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China's military strength ranks second in the world in terms of expenditure, the number of troops and weaponry, according to a report released Thursday by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS)

It is Christmas Eve 2009 and the hope of the true Messiah lives on. Nothing has changed. Christmas Eve in Bethlehem It is now Christmas Eve in Bethlehem. The reverent silence over the hallowed place where Jesus Christ was born is the same on Christmas Eve 2009 as it was more than 2000 years ago. The winter stars still shine on this most humble of towns; the shepherds, in the same kind of clothes worn by those who witnessed the Child in the Manger, are still there watching their flocks by night. The pictures in the YouTube, provided by LifeInTheHolyLand.com...

Five years ago, a particularly gruesome image made its way to our television screens from the war in Iraq. Four U.S. civilian contractors working in Fallujah were ambushed and killed by al Qaeda. Their bodies were burned, then dragged through the streets. Two of the charred bodies were hung from the Euphrates Bridge and left dangling. This barbaric act left an impression that our military did not forget: In a special operation earlier this year, Navy SEALs captured the mastermind of that attack, Ahmed Hashim Abed. But after he was taken into custody in September, Abed claimed he was punched...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Now, folks, let me address this, because I got an e-mail, I mentioned it briefly at the conclusion of the previous hour. I'm not trying to dispirit anybody but I must be honest with you about how I think the Democrats are going to play this, and I have to be honest when I tell you I don't think they care about losing their majority. That's how committed to this they are, and I don't doubt for a minute that health care and health insurance will become the new third rail, just like Social Security. Every election...

Never before in our history has an American president, deliberately and by design, risked our very survival to a maniacal enemy power sworn to remove America from the world. Yet from all appearances, this is exactly what Obama is doing by failing to vigorously oppose Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons. But in spite of the fact that over 60% of the public favors militarily destroying Iran’s nuclear facilities, there’s nary a word of protest from the Republicans in opposition. They’re so paranoid about being labeled warmongers, they have shamefully abdicated their own national security responsibilities, just as John McCain did...

There is a MEAN, VIOLENT streak to the true Christian life...But violence against WHOM or WHAT?

THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF LIMITED OBJECTIVES Throughout the Old Testament, God commands Israel to destroy its enemies that the nation might survive. Somewhere along the way, both Israel and America lost sight of that imperative. Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt agreed to divide Europe when WWII ended. General George Patton, driving hard for Berlin, was ordered to stop short at the Elbe. The seeds of limited objectives were sown, Communism enslaved all of Eastern Europe, and millions died or were sent to the gulag. The policy gelled in Korea. President Truman ordered Douglas MacArthur, pursuing the retreating Communists northward, back to...

Afghanistan, World's Longest War Has Only Just Begun Politics / Afghanistan Dec 20, 2009 - 07:22 AM By: Rick_Rozoff The higher number of Defense Department contractors, 160,000, added to over 100,000 troops - with the likely prospect of both numbers climbing yet more - will result in over a quarter of a million U.S. personnel serving under the Pentagon and NATO. The latter has 42,000 non-U.S. troops fighting under its command currently and pledges of 8,000 more to date, with thousands in addition to be conscripted after the London conference on Afghanistan next month. Approximately 35,000 U.S. soldiers are also...

War is a very grave affair. Instead of just money, it involves risking the lives of men and women with our policy decisions. On the battlefield, people will be killed without trial. Lives will be ruined. Cities will be decimated. It is an intensely serious matter — the most serious matter a country can engage in — which begs an obvious question. Why do we involve liberals in it at all? There’s an old expression I just made up: There’s no liberal in a bear attack. In matters of life and death, like a bear ripping apart your house, there...

Date: Wed, November 11, 2009 3:20 pm. From the Sand Pit. It's freezing here. I'm sitting on hard, cold dirt between rocks and shrubs at the base of the Hindu Kush Mountains , along the Dar 'yoi Pomir River , watching a hole that leads to a tunnel that leads to a cave. Stake out, my friend, and no pizza delivery for thousands of miles. (snip)

By Anny ShawDrugs money saved some banks from collapse at the height of the global crisis the United Nations' drugs and crime chief claimed today. Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, told the Observer that there were signs that some banks were rescued by billions of dollars that 'originated from the drugs trade and other illegal activities.' Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1235512/Drugs-money-saved-banks-collapse-global-crisis-claims-UN-drugs-crime-chief.html#ixzz0ZpLJInRw

Allen Carrel's temper reached a boiling point the day he chased a scantily clad woman down his street and shouted, ''You will not sell your body in Ganthers Place!'' ''I thought the whole South side would hear him,'' recalled his live-in partner, Ken Williams.

PDATE: - 60 more guns are in the hands of criminals after an early morning burglary at Shooters Station off of SH 105 West. Owner Danny Benois said 12 shotguns were taken and the rest were handguns. Montgomery County Sheriff's patrol units responded to an alarm call at that location around 4:40 this morning. When they arrived, the thieves had already made forced entry, took their loot and fled. Benois said the building has no windows and only a front and back door, which makes it pretty secure. The thieves spent an estimated 30 minutes cutting into the metal front...

U.S. President Barack Obama has warned his Chinese counterpart that the United States would not be able to keep Israel from attacking Iranian nuclear installations for much longer, senior officials in Jerusalem told Haaretz. They said Obama warned President Hu Jintao during the American's visit to Beijing a month ago as part of the U.S. attempt to convince the Chinese to support strict sanctions on Tehran if it does not accept Western proposals for its nuclear program.

The Indian press is abuzz with news that Indian Home Ministry officials have said they are investigating whether Pakistani-American terror suspect David Coleman Headley was working as a "double agent."

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen asked Russia on Wednesday to give the Western military alliance more help in Afghanistan but failed to get an immediate pledge of assistance from the Kremlin.

Shiite rebels on Wednesday accused the US air force of bombing villages in northern Yemen amid their conflict with government forces and neighbouring Saudi Arabia. The Sanaa government swiftly dismissed the charge as a sign of the rebels' desperation, while Washington has already ruled out any direct involvement in the conflict. "The American air force committed massacres ... and used all types of military weapons to destroy villages and houses and schools and public facilities and to kill civilians," the rebels said in a statement.

NATO member Poland on Wednesday signed a landmark military cooperation deal with China, the Polish defence ministry said.

President Obama’s announcement regarding U.S. military strategy in Afghanistan – after three months of indecision – brought partisan hypocrisy into sharp focus. He owed his election to a cult of personality and the promise of change, but his aura lost much of its luster as the country found itself still mired in economic crisis and embroiled in two wars after his first year in office. Polls show that the independent voters who were essential to his victory are not likely to support him again because the reality did not reinforce the promise. The same introspection cannot be found among his...

The Saudi Arabia air force has bombed a market in Yemen killing 70 civilians, rebels in the north of the country say. The rebels, known as Houthis, have been fighting Saudi and Yemeni forces since August this year and accuse the Saudis of frequent attacks across the border.

Another year has passed in the world's standoff with Iran and North Korea over nuclear weapons, and the situation has only gotten worse.

The purpose of all war is peace—Saint Augustine: The City of God While President Barack Obama was in Oslo, Norway yesterday accepting his Nobel Peace Prize (while at the same time justifying his troop surge in Afghanistan), back home Congressman and fellow progressive Democrat Dennis Kucinich was busy metaphorically pulling the red carpet out from under him by denouncing the surge and demanding an immediate withdrawal of all troops from that country. Amy Goodman reported on both events on Democracy Now!, a network which represents the Marxist ideology, an ideology which is itself no stranger to war and destruction. From...

Accepting Peace Prize, Obama Evokes 'Just War'2009-12-10 16:05:18 (4 hours ago) Posted By: Intellpuke President Obama, accepting the Nobel Peace Prize here in Oslo, Norway, on Thursday, acknowledged the age-old tensions between war and peace but argued that his recent decision to escalate the conflict in Afghanistan was justified to protect the world from terrorism and extremism. “We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth,” said President Obama. “We will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations - acting individually or in concert - will find the use of force not only necessary but...

China has overtaken the U.S. as the world's biggest market for automobiles, the first time any other country has bought more vehicles than the nation that produced Henry Ford, the Cadillac and the minivan.

I have to admit, it was one of the strangest speeches Obama has ever given. In Obama usual grand way, his rhetoric was high flying, and a mixture of pragmatism and nonsense. But it does provide a window into his mind, and it is a shocking view.Obama provided an empassioned defense of America’s wars as ‘just’ wars for humanitarian reasons…something George W. Bush campaigned on worldwide during his presidency. We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth that we will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations – acting individually or in concert –...

Konstantin Sivkov, the vice president of the Academy for Geopolitical Sciences, claims the U.S. has no intentions or desire to capture the worlds most wanted terrorist - Osama Bin Laden. In an interview with The Russian Newspaper Pravda Sivkov said the following: “Let’s start with saying that Bin Laden was created by American special services to struggle against the Soviet military contingent in Afghanistan. It is a well-known fact. In 2001, Washington said that it was Osama who organized the terrorist acts. The acts were then used as the reason to invade Afghanistan and Iraq. Washington said that it would...

New Missions for Pilotless Aircraft by W. Thomas Smith Jr. (more by this author) Posted 12/09/2009 ET Two-and-a-half years ago when I was in Iraq, I remember -- among the sound of mortars, crackling gunfire, thundering helicopters, roaring jets, and the occasional (thankfully distant) IED explosions -- the somewhat-comforting sound of the remotely piloted little reconnaissance airplanes we’ve come to know as UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles). Comforting, I say, because I knew that as long as those UAVs were up there, bad guys on the ground (who I and others could not see) were either being watched, having their freedom-of-movement...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived late Monday in Afghanistan with plans to assure officials and American troops there that the United States is committed to winning the war despite plans to begin pulling forces out in 2011. "We are in this thing to win," Gates told reporters while traveling to Kabul, where he plans to meet privately with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and later with troops bearing the brunt of combat. ...

SIXTY-EIGHT years ago tomorrow, Japan attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. In the brutal Pacific war that would follow, millions of soldiers and civilians were killed. My father — one of the famous flag raisers on Iwo Jima — was among the young men who went off to the Pacific to fight for his country. So the war naturally fascinated me. But I always wondered, why did we fight in the Pacific? Yes, there was Pearl Harbor, but why did the Japanese attack us in the first place? ... The one who had the greater effect on Japan’s...

Some parishioners in the Church of Obama discovered last week that their spiritual leader is a false prophet Consider the blow suffered by the liberal filmmaker Michael Moore, who issued a plaintive plea to the president on the eve of his announcement that he was sending 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan. By escalating the war, Moore wrote: "[Y]ou will do the worst possible thing you could do -- destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your...

Bill Ayers, former terrorist and alleged long time friend of President Barack Obama, took issue with the President’s decision to deploy more troops to fight in Afghanistan. “I feel betrayed,” wailed a disconsolate Ayers. “I poured my heart and soul into electing this man. I thought we agreed that the real enemy was right here in America. This is where the capitalist exploiters are. Sending troops to foreign lands diverts our energy from the real mission.” Ayers hinted that “the President’s betrayal of the progressive agenda could turn out as badly for him as JFK’s attacks against the progressive regime...

Jordan has sent several hundred troops from its special operations forces to help the Saudi military with its many Shi'ite units contain the Yemeni Shi'ite rebellion, which has spread deep into the Arab kingdom.

Gordon Brown rejects early withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan...

German intelligence reports that Iranian scientists have successfully simulated the detonation of a nuclear warhead in laboratory conditions, in an effort to sidestep an underground nuclear test like the one that brought the world down on North Korea's head earlier this year.

Miss. Survivor Of Vietnam's Hanoi Hilton Dies At 82 Pitchford Survived 7 Years In Prison Camp UPDATED: 3:48 pm CST December 3, 2009 JACKSON, Miss. -- Retired Air Force Col. Jack Pitchford, a fighter pilot from Mississippi who survived seven years in the Vietnamese prison camp known as the Hanoi Hilton, has died. He was 82. The Natchez, Miss., native was shot down in 1965 and taken to the Hoa Lo prison, a hellish place where Americans, including famous veterans like U.S. Sen. John McCain, were tortured. Pitchford was released in 1973. His brother said Pitchford died Wednesday after battling...

First of all, I want it to be known I support the President's decision to send 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan. I also favor his reasons for doing so, denying al-Qaida a safe haven, reverse the Taliban's momentum, strengthen the capacity of the Afghan security forces and government and securing key population centers. What I don't support is the issuing of a time line on withdrawing the troops and trying to deflect blame to the Bush Administration as the reason for escalating the conflict. This is your war now Mr.President, your generals and your plans. This new strategy comes on...

WWII Fighter Plane Returns to Land A World War II fighter plane that crashed into an icy Lake Michigan during a training flight almost 65 years ago was brought to the surface Monday. please watch video at link 'I remember it like it was yesterday': WWII fighter pilot's Hellcat is pulled out of Lake Michigan 65 years after he crash landed Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1232327/I-remember-like-yesterday-WWII-fighter-pilots-Hellcat-pulled-Lake-Michigan-65-years-crash-landed.html#ixzz0Ya9UisLi

Less than two kilometres away from the last village on India’s western border, Pakistan is building what is ostensibly a railway station with China’s help.

Chris Matthews, a person who nobody ever thought provided any journalistic integrity, just sank the network to a whole new low. Chris Matthews was caught, and when I say caught I mean he was on his own show, saying that the cadets at West Point were Obama’s Enemies.

Despite the shrill public discussion of U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan, the most important front of the war in South Asia continues to be Pakistan, which the world's most dangerous jihadists call home. On this issue, there is good news and there is bad news. The good news is that U.S. President Barack Obama's private deliberations on strategy have focused on Pakistan, coupling offers of increased military and economic assistance with warnings that Islamabad must abandon its habit of supporting Islamist proxy forces. The bad news is that al Qaeda's radical pan-Islamic ideology is infecting militants long-supported by the Pakistani...

France and Germany marshaled 3.7 million soldiers for the Western offensives that began World War I in August 1914—with Britain adding an additional 130,000. In the decisive days between Sept. 5 and Sept. 11, the two sides threw two million men into desperate combat along the Marne River, the right tributary of Paris's famed Seine. More than 610,000 men were killed and wounded during the month-long campaign—two-thirds the number of casualties suffered by the U.S. in the whole of World War II. But such numbers do little to bring home the ordeal. To reach the Marne, Alexander von Kluck's First...

Click here to find out more! Top of the Ticket Politics and commentary, coast to coast, from the Los Angeles Times « Previous Post | Top of the Ticket Home | Next Post » Obama's revealing Afghanistan war speech: 4,582 words and not one of them was 'victory' December 2, 2009 | 3:08 am Democrat president Barack Obama waves to the crowd of Army cadets before his speech on Afghanistan at West Point 12-1-09 President Obama spoke 4,582 words in his primetime Afghanistan war speech at West Point last night. He said "al Qaeda" 22 times. He mentioned the "Taliban"...

British troops in Iraq had to let attackers go free British troops in Iraq had to let 40 armed men who had just ambushed them “walk away” under “constraining” and “frustrating” rules of engagement, papers leaked to The Daily Telegraph show.   Andrew Gilligan Published: 8:00AM GMT 24 Nov 2009 British soldiers take up positions as they guard outside the presidential palace during a handover ceremony in Basra in 2007 Photo: REUTERS Despite fighting “the most sustained conflict since the Korean War”, the rules left troops with one hand tied behind their backs, the secret documents said. Ministers refused to...

Never before has a speech by President Barack Obama felt as false as his Tuesday address announcing America's new strategy for Afghanistan. It seemed like a campaign speech combined with Bush rhetoric -- and left both dreamers and realists feeling distraught. One can hardly blame the West Point leadership. The academy commanders did their best to ensure that Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama's speech would be well-received. Just minutes before the president took the stage inside Eisenhower Hall, the gathered cadets were asked to respond "enthusiastically" to the speech. But it didn't help: The soldiers' reception was cool. One didn't have to...

President and Commander In Chief Barrack Obama was at West Point tonight to announce his plans for continuing the war in Afghanistan. Finally, in what was over three months after General McChrystal had asked for an additional forty thousand troops, a request that included the warning that without these troops the war may be lost, in another narcissistic, uninspiring and consistently contradictory speech Obama gave the Nation his answer. While leaving out the fact that Obama has been insisting for the last two years during his campaign that Afghanistan is a war that must be won, he shamelessly explained why...

President Obama announced Tuesday that he would speed 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in coming months, but he vowed to start bringing American forces home in the middle of 2011...

Over the past few weeks, a number of local columnists (such as my colleague, David Rosman, and the editor of the Columbia Tribune, Hank Waters) have posted columns defending or praising the administration’s decision to prosecute Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four others in a New York civilian court while trying the remaining terrorists by the military tribunal structured by Congress and the Supreme Court for that very purpose. The only area in which I find agreement is that it can be done.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's speech Tuesday night did not always match the reality on the ground in Afghanistan. The president raised expectations that may be hard to meet when he told Americans his troop increase in Afghanistan will accelerate the training of that country's own forces and be accompanied by more help from allies. A look at some of his claims and how they compare with the facts:

thought with this administration we were going to get our coalition partners to be on equal footing with us? Officials in Brussels says Obama will be asking Nato allies to provide up to 10,000 extra troops. Asking? How about a demand… and if you don’t we pull out and you all can fight this stinking war yourselves! The US currently has 68,000 troops in Afghanistan, with foreign forces overall totalling more than 100,000. The additional American soldiers are expected to focus on tackling the Taliban in volatile southern and eastern Afghanistan. A senior Pentagon official said the new troops will...

President Obama will hold a news conference Tuesday to announce his decision on Afghanistan. That will be a full 90 days after the general of his own choosing demanded 40,000 troops be sent to Afghanistan for the safety of the soldiers there now. By sending more troops, the President will fulfill a promise he repeated many times during the campaign. For example, July 20, 2008 he said that Afghanistan’s situation was “urgent” and that he would immediately send at least 30,000 troops “immediately” if he could. (see post.) No matter which way the President turns, this war is trouble for...