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The Washington Post ran an interesting article the other day about hand binding at GPO – specifically, the finishing our Bindery does for the White House on presentation copies of the Public Papers of the President – including hand-tooled goatskin leather, marbled edges, and silk moiré endpapers. Happily, this kind of artistry is still valued by the Government, even in this digital age. For many years, apprentice printers at GPO have studied bookbinding as one of the graphic arts. Since binding is a material rather than a digital process, reading the 1950 edition of GPO’s Theory and Practice of Bookbinding (left) still provides a pretty good introduction to the work we do today for such publications as the Public Papers and Jefferson’s Manual of parliamentary procedure, developed by Thomas Jefferson and still used by the House of Representatives (here’s a nice video on the handwork involved in binding the Manual). Take marbling, for instance. According to Theory and Practice of Bookbin...

The Long War Journal - Charts on US Strikes in Pakistan Charting the data for US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 - 2010 Created by Bill Roggio and Alexander Mayer Since 2004, the US has been conducting a covert program to target and kill al Qaeda and Taliban commanders based in Pakistan's lawless northwest. The program has targeted top al Qaeda leaders, al Qaeda's external operations network, and Taliban leaders and fighters who threaten both the Afghan and Pakistani states. The charts below look at the following: 1) the number of US airstrikes inside Pakistan per year; 2) civilian casualties vs. Taliban/al Qaeda casualties; 3) the distribution of strikes over time by tribal agencies; 4) the overall distribution of strikes, by tribal agencies; 5) the distribution of strikes over time by territories targeted; 6) the overall distribution of strikes, by territories targeted; and 7) the number of high value targets killed in territories managed by individual Taliban commanders. The da...

US adds Anwar al Awlaki to list of designated terrorists - The Long War Journal The US Treasury Department has designated an American-born Muslim cleric who is a senior member of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and is based in Yemen as a terrorist for his involvement in several terror attacks. Anwar al Awlaki, a senior cleric, recruiter, propagandist, and planner for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has been designated as a terrorist under Executive Order 13224 "for supporting acts of terrorism and for acting for or on behalf of AQAP." The designation allows the US to freeze his assets, prevent him from using financial institutions, and prosecute him for terrorist activities. "Anwar al Awlaki has proven that he is extraordinarily dangerous, committed to carrying out deadly attacks on Americans and others worldwide," Stuart Levey, the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said in a Treasury Department press release. "He has involved...

Map of Taliban control in Pakistan's northwest - The Long War Journal http://www.longwarjournal.org/multimedia/maps/FullImageWrapperLatestFullImage.php Taliban control : Districts/agencies where the Taliban operate a parallel political administration and effectively control the bulk of the regions. In these areas, the Taliban will often declare sharia law; run courts, recruiting centers, and tax offices; and maintain security forces. The police and military are nonexistent or are confined to barracks. The Taliban also host camps for al Qaeda and other jihadi groups in the region. Contested control : Districts/agencies where the Taliban may still control regions but are actively being opposed by the civil administrations. The Taliban attacks and assassinations of religious, political, and tribal leaders are often the worst in these areas, as the terrorists seek to destroy the will of the people to resist. Taliban influence : Districts/agencies where the Taliban are prese...

Инструментом легитимизации авторитарного курса Путина стала апелляция к имперской ностальгии и национальной гордости русских. Последствия этой рискованной политики будут угрожать целостности российского государства («inoСМИ.Ru»,) В середине декабря 2010 г. российскую столицу в течение нескольких дней сотрясали массовые выступления ультранационалистов, жестокие столкновения между представителями разных национальностей и связанные с этим массовые аресты. Толчком к этим взаимосвязанным между собой событиям послужила гибель фаната одной из российских футбольных команд 6 декабря этого года в Москве в результате стычки между молодыми русскими и выходцами с Северного Кавказа. Освещая последующие события, зарубежные СМИ писали в основном о конфронтации российской милиции с неонацистами на Манежной площади 11 декабря 2010 г. и других столкновениях в российской столице. Однако до и после вышеописанных московских событий демонстрации русских националистов происходили и в других российских горо...

Russia's Medvedev, Putin clash over Soviet model Media reports out of Moscow Tuesday indicated that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was at odds with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during a State Council meeting Monday over the issue of xenophobia and rising nationalism in the country. Medvedev, who chaired the meeting, changed the agenda suddenly from maternity issues to solutions to the mounting problem of racial hate crimes, according to the RIA-Novosti News Agency. Medvedev said Russia couldn't repeat the ethics policies that had been adopted during the Soviet period, given the fact that the Soviet Union was a country "based on ideology," unlike modern Russia. Putin, however, stressed that there were no such interethnic clashes in the Soviet Union. "Soviet authorities were able to create a concept that was above interethnic and inter-confessional relations. … We say 'Russians' and 'Russian nation,' but it is still not on track,...

Russia is on the eve of a pre-presidential election year. What happens in 2011 will, in my opinion, be even more important than the presidential election itself. Indeed, the evolution of Russian society could transform the country’s politics, despite those domestic opponents who deny change or those who unqualifiedly classify Russia as “incorrigibly authoritarian.” But for that to happen, a new agenda for Russia must be developed this year. A decade ago, defense of Russia’s territorial integrity and restoration of governability topped the list of priorities. People supported President Vladimir Putin, who was devoted to this “stabilization” agenda. We may debate the means by which it was pursued, and how successfully, but Russia’s “existential” challenges were largely overcome. But progress on stabilization only highlighted Russia’s unresolved problems, which the global financial crisis exacerbated, but did not cause. After all, the country’s resource-based, de-industrializing, expe...

Putin Blesses Kyrgyzstan's New Government | EurasiaNet.org Who will be more popular in Kyrgyzstan come New Year’s Day: newly appointed Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev or his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin? During his maiden trip to Moscow as premier, Atambayev secured a beautiful deal: Putin promised to drop, as of January 1, the punitive oil export tariffs he had instituted several days before Kurmanbek Bakiyev was overthrown last April. At the time, it seemed Putin was punishing Bakiyev for reneging on a promise to evict the Americans from their airbase at Manas. The move could result in a 25 percent reduction of gasoline prices at the pump, and trickle down support throughout the ailing Kyrgyz economy. In addition, Putin may have offered a $200 million loan to help Kyrgyzstan out of its crisis, Atambayev suggested. What Atambayev promised in return is unclear, but he sought Russian investment in the country’s struggling energy sector, noting that Kyrgyzstan has “unbreakab...

Chinese analysts, who have been closely observing Russia for the past 20 years, perhaps put it best: Russia is the world's largest dying power. As 2010 and the first decade of the 21st century wind to a close, the dominant social, political and economic trends of the year raise serious doubts about Russia’s future survival as a sovereign country. Chinese analysts, who have been closely observing Russia for the past 20 years, perhaps put it best: Russia is the world’s largest dying power. If Russia continues down its current path of autocracy, monopolization, corruption and overall economic, political, cultural and technological degradation, it may prove the Chinese correct in their terminal diagnosis. To be sure, the country’s degradation began before Vladimir Putin’s rise to power, but the nature and causes of this degradation are much different than under Putin’s degradation. During the 1990s, Russia found itself in complete political and economic ruins after the collapse ...

Eurasia Review Macedonia Arrests 29 In Trafficking Sting Seized heroin packages are displayed by Macedonian police near Gevgelija. [Reuters] Three alleged ringleaders of a massive international drug trafficking network are among the 29 people arrested in a recent sting by Macedonian police, with the help of their German and Austrian colleagues. Nicknamed the “Frankfurt Mafia”, the group had strong links to the town of Veles and other locations in Macedonia, authorities say. “It is assumed that the group belonged to the dealer network which has succeeded in the past years to sell drugs on the streets of Vienna and Frankfurt, worth millions of euros,” said Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska. “All participants of the network who served as street dealers of heroin were paid for travel expenses, accommodations and food and a percentage of the sold heroin.” Police action took place in Sveti Nikole, Veles and Gevgelija. Those arrested include Vlade Manaskov of Veles and two ...

Eurasia Review The Bucharest branch of the Organised Crime and Terrorism Investigation Department (DIICOT) led a nationwide operation and arrested 40 young people suspected of committing online fraud worth 11m euros. The police moved in to apprehend the group after its activities spread to seven counties. The DIICOT issued a press release saying it “searched 42 houses belonging to members of a group specialised in cyber attacks through the Voice over IP (VoIP) technology — Internet telephony”. It suspects those arrested made nearly 1.5 million fraudulent phone calls totaling 11 million minutes. Police say the suspects gained access to the IT systems which enable the VoIP technology by using various applications to launch cyber attacks. By doing so, the suspects identified the user accounts and passwords needed to access the servers that offer the VoIP services. Once the servers crashed, the suspects resorted to other IT applications to make 100 calls simultaneously. The group initially...

Eurasia Review Most theorists resort to a form of economic reductionism in which ‘investments’, ‘trade’, ‘markets’ are presented as ahistorical disembodied entities comparable across space and time. The changing nature of the leading classes are accounted for by general categories such as “finance”, “manufacturing”, “banking”, “service” without any specific analysis of the variable nature and sources of financial wealth (illegal drug trade, money laundering, real estate speculation, etc.). The shifts in the political and economic orientation of governing capitalist politicians, resulting in linkages with different capitalist/imperialist centers, which have major consequences in the configuration of world power, are glossed over in favor of abstract accounts of statistical shifts of economic indicators measuring capital flows. Imperial theorizing totally ignores the role of non-economic socio-political power configurations in shaping imperial policy, over and against major economic inst...

Book essay: Modern Day Trojan Horse: Al-Hijra by Sam Solomon and E Al Maquisi http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Day-Trojan-Horse-Immigration/dp/0979492955 As the West has accepted extensive immigration from Islamic countries, unexpected social and political problems have followed. While rising crime rates, rampant unemployment and a heavy load on our much-appreciated welfare systems are severe problems in itself, a distinct and dramatically more significant problem is the subtle subversion of our free and democratic societies, also known as "Stealth Jihad" The retired Islamic scholar Sam Solomon, in this compact book "Al-Hijra, The Islamic Doctrine of Immigration", connects the dots and explains why seemingly unrelated incidents are in fact rooted in Islamic tradition and are steps on the path to create a fully Islamized society. To demonstrate how this functions, Sam Solomon dives into his exhaustive knowledge of Islamic history and law. As Islamic scholars eve...