Moussa Koussa, who may have been working for the CIA and MI6 since the 1970s.
In 1978, Moussa Koussa attended Michigan State University in the USA. He earned a degree in sociology and presumably made contact with the CIA.
In 1979 he was in the UK and presumably made contact with MI6.
His activities seem to favour the CIA and its friends.
In line with CIA policy, he helped normalise relations between Libya and the USA and its allies.
In line with CIA policy, Koussa helped secure the release of al-Megrahi, thus preventing Megrahi's appeal from being heard, and thus preventing the CIA's faking of evidence from being revealed. (Gareth Peirce on the Framing of al-Megrahi)
In line with CIA policy, Koussa has criticised China's activities in Africa.
Taken from CH Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 1 April, Evening
“It is time to seek the Lord.” - Hosea 10:12
This month of April is said to derive its name from the Latin verb aperio, which signifies to open, because all the buds and blossoms are now opening, and we have arrived at the gates of the flowery year. Reader, if you are yet unsaved, may your heart, in accord with the universal awakening of nature, be opened to receive the Lord. Every blossoming flower warns you that it is time to seek the Lord; be not out of tune with nature, but let your heart bud and bloom with holy desires. Do you tell me that the warm blood of youth leaps in your veins? then, I entreat you, give your vigour to the Lord. It was my unspeakable happiness to be called in early youth, and I could fain praise the Lord every day for it. Salvation is priceless, let it come when it may, but oh! an early salvation has a double value in it. Young men and maidens, since you may perish ere you reach your prime, “It is time to seek the Lord.” Ye who feel the first signs of decay, quicken your pace: that hollow cough, that hectic flush, are warnings which you must not trifle with; with you it is indeed time to seek the Lord. Did I observe a little grey mingled with your once luxurious tresses? Years are stealing on apace, and death is drawing nearer by hasty marches, let each return of spring arouse you to set your house in order. Dear reader, if you are now advanced in life, let me entreat and implore you to delay no longer. There is a day of grace for you now-be thankful for that, but it is a limited season and grows shorter every time that clock ticks. Here in this silent chamber, on this first night of another month, I speak to you as best I can by paper and ink, and from my inmost soul, as God’s servant, I lay before you this warning, “It is time to seek the Lord.” Slight not that work, it may be your last call from destruction, the final syllable from the lip of grace.
Taken from Charles H Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, 1 April, Evening
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WWE SmackDown (Exciting Pro Wrestling au Japon) est un jeu vidéo de catch sorti sur PlayStation par THQ et développé par YUKE's Future Media Creators. Il fait partie de la série des WWF SmackDown! basé sur la fédération de la World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Ce jeu était suivi par WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role. SmackDown! était le premier jeu de la WWF sur PlayStation à être publié par THQ, qui prenait la place de l'ancien éditeur Acclaim. Le changement le plus significatif que les gens ont trouvé avec ce jeu par rapport à son prédécesseur de Acclaim, WWF Attitude, était son style gameplay arcade, et plus rapide. A l'inverse de Attitude qui se basait sur Tekken-ou il faut appuyer sur plusieurs boutons pour les prises les plus simples, SmackDown! avait un système claire pour les prises comme des clés de combinaisons avec le bouton rond pour les prises et le bouton X pour les coups. Une autre nouveauté qui était très bien reçue était le rajout de plusieurs salles dans les coulisses où les catcheurs peuvent se battre, ce qui reflétait le produit à l'époque avec les matchs Hardcore se déroulant dans les coulisses. C'était seulement le deuxième jeu de catch à comprendre ceci à l'époque (WCW Mayhem sorti avant étant le premier). Le jeu comprenait aussi le premier mode saison dans un jeu de la WWF, dans lequel le joueur pouvait participer aux storylines de la WWF. Pour commencer à regarder la WWE en directt vous avez juste à aller à ce lien: WWE Stream Online
THEME: Two-way street — Down answers on west side of grid head south (like normal Downs), while Down answers on east side of the grid head north (i.e. they're upside-down). Theme is indicated by three grid-spanning Downs: in the west, ONCOMING TRAFFIC (4D: Passing preventer); in the middle, MIDDLE OF THE ROAD (7D: Conventional); and in the east, NORTH-BOUND LANES (which is to say, SENAL DNUOB-HTRON) (10D: Half of almost any odd-numbered Interstate highway)
Word of the Day: M.I.A. (23A: Hip-hop singer with the 2008 hit "Paper Planes") —
Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam (Tamil: மாதங்கி 'மாயா' அருள்பிரகாசம், Mātaṅki 'Māyā' Aruḷpirakācam?; born 18 July 1975), better known by her stage nameM.I.A., is a Britishsinger-songwriter, rapper and record producer whose eclectic compositions combine elements of hip-hop, electronica, dance, alternative and world music. // M.I.A. began her career in 2000 as a visual artist and designer in West London. Since rising to prominence in early 2004 for her singles "Galang" and "Sunshowers," she has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Grammy Awards and the Mercury Prize. She released her debut album Arular in 2005 and second album Kala in 2007. Kala went gold in Canada and the United States and silver in the United Kingdom, and the singles "Boyz" and "Paper Planes" became North American top ten chart favourites in 2008. M.I.A.'s third album Maya was released in 2010 soon after the song-film short "Born Free," and reached the top ten in numerous countries worldwide. She has embarked on four global headlining tours and is the founder of her own multimedia label, N.E.E.T.. In 2008, M.I.A. was listed in Esquire magazine's list of the 75 most influential people of the 21st century and in 2009, Time magazine included M.I.A. in its annual Time 100 list of the world's most influential people. (wikipedia)
• • •
Very cool puzzle. I was looking for something tricky today, so the NORTH-BOUND stuff didn't faze me. Much. Did take me a while to uncover the trick. Had great success early when I threw down MIDDLE OF THE ROAD with hardly any effort, after solving only the little northern part of the puzzle. First indication that something was amiss came when I couldn't solve the little southern part of the puzzle with the same rapidity. Acrosses made sense—seemed unimpeachable—but I was getting nonsense in the Downs. So I ended up doing the (very conventional, untricky) west first, and then hitting that MIDDLE OF THE ROAD barrier. Just looking at the two long Downs I had at that point let me know that there was some kind of TRAFFIC theme, and finally I realized that "-C-T Bell" was, in fact, TACO Bell. From that point on, it was just a matter of thinking upside-down. Not a problem. It's a smooth, elegant little puzzle, with hardly an ugly or obscure answer in sight. A one-trick pony, yes, but it's a good trick. Truly AHA.
The only "huh?" moment I had (after grokking ... is that the word? ... the theme) came with the biography "INDIRA," which I had never heard of (27D: 2002 Katherine Frank political biography). That clue is an outlier. It's mildly obscure trivia, where the rest of the grid ... isn't. Still, pretty easy to infer. Crosses were a cinch. Oh, no, wait—37A: English novelist Bawden (NINA) is pretty INDIRA-ish too. Never heard of her. Oh, and never heard of John Betjeman or his poem, "How to Get on in Society" (43A: Serving in John Betjeman's poem "How to get on in Society"=>SCONES). Wow, how did I not have trouble in that section? I guess the clues were written in such a way, and the crosses were reasonable enough, that I could fight through it all without too much pain. LEONAS (SANOEL) was a fat gimme in that section, a sharp contrast to the other names in that section (and a very sharp contrast to NUBILE—46A: Available, in a way).
Bullets:
14A: Elvis follower (ARON) — this seemed obvious, unlike some other stuff up there in the NW, which I flubbed: PORE for GAZE, RICE for ZINC, SHOO and SCAT for GO! GO! etc.
3D: Hammer accompanier (GONG) — probably a lot of people went with NAIL at first.
5D: They're subject to rapid inflation (AIRBAGS) — ooh, good clue.
42D: It starts "Tell me, muse, of the man of many resources" ("ODYSSEY") — see also "The wrath of Achilles..." or "Arma virumque cano..." or "Of Man's first Disobedience..." (we talk about epics a lot in my Brit Lit class). Interesting ODYSSEY news: Virgil thinks Odysseus is an asshole for coming up with that whole Trojan Horse thing; Dante concurs, putting Odysseus (Ulysses, actually) way, way down in the 8th ring of hell (Fraud). And then there's Milton's Satan. And then there's Maude!
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Since it's a heavy-traffic day, I'll take this opportunity once again to plug the Crosswords L.A. Tournament, which takes place one month from today, 5/1/11, at Loyola-Marymount University. It's always a blast, the puzzles this year are fantastic (I've seen them), and all proceeds go to a wonderful charity ("Reading to Kids"). Go here for details.
P.P.S. You could also do this puzzle. There's a decent likelihood it will annoy the hell out of you, but ... if there's any day to distribute such a puzzle, it's today. (Go here —to Amy Reynaldo's "Island of Lost Puzzles"— to print a .pdf or get a .puz version, or just print the puzzle out from here).
Gaddafi's foreign minister Moussa Koussa - blamed by the CIA for the Lockerbie bombing - is being questioned in a 'secure location' in the UK, following 'pressure from MI6'.
Our old friend Robert Halfon(Rob's Blog), a UK Conservative MP who has tabled parliamentary motions on Lockerbie, said Koussa's arrival in the UK was comparable to that of Hitler's lieutenant, Rudolf Hess, during the Second World War.
According to Charles Higham’s book "Trading With The Enemy": In the early stages of World War II, the Duke of Windsor had a secret meeting in the Hotel Meurice in Paris with Rudolf Hess and Martin Bormann.
In ' Double Standards: The Rudolf Hess Cover-up' by Lynn Picknett, Clive Prince & Stephen Prior it is argued that:
1. Rudolf Hess flew to Scotland in 1941 with Hitler's blessing.
2. Hess was to meet with a faction of British royalty who wanted to arrange peace between Britain and Nazi Germany.
3. Churchill and his faction got to Hess first when his plane landed and locked him up, even though Hess had been guaranteed safe passage by King George VI.
4. It is possible that the Duke of Kent rescued Hess and tried to fly to Sweden to continue secret peace negotiations. Allegedly, the Duke of Kent wanted to see Churchill removed.
5. The Duke's plane crashed approximately two miles from where Hess was kept on the shores of Loch More. Hess may have died in the plane crash. The plane crash may not have been accidental.
Clive Prince wrote:
"Churchill was in a very, very insecure position politically in May 1941. In fact, three days before Hess arrived, there had been a vote of no-confidence in Churchill.
"He didn’t have the support of the aristocracy or the support of MI6 and the King. But the Hess affair basically gave Churchill the opportunity to blackmail his opponents who were involved with the Hess flight into supporting him...
"He also used the Hess flight to ensure that Hitler went ahead with his attack on Russia six weeks after Hess arrived....
"We’re certain that MI6 was totally involved in the Hess affair - they weren’t luring him over: they were inviting him over. This was because MI6 were supportive of the idea of ending the War with Germany.
"MI6 saw the real enemy as being Russia. Sir Stuart Menzies - the head of MI6 - advised Churchill to stay out of things and let the Nazis and the Russians get on with it."
Libya's Colonel Gaddafi, in a speech at the London School of Economics, via a live video-link, alleged that the case against al Megrahi had 'been fabricated and created by Thatcher and Reagan.'
Gaddafi suggested that CIA agents carried out the 1988 Lockerbie Bombing.
(Involved in the story is CIA asset Monzer al Kassar, who reportedly had links to Oliver North and Mohammed Atta. (Monzer al-Kassar - Wikipedia / Madcow Morning News.) The alleged maker of the Lockerbie bomb, Marwan Khreesat, was a Jordanian intelligence service (GID) agent with links to the CIA. (Pan Am Flight 103.)
Were these passengers on PanAm 103 killed by the CIA? The US ambassador to Lebanon, John McCarthy, and the South African Foreign Minister Pik Botha had their travel plans altered at the last minute in order to avoid PA103. Charles McKee and Matthew Gannon allegedly changed their plans at the last minute to fly on PA103. ("Cover-up - Lockerbie")
Was there an attempt to kill al Megrahi?
According to Gaddafi, al Megrahi's health "was not looked after in prison.
"He didn't have any periodic examination...
"After he passes away, his family will demand compensation because he was deliberately neglected in prison."
If all the evidence had been heard in the appeal case, then the world would have got to hear more about Major Charles McKee and heroin.
Reportedly, Major Charles McKee and his team of US agents had gathered evidence concerning CIA smuggling of heroin from South Lebanon into the USA on PanAm flights.
McKee and his team were on PanAm 103.
Reportedly, the CIA brought down PanAm 103 in order to destroy McKee and his evidence.
"On February 16, 2009, Gaddafi ... called on Libyans to back his proposal to dismantle the government and to distribute the oil wealth directly to the 5 million inhabitants of the country.
"However, his plan to deliver oil revenues directly to the Libyan people met opposition by senior officials who could lose their jobs due to a parallel plan by Gaddafi to rid the state of corruption."
"No one has shouted any louder than Gaddafi that Africa must be for the Africans...
"Why hasn’t the Western world rolled into Israel or the West Bank and saved the Palestinian people who suffer true slaughter and discrimination at the hands of Israel?"
Mar 26,1996 - "Reuters news reports ... state that unrest in ... Eastern Libya is caused by armed rebels... This is an operation to overthrow Gaddafi led by Col. Khalifa Hifter, of a contra-style group based in the United States called the LibyanNational Army."
Now the CIA-generals would appear to be in charge in Egypt. And the CIA generals would appear to be on the side of the Islamists.
On 29 March 2011, in The Guardian, we read of the release from prison in Egypt of Aboud al-Zomor who was implicated in the murder of Sadat. (Egypt is stan)
He has been given a hero's welcome on TV and in the newspapers.
"Every time I changed the TV channel, he was there spewing out some criminal nonsense, such as the legitimacy of murdering people if religious scholars permitted it."
Members of the fundamentalist SALAFI movement have clashed with villagers south of Cairo over demands that an alcohol store and coffee shops be closed.
One villager was killed in the armed clashes.
The powerful Salafists want to ban alcohol and want shariah law.
In Egypt there are rumours that the Salafi movement plans a massive rally aimed at forcing all Egyptian women to wear a veil and punishing those who don't adhere by burning their faces with acid.
Salafi doctrine "is only a few shades away from that of groups such as al-Qaeda."
"The growth of Salafism is visible in dress.
"In many parts of Cairo women wear the niqab, a veil which shows at most the eyes.
Guz Architects have created a tropical bungalow perfect for it’s location in Singapore called The Fish House. The modern home is designed to encourage natural ventilation, to do this the team of architects set out to create large open spaces, and glass walls that open up into functional outdoor activity areas.
Guz explained that their main goal was to create a home with seamless integration of the surrounding nature. This was accomplished through the pond-like pool and by creating great views of the water and vegetation.
My favorite quote of the day is related to the sale of the Pistons. Or rather their inability to sell the team:
"The Pistons are officially that beat-up Camaro at the end of the street that's been on the block for two months. The "For Sale' sign has faded with dust and things are starting to grow around the wheels."
Worst of the Night in Pictures:
Oh, Vince. What else can you do to make me hate you?
Oh. That.
Hey, if you saw your mascot faceplant while on rollerblades like that, you'd have a pissy look on your face too
Nationally Televised Games: Celtics at Spurs, TNT, 8pm: Hey! Who wants to watch two injury-riddled teams limp through the end of the regular season on national TV? (meekly raises hand)
Mavericks at Lakers, TNT, 10:30pm: The Lakers are 15-1 since the All-Star Break. Quick, someone go invent a time machine so we can go back to earlier this year when they were kinda sorta struggling! Or at least let us go back to 2004-2005 when Chucky Atkins, Chris Mihm, and Jumaine Jones were holding down the fort.
I love generational stories! Especially those that involve women. A Thread of Sky by Deanna Fei is just that - a story of 6 women, 3 generations and their journey to discover the China that they were born from, but also to discover a part of themselves that was forgotten.
From the Publisher:
When her husband of thirty years is killed in a devastating accident, Irene Shen and her three daughters are set adrift. Nora, the eldest, retreats into her high-powered New York job and a troubled relationship. Kay, the headstrong middle child,
escapes to China to learn the language and heritage of her parents. Sophie, the sensitive and artistic youngest, is trapped at home until college, increasingly estranged from her family—and herself. Terrified of being left alone with her grief, Irene plans a tour of mainland China’s must-sees, reuniting three generations of women—her three daughters, her distant poet sister, and her formidable eighty-year-old mother—in a desperate attempt to heal her fractured family.
If only it were so easy. Each woman arrives bearing secre
ts big and small, and as they travel—visiting untouched sections of the Great Wall and the seedy bars of Shanghai, the beautiful ancient temples and cold, modern shopping emporiums—they begin to wonder if they will ever find the China they seek, the one their family fled long ago.
Over days and miles they slowly find their way toward a new understanding of themselves, of one another, and of the vast complexity of thei
r homeland, only to have their new bonds tested as never before when the darkest, most carefully guarded secret of all spirals to the surface and threatens to tear their family apart forever.
As these six women explore China’s magnificent landmarks and mysteriou
s alleys, gradually unearthing family secrets, they also rediscover something they seem to have forgotten amid their fast-paced lives in America: “Jia—family, house, home. In Chinese, it was all one word.”
Deanna Fei has written a wonderful novel; compl
ex and haunting. The prose is beautiful; the words seeming to float across the page. The characters are well written, and the landscape of their travels is equally well drawn, giving the reader a slight feeling of nostalgia as the contrast of the old against the new are laid across the page. The story its
elf unravels the lives of each of these women as they struggle with their own identities. We are first introduced to each woman as they try to preform their duties as mothers, daughters, sisters and grandmother. When they are thrown together they do struggle, each feeling the need to appear strong and self sufficient. It is only when they slowly let their secrets come tumbling out, when each of them finally lets their guard down, that they start to truly connect with one another. It's a fascinating look at the inter-relationships of women in a family, and the differences between generations.
I really enjoyed reading this! The characters were memorable, as a woman I could relate to some of their insecurities, and the setting was fascinating. Not only would I recommend this to anyone wanting a wonderful book to read, but I would recommend this to reading groups. A Thread of Sky would make a wonderful discussion book, from the way the w
omen interacted with one another, to discussing how the word "family" means different things to different people.
About the Author...
Deanna Fei is the author of the novel A Thread of S
ky (Penguin Press, 2010), a New York Times Editors’ Choice and an
Indie Next Notable Book. She was born in Flushing, New York, and has lived in Beijing and Shanghai, China. A graduate of Amherst College and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she has received a Fulbright Grant, a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship, and a Chinese Cultural Scholarship. She currently lives i
n Brooklyn and is at work on a new novel.
I want to thank TLC Book Toursfor sending along a review copy of A Thread of Sky and asking me to participate in Deanna Fei's Virtual Bo
ok Tour! You can learn more about A Thread of Sky, read an excerpt and learn more about Deanna Fei, at Deanna Fei's website.
I love generational stories! Especially those that involve women. A Thread of Sky by Deanna Fei is just that - a story of 6 women, 3 generations and their journey to discover the China that they were born from, but also to discover a part of themselves that was forgotten.
From the Publisher:
When her husband of thirty years is killed in a devastating accident, Irene Shen and her three daughters are set adrift. Nora, the eldest, retreats into her high-powered New York job and a troubled relationship. Kay, the headstrong middle child,
escapes to China to learn the language and heritage of her parents. Sophie, the sensitive and artistic youngest, is trapped at home until college, increasingly estranged from her family—and herself. Terrified of being left alone with her grief, Irene plans a tour of mainland China’s must-sees, reuniting three generations of women—her three daughters, her distant poet sister, and her formidable eighty-year-old mother—in a desperate attempt to heal her fractured family.
If only it were so easy. Each woman arrives bearing secre
ts big and small, and as they travel—visiting untouched sections of the Great Wall and the seedy bars of Shanghai, the beautiful ancient temples and cold, modern shopping emporiums—they begin to wonder if they will ever find the China they seek, the one their family fled long ago.
Over days and miles they slowly find their way toward a new understanding of themselves, of one another, and of the vast complexity of thei
r homeland, only to have their new bonds tested as never before when the darkest, most carefully guarded secret of all spirals to the surface and threatens to tear their family apart forever.
As these six women explore China’s magnificent landmarks and mysteriou
s alleys, gradually unearthing family secrets, they also rediscover something they seem to have forgotten amid their fast-paced lives in America: “Jia—family, house, home. In Chinese, it was all one word.”
Deanna Fei has written a wonderful novel; compl
ex and haunting. The prose is beautiful; the words seeming to float across the page. The characters are well written, and the landscape of their travels is equally well drawn, giving the reader a slight feeling of nostalgia as the contrast of the old against the new are laid across the page. The story its
elf unravels the lives of each of these women as they struggle with their own identities. We are first introduced to each woman as they try to preform their duties as mothers, daughters, sisters and grandmother. When they are thrown together they do struggle, each feeling the need to appear strong and self sufficient. It is only when they slowly let their secrets come tumbling out, when each of them finally lets their guard down, that they start to truly connect with one another. It's a fascinating look at the inter-relationships of women in a family, and the differences between generations.
I really enjoyed reading this! The characters were memorable, as a woman I could relate to some of their insecurities, and the setting was fascinating. Not only would I recommend this to anyone wanting a wonderful book to read, but I would recommend this to reading groups. A Thread of Sky would make a wonderful discussion book, from the way the w
omen interacted with one another, to discussing how the word "family" means different things to different people.
About the Author...
Deanna Fei is the author of the novel A Thread of S
ky (Penguin Press, 2010), a New York Times Editors’ Choice and an
Indie Next Notable Book. She was born in Flushing, New York, and has lived in Beijing and Shanghai, China. A graduate of Amherst College and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she has received a Fulbright Grant, a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship, and a Chinese Cultural Scholarship. She currently lives i
n Brooklyn and is at work on a new novel.
I want to thank TLC Book Toursfor sending along a review copy of A Thread of Sky and asking me to participate in Deanna Fei's Virtual Bo
ok Tour! You can learn more about A Thread of Sky, read an excerpt and learn more about Deanna Fei, at Deanna Fei's website.
Moussa Koussa, who may have been working for the CIA and MI6 since the 1970s. 
Pour commencer à regarder la WWE en directt vous avez juste à aller à ce lien:
