(SomaliNet) Nigerias notorious militant group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has received $545,000 for the release of three Italians and a Lebanese but has not released them. They received the money from Agip, the firm that the four work for. According to MEND, the money was given to the guards. (This) involved paying 70 million naira ($545,000) to those supposed to be guarding the hostages for the hostages to be guided to a point where a boat was to be stationed to take them out of the creeks.
A middleman brought 70 million naira to one of our camps where the attempt was immediately reported. Needless to say, the money has been confiscated and will be put to better use," MEND said.
MEND has already threatened to kill the hostages if any attempt to use money to secure their release is used. MEND has already made it clear that it wants the release of three imprisoned Niger Delta leaders in exchange for the hostages. The hostages have been in captivity since December 7th. This has attracted everyones concern, including Italys president. ENI CEO has also already met Nigerias president, Olusegun Obasanjo, on the same issue.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2007 00:00 ||
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Can't hand over what is dead.
Posted by: Charles ||
01/04/2007 1:16 Comments ||
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More... On the MEND
Aims
It is the first time the military leader of the Mend movement, Major-General Godswill Tamuno, has spoken publicly of his group's aims. He refused to be interviewed on tape or for his location to be disclosed.
He told the BBC's Abdullahi Kaura Abubakar that they had launched their campaign, called "dark February", to ensure that all foreign oil interests left. He said that they had had enough of the exploitation of their resources and wanted to take total control of the area to get their fair share of the wealthI>
He seems to define 'fair' as 'whatever he can take.' He might want to consider that such a definition can work both ways - at some point the evil oil companies (under the guidance of the Halliburton cabal) might decide contracts and negotiations are meaningless and just kill off the opposition and 'steal' all the oil.
A 14-party Bangladesh opposition alliance led by the Awami League has announced that it will boycott the elections to be held on January 22. I think we kinda saw that one coming.
Sheikh Hasina, the leader of the Awami League, said the alliance would stay away since the interim government has failed to create the right atmosphere. "We have agreed not to participate in the election because the country's interim government in charge of holding a free and fair election has failed to create a congenial election atmosphere," Hasina told a news conference on Wednesday. "The caretaker government is not neutral." Meaning Awami League expects to lose.
Hasina's announcement adds to uncertainty in the run-up to the parliamentary elections. The opposition accuses the interim administration of favouring a rival alliance led by Begum Khaleda Zia, who handed over power in October. Besides seeking the dismissal of Iajuddin Ahmed, the president who heads the interim administration, and several election commissioners, the oppostion has been demanding that fraudulent voters be weeded out of the electoral list before polls are held. In Bangla? Weeding out the deaders and the non-existents would put the election off for about a hundred years.
Hasina insisted that Ahmed must resign as interim head of the country because he had failed to prove his neutrality and had acted under instructions of Zia.
Quite a cat-fight they have going there ...
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2007 00:00 ||
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Not to mention having a few party leaders brought out at 0-dark-30 to "retrieve arms caches."
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Paek Nam Sun, North Korea's foreign minister and the country's top diplomat for nearly 10 years, has died at the age of 78, official media reported Wednesday. The one-sentence dispatch did not provide any more details, including when or how he died. But China's official Xinhua news agency said Paek died Tuesday.
Shot or toaster accident in the bathtub?
Paek has been the North's top diplomat since 1998. News reports have said he was suffering from kidney disease. It was unclear who would succeed him.
And for an AP 'duh' moment ...
Paek's death is not believed likely to lead to any change in North Korea's foreign policy. The North's Foreign Ministry usually implements policies that have been crafted by the ruling Korean Workers' Party. Power is heavily concentrated in Kim's hands, and state officers stray from the official line at their peril.
Paek was born in 1929 in North Hamgyong, a province on the Chinese and Russian borders that is home to a coal mine notorious for forced labor as well as a key missile base. He graduated from the claimed prestigious Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang, and later participated in talks in the 1970s between the two countries' Red Thingy Cross societies over issues such as separated families. Paek was also ambassador to Poland in the 1970s.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/04/2007 00:00 ||
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From other reading, I KNOW this is mainly done by muzzies. However, the PC Norwegians can't bring themselves to say it. Therefore, their women will still be raped.
New Year's Eve was a nightmare for four Oslo women, with attacks and attempted rapes - one successful - in different parts of the city. According to newspaper DagnabbitDagbladet, police are searching for a man in a duffel coat and on Friday will release a sketch of what the suspect may look like. Ummmm, swarthy?
"Of course people feel unsafe when things like this happen. Catching the assailant will have the most to say about how safe people feel," said police commissioner Anstein Gjengedal.
Oslo City Council leader Erling Lae said that freedom of movement was a fundamental liberty, and that he realized the extent of the problem late one night in the city while walking home behind a woman. "When I walked faster, she did too, and then I understood she was terrified. It is important to fight this basic insecurity," Lae said, and believes the city can do its part. "We must improve street lighting. We know the safest streets are those pulsing with life. We should think about this when closing off streets to traffic," Lae said.
Police commissioner Gjengedal is not convinced that lighting will help fight rapes. "It is typical that the women is followed and perhaps attacked where the assailant finds it most suitable," Gjengedal said, and advises women not to go home alone at night, and to walk where there are plenty of people. Or, just deport the miscreants.
Nope, lighting wouldn't help. Nor would more officers. Nor would call boxes. Nor would increased patrols. Might as well just surrender, yup.
"One can say that it is sad that women have to take such precautions but we live in a metropolis. Police cannot cover the entire city at any given time and there are swarthy people who hunt women that they can rape. Women should think about how they are getting home, and perhaps buy a defense spray," Gjengedal said. It is sad they can't face the problem.
How about a .32 caliber pistol and some time at a practice-range?
#3
I have been to Oslo and suprisingly our hosts had a closet full of firearms, as well as the knowledge that everyone in he family knew how to operate and handle guns.
It goes back to the rural nature of Norway, they are very outdoor sports minded. Hey, the Biatholon was invented there.
OTOH, no one "carries"... that would change the equation quickly.
Also, you might want to know that the new speech writer of Pépé Le Pen is alain soral, a commie writer noted for his analysis of the feminization of western societies (I have a couple of his books, interesting), who is also an outspoken ennemy of "communautarism", the communautarism targeted here being the "zionists" (wink, wink).
Of course, he's also very anti-american, he wrote how he felt exilerated and triumphant during 9/11, he's a dieudonné pal, and also an associate of thierry meyssan.
And Le Pen's new ideological guru (which doesn't mean the two are actually associated in any way) is supposedly emmanuel todd, writer of "Après l'Empire", a book announcing the coming decline of the USA and the return to a much healthier multipolar world he now wishes dominated by an EU-russia-china axis... funny thing is, is a leftie, and he's basically rehashing the "Nouvelle droite"'s talking points from the 80's.
#2
On Radio-Coutoisie, the main and in fact only independent conservative french radio, the FN's passionaria serge de beketch, who had invited dieudonné a short while back, after his allegiance to Le Pen (while the catholic traditionalist SdB normally despises christian-bashers and anti-white racists like dieudonné), denounced sarkozy last week in his talk-show by saying the supposedly atlantist sarko was "the procurator of the US-rael Empire.
And the FN's N°2 was invited and present to the final of dieudonné's current show, which is based on a supposed apology the comedian makes to the "chosen people".
Love is in the air. They might hate each's others, they're together against the US-rael Empire. Cute. And this time, the FN is clearly vying for the Youths' votes; Le Pen was long satisified by being the Establishment's useful Devil, perhaps this time he thinks he has a shot (he's probably right, the political scene is rotten beyond belief, the Enlightened Elites have come full circle with their dogmas and ineptiness... good thing they greatly enriched themselves, so this was not all in vain).
#3
A5059: So if Le Pen makes a decent showing it will lead to...what? Does he have any chance at all? What happens if FN puts a large number of representatives in Parliament? Could they sabotage things from there? These relationships are all so confusing -- the only common denominator seems to be anti-semitism and anti-Americanism.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
01/04/2007 13:29 Comments ||
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In fact it is not even sure Le Pen will be able to run.
Problem is: In order to run you have to get 500 mayors of city signing they support you. This law was made because in 1969 or 1974 there was a smart guy who decided to run for President in order to use the tax-payer funded TV time for advertsing his company's products (he also told that in case he was elected he would immediately resign in order to have a new round of free advertising).
But now this law is being used for shutting down "unpalatable" candidates or better said THE unpalatable candidate (communist candidate will have no problem to run despite having backstabbed the French Army in 1940).
Of course the law is highly undemocratic because it places selection of candidates in the hands of the 30,000 majors of France. A bit like in Iran. Another problem is that Le Pen is toxic and if one mayor signs for hilm you can count on the usual suspects for telling his constituents what he did so a lot of mayors will chicken out.
#5
CARROL O'CONNOR as The General > "Is that COMMUNITARIANISM, the NEW LIBERALISM, Booker!? Why wasn't I told ... You're the Communications Officer, Booker, you're supposed to be able to communicate".
The Anti-racist Center, the Equality and Anti-discrimination Ombud (LDO) and the Oslo office of trade union confederation LO have issued strong reactions after a Cuban Tourism delegation were denied rooms at the Scandic Edderkoppen Hotel in Oslo. "Sorry, we're full. Here, have a complimentary herring."
"LO Oslo demands that the government take the step of denying business activity to companies like Scandic, which clearly adhere to the USA's illegal boycott and blockade rather than the policy of the Norwegian authorities," LO said in a press release. The LO members and Castro's Tourist Board apparently speak the same language.
At the same time, the Anti-racist Center filed a complaint with the police against the hotel, the managing director for the Hilton hotels and the Scandic chain in Norway. This charge is based on a law prohibiting the denial of services on the grounds of a person's citizenship or other ethnic reasons.
Equality and Anti-discrimination Ombud Beate Gangsås will ask the hotel management at the Scandic Edderkoppen for an explanation. "We expect the hotel to account for itself. If this is not satisfactory the LDO will make a complaint," said LDO section leader Ann Helen Aarø, and said that their reasoning had to be based on Norwegian conditions. "There is nothing that guarantees any company with American owner interests to exclude the citizens of a country on the grounds that the USA boycotts that nation. We have to examine the rules that apply to business in Norway," Aarø said. And there's no business like Commie business.
And there's no guarantee that American companies will do business in your country, either.
LO Oslo claims that the Scandic chain, now owned by the American-owned Hilton chain, violates a range of United Nations resolutions condemning the economic blockade of Cuba in addition to violating the guidelines of Norwegian foreign policy.
A similar event occurred in Mexico City last year, when 16 Cubans were thrown out of an American-owned hotel while they were taking part in a meeting with American businessmen. The Cuban government called the episode an example of the American trade boycott infringing on the sovereignty of other nations.
#4
Follow the laws of the country you are doing business in or get out. How different is this from Somalis in Minneapolis refusing cab service to those carrying a bottle of wine?
Posted by: ed ||
01/04/2007 22:45 Comments ||
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So how do the Anti-racist Center, the Equality and Anti-discrimination Ombud (LDO) and the Oslo office of trade union confederation LO feel about Minneapolis Cab drivers?
White House legal counsel Harriet Miers, once nominated by President George W. Bush for the U.S. Supreme Court, is resigning from the administration, Press Secretary Tony Snow said. Miers, 61, a longtime Bush confidante and adviser, will leave her job on Jan. 31 after six years at the White House. No successor has been named. ``She informed the president yesterday, and he has regretfully accepted her resignation,'' Snow said. Asked why Miers is leaving, Snow said, ``She's been here for six years. It's hard duty.''
In her letter of resignation, released by the White House, Miers says she is grateful for having served in Bush's administration and considers her leadership of the White House legal team ``a singular honor and pleasure.'' Helping screen Supreme Court nominees, even when her own failed, was among ``the most rewarding of my experiences,'' Miers wrote. ``Your commitment to nominating judges who will interpret the law and who know the proper role of a judge has made this nation stronger and our justice system fairer,'' she wrote.
Miers was a litigator in Texas for 26 years, representing companies including Microsoft Corp. and Walt Disney Co. and rising to co-managing partner of Locke Liddell & Sapp in Dallas. She was elected to a two-year term on the Dallas City Council in 1989. Miers has known Bush since the 1980s and worked as a lawyer on his 1994 campaign for governor of Texas. After Bush won the election, he tapped Miers to lead the Texas Lottery Commission. She came with Bush to Washington when he was elected president in 2000, serving first as his staff secretary, then as deputy chief of staff.
#2
Both FOX + CNN(s) > part of new yarn SHAKEUP by Dubya. IONews, O'REILLY > RON REAGAN? > Dems were elected in 2006 to seemingly do something about Iraq, but so far [e.g. Pelosi + first 100 Hours = Days?] have focused on anything except Iraq, whcih Morris. Also, MARK STEYN > America is going to be blamed for something in the world no matter what it does, so America = Americans might as well choose what to be blamed for. America as the World's de facto SUPERPOWER will not be able to protect its status as such IN EYES OF WORLD iff it is unwilling to act decisively = forcefully in its own interests or agendas. IOW, HUMAN NATURE > "THE WORLD" WILL USE, ABUSE, AND EXPLOIT ANY SEEMING AMER WEAKNESS OR VULNER TO AMERICA'S DISADVANTAGE.
MCGOVERN: I have to tell you something I've never said before publicly. I voted for [Ford] in 1976.
KING: What?
MCGOVERN: When he yes, I did. And at Thanksgiving dinner that year, I never said anything about this to Eleanor or to her five children. But I told them at Thanksgiving time I had voted for President Ford, even though he lost. And I told them why, because I thought he had come in at a difficult time. I didn't know President Carter very well then. And I just felt more comfortable somehow with Gerry Ford. Whereupon my wife Eleanor said, so did I vote for him. We went around that table this is hard to believe all five of my kids voted for him. So they get seven votes out of the McGovern family for President Ford and Senator Dole, my long-time Republican friend. I voted for Carter again in 1980. So with my brand of political luck, I voted against Carter when he won, I voted for him when he lost. But I can justify both of those votes.
KING: [Thump]
McGovern has it backwards. I would have voted for Carter in '76 when I was young and foolish (more reason to not let 14-year olds have the vote. The first vote I ever cast, months after turning 18, was for Ronald Reagan (OK, electors pledged to him), the top of the ticket.
#1
Strange story. McGovern was as far left as anyone the Dems have ever put up for office. Nixon received over 20% more votes in what was the biggest landslide ever.
#2
Back in '72, McGovern was a radical leftist. Now, he'd be in the mainstream. Compared to HIllary! or J. Forbes Kerry (millionaire), he's a real patriot. He had a lot of terrible ideas, but he never betrayed his country.
#4
The good Senator was also a B-24 pilot in WWII and flew missions over Germany and Italy. I questioned his ideas and, from time to time his common sense, but I never questioned his patriotism.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/04/2007 10:12 Comments ||
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He flew the Ploesti oil raids too. That was low level and into a sheet of flack. He had personal courage, just twisted into a socialist later.
A different version of this was posted at about the same time by Rantburg citizen Jackal.
House Democrats tried to unveil their lobbying reform package today, but their press conference was drowned out by chants from anti-war activists who want Congress to stop funding the Iraq war before taking on other issues.
Led by the treacherousCindy Sheehan, the nutbag mother of a hero slain soldier, the knuckleheadsgadfliesnimrods protesters chanted "De-escalate, investigate, troops home now" as Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., began outlining the Democrats' plans to ban lobbyist-funded travel and institute other ethics reforms. The press conference was held in the Cannon House Office Building in an area open to the public.
Emanuel finally gave up trying to be heard over the chants, and retreated to a caucus room where Democrats were meeting.
The Dems have been retreating on so many other fronts lately ...
Sheehan says she has nothing against lobbying reform, but she and her fellow anti-war idiotsmoonbatsrubessimpletonsnutterssimple-minded rusticsfools activists want Democrats to know they will keep pressuring Congress to end the war in Iraq. "We wanted the Democrats to know they're back in power because of the grass roots," Sheehan says.
They're in power because the Repubs couldn't keep their word ...
The anti-war goofssideshow attractionsmedia whores activists held their own Capitol Hill press conference earlier in the day before deciding to attend the lobbying reform press conference as well.
Before the chanting started, Sheehan got a hug from Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., the new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
Takes one to know one ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/04/2007 00:00 ||
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Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill well known Clinton suck boy gets a taste of what the "adults" have to deal with, tuff titty I say.
The Clintion machine gets revenge, these tools better watch their sixes.
Association with leftists is parasitism, not symbiosis (for you college students with the confused looks and Che T-shirts, that means foolish liberals realize too late that leftists eat their stooges).
Posted by: Mike ||
01/04/2007 6:50 Comments ||
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"Aaagghh! Now, everyone's sick of Cindy Sheehan."
Don't be too sure.
To the likes of Rahm Emanuel and Hillary Clinton, Cindy Sheehan must certainly be one titanic pain in the ass; but her sick, destructive beliefs are shared by the entire Howard Dean/Code Pink/Nutroots wing of the Democratic Party, and in the end they will very likely shout down the so-called "moderates".
This is what they really, REALLY want:
They will not give up; and I reckon that by 2009, they will get it.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/04/2007 7:18 Comments ||
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So exactly how many moonbats does it take to disrupt a Liberal press conference and how can you tell the difference between the Moonbat Reporters, Moonbat Politicians, and Moonbat protestors? They need to publish a program with names, affiliation, and specific roles in this progressive Charlie Foxtrot.
#10
Bwaahahahaaa! The Useful Fools for the Democrat hypocrisy machine once again wake up the morning after with a sore sphincter and a fist full of bottle caps.
The Sheehanoids managed to cow Rep. Rahm Emanuel into shutting down his press conference. And from the Angry Left bloggers who once cheered her on: silence. Browsing the homepages of the Daily Kos, Atrios, Talking Points Memo and the Puffington Host, we can't find a single mention of the erstwhile moonbat heartthrob.
It comes as a relief to realize that many of those who once treated Sheehan as a heroine did so merely out of partisanship, not hatred of country.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/04/2007 15:09 Comments ||
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Don't know about de-escalation, but they certainly invite defenestration.
Secretary-General Ban, who has promised to tame the U.N. bureaucracy, yesterday looked instead like someone who is being tamed by the U.N. apparatus.
In appointing a Briton close to Prime Minister Blair, John Holmes, to coordinate human affairs at the United Nations and a Mexican, Alicia Barcena, to head the U.N. management team, Mr. Ban seemed unable to break away from old traditions. It was not clear yesterday whether any American official would hold a senior position in the new Ban administration. Several insiders said the absence of a former American ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, hurt Washington's prospects of securing sought-after U.N. positions.
The U.N. peacekeeping department, whose leadership America was recently lobbying for, became entangled in a new scandal yesterday after a Daily Telegraph report on allegations of U.N. peacekeepers sexually abusing minors in southern Sudan.
Popular Science describes how Sebastian Wolfgarten attempted to get around the Great Firewall of China. "Wolfgarten simply bought a server at a Chinese ISP by phone. Once the server was set up, he could log into it from Germany. And all the data that went through the server would be subject to the same digital censorship that Chinese citizens experience every day." Then Wolfgarten observed how the firewall worked and then he simply went around and over it. . . .
(Earlier Rantburg article with more tech-geek details here.)
Posted by: Mike ||
01/04/2007 12:28 ||
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It can be circumvented. But access speeds are like dialing up using a 2400 baud modem. That's right - a 2.4 kbps modem, while using a broadband connection. Thus, even though you can circumvent the firewall, it's way too slow for routine use. For instance, how would you like to wait five minutes for a Taiwanese news website to display, and five minutes for each story to come up?
Chinese web surfers who can read English can read whatever they want without having to deal with the firewall, but there are probably more American web surfers who can function in Chinese than there are Chinese web surfers who can function in English. And the Chinese web surfers who can function in English seem to spend all their time in forums writing about all the good things that come to mind when they think about the Communist Party. The sad reality is that inside every Chinese isn't an American struggling to get out.
On the morning of November 13, 2006, we launched and landed Goddard a first development vehicle in the New Shepard program. The launch was both useful and fun. Many friends and family came to watch the launch and support the team.
Photos and videos at the link. Looks like the biggest Estes Mars Lander ever built.
I want one.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/04/2007 10:13 ||
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Interesting they are using compressed liquid gas as their means of propulsion... no way they will go too much higher with this system in place... at least not with my understanding of physics...
BUT what it does demonstrate is that the concept is sound. The nozzles worked as designed and it didn't crash and burn on descent...
#4
'Venom: You might be interested to know that the Japanese are developing an LNG?LOX orbital booster. The theory is to take advantage of the higher density of LNG vs. LH2 and reduce the vehicle mass (thereby increasing lift capability) by using a smaller fuel tank.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/04/2007 17:52 Comments ||
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A vibrating vest that writes messages on its wearer's back is being tested by researchers in the US. In future, it could be used to send important commands to soldiers or fire-fighters, warning them of imminent danger when ordinary radios cannot be used, for example. The vest is made from black spandex Oooooh. and fastens around a person's lower torso with Velcro. An array of 16 small vibrating motors is embedded in the back of the vest and connects to a control unit on one side. This unit contains a wireless transceiver linked wirelessly to a controlling computer. Commands sent from the computer are translated into patterns "displayed" – like Braille-on-the-back – by the vibrating motors. The wearer's back was chosen to receive messages because it is a relatively large area that is also less likely to sustain damage.
The US army is part-funding the research: "They are interested in a way to communicate simple commands in situations when the hands are doing other things, or radios can't be used," explains Lynette Jones, the MIT engineer leading the project. Along with colleagues Brett Lockyer and Erin Piateski, Jones has been testing different symbols on volunteers wearing the vest. "We have created 15 with very high recognition," Jones says.
Stop and go. Eight of the symbols are derived from hand signals already used by the US military. "They communicate things like stop, look left, run, proceed faster or proceed slower," explains Jones. When four corners of the array vibrate, for example, this means stop. And a vibrating column, moving from one side to the other, means turn left or right.
Five volunteers were asked to follow the tactile symbols while being directed around an obstacle course. They were also sent signals meaning "raise arm horizontally", "raise arm vertically" and "hop". Out of the five, only one volunteer made a single mistake during the tests. The vest was also shown to work while worn under a backpack. "This is best suited to command-based situations like the military or fire-fighters," says Jones. "It could also be used to direct blind people around a city, but because their path is less defined, that would be more difficult." The vest could operate continuously for around 5 hours, Jones says, which should allow it to function for several days under normal conditions, as messages would not be relayed continuously.
Researchers have previously tried integrating tactile displays into pilots' seats or astronauts' clothing, says Steven Wall, who works on tactile displays at Glasgow University, UK. "Because they use a different channel of communication, they don't take up the very valuable channel of visual processing," he explains. Danial Siewiorek, who works on wearable computing at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, US, agrees that the vest has promise, but says producing a version that is robust enough for general use could be a challenge. "When I have worked with the military, sound is a problem," he told New Scientist. "In the high desert at night sound really carries, so anything that vibrates needs to be silent." Siewiorek adds that the system would need to be tested to ensure it works in all circumstances, especially when the wearer is being very active or is carrying a heavy load.
OK. How many remember the UPUD from the STARFIST series?
Rumors of a new coup d'etat swept Bangkok on Thursday night but were denied by the interim government and military officials in the capital, where tensions remained high after a string of New Year's bombings that killed three people. Army commander Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin, who heads the military council that seized power in a bloodless coup Sept. 19, called the reports of a coup "impossible," in an interview on Thai television.
Earlier Thursday, interim Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont warned that the country could face more violence in the future, though he did not indicate any specific threat.
In September, the military staged its first coup since 1991, ousting elected Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Capt. Yongyuth Maiyalarb, a spokesman for the interim civilian government appointed by the military council, said council members told him that they had received no reports that another coup by opponents was imminent, or of unusual troops movements that might signal a move by the military.
Col. Sansern Chaengkamnerd, a spokesman for the military's Council for National Security, also told The Associated Press that coup rumors circulating around the jittery capital were baseless.
"There have been transfers of troops but it is for the purpose of providing security in Bangkok," he said.
An AP reporter saw no unusual activity near Government House, the office of Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, or at other key locations late Thursday.
It was unknown who was behind the Sunday night bombings, which resulted in an increased troop presence in Bangkok, especially in bus stations, airports and other transportation hubs.
Since the coup, the military has suggested that Thaksin's supporters have been trying to destabilize the country in a bid to take back power. After the bombings, the military implied without explicitly saying so that Thaksin supporters were responsible, but he denied the charge.
There has been speculation that the military may be dissatisfied with the performance of the interim civilian government it installed after the coup, and may prefer to take complete power for itself rather than work behind the scenes.
Sondhi led the coup after months of mass protests demanding that Thaksin step down because of alleged corruption and abuse of power.
Asked on TV whether the military council itself was responsible for the bombings, Sondhi denied it.
"I have risked myself to do what the people wished. Why should I do that?" he said. "I love my people and my country."
The bombings and the failure to catch those responsible are seen as embarrassing to the military.
The interim government, which is supposed to relinquish power after an election expected later this year, has drawn criticism for failing to solve several major problems, including an Islamic insurgency in the south and the rising value of the baht, which has hurt Thai exports.
The failure to restore peace in the south and the Bangkok bombings raised fears that the insurgency may be spreading north from the country's three southernmost, Muslim-dominated provinces. Nearly 2,000 people have died from violence in the past three years.
Surayud acknowledged Thursday that his government received intelligence in advance about two of the bombing targets, but said he didn't know who the culprits were.
Speaking to the interim legislature, he said the intelligence helped avert more casualties from the attacks which killed three and wounded more than 40 people, including nine foreign tourists.
Surayud, appointed by the military group that carried out the September coup, said authorities should be prepared for more attacks. He did not, however, cite a specific threat.
"This isn't happening only now, but we have to be prepared to face a new threat that could harm people's lives in the future," he said.
Surayud said the decision by authorities to shut down public celebrations of the New Year following the initial blasts had saved lives.
One bomb went off at a shopping center named in the intelligence reports. Two more exploded shortly after midnight near a major shopping plaza another of the sites named in the intelligence report where the city's main celebration was to have been held.
No evidence has yet been made public linking anyone to the bombings.
While the bombs might seem similar to those used by insurgents, Surayud said, the type of devices used and the circumstances meant there was only "a very small chance" they were related to the southern violence.
"It is related more to people with ill intentions, and those who want to cause violence who are in our area, which is Bangkok," he said, without elaborating.
Political finger-pointing escalated over who was to blame for the bombings.
Former Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, a Thaksin ally, accused the military of mishandling the case, which he described as an inside job.
He strongly rejected allegations the former leader was involved in the blasts and directed the blame back at his accusers. He cited foreign reports that, he said, accused the government and the military's Council for National Security of carrying out the bombings to divert attention from their "failure to effectively govern the country.".
"This government is like a new driver who does not know how to drive and puts the blame on others when an accident occurs," Chavalit said Wednesday.
Gen. Saprang Kanlayanamitr, a member of the council the power behind Surayud's interim government defended the military. "We know that some renegade soldiers were the culprits in this incident, but the most important point is who was the mastermind of this, which the public will know sooner or later," he said.
#5
Working scenarios - 1. Current regime is reinforcing checkpoints and strategic positions around the city by calling in additional troops. They want to be seen as strong in response to the bombings. 2. Current regime is preparing to finish what they started on Sept 19. During the coup, there were two camps within the coup - one wanted a very strong heavy handed approach intent on taking out any future opposition. The other side favored a softer non-violent approach. Group won the day with the support of the King and have been doing okay. The current rumint says the hardliners are back and want to finish what they started. The activities of Thursday was not a counter-coup. The current regime is firmly in control. Likely COA - continued plus up of troops in the city and denials that it is anything but routine repositioning. Most dangerous COA - current PM agrees to step down, a return to full scale martial law, and a Thai style (minus the peanut sauce) house cleaning of elements of the military and police still linked to the Thaksin gov't. (and belived to be behind the bombings). Bangkok Billy rates this one too close to call. One more bombing and stand by for fireworks.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
01/04/2007 16:40 Comments ||
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#1
reads like a muzzie is in charge. i've been to the places mentioned and have 'observed' bawdy behavior, once or twice (damn Mojo anyway).....don't see anything too terribly wrong with it. "no doc , you don't really need my medical record just for that one little shot, do you?????"
#2
Where there's a will there's a way - iff Soldiers + Sailors don't get their relief downtown, they'll bring it back to their barracks andor aboard ship, even Officers. Not a condonement of crime agz any side.
heh, reminds me that I waz one of those who were shocked when good wimmin personal on ships got knocked up inspite of all the special Navy training and rulz?
#12
Now this is just a damn cryin' shame. A few years down the road and nobody will ever believe that there really WAS a place where it was possible for drunken sexual debauchery to become genuinely boring after a while...
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
01/04/2007 23:30 Comments ||
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Rescue workers on Tuesday found 90 bodies and the twisted wreckage of a plane carrying 102 people which crashed into a remote Indonesian mountain, and said the other 12 may have survived.
The Adam Air plane with 96 passengers, including three Americans, and six crew on board slammed into a mountain on the west of the island of Sulawesi after vanishing off air traffic control radar screens on Monday.
The Boeing 737-400 had sent distress signals an hour after taking off from Java island en route to Sulawesi, and an official said it had been flying too low.
It was the second transport disaster in Indonesia within a few days. Late on Friday a ferry carrying 600 people sank off Java in an accident blamed on bad weather.
National Search and Rescue Board spokesman Suyatno said none of the bodies from the plane crash had been evacuated yet, the official Antara news agency reported. He said rescue workers were still searching the region for the 12 people villagers reported had survived. We cannot say whether they are safe or killed. We are still looking for them, he said.
The wreckage was discovered on a mountainside in West Sulawesi at a height of 8,000 feet, national transportation safety commission chief Setio Rahardjo said in Jakarta. The question is why was the plane flying at 8,000 feet that is what we are trying to find out. The plane was supposed to be flying at 32,000 feet, Setio said, according to the detikcom online news service.
The jet was carrying 85 adult passengers, 11 children including four babies, and six crew when it crashed. The Surabaya airport duty manager has said there were no technical problems with the plane when it took off.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I think the claim of survivors has been debunked, sadly enough.
Is this link to say the debuking has been debunked?
Hundreds of Iranian-made cars have suddenly caught fire on Iran's roads over the past months, with police pointing to the Peugeot 405 as the main culprit. Now the Paris Car-B-Ques are starting to make more sense.
Since the beginning of the Iranian year in March, there have been 125 incidents of cars catching fire without warning and then killing or injuring the occupants, traffic police chief Mohammad Rooyanian said Monday. We were just driving along when poof, it combusted. Inshallah.
The Audi 'car with a mind of its own' 5000 starts making more sense ...
"Around 300 people have been killed or wounded and 40 percent of the fatalities were attributed to the Peugeot 405," he told the hardline Kayhan newspaper. But 100% of the drivers were muzzies
"We are not to going compromise on this issue. We are emphasizing the need to improve the safety of the vehicles, so that our citizens will not be worried any more," he added. Compromise does not come easily to Muzzies.
The Peugeot 405 and other well-known models from the French carmaker have been manufactured under licence since 1990 by Iran Khodro, Iran's largest car manufacturer. The combination of precision French engineering design and meticulous muslim craftsmanship
"Fire service figures from the first six months of the year have said that 700 cars caught fire in Tehran, out of which 70 percent of them were manufactured by Iran Khodro," Rooyanian added. Paris can do that many in a good weekend.
Iran Khodro's director of marketing Mehdi Ghasem said the problem was an "occasional technical fault in the fuel system" in cars more than two years old and emphasized that vehicles made in this Iranian year had no such fault. "Neither us nor the police have received any report on such a fault in this year's cars. Therefore, the registration process will automatically go on," he said, dismissing warnings of a ban on the car. No reports, None.
And no recall, either ...
"Despite the reports, the car still ranks as the best-selling car among automobiles in the Iranian market which are priced above 10,000 dollars," he said. A veritable Mercedes.
The state-owned Iran Khodro company has an annual production of about 550,000 cars including Iran's flagship Samand, Peugeot 206 and Peugeot Pars, which is a face-lifted 405.
#3
Something about France, their cars, and burning. Makes the new years look like a joke without GM getting backhanded. They burn just as well on new years in france as they burn in Iran I guess. Is it a manufacturing defect that some do not burn or is it a feature?
#8
"Despite the reports, the car still ranks as the best-selling car among automobiles in the Iranian market which are priced above 10,000 dollars," he said. which proves that Iranians love a good Car-B Que too!
The state-owned Iran Khodro company has an annual production of about 550,000 cars including Iran's flagship Samand, Peugeot 206 and Peugeot Pars, which is a face-lifted 405. Double the production, full steam ahead.... Inshallah!
#12
lol, McNails, but I was actually thinking of cheese, whine and white flags. I guess they'd all be consumed by the fire though, so carry on!
lol, my high school youth minister (a very devout guy) had a Peugeot station wagon (one of the last ones here in the US meguesses). Anyhoo, even as truthful and honest as he was, he was trying to figure out some way to get rid of the car and collect the insurance on it. He even dreamed up a scheme to intentionally crash it, but figured he wouldn't get enough for the "totalled" insurance to pay off the remaining loan, lol!
Posted by: BA ||
01/04/2007 10:10 Comments ||
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#13
I think the fuel system must be made in Israel. It's gotta be the jooos fault.
An Iranian vice president has filed a complaint against two lawmakers after a furore erupted over his alleged attendance at a ceremony in Turkey where women were dancing, the Fars news agency reported. Esfandyar Rahim Mashaie has accused the MPs of conducting a smear campaign against him by distributing a CD, which purports to show him applauding while a woman stages an oriental dance at an official ceremony in Turkey.
It is considered strictly forbidden under Islam in Iran for a man to watch an unrelated woman dancing and such allegations are deeply sensitive for a member of conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejads government. Mashaie, who is also head of Irans tourism and culture organisation, has accused MPs Emad Afrough and Saeed Abotaleb of doctoring the video to show him applauding the dancing and said he did not attend that section of the ceremony. They lied since they edited a portion of the opening session when there was dancing, trying to say that I was there during the whole show, he said, adding Of course I clapped but not during that dance.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
"It is considered strictly forbidden under Islam in Iran for a man to watch an unrelated woman dancing"
So Islam in Iran says you can't watch non-relatives dancing, but Islam in the Allah-topia says you can... what is it they do again?... with 72 non-relative virgins? But maybe I'm assuming too much regarding the "non-related" virgin thing (probably all look like the mirror, just for extra va-va-voom).
Or maybe Iranian Muslims don't get the virgins, or they only get the virgins who use their right hand, or maybe they get 72 Virgos, or...
Oh hell. Who can keep up with all the ins-and-outs of the Religion of Men Who Can't Control Their Own Manhood Peace?
(Mods- if this is deemed too offensive, I apologize. It didn't feel offensive when I wrote it, just accurately descriptive in a culturally insensitive and justifiably mocking tone - Hyper:)
#4
Somehow, I am reminded of the ancient joke about the very devout religious conservatives who disapprove of sexual intercourse while standing... because it might lead to dancing!!!
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
01/04/2007 9:08 Comments ||
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#7
This is actually a political attack against Ahmadinutjob. Less than a month ago, at some political event out of the country, he *also* watched women dancing, and was videod.
This might mean that if they can take this guy down, it will open the door to challenging Mr Malicious.
#8
#7: This is actually a political attack against Ahmadinutjob. Less than a month ago, at some political event out of the country, he *also* watched women dancing, and was videod.
Eh, wat ya bet Ahmadinerjacket's never set foot in the Great Alaskan Bush Co? Mr. Ahmadinerjacket, you don't know dancin, I knew dancin, and you ain't no dancer.
#10
Hyper: You're nowhere near crossing a line with those comments on this board.
Would your comments be deemed offensive to the typical faculty meeting in any American college/university or a Democratic screening committee? I'm certain they would be. But this is the 'Burg.
Don't be shy. Go ahead and spread your wings.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
01/04/2007 11:35 Comments ||
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NEW YORK -- Crude oil prices kicked off 2007 with a plunge below $59 a barrel Wednesday, as persistent mild weather in the United States led traders to bet on lagging demand for heating fuels.
Light, sweet crude for February delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $2.54 to $58.51 a barrel in midday trading, a 4.2 percent drop from Friday's settlement price.
Forecasters are saying the warmer-than-normal temperatures in the Northeast United States _ the biggest heating oil-consuming region _ will continue through January. "That's going to put heating oil distributors around the country in pretty bad shape," said Mike Fitzpatrick, a vice president for energy risk management at Fimat USA.
Traders were pulling down prices near the low levels they reached late last year: "If those are breached, they can fall a long way," Fitzpatrick said. On Nov. 17, the crude contract had closed at $55.81 a barrel, the lowest settlement since June 15, 2005.
The front-month crude contract finished 2006 at $61.05 a barrel _ a penny above where it ended a year earlier. This year's mild winter has arrived against a backdrop of ample global crude inventories, slowing economic growth in the United States, and a production spurt from non-OPEC countries.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/04/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
...Part of me is just cynical enough to say that this is the usual post-holiday price letdown, and it MIGHT get back down around $2.05 or so here - then some as*hole is going to scream, "Tension in the Middle East!" and it goes back up to $2.25 again.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/04/2007 8:26 Comments ||
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#2
As of Jan., 4 2007 10.53AM (EST)
Light, sweet crude for February delivery fell $1.30 to $57.02 a barrel in morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after dipping as low as $56.86. On Wednesday, the contract plunged $2.73 to $58.32 a barrel, the biggest one-day drop since Aug. 17, 2005.
#3
As long as the price of oil is high, new technologies like oil shale extraction and photo-voltaics will continue to advance and become cost effective. If the oil ticks - is it mean to call them that? - had any sense they would drop the price drastically. Unfortunately for them, they are as hooked on the income as we are on the energy.
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.
(SomaliNet) Nigerias notorious militant group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has received $545,000 for the release of three Italians and a Lebanese but has not released them. They received the money from Agip, the firm that the four work for. According to MEND, the money was given to the guards. (This) involved paying 70 million naira ($545,000) to those supposed to be guarding the hostages for the hostages to be guided to a point where a boat was to be stationed to take them out of the creeks. 
A 14-party Bangladesh opposition alliance led by the Awami League has announced that it will boycott the elections to be held on January 22. 
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Paek Nam Sun, North Korea's foreign minister and the country's top diplomat for nearly 10 years, has died at the age of 78, official media reported Wednesday. The one-sentence dispatch did not provide any more details, including when or how he died. But China's official Xinhua news agency said Paek died Tuesday.
Secretary-General Ban, who has promised to tame the U.N. bureaucracy, yesterday looked instead like someone who is being tamed by the U.N. apparatus. 
An Iranian vice president has filed a complaint against two lawmakers after a furore erupted over his alleged attendance at a ceremony in Turkey where women were dancing, the Fars news agency reported. Esfandyar Rahim Mashaie has accused the MPs of conducting a smear campaign against him by distributing a CD, which purports to show him applauding while a woman stages an oriental dance at an official ceremony in Turkey. 
NEW YORK -- Crude oil prices kicked off 2007 with a plunge below $59 a barrel Wednesday, as persistent mild weather in the United States led traders to bet on lagging demand for heating fuels.
