Cedric's Big Mix: 2014-03-23

Saturday, March 29, 2014

He didn't speak

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE

FADED CELEBRITY BARRY O WRAPPED UP HIS SAUDI ARABIA VISIT WITHOUT EVER RAISING ANY SIGNIFICANT ISSUES INCLUDING THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN SAUDI ARABIA -- THIS DESPITE HIS FOREVER POSING AS AN ADVOCATE FOR WOMEN.

REACHED FOR COMMENT BY THESE REPORTERS, BARRY O STATED, "LOOK, I TRAVELED TO THE DAMN COUNTRY. ISN'T THAT ENOUGH? AS IT IS, I'M BEHIND ON MY T.V. WATCHING BUT DOES ANYONE CARE ABOUT THAT? NOPE! I WENT THERE. WAS I ALSO REQUIRED TO SPEAK?"

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

We'll start with Congress. In yesterday's snapshot, we covered some of the Wednesday joint-hearing of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. Kat covered the hearing in "When stupid talks to stupid (Congressional hearing)" and Wally covered it in "Rural veterans (Wally)." The House Committee Chair is Jeff Miller, the Ranking Member is Mike Michaud (Wally covered Michaud in his post). The Senate Chair is Bernie Sanders. The Ranking Member is Richard Burr who was not present. Senator Johnny Isackson acted as Ranking Member.

The testimony came from the Veterans Service Organization The American Legion -- and the testimony was mainly presented by National Commander Daniel Dellinger. We'll note two more who accompanied him as we note the three questions Chair Bernie Sanders had.

Senate Committee Chair Bernie Sanders: Right now there are tens of thousands, mostly women, who are taking care of disabled vets -- in some cases 24-7 under great stress and this is just not easy to do. Some of us would like to see the Caregivers Act that we passed for the 9-11 veterans be extended. I would like your feelings on that. Should it be extended to all generations of veterans?

Daniel Dellinger: We do agree with your assessment on that, Mr. Chairman. It needs to happen. Our -- actually our Veterans Rehabilitation Committee Chairman [Ralph] Bozella has been looking into that and I'd like to ask him to give some comments on that.

Senate Chair Bernie Sanders: Thank you. Mr. Bozella?

Ralph Bozella: Thank you, Commander, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman and members. The Caregivers Act is the three pieces: the primary, the general and the family. And, as you stated, Mr. Chairman, the current way that it works is that with this new generation The Caregiver Act of the OIF and OEF is where the lion share of the funding is going. And what we would really like to see is that funding extended to the general and the family portion with the understanding that all veterans who need that care should be given the same financial resources to have that done in their homes.

Senate Committee Chair Bernie Sanders: Thank you. Second issue I'd like you to comment on, historically VA has covered dental care for service related problems. You have an oral problem? They're there. But for veterans who have dental problems that are not service related, there really is no care. Do you think we should begin the process through a pilot project or whatever expanding VA health care into the area of dental care.

Daniel Dellinger: We definitely agree with the assessment also because as we all know if you -- if you -- dental hygiene directly relates to-to the body which in turn would-would alleviate some infections and also improve the overall health of your body and would also -- should actually decrease the amount of treatments necessary for veterans.

Senate Committee Chair Bernie Sanders: Finally, one of the last things I want to touch on has been that some 2300 men and women have come home with wounds that make it difficult or impossible for them to have babies and have families. And some of us believe that the VA should help with in vitro fertilization, with the adoption process, to give them the opportunity -- if they want -- to have families. Is that a sensible proposal to you, Mr. Commander?

Daniel Dellinger: We've been looking at that. That was part of your bill. And we actually do not, at this time have a resolution on that. I'd like to turn this over to our legislative because they've been looking into this since your bill was introduced.

Brett Reistad: Senator, Mr. Chairman, indeed this is something that we are taking a look at. There are a lot of different issues associated with costs and types of procedures that would take place if this were something that the government funded. Uh, we anticipate that this is something that we will have a stance on at some point in time upon further study by our organization.

Okay, let's get real. For those late to the party, "your bill," the comment by Daniel Delligner, refers to the last week of February when there was a vote. Thursday, February 27th, Senator Patty Murray (who is the Senate Budget Committee Chair and was the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chair prior to Sanders) went to the floor of the Senate to make an incredibly strong argument for why this was needed. Late Thursday, as noted in the February 28th snapshot, the vote was shot down in the Senate.

And if you're as stupid as The American Legion hopes you are, that's not just where the story ends, it's also where it begins.

Poor American Legion. Last week of February and they can't just pull an opinion out of their ass.

That's what they hope you believe.

But thing is, it didn't start there.

When Senator Patty Murray was the Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, she introduced S. 3313, The Women Veterans and Other Health Care Improvement Act of 2012 to address this issue. She explained it at a June 27, 2012 Committee hearing (we covered that hearing in the June 27th and June 28th snapshots).

And am I mistaken or did Dellinger not tell the same two Committees September 10, 2013 that they'd place a special priority on health care for female veterans (I'm not mistaken, my notes show that he said they had a task force which did research from November 2012 to April 2013 which "focused on women veterans' health care").

So the point here is this has been proposed since 2012. The American Legion has refused to take a position on the issue.

And let's note something else about Commander Dellinger.

Did MST stop?

Did Military Sexual Trauma vanish?

Last time he gave the American Legion testimony, he could give lip service to the problem. If it's too much for you, maybe you should step down. I'm looking at my notes and when Fang Wong was National Commander of the Legion, he could address MST. It's really strange that Delligner came in so recently with so many promises and none of them are being met. If the Legion finally has the Women Veterans Outreach Coordinator, Wong noted (September 21, 2011 to the joint-hearing of the Veterans Affairs Committees) that they would be hiring one, the Legion doesn't value the position very much. I can see endless men and two two or three token women (like the "historian") as I flip through the Legion's webpages of various 'officers' or 'officials' or whatever b.s. titles they give themselves. I don't see the Women Veterans Outreach Coordinator. In in those miles and miles of elderly White men occupying one position after another, I don't see anything that young veterans can relate to.

Now I know at one point in 2011, the Legion had Amanda Leigh in that role -- while also making her hold down the post of Assistant Director of Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation Division. And if you search the Legion's website for her, you'll see they haven't noted her since 2012. So is she gone? Is the position gone? Seems like if you have a Women Veterans Outreach Coordinator, you note it at the website. Like maybe on your "Women Veterans" page. If the position still exists, how is any outreach taking place when a female veteran visiting the website would never find out about it?

Dellinger's doing a lousy job. Wednesday, he read a long statement -- which didn't note MST once in the 18 pages -- and then had no little to no knowledge of what he had just read. It was embarrassing.

I don't have any respect for the current leadership because they show no respect for Congress (or the people's dime) by showing up and thinking they can b.s. their way through a Congressional hearing and (b) they show no respect for women.

To be clear, there are a huge number of issues facing veterans. Stating publicly that you have no position? Many do say that -- some because their membership has no position, some because they don't want to get in the middle of a Congressional squabble. And I can respect that. I can even respect someone coming out against a needed measure. But the American Legion didn't just play the 'oh, we don't know' card this week, they've played it since 2012 and you're being played if you buy for a minute that this was a new issue for them. And it wasn't a 'new' issue in 2010 when the American Legion representative (attorney) for a veteran didn't show up in court to represent them -- do we want to go there, because I can go there.

So let flow the hydrants
And we'll dance in the spray
And we'll wash our dirty laundry
In the alleyway
-- "Put Your Love Out In The Street," written by Carly Simon, first appears on her Playing Possum

The American Legion has a really sad record on the in vitro issue. And maybe women veterans need to be aware of that when they're looking for a VSO that will serve them. 15 typed pages. Single-space. That's how long Dellinger's opening remarks were (he didn't get to read it all but was told it would go into the record). Yet he never mentioned MST. Not one damn time.

Women veterans need to know that.

Women veterans need to know that the American Legion is not a friend to them.

And if that truth hurts, Dellinger, maybe it's time the AL started delivering on all the public promises they've made to women veterans in the last three years.

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Friday, March 28, 2014

Where is the love?

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE

THEY SWORE THAT WHEN PEOPLE GOT TO KNOW OBAMACARE, THEY'D LOVE IT.

THE LOVE'S STILL NOT THERE.

In April of 2010, soon after the law passed, 50 percent of Americans said they were opposed to it, while 39 percent were in favor. Ten percent were on the fence.
Now, just 26 percent say they are in favor, a drop of 13 percentage points. Forty-three percent say they are opposed, a drop of 7 percentage points since that poll four years ago. But the number who neither support nor oppose the law has tripled, to 30 percent.

Read more here: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2014/03/28/3556814/poll-obama-health-law-fails-to.html#storylink=cpy

FOUR YEARS LATER AND AMERICANS DON'T LOVE IT. HELL, THEY DON'T EVEN LIKE IT.

THEY DIDN'T ASK FOR IT, THEY DIDN'T WANT IT.

IT DOES NOTHING BUT TAKE YOUR ABILITY TO PURCHASE HEALTH INSURANCE AND MAKE IT A REQUIREMENT THAT YOU DO.

LIKE THE MAN IT'S NAMED FOR, IT'S USELESS AND UNLOVED.

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Yesterday, US President Barack Obama made a fool out of himself as he attempted to justify and re-sell the Iraq War. William Rivers Pitt (Truthout) explains, "Truthout does not forget. We were at the forefront of the struggle against that disastrous war, and we will not stand idly by as an alleged "good guy" slaps a coat of paint over it to cover up the blood on the walls. President Obama sounds for all the world like a used car salesman trying to peddle a lemon, and that will not happen on our watch." DS Wright (Firedoglake) notes:

Yesterday President Barack Obama tried to claim that the United States government’s actions in the 2003 Iraq War were legal and different than Russia’s actions in Crimea because the US had “sought to work within the international system.” Apparently merely seeking to work within the international system is some kind of get out of jail free card. If one follows Obama’s logic then Russia need only to have “sought” a doomed UN resolution justifying the annexation of Crimea before doing so, this would have made their actions legitimate under Obama’s standard.

Pravda points out the curious nature of the speech itself, "The key event of Obama's European tour was his speech in the Brussels Palace of Fine Arts in front of 2,000 people. His lengthy discourse on the history and common values with Europeans was very quickly replaced with anti-Russian rhetoric.The speech turned out to be a dispute with Russian authorities, entirely devoted to the situation in Ukraine." Yes, it was a strange speech, both for topic and for tone. In fact, it was more of a spew than a speech. Greg Mitchell (The Nation) notes Barack's foolish remarks. The Voice of Russia notes:

Matt Howard and Ross Caputi, members of the Iraq Veterans Against the War, spoke with Common Dreams by phone and said that the president's narrative on the events that led up to the Iraq invasion, inside or outside the context of Ukraine, was simply "not grounded in reality." "We went from one lie, which was weapons of mass destruction, to another lie which was liberation and freedom," said Howard. "This idea that Iraq is somehow better off or that the US waged a so-called 'Good War' is ridiculous."

Let's note some Twitter reactions:

Teju Cole ‏@tejucole 9h

Obama's assertion that Russia's annexation of Crimea is worse than the U.S. invasion of Iraq is simply obscene. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/03/26/obama-defends-iraq-invasion-a-little/?swe …

Expand

مايا-Maya ‏@Mayyish 10h

Obama said "Iraq invasion not as bad as Crimea"..True, Iraq took 1million+ innocent lives & stole resources.. & well Crimea took 0... #logic

Collapse

Meanwhile, Justyn Dillingham (Salon) writes:

It is disingenuous to say that we “sought to work within the international system” without noting that we subsequently went to war in flagrant violation of international law. Even one of the war’s chief architects admitted that the invasion was not strictly legal. Richard Perle, one of the Pentagon’s most eager advocates of war on Iraq, said in November 2003 that international law “would have required us to leave Saddam Hussein alone” and that “in this case international law stood in the way of doing the right thing.” Even if the Bush administration would have preferred to go to war with the support of the United Nations, the fact remains that they went to war without it. Saying that the United States “sought to work within the international system” before invading Iraq is like praising a burglar because he checked to see if your door was unlocked before breaking a window.
The consequences of this reckless act go far beyond the awful human cost of the Iraq War. Our invasion of Iraq undermined the authority of the United Nations and created a dangerous precedent for other preemptive wars. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Bush’s war a “fundamental challenge” to the core principles of the United Nations and warned that it “could set precedents that [result] in a proliferation of the unilateral and lawless use of force, with or without credible justification.” Putin himself, in defending his actions in Crimea, cited the record of the United States in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.

While most focus on the Iraq aspect, Matthew Rothschild (The Progressive) chooses to call out Barack's speech for the WWI remarks. John Glaser (Antiwar.com) focuses on Barack's defense of the illegal Iraq War and observes, "This is perhaps the most asinine thing the president has said in the entirety of his presidency. The invasion of Iraq was an illegal, preventive war based on lies. It got hundreds of thousands of people killed and cost trillions of dollars. The U.S.-backed dictator of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki, is ruling the nation with an iron fist, as the country slips back into civil war. Nothing but chaos, ruin, and rivers of blood resulted from the criminal invasion. For Obama to even dare to compare Crimea to Iraq is a sick joke." And Patrick Martin (WSWS) points out:

The truth is that the war in Iraq was the greatest crime—up to now—committed in the 21st century. More than a million Iraqis lost their lives as a result of the US invasion and occupation, and Iraq was destroyed as a functioning society. The Bush administration openly declared that the Geneva Conventions and international law did not apply either to the war in Iraq or the previous conquest and occupation of Afghanistan, a position that the Obama administration continues to uphold.
Obama seeks to rally the world against the supposed crimes of Russia in Crimea, in which, as of this writing, two people have been killed (one Ukrainian soldier and one Russian), while opposing any prosecution of the American war criminals responsible for the immense bloodbath visited upon the people of Iraq.
Instead, the US president excused the monumental crimes of his own government with the statement, “Of course, neither the United States nor Europe are perfect in adherence to our ideals. Nor do we claim to be the sole arbiter of what is right or wrong in the world.”
Actually, the US government does claim that role. Administration after administration has declared the United States to be “the indispensable nation,” the sole superpower, the country whose military-intelligence apparatus must be the world’s policeman, and whose leaders are immune from any accountability for their actions.

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Thursday, March 27, 2014

Barry the b.s.-er

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE

LEAVE IT TO FADED CELEBRITY BARRY O TO TRY TO BLUFF HIS WAY THROUGH A MEETING.

TRAVELING TO VATICAN CITY, BARRY O MET WITH THE POPE.

"I'M A GREAT ADMIRER," BARRY O B.S.ED BEFORE HAVING TO ADMIT HE HADN'T READ POPE FRANCIS' EVAGNELII GAUDIUM. WHEN THE POPE GAVE HIM A COPY BARRY O INSISTED HE WOULD READ IT "WHEN I AM DEEPLY FRUSTRATED."

"TRANSLATION," HE SNARKED AS HIS MOTORCADE PULLED OFF, "WHEN MONKEYS FLY OUT MY BUTT!"

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Let's start with the big lie from US President Barack Obama today. Speaking in Brussels today, as he attempted to sell war on Russia, Barack declared that what's going on in Ukraine is nothing like the illegal war in Iraq and the illegal war was benign and helpful:

It is true that the Iraq War was a subject of vigorous debate – not just around the world, but in the United States as well. I happened to oppose our military intervention there. But even in Iraq, America sought to work within the international system. We did not claim or annex Iraq’s territory, nor did we grab its resources for our own gain. Instead, we ended our war and left Iraq to its people and a fully sovereign Iraqi state could make decisions about its own future.

It was not a subject of vigorous debate in the US. Those of who spoke out were told to "shut up." If you wanted to hear an argument against going to war on Iraq, your best chance was catching Janeane Garofalo or Michael Moore on Fox News. Fox would attack the guests, so praise for Janeane and Michael for going into the lion's den -- but they would allow the guests to express their views.

Elsewhere, people were just shut out. And worse. We've noted the journalist who left the Dallas Morning News and is at another daily today but remembers full well that orders went out to attack the anti-war critics. Sheryl Crow was attacked and slandered by the paper, said to be unworthy of her Grammy nomination. Why did the music critic write that? Why did she lie by arguing that instead of Sheryl being nominated a baby pop tart should have been nominated? Pop tart wasn't even eligible for a nomination because she had nothing to be nominated for -- the Grammy rules aren't secret and that includes the eligibility time period. She attacked Sheryl because she was under orders. In the local pieces, others were under orders as well. Which is how the local columnist attacked protesters in Dallas and compared their actions to treason. This was a hippie and a stoner. But he marched to the orders he was given.

I can do that on seven other daily newspapers, we're using the Dallas Morning News because its actions were in part an effort to continue to have the government allow it to skirt FCC regulations over ownership in local markets.

Yeah, Big Business profited from the Iraq War. The FCC was used to help sell the war and that is one of the many things that's buried today.

So Barack's a damn liar. There was no vigorous debate. A month before it started, in fact, the day after liar Colin The Blot Powell lied to the United Nations, "case closed" was the phrase the media began using.

Aaron Blake (Washington Post) reports on Barack's remarks and we'll note two comments to Blake's article:

drray-yup

9:13 PM CST

Then get out, as requested by the puppet governor we installed.

And:

macktan894

7:56 PM CST

Sorry, but this has stunned me into speechlessness. Not one country sanctioned the US for invading a sovereign country on a phony pretext, destabilizing it, occupying it, setting up an American govt....

And not one country ever sanctioned the US for its torture of suspects.

The US doesn't need to annex that which it occupies and then controls through puppet regimes.

This was totally unwise.

Jason Ditz (Antiwar.com) is on a streak this week. Yesterday he wrote something (we noted it in the snapshot) that I've already nominated for "Truest statement of the week" at Third and, writing today about Barack's nonsense remarks, Ditz cuts right through the nonsense:

“America sought to work within the international system. We did not claim or annex Iraq’s territory,” Obama insisted, going on to praise Iraq as a “fully sovereign state” that “could make decisions about its own future.”

Which is to say the US forced a puppet government into power before it left, despite Prime Minister Maliki losing the last election, and put in place an election system so crooked that even the Maliki-appointed election commission resigned en masse yesterday rather than take part in April’s planned vote.

Barack's refusal to note the lies that the US government told to start the Iraq War is understandable when you think of all the lies he and others in the administration (Secretary of State John Kerry, for example) have told to try to sway the public to support a war with Russia.

Everything Barack said above was a lie.

It is true that the Iraq War was a subject of vigorous debate – not just around the world, but in the United States as well. I happened to oppose our military intervention there.

We've noted there was no vigorous debate. Equally true, his claim to oppose the illegal war? Only before it started. Once it started, he was on board. I know because he told Elaine and I that when he was running for the Senate (and we left the fundraiser immediately and didn't give his campaign a dime).

But even in Iraq, America sought to work within the international system.

Lie. The United Nations provided no approval of starting a war. The statement that a second resolution would be sought was dropped when the US government learned (by illegal spying on UN representatives) that they didn't have the votes necessary, they started the illegal war anyway.

We did not claim or annex Iraq’s territory, nor did we grab its resources for our own gain.

Actually, the US government did and does. The illegal war was about markets -- that includes the oil market. The illegal war 'opened' the oil wells in Iraq. The country's being polluted as it tries to pump out as much oil as possible. There are pools, lakes, of oil in Iraq, on the surface, polluting the land, ensuring that less and less of it can be used for farming. Iraq's giving the world cheap oil and, in the process, destroying itself.

Instead, we ended our war and left Iraq to its people and a fully sovereign Iraqi state could make decisions about its own future.

We already quoted Jason Ditz addressing the nonsense of a 'fully sovereign' nation. So let's deal with 'we ended our war and left Iraq to its people' instead.

The US drawdown out of Iraq was completed by the end of December 2011. The US military called it a drawdown, not a "withdrawal." It wasn't a withdrawal. Not only did every US service member not leave Iraq at that time (Ted Koppel was the only one to report this in December 2011), but approximately 15,000 US troops were re-positioned to Kuwait. And, almost a year later, at the end of September 2012, Tim Arango (New York Times) reported:

Iraq and the United States are negotiating an agreement that could result in the return of small units of American soldiers to Iraq on training missions. At the request of the Iraqi government, according to General Caslen, a unit of Army Special Operations soldiers was recently deployed to Iraq to advise on counterterrorism and help with intelligence.

Barack's such a liar and he gets away with it because so many embrace lies. We'll come back to that at the end of the snapshot. Right now we'll note the immediate effect of Barack's latest nonsense. Julianna Goldman and Mike Dorning (Bloomberg News) report, "As Obama spoke, U.S. stocks fell, erasing earlier gains, on investor concern that the conflict may escalate. The Standard & Poor’s 500 lost 0.3 percent to 1,859.76 at 3:19 p.m. in New York, after earlier climbing to within three points of its record closing level reached March 7. "

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Wednesday, March 26, 2014

He's considering going blond

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE

FADED CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O WAS CAUGHT EYE BALLING QUEEN MAXIMA OF HOLLAND.

AN INDIGNANT BARRY O DENIED ANY SEXUAL INTEREST IN THE QUEEN WHEN QUESTIONED EARLY THIS MORNING BY THESE REPORTERS.

"EVERYONE KNOWS MY HEART BELONGS TO REGGIE LOVE!" BARRY O INSISTED. "I DID NOTICE THE QUEEN'S BLOND HIGHLIGHTS AND STUDIED THEM BECAUSE I'VE BEEN TOYING WITH SOME STREAKS OF MY OWN."

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Anadolu Agency reports a bombing targeted 3 Iraqi MPs. 3 bodyguards were killed in the bombing with another four wounded; however MPs Raad al-Dahlaki, Mohamed al-Khaldi and Abd al-Jabouri all three survived. All are members of Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi's Motahedoum coaltion. All three had planned to run in the upcoming elections; however, in a sign of the state of Iraq, surviving an assassination attempt doesn't mean you've now survived the last obstacle.

They were luckier than others today. National Iraqi News Agency reports Ghaidaa Hussein Khader was shot dead in Mosul (she belonged to the Alfadheelah Party).

But while Iraq is set to hold parliamentary elections on April 30th, that may not happen. Despite the assurances Sarbast Mustafa (head of the Independent High Electoral Commission's board) offered to All Iraq News yesterday that elections would take palce and be held "in every area in Iraq" and that "It is difficult to set a new mechanism to postpone the next elections in any area of Iraq including Anbar," those statements are now in doubt.

Today, AFP reports, "All of Iraq’s election commissioners presented their resignations to parliament Tuesday in a collective protest over political and judicial 'interference' in upcoming legislative polls, sources have said." What sort of interference? An attempt to strip them of their powers via a little noticed clause in a bill Nouri's Cabinet wrote and Parliament passed into law. BBC explains:

A clause approved last year allows for the exclusion of candidates considered not "of good reputation".

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, who is seeking a third term, has been accused of using the law to prevent his political enemies from standing.

Jason Ditz (Antiwar.com) provides context, "IHEC’s complaints roughly mirror those of the last election, that the Maliki government is trying to use the electoral law’s ban on candidates of “ill repute” to ban potential rivals en masse." AFP's Prashant Rao Tweets:

Indeed.

Al Mada reports that the Dawa Party was specifically accused of exploiting the judiciary to settle scores with political rivals. Dawa, for those who don't know, is Nouri's political party, State of Law is his coalition. Al Mada notes that the commission felt wrongly accused of bowing to Nouri's wishes to dismiss his political opponents, especially when the decisions were coming from the Baghdad judiciary.

In a statement the IHEC posted to their website, they insist the move was due to a need to protect the IHEC's integrity and that they await the approval of their resignations. Raheem Salman and Robin Pomeroy (Reuters) observe, "IHEC's sudden move further complicates the outlook for a vote already clouded by violence across the country where Sunni Islamist militants have regained momentum over the past year."

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Cedric's Big Mix