This Thanksgiving morn I wake to sadness for there is nothing to be thankful for, unless of course you are a brutal dictator who has served US interests for the past 33 years. If that is the case, then you are just smiling and clapping cus it’s payday in America!

In Saudi Arabia, a Yemeni dictator, a true dictator who neolibralized his nation on behalf of the international bankers and speculators at the cost of the well-being of 90% of his people, signed an agreement with the United States and other neoliberalized countries to officially step down and leave his country in ruin and enduring civil war.

The deal that our secretary of state brokered with the brutal dictator (after we tried to keep him in power with cruise missile strikes, CIA death squads, and drone warfare) includes and undisclosed amount of cash (probably mounds of stock options) and promises that he will not be prosecuted for crimes against humanity.

Joy and Thanksgiving for a dictator

President Saleh was photographed smiling as he signed his deal and his joy was so overwhelming he actually clapped his hands together a few times in celebration. His family, after 3 decades of pocketing US cash and setting up government business deals with his family members, is one of the richest in the world.

Saleh, like many other dictator puppets of the past, will come to New York for “medical treatment” and probably remain to live here, safe from prosecution or extradition, a reward for having served the American way of globalist business for 33 years in Yemen.

“Seated beside Saudi King Abdullah in the Saudi capital Riyadh, Saleh signed the U.S.-backed deal hammered out by his country’s powerful Gulf Arab neighbors to transfer power within 30 days to his vice president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. That will be followed by early presidential elections within 90 days. He was dressed smartly in a dark business suit with a matching striped tie and handkerchief, and he smiled as he signed the deal, then clapped his hands a few times. He then spoke for a few minutes to members of the Saudi royal families and international diplomats… ” MSNBC

Undoubtedly, the Obama administration will try to turn this into some kind of success for their foreign policy agenda. They can’t gloat too much as that would involve exposing the heinous nature of President Saleh’s dictatorial rule in Yemen and the Hunt oil interests it supported.

But let’s all remember, back in Dec. of 2009, when Barack “peace prize” Obama had just gotten started with his “CHANGE” program, he authorized two US cruise missile strikes (cruise missiles armed with the indiscriminate killer Cluster Bombs (which have been banned by most civilized nations)) against the rebellion in Yemen in support of the dictator who is now leaving office. Those strikes killed 23 children and a number of other innocent people and that was just the beginning of a Barack Obama campaign of drones and other bombings in Yemen which has killed hundreds more.

In November of 2010, just a year ago, President Obama quietly sent CIA death squads into Yemen to help tamp down the uprising in the north. He called them “hunter killer” teams.

“Allowing the U.S. military’s Special Operations Command units to operate under the CIA would give the U.S. greater leeway to strike at militants even without the explicit blessing of the Yemeni government. In addition to streamlining the launching of strikes, it would provide deniability to the Yemeni government because the CIA operations would be covert. The White House is already considering adding armed CIA drones to the arsenal against militants in Yemen, mirroring the agency’s Pakistan campaign.” Wall Street Journal

In January of 2011 Hillary Clinton went to Yemen in secret (Yemen at that time was deep into a revolution which we were helping to put down) and met with the dictator Saleh to hand over some cash and to show him he was still President Obama’s boy in the region. All told, the Obama administration gave President Saleh 300 million dollars in 2010, up from 17 million in 2008… I guess the increase is the cost of killing 23 kids in Yemen that the American people had to pay.

“Mrs. Clinton, the first secretary of state to visit Yemen since James A. Baker III in 1990, undertook a delicate balancing act. She gently prodded the country’s longtime autocratic president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to open up his political system while leaving no doubt that he remained a crucial partner in the fight against Islamic extremism. Arriving from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, under a cloak of secrecy, Mrs. Clinton spent barely seven hours in this ramshackle, beguiling capital. But she got a vivid impression of America’s tangled relationship with Yemen, to which it sent $130 million in nonmilitary aid in 2010, up from $17 million in 2008, an increase that brings it almost in line with 2010’s $170 million in military aid.” New York Times, Jan 2011

Other “regular visitors” to the dictator’s home in Yemen under the Obama administration were “: John O. Brennan, President Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, and Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the military’s central command”

After two years of killing civilians and protesters to keep our dictator in power in Yemen, in the end the will and the determination of the Yemeni people forced him out and so our “peace prize” winning president gives him a massive retirement package, invites him to live free in America, and will probably look to spin it up as some kind of “progressive” foreign policy success story for his upcoming marketing campaign for re-election.

Clinton made sure that the meeting to sign the agreement was just before Thanksgiving in order to bury the story as best as possible. Hate to damage the image of the Peace Prize President a year before the upcoming election.

President Saleh’s family is deeply entrenched in Yemeni politics and the military and they hold important and powerful seats such as the head of the secret police service and other intelligence positions. Saleh himself also sits on the boards of many big businesses in Yemen which he certainly will not give up. Even from New York, the dictator will still wield a great deal of control in Yemen.

In other news, Hillary Clinton has announced that the United States will not be able to live up to it’s responsibility and agreement to destroy out stockpile of chemical weapons by April 29th 2012 and so we will attempt to push that date back to somewhere around 2020 making us guilty of what we have accused Libya of doing, without the slightest bit of proof. We still hold thousands of warheads with both chemical and biological weapons in clear violation of any moral contract the United States ever had with civil society.

The US agreed to destroy its stockpile of aging chemical weapons – principally mustard agent and nerve agents – by 2007. The final destruction deadline was extended to April 29, 2012. And now it is seeking another extension, this time by 2022 Press TV

Meanwhile in Egypt, a revolution that was hijacked by Sec. Clinton and her globalist partners is again struggling to fight against the military junta that we helped put in power as an alternative to the real democracy the Egyptian protesters had fought and died for under the last days of our last puppet dictator, Mubarak. Chemical weapons are being used routinely against the people of Egypt… chemical weapons made and supplied by the United States of America.

“Tear gas! Rubber bullets! Nerve gas!” he cried out, displaying the spent metal canisters. “Where are they from, America?” people asked, already knowing the answer. “Yes, America,” the man replied furiously. The crowd murmured with unsurprised disdain. Like many gas canisters in Tahrir, one of his was marked with blue letters that read “Made in USA” and bore the name of the company that produced it: Combined Tactical Systems, in Jamestown, PA. Huffington Post

One of the greatest things about all these streaming services is that the old TV shows come back around. They’re not quite like we remember them from the old days.

Amazon Prime has picked up the old “Magnum, P.I.,” which ran on CBS from 1980-88. Starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a former Naval intelligence officer who served in Vietnam, the series follows his exploits as a private investigator in Hawaii, living gratis on the wealthy Robin Masters estate. While some of the charm has worn off “Magnum, P.I.’s” eight seasons, there are still many great lessons to be learned from that dashing P.I. driving a borrowed Ferrari through paradise.

An Ode to Dads and Tom Selleck in Shorts

“Magnum, P.I.” isn’t so much a guilty pleasure as an ode to Tom Selleck in shorts. The shorts are really a testament to how ’80s-fabulous this show is. Better than Don Johnson’s jacket and Bruce Willis’ dimples are Selleck’s super short shorts.

In fact, ’80s fashion for men was better all around than it is today. Short shorts are better than cargo shorts, tailored suits are better than Jimmy Fallon’s child-sized suits, and short-sleeved sweatshirts are perfectly acceptable if you have the arms for them. People joke about ’80s fashion and even hyperbolize it, with neon stripes and paint splatters (and yeah, I had that shirt), but the basic, mainstream lewks hardly pushed the sartorial envelope. Some things are better as they actually were, without the sheen of memory.

Magnum has that same mustache all we Gen Xers’ dads had when we were kids, which gives him a comfortable, familiar look — like this guy can put together a doll house and take down a ring of international jewel thieves, all before breakfast. And he’s got some good friends.

There’s Higgins (John Hillerman), Rick (Larry Manetti), and T.C. (Roger E. Mosley). Higgins is a veteran too, though of an earlier war, while Rick and T.C. were with Magnum in Vietnam. They rarely talk about the intricacies of the war, which is notable. Jokes and bits of connection, yes, but not so much the hard stuff. Back in the ’80s, the horrors of the war weren’t so far in the past that they had to be conjured up in dialogue to be present on screen.

1980s-Style Masculinity

The simple backstory that these guys were Vietnam vets was enough to give viewers deep and meaningful insight into the grief and turmoil in their hearts. There was a collective, public awareness of veterans’ experiences of the war, an understanding of both the facts of how the whole thing went down and the feelings that went along with it. That’s something we simply don’t have now, when nobody can agree on facts, and feelings are so subjective that only their bearer can understand them.

The guys keep their emotions bottled up inside, and while now and then the briefest facial expression denotes some past, buried trauma, they never let it out. They’re too manly for that — different from how a show would express past war grief today.

There are no hard feelings. They just suck it up, move on, and deal with the fact that they are damaged by looking cute, smiling at ladies, generally being stand-up guys, and having each other’s backs no matter what. The best kind of 1980s style is masculinity that not only looks good in shorts, but holds its emotions so close they turn into diamonds of kindness and compassion.

Magnum, the Man We All Need

“Magnum, P.I.” ran something like 20 hour-long episodes every season, and each one was stand-alone. That’s not the kind of thing you see anymore. On today’s TV shows, a plot builds and builds for an entire season, teases out the break, then leaves you hanging until the next season — or sometimes forever.

Every episode, Magnum and his friends come back fresh, relaxed, and ready to tackle a new mystery. Frankly, it’s a joy to find that nothing, no matter how bad or crazy, and no matter who gets shot or pushed from the top of a Honolulu skyscraper, the boys come back, right as rain, to face a new challenge in paradise.

No matter the challenge, Magnum can overcome it and be back to his Ferrari-driving ways in just a week’s time. Magnum narrates the story, talking about his intuition and gut feelings, and now and then he does us all a favor by looking out at the camera and gracing us with a knowing smile.

Most of the women who co-star on Magnum, a different one each episode and no regulars, show their good sense by not swooning for him. But no matter how accomplished and independent, the women come to trust Magnum. Maybe it’s the dimples, the short shorts, the mustache, or the unbuttoned Hawaiian shirts with hairy chests (which was in vogue back then) — or perhaps it’s Magnum’s hapless yet powerful demeanor. Whatever the reason, every episode, he maintains his standing as a gentleman.

He treats women as equals, and those he knows — journalists (one fiercely played by Tyne Daly), novelists, radio DJ’s, Jessica Fletcher (“Murder, She Wrote’s” Angela Lansbury) — are autonomous, self-sufficient, and capable. Yet they still appreciate a bit of chivalry — that most maligned, arcane concept where men acquiesce to women’s needs just for the fun of it.

Just as a childhood home once revisited seems smaller, these old shows from the ‘80s seem laden with preconceived notions that just don’t fit who we are culturally anymore. We don’t like big, strong men who look good in shorts trying to protect their friends and honor. We don’t like male friendships based in wartime bonding. We don’t like displays of affluence that don’t come with celebrity.

But there’s still plenty to love about “Magnum, P.I.” It’s an honest reflection of what prime time, family-friendly content was. There’s no over-the-top sex humor — the scantily clad women are merely beach background — and Magnum doesn’t let his personal ambitions get in the way of doing the right thing.

This isn’t a series you need to watch all of to get the general vibe and basic ideas. In fact, it’s best watched as a delightful background, to reminisce about when the worst crimes we could fathom were diplomatic assassinations, high-level embezzlements, and international jewel heists.

Public health challenges facing Russia today cripple its potential for tomorrow.

For all the external economic fears worrying countries everywhere, Russia faces further, entirely homegrown challenges. In all likelihood, the most important one among them is public health, which directly undermines the country’s economic development.

During the past two decades, an aging demographic turn and its effect on Russian society has been the focus of debate. Russia is experiencing a rapidly aging population with steadily declining birth rates.

However, while people living in most industrialized countries can count on increased life expectancy, Russians cannot. This reflects their relatively low overall health status.

These factors, in addition to restrictive immigration policies and low fertility rates (below two children per woman, which is considered the population replacement rate), have led Russia to a constant process of depopulation.

Between 1993 and 2015, Russia’s population decreased slightly, from approximately 149 to 144 million people. However, if current trends continue, there will be between 100-107 million Russians in 2050.

Preventable deaths

Serious health problems among Russians derive from high rates of smoking and alcohol consumption. Mortality among Russian men rose by 60% since 1991, four or five times higher than the European average.

These untimely deaths result mostly from preventable causes – alcohol poisoning, smoking, cardiovascular diseases, traffic accidents and violent crimes.

According to the World Health Organization, heart disease, aggravated by alcohol and tobacco, is responsible for over 1.2 million deaths each year.

Estimates of annual fatalities derived from smoking-related diseases range from 350,000 to 400,000. In the United States, which has more than twice the population of Russia, cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths annually.

Public health policies and information about smoking is less easily available in the Russia than in the United States, which may account for the lower percentage of deaths in the United States.

HIV/AIDS still looms large, particularly because 80% of those infected with HIV are under 30. The epidemic is closely associated with high levels of intravenous drug use.

More than two million Russian men are considered to be HIV positive, and the epidemic doesn’t show any signs of abating. In the United States, more than 1.2 million people are living with the infection.

In contrast to Russia, the estimated U.S. incidence (new cases) of HIV has remained stable in recent years due to effective public health policies and prevention efforts.

The hideous drug-resistance challenge

Tuberculosis still affects many Russians. Even more seriously, as in China, the country is experiencing a high burden of multidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis, a variety of the disease impervious to isoniazid and rifampicin, the two most effective first-line anti-TB drugs.

Treatment of MDR TB requires treatment with drugs that are less potent and more toxic that those used to treat drug-susceptible TB.

The prevalence of diabetes is also increasing rapidly in Russia. Four million people have been diagnosed with the disease — and almost six million people are unaware they have it. The annual cost of caring for diabetic patients in Russia is over $12.5 billion.

In the United States, where 29 million people are diabetic, the picture is equally worrisome. One in four people with diabetes doesn’t know that he has the disease. Almost 90 million people are pre-diabetic.

Although figures are not comparable with the situation in Russia, diabetes and its complications in the United States account for $245 billion in total medical costs and lost work and wages.

In addition, a still inadequate health care system, lacking in resources and with attention focused on Russia’s main cities, affects mental health care.

In 2012, there were 277 outpatient clinics devoted to the primary care of people with mental disorders, compared to 318 such clinics in 2005.

At the same time, there has been a reduction in the number and quality of medications for patients with psychiatric illnesses.

Cutting health funding won’t help

Trying to cope with such problems is not easy for Russia. Addressing the underlying challenges would divert increasingly scarce resources from an economy that is under ever-greater strain because of international sanctions and the low price of oil.

Recent cuts in health care and education will not solve the problems affecting the Russian economy. At most, they are palliative measures that may help the budgetary outlook temporarily, but will not cure a sick economy.

Any way out?

The direct connection between the public health crisis and Russia’s economic potential should be clear.

It is estimated that between 2000 and 2010 – well before the recent sanctions – more than 1.25 million Russians emigrated. That represents an even greater number than those who left after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

A survey conducted in June 2012 by the LevadaCenter, an independent pollster, found that one out of every five Russians wants to emigrate compared to one in 20 in 1991, the year the Soviet Union dissolved.

At that time, most emigrants were poor and unskilled. Today, they constitute a wide range of well-off professionals, artists and scientists.

Of course, this generally highly productive group leaves the country largely for reasons having to do with the deteriorating political freedoms in the country.

Failure to tackle Russia’s huge public health problems is likely to exacerbate the brain drain already under way.

Arbat Street, mainly referred to in English as the Arbat, is a pedestrian street about one kilometer long in the historical centre of Moscow. The Arbat has existed since at least the 15th century, which makes it one of the oldest surviving streets of the Russian capital. It forms the heart of the Arbat District of Moscow. Originally the street formed part of an important trade-route and was home to a large number of craftsmen.

In the 18th century the Russian nobility came to regard the Arbat as the most prestigious living area in Moscow. Almost completely destroyed by the great fire of 1812 associated with Napoleon’s occupation of Moscow, the street required rebuilding. In the 19th and early 20th centuries it became known as the a place where petty nobility, artists, and academics lived. In the Soviet period, it housed many high-ranking government officials.

The archaeological site of Takht-e Soleyman, in north-western Iran, is situated in a valley set in a volcanic mountain region. The site includes the principal Zoroastrian sanctuary partly rebuilt in the Ilkhanid (Mongol) period (13th century) as well as a temple of the Sasanian period (6th and 7th centuries) dedicated to Anahita. The site has important symbolic significance. The designs of the fire temple, the palace and the general layout have strongly influenced the development of Islamic architecture.

Brief Synthesis

The archaeological ensemble called Takht-e Soleyman (“Throne of Solomon”) is situated on a remote plain surrounded by mountains in northwestern Iran’s West Azerbaijan province. The site has strong symbolic and spiritual significance related to fire and water – the principal reason for its occupation from ancient times – and stands as an exceptional testimony of the continuation of a cult related to fire and water over a period of some 2,500 years. Located here, in a harmonious composition inspired by its natural setting, are the remains of an exceptional ensemble of royal architecture of Persia’s Sasanian dynasty (3rd to 7th centuries). Integrated with the palatial architecture is an outstanding example of Zoroastrian sanctuary; this composition at Takht-e Soleyman can be considered an important prototype.

An artesian lake and a volcano are essential elements of Takht-e Soleyman. At the site’s heart is a fortified oval platform rising about 60 metres above the surrounding plain and measuring about 350 m by 550 m. On this platform are an artesian lake, a Zoroastrian fire temple, a temple dedicated to Anahita (the divinity of the waters), and a Sasanian royal sanctuary. This site was destroyed at the end of the Sasanian era, but was revived and partly rebuilt in the 13th century. About three kilometres west is an ancient volcano, Zendan-e Soleyman, which rises about 100 m above its surroundings. At its summit are the remains of shrines and temples dating from the first millennium BC.

Takht-e Soleyman was the principal sanctuary and foremost site of Zoroastrianism, the Sasanian state religion. This early monotheistic faith has had an important influence on Islam and Christianity; likewise, the designs of the fire temple and the royal palace, and the site’s general layout, had a strong influence on the development of religious architecture in the Islamic period, and became a major architectural reference for other cultures in both the East and the West. The site also has many important symbolic relationships, being associated with beliefs much older than Zoroastrianism as well as with significant biblical figures and legends.

The 10-ha property also includes Tepe Majid, an archaeological mound culturally related to Zendan-e Soleyman; the mountain to the east of Takht-e Soleyman that served as quarry for the site; and Belqeis Mountain 7.5 km to the northeast, on which are the remains of a Sasanian-era citadel. The archaeological heritage of the Takht-e Soleyman ensemble is further enriched by the Sasanian town (which has not yet been excavated) located in the 7,438-ha landscape buffer zones.

Criterion (i):Takht-e Soleyman is an outstanding ensemble of royal architecture, joining the principal architectural elements created by the Sasanians in a harmonious composition inspired by their natural context.

Criterion (ii):The composition and the architectural elements created by the Sasanians at Takht-e Soleyman have had strong influence not only in the development of religious architecture in the Islamic period, but also in other cultures.

Criterion (iii):The ensemble of Takht-e Soleyman is an exceptional testimony of the continuation of cult related to fire and water over a period of some two and half millennia. The archaeological heritage of the site is further enriched by the Sasanian town, which is still to be excavated.

Criterion (iv):Takht-e Soleyman represents an outstanding example of Zoroastrian sanctuary, integrated with Sasanian palatial architecture within a composition, which can be seen as a prototype.

Criterion (vi): As the principal Zoroastrian sanctuary, Takht-e Soleyman is the foremost site associated with one of the early monotheistic religions of the world. The site has many important symbolic relationships, being also a testimony of the association of the ancient beliefs, much earlier than the Zoroastrianism, as well as in its association with significant biblical figures and legends.

Integrity

Within the boundaries of the property are located the known elements and components necessary to express the Outstanding Universal Value of the property, including the lake and the volcano, archaeological remains related to the Zoroastrian sanctuary, and archaeological remains related to the royal architecture of the Sasanian dynasty. Masonry rooftops have collapsed in some areas, but the configurations and functions of the buildings remain evident.

The region’s climate, particularly the long rainy season and extreme temperature variations, as well as seismic action represent the major threats to the integrity of the original stone and masonry materials. Potential risks in the future include development pressures and the construction of visitor facilities in the buffer zones around the sites. Furthermore, there is potential conflict between the interests of the farmers and archaeologists, particularly in the event that excavations are undertaken in the valley fields.

Authenticity

The Takht-e Soleyman archaeological ensemble is authentic in terms of its forms and design, materials and substance, and location and setting, as well as, to a degree, the use and the spirit of the fire temple. Excavated only recently, the archaeological property’s restorations and reconstructions are relatively limited so far: a section of the outer wall near the southern entrance has been rebuilt, using for the most part original stones recovered from the fallen remains; and part of the brick vaults of the palace structures have been rebuilt using modern brick but in the same pattern as the original. As a whole, these interventions can be seen as necessary, and do not compromise the authenticity of the property, which retains its historic ruin aspect. The ancient fire temple still serves pilgrims performing Zoroastrian ceremonies.

Protection and management requirements

Takht-e Soleyman was inscribed on the national heritage list of Iran in 1931, and it is subject to legal protection under the Law on the Protection of National Treasures (1930, updated 1998) and the Law of the Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization Charter (n. 3487-Qaf, 1988). The inscribed World Heritage property, which is owned by the Government of Iran, is under the legal protection and management of the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (which is administered and funded by the Government of Iran). Acting on its behalf, Takht-e Soleyman World Heritage Base is responsible for implementation of the archaeology, conservation, tourism, and education programmes, and for site management. These activities are funded by the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, as well as by occasional international support. The current management plan, prepared in 2010, organises managerial strategies and activities over a 15-year period.

Sustaining the Outstanding Universal Value of the property over time will require continuing periodic on-site observations to determine whether the climate or other factors will lead to a negative impact on the Outstanding Universal Value, integrity or authenticity of the property; and employing internationally recognised scientific standards and techniques to properly safeguard the monuments when undertaking stabilisation, conservation, or restoration projects intended to address such negative impacts.

Victor Mikhailovich Glushkov (August 24, 1923 – January 30, 1982) was the founding father of information technology in the Soviet Union (and specifically in Ukraine), and one of the founders of Cybernetics. He was born in Rostov-on-Don, Russian SFSR, in the family of a mining engineer. He graduated from Rostov State University in 1948, and in 1952 proposed solutions to Hilbert’s fifth problem and defended his thesis in Moscow State University. One of his great practical goals was the creation of a National Automatized System of Administration of Economy (OGAS), which included the establishment of a network of computers to manage the allocation of resources and information among organizations in the national economy, which would represent a higher form of socialist planning than the extant Stalinist command economy. This ambitious project was ahead of its time, first being proposed and modeled in 1962. It received opposition from many senior Communist Party leaders who felt the system threatened Party control of the economy. By the early 1970s official interest in this system ended.