Thursday - September 04, 2008
11 year old Brit citizen and mom trapped in Russia. From Russia with love?
what sort of creep uses a kid to get even with an ex wife? Lower then whale poo. I know ppl do this sort of thing a lot and I think it’s despicable. He cares nothing for the child or what angst she must feel. Mom may have made a mistake re. the passport. But that shouldn’t be used as a club to legally batter her and her daughter. I’ve heard the expression, it takes all kinds. The question is, Why?
HAMPSHIRE CHRONICLE
by Laura DowntonAN 11-year-old schoolgirl from Kings Worthy is currently “trapped” in Russia after her father made a legal order to stop her from returning home.
Victoria Osborne, a former Kings Worthy Primary School pupil, who speaks little Russian, went on holiday with her mother, Tatiana, to visit her grandmother in Saratov during the summer break.
(Kings Worthy is a village about 2 miles from us. So far it’s a local story. )
She was due to return to her Ilex Close home last Thursday, and start a new phase of her life at secondary school.But when she arrived at the airport in Moscow, she was stopped from taking the flight by Russian authorities, according to her stepfather, Dr Patrick Osborne.
Without any warning her biological father, Yuri Gladkikh - who Dr Osborne said has played no part in her life for eight years - imposed a restriction that banned her from leaving the country for the next seven years.
Her devastated mother was told she was free to go, but had to leave her daughter behind. She refused, and remains in Russia too.
Now Dr Osborne is fighting to bring the pair home.
The situation has arisen because the law in Russia allows divorced parents to block the movements of their children out of the country at any time until they are 18.
Although Victoria, known by friends as Vicka’, and Tatiana, are British citizens, they entered Russia on their Russian passports, and are therefore subject to Russian law.
Tatiana, who is ironically undertaking research at Birmingham University to improve cultural understanding between Britain and Russia, said: “Had we known about the imposition of this restriction we would never have gone to Russia this summer.”
The mother and daughter have returned to Saratov to stay with Victoria’s grandmother while they try to resolve the situation. The only way they can return home is if Mr Gladkikh withdraws the restriction keeping her there, or if it is overturned by a court.
Dr Osborne says he is desperately trying to co-ordinate negotiations with the man to let Victoria go.
He said: “It won’t be easy, but we are determined to help Vicka through this and to get our family back together.
“She’s increasingly distressed and it’s going to get harder and harder the longer it goes on for her.
“It is unbelievable that any parent, however far-removed from daily upbringing, would deny his child the right to a good education, access to her home, and friends.”
The 52-year-old said he and Victoria have been like any “normal father and daughter” since he married Tatiana five years ago.
Tatiana, 34, separated from Victoria’s father about eight years ago.
Dr Osborne added: “Initially it was just the overall worry that you don’t know what’s going on - it’s a feeling of not being able to help your family.
“Now I know they’re physically safe and healthy, so it’s the long-term things that worry me.
“It’s very difficult being away from Tatiana. At a time like this the person that could best comfort you is your wife, but she’s not here. My friends and family have been brilliant with their support though.
“The law exists probably for good reason so parents can see their children, but it can be abused, and I think that’s what we have now.”
Vicka, who has been wholly educated in Britain, was due to start at The Westgate School today (Thursday) after excelling in her SATS exams earlier this year.
Dr Osborne is hoping the school will send work via e-mail so that she can still be educated over the Internet.
Dr Osborne said Vicka told him on the phone: “All I want to do is be back with my friends and go to school.
“I cannot speak Russian well enough to go to school here, and they do different stuff from us.”
Vicka’s former headteacher at Kings Worthy Primary School, Stash Kozlowski, said it would be an “absolute shame” if the schoolgirl could not return to her education in the UK.
He added: “She’s a lovely girl, hardworking, mature and she had lots of friends. She settled in well, I’m shocked.”
Dr Osborne has not yet taken the matter to the Russian Embassy in the UK, but he is in contact with the British Embassy in Russia, who he said are powerless as Vicka is in Russia under a Russian passport and therefore under Russian law.
Posted by peiper
on 09/04/2008 at 11:50 AM
Filed Under: • International • Miscellaneous •
• Comments (0)
•
Trackbacks (0) •
Permalink • Monday - September 01, 2008
Dutch withdraw spy from Iran because of ‘impending US attack’ . Say What? USA is gonna do what?
uh huh. Right. America is gonna bomb Iran. Sure we are. I wish we would and leave nothin alive. But we know that won’t happen so what the heck are the Dutch talking about?
These are the same folks that gave the world PC so I tend not to pay much attention to them.
Dutch withdraw spy from Iran because of ‘impending US attack’ .
Dutch withdraw spy from Iran because of ‘impending US attack’
The Dutch intelligence service has pulled an agent out of an “ultra-secret operation” spying on Iran’s military industry because spymasters in Netherlands believe a United States air attack was imminent.
By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels
Last Updated: 9:24AM BST 01 Sep 2008According to reports in the newspaper De Telegraaf, the country’s intelligence service, the AIVD, has stopped an espionage operation aimed at infiltration and sabotage of the weapons industry in Iran.
“The operation, described as extremely successful, was halted recently in connection with plans for an impending US air attack on Iran,” said the report.
“Targets would also be bombed which were connected with the Dutch espionage action.”
“Well placed” sources told the paper that a top agent had been recalled recently “because the US was thought to be making a decision within weeks to attack Iran with unmanned aircraft”.
“Information from the AIVD operation has in recent years been shared with the American CIA secret service.”
Brig Gen Seyyed Massoud Jazayeri, deputy chief of the Iranian armed forces, warned at the weekend that military attacks against Iran would trigger a Third World War.
“The exorbitant demands of the US leaders and the global Zionism which have created the current situation in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and Caucasus are gradually directing the world to the edge of the cliff,” he said.
The US has refused to rule out a military attack against Iran if its government continues to enrich uranium as part of its civilian nuclear programme, which the West suspects has the clandestine objective of developing atomic weapons.
Iran has warned it would close the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the entrance to the Gulf and a major oil shipping route, if it is attacked.
On Friday, the Israel newspaper Ma’ariv reported that Israel has stepped up preparations for a contingency plan to attack Iran, should diplomatic efforts, via the United Nations, fail to derail Tehran’s suspected nuclear weapons programme.
Posted by peiper
on 09/01/2008 at 11:24 AM
Filed Under: • Euro-Peons • International • Stoopid-People • War-Stories •
• Comments (6)
•
Trackbacks (0) •
Permalink • Saturday - August 30, 2008
Obama makes history but doubts remain . And the euro-peons are in love with him.
All things considered, if the europukes love him he’s wrong for America! Period.
This is the editorial comment in this morning’s Telegraph.
Some of the comments by ppl who think they know us (USA) because they’ve read Mao’s little red book or Marx can stick it. They really get to me. I shouldn’t read that far down. see link and scroll for comments.
The editorial spells out just why our presidential election is so important to ppl on this side of the world. I grudgingly understand and concede their reasoning may be valid. But it still bothers me that foreigners are working (on both sides) for ppl running for our highest office.
Obama makes history but doubts remain
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 30/08/2008For all that it was a foregone conclusion; for all the flowery rhetoric and talk of “change”; and despite the extravagant stage management, the nomination of the first African-American to be a candidate for the White House was a moment of historical significance. Barack Obama’s bid for the presidency, dismissed as fanciful just 18 months ago, is heavy with symbolism. He launched his campaign in Springfield, Illinois, the capital of the state he represents in the Senate and the home town of Abraham Lincoln, one of America’s most revered figures. His speech accepting the Democratic nomination was delivered exactly 45 years to the day after Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech before the Lincoln Memorial, following a civil rights march through Washington. This coincidence was a demonstration of how far America has come since 1963; it also raised the question of whether it has come far enough to elect a black man to the White House. Like it or not, that will be an issue in the weeks leading to polling day in November.
So, too, in view of John McCain’s surprise - and potentially shrewd - choice of Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, to be his Republican running mate, will the other issue that came to the fore in the Democratic race: the prospect of a woman president. At 72, Mr McCain will be the oldest candidate ever to run for the White House, so there is a heightened chance that his vice-president might succeed him while in office. The choice of Mrs Palin, a hard-working mother of five, might appeal to the supporters of Hillary Clinton, who will never be reconciled to the upstart who supposedly stole her presidency.
At the Democratic convention in Denver, the Clintons were unequivocal in their public support for Mr Obama, whatever their private disappointment and misgivings. It was Mr Obama’s task in his keynote address to reach beyond the party and explain what an Obama presidency would look like. To be frank, we are no clearer. His delivery was mercifully shorn of much of the blowhard oratory to which he easily succumbs. But the staging was excessively glitzy, reminiscent of the hubristic rally at Sheffield in 1992 which helped to cook Neil Kinnock’s goose: it may play well with the party faithful but, to us on this side of the Atlantic at least, is simply cringe-making.
Mr Obama does not need to persuade the British of his suitability for office, since we do not have a vote. However, we have a powerful interest in the diplomatic, economic and moral acumen of the occupant of the White House. We have seen in the past year how America’s debt crisis has helped engineer a recession here, so we need to be clear that Mr Obama’s economic policies will not make matters worse and he has given welcome signals, especially on the tax front. Over the past month, the world has become more dangerous, with the Russian invasion of Georgia reminding us all that geo-political instability did not end with the collapse of the Soviet Union. How would Mr Obama, with no foreign policy experience and untested in times of trouble, cope with an international crisis? He addressed this in his speech, pointing out that Roosevelt and Kennedy showed there was nothing inherently weak in Democratic presidencies. These are risky comparisons to make.
Mr McCain, who will formally accept his party’s nomination at the Republican convention in Minneapolis next week, has portrayed his adversary as lacking experience, gravitas or any of the qualities needed in an uncertain world. In truth, we are as much in the dark about Mr McCain. Unquestionably, the selection of the two candidates has been a riveting spectacle. But we need to know a lot more about both of them between now and November 4.
Posted by peiper
on 08/30/2008 at 10:51 AM
Filed Under: • International • Politics •
• Comments (1)
•
Trackbacks (0) •
Permalink • Wednesday - August 20, 2008
Nato offers scant comfort for Georgia over conflict with Russia. (watch the video guys)
How this is being covered over on this side of the pond.
Major divisions opened up between Nato members as European countries rejected an American proposal to suspend ties with Russia over its actions in Georgia.
By Adrian Blomfield in Tbilisi
Last Updated: 7:55AM BST 20 Aug 2008
The differences at an emergency summit in Brussels offered scant comfort for Georgia, which had hoped that its bid for Nato membership would be expedited.
While the alliance agreed to create a Nato-Georgia Commission which will support the country’s economic recovery, there was no mention of speeding up the membership process.
The summit was expected to present a united front against what Western countries say has been an act of unconscionable aggression against an important ally.
The United States had called for a formal suspension of ministerial meetings with Moscow by Nato countries, but European members made clear they favoured a much milder approach.
Even Britain, which has been broadly supportive of Washington’s robust condemnation of the Kremlin, chose to side with the Europeans in rejecting a proposal to freeze the Nato-Russia council, established in 2002 to boost relations between Moscow and the West.
“I am not one that believes that isolating Russia is the right answer to its misdemeanours,” said David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary.
“I think the right answer is hard-headed dialogue.”
Mr Miliband arrived in Georgia later to express Britain’s support for the government of President Mikheil Saakashvili.
He lashed out at Russia for reneging on three separate pledges to withdraw from Georgia and missing a new deadline of noon on Monday to pull out, describing the Kremlin’s recalcitrance as “incomprehensible”.
“The world is asking Russia to live up to its commitments.”
Mr Miliband warned that the pressure on Russia would grow as it continued to defy international consensus and hinted that Moscow’s presence in international forums like the G8 was at risk.
But the foreign secretary denied that Nato had been too soft, claiming that it had been a major step to get all 26 countries, including those traditionally more supportive of Russia, to speak with one voice.
“People expected that there would be a flaking away on issues like Georgia’s territorial integrity but there hasn’t,” he said. “There hasn’t been an old Europe-new Europe divide.”
Mr Saakashvili praised both the foreign secretary and David Cameron, the leader of the opposition, for “setting the tone” in Europe with their robust support for Georgia.
With France and Germany, heavily dependent on Russian energy, urging caution and Italy broadly supporting the Kremlin’s actions, Nato issued a watered down statement expressing “grave concern”.
It told Russia that meetings could not take place while its troops remained in Georgia and said that relations could be damaged if a pull-out did not begin quickly.
“The Alliance is considering seriously the implications of Russia’s actions for the Nato-Russian relationship,” the statement read. “We have determined that we cannot continue with business as usual.”
The meeting prompted a mixture of scorn and outrage in Moscow, which continued to defy international calls for a full military withdrawal from Georgia.
Russia’s ambassador to Nato, Dmitry Rogozin, derided the summit as a “mountain that gave birth to a mouse”.
“All of these threats that have been raining down on Russia turned out to be empty words,” he said.
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, accused Nato of protecting a “criminal regime”.
Russia also pulled out of a Nato exercise in the Baltic Sea and cancelled a visit by a US naval frigate to the Kamchatka peninsula.
Some progress in alleviating the crisis was briefly visible after Georgia and Russia completed a prisoner-swap yesterday morning.
But an hour later, Russian troops smashed their way into the port of Poti, on Georgia’s Black Sea post. After blowing up the missile boat Dioskuria, the Georgian navy’s most sophisticated vessel, the Russians seized 21 Georgian servicemen and took them prisoner.
Blinded and handcuffed, the soldiers were then dragged to an unknown location. They also confiscated four American Humvees, used in a recent military exercise in Georgia, that were awaiting shipment back to the United States.
There was little visible evidence that a Russian withdrawal was underway, although officials in Moscow said it was and western correspondents were invited to see a small convoy of military vehicles leave the strategically important town of Gori.
But nearby, Russian soldiers continued to build trenches and in other towns there were no signs of a drawdown of forces.
Mr Lavrov, however, said that Russian troops could be pulled out of Georgia within three days although other officials refused to give a time frame.
The UN Security Council was due to meet to discuss a new draft resolution calling for respect of Georgia’s territorial integrity and the withdrawal of Russian troops.
http://tinyurl.com/6qdzz5
Posted by peiper
on 08/20/2008 at 04:20 AM
Filed Under: • International • UK • War-Stories •
• Comments (1)
•
Trackbacks (0) •
Permalink • Saturday - August 09, 2008
A taste of home for those who can escape
It looks like all our posts on and from the UK have caught the attention of some online shops. I’m getting very polite emails - “please consider exchanging links with our web site, for our mutual benefit” - from a number of American companies that specialize in British products. They all have a variety of merchandise, though a large part of it is candy and food. So if you’re from Over There and you somehow wind up Over Here, be at ease. Just a few clicks of the old mouse and you can still get your Frazzles bacon flavored crisps, your Digestives, your Walker’s Christmas Pudding, and all the John West kippers you can handle. Tea by Barry’s, PG Tips, Lyons, Taylors, etc. And the full line of Radox bath products. Can’t leave the Fairy Soap behind you know! Naturally they also carry a variety of meat pies, bangers, Danish bacon, ginger beer, shandy, and barley water. You can find all of their Indian products at much lower prices at any Indian market here, along with most of the tea brands.
After all, this is America, and we’ll sell anything to anyone. It’s what we do, and we learned it from you.
Reading these sites is making me hungry. Are these good brands? I don’t know. But I’m tempted to order a little here and there, just to see.
Posted by Drew458
on 08/09/2008 at 08:03 AM
Filed Under: • Fun-Stuff • International •
• Comments (8)
•
Trackbacks (0) •
Permalink • Friday - August 08, 2008
Too much crab!
Norwegian fishery authorities have extended the zone of free catch of the king crab in a bid to stagger the rapid spreading of the animal in the country’s northern waters.
The king crab, also known as the Kamchatka crab, is not only gourmet food and a curious creature in the Barents Sea and the Bering Sea. It is also the subject of major concern to ecologists, the fish industry and fishery authorities seeing it as a threat to the local eco-system.
Now, Norwegian authorities are taking new measures to restrict the spreading of the crab in its northern waters. According to a press release from the Norwegian Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs, unrestricted free catch of the crab is extended to parts of the Porsanger Fjord and areas east of the 26 longitude. From before, there is free catch on the crab to the west of the 26 longitude.
The king crab was introduced artificially in the Barents Sea during the 1960s when. The first animals were planted in the Murmansk Fjord to provide new catch for Soviet fishermen. Since its introduction it has spread west along the Norwegian coast and also towards the island group of Svalbard. Environmentalists and some local fishermen fear the crab because it eats everything it comes across and is spreading very rapidly.
King crab is in such demand that the catching of it has become some kind of reality television show. Up in Norway it’s a pest. They can’t get rid of them. Catch some more, please. Permits? You don’t need no steenkin permits!
Another great little news bit from the Barents Observer. Good stories, not so good English. But hey, their English is about ten million times better than my Finnish and Russian!
Posted by Drew458
on 08/08/2008 at 11:30 PM
Filed Under: • International •
• Comments (3)
•
Trackbacks (0) •
Permalink • Friday - August 01, 2008
The Mayor of London, has backed Barack Obama to become President of the United States.
This bothers me and I’ll just have to leave it to ppl like Grumps and Drew and Wardmom to articulate for me. What the hell is it with oh this will be good for black around the world? Why the hell should I care about that? Are they paying American taxes in darkest Afrika? Are they voting in my country?
Oh wait,,, for all I know ....
But why the heck a very public man like Boris who really is somewhat a conservative (using the term loosely of course) why he should insert himself into our elections is beyond my understanding. Far as I can tell, and okay I might be wrong here, I can’t think think of any American pol. who publicly backs any foreign office seeker for fear of being accused I suppose of interfering.
Boris Johnson backs Barack Obama as US President
Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, has backed Barack Obama to become President of the United States.By Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:34PM BST 01 Aug 2008His endorsement of the Democratic candidate, against John McCain, his Republican rival, would usually be considered unusual for a Conservative.
But during his recent European tour, Mr Obama proved successful at winning over politicians of all persuasions, charming David Cameron, the Conservative leader, who he met for talks in his House of Commons office.
A survey carried out last month found that a third of Tory MPs want the Democrat to emerge triumphant.
But the Mayor of London is the most high profile Conservative publicly to throw his weight behind Mr Obama.
He told this month’s Square Mile magazine: “I was looking at him on the news and just thinking what an amazing moment this is, watching his speech in Berlin and thinking what a critical moment this is for America and for attitudes towards what they can achieve amongst the black community.
“If Barack Obama can do it, it will be the most fantastic boost, I think, for black people everywhere around the world.”
Asked for his views on the Republican candidate, Mr Johnson said: “Well, OK, I think John McCain has many, many wonderful qualities, but I think a Barack Obama victory would do fantastic things for the confidence and the feelings of black people around the world - that they can win.”
Asked if his words amounted to an endorsement of the Democrat, he said: “Yes.”
Mr Cameron has also spoken of his admiration for Mr Obama, backing his controversial call for black fathers to take greater responsibility for their children, but has stopped short of endorsing him over Mr McCain.
In the interview, Mr Johnson, who was elected Mayor in May after toppling Labour’s Ken Livingstone, also told how much he was enjoying the new job, despite the long hours involved.
He said: “Exhausted? I am full of fire. I am like a greased bounding panther. My legs are steel springs and every day I get out of bed and I beat my chest.
“Every morning I am full of wonderment that the people of London have done the honour of making me their Mayor, I really am. It’s an absolutely wonderful feeling. I think many other people are full of wonderment too. “It’s a joy and easily the best job I’ve ever had - a very, very difficult job and a very, very big job - but the best job.
Posted by peiper
on 08/01/2008 at 09:14 AM
Filed Under: • Euro-Peons • International • UK •
• Comments (3)
•
Trackbacks (0) •
Permalink • Saturday - July 12, 2008
France Finds Obama’s missing nuts, gives them a try
A French court has denied citizenship to a Muslim woman from Morocco, ruling that her practice of “radical” Islam is not compatible with French values.
The 32-year-old woman, known as Faiza M, has lived in France since 2000 with her husband - a French national - and their three French-born children.
Social services reports said the burqa-wearing Faiza M lived in “total submission to her male relatives”.
Faiza M said she has never challenged the fundamental values of France.
Her initial application for French citizenship was rejected in 2005 on the grounds of “insufficient assimilation” into France.
She appealed, and late last month the Conseil d’Etat, France’s highest administrative body which also acts as a high court, upheld the decision to deny her citizenship.
Wow. Go figure. Sorry lady, you ain’t french enough. Maybe if she admitted to having several affairs, or to at least not being a virgin before marriage like in that other case ...
The big questions are 1) will they now tell her to leave the country?, 2) will her husband kill her over this insult to his honor?, and 3) will Obama ever notice they’re missing?
Posted by Drew458
on 07/12/2008 at 06:01 PM
Filed Under: • International •
• Comments (1)
•
Trackbacks (0) •
Permalink • Thursday - July 10, 2008
Our leaders are in carbon-cloud cuckoo land.
leaders are in carbon-cloud cuckoo land. Leaders? What leaders? We don’t got no stinkin’ leaders. oops. wrong movie.
I read this guy in The Telegraph a lot. He writes on this subject quite a bit and naturally takes bricksNbats due to his anti gorebal warming opinions.
And as well all know, only the tree huggers and gorebals have a right to opinions.
By Christopher Booker
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 10/07/2008For a perfect example of what is meant by “gesture politics” - an empty pledge given solely for effect, which the politician has no hope of honouring - one could not do better than this week’s commitment by the G8 leaders on how they want us to fight climate change.
Sitting on their cloud-wreathed Japanese mountain top, they solemnly agreed that, to halt global warming, their countries would aim by 2050 to halve their emissions of carbon dioxide.
A tiny indication of the fact that they didn’t really have a clue what they were talking about was a slip by Japan’s prime minister, Yasuo Fukuda, when he had to be corrected for announcing that the CO2 cut would be measured from “1990 levels”.
Even when he amended this to “present-day levels”, he was merely spouting empty words into the oriental air.
Three things make this aspiration by the leaders of the world’s “eight richest countries” not just vainglorious grandstanding, but positively dangerous.
The first is that, as well as having no idea how they could achieve such an absurdly ambitious target, they may inflict immeasurable damage on their economies just by trying to do so.
One after another, it is becoming clear that all the costly measures so far proposed to cut carbon emissions are pie-in-the-sky.
The drive for “renewable” sources of energy, such as building thousands of wind turbines, is turning out to be little more than self-deception (the combined output of all the 2,000 wind turbines so far built in Britain is less than that of a single, medium-sized, gas-fired power station).
Even the environmentalists have realised that biofuels are a farce, needing more CO2 to produce than they save. The EU’s much-vaunted “emissions trading scheme”, so far costing us all an estimated £40 billion, has not resulted in any reductions of CO2 emissions whatever.
If the G8’s leaders genuinely wanted to cut carbon emissions by 50 per cent over the next 40 years, this would mean taking steps they haven’t even begun to contemplate. It would require such a drastic cut in our energy use and standard of living that their peoples would have risen up in mass revolt long before the target was reached.
And nothing better shows up the unreality of all this - as President Bush tried to point out in the summit’s only flash of honesty - than the fact that China (not represented at the G8, although it now has the world’s fourth largest economy) is already putting out more CO2 than anyone else.
As it builds two new coal-fired power stations a week, China has no more intention than India of joining the Western economic suicide club.
The second reason why this infatuation with cutting carbon emissions is beginning to look extraordinarily reckless is that the whole scientific theory on which it is based now appears distinctly questionable.
The orthodox global-warming thesis, accepted by pretty well every politician in the Western world, but not by a growing number of scientists, is that, as CO2 levels in the atmosphere continue to rise, so too should global temperatures. Unless we can drastically reduce those CO2 levels, the world is thus threatened with catastrophe.
In the past year or two, however, evidence has been piling up to suggest that there may be a fundamental flaw in this theory. Even though atmospheric CO2 has continued to rise to levels not seen since the distant geological past, temperatures have not been following suit.
After 2000 the global temperature curve flattened out at a level significantly lower than the freak year 1998, and in recent months temperatures have dropped to levels not seen since the early 1980s.
Despite the best efforts of the global-warming lobby to keep the scare going, the northern hemisphere enjoyed its coldest winter for decades, and this summer has shown the curve sinking even lower.
Even the warmists are having to find excuses for the fact that their theory doesn’t exactly seem to be holding up, conceding that the next 10 years may see a period of global cooling, before the “underlying warming trend” returns worse than ever.
Other scientists point out that, rather than look to CO2 for an explanation of global temperatures, a much more convincing link can be seen in the activity of the sun, with current sunspot levels having dramatically fallen to levels associated with historic periods of global cooling recorded in the past.
Yet just when such huge question marks are being raised over the “CO2 equals warming” theory, our politicians have swallowed it whole, as an act of blind faith - using it to justify such massive costs to our economy that our whole way of life seems destined to change significantly for the worse.
The third respect in which all this is becoming seriously dangerous applies specifically to us here in Britain. While Gordon Brown prattles about wind turbines, and plays silly games for the cameras with electric cars, Britain within a few years is facing the near certainty of a massive shortfall in our electricity supplies.
By 2015, thanks to the obsolescence of our nuclear power plants and the forced closure of nine of our major coal and oil-fired power stations under EU anti-pollution rules, we are due to lose 40 per cent of our current generating capacity - and Mr Brown hasn’t the slightest practical idea of how to fill the gap.
Forget the nonsense about a 50 per cent cut in carbon emissions by 2050. Our Government has already committed Britain to go even further, by imposing a statutory cut of 60 per cent through its Climate Change Bill.
But long before that, unless those who rule us come down out of cloud cuckoo land very fast, our lights will go out, our computers will shut down, our economy will judder to a halt and we shall face a national catastrophe. We may well be meeting that 60 per cent target sooner than we think - but not for reasons that reflect well on our politicians, of any party.
Posted by peiper
on 07/10/2008 at 01:11 PM
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather • Environment • International • Oil, Alternative Energy, and Gas Prices •
• Comments (0)
•
Trackbacks (0) •
Permalink • Saturday - July 05, 2008
Drilling for bias, not getting a big hit for once. Good.
Hey, let’s blame big oil because african savages ... act like savages. And african governments are corrupt thieves who don’t give a phoot about their citizens. That’s my instant reaction seeing the headline.
... here it comes. Get out your nose plugs ...
OIL WELL NO. 1, Nigeria - Three decades after pumping its last drop, the first oil well in Nigeria is marked by a decrepit signboard bearing what would seem an uncontroversial statement:
Oloibiri Well No. 1, drilled June 1956, 12,008 feet. But this well, furred with rust, is at the center of an increasingly vitriolic feud between two villages over who owns the land beneath it. The conflict is fed by hopes that soaring prices will tempt big business to squeeze more oil from the well and give a pittance to the village that owns the land.
The tussle between Oloibiri and Otabagi brings into stark relief how villages that sit on the prodigious oil reserves in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest producer of crude, have barely profited from the booming industry. Corrupt officials have hoarded the government’s cut of profits, and energy firms have compensated locals with paltry payments worth a fraction of the hundreds of billions generated by drilling.
In both villages, children wander unclothed past heaps of burning trash. Oil spills have sullied the farmlands and spoiled the water. Fields once crammed with ears of corn, and nets full of flapping fish, have become distant memories.
“After destroying the area without anything to give in return, we have stepped maybe 50 times backwards. Pollution, both air and water,” said Sunday Ikpesu, a sprightly 74-year-old Oloibiri chieftain. “We didn’t know crude oil was such a bad thing.”
Neither village would win a share of the actual revenues that might flow from Oil Well No. 1. The most they could expect from Royal Dutch Shell PLC, which owns the rights to the well, would be “community outreach” funds for building projects.
But in a nation where the government has regularly failed to provide citizens with health clinics, decent schools, pipe-borne water or electricity, the scraps that oil giants throw the locals’ way are considered better than nothing — and subject to fierce competition.
Firms such as ExxonMobil Corp., Total SA and Chevron Corp. employ teams of community relations officers whose jobs include launching development projects worth tens of millions of dollars. No overall figures exist for these payments. But Shell, the country’s largest operator, says operations it runs contributed more than $110 million in 2007.
Rights campaigners say oil firms are sowing discord among villages and exploiting their desperation.
“The oil industry does not take time to find ways ... to support a consensus-building process under which all communities come together and agree,” said Dimieari Von Kemedi, a local activist. The benefits they give are “laughable ... compared to the amount of money that comes out of these oil wells.”
Shell didn’t comment on the village conflict and doesn’t publicly announce its operating plans. Oil industry workers vigorously defend the community payments, calling them charitable donations to needy people.
They also argue that oil companies can’t take over the long-term responsibilities of the Nigerian government, which claims the majority of the proceeds stemming from the oil industry.
Critics acknowledge the oil firms have no legal obligation to provide services to Nigeria’s people. But they say the outreach efforts ignore the realities of the people they’re purportedly trying to help.
Schools are built, but no teachers hired. Health care facilities have no long-term access to drugs. So-called “security” teams, hired to protect oil installations, are little more than youths bribed not to vandalize the gear, the activists say.
Perhaps most damaging has been the tendency to dole out benefits to the inhabitants closest to sensitive oil machinery, which has undermined community leadership schemes and pitted people and communities against each other for the payments. Dozens of violent flare-ups can be attributed to conflict over oil company payments in recent years.
The feud over Nigeria’s first oil well is a typical illustration.
Already, scuffles and heated arguments have been reported near the well, an omen of worse violence to come. Villagers say they don’t feel welcome among their neighbors, even though they share farmlands and river waters used for drinking and cleaning.
The villagers of Oloibiri and Otabagi have little money to launch a court battle. Any successful outcome would likely be through mediation by a headman of the traditional Ogbia kingdom, of which both towns are part, said Von Dimieari.
Headmen? Traditional kingdoms? What, you’re telling me that even after 52 years of tons of foreign money pumping up the nation, plus independence, you haven’t advanced Step One past tribalism? Well tattoo my face and stick a bone through my nose, I’m done.
That was as early as the 1930s, when Nigeria was a British colony governed by the “Native Administration” and Christian missionaries schooled the few indigenous people given English-language instruction.
Traditional land-transfer practices differed from Western-style sales, from one sovereign party to another. Written records were almost never kept, with leaders passing down history and community boundaries through an oral tradition.
By the 1950s, Oloibiri boasted a postal exchange and an Anglican church run by English missionaries. It was the seat of operations for the exploration team of what would later become Royal Dutch Shell.
The explorers found what they were looking for in the 1950s and sometime during that period, the Oloibiri villagers say, they signed a contract with some Shell employees giving them access to the area around what would become Well No. 1. They say this proves that the people of Oloibiri are the rightful owners. But no copies of the pact appear to exist.
In 1958, the first oil began to flow. Villagers here live only into their 40s on average, but the few still around remember a huge party.
The Shell team brought out long tables, they remember, and more European-style beer than anyone had ever seen.
“They made a heavy party that day,” recalls 60-year-old Edwin Ofonih of Oloibiri village. “Everyone drank until nonsense.”
A half-century later, the villagers live in poverty while oil giants have carted off the riches from beneath their feet and officials head overseas for health care and recreation.
There you have it. They’ve been robbed!! Uh, no, no they haven’t. They’ve been screwed by their own government, and screwed by their idiotic clinging to tribalism. They’ve screwed themselves too. But let’s not blame Big Oil for this one. They’re the people who paid Nigeria billions over the years.
And to be fair and balanced, this article didn’t really blame the oil companies all that much. But it did point out that things just never get better in africa. Maybe that’s why we won’t fight a war there. It just isn’t worth it, no matter what the cause or reason. In the end, it will go right on being africa, a shithole so vile even early hominids knew enough to leave.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/05/2008 at 08:12 PM
Filed Under: • International •
• Comments (3)
•
Trackbacks (0) •
Permalink • Monday - June 23, 2008
French first Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has admitted being “instinctively Left-wing”
Gee, and she’s so pretty too. Oh well.
Drew will enjoy this I know and I post it because I find it very interesting in a so-what kind of way.
It’s just different from all the mayhem and crime stuff I’ve posted. You might find it interesting as well.
She says that the French are not musical. Well, I wouldn’t know if that’s true or not but, while I confess to being enamored somewhat with her looks, I have heard her sing and I really don’t think she should say the French aren’t musical.
Cheers.
Carla Bruni admits she ‘has problems’ with conservative Sarkozy
By Henry Samuel in Paris
Last Updated: 7:01AM BST 23/06/2008French first Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has admitted being “instinctively Left-wing” and having a problem with “conservatives” despite her husband’s Right wing politics, in a frank newspaper interview.
The Italian supermodel turned singer expressed relief that her husband, President Nicolas Sarkozy, had toned down his “bling-bling” love of chunky watches and Ray-Ban sunglasses in favour of her “more austere tastes.”
She also admitted organising dinners with artists to “cultivate” her husband, a TV-addict whose musical tastes stop at Elvis Presley and his French equivalent, Johnny Hallyday.
“Perhaps I can help him to enable him to better communicate on the things that he loves, to give more room to culture,” she said.
The glamorous 40-year old said she was aware that her own record label wanted to put a sticker on her album cover reading “You can like Carla Bruni without liking her husband” - apparently to distance the artist from her deeply unpopular husband.
“I can understand why they wanted to cut the grass from under the feet of this confusion,” she told left-wing daily newspaper Liberation, in a lengthy interview.
“My instinctive reflexes are Left wing ... I am not joined at the hip with (my husband’s) politics,” she went on. “I get the impression that people who are completely one side or another only think with one part of their brain.”
But despite their political differences, she added: “If he ever stood for election again, I would still vote for him.”
The woman who once famously declared her aversion to monogamy said she had enlisted the help of an advisor to help her avoid shocking “conservative people,” who came from “a world that is completely alien to me.”
“(They) were deeply shocked by the arrival on the scene of a girl who is not French, not married, free to have been what she was, with a child,” she said.
“But my husband doesn’t correspond to the idea I had of conservatives. He is not conservative at all. Nor does correspond to a large chunk of those people who make up his party,” she said.
Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy also said that even though she had lived in France for 20 years, said she had never wanted to be French, describing her husband’s fellow countrymen as “rather nostalgic, very literary and rather unmusical.”
“I just never particularly wanted to do adopt the nationality,” she said.
She expressed relief that Mr Sarkozy had toned down his showy tastes after aides warned him it was putting off voters.
“I have quite austere taste, and he is more sober now. This is important for someone in his position,” she said. She added that she wanted to follow the first lady tradition of doing charitable work, and ruled out giving pop concerts while her husband is still in power.
Mr Sarkozy, 53, married the stunning brunette in February after a whirlwind romance.
The massive media coverage of their relationship is said to be partly responsible for a sharp fall in the opinion polls that lead to Mr Sarkozy becoming the most unpopular French post-war leader a year into his presidency.
But he appears to be enjoying a slow recovery, which the French press put down in part to the “Carla effect.”
His new wife, whose stage name is still Carla Bruni, will hit the headlines next month with the release of her new album called “As if nothing happened”, in which she sings of drugs, her 30 lovers and her love for the French president.
One song L’Amoureuse (A Woman in Love), about “the exaltation of love” was written before meeting her husband but she said she had “worked on it” since.
Posted by peiper
on 06/23/2008 at 01:44 AM
Filed Under: • International • Love-Marriage • Politics •
• Comments (2)
•
Trackbacks (0) •
Permalink • Saturday - June 21, 2008
An unfashionable PSA
Karl Lagerfeld, the head designer at Chanel with a penchant for ultra-slim suits and black leather gloves, slipped on a yellow reflective vest to convince the French that road safety was more important than chic.
Lagerfeld agreed to pose in the shapeless protective apparel as part of a French government safety-awareness campaign, which was kicked off yesterday. The vest and a reflective triangle will become mandatory for all drivers and cyclists on July 1.
”It’s yellow, it’s ugly, it doesn’t match anything, but it can save your life,’’ says the poster, featuring Lagerfeld wearing the vest and his customary deadpan expression accentuated by dark sunglasses.
The number of traffic deaths in France jumped 10 percent to 346 in May, the highest since the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Environment said on its Web site. Two cyclists have died in Paris since the introduction of free municipal bicycles last year.
So now all fwench drivers are going to have this dashing ensemble in their kits by law. For their own good. Since the few remaining unburned cars in Fwance are either Renaults or Citroens, it makes sense to require drivers to carry this stuff for the frequent breakdowns.
Note also how cyclist accidents are on the rise, after the government started handing out free bicycles. I guess they don’t ignite as easily as the cars do.
Oh, and Karl? There is something else very yellow in Fwance the vest matches perfectly with. And I’m not talking about the cheese.
Posted by Drew458
on 06/21/2008 at 02:40 PM
Filed Under: • International •
• Comments (2)
•
Trackbacks (0) •
Permalink • Friday - June 20, 2008
EU lifts Cuba diplomatic sanctions (Is this long overdue and about time? Thoughts?)
Curious to know if you folks think this is past time.
Embargo certainly didn’t get rid of Castro. In fact, it’s possible that the only reason it’s lasted is due to the very wealthy and very strong Cuban lobby. Who are as well, politically very astute.
By Our Foreign Staff
Last Updated: 9:15AM BST 20/06/2008
The European Union has agreed to lift diplomatic sanctions against Cuba in the hope of encouraging democracy in the Communist state.Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the union’s external relations commissioner, said the decision was designed to encourage changes in Cuba after Raul Castro took over from his ailing brother Fidel.
The gesture was largely symbolic, as the sanctions banned high-level visits by Cuban officials – and they have been suspended since 2005.
However, a summit of EU foreign ministers in Brussels called for several conditions for relations to improve further.
The include the release of all political prisoners; access for Cubans to the internet; and opportunities for EU delegations to meet both opposition figures and members of the Cuban government.
“There will be very clear language also on what the Cubans still have to do ... releasing prisoners, really working on human rights questions,” she said after the decision was announced in Brussels. “There will be a sort of review to see whether indeed something will have happened.”
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said the lifting of sanctions in no way meant the EU was getting weak on Cuba, and said that asking for talks with Cuban officials on touchy issues like human rights, or to demand access to political dissidents was the best way to push change on the island.
Washington imposed a trade blockade of Cuba almost 50 years ago.
Posted by peiper
on 06/20/2008 at 07:58 AM
Filed Under: • International • News-Briefs •
• Comments (2)
•
Trackbacks (0) •
Permalink • Friday - June 13, 2008
Fight to ‘keep Budweiser American’ begins
Seems only yesterday it was Drew or someone else here who mentioned American companies going bye,bye to foreign investors. Sure hope Bud can fight this off.
Fight to ‘keep Budweiser American’ begins with bid for Modelo
By Jonathan Sibun
Last Updated: 1:26am BST 13/06/2008Anheuser-Busch, maker of Budweiser, is attempting to thwart Inbev’s $47.5bn (£24.4bn) bid by trying to buy Mexico’s Modelo, in a move which would probably make the US company too big to swallow.
Anheuser put out feelers to Modelo in the past few weeks, after rumours of a takeover approach from Inbev surfaced. Missouri-based Anheuser already owns half of Modelo in a non-controlling stake.
If it bought the rest the enlarged company may be too big for Inbev to buy. Anheuser approached Carlos Fernandez, chief executive of Modelo and an Anheuser director, about a deal in recent weeks, it has been reported.
There would be large hurdles to a tie-up, including Modelo losing its prized independence. Meanwhile, the Missouri governor launched an attack on Inbev’s bid for Anheuser, saying he will “explore every option” to keep the company in American hands.
Matt Blunt said he had ordered the state’s department of economic development “to explore every option and any opportunity we may have to help keep Anheuser-Busch where it belongs – in St Louis, Missouri”.
His stance came despite assurances from Inbev chief executive Carlos Brito that the objective of the Belgian-Brazilian brewer’s unsolicited $65-a-share bid was “to reach a friendly agreement”.
Analysts said Mr Blunt’s move was likely to hold little legal weight, but added that it highlighted the weight of feeling against Inbev’s bid in the US. Trevor Stirling, an analyst with Alliance Bernstein, said it was “probable” that Inbev would be forced to push its bid to $70 but a takeover seemed all but certain.
Posted by peiper
on 06/13/2008 at 12:16 PM
Filed Under: • International • News-Briefs •
• Comments (3)
•
Trackbacks (0) •
Permalink • Five Most Recent Trackbacks:
Reason 864
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at Tennesseefree.com
…seen around the web today… Barking Moonbat Early Warning System: More reasons not to vote for Obama Six Meat Buffet: Bumper Stickers for an inspired base An Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings:…
On: 09/06/08 09:09
Heller Kitty update
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at locomotivebreath (no worries) 1901
"Hello Kitty" with attitude. On a T-Shirt. Think of it as "the anti-che." Drew has all the details on the woman graphic designer who
On: 07/08/08 11:21
History will say that we underestimated George W Bush
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at Because I'm Right
It is never easy to figure out how a still-serving President will be judged by history. Some President's who were unpopular during their time in office are treated better by…
On: 06/23/08 09:37
Oh Goody, the kiss of death
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at Because I'm Right
Al Gore's endorsement of Barack Obama is an act of courage the likes of which has not been seen since the first liberal donned an AIDS ribbon. Courageously waiting until…
On: 06/18/08 05:38
Bohica, Bohica ...
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at Sarge Says
Drew over at the Barking Moonbat Early Warning System has posted that Representative John Peterson, R-Pa tried to introduce a measure to open up coastal waters BEYOND 50 miles to…
On: 06/11/08 06:34
DISCLAIMER
THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.
Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:
It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.
- Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
- Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
- Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
- Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere
THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.
RSS 2.0 
Atom 
