Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow
Monday January 23, 2006 The Guardian The Russian security service, the FSB, last night named as spies four employees of the British embassy in Moscow, showing them on state television allegedly collecting intelligence using hi-tech gadgets and funding non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
It marks the Putin administration's most bold attempt to expose western intelligence work in Russia. The FSB caught the unit late last year, a documentary on state-run Rossiya TV reported. An FSB spokesman confirmed to the Guardian that his agency had accused the four men of being spies. "They have not been arrested. How could we? They are all diplomats." He declined to say what information they had tried to acquire. "They used hi-tech, new gadgets to communicate with [Russian] agents, with citizens of another country who gather intelligence." |
Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow
Monday January 23, 2006 The Guardian Georgia's president, Mikhail Saakashvili, accused Russia of sabotage and "outrageous blackmail" yesterday after explosions cut off gas supplies from his country's energy-rich neighbour.
Two simultaneous explosions at 3am yesterday cut through both tubes of a gas pipeline just on the Russian side of the border with Georgia. Another blast struck an important electricity pylon nearby nine hours later. The three blasts left Georgia with limited supplies of Russian gas for heating. It also meant Georgia could only supply about 40% of the electricity demanded by its 3 million inhabitants in temperatures of -5C (23F). |
By Francis Elliott, Whitehall Editor
22 January 2006 Britain's embassies have been told to tighten security after diplomats in Israel suffered the Foreign Office's worst ever fraud. The scale of the scam, which cost the Tel Aviv embassy at least £790,000, is revealed in a report by the official spending watchdog released last week. The National Audit Office report also reveals that the Foreign Office has given up hope of recovering hundreds of thousands of pounds in fraudulently-inflated bonus payments paid to local staff. |
Wednesday January 23, 1901
The Guardian The Lord Mayor of London last night received the following: Osborne, Tuesday, 6.45pm. The Prince of Wales to the Lord Mayor. My beloved mother the Queen has just passed away, surrounded by her children and grandchildren. (Signed) Albert Edward.
Incidents of the day at Osborne [Isle of Wight]. Another day of fear and distress. A change for the worse set in at half-past four this morning, and the physician in attendance summoned his colleagues to the Queen's bedside. |
Brian Whitaker
January 23, 2006 |
AFP
23 Jan 06 An Israeli court heard arguments over the sentencing of Omri Sharon, the son of stricken Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who faces possible prison after pleading guilty to corruption charges.
Attorney General Menahem Mazuz intends to ask the Tel Aviv court to jail Omri to make an example out of the former MP, who belonged to the right-wing Likud party that his father formerly led, judicial sources said Monday. Omri, who pleaded guilty to providing false testimony and falsifying documents, has tried in vain to reach a bargain in which he would be sentenced for a symbolic six-month stint of community work. |
AFP
23 Jan 06 Despite the growing bilateral ties, Shi said neither China nor the Saudis would want to alarm the United States.
"China will be very cautious, it won't buy oilfields in Saudi Arabia. That would make the US very sensitive," Shi said. Beijing also hopes Riyadh will be an ally on Middle East issues, such as Iran's nuclear standoff with the United States, according to Shi. Comment: Yeah, right! The lines are being drawn...
|
Newsmax
16 Jan 06 American ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton has sent a sharply worded letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, threatening to cut U.S. funding to the U.N. if the world body continues to promote anti-Israel events.
Bolton's January 3 letter came in response to an event at the U.N. celebrating the annual "International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People." At the event, which was attended by Annan and other top diplomats, speakers stood before a map of the Middle East that did not show the state of Israel. "Given that we now have a world leader pursuing nuclear weapons who is calling for the state of Israel to be wiped off the map, the issue has even greater salience," Mr. Bolton wrote, referring to Iranian President Mamoud Ahmadinejad’s statement to that effect in October. The organizer of the event was the Division for Palestinian Rights, which received $5,449,600 in the 2004-05 U.N. budget, the New York Sun reports. |
by Cindy Sheehan
22 Jan 06 |
By Charley Reese
AmericanFreePress A new year is a good time to review one of the principles of general semantics. Not only are all things unique, but all things are in a constant process of change. Alfred Korzybski, who is the father of general semantics, devised a learning tactic to help students remember it.
It simply states that cow-1 is not cow-2. Similarly, the United States-2006 is not the same as the United States-1945. Of course, when we actively think about it, we say, “Sure, that’s obvious.” For some reason, though, the human mind tends to forget that and to blur the identity of something by mixing it all up with memories. When I think of the United States, images from my childhood come to mind—the great generation coming home triumphant from the good war; the industrial might of the United States; peaceful, prosperous cities; and a benevolent government that left most people alone. The United States-2006, however, is no longer a great industrial power. The industrial base has been seriously eroded. Government has expanded to gargantuan proportions and can no longer be called benevolent. One survey a few years back showed that a full one-third of the American people fear the government. It has become intrusive and secretive. Franklin Roosevelt managed a truly global war, with 12 million Americans under arms, using a White House staff of about 15 people. There are now thousands on the White House staff, and they can’t even manage a very small war in a little country. Running over poorly trained troops in obsolete equipment is a long way from standing toe to toe with the Wehrmacht or the Japanese Imperial Army. |
Have a question or comment about the Signs page? Discuss it here with the Sign's team.
Contact Webmaster at signs-of-the-times.org
Cassiopaean materials Copyright ©1994-2014 Arkadiusz Jadczyk and Laura Knight-Jadczyk. All rights reserved. "Cassiopaea, Cassiopaean, Cassiopaeans," is a registered trademark of Arkadiusz Jadczyk and Laura Knight-Jadczyk.
Letters addressed to Cassiopaea, Quantum Future School, Ark or Laura, become the property of Arkadiusz Jadczyk and Laura Knight-Jadczyk
Republication and re-dissemination of our copyrighted material in any manner is expressly prohibited without prior written consent.
The Gladiator: John Fitzgerald Kennedy
John F. Kennedy and All Those "isms"
John F. Kennedy, J. Edgar Hoover, Organized Crime and the Global Village
John F. Kennedy and the Psychopathology of Politics
John F. Kennedy and the Pigs of War
John F. Kennedy and the Titans
John F. Kennedy, Oil, and the War on Terror
John F. Kennedy, The Secret Service and Rich, Fascist Texans
Recent Articles:
New in French! La fin du monde tel que nous le connaissons
New in French! Le "fascisme islamique"
New in Arabic! العدوّ الحقيقي
New! Spiritual Predator: Prem Rawat AKA Maharaji - Henry See
Top Secret! Clear Evidence that Flight 77 Hit The Pentagon on 9/11: a Parody - Simon Sackville
Latest Signs of the Times Editorials
Executing Saddam Hussein was an Act of Vandalism
Latest Topics on the Signs Forum |
Signs Monthly News Roundups!
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November
2005
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006