[P]erhaps the most mainstream marketers [are] running ads with military themes in mass media since the end of World War II.
••• Sorry you got PTSD. Here’s a coupon for a toaster.
Harold Salomon, a former senior financial analyst at [Louis Berger Group], discovered that company officials were sending bills for items like the cost of the music system in its Washington, DC office to the US Agency for International Development…
[T]he most interesting part of the deal is the helicopter package. These are not for use against Iran but are either for use against domestic opposition or more likely the Houthis.
••• Nir Rosen on the US-Saudi arms deal.
In an effort to convince the Netanyahu government to impose a three-month moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank, the Obama administration offered Israel last week a long list of security and diplomatic benefits, including 20 F-35s for free.
[A] dozen varieties of bullet casings found in Darfur bore markings indicating the ammunition had been manufactured in China.
••• The BBC gets a leak.
“[I]f you don’t have the brick wall of a Murtha, things might be easier for a president and congressional leaders trying to shape the Defense Department.”
••• Meanwhile, NPR is all over the US Congressional horse-race.
“If they can have the amount of fertilizer of 700k tons annually. If they can have the seeds— because until now, they do not have good high-tech seeds. And if they could have the fuel, plus the spare parts (for farm equipment) I’m sure they can produce enough food to feed their country”
••• North Korean Defections Continue Amid Food Shortage
“By buying your ticket you gave up a lot of rights.”
••• More brilliant “behavior detection” by the TSA.
Several people, including Somalis living in London, tried to help and cobbled together around $400,000 to pay off the pirates, Somali elders said, but that money was stolen by middlemen.
••• Do Somali pirates take PayPal? (We do!)
“How come we are now so luxury-oriented today?” he asked. “The transparency of contracts is not there. Why is the U.S. government giving contracts to the sons and relatives of officials of the Afghan government? We don’t do those contracts.”