A year after their uprising, Wukan's leaders see drawbacks to democracy

IN LATE 2011 residents of Wukan, a fishing village in the southern province of Guangdong near Hong Kong, paraded through its streets carrying banners with slogans such as "Down with dictatorship" and "Give us back our human rights". Their protests, which ended with a spectacular government climbdown and the election of rebel leaders as the village's new chiefs, inspired talk among China's reformists of a "Wukan model" for the spread of democracy. Yet in the village itself, one-time rebels are now far from happy about what they have achieved.

Few traces remain in Wukan of the revolutionary fervour that filled its narrow alleyways and numerous temple courtyards between late September and the end of December last year. Its extraordinary defiance during those weeks gripped China (or at least those with access to uncensored news, much of it spread by microblogs) and made headlines around the world. In the village government offices, which were ransacked last year by protesters and festooned with banners and posters demanding the return of land sold off by officials, rebels-turned-bureaucrats now sift through documents and talk to occasional visitors over tea served in tiny cups. On a building on the edge of the village one fading slogan can still be made out: "Corrupt officials must be punished for destroying our land".

Last year's protests resulted in some extraordinary concessions. Paramilitary troops who had surrounded the village, cutting off access even to supplies of food, lifted the blockade (many Wukan residents had feared they would storm the village and end the protests in a bloodbath). The village's hated leaders, including the Communist Party chief who had ruled it for more than 40 years, were detained. Early this year a series of elections was held (see photo). These resulted in Lin Zuluan, an agitator in his late 60s, taking over as party chief as well as village mayor. Senior Guangdong officials hailed the outcome. "Only when the masses are enraged can you truly understand the meaning of strength," said a deputy party chief of the province, Zhu Mingguo, in December. He called for a change of tactic, from "surveillance and control" of villagers to one of "consultation and co-ordination" with them. In February Sun Liping, an academic who was once a doctoral adviser to China's president-in-waiting, Xi Jinping, wrote in a Beijing newspaper that the incident was of "historic significance". It was proof, he said, that democracy and stability could go hand in hand.

But some Wukan villagers lament that their revolution has failed to live up to its promise. On September 21st, the anniversary of Wukan's first big protest, more than 100 residents gathered outside the village government's offices to complain. They claimed the new leadership was slow in getting back the land Wukan had lost as a result of the former administration's corrupt dealings. Plainclothes security officers were deployed to keep an eye on the protest and police cars patrolled the streets. Some villagers worry that their phones are being tapped, as they say they were during last year's uprising.

Higher-level officials have reason to be nervous. Another upheaval in Wukan would be deeply embarrassing to at least some in the party leadership in Beijing as it prepares for a once-in-a-decade transfer of power next month. Guangdong's relatively liberal party chief, Wang Yang, is thought to be a contender for one of the top positions in the new Politburo. His successful defusing of Wukan's unrest was widely seen as likely to boost his chances. Mr Wang's hardline critics in the party would have reason to cheer if his efforts appeared to unravel.

Poachers and gamekeepers

In late September, just before the anniversary, the village's new officials put up posters accusing "a few individuals with ulterior motives" of trying to foment "civil strife" in Wukan. One village leader, Hong Ruichao, says some of the protesters last month had common interests with the old administration. In their desperation for calm, the former rebels have adopted the conspiratorial language of those against whom they once struggled.

Yang Semao, a deputy village chief, says the "honeymoon is over" for his administration, which is responsible for the 8,000-odd permanent residents of Wukan as well as the land interests of another 3,000 or so who have moved elsewhere. He complains about the continuing influence in the village of the leaders he helped throw out (the top two were expelled from the party and fined, but to many villagers' chagrin were not jailed). He also accuses unnamed higher-level officials "in cahoots with the mafia" of obstructing the village's efforts to reclaim land that was sold off. Less than 60% of the nearly 450 hectares (1,100 acres) that the government says should be returned has been given back. Some villagers say higher levels of government have understated how much land should be handed over.

Put it to a vote

Residents are bitterly divided over what to do with the land they have recovered. On September 30th the new democratically elected village assembly met to vote on the issue. Twenty-five of the 80 or so representatives who turned up, including Mr Yang, who chaired the meeting, were in favour of keeping the returned land together in several large plots and sharing revenue from renting it out or developing it. Sixteen wanted to divide the land up among villagers. The rest abstained. A two-thirds majority of all the village's 109 representatives is needed to pass a resolution, so no decision was reached. Mr Yang says the assembly will meet again later this year or early next to have another go.

Before the uprising, Wukan had only ever convened one assembly meeting. That was in 1999 and was, says Mr Yang, a sham. Its members then were hand-picked by the village leadership, he says. But the novelty of rival interests clashing in a body that is freely elected (though not free to form political parties) appears to have done little to inspire. Mr Yang describes the assembly as too big to function effectively. He thinks it would do better if its size were cut by about half and its membership limited to people from the village "elite". He describes those who voted to split up the recovered land as "relatively poor, with limited insights and rather extreme views". He says that the next time the village elects an assembly, in 2014, he will try to mobilise better-educated people to stand. Chinese conservatives who argue that the country is not ready for democracy because villagers are too ignorant might sympathise with the one-time organiser of Wukan's barricades.

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James Bond films are almost always the same: Bond is sent to an exotic location, meets and seduces a woman, gets caught by the villain, escapes, kills the villain and gets the girl. Known for martinis, Bond girls, apocalyptic antagonists and heavy innuendo, Bond has schmoozed, boozed and bruised his way through women and villains alike.

Or not alike. Data compiled by The Economist show that of the six Bonds, Pierce Brosnan was the most bloodthirsty, bumping off an average of 19 baddies per film.

The short-lived George Lazenby, it turns out, was the Bond for the babes, whereas Daniel Craig, the latest, is notably less successful. Maybe that's because he drinks the most martinis. Still, all that risks being short-lived. In the new Bond film, "Skyfall", Heineken has paid to ensure the hero only drinks beer. Neither shaken nor stirred, presumably.

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The most wanted men in Mexico are tumbling. Will crime follow suit?

IN MARCH 2009 the Mexican government published a list of 37 men believed to be running drug gangs. The alleged bandits were named and rewards of up to 30m pesos ($2m) each were offered for their capture. The government's normally stodgy official gazette listed the villains by their nicknames: Monkey, Beardy, Taliban and so on. It was a risky decision: the list could have become an embarrassment if its members had remained free.

But most have not. Three and a half years on, security forces have arrested 16 of them and killed seven. Two more have been murdered by rivals. That leaves just 12 at large--though among them is the leader of the Sinaloa "cartel", Joaquín Guzmán (known as El Chapo or "Shorty"), who is the most wanted of all.

On October 7th the marines killed the latest target, Heriberto "The Executioner" Lazcano, who was allegedly head of the Zetas, one of Mexico's two most powerful mobs. In an embarrassing twist, government officials thought they had merely dispatched a common criminal until a group of gunmen--presumably fellow Zetas--entered the funeral home where the body was kept and drove off with it in a hearse. Conspiracy theorists now wonder if Mr Lazcano faked his own death and is living out his days under a parasol in Cancún. Fingerprints and photos of the corpse suggest otherwise.

Snatched bodies aside, the downing of so many drug lords is a success for Felipe Calderón, whose presidency will end on December 1st. The Gulf "cartel", one of the region's oldest and most powerful mafias, has been virtually wiped out. (Its boss, Jorge Costilla, was arrested last month.) The Beltrán Leyva organisation, once so formidable that it infiltrated the attorney-general's office, is all but gone. The Zetas have been hurt by a series of arrests this year. Even Sinaloa, the strongest and canniest group, has lost important members.

What is it good for?

Despite it all, the murder rate is nearly twice as high as it was when Mr Calderón took office six years ago. In some cases the capture of kingpins has led to feuds among their deputies, fuelling the violence. Mr Calderón admits that the fall of Mr Lazcano might not immediately calm things down, though he says he expects a "period of stabilisation" to follow a "readjustment of the criminal organisations".

But when? It is nearly three years since the killing of Arturo Beltrán Leyva, and his old fiefs of Guerrero and Morelos now see 60% and 180% more murders than they did when he was alive. "It is precisely because there has not been an authority to replace that hegemony," Mr Calderón says. "If a cartel is weakened and made vulnerable, as the Beltrán Leyvas were, but there is no authority to assume the roles of leadership and enforcement, clearly that prolongs the situation." The blame, he implies, lies with state and local governments. "I would like nothing more than to be mayor of Acapulco [in Guerrero] as well...but the truth is that there is a local government and there is a governor of Guerrero, who between them have 5,000 police, and the desirable thing is that those police work. And while that doesn't happen, well, evidently a process of instability will continue."

A national vetting scheme has weeded out some of the worst police. But so far ten of the 31 states (including Guerrero) have not evaluated even half their forces. The federal police, by no means completely clean, enjoy greater public confidence: 55% think they do a decent job, versus 42% for state police and 36% for local police. Enrique Peña Nieto, the president-elect, has promised to swell the federal police's ranks by drafting in 40,000 soldiers.

Some individual captures do seem to have helped. José Antonio Acosta, who has admitted to planning hundreds of killings for the Juárez gang in Chihuahua, was arrested in 2011. So far this year murders in the state have fallen by about a third. The removal of bloodthirsty lieutenants such as Mr Acosta may be less destabilising than the falls of capos. "If you're taking out the middle layer, the risk of succession fights might be diminished," says Alejandro Hope of IMCO, a think-tank. The recent captures of various mid-ranking Zetas, such as "El Lucky" and "the Squirrel", might limit the infighting following the death of their leader.

Mexico's national murder rate has fallen by 8% this year, the first decline since drug-related violence took off in 2008. Mr Peña, who vowed to lead a "government that keeps its promises" during his campaign, says he aims to reduce it by half during his six-year tenure. (He will take last year's rate as the base, giving him a small head start.) That is an ambitious goal. But as the dwindling most-wanted list shows, unlikely targets can sometimes be hit.

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The official position is that the US has refused to allow heavy weapons into Syria.

But there's growing evidence that U.S. agents—particularly murdered ambassador Chris Stevens—were at least aware of heavy weapons moving from Libya to jihadist Syrian rebels.

In March 2011 Stevens became the official U.S. liaison to the al-Qaeda-linked Libyan opposition, working directly with Abdelhakim Belhadj of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group—a group that has now disbanded, with some fighters reportedly participating in the attack that took Stevens' life.

In November 2011 The Telegraph reported that Belhadj, acting as head of the Tripoli Military Council, "met with Free Syrian Army [FSA] leaders in Istanbul and on the border with Turkey" in an effort by the new Libyan government to provide money and weapons to the growing insurgency in Syria.

Last month The Times of London reported that a Libyan ship "carrying the largest consignment of weapons for Syria … has docked in Turkey." The shipment reportedly weighed 400 tons and included SA-7 surface-to-air anti-craft missiles and rocket-propelled grenades. 

Those heavy weapons are most likely from Muammar Gaddafi's stock of about 20,000 portable heat-seeking missiles—the bulk of them SA-7s—that the Libyan leader obtained from the former Eastern bloc. Reuters reports that Syrian rebels have been using those heavy weapons to shoot down Syrian helicopters and fighter jets.

The ship's captain was "a Libyan from Benghazi and the head of an organization called the Libyan National Council for Relief and Support," which was presumably established by the new government.

That means that Ambassador Stevens had only one person—Belhadj—between himself and the Benghazi man who brought heavy weapons to Syria.

Furthermore, we know that jihadists are the best fighters in the Syrian opposition, but where did they come from?

Last week The Telegraph reported that a FSA commander called them "Libyans" when he explained that the FSA doesn't "want these extremist people here."

And if the new Libyan government was sending seasoned Islamic fighters and 400 tons of heavy weapons to Syria through a port in southern Turkey—a deal brokered by Stevens' primary Libyan contact during the Libyan revolution—then the governments of Turkey and the U.S. surely knew about it.

Furthermore there was a CIA post in Benghazi, located 1.2 miles from the U.S. consulate, used as "a base for, among other things, collecting information on the proliferation of weaponry looted from Libyan government arsenals, including surface-to-air missiles" ... and that its security features "were more advanced than those at rented villa where Stevens died." 

And we know that the CIA has been funneling weapons to the rebels in southern Turkey. The question is whether the CIA has been involved in handing out heavy weapons from Libya.

In any case, the connection between Benghazi and the rise of jihadists in Syria is stronger than has been officially acknowledged.

SEE ALSO: Don't Believe What Politicians Saying About The Benghazi Attack >

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It's hard to tell which is more astounding: that the U.S. government is preparing to jail a CIA whistleblower for "outing" a covert CIA agent — a felony — or that the outed agent is "well known" to be a torturer of profound talent, and horrific capabilities.

Prosecutors won a hard fought judgement a few days ago, one which will make their case a whole lot easier. 

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema issued the ruling Tuesday that prosecutors will not have to prove John Kirakou intended harm when he alegedly divulged secret information to three journalists, only that he only that “reason to believe” the leak could cause harm.

The distinction is one that puts him considerably closer to serving a long sentence for essentially blowing the whistle on a highly controversial, incredibly opaque process of rendition and "torture."

The story started when John Kiriakou blew the whistle on the CIA's torture program in 2007 during an interview with ABC. The interview, in which he seemed to defend the technique of waterboarding while simultaneously condemning it as an undeniable form of torture, revealed Kiriakou's role facilitating the Rendition, Detention, Interrogation (RDI) CIA teams in the case of alleged terrorist Abu Zubaida.

According to a Dana Priest article titled "Wrongful Imprisonment: The Tale Of A CIA Mistake," RDI is:

Members of the Rendition Group follow a simple but standard procedure: Dressed head to toe in black, including masks, they blindfold and cut the clothes off their new captives, then administer an enema and sleeping drugs. They outfit detainees in a diaper and jumpsuit for what can be a day-long trip. Their destinations ... one of the CIA's own covert prisons -- referred to in classified documents as "black sites."

The checklist for ending up in one of these sites was pretty general, as one counterterrorism official told Priest, "Whatever quality control mechanisms were in play on September 10th were eliminated on September 11th."

When Zubaida finally got his day in court, sealed legal defense documents contained the names of two covert CIA employees (one an agent, another an asset) involved in Zubaida's torture — they were dubbed 'Official A' and 'Official B' in Kariaku's indictment.

The officials have since been identified, and their names have been posted to Cryptome.

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake reports:

The identity of “Covert Officer A,” which Kiriakou is alleged to have revealed, was a prime torturer in the agency. He allegedly abused and saw to it that detainees were abused. On the other hand, Kiriakou’s “crime” is that he went on television and told the country waterboarding was indeed torture at a moment when the Bush administration did not want that to be part of public discussion.

A former government official with close ties to the case, on condition of anonymity, told Gosztola the CIA was “totally ticked at Kiriakou for acknowledging the use of torture as state policy.” The official said the CIA hoped to make an example out of Kiriaku.

The official also said that the identity of 'Official A' was never really that secret, that many members of human rights organizations had found out his name prior to 2008 date of the supposed Kiriakou leak.

From Goztola:

These individuals in the human rights community have known that the agent allegedly ensured detainees were “properly rendered and tortured,” according to the source, who alleges they have known he took part in “sadistic acts of horrendous conduct against the detainees” and have engaged in what appears to be a “code of silence” protecting the individual while the Justice Department prosecutes Kiriakou. 

So Kiriakou is set to possibly go to jail for as many as 50 years on several federal charges, while meanwhile the outed CIA 'prime torturer' is retired and living in Virginia. The Kiriakou case is another example of the Obama administration's hard line on whistleblowers and leakers.

NOW SEE: This Author Opens Up About CIA Source, Bungled Bin Laden Ops, And The Coming Cyber War >

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AFP is reporting a huge car bomb in Beirut has killed 8 and wounded 78.

Al-Jazeed reports (via Reuters) that top Lebanese security official Wissam al-Hassan was killed.

Al Hayat correspondent Joyce Karam Tweeted some context on what that means:

"The explosion, which took place at the popular Sassine Square, struck around 3 p.m. as many students were leaving school," local site Daily Star reported. 

No one has yet claimed responsibility. The Guardian reports Syria has condemned the attack, though some are already blaming the Assad regime, the Star said.

There are also conflicting reports about what exactly caused the explosion — an AlJazeera correspondent said she believed the blast came from inside a building, according to The Guardian. 

They also cite the El-Nashra website saying the explosion ripped through a building housing a branch of BEMO – a Syrian bank.

AP has raw video:

Eyewitnesses have already begun posting terrifying images of the scene:

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Newsweek announced Wednesday that it was ending its print edition and moving completely online. One of Britain's flagship publications, The Guardian, is also "seriously considering," according to reports, ending its print editions. And the Wall Street Journal seems to be losing money hand over fist.

It might seem like a matter of time, as if it were written in stone, that publications would migrate to an online format. There are a few concerns though, three in particular, that we should be aware of, precisely because our new form of media isn't written in stone.

- Number 1 — Security And The Free Press: Concentrating our media along one means of transport has its advantages, sure, but as we learned in Egypt, kill switches can quickly end all online communications. If our flagship publications, ones meant to inform the populace and keep the political arm in check, are suddenly vaporized by a government kill switch, we'll all be searching for a printing press.

- Number 2 — Revisionist History: Online ad revenue just surpassed that of print publications. What does this mean? That online writing is now the preferred means of public 'print' information. The only problem with online writing is that it can be "edited live." Anyone who runs a website knows what I mean — something put into print on the web certainly isn't written in stone, it isn't written at all, it's live, and can be revised at the website's or writer's will.

Live editing opens the door to Orwell's 1984 character Winston Smith and the Ministry of Information. Smith was the dystopic journalist, in charge of rewriting the past to fit the needs of the present.

People used to call The New York Times the publication of record, but that phrase hinges on an actual print edition of the newspaper. Print cannot be live edited. In the age of online writing, gone are the days of diligent journalists surfing through microfiche copies of newspapers in order to cobble together lengthy stories — everything can be easily changed after the fact, editing what would otherwise be written history — I shouldn't need to mention how this could be used under the regime of secretive and suppressive governments.

(Some websites give you, the reader, the courtesy of admitting to "updates" or "edits" or "corrections" on the front of their articles, but this just reinforces the illusion of the web being a form of print media.)

- Number 3 — The Web Relies On Electricity: So does your ebook and your smart phone and all that other new age stuff we use to disseminate information. Recently we've been covering the susceptibility of infrastructure to terrorist cyber attacks. Without hard copies of news in circulation, a strike at our infrastructure would be a crippling blow to our most relied upon forms of communication.

Furthermore, with nothing really written, is it ever really recorded? Writing on rocks has survived for tens of thousands of years. Writing on the web wouldn't survive a nanosecond without electricity. We should consider as we move our means of storing information to the digital world — whether it's news, medical records, or scientific breakthroughs — that the maintenance of that information is not only dependent on the flow of energy, but that the loss of which would set us back to the years of our early dependency on the web.

Meanwhile, I have stacks of Time Magazine and the New York Times in my bedroom.

The Times, the U.S. publication of record, how long before the goes too? A conversation I once had with former Times editor Howell Raines indicates that it might be soon.

We should beware the transition.

NOW SEE: Here's How The US Invited Iran To Launch Cyber Attacks On Big Banking >

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Getting heavy stuff to locations far away, without spending a ton of money on fuel, and without the need for a runway is a dream of military planners and corporations alike.

Enter, the Aeros blimp: It can land without a runway, deliver high-tech wind farming equipment, and carry incredible tonage. The blimp would remove troops from roadways, relieve pressure on energy consumption, and put logistics in the sky, away from the enemy.

Furthermore, like a lot of military hardware, it might just end up seeing time on commercial side of flight. 

Meet the AerosCraft. The 1st Rigid Variable Buoyancy Air Vehicle in the world.

The AerosCraft uses a lightweight yet yet incredibly strong interior frame to carry large loads, long distances, at great altitudes

The AerosCraft could revolutionize wind farming by delivering large turbines to remote locations

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A top Lebanese security official closely allied to Sunni leader Saad Hariri was killed in the massive car bombing in Beirut on Friday, Liz Sly and Ahmed Ramadan of the Washington Post report.

The official, Maj. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan, headed the national police intelligence unit and was famous for having led the investigation that exposed the alleged role by the Shiite Hezbollah movement in the assassination of Hariri’s father in 2005.

“This is a big, big, big event, and one cannot begin even to think through the repercussions,” Mohammed Chatah, an adviser to Hariri, told the Post. “Wissam al-Hassan was a very important man in Lebanese politics, he was an important man in the great divide splitting the country and he was an important man in the police work that has uncovered many sensitive things.”

The advisor noted that the assassination can only be understood in light of al-Hassan's investigative work and closeness to the Hariri family.

Lebanese Sunni Muslims taken to the streets across the country, some burning tires, to protest the killing of al-Hassan.

The blast, which killed eight people and injured more than 80, is the deadliest attack in Beirut since 2008 and brings the violence threatening the region into the heart of Lebanon’s capital.

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri has also accused Assad, Reuters reports, and The New York Times quotes a member of Lebanese parliament who said it "is clear that the Syrian regime is responsible."

The Times notes that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad there were offices of two Lebanese political groups that oppose Assad near the blast site, Assad has long been an influential political force in Lebanon and he is closely aligned with Hezbollah.

SEE ALSO: Persian Gulf States Are Telling Their Citizens To Leave Lebanon 'Immediately' As Syrian War Spills Over >

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Silent Circle, the military-grade encryption and information protection app that we covered recently, is now officially for sale on Apple's App Store, as of this week.

The following available apps are:

Silent Phone: The voice encryption app is available for iOS now and Android soon to come. It's WiFi, Edge, 3G or 4G compatible anywhere in the world.

Silent Text: The "burn" feature can help users determine when private texts will be deleted from both sender and recipient's route registries. 

Silent Eyes: Encrypted audio and video teleconference through Silent Circle's custom HD network. Available for Windows, soon on Mac.

Silent Circle is an ingenious design which uses custom encryption keys generated and subsequently destroyed for every transmission. Not only can the transmissions themselves be destroyed, but the self-destructing encryption code means that encrypted information cannot be dug up via reverse engineering.

The creators of the app say their intent is not to aid and abbet potential criminals, but to support the safe communications of military, government, and secret operators in their travels abroad — though they are aware that anyone can use this app, and have been recently given "the hair eyeball" from international government agencies, according to cocreator and Navy SEAL Mike Janke.

The whole batch of three apps can be bundled for a cost of $20 a month.

NOW SEE: Here's How The U.S. Should Have Known Iran Would Cyberattack Major Banks >

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The CIA is "urging the White House to approve a significant expansion of the agency’s fleet of armed drones," according to  U.S. officials and reported by Greg Miller of the Washington Post.

What's odd is the CIA refused to acknowledge involvement in the U.S. drone program during a lawsuit brought by the ACLU that seeks documents describing the legal basis for using drones and statistics of civilian casualties.

The CIA refused Freedom of Information Act Requests on the grounds that it cannot confirm drone use.

In court last month the ACLU cited statements by high-ranking U.S. officials that seemed to reference the CIA's drone program, but government lawyers countered that the statements about drones do not specifically refer to the CIA.

ACLU lawyer Jameel Jaffer told the Associated Press the government has "repackaged" the same argument that "they haven't acknowledged the CIA uses drones to carry out targeted killings."

If Washington Post is to believed, the government shouldn't be able to make that argument anymore.

From Washington Post:

The proposal by CIA Director David H. Petraeus would bolster the agency’s ability to sustain its campaigns of lethal strikes in Pakistan and Yemen and enable it, if directed, to shift aircraft to emerging al-Qaeda threats in North Africa or other trouble spots, officials said.

If approved, the CIA could add as many as 10 drones, the officials said, to an inventory that has ranged between 30 and 35 over the past few years.

The Post notes that the decision by the White House will impact whether the CIA "gradually returns to being an organization focused mainly on gathering intelligence, or remains a central player in the targeted killing of terrorism suspects abroad."

It doesn't get much clearer than that.

SEE ALSO: Judges Poke Holes In CIA Efforts To Hide The 'Secret' US Drone Program >

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Air Force One, the call sign of whichever Air Force plane the President of the United States is flying on, has long been known for the security and comfort it provides its famous cargo.

But everything changed with Sept. 11, 2001. The crew realized the plane had weaknesses. It lacked features that would have let President George W. Bush address the nation.

The Presidential Airlift Group (PAG), in charge of Air Force One, stepped up its game, and managed to take Bush to Baghdad on a top-secret mission in the dark of night to serve Thanksgiving dinner to troops in 2003.

The National Geographic Channel took a behind-the-scenes look at the Flying White House in "Onboard Air Force One," an in-depth look at the PAG, the cavernous hangar at Andrews Air Force Base (AFB) that Air Force One calls home, and everything the aircraft has to offer the president and his trusted advisers. 

The security starts in this massive hangar at Andrews AFB, where Air Force One and its twin stay

There are two so if one malfunctions another is available to sweep the President off to where he needs to be

Parts are repaired or replaced as soon as they show the slightest wear and tear

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Months after a congressional report stated that controversial X-ray body scanners are a waste of money, the TSA has begun removing them from major airports.

Michael Grabell of Pro Publica reports that the TSA has replaced the scanners at Boston Logan International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Chicago O'Hare, Orlando and John F. Kennedy in New York with machines that radiation experts believe are safer.

Although the TSA insists that it made the decision to speed up checkpoints at busier airports, Grabell notes that the swaps mean that far fewer passengers will be exposed to radiation since the scanners are being moved to smaller airports.

TSA began rolling out the scanners nationwide after the failed Christmas Day 2009 underwear bombing. Privacy advocates were outraged that the machines produce blurred images of passengers' naked bodies that are reviewed, one by one, by a TSA officer.

The replacement machines, known as millimeter-wave scanners, detect potential threats automatically using a computer program and display a generic cartoon image of a person's body. 

SEE ALSO: Blogger Claims To Expose A Flaw In The TSA's Nude Body Scanner >

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Things could be about to get bad in Libya — rebel militias have reportedly been preparing a large-scale assault on the former pro-Qaddafi stronghold of Bani Walid, revealing how strong internal tensions are one year after the death of Muammar Qaddafi.

Forces from the city of Misrata (an anti-Qaddafi stronghold) are gearing up for what the Guardian called a "final assault" on the Bani Walid, which allegedly still harbors some of Qaddafi's allies. The planned attack is a response to the death of a detained rebel fighter, Omran Shaban, according to Reuters.

Shaban — who also happens to be the one who found found Qaddafi hiding in a drain pipe in Sirte — was abducted two months ago by his enemies before he was allegedly tortured to death. The Misrata-based militias are retaliating by shelling and attacking Bani Walid. Ten people have already died and scores have been injured.

France 24's Observers blog notes that many militants seem to be posting videos online that show off their numbers and firepower. One Misrata-based militia posted this video to YouTube this week (although it is not clear when it was filmed), showing what looks like hundreds of trucks with heavy artillery attached to the back preparing for some sort of large-scale assault:

See More: US ambassador Chris Stevens may have been linked to jihadist rebels > 

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As tensions between China and Japan in the China Sea make headlines, it's easy to believe all the fuss is from a couple little islands atop a big pile of petroleum reserves.

Maybe it is, and maybe it isn't. The Japanese invaded China twice over the last 81 years and half the 20 million people killed by the Japanese during World War II were Chinese.

Check out the bunkers >

China says 35 million of its citizens were killed or wounded during the 14 year Japanese occupation and numbers like this don't just slip to the past.

Starting in 1931, China fiercely fought the invasion and carved a series of tunnels through living rock across much of the eastern part of the country. Today these tunnels look out over modern and prosperous Chinese cities filled with millions of Chinese who gaze back into a past they're not likely to forget anytime soon.

Hoping to understand the ancient enmity between China and Japan we looked to urban explorer Darmon Richter who brings us inside the tunnels and bunkers with pictures from his site The Bohemian Blog. 

This portion of bunkers overlooks Qingdao, a place many consider China's most beautiful city. But like the rest of China, Qindao overlooks its past as it looks to the future and offers some context about the disputes happening in the region today.

Some things are just a bit more than they seem.

The climb up Fu Shan Mountain towards Dragonback Ridge takes around an hour, and allows for breathtaking views out over the city of Qingdao and the ocean beyond.

We were still a little way off the rumored entrance to the tunnels, when we spotted the first gun turret - looming out of the mist above us.

On closer inspection the turret was sealed, with a passage leading into the back of it from deep within the mountain.

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The custom of painting a mascot onto an aircraft is nothing new, but this is the first time we've seen one quite so lively and in this particular style.

To celebrate the its 20th anniversary, Japan's 4th Anti Tank Helicopter Unit painted this Anime yura kyara (mascot) onto an AH-1S Cobra. The character's name is 1st Lt. Kisarazu Akane and is apparently one of many works of this kind, in a style that has been largely forgone by the West. Check out the ceremony video below.

During the September mine clearing exercise in the Persian Gulf I spent a day aboard a Japanese mine sweeper photographing what life is like aboard a Japanese Navy ship. I'll be posting that story and photo essay soon.

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We first posted this several weeks ago and it proved such an enjoyable weekend distraction, that in case you missed it, we're posting it once more.

Filmed over 12 months by fighter crews themselves with a Sony Handycam, the one-of-a-kind video highlights what it's like to fly in the cockpit of one of the best air-to-air fighter planes ever built, during all kinds of maneuvers. 

The video uploaded to LiveLeak runs to over nine minutes and is well worth it, but be ready to adjust the soundtrack volume.

Now: See why we were blown away aboard the Navy destroyer USS Barry >

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After 50 years of war--the longest in the Western Hemisphere, the New York Times notes--the Colombian government and representatives from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) sat down in Hurdal, Norway, to seriously try to talk things out.

The rebel group is a big reason many people associate white powder with the South American country, as they're one of the United States' main suppliers of cocaine. FARC also makes money by kidnapping, extortion, and illegal gold mining, according to The Guardian.

One of the rebel negotiators, Ricardo Téllez, said his group actually "detests" drug trafficking, and that they simply charge actual traffickers a tax when they visit FARC's territory, the Cauca region where much coca, the plant cocaine comes from, is grown.

They also say they gave up kidnapping in February, to get the talks started. At least 400 families are still missing loved ones, although FARC says a sweep of their territory didn't uncover anyone, Colombia Reports said in September.

The two sides have tried to work things out before, and each side is accused of playing dirty at times. In the 80s, for example, FARC agreed to a cease-fire and formed a political party called Patriotic Union. Right-wing paramilitary groups then killed most of party's members and leaders.

Later on, when then-president Andrés Pastrana gave the rebels a Switzerland-sized area of land, they went ahead and planted cocaine and trained troops.

In the past few years, with money legally acquired from the US, Colombia's military has gotten much stronger and better-equipped. At the same time, FARC's numbers have dwindled from 17,000 to 9,000. But they've still been pretty active, with one of their missiles landing in a clinic in July.

If the rebels do lay down their weapons, the next round of peace talks are scheduled to take place in Cuba in November.

NOW SEE: A Really Gritty Account Of The War In Afghanistan >

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The White House dismissed reports a deal had been reached for one-on-one nuclear talks with Iran but said it was still working on a "diplomatic solution".

The report and subsequent denial come at a key point in the US presidential campaign, with incumbent Barack Obama set to face Republican rival Mitt Romney on Monday in their last of three debates - this one focused on foreign policy.

Earlier, the New York Times - citing unnamed officials in the Obama administration - reported that the United States and Iran had agreed to one-on-one negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program.

The agreement was the result of secret talks between the two sides, the report said, adding that Iran had insisted that the negotiations not begin until after the US presidential election on November 6.

But National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor quickly threw cold water on the Times report.

"It's not true that the United States and Iran have agreed to one-on-one talks or any meeting after the American elections," Vietor said in a statement.

Vietor said Washington would continue to work with global powers on a "diplomatic solution" to the nuclear standoff with Tehran. The US "said from the outset that we would be prepared to meet bilaterally," he added.

Western powers accuse Tehran of seeking to develop a nuclear bomb, charges which Iranian leaders deny, saying their nuclear energy program is purely for civilian purposes.

Negotiations between the so-called P5+1 global powers - Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States - and Tehran over its nuclear program have stalled. Tough sanctions are aimed at forcing a breakthrough.

Russia said Thursday that a new round of talks between Iran's chief negotiator and six-nation representative Catherine Ashton, the European Union's foreign policy chief, could take place in November.

Romney has repeatedly accused Obama of having a weak stance on Iran. He has said he supports the same "red line" as Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu - preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capacity.

But earlier this month he tamped down the rhetoric, saying any US military intervention was "a long way" off.

Obama has consistently drawn the line on not allowing Iran to acquire a nuclear bomb - a distinct difference from Netanyahu's line on achieving weapons "capacity."

Obama "has made clear that he will prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and we will do what we must to achieve that," Vietor said Saturday.

"It has always been our goal for sanctions to pressure Iran to come in line with its obligations. The onus is on the Iranians to do so, otherwise they will continue to face crippling sanctions and increased pressure," he added.

US officials cited by the Times said the negotiations aimed at securing direct US-Iran talks were conducted with people who report to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but it was unclear if he had signed off on the deal.

US officials also expressed concern that the Islamic republic could try to use the talks to stave off military action, buying time to complete elements of its nuclear program at hidden sites.

The Iranian side said it would like the talks to have a broader agenda including Syria and other issues that have bogged down relations between Washington and Tehran, the report said.

"We've always seen the nuclear issue as independent," one administration official told the Times on condition of anonymity. "We're not going to allow them to draw a linkage."

Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, told the newspaper that the administration had not yet informed his country of any agreement on talks.

"We do not think Iran should be rewarded with direct talks," Oren said.

Before Vietor issued his statement, officials at the White House and the State Department had no comment when contacted by AFP about the Times report.

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