U.S. Arms Dealer Tests Legal Bounds in Middle East Arms Bazaar
Former congressman Curt Weldon is helping broker deals between Russian and Ukranian weapons suppliers and the Iraqi and Libyan governments as part of his new job with a private American defense consulting firm, Wired.com has learned.

Weldon, who is currently being investigated by the FBI over alleged corruption during his time in office, visited Libya in March to discuss a possible military deal, according to a letter describing the trip from Weldon to Defense Solutions CEO Timothy Ringgold. In May, Weldon, together with Ringgold and another company representative, traveled to Moscow to discuss working with Russia's weapons-export agency on arms sales to the Middle East.

Both trips were part of the company's effort to tap into the growing -- and often legally murky -- market for selling weapons from former Eastern Bloc countries to the Middle East and Afghanistan.

The Russians want to sell weapons to Iraq directly, but "must go slow on Iraq because of political reasons" and want to work with an "intermediary" like Defense Solutions, CEO Ringgold subsequently wrote to colleagues. "They have not spoken with any American company that can offer the quid pro quo that we can or that has the connections in Russia that we have," he boasted.

A few years ago, an American company proposing to sell weapons to Libya might have triggered a congressional hearing. So, too, would have a proposal to conduct arms deals with Russia, which the United States has accused of selling high-tech weapons to Syria and Iran.

However, U.S. government efforts to rapidly equip countries like Afghanistan and Iraq -- which have largely Soviet-origin weapons -- have created legal ambiguities and loopholes in export controls that didn't exist in years past and given rise to a new class of arms trade middlemen. So, even though both Libya and the Russian arms export agency are on official U.S. blacklists, government officials and analysts involved in weapons sales say the rules have become unclear as the push to equip allies in the global war on terror has blazed new but uncertain legal ground...

Source: Wired News

...these guys view patriotism and loyalty as some sort of political stunt while they are in office, and an absurdity once they are out...

Caloric Restriction Comes in a Pill
Scientists have provided the strongest evidence yet that the anti-aging benefits of calorically restricted diets can be duplicated -- minus the near-starvation -- by a pill.

In a study published today in Cell Metabolism, mice given resveratrol -- the first of an eagerly-anticipated class of longevity drugs -- enjoyed dramatically improved health, even when they started taking the drug late in life.

Resveratrol didn't extend the lives of normal mice, but it did protect them from the ravages of time. The rodents had stronger hearts, clearer eyes, more limber muscles and firmer bones. Closer analysis revealed the same cell-level changes produced by caloric restriction, an extreme form of dieting that consistently lengthens the lives of lab animals but is impractical, if not dangerous, for people.

"For the first time, we can mimic caloric restriction in an otherwise healthy animal," said study co-author David Sinclair, a Harvard University biologist and co-founder of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals. "That's been the goal of the field for decades. We didn't know it was possible to let an animal eat whatever it wants, but still get the benefits. We now have evidence."...

...Regardless of mouse weight and diet, resveratrol worked wonders. At two years of age, or the mouse equivalent of senescence, the mice were more coordinated than their non-dosed counterparts. Their bones were thicker and stronger, their eyes free of cataracts, their hearts beating strong. At the cellular level, tissues displayed gene-level changes almost identical to those produced by caloric restriction...

Source: Wired News

...in fact, I believe I'll get about it. I've been coding away all afternoon. Cheers!...

Social Compact?
Was [the] economic period between WW2 through the 70's ahistorical? A fluke? A strange time when capital and labor shared equally in productivity gains (incomes for all increased markedly during that period)?

There's no reasonable doubt that a breakdown (individual incomes haven't increased since '74 but the top earners have enjoyed double digit growth) occurred, but why? Was the social compact a failed approach that ran out of steam during the inflationary 70's? Are we better off now than before? Is cheap credit (financial innovation) and low cost imports a good substitute for income growth?

Source: John Robb's Weblog

...more:

Diverging Interests: Company and Country at a Crossroads
It is time to realize that globalization, while still only in its infancy, has already undermined some of the fundamental assumptions that underlie our thinking about the economy. Today, what’s good for America’s global corporations is not necessarily good for the nation’s economy. A firm that is moving production of goods or services overseas may be increasing its profits, but can be simultaneously cutting the national income and the wages of its home country. Neither economic analysis nor common sense force us to conclude that globalization and its resulting shift in productivity will automatically benefit our county, even in the long run...

Source: Global Strategy Watch

...what I think may be going on is more a split based upon IQ. There are plenty of other people who can do what those with an IQ of < 115 can do, and for far less money if not protected by tariff. In the face of this, the competent and capable have simply withdrawn their support for the concept of the nation/state, and have become a global, transnational elite.

Yet I wonder how this can continue? I don't see "Tough shit, get used to it," as being a viable political stance in a democratic republic. Unless you change the definition of a democratic republic...

The Struggles of Detroit Ensnare Its Workers
DETROIT — Their pickups and sport utility vehicles are not selling, and now General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler have to pay thousands of auto workers not to make them.

With more than 15 of their assembly plants across the country set to be idled or slowed because of shift cutbacks, the Detroit automakers will temporarily lay off upward of 25,000 auto workers this summer and fall.

Because of their union contracts, G.M., Ford and Chrysler are obligated to pay workers more than half of their regular take-home wages, plus health benefits, with state unemployment benefits picking up a portion of the rest.

Despite cutting more than 100,000 jobs since 2006 through buyouts and special retirement programs, the Detroit companies still cannot match their production capacity with their steadily declining market share.

Consumers are shifting to more fuel-efficient vehicles, if they are stepping into a showroom at all. New vehicle sales plummeted 18 percent in June, and Detroit’s share of the declining market fell to a combined 46 percent...

Source: NY Times

...the American Century may be over:

U.S. Is in No Shape to Give Advice, Medvedev Says
MOSCOW — Russia’s new president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, less swaggering than his predecessor but as touchy about criticism from abroad, said in an interview that an America in “essentially a depression” was in no position to lecture other countries on how to conduct their affairs.

With soaring oil revenues bolstering the Russian economy and Kremlin confidence, Mr. Medvedev brushed aside American criticism of his country’s record on democracy and human rights. He also said that a revived Russia had a right to assume a larger role in a world economic system that he suggested should no longer be dominated by the United States...

Source: NY Times

...but it won't be Russia taking its place...

Panel Questions State Dept. Role in Iraq Oil Deal
Bush administration officials knew that a Texas oil company with close ties to President Bush was planning to sign an oil deal with the regional Kurdistan government that ran counter to American policy and undercut Iraq’s central government, a Congressional committee has concluded.

The conclusions were based on e-mail messages and other documents that the committee released Wednesday.

United States policy is to warn companies that they incur risks in signing contracts until Iraq passes an oil law and to strengthen Iraq’s central government. The Kurdistan deal, by ceding responsibility for writing contracts directly to a regional government, infuriated Iraqi officials. But State Department officials did nothing to discourage the deal and in some cases appeared to welcome it, the documents show.

The company, Hunt Oil of Dallas, signed the deal with Kurdistan’s semiautonomous government last September. Its chief executive, Ray L. Hunt, a close political ally of President Bush, briefed an advisory board to Mr. Bush on his contacts with Kurdish officials before the deal was signed.

In an e-mail message released by the Congressional committee, a State Department official in Washington, briefed by a colleague about the impending deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government, wrote: “Many thanks for the heads up; getting an American company to sign a deal with the K.R.G. will make big news back here. Please keep us posted.”...

Source: NY Times

...come on, January...

Judge Orders YouTube to Give All User Histories to Viacom
Google will have to turn over every record of every video watched by YouTube users, including users' names and IP addresses, to Viacom, which is suing Google for allowing clips of its copyright videos to appear on YouTube, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Viacom wants the data to prove that infringing material is more popular than user-created videos, which could be used to increase Google's liability if it is found guilty of contributory infringement.

Viacom filed suit against Google in March 2007, seeking more than $1 billion in damages for allowing users to upload clips of Viacom's copyright material. Google argues that the law provides a safe harbor for online services so long as they comply with copyright takedown requests.

Although Google argued that turning over the data would invade its users' privacy, the judge's ruling (.pdf) described that argument as "speculative" and ordered Google to turn over the logs on a set of four tera-byte hard drives...

Source: Wired News' Threat Level Blog

...going to need a huge database, too...

Founder makes largest Dell insider purchase
Dell shares rose as high as 4.5 percent Wednesday, following reports that founder Michael Dell acquired nearly $100 million in shares in the computer maker.

Dell climbed as high as $23.18 a share in intraday trading, before closing out the session at $22.70 a share, up 2.34 percent.

Dell's founder, according to a report in MarketWatch, purchased 4.5 million shares between June 27 and July 1 at an average price of $22.14 a share.

Dell's buying spree comes after the company reported respectable first-quarter results, which came off a challenging 2007 when it was feeling the affects of missing out on some big industry trends.

During the first quarter, Dell told analysts, the company's unit shipments grew 22 percent, while the industry rose by 14 percent. And Dell's notebook revenue climbed 22 percent over the past year...

Source: CNET News

...of course, I can go the other way with utter ruthlessness—in 1978 I bought a new Plymouth, and it was a lemon. I could get no help from the dealer or the manufacturer, and I was forced to trade the car in at a loss. I have never bought an American automobile since that day. I wouldn't piss up their ass if their guts were on fire...

Believe Me, It’s Torture
What more can be added to the debate over U.S. interrogation methods, and whether waterboarding is torture? Try firsthand experience. The author undergoes the controversial drowning technique, at the hands of men who once trained American soldiers to resist—not inflict—it.

...You may have read by now the official lie about this treatment, which is that it “simulates” the feeling of drowning. This is not the case. You feel that you are drowning because you are drowning—or, rather, being drowned, albeit slowly and under controlled conditions and at the mercy (or otherwise) of those who are applying the pressure. The “board” is the instrument, not the method. You are not being boarded. You are being watered. This was very rapidly brought home to me when, on top of the hood, which still admitted a few flashes of random and worrying strobe light to my vision, three layers of enveloping towel were added. In this pregnant darkness, head downward, I waited for a while until I abruptly felt a slow cascade of water going up my nose. Determined to resist if only for the honor of my navy ancestors who had so often been in peril on the sea, I held my breath for a while and then had to exhale and—as you might expect—inhale in turn. The inhalation brought the damp cloths tight against my nostrils, as if a huge, wet paw had been suddenly and annihilatingly clamped over my face. Unable to determine whether I was breathing in or out, and flooded more with sheer panic than with mere water, I triggered the pre-arranged signal and felt the unbelievable relief of being pulled upright and having the soaking and stifling layers pulled off me. I find I don’t want to tell you how little time I lasted...

...And so then I said, with slightly more bravado than was justified, that I’d like to try it one more time. There was a paramedic present who checked my racing pulse and warned me about adrenaline rush. An interval was ordered, and then I felt the mask come down again. Steeling myself to remember what it had been like last time, and to learn from the previous panic attack, I fought down the first, and some of the second, wave of nausea and terror but soon found that I was an abject prisoner of my gag reflex. The interrogators would hardly have had time to ask me any questions, and I knew that I would quite readily have agreed to supply any answer. I still feel ashamed when I think about it. Also, in case it’s of interest, I have since woken up trying to push the bedcovers off my face, and if I do anything that makes me short of breath I find myself clawing at the air with a horrible sensation of smothering and claustrophobia. No doubt this will pass. As if detecting my misery and shame, one of my interrogators comfortingly said, “Any time is a long time when you’re breathing water.” I could have hugged him for saying so, and just then I was hit with a ghastly sense of the sadomasochistic dimension that underlies the relationship between the torturer and the tortured. I apply the Abraham Lincoln test for moral casuistry: “If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.” Well, then, if waterboarding does not constitute torture, then there is no such thing as torture.

Source: Christopher Hitchens in Vanity Fair

...we've been ruined by small, hateful men...

Turkey rocked by arrests
A wave of arrests of prominent persons allegedly linked to a nationalist conspiracy jolted Turkey on Tuesday, just as the country's constitutional court was about to start hearing a case brought by the chief prosecutor to close down the ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party) for breaching the country's secularist system.

Police in Ankara, Istanbul and three other cities across Turkey raided homes and offices, making 23 arrests and issuing a search warrant for another. Several of those detained were arrested on the runway of Ankara airport after getting off a plane from Istanbul.

Hursit Tolon and Sener Eruygur, two retired generals, headed the list of those arrested. Tolon is regarded as an outspoken nationalist. Eruygur is a former gendarmerie commander whose name was linked last month by pro-government media with alleged attempts to set up a secret organization called the "Republic Working Group" inside the armed forces in 2002...

...All are accused of having links with a shadowy nationalist organization called Ergenekon, said to be plotting against the government...

Source: Asia Times Online

...this is most likely the efforts of religious nutbags in the government to stop the military from enforcing secular rule. The Turkish Army has a history of periodically rounding up the fundamentalists when they inevitably gain power via the ballot box, and then seek to establish theocratic control of the country. The fundies may pull it off this time, as the disease continues its spread...