Monday - December 12, 2005

And The Beat Goes On

The kettle continues to boil over down under. Australian youth are fighting it out in Sydney. Whites against Muslims. Riots, stabbings, smashing shops ... it is only going to get worse, as one shopkeeper in Sydney says below.

I wonder ... how much of it is caused by actual racism and how much is caused by the Muslims’ penchant for remaining separate and apart from the societys they move into? How do you integrate a group of people who refuse to integrate and who hole up in enclaves and listen to Imams talk of destroying the country they moved to?

I’m afraid this is going to spread to other areas. As we saw recently in France, entire countries are already facing the problem of Muslim integration ... with very little success ... and no viable solution in sight - other than to just ship ‘em all back to their home countries in the Middle East ...

UPDATE: From Phil at TuffBeingRight blog - Apparently this is not the unmotivated repression by whitey that the MSM would have you believe. Here are some links which provide context, and help to explain why this happened.

First, two lifeguards were beaten by muslim gangs on this same beach, which caused general outrage:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/12/09/1134086804756.html?from=top5

Secondly, the women on the beach testified on camera that these same muslim gangs were threatening rape on the same beach:
http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,17512923-5001035,00.html

Thirdly, the muslim gangs stabbing a man in the back, and vandalizing hundreds of cars. (This took place after the beating of gang members on beach)
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,17536290,00.html

Racial Violence Continues
in Australia
December 12, 2005, 9:22 AM EST
SYDNEY, Australia (AP)

Young people riding in vehicles smashed cars and store windows in suburban Sydney late Monday, a day after thousands of drunken white youths attacked people they believed were of Arab descent at a beach in the same area in one of Australia’s worst outbursts of racial violence.

Sunday’s attack—apparently prompted by reports that Lebanese youths had assaulted two lifeguards—sparked retaliation by young men of Arab descent in several Sydney suburbs, fighting with police and smashing 40 cars with sticks and bats, police said. Thirty-one people were injured and 16 were arrested in hours of violence.

The rampage on Monday broke out in Cronulla, the same coastal suburb where the violence began, and in neighboring Carringbah, said Paul Bugden, spokesman for New South Wales police. Calm was restored by early Tuesday. Bugden said six people were arrested and one person apparently was hit by a rock in Monday’s violence. He did not have descriptions of those involved in the rampage, but he said it “obviously stems from the last 24-48 hours.”

Australian Associated Press, citing a resident who declined to be named, said men riding in up to 50 cars and wielding baseball bats converged on Cronulla, smashing cars. Ambulances were called to help at least one injured man seen lying on the side of the road. Steven Dawson said a bottle thrown through his apartment window in the suburb of Brighton-Le-Sands showered his 5-month-old son Caleb with glass, but did not hurt the child.

Horst Dreizner said a car had rammed into his denture store and he feared the violence would escalate. “Personally, I think it is only the beginning,” he said in a telephone interview. Elsewhere, about 300 people of Arab descent demonstrated against Sunday’s attack outside one of Sydney’s largest mosques, amid tight security.

The riots began Sunday after rumors circulated that youths of Lebanese descent were responsible for an attack last weekend on two lifeguards at Cronulla Beach. Police said the assault was not believed to be racially motivated. Police, meanwhile, formed a strike force to track down the instigators of the attack, some of whom were believed to be from white supremacist groups. Police said they were also seeking an Arab man who allegedly stabbed a white man in the back.

- More on the anti-Muslim backlash in Australia here ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 12/12/2005 at 10:30 AM   
Filed Under: • Insanity • International •  
• Comments (6) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

   Sunday - December 11, 2005

Australians Mob Arabs

It looks like the kettle is starting to boil over much sooner than anyone expected. It is already happening in Australia and may spread even further before this is over with. I’m talking about a backlash against Arab-looking people. Yes, it is racial profiling and it is very wrong. Or is it? Here we are in the 21st century with Muslims running around all over the world setting fire to entire countries, blowing up buildings and people, hijacking airliners and killing Westerners at every opportunity.

Are all Muslims or Arab-looking people to blame? No, of course not but to many around the world it is starting to look like a clash of civilizations and tempers are flaring everywhere. I hate to say it but this may just be a precursor of things to come. It may get much worse unless cooler heads prevail ... on both sides. Unless the Arab countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia start to really crack down on their radicals and the Imams start preaching against violence it will only get worse. Much worse, I’m afraid ...

Beach Erupts Into Violence
December 11, 2005
CRONULLA BEACH, NSW Australia (AAP)

Angry crowds have singled out and bashed people of Middle Eastern appearance at Sydney’s Cronulla beach as racial tension erupted into violence. And an ambulance called to the scene to treat five people injured in today’s violence has been attacked by a mob who shattered its windows. Meanwhile, police have been pelted with beer bottles, and their patrol cars stomped on, as the outnumbered officers struggled to maintain control.

Witnesses saw officers using capsicum spray in a bid to quell those perpetrating the violence. NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Goodwin said police were forcing their way through the crowd, trying to prevent further attacks. He said a number of people had been assaulted but could not say exactly how many. However, an ambulance spokesman said at least five people had been injured.

It was those people the ambulance was trying to reach when it was attacked. “An ambulance attempting to transport five injured people from the scene was set upon by a large group of people who smashed its windows,” an ambulance spokesman said. Mr Goodwin said today’s violence was disgusting. “What has been occurring on some fronts is that people of Middle Eastern backgrounds that have been seen in the Cronulla area – a swarm of the crowd has approached these people with vile abuse, in the most un-Australian way,” Mr Goodwin said.

“We have a number of reports of persons that have been assaulted.” He said the bulk of the crowd had behaved but pockets of violence had broken out. “… we have sections of the crowd that have swollen towards young Arabic males and females, who have been using this beach.” Three people have been arrested so far, with more arrests expected.

Earlier today, police rushed to Cronulla train station where a mob ran there from the foreshore after receiving a text message saying a group of Lebanese people were trying to leave. Mr Goodwin said the text message was wrong, but sparked a scuffle at the station between the crowd and police.

- More on the Aussie troubles here ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 12/11/2005 at 10:03 AM   
Filed Under: • Insanity • International • RoPMA •  
• Comments (11) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

   Saturday - December 03, 2005

Weekend Discussion: Nguyen Tuong Van

Three years in a prison in Singapore. A year and a half on death row. A five minute walk to the gallows. A few seconds to fall before the rope tightens and the neck snaps. All this for smuggling 400 grams of heroin. I’m on the fence on this one. Help me decide.

I have provided two clips from yesterday and today’s news below as well as a link to the official trial transcript. In spite of what you may think of Singapore, the trial record shows a remarkably sophisticated judicial system with well-defined laws and punishments for crimes and protection for the accused in the form of defense attorneys and evidentiary proof requirements.

With that said, help me understand if you think this punishment was justified and whether or not hanging should be condoned. Bear in mind that this is not the US or the UK or any Western country where this happened. I have a certain opinion on this but I want to hear from our readers first ....

A Final Embrace Before Van Faced Fate
December 2, 2005
(WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN)

Just before dawn, as the rest of Changi prison’s inmates slept, Australian drug trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van took his last steps, embraced a prison official and with his mind “at great peace”, met his death on the gallows. Almost three years to the day after he was arrested carrying heroin through Singapore’s international airport, the 25-year-old former Melbourne salesman was put to death under the island state’s unwavering capital punishment laws.

Twin brother Khoa sat in a room with friends in the prison’s visitor centre, so he could be near Van for his final moments, as his mother, Kim, prayed for her son’s soul in a service held at a small chapel across town. At 6am (AEDT 9am), the scheduled time of his execution, no official word came - but there was little doubt in the minds of his family and friends that the long and torturous battle to save Van had been lost.

Van’s Australian-based barrister, Julian McMahon, said Mrs Nguyen had been “well prepared” by her condemned son and was the most composed she had been for months. In the minutes before his death, Van was joined in prayer by two prison pastoral workers, who later described him as “calm and inspiring to the end”.

- More on Van’s execution here ...

Body of Australian Smuggler Returns Home
December 3, 2005
SINGAPORE (AP)

The body of an executed Australian drug smuggler returned home from Singapore in the company of his weeping mother Saturday. Nguyen Tuong Van’s body was flown from Singapore to the southern Australian city of Melbourne, a day after Nguyen was hanged at Singapore’s Changi Prison. His mother, Kim Nguyen, wept quietly as she sat in front of a check-in counter at Singapore’s airport, covering her face with her hands. His brother Khoa wore black, with a Catholic rosary around his neck. The family did not speak to reporters.

Nguyen, 25, was executed before dawn Friday despite numerous appeals for clemency from Australian leaders and his lawyers. He received a mandatory death sentence after being caught with 14 ounces of heroin at Singapore’s airport in 2002 and convicted of drug smuggling. Lawyer Lex Lasry, who accompanied Nguyen’s mother and brother on their flight, said the campaign against the death penalty by advocates for Nguyen would not stop with the execution. He urged the Australian government to oppose execution in all cases, even when it was used to punish terrorists.

Australia scrapped the death penalty in 1973 and hanged its last criminal in 1967, while Singapore has executed more than 100 people for drug-related offenses since 1999. But Australia has supported the death penalty for the three militants convicted of taking part in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, saying it sends a clear message of zero tolerance for terrorism. An execution date has not been set. “The death penalty is something we simply must oppose in every case,” Lasry said. “We can’t pick and choose anymore. If you are against it you are against it for everyone.”

- More on the Australian reaction here ...

PUBLIC PROSECUTOR vs Nguyen Tuong Van
Suit No: CC 43/2003
Decision Date: 20 Mar 2004
Court: High Court
Coram: Kan Ting Chiu
Counsel: Han Ming Kuang and Lee Cheow Han (Deputy Public Prosecutors) for prosecution, Joseph Theseira (Naidu Mohan and Theseira) and Tito Shane Isaac (Tito Isaac and Co) for accused

The accused, Nguyen Tuong Van, appeared before me charged that he:

1. [O]n the 12th day of December 2002, at or about 3.06 pm, at Changi International Airport Terminal 2, Singapore, did import into Singapore, a controlled drug specified in Class “A” of the First Schedule to the Misuse of Drugs Act, Chapter 185, to wit, 2 packets of powdery substance containing not less than 396.2 grams of diamorphine, without any authorisation under the said Act or the Regulations made thereunder, and [he has] thereby committed an offence under section 7 of the Misuse of Drugs Act, Chapter 185 and punishable under section 33 of the Misuse of Drugs Act.

2. He is an Australian national aged 23 years. On 12 December 2002 he arrived in Singapore from Phnom Penh. At about 7.45pm he was at Boarding Gate C22 of the airport waiting to board a flight to Melbourne. During a routine check, a police officer felt something bulky on his lower back. He was brought to a search room for a thorough search, taking his haversack and business bag with him.

3. In the search room he was asked to remove his jacket and shirt. When that was done, a plastic packet was seen strapped to his lower back with masking tape. At that stage he started crying and tried to hit his head against a wall.

4. Sergeant Teh Kim Leng (“Sgt Teh”), the officer in charge of the security screening unit, was notified. He went to the search room and saw the accused, who appeared to be in distress, holding his head with his hands. When Sgt Teh asked him what was on his back, the accused replied that it was heroin. With the help of Sgt Teh the accused removed the packet from his body. When Sgt Teh asked him if there was anything to declare in his luggage, the accused opened the haversack, took out another packet, and handed it to him.

5. The two packets were subsequently sent for analysis. The packet from the body was found to contain not less than 151.5g of diamorphine and the other packet not less than 244.7g. The analysis results were not disputed.

6. The Central Narcotics Bureau (“CNB”) was then informed of the matter. At 9.10pm CNB officers arrived at the airport and took over the case from the airport police. At about 10.05pm Station Inspector Ng Beng Chin (“SI Ng”) spoke to the accused and recorded a statement from him. SI Ng and the accused appended their signatures to the statement after it was recorded and read back to the accused.

- Read the official trial transcripts here ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 12/03/2005 at 12:39 PM   
Filed Under: • Crime • International • Judges-Courts-Lawyers •  
• Comments (28) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

   Tuesday - November 15, 2005

Senator Gives Away Pre-War Secrets

You’ve undoubtedly heard of the exchange between Chris Wallace and Senator Jay Rockefeller on Fox News Sunday.  If not, here is a portion:

WALLACE: Now, the President never said that Saddam Hussein was an imminent threat. As you saw, you did say that. If anyone hyped the intelligence, isn’t it Jay Rockefeller?

SEN. ROCKEFELLER: No. The — I mean, this question is asked a thousand times and I’ll be happy to answer it a thousand times. I took a trip by myself in January of 2002 to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria, and I told each of the heads of state that it was my view that George Bush had already made up his mind to go to war against Iraq — that that was a predetermined set course which had taken shape shortly after 9/11.

Did you catch that?  The ever-brilliant Bill Bennett did.

While Democrats in Washington are berating the White House for having prewar intelligence wrong, a high-profile U.S. senator, member of the Select Committee on Intelligence, who has a name more internationally recognizable than Richard Cheney’s, tells two putative allies (Saudi Arabia and Jordan) and an enemy who is allied with Saddam Hussein (Syria) that the United States was going to war with Iraq. This is not a prewar intelligence mistake, it is a prewar intelligence giveaway.

Indeed.  Who is going to start the investigation into what exactly the good Senator told the Syrians, Jordanians and Saudis?

Posted by Drew458     on 11/15/2005 at 11:04 AM   
Filed Under: • International • War-Stories •  
• Comments (10) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

They Want To Steal My Internet!

The United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU) and several asshat third-world countries want to take the internet governance away from the US and ICANN. They think they can do a better job of managing the damned thing. So they are going to hold a conference in Tunisia to discuss it and gang up on the US, which is appropriate since Tunisia is one of the worst internet censors in the entire world. I smell a cheese-eating surrender monkey in the woodpile somewhere.

Let me make one thing perfectly clear to all the little chattering monkeys at this conference: the US invented the internet (actually the US Department Of Defense in the form of Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration - DARPA), we built it up to an international communications system that is free and open, and finally, we allowed the rest of the splodydopes in Europistan and Africastan to play with it. Don’t push your luck, morons! Your puny networks can be nuked in a heartbeat if you piss us off. Got that?

EU Says Internet Plan Gains Support
BRUSSELS, Belgium (MYWAY NEWS)

The European Union’s compromise proposal on how to govern the Internet is gaining international support ahead of this week’s U.N. technology summit, the EU’s executive Commission said Tuesday. The EU has been promoting its proposal ahead of the formal start on Wednesday of the three-day United Nations technology summit in Tunisia, the preparations for which have spurred accusations that the Tunisian government has barred entry to activists trying to attend the event.

At issue is the question of who gets to make the big decisions on how the Internet is run - a task that now solely belongs to the California-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, overseen by the U.S. Commerce Department. Several countries have called for taking Internet oversight powers away from the U.S. government and establishing a separate U.N. agency to handle the job. The Bush administration said in July that it does not want to change the way ICANN is run.

The EU sees itself as tracing a middle path between those positions, proposing a system where governments collaborate to make decisions on governance issues like spam, cybercrime and ensuring people all over the world have access to the Net. That last issue has brought the spotlight on the summit’s host country of Tunisia, which activists call one of the worst Internet censors.

Already, rights watchdogs say, both Tunisian and foreign reporters on hand for the summit have been harassed and beaten. Reporters Without Borders says its secretary-general, Robert Menard, has been banned from attending.

- Read more of this silliness here

Posted by The Skipper     on 11/15/2005 at 09:35 AM   
Filed Under: • International •  
• Comments (32) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

   Monday - October 31, 2005

Poland: Conservatives Take Over From Communists

Mark another one up for the good guys. The Conservative Party in Poland won a majority in the September 25 elections and took over today from the former government headed by the Communist Party. Now if we can just get France and Germany straightened out ....

Conservatives Take Power in Poland
WARSAW (AP)

A new conservative government with a pro-American stance took over Monday from former communists in Poland—although whether the new team will extend the country’s deployment of 1,500 troops in Iraq remains unclear.

New Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz will lead with a minority in parliament after his Law and Justice party failed to strike a coalition deal with fellow conservatives from Civic Platform.

The two parties won a combined majority and swept the ex-communist government of Prime Minister Marek Belka from power in the Sept. 25 election. But the one-time allies fell out over the division of top posts and their differing economic and social policies. Law and Justice favors more social welfare and Civic Platform wanted to cut spending.

Marcinkiewicz pointed to the presence of nonparty members in the Cabinet, including Foreign Minister Stefan Meller, Finance Minister Teresa Lubinska and Health Minister Zbigniew Religa, in appealing for support for his new team, which faces a vote of confidence in parliament on Nov. 10, as stipulated by the constitution.

“We need a team of outstanding experts, not only those gathered here, to implement the program of mending of the state and of its individual elements,” Marcinkiewicz said after his government was sworn in by President Aleksander Kwasniewski. “We must respond to the hopes of the Poles, that this government will implement the program.”

The new ruling party has taken a strong, pro-American position, as did the previous government. Analysts say Poland is looking increasingly to its relationship with Washington as ties with Russia deteriorate.

- Go Read More On This Story Here ..

Posted by The Skipper     on 10/31/2005 at 06:09 PM   
Filed Under: • International •  
• Comments (3) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

   Saturday - October 22, 2005

Gullible White People?

This is the face of the enemy. Nigerian e-mail scammers. Go read what they think of Americans. They think we’re fools. They obviously have us confused with Democrats ...

As patient as fishermen, the young men toil day and night, trawling for replies to the e-mails they shoot to strangers half a world away. Most recipients hit delete, delete, delete, delete without ever opening the messages that urge them to claim the untold riches of a long-lost deceased second cousin, and the messages that offer millions of dollars to help smuggle loot stolen by a corrupt Nigerian official into a U.S. account.

But the few who actually reply make this a tempting and lucrative business for the boys of Festac, a neighborhood of Lagos at the center of the cyber-scam universe. The targets are called maghas — scammer slang from a Yoruba word meaning fool, and refers to gullible white people.

Samuel is 19, handsome, bright, well-dressed and ambitious. He has a special flair for computers. Until he quit the game last year, he was one of Festac’s best-known cyber-scam champions.

Go Read The Rest Of The Story Here

Posted by The Skipper     on 10/22/2005 at 09:53 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime • International •  
• Comments (6) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

   Tuesday - September 20, 2005

Kim Jung Il Makes More Demands

North Korea Demands Nuke Reactor From U.S.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)

North Korea insisted Tuesday it won’t dismantle its nuclear weapons program until the U.S. gives it civilian nuclear reactors, casting doubt on a disarmament agreement reached a day earlier during international talks. Washington reiterated its rejection of the reactor demand and joined China in urging North Korea to stick to the agreement announced Monday in which it pledged to abandon all its nuclear programs in exchange for economic aid and security assurances.

North Korea’s new demands underlined its unpredictable nature and deflated some optimism from the Beijing agreement, the first since negotiations began in August 2003 among the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia. “The U.S. should not even dream of the issue of (North Korea’s) dismantlement of its nuclear deterrent before providing (light-water reactors), a physical guarantee for confidence-building,” the North’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

U.S. officials dismissed the demand. “This is not the agreement that they signed, and we’ll give them some time to reflect on the agreement they signed,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in New York on Monday. The announcement Monday that North Korea would dismantle existing weapons and stop building new ones, culminating two years of bargaining, contained no deadlines and few details. The six parties in the talks agreed to meet again in November, when the difficult questions of verification and timetables would be on the table.

The North had demanded since the latest round of six-party talks began last week in the Chinese capital that it be given a light-water reactor — a type less easily diverted for weapons use — in exchange for disarming. U.S. officials opposed the idea, maintaining North Korea could not be trusted with any nuclear program. The issue was sidestepped Monday, with participants saying they would discuss it later — “at an appropriate time.” The North, however, chose to immediately press the issue, essentially introducing a major condition on its pledge to disarm.

Japan swiftly joined the United States in rejecting the demand. “The Japanese side has continuously said that North Korea’s demand is unacceptable,” Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said. China, North Korea’s closest ally in the talks, urged Pyongyang to join the other negotiating partners in implementing the commitments in “a serious manner.”

South Korea remained optimistic, with its point man on North Korea relations saying the country’s latest statement isn’t likely to derail the Beijing agreement. “It’s possible that the parties differ over this, but we and other participating countries are going to discuss it in bilateral or multilateral contacts before the fifth round of talks resume in early November,” Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said on MBC radio.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun predicted that “the United States and North Korea will likely engage in a tug-of-war,” but added that prospects for resolving the nuclear issue are brighter after Monday’s agreement. Other countries at the Beijing talks made clear that the reactor could only be discussed after the North rejoins the Non-Proliferation Treaty and accepts inspections from the International Atomic Energy Agency — which North Korea pledged to do in Monday’s agreement.

State Department spokesman Adam Ereli emphasized earlier in Washington that the “appropriate time” for discussing the reactor meant only after the North complies with those conditions. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang was asked in Beijing whether North Korea might have misunderstood the order of commitments laid out in the statement Monday. “The common statement was adopted by all six parties and I don’t think North Korea has any misunderstanding,” Qin said.

Qin said that the November talks were still on, as far as he knew. President Bush’s administration has opposed anything resembling a 1994 U.S.-North Korea agreement, which promised the North two light-water reactors for power. That project stalled amid the current crisis, which broke out in late 2002 after U.S. officials said the North admitted having a secret nuclear program. The North’s latest position is likely to be a major sticking point in future discussions.

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/20/2005 at 07:01 AM   
Filed Under: • International • Outrageous •  
• Comments (11) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

   Saturday - September 17, 2005

Oktoberfest

“Beer Is Proof That There Is A God .. And That He Loves Us!” -- Ben Franklin More news frrom Germany & Okterberfest ..

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/17/2005 at 10:08 PM   
Filed Under: • International •  
• Comments (30) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

   Friday - September 02, 2005

Hell Will Freeze Over First

_{Scott Stantis, Alabama, The Birmingham News}

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/02/2005 at 05:44 AM   
Filed Under: • International •  
• Comments (6) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

   Monday - August 29, 2005

Saudis Vow To Take Up Slack

Under the heading of “Ain’t That Damned Nice Of Them”, we have a report that Saudi Arabia has vowed to increase production to make up for shortfalls in current US oil production due to Hurricane Katrina. I suppose we should thank them for all that extra $75 per barrel oil ....?

RIYADH (AFP) - Saudi Arabia said it was prepared to increase its oil production to make up for supply losses caused by Hurricane Katrina, the official news agency SPA reported. “Saudi Arabia is ready to increase its production to compensate for any lowering in supplies of crude on the international oil market,” said Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi, quoted by SPA.

Oil prices dived from a new high above 70 dollars a barrel on Monday after the US government said it could release strategic crude reserves in response to the hurricane. Traders said the reversal came after the US Department of Energy said it stood ready to act if requested to tackle supply shortages caused by the impact of Katrina on Gulf of Mexico rigs and Louisiana refineries.

In Asian electronic trade, the New York contract for light sweet crude for delivery in October had blazed to a new record high of 70.80 dollars. But by the end of trade in New York, the contract stood at 67.20 dollars.

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/29/2005 at 03:26 PM   
Filed Under: • Economics • International •  
• Comments (3) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

   Monday - August 08, 2005

The Bear Facts

_{Steve Breen, The San Diego Union-Tribune}

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/08/2005 at 05:58 AM   
Filed Under: • International •  
• Comments (3) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

   Sunday - August 07, 2005

Russian Submariners Rescued

Earlier today, the Russian sub that has been snarled for several days on antenna cables at a depth of 600 feet off the Kamchatka Peninsula was finally liberated from its entanglement by a British underwater, remote-controlled vehicle. The crew of seven was fast running out of oxygen. It’s amazing what nations can do when they cooperate. Those who died on the Kursk years ago would probably agree ....

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, Russia (AP) - Seven submarine crew members trapped for nearly three days under the Pacific Ocean were rescued Sunday after a British remote-controlled vehicle cut away the undersea cables that had snarled the vessel. The seven crew members, whose oxygen supplies had been dwindling amid underwater temperatures in the mid-40s, appeared to be in satisfactory condition, naval spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo said. The seven were being examined by ship medics, he said.

The sub surfaced late Sunday afternoon, some three days after becoming stranded in 600 feet of water off the Pacific Coast on Thursday. “The rescue operation has ended,” Rear Adm. Vladimir Pepelyayev, deputy head of the navy’s general staff, said in televised comments. Russian authorities had hoped that the British unmanned submersible could help free the sub and avoid losing a sub crew as they did with the Kursk nuclear submarine, which sank almost exactly five years ago, killing all 118 aboard.

In sharp contrast to the August 2000 Kursk disaster, when authorities held off asking for help until hope was nearly exhausted, Russian military officials quickly sought help from U.S. and British authorities. Earlier Sunday, a British remote-controlled Super Scorpio cut away the cables that had snarled the vessel in Beryozovaya Bay, about 10 miles off the east coast of the Kamchatka peninsula. The United States also dispatched a crew and three underwater vehicles to Kamchatka, but they never left the port.

Officials said the Russian submarine was participating in a combat training exercise and got snarled on an underwater antenna assembly that is part of a coastal monitoring system. The system is anchored with a weight of about 66 tons, according to news reports.

Russia’s cash-strapped navy apparently lacks rescue vehicles capable of operating at the depth where the sub was stranded, and officials say it was too deep for divers to reach or the crew to swim out on their own. An earlier attempt to drag the vessel to shallower waters failed when cables detached after pulling it some 65 yards.

The submarine’s problems indicated that promises by President Vladimir Putin to improve the navy’s equipment apparently have had little effect. He was criticized for his slow response to the Kursk crisis and reluctance to accept foreign assistance.

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/07/2005 at 06:02 AM   
Filed Under: • International •  
• Comments (6) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

   Friday - August 05, 2005

Tony Blair Gets Tough

Altogether now, repeat after me: IT’S ABOUT TIME! Tony Blair just announced new measures to crack down on crackpot clerics preaching Islamic hatred and new deportation rules for Britain ....

LONDON, England (CNN)—British Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced new measures to deport and exclude from UK for those advocating hatred and violence. Blair, speaking nearly a month after deadly bombings on London’s transit system, said Friday the UK’s human rights act would be amended if necessary to counter Islamic extremists. The government also plans to draw up a list of extremist Web sites, book shops and organizations that promote these extremists, he said.

“Let no one be in any doubt that the rules of the game are changing,” Blair told a London news conference, his last before breaking for a summer holiday. The prime minister said the Government plans a one-month consultation period to determine new criteria for excluding and deporting people from Britain.

“We will establish, with the Muslim community, a commission to advise on how, consistent with people’s complete freedom to worship in the way they want, and to follow their own religion and culture, there is better integration of those parts of the community presently inadequately integrated,” Blair said.

Blair said new legislation, which is expected to be passed by the end of the year, will also outlaw “indirect incitement” of terrorism. The measure is seen as an effort to crack down on extremist Islamic clerics who glorify acts of terrorism. In addition, the law would ban the training of terrorist techniques in Britain or in any other country.

“This is not, in any way whatever, aimed at the decent law-abiding Muslim community of Britain,” Blair said. “But if you come to this country from abroad, then don’t meddle in extremism,” he said. “Because if you meddle in it, and engage in it, you’re going back out again.”

Blair named two radical Islamic groups that would be banned from operating in Britain—Hizb ut-Tahrir and the successor organization to al Muhajiroun. Later, a spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir said the ban would stifle “legitimate political dissent.” “There will be serious repercussions in terms of community relations if this ban goes ahead,” Imran Waheed told the UK’s Press Association. “We have a lot of support among the Muslim community in Britain and it will be seen by the Muslim community as stifling legitimate political dissent.”

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/05/2005 at 10:37 AM   
Filed Under: • International • Terrorists •  
• Comments (24) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

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.

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.

Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner