Free Republic

Petty Officer 3rd Class Joseph Amorelli, a Coast Guard boatswain's mate, calls to the tower of an Iraqi oil platform to find out who will be on board a supply vessel which will be boarded and searched by Coast Guard personnel. Department of Defense photo by Spc. Chris Jones. With hopes for IraqÂ’s future economic prosperity laying heavily in the oil sector, protection of the industryÂ’s infrastructure of wells, platforms and pipelines is mandatory. Coalition forces in the Arabian Gulf have for a long time been playing an often unsung, sometimes dangerous, but always vital role in keeping IraqÂ’s petroleum...

NEW YORK (NNS) -- The 19th New York City Fleet Week came to a close May 31, as Sailors and Marines left New York City in their wake, headed for their next destination. While visiting the ‘Big Apple,’ Sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen participated in community service events, sports competitions, military demonstrations and Memorial Day remembrances in all five boroughs. “I’m just impressed by the good, positive attitudes and willingness to work that the young Sailors express,” commented Master-at-Arms 2nd Class Paul Ablaza, a Reservist with Naval Security Forces, Naval Weapons Station Earle, Colts Neck, N.J. “Seeing the dedication of...

Greece's seas: the looters' next destination New law opens access for traffickers to a hoard of underwater antiquities Helena Smith in Athens Tuesday December 6, 2005 The Guardian (UK) Lost and found ... a 16th century Spanish cargo ship off Zakynthos When it was first proposed, it seemed like a good idea: open up the Greek seas to divers and create a paradise for tourists underwater. Those who backed the law never thought of it as a windfall for looters, nor did it occur to them that it might put the acquisition policies of museums under further scrutiny. But the...

It was a scenario straight out of a Tom Clancy spy novel. The United States passed on intelligence to its allies that dangerous chemicals could be shipped from a Northeast Asian country to a port in the Arabian Gulf. Japan sent out information that some ships fitting the profile of the suspect vessels had been monitored heading for their destination via the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca.

One of the first questions asked of Condoleezza Rice during her confirmation hearing, came from Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, Richard Lugar. He asked her if the administration would support ratification of the Law of the Seas Treaty. Her answer was an unequivocal "yes." Before he popped the question, with TV cameras running, Lugar said that claims by critics that the treaty would result in the loss of national sovereignty, and that the treaty authorized the UN to collect taxes--were false. Article 2(3) of the treaty says quite clearly, that: "... sovereignty over the territorial sea is exercised subject to this...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

PARIS (AFP) - The North Pole once had a balmy, sub-tropical sea because of extreme global warming, according to European scientists who have carried out the world's deepest drilling into ancient sediment on the far northern seabed. Cores retrieved from up to 430 metres (1,397 feet) below the seafloor in waters 1,300 metres (4,550 feet) deep show that, for a brief period which occurred around 55 million years ago, the Arctic Ocean was around 20 C (68 F), compared with today's typical average temperature of minus 1.5 C (29.3 F), they said on Tuesday. "It occurred during a period called...

Ancient vessel retraces voyages of the past By Stefanos Evripidou IT LOOKS like a tree house stuck on a bamboo banana. In reality it's the incarnation of a pre-Pharaonic reed boat, designed and built to unravel the mysteries of prehistoric navigation. The Abora II drifted in to Larnaca marina yesterday. Weighing in at six- tonnes, the vessel is a totra-reed boat. It is 11.5 metres long, 3.5 metres wide and 1.5 metres deep. The man responsible for building the huge boat is Dominique Goerlitz, a biology teacher at a school in Germany. As a student, Goerlitz was fascinated by the...

ARCHAEOLOGY: ANCIENT SAILING ON HIGH SEAS, EVIDENCE IN USTICA (AGI) - Paestum, Italy, Nov. 7 - Ancient Mediterranean sailors crossed the high seas with techniques of navigation and orentation that we still haven't discovered, contrary to myths that need to be dispelled, such as that the only navigation was local coastal navigation. New evidence has appeared regarding ancient naval presence on the island of Ustica, discovered by underwater excavation last summer carried out by Giuliano Volpe, archaeology professor at the University of Foggia, supported by "Archeologia viva" and the archaeological superintendence of Palermo. Many of the traces of these ancient...