From East Asia Intel, subscription.
Intelligence sources have identified a new outlet used by North Koreas communist government to obtain much-needed hard currency. Pyongyang recently sold a 50-percent stake in Sangwon Cement to Cairo-based Orascom Construction Industries for $115 million. Sangwon is owned by the state-run Pyongyang Myongdang Trading Corp. The deal will give North Korea a steady supply of hard currency as well as business cover for intelligence and other illicit overseas activities. And we all know how the Egyptian Government works hard to stop this nefarious activity.
Orascom will employ North Korean workers at several locations in the Middle East. The company is a dominant construction and cement supplier with offices in Syria and Algeria. It is currently working in northern Iraq.
North Korea has ties to Hizbullah and to Syrias government as well as other nasty people and organizations.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/28/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Oooh -- real kufr slaves! I hope the Egyptians remember to feed them occasionally.
#2
Wasn't it Israel that intercepted missiles under a load of cement coming from Egypt for the Palestinians a couple of years ago? I certainly hope our intelligence services are following these shipments & business records out of Syria and Algeria. We can't trust, so we must verify.
#3
But think about the opportunity for those NORK workers. They might have a chance to eat something other than tree bark. Who knows? They might even convert to Islam. You'd think Kimmie would recognize the threat to Juche in all this.
Posted by: Abu Uluque6305 ||
07/28/2007 13:30 Comments ||
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#4
And yet we still give these Egyptian traitors over ONE BILLION DOLLAR EACH YEAR. There needs to be some serious aid cuts to Muslim countries that continue thwarting American interests.
Posted by: The Comic Book Guy ||
07/28/2007 21:29 Comments ||
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The [Australian] Government has rejected calls from a Pakistan Government official for Australia to sell uranium to the south Asian country. Pakistan's Minister for Religious Affairs, Muhammad Ijaz ul Haq, has raised the issue after Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer recently said Australia should consider selling uranium to power stations in India. Mr Ijaz ul Haq says it is a diplomatic issue and Pakistan should be considered alongside India.
But Mr Downer says its out of the question because Pakistan's two nuclear power stations are not monitored by the United Nations. "I don't think there's any prospect in the foreseeable future of exporting to Pakistan, unless Pakistan gets into some sort of a system of UN inspections and control over its two civil nuclear facilities and it comes to Australia and seeks a nuclear safeguards agreement," he said.
#2
The route between Korea and Egypt goes through a couple of bad spots for piracy. It's quite possible the ships would disappear, never to be seen again.
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds ||
07/28/2007 12:54 Comments ||
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#3
"The route between Korea and Egypt goes through a couple of bad spots for piracy. It's quite possible the ships would disappear, never to be seen again."
Unfortunately, the route between the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Suez goes through Egypt. I'm pretty sure this is the reason we pay them billions every year.
In any case, there isn't going to be a new "Bermuda Triangle" in the Indian Ocean.
Nice thought, though.
Australian authorities today dropped a terror charge against an Indian-born doctor accused of supporting the failed bomb attacks on London and Glasgow. Mohamed Haneef, 27, had been accused of giving "reckless support" to terrorism by giving his mobile phone SIM card to a relative implicated in the plot.
Australia's director of Public Prosecutions Damian Bugg said that, following a review of the case, "a mistake has been made". Mr Bugg told a press conference that he withdrew the charges because he was satisfied "there was no reasonable prospect of conviction". Mr Bugg said today: "In the circumstances of this case I do not believe that evidence to prove the case to the requisite standard will be obtained," he said. "On my view of the matter a mistake has been made."
Dr Haneef has denied knowing anything about the British bomb plot, and told police he only gave his SIM card to his cousin so he could take advantage of extra minutes left on the account. Prosecutors had claimed that the SIM card had been found in the burning Jeep. But the case came under question after it later emerged the card had actually been found in a flat in Liverpool. Dr Haneef had been arrested at Brisbane airport on July 2 trying to board a flight to India with a one-way ticket within days of the failed attacks. He told police he was rushing to join his family because his daughter had been born a few days earlier by emergency Caesarean section.
Dr Haneef's solicitor Peter Russo said today he would fight any move to have his client deported following the dropping of the charges.
Bosnian Muslims celebrate 600 years of Islam in their nation Saturday with a concert of spiritual music, a prayer for peace, and a gentle reminder to Europe: not all of the continent's Muslims are of immigrant origin. "Recently we have noticed that Europe is obsessed by the immigrant Muslims from the East,'' said Mustafa Ceric, head of the Bosnia Islamic Community, the official institution of Bosnia's Muslims. "This is an opportunity to remind that there are indigenous Muslims in Europe.''
"By celebrating 600 years of Islam here we want to naturalize Islam in Europe,'' he said, adding that Bosnia's Muslims have illustrated how Islam can be harmonized with a European way of life. Sarajevo is a good place to send a message of peace, since the last century started and ended with a with a war in Sarajevo, Ceric said.
The Bosnia Islamic Community is now seeking to impose itself as a model for several million European Muslims who have no organized authority to guide them. It believes that a lack of organized structure for Europe's Muslims leaves them at the mercy of sometimes dubious imams who often preach radicalization. "We live in a global world so we Muslims should be aware that global security is our interest,'' Ceric said.
Ceric said that while he understood complaints by Muslims about being rejected in Europe, Muslims also need to make efforts to fit in. "Europe is not yet ready to accept Muslims the way they deserve but unfortunately, the Muslims are also not living up to their responsibilities in Europe,'' he said. "I think the Muslims are highlighting their presence in Europe in the wrong way.''
That's why the Bosnia Islamic Community has been campaigning for the establishment of a Europe-wide organization for Muslims that would control what is being taught in Islamic schools and mosques. "I think we Muslims have no choice but to work for our presence in Europe and to show that we are ready to accept the values of human rights, democracy, transparency, accountability, the rule of law and all those values that are also Islamic values,'' he said.
A Qatar sheikh held up a British Airways flight at Milan's Linate airport for nearly three hours after discovering three of his female relatives had been seated next to men they did not know. When none of the other business class passengers agreed to swap seats, the sheikh, a member of Qatar's ruling family, went to the pilot, who had already started the engine, to complain, an airport official said. But the pilot ordered him and his traveling companions, the three women, two men, a cook and a servant, off the plane. It's a start...
The London-bound flight took off nearly three hours behind schedule Thursday evening and around 50 of the 115 passengers missed connecting flights. How about a class-action lawsuit?
Traditions in the conservative Gulf Arab region bar women from mixing with unrelated men except when being raped.
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds ||
07/28/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
Maybe they should have introduced themsleves and then everything would have been kosher halal.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/28/2007 0:22 Comments ||
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#3
I can't believe they let it go on for three hours.
I wonder what the sheik was offering to trade seats, I definately could be bought for the right price. Hmmm, I wouldn't want to have to sit next to the sheik though. lol.
Posted by: Jan ||
07/28/2007 0:45 Comments ||
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#4
maybe the cook, yeah I definately could sit next to a cook ;)
Posted by: Jan ||
07/28/2007 0:46 Comments ||
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#5
The pilot certainly had the correct instincts. Instead of delaying three hours, he should have climbed out them ordered them out once he got to flight level ten.
#21
They don't need their own plane -- they just need to buy a few extra seats and leave them empty. As for the pilot, he lost my vote after he let this go on for more than ten minutes.
The Bulgarian Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev, on Friday approved a cooperative agreement with Saudi Arabia.
Boggle. I'm having difficulty parsing this vis-a-vis the French sellout to Libya and Libya's demand that the Arab League nations cut off relations with Bulgaria for pardoning the medicos. All I can come up with is a nuclear Libya and closer Soddy ties to the EUSR. Neither of which lets me sleep any easier.
The Bulgarian-Saudi deal was inked during a recent visit by Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kalfin Ivailo to Riyadh on April 14th, the Bulgarian Cabinet Information Center said in a release.
The deal was signed three months ago. How will the Soddies deal with Libya's whingeing?
The agreement constitutes a general framework for necessary legal rules for normalization of cooperative relations between Bulgaria and Saudi Arabia in the economic, trade, investment, educational, scientific, technological, cultural, tourist, youth and sports areas, according to the release. Both sides reached an agreement on a joint strategic network of overland, sea and air transport and communications with a view to facilitating the movement of trucks, goods and supplies between the European Union (EU) and Middle East. Pointing to the fact that Bulgaria is closer than other EU member countries to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the release said that both sides are willing to exploit this strategic geographical position.
The Bush administration is preparing to ask Congress to approve arms sales totaling $20 billions over the next decade for Saudi Arabia and its neighbors, The New York Times reported in Saturday editions.
Coming as some U.S. officials contend that the Saudi government is not helping the situation in Iraq, the proposal for advanced weapons for Saudi Arabia has stoked concern in Israel and among its U.S. backers, the Times said. The package of advanced weaponry includes advanced satellite-guided bombs, upgrades for its fighters and new naval vessels.
Senior officials, including State Department and Pentagon officials who outlined the deals' terms, told the Times they thought the Bush administration had resolved those concerns, partly by offering Israel more than $30 billion in military aid over the next 10 years, which would be a significant increase over recent levels.
Administration officials remain concerned, however, that the package could draw opposition from Saudi critics in Congress, which is to be notified formally about the deal this autumn, the newspaper said.
The State Department and the White House had no comment on the Times' article, and a Pentagon spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.
Assurances from the Saudis about being more supportive in Iraq were not sought by the administration as part of the deal, U.S. officials told the newspaper.
The Times said officials described the plan as intended to bolster Gulf countries' militaries in a bid to contain Iran's growing strength in the region, as well as to demonstrate Washington's commitment to its Arab allies.
But they added that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates still plan to use their joint visit to Saudi Arabia next week to press for help with Iraq's government. "The role of the Sunni Arab neighbors is to send a positive, affirmative message to moderates in Iraq in government that the neighbors are with you," the newspaper quoted a senior State Department official as saying. The official added that Washington wants Gulf states to stress to Sunnis that engaging in violence is "killing your future."
Other salves to Israel in light of the proposed deal include asking the Saudis to accept restrictions on the range, size and location of the satellite-guided bombs, the Times said. The Pentagon is also asking for a commitment not to store the weapons at air bases close to Israeli territory, it added.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
07/28/2007 02:19 ||
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#1
The State Department and the White House had no comment on the Times' article, and a Pentagon spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.
Veracity of report confirmed:
YES ( X ) No (_____)
Damage assessment:
On a par with recent sighting of pig wearing Rolex.
#3
And will these arms be used to murder US troops in Iraq?
Most likely not but it will still make Saudi Arabia just that much harder to take down when the time comes. While there's probably some merit in keeping the Saudis firmly addicted to American military hardware, we really need to begin choking off all significant weapons upgrades and new technology. At some point the House of Saud will need to be brought down. Iran and Pakistan are higher priorities right now, but the Saud's treachery still has yet to be rewarded.
#6
No.
$70 so everybody pays at the pump for Saudi weapons
Posted by: John Frum ||
07/28/2007 19:54 Comments ||
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#7
Can the Saudis actually maintain complicated weapons without Western technicians? Or will it become so much really cool, terribly sophisticated junk the first dust storm after the foreigners leave?
The number of endangered Asiatic black bears in Indian Kashmir has jumped between 30 and 60 percent as a separatist revolt that killed thousands of people since 1989 has scared off poachers, wildlife officials said. An increased security presence in Himalayan forests to root out separatist militants, as well as a ban on hunting, has helped curb poaching and allowed the population of bears to increase from between 800 to 900 animals in 1990.
Officials say poachers -- who hunt the mammals for their fur, paws for food and gall bladder for traditional Oriental medicine -- have stayed away from the pine and conifer forests, fearing they will get caught up in the insurgency. "For fear of being caught by security forces, militants or in an exchange of fire between the two, no one dares to go deep into forests since the militancy started," said Abdul Rauf Zargar, Kashmir's wildlife warden.
The threatened black bear inhabits hilly and mountainous forests across Asia from Afghanistan to Taiwan. It is a protected species and remains listed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Leopards -- also an endangered species in India -- have similarly increased, said officials, but did not give details.
BUT
Some conservationists say an army fence along India's disputed border with Pakistan, designed to keep out militants, is curbing the movement of bears and leopards which are now wandering into villages and attacking people. "Besides frequent sightings of leopards and bears, the attacks by these wild animals on people have registered a sharp increase in past several years," said Zargar. More than 15 people have been killed so far this year by bears and leopards and scores of others have been injured.
How many people have the *militants* killed and injured so far this year?
A prayer leader from Miranshah has said there are no foreign militants or militant training centres in the Waziristan Agency, adding that if US or NATO forces attack the area, tribal people would wage a jihad against them. Waziristan tribesmen will launch attacks on the US-led allied forces in Afghanistan if the US attacks the Waziristan Agency, stated Maulana Muhammad Yaseen Naumani in a statement issued here on Friday.
The prayer leader at Gul Pakhel Jamia Masjid in Miranshah said the US was targeting Muslims around the world merely on the basis of their religion. We are regretful not for the US but for the Muslims who support their attacks on Muslims, he said. He said the Pakistan army should stop attacking citizens on US directives, warning that otherwise Pakistani soldiers would also face aggression. He appealed to the leaders of opposition political parties to play their role in preventing any war in the region otherwise the fire in Waziristan will engulf the entire country.
We also appeal to the government to remove army check posts from the agency and send the military back to its barracks. It will be better for government, army and Waziristan residents to jointly resolve law and order issues and foreign threats to the agency through dialogue, the local cleric said. He demanded the government end the meaningless battle that, he said, was only serving the US and anti-Pakistan elements interests.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/28/2007 00:00 ||
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President General Pervez "Sir Robin" Musharraf embarked Friday on a two-day visit to a secure undisclosed location Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE). According to a Foreign Office statement, the president will perform Umrah while in Saudi Arabia and would be meeting with King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud. The two leaders will be discussing issues of bilateral, regional and international importance.
"Say, Abdullah, d'ya mind pulling those drapes a little more closed? The, uh, light is, umm ... giving me a migraine, that's it, a migraine!"
During his stay in the UAE, the president will meet the UAE leadership and also discuss bilateral cooperation and matters related to regional and international importance.
#1
Musharraf-Benazir meeting held in Abu Dhahbi
Updated at 1925 PST
ABU DHAHBI: Meeting between President General Pervez Musharraf and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto held an important meeting here, the reliable sources said.
It is confirmed that Musharraf-Benazir meeting held here, said a senor analyst of Geo Television Network Dr. Shahid Masood.
Musharraf-Benazir meeting was a short a meeting though it was expected that their meeting would last for two to three hours, the sources said.
The ISI chief, some personalities of Arab countries and western diplomats also attended the meeting, the other sources said.
Both, Musharraf and Benazir were expected to attend a reception to be hosted in their honour, the reports said. It was also expected that Musharraf and Benazir will hold one-o-one meeting tomorrow (Saturday).
However, it is yet to be confirmed whether they attend the reception and hold one-o-one meeting or not, the sources said.
Meanwhile, the reports said that Musharraf will also hold meeting with former Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Chief Minister Punjab Shahabaz Sharif in Saudi Arabia during the second leg of Musharrafs visit.
However, the PML (N) sources have rejected the reports of Musharraf-Nawaz meeting.
Posted by: John Frum ||
07/28/2007 0:13 Comments ||
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RIYADH: The last time Ahmed Al-Shayea was in the news, he was in the hospital at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, being treated for severe burns from the truck bomb he had driven into the Iraqi capital on Christmas Day 2004. Today, he says, he has changed his mind about waging jihad, or holy war, and wants other young Muslims to know it. He wants them to see his disfigured face and fingerless hands, to hear how he was tricked into driving the truck on a fatal mission, to believe his contrition over having put his family through the agony of believing he was dead.
Ah, the perils of the unsuccessful shahid.
If you kick off, taking a few infidels with you, there are those 72 doe-eyed flat-chested 12-year olds, the babes you lusted after but who thought you were yucky back when you were in 7th grade. That's Paradise, by Gum.
But if you hose it, and you only succeed in maiming yourself for life, making it only halfway to Paradise, you don't find 36 of the little sweetlings waiting to indulge your craving for pre-teen nookums, whether or not your genitalia made it through the kaboom intact. People don't cluster around you, casting admiring glances your way, when you're stumping along on your wooden leg or pushing yourself around legless on a cart, or asking for help wiping your butt because you've only got the two hooks to work with now. The babes don't swoon when you hobble by carrying your colostomy bag. Mom doesn't look at her boy's hideously scarred features and fingerless hands with the kind of pride you had in mind when you climbed into the truck full of explosives.
And the holy man who sent you on your way, now talking earnestly to somebody else about the glories of jihad, didn't have to go through the skin grafts with you, did he?
Heh heh. Wotta dumbass you were.
At 22, the new Ahmed Al-Shayea is the product of a concerted Saudi government effort to counter the ideology that nurtured the 9/11 hijackers and that has lured Saudis in droves to the Iraq insurgency.
The deprogramming, similar to efforts carried out in Egypt and Yemen, is built on reason, enticements and lengthy talks with psychiatrists, Muslim clerics and sociologists. The kingdom still has a way to go in cracking the jihadist mind set. Most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudis, and Saudis make up nearly half of the foreign detainees held in Iraq, according to Mouwaffak Al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser. They number hundreds, he said this month following a visit to Saudi Arabia. Dozens more are fighting alongside Al-Qaida-inspired militants at a Palestinian camp in Lebanon.
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
AHMED AL SHAIEA
al-Qaeda in Iraq
Mouwaffak Al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser
#5
There is no jihad. We are just instruments of death
Which is a fair description of all Muslims.
Then he was contacted by a school friend whom he doesn't identify.
Sounds a lot like crips founder Stanley Tookie Williams and his refusal to turn in fellow gangsters all while pretending to maintain an anti-gang stance.
'Those who want to carry out martyrdom (suicide) attacks, raise your hands,"' said al-Shayea. "No one did."
Brave Lions of Islam
"I felt something bad was about to happen,"
But that certainly didnt stop this maggot from carrying on.
The blast killed nine people.
Yet, somehow, this murderer is out walking around instead of rotting in a jail cell. Why is that? This entire story is positive proof of what a farce it is to think that Islamic countries fight terrorism.
#6
I'm with you, Zenster. This guy went where he had no business, killed nine people and probably injured many more, and he is off the hook less than three years later. He should be hanging from a noose.
#7
Oh, I don't know. There he is, permanently deformed and presumably in pain, an avowed coward who had to be tricked into martyrdom, Exhibit 1 of the reality of jihad in Iraq. Who will give him a job, even with government pressure? Who will give him their daughter in marriage, when there are so many other equally worthy candidates who have presentable faces and all their fingers? I'd guess either suicide or or beheaded for arranging the murder of a holy man preaching jihad... or joining the argument about modifying the school curriculum to remove "mental and physical preparation for jihad".
#9
"Who will give him a job, even with government pressure? Who will give him their daughter in marriage, when there are so many other equally worthy candidates who have presentable faces and all their fingers?"
Tisk, tisk, Trailing Wife you're forgetting the widespread availability of goats and sheep.
For the first time in the history of the Palestinian Authority, the government does not mention in its proposed political platform the Arabic word mokawamah, meaning "resistance" or "armed struggle." Instead, the new guidelines adhere to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's call for "national opposition to the occupation," supporting the Arab peace initiative.
The new PA program presented by PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad on Friday includes the attainment of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement consisting of pre-1967 borders, Jerusalem as the capital of both states and the honoring of past agreements between the two.
The platform also calls for a just and agreed-upon resolution to the refugee problem on the basis of UN resolutions.
The proposal, which was presented to PA ministers, requires the approval of the PA parliament.
Government sources expressed cautious optimism over the omission of "armed struggle" from the new proposed guidelines. "It is an important declaration and a basis for continuing our cooperation with the PA government," Israel Radio quoted the sources as saying.
However, Jerusalem officials stressed that they had not actually received the guidelines in writing and would therefore not give an official response.
Hamas slammed the proposal and vowed that it would continue the armed struggle. The group's spokesman in Gaza, Ayman Taha, told Israel Radio that "no decision can erase the resistance to the occupation."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/28/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Better get some clarification on that point if you ask me.
#4
SSDD. They can call it whatever they want but nothing alters the fact that genocide against Israel is their ultimate goal. There will be no peace until the Palestinians are all expelled or all dead. The Two State solution is a monumental farce.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said Friday that Fatah leaders and security officers held responsible for the fall of Gaza to Hamas would be punished, in line with findings in a 200-plus page report by a committee of inquiry. The committee said some 60 Fatah officials and members of the security forces should be held accountable for the quick collapse of Fatah forces in five days of fighting with Hamas last month. However, neither Abbas nor his aides mentioned the names of those being held responsible by the committee and did not release the report itself.
Since the fall of Gaza, some 40 members of the security services in Gaza have resigned, been fired or sent into retirement. The most prominent is former Gaza strongman Muhammad Dahlan, who resigned Thursday as national security adviser, citing health reasons.
In a news conference, Abbas aide Nabil Amr said the report found many flaws in the security services, including random hiring and lack of motivation and leadership. "There was no field leadership... There were only individual initiatives," he said of the performance of the Abbas-allied forces in Gaza.
Abbas said Friday that the committee's recommendations would be implemented. "Whoever had shortcomings will get his punishment, and whoever did his duty will be rewarded, so that we can turn a new page in our institutions," he said.
In a news conference Friday, Abbas aide Nabil Amr said the report found many flaws in the security services in Gaza. "There was no field leadership ... There were only individual initiatives," he said of the performance of the Fatah forces in Gaza. "Procedures will be taken to prevent this from happening in the West Bank and in the future," Amr said.
Abbas said Friday that the committee's recommendations would be implemented. "Whoever had shortcomings will get his punishment, and whoever did his duty will be rewarded, so that we can turn a new page in our institutions," he said.
However, critics said the report appeared largely intended to deflect attention from Abbas and the Fatah leadership. "The committee didn't condemn the real persons responsible for the national catastrophe in Gaza, especially the political leadership," said analyst Khalil Shaheen. He said Abbas, the Fatah Central Committee and previous Fatah governments should be held accountable for the poor state of the security services.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, responding to the report, said Fatah and its security forces are "severely corrupt." Israeli security analyst Boaz Ganor said Abbas might not be strong enough politically to carry out a purge in the security forces. "Abbas definitely will have huge opposition and the chance that he will be able to lead a real, successful reform within the organization is at most 50-50," Ganor said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/28/2007 00:00 ||
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The 78th Conference of Palestinian Refugee Affairs' Supervisors is due to kick off Sunday at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo.
Meanwhile, Assistant Arab League Secretary-General for Palestinian Affairs Ambassador Mohammad Sobeih
Dunno how His Excellency the Assistant Arab League Secretary-General for Palestinian Affairs can stand up straight with such a magisterial title. His business card must be three feet long.
said, in a press statement, that participants in the conference would discuss the "latest developments in issues such as Jerusalem, settlements, the segregation wall, the intifada (uprising), refugees, UNRWA, development and the continued Israeli overflights of Palestinian land.
Not a word about Hamas v Fatah, The Smackdown, however.
"The delegations taking part in the conference are due to come from the host states including Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon and would submit their respective reports on the subject (of Palestinian refugees)," Sobeih said.
The purpose of the conference is to exchange information on refugee problems and those associated with the Israeli breaches of accords signed with the Arabs. Palestinian Politburo Chief Farouq Al-Qaddoumi has already arrived in Cairo Friday for the conference while Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad is due to fly there Sunday in an official visit during which he would meet with Egyptian top officials.
Meanwhile, a meeting of Arab ministers is due to be held Monday to revive the Arab peace initiative with Israel. The 2002 Arab Initiative was launched by Saudi King Abdallah (then only Crown Prince) during the Beirut Arab Summit. It calls for full recognition of Israel by the Arabs provided the Jewish state withdrew from territories it conquered in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
A Palestinian strongman who was the linchpin of American policy towards Gaza for more than a decade had to step down in disgrace yesterday over last month's victory by Hamas over his troops. Hamas hailed the resignation of Mohammed Dahlan from his post as President Mahmoud Abbas's national security adviser as the consummation of its seizure of the Strip from Fatah and a setback for US plans.
Islam Shawan, a Hamas militia spokesman, said: "This is proof of the failure of the American project."
Mr Dahlan's resignation came in advance of a report on last month's fighting in Gaza that is expected largely to blame him for Fatah's defeat. Some Fatah troops in Gaza were trained and advised by the US, which continues to play the role in the West Bank. Mr Dahlan, 46, was once seen as a possible successor to Mr Abbas and had been trying to establish a power base.
He oversaw a hard-hitting crackdown against Hamas in 1996 that included the shaving off of beards of Hamas prisoners and, allegedly, torture of detainees.
During a 2003 press conference at the White House, President George Bush called Mr Dahlan a "fine young man". In Washington's view, Mr. Dahlan was the only person with the toughness and command capability to check the Islamic movement in Gaza.
Mr Abbas is expected to emerge from the report unscathed.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) released a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) on Friday for the agency's System F6 program.
DARPA is soliciting innovative proposals for the performance of research, development, design, and testing to support the agency's System F6 concept. Also known as "Future Fast, Flexible, Fractionated, Free-Flying Spacecraft united by Information exchange".
The objective of the System F6 program is to demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of a satellite architecture wherein the functionality of a traditional monolithic spacecraft is replaced by a cluster of wirelessly interconnected spacecraft modules. Each such fractionated module can contribute a unique capability, e.g., command and data handling, guidance and navigation, payload, etc., or it replicates the capability of another module.
The fractionated modules can be physically connected once in orbit or remain nearby to each other in a loose formation, or cluster. Harnessed together through a wireless network they create a virtual satellite delivering capability, which is at least equivalent to the monolithic spacecraft. "Concurrently, they significantly enhance flexibility and robustness, and reduce risk through the mission life and spacecraft development cycle," DARPA said in the BAA.
Proposed research under the BAA should investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in science, devices, or systems.
With a network of wirelessly connected modules, cluster navigation capability becomes a key concern. It is envisioned that separate modules could be launched independently. As such, there will be a need for these modules to gather, dock and/or virtually dock.
"If under attack, these modules must undock, disperse, and re-dock." DARPA said.
"The F6 network should have the qualities of the best war fighting networks of today," DARPA said, "specifically, it should be self-forming, reliable, have high availability, and be robust (and therefore self-healing)".
DARPA list the following advantages to the fractionated System F6 approach:
* Diversification of launch and on-orbit failure risk.
* Survivability enhancement from a variety of natural and manmade threats (e.g. antisatellite weapons).
* Reliability enhancement through emergent sharing of subsystem resources across
multiple stand-alone fractionated systems.
* Scalability in response to service demand fluctuations.
* Upgrade ability in response to technological obsolescence.
* Incremental deployment of capability to orbit.
* Graceful deterioration of capability on-orbit.
* Robustness in response to funding fluctuations and requirements changes.
* Reduced integration and testing due to subsystem decoupling.
* Decoupling of requirements between modules and multiple payloads.
* Decoupling of security constraints between payload(s) and rest of spacecraft.
* Production learning across multiple similar modules.
* Reliability learning across multiple similar modules.
* Enabling very large spacecraft beyond capability of the Evolved Expendable Launch
Vehicle.
* Enabling spacecraft to be launched with smaller, faster vehicles.
* Enabling development of smaller payload nodes decoupled from spacecraft.
* Reducing the economic barrier to entry for non-traditional spacecraft vendors.
System F6 program objectives:
* Each spacecraft module shall be on a smallsat/microsat scale (300 kilograms wet mass). Wet mass should include propellant required for insertion into the prescribed mission orbit from an assumed launch vehicle, a planned one-year of system lifetime operation after the scheduled launch of the final module, and propellant required for any orbital debris mitigation.
* First launch shall be planned to occur within four years of program start.
* Modules may be distributed across multiple launches.
* The launch vehicle(s) required shall be commercially available, manufactured in the US, and have demonstrated at least one successful previous launch.
* The on-orbit lifetime design of the system shall be at least one year after the launch of the final spacecraft. No P, requirements will be issued, but all designs should retain a fault tolerant strategy that limits the effects of single part failures on the ability to command each spacecraft, as well as to limit any navigational threats during cluster operations (e.g. a thruster inadvertently stuck open).
#2
Networked satellites. Similar to computers that are networked together.
Not sure about how the web server is set up for Rantburg, but sometimes their are really three different servers networked togeter. One for the web page outline, another for a database that has the content, a third for authentication if required, to change content. Much faster and more powerfull than one server. But that is if you have many customers, thus the need for speed, power and bookoo disk space.
#3
"Future Fast, Flexible, Fractionated, Free-Flying Spacecraft united by Information exchange". Their media guy needs to limit himself to one Rockstar.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/28/2007 20:39 Comments ||
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#4
We dreamed this one up in an unclassified area with some Northrop Grumman and Lockheed boys (and one girl) 3+ years ago. Looking at the Iridium orbital coverage, for example. Or elliptical orbits, or the mid-orbits McCaw was going to use.
Constraints: individual plane must have same basis for lateral comms, data bus, control bus and power bus. Must small/light to be launchable by alternate means with minimal preparation (think B52 at high altitude launching like it did the old X-15's). Must be inexpensive enough to launch many of them. Must support the following types of configurations based on modular components (power supply, antennas, controls, orbital processors, sensors): communications link (to/from ground), communications relay (satellite to satellite, with lasers = uninterceptable), electro-optical, infrared imaging, infrared non-imaging, radar imaging, lidar imaging (allegedly sees deep into water), elint sweep/tipper, elint focused, orbital weather, specialized/covert comms.
Basically, we came up with several standard pwoer supply types, several common communications types, and guessed at the needs for some of the other components.
Turned making satellites into a exercise in Legos.
Also rendered Chinese ASAT efforts moot - why bother if we have so many of them up there, and we can have spares parked, as well as replacements on-orbit in very short order.
We used the Iridium sytem for orbital mechanics, and figured at any given time, any given place on earth would be visible to 1-2 EO satellites 2-4 elints, 1 comm links, 1 IR, 1 special imager (Lidar/IR) and 0-1 experimental/special purpose, in addition to all the planes that can see that point having visibility to each other (for relaying commands) and to the comm relay satellites.
Advantages also include the ability to simply come up with better payloads as tech gets better, pop them on, and fly them out.
As it stands now, if we pitch a defense or intelligence satellite into the drink, thats billions down the drain. One of these is 1/10th that at most.
There's other stuff that is not classified, but I don't feel comfortable about talking to it with whats in that article.
Never heard a thing after we sent it up the food chain. I guess someone read it.
#5
By the way, Dale Brown I think wrote a similar thing years ago in his "Old Dog" techno-thrillers.
NIRT-Sats I thknk he called them. Once again sci-fi (military sci-fi) beats us to the punch.
the only problem is "not invented here" syndrome the big aerospace companies have. They are invest in monolithic, big vehicles and the launch facilities, engineering methods, etc that come with them. "But this has always worked, its proven" is what we got back.
Yeah, proven, blah, Right up until you lose too many satellites to the Chinese and are blind and have no alternatives.
Too inflexible for modern combat, too brittle to survive in the future. Glad someone is changing it.
US arms and aerospace manufacturer Boeing announced on Friday that it had landed a contract to develop truck-mounted laser cannons for the US Army.
As part of the Army's High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator (HEL TD) project, Boeing will produce a "rugged beam control system", which will be mounted on a monstrous 20 tonne Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck.
The HEL TD is intended to shoot down incoming enemy artillery shells, rockets, or mortar bombs. Laser systems which can actually blast stuff, as opposed to merely lighting targets up for other weapons to hit, are big and bulky items - hence the big carrying vehicle (though the HEL TD is a mere peashooter compared to Boeing's other famous blaster-cannon programme, the jumbo-jet mounted Airborne Laser).
The idea is that HEL TD raygun lorries could, in future, zap enemy bombardments out of the sky before they hit. This is a comparatively rare case of a wild-eyed technical gizmo which might actually be some use in current counter-insurgency wars. A significant proportion of Western casualties in this kind of fighting are caused by mortar or rocket attacks on otherwise-secure bases in Iraq, Afghanistan, or (in the past) Northern Ireland. The danger isn't just to personnel: during 2005, two RAF Harrier jets were knocked out on the ground when their Kandahar airbase was rocketed.
The US forces have already deployed rapidfire radar-controlled guns to defend some compounds against such incoming attacks, but a laser - if it could explode its targets reliably - would have some obvious advantages.
To begin with, a beam travelling at light speed has an easier time hitting a falling shell than another shell does - even a very fast one. Then, the shells used in land-based defensive gun systems are set to self-destruct before falling to earth: but such mechanisms aren't perfect and loosing thousands of rounds off across the perimeter involves some risk to the surrounding population.
To begin with, however, HEL TD is getting only a tentative implementation. Boeing's initial phase beam-controller development contract is for just $7m, though there are options allowing funding to go to $50m.
This sort of money is chickenfeed to Boeing, but it has high hopes for the future.
"We consider this programme an important win for Boeing because it supports a cornerstone of the Army's high-energy laser programme," said Pat Shanahan, Boeing veep in charge of Missile Defense Systems. "We believe this is the next step for developing a weapon system that can change the face of the battlefield."
#1
I'm hoping our military begins to use this same tool against enemy combatants. I look forward to the day when America's foes die in dreadful agony with such regularity that they crap their pants just thinking about coming up against our troops.
#3
Unfortunately, Zenster, our troops aren't allowed to use half the weapons we've already got. When's the last time napalm was used?
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds ||
07/28/2007 12:59 Comments ||
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#4
Gary and the Samoyeds: Napalm is a very specialized tool, and is actually far more useful in the defense (FFE) than offense, the exception being lush mountainous area targets. As a rule, HE is the preferred means, as it gives maximum military casualties otherwise.
Say what you will, I can't help but smile. So may military SF stories from the 60's featured "laser Cannons" of one sort or another. We really are in the 21st century. Now, about those jet packs...
Posted by: N Guard ||
07/28/2007 13:51 Comments ||
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#6
THELs aren't all that optimal as antipersonnel weapons.
A big part of laser weapon system effectiveness is keeping the beam on the target as it moves. Computationally intensive, but doable for incoming rockets, artillery and mortars due to their usually-predictable trajectories.
Also, the destruction of incoming RAM is accomplished by burning through the shell and exploding the onboard ordinance. Not energy effective to try to do this regularly with human bodies.
#7
It really doesn't matter to me how we go about killing our foes. I just want them to be terrified at the prospect of getting anywhere our troops or shores.
#11
It sounds like a great permanent defensive weapon. A base could be covered by 3, 4, or 5 of these lasers, and no penetration, from ground or air would go unpunished. Aircraft attack would become passe, as would indirect fire. Mounted on a truck allows for quick installation and relocation from blind to blind or base to base.
Yes, aircraft attack has become passe.
#12
Wish it were so but things aren't quite that simple unfortunately.
One of the problems with using THELs for fixed base defense is the problem inherent in any significant laser application. Unlike kinetic ordinance, directed energy can travel a very long way if it misses its target. Makes airspace management more than a little challenging to avoid blue on blue disasters.
To complicate things even more, the effective energy exchange from the laser beam to whatever it hits is determined not only by distance but also by factors like elevation above sea level and relative humidity, which are factored into the time-required-on-target calculations for different target types.
So while there is promise in the use of lasers for some applications in some places, it's not going to change things quite as much or as quickly as we'd all wish.
Free Patriotic Movement Leader Michael Aoun was quoted by Syria's official news agency as saying Thursday: "Our Syrian brethren have helped us in the past and they will help us in the future. We had reached an understanding (in the past) and we will also reach an understanding with them in the future politically, economically and socially." Aoun was speaking at a news conference in Berlin after talks with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, according to a report by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).
Aoun, according to the report, said the problem in Lebanese-Syrian relations is "a mere media problem and not a political problem. Some (factions) want to direct accusations against Syria to distort its image. This media problem has been imposed on the world to implement some people's objectives internally and externally."
Commenting on the chain of killings that has struck Lebanon, Aoun was quoted as saying: "The assassinations that happened in Lebanon are the making of hands and criminals that remain unknown because certain (forces) do not want them to be known. What is important for them is to drag this crisis into the hallways of the United Nations to distort Syria's reputation."
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
Free Patriotic Movement Leader Michael Aoun
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Posted by: Fred ||
07/28/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
The guy was relatively decent some years ago... I wonder what kind of cashola was the impetus of his conversion to total asshole.
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.
The Bulgarian Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev, on Friday approved a cooperative agreement with Saudi Arabia.
President General Pervez "Sir Robin" Musharraf embarked Friday on a two-day visit to 
Ah, the perils of the unsuccessful shahid. 
