Columbia Pictures is putting out a dramatization of the Maersk Alabama incident of 2009 off the coast of Somalia. The movie is supposed to be out late this year. The trailer looks mildly interesting. Since the captain is being portrayed by Tom Hanks I think we can expect a lot of hand-wringing.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/12/2013 10:52 ||
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#1
I only wonder how they will spin this one...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/12/2013 11:42 Comments ||
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#2
Champ will be right behind the SEALs coaching them on how to take the shot. "No, no, you're not correcting enough for windage..."
Posted by: Matt ||
05/12/2013 12:32 Comments ||
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#5
Hanks converts to Islam and turns the ship over as a gift "to Allah"
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/12/2013 13:58 Comments ||
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#6
I didn't see much Hanks hang-wringing in Apollo 13.
"I wonder when we'll go back?"
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/12/2013 14:47 Comments ||
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#7
Wikipedia about the book - A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea is a book by Captain Richard Phillips, the captain of the MV Maersk Alabama when it was hijacked in 2009. It tells the story of Phillips' capture and hostage-taking by Somali pirates in April 2009. The book alternates between Phillips' five-day ordeal and the plight of his family in Vermont, watching the drama unfold on cable news.
THERE's where you'll see hand (not hang) wringing.
Phillips utilized all security precautions to keep his crew safe and hidden, leaving him as the only possible hostage. This led to an ordeal of several days in a lifeboat in the hands of pirates, who Phillips portrays as alternately conciliatory, vicious, and unfocused.
Lotsa opportunities for Hollywood, there.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy assembled a large task force, and tensions steadily rose, as did Phillips fear for his life. The book details Phillips' attempted escape and eventual rescue by U.S. Navy SEALs, and portrays Phillips' wife Andrea as loyal and strong-willed.
Maybe Obumble is not mentioned at all?
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/12/2013 14:57 Comments ||
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#12
Denzel Washington as teh lead FBI negotiator is held up en-route by Mossad trickery, and discovers the piracy is a Israeli plot to increase global prices and starve the Middle East.
(hanks, seriously. Cpt. Phillips doesn't seem to be the old effete epicurian...too late to recast a man, perhaps Hulk Hogan?)
#13
"Yes, I get it now! Mossad, through its Saudi and Iranian and Russian henchmen, and OPEC, raised the price of the oil used in industrial and agricultural feedstocks, thus driving up global prices..."
"Wait, what's that? Prince Abduabdomen is on the phone?"
"Yessir... yessir.... Oh, of course sir! Anything for a major investor..."
[An Nahar] President Moncef Marzouki on Saturday said a travel ban on Tunisians suspected of corruption must be lifted to help shore up the ailing economy and bolster national reconciliation after the 2011 uprising.
"We must strive to remove immediately these restrictions in order to set up a mechanism of reconciliation," Marzouki said of a ban that affects an estimated 0.4 percent of the country's businessmen.
"Total transparency is needed to achieve (national) reconciliation in order to revive the economy and establish justice," he said.
"We need more graft!"
Marzouki was speaking at a conference organised by the Tunisian employers union UTICA on ways of reviving the economy amid ongoing political instability and social unrest.
UTICA has repeatedly demanded that the authorities publish a list of businessmen accused of corruption, amid press reports that between 400 and 2,000 people are suspected of wrongdoing.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
You have to let the people with the money get out and spend it, after all.
[Iran Press TV] A contingent of about 100 Tanzanian soldiers has arrived in Congo to join a United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... mission aimed at neutralizing gangs in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... According to peacekeeping mission front man Lt. Col. Felix Basse, the Tanzanian troops, who entered eastern Congo on Saturday, are the first batch to form the new 3,000-strong UN intervention force to be deployed in the African country.
On March 28, the UN Security Council passed a resolution, which not only renewed the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo for one year, but also created a special UN brigade that will fight gangs, rather than merely defend civilians.
On April 23, the commander of the UN intervention force arrived in Goma, but troops who were scheduled to be in eastern Congo by the end of April have only just started arriving there.
On May 4, March 23 movement (M23) rebels told Tanzania that they would attack and kill its troops if they join the UN mission.
"This is intimidation, they must stop it," Tanzanian Foreign Minister Bernard Membe told parliament.
"We are not going to Congo as lords of war, we are going there as advocates of peace to help our neighbors," Membe stated.
Last month, Bertrand Bisimwa, the M23's political leader, sent a letter to Tanzania's parliament, saying the rebels had defeated even "larger and better equipped" armies. He warned that the same would happen to Tanzanian soldiers if they went ahead with their "dangerous adventure".
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2013 00:00 ||
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The foto in the rollout looks strikingly familiar. Seems as though I remember one of our UAV's crashing, or crash landing somewhere a while back and never being recovered. Now where could that have been ?
#1
I would imagine that all they need to do is make the appropriate sized donation to the right re-election campaigns, and they will get our contractors to design and furnish complete shop drawings. No serious espionage efforts required.
Sometimes the contractors even provide the technical assistance intentionally (see Loral Aerospace during the Clinton administration for details)
Chinas first carrier-based aviation unit has been established in Northeastern Chinas
Liaoning province. On Friday, the Chinese Navy announced the establishment of its first carrier-based aviation unit. Pilots have been specially selected from Chinas Air Force. All of them have flown more than 5 different types of aircraft, and have logged more than 1000 hours of flight time.
It is very difficult and risky for carrier-based aircraft to land on a limited landing area on a moving carrier under a complex marine environment. So the candidates must go through a strict screening process, said Liu Changhong, commander for flight testing, Chinese Navy. The pilots have also been well educated in navigation, maritime law, and meteorology.
Experts say the full establishment of the fighter jet fleet means that the aircraft carrier is now more ready to operate to its full potential. It brings the carrier a crucial step closer towards becoming a genuine naval combat force. But building up any air fleet is no easy task.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/12/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
some stuff can't be stolen. like the training they are gonna need.
Posted by: chris ||
05/12/2013 7:44 Comments ||
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See also BHARAT RAKSHAK > [PRI.org] CHINA"S ECONOMY AT CROSSROADS BETWEEN FREER ENTERPRISE [not just "free"], STATE CONTROL.
IMO "State Control" also read, COMMUNISM-SOCIALISM + IDEO "CENTRALISM".
Prolly the best example for Beijing is to study rival Japan's [non-Militarism based]rapid modernization, industrialization, + geopol expansionism following the Meiji restoration in the late 19th century.
David Cameron will today confront his Tory critics by making the positive case for continuing European Union membership as he holds talks with President Barack Obama over a giant US-EU trade deal that could provide a £10bn annual boost to the British economy.
With his party in renewed turmoil over Europe, the Prime Minister will also seek to reassure the White House that Britain which senior figures in the Obama administration have insisted they regard as a crucial member of union is not heading for the exit door of the EU.
The planned agreement would establish a free trade area between the worlds two largest trading blocs, creating a transatlantic market of 800 million consumers.
The White House talks are designed to pave the way for next months meeting of G8 leaders in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, where Mr Cameron hopes negotiations will begin on the planned agreement.
Writing in todays Wall Street Journal, Mr Cameron says: This deal could add as much as £10bn to the British economy and £63bn to US GDP. But the rest of the world would benefit too, with gains that could generate 100bn worldwide.
The Government last night released research suggesting a US-EU compact sweeping away trade barriers would particularly benefit the automotive, financial and chemical sectors. It claimed the deal could be worth £380 a year for each British family.
Karel de Gucht, the European Commissioner for Trade, has cited the deal as a prime reason for why Britain should stay in the EU, telling The Independent last week that it would be clear madness for the UK to leave in light of such a deal.
Todays talks will also focus on the crisis in Syria, with Mr Cameron pressing for an intensification of diplomatic efforts to force President Bashar al-Assads regime to relinquish power.
[An Nahar] Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim Saturday called Malaysia's recent elections "the mother of all frauds" as he kept up the pressure over polls he says were stolen by the 56-year-old regime.
Anwar addressed tens of thousands in the opposition-governed northern state of Penang three days after a massive rally in the capital Kuala Lumpur kicked off a series of protest gatherings.
Anwar has branded the May 5 elections -- won by the Barisan Nasional (National Front) ruling coalition -- a heist by Prime Minister Najib Razak and accused the Election Commission (EC) of bias.
"The EC were cheats. The last (election)... is the mother of all frauds," he told the crowd.
"In these elections, we demand answers, and we demand the answers now."
Anwar called the rallies to pressure Najib over the elections, the worst performance ever by the regime, which has ruled Malaysia since independence in 1957. He has said he will soon produce evidence of fraud.
Najib's government insists the elections were free and fair.
Any move to overturn the result looks doomed to fail, with the three-party opposition accusing the EC and courts of being in the government's pocket.
Anwar indicated Saturday the opposition would focus less on challenging the result and more on exposing pro-government biases in the electoral system.
The charismatic Anwar, 65, has battled Barisan ever since he was ousted from its top ranks in a 1998 power struggle and placed in durance vile Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! for six years on sex and corruption charges widely seen as trumped-up.
The vote was touted as the first in which the opposition had a chance to unseat Barisan.
But the coalition retained a solid majority in parliament despite winning a minority of the popular vote, a factor blamed on pro-Barisan parliamentary redistricting.
Police have said speakers at the larger initial rally in the capital Wednesday could face sedition charges, but no action has yet been taken.
On Saturday authorities in neighboring Singapore, where several hundred thousand Malaysians live and work, said they incarcerated Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! 21 Malaysians for staging an illegal protest, apparently in support of the Penang rally.
A police front man told Agence La Belle France Presse the Malaysians were held under the Public Order Act, under which organizers of illegal protests can be placed in durance vile Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! for up to six months or fined Sg$10,000 ($8,100).
Indelible ink used in the May 5 polls to thwart multiple-voting easily washed off voter's hands, and there were numerous accounts of angry citizens confronting suspected foreign "voters" at polling centers.
Anwar had earlier alleged a government scheme to fly tens of thousands of "dubious" and possibly foreign voters to flood key constituencies.
The opposition also has raised a number of cases in which they said voting patterns or handling of ballot boxes were suspicious.
The opposition has said another rally will be held Sunday in the state of Perak, near Penang, followed by a swing to the nation's east coast.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
I thought the Mother of All Frauds was Stanley Ann Dunham
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/12/2013 10:07 Comments ||
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#2
This has all the signs of putting local Muslims on a violent collision course wid the increasing numbers of Chinese emigres to the country.
But thats why China has its offshore Sansha/Sasha province, + PLAN, in what was formerly known as the South China Sea, now isn't 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.
[An Nahar] Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim Saturday called Malaysia's recent elections "the mother of all frauds" as he kept up the pressure over polls he says were stolen by the 56-year-old regime.
