Hat Tip: Instapundit EFL
Written by someone who actually knows WTF theyâre talking about. Well written and worth the read, assuming you actually want to know, too. ;-0
Yep, the lights went out for 50 million people yesterday, and we still donât really know why it happened. Canada blames a fault in our system; we blame a fault in Canadaâs system, or a bad transmission line in the Midwest, but weâre all sure it wasnât a terrorist.
Why? Just because nothing blew up?
Letâs try a little experiment, change the word terror to sabotage. Sound any more likely now?
The leading theory on the root cause of the failure, at least, the leading theory as I rode in to work this morning, was the simultaneous failure of multiple transmission lines in the northern Mid-West US.
Hmmm. When I learned to trouble shoot, they taught us that multiple faults are very rare, and to look for a single fault first. If you seemed to be chasing a multiple fault, step back and look again. You probably missed something.
Hereâs a scenario to consider: Some idiot with an axe to grind and no sense of self preservation decides to die gloriously for Allah or whoever. He shorts two high tension transmission lines together, vaporizing himself while causing a cascading overload which shuts down power to 50 million people.
Thatâs "simultaneous failure of multiple transmission lines."
#1
while one should never look for malice where idiocy explains a situation, the current situation demands suspicion.
Two reasons why authorities were so quick (too quick) to rule out terrorism:
1) avoid panic
2) deny terrorists the kudos/fame/glory of their 'achievement' thus denying the Islamonut world a chance to be further inspired into acts against the kaffirs.
seriously with multiple, simultaneous failure - can there be any doubt?
#2
"Hospitals, emergency services, communications services should all be required to have back up generators with enough fuel to last for 3 days."
That really caught my eye. You mean, they DON'T???
I don't want to bore you again with Germany but here that's just standard everywhere (hospitals are more likely to have power for 7 days). Even if the German grid failed totally we'd still have trains and subways running, elevators running etc. With several serious blackouts in NY already I'm rather puzzled at your emergency plans for outages.
Relax TGA, they DO. It's safe for you to visit us no problem. Crap, even my condo has a backup generator, so you see, it's not totally the middle ages here.
Nice article. It didn't mention however, that the older nuke plants take up to 36 hours to come back online if not longer. And up here in Ontario, 40% of our AC comes from nukes. Hence the delay in getting everything back up to speed.
Just what does a body look like after a 345 Kilo Volt electrocution. Vapor or crispy critter? I used to have 3 power plants in my backyard (PPIMBY). I recall a deer getting fried by coming in contact with a high tension line support that had a ground fault. It did not vaporize. Then again it did not make contact across the lines, but line to ground so the voltage was less. People don't vaporize after lightning strikes them.
A better way to short the transmission line is to throw metal across the lines. The metal would definitely vaporize, but still may leave pieces outside the arc. I wonder if the lines themselves would have evidence of the short such as burn marks. An inspection would have to be done by helo. That is how the wire is laid. Would the wire carry load after such a short or would it too separate at the short. The US military has the answers since they have a weapon in stock for shorting lines.
Unfortunately, TGA, we are not big on backup anything. We like to work without a saftey net. We are too fond of back-of-the-hand on-the-fly engineering too.
#6
So why did NY subway stop running, why did elevators stop?
Sheer volume I guess. Not worth having a generator for every elevator or subway car. How many elevators do you have in Germany? 4? Seriously... there are more high-rise buildings in Manhattan than in all of Germany.
#9
I wouldn't know (maybe true for the inner city) but looking at Frankfurt, they do have quite a few high rise buildings there (they call it Mainhattan). I can't imagine an elevator without an emergency power aggregate. I'd say that's even true for business buildings not higher than 6 levels. For high rise building elevators NOT to have one sounds weird to me, sorry. And of course any German subway would have an emergency power supply. You'd probably just notice flickering lamps. When the subway stops it's because the cables have been damaged due to an accident but not because of primary power failure.
I really don't claim Germany to be perfect in anything but security is higher on our list. Hence we might be less vulnerable to something like "terrorist sabotage". Although you'll always find weak spots if you dig deep enough. There is no such thing as perfect safety.
MEMORIES OF â77
Especially in New York, where police were nervously gearing up for nightfall, the sudden loss of power revived memories of the ruinous blackout of 1977. On July 10 that year, power officials guaranteed Congress that another power failure like the 1965 blackout would never occur again. Three days later, the lights went off a little before 9:30 p.m. and stayed off all night â 13 hours in all. More than 3,700 people were arrested in looting across several neighborhoods. More than 1,000 fires were set, and estimates of the damage ranged from $61 million to more than $300 million. Iâve noticed in coverage last night and this morning that the media is quite mystified and downright upset that there hasnt been any carnage and disasters to report, and whats worse no one is calling for "its all Bushs fault". Anyone else notice this phenom?
Posted by: Frank Martin ||
08/15/2003 1:14:35 PM ||
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#1
I've heard second-hand reports of people blaming Bush, but haven't heard anything directly. Also, I've heard of reporters wondering why Bush hasn't flown back to the White House to start working on transformer stations and firing up generators or something.
Too many people think the President's job is to be our collective mother.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/15/2003 13:17 Comments ||
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#2
Robert--I wondered the same thing. Was Bush supposed to hook up a bicycle-generator and start pedalling furiously?
I also noticed some asshat reporter on Fox last night trying desperately to find something negatively newsworthy to report. All he had was that some pedestrian in NYC asked a driver how much for a ride. The driver said "All your money!" and drove off before the ped could even react. Just an instance of abrupt rudeness, but the reporter was so gravely relating it you'd think the driver had shot the ped and run him over twice.
Gotta fill that 24/7 airtime, no matter how ignorant and trivial the stories are, I guess.
Posted by: Dar ||
08/15/2003 13:25 Comments ||
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#3
Except in Ottawa, where there is / was serious looting.
#7
TGA, a question. Do you have any problem there with Green Party types trying to stop building of new powerplants and transmission lines? That seems to be one of the major problem here with trying to upgrade the system, the Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) crowd.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/15/2003 14:44 Comments ||
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#8
You will loooooove TGA's arrogance when you will learn that a good part of German power is produced in France. The Iraquis who ask Siemens to fix their electricity problems sound about as competent as their military.
#9
ole Lileks over at Lileks.com had a greatly humorous and very insightful editorial of this episode with the Fox guy.
I got the feeling that the media is still fishing around for something to blame on Bush that could be a campaign issue....too bad, he is out JFKing Ted and out FDRing the eight dwarfs so I think the media and the dems are in for a long cold winter of discontent.
#10
Steve, the Green Party is mainly against nuclear power plants. The government has agreed to shut down all nuclear plants in about 30 years or so (Don't sweat it, Schroeder won't last that long). There is less problems with new transmission lines, we have plenty, not that transmission wire mess the US has. U.S. problems seem to be that people use too much (air condition because of poorly isolated houses for example) and buy too cheap, so money for modernisation isn't available as the companies need to make profits.
Germany has about the best working and well supplied electricity grid in the world. Blackouts like in the U.S. are next to impossible. We are more than oversupplied, even on the day with the highest demand in German history there was still plenty. Some say too plenty. Blame it on (sometimes exaggerated) German security concerns. And even major breakdowns of a big power plant would probably just make the lights flicker before the backup systems kick in.
Yes quite a bit of electricity comes from France. State subsidized (and therefore cheaper) electricity from nuclear power plants mainly. But with the heatwave France imported a lot of German electricity because they ran into problems with cooling the plants. It's give and take.
German consumers have more flexibility now buying the electricity they like. If they want cheap, they probably have mostly nuclear electricity, if they are prepared to pay more, it will be from "greener" sources like water or wind power. (Of course it just reflects the percentage electricity companies are buying).
Re Iraq: The electricity problems there are hardly U.S. fault. The system was rotten for many years and now that electricity gets distributed more fairly it shows how rotten it really is. I have no doubt that the Americans will solve the problem but up to now they have refused German help. And Iraqis who see the U.S. blackouts might have their own ideas.
I don't know how competent Iraqi engineers are. The Iraqi military relied on French weaponry mainly.
#11
TGA, it's unfortunate that your government couldn't at least pitch in on humanitarian projects in Iraq, such as fixing the electrical grid, without requiring that the whole enchilada come under UN auspices. If your government doesn't want to contribute troops and security fine, I understand the principle, but humanitarian relief ought to come regardless.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/15/2003 17:04 Comments ||
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#12
Decentralized power would be the ideal, with the miracle fuel cell supplying local areas, no polllution, etc.etc. But that aint gonna happen, at least in the near term. TGA is entirely correct. The German govt has established REAL high voltage transmission grids, so a break somewhere is easily covered. They also have very adquate generating capacity. They have made that long-term committment to their infrastructure.
The problem in the US is that we have the technology and the talent but we do not have the national consensus and the will to invest long-term in our infrastructure. The same situation applies to our roads and bridges, public buildings, and our water and sewer infrastructure. We have let things go in allocating funds to basics while we have been funding pie-in-the sky. In short, we are short changing our descendents. It is time to stop this mindset and make the long term committment. This is the only way we will turn this around. Iraq is an example in the extreme of what not to do.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/15/2003 17:18 Comments ||
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#13
Steve as far as I understand sending German engineers (like the guys of the Technisches Hilfswerk, who fix about anything) isn't a problem at all. No U.N. blahblah needed. The thing is that the U.S. has REFUSED that aid up to now (although I don't know whether this is still true in these days). Baghdad central power plant Al Dora has been nearly completely delivered by Siemens (in the 70s I think), no wonder the local engineers want the Germans back (the plant fell into disrepair in the embargo years and probably due to Saddam's disconcern). Same with Baghdad hospitals: they want to continue to work with German medical technology. But a German delegation just came back from Iraq and said that talks with Bremer always end up with Bremer trying to find a US company instead.
#15
Germany has about the best working and well supplied electricity grid in the world.
Yeah. My brother-in-law and I could've set up Germany's power grid. It's nice to say your system is better but like a true European, you forgot one thing: scale. The power grid that caused the trouble here loops around lake Erie; starts in New York state, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and back around through Canada to New York State. Just looking at an atlas you will see this is a distance of some 800km, which is enough to cover the width of Germany and 1/4 of Poland. If the entire USA was only 800km wide, they'd be a state-of-art electrical system that not even Germany could dream of. And BTW, sure the grid needs updating, but the investment will have to be huge; it's not something that can be done overnight... like in Germany. Sheesh. (BTW, I'm Canadian, and no the problem did not start up here. Power outage occured at 4:11pm in Toronto. In Cleveland it started around 4pm. So there.)
#16
Here's a link to an interesting commentary (hat tip: LGF) that's relevant to the US backout:
http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/000409.html#000409
#17
I heard Hannity on the radio saying Hillary was out and about blaming this entire debacle on Bush,I had an ice cream cone last night that melted, I blame the right wing adiministration!!!
#19
Given the difficulty in all 50 states getting rates that reflect reality of cost, since the regulatory agencies are shilling for the incumbent pols to keep rates "affordable, there will never be sufficient capitol available for the upgrades and increased generating capacity.
Add to that the ridiculous, frivolous, and preventative permitting procedures for trying to remediate the antiquated systems, enforced by the MIMBY crowd, the "greenies", and others of like ilk, don't hold your breath for any substantive progress in this millenium.
#20
That can't be true, MommaBear. I actually watched O'Reilly tonight and one guest said it's all the fault of deregulation and Uncle Sam needs to re-regulate.
#21
Some years back(while living in Tucson,Az.)the Tucson Electric Power co.began lobbing for a huge rate increase,the reason to improve infrastructure and power generation.Within a week of the rate increase being approved the Board of Directors voted themselve's huge pay raises and bonus'.
Anybody else see something wrong with this picture?
Heard on MSNBC last night,Hambali Head of Jamiah Islamia(Sth.E.Asiaâs AL Queda affliate)was captured.Hambali alledgedly planned/corrodinated Bali and Jakarta bombings.Let the ullating,sing and danceing commence.Break out the beer.
Posted by: raptor ||
08/15/2003 7:09:15 AM ||
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Should have been here yesterday, raptor, we had dancing girls and everything. American officials on Thursday said Hambali had been captured in South East Asia earlier this week, with the co-operation of an unnamed regional government.
Reportedly Thailand. Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said Jakarta would ask Washington for Hambali to be brought to stand trial in Bali despite the fact that Indonesia had no extradition treaty with the United States. Meanwhile, Hambali's current whereabouts remain unclear.
He's at one of the CIA's famous undisclosed locations being "questioned". The Thai defence minister said Hambali had been flown back to Indonesia on Wednesday but Indonesian police said they had no knowledge of this. Intelligence sources say his whereabouts were discovered from information gleaned from the interrogation of Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, a senior al-Qaeda member who was caught in March.
Or that's what we want them to believe.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/15/2003 8:54 Comments ||
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#3
Jakarta would ask Washington for Hambali to be brought to stand trial in Bali despite the fact that Indonesia had no extradition treaty with the United States. - or Death Penalty? How's that Abu Bashir trial going? 12 yrs was it?
the answer is.....no
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/15/2003 9:54 Comments ||
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The search came to an end at an apartment building on the outskirts of Ayutthaya, a city only an hour's drive north of Thailand's capital, Bangkok, and a major tourist attraction with its dozens of ancient Buddhist temples.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Hambali was arrested after a tip off from Ayutthaya residents.
"We arrested the suspect after people notified police about the appearance of the foreigner. And after we checked his passport we found that he's the one that's wanted by several countries," Thaksin said during a visit to Sri Lanka on Friday, according to Thailand's state radio network.
Plainclothes officers smashed down the door of Hambali's one-room apartment Monday night and took him away after a violent struggle, residents in the building told The Associated Press. Hambali had lived in the building, where all the other residents are Buddhists, for only two weeks, they said.
A woman who lives across the hall from his apartment said she was returning home from work when she saw police massed outside his door. She hurried to her apartment, locked herself in and listened.
"Suddenly there was a commotion and I heard the sound of hammering on the door followed by sounds of punches - thuk, thuk, thuk," she said, refusing to give her name.
Another woman in the building identified a picture of Hambali as the man who lived in the apartment. She also spoke on condition of anonymity.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/15/2003 11:32 Comments ||
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#5
You ever notice how the ones who send the shahids to their deaths always get captured alive?
#10
You ever notice how the ones who send the shahids to their deaths always get captured alive?
I think some of these guys are arrested alive because the people making the bust are good at what they do - meaning that the target is caught with his pants down. Better that he's caught alive for interrogation than killed in a shootout.
Saudi Arabian authorities have embarked on a vast anti-terrorism operation in which up to 12,000 citizens will be questioned at the behest of the United States, a Saudi opposition group has said. "You a terrorist?" "No!" "Ok, you can go."
"The Saudi Government is doing a full-scale sweeping activity," said Saad al-Fagih, of the London-based Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia. "This is causing occasional confrontations with members [of militant groups] who have decided not to surrender themselves." "You a terrorist?" "Yes, by Allah! And youâll never take me alive...BANG.. Ouch!"
Several sources in the kingdom had told him of a "substantial list", provided by the US, naming Saudi citizens who were to be questioned or arrested, he said. One put the number of names at 12,000. Others gave lower figures but all were well into the thousands. "There are strong signs that the number is 12,000," Mr Fagih said. Well, that covers all the Royal family, at least.
The information had been compiled by the US from various countries, including Pakistan, Bosnia, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, he said. Some names were included because they had been mentioned by suspects under interrogation, but others were on the list because of money transfers or travel bookings. Paper trail, follow the money.
Saudi Arabia is reluctant to admit to co-operating with the US for fear of inflaming domestic opinion, but it also needs to placate critics who say it has done too little to combat terrorism. The result of this, security analysts say, is that Riyadh and Washington collaborate in private far more extensively than either side will admit. There is also no doubt that Saudi Arabia is in the midst of an unprecedented security trawl. In recent weeks at least 15 anti-terrorism raids have been reported in the kingdom, including a gunbattle on Tuesday between Saudi police and Islamic militants. I woner if they were suprised at just how many Islamic gunnies there are in their little kingdom?
Posted by: Steve ||
08/15/2003 11:07:52 AM ||
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#1
Why should they be surprised? They're funding them.
Hell, I hope the next list we send them includes every royal, every cop, and every nutbag imam in Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/15/2003 11:14 Comments ||
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#2
They should just set up a booth at the next Hajj...or maybe a booth at the casino in Monaco during the next royal vacation...
#3
Are they serious? Well, there are probably at least 1000 members of the extended royal family and at least 5000 Imams who are active and dedicated supporters of terrorism. The number goes up by a almost an order of magnitude if you include financial and other supporters. Of course if you count people who support terrorism against Israel, its probably 95% of the Kingdom.
#4
Maybe they should just take turns interrogating each other: "You a terrorist?" "No way. How about you?" "Nah, me neither. Let's get outta here and find some wimmen to beat." "Yeah, maybe we can catch one driving."
Posted by: Matt ||
08/15/2003 11:44 Comments ||
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#7
"You a terrorist?" "No way, I only kill infidels."
Posted by: Matt ||
08/15/2003 14:13 Comments ||
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#8
12,000? Do they have enough mustaches and truncheons to go around? Hate to see some Saudi citizen denied his rights to a speedy and professional "interrogation". ;-o
#9
12,000 won't begin to cover the Royals, much less the nutbags, folks, there are over 7,000 Princes alone. The Royals prolly number at least 45,000 - 50,000.
I'm sure the US gave them a nice list - collating data is what the FBI seems to be pretty good at - so they can start there. And then the Saudis will have their own, unshared, list. Add 'em and get after it. But that's only a start if you want to cleanse Lalaland of the Loonies.
After that, I would hit the "clerics" - and corroborate what they say with interviews with those who frequent that mosque who are proteges of the Royals (there are thousands of families who have sworn allegiance to a family of the Royals - remember this place is well and truly tribal), i.e. they know where their bread gets buttered. Then the education system, top down, corroborating with students from those protege families. These 2 sweeps will yield a crop of the nutbag-trainers and "spiritual" leaders - whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean. That'll prolly behead the worst of the future problem - and stop or slow the indoctrination process on their children.
Keep in mind that the Royals are concerned with the security of the Royals. Full stop. Wnere this overlaps with what the US wants is merely convenient serendipity.
I've said it before, but the Izzoids have made a huge blunder: they have attacked on their home turf. Everywhere that gains are being made against them has come from making this mistake. When they were killing others - outside their backyard - it generated a wink and a nudge. Once it came home, it changed, big time.
One other thing to remember regards the Saudi (and maybe the Indo's and others) - there is no independent verification of anything they claim - so take it with a grain of salt cowlick -- and divide any numbers tossed about by 10. They have no relationship with the Truth. Any overlap there is, again, a matter of pure serendipity.
#10
Well that clears out every mosque, all of the airport baggage workers at Jeddah and all of the editorial staffs at AJ and throw in a few royals for good measure and I think that comes to around 12,000........are they going to throw them into a soccer stadium with lions or better yet wild pigs???
#11
Investigating Saudi is like doing a D check on an airliner. You open the thing up. Really zip it open and take a look. All you see is screwed up wiring and corrosion everywhere. It does no good to put it back together and fly it. It belongs on static display in a museum.
/analogy
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/15/2003 18:05 Comments ||
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The ailing former President of Uganda Idi Amin is seeking a kidney to keep him alive, according to his son, Hashim Amin. Two kidneys offered by anonymous donors were found to be incompatible with those of the former military strongman. Even body parts reject him.
Hashim Amin told the BBCâs Ali Mutasa in Kampala that two more donors had come forward and that his father was surviving through a haemo-dialysis machine which acts as an external kidney. Whereâs a power blackout when you really need one?
Last month, the 78-year-old Idi Amin was admitted to the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in the Saudi Arabian port of Jeddah, where he has remained ever since. Hashim Amin also said his father has been placed under heavy guard following earlier threats on his life. He did not, however, disclose the nature of the threats. Something about a ant hill and honey.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/15/2003 8:45:55 AM ||
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#1
Wouldn't it be funny if he'd eaten the only compatible kidney?
#3
Besides being human garbage, he's 78 and, from what I've read, is pushing 400 lbs. I wouldn't put him too high up on the priority list.
Too bad it ain't the old days Idi. You could just send your boys out in the street to start cutting out kidneys until they find a match.
Britain expels Saudi "intelligence officer"
"Rooters"
LONDON, Aug. 14 â Britain has expelled a Saudi diplomat in a move newspapers linked to allegations he bribed a London police officer for information on UK residents. What? Heâs just being a Saudi - spreading a little cash around is how they make the day worthwhile...
The expulsion comes during a week of difficult relations between Britain and Saudi Arabia. The UK government issued a warning of new terror threats in the kingdom, birthplace of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and British Airways cancelled flights there. BA cancelling flights - wasnât that interesting... (See Rantburg 8/14 for story)
"We have asked the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to withdraw a Saudi diplomat, and in response to the request a diplomat has been recalled to Saudi Arabia and is no longer accredited to the Saudi mission in London," a Foreign Office spokesman said on Friday. Short ân sweet.
He declined to comment further. London police also declined to give details of the case, which involves a current prosecution. But The Times newspaper named the diplomat as Ali al-Shamarani and described him as an "intelligence officer." Okay...
It said that over four years, Shamarani had allegedly paid several thousand pounds to a police officer for information about Middle Eastern citizens living in Britain. Just keeping tabs and being neighborly... Wonder what finally caused the Brits to act - no doubt theyâve known about this for awhile. Iâm sure there is more to come.
Posted by: .com ||
08/15/2003 6:47:36 AM ||
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From Instapundit, More From Al-Guardian:
Britain has expelled a Saudi diplomat, described as an intelligence officer, after allegations that he bribed a Metropolitan police officer.
Ali al-Shamarani is alleged to have paid PC Ghazi Ahmed Kassim, 52, to obtain confidential information from police computers about people with Middle Eastern connections living in the UK.
Mr Shamarani has returned to Saudi Arabia and a constable has been arrested and charged after an investigation by Scotland Yard anti-corruption officers. It is understood the diplomat was not arrested because he was likely to claim diplomatic immunity.
The claims of misconduct come at a time of difficult relations between the UK and Saudi Arabia, with BA flights cancelled because of an apparent terrorism threat and a continuing row about the ill-treatment of Britons who were held in Saudi jails on bomb charges.
Mr Shamarani is alleged to have had a four-year corrupt relationship with PC Kassim, who was based at Hammersmith and Fulham, west London. It is claimed that the diplomat "tasked" the officer to discover with finding information on named individuals living in the UK.
PC Kassim is alleged to have accessed computer systems - including the police national computer - then passed information to Mr Shamarani.
The case is one of a number in which officers and civilian workers in the force have been charged with leaking information as a result of investigations by specialist squads of detectives.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said yesterday: "We have spoken to the Saudi ambassador and asked for a diplomat to be withdrawn from the UK. In response to that request the diplomat was recalled and is no longer accredited to the Saudi mission in London."
A switchboard operator at the Saudi embassy said she thought Dr Mr Shamarani was on holiday, but added that a colleague of his would call back. After four hours, the call was still unreturned.
PC Kassim was arrested and suspended on July 16 and charged with misconduct in a public office contrary to common law. He appeared at Bow Street magistrates court the next day and was given bail. His next appearance was last Wednesday at an Old Bailey court sitting at Blackfriars crown court in south London.
The charge alleges that between 1 January 1999 and 8 February 2003 he gained unauthorised access to computer programs or data.
It states that he had "diverse meetings and conversations" with Mr Shamarani and received payment in exchange for the information supplied "and thereby did harm the public interest".
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/15/2003 9:50 Comments ||
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#2
Ah ha, looking for information on Saudi "disidents" , the real ones who had to leave Saudi or else, I'll wager. Terrorists he'd have on his speed dialer.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/15/2003 10:26 Comments ||
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#3
I'd find out who else tapped that part of the database...
#4
"specialist squads of detectives"
Geez, think these guys are using profiling techniques? Wouldn't Al Guardian love to run a scandal piece on that tidbit! It would be bigger than the espionage - to them.
Gay Paree -- Morgues and funeral homes in France are overrun with bodies as the country struggles to cope with an estimated 3,000 people who died of heat-related causes in the past two weeks. Government officials, including Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Health Minister Jean-Francois Mattei, held an emergency meeting Thursday to discuss ways of dealing with what Mattei has described as a "veritable epidemic" of deaths. A "Plan Blanc" or "White Plan" has been put into action, with doctors and nurses being recalled from leave, some morgue workers called out of retirement, and further 1,000 hospital beds being made available from Friday. The head of the doctorsâ emergency association, Patrick Pelloux told The Associated Press that some hospitals requisitioned kitchen refrigerators to hold the dead, while others put up tents to keep corpses before burial.
"Put him next to the potato salad, Jean-Pierre..."
A morgue in Longjumeau, a suburb south of Paris, rented an air-conditioned tent to house twice as many corpses. General Funeral Services, Franceâs largest undertaker, said it handled some 3,230 deaths from August 6 to 12, compared to 2,300 on an average week — a 37 percent jump.
"It's like the Albigensians were back or something!"
Family members of victims lashed out at the government.
"Grandmaw's dead and it's all your fault!"
Martine Flouâs 70-year-old motherâs body had to be brought to a morgue in Paris from their home 50 miles away because there was no space there. "Itâs scandalous. The government has done nothing," she told AP.
Martine? Or Mom?
Some officials said one problem is that the country all but shuts down in August, when many French go on vacation. Hospital services in cities are curtailed and many families leave their elderly relatives at home. A law limiting Franceâs work week to 35 hours left medical centers and retirement homes doubly short-staffed. Germany and Italy have not issued figures on heat-related deaths, saying such figures are difficult to come by because heat may be just one factor contributing to a personâs death.
They'll be released when everybody's back from vacation...
Doctors said typically about 30 people a day die in the Paris area. This year, that number has climbed to more than 180 a day. If the preliminary French figures hold up, the heat-related death toll would be among the highest in recent years, officials at the World Health Organization in Geneva said. About 2,600 heat-related deaths were recorded in India five years ago, and roughly 500 people died from heat-related causes in 1995 in Chicago, according to WHO experts.
Keeling over everywhere you look...
This yearâs heat wave is Franceâs worst ever on record, said Patrick Galois, a forecaster for national weather service Meteo France. Meteo France said the worst of the heat wave was probably over, with no part of the country reporting temperatures above 35 Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) on Thursday. Between August 3 and August 13, temperatures regularly exceeded 40 C (104 F), TF1 reported. Typically, the temperature in August in Paris is around 23 C (75 F). The French Health Minister is pretending to be above the fray - claiming that his Ministry has done everything right. Uh, yeah, right. Heâs toast. Since people are dying, thatâs as close to being a smartass as Iâll go on this one. Itâs sad and amazing to a guy who grew up popping asphalt bubbles, barefooted, in the Texas heat - which was a lot higher than these temperatures.
Posted by: .com ||
08/15/2003 6:25:57 AM ||
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They should try my neck of the woods,116(F)Monday.
#2
French have not the "heat culture" of Spain, Italy or Texas: they don't eat and drink the right things, their activity is at the wrong hours, their houses are unadequate and they are not good at heat management.
To compound that, the French apparatchik class has decided to keep the hour at Summer Time for the sake of hamonization with Germany. But when a German leaves his office at 6pm it is 5 pm at the Sun. Given that France is further west a French leaving his office at 6pm will walk into the heat of 4pm solar time. The transition between a cooled office and the heat of the street at 4pm (solar time) can be deadly.
#3
All of these deaths. Shouldn't the UN be doing something about this. It's obvious that a regeime change is needed.
Posted by: Jim K ||
08/15/2003 7:27 Comments ||
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#4
Quagmire?
Posted by: Canaveral Dan ||
08/15/2003 7:47 Comments ||
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#5
I've read elsewhere that the 3000 estimate takes a huge extrapolation from a small number in Paris, and is inflated to match the WTO number dead....don't know if that's true, but anybody clumsy enuf to think Woody Allen spearheading a "we love you American tourists - now bring your stinkin' dollars and take the abuse like you always have" campaign would be a healing tool is stoopid enuf to do this as well
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/15/2003 10:01 Comments ||
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#6
I don't think the French could handle a couple of days of heavy rain.
#7
Yeah .com, I live in Texas too, and 95 degrees is pretty normal and we don't have folks croaking left and right. You give the old folks fans, and the rest drink more water and take it easy in the sun. Weanies.
Posted by: Bill ||
08/15/2003 12:33 Comments ||
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#8
One of the websites that I visit regularly is the Center for the study of CO2 and Climate Change. The biggest plus for going to this website is that they have an archive of just about any article written on global warming and the effects of carbon dioxide on the world. A couple of recent articles don't bode well for western Europe. One predicts a new warm period, similar to the Midieval Warm Period, where average temperatures climbed by as much as ten degrees Fahrenheit all over the Earth. That climb is related to a periodic increase in solar output. If the data holds up, France may be in for about 200 years of such temperatures.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/15/2003 12:50 Comments ||
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From Best of the Web (opinionjournal.com):
Might it be noteworthy that the French are claiming almost the same number of deaths from the heat as America suffered on Sept. 11? A popular lunatic conspiracy theory on the "European street" has it that George W. Bush is to blame every time the weather is bad. Don't be surprised if the America-haters' next talking point is that by renouncing the Kyoto Protocols Bush killed as many people as Osama bin Laden did.
If anyone has the balls to say this in public (Michael Moore get ready) I am gonna go BALLISTIC.
#10
LOL, JFM managed to blame it on the Germans, that's rather cool. Forcing daylight saving onto the French made poor French employees step out of office too soon and get struck down by the murderous French summer like flies. Just a recommendation: Work an hour longer and live!
Just a note: Germany has been as hot as France for the last 4 weeks and I don't have air condition at home (not many people do).
But maybe it's just a cunning plan to prevent U.S. troops from getting to interested in France? You know, the brutal French summer...
#11
I used to get upset at all the European carping at the US, but just right now I had a revelation. You guys bitch at each other all the time! I almost feel like part of the family now.
#12
Geez, guys, can we find the thermostat and turn it up a couple dozen more degrees.
Last spring during the diplomatic olympics prior to our liberation of Iraq, I said that I hoped the Frogs burned in Hell for their machinations in the UN.....little did I know the Big Guy was listening.........or maybe he had the same thoughts..........
#13
TGA, I didn't blame the Germans. I blamed the French politicians who absolutely want us to use the same time than the German time like in 1940. In summer 1995 I was in a office who was oriented full south, whose windows could not be masked from the sun and where there was a big computer (not a PC) who generated lots of heat. Temperature was largely in excess of 40 C. You just sweat all the day, not a problem. But going from an air conditioned office to 38 C is an entirely different thing.
For the work another hour I inform you that shops will be closed. Of course if your mom shops and cooks for you this is not a problem
#14
Old Pats post about how Western Europe might be in for a few warm centuries due to increased solar activtiy is one thing that will never be mentioned by any self respecting tree hugging envirowacko. All of the focus on global warming usually tends to over look the fact that we orbit a star whose output is mildly variable. In the range of 2%. The higher outputs of the Middle Ages were followed by the Meander(?) Minimum that saw the Little Ice Age in Europe. Does that mean that the Human race cannot affect climate? Personally I think the answer is yes, we can, but not to the point that human activity is the sole cause of climate change.
PS, during the Medieval Warm Period it was possible to grow wine grapes in Britian
Posted by: Someone who did NOT vote for William Proxmire ||
08/15/2003 16:28 Comments ||
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OP / Not WP - Just to bring a little perspective to the global warming "issue"...
Do these authorities acknowledge that the Time of Man has occurred during a tiny higher temp blip during an ongoing ice age? We are still in an ice age, y'know.
Sorta makes a joke of much of the popular environmental science - and goes to show that we are living, from the cave man to now, on a pinhead on the timescale.
#16
JFM, Spain is even farther west and doesn't see a problem with Central European Summer Time. In Barcelona they even put away with the time honored institution of the siesta. Belgians and Dutch don't have an issue with it either. Being on the same time with your neighbors isn't such a bad thing. If only to enjoy longer evenings. The economic effect of daylight saving is overrated and probably minimal.
JFM, I remember a summer in Washington D.C. where people went from air conditioned offices and shops into a muggy (not dry European) heat of 45°C and survived it. Sure, we are less used to it. One hour difference may make a difference of 2 degrees maybe, office workers should be able to handle that. A hat helps, too. Shops close at 8pm here, not sure about the French ones.
As for Global Warming: The effects should not be belittled but its true that "natural" climate changes are underestimated. Of course now that the world is densely populated and industrialized the effects on mankind are bigger than in the Middle Ages.
#17
"For the work another hour I inform you that shops will be closed. Of course if your mom shops and cooks for you this is not a problem"
Yeah, and if France wasn't strapped with its socialist laws (limiting the work week to 35 hours among many other examples) perhaps there would be adequate PROFIT INCENTIVE for those shops to remain open!
#18
Martine Flouâs 70-year-old motherâs body had to be brought to a morgue in Paris from their home 50 miles away because there was no space there.
Cause summer's coming on and we're running out of ice.
U.S. officials said on Thursday they fear Franceâs efforts to get a better deal from Libya for victims of the 1989 bombing of a French airliner will delay a $2.7 billion settlement of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. France: "What? You pig-dogs are making us look bad AGAIN! We only got $30,000 per victim when Libya bombed our French airliner and killed our citizens! We demand a re-settlement of that deal we made 10 years ago!
Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke to French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin on Thursday to raise U.S. concerns that France not derail the tortuously negotiated Lockerbie deal, said one U.S. official. Paraphrasing Colin: "Butt Out!"
Lawyers for families of the 270 people who died in the mid-air bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, signed an agreement with Libya on Wednesday to set up a escrow account to hold the $2.7 billion, or up to $10 million per victim, in compensation Tripoli has agreed to pay. The escrow agreement is the first step in a carefully choreographed arrangement under which Libya is expected to formally take responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing, possibly this week, and, as a result, for U.N. sanctions against Tripoli to be lifted, possibly as early as next week.
That will enable Muammar to try and make Libya into something resembling a normal state, possibly as early as the week after that. "Normal" being loosely defined, of course...
France, however, has said that before U.N. sanctions are lifted it wants a better deal for the 170 people who died in the 1989 bombing of a French UTA airliner. Libya, which never admitted responsibility for that incident, paid about 30.5 million euros ($34.3 million) to settle the claim. âCourse 6 Libyan citizens are spending the rest of their lives in the French bighouse convicted of the bombing in French courts... but Libya per se never admitted responsibility (but they DID pay money anyway.)
"The French may beARE attempting to delay the (Lockerbie) settlement and the reason for this relates to their dissatisfaction with their own settlement with the UTA flight," said one U.S. official. "Itâs a curious spectacle to see. Essentially they are protesting as unfair their (own) deal."
"Our lawyers were incompetent! We demand a recount!"
"I donât think anybody has any sympathy at the U.N. for the French attitude," the official said. "This is outrageous."
"Hey, Ngokwu! Check out what the Frenchies are trying to pull this time!"
It appears the French government is under some domestic pressure to secure higher compensation for the UTA victims. "If there is a vote in the Security Council to lift the sanctions, we ask that France use its veto as long as we have not obtained full satisfaction," Francoise Rudetzki, president of the SOS-Attentats association, which represents families of the UTA bombing victims, told Reuters in Paris. Rudetzki said that of around 1,000 parties eligible for compensation for the UTA bombing, 313 people received payments of between 3,000 euros ($3,378) and 30,000 euros ($33,780). In contrast, under the deal between the families of the Lockerbie victims and Libyan officials, Libya could pay up to $10 million in compensation for each of the 270 victims that may be covered by the settlement.
Typical French Hissy-Fit... make a deal, see somebody else do better BECAUSE THEY STOOD FIRM AGAINST EVIL (rather than negotiate and appease the bastads) and then complain in a pique of jealousy that the US victims got a better deal.
Posted by: Leigh ||
08/15/2003 12:46:37 AM ||
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#1
The French govt wouldn't know what standing up for a principle is. They just do not get it. They may not be a shootin' enemy, but they are still an enemahemmorhoidpain in the ass enemy.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/15/2003 2:08 Comments ||
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#2
How very Phrench.
LH - Do you think Phrawnce will ever give up its UNSC seat voluntarily? Do you know if there are UN Charter provisions for removing / replacing a Perm member of UNSC? This is one of the anchor points in why I consider the UN effectively useless. Here's where you can reform me, if you happen to know and there's a practical way to do it sans their agreement - that will never happen. Phrawnce's presence on the UNSC is a travesty - and always has been. And I'm just wondering - not picking on you! Thx, in advance!
Think De Villepin will meet Powell (or even Kadaffy) in Thunderdome? This might settle the question of whether Dominique is a man, or not. Methinks not, but then I am but a mere simplisme` American.
#4
Note to Mme Villepin:you can't begin to charge 1000$ a night if the whole town knows you put out for free.So STFU and take it.
Posted by: El Id ||
08/15/2003 3:30 Comments ||
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#5
How very Unilateral of them!
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/15/2003 9:52 Comments ||
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#6
Sorry, madames et monsieurs, a deal's a deal. Revisit this in about 20 years when you become the Islamic Republic of Frogistan, if it takes that long. Libya might be more receptive to a brother member of the Ummah.
#7
Lawyer for SOS-Attentats, M. Szpiner, blames the French aeronautique industrie for having a hand in the low payment made to the UTA victimes. Seems that French govt. wanted to be sure no Libyan feelings were hurt so French sales would not be hurt. How sauvage and sans compassion! Thought only neo-cons put money before humans.
Mme. Rudetzki takes the cake with this killer quote,"If the US had been in charge of the matter, there would not have been a double standard." (Today's Le Monde) Oooooh! Take that Dom and Jacques! Guess someone in France cares more about results than perception. BTW, there are currently negotiations between SOS and another group representing families and Libya. All started once the news of the Lockerbie deal started making the rounds a couple of months ago. LOL folks!
Colin, take it to the UN and let them veto the agreement. What unilateralisme!
Posted by: Michael ||
08/15/2003 11:37 Comments ||
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#8
Does anyone know what the Arabic transliteration of "France" is? How is that spelled out phonetically in English? I'm just being proactive here. I don't want to get caught flat-footed like when the Chicoms changed Peking to Beijing.
#9
time to give the eu one seat on the security council and give france's seat to japan.
Posted by: Dan ||
08/15/2003 13:13 Comments ||
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#10
dot com -
Im really not familiar with the procedures for amending the UN charter. I know that for some years there has been talk of adding perm members to the UNSC - Germany, Japan, India have all been mentioned - IIRC this was one of Gorby's perpetual hot topics in his last years in office. I assume this would require the consent of all current perm UNSC members - if not formally, then as a matter of political reality.
I know of no real discussion of eliminating any UNSC perm members - though there have been suggestions that with a need to add new members, and with the EU moving toward integration, UK and France should both give up their seats and EU should have just one seat. US is not particularly keen on this idea, as losing the UK into an amorphous EU would be a loss far exceeding any gain from eliminating the French seat. UK has been a much more consistent ally than France has been an adversary.
France was put on the UNSC at a time when it was close to the US (though closer still to UK) and its perm. vote on the UNSC 1945 to 1962 was basically an asset to the West - if anyone had cause to object it was the USSR. It was a recognition of France's historic role as great power, its nominal role as one of the big 5 in WW2 (which was particularly helpful diplomatically to UK, and offset pro-US China) and of the continued existence of the French empire. During the 1950's and 1960's Frances seat may have been an anachronism, but no more so than Britain's, and certainly less so that Taiwan's (although no one pushed to remove Taiwan, as such, rather to have PRC take Taiwan's seat)
In the 1970's it was noted that the UNSC perm 5 corresponded to the nuclear powers, which made a certain amount of sense, but also seemed to indicate a very BAD incentive to would be proliferators.
At this point the most logical UNSC perm would be big 6 would probably be US, China, EU, USSR, Japan, India. But letting India in as only 3rd world power would piss off Brazil and others. Also would piss off the muslims. And replacing UK and France with EU would not be particularly advocated by the US, as discussed above. And simply adding powers with vetoes makes it even harder for the UNSC to pass anything, assuming you think its a good thing for them to occasionally pass something.
#11
dot com -
Im really not familiar with the procedures for amending the UN charter. I know that for some years there has been talk of adding perm members to the UNSC - Germany, Japan, India have all been mentioned - IIRC this was one of Gorby's perpetual hot topics in his last years in office. I assume this would require the consent of all current perm UNSC members - if not formally, then as a matter of political reality.
I know of no real discussion of eliminating any UNSC perm members - though there have been suggestions that with a need to add new members, and with the EU moving toward integration, UK and France should both give up their seats and EU should have just one seat. US is not particularly keen on this idea, as losing the UK into an amorphous EU would be a loss far exceeding any gain from eliminating the French seat. UK has been a much more consistent ally than France has been an adversary.
France was put on the UNSC at a time when it was close to the US (though closer still to UK) and its perm. vote on the UNSC 1945 to 1962 was basically an asset to the West - if anyone had cause to object it was the USSR. It was a recognition of France's historic role as great power, its nominal role as one of the big 5 in WW2 (which was particularly helpful diplomatically to UK, and offset pro-US China) and of the continued existence of the French empire. During the 1950's and 1960's Frances seat may have been an anachronism, but no more so than Britain's, and certainly less so that Taiwan's (although no one pushed to remove Taiwan, as such, rather to have PRC take Taiwan's seat)
In the 1970's it was noted that the UNSC perm 5 corresponded to the nuclear powers, which made a certain amount of sense, but also seemed to indicate a very BAD incentive to would be proliferators.
At this point the most logical UNSC perm would probably be big 6 IE: US, China, EU, Russia, Japan, India. But letting India in as only 3rd world power would piss off Brazil and others. Also would piss off the muslims. And replacing UK and France with EU would not be particularly advocated by the US, as discussed above. And simply adding powers with vetoes makes it even harder for the UNSC to pass anything, assuming you think its a good thing for them to occasionally pass something.
#12
Reorganizing the UNSC is, to my mind, like re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
The UN as a whole seems to me to be a forum for dictators and oligarchies to tie down/repress action on the part of representative liberal democracies who might be inclined to do something about cleaning up the dictators messes.
I think we need to withdraw from the UN and create a new organization that ONLY allows representation by democratic nation states. I don't care what distators/oligarchs have to say, and I don't want their twisted morality affecting US foreign policy.
#13
Leigh - you and I are singing in the same key, bro.
LH - Thx - good points throughout - with a minor diff, below. It's Phrawnce's VETO power that is my point of contention regards the UNSC. Adding others won't affect that, damnit. Sigh. I still have to conclude that it just doesn't work because of the fact that, in the current political atmosphere, at least, nationalism rules - destroying the actual intent of the UN's creation. Even if a majority are willing to rise above that and try to accomplish something on a global scale, it only takes one recalitrant member to quash it.
Re: Phrawnce getting a seat, I think, when everything is distilled down to the essence, they got it mainly cuz the WW-II allies wanted to shut DeGaulle up. I've read some interesting stuff regards the private correspondence among Churchill, Roosevelt, Eisenhour, and others. He was just about the worst "house guest" imaginable and had to be shut out of almost all major decisions - and kept far away from sensitive information, as the French-in-Exile were thoroughly compromised and not much different than telling the Vichy Govt of your strategic plans. From well prior to WW-I to now, the Phrench have been the most unreliable and obnoxious "allies" imaginable - and truly the worst possible entity to be a "global power" among the democratic nations. Iraq was just the most obvious recent example of their "oppose the US, no matter what" idea of Foreign Policy. Just my take.
I am waiting for Sabine Herold, or similar, to bring some sanity to Phrawnce.
A Canadian man who was deported to Syria last year by the United States, raising diplomatic tensions between Ottawa and Washington, will face a civilian trial in the Middle Eastern country. Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham said on Thursday the decision to try Maher Arar, who faces charges of terrorist links, came after Canada urged Syria to "either take steps to give him a chance to defend himself or you have to release him." Sometimes you get what you ask for.
Arar was deported last October after being arrested in New York as he changed planes on his way back to Canada from Tunisia. The case prompted Ottawa to lodge a protest with Washington.
Graham said Canadian diplomats had been granted access to Arar in jail and said he was being well treated. "Our consular officials assure us that he is in good physical condition. He personally totally rejects all allegations of torture," Graham told reporters. As opposed to the Canadians that were held in Saudi?
Graham said no date has been given for when the trial would begin, saying it could take months. "How many, I just canât say."
Arar, who also holds a Syrian passport, is accused by Damascus of belonging to a "terrorist organization", which Canadian authorities said they believed to be the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood. Every country that has a Muslim Brotherhood considers it to be a terrorist organization. Wonder why that is?
The Ottawa telecommunications engineerâs deportation to Syria by U.S. agents stoked a firestorm of controversy in Canada. Arar had not visited his home country since immigrating to Canada as a 17-year-old in 1988.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/15/2003 4:18:52 PM ||
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Pakistani authorities were hunting a suspected al Qaeda operative on Friday who escaped a raid on a house in which a man was killed and a woman arrested, a senior security official said. The official said the man who escaped was believed to be an Egyptian national called Suleman. He added that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation had offered $100,000 for information leading to his capture. He escaped some time on Thursday during a firefight in an upmarket area of Peshawar between police and occupants of a house in the provincial capital of Pakistanâs North West Frontier Province that borders Afghanistan. "upmarket area of Peshawar", no living in the slums for holy warriors, theyâre too important.
Security officials said they had discovered that the man killed in the gunbattle was a Libyan national, Abdul Rehman, and the wounded woman was his 13-year-old Pakistani wife. Thirteen? All the young oneâs must have been taken.
They had originally said on Thursday that both the arrested woman and the man were of Afghan origin. One of the officers who took part in the raid told Reuters Suleman had refused to surrender, saying he would do anything to avoid going to Guantanamo Bay, the prison camp in Cuba where the U.S. is holding al Qaeda suspects. All tremble in fear of the camp whoâs name we dare not speak!
Security officials said they were now hunting Suleman in the remote tribal belt of the country bordering Afghanistan after he escaped there overnight. How do you say "Fat chance" in Pakistani?
A bit more, from Dawn...
Security forces have launched a massive manhunt for at least three al-Qaeda suspects who escaped after a clash overnight that left one of their companions dead, officials said today. "Paramilitary soldiers, police commandoes and plain-clothed intelligence officials are combing the area," a security official told AFP. "Our focus is Bara and Jamrud towns" located in the tribal belt running along the eastern Afghan district of Jalalabad, he said. Officials said security had been beefed up at all roads leading to the semi-autonomous region following a six-hour encounter in Peshawar city's suburban neighbourhood of Hayatabad. One al-Qaeda suspect, identified as Libyan national Abdul Rehman, was killed in the clash that erupted after security forces surrounded a house in Hayatabad and advised the fugitives to surrender. Those holed up inside responded with a volley of bullets and grenades, triggering the gunbattle. Security officials said the Libyan, killed when a grenade exploded in his hand, appeared to be a "well-trained militant."
Just not as well-trained as he should have been...
Posted by: Steve ||
08/15/2003 11:32:30 AM ||
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Peshawar.....oops
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/15/2003 12:30 Comments ||
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LOL--How long have you been waiting for that setup, Frank?!
Posted by: Dar ||
08/15/2003 13:27 Comments ||
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Posted for Chuck by proxy--Edited for brevity.
A NTIWAR or administration critics continue to lament (or rejoice) that only a "handful" of foreign troops are in or on their way to Iraq, thanks to the Bush administrationâs supposed "unilateralism." Yet there are already rather more foreign troops already in Iraq than most people realize. This is partly because the Pentagon is inexplicably vague on the subject, but also because the U.S. and foreign media in Iraq do a poor job of reporting on the security situation outside Baghdad. For instance, virtually no one in America knows that Italy has nearly 3,000 troops in Iraq including soldiers, marines and some 500 Carabinieri paramilitary police. Indeed, on July 15 the Italian armyâs mechanized Garibaldi Brigade assumed control of the entire Dhi Qar province (one of Iraqâs 18). Nor was it widely reported that Royal Dutch Marines this month replaced U.S. Marines at As Samawa. The Netherlanders, whose numbers will soon reach 1,100, will now administer the entire Al Mathanna province.
These forces may have gone largely unnoticed because they come under command of the British 3rd Division HQ at Basra in the south of Iraq. They are part of a 15,500-strong multinational division (the Multinational Division South East or MND-SE) that also includes an overstrength Danish infantry battalion (450 men) and a Romanian mechanized infantry battalion (attached to the Italian brigade at Dhi Qar) and military police company (520), plus forces of at least company strength from the Czech Republic (300), Norway (140) and Portugal (130). Another multinational division, led by Poland (whose Special Forces played an important role in the capture of Um Kasr in March), is taking control of the whole South Central sector of Iraq, relieving the U.S. 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. The 31,000-square- mile sector includes the cities of Karbala and Nasiriyah. Commanded by Gen. Andrzej Tyszkiewicz, who arrived with a 250-man advance guard in July, this division will be made up of three brigades, including detachments from Ukraine (1,640), Spain (1,300), Bulgaria (500), Romania, Latvia, Slovakia, and Lithuania (around 100 each). Polandâs force will total 2,300. The Spanish will command one of the three Brigades, a predominantly Latin force supported by units from Honduras, the Dominion Republic and El Salvador.
How have all these allied commitments slipped beneath the media radar? Itâs hard not to suspect the widespread desire in many newsrooms to believe that an isolated Bush administration is losing a guerilla war in Iraq.
Posted by: Dar ||
08/15/2003 11:30:12 AM ||
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Thanks, Dar!
A good source for information on our allies is Centcom: here
I especially like the fact the the Macedonian Air Force is operating in Afghanistan.
The U.S. Army began training an Iraqi militia force on Friday to take on civil defense duties and pave the way for U.S. forces to leave Iraq. Fifty young men hand-picked by tribal leaders started three weeks of intensive training at one of Saddam Husseinâs main palaces in the northern town of Tikrit, which is now headquarters for the 4th Infantry Division. Good place to start, theyâll get plenty of practice.
Lt. Col. Steve Russell said similar training programs were expected to begin in other cities across Iraq shortly. "Our goal is that you will take our place and take over the security of your own people," Russell told recruits and tribal leaders. "We are training you to be the leaders of a larger force that we will be creating in the coming months," he said. "If you apply yourself and work really hard, you too will have a chance to overthrow the government."
The militia will start off working with U.S. soldiers in joint patrols, but eventually will be responsible for defending key infrastructure and government buildings, Russell said. The founding members of the new militia will be paid US$125 a month - more than twice the salary of former Iraqi soldiers - and are expected to commit to joining the civil defense force for a minimum of a year, Russell said. Good job for those who qualify, ie, no blood on your hands.
In Baghdad, the U.S. military apologized to the people of a Shiite Muslims neighborhood for an incident in which a man was killed after a Black Hawk helicopter blew down an Islamic banner. American forces fired into a crowd of 3,000 demonstrators in Sadr City, a Shiite Muslim slum, after a man shot a rocket-propelled grenade at the soldiers on Wednesday. The shooter was killed and four bystanders were wounded. Not bad, shame about the bystanders.
"Our intent is not to alienate the Shiite people," said Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of coalition forces in Iraq.
"Apparently, the helicopter blew down the flag or somehow the flag was taken down, and we are taking steps to ensure that doesnât happen again," he said, answering a barrage of reportersâ questions about why the Black Hawk was hovering above the communications tower. "There is no policy on our part to fly helicopters to communication towers to take down flags," Sanchez said, insisting the banner was mistakenly blown down by the force of the helicopter blades. Some Sadr City residents seemed calmed by the U.S. apology. "I think that this minor incident and misunderstanding is over now. Most of the people are accepting the apology. We will not forget that it was the U.S. soldiers who liberated us from Saddam (Hussein)," said Abid Ali, an auto repair shop owner. Itâs just the Shiite clerics who are trying to make a big thing about it, theyâll find something else to complain about.
In the southern city of Basra, a roadside bomb killed one British soldier and wounded three others, British military spokesman Capt. Hisham Halawi said. It was the first British combat death in nearly two months. The British casualties Thursday were all army medics traveling in an ambulance on the outskirts of Basra, where residents rioted last weekend to protest fuel shortages and power cuts.
At his weekly news conference, Sanchez also sought to emphasize that American forces were changing tactics while not altering U.S. goals of wiping out guerrilla resistance to the U.S.-led occupation. "The conduct of our operations is to take into consideration the Iraqi culture and sensitivities, and we want to be precise in our application of combat power. We are going to continue to be aggressive, we have to be aggressive. Weâre fighting a low intensity conflict here," Sanchez said. I like him, heâs not afraid to admit weâre in a fight.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/15/2003 9:21:50 AM ||
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Lt.Gen. Sanchez seems to understand what our presence in Iraq is all about, and is working toward realistic goals. Maybe he needs to be bumped up a notch when this tour ends, and take over somewhere where his kind fo thinking can improve both the quality of our forces, and their morale. I think he's the kind of guy that would stand up to the idiots in the media and set the record straight on a lot of things the media deliberately get wrong.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/15/2003 13:48 Comments ||
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Take with a grain of salt.. "The US is at our mercy. One leg caught in Afghanistan and the other in Iraq. Allaho-Akbar!"
So said Prof.Hafiz Mohammad Sayeed, the head of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET), while addressing a religious congregation earlier this month at Muridke, near Lahore, where it has its headquarters which contain, among other things, a mosque and a guest house constructed in the past with funds given by Osama bin Laden. In the years when bin Laden was not yet a persona non grata with the US, he used to stay in this guest house and pray in this mosque during his visits to Pakistan. After 1994, he stopped coming there. The guest house was thereafter being used to put up jihadi fugitives and trainees from Saudi Arabia and other countries. Many of the terrorists involved in the 9/11 strikes in the US had stayed there on their way to and back from the Al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan. This guest house is one of the places in Pakistan reportedly being readied now for putting up another special guest â you guess who. Saddam Hussein. Yes, the former President of Iraq. The LET, which is a member of bin Ladenâs International Islamic Front (IIF) and which is now acting as the standard bearer of Al Qaeda and the IIF, claims that its martyrsâ squad in Iraq is protecting Saddam and trying to spirit him out of Iraq to Pakistan so that he could be saved from the hands of the American special forces, which are hunting for him. How will they spirit him out of Iraq since it will be almost impossible to do so by sea or air? By overland clandestine routes through Iran, they say. I think the problem with this is that the writer is assuming the Jihadis are telling the truth, but Hafiz Saeed in particular is always coming out with insane rantings, like controlling nuclear weapons, planning on conquering India, and other fantasies
It is the same route which is being used by the LET and other members of the IIF to smuggle trained and well-motivated jihadis into Iraq to harass the American troops. One is not certain whether the Iranian authorities are aware of this. It is estimated by knowledgeable sources that at least 80 plus jihad-hardened terrorists from Pakistan, belonging to Al Qaeda and the Pakistani components of the IIF, have already managed to clandestinely move across Iran in ones and twos and join the anti-US jihad in Iraq. This does sound credible though
Calls have been made in the Binori madrasa of Karachi and the Akora Khattak madrasa of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) for more Arabic-knowing volunteers to join the jihad in Iraq. The 80 plus contingent, which has already gone, reportedly includes Arabs, Pakistanis and at least four from South-East Asia. This number does not include those from the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM) and other organisations who had travelled by air to Saudi Arabia under the guise of pilgrims during the Haj season and from there moved over to Iraq. No estimate of their number is available.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
08/15/2003 1:47:19 AM ||
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The LET, which is now practically co-ordinating the jihad world-wide of the IIF due to the incapacity of bin Laden
So what else is Bush holding up his sleeve?
Posted by: Brian ||
08/15/2003 2:12 Comments ||
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I do not know when, but somehow we will have to make the NWFT an inhospitable land for Jihadis. This is a hornet's nest that needs a large dose of RAID. Iran is asking for it, too. I hope that we are not spread too thin for the inevitable ass-kicking that these hellholes will need.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/15/2003 2:13 Comments ||
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Not a bad idea about NWFP, but the LET's headquaters are in the Punjab province, and the southern port city of Karachi is home to a endless numbers of terror groups that seem to do nothing but merge and split and merge and split.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
08/15/2003 2:21 Comments ||
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"merge and split and merge and split"
Exactly the way bacteria reproduce, the whole place needs a major dose of antibiotics.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/15/2003 8:37 Comments ||
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"It is the same route which is being used ..... to smuggle trained and well-motivated jihadis into Iraq to harass the American troops. ..... It is estimated by knowledgeable sources that at least 80 plus jihad-hardened terrorists .... have already managed to clandestinely move across Iran in ones and twos and join the anti-US jihad in Iraq."
Flypaper strategy is working just fine! Keep sending them hard-core jihadis to Iraq. Our troops can keep stacking them like cordwood. God bless our men and women in the service, I cannot express sufficient gratitude for their sacrifices. Let's give a silent prayer to those killed in this war for civilization. May their families be cared for and comforted.
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"Keep sending them hard-core jihadis to Iraq"
Ya know, this may be why CENTCOM isn't reporting figures on the nationalities or how many jihadis are being zapped or captured. We don't want them to know just how effective we are, all they know is that their fighters go to Iraq and vanish.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/15/2003 9:29 Comments ||
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Welcome to the Hotel Sunni Triangle, you can check out any time you want but you may never leave...
#11
11A5S---I was figuratively speaking when I mentioned RAID. It could be anything---radiation, lead poisoning, SOF, hell, even spanish fly to the females---we ought to be able to come up with something to neuter er, neutralize them.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/15/2003 22:59 Comments ||
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They were expecting maybe something on the teevee?
Al-Qaeda's alleged Asian mastermind is being interrogated at a secret location by U.S. investigators, Thai officials said Friday. Hambali, an Indonesian whose real name is Riduan Isamuddin, had been in Thailand more than a month when he was arrested following a tip off, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said. ``We had been following Hambali for several days and it happened that we just arrested him,'' Thaksin told reporters. ``Right now we are in the process of interrogating him with the allied countries. I cannot say where,'' Thaksin said.
"I can say no more..."
He refused to elaborate or say whether the 39-year-old Hambali was still in Thailand. Military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Hambali, was handed over to U.S. authorities and flown out of the country on Wednesday.
"Hey, Hambali! You ever been to Bagram? Nice place, Bagram..."
Several Southeast Asian governments said they also wanted to question the man suspected of being the operational head of Jemaah Islamiyah, a terrorist network affiliated with al-Qaeda and blamed for a string of bombings in the region.
"Can we have him when you're done with him?"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/15/2003 15:53 ||
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Tell him if he don't talk we'll take him to Gitmo and feed him to the sharks. For some strange reason that seems to work.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/15/2003 16:35 Comments ||
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For some strange reason I think he's going to Gitmo regardless...
Posted by: Fred ||
08/15/2003 16:50 Comments ||
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re: Gitmo sharks....they don't like to eat you all at once, pal, they take a couple bites, get full, then come back for more in a half hour or so....heh heh...takes a couple hours
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/15/2003 18:25 Comments ||
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More details coming out on the arrest.
Hambali, Southeast Asiaâs most wanted man, kept a low profile in the quiet Thai tourist town where he was captured, neighbours said on Friday. "I think I saw him twice. He acted like an ordinary person," one neighbour said of the mystery man who lived in flat 601. She did not describe the circumstances under which she saw Hambali. The bespectacled Muslim cleric, blamed for last Octoberâs Bali nightclub bombings and on the run since 2000, was captured on Tuesday in the modest flat in Thailandâs ancient capital Ayutthaya, handed over to the Americans and flown out of the country to a secret location. The famous undisclosed secret location.
The Bunyarak apartments lie on a quiet street at the centre of the town. A food shop and a laundromat occupy the ground floor. The nearest police station is just two km (one mile) away. The shattered apartment front door of 601 was marked by the bootmarks of security agents who carried out the raid. Security Agent Jackboots, available at fine stores everywhere.
One woman, who was afraid to give her name, said the building had been mostly empty on Tuesday due to a national holiday. "I never saw him, but when I came back I heard the police had come to arrest foreigners here," she told Reuters Television. Hambali, now clean-shaven and his face altered by plastic surgery, was arrested with a woman on Tuesday in a joint operation with the CIA. U.S. officials say he is being questioned at an undisclosed location outside Thailand. "Where, we just canât say."
Ayutthaya, 80 km (50 miles) north of Bangkok and with a population of about 80,000, is a popular daytrip for tourists seeking out temple ruins dating back hundreds of years. It is also home to a small Muslim community, among whom Hambali was apparently seeking to hide. He had crossed into Thailand last Monday from Laos, using a fake Spanish passport, officials said. Been to Passportâs RâUs, I see.
As the suspected operational brains of the shadowy militant Southeast Asian Jemaah Islamiah network, Hambali was the regionâs most wanted man, accused of masterminding last yearâs bloody Bali bombings among many other deadly attacks. Aged about 40, he was the main link between Jemaah Islamiah and Osama bin Ladenâs al Qaeda network, intelligence sources say. He might know where Binnyâs rotting corpse is hidden.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra credited the arrest to leads from locals and intelligence agency cooperation. "We received tipoffs from local people that there were strange-looking people staying around there so we checked their background and passports and realised that they were the people were looking for," Thaksin said during a visit to Sri Lanka. After going underground three years ago, rumours of his suspected whereabouts had ballooned into scores of possible sightings, from Indonesia to Malaysia to Thailand to Cambodia. A Cambodian intelligence source told Reuters that Hambali had been sitting under their noses from September 2002 to March 2003, often in a tourist hotel popular with pot-smoking hippies. I think Iâd have to be pretty stoned to consider taking a trip to Cambodia.
He left shortly before Cambodia rounded up four Jemaah suspects. In Thailand, black-and-white "identikit" pictures were distributed at all border checkpoints earlier this year, but he managed to slip away. Thai police special branch sources suggested he may have tried to disguise himself as a woman. Iâd hire some more female customs officers to check anyone in a burka, just to be sure.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/15/2003 10:53:01 AM ||
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A few more details: Asia's most wanted man, now clean-shaven and his face altered by plastic surgery, was arrested with a woman by Thai and U.S. officials in Ayutthaya, the ancient Thai capital 50 miles north of Bangkok, a senior Thai general said. "A special flight from the United States picked him up at Bangkok airport Wednesday morning," said the general, who declined to be identified.
Hambali, born Riduan Isamuddin, and his wife were flown home to Indonesia, a Thai government minister said. Indonesia's police chief said he was unaware of the transfer and a U.S. official in Bangkok said Washington was unlikely to reveal his location soon. The Muslim cleric, son of peasant farmers on the main Indonesian island of Java, crossed into Thailand last week from Laos using a fake Spanish passport, a police general said. "He was not wearing a beard and he had had plastic surgery," he said. "He used a Spanish passport with a long, confusing Spanish name."
Posted by: Steve ||
08/15/2003 14:15 Comments ||
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More from Bangkok Post: Local intelligence sources said information they had obtained indicated Hambali was in Thailand to plan a terrorist attack during the Apec summit during Oct 20-22, to be attended by world leaders including US President George W. Bush.
``From what we got, we are quite confident he was here to plan terrorist attacks during the Apec summit. He was not here just to seek safe haven as he claimed during interrogation but he was here to map out a plan, prepare weapons and set up an operative cell for the planned attack,'' said an informed intelligence source who played a role in Monday's arrest. Another defence source said Hambali had sought refuge in Thailand during the past two months and his arrest was directly linked to the arrest of another senior Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) figure, Yazid Zubair, who was arrested in southern Thailand in July. ``His (Yazid Zubair's) capture eventually led us to Hambali's trail,'' said the sources. Zubair, also known for his strong ties to al Qaeda, was believed to be a critical link in JI's financial dealings, with particular responsibility for operations in Cambodia and Thailand.
Hambali, dubbed by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as the ``Osama bin Laden of Southeast Asia'', was accompanied by his wife Norran Viza, 35, a Malaysian, and another two assistants when he was arrested on Monday night on a tip from US secret agents. During questioning, Hambali, who travelled on a fake Spanish passport, was quoted as admitting being actively involved in the Bali resort bomb attack on Oct 12, 2002, which killed 202 people, mainly Australians. Hambali denied he was in Bangkok to sabotage the Apec meeting.
``He just says that he wanted to seek safe haven in Thailand with his wife because Thailand is receptive and safe,'' said the source. This was not the first time that a suspected JI member was arrested in Thailand. Several have been arrested here in the past several years. JI had around 20 members operating in Thailand, the source said.
An intelligence source said Hambali entered Thailand in 2000 and made a second visit in March 2002, where he was spotted in the South. The source said Supreme Commander Gen Surayud Chulanont, who is director of anti-terrorist centre, had told his forces to search for Hambali in March this year when he received intelligence reports from allies which suggested Hambali had again entered Thailand.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/15/2003 15:37 Comments ||
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Indonesian police announced on Friday they had arrested a suspect in the attack on the JW Marriot Hotel in Jakarta, which killed 12 people and injured nearly 150. "Police arrested a suspect in the bombing several days ago outside Jakarta," said Lt. Gen. Erwin Mappaseng, chief of detectives. He did not identify the man. The arrest was the first in connection with the Aug. 5 blast, although Gen. Daâi Bachtiar, the national police chief, said on Thursday that several individuals had been picked up for questioning. "We have detained several people and we are questioning them but there is insufficient evidence yet to prove their links with the Marriott bombing," Bachtiar said. He refused to give the number of people detained and where they were being questioned. "I can say no more"
The Jakarta Post newspaper, however, quoted unnamed sources at Jakarta police headquarters as saying nine people had been detained. They included a Malaysian national named Muklis, the newspaper said, adding that most of the men were captured in Bengkulu on Sumatra island, the home of one of the suspected bombers, whose severed head was found in the debris after the blast. Some of his schoolmates, no doubt.
On Wednesday, Bachtiar showed photos of the six men sought in both bombings, including Jemaah Islamiyahâs alleged operations chief, Riduan Isamuddin, alias Hambali. U.S. President George W. Bush said Thursday Hambali was detained this week during a joint operation run by the Central Intelligence Agency and a foreign government in Southeast Asia. American officials declined to identify that government, but officials in Thailand said it had happened there. Once Thailand admitted they had a infestation of jihadies, they did something about it. They better keep alert for the Dire Revenge(tm) boys.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/15/2003 9:09:21 AM ||
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Interesting article on vulnerabilities of SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) Systems that could be used to cause future power failures, among other things. Hereâs one real-life example snipped from the complete article:
In Queensland, Australia, on April 23, 2000, police stopped a car on the road to Deception Bay and found a stolen computer and radio transmitter inside. Using commercially available technology, Vitek Boden, 48, had turned his vehicle into a pirate command center for sewage treatment along Australiaâs Sunshine Coast. Bodenâs arrest solved a mystery that had troubled the Maroochy Shire wastewater system for two months. Somehow the system was leaking hundreds of thousands of gallons of putrid sludge into parks, rivers and the manicured grounds of a Hyatt Regency hotel. Janelle Bryant of the Australian Environmental Protection Agency said "marine life died, the creek water turned black and the stench was unbearable for residents." Until Bodenâs capture -- during his 46th successful intrusion -- the utilityâs managers did not know why.
Specialists in cyber-terrorism have studied Bodenâs case because it is the only one known in which someone used a digital control system deliberately to cause harm. Details of Bodenâs intrusion, not disclosed before, show how easily Boden broke in -- and how restrained he was with his power. Boden had quit his job at Hunter Watertech, the supplier of Maroochy Shireâs remote control and telemetry equipment. Evidence at his trial suggested that he was angling for a consulting contract to solve the problems he had caused. To sabotage the system, he set the software on his laptop to identify itself as "pumping station 4," then suppressed all alarms. Paul Chisholm, Hunter Watertechâs chief executive, said in an interview last week that Boden "was the central control system" during his intrusions, with unlimited command of 300 SCADA nodes governing sewage and drinking water alike. "He could have done anything he liked to the fresh water," Chisholm said.
Like thousands of utilities around the world, Maroochy Shire allowed technicians operating remotely to manipulate its digital controls. Boden learned how to use those controls as an insider, but the software he used conforms to international standards and the manuals are available on the Web. He faced virtually no obstacles to breaking in. Nearly identical systems run oil and gas utilities and many manufacturing plants. But their most dangerous use is in the generation, transmission and distribution of electrical power, because electricity has no substitute and every other key infrastructure depends on it.
Posted by: Dar ||
08/15/2003 1:40:53 PM ||
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Argh--Hat tip: InstaPundit. I'm shameless!
Posted by: Dar ||
08/15/2003 13:44 Comments ||
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Some SCADA engineers worry about it, also.
Random targets have a fairly high probability of being hardened. The problem is that there are enough targets that aren't hardened to take down the grid.
#3
Mr. Boden is a fool. He could have had a job with my employer. I install and maintain power plant distributed control systems in the US. Our system is the #1 system in the world. We are installing them like crazy in plants in China (and hopefully Iraq soon.) We are desperate for engineers. We have never been able to fill more than 3/4 of our positions even at the height of the recession.
All systems are vulnerable to inside jobs no matter the security. Soon, there will be DCS experienced insiders from most nations.
Nuke plants in the US do not use digital controls for safety system control, they do use them here and there for data acquisition and non-safety related control. It is a long story why not. We do zero business with nukes. Thank Allah.
Nuke plants are the bedrock also of a restart of an entire grid outage because they all have mojo big diesels generators with beaucoup diesel fuel on hand. Most coal and gas turbine sites have no provision for cold start.
Most plants keep their distributed control systems on isolated networks which means inside jobs only.
Hacking an unisolated system is always possible. Understanding what to do at the point is another story. Simply trashing of the system hard drives is not the end of the world. Real lasting damage takes understanding of myriad plant processes and the grid itself. (My definition of real damage is: the entire grid comes down and stays down for a long period.) The current grid outage doesn't amount to real damage in my book.
Unless UBL has boiler tuners or engineers specifically experienced at "reading" the control process on his payroll with lots of time and extreme hacking skills on multiple operating systems, a significant cyber-jihadi grid attack is not a significant threat....yet. Now the Chinese government on the other hand has plenty of tuners and hackers...
Anyway, in the end pooh on the lawn or a power plant attack is not the name of the game, a grid attack is.
Progressive activists held a series of rallies and marching campaigns to make their anti-war, anti-U.S. position heard throughout Jongno and Daehangno.
Represented in these rallies, which drew together more than 10,000 participants, were the radical student group Hanchongnyeon, the United Front for Unification (an association of civic groups advocating engagement with North Korea) and a civic group formed to bring justice to the deaths of two Korean girls by a U.S. armored vehicle in June 2002.
Hanchongnyeon organized an illegal rally at a U.S. firing range last week where a dozen protesters climbed onto an armored vehicle and burned U.S. flags.
Get. Troops. Out. Now
Posted by: g wiz ||
08/15/2003 8:48:41 PM ||
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Progressive activists
Gotta love the terms that these journalists tag onto mobs.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/15/2003 21:57 Comments ||
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10,000 is not much in a country the size of Korea. Last I heard the population of Koreatown in LA was over half a million.
Azerbaijan's newly appointed prime minister and the man expected to be its next president said Friday it would be ``naive'' to believe his country could be a perfect democracy, but vowed the government will do its best to ensure upcoming presidential elections are free and fair.
"Nope. Nope. Just can't do it. Don't even try..."
In an interview with The Associated Press, Ilham Aliev said the health problems of his father, President Geidar Aliev, could catapult him to the presidency sooner than he would like. Both Alievs are on the ballot for October's election, but Ilham Aliev says he registered as a candidate only to assist in the campaign of his 80-year-old father, who has been hospitalized in Turkey and then in Cleveland since July 8. On Friday, the younger Aliev said he would remain on the ballot and his father would withdraw his candidacy ``only if his physical condition will not allow him to run.''
"He's gonna try to break Strom's record..."
However, Aliev said he was optimistic his father would emerge victorious from both his illness and the election. This month, Geidar Aliev signed a decree making his only son prime minister — the person who becomes acting president if the president dies. If Geidar Aliev does make it through another term, the ruling party says Ilham Aliev will be its candidate in 2008.
So the fix is in, no matter what happens...
If expectations are fulfilled, it will fall to Ilham Aliev — until this month, first vice president of the state oil company and a leading lawmaker — to guide the country as it learns to live without Geidar Aliev. Before the former KGB general and Soviet-era leader of Azerbaijan returned to power in 1993, this oil-rich Caspian Sea nation suffered from a separatist war and lawlessness.
"Oh, what will we ever do without Geidar?"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/15/2003 16:00 ||
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U.S. Marines in Liberia went about the workaday tasks Friday of America's first peace mission in Africa in a decade, patrolling new razor-wire perimeters and guarding the first in a convoy of aid ships. For now, the task seems straightforward: ``Trying to get the boats in the port,'' said Maj. Leonard DeFrancisci of Melbourne, Fla., a reservist with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Friday marked the first full day ashore for about 200 U.S. troops, who landed by helicopter from three ships offshore after President Charles Taylor, bowing to international pressure, resigned and left his country.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/15/2003 15:50 ||
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Severely edited for length; this is simply an introduction. Please read the whole thing and, if you are from a western state, be prepared to get really angry.
Luther Wallace "Wally" Klump recently marked his 70th birthday, but he could not celebrate his threescore and ten on the family ranch in Arizona with his wife, children and grandchildren. The old rancher turned 70 in a penitentiary cell with only convicts to commemorate the juncture.
Klump was not in prison for murder, rape, drugs or any of the common offenses against society. His offense was one that astounded the most hardened and cynical of the criminals in the penal complex where he is housed. Klumpâs "crime" boiled down to "trespassing" cows on Bureau of Land Management property in Arizonaâs Dos Cabezas Mountains. His fellow inmates understood why Wally was serving time. For his birthday, they made a card with a picture of a grazing cow and a bold caption: "BLM Sucks!"
The rawhide tough, tall rancher has become a father figure and prison parson to many of the young detainees. As an inmate said in a phone interview, "I thank God for saving me and having Wally here to guide me to a better life. ..."
I donât mean to get preachy here, but this fine old man should not be in jail. I own some ranch/hunting land in northern Nevada and I can tell you all that the BLM is way, way out of hand in the west. Iâve seen the way that theyâve run roughshod over the locals first hand. This is everything we as Rantburghers hate transpiring right in the middle of the land we love. Now do something about it.
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where at, SM? Winnemuca? My uncle owns ranchland there as well. The BLM has been playing a lot of games with Ranchers and Cattleowners around Pyramid and Fallon, Carson City, confiscating cattle for grazing on questionable land
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/15/2003 13:51 Comments ||
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Frank G: In the Blackrock Desert 'bout 30 miles outside of Gerlach. I own some very pretty (if desolate) land with a commanding view of the Hualapai Valley.... and Burning Man's private 80-acre junkyard, but that's another story!
#3
I've got some old school desks my Uncle (lives in Fernley now) salvaged when they demolished the old schoolhouse ;-)
Parents came from Fallon
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/15/2003 14:11 Comments ||
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That pretty much makes you a local, then. Well, as you know the BLM bureaucrat/socialist types don't get along really well with the locals. Folks out there are as free, self-sufficient, and independent as any group of people I have ever met, but they aren't used to fighting with the government. I think that's going to be changing quickly, however.
Hat tip Drudge. Edited for brevity.
Two people were killed late Thursday in separate shootings outside Kanawha County convenience stores, in what police said could be related random shootings. The two became the second and third people shot dead outside Kanawha Valley convenience stores within four days, and the third and fourth people murdered in Kanawha County on a bloody Thursday.
Thursday night, a woman was gunned down while pumping gas at a Campbells Creek convenience store about 10:20 p.m., while another person was shot slightly more than an hour later outside a Cedar Grove store. Both were killed. âThey appear to be random shootings,â said Lt. J.S. Bailes, Kanawha County sheriffâs spokesman.
Initial reports were that the Campbells Creek victim had been shot in the head, but that could not be confirmed. Witnesses also said the Cedar Grove victim was shot in the head, though authorities did not confirm that, either. Sunday night, a South Charleston resident also was shot in the head and killed outside a convenience store. George Carrier Jr. 34, was killed while using a pay telephone outside a Charleston Go-Mart.
Late Thursday, police across the Valley were alerted to increase patrols around stores with gas pumps. Police were alerted to look for a black pickup truck with gold trim seen leaving the Cedar Grove store and a dark-green or blue Chevrolet Corsica from the Campbells Creek shooting. Three seemingly random shootings, all headshots, in one area--Mohammed may have a fan.
Posted by: Dar ||
08/15/2003 1:18:04 PM ||
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No doubt another white, male sniper-wannabe.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/15/2003 13:26 Comments ||
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Definitely another bitter, angry white male loner who feels dispossessed. Just like in D.C.
August 15, 2003- New York Times
By ERIC LICHTBLAU EFL
WASHINGTON, Aug. 14 â F.B.I. officials knew as far back as the mid-1980âs that Robert P. Hanssen, the longtime agent and convicted Russian spy, had repeatedly mishandled classified data and violated procedures but did nothing to prompt an investigation....numerous signals ... could have led to Mr. Hanssenâs capture years earlier.
The report concluded that ... the F.B.I. has not done enough to fix gaping holes in its internal security.
...Glenn A. Fine, the Justice Department inspector general, said in an interview... "I believe they [the FBI] still have a long way to go."
...Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, said he was alarmed to learn from the report that the F.B.I. remained vulnerable to espionage within its own ranks, and he pressed for greater oversight.
....
The report states that by the mid-1980âs it had become obvious to his F.B.I. colleagues and supervisors that Mr. Hanssen had repeatedly mishandled classified data and exhibited brazen and reckless behavior. But because of cultural and systemic problems at the F.B.I â and a mindset of denial that an F.B.I. agent could possibly be a mole â nothing was done to investigate his behavior, the report says.
...
In 1993, Mr. Hanssen sought out a Russian agent in a parking garage and tried to give him a package with classified data, the report says. The overture was "remarkable for its recklessness and self-destructive quality," it says, and the Russians were so concerned that they were being set up that they filed a formal protest with the United States government. But the investigation never led to Mr. Hanssen.
When the other side complained about the obvious clumsiness of Hanssenâs betrayal, youâd think someone in the FBI would have noticed.
In investigating a series of deadly security breaches in the Soviet Union in the mid-1980âs, F.B.I. officials were so convinced that no one at the bureau was responsible that they focused almost exclusively on a C.I.A. officer and even recommended that he be prosecuted for espionage, the report says. Projection, the common psychological defense mechanism, struck again at the FBI
"We now know that the F.B.I. was on the wrong track from the beginning, because the mole the F.B.I. was looking for was Hanssen, an F.B.I. employee," the report states.
I continue to suspect the presence of Islamist sympathizers and abetters in the US intelligence and security structure. I donât believe this possibility has even been considered in the 9/11 investigations done so far. This article also highlights official complacency and denial, factors which also played key roles in letting 9/11 happen.
#1
We already know there are Islamist sympathizers in the FBI. Gamal Abdel-Hafiz refused to tape record "fellow Muslims", was sent to Riyadh(!), then got called back to the US and put on administrative leave. Last I heard, he was under review by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility.
I've also heard of a translator being put in charge of intercepts relating to a group a spouse belonged to.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/15/2003 12:35 Comments ||
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The other thing we have the remember is that the Bureau was busily tracking down spies elsewhere in the government (aldrich Ames etc...), and rebuilding itself as the next Interpol. The problems isnide the Bureau are so deeply ingrained that perhaps the only way to fix it is to shut it down and start over.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
08/15/2003 12:52 Comments ||
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#3
And, for those who might dismiss some of these points as exceptions, what we (the public) hear about is only the tip of the bureaucratic Bureau's iceberg of flaws. The FBI is almost worthless as a preventative component in the WoT. Thier current "culture" is pure sycophantism and nepotism. Re: Starting over, if you mean firing all personnel above Supervisor, then I absolutely agree. When it comes to populating the structure again, I'd suggest a much flatter org (Read: Stop creating BS slots to hide your friends in!) and consider filling the slots with those who have been repeatedly passed over - if not incompetent, this indicates they were NOT kissing ass - and with promising Field Agents who show initiative and guts, such as Colleen Rowley in the Minneapolis office. Yeah, the one who wanted to get into Zacarius Moussaoui's computer - prior to 9/11.
Chinaâs military test-fired a medium-range ballistic missile last weekend as part of its growing missile buildup. The DF-15 missile was launched from a military facility near Shuangchenzi, in the remote northern Gansu province. It was tracked by U.S. intelligence to an impact area in northwestern Xinjiang province. A Pentagon report made public last month stated that China is developing a medium-range missile that will give Beijing the capability of attacking the 25,000 U.S. troops on Okinawa. The new medium-range missiles also could hit Taiwan from areas farther from the coast. The medium-range missile buildup undermines an offer made to President Bush last year by Chinese President Jiang Zemen that China is willing to negotiate the withdrawal of the 450 short-range missiles now aimed at Taiwan. China test-fired a new CSS-7 last month, also around the Shuangchenzi testing facility, which is near the Gobi Desert.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/15/2003 11:26:36 AM ||
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JPost - Reg Reqâd
Israel Radio Territories Correspondent Avi Yissakharov reported on the noon news program that Palestinian security sources claim that have confiscated ten Qassam missiles as well as mortars in the Gaza Strip. "Since the Palestinians have made no indication that they plan to follow the Roadmap and transfer the weapons to a third party (e.g. America) for removal, it would appear that if the Palestinian report is correct that they have come up with a novel way to arm their security forces with weapons systems that are beyond those permitted in the Oslo agreements," Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review) told The Jerusalem Post. While Yissakharov reported the Palestinian claimed they were carrying out a weapons collection program in the Gaza Strip, another Israel Radio correspondent said he checked with his sources in Hamas and Islamic Jihad and they all told him no such weapons collection was underway.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/15/2003 10:12:43 AM ||
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While Yissakharov reported the Palestinian claimed they were carrying out a weapons collection program in the Gaza Strip, another Israel Radio correspondent said he checked with his sources in Hamas and Islamic Jihad and they all told him no such weapons collection was underway.
In other words, nobody is quite sure what exactly is going on, and more time will be needed to sort all this crap out. :)
#2
Pals now claim theyve caught several million dollars in funds headed to Islamic Jihad. IJ's response: "Money, what money? we dont know about any money" Israel: "it came from Iran, and this dont mean nothing, why dont you stop the Saudi money going to Hamas?" BBC then reports that Israel has now agreed to withdraw from 4 West bank towns, as Pals requested, despite previous statements that Israel would take no further actions until PA began to dismantle terrorist orgs.
EFL of the EFL Janes version
Both Britain and France agree that, while the UN is clearly in need of reform, many of the old reform proposals have little chance of working and have zero appeal for the USA. Take the structure of peacekeeping operations, which is bound to be exposed to ridicule yet again in the current mission in Liberia. It badly needs military expertise, money and political clout, but Washington is hardly likely to agree to any radical changes, so there is not much point in trying too hard. typically Euro, "This has no chance of working, so lets make it a priority"
The same applies to the composition of the Security Council. Everyone agrees that this must be broadened to include todayâs great powers rather than those who emerged victorious at the end of the Second World War. There is also a fair level of agreement that Germany and Japan should be included. Yet the chances of this happening, without inviting a flood of applications from other worthy candidates, is virtually nil. Further, the USA, which faced the French veto during the Iraq crisis, is hardly likely to relish the arrival of even more countries - such as India or Brazil - who may be even more difficult to persuade to vote in favour of US policies. So British and French diplomats are now turning the debate on its head and advocating other measures whose effect will be to avoid the old no-hope proposals but still push through meaningful reforms. The proposals include:
The creation of a disarmament body.
Militaries disbanded, civilian police forces with gunships.
The reform of the current human rights organisation through the amalgamation of the current Geneva-based Human Rights Commission, which has become a laughing stock since it was monopolised by countries whose respect for individual freedoms is zero. uuuh what ? did that just make sense ?
None that I could find...
The creation of a new Economic and Social Security Council. This body, which again will absorb existing structures such as the current ECOSOC, is designed to deal with international economic and social crises such as poverty, mass migration and international disease. But it is also going to be a council where big countries currently not represented on the UN Security Council could be given a serious voice. A serious voice to promote there socialist ideologies and make the US taxpayer flip the bill
Posted by: Domingo ||
08/15/2003 9:26:31 AM ||
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#1
Militaries disbanded, civilian police forces with gunships.
WTF? That makes no sense at all.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/15/2003 9:33 Comments ||
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#2
It makes sense in that they are just redefining things to be ideologically pure. Imagine handing out police uniforms to your miliary, repainting the equipment, and calling them cops. See, we have no military we are peaceful. It allows military precurement under police budgets and it avoids the humiliation of being expected to send troops abroad when you clearly only have police troops and nobody sends the police to a combat zone.
And a Main Battle Tank is better than a horse when it comes to breaking up a riot.
#3
Oh, and this is one Yankee that would love to see the US propose that Brazil, Japan, and India all get permenant seats at the United Nations. I have reason to believe the French would fight it tooth and nail so as not to see their own vote dilluted. Then the US can denounce them as simple and racist and potentially get some points with the developing world for doing the right thing.
I would also drop a few hints that a unified Europe under the EU probably should not have a vote for each member state and suggest the EU set a timeline for relinquishing the additional seats.
Oh, and I would further suggest that instead of building that new building the UN wants that the entire thing be moved to a new host country who can fund the construction through unpaid loans and deal with the traffic snarls and petty dictators running around. Somewhere in Europe (I'm thinking outside of Paris) would be best.
#6
Militaries disbanded, civilian police forces with gunships.
IIRC, Kruschev made a similar proposal without the gunships. I think that all countries would be limited to 100K militia (which was also the Soviet word for police). Glad to see that the French haven't given up the internationalist dream!
#8
I have a better plan. Reduce the United Nations to an unfunded, powerless debating society (I.E., current reality), disband all the unnecessary political bureaucracies that have proliferated under "UN Mandate", and send what's left to Kosovo, where I'm sure the people will "welcome" it in the proper manner.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/15/2003 13:31 Comments ||
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Yank> "I would also drop a few hints that a unified Europe under the EU probably should not have a vote for each member state and suggest the EU set a timeline for relinquishing the additional seats"
I'm all for it, but UK not gonna accept it. When it isn't even accepting the other EU countries doing the whole common foreign policy thing *without* UK, do you really think it would ever surrender *her* foreign policy?
Hint away as much as you want, but I think UK's gonna need more than hints before it stop being for the EU what the doureios hippos was for the castle of Ilium...
By SIMON AVERY
Friday, August 15, 2003
Itâs tempting to ridicule the affair as U.S. culture flipping out on itself. Itâs California... art imitating life imitating art, etc.
The worldâs greatest investor and second-richest man has teamed up with a three-time Mr. Universe champion and Hollywood superstar to try to run the most populist and celebrity-mad state in the United States. Hey, why not? Nowhere to go but up.
What could Warren Buffett possibly be thinking, attaching his name to Arnold Schwarzeneggerâs bid for the leadership of California and the circus act of recalling a legitimately elected governor with an unprecedented, first-past-the-post vote? Mebbe Arnoldâs a tad smarter than the smirking reporters... And Warrenâs a crafty old bugger.
The 72-year-old chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has made his name and $30-billion (U.S.) fortune betting on vanilla investments, such as insurance and carpets. He deliberately shunned the excitement of the technology boom, the greatest period of wealth generation in modern times, questioning the marketâs fundamentals. He has a passion for bridge, not blustering spectacle. This is a man who still lives in the town he was born, Omaha, Neb., in a house he bought in 1958 for $31,500. How do ya think Mr Big got to be Mr Big?
People who know Mr. Buffett and his investing style say they were taken completely off guard by his agreement to serve as senior financial and economic adviser to Mr. Schwarzenegger. The billionaire with a social conscience had declined numerous earlier invitations to take a public service role. So, Warrenâs got a secret!
In fact, Mr. Buffettâs name was floated for the role of U.S. Federal Reserve Board chairman before Alan Greenspan was hired and more recently to head a government group on corporate governance, said Lawrence Cunningham, a professor of law and business at Boston College and the author of The Essays of Warren Buffett. Heâs got the credentials.
But while they canât figure out why heâs jumping into Californiaâs economic mess, people familiar with the Oracle of Omaha agree the state could only benefit from his expertise. Itâs almost a no-lose situation for someone who knows WTF heâs doing, so Warren will make a difference. And mebbe thatâs why he offered to do it...
"Once again, heâs doing something thatâs outside the box," said Larry Sarbit, lead manager of the AIC Focused Series of funds, and a devoted follower of Mr. Buffettâs investment style. "Who better to get financial advice from than the master." This shows heâs already ahead of the game - and that will help when he needs people to have confidence in the plans to turn it around.
In the early 1990s, Mr. Buffett helped save Salomon Brothers from collapse when he stepped in as interim chairman. "He came in and got the right people in place and then he moved along," Mr. Sarbit said. Hire professionals with ethics - stay out of their way - and let them get on with it.
With hundreds of millions of dollars invested in Salomon, Mr. Buffett had a personal stake in the firmâs survival. Nothing generates motivation for a money man like a few hundred million from his own pocket. 8^)
His interests in California are less clear, but several of Berkshireâs major investments rely on a sound California economy. Read the rest...
This will probably make this "race" a breeze, but it is California, so anything, absolutely anything can happen. Hey, with Arnie and Warren, it already has - twice!
Posted by: .com ||
08/15/2003 6:16:26 AM ||
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#1
That's 5 Mr. Universe title's bucko ! get it straight !
#2
Arnold also got former Sec'ty of State (and Bechtel honcho) George Schultz to join his team to bring back business...he's serious. I'm voting for him
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/15/2003 10:09 Comments ||
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Very, very smart move by Arnie -- both Buffett and Schultz. It's going to be very hard for the Dems to discredit Arnie as a lightweight when he shows that he can bring big-hitters on board. Mebbe Conan ain't such a barbarian after all.
Then again, mebbe he'll make a lasso out of Gray Davis' entrails ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/15/2003 10:47 Comments ||
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Reporter: "Mr. Schwarzenegger, what do you hope to accomplish in this election?"
Arnold: "To crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and to hear the lamentation of their women!"
Posted by: Steve ||
08/15/2003 11:43 Comments ||
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#5
Papers this morning said that Buffet hinted the property taxes were too low. That's not a good thing to start hinting at before an election (or after for that matter).Hope its just idiot reporters inventing a story instead of a real hint.
#8
except they also said they were adding supply-sider advisors as well, so Buffet won't have Arnold's ear all by hisself
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/15/2003 12:53 Comments ||
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#9
I don't think Buffet is there to advise on tax policy, except where business is concerned - and that is needed. Over the last 31 months, we (CA) have suffered and average of 10,000 jobs eliminated per month. For the 1st time in memory, CA no longer has a single Fortune 500 company based here. Davis and his Marxist cronies only saw businesses as host enitities to bleed dry. Well they pretty much succeeded. Get a good look people at what happens when Democrats own the executive, legislative and also judicial branches of govt. This was supposed to be the grand laboritory of the next New Deal. Feh!
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
08/15/2003 13:40 Comments ||
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Rex Mundi hit it right on the nose. It's getting harder and hardet to believe, but at one point California was the greatest state in the union, you know.
#11
Anyone who lives in Californicate and votes democratic in the next election should be IMMEDIATELY committed to some high security psychiatic hospital as a danger to himself or sent to Mexico since they must love chaos.
California has had a net decline in population for the first time since the Permian extinction. To make matters worse, California has had over 2 million people in the "middle class" leave the state and since the trial lawyer's welfare fund workman's comp is out of control, every business that can't leave the state is exporting jobs to India, Maylasia, Mississippi and other third world countries. It is a screaming mess. Ann "The Blowtorch" Coulter has a great editorial on Californicate on her website that would be funny if it wasn't so painfully true.
If things get much worse here, the world court could convict "Empty Suit" Davis of war crimes.
#12
When / if I leave Thailand and return - I won't be going back to beautiful San Diego - I'll opt for either Texas or a mountain state, if I locate one without a State Income Tax and a decent biz climate.
Mebbe Arnold and Warren and George will transform CA before then. I hope so, for those Rantburgers who live there. For now, they deserve the benefit of the doubt, methinks.
Does anyone here think someone, other than Arnold, has a bona-fide chance to win this election? I've been out of the loop for 3 years and don't know enuff to be relatively certain. So how 'bout it?
#13
I like McClintock's resume, but it's Arnold's to lose. I say he takes it.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
08/15/2003 18:39 Comments ||
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#14
McClintock is a good man, but he's been eclipsed by Arnold
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/15/2003 18:44 Comments ||
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#15
Davis and his Marxist cronies only saw businesses as host enitities to bleed dry.
Davis is no more Marxist than Arnie's Buffett, who doesn't see China as 'red'. He only sees the green of their dirty oil money. I think he got scared in the past week since he announced he'd bankroll Arnie and he tried to divest his commie oil stake in China's Petrochem.
Did they write that headline? Or did somebody just leave it at the top of the page?
By Giles Hewitt in New York 15aug03
THE huge power outage gave New Yorkers a glimpse into the world of the homeless today as tens of thousands found themselves stranded in the streets with no shelter for the night. I feel so bad for the New Yorkers, theyâve been through so much in the last couple of years. But look how maturely theyâve handled it: no riots, no destroying and looting. I hope the Iraqis are watching that... watch and learn how civilised people do things.
Many who had joked their way through the early hours of what turned out to be the nationâs worst blackout quickly lost their sense of humour when struck with the reality that there was no way to get home.
Many, of course, didn't. There are always a certain number of sour-tempered people in any significant population, just as there are those whose temper is downright angelic. Giles seems to have been seeking out the grousers...
Public benches became premium beds and covered doorways were turned into mini-shelters. Many borrowed a page from the homeless survival guide and simply laid out sheets of newspaper on the sidewalks for a mattress.
Under normal conditions there aren't thousands of stranded people on the streets. Giles is confusing the ordinary with the extraordinary...
Main hotels such as the Grand Hyatt posted guards at their doors and barred entry to anyone not already registered. "No room key, no entry," said one doorman. hmmm thatâs not so nice: iâd expect him to open the gates in an orderly fashion and military-style make as many beds as they have space and linen. After all, itâs an emergency!
Outside the cavernous Grand Central Station at 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue, American Red Cross Volunteers supplied drinking water to hundreds of people who, like the Oyamas, were pinning their hopes on resumption of train service. GO the red cross!
"Basically, weâre trying to keep people from getting dehydrated," volunteer Danielle Dietrich said. "Weâve had a couple of elderly people with heart trouble but we managed to get them police help." If i were there, Iâd want to go and direct traffic at the nearest intersection and get some of those people moving. Does NY have a volunteer organisation of citizens who help in emergencies who can cover the major intersections, freeing up police/fireys for more important jobs? Australia has the State Emergency Services/Territory Emergency Services: hundreds of unpaid volunteers who train every week to help out in situations such as this.
The Grand Hyatt did open a small area of its ground floor, a sort of mini-mall lined with chic shops, to about 100 people who were trying to grab a few winks on the hard marble floor. "At least they have some lighting here" Corine Sanders said. "That makes me feel safer than sleeping in the streets." The Hyatt, like many such establishments, has back-up emergency generators. Yes... backup generators all round. Preferably ones that run on ethanol and not Saudi Black Slag. Incidentally, apparently some nuclear facilities were having trouble with their backup power. Hate to see a terrorist take advantage of that loophole in the future. All it takes is for the coolant pumps to break down for a couple of hours.
Get better soon, NY!
I'm rather proud of our country at the moment. We've got a power outage that's having an effect on 50 million people. Despite Giles' search for the grousers, people seem to be taking it without panic and in good form. Anon1, there was footage on FoxNews this morning of a young fellow in civvies with a backpack, directing traffic in Noo Yawk. Mayor Lindsay Bloomberg was on the teevee, saying the right things, as were mayors from Cleveland and Detroit. There aren't reports of looters and that sort of thing, not that they should be publicizing any there are.
When things are back to normal, of course, there will be all sorts of ugly recriminations, with many if not most of the usual suspects trying to make political mileage out of it. I expect to see the pols do terrible things to some power companies, if not to the entire industry. But that's for the future.
At the moment, I really like New York. Again.
Posted by: Anon1 ||
08/15/2003 3:39:41 AM ||
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Anon1 - "Does NY have a volunteer organisation of citizens who help in emergencies who can cover the major intersections..."
Not that I know of, but the Beeb has been semi-rational (No "The streets are tense and edgy - and who can blame them!" stories, yet...) and even interviewed a guy who was directing traffic - turns out he's an actor and plays a cop on a TV show, so he thought, "Why not?" and jumped in to help. Beeb reporter seemed pleased as punch with him. Mee too, actually. 8^)
#3
THis is why I love this country...Massive blackouts, what could have been a very chaotic scene, and it was people helping people, good behavour, very civilized. Can you imagine if this would have happened in Paris? They can't even handle the heat...and remember how their society broke down during the strikes a few months ago?
A friend was talking about a situation in France many years ago, but he couldnt remember the details and I am curious...something about a sunken Greenpeace ship and the collapse of the French government....this is sketchy I know, but can any Rantburg reader tell me about this? Maybe just a link to an old story...THis happened years ago, before I started paying attention to the world...Thanks.
#4
DOes NY have a volunteer organisation of citizens who help in emergencies who can cover the major intersections, freeing up police/fireys for more important jobs?
No such animal here. Just ordinary people pitching in. Lot of people stranded, though. This joins the great blizzard in the late '70's and the great blackout in the'70's in the log of New York disasters. This'll be a conversation topic for years to come.
#5
Today is BASH CANADA DAY! on my blog. The first thing the government of Prime Minister Cretin thought to do was issue a press release that the blackout began when lightening hit a power station in Niagara Falls, New York. Unfortunately, both the National Weather Service and the Canadian equivalent reveal that there was no lightening at the time closer than Chicago.
And we shoul all remember that the blackout of 1965 began
Posted by: Tom ||
08/15/2003 9:21 Comments ||
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#7
Chuck--Regardless of cause, if it originated in Canada that upsets me greatly. Our infrastructure, economy, and security in the North East--our most populous area of the country--so vulnerable to conditions in a foreign country? Our infrastructure shouldn't be at risk from events in Canada, and vice versa.
Posted by: Dar ||
08/15/2003 9:52 Comments ||
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#8
Debbie
The french government of the day, under Jacques Chirac as prime minister, sent secret service agents to Auckland to blow up the Rainbow Warrior which was planning to go to Muroroa Atoll to protest against French Nuclear tests.
A Portugese photographer lost his life. Under an agreement brokered between New Zealand and France, the agents were detained on a military base in French Polynesia (bummer of a sentence). However this wasn't enough, and when one of the agents became pregnant, on Chirac's orders she was repatriated to metropolitan France. On arrival she was met by Chirac, and it was covered as a heroine's homecomeing by French tv.
Oh, and by the way, no Government fell over this at all.
Posted by: Edmund Burke ||
08/15/2003 9:55 Comments ||
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#9
So far all I've seen about looting was a Nike store in Brooklyn, and outbreaks in both Toronto and Ottawa.
#10
Chuck--It's not like the Make-Believes Maple Leafs or the Senators are ever gonna win the Cup, so they have to seize on whatever excuse they can find!
Posted by: Dar ||
08/15/2003 10:17 Comments ||
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#11
As you should expect, Den Beste has a great, informative piece not only on the blackout mechanics but the process of powering back up as well.
Posted by: Dar ||
08/15/2003 10:42 Comments ||
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#12
Ethanol. Ethanol?
What are you smoking? Ethanol, with it's associated indirect costs, is NOT viable.
#14
" Does NY have a volunteer organisation of citizens who help in emergencies" - Yes, the citizenry of NY, who have repeatedly exhibited the tendency to self-organize as needed when crises occur.
#15
Jeez. Someone should be keeping a list of stupid remarks and ideas about this blackout....
Anatoly Chubais, chief executive of Russia's national power monopoly Unified Energy System, called the blackout "the biggest accident in the history of world energy systems."
Ok, am I the only one who sees any irony, or loss of perspective, in this one?
And this from Nairobi (as the press goes out to stir up gleeful comments from the third world): "I'm happy -- let them experience how bushmen live without power, even for just one minute," added Emma Nzau, a 28-year-old receptionist. "Americans are so used to electricity, they should be like the Chinese and ride bicycles to work."
Now, we can take a lot of ribbing, being a superpower and all (like, who cares?). But letting us know how bushmen feel is a really bizarre notion. What, did Chevron suck up all the bushmen's native electricity for American use? Do bushmen feel pangs of guilt when pygmies get eaten? How is Emma the Kenyan Receptionist working to make MY life better?
Then, there are the powerful investigative pieces on how Iraqis are glad we are getting a taste of our own medicine. No wonder we can't get the power in Baghdad working, AHAWHAWHAW. Guess what... ours will be back up in 48 hours. Yours won't.
Hillary is demanding an explanation... that should help. Let's pull management off the restoration process and have a press conference. Of course Bush, Cheney, and Big Oil are behind it, to grind the faces of the poor. There is no doubt that women and minorities were hardest hit by the outage.
Talked to my poor old mom, trying to make coffee on her BBQ grill in Detroit this AM. I hope she's learned her lesson. She did not mention the bushmen but I'm sure they're in her thoughts.
Posted by: Mark IV ||
08/15/2003 12:26 Comments ||
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Another interesting thing about this blackout is how it effected people of all ethnicities and cultural backgrounds. "This is such a multiculural phenomenon", said Faith Lovejoy, director of Multiculural Activities for NY city. "It's like a tossed green salad with many ingrediants, textures and flavors", she added.
#17
Was Faith shaking her head from side to side when she said this. And it's good the Director of Multicultural Activitites (just a guess, NY Times piece?) checked in with her input. Nice to hear electricity is colorblind. Ditz!
#18
I was watching Fox News this morning, and they were saying that there was almost no panic, looting, or vandalism. I told my boyfriend that this is why people watched Fox News, because at that moment other news outlets are scrambling to find the one dyspeptic guy whose neighborhood delinquents took the opportunity to tag his fence, and he's going to be gibbering about the collapse of civilization. I see they had to go clear to Nairobi, instead.
#19
Just yesterday, before the blackout even happened, I noticed a Duquesne Light utility truck driving by me here in Pittsburgh, and it had the slogan "Delivering Quality Energy" on the side.
Later, I realized just how lucky I was to be receiving "quality" energy, as Pittsburgh was unaffected by the blackouts. You others in the NE must be getting electricity diluted with water, or mixed with oregano or something. You need to find a better power pusher!
Posted by: Dar ||
08/15/2003 13:05 Comments ||
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#20
FRED: yep they really wrote that headline in the DTM. Pretty dumb.
ATTABOID: ethanol is now a net energy PRODUCER which gives out MORE energy than what it takes to produce (including the 'hidden costs' of fertilizer etc). Advances in technology of production in the last 10 years have made it viable. Many sites still quote figures that are pre-1990.
Also, you can make ethanol out of more than just CORN which is what Den Beste (who is a great and informative commentator) had a problem with.
Yeah it's got startup costs, yeah it's expensive, yeah it doesn't give as much energy as Saudi Black Slag but it also doesn't pay people to KILL US WITH PLANES AND BOMBS not to mention possibly sabotaging our electricity supplies (and I use the royal 'we' as in all the western world, because I consider the US and Australia and Britain to be members of a collective 'we' as in Western, and to a lesser extent NZ, Canada and the rest of the english speaking world)
#21
And besides, if the energy situation gets just too depressing, you can drink your ethanol energy source with quinine water, ice, maybe a touch of lime, and feel a whole lot better about the world....
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/15/2003 21:19 Comments ||
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#22
And besides, if the energy situation gets just too depressing, you can drink your ethanol energy source with quinine water, ice, maybe a touch of lime, and feel a whole lot better about the world....
One of my great-uncles used to flavor his with blackberries (they grow wild in Louisiana, and can be harvested by the ton). At 170+ proof, there wasn't much of a taste of ANYTHING, just a monster headache the next day.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/15/2003 22:32 Comments ||
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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.
