Entries from July 2007 ↓

Gleamd: Shed a little light on someone

Gleamd screen shot

Looking for the next big thing? We Web 2.0 aficionados hear about the latest and greatest social web applications every day, but each one seems to be described in terms of its competition. Each fledgling “killer app” entering the field is touted as the next “Digg killer” or “Twitter killer” or “Facebook killer.” But here’s an application, still in beta test, whose purpose differs enough from what’s already out there to warrant being considered on its own merits.

What makes Gleamd so different? Let’s start with what Gleamd isn’t. Unlike other fixtures of the social web, gleamd isn’t primarily about its own user base. In other words, if you’re a Gleamd user, it isn’t about wowing everybody with your own multimedia talents, your eye for cool websites, or your nose for news scoops. It isn’t primarily about making business or personal connections with other users, even though you certainly may meet like-minded fellow users on the system.

Then what is Gleamd all about? It’s about promoting other people whom you find interesting and worthy of notice. This can include anyone other than yourself who has at least some presence on the Web, and merits more attention than he or she has received thus far. The media superstars and A-list bloggers already have their ways of reaching the public - this is about promoting lesser-known people who may be more deserving.

Who’s behind gleamd? Let’s hear from developer Matt McInerney, a/k/a mattmc on Twitter, who also runs graphic design website and blog Pixelspread, Twitter sci-fi novella ZombieAttack, among other things:

Right now I’m the only person working on Gleamd. It was my idea that I decided to put together and get out in the world. I created it basically because it was a resource I wanted to use myself. We’ve been featured in a lot of blogs so far, and I hear a lot about “popularity contests”, but to be honest, I really think the site is proving to be more than that. First of all, it’s definitely not HotOrNot 2.0. I wanted to create a meritocracy, so submitted people are going to be judged on their accomplishments. Of course there are the web celebs like Leo Laporte and Kevin Rose that are bound to be submitted, but I’ve been pleased to see that the A listers don’t dominate the popular list all the time. The way we calculate the recently popular, which is based on votes just from that day, new and interesting submissions have been given a chance to rise to the top.

I’ve seen comparisons of Gleamd to people search engines like Spock, but I think we differ by giving our users something to look at. Spock is great if you know what you’re looking for, but you aren’t just going to Spock and find interesting people you haven’t heard of without doing a lot of digging around. Gleamd solves that problem pretty quickly by letting users put in their two cents.

Comparing to other social media or social networks, I don’t think we’re competing with places like MySpace, Facebook, or VIRB. We’re not trying to replace your favorite social networks at all. We’re trying to give you the opportunity to find interesting people and maybe even make connections you would have never made otherwise. Maybe you’ll find someone cool on Gleamd, find them on VIRB, and go add them. Who knows. So while we have profiles and friends on Gleamd, they are kind of minimal, and definetly not the focus of the site.

So how can I get involved? If you want to join the private beta, stop by Gleamd and leave a message for Matt. Gleamd still in the private-beta stage only because it’s very new, not because Matt wants to exclude anybody. He’s eager for more users who want to participate actively and give the system a good workout, so don’t be shy!

Now what? As soon as you get a user ID, you can start inviting buddies (like-minded fellow users on Gleamd), and you can begin submitting biographical information about what Matt calls “interesting people doing interesting things on the Web.” Go ahead and submit some people who aren’t already well known, such as interesting people you know from other social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Pownce, Jaiku, YouTube…you name it.

You don’t need to be an experienced writer or blogger yourself to participate; it’s perfectly fine to put in a few words of your own about why the person is cool, and link to other sites such as Wikipedia or your subject’s own blog to round out the details. If you enter a website or email address, the Gleamd editor will automatically post it as a link. Then check one or more category boxes that apply to your subject (e.g., Artist, Athlete, Entrepreneur, Vlogger) and submit the bio. If you realize that you’ve made a typo or have forgotten to check a box, not to worry; you can edit your own submissions later.

What keeps Gleamd from being infested with spammers, self-promoters, and other Web 2.0 bad actors? Matt has explained that Gleamd already provides some safeguards:

  • Gleamd has a team of moderators. They don’t intervene to promote or block bios according to their own tastes, but they do weed out the clowns who are spamming fake Viagra or pimping the latest penny-stock scam. Unlike Digg, the moderators at Gleamd are actual, identifiable human beings! You can notify Matt himself or the moderators if you notice somebody abusing the system.
  • Gleamd automatically checks for duplicate submissions.
  • Gleamd users are allowed to make only one submission every thirty minutes. This hampers the unwanted activities of spambots and pay-per-submission promoters.
  • Gleamd discourages users from submitting themselves. In my opinion, this is a good idea, though I have no personal knowledge about how strictly this is enforced.

What would I like to see in the new Gleamd user interface? I’d like to see more robust searching and filtering, perhaps on geographical keys, as well as the ability to see what your buddies have submitted and voted on. That way, when Gleamd scales up to handle a larger user base, each user will have the tools to navigate to the biographical pages that match that user’s interests.

What’s coming next? Gleamd has attracted some investors, so a new user interface is in the offing. There’s also a brand-new Gleamd wiki, where beta test participants can leave comments and suggestions. So if you join the beta test and you think something is missing or needs to be tweaked, go for it!

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Welcome to the New Home of 1389 Blog

1389 Blog on Blogspot has been migrated to 1389 Blog on Wordpress.

The WordPress blogging system will allow more features to be added to the blog, but the purpose will be the same. It’ll be an antijihadist/techie blog, as it is now, with emphasis on exposing jihadism and particularly cyberjihadism, and of providing access to the technical news, tools, and techniques that help antijihadist activists to be more effective on the Web.

Other blogs are not affected:

Also see 1389 Elsewhere on the Web.

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About This Blog

Welcome to the counterjihad!

We offer news, views, and tech tools for the antijihadist activist: Web 2.0, mobile computing, tech tools and tips, confronting e-jihadism, censorship and media spin. We also offer news and information on the Balkans counterjihad, Serbia, Russia, and the Orthodox Christian Church.

1389 was the year of the Battle of Kosovo. The Serbian army, along with some allies, under the leadership of Prince Saint Lazar, knowing that they were about to die, sacrificed themselves to fight the Turkish invasion to a standstill. Their sacrifice prevented much of Europe from being overrun at that time. In their honor, I have chosen 1389 as the name of this blog, and as my nom de guerre.

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Reference Material

News:

Networking on the Web:

Reporting Suspicious Activity:

Detecting and Reporting Wikipedia Spin Jobs:

Contacting Google Blogger.com:

  • Reporting an abusive blogger to Google Blogger.com:
    • Look at the top of the offender’s blog for the words Flag this blog. Click on the link to flag the blog as offensive.
    • Use the Google Blogger Reporting Form to report the offender to Blogger.
  • Contacting Blogger Support directly:
    • Google makes it especially difficult to contact anyone at Blogger.com. But at least for now, you can email them at support@blogger.com.
    • How to Contact Blogger Support is a website with rolling updates on contacting the elusive Blogger.com.
  • Dealing with ordinary Blogger glitches:
    • Advice from Baron Bodissey at Gates of Vienna:
      For anyone who has problems: try closing your browser, deleting all cookies that end in “@blogger.com”, and then start all over again. That sometimes clears up problems with Blogger.

Contacting Google YouTube:

Resisting Blog Censorship:

Stop Blog Censorship

The Voice of Free Speech for the Counterjihad

Welcome to our resource page!
Scroll down to learn more!

Image of man with laptop in front of Statue of Liberty: Stop Blog Censorship

“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
- Winston Churchill

We Have Tons of Articles!

Want to see them all? Click on this Stop Blog Censorship! category link to view all of our articles about blog censorship and how to combat it, starting with the newest.

Our articles are filled with practical information about what to do if your blog is being blacklisted via censorware.

We also track instances of hacking, threats, and other efforts to muzzle freedom of expression in the blogosphere.

There’s been a real problem lately with people maliciously making false reports to “censorware” providers, so as to inhibit access to conservative blogs, especially those that discuss counter-terrorism issues. We are also greatly concerned with other censorship issues, including the recent examples of fatwas and other threats made against bloggers for publishing political cartoons.

FAQ

  • “Why are counterterrorist/antijihadist blogs under attack?”
    • We are exposing some truly evil people, and they are fighting back. That’s to be expected.
    • If you doubt that our adversaries mean business, put your ears on and listen to Foehammer’s 9/21/07 podcast.
  • “What about terrorist propaganda and training sites?
    I am in favor of censoring those!”
    • So are we! After all, we are at war, and we are entirely in favor of taking down enemy propaganda and other communications. These include, but are not limited to, terrorist training and recruitment videos. Such communications are not covered by any Constitutional or other legal protections for free speech. We want them taken down entirely, not merely blocked by censorware!
    • At the same time, we work to uphold (or restore) the U.S. Constitutional protections for speech, press, assembly, and petition, and to uphold (or restore) similar protections in other parts of the world.
    • Our jihadist enemies have no lack of computer savvy. They are constantly attempting to game the system in various ways, so as to interfere with access to legitimate, constructive political speech in the US, the EU, and elsewhere - particularly counterterrorist and antijihadist speech - often under the guise of “political correctness.” At the same time, they abuse the system - sometimes by hacking, spamming, or vandalizing our websites and blogs - to get their own messages out at our expense!
    • The bottom line: We must reclaim control over our own avenues of communication.
    • If you want to help get jihadist videos taken down, please visit the following link:
    • More details here:
      Hankering to go after some bad guys?
  • “How do I report a problem with YouTube?”
    • YouTube is part of Google, and its management has often been criticized for bias. YouTube has taken down videos that criticize anything having to do with Islam or Muslims, and has allowed overt jihadist propaganda, recruitment, and terrorist training videos to remain available.
    • Let YouTube know what YOU think! Click here for the YouTube contact form.
  • “What is censorware, and how does it work?”
  • “How do I find out if my site is blacklisted?”
  • “What’s with Panera Bread and SonicWALL?”
    • Panera Bread offers a public WiFi in its stores, but with a major catch. They use SonicWALL censorware to blacklist a vast range of sites, including many of the blogs that provide news that you can’t get anywhere else.
    • See our Panera Bread and SonicWALL articles for regular updates on this topic.
    • Also be sure to read Jihad Watch Unblocked, including the comments accompanying that article. If necessary, other bloggers who have been wrongfully blacklisted by SonicWALL or other censorware providers should do as Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch did, and consult an attorney!
  • “I’m having trouble with Google Blogger!”
  • “My website has received a ‘takedown request’ - what should I do?”
    • If someone has asked - or demanded - that you take down an article from your blog or website, your first step should be to verify that the “takedown request” is legitimate and is not a bogus request coming from a troll or prankster. (See Musings of Wired Pig 2.1: Takedown Request (Updated) for an example.)
    • Be aware of any laws that may apply to the material that you are being asked to remove. If you determine that the takedown request is from a legitimate source, but you believe that the request is unjustified, you would be well advised to consult an attorney.
  • “My Wikipedia article has been vandalized!”
  • “I am unable to access a Bible!”
  • “I’m being sued by an Islamist organization!”
    …or…
    “I’m being threatened with arrest and prosecution for blogging!”
  • “I’ve been banned from Digg!”
  • “What about hackers, spammers, trolls, cyberstalkers, and vandals?”
  • “Are there any proxies or other ways to get around censorware?”
    • We have run across some websites that offer information about proxy services, or provide links to sites that do. (See “Other Sources of Information” below.) However, we have not tested these methods ourselves, so we are not in a position to recommend any specific software, service, or method. Nor can we guarantee that your efforts to get around the censorware will be undetected by the censorware firm or your local system administrators.
    • Be sure to use an up-to-date source! Censorware firms change and adapt their methods to ward off any attempts to get around the firewall. If you want to try using a proxy, get your information and your software from the most up-to-date sources that you can find.
    • Keep in mind that these workarounds do not address the real problem of blog censorship. You might be willing and able to set up proxies so that you can continue to read all of your favorite blogs. But if your blog is being blocked by censorware firms over much of the world, how many other people will take the same effort and risk to get to your blog? The fact is that only a tiny fraction of your potential audience will have courage, the know-how, and the opportunity to set up proxies and use them to read your blog in secret somewhere. This will not propagate your blog’s message to the general public, most of whom haven’t seen your blog and don’t know why it might be worth their trouble to read it!

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Blogger.com Makes It Too Easy to Censor Blogs - What to Do?

First, please read these two articles:

What is the current status? As of 4:30 Eastern Time (US) 7/18/07, Gates of Vienna was back up.

So why be concerned about it now? Because other bloggers need to know about this situation, and because it’s time for Blogger to do something to prevent its blogs from being shut down either maliciously or by mistake. Gates of Vienna is a respected counterterrorist/antijihadist blog that in no way deserves to be treated as a “spam blog.” This situation also shows how easy it would be to misuse Blogger.com to censor another blog.

How did this happen? It is possible that someone unintentionally clicked the “flag” button in the Blogger.com toolbar while attempting to navigate. But then, if a single error like that can cause a blog to be blocked, something is very wrong with Blogger.com! More likely, Gates of Vienna was maliciously flagged as a “spam blog” multiple times by one or more individuals who object to antijihadistist messages being made available to the public. Either way, Blogger.com is allowing de facto censorship, and this is wrong. It allows wrongdoers of every stripe to muzzle anybody who may be trying to warn the public about the crimes they have committed or are preparing to commit. It also will intimidate some bloggers into keeping silent - though not this one!

Does this remind you of anything? It should! The Digg “bury brigade” has aroused intense controversy for exactly the same reason: because it became too easy for a few anonymous users to muzzle opposing points of view or to cover up uncomfortable facts simply by clicking on a little button.

What are we asking Blogger to do? Blogger should add safeguards to prevent the same thing from happening again to this or other blogs in the Blogspot domain. If Blogger.com fails to take action, then other blog owners will have reason to worry about losing access to their blogs. They’ll migrate to other blogging systems and and hosting providers that will help them to safeguard their ownership.

You may recall that I’ve blogged before about the issues that Blogger.com has with spam blogs (see Does Blogger.com think your blog is spam?) but this is a different situation. There is a very big difference between the minor inconvenience of requiring the blog owner to enter Captcha characters before posting to the blog, and the major intimidation Blogger.com causes by blocking the blog entirely.

Now please do this:

  • Link to the stories at Gates of Vienna and Foehammer.net from your own blog.
  • Ask everyone else you know who has a blog to do the same.
  • Publicize the story in every other legitimate way that you can think of: StumbleUpon, del.icio.us, Twitter, Pownce, word of mouth, chat rooms, you name it.
  • If you wish, post a comment here indicating where else this article is being publicized.

Contacting humans at Blogger.com: Google makes it especially difficult to contact anyone at Blogger.com directly. But at least for now, you can contact them at support@blogger.com. And here’s a website with rolling updates on how to contact Blogger.com: How to Contact Blogger Support. So if you are not happy about the way Blogger.com is misidentifying Gates of Vienna and other blogs as spam, you can still let them know what you think.

Also see:

Keep the pressure on Blogger.com to do something to safeguard their blogging system against being hijacked by the same “bury brigade” that has rendered Digg.com all but useless! And for what to do about THAT, see How to Bury Digg.com.

Update: Google mistakes one of its own blogs for spam!


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The Ft. Hard Knox Project

The goal of the FHK project is to assist politically-conservative bloggers, social-networkers, and citizen journalists to navigate the wild, wild world of Web 2.0 more effectively.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Ft. Hard Knox Project, here are the links:

“Wiki…What?” A Wiki is a user-supported and continuously-evolving hypertext encyclopedia. Thus, by definition, a Wiki is always “under construction.” The Ft. Hard Knox Wiki has recently been established within the Wikispaces environment, and it already has some useful articles. Its purpose is to offer an easy way to access tech tips and information, to help conservatives use the Web more effectively.

Using the FHK Forum and Chat Room:

The Ft. Hard Knox forum is hosted on Delphi, so you’ll need to register for a Delphi user ID if you don’t already have one. Registration for the basic functions is free, and that’s all you need to leave messages on the forum or to use the chat room. Prompts will appear when you click on the link. It takes just a minute to sign up!

Updated 7/17/07:

Meet with us on Twitter!

  • The Monday night FHK forum chat has been discontinued for now. That’s because it’s too difficult to get everybody in different time zones all over the world to meet at the same time, especially in the summer when so many people are traveling.
  • Instead, we’re encouraging fellow conservatives and antijihadist activists to meet with us on Twitter. You can use Twitter both in “real time” for chatting with people who are online at the same time, and as a forum for communicating with people who will be online at other times.
  • Click here to view all of our articles about Twitter. We’ll have many more articles about Twitter in the future!
  • So how do I get started on Twitter? The easiest way is to ask an established user to introduce you to other Twitterers. Whom to ask? Me, of course! Don’t be shy. Just go to the Twitter site, register an account, click on my profile at 1389, and add me as a friend. I’ll “friend” you back soon afterward. Then send me a message introducing yourself, and I’ll begin introducing you to others. I hope to see you there soon!

Updated 7/2/07:

  • We’ll be discussing the Ft. Hard Knox Wiki during tonight’s Forum Chat, so please stop by if you’d like to know more, or if you think you might be interested in working with us!

Updated 6/26/07:

  • The main page and blog for the Ft. Hard Knox project have moved to a new address, http://forthardknox.com/
  • From the new URL, the Ft. Hard Knox blog can be accessed via a cellphone or PDA browser as well as from a conventional browser.

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Why StumbleUpon Owns Digg

Updated!

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scroll down)

Blog traffic statistics tell quite a tale!

After all of the endless hype surrounding Digg, I was surprised to read this article by Darren Rowse at Problogger: Why StumbleUpon Sends More Traffic than Digg.

Hmmm, I thought, time to try it out! So, after finding out that StumbleUpon doesn’t accept an all-numeric user ID, I signed up as 1389AD. I set up the little toolbar and started using it.

Then, I ran across an article that came out a few months ago, but is still very much worth reading, so I used the toolbar to submit a review of the article on StumbleUpon: My Thoughts on Our Children’s Children’s War.

I was surprised at what happened next, and you probably will be too.

Read all about it here: How to Bury Digg.com.


Updated 12/1/2007:
Were you looking for information about Digg’s owners and investors?

We have that too! Click on…

Why Conservatives Need to Geek-Up (Part 3)


Updated 12/20/2007:
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CONFIRMED: White Slaves and Millions of Heroin Dollars Bought Ahtisaari’s Kosovo "Independence" Plan (With Rolling Updates)

The latest major U.N. scandal is a real doozy, and it’s coming out at a very inconvenient time for George W. and the U.S. State Department:

BND: White Slaves and Millions of Heroin Dollars for Ahtisaari’s Plan

According to the June 21 article by the Banja Luka daily Fokus, titled “Albanian Mafia Bought Ahtisaari,” German Federal Intelligence Service BND (Bundesnachrichtendienst) has recently sent a report to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon revealing that Albanian separatists and terrorists in Serbian Kosovo-Metohija province have literally purchased Ahtisaari’s plan which suggests independence for the Serbian province and its severing from Serbia.

German Secret Service has found that 2 million Euros (2.68 million USD) have been transfered directly to Ahtisaari’s personal bank account, and that amounts of multi-million Euros were given to the UN envoy in cash on at least two occasions, totaling up to 40 million Euros (over 53 million U.S. dollars).

Oh, and by the way, KFOR NATO troops are involved:

On the last day of February, at 11:47 p.m., German Secret Service agents made a note about the arrival of the KFOR (NATO troops stationed in Serbian Kosovo province, Kosovo FORce) jeep which brought two young women over, followed by Boria’s bodyguard. The girls were in Ahtisaari’s quarters until 5:17 a.m., when they were driven away by the same vehicle.

This is particularly awkward now, because GWB has been making a big push to turn over control of Kosovo to Albanian Muslim narcoterrorists, which is not only insane, but also violates the treaty that the U.S. signed at the end of the Kosovo War. (See Updated: Was GWB’s wristwatch stolen while he was meeting a crowd in Albania? and How the U.S. and NATO were duped in the Balkans.) The only thing that can be said for GWB in this regard is that his Democrat opponents would have tried to do the same thing even sooner.

Okay, so I’m old. This huge UN Albanian-narcoterrorist bribery scandal reminded me of a long trail of other scandals: Libyagate (starring Billy Carter), Abscam, Iran arms-for-hostages, BCCI, UN oil-for-food, and now, Bill and Hillary cashing in from Qatar, and the Bush family’s close ties to the Bin Ladin Group. (Yes, THAT Bin Ladin Group; they’ve altered the English-language spelling, but yes, they are OBL’s relatives!) To put icing on the cake, there’s Venezuela, with Chavez’ ominously cozy relationship with Ahmadinejad, Iran’s nuclear neo-Nazi.

So what made me think of all these other scandals? What common thread has linked every major scandal of the western world in the late 20th and early 21st centuries?

They’re are all about foreign money from Muslim sources being used to corrupt politicians and bureaucrats in the U.S., Europe, Latin America, and the UN. It’s as simple as that.

In the U.S., this money has bought politicians wholesale on both sides of the aisle. The corruption is so pervasive that it’s not even about partisan politics; it’s about the blindly selfish, and in fact treasonous, pursuit of power and wealth. The funding is not only coming from Muslim petrodollars, but also from Albanian crime syndicate money (from drug-running, arms-smuggling, slave-trading, and wholesale looting), Taliban opium money, diverted foreign aid, you name it.

What to do? Many people won’t want to hear the answer, but that isn’t my problem. I calls ‘em as I sees ‘em, and I don’t care whether anybody likes it or not.

We can’t afford to keep doing business with our enemies. Our enemies include every Islamist and every jihadist-sympathizer on the planet, and every government that openly or covertly promotes jihadism. Yes, that adds up to an awful lot of people. Our foes have already chosen that path. Our failure to acknowledge it will not make them go away. They see it as a war of extermination against us, and we have no choice but to defeat them.

What does “not doing business with the enemy” mean in practice?

This means we have to bite the bullet and achieve complete energy independence as soon as possible, and by every means available.

This means building clean-coal and nuclear power plants, wind farms, synfuel facilities, you name it. We need to stop putting roadblocks in the way of everyone who is trying to help achieve energy independence. For example, when a reputable electric power company wants to build a new clean-coal plant or a nuke plant, making use of resources that the U.S. has in abundance, the authorities should let them proceed as soon as a good plan is in place. And we should go ahead and drill for oil in uninhabitable wilderness regions.

This means we must finally debunk all of this propaganda that blames us - and our desire to maintain a standard of living compatible with civilized life - for “global warming.” Is Mars also warming up because we’ve been driving too many SUVs on the red planet? Claiming that there is a “scientific consensus” on behalf of one’s political agenda does not mean that there actually is one! The people who started up this propaganda evidently hate people in general, and modern civilization in particular. More to the point, their political manipulations play into the hands of our foreign enemies. The only way to deal with them is to refute them once and for all, and then never listen to any of them ever again.

This means we stop making alliances with, and stop giving aid to, any Muslim nation, entity, or faction. It means we never again use U.S. military power to fight a war on behalf of Muslims under any circumstances whatsoever - no matter how much they flood the airwaves with fauxtography and stage elaborate hoaxes to play themselves up as the victims of whomever they want the U.S. to punish - and no matter how much they are paying our politicians under the table.

This means that we must stop educating and hiring aliens, including de facto enemy aliens, in preference to our own citizens. That would be an inexcusable outrage during peacetime, and it’s criminally insane when we are at war. It’s time to stop bringing in any foreign nationals from predominantly Muslim countries or regions, particularly in the fields of engineering and IT. It’s time to drastically scale back the student visa program, and to eliminate the thoroughly corrupt H-1b program entirely. We’ve been shutting out loyal, qualified, experienced, and hard-working Americans from jobs, and turning over large portions of America’s technical infrastructure to foreign nationals whose loyalty is clearly elsewhere.

None of these things are impossible, or even all that difficult, to do. It’s all a matter of growing up, facing facts, and seeing the world and its inhabitants as they are, not as we wish they would be. If we refuse to face facts, that will not stop the facts from facing us.

Rolling updates on the Ahtisaari bribery allegations:

  • The original post on Byzantine Sacred Art blog that brought this matter to my attention
    (posted in original article 6/25/07):
    BND: White Slaves and Millions of Heroin Dollars for Ahtisaari’s Plan
  • Article in Serbian-language paper “Fokus”, Banja Luka, Republika Srpska, Bosnia
    (posted in original article 6/25/07):
    Albanska mafija kupila Ahtisarija
  • Blog S@LE picked up this article (added 6/28/07):
    It’s good to be Marrti Ahtisaari
  • Byzantine Sacred Art blog post about Ahtisaari’s previous racist remarks against Serbs
    (added 6/28/07):
    Serbian Jerusalem; a Ticket to Butt Clubs
  • Article in Berlin Online providing some background on the Albanian crime syndicate
    (added 6/28/07):
    Von der Mafia beherrscht
  • Crossfire War - UN Envoy Ahtisaari Accused of Taking Bribes
    (added 6/28/07):
    Crossfire War - UN Envoy Ahtisaari Accused of Taking Bribes

    Editor’s Note:

    Since publication of the Focus report and this opinon based on that report, new information suggests that the intelligence report the Bosnian Serb news agency Focus claims was filed at the UN apparently was never received by the UN.

    Since the alleged report is the only piece of evidence provided in support of the claims by Focus, the claims in the Focus story - and the opinion below based on that, may be false. Please check back later for an update.

    1389’s comment (added 6/28/07):

    I remain convinced that there is an extremely high probability that this story is true. To begin with, the story comports with everything that has been going on in Kosovo since 1999. Moreover, the UN has an interest in attempting to bury an embarrassing story by having some unnamed individual claim that the UN never received such a document.

    To the best of my knowledge, there have been no denials of culpability or involvement on the part of Ahtisaari, the Albanians, or anyone else. Nor has there been any official denial issued by any named individual or department at the UN.

    I must point out that the failure to deny wrongdoing is tantamount to an admission of culpability. As someone who has neither accepted nor offered bribes, if some newspaper had accused me of such a thing, not only would I have denied it loudly and without delay, but I would have immediately contacted an attorney to talk about filing a suit for defamation.

  • Centre for Peace in the Balkans (added 6/28/07):
    Serbia’s Dulic calls for inquiry in Ahtisaari bribe allegations

    Neither the UN nor Mr Ahtisaari, a former Finnish president, has commented on the allegations.

Newest updates on the Ahtisaari bribery allegations:

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The Battle Against E-Jihadis: Why we need to know what we’re up against!

This piece of good news:

Bad Day to Be an eJihadi/Cyber Terrorist

came in from The Jawa Report, not long after I had posted some remarks about an e-jihadist “hacker’s kit” that had been making the rounds of the Internet. Evidently, two sites that had been hosting this malware kit are gone.

Keep in mind, though, that the perps will try to come back as soon as they find another venue. All of us - bloggers and other private individuals, Internet service providers, anti-malware companies, other corporations, non-profit organizations, as well as law enforcement, the military, and other governmental bodies - will have to be a lot more vigilant in the future about tracking and combating attacks from this quarter.

You might be astounded to learn just how much a lone blogger can accomplish. The Cyber Jihad is Real shows us how a lone blogger with no prior experience put the kibosh on several significant threats. Knowledge of Arabic or other foreign languages is not necessarily a requirement, though it is helpful. This article links to several other resources, including:

Now go and read:

Sunni Insurgents in Iraq Guilty of Cyber Jihad.

You may already know that Sunni insurgents are posting jihadist videos on the Internet showing U.S. troops being killed. It doesn’t take long before al Qaeda’s mouthpiece al-Jazeera picks up those videos and uses them to incite further mayhem. Foehammer makes a good case that the Bush Administration’s attempts to keep the American public from seeing these images actually plays into the hands of our enemies.

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