Giordano Bruno: Odum, Brezhnev moment, Iraq Death squads, neuraminidase, Otaku Wonderfest

niemanwatchdog
Everything that opponents of a pullout say would happen if the U.S. left Iraq is happening already, says retired Gen. William E. Odom, the head of the National Security Agency during the Reagan administration. So why stay?

tompaine
last week, in the midst of the Golden Dome explosion, the U.S. military quietly announced that the number of fully trained Iraqi army battalions capable of fighting independently had fallen from one to a grand total of zero— yes, zero — over the past three months.

On SundayThe Washington Post reported :
The streets of the capital feel as unsafe as at any time since the 2003 invasion. As one U.S. major put it, Baghdad now resembles a pure Hobbesian state where all are at war against all others and any security is self-provided.

Iran is also flexing its regional muscle: one week after demanding that the Anglo-American forces withdraw from the city of Basra, an Iraqi city that sits just over the border from Kuwait and which is now in the hands of militiamen loyal to Iran, Iranian President Ahmadinejad made a stunning visit to Kuwait, where he delivered a speech that denounced the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

antiwar
I think of the novels of [Milan] Kundera, of his vivid descriptions of what it was like to live in Eastern Europe in the 1950s and '60s – in the Soviet system where everyone realized the corruption, the abuse of power, the mediocrity of the government, the yawning gap between what was said and what was really going on, but no one could do anything about it.

American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush (Hardcover) by Kevin Phillips

independent
Iraq's death squads 26 February 2006
John Pace, who left Baghdad two weeks ago, told The Independent on Sunday that up to three-quarters of the corpses stacked in the city's mortuary show evidence of gunshot wounds to the head or injuries caused by drill-bits or burning cigarettes...erior.
..last July the morgue ..received 1,100 bodies, .. 900 of which bore evidence of torture or summary execution. ..December, ..780 bodies, about 400 of which had gunshot or torture wounds.
..Mr Pace, who worked for the UN for more than 40 years in countries ranging from Liberia to Chile. "But the bulk are attributed to the agents of the Ministry of the Interior."
..
Mr Pace said the Ministry of the Interior was "acting as a rogue element within the government". It is controlled by ..Sciri ..the Interior Minister, Bayan Jabr, is a former leader of Sciri's Badr Brigade militia..
..Many of the 110,000 policemen and police commandos under the ministry's control are suspected of being former members of the Badr Brigade. .. Wolf Brigade, the Scorpions and the Tigers..accused of acting as death squads.....
.. Mr Pace, a Maltese-Australian who has now retired ..to his home in Sydney, says the constant violence and utter lack of security in Iraq are creating a vicious circle in which ordinary citizens are turning to extremist sectarian groups for protection.

statewatch irishecho ernestfuentes

ncbi
Influenza A virus (A/Brevig Mission/1/1918(H1N1))
neuraminidase (NA) gene from the 1918 Influenza A virus (A/Brevig Mission/1/1918(H1N1))
1 atgaatccaa atcaaaaaat aataaccatt gggtcaatct gtatggtagt cggaataatt 61 agcctaatat tgcaaatagg gaatataatc tcaatatggg ttagccattc aattcaaact 121 ggaaatcaaa accatcctga aacatgcaac caaagcatca ttacctatga aaataacacc 181 tgggtgaatc aaacatatgt taacattagc aatactaacg ttgttgctgg acaggatgca 241 acttcagtga tattaaccgg caattcctct ctttgtccca tcagtgggtg ggctatatac 301 agcaaagaca atggcataag aattggttcc aaaggagacg tttttgtcat aagagagcca 361 tttatttcat gctctcactt ggaatgcagg accttttttc tgactcaagg cgccttgctg 421 aatgacaagc attcaaatgg gaccgtcaag gacagaagcc cctatagaac cttaatgagc 481 tgccctgttg gtgaagctcc gtctccgtac aattcaaggt tcgaatcggt tgcttggtca 541 gcaagtgcat gccatgatgg catgggctgg ctaacaatcg gaatttcagg tccagataat 601 ggagcagtgg ctgtattaaa atacaacggt ataataacag acaccatcaa aagttggagg 661 aacaacatat tgagaacgca agagtctgaa tgtgcctgtg taaatggttc atgttttact 721 ataatgaccg atggcccaag taatgggcag gcctcgtaca aaattttaaa gatagagaag 781 gggaaggtta ctaaatcaat tgagttgaat gcacctaatt accactacga ggaatgttcc 841 tgttaccctg atacaggtaa agtgatgtgt gtgtgcagag acaattggca tggttcgaat 901 cgaccatggg tgtctttcga tcaaaacctg gattatcaaa tagggtacat ctgcagtggg 961 gttttcggtg acaatccgcg tcccaatgat ggaacaggca gctgtggtcc agtgtcttct 1021 aatggagcaa atggaataaa gggattttca tttaggtatg ataatggtgt ttggatagga 1081 agaactaaaa gtaccagttc cagaagcggg tttgagatga tttgggatcc taatggatgg 1141 acagagactg atagtagttt ctctgtgaga caagatattg tagcaataac tgattggtcg 1201 gggtacagcg ggagtttcgt tcaacatcct gagctaacag ggctggactg catgaggcct 1261 tgcttctggg ttgaattaat caggggacaa cctaaagaga atacaatctg gactagtggg 1321 agcagcattt ccttttgtgg cgtaaatagt gatactgtag gttggtcttg gccagacggt 1381 gctgagttgc cattcagcat tgacaagtag .......... .......... ..........