"The Nuclear Express: A Political History of the Bomb and its Proliferation," by Thomas C. Reed and Danny B. Stillman, does not name the suspected spy, but says he was born in the United States, grew up in a foreign country, fell in with communist sympathizers during the Depression and worked at Los Alamos during World War II.
Afterward, he became "deeply involved" in the U.S. effort to develop the H-bomb, the book says.
Interesting pics at the link...
These dramatic pictures show the moment three British ex-soldiers took on heavily-armed pirates who hijacked their container ship. The brave trio defied the gun-toting gang by every means possible including using home-made weapons. But the odds were just too great and they were forced to jump 50ft into the shark-infested sea to avoid being killed or held as hostages. They endured 40 agonising minutes being shot at in the water before a rescue helicopter arrived.
The three, working as security men on the ship, are the first Britons to escape from the pirates holding the world to ransom by ambushing ships off the coast of Somalia, East Africa.
Ex-Para Mike Kelly said: It was terrifying. The pirates shot at us with AK-47s while we tried to tackle them with anything we had to hand scaffolding poles and flare guns. We intended to take them out and grab the ship back, but there were too many of them. We knew if they caught us wed be dead. We had to take our chances with the sharks.
In a brazen raid three weeks ago one gang from the pirate strongholds of Eyl, Harardheere and Hobyo seized the tanker Sirius Star, filled with £67m of crude oil, and are still demanding a £6million ransom from its owners. Ten days later, Mike, 36, ex-Royal Marine Carl Rocky Mason, 44, and another ex-military pal who does not want to be named, were paid £10,000 a month to safeguard the MV Biscaglia as it sailed through the same treacherous waters.
Maritime law banned any weapons being taken on board, but their employers, Anti-Piracy Maritime Security Services of Poole, Dorset, promised the ship would be equipped with deterrents. Rocky said: The ship had water cannon and a sonic device which we were told was so painful any pirates would scarper. We also made a bazooka from a scaffolding pole and flares.
The Biscaglia and 18 other cargo vessels at first sailed with a French frigate for protection. But two days out of Oman, 300 miles off the Somali coast, it fell behind. Mike, from Dublin, said: We noticed a skiff about three miles off our port side and knew it was pirates. The Biscaglia sent a distress signal to the frigate as the skiff circled the tanker staying well out of range of water cannons.
Mike said: We used our makeshift bazooka but it was wildly inaccurate and the pirates started firing rocket-propelled grenades. While two pirates stayed in the skiff, six scrambled on board, firing AK-47s at the bridge where the three men were masterminding the defence.
Rocky, from Poole, said: They started shooting at me and I ran with them coming after me. They were only about 18, skinny and looked high on the local drug, called khat. They were spraying bullets everywhere.
The men decided to use the sonic weapon, called an L-RAD. Mike said: We thought it would make the pirates back off, but they just laughed. It was a total waste of time.
The trio locked all the hatches and doors and retreated to the roof of the bridge. Half an hour after the attack had begun, a helicopter from the French warship appeared. Although it was armed, it is against maritime laws in the area to board a vessel by force after it has been taken by pirates. So the helicopter crew were forced to hover and photograph events from above.
Mike said: We decided the best thing to do was maybe hide somewhere and then take the pirates out. We heard shooting and glass breaking and realised theyd got onto the bridge. The pirates made the crew kneel outside the bridge with their hands on their head. A couple stood over them with guns. In one of the pictures you can see Ive crept forward to the edge of the roof. The pirates dont know where we are. Rocky is behind me. We found some iron bars and our plan was for Rocky to jump off the roof, bringing a bar down on the head of one pirate. We thought there were only three of them and after taking out one wed be able to handle the other two. But then one of the crew gestured at us that there were six pirates and we knew we had no chance of taking them on.
Rocky added: We didnt want to leave the crew. They have families too. But wed pissed the pirates off and the chances were wed get a bullet each.At best wed have a beating and, because of our British passports, be high-value hostages. So we decided the only option was to go over the side. The pirates shot at the men as they made a dash for it. And they continued trying to kill them as they floated in the water.
Eventually, a second helicopter arrived with a winch and hauled them to safety. Now home, they say there needs to be a drastic change in the way the world deals with the bandits who net millions in ransom from firms in return for crews and cargo.
Rocky said: They know we cant really fight back. Its easy money and something must be done.
#7
Barry Hart Dubner, a law professor at Barry University in Florida who has written extensively on piracy, said that on the high seas, anyone can step up to battle the pirates. "It gets trickier when you try to get them in territorial waters (within 7.5 miles of the coastline), because theoretically you need permission of the coastal state. But they can use any force they want because they're considered enemies of mankind," Dubner said.
Bringing weapons on board ships is "strongly discouraged" by the United Nations' International Maritime Organization, and experts agree that arming commercial crews is a bad idea.
"If you hire a company to do it or even arm your crew personnel, I think it would put them more at risk than if they weren't. If they start shooting now you have an international incident," said Michael Lee, assistant vice president at Miami-based "non-lethal" security company McRoberts Maritime Security.
Having weapons on board isn't just a health and liability hazard, it also increases insurance costs "exponentially," Lee said. Armed guards cost between $1,000 and $1,500 a day.
"The problem is that most ship owners will not allow crews to carry weapons on board the ship. Most of these crews come from the Philippines and other areas and they're worried they'll kill each other. They're more worried about that than they are about piracy," Dubner said.
#8
Say the word pirate and you and I see a violent, peg-legged sea dog with gunpowder smouldering in his beard.
Shipowners see businessmen, and rightly so: only three hostages have been killed so far in the recent attacks (all the deaths were accidents), while the pirates have made tens of millions of pounds in profit.
The last thing that shipowners want to do is to change a monetary relationship into a gunfight. Why? Its bad for business, driving the all-important insurance rates through the roof.
Individual ships can deploy preventive measures such as proper lighting, round-the-clock watchmen with radar and thermal video equipment, fire hoses, physical barriers, acoustic weapons, radar, video cameras, electric fencing and high-intensity light beams.
Armed guards, however, are a last resort. They are expensive, some flag states dont allow them, and many ports wont admit ships with weapons on board, forcing the guns to be dumped overboard on arrival.
And the consequences of unleashing a cut-price, untrained army on to the decks of the worlds merchant navy sends shivers down the keel of the maritime world.
#9
a helicopter from the French warship appeared. Although it was armed, it is against maritime laws in the area to board a vessel by force after it has been taken by pirates.
Those who do not protect their freedoms will soon find they have none.
#11
Let's put our thinking caps on.... how did these Maritime rules of behavior evolve? Perhaps they were hatched in full form from the UN in 1949? Maybe not... let's all think real, real damn hard on this.... Law of the Sea? Hum......... NO.
#12
It seems to me that the Brits were nuts to take on the assignment with the equipment and ROE's they had, as well as the recognition that Somali thugs would look askance at their nationality. *Nobody* needs the money this badly. And the ship's owners are silly to bother with the expense of hiring elite ex-military people as guards when they're not giving them the equipment with which to fight pirates off. My guess is that insurance companies won't relent on the rule about armed guards until they go bust paying compensation, or discover that more and more ships are choosing to self-insure rather than pay their exorbitant premiums.
(Xinhua) -- Guinea's ruling military junta on Tuesday named banker Kabine Komara as the country's prime minister on Tuesday, according to agencies' report.
The National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD), which seized power last week after a coup, announced Komara's appointment in a statement. The new nominee, a Guinean national, is a director of the Cairo-based African Export-Import Bank.
A military junta led by Moussa Camara seized power in Guinea following the death of President Lansana Conte. Camara has claimed himself the president of the Republic and his 32-member CNDD has become the de facto ruling body of the country.
The nomination was the latest step in a series by the CNDD to consolidate power since the Dec. 23 coup. Camara had previously named Kelety Faro the "secretary general minister for the presidency of the Republic" and Mamadouba Toto Camara the "minister of security and civilian protection."
Meanwhile, the country's 20 or so army generals were demoted for allegiance to Conte. On the list of retirement were army chiefof staff Diarra Camara and the heads of the army, navy and air force.
Among other bold steps taken by the week-long CNDD were a "grandiose funeral" for Conte, a dusk-to-morning curfew, a political consultation at the Alpha Yaya Diallo barracks and the suspension of all mining contracts for renegotiation. According to reports from Conakry, the capital of Guinea, the CNDD also plans hold an international meeting this week to clarify its policy.
However, the military junta's rule is criticized internationally. After the coup, the African Union has suspended Guinea's membership to press for the return to constitutional order, while the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS)has voiced zero tolerance for the coup in Guinea. But the ECOWAS also said it "remains engaged with" the CNDD to "bring about short transition" without "military face."
It said the ECOWAS delegation in Guinea found that the country was calm, recommending continued peace and security "so that the people of Guinea do not suffer" from violence, killing and harassment.
The CNDD, with 26 military and six civilian members, has pledged to organize "credible and transparent elections by the end of December 2010." This pledge hasn't met the requirements of those countries or international groups which were opposed to the coup. The European Union has demanded that a "democratic and transparent election" inthe "first quarter of 2009," while the United States has threatened to withhold financial aid to Guinea unless the transitional period is shortened.
Guinea won independence from France in 1958. Rich in mineral resources such as bauxite, gold and iron ore, the world's top bauxite exporter and the second biggest producer attracts billions of dollars in mining investments from foreign firms, including RioTinto Alcan, Alcoa and Russia's United Company Rusal. The country of 9.56 million, however, was placed the 160th of 177 countries in the development survey by the United Nations.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/31/2008 00:00 ||
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first step in looking for a TARP bailout
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/31/2008 3:09 Comments ||
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Gawd amighty Frank thing... that is just so rong.
(Xinhua) -- The Guinean military junta ventured bold steps in the past week amid strong opposition voiced by the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS).
Coup leaders of Guinea, the member state of both African blocs, have managed a series of measures to strengthen controls since the Dec. 23 coup.
Among the latest, the military junta demoted 20 or so army generals while naming some ministers. On the list of retirement were army chief of staff Diarra Camara and the heads of the army, navy and air force.
The military chief did not sound in tune with Moussa Camara, who announced the coup and the dissolution of the government and the constitution, hours after the broadcast of the death of President Lansana Conte.
While the loyalist generals were removed, Camara named Kelety Faro the "secretary general minister for the presidency of the Republic" and Mamadouba Toto Camara the "minister of security and civilian protection."
Camara declared himself "the president of the Republic" one day after the coup. He was also named the head of a 32-member National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD) , which is composed of 26 military officers and six civilians and acting as the de facto ruling body.
The busy post-coup schedule also included a "grandiose funeral" for Conte, a promise of presidential elections in December 2010, a dusk-to-morning curfew, a political consultation at the Alpha Yaya Diallo barracks and the suspension of all mining contracts for renegotiation.
Camara and his CNDD seemed in triumph when Prime Minister Ahmed Tidiane Souare led his team of government to the Alpha Yaya Diallobarracks on Thursday, surrendering to him after days of resistance.
But internationally, the military junta is shunned. On Monday, the AU suspended Guinea's membership to press for "the return to constitutional order in that country." Meanwhile, the ECOWAS reiterated its zero tolerance for the coup in Guinea, rejecting the two-year transition set by the military junta.
But the ECOWAS "remains engaged with" the CNDD to "bring about short transition" without "military face," according to a statement released by the regional group.
It also said the ECOWAS delegation in Guinea found that the country was calm, recommending continued peace and security "so that the people of Guinea do not suffer" from violence, killing and harassment.
The United Nations, the European Union and the United States have also used strong wording for a quick return to the civilian rule.
The EU demands a "democratic and transparent election" in the "first quarter of 2009," while the United States threatened to withhold financial aid to Guinea unless the transitional period is shortened.
Guinea won independence from France in 1958. Rich in mineral resources such as bauxite, gold and iron ore, the world's top bauxite exporter and the second biggest producer attracts billions of dollars in mining investments from foreign firms, including RioTinto Alcan, Alcoa and Russia's United Company Rusal.
The country of 9.56 million, however, was placed the 160th of 177 countries in the development survey by the United Nations.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/31/2008 00:00 ||
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I thought I got all you Guinea hoods suspended! What the hell are you doing here?
The Awami League-led grand alliance secured 262 seats in Monday's 9th Jatiya Sangsad election outplaying the BNP-led four-party combine that got only 32, according to unofficial results of 299 constituencies available yesterday.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/31/2008 00:00 ||
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We wuz robbed, I tells ya! Robbed! Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, defeated in Monday's parliamentary elections, has rejected the results saying the vote was rigged. "We have confirmed reports of rigging and other irregularities in many polling stations across the country," she told reporters in Dhaka. I seen it with my own tear stained eyes, I tells ya!
Election officials said earlier that Ms Zia's rival Sheikh Hasina's Awami League had won a landslide victory. The poll was mostly praised by media, monitors and the world community.
On Tuesday, at least one person was killed and more than a dozen were injured in clashes between rival political activists in the northern Pabna area, officials said. The election follows two years of army-backed rule in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/31/2008 00:00 ||
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Russia's state gas monopoly Gazprom said it will cut off all gas supplies to Ukraine on Thursday morning after the two sides failed to reach a deal.
Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said the decision was made after Wednesday's talks ended with no agreement on how much Ukraine will pay for natural gas shipments in 2009.
He also said Gazprom has not yet received the $1.5 billion that Ukraine said it transferred to cover its debt, an amount that still falls short of the $2.1 billion that Gazprom says Ukraine owes for gas supplies.
"Gazprom will completely stop supplying gas to Ukrainian consumers at 10 a.m. (2 a.m. EST, 0700GMT) on Jan. 1.," Miller told reporters. "All responsibility for the situation rests on the Ukrainian side."
Gazprom had warned it would cut supplies if Ukraine failed to pay off all of its debt and sign a deal for next year's deliveries by midnight.
Gazprom had insisted that Ukraine pay $418 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas next year, more than double what it paid in 2008. But on Wednesday, Gasprom offered a contract with gas set at $250, which Ukrainian officials said was still too high
The NATO British parliamentary representative view that dialogue with Russia is essential suffers from immense historical contradiction.
Either prepare for war with Russia now or be subjugated economically and/or militarily.
Wake up!! Russias attitude to its own brutish activities, on the ground and diplomatically in Georgia, is not just some isolated aberration of Russian stupidity. It has a clear historical context and purpose of retaking and subjugating its neighbours in what it considers its rightful sphere of influence.
Although we all know Russia is living in a dangerous past imperial framework, it has never been advisable to invite a crocodile to dinner and expect by frank and fearless discussion of mutual benefit to result in the retention of all your limbs. Ask Chamberlain.
Posted by: Mark Julian Smith ||
12/31/2008 18:28 Comments ||
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Uzbek gas price does not satisfy Tajikistan
Uztransgaz company, the main gas supplier to Tajikistan informed on increase of the gas price. According to the source the price was doubled, reported CA-NEWS.
Uzbekistan insists on 300 U.S. dollars per thousand cubic meters of fuel which will be supplied to Tajikistan in 2009, informed Fathiddin Muhsiddinov, General director of the Tadzhikgaz State Unitary Enterprise.
International price for gas in 2009 will amount to 260 300 U.S. dollars per thousand cubic meters, forecasts Russian Company Gazprom, which intends to develop four major gas fields in Tajikistan.
Kyrgyzstan, which received proposal from Uzbekistan to buy Uzbek gas at 300 U.S. dollars, is also not satisfied with the price.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/31/2008 19:25 Comments ||
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How, pray tell, do the Russians propose to sell gas to anyone? Look at the map - Poland ain't to thrilled with the bear, and so long as they and Ukraine cooperate, they have a monopsony on the pipelines to Russia's customers. Shouldn't be too hard for them to skim off whatever they need, or deal with the end users for resales.
Russia is trying to buy off the Germans with a pipeline down the baltic, avoiding land transit issues, but that is still a pipedream - so to speak.
Hope Ukraine is developing it's own coal resources.
Ah, we can all breathe again... (Xinhua) Belgium is poised to have a new government soon as the five parties of the outgoing government put the finishing touches on a coalition agreement Tuesday.
Herman van Rompuy, asked by Belgium's King Albert II to form a government, said Monday night that the five parties have agreed in principle to a coalition and were to finalize the details Tuesday.
Van Rompuy, a Flemish Christian Democrat like the outgoing Prime Minister Yves Leterme, told Flemish Radio One that the parties have reached a deal on continuing the current coalition on the basis of the previous government accord. He also said they would continue with the previous government's plans to shore up the faltering economy.
It's expected that van Rompuy, the 61-year-old speaker of the lower house of parliament, will succeed Leterme as prime minister. According to Belgian media reports, the new government is expected to stay on until 2011. Is that the time or the year?
The Leterme government collapsed on Dec. 19 over allegations that the prime minister's office had attempted to influence a court ruling on the partial sale of financial services group Fortis to French bank BNP Paribas. Leterme denied the allegations but he and Justice Minister Jo Vandeurzen ruled out participating in the new government.
The resignation of the government, the second in five months, plunged Belgium into yet another crisis as long-running rifts between the Francophone and the Flemish parties over state reforms remain unresolved and the country's economy is set to slide into recession in the fourth quarter. Leterme's government had planned a 2-billion-euro (2.82 billion U.S. dollars) stimulus package.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/31/2008 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
(Xinhua) -- The Guinean military junta ventured bold steps in the past week amid strong opposition voiced by the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS). 
Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, defeated in Monday's parliamentary elections, has rejected the results saying the vote was rigged. "We have confirmed reports of rigging and other irregularities in many polling stations across the country," she told reporters in Dhaka. 
Russia's state gas monopoly Gazprom said it will cut off all gas supplies to Ukraine on Thursday morning after the two sides failed to reach a deal.
(Xinhua) Belgium is poised to have a new government soon as the five parties of the outgoing government put the finishing touches on a coalition agreement Tuesday. 
