Month: August 2008

Two UC-SC professors firebombed by whack-job, anti-Science unichs

‘Save the animals kill the humans’ morons in California launched a couple molotov cocktails on steroids over the weekend. The first destroyed a car, the second a professor’s home. One of the professors, his wife, and 6 and 7-year-old children had to flee their burning house via an emergency ladder. Police were expecting something like this after a ‘flyer’ appeared in a local coffee shop filled with hippies and other ‘we, who are smarter than you’ types.

Feldheim and the unidentified faculty member who received the threatening message were named on pamphlets that were left on a stack of newspapers in a downtown Santa Cruz coffee shop last Tuesday, Clark said. The unsigned pamphlets at Caffe Pergolesi, which printed 13 researchers’ pictures and addresses, called them murderers and torturers and said, “Animal abusers everywhere beware.”

Hmmm…when was the last time Creationists (not friends of mine) firebombed a Darwin / Evolution conference? Have anti-global warming forces ever molotov cocktailed Al Gore?

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FARC leaders Cano and Jojoy surrounded by Colombian forces?

Ok, this is sketchy and there are some reports on Colombia TV as well.

Apparently the Colombian military has two of FARCs top rulers surrounded and in their sights.

Santos said military forces have surrounded the two highest commanders of the rebel group. “We have all the leaders in sight and their hope for survival is slim,” he said.

This would be as major as the Bettancourt rescue mission. We’ll get to translating some of the Spanish language press and see what’s what.

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Best Mohammad Suleman assassination conspiracy theories

This is a great list of possible reasons a top Syrian general was assassinated.

1- Mr. Suleiman was killed by the Syrian regime because he knows too much about the coordination between Syria, Iran and North Korea on nuclear programs.

2- Mr. Suleiman was killed by the Iranians to revenge the killing of Imad Mughnieh 6 months ago in Damascus. This theory is especially credible considering the fact that it took place while Mr. Assad was in Tehran.

3- Mr. Suleiman was killed by the Iranians to warn the Syrian regime of getting too cozy with Israel.

4- Mr. Suleiman was killed by the Syrian regime because he’s connected to the Hariri assassination

5- Mr. Suleiman was killed by the Syrian regime as a show of goodwill to Israel, since the officer was rumored to be the liaison between the Syrian regime and Hezbollah.

6- Mr. Suleiman was killed by the Israeli intelligence as a way to put pressure on Mr. Assad to take action with regards to Hezbollah’s armament.

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Iraqi Army to buy M1-A1 Abrams tanks

Just what they need (not). I guess some in the Pentagon are envisioning an Iraq without a couple of US Armored divisions playing in the sand.

The Defense Department agency said it has notified Congress of the proposed sale of 140 M1A1s to Iraq. Under the project, the United States would then upgrade the M1A1s to M1A1M configuration in a $2.16 billion deal.

Using a brick to stomp on ants if they use them against the insurgents. So I wonder what they might be used for?

They aren’t going to have that much luck in the inner cities of Iraq with their narrow roads and whatnot, but maybe out in the open desert against another tank force they might have a little better time. Hmmm…let’s see. Kuwait to the South. Been there, done that, lost the t-shirt. Saudis to the South, which already have M1s of their own. Jordan to the West. Not much of a threat there. Syria and Turkey to the north. The former a paper shell, the latter filled with mountains. So I guess that leaves by ‘default’ Iran to the East. Wonder what they might need tanks for against Iran?

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Syrian General Mohammad Suleiman who ran guns to Hezbollah found dead.

Well not really that much of a surprise, given his alleged role in shipping weapons to Hezbollah.

A Syrian general shot to death at a beach resort over the weekend was a top overseer of his country’s weapons shipments to Hezbollah, according to opposition Web sites and Arab and Israeli news media.

Syria by late Monday had issued no reaction to widespread reports of the assassination of Brig. Gen. Mohammad Suleiman near the Syrian port city of Tartous on Friday night.

Apparently he was shot four times by a man on a yacht, who apparently escaped.

Now before you go blaming the Mossad, there is already some information (or disinformation) in the Israeli press. The Jerusalem Post is citing anti-Syrian dissidents of saying ‘he knew too much’:

Suleiman, 49, was responsible for “sensitive security files” in the Syrian president’s office and in charge of the financing and reform of the Syrian army, the source said. But he added that it was too early to know whether the assassination had to do with particular files Suleiman handled.

Maybe when the spin calms down we’ll get a better idea why this happened.

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Children in South Ossetia being evacuated before war starts

The BBC is reporting on more preparations for the Russian Georgian war of 2008. Bus loads of children from the border area are being put on buses and sent to Russia to escape the fighting (that may take place). Not surprisingly, both sides are blaming the other for increased tensions.

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Rising oil = higher shipping $ = < Chinese imports: NYTimes

Today’s New York Times has some interesting bits about energy costs and the effect on the US and Chinese manufacturing sector (made all the more relevant by the fact I’m reading a book on the history of the shipping container). Basically, the cheap underwear that you buy from WalMart is going to go up in price.

The cost of shipping a 40-foot container from Shanghai to the United States has risen to $8,000, compared with $3,000 early in the decade, according to a recent study of transportation costs. Big container ships, the pack mules of the 21st-century economy, have shaved their top speed by nearly 20 percent to save on fuel costs, substantially slowing shipping times.

The study, published in May by the Canadian investment bank CIBC World Markets, calculates that the recent surge in shipping costs is on average the equivalent of a 9 percent tariff on trade. “The cost of moving goods, not the cost of tariffs, is the largest barrier to global trade today,” the report concluded, and as a result “has effectively offset all the trade liberalization efforts of the last three decades.”

While many feel the effects of globalization will be very hard to undo, they also point out that oil prices are not about to drop anytime soon. The article mentions the maquiladora factories in Mexico (closed back when oil was $10 a barrel) will soon be reopening. It also cites as an example the decision by Telsa motors to build their car in California instead of bringing all the parts together globally in one massively expensive shipping operation.

When I was in China, I was shocked at how little energy is available in some of the industrial areas. Three to four days a week see black or brown outs, and many of the factories have large scale (and inefficient) generators to keep operations functioning. I seem to recall the figure that energy requirements were 3x those in the to produce the same goods because of all the problems in the electrical grid.

Related: The head of Alibaba, sort of the ‘gateway’ to Chinese manufacturers, is predicting hard times ahead for his company (which relies in large part by doing introductions between Western buyers and Chinese factories).

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