NOAA National Data Buoy Center
Storm Special! View the latest observations near Atlantic Hurricane Gustav and Atlantic Tropical Storm Hanna.
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Noah's Girls: Woody Allen as Dr. Noah with his Guard Girls.
h/t: David
48 minutes ago
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Trophy Truck
Click to enlarge image.
Rick Johnson of Team 71 piloted his General Tire Trophy Truck to an overall race and class victory in the Best in the Desert Vegas to Reno race held Saturday, August 23, 2008. (PRNewsFoto/General Tire)
2008 vegas to reno & terribles 250 - YouTube link
Vegas to Reno Desert Race TIME TRIAL 2008 BITD - YouTube link
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Hurricane Preparedness Checklist
Things You Can Do Right Before a Storm
- Secure buildings by closing and boarding up windows. Remove outside antennas.
- Bring all lawn furniture, outdoor decorations, trash cans, hanging plants and anything else that could be picked up by the wind inside. Anchor objects that cannot be brought inside.
- Move your car to a garage, a carport or an area of higher ground in the case of flooding.
- If you must leave your car outdoors, park as close to a building as possible. Move your car away from trees or poles that may topple onto it.
- Make sure you fill your car's gas tank.
- Get emergency cash.
- Turn your refrigerator to its coldest setting.
Make a Hurricane Kit
- 3-day supply of water and ready-to-eat, non-perishable food for every family member and pet.
- Manual can opener for canned foods.
- Essential medicines, including eyeglasses and contact lenses.
- First-aid kit and manual. Include bandages, antiseptic, tape, a compress, non-aspirin pain reliever and anti-diarrhea medication.
- Battery-powered flashlight and radio with extra batteries.
- Personal hygiene items such as toilet paper, toothbrushes and toothpaste.
- Special items for infants, elderly or disabled family members.
- Two coolers – one for food, the other for ice.
- Change of clothing, including extra shoes and rain gear.
- Paper towels, pre-moistened towelettes and eating utensils.
- Blankets, pillows, and sleeping bags (one for each family member).
- Mosquito repellant and citronella candles.
- Plastic tarp for roof/window repairs and tools (hammer/nails).
- Plastic trash bags.
- Quiet games, books, playing cards.
Some Tips for Your Hurricane Plan
- Learn the best evacuation routes and keep a road map in your car in case you are forced to take unfamiliar roads.
- Arrange for a ride well before the storm if you don't have your own transportation. You may be forced to evacuate.
- Have an emergency supply kit prepared for your car with extra keys, food, water, jumper cables, a first-aid kit and sleeping bags.
See Emergency Supply Kit for a suggested list. - Make a plan now for what to do with your pets. Many shelters and hotels will not accept them. If you are unable to take your pets when you evacuate, make sure you leave behind "Pet Inside" signs on you front and back doors with the number and kind of pets inside so others can evacuate them.
- Identify an out-of state contact so if your family members get separated, you'll know who to call. If time allows call or e-mail your out-of-state contact to let them know where you are going and when you expect to get there.
- Plan a meeting location at least 50 miles inland in case your family members get separated.
- Gather important papers to take with you:
* Driver’s License or personal identification
* Social Security Card
* Proof of residence (deed, lease, or utility bills)
* Insurance Policies
* Birth and marriage certificate
* Stocks, bonds, and other negotiable certificates
* Wills, deeds, and copies of recent tax returns - Fill up your bathtub, sinks and other large containers with fresh water. This will serve as an important reserve should you be without running water after a storm.
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Learn more about hurricane Gustav and how to prepare at FEMA.gov or Emergency.Loisiana.gov
Click to enlarge image.
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Unlike most of his neighbors, New Orleans resident Larry Denny isn't worried enough about Hurricane Gustav to leave.
Never mind that his house flooded during Hurricane Katrina, the stress cracks in his roof have yet to be fixed and he and his wife felt it was necessary to get two guard dogs and an armory of weapons to ward off looters that roamed their street back in 2005.
Denny says that there is "no way" he and his wife Charlotte will evacuate New Orleans.
"Why do we stay?" asked Denny, who was raised in Louisiana and returned to New Orleans 15 years ago. "Because we know the government won't protect our house, so we have to."
Friday, August 29, 2008
McCain * Palin
John McCain Selects Alaska Governor Sarah Palin As Vice Presidential Running Mate
U.S. Senator John McCain today announced that he has selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate and to serve as his vice president.
Governor Palin is a tough executive who has demonstrated during her time in office that she is ready to be president. She has brought Republicans and Democrats together within her Administration and has a record of delivering on the change and reform that we need in Washington.
Governor Palin has challenged the influence of the big oil companies while fighting for the development of new energy resources. She leads a state that matters to every one of us -- Alaska has significant energy resources and she has been a leader in the fight to make America energy independent.
In Alaska, Governor Palin challenged a corrupt system and passed a landmark ethics reform bill. She has actually used her veto and cut budgetary spending. She put a stop to the "bridge to nowhere" that would have cost taxpayers $400 million dollars.
As the head of Alaska's National Guard and as the mother of a soldier herself, Governor Palin understands what it takes to lead our nation and she understands the importance of supporting our troops.
Governor Palin has the record of reform and bipartisanship that others can only speak of. Her experience in shaking up the status quo is exactly what is needed in Washington today.
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McCain Introduces Alaska Gov. Palin as VP - YouTube link
See Gov. Palin's full introductory speech here:
McCain-Palin Rally in Dayton, Ohio - YouTube link
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18 Million + 1 Cracks in the Glass Ceiling
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Sarah Palin for Vice President - 2008 - YouTube link
[note: PalinForAmerica.com is not an official Palin site]
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Democratic Convention Night
Convention Night - YouTube link
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"I Have A Dream" is the popular name given to the historic public speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., when he spoke of his desire for a future where blacks and whites among others would coexist harmoniously as equals. King's delivery of the speech on August 28, 1963, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement.
It Ain't Easy Being Green
A wooden sculpture of a crucified frog, entitled "Zuerst die Fuesse" (Feet First) and made by late German artist Martin Kippenberger in 1990, is shown in an undated photo released in Bolzano August 28, 2008.
A modern art sculpture, portraying a crucified green frog holding a beer mug and an egg that Pope Benedict has condemned as blasphemous, may have its days numbered.
The board of the Museion museum in the northern Italian city of Bolzano were meeting on Thursday to choose whether to side with the pope and other opponents of the frog or with those who say it should be defended as a work of art.
(Courtesy Museion Museum, via Landov) Full Story
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In the words of Kermit the frog, "It ain't easy being green."
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Poppy Crop
Press Statement
Robert Wood, Deputy Spokesman, U.S. Dept. of State
[photos added by me]
Release of 2008 UNODC Report
We welcome the release of the 2008 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Report and are encouraged by its findings. The report further strengthens our commitment to the current comprehensive counternarcotics strategy in Afghanistan. We are especially encouraged to learn that 18 provinces, over half of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, are now poppy free, a significant increase from 13 provinces in 2007. The gains in the North and East, which traditionally have been poppy-rich areas, clearly show that counternarcotics efforts can succeed, given adequate security conditions, integrating counter-narcotics efforts with the counter-insurgency campaign, and sustained political will.
We are pleased to note that total poppy cultivation in Afghanistan fell for the first time in 3 years, and is now at or below 2006 levels. In addition, the potential production of heroin from the Afghan poppy crop has also decreased. We are committed to building on these positive trends.
The drug threat in Afghanistan remains unacceptably high. We are particularly concerned by the deteriorating security conditions in the South, where the insurgency dominates, and where 98 percent of Afghanistan’s poppy is produced. The government of Afghanistan and the international community must redouble their efforts to build effective security so that the poppy crop in the South can be eliminated just as it has in the other parts of the country.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Engravings from "The Naval Monument" 1815
Click to enlarge images.
Large image of "We have met the enemy and they are ours," drawn by J.R. Penniman (frontispiece).
The Naval Monument, containing official and other accounts of all battles fought between the Navies of the United States and Great Britain during the late war; and an account of the war with Algiers, with twenty-five engravings.
The plates illustrating this work, are primarily woodblocks engraved by Abel Bowen after original drawings by M. Corne. Constituting an early iconography of American naval warfare.
The Naval Monument (pdf 13.2 MB)
The Naval Monument (plain text online)
Constitution's Escape from the British Squadron After a Chase of Sixty Hours
The Constitution Bearing Down for the Guerriere
The Constitution in Close Action with the Guerriere
The Wasp Boarding the Frolic
The United States and Macedonian
The Java Surrendering to the Constitution
The Hornet Blockading the Bonne Citoyenne off St. Salvador
The Hornet Sinking the Peacock
The Chesapeake & Shannon
The Enterprize and Boxer
First View of Com. Perry's Victory
Plan of the First View of the Battle on Lake Erie
Second View of Com. Perry's Victory
Plan of the Second View of the Battle on Lake Erie
Capture of the Essex
The Peacock and the Epervier
The Wasp and the Reindeer
The Wasp and Avon
Com. MacDonough's Victory on Lake Champlain Sept. 11th. 1814
A Key to Com. MacDonough's Victory
The President Engaging the Endymion, While Pursued by the British Squadron
The Constitution Taking the Cyane and Levant
The Hornet and Penguin
The Hornet's Escape from a British Seventy-Four
United States Squadron Returning from the Mediterranean, After Concluding Peace with Algiers
Sources: Navy Department Library, The Age of Sail
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Biden
Friday, August 22, 2008
F/A-18D Missile Launch
Click to enlarge high-resolution image.
A U.S. Navy F/A-18D from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Three One (VX-31) launches an AGM-88E Advanced Anti- Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) at the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake on August 11, 2008. (U.S. Navy photo - PRNewsFoto/ATK)
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Raisin' McCain
John Rich - Raisin' McCain Music Video
An original anthem by country music star John Rich in support of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Gone Fishing
Click to enlarge image. (3,504 × 2,336 pixels, file size: 3.41 MB)
Durham Ranger salmon fly.
The hook length in this example is 4.5cm.
[inspiring]
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Bought a boat. Gone fishing.
No return date scheduled. No kidding.
Thanks for reading. ;) - c
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Danish Cartoon Artist Ready to Stand Trial
Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard is ready to stand trial in Jordan over his controversial caricature depicting the Prophet Mohammed (p... [forget that!]) with a bomb in his turban, the press reported on Thursday.
A Jordanian prosecutor summoned Westergaard for questioning in June after local media outlets sued him over his cartoon, which was republished in at least 17 Danish dailies in February, sparking violent protests in Muslim countries, including the kingdom.
"I would like to go to Amman to stand trial. However, what I fear is that I am convicted in advance," Westergaard told the government-owned Jordan Times in Copenhagen.
But he added that he has not been officially notified of the summons and defended his cartoon, saying he sought to "highlight that there are some terrorists who misuse Islam and they take it as their spiritual ammunition."
"I wanted to depict the terrorists as if they were taking the Prophet Mohammed as a hostage. I have no problem with Islam but with the terrorists," he said.
Toger Seidenfaden, chief editor of the centre-left Danish daily Politiken, one of the seventeen newspapers that reprinted the cartoon, said the paper had received no summons from Amman and did not know if there would even be a trial.
"(If there was a trial) and if there were guarantees, we would take part in it," he said.
Westergaard, who has been in hiding because of death threats, insisted that he respects Islam but "will not apologize."
"I respect Islam and its followers and I have nothing against it... however, I will not apologize. We have freedom of the press and religion in Denmark... I can't apologize, I respect Islam and I did not target it," he said.
At least 30 independent newspapers, websites and radio stations in Jordan sued Westergaard in April for "blaspheming the Prophet Mohammed and Islam as well as sowing religious and sectarian discord" and violating Internet and publication laws.
"We welcome his reasonable approach, but in our opinion this person has committed a crime and should be punished," Zakarya Sheikh, who heads the media group, told AFP.
MPs have demanded that the government sever ties with Denmark, and Amman has condemned the caricature, warning that it could spark further extremism and harm relations between Denmark and Muslim countries.
Source: Al-Arabia
The Open Window
Saki (H.H. Munro) 1870-1916 - As a master of humor as well as of the chilling and macabre, H.H. Munro (or "Saki," as he is universally known) has very few peers. Born in Burma but educated in British schools, he learned the craft of writing first as a reporter, then as a foreign correspondent in Russia and France. What had already become a brilliant career ended tragically with his death in battle during World War I.
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"Victorian Girl" by Karen Vladman
The Open Window a short story by Saki (H.H. Munro)
“My aunt will be down presently, Mr. Nuttel,” said a very self-possessed young lady of fifteen; “in the meantime you must try and put up with me.”
Framton Nuttel endeavored to say the correct something which should duly flatter the niece of the moment without unduly discounting the aunt that was to come. Privately he doubted more than ever whether these formal visits on a succession of total strangers would do much towards helping the nerve cure which he was supposed to be undergoing.
“I know how it will be,” his sister had said when he was preparing to migrate to this rural retreat; “you will bury yourself down there and not speak to a living soul, and your nerves will be worse than all the people I know there. Some of them, as far as I can remember, were quite nice.” Framton wondered whether Mrs. Sappleton, the lady to whom he was presenting one of the letters of introduction, came into the nice division.
“Do you know many people around here?” asked the niece, when she judged that they had had sufficient silent communication.
“Hardly a soul,” said Framton. “My sister was staying here, at the rectory, you know, some four years ago, and she gave me letters of introduction to some of the people here.”
He made the last statement in a tone of distinct regret.
“Then you know practically nothing about my aunt?” pursued the self-possessed young lady.
“Only her name and address,” admitted the caller. He was wondering wither Mrs. Sappleton was in the married or widowed state. An indefinable something about the room seemed to suggest masculine habitation.
“Her great tragedy happened just three years ago,” said the child; “that would be since your sister’s time.”
“Her tragedy?” asked Framton; somehow in this restful country spot tragedies seemed out of place.
Snipe in flight. Artist unknown.
“You may wonder why we keep that window wide open on an October afternoon,” said the niece, indicating a large French window that opened onto the lawn.
“It is quite warm for the time of the year,” said Framton; “but has that window got anything to do with the tragedy?”
“Out through that window, three years ago to a day, her husband and her two young brothers went off for their day’s shooting. They never came back. In crossing the moor to their favorite snipe-shooting ground they were all three engulfed in a treacherous piece of bog. It had been that dreadful wet summer, you know, and places that were safe in other years gave way suddenly without warning. Their bodies were never recovered. That was the dreadful part of it.” Here the child’s voice lost its self-possessed note and became falteringly human. “Poor aunt always thinks that they will come back some day, they and the little brown spaniel that was lost with them, and walk in at that window just as they used to do. That is why the window is kept open every evening till it is quite dusk. Poor dear aunt, she has often told me how they went out, her husband with his white waterproof coat over his arm, and Ronnie, her youngest brother, singing, ‘Bertie, why do you bound?’ as he always did to tease her, because she said it got on her nerves. Do you know, sometimes on still, quite evenings like this, I almost get a creepy feeling that they will all walk in through that window—“
She broke off with a little shudder. It was a relief to Framton when the aunt bustled into the room with a whirl of apologies for being late in making her appearance.
“I hope Vera has been amusing you?” she said.
“She has been very interesting,” said Framton.
“I hope you don’t mind the open window,” said Mrs. Sappleton briskly; “my husband and brothers will be hope directly from shooting, and they always come in this way. They’ve been out for snipe in the marshes today, so they’ll make a fine mess over my poor carpets. So like you menfolk, isn’t it?” She rattled on cheerfully about the shooting and the scarcity of birds, and the prospects for duck in the winter. To Framton it was all purely horrible. He made a desperate effort to turn the talk onto a less ghastly topic; he was conscious that his hostess was giving him only a fragment of her attention, and her eyes were constantly straying past him to the open window and the lawn beyond. It was certainly an unfortunate coincidence that he should have paid his visit on this tragic anniversary.
“The doctors agree in ordering me complete rest, an absence of mental excitement, and avoidance of any violent physical exercise,” announced Framton, who labored under the tolerably widespread delusion that total strangers and chance acquaintances are hungry for the least detail of one’s ailments and infirmities. “On the matter of diet they are not so much in agreement,” he continued.
“No?” said Mrs. Sappleton, in a voice which only replaced a yawn at the last moment. Then she suddenly brightened into alert attention – but not to what Framton was saying.
“Here they are at last!” she cried. “Just in time for tea, and don’t they look as if they were muddy up to the eyes!”
Framton shivered slightly and turned towards the niece with a look intended to convey sympathetic comprehension. The child was staring out through the open window with dazed horror in her eyes. In a chill shock of nameless fear Framton swung round in his seat and look in the same direction.
In the deepening twilight three figures were walking across the lawn towards the window; they all carried guns under their arms, and one of them was additionally burdened with a white coat hung over his shoulders. A tired brown spaniel kept close at their heels. Noiselessly they neared the house, and then a hoarse young voice chanted out of the dusk: “I said, Bertie, why do you bound?”
Framton grabbed wildly at his stick and hat; the hall door, the gravel drive, and the front gate were dimly noted stages in his headlong retreat. A cyclist coming along the road had to run into the hedge to avoid imminent collision.
Detail of the "English Springer Spaniel" painting at The Dog Museum.
“Here we are, my dear,” said the bearer of the white mackintosh, coming in through the window; “fairly muddy, but most if it’s dry. Who was that who bolted out as we came up?”
“A most extraordinary man, a Mr. Nuttel,” said Mrs. Sappleton; “could only talk about his illnesses, and dashed off without a word of good-by or apology when you arrived. One would think he had seen a ghost.”
“I expect it was the spaniel,” said the niece calmly; “he told me he had a horror of dogs. He was once hunted into a cemetery somewhere on the banks of the Ganges by a pack of pariah dogs, and had to spend the night in a newly dug grave with the creatures snarling and grinning and foaming just above him. Enough to make anyone lose their nerve.”
Romance at short notice was her specialty.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
The Russo-Georgian War and the Balance of Power
Aug. 8: A local resident greets Georgian troops moving into Tskhinvali. The region is geographically part of Georgia but includes a large Russian population. Photo: Irakli Gedenedze-Reuters
The Russo-Georgian War and the Balance of Power
by George Friedman, Stratfor
The Russian invasion of Georgia has not changed the balance of power in Eurasia. It simply announced that the balance of power had already shifted. The United States has been absorbed in its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as potential conflict with Iran and a destabilizing situation in Pakistan. It has no strategic ground forces in reserve and is in no position to intervene on the Russian periphery. This, as we have argued, has opened a window of opportunity for the Russians to reassert their influence in the former Soviet sphere. Moscow did not have to concern itself with the potential response of the United States or Europe; hence, the invasion did not shift the balance of power. The balance of power had already shifted, and it was up to the Russians when to make this public. They did that Aug. 8.
Click to enlarge images.
Let’s begin simply by reviewing the last few days.
On the night of Thursday, Aug. 7, forces of the Republic of Georgia drove across the border of South Ossetia, a secessionist region of Georgia that has functioned as an independent entity since the fall of the Soviet Union. The forces drove on to the capital, Tskhinvali, which is close to the border. Georgian forces got bogged down while trying to take the city. In spite of heavy fighting, they never fully secured the city, nor the rest of South Ossetia.
Aug. 8: Georgian troops fire rockets at South Ossetian troops near Tskhinvali. Georgia is taking measures to prevent Russian "mercenaries" from infiltrating the country, its prime minister said. Photo: Vano Shlamov-AFP/Getty Images
On the morning of Aug. 8, Russian forces entered South Ossetia, using armored and motorized infantry forces along with air power. South Ossetia was informally aligned with Russia, and Russia acted to prevent the region’s absorption by Georgia. Given the speed with which the Russians responded — within hours of the Georgian attack — the Russians were expecting the Georgian attack and were themselves at their jumping-off points. The counterattack was carefully planned and competently executed, and over the next 48 hours, the Russians succeeded in defeating the main Georgian force and forcing a retreat. By Sunday, Aug. 10, the Russians had consolidated their position in South Ossetia.
Aug. 8: A television image features what Russian Channel 1 claims is a convoy of Russian tanks moving towards Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia. Russia's Defense Ministry says it has sent reinforcements to its peacekeepers deployed in South Ossetia to help end bloodshed. Photo: ORT Russian Channel 1 Television-AP
On Monday, the Russians extended their offensive into Georgia proper, attacking on two axes. One was south from South Ossetia to the Georgian city of Gori. The other drive was from Abkhazia, another secessionist region of Georgia aligned with the Russians. This drive was designed to cut the road between the Georgian capital of Tbilisi and its ports. By this point, the Russians had bombed the military airfields at Marneuli and Vaziani and appeared to have disabled radars at the international airport in Tbilisi. These moves brought Russian forces to within 40 miles of the Georgian capital, while making outside reinforcement and resupply of Georgian forces extremely difficult should anyone wish to undertake it.
Aug. 8: A television image depicts burning Georgian armored vehicles in Tskhinvali in the South Ossetian breakaway region of Georgia, according to Russian Channel 1. Photo: AP
The Mystery Behind the Georgian Invasion
In this simple chronicle, there is something quite mysterious: Why did the Georgians choose to invade South Ossetia on Thursday night? There had been a great deal of shelling by the South Ossetians of Georgian villages for the previous three nights, but while possibly more intense than usual, artillery exchanges were routine. The Georgians might not have fought well, but they committed fairly substantial forces that must have taken at the very least several days to deploy and supply. Georgia’s move was deliberate.
Aug. 9: A Georgian man cries as he holds the body of his relative, who died when a Russian warplane dropped a bomb on an apartment block in Gori, Georgia. Photo:Gleb Garanich-Reuters
The United States is Georgia’s closest ally. It maintained about 130 military advisers in Georgia, along with civilian advisers, contractors involved in all aspects of the Georgian government and people doing business in Georgia. It is inconceivable that the Americans were unaware of Georgia’s mobilization and intentions. It is also inconceivable that the Americans were unaware that the Russians had deployed substantial forces on the South Ossetian frontier. U.S. technical intelligence, from satellite imagery and signals intelligence to unmanned aerial vehicles, could not miss the fact that thousands of Russian troops were moving to forward positions. The Russians clearly knew the Georgians were ready to move. How could the United States not be aware of the Russians? Indeed, given the posture of Russian troops, how could intelligence analysts have missed the possibility that the Russians had laid a trap, hoping for a Georgian invasion to justify its own counterattack?
Aug. 10: A Georgian woman holds her baby and cries over her damaged home in Gori. Photo: David Mdzinarishvili-Reuters
It is very difficult to imagine that the Georgians launched their attack against U.S. wishes. The Georgians rely on the United States, and they were in no position to defy it. This leaves two possibilities. The first is a massive breakdown in intelligence, in which the United States either was unaware of the existence of Russian forces, or knew of the Russian forces but — along with the Georgians — miscalculated Russia’s intentions. The second is that the United States, along with other countries, has viewed Russia through the prism of the 1990s, when the Russian military was in shambles and the Russian government was paralyzed. The United States has not seen Russia make a decisive military move beyond its borders since the Afghan war of the 1970s-1980s. The Russians had systematically avoided such moves for years. The United States had assumed that the Russians would not risk the consequences of an invasion.
Aug. 10: Georgian women weep as they leave their village near Tskhinvali. Georgia has been fighting Russia for control of the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Photo: Gleb Garanich-Reuters
If this was the case, then it points to the central reality of this situation: The Russians had changed dramatically, along with the balance of power in the region. They welcomed the opportunity to drive home the new reality, which was that they could invade Georgia and the United States and Europe could not respond. As for risk, they did not view the invasion as risky. Militarily, there was no counter. Economically, Russia is an energy exporter doing quite well — indeed, the Europeans need Russian energy even more than the Russians need to sell it to them. Politically, as we shall see, the Americans needed the Russians more than the Russians needed the Americans. Moscow’s calculus was that this was the moment to strike. The Russians had been building up to it for months, as we have discussed, and they struck.
Aug. 10: A Georgian woman leaves her village. Georgia says it is seeking a ceasefire with Russia. Photo: David Mdzinarishvili-Reuters
The Western Encirclement of Russia
To understand Russian thinking, we need to look at two events. The first is the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. From the U.S. and European point of view, the Orange Revolution represented a triumph of democracy and Western influence. From the Russian point of view, as Moscow made clear, the Orange Revolution was a CIA-funded intrusion into the internal affairs of Ukraine, designed to draw Ukraine into NATO and add to the encirclement of Russia. U.S. Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton had promised the Russians that NATO would not expand into the former Soviet Union empire.
That promise had already been broken in 1998 by NATO’s expansion to Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic — and again in the 2004 expansion, which absorbed not only the rest of the former Soviet satellites in what is now Central Europe, but also the three Baltic states, which had been components of the Soviet Union.
The Russians had tolerated all that, but the discussion of including Ukraine in NATO represented a fundamental threat to Russia’s national security. It would have rendered Russia indefensible and threatened to destabilize the Russian Federation itself. When the United States went so far as to suggest that Georgia be included as well, bringing NATO deeper into the Caucasus, the Russian conclusion — publicly stated — was that the United States in particular intended to encircle and break Russia.
Aug. 10: A Georgian soldier lays dead on a street on the outskirts of Tskhinvali, the regional capital. With its military charge into a rebel pocket of Georgia, Russia has staked out a strategic red line, analysts said. Photo: Dmitry Kostyukov-AFP/Getty Images
The second and lesser event was the decision by Europe and the United States to back Kosovo’s separation from Serbia. The Russians were friendly with Serbia, but the deeper issue for Russia was this: The principle of Europe since World War II was that, to prevent conflict, national borders would not be changed. If that principle were violated in Kosovo, other border shifts — including demands by various regions for independence from Russia — might follow. The Russians publicly and privately asked that Kosovo not be given formal independence, but instead continue its informal autonomy, which was the same thing in practical terms. Russia’s requests were ignored.
Aug. 10: A South Ossetian soldier holds a child as he watches an armored vehicle roll through the village of Dzhava, Georgia. Photo: Dmitry Kostyukov-AFP/Getty Images
From the Ukrainian experience, the Russians became convinced that the United States was engaged in a plan of strategic encirclement and strangulation of Russia. From the Kosovo experience, they concluded that the United States and Europe were not prepared to consider Russian wishes even in fairly minor affairs. That was the breaking point. If Russian desires could not be accommodated even in a minor matter like this, then clearly Russia and the West were in conflict. For the Russians, as we said, the question was how to respond. Having declined to respond in Kosovo, the Russians decided to respond where they had all the cards: in South Ossetia.
Aug. 11: Georgian soldiers return to Tbilisi, Georgia, from Iraq. The U.S. military started flying some 2,000 Georgian troops home from Iraq on Sunday after Georgia recalled them. Photo: Shakh Aivazov-AP
Moscow had two motives, the lesser of which was as a tit-for-tat over Kosovo. If Kosovo could be declared independent under Western sponsorship, then South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the two breakaway regions of Georgia, could be declared independent under Russian sponsorship. Any objections from the United States and Europe would simply confirm their hypocrisy. This was important for internal Russian political reasons, but the second motive was far more important.
Aug. 11: A Georgian Port Authority employee passes in front of a Russian rocket that landed on top of a Georgian military police car during an airstrike in the Georgian port of Poti. Photo: Marco Longari-AFP/Getty Images
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin once said that the fall of the Soviet Union was a geopolitical disaster. This didn’t mean that he wanted to retain the Soviet state; rather, it meant that the disintegration of the Soviet Union had created a situation in which Russian national security was threatened by Western interests. As an example, consider that during the Cold War, St. Petersburg was about 1,200 miles away from a NATO country. Today it is about 60 miles away from Estonia, a NATO member. The disintegration of the Soviet Union had left Russia surrounded by a group of countries hostile to Russian interests in various degrees and heavily influenced by the United States, Europe and, in some cases, China.
Aug. 11: Russian soldiers are seen during sunset outside the Georgian village of Zemo Nikozi, outside the South Ossetian capital of Tshinvali. Photo: Denis Sinyakov-Reuters
Resurrecting the Russian Sphere
Putin did not want to re-establish the Soviet Union, but he did want to re-establish the Russian sphere of influence in the former Soviet Union region. To accomplish that, he had to do two things. First, he had to re-establish the credibility of the Russian army as a fighting force, at least in the context of its region. Second, he had to establish that Western guarantees, including NATO membership, meant nothing in the face of Russian power. He did not want to confront NATO directly, but he did want to confront and defeat a power that was closely aligned with the United States, had U.S. support, aid and advisers and was widely seen as being under American protection. Georgia was the perfect choice.
By invading Georgia as Russia did (competently if not brilliantly), Putin re-established the credibility of the Russian army. But far more importantly, by doing this Putin revealed an open secret: While the United States is tied down in the Middle East, American guarantees have no value. This lesson is not for American consumption. It is something that, from the Russian point of view, the Ukrainians, the Balts and the Central Asians need to digest. Indeed, it is a lesson Putin wants to transmit to Poland and the Czech Republic as well. The United States wants to place ballistic missile defense installations in those countries, and the Russians want them to understand that allowing this to happen increases their risk, not their security.
The Russians knew the United States would denounce their attack. This actually plays into Russian hands. The more vocal senior leaders are, the greater the contrast with their inaction, and the Russians wanted to drive home the idea that American guarantees are empty talk.
Aug. 12: A Georgian man with bloodied hands holds the identification of a shell victim in Gori. As Russian Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered a halt to the strikes, Georgian President Saakashvili said that "the majority of Georgia's territory is occupied" and that the Russian military now threatened Tbilisi. Photo: Marco Longari-AFP/Getty Images
The Russians also know something else that is of vital importance: For the United States, the Middle East is far more important than the Caucasus, and Iran is particularly important. The United States wants the Russians to participate in sanctions against Iran. Even more importantly, they do not want the Russians to sell weapons to Iran, particularly the highly effective S-300 air defense system. Georgia is a marginal issue to the United States; Iran is a central issue. The Russians are in a position to pose serious problems for the United States not only in Iran, but also with weapons sales to other countries, like Syria.
Therefore, the United States has a problem — it either must reorient its strategy away from the Middle East and toward the Caucasus, or it has to seriously limit its response to Georgia to avoid a Russian counter in Iran. Even if the United States had an appetite for another war in Georgia at this time, it would have to calculate the Russian response in Iran — and possibly in Afghanistan (even though Moscow’s interests there are currently aligned with those of Washington).
Aug. 12: Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili delivers his speech in Tbilisi. A crowd of 150,000 came out to hear Saakashvili speak out against Russia. Photo: Burak Kara-Getty Images
In other words, the Russians have backed the Americans into a corner. The Europeans, who for the most part lack expeditionary militaries and are dependent upon Russian energy exports, have even fewer options. If nothing else happens, the Russians will have demonstrated that they have resumed their role as a regional power. Russia is not a global power by any means, but a significant regional power with lots of nuclear weapons and an economy that isn’t all too shabby at the moment. It has also compelled every state on the Russian periphery to re-evaluate its position relative to Moscow. As for Georgia, the Russians appear ready to demand the resignation of President Mikhail Saakashvili. Militarily, that is their option. That is all they wanted to demonstrate, and they have demonstrated it.
Aug. 12: Crowds gather to hear President Saakashvili give a speech at a rally in Tbilisi. Supporters gathered outside Georgia's parliament backing Saakashvili's confrontation with Russia. Photo: Burak Kara-Getty Images
The war in Georgia, therefore, is Russia’s public return to great power status. This is not something that just happened — it has been unfolding ever since Putin took power, and with growing intensity in the past five years. Part of it has to do with the increase of Russian power, but a great deal of it has to do with the fact that the Middle Eastern wars have left the United States off-balance and short on resources. As we have written, this conflict created a window of opportunity. The Russian goal is to use that window to assert a new reality throughout the region while the Americans are tied down elsewhere and dependent on the Russians. The war was far from a surprise; it has been building for months. But the geopolitical foundations of the war have been building since 1992. Russia has been an empire for centuries. The last 15 years or so were not the new reality, but simply an aberration that would be rectified. And now it is being rectified.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
War in the Gulf?
Leading the U.S. and British naval battle groups, and a French hunter-killer submarine, headed for the Gulf is the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (shown here) with its 80-plus combat planes.
Kuwait Readying for War in Gulf?
By Claude Salhani, Middle East Times
The small oil-rich emirate of Kuwait – situated between Iraq, Iran and an un-enviable geographic hard place on the northern end of the Persian Gulf – has reportedly activated its "Emergency War Plan" as a massive U.S. and European armada is reported heading for the region.
Coming on the heels of Operation Brimstone just a week ago that saw U.S., British and French naval forces participate in war games in the Atlantic Ocean, the object of which was to practice enforcing an eventual blockade on Iran, the joint task force is now headed for the Gulf and what could easily turn into a major confrontation with Iran.
The naval force comprises a U.S. Navy super carrier battle group and is accompanied by an expeditionary carrier battle group, a British Royal Navy carrier battle group and a French nuclear hunter-killer submarine.
Leading the pack is the nuclear-powered carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt and its Carrier Strike Group Two; besides its 80-plus combat planes the Roosevelt normally transports, it is carrying an additional load of French Naval Rafale fighter jets from the French carrier Charles de Gaulle, currently in dry dock.
Also reported heading toward Iran is another nuclear-powered carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan and its Carrier Strike Group Seven; the USS Iwo Jima, the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal and a number of French warships, including the nuclear hunter-killer submarine Amethyste.
Once the naval force arrives in the Gulf region it will be joining two other U.S. naval battle groups already on site: the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Peleliu; the Lincoln with its carrier strike group and the latter with an expeditionary strike group.
Telephone calls to the Pentagon were not returned by publication time.
This deployment is the largest naval task force from the United States and allied countries to assemble in the strategic waters of the Persian Gulf since the two Gulf wars.
The object of the naval deployment would be to enforce an eventual blockade on Iran, if as expected by many observers, current negotiations with the Islamic republic over its insistence to pursue enrichment of uranium, allowing it, eventually, to produce nuclear weapons yields no results.
Adding to the volatility is the presence of a major Russian navy deployment affected earlier this year to the eastern Mediterranean comprising the jewel of the Russian fleet, the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov with approximately 50 Su-33 warplanes that have the capacity for mid-air refueling. This means the Russian warplanes could reach the Gulf from the Mediterranean, a distance of some 850 miles and would be forced to fly over Syria (not a problem) but Iraq as well, where the skies are controlled by the U.S. military, and the guided missile heavy cruiser Moskva. The Russian task force is believed to be composed of no less than a dozen warships as well as several submarines.
However, Russia is unlikely to get involved in a military showdown in the Persian Gulf, particularly at this time when it is engaged in a major confrontation with the Republic of Georgia in South Ossetia.
For Iran however, a naval blockade preventing it from importing refined oil would have devastating effects on its economy, virtually crippling the Islamic republic's infrastructure. Although Iran is a major oil producer and exporter, the country lacks refining facilities having to re-import its own oil once refined.
Iran's oil – both the exported crude as well as the returning refined product – passes through the strategic Straits of Hormuz, controlled by Iran on one side and the Sultanate of Oman – a U.S. ally – on the other. The strait is about 30 miles wide at its narrowest point, making it easy to control, but at the same time placing Western naval vessels within easy reach of Iran's Revolutionary Guards fast moving light crafts that could be used by Iranian suicide bombers.
Although Kuwait is on the opposite end of the entrance to the Gulf and the Straits of Hormuz, Kuwait City is less than 60 miles from Iran – and with good reason to worry.
"Kuwait was caught by surprise last time, when Iraqi troops invaded the small emirate and routed the Kuwaiti army in just a few hours," a former U.S. diplomat to Kuwait told the Middle East Times.
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Absolut War Games
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Kissing Up to McCain
Kissing Up to McCain - YouTube link [NSFW Language]
VP hopefuls call John McCain.
Scientists Close to Unveiling Invisible Man?
See how this photo was made at dpchallenge.com.
By Jonathan Leake, Science Editor, Times OnlineInvisibility devices, long the realm of science fiction and fantasy, have moved closer after scientists engineered a material that can bend visible light around objects.
The breakthrough could lead to systems for rendering anything from people to large objects, such as tanks and ships, invisible to the eye – although this is still years off.
Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, whose work is funded by the American military, have engineered materials that can control light’s direction of travel. The world’s two leading scientific journals, Science and Nature, are expected to report the results this week.
It follows earlier work at Imperial College London that achieved similar results with microwaves. Like light, these are a form of electromagnetic radiation but their longer wave-length makes them far easier to manipulate. Achieving the same effect with visible light is a big advance.
Underlying the work is the idea that bending visible light around an object will hide it.
Xiang Zhang, the leader of the researchers, said: “In the case of invisibility cloaks or shields, the material would need to curve light waves completely around the object like a river flowing around a rock.” An observer looking at the cloaked object would then see light from behind it – making it seem to disappear.
Substances capable of achieving such feats are known as “meta-materials” and have the power to “grab” electromagnetic radiation and deflect it smoothly. No such material occurs naturally and it is only in the past few years that nano-scale engineering, manipulating matter at the level of atoms and molecules, has advanced sufficiently to give scientists the chance to create them.
The tiny scale at which such researchers must operate is astonishing in itself. Zhang’s researchers had to construct a material whose elements were engineered to within about 0.00000066 of a metre.
The military funding that Zhang has won for his research shows what kind of applications it might be used for, ushering in a new age of stealth technology.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Mulberry Street, NYC, USA, circa 1900
Click to enlarge image. - 2,800 × 2,067 pixels, file size: 1.99 MB
Marco is in a pickle. His father has instructed him to keep his eyes peeled for interesting sights on the way to and from school, but all Marco has seen is a boring old horse and wagon. Imagine if he had something more to report, say, a zebra pulling the wagon. Or better yet, the zebra could be pulling a blue and gold chariot. No, wait! Maybe it should be a reindeer in that harness. Marco's story grows ever more elaborate as he reasons that a reindeer would be happier pulling a sled, then that a really unusual sight would be an elephant with a ruby-bedecked rajah enthroned on top. "Say! That makes a story that no one can beat, / When I say that I saw it on Mulberry Street." Time and again, Marco tops himself until he is positively wound up with excitement and bursts into his home to tell his dad what he saw on Mulberry Street.
Synopsis of Dr. Seuss' first book, And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street, published in 1937.
Syrian Woman Discusses Sharia Law
Islam: Sharia Law - YouTube link
Wafa Sultan is an inspiration for those who know how troubling the Islamic core is and a warning to those who are still ignorant of Islamic teaching.
In 2006, Wafa Sultan was named in Time Magazine in a list of 100 influential people in the world "whose power, talent or moral example is transforming the world."
Time stated that "Sultan's influence flows from her willingness to express openly critical views on Islamic extremism that are widely shared but rarely aired by other Muslims."
What War With Iran Would Look Like
Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
Excerpt from a story by Michael Duffy for Time, Friday, Sep. 15, 2006.
No one who has spent any time thinking about an attack on Iran doubts that a U.S. operation would reap a whirlwind. The only mystery is what kind. "It's not a question of whether we can do a strike or not and whether the strike could be effective," says retired Marine General Anthony Zinni. "It certainly would be, to some degree. But are you prepared for all that follows?"
Iranian helicopters and war ships in the Straight of Hormuz, 2006.
Retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner, who taught strategy at the National War College, has been conducting a mock U.S.-Iran war game for American policymakers for the past five years. Virtually every time he runs the game, Gardiner says, a similar nightmare scenario unfolds:
the U.S. attack, no matter how successful, spawns a variety of asymmetrical retaliations by Tehran.
First comes terrorism: Iran's initial reaction to air strikes might be to authorize a Hizballah attack on Israel, in order to draw Israel into the war and rally public support at home.
Anti-Suicide Bomb Commercial - YouTube link
Next, Iran might try to foment as much mayhem as possible inside the two nations on its flanks, Afghanistan and Iraq, where more than 160,000 U.S. troops hold a tenuous grip on local populations. Iran has already dabbled in partnership with warlords in western Afghanistan, where U.S. military authority has never been strong; it would be a small step to lend aid to Taliban forces gaining strength in the south. Meanwhile, Tehran has links to the main factions in Iraq, which would welcome a boost in money and weapons, if just to strengthen their hand against rivals. Analysts generally believe that Iran could in a short time orchestrate a dramatic increase in the number and severity of attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq. As Syed Ayad, a secular Shi'ite cleric and Iraqi Member of Parliament says, "America owns the sky of Iraq with their Apaches, but Iran owns the ground."
Next, there is oil. The Persian Gulf, a traffic jam on good days, would become a parking lot. Iran could plant mines and launch dozens of armed boats into the bottleneck, choking off the shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz and causing a massive disruption of oil-tanker traffic. A low-key Iranian mining operation in 1987 forced the U.S. to reflag Kuwaiti oil tankers and escort them, in slow-moving files of one and two, up and down the Persian Gulf. A more intense operation would probably send oil prices soaring above $100 per bbl.—which may explain why the Navy wants to be sure its small fleet of minesweepers is ready to go into action at a moment's notice. It is unlikely that Iran would turn off its own oil spigot or halt its exports through pipelines overland, but it could direct its proxies in Iraq and Saudi Arabia to attack pipelines, wells and shipment points inside those countries, further choking supply and driving up prices.
That kind of retaliation could quickly transform a relatively limited U.S. mission in Iran into a much more complicated one involving regime change. An Iran determined to use all its available weapons to counterattack the U.S. and its allies would present a challenge to American prestige that no Commander in Chief would be likely to tolerate for long. Zinni, for one, believes an attack on Iran could eventually lead to U.S. troops on the ground. "You've got to be careful with your assumptions," he says. "In Iraq, the assumption was that it would be a liberation, not an occupation. You've got to be prepared for the worst case, and the worst case involving Iran takes you down to boots on the ground." All that, he says, makes an attack on Iran a "dumb idea." Abizaid, the current Centcom boss, chose his words carefully last May. "Look, any war with a country that is as big as Iran, that has a terrorist capability along its borders, that has a missile capability that is external to its own borders and that has the ability to affect the world's oil markets is something that everyone needs to contemplate with a great degree of clarity."
Range of Iranian missile strike capabilities.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Mohammed’s Child Bride Book Withdrawn in Fear of Terrorism
Another crisis for publishers over the threat or, at least, perceived threat, of Islamist terrorism. The Jewel of Medina
Amid controversy that Random House has overreacted and thrown in the towel without a fight, Thomas Parry, the company's deputy publisher, has rushed out a statement saying the company received "cautionary advice not only that the publication of this book might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that it could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment".
He added: "In this instance we decided, after much deliberation, to postpone publication for the safety of the author, employees of Random House, booksellers and anyone else who would be involved in distribution and sale of the novel."
Spellberg denies leaking details but she has said: "You can't play with a sacred history and turn it into soft-core pornography." Sherry, who spent several years learning Islamic history and has almost completed a follow-up novel, is aghast at Spellberg's accusations. She says: "There are no sex scenes in this book. The novel, whose bibliography includes 29 scholarly and religious books, is a work of serious historic fiction detailing the origins of Islam through the eyes of the Prophet Muhammad's youngest wife.
"Although I've been aware from the start that my books might offend some people, I've never been afraid of physical harm because of them. I've expected controversy, yes, but never terrorism."
Source: The First Post
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If one finds this cartoon offensive, I submit the following reality for your consideration...
[WARNING: Graphic Violence - Rated X]
The Violent Oppression of Women in Islam, is a graphic, nightmarish, and profoundly unsettling glance into the darkest recesses of our fellow man. Narrated by Nonie Darwish, this film accurately depicts the dehumanizing theology, brutal abuse, and degredation that comprise the daily lives of millions of women in the fascist portions of the Islamic world -- arcing like a crescent from sub-Saharan Africa, through Iran, to north-central Asia and reaching into hidden pockets of the United States. These acts include the honor killing of a seven-year-old girl, beheaded for having been the victim of sexual abuse; gang-rapes, occasionally perpetrated by family members, to punish women who refuse to wear the hijab; the regular marriage of grown men to nine-year-old girls, in imitation of Islam's founder, Muhammad; genital mutilation of infant girls to destroy their sexual pleasure and objectify them as outlets for the gratification of man's lust; the widespread, often public practice of wife-battery, a practice justified by the Koran; public stonings for violations of Shari'a law; and sadly, much, much more. Taken together, the images of this video are a grotesque and disturbing assault on the integrity of women. Under no circumstances should they be viewed by children.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Sen. Joe Lieberman: Iran's Activities "An Act of War"
By David Patten for Newsmax
Sen. Joseph Lieberman termed Iran's training of Iraqi insurgents "an act of war" in a Florida appearance Wednesday evening on behalf of Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign.
The independent Democrat from Connecticut spoke at length about the threats facing both the state of Israel and the United States during a town hall meeting at the Palm Beach Synagogue in South Florida, describing McCain as ready to face global dangers as commander-in-chief from his first day in office.
Lieberman said that by loosing its elite Kuds revolutionary force to train extremists to fight in Iraq, the Iranian regime has "been responsible for the murder of hundreds of American soldiers in Iraq." "This is really an act of war," Lieberman added, "A proxy act of war."
Citing the threat of terrorism and Iran's nuclear ambitions, Lieberman praised McCain's experience, saying it had given him "good judgment in war and in peace." Lieberman said McCain is an "idealistic realist" who understands that when confronting al-Qaida and Iran's extremist leaders, "You can not sweet talk them into being reasonable, you can't give them a warm embrace and think they're suddenly going to become our friends."
In an obvious reference to Sen. Barack Obama's plan to negotiate readily with foreign despots, Lieberman said McCain would "never be so confused as to think you can sit down with our enemies without preconditions, unless it will really benefit ourselves." He added that Americans must understand that Iran is the No. 1 challenge to American foreign policy.
In reference to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Lieberman said, "History should have taught us that when we hear a leader of a state make statements so extreme as to seem almost unbelievable, we should take that seriously." Ahmadinejad, he said, regularly leads the Iranian masses in chants of "Death to America."
"We've got to take that seriously," Lieberman said, "because he means it seriously." Early in his remarks, Lieberman drew applause after he announced that former Israeli cabinet minister Natan Sharansky had endorsed McCain.
Asked later if he agreed with Sharansky that an Obama presidency was "a risk" to Israel, Lieberman told Newsmax: "I guess I'd say it affirmatively: A McCain presidency will be good for the state of Israel."
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Cyber Film Fest
A machine with a doll face mimics images on a television screen in search of a satisfactory visage. Doll Face presents a visual account of desires misplaced and identities fractured by our technological extension into the future.
The Order Electrus - YouTube link
The amazing power of evolution has given birth to a new species of insect. Their ideal habitats are old industrial locations. Some call them electrical insects, others simply speak of a miraculous phenomenon, or even better, a self supporting order; The Order Electrus.
Herbie Hancock - Rockit - YouTube link
The Rockit music video was directed by duo Godley & Creme and featured robot-like sculptures (by Jim Whiting) moving in time to the music. The video garnered five MTV Video Music Awards in 1984, including Best Concept Video and Best Special Effects.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Jamie Lee Curtis on Hydrogen
(PRNewsFoto/American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Alex Berliner(C)Berliner Studio/BEImages)
Jamie Lee Curtis with her FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicle after delivery of the vehicle on Thursday, July 31, 2008 in Santa Monica, California.
Curtis is the second of approximately 200 customers who will lease the Honda vehicle in the United States and Japan, with the vast majority of vehicles being leased in Southern California.
Watch the commercial "Waterfight" on YouTube.
Dangerous Depots
Albanian Army troops remove exploded shell cases and debris near the crater at the site of the weekend explosion that killed 16 people and wounded more than 300 others, at an army munitions depot in Gerdec on March 18, 2008. The explosion razed the buildings at the shell-dismantling base on the outskirts of Tirana and created huge craters. Defense Minister Fatmir Mediu resigned on March 19, 2008 to take "moral responsibility" for the explosion and the opposition called on Prime Minister Sali Berisha to resign in the wake of the accident. Photo: AFP/Getty Images.
On March 15, 2008, a series of massive and deadly explosions ripped through an Albanian government munitions depot in the village of Gërdec near Tirana, resulting in 24 deaths, injuries to over 300 more people, and catastrophic damage to hundreds of homes and other civilian structures within a 2.5 kilometer (1 1/2 miles) radius. Contributing factors to the initial explosion which triggered a cascade of further explosions involved old, unstable ammunition, improper storage, and unsafe handling. Sadly, this was not a unique incident.
An Albanian woman shows her destroyed house in the village of Memlisht, near the Albanian capital Tirana, on March 19, 2008. Photo: AFP/Getty Images.
Catastrophic explosions at other munitions storage depots in populated areas in Uzbekistan and Bulgaria have since occurred. They are but the latest in a series of incidents spanning many years and among the most recent manifestations of an international problem that has worsened since the end of the Cold War – government arms depots filled with ageing, unstable, poorly maintained, improperly stored, and weakly guarded munitions. These “dangerous depots” have the potential to create even more casualties on an annual basis than landmines and explosive remnants of war.
A man looks at his destroyed car in the village of Memlisht, near the Albanian capital Tirana, on March 19, 2008. Photo: AFP/Getty Images.
The Landmine Monitor recorded a total of 5,751 known casualties in 2006 from landmines and explosive remnants of war worldwide. Yet in one afternoon alone in 2007, a catastrophic explosion at a munitions depot outside of Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, killed and injured over 600 people, far more than the 35 people reportedly killed by landmines and explosive remnants of war in Mozambique the previous year.
Years ago the United States recognized this growing humanitarian threat to innocent civilians around the world whose homes, schools, markets, and places of worship are in close proximity to munitions depots filled with ageing artillery shells, bombs, and other munitions – even sea mines – and that are prone to spontaneous explosions due to improper storage and unsafe handling.
Residents walk past munitions as they leave their destroyed houses in the village of Gerdec, Albania Monday, March 17, 2008. Photo: Hektor Pustina.
The Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs offers Physical Security and Stockpile Management assistance to other countries to help them deal with their dangerous depots. This office, in concert with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, has already been invited by several countries around the world to provide such assistance. In fact, the largest arms and munitions destruction project in history is being undertaken in Ukraine through a NATO Partnership-for-Peace Trust Fund project, in which this Office is serving as the focal point for the United States, which is the lead donor. Unfortunately, the United States has received fewer requests for help than is commensurate to the problem of dangerous munitions depots around the world.
The historic timeline of selected incidents below indicates that the humanitarian impact posed by dangerous depots is widespread and worsening.
Villages check damaged houses in Gerdec, Albania, Monday, March 17, 2008. Twelve people remained missing following the explosions, which began Saturday and continued for 14 hours into Sunday morning. Photo: Hektor Pustina.
Some Examples of Major Accidents at Munitions Depots
2008
July 10, Uzbekistan. An explosion at a military depot in Kagan, southeast of Bukhara, killed at least 3 persons and injured 21, according to the host government. There have been unconfirmed reports of even more casualties.
Explosions rock an arms disposal depot near the village of Chelopechene, on the eastern outskirts of the capital Sofia July 3, 2008. A series of powerful explosions rocked the arms disposal depot storing 1,500 tonnes of obsolete munitions outside Sofia on Thursday, shaking apartment blocks and panicking thousands, authorities and eyewitnesses said. Photo: AFP/Getty Images.
July 3, Bulgaria. A series of explosions at the Chelopchene munitions depot in Sofia, capital of Bulgaria, rocked the city and forced the evacuation of residents within a 6 kilometer (3.7 mile) radius. Tons of ammunition and explosives blew up immediately. More munitions and explosives are believed to be damaged, constituting a danger. The United States immediately offered to help remediate this hazardous explosive site and Bulgaria accepted. The Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement is preparing to render assistance.
A pregnant woman looks at Bulgarian army soldiers collecting broken window panes in the village of Chelopechene on July 4, 2008. Photo: AFP/Getty Images.
March 15, Albania. A massive explosion at a munitions depot in Gërdec, northwest of the capital Tirana, killed some 24 people, injured over 300, destroyed over 400 homes, and resulted in the evacuation of over 4,000 nearby residents. The depot was being used as a munitions demilitarization facility. The precise cause of the explosion is still being investigated. Preliminary findings point to unsafe procedures that triggered a spontaneous explosion which created numerous secondary explosions. The U.S. Embassy, Department of State, and Department of Defense immediately provided assistance. Subsequently, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement has committed $2 million to help Albanian authorities thoroughly and safely clean up all of the highly dangerous unexploded ordnance that still litters the site and environs.
Smoke rises from a military garrison after an explosion in the Bombona Battalion of Medellin, Colombia, 29 December 2007. Photo: AFP/Getty Images.
2007
December 29, Colombia. A series of about six explosions at an army base in Medellin, killed two people, injured seven, and caused neighboring civilian residents to flee. The first explosion was reportedly caused by a grenade that detonated inside a weapons storage area.
Nuns are evacuated after an explosion set on fire a weapons store of the Bombona army battalion in Medellin, December 29, 2007. Photo: AFP/Getty Images.
July 26, Syria. An explosion at a munitions depot at a military complex approximately 6 miles north of Aleppo killed 15 soldiers and wounded 50. Officials blamed the explosion on a heat wave.
June 17, Democratic Republic of Congo. A Congolese Army munitions depot near Mbandaka in Equateur Province was destroyed in an explosion, which killed three people and injured 52.
April 7, Sudan. The international airport in Khartoum was closed temporarily due to an explosion in an adjacent munitions depot. Fortunately, there were no reported casualties.
Photo: Alfredo Mueche, in “Domingo” weekly, Mozambique, March 25, 2007.
March 22, Mozambique. Over 100 people were killed and more than 500 injured when the Malhazine Ammunition Depot exploded in a densely populated neighborhood 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from the center of downtown Maputo, the capital. Unexploded ordnance from that explosion continued to injure people for several days afterwards. Hot weather and negligence were cited as the cause. The depot was constructed in 1984 by the Soviet Union and stockpiled with obsolete Soviet-era weapons and munitions. It had already experienced an explosion in January which injured three people.
Men carry the body of a child who was killed by a munition left over from Afghanistan's civil war, in Kabul May 5, 2008. Four children were killed and one was wounded by an explosion of ordnance left over from in the country's long civil war, the interior ministry said. Photo: Reuters.
The preceding list of incidents is merely a sampling. There have been many more accidents at munitions depots around the world over the years. The phenomenon of catastrophic explosions at munitions depots is not new, nor is it simply a post-Cold War development. For example, on August 18, 1946 the sudden detonation of 28 sea mines, containing approximately 9 tons of explosives, killed 70 personnel and injured 100 others in Vergarolla, Croatia. However, since the end of the Cold War, the frequency of such incidents has increased as has the expansion of civilian dwellings towards what were once isolated depots in some cases. As munitions deteriorate further, new tragedies will follow unless this problem is more widely acknowledged and addressed. The Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency remain committed to helping to confront it.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Atlantic Hurricanes: The 21st Century's New Threat
Atlantic Hurricanes: The 21st Century's New Threat
Walk through the life cycle of a hurricane to see what fuels this amazing force of nature. New computer modeling technology and NASA imagery illustrate how a hurricane develops and evolves in the Atlantic.
The AK-47: Darwin's Weapon of Choice
Firearms safety rule #2: Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
That's one lucky soldier to have only been shot in the leg. He almost earned a Darwin Award.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Nuclear Assassination
Syrian plutonium reactor demolished last September.
The assassinated Syrian general was in charge of securing the al Kibar reactor.Gen. Muhammad Suleiman, whom a sniper shot dead in the Syrian port town of Tartus early Saturday, Aug. 2, was a shadowy figure who acted for Bashar Assad in the regime’s four most sensitive and confidential spheres:
1. He was the president’s liaison man with the North Korean government. On his frequent trips to Pyongyang, Gen. Suleiman organized the consignment of components for the plutonium reactor in northern Syria, which Israeli demolished last September, and the security of the North Korean scientists and technicians who accompanied them.
2. Muhammad Suleiman was also the president’s private channel of communication with Iranian military and intelligence chiefs; in this capacity, he most probably facilitated the Syrian-Iranian-North Korean connection. The Syrian reactor was designed to produce nuclear fuel for the Iranian program and radioactive weapons for Syria.
3. The late general also acted as the president’s contact man with Hizballah’s leaders. He worked directly with Imad Mughniyeh, head of Hizballah’s security apparatus, who was killed in Damascus last February.
4. His key function was the management of Assad’s personal interaction with the Syrian chief of staff, generals and heads of military intelligence. There was no state secret from the powerful general. He was to have accompanied the Syrian president on his state visit to Tehran Saturday; instead he was laid to rest in his home village of Driekesh in the north.
Damascus has done its utmost to keep the general’s death under wraps, but word has spread and theories abound: Speculation ranges from an outside hand, or a jealous rival to an internal element who felt the concentration of so much power in one hand was a threat to the regime.
Source: DEBKAfile
Guarding Iraqi Oil
Almost all of the wealth generated in Iraq comes from two off-shore oil rigs.
Guarding these sites is a priority, not just for war-torn Iraq, but for a world in which oil prices have touched record highs.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
An Oscar for Obie One?
You've seen the playbills...
Now watch the preview!
[Caption contest: What did Chuck say?]
Remembering Life Before the "EMP Threat"
Click to enlarge images.
Images from Life from the Land.
Residence of G. L. Rule, Feb. 18, 1898.
A family group poses with dog, Indian domestic, and young children outside a log cabin, NM.
Irrigation ditch under construction at San Carlos Indian Agency, Arizona, 1886.
Turning over first sod on homestead. Sun River, MT.
Picking cherries on an Oklahoma fruit ranch.
Hancock homestead. Settler from Benson, MN.
Gathering the fruits of an Oklahoma farm.
Cattle round up. Close view of a steer downed for branding.
Some of [Aztec's] Punchers. Aztec Land & Cattle Company, Holbrook, Arizona Territory.
A Montana ranch. Comfortable, if not elegant.
Men gathered around fireplace. Interior of Sawtell's Ranch, Henry's Lake, Fremont County.
Champagne corking in the early 1870's. Buena Vista Vineyard, Sonoma, CA.
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