Oligodontus outrage II...

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[Edited:'dead' image removed] RBS chief Stephen Hester's decision not to take a bonus had become inevitable but "This sorry RBS saga isn’t over yet" [City A.M.]. Order-order highlights the obvious immediate result (click on image) with £320m wiped off RBS's value: "With mob mentality over-ruling contracts, there are obvious jitters around the banks this morning." Guido reiterates what I hinted at yesterday, "[despite] the glaring hypocrisy of sitting in the cabinet that drew up Hester’s contract, this is a short-term political win for Miliband". More amusingly we have: PM "moves to avert resignations at RBS over bonus restrictions" ...[link] (hehehe).

Oligodontus outrage II...

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[Edited:'dead' image removed] RBS chief Stephen Hester's decision not to take a bonus had become inevitable but "This sorry RBS saga isn’t over yet" [City A.M.]. Order-order highlights the obvious immediate result (click on image) with £320m wiped off RBS's value: "With mob mentality over-ruling contracts, there are obvious jitters around the banks this morning." Guido reiterates what I hinted at yesterday, "[despite] the glaring hypocrisy of sitting in the cabinet that drew up Hester’s contract, this is a short-term political win for Miliband". More amusingly we have: PM "moves to avert resignations at RBS over bonus restrictions" ...[link] (hehehe).

Oligodontus outrage II...

---

RBS chief Stephen Hester's decision not to take a bonus had become inevitable but "This sorry RBS saga isn’t over yet" [City A.M.]. Order-order highlights the obvious immediate result (click on image) with £320m wiped off RBS's value: "With mob mentality over-ruling contracts, there are obvious jitters around the banks this morning." Guido reiterates what I hinted at yesterday, "[despite] the glaring hypocrisy of sitting in the cabinet that drew up Hester’s contract, this is a short-term political win for Miliband". More amusingly we have: PM "moves to avert resignations at RBS over bonus restrictions" ...[link] (hehehe).

Oligodontus outrage...

---

Banker bashing season is in full swing with even normally business friendly media hitting out to some extent. And for good reason? Possibly, along with many who were once 100% behind high incentive packages for high performance. When one considers that with RBS (the one in the spotlight right now because it is essentially taxpayer owned), the balance sheet is about 1.4 trillion quid, i.e. the same amount as generated annually by UK plc; AND look also at the multi billion losses they make AND look at the multi million salaries that the bosses receive without even taking into account the long-term** share incentives (figures that are now headlines in every newspaper). Needless to say it was Crash Gordon (enthusiastically backed by Ed Miliband anyone?) who sorted these contracts BUT it is Cameron who must now sort it now and he knows it isn't going to go away (the next few months hold many more such news stories). However, the usual problems arise: if the state wants to pay bankers a "normal" salary then they would just go and get another job wouldn't they? To pay them less they would have to put in strict contracts and probably nationalise all the banks, wouldn't they? And then, or pretty soon, all the banking talent would leave for foreign owned banks.  The Independent puts the one side - what is happening, people's frustration and anger, politicians dilemma etc. - all rather well but the toothless outrage doesn't explain how to get out of the mire: that is the pile of do-dos that Cameron has to deal with [edited midday].



** Bonuses in shares are not due to be paid until 2014 - surely best to wait?

Oligodontus outrage...

---

Banker bashing season is in full swing with even normally business friendly media hitting out to some extent. And for good reason? Possibly, along with many who were once 100% behind high incentive packages for high performance. When one considers that with RBS (the one in the spotlight right now because it is essentially taxpayer owned), the balance sheet is about 1.4 trillion quid, i.e. the same amount as generated annually by UK plc; AND look also at the multi billion losses they make AND look at the multi million salaries that the bosses receive without even taking into account the long-term** share incentives (figures that are now headlines in every newspaper). Needless to say it was Crash Gordon (enthusiastically backed by Ed Miliband anyone?) who sorted these contracts BUT it is Cameron who must now sort it now and he knows it isn't going to go away (the next few months hold many more such news stories). However, the usual problems arise: if the state wants to pay bankers a "normal" salary then they would just go and get another job wouldn't they? To pay them less they would have to put in strict contracts and probably nationalise all the banks, wouldn't they? And then, or pretty soon, all the banking talent would leave for foreign owned banks.  The Independent puts the one side - what is happening, people's frustration and anger, politicians dilemma etc. - all rather well but the toothless outrage doesn't explain how to get out of the mire: that is the pile of do-dos that Cameron has to deal with [edited midday].

** Bonuses in shares are not due to be paid until 2014 - surely best to wait?

Obama's obstipation...

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President Obama said there would be "no bailouts, no handouts, no cop-outs" [link]...a sound-bite if ever there was one; who writes this shit? No bail-outs except those already undertaken and ongoing, no handouts except those already undertaken and ongoing and no cop-outs except those he manages almost daily. A SoU address not worth a sou.

Obama's obstipation...

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President Obama said there would be "no bailouts, no handouts, no cop-outs" [link]...a sound-bite if ever there was one; who writes this shit? No bail-outs except those already undertaken and ongoing, no handouts except those already undertaken and ongoing and no cop-outs except those he manages almost daily. A SoU address not worth a sou.

Oval Office obambulation...

---

OK, I know it's Fox News so will be immediately written off (by some) but this is funny: Reince Priebus tells us that "Trying desperately to save his job, Barack Obama has given up on actually doing his job"...hehehe.

"On the economy, jobs, health care, energy, the deficit, the debt, housing, lobbyists, ethics, and energy policy -- all of these issues -- the president has broken his promises to the American people. It all makes for a very unflattering before-and-after."

Oval Office obambulation...

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OK, I know it's Fox News so will be immediately written off (by some) but this is funny: Reince Priebus tells us that "Trying desperately to save his job, Barack Obama has given up on actually doing his job"...hehehe.

"On the economy, jobs, health care, energy, the deficit, the debt, housing, lobbyists, ethics, and energy policy -- all of these issues -- the president has broken his promises to the American people. It all makes for a very unflattering before-and-after."

Oriental opening...

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The Nine Dragons

Enter the Dragon [Link]. Had a busy weekend: one fortieth birthday party, also my ex's birthday party (yes, yes of course I was invited), my son passing out as a Royal Marine Commando and a Chinese New Year party yesterday afternoon; of course the previous Golden Dragon was in 2000; I suspect the 2012 one may prove more potent and auspicious (the word 'auspicious' is from the Latin auspex, which literally means "bird seer", let's hope they're not vultures...or real dragons!); one common aspect in the belief in dragons is that they are thought to control water and particularly moving water (waterfalls, rivers, seas...rainfall, hurricanes and floods). Click on the image to view the 13th century hand-scroll by Chen Rong in full.

Oriental opening...

---

The Nine Dragons

Enter the Dragon [Link]. Had a busy weekend: one fortieth birthday party, also my ex's birthday party (yes, yes of course I was invited), my son passing out as a Royal Marine Commando and a Chinese New Year party yesterday afternoon; of course the previous Golden Dragon was in 2000; I suspect the 2012 one may prove more potent and auspicious (the word 'auspicious' is from the Latin auspex, which literally means "bird seer", let's hope they're not vultures...or real dragons!); one common aspect in the belief in dragons is that they are thought to control water and particularly moving water (waterfalls, rivers, seas...rainfall, hurricanes and floods). Click on the image to view the 13th century hand-scroll by Chen Rong in full.

Online outrage?...

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"Anonymous, which briefly knocked the FBI and Justice Department websites offline in retaliation for the US shutdown of file-sharing site Megaupload, is a shadowy group of international hackers with no central hierarchy...[link]  The temporary disabling of the US government websites is the latest exploit by the loose-knit hacker activists, or "hacktivists," who have taken credit for scores of online attacks over the past few years." OK...but isn't this just the sort of thing to give the powers-that-be the excuse they are looking for to push through SOPA, or more (I know they have backed off for now)? And speaking of which, isn't a digital nine-eleven just around the next corner? [edited 210112, 7a.m.]

Online outrage?...

---

"Anonymous, which briefly knocked the FBI and Justice Department websites offline in retaliation for the US shutdown of file-sharing site Megaupload, is a shadowy group of international hackers with no central hierarchy...[link]  The temporary disabling of the US government websites is the latest exploit by the loose-knit hacker activists, or "hacktivists," who have taken credit for scores of online attacks over the past few years." OK...but isn't this just the sort of thing to give the powers-that-be the excuse they are looking for to push through SOPA, or more (I know they have backed off for now)? And speaking of which, isn't a digital nine-eleven just around the next corner? [edited 210112, 7a.m.]

Oakeshottian Oborne...

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Peter Oborne in today's Telegraph has an interesting piece about artist David Hockney and what his 'return tells us about the new mood in Britain' [Link]. The point being made is that Hockney is a [small c] conservative painter whose landscapes will be on public display at the Royal Academy from 21.1.12.; obviously it is nothing to do with which party Hockney votes for - Oborne continues - the Oakeshottian theme reflected in Hockney's landscapes is that of the great philosopher Michael Oakeshott wrote that "to be conservative… is to prefer the familiar to the unknown, to prefer the tried to the untried, fact to mystery, the actual to the possible, the limited to the unbounded, the near to the distant, the sufficient to the superabundant, the convenient to the perfect, present laughter to utopian bliss"; some semblance of truth in what Oborne says because Hockney himself said "Anything simple always interests me." Click on image for more.



Image: David Hockney, Rubber Ring Floating in a Swimming Pool, 1971, acrylic on canvas, 37 x 49 in. [94 x 124.5 cm.] Private collection. 

Oakeshottian Oborne...

---

Peter Oborne in today's Telegraph has an interesting piece about artist David Hockney and what his 'return tells us about the new mood in Britain' [Link]. The point being made is that Hockney is a [small c] conservative painter whose landscapes will be on public display at the Royal Academy from 21.1.12.; obviously it is nothing to do with which party Hockney votes for - Oborne continues - the Oakeshottian theme reflected in Hockney's landscapes is that of the great philosopher Michael Oakeshott wrote that "to be conservative… is to prefer the familiar to the unknown, to prefer the tried to the untried, fact to mystery, the actual to the possible, the limited to the unbounded, the near to the distant, the sufficient to the superabundant, the convenient to the perfect, present laughter to utopian bliss"; some semblance of truth in what Oborne says because Hockney himself said "Anything simple always interests me." Click on image for more.

Image: David Hockney, Rubber Ring Floating in a Swimming Pool, 1971, acrylic on canvas, 37 x 49 in. [94 x 124.5 cm.] Private collection. 

Occupy ousted...

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Or hopefully they will be. The general shambles of brainless and jobless otherwise known as Occupy London will soon - subject to any appeal - have to remove their tents and rubbish; this could be voluntarily..."The City of London Corporation has won its High Court bid to evict protesters from outside St Paul's Cathedral." The policy chairman of CoL, Stuart Fraser, said: "Lawful protests are a regular part of City life but tents, equipment and increasingly, quite a lot of mess and nuisance, is not what a highway is for and the public generally is losing out"...something lost on the smellies. Giles Fraser (presumably no relation to Stuart!), the canon of St. Paul's whom you may recall resigned and has been omnipresent on the BBC these last few months - was in the public gallery for the judgement; he has assumed new levels of twatishness by saying "You can't evict an idea", well no, we just want the idea-less idiots and their tents and their piles of poo evicted.

Occupy ousted...

---

Or hopefully they will be. The general shambles of brainless and jobless otherwise known as Occupy London will soon - subject to any appeal - have to remove their tents and rubbish; this could be voluntarily..."The City of London Corporation has won its High Court bid to evict protesters from outside St Paul's Cathedral." The policy chairman of CoL, Stuart Fraser, said: "Lawful protests are a regular part of City life but tents, equipment and increasingly, quite a lot of mess and nuisance, is not what a highway is for and the public generally is losing out"...something lost on the smellies. Giles Fraser (presumably no relation to Stuart!), the canon of St. Paul's whom you may recall resigned and has been omnipresent on the BBC these last few months - was in the public gallery for the judgement; he has assumed new levels of twatishness by saying "You can't evict an idea", well no, we just want the idea-less idiots and their tents and their piles of poo evicted.

Outrage over Omar Othman...

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Or to give him his full name, Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman a.k.a. Abu Qatada. "I wonder if a single person outside of the legal profession agrees that this is fair" writes Ed West in the DT. He is referring to the landmark judgement by the European Court of Human Rights whereby the UK has been told that clear-as-daylight terrorist associate and financier and 'Osama bin Laden’s right hand man in Europe' Abu Qatada cannot be deported to Jordan because he would not receive a fair trial. FFS! They're not even saying he will be tortured but that evidence possibly gained by torture may be used against him! Send him back and let them put him on trial, that would be fair. From that first link:

"Qatada has no rights upon Britain anymore than I have rights upon Jordan, and by granting him such the judges are not just undermining justice but the very sovereignty on which justice and human rights are built."

Outrage over Omar Othman...

---

Or to give him his full name, Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman a.k.a. Abu Qatada. "I wonder if a single person outside of the legal profession agrees that this is fair" writes Ed West in the DT. He is referring to the landmark judgement by the European Court of Human Rights whereby the UK has been told that clear-as-daylight terrorist associate and financier and 'Osama bin Laden’s right hand man in Europe' Abu Qatada cannot be deported to Jordan because he would not receive a fair trial. FFS! They're not even saying he will be tortured but that evidence possibly gained by torture may be used against him! Send him back and let them put him on trial, that would be fair. From that first link:

"Qatada has no rights upon Britain anymore than I have rights upon Jordan, and by granting him such the judges are not just undermining justice but the very sovereignty on which justice and human rights are built."

Obsessing over Obama...

---

There's no other word for it: obsessing over Obama. Over at the Daily Beast they have the Newsweek magazine article from Andrew Sullivan who waxes lyrical about Obama's 'Long Game' and how POTUS will outsmart all his critics. Sullivan describes himself as a conservative-minded independent and honest enough to admit being an unabashed supporter of Obama for the last 5 years; re Obama: "The right calls him a socialist, the left says he sucks up to Wall Street, and independents think he's a wimp". It's actually a very well written and well presented article and Sullivan goes through the critiques one at a time explaining how he thinks 'the president may just end up outsmarting them all' and how 'he practices a show-don’t-tell, long-game form of domestic politics. What matters to him is what he can get done, not what he can immediately take credit for.' This last bit is incredible - and I suspect Sullivan wishes this were true - especially as the article is laying the credit on thick for things where Obama was almost just a bystander. I truly believe the exact opposite is true: I think the appearance of indecisive dithering isn't a ploy as he plays the long game, but is in fact dithering indecisiveness.

Obsessing over Obama...

---

There's no other word for it: obsessing over Obama. Over at the Daily Beast they have the Newsweek magazine article from Andrew Sullivan who waxes lyrical about Obama's 'Long Game' and how POTUS will outsmart all his critics. Sullivan describes himself as a conservative-minded independent and honest enough to admit being an unabashed supporter of Obama for the last 5 years; re Obama: "The right calls him a socialist, the left says he sucks up to Wall Street, and independents think he's a wimp". It's actually a very well written and well presented article and Sullivan goes through the critiques one at a time explaining how he thinks 'the president may just end up outsmarting them all' and how 'he practices a show-don’t-tell, long-game form of domestic politics. What matters to him is what he can get done, not what he can immediately take credit for.' This last bit is incredible - and I suspect Sullivan wishes this were true - especially as the article is laying the credit on thick for things where Obama was almost just a bystander. I truly believe the exact opposite is true: I think the appearance of indecisive dithering isn't a ploy as he plays the long game, but is in fact dithering indecisiveness.

Officer overboard...

---

Women and children first...after me that is: Captain Francesco Schettino (pronounced "isgettingoff?) certainly won't have impressed the beautiful lady he was drinking with for much of Friday night. The Captain of the capsized Costa Concordia cruise ship [quickly becoming notorious] is now known to have abandoned the ship before most of the passengers and crew. What a complete c#nt. Click on image (copyright AP) to enlarge.

Officer overboard...

---

Women and children first...after me that is: Captain Francesco Schettino (pronounced "isgettingoff?) certainly won't have impressed the beautiful lady he was drinking with for much of Friday night. The Captain of the capsized Costa Concordia cruise ship [quickly becoming notorious] is now known to have abandoned the ship before most of the passengers and crew. What a complete c#nt. Click on image (copyright AP) to enlarge.

Ominous overtones IV**...

---

EU and UK version (** I have previously posted on Venezuela, Iran and others using this blog title)

'Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power' – Benito Mussolini

"Will Italy lead the way once more, as politicians in Europe and the US watch to see what oppressive policies they may get away with?" wrote IanPJ last week, writing about 'draconian' financial measures in Italy, "including making cash transactions of more than Euro 1,000 illegal (not subject to reporting – just plain illegal").



OK, that was bad enough but he has followed up with an astounding article today with info which - I am pretty sure - 99.99% of the population didn't know: "that Police already have the power in the UK to seize amounts in excess of £1000, using the slightest of suspicions as an excuse, for which you have to prove whose money it is, what it is for and where it came from." Ok, a thousand quid is a lot of cash you say, but under this legislation 'cash' refers to: all and any currency, Postal Orders, cheques of any kind, Bankers Drafts, Bearer Bonds etc, in other words, anything.

Ominous overtones IV**...

---

EU and UK version (** I have previously posted on Venezuela, Iran and others using this blog title)

'Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power' – Benito Mussolini

"Will Italy lead the way once more, as politicians in Europe and the US watch to see what oppressive policies they may get away with?" wrote IanPJ last week, writing about 'draconian' financial measures in Italy, "including making cash transactions of more than Euro 1,000 illegal (not subject to reporting – just plain illegal").

OK, that was bad enough but he has followed up with an astounding article today with info which - I am pretty sure - 99.99% of the population didn't know: "that Police already have the power in the UK to seize amounts in excess of £1000, using the slightest of suspicions as an excuse, for which you have to prove whose money it is, what it is for and where it came from." Ok, a thousand quid is a lot of cash you say, but under this legislation 'cash' refers to: all and any currency, Postal Orders, cheques of any kind, Bankers Drafts, Bearer Bonds etc, in other words, anything.

Overdoing osculation...

---

You'll understand the blog title to refer to kissing too much, however, I mean the Kiss of Death: originally this meant betrayal but we now use it for any ruinous association. Today's kiss of death is from former Labour leader Lord Kinnock; yes, the very same Neil ginger-nut 'absolutely certain that Gordon is the best man to take use through the recession' Welsh windbag and nepotistic euro multi-millionaire himself (whom, IMHO deserves credit for only one thing - standing up to the loony left) . He has come out in violent defence of Ed Miliband; I say violent because he goes on about fratricide and says "In politics, division carries the death penalty and they must learn that because, in the end, it's their own chests they will stab as well as the back of the leader of the party". He also says that EM is highly intelligent and that he is courageous (and that 'his intellectual strength is one of his greatest accomplishments').



Well I for one am looking forward to Ed showing any of these characteristics.

Overdoing osculation...

---

You'll understand the blog title to refer to kissing too much, however, I mean the Kiss of Death: originally this meant betrayal but we now use it for any ruinous association. Today's kiss of death is from former Labour leader Lord Kinnock; yes, the very same Neil ginger-nut 'absolutely certain that Gordon is the best man to take use through the recession' Welsh windbag and nepotistic euro multi-millionaire himself (whom, IMHO deserves credit for only one thing - standing up to the loony left) . He has come out in violent defence of Ed Miliband; I say violent because he goes on about fratricide and says "In politics, division carries the death penalty and they must learn that because, in the end, it's their own chests they will stab as well as the back of the leader of the party". He also says that EM is highly intelligent and that he is courageous (and that 'his intellectual strength is one of his greatest accomplishments').

Well I for one am looking forward to Ed showing any of these characteristics.

Osborne option...

---

He puts a brave face on it but essentially Balls has changed his tune: he may try to disguise what he is saying with comments about GO's plan failing and DC's vacuousness but it is still quite an admission: "My starting point is, I am afraid, we are going to have keep all these cuts."..."It is now inevitable that public sector pay restraint will have to continue through this parliament..."I know there will be some people in the trade union movement and the Labour party who will think, of course, Labour has got to oppose that pay restraint in 2014 and 2015. That's something we cannot do, should not do and will not do".



Ed Balls: "Labour cannot duck reality".

Osborne option...

---

He puts a brave face on it but essentially Balls has changed his tune: he may try to disguise what he is saying with comments about GO's plan failing and DC's vacuousness but it is still quite an admission: "My starting point is, I am afraid, we are going to have keep all these cuts."..."It is now inevitable that public sector pay restraint will have to continue through this parliament..."I know there will be some people in the trade union movement and the Labour party who will think, of course, Labour has got to oppose that pay restraint in 2014 and 2015. That's something we cannot do, should not do and will not do".

Ed Balls: "Labour cannot duck reality".

Order ordure...

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Order-order highlight ordure: where have they built the stocks/pillory/pranger/scaffold/lamp-post for this pile of brownstuff?

Order ordure...

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Order-order highlight ordure: where have they built the stocks/pillory/pranger/scaffold/lamp-post for this pile of brownstuff?

Oxo obdormition...

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[Edited:'dead' image removed] Oh dear, Ed isn't the first party leader to have numerous relaunches but he must be getting very fed up with being mistaken for his brother (click on image, via James Dwyer of Politics Home: BBC get the wrong Miliband and Ed is nearly an hour late!). This time, from the Oxo Tower, he tells us [Labour was] "going to do it very different from the past""...no comment.

Oxo obdormition...

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[Edited:'dead' image removed] Oh dear, Ed isn't the first party leader to have numerous relaunches but he must be getting very fed up with being mistaken for his brother (click on image, via James Dwyer of Politics Home: BBC get the wrong Miliband and Ed is nearly an hour late!). This time, from the Oxo Tower, he tells us [Labour was] "going to do it very different from the past""...no comment.

Oxo obdormition...

---

Oh dear, Ed isn't the first party leader to have numerous relaunches but he must be getting very fed up with being mistaken for his brother (click on image, via James Dwyer of Politics Home: BBC get the wrong Miliband and Ed is nearly an hour late!). This time, from the Oxo Tower, he tells us [Labour was] "going to do it very different from the past""...no comment.

Other options offensively...

---

[Edited:'dead' image removed] Seventh touch, seventh heaven; a surreal, sensational "supporter's" goal: it may sound stupid but I had tears in my eyes after that goal and the reaction of TH12 once 14, AW and the crowd...including the Leeds fans, credit to them. "Thierry is a special player and what is good for the young players at the club is that a guy who has done it all comes and prepares 100 per cent, warms up, is focused and motivated, and comes on with an immense desire to do well... He was already a legend here and now he has added a bit more to the story. It was a very happy dressing room afterwards because the players were very happy when he decided to come back. He gives us other options offensively as well... As for Thierry's goal, it was a little bit like a dream. It's the kind of football story you tell to children because our game is not often like that. But sometimes it happens and it happened for Thierry." (From Arsenal's 'Manager's email' newsletter.)

Other options offensively...

---

[Edited:'dead' image removed] Seventh touch, seventh heaven; a surreal, sensational "supporter's" goal: it may sound stupid but I had tears in my eyes after that goal and the reaction of TH12 once 14, AW and the crowd...including the Leeds fans, credit to them. "Thierry is a special player and what is good for the young players at the club is that a guy who has done it all comes and prepares 100 per cent, warms up, is focused and motivated, and comes on with an immense desire to do well... He was already a legend here and now he has added a bit more to the story. It was a very happy dressing room afterwards because the players were very happy when he decided to come back. He gives us other options offensively as well... As for Thierry's goal, it was a little bit like a dream. It's the kind of football story you tell to children because our game is not often like that. But sometimes it happens and it happened for Thierry." (From Arsenal's 'Manager's email' newsletter.)

Other options offensively...

---

Seventh touch, seventh heaven; a surreal, sensational "supporter's" goal: it may sound stupid but I had tears in my eyes after that goal and the reaction of TH12 once 14, AW and the crowd...including the Leeds fans, credit to them. "Thierry is a special player and what is good for the young players at the club is that a guy who has done it all comes and prepares 100 per cent, warms up, is focused and motivated, and comes on with an immense desire to do well... He was already a legend here and now he has added a bit more to the story. It was a very happy dressing room afterwards because the players were very happy when he decided to come back. He gives us other options offensively as well... As for Thierry's goal, it was a little bit like a dream. It's the kind of football story you tell to children because our game is not often like that. But sometimes it happens and it happened for Thierry." (From Arsenal's 'Manager's email' newsletter.)

Ousted official...

---

It seems the Venezuelan consulate general in Miami has been declared persona non grata and asked to leave the USA. Not many details [Spanish, English] yet but one of the first to react was ex under-secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roger Noriega, who tweeted that Livia Acosta Noguera was a 'chavista terrorist spy', not mincing his words! It's reported that the expulsion is possibly connected to a report that was broadcast at the end of 2011 claiming that Venezuelan (inc Livia) and Iranian diplomats had expressed interest in getting a group of Mexican hackers to infiltrate the White House, FBI and Pentagon websites and U.S. nuclear plants...and guess who is arriving in Caracas as I write this. The Ecuadorian daily La Republica (Ecuador, another stop, along with Nicaragua and Cuba on Ahmadinejad's tour) make no bones about the connection - click on image - with the headline: U.S. expels Venezuelan consul for relations with Iran.



Maybe Obama withdrawing the U.S. troops from Iraq wasn't an election ploy after all!

Ousted official...

---

It seems the Venezuelan consulate general in Miami has been declared persona non grata and asked to leave the USA. Not many details [Spanish, English] yet but one of the first to react was ex under-secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roger Noriega, who tweeted that Livia Acosta Noguera was a 'chavista terrorist spy', not mincing his words! It's reported that the expulsion is possibly connected to a report that was broadcast at the end of 2011 claiming that Venezuelan (inc Livia) and Iranian diplomats had expressed interest in getting a group of Mexican hackers to infiltrate the White House, FBI and Pentagon websites and U.S. nuclear plants...and guess who is arriving in Caracas as I write this. The Ecuadorian daily La Republica (Ecuador, another stop, along with Nicaragua and Cuba on Ahmadinejad's tour) make no bones about the connection - click on image - with the headline: U.S. expels Venezuelan consul for relations with Iran.

Maybe Obama withdrawing the U.S. troops from Iraq wasn't an election ploy after all!