VILNIUS, Lithuania In these difficult times for creditors, a Lithuanian debt collector is offering an unconventional service to retrieve arrears: witchcraft.
The Vilnius-based firm has hired Vilija Lobaciuviene, the Baltic nation's most famous self-styled witch, to hunt down companies and individuals who are failing to pay their debts amid the credit crunch.
"There are certain people, who are using this crisis situation and refuse to pay back banks or other companies," said Amantas Celkonas, director of the Skolu Isieskojimo Biuras, or debt collecting bureau.
"Our new employee will help them to understand the situation, reconsider what is right and wrong and act accordingly," he said. "We will also help those who are in real trouble, suffering from psychological impact of bankruptcy and depression."
Lobaciuviene, who describes herself as "Lithuania's leading witch," is renowned in the former Soviet republic of 3.4 million people for providing such "magical" services as predicting the future and casting spells. She claims to use hypnosis, herbal medicines and "the bio-energy field" when helping her "patients."
Asked to comment on her new job, Lobaciuviene, 53, told The Associated Press on Thursday that she is happy to be of assistance.
"I am free citizen and can do whatever I like. I am glad someone needs my help and I will do whatever I can to help people," she said.
Local pundits, however, ridiculed the agency's move.
"This is return to the Dark Ages. If they really believe that this woman may help someone get money back, then there's something very wrong with this country," said columnist Monika Bonckute.
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia is going to be recognised as the leader of the smallest-ever opposition that has pledged to play a strong role to make parliament effective.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2009 00:00 ||
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The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday approved the charge sheet to be submitted soon against seven bigwigs, including former BNP ministers Shajahan Siraj and Tariqul Islam, in the case filed for abusing power in leasing 13 acres of forestland at Bhawal National Park in Gazipur.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2009 00:00 ||
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To little notice in America, a drama is being played out in Eastern Europe that future historians may mark as the beginning of the end of Russia's neo-imperialist ambitions under Vladimir Putin, as the economic house of cards he built collapses and the tyrant himself heads for the dustbin of history.
There are several facts seldom discussed in the Western media that need to be considered before one can truly understand the nature of the conflict.
First, Russia has a sliding scale of prices it charges for its gas to ex-Soviet republics depending on the degree of their political sycophancy to the Kremlin. Obedient clients, like Armenia and Belarus, are charged $110-$120 per 1,000 cubic meters, more independent countries like Georgia and Moldova pay $270-$280, while current bête noir Ukraine is asked to pay a punitive $500.
Secondly, Ukraine has by far the largest gas storage facilities in Eastern Europe going back to Soviet times when it was the center of the gas industry and can easily survive the cutoff for the entire winter season by using its stored reserves. The real victims are the half a dozen Eastern European countries that have neither alternative supplies nor large storage facilities and are already in the midst of a dire socio-economic emergency.
Third, Russia is almost certainly more vulnerable than Ukraine to any prolonged stoppage of the gas flows. Ukrainian pipelines carry 80% of Gazprom's exports to the West and the lion's share of its export earnings. Even a few months without these cash flows are likely to bring the already teetering Russian "national champion" to its knees. Therefore, the conflict will be settled quickly and it's not going to be exactly on Russia's terms.
Putin's desperation could be better understood by sketching out to what extent Russia and its oil and gas industry are in the middle of the economic equivalent of a death spiral, with potentially dire political consequences for the Kremlin. It was only six months ago that Gazprom, at that time the third largest company in the world with $350 billion capitalization, confidently forecast that it will become the largest in the world with $1 trillion valuation by 2015. Many a Western banker also nodded in agreement to Gazprom's other prediction of $250/barrel price of oil in 2009. As Putin managed to build monetary reserves of $600 billion -- the third largest in the world -- Russia did look invincible for a time. He also bribed the Russian people into political acquiescence by jacking up salaries and pensions 200% since 2000, even though GDP and productivity had gone up barely a third of that.
Alas, it was but a house of cards. With no industrial production worth mentioning, its infrastructure badly dilapidated, virtually all of its food imported and mortality rates only found in sub-Saharan Africa, Russia under Putin had become a classic banana republic with oil and gas. It lived or died depending on the price of bananas over which it had no control. Quick, find my nanoviolin.
Nor is the oil sector in better shape. At current market prices below $50, the oil companies lose money on exports and are shutting down wells. With most major oil fields well past their peak and many nearly depleted, the oil industry needs new investment as badly as Gazprom, but is even less likely to get it.
All of this is, of course, very bad news for the oil and gas sector but it is an unmitigated disaster for a government whose very economic model is doomed if that sector does not perform. According to finance minister Kudrin, Russia needs an oil price of $95 per barrel to avoid an economic downturn and is facing huge budget deficits if it falls below $70. We're now well past these points on the way down and the inevitable bursting of Putin's make-believe economics bubble is taking place in front of our eyes. Shades of 87-91?
Finally, to go back to Putin's arm-twisting in Ukraine, it is virtually certain that when all is said and done, Eastern Europe and, hopefully, parts of Western Europe as well, would decide that continued energy dependence on Russia is very bad for one's economic health and engage in a crash course of developing alternative sources. It is likely to involve a new emphasis on nuclear energy with several reactors already in the planning stages, clean coal power stations as well as coal gasification and liquefaction and liquid natural gas terminals among others. Hopefully, the new focus will involve renewed efforts to build the Nabucco gas pipeline that bypasses Russian territory, as well as stopping the construction of the new Gazprom pipelines.
The United States should wholeheartedly support these policies and while at it think of dealing with its own energy dependence. Common sense in the Age of Obama? Naw.
In 2007, US Army RQ-7 Shadow battalion-level UAVs saw their use increase to up 8,000 flight hours per month in Iraq, a total that compares well to the famous MQ-1 Predator. Those trends have continued as workarounds for the airspace management issues that hindered early deployments become more routine. Some RQ-7s are even being used to extend high-bandwidth communications on the front lines.
The difference between the Armys RQ-7 Shadow UAVs and their brethren like the USAFs MQ-1A Predator, or the Armys new MQ-1C Sky Warriors, is that the Shadow has been too small and light to be armed. Larger RQ-5 Hunters have been tested with Viper Strike mini-bombs, and RQ-7s will certainly be eligible for NAVAIRs 5-6 pound Spike missile project. Meanwhile, as CENTCOM Looks to Boost ISR Capabilities in 2008-2009 explained, UAVs can still pack a punch without weapons. UAVs can provide targeting data to M30 GPS-guided MLRS rockets, long-range ATACMS MLRS missiles, or GPS-guided 155mm Excalibur artillery shells as long as those weapons are (a) appropriate and (b) within range.
Using an ATACMS missile to take out an enemy machine gun position seems a bit silly, but thats exactly the sort of help that could really make a difference to troops on the ground. Precision weapons can also be dropped by fighters or bombers, but their $10,000 $25,000 cost per flight hour is prohibitive, they require extensive planning processes to use, and their declining numbers affect their potential coverage and response times. With NAVAIRs mini-missile still in development, and missions in Afghanistan occurring beyond artillery support range, arming the Armys Shadow UAVs has become an even more important objective. So important, in fact, that it spawned a bright idea: what if smaller UAVs could carry and drop the Armys 81mm mortar ammunition, which weighs just 9-10 pounds? Enter General Dynamics RCFC kit .
Contracts and Key Events
General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems announces that it has successfully demonstrated the ability to maneuver and guide 81mm air-dropped mortars to a stationary ground target after release from an aircraft. These test results build on previous pre-programmed maneuver flight tests successfully conducted by General Dynamics in 2007, and use the companys patented Roll Controlled Fixed Canard (RCFC) flight control and guidance system.
RCFC is an integrated fuze and guidance-and-flight control kit that uses GPS/INS navigation, and clips on by replacing current fuze hardware in existing mortars.
Application of RCFC technology to 81mm air-dropped mortar s was sponsored by the U.S. Armys Armament Research Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) at Picatinny Arsenal, NJ, in order to provide Tactical Class Unmanned Aircraft Systems (TCUAS) with a low-cost weapon option for rapid fielding. The Armys 81mm mortars, for instance, weigh just 9-10 pounds each.
#3
Not weird. The launching from a tube uses the parabolic arc. What they describe is nothing more then turning a very small dumb bomb (mortar round) into a mini smart bomb (guidance kit).
The author confuses the reader by reffering to the ammunition as a mortar.
#4
For a number of years, the Chilean munitions company Cardoen marketed a 3 KG (6.6 lb.) hand-thrown bomb. This came in a cardboard tube, the "bombardier" pulled a safety pin similar to that of a hand grenade to arm it and pull off the nose cover, then tossed it over the side by gripping the tube and hurling the bomb out the open end. The empty tube was then discarded. This was meant for use from helicopters but could be (and was) used from light planes and even transports.
#6
Back around 1965 I had a flying model airplane (string controlled though, not radio). A Stuka dive bomber. It could actually dive and release a 'bomb'. Convert the model to radio control and replace the plastic bomb with a plastique bomb and you have an armed UAV for about $500. Of course at that price you don't even need a deployable bomb - just make the model plane a kamikaze. Didn't we see something like that in an Iranian press release a few years ago?
#7
when I deployed with my Guard unit back in 2005, I worked with the MI guys who were driving the RQ-7's. Among other things, we discussed the idea of an armed version, and what they( the operators) thought.
To a man, they were not happy with the idea, because of the responsiblity, and the poor resolution of the IR camera. To sum up their thoughts, the enlisted operators would prefer a warrant or full officer to be the one to make the shoot/no shoot decision.
I wonder how they greeted this news?
Posted by: N guard ||
01/16/2009 8:48 Comments ||
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#8
To sum up their thoughts, the enlisted operators would prefer a warrant or full officer to be the one to make the shoot/no shoot decision.
And God forbid civilian contractor be permitted to execute a fire mission. Of course with the new SOFA it might be difficult to find one.
#13
And God forbid civilian contractor be permitted to execute a fire mission.
So long as the conflict is one in which uniformed US forces are active, God forbid it indeed. But if he doesn't I'm pretty damned sure the generals will, and for good reason.
#14
Definitely should be done. I don't know the cost of these little guys, but miniscule compared to JDAMS, even with upgraded optics and receive/transmit control upgrades. In many ways more effective than JDAMS because they can be launched locally and controlled locally. They can orbit, wait for the rats to crawl out of their holes, then dive as kamikaze right into target. Suppose you put 2, 3, or 9 pounds of C4 on board. You've got one hell of a bang there for a very low outlay. If Israel had these today, it would scare the shit out of HamAss. They would go down 3 or 4 more levels in the bunker.
#15
This seems the lastest in a push to inflict casulties on enemies embedded in civilians. It requires a high degree of finessing to achieve it's goal with acceptable collatoral damage. It gathers little intelligence. How about turning it upside down? Have drones patrolling equipped with paintball-type ordinance? It doesn't kill anyone but everyone in the area gets tagged. Then have a patrol sweep the area. It would give more precise kills, plus valuable info on where the safe houses and other info was. A lot of different materials could be used to do the tagging. I prefer radioactive dust, myself. That would be an Easy Trace material. It seems like something like this would be useful in Gaza.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
01/16/2009 12:37 Comments ||
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#16
Glenmore and Dick of Oregon are on to something - how far are we from smallish UAVs equipped with small guns/small magazines? Put a few dozen of these up each with a few dozen rounds, and you're shooting at one guy in a crowd. Only nearby bystanders are in real danger, unlike shrapnel or artillery or simply explosive side effects.
Just saw this on the local news:
RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) - Circuit City Stores Inc. says it has reached an agreement with liquidators to sell the merchandise in its 567 U.S. stores after failing to find a buyer or a refinancing deal. Former employee who was in court said Salinas (Mexican billionaire/largest Circuit City stockholder) not only didn't buy the company, but refused to respond to CC lawyers about buying it. As the guy said, Salinas just "jerked them around." Wonder what his agenda was.
Circuit City is headquartered in Richmond. They made some stupid management decisions over the years, not the least of which was getting rid of large appliances (which people need even in bad economic times) and going with all electronics (which in bad economic times are optional).
Although the U.S. economy's nosedive has probably contributed to a substantial drop in the number of illegal immigrants coming into the United States, those already here will be less motivated to return home, according to a report released yesterday. Who would want to go home to Messico, where you can be not only bumped off but mutilated by drug lords? Besides which, the economic outlook's going to pick up pretty quick when B.O. gets his infrastructure stimulus package going. When was the last time you saw anybody but Mexicans working on a road crew?
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
That' because they are there for the freebies. Not to become Americans.
#2
Here in my little town in east TN, where the housing boom went from a boom to a muffled fart, there are noticeably fewer from south of the border. They may not have gone home but I'd bet they went were there is work.
#3
As much as I wish we would enforce our borders and our laws, I have a hard time making a generalization knocking the Mexican illegals. Sure, some of them are here for the freebies - but so are a lot of our citizens. But a lot of them truly do the 'jobs Americans won't' - at least at the price Americans want to pay. Here in Katrina-land in the winter of 2005 you saw swarms of Mexican work crews gutting houses, clearing debris, etc. while the property owners were sheltered in hotels in Atlanta. These work crews were living in tents in City Park, or 6 to a room in one of the few open motels - like the one with a sign advertising 'running water'. Not hot water, not electricity. But I guess the city permit folks weren't around to shut them down.
Anyway, take away the freebies and the PC treatment, and I think you'll find the bulk of the remaining Latins to be just like the rest of the immigrants who made this country great.
no agenda there, nosirree. Illegal coddling isn't necessarily a partisan thing, see: Juan McCain, (R-IllegalAmnesty). The fact they don't have 100%Donks doesn't make them non-biased. There's a noticeable drop in illegals, illegal kids in schools - read Mickey Kaus
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/16/2009 9:07 Comments ||
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#5
The only real problem I have with illegals from Mex is that employers use them to suppress wages and reduce the expectations of working conditions. Employers of illegals would bear the major brunt of the law if I had my way. The govt. seems to be moving in that direction anyway. If you crack down hard on people who use illegal labor for their own greedy ends, the illegal immigrants problem, to a certain degree, will take care of itself.
#6
...and add to the crime and corrections stats at higher levels, consume limited state and local resources [who are whining for their share of the bailout to cover the loses] in education and health [university hospitals still operate emergency rooms, but how many private hospitals still do?], and are useful sock puppets for maintaining the power of special interest groups to keep them segregated and unassimilated into the mainstream culture. Yes to legal immigration and the people who work their way through the process, No to those who break the law.
#7
"As much as I wish we would enforce our borders and our laws, I have a hard time making a generalization knocking the Mexican illegals."
Glenmore, your argument about the work ethic of the Mexican culture is, in itself, a generalization. To simply argue that a segment of the population is hardworking is no more accurate then those that describe them all as freeloaders. I too have witnessed first hand the admirable qualities you describe. I also personally know an honorable contractor that went out of business because he couldnt compete with the crooks that exploited the underground employment market. Ironically, he too had some crews that were Mexican nationals. The difference was those employees were in the country legally, went through criminal background checks, were paid prevailing market wages, and were insured. Bottom line, Illegal Immigration must be addressed for what it is and what is not. It is a Phenomena. Its affects are economic, cultural, and legal. It is not about the individuals personal qualities. Unfortunately, emotion often outweighs logic - as witnessed by the US congress recently expanding the (SCHIP) program to insure the children of illegal aliens.
#8
Several notes about illegals. To start with, where they light in the US often determines their speed of integration. If they land in LA, they stay Mexican, because they can live in an enclave and reduce exposure to Americans. Phoenix, however, doesn't have any major Mexican enclave, so they learn English and integrate much more quickly.
A lot of Mexican families are mixed, both with all three generations: fully Mexican, half integrated, and fully integrated; but also, and not evenly US citizens or still illegals. So grandfather might not speak a word of English yet be a citizen, but grandchildren have never even been to Mexico, speak English with only a little Mexican, and are fully Americanized, but are illegals, coming here as infants.
The process of becoming citizens is absolutely nuts. To take a fully Americanized teenager with no relationship to Mexico at all, and tell them they have to move to Mexico for 10-20 years before they can come back and be what they are, is just insane.
What we need is a simple, easy to prove discriminator. If you speak English, are hard working, don't get into trouble and don't sponge, we want you to become citizens.
But if you have been here for years and still don't speak English, are unemployed, with a criminal rap sheet, and do nothing but parasite off US public services, then get your ass back to Mexico.
This is totally fair, gets us the immigrants we want, and turns away the immigrants we don't want. It doesn't take 10-20 years, shouldn't require desirable people to leave the US to get their citizenship, and for the most part doesn't break up families.
And yes, adjustments can also be made to speed up entry for those who followed the rules as well. With the same concept in mind: we want good, hard working people who will integrate. If you are that, we want you. But if you are just a criminal parasite, to hell with you.
#1
ION CHINA, WORLD MILITARY FORUM [GOOGLE CHinglish Translation]> IIUC BANK OF CHINA WARNS FINANCIAL CHAOSES WILL WORSEN IN 2009, WORSE THAN IN 2008.
Also on WMF > JAPAN SHOCKED AT CHINA'S EXPANDING EXTERNAL GEOGRAPHICAL CIRCLE: CHINA ESCALATING MOVES TO CONSOLIDATE ADMINISTRATIVE, MILITARY CONTROL IN 1-2 YEARS OF DISPUTED EAST-SOUTH CHINA SEA ISLANDS AND RESOURCES; + SINGAPORE SCHOLARS: CHINA IS EXPANDING, SPEEDING UP ITS "NECKLACE/
CHAIN OF PEARLS" STRATEGY. Newest Chin "Pearls" = Milbases or Possible future Milbases is GWADAR PORT and near GULF OF HORMUZ, but also other new areas throughout SE Asian States + Indian Ocean.
* SAME > US AMBASSADOR TO JAPAN: JAPAN NEEDS TO AMEND ITS POSTWAR CONSTITUTION IN ORDER TO CONSIDER, EMPOWER "COLLECTIVE DEFENSE" WITH THE US AND OTHER REGIONAL ALLIES.
#3
With a recession, on top of spotty safety records, tainted products and customers starting to avoid China made goods on top of everything else, China is in for some real rough economic times. They already can't put all their coming of age people into good paying jobs and the situation is only going to get worse.
There are millions of young, single child, spoiled Chinese that expect and will demand a white collar job and salary. When they don't get it...
We have already seen riots, strikes and other mayhem. Expect it to get worse. Unlike other revolutions of the peasants and the farmers, this one might be from the middle class that finds itself becoming lower class.
#4
Stop focusing on the Great Depression. Instead look for parallels in the Panic of 1837 (which was about as severe as the Great Depression), and the Panic of 1893.
#5
Back then they had no over reaching and massive government, nor 'banking regulations' per se. Today we have walls full of regulations and case law and legions of government bureaucrats, just little or no real enforcement because the regulators have demonstrated they are compromised by politicians and 'friends' in the industry.
Banking like government should be predicated upon the principle never to allow power to be accumulated to such an extent that it could be used by those who'd never trust with it.
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.
In 2007, US Army RQ-7 Shadow battalion-level UAVs saw their use increase to up 8,000 flight hours per month in Iraq, a total that compares well to the famous MQ-1 Predator. Those trends have continued as workarounds for the airspace management issues that hindered early deployments become more routine. Some RQ-7s are even being used to extend high-bandwidth communications on the front lines.
