AMF: Just the News, Ma'am

I'm three days behind on posting news, so here's the catch-up.

AP: Bin Laden Deputy: Truce Offer With U.S., Europe Still Stands - Yeah, okay.

Fox: Professor, Cheerleaders Unite to Teach Science - Booyeah! This gives a whole new meaning to "she blinded me with science", doesn't it!

CNN: Iran militia members exposed by blogger

BBC: First woman to row across Indian Ocean from Australia to Mauritius - How much do you want to bet that she was trying to get to Hawaii and got lost? I kid, I kid!

BBC: Chinese migrants in Algiers clash

BBC: How vital were Cold War spies?

BBC: How the euro crept into Britain - Apparently there are places in the United Kingdom that now take euros as currency. Fascinating.

BBC: Russia still wants to be the big boss in its backyard - Working equipment and a semi-capable army, navy, and air force might be a productive goal for Russia if they actually want to accomplish this. As things stand, most of their former holdings think that the Russians are jerks, and have done everything they can to sidle up to the United States.

BBC: Murdoch signals end of free news

Rocket attack on Afghan capital (BBC, Press TV, Guardian) - The interesting thing about this is that Hezbollah and various Iraqi militia groups get their rockets from... Where? Iran? It wouldn't surprise me if the Iranians, who have been demonstrated to be helping the Taliban in the past, have supplied rockets to the Taliban.

Nato in pledge on Afghan deaths (BBC); Bomb strikes Afghan wedding party (Guardian, BBC, Times) - The Taliban aren't doing themselves any favors by killing a wedding party. If it's obviously an IED, it's not like they can blame it on the Coalition.

Guardian: The west's moral failure over Georgia - The free nations of Abkhazia and South Ossetia are threatened by western complicity in our isolation and intimidation by Georgia - "Free nations of Abkhazia and South Ossetia"? The entire world recognizes these regions as integral parts of Georgia. The people who wrote this article are idiots, and the people who allowed it to be published in their newspaper are dupes.

Guardian: Erasing facts from Israel eviction story - The Palestinian families evicted in East Jerusalem had failed to pay their rent – a fact omitted from British media reports - A couple of years ago, Police Fan referred me to a video entitled Pallywood, which is a behind-the-scenes documentary on the standard practice that "Palestinians" go through to dupe the media. In both the United States and Europe, among other news outlets, there's an overwhelming media bias in favor of Arabs living in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank, which almost exclusively ignores the actual history of the conflict. This would appear to be yet another heinous example of that in the form of either ignorant or downright dishonest reporting on the part of British news sources.

Times: Analysis: Facing up to home-grown threat [in Australia]

Times: We're in Afghanistan 'to topple al-Qaeda'

Times: Iran invests heavily in Hezbollah

Times: Blackwater chief 'wanted crusade against Muslims', Blackwater security company was feared and despised by all Iraqis - Something tells me that the Times didn't do much bi-partisan research on this story.

Times: Secret mission to expose Hubbard as a fake - Something about an attempt to expose L. Ron Hubbard as a fraud.

Times: No men or equipment - wartime crisis in 7th [Century] BC

AFP: Georgia rearming to prepare new 'aggression': Russia - Somehow, Russia's just not that credible anymore. Sadly, statements such as these from Russian officials make me worry that the Russians may be preparing to try something else in the Caucasus to mark the one year anniversary of their little display of power from last year.

AFP: Russia working on undetectable spy plane: air force chief - Russia should probably focus on making sure that the lousy equipment that they have already is in good working order before worrying about super spy planes.

Wired Danger Room: Rebranding the Civilian Surge [in Afghanistan]

FSM: Short Wave Radio vs. the Iranian Mullahs and their Nuclear Bomb - This story is one after my own heart, though it's worth pointing out that shortwave signals can be jammed - just ask listeners from the Cold War era, or folks in Libya who can't hear dissident radio broadcasts from abroad because the Libyan government jams them.

Fars: CIA, Mossad Promoting Evangelism in Northern Iraq - Fars News can produce such hilarious articles. I'll give credit to Iran's official Press TV outlet, at least they make an effort to appear legitimate, even if they aren't.

Press TV: 'Iraq will not grant asylum to MKO members' - Iran really hates the MEK/MKO.

Mathaba: Canada alerted by Russian plans to drop paratroopers in Arctic - That's the last thing that I'd want to do: ride into the Arctic on an old Russian plane, drop into the Arctic on a Russian parachute, and then pray that someone was going to come pick me up. Nyet, Komrade!

Michael Yon: Common Scenes, Common Thoughts - Michael Yon's work is always outstanding. This one talks a great deal about the Brigade of Ghurkas in Afghanistan.

Have a great weekend, folks!