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Andrew Osborn and Polina Devitt at Reuters ("the world’s largest international multimedia news provider") report something-wholly-to-be-expected.
Money quote(s):
"The U.S. Embassy said it was suspending all non-immigrant visa operations across Russia on Wednesday and that when they resumed on Sept. 1, they would be offered "on a greatly reduced scale"."
This is what happens when you (Russia) force an embassy staff cut of 60 percent (755 positions) spread out over four posts, all of which have provided consular, including visa, services. While visa operations are not horribly manpower intensive, taken in aggregate the represent something of an easy target if you don't mind making reducing or eliminating the ease of obtaining a U.S. visa.
""Capacity for interviews in the future will be greatly reduced because we have had to greatly reduce our staffing levels to comply with the Russian government’s requirement," it said in a statement."
Sixty percent is huge staffing cut and the U.S. is all about reciprocity in this sort of situation.
In a working democracy, local citizens who suddenly can't visit relatives, go on business trips, vacation at Disney (either of them), or have to travel multiple time-zones just to go for their interview (and months later than they'd planned) would scream to their elected representatives to do something.
In less representative countries, the bigshots (who have no trouble getting visas themselves, even if they have to tag-along as members of an official delegation) are untroubled by this.
"Russian citizens wanting to visit the United States for business, tourism or educational reasons will no longer be able to apply via U.S. consulates outside Moscow and will have to travel to the Russian capital instead.
That will pose a logistical challenge for many Russians, whose country is the world's largest by territory. The United States has consulates in St. Petersburg, Vladivostok and Yekaterinburg."
That's gotta suck. The flipside is there's just not a similar American demand for Russian visas at their U.S. offices in Washington, New York, and San Francisco, so whatever the retaliation reciprocity will be, it's likely to appear in something not directly linked to visas. CAA is not a Kremlinologist, but he's been reading the papers long enough to recognized this M.O.
"The U.S. Embassy signaled its new scaled-back visa regime could be in place for some time.
"We will operate at reduced capacity for as long as our staffing levels are reduced," it said."
Can't put it much more clearly than that.
The Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) at Big Peace is sharing some of the take.Money quote(s):"U.S. counterterrorism officials have concluded that Osama bin Laden was aware of the 7/7 London bombings in 2005, but it was the last successful operation in which he played a prominent role, Reuters reports. While circumstantial information and government analysis suggests that bin Laden was in close contact with terrorist plotters abroad, data found in his Abbotabad compound does not show evidence of any new plots."Remember: when in trouble, delegate.It's dangerous to attribute Western-style motivations to a non-Westerner like UBL, but...... if UBL was following the precepts of James H. Boren, then the change to his management style indicates that he was, and knew he was, in trouble.Of course, having to hide out in Abbott&Costellobad all those years, shut in with just three wives, would have been something of an indicator."Data seized after the raid which killed him shows that bin Laden was often aware of plots before they happened. The evidence firmly ties the al-Qaida mastermind to the 7/7 bombings for the first time and indicates that al-Qaida’s senior leadership “supervised” Najibullah Zazi’s 2009 attempt to bomb New York’s subway. It also suggests that bin Laden was personally involved in a European plot last year, which sparked heightened terror alerts in Germany, France, and Britain."I start to get something of a sense of micro-management here, of nearly Rumsfeldian proportions. Snow-, er, sand-flakes anyone?
From my archive of press clippings:ReutersU.S. consulate in Dubai closes for security reasonsWed Jan 21, 2009 1:16pm EST
DUBAI (Reuters) - The U.S. consulate in the Gulf Arab business hub of Dubai closed to the public for security reasons on Wednesday, it said without giving details of any threats.
Read the whole article here.
From my archive of press clippings:ReutersMalawi court approves Madonna adoptionThu May 29, 2008 12:16am EDT By Mabvuto BandaLILONGWE, Malawi (Reuters) - A Malawian court on Wednesday formally approved pop star Madonna's adoption of a baby boy she took home from an orphanage in the impoverished southern African nation, a lawyer for the singer said. Read the whole article here.
From my archive of press clippings:Washington Post
U.S. retains global science, tech preeminence: studyBy Will Dunham
Reuters
Thursday, June 12, 2008; 2:25 AM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States retains its global preeminence in science and technology, with a big boost from foreign students, scientists and engineers, a RAND Corporation report issued on Thursday said. Read the whole article here.Snippet(s):"(T)he United States remains ahead of its main competitors in Europe and Japan, according to the report from the nonprofit research organization requested by the Pentagon.""The United States accounts for 40 percent of the global spending on scientific research and development, employs 70 percent of the world's Nobel Prize winners and boasts three quarters of the world's top 40 universities, the report said."&"The report urged the U.S. government make it easier for foreigners who have graduated from U.S. universities with science and engineering degrees to remain indefinitely. About 70 percent of the foreign scientists and engineers who earn doctorates from U.S. universities opt to remain in the United States, the report said. The researchers said a recent reduction in the cap on skilled immigrant visas could harm the influx of foreign science and engineering workers."
