Wednesday morning when they saw a plane suddenly dive down directly at them, the Colorado Daily reported. “He seemed to have real trouble controlling the plane,” Ken Marcoux said. It is believed that strong crosswinds were blowing at the time. The plane skidded off the runway as it attempted to landing, brushing into the Toyota Prius, smashing a window before taking out a … Continue reading Pilot accused of Hit and run with an airplane

Right-wing protesters in stand-off with riot police over plans for £18m ‘mega mosque’ Riot police were in a stand-off today with ring-wing protesters who stormed the site of a planned ‘super mosque’. Two members of the far-right English Defence League scaled the roof of a derelict building in Dudley, West Midlands, yesterday waving anti-Muslim banners. They climbed to the rooftop on Sunday evening as dozens of protesters gathered at the site after an internet campaign by the EDL. Protest: Two members of the English Defence League wave banners and flags from the roof of a derelict building in Dudley Town … Continue reading Extremist Drunken Chavs in Dudley help the BNP in its election campaign