AFP: Canada to send 950 military trainers to Afghanistan

Fox News refuses to run ad about gay troops
Fox News doesn't want you to know that the result of Lesbian & gay Soldiers serving openly in other countries is... business as usual. That's according to Generals from allied militaries, who say that gay Troops do not undermine combat effectiveness. Here's The Palm Center's 30-second advertisement that Fox News refuses to run. Voiceover: As the millitary prepares to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", our NATO allies have told us what to expect... Business as usual. Major General Semianiw: "There i...

Brig.-Gen. Mnard to face court martial over charges of inappropriate conduct
Canada’s former top soldier in Afghanistan will face a court-martial over charges of inappropriate conduct stemming from allegations he had an affair with a subordinate in the field. A court-martial is a Military court to decide the fate of Canadian Forces members accused of serious breaches of Military law. No sex, please. We're Soldiers Brigadier-General Daniel Ménard, also fined earlier this year for misfiring his rifle, was originally charged in July with criminal and Military o...

Hard Lessons of the Taliban Imposter
A top-level Taliban commander who spent months in Peace Talks with the U.S. and Afghan governments turns out to have been an impostor. The man, who claimed to be Taliban leader Mullah Mansour, had reportedly been given large amounts of money and had a personal meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai as part of the effort to win peace. In other words, the months of Taliban Peace Talks have been, as some skeptics initially warned, largely a farce. Here's what people are saying about this disapp...

Afghan election body to release final result Wednesday
Kabul (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) will announce final results from a September 18 parliamentary election on Wednesday, an official said, after long delays while Fraud complaints were investigated. The credibility of the eventual result will weigh heavily when U.S. President Barack Obama reviews his Afghan war strategy next month amid rising violence and sagging public support, especially after a fraud-marred Presidential Election last year. Consistent allegat...

Clouseau Wept
I dunno what to say: For months, the Secret Talks unfolding between Taliban and Afghan leaders to end the war appeared to be showing promise, if only because of the appearance of a certain insurgent leader at one end of the table: Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, one of the most senior commanders in the Taliban movement. But now, it turns out, Mr. Mansour was apparently not Mr. Mansour at all. In an episode that could have been lifted from a spy novel, United States and Afghan officials now say...

Aberrant George Galloway Turns from Cat to Attack Dog
Something positive actually emerged out of the infamous British ‘firebrand’ George Galloway‘s visit to McMaster University in Ontario.  Although he predictably degraded himself with his erroneous Rhetoric, he didn’t quite sink as low as purring like a cat for attention. (For the perturbing YouTube video look here; a fallout report is  here.)  Instead, he lived up to his so-called ‘firebrand’ description by lashing out in every direction—even in the

Petraeus not surprised about Taliban impersonator
BERLIN — Gen. David Petraeus says reports that a man leading the Taliban side of Peace Talks with the Afghan government was an impersonator are "not a surprise" because "there was skepticism about one of these all along." The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan told reporters in Berlin on Tuesday even President Hamid Karzai would not be surprised by the reports. Petraeus says there has been skepticism "all along, and it may well be that that skepticism was well founded" regarding the identi...

Rubin to Post
The Washington Post, a bit bruised from its adventures in the liberal blogosphere, has hired Commentary's prolific Jennifer Rubin, one of the hardest-line conservative hawks around on National Security issues in general and Israel in particular. "Jennifer will provide critical news coverage and commentary, with an exacting eye on conservative policy-making and Republican campaigns, pundits and politicians," opinion editor Fred Hiatt writes in a memo posted by Michael Calderone. "...;

Petraeus: Taliban Impostor Reports No Surprise
Some recent scenes from the War in Afghanistan as Obama's deadline to begin withdrawing Troops nears. (AP) The top commander in Afghanistan said Tuesday that he was not surprised by reports that an impostor was involved in Peace Talks with the Afghan government because there were long-held doubts about one of the alleged Taliban representatives. In a setback to efforts to negotiate an end to the war, an Afghan close to the negotiations said the man, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, who claimed t...

We Gave Him A Lot of Money
It’s official: We have no idea who anybody is in Afghanistan. Maybe that’s why we have so much trouble figuring out what we’re doing there, and why. American and Afghan officials were deep in negotiations with a man they thought was Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, one of the Most Powerful Taliban commanders. (Assuming we even understand their hierarchy.) It now looks like he’s an impostor. From the Times: “It’s not him,” said a Western diplomat in Kabul...

At Least Two Killed, 16 Wounded as North, South Korea Exchange Artillery Fire
Tensions are dramatically on the rise again today after an exchange of fire between North and South Korea. The North Koreans shelled the island of Yeonpyeong during South Korean Military drills which were carried out along the disputed sea border. The attacks apparently hit Yeonpyeong because of the large Military installations there, and two South Korean Marines were said to be killed, as well as some 16 others wounded. South Korea responded with what it is calling “intense retaliatory ...

Barack Obama's 4 A.M. Phone Call
Get alerts when there is a new article that might interest you. President Obama was woken up shortly before 4 a.m. by his National Security adviser, Tom Donilon, and told of the North Korean artillery barrage that has killed two South Korean Soldiers and injured civilians. Is the president prepared for what might come next? He already has a full-fledged war going in Afghanistan, a half-war in Iraq, a global war against Terrorists, and now this. North Korea's motives are completely obscure, but t...

Visor Might Protect Troops From Blasts
Related News Teaching Medical Robots Radiation Experts Concerned With TSA Airport Security Scanners Health Buzz: Caffeinated Alcoholic Beverages Unsafe, FDA Says Monkey See, Monkey Do: Teens Mimic Parents' Helmet-Wearing Habits MRIs Pinpoint Time of Stroke By Rachel Ehrenberg, Science News Adding a face shield to the standard-issue helmet worn by U.S. Troops could help protect Soldiers from traumatic brain injury, the signature wound of the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A new study...

Steroid use on the rise in the Army
SEATTLE — Just weeks before his battalion of some 700 Soldiers departed for Afghanistan in summer 2009, Lt. Col. Burton Shields had a disconcerting visit from an Army investigator. The agent said several Soldiers under Shields’ command at Joint Base Lewis-McChord had admitted to illegal use of Steroids. One of the suspected users was a battalion captain. Shields, who led the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, was skeptical. He questioned whether Army investigators might have mist...

US Armys Warrior of the Year is Feminist Joke
I guarantee you Al-Qaeda and others around the Muslim world-99% of whom are bent on destroying us-aren’t using Feminism to pick a tiny chick (or any chick at all) as their Jihadist of the Year.  But that’s essentially what the U.S. Army did in picking Sherri Gallagher as its first female “Best Warrior of the Year.” It’s demoralizing for our fighting men, especially since it’s clear she was picked solely because of female plumbing.  The fa...

Bicycle bombers kill 4 and wound 31 in east Afghanistan
MEHTAR LAM, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Taliban Suicide Bombers on bicycles killed four people and wounded 31 in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, the latest Attacks to underscore the challenges NATO leaders face as they plan an exit from the war. One Bomber detonated his explosives at a Police checkpoint in Mehtar Lam, the provincial capital of Laghman province, with the second striking several hundred meters away, Laghman Governor Mohammad Iqbal Azizi told Reuters. The Taliban claimed respo...

Fraud, Disqualifications Draw Out Elections in Afghanistan
On September 18, over 5 million Afghan men and women braved Taliban threats to vote in their second-ever parliamentary election. More than 2,500 Candidates, including over 400 women, contested 249 seats in lower house of parliament. The Elections were a litmus test for Karzai to regain legitimacy after last year’s Fraud-marred polls and an opportunity for the Obama Administration to demonstrate progress in Afghanistan that the president might springboard into justification for the withdraw...

Jack Layton targets ‘wealthy tax cheats’
Jack Layton is demanding the Harper government Crack Down on sleazy Millionaires who hide their fortunes in offshore Tax Havens. “Mr. Harper cannot keep standing by while the wealthy tax cheats and the biggest corporations ... essentially take Tax Dollars out of the pockets of hard-working Canadians,” the NDP Leader told reporters Tuesday. “It’s not right.” Mr. Layton charged there is a “rash of tax avoidance cases” and that wealthy individuals and corpo...

'Free-for-all' if prostitution laws relaxed
Master maestro showdown: Kanye West vs. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Hungry for some new flavours to add to your holiday repertoire? Terry Glavin: Canada In Palestine, fascists on campus. Dominatrix Terri-Jean Bedford, York University Professor Alan Young and Valerie Scott, Executive Director of Sex Professionals of Canada are in the midst of a Legal Battle that could shape laws around Prostitution in Canada. Joseph Brean, National Post · Monday, Nov. 22, 2010 If Ontario is allowed to become the...

Canada accused of trying to kill U.S., E.U. clean fuel policies
Canada: Clean Energy haters.Ottawa -- Environmentalists on Monday accused Canada of attempting to kill proposed U.S. and E.U. Clean Energy policies in order to protect its oil exports. Climate Action Network Canada Executive Director Graham Saul told a Press Conference that government letters, memos, speeches, and Lobbyist reports assembled by the group point to a "coordinated lobbying strategy to kill Climate Change policies in other countries." "This systematic effort is being run out of Forei...

Hackles raised over Hariri leaks
Published: Nov. 23, 2010 at 10:17 AM Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, holding his broken shoulder, attends a parliament session that was held in Beirut Friday September 3, 2004 to amend the Constitution for extending the term of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud by another three years. The amendment comes in defiance of international pressure that culminated Thursday night with a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for holding free presidential Elections and withdrawal of all foreign t...

Retail climbs for fourth month in Canada
OTTAWA, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Retail Sales in Canada rose for the fourth consecutive month in September, climbing 0.6 percent, the government said Tuesday. Statistics Canada said total sales made headway in eight of 11 subsectors, rising to a total of $36.4 billion in the month. Motor vehicle sales, including auto parts, posted the largest increase in terms of dollar amount, gaining 1.2 percent. New Car Sales rose 1.5 percent in the month. Measured by percentages, sales of sporting goods, books, and...

Prices in Canada up 2.4 percent
OTTAWA, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Consumer prices rose 2.4 percent on an annual basis in Canada in October, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday. The increase in the cost of living followed a 1.9 rise in September and a 1.7 percent increase in August, the agency said. Energy Prices were behind much of the increase. Gasoline prices were 8.8 percent higher than the same month a year ago after a 3.1 percent rise in September. Excluding gasoline, consumer prices rose 2.1 percent from a year ago. In September, ...

Official misspeaks, seeks more sex stories
"We need more more Canadian sex stories," Tony Clement told an Ottawa crowd during a Speech on the government's digital strategy. A roar of laughter prevented him from correcting himself for a few seconds. "We need more Canadian SUCCESS stories ..." he said pausing to emphasize the correction, "... like RIM and its world-famous -- and now ubiquitous -- BlackBerry." Teased by reporters about the slip, Clement insisted he had not been thinking about sex. "The male brain is a very strange organ at...

Canada: No fed funds for 2017 world expo
Published: Nov. 23, 2010 at 7:47 AM Ottawa, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Canada's Conservative government has turned down Edmonton, Alberta's request for $700 million to help secure the World's Exposition in 2017, officials said. At a news conference Tuesday, Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel's voice shook with anger at the decision, Postmedia News reported. The estimated cost of hosting the fair is $2.3 billion, of which the city requested $706 million from the Federal Government. However, federal Heritage Min...