Ms Merkel in Munich slams Iran's nuclear ambitions

Speaking at the Munich security conference ( Under the theme of "Restoring the Trans-Atlantic Relationship," on the future role of the NATO ), the biggest annual gathering of some 250 defence ministers, military commanders and defence industry leaders. Ms. Angela Merkel, (guarded by 4,000 Police) Germany’s new chancellor called for a new debate of Nato’s central strategic concept by 2009 to define new tasks and limits to its capacity. Angela Merkel, upset over Tehran's declared denial of the Holocaust and calls for Israel to be destroyed, made a personal attack on (like her, democratically elected) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.

She was applauded by her European and North American audience when saying , 'A president who questions Israel's very existence cannot expect Germany to show even the slightest tolerance.'

There were almost no representatives from the Middle East or Islamic countries among the 300 people at the meeting. A single Iranian delegate, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, defended his country's position, but was rebuked by Ms. Merkel who dismissed his intervention for failing to address the Holocaust.

'We have learned our lesson from history,' she said speaking in the City whose name is redolent of the British appeasement so strongly identified with Chamberlain’s historic flight to the City and a fatal and final meeting with Hitler. "Looking back to German history in the early 1930s, when National Socialism was on the rise, there were many outside Germany who said, 'It's only rhetoric -- don't get excited.There were times when people could have reacted differently and, in my view, Germany is obliged to do something at the early stages.

"We want to -- we must -- prevent Iran from developing its nuclear program."

Ms. Merkel and others also used the conference to try and defuse growing rage in the Islamic world over the publication of caricatures depicting the Prophet Mohammed in several European newspapers.

'I can understand that religious feelings of Muslims have been injured and violated,' she said, adding: 'But it is unacceptable to see this as a legitimization for violence.'

On Thursday Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Nato’s secretary-general,(see pic) like any ambitious European bureaucrat laid out his agenda for broader (ie bigger size = bigger budgets)and more intense political consultations on issues ranging from the Balkans and Afghanistan to Africa and the Middle East, … he added as an apparent afterthought the joint policy on energy security, not one imagines, normally top of the NATO agenda. He also called for closer links with other like-minded nations such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea, while warning that “NATO is not a global policeman, but we have increasingly global partnerships”.

"In a time of global threats, our alliance relies on the support of other states more than ever," he is quoted in the Bavarian weekly Bayernkurier, which is published by the German state's ruling Christian Social Union.

"Japan and South Korea can also make important contributions to NATO operations in future," he said. "They have shown clear interest in closer cooperation with NATO. I see building ties with these countries as a major security investment."

The Süddeutsche Zeitung, says, NATO officials discussed the expansion proposal at a January meeting . The Munich daily says US ambassador to NATO, Victoria Nuland, has issued a proposal to establish a permanent joint panel.

This plan is getting none or very lukewarm support from most NATO members. France has already voiced opposition, according to the paper. The Dutch have finally, if reluctantly agreed (after much public hand wringing) to their participation in the ill conceived and militarily doomed Afghan venture on which UK defence Minister John Reid, has happily thrown the lives of UK soldiers and the notoriously unreliable equipment of the UK army and their (as yet) untested in battle Apache helicopters and ageing Chinooks.

Ms Merkel’s speech, was warmly received by the high-level US delegation to the conference, led by Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary and war criminal, but its substance brought very little response.

Instead, Rumsfeld focused almost all his remarks on the terrorist war declared on the US and all its allies, and declined to engage in any debate on the future of the NATO alliance and its role in the world.

'Old NATO' had been limited to the alliance's geographic limits, said Rumsfeld, 'the new NATO ... recognizes challenges which threaten the world are of a global nature.'

It is no secret that the United States would like to see NATO act outside of its traditional remit, playing a role in combating terror attacks, drug and people trafficking and humanitarian assistance following the example of the 1,000 NATO troops deployed to the earthquake-hit areas of Pakistan last year. They also repeatedly point out that the US spend 3.4% of GNP on Defence and most of the EU / NATO countries struggle to spend 2% at best.

Elsewhere at the conference US Senator John McCain , Republican Party frontrunner in the US Presidential 2008 celebrity/reality show said, 'Every option must remain on the table (sounds familiar). There is only one thing worse than a military showdown and that is a nuclear-armed Iran.' US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld warned that 'the Iranian regime is today the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism. The world does not want - and must work together to prevent - a nuclear Iran.'

Sergey Ivanov ,Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister dismissed even the idea of sanctions on Iran, and doubts their effectiveness. 'I am not sceptical but a bit pessimistic on sanctions,' said Ivanov, Iran's neighbours would probably not heed international sanctions too rigorously he claims.

In further Press discussions, Ivanov said Russia wants Iran's nuclear programme to be resolved under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) alone and had strong concerns about the decision on Saturday by the IAEA to refer Iran to the United Nations Security Council, underlining that the world body would only “consider” the issue, not”decide any concrete actions”.

Furthermore, Ivanov insisted that Iran had the 'legal sovereign right to enjoy the fruits of nuclear energy.' (Just as presumably Israel has ?)

Israel yesterday , via Former Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom approved the decision by the international community to move against Iran, despite discomfort about the resolution's indirect reference to Israel's own alleged nuclear program. This refers to a clause inserted by Egypt …” "A solution to the Iranian issue would contribute to global non-proliferation efforts and to realising the objective of a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction, including their means of delivery." The US has rebuffed any such efforts repeatedly by Egypt ( who have experienced their own share of terrorist attacks in Cairo and tourist resorts recently) to insert such clauses in IAEA documents. Israel reflexively never admits to possessing, making, nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems for them, even though it is widely agreed that it has almost 200 nuclear warheads.

Silvan Shalom said: "This is a historic decision. Until recent years, the world thought that Iran and terror were Israel's problem.

"After 9/11, and the terror attacks in London, Madrid and Russia, they understood that it's the world's problem."

Evidently there is no agreement or overall strategy yet for a response to further declared Iranian intransigence or if they throw further spanners in the works.
Of course the co-ordinated (?) , unpoliced (?), and co-incidental Muslim demonstrators of Paris in November, and now in London, Egypt, Beirut, Damascus, irritated by (if not sponsored by) repeated European re-printing of the offending Danish (and unfunny) cartoons is a handy tool to ensure public solidarity, to “get tough with the Islamofascists” and chimes with the Zionist stance on democratically elected Hamas to run the Palestinian Government.

The cynical observer in London may wonder at the apparent incapacity (or unwillingness) of the Police to intervene, to disrupt illegally congregating marching hordes of people, calling for murder with successful prosecutions of peace activists for reciting the names of the war dead.

Might this withdrawal of the lethal powers ( viz De Menezes murder , massive stop and searches under the many and varied ant Terrorism statutes available) ) of the “Met” possibly have an effect in stoking up the fires of resistance and resentment of the supporters of the BNP ? Surely not.

No doubt Beefy Clarke’s “Timeline” of the 7/7 “suicide bombers” will uncover the previously unknown , cunningly concealed network of Islamofascist networks with hidden harms to our “democratic” society.

Last time the Secret Services / Police got their “secrets” wrong over WMD and Saddam, this time the dastardly Iranians were so clever the hid their secrets from the denizens of the Purple Palace of Vauxhall Bridge and Horse Guards Parade.

Meanwhile the Met’s “finest” are scrutinising video tapes from their “information gatherers” of the London demonstrations …. and carefully listening to people who claim the protests were “hi jacked” by MI5 funded , Luton and Bedford based Al Muhajaroun.

POSTSCRIPT History re run?

'Old NATO' had been limited to the alliance's geographic limits, said Rumsfeld, 'the new NATO ... recognizes challenges which threaten the world are of a global nature.'

Does he foresee the UN going the way of the League of Nations, resistant to bullying Bolton and a more compliant and more easily bullied NATO alliance more compliant with the aims of the PNAC signatories ?

Postman posted news on Muslim reactions to Danish cartoons in November ... news as and when it happens.

I was interested to see that a posting here in November on the French riots led with a reference to riots in Denmark which received scant attention in the press – related to the cartoons which now have lit the fires of the Muslim world, not to mention Danish Embassies.

It is evident that Muslim resistance in Denmark was vocal and also involved firebombs and other violence and could be seen in context with other continental Muslim reactions and riots etc.,

Nice to think that one is able to pick up the straws in the wind which eventually result in major events.

Muslim Riots Break Out in Denmark As Well
19:26 Nov 06, '05 / 4 Cheshvan 5766

(IsraelNN.com) As Muslim riots spread across France, Denmark is also beginning to see its own Islamic Intifada. In Arhus, Denmark, young Muslims were heard chanting, “This land belongs to us!”

A masked spokesman for the rioters told Danish reporters that Muslims were tired of being oppressed and harassed and warned the police to stay away. "This is our area. We rule this place,” he said.

The riots have increased following a cartoon in Danish paper The Jyllands Post involving Mohammed. Rocks and firebombs have become commonplace in many neighbourhoods and firefighters are afraid to enter them to put out the fires.

Bibi bangs the war drum

Likud chairman and prime minister hopeful Binyamin Netanyahu was joined by senior Likud MKs, Gideon Saar, Yuval Seinitz, Dan Naveh, Limor Livnat, Gilad Erdan, Yisrael Katz, Uzi Landau, and Silvan Shalom as well as 2 non MK Likud candidates, Natan Sharansky and Keren Barak on a tour of the security fence in the settlement of Beit Aryeh.

Speaking from the Ariel Sharon Observation Point overlooking Ben Gurion International Airport at Beit Aryeh, which also overlooks the entire coastal plain, from Ashkelon in the south to Hadera in the north, Netanyahu said,

"We have to distance the fence from the range of missiles to defend Israel. There are those that think we are saying this just for election purposes. It has been my opinion consistently that drivers should be able to go on the roads without the threat of snipers."
"From the Sharon Observation Point a plane can be downed. My government will move the fence backward so that Ben Gurion Airport will not be threatened and our deterrence will be restored,"

Despite recommendations from senior security officials to keep the hills surrounding Beit Aryeh in Israeli territory, a Supreme Court ruling determined that the hills surrounding the settlement would remain on the Palestinian side of the security fence at a distance of some four kilometers.

Netanyahu also took a swipe at the Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government's decision to release funds to the Palestinian Authority, now headed by Hamas. (The Cabinet on Sunday agreed to transfer about NIS 240 million owed to the Palestinians, after delaying the payment last week.

Likud Chairman and prime minister hopeful Binyamin Netanyahu blasted the decision, saying, "We are trying to create international pressure against Hamas - so every shekel we give to a Hamas-led government is unexplainable."
Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer indicated Saturday he would advise the government to transfer the funds.

"I generally prefer to abide by agreements I've signed," Fischer said in an Israel Radio interview. "So that is at least one rationale for transferring the money. There are all kinds of other rationales, but that is my starting point."
Under the 1995 Israel-PA interim agreements, Jerusalem is to transfer to the PA each month the customs and tax revenues it collects at the ports and crossing points on behalf of the PA.

"We are trying to create international pressure against Hamas - so every shekel we give to a Hamas-led government is unexplainable," said Natanyahu.

Former foreign minister Silvan Shalom reiterated Netanyahu's position by saying, "It's depressing that despite terror, the government is acting as if nothing has happened, and in a scandalous decision is giving the Hamas money at a time when the world is stopping the flow of money to the PA. How can we expect the world crack down on Hamas when we're not?"

The IDF and the Shin Bet are said to have come out in favour of transferring the money as well, because of concerns that leaving so many people (and families) without salaries would plunge the Palestinian areas deeper into chaos and anarchy. Both Egypt and the US have also urged Israel to transfer the money, at least during the period of a transitional government inside the PA.

Hekmatyar .. watch this space.

Islamabad, 10 January (Asiantribune.com): Afghan rebel leader and chief of Hizb-e-Islami Afghanistan Enginner Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has urged all Afghans to continue their fight until all "occupation forces" are "driven out" of the country.

In a message released in Pakistan on in advance of the Muslim festival of Eid-ul-Adha which falls on Jan 11, the fugitive rebel commander said the "real Eid" (happiness) would be celebrated when Afghanistan was "free of foreign agents" and would not need to seek foreign assistance or to "bow to others".

In order to achieve this, Hekmatyar said, it was incumbent upon "every Afghan and every Muslim" to engage in jihad (holy war).

"With the Grace of God, Afghans waged jihad against former Soviet Russia for the same sacred purpose. Once again, they have waged jihad against the current US and British-led crusade. God willing, this jihad will continue until all occupation forces are driven out of every corner of the country and an Islamic system is established in Afghanistan in accordance with the people's wishes. God willing, that Eid will also come, and it will come very soon."

In his message, the Afghan former Prime Minister also denounced last year's parliamentary elections in Afghanistan, saying they had been rigged by the US.

He said the aim of the polls had been to hide "colonialist occupation" under "the disguise of democracy". This was designed to establish "an obedient and weak parliament" which would sign "treaties of subjugation".

Nuclear Power Race under starters orders.

Westinghouse Pleased With Selection of AP1000 Nuclear Technology for Potential Expansion at Plant Vogtle
PITTSBURGH, /PRNewswire/ -- Westinghouse Electric Company
President and CEO Steve Tritch said today that he and Westinghouse employees
throughout the world are pleased with the selection of the AP1000 as the
technology of choice for potential new nuclear plants at the Alvin W. Vogtle
Electric Generating Plant near Waynesboro, Ga.
The selection of the AP1000 was announced earlier today by Georgia Power
and Southern Nuclear Operating Company, which operates the plant for a number
of co-owners, including Georgia Power. Southern Nuclear and Georgia Power are
subsidiaries of Southern Company.
"The decision to pursue an Early Site Permit (ESP) and a Combined
Construction and Operating License (COL) for the Plant Vogtle site is the most
recent in a series of positive steps toward a nuclear renaissance in the
United States," Mr. Tritch said. "Southern Company has always been a
progressive force in our industry, and we are both pleased and excited to be
able to now work with such a long-term and valued customer in the new plant
arena."
The AP1000 received Design Certification from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission on Dec. 31, 2005. It is the only Generation III+ nuclear power
plant to have received either Final Design Approval or Design Certification
from the NRC.
Earlier this week, Progress Energy announced that it had selected the
AP1000 as the technology for possible new plants at the Harris Nuclear Pant
site near New Hill, N.C.
Duke Power announced in October, 2005 that it would pursue a Combined
Construction and Operating License for two AP1000s at a still-to-be-determined
site. In September 2005, NuStart, the nation's largest consortium of nuclear
power companies, selected TVA's Bellefonte Nuclear Plant site for a COL
application for the AP1000.
Westinghouse believes the AP1000 is ideally suited for the worldwide
nuclear power marketplace. The AP1000 is:

- The safest, most advanced, yet proven nuclear power plant currently
available in the worldwide marketplace (conservative probabilistic risk
assessment (PRA): core damage frequency potential at negligible
2.5x10-(7))
- Based on standard Westinghouse pressurized water reactor (PWR)
technology that has achieved more than 2,500 reactor years of highly
successful operation
- An 1100MWe design that is ideal for providing baseload generating
capacity
- Modular in design, promoting ready standardization and high
construction quality
- Economical to construct and maintain (less concrete and steel and fewer
components and systems mean there is less to install, inspect and
maintain)
- Designed to promote ease of operation (features most advanced
instrumentation and control (I&C) in the industry)

For more information about the Westinghouse AP1000, visit its Web site at
http://www.ap1000.westinghousenuclear.com. For images of the AP1000, visit
http://www.westinghousenuclear.com/D6.asp.

Westinghouse Electric Company is the world's pioneering nuclear power
company and is a leading supplier of nuclear plant products and technologies
to utilities throughout the world. Westinghouse supplied the world's first
PWR in 1957 in Shippingport, Pa. Today, Westinghouse technology is the basis
for approximately one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants, including
60 percent of those in the United States.

SOURCE Westinghouse Electric Company

Interesting Fact. The Folks who make the Predator UAV that was so succesful inkilling mums and their kids on the Pakistani border have another side to their business... Mining Uranium. That is called covering all the bases, well the ones that matter.

Kharzai says job in Afghanistan is now 10 - 15 years.

Interviewed before the London summit of babblers, Kharzai welcomes even more aid and men with guns.

The henchmen of Hakmatyr ...see following... are waiting for the UK troops to undertake there as yet unstated mission in the South of Afghanistan. K says poppy plantingsd are down 21 % this year, a curiously accurate figure. 21% are you sure thats not 22% K ? Evidently his agrarian sleuths are far more effective than tyhe EU bureaucrats who manage to miss millions of hectares of Greek and Italian Olive Trees.

Here is a prophetic piece which is worth re-reading

http://www.williambowles.info/asia/hekmatyar.html


22/12/04 “Official” Terrorist lights fires of resistance in Afghanistan by Edward Teague

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar leads the Mujahideen faction, of fundamentalist Sunni Muslim Pashtuns, the Hezb-e-Islami, which was one of the groups that ended the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. His forces were a main beneficiary of the 7 mujahideen groups recognised by Pakistan and US intelligence agencies for the channelling of money and arms during the 1979-89 war. Among those arms were Stinger surface-to-air missiles. (The first Stinger was fired by a Hezb-e-Islami soldier near Jalalabad on September 25, 1986. The Stingers traced back to the Afghan Mujahedin have since been located in Chechyna, Tajikistan and the Philippines.)

Mullah Omar supported him during this period.Hezb-e-Islami clashed with other groups but refused to share power with Burhan-ud-Din Rabbani and Ahmed Shah Masood of the Northern Alliance for control of the capital, Kabul. As a result the The Hezb-e-Islami ( who with General Dostum) was blamed for the violence and destruction of that period, and Hekmatyr was called the butcher of the Muslims.

Many Afghan observers accuse Hekmatyar of killing more Mujahideen members than Communists. After losing support from the Pakistan ISI and the Saudis he was forced to flee Kabul when support shifted to the Taliban.Hekmatyr ended up being given refuge in Tehran where the Iranians saw him as a useful Pashtun bargain counter. However his very vocal opposition to the US and their man Kharzai , became an embarassment and he was expelled and his offices closed on Feb 26th 2002.Late in 2002 it was reported that Hekmatyar was giving full support to Karzai administration, although the warlord’s whereabouts were unknown. Soon after Afghan administration arrested 160 people in Kabul in a suspected anti-government plot who were said to be members of Hezb-e-Islami.Another report claimed the CIA reportedly spotted him in the Shegal Gorge, near Kabul, and tried (unsuccessfully) to kill him with a modified anti-tank missile from a Predator unmanned spy plane.

The US still had him in their sights and were said to be behind the arrest in Islamabad in October of his son, Ghairat Baheer.On February 19, 2003 American tolerance snapped and the US DOS designated Gulbuddin Hekmatyar as a Terrorist.All has been quiet so far this year, whilst the poppy harvest have been rolling in and the pipeline of drugs packed in bales of cotton shipped by Karimov’s daughter, to the West through Uzbekistan keeps rolling on. Now the warlords see an opportunity to remove the puppet US administration in Kabul, whilst an increasingly desperate Kharzai is asking his US protectors to set up bases in Kabul and elsewhere.

There are reports that five parties met last week near Mazar-e-Sharif (N Afghanistan) and agreed to support the mass mobilisation of people against the US presence.and to turn it into a political movement. Among those present was former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani, Ittahad-i-Islami Afghanistan, a representative of two local Tajik groups and a group from neighbouring Uzbekistan.Whilst Western Press reports have been anxious to suggest that the Afghan rioting last week was directly related to the Newsweek report of Koranic toilet douching ( a widely read weekly in Kabul ?) The Taliban radio and prayer leaders at local mosques, were asking Afghans to rise up against the American presence in the country. A prayer leader at a local mosque in Kabul, Maulvi Habibullah Shariati, was arrested when he told those who had gathered for the prayers to kick out the American forces from the country.The Hizb-i-islami Afghanistan, a Taliban movement led by Maulvi Younus Khalis, as well as Gulbadin Hikmatyar’s Hezb -e- Islami were the most active segments within the Pashtun-dominated cities of Kabul, Jalalabad, Khost, Asadabad and Kandahar, that were asking for a massive mobilisation against the US presence in Afghanistan.

Diplomatic sources in Kabul see a strong spring offensive (That is 2005 remeber and was on the button) that the Taliban fighters have launched, with a much wider and popular a wider political movement against the US.UK / NATO military observers were seen in the region last week considering a call from the White House (Condi / Rummy et. al. as the ordure hits the aircon) to plunge UK troops into this bloody cauldron.

Watch this space for an announcement about troop movements from the Scotsman John Reid AKA Minister of Defence – augmenting NATO forces (now approx 500) – beefing up the response – sharing the burden – spreading the load – part of a widening response in the War on Terror – blah blah … pulling US chestnuts out of the fire – re-run history reel .. Terrorist aided by US bites the hand that feeds … Osama ? Hekmatyar ?Get yer placards out.

Meanwhile reports about the Apache Longbow, talk of hefty maintenance, lack of spoares, unreliability...remember we opened a production line in the UK to make them.. thought the UK could teach the US to make engineering equipment ?

Probably the lost curious aspect of the Reid announcement on salisbury Plain was that nobody pointed out that the Plain , Norfolk and Otterburn are somewhat flatter than the borders of South Afghanistan... but hey he got to wear a natty Cammo jacket.

Project for the New American Century

It makes sense to re-visit the statement of principles (!) of the signatories (and who they were) to the PNAC. The website referenced is well worth visiting if you want to know what is motivating the "manifest destiny".

(C) PNAC no doubt.....

• we need to increase defense spending significantly if we are to carry out our global
responsibilities today and modernize our armed forces for the future;
• we need to strengthen our ties to democratic allies and to challenge regimes hostile to our interests and values;
• we need to promote the cause of political and economic freedom abroad;
• we need to accept responsibility for America's unique role in preserving and extending an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity, and our principles.
Such a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity may not be fashionable today. But it is necessary if the United States is to build on the successes of this past century and to ensure our security and our greatness in the next.
Elliott Abrams Gary Bauer William J. Bennett Jeb Bush

Dick Cheney Eliot A. Cohen Midge Decter Paula Dobriansky Steve Forbes

Aaron Friedberg Francis Fukuyama Frank Gaffney Fred C. Ikle

Donald Kagan Zalmay Khalilzad I. Lewis Libby Norman Podhoretz

Dan Quayle Peter W. Rodman Stephen P. Rosen Henry S. Rowen

Donald Rumsfeld Vin Weber George Weigel Paul Wolfowitz
http://www.newamericancentury.org/statementofprinciples.htm

Russians to get first bite at Iraqi oil fields ?

Readers will know how obsessed I get with Mr Alekperov. Even the London based Financial Times has today noticed that Leonid Fedun, Lukoil’s vice-president, said in an interview: “This year we will be able to start specific negotiations to develop fields.” He added: “2006 for us is the year that we are very optimistic. Finally we have a legitimate government in Iraq.”

Lukoil has the major stake in the $3.8bn (€3bn, £2bn) West Qurna oilfield, for which it signed a contract in 1997. But Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s former president, severed the contract in late 2002, shortly before the US invasion that toppled him.
Mr Fedun said Lukoil – which has set up an office in Baghdad, organised training programmes for hundreds of Iraqi engineers in Russia and had discussions between the Iraqi Oil Ministry and the company’s executives, expects the contract to be honoured.

Conoco Phillips have of course got an interest in Lukoil and Chevron share a Director.

Mr A is quietly stitching up major world wide deals in the old CIS states, Venezuela, Bolivia, China....

Bush | Hitler ... Please spot the difference

US Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez sent this helpful letter letter to Bill Frist on January 19, 2006. Quoted in its entirety:

The Honorable William H. Frist
Majority Leader
United States Senate
Washington. D.C. 205 10

Dear Mr. Leader:

As the President recently described, in response to the attacks of September 11th, he has authorized the National Security Agency (NSA) to intercept international communications into or out of the United States of persons linked to al Qaeda or an affiliated terrorist organization. The attached paper has been prepared by the Department of Justice to provide a detailed analysis of the legal basis for those NSA activities dcscribcd by the President.

As I have previously explained, these NSA activities are lawful in all respects. They represent a vital effort by the President to ensure that we have in place an early warning system to detect and prevent another catastrophic terrorist attack on America. In the ongoing armed conflict with al Qaeda and its allies, the President has the primary duty under the Constitution to protect the American people. The Constitution gives the President thc full authority necessary to carry out that solemn duty, and he has made clear that he will use all authority available to him. consistent with the law, to protect the Nation. The President's authority to approve these NSA activities is confirmed and supplemented by Congress in the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), enacted on Septembcr 18, 2001. As discussed in depth in the attached paper, the President's use of his constitutional authority, as supplemented by statute in the AUMF, is consistent with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and is also fully protective of the civil liberties guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment.

It is my hope that this paper will prove helpful to your understanding of the legal authorities underlying the NSA activities described by the President.

What this means as far as this non lawyer can tell is that the Pres. will do whatever he wants ... after all who is going to rein him in ? Certainly not Congress.

Reid sends ill equipped troops to certain deaths in S Afghanistan

Defence Secretary "Dr" John Reid met some of the troops due to die (We expect to take casualties)in Afghanistan. In a nationwide 2 bases *Salisbury Plain , Dittingham Norfolk, and Otterburn) exercise 3 Para are part of 3000 3,300 army personnel are due to go to the lawless southern region of the country.


They will help provide a "stable environment for reconstruction and help the government gain control of the more troubled areas" it says on this press release here.

Dressed in a combat jacket, watched as two Apache attack helicopters, two Lynx helicopters and a Chinook carried out a simulated medical evacuation. Soenmthing they will need get used to. Of course the AGED Chinooks are ill equipped to cope with the territory (remember the last batch were delivered incapable of operating in cloud).

The Apache gun ships with their newly trained pilots enter their first attack roles, prey for the welter of Stinger missiles given by the CIA to the sons of Bin Laden, not to mention the Russian hand held SAM's which have surfaced in Bagdhad shooting down experienced US pilots only ten miles from Baghdad last week.

Earlier, he paid tribute to the soldiers due to travel to Afghanistan and said they were playing an important role in ensuring global security.

"They are performing a vital task on behalf of the nation," he said. "We will never allow Afghanistan to go back into the hands of the terrorists." Brave words bravely soken... as much of the country is in the hands of the bloody handed war Lords like Dostum they are also redundant.

Mr Reid conceded that they would face danger but said the risk to international security would be far greater if the troops did not act.

It is evident that the Armed Forces are VERY reluctant to go, so confusing is their NATO / US role and Command structure...chasing terroists, eradicating the deadly poppies ?

Sweeping up the shit for the US ? For as long as the horizon stretches... at least six years or until we runout of troops and patiemce.

perjaps we cpuld set up a thermometer of the street price of heroin on the Streets of London in a prominent place in Trafa;gar Square to evaluate how successful the poppy eradification program is ?

Bibi Laughing out loud ....

BiBi Natanyahu wil be delighted with the result of the Palestinian elections, as this article detailing Hamas' history helps us understand. 'Hamastan' cannot be controlled, dealth with and is nothing but a bunch of terrorist thugs .. meanwhile Olmut declares the ultimate ideology... The Zionist really want to create an Apartheid state.... free of the Palestinian Islamofascist Arabs, to whom he refuses to talk.

Expect Likud to rise in the polls. ...Don't be surprised if the Washington gangsters start shouting , Perle, Feith (Pere et Fils), Kristol, AIPAC (whose spy Franklin has just got banged up), NDL, JINSA. NEI etc., etc.,

Hamas is a Creation of Mossad ... by Hassane Zerouky

January 27, 2006
GlobalResearch.ca (Who ask for re publishing by all and sundry)

Originally published in French by L'Humanité, translated by Global Research, this article originally appeared in Global Outlook, No 2, Summer 2002.

Thanks to the Mossad, Israel's "Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks", the Hamas was allowed to reinforce its presence in the occupied territories. Meanwhile, Arafat's Fatah Movement for National Liberation as well as the Palestinian Left were subjected to the most brutal form of repression and intimidation

Let us not forget that it was Israel, which in fact created Hamas. According to Zeev Sternell, historian at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, "Israel thought that it was a smart ploy to push the Islamists against the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO)".

Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of the Islamist movement in Palestine, returning from Cairo in the seventies, established an Islamic charity association. Prime Minister Golda Meir, saw this as a an opportunity to counterbalance the rise of Arafat’s Fatah movement. .According to the Israeli weekly Koteret Rashit (October 1987), "The Islamic associations as well as the university had been supported and encouraged by the Israeli military authority" in charge of the (civilian) administration of the West Bank and Gaza. "They [the Islamic associations and the university] were authorized to receive money payments from abroad."

The Islamists set up orphanages and health clinics, as well as a network of schools, workshops which created employment for women as well as system of financial aid to the poor. And in 1978, they created an "Islamic University" in Gaza. "The military authority was convinced that these activities would weaken both the PLO and the leftist organizations in Gaza." At the end of 1992, there were six hundred mosques in Gaza. Thanks to Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad (Israel’s Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks) , the Islamists were allowed to reinforce their presence in the occupied territories. Meanwhile, the members of Fatah (Movement for the National Liberation of Palestine) and the Palestinian Left were subjected to the most brutal form of repression.

In 1984, Ahmed Yassin was arrested and condemned to twelve years in prison, after the discovery of a hidden arms cache. But one year later, he was set free and resumed his activities. And when the Intifada (‘uprising’) began, in October 1987, which took the Islamists by surprise, Sheik Yassin responded by creating the Hamas (The Islamic Resistance Movement): "God is our beginning, the prophet our model, the Koran our constitution", proclaims article 7 of the charter of the organization.

Ahmed Yassin was in prison when, the Oslo accords (Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government) were signed in September 1993. The Hamas had rejected Oslo outright. But at that time, 70% of Palestinians had condemned the attacks on Israeli civilians. Yassin did everything in his power to undermine the Oslo accords. Even prior to Prime Minister Rabin’s death, he had the support of the Israeli government. The latter was very reluctant to implement the peace agreement.

The Hamas then launched a carefully timed campaign of attacks against civilians, one day before the meeting between Palestinian and Israeli negotiators, regarding the formal recognition of Israel by the National Palestinian Council. These events were largely instrumental in the formation of a Right wing Israeli government following the May 1996 elections.

Quite unexpectedly, Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered Sheik Ahmed Yassin to be released from prison ("on humanitarian grounds") where he was serving a life sentence. Meanwhile, Netanyahu, together with President Bill Clinton, was putting pressure on Arafat to control the Hamas. In fact, Netanyahu knew that he could rely, once more, on the Islamists to sabotage the Oslo accords. Worse still: after having expelled Yassin to Jordan, Prime Minister Netanyahu allowed him to return to Gaza, where he was welcomed triumphantly as a hero in October 1997.

Arafat was helpless in the face of these events. Moreover, because he had supported Saddam Hussein during the1991 Gulf war, (while the Hamas had cautiously abstained from taking sides), the Gulf states decided to cut off their financing of the Palestinian Authority. Meanwhile, between February and April 1998, Sheik Ahmad Yassin was able to raise several hundred million dollars, from those same countries. The the budget of The Hamas was said to be greater than that of the Palestinian Authority. These new sources of funding enabled the Islamists to effectively pursue their various charitable activities. It is estimated that one Palestinian out of three is the recipient of financial aid from the Hamas. And in this regard, Israel has done nothing to curb the inflow of money into the occupied territories.

The Hamas had built its strength through its various acts of sabotage of the peace process, in a way which was compatible with the interests of the Israeli government. In turn, the latter sought in a number of ways, to prevent the application of the Oslo accords. In other words, Hamas was fulfilling the functions for which it was originally created: to prevent the creation of a Palestinian State. And in this regard, Hamas and Ariel Sharon, see eye to eye; they are exactly on the same wave length.

Overmanned BAE produce Unmanned useless UAV out of date, obsolete UAV with catchy name.

The BBC carries a report of the UK's Corax (Raven) UAV Said to result frpm 2 years work. This is the last of a long line of over 20 years work based at Aberporth in West Wales.

The UK is Light years behind the US / Israel / Japan in developing such vehicles ... some urgency has been injected into calling this "Project Churchill" recalling the 12 month period in the 2 nd World War which saw the development of the Churchill heavy Tank.

The project has suffered like the Forward Light Airborne Vehicle (FLAV) of the early nineties based on transport in the Hercules. Now all progresss has been halted after nearly 15 years as the ageing and unreliable Herc's are phased out with their narrow low load carrying capacity.

The UAV is another black hole down which MOD millions disappears into the pockets of BAE shareholders and their workers, with precious little result for the UK Armed Forces.

Meanwhile Qinetic await flotation to enrich the Carlyle shareholders (Prop G Bush Snr and family plus the Bin Laden's and ex British Prime Ministers not to forget MI6\s mouthpiece Dame Neville Jones ... about to spearhead the Conservative Party Think Tank on defence).

Little has come out of their magic involvement judging by the Press releases that fly past me, expect an inhenious road blanket with spikes to arrest speading cars that wraps round axles - tyres etc., ... Oh and a simulation package for how wind farms interfere with Military radar .. another boost to the fast collapsing UK wind energy industry (Shhhhhh don't mention this now we are on our 7th Labour Energy Minister) on which Tony B relied so much before finding the wonderful benefits of nuclear power.

Israeli Stealth Boat .. more information

You may have first heard about the Israeli Stealth Boat here, this is another report with information from manufacturers Rafael. This is one of the many weapons in use to make Gaza into the worlds largest prison enabling the Israeli "Defence Force" to shoot Palestinians like fish in a barrel.


World's first speedboat drone keep seas, sailors and shorelines safe
By David Brinn January 22, 2006


A critical problem for any country's navy is figuring out how to patrol its territory and protect its nation's shore without putting its vessels and seamen at excessive risk of enemy attack. And no country is more aware of the problem than Israel.

Israel has long been a world leader in keeping territory on the ground safe by using unmanned aerial vehicles. Some of these aircraft, according to foreign reports, are equipped with offensive weapons used to target Palestinian terrorists. The Israeli military has also begun deploying remote-controlled vehicles along the security fence in the West Bank.

That's why it's not surprising that an Israeli company - Rafael Armament Development Authority Ltd. - has developed a novel solution that identifies infiltration and terrorists while safeguarding the lives of troops on the seas. The solution is called the 'Protector' and it represents the world's first speedboat drone, operated without any personnel on board. One of the first systems is already headed to the US for evaluation, following the signing of a cooperation agreement with US giants Lockheed Martin and BAE System.

The 30-foot-long 'Protector' boat can reach speeds of up to 43 miles per hour and is fitted with a radar system, cameras that can identify targets, and a light machine-gun.

Long a leader is developing unmanned vehicles and aircraft, the Israeli-developed Protector is a natural progression based on the success of autonomous remotely controlled surface vehicles. Rafael, which designs, develops, manufactures and supplies a wide range of advanced defense systems including naval, air and ground precision weapons, and electro-optic systems, is one of the world leaders in its field.

According to Udi Netzer, Rafael's corporate vice president and general manager of the systems division, the integrated naval combat system can conduct a wide spectrum of critical missions, without exposing personnel and capital assets to unnecessary risk,

"We started the development of the system back in 2001 - it was our own initiative, there were no requests for us to develop it. It just came out of our understanding of future fleets and what they would look like," he told ISRAEL21c.

"We spent a couple years using our own R&D funding with the idea that the focus of the boat should be on anti-terror capabilities, and self protection of big ships, as well as harbor protection and oil rigs."

The Protector's anti-terror mission module payload includes sensors and weapon systems. Each boat is equipped with at least four cameras, as well as a sonar or radar system, and electro-optics capable of providing a three-dimensional image. The machine gun on board is a mini-Typhoon type, also developed by Rafael. The Typhoon system allows the gun to stay on target as the unmanned surface vehicle (USV) bounces across the waves.

According to Dr. Noam Brock, who was in charge of the Rafael team that developed the Protector, the boat operates well at night and can cope with very rough sea conditions. Its systems are so advanced that they can track the flight of a single bird, (?) he told a conference in Tel Aviv University, the Israeli paper Ma'ariv reported.

Netzer says that the Protector can be used for military, naval and homeland security applications.

"There's only one similar development in the world - in the US - but their application is geared for underwater to prorect subs and against mines. But we decided that the anti-terror and shore protection applications are more relevant to the current needs of the world," said Netzer.

As soon as the Israeli Navy, as well as navies around the world, heard about the plans for the speedboat drone, Rafael began receiving inquiries.

"There's been big interest worldwide. It's more like customer education. In many senses, we're more advanced in operation culture than the navies themselves," Netzer said.

"In the middle of 2004, we were approached by a foreign country - in the Far East - who said they wanted to buy a Protector immediately. And by the end of that year we delivered the first complete ship. Right now there are two fully operational systems. If there's a customer that wants a boat immediately, we can provide it."

He disclosed that the Protector bought by the Far East country is currently being deployed in the Persian Gulf as self-protection for a mother ship, circling between three and five nautical miles around the home base.

"The Protector was taken on board, all the command control data link communication were programmed, and when it got to the designated area, it was launched, it circles the mother ship giving early detection of any possible infiltration," he explained.

At a demonstration late last year for reporters in Israel, the sleek stealthy boat was able to quickly maneuver around the harbor of a navy base, while controlled by a civilian operator inside a control room.

Rafael is delivering the first Protector to the Israeli Navy this month, which will be used for operational evaluation. The Navy plans to deploy it for dangerous tasks, such as monitoring the coast for suspected infiltrators. Palestinian terrorists have detonated themselves a number of times next to Navy patrol boats, and the Navy has long sought a safer way to approach suspicious sea craft. Developers also said the Protector could be used to ferry commandos, as well as contribute to anti-terrorist protection.

"The Israeli Navy has been big supporters from the first time we met with them in 2004," said Netzer.

The development by Rafael appears to be riding the crest of a wave. According to an American study reported by Ma'ariv, by the year 2020, a third of the US war fleet will consist of unmanned vessels. The study added that the world market for unmanned ships like the Protector could reach $1.8 billion by the year 2011.

"The next step for the future will be to equip the system with greater attack capabilities," said Netzer.

He added that the development agreement with Lockheed Martin and BAE is a sign that the US takes the Protector and what it represents to the safety of American interests very seriously.

"There'll certainly be a time soon when the Protector will be protecting US ships,"

No doubt about it, when it calls upon human intelligence to make things that kill people they are in a class of their own.

Yazidis get a seat.

The 5 week old results from the Iraqi elections were predictable and no doubt heavily massaged.

I was delighted the Yazidi who are said erroneously to worship Satan, gained one seat. This curious, peaceful and shade dwelling Islamic ofshoot believe in angels and pray especially to the peacock. (Said to be up to 130K of them in Iraq on borders with Kurds)

Anyone who prays to peacocks gets my vote... although I was astonished when I first saw these flightles and clumsy birds in Sri Lanka (AKA Ceylon) climbing in trees and making their famous din.

Insurgents turn detour area into killing field

ROBERT H. REID of Associated Press reports a little noted incident leading to many deaths following the crash of the U.S. Army AH-64 Apache near Mishahda, 25 miles north of Baghdad last Monday 16/1/06 which killed the two US Pilots.

American and Iraqi forces cordoned off part of a highway N of Baghdad after the crash and traffic was directed onto narrow dirt roads, insurgents turned the area into a killing field. By setting up makeshift checkpoints, they grabbed motorists and slaughtered about 40 over a two-day period.

A local tribal leader, Mohammed al-Khazraji, said he saw dozens of corpses strewn over the ground Wednesday, victims of the insurgents' culling.

Thirty people were dragged from their cars Wednesday and shot dead execution-style in farming areas in Nibaei, a town near Dujail, about 50 miles north of the capital, said police Lt. Qahtan al-Hashmawi.

"Most of the victims were Iraqi policemen, soldiers or commandos," he said.
Another 11 men were killed in similar fashion Tuesday and dumped about a mile from Nibaei, said another policemen, Capt. Ali al-Hashmawi.

In the boldest attack, gunmen opened fire on a convoy of the mobile telephone company Iraqna, killing six security guards and three drivers in the Nafaq al-Shurta district of western Baghdad.

In Basra, two American civilians were killed in a roadside bombing. They worked for the Irving, Texas-based security company DynCorp (whose nose was pushed out by MOD sponsored Aegis whose "trophy video" was being examined by the company ... with no results to date) and were training Iraqi police. A third American was seriously wounded in the attack, said the U.S. Embassy from their Baghdad Palace.

DynCorp spokesman Gregory Lagana identified the dead as Richard Thomas Hickman, 52, of Cave Spring, Ga., and Roland Carroll Barvels, 42, of Aberdeen, S.D.

Cancer Scare Shock Horror

In Manchester a radiologist apparently misread 17 mammograms out of 2500 over a 3 year period ... a failure rate of 0.6%.

Now suspended and vilified, it appears from the spokesman a Dr Campbell that this resulted from disagreements at a regular weekly review meeting. So if failure there was, it was shared and the checks and balances worked imperfectly.

Let us wake up to the fact that such a failure rate in any medical procedure is perfectly acceptable. I am no oncologist although have studied Cervical smear programs in the UK to whom such a failure rate would be understandable. Inadequate smears , damaged or ruined smears in staining account for over 5% of samples requiring a worrying recall.

Mammogram reading is not a perfect or objective matter ( God knows why some automatic reading technology isn't used to support medical decisions) yet the patient is fed the belief that doctors are never wrong. My Blood sugar tester made by Johnson and Johnson has a declared error reading rate of 20% which everyone accepts.

There have been major advances in the UK breast cancer program which resulted from the realisation that wether treatment was chemical, radiological, or surgical depended more upon your specialists training hosital than the evidence he saw.

As a result, we have far better results, use of less intrusive surfery, and widespread use of tamoxifen which was identified (against all expetcations) as the most successful method of treatment for many cancers.

The treatment of this un named and now suspended man (yes it has to be a man) is scandalous.

Why don't medical authorities take more time telling the patient how limited their tools are and spend less time bragging about golden bullets and magic cures ?

Intelligent Rocks

The spooks have been using these for over 20 years and first saw ligth as remote data collection sensors in Northern Ireland, having been developed at Martlesham Heath GPO (as was) research centre and East Kilbride.

Further developed using "burst" transmissions which were prototype "Bluetooth" .. a protocol which handles wireless transmission using frequency shifting 79 random frequencies 1600 times per second. The early technique was top use a stationary car with a drive by user tramsitting / receiving.

Eventually batteries run out so removeable rock was used to top up the YASU batteries. hence the massive batteries exposed in the bugs in the IRA offices gerry Adams presented to the Press last Christmas.

Main item used these days is not a pam computre but housed in a mobile. Which explains why you are relieved of yours when entering a UK building overseas or often in the UK. Using "Blue snarfing" they can retrieve your addres book contacts etc.,

If you meet anybody in an Embassy / Consulate expect them to carry a mobile they place on the table, it will be wired for sound which will be transmitted to a silent listener. The best thing is to ask for a jug of water and drop it into that.

Of course anyone using a mobile is a mug, if they want to keep secrets.

Why did the Risskis show this fillum.

1. To explain how antique the UK surveillance is.
2. To highlight the role of NGO's ... just why are so many located with Head Offioces in St James's (see here) in London and in SW1 ?
3. Putin is putting on a bold front, Ukraine , Georgia, new secretly introduced legilslation 2 weeks ago re NGO funding etc.,

Again another Straw in the wind as the world wakes up to US / UK impotence and the whole energy balamce and geo political nexus.

Diplomatic Gossip says the 4 are well out of town now.

"D" Notice for Diplomatic Baggage

I am puzzled. A Swiss gent tells us that rendition DID occur, an EU citizen was kidnapped (apparently in error by the rror prone CIA ... probably too much Asti Spumante on the Credit card ?) and and Egyptioan cleric kidnapped.

CIA sponsored planes zig zag Europe like Snipe landing hither and thither yet nobody stops to ask them..."Hey buddy what you got on board your plane ?" ... although TB memorably said WE CANNOT GO ROUND SEARCHING EVERY PLANE. Why this sudden incuriosity ?

WEll it was Diplomatic baggage in the form of "rendered" persons issued with diplomatic passports, no doubt energetically waved in the faces of any interfering local Plods. Now why doesn't anyone ask if this is what happened?

Christ knows I have spent a lot of time telling every News Organisation I can contact about it, Liberty, MP's .. why the collective silence ?

"D" Notice anyone ?

War Criminal Jack Straw arrives in Cyprus with Avian Flu Alert

Bad news all round. Famous War Criminal lands to continue with partition of Cyprus in which (watched by the US 6th Fleet and the UK forces who stayed in their SOVEREIGN Bases) Turkey in 1974 grabbed 60% of the land produced 200K refugees and imported 200K destitute Turks) the EU now want to formalise.

Similiarly they want to usher in Croatia, whose Ustashe forces (Fascist in WW2)cleansed Kranje Luka of Serbs, with the aid of overflights and data obtained from USAF Predator aircraft.

Meanwhile suspicious bits of a dead Turkey (The edible sort) and a chicken from avillage only a few miles from Dhekelia (The East Sovereign Base Area ESBA). UK troops from Lancs 2nd Battalion Fusiliers (of Daily Mail hocus pocus photo fame)are manning border checkpoints and (probably illegally) searching vehicles entering Cyprus and Cyprus Government Vets are disinfecting vehicles.

The Cyprus Greek Government appear well up to speed on precautions and planning , having banned duck shooting (reported here before .. which seems to be being obeyed). Two local ornithologists report dead uneaten sparrows found which is remarkable as they are rarely roadkill due to small size.

If proven to be the appropriate R2D2 virus is this a portent of the visit from Bush's washroom assistants friend to carve the island up to hurry along the Turks into Europe ?

What happens when Gas Pipelines blow up.....

First published on www.williambowles.info for those with an interest in blown up gas pipelines and what happens and what plans the UK should anyone use such crude diplomacy. Copyright ... Forth Coming UK Energy Deficit FCUKED.

Note that it is 12 months today that T Blair first discussed the need for building nuclear power stations...see here

04/08/04 The Economic Consequences of the War on Terror
THE BIG BANG THEORY – The Bigger the Bang, the Louder the Silence by Edward Teague


Late sleepers in Ath, 30 km SW of Brussels were woken by a massive explosion at 8.55 am on Friday July 30th 2004. Fire and Emergency crews had been called earlier at 8.30 am to the Ghislengien Industrial Estate to investigate the strong and persistent smell of gas in the area but no evacuation of workers or local residents had been started.
Days after this massive explosion which left a crater said to be dozens of metres deep, reports are confused and totally lacking in detail. A huge incendiary fireball (”a mini Hiroshima” a resident described it), with a massive, soaring thick black reeking cloud, was in or near a cardboard box factory. A nearby motorway was closed. Between 12 and 16 people died immediately and some 200 were injured of whom 35 who suffered massive burns (many of them emergency service staff) and are not expected to survive.

A natural gas pipeline from Zeebrugge on the Belgian coast to Lille in France had exploded, possibly resulting from physical damage caused by local building work at the adjacent Diamant Boart plant which finished on 16th July. Several insurance companies are involved and lead insurer Assuralis estimate damages to be in the order of 100Mn Euros – approximately the annual retails sales of Nestle Kit-Kat in the UK.


The appointed examining magistrate Gerard Bresnoux has set up 2 resident experts on site.

Beyond these simple facts, and notification of the hurried arrival from holiday of the King of the Belgians and the Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt who promised an “inquiry”, the World's press – judging from all available Web Press searches – has nothing further to add since Saturday July 31st.

The local newspaper La Dernier Heure and the Carrefours supermarket chain has set up a disaster fund for victims and their families which will close on August 20th 2004.

The UK media offered no comment or analysis on this massive and lethal incident and turned to the important issues of the day, Cherie Blair's swimwear, Lady Di's non-functioning fountain and the endless sex sagas of the denizen's of London's Soho Square.

Silence. A silence induced by an unwillingness to either rule out the possibility of terrorist action or even identify how such an accident (if that is what it is – and nobody is saying yet) punches a hole in the alleged UK “Energy Policy”.

DASHING FOR GAS

Consequent with the smashing of the coal miners and their Unions and the coal pits which fed the electricity power base of the UK, Margaret Thatcher encouraged the building of gas fired power stations in a so-called, “dash for gas”. Gas, a by-product of the North Sea Oil industry was abundant and, more important for the Balance of Trade, free, excepting extraction costs.

The old “Town Gas” produced as a by-product of coal has been replaced with North Sea Gas. This arrives via the world's longest undersea gas pipeline, 474 kilometres from the Shearwater and Elgin North Sea Fields – the SEAL Interconnector that arrives at Bacton. For years we have been shipping gas (what we economists call exporting) through the Interconnector, a 235 kilometre 1 metre diameter pipe to Zeebrugge. However SEAL production is declining alarmingly and we now have to operate a so called “reverse flow” (what we economists call “importing”) from time to time, this takes over a day to reverse directions and due to lack of pressurisation can only import gas at one third the rate we use to export it. Zeebrugge is planned to install 2 compressors by the end of 2005 and 4 by the end of 2006 and more after that so we can in future years import gas almost as fast as we have been exporting it. (Importing at a higher cost, naturally, than we previously exported it.)

The Zeebrugge terminal also receives Liquified Gas by boat that is fed into their “Huberator” operated by the Belgian company Fluxsys. France has two pipelines feeding gas from the North Sea one from the Zeebrugge Huberator (the now severely damaged pipe, which Fluxsys have elaborately but successfully by-passed) and another direct from Norway's Statoil via their Zeepipe both feeding Gaz de France. This belt and braces policy has thus ensured French national supplies, at least during the low consuming summer months.

However beyond the massive local damage, deaths, injuries and dislocations to the area, the blast can also damage pipelines forward and backward as massive pressure surges through the system. To fully establish the extent of the damage, repair costs and time schedule for repairs will take some time.

Examination and evaluation is being undertaken now. Whatever the news is, it will not be good. But don't expect to learn too much, like the investigation into the power cuts in London last autumn, the reports will remain “commercially confidential”. The last thing anyone in Government (UK or Belgian) wants, is for a public discussion about the safety and security of gas supplies, especially in the UK.

This is not to say the Mandarinate do not think about such matters. Since July 2001 a Joint Energy Security and Supply Working Group (JESS) has been examining the issues involved and has produced four reports, the last in May this year.

True to the fashion of such Inter-Departmental committees they take minutes, spend years and say nothing and always gloss over the really tricky bits. They consider both the “short term” and the “long term issues”, they seek market liberalisation, diversity of sources, the political realities etc., and of course they wonder about “physical unplanned interruptions” – which probably means something like the Big Bang last Friday in Belgium. (And now the Russians blowing up Georgian Power Lines are switching of the taps in Ukraine 25-1-06)

Long on evaluation, short on horizons, fuzzy with facts, they effortlessly fudge their Inter Departmental futures, safe that another annual report gets them 12 months closer to their Pension. No doubt somewhere in Whitehall shelves are groaning with Emergency Plans covering any “physical unplanned interruptions”, which they previously had no doubt prepared for CJD, Foot & Mouth, Immigrants legal and illegal, weaponry, body armour, equipment, required to fight in Iraq, etc., etc.,

ONE YEAR AGO IN ARIZONA


The Belgian explosion is mirrored trans-Atlantically in a little reported incident last year in Tucson. On June 30th the 8", 47 year old mild steel gasoline pipeline carrying 60,000 barrels per day of refined gasoline from El Paso to Phoenix Arizona, burst at the junction of Grant Road and Silverbell Drive due to “stress corrosion cracking”.

The pipeline operated by Kinder Morgan Partners who have $21Bn of pipelines and storage tanks throughout the USA, eventually made good the repairs, but not before the pump price for gasoline in Phoenix reached a price gouging $4 a gallon as supplies had to be trucked in from California.

There were two refineries shut down in California due to breakdowns and the late summer Labor Day weekend was looming.

Nationwide gasoline prices soared and they hit new highs in Canada. Refinery shutdowns for maintenance were hit by the massive power outage and plants shut in Ontario, Detroit and Joliet, Illinois.

Mr Kinder (Ex CEO Enron and friend of Kenny Lay) and Mr Morgan (also ex Enron) had to spend $10Mn repairing their pipeline, however they had had a good year previously. They improved Earning per Share by 29% and they had “reviewed the dividend in the light of recently enacted Federal Tax Legislation on dividends “ . That was Kenny Lay's friend Dubya who removed double dividend taxation, which meant they could (and did) boost the dividend by 167%.

With gas prices hovering around $2 gallon (3.8 litres in the US gallon compared with 4.6 litres in UK gallon) and over winter natural gas prices up 30% now hovering at $6 per 1,000 British Thermal Units up from last year's $4 the American consumer is facing big and bigger energy bills.

ENERGY ALERT

Energy is a fundamental requirement and cost to homes and industry in the US, Europe and Japan. In the OECD demand for gas is scheduled to rise from 250 Billion Cubic Feet (BCF) with 200 BCF produced within the OECD to a total demand by 2030 of 900 BCF, the growth in supply will come from outside the OECD from Russia, the Caspian, the Middle East and North Africa with some spectacular increases also from Bolivia and Peru.

This involves longer supply chains, more vessels to carry Liquified Natural Gas, (LNG). It is calculated that the world fleet of LNG carriers will rise in 25 years from a current 128 to 450 and that 60% of that gas will be used in power (electricity) generation. Many LNG terminals will have to be built both for export and import, potentially and lethally explosive real estate on the maritime coasts of the US and Europe.(Noe the worries now arsing from building 2 YES that is TWO LNG terminals in Milford Haven Harbour and the failure to disclose the Safety Reports etc.,)

The National Weather Service in the US expects a major Hurricane every 70-80 years. One is overdue. If a Force 4 or 5 step Saffir Simpson hurricane force scale hits the Gulf of Mexico this year, the impact on gas and gasoline supplies in the US will make 9/11 look like a tea party in terms of economic cost to the US economy. An economy already saddled with massive and rising double deficits on trade and internal budgets. Interest rates will rise, the dollar dive further and electors will freeze in their November homes, just when they are about to go out and vote. Alex, the first in the new season's Atlantic alphabetic tagging, a puny 90 miles per hour hurricane started the season rather late this week off the Carolina coast – keep watching!


The Belgian Big Bang, a modest blip in gas supplies (as far as we know), the Tucson pipe failure, are simply straws in the harsh winds blowing about increasingly scarce resources with almost unlimited world wide demand. They point up the concerns of a steadily rising crude oil price (Over $44 a barrel today / $20, 18 months ago) piggy backed by a rising natural gas price, fragility of extended trading routes, and ever increasing geo-political problems in the source countries. Live in the Northern States of the US? – get the wood burning stove serviced and go out into the forest and get those logs chopped. Live in the UK? Well JESS says the 2004/5 winter season is “indicating tightness of natural gas supplies”, but adds parenthetically and cautiously, (as Mandarins do) this is based on, “ a calculation of theoretical demand not a projection from actual demand”. Use gas to heat the home? Get the chimney swept and go buy some woodland.

Nobody commented when Chavez and Castro built up the anti-US alliance as they visited Iraq, Libya, Indonesia, and Iran in 2000. Nothing was said when in late 2000 the UN let Saddam selling his oil in Euros and not dollars and Chavez was doing deals with Castro. The silence was tangible.

Systems breaking down, pipelines blowing up – silence. Nobody listening? Or nobody talking?

Edward Teague

Georgian oil and Power lines bombed

First published on www.williambowles.info for those interested in background to Chubais and GAZPROM as well as US frantic diplomacy. Putin prefers bombs.

24/11/03 Georgia, Velvet Underground in Overdrive by Edward Teague


I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
Ecclesiastes
50 year old Russian Oligarch, Alexander Smolensky must have pondered this when typesetting the Bible for illegal distribution in Russia. An offence for which the KGB ordered a prison sentence of 2 years, but of which he endured but one night.

Now his Stolichny Bank aka SBS/AGRO is at the centre of many of the enterprises spawned by buyouts or "privatization" of Russian State assets in the wake of the Berlin wall’s reduction to dust and souvenirs. An interest free loan of US$3Mn to the Leningrad based academic and state Bureaucrat Anatoly Chubais has certainly helped provide him with bread and riches.

Elevated to the Deputy prime ministership under Chernomerdyn, Chubais has seen a meteoric rise to the head of RAO (Unified Energy Systems) which controls more than 70% of the CIS electric power capacities, and output of more than 70% of electricity in the country. Now he seeks to extend this control from Moscow over the Southern republics "The political implications of the UES’s economic expansion are obvious," Yevgenii Arsyukhin wrote recently in the Russian government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta and "Since we are not talking about the sale of cold drinks – electricity supply being vital for the people to have a normal life – Moscow is set to gain control over key economic sectors [in Armenia and Georgia], and over their overall existence in general."

Articulate, energetic and pragmatic, Chubais used to be the golden boy of Russia's emerging market. But the days when Western investment banks showered him with money and Western politicians and newspapers parroted his opinions are long gone.

Initially dismissed by Yeltsin, Chubais later landed on his feet. The Yeltsin government promptly made him general director of UES. It is a position of extraordinary power. Chubais now presides over most of Russia's biggest power plants and the bulk of the national transmission grid. Since UES also has major stakes (49% on average) in all but two of Russia's regional utilities, he calls the shots in most local markets as well.

In May, Gazprom signed a deal to manage natural-gas routes in Georgia (1/7th the size of California with 5Mn population. GDP per head US$2000) without disclosing many contract terms, American diplomats were so alarmed that US President George W. Bush’s top Caspian adviser hastily flew to Tbilisi to warn that the deal could harm American-backed efforts to develop natural gas resources in Azerbaijan. "These negotiations between Gazprom and the Georgian Ministry of Fuel and Energy are not, in my opinion, sufficiently transparent," said Steven Mann, Bush’s Caspian-energy envoy, told Rustavi-2 television. He also cautioned that the Gazprom agreement could "significantly weaken Georgia’s position along East-West energy transportation routes."

Mann’s visit a few days after Richard Miles the US Ambassador’s expression of "concern" that Gazprom’s plans for piping gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field to Erzurum, at the Georgian-Turkish border. would hamper the development of the Shah Deniz BP/Statoil pipeline. On October 18th Anatoly Chubais was in Yerevan signing up a deal with Armenia.

These diplomatic developments highlight the geopolitical motives behind energy-sector deals in the Caucasus. Gazprom is closely allied with the Kremlin. Russian leaders have long sought to increase their economic leverage in former CIS states, including Georgia, in the belief that stronger commercial ties enhance Moscow’s political influence. Conversely, the United States has long sought to reduce Russia’s economic dominance of countries on the Caspian Basin.

After his meeting with Shevardnadze, Mann stressed that the Gazprom deal is "not yet final."

However, elsewhere things were moving. After the collapse of Enron, AES who had bought into the Georgian electricity industry saw their shares plummet from US$73 to a little over a dollar. On May 1st 2003 AES announced Richard Darman as new Non Executive Chairman. A busy man. Ex-manager of the Office of the Budget, famous for saying that George Bush as Presidential candidate did not say "No more Taxes", it was "just something he read in a speech". MD of the shade loving Carlyle group whom he joined in 1993, Darman is also on the hugely influential and secretive Council of Foreign Relations, as is Philip Odeen, ex-chairman of huge DoD contractor TRW who joined AES at the same time (also one time aide of Henry Kissinger).

On May 8th 2003, PA Government Services Inc. (PA), part of the PA Consulting Group, (We are proud that our clients say 'PA makes it happen') announced in a little noticed Press release, an interim management contract with the Republic of Georgia, to manage the United Distribution Company for a period of approximately 18 months, with funding to be provided by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

The United Distribution Company (UDC), they said, was formed in 2002, as an amalgamation of several regional electricity companies. It is estimated to have approximately 660,000 customers, close to 5,000 employees and a service area covering 70% of the country, much of it being rural. It is also a company in very serious difficulty, characterized by dismal financial performance, huge payables, inadequate business systems, all of which combine to make the UDC unable to provide reliable electricity supplies to its customers.

Then, unexpectedly on August 6 2003 (surprisingly Anatoly Chubais was in Tblisi that day) RAO/UES announced the purchase of a 75 percent stake in Georgia’s AES-Telasi joint venture from AES Silk Road, a subsidiary of the US-Arlington based AES Corp. for an undisclosed purchase price (AES paid US$35Mn in 1999 and claim to have spent a further US$250 since). "The Georgian government will take all the steps necessary to convince AES to stay," Georgian Energy Minister David Mirtskhulava Business Week quoted as saying. "AES's presence is important for the future investment climate. This gave UES a virtual lock on Georgia’s domestic electricity market.

On July 31, 2003 the US Embassy made a public statement, "The US is sorry that AES Corporation of Arlington, Virginia, has decided to sell its assets in Georgia". A brilliant film by Paul Devlin "Powertrip" shown at the Berlin Film Festival Feb 2003 detailed the problems AES had including machine gunning of their Georgian executives.

On August 18th there was a complete blackout throughout Georgia – unremarked in the West and whose causes are still subject to wild speculation. Fuel and Energy Minister Mamuka Nikolaishvili, enjoying his first day in office said "We know only that an emergency shutdown occurred. Power was off from 7.00 am to 10.00pm." Prior to this there had been some surprising and influential visitors to President’s Shevardnadze's office. US frustration with Georgia has been mounting, as second largest per capita recipient of US aid after Israel, the US has given US$778 Mn roughly 5 times that of neighbouring Azerbaijan.

So in early July, interrupting his Independence Day weekend celebrations, in flew former US Secretary of State, James Baker, acting as a special Bush Administration envoy, to discuss the problems of the president's cronies ponying up the proceeds of the sale amongst themselves and to seek assurances about the conduct of the forthcoming elections.

On September 24, a US State Department official responsible for aid-related issues in the former Soviet Union, Thomas Adams, announced that Washington’s assistance to Tbilisi would decline in 2004 from the roughly $100 million that Georgia is receiving this year.

This was followed by another high powered US delegation -- including John Shalikashvili, the former chairman of the US military’s joint chiefs of staff, along with Strobe Talbott, a former deputy secretary of state during the Clinton administration and head of the Brookings Policy Research Institute to monitor developments after Baker’s plan and attempt to defuse the confrontational mood then enveloping domestic politics. Even Republican Arizonan Senator John McCain turned up to put the heat on the most famous Georgian after Stalin – but with no success.

A letter from the President on October 31st when his fellow countrymen were celebrating Hallowe’en failed to win Shevardnadze to control the excesses expected in the election 2 days away.

It’s evident that after the shambles of the election with missing ballots, dead voters and all the other paraphernalia of fraudulent elections (something the US President is intimately acquainted with), that Russia and the United States, rivals for control over the Caspian Sea's enormous oil wealth, set up a pragmatic deal to protect their joint interests and ensure a smooth transfer of power.

Half Georgian Igor Ivanov, Putin’s representative flew in and saw Shevardnadze and eventually spoke to Colin Powell after Shevardnadze had twice refused to take calls from Jim Baker. In a move which could exaggerate tensions over the former Soviet state between the US and Georgia's neighbour, Russia, US national security adviser Condoleeza Rice rang her Georgian counterpart Tedo Japaridze (who has six aides paid for by USAID) after the election confirming that the US was "ready to help Georgia, and support it in transition". Senior western diplomats confirmed separately that the US and EU are keen to assist.

Evidently Moscow and Washington saw their own interests were best met by engineering a peaceful exit for long-time and mortally weakened President Eduard Shevardnadze.

Russia doesn’t need more problems on its sensitive southern border to allow militants to step up attacks on Russian forces in rebel Chechnya.

The US, whose main interests are currently elsewhere don’t want local political unrest to disrupt construction of oil and gas pipelines that cross Georgia to bring Azerbaijan's huge energy reserves to Western markets via Turkey.

So fast forward to today. The "velvet" revolution (nice sound bite PR bullshit line from the Czech revolution ) has ripped a few doors off the parliament building, Shevardnadze has gone home, (spurning fleeing to Germany where Gerhardt Schroeder has invited him to spend his retirement at his $11Mn villa) Nino Burdzhanadze , smart, tough and classy lady who was the last elected speaker of the country's parliament, is temporary President until elections early in January and the opposition is led by ambitious and well connected Harvard educated lawyer and ex-Justice Minister Mikhail Saakashvili. "We feel like a plane taken over by hijackers," he said last year.

The White House has not expressed preferences for the incoming President, but said it would support "free and fair elections."

Meanwhile…

Unified Energy Systems have announced they are close to acquiring stakes in a number of Ukrainian utilities, a company spokesman confirmed Friday Nov 22nd.

The UES statement comes amid speculation that a deal worth up to $100 million has already been sealed.

In the Washington Post on Saturday Dean White, a senior partner at PA Consulting Group is quoted as saying of the Georgian electricity system "It's just a big dysfunctional web."

As has been said elsewhere concerning the US obsession with exporting democracy,

"Military might is a sign of strength, but the US military is not invincible world-wide. America's use of force as both first and last resort is a sign of profound systemic weakness."

Edward Teague
Paranoid Obsessive November 24th 2003

Apologies

I said the Colts would win the Superbowl. Now if that field goal in the last minute ...... zzzzzz

Steelers ... we wuz robbed.

De Menezes murderers to be set free

The PPC report is finished. It cannot be published until, every last legal case, has been finalised..expect to read it some time around 2012.

But sources(?) say that communications met to the men on the ground were " coincidentally not being recorded"..well that is what the BBC says. Quelle surprise.

Obbo man takes a piss,(just at the right / wrong time) the station CCTV cameras are empty / don't work / bust and now we have no comms recording. being a cop is no joke I tell you mate. All this broken equipment. Lucky for them the guns worked anyway.


Justice.

removing the Critics

The Fathers protesting about access to their children have shown most successfully how incompetent the Police are , especially the Metropolitan Police. The only people un entertained are the Police.

Who will rid Sir Ian of this Monstrous Regiment of Men.

Why the Police will, just let our Friends on Rupe's rag the Sun that they may have possibly overheard someon in a pub , bus queue, fish shop , sauna, that they were (quelle horreue) going to snatch away the child of Cherie Blair (and her off to defend a British couple who bought land and a house from land stolen from Greek Cypriots by the Tirks ... amply aided by the US 6th Fleet in 1974).

Collapse of Stout Party.

Does the Uk press now how to work this one out ..evidently not.

..and another bit of opposition bites the dust.

The Stumbling Skater

In describing the activities of the US illegal invasion of Iraq I wrote in February 2003 ...

The course is charted, arrogant use of the military is all the US ruling class has to maintain its dominance. After Iraq, asymmetric warfare, "terrorism," will be directed at Americans, American institutions, American targets, and American allies. When the rest of the world recognizes how thinly spread the US military is, thinly spread physically, and economically, because it is not a sustainable institution in its current incarnation, rebellions will occur. Indeed they have already started. The response of the weakening US will be to lash out, often with unforeseeable consequences, just as the consequences of this impending invasion are unforeseeable, and unknown.

Sturm and Drang

Military might is a sign of strength, but the US military is not invincible worldwide. America's use of force as both first and last resort is a sign of profound systemic weakness. Its employment today will destabilize the world, and cause ....

The world has moved on, the invasion is over, the US main objectives have been acheived which were ..

1. Re Establishing dollar hegemony by preventing further sale of crude oil in US dollars by Saddam Hussein .. and effectivelt frightening off anyone elese who wanted to.

2. Establishing military bases in Iraq (as well as Qatar) ...and throughout the old energy rich CIS States.

I vary the metaphor now.

When I was aa cold and impoverished student in Edinburgh in the eraly 60's I used (with many others) to spend my Sunday afternoon perched on the square solid, central heating radiators of the Scottish National Gallery .. the only place open in town. My meagre gas fire literally ate coins (probably faster than the Muscovites today with 35 below and gas supplies reduced) so this warm spot was welcome ... only early arrivals got to sit on the radiators ... threatening a lifetime of piles we were told.

A Scottish painter I was therefore introduced to and admired was the portaraitist Sir Henry Raeburn , self taught and hugely industrious..although he couldn't paint hands. His The Rev. Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch is a wonderful piece of draughtmanship, showing the portly prebendary skating on one leg having just propelled himself across the freezing ice (his unpaintable hands scsreted in a hand muff).. you can see this by going to an odd site ... (http://www.redrat.net/thoughts/buddha/skater.jpg)

It brings to mind the meeting of the beautifuly stupid, deluded Anna Karenina when she meets the wanton , careless and heartless Vronsky at the Moscow Zoological Gardens which starts off Trotsky's tragic tale of love and loss.

I think the US State is like the peerles prebendary, silently swiftly floating serenely .. now they have stumbled.. they clutch blindly whirling , hoping catching, seeking aid and assistance.

Castro and Chavez travelled the Muslim world in 2000 and 2001 (Googling Images for Castro and Khataeimi will provide wonderful images) stiffenening the world wide Anti American resolve ... now bearing fruit in the teasing of Uncle Sam by the Iranian democratically lected President, the tweaking of his nose by Chavez, the nuisance stirred by the newly democratic Morales. A pattern develops.

Relentlessly Chavez .providing free or cheap heating oil in Manhattan, Castro Doctors to the 3rd world, punch the points home.

Silently the sidelines fill with "Old Europeans" Schroeder, whose influnce has not waned, Merkel asking asking awkward questions about Gunatanamo Bay. Chirac remains soi disant, raising an eyebrow over the activities of Bolton;s lap dog mehlis on the Levantine Corniche, Now the Dutchmen have no courage for the fight in Afghanistan.

Far called our Navies fade away.. said Kipling. Far called Uncle Sam's ffriends are left far behind.

Rusia and China of course, regarding the antics of the Iranian leader stay silent but will of course protect their own and better interests. Peres will of course stir the pot.. kindly forgetting that it was the Iranians who (led by Israel) first baombed saddam's Osirak reactors and only ended doing it themselves because the Iranians botched the job.

Of course there is some official support from Denmark, Poland but their electrorates are growing uneasy.

Meanwhile Uncle Sam clatters across the ice.

Lashing out , (the newly uprated Predator destroying families in Pakistan), watching democracy rise like a tide, now in Chile, perhaps with surprising success in Mexico soon.

Do not forget that 400 Mn people speak Spanish in the world . The Spanish Government were happy to suply warships and planes to Chavez and to strip out Uncle Sams compassses and electronics. The US lose 2 fold, they lose a foothold in sales and they let other suppliers in.

Slippin' and a slidin' the stumbin' skater slides across the pond.

You can bet he can (and will) rely on Mr Blair ... for how long.

LUKOIL grow reserves, production, refining, sales

OAO LUKOIL announced preliminary 2005 results last week. From this we can extract
The company hydrocarbon reserves increased as a result of exploration and prospecting to 160 million tone of Oil EquivalentTOE. The major oil reserves growth accounted for Russia (Nenets Autonomous District, Western Siberia and Perm Region). The largest growth was in Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District. The large Nakhodka gas field is now working. Reserves should increase in 2006 by 106 MTOE as the Company has discovered 5 new oil, gas and condensate fields and 6 oil deposits in earlier discovered fields.

Total Oil production of the LUKOIL Group, including equity interest of subsidiaries and foreign projects, grew 4.5% came to 90.1 mln tons, including 86.3 mln tons in the Russian Federation and 3.8 mln tons abroad.

Gas production in 2005 increased by 17% and exceeded 7.6 Billions of Cubic metres BCM. In 2006 LUKOIL plans production increases of gas ofmore than 40%, mailnly from the Nakhodkinskoye field.

Oil exports of the LUKOIL Group in 2005 rose by 2.3% to 46.6 mln tons,…non-CIS countries (40.7 mln tons) and CIS countries (5.9 mln tons).

In 2005 natural, associated and stripped gas sold by the Russian subsidiaries of the LUKOIL Group came to 4.1 BCM, a 17% increase on 2004.Crude processing at the LUKOIL Group refineries (excluding the mini-refineries) in 2005 amounted to 47.4 mln tons, including 37.1 mln tons in Russia and 10.3 mln tons abroad. As compared to 2004, the total refining increased by 8.2%. No increases in refining capacity are expected in 2006.

In 2005 production of EN590 diesel fuel in the Russian refineries owned by the LUKOIL Group reached 4.7 mln tons or 46.5% of the total Russian diesel fuel production, which is almost 6 times the amount of the last year. Production of light petroleum products in the LUKOIL Group refineries rose to 53%, the share of high octane gasoline in the total amount of auto gasoline reached 79%.

Total investment expenditures in 2005 rose 72 % to USD 6.9 Bn
Taxes at all levels levels of the Russian Federation budget amounted to RUR 469.1 Bn or USD 16.6 Bn. A rise of 170% on 2004.

You can now buy GAZPROM shares ...maybe soon .... of Course Chevron have s Director on the Board of LUKOIL.

Duck Shooting seasons stops in Cyprus

The Greek Cyprus Gubment, (thats is the bit left after the Turks with US help invaded the island and stole 70% of the land in 1984( have ended the duck hunting season in response to the reports of vaian flu on the Turkish mainland.

Meanwhile the "Turkish" Government fails to reply to letters from the Greek Cyrpus Government on the issue and takes no notice or action.

In Ethiopia (pop 74 Mn) they take delivery of over 100 T55 tanks (from Bulgaria) to protect their Eritrean border (pop 4.5 Mn). Maybe the duck hunting season has not been stopped on the border areas ?

Belgian from the ICC may be bemerding the Bolton plan

The International Criminal Court at the Hague, which John Bolton the US UN Ambassador hates with a passionate intensity and has spent so much time and personal effort in ensuring his new found allies in Central Europe faily to ratify as a price for US Military aid have provided a blameless boring Belgian lawyer to take over from the manipulative and dishonest german, Detlev Mehlis.

However Mehlis' work is done, the guilty Syrians are in the frame and the "enquiry" can carry on until Doomsday.

The Syrian pot will continue to happily boil away, whilst attention re-focuses on the evil men in Teheran , who it appears have breached no Treaties, done no (legal) wrongs and cut through a few padlocks.

Remember ! The US is the next Chairman of the Un Security Council, JB will be quietly plotting some thing nasty in his woodshed. At least he no longer has to go and see his friends in jail anymore, now that the lady (!) from the NYP has spilled (?) the beans.

"Bibi" makes his move

Bibi Netanyahu has removed his 4 Likud Ministers from the Israeli Gubment and association with Kiduma, who apparently ride high in the opinion polls published so far in Erutz Israel.

In his audacious move by scuttling from Gaza, Sharon received the plaudits of the bone headed Bush, who happily called the old butcher and war criminal , "A Man of Peace" and the reluctant approval of his people. By erecting his Wall of Peace he has cemented the annexation of war won territories which Israel will never yield and will lead to yet further bantu-isation or cantonisation of the West Bank and had provided a recognisable form of security within Erutz Israel which the cowering population welcomes.

The Israelis do not want to share their land with a bunch of Arabs, They want ... more dollars ... the fighting by 3rd parties of their wars, .. against Iran , Syria at other's expense and cost.

The UK, led by Kim Howell's and with his leader so far up the fundament of the US President he cannot see the light, the Uk majestically provides the diplomatic support and the merest veil of sanctity to the actions of the Washington Beltway gangsters.

Meanwhile, failing to realise the futility of military might, the Anti-American voices become wider, more strident and cheeky, Iran, Castro, Morales, Chavez...and even hints in Mexico.

Quietly lest anyone forget , the US no longer has military presence in Uzbekistan.

Palace of Varieties

Back from their hols and playing Cluedo (was it Ming in the Conservatory with the lead pipe or Hughes in the Billiard Room with the Poker?) the Palace of Westminster jesters are hard back at work.

The Liberals impressed with McCabe and the Young Trhuster Clegg dusting up the Zionist Kim Howells over US rendition of the "bad guys" (as we now have learnt to call them) which the wily Welshman played a straight bat to.

Then a day later TB mercilessly hits both Ming and Hughes for six into the Strangers Gallery.

TB then gives us his ideas on parenting (for a start don't let your under age son be found dead drunk unconscious in Leicester Square while mum is off on a free bee and you are hard at work saving civilization.)...

We have no room to lock any body else up, so , as we cannot remove people's Liberty we will take away their money. Kids truanting ..? Instant fines ! Kids making a nuisance .... Instant Fines ? Unruly families ? Loud music? Uninsured \ Unlicensed parked cars ? Fine, Fine, Fine.... and then lock them up for non- payment !

All this seems possible under the Public Order Act of 1986 .. God knoes what the impact of the Terra Wrist legislation could be if only the Police learnt how to use it properly.

Stalin said Communism was the old Soviet with electricity. If we continue the Energy policies of this lot we will just have the old Soviet.

FCUKED

I formed the Forthcoming UK Energy Deficit FCUKED over 4 years ago to highlight the insanity of succeeding UK Gubments incapacity to understand the at the country was hurtling headlong into an energy cul de sac.

(See excellent Vital Trivia links from here for current details)Mrs T's "Dash for Gas" ensured the UK pumped out the North Sea to boost cheap electricity production , unhindered by the revolting miners. Conoco Phillips and others swilled out the N Sea resevoirs heedless of the Kk Strategic interests (qv Norway ' Statoil's more sensible and PRUDENT policy).

Cpompund this with the Labour Gubments wind energy delusions, now shuddering to a halt as the futility of the exercise, the difficulties of offshore wind farms and the high costs and maintenance and the intractible and costly distribution system required and the future looks bleak.

Lard this with the lamentable record of UK Coal, now being circled by the Int. Coal Group ready to rape and rob the shareholders of their saleable above ground land assets, close the remaining few mines and import cheaper imported coal and rising tides of petcoke from overworked global refineries handling increasing volumes of high sulphur oil. (Pet coke is the residue after refining crude oil for high volatile distillates = trials are underway at Drax the overseas owned power station producing near 10% of UK electricity).

You don't have to apply to join FCUKED (Prop. Tony Blair), just live in the UK you get automatic membership. No member benefits.

Who the hell is behind RosUkrEn-ergo ?

The glamorous "Gas Princess" Yulia Tymoshenko, ex premier of Ukraine's website which publishes the details so called 5 year Russian / Ukraine GAZPROM deal it last just 6 months for gas at US$ 95 per 1K cu. mts. GAZPROM will also pay transit fees of US$ 1.6 per 1K cu. mts. until 1.1.2011.

Some sources claim that niet Russian gas will enter Unkraine and that it will all come from other central Asian Gas suppliers.

The whol deal is moderated by RosUkrEn-ergo formed by GAZPROM and the Austrian bank / Broker Raiffeisen who are said to represent certain Ukraine "interests".

There is no truth whatever that these "interests" were involved in broking deals for Iraqi oil through the 'Babylon' Account in Bank of Dubai with an English oil trader the US now wants extradited.

Watch this space.

LUKOIL expanding in Kazakhstan

Russia's no.1 independent crude producer, LUKoil, intends to expand its operations in oil-rich Kazakhstan, the company's president said Wednesday.

Vagit Alekperov, was in the Kazakh capital to attend the inauguration of the wonderful President Nursultan Nazarbayev. He took the opportunity to point out that said LUKoil had pumped US $4 billion into its the Kazakh economy in 2005.

"We are the fourth largest oil producer in Kazakhstan, producing more than 5 million metric tons of oil a year," Alekperov said. "Now we are considering the projects on developing the shelf of the Caspian Sea."

Vagit also mentioned the difficulties over the 2nd stage of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, who want to build an oil pipeline from W Kazakhstan to the Russian port of Novorossiisk on the Black Sea.

Dancin' in Detroit... before it disappears

Pacers are now set to win the Superbowl in Detroit so the chance to dance to the mid time Stones music has it's allure. Let's hope we have no Justin and Miss Jackson 'wardrobe malfunctions'....

Anyway Mick and I go back a long way, on 26th Jan 1964 I stood nect to him in the Uirnals at the De Montfort Hall in Leicester UK ... I remember it weel, the day after a significant birthday... Mick has probably forgotten about it... anyway to appear with the band to dance I am told when I apply, I have to be under 45 yrs old, be avaiable for 7 rehearsals, one of them 7 hours long ... "to maintain the spontanaity of the dancin' " ..says the man on the end of the 'phone.

Chuck on the other side of town at the downbeat Detroit Motor Show announces discounts across 80% of the range of GM cars ...this after employee pricing all summer! They try to hook in the hundreds of overprices SUV hybrids which will sell in their ...er .. hundreds ?

Will the last person downsized in Flint please switch offfthe lights ?

Home thoughts from A Broad

Quelle suprise! Young (2 yr old) Tanwar, one of the carriers of the London bombs, you remeber, the one with the shiny red Mercedes he left behind toi ride in a hire car to Luton ? Well according to the Daily Torygraph on Saturday he left an estate for Probate of 120,000 Pounds Sterling !

Now here is your starter for 10. What profession does a goatee bearded, bling, bling wearing young Asian with a super red Mercedes, who hangs around a gym do to earn (presumably after paying the relevant Income, Capital Gains taxes etc., ) an estate worth 120,000 Pounds Sterling ?

That should give Commander Clarke of the Met a problem to work on. One minute the bombing costs (relatively) peanuts, then one of them is loaded with moolah, enough to equip a small army at the current price of MIL SPEC explosive and Kalashnikovs in the UK.

It does make you wonder how good the hawk eyed men who watch over the terrorised population are doing at watching the money launderers, when a Colombian Drug cartel has been exposed as shipping 100 Mn Sterling a year for probably ten years to Colombia. Apparently the removal of this gang pushed up the street price of heroin, yeah ! Maybe for half an hour, they never noticed it in Manchester (UK) where it is cheaper (and more readily available)than ever.

GM will be posting for Chapter 10 Bankruptcy soon as they see their share price and bond prices slide more, whilst Toyota, Nissan and Honda win the plaudits at the detroit Car Show 2006. Honda Civic Car of the Year 2006, Silverline SUV Truck of the Year 2006.

Meanwhile queues around the block for Beamers and the mightily succesful Mini, DITTO the Toyota Prius. They say that you put you childs name down for Harvard and a Prius at the same time now.

Ford meanwhile are planning to remove the capacity of 1 Mn vehicles from production. Jaguar are losing money, but Aston Martin have announced a new 4 seater Jimmy Bond 4 seater saloon, for which world sales will easily top 250 in 2006.

Is it therefore any wonder the US $ starts lower today against the Yen, and gold is above US$540 ? Expect the US$ at 1.30 to Euro within a month as German exports soar and the world scrambles for French nuclear power expertise (and COGEMA's Uranium)as the politicians finally wake up to the energy wars and the guys who have their hand on the stop cocks.

Now we here that Dick C is hospital with his dicky ticker again. Will the NDL have their friend in as Veep soon ?

Talking of world leaders in hospital the latest news is Arik is breathing without help. What are the odds that Bibi Netanyahu gets the ticket and we see the Zionist agenda roll out in full throttle. The grip on the prison that the world allows, that is Gaza, will get worse, the restrictions on movement in the West Bank even more restrictive and the building for the "refugees from Gaza" will grow apace.

Another Kennedy gets assassinated. This time in the UK. There are many reasons to get rid of him besides being a drunk. OK thye spoke gainst the invasion of Iraq. Period. Full stop. They have not hounded the Gubment on anything, the lies, the dodgy dosiers, Abu Ghraib, ill equipped UK troops, the Sheer theft of money, the fact that oil sales and electricity supplies are lower than pre invasion, the activities of UK mercenaries like Erinys, Aegis... nothing.

No no card carrying Liberal has appeared on any Anti-War platform anywhere, on any march, nor made any spech that is at all Anti War at any time. They act like an observer of a rape, crying "Rape" and then standing watching it happen, without summoning help.

Who follows in this party of political pygmies is of no consequence. Odds are that the Mingons will triumph and we will continue uninterrupted with the geriatric lawylery response of Ming with his carefully contructed sentences, and orotund caveats and impotent threats.

Let us hope that the arrivist Oaten, and the faux rural prebendary Hughes (Rev. Obadiah Slope if they re run the Barset Chronicles at BBC again) do not make it through. Tony must be rubbing his hands as he tells everyone he has NO plans to retire. You bet.

News of the new arrivals in the EU is mized with tales of Polish plumbers in London and roofers in Hanburg "stealing" jobs. Now we here that the laundry from swanky Berlin hotels and eateries is trucked overnight to Northern Poland to be washed in the latest automatic laundries and carefully (and no doubt lovingly folded) by the Polish underpaid hausfrau to be returned pristine and fresh for the German gourmands and lawmakers. Just like World War 2, the Germans exporting all the dirty work to Poland.

Now the legitimate Cyprus Gubment have discovered they can no longer subsidise the bloated , nepotistic Cyprus Airways and the 5 neotiating unions have reluctanlty agreed to 500 job cuts and they are kept afloat with another "loan". Let us hope Mr Hajiannou (whose yacht appeared in Limassol harbour during negotiations)can get the slots for Easy Jet at Larnaca and Pahos and boost the flagging tourist trade which was falling off in October - November.

Meanwhile the Cyprus potatoe Growers are discivering that a market of 500 Mn (well the housewives anyway) don't want 1 Kg potatoes with a field attached, the supermarkets want washed handy sized easily packed year round supplies of their desired varieties and the Dutch wholesale processed potato market want contracts to make chips, wedgies, child friendly shapes, etc., of very specfic sizes and varieties. Notably the UK Potato Marketing |BOard announced after Christmas that sales had fallen "substantially" in 2006 (no figures given , which is ominous!.

In India the rich Delhi residents have been aborting their female foetuses according to Lancet. By a novel statistical treatment they have shown that the second child M-F ratio drops to 0.759 and even lower on the thrid child when previous children born were female. They calculate 10 Mn killed over ten years.

In places with high Asian populations many hospitals will not provide any sex information after ultra sound examination to discourage such selective sex abortion. Anecdotally any radiologist is aware that it happens on a regular basis, especially in the more properous middle classes.

We will not even mention Gorgeous George Galloway appearing on "ITV Big Brother".

Finally Craig Murray has not been hauled off to the Tower et after releasing documents detailing UK acceptance of information obtained by torture. What was their response to their Ambassadors concerns ? Well they tried unsuccesfully to stitich him up with tales of sex and drinken debauchery, when that fained they paid him off. Now they just ignore him and would be frightened for him to appear in court to spell out in detail,the revolting acquiescence in this wretched trade by all GIubment Ministers.