Chris Kyle, Author Of 'American Sniper,' Shot And Killed At Gun Range

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">By Benjamin Hart From: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"></span>http://www.huffingtonpost.com<span class="posted-and-updated" style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #999999; display: block; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Posted: <span itemprop="datePublished" style="border: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">02/03/2013 12:05 am EST</span>  |  Updated: <span itemprop="dateModified" style="border: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">02/03/2013 12:24 am EST</span></span><span class="posted-and-updated" style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #999999; display: block; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span itemprop="dateModified" style="border: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><img alt="Chris Kyle Dead" src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/971908/thumbs/r-CHRIS-KYLE-DEAD-large570.jpg?6" /></span></span><span class="posted-and-updated" style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #999999; display: block; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span itemprop="dateModified" style="border: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span></span><br /><div style="border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">Chris Kyle, an ex-Navy SEAL who wrote the bestelling book <em style="border: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">American Sniper</em> about his service in Iraq, was shot and killed at a gun range in Texas, multiple outlets reported Saturday night. A second man was also killed.</div><div style="border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">According to local TV station KHOU, officials said that Kyle was <a href="http://www.khou.com/news/texas-news/Famed-Navy-SEAL-Chris-Kyle-shot-killed-in-N-Texas-189539281.html%3Cbr%20/%3E" style="border: none; color: #513420; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">shot at point-blank range</a> "while helping another soldier who was recovering from post traumatic stress syndrome" at a range near the town of Glen Rose.</div><div style="border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">The Dallas Morning News <a href="http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2013/02/lancaster-police-arrest-man-in-connection-with-double-slaying-in-erath-county.html/" style="border: none; color: #513420; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">reports</a> that Lancaster, Texas police arrested a suspect, 25-year-old Eddie Ray Routh, after a brief chase.</div><div style="border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">Kyle had become well-known for his exploits in Iraq, where he deployed four times,<a href="http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2013/02/lancaster-police-arrest-man-in-connection-with-double-slaying-in-erath-county.html/" style="border: none; color: #513420; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">set the record for sniper kills</a> at 150, received numerous commendations, and,<a href="http://www.yourstephenvilletx.com/news/local/article_01e35c44-6dab-11e2-a2e9-0019bb2963f4.html%20%3Cbr%20/%3E" style="border: none; color: #513420; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">according to the Stephensville Empire Tribune</a>, was given the nickname "The Devil of Ramadi" by insurgents.</div></div>

American Sniper Chris Kyle Gun Range Shot And Killed Chris Kyle, Author Of 'American Sniper,' Shot And Killed At Gun Range

By Benjamin Hart From:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com Posted:  02/03/2013 12:05 am EST   |  Updated:  02/03/2013 12:24 am EST Chris Kyle, an...

Read more »

Super Bowl 2013: 49ers-Ravens QB matchup is run vs. gun

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><h2 style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;">Sprinter's speed makes San Francisco's Colin Kaepernick truly dangerous. Baltimore's Joe Flacco is a classic drop-back passer. Which philosophy will prevail?</h2><div>From:http://www.latimes.com</div><div><img alt="Joe Flacco, Colin Kaepernick" src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-510da8ef/turbine/la-sp-joe-flacco-colin-kaepernick-20130202/580/580x410" /></div><div><span style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px;">The Ravens are counting on quarterback Joe Flacco standing tall and delivering from the pocket while the 49ers will rely on the arm and legs of quarterback Colin Kaepernick in Super Bowl XLVII on Sunday in New Orleans. </span><span class="credit" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px;">(<span class="photographer">Getty Images</span> / <span class="dateMonth">February </span><span class="dateDay">2</span><span class="dateYear">, 2013</span>)]</span></div><div><span class="credit" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px;"><span class="byline" style="background-color: white; color: #292727; display: block; font-size: 13px;">By Sam Farmer</span><div class="date" style="background-color: white; color: #930000; font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 3px; padding: 0px;"><span class="dateString" style="display: inline;">February 2, 2013</span><span class="dateTimeSeparator" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: white; display: inline; font-size: 10px; letter-spacing: -1px; margin-left: 6px;">, </span><span class="timeString" style="display: inline; text-transform: lowercase;">4:05 p.m.</span></div><div class="date" style="background-color: white; color: #930000; font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 3px; padding: 0px;"><span class="timeString" style="display: inline; text-transform: lowercase;"></span></div><div style="color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: none;">NEW ORLEANS — Much of the talk leading up to <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/football/super-bowl-xlvii-EVSPR000237.topic" id="EVSPR000237" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="Super Bowl XLVII">Super Bowl XLVII</a> was about the coaching Harbaugh brothers, San Francisco's Jim and Baltimore's John, and the historic spin they put on the<a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/football/national-football-league-ORSPT000007.topic" id="ORSPT000007" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="National Football League">NFL</a>'s splashiest showcase.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: none;">But the outcome Sunday hinges on the unrelated brothers in arms, <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/football/colin-kaepernick-PESPT000009783.topic" id="PESPT000009783" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="Colin Kaepernick">Colin Kaepernick</a> of the <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/football/san-francisco-49ers-ORSPT000057.topic" id="ORSPT000057" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="San Francisco 49ers">49ers</a>and <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/football/joe-flacco-PESPT0000012410.topic" id="PESPT0000012410" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="Joe Flacco">Joe Flacco</a> of the <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/football/baltimore-ravens-ORSPT000161.topic" id="ORSPT000161" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="Baltimore Ravens">Ravens</a>, quarterbacks of contrasting styles, and how they handle the biggest game of their lives.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: none;">Kaepernick is a sculpted, 6-foot-4 nightmare for a defense, a second-year player with the speed of a sprinter and a pitcher's right arm. He's the quintessential dual threat, whose post-snap intentions are as hard to read as the tattooed Bible verses that run up and down his biceps.</div><div class="articlerail" style="clear: both; color: black; float: left; font-style: normal; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-transform: none; width: 234px; z-index: 4;"><div class="articleRelates module" style="border: 1px solid rgb(231, 231, 231); margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 10px 10px 0px;"><ul style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li class="columnistBio" style="clear: both; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"><div class="clearfix" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></div></li><li class="columnistLinks" style="clear: both; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"><br /></li><li class="newRelatedItem" style="clear: both; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-what-time-is-super-bowl-20130131,0,7814588.story" style="clear: both; color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; display: block; text-decoration: none; width: 212px;" target=""><img alt="What time is the Super Bowl?" height="105" src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-510c0bb7/turbine/la-et-st-what-time-is-super-bowl-20130131/186/186x105" style="border: 0px; display: block; float: left; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-right: 5px; padding-right: 8px;" title="What time is the Super Bowl?" width="186" /></a><a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-what-time-is-super-bowl-20130131,0,7814588.story" style="clear: both; color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; display: block; text-decoration: none; width: 212px;" target="">What time is the Super Bowl?</a></li><li class="newRelatedItem" style="clear: both; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-super-bowl-show-20130202,0,2786968.story" style="clear: both; color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; display: block; text-decoration: none; width: 212px;" target=""><img alt=" It takes sweat and a lot of practice to broadcast the Super Bowl" height="105" src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-510d91c7/turbine/la-et-ct-super-bowl-show-20130202-thumbnail/187/187x105" style="border: 0px; display: block; float: left; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-right: 5px; padding-right: 8px;" title=" It takes sweat and a lot of practice to broadcast the Super Bowl" width="187" /></a><a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-super-bowl-show-20130202,0,2786968.story" style="clear: both; color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; display: block; text-decoration: none; width: 212px;" target="">It takes sweat and a lot of practice to broadcast the Super Bowl</a></li><li class="newRelatedItem" style="clear: both; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-super-bowl-logos-through-the-years-20130124,0,4049564.photogallery" style="clear: both; color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; display: block; text-decoration: none; width: 212px;" target=""><img alt="Super Bowl logos through the years" height="105" src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-51046b69/turbine/la-super-bowl-logos-through-the-years-20130124/187/187x105" style="border: 0px; display: block; float: left; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-right: 5px; padding-right: 8px;" title="Super Bowl logos through the years" width="187" /></a><a href="http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-super-bowl-logos-through-the-years-20130124,0,4049564.photogallery" style="clear: both; color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; display: block; text-decoration: none; width: 212px;" target="">Photos: Super Bowl logos through the years</a></li><li class="newRelatedItem" style="clear: both; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"><a href="http://timelines.latimes.com/nfl-super-bowl-timeline-history/" style="clear: both; color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; display: block; text-decoration: none; width: 212px;" target=""><img alt="Super Bowl history: A look at the NFL's championship game" height="105" src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-5103a95d/turbine/la-sp-super-bowl-timeline-link-20130126/187/187x105" style="border: 0px; display: block; float: left; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-right: 5px; padding-right: 8px;" title="Super Bowl history: A look at the NFL's championship game" width="187" /></a><a href="http://timelines.latimes.com/nfl-super-bowl-timeline-history/" style="clear: both; color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; display: block; text-decoration: none; width: 212px;" target="">Super Bowl history: A look at the NFL's championship game</a></li></ul></div></div><div style="color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: none;"><br />The 6-foot-6 Flacco is only 28, and he's already an old-school throwback. Although he's far from immobile, he's much more of a drop-back pocket dweller than his <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/football/super-bowl-EVSPR000004.topic" id="EVSPR000004" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="Super Bowl">Super Bowl</a>counterpart. And lately, he's on fire. In Baltimore's path back to the sport's marquee game — victories over Indianapolis, Denver and New England — Flacco has eight touchdown passes with no interceptions.<strong><a href="http://www.latimes.com/sports/football/nfl/super-bowl/" style="color: #2262cc; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">SUPER BOWL 2013 FULL COVERAGE</a></strong></div><div style="color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: none;">The Ravens, with Flacco at quarterback, have gotten to the playoffs each of the last five seasons, a feat no other NFL team has accomplished. What's more, Baltimore has won at least one postseason game in each of those years.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: none;">In this copycat league, the quarterback who hoists the Lombardi Trophy at the end of this game will be Exhibit A for two opposing football philosophies.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: none;">Does this league belong to the runners, or the gunners?</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: none;">Steve Young, the last quarterback to win a Super Bowl for the 49ers, and a Hall of Fame player who wasn't shy about tucking the football and running, believes we're witnessing a fascinating historical hiccup. By his thinking, the Kaepernick-style quarterbacks — players such as Seattle's<a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/football/russell-wilson-PESPT0015762.topic" id="PESPT0015762" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="Russell Wilson">Russell Wilson</a>, Washington's <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/football/robert-griffin-iii-PESPT0014793.topic" id="PESPT0014793" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="Robert Griffin III">Robert Griffin III</a> and Carolina's <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/football/cam-newton-PESPT00008878.topic" id="PESPT00008878" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="Cam Newton">Cam Newton</a> — eventually will log more pocket time than a stingy man's wallet.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: none;">"Sooner or later, you get straightened up to the fact that to deliver championship football, it's from the pocket," said Young, now an <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/espn-%28tv-network%29-HOC792.topic" id="HOC792" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="ESPN (tv network)">ESPN</a> analyst, who capped the 1994 season by securing a fifth championship for the 49ers.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: none;">"I might be proven wrong, but I think we have a special gap in time. There's something unique happening, and I think it will close. Will it completely close? No. And I think that young, mobile quarterbacks will become more valuable now rather than in the past, and maybe become the prototype."</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: none;">But, Young said, the ability to shred a defense with the run "can never be the full measure of what quarterbacks need to do in the league." That's why players such as Kaepernick, Wilson and Griffin — all of whom can pass, all of whom made the playoffs this season — are offensive cornerstones, and the one-dimensional <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/football/tim-tebow-PESPT008528.topic" id="PESPT008528" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="Tim Tebow">Tim Tebow</a> is not.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: none;">Flacco, whose own father describes him as "dull," is one of the more exciting passers in football because he throws the risky passes, the ones that tickle the fingertips of defenders but ultimately rest in the hands of his receivers. From his bombs to his back-shoulder throws to his darts he could wedge through a mouse hole, Flacco takes chances.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: none;">In three games this postseason, Flacco has completed 54.8% of his throws for 853 yards and a lofty overall passer rating of 114.7. He has thrown 162 passes without an interception, his last coming in a Dec. 16 loss to Denver. He's not a dink-and-dunk quarterback; he's completed 15 passes of 20 or more yards in the three playoff games.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: none;">"He's a guy that was always in constant control," said K.C. Keeler, Flacco's college coach at Delaware. "And I asked him one day, 'OK, I'm going to talk to a youth group someday about you, what made you great. What makes you great?' And he goes, 'I'm not afraid to fail. It's that simple. I'm going to prepare as hard as I can, and I'm going to go out there, and it doesn't matter what the arena is, I'm just going to go play. And if we're successful, great. And if we're not? I'll live with it. But I'm not afraid to fail.'</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: none;">"When you watch Joe play, you just wonder, 'How does he stay so calm?' Well, that's how he was brought up. This isn't something that I instilled in him or any other coach did. His parents just did such a great job of their simple messages. And that simple message of not being afraid to fail is the reason he's playing in this big ballgame now."</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: none;">Flacco might not be afraid to fail, but, in the NFL, the stakes can't get any higher than Sunday's game.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: none;">Both of these teams were turned back at the altar last season — Baltimore came within a dropped touchdown pass of beating New England in the <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/football/american-football-conference-ORSPT000000250.topic" id="ORSPT000000250" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="American Football Conference">AFC</a> championship game, and San Francisco fumbled away its <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/football/national-football-conference-EVSPR00003532.topic" id="EVSPR00003532" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="National Football Conference">NFC</a> title chances in an overtime loss at home to the <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/football/new-york-giants-ORSPT000197.topic" id="ORSPT000197" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="New York Giants">New York Giants</a>.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: none;">"I think last year, just speaking for myself, is just like, 'Damn, we got so close,'" 49ers defensive tackle <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/football/justin-smith-PESPT000008996.topic" id="PESPT000008996" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="Justin Smith">Justin Smith</a> said. "I've never been that close in my life. You don't think it's over or your window is closed or anything like that, just personally speaking, and you feel it kind of shutting.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: none;">"To be back in the NFC championship game, I don't think our team took it as much for granted how hard it is to get there. Getting to the Super Bowl, now especially, you have to take advantage of it."</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: none;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">The 49ers have a rich history of seizing these moments. They are 5-0 in Super Bowls and aiming for a sixth ring, which would tie them with Pittsburgh for the most by any franchise. San Francisco and Dallas are currently tied for second place.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">San Francisco has won a Super Bowl in New Orleans before, stomping Denver, 55-10, in Super Bowl XXIV (Jan. 28, 1990). In five Super Bowls, the 49ers have outscored opponents, 188-89.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">The Ravens have worn the crown more recently, winning the Super Bowl at the end of the 2000 season.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">"We've played in some big games but nothing quite like this, so it will be interesting to see how we'll react," said Flacco, who is one win away from tying New England's <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/football/tom-brady-PESPT000789.topic" id="PESPT000789" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="Tom Brady">Tom Brady</a>for most playoff victories (nine) in his first five seasons.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">"I think we have the kind of team, and I think I'm the kind of person, that will handle that pretty well, but you never know until you're put in that situation. I hope that we all just kind of get good, positive feelings from it and it brings our confidence level even higher and we just go out there and play."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">So it's Kaepernick and Flacco, the runner and the gunner, two players who — though they won't be on the field at the same time — will be ambassadors of their contrasting styles.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">Baltimore's <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/football/terrell-suggs-PESPT000008622.topic" id="PESPT000008622" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="Terrell Suggs">Terrell Suggs</a>, for one, likes the Ravens' chances.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">"We'll have to wait and see Sunday," the outspoken linebacker said, "but I know which one is going to show up. Like I said, I'll let y'all be surprised."</div><br /></span></div></div>

NFL Super Bowl 2013 Super Bowl 2013: 49ers-Ravens QB matchup is run vs. gun

Sprinter's speed makes San Francisco's Colin Kaepernick truly dangerous. Baltimore's Joe Flacco is a classic drop-back passer. W...

Read more »

Kerry Washington and a Bluegrass Brawl

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">IWS is proud to announce our Babe of the Week is the beautiful and talented actress and activist Kerry Washington! Ms. Washington burst onto the scene when she played Ray Charles' wife Della Bea Robinson in "Ray" and then as Idi Amin's wife Kay in "Last King of Scotland" (Editor's Note: GREAT movie!). Now she is dazzling audiences in the lead role of Shonda Rhimes in ABC's "Scandal."<br /><br />In addition to being a great actress Kerry is active in local, national and international charities and organizations. She works to improve educational opportunities in her native NYC, as well as fighting for women's causes and trying to bring awareness to violence against women.<br /><br />So, for her sexiness, talent and being a great citizen of the world, IWS presents Kerry Washington with out coveted BABE OF THE WEEEEEEEEEEEK!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNM8KqCAAA2lndnDGeOBolzNuT1LQMOneWYicSLm-glvS4qZ4ylT0i_fmrqo9zLU3MWAxrW-ASO9coXb9hmTYyPgQNZwag2oVDpvN3W4semqXOMU023Csy9z61htwQJQlLg1s-8lVxl4c/s1600/Kerry-Washington-Boobs-Cleavage-Hot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNM8KqCAAA2lndnDGeOBolzNuT1LQMOneWYicSLm-glvS4qZ4ylT0i_fmrqo9zLU3MWAxrW-ASO9coXb9hmTYyPgQNZwag2oVDpvN3W4semqXOMU023Csy9z61htwQJQlLg1s-8lVxl4c/s400/Kerry-Washington-Boobs-Cleavage-Hot.jpg" width="318" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAWTljl7qraKD86zHLeN4tMFmy_6xiNMHZDsIawDoU9VR-q5lx9B76UZOf_9R_sinL8zPfR3QF_TotvX9_mrtUHGmR-egTDOtrgaVio3794bG-8AP3B_c8B36gAWP8AwA3Cz0DCymGW2E/s1600/Kerry-Washington-Legs-Hot.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAWTljl7qraKD86zHLeN4tMFmy_6xiNMHZDsIawDoU9VR-q5lx9B76UZOf_9R_sinL8zPfR3QF_TotvX9_mrtUHGmR-egTDOtrgaVio3794bG-8AP3B_c8B36gAWP8AwA3Cz0DCymGW2E/s400/Kerry-Washington-Legs-Hot.JPG" width="265" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFwxTjMSMKcJAKS_LJtv8dGaBHTs4UF_gUb9gEGIJzsd8wZJvYdvOVCblQafnQdczCYIL8HxcrmfvvB27ktFS93JouRaN_doKxhoyjbqCawkzU5Mm0yS9J22IEbx-2mq_Du1fZ2PPa9jU/s1600/Kerry-Washinton-Hot-Sexy-Scandal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFwxTjMSMKcJAKS_LJtv8dGaBHTs4UF_gUb9gEGIJzsd8wZJvYdvOVCblQafnQdczCYIL8HxcrmfvvB27ktFS93JouRaN_doKxhoyjbqCawkzU5Mm0yS9J22IEbx-2mq_Du1fZ2PPa9jU/s400/Kerry-Washinton-Hot-Sexy-Scandal.jpg" width="293" /></a></div><br /><br />Also, last night was an EPIC episode of I'm With Stupid. It started out with your typical witty and charming banter between Jayman and Matt-Man and later turned into an ALL OUT WAR! That's right kids, Sunshine State Shirley and Justin both called in and IT WAS ON! Justin and Shirley went to war almost immediately. It was AWESOME! Check it out.<br /><br /><br /><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.adobe.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" height="105" id="143577" name="143577" width="210"><param name="movie" value="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/btrplayer.swf?file=http://www.blogtalkradio.com%2Fplaylist.aspx%3Fshow_id%3D4353435&autostart=false&bufferlength=5&volume=80&corner=rounded&callback=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/flashplayercallback.aspx" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="menu" value="false" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/btrplayer.swf" flashvars="file=http://www.blogtalkradio.com%2Fplaylist.aspx%3Fshow_id%3D4353435&autostart=false&shuffle=false&callback=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/FlashPlayerCallback.aspx&width=210&height=105&volume=80&corner=rounded" width="210" height="105" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" quality="high" wmode="transparent" menu="false" name="143577" id="143577" allowScriptAccess="always"></embed></object><br /><div style="font-size: 10px; text-align: center; width: 220px;">Listen to <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/">internet radio</a> with <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid">Im With Stupid</a> on Blog Talk Radio<br /><br /><br /></div></div>

Kerry Washington and a Bluegrass Brawl

IWS is proud to announce our Babe of the Week is the beautiful and talented actress and activist Kerry Washington! Ms. Washington burst onto...

Read more »

Radio Rounds | Today's Stories. Tomorrow's Doctors.

Created by medical student Avash Kalra and founded withShamie Das and Lakshman Swamy , medical students at the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine in Dayton Ohio, Radio Rounds is the first and only radio show in the United States that is hosted and produced entirely by medical students.<br /><br><br /><br>Radio Rounds was founded specifically to promote the qualities of empathy and humanism in medicine, to showcase the art behind the science of medicine, to provide insight into the medical profession, and to connect all levels of the medical profession across the nation — from medical students to practicing physicians. Radio Rounds explores the qualities of humanism in medicine through different perspectives — those of world-renowned physicians, authors, students, patients and health care leaders. In short, Radio Rounds tells today's stories in medicine, through the lens of tomorrow's doctors.<br /><br><br /><br><a href="http://radiorounds.org/">http://radiorounds.org/</a>

Radio Rounds | Today's Stories. Tomorrow's Doctors.

Created by medical student Avash Kalra and founded withShamie Das and Lakshman Swamy , medical students at the Wright State University Boons...

Read more »

Sony likely to unveil PlayStation 4 on Feb. 20

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="Video gamers have been eagerly awaiting the Playstation 4 for seven years." src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1253332.1359751534!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/playstationwire2f-1-web.jpg" /><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px;">Release comes after Nntendo lauched Wii U last fall; Microsoft expected to launch Xbox game console at June's E3</span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span><br /><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sony is poised to unveil the next PlayStation in New York City on Feb. 20.</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Japanese electronics giant invited journalists to an evening press event. The company has not said what it plans to show off, but signs indicate that it’ll be the PlayStation 4.</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Such a console would follow Nintendo’s Wii U, which launched last fall, and precede Microsoft Corp.’s next Xbox game console, which will likely be unveiled in June at the E3 video game conference in Los Angeles.</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter says it’s a “super smart” move for Sony Corp. to pre-empt Microsoft’s expected launch by several months. This way, the PlayStation 4 will get the spotlight without much competition.</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sony would only say it “will deliver and speak about the future PlayStation business.”</div><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /><br /></span></div>

PlayStation 4 Sony likely to unveil PlayStation 4 on Feb. 20

Release comes after Nntendo lauched Wii U last fall; Microsoft expected to launch Xbox game console at June's E3 Sony is poised to unvei...

Read more »

Netflix's 'House of Cards' creates social media buzz-binge

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="Netflix's original series "House of Cards" creates social media buzz" src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-510c41ea/turbine/la-et-ct-netflixs-house-of-cards-creates-socia-001/580/580x386" /><br /><span style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px;">Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright star in the political drama "House of Cards," which is generating brisk social media buzz. Netflix released the entire 13-episode season all at once. </span><span class="credit" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px;">(<span class="photographer">Melinda Sue Gordon / Netflix</span> / <span class="dateMonth">February </span><span class="dateDay">1</span><span class="dateYear">, 2013</span>) </span><br /><span class="credit" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px;">From: </span>http://www.latimes.com<br /><span class="toolSet" style="background-color: white; display: inline-block; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-right: -50px; margin-top: 6px; width: 335px;"></span><br /><div class="byline" style="color: #292727; float: left; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;"><span class="byline" style="display: block;">By Dawn C. Chmielewski</span><div class="date" style="color: #930000; font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; margin-top: 3px; padding: 0px;"><span class="dateString" style="display: inline;">February 1, 2013</span><span class="dateTimeSeparator" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: white; display: inline; font-size: 10px; letter-spacing: -1px; margin-left: 6px;">, </span><span class="timeString" style="display: inline; text-transform: lowercase;">3:05 p.m.</span></div></div><div class="clear" style="clear: both; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px;"></span><div id="story-body-text" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.43; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;"><a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/economy-business-finance/media-industry/netflix-inc.-ORCRP010656.topic" id="ORCRP010656" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="Netflix Inc.">Netflix Inc.</a>'s strategy of simultaneously releasing all 13 episodes of its new political drama <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/entertainment/television/house-of-cards-%28tv-program%29-ENTTV00000991.topic" id="ENTTV00000991" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="House of Cards (tv program)">"House of Cards"</a> is generating social media buzz -- with well over 10,000 mentions since the show's debut just after midnight Friday.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">"House of Cards" is sparking thousands of mentions every hour, according to analysis by social media research firm Fizziology. About 62% of the remarks are positive, with negative conversation virtually non-existent.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">Most of those expressing mixed views are saying they don't have time to watch the series.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">"This indicates that if they can't watch it all at once, they may not watch it until they have time to consume more than one or two episodes at a time," Fizziology President Ben Carlson said. "This might mean that people feel pressured to binge-watch the series."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">Netflix found that its subscribers indulge in these marathon viewing sessions, watching episode after episode -- or even entire series -- over short periods of time. Complex serialized dramas such as <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/economy-business-finance/media-industry/television-industry/amc-%28tv-network%29-ORCRP00000174.topic" id="ORCRP00000174" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="AMC (tv network)">AMC</a>'s "Mad Men" and <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/entertainment/television/breaking-bad-%28tv-program%29-ENTTV00000010.topic" id="ENTTV00000010" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="Breaking Bad (tv program)">"Breaking Bad"</a> have been beneficiaries of this copious TV consumption.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">The subscription service's decision to flout network scheduling tradition and release "House of Cards" in one binge-worthy dump represents a nod to shifting viewing habits.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">Indeed, 16% of the people talking online about the series are self-described "binge" viewers, most of whom said they planned to watch the series this weekend, Fizziology found. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">"Many in the social conversation around 'House of Cards' are giving progress reports of where they are in the series, like 'I just finished Episode 1,' " Carlson said. "A loud and influential voice in the social space may well lead others to watch in a specific window of time."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">Academy Award-winning actor <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/entertainment/kevin-spacey-PECLB003744.topic" id="PECLB003744" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="Kevin Spacey">Kevin Spacey</a> stars in "House of Cards" as House Majority Whip Francis Underwood, a snubbed politician bent on revenge. He appears in about 15% of the online discussions.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">"People often describe [Spacey] as 'brilliant' and are excited to see him in a Washington role," Carlson said. "However, Spacey takes a backseat to Netflix, which is the real star of the series in social media conversations."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">Netflix is mentioned in 38% of online discussions about the series. One in six have taken on the role of advocates, encouraging friends and followers to watch "House of Cards," even after watching just the first episode.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">Google searches related to "House of Cards" also have surged in the week leading up to the Feb. 1 series debut.</div></div><br /><br /></div>

Netflix's Netflix's 'House of Cards' creates social media buzz-binge

Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright star in the political drama "House of Cards," which is generating brisk social media buzz. Netflix r...

Read more »

Warm Bodies in the Theater

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img src="http://www.wired.com/geekmom/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/warm-bodies-big1-350x518.jpeg" /><br /><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;">While watching a particular scene in the movie <a href="http://warmbodiesmovie.com/" style="color: #007ca5; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><cite style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Warm Bodies</cite></a>, my friend leaned over to me, “Aw, and her name is even ‘Julie,’ how sweet.”</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;">Hm? I grunted back. And then my brain cells slowly pieced together: <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">balcony scene … Julie … his name is ‘R’ … oooOH!</em></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;">Maybe that’s why I liked the book, and happily, the movie too. Like R, I try my best, but making connections, even freakin’ obvious Shakespearean ones (how could I miss that in the book?!) can be really hard. Connecting to people? Even harder. I love one of the opening shots of the film where R is reminiscing about what the world was like before he was a zombie, picturing the airport filled with people “spending time together.” But all the people he’s imagining are looking at their cell phones.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.wired.com/geekmom/2013/01/warming-up-to-warm-bodies/" style="color: #007ca5; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">In my previous post</a>, I said I wasn’t going to read the book until after the movie, since the trailer caught my eye. But I’ve never been known as a patient person. A week was too long for the story, so I bought a copy and read it. Very sweet, with a straightforward storyline; perfect for a movie. Not too many side-plots, though I knew the relationship between Perry and R was not going to make it on the big screen.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;">I wondered how the voice of R would come through. There was some voice over, not too much, but I found those parts my favorite. Maybe because I could relate. It’s one thing to read R’s voice in the novel, but seeing that blank stare on the screen, with an intelligent and very frustrated voice behind it, was perfect. How often do I have a similar look and frustration level with my inability to say what I mean? I won’t answer that question.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;">I did miss R’s voice, however. The gradual waking up of this dead man was the point of the novel, the love story was the point of the movie. Overall, the movie was entertaining, although certainly no prize winner. The makeup bothered me. It was inconsistent and obvious. The zombies did not look dead enough. If the producers were worried about making <a href="http://www.hollywood.com/news/Nicholas_Hoult_5_Reasons_Hes_Not_the_Next_Robert_Pattinson/48675514" style="color: #007ca5; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Nicholas Carodoc Houl</a> look bad, they shouldn’t have.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;">On the way out my friend said awkwardly, “Well, that actor certainly has grown up since <cite style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">About A Boy</cite>. I mean, he looked … he was….”</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;">“He’s hot. Yes. You can say that. We may be the age of his mother, but you can call him ‘hot’.”</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;">The bonies were creepy, but not the most realistic special effects. The human settlement was way too settled that soon after an apocalypse (not that I know from experience, but…) I liked the casting of M, but I was disappointed that Nora was not ethnic with curly hair. (I’m always looking for diversity in main characters.) The father (played by John Malkovich) was lame in the movie, and we had a Hollywood ending on that storyline.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;">Speaking of lame however, I had one wish going into the theater. “Please don’t make Julie lame. Please don’t make Julie lame.” The slow motion kick-ass with a gun scene where R first falls in love is funny, sweet, and she’s not lame! Yay!</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;">The movie makers really missed it on one scene, though. While reading the book, there is a part where R takes a shower, his first since becoming a zombie, and the years of dirt, grime, dried blood, and everything else you can imagine is cleaned revealing the scars and bullet wounds that can never be scrubbed away. I thought, “that will be the most beautiful scene in the movie.” Yeah, no. They skipped right to clean skin with scars and bullet wounds. It was enough to make my friend make sounds of sympathy, but there are few times when a movie can outshine a book, and this very visual metaphor was a missed opportunity.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"><cite style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Warm Bodies</cite> was a romantic comedy unlike any other I’ve seen. For those who have read the book, Hoult embodied the lovable monster with empathy and humor. For those who didn’t, you can be introduced to a sweet story of what it means to be human. My friend and I both enjoyed it. So, if you’re in the mood for some zombie apocalyptic love, check it out.</div></div>

Warm Bodies Warm Bodies in the Theater

While watching a particular scene in the movie  Warm Bodies , my friend leaned over to me, “Aw, and her name is even ‘Julie,’ how sweet.” Hm...

Read more »

The Ed Koch Show

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><nyt_byline style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"></nyt_byline><br /><h6 class="byline" style="color: grey; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 2px 0px;">By <span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">JOE NOCERA From:</span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/" style="background-color: transparent;">http://www.nytimes.com</a></h6><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"></span><br /><h6 class="dateline" style="background-color: white; color: grey; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px;">Published: February 1, 2013 </h6><h6 class="dateline" style="background-color: white; color: grey; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px;"><em style="color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">“I never doubted that I would be a good mayor,” said Ed Koch, with a self-satisfied smile. “I never did.”</em></h6><h6 class="dateline" style="background-color: white; color: grey; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px;"><img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/01/27/opinion/Nocera_New/Nocera_New-popup-v2.jpg" /></h6><h6 class="dateline" style="background-color: white; color: grey; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px;"><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">It was Tuesday night, and the documentary “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkBI-fYQIHE" style="color: #666699;" title="A trailer of the movie">Koch</a>,” written and directed by my old friend Neil Barsky, was having its premiere at the Museum of Modern Art. In his late 80s, the former New York mayor looked his age in the film, but he was still very sharp and quite funny — and as needy as he’d always been for public attention and approval. As Ed Koch matter-of-factly uttered those words, early in the movie, the audience, full of former staff aides, political loyalists and New York movers-and-shakers, chuckled knowingly. Throughout his political life, Koch’s ego had never been far from the surface. It says here that his egotism is part of what made him a great mayor.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Koch had planned to be in the audience Tuesday night. He had cooperated fully with Barsky and had given a few interviews in the run-up to the premiere. He was clearly looking forward to basking in the spotlight again. But earlier that day he had been admitted to the hospital. By Friday, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/02/nyregion/edward-i-koch-ex-mayor-of-new-york-dies.html" style="color: #666699;" title="His obituary in The Times">he was dead</a>. Is it tasteless to say he couldn’t have planned a better promotional campaign? Probably. But Koch himself would have laughed at the joke. Which was another thing about him: He was probably the last mayor of New York to have a sense of humor.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Like Koch, Barsky was born in the Bronx. A former Wall Street Journal reporter and hedge fund manager, he was in college when Koch was first elected mayor. About 10 years ago, he told me, he had driven around the South Bronx, an area he hadn’t ventured into in decades. He was stunned to see, as he put it, that “I couldn’t find any of the old burned-out buildings” that he recalled from the 1970s. “They had all been replaced with real housing.”</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Affordable housing was a big part of Koch’s legacy, Barsky realized; indeed, under Koch, the city spent $5 billion on housing, more than the next 50 American cities combined. The memory of that tour of the South Bronx stuck with him. When Barsky closed his hedge fund to become a filmmaker, Koch was an obvious subject.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Which is not to say the film is a big wet kiss. Yes, it gives plenty of credit where it is due: Koch’s sound financial management brought the city back from the brink of bankruptcy. He helped New York regain its confidence. He took on the transit union. He began the process that led to the renewal of Times Square and other areas of the city. He reduced the rampant crime that had created such a climate of fear in New York.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">But Barsky is also cleareyed about his foibles. Koch’s lack of empathy. His contentious and at times ugly relationship with the black community. His slowness to react to the AIDS crisis. Barsky tackles the rumors that Koch was a closeted gay man, asking him point-blank about his sexuality. “None of your business,” replied Koch, in somewhat more pungent language. (<a href="http://gothamist.com/2013/02/01/koch_gays_and_aids.php" style="color: #666699;">Many gay activists are convinced</a> that Koch didn’t do more during the AIDS crisis because he was uncomfortable with his own sexuality. But the totality of Koch’s record — he was a leader in pushing for gay rights — suggests otherwise, at least to me.)</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">What was most striking about “Koch,” however, was the extent to which, for Hizzoner, it was always about, well, Ed Koch. He needlessly picks fights, calling people “schmucks” and “idiots” when they disagreed with him. He takes actions designed to win him praise in the media. One of his former aides recalls him saying, after reading the paper, that nothing of note had happened that day. What he meant was that he wasn’t mentioned. “How’m I doin’?” wasn’t just a trademark phrase; it was an expression of a deep psychological need. On the other hand, if that is what drove him to spend $5 billion on new housing, who can complain?</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">A few days after the “Koch” premiere, I went to see “Fiorello!,” a 1959 musical about another great New York mayor, Fiorello H. LaGuardia, which is having <a href="http://www.nycitycenter.org/tickets/productionNew.aspx?performanceNumber=6623" style="color: #666699;">a short run at City Center</a>. LaGuardia was also an egotist, who loved “the people” more than he did people, who reformed city government yet who also had a profound need to be at the center of every orbit he entered.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Indeed, the same can largely be said of our current mayor, Michael Bloomberg, whose view of himself as a Great Man doing a Great Job is so ingrained that, according to The New York Times, he has tried to recruit someone he thinks has sufficient stature to succeed him.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">New York’s three greatest mayors were also three of its great egotists. It’s no accident.</div></h6></div>

Ed Koch The Ed Koch Show

By  JOE NOCERA From: http://www.nytimes.com Published: February 1, 2013  “I never doubted that I would be a good mayor,” said Ed Koch, with ...

Read more »

Groundhog Day forecast: Punxsutawney Phil predicts early spring

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px;">From: </span><a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/groundhog-day-punxsutawney-phil-predicts-early-spring-article-1.1253756#ixzz2JlrSSnlG" style="border: 0px; color: #003399; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none !important; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.nydailynews.com</a><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px;">Thousands gathered in Gobbler's Knob, Pennsylvania to see whether the famous groundhog would see his shadow. Legend has it that if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow on Feb. 2, winter will last six more weeks. If he doesn't see his shadow, spring will come early.</span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /><br /><img alt=" In this Feb. 2, 2012 file photo, Groundhog Club handler Ron Ploucha holds Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, during the 126th celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa. Legend has it that if the groundhog sees his shadow on Feb. 2, winter will last six more weeks. No shadow means an early spring. " src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1253746.1359815863!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/groundhog3n-10-web.jpg" /></span><br /><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><div class="story-img" itemid="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1253746!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/groundhog3n-10-web.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 635px;"><h4 class="caption" itemprop="description" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In this Feb. 2, 2012 file photo, Groundhog Club handler Ron Ploucha holds Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, during the 126th celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa. Legend has it that if the groundhog sees his shadow on Feb. 2, winter will last six more weeks. No shadow means an early spring.</h4></div><div class="story-rail p402_hide" style="border: 0px; float: right; margin: 0px 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 200px;"></div><div class="story-body p402_premium" itemprop="articleBody" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. — Punxsutawney's famous groundhog predicts spring will come early this year.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">With thousands watching on Gobbler's Knob in west-central Pennsylvania, Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his lair Saturday but didn't see his shadow.</div></div><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="GROUNDHOG3N_9_WEB" src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1253747!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/groundhog3n-9-web.jpg" /></span><br /><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span><br /><div class="story-img" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 635px;"><h4 class="caption" itemprop="description" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jon Lovitch of the Bronx, New York waits in the cold for the weather-prognosticating groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, to make his annual prediction on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, on the 127th Groundhog Day Feb. 2, 2013.</h4></div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Legend has it that if the furry rodent sees his shadow on Feb. 2, winter will last six more weeks. But if he doesn't see his shadow, spring will come early.</div><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /><br /><img alt="GROUNDHOG3N_8_WEB" src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1253748!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/groundhog3n-8-web.jpg" /></span><br /><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></span><br /><div class="story-img" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 635px;"><h4 class="caption" itemprop="description" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Katie Wolf of South Bound Brook, New Jersey waits for the weather-prognosticating groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, to make his annual prediction on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, on the 127th Groundhog Day Feb. 2, 2013.</h4></div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The prediction is made during a ceremony overseen by a group called the Inner Circle. Members don top hats and tuxedos for the ceremony on Groundhog Day each year.</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bill Deeley, president of the Inner Circle, says that after "consulting" with Phil, he makes the call in deciphering what the world's Punxsutawney Phil has to say about the weather.</div><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /><div class="story-img" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 635px;"><h4 class="caption" itemprop="description" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fred Ungar (L) of York, Pennsylvania and Barry Edwards of Lancaster, Pennsylvania joke around while waiting for the weather-prognosticating groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, to make his annual prediction on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, on the 127th Groundhog Day Feb. 2, 2013.</h4></div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Phil is known as the "seer of seers" and "sage of sages." Organizers predicted about 20,000 people this weekend, a larger-than-normal crowd because Groundhog Day falls on a weekend this year.</div><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="GROUNDHOG3N_6_WEB" src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1253750!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/groundhog3n-6-web.jpg" /><br /><div class="story-img" style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 635px;"><h4 class="caption" itemprop="description" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jason Grusky, also known as The Big Chill and a member of the Inner Circle of the Groundhog Club, wears a thermometer showing the current low temperatures on the 127th Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, Feb. 2, 2013, as crowds wait for the weather-prognosticating groundhog Punxsutawney Phil on Gobbler's Knob.</h4></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Phil's got company in the forecasting department.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">There's Staten Island Chuck, in New York; General Beauregard Lee, in Atlanta; and Wiarton Willie, in Wiarton, Ontario, among others noted by the National Climactic Data Center "Groundhog Day" Web page.</div><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /><img alt="GROUNDHOG3N_3_WEB" src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1253751!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/groundhog3n-3-web.jpg" /></span></span></span><br /><div><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="story-img" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 635px;"><h4 class="caption" itemprop="description" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Pam Markin of Dallas, Texas, waits for Punxsutawney Phil to come out from his winter den during the 127th Groundhog Day Celebration at Gobbler's Knob on Feb. 2, 2013 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.</h4></div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Punxsutawney can't keep something this big to itself," the Data Center said. "Other prognosticating rodents are popping up to claim a piece of the action."</div><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /><img alt="GROUNDHOG3N_4_WEB" src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1253753!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/groundhog3n-4-web.jpg" /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="story-img" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 635px;"><h4 class="caption" itemprop="description" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A crowd surround a fire to keep themselves warm during the 127th Groundhog Day Celebration at Gobbler’s Knob on Feb. 2, 2013 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.</h4></div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Phil is the original — and the best, Punxsutawney partisans insist.</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"We welcome them all. We like the competition," Deeley said this week.</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The 1993 movie "Groundhog Day" starring Bill Murray brought even more notoriety to the Pennsylvania party. The record attendance was about 30,000 the year after the movie's release, said Katie Donald, executive director of the Groundhog Club. About 13,000 attend if Feb. 2 falls on a weekday.</div><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div></div>

Groundhog Day Groundhog Day forecast: Punxsutawney Phil predicts early spring

From:  http://www.nydailynews.com Thousands gathered in Gobbler's Knob, Pennsylvania to see whether the famous groundhog would see his s...

Read more »

THE BALKANS – ORGANIZED CRIME AND POLITICAL CORRUPTION PART 6

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument></xml><![endif]--><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true" DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99" LatentStyleCount="267"> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Normale Tabelle"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /><b><span style="mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">BALKAN: BIO - CHEMICAL WEAPON THREAT? </span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Adapted by Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring from Ioannis Michaletos</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The EU strategists, whoever they may be, should be aware of the complicated BALKAN reality: the region is a mostly secular one, but it has the peculiarity of hosting safe havens of terrorists and organized crime related Islamists. Most of these areas are under international protection a paradox that ridicules the entire Western anti terror campaign. Another worrying fact is the real danger of proliferation of chemical or biological weapons into the hands of terrorists, especially in the case of ALBANIA. Already this threat is one of the top priorities for the security services across SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE, and GREECE along with the USA, ITALY, SWITZERLAND, and the EUROPEAN UNION; assists ALBANIA in destroying the stockpiles of its chemical weapons. It is worthwhile to mention that the ALBANIAN authorities had discovered 16 tons of chemicals in 2002, stored in an underground cache, but there are no verified accounts if any amount had been stolen during the 1997 riots, thus raising a question as to whether terrorist organizations already have taken hold of quantities of chemicals.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Lastly, the attack on the USA Embassy in Athens-GREECE in January 2007 with an RPG weaponry, is assumed to have a BALKAN-ALBANIAN connection, meaning source it came from, the “Weapons black market” vividly active in the borderlines between KOSOVO and FYROM.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Only a coordinated pan EUROPEAN operation would be able to eradicate this perilous condition. The bombings in Madrid and in London had a BALKAN flavor in them, namely the explosives used, according to many, came from those very same Muslim pockets in the BALKANS that are protected by WESTERN armies. For the future then, Islamic radicalism in the BALKANS is an X factor. What is certain though is that this factor will not be used for the benefit of the West and the only way of neutralize it is by disrupting its logistic and financial base.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">WEST AND EU UNDERESTIMATE IMPORTANCE OF THE BALKANS? </span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Political ambitious, international reputations and the all pervading political correctness, hinders the right actions to be taken. Unfortunately the implications of the WESTERN involvement have spilled-over worldwide and with dire consequences regarding the global anti-terror campaign. Shaul Shay states that “In the course of 1999-2000, several terror cells were discovered in the U.S. and CANADA. Some of their members lived in Bocinja [BOSNIA] or were connected to radical Islamic entities that resided there”. The West followed a contradictory stance in the BALKANS where it promoted the advance of radical Islamic elements linked to terrorism, in the same period -1999- it enacted the attacks against SERBIA, thus empowering the former.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Comment by Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring</span></i></b><i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">: It should be noted that the author of this article is Greek, thus favoring a pro SERBIAN and RUSSIAN stance. GREECE and CYPRUS and their respective orthodox churches provided sanctuaries to SERBIAN refugees and Chetniks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chetniks ) during the KOSOVO and BOSNIAN wars.</span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">A great leader once said “A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject”. That surely sums up the mentality of the international officials around this Balkan “X factor”.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: blue;">THE MUSLIM MINORITIES IN THE BALKANS</span><br /></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />In contemporary EUROPE there is a great debate on the role of Islam in modern societies and the path that the EUROPEAN-MUSLIM relationship will lead into the 21st century. The BALKANS is a European area where considerable Muslim communities reside, some of them for over 700 hundred years and since the era of the Ottoman Empire.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The BALKAN Peninsula was always an area characterized by continuous population arrivals and exodus due to the turbulent history of the region and because of its geopolitical disposition in the midst of three continents. Since the fall of the Roman Empire immigration and conquest waves have over the centuries shaped the population composition of this EUROPEAN soil. The Slavs in the 6th Century AC, the BULGARIANS in the 7th and the TURKS in the 14th one, have all constructed more or less modern ethno-diversity in the BALKANS.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The former were able –after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 AC- to create the Ottoman Empire stretching from modern day SAUDI ARABIA and NORTH AFRICA, right up to the infamous “Gates of Vienna” or more specifically in Klagenfurt and the Styria province. During much of the previous 6 centuries, there have been massive conversions to Islam that formatted the existing Islamic enclaves in the BALKANS. The fall of the SOVIET Bloc in 1989, and the civil wars in Ex-YUGOSLAVIA; brought the remembrance of the war of faiths, which were part of the BALKAN history for the better part of the last Millennium.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Nowadays, all BALKAN states-Bar RUMANIA- have Muslim minorities that are part of the social and political life of the respective states and most importantly have been often accused as acting like a “Trojan Horse” from powers seeking to exercise influence in the area.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">BOSNIA was already a part of the Ottoman realm, back in 1463 and a mass conversion of the Bogomil Christian sect, (See: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogomilism">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogomilism</a>) endured the existence of a large and influential Islamic community in the state. This area was for centuries the epicenter of the BALKAN Muslim life, since it was ideally placed in the centre of SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE and had a viable and vibrant Muslim community. At this point it should to be noted that the Bogomils were the most affluent class of BOSNIA and their adherence to Islam constituted an initiative from their part to retain their privileges and rights under the newly formed dominion.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In 1908 BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA was annexed by the then AUSTRIA-HUNGARIAN Empire, at the same period the idea of a united confederation of the Southern Slavs –SERBS, CROATS, SLOVENIANS- was gaining momentum. The creation of Yugoslavia after WW1 didn’t resolve the wide religious and cultural gaps between Catholics, Orthodox and Sunni Muslims. The Second World War saw the alliance between the Fascist, pro-GERMAN CROATIAN regime of Andre Pavelic and the Muslims in BOSNIA.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Actually in 1943 the latter created the 13th Mountainous SS Brigade –Waffen Gebirgs division der SS- See: (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13th_Waffen_Mountain_Division_of_the_SS_Handschar_%281st_Croatian%29">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13th_Waffen_Mountain_Division_of_the_SS_Handschar_%281st_Croatian%29</a>) that committed atrocities against civilian SERBIAN population in classic ethnic cleansing procedures. In 1944 a similar brigade was to be formed by the KOSOVO ALBANIANS -21st Skanderberg Brigade- that sought as well the elimination of SERBIANS from KOSOVO-Metohija. See: (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21st_Waffen_Mountain_Division_of_the_SS_Skanderbeg_%281st_Albanian%29">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21st_Waffen_Mountain_Division_of_the_SS_Skanderbeg_%281st_Albanian%29</a>)</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">During the 90’s, Mujahedeen from various Islamic states, fought along BOSNIAN Muslims against CROATIANS and SERBS. Numerous allegations and documents reveal a strong Jihad connection between the then <b>Izebegovic</b> administration and <b>Al Qaeda</b> operatives that sought a safe haven in the centre of the BALKANS and close to EUROPE. Stephen Schwartz notes “Muslim BOSNIA and neighboring territories also face growing Islamist extremism. Wahhabi missionaries, promoting the ultra-radical cult financed by SAUDI ARABIA, have come back to the BALKANS after their expulsion from Sarajevo in the aftermath of September 11. BOSNIAN authorities acted then with admirable speed in cracking down on the SAUDI High Commission for Relief of BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA, a center of al Qaeda activity”. Currently about 45% of BOSNIA’S population is Muslims, mainly populating the urban centers.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWyPwM7v50stXK1DFk4oQ__THm6WPv16PjxDQUqrkT2Jw6TvdwoCHFmf_9wWZB-HH36FRAz74z4Iw0qfQnoJZVDa11NZ0n62iXJP27vHZB_8Z1rATEZgK9CrHKsBDOQ1H9i8VkIuzE5Ep4/s1600/ethnic_majoities_bosnia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWyPwM7v50stXK1DFk4oQ__THm6WPv16PjxDQUqrkT2Jw6TvdwoCHFmf_9wWZB-HH36FRAz74z4Iw0qfQnoJZVDa11NZ0n62iXJP27vHZB_8Z1rATEZgK9CrHKsBDOQ1H9i8VkIuzE5Ep4/s640/ethnic_majoities_bosnia.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">SERBIA-FYROM-MONTENEGRO</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">SERBIA’S largest Muslim minority is to be found in KOSOVO where over 90% of the population is of ALBANIAN descent and Muslim in denomination. The situation after the 1999 NATO intervention has revealed a massive destruction of the SERBIAN Christian Orthodox heritage. KOSOVO has been since the early Middle Ages a traditional SERBIAN pilgrimage and state epicenter. </span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The percentage of the Muslims in KOSOVO was traditionally 50-60% from the Ottoman period and up until the 1950’s. The mass immigrations of ALBANIANS from Northern ALBANIA, the immigration of SERBIANS to EUROPE and the very high birth rate of the former; resulted in the creation of an almost homogenized ALBANIAN-Muslim KOSOVO in the course of the second half of the 20th century. The importance of KOSOVO to the SERBIAN psyche, stems amongst other by the greatness of its artistic, literature and architecture grandeur during the Middle Ages and under the SERBIAN Nemanjia Kingdom, most probably the most highlighted era in the history of the SERBIAN Kingdom.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Another SERBIAN province with large numbers of Muslims is SANJAK –Close to KOSOVO borderline- that is also a habitation of Wahabbism. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">See:</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">SANDŽAK REGION, NOT ONLY THE GATEWAY FOR BALKANS ORGANIZED CRIME SYNDICATES, BUT ALSO FOR SPREADING WAHHBISM TO EUROPE</span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/wahhabism-in-bosnia-herzegovina-part-4.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/wahhabism-in-bosnia-herzegovina-part-4.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) is a state which can be characterized as a hub between SERBIA, ALBANIA, BULGARIA and GREECE. Due to its unique location it always attracted various ethnic and religious minorities, amongst them the largest Muslim one,<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span>mainly composed of ALBANIANS, TURKS and ROMA. After the 1999 war, scores of KOSOVO ALBANIANS sought refuge in FYROM thus increasing the total percentage of Muslims in the country. The 2001 conflicts between the SLAVIC majority of the country and the ALBANIAN minority revealed the cultural rift between the two <span style="font-size: large;">ethnicity</span>, as well as the growing fear of the SLAVS that the high birth rates of their Muslim compatriots will make Muslims the main ethnic entity in the course of the 21st century. Already, about 30% of citizens are Muslims.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">MONTENEGRO on the other hand had always had a small Islamic community that has increased considerably due to the continuous influx of refugees from the YUGOSLAVIAN wars in the 90’s. Roughly 20% of the population is Muslim, and their vote was crucial during the independence referendum in 2006, that broke MONTENEGRO’S ties with SERBIA.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ALBANIA</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ALBANIA is the only BALKAN country that has an absolute majority in terms of Muslim citizens. Officially 70% of the population is Sunni Muslims, even though there are considerable portion of secular ones. The main reason for the Muslim majority was the mass conversion during the Ottoman Empire, which saw a considerable stratum of the ALBANIAN population converting from Christian faith to Islam in order to obtain advantages within the Ottoman bureaucracy and army. Actually many TURKISH historical figures were ALBANIANS, and one of them rose to become the first Pasha of EGYPT; Mehmet Ali Pasha.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Since 1992 Albania is a member of the Islamic conference, an intergovernmental Muslim organization which has often become the focal point by the international community because of Muslim fundamentalists infiltration in the state apparatus.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">BULGARIA</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">BULGARIA has a considerable Muslim minority in the southern regions bordering with GREECE and TURKEY. The Communist regime in BULGARIA after 1945, initiated measures that forced Muslims –of TURKISH descent mostly- to immigrate to TURKEY. In the 1980’s alone 300, 000 of those fled to BULGARIA. Nevertheless the percentage of Muslims in the country is well over 10% and they exercise significant influence in the political landscape of BULGARIA. The existence of a well established TURKISH-Muslim minority in BULGARIA has proved to be one of the main reasons for the GREEK-BULGARIA rapprochement that enacted in the mid-70’s and continues up to date, bringing the two states with a colorful history of rivalry together; along with excellent bilateral relations.</span></span></div>

THE BALKANS – ORGANIZED CRIME AND POLITICAL CORRUPTION PART 6

BALKAN: BIO - CHEMICAL WEAPON THREAT?    Adapted by Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring from Ioannis Michaletos The EU strategists, whoeve...

Read more »