9 days; 15.12.2002. 17:00:56 Maiden Air strike in Iraq no-fly zone

The official Iraqi news agency INA says United States and British warplanes have struck civilian sites in southern Iraq overnight. The agency quoted an Iraqi military spokesman who said planes had bombed civilian installations in the Wasset, Missan and Zi Qar provinces before returning to their bases in Kuwait. In Washington, the US Central Command said US and British planes patrolling southern no-fly zones had struck three military targets after its aircraft were threatened. There have been almost daily incidents in the northern and southern air exclusion zones, imposed since the end of the 1991 Gulf War. Iraq does not recognise the restrictions.
BTW, Global Fact: Adolf Hitler was Time's Man of the Year for 1938.
· Snow Flake v Avalanche [Third World War?]

DOCUMENTARY SERIES - COMMANDING HEIGHTS: THE BATTLE FOR THE WORLD ECONOMY - The Agony of Reform – Pt I to Pt VI

ABC’s loss is SBS’s gain. Thanks to bloggers like Alex Robson Australia is blessed with a series of the year 2002. The maiden episode focuses on the rise and fall of the Soviet planned economy; the rampant bureaucracy planned economy nurtured in India; the fate of isolationist reforms in Latin America; the miracle the “Chicago boys” wrought in Chile; and the sad tales of perestroika and the “lost decade. (From the US, in English, Russian, Polish and Spanish, English subtitles). · All bloggers are equal (but some are more equal than others) [SBS]

The Pomp and Pageantry of Nicolae Ceausescu a.k.a. Premier of the Bear Pit?

It happened in the same year Queen of the Great Britain paid the devil respect. On a hunting expedition in 1978 Ceausescu shot the biggest bear ever recorded. The bear had actually been specifically imported from Canada and Ceausescu was such a bad shot that it had to be drugged so he could shoot it.

The horrific though also tragic and hilarious Ceausescu personality cult had ended and the final curtain had fallen on the stage show. But even today, Romanians still live with the realities behind the illusion. Ceausescu’s theatrical regime concealed the most backward economy in central Europe. The final act has been over for a long time, but Romanians still inhabit the stage sets and scenery of the drama – intellectually, physically, politically and emotionally.
· Silly, very silly, Queen & MI5 who in 1978 celebrated Ceausescu [SBS]