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In Jordan

If you are too lazy to click the link, I quote, "Airframe development and production of the Concorde were undertaken jointly by Aerospatiale and BAe, with two final assembly lines, at Toulouse and Filton respectively."

Here's some advice: next time do a quick search to save yourself the shame of your profane public display of ignorance. Hah!

But strangely, there's no mention of it.

You missed my point. My point was that a radar return off the F-117 (or B-2) is more likely then not going to be bounced off the internal structure of the aircraft -- since the external structure either absorbs radar signals or reflects them back away from the intended receiver. My other point being that an RWS system could work in theory without external sensors by picking up the transmissions that weren't absorbed by the external structure -- since transmissions that were absorbed (or reflected elsewhere) are no threat. Try reading my statement before you jump all over it. Neither does ascribing fantastic capability to RWS (or is it ESM? How about BVR - Beyond Vague Ranging system?).

In that single comment you reveal your ignorance and arrogance about modern military technology. This has nothing to do with fancy Star Trek style technology. Most of this stuff has been around for decades. The concepts are nothing new -- they go all the way back to WW2.

To quote from this military site:

ESM is the area of Electronic Warfare (EW) that evaluates passive electronic devices used for signal intelligence (SIGINT) collection. These types of systems are RF based. ESM system evaluations include but are not limited to: SIGINT library validation, direction finding array calibration and validation, target fixing algorithm validation, intercept capability, and evaluation of special signals.

Here are some other interesting websites that you should consider reading. Google is your friend.

None of this is "fantastic capability" or 24th century technology. None of this implies mystical powers on the part of the F-117 (or any other modern aircraft or ship).

Now, unlike you, I don't pretend to be a know all expert on modern military technology. But I also don't pretend that just because I don't understand something or haven't heard about it that it must be magical Star Trek technology clearly beyond our current means.

I have no idea how playing Harpoon (whatever that is), Exocets and F-14's got into the mix.

Harpoon is an all encompassing sea-air battle simulation coined by Larry Bond that is played on paper rules or with PC software. If your interested (it's really quite good) I suggest you check it out. Exocets and F-14s got into the mix because you made the asinine comment about how realistic Top Gun was -- I was blowing this argument out of the water. Talk to any real Naval aviator (or Air Force for that matter) -- they think it's one of the funniest movies ever made. Though they would probably agree with you about the flight instructor sleeping with Tom Cruise part ;)

Modern weapons systems are limited by existing technology and the laws of physics, not magic not mysticism

No disagreement. You just don't seem to have an understanding of what modern technology is capable of. Read up on ESM/RWS technology sometime -- I think you'll be surprised at what it's capable of -- and it's hardly new -- it's been around (albeit in more primitive form) since WW2.

Google for 'kh-12' and 'hubble' together, or 'kh-11' and 'hubble'.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/question529.htm

http://www.astronautix.com/craft/kh11.htm

http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/systems/kh-1 2. htm

http://www.janes.com/aerospace/military/news/jsd/j sd011017_1_n.shtml

Actually, that's depressing. We have several Hubble-type satellites up there that our government just flings up there whenever the hell it wants and it won't save the one that people actually care about!? Argh. As if I weren't furious enough...

Flight 103 exploded at 32,000 feet.

Jane's Transport News
Pan Am 103 was literally ripped apart by an explosion centred upon the forward cargo hold. The complete wing primary structure, incorporating the centre section, came to ground at the southern edge of Lockerbie. Other major parts of the aircraft, including the engines, also landed in the town, while sections of the fuselage forward of the centre of the explosion landed in the countryside to the east. Lighter debris was strewn to the east as far as the North Sea. This wreckage fell in two trails to the north and south of the town.

The devastation wrought on Lockerbie was immense. The wing impacted in the Sherwood Crescent area, leaving a crater approximately 47 metres (155 feet) long with a volume calculated to be 560 cubic metres. A 60 feet long section of fuselage fell into a housing estate at Rosebank Crescent, just over 600 metres from the crater. The complete fuselage forward of the location of the explosion and incorporating the flight deck and nose landing gear was found resting on its left side as a single piece in a field known as Tundergarth approximately 4 km miles east of Lockerbie.

Of the several large pieces of Pan Am 103 that fell into the town, the impact of the wing structure caused a fireball several hundred feet across to ignite with the result that flaming debris was thrown into the air and caused further fires where it landed. The No 3 engine was seen falling out of the sky as a ball of fire with a trail of flame and embedded itself in a road in the northeast part of the town. The three remaining engines landed in the Netherplace area of Lockerbie.

I'll answer, even to an AC. #1 - it would be nice to know, but since Israel is the only nuclear state never to have signed the NPT, or agree to international monitoring of its weapons programmes, it's a little difficult. We have to rely on sources like Janes, who estimate 200-500 warheads. #2 - Israel would be exactly where it is, since none of its neighbours has the conventional capability to overcome Israels forces, with or without nuclear weapons. Egypt isn't interested, Jordan is too small, and Syria would be restricted to too small a front line to maunt an effective attack. #3 - agreed - there is no need for racism here, or anywhere. It's a question of right and wrong, not whether we like or dislike particular racial stereotypes. #4 - this is emphatically not true. Palestine was offered a very poor deal, with non-contiguous areas forming the 'state' (in reality a series of bantustans easily isolated from one another), with the loss of not 2% or 5% of the territory, as is commonly thought, but nearly 10%. Israel even proposed to keep the border area on the Jordanian side. This was not an offer that any sane man would accept. Even Barak, after the offer was declined, tried to keep the talks going, but the upcoming Israeli election (in which, worst luck, Sharon came to power) made a deal impossible. #5 - Geneva Conventions apply only to states. There is no war between Palestine and Israel, because Palestine is not yet a state. The parent attempts to apply the Geneva Conventions to a resistance struggle against occupation. The applicable Geneva Conventions are the first and fourth, covering settlement of occupied territories, collective punishment of occupied peoples and interference with medical personnel. This is not a religious struggle, no matter how you try to paint it. Israel is occupying land gained by force, and is acting illegally in settling that land and in its treatment of the local population. Just remember that the Germans viewed French resistance actions as terrorism - Israel is the invader here, and should follow international norms and law.

the fact that many nations make official statements to the effect of: "we would never do what the U.S. is doing" just means that those nations are unable to do what the U.S. is doing and regret it bitterly

So why does the NSA emplyee the most people of any goverment TLA? FBI,CIA

Because the CIA's dirty work is mostly done by private corporate contractors (Wackenhut, Carlyle, and The Curry Company are the big ones), some entertainment companies (remember MCA, now part ofUniversal Studios but I'm sure they're still active in the comunity) and an assortment of airlines (Pan Am got screwed for helping out), shipping companies (still working on tracking these), and import/export businesses (mostly furniture and lighting, some appliance). There are also some strange connections to Scientology, The Landmark Education Corporation, and The Moonies.

The CIA has been known to work with terrorist organisations to achieve thier desired objectives.

The FBI, CIA, and the DEA, also contract various crime organisations, individual criminals, and run of the mill citizens to do work for them. Often these folk have no idea who it is they are working for.

The NSA, for the most part, uses in house employees to analyze intelligence data, monitor foriegn communications, and ensure the security of comunications for the other departments and the military. In other words, they hire a lot of geeks, have some clue about the internet (they like it), and don't really mind if you encrypt your own data (security for all is more secure than security for some, plus breaking it will be a nice challenge.)

--qtp

As a UK citizen (also a social democracy, at least by US perceptions) I really quite like Switzerland's model (far more democratic than the UK, which is still tied up with hundreds of years worth of elderly legislation and precident).

On the down side, don't they still have conscription in Switzerland?

I am very anti conscription (except in times of war where it comes essential for the survival of citizens of the state (and/or their civil rights), as in the two previous world wars).

Not least because it's horribly inefficient and the resultant conscripts are worse than useless in performing actual modern military duties (which is not just my opinion, but one backed by the military intelligence community, and a topic previously covered by Janes) but also because I don't think the state should arbitrarily order people around (as I believe the state should serve the people, not the other way round).

Unlike JFK I think people should always question "what the state can do for them" rather than ask "What can I do for the state?" (the state should always have justify it's existence and every tax is levies and spends on bureaucracy and every individual it employs or gives money to for any service or goods, or whenever it asks it's citizens to give up their time or put themselves at risk.

Assuming it's still active are there any plans to abolish conscription in Switzerland (as it has been - or is being - in the rest of Europe)?

Read about the biometrics for visas and passports
at Jane's

Expect implanted RFID tags next from the
Homeland

Cheers,
W00t

Get Your War On 25

And the faster CPUs gave rise to the OOP paradigm. While it primarily is a nice theoretical concept for safer and more secure program, it's used these days just for code-bloat and GUI overload. Inpedendent studies show that in fact 73 percent of all "OOP" code is just imperative with C++ class bloat added

I never thought the Osprey (latest military fly-by-wire plane) would need a reset button, and that this reset button would kill people, but it does!

The Concorde had received several upgrades since it came in service, such as wing modifications to reduce drag. This page retraces the plane's history and technology in details. I'm also aware of a complete cockpit avionics overhaul (CRT screens etc.) in the early 90's that doesn't seem to be listed in the page.

Nevertheless, supersonic flight sucks way too much fuel to be cost-effective enough to offer attracive fares, that's why we're gonna see more super-carriers like the A380 as soon as more airports can manage the passenger load.

Cheers,
max

Try Janes and Foreign Affairs give fairly unbiased analysis of such things.

Soyuz is characterized in the popular media as an aging, broken-down spacecraft, but the fact is that it is one of the most reliable and efficient manned spacecraft that has ever been produced. The Soyuz has a launch escape system which has been used once, in 1983, to blast the crew away from their exploding rocket (in the words of one site, "The crew landed close to the launch site, badly bruised after surviving nearly 20g acceleration, but they were still alive.") This is unlike the shuttle, in which escape is impossible for the first two minutes of flight, while the solid boosters (which can't be turned off) are firing. Soyuz has not had a fatal accident since 1971, and has had no major safety issue since 1988. Personally, given the choice between flying on the Shuttle and flying on Soyuz, I would pick the latter.

Spaceflight tends to reward simple and time-tested designs over new and complex. I have read at least one account suggesting that NASA resurrect the Gemini spacecraft for crew transfer to and from the ISS, since it was one of the most reliable spacecraft the US has ever flown.

...shoot them 10,000 miles straight up into the air...

Okay, so it's nit-picky.

Defence Budget for 2k3

um... we are going to spend almost 10x that next year in defence alone. We could create a beowulf clusters of space stations instead!!

Looks a lot like Boeing's unmanned fighter prototype, the X-45 which is going to have missiles in an internal bay, I think (pop it open briefly to fire).

Since no one claim to understand how or why his approach works (if it does), maybe this is an unexpected and unnoticed side effect?

First Law: Actions Have Consequences

Nick Cook used to be an editor for Janes - so is a credible source for this sort of stuff.

More details on the book - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0767906276/ ref%3Dbr%5Fb%5Fnr%5F5/103-1437011-7987841

I went to the Farnborough airshow at the weekend and there were some serious hardware which appeared to defeat gravity.

With the aid of a few thousand pounds of thrust, yes.

not according to Janes http://www.janes.com/defence/air_forces/news/jawa/ jawa001013_1_n.shtml

Either way, I'm not gonna argue with one :)

The UFO sightings are the strongest arguement for the existenct of Project Aurora, the top secret latest hypersonic aircraft out of the US black budget.
Aurora Project Hypersonic Aircraft
has a good image of the "Donut on a rope" contrail that a pulse ramjet is supposed to make, which is thought to be the power plant of the aircraft.
Janes Aerospace has given the Aurora an official entry after sighting the characteristic contrail.

1st a little background. When LM 1st decided to tender for the JSF they put forward plans for a smaller cunard foreplane aircraft (a la the Israeli Lavi, the Eurofighter, the Dassault Rafale etc). They even developed a Large Scale Powered Model (LSPM) to demonstrate their JAST concept. A number of Small Scale Powered Models (SSPMs) were also tested to develop a basic understanding of the hover and transition regions. But pretty quicky they realised they could not get the design sorted out within the timeframe, so they went & knocked on the door of the Yakovlev OKB in Russia. In 1992, Lockheed Martin signed an agreement with the Russian Yakovlev Design Bureau & Pratt & Whitney signed one with the Soyuz Aero Engine Company for information on the supersonic Yak-141 STOVL fighter and its three bearing swivel duct nozzle, etc. Yakovlev was paid 'several dozen million dollars', P&W also spent some small change on a license from the Soyuz Aero Engine Company . Its no big secret outside of the US.

Now lets see what AeroWorld Net has to say:

..In 1992/93 Lockheed contracted Yakovlev on some work pertaining to short take-off/vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft studies in reference to the JAST (JSF) project. Yakovlev shared its STOVL technologies with the US company for several dozen million dollars.

Former Yakovlev employees accuse Yakovlev heads of taking personal interest out of the deal with Lockheed, because the official sum of the contract did not correspond with the value of the information presented to the US company. The data was on the Yak-141 test program, aerodynamics and design features, including the design of the R-79 engine nozzles.

After a careful study of those materials, Lockheed - without much noise - changed its initial JSF proposal, including a design of the engine nozzles that is now very similar to those of the Yak-141...

H'mm I wonder what the Russian Aerospace guide has to say, more specifically the archived July/August 95 issue of Cosmonautics

...Lockheed Martin is also cooperating with the Yakovlev Design Bureau to build an advanced fighter/attack jet for Air Force and Navy use. The deal is still pending Russian government approval, but plans call for a prototype to be ready by 2000 and operational plane by 2010. The plane could end up replacing the F-14, 15E, 16, 111, 117, and AV-8B. Yakovlev's contribution will be based on its
recent experience with the Yak-141 VTOL fighter.
...

Now that website may have a Russian slant so lets see what Jane's has to say:

... Lockheed Martin also turned to Russia for technical expertise, purchasing design data from Yakovlev...

I wonder what is says in Aviation Week & Space Technology 1995, v142n25, Jun 19, p. 74-77

Lockheed Martin is turning to Russia's Yakovlev Design Bureau for help in designing short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft for the US Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) competition.

Maybe even The Hindu , 'India's National Newspaper' has something to say on the subject.

...The rise and rise of western dominance since the end of the cold war has given many in countries like India the impression that the former ``eastern bloc'', and particularly Russia, has nothing left of any scientific or technological value. It will therefore surprise many that Lockheed Martin went ahead with development of its successful JSF bid only after getting the design cleared by Russia's Yakovlev aeronautical bureau because they were so impressed by the latter's short take off and vertical landing (STOVL) prototype, the Yak 41. This naval fighter was flying a dozen years ago (!) and only an explosion on board the aircraft carrier `Sergei Gorshkov' (which the Indian Navy is in the process of purchasing) and the economic travails of the disintegrating Soviet Union stopped further development.

Now I wonder what the Google cached pages of the Airforce Magazine have on the subject

...In a postCold War irony, Lockheed Martin consulted with the Yakovlev design bureau of Russia early in the JSF design process because the Yak-141 used a similar approach, though that airplane never made it to series production...

...The swiveling rear exhaust is a licensed design from the Yakovlev design bureau in Russia, which triedit out on the Yak-141 STOVL fighter...

I wonder what they say on the actual JSF page:

...The exhaust from the engine flows through the 3 Bearing Swivel Nozzle (3BSN). The 3BSN nozzle, developed by Rolls-Royce, was patterned along the lines of the exhaust system on the Yakovlev Yak-141 STOVL prototype that flew at the 1992 Farnborough air show....

I'd suggest you also check out the French Prototypes.com website . In partuclar their (Googlised into English) pages that explain the whole process on & the evolution from the Yak-36 to the Yak-38 to the Yak-141 & finally the Yak-41 & the stillborn Yak-43, which so heavily influenced the winning JSF design that LM terminated their double diamond canard foreplane CALF/JAST program to & started all over again using the Yak-43 design they got in their technolgy tranfer agreement with Yakovlev as their new starting point.

& Too finish off, whats say we look at some profile pics

The Yak-141

The stillborn Yak-43 circa 1993

The LM X-35

It seems the LM X-35 looks a lot more like the Yak-43 than the LM's canard foreplane CALF/JAST prototype. Basically the differances are a more stealthy body, uncanted wings & a lift fan rather than a lift jet. Funny thing is back then in the early 90's the Soyuz Engine Company was right in the process of designing a shafted lift fan to replace the old Rybinsk lift jet setup. I won't even start on the vectored rear nozzle setup on the P$W 135 engine which appears to be an exact copy of the Soyuz R79 (ie I'll save the nozzle pics for another day).

Courtesy of Jane's International Security News

Avoiding the real questions

The controversy raging in the US over
whether warnings about potential terror
attacks by Al-Qaeda were ignored before
11 September hardly comes as a surprise.
What is far more serious - and has yet to
be properly investigated - is why two
successive administrations took a series of
ultimately disastrous political decisions
concerning Osama bin Laden's terrorist
network and its backers, the Taliban
regime.

Since the hijackings, criticism has tended
to be directed at the US intelligence
agencies and the Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS), rather than
the administration of US President George
W. Bush or that of his predecessor, Bill
Clinton. However, as more evidence
emerges about the type of intelligence
which was available - and those who had
access to this material, but failed to make
use of it - the politicians are going to have
to answer some very awkward questions.

While it could be argued that there have
been intelligence failures, the more critical
issue is why there was such a
determination on the part of both
administrations to avoid any serious action
against the Al-Qaeda network or the
Taliban. As JID revealed last year, Russia's
intelligence services had been extremely
active in using their extensive operations in
and around Afghanistan to build up a very
detailed blueprint of the Taliban regime, its
close links with the Al-Qaeda organisation
and the extent to which both were actively
supported by the Pakistani military and the
Inter-Service Intelligence agency (ISI). The
Russian permanent mission to the United
Nations provided a report on this subject to
the UN Security Council on 9 March 2001
(see JID 5 October 2001).

However, it is becoming clear that this was
only the most high profile of a number of
attempts by the Russians to alert the US
and other members of the Security Council
to the extent of the inter-dependence
between the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and the ISI.
According to JID's Russian sources, there
was a regular flow of information from
Moscow to the US dating back to the last
years of the Clinton presidency.

It seems apparent, however, that although
this intelligence was being received by the
CIA and other US agencies, there was a
distinct lack of enthusiasm within political -
as opposed to military - circles for the
launch of pre-emptive strikes against either
the Taliban or Al-Qaeda.

However, given the detailed intelligence
being provided by the Russians - and the
fact that Bin Laden was making very clear
threats to launch further strikes against US
targets - it seems bizarre, to say the least,
that no high-level political decision was
taken to focus US intelligence efforts on
Al-Qaeda and its international network,
particularly following the bomb attack on the
USS Cole in Aden harbour, Yemen, in
October 2000.

Janesguide.com? (OK, I admit it, I looked.)

But for a few shining moments, I had visions of the pr0n vesrion of Jane's Information Group. I mean, imagine naked chicks posing beside every entry in something like All The World's Aircraft.

(Yeah... hot chix, and the state-of-the-art weapons systems they use to defend their land, sea, air, and space. Rock on. What, your army doesn't have hot chicks? Doesn't even allow your civvie chicks to do air traffic control? Gets cheezed off at us when they find out that our civvy and military chicks not only can, but do? Geez, bub, I dunno what to say, other than it must suck to be in your . Bet they don't even have beer in your officer's mess, either. :-)

Janesguide.com? (OK, I admit it, I looked.)

But for a few shining moments, I had visions of the pr0n vesrion of Jane's Information Group. I mean, imagine naked chicks posing beside every entry in something like All The World's Aircraft.

(Yeah... hot chix, and the state-of-the-art weapons systems they use to defend their land, sea, air, and space. Rock on. What, your army doesn't have hot chicks? Doesn't even allow your civvie chicks to do air traffic control? Gets cheezed off at us when they find out that our civvy and military chicks not only can, but do? Geez, bub, I dunno what to say, other than it must suck to be in your . Bet they don't even have beer in your officer's mess, either. :-)

The Drudge Report - Hey, he links to the important and interesting stuff in the mainstream media and breaks the stuff they won't report. What's not to like?

Stratfor.com - Great, clean analysis that is hard to find elsewhere. Drawback - has one free article each day on their site; full access requires a subscription of $80-$120. Still cheaper than ignorance or Jane's.

Debka.com - Provides interesting intel on the Middle-East from an Israeli perspective.

Anyone else have any favorite newshound/intel links?

I'd imagine they can be opened.

--
Evan

3. To match the speed of the lumbering prop plane, the fighter jet had to fly much slower than usual. Cars get more maneverable the slower you drive them, but jets get less stable.

To quote from this good Jane's article:
...the EP-3 was doing 180 knots indicated air speed at an altitude of 22,000ft. Such an airspeed is uncomfortable for the F-8, approaching as it is the aircraft's stall speed, leaving it much less manoeuvrable than at its normal cruising speed (an F-8's design maximum level speed is 701kts).

By Craig Hoyle, JDW Aviation Editor, London

Pakistan was expected to take delivery of its first two batches of new-generation F-7-series fighter aircraft from China in late December, according to Pakistan Air Force Chief of Staff Air Chief Marshal (ACM) Mushaf Ali Mir.

The F-7PGs were scheduled to arrive in Karachi on 17 and 20 December, said ACM Mir during an interview with the Rawalpindi Jang newspaper. The first deliveries, totalling around 40 aircraft, are slated for the 31st Fighter Wing at Quetta/Samungli, with both batches to enter frontline service by April 2002.

The shipments precede the planned retirement of Pakistan's remaining F-6 fighters on 23 March.

Courtesy of Jane's Defence Weekly.

And, of course, the link to the article is here.

The first Improved Crystal was launched in 1990, followed by successors in February 1992, December 1995 and December 1996. Each Improved Crystal costs in excess of US$1 billion with a further US$400 million spent on launch costs.

Technical capabilities allow Improved Crystal to resolve square or circular objects as small as 10cm but linear structures of 5-8cm can also be detected. With this resolution the visible optical spectrum can differentiate uniformed people from civilian personnel and determine the size and carrying capacity of small vehicles or two-wheeled motorised equipment. Infra-red imaging allows camouflage and vegetation to be identified as well as natural surface flora modified by the presence of groups of several people.

The first Improved Crystal was launched in 1990, followed by successors in February 1992, December 1995 and December 1996. Each Improved Crystal costs in excess of US$1 billion with a further US$400 million spent on launch costs.

Technical capabilities allow Improved Crystal to resolve square or circular objects as small as 10cm but linear structures of 5-8cm can also be detected. With this resolution the visible optical spectrum can differentiate uniformed people from civilian personnel and determine the size and carrying capacity of small vehicles or two-wheeled motorised equipment. Infra-red imaging allows camouflage and vegetation to be identified as well as natural surface flora modified by the presence of groups of several people.

Fwiw: Smyge was the first test platform in the Swedish stealth programme. Apparently it was successful enough that the Royal Swedish Navy decided to go ahead and order six corvettes based on Smyge technology. These corvettes have been dubbed the "Visby Class Corvette" (the first vessel built was the Visby, named after a Swedish city). The shipyard has some information about the Visby corvettes. The Visby naming ceremony, held in June 2000, was reported on by Jane's defense.

Amongst the other interesting stuff are some very large hovercraft (that I have seen in shipyards in St. Petersburg) and some ground-effect ships (mostly in/around the Black Sea).

Janes is very good as a source of information, but they cost big bucks for a subscription.

http://www.janes.com/defence/naval_forces/news/jdw /jdw010417_3_n.shtml

Here's the tidbit of interest: "The admiral also told reporters that the navy was launching the construction of the new Project 20380 corvettes, which will be used for coastal patrol, escort and antisubmarine warfare operations. The first of class is scheduled to be laid down at the Severnaya Verf shipyard in St Petersburg later this year. The design of this 1,900t stealthy corvette was developed by the Almaz Central Marine Design bureau."

Note that this article uses the term "stealthy corvette," which I suspect may have a different connotation from the 'stealth' technology we're generally used to.

can be found here and here

What I'm saying is that these extremists want us dead and our society destroyed. And there is absolutely nothing we can peacefully do, politically or otherwise, to change that. There is no reasoning with these extremists because their end goal is the complete and utter destruction of our (re: most average Americans') way of life.

Oh, and as far as military action in the Middle East for centuries goes...don't forget war amongst the tribes, fueding warlords, etc, etc. It ins't just the West that's been fighting there.

If there were effective alternatives to forcefully protecting ourselves, then I'd love to hear them.

And just what is the West trying to accomplish in Afghanistan?

• whatreallyhappened.com
• WAR ON TERROR: THE REAL VICTIMS
• Boom, Bust and Echo: A Dark Theory Behind Black Tuesday (This one is a little over the top, but there is some interesting information)
• Asking "Why?"
• Explaining Arab anger
• They can't see why they are hated
• Who did it? Foreign Report presents an alternative view
• When Will We Learn?
• Why we should reject American propaganda
• emperors-clothes.com
• zmag.org, see especially:
  • The New War Against Terror

But, you can make it clear to other nations that a given government will not be allowed to exist if said government either turns a blind eye to terrorists operating in its borders or, even worse, endorses and supports terrorists.

"Since the ban imposed by Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar in July 2000, areas of Afghanistan under the control of the Islamist militia have witnessed a remarkable transformation as opium poppy cultivation has almost totally disappeared. This has resulted in some 70% of the world's illicit opium production being wiped out virtually at a stroke."

Afghanistan used to produce 75% of the world's heroin, according to Jane's Security. However, they claim that the Taliban and Pakistan, at the urging of the United Nations, have recently shut down poppie production in their respective territories.

The only remaining source of Afghanistan heroin seems to be the region under control of the Northern Alliance.

If you ran a $300,000,000,000 / year business (yes, that's 11 zeros, or about $1,000 for every person in the USA) and someone stepped on most of it, what would you do?

Now imagine that you are the sort of person who routinely uses violence to make permanent 'object lessons' of people for a couple of hundred dollars. What wouldn't you be willing to do to regain more than $200,000,000,000 per year?

You are correct. The week of Sept. 11, James
Woolsey, ex-CIA director had an article in the
the Daily Telegraph. Use their search engine to find the
article with a search on with the option
"in the last year".

He suggested that one of the hijackers had a meeting before Sept. 11 with an Iraqi government official. Woolsey theorized that the alleged Iraqi participation in the WTC attacks was to "finish the job".

Furthermore, airborne anthrax requires more
than ground swabbing. Iraq has airborne anthrax capabilities. Although chemical weapons are more
accurate and effective than biological weapons,the marginal paranoia of the anthrax cases appear to have increasing returns to scale after President-Vice Cheney said "in all likelihood" it was bin Laden without providing any evidence.

I am most offended by Congress approving U.S $60
billion without any quesions.

The "war on terrorism" is a "war on Afghanistan"
and soon to become, after some Fleischer spin-
doctoring and public memory loss, the "war on Afghanistan and Uuhhhmmmm...Iraq (for the 3rd?!!!!! time). That's why they fingered Afghanistan to begin with and, of course,
to "stabilize" Afghanistan so the oil and gas
pipelines can be completed:

Janes has an article on U.S. intervention to
"stabilize" Afghanistan titled
Prospects For A Post-Taliban Afghanistan:

"It now appears certain that any effort to
regenerate Afghanistan is predicated upon
the removal of the Taliban, and the terrorist
attacks upon New York and Washington
have given the US a perfect opportunity to
legitimise its plan to do just that (which
existed well before 11 September)."

How convenient.

This article appeared yesterday at www.janes.com [janes.com]

"It now appears certain that any effort to

regenerate Afghanistan is predicated upon

the removal of the Taliban, and the terrorist

attacks upon New York and Washington

have given the US a perfect opportunity to

legitimise its plan to do just that (which

existed well before 11 September). "

The link for this discussion is :

Prospects For A Post-Taliban Afghanistan [janes.com]

You draw your own conclusions in conjunction with the Caspian Sea Region oil link at the U.S. Department of Energy:

Caspian Sea Region [doe.gov]

This article appeared yesterday at www.janes.com [janes.com]

"It now appears certain that any effort to

regenerate Afghanistan is predicated upon

the removal of the Taliban, and the terrorist

attacks upon New York and Washington

have given the US a perfect opportunity to

legitimise its plan to do just that (which

existed well before 11 September). "

The link for this discussion is :

Prospects For A Post-Taliban Afghanistan [janes.com]

You draw your own conclusions in conjunction with the Caspian Sea Region oil link at the U.S. Department of Energy:

Caspian Sea Region [doe.gov]

Prospects For A Post-Taliban Government

The above article appeared yesterday at www.janes.com [janes.com]

"It now appears certain that any effort to

regenerate Afghanistan is predicated upon

the removal of the Taliban, and the terrorist

attacks upon New York and Washington

have given the US a perfect opportunity to

legitimise its plan to do just that (which

existed well before 11 September). "

The link for this discussion is :

www.janes.com [janes.com]

You draw your own conclusions in conjunction with the Caspian Sea Region oil link at the U.S. Department of Energy:

Caspian Sea Region [doe.gov]

Prospects For A Post-Taliban Government

The above article appeared yesterday at www.janes.com [janes.com]

"It now appears certain that any effort to

regenerate Afghanistan is predicated upon

the removal of the Taliban, and the terrorist

attacks upon New York and Washington

have given the US a perfect opportunity to

legitimise its plan to do just that (which

existed well before 11 September). "

The link for this discussion is :

www.janes.com [janes.com]

You draw your own conclusions in conjunction with the Caspian Sea Region oil link at the U.S. Department of Energy:

Caspian Sea Region [doe.gov]

Prospects for a Post-Taliban Afghanistan:

The above article appeared yesterday at www.janes.com

"It now appears certain that any effort to
regenerate Afghanistan is predicated upon
the removal of the Taliban, and the terrorist
attacks upon New York and Washington
have given the US a perfect opportunity to
legitimise its plan to do just that (which
existed well before 11 September). "

The link for this discussion is :

www.janes.com

You draw your own conclusions in conjunction with the Caspian Sea Region oil link at the U.S. Department of Energy:

Caspian Sea Region

Prospects for a Post-Taliban Afghanistan:

The above article appeared yesterday at www.janes.com

"It now appears certain that any effort to
regenerate Afghanistan is predicated upon
the removal of the Taliban, and the terrorist
attacks upon New York and Washington
have given the US a perfect opportunity to
legitimise its plan to do just that (which
existed well before 11 September). "

The link for this discussion is :

www.janes.com

You draw your own conclusions in conjunction with the Caspian Sea Region oil link at the U.S. Department of Energy:

Caspian Sea Region

The torpedoes on the submarine are at least as interesting then the recovery effort. Quite remarkable actually, of course if they dont explode before launch that is. :)

Here is a very good article about them
For the goatse.cx weary...

http://www.janes.com/defence/naval_forces/news/j dw /jdw010910_6_n.shtml