China Launches "Non-toxic, Pollution-Free" Rocket
Engine Three Times More Powerful than its Long March Engines
(How far is a Long March for a rocket?)
Kazakhstan's First Satellite to Link Remote Regions of Central Asia
Japanese Satellite to Serve Air Traffic and Meteorological Communities
(Also see: "Japan to Allow Military in Space" posted July 10)
India:
Test Launch of New Missile Fails
Bid to Become Launch Hub
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Monday, July 10, 2006
Military News: U.S., Japan, India; Problems with [Peaceful Use of] Nuclear Energy
U.S. Military Outside Iraq
Marines in East Africa (also see Military in East Africa on Good Will Trip, posted July 8)
Building Relationships, Capacity in West Africa
Missile Destroyer in Japan
Congress to Question Sale of F16s to Pakistan
Japan Considers Pre-emptive Strike Against North Korea
Japan to Allow Military in Space for First Time (archive)
India Test-Fires First Long-Range Nuclear Capable Ballistic Missile
And on the Peace Front
Fly in the Ointment of the Nuclear Solution Even If It Doesn't Leak Or Blow Up
Marines in East Africa (also see Military in East Africa on Good Will Trip, posted July 8)
Building Relationships, Capacity in West Africa
Missile Destroyer in Japan
Congress to Question Sale of F16s to Pakistan
Japan Considers Pre-emptive Strike Against North Korea
Japan to Allow Military in Space for First Time (archive)
India Test-Fires First Long-Range Nuclear Capable Ballistic Missile
And on the Peace Front
Fly in the Ointment of the Nuclear Solution Even If It Doesn't Leak Or Blow Up
Sunday, July 09, 2006
News: Ukraine; Carlyle Group; Polar Bases
Ukraine
Yanukovich Set to Become Prime Minister
Carlyle Group Interest in the Media
Taiwan (ongoing)
Univision (former)
Polarization
India in the Antarctic
China's First Polar Research Base
Yanukovich Set to Become Prime Minister
Carlyle Group Interest in the Media
Taiwan (ongoing)
Univision (former)
Polarization
India in the Antarctic
China's First Polar Research Base
Saturday, July 08, 2006
China+ India//N.Korea/Lessons; Iran Rigs; Aussie PO Video; U.S./E. Africa
For those of you who are seriously worried about warlords:
Free Chinese Lessons Online, courtesy the Chinese Government
Iran Facing Shortage of Oil Drilling Rigs
Australian Video-Clip on Peak Oil Featuring Jeremy Leggett who puts peak at some point before 2010. The clip points out the ubiquitousness of oil in plastic products at the mall but neglects to mention its role in food production via pesticides and fertilizer.
India, China May Jointly Bid on New Oil Ventures
China Oil Deal with North Korea
U.S. Military in East Africa on Good Will Trip (Archive)
Free Chinese Lessons Online, courtesy the Chinese Government
Iran Facing Shortage of Oil Drilling Rigs
Australian Video-Clip on Peak Oil Featuring Jeremy Leggett who puts peak at some point before 2010. The clip points out the ubiquitousness of oil in plastic products at the mall but neglects to mention its role in food production via pesticides and fertilizer.
India, China May Jointly Bid on New Oil Ventures
China Oil Deal with North Korea
U.S. Military in East Africa on Good Will Trip (Archive)
Friday, July 07, 2006
The Other New Yorker Article: Bodine Intervention in Human Affairs
Jenna Orkin
There's a 9/11 article in this week's New Yorker and it isn't by Seymour Hersh. It's by Lawrence Wright and it's called "The Agent." The subtitle is "Did the CIA stop an FBI detective from preventing 9/11?"
Sit down. It's not an expose about Dave Frasca or visits to Osama in the hospital in Dubai. It simply bolsters the shaky 'incompetence' theory with a more solid 'wall' theory according to which FBI agent Ali Soufan was stymied in his efforts by inter-agency turf wars. (So disillusioned did Soufan become with the way the government worked that in 2005, he quit the bureau to become director of international operations for Giuliani Security and Safety where he is presumably fulfilled.[?])
But the article does offer some interesting details about the interventions of Ambassador Barbara Bodine in security measures and FBI investigations:
On the aftermath of the bombing of the USS Cole:
"Security was a great concern, considering that automatic weapons were ubiquitous in the country, especially in rural areas, but Barbara Bodine, the American Ambassador, refused to allow the agents to carry heavy arms. She was concerned about offending the Yemeni authorities."(p. 65)
Remember, this was after the bombing.
And on FBI investigations:
"Just before Thanksgiving, the FBI pulled [John] O'Neill out of Yemen, apparently as a concession to Ambassador Bodine, who felt that the FBI presence was straining diplomatic relations between America and Yemen." (p. 69)
O'Neill, you remember, was the FBI agent who became head of security at the World Trade Center shortly before dying there on 9/11.
Ambassador Bodine, who is currently a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, has multiple credentials in the area of security. Her bio credits her tour in Yemen with "s[eeing] enhanced support for democratization and increased security cooperation, as well as the terrorist attack on the USS Cole in 2000."
Not letting that little incident get in her way, "In 2003 Ambassador Bodine served as coordinator for post-conflict reconstruction for Baghdad and the central governorates of Iraq... In her last assignment, she served as Senior Advisor for International Security Negotiations in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs at the Department of State."
So sleep well tonight; the security of the country is in competent hands with a solid track record. But you already knew that.
Interview with Lawrence Wright
There's a 9/11 article in this week's New Yorker and it isn't by Seymour Hersh. It's by Lawrence Wright and it's called "The Agent." The subtitle is "Did the CIA stop an FBI detective from preventing 9/11?"
Sit down. It's not an expose about Dave Frasca or visits to Osama in the hospital in Dubai. It simply bolsters the shaky 'incompetence' theory with a more solid 'wall' theory according to which FBI agent Ali Soufan was stymied in his efforts by inter-agency turf wars. (So disillusioned did Soufan become with the way the government worked that in 2005, he quit the bureau to become director of international operations for Giuliani Security and Safety where he is presumably fulfilled.[?])
But the article does offer some interesting details about the interventions of Ambassador Barbara Bodine in security measures and FBI investigations:
On the aftermath of the bombing of the USS Cole:
"Security was a great concern, considering that automatic weapons were ubiquitous in the country, especially in rural areas, but Barbara Bodine, the American Ambassador, refused to allow the agents to carry heavy arms. She was concerned about offending the Yemeni authorities."(p. 65)
Remember, this was after the bombing.
And on FBI investigations:
"Just before Thanksgiving, the FBI pulled [John] O'Neill out of Yemen, apparently as a concession to Ambassador Bodine, who felt that the FBI presence was straining diplomatic relations between America and Yemen." (p. 69)
O'Neill, you remember, was the FBI agent who became head of security at the World Trade Center shortly before dying there on 9/11.
Ambassador Bodine, who is currently a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, has multiple credentials in the area of security. Her bio credits her tour in Yemen with "s[eeing] enhanced support for democratization and increased security cooperation, as well as the terrorist attack on the USS Cole in 2000."
Not letting that little incident get in her way, "In 2003 Ambassador Bodine served as coordinator for post-conflict reconstruction for Baghdad and the central governorates of Iraq... In her last assignment, she served as Senior Advisor for International Security Negotiations in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs at the Department of State."
So sleep well tonight; the security of the country is in competent hands with a solid track record. But you already knew that.
Interview with Lawrence Wright
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
The FTW Burglary
Jenna Orkin
If you've just read Mike's account of the burglary at FTW you're probably a little shell-shocked. We knew that all seven computers had been smashed with sledgehammers. Yet hearing the ruthless details told methodically and dispassionately by the person most passionately involved; seeing the pictures and hearing Mike say matter-of-factly, "The only way to describe the damage is that it has been utterly devastating from business, emotional and professional perspectives," - well, this gives a person pause.
Rather than dwell on such a horror, the normal human response is to want to do something.
But here we're stymied. Apart from scribbling a check, one is at a loss to know what to do to help.
This blog is also at a loss but on two fronts:
1) Mike and FTW
2) All of you.
It's probably most beneficial right now for the blog to act as a forum for us to express our reactions to the events described in Mike's article and to exchange ideas. It's unlikely that ideas suggested here will find direct enactment at FTW. But it's quite possible that they can evolve or be adapted to useful notions.
It could also be helpful to all of us to hear from each other at this dark hour.
Thank you all for your extraordinary contributions so far to the various threads, that circulation system through which the lifeblood of your ideas flows.
If you've just read Mike's account of the burglary at FTW you're probably a little shell-shocked. We knew that all seven computers had been smashed with sledgehammers. Yet hearing the ruthless details told methodically and dispassionately by the person most passionately involved; seeing the pictures and hearing Mike say matter-of-factly, "The only way to describe the damage is that it has been utterly devastating from business, emotional and professional perspectives," - well, this gives a person pause.
Rather than dwell on such a horror, the normal human response is to want to do something.
But here we're stymied. Apart from scribbling a check, one is at a loss to know what to do to help.
This blog is also at a loss but on two fronts:
1) Mike and FTW
2) All of you.
It's probably most beneficial right now for the blog to act as a forum for us to express our reactions to the events described in Mike's article and to exchange ideas. It's unlikely that ideas suggested here will find direct enactment at FTW. But it's quite possible that they can evolve or be adapted to useful notions.
It could also be helpful to all of us to hear from each other at this dark hour.
Thank you all for your extraordinary contributions so far to the various threads, that circulation system through which the lifeblood of your ideas flows.
Osama; Iran Gasoline; F16s to Pakistan; EU/Congo/Russia; N. Korea Missile
Did U.S. Cut Deal to Let Bin Laden Stay Free?
Osama Not in Kazakhstan
http://www.regnum.ru/english/accidents/668409.html
“I hear this for the first time. Still, I am absolutely sure of what I am saying,” [member of the Parliamentary Committee on International Affairs, Defense and Security Tokhtarkhan Nurakhmetov] said.
Iran May Run Out of Gasoline Next Month
U.S. to Sell F16s to Pakistan
Also see "India: 'Navy Adopts Russian Anti-Ship Missiles'" posted July 2
North Korea Test Launches Six Missiles
EU Troops in Congo 'Committed to Neutrality'
Also see "China's Interest in Raw Resources of Congo" posted July 4
EU Pitches Russia Free Trade for Fuel
Osama Not in Kazakhstan
http://www.regnum.ru/english/accidents/668409.html
“I hear this for the first time. Still, I am absolutely sure of what I am saying,” [member of the Parliamentary Committee on International Affairs, Defense and Security Tokhtarkhan Nurakhmetov] said.
Iran May Run Out of Gasoline Next Month
U.S. to Sell F16s to Pakistan
Also see "India: 'Navy Adopts Russian Anti-Ship Missiles'" posted July 2
North Korea Test Launches Six Missiles
EU Troops in Congo 'Committed to Neutrality'
Also see "China's Interest in Raw Resources of Congo" posted July 4
EU Pitches Russia Free Trade for Fuel
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
CIA/Osama; Japan/Korea; E. Africa/Islamism; Gazprom/Moldova; China/Flood/Drought/Congo
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