Hi there, !
Today Thu 01/22/2009 Wed 01/21/2009 Tue 01/20/2009 Mon 01/19/2009 Sun 01/18/2009 Sat 01/17/2009 Fri 01/16/2009 Archives
Rantburg
533627 articles and 1861755 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 60 articles and 317 comments as of 23:04.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Opinion    Local News    Politix   
Qaeda in North Africa hit by plague
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
3 00:00 crosspatch [5] 
2 00:00 Old Patriot [2] 
13 00:00 Jan [3] 
21 00:00 Leroidavid [4] 
8 00:00 swksvolFF [3] 
17 00:00 Besoeker [3] 
3 00:00 Cheaderhead [1] 
14 00:00 Frank G [3] 
13 00:00 JosephMendiola [5] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
7 00:00 Rambler in Virginia [4]
5 00:00 JosephMendiola [3]
0 [10]
0 [1]
3 00:00 aquedukzz [3]
0 [2]
0 [5]
10 00:00 Harcourt Glusock2626 [7]
2 00:00 Rednek Jim [5]
1 00:00 Ulinetle Lumumba7981 []
0 [4]
1 00:00 tu3031 [5]
10 00:00 Keystone [5]
1 00:00 tu3031 [4]
3 00:00 Leroidavid [8]
10 00:00 Leroidavid [8]
4 00:00 Leroidavid [2]
0 [2]
1 00:00 Frank G []
2 00:00 Thing From Snowy Mountain []
Page 2: WoT Background
5 00:00 crosspatch [6]
3 00:00 JosephMendiola [7]
5 00:00 mhw8 [8]
7 00:00 Mike N. [7]
5 00:00 Iblis [2]
3 00:00 Frozen Al [3]
5 00:00 Thing From Snowy Mountain [4]
17 00:00 Red Dawg [9]
3 00:00 rabid whitetail [8]
4 00:00 bigjim-ky [4]
6 00:00 JosephMendiola [5]
4 00:00 trailing wife [3]
2 00:00 Old Patriot [6]
4 00:00 GolfBravoUSMC [1]
3 00:00 Frank G [6]
1 00:00 tu3031 [6]
1 00:00 mojo [3]
4 00:00 Leroidavid [7]
1 00:00 g(r)omgoru [4]
14 00:00 DMFD [1]
0 [7]
31 00:00 Mike N. [9]
3 00:00 john frum [6]
2 00:00 Cyber Sarge [1]
Page 4: Opinion
11 00:00 Nimble Spemble [4]
5 00:00 mhw [8]
Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
3 00:00 DMFD [2]
2 00:00 tu3031 [6]
1 00:00 rabid whitetail [6]
Page 6: Politix
3 00:00 Besoeker [1]
5 00:00 JosephMendiola [2]
-Short Attention Span Theater-
USAir Crash from Coast Guard Camera
Starts at about 2:00.
Amazing how smooth the ditching was, how fast they got it evacuated and how fast the ferries got there. Also the speed of the current is pretty impressive.

Popular Mechanics explains it here.
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/19/2009 10:54 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ferry Captain purdy damn good too, put his vessel right in the path of the drifting flosam and let it come to him instead of running the hell over it, which would have been the tempting thing to do.
Posted by: .5MT || 01/19/2009 12:03 Comments || Top||

#2  You don't build people with the nerves of steel needed to handle a situation like this by playing strikeless baseball or goalless soccer.

Training and Character saved the day - if anyone involved had become overzealous or panicked it could have been much worse.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/19/2009 12:10 Comments || Top||

#3  A bird & a plane & Superman.
Posted by: MarkZ || 01/19/2009 12:36 Comments || Top||

#4  I never realized how few "Successful" water landings had ever occured. Apparently most often they tumble, roll, or cartwheel after they touch down. What is facinating is that he avoided all the river traffic AND set it down smoothly. He must have been one hell of an F-4 pilot.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 01/19/2009 13:11 Comments || Top||

#5  He must have been one hell of an F-4 pilot.

Anyone that flew F-4's was one hell of a pilot. A very unforgiving aircraft.
Posted by: Spusosh the Prolific6862 || 01/19/2009 13:54 Comments || Top||

#6  What's even more remarkable is that he was able to keep her straight after one engine separated. Apparently putting the tail deep by coming in at a high angle of attack, per the ditching procedure, causes it to act as a rudder.
Posted by: KBK || 01/19/2009 17:26 Comments || Top||

#7  I know many credit this to "Sully" and his supposed military "jet-bombing" expertise, but I think the proximity to the Onauguration is even more evident. Teh One's gentle eyes, and confident smile, surely provided the emotional lift and buoyancy necessary for the passengers to disembark safely.

/channeling tinfoil
Posted by: Frank G || 01/19/2009 17:33 Comments || Top||

#8  I gotta say something about that guy up there, and I can sum it all up in just one word: courage, dedication, daring, pride, pluck, spirit, grit, metal, and G-U-T-S, guts! Why, Ted Striker Sully has got more guts in his little finger than most of us have in our large intestine, including the colon!
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/19/2009 17:54 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Mugabe Threatens to Break Off Power-Sharing Talks
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has threatened to break off power sharing talks if opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai declines a deal in their next meeting. The state media quoted Mr. Mugabe Sunday as saying "either they accept or it's a break."

The two men are scheduled to meet Monday. Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, signed a power-sharing pact with Mr. Mugabe in September. But the pact has not been implemented because of disagreements over key Cabinet posts.

Mr. Mugabe finished second to Tsvangirai in the presidential vote in March. But Mr. Mugabe's government said neither candidate won an absolute majority and called for a run-off in June. Tsvangirai pulled out of the run-off poll, saying scores of his supporters had been killed.
Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Totally unexpected that! Quite literally out of nowhere. What must he be thinking?
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/19/2009 7:48 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm telling you, the sight of those $100Trillion bills affected him, mentally.
He never thought he'd be a Trillionaire, and now that it's finally happened he just can't handle it.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 01/19/2009 10:05 Comments || Top||

#3  He had to take time out to design the new googleplexion dollar note
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 01/19/2009 19:10 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Leading Russian defence lawyer shot dead in Moscow
A Russian defence lawyer famous for his work in one of Russia's most infamous criminal cases was shot dead in central Moscow this afternoon. Stanislav Markelov was shot close to the Kremlin by a man using a pistol with a silencer. Before escaping, his assassin also shot and seriously wounded two women walking with the lawyer.

One of them was Anastasiya Baburova, who worked as a reporter for the Novaya Gazeta newspaper. She is in critical condition, according to doctors. The reporter is a former colleague of Anna Politkovskaya, the campaigning journalist and Kremlin critic who was shot dead in Moscow in 2006.

Markelov was one of Russia's best known human rights lawyers. He had represented the family of an 18-year-old Chechen woman who was savagely raped and murdered in 2000 by a former Russian army colonel.

Yuri Budanov snatched Kheda Kungayeva from her father's house during a late-night raid in 2000, killed her inside his tent, and then ordered his subordinates to secretly bury her body. He was convicted of murder in 2003 – despite claiming he had gone temporarily insane at the time of her killing and had mistaken her for a sniper. Budanov was released from prison last week, 18 months early. The case prompted widespread outrage in Chechnya, with news of his release sparking protests across the southern Russian republic.

Human rights activists said they were appalled by news of Markelov's killing. Baburova had written about the Kungayeva case extensively for her newspaper, colleagues said. "I find it hard to speak. I know and have worked with this person," said Lyudmilla Alexeyeva, head of the Russian human rights organisation Memorial. "The assassination of such a person brings shame to our country."
Posted by: Steve White || 01/19/2009 13:26 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Try the sushi, Stan! It's marv...ah, screw it, just shoot him.
Posted by: Vlad || 01/19/2009 13:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Very, very bad, Vladimir. It's all too obvious. Now the people are wise to you. You can begin to expect problems with every non-White-Russian nationality in all of Russia (some 1100 of them). You have the "iron fist" down pat, but you have NONE of the "velvet glove" that keeps the rubes quiet. For that you will probably not last out the next decade.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 01/19/2009 20:25 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Obama refuses to surrender Blackberry
Despite legal and security hurdles, president-elect Barack Obama says he has a plan to retain his beloved Blackberry once he moves into the White House next week.
Legalities and security don't apply to me, as I am loved by all and have no need to worry about such things.
Interviewed by CNN Friday, Obama said the smartphone was among the tools that he would use to stay in touch with real Americans and avoid becoming trapped inside the presidential "bubble."
President Bubble Boy...
"I think we're going to be able to hang on to one of these. My working assumption, and this is not new, is that anything I write on an email could end up being on CNN," he said. "So I make sure to think before I press 'send'," he said of his Blackberry, which was an ever-present fixture on his belt or in his hand on the campaign trail.
Man, his Secret Service detail is just gonna love him...
Obama did not divulge just how he will overcome legal constraints, given the requirement of the post-Watergate Presidential Records Act of 1978 to keep a record of every White House communication. Nor did he say how he would persuade his Secret Service protectors that the Blackberry does not pose a security risk, for instance if it is hacked over the air.
My aura will protect me from hackers and evil doers...
But Obama, who succeeds the unpopular George W. Bush on Tuesday, said the phone was a valuable part of a wider strategy to escape the White House fishbowl.
And since I'm "popular", I'm sure no one would ever try to use this info against me or the country...
"It's just one tool among a number of tools that I'm trying to use, to break out of the bubble, to make sure that people can still reach me," he said. "If I'm doing something stupid, somebody in Chicago can send me an email and say, 'What are you doing?'
...or Pyongyang. Or Moscow. Or Beijing.
"I want to be able to have voices, other than the people who are immediately working for me, be able to reach out and send me a message about what's happening in America."
...and I know what's best. Hope. Change. Thank you. Good night!
The mobile device dilemma may have inadvertently been solved on Friday, as Obama's Blackberry tumbled from his belt as he got out of his limousine and onto his plane in Washington. A Secret Service agent hurried to pick up the pieces, gathering the Blackberry and battery off the frigid tarmac
Aw geez, Mr. Almost President. Looks like you're friggin screwed...
What Bambi doesn't wish to recognize is this: a Blackberry is, by definition, not secure. It has no encryption and all the e-mails you send and receive go through an unsecure server located in Canada.

There are several foreign espionage services that spend substantial resources to break into American political, military and intelligence agencies. They have had varying degrees of success (as we've had with them), and they're going to keep trying. A Blackberry is an open invitation, and if Bambi can't figure that he's going to be hosed at some point in his presidency.
That's assuming he cares ....
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/19/2009 11:38 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  AFP reporter -- a news article is a who, what, when and where. Just couldn't resist the adjective "unpopular" before Bush's name, could you?
Posted by: Sherry || 01/19/2009 13:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Another opinion. With an interesting tidbit at the end...
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/19/2009 13:39 Comments || Top||

#3  somebody in Chicago can send me an email and say, 'What are you doing wearing?'
Posted by: .5MT || 01/19/2009 13:41 Comments || Top||

#4  It is not only that people can read tyour traffic but also you have zero gurantees about who sent you a message:

eg:

From Norad:
Russian missiles are heading for New York.
Posted by: JFM || 01/19/2009 13:53 Comments || Top||

#5  N! U!
Posted by: .5MT || 01/19/2009 13:58 Comments || Top||

#6  I want to be able to have voices,

Some of us take medication to make the voices go away.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/19/2009 14:11 Comments || Top||

#7  "If I'm doing something stupid, somebody in Chicago can send me an email and say, 'What are you doing?'

It would appear the United States Secret Service is already sending you the "stupid" message. Would you prefer it be sent from their Chicago field office?
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/19/2009 14:16 Comments || Top||

#8  I don't particularly mind the voices, except the bastids can't harmonize worth a dang.

Srsly.
Posted by: .5MT || 01/19/2009 14:17 Comments || Top||

#9  Obama said the smartphone was among the tools that he would use to stay in touch with real Americans

Why do I get the feeling that no 'real Americans' will have his number? Only commies and his handlers (like Ayers, and Ralm) will have a private (and secret) pipeline into his head.

There is a simple solution. Just post his number on the front page of every newspaper in the US. I guarantee he will go so much spam, viruses, and marriage proposals from SF guys that his blackberry will be absolutely useless.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 01/19/2009 15:42 Comments || Top||

#10  I think a big reason for this is that Bambi needs to have contact with certain folks without having that contact in the official records. Whether it's his preacher, or Ayers, or 50 other people we know nothing about today, he wants to talk with people without having the existence of those conversations, let alone their contents, known.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/19/2009 15:59 Comments || Top||

#11  Once he is sworn in those communications are official documents. That is why Bush stopped using email for personal communications. This could get interesting.
Posted by: tipover || 01/19/2009 16:16 Comments || Top||

#12  Infosec and crypto is so...right wing and yukky! After tomorrow we're all open and progressive and stuff.
Posted by: Cynicism Inc || 01/19/2009 16:27 Comments || Top||

#13  Only commies and his handlers (like Ayers, and Ralm) will have a private (and secret) pipeline into his head.

How much money would (for instance) it cost 3dc to render said pipe line no longer private and secret? I'm guessing less than $ 5 k. I'm also guessing that foreign intelligence agencies already have similar setups, sufficiently productized that they appear to be (and for the most part are) laptops with antennas sticking out one of the USB ports. They probably don't even need to be Line-of-sight to the President-elect/President, just in the same general area.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/19/2009 17:42 Comments || Top||

#14  Basically, he's living in a fools' paradise if he thinks anything he's doing on the thing is private.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/19/2009 17:43 Comments || Top||

#15  "Beloved Blackberry" > D *** NG IT, but only everyone has a Laptop, Blackberry, IPOD, etc. but me - WHY, MORIARITY, WHY!?

Is it true, has my beloved PAUL SIMON/ORVILLE BOW TIE MEMBERSHIP CARD LIED AND BETRAYED ME???

* AL BUNDY > IS IT TRUE. GOD, WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT YOU - ARE YOU A BIG FAT WOMAN???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/19/2009 18:15 Comments || Top||

#16  I suppose he thinks email is secure too.

Didn't they make a big pile if stink over Sarah Palin having a Yahoo email account?

Hey! Maybe he can use it to keep track of the NUCLEAR CODES! Thats the ticket!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 01/19/2009 18:27 Comments || Top||

#17  Don't those things effectively broadcast your location?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 01/19/2009 19:21 Comments || Top||

#18  Nothing like having an Crackberry addict for a president.

Hope the Secret Service is ready and wearing vests ....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/19/2009 19:24 Comments || Top||

#19  When it falls out your pocket and crashes its called a dingleberry.

Had the same concern as NS.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/19/2009 20:48 Comments || Top||

#20  My money says Candian Intel alreay has every email he's ever sent or received.
Posted by: Mike N. || 01/19/2009 22:17 Comments || Top||

#21  Obama's behaviour reminds me of Clinton's.

He doesn't care about security.

Problem is, Americans are going to pay for it.

With their lives.
Posted by: Leroidavid || 01/19/2009 23:43 Comments || Top||


Obama Aides Offer Preview of Inaugural Speech
As a growing celebratory spirit began to consume the nation's capital, advisers to President-elect Barack Obama today gave a taste of his inaugural address, saying it will emphasize the themes of responsibility and restoring public confidence in the United States.

Obama ventured across the city two days before his swearing-in, making a series of appearances that culminated in an afternoon concert at the Lincoln Memorial. Earlier in the day, he and Vice President-elect Joseph Biden visited Arlington National Cemetery to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. Obama and his family later attended a service at the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church.

As Obama rode from place to place in his new armored Cadillac -- with the license plate "44" -- his aides made television appearances to preview his tightly held speech and to remind the public of his immediate goals upon taking over the presidency on Tuesday. Robert Gibbs, the incoming White House press secretary, said Obama had written the speech himself last weekend, and was relieved to have the bulk of it complete.

Obama will talk about restoring a sense of responsibility in the country, Gibbs said, conveying his belief that "we need more responsibility and accountability, certainly, in the way our government acts."

"We have to have it, certainly, within many of our financial institutions that sort of have gotten us to where we are in this economic crisis today," Gibbs said on "Fox News Sunday." "Obviously, the American people are going to have to give some."

Rahm Emanuel, the incoming chief of staff, said the "culture of responsibility" would be sought for American leaders as well as the population at large. "We need that culture of responsibility, not just to be asked of the American people, but its leaders must also lead by example," Emanuel said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Obama takes office facing giant challenges, including a severe economic downturn and two foreign wars, and his speech is expected to take those hardships into account. Like President John F. Kennedy, who summoned citizens to think about what they could contribute to the nation, Obama hopes to turn some of the focus back onto the electorate as he did with his grass-roots-driven presidential campaign. In that sense, Obama will also hearken to a theme that belonged to outgoing President George W. Bush, who in his 2000 campaign talked about ushering in a "responsibility era."

Aides who have seen parts of the Obama speech said they expect it to meet or surpass expectations from a president-elect known for his soaring oratory.

But Obama and his aides are also working to downplay expectations for how much he can accomplish in his first days in office. Gibbs said the economy "is likely to get worse before it gets better," with a recession perhaps extending past Obama's first year as president.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/19/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Great pic to go with this, an dirty, overweight libertine who has turned his back on his civilization. The archetypal white Obama voter.
Posted by: no mo uro || 01/19/2009 6:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Rahm Emanuel, the incoming chief of staff, said the "culture of responsibility" would be sought for American leaders as well as the population at large."

"Obviously, the American people are going to have to give some."

I've been "responsible" and "giving" for quite some time. I'm not into Groupthink or group punishment. You can all go straight to hell!

Posted by: Besoeker || 01/19/2009 6:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Rahm Emanuel

The more I hear of this guy, the less I like him.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/19/2009 8:22 Comments || Top||

#4  "We need that culture of responsibility, not just to be asked of the American people, but its leaders must also lead by example," Emanuel said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Ha ha ha! Good one, Rahm!
Posted by: Speaker Pelosi || 01/19/2009 9:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Oh joy, i get to be lectured by people who make twenty times what I do about how selfish and uncaring I am.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/19/2009 9:39 Comments || Top||

#6  If you think I'm renegotiating my mortgage, Rahm, you're outta your friggin mind.
Posted by: Sen. Christopher Dodd || 01/19/2009 9:42 Comments || Top||

#7  That's going to really shake his base. They haven't felt "responsible" for anything in so long, they won't know what to do once the Messiah gives them this order from on high.
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie || 01/19/2009 9:45 Comments || Top||

#8  Rahm Emanuel is one of the adults. He's a stone cold corrupt Chicago Pol, but he is a pro. Keep and eye out for the reappearance of Ickes.
Posted by: .5MT || 01/19/2009 12:15 Comments || Top||

#9  and Sid "Vicious" Blumenthal. The Restoration is nearly complete
Posted by: Frank G || 01/19/2009 13:00 Comments || Top||

#10  Aides who have seen parts of the Obama speech said they expect it to meet or surpass expectations from a president-elect known for his soaring oratory.

Just pray that teleprompter don't break...
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/19/2009 13:48 Comments || Top||

#11  This doesn't apply to me, right?
Posted by: Barney Frank || 01/19/2009 13:50 Comments || Top||

#12  What about me? Cut a brother some slack, okay, man?
Posted by: Charlie Rangel || 01/19/2009 13:51 Comments || Top||

#13  WORLD MIL FORUM > OBAMA's "CHINA POLICY" IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FOR OBAMA AND HIS NEW ADMIN.

ALso on WMF > VARIOUS POSTERS - opine that POTUS OBAMA may STEP DOWN AS POTUS SOMETIME IN 2009; or ni the altern that POTUS OBAMA MAY BE ASSASSINATED, that POTUS OBAMA's ATTEMPTS AT [anti-BUSH/PRO-PEACE]US REFORMS WILL MEET HEAVY INTERNAL US POLITICAL RESISTANCE AND WILL ULTIMATELY FAIL, that an ANTI-OBAMA WALL STREET or MIC CABAL TO DOMINATE WASHINGTON DC + FOREIGN-ECON POLICIES, + [weakening]US MAY HAVE TO ACCEPT CHINA-JAPAN/ASIA INTEGRATION AND POSSIBLE UNIFICATIONS???

Also > CHINA MUST BECOME MILITARILY AGGRESSIVE TO SAVE ITSELF AND ASIA FROM US IMPERIALISM, RADICAL MILITANT THREATS.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/19/2009 21:56 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
India's fast breeder nuclear reactors to be redesigned to cut costs
Chennai, Jan 19 (IANS) Scientists and engineers at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) are hoping to save around Rs.5 billion (Rs.500 crore or $104 million) by modifying the design of four fast reactors on the anvil for nuclear power plants.

"The proposed reactors are going to be different in many ways from the prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR) designed by us and which are under construction," IGCAR director Baldev Raj told IANS. With the Rs.35-billion PFBR project progressing at good pace at Kalpakkam, 80 km from here, the Indian government has sanctioned building of four more 500 MW fast reactors.

A breeder reactor is one that breeds more material for a nuclear fission reaction than it consumes, so that the reaction - that ultimately produces electricity - can continue. The Indian fast reactors will be fuelled by a blend of plutonium and uranium oxide. While the reactor will use fission plutonium for power production, it will also breed more plutonium than what it uses from the natural uranium.

The surplus plutonium from each fast reactor can be used to set up more such reactors and grow the nuclear capacity in tune with India's needs. These reactors are also called fast spectrum reactors since the neutrons coming from the fission will not be moderated. Two of the proposed reactors will come up in Kalpakkam, the site for which has been approved, while the location for the remaining two are yet to be finalised. According to Raj, the four reactors will be designed to last 60 years - an increase of 20 years over PFBR's current life span.

"The blueprint for the four oxide fuel fast reactors is ready. The roadmap for research and development will be ready next month," reactor engineering group director S.C. Chetal told IANS. According to him, the idea is to sell power at Rs.2 per unit as compared to Rs.3.20 per unit from PFBR; hence the effort to reduce the capital cost. Detailing the cost-cutting steps, Chetal said: "The proposed reactors will be built as twin units. That means many of the facilities will be shared by the two reactors, which in turn saves capital and running costs." For instance, there will be fewer welding points, making the reactors safer and more economical.

"The savings will be achieved from reduced material consumption through innovative design design," said P. Chellapandi, director, safety group. Chellapandi said the safety vessel of the proposed reactors will be smaller than the one installed inside the PFBR's reactor vault: its diameter will be reduced to 11.5 metres from 12.9 metres. "A reduction of one metre will result in an overall saving of Rs.25 crore (Rs.250 million) on material, fabrication and civil construction." The new design fast reactors will have six steam generators as against eight in the PFBR and changes will be made in the grid plate, sodium and reactor shutdown systems.

With the experience gained from fabricating giant equipment and the country embarking on a major fast-breeder reactor programme, vendors should be able to lower price. These apart, the focus will be on sourcing local components and raw materials to save costs. Imports for PFBR consist of sodium and high grade steel, both sourced from France. "The design changes in the proposed reactors do not mean PFBR is over-designed. The proposed changes will be realistic or less conservative," said Chellapandi. With the experience gained from PFBR, the new projects can be completed in five years as against seven years, the officials feel.

Chennai, Jan 19 (IANS) Plans for two more fast breeder reactors at the nuclear power complex in Kalpakkam near here are proceeding fast, even as India's first 500 MW fast breeder nuclear reactor plant is fast coming up at the complex.

The fast breeder reactor operating company Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (Bhavini) will soon start pre project activities for the construction of two more reactors at Kalpakkam, 80 km from this Tamil Nadu capital. A breeder reactor is one that breeds more material for a nuclear fission reaction than it consumes. The reaction produces energy that is used in the form of electricity.

The Indian fast reactors will be fuelled by a blend of plutonium and uranium oxide. While the reactor will break up (fission) plutonium for power production, it will also breed more plutonium than it consumes. The original plutonium comes from natural uranium. The surplus plutonium from each fast reactor can be used to set up more such reactors and grow the nuclear capacity in tune with India's energy needs.

These reactors are also called fast spectrum reactors since the neutrons coming from the fission will not be moderated. "Having got the approval from the site selection committee, we are taking the next step of preparing the site for construction," Prabhat Kumar, project director, told IANS. According to him the pre project activities such as levelling the site, laying of roads, setting up assembly shops and others will "get started next fiscal and would require substantial sums". But he did not give a specific number.

The government has sanctioned construction of four more 500 MW fast reactors of which two will be housed inside the existing nuclear island at Kalpakkam and expected to be ready by 2020. Decision on locating the remaining two fast reactors is yet to be taken. The proposed reactors will also be powered by mixed oxide fuel - a blend of plutonium and uranium oxides - like the upcoming 500 MW prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR) in the same complex.

Similarly, construction of the Fast Reactor Fuel Cycle Facility is expected to start soon. The facility will have a fuel reprocessing plant, fuel fabrication plant, core sub-assembly plant, reprocessed uranium oxide plant and waste management plant. The facility will not only fabricate the mixed oxide fuel and fuel sub assemblies for the fast reactors at Kalpakkam but also reprocess and refabricate the spent fuel that comes out of these reactors.

The purpose of fuel reprocessing facility is to recover and use the fissile and fertile component in the spent fuel. "The facility would involve an outlay of around Rs.20 billion (Rs.2,000 crore/$411 million) and will be ready by 2014 so as to reprocess the spent fuel from PFBR," Baldev Raj, director, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), told IANS.

The PFBR, expected to go on stream sometime at the end of 2010, will have its fuel fabricated at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai. According to Raj, co-locating the fuel fabrication and reprocessing facilities has several advantages - in terms of safety, security and logistics - which in turn makes the effort economical. "Similarly there will be a separate facility for the two other proposed 500 MW fast reactors," he added. In addition, IGCAR is also building a lab-sized reprocessing plant for metallic fuel - the fuel of future fast reactors.

India's nuclear establishment has decided to go for metallic fuel as it enables faster breeding of plutonium than is consumed for energy generation. These facilities will be in addition to the existing plant at Kalpakkam that reprocesses the spent fuel from the Madras Atomic Power Station and the Fast Breeder Test Reactor.
Posted by: john frum || 01/19/2009 17:06 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The key benefit from fast neutron reactors is that they can be used to recycle fuel from conventional plants and can make fuel directly from natural uranium without enrichment, greatly reducing the cost of nuclear fuel production and disposal.

We were going to do the same thing until Clinton/Gore canceled the plant.
Posted by: crosspatch || 01/19/2009 17:25 Comments || Top||

#2  The surplus plutonium from each fast reactor can be used to set up more such reactors and grow the nuclear capacity in tune with India's needs.

Uh, it can be used for other things too.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 01/19/2009 19:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Not necessarily. The isotope of plutonium produced by these things is not a desirable isotope for weapons use but will work nicely for reactor fuel.

See "Smarter use of Nuclear Waste" from December 2005 Scientific American. You can search on it with Google and find the pdf of the article at various places. Good background on these reactors.
Posted by: crosspatch || 01/19/2009 19:45 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Bush Commutes Sentences for Two Former Border Patrol Agents
On his last full day in office, President Bush commuted the sentences of two former Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a Mexican drug runner in 2005.

The imprisonment of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean had sparked outcry from critics who said the two were just doing their jobs. They had been sentenced to 11- and 12-year sentences, respectively. Their prison sentences will now expire on March 20 of this year.

The two were sentenced in connection with the shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, who was shot in the buttocks while trying to flee along the Texas border. He admitted smuggling several hundred pounds of marijuana on the day he was shot and pleaded guilty last year to drug charges related to two other smuggling attempts.

Bush has been cautious in his use of pardon powers, and particularly careful when it comes to commutations of prison terms. Where a pardon is an official forgiveness of a crime (typically requested at least five years after the completion of a prison term), a commutation is a reduction of sentence.
Posted by: Sherry || 01/19/2009 13:22 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  bout f*cking time.
Posted by: Frank G || 01/19/2009 13:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Adios, lefty assholes...
Posted by: George W. Bush || 01/19/2009 13:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Yes. Yes it is about fucking time.
Posted by: .5MT || 01/19/2009 13:42 Comments || Top||

#4  Should have been a pardon.
Posted by: Muggsy Glink || 01/19/2009 13:47 Comments || Top||

#5  yes, it should. Libby too
Posted by: Frank G || 01/19/2009 14:06 Comments || Top||

#6  Among the things they did was interfere with evidence and other cover up stuff. I think a pardon would be wrong.

On the other hand the sentence was high because there was a mandatory 10-year rule for discharging a firearm in the commission of a crime.

The commutation makes a lot of sense. It should have been done months ago.
Posted by: mhw || 01/19/2009 14:57 Comments || Top||

#7  As a Texan, I can at least welcome Bush back home.

And since many non-American Mexican Nationals who have been here illegally taking jobs from Americans and Mexican Amerian Citizens, MExican Nationals that are leaving due to the sour economy, I can only thank the Democratically controlled Congress of two years for that.
Posted by: six-gun neo-con || 01/19/2009 15:01 Comments || Top||

#8  Horseshit, should have been a full pardon.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 01/19/2009 15:01 Comments || Top||

#9  Too bad the bullet didn't travel a 'bit farther north' after hitting his a*s.

Sinktrap me if you wish. That's how I feel about this sort of scum.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 01/19/2009 15:03 Comments || Top||

#10  I concur, should have been a Pardon.

BTW: The LEFT, Media Rags, Tee Wee and the Congressional Leadership are going to persecute Bush & Co. until they are doing time or are convicted.

When Push came to Shove Prez. Bush abandoned us, his base with ease on too many issues and occasions.

Well his future and fate belongs with the Lefty elites now, Let's see how much Mercy they have reserved for him!

When will the checked Panted Repubs recognize that Politics are a full contact sport.
Posted by: Red Dawg || 01/19/2009 15:11 Comments || Top||

#11  I disagree. They tampered with evidence. A commutation is more appropriate.

Davida needs to be deported after finishing his term and warned about what will for sure happen to him if he ever crosses the border again.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/19/2009 15:56 Comments || Top||

#12  What consequences, "serious" consequences. After all many have been sent back multiple times. Consequences sure... you betcha.
Posted by: illeagle || 01/19/2009 18:10 Comments || Top||

#13  I agree it should have been a full pardon. Regarding tampering with evidence, supervisors were on site during the exchange. Also for Davila to come up with being hit in the buttocks a full week after the incident without being infected etc, seems very suspicious to me.
Posted by: Jan || 01/19/2009 22:59 Comments || Top||


Hindu woman priest in Obama inaugural prayer service
A Hindu woman priest will be among six religious leaders specially invited to participate in the National Prayer Service on January 21, a day after Barack Obama is sworn-in as the president of America.
I understand they've also got a disabled black lesbian dwarf Vestal virgin on tap.
Let me guess which word in that sentence triggered the Muffler Man. :-)
Dr Uma Mysorekar, president of the Hindu Temple Society of North America will offer "responsive prayers" at the special service which will "symbolise America's traditions of religious tolerance and freedom", the Presidential Inaugural Committee said.
And don't even miss the Aztec sacrifices on the newly build Mall pyramid.

Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What, no Lakota shaman?
Posted by: mojo || 01/19/2009 3:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Also, it's "President of the United States." "America" is a continent. Two, actually.
Posted by: mojo || 01/19/2009 3:03 Comments || Top||

#3  I demand a pirate with a bowl of noodles be present!
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/19/2009 5:17 Comments || Top||

#4  'special service will "symbolise America's traditions of religious tolerance and freedom", the Presidential Inaugural Committee said.'

Except for tolerating devout Christians, Catholics, conservative Jews, etc.

Because they're evil, n' stuff.
Posted by: no mo uro || 01/19/2009 5:55 Comments || Top||

#5  Oppressed Wickens drop your brooms and UNITE! Your voices must be heard.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/19/2009 7:52 Comments || Top||

#6  Who's going to represent the Nordic Gods of Yore?
This is totally unacceptable!
Call it RACISM or what-have-you.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 01/19/2009 10:31 Comments || Top||

#7  Man, I'da cleaned up under this guy just in Kool Aid sales.
Too bad I'm dead...
Posted by: The Ghost of Jim Jones || 01/19/2009 10:37 Comments || Top||

#8  president of America.

Better watch out Canada and Mexico. Heh, who knows, maybe even Hugo should be concerned.
Posted by: Glolusing Barnsmell3409 || 01/19/2009 10:59 Comments || Top||

#9  Don't gloat, you guys mix up the U.K. and England all the time.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/19/2009 11:14 Comments || Top||

#10  Drinking too much Kool-Aid can lead to a hangover, or worse! Watch yer intake, and watch yer wallet.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/19/2009 11:41 Comments || Top||

#11  Don't gloat, you guys mix up the U.K. and England all the time.

Aren't they the same? Nothing worse than calling a Welshman English...
Posted by: Beavis || 01/19/2009 11:42 Comments || Top||

#12  Is Eerie somehow connected to the UK thingy?
Posted by: .5MT || 01/19/2009 12:12 Comments || Top||

#13  I really hated when the left nit-picked EVERY thing that Bush did or said during his Presidency. We (conservatives) are in danger of becoming that exteme if we do the same. A hidu priest, lakota shaman, Vodoo, witch doctor? Hey if he wants them at the table, God speed. I think we should give Barry something the left never gave Bush, a fair shake.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 01/19/2009 13:20 Comments || Top||

#14  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ That.

But we can still has fun?
Posted by: .5MT || 01/19/2009 13:57 Comments || Top||

#15  Actually, Obama's mom took him around to all kinds of religious places/services, etc. when he was a boy, and taught him that all was only man's way to try to make sense of the world, and that all religion and beliefs were essentially, fake--that politics were the only "saviour." Obama is just doing what he was taught and believes. He thinks HE is the answer and that a socialist government under HIS leadership is the answer to everything. The reason people can't read Obama is that he grew up in Indonesia. The culture there is very specific and does not share interactive modalities with the West--there is a "hanging back," and a certain "politeness," and a "blank slate" approach that allows people to "fill in the blanks" they see with what they want to see. Obama has already written about everything he believes and what he wants to do, and I think people should pay more attention to it.

Also, the race issue for Obama comes from Chicago, where race issues are still a REALLY BIG PROBLEM. I think he needs to catch up with the rest of the country, and realize he is culture-bound. No politician has ever majored on changing things for the first Americans, the Native Americans, and it really pisses me off. Obama is only about black people. I'm not being racist, it's just that his identity is tied to that exclusively.
Posted by: ex-lib || 01/19/2009 15:40 Comments || Top||

#16  Damn ex-lib is a damn Injun? :)

Be cool.
Hope for the Best
makeer Hiakoo
Posted by: .5MT || 01/19/2009 15:45 Comments || Top||

#17  Obama is only about black people. I'm not being racist, it's just that his identity is tied to that exclusively. ex-lib

If the months of his campaigning revealed nothing, an objective look at the events of the inauguration and trek of the 10,000 buses should remove the scales from the most skeptical of eyes. This is not about the man from Old Albion.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/19/2009 17:51 Comments || Top||


Home Front Economy
Summers: Obama to keep jobless rate below 10 percent
Larry Summers, the incoming director of the National Economic Council, predicted Sunday that President-elect Obama would keep the unemployment rate below 10 percent.

"I think while we're going to see substantial job losses, frankly what's important about the president's program here is that it is going to contain what would otherwise be just a vicious cycle," Summers said on CBS's "Face the Nation". "People spend less, therefore, others earn less, therefore, they spend less."
Posted by: Fred || 01/19/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Stagflation here we come.
Posted by: phil_b || 01/19/2009 1:46 Comments || Top||

#2  I just don't get it, why doesn't he just fly backwarcd real fast around the earth to make time goes back, until it's before the crisis again? He can do that.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 01/19/2009 4:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Cuz his cape would fly up over his head.
Posted by: gorb || 01/19/2009 4:35 Comments || Top||

#4  Keeping the bar high.
Posted by: mhw || 01/19/2009 4:47 Comments || Top||

#5  Americans digging real American holes in America, and then filling them in again!

Jobs are a cost, it's what the job does that counts.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/19/2009 5:19 Comments || Top||

#6  I'm surprised they let him say this. The past week has been one of absolute smashing of expectations, in order to prevent the emperor from appearing to actually have clothes (dirty and poorly made) at some near future point.

I guess that guy Summers just can't help but stick his foot in it, can he?
Posted by: no mo uro || 01/19/2009 5:58 Comments || Top||

#7  B-b-b-b-but listen to Guy, he's our idea man. Some good, some... er huh, not so good. Ten to 15 percent is out goal. It may get up to 19 or 21, but as Guy has indicated, our goal is to keep the jobless rate under 15 percent.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/19/2009 7:46 Comments || Top||

#8  Before or after he starts curing scrofula by laying of hands?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/19/2009 8:20 Comments || Top||

#9  Summers: Obama to keep "American" jobless rate below 10 percent

Fixed it for you. No acknowledgement that all those jobs that move overseas in the last couple decades also took the unemployment with them. Otherwise, we'd be already headed to beyond 10% [Thanks to the political interference in the banking industry and their 'do little or nothing' hacks in the regulatory offices].
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/19/2009 8:58 Comments || Top||

#10  Don't forget who it is that gets to define "unemployment".

Amazing what the power of definition is. Vis a vis a discussion last week here, we could make most all of the US a healthy rate by a simple change to the BMI formula.

Once you've defined your goal, just move the number to match.
Posted by: AlanC || 01/19/2009 9:51 Comments || Top||

#11  Obama Will Avoid Red Giant Stage For Sure
Sekret plan to avoid catastrophik bad is in the works, say Scientsists and Esperts, Reppublikans still holdouts tho.
Posted by: .5MT || 01/19/2009 14:06 Comments || Top||

#12  Do I see "Son of CETA" on the horizon?
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/19/2009 17:25 Comments || Top||

#13  Does getting a handout from the gov count as a job? Professional Work-Rest Technician or some junk?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/19/2009 19:05 Comments || Top||

#14  CETA II is a good call with all the make-work phoney-baloney jobs that entails
Posted by: Frank G || 01/19/2009 19:27 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
33[untagged]
6Hamas
4Taliban
3TTP
3Govt of Pakistan
3Hezbollah
1Iraqi Insurgency
1Jaish-e-Mohammad
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1Jemaah Islamiyah
1Lashkar e-Taiba
1Muslim Brotherhood
1al-Qaeda in Yemen
1al-Qaeda in North Africa

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2009-01-19
  Qaeda in North Africa hit by plague
Sun 2009-01-18
  Olmert: Israel's goals in Cast Lead have been attained
Sat 2009-01-17
  Israel Unilateral Cease Fire in Effect
Fri 2009-01-16
  Elite Hamas ''Iran'' Battalion Wiped Out
Thu 2009-01-15
  Senior Hamas figure Said Siam killed in airstrike
Wed 2009-01-14
  Hamas accepts Egyptian proposal for Gaza cease-fire
Tue 2009-01-13
  Israelis Push to Edge of Gaza City
Mon 2009-01-12
  Israeli reservists swarm into Gaza
Sun 2009-01-11
  Hamas rejects international observers in Gaza
Sat 2009-01-10
  Israel to continue offensive despite UN resolution
Fri 2009-01-09
  New Year's Missile Strike Killed Top Al-Qaeda Operatives
Thu 2009-01-08
  Katyusha rockets falling in Israel's North on the town of Nahariya
Wed 2009-01-07
  Screech urges Muslims to attack Israeli and Western targets over Gaza op
Tue 2009-01-06
  First major Israel-Hamas fighting in Gaza City
Mon 2009-01-05
  Battles begin in N Gaza; many hamas operatives captured


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.
18.117.189.7
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (20)    WoT Background (24)    Opinion (2)    Local News (3)    Politix (2)