News about Infantry at StrategyPage.com's How to Make War.: "INFANTRY: Iraqis Copy Americans
August 31, 2005: The new Iraqi army is going through a generational shift, with a new package of tactics and techniques being taught to a new generation of recruits"
Rabu, 31 Agustus 2005
The Daily Brief: A Military Blog Written With Intelligence And Purpose
The Daily Brief: A Military Blog Written With Intelligence And Purpose: "A List of Things Every Man Should Do Before He Dies
1. Shoot a gun larger than a .22. (Yep)
2. Teach a kid to shoot. (Define “kid.” Boyo hasn’t been shooting yet and guns aren’t allowed where we’re going so I’m gonna have to hold out.)
3. Cook a meal out in the open. (Done many times and not just “grilling” either.)
4. Kill an animal which can kill you. (No, and hopefully never will.)
5. Taste a good brandy (no French cognacs need apply) and a fine single malt Scotch. (I’ve overachieved this one.)
6. Visit at least eight countries outside your own continent, none of which speak your home language. (Only four so far.)"
etc==============
1. Shoot a gun larger than a .22. (Yep)
2. Teach a kid to shoot. (Define “kid.” Boyo hasn’t been shooting yet and guns aren’t allowed where we’re going so I’m gonna have to hold out.)
3. Cook a meal out in the open. (Done many times and not just “grilling” either.)
4. Kill an animal which can kill you. (No, and hopefully never will.)
5. Taste a good brandy (no French cognacs need apply) and a fine single malt Scotch. (I’ve overachieved this one.)
6. Visit at least eight countries outside your own continent, none of which speak your home language. (Only four so far.)"
etc==============
A soldier's thank-you - PittsburghLIVE.com
A soldier's thank-you - PittsburghLIVE.com: "More than once, bulletproof glass saved the lives of Spc. Nathaniel Cornman, his Humvee crewmates and others in his unit, the 1st 503rd Infantry, based at Fort Carson, Colo."
Chrenkoff--- Good News
Chrenkoff: "Maj. Joe Leahy, is a civil engineer with the 20th Engineer Brigade of the Army National Guard. He has been stationed at Camp Victory, outside of Baghdad, since November 2004 - enough time to get frustrated:
'We all know it's a dangerous place. But the thing that I want people to understand is that they only see those one or two instances in the country that are negative. You don't really hear about the 100 things that have gone good,'
says Maj Leahy. 'One thing we've got to understand is that it's not going to happen tomorrow, but we are doing something that's getting better everyday.'
"
'We all know it's a dangerous place. But the thing that I want people to understand is that they only see those one or two instances in the country that are negative. You don't really hear about the 100 things that have gone good,'
says Maj Leahy. 'One thing we've got to understand is that it's not going to happen tomorrow, but we are doing something that's getting better everyday.'
"
Major K.: The MRX
Major K.: The MRX: "For the past 2 1/2 years, there have been several evolutions in building the new Iraqi Army. It first started as the ICDC, then became what is now the Iraqi Army. All over the country, this army has been being built from the ground up. It started with basic training, where new soldiers were forged with better training than was given to the 'Commandos' of the old regime. By the standards of the former regime, every American Soldier would be considered to be 'Special Forces' trained. "
Selasa, 30 Agustus 2005
Econbrowser: How to talk to an economist about peak oil
Econbrowser: How to talk to an economist about peak oil: "How to talk to an economist about peak oil"
Deinonychus antirrhopus: Katrina and the Cost of Gasoline/Oil
Katrina and the Cost of Gasoline/Oil
Posted by Steve at 12:54 AM
Well, if you thought that gasoline prices were high now, just wait a couple of days. From the sounds of it Katrina has really done quite a number on the oil production in the gulf, and the oil refining in New Orleans area. This is like getting shot in the gut and the head. Even if Bush releases oil from the Strategic Patroleum Reserve it will likely have little impact. Why? Well there aren't that many refineries and quite a few of them are located in Louisiana. In looking at a map at goolge.com my quick research tells me these refineries are probably down and will be for some time.
Refinery Barrels/day Location
ConocoPhillips 250,000 Belle Chasse
Motiva Enterprises, LLC 220,000 Norco
Valero St. Charles Refinery 155,160 Norco
St. Rose Refining (Shell) 55,000 St. Rose
Chalmette Refining, LLC 182,500 Chalmette
862,660
In other words just under a million barrels/day of refining capacity has been taken off line. Add in that several off shore gulf rigs are likely also off line and it means that gasoline/oil prices are going to go up. Over at the Oil Drum Professor Goose notes that the U.S. uses about 20 million barrels per day (mbpd). Thus about 5% of the nations entire refining capacity just went away for an indeterminant amount of time.
This New York Times article is also chuck full of information. Such as that there are 4,000 drilling platforms in that region connected by 33,000 miles of underwater pipelines. The gulf region produces about 27% of the nations oil and 20% of the natural gas. Also oil production in the region was reduced by 92%.
So what about the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR)? Not much. After all, it isn't just the oil is going to be in short supply but also the refineries necessary to turn the oil in the SPR into gasoline. Valero is indicating it could be two weeks before its operations are back online. The St. Charles refinery noted above was under three feet of water and sustained minor damage to its cooling tower.
President Bush demonstrates a poor grasp of the situation,
"You just got to understand that the situation we got ourselves into, dependency on foreign sources of oil, took a while to get there, and it's going to take a while to become less dependent," Mr. Bush said.
As I've noted several times in this post, it isn't simply the dependency on foreign oil (in fact that is a minor part of the picture which I'll explain a bit more further down). Another big aspect of the problem is the lack of excess capacity in refineries. That part of the oil/gasoline supply line is also very tight. A slight problem there such as a Hurricane tearing up Louisiana.
As for the dependency on foreign oil that is "talking points/rhetorical bullsh*t". Suppose we weren't dependent on foreign oil and that we still obtained 27% of our oil from the Gulf region and there was a big hurricane. Oil production would still decrease and prices would go up. Somebody needs to inform Bush that we are talking about a world wide market for oil and that statements like the one above may sound good to the uninitiated on this issue, but to those who understand the issue he looks like a fool.
Well, at any rate I hope you weren't planning on taking the RV out for the long weekend. Or if you do, I recommend driving it to the end of driveway and setting up camp there.
Posted by Steve at 12:54 AM
Well, if you thought that gasoline prices were high now, just wait a couple of days. From the sounds of it Katrina has really done quite a number on the oil production in the gulf, and the oil refining in New Orleans area. This is like getting shot in the gut and the head. Even if Bush releases oil from the Strategic Patroleum Reserve it will likely have little impact. Why? Well there aren't that many refineries and quite a few of them are located in Louisiana. In looking at a map at goolge.com my quick research tells me these refineries are probably down and will be for some time.
Refinery Barrels/day Location
ConocoPhillips 250,000 Belle Chasse
Motiva Enterprises, LLC 220,000 Norco
Valero St. Charles Refinery 155,160 Norco
St. Rose Refining (Shell) 55,000 St. Rose
Chalmette Refining, LLC 182,500 Chalmette
862,660
In other words just under a million barrels/day of refining capacity has been taken off line. Add in that several off shore gulf rigs are likely also off line and it means that gasoline/oil prices are going to go up. Over at the Oil Drum Professor Goose notes that the U.S. uses about 20 million barrels per day (mbpd). Thus about 5% of the nations entire refining capacity just went away for an indeterminant amount of time.
This New York Times article is also chuck full of information. Such as that there are 4,000 drilling platforms in that region connected by 33,000 miles of underwater pipelines. The gulf region produces about 27% of the nations oil and 20% of the natural gas. Also oil production in the region was reduced by 92%.
So what about the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR)? Not much. After all, it isn't just the oil is going to be in short supply but also the refineries necessary to turn the oil in the SPR into gasoline. Valero is indicating it could be two weeks before its operations are back online. The St. Charles refinery noted above was under three feet of water and sustained minor damage to its cooling tower.
President Bush demonstrates a poor grasp of the situation,
"You just got to understand that the situation we got ourselves into, dependency on foreign sources of oil, took a while to get there, and it's going to take a while to become less dependent," Mr. Bush said.
As I've noted several times in this post, it isn't simply the dependency on foreign oil (in fact that is a minor part of the picture which I'll explain a bit more further down). Another big aspect of the problem is the lack of excess capacity in refineries. That part of the oil/gasoline supply line is also very tight. A slight problem there such as a Hurricane tearing up Louisiana.
As for the dependency on foreign oil that is "talking points/rhetorical bullsh*t". Suppose we weren't dependent on foreign oil and that we still obtained 27% of our oil from the Gulf region and there was a big hurricane. Oil production would still decrease and prices would go up. Somebody needs to inform Bush that we are talking about a world wide market for oil and that statements like the one above may sound good to the uninitiated on this issue, but to those who understand the issue he looks like a fool.
Well, at any rate I hope you weren't planning on taking the RV out for the long weekend. Or if you do, I recommend driving it to the end of driveway and setting up camp there.
Senin, 29 Agustus 2005
'Wonderful time to be a soldier'�-�Editorials/Op-Ed�-�The Washington Times, America's Newspaper
'Wonderful time to be a soldier'�-�Editorials/Op-Ed�-�The Washington Times, America's Newspaper: "'Wonderful time to be a soldier'
TODAY'S COLUMNIST
By Joe Roche
August 26, 2005
I'm very proud to be a soldier of the U.S. Army because of the war on terror and our missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. I'm not alone either. I'm surrounded by soldiers who are re-enlisting and volunteering to go to units that are deploying. In fact, despite all the negative news and protests, I see everyday that our military is actually doing very well.
This is quite obvious, except for the fact that most of the media seems asphyxiated with defeatism. The message from most journalists would lead you to believe that we soldiers are getting out, that no one is joining anew and that we want to stop fighting. This simply isn't true.
Yes, recruitment is lower, but the caliber of those who are signing up and the rates of re-enlistment are both extremely high. All 10 of our major combat divisions are ahead of expectations for retention of soldiers. In my unit, there are soldiers who specifically went active duty from the reserves because they want to go to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Before September 11, a lot of soldiers were happy to just enjoy the benefits. Since that day, those soldiers have left. That is fine and not the disaster that defeatist reports are making it seem. Such soldiers were never the types to want to go on long deployments and face combat. Yes, they were heroes for signing up and being in a job that could go that direction, but they had other priorities that made their service contingent on enjoying the benefits rather than serving in war.
That changed on September 11. Now, just as we are told to expect when joining, we are going to combat and many soldiers are getting injured and killed. This is our job, and it is what we know can happen. I don't know why the media insists on trumpeting the idea that all of us are tired and worn out and just want to stop fighting. I don't, and I am not alone.
The fact is that we are not experiencing casualty rates anywhere near past conflicts, nor for that matter as bad as during peacetime. There were weeks in Vietnam when 350-400 Americans died, and in other wars thousands would die in single battles. Nothing like that is happening now.
From 1983 to 1996, more than 18,000 soldiers died. That averages to more than 1,300 a year, far more than have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan each year. Yes, that was mostly from accidents, drunk driving and other mishaps. Yet, while protesters in Crawford, Texas and elsewhere would have you think that our military can't survive with the low casualty rates of this war, I wonder why they were willing to accept the much higher peacetime casualty rates of the past? We lost around 3,000 innocent people on September 11, and with four years of war and the toppling of two regimes, we haven't lost that many in combat.
Injuries are high, but they are nothing compared to past conflicts. And most striking is how many are recovering well. I have been to both of the major military hospitals involved in this war, Landstuhl in Germany and Walter Reed in Washington, and I can tell you that there are many soldiers who have lost limbs in Iraq and Afghanistan and who want to return to their units and get redeployed.
Like I said earlier, though, the striking fact I see every day is that the soldiers who are joining now are of much higher caliber than those who joined before September 11. The senior commandant of the Marines recently testified before Congress that the same is happening with them. There maybe fewer than before, but those that do show up are willing and dedicated to being deployed and going to combat. These are also the types who are re-enlisting more than ever before. In fact, re-enlistment is up to 130 percent of expectations in some divisions.
My wife is in the National Guard. Theirs is an interesting experience right now in that there have been more casualties by accidents and reckless behavior off-duty than in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why are protesters not upset about that? Sadly it appears that much of the media are obsessed with defeatism. Even the message of the protesters — contradictory, false and confused as ever — is made front-page headline news every day. The few people they can exploit to push this defeatist agenda are made to appear to speak for all of us. That just isn't true.
Contrary to all the bad news, I see everyday that our soldiers are motivated and eager to contribute and participate in our nation's military missions. This is a very proud and important time to be serving. Considering that out of a population of 285 million, less than one-tenth of one percent are going to war right now, and considering the huge impact we are having on the world, this is a wonderful time to be a soldier in the U.S. Army.
Sgt. Joe Roche is with the 12th Aviation Battalion and stationed at Fort Belvoir. "
TODAY'S COLUMNIST
By Joe Roche
August 26, 2005
I'm very proud to be a soldier of the U.S. Army because of the war on terror and our missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. I'm not alone either. I'm surrounded by soldiers who are re-enlisting and volunteering to go to units that are deploying. In fact, despite all the negative news and protests, I see everyday that our military is actually doing very well.
This is quite obvious, except for the fact that most of the media seems asphyxiated with defeatism. The message from most journalists would lead you to believe that we soldiers are getting out, that no one is joining anew and that we want to stop fighting. This simply isn't true.
Yes, recruitment is lower, but the caliber of those who are signing up and the rates of re-enlistment are both extremely high. All 10 of our major combat divisions are ahead of expectations for retention of soldiers. In my unit, there are soldiers who specifically went active duty from the reserves because they want to go to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Before September 11, a lot of soldiers were happy to just enjoy the benefits. Since that day, those soldiers have left. That is fine and not the disaster that defeatist reports are making it seem. Such soldiers were never the types to want to go on long deployments and face combat. Yes, they were heroes for signing up and being in a job that could go that direction, but they had other priorities that made their service contingent on enjoying the benefits rather than serving in war.
That changed on September 11. Now, just as we are told to expect when joining, we are going to combat and many soldiers are getting injured and killed. This is our job, and it is what we know can happen. I don't know why the media insists on trumpeting the idea that all of us are tired and worn out and just want to stop fighting. I don't, and I am not alone.
The fact is that we are not experiencing casualty rates anywhere near past conflicts, nor for that matter as bad as during peacetime. There were weeks in Vietnam when 350-400 Americans died, and in other wars thousands would die in single battles. Nothing like that is happening now.
From 1983 to 1996, more than 18,000 soldiers died. That averages to more than 1,300 a year, far more than have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan each year. Yes, that was mostly from accidents, drunk driving and other mishaps. Yet, while protesters in Crawford, Texas and elsewhere would have you think that our military can't survive with the low casualty rates of this war, I wonder why they were willing to accept the much higher peacetime casualty rates of the past? We lost around 3,000 innocent people on September 11, and with four years of war and the toppling of two regimes, we haven't lost that many in combat.
Injuries are high, but they are nothing compared to past conflicts. And most striking is how many are recovering well. I have been to both of the major military hospitals involved in this war, Landstuhl in Germany and Walter Reed in Washington, and I can tell you that there are many soldiers who have lost limbs in Iraq and Afghanistan and who want to return to their units and get redeployed.
Like I said earlier, though, the striking fact I see every day is that the soldiers who are joining now are of much higher caliber than those who joined before September 11. The senior commandant of the Marines recently testified before Congress that the same is happening with them. There maybe fewer than before, but those that do show up are willing and dedicated to being deployed and going to combat. These are also the types who are re-enlisting more than ever before. In fact, re-enlistment is up to 130 percent of expectations in some divisions.
My wife is in the National Guard. Theirs is an interesting experience right now in that there have been more casualties by accidents and reckless behavior off-duty than in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why are protesters not upset about that? Sadly it appears that much of the media are obsessed with defeatism. Even the message of the protesters — contradictory, false and confused as ever — is made front-page headline news every day. The few people they can exploit to push this defeatist agenda are made to appear to speak for all of us. That just isn't true.
Contrary to all the bad news, I see everyday that our soldiers are motivated and eager to contribute and participate in our nation's military missions. This is a very proud and important time to be serving. Considering that out of a population of 285 million, less than one-tenth of one percent are going to war right now, and considering the huge impact we are having on the world, this is a wonderful time to be a soldier in the U.S. Army.
Sgt. Joe Roche is with the 12th Aviation Battalion and stationed at Fort Belvoir. "
Minggu, 28 Agustus 2005
HOG ON ICE: Putting Things In Perspective
HOG ON ICE: Putting Things In Perspective: "Putting Things In Perspective
Steve's hurricane could cause even more trouble...
When thinking about Hurricane Katrina, you might want to consider how she's going to affect your life. It doesn’t matter if you live on the Gulf Coast or not--Katrina just may affect you personally. In fact, no matter where you live in the US, this hurricane is packing enough punch to be felt from sea to shining sea, but I can't find anyone in the MSM talking about it.
Let me explain...
Most people don't think about the real damage being done by these hurricanes in the Gulf. The Gulf of Mexico is responsible for almost 1/4 of the nation's domestic oil and gas production—this doesn’t count the imported oil and gas that is offloaded in the Gulf—but I’ll get to that in a minute. When these hurricanes blow through, oil companies have to evacuate their rigs—which means shutting down production. Like sleep, you can never make up for lost production. There are production losses planned into the production schedule, but with a year like this one, we're falling behind—and it’s one of the reasons we’re feeling it at the pumps. Then you have the rigs themselves. Let’s take Thunderhorse for example. Thunderhorse is the world’s largest offshore platform. She’s 75% owned by BP and 25% by Exxon—BP is the operator. The rig is designed to take hurricanes and other weather events and remain operationally viable. However, when Hurricane Dennis came through, something went wrong and she started listing about 20 to 30 degrees. Fast work by BP crews and the US Coastguard prevented the loss of a $5 billion rig. None of these rigs out there are hurricane proof.
But the real problem is Port Fourchon.
Most people have never heard of Port Fourchon, but it is the nation's premiere oil and gas support services facility--and right now it lies within 12 miles of Hurricane Katrina's CAT-3 or CAT-4 bullseye. Over 600 platforms and 75% of the Gulf’s deepwater projects lie within a 40-mile radius of Port Fourchon. Unfortunately, Port Fourchon is a Louisiana island. An island that is connected to the mainland by a single two lane bridge...an old, single two lane bridge. This bridge is the only means of getting cargo and supplies to the Port. More than 1,000 cargo trucks go across this bridge each day, delivering materials to the Port for Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) drilling rigs. If there’s no bridge, there’re no drilling parts and supplies.
Do you see where this is going? When people say our infrastructure is vulnerable, they are not kidding—and not all of it is about terrorism.
The Port is crucial to our national security—for a number of other reasons. While the Persian Gulf provides around 23% of the U.S. oil supply, Port Fourchon supports the offloading of over 18% of all domestic oil and gas and 13% of all oil imports. Port Fourchon is the site of the enormous booster pumps that carry crude oil from the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) to underground salt dome storage areas in Galliano. The LOOP is the first and only offshore oil terminal operating in the United States. It's located less than 20 miles south of Port Fourchon in the Gulf of Mexico and allows the off-loading of oil from supertankers into special pipelines that connect directly to more than 30% of the nation’s refining capacity. The LOOP takes in about one million barrels of foreign oil and 300,000 barrels of domestic crude from Gulf of Mexico OCS each day. Loose that capacity and you've got big trouble.
Put another way, there is no other dot on the map that is more important to the nation’s energy supply, yet it’s connected to the mainland by an obsolete bridge and highway and it has a possible CAT-4 hurricane bearing down on it. It’s not a good situation and Port Fourchon authorities have been warning government officials about it for years.
I’m not being doom and gloom; I’m just saying that we don’t often think about how much these damn hurricanes can and might affect our daily lives.
Just something else to think about when you read about a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico…"
Steve's hurricane could cause even more trouble...
When thinking about Hurricane Katrina, you might want to consider how she's going to affect your life. It doesn’t matter if you live on the Gulf Coast or not--Katrina just may affect you personally. In fact, no matter where you live in the US, this hurricane is packing enough punch to be felt from sea to shining sea, but I can't find anyone in the MSM talking about it.
Let me explain...
Most people don't think about the real damage being done by these hurricanes in the Gulf. The Gulf of Mexico is responsible for almost 1/4 of the nation's domestic oil and gas production—this doesn’t count the imported oil and gas that is offloaded in the Gulf—but I’ll get to that in a minute. When these hurricanes blow through, oil companies have to evacuate their rigs—which means shutting down production. Like sleep, you can never make up for lost production. There are production losses planned into the production schedule, but with a year like this one, we're falling behind—and it’s one of the reasons we’re feeling it at the pumps. Then you have the rigs themselves. Let’s take Thunderhorse for example. Thunderhorse is the world’s largest offshore platform. She’s 75% owned by BP and 25% by Exxon—BP is the operator. The rig is designed to take hurricanes and other weather events and remain operationally viable. However, when Hurricane Dennis came through, something went wrong and she started listing about 20 to 30 degrees. Fast work by BP crews and the US Coastguard prevented the loss of a $5 billion rig. None of these rigs out there are hurricane proof.
But the real problem is Port Fourchon.
Most people have never heard of Port Fourchon, but it is the nation's premiere oil and gas support services facility--and right now it lies within 12 miles of Hurricane Katrina's CAT-3 or CAT-4 bullseye. Over 600 platforms and 75% of the Gulf’s deepwater projects lie within a 40-mile radius of Port Fourchon. Unfortunately, Port Fourchon is a Louisiana island. An island that is connected to the mainland by a single two lane bridge...an old, single two lane bridge. This bridge is the only means of getting cargo and supplies to the Port. More than 1,000 cargo trucks go across this bridge each day, delivering materials to the Port for Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) drilling rigs. If there’s no bridge, there’re no drilling parts and supplies.
Do you see where this is going? When people say our infrastructure is vulnerable, they are not kidding—and not all of it is about terrorism.
The Port is crucial to our national security—for a number of other reasons. While the Persian Gulf provides around 23% of the U.S. oil supply, Port Fourchon supports the offloading of over 18% of all domestic oil and gas and 13% of all oil imports. Port Fourchon is the site of the enormous booster pumps that carry crude oil from the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) to underground salt dome storage areas in Galliano. The LOOP is the first and only offshore oil terminal operating in the United States. It's located less than 20 miles south of Port Fourchon in the Gulf of Mexico and allows the off-loading of oil from supertankers into special pipelines that connect directly to more than 30% of the nation’s refining capacity. The LOOP takes in about one million barrels of foreign oil and 300,000 barrels of domestic crude from Gulf of Mexico OCS each day. Loose that capacity and you've got big trouble.
Put another way, there is no other dot on the map that is more important to the nation’s energy supply, yet it’s connected to the mainland by an obsolete bridge and highway and it has a possible CAT-4 hurricane bearing down on it. It’s not a good situation and Port Fourchon authorities have been warning government officials about it for years.
I’m not being doom and gloom; I’m just saying that we don’t often think about how much these damn hurricanes can and might affect our daily lives.
Just something else to think about when you read about a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico…"
Chrenkoff
Chrenkoff: "Once were superpower
Russia's national suicide continues:
Russians are having more abortions than births to avoid the cost of raising children, according to the country's highest-ranking obstetrician.
About 1.6 million women had a termination last year, a fifth of them under the age of 18, while about 1.5 million gave birth, said Vladimir Kulakov, vice president of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences in Moscow. 'Many more' abortions weren't reported, Kulakov said in the government's official newspaper.
I'll make a brave prediction: in twenty to thirty years, Russia will no longer exist in the form we know today. It might even shrink to the decaying ancient core of the Muscovy, pre-Ivan the Terrible expansion, as first its Muslims areas, and then other autonomous regions detach themselves, and eastern Siberia is absorbed by China (if China itself still exists in its current form in two or three decades' time). It's like watching the fall of the Roman Empire, except with a lot of nukes.
It is difficult to feel sorry for Russia in an abstract (particularly as a Pole), but I do feel sorry for the Russian people, who having suffered seven decades of communism, now find themselves trapped in a nightmarish twilight zone where the old establishment has merged with the organized crime to loot the state and terrorize the population.
"
Russia's national suicide continues:
Russians are having more abortions than births to avoid the cost of raising children, according to the country's highest-ranking obstetrician.
About 1.6 million women had a termination last year, a fifth of them under the age of 18, while about 1.5 million gave birth, said Vladimir Kulakov, vice president of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences in Moscow. 'Many more' abortions weren't reported, Kulakov said in the government's official newspaper.
I'll make a brave prediction: in twenty to thirty years, Russia will no longer exist in the form we know today. It might even shrink to the decaying ancient core of the Muscovy, pre-Ivan the Terrible expansion, as first its Muslims areas, and then other autonomous regions detach themselves, and eastern Siberia is absorbed by China (if China itself still exists in its current form in two or three decades' time). It's like watching the fall of the Roman Empire, except with a lot of nukes.
It is difficult to feel sorry for Russia in an abstract (particularly as a Pole), but I do feel sorry for the Russian people, who having suffered seven decades of communism, now find themselves trapped in a nightmarish twilight zone where the old establishment has merged with the organized crime to loot the state and terrorize the population.
"
Power Line: A positive accounting
Power Line: A positive accounting: "A positive accounting
Christopher Hitchens delivers a brilliant essay in the Daily Standard called 'A War to Be Proud Of.' His positive accounting of our accomplishments in the Bush administration's proactive war on terrorism includes:
1) The overthrow of Talibanism and Baathism, and the exposure of many highly suggestive links between the two elements of this Hitler-Stalin pact. Abu Musab al Zarqawi, who moved from Afghanistan to Iraq before the coalition intervention, has even gone to the trouble of naming his organization al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.
(2) The subsequent capitulation of Qaddafi's Libya in point of weapons of mass destruction--a capitulation that was offered not to Kofi Annan or the E.U. but to Blair and Bush.
(3) The consequent unmasking of the A.Q. Khan network for the illicit transfer of nuclear technology to Libya, Iran, and North Korea.
(4) The agreement by the United Nations that its own reform is necessary and overdue, and the unmasking of a quasi-criminal network within its elite.
(5) The craven admission by President Chirac and Chancellor Schr�der, when confronted with irrefutable evidence of cheating and concealment, respecting solemn treaties, on the part of Iran, that not even this will alter their commitment to neutralism. (One had already suspected as much in the Iraqi case.)
(6) The ability to certify Iraq as actually disarmed, rather than accept the word of a psychopathic autocrat.
(7) The immense gains made by the largest stateless minority in the region--the Kurds--and the spread of this example to other states.
(8) The related encouragement of democratic and civil society movements in Egypt, Syria, and most notably Lebanon, which has regained a version of its autonomy.
(9) The violent and ignominious death of thousands of bin Ladenist infiltrators into Iraq and Afghanistan, and the real prospect of greatly enlarging this number.
(10) The training and hardening of many thousands of American servicemen and women in a battle against the forces of nihilism and absolutism, which training and hardening will surely be of great use in future combat.
Moreover, while it's not clear whether or to what extent the American public shares Hitchens' pride in what we've accomplished, Hitchens is undoubtedly correct that the public itself has displayed a fortitude of which it should be proud:
Faced with a constant drizzle of bad news and purposely demoralizing commentary, millions of people stick out their jaws and hang tight. I am no fan of populism, but I surmise that these citizens are clear on the main point: It is out of the question--plainly and absolutely out of the question--that we should surrender the keystone state of the Middle East to a rotten, murderous alliance between Baathists and bin Ladenists. When they hear the fatuous insinuation that this alliance has only been created by the resistance to it, voters know in their intestines that those who say so are soft on crime and soft on fascism."
Christopher Hitchens delivers a brilliant essay in the Daily Standard called 'A War to Be Proud Of.' His positive accounting of our accomplishments in the Bush administration's proactive war on terrorism includes:
1) The overthrow of Talibanism and Baathism, and the exposure of many highly suggestive links between the two elements of this Hitler-Stalin pact. Abu Musab al Zarqawi, who moved from Afghanistan to Iraq before the coalition intervention, has even gone to the trouble of naming his organization al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.
(2) The subsequent capitulation of Qaddafi's Libya in point of weapons of mass destruction--a capitulation that was offered not to Kofi Annan or the E.U. but to Blair and Bush.
(3) The consequent unmasking of the A.Q. Khan network for the illicit transfer of nuclear technology to Libya, Iran, and North Korea.
(4) The agreement by the United Nations that its own reform is necessary and overdue, and the unmasking of a quasi-criminal network within its elite.
(5) The craven admission by President Chirac and Chancellor Schr�der, when confronted with irrefutable evidence of cheating and concealment, respecting solemn treaties, on the part of Iran, that not even this will alter their commitment to neutralism. (One had already suspected as much in the Iraqi case.)
(6) The ability to certify Iraq as actually disarmed, rather than accept the word of a psychopathic autocrat.
(7) The immense gains made by the largest stateless minority in the region--the Kurds--and the spread of this example to other states.
(8) The related encouragement of democratic and civil society movements in Egypt, Syria, and most notably Lebanon, which has regained a version of its autonomy.
(9) The violent and ignominious death of thousands of bin Ladenist infiltrators into Iraq and Afghanistan, and the real prospect of greatly enlarging this number.
(10) The training and hardening of many thousands of American servicemen and women in a battle against the forces of nihilism and absolutism, which training and hardening will surely be of great use in future combat.
Moreover, while it's not clear whether or to what extent the American public shares Hitchens' pride in what we've accomplished, Hitchens is undoubtedly correct that the public itself has displayed a fortitude of which it should be proud:
Faced with a constant drizzle of bad news and purposely demoralizing commentary, millions of people stick out their jaws and hang tight. I am no fan of populism, but I surmise that these citizens are clear on the main point: It is out of the question--plainly and absolutely out of the question--that we should surrender the keystone state of the Middle East to a rotten, murderous alliance between Baathists and bin Ladenists. When they hear the fatuous insinuation that this alliance has only been created by the resistance to it, voters know in their intestines that those who say so are soft on crime and soft on fascism."
Kamis, 25 Agustus 2005
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner - William Morrow, 2005
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner - William Morrow, 2005: "http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/100303_eating_oil.html"
Need to read.
Need to read.
SHAME! HORRIBLE!
komo news | Police Need Your Help In Capturing Beating Suspects: "SEATTLE - Two soldiers who just returned from a year in Iraq were badly beaten in an attack outside Pioneer Square. But believe it or not, someone caught the beating on videotape. Now, police are asking for your help identifying the suspects.
The brutality of it all was captured on tape outside of Larry's Nightclub on First and Yesler on July 31.
Police say the victims were with two women who'd been groped by the suspects. One of the women threw a hot dog at the suspects and walked away.
They didn't get very far. The three suspects ran after them and began attacking the two men -- two soldiers who'd come home from the war."
The brutality of it all was captured on tape outside of Larry's Nightclub on First and Yesler on July 31.
Police say the victims were with two women who'd been groped by the suspects. One of the women threw a hot dog at the suspects and walked away.
They didn't get very far. The three suspects ran after them and began attacking the two men -- two soldiers who'd come home from the war."
military news about Afghanistan
military news about Afghanistan: "AFGHANISTAN: Where the Taliban Don't Roam
August 24, 2005: So far this month, counter-terrorist operations have killed about 110 Taliban, mainly along the Pakistani border. Several hundred suspects have been arrested. Most of the Taliban were killed last week, in the southern province of Zabul and the eastern province of Kunar. These two areas have been the scene of most Taliban violence. Only a few hundred Taliban are causing all the terror and violence in the southern part of the country, with an estimated 2,000 Pushtun tribesmen actively supporting the Taliban cause.
So far this year, about a thousand people have died in Taliban related violence (compared to 850 during the same period last year.) About half the dead are Taliban, with the rest being Afghan troops and civilians."
Here is the full article.
August 24, 2005: So far this month, counter-terrorist operations have killed about 110 Taliban, mainly along the Pakistani border. Several hundred suspects have been arrested. Most of the Taliban were killed last week, in the southern province of Zabul and the eastern province of Kunar. These two areas have been the scene of most Taliban violence. Only a few hundred Taliban are causing all the terror and violence in the southern part of the country, with an estimated 2,000 Pushtun tribesmen actively supporting the Taliban cause.
So far this year, about a thousand people have died in Taliban related violence (compared to 850 during the same period last year.) About half the dead are Taliban, with the rest being Afghan troops and civilians."
Here is the full article.
What if we just left??
The full article.
August 25, 2005: The more extreme critics of American strategy in Iraq demand that American forces just leave. "Bring the troops home." What if that were done? It's certainly possible. We withdrew a force from Lebanon in 1984, four months after suffering over 250 dead from suicide bomb attacks. The Lebanese civil war went on without us for another seven years. The fifteen year civil war in Lebanon left about two percent of the population dead, and twenty percent driven from their homes. For a country the size of Iraq, that would translate to half a million dead. ">military news about Iraq: "IRAQ: What If We Just Left?
August 25, 2005: The more extreme critics of American strategy in Iraq demand that American forces just leave. 'Bring the troops home.' What if that were done? It's certainly possible. We withdrew a force from Lebanon in 1984, four months after suffering over 250 dead from suicide bomb attacks. The Lebanese civil war went on without us for another seven years. The fifteen year civil war in Lebanon left about two percent of the population dead, and twenty percent driven from their homes. For a country the size of Iraq, that would translate to half a million dead. "
August 25, 2005: The more extreme critics of American strategy in Iraq demand that American forces just leave. "Bring the troops home." What if that were done? It's certainly possible. We withdrew a force from Lebanon in 1984, four months after suffering over 250 dead from suicide bomb attacks. The Lebanese civil war went on without us for another seven years. The fifteen year civil war in Lebanon left about two percent of the population dead, and twenty percent driven from their homes. For a country the size of Iraq, that would translate to half a million dead. ">military news about Iraq: "IRAQ: What If We Just Left?
August 25, 2005: The more extreme critics of American strategy in Iraq demand that American forces just leave. 'Bring the troops home.' What if that were done? It's certainly possible. We withdrew a force from Lebanon in 1984, four months after suffering over 250 dead from suicide bomb attacks. The Lebanese civil war went on without us for another seven years. The fifteen year civil war in Lebanon left about two percent of the population dead, and twenty percent driven from their homes. For a country the size of Iraq, that would translate to half a million dead. "
Senin, 22 Agustus 2005
$2 for water for a year
One Hand Clapping � Blog Archive � $2 for water for a year: "Perhaps as many as a billion people around the world do not have regular access to safe drinking water. Several million people per year die from drinking contaminated water.
But the new LifeStraw may just be “the invention of the century.” At a cost of $2, one straw can filter up to 700 liters of water, about a year’s worth at 2 liters per day. The user just sticks one end in the water and sucks the water through the filtering elements.
Medgadget reports,
What first meets the water when sucked up is a pre-filter of PE filter textile with a mesh opening of 100 micron, shortly followed by a second textile filter in polyester with a mesh opening of 15 micron. In this way all big articles are filtered out, even clusters of bacteria are removed. Then the water is led into a chamber of iodine impregnated beads, where bacteria, viruses and parasites are killed. The second chamber is a void space, where the iodine being washed off the beads can maintain their killing effect. The last chamber consists of granulated active carbon, which role is to take the main part of the bad smell of iodine, and to take the parasites that have not been taken by the pre-filter or killed by the iodine. The biggest parasites will be taken by the pre-filter, the weakest will be killed by the iodine, and the medium range parasites will be picked up by the active carbon. The main interest to everyone is the killing of bacteria, and here our laboratory reading tells us that we have a log. 7 to log 8 kill of most bacteria. This is better than tap water in many developed countries.
This sounds like the kind of device that American churches could easily buy and supply to churches overseas for distribution."
Source for this amazing health Aid!
But the new LifeStraw may just be “the invention of the century.” At a cost of $2, one straw can filter up to 700 liters of water, about a year’s worth at 2 liters per day. The user just sticks one end in the water and sucks the water through the filtering elements.
Medgadget reports,
What first meets the water when sucked up is a pre-filter of PE filter textile with a mesh opening of 100 micron, shortly followed by a second textile filter in polyester with a mesh opening of 15 micron. In this way all big articles are filtered out, even clusters of bacteria are removed. Then the water is led into a chamber of iodine impregnated beads, where bacteria, viruses and parasites are killed. The second chamber is a void space, where the iodine being washed off the beads can maintain their killing effect. The last chamber consists of granulated active carbon, which role is to take the main part of the bad smell of iodine, and to take the parasites that have not been taken by the pre-filter or killed by the iodine. The biggest parasites will be taken by the pre-filter, the weakest will be killed by the iodine, and the medium range parasites will be picked up by the active carbon. The main interest to everyone is the killing of bacteria, and here our laboratory reading tells us that we have a log. 7 to log 8 kill of most bacteria. This is better than tap water in many developed countries.
This sounds like the kind of device that American churches could easily buy and supply to churches overseas for distribution."
Source for this amazing health Aid!
gizmag Article: The LifeStraw – the invention of the century?
gizmag Article: The LifeStraw – the invention of the century?
Wonderful invention. Revolutionize 3rd world health!
Wonderful invention. Revolutionize 3rd world health!
Minggu, 21 Agustus 2005
The War in Iraq:Coatings for Protection
The War in Iraq:: "U.S. Navy researchers have discovered that polyurea, a high strength, spray-on plastic normally used to provide a non-skid surface on ship decks and truck beds, and for corrosion control, also absorbs the blast effects of bombs. About 3-4mm of polyurea was sprayed on the outside of a hummer and then a bomb was set off next to the vehicle, to recreate a roadside bomb attack in Iraq. There was much less damage inside the vehicle than when the same bomb was set off next to a hummer without the polyurea coating. The polyurea also prevents the metal body of the vehicle from splintering and turning into dangerous fragments. Had there not been a war going on in Iraq, that featured frequent attacks on unarmored vehicles, this unexpected use of polyurea would probably never have been discovered. The navy might end up coating the top side of small surface ships with the stuff, to give the crew additional protection in the event of missile or bomb attacks. The air force and army are also using polyurea as a wall coating for buildings that might be bombed. Tests have shown that the polyurea coating greatly reduces the bomb damage. Coating a hummer would cost several thousand dollars.
"
"
The War in Iraq: Shotguns
The War in Iraq:: "American troops are testing a new 12 gauge automatic shotgun in Iraq. Weighing 10.5 pounds unloaded, the Auto Assault 12 (AA12) has a rate of fire of 360 rounds per minute, and uses either an 8-round box magazine (adding 12 ounces to weapon weight) or a 20 round drum magazine (adding 2.5 pounds). Recoil on the system has been reduced to that of a light rifle, due to a sophisticated recoil system. The low rate of fire makes it possible to easily fire bursts of one, two, or three shots and is capable of using and mixing all types of 12 gauge ammunition, from shot to solid slugs, as well as non-lethal rounds. Allegedly, Iraqi insurgents have little respect for the M4 rifle and the 5.56mm round, but they fear shotguns, especially a 'street sweeper' like the AA12.
If that's not enough of a firepower increase at the squad level, the Marine Corps is testing a family of 12 gauge shells designed to deliver blast, fragmentation, and high-explosive armored piercing projectiles out to 200 meters. The high-explosive armor piercing projectile uses a shaped charge that has been demonstrated to put a 1 inch hole in quarter-inch steel plate. A total of 100 projectiles have been bought for testing as well as some quantity for 'experimental use' in Iraq.
At first glance, packing an armor-piercing charge into a 12 gauge round sounds like overkill, but Iraqi terrorists are becoming increasingly sophisticated in fortifying themselves, vehicles, and fixed positions."
If that's not enough of a firepower increase at the squad level, the Marine Corps is testing a family of 12 gauge shells designed to deliver blast, fragmentation, and high-explosive armored piercing projectiles out to 200 meters. The high-explosive armor piercing projectile uses a shaped charge that has been demonstrated to put a 1 inch hole in quarter-inch steel plate. A total of 100 projectiles have been bought for testing as well as some quantity for 'experimental use' in Iraq.
At first glance, packing an armor-piercing charge into a 12 gauge round sounds like overkill, but Iraqi terrorists are becoming increasingly sophisticated in fortifying themselves, vehicles, and fixed positions."
Special Rifle Sights
The War in Iraq:: "The U.S. Marine Corps is equipping most of their M-16 and M-4 rifles with ACOG (Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight). This device, which does not use batteries, is a well designed scope that provides a red chevron-shaped reticle and bullet drop compensator. For daytime use, a fiber optic system collects available light for brightness and controlled contrast in the scope. At night, the system relies on tritium for illumination. The 4x32 sight allows you to get first round hits at 300 meter, or longer ranges. The sight also allows for better accuracy at closer ranges, with both eyes open. The manufacturer, Trijicon, has been making similar sights for years, and they are popular for police, hunting and military use. SOCOM has long used them, and many marines and soldiers have bought the civilian version of the ACOG with their own money. At a thousand bucks each, ACOG costs more than the rifle it’s mounted on, and the users consider it well worth the price.
"
"
Sabtu, 20 Agustus 2005
One Hand Clapping � Blog Archive � Words are powerful
One Hand Clapping � Blog Archive � Words are powerful: "A fanatic who straps a bomb to his chest and walks into a market crowded with women and children, then detonates a bomb that is sometimes laced with rat poison to hamper blood coagulation, is properly called a “mass murderer.” There is nothing good to say about mass murderers, nor is there anything good to say about a person who encourages these murders. Calling these human bomb delivery devices “suicide bombers” is simply incorrect. They are murderers. A person or media source defending or explaining away the actions of the murderers supports them. There is no wiggle room.
Calling homicide bombers martyrs is a language offense; words are every bit as powerful as bombs, often more so. Calling murderers “martyrs” is like calling a man “customer” because he stood in line before gunning down a store clerk. "
Calling homicide bombers martyrs is a language offense; words are every bit as powerful as bombs, often more so. Calling murderers “martyrs” is like calling a man “customer” because he stood in line before gunning down a store clerk. "
Jumat, 19 Agustus 2005
Free Iraqi
Free Iraqi: "had Iraq's neighbors been really cooperative it would be very difficult for Al Qaeda to maintain their efforts in the same magnitude or even closer. And it would be naive to think that such police states know nothing about fighters and cars loaded with bombs that travel thousands of miles and cross their lands to reach Iraq. Now most of the totalitarian regimes in the region are not friends with the terrorists and in fact terrorists have attacked those regimes occasionally while using their lands as a passage, but the bigger cause has forced them to cooperate in Iraq and form a sort of an unwritten contract that regulates this cooperation.
I say they know, they're facilitating it but they still want it to be controlled, i.e. they want to make sure that the people they're supporting -or even not doing anything against them- are not going to use this support to attack America because that would bring their end, and very fast."
I say they know, they're facilitating it but they still want it to be controlled, i.e. they want to make sure that the people they're supporting -or even not doing anything against them- are not going to use this support to attack America because that would bring their end, and very fast."
Free Iraqi
Free Iraqi: "if the war in Iraq is not part of the war on terror as some westerns think then why do we have almost all the terrorists in the world racing each other to achieve 'martyrdom' in our land? Why not Afghanistan, Israel or their ultimate enemies; the west and America in particular? Sure they have attacked Europe but is that the best they can do there? I really doubt it. The terrorists have shown us that they have people almost everywhere in the world that are waiting for an order to blow themselves up in a bus, a train or a street crowded with civilians. So why are they putting most of their resources in Iraq instead of the west?
It's amazing how the terrorists themselves keep showing us in words and actions how vital the war in Iraq is for them and at the same time we have westerns and Americans saying that this war has nothing to do with fighting terrorism and that it's only increasing the danger of terrorism!"
It's amazing how the terrorists themselves keep showing us in words and actions how vital the war in Iraq is for them and at the same time we have westerns and Americans saying that this war has nothing to do with fighting terrorism and that it's only increasing the danger of terrorism!"
Rabu, 17 Agustus 2005
Senin, 15 Agustus 2005
Deaths in Iraq Lower than under Saddam
Deaths in Iraq: "The Iraqi government now believes that at least 12,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed during the last 18 months. In the last ten months, about 800 Iraqi civilians and police have been killed each month. Adding a bit more to account for unreported deaths (especially in Sunni Arab areas where chaos, not the government, runs things) the death rate is running at the rate of about 45 dead per 100,000 population per year. This is far higher than the usual rate in Middle Eastern countries (under 10). Well, most of the time. During civil wars and insurrections, the rate has spiked to over a hundred per 100,000, sometimes for several years in a row. During Saddam’s long reign, the Iraqi death rate from democide (the government killing its own people) averaged over 100 per 100,000 a year. This does not include the several hundred thousand killed during the war with Iran in the 1980s. There are other parts of the world that are more violent than Iraq. Africa, for example, especially Congo, Sudan and South Africa. Only South Africa has a sufficiently effective government to actually keep track of the death rate, mostly from crime, but it’s over 50 per 100,000. It’s worse in places like Congo and Sudan, but the numbers there are only estimates by peacekeepers and relief workers. In southern Thailand, a terror campaign by Islamic radicals has caused a death rate of over 80 per 100,000. "
Minggu, 14 Agustus 2005
ChronWatch Reader Forum :: View topic - When it comes to Islam, ignorance is lethal:
ChronWatch Reader Forum :: View topic - When it comes to Islam, ignorance is lethal:: "
Mr. Jonathan Petre of Daily Telegraph did not tell the whole story. The truth is that most of those who convert to Islam, within months or a few years, realize they have been duped and leave Islam. Many of them rise with dedication and strive to eradicate his cult of lies and deception. I know hundreds of people who had converted to Islam but now have left it. Many of them started their own websites and weblogs and are exposing the ugly truth of Islam.
There are also millions of those who were born into Islam but now have left it. If Islamic apostasy can be called a movement, it is indeed the fastest growing movement today.
"
Mr. Jonathan Petre of Daily Telegraph did not tell the whole story. The truth is that most of those who convert to Islam, within months or a few years, realize they have been duped and leave Islam. Many of them rise with dedication and strive to eradicate his cult of lies and deception. I know hundreds of people who had converted to Islam but now have left it. Many of them started their own websites and weblogs and are exposing the ugly truth of Islam.
There are also millions of those who were born into Islam but now have left it. If Islamic apostasy can be called a movement, it is indeed the fastest growing movement today.
"
Jumat, 12 Agustus 2005
A Bomb?
The Bad Hair Blog: "A final thought,
Consider now what it must have sounded to anyone in 1945 the idea that, sixty years on, all the Axis powers would be true democracies.
Now ponder the possibilities in all the struggling democracies of today."
Consider now what it must have sounded to anyone in 1945 the idea that, sixty years on, all the Axis powers would be true democracies.
Now ponder the possibilities in all the struggling democracies of today."
United Press International�-�The Washington Times, America's Newspaper
United Press International�-�The Washington Times, America's Newspaper: "A controversial plan to embed radio frequency identification chips in license plates in the United Kingdom also may be coming to the United States, experts told UPI's Wireless World.
The so-called e-Plate, developed by the British firm Hills Numberplates, is a license plate that also transmits a vehicle's unique identification via encryption that can be read by a small detector, whose output can be used locally or communicated to a distant host. "
The so-called e-Plate, developed by the British firm Hills Numberplates, is a license plate that also transmits a vehicle's unique identification via encryption that can be read by a small detector, whose output can be used locally or communicated to a distant host. "
interesting!!
Chrenkoff: "Aussie jihadi - the story unfolds
Two days ago I reported on the story of a new terror tape aired by a Mid East TV channel, where a masked gunman harangues the West with an Australian accent. The story was true, but the direct quotes I used were not - some readers got the Crocodile Hunter/Crocodile Dundee jokes, some didn't.
Meanwhile, the story is developing:
Former army private Mathew Stewart has emerged as the chief suspect in the hunt for the masked terrorist with an Australian accent.
Stewart left home four years ago to fight alongside Osama bin Laden and has not been seen since.
Australian Federal Police officers immediately identified Stewart as the probable hooded figure who appeared in a terror video aired on Arab TV this week.
I'm eagerly awaiting now how Australian tabloids will christen our latest jihadi. Mat the Rat? Mudjahedin Mat? Al Qaeda Stew? Mooloolaba Muj? (Mooloolaba is a little town on the Sunshine Coast, 100 km north of Brisbane, where Stewart comes from).
The story how he got there is quite bizarre:
Private Mathew Stewart was patrolling the streets of Dili, East Timor, in 2002 when he was confronted with the full horror of live combat.
The quiet soldier and keen surfer from Queensland's Sunshine Coast stumbled upon the almost unrecognisable body of a Dutch journalist killed by militia.
Financial Times reporter Sander Thoenes, 30, had been shot in the chest and badly beaten. According to his comrades, Stewart was deeply traumatised by the discovery, his first encounter with death on the front line.
He was discharged from the army's 2nd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment for psychological reasons a short time later, sending him into a spiral of depression and self-doubt.
While other East Timor veterans looked for a change of lifestyle back home, Stewart began fixing his sights on the war unravelling in Afghanistan in the wake of the attacks on New York the previous year.
Furious at his perceived mistreatment in the Australian army, Stewart began making plans to fight for the other side.
It's ironic (in that grim sense of irony) that being traumatized by seeing a dead body would send a person on a sure path of seeing even more dead bodies, but it's doubly ironic that Private Stewart's turning point in life came in East Timor. It was the Australian intervention there in 2000 that guaranteed East Timor's transition to independence after a quarter of a century of a bloody Indonesian occupation costing 200,000 Timorese lives (a staggering one third of the entire population). Coincidentally, Australia's role in wrestling this small Catholic nation from under the domination of Muslim Indonesia has been cited by Osama bin Laden himself as one of the reason why Australia is now in Al Qaeda's sights.
I won't be surprised if there is more to this story, though, than just a traumatized and disgruntled ex-serviceman.
And if true, then it's yet another nail in the coffin of the intelligence community excuse that 'it was impossible to infiltrate Al Qaeda'. If an Australian soldier, with no apparent background in Islam, can walk off the street and sign himself up with the Terror Inc, then so could have any CIA infiltrator. Whether such asset inside Al Qaeda would have proven valuable in practice, particularly considering the risk of the mission, is another matter."
Two days ago I reported on the story of a new terror tape aired by a Mid East TV channel, where a masked gunman harangues the West with an Australian accent. The story was true, but the direct quotes I used were not - some readers got the Crocodile Hunter/Crocodile Dundee jokes, some didn't.
Meanwhile, the story is developing:
Former army private Mathew Stewart has emerged as the chief suspect in the hunt for the masked terrorist with an Australian accent.
Stewart left home four years ago to fight alongside Osama bin Laden and has not been seen since.
Australian Federal Police officers immediately identified Stewart as the probable hooded figure who appeared in a terror video aired on Arab TV this week.
I'm eagerly awaiting now how Australian tabloids will christen our latest jihadi. Mat the Rat? Mudjahedin Mat? Al Qaeda Stew? Mooloolaba Muj? (Mooloolaba is a little town on the Sunshine Coast, 100 km north of Brisbane, where Stewart comes from).
The story how he got there is quite bizarre:
Private Mathew Stewart was patrolling the streets of Dili, East Timor, in 2002 when he was confronted with the full horror of live combat.
The quiet soldier and keen surfer from Queensland's Sunshine Coast stumbled upon the almost unrecognisable body of a Dutch journalist killed by militia.
Financial Times reporter Sander Thoenes, 30, had been shot in the chest and badly beaten. According to his comrades, Stewart was deeply traumatised by the discovery, his first encounter with death on the front line.
He was discharged from the army's 2nd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment for psychological reasons a short time later, sending him into a spiral of depression and self-doubt.
While other East Timor veterans looked for a change of lifestyle back home, Stewart began fixing his sights on the war unravelling in Afghanistan in the wake of the attacks on New York the previous year.
Furious at his perceived mistreatment in the Australian army, Stewart began making plans to fight for the other side.
It's ironic (in that grim sense of irony) that being traumatized by seeing a dead body would send a person on a sure path of seeing even more dead bodies, but it's doubly ironic that Private Stewart's turning point in life came in East Timor. It was the Australian intervention there in 2000 that guaranteed East Timor's transition to independence after a quarter of a century of a bloody Indonesian occupation costing 200,000 Timorese lives (a staggering one third of the entire population). Coincidentally, Australia's role in wrestling this small Catholic nation from under the domination of Muslim Indonesia has been cited by Osama bin Laden himself as one of the reason why Australia is now in Al Qaeda's sights.
I won't be surprised if there is more to this story, though, than just a traumatized and disgruntled ex-serviceman.
And if true, then it's yet another nail in the coffin of the intelligence community excuse that 'it was impossible to infiltrate Al Qaeda'. If an Australian soldier, with no apparent background in Islam, can walk off the street and sign himself up with the Terror Inc, then so could have any CIA infiltrator. Whether such asset inside Al Qaeda would have proven valuable in practice, particularly considering the risk of the mission, is another matter."
: Out of Order ( The Saudi Military)
The New Republic Online: Out of Order: "a huge problem: the potential for factionalism within the Saudi military. Because different princes and their sons control various fighting forces, the possibility that armed units could become politicized in the near future looms large. Moreover, the institutional culture within these armed organizations is heavily influenced by Wahhabism--a dangerous situation for a kingdom in a state of political flux."
Rabu, 10 Agustus 2005
December 2002 Trading Tips Newsletter
December 2002 Trading Tips Newsletter: "Trading Rules 101
Many traders maintain and refine a set of Trading Rules that they attempt to follow. The rules are intended to encourage and remind traders to have some discipline, or to follow a trading system with exactness. A good set of Trading Rules will often prevent greed and plain stupidity from creeping into your trading. Almost any trader can identify a losing trade, and then say, 'If I had only followed my rules I wouldn't have had that losing trade'.
The following list of general Trading Rules is a compilation from many different sources. They are not in any particular order of importance. Many of the rules are common sense and you have heard them before. You may see a rule that you would like to add to your own Trading Rules list.
* Trade with the Trend.
* Cut your losses short, and let your gains run.
* Trade the Chart, not the Money.
* Don't chase the Market. Wait for a 2nd chance.
* Never buy because it seems too low. Never sell because it seems too high.
* Trade only symbols that have sufficient volume and liquidity.
* Never add to a losing position. Just get out and start over.
* When in doubt, get out, or stay out.
* Know where to exit a position before entering a trade.
* Never have an opinion about the market. Lose your opinion, not your money.
* Trade what you see, not what you believe.
* Think for yourself.
* Don't borrow money to invest.
* Don't trade tips.
* Focus on Trading, rather than on making Money.
* Avoid Impatience. You don't always have to be in the market. Wait for good trade opportunities.
* Always place a stop.
* Follow your Rules.
* Never 'Go for Broke'.
* Don't get sloppy after successful trades.
* Control your losses.
* If you wouldn't take the trade now, then don't stay in a current trade. Get Out.
* Don't trade without a plan.
* Lock-in profits.
* Move stops to a break-even (risk free) exit point as soon as possible.
* Focus on not-losing, more than winning.
* The trend is your friend."
Many traders maintain and refine a set of Trading Rules that they attempt to follow. The rules are intended to encourage and remind traders to have some discipline, or to follow a trading system with exactness. A good set of Trading Rules will often prevent greed and plain stupidity from creeping into your trading. Almost any trader can identify a losing trade, and then say, 'If I had only followed my rules I wouldn't have had that losing trade'.
The following list of general Trading Rules is a compilation from many different sources. They are not in any particular order of importance. Many of the rules are common sense and you have heard them before. You may see a rule that you would like to add to your own Trading Rules list.
* Trade with the Trend.
* Cut your losses short, and let your gains run.
* Trade the Chart, not the Money.
* Don't chase the Market. Wait for a 2nd chance.
* Never buy because it seems too low. Never sell because it seems too high.
* Trade only symbols that have sufficient volume and liquidity.
* Never add to a losing position. Just get out and start over.
* When in doubt, get out, or stay out.
* Know where to exit a position before entering a trade.
* Never have an opinion about the market. Lose your opinion, not your money.
* Trade what you see, not what you believe.
* Think for yourself.
* Don't borrow money to invest.
* Don't trade tips.
* Focus on Trading, rather than on making Money.
* Avoid Impatience. You don't always have to be in the market. Wait for good trade opportunities.
* Always place a stop.
* Follow your Rules.
* Never 'Go for Broke'.
* Don't get sloppy after successful trades.
* Control your losses.
* If you wouldn't take the trade now, then don't stay in a current trade. Get Out.
* Don't trade without a plan.
* Lock-in profits.
* Move stops to a break-even (risk free) exit point as soon as possible.
* Focus on not-losing, more than winning.
* The trend is your friend."
Sabtu, 06 Agustus 2005
Newsday.com: Insurgency continues targeting civilians
Newsday.com: Insurgency continues targeting civilians: "Even the bloodiest rebellions of modern times did not target civilians the way the insurgents have in Iraq. In Algeria, for example, rebels fighting against French colonial rule in the 1950s and '60s adopted a classic guerrilla tactic: They provoked the occupying troops to use excessive force and kill thousands of civilians. That prompted a public backlash and international condemnation of French actions. The French eventually withdrew from Algeria, after as many as 1 million people had been killed."
Kamis, 04 Agustus 2005
Selasa, 02 Agustus 2005
365 and a Wakeup: Desert Creatures
365 and a Wakeup: Desert Creatures: "The sun has been pitiless these last few days, doubling and redoubling its radiant energy until everything stationary shimmers in its own invisible pyre. The sputtering coughs of wind that limp across the cracked soil lack any real force; it’s as if the temperatures have cowed the air into refusing to stir. In these temperatures nothing moves without purpose. The troops that have to move back and forth across the FOB move along deliberate paths, their heads slightly bowed in unconscious deference to the flashbulb brilliance.
Now that we are several weeks into this withering season our cycles of work and rest have come to mirror the desert creatures that creep and slither through this harsh land. As is so often the case, we’ve had to slowly relearn the lessons nature hardwired into the native wildlife. The biggest key to surviving the temperatures is to (surprise, surprise) avoid the sun. Our barracks serve the same purpose as the desert creatures underground haunts – they both offer reservoirs of chill air. The only difference is our concrete berths hum to the steady whir of overworked air conditioning units.
Soldiers who decide to be infantryman don't join for the luxurious acomodations. That doesn't make it any easier to leave the air conditioned barracks, but it does help muster the will to keep heading out those doors into the atmospheric inferno. The sun isn't the only cruel taskmaster, the sheer weight of our combat equipment more then doubles the misery index. The thick ballistic carapace that we all wear is a life saver, but on days like this it seems to be a karmic bank selling protection in exchange for hour after hour of broiling misery. When you are wearing slabs of ceramic armor evaporative cooling becomes impossible, the sweat just soaks through layer after layer until your uniform is a sodden, salt encrusted mess. It is a pain, but nobody really worries to much about coming away from a mission soaked. We have a lot more to worry about then how to leach salt from a uniform."
Now that we are several weeks into this withering season our cycles of work and rest have come to mirror the desert creatures that creep and slither through this harsh land. As is so often the case, we’ve had to slowly relearn the lessons nature hardwired into the native wildlife. The biggest key to surviving the temperatures is to (surprise, surprise) avoid the sun. Our barracks serve the same purpose as the desert creatures underground haunts – they both offer reservoirs of chill air. The only difference is our concrete berths hum to the steady whir of overworked air conditioning units.
Soldiers who decide to be infantryman don't join for the luxurious acomodations. That doesn't make it any easier to leave the air conditioned barracks, but it does help muster the will to keep heading out those doors into the atmospheric inferno. The sun isn't the only cruel taskmaster, the sheer weight of our combat equipment more then doubles the misery index. The thick ballistic carapace that we all wear is a life saver, but on days like this it seems to be a karmic bank selling protection in exchange for hour after hour of broiling misery. When you are wearing slabs of ceramic armor evaporative cooling becomes impossible, the sweat just soaks through layer after layer until your uniform is a sodden, salt encrusted mess. It is a pain, but nobody really worries to much about coming away from a mission soaked. We have a lot more to worry about then how to leach salt from a uniform."
2Slick's Forum: To Paradise and Back Again
2Slick's Forum: To Paradise and Back Again: "Let's tee up a big screaming match about whether a high official of the White House committed a crime by breaching security in a dust-up over terrorists like Saddam Hussein and Usama bin Laden.
No, I'm not talking about Karl Rove. I'm talking about Sandy Berger stuffing secrets into his socks so the 9/11 Commission wouldn't be able to see what he and Bill Clinton were really thinking and saying and doing about Usama bin Laden.
Let's see now, what happened when Berger got caught with the secrets in his socks?
Hmmm. Did we hear the Democratic senators and congressmen wailing about breaking national security? No, we did not."
No, I'm not talking about Karl Rove. I'm talking about Sandy Berger stuffing secrets into his socks so the 9/11 Commission wouldn't be able to see what he and Bill Clinton were really thinking and saying and doing about Usama bin Laden.
Let's see now, what happened when Berger got caught with the secrets in his socks?
Hmmm. Did we hear the Democratic senators and congressmen wailing about breaking national security? No, we did not."
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