Photo of the Week: Athens On Fire

Tonight Athens burns

The German flag is burned in Athens earlier in the week

h/t Zerohedge and Guardian

Photo of the Day

Chancellor Merkel's likeness is used to advertise Portuguese spirit Beirao on a Lisbon billboard reading: 'Dear Angela, Portugal is giving its best. Seasons Greetings.'

h/t AEP

Recommended links & Photo of the Week

Coming soon to a Eurozone bank near you?

1. Beware of falling masonry (Economist) Good tactical overview of the eurozone crisis and some of the options being considered. See also 'Banks Build Contingency for Breakup of the Euro' (NYT)

2. Latvian bank Krajbanka set to be wound up (AFP) Above bank run image is of Krajbanka.

3. The Rise and Fall of Bitcoin (Wired) Contrary to the title I don't think this is the last we've heard of Bitcoin, or other virtual currencies, but an interesting and informative read nonetheless.

4. Prepare for riots in euro collapse, UK Foreign Office warns (Telegraph)

5. Why Not Break-Up Citigroup? (Simon Johnson) Citibank has blown-up and required a bailout three times in the last three decades, or once on average every ten years.

6. How could Reebok sell trainers for $1? (BBC) Contrary to popular believe it's not all glum news here at TPC. I was able to see the remarkable Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Muhammad Yunus speak this week (video below). His bank, Grameen, is doing amazing things and gets a BHAG nod.

7. MF’s Missing Money Makes You Wonder About Goldman (Jonathan Weil)

Image of the Day

(click to enlarge)

In case you missed the video.

More on the story and fallout here.

Educational Site: If you are concerned about political reform, you might be interested in taking courses as a political science major.

Photo of the Day: Angela Merkel Sizes Up the Eurozone Bailout

(click to enlarge)

h/t Barry

Photo: Greek PM Papandreou IMF 'Employee of the Year' Banner

As seen outside the Greek parliament, some protesters roasting Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, the Minnesota-born 'socialist convert to spartan economics'.

Bloomberg has a great history of the Eurozone debt fiasco.

Mugshot of Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK) Released

Photo: War Dog from Operation Neptune Spear (Bin Laden Raid)

Update: the Bin Laden raid dog was a Belgian Malinois named Cairo. More recently released details on the dog and raid, including an interview with President Obama, here.

We don't yet know the name, or even the breed (most likely a German shepherd or a Belgian Malinois), of the amazing dog which accompanied the Seal Team Six members on the Bin Laden raid.

But here are some amazing photos and more info, from Foreign Policy, about the role man's best friend plays in the U.S. military:

Yep, that's a dog strapped to the parachuter

Daredevil dogs: The question of how the dog got into bin Laden's compound is no puzzle -- the same way the special ops team did, by being lowered from an MH-60s helicopter. In fact, U.S. Air Force dogs have been airborne for decades, though the earliest flying dogs accompanied Soviet forces in the 1930s.

Dogs usually jump in tandem with their trainers, but when properly outfitted with flotation vests they can make short jumps into water on their own. A U.S. Navy SEAL, Mike Forsythe, and his dog, Cara -- pictured above -- recently broke the world record for "highest man/dog parachute deployment" by jumping from 30,100 feet.

Above, a U.S. soldier with the 10th Special Forces Group and his dog leap off the ramp of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter during water training over the Gulf of Mexico as part of exercise Emerald Warrior on March 1.

It's not the gear that makes the dog: Military working dogs (MWDs in Army parlance) may not enjoy all the privileges of being full-fledged soldiers, but the U.S. military no longer considers them mere equipment. (The war dogs deployed to Vietnam during that conflict were classified as "surplus equipment" and left behind.) Today, MWDs are outfitted with equipment of their own -- a range of specialized gear that includes Doggles (protective eye wear), body armor, life vests, gas masks, long-range GPS-equipped vests, and high-tech canine "flak jackets."

The NY Times also has a great story on 'the nation’s most courageous dog'.

Photos: Three Dead Men at Bin Laden House (WARNING: Graphic, All 4 Post-Mortem Photos Here)

Reuters has taken down the article and photos, but below are all the pictures they purchased.

First, a new photo of the highly classified stealth Blackhawk -- and its baffled rotor -- which was scuttled. The tail rotor also had extra blades, which would have made it much quieter than the standard design. Similar modifications to the main rotor would have further silenced the approach.

Also, a "silver loaded" paint job would have also made it difficult for infra-red sensors to detect the helicopter. This would have been particularly useful if Bin Laden had been armed with heat-seeking anti-aircraft missiles.

Next, the photos of the three dead bodies in Bin Laden's house:

WARNING: graphic

Updated: Photo of Amal Ahmed Abdul Fatah, bin Laden's Young Wife Wounded in Raid

Amal Ahmed Abdul Fatah, Bin Laden's wife

She is 29-years old and Yemeni, and was a gift by a Yemeni family to bin Laden when she was only a teenager. She is bin Laden's fifth wife.

During the raid she charged a member of Seal Team Six, unarmed, and was then shot in the leg. While it's unclear whether she took a bullet from the same Navy Seal who killed bin Laden, it would seem probable.

From ABC News:

Amal and bin Laden and their three young children, a daughter and two sons, lived on the second and third floor of the compound's main house. Bin Laden apparently felt safe enough in the compound, which was surrounded by high barbed-wire topped walls, to keep his family with him.

The above photo was taken from her below Yemeni passport.

More here.

Updated: New Bin Laden Death Photo Also Fake; No Photo Will Be Released

Today President Obama announced that a photo will not be released.

The below photo is the second prominent fake post-mortem shot that's been flying around the internet.

WARNING: graphic

Updated: Photos of bin Laden's Bedroom, Compound, and Scuttled U.S. Helicopter

(click to enlarge)

Updated: Photo of Dead Osama bin Laden is Fake; Identity Confirmed with DNA from Sister

Update 2: A new purported death photo of bin Laden has been released, viewable here.

Update 1: Hat-tip to a commenter for providing evidence that the above photo is, as expected, a fake. If you're still interested in seeing the fake you can do so by clicking 'Read more' below.

Osama bin Laden's identity was confirmed with DNA from the brain of his late sister, who died of cancer in Boston. Her brain was preserved by the U.S. for the very purpose of one day identifying bin Laden's DNA.

Here is the alleged death photo that is flying around the internet, supposedly taken with a Marine's camera; the photo is also being shown on Pakistan TV.

(WARNING: graphic)

Photos of the Day: Infamous Dictator-Democracy Handshakes

Outrage du jour

Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair & Libyan Dictator Gaddafi 

Current French President Sarkozy and Gaddafi

Gaddafi and Current U.S. President Obama

Perhaps history's most ironic...

Meet Your (Future) Maker Moment: Donald Rumsfeld and Saddam Hussein

... and arguably the most infamous:

Appeasement: UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Nazi Führer Adolf Hitler

Photo of the Day: Paul Volcker Puffing Away Circa 1980

From Floyd Norris' optimistic piece on the implementation of the Volcker Rule, which aims to ban proprietary trading at systemically important financial institutions (aka Too Big Too Fail) in today's NY Times.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Volcker testifying
before the U.S. House Banking Committee, 1980

You might be smoking like a chimney too if you had to explain to Congress how you were going to avoid causing massive unemployment (and cost pols their re-election) while slaying double digit inflation.