Photo, above:  Traditional couple, Daghestan. Makhachkala Махачкала has opened an exhibition "Northern Caucasus - on Road of Changes" showing works of photographers from Dagestan, Ingushetia, North Ossetia, Chechnya and other regions. After Makhachkala, the exhibition will go to Nazran, Grozny and Vladikavkaz. The event is held under the project of the Foundation FOCUS-MEDIA "Development of Local Communities in Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan and North Ossetia" in partnership with "Caritas", France. See: reports of Tsarnaev family peregrinations.

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Hour One

Monday  22 April 2013 / Hour 1, Block A: Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD; Thomas Joscelyn, Long War Journal senior editor, in re: Vilayat Daghestan [roughly, Province of Daghestan; local agency of Islamic Caucus Emirate] , N Caucasus – "Our fight is with Russia, not the US"; Tamerlan posted one of their vids. Dagestani jihadist group issues statement on Boston bombings  One of the Boston Marathon bombers made a trip to Dagestan and Chechnya last year. US officials are investigating whether or not he made contact with jihadist groups operating in the region. The investigation is ongoing.

Canada: RCMP say this is the first al Q-directed plot in Canada since 9/11; emanated from Iran. Were going to derail a train over Niagara Falls. Canada's authorities say they have arrested and charged two people with conspiring to carry out an "al-Qaeda inspired" attack on a passenger train.  At a news conference, the authorities said the suspects Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, and Raed Jaser, 35, were arrested in Montreal and Toronto on Monday. They allegedly planned to derail a VIA passenger train in the greater Toronto area. It was not clear when. The suspects will now appear in court on Tuesday for a bail hearing.

Below: flag of the Republic of Dagestan

Monday  22 April 2013 / Hour 1, Block B:  Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD; Thomas Joscelyn, Long War Journal senior editor, in re: US drones strike again in Yemen, kill 2 AQAP operatives  Two Yemeni soldiers and another AQAP fighter are said to have been killed in a clash that took place after the strike in Marib.  AQIP took two provincial capitals two years ago. In 2012 govt counteroffensive, group has melted away and reestablished itself in the east, west, along the coast, in Aden murders of govt officials. US has aided the Yemeni govt in its war vs al Q.  Al q is currently a threat to the US, as recent events show; the Obama Administration's [Brennen, Donilon, Napolitano] opinion is  - publicly – that al Qaeda no longer exists. [Delusional; also, not honest.]   Is Vilayat Daghestan connected to Boston bombers? Dunno.  They’re fighting in multiple countries, are global jihadists. To radicalize & inculcate jihadist-style fighting into the fight vs Russia, now across the Middle East and South Asia.  Al Q has been a network of relationships more than a hierarchical pyramid.   The Obama Administration's rhetoric suggests it's not seeing it as a network – which is dangerous to the US.

Monday  22 April 2013 / Hour 1, Block C: . Mona Charen, NRO; Salena Zito, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review; Lara M Brown, Villanova, in re: Obama Administration narrative is that al Q is languishing in imminent defeat. Canada, the RCMP: Al Qaeda ops were on their way to blowing up a train travelling from Canada to the US.  This is a hydra-headed monster of nonstate actors, very difficult to combat – no matter how much surveillance or intelligence, there are many  people in the world who're off-the-charts mad.   The center of this fight in intell – how ObL was caught; but this Administration does none of that, is now in worse odor internationally than even Bush was, arguably because of the drone attacks – no intell, just death from sky.  Were the Boston bombings a one-off or a window into a coming wave?  Is al Q on the path to defeat, or is it coming back? We need a decision. Mr President.

GUN CONTROL  If Obama Really Cared . . . He would reform mental-health policy.

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Bells marking the noon hour had just stopped pealing when an ear-shattering explosion ripped the downtown street, filling the air with shards of glass. Flame and smoke towered 100 feet skyward. The blast, enclosed within a valley of tall buildings, trapped office workers and threw lunch-crowd pedestrians off of their feet. Its concussion lifted cars from the ground, as blood splattered the sidewalks and surrounding buildings.

The year was 1920, the city was New York, and the guilty terrorist was an anarchist who used a horse-cart bomb to blow up Wall Street, center of the nation’s commerce and symbol of all that was successful in America. Thirty-eight people ultimately died; hundreds were wounded.

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Monday  22 April 2013 / Hour 1, Block D:  Arif Rafiq, Middle East Institute, in re: Musharraf    

Hour Two

Monday  22 April 2013 / Hour 2, Block A:     John Fund, National Review Online; David M Drucker, Roll Call GOPpers, in re: Boston bombers.  Immigration act.  Tamelan Tsarnaev's trip to Daghestan. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have arrested Chiheb Esseghaier [Berber?], 30, and Raed Jaser, 35, after watching them for a year.  RCMP say the two are related to al Qaeda and to Iran.  Opponents of comprehensive immigration reform may have fund an issue they can demagogue.

. . . The two accused, Chiheb ESSEGHAIER and Raed JASER, who live in the Montreal and Toronto area were conspiring to carry out a terrorist attack against a VIA passenger train. Charges include conspiring to carry out an attack against, and conspiring to murder persons unknown for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a terrorist group.  The RCMP investigation named Project SMOOTH, was coordinated by RCMP-led Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams (INSETs) in Montreal and Toronto with the close collaboration of domestic partners and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). The RCMP would like to thank its INSET partners including the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Canada Border Services Agency, Toronto Police Service, York Regional Police, Peel Regional Police, Ontario Provincial Police, Durham Regional Police, the Sûreté du Québec and the service de police de la Ville de Montréal. The RCMP is also grateful for the valuable assistance of the FBI, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Transport Canada, VIA Rail and CN Police. These exceptional collaborative efforts directly contributed to making the arrests. [more]

Immigration Supporters Strike Back at Boston Naysayers  Supporters of an immigration overhaul moved Friday to discredit claims that the Boston Marathon bombings undermine the case for comprehensive changes. The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, published a blog post in the afternoon arguing that passage of a Senate bill that would strengthen border security but also provide a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrant residents would enhance national security and only help in the effort to prevent future terrorist attacks. The bombings were allegedly committed by ethnic Chechen immigrants, one of whom became a U.S. citizen last year.

“Details about the Boston bombers are surfacing by the minute, but many opponents of immigration reform are already using it as an excuse to oppose reform. There is no reason to assume that continuing the status quo immigration policy will prevent future terrorist attacks,” Cato Immigration Policy Analyst Alex Nowrasteh wrote. “Legalizing the peaceful and otherwise law-abiding unauthorized immigrants here will allow law enforcement to focus on legitimate national security and crime threats.”

Monday  22 April 2013 / Hour 2, Block B:  John Fund, National Review Online; David M Drucker, Roll Call GOPpers, in re: Lawmakers Suggesting a Federal Trial of Boston Suspect  A federal trial would allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty against the surviving bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who authorities said tried to kill himself before he was captured.

 

Photo, below: Concentrations of megaliths, dolmens (Adyghe: исп-унэ) and stone labyrinths have been found (but little studied) throughout the Caucasus Mountains, including the Abkhazia. Most of them are represented by rectangular structures made of stone slabs or cut in rocks with holes in their facade. These dolmens cover the Western Caucasus on both sides of the mountain ridge, in an area of approximately 12.000 square kilometres of Russia and Abkhazia.  The Caucasian dolmens represent a unique type of prehistoric architecture, built with precisely dressed large stone blocks. The stones were, for example, shaped into 90-degree angles, to be used as corners or were curved to make a circle. The monuments date between the end of the 4th millennium and the beginning of the 2nd millennium B.C.

Monday  22 April 2013 / Hour 2, Block C:  . Thomas C Goltz, author, filmmaker, U Montana professor, in re:  Chechens society holds fissures so deep and extreme – lingering 1991 nationalist movement; fighting collaborationist regime in Grozny;  collaborationists in alliance w Moscow under Kadyrov, who've achieved a kind of independence; jihadist in Chechnya, Iraq, Afghanistan, the global diaspora.  Powder keg ready to go off. Putin afraid because it's near Sochi, his fave resort & the venue of coming Olympics. If this bubbles over, it’ll be a mess. Putin not shy abt using his power to crush dissent.  The Emirate of the Caucasus: Shamil Basaev, natl hero of the first war who morphed into an Islamist figure, along with missionary/mercenaries from the Arab world, sallied in to Daghestan, where the nationalist govt felt obliged to join ranks; Dokha Umarov, leader now, accused of Moscow attacks, disowned any connection with the two Boston young men.   US shd check the FSB to see who exactly suborned the two brothers – might have more to do with a darker, subrosa activity by a state entity, such as the Russian Federation.  Certain factions in the Russian pol establishment, the ueberthugs in Moscow, find it convenient that the Chechens have gone global – in order to gather more allies in their fight.

Daghestan means "the land of the mountains" – there's a language group in every valley. Avars, Dargins Lesgins - even communities of mountain Jews. No singular titular  group that cd take control of the entire country; some curious balance of power ab initio.  Chechens form part of that balance.  They're all mtn people, all resisted the Tsar in the XIXeme, and they all _______.

Monday  22 April 2013 / Hour 2, Block D:  Gordon Chang, Forbes.com, in re: 15 April a PLA platoon moved south of Chinese borer into India in Ladahkh, set up permanent camp 10km into India.  Indian soldiers are 300 to 500 meters away in a permanent standoff.  Often there are 300 Chinese intrusions every year – they usually just leave trash and depart, but now they're staying.  Indians are now almost fed up, will cease placating them. The Chinese pattern is aggression: poke and poke and see who backs down, Japan doesn't . Vietnam doesn't. Filipinos are looking at retaliation. We see their boot stamps in East Turkestan and Tibet.  This cannot be decisions made by field commanders – Politburio central committee.  You can pick on one country at a time, but you can’t pick on all of them.  There's disarray among the civilian pols so the miliary has seized some control. Also, none can afford to look weak. Their only legitimacy now is nationalism – mean and bellicose. Growth is not The 7% they claim – it’s 2 or 3%

Not again. According to the World Health Organization, avian influenza has killed 20 people in China, after two more died since the outbreak began in late March. There are 102 cases currently, 70 of which are being hospitalized. "Until the source of infection has been identified, it is expected that there will be further cases of human infection with the virus in China," the WHO said In a statement. China has confirmed six new cases of H7N9 bird flu, including five in Zhejiang and one in Jiangsu, Xinhua reported April 21. According to the National Health and Family Planning Commission, this brings the total of H7N9 cases reported in China to 102, including 20 cases that were fatal. Though the emergence of H7N9 could renew the fears associated with the 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, there are key differences in the new virus that suggest its long-term macroeconomic impact is likely to be minimal.

Hour Three

Monday  22 April 2013 / Hour 3, Block A:  Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: Kerry Asks Turkish Leader to Postpone Trip to Gaza  Secretary of State John Kerry expressed concern that a visit by Turkey’s leader could harm efforts to restart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.  Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Gaza despite a reported request by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that the visit be delayed, Hurriyet Daily News reported April 22. Kerry went to broker an agreement between Turkey and Israel. Made a demand on Erdogan not to visit Gaza before Erdogan's visit to the US -  which Erdogan refused; then equates the attack of Israeli soldiers with the death of innocents in the Boston bombings. Kerry carried away? Much outrage from many quarters. Must clarify very quickly.  The night of the Gaza provocation: intended to draw Israel into an ambush. Op was being run out of a Turkish port, by IHH (a terrorist-affiliated org); adults, not kids, attacked soldiers. The "aid" onboard was outdated, arms on board, never as intended as a humanitarian movement.  The Secretary got off track.

Monday  22 April 2013 / Hour 3, Block B:  . Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re:  Azerbaijan's stand against Iran. Historic visit by Azeri Foreign Minister; Pres Peres received and welcomed him with flowery language about how this visit will promote amity. Azerbaijan shares a long border w Iran and many Azeris live inside Iran; and the population is Shia, but Iran consistently carries out attacks against Azerbaijan, sends in spies, terrorists, attack teams. Az has taken a more moderate and pro-Western stand.  Aggressive Iranian threats & penetration vs Central Asia and Caucasus, in efforts to spread ideology and control. 

Why wd Hamas shoot rockets into Israel from Sinai? To avoid retribution from Egypt, which brokered a sort of peace deal. More and more unemployment & dissatisfaction in Gaza, so Hamas uses Sinai; Muslim clerics calim they wont top. Israel has set up a border fence and will be reluctant to enter Sinai to avoid clash with Egyptians – who are unable and perhaps unwilling to calm down Hamas.  Syria: found hundreds of bodies – rebel forces plus hundreds of civilians; highest casualties in the war.   Complex dynamics: war vs Assad, war between groups, war betw Shia and Sunni, war alongside and vs Russians. Hezbollah: families demonstrating against Hezbollah because they've lost family members.

Monday  22 April 2013 / Hour 3, Block C:  Fouad Ajami, Hoover, in re: Boston’s Terror and the Children of the Fault Lines  Bloomberg News.  Faisal Shehad shuttled back and forth to Pakistan.   . . . when I came to American in the early 60s, it took me eleven years to get back to Lebanon; with the Internet, the world is smaller and more dangerous.  Sayd Qutb is the Leninist of these Islamists.  Passports are means to cross borders, but loyalty is to Islam.  Egypt sent him to Greely, Colorado, to study US education - he perceived this small town as Sodom and Gomorrah.  We are literally open societies; we cannot track everyone, read e-mails. It’s the dilemma of living in this open society.

Monday  22 April 2013 / Hour 3, Block D:   Reza Kahlili, author, A Time to Betray, in re: QUDS FORCES PLANNED BOSTON BOMBINGS FOR 2 YEARS   Canada: Terror Suspects Supported By Al Qaeda Elements In Iran, Authorities Say   "Received support from al Qaeda elements living in Iran." Sleeper cell. These are part of a bigger network; activated; apprehended before committing the heinous crime. Should not be surprising. Canadian security svcs have  lot of people under surveillance' any movement of an asset, he'll be picked up. Quds Forces long have collaborated w al Qaeda to avoid any visible link to Iran. They run these ops,  have independent cells; network from one cell to another unaware of each ther. If arrested, have not much info. Intention to make it look like a standalone act of religious individuals. Recruiting Sunnis, Salafis – all unaware that behind the scenes is the Shia regime in Iran.   One of the busts in Canada is a doctoral student, highly educated – and naïf. Iranians are very careful about whom they pick. Canada was the entry point for Iranian agents to stop and learn the ropes, then n move into the US.  Basij News is denouncing Reza and his website, As soon as I identified the fact that Bassam Suleimani had released intell on Boston marathon, Iran put out multiple identical reports and condemnations.  Must be panicked.  /  Want to show tat our society is vulnerable, create fear, a warning to accept the Iranian nuke program, stop the sanctions. If we have two kids making bombs in pressure cookers, creates insecurity and fear.  Most operational assets have no knowledge of the bigger picture.  Look: how the Quds Force links to al Qaeda to continue to undermine the US and its friends.

The two suspects arrested and charged by Canadian authorities on April 22 for allegedly planning an attack on a passenger train in the greater Toronto area are not Canadian citizens and received direction and guidance from al Qaeda elements in Iran, officials with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said at a news conference, CBC reported. The arrests were made following a joint operation between Canadian and U.S. authorities, and the suspects, Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser, have reportedly been under surveillance for more than a year. Canada severed diplomatic relations with Iran in September 2012, but officials said there is no evidence that the plot in Canada was state-sponsored.

Hour Four

Monday  22 April 2013 / Hour 4, Block A:  Terry Anderson Hoover (Defining Ideas), PERC, in re: The Grand Canyon of Property Rights

Monday  22 April 2013 / Hour 4, Block B:  Gretchen Morgenson, NYT, in re:  Note to New S.E.C. Chief: The Clock Is Ticking   For a lot of cases involving questionable practices and disclosures arising from the mortgage bust of 2008, time is running out.

Monday  22 April 2013 / Hour 4, Block C:  Michael Luo, NYT, in re:  Seeking Gun or Selling One, Web Is a Land of Few Rules

Monday  22 April 2013 / Hour 4, Block D:   Rich Miller, Bloomberg, in re: Spring Swoon Sequel No Reason for Economic Growth Scare in U.S.  Like a horror movie with multiple sequels, The Economy: Spring Swoon IV probably won’t be as surprising or as scary as its predecessors. Repeating the pattern of the past three years, the U.S. is cooling off as the weather turns warmer, with job growth slowing, retail sales falling and manufacturing output dropping after gross domestic product surged an estimated 3 percent in the first quarter. What’s different this time? The slowdown isn’t unexpected: Economists surveyed by Bloomberg have had it penciled into their forecasts for at least a month.

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Music

Hour 1:  Flight of the Phoenix; Pirates of the Caribbean

Hour 2:  The Expendables; Tomorrow Never Dies; The Raid

Hour 3:  Zero Dark Thirty

Hour 4:  True Grit;  The Expendables