One of the main stumbling blocks to talk with Iran has been the condition that Iran suspends its uranium enrichment. Now, the Obama administration may take that option off the table, at least for now. “The pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at the vessel, which sustained damage,” said a statement from New York-based Liberty Maritime Corporation, which owns the vessel
Tag Archives: Obama
Right-wing extremism may be on rise, report says
Right-wing extremist groups may be using the recession and the election of the nation’s first African-American president to recruit members, a Department of Homeland Security report contends. Though the nine-page report said it has “no specific information that domestic right-wing terrorists are currently planning acts of violence,” it said real-estate foreclosures, unemployment and tight credit “could create a fertile recruiting environment for right-wing extremists and even result in confrontations between such groups and government authorities similar to those in the past.” The report, prepared in coordination with the FBI and published April 7, was distributed to federal, state and local law enforcement officials under the title “Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.” It compares the current climate the 1990s, “when right-wing extremism experienced a resurgence fueled largely by an economic recession, criticism about the outsourcing of jobs, and the perceived threat to U.S. power and sovereignty by other foreign powers.” It cites proposed restrictions on weapons as likely to increase membership in extremist groups and expresses concern the groups might try to recruit veterans.
Study: 4 million ‘illegal’ immigrant children are native-born citizens
Washington Wrestles the Somali Pirate Problem On Land
The celebrating over Sunday’s daring rescue of Richard Phillips, the ship captain held hostage by Somali pirates, didn’t last too long at the Pentagon. Defense Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged Monday that the kind of Navy snipers who took out the three captors are only a stopgap way of dealing with pirates now sailing the Gulf of Aden. “There is no purely military solution to it,” Gates told an audience of the Marine Corps War College in Quantico, Va.
Castro wants more from Obama on Cuba
Will Obama Open Up All U.S. Travel to Cuba?
Economist Mark Zandi: The Chic Geek
Mark Zandi, the chief economist and co-founder of Moody’s Economy.com was in the midst of a whirlwind day that included two speeches, a panel discussion, a television interview and a visit to the Congressional Budget Office but he still found time for a little extracurricular research. In a taxi on the way to the Park Hyatt hotel in Washington, where he was making a presentation to a bank-industry group, Zandi turned to the driver. “How’s business” he asked.
Crew of Alabama says sailors jumped pirates to retake control
Poll: Three-quarters favor relations with Cuba
Ship’s captain prepared for pirate attack, ex-crew member says
A former crew member on the American ship attacked by pirates off Africa said the ship’s captain is exactly the kind of person who would offer himself in exchange for the crew’s safety. “I was amazed when I heard that he offered himself up to the pirates, but he’s definitely the kind of person to make that sacrifice,” the former crew member of the Maersk Alabama, who asked not to be identified, said of Capt.