via the Daily Mail-

Armed guards from Vladimir Putin’s entourage were involved in an ugly fight in South Africa after they were ordered to put top secret suitcases – believed to contain the codes for Russia’s nuclear arsenal – through a security scanner.

Angry ‘pushing and shoving’ broke out after some members of Putin’s security detail were prevented from following the Russian president into the conference hall staging the summit, which was hosted by South Africa’s president Jacob Zuma and also involved Brazil, Russia, India and China.

What’s interesting is the apparent lack of diplomacy that happened next, when a Russian spokesman threw the host of the summit (South Africa) under the bus.

Kremlin officials blamed the embarrassing bust-up on the South Africans, with Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying: ‘They manage football better. A lot of confusion.’

He added: ‘The incident happened because of the fault of the inviting side.’

Also interesting?  The spokesman said South Africans “manage football  better” in response to the incident over the suitcase presumed to have nuclear codes.  This is interesting, because the American counterpart to that suitcase just so happens to be referred to as a “football” by members of our President’s security.  (of course, in this case, “football” refers to “soccer”, but an interesting tidbit, still)

SO WHAT IS THIS BRICS SUMMIT ABOUT, ANYWAY?

Simply put, it’s a group of five (it used to be four) nations that happen to have large populations and a lot of economic potential, but they lack the same kind of pull that the United States and Europe have enjoyed over the years.  It has been their hope that maybe they can band together and use their synergies to help achieve prominence and leverage on the world stage that they haven’t been able to obtain individually.  As this piece on Bloomberg details, their results, so far have been mixed at best.

WHO ARE THESE BRICS NATIONS?

An investment analyst at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. famously came up with the BRIC designation (South Africa was an afterthought) in 2001

Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa.

While the Bloomberg piece suggests that the BRICS summit can sometimes (or often) come across as a fruitless endeavor, it should be noted that these countries are becoming more and more coveted by various corporations around the world due to their large populations and practically untapped markets.

India, for example, has been seen by many as the next place for a great smartphone boom, as more of it’s 1.2 billion citizens become upwardly mobile.

When:

Where:    Married to the Game with @AiPolitics on BlogTalkRadio

Topics to be discussed:   Tonight, we’ll be debuting a new segment called “Banned Arguments”, we’ll discuss how Liberal policies actually hurt “the little guy”, and we’ll tell you about some interesting practices going on over at CBS Broadcasting.  (why won’t they advertise Soda Stream?)

When:

Where:    Married to the Game with @AiPolitics on BlogTalkRadio

Topics to be discussed:   Tonight will be a smorgasbord of philosophical nuggets such as:  Why you should consider making babies.  Why it might not be practical to perpetuate Twitter Beefs.  The pros and cons of using “shame” as a motivating factor.  And how the media uses our own litmus tests against us to make us look foolish.   We’ll also probably talk about Apple (aka the world’s most profitable company) and their stock losing value.

Where:    Married to the Game with @AiPolitics on BlogTalkRadio

Topics to be discussed:   The 2nd Amendment, Conservative Philosophy, and whether or not the same traits that make a man highly successful are the same traits that lead to him being a pig. (spoiler alert: they probably do)

In case you’ve forgotten last Fall’s election (and, really, who can blame you if you’ve wanted to), Mitt Romney was called a liar for nearly every statement he made, this one included.  Last October, the former governor from Massachusetts said he’d read a story claiming that Chrysler might move production of Jeeps from the U.S. to China.  At the time, he was accused of trying to scare voters, but, as of this week, it turns out Chrysler does have plans to start building Jeeps in the world’s most populous nation by 2014.

Chrysler signed an agreement today with a Chinese automaker to build Jeeps in that country, part of worldwide expansion plans for the iconic American brand.  -ChinaCarTimes.com

Chrysler does claim, however, that while they will begin producing vehicles in China, they have no plans to cut the jobs currently held in the United States.  We’ll have to wait and see, but as of this moment, it looks like Romney didn’t pull the whole “build Jeeps in China” thing from thin air.

We’ll have to keep an eye on Chrysler and see how this plays out.  Until then, enjoy a gratuitous video of the Jeep Grand Cherokee from the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show.  (video below)

When:  7pm on the West Coast / 10pm on the East Coast

Where: BlogTalkRadio.com

Some critics were surprised with the comments that our president chose to make about the former governor, including one where he said that Mitt Romney wears “mom jeans”.  It’s a well known fact in Washington that the Commander in Chief has a preference for mom jeans himself, but DC has long been a hotbed of hypocrisy, so this is nothing new.  An even more surprising charge from the president, and one with racial undertones, came when he said that Mitt Romney was so “rich and white” he feels like he’s “running against a cheesecake”.

Not to be left out of the questionable comments, Mitt said that the First Lady “looks like Patrick Ewing”.  Video of the highlights is below.

(parody)

(the following video contains profanity)

Where:  CDNews Radio internet stream

When:  10pm East Coast time / 7pm West Coast time

Who:    AiPolitics

What:  Politics without the echo chamber spin.

Why:   For America.  Why else?

There are some minor tech difficulties scattered throughout the show.  I appreciate everyone who stayed through and listened to the live show, and everyone who listens to the rebroadcast.  Oh, and there’s a Dora the Explorer reference too.  I’m not sure how, but that ended up in there, so… enjoy.

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TO HEAR THE SHOW

I recently took possession of a Shark Pro Steam Pocket mop and decided to record it being used for the first time.  When you first turn it on, it seems to do “nothing” for the first 30 seconds, and the steam it initially produces seems a little on the pathetic side.  But after about 90 seconds, it starts belching steam out in a fashion that might remind one of a science fiction story set in 19th century England.  While that description might not do it justice, you can see the great puffs of steam it produces in the video below.  (please excuse the “well lived in” interior of the home it’s used in)

(the steam is better visible when viewing in 720p or 1080p)