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A typical 2005 Chrysler 300C, fully loaded and in pristine condition, is expected to fetch up to $19,142 on the market, according to Kelley Blue Book, the authority on used-car prices. But what if the vehicle had been leased by none other than the President of the United States of America? An eBay seller is hoping that detail will justify a $980,000 price hike.

Lisa Czibor, a seasoned eBay car seller based near Chicago, is pulling out all the stops to prove that Barack Obama once piloted the grey 300C she has listed for sale on behalf of its owner Tim O’Boyle. She even posted a photograph of the car’s title written in Obama’s name. But the most shocking detail associated with the sale: the price. Owning then-senator Obama’s ride will cost a cool $1 million.

(PHOTOS: Obama’s First Two Years: An Inside View)

The buyer also has to pay in full within 10 days of purchase. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that the auction, which closes February 1, has been live for 11 days with nary a bid.

But Czibor is confident the car is worth the budget-busting sum. And that’s not just because of the car’s low mileage (only 20,800 miles over the course of seven years) or its maxed-out options, including leather seats, a sunroof and a navigation system. Obama put more than 19,000 miles on the car driving around Chicago. And the listing cites a host of other cars with famous owners that have fetched record sums on the auction block, including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s 1977 Peugeot, which sold for $2.35 million (£1.5 million) in March 2011. That money was donated to charity, though, while Obama’s ride was put on the market by a private seller.

Obama got rid of the 300C in July 2007 as he launched his presidential campaign. He traded in the Chrysler – which has a 5.7-liter Hemi V8 engine – for a 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid after taking flak for driving the guzzler while pressuring Detroit to build more fuel-efficient cars.

The 300C was put up for auction on eBay in late 2008 to coincide with Obama’s inauguration. Back then, the minimum bid was $100,000, which seems like a bargain compared to the current price. But O’Boyle, the owner, had to take down the auction because it was overrun by fake bidders who rocketed the price to $100 million, MSNBC reports. Four years later, O’Boyle recruited the help of Czibor, and with a few security measures to ensure that only serious buyers can bid, the car has been listed again. But is the famous former owner enough to justify a 5,000% markup? It doesn’t even get good gas mileage, after all.

PHOTOS: Barack Obama: The Best TIME Photographs

@ http://newsfeed.time.com

LOS ANGELES (AP) — When Facebook makes its long-expected debut as a public company this spring, the social-networking company will likely vault into the ranks of the largest public companies in the world, alongside McDonald’s, Amazon.com and Bank of America.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Facebook is preparing to file initial paperwork for an offering that could raise as much as $10 billion and value the company at $75 billion to $100 billion. The filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission could come as early as Wednesday, with an initial public offering of stock in three or four months.

The targeted amount would slot it among the world’s 25 largest IPOs, although as recently as November 2010, General Motors raised $15.8 billion when it shed majority control by the U.S. government.

The IPOs of 14 companies would rank higher than Facebook’s, according to investment adviser Renaissance Capital. Among them were Visa Inc.’s $17.9 billion IPO in March 2008, the largest for a U.S. company, and world-topper Agricultural Bank of China Ltd., which raised $19.3 billion in July 2010, not including extra shares issued to meet demand.

Facebook spokesman Larry Wu said the company will not comment on IPO-related speculation. The Journal had cited unnamed people familiar with the matter.

The Journal also said that Facebook was close to picking Morgan Stanley as the lead underwriter, which would be a setback for rival Goldman Sachs. Both declined comment to The Associated Press.

The buzz surrounding an outsized haul for Facebook’s founders, employees and early investors remains a hopeful sign for capital markets following a deep recession. At the reported price, Facebook’s IPO would be the biggest for a U.S. Internet company ever — topping the debut of one of its main rivals, Google Inc.

“We are expecting 2012 to be a year of recovery for the IPO market led by the Facebook IPO,” said Kathy Smith, Renaissance Capital’s principal.

The event will follow a string of tepid debuts by technology startups including social game maker Zynga and discount advertiser Groupon. The stocks of both companies are just pennies above their offering prices in December and November respectively. Zynga’s stock fell 5 percent below the IPO price on its first day of trading.

Facebook’s will be the most anticipated tech IPO since Google went public in August 2004. Not including shares sold by early investors, the Internet search giant raised $1.2 billion and grabbed a market value of $23 billion, the biggest so far for a U.S. Internet company. The IPO raised $1.9 billion, including shares sold by early investors and extra stock issued to meet the heavy demand. It’s not known whether Facebook’s $10 billion target includes shares owned by early investors.

Facebook’s reported valuation of $75 billion to $100 billion compares with about $100 billion for McDonald’s Corp., $90 billion for Citigroup Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. and $75 billion for Bank of America Corp. It would exceed the market cap of $55 billion for Hewlett-Packard Co., one of the world’s largest technology companies by revenue.

Both Facebook and Google earn most of their money from advertising and are now competing to gain as much information as possible about their users to help advertisers target niche audiences.

According to eMarketer, Facebook is expected to grow its share of the U.S. display ad market to about 20 percent this year from 16 percent in 2011, above second-ranked Yahoo’s expected share of about 13 percent. For overall online ad revenue, Facebook is seen grabbing just 8 percent of the market this year, compared with 45 percent for Google.

EMarketer estimates that Facebook’s ad revenue will grow 52 percent to $5.78 billion this year and will reach $7 billion in 2013.

Despite presumably topping Google’s public launch, Facebook spent more time growing behind the veil of private ownership than its rival.

Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his college roommates in 2004 and is debuting on stock markets in its eighth year. Google’s IPO came six years after being founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. When Google turned eight in August 2006, its market cap was roughly $116 billion. Today, the company is worth nearly $190 billion — down from a peak of about $235 billion in November 2007.

Investors may be asked to bet heavily on the belief that Facebook will continue to revolutionize the way people communicate around the globe. Even with Facebook’s heady growth rate, Google had ad revenue last year of more than five times what Facebook is expected to get in 2013. Yet it is Google that is mimicking Facebook in building a rival social network called Plus.

“There’s the general feeling that Facebook might be the future of the way the Internet works,” said eMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson.

Zuckerberg, 27, is already worth $17.5 billion, based on the latest estimates from Forbes magazine. Most of that wealth is drawn from the value of Facebook shares that have traded among a small universe of well-heeled investors that buy stakes in companies before they go public.

As the company gauges public demand for its stock, the number of shares offered and the price asked could change significantly. Groupon had to refile its securities paperwork repeatedly as regulators questioned some of its accounting methods. Even Google took in less than it hoped as people shunned an unorthodox auction-based offering.

John Fitzgibbon Jr., publisher of IPOScoop.com, said it’s too early to get excited.

“Until they actually put the ink on the paper and push it across the desk of the SEC, it’s all speculation,” he said.

The possible filing next week isn’t all that surprising.

Federal rules require companies with at least $10 million in assets and more than 500 shareholders to disclose its quarterly financial results and other details. The reporting requirement kicks in 120 days after the fiscal year in which a company exceeds the shareholder threshold for the first time.

Facebook’s fiscal year ends Dec. 31, so it has until late April 2012 to comply with this requirement, having hit the 500-shareholder threshold last year. Because it typically takes three or four months after filing paperwork to issue the IPO, a Wednesday filing would allow it to meet the deadline. If it happens in May, it could become a lucrative birthday gift for Zuckerberg, who will turn 28 that month.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

MOSCOW — Russia’s defiance of international efforts to end Syrian President Bashar Assad’s crackdown on protests is rooted in a calculation that it can keep a Mideast presence by propping up its last remaining ally in the region – and has nothing to lose if it fails.

The Kremlin has put itself in conflict with the West as it shields Assad’s regime from United Nations sanctions and continues to provide it with weapons even as others impose arms embargoes.

But Moscow’s relations with Washington are already strained amid controversy over U.S. missile defense plans and other disputes. And Prime Minister Vladimir Putin seems eager to defy the U.S. as he campaigns to reclaim the presidency in March elections.

“It would make no sense for Russia to drop its support for Assad,” said Ruslan Pukhov, head of the independent Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies. “He is Russia’s last remaining ally in the Middle East, allowing it to preserve some influence in the region.”

Moscow may also hope that Assad can hang on to power with its help and repay Moscow with more weapons contracts and other lucrative deals.

And observers note that even as it has nothing to lose from backing Assad, it has nothing to gain from switching course and supporting the opposition.

“Russia has crossed the Rubicon,” said Igor Korotchenko, head of the Center for Analysis of Global Weapons Trade.

He said Russia will always be marked as the patron of the Assad regime regardless of the conflict’s outcome, so there’s little incentive to build bridges with the protesters. The U.N. estimates that more than 5,400 people have been killed since the uprising began in March.

“Russia will be seen as the dictator’s ally. If Assad’s regime is driven from power, it will mean an end to Russia’s presence,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the magazine Russia in Global Affairs.

Syria has been Moscow’s top ally in the Middle East since Soviet times, when it was led by the incumbent’s father, Hafez Assad. The Kremlin saw it as a bulwark for countering U.S. influence in the region and heavily armed Syria against Israel.

While Russia’s relations with Israel have improved greatly since the Soviet collapse, ties with Damascus helped Russia retain its clout as a member of the Quartet of international mediators trying to negotiate peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

After Bashar Assad succeeded his father in 2000, Russia sought to boost ties by agreeing to annul 73 percent of Syria’s Soviet-era debt. In the mid-2000s, Putin said Russia would re-establish its place in the Mideast via “the Syria route.”

Syria’s port of Tartus is now the only naval base Russia has outside the former Soviet Union. A Russian navy squadron made a call there this month in what was seen by many as a show of support for Assad.

For decades, Syria has been a major customer for the Russian arms industries, buying billions of dollars’ worth of combat jets, missiles, tanks and other heavy weapons. And unlike some other nations, such as Venezuela, which obtained Russian weapons on Kremlin loans, Assad’s regime paid cash.

The respected newspaper Kommersant reported this week that Syria has ordered 36 Yak-130 combat jets worth $550 million. The deal, which officials wouldn’t confirm or deny, may signal preparations for even bigger purchases of combat planes.

Korotchenko said Syria needs the jets to train its pilots to fly the advanced MiG-29M or MiG-35 fighter jets it wants to purchase: “It’s a precursor of future deals.”

Korotchenko said Syria’s importance as a leading importer of Russian weapons in the region grew after the loss of the lucrative Iraqi and Libyan markets.

Russia, whose abstention in a U.N. vote cleared the way for military intervention in Libya, later voiced frustration with what it described as a disproportional use of force by NATO.

The Kremlin has vowed not to allow a replay of the Libyan strategy in Syria, warning that it would block any U.N. resolution on Syria lacking a clear ban on any foreign military interference.

Moscow accuses the West of turning a blind eye to shipments of weapons to the Syrian opposition and warns it won’t be bound by Western sanctions.

Earlier this month, a Syria-bound Russian ship allegedly carrying tons of munitions was stopped by officials in Cyprus, an EU member, who said it was violating an EU arms embargo. The ship’s captain promised to head to Turkey but then made a dash to Syria.

Asked about the ship, Russia’s foreign minister bluntly responded that Moscow owes neither explanation nor apology to anyone because it has broken no international rules.

Nonetheless, Moscow has shown restraint in its arms trade with Damascus, avoiding the sales of weapons that could significantly tilt the military balance in the region.

In one example, the Kremlin has turned down Damascus’ requests for truck-mounted Iskander missiles that can hit ground targets 280 kilometers (175 miles) away with deadly precision. While the sale of such missiles wouldn’t be banned under any international agreements, Moscow has apparently heeded strong U.S. and Israeli objections to such a deal.

Moscow also has stonewalled Damascus’ request for the advanced S-300 air defense missile system, only agreeing to sell short-range ground-to-air missiles.

“Russia has taken a very careful and cautious stance on contracts with Syria,” Korotchenko said.

The most powerful Russian weapon reportedly delivered to Syria is the Bastion anti-ship missile complex intended to protect its coast. The Bastion is armed with supersonic Yakhont cruise missiles that can sink any warship at a range of 300 kilometers (186 miles) and are extremely difficult to intercept, providing a strong deterrent against any attack from the sea.

Observers in Moscow said that Russia can do little else to help Assad. The chief of the Russian upper house’s foreign affairs committee, Mikhail Margelov, openly acknowledged that this week, saying that Russia has “exhausted its arsenal” of means to support Syria by protecting it from the U.N. sanctions.

Lukyanov said Russia has made it clear it would block any attempts to give U.N. cover to any foreign military intervention in Syria, but wouldn’t be able to prevent Syria’s neighbors from mounting such action.

“Russia realizes that it has limited opportunities and can’t play a decisive role,” he said.

Pukhov also predicted that Russia wouldn’t take any stronger moves in support for Damascus.

“Going further would mean an open confrontation with the West, and Russia doesn’t need that,” he said.

____

Elizabeth A. Kennedy contributed from Beirut.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Like ·  · January 24 at 9:58pm

British scientists have successfully ‘grown’ the three main types of cells that make up the walls of a blood vessel – a breakthrough that could revolutionise treatment for conditions such as heart disease and strokes.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge, funded by the Wellcome Trust, successfully created blood vessels in the laboratory following a four-year study using patients’ own skin cells to manufacture different types of vascular smooth muscle cells.

Scientists began by studying pluripotent stem cells. These are early biological cells that can transform into other cell types and renew themselves to produce more stem cells.

They discovered methods of turning the stem cells into various types of vascular smooth muscle cells, which help form blood vessels after being injected into mice.

The study, published in the Nature Biotechnology, found that their technique was 90% effective during tests and would be suitable for producing blood vessels on a wider scale. This means the so-called ‘test tube’ treatment could be used for kidney dialysis and injury repair.

Researchers also claim they could potentially create blood vessels for heart surgeons to use during risky heart bypass surgery.

They are hopeful that the findings could pave the way for an effective treatment for life-threatening diseases such as heart attacks and strokes.

“This research represents an important step towards being able to generate the right kind of smooth muscle cells to help construct these new blood vessels,” says Dr Sanjay Sinha, from the study, as reported by the Telegraph.

“We are very excited about its potential. They could be used to build an artificial artery in a test tube or the stem cells could be injected straight into the heart and they could form within it.”

Heart specialists and charities are also feeling hopeful from these recent study results.

Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, told The Huffington Post: “This is a significant technological advance as they have managed to grow more types of cells and there is the potential to scale it up.

“Growing blood vessels would mean they could be used off-the-shelf and put into patients who need bypasses in the leg and the heart which is currently done using their own veins or arteries, and not all patients have suitable vessels.”

This isn’t the first time blood vessels have been grown on a lab, as American scientists did it for the first time in June 2011. However, the Cambridge researchers are the first to grow multiple blood vessels that could have more medical uses.

It is estimated that in Britain about one in three deaths are caused by a heart attack and more than 28,000 people in the UK undergo heart bypass surgery.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

सोल , माघ १६ – दक्षिण कोरियाली सरकारले आफ्नो शैक्षिक पाठ्यपुस्तकमा विश्व शान्तिका अग्रदूत भगवान गौतम बुद्धको जन्मस्थल सम्बन्धी भ्रमलाई २०१३ बाट सच्याउने भएको छ ।

कोरियाली परराष्ट्र मन्त्रालयका एक अधिकारीले सोलस्थित नेपाली राजदूतावासलाई सोमबार भ्रम सच्याउने जानकारी गराए । ‘सन् २०१२ का लागि  पाठ्य पुस्तक मुद्रण भइसकेकाले आउँदो संस्करणबाट सुधार गरिने जानकारी प्राप्त भएको छ,’ ती अधिकारीको भनाइ उद्यृत गर्दै कार्यवाहक नेपाली  राजदूत राजाराम बर्तौलाले ईकान्तिपुरसित भने ।

कोरियाको पाठ्य पुस्तकमा बुद्धको जन्मस्थानबारे उल्लेख गरिएको छ । ती मध्ये एउटा पाठ्यपुस्तकमा बुद्धको जन्मस्थल भारत भनि उल्लेख छ भने अर्को पाठ्यपुस्तकमा  बुद्धको जन्म  देखाइएको नक्सामा भारत देखाइएको छ । भ्रम सच्याउन कोरियाली सरकारले गरेको निर्णयप्रति दूतावासले स्वागत गरेको छ ।

गत अक्टोबर २४ को कान्तिपुर दैनिकमा ‘बुद्धबारे भ्रम’ सम्बन्धी समाचार पढेपछि गत डिसेम्बर १९मा कोरियाका लागि तत्कालीन नेपाली राजदूत कमलप्रसाद कोइरालाले यहाँका राष्ट्रपति ली म्यङ बाकलाई बुद्ध सम्बन्धी भ्रमहरु पाठ्यपुस्तकहरुमा सच्याई दिन आग्रह गर्दै चार पृष्ठ लामो पत्र लेखेका थिए ।

बुद्धबारे भ्रमलाई सच्याईदिन राष्ट्रपति ली म्यङ बाकलाई लेखिएको पत्रबारे डिसेम्बर २७ मा कोरियाली पत्रकार पार्क सी सोले कोरिया टाइम्सको अनलाइन संसकरणमा ‘सोल मुभ्स टु कन्र्फम बुद्धज बर्थ प्लेस’ शीर्षकमा लामो समाचार लेख्दै यसबारे कोरियन सरकार गम्भीर भएको उल्लेख गरेका थिए भने केहि दिन अघिमात्र कोरियाली पत्रकारहरको प्रश्नको जवाफ दिदै काबा राजदूत बर्तौलाले भगवान बुद्धको जन्मस्थल नेपालको लुम्बिनी नै भएको बताउँदै लुम्बीनी भ्रमण बर्ष २०१२ को अवसरमा भ्रमण गर्न अनुरोध गरेका थिए ।

कोरियाली निम्न माध्यमिक विध्यालयको ‘ईथिक्स पार्टवान’को ७७ पेजमा भारतको खापिला क्यास्टलमा बुद्धको जन्म भएको उल्लेख छ भने माध्यमिक विध्यालयको ‘वर्ल्ड हिस्टोरी’ नामक पुस्तकमा बुद्धको जन्मस्थलबारे दिइएको नक्सामा भारत देखाइएको छ ।

सरकारी पाठ्य पुस्तकमा मात्र होइन कोरियाका विभिन्न गुम्बाका भिक्षुहरुद्धारा लेखिएको पुस्तकहरुमा समेत बुद्धबारे अनेकौ भ्रमहरु रहेका छन् । हे इन्सा नामक गुम्बाका भिक्षु पार्क छे छलले ‘बुद्ध शाक्य मुनि’ शीर्षकको पुस्तक लेख्न खोजेका हुन् तर ‘बुल्था सक्का मोनी’ लेखेका छन् । यसै पुस्तकको पेज न २६ २७ मा बुद्ध भारतको कपिलबस्तुमा जन्मिएको र त्यो अहिले नेपालमा पर्छ भनेर उल्लेख गरिएको छ । यो पुस्तक भरि नै ‘बुद्ध’ शब्दको सट्टा ‘बुल्था’ शब्द प्रयोग गरिएको छ ।

त्यसरी नै पूर्व उद्घोषिका ली ह्यन जङद्वारा लेखिएको बुद्ध शिक्षा र संस्कृति नामक पुस्तकको पेज नं ८३ मा कपिलबस्तु भारतको मध्य भागमा पर्छ जहाँ भगवान बुद्ध जन्मिएका थिए भनेर उल्लेख गरिएको छ । गौतम बुद्धको जन्म जयन्तीको उपलक्षमा गत मे १० मा वितरण गरिएको पुस्तक ‘सेलेब्रेसन कमिटी फर बुद्धिष्ट बर्थ डे’ नामक पुस्तकको पेज नं ६६ मा पनि  ‘वीच सिम्बोलिज लुम्बिनी गार्डेन इन इंडिया ह्वेर द बुद्ध वाज बोर्न’ भनेर लेखिएको छ ।

‘बुछनीम व्ही सेङऐ’ अर्थात् ‘बुद्धको जिवनी’ शिर्षकमा मात्र यहाँका एक्काइस वटा प्रकाशन संस्थाहरुले बुद्धको जिवनबृतिबारे पुस्तकहरु प्रकाशन गरेका छन् । ती पुस्तकहरुमा बुद्धको प्रसंगअघि तत्कालीन भारतको विविध पक्षबारे उल्लेख गरेका छन् ।

कोरिया सरकारले बुद्ध सम्बन्धी भ्रम सच्याउने | मुख्य समाचार | ekantipur.com.

Scientists at the University of North Carolina tested doses of ultrasound waves on rats and found they “significantly reduced” the number of sperm-producing cells and sperm levels.

The equivalent outcome would result in reversible infertility in humans but far more tests are required before it could be made available as a male contraceptive treatment.

Study leader Dr James Tsuruta, from the University said: “Unlike humans, rats remain fertile even with extremely low sperm counts.

“However, our non-invasive ultrasound treatment reduced sperm reserves in rats far below levels normally seen in fertile men.

“Further studies are required to determine how long the contraceptive effect lasts and if it is safe to use multiple times.”

The treatment was most effective when the rats were given two 15-minute doses delivered two days apart through warm salt water, with the testes at a temperature of 37C.

Following the treatment, the sperm count of the rats dropped to below 10m sperm per millilitre. As men are considered to be “sub-fertile” when their sperm count falls below 15m sperm per millilitre, the experiment may offer a promising future for male contraception.

Dr Tsuruta’s team found that rotating a three megahertz high frequency ultrasound beam around rats’ testes wiped out the germ cells that produce sperm.

The ultrasound method of sperm reduction was first trialled in the 1970s. Several prostate cancer patients who were due to have their testicles removed underwent the treatment, which resulted in a “dramatic loss of germ cells”.

“These men reported that the procedure was pain-free, only creating a gentle feeling of warmth,” the authors said in the journal Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology.

The scientists wrote: “The non-invasive nature of ultrasound and its efficacy in reducingsperm count make therapeutic ultrasound a promising candidate for a male contraceptive.

“Our results clearly show that therapeutic ultrasound treatment depleted developing germ cells from the testis and subsequently decreased the size of sperm reserves.”

@Huffington Post

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s young new leader gets rock star treatment when he visits his troops – just as his father did. But while the late Kim Jong Il mostly stayed aloof in dark shades, his son holds hands and hugs his soldiers.

Kim Jong Un seems to want to bond with his country’s people.

The style harkens back to Kim Il Sung, his grandfather and revered founder of the country and ruling dynasty, and may reflect an attempt to turn a corner on the periods of hardship and famine under Kim Jong Il, analysts say. Kim Il Sung’s image as a daring young general fighting Japanese colonial troops is powerfully engraved in the minds of North Koreans.

Cheers, applause and calls of “Hurrah!” greet Kim Jong Un as he examines the heating systems of soldiers’ quarters, the pressure of their water faucets, the books stacked in their libraries – even the taste of their food.

The North Korean state media reports and video footage of such “guidance visits” provide rare windows into the personalities of North Korea’s leaders for outsiders and for the country’s people alike. Few North Koreans, for instance, even knew what the elder Kim’s voice sounded like, analysts say, despite his ruling for 17 years until his death Dec. 17.

In visits made so far by Kim Jong Un, believed to be in his late 20s, North Korea specialists have detected more warmth in his approach than the dour tours made in recent years by Kim Jong Il.

The younger Kim may be trying to emulate Kim Il Sung and move away from his father, who ruled during a famine in the mid- to late-1990s that killed hundreds of thousands, said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea professor at Seoul’s Dongguk University. North Korea also has faced international condemnation and sanctions for its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

“He’ll try to look comfortable among the masses. He’ll try to form an intimacy with the people, perhaps more than his father did,” Koh said.

Imitating Kim Il Sung is a “positive for Kim Jong Un, because memories of his father Kim Jong Il aren’t very good among ordinary people,” Koh said. “People fondly remember the days of Kim Il Sung.”

Kim Il Sung often was pictured surrounded by children, and Kim Jong Un resurrected that image during a recent visit to the Mangyongdae Revolutionary School.

As children in military uniforms cheered and clapped, a documentary on state TV showed Kim embracing one child’s face with his hands. During lunch, Kim patted students in encouragement and watched with a grin as two women ladled out soup for students; he poured a drop of sauce on his thumb so he could taste it.

His main emphasis, however, has been on military posts – with a half dozen such visits since the New Year. They seek to show citizens that their new leader is firmly in command of the country’s most important institution, its 1.2 million-strong military, and that he is loved and respected by young troops and elderly generals alike.

While Kim Jong Il had two decades to prepare for leadership, Kim Jong Un was only publicly unveiled as heir in 2010, and outside observers have raised doubts about Kim Jong Un’s ability to lead a country locked in a nuclear standoff with its neighbors and Washington and with a history of attacking South Korea.

Animosity is still high between the Koreas. Six decades after the Korean War, the peninsula remains in a state of war because the 1950-53 conflict ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea to deter potential North Korean aggression.

Bloodshed spiked in 2010 when a South Korean warship exploded in disputed waters, killing 46. South Korea said the North torpedoed the warship; the North denied the allegation. North Korea also attacked a front-line South Korean island, killing four.

Kim Jong Un clearly has made attempts to appear active and engaged with his soldiers, and this “helps raise troops’ morale and his profile,” said Kim Yeon-su, a North Korea expert at Korea National Defense University. “North Korea is telling its people that Kim Jong Un is capable of doing all these military activities himself.”

Kim Jong Un’s first reported military visit after his father’s death came on New Year’s Day. He appeared at ease, laughing and clapping, pulling officers close to give them words of advice, inspecting bunks and testing water faucets.

State television has also played a documentary on Kim Jong Un meant to highlight his military experience, showing him in the cockpit of a tank, galloping by on horseback and poring over documents at night.

Despite his youth, Kim Jong Un often plays the part of a solicitous father during his meticulously documented military tours.

Wearing a dark overcoat similar to one Kim Il Sung favored as a young man or a light-colored parka like the one Kim Jong Il wore, he exchanges handshakes with cheering soldiers and takes group photos, often holding hands with the officers on either side of him.

He asks about the soldiers’ warmth, their eating and sleeping arrangements, listens with apparent enjoyment to their musical performances, observes their “militant spirit of training,” offers guidance to officers and takes “care of the soldiers’ living as their real father would do,” according to state media.

He even tastes their bean paste.

___

Associated Press writer Sam Kim contributed to this report from Seoul. Follow on Twitter: twitter.com/samkim_ap and twitter.com/APklug.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Like ·  · January 6 at 11:29am

JOEL SAGET / AFP / GETTY IMAGES French soldiers from the 1st Infantry Regiment return to the Nijrab FOB (Forward Operating Base) military base in Tora, in the Surobi province in Afghanistan, on Dec. 31, 2011.

So it turns out France is indeed leaving Afghanistan earlier than planned, and will seek to bring the last of its current 3,900 troops home by the end of 2013. Despite signs earlier in the week from French government officials indicating no premature pullout was in the works (and stories like mine explaining why that was the case), French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday announced he’d draw French troops down a year ahead of the current 2014 NATO departure date—and will moreover urge Alliance partners to replicate France’s stepped-up hand-over of security duties to Afghan forces.

Sarkozy’s decision came after a meeting with visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai. It also occurred one week after Sarkozy threatened to pull French forces from Afghanistan after four unarmed French troopers were gunned down in a fortified base by an allied Afghan army soldier. Infuriated at those killings—which came less than a month after two other French soldiers were killed by presumably friendly Afghan forces—Sarkozy suspended training of and joint patrols with Afghan units. He also said he’d consider withdrawing France’s entire contingent rapidly if the risk from  Afghan allies couldn’t be diminished. In making their comments in Paris Friday, Karzai and Sarkozy sought to allay fears that moves were afoot to bring the NATO operation to an end before its current 2014 deadline. But they also said the ability and numbers of Afghan forces had increased to the point where they could now assume responsibility for the country’s security ahead of the current NATO time table.

In making the decision, Sarkozy seemed to strike a balance between his earlier warning—rapid and full withdrawal—and indications members of his cabinet had given during the week that there was no question of France advancing its pullout ahead of NATO’s plans. He also said Washington had been informed before the French move, and that Paris would formally put the idea of an advanced collective withdrawal to NATO partners at a summit in February.

“It’s important that you understand that this agreement was done with President Karzai and with our allies in an organized and reasonable manner,” Sarkozy said, stressing the studied and calm manner in which the phased-in hand-over process is to take place. “President Karzai has assured us that Kapisa province where the French contingent is based will pass under Afghan responsibility from March.”

Sarkozy also said the suspension in French training and joint patrols with Afghan troops would resume after a week’s pause—though Le Monde has reported at least some of those collective operations continued despite the president’s order. The paper has also run two stories since Sarkozy’s early withdrawal warning citing French military officials saying a significantly stepped up pullout would be difficult and very costly to organize. Evidently those obstacles weren’t large enough to prevent Sarkozy from making this move—the logic of which he’ll now try to impress upon NATO allies. Though American reaction to the announcement was sympathetic and even supportive of France and its efforts in Afghanistan till now, some reports aired both resentment by Western officials about how the early French departure will effect the overall international operation—and skepticism at Paris’ ability to convince the entire alliance to change its plans.

As earlier reported, there was a significant amount of scoffing at Sarkozy’s early pullout warning, the critics calling it a non-starter the president was using as a ploy to reconnect with voters ahead of his expected but uphill re-election bid. That suspicion now appears unfounded, though there are indications his decision could lift his depressed polling numbers a bit. A new French poll shows fully 84% of respondents saying they support a full pullout by the end of this year. Sarkozy says that would be impossible and irresponsible—perhaps in part due to the fact that the Socialist candidate (and current front-runner in the polls) backs an end-of-2012 deadline.

@Global Spin

This US Air Force photo shows weapon specialistsas they look on as a mock up of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator sits in bomb bay of the B-2 weapons load trainer (AFP Photo)

Having considered the toughness of the rock-hidden Iranian nuclear facilities, America’s Nutcracker military command has decided to save jaw and develop a new conventional superbomb, since the US still plans to do the job in Iran without nukes.

Washington has once again reminded Tehran that it has the military capability to crack Iranian hard-target nuclear sites with conventional weapons, leaking to the Wall Street Journal plans to develop an even more effective bunker-buster bomb.

The American military is no longer in love with the most powerful non-nuclear weapon it possesses, the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), a 13,600-kilogram mammoth capable of penetrating deep underground facilities.

The Pentagon paid around $330 million to Boeing to develop and produce 20 MOP bombs, specially developed to destroy bunkers in countries like Iran and North Korea.

Now, the Defense Department intends to spend another $82 million, to make those bombs even more effective.

An MOP is capable of penetrating 60 meters of reinforced concrete or 38 meters of hard rock, delivering 2,700 kg of explosives deep down, to reliably demolish anything manmade. Yet, in the case of Iran’s Persian mountains, even this doesn’t seem enough.

In hiding its nuclear work, Tehran clearly considered the experience of Saddam Hussein and Bashar Assad, who lost their research nuclear reactors in 1981 and 2007 respectively.

Iranians really had to turn into fairytale dwarves, digging deep into the mountains but with a very un-fairytale intention: not to find something precious, but to safely hide their nuclear program.

In our times, when bombing a sovereign state into Stone Age is an easy walk, as we see from Libya’s example, such a precautionary measure does not appear superfluous.

But this is exactly what makes American generals nervous – they need 100% guarantees that the targets they cannot destroy do not exist, particularly in Iran.

For example, military experts are not sure an MOP can get to Iran’s Fordo enrichment plant facility that has 60 meters of hard rock mountain above it.

At the moment, only a tactical nuclear weapon of several dozen kilotons could guarantee the site’s elimination.

“Once things go into the mountain, then really you have to have something that takes the mountain off,” an unnamed US military official is reported to have said.

But no, using nukes would set a precedent for all the other proud owners of atomic arms worldwide. Countries like China, North Korea and – God forbid – Russia would get a free hand to blindside America with nukes at the breath of suspicion.

The last time the US used nuclear weapons against a civilian population was in Japan in 1945, and that fact is still well-remembered, and not just in Japan.

That is why today, the American military lays its hopes on conventional explosives with expanded capabilities, putting tactical nukes by for a rainy day.

And just in case you were wondering, none of the abovementioned has anything to do with Israel. Though Tel-Aviv has never tried out its almost proven nuclear arsenal on anybody, they rather like saber-rattling, saying they would protect the Jewish state at any cost – and preemptively.

Their fingers are apparently itching on the trigger switch, in forgetfulness that the country starting a war is not necessarily the one that finishes it.

@RT