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Posted on 11/01/2008 7:30:38 PM PDT by nwctwx
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(CNN) — Pirates in the Arabian Sea have hijacked a Saudi-owned oil tanker with 25 crew aboard, according to the Bahrain-based U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet.
The Sirius Star — a crude “super tanker” flagged in Liberia and owned by the Saudi Arabian-based Saudi Aramco — was attacked more than 450 nautical miles southeast of Mombasa, Kenya, the statement said. The crew include British, Croatian, Polish, Filippino and Saudi nationals.
The UK Foreign Office confirmed two Britons were aboard and said it was seeking more information about the incident.
A multinational naval force including vessels from the U.S., the UK and Russia has been patrolling the seas near the Gulf of Aden following a sharp increase in pirate attacks in the region. On Sunday pirates seized a 20,000-ton Japanese cargo ship off the coast of Somalia. A Russian patrol ship also thwarted an attack on a Saudi vessel.
Ninety percent of ships transiting the perilous seas are using a guarded corridor and there have been no hijackings inside the zone since it was set up on August 22, Danish Commodore Per Bigum Christensen told CNN last week.
Around 20,000 oil tankers, freighters and merchant vessels pass through the region each year.
“Our presence in the region is helping deter and disrupt criminal attacks off the Somali coast, but the situation with the Sirius Star clearly indicates the pirates’ ability to adapt their tactics and methods of attack” said U.S. Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, commander of the Combined Maritime Forces.
“Piracy is an international crime that threatens global commerce. Shipping companies have to understand that naval forces can not be everywhere. Self protection measures are the best way to protect their vessels, their crews, and their cargo.”
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/11/17/kenya.tanker.pirates/
placemark
Replying to the white van post over here since others were lambasted for posting terrorism thoughts on the fire thread. :(
Is there any news over there in Ca. about the origin of all the fires yet?
I saw that that Montecito may have been started by teenagers? at a place they like to hang out with either cigarettes or a camp fire.
I’ve heard only what you recited - one fire of probable human origin.
Thank you! I guess it will take some time to figure out how the others started.
Yep, most effort appears to be trying to get things under control, which it appears that the weather is finally cooperating.
Al—Qaeda declares war on Iran?
Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:08:41 GMT
The recent news report came just days after media outlets revealed the possibility of Osama bin Laden planning another terrorist operation against the United States.
The abduction of an Iranian attaché in Pakistan can be interpreted as the onset of war between Iran and al-Qaeda, says a senior militant.
“This is payback time for Iran and for its active involvement in destabilizing the Taliban government in Afghanistan and for facilitating the US-led invasion on Afghanistan through pro-Iranian Afghan groups,” Italy’s Adnkronos International news agency quoted a senior militant as saying on condition of anonymity.
“[The diplomat was kidnapped in retaliation for] the arrest of top al-Qaeda leaders in Iran, for facilitating the US invasion on Iraq through pro-Iran militias and last but not the least for waging the war on the Taliban,” claimed the militant.
The news agency did not reveal whether the questioned militant had ties with al-Qaeda.
Unknown gunmen kidnapped Iranian diplomat Heshmatullah Attarzadeh-Niyaki on his way to the Iranian consulate on Thursday in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. His driver was killed during the attack.
Pakistani police have so far arrested five suspects in connection with the case, but the whereabouts of Attarsadeh-Niyaki is still unknown.
A senior Pakistani political advisor, Rehman Malik, said Friday that the unidentified gunmen belonged to the notorious Taliban umbrella group, Tehrik-e-Taliban, although no group has yet claimed responsibility.
The anonymous militant claimed that al-Qaeda will carry out ‘more attacks and actions… against Iranian interests in coming days’.
The Islamic Republic was a leading opponent of the Taliban when the radical regime ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. The two neighbors came close to war in 1998 after the Taliban killed nine Iranian diplomats in the central Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
While US officials continue to accuse Iran of arming militants in Afghanistan and destabilizing Iraq, an October report by the MIT Center for International Studies confirmed that Tehran made major contributions to the war against the Taliban following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=75663§ionid=351020101
AQ theology is basically Sunni derived while Iran is predominantly Shia. The two mix like oil and water.
November 16, 2008, 4:43 PM (GMT+02:00) http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5715
Osama bin Laden plans to test Barack Obama like two former US presidents
Counter-terror sources report that US president-elect Barack Obama, European and Russian heads of state in Washington for the G20 conference over the weekend were briefed about a probable al Qaeda attack.
Obama and his team have been advised that a new al Qaeda strike is highly probable in the United States or against a key US target in Europe, North Africa or the Middle East.
Sources disclosed that al Qaeda’s Yemen base, a reliable barometer for Osama bin Laden’s schemes, issued a Directive to All Fighters in Arabia on Nov. 9 presaging a major operation in the United States that will “change the political and economic world” and be “far bigger than 9/11.”
The notice said “the operation is very near” and “precise instructions were in the hands of “the fighters, who are already on their way to America” armed with bin Laden’s orders. The pretext offered for the attack is the rejection by the US and Europe of al Qaeda’s four-year old truce offer whose original pre-condition was the withdrawal of their armies from Iraq and Afghanistan.
The day after the new president’s election, al Qaeda issued a little-noticed statement declaring Barack Obama a murtad, i.e. an apostate whose betrayal of Islam is judged the most heinous. Believers have the duty to execute a murtad unlike other non-believers whose death sentence is optional.
Thursday night, Nov. 14, Central Intelligence Director Gen. Michael Hayden said: “Al Qaeda, operating from its safe haven in Pakistan’s tribal areas, remains the most clear and present danger to the United States.” He was addressing a Washington think-tank.
“Today, virtually every major terrorist threat that my agency is aware of has threads back to the tribal areas. Whether it is command and control, training, direction, money, capabilities, there is a connection to the FATA (Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas.)”
Hayden also mentioned Yemen and Somalia as important al Qaeda theaters of operation.
In private, most heads of the intelligence agencies fighting al Qaeda admit that an attack on the United States or major American interest outside is only a matter of time.
The No. 2 leader in Al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is dishing out criticism to United States President-Elect, Barack Obama. According to reports, a new audio message has surfaced online where Al-Zawahiri calls Obama a dishonorable man.
Digital Journal — The audio message that also comes with still photos was released by As-Sahab, Al-Qaeda’s official media website.
According to reports, Al-Zawahiri says Obama is “the direct opposite of honorable black Americans” like Malcolm X. The Associated Press also reports he uses a “demeaning racial term” to describe Obama. Other reports indicate that racial term was “house negro.”
The still pictures that play over top of the audio message feature al-Zawahiri, Malcolm X praying and Obama with Jewish leaders.
The message is the first time the Al Qaeda has commented on Obama’s win. They say the President-elect’s plan to move soldiers to Afghanistan will fail because Afghans will fight back.
In the broadcast, Al-Zawahiri also says, “The dogs of Afghanistan have found the flesh of your soldiers to be delicious, so send thousands after thousands of them.”
He also warned Obama, saying, “It appears that you don’t know anything about the Muslim Ummah (community) and its history, and the fate of the traitors who co-operated with the invaders against it, and don’t know anything about the history of Afghanistan and its free and defiant Muslim people.”
Obama has publicly stated his administration’s top priority will be to uproot Al Qaeda and capture its leader, Osama bin Laden.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/262478
Our biggest problem in Afghanistan is with our allies ability to hold their own. They are much more constrained than our forces and the Tali take advantage of that. The tali have been zotted in droves over the past couple of years and most of their ‘successes’ are only PR.
U.S.: Senior Iranian Commando Arrested in Iraq
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
The U.S. military says it has arrested an alleged senior member of the Iranian security forces suspected of funneling weapons into Iraq.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,454504,00.html
China’s hackers stealing US defence secrets, says congressional panel
Owen Bowcott
guardian.co.uk,
Thursday November 20 2008 17.45 GMT
China is stealing sensitive information from American computer networks and stepping up its online espionage, according to a US congressional panel.
Beijing’s investment in rocket technology is also accelerating the militarisation of outer space and lifting it into the “commanding heights” of modern warfare, the advisory group claims. The strident warning, which may have a chilling effect on relations between the two Pacific powers, comes in the annual report of the US-China economic and security review commission due today.
A summary of the study, released in advance, alleges that networks and databases used by the US government and American defence contractors are regularly targeted by Chinese hackers. “China is stealing vast amounts of sensitive information from US computer networks,” says Larry Wortzel, chairman of the commission set up by Congress in 2000 to investigate US-China issues.
snip~~
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/20/america-china-hacking-security-obama
Another major international financial institution has had its computer system attacked by unknown cyber-hackers, FOX News has learned.
The discovery of the assault last week threw into crisis the Washington, D.C. based International Monetary Fund (IMF), which offers emergency financial aid to countries faced with balance-of-payments problems, and provoked a shutdown of IMF computers that lasted for several days.
In October, FOX News reported that the computer system at the World Bank had also been hacked over a period of months.
FOX News has been unable to determine what, if any, information may have been obtained by the hackers. The IMF denies any critical intrusion took place.
The spyware discoveries came at a particularly sensitive time for the international bailout institution, which along with the World Bank is expected to play a central role in trying to combat global financial turmoil. The pair of institutions are described on the IMF’s website as the “twin intergovernmental pillars supporting the structure of the world’s economic and financial order.”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,452348,00.html
The Pentagon has suffered from a cyber attack so alarming that it has taken the unprecedented step of banning the use of external hardware devices, such as flash drives and DVD’s, FOX News has learned. The attack came in the form of a global virus or worm that is spreading rapidly throughout a number of military networks. “We have detected a global virus for which there has been alerts, and we have seen some of this on our networks,” a Pentagon official told FOX News. “We are now taking steps to mitigate the virus.” The official could not reveal the source of the attack because that information remains classified. Military computers are often referred to as part of the Global Information Grid, or GIG, a system composed of 17 million computers, many of which house classified or sensitive information. FOX News obtained a copy of one memo sent out last week to an Army division within the Pentagon warning of the cyber attack. “Due to the presence of commercial malware, CDR USSTRATCOM has banned the use of removable media (thumb drives, CDRs/DVDRs, floppy disks) on all DoD networks and computers effective immediately.” FOX News’ Justin Fishel and Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/11/20/pentagon-cyber-siege-unprecedented-attack/
Thanks for the ping. I think we have much to fear from China. While all eyes are focused on the Mid-East, China’s military build up should be garnering more attention. The last time I was there, I was amazed at all the six and eight lane highways being built. I asked our English speaking Chinese driver why? (since there was so little traffic on them).......his answer.....”for the military”.
That was rather chilling.
That is chilling!
My Mother told me more than 30 years ago that the Chinese would take over the world one day. I guess unfortunately she was right.
DOD bans the use of removable, flash-type drives on all government computers
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2135649/posts
DOD won’t re-route ships
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2135625/posts
Pentagon Hit by Unprecedented Cyber Attack
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2135637/posts
placemark
Interesting and not at all a surprise.
Laughing and thinking of the Beale wagon road that goes across America, it was also for the military, built in the run up to the Civil War.
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