Baghdad bombed ... again

4 USAF F-15E Strike Eagles, bombed a known terrorist facility at approximately 4:30 p.m. Feb. 15 in southern Baghdad says a military Press release.

Terrorists were using a former Iraqi regime munitions storage bunker, located in a large, uninhabited weapons-storage complex in the Babil province, to acquire and transport bomb-making munitions to be used in attacks against the Iraqi people and Coalition Forces.

The sorties made multiple passes to ensure the complete and methodical destruction of the bunker.

This says a resident was probably al-Saha, on the other side of the neighborhood of Dora, where a major refinery is located and remarks, " the Iraqis are taking the fight to the terrorists, blah blah, why are the Americans resorting to air strikes here?"

So, 3 years after the illegal and crushing invasion there are (near Baghdad) still “former Iraqi regime” munitions lying around in unguarded “former Iraqi regime” depots where insurgents can “acquire” them to make IED's.

Incidentally the FY '07 USAF budget proposal includes $752 million to buy six (yes 6 that;s over USD 100 Mn each !!!) Northrop Grumman RQ-4A Global Hawk unmanned air vehicles and three ground stations in FY07. The budget would also buy 24 MQ-1 Predators and two test models of the MQ-9 Predator B for a total of $349 million.

"Real" democracy at work

An amusing bloggo (?) spotted at a blog for Condi

Presumably the promoters would like Iran to acheive the democratic status of say, Coalition supporters such as Saudia Arabia, Kuwait, Emirates, Qatar, etc.,

Vikings fight back

A website has been started calling for support for Danish Goods (in 24 languages) which has been set up by a Danish engineering student in Belgium . Arla foods (Lurpak Butter etc.,) are said to be losing USD 1.5 MN sales a day in the Middle East. The Danske Bank say that it could cost the nation USD 1 Bn in the next year in lost sales.

Putin's team consolidates

Yesterday the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs replaced three members lost from the Board, former YUKOS CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Chairman of Supervisory Board at Industrial and Construction Bank Vladimir Kogan and Vice President of the Union Viktor Dombrovsky.

They were replaced by LUKoil President Vagit Alekperov, Metalloinvest and Gazmetall co-owner Alisher Usmanov and Kuzbassrazrezugol CEO Andrey Bokarev.

President Putin, spent more than 15 years as a Federal Security Service (FSB) agent, he then returned to study at the St. Petersburg Mining Institute. One of the most prestigious academic institutions in Russia, which traces its history to 1773. Since 1994 its rector has been Vladimir Litvinenko, who also serves as a member of the government's newly created Energy Commission.

Litvinenko was rector when Putin (then 44) in 1997 presented his doctoral dissertation examining how natural resources can contribute to regional economies and strategic planning in Russia.

Two years later, Putin -- then the director of the FSB -- wrote an article for the mining institute's journal "Mineral Natural Resources In The Development Strategy For The Russian Economy."

In it, Putin argued that hydrocarbons were key to Russia's development and the restoration of its former power. He argued that the most effective way to exploit this resource was through state regulation of the fuel sector, and by creating large and vertically integrated companies that would work in partnership with the state.

Putin worked in the St. Petersburg mayor's office, where he headed the Foreign Economic Relations Department and he developed his views on ebergy as a strategic tool.

In that office Putin worked with:

Aleksei Miller, now CEO of the state-controlled Gazprom monopoly

Dmitry Medvedev, a lawyer, the head of the presidential administration, First deputy prime minister (appointed November 2005), and chairmen of the board of directors at Gazprom is seen by some as Putin's successor.

Igor Sechin, ex KGB, who is currently the deputy head of Putin's administration as well as the chairman of the board of directors at the state-owned oil company Rosneft.

Classmates / mayoral and former agents of the KGB, the predecessor to Putin's FSB, also enjoy crucial influence in the Kremlin, and are known as the "siloviki," or "power men, (sometimes the Sechin/Ivanov men).


They have a major impact both government energy policy and the way in which it is implemented.

Aleksandr Ryazanov, the deputy chairman of Gazprom, and reportedly the head of the "siloviki" faction within the gas giant. Ryazanov became chief executive of the Sibneft oil company after it was purchased by
Gazprom in 2005. He has also been appointed head of UkrGazEnergo, the newly created
Ukrainian-Russian joint venture to act as an intermediary between Ukraine's state-run
Naftohaz Ukrayiny and the mysterious Swiss / Austrian-based RosUkrEnergo.

Viktor Ivanov, another deputy head of the presidential administration who has a colorful history. A graduate of the Leningrad Bonch-Bruyevich Electrical Technical University. Before joining the KGB in1977 after working as an engineer NPO Vektorhe fought with Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Upon his return, he rose to the head of the anticontraband department of the Leningrad Oblast KGB. He retired from service in 1994 with the rank of colonel and Putin made him head of Administration of St. Petersburg city hall.1996-1998 was head of Russian-American joint venture ZAO Teleplus, a satellite TV company broadcasting 30 channels, including CNN and Euronews.In 2002 he was elected chairman of the board of directors at PVO Concern Almaz-Antei, which produces the S-300 surface-to-air missile system (the supersonic / stealth missiles). The company was set up by presidential decree and formed from 46 state enterprises and companies.

In February 2003, Yuri Svirin resigned due to "ill health" from Almaz-Antei and Igor Klimov was appointed acting general directorin May 2003, Igor Klimov was killed in Moscow by persons unknown.

Deputy Federal Security Service (FSB) director for economic security Yuri Zaostrovtsev is seen as the link between the FSB and the "siloviki".

Putin is forming a Board of Directors composed of friends and work colleagues, who set the agenda for Russian energy policy and in fact control the country's vast energy resources.

The change of governance of the Russian state which has accompanied Putin's rise to power. where he runs a parallel political system which exists behind the facade of an elected President and Duma; the coterie of the "siloviki"; the men from the KGB, the GRU, the MVD, the FSB and the other "control organs" have slipped back into power under the cloak of Putinism.

There is no mystery about their growth and strength. A "college" of former Chekists who moved in with Putin from St. Petersburg and who first replaced the Yeltsin "Family" and then the Chekists associated with Yeltsin; thereafter they moved to take on the oligarchs.

What Putin is establishing is a system of power where the nation's key economic assets are run on behalf of the state by a group of close associates. Those assets are a guarantee that those people retain political power. The creation of the super corporation Gazpromneft is another brick in the construction of Putin's Russia; another step towards the implementation of the project launched by the Chekists to transform Russia into an authoritarian capitalist regime.

Marx's pamphlet the "Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte" demonstrates how the class struggle in France forced Napoleon to create himself as head of a state run by the security organs and the bureaucracy. "Bonapartism" has been used to describe a government that forms when a military, police, and state bureaucracy intervenes to establish order.

Putin is forming a Board of Directors composed of friends and work colleagues, who set the agenda for Russian energy policy and in fact control the country's vast energy resources.

Their influence should not be underestimated.Their activities should be carefully observed in the West. The recent spat over Ukraine gas supplies emphasises that these guys play hardball.

Trident/Vanguard ... a nuclear deterrant ?

On January 15th 2006 the Government quietly published

UK'S STRATEGIC NUCLEAR DETERRENT - Memorandum submitted by the Ministry of Defence


There are three very interesting Appendices from which some snippets deserve a wider audience ...

The Government is yet to take a decision on whether or not to replace Trident.

Since the end of the Cold War we have reduced the total explosive power of our nuclear forces by over 70%. We have also reduced the readiness of our nuclear forces: only a single Trident (of four constructed) submarine is now on deterrent patrol, carrying 48 warheads which are de-targetted and are at several days "notice to fire".The Trident D5 missile came into service with the Royal Navy in 1994, with a planned life of some 25 years. The US Navy has recently announced plans for a life extension programme for the D5 missile, which will ensure it can remain in-service with the US Navy into the 2040s. The UK Government has yet to decide whether or not to participate in this programme.


In 1993, Atomic Weapons Establishment AWE, (formerly Atomic Weapons Research Establishment) moved from its position as a Government establishment to one which was still Government-owned but operated by a private contractor. Nuclear licensing was introduced in 1997: site licenses and discharge authorities for Aldermaston and Burghfield were granted by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate and the Environment Agency. This brought the AWE sites under the same regulatory controls as the civil nuclear industry. On 1 April 2000 - co-incidentally, fifty years to the day after its foundation - and following a competition, the Ministry of Defence placed a contract with a new company, AWE Management Limited (a consortium comprising Lockheed Martin, Serco and BNFL) to manage and operate the two sites at Aldermaston and Burghfield. The contract was initially awarded for an initial period of 10 years with an option to extend to 25 years with access to private finance. This option was taken up in 2003.

The average age of the workforce at AWE has been increasing, as the generation recruited to meet the initial requirements of the Chevaline and Trident programmes near the end of their careers. There is therefore a requirement to recruit new members of staff to ensure that the core skills within AWE are sustained.(vide Nuclear Power industry recruitment problems)

Much of the basic infrastructure at AWE (such as the heating and electrical systems and a considerable percentage of the office accommodation) dates back to the 1950s and is increasingly expensive and inefficient to operate. A great deal of the additional investment will therefore focus on refurbishment work in this area.

This additional investment at AWE is required to sustain the existing warhead stockpile in-service irrespective of decisions on any successor warhead. The investment will sustain core skills and facilities that could also be used in future to develop a successor but no decisions have yet been made either in principle or practice on this issue.

This document although published in January is dated November 2005.

Cheney for Beijing 2008 US sprint team ?

Cheney breathless, tells a hushed and waiting nation that after felling his shooting pal he "ran over" to help him ..... that suggests a distance between them that the evidence belies ... and this guy ran ? He may run the country but he couldn't run 5 yards.

The only place this guy would run is away.

Pic. Limp Dick and Turkey Walk Rumsfeld at the WH

Satellite data warns of storms and clear air turbulence

Dr. John Mecikalski, assistant professor of atmospheric science at the University of Alabama, with colleagues from the University of Wisconsin and NASA's Langley Research Centre. Dr Mecikalski, has developed a system that is about 65 percent accurate in giving a one-hour warning before heavy rain starts to fall within a thunderstorm. The results of their recent work were published in the January edition of "Monthly Weather Review" and will be presented at the annual winter meeting of the American Meteorological Society in Atlanta.

"Our goal is to take existing, real-time satellite instruments and predict aviation hazards due to thunderstorms and severe weather," says Dr Mecikalski. "the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is evaluating our tool, the FAA is testing it and the Huntsville National Weather Service office used it this summer."

Using both both visible and infrared images taken by NOAA's Geostationary Satellites (GOES) (see images here in real time http://www.goes.noaa.gov/) and NASA's Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellites the system merges the visible and infrared data, and the forecast model gets new cloud top temperature readings every 15 minutes. Cumulus clouds that get colder from one reading to the next are building; cloud tops that get significantly colder are building rapidly.

"Not only can you tell if a cloud is getting deeper, you can also tell if the top has turned from water droplets to ice, which is related to lightning formation," Mecikalski said.

As the system can give warnings an hour in advance it can help airline and private pilots take evasive action before a thunderstorm becomes violent improving safety and comfort, it also improves efficiency and so cut costs.

In addition helping avoid storms it can also help warn of possible turbulence above storms and downwind from mountain ranges. Wind blowing over the tops of either mountains or billowing cloud tops can create a "wave" or rotor effect. Air being forced upward as it blows over mountains or storms creates low pressure on the back side of the obstacle, which pulls the air into sometimes powerful downdrafts. This vertical airflow can create a turbulent wave pattern that will continue downwind. In clear air, it is invisible to the human eye and can't be detected by Doppler radar.

These waves, however, can be seen by the satellite sensors, says Mecikalski. "When one of these waves breaks like it does on a beach, that's when you can have a problem for aviation. It acts like a wave on a beach, but it's invisible. The satellites let you see these phenomenon."

The satellite infrared sensors "see" these waves because rising air cools while sinking air warms, creating alternating bands of warmer and colder infrared radiation.

One advantage of using satellite information is that it is available over most of the globe, so it might be used to provide hazard warnings over areas not covered by Doppler or aviation radar systems.

In addition to studying turbulence and convective storms, Mecikalski and his colleagues are also developing techniques for using satellite data to detect and warn of volcanic ash in the atmosphere, and of possible icing conditions.

Pic is a colour enhanced Water Vapour plot of West Coast USA from NOAA GOES feed.

Danish Government website launched about cartoons

The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has opened a website about the drawing / cartoons depicting the Prophet and provides news . official views etc., in English / Danish / Arabic

There is a Statement from the Danish Prime Minister

It is accompanied by the sound of stable doors being firmly bolted.

60 new Abu Ghraib pictures released

The pictures shown on SBS Dateline in Australia can be seen here at Daily Kos there are also some more at the SBS website gallery and URUKNET
and also at Raw Story
WARNING : Extraordinarily unpleasant.

This is what the Senate and Congress members were reported saying by the Wapo after viewing the pictures and videos in May since then of course the pictures / videos have been successfully kept from the world.

"What we saw is appalling," said Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), the Senate majority leader, after the Defense Department brought a computer disc containing the digital photos and video clips to Capitol Hill and displayed them on a computer in a closed-door meeting.

Keeping the pictures under wraps "protects the integrity of the legal process" and avoids "inspiring the enemy" to harm members of the U.S.-led coalition or civilians in Iraq, Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Warner said.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said, "What I have seen is disgusting and it is disappointing." He said there were "obvious examples in videos of inhumane treatment" and that, in one photo, he counted seven or eight troops in a hallway in which several Iraqi prisoners were tied together naked on the floor.

Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said what most shocked her was a video clip of a handcuffed prisoner beating his head against a wall. She said another video showed a group of men masturbating.

On January 27th, President Bush, in an interview with the Times, assured the world that “torture is never acceptable, nor do we hand over people to countries that do torture.”

US Statute § 2340A. Torture

Release date: 2004-08-06
(a) Offense.— Whoever outside the United States commits or attempts to commit torture shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both, and if death results to any person from conduct prohibited by this subsection, shall be punished by death or imprisoned for any term of years or for life.
(b) Jurisdiction.— There is jurisdiction over the activity prohibited in subsection (a) if—
(1) the alleged offender is a national of the United States; or
(2) the alleged offender is present in the United States, irrespective of the nationality of the victim or alleged offender.
(c) Conspiracy.— A person who conspires to commit an offense under this section shall be subject to the same penalties (other than the penalty of death) as the penalties prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the conspiracy.

Article 35 (c) of the new Iraqi Constitution BBC translation

(c) All forms of torture, mental or physical, and inhuman treatment are forbidden. There is no recognition of any confession extracted by force or threats or torture, and the injured party may seek compensation for any physical or mental injury that is inflicted.

Comments were made here in December "Fucking Lying bitch"

“The US does not condone torture,” Condoleezza Rice told reporters gathered in the Berlin Chancellery. “We do, however, have an obligation to defend our people and to use every lawful means to combat terrorism.”
________________

Michael Scheuer was the senior CIA analyst responsible for tracking Osama bin Laden from 1996, he writes

“bin Laden has been precise in telling America the reasons he is waging war on us. None of the reasons have anything to do with our freedom, liberty, and democracy, but have everything to do with U.S. policies and actions in the Muslim world.” Osama’s concern “is out to drastically alter U.S. and Western policies toward the Islamic world,” Scheuer writes: “He is a practical warrior, not an apocalyptic terrorist in search of Armageddon.”

Recent blogs on same topic here

Zilkhas.Wind Energy. Tax Credits .... Bonanza time again for Goldman Sachs

Selim Zilkha the son of the fabled Banker of Baghdad set up the Mothercare retail chain of children’s clothing and baby goods stores in the UK, and sold out in the 70’s and moved to the USA. In the mid-1980s, while oil was cheap and most drillers were pulling out of the Gulf of Mexico, Selim Zilkha started stocking up on Gulf leases. Using sophisticated computer analysis he was able to identify those areas where there was still oil to drill for using new deep water techniques. In 2001, when oil prices were starting to rise, Zilkha sold out, trading his Zilkha Energy Co. for a $660 million stake in El Paso Corp.

His next play was to put a $110 million bet on a notorious money pit: wind farms.

With his son Michael (record producer and manager of the red Hot Chilli Peppers) , Zilkha bought a Houston-based wind energy company, now called Zilkha Renewable Energy, for $6 million with plans for further investment.

But generating electricity alone won't make money. The business plan was to sell the turbines to a bigger player, who will want the windmills not for their power capacity, but for the tax credits they generate - 1.9 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Late in 2005 Zilkha Renewable Energy with an energy portfolio of nearly 4,000 MW in various stages of development in a dozen states finished negotiating with the Goldman Sachs Group of New York on an acquisition agreement. Goldman Sachs purchased a controlling interest in Zilkha which said to involve sums not unadjacent to $400Mn.
At the time Goldman Sachs said that,

“less than 1% of US power-generating capacity currently comes from wind. Goldman Sachs sees considerable room for growth in wind energy. This is the fastest growing segment of the energy market.”

The Production Tax Credit (PTC) which was scheduled to end December 2005 was extended in July by Congress By simply changing the PTC expiration date to December 31, 2007, the extension left in place the PTC’s current 1.9 cent per kilowatt-hour value, the annual inflation adjustment provision, and the 10-year term to generate credits following the installation of a wind turbine.

The company was renamed Horizon Wind Energy in August 2005. More here. The Zilkhas are no longer involved.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Wall Street's most profitable firm, paid employees an average $521,000 last year, the No. 2 U.S. securities firm by market value, paid $11.7 billion in compensation to 22,425 employees for the fiscal year that ended in November.

Goldman's profit rose 24 % in fiscal 2005 to an all-time high of $5.6 billion. It paid out 47.2 % of revenue in compensation, up from 46.7 % in 2004.

The big oil bonanza giveaway in the Gulf

U.S. Has Royalty Plan to Give Windfall to Oil Companies says the NYT today (subscription)


WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 — The Federal government is about to make the biggest giveaway of oil and gas in American history, worth an estimated $7 billion over five years.

New projections, buried in the Interior Department's just-published budget plan, anticipate that the government will let companies pump about $65 billion worth of oil and natural gas from federal territory over the next five years without paying any royalties to the government.

Based on the administration figures, the government will give up more than $7 billion in payments between now and 2011. The companies are expected to get the l royalty relief, even though the administration assumes that oil prices will remain above $50 a barrel throughout that period.

Administration officials say that the benefits are dictated by The original law, known as the Deep Water Royalty Relief Act, which had had bipartisan support and was intended to promote exploration and production in deep waters of the outer continental shelf because of the high costs and high risks of drilling in water thousands of feet deep.

The law authorized the Interior Department, which leases out tens of millions of acres in the Gulf of Mexico, to forgo its normal 12 percent royalty for much of the oil and gas produced in very deep waters.laws and regulations that date back to 1996, when energy prices were relatively low and Congress wanted to encourage more exploration and drilling in the high-cost, high-risk deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

"We need to remember the primary reason that incentives are given," said Johnnie M. Burton, director of the federal Minerals Management Service. "It's not to make more money, necessarily. It's to make more oil, more gas, because production of fuel for our nation is essential to our economy and essential to our people." So why is the amount of royalty-free gas and oil expected to double over the next five years?

The biggest reason is that the Clinton administration, apparently worried about the continued lack of interest in new drilling, waived the price triggers for all leases awarded in 1998 and 1999.

Meanwhile Bush and House Republicans are trying to kill a one-year, $5 billion windfall profits tax for oil companies that the Senate passed last fall.

Moreover, the projected largess could be just the start. Last week, Kerr-McGee Exploration and Development, a major industry player, began a brash but utterly serious court challenge that could, if it succeeds, cost the government another $28 billion in royalties over the next five years.

If Kerr-McGee is successful, administration projections indicate that about 80 percent of all oil and gas from federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico would be royalty-free.

"It's one of the greatest train robberies in the history of the world," said Representative George Miller, a California Democrat who has fought royalty concessions on oil and gas for more than a decade. "It's the gift that keeps on giving."

Tina Kreisher, a spokeswoman for the Interior Department, said Monday that the giveaways might turn out to be less than the basic forecasts indicate because of "certain variables."

The government does not disclose the benefit to individual companies from the incentives, and most companies refuse to disclose either how much they pay in royalties or how much they are allowed to avoid.

But the benefits are almost entirely for gas and oil produced in the Gulf of Mexico.

The biggest producers include Shell, BP, Chevron and Exxon Mobil as well as smaller independent companies like Anadarko and Devon Energy.

Executives at some companies, including Exxon Mobil, said they had already stopped claiming royalty relief because they knew market prices had exceeded the government's price triggers.

About one-quarter of all oil and gas produced in the United States comes from Federal lands and Federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

Meanwhile look forward to cuts in Medicare, Medicaid and child support enforcement programs over the same period.

Fuck it the deficits are going to grow so why bother ...? Let's go shoot some quail, go fishing , play golf, ... shit the defence budget is nearly double what it was under Clinton ... we are fighting for America and anybody who says we aren't is .....

PM in puzzling escape from death in SA ?

Now here's a puzzle. The Prime Minister is delayed in leaving South Africa, his plane on take off apparently suffered engine failure... The Guradian briefly outlines what happened ...

The pilot saw sparks flying from one of its three engines and then heard a bang as he was accelerating halfway down the runway. "If it had happened 20 or 30 seconds later things might have been different" said one of those on board.

PM in lucky escape ? ... what airport ? What plane? Who chartered from? Time of incident ... no press taking still pics, no press taking video shots ? No interviews with observers, crew....

The PM is delayed it appears about 24 hours ...the timing is very vague ... are there no more planes ...scheduled flights ..after all he flies on scheduled flights to Egypt for holidays with the family?

What was he doing in South Africa, when did he leave UK, who did he meet, who was on the plane with him ?

Puzzles me.

It doesn't seem to interest the Press ...... that's another puzzle.

New Abu Ghraib pics / the Rolling Stones S & M lyrics

60 previously unpublished photographs released under a claim by American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) under the Freedom of Information Act will be broadcast on the SBS Dateline program. Dateline, which began in 1984, is Australia's longest-running international current affairs program.

ACLU were granted access to the photographs last year but the US Administration has appealed against the decision on the grounds their release would fuel anti-American sentiment.

You can access the photographs 1 of the photographs released so far and published by the Sysdney Morning Herald online here

The decision to view is yours, only dog lovers those with a strong stomach should look. No doubt more will be available PDQ and circulated worldwide to inflame the fires of Muslim sentiment.

Recent blogs on same topic here

In September 2005 I pointed out here that "Dangerous Beauty" on the new Rolling Stones CD "A Bigger Bang" was about the Abu Ghraib activities and the related pics.


Pre – launch publicity for the CD of the Rolling Stones Tour – “a bigger bang” centred on Sweet Neo Con :

You call yourself a Christian
I think that you're a hypocrite
You say you are a patriot
I think that you're a crock of shit


But one thing that is certain
Life is good at Haliburton
If you're really so astute
You should invest at Brown & Root.... Yeah

Yeah Mick – cutting edge. Ron Wood who lives in America was said to be kacking his pants that the Feds would pull him…

I bought the CD today and played it…. They don’t let us down .. but then you get to this…

dangerous beauty Track 11

In your high school photo
You look so young and naïve
Now I heard you got a nickname
The lady with the leash
Was it funny on your midnight shift
I bet you had your fair share of stiffs
Hey were onerous orders
I gotta admit

You’re a dangerous dangerous dangerous beauty
Disdainfully painfully beating up booty
You’re a dangerous dangerous dangerous beauty

Beauty
Beauty

‘Cos You’re a dangerous dangerous dangerous beauty
It’s so painfully plain to us
You were doing your duty

Who you got there in that hood
You look so fancy in those photographs
With your rubber gloves on
But you’re a favourite one
With the Chiefs of Staff
You’re doing such a wonderful job
You’re a natural at working with dogs
Keeping everyone awake at night
With a touch of the prods

You’re a dangerous dangerous dangerous beauty
If I was your Captain would you salute ,me
You’re a dangerous dangerous dangerous beauty
Beauty
Are you one bad apple in a box
Dangerous
Dealing out electric shocks
I saw the gloves coming off
If looks could be killing
I bet you would shoot me
You’re a dangerous dangerous dangerous beauty
Pianfuly shamefully doing your duty
You’re a dangerous dangerous dangerous beauty


The “Lady with the Leash” ?… Lynndie England

The Dangerous Beauty ? …. Sabrina Harman






Recent blogs on same topic here

Impantable RFID - Implausible ? ... already at work protecting you ?

The VeriChip™ passive RFID device is the core VeriChip applications. About the size of a grain of rice, each VeriChip™ contains a unique verification number, which can be used to access a Subscriber-supplied database providing specific information. The chip itself contains no other data than this unique electronic numeric ID. Unlike conventional forms of identification, VeriChip™ cannot be lost, stolen, misplaced, or counterfeited.

Once inserted just under the skin, via a quick, painless (?) outpatient procedure (much like getting a shot see pic from NYT), the VeriChip™ can be scanned when necessary with a proprietary VeriChip reader. A small amount of radio frequency energy passes from the reader energizing the dormant VeriChip™, which then emits a radio frequency signal transmitting the individuals unique verification (VeriChipID) number. The VeriChip Subscriber Number then provides instant access to the Global VeriChip Subscriber (GVS) Registry - through secure, password protected Web access to subscriber-supplied information.




Far fetched ? Well An Ohio based compamy CityWatcher.com, a private video surveillance company, is testing the technology as a way of controlling access to a room where it holds security video footage for government agencies and the police.

Sean Darks, CEO of CityWatcher, said the glass-encased chips were like identity cards. They are planted in the upper right arm of the recipient, and “read” by a device similar to a cardreader.

“There’s nothing pulsing or sending out a signal,” Mr Darks told the FT. He told them he had a chip in his own arm. “It’s not a GPS chip. My wife can’t tell where I am.”

So far VeriChip claims that around 70 people in the US have had the veriChip implants implants.

RFID implant technology isn't new. The Mexican government has already been using the technology for some employees in the Ministry of Justice so they can pass through security. The Baja Beach night club in Barcelona offers the chip to its VIP's which was reported the BBC last year.

This site (Night Also Cometh) has a lot (some of it implausible) information about claimed sinister usage of such technology - it's worth a look even if only to see that it is claimed the Gloria Steinem and Ms magazine acted for and was funded by the CIA.

Why bother with an ID card ? ... and you could tracked by a satellite ...easy peasy.


Postscript : The Vancouver Sun Jan 7th has a story about Amal Graafstra and his girlfriend Jennifer Tomblin who have implanted RFID tags in their hands and using a reader made by a University of Calgary spin-off, Phidgets Inc., (which sells the reader for $65 Cdn.)was able to set up the opening of house locks and log onto his PC

Even more bizarre is an online group, the "Tagged" RFID group
where members share their implant stories and photos and vigorously debate the merits and risks of putting computer chips under their skin.

Danes export energy plants even if butter / bacon is haram in the ME

Thameswey Energy Limited (Woking Council - see note ) have had a long standing relationship with Danish energy company Xergi Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary of Xergi A/S, Denmark) and are about to extend the existing co-generation plant in the town centre of Woking, Nr London. This will consist of an additional gas engine, absorption cooling plant, boiler as well as an expansion of the existing heat rejection facilities for the existing absorption cooling plant.

Further, the existing networks are to be extended to a new county council building and gallery as well as to the nearby cinema/theatre building and the YMCA.

The co-generation system in Woking is a tri-generation system (the first in England), which supplies heat, cold water and electricity in private supply lines to the customers.

Xergi GmbH (a wholly owned subsidiary of Xergi A/S, Denmark) is to deliver a turnkey biogas plant to Gut Quarnbek, Kiel, Germany.

The plant is a 500 kWe plant which is to treat 10-12,000 tons of biomass per year. 85% of the gas production will come from energy crops. The remaining gas production will come from cattle and chicken manure.

The price for the electricity produced on the plant will attract an additional 20 EUR/ MWh electricity in the form of a "new technology bonus" as the plant has been extended by an Organic Rankine Cycle plant. The ORC plant utilizes the flue gas of the gas engine for further electricity production.

The construction works are expected to start immediately after receipt of the building permit, approx. 1 May, and the biogas plant is expected to produce electricity by the end of 2006.

In 2004, Demmark's energy-related industries exported DKK 32b (EUR 4.3b) worth of products, according to the Danish Energy Authority.

Much of that growth is thanks to an increase in the export of wind turbines. In 2004, wind technology exports made up 70 percent of energy technology exports, especially to the USA.

This thriving export industry is based on a busy domestic industry ,,, As of 1 January 2005, Denmark had a wind capacity of 3118 MW, 424 MW at offshore wind-turbines.

In 2004, wind-power production accounted for 18.5% of Danish domestic electricity supply against 15.8% the previous year; wind turbines produced 23.7 PJ of electricity, which amounts to 2.9% of corrected gross energy-consumption. 2004 was close to being a normal wind year.

Note :
Thameswey Energy Ltd., (more here..PDF alert) is a public/private joint venture Energy Services Company or ESCO between Thameswey Ltd., and ESCO International A/S owned by Miljo-Sam Holding APS. Miljo-Sam Holding APS is owned by Pen-Sam (a Danish pension fund) and Hedeselskab who also own Hedeselskabet Miljo og Energi A/S, a Danish green energy company. Projects are financed with shareholding capital and private finance with project development carried out jointly between the Council and Hedeselskabet Miljo og Energi A/S who also own HME Contractors A/S who act as the turnkey contractor on large scale district energy schemes. Hedeselskab is a foundation committed to environmental projects whose patron is Her Majesty Queen Margarethe II of Denmark.


Left Click on image to enlarge.

Recent blogs on same topic here

More Toys for the Boys. GPS mortar passes tests

Alliant technical systems is a $3.1 billion advanced weapon and space systems company employing approximately 15,000 people in 23 states. In a series of flight tests conducted at the Yuma Proving Grounds, (Their Press statement says) they have successfully demonstrated the ballistic characteristics of the most advanced mortar round ever developed for the U.S. Army – ATK’s precision guided mortar munition (PGMM - see pic ) which uses GPS positioning. A total of 49 rounds were shot over three days from a 120mm mortar, achieving all test objectives.

The tests included establishing the appropriate charge weight to ensure proper muzzle velocity when the round exits the mortar tube; evaluating range performance, obtaining aeroballistics data and verifying structural integrity at hot, cold and ambient temperatures. Secondary objectives included feedback from mortar operators on the handling of the new PGMM round and collection of mortar interior environment data.

ATK and the U.S. Army have established an extensive test regimen to ensure that the first PGMM production rounds will be ready for delivery no later than 2010.

PGMM is an advanced weapon system that a precise, multi-purpose indirect fire capability that can fly in excess of seven kilometers and impact within one meter of the target.(!) It will be able to defeat protected enemy with low collateral damage in 2 rounds or less.


Splits: 11-Jun-02 [3:2], 10-Sep-01 [3:2]

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RQ-4A Global Hawk UAV gets certified airworthy

Randy Brown, Global Hawk Systems Group director with the Air Force's Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio tells me the airworthiness certification process for the new Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk has begun and is expected to be completed by late 2007. The larger RQ-4B Global Hawk will carry fifty percent more payload than the current RQ-4A Global Hawk. First flight for the RQ-4B is planned later this year.

Northrop Grumman RQ-4A Global Hawk reconnaissance system is the first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to achieve (Jan 25th 2006) a military airworthiness certification. This certification, along with the Certificate of Authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration, recognizes Global Hawk's ability to routinely fly within national airspace. More here

This airworthiness certification covers all five production RQ-4A Global Hawk vehicles delivered to the Air Force thus far and outweighs civilian experimental airworthiness certifications that have been granted to other UAVs. The military airworthiness certification process is very rigorous and has taken 3 years and 77,000 man-hours to achieve. This is a continuous process that will be maintained through the life of the aircraft, similar to that for all manned aircraft.

During three deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq in support of the war on terrorism, more than 250 missions and 5,000 combat flight hours have been logged by Global Hawk aircraft.

Global Hawk flies autonomously at an altitude of more than 60,000 feet, above inclement weather and prevailing winds, for more than 35 hours at a time. During a single mission, it can provide detailed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information in near-real time over 40,000 square miles - approximately the size of Indiana.(Speeders watch out, Big Bro. IS watching)

The cost ? ...... Global Hawk is the most expensive UAV currently available. As of mid-2002 the estimated unit costs had tripled over the original estimate of $15 million apiece. The aircraft costs about $48 million with a full sensor suite, or about $70 million each if development costs are included.

Recent blogs on same topic here

Postscript :

Air Force Link 14th Feb 2006 has an article, "Prototype Global Hawk flies home after 4,000 combat hours" by Tech. Sgt. Andrew Leonhard, 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

A high-flying prototype “Airman” is heading home after being deployed more than four years and flying 4,245 hours supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom and the Combined Task Force-Horn of Africa.

Global Hawk Air Vehicle No. 3 began its journey back home at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Feb. 10, and is expected to land there Feb. 16.

Boeing 737 is world leader ... what follows ?

The Financial Times reports today that the EU is threatening to reimpose trade sanctions on the US unless Congress eliminates the vestiges of a tax break for US exporters that was ruled illegal on Monday by the World Trade Organisation. The 8 year trade saga relates to the US / EU dispute over subsidies to Airbus and Boeing, the aircraft manufacturers, rather than planning a full-scale transatlantic trade war.

Meanwhile Alan Mullaly Boeing CEO excitedly tells me ( I haven't seen him since the Dubai show) they have just rolled out the 5,000th 737 for the largest 737 operator SouthWest Airlines.(see pic)

The 5,000th 737, a 737-700 painted in Southwest Airlines colors, is the 447th 737 to join the carrier's fleet. Southwest has helped launch three Boeing 737 models -- the 737-300, -500 and the -700.

Alan says with more than 4,100 airplanes in service, the 737 represents more than a quarter of the total worldwide fleet of large commercial jets flying today. More than 541 operators fly 737s into more than 1,200 cities in 190 countries. It is estimated that approximately 1,250 737s are in the air at any given moment, that says Alan means one is taking off or landing every 4.6 seconds.

The Boeing 737 is the best-selling commercial jetliner of all time, with total orders now exceeding 6,000 airplanes. The 737 family -100 and -200 models, entered service in 1968; the Classic -300, -400 and -500 models, entered service in 1984; and the newest members -- the Next-Generation 737-600, -700, -800 and -900ER models, which entered service in 1998.

...this leaves the industry wondering what follows ... the 737 and the Airbus 320 are hard acts to follow.

Randy Baseler VP for marketing recently told me "It is a very high hurdle," ridiculing the notion a 737 replacement program could begin soon after the wide-body 787 enters service in 2008.

The decision is eagerly awaited and will have enormous ramifications in Seattle region. Will it be assembled in Seattle? If so, in Renton or in Everett? (Unclear.)

Initial studies of the issue have produced disappointing results. At an industry conference in January in Dublin, Ireland, Randy showed a slide listing the hurdles that have to be cleared and concluded: "Someday the 737 and [rival Airbus] A320s will be replaced, but so far we have not found a compelling replacement."

Baseler said the speculation about an early launch is fueled by the sales success of the 787 and the expectation that Boeing could simply transfer that jet's technology breakthroughs — its light composite airframe and fuel-efficient engines — to a smaller jet.

Not so fast, said Baseler. He said the main advantage of the lighter 787 airframe is an extra 2,000-mile range, a huge advantage for an intercontinental jet. But 737s are used for shorter routes and simply don't need more range than they have now.

That leaves fuel consumption, operating cost, production cost — and therefore price — as the key areas for gains.

Flight International, citing information from suppliers, said both Airbus and Boeing have found that applying the new technology improvements in the small-jet category would reduce fuel consumption around 4 percent and operating costs 3 percent.... not a good reason to invest possibly $5 billion.

The hurdle is higher because the 737, as well as the A320, are such efficient airplanes. For an airline like Southwest to switch from 737s would require a big infrastructure and training investment. There has to be compelling economic gain.

The 777 succeeded because of the big efficiency advance in moving from four engines to two on a large airplane. The 787 ignited market interest with a promise of 20 percent fuel savings and that extra 2,000-mile range.

What innovation might deliver a similar kick-start for a 737 replacement? Boeing is still looking.

Randy told me that Mulally's recent off-the-cuff remarks about a 737 replacement in Paris last June. He floated idea that because of a shift to production of very large composite fuselage sections, Boeing might offer more than one fuselage size when it next launches a jet.

"We could do three different fuselages. Five abreast; six abreast; we could even do a twin-aisle,"
Flight International calls this the "smoke and mirrors" that both Boeing and Airbus use to obscure their future intentions. Each company discourages speculation that its cash-cow single-aisle medium highly economic jet might soon be terminated.

Recent blogs on same topic here

Bashar Assad embraces the Euro

Duraid Durgham, head of state-owned Commercial Bank of Syria said on Monday 13th Feb 2006 that Syria has switched all of the state's foreign currency transactions to euros from dollars amid a political confrontation with the United States.... Uncle Sam gets his beard tweaked again..

"This is a precaution. We are talking about billions of dollars. Switching to the euro will help us avoid settlement problems in the United Sates.The move is also needed to avoid complications with our correspondent banks, which have expressed a preference to deal in the Euro under these circumstances," he said.

The switch will involve Euro pricing for crude oil sales, the major foreign currency earner for Syria.

The latest official figures show Syria imported $6.7 billion goods in 2004 and exported $5.4 billion. Oil output is around 400,000 barrels per day. Oil has of course nearly tripled in value since 2004.

Washington imposed sanctions in 2004 that prohibited some U.S. exports to Syria, and severed financial ties with the Commercial Bank of Syria, and also froze the assets of Syrians believed linked to terrorism.

It was of course the decision of Saddam (with the approval of the UN under the Food for Oil Program) to sell oil in euros and bank the proceeds in Paris at Paribas bank that precipitated the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq.

That reversal of that decision and the banking of the proceeds in New York was one of the first decisions of the Coalition to be taken.

Now all eyes will be on Iran and the much heralded and discussed opening of their Euro denominated oil bourse on March 10th 2006.

Recent blogs on same topic here

The Good News - We are winning the war on terrorism

Hidden away (page 131)of the Administrations' Budget proposals for FY'07 is OMB's projection that Federal debt will soar from $7.9 trillion at the end of FY'05 to $8.6 trillion by end FY'06.

US Current Accounts deficits now soar by over -$2.1 billion per day -- -$1.5 million each MINUTE.

US Household debt has now spiked to 123.6% of annual disposable income.

US Domestic savings rates became negative in June, fell to -1.1% dissaving in July and to -1.8% in August -- even with the sharp fall-off in sales -- and remained -0.4% in Sept.

US Federal government spending grew 7.5% in 2002 and 6.6% in 2003, it slowed to 4.7% in 2004 and soared again by 7.7% in '05-Q3 on the back of a further 10% surge in Defense spending.

US Consumer Price Index (CPI): Energy prices fell -2.2% in Dec. driving down overall consumer prices -0.1%. Still, consumer prices rose 3.4% in 2005 led by a 17.1% rise for Energy, 4.8% for Transportation, 4.3% for Health care and 4.0% for Housing. Apparel prices fell -1.1%, the 8th yearly drop in a row bringing relative Apparel prices down - 61% since 1989.

If you want to see how what's happened to jobs read Paul Craig Roberts at Dare

" ...over the last 5 years the US economy experienced a net job loss in goods producing activities. The entire job growth was in service-providing activities—primarily credit intermediation, health care and social assistance, waiters, waitresses and bartenders, and state and local government.

US manufacturing lost 2.9 million jobs, almost 17% of the manufacturing work force. The wipeout is across the board. Not a single manufacturing payroll classification created a single new job. "

Hands up those who want to bomb the shit out of Iran , Syria .....

LUKOIL to make a major move into Europe retail

Head of the LUKoil company Vagit Alekperov met President Putin today. He had two pieces of good news for him :

1. Alekperov expressed satisfaction that Gazprom has been selling gas produced by the LUKoil Company at a fair price. "Last year, we commissioned a new gas deposit, and our agreement with Gasport has worked," Alekperov said at a meeting with the Russian president on Monday.

Investing into the gas sector gives us confidence that we shall get a profit, and that the business has good prospects, Alekperov said.

2. "We believe we are ready to buy heavily on the European and US markets, and we have been considering a number of large facilities that we are planning to buy," Alekperov told the president.

The LUKoil Company has launched active work, investing into Eastern Europe, mostly into oil processing plants so as to do retail business, rather than sell crude, and reach the end customer, he said.

LUKoil have 2,000 fuelling stations in the United States and 600 in Europe, which are "good assets that fetch good profits", Alekperov said.


Pic is camera shy Vagit signing a contract with Saudi Arabian Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources Ali I. Al-Naimi

Afghan / Heroin ..fighting the prohibitionists ... a sane proposal from Senlis

The Senlis Council, is an international drug policy think tank,who have made the radical proposal to call for an immediate halt to all forced crop eradication activities in Afghanistan, warning of irreparable damage to reconstruction and development efforts if these destructive strategies are pursued.

“Eradication is a dangerous and ineffective policy and it attacks those who are profiting least in the opium trade - the farmers,” said Emmanuel Reinert, Executive Director of The Senlis Council. “Farmers are the most vulnerable part of the opium production chain; they are the first casualties of this ineffective tool used to attempt to curb production of opium for heroin.”


The Council also launched a Farmers’ Defence Fund, which has been established to provide assistance to farmers who are victims of forced eradication. It will offer legal assistance to farmers in the event of an arrest; offer financial support to the families of imprisoned farmers; help farmers to take legal action against those who are responsible for the eradication of their crops and assist farmers in obtaining support for the development of alternative livelihoods.

“At the moment nobody is protecting the most vulnerable members of Afghan communities, and those who profit the least from the opium trade – the farmers,” said Reinert. “It is our responsibility to help them, not to take away their livelihoods in a violent manner. To protect farmers against violation of their property rights, we will finance a test case to ascertain the legitimacy of current forced eradication measures,” added Reinert.

As part of the second Phase of research of its Feasibility Study on opium-licensing in Afghanistan, The Senlis Council will invite each province in Afghanistan to send a farmer representative to attend a Farmer’s Jirga which will be organised in April 2006 in Kabul.

“The Jirga will provide farmers – the real stakeholders in Afghanistan’s opium crisis – with the opportunity to become part of the debate and discussion concerning drug policy in Afghanistan,” said Gulalai Momand. “They will be able to share their views on opium licensing, eradication and alternative livelihood programmes.”

The Council said that the results of the Farmers’ Jirga will be shared with the Afghan Government and the international community to provide them with more information on the farmers’ situation and viewpoint.

Floreat Prohibitionists

Yet the conferences by the Prohibitionist roll on ... at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany in November –International cooperation in the long-term fight against drug trafficking dominated the inaugural meeting of the Central and South Asia Counter-Narcotics Security Working Group here this week.

Listen to them ..

“We are taking our first step on what I believe will be a very long road. I talk to people ( involved in counter-narcotics ) and they tell me counter-narcotics is a 50-year solution,” said Air Vice Marshall Michael Heath, Royal Air Force, Senior British Military Advisor to U.S. Central Command and Special Advisor to Commander on Counter-Narcotics. “But it’s nonetheless something we need to undertake and to move on.

“There are undoubtedly long-standing barriers to our cooperation to achieve this. Forums like this will help us eradicate some of those barriers and get us talking together by asking us to seek common solutions.”

“The enemy we’re fighting is adaptable, cunning and obviously driven by enormous greed. He knows no national boundaries, indeed, he operates freely across all of your boundaries. This problem is, therefore…very much a regional issue." Cunning johnnies you know these Afghan drug type says the Air Marshall ... looking forward to a drug free Afghanistan (not to mention Camden and Lozells Road in 2056)

Keynote speaker Ambassador Nancy Powell, the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, expanded on Heath’s theme to link narcotics trafficking with terrorism. Both, she said, flourish where government authority is weak.

“Corruption, which is an indispensable tool of criminals, undermines confidence in government, limits economic and democratic development, and weakens the capacity to contend with the terrorist threat. And, of course, criminal networks which traffic in narcotics may traffic in arms and weapons of mass destruction and move innocent women and children, or even terrorists.”

As we send yet more troops (the first Commandos landed today) maybe we should just step back and consider this very radical proposal.... after all the evidence that eradication doesn't work in Colombia stares us in the face.... and only 5 major dru companies buy (quite legally) morphine and codeine ... so it shouldn't be difficult to get them on board.

Denmark FCK moves into EU big-time

Copenhagen Football club FCK leads Denmark's top division in both the winning tables and profit earnings. CEO Flemming Østergaard of the pubclicly quoted club says 'Our stock value has just passed DKK 2b (EUR 266m). That's something the other clubs notice.' The club has also announced record profits up 239%.

Football club FCK might be invited by Real Madrid, Manchester United, and other top European clubs into their Brussels based powerful lobby organisation, G-14.

In September 2000, fourteen founder clubs created the "G-14 European Football Clubs Grouping", an European Economic Interest Group (EEIG) registered in Brussels, making G-14 the first international club organisation in world football. Manchester United and Liverpool are the 2 founding UK clubs.

Th 14 original founders were joined in 2002 by four new members: Arsenal FC, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Olympique Lyonnais and Valencia CF.

'I see it as a natural consequence that we are now three times as big as AC Milan.
Our finances are the best of any publicly traded European club,' said Østergaard. 'Our stock value has just passed DKK 2b (EUR 266m). That's something the other clubs notice.'

FCK would provide G-14 with a foothold in the lucrative Scandinavian football market, said G-14 group spokesman Thomas Kurth.

Kevin Warsh a man for the Fed with a fascinating family

President George W. Bush has nominated a bright 35 year old white, White House aide and Republican , Kevin Warsh to the Federal Reserve (Average age of these wise men =58).

Whohe?

The nominee graduated from Stanford University and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1995 and spent the late 1990s working on mergers and acquisitions for Morgan Stanley in New York, where he provided financial advice to technology companies.


Warsh gave $1,000 to Bush's 2000 election campaign and $1,000 to his 2004 re-election bid.

Warsh is married to Jane Lauder, a granddaughter of cosmetics pioneer Estee Lauder; Jane Lauder's father, Ronald Lauder, was U.S. ambassador to Austria under Reagan and has donated $104,000 to the Republican National Committee since the 2000 election campaign, according to records compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, a research group in Washington.

Warsh was hired by the White House in 2002 and began work immediately on Sarbanes-Oxley, the corporate-governance law that placed new restrictions on companies after scandals at Enron Corp. and WorldCom Inc. He has also served as the White House liaison to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, the Banking Committee chairman, said in an interview with Bloomberg that he expects an easy confirmation.

``He's very smart,'' he said. ``He'll sail through.''

Pic shows Warsh and his pretty heiress wife socilising in Washington at a party in company of Jeff Bezos, Morgan Fairchild, Candace Bergen, Ben Affleck and the exotically named Prince Wenceslas of Leichtenstein.

Kevin's father in law is a mighty influential guy ..."He is the former Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, President of the Jewish National Fund, and Treasurer of the World Jewish Congress. He is a trustee or member of the board of: The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the Anti-Defamation League Foundation, the Jewish Theological Seminary, Brandeis University, and the Abraham Fund. He is a member of the International Society for Yad Vashem and the International Board of Governors of the Tel Aviv Museum. As Chairman of the Jewish Heritage Program of the World Monuments Fund, he is involved in stimulating the restoration of landmark synagogues across the globe." says his Foundation at their website

Informative post here at Forward about how Ronald Lauder has conflicting views on ownership of Holocaust art ... he is himself a major collector and has many items by Schiele. The first of which he bought with money from hus bar-mitsvah.


Interestingly George Patakis's wife (Governer of New York) has been on Ronald Lauder's payroll since her husband was elected in 1995. Ronald Lauder was of course a major source of funds for his election.

As Chairman of New York Governor George Pataki's Commission on Privatization, Ronald Lauder is the key individual who pushed the privatization of the WTC and former Stewart AFB, where the flight paths of the two planes that hit the twin towers oddly converged.More

Ronald Lauder is known (along with Las vegas casino owner Steve Wynn) as a financial supporter of Ariel Sharon and Bloomberg (Jan 4 2006) has a story about developments in the corruption scandal raging over his inert body about Austrian brothers James and Martin Schliff's role in sending $3MN to Sharon's son.

Ronald Lauder also owns Central European Media Enterprises, and its partners operate 10 stations in six countries.He has intersting views he expressed at the Wharton Business School recently which you can see here.

Those interested might like to follow leads on the Inter Disciplinary Centre (IDC) in Herzlyia, Israel, (allegedly closely tied to the Mossad. The IDC has a "research institute" headed by Shabtai Shavit, former head of the Mossad from 1989 to 1996, called the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism.

The IDC also has a "Marc Rich Center for the Study of Commodities, Trading and Financial Markets" and a "Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy." founded by Ronald Lauder. Marc Rich was of course famously pardoned by President Clinton in his leaving pardons.

Interesting family background for a Fed Board Member.

A still unexplained death in Basra and other mysteries of Army life

Captain Ken Masters, 40, commanding officer of 61 Section of the Royal Military Police Special Investigations Branch (SIB), was found dead in his accommodation block in Basra on Saturday 16th October 2005. He is believed to have taken his own life. Times 17th October

The Independent reported

....he "was found in his bed at the airport at the weekend"

Defence sources said the death was "not due to hostile action and also not due to natural causes".

However, it is believed that investigators have not found a suicide note, nor firearms related to the incident. Capt Masters was not receiving any medical or psychological treatment.

A few days prior to his death General Jackson visited Basra, perhaps he discussed Master's current enquiry into the events surrounding 6 tanks smashing a jail to release two putative SAS undercover agents who had been arrested by Iraqi police.

"Let me make it clear that it was important to retrieve those two soldiers." General Jackson told the Times (quoted in the Times, 12 Oct 2005).

Whilst speculation about the activities of the two "SAS" men and the cause of death of Masters has been rife. The MOD have remained silent on both matters.

Global Research has provided a comprehensive account of the mystery so far.

Tall Tales of Terrorism

Holden at First Draft has the goods on Dubya's fairy tale about shoe bombers and big buildings.
The transcript is analysed of the press discussion with Frances Frego Townsend who is described as Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism at the Whitehouse site

Q What level of operational detail did this plot reach before it was foiled? I mean, was it -- were they planning to fly a plane out of LAX? Did it reach that level of detail?

MS. TOWNSEND: We didn't know what plane or what flight. We knew that they were going to fly a commercial airliner into the tallest building in California, or the West Coast. And there was an analytic judgment by the intelligence community that that meant the Library Tower. But, I mean, we didn't have a day or a week; we didn't know that.

Q Okay, okay. And then, again, is there any other details -- you can't say where they were arrested, who they are? Can you tell us where they are?

MS. TOWNSEND: They're all in custody, but I --

Q I know --

MS. TOWNSEND: I know, but I can't tell you their names, because that would give it away, and I can't tell you the names of the countries because -- not because I care, but because our partners want to have it kept a secret.

Q Are they in the United States? Are they in Gitmo? I mean, can you give us any sense of --

MS. TOWNSEND: I can't.

She then goes on to explain that the leader of the plot travelled to Afghanistan to discuss the plot with Osama Bin Laden .... at the same time the USAF was bombing the shit out of Tora Bora.

So the President of the United States is telling tall tales of terrorism ... no terrorist threat ... so now do you feel better ? ...he was of course reading a children's story for some while when he was told about 9/11 ... perhaps he just prefers a good story ?

Cheney tries to kill lawyer

Beset with the unfolding Plamegate saga Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas.

Harry Whittington, a millionaire attorney from Austin, was "alert and doing fine" in a Corpus Christi hospital Sunday after he was shot by Cheney on a ranch in south Texas, said Katharine Armstrong, the property's owner.

Now that he's started shooting people it's good to see he started with the lawyers. Fitzgerald had better lookout.

US Navy fears a bad case of Sunburn in Iran

The Persian Gulf is effectively a lake whose entrance is the Straits if Hormuz. WEll hidden and well protected shore batteries of the Russian Sunburn missiles 3M80/Kh-41 MOSKIT [SS-N-22 'Sunburn' is the NATO designation]overlook it from the Iranian shore.

The Moskit is a large supersonic anti-ship missile. Designed by the Raduga Design Bureau, development of the Moskit began in the 1970s. The Moskit entered Soviet military service in the 1980s aboard Sovremennyy-class guided missile destroyers and several classes of fast attack boats. An air-launched version of the Moskit was first displayed in 1992, and Raduga also reportedly began designs for a surface-to-air variant. Neither variant had entered production as of April 2002. The Moskit's control system is manufactured by NPO Altair. Missile assembly takes place at the Progress plant in Arsenyevo in Primorskiy Kray.

The Moskit is powered by a ramjet engine and has an estimated top speed of Mach 2.5. It has a launch weight of 3,950kg and carries a payload of 300kg. The Moskit has a range of 120km (250km air-launched), but tests of the Moskit using a high trajectory showed the possibility of increasing its range to 300km.

Moskit Missile Characteristics
Length (m) 9.385
Diameter (m) .76
Range (km) 120 ground-launched
Speed (Mach) 2.5
Launch Weight (kg) 3,950
Warhead (kg) 300

These specifications have been upgraded with time.For example the Indians have developed the Brahmos ship to ship missile with the Russians and demonstrated it destroying a ship in the Arabian Ocean last year.

According to one report, the Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani visited Moscow in October 2001 and requested a test firing of the Sunburn, which the Russians were happy to arrange. So impressed was Ali Shamkhani that he placed an initial order for six of the missiles.

Should the US / Israel decide on a pre-emptive strike, perhaps with the alleged nuclear bunker buster bombs that have been said to be supplied to Israel the Iranians will unleash the monstrous power of these weapons which can destroy an aircraft carrier.

Saddam showed in the war of the Scuds how to deceive the enemy about location , number and readiness of land based missiles... which explains the repeated incursions into Iranian territory by special forces and the concentrated usage of Israeli unmanned stealth boats in the Persian Gulf.

Whilst the Iranians are happy to tweak Uncle Sam's beard, they are well eqipped to defend those who would attack them... however those armed with a Masada complex ....

It has been said before in March 2003 prior to the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq.

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 us to stumble into a Third World War: The War of Unintended Consequences.

Disembowelling America Part 365

This is posted at Instapundit who is evidently awakening to the steady sell off of the family silver and it;s impact on Homeland Security ....

New York's ports, considered a major target of terrorists, are about to be taken over by a firm based in the United Arab Emirates, a country with financial links to the Sept. 11 hijackers.

Dubai Ports World is set to complete a $6.8 billion deal to purchase Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., a London company that already runs commercial port operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans and Miami.

Filthy and degrading

I have been shown two appalling cartoons which vilify and demean a guiding spirit here and here. Decency and a sense of understanding the bounds of Freedom of Expression and Speech restrains me from publishing these images from somebody who calls themselves "dartboard". Do not examine if you have just eaten.

The Internet must be cleansed of this poisonous stuff.

Iran, Uranium, and the UK "nuclear deterrant" that is owned by Uncle Sam

Now that everyone is so concerned about Iran enriching Uranium an interesting and timely 173 page report report "Highly Enriched Uranium: Striking A Balance," U.S. Department of Energy, January 2001.has been released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Federation of American Scientists.

The study "was commissioned [in 1996] to facilitate discussions of HEU storage, safety, and security with stakeholders, to encourage other nations to declassify and release similar data, and to support the national policy on transparency of nuclear materials."

The newly released report contains details of the U.S. HEU inventory as of September 30, 1996, ( TEN YEARS AGO) and provides a historical material balance that summarizes over 50 years of U.S. activities that produced, acquired, and utilized HEU and also outlines the prodigious effort and cost of the program which took place throughout the US. It also, if needed stresses the hurdles to overcome that any johnny come lately would be Uranium purofiers must overcome.

"From 1945 through 1996, a total of 1,045.4 metric tons of uranium containing 859.2 metric tons of uranium-235 was produced in the United States at three facilities utilizing two different production technologies."

"As of September 30, 1996, the total U.S. inventory of HEU was 740.7 MTU containing 620.3 MTU-235."

To read the report ,which is only slightly redacted (sanitised for public use) go here. PDF Alert

To the reader in the UK a significant note records that in 1946 President Truman signed the Atomic Energy Act (McMahon Act) to ensure "that the development of nuclear energy was consistent with the security of the United States". What this meant was that the US refused to share any further information with it's wartime allies - this resulted in the abortive attempts of the UK to produce the Hydrogen bomb and the comical PR effort at the 1957 Christmas Island H bomb tests and the subsequent agreement in 1958 to amend the McMahon Act for the UK to buy it's nuclear weapons from the US and cease all further research on nuclear weapons.

This means that all nuclear missiles held by the UK in it's Trident submarines (and maybe elsewhere) which are to be upgraded are in fact owned by and under the control of the US Government... although paid for by the UK taxpayer... the "special reslationship at work" ...for more see and an article in the Sunday Herald last year (subscription) here

Incidentally De Speigel on line has just re-visited Bikini Atoll the site of the first US H bomb explosions go here to read it. This extract might encourage you to read it ..

Even today, there are no exact figures divulging how many people fell victim to radiation. Citing "military constraints" the U.S. has locked away data, and since it has proven very difficult to obtain data from independent sources reliable information is extremely rare and hard to come by. According to an estimate by the IPPNW (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War) several thousand people died of cancer as a result of the tests on the Marshall Islands alone. Their numbers must be added to the approximately 430,000 cases of incurable cancer which can be - again according to the IPPNW - attributed directly to world-wide nuclear testing during the twentieth century.

To this day, the U.S. has paid a total of $1 billion in compensation to the people of the Marshall Islands. The victims took the money - what else could they do? Besides, it had become something of a tradition. "We have learned how to dry our tears with the American's dollar bills", they say.

President Bush didn't use intelligence

Paul Pillar, who was the CIA's national intelligence officer for the Middle East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005 (he is now on the faculty of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University), says the Bush administration played on the nation's fears in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks, falsely linking Al Qaeda to Saddam Hussein's regime even though intelligence agencies had not produced a single analysis supporting "the notion of an alliance" between the two.

Pillar has written a sunning indictment of administration policies on intelligence in a 4,500 word essay "Intelligence, Policy and the War in Iraq," in the forthcoming issue of the journal Foreign Affairs. He argues from a position of an insider, that connections were drawn between the terrorists and Iraq because "the administration wanted to hitch the Iraq expedition to the `war on terror' and the threat the American public feared most, thereby capitalizing on the country's militant post-9/11 mood."

It apparently is the first time such attacks are being made publicly by such a high-ranking intelligence official directly involved behind the scenes--before, during and after the invasion of Iraq nearly three years ago.

The journal provides a summary ..

During the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, writes the intelligence community's former senior analyst for the Middle East, the Bush administration disregarded the community's expertise, politicized the intelligence process, and selected unrepresentative raw intelligence to make its public case.

You can read the whole essay here.

Security Contractors to US State Department kill 2 Kurds in taxi shoot up in Kirkuk

Meanwhile the Washington Post report Feb 9th 2006

State Department Contractors Kill 2 Civilians in N. Iraq

By Jonathan Finer / Washington Post Foreign Service / Thursday, February 9, 2006; Page A18

BAGHDAD, Feb. 8 -- Private security workers under contract with the State Department shot and killed two Iraqi civilians Tuesday in the restive northern city of Kirkuk, police, U.S. officials and relatives of the dead said Wednesday.

Gunmen in a convoy of three dark-colored GMC sport-utility vehicles opened fire on a taxi north of downtown Kirkuk, killing two men, both ethnic Kurds, Capt. Honer Ahmed of the Kirkuk police said.

"Contract security personnel employed by the Department of State were involved in an aggressive vehicle incident on Feb. 7 in Rahimawa neighborhood of Kirkuk," the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. "Two civilians died and one was injured. We've launched an investigation and it is ongoing."

The embassy would not name the security company.

Maj. Gen. Sherko Shakir, the Kirkuk police chief, said U.S. forces took the contractors into custody for interrogation.

In an e-mailed response to written questions, Maj. Jeffrey Allen, a spokesman for the Army's 101st Airborne Division, which is responsible for security in the city, wrote that U.S. soldiers "met with local police officials to reassure them that they will be standing by to support the State Department and contractor's investigations, and will continue to work with the Iraqi Police and other Iraqi Security Forces to improve the overall security situation in the region."

Iraqi government officials and U.S. commanders have condemned what they have termed indiscriminate and unpunished shootings of Iraqi civilians by some of the estimated 25,000 private security contractors operating throughout the country.

This is of course a re-run of the Aegis "trohy video" that erupted late last year (Note the US Embassy refuse to name the company involved in the above incident). Those interested can go to Corp Watch and read of the financial success of Tim Spicer's Aegis company who expect to post record profits any day on turnover that has soared from £554,000 in 2003, to £15m for 2004 with profits of £772,000 profit. With a £230 Mn contract with the US Government trunover and profits are expected to be healthy.

You can visit the site that exposed the "trophy video" run by ex employees of the gallant captain's company for (lack of) progress on the claimed "internal enquiry" on the video, which still has downloads of the videos available.

Dr Reid ...... "Bring 'em on"

The Sunday Times said last week about the deployment of 3rd Para to Afghanistan ..

Lt Col Stuart Tootal, the CO of 3 Para, the troops who will lead the UK battlegroup, said last week that army chiefs had promised him his men need not be afraid of facing courts martial if they took a tough line with anyone who pointed a gun in their direction.

That it is going to be difficult is also not in doubt and no-one, not even the MoD for once, is trying to play that down. Apparently, Tootal’s men have been warned that they could sustain losses on a par with the Falklands where 3 Para lost 23 dead and 50 wounded taking Mount Longden. It’s a tough job but, as the old cliché goes, somebody’s got to do it and quite frankly a combination of the UK special forces already on the ground and the British paras who are joining them seems to me to be about the best you could get anywhere in the world, so long of course as they get the right number of helicopters and the right equipment to back them up.

One interesting aspect of the deployment – possibly sparked by the current dire shortage of serviceable transport helicopters - is the presence of three C130 Hercules aircraft.

Nosemonkey, Charlie Whitaker Jamie K and Frozen Yoghurt have picked up on Dr. Reid and his cry of "let us match savagery with savagery" on Radio 4's Today programme the other day.

" ....we cannot continually have an assymetric, uneven battlefield for our troops where we are facing an enemy unconstrained by any legality, any morality, any international convention and at the same time subject our troops to a level of scrutiny, accountability, media intrusion, questioning and every conceivable opportunity to criticise. So I say, in that kind of world, where we're facing that kind of enemy, let us be very slow to condemn our troops, our forces, and very quick to support them."

Yet earlier in the interview as FY points out Reid said ...

"There will be blemishes, there will be abuses, I have no doubt that occur. But the difference will be this, Jim: When abuses took place in the past, when these sorts of things by the Iraqi government or others took place under Saddam Hussein they were covered up, now they'll be exposed. The perpetrators were promoted. Now they will be prosecuted."

So how does our revered tough talking Mister of Defence (Oh how he must yearn for the days of John Profumo when he was called the Minister of War) reconcile these two positions?

Well for a start they are going to make sure that no-one is going to be toting a Handycam or digital camera of any sort .... after all Aegis are still investigating that "trophy video" and the NOW today are piling it on... and the Sunday Times has tales of drug crazed troops ... and tales of mass corruption of US taxpayers funds are exposed ... not to mention Abu Ghraib pics and videos still unseen by the public..

Perhaps Dr. John Reid would be happy to swap Northern Ireland with the sun tanned South African ? After all Politics is an "assymetric, uneven battlefield".

State of the Union

Wal-Mart says 25,000 people--almost all from Chicago--applied for the 325 jobs at the new Evergreen Park store which is outside the city limits.

Chicago shoppers spend about half a billion dollars a year at the company's 67 Chicago-area locations, including Wal-Marts, Supercenters and Sam's Clubs.

UK Troops beasting Iraqis caught on video

The News of the World, the most scatalogical of Rupe's rags makes available 3 minutes 12 seconds of a longer sequence of hand held video which contains other scenes of military nastiness . The section of video available on the NOW site, is said to be 2 years old and shows unidentified UK troops led by a seargeant in a military compound in South Iraq kicking the shit out of some Iraqi youths that have been snatched from some sort of street protest.

The Independent on Sunday says in it's pompous way ...

"An amateur video that appears to show British soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners is being investigated by military police this weekend.

Video footage of soldiers apparently head-butting, punching and kicking prisoners in the genitals while held in a secure military compound is being studied by the Royal Military Police after the existence of the tape was exposed by the News of the World."

"Appears to show" ..."Apparently" ... the Independent's Jonathan Thompson must have had limited experience of late night punch ups which this this resembled ..egged on by the shouted encouragement of the youthful and excited camera operator.

"Oh yes! Oh yes! You're gonna get it. Yes, naughty little boys! You little fuckers, you little fuckers. DIE! Ha, ha!"

"We do not publish this disturbing material in haste but with regret" says the NOW but then asks ex SAS Chris Ryan to detail in an article another sequence from the shock video, accompanied by freeze frame photos, where an Iraqi corpse is held up and flaunted as a trophy. The cameraman then delivers what Iraqis consider the most humiliating act possible, in death or life - he kicks him in the face. Not just once, but TWICE. As the head of the dead man, aged in his 20s, is lifted up to face the camera a soldier is heard to snigger. "He's been a bad motherfucker"

We will no doubt be treated to the TV media interviewing Tim Collins who will tell us how unusual this is, how highly trained, bad eggs, bad apples, rotten to the corps....

One might be forgiven for thinking that it was on someone's agenda to feed the fires of revolting Islam.

Don't Incite ME you BASTARD !!!!

Report at Lenin's Tomb with pictures of today's rally in Trafalgar Square,London, of Muslim Anti-Incitement Rally - an exercise in futility. Not a Plod in sight.... or a "suicide bomber".... plenty of dull, worthy people and Ms. Ridley.

Norwegian Stealth Boat creeps up on Virginia

The US Navy has been testing a new stealthy, fast, high tech Norwegian built catamaran which was is cruising off the shores of Virginia this summer. It's called the P-960 KNM Skjold (pronounced "shold," Norwegian for "shield").

Radar-absorbing materials in the hull make it look like a small fishing boat on an enemy radar screen, instead of a ship half the size of a football field. And the Skjold is networked from bow to stern with nearly 40 computers.

"It's all very automated," said Rune Anderson, the Royal Norwegian Navy officer who is commanding the ship on its US visit. "There's a lot of computers helping us out. The total crew will be about 15." That's half the crew of an American patrol craft of similar size.

The Pentagon is evaluating lighter, faster ships as part of its military "transformation" plans for handling small regional missions and homeland defense. Such craft would move in squadrons of four to six vessels, which is how the Skjold is configured in the Norwegian navy.

The Skjold measures 157 feet long and 45 feet wide. It's built of a light, superstrong foam composite about 3 inches thick. Giant fans below deck create a cushion of air that lifts the ship five feet above the surface for high-speed cruising.

"We have a transit speed of 50 knots-plus," Anderson said. "We have very good sea-keeping -- we can maintain high speed in bad weather -- and that gives you a short reaction time in any situation."

The Skjold is designed to carry surface-to-surface missiles with a 100-mile range and three-inch guns.

The Norwegian Navy is paying $50 million a ship. But with mass production for the US Navy, the cost could drop significantly. The Pentagon doesn't have a specific time line for selecting or deploying this type of high-speed craft.

The Skjold completed its one-year visit to the United States in September, when it returned to Norway.

Avian Flu notifications of H5N1 spread in Eurasia

Several wild swans died of H5N1 in southern Italy, Health Minister Francesco Storace said on Saturday, confirming the arrival in the European Union of the strain of the bird flu virus H5N1 that can be deadly for humans.

Greece said on Saturday it had sent a sample from a wild goose on Skyros island in the Aegean Sea to England for tests for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, a day after sending samples from three swans in northern Greece.

The Greek Agricultural Development and Foods Ministry in an announcement on Saturday regarding bird flu (avian influenza), said that "it was confirmed today by the relevant EU Reference Laboratory of London of the presence of the H5N1 virus in the three samples which were sent the day before yesterday of the dead swans which migrated to our country from our northern and eastern borders.

In Bulgaria the virus was detected in a dead swan that was found near the northwest town of Vidin a week ago. Samples had been sent for testing in Weybridge, UK.

This is the country's first case of the H5N1 virus.

Avian flu spread to a new country with Azerbaijan saying on Friday the lethal H5N1 strain had been found in wild birds floating dead on the Caspian Sea.

China and Indonesia reported two more human deaths from the virus, discovered earlier this week in Nigeria after what a senior United Nations official called a devastating spread from southern Asia over the past seven months.

.... and still little mention of the recent notification of the outbreak in Cyprus.

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