Dave - 11-21-2008 at 10:20 AM
Mexican former drug czar took cartel money
The Associated Press
7:32 a.m. November 21, 2008
MEXICO CITY — Officials say Mexico's former drug czar took $450,000 to leak information to a powerful cartel.
Noe Ramirez is the highest law enforcement official detained yet as part of Mexico's sweeping effort to weeding out authorities who allegedly shared
police information with violent drug smugglers.
Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora told reporters Friday that Ramirez accepted $450,000 from drug traffickers, and that cartel leaders offered to
pay him monthly for alerting them to planned police operations.
Ramirez was named to the post in 2006 when Calderon took office. He resigned in a department shakeup in July.
With his detention, five top officials and two federal agents have been detained so far this year for alleged drug ties.
flyfishinPam - 11-21-2008 at 11:07 AM
WOW the government and the narcos working together who wouldda thought? 
vandenberg - 11-21-2008 at 11:35 AM
Well, Senator Stevens (Alaska) had his little cottage retreat refurbished into a multimillion retreat without any visible means of repayment for
services rendered. Alaskans did this out of the goodness of their hearts.
Tried, convicted, but the all knowing Alaskan electorate nearly managed to reelect the scoundrel.
Just for comparison.
There is NO comparison
Dave - 11-21-2008 at 11:50 AM
Senator Stevens accepted money from a contractor not a cartel. The Cartels are destroying a Country.
vandenberg - 11-21-2008 at 11:58 AM
A crook is a crook is a crook is a crook, no matter how you put it. And we have a country and government full of them.
Look at the fix we're in. Talk about destroying a country.
abreojos - 11-21-2008 at 07:28 PM
No kidding wake up!
Report: U.S. Dominance and Influence Predicted to Fade
Alarming government report predicts environmental catastrophe, threat of nuclear war and the decline of America as the dominant global power by 2025.
Friday, November 21, 2008
The next two decades will see a world living with the daily threat of nuclear war, environmental catastrophe and the decline of America as the
dominant global power, according to a frighteningly bleak assessment by the U.S. intelligence community.
"The world of the near future will be subject to an increased likelihood of conflict over resources, including food and water, and will be haunted by
the persistence of rogue states and terrorist groups with greater access to nuclear weapons," said the report by the National Intelligence Council.
The analysts said that the report had been prepared in time for Barack Obama's entry into the Oval office on January 20, where he will be faced with
some of the greatest challenges of any newly-elected president.
"The likelihood that nuclear weapons will be used will increase with expanded access to technology and a widening range of options for limited
strikes," the 121-page assessment said.
Click here to read the report in full
The analysts draw attention to an already escalating nuclear arms race in the Middle East and anticipate that a growing number of rogue states will be
prepared to share their destructive technology with terror groups.
"Over the next 15-20 years reactions to the decisions Iran makes about its nuclear program could cause a number of regional states to intensify these
efforts and consider actively pursuing nuclear weapons," the report Global Trends 2025 said. "This will add a new and more dangerous dimension to what
is likely to be increasing competition for influence within the region," it said.
The spread of nuclear capabilities will raise questions about the ability of weak states to safeguard them, it added. "If the number of
nuclear-capable states increases, so will the number of countries potentially willing to provide nuclear assistance to other countries or to
terrorists."
The report, a year in the making, said that global warming will aggravate the scarcity of water, food and energy resources. Citing a British study, it
said that climate change could force up to 200 million people to migrate to more temperate zones. "Widening gaps in birth rates and wealth-to-poverty
ratios, and the impact of climate change, could further exacerbate tensions," it said.
The report says the warming earth will extend Russia and Canada's growing season and ease their access to northern oil fields, strengthening their
economies. But Russia's potential emergence as a world power may be clouded by lagging investment in its energy sector, persistent crime and
government corruption, the report says.
"The international system will be almost unrecognizable by 2025, owing to the rise of emerging powers, a globalizing economy, a transfer of wealth
from West to East, and the growing influence of non-state actors. Although the United States is likely to remain the single most powerful actor, the
United States' relative strength -- even in the military realm -- will decline and US leverage will become more strained."
Global power will be multipolar with the rise of India and China, and the Korean peninsula will be unified in some form. Turning to the current
financial situation, the analysts say that the financial crisis on Wall Street is the beginning of a global economic rebalancing.
The U.S. dollar's role as the major world currency will weaken to the point where it becomes a "first among equals."
"Strategic rivalries are most likely to revolve around trade, investments and technological innovation, but we cannot rule out a 19th-century-like
scenario of arms races, territorial expansion and military rivalries." The report, based on a global survey of experts and trends, was more
pessimistic about America's global status than previous outlooks prepared every four years. It said that outcomes will depend in part on the actions
of political leaders. "The next 20 years of transition to a new system are fraught with risks," it said.
The analysts also give warning that the kind of organized crime plaguing Russia could eventually take over the government of an Eastern or Central
European country, and that countries in Africa and South Asia may find themselves ungoverned, as states wither away under pressure from security
threats and diminishing resources..
The intelligence community expects that terrorism would survive until 2025, but in slightly different form, suggesting that Al Qaeda's "terrorist
wave" might be breaking up. "Al Qaeda's inability to attract broad-based support might cause it to decay sooner than people think," it said.
On a positive note it added that an alternative to oil might be in place by 2025.
http://www.dni.gov/nic/NIC_2025_project.html