Story Here.

"BEIRUT, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Three suicide car bombs and a mortar barrage ripped through a government-controlled district of central Aleppo housing a military officers' club on Wednesday, killing 48 people according to activists.

The coordinated attacks hit just days after rebels launched an offensive against President Bashar al-Assad's forces in Syria's biggest city, leading to heavy fighting and a fire which gutted a large part of its medieval covered market.

The state news agency SANA said suicide bombers detonated two explosive-laden cars in the main square, Saadallah al-Jabiri, which is lined on its eastern flank by the military club, two hotels and a telecoms office...

...The facades of many buildings overlooking the square were ripped off and a deep crater was gouged in the road. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 48 people were killed, mostly from the security forces, while SANA put the death toll at 31.

Wednesday's attacks in Aleppo followed last week's bombing of the military staff headquarters in Damascus, another strike by Assad's outgunned opponents against bulwarks of his power".

Another one of these mysterious strikes. It seems there are more anti-Assad fighters coming into this fight, including those with car bomb making expertise. But at the same time, these are tightly guarded sectors in the city. On the one hand, there are claims that these are false flag attacks. On the other, the opposition might just be getting help from the inside. It's tough to say.

I do not have really have any PC games that with a more recent release date than 2007. I am interested in finding a video card that can run games from that era on max settings, 1920 x 1200 resolution, and with fairly liberal amounts of AA. Probably the most intensive ones I have are F.E.A.R., CoD2, BF2, Company of Heroes, or the updated Source engine based games (including the recently released Black Mesa mod). The price range I'm looking at is probably ~$200. My system's other components are:

Core 2 Duo e8500 processor

4 GB RAM

600w PSU

Any suggestions?

[QUOTE="LJS9502_basic"]FYI...Iraq was not about Bin Laden. Not sure where you got that. As for Afghanistan...intell said he was there.Rhazakna

And yet by invading and destabilizing Iraq, we have given Al Qaeda its largest and most potent franchise by far. If there is ever another attack of 9/11 proportions, it will likely be in no small part due to AQI's expertise and participation.

There's a lot more stupid things to find in Star Wars than just that.

Fearful Alawites pay sectarian militias in battered Homs

Notable excerpts:

"Alawite residents in Homs say they are being coerced into helping fund the war effort of the 'shabbiha', brutal sectarian militias supporting President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown on an 18-month-old rebellion.

'The shabbiha exploit our fear. Every time, there is some excuse - they need food or ammunition. But it's basically a silent understanding now that each month the wealthier families pay,' says Fareed, a greying surgeon who lives with his family in Zahra, an Alawite district of Homs...

...Shabbiha are formed mostly from members of Assad's own Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam. They have been the fiercest enforcers of a bloody crackdown on the uprising led by Syria's majority Sunni Muslims, even accused of massacres.

The disgust some Alawites have at the idea of paying for them symbolises a greater inner conflict many in their sect are struggling with: Do they risk rejecting the crackdown by their Alawite-led government and its brutal militias? Or do they buy in, literally, to the shabbiha argument that this is a fight for existence against Sunnis determined to take revenge?...

...But Alawites in Zahra say that while they know the money they pay is extortion, and that shabbiha violence towards Sunnis puts them more at risk, they are regularly reminded of how precarious their fate is".

Looks like they are returning directly to their Mafia-esque roots. I also wonder how much control the Assads really have anymore. They seem more like figureheads for a powerful security apparatus to rally around, including these and other militias.

[QUOTE="jetpower3"]./p>Fightingfan

[QUOTE="jetpower3"]

[QUOTE="Fightingfan"]Vietnam and Korean, simply because it's amusing watching/reading about 'The world's superpower' not minding their own business, and then getting owned my China-men hiding in holes.Fightingfan

It doesn't sound like you have a very comprehensive understanding of either conflict, if you're going to say things as silly as that.

The Vietnam war was total ass rape, Gorilla tactics AKA campers destroyed the American troops, tons of U.S troops died and they had to withdrawl, doesn't sound like a win to me.

If you're referring to my word choice, *Face palm* that's obviously satire.

*And technically the Korean war is still going on.

It isn't a matter of win/loss to me, I don't care about that sort of connotation. I've seen that kind of mindless misrepresentation countless times, satire or not.

North Korea was almost completely defeated, and if it wasn't for the sheer numbers of Chinese troops crossing the border to reinforce them, N.K. probably wouldn't exist as a country today.

Vietnam was more of a matter of "not worth it" than it was any form of consistent tactical defeat and rout. Yes, the U.S. lost some battles, but so did the opposing side (notably, they were not able to inflict the kind of scale of defeat they did to the French at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, which definitely led to their withdrawal). And while you claim "tons of U.S. troops died", that belies the fact that tons of opposing troops also died (actually many more). It was more due to their determination and tenacity through guerrilla tactics than anything else. Although don't forget who ultimately routed the ARVN in 1974-1975.

[QUOTE="jetpower3"]

[QUOTE="Fightingfan"]Vietnam and Korean, simply because it's amusing watching/reading about 'The world's superpower' not minding their own business, and then getting owned my China-men hiding in holes.l4dak47

It doesn't sound like you have a very comprehensive understanding of either conflict, if you're going to say things as silly as that.

Be that as it may, it was hardly a matter of poorly equipped and trained underdogs defeating a superpower. Don't forget they had their own superpower backing, many years of prior experience in guerilla warfare, and they still didn't succeed until the U.S. left.

Vietnam and Korean, simply because it's amusing watching/reading about 'The world's superpower' not minding their own business, and then getting owned my China-men hiding in holes.Fightingfan

It doesn't sound like you have a very comprehensive understanding of either conflict, if you're going to say things as silly as that.

At an effective federal tax rate averaging only 20.2%? Yes, that is the power of LT capital gains tax, but many voters will take issue with that.