News24.com (South Africa): Iran plans ‘war games’

Thousands of Iranian troops will on Friday start a week-long military manoeuvre in the Gulf to ready armed forces for warding off “threats”, a senior commander announced on state television.

The commander of the navy of revolutionary guards corps, Rear-Admiral Mostafa Safari, did not specify the nature of the threat although the manoeuvre comes amid increasing tensions with the West over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

“The revolutionary guards corps navy and air force in collaboration with (Iran’s regular) army, navy, (the volunteer militia) Basij, and the Iranian police will start a manoeuvre from 31 March until 6 April in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman,” he said.

Iran has two armed forces in which both have their own ground, naval and air force all under the command of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

He added: “We hope … We will gain the necessary and needed readiness to decisively reply to any kind of threats.”

Flap thinks the Iranians are planning for war. Iran has no intention to abide by the requests of the IAEA and the United Nations Security Council.

When the nuclear point of no return is reached,,,,,,,

Stay tuned……..

Previous:

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran – “Enrichment Matter NOT Reversible”

Iran Nuclear Watch: United Nations Security Council Permanent Members Agree on a Statement

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran – Military Strikes Would NOT Stop Uranium enrichment

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Gearing Up for Uranium Enrichment

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Iran Nuclear Watch: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – The West Should Apologize to Iran

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Iran Nuclear Watch: National Security Adviser Steven J. Hadley – “Iran’s New Willingness to Discuss Iraq a PLOY”

Iran Nuclear Watch: Ambassador John Bolton – “U.N. Security Council to Send a ‘Strong and Clear Signal’ to Tehran”

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Wants IAEA Supervision and Inspections

Iran Nuclear Watch: United Nations Ambassador John Bolton – “Iran’s Nuclear Threat – Just Like 9/11″

Condoleezza Rice Watch: Iran is the “Central Bank of Terrorism”

Iran Nuclear Watch: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – “Iran’s Nuclear Fuel Program IRREVERSIBLE”

Iran Nuclear Watch: United Nations Security Council Divided Over Response to Iran Nuclear FLAP

Iran Nuclear Watch: Russia – “Iran Still Considering Uranium Enrichment DEAL”

Iran Nuclear Watch: Russia Rebukes Iran Over Withdrawl from Uranium Enrichment Negotiations

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Builds a Secret Underground Command Center

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Threatens “OIL” Weapon

Iran Nuclear Watch: Israel – “America Needs to Get Its Act Together.”

The Natanz uranium enrichment complex in Natanz is pictured in this January 2, 2006 satellite image.

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Technorati Tags: Iran, Russia, China, SergeiLavrov, UnitedNations, UnitedNationsSecurityCouncil, ZhouWenzhong, NicholasBurns, EuropeanUnion, MahmoudAhmadinejad, ManouchehrMottaki, JacquesChirac, Chirac, France, Iran, Nuclearweapons, nuclear, AbdulQadeerKhan, AliLarijani, CondoleezzaRice, JohnBolton, RezaVaidi, GholamHosseinMohseniEjehei, SergeiKiriyenko

Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, left, is joined by Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig during a news conference in New York, Thursday, March 30, 2006. Selig announced that Mitchell will be leading an investigation into the alleged steroid use by Barry Bonds and other MLB players. ‘Nothing is more important to me than the integrity of the game of baseball,’ commissioner Bud Selig said Thursday.

ASSociated Press:Chief of New Steroids Probe Draws Fire

Baseball began its investigation Thursday into alleged steroid use by Barry Bonds and others, and the head of the inquiry immediately came under attack because of his close ties to the sport.

In the wake of a searing book about Bonds, commissioner Bud Selig appointed former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell — and currently a director of the Boston Red Sox — to lead the investigation.

The probe initially will be limited to events since September 2002, when the sport banned performance-enhancing drugs, but Mitchell has the authority to expand it.

George Mitchell is a Leftie hack that has zero credibility in the sports world. So, why choose him?

Because…..he will stonewall/cover-up any investigation.

And where in the hell has been Bud Selig all of these years as a team owner and Commissioner of Major league Baseball?

Selig said Mitchell’s report will be made public but didn’t set a timetable. By then, Bonds may well have passed Babe Ruth’s home-run mark on the way toward Hank Aaron’s all-time record.

“The goal here is to determine facts, not engage in supposition, speculation, rumor or innuendo,” Selig said.

Yeah, right….

Selig has been grossly negligent and even in a way condoned steroid use. MLB will be well served after his contract expires in December 2007. What a disaster.

And Mitchell? He should resign and go back to ruining the Walt Disney Company.

Mitchell, meanwhile, said he will not resign his position with the Red Sox. He also is chairman of The Walt Disney Co., the parent of ESPN, a national broadcast partner of baseball.

“I don’t think there’s any conflict,” he said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “I’m going to be independent, have complete independent authority and will act.”

What a JOKE!

Just like Barry Bonds’ homerun records…….

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Barry Bonds Watch: The TRUTH About Barry Bonds and Steroids

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Technorati Tags: BudSelig, GeorgeMitchell, BarryBonds, MLB, MajorLeagueBaseball, steroids

A student looks at a riot policeman during an occupation of the Gare du Lyon station in Paris, in protest against the controversial CPE youth jobs law, March 30, 2006.

ASSociated Press: French Council Upholds Divisive Jobs Law

France’s Constitutional Council upheld a new law Thursday making it easier to fire young workers, a measure that sparked nationwide strikes by labor unions and violent protests by students.

The council’s decision puts the onus on President Jacques Chirac to either implement the law as is — at the risk of further unrest — or negotiate a compromise, perhaps by sending the law back to parliament or by proposing modifications.

President Chirac will capitulate in some face saving way. But, if he deserts Villepin then………more protests and civil unrest.

Rarely has a decision by the council, which rules on the constitutionality of French laws, been so awaited. The student- and union-led protest movement has plunged Chirac’s government into crisis, and a decision to strike the law down would have offered a way out.

Instead, the ruling by the council’s nine appointed members allows the law to go into effect — depending on Chirac’s actions — making it easier for employers to fire workers aged under 26, a degree of flexibility that the government argues will spur hirings. Students and labor unions say the contract will erode France’s cherished workplace protections.

Lawmakers in Chirac’s governing majority said they expected him to enact the law quickly — a decision likely to further infuriate protesters. To soften the anger, Chirac may offer talks with labor leaders or appoint a mediator to deal with their concerns, lawmakers said.

With such an outpouring of opposition (albeit it missplaced) it is hard to believe that Chirac won’t do what the socialists in France tell him.

French gendarmes arrest a student on the Gare de Lyon rail tracks, as hundreds of demonstrating students blocked the rail tracks to protest against the new jobs contract in Paris, Thursday March 30, 2006. The fate of a contested French labor law that has inspired massive protests, gravely wounding its champion, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, hung Thursday on a council of experts.
But, stay tuned…….

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France CPE Riot Watch:Fate of CPE Up to Constitutional Council

France CPE Riot Watch: A Million People March to Protest CPE First Job Contract

France CPE Riot Watch: French Police Subdue Riots

France CPE Riot Watch: First Job Contract Protests Grip French Cities

France Riot Watch: Students Riot in Paris over New Youth Employment Contract

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Technorati Tags:France, FranceRiots, CPE, DominiquedeVillepin, FirstEmploymentContract

Sacramento Bee: Democrats’ delight: Candidates get airtime as Franken brings radio show to Sacramento

Democratic gubernatorial contender Phil Angelides turned to Harvard classmate Al Franken – author, liberal satirist and foil to conservatives – to burnish his progressive political credentials.

But as he sat down Wednesday for “The Al Franken Show” – which broadcast live from Sacramento’s Crest Theatre for the Air America radio network – Angelides pitched one extra detail.

“This is where I reveal to the world where I saw Al Franken naked,” Angelides announced.

California State Treasurer and Governor candidate Angelides better do better than this if he wants to beat California State Controller Steve Westly in June.

Other Quotes (Laughs??):

“Let me ask you this,” Franken said. “Does your opponent in the Democratic primary have a name?”

“Yes,” Angelides responded, still refusing to serve it up. “He also has a checkbook. He’s written $22 million in checks. He has a checkbook as big as Schwarzenegger’s ego.”

Good luck Phil…….

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Technorati Tags: PhilAngelides, SteveWestly, AlFranken

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (R) greets China’s deputy Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo (L) and British Foreign Minister Jack Straw after a news conference following talks with foreign ministers from the United Nations Security Council permanent members plus Germany in Berlin March 30, 2006. Germany and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council urged Iran on Thursday to halt uranium enrichment and return to the negotiating table to resolve a showdown over its nuclear programme.

ASSociated Press: Iran Defiantly Rejects New U.N. Demands

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran on Thursday the “international community is united” in the dispute over its nuclear program, but a Tehran envoy defiantly rejected a U.N. call to reimpose a freeze on uranium enrichment.

Rice spoke after a meeting in Berlin among diplomats from the five veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany over ways to press Iran to stop enriching uranium, which can be used for weapons. Iran says its program is peaceful.

The meeting follows agreement Wednesday by the 15-member Security Council to ask the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to report back in 30 days on Iran’s compliance with demands to stop enriching uranium.

But, Iran will not comply……

The Quotes:

In Vienna, Iran’s chief representative to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, told The Associated Press that “it is impossible to go back to suspension.”

“This enrichment matter is not reversible,” Soltanieh said.

So, what a surprise!

NOT…..

The nuclear ball continues in President George Bush’s court.

Stay tuned…….

Previous:

Iran Nuclear Watch: United Nations Security Council Permanent Members Agree on a Statement

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran – Military Strikes Would NOT Stop Uranium enrichment

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Gearing Up for Uranium Enrichment

Iran Nuclear Watch: United Nations Security Council Stalled But Diplomats Express Urgency

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – The West Should Apologize to Iran

Iran Nuclear Watch: Big 6 Meeting Yields Nothing

Iran Nuclear Watch: National Security Adviser Steven J. Hadley – “Iran’s New Willingness to Discuss Iraq a PLOY”

Iran Nuclear Watch: Ambassador John Bolton – “U.N. Security Council to Send a ‘Strong and Clear Signal’ to Tehran”

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Wants IAEA Supervision and Inspections

Iran Nuclear Watch: United Nations Ambassador John Bolton – “Iran’s Nuclear Threat – Just Like 9/11″

Condoleezza Rice Watch: Iran is the “Central Bank of Terrorism”

Iran Nuclear Watch: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – “Iran’s Nuclear Fuel Program IRREVERSIBLE”

Iran Nuclear Watch: United Nations Security Council Divided Over Response to Iran Nuclear FLAP

Iran Nuclear Watch: Russia – “Iran Still Considering Uranium Enrichment DEAL”

Iran Nuclear Watch: Russia Rebukes Iran Over Withdrawl from Uranium Enrichment Negotiations

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Builds a Secret Underground Command Center

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Threatens “OIL” Weapon

Iran Nuclear Watch: Israel – “America Needs to Get Its Act Together.”

The Natanz uranium enrichment complex in Natanz is pictured in this January 2, 2006 satellite image.

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Technorati Tags: Iran, Russia, China, SergeiLavrov, UnitedNations, UnitedNationsSecurityCouncil, ZhouWenzhong, NicholasBurns, EuropeanUnion, MahmoudAhmadinejad, ManouchehrMottaki, JacquesChirac, Chirac, France, Iran, Nuclearweapons, nuclear, AbdulQadeerKhan, AliLarijani, CondoleezzaRice, JohnBolton, RezaVaidi, GholamHosseinMohseniEjehei, SergeiKiriyenko

A woman dressed as Marianne, symbol of the French Republic, holds a French flag during a protest against the first job contract law, known as CPE, Tuesday, March 28, 2006 in Bordeaux, southwestern France. Tens of thousands of protesters poured onto France’s streets and striking workers hobbled transport services Tuesday, increasing pressure on embattled Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to withdraw a contested new jobs contract for youths.

ASSociated Press: Fate of French Labor Law Up to Council

The fate of a contested French labor law that has inspired massive protests, gravely wounding its champion Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, hung Thursday on a council of experts.

The Constitutional Council, whose 10 members include former statesmen and women, was weighing a demand from the opposition Socialists that the law, which would make it easier for companies to fire young workers, be thrown out as unconstitutional.

Striking down the law could be a face-saver for all sides, allowing protesters to claim victory and defusing the crisis for Villepin, who would likely emerge bloodied but ready to fight another day.

This will be an easy capitulation for Prime Minister Villepin. But, elimination of the CPE, while popular in the polls, will not solve the youth unemployment problem which is as high as 50 per cent in French immigrant communities.

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin addresses deputies at the National Assembly during a session of questions to the government, Tuesday, March 28, 2006 in Paris. Tens of thousands of protesters poured onto France’s streets and striking workers hobbled transport services Tuesday, increasing pressure on embattled Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to withdraw a contested new jobs contract for youths.

A poll by the Ipsos agency for LCI television said 62 percent of the French aligned themselves with the movement against Villepin’s law, and that 47 percent want it repealed entirely. Another 45 percent want it to be modified. The poll Wednesday of 804 people aged 18 and over gave no margin of error.

But, the French socialists want power and elections loom. Will these issues really subside if the Constitutional Council overrules Villepin on the CPE?

Doubtful…….

French CGT union leader Bernard Thibault, centre, and France’s UNEF student union President Bruno Julliard march during a protest against the first job contract, knwon as CPE, Tuesday, March 28, 2006 in Paris.

Students and labor unions say the contract will erode France’s time-honored workplace protections. Villepin says it is needed to cut France’s 22 percent youth unemployment rate, which soars up to 50 percent in low-income neighborhoods that were the focus of rioting last year.

Unions and student groups are calling for a new round of strikes and protests next Tuesday to step up pressure on the government. The largest civil servants union on Thursday joined the strike call.

And the French are complaining about foreign press coverage of their CPE protests/riots.

Unbelievable

Government ministers fear the crisis is hurting France’s image abroad. Trade minister Christine Lagarde, who embarks on an eight-day visit to the United States next week, complained of “excessive” foreign media coverage of the demonstrations, which have repeatedly ended in violent clashes between youths and riot police.

Protests continued Thursday. Police used tear gas to dislodge some 300-400 students who blocked tracks and traffic at a railway station in Marseille, France’s second-biggest city.

More trouble ahead for France.

Stay tuned…….

Previous:

France CPE Riot Watch: A Million People March to Protest CPE First Job Contract

France CPE Riot Watch: French Police Subdue Riots

France CPE Riot Watch: First Job Contract Protests Grip French Cities

France Riot Watch: Students Riot in Paris over New Youth Employment Contract

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Technorati Tags:France, FranceRiots, CPE, DominiquedeVillepin, FirstEmploymentContract

Hugh and Generalissimo are having some fun with the release of Hugh’s latest book:

Painting the Map Red: The Fight to Create a Permanent Republican Majority
Some of Flap’s favorites below:

Catch more of these photoshop renderings over at Radioblogger.

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Technorati Tags: HughHewitt