It all started with revelations of an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. that seemed to come straight from a Jim Lehrer novel or a George Clooney movie.
Suspect Mansour Arbabsiar allegedly told a DEA informant he thought was a conduit to a Mexican drug cartel that he wanted to bomb a restaurant that Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir frequented with hopes of massive collateral damage that would also include DC’s power players.
Speculation of the chattering classes instantly surmised that the potential target could be Café Milano, the Georgetown version of L.A.’s The Ivy, a see-and-be-seen eatery of Washington’s political elite and visiting celebrity-types in town to “celebvocate” on behalf of their latest cause.
Just this past Wednesday the American “hikers” -- Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd, and Joshua Fattal -- detained by Iran for “spying” were spotted feasting there on vegetarian pasta as part of their “thank you” tour to pols for aiding in their release. Café Milano should consider Iranian-inspired cuisine.
It’s been a while since DC was faced with a John le Carre plotline. America’s state-based enemies -- even the total nut jobs -- realize it’s not in their interest to risk retribution for violating an understood protocol. You got an issue? Take ‘em out somewhere else.
One would have to go back to 1976, when agents of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet set off a bomb in the car of dissident Marco Orlando Letelier del Solar, killing him and his assistant in the heart of Embassy Row on Massachusetts Avenue’s Sheridan Circle.
Despite the sparing of Washington in actual assassination plots, it was a reminder that the only folks that may outnumber lawyers in DC are spies. That Svetlana from the “Baltic Friendship Council;” an attaché from any embassy; the visiting fellow to the foreign policy think tank; the reporter of some obscure Asian trade journal; any one of them could be a spy.
Yet, unlike James Bond, most spies in DC have a pretty mundane role. Rather than the jet-setting operative lifestyle requisite with state-of-the art eavesdropping technology and wads of cash to induce betrayal, most spies are paper sniffers and number crunchers.
Information comes not from the donning of a tuxedo and sipped champagne at the embassy reception, but from poring over every available document one can find to glean hints and then seek confirmation. Kinda like a journalist or a financial analyst, actually, just with a different master.
One delicious irony of this latest diplomatic ado was its tie-in to the increasing public outrage over banks, embodied by all the “Occupy” movements. The Justice Department’s smoking gun was two wire transfers of $50,000 each from Iran to a U.S. bank for Arbabsiar to fund his plot. Well, it was actually two wire transfers of $49,960. The bank had to take its $40 cut for pushing a button.
While one side of DC was basking in its saga of international intrigue, DC residents were reminded again that even though we are at the center of the political universe, our local officials can be some of your more egregious putzes.
AAA Mid-Atlantic officials alerted the media to a spate of arrests by DC Police for folks that had expired tags and car registrations, and even worse, these folks being cuffed and hauled to the pokey were being mirandized in Ward 3, Washington’s affluent and predominately white section. (The law, which has been on the books since the crack era to offer an additional tool against drug dealers, was never decried in the last three decades.)
The food writer, the mom on her way to pick up her kid at school, and the naval officer picking up take-out all served as symbols of police excess. The mom’s case was particularly troubling as police reportedly told her that the child riding in the car would be sent to a social services agency until her release. You want to put the fear of God into any Washingtonian, just mouth “Child Services” .
The DC Police’s explanation? “MPD officers are sworn to enforce the laws that are on the books . If you have concerns, please address them with the legislators,” its spokeswoman said. Legislators' reply? Where’s your freakin’ use of discretion? Just because you “may” does not mean you “must.”
DC’s zealous use of “rules and regulations,” while more serious, was no less incredulous than our neighbors to the West in Fairfax County, VA. There, Mark Grapin, a member of the Army National Guard about to be shipped out again to Iraq, was ordered to dismantle a tree house he had built for his kids because it violated zoning ordinances.
This after he checked with the county building department and was told he would not need a permit for the tree house. After two anonymous complaints, however, the county stepped in citing “Section 10-104 (12C)” of the country zoning code. Luckily, after being shamed by the exposure of its lunacy, the Fairfax County Board of Zoning Appeals will reconsider its 4-3 vote in support of making 11 and 9 year old boys cry.
John Kennedy once infamously described Washington a perfect combination of “northern charm and southern efficiency.” Yet, as the last week has demonstrated, perhaps DC is more appropriately a combination of international parochialism and local sophistication .
]]>It's like the advent of the cell phone, somehow we managed to live without it until we were forced to live with it. Hell, even homeless people have cell phones these days, so who am I to buck the trend?
But could our co-dependency on Facebook be coming to an end this fall? Depends whose side you are on.
Anonymous, a faceless, nameless, ever-evolving online entity, has announced the next target in its war on abusers of free speech and privacy: Facebook.
I first came in contact with Anonymous in 2008 while covering Scientology. Though most of my personal interactions with members have been pleasant, they are definitely dangerous when focused. Anonymous seems to have some kind of hierarchy, though very loose, fluid and difficult to pinpoint. Like a tsunami, they descend on their intended target in an intimidating wave of numbers, overwhelming their opposition, only to disperse just as quickly. Passionate about their beliefs, but quick to move on seems to be their modus operandi.
In an ominous video posted on YouTube, titled "Message from Anonymous: Operation F," a robotic voice details the complaints lodged against Facebook, the social media website used by over 300 million people, including your mother.
According to the video, Facebook is accused of:
...selling its users private data to 'government agencies, and giving clandestine access to information security firms so that they can spy on people from all around the world. Some of these so called whitehat infosec firms are working for authoritarian governments, such as those of Egypt and Syria.
Everything you do on Facebook stays on Facebook regardless of your "privacy" settings, and deleting your account is impossible, even if you "delete" your account, all your personal info stays on Facebook and can be recovered at any time. Changing the privacy settings to make your Facebook account more "private" is also a delusion. Facebook knows more about you than your family.
You cannot hide from the reality in which you, the people of the internet, live in. Facebook is the opposite of the Antisec cause. You are not safe from them nor from any government. One day you will look back on this and realise what we have done here is right, you will thank the rulers of the internet, we are not harming you but saving you..."
You can read the entire manifesto here.
The battle is slated to begin on November 5, 2011, which is the commemoration date in England of the Guy Fawkes Gunpowder Plot. Guy Fawkes is essentially Anonymous' spiritual progenitor. Fawkes was a Catholic crusader and one of 13 conspirators who had plotted to kill King James I of England. Fawkes was caught on the evening of November 5th guarding a stash of gunpowder, which was to be used to blow up Parliament. Fawkes (who was born in York, England and fought for the Spanish Catholics in the Eighty Years War against the Dutch) was tortured over several days and was defiant during the initial days of his captivity.
However, Fawkes' torture was amplified as King James I was pressuring to get the names of his co-conspirators. Eventually Fawkes cracked and named his accomplices (eight in total) all of whom, including Fawkes, were found guilty of treason. On January 31, 1606, Fawkes and three of his co-conspirators were to be hanged, then drawn and quartered. Fawkes was the last of the four to climb the scaffold to be hanged, and instead, jumped to his death to avoiding the ultimate pain and humiliation of his barbaric execution.
So there you have it, a legendary figure who stood against the tyrants of his time, with courage and defiance, who serves as inspiration to a modern group of disobedient civilians who use the Internet to wage war against targets they deem as hostile to freedom of speech, privacy, democracy, and whatever.
Personally, I have no dog in this fight, but I do love a good battle of wits, so count me as one of the global citizens who, with computer in hand, will watch as these two monolithic entities battle it out to the death, or at least until someone gets bored.
November 5, 2011: mark your calendar, Mark Zuckerburg, you have a date with Anonymous.
]]>Such was the case of Madeleine McCann, the little British girl who mysteriously went missing from a vacation resort in Portugal in the spring of 2007. Madeleine, who was three at the time of her disappearance, was napping with her twin siblings in her parents' time share apartment while the parents dined with friends. Taking turns checking on the children, the parents discovered that Madeleine was missing around 10:40 pm on the evening of May 3. Police were immediately notified and began investigating Madeleine's disappearance, working on the theory that she was abducted by either a pedophile ring or an adoption agency. After chasing down several dead-end leads, including accusing the McCanns themselves, the Portuguese police eventually closed the case in 2008, leaving the McCanns to rely on private investigators to search for Madeleine.
However, there are news reports surfacing out of India that a British woman spotted a little girl who closely resembles Madeleine and notified local Indian police who are now investigating. Corroborating the sighting as being a possible lead in the missing girl's case were an American couple who also stated the little girl bore an uncanny resemblance to Madeleine.
A report in the Toronto Sun states that DNA tests are being performed to determine if the little girl, who was spotted with a Belgian man and a French woman, is in fact Madeleine. The couple who were with the little girl have had their passports taken and are being verified as they wait for results of the DNA test.
Parents Gerry and Kate McCann, who have a website set up to help find their daughter, have stated they do not believe the little girl is Madeleine. They are basing this on photographic evidence, but will have wait on DNA for verification - and one can only imagine how disorienting an ordeal like this must be. If in fact this is Madeleine, it will be a tremendous miracle for her to have been found, even with the kind of global outreach the case had, but if it's not Madeleine, then this will have been a horrifying experience, both for the McCanns and for the couple who are under investigation.
Watch this space for updates on the story.
]]>- The alleged offender is virtually a blank sheet for the police. We work with the hypothesis that there may be several people behind the attacks, said Maeland on.Our hearts go out to Norway, and as a proud Norwegian (by marriage) I know this type of violence is very uncharacteristic of the otherwise peaceful nation. There are eerie similarities between this deadly attack and the 1994 Oklahoma bombings here in the U.S -- bringing back horrifying memories of that terror event.
Never been a similar situation in Norway
It was clearly shaken Police Officer who informed the press about the terrorist attack in the city center and the shooting of Utøya Friday night.
- There has never been a similar situation like this in Norway. It is a black day for Norway. This is something we do not have experience from the past, said police director Oystein Maeland Friday night.
The mayor's office told CNN that about 90 people are injured in the terrorist attack on Oslo.
City council leader Stian Berger Røsland will not confirm that figure to NRK as they get slightly different figures from the emergency room, but he suggests that it is not far from the truth.
Arrested and sitting in the interrogation
32 year old Anders Behring Breivik was arrested Friday night and sitting in the interrogation by the police. Breivik's ethnic Norwegian and from Oslo.
Police searched the apartment of the alleged offender Friday night.
ALSO READ: - Should belong to the right extreme environment
According to sources, the TV 2 has talked with, the arrested belong to a right extreme environment in eastern and shall have recorded two weapons in its name: One machine gun and a Glock pistol. He is a member of a frimurerloge.
Police have found a car containing explosives on Utøya. The car belongs to probably the alleged offender.
If you have not been tethered to your computer like the rest of us and have no idea what a LulzSec is, Lulz Security is a prankster hacker group that has claimed responsibility for compromising Sony, CIA, and U.S. Senate websites, among others, in recent weeks. LulzSec consists of six members whose motto is "Laughing at your security since 2011!" and its website, created in June 2011, plays the theme from The Love Boat, while describing itself as "a team of entertainment and security experts that specialize in the production of malicious comedic cybermaterials."
LulzSec tweeted its final release on June 25. With the "50 days of Lulz Statement" LulzSec assumed responsibility for its actions and described its motivation as fueled by promoting the AntiSec (Anti-Security) Movement, which opposes the computer security industry; not just for the lulz. While LulzSec have caused corporate and government security chaos in recent weeks, one particularly endearing statement seemed to describe that there is a message behind the mayhem, afterall:
"For the past 50 days we've been disrupting and exposing corporations, governments, often the general population itself, and quite possibly everything in between, just because we could. All to selflessly entertain others - vanity, fame, recognition, all of these things are shadowed by our desire for that which we all love. The raw, uninterrupted, chaotic thrill of entertainment and anarchy. It's what we all crave, even the seemingly lifeless politicians and emotionless, middle-aged self-titled failures. You are not failures. You have not blown away. You can get what you want and you are worth having it, believe in yourself."
Dazzlepod.com is providing the list of leaked accounts and a search box to check if you are among the LulzSec victims.
]]>On the celeb scene, Chris and Rihanna, Jen and Brad (does anybody else remember the awkwardness of the 2009 Academy Awards? Eesh!), John Mayer and... well, everyone, really... have all made the decision to get involved with people in their fields and have all suffered the awkward aftermath. So it's worth wondering: should two people in the same field really get into a romantic relationship?
Personally, I've dated someone I worked with, broken up, and had to pay a hideously stressful price for my four-month relationship: having to see him each and every damn day. Sadly, that's something you'll have to deal with no matter what line of work you're in. But the thing is, as awkward and undesirable as the aftermath was, like 64% of people who have romanced on company time, I would (cautiously) do it again.
Whether you're a movie starlet or superstar in your field, there are a few guidelines to follow if you decide to pursue an on-the-clock relationship:
Be discreet!!!! Don't hook up at the office. EVER. Also, limit sappy or steamy exchanges to text messages, or else keep them out of the workplace altogether - always assume there is someone monitoring your inter-office communications.
Nix colleague involvement. Do not allow yourself to share all the goings-on in your relationship with your coworkers. Chances are, they not only don't care, but your constant dishing will lose you a measure of respect in their eyes.
NEVER DATE YOUR BOSS! Forbes.com says it best: "From arbitrary firings to rumors of favoritism to unofficially becoming the indentured office servant, sex with the boss is usually a lose-lose proposition." If you think you'd lose your coworkers' respect for sleeping with a colleague, your reputation will really crash when people find out that you've been giving head to the honcho. Just mentally chant "LEWINSKI" until you purge yourself of the urge to woo up the chain of command.
Think ahead. All relationships have similar possible outcomes. But as Forbes.com suggests, ask yourself: "Will the person you're crushing on be a good-natured trouper if things don't work out? Or will they ridicule you at staff meetings and sabotage your projects at every opportunity? If it's the latter, then perhaps you should try fixing them up with the new girl who's been eyeballing your promotion. Hey, what are co-workers for?"
So, get it or forget it? The choice is a personal -- and professional -- one, but 64% of people say they've gotten it and would gladly get after it again. If you decide to side with the majority, be smart, be careful, and have fun... but not too much.
...at least while you're clocked in.
]]>The black and white shots are never before seen pictures of a crashed spy plane and another A-12 super secret spy plane being prepared for radar testing taken in an area of America that even today does not officially exist.
For decades Area 51 has been the stuff of legend, a zone in the American desert - and American psyche - shrouded in mystery and mystique. A place where, if conspiracy theorists are to be believed, the moon landings were staged, where aliens landed and flying saucers witnessed speeding through the clear night sky.
Now, thanks to National Geographic magazine, some of the speculation that has swirled around a place that has been described as 'ground zero' for conspiracy theorists can be put to rest.
Area 51 was a top secret military outpost used in the late 1950s, then the height of the Cold War, about 100 miles outside Las Vegas. Even today the government has refused to acknowledge it ever existed.
Area 51 was created so that U.S. Cold Warriors with the highest security clearances could pursue cutting-edge aeronautical projects away from prying eyes. During the 1950s and '60s Area 51's top-secret OXCART program developed the A-12 as the successor to the U-2 spy plane.
Recently declassified photos, due to be aired Saturday night on the National Geographic channel, give a sense of the work scientists and engineers, all officially sworn to secrecy, undertook at this shadowy establishment.
The bulk of the work involved testing the A-12 spy plane, the precursor to the SR-71 Blackbird. It could fly at 2,200 miles an hour at 80000 feet and take pictures of objects little more than a foot long. Little wonder that reports of flying saucers and eerie fast moving lights in the sky formed a crucial part of the mythology surrounding the super secret facility.
Perhaps more interesting though is that in spite of decades of government denials, the rumours about Area 51 have refused to go away. And rightly so. In the face of an official cover - up, the naysayers have stuck to their theories. The news will give succor to the likes of Mohommed Fayed,the billionaire father of Dodi who was killed in a car crash in Paris with his girlfriend Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997. He has always contended that there was a cover up and a conspiracy, involving Prince Philip, 90 next week, to murder his son and the princess. Revelations from Area 51 will give heart to everyone who believes the government, any government, is quietly conspiring against its own people.
For while little green men were in short supply in the Nevada desert, men in their green flying suits were all present and correct - in spite of what the government said about Area 51.
Who knows what else was going on at the facility, what weapons and tactics being developed to save the Land of the Free from the Red Menace.
Maybe one day we will find those mythical Weapons of Mass Destruction. Not in Iraq but hidden deep in the Nevada desert.
]]>More importantly, from a hubris point of view, this little zodiac cluster was bang on Monsieur Dominique Strauss-Kahn's natal Neptune. And if there's one planet we look to for a spectacular fall from grace, and under some very murky conditions, it is Neptune.
I don't know why we should be surprised. It's not the first time someone in a position of great power and influence has succumbed to a folly of such grandeur it beggars belief. I remember being just as amazed when it turned out Major Ronald Ferguson, the father of Sarah, The Duchess of York, had signed his own name on a cheque for personal services at a London massage parlour.
It seems that many celebrities believe they are somehow above the law. So great is the light emanating from their superior being, no flaw can be seen, no crime committed. And, of course, they have an army of sycophants to support their illusion. But, almost always, in the end they are tripped up by an almighty banana skin. Remember Leona Helmsley? She who famously informed her maid, "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes." This remark was no doubt uttered shortly before her arrest for tax evasion.
Is there an astrological configuration that might give rise to this phenomenon? Are some signs more likely than others to be consumed by their own ego-bubble? The answer is yes and no. Yes, people with many planets in Fixed signs (Taurus, Scorpio, Leo and Aquarius) can have very fixed ideas about their omnipotence but, no, just because you have a sun in one of these signs does not make you an ego-maniac.
DSK was born with Fixed Leo rising so while he will have all the warmth and presidential dash of this sign he won't be immune to its lesser traits of pride and vanity. And Leo can be a bully (think Napoleon Bonaparte). Mr Strauss-Kahn is, in fact, a Taurus - a Fixed sign noted for its peace-loving qualities, its green thumb and its inability to say no to a chocolate éclair, or, indeed, anything that is too delicious to resist. He also has the moon and Mars in arrogant, pugnacious Aries, which, on the one hand, gives him courage and charisma, but also makes him a hot-head driven by his desires on occasion. He has leadership qualities in abundance but a shortfall in self-denial.
What Monsieur Strauss-Kahn could also be suffering from is the Right Man syndrome.
I came across this psychological type, identified by Alfred
Van Voigt and developed by Colin Wilson, when I was researching one of my
books. As the category suggests, the Right Man is always right. He can be a
domestic tyrant, someone who insists on fidelity and obedience from others but
places no such restrictions on himself. According to Wilson in his book Mysteries, the Right Man "...has a strong desire
for truth but the story of his life is an unconsciously distorted version which
shows him to have been a hundred percent right and everyone else to have been
wrong. And, paradoxically enough, this may make the Right Man a good scientist or
philosopher. It is only where he is concerned that his perception of the truth
is distorted..."
We know from his attorneys that Dominique Strauss-Kahn will be pleading not guilty, which is strange when you consider the widely known details of the incident that took place in the Sofitel that fateful Saturday lunchtime. It is clear the 32-year-old chambermaid from Guinea was not a willing participant in her incarceration in a hotel suite, nor delighted at the attentions of a naked and tumescent 62-year-old. And she has the bruises and the DNA evidence to prove it. But, somehow, Mr Strauss-Kahn believes in his innocence. He knows he is right and she is wrong.
The French people believe their former finance minister (and now ex-chief of the IMF) is the victim of a dastardly plot. The French media is notorious for its indulgence towards the peccadilloes of the governing elite, and it is clear they have played down, nay ignored, many of DSK's indiscretions, so it must be something of a shock to the nation to discover that one of its heroes could be guilty of such a heinous act. What else can they do but cry, "Mon Dieu, complot!"
Mr. Strauss-Kahn's horoscope is under Neptune at the moment, by which I mean this planet of mystery, intrigue and deception is forging a major connection to Saturn in his natal chart while Saturn is currently angling his natal Neptune. This is something of a double whammy, and redolent with the theme of karma and hubris. And there is an astrological argument to be made for a conspiracy.
Clearly, there is a vested interest on the part of the French right wing to keep itself in power and scupper the chances of the extremely popular Socialist, Mr Dominique Strauss-Kahn, becoming France's next president. But, I doubt, even with duplicitous Neptune in play, that the events in New York on May 14 were anything other than the result of a gross mis-judgement on the part of Mr Strauss-Kahn himself. He was doing what he had done countless times before - he was allowing his testosterone to do the talking, and damn the consequences. But this time there were consequences.
His indiscretions finally caught up with him. He is tasting the
bitter fruit of hubris. He is toast.
The Donald was about to get to use his catch phrase, when
suddenly like a prayer from on high, President Barack Obama lowered the his
third and most impressive smackdown on the Prince of Ego in less than a week.
The real president had fired Osama Bin Laden permanently, and for good measure,
he pre-empted Celebrity Apprentice to share the good news.
It's probably petty to think of Trump when everybody and their sister are screaming "USA" over and over again. Being the last, best hope for freedom and democracy can be such an onerous burden that it just felt really good to be like Francis Sawyer in the movie Stripes: "All I know, is that I finally get to kill somebody."
Finally, a righteous kill for our side! People were so happy that many conservatives were giving credit to George W. Bush, who though he never got to issue the kill shot order, at least was decisive enough to issue the "Wanted: Dead or Alive" edict from some outdoor retreat some years ago in Texas.
Trump? Oh no, somebody had not only put baby in the corner, but they'd turned his chair around and made him face it too.
Donald Trump is a con man, a bunko artist. He is now, and he always has been. Like his father, he took advantage of political graft to build his wealth. Unlike his father he didn't keep quiet about it. Trump built his celebrity in the late stages of the "it sure is cool to be rich" Reagan '80s. Smart rich people at the time knew that it was tacky to celebrate their good fortune, often dwelling on their more charitable impulses. Joseph Kennedy, for one, had moved his sons away from the family bootlegging and stock-fixing business and into public service, sort of like Michael Corleone, when he decided to take his family "legitimate."
Trump was different. Trump was and remains the definition of a good sound bite, and what he had to say was always "Can you believe how smart I am? I must be, after all I'm rich!" And how did we know that Donald was rich? Well, he had told us so over and over and over and over again, until even supposedly well informed bankers were lining up around the block to lend this airbag buffoon money. Fortunes were lost, while Trump took refuge in the following paraphrased notion. "If you owe the banks thousands of dollars, you're in trouble, but if you owe the banks hundreds of millions of dollars, the banks are in trouble!"
Trump survived and his ego just got bigger. Not only was he still rich, he was a billionaire! How did we know that? Well, because Donald told us - over and over and over and over and over again.
Whenever there was a problem and a microphone, Donald Trump was there to lend his expert advice. Why is the country in such trouble? Well, it's because "successful" business men like me aren't around to run it! Why is Rosie O'Donnell a political no nothing neophyte? It must be because she's so fat and unattractive! "Am I the only one who sees this?"
Trump's ego became so bloated that he started to believe his own press clippings. The man who couldn't even make money in the gaming industry started mouthing off about how he'd send China and their U.S. Treasury Bonds back to the 18th Century where they belonged. How? "Because I'm Donald Trump!" The man might fail, but the brand? Never!
I've long been amazed by Trump. How could it be that Jerry Seinfeld, Robert De Niro and I were the only ones that could see that the emperor's new clothes were nothing but tacky castoffs marked up for simpleton consumption with the ever present, never failing (even in the throes of frequent bankruptcies) Trump logo?
This week, this glorious week the other shoe finally dropped. Keith Olbermann may not be around to label him the new worst person in the world, but thankfully, Donald Trump just had "the worst week ever."
In what seemed like a coup at the time, the Donald actually got the President to send somebody to Hawaii and release that birth certificate. Sadly, for Trump, it was real. Sadly, for Trump, he wasn't as smart as fellow birther nut Victoria Jackson. Jackson moved on and started attacking Glee. Trump went to Saturday's White House Correspondents dinner. Not only did he attend, but somewhere in that rat trap of a mind of his I think he really thought that he'd be applauded for what he'd done for his nation of apprentices. It didn't work out that way.
Trump did his callow best to laugh off a couple of jibes from the sitting president that he'd been assailing with nonsense for the past month or so, but when Seth Meyers got to the stand the real Donald was forced to take the onslaught head on.
Starting with,"Trump has said he's running for president as a Republican, which is surprising because I thought he was running as a joke," Meyers let fly with a machine gun torrent of Trump material like he was Billy Crystal hosting the Oscars and Jack Palance had just done some one-armed pushups.