Free Republic

SNIPPET: "Bashir al-Ameriki, born Bryant Neal Vinas, was in the right place at the right time. He caught a wave of online jihadi activism dominated by some really interesting and aggressive individuals, and he rode that wave all the way to glory - sort of. Now he's a prized possession of the United States of America. I have to assume there are a number of indictments either pending or under seal, because Bashir likes to talk."

Note: The following text is a quote: 09 July 2009 EGYPT ARRESTS TERRORIST CELL OF 25 MEMBERS CAIRO, July 9 (Xinhua) The Egyptian authorities have arrested a terrorist cell of 25 members, 24 Egyptians and one Palestinian, for plotting to carry out terrorist attacks in Suez Canal, Egyptian Interior Ministry said in statement issued on Thursday. According to the statement, the members of the cell who believe in Jihad (Holy War) were located in Cairo, Alexandria and Daqahlia governorates and communicated through internet with other terrorist groups outside Egypt. The cell's members, mostly engineers, were developing high-tech and electronic devices...

Expanding Afghan War Awaits New President An expanded U.S. military involvement awaits a new U.S. president in Afghanistan where the unfinished business of September 11 has flared over the past three years into a major insurgency. A raft of assessments and reviews now underway in Washington point to a fundamental rethinking of the Afghan war. But whoever is elected Tuesday will face choices on the size of the military buildup, how to strengthen the central government, how far to go in dealing with insurgent sanctuaries across the border, how to help stabilize Pakistan, and whether and how to reconcile...

March 24, 2008, 5:00 a.m. Chilling ConfirmationYes, Saddam Hussein was an Islamofascist threat. By Deroy Murdock As Operation Iraqi Freedom is now five years old, a new study confirms that ousting Saddam Hussein was justified and vital to U.S. national security. Though war critics hate to admit it, the Baathist dictator was up to his mustache in aid for Islamofascist terrorism. As a report from the Institute for Defense Analyses explains, “captured Iraqi documents uncovered strong evidence that links the regime of Saddam Hussein to regional and global terrorism.� IDA’s review of some 600,000 documents discovered in Iraq since...

VERACRUZ, Mexico (AP) - A shadowy leftist guerrilla group took credit for a string of explosions that ripped apart at least six Mexican oil and gas pipelines Monday, rattling financial markets and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in lost production. The six explosions could be seen miles away, and set off fires that sent flames and black smoke shooting high above the Gulf coast state of Veracruz. At least a dozen pipelines, most carrying natural gas, were affected, said Jesus Reyes Heroles, the head of Mexico's oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos, without providing specifics. He said there would be hundreds...

VERACRUZ, Mexico - Mexican gas and oil pipelines were attacked in six places before dawn Monday, causing explosions, fires and gas leaks that forced the evacuation of thousands of people. The blasts reverberated for miles. No direct injuries were reported, although civil defense agencies said two women in their 70s who lived nearby died of heart attacks shortly afterward. A small, shadowy leftist group linked to similar attacks in July left a note claiming responsibility, a police official in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz told The Associated Press. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed...

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Canada's crude-oil pipelines may have to ration space as early as this autumn because of a surge of new oil production from the Alberta oil sands, the country's energy regulator said on Friday. The National Energy Board said the pipeline industry may face a capacity crunch as oil output this year rises to 2.9 million barrels a day, 9 percent more than in 2006.

LOS ANGELES Federal, state and local officials are on the hunt for an invasive mussel that has been spotted in California for the first time ever and could clog water supply pipelines. Quagga mussels were found earlier this month at Lake Mead in Arizona and at Lake Havasu near the Whitsitt intake facility for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. The discoveries launched a wider search for infested reservoirs and pipelines in California that are connected to the Colorado Aqueduct. The aqueduct delivers water to an estimated 18 million people in urban Southern California, including Los Angeles and San...

KIRKUK -- Artillery Soldiers visited two oil-gas separation plants in Janbar Thursday to check the progress of the Oil Protection Forces guarding pipelines south of here. The OPF, funded by the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, guard the infrastructure that keeps the oil flowing in the area. Soldiers from Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 3rd Battalion, 7th Field Artillery Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, met with the OPF to learn how they can better support the Iraqi Forces and ensure they continue to receive the tools they need for success. The 3-7 Soldiers make themselves available to assist with training, supplies and guidance on...

ON THE CALCASIEU RIVER, LA. - The state-issue Boston Whaler plowed through the beer-bottle-brown Calcasieu River, stirring the calm waters that concealed what coursed below. From their boat, John Snead and Robert Paulsell were tracking Louisiana's man-made rivers of commerce: the thousands of miles of pipeline that crisscross the state transporting fuel, oil and natural gas mined and refined along the Gulf Coast to distant gas stations and homes. The two men, mapmakers with the Louisiana Geological Survey, knew the pipelines were down there. They just weren't sure where. "A map of pipelines in Louisiana looks like a web made...

BP was ordered to scrape pipelines but told regulators it wasn't necessary --- WASHINGTON - Alaskan regulators ordered BP four years ago to clean out sediment from pipelines carrying crude from America's largest oil field, Prudhoe Bay. Two months later, Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation relaxed the order, accepting the company's argument that scraping out the lines was not necessary. BP officials now suspect bacteria growing between accumulated sediment and the pipeline wall may have caused the corrosion that created leaks in two major transit lines — a crisis that forced BP to shut down part of Prudhoe Bay in...

Already under siege by American environmental regulators and financial-market investigators, BP PLC faces a new inquisitor today: Congress. In the first of as many as two Capitol Hill appearances in coming days, U.S. operations chief Bob Malone and other BP officials face a public grilling from politicians just ahead of U.S. midterm elections. The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hear testimony from experts and BP officials on corrosion problems at BP's Alaska oil field. The London company partially shuttered the field last month after discovering corroded pipes. The hearing comes amid a series of embarrassing regulatory, criminal and civil...

Gazprom on Tuesday said it had struck a three-year deal with Turkmenistan to buy its gas for $100 per 1,000 cubic meters -- a 50 percent hike on the current price of $65. The cost will most likely be passed on to Ukraine, the final customer for Turkmen gas, when the price increase takes effect in January. Under the deal, reached by Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov during talks in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, on Tuesday, the country's gas sales to Russia will drop to 50 billion cubic meters per year. Under a 2003 agreement, Turkmenistan...

Reuters WARSAW -- Poland will ask the United States to back efforts to reduce its dependence on Russian energy supplies in exchange for agreeing to allow a U.S. anti-missile defense system on its territory, a Polish newspaper reported Monday. Rzeczpospolita cited diplomatic sources as saying Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski would discuss ways the United States could help increase Poland's access to Central Asian supplies when he visits Washington later this month. Poland, a U.S. ally in Iraq, hopes the United States will push through a project to build a gas pipeline across the Caspian Sea that could link Kazakh and...

Another 1,200 miles of U.S. pipelines, including those run by BP in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, would fall under rigorous inspection and safety rules under a proposal released by pipeline regulators Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT The proposed rules for rural, low-stress pipelines would require regular cleaning of the lines by so-called "scraping pigs," internal inspections by "smart pigs" and a comprehensive corrosion monitoring and prevention program. "A strong and clearly defined pipeline safety program is an absolute minimum," said Thomas Barrett, administrator for the Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. The rules have been in the works for two years...

When Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev visited Riga on July 18, the overriding topic of discussion was how best to send Kazakh oil to energy-hungry markets in Europe and Scandinavian via Latvia. Nazarbayev did his best to give the impression of a pragmatic leader unburdened by the political strains caused by the long-standing disputes between his closest ally -- Moscow -- and West European powers over energy issues. His time in Riga provided an impressive display of his multi-vector approach to interstate relations. Answering questions from Latvian journalists, Nazarbayev stressed that Kazakhstan has no intention of constructing a transportation route to...

Iraqi, U.S. Troops Team up to Protect Pipelines Bastogne soldiers of 101st Airborne Division train Iraqi battalion to guard oil pipelines. By Capt. Lyn Graves 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment KIRKUK, Iraq, April 11, 2006 — The Iraqi Strategic Infrastructure Battalion soldier stands on top of a liquid gold mine. That is, he stands atop six percent of the world’s known oil reserve, deep beneath the sands of northern Iraq, in and around Kirkuk. "This is very different, so it will take us time to adapt and to learn this new way; but, this new way is better, more...

Oil prices rose in late morning trade here on further worries about potential supply disruption in Nigeria, Africa's largest producer of crude oil, dealers said. At 10:52 am (0252 GMT) New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, was at 64.38 usd a barrel compared with 64.26 usd in late trade Friday in the United States. 'The market is showing signs of really extending gains from last week. The focus is on the supply disruption, primarily out of Nigeria,' said Victor Shum, an analyst with Purvin and Gertz. A bomb attack on a pipeline owned by Italian...

* Group advises disrupting oil supplies best way to hurt US economy and destabilise Saudi royal family DUBAI: Al Qaeda has advised followers to attack pipelines in Saudi Arabia and Iraq but to steer clear of oil wells because they are the lifeline of Muslim states, according to a two-year-old document recently posted on the web. The guidelines in Al Qaeda’s war against “crusaders” and US-allied governments were laid out in a manifesto written by Abdulaziz al-Enezi, arrested in Saudi Arabia in 2005 and described by the Saudis as a prominent ideologue of Al Qaeda. In the manifesto, which was...

Mr Kinakh thus commented on his own statements, which he made during his latest visit to Poland about Ukraine contemplating options for leasing its underground gas depots. Mr Kinakh refuted reports alleging that Ukrainian underground gas holders were long ago leased to a foreign company. Ukraine's underground gasholders are and will remain Ukraine's property, the NSDC Secretary reassured. Mr Kinakh also confirmed Ukraine's readiness to cooperate with relevant nations and organisations, which are interested in storaging their national resources in Ukrainian gas holders "on transparent market terms."

President Mikhail Saakashvili accused Moscow of serious acts of "sabotage" yesterday after explosions ripped apart gas pipelines cutting off supplies to Georgia and neighbouring Armenia. Mr Saakashvili said the blasts were the "attempted sabotage" of his country's energy system and dismissed Russia's explanation - that the attacks were the work of "extremist groups" intent on causing "material damage" - as "unconvincing and contradictory".... "They happened at the same time, and basically they didn't affect supplies to Russia proper, so we can conclude that it was a very well-organised act."

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- There has been a lot of coverage about how Russian natural gas giant, Gazprom, has recently sought to raise the price it charges Ukraine from a below-market $50 per 1,000 cubic meters to $230 --just below the $250 per cubic meter average paid by Western European nations for Russian gas. Gazprom has been portrayed as the bully in this affair, but the truth of the matter is that it should be paid a market price for the gas it sells. Indeed, it was neither in Gazprom`s nor Russia`s interest to sell gas to Ukraine...

Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko only has to look in the mirror and see his pockmarked, disfigured face – the result of chemical poisoning – to know that the KGB is still in charge in Moscow. Since the beginning of this year we all know it, too. Russia’s state-owned gas company Gazprom cut the supply of gas to Ukraine after the latter refused to pay the new price Russia is charg

Trans-Alaska pipeline named in online manual "Jihad groups" in Canada are being urged to cross the border to carry out terrorist attacks against the United States, a Washington research group says. A 12-page document recently posted on an al-Qaeda-affiliated Internet forum says small groups of terrorists with explosives expertise should enter the United States from Canada. The scenario is reminiscent of the 1999 attempt by extremists in Montreal to bomb Los Angeles airport — except this time the targets are oil and gas fields, refineries and pipelines. The port of Valdez and the Trans-Alaska pipeline are specifically named as targets:...

Russia says it will pump more gas to Europe after various countries said their supplies had fallen by up to 40% after Moscow cut Ukraine's provision. France, Italy, Germany and Poland were among those reporting falling volumes. Russia said it was sending an extra 95m cubic metres a day to make up for gas "stolen" by Ukraine. Ukraine denies it has siphoned off $25m (£15m) worth of gas from a pipeline crossing its territory after Russia cut off its supply in a price dispute. Russian gas monopoly Gazprom raised the price of 1,000 cubic metres of gas from $50 to...

TALLINN, December 22 (RIA Novosti, Nikolai Adashkevich) - Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said in Moscow Thursday that Estonia could eventually join the North European Gas Pipeline (NEGP) project through a pipeline between Estonia and Finland, which were debating the wisdom of its construction. "The idea of building a natural gas pipeline is being discussed at the moment in terms of its economic viability. So far, it is difficult to speak about the cost of such a project," the minister said. "Although we have been receiving natural gas from Russia, any new sources would enhance the country's energy security." Paet...

Gov. Rick Perry's ceremonial signing of the eminent domain bill Monday in Waco didn't get a positive reaction from his rival for his 2006 reelection, Republican Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, or from Richmond resident and private property rights activist Jack Myska. Strayhorn accused Perry of grandstanding and said the bill is filled with loopholes, and Myska concurred. "I agree with her wholeheartedly," Myska said Tuesday morning, adding he has not yet read the bill thoroughly. Perry officially signed the law into effect on Sept. 1, but the ceremonial signing was postponed due to hurricanes Rita and Katrina. He said Monday...

THE OPPORTUNITIES FROM HIGH GAS PRICES Wow, people are hysterical about gas prices. I heard from one guy who actually said he couldn’t afford a $1 donation for hurricane relief because of gas prices. He emailed this to a long list of people, urging everyone to write Congress to demand oil companies freeze prices at pre-hurricane levels, claiming that oil company profits were too high to begin with. I was embarrassed for the guy. The Fortune 500 company he works for is more profitable than many oil companies. His company showed a net income of 7.6% in 2004. That’s more...

Standing 60 feet above sea level on this oil platform 130 miles southeast of New Orleans, Rab Bruce pointed to where the huge wave slammed into a tangle of grated steel and multicolor pipes. The Petronius deep-water platform, which was hit by a 90-foot wave during Hurricane Ivan last September, is now back on line. "I was just in shock at the damage," said Mr. Bruce, a longtime field coordinator on Chevron's Petronius deepwater platform, which was hit by a 90-foot wave during Hurricane Ivan last September. "I had never seen anything like this. Everything was busted, dangling and messed...

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- Ukraine wants Iran to ship its natural gas to Europe via Ukrainian pipelines, a top Ukrainian official said Tuesday. In a statement released in Kiev, Petro Poroshenko, head of the National State Security and Defense Council, said some 128 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia, Turkmenistan and other countries go through Ukrainian pipelines annually, meeting about 50 percent of European demand. ADVERTISEMENT Given growing European needs for gas, Iran should look to use Ukraine's pipelines in the future, the statement said. "European countries' demand for gas may increase to 480 billion cubic meters a...

MOSCOW (Igor Tomberg, for RIA Novosti) - Ukraine is set to become the first target of a radical change in Russia's gas strategy in the post-Soviet space. Having realized that subsidizing neighbors by providing gas at cut-rate prices does not bring any political dividends and even leads to sizeable economic losses, Russian gas giant Gazprom has declared its intention to raise prices to European levels for CIS countries as well. Previously, the switch to world prices was restrained by Russia's integration ambitions, but now the most important thing is solvent demand, determined by the practical absence of any alternative to...

TIJUANA, Mexico - The men flocked to the cafe under the sign with the cedar tree, symbol of their Mideast home. Here, in this alien border land, it was the beacon that led to an Arab "brother" who would help them complete their journey from Lebanon into America. They would come, sometimes dozens a month over a three-year period, to find Salim Boughader Mucharrafille — the cafe owner who drove a Mercedes and catered to some of Tijuana's more affluent denizens, including workers at the U.S. consulate only a short stroll away. His American customers were unaware that the savvy...

from the May 25, 2005 edition Pipeline politics give Turkey an edge A pipeline that brings Caspian oil to Turkey's coast opens Wednesday. By Yigal Schleifer | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor ISTANBUL – Turkey's heartland of Anatolia - the massive plateau that serves as a land bridge between Asia and Europe - is dotted with the remains of 13th-century inns, reminders of the merchant caravans that traveled the fabled east-west Silk Road. Some 800 years later, Turkey is again trying to take advantage of its strategic location. Today, instead of caravansaries it is building pipelines, and instead of...

The procedure of delivery of Russian gas through the territory of Ukraine became worse after the change of political power in the country. The member of directorate of E.ON Ruhrgas Jochen Weise declared about it on the meeting with Russian journalists in Essen. He did not directly accused Ukraine of unsanctioned gas selection, but gave to understand that conditions of delivery of gas through Ukraine became worse after the president Victor Yushchenko had come to power.

As growing concerns about dwindling global reserves help maintain oil prices close to the $50 a barrel mark, a major supply route linking newly developed oil and gas fields in the Caspian Sea with western markets is due to be opened. The pipeline is expected to spark an economic boom in Baku Within the next few weeks, oil from the Caspian will start flowing into a 1,762 kilometres long pipeline. The pipeline will run from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, via near Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, and across eastern Turkey to the port of Ceyhan, on Turkey's Mediterranean coast....

Energy officials from 12 Black Sea and Caucasus countries have pledged with the EU to development major energy networks, including new pipelines to Caspian Sea oil fields. Evripidis Stylianidis, Greece's overseas trade minister at the end of four days of meetings said on Saturday that the deal is a winner for everyone. "Pipelines are good for the economy, for the environment, and for international development - and that helps peace and stability in the region," he said. Oil companies and regional governments are keen to find alternatives to shipping Caspian oil through Turkey's busy Bosporus Strait, already used to transport more than...

Greece, Russia and Bulgaria to sign pact

PHOENIX (AP) -- Operators of two pipelines that bring gasoline from California refineries to neighboring Western states have shut down the lines as a safety precaution because of record rainfall in California. Houston-based pipeline operator Kinder Morgan Energy Partners shut the line down Sunday. In a fax sent Monday, the company cited "pipeline washouts and other related difficulties." The pipelines -- including one that supplies Arizona with about 70 percent of its gasoline, diesel and jet fuel -- transports gasoline to Arizona and Nevada as well as military bases and airports. Kinder Morgan said there were no immediate supply issues...

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia said it had ordered the construction of an oil pipeline from its huge Siberian oilfields to the Pacific Ocean opposite Japan, in a move to boost export opportunities throughout East Asia and to the United States. AFP/File Photo A "system of pipelines" with an annual capacity of 80 million tonnes would be built from Taishet in Siberia to Perevoznaya near Vladivostok and the eastern port of Nakhodka, the government said in a statement. Energy-thirsty Asian rivals Japan and China have been furiously competing for several years for access to supplies from the world's second biggest oil...

Somebody does not want Iraq's crude oil flowing normally, nor a stable Iraqi economy. The list below the map only represents acts of sabotage directed against Iraq's petroleum infrastructure from November 1st through November 17th. I firmly believe the constant disruptions effecting Iraq's crude oil flow to foreign customers is the devious work of Tehran's terrorist exporting, mullah contolled regimé. A nuclear Iran is now even more dangerous to Iraq and the world.

Canada, Russia sign gas deal Paul Martin calls plans to bring liquefied natural gas to North America 'huge.' CP 2004-10-13 03:13:05 MOSCOW -- Plans for a major deal to bring liquefied natural gas to North America from Russia were announced yesterday as Prime Minister Paul Martin met with top business leaders here. "It's huge," Martin said of the proposal, put forward by Petro-Canada, the former Canadian Crown energy corporation, and Russia's biggest gas producer. Petro-Canada president and chief executive Ron Brenneman outlined a memorandum of understanding that would see the gas shipped to North American markets by 2009. "North American...

Original Title: Pipeline construction begins in the Karaganda district Last week they began work on an oil pipeline to China. The pipe starts near the village of Atasu in the Zhanarkinskiy region and will end in the PRC at Alashan'kou station, a few kilometers past the border. A month ago 'Noviy Vestnik' wrote about a joint project of these governments, but back then the discussion only dealt with intentions. Now the first kilometer sign of the future main is up - there are another 961 to go - and the first joint has been welded. The pipeline is being built...

KIRKUK, Iraq - Saboteurs blew up a junction where multiple oil pipelines cross the Tigris River in northern Iraq on Tuesday, setting off a chain reaction in power generation systems that left the entire country without power, officials said. Firefighters struggled to put out the blaze after the attack near Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad. Crude oil cascaded down the hillside into the river. Fire burned atop the water, fueled by the gushing oil. Beiji is the point where several oil pipelines converge, said Lt. Col. Lee Morrison of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. One of them apparently...

Iraq's Oil Ministry has denied media reports that attacks on its pipelines over the past few days have closed down all oil exports from the south of the country. The reports that oil had stopped flowing created alarm amongst oil traders. Oil prices are only just on their way down after record prices were sparked by threats from followers of rebel Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to attack the pipelines. The threats were part of a three-week uprising in the holy city of Najaf. But a spokesman for the Southern Oil Company says exports are stable at around 1.5 million barrels...

Translation from Hebrew to English by me: The Islamic Jihad organization has called upon the loyal followers of the Shiite radical leader, Muqata Al Sadr, to continue and hit oil pipelines in Iraq. "Al-Sadr has to continue his resistance and call upon his men to continue to hit the oil sources which provide revenue for the occupies," the words of the organization went. Yesterday Al-Sadr's men struck a oil pipeline using an explosive device in the south of the country.

U.S. self-sufficient in gas if drilling, pipelines expanded Washington |Reuters | 06-04-2001 The United States has enough natural gas to generate electricity and keep computers and businesses humming for six decades, but only if Congress opens more federal lands to drilling and more pipelines are built to deliver it, an industry report says. The new report issued by the American Gas Association comes at a time when environmental groups are trying to block a Senate Republican plan to give oil, gas and mining groups access to more federal lands. The United States had natural gas resources totalling 1,258 trillion cubic...

GAZPROM wants exports via Bulgaria expanded 17:12 2004-06-11 Russia's gas company Gazprom projects to increase annual exports through Bulgaria. We plan to build new pipelines in Bulgaria, leading to Greece and Serbia, with annual exports set at 6 billion and 1,5 billion cubic meters respectively, Alexey Borisovich Miller, Chairman of OAO Gazprom Management Committee, explained in the Black Sea city of Varna. Opportunities for improving the cooperation between Bulgaria and Russia in the gas sector were discussed by Miller and President Parvanov. Miller pays a visit to the Black Sea city of Varna in his capacity of President of the...

IRAQ’S oil industry was left crippled yesterday by attacks on pipelines in the north and south of the country, in a warning to the incoming Iraqi government of how fragile its economy will be. Early yesterday, saboteurs blasted two pipelines on the Faw peninsula of southern Iraq, forcing authorities to cut exports through the Gulf by more than half. Later in the day, an explosion ripped through a pipeline linking northern Iraqi oilfields, a North Oil company official said, adding: "It was probably sabotage." Witnesses said fire was still raging last night in the pipeline running from Disi to a...

(Tucson-AP) _ There have been at least 29 acts of sabotage of natural gas pipelines and other gas facilities in Pima and Pinal counties over the past three years. The Arizona Daily Star says according to a search warrant, the acts have endangered the lives of thousands of residents. There have been no injuries, however. One of the acts, could have caused an explosion in SaddleBrooke _ a retirement community north of Tucson. No one has been charged in that act, which the F-B-I considers an act of terrorism. However, the F- 1/8B-I has searched the home of a former...

<p>CARLSBAD — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed on behalf of 26 firefighters and emergency medical personnel seeking damages from El Paso Natural Gas Co. for emotional pain and suffering they say they suffered after an August 2000 pipeline explosion.</p>