Katrina
As you can see, Katrina was more of a direct hit on New Orleans than Gustav is currently projected to be. However, at this point in the storm (i.e. 5 days before Louisiana) Katrina was still projected to hit Florida, so you should be wary of last minute adjustments.
Gustav
Are these real fireworks you now have to ask?
It only took 8 years to fess up, but after the controversy in Bejing about the lip syncing of two little girls in the opening ceremony the Syndey Olympic Commitee has confessed that the Sydney Symphony did not actually play during the opening ceremony, but instead mimed their parts to a recording by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Needless to say the Australian press is having fun with this:
]]>The admission has columnists in Melbourne — which has a longstanding rivalry with glitzier Sydney — crowing over the fact that its musicians ghosted a crucial performance by their arch-rivals.
I wonder if Cape Kennedy is ready for this? I don’t think the next Shuttle is going up until October so it’s probably in the VASB rather than on the launch pad.
However, if you look at the computer models you see something rather funky happen. This storm gets hit by a great wall of something. Perhaps the remnants of Gustav or something but the computer models show it hitting basically a brick wall before coming to Florida and turning back out to sea. This will definitely be an interesting storm to watch.
The Lousiana National Guard has been placed on alert.
Department of Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff is down in Louisiana meeting with officials in anticipations of Monday’s Hurricane Gustav hitting land somewhere near New Orleans. Officials have already declared a state of emergency and begun limited evacuations of some areas. There will be no ‘Superdome’ refuge of last resort this time, so folks are starting to hit the highways already.
The most recent Gustav track from the NHS puts it about 25-50 miles west of New Orleans, though at present it is too far out to accurately assess just where it will hit land. Anywhere from Florida to Texas is technically in the strike zone.
And if that isn’t enough for you, Hurricane Hanna is now coming toward Florida with an arrival sometime later next week.
Not a great week for the Republican convention.
Watch out Florida…
Weather Underground's latest computer model
And some 99 Red Balloons ]]>
Growing up in the KGB you’d expect someone to be a bit paranoid. Hell growing up in Russia you’d be paranoid. But a good intelligence officer usually has the ability to separate fact from fiction, and take the propaganda with a grain of salt.
That’s not the case with Vladimir Putin.
Putin seems to live in his own little world in his mind. Surrounded by like minded and equally paranoid advisors, Putin has a history of making rather strange comments over the years, despite first-hand knowledge in many cases that they were false. So it should come as no surprise that today he said the entire operation in Georgia was orchestrated by the United States for the benefit of one presidential candidate. Of course he didn’t specify which one, nor is he aware that most people couldn’t find Georgia on a map if they tried, but when you’re a bit off to begin with, things like this don’t really matter.
“Why… seek a difficult compromise solution in the peacekeeping process? It is easier to arm one of the sides and provoke it into killing another side. And the job is done.
“The suspicion arises that someone in the United States especially created this conflict with the aim of making the situation more tense and creating a competitive advantage for one of the candidates fighting for the post of US president.”
US officials responded diplomatically but with a growing sense of ‘get this guy some mental help’:
“To suggest that the United States orchestrated this on behalf of a political candidate – it sounds not rational,” White House Spokewoman said.
“Those claims first and foremost are patently false, but it also sounds like his defence officials who said they believed this to be true are giving him really bad advice.”
One wonders how long his grip on power will last.
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You can find some pretty good maps from the National Hurricane Center, but I also recommend looking at the Weather Underground as there you can see the computer models that go into making the NHC track.
Here is a recent computer model (8-27-08). As you can see, these vary quite wildly.
The original G7 group of industrialized nations, who have an eighth member who is sort of there by default, have called on Russia to pull back their forces from Georgia
We, the Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom,condemn the action of our fellow G8 member. Russia’s recognition of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia violates the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia and is contrary to UN Security Council Resolutions supported by Russia. Russia’s decision has called into question its commitment to peace and security in the Caucasus.
We deplore Russia’s excessive use of military force in Georgia and its continued occupation of parts of Georgia. We call unanimously on the Russian government to implement in full the six point peace plan brokered by President Sarkozy on behalf of the EU, in particular to withdraw its forces behind the pre-conflict lines.We reassert our strong and continued support for Georgia’s sovereignty within its internationally recognized borders and underline our respect and support for the democratic and legitimate government of Georgia as we pursue a peaceful, durable solution to this conflict
Russia continues to ignore most of the world’s call for a troop withdraw. They’ve pretty much given up on WTO membership but the threat of expulsion from the G8 might resonate a bit with those in Moscow who like international organizations. China issued a rather curt statement against the Russian actions today. Russia thought they could find a supporter with the Chinese, apparently oblivious to the fact that China has several regions of their own that wish to be independent.
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Duck and cover New Orleans. Katrina was your warmup exercise, if you trust this NHC track.
Not a pleasant drive
Russia is upping the ante in their current standoff with NATO by threatening a backup supply route for NATO forces in use in Afghanistan, according to the London Times. The road would allows supplies to avoid the ‘bandit country’ of the Khyber pass where things have gotten a bit hairy:
]]>The need for an alternative route was highlighted by recent attacks on Nato supply convoys, including one that destroyed 36 fuel tankers in a northwestern Pakistani border town in March. Four US helicopter engines worth $13 million (£7 million) went missing on the way from Kabul to Pakistan in April. Last week militants killed ten French soldiers on the same route 30 miles from Kabul.