Observations on gender apartheid in Afghanistan by an American soldier.
Here's an adage I made up: Afghan women are nothing more than the bearers. They bear the children, they bear the water from the wells or streams, they bear the firewood, they bear the crops from the fields and they bear the burden of raising their children. Hidden, away, non-existent. During my Green Beret days in the country, a teammate of mine said it even better, stating so simply a profound truth that, were this in a war of truths, his thrust would be the fatal blow struck to the heart--"I'd rather be a dog in America than a woman in Afghanistan." Conclusion:
It's not Afghan TV, but it's a television set on nonetheless, tuned to either American Forces Network or a satellite channel, here in the dining facility at this comfortable U.S. forward operating base, and it's playing Jeopardy. It's back from a commercial now, and real or imaginary, "Final Jeopardy category is," says Alex, "Crazy Uncles in the Attic. Answer: Seventh century repressive apartheid country where America is spending three billion dollars and about ten soldiers' lives a month with no honestly declared purpose, no clearly reasoned strategy, no moral conditions of sacrifice, and no end defined or even remotely imagined. Contestants, you have thirty seconds to write your answer in the form of a question." Da da da da, da da da, da da da da dit di dididit...
#2
Technically the same meme could have been said by our fathers and grandfathers about why we should die for the Europeans who maintain colonies throughout the world with little concern about their colonial subjects' rights. Why in the hell are we doing this? /rhet question.
A few months back I was in at the VA for a blood draw. One of my old Colonels was there too for tests, across from him was a young LTC from the NG for tests as well. Both got talking about the LTC's tour in Afghanistan. The LTC made a similar comment about how thing have always been the same there and aren't likely to change. What was interesting to me was that both were black. The older Colonel and I grew up in a time of legal segregation, before the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. We were living witnesses to a time when for nearly a hundred years, things hadn't really changed for people. Always was and always will be could have been utter in 1958 in America as well. You don't know if you never try.
#3
The African American colonels were dead on target P2k, ie, "things have always been the same there and aren't likely to change." Societal change through the governmental legislation of so-called..."rights" only establishes the incubation of power transfer to a new class of elitists who will then shamelessly assume the role of masters, oppressors, and agents of change. The poor, helpless, and downtrodden will always be among us, awaiting exploitation. Government is not the answer. We must be quite cautious about what we both desire and for whom we vote. We might just get it!
#9
As long as we prevent other 7th century wonders like Typhus, Cholera, Plague, E-bola and Small Pox from returning to Afghanistan everything will be ok.
#11
One of the benefits of reading the Burg is identifying the inconsistencies between the story line and data points that we've seen or read about. That's what sustained us as skeptics as we rode through the AGW gig. A data point here, a data point there, it just didn't fit nicely in to the party line.
While I read the 'nothing changes' story, I just keep remembering a data point that has been repeated on the WOT in Afghanistan. That data point that keeps coming up is how AQ and the Taliban actions are alienating the locals. One of those actions is the destruction of schools, girl schools. There's a inconsistency here. Do we simply validate our own preconceived notions or do we note that something doesn't fit the model? Is the data point false? Why worry about schools for girls if women are only treated as dogs?
#12
The irony is that the prospects for something remotely resembling a modern society are much better in the north of Afghanistan than in Pushtunistan. Yet blood and treasure are wasted on the Pushtuns.
At root the problem is, federalising Afganistan is an anathema to that club for despots called the United Nations because it would result in pressure for federal solutions for every third world dictatorship from China downwards.
So we continue with the lunacy of trying to create a unitary Afghan state.
#13
The Northern Afghans have a locational obsolescence problem that seems unlikely to be overcome and makes trying to do anything of permanence there impossible.
In his third public appearance since he became the deputy leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula AQAP, Saeed Al-Shihri or as called ''Abu Sufyan Al-Azdi" publicized a message denying the news of his promoted death along with the organization's leader Nasser Al-Wahayshi in an attack by a military aircraft in the Yemeni province of Shabwa on the 24th of last December.
The appearance of Al-Shihri instead of Al-Wahayshi made many analysts say that Al-Wahayshi has been killed while Al-Shihri survived the attack and took command of the organization in Yemen.
The opinions are based on speculation not on information, the appearance of the second man, the wanted No. 31 on the list of the 85 terrorism suspects for the security services in Saudi Arabia.
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Posted by: ryuge ||
02/22/2010 06:45 ||
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#1
An interesting point from the article: The main reason so many left-liberals so loathe and fear the internet is that it is a medium that favours the libertarian right. The internet came along in the nick of time. Al Gore did something right!
#1
I live in Sacramento and see this upclose every day. Drive the roads, and see them in 3rd world condition. Home prices have cratered here as the state has cut civil service salaries 15%, and state contracts have all-but frozen. State purchases are at a standstill. State office buildings are being sold under fire sale conditions to raise small amounts of cash, even as we ransome future debt payments. All of this while the legislature tightens environmental controls on vehicles and businesses, adds taxes and fees, included a proposed internet sales tax on Amazon, and drives out business and retirees by the savage tax climate.
Yes, sir, we've just had our 70 fat years in America, thanks to the Greatest Generation and the bounty of freedom and prosperity they built for us. And in these past 70 years, leadership whether of the country, a university, a company, a state, a charity, or a township has largely been about giving things away, building things from scratch, lowering taxes or making grants.
But now it feels as if we are entering a new era, where the great task of government and of leadership is going to be about taking things away from people,' said the Johns Hopkins University foreign policy expert Michael Mandelbaum.
Indeed, to lead now is to trim, to fire or to downsize services, programs or personnel. We've gone from the age of government handouts to the age of citizen givebacks, from the age of companions fly free to the age of paying for each bag.
Let's just hope our lean years will only number seven. That will depend a lot on us and whether we rise to the economic challenges of this moment. Our parents truly were the Greatest Generation. We, alas, in too many ways, have been what the writer Kurt Andersen called The Grasshopper Generation,' eating through the prosperity that was bequeathed us like hungry locusts. Now we and our kids together need to be The Regeneration' the generation that renews, refreshes, re-energizes and rebuilds America for the 21st century.
President Obama's bad luck was that he showed up just as we moved from the fat years to the lean years. His calling is to lead The Regeneration. He clearly understands that in his head, but he has yet to give full voice to it. Actually, the thing that most baffles me about Mr. Obama is how a politician who speaks so well, and is trying to do so many worthy things, can't come up with a clear, simple, repeatable narrative to explain his politics when it is so obvious.
Mr. Obama won the election because he was able to rent' a significant number of independent voters including Republican business types who had never voted for a Democrat in their lives because they knew in their guts that the country was on the wrong track and was desperately in need of nation-building at home and that John McCain was not the man to do it.
They thought that Mr. Obama, despite his liberal credentials, had the unique skills, temperament, voice and values to pull the country together for this new Apollo program not to take us to the moon, but into the 21st century.
Alas, though, instead of making nation-building in America his overarching narrative and then fitting health care, energy, educational reform, infrastructure, competitiveness and deficit reduction under that rubric, the president has pursued each separately. This made each initiative appear to be just some stand-alone liberal obsession to pay off a Democratic constituency not an essential ingredient of a nation-building strategy and, therefore, they have proved to be easily obstructed, picked off or delegitimized by opponents and lobbyists.
So Obamism' feels at worst like a hodgepodge, at best like a to-do list one that got way too dominated by health care instead of innovation and jobs and not the least like a big, aspirational project that can bring out America's still vast potential for greatness.
#1
President Obamas bad luck was that he showed up just as we moved from the fat years to the lean years.
Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded here and there, now and then are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as "bad luck."
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/22/2010 7:13 Comments ||
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#2
Great quote from my favorite book "Time Enough for Love". I suggest Friedman read it.
#6
Not likely Richard. Marxism is a virus from which there currently appears to be no known cure. Who would have thought, a would be Jewish lawyer turned philospher, writer, and social scientist from Trier, one of the loveliest Roman towns in Europe.
#9
The Greatest Generation was both wise and foolish. It had to wage the Cold War, and win, but at the same time, it mortgaged the future of its posterity for its own prosperity.
With the hardship of ages past, there has come the hard fought wisdom that prosperity must be earned, for when just given, many recipients lack the tools to use their prosperity with wisdom.
By itself, it would just mean a return to poverty for the spendthrift. However, democracy unleashes a monster that makes the situation far worse. The notion that charity is such a beneficial thing that it should be compelled from all, not just given freely by the charitable.
And this was the terrible sin of the Greatest Generation. That they could take the wealth from one person, and distribute it to another person, and that good would come from doing so.
So generous they were with wealth that was not theirs to spend, that they have now pawned our national prosperity 100 years in the future--if their descent is foolish enough to honor these obligations, which they are not.
So the legacy of the Greatest Generation is to be roundly cursed for depleting our nation. The sacrifices they made are nearly forgotten, and it is those long dead that deserve credit. Those of the generation that survived, and their rotten offspring, the Baby Boomers, will live in infamy for their foolishness.
4.Mr. Ansar Burney, Chairman of the Ansar Burney Trust and a former Minister of the Federal Government, who was among the first to make allegations about the shifting of the Afghan Taliban leaders from Quetta to Karachi, has now gone public with allegations regarding the shifting of Al Qaeda leaders from North Waziristan to Karachi. In a statement issued on February 21,2010 carried by the "News" on February 22, he has been quoted as saying as follows: "The recent arrest of one of the close allies of Osama bin Laden and Mulla Omar from Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Karachi, has proved that my previous statements about the presence of terrorists in Karachi were true. " He expressed his grave concern over the information that Abu Riyan al Zarqawi, also known as Abu Musa, reportedly told the security agencies that Osama bin Laden and Mulla Omar were in Pakistan and that just a month ago he met them personally and added: "It was shocking to know after the reports that Osama bin Laden and Mulla Omar were in Pakistan under the patronage of some political parties and supporters in the Government. After the arrest of Abu Musa, it is now confirmed that the leadership of the al-Qaeda and Taliban are in Karachi and enjoying their life in safe havens. The President and the Prime Minister should take stern action against the increasing Talibanisation and Al Qaeda activities in Karachi.Talibanisation is a conspiracy to undermine peace in the entire region and I urge the patriotic Pakistanis and national security agencies to curb this menace or the solidarity of the country would be at stake. I had already confirmed reports and recently issued statements that after the Army operation in Swat and tribal areas, terrorists had taken refuge in Karachi and were spreading terrorism throughout Pakistan from the country's largest city."
#1
Considering the whole Kidney machine issue, if true, it would make sense that he would be in a (1) relatively Jihadist friendly nation (2) A place with semi-modern hospitals. Personally I'd assumed Iran but Pakistan fits just as well.
#2
Fred Irksen : Kirkwood Patrick is one of the killers : Yemen
Posted by: Terry % Thomas ||
02/22/2010 17:35 Comments ||
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#3
Dubai 11
Posted by: Terry % Thomas ||
02/22/2010 17:36 Comments ||
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#4
Doubt it. Sindhis despise Pashtos almost as much as they hate Punjabis. Taliban/al-Qaeda are Pashto toys. Pakistan is an alleged country; that's the best I could say.
#3
Doesn't work for me either, but from another source. Bloom appears to pushing 2 failed (to date) technologies - fuel cells and hydrogen.
Fuel cells cost/performance just isn't better than old fashioned batteries.
Hydrogen; you can't store the stuff.
But then what do you expect from 60 minutes.
The big picture is that renewable energy in the developing world has been a dismal failure, but the usual suspects are still pushing it to save the planet or because of vested financial interests (often the same thing).
#4
Another source says Bloom's device is producing electricity from natural gas, which is the right answer for local electricity production. But we can already do this with small cheap generators.
This looks to me like a solution in search of a problem.
#5
What is the Bloom Box? It sounds like something involving flowers, but instead it is Bloom Energy's fuel cell miracle, if its promise can be both believed and delivered upon. The Bloom Box was finally unveiled, on broadcast television, no less, on "60 Minutes" on Sunday night (watch the full report below).
There is much skepticism around Bloom Energy's Bloom Box. Fuel cells have been tried before, and always come up short. With all the secrecy around the project, such as no sign on his building, a cryptic Web site, and no public progress reports, there are many doubters.
On "60 Minutes" on Sunday, CEO K.R. Sridhar invited "60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl for a first look at the innards of Bloom Energy's Bloom box, which he has been working on for nearly a decade. Here's a partial transcript from the very start of the story:
Stahl asked, "What could this power?"
"This could power a U.S. home. Average United States home." he said.
"Something that small?" she asked.
"The way we make it is in two blocks. This is a European home. The two put together is a U.S. home," he explained.
"'Cause we use twice as much energy, is that what you're saying?" Stahl asked.
"Yeah, and this'll power four Asian homes," he replied.
"So four homes in India, your native country?" Stahl asked.
"Four to six homes in our country," Sridhar replied.
"It sounds awfully dazzling," Stahl remarked.
"It is real. It works," he replied.
He says he knows it works because he originally invented a similar device for NASA. He really is a rocket scientist.
"This invention, working on Mars, would have allowed the NASA administrator to pick up a phone and say, 'Mr. President, we know how to produce oxygen on Mars,'" Sridhar told Stahl.
"So this was going to produce oxygen so people could actually live on Mars?" she asked.
"Absolutely," Sridhar replied.
When NASA scrapped that Mars mission, K.R. had an idea: he reversed his Mars machine. Instead of it making oxygen, he pumped oxygen in.
He invented a new kind of fuel cell, which is like a very skinny battery that always runs. K.R. feeds oxygen to it on one side, and fuel on the other. The two combine within the cell to create a chemical reaction that produces electricity. No need for burning or combustion, No need for power lines from an outside source.
It's obvious how promising Bloom Energy's Bloom Box would be. You could put two fuel cells at each U.S. house and rather than having transmission lines, generate electricity right there.
Japan is already pushing a sort of alternative idea: solar power in homes. In fact, solar power capacity in Japan rose to 483,960 kilowatts in 2009, 2.1 times more than the 2008 total. Some 88.6 percent of solar battery shipments in 2009 were for home systems. The new installations cover the power needs of more than 100,000 households at current consumption rates. Clean energy is an emerging market segment, and would be worth billions to the company or companies that can succeed.
How does Bloom Energy's Bloom Box work, without (in proposed production quantities) costing an arm and a leg to produce? That is a big question, and K.R. Sridhar let Stahl into some of the secret, though naturally, not all.
Sridhar said he bakes beach sand and cuts it into squares that are turned into a ceramic. Then he coats it with green and black "inks" that he developed, which is of course, the secret. "And you take that and you apply that. You paint that on either side of this white ceramic to get a green layer and a black layer. And that's it." The finished product is shown above, a skinny Bloom Box fuel cell. You need a stack of them to really get effective power.
One cell powers a light bulb. Between each cell is a metal plate. Unlike other fuel cells, rather than platinum, Sridhar uses a cheap metal alloy. "The stacks are the heart of the Bloom box: put 64 of them together and you get something big enough to power a Starbucks."
Sridhar gave Stahl a sneak peek inside the Bloom box, the first ever given to the public.
"All those modules that we saw go into this big box. Fuel goes in, air goes in, out comes electricity," he explained.
What is the fuel, however? Most recently, the fuel cells intended to power cars required hydrogen. That was an issue, because hydrogen is difficult to transport. In this case, the fuel can be a variety of choices.
"Our system can use fossil fuels like natural gas. Our system can use renewable fuels like landfill gas, bio-gas. We can use solar."
Of course, using fossil fuels is a dead end. Eventually that will run out. Renewable fuels as a power source is very encouraging.
Additionally, Sridhar already has 20 large companies using Bloom Boxes in California. They include FedEx, WalMart, Staples, eBay, and that power-sucking company known as Google was their first customer. Google is trying anything it can think of to reduce its power use.
One reason California companies have signed up is California subsidizes 20 percent of the cost, and there is an additional 30 percent federal tax break because it's a "green" technology. The total cut is therefore half.
Bloom boxes, many think, are not the be-all and end-all. After all, there is so much power used by the world, no one technology can cure our ills. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, whio joined Bloom Energy's board of directors last year, put it this way, when asked if Bloom boxes could be the fix for our our energy needs.
"I have seen the technology and it works," but, "I think that's too big a claim to make. I think it is part of the transformation of the energy system. But I think the Bloom boxes will make a significant contribution."
Leslie Stahl can't seem to completely grasp the difference between electricity generation and storage and doesn't really understand the problem of recharging an electrical storage device. Thank God the bloom box guy didn't try to explain AC vs DC to her.
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/22/2010 8:30 Comments ||
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#9
"He invented a new kind of fuel cell, which is like a very skinny battery that always runs."
Ummm... no. What he's invented is a new way to scam investors who are as gullible-- and technically ignorant-- as they are greedy.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
02/22/2010 8:33 Comments ||
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#10
Besoeker on 'Beach Sand.' Scoop here, scoop NOW!
#12
It may mean sintered glass - lots of little grains stuck together with a huge surface area. The color is from the different compounds used for the catalysts. Give 'em a break. These are journalists, not 6th grade science students.
#16
It's a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC). It's layers of ceramic materials (not SiO2), often Zirconium alloys. The benefit is it doesn't use platiunum like Proton exchange membrane fuel cells. The good (or bad depending on viewpoint) is that it operates at high temp, around 800C. Hot water (or air) is a useful byproduct. The problem w/ home use is that if it gets cold it must be (slowly) reheated before it can work, or use energy to keep it hot even when people are not home.
I will be surprised if they can sell it for $10K for a 2kW unit (not enough to fully power a home). Compare that w/ a $2k 8kW natural gas engine. Yes, the gas engine won't last as long nor as efficient.
Posted by: ed ||
02/22/2010 13:14 Comments ||
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#17
Zirconium, while cheaper than diamond, is still AFAIK fairly expensive (one reference I found said 170 dollars per kg). So it's not just a case of scooping up beach sand and painting it different colors.
And while it's nice that it's a more efficient way of turning natural gas into electricity than an otto cycle engine, it still needs a natural gas supply.
Another example of small increases in energy efficiency from very large inputs of resources (including energy). Cost being a good proxy for resources required.
The comments made by Ali Mekdad, a member of the Hezbollah parliamentary bloc on the reactions of some of the March 14 Alliance leadership regarding the telephone call between the President of Iran and Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah were extremely funny. In this telephone conversation, Ahmadinejad spoke to Nasrallah about the necessity of resistance, being ready against any possible aggression, and stressed that "this readiness must be at a level that they (the Zionists) will be finished off and the region will be rid of them forever if they want to repeat previous mistakes." Of course, Nasrallah's answer to Ahmadinejad was clear and unequivocal, and he said that "the resistance is in good condition and does not fear Israeli threats."
The Hezbollah parliamentary bloc member, MP Ali Mekdad, responding to some of the March 14 Alliance fears, namely that Lebanon will be transformed into an arena for Iranian interests, began be describing those who fear Lebanon being exploited as being "mouthpieces." Mekdad also sarcastically and derisively told them "if you are not proficient in political analysis, then we ask you to enter any school or university and learn!"
The truth is that it is up to the Lebanese people who want to deal with Hezbollah not to go to school or university to learn political analysis but instead to learn deception, as this will allow them to better understand Hezbollah and how to deal with them. The consequences of events does not require that they be shared or analyzed, but that the Lebanese people be extremely aware of everything that Hezbollah says, and of course everything that the Iranians President says, because Ahmadinejad and Nasrallah are moving in the same direction.
When Ahmadinejad appeared at a press conference in Tehran last Wednesday and said that in the event of Israel launching a war against Iran "the resistance and regional countries will finish them," Nasrallah appeared threatening and menacing Israel the same day, indeed only a few hours later, saying that the next war would see attacks on a [Lebanese] airport retaliated with attacks on an [Israeli] airport, and an attack on [Lebanese] infrastructure would be retaliated by attacks on [Israeli] infrastructure. What is strange and worth mentioning here is that in his threat to Israel, Nasrallah did not say the bombing of Beirut would be retaliated with the bombing of Tel Aviv, but rather the bombing of [Beirut's] suburbs would be responded to with an attack on Tel Aviv. This means that the suburbs have become the capital, and more important to Nasrallah than Beirut whose Arabist history Walid Jumblatt pontificated on a few days ago. Therefore Nasrallah's talk about the suburbs is very significant, and dangerous.
The Lebanese reaction to the Ahmadinejad -- Nasrallah telephone call can be summed up by what I said in my article "Iran...Nor Our War" which was published on Thursday [18/02/2010]. The Iranian embassy issued a statement of clarification surrounding the details of the Ahmadinejad -- Nasrallah call, but the fact remains that Iran's war is not Lebanon's war, or Palestine's war, or the Arab's war, but rather this is a factional war led by Tehran who wants to ignite a new war in the region, in the same way that it has created sectarianism and division. Therefore it is up to the Lebanese people to learn deception in dealing with Hezbollah, rather than political analysis, and they must also remember that Hezbollah's weapons, which are described as the arms of the resistance, were the same weaponry that were turned against them the day that Hezbollah occupied Beirut.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2010 00:00 ||
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For your perusal, an arms-race time line. Left out for the most part here is the Iranian nuclear program, and the defection, kidnapping, or assassination of Iranian officials and scientists.
Players: North Korea, South Korea, Thailand, China, New Zealand, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Germany, Russia, Italy, Syria, Israel, Fatah, Hamas, Egypt, Ukraine, Dubai. Iran, Libya, Jordan, Saudi Arabia (possible), United Kingdom (possible).
2006-2007: Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan admits supplying nuclear technology to North Korea, Iran, and Libya through black market. North Korea government denies press reports that the country is working with Iran to better their respective nuclear programs.
September 2007: Attack on Syria's al-Kibar research' facility by IAF. Press reports suggest that characteristics of the Syrian facility were similar to North Korea's reactor in Yongbyon. Subsequent investigation reveals key materials for al-Kibar were smuggled from China and possibly Europe into Syria by Namchongang Trading, a North Korean firm. Video from inside the Syrian facility shows North Korean personnel inside the site.
February 2008: Bomb in a car Damascus kills Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniya. Syrian security forces quickly seal off the area and remove the destroyed car. Israel denies Hezbollah accusations that they were responsibile for the assassination.
March 2008: Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout arrested in a Bangkok hotel, allegedly attempting to buy weapons for FARC.
August 2008: Brigadier General Mohammed Suleiman shot to death at his seaside villa by sniper from a yacht. The Syrian general was a top overseer of his country's weapons shipments to Hezbollah.
September 2008: Somali pirates reported to suffer skin burns, lost hair and fallen gravely ill within days' of boarding MV Iran Deyanat. Reports are also stating that several have died. Pirates had examined containers. According to ship's manifest, it had set said from sail from Nanjing, China, at end of July and was heading for Rotterdam where it was to unload 42500 tons of iron ore and industrial products' purchased by a German client. Supposedly US and/or Israel examine cargo.
September 2008: Ukrainian-flagged ship MV Faina seized by pirates off the coast of Somalia. Ship reportedly carrying 33 tanks and other munitions: Ukrainian defense minister confirmed'.
January 2009: Unidentified aircraft attack a 23-truck convoy of suspected arms smugglers as it drives through Sudan toward Egypt. Aircraft later ID'd as IAF. Iran was reported to be sending a major delivery' of 120 tons of arms and explosives to Gaza. Hamas, says it numbered only 15 trucks and carrying less tonnage.
April 2009: MV Ryu Gyong, a North Korean-flagged bulk carrier attacked east of Mukalla, Yemen. NATO reports the Ryu Gyong had been threatened four times off the east coast of Somalia between March 20 and 24; it was approached twice and was attacked twice.
June 2009: North Korean freighter, identified as Kang Nam and possibly heading toward Myanmar, is tracked by USN and shadowed. Unidentified intelligence said freighter possibly carrying missile components'. Ship eventually returns to North Korea.
June 2009: US begins diplomatic charm offensive' with Syria.
July 2009: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hints North Korea attempted to provide Myanmar with nuclear weapons production capabilities, including weapons-grade nuclear material, and that arms trade between the two socialist nations could be devastating'. Mayanmar has been an arms-conduit to Indian Maoists and other groups since 1990s.
September 2009: Russian timber-cargo ship Arctic Sea ostensibly bound for Algeria hijacked. Moscow sources suggest Mossad may have played a part in the alleged hijacking, carrying it out using a criminal gang, who were unlikely to have known anything about a secret cargo, supposedly missiles sold by Russian military officials with organized-crime ties. Russia took quick control of the vessel isolated both the crew and the hijackers.
November 2009: Two-day visit by U.S. high-ranking delegation to Myanmar, first in 14 years.
December 2009: Thailand seizes a cargo plane (registered in Georgia) while it is refueling in Bangkok and arrests crew. Aircraft reportedly carrying weapons from North Korea to an unknown destination'. Aircraft leased by shell company incorporated in New Zealand.
December 2009: Egypt begins constructing metal wall along its border with the Gaza Strip to cut smuggling. Wall reportedly was manufactured in US and US Army Corps of Engineers rumored to be assisting .
January 2010: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu announces plans for construction of 70 miles of fence along Israel's border with Egypt.
February 2010: Somali pirates hijack the MV Rim in the Gulf of Aden. Ship is owned by White Sea Shipping of Libya under the North Korean flag, carrying unknown cargo. Ship was sailing far outside recommended transit corridor.
February 2010: Egypt seals dozens of tunnels used to smuggle goods and weapons from the Sinai to the Strip.
February 2010: Iran announced it has enriched uranium to 20%.
February 2010: US appoints a career diplomat as ambassador to Syria.
2008 Present: IAF attacks Gaza smuggling tunnels. Attacks increase in late 2009.
February 2010: Gaza smuggling tunnels reportedly suffering from 'economic impact'.
February 2010: South Korea tells UN Security Council that, acting on information, it seized North Korean chemical-safety suits that may have been destined for Syria's military. South Korea receives unsolicited letter from Syria denying any involvement.
February 2010: Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Mabhouh assassinated in Dubai. Mabhouh was said to be a liaison for smuggling weapons from Iran to Gaza. Dubai authorities rapidly produce video of 11 suspects traveling apparently on European passports with real names and authentic data, but possibly altered photos. Dubai police report two Palestinians in custody, arrested in Jordan shortly after the killing, then sent back to Dubai. Hamas and Fatah exchange accusations. Hamas claims they are Fatah members; Fatah-affiliated Palestinian Authority said the two men are former members of Fatah who later joined Hamas security forces in Gaza. Interpol gets involved. Press reports state Britain's MI6 supposedly informed of operation by Mossad.
Observation: In less than three years, there has been an increase in multi-national intelligence, operations, and carrot-and-stick diplomatic maneuvers to counter both weapons smuggling to the Middle East, specifically Gaza but also Iran and to a lesser extent, other nations such as Myanmar. Within the past six months, there has been a significant multinational increase in activity with regard to stopping arms traffic to Gaza.
Observation: Dubai is a known 'gray area'. Dubai traders have helped import goods into Iran, sidestepping US economic sanctions. Dubai is also known as an arms-trafficking and an "informal cash transfer" point.
Observation: Dubai authorities were extraordinarily quick to produce passports and video of the assassination team. Jordan was very quick in arresting Palestinian suspects and returning them to Dubai.
Observation: The assassination squad appeared to be aware that they were being observed; the Dubai authorities acted with alacrity only after Mabhouh was assassinated.
Observation: Russian agents have operated in nearby Qatar. Two agents were arrested by Qatar in 2004 for assassinating former Chechen leader Zelimkhan Yanderbiyev with a car bomb.
Wild-ass guess (WAG)#1 : Something large and potentially catastrophic was coming down involving Gaza and Israel. If I had to do a wild-WAG (WWAG), I'd go with some sort of WMD being smuggled into Gaza. There appears to be a lot of 'cooperation' where one wouldn't normally expect it from certain nations and groups.
WAG #2: The 'hit' in Dubai may not have been done by Mossad, but by another nation, either using its own assets or contracting out the killing.
1. I've often wondered if the CIA has their own "pirate operation" setup in Somalia or in the area to strictly intercept "interesting cargos". It's nice cover. Might even pay for itself.
2. Nobody sane appears to be too crazy about North Koreans.
3. The Israeli's have never had any qualms about taking out anything or anybody they perceive to be a threat to them. An added benefit is they usually never admit to any of it which sows more confusion amongst it's enemies. A little distrust amongst "the boys" ain't a bad thing. Maybe we did, maybe we didn't. We know you think we did, but how do you know it wasn't...that guy sitting across the table from you that set it up or helped us set it up? Or had has own guys pull it off? Maybe somebody gave him a better deal? Or was a bigger threat? Think you can trust...anybody?
4. I wonder if the Iranians get the message that the Israeli's won't hesitate to take out their nuke program if they're on the verge of getting a bomb? I also wonder if they realize that most of their "friends" in the area won't have that big problem with it. Oh, they'll make a lotta noise about it publically, but they'll also be breathing a lot easier. They could ask Saddam about Osirak but...oh yeah...he's not around anymore. But the Syrians are. Ask them.
5.As far as a WMD in Gaza, I don't know how anybody even half sane would trust the "jihad mission" boys with anything bigger than an Estes rocket and a car battery. What a work accident that would be. But, of course, the main suspect here would be the Iranians, who seem more than willing to fight to the last Palestinian, Syrian, or Lebanese.
#6
As far as a WMD in Gaza, I don't know how anybody even half sane would trust the "jihad mission" boys with anything bigger than an Estes rocket and a car battery.
#8
On a NOT-NECESSARILY-UNRELATED-NOTE, WMF > STRATEGIC SCHWERPUNKT AGZ CHINA AT AKSAI CHIN: THE REAL REASON INDIA HAS 100,000 MORE TROOPS AT BORDER IN 2009.
* CHINESE MIL FORUM > KEY/PRIMARY US OFFENSIVE BASES AGZ CHINA.
GUAM, + BANGOR NSB, WA = home to approxi 2700 USN-stored nuclear warheads.
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.
