some news

[MARVELL]

LOL OK

i only watched 5 seconds of the video

about 20 seconds later it says digitally manipulated

the report mentions it on the 2nd line.

more videos than reading for you init?

[time_bomb]

take the L on this one skola

[BLACK VICTIM]

lol tulse being cruel

[Flojo]

LOL OK

i only watched 5 seconds of the video

about 20 seconds later it says digitally manipulated

Probably why you failed in life, academia, sports

Always just doing half, reading half etc

Bit like your music, half of its shit and the other half is shit

shitbag

:lol:

:lol:

[Kurtis]

here comes the evidence

The International Atomic Energy Agency's new report claims to show "credible" information of activities relevant to an Iranian nuclear weapons programme, prompting fresh threats and warnings from Israel. And the leading US Republican presidential candidates are also promising aggressive action against the Islamic Republic. But what does Iran have to say about all this? And how does it see oil supplies being affected?

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/talktojazeera/2011/11/201111198741742588.html

[Marly Mar]

LOL OK

i only watched 5 seconds of the video

about 20 seconds later it says digitally manipulated

Probably why you failed in life, academia, sports

Always just doing half, reading half etc

Bit like your music, half of its shit and the other half is shit

shitbag

:lol:

:lol:

PMSLLLLL

[Skola]

oh wait so Tulse is still gunning me?

dont pretend like you know about me in any way

about i failed in life

shut up

what about you? you are known for

a. betting on horses

and

b. being some looser who talks to himself via multiple personas on an internet forum

any time there is a TR0LL/weirdo on here people automatically assume "oh its tulse"

and thats a fact that you cannot dispute.

you and jas/shinky/boxer/dat e15 yout one of those self confessed sad cases

and you know what if im such a looser let me just recap on the last couple days

- i passed an IT exam I am now Cisco certified

- i finished my job and im away to live in the alps for the next 5 months drinking working parting and skiing

- i mc'd on a set with dj makten (nasty) and darkefreaker (who made next hype) on the decks. me and my boy got a couple of reloads and they are tellin me "you man are cold still"

and that is in the last 4 days

about half assed

what about you do you even have a job?

prick

how about you just dont address me again

[CarltonLeach]

Yep,

You're name is down in the notebook son.

Another one.

Too easy kid.

[Mr. Martinez]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/13/colombia-juan-santos-war-on-drugs

Juan Manuel Santos: 'It is time to think again about the war on drugs'

Colombia's president speaks frankly of the price his country has paid and his success in dismantling the cartels

The security detail at the presidential offices in Bogotá was understandably heavy. Armed police and the military were much in evidence as President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia hosted the leaders of Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru for a regional economic summit. The security forces outside the Palacio de Nariño in the city centre had extra reason to be on high alert – the summit last Tuesday came only days after Colombian special forces shot and killed Alfonso Cano, leader of the Farc (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) guerrilla group.

It was a major success for Santos, an increasingly influential figure in Latin American politics. The former Brazilian president, Lula da Silva, said recently that Santos, who comes to Britain in two weeks, was assuming the mantle of a continental leader.

Da Silva's compliment is true in at least one respect, since Santos has emerged as the leading voice on the international political stage calling for a major rethink on the war on drugs. Santos's call for a new debate about drug regulation is heavily symbolic, since Colombia has suffered more than any other country at the hands of narcotics traffickers.

Santos has drawn attention to the damage suffered by the producing nations in Latin America as they continue to serve the growing demand for drugs in the consuming nations of the west. His voice is becoming the key one in trying to set the terms for a new international discussion about the war.

Santos, an urbane, affable 60-year-old, who was elected last year, is well placed to lead the global debate. He is a keen internationalist and was educated at Harvard and the London School of Economics. One colleague described London as his "dream city". His visit to Britain will be part of his attempt to rebrand his country – from the failed state of 10 years ago to an emerging economic powerhouse in Latin America. The killing of Cano is the latest stage in that journey.

Santos's response in the days since Cano's death – widely described in the local media as the most significant blow to the Farc – has avoided triumphalism. And with good reason. In the month leading up to Cano's assassination, more than 20 soldiers were killed by the Farc. With those deaths came the first signs of public disquiet that the security gains made in the previous 10 years were starting to slip away. As the leading political magazine, Semana, said: "The killing of Cano couldn't have come at a better time for the government."

The Farc emerged in the mid-60s as a Marxist-Leninist group determined to overthrow a state which it saw as riven by inequalities, one where power and high office, both economically and politically, was dominated by an elite group of families. Farc's leftwing ideology was driven by a clutch of university-educated young men and women and was part of a wider movement in Latin America where revolutionary groups were taking up arms in search of social justice and in response to the grinding poverty and gross inequalities across the continent.

At the height of its power in the 1990s the Farc controlled a third of Colombian territory. Now that it is much reduced and scattered to the remotest parts of the country in the wake of the decade-long military offensive, many Colombians believe the Farc's ideological fervour has mostly disappeared. But in its place has come an increasing appetite for drug trafficking.

Colombia is now emerging from its darkest days of guerrilla and narcotics warfare. It is attracting ever more foreign investment to its born-again cities of Bogotá and Medellín. Where strife and terrorism were once routine, there are now real signs of a civic and economic revival – cities being regenerated, booming tourism and impressive growth rates. It is this economic story which Santos will relay on his visit to Britain.

But Colombia's recent history still bears the deep scars of its battle with drugs. As Santos says: "We dismantled the drug cartels. Those big cartels that had our democracy on its knees – they no longer exist. The only big cartel still is the Farc but we have weakened them more and more."

It is in this context – as the president of a country that was very nearly broken by a combination of drug cartels and guerrilla narcotics traffickers – that Santos's recent pronouncements on the war on drugs are all the more remarkable. Last month he said: "The world needs to discuss new approaches… we are basically still thinking within the same framework as we have done for the last 40 years."

Santos has gone further than any other leading politician in opening up the debate. In an interview with the Observer he spelled out the radical ideas which he hopes will create a fresh approach. He said: "A new approach should try and take away the violent profit that comes with drug trafficking… If that means legalising, and the world thinks that's the solution, I will welcome it. I'm not against it."

But he is clear that any initiatives need to be part of a co-ordinated international plan of action and he rules out any unilateral action by Colombia. "What I won't do is to become the vanguard of that movement because then I will be crucified. But I would gladly participate in those discussions because we are the country that's still suffering most and have suffered most historically with the high consumption of the UK, the US, and Europe in general."

Santos is prepared to go much further than others – he is opening up a debate about legalising marijuana and perhaps cocaine.

"I would talk about legalising marijuana and more than just marijuana. If the world thinks that this is the correct approach, because for example in our case we used to be exporters, but we were replaced by the producers of California. And there even was a referendum in California to legalise it and they lost it but they could have won. I ask myself how would you explain marijuana being legalised in California and cocaine consumption being penalised in Idaho? It's a contradiction. So it's a difficult problem where you set the limits. It's a difficult decision. For example, I would never legalise very hard drugs like morphine or heroin because in fact they are suicidal drugs. I might consider legalising cocaine if there is a world consensus because this drug has affected us most here in Colombia. I don't know what is more harmful, cocaine or marijuana. That's a health discussion. But again, only if there is a consensus."

Santos is not alone. There is a growing impatience in the producing countries of Latin America that suffer acutely as their drug cartels feed the demand in the consuming countries.

For Santos and his country, the issue of drugs looms much larger than for the consuming nations. For Colombia, drugs are "a matter of national security" whereas, for others, "it is mainly a health and crime issue". He speaks eloquently of the price his country has paid – and continues to pay – for feeding the west's appetite for illicit drugs. "We have gone through a tremendous experience – dramatic and costly for a society to live through. We have lost our best judges, our best politicians, our best journalists, our best policemen in this fight against drugs and the problem's still there."

It is difficult to overestimate the symbolic importance of a Colombian president entering the debate with such force, given the central role drugs have played in his country's recent bloody history. Santos is all too aware of the symbolism and of the role he is playing. "Yes, I know, and I'm conscious of what this means. I've told President Calderón [of Mexico], 'You and I have a lot more authority to talk about this because our countries have spilled a lot of blood fighting drug traffickers and we should promote this discussion."

If the war on drugs has failed, it has failed most abjectly in Latin America. That is where the bodies are buried. Or not so much buried, since the Mexican drug gangs prefer to litter the bodies of their victims along the byways and highways of the border towns with America, or leave them hanging from bridges to serve as a public warning to anyone who gets in their way.

Last week drugs gangs beheaded a blogger in Nuevo Laredo for reporting on the activities of the Zetas, the narcotics gang that all but controls the Mexican city that sits on its border with America. A month earlier, they beheaded a 39-year-old woman who blogged for the same site. In September, they hanged a couple from a highway overpass and left a note saying they had been killed for "their social media activity". These are four killings out of about 42,000 in the past five years. The price of drugs in Latin America can be costed in dollars, but in wasted lives too.

The fallout from the interminable war goes deeper – since the vast funds of narcotics trafficking have been used to corrupt their bodies politic. One former Colombian president, Ernesto Samper, has been publicly accused of having been swept to power on the back of the Cali drug cartels. Drugs have posed a threat to the very existence of civic institutions in many of the countries on the frontline of the war on drugs.

But Latin America is starting to take the fight to the consuming nations in Europe and the US. President Felipe Calderón of Mexico joined the debate in September when he used a speech in New York to hit out at consumer nations that were not doing enough to reduce demand. He took direct aim at the US, saying: "We are living in the same building. And our neighbour is the largest consumer of drugs in the world and everybody wants to sell him drugs through our doors and windows."

Calderón went further and suggested that if the consumption of drugs could not be limited, "then decision-makers must seek more solutions – including market alternatives – in order to reduce the astronomical earnings of criminal organisations". The phrase "market alternatives" was widely assumed to be a call for a new debate in the US about whether legalised or regulated drug markets might be an alternative to the war on drugs.

The more vociferous these Latin American voices become, the more difficult it will be for the leaders of the consuming nations to remain silent in the debate over the effectiveness of the war.

It was these western leaders that the Global Commission on Drug Policywas addressing when it released its landmark report earlier this year. The 19-person commission includes former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, former US secretary of state George Shultz, former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker and former presidents Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico, Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil and César Gaviria of Colombia.

The report's first line was: "The war on drugs has failed." After detailing the costs, ineffectiveness and harmful effects of the drugs war, it made this plea: "Political leaders and public figures should have the courage to articulate publicly what many of them acknowledge privately… that the war on drugs has not, and cannot, be won."

This week a House of Lords event on drugs policy reform, organised by Baroness Meacher, will include an impressive list of attendees from around the world. It is an attempt to engage the debate, but no frontline British politicians will be there to hear people such as the Colombian interior minister speak. Privately, many senior British politicians support the initiative to try to help generate a new debate on drugs – but publicly they are invisible.

So it is left to Santos and others to stir the debate and try to promote a wider discussion. "I hope there is a shift in the debate. I am open to, and I welcome these discussions and this debate," he says. "We are the country who has suffered most of any country. Hopefully the world will enter into a fruitful and dynamic debate on this issue and if they find a new solution I'll be even more than happy to support it."

But political leaders in the consuming countries have not yet shown any appetite for joining the debate. In fact, quite the opposite. "This is a very sensitive political subject and there's a lot of hypocrisy there," says Santos. "Many leaders, in private, they will say something and they tell me something and in public they say, 'But I can't do this probably because my people will really crucify me'."

One of the most glaring contradictions is in the United States. While on the one hand a growing number of states in the US have semi-legalised marijuana (it is freely available from cannabis dispensaries with an easy-to-obtain doctor's prescription) on the other hand the country pours billions of dollars into helping the Mexican military fight the drug cartels which are busy trying to get marijuana into the US.

Barack Obama declared the war on drugs to be "an utter failure". He went on to say: "We need to rethink how we are operating in the drug wars because currently we are not doing a good job." But that was in January 2004.

There are, of course, isolated victories in the war and the manner in which Colombia disrupted much of the drug trade is a case in point. This was principally because of Plan Colombia, which involved a massive programme of financial and military aid. While Plan Colombia is credited with having saved the Colombian state, the "victory", as even Santos admits, is a Pyrrhic one.

"We are now helping other countries, the Caribbean countries, Central American countries, Mexico, because our success means more problems for them," he says. "There's the balloon effect." Meaning, that the problem is simply displaced, to another country – or even another continent, as in the case of Guinea Bissau in west Africa.

The other indices of the war on drugs do not make for encouraging reading. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health estimates that nearly 23 million Americans are illicit drug users. That is 8.9% of its adult population, up from 2008-09 when the rate was 8%. The number of marijuana users has gone up from 14.4 million in 2007 to 17.4 million in 2010.

As for the amount of land given over to the planting of coca – the raw material of cocaine – estimates vary. The UN suggests that coca production has fallen in Colombia – but neighbouring countries have seen a rise. The balloon effect plays out here too – if planting and transporting are disrupted in one part of Latin America the problem goes away – to a neighbouring country.

Santos is sketching a new future for Colombia and trying to imagine one that will not involve his country being held back by either narcotics or guerrilla warfare. His military attacks on the Farc go hand in hand with a determined attempt to try to wipe out the country's extreme poverty – the social and economic malaise which first brought the guerrilla group into life.

By Colombia's own reckoning, there are up to seven million people living in extreme poverty (favela-like housing with no electricity or clean water). Santos says: "We want to be a country with a competitive edge in the world. And a country with a solid democracy. To do that we need to attack the social problems, and extreme poverty is probably the worst of those. People in the UK don't imagine what it is to live in extreme poverty here in Colombia or anywhere in the so-called third world."

"I think that we are trying to move towards the first world slowly but surely. But we must do a good job for the people left way behind. That's why extreme poverty for us is a priority. There was a phrase that President Kennedy used to use a lot, 'You cannot be rich if you're surrounded by poor'. And Colombia is a very unequal country, one of the most unequal countries in the world. If we don't correct that we will never be really competitive and we will never really have a solid democracy."

His impressive poverty tsar, Samuel Azout, a former businessman and philanthropist, is leading the drive to eradicate extreme poverty. In his office there is a framed portrait of Kennedy and a series of large framed signs. One reads: "A business that only makes money is a poor business." Another says: "The causes of poverty are interconnected, so the solutions should be joined up too: health, education, housing, justice."

"Less poverty aids economic growth," says Azout. "Economic growth is necessary but not sufficient in lifting people out of poverty. You also need direct action. Extreme poverty is an obsession for me, and for President Santos too." A hugely ambitious programme launched last week involves housing, child development centres, social workers and the establishment of "extreme poverty-free zones".

Perhaps even more significant for his country is the law Santos passed in July, the victims and land restitution law – an attempt finally to restore millions of acres of land to Colombians driven from their homes by the decades of violence. Many Colombian observers feel that this will be Santos's legacy. In the past 20 years, nearly 4 million people across an area of 6.5m hectares (16m acres) have been displaced by armed conflict.

Santos says: "In 10 years' time I hope that people will say finally we are a country that is living in peace and that we have a very strong democracy, a dynamic democracy that has been able to progress socially and that we no longer have this shameful title of being one of the most unequal countries in Latin America."

When Santos arrives in London, it will be to sell the new Colombia and help to drive British investment, which he sees as potentially a key player in his country's development. He is not likely to spend much time talking about drugs, but he has this message for young Britons: "I will say to them that, besides the blood that every sniff of cocaine produces, it's also producing something to which the UK youth and the European youth and the youth around the world are more and more sensitive. It's creating havoc to the environment. Cocaine is probably the worst enemy of tropical forest. Much of the deforestation that you see in Colombia, in Peru, in Brazil is because of cocaine production. So it is not only the blood that it creates, the violence it creates – it's destroying the world."

DRUGS BY NUMBERS

100% Three Andean countries – Colombia, Peru and Bolivia – are responsible for virtually all global coca leaf production, the raw material for cocaine.

149,100 In 2010, coca was cultivated on 149,100 hectares in the Andean countries – an area roughly one and a half times the size of Hong Kong – down from 221,300 hectares in 2000.

6% In 2010, the global area under coca cultivation decreased by 6%, mainly due to a significant reduction in Colombia that was not entirely offset by a small increase in Peru.

732,000The amount of cocaine seized worldwide in 2009 was 732,000kg – which refers to seizures unadjusted for purity. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that between 46% and 60% of cocaine produced was seized – an indication of the amount manufactured the previous year.

444,000 The best reading of data and estimates suggests that about 440,000kg of pure cocaine was consumed worldwide in 2009. This would be in line with a production estimate of about 1.1m kg and purity adjusted seizures of 615,000kg, plus agricultural and other losses of about 55,000kg (which represents 5% of production).

$85bnThe value of the global cocaine market is lower than in the mid-1990s, when prices were much higher and the US market was strong. In 1995, the global market was worth about $165bn, while, in 2009, this had been reduced to just over half of that.

99% Of that $85bn income from global cocaine retail sales in 2009, traffickers are estimated to have reaped about $84bn (almost 99%). The rest went to Andean farmers.

5m The US has the highest prevalence of cocaine use (2.4% of the population, or five million people, aged 15-64), but there are indications of cocaine use declining in the last few years.

$33bn The amount of cocaine consumed in Europe has doubled in the last decade. The volume and value of the western and central European cocaine market, currently valued at $33bn, is now approaching parity with that of the US ($37bn).

80% Two thirds of European cocaine users live in three countries: the UK, Spain and Italy. With Germany and France, these countries represent 80% of European cocaine consumption.

272m Globally, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that between 149 and 272 million people – 3.3%-6.1% of the population aged 15-64 – used illicit drugs at least once in the previous year.

[O.Man]

people are not really getting the format of this thing

[Black Ant]

Yep,

You're name is down in the notebook son.

Another one.

Too easy kid.

[Kurtis]

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia President, Says Missiles May Target U.S. Missile Defense Sites

MOSCOW — Russia threatened on Wednesday to deploy missiles to target the U.S. missile shield in Europe if Washington fails to assuage Moscow's concerns about its plans, a harsh warning that reflected deep cracks in U.S.-Russian ties despite President Barack Obama's efforts to "reset" relations with the Kremlin.

President Dmitry Medvedev said he still hopes for a deal with the U.S. on missile defense, but he strongly accused Washington and its NATO allies of ignoring Russia's worries. He said Russia will have to take military countermeasures if the U.S. continues to build the shield without legal guarantees that it will not be aimed against Russia.

The U.S. has repeatedly assured Russia that its proposed missile defense system wouldn't be directed against Russia's nuclear forces, and it did that again Wednesday.

"I do think it's worth reiterating that the European missile defense system that we've been working very hard on with our allies and with Russia over the last few years is not aimed at Russia," said Capt. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman. "It is ... designed to help deter and defeat the ballistic missile threat to Europe and to our allies from Iran."

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said the United States will continue to seek Moscow's cooperation, but it must realize "that the missile defense systems planned for deployment in Europe do not and cannot threaten Russia's strategic deterrent."

But Medvedev said Moscow will not be satisfied by simple declarations and wants a binding agreement. He said, "When we propose to put in on paper in the form of precise and clear legal obligations, we hear a strong refusal."

Medvedev warned that Russia will station missiles in its westernmost Kaliningrad region and other areas, if the U.S. continues its plans without offering firm and specific pledges that the shield isn't directed at its nuclear forces. He didn't say whether the missiles would carry conventional or nuclear warheads.

In Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he was "very disappointed" with Russia's threat to deploy missiles near alliance nations, adding that "would be reminiscent of the past and ... inconsistent with the strategic relations NATO and Russia have agreed they seek."

"Cooperation, not confrontation, is the way ahead," Rasmussen said in a statement.

full ting http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/23/dmitry-medvedev-russia-missiles_n_1109660.html

[ruz]

Im getting deja vu didnt this problem happen over a year ago with problems about missles being put in Poland

Whatever happens the US will back down there shook of Russia imo

[FANTA]

LOL OK

i only watched 5 seconds of the video

about 20 seconds later it says digitally manipulated

Probably why you failed in life, academia, sports

Always just doing half, reading half etc

Bit like your music, half of its shit and the other half is shit

shitbag

:lol:

[Jam]

Yep,

You're name is down in the notebook son.

Another one.

Too easy kid.

HKJF

CX

BF

I'm crying my eyes out.

Fucking legend.

[Medic]

LOL OK

i only watched 5 seconds of the video

about 20 seconds later it says digitally manipulated

Probably why you failed in life, academia, sports

Always just doing half, reading half etc

Bit like your music, half of its shit and the other half is shit

shitbag

:lol:

Fucking hell

[Mr Q]

Young jobseekers told to work without pay or lose unemployment benefits

http://www.guardian....ment?intcmp=122

Sickening. Preparing the youth for slave labour

This is so fucked I feel like I'm being trolled.

You've got a BSC in Geology and you're working in Poundland 5 hours a day to keep your JSA?

Can't be life.

Loooool, it's unemployed peoples fault they are unemployed anyway. What were they thinking going to Uni to get a degree and have some fun.

People who don't work are in that position because they want to be. Either that or them them immigrants are stopping all our young folk getting jobs.

And no, don't worry about the bankers you bailed out who are now on million pound bonuses, they give out internships to help the people.

Kmft

[Mr Q]

Israel are going to cause the next massive war, the fuxking irony.

[MARVELL]

theres nothing ironic about it. they caused the 2nd, the russian revolution, the french one, and many more.

this is just their biggest play yet.

[Jm0nEy]

Lmfao at glasgow grime

[Kurtis]

this made me laugh

cba to copy & paste

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/8904653/Groupon-demand-almost-finishes-cupcake-maker.html

[MARVELL]

When someone in the know declared that Goldman Sachs rules the world on BBC, sheeple tea boy paper pickers like Pernell whitaker rushed in to blow their trumpets that he was wrong, him and all the top financiers including a former MD of Goldman sachs, bcos he claims to 'do this for a living' and those of us who listen to them are conspiracy junkheads. now that sections of your mainstream media have acknowledged this......will it make you see it differently pernell teaboy?What price the new democracy? Goldman Sachs conquers Europe

he ascension of Mario Monti to the Italian prime ministership is remarkable for more reasons than it is possible to count. By replacing the scandal-surfing Silvio Berlusconi, Italy has dislodged the undislodgeable. By imposing rule by unelected technocrats, it has suspended the normal rules of democracy, and maybe democracy itself. And by putting a senior adviser at Goldman Sachs in charge of a Western nation, it has taken to new heights the political power of an investment bank that you might have thought was prohibitively politically toxic.This is the most remarkable thing of all: a giant leap forward for, or perhaps even the successful culmination of, the Goldman Sachs Project.

It is not just Mr Monti. The European Central Bank, another crucial player in the sovereign debt drama, is under ex-Goldman management, and the investment bank's alumni hold sway in the corridors of power in almost every European nation, as they have done in the US throughout the financial crisis. Until Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund's European division was also run by a Goldman man, Antonio Borges, who just resigned for personal reasons.Even before the upheaval in Italy, there was no sign of Goldman Sachs living down its nickname as "the Vampire Squid", and now that its tentacles reach to the top of the eurozone, The political decisions taken in the coming weeks will determine if the eurozone can and will pay its debts – and Goldman's interests are intricately tied up with the answer to that question.

This is The Goldman Sachs Project. Put simply, it is to hug governments close. Every business wants to advance its interests with the regulators that can stymie them and the politicians who can give them a tax break, but this is no mere lobbying effort. Goldman is there to provide advice for governments and to provide financing, to send its people into public service and to dangle lucrative jobs in front of people coming out of government. The Project is to create such a deep exchange of people and ideas and money that it is impossible to tell the difference between the public interest and the Goldman Sachs interest.

[MARVELL]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/what-price-the-new-democracy-goldman-sachs-conquers-europe-6264091.html

[Kurtis]

American Airlines parent AMR files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. - http://bit.ly/qx5qjZ

[The Somalian]

http://www.mtv.co.uk/news/george-michael/339134-george-michael-wham-pneumonia-damage-voice

sounds like George Michael has full blown aids but media are lowing it coz of the sensitivity of the subject