United States Navy selling its Oliver Hazard Perry FFG class frigates -- 'no reasonable offer refused'
Taiwan has already been spotted giving the vessels the once-over, as has Thailand and Mexico. Out of the 11 ships on offer, only three don't currently have an offer on them.
So how much could one of these babies sell for?
Well, each ship was worth about $200 million in 1978 dollars when they were first delivered (roughly $700 million in today's terms). Since then they've undergone considerable depreciation and covered an impressive number of miles. With all the optional extras removed (such as the towed sonar arrays, aircraft-tracking radars and 76mm cannon), the price is expected to be low. Very low.
#1
The Australians and Taiwanese have done impressive rebuilds of these in the past. But if these are even more stripped and need more of a rebuild, I'd suspect potential customers would be better off starting with a new hull and engine.
14 top notch scientist rebut, point by point, the Obama administration's National Climate Assessment.
2014 (NCA) is a masterpiece of marketing that shows for the first time the full capabilities of the Obama Administration to spin a scientific topic as they see fit, without regard to the underlying facts. A good read.
#1
Thus this has now all evolved into a classic case of The Big Lie and propaganda operation that the average American not following things closely can now hardly believe that such a whopper could be told and that no one would be exposing it. That is the whole basis of The Big Lie. And Obama is the beneficiary of it all and is a walking, talking product of The Big Lie technique. The lie is now so big that no one wants to believe it all could be a lie. The propaganda technique is working for now. The truth will come out some day. It always does.
#3
Did he wet his pants laughing or was he able to keep a straight face discussing the mental gymnastics and amazing feats of irrational thought in the climate assessment.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
05/22/2014 14:53 Comments ||
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#4
Bill Clinton famously said, "I did not have sex with that woman".
Whether or not you believe that was a lie, apparently depends on your own interpretation of what constitutes a sexual act.
President Obama is attempting to get away with the same malicious tactic. What he previously called his "Global Warming" policy, he now insists is "Climate Change".
Climate change is not global warming and global warming is not climate change. They are not the same thing.
Climate change is the result of the movement of planets and other forces in our solar system that alter the climate on Earth.
Global warming is the result of changes that exist only in Earth's atmosphere.
The actual causes of climate change has been "settled science" since long before man first set foot on the moon.
Global warming of earth's atmosphere, and it's causes and effects, today are at best anybody's guess. CO2 levels in the atmosphere have zero effect on the forces in out solar system that have driven climate change on Earth for more than a billion years.
It was when the global warming models of the IPCC were proven to be junk science that Obama dropped the "Global Warming" designation and began calling his policy "Climate Change", in a fraudulent attempt to give his failed agenda "settled science" credibility.
If you believe Obama's global warming gibberish is settled science, or just about anything else Obama says is the truth, chances are good you are one of those people who also believe Bill Clinton "did not have sex with that woman".
#6
Back when I first looked into anthropogenic (i.e., human-induced) climate change the argument was that increasing CO2 (a trace gas) from burning hydrocarbons would heat the earth slightly. This slight increase would force more water vapor into the atmosphere. Water vapor is the real greenhouse gas. More water vapor means more heat trapped by the atmosphere. The cycle feeds back on itself, runs away and you get the apocalypse sans the rapture.
Peak temperatures in the last interglacial were on average 6 degrees warmer than now. If it didn't run away then, why would it now?
The climate models ignore all kinds of feedback that would counter such a raise in temperature, cloud cover being just one.
Finally, there hasn't been any global warming in the last 15+ years.
[IOL News] Johannesburg - Five days ago, a military general allegedly illegally deployed troops to get their colleagues out of police custody - but the authorities still can't say what happened. "Can't say" or won't. I'm betting on won't.
Only the president may authorise the use of troops within South Africa. On Wednesday night, the Presidency said no authorisation was issued, and that troops were in Oudtshoorn on training and exercises, which didn't need authorisation.
Department of Defence spokespersons couldn't offer any official explanation by late on Wednesday. Police said as little as possible. Mum is the woord.
The general apparently went to the police station in Bongolethu, Oudtshoorn, after soldiers were arrested by police at a shebeen and demanded their release. When police refused to release them, the general allegedly called the Oudtshoorn base and about 120 armed troops in two Ratels and two buses arrived. A shebeen is an illegal liqueur store.
Police locked the door and armed themselves. There was no shooting and the soldiers were released.
The incident took place on Friday night, after a ceremonial handover of command at Oudtshoorn base. Celebratory trip to the neighborhood shebeen goes badly. Lots of good work going on by the services in the vicinity of Oudsthoorn. I hope this incident does not have a negative impact those efforts.
#2
troops were in Oudtshoorn on [a] training and exercises
Training for a POW rescue. Good for them.
I bet that the desk sergeant gave that rookie policeman who arrested those solders a real good chewing out. It would have been easier to have them each sign the arrest book as "John Doe" and then release them but what do I know.
#1
Translation - they're broke and can't pay for the air freight costs, and that's before I read the article:
"The company is practically bankrupt, not only with its international deliveries but also its basic services because we have no materials or equipment," said Jose Gallardo, of a labour union in the eastern state of Anzoategui.
Real tough call there, right?
Michael Moore, Danny Glover, Sean Penn - this is your socialist worker's paradise!
Russias Gazprom and Chinas CNPC on Wednesday signed a 30-year contract on natural gas supplies to China worth $400 billion, reports ITAR-TASS. The document was signed in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Gazprom shares went up by two percent immediately after the deal.
#2
More deals to come. This is only the beginning. Not only with China. Interactions in all possible areas of development. Away from USA and Europe. Away from Dollar. The Jewels will be India and Israel for space and technology programs. The excitement of potentials will bring all along. War will be only thing to slow this down. Russia's Putin knows this and he will enjoy support of his people as long as he avoids war. China however could be the fly in the ointment. Their politicians are eager to show the world their power. My two cents.
#4
Gazprom-CNPC deal not in petrodollars but in Chinese yuan:
1.Gazprom delivering gas to China.
2.China Gazprom paying in Yuan (convertible into Rubles)
3.Gazprom funding itself increasingly in Yuan.
4.Russia buying Chinese goods and services in Yuan (convertible into Rubles)
And all of this with the US banker cartel completely disintermediated courtesy of the glaring absence of the USD in any of the above listed steps.
Will Gazprom market bonds in yuan to fund future financing?
Yuan-backed bonds are already trading in Hong Kong, Singapore, London, and most recently Frankfurt.
At least 40 central banks have invested in the yuan and several others are preparing to do so, putting the mainland currency on the path to reserve status even before full convertibility.
The Russian central bank has again increased its gold reserves by another 900,000 ounces worth $1.17 billion in April. Russia's gold reserves rose to 34.4 million troy.
Concerns over stalled IMF reforms vs BRICS Developmental Bank and $100B currency pool to be finalized in July.
United States dithers as China anchors a drilling rig ~100KM off the coasts Vietbamese. PRC aggressiveness in the South China Sea is real. Problem is, the US will to confront the PRC in the SCS is not.
America seems to be aiding and abetting the deconstruction of its own unipolar world order, while offering the Russia, China, Iran, & BRICS a genuine window of opportunity to try to change the rules of the game.
Five men were convicted in the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a writer for the independent paper Novaya Gazeta and an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Politkovskaya was killed in 2006 while covering human rights violations in Chechnya, criticizing both Putin and the Chechen leaders. She was gunned down in an elevator in her apartment building by Rustam Makhmudov who was assisted by his brothers Ibragim and Dzhabrail. Lom-Ali Gaitukayev, their uncle, and Sergei Khadzhikurbanov were also convicted for helping plan and organize the assassination.
This is the second trial for the convicted men. Ibragim, Dzhabrail, and Khadzhikubanov were acquitted of the murder in 2009, triggering an international outcry over freedom of the press in Russia. The Russian Supreme Court overturned the verdict and ordered a new trial.
Though the people who were responsible for the actual murder have been convicted, there is no information as to who ordered her slaying.
Russian state television has found a scapegoat for mistakenly airing old footage of a corpse slain in the North Caucasus region, and suggested that it was a civilian killed by Kyiv's forces in eastern Ukraine. Commenting on a lengthy newscast that recently featured the retread footage, deputy All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company chief Dmitry Kiselyov said that "young, nymph video technicians" were responsible.
He said, "I haven't seen that report but what it had was an error. An error, but in no way a manipulation."
State-owned broadcaster Rossia-1 aired the footage showing the splayed corpse of a man in an open field on May 16. The channel suggested he was a civilian victim killed by Ukrainians to intimidate pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk region. However, it was quickly revealed that the footage was identical to a report by Rossia's sister channel about a counterterrorism operation carried out by Russian forces in the republic of Kabardino-Balkaria.
Kiselyov said he was "sure there is an internal investigation of this matter going on" at Rossia-1.
#1
Not sure iff they're Russian or Ukrainian, but as per DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS VIDEOS various Slavic? Babes are covering their nekkid bosoms = cleavage from the waist up.
The North Korean authorities recently added five extra clauses to Article 60 of the country's criminal code, which pertains to attempts to overthrow the state. The additional clauses codify harsh punishments for acts including illicit communication with the outside world, which could in principle now incur the death penalty.
The newly re-codified offenses include:
▲ Illegal phone contact with foreigners, including South Koreans;
▲ Viewing South Korean dramas or DVDs and listening to [foreign] radio broadcasts;
▲ Using or dealing in drugs;
▲ Transnational human and sex trafficking; and
▲ Aiding and abetting defectors and leaking state secrets. The last one wasn't already a crime? Or is doing both at the same time a new crime?
#1
VMF is an abbreviation for Voenno-morskoj flot, the Russian Military Maritime Fleet, which has bases in Kaliningrad and in Kronstadt, near St Petersburg.
As Kaliningrad lies between Poland and Lithuania, the Gulf of Finland is the only air route between the two bases that does not cross NATO countries' airspace.
The earlier flight, around 4 pm, does not show up on the website.
Brief violations of Finnish airspace occur several times a year. The latest incidents take place against a backdrop of stepped-up NATO air surveillance of the Baltic States, just across the Gulf of the Finland. Estonia is just 60 km from Finlands Porkkala peninsula.
Good practice and shows the bosses that you ARE on heightened alert.
#3
We need to unmothball the SR71 and fly them up the baltic at low altitude and high mach - and fly "creek spectre" again to see just what radars they are using. Plut it rattles the window well, and rattles the nerves of the fat cats in St Petersburg when a multi-mach air contact pops up from off the deck in a nearly ballistic pattern.
[Iran Press TV] Turkey's deputy prime minister has denounced a top aide for kicking a protester following a deadly coal mine disaster in the country, describing the event as "catastrophic".
"It is a very catastrophic incident," Bulent Arinc said after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
A photo, taken during Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi only they haven't dumped him yet... 's visit to the western city of Soma where the tragedy happened, shows Erdogan's deputy chief of staff, Yusuf Yerkel, kicking an anti-government protester.
"I am not in a position to defend it, whoever he is," Arinc added.
The shocking image outraged many across Turkey, prompting an outpouring of anger by activists on social media.
Following the public outrage, Yerkel issued a statement on May 15, saying, "I am sad that I could not keep my calm in the face of all the provocation, insults, and attacks that I was subjected to that day."
Also on Wednesday, ruling and opposition party politicians decided to establish a 17-member parliamentary committee to investigate the event.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/22/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] LAHORE: Urban and rural areas across the country faced six to seven hours of loadshedding on Tuesday with a slight decline of 50MW in the total power shortfall.
There were reports of low voltage, fluctuation and tripping in densely populated commercial and residential localities of mega cities, including Lahore. Therefore, National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) authorities claim power distribution companies (Discos) were resorting to four to six hours of loadshedding.
"Total national power generation on Tuesday was 12,350MW, which included 4,630MW, 1,630MW and 6,100MW received through hydel, thermal and independent power producers, respectively. In addition, 13MW were added to the national grid through wind generation," said an NTDC front man. The total demand was 14,400MW and shortfall 2,050MW, forcing the Discos to implement a four to six hours power shutdown schedule, he added.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pound, the little lost dog had finished eating the rat terrier... Lahore and adjoining districts of Kasur, Sheikhupura, Nankana Sahib and Okara continued facing a shortfall of about 9,00MW. According to officials, the total electricity demand of Lahore Electricity Supply Company Limited (Lesco) was 3,126MW on an average, whereas it was provided 2,234MW by the NTDC on Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/22/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] A suspected robber who along with his two accomplices robbed a female university student, hijacked a car and then escaped after injuring a policeman on Tuesday morning was rubbed out during what the police claimed to be an encounter in the evening.
Police said the gunnies riding a cycle of violence intercepted three female students of the Arid Agriculture University on Double Road.
The robbers snatched a laptop from one of the students and tried to escape towards Islamabad.
However, corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... on I.J. Principal Road, their bike broke down after which they stopped a car at gunpoint and forced the driver to take them towards Faizabad.
One of the labourers working on the metro bus project on Ninth Avenue saw the robbers hijacking the Honda car along with its driver and heading towards Faizabad.
The labourer rushed towards the Faizabad checkpost manned by the Rawalpindi and Islamabad police on his cycle of violence and informed them about the robbers and the registration number of the hijacked car.
The coppers took position and within minutes the hijacked car reached the picket. When the officials signaled the car to stop, the robbers opened fire injuring one of the coppers.
In the meantime, the owner of the car and the three robbers ran towards the Faizabad bus terminal on foot leaving the car behind.
Sources in the police told Dawn that the suspect, who the police claimed was killed in the encounter in the evening, had been jugged Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! by the Rawalpindi police after he shot and injured the policeman at the Faizabad checkpost. However, corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... his two accomplices escaped.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/22/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] A Hindu member of the National Assembly requested the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) on Tuesday to formulate effective laws to discourage the forced conversion of Hindu girls on the pretext of marriage.
The CII meeting held in Islamabad discussed the Hindu Marriage Act, presented in the National Assembly by MNA Dr Ramesh Kumar who insisted that it was the right of the Hindu community to have their marriages registered in the relevant districts.
"There is currently no law regarding Hindu marriage, as a result, our marriages are not registered anywhere," Dr Kumar said, adding that this had many serious repercussions.
He was addressing an in-camera session of CII for around 45 minutes, but later spoke to media about the need for a well-defined marriage law for Hindus.
"The main issue faced by our community is forced conversions as the kidnapped girls ultimately submit to the key demand of the kidnappers -- convert and marry a Moslem," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/22/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Senators from the treasury and opposition benches on Wednesday said that they will not accept any kind of ban on any news organizations in the presence of a democratic government.
Commenting on the motion in Senate regarding the ongoing political situation in the country, Awami National Party founded by Abdul Wali Khan in 1986. Part of the PPP-led cabinet 2008-13. The ANP is considered left wing, advocating for secularism, democratic socialism, public sector government, and economic egalitarianism.... (ANP) Senator Afrasiab Khattak said that the journalist community sacrificed lives along with members of political parties for the purpose of democracy in the country.
The ANP leader said that the role of a free media is essential for democracy in the country.
"The government should play its role to ensure freedom of expression in this regard," he added.
"Some elements are creating confusion among media organizations but the Parliament will not accept any kind of ban on any media organizations," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/22/2014 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] Israel has decided to place under house arrest several young Jewish forces of Evil suspected of planning to disrupt Pope Francis' visit to the Holy Land this weekend, police said on Wednesday.
"The police and Shin Bet (security service) have taken out restraining orders against several right-wing activists who, according to information from Shin Bet, are planning to commit provocative acts during the pope's visit," police spokeswoman Luba Samri told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Samri, who did not elaborate on what it was thought they intended to do, said the restraining order would apply for four days.
Media said the three activists were to be put under house arrest on Thursday, two days before Francis arrives in the region.
[Ynet] Police launch investigation into torching; Israel's first Bedouin judge a 'seriously determined man' undeterred by attack.
Could be a Price Tag attack, could be fellow Bedouin who disapprove, could be Israeli members of any of the Palestinian 'activist' groups... In Non-WoT for now, may be moved as the situation develops.
The powerful army chief, Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, announced the military takeover in a statement broadcast on national television. It was followed by additional announcements including a nationwide curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. and an order for 18 government officials including the ousted prime minister to report immediately to the countrys new governing military commission.
Hopefully things go well after everyone is sat down at a table and forced to work something out.
[Ynet] 'After a vulgar clip which hurt public chastity was released in cyberspace, police decided to identify those involved in making that clip,' Iran police say of video cover to Parallel Williams' hit 'Happy'.
#1
"All people who made the Happy video [were] released today, except the director of video, a source close to the families said," the organization [The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI)] tweeted.
Apparently, even Iranian President Hassan Rouhani saw the irony of arresting kids for singing "Happy to be from Tehran".
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Five men were convicted in the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a writer for the independent paper Novaya Gazeta and an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The North Korean authorities recently added five extra clauses to Article 60 of the country's criminal code, which pertains to attempts to overthrow the state. The additional clauses codify harsh punishments for acts including illicit communication with the outside world, which could in principle now incur the death penalty.
The newly re-codified offenses include: 
[DAWN] LAHORE: Urban and rural areas across the country faced six to seven hours of loadshedding on Tuesday with a slight decline of 50MW in the total power shortfall.
[DAWN] A Hindu member of the National Assembly requested the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) on Tuesday to formulate effective laws to discourage the forced conversion of Hindu girls on the pretext of marriage.
