Pakistani Naval Base Attacked: Pretty Sure This Can't Be Good

Four dead in PNS Mehran attack: news agency

KARACHI: Four people were killed in an armed attack Sunday by terrorists on PNS Mehran, a heavily guarded base of Pakistan Navy, located along Sharea Faisal, according to a foreign news agency.
TV images showed flames rising in the air from PNS Mehran where, according to sources, terrorists blew up a US made P-3C Orion plane of Pakistan Navy standing at the hangar.
According to military and intelligence officials, about 10-12 terrorists laced with hand grenades and sophisticated weapons entered PNS Mehran through PAF Musuem.

Sources said the commandoes have surrounded the assailants.
The attack has occurred at a facility of Pakistan Navy which is situated in a high security zone of the city and where no common citizen is allowed to enter.

I wonder where the Taliban got ahold of "sophisticated weapons?"  That's really curious..

And So It bin Laden Begins..

Global back channel current events just got really interesting, but not for any of the official reasons..

Osama Bin Laden Killed by US Forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan  The Official Story.

Bin Laden Is Dead ... But Why Didn't We Kill Him 10 Year Ago?    Washington's Blog.  Links from article, color emphasis mine.  Excerpts:

According to the U.S. Senate - Bin Laden was "within the grasp" of the U.S. military in Afghanistan in December 2001, but that then-secretary of defense Rumsfeld refused to provide the soldiers necessary to capture him.

This is not news: it was disclosed in 2005 by the CIA field commander for the area in Afghanistan where Bin Laden was holed up.
In addition, French soldiers allegedly say that they easily could have captured or killed Bin Laden in Afghanistan, but that the American commanders stopped them.
And:
Postscript: Of course, some people claim that Bin Laden was actually killed years ago. But as I pointed out in 2009, whether or not he was alive or dead was less important than the fact that the American government pretended that he was a supremely powerful boogeyman who justified an endless and all-consuming war on terror:

Many people claim that Bin Laden died a long time ago. According to Israeli intelligence, Pakistani intelligence, and other sources, Bin Laden is dead.
According to video experts and and top Bin Laden experts, recent Bin Laden videos are fake.
So if Bin Laden is alive, American leaders have to explain why they have repeatedly chosen not to pull the trigger.
And if he is dead, they have to explain why they are claiming that he's alive and authenticating his videos.

Really interesting-bordering-on-prophetic-timing..  Nuclear hellstorm if Osama bin Laden is caught or killed: Al-Qaeda     Dated April 25/Telegraphing the punch?  Excerpts:

Al-Qaeda terrorists have threatened to unleash a "nuclear hellstorm" on the West if their leader and world's most wanted terrorist Osama bin Laden is nabbed.

A senior al-Qaeda commander has claimed that the terror group has stashed away a nuclear bomb in Europe which will be detonated if bin Laden is ever caught or assassinated, according to new top secret files made public by internet whistleblower WikiLeaks.
..
The documents have been released to select European and US news outlets and reveal that the day 9/11 terror killings took place in United States, the core of al-Qaeda was concentrated in a single city of Karachi in Pakistan.

The War on Terror Is Over  The Daily Beast.  Excerpt:

Even before the U.S. killed bin Laden, the Arab Spring had already rendered him irrelevant. President Obama now has his best chance since taking office to acknowledge some simple, long-overdue truths. Terrorism does not represent the greatest threat to American security; debt does, and our anti-terror efforts are exacerbating the problem. We do not face, as we did in the 1930s, a totalitarian foe with global ideological appeal. We face competitors who, in varying ways, have imported aspects of our democratic capitalist ideology, and are beating us at our own game.

It's a ratings bonanza!  Osama bin Laden’s death drives traffic spike

Akamai’s Net Usage Index for News, which monitors global news consumption, showed a peak of almost 120,000 page views per minute to news sites just before midday AEST.

It may correspond to ‘heavy’ traffic in Australia, but it was nothing compared to worldwide figures; some 4,118,000 pages were being viewed each minute as President Obama made his speech.

Hinkyhinky hinkyass hinky..  Official: Bin Laden buried at sea  From Google via Godlike Productions.

Not even Day One!  Hour..  Six?  This one's gonna get crazy!

Pick Up That New File Marked: Global Revolution; Yemen And Hand It Here, Please..

Thousands in Yemen Protest Against the Government Excerpts:
Yemen, one of the Middle East’s most impoverished countries and a haven for Al Qaeda militants, became the latest Arab state to witness mass protests on Thursday, as thousands of Yemenis took to the streets in the capital and other regions to demand a change in government.

The scenes broadcast across the Arab world were reminiscent of demonstrations in Egypt this week and the month of protests that brought down the government in Tunisia. But as they climaxed by midday, the marches appeared to be carefully organized and mostly peaceful, though there were reports of arrests by security forces. Predictably, the protests were most aggressive in the restive south.
And:
While the marches were not marked by violence, the potential for strife in the country is difficult to overstate. It is beset by a rebellion in the north and a struggle for secession in the south. In recent years, the regional Al Qaeda affiliate has turned parts of the country, a rugged, often lawless swath of southwestern Arabian Peninsula, into a refuge beyond the state’s reach. Added to the mix is a remarkably high proportion of armed citizens.
..
He said a phrase often heard these days is that Yemen faces “tatasawmal” — the Somalization of a country that witnessed a civil war in the mid-1990s.

Part of Mr. Allaw’s worries sprung from the inability of the opposition to forge a unified message. Some are calling for secession, he said, while others are looking to oust the president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, through popular protests. Yet others, he said, simply wanted Mr. Saleh to undertake a series of reforms before elections in April.

Khaled Alanesi, a colleague of Mr. Allaw’s at the human rights group in Sana, said: “The opposition is afraid of what would happen if the regime falls. Afraid of the militant groups, Al Qaeda, the tribes and all the arms here.”

And the reason Yemen's demonstrations might have the least effect..

The demonstrations on Thursday followed several days of smaller protests by students and opposition groups calling for the removal of President Ali Abdallah Saleh, a strongman who has ruled this fractured country for more than 30 years and is a key ally of the United States in the fight against the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda.

The next few days will bear watching throughout the entire region. Discontent transitions from simmer to boil. How quickly, and how far, will that discontent spread?