Return of the Son of the Update!

Return of the Plague!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8105144.stm

Looks like the survivors of that Algerian Al-Qaeda training camp were making for the border, the Egyptian border that is. The Black Death has sprung up in a small town in Libya not far from Egypt's Northern border.

Could be a coincidence, could not be. Never can tell. What I do know is all the dead from that camp were buried in a mass grave before they were found. Someone had to dig the hole and then fill it in, either survivors or the people who released the disease.

Could also have been spread from the initial infection site by unknowing nomads, or travelers. Nice thought isn't it? Innocent bystanders unknowingly spreading a Medieval plague all over North Africa.

The town that just got hit is near the ocean. So was the training camp in Algeria. Its also a pretty straight path between the two.

We can't go on together, with Suspicious Deaths (Suspicious Deeeeaaaaaths!)
http://austriantimes.at/news/General_News/2009-10-21/17423/British_nuclear_expert_dies_in_40-metre_plunge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Hampton

Choked and thrown down a 120 foot stairwell at the U.N. building in Austria. Sounds about right for a well liked family man and all around boring academic.

I wonder what he might have been doing that pissed someone off enough to tear a page right out of the CIA assassination handbook?

Oh yes, here it is. He was a nuclear scientist with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization working on the ongoing talks with Iran over their nuclear program. Good thing his work wasn't sensitive or anything.

Obviously a spur-of-the-moment suicide or tragic accident. I can't even tell you how many times I have been walking along at work at the top of the stairs choking the shit out of myself and nearly fell to my untimely death. Happens all the time.

Russians shut down a Meteorite smuggling ring. I guess even Ivan loves Superman.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.d3dcb3a9cefaa8a6eae404319f07b804.591&show_article=1

Not a lot to this one, so far. Some Russians and Czechs were attempting to smuggle 200 grams worth of meteorites out of the Russian Federation. Along with lots of books, and scientific equipment. Customs agents nabbed them after the became suspicious of the "granite office decorations" the men were shipping.

It is a bit odd that they managed to nail them on the spot, when it apparently took 3 months to ID the rocks as extraterrestrial in origin.

Somewhere out there is a very angry supervillain.

CIA Drug Smuggling operations are easy-peasy in Afghanistan, seeing as Afghan President Ahmed Karzi's brother is on their payroll.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33500863/ns/world_news-the_new_york_times/
http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/Drugs.html

He's involved in the opium trade, and on the CIA payroll. The headlines just write themselves, don't they? Yet still, people wonder why foreign troops in Afghanistan are not allowed to touch the poppy fields.

As much as this stinks of nefarious Vietnam and Reagan-era CIA shenanigans there is another side to it. Namely that opium is Afghanistans only export of note. Without the drug trade they would be entirely reliant on foreign aide to rebuild their infrastructure and fight the Taliban. That means we, the American taxpayer, would be on the hook for a fuck-ton (metric) more money for that little war.

Of course you could amend the intentional drug treaties that restrict opium production for medical uses to a few countries to allow the Afgans a chunk of the trade. Of course that means the money would be flowing to the Government proper in terms of taxes and tariffs, and to Big Pharma for the juicy pain-killing profits. Which of course cuts the CIA and the narco-empires they have spent 30+ years supporting out of the loop.

Make it legal and Uncle Sam, the UN, and Big Pharma get it.

Keep it on the down-low and the CIA, Taliban, and drug cartels get it.

The question there is which one of those would see the most benefit for the average Afgan citizen?

+ + +

...and we're back! My head is finally screwed back on tightly enough to update this crazy little blog. Family illness, work, and lots of other smaller issues have occupied my attention for many months. However I think we are back. Yes, yes it seems like we are.

Also I will be disabling ANON comments. Too much traffic from Chinese Gold Farmers, Nigerian Princes, and South American Pharmacies of dubious reputations. If you want to respond, you have to sign in now.

Also, we have a Twitter feed now! Enjoy bit-sized bits of high weirdness on your mobile platform of choice! https://twitter.com/oswaldwasapatsy

/End Transmission.