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R.F.Wilson writes: I wonder, I just wonder who was it exactly that suggested to President Barack Obama to introduce a state of emergency in the United States over the swine flu epidemic? Was it, by any chance, one of his slick advisors who has been talking to the giant pharmaceutical companies that are so keen on getting all those juicy contracts for producing billions of vaccines that are supposedly needed to save mankind from the worst disease since the plague? [...]

We present a new selection of breaking news items. From the Stirring Trouble team. Breaking News: US President Barack Obama admits that one of the policy options on the table as regards Afghanistan is to run like the wind. Breaking News: US Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, manages to keep a straight face while announcing that the recession in America is over. Breaking News: US Vice President, Joe Biden, reveals that his rugged good looks are a result of spending many [...]

R.F.Wilson writes: The Second World War threw into sharp focus a need for the conscription of women into civilian work. A new spirit of egalitarianism (up to a point, women rarely received the same wage as men) saw a select league of young women, as loyal as a naval salute and assorted Kensington debutantes among them, get behind the steering wheel of government and military vehicles. Back in the peacetime groove, austerity remained the lot of all. Former wartime Prime [...]

Adam Lovejoy writes: Would someone tell President Barack Obama that he can keep as many US troops as he wants in Afghanistan but he’d still not get the result he hopes for. That is, the resistance to the presence of foreign troops would not subside. It is all very fine for US and NATO commanders in Afghanistan to claim that more boots on the ground would allow to smash the insurgency and, bizarrely, ‘win the hearts and minds of the [...]

We present a selection of breaking news items. From the Stirring Trouble team.Breaking News: U.S. president Barack Obama admits that he is scared shitless of visiting China next month and telling his hosts that they can use their U.S. Treasury Bills to wipe their asses with. Breaking News: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden says it’s spooky to be ‘just one heartbeat away from the presidency’. Sometimes I get crazy ideas, he says. Breaking News: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [...]

Martin McCauley writes: China is engaged in a diplomatic offensive. Immediately after the October 1 extravaganza to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China Prime Minister Wen Jiabao set off for a week in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) while Vice President Xi Jinping went on a five nation East European tour. In the run up to President Obama’s visit to China next month, a Politburo member and the Vice-Chairman of the [...]

We continue publishing the recipes of some of the favourite dishes of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Today we present the famous Uzbeki rice and meat dish, plov. It is well documented that the Soviet dictator had a special liking for plov and ate it at least once a week.Ingredients: diced lamb (800 grams, not too lean), two cups of rice, 3 large carrots, 2 large onions, several cloves of garlic, dried herbs, salt and pepper. The dish has to be [...]

Thomas Mathew writes: Two considerations come to mind when confronted with the prospect of seeing former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, getting appointed to the post of the first ever President of the European Union. First of all, if the 27 EU leaders elect him under the terms of the Lisbon treaty, they would basically be showing their total contempt not only for the people of Britain, where Blair is hated and despised like no other living politician, but for [...]

Anton Goryunov writes from Moscow: So, U.S. President Barack Obama has had a wake-up call yesterday when a double suicide attack killed at least 147 and wounded 700 people in Baghdad, near the Green Zone. It was the biggest atrocity since 2007 and reminded everyone that the so-called peace and stability in Iraq were more a fantasy rather than reality. It is worth remembering that the recent attacks took place in the area of heightened security, with a heavy police [...]

Today we present the latest selection of spoof breaking news items. From the Stirring Trouble team. Breaking News: U.S. President Barack Obama admits that he announced a state of national emergency over the swine flu to look important. Of course I know that swine flu is no big deal, he says. Breaking News: President Obama reveals that he is learning Chinese to be able to beg for financial aid during his visit to Beijing next month. Breaking News: Former Vice [...]