] (CNN) -- Osama bin Laden delivered a new videotaped
] message in which he told Americans their security does
] not depend on the president they elect, but on U.S.
] policy.
]
] "Your security is not in the hands of [Sen. John] Kerry
] or [President] Bush or al Qaeda," bin Laden said in the
] video aired on the Arabic language network Al-Jazeera.

Bin Laden comes out for... Nader?

CNN.com - Bin Laden: U.S. security depends on policy - Oct 29, 2004

] Welcome to Defense and the National Interest. Our aim is
] to foster debate on the roles of the U.S. armed forces in
] the post-Cold War era and on the resources devoted to
] them. The ultimate purpose is to help create a more
] effective national defense against the types of threats
] we will likely face during the first decades of the new
] millennium.
]
] Contributors to this site are, with a few exceptions,
] active/reserve, former, or retired military. They often
] combine a knowledge of military theory with the practical
] experience that comes from trying their ideas in the
] field. As you browse our site, please pay particular
] attention to the e-mails from our deployed forces in such
] places as Kosovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq and other
] Middle Eastern Countries.

Looks like a good source for war nerds.

Defense and the National Interest

] Unfortunately, our leaders do not understand the Fourth
] Generation, so it appears we are about to throw this
] opportunity away. We continue to bomb and shell Fallujah,
] which pushes our enemies toward each other. We seem to be
] readying an all-out assault on the city, which will have
] the usual result when Goliath defeats David: a moral
] defeat for Goliath. Many Iraqis will die, the city will
] be wrecked (as always, we will promise to rebuild it but
] not do so), and any losses the insurgents suffer will be
] made up many times over by a flood of new recruits. Never
] was it more truly said that, %u201CWe have met the enemy,
] and he is us.%u201D

The man who wrote the Marines combat manuals drops the knowledge bomb. Linked from Gibson's blog. Definately one to monitor for war watchers. Gold Star... if I had any.

Every line is so quotable.

William S. Lind On War Archive

] New Age movements attempt to revive -- or create anew
] --pre-Enlightenment ideas about magic, alchemy, ghosts,
] and whatever else practitioners can glean from a record
] for the most part expunged by institutional Christianity.
]
] Christian fundamentalism, meanwhile, is the child of the
] Enlightenment, a functionalist view of faith that%u2019s
] metaphorically %u201Cscientific.%u201D It's scripture as
] read by a cranky engineer who just wants to know how God
] works. The Bible, for a fundamentalist, isn%u2019t
] powerful literature demanding our ever-changing
] discernment; it%u2019s an instruction manual. And
] fundamentalists think that's a good thing.

From Gibson blog

The Revealer: Our Magical President

Suprnova torrent of Stewart on crossfire. Currently very fast...

John Stewart Crossfire Torrent

] STEWART: Stop, stop, stop, stop hurting America.
]
] BEGALA: OK. Now
]
] (CROSSTALK)
]
] STEWART: And come work for us, because we, as the
] people...
]
] CARLSON: How do you pay?
]
] STEWART: The people -- not well.
]
] (LAUGHTER)
]
] BEGALA: Better than CNN, I'm sure.
]
] STEWART: But you can sleep at night.
]
] (LAUGHTER)
]
] STEWART: See, the thing is, we need your help. Right now,
] you're helping the politicians and the corporations. And
] we're left out there to mow our lawns.
]
] BEGALA: By beating up on them? You just said we're too
] rough on them when they make mistakes.
]
] STEWART: No, no, no, you're not too rough on them. You're
] part of their strategies. You are partisan, what do you
] call it, hacks.

Stewart for President

John Stewart fights for us on Crossfire CNN.com - Transcripts

] TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- A Japanese publisher will
] suspend a comic series in its popular weekly magazine
] after receiving angry protests over its characterization
] of the 1937 "Rape of Nanjing," in which Japanese soldiers
] brutally massacred Chinese civilians.

CNN.com - 'Rape of Nanjing' comic draws ire - Oct 14, 2004

] State Duma deputies on Monday began to sort through more
] than 30 anti-terrorism bills submitted by government
] agencies and individuals after President Vladimir Putin
] demanded that new laws be passed to arm the government in
] its fight against terror.
]
]
] The bills, which are at the top of the Duma's fall
] agenda, have not been made public but, judging from
] details leaked to the Russian press, they promise to
] increase the Federal Security Service's powers, limit
] media coverage of terror attacks and create new headaches
] for migrants.

Legalizing Fascism. KGB takeover, media control, caucasian scapegoats.

Duma Regroups With Eye on Terror

Putin's Iron grip tightens. Caucasians suffer.

] In two days of raids, Moscow police have rounded up more
] than 11,000 Russians and foreigners on suspicion of
] living in the city without registering with the
] authorities.
]
]
] Mayor Yury Luzhkov, meanwhile, is seeking a law that
] would require all visitors to register immediately upon
] their arrival, while a City Duma deputy wants a ban on
] all visitors from Chechnya and other areas where
] counterterrorism operations are under way.

11,000 Detained in Police Raids

] Among Putin's reforms announced Monday: the country's 89
] regional governors will no longer be elected by popular
] vote. Instead, he will appoint them and regional
] assemblies would approve the appointments.
]
] He also announced on Monday that seats in the Duma
] (Russia's national parliament) allocated to single-member
] constituencies will be replaced with a fully proportional
] system. The move "could see the few remaining independent
] voices forced out of the federal parliament"

This isn't as serious as it might seem, in a way. Most Russians figure that Putin will never leave office... and most still vote for him. And the legislative branch hasn't had any real power since Putin took office. Its more like that he is formalizing the way things work in practice. So... no real change here. Next he'll cancel the term limits. It is all very predictable. The Russian people have chosen dictatorship over corrupt democracy/oligarchy. Putin is a facist, but his strength is reassuring. After the debauchery of the Yeltsin years... you can hardly blame them.

Puntin uses school attacks to cripple democracy in Russia.