Cypresso's Blog

North Carolina Coast Pounded By Rains From Hurricane Earl!

2010-09-02T20:44:00.000-05:00

BUXTON, N.C. – The last ferry left for the mainland and coastal residents hunkered down at home as Hurricane Earl closed in with 115 mph winds Thursday on North Carolina's dangerously exposed Outer Banks, the first and potentially most destructive stop on the storm's projected journey up the Eastern Seaboard.

The first bands of heavy rain hit the long ribbon of barrier islands Thursday night. The downpours started in several bursts as the storm's so-called rain shield whirled into the southernmost tip of the Outer Banks.

National Weather Service meteorologist Hal Austin said the eye of the hurricane was expected to get as close as 55 miles east of the Outer Banks about 2 a.m. Friday. The coast is expected to be lashed by winds of hurricane strength — more than 74 mph — for a couple of hours.

Heavy surf was already washing over the only highway on Ocracoke Island before sundown but crews were able to keep the road open.

Earl's arrival could mark the start of at least 24 hours of stormy, windy weather along the East Coast. During its march up the Atlantic, it could snarl travelers' Labor Day weekend plans and strike a second forceful blow to the vacation homes and cottages on Long Island, Nantucket Island and Cape Cod.

It was unclear exactly how close Earl's center and its strongest winds would get to land. But Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate said people shouldn't wait for the next forecast to act.

"This is a day of action. Conditions are going to deteriorate rapidly," he said.

Shelters were open in inland North Carolina, and officials on Nantucket Island, Mass., planned to set up a shelter at a high school on Friday. North Carolina shut down ferry service between the Outer Banks and the mainland. Boats were being pulled from the water in the Northeast, and lobstermen in Maine set their traps out in deeper water to protect them.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri declared a state of emergency. Similar declarations have also made in North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland.

As of Thursday afternoon, though, the only evacuations ordered were on the Outer Banks, which sticks out into the Atlantic Ocean like the side-view mirror on a car, vulnerable to a sideswiping. About 35,000 tourists and residents were urged to leave.

Click image to see Hurricane Earl photos

AFP/Paul J. Richards

Earl weakened into a Category 3 storm with 115 mph winds on Thursday. A slow winding down was expected to continue as the storm moved into cooler waters, but forecasters warned the size of the storm's wind field was increasing, similar to what happened when Hurricane Katrina approached the Gulf Coast five years ago.

"It will be bigger. The storm won't be as strong, but they spread out as they go north and the rain will be spreading from New England," National Hurricane Center Director Bill Read said.

The eye of the storm was expected to pass about 50 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C. But even at that distance, Earl could have a punishing effect, since hurricane-force winds of 74 mph or more extended 70 miles from its center and tropical storm-force winds of at least 35 mph reached more than 200 miles out.

The end of an already dilapidated wooden pier in Frisco, one of the villages on Hatteras Island, collapsed after being battered by high surf Thursday. It had been closed to the public because of past storm damage.

Hundreds of the Outer Banks' more hardy residents gassed up their generators and planned to hunker down at home behind their boarded-up windows, even though officials warned them that it could be three days before they could expect any help and that storm surge could again slice through the islands. It took crews two months to fill the breach and rebuild the only road to the mainland when Hurricane Isabel carved a 2,000-foot-wide channel in 2003.

"It's kind of nerve-racking, but I've been through this before," said 65-year-old Herma De Gier, who has lived in the village of Avon since 1984. De Gier said she will ride out the storm at a neighbor's house but wants to be close enough to her own property so she can quickly deal with any damage.

Officials warned once the winds began to pick up, police, firefighters and paramedics probably weren't going to answer emergency calls.

"Once this storm comes in and becomes serious, once it's at its worst point, we are not going to put any emergency worker in harm's way," North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue said.

Forecasters said that after Earl passes the Outer Banks, a kink in the jetstream over the eastern U.S. should push the storm away from the coast, guiding it like a marble in a groove.

Earl is expected to move north-northeast for much of Friday, staying away from New Jersey and the other mid-Atlantic states, but also passing very close to Long Island, Cape Cod and Nantucket, which could get gusts up to 100 mph. The storm is expected to finally move ashore in Canada sometime Saturday afternoon.

Much of New England should expect strong, gusty winds much like a nor'easter, along with fallen trees and downed power lines, forecasters said.

"This is the strongest hurricane to threaten the Northeast and New England since Hurricane Bob in 1991," said Dennis Feltgen, a meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center.

Clayton Smith and his colleagues at a yacht servicing company in New England scrambled to Nantucket to pull boats to safety, hoping to get about 40 vessels out of the water in two days.

"Complacency is a bad thing," Smith said. "It's better to be safe than sorry."

But many people in Nantucket weren't too worried about Earl. Arno's Main Street Grill plans to stay open Friday as long as possible said owner Chris Morris. The hurricane might even be good for business.

"There's not much else to do during a hurricane besides eat and drink," he said. "I mean, there's only so many times you can visit the whaling museum."

The storm is likely to disrupt travel as people try to squeeze in a few more days of summer vacation over Labor Day. Continental Airlines canceled 50 departures from Newark on its Continental Connection and Continental Express routes along the East Coast, beginning Thursday night. Other airlines were watching the forecast and waiving fees for changing flights. Amtrak canceled trains to Newport News, near Virginia's coast, from Richmond, Va., and Washington. Ferry operators across the Northeast warned their service would likely be interrupted.

And the Army Corps of Engineers warned it would have to close the two bridges connecting Cape Cod to the rest of Massachusetts if winds got above 70 mph.

___

Associated Press Writers Christine Armario in Miami; Martha Waggoner, Emery Dalesio and Gary Robertson in Raleigh, N.C.; Tom Breen in Morehead City, N.C.; Bruce Smith in Jacksonville, N.C.; Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, S.C.; David Sharp in Portland, Maine; Mark Pratt in Boston; David Porter in Trenton, N.J.; David Koenig in Dallas; and Frank Eltman in Stony Brook, N.Y., contributed to this report.

True Testament to the Gulf Oil Spill: Hideous Conditions at Long Beach Harbor, MS by Den...

2010-08-09T01:37:00.000-05:00

True Testament to the Gulf Oil Spill: Hideous Conditions at Long Beach Harbor, MS by Den...: "August 7th, 2010 -- LONG BEACH MS - Very thick oil in and around the harbor at Long Beach, MS today. It's a very sad day indeed. The stenc..."

Criminal Intent and Militant Funding

2010-06-30T14:35:00.002-05:00

By Scott Stewart
STRATFOR is currently putting the finishing touches on a detailed assessment of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), the al Qaeda-inspired jihadist franchise in that country. As we got deeper into that project, one of the things we noticed was the group’s increasing reliance on criminal activity to fund its operations. In recent months, in addition to kidnappings for ransom and extortion of businessmen — which have been endemic in Iraq for many years — the ISI appears to have become increasingly involved in armed robbery directed against banks, currency exchanges, gold markets and jewelry shops.

This increase in criminal activity highlights how the ISI has fallen on hard times since its heyday in 2006-2007, when it was flush with cash from overseas donors and when its wealth led the apex leadership of al Qaeda in Pakistan to ask its Iraqi franchise for financial assistance. But when considered in a larger context, the ISI’s shift to criminal activity is certainly not surprising and, in fact, follows the pattern of many other ideologically motivated terrorist or insurgent groups that have been forced to resort to crime to support themselves.

The Cost of Doing Business

Whether we are talking about a small urban terrorist cell or a large-scale rural insurgency, it takes money to maintain a militant organization. It costs money to conduct even a rudimentary terrorist attack, and while there are a lot of variables in calculating the costs of a single attack, in order to simplify things, we’ll make a ballpark estimate of not more than $100 for an attack that involves a single operative detonating an improvised explosive device or using a firearm. (It certainly is possible to construct a lethal device for less, and many grassroots plots have cost far more, but we think $100 is a fair general estimate.) While that amount may seem quite modest by Western standards, it is important to remember that in the places where militant groups tend to thrive, like Somalia and Pakistan, the population is very poor. The typical Somali earns approximately $600 a year, and the typical Pakistani living in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas makes around $660. For many individuals living in such areas, the vehicle used in an attack deploying a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) is a luxury that they can never aspire to own for personal use, much less afford to buy only to destroy it in an attack. Indeed, even the $100 it may cost to conduct a basic terrorist attack is far more than they can afford.

To be sure, the expense of an individual terrorist attack can be marginal for a group like the ISI or the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). However, for such a group, the expenses required to operate are far more than just the amount required to conduct attacks — whether small roadside bombs or large VBIEDs. Such groups also need to establish and maintain the infrastructure required to operate a militant organization over a long period of time, not just during attacks but also between attacks. Setting up and operating such an infrastructure is far more costly than just paying for individual attacks.

In addition to the purchasing the materials required to conduct specific terrorist attacks, a militant organization also needs to pay wages to its fighters and provide food and lodging. Many also give stipends to the widows and families their fighters leave behind. In addition to the cost of personnel, the organization also needs to purchase safe-houses, modes of transportation (e.g., pickup trucks or motorcycles), communications equipment, weapons, munitions and facilities and equipment for training. If the militant organization hopes to use advanced weapons, like man-portable air defense systems, the costs can go even higher.

There are other costs involved in maintaining a large, professional militant group, such as travel, fraudulent identification documents (or legitimate documents obtained through fraud), payment for intelligence assets to monitor the activities of government forces, and even the direct bribery of security, border and other government officials. In some places, militant groups such as Hezbollah also pay for social services such as health care and education for the local population as a means of establishing and maintaining local support for the cause.

When added together, these various expenses amount to a substantial financial commitment, and operations are even more expensive in an environment where the local population is hostile to the militant organization and the government is persistently trying to cut off the group’s funding. In such an environment, the local people are less willing to provide support to the militants in the way of food, shelter and cash, and the militants are also forced to spend more money on operational security. Information about the government must also be purchased or coerced, and more “hush money” must be paid to keep people from telling the government about militant operations. In an environment where the local population is friendly, they will shelter militants and volunteer information about government forces and will not inform on militants to the government.

Sponsorship

One way to offset the steep cost of operating a large militant organization is by having a state sponsor. Indeed, funding rebel or insurgent groups to cause problems for a rival is an age-old tool of statecraft, and one that was exercised frequently during the Cold War. During that period, the United States worked to counter communist governments around the globe, and the Soviet Union and its partners operated a broad global array of proxy militant groups. In terms of geopolitical struggles, funding proxy groups is far less expensive than engaging in direct warfare in terms of both money and battlefield losses. Using proxies also provides benefits in terms of deniability for both domestic and international purposes.

For the militant group, the addition of a state sponsor can provide an array of modern weaponry and a great deal of useful training. For example, the FIM-92 Stinger missiles that the United States gave to Afghan militants fighting Soviet forces greatly enhanced the militants’ ability to counter the Soviets’ use of air power. The training provided by the Soviet KGB and its allies, the Cuban DGI and the East German Stasi, revolutionized the use of improvised explosive devices in terrorist attacks. Members of the groups these intelligence services trained at camps in Libya, Lebanon and Yemen, such as the German Red Brigades, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA), the Japanese Red Army and various Palestinian militant groups (among others), all became quite adept at using explosives in terrorist attacks.

The prevalence of Marxist terrorist groups during the Cold War led some observers to believe that the phenomenon of modern terrorism would die with the fall of the Soviet Union. Indeed, many militant groups, from urban Marxist organizations like the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) in Peru to rural based insurgents like the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), fell on hard financial times after the fall of the Soviet Union. While some of these groups withered away with their dwindling financial support (like the MRTA), others were more resourceful and found alternative ways to support their movement and continue their operations. The FARC, for example, was able to use its rural power in Colombia to offer protection to narcotics traffickers. In an ironic twist, elements of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a right-wing death squad set up to defend rich landowners against the FARC, have also gone on to play an important role in the Colombian Norte del Valle cartel and in various “bacrim” smuggling groups. Groups such as the PIRA and its splinters were able to fund themselves through robbery, extortion and “tiger kidnapping”.

In some places, the Marxist revolutionaries sought to keep the ideology of their cause separate from the criminal activities required to fund it following the loss of Soviet support. In the Philippines, for example, the New People’s Army formed what it termed “dirty job intelligence groups,” which were tasked with conducting kidnappings for ransom and robbing banks and armored cars. The groups also participated in a widespread campaign to shake down businesses for extortion payments, which it referred to as “revolutionary taxes.” In Central America, the Salvadoran Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) established a finance and logistics operation based out of Managua, Nicaragua, that conducted a string of kidnappings of wealthy industrialists in places like Mexico and Brazil. By targeting wealthy capitalists, the group sought to cast a Robin Hood-like light on this criminal activity. To further distance itself from the activity, the group used American and Canadian citizens to do much of its pre-operational surveillance and employed hired muscle from disbanded South American Marxist organizations to conduct the kidnappings and guard the hostages. The FMLN’s financial problems helped lead to the peace accords signed in 1992, and the FMLN has since become one of the main political parties in El Salvador. Its candidate, Mauricio Funes, was elected president of El Salvador in 2009.

Beyond the COMINTERN

The fall of the Soviet Union clearly did not end terrorism. Although Marxist militants funded themselves in Colombia, the Philippines and elsewhere through crime, Marxism was not the only flavor of terrorism on the planet. There are all sorts of motivations for terrorism as a militant tactic, from white supremacy to animal rights. But one of the most significant forces that arose in the 1980s as the Soviet Union was falling was militant Islamism. In addition to the ideals of the Iranian Revolution, which led to the creation of Hezbollah and other Iranian-sponsored groups, the Islamist fervor that was used to drum up support for the militants fighting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan eventually gave birth to al Qaeda and its jihadist spawn.

Although Hezbollah has always been funded by the governments of Iran and Syria, it has also become quite an entrepreneurial organization. Hezbollah has established a fundraising network that stretches across the globe and encompasses both legitimate businesses and criminal enterprises. In terms of its criminal operations, Hezbollah has a well-known presence in the tri-border region of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, where the U.S. government estimates it has earned tens of millions of dollars from selling electronic goods, counterfeit luxury items and pirated software, movies and music. It also has an even more profitable network in West Africa that deals in “blood diamonds” from places like Sierra Leone and the Republic of the Congo. Cells in Asia procure and ship much of the counterfeit material sold elsewhere; nodes in North America deal in smuggled cigarettes, baby formula and counterfeit designer goods, among other things. In the United States, Hezbollah also has been involved in smuggling pseudoephedrine and selling counterfeit Viagra, and it has played a significant role in the production and worldwide propagation of counterfeit currencies. The business empire of the Shiite organization also extends into the narcotics trade, and Hezbollah earns large percentages of the estimated $1 billion in drug money flowing each year out of Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

On the jihadist side of militant Islamism, jihadist groups have been conducting criminal activity to fund their movement since the 1990s. The jihadist cell that conducted the March 2004 Madrid Train Bombings was self-funded by selling illegal drugs, and jihadists have been involved in a number of criminal schemes ranging from welfare fraud to interstate transportation of stolen property.
In addition, many wealthy Muslims in Saudi Arabia the Persian Gulf states and elsewhere saw the jihadist groups as a way to export their conservative Wahhabi/Salafi strain of Islam, and many considered their gifts to jihadist groups to be their way of satisfying the Muslim religious obligation to give to charity. The governments of Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen, Syria and Pakistan saw jihadism as a foreign policy tool, and in some cases the jihadists were also seen as a tool to be used against domestic rivals. Pakistan was one of the most active countries playing the jihadist card, and it used it to influence its regional neighbors by supporting the growth of the Taliban in Afghanistan as well as Kashmiri militant groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) for use against its archrival, India.

After 2003, however, when the al Qaeda franchise in Saudi Arabia declared war on the Saudi government (and the oil industry that funds it), sentiment in that country began to change and the donations sent by wealthy Saudis to al Qaeda or al Qaeda-related charities began to decline markedly. By 2006, the al Qaeda core leadership — and the larger jihadist movement — was experiencing significant financial difficulties. Today, with Pakistan also experiencing a backlash from supporting jihadists who have turned against the state, and with the Sunni sheikhs in Iraq turning against the ISI there, funding and sanctuary are becoming increasingly difficult for jihadists to find.

In recent years, the United States and the international community have taken a number of steps to monitor the international transfer of money, track charitable donations and scrutinize charities. These measures have begun to have an effect — not just in the case of the jihadist groups but for all major militant organizations. These systems are not foolproof, and there are still gaps that can be exploited, but overall, the legislation, procedures and tools now in place make financing from abroad much more difficult than it was prior to September 2001.

The Need to Survive

And this brings us where we are today regarding terrorism and funding. While countries like Venezuela and Nicaragua play around with supporting the export of Marxism through Latin America, the funding for Marxist movements in the Western Hemisphere is far below what it was before the fall of the Soviet Union. Indeed, transnational drug cartels and their allied street gangs pose a far greater threat to the stability of countries in the region today.

Groups that cannot find state sponsorship, such as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) in Nigeria, will be left to fund themselves through ransoms for kidnapped oil workers, selling stolen oil and from protection money. (It is worth noting, however, that MEND also has some powerful patrons inside Nigeria’s political structure.) And groups that still receive state funding, like Iranian proxies Hezbollah and Hamas as well as Shiite militant groups in Iraq and the Persian Gulf region, will continue to get that support. (There are frequent rumors that Iran is supporting jihadist groups in places like Iraq and Afghanistan as a way to cause pain to the United States.)

Overall, state sponsorship of jihadist groups has been declining since supporting countries realized they were being attacked by militant groups of their own creation. Some countries, like Syria and Pakistan, still keep their fingers in the jihadist pie, but as time progresses more countries are coming to see the jihadists as threats rather than useful tools. For the past few years, we have seen groups like al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb resort to narcotics smuggling and the kidnapping of foreigners to fund their operations and that trend will likely increase. For one thing, the jump from militant attacks to criminal activity is relatively easy to make. Criminal activity (whether it’s robbing a bank or extorting business owners for “taxes”) requires the same physical force — or at least the threat of physical force — that militant groups perfect over years of carrying out insurgent or terrorist attacks.

While such criminal activity does allow a militant group to survive, it comes with a number of risks. First is the risk that members of the organization could become overly enamored with the criminal activity and the money it brings and abandon the cause — and the austere life of an ideological fighter — to pursue a more lucrative criminal career. (In many cases, they will attempt to retain some ideological facade for recruitment or legitimacy purposes. On the other hand, some jihadist groups believe that criminal activities allow them to emulate the actions of the Prophet Mohammed, who raided the caravans of his enemies to fund his movement and allowed his men to take booty.) Criminal activity can also cause ideological splits between the more pragmatic members of a militant organization and those who believe that criminal behavior tarnishes the image of their cause. And criminal activity can turn the local population against the militants — especially the population being targeted for crimes — while providing law enforcement with opportunities to arrest militant operatives on charges that are in many cases easier to prove than conspiring to conduct terrorist attacks. Lastly, reliance on criminal activity for funding a militant group requires a serious commitment of resources — men and guns — that cannot be allocated to other activities when they are being used to commit crimes.

As efforts to combat terrorism continue, militant leaders will increasingly be forced to choose between abandoning their cause or possibly tarnishing its public image. When faced with such a choice, many militant leaders — like those of the ISI — will follow the examples of groups like the FARC and the PIRA and choose to pursue criminal means to continue their struggle.

"This report is republished with permission of STRATFOR"

Environmentalists Challenge Plan to Link Red and Dead Seas

2010-06-28T11:04:00.000-05:00

Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian environmentalists challenge a World Bank administered plan to revive the dying Dead Sea by linking it to the Red Sea. By Sara Sorcher

Florida To Institute Illegal Immigrant Bill

2010-06-27T07:29:00.000-05:00

Politicians in the US state of Florida are the latest to craft a bill modelled on a controversial law in Arizona, according to local media reports.

The law, signed in April, gives broad powers to police to question people they suspect of being in the country illegally.

Critics say it encourages racial profiling. Now politicians in at least six states have introduced bills similar to Arizona's.

But there may be economic consequences.

Los Angeles and one town in Indiana have passed bans on doing business with Arizona companies.

And at least five challenges have been filed against the Arizona law - mainly on civil rights grounds

The Obama adminstration has also signalled it will take legal action soon.

Al Jazeera's Nick Spicer reports.

Safety First: New system saves pilots' lives after chopper test-flight crash

2010-06-23T13:33:00.000-05:00

Two pilots of a helicopter have been taken to an intensive care unit after the aircraft crashed in the Moscow region. An experimental KA-60 helicopter was on a trial flight when it fell to the ground near a residential area. Investigators believe engine failure could have caused the accident. Aviation experts say the pilots only survived because of the aircraft's efficient safety system.

Fresh drug violence riddles Mexico

2010-06-13T01:52:00.000-05:00

June 12, 2010 — Felipe Calderon, the president of Mexico, has condemned the latest killings linked to the country's drugs war. The bodies of 18 men and two women were found in different areas of Ciudad Madero. Many were riddled with bullets and were gagged and handcuffed.

In a separate attack 350km north, armed men shot dead 19 people at a drug rehabilitation centre in Chihuahua.

Al Jazeera's Mariana Sanchez reports on a city seeing a surge in drug-related killings.

Parallels To Gulf Oil Disaster

2010-06-10T17:42:00.000-05:00

MARTHA’S VINEYARD, Mass. – As opponents of a massive wind energy factory in Nantucket Sound watch the impact of energy giant BP’s oil blowout on the ocean and delicate ecosystems of the Louisiana coast, they are drawing parallels between the energy projects and warning that another environmental disaster is likely to happen in the waters off Cape Cod.

Opponents say that the Cape Wind project, the first offshore wind energy plant in the country, will destroy marine and avian life of the Sound, as well as cultural and historic treasures, create a hazard to public safety and cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

And despite Interior’s insistence the department abided by every required regulation in reviewing and approving the Cape Wind project, opponents continue to question procedural exceptions and the connections between Cape Wind and members of the Obama administration.

The controversial wind turbine plant proposal was approved by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar April 28, a week after the BP explosion that killed 11 men and began spewing crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

The approval came despite an avalanche of opposition from the Mashpee and Aquinnah Wampanoag nations, and an array of environmental groups, local, state and federal elected officials, shipping and airport authorities and federal agencies, including the National Register of Historic Places.

Cheryl Andrews-Maltais, chairwoman of the Aquinnah Wampanoag Nation on Martha’s Vineyard, said President Barack Obama’s comments during a May 27 press conference on the BP disaster reflect what the tribe has been saying all along about Cape Wind.

“Cape Wind got a no-bid sweetheart deal on the federal lands and waters of Nantucket Sound that had already been designated as a marine sanctuary and monument decades ago. They got a waiver on the open vetting process and on balancing the need versus the benefit of taking of public lands for private development and profit.”

The Cape Wind proposal includes 130 wind turbine generators towering 440 feet above water level across 24 square miles of the sound; a 66.5-mile buried submarine transmission cable system; an electric service platform with 40,000 gallons of oil; a helicopter landing pad; and two 115-kilovolt lines crossing 25 miles to the mainland power grid.

Nantucket Sound is sacred to the Wampanoag nations – the People of the First Light. The wind energy plant would obscure their view of the rising sun in ceremony and would destroy the ocean bed, which was once dry land where their ancestors lived and died.

Obama’s comments about the government’s responsibility to “reduce threats to our environment” were bitterly ironic to the Wampanoag nations.

“The construction of Cape Wind isn’t a ‘threat’ to our environment, it is an absolute certainty,” Andrews-Maltais said. “It is the total destruction of the only known submerged Paleo-Indian archeological site in existence today.”

Most painful, she said, were Obama’s comments about growing up in Hawaii “where the ocean is sacred. … (and) an integral part of who (the Hawaiians) are.”

“Why is it that the president is recognizing all of this for everyone else except for us? We feel that he is marginalizing or dismissing us as Indians, almost like we don’t have the same reverence, responsibility, culture and right to practice our religious traditions as the Hawaiians or any other federally recognized tribe,” Andrews-Maltais said.

The Federal Aviation Administration approved the project in May, reversing its earlier opinion that the wind factory is a “presumed hazard” to the 400,000 flights that cross the area annually. The approval followed Cape Wind’s agreement to provide between $1 million and $12 million to modernize a nearby radar facility to mitigate the effects of electromagnetic interference from the wind factory’s turbines.

The mitigation is akin to the untested “safety procedures” that failed on the BP oil rig, opponents said.

The measures to upgrade radar systems are “unproven theoretical mitigation,” said the Alliance to Save Nantucket Sound, which has filed two notices of intent to file suit against the Interior Department’s decision in federal district court in Washington.

“This is an entirely political decision that flies in the face of public safety and the recommendations of the pilots who use this airspace every day,” said Audra Parker, the organization’s president and CEO.

Also in May, National Grid announced that its ratepayers would purchase half of Cape Wind’s power at a premium of $442 million over the course of the 15-year agreement. The total cost of the project’s power would add $884 million to Massachusetts residential and commercial ratepayers’ bills.

Cape Wind is also depending on as much as $600 million in stimulus funds to offset the $2 billion-plus cost of constructing the plant, much of which will go to foreign countries, such as China, which manufactures the Siemens turbines that will be used for the Cape Wind project.

The Investigative Reporting Workshop found more than 80 percent of the first $1 billion in stimulus funds to wind energy companies went to foreign firms. The administration has since handed out another $1 billion, bringing the total given out to $2.1 billion with more than 79 percent going to overseas companies.

Barbara Durkin, an environmental activist who has investigated and documented the Cape Wind project for the past seven years, said Cape Wind’s approval was “based on politics, not science.”

“The Gulf disaster is a harbinger of what should be expected in Nantucket Sound by Secretary Salazar’s rubber-stamping of Cape Wind.

“The cozy relationships between MMS (Minerals Management Service) and the oil industry echo cozy relationships between the White House and the wind industry,” Durkin said, naming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and National Economic Council Director Lawrence H. Summers as having connections to wind energy and private equity companies.

Cape Wind Associates is a joint venture between Energy Management Inc. and Wind Management Inc. of Boston, which is a subsidiary of UPC, a European-based wind energy company that’s been known as First Wind in the U.S. since May 2008.

Former New York Sun managing editor Ira Stoll uncovered some of the political connections on his Web site, Future of Capitalism, reporting last fall that First Wind received $115 million in stimulus funds.

First Wind owners include the D.E. Shaw Group, a private equity, hedge fund and technology investment company, and Madison Dearborn Partners, a private equity firm that specializes in leveraged buyouts.

Summers held a $5.2 million a year job at the D.E. Shaw Group, and Madison Dearborn is the firm of which Emanuel said, “They’ve been not only supporters of mine, they’re friends of mine.”

Emanuel has received more than $98,000 in campaign contributions from Madison Dearborn Partners, according to www.opensecrets.org.

Asked what role, if any, Summers and Emanuel played in the process of approving the Cape Wind project, Salazar spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff said, “They had no role.”

But Emanuel and Summers were recently involved in discussions regarding the $2 billion Shepherds Flat project in Oregon, the Washington Post reported.

The Pentagon threatened to stop the Shepherds Flat project and other planned wind projects in other states, because the giant turbines could interfere with the Air Force’s radar systems. The owners, Caithness Energy, worried a delay would cause a loss of eligibility for federal stimulus funds.

“Pentagon officials have met with aides to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, National Economic Council Director Lawrence H. Summers and White House energy and climate change adviser Carol Browner in an effort to resolve the impasse,” the Post reported in April.

By the end of April, the heavy political fire had worked, and the Pentagon dropped its opposition, according to The Oregonian.

Teen Dead in Marijuana Grow House Shooting

2010-06-08T19:36:00.002-05:00

Police in Northern California say a teen suspect is dead and two victims were seriously injured when gunfire broke out during a home invasion robbery. Police say three teens broke into the home where there was a marijuana growing operation. (June 7)

Al Jazeera talks to US activist named by Israel as a 'terrorist'

2010-06-06T16:22:00.000-05:00

Israel claims five activists on Mavi Marmara were "active terrorists".

Israel's "terrorist" list includes two Turks, one French, and two US citizens.

Ex-US marine, Ken O'Keefe who is on the list, denies all the allegations. (6 May 2010)

He talks to Al Jazeera

Sex Trafficking and Slavery In U.S. - 2010 (full version)

2010-06-05T16:29:00.000-05:00

According to U.S. advocacy and law enforcement groups that fight human trafficking, human slavery is not just a problem overseas. The FBI Says men and women are being trafficked into every major city in the United States, including Washington. Some are victims of forced labor while many others are forced to sell sex.

Fault Lines - Dying Inside: Elderly in prison - Part 2

2010-06-05T12:59:00.000-05:00

Josh Rushing explores the phenomenon of the US' aging prison population.

Fault Lines - Dying Inside: Elderly in prison - Part 1

2010-06-05T12:57:00.000-05:00

Josh Rushing explores the phenomenon of the US' aging prison population.

U.S. Immigration Detention Centers Faces ACLU Allegations

2010-06-03T22:11:00.000-05:00

When undocumented workers are caught they get sent to a detention facility run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

There are dozens of detention facilities across the US and some immigrants are even kept in actual prisons with convicted criminals.

There have been accusations of mistreatment, lack of medical care, and lack of attorney access at some of these detention facilities.

The ACLU successfully sued the ICE to have undocumented families removed from one of the detention facilities because of the conditions.

Now, the ACLU is calling for federal oversight for the detention centres to ensure that there are standards in place.

Riser cut explained - BP prepares for the Lower Marine Riser Package Cap (LMRP) installation

2010-06-02T21:39:00.000-05:00

HOUSTON - BP prepares for the Lower Marine Riser Package Cap (LMRP) installation, a method that may help contain the flow of oil from the well until the permanent relief well is drilled. This video illustrates the the removal of a section of the riser. Video courtesy of BP.

Oil Slicks Nears Fla., Containment Effort Stalls

2010-06-02T21:37:00.000-05:00

As the crude crept closer to Florida, the risky effort to contain the nation's worst oil spill hit a snag Wednesday when a diamond-edged saw became stuck in a thick pipe on a blown-out well at the bottom of the Gulf. (June 2)

Anger in Turkey over Israeli flotilla raid

2010-06-01T20:36:00.000-05:00

June 01, 2010 — In Turkey, thousands have taken to the streets to express their anger over Israel's deadly raid on an aid flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip.

Turkish activists returning home after being arrested on the vessels and then deported are strongly critical of the Israeli conduct and the treatment of detainees after the raid.

Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna reports from Istanbul.

Facebook's future after boycott

2010-06-01T04:16:00.001-05:00

The social networking website Facebook has drastically changed the way many communicate and share information online.

But the company has been accused of abusing members' privacy settings, prompting more than 23,000 users pledging to quit Facebook on May 31.

But with usage nearing half a billion people worldwide, will the boycott have any notable effect on the website?

Al Jazeera's Cath Turner reports from New York.

Sri Lanka Video Wall

2010-05-30T18:59:00.000-05:00

This video was produced using photographs taken during the last few months of the war in Sri Lanka. The photographs were taken in May 2009 by one of the 300,000 people trapped between the two sides in the No Fire Zone during the final days of the Sri Lankan war. Some of the images are from Manik Farm where survivors were detained for many months in military-run camps.

Video: C-130 aircraft oil spill overflight taken on May 29, 2010

2010-05-30T18:51:00.000-05:00

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The crew of a C-130 fixed-wing aircraft from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Fla., surveys the Gulf of Mexico approximately 130 miles west of Clearwater in support of the ongoing Administration response the the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill. The C-130 aircrew also dropped two satellite-enabled data marker buoys to track the spill. U.S. Coast Guard video by Petty Officer 3rd Class Nick Ameen.

Iran's ageing nuclear facility

2010-05-29T12:40:00.000-05:00

The Tehran Research Reactor is an ageing nuclear facility located in the heart of the Iranian capital.

Built by the United States as a nuclear research facility 40 years ago, it is now at the centre of Iran's claims that it needs nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes only.

The reactor makes radioactive materials for use in hospitals - for example in the treatment of cancer.

Al Jazeera's Alireza Ronaghi was given exclusive access inside the facility. [29 May 10]

Dude In Charge Of BP Oil Spill Is Not The One To Target

2010-05-28T00:55:00.008-05:00

Okay, I am finally like fed up! So many people are getting down on the dude we see in the BP news videos and such, talking with the Admiral from the Coast Guard. Why are people blaming this man for what has happened? This is not the man who had the ability to make decisions, or not make decisions on the issues that led up this this oil leak in the Gulf. This is a man that was pulled in to deal with trying to stop this oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.

Come on, people.... This man is not BP... he is a trouble shooter... Has absolutely nothing to do with drilling for oil or the profits from doing so. He is a hired hand that is to be called in under such circumstances, as what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico.

That now said.... Should we not be giving kudos to this man? This man has not only the world breathing down his neck, but governments as well. This is NOT a BP spokesperson, per se.. he is the one that was basically given the job of stopping the oil flow. This is the man who is in conference with professionals from ALL major oil companies, trying to resolve this issue.

Yet...... the people continue to want to take their BP rage out on this man. I have seen it in news conferences and many videos... Like, ummm... this man drilled the damn well?

Where are the ones responsible? They are hidden from the media.. Sitting here in Houston, in their high rise offices, protected from the media and the people.... The are the assholes you seek.... Take the fire to BP headquarters in Houston! I could provide the links and such, but what the hell, you all know how to use Google to find such things. Become active, become productive, and start putting the shit on the platter of those responsible, and lay off the dude who is trying to plug the damn hole in the Gulf!

Just my random thoughts on the "hatred" I see displayed towards a man who has had nothing to do with the onset of this crisis.

Gary Coleman Hospitalized in Critical Condition

2010-05-27T20:29:00.001-05:00

Former child television star Gary Coleman is in critical condition near his Utah home, according to a hospital spokesperson, but no other details are being released. (May 27)

Four North Korean Subs Disappear In East Sea - South Korea On Alert

2010-05-26T00:44:00.000-05:00

South Korea's military was tracking four North Korean submarines which disappeared from their east coast base after conducting naval training in the East Sea earlier this week, a military official in Seoul said Wednesday (May 26), according to Yonhap News.

Locations of the North's four 300-tonne-class submarines have remained unknown for two days, the military official said, noting, "We are tracking the four submarines by mobilising all naval capabilities in the East Sea," the report said.

It added that the submarines left the Chaho base located near the Musudan-ri missile launch pad site in North Hamgyong Province in North Korea's northeast coast, according to the official.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula flared after a multinational investigation concluded last week that a North Korean submarine slipped into the South's waters near their Yellow Sea border and attacked a South Korean warship with a torpedo, killing 46 crew members on March 26.

The latest movement came ahead of a crucial visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Seoul on Wednesday.
During her visit, she is expected to show US's firm commitment to South Korea as the Asian ally grapples with rising tensions over North Korea's deadly sinking of one of its warships.

Clinton's visit - though only a half-day long - is symbolic of the US alliance and security commitment to South Korea, according to Yonhap News.

On the eve of Clinton's arrival, Pyongyang renewed its denial of any responsibility for the sinking, accusing the South of making trumped-up charges against it and declaring that it would cut off any remaining ties with Seoul.

In Seoul, Clinton is scheduled to meet with President Lee Myung-bak and Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan. Her discussions are expected to focus on joint strategies on handling the crisis, including stern punishment of the North by bringing the case to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.

Source

The Taliban's counter strategy - Insider Story

2010-05-25T21:33:00.001-05:00

With a recent string of high-profile attacks on prime targets in Afghanistan, is Taliban facing the Nato escalation with counter escalation? And what will be the impact on Coalition operations as some nations consider withdrawing their forces from Afghanistan?