John Simkin

Victor Richardson, whose ambition was to become a doctor, won a place at Cambridge University. Soon after the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 Richardson abandoned his studies to join the Royal Sussex Regiment. While training in Horsham in January 1915 he caught cerebrospinal meningitis and was sent to a hospital in Brighton.

After the death of her boyfriend, Roland Leighton, on 23rd December, 1915, Vera Brittain began visiting Victor. On 8th January 1916 Victor suggested a meeting with Vera. "May I come and see you on Wednesday afternoon? I suggest this next Wednesday, because I am on guard at one of the Arsenal entrances during the week, and as it is not an important position I could leave my coadjutor in charge for the afternoon, and disappear - without leave..... Of course if you do not feel inclined to see people I shall quite understand. If I do not hear from you I shall assume this to be the case." As she told her brother, Edward Brittain, Vera agreed to the meeting: "I had tea with Victor on Wednesday. Of course we talked of Roland the whole time.

In September 1916 Richardson transferred to the 9th King's Royal Rifles and was sent back to the Western Front. He wrote to Vera Brittain on 31st October, describing life in the front-line trenches: "It was very quiet and without much excitement. We did not get any heavy shells at all till the last day when a couple of 5.9s amused themselves at our expense for about half-an-hour, but without doing any damage. Whizz-Bangs - about which one has heard so much - are perfectly harmless in a trench, as the trajectory is so flat that it is nearly impossible for them to land in a trench. There is practically no rifle or machine gun fire and what there is appears to be unaimed - fixed rifles and swinging traverses for the most."

On 3rd April 1917, Vera told Edward Brittain about a letter she received from Richardson: "Victor too sends me a letter half cynical, half hopelessly resigned; apparently he was on the verge of an attack, for he spoke of perhaps never writing to me again... This too leaves me anxiously and very sadly wondering how long it will be before I hear any more of him and what it will be when I do."

Richardson was badly wounded during an attack at Arras on 9th April 1917. It was later reported that he "was leading his platoon was hit in the arm but took his coat off had the wound bandaged and went on; it was at the 2nd German line that he got the bullet through his head and the Colonel himself gave him morphia because he was in pain." His commanding officer wrote to his parents: "You have good reason to be proud of him... he did his best and it was a good best too. I have sent his name in for the Military Cross and I have no doubt that he will get it."

Vera Brittain wrote to her mother, Edith Brittain: "There really does not seem much point in writing anything until I hear further news of Victor, for I cannot think of anything else... I knew he was destined for some great action, even as I knew beforehand about Edward, for only about a week ago I had a most pathetic letter from him - a virtual farewell. It is dreadful to be so far away and all among strangers.... Poor Edward! What a bad time the Three Musketeers have had!"

Richardson was sent back to London where he received specialist treatment at a hospital in Chelsea. His friend, Edward Brittain, visited him in hospital, and then wrote to his sister, Vera, about his condition: "It is not known yet whether Victor will die or not, but his left eye was removed in France and the specialist who saw him thinks it is almost certain that the sight of the right eye has gone too... The bullet - probably from a machine-gun - went in just behind the left eye and went very slightly upwards but not I'm afraid enough to clear the right eye; the bullet is not yet out though very close to the right edge of the temple; it is expected that it will work through of its own accord... We are told that he may remain in his present condition for a week. I don't think he will die suddenly but of course the brain must be injured and it depends upon how bad the injury is. I am inclined to think it would be better that he should die; I would far rather die myself than lose all that we have most dearly loved, but I think we hardly bargained for this. Sight is really a more precious gift than life."

Vera Brittain decided to return home after the death of Geoffrey Thurlow and the serious injuries suffered by Victor. She told her brother: "As soon as the cable came saying that Geoffrey was killed, only a few hours after the one saying that Victor was hopelessly blind, I knew I must come home. It will be easier to explain when I see you, also - perhaps - to consult you about something I can't possibly discuss in a letter. Anyone could take my place here, but I know that nobody else could take the place that I could fill just now at home."

Edward Brittain went to visit Victor and on 7th May he told his sister: "He was told last Wednesday that he will probably never see again, but he is marvellously cheerful.... He is perfectly sensible in every way and I don't think there is the very least doubt that he will live. He said that the last few days had been rather bitter. He hasn't given up hope himself about his sight."

Vera arrived in London on 28th May 1917. The next ten days she spent at Victor's bedside. As Alan Bishop points out: "His mental faculties appeared to be in no way impaired. On 8 June, however, there was a sudden change in his condition. In the middle of the night he experienced a miniature explosion in the head, and subsequently became very distressed and disoriented. By the time his family reached the hospital Victor had become delirious."

Victor Richardson died of a cerebral abscess on 9th June, 1917 and is buried in Hove. He was awarded the Military Cross posthumously.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWrichardsonV.htm

Geoffrey Thurlow was killed on the Western Front on 23rd April 1917. In his last letter he wrote three days before the major offensive in which he was to die he wrote: "After tea tonight wanting to be alone.... I walked out along a high embankment and everything was fresh and cool quite in contrast to the heated atmosphere of our dugout. As I looked westward I saw just below me in front of the embankment the battered outline of Hun trenches with two long straggling communication trenches winding away into some shell torn trees: the setting sun reflected in the water at the bottom of many crump holes making them look masses of gold... I only hope I don't fail at the critical moment as truly I am a horrible coward: wish I could do well especially for the School's sake."

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWthurlow.htm

Glenn Mulcaire still will not explain who is paying his legal fees in these court actions. I don't suppose it could be Murdoch?

Glen Sample, co-author of The Men on the Sixth Floor, asserts in "The Guilty Men," segment 1, that LBJ took a room at "a local hotel" in Austin for the ten days of the Wallace (Kinser) trial, and "constantly sent runners" to check the trial progress. Sample does not cite his sources.

Glen Sample is a member of this forum.

Are you planning to release a print version of The Girl On The Stairs? Kindle frightens me.

Michael, it is very easy to download from Amazon books for the Kindle. It is also as good, or even better, than reading from a book.

What happened to the anti-Castro Cubans following JFK's assassination?

Follow the links to find out what happened to the following anti-Castro Cubans that it has been claimed by a variety of researchers were connected to the assassination of JFK:

Manuel Artime

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKartimeM.htm

Eduardo Perez (Eddie Bayo)

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKbayo.htm

Orlando Bosch

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKbosch.htm

Carlos Bringuier

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKbringuier.htm

Eulalio Francisco Castro Paz (Frank Castro)

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKcastroFr.htm

Antonio (Tony) Cuesta

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKcuesto.htm

Armando Lopez Estrada

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKestradaAL.htm

Herminio Diaz Garcia

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKgarciaH.htm

Virgilio (Villo) Gonzalez

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKgonzalezV.htm

Nestor (Tony) Izquierdo

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKizquierdo.htm

Eugenio (Musculito) Martinez

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKmartinez.htm

Rolando Masferrer

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKmasferrerR.htm

Ricardo Morales Navarrete

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKnavarrete.htm

Guillermo Novo

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKnovoG.htm

Manuel Orcarberrio

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKorcarberrio.htm

Luis Posada

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKposada.htm

Carlos Prio Socarrás

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKprio.htm

Rafael (Chi Chi) Quintero

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKquintero.htm

Félix Ismael Rodríguez

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKroderiguez.htm

Felipe Vidal Santiago

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKsantiago.htm

Sergio Arcacha-Smith

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKarcacha.htm

Tony Sforza

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKsforza.htm

Bernardo De Torres

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKtorres.htm

Eladio del Valle

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKeladio.htm

Manual Antonio de Verona (Tony Varona)

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKvarona.htm

Antonio Veciana

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKveciana.htm

Rafael Villaverde

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKvillaverde.htm

Although Wikileaks has done some good work several key members have become concerned about the way the organisation is being run. They have have now established OpenLeaks:

About OpenLeaks

OpenLeaks is, to put it in a nutshell, a well-intentioned bunch of people with an idea. We met through varying circumstances, as is often the case, and like most web-based groups, we live here, there, everywhere, and nowhere.

History

The basic ideas behind OpenLeaks originated as a set of ideas for extending WikiLeaks. The focus was originally technical, and its main aspects were presented in an application to the Knight Foundation, which raised considerable interest, but was ultimately denied. WikiLeaks however, does not provide an environment that allows us to follow our ideas, which prompted us to found the OpenLeaks project in September of 2010.

Our idea

We are using our collective experience in an attempt to support, and help others to support whistleblowers; thus making the leaking of information more widespread, while simultaneously reducing the personal risk to those who fight corruption. Along the way, we shall also gather and document knowledge about leaking and make it accessible through our Knowledge Base.

OpenLeaks is unique in that we do not receive or release documents ourselves. Instead, we provide the technology and experience from our past to enable more entities, institutions and others, to process information that may be vital to our society.

This constitutes the OpenLeaks Community: something much more effective than any single whistleblowing entity. We are not atop some hierarchy, distantly guiding the flow of data, but more in between it, providing the soil for the creation of a new form of social network by adapting our systems to the needs of our users and bringing them together. We encourage our users to communicate securely between themselves, tackle problems together and exchange information about data journalism. We think that providing our technology and experience to a balanced mix of members from all around the world that share the same need is another effective way to make progress happen.

Roadmap

This is a gradual process, and will be achieved over the coming months. We are beginning an alpha stage now, during which we will integrate some users that match our requirements for this active development phase. This should end around second quarter next year, at which time we plan to enter the beta phase and open the system to more users which fit a wider range of profiles.

OpenLeaks team members

OpenLeaks currently has a dozen staff coming from various backgrounds. The two public contacts for press inquiries are the following:

Daniel Domscheit-Berg is a German journalist and transparency advocate. He has spoken on numerous occasions about whistleblowing and transparency, as well as its implications on democracy. Daniel worked with WikiLeaks for three years, acting as spokesperson and editor. In his life before WikiLeaks, he worked in the IT industry specializing in network design and security.

Herbert Snorrason is an Icelandic historian who originally got involved with this whole field by accident. After a chance contact with WikiLeaks, he was increasingly entangled in that organization, until winding up as a chat moderator for a couple of months in 2010. Disagreeing with the direction that project seemed to be headed in, he left and found himself helping get OpenLeaks started.

http://openleaks.org/

Message from Joan:

Dear David Andrews,

I am very grateful to you for this speedy response. Thank you so much.

Is there a source for Lyndon's having holed up at a local hotel for the ten days sending runners to the courtroom to report on the proceedings?

Joan

Question from Joan Mellen:

I'd be very grateful if you would reply to this query. In the Nigel Turner segment, "The Guilty Men" does Ed Tatro, or anyone else, say that Lyndon Johnson was holded up in a hotel near the courtroom when Malcolm Wallace was on trial for the Kinser murder? I tried to purchase the film so I could answer this, but there is only one copy available here - for $800!

Edward Brittain, wrote a letter to his sister, Vera Brittain, about receiving the MC from King George V for his action at the Battle of the Somme:

I came up to town on Tuesday the 16th, went to Buckingham Palace on the 17th at 10.30 am. Mother came with me in the taxi from home and I dropped her just outside the gates and drove in alone; I ascended a wide staircase and deposited my hat and stick in a sort of cloak room, keeping my gloves (your gloves), went up more stairs, and asked by an old boy in a frock coat what I was to receive, was then directed to another old boy who verified my name etc and told me to stand on one side of the room - a large room with portraits of royal personages round the walls. There were 3 C.M.G.'s, about 12 D.S.O.'s and about 30 M.C.'s so it was a fairly small investiture. we were instructed what to do by a Colonel who I believe is the King's special private secretary and then the show started. One by one we walked into an adjoining room about 6 paces - halt - left turn - bow - 2 paces forward - King pins on cross - shake hands - pace back - bow - right turn and slope off by another door... The King spoke to a few of us including me; he said "I hope you have quite recovered from your wound", to which I replied "Very nearly thank you, Sir", and then went out with the cross in my pocket in a case. I met Mother just outside and we went off towards Victoria thinking we had quite escaped all the photographers, but unfortunately one beast from the Daily Mirror saw us and took us, but luckily it does not seem to have come out well as it is rather bad form to have your photo in a cheap rag if avoidable.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jbrittain.htm

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWbrittainE.htm

Hey, did I call it, or what?

Is it too to say, "Grandmother's on the roof"?

Let's see: Tunisia - Dec. 17, 2010 - Mohamed Bouzid sets himself on fire and sparks anti-government protests.

January 14, 2011 - Ben Ali flees Tunisia - 28 days.

Egypt - Jan. 25 - Obama gives State of Union address, protests begin in Cairo.

February 11, 2011 - Mubarak resigns presidency. - 18 days.

Whose next? Yemen? Morocco? Libya? Saudi Arabia, Iran?

The scenes in Egypt have been fantastic and the democracy protests will clearly spread to other countries in the region. However, Egypt is still being ruled by a military dictatorship. All they have achieved is removing the figurehead (as they did in Tunisia). The next stage is the publishing the timetable for free elections. I see that some protesters are refusing to leave the square until they get details of the introduction to democracy.

Protests have erupted in Iran, Yemen, Sudan, Bahrain and Algiers.

On deck, Libya Thursday and Algiera again on Saturday, and protests have been scheduled in Algiers this Saturday and every Saturday until the regime is toppled.

Meanwhile, in Tripoli, the road to Sidi Bouzid is about three hundred miles, closer than Bengazi, where the ripples have begun.

We need to get a program to see whose playing and whose sitting on the sidelines.

One problem facing politicians in the West is that if USA, UK, etc. withdraw their support for these anti-democractic regimes, they will be replaced by China, another country who has much to fear from popular protests in favour of democracy and a free media.

Barry Ernest has a blog and a facebook page: http://mysite.verizon.net/restu5kb/

He is also a member of this Forum:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=17329

Considering Michael Ledeen's background, this could well be a CIA disinformation campaign.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Ledeen

Robert Buchar is also a very interesting character.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Buchar

Michael Ledeen has also reviewed Programmed to Kill: Lee Harvey Oswald, the Soviet KGB, and the Kennedy Assassination at Amazon:

A new book from General Ion Mihai Pacepa is cause for celebration, because he is among a tiny handful of people who know a lot about the intelligence services of the Soviet Empire, and because he writes about it with rare lucidity, always with an eye to helping us understand our world. His first book, "Red Horizons," is indubitably the most brilliant portrait of a Communist regime I've ever read. "Programmed to Kill" is equally fascinating, not least because it contains both a convincing theory about the Kennedy Assassination and scores of enlightening stories about Pacepa's own life, many of which I had never heard before.

Pacepa was unique in the Cold War: the highest ranking intelligence officer to defect from the Soviet bloc. He was Ceausescu's top strategic adviser, and the acting chief of the Romanian secret intelligence service. His defection resulted in the total shutdown of the Romanians' clandestine activities, making him unique in the history of modern espionage. Moreover, his many intimate working relations with Soviet intelligence officials made him an invaluable source of information and understanding of our major enemy.

He arrived in Washington back in 1978 with two blockbuster messages: first, that the presentation of Ceausescu as an "independent Communist" with whom the United States could work, was a deliberate deception. And second, that Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of John F. Kennedy, was an agent of the KGB, programmed to kill JFK, and did so despite frantic Soviet efforts to stop him.

American officials hated both of those messages, because they were in direct conflict with what the U.S. Intelligence Community had been telling successive presidents, and challenged the bases of much of American foreign policy toward the Soviet Union. Both the Intelligence Community and the State Department had assured the White House that Ceausescu was genuinely independent, and `we could work with him.' Pacepa showed that Ceausescu worked in lockstep with the Soviets, and, for example, was tricking the United States into selling advanced technology to Romania that went directly to Moscow. For a while some of the spooks were so upset with what Pacepa had to say that they threatened to send him back to Romania, and certain death, a testament to the lengths to which some bureaucrats will go to silence someone who has "bad news" they don't want heard.

I don't think anyone can read "Programmed to Kill" and still believe that Oswald had no working relationship with the KGB. Pacepa painstakingly takes us through the documentary evidence, including invaluable material on Soviet bloc cyphers that throws new light on Oswald's letters to KGB officers in Washington and Mexico City. And he argues convincingly that the KGB had assigned a case officer to Oswald, about which I will say no more except that his secrets were on the verge of becoming public, whereupon he blew his brains out.

No novelist could have written a more exciting story, made all the more compelling because of Pacepa's first-hand involvement in the Russians' efforts to hide their Oswald connection. He spent many hours writing the language that disinformation agents were to use with their Western friends, and he recognizes his words in some of the articles and books that purported to tell the true story of the Kennedy Assassination.

Why were the Soviets so desperate to stop Oswald? Surely not because they had suddenly developed moral qualms about assassination, and least of all because Khrushchev -- who had ordered the operation in the first place- -- ad decided Kennedy was a good guy. Khrushchev didn't just call off Oswald's operation, he cancelled all assassinations after a KGB agent had been caught in West Germany in the course of a similar operation. The Soviet dictator decided it was best to lie low for a while, and several murderous plots were put on hold. This, too, was part of Pacepa's work.

Finally there is the fascinating question of Jack Ruby, Oswald's killer. Pacepa is not convinced by Ruby's claim that he killed Oswald out of rage. Pacepa thinks he acted at the behest of the Cuban regime, and was later poisoned in order to silence him.

It's a complicated tale, because, Pacepa argues, you need to know a great deal about Soviet intelligence methods in order to understand the evidence. To that end, he provides a long supplement at the end of "Programmed to Kill," entitled "Connecting the Dots." He goes through the evidentiary trail bit by bit, including his own experiences that help understand the "dots."

It's entirely appropriate, for Pacepa's own life is the key to understanding that terrible moment in November, 1963, from which so much of the contemporary world took shape.

Michael Ledeen

http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A3Q6NHSF9YMGM5/ref=cm_cr_pr_pdp

Robin Ramsay, the editor of Lobster Magazine, has sent me this.

http://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/

This review is from: Programmed to Kill: Lee Harvey Oswald, the Soviet KGB, and the Kennedy Assassination (Hardcover)

American readers probably missed the fact that four months after Pacepa's book came out Ludvik Zifcak, the former intelligence officer in Czechoslovakia, published his book "We Killed Kennedy" (Zabili jsme Kennedyho, Nakladatelstvi ELLF). In this book Zifcak, using records from KGB archives in Moscow, fills in essential information supporting Pacepa's hypothesis. See for yourself:

Page 14: "The Soviet intelligence service mobilized all active agents and `sleepers' in the USA including those in the highest level in the US government. On November 15 they intercepted important information that preparation for the assassination of the President in the United States has began. Top secret information was delivered the same day to Khrushchev..."

Page 48: "As the President's trip to Dallas was approaching the activity in the Soviet Embassy was rising. The Soviet intelligence supplied new information about Kennedy's trip, all of them alarming. In the morning of November 20, 1963 Embassy sent to Moscow last top-secret message: "The assassination will take place probably in Dallas and the forces behind it will use it against the Soviet Union."

The Chairman of KGB Semicastnyj received the message the same day at 2PM and immediately contacted Khrushchev. The conversation like this followed:

"Hallo Nikita Sergejevjc. Excuse me but I have a very important message from Washington regarding president Kennedy. May I come over?"

"OK, come over Vladimir Jefrenovic, but as soon as possible please."

When Semicastnyj explained to Khrushchev the content of the message from Washington Nikita Sergejevic was silent for a while. "And what should we do about it now Vladimir Jefremovic?" Khrushchev asked.

"We could warn the President directly, Nikita Sergejevic," Semicastnyj offered immediately.

"It doesn't look like the best solution to me," Khrushchev replied. "President was briefed about our information already by CIA and I don't think Vladimir Jefrenovic we should be more forthcoming to Americans any more. On the other hand what guarantee we have that this information is not just a provocation against us?" Khrushchev went silent for a while and then he added: "Personally, I believe we should wait what will happen, Vladimir Jefremovic..."

Page 146: "...when speculations about possible involvement of Cuban G2 in the Kennedy's assassination surfaced Khrushchev a couple of times said: "If the Cuban involvement in the assassination of the President of the United States would be confirmed the Soviet Union wouldn't be able to support the international terrorism."

Page 157: "...At the same time KGB assigned the agent Marina Nikolajevna Prusakova on Oswald. Her assignment was to find out Oswald's objectives in the Soviet Union and to develop the position for the later relocation in the United States and establishing her position there. KGB was doing everything to make this happen including the plan of traveling the US as Oswald's wife. Regardless of Prusakova's cover job in the health sector she was actually the personal office clerk in the 1st Department of GRU. Marina was from the family of Soviet Interior Ministry colonel Prusakov and she was trained, during Seljepin leadership, for covert operation in the US or Canada. For her age she was relatively highly educated, spoke other languages and, following the script written by KGB, she quickly fall in love with Oswald. Following the same script the Soviets announced to Oswald on October 21, 1959 that his visa has expired and he must leave Moscow within 2 hours. Oswald responded by staging suicide attempt cutting his arteries on the left hand. He was hospitalized in the hospital where Prusakova has free access to him purposefully building their relationship.....After detailed debriefing where KGB focused on military information, Soviet intelligence decided leave Oswald in the Soviet Union but don't grant him the citizenship. For a good reason. As the Soviet citizen Oswald would have no value for KGB. The objective was to get him and agent Prusakova back to the USA."

Page 158: "After their return to the United States Oswald and his wife Marina attracted attention of CIA and FBI. It is clear from KGB documents that she was in close touch with the Soviet intelligence all the time informing them about the preparation for the assassination. Her activity prevented later indictment of the Soviet Union and Cuba in the assassination plot. Based on Marina's information both countries refused to give visa to Oswald shortly before the assassination. It became clear later that information sent by Marina to the Soviet intelligence probably prevented the war because American intelligence services wanted to blame Soviet Union and Castro's regime for Kennedy's assassination."

Page 171: "Embassy in Washington sent following information to Moscow: "Dallas Court is hiding the information about the contact between Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Rubby. According to the court's records both men met on October 4, 1963. During the meeting they discussed options of the President's assassination and it's financing..."

According to the information from the Soviet agent the assassination was discussed 50 days in advance."

Anyway, Pacepa's book "Programmed to Kill" is an excellent reading for everyone interested in the mystery of Kennedy's assassination. With Zifcak co-incidentally supporting Pacepa's picture this book shines new light on the case, the light nobody else would dare to turn on.

Robert Buchar

http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A2QF1FJYRW18VZ/ref=cm_cr_pr_pdp

Jamie O’Hara gave an interesting interview to the Guardian about the problems of young players given their chance at premier league clubs. He was complaining about how he was not given a real opportunity at Spurs. He had joined the club as a teenager and was a star of the youth team. He argues that it does not matter how well you perform at this level because manager’s give preference to young players they buy. O’Hara rightly argues that managers do that as they need to justify the money they have spent on bringing players in. If they buy them they feel they have to play them, otherwise fans will question their judgment concerning young talent.

I thought about this interview while watching Winston Reid’s appalling performance against WBA yesterday. Reid was purchased by Avram Grant from Midtjylland in the Denmark league in August 2010. Reid (22) had lived in Denmark since a kid but when he realized he was not going to make the Danish team he offered to play for New Zealand, where the standards are much lower. In fact, New Zealand’s manager, Ricki Herbert, put him in his team without seeing him play. Apparently, Grant was impressed with Reid performance in the World Cup game against Slovakia (his goal secured a draw and gave New Zealand's first ever point in a World Cup finals match).

It has been clear that even Grant now realizes Reid is a very limited player and only played him yesterday because of injuries to Matthew Upson, James Tomkins and Danny Gabbidon. However, Grant also has two very talented central defenders at the club. Jordan Spence (20) has captained the English team at every level he has played (U16, U17, U18, U19). He also has had two successful loan periods at Leyton Orient and Scunthorpe United. Mathew Fry is also 20 years old and is currently on loan at Charlton Athletic. Does Grant prefer Reid to Spence because he is trying to develop a reputation for being a good judge of a player? If so, it is not working.

Carlton Cole’s interview after the game was interesting. He credited the speech given by Scott Parker at half-time for explaining the team’s dramatic recovery. He failed to mention the role played by Grant in the 3-3 draw. This is not the first time that Cole has given interviews that have criticized Grant and I suspect it will result in him being dropped for the game against Burnley.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/9391009.stm

Hey, did I call it, or what?

Is it too to say, "Grandmother's on the roof"?

Let's see: Tunisia - Dec. 17, 2010 - Mohamed Bouzid sets himself on fire and sparks anti-government protests.

January 14, 2011 - Ben Ali flees Tunisia - 28 days.

Egypt - Jan. 25 - Obama gives State of Union address, protests begin in Cairo.

February 11, 2011 - Mubarak resigns presidency. - 18 days.

Whose next? Yemen? Morocco? Libya? Saudi Arabia, Iran?

The scenes in Egypt have been fantastic and the democracy protests will clearly spread to other countries in the region. However, Egypt is still being ruled by a military dictatorship. All they have achieved is removing the figurehead (as they did in Tunisia). The next stage is the publishing the timetable for free elections. I see that some protesters are refusing to leave the square until they get details of the introduction to democracy.

I'm a college student currently writing a term paper on the JFK Assassination with a specific focus of inquiry on whether the CIA or elements of it were involved. I just finished Fletcher Prouty's book on JFK & Vietnam and am wondering whether he is considered a credible source by other assassination experts. I think he has some good info but his lack of sources and proneness to speculation makes some of his claims seem suspect.

Alex, you might like to take a look at this thread and this website:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=2402

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKprouty.htm

Luis Posada Carriles, the former CIA contract agent, is one of the few men alive who probably knows who killed JFK.

http://www.thenation.com/article/158439/posada-trial-takes-historic-turn

February 9 - In El Paso, Texas, the perjury trial of the infamous violent Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles took a historic turn today. For the first time in a long dramatic history dominated by hostility and aggression, US government prosecutors formally presented evidence of terrorism committed against Cuba in a court of law—against one of its own former CIA operatives. Even more extraordinary, the evidence comes in the form of a Cuban Ministry of Interior investigator explaining photographs and police reports to the jury relating to a series of explosions in Havana hotels, including the Hotel Copacabana which killed a young Italian businessman Fabio Di Celmo on September 4, 1997. “Cuba Cooperating in US case against ex-CIA agent,” reads tomorrow’s news headlines.

The godfather of anti-Castro Cuban violence over the last four decades, Posada is being prosecuted for immigration fraud relating to how he illegally entered the United States in March 2005. But the Obama Justice Department added three counts of perjury relating to a far more important crime: Posada’s role in a series of seven bombings that rocked Havana hotels and other tourist sites between April and September 1997. “The defendant is alleged to have lied about his involvement in planning the bombings in Havana,” state court filings by the Justice Department’s Counterterrorism Division. “The United States intends to prove that the bombings in Cuba actually occurred.”

This week marks the first time that concrete evidence is being presented to the jury on how those bombings took place and the damage they wrought. The jury has been shown photographs taken by Cuban authorities of the bloodstained floor of the hotel. Portions of a Cuban investigative study, known as the “Volcan report,” which discusses the cause of, and circumstances surrounding Fabio Di Celmo’s death, are due to be introduced as evidence during the testimony of Major Roberto Hernandez Caballero—he was Cuba’s lead detective on the hotel bombing investigation—who took the stand today.

The importance of this moment in US-Cuban relations cannot be overstated. Posada was originally trained in demolitions by the US military and put on the CIA payroll in 1965 to train and supervise other exile groups in sabotage, explosives and violent operations. Declassified CIA and FBI intelligence reports, posted on the website of the National Security Archive, identify him as a mastermind of a mid-air bombing of a Cuban jetliner that took the lives of all 73 men, women and children on board in October 1976. Most recently, Posada was arrested in Panama with a carload of C-4 and dynamite in what he admitted to U.S. officials was a plot to assassinate Fidel Castro at the Ibero-American summit in November 2000. By prosecuting him on charges related to his acts of terrorism, even if they are only perjury charges, the United States is effectively repudiating a dark past that its own Cold War officials and covert operatives set in motion.

For Cuba, where Posada is public enemy number one, having its day in court is also a turning point in a longstanding effort to collaborate with US officials to put Posada behind bars. Cuban authorities have been forced to set aside their understandable suspicion that the trial is for all for show, not for justice. (After all, how can the United States, which purports to be the leader in the campaign to fight international terrorism, prosecute one of the world’s most infamous terrorists only on perjury charges?) Since Posada popped up in Miami some six years ago, Cuban authorities have repeatedly welcomed teams of FBI investigators and Justice Department lawyers to Havana. They turned over almost 1,500 pages of investigative records for use in the trial and made Posada’s accomplices, now in prison in Cuba, available for interrogation. And they have sent three witnesses to El Paso—another police investigator and a forensic doctor to present the autopsy of the murdered Italian to the jury—who have been waiting for over a week to testify.

If this unprecedented level of Cuban judicial support helps convict the 82-year old Posada and he spends the rest of his natural life behind bars, the United States and Cuba will have arrived at a new level of cooperation and collaboration on fighting terrorism. More importantly, together Washington and Havana will have turned a page on the dark history of US-sponsored violence against the Cuban revolution and Washington can begin what President Obama refers to as “a new chapter” in US relations with Cuba.

President Hosni Mubarak resigned two minutes ago.

In an interview with John Bartlow Martin for the Kennedy Oral History Project on 1st March 1964, Robert Kennedy claims that "the only people who were involved in the discussions (about who should join JFK on the ticket) were Jack and myself. Nobody else was involved in it". "We thought either (Scoop) Jackson or (Stuart) Symington". Robert goes on to say they eventually settled on Symington. Unfortunately, he does not explain why LBJ became the final choice.

The reopened police investigation into phone hacking by News of the World journalists has identified a number of new potential victims. This includes John Prescott, who was a government cabinet minister at the time. Since the scandal broke Prescott has been trying to find out if his phone was hacked. This idea was dismissed by Assistant Commissioner John Yates. Now it seems, Yates was aware of documents seized from Glen Mulcaire that named Prescott as a victim. He also told a House of Commons committee that there was no evidence Prescott and other Labour politicians had their phone's hacked. Yates is clearly guilty of misleading parliament (in other words he lied).

Why would Yates be willing to risk his career in order to cover-up the phone-hacking story? Is it the same reason why Cameron was willing to employ Andy Coulson after he had been disgraced as editor of the News of the World? Is it possible that Coulson was also working for the Conservative Party in this phone-hacking operation. Remember, this was the point that Murdoch had decided to change his support from New Labour to the Conservative Party. The problem for Yates is that once you become involved in a cover-up there is no way out. The same is true of Cameron. Both men must be very nervous if this reopened police investigation is in fact determined to get to the truth.

With regards to the Lincoln comments... Arthur alerted RFK from an advance copy of the book, while RFK was skiing... He said again there was mever amu intention to drop Johnson, addin, "Can you imagine the President ever havin a talk with Evelyn about a subject lilke this?"

It is true that JFK did not talk politics with most women. (There is that funny story told by Katharine Graham about JFK and his relationship with women that I will post later.) However, this is not true of his relationship with Evelyn Lincoln. Like her husband, she was a committed political activist and was a shrewd political adviser. JFK often talked to her about politics and used this as an opportunity to try out his ideas on her.

Was this woman brave or foolish?

The woman - thought to be aged in her 70s - was caught on video camera running across a road towards the six-strong mob as they shattered the windows of a jeweller's in Northampton.

The robbers, who arrived on three scooters, fled seconds after the red-coated pensioner, who does not wish to be named, began lashing out at them with a big black handbag.

The brave elderly lady said that when she first saw the gang she originally thought there was a fight going on and it was only when she got closer to them that she realised it was a robbery in the making.

She said she felt angry the gang thought they could get away with it and when one of the men on a scooter nearly ploughed into a woman and a baby in its buggy, she decided to leap into action.

'I clobbered him with my shopping but he got away,' she told the Northampton Chronicle.

'The rest of them were still trying to smash and grab at the jewellery.

'I didn't know what happened next but I just kept swinging my bag.'

She went on to describe how she 'landed several blows' on the back of one of the robbers and brought him to the ground as he tried to get away on his scooter.

The video footage also showed other members of the public pinning down the man who had fallen from one of the scooters just yards away from the jeweller's.

She said now she just wanted to be left in peace and added: 'I'm not a hero and it was maybe foolish of me to get involved but somebody had to do something.'

Police were called to the scene, on the corner of Gold Street and Bridge Street, at 9.30am yesterday after the raiders began to smash the store's front windows using sledgehammers.

Four men, aged 18, 22, 25 and 39, have been arrested and police are now looking for a further two who are believed to have been involved in the incident.

A spokesman for Northampton Police said: 'The offenders were disturbed by members of the public and fled the area without taking anything.

'One of the offenders was detained by members of the public and the other three men were arrested by police a short time later.'

Watch the incredible video below:

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/854953-granny-who-attacked-raiders-with-handbag-im-no-hero#ixzz1DTpp8f60'>http://www.metro.co.uk/news/854953-granny-who-attacked-raiders-with-handbag-im-no-hero#ixzz1DTpp8f60

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/854953-granny-who-attacked-raiders-with-handbag-im-no-hero

Soon after the killing of Rasputin, three of the men involved in the conspiracy, Prince Felix Yusupov, Vladimir Purishkevich and Dr. Stanislaus de Lazovert, published accounts of what happened. The three accounts were virtually identical and it was assumed that this was an accurate account of what happened.

The first sign that their might have been other forces at work was the publication of Samuel Hoare's autobiography, soon after the Second World War. Hoare was a junior official at the British Embassy in Russia in 1916. In fact, he was really the head of the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) in Petrograd. Hoare admitted in his autobiography that Tsar Nicholas II suggested to the British ambassador, George Buchanan, that Osward Rayner, another official at the embassy, was involved in the plot to kill Rasputin. Hoare described the story as "incredible to the point of childishness". Rayner, like Hoare, was a member of the SIS. We also now know that Rayner had been involved in assassination plots against Lenin following the Russian Revolution.

Hoare, Rayner, Stephen Alley and John Scale made up the four members of the SIS unit in Petrograd. A recently released letter from Alley to Scale (who was in Romania at the time)written on 7th January 1917 adds to the possibility of SIS being involved in the killing of Rasputin: "Although matters have not proceeded entirely to plan, our objective has clearly been achieved. Reaction to the demise of Dark Forces (a codename for Rasputin) has been well received by all, although a few awkward questions have already been asked about wider involvement. Rayner is attending to loose ends and will no doubt brief you on your return."

In 1993 Rasputin's 1916 autopsy was released. Several details undermined the testimony of Prince Felix Yusupov, Vladimir Purishkevich and Dr. Stanislaus de Lazovert. For example, the autopsy discovered no cyanide in Rasputin's body. The three men also claimed that Yusupov and Purishkevich fired the shots at Rasputin. The first two wounds were consistent with Yusupov's pocket Browning and Purishkevich's Savage automatic. However, the autopsy showed that three different guns were used. What is more, the third shot, in the head (see below) was fired by a .455 Webley, the standard British issue side arm in the First World War. This is therefore the gun that Rayner, Alley and Scale would have carried.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRhoareS.htm

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SSrayner.htm

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SSalley.htm

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SSscale.htm