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N. Korea-Bound Ship With 'Military Cargo' Detained By Panama
HonorPoncaCityDotCom writes "BBC reports that a North Korean-flagged ship carrying suspected 'sophisticated missile equipment' bound from Cuba to North Korea has been stopped near Manzanillo on the Atlantic side of the canal. President Ricardo Martinelli said the authorities were checking the ship for drugs when they found the suspected weapons in containers of brown sugar. Experts believe the communist state is working towards developing a nuclear warhead small enough to put on a long-range missile. Under UN sanctions, North Korea is banned from weapons exports and the import of all but small arms. The 35-member crew have been detained, including the captain who the Panamanian president said tried to kill himself during the search. Security Minister Jose Raul Mulino said the ship 'aroused suspicion by the violent reaction of the captain and the crew.' Martinelli also published a photograph that appeared to show two large green containers, adding that the arms shipment had been uncovered 'in containers underneath a cargo of sugar.'" Also at the New York Times.
The sugar was both the cover and the sophisticated missile technology...
Crafty, crafty.
i found it more interesting that somehow panama has a say in if cuba wants to ship "drugs"(what panama defines as drugs) to north korea. since that's what they boarded the ship for, supposedly.
(imho cuba and north korea should be able to trade whatever the fuck they want.. sure, more countries might embargo cuba for that but still, it's their choice)
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
in the real cuban missile crisis you had russian soldiers manning the missiles that were a few minutes away from washington DC
here the missile can't even reach washington from NK
Maybe it was because the ship was going through the Panama Canal.
You are entitled to your own opinions, not your own facts.
"Must protect the sugar....First you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women."
-Homer J. Simpson
They can but they can not go through Panamanian waters to do so. It probably would have raised suspicions to go around the cape and thus stay in international waters could have just used a bigger ship that would not fit.
No sir I dont like it.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Orphan_Master's_Son
i found it more interesting that somehow panama has a say in if cuba wants to ship "drugs"(what panama defines as drugs) to north korea. since that's what they boarded the ship for, supposedly.
(imho cuba and north korea should be able to trade whatever the fuck they want.. sure, more countries might embargo cuba for that but still, it's their choice)
My my how naive you are.
The Panama Canal is for all pratical purposes american territory. There is your answer.
You know, North Korea could get a boatload (literally and figuratively) of weapons-grade material if only they'd develop some sort of international superstar like Psy
Kim Jong-un in sunglasses and a suit singing "Pyongyang Style" or something...
Idiots! I told them to hide the goods in flour, not sugar. Of course the drug sniffing dogs were attracted to the sugar!
"they found the suspected weapons in containers of brown sugar"
Oh no! He's building a calorie bomb! That's the only type of bomb Americans could easily just roll with without much damage, lol.
Job well done. Back to the shadows....
It's no different than the US having jurisdiction over shipments on US interstates between Mexico and Canada. What, did you think every cargo vehicle passing through got automatic diplomatic immunity?
The canal has been under the control of the Panamanian government since 1999.
They have it all backwards. You're supposed to sneak missiles into Cuba, not out!
I mean, what about the ships clever enough to *not* take the Panama Canal - and follow the longer path? IOT, how many ships did we miss and How close NK is to having a working nuke?
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
Cuban airplane bound for Kim Jong's land
Downed in a market-driven US friend
Scarred old pilot knows he's doing all right
'til he's caught by capitalists just around midnight.
Brown sugar! How come you smell so good?
Brown sugar! Just like a missile should.
I am officially gone from
Borgoise individualist filth. "Pyongyang Style" would involve several tens of thousands of carefully drilled elements of the masses performing some sort of mass-gymnastic routine...
In the Cuban missile crisis Russia was delivering missiles TO Cuba. In this case the missiles were being sent to NK FROM Cuba.
Um, wrong direction dude....they were going FROM Cuba, not TO Cuba...
i found it more interesting that somehow panama has a say
See, nobody ever reads the ToS for the Panama Canal either.
Remember, next time you want to ship drugs and guns across the globe, GO AROUND THE HORN.
Don't be daring and cheap at the same time.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Does Cuba actually have sophisticated missile equipment?
They used to get most of their stuff from the Soviets, and I'm skeptical they have developed anything new recently. Granted, even an ancient Soviet missile could teach them a lot.
I'm also skeptical they suspected a drug shipment from Cuba ... not a big exporter of drugs Cuba.
In the real Cuban missile crisis you had American soldiers manning missiles that were a few minutes away from Moscow. One country the missiles was in, is called Turkey.
What's good for the goose (Americans putting missiles just over the border from the USSR) should be good for the gander (Russians putting missiles just over the border from the USA). But nope. More Americunt Exceptionalism.
HELP MY ACCOUNT HAS BEEN HACKED BY AN ILLIBERAL ART STUDENT SET TO DESTROY THE INTERWEBZ!
Yes, it is bleedin' obvious.
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
This has to be the first case where someone read the summary but skipped the title before posting. Usually it's "read the title, post, argue, insult, check summary to see if the other guy had a point, curse Slashdot for not giving you an edit function to change your old posts."
You're kind of a moron, aren't you? Not even tenth grade English teachers are this nitpicky.
The country and canal is obvious from the headline.
Which communist state is obvious from the context. And any other related news article you may have read in the last five or ten years.
It's the summary of an article, not an encyclopedia entry.
The North Korean Psy would be a full military uniform, and only sing old-fashioned songs from the 50's about how much Dear Leader loves us. Somehow I doubt this would be quite as catchy.
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
You sound surprised that the US tried to leverage geographic and political advantages during an era of tensions and proxy conflicts that, for the first time in human history, could wipe out civilization and possibly even the species, if it escalated. So yeah, damned right we didn't play fair. Even in hindsight, damned glad we did given that the Soviets built a Doomsday device (Dead Hand).
Should've sent the boat the long way around.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
The Dead Hand was not a doomsday device. Modern accounts describe it as semi-automatic, with a group of people who had the final decision. In this respect it was no different than the US putting nuclear weapons on submarines. In fact, it was likely developed in response to the Trident C4/D5 missiles which were accurate enough that the US would be able to effectively cripple Soviet high command with a limited nuclear strike.
for i in `facebook friends "=bday" 2>/dev/null | cut -d " " -f 3-`; do facebook wallpost $i "Happy birthday!"; done
Everyone knows you use potatoes. Nobody wants to root around in a container full of mouldy potatoes.
Lord of War
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
Not really, I doubt Cuba has some magic missile parts factory, these were missiles being laundered from Russia to NK through Cuba. I'm sure China is a bit pissed at the Kremlin at the moment since the last thing they want is NK stirring up political problems while they are trying to keep their economy from going off the deep end.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
Soon even Panama's expanding canal for "Superpanamax" ships won't be the only one. China is building an even bigger one next door for even larger ships.
Meanwhile environmentalists in the US fight deepening harbors for even just the Superpanamax ships. The center of empire has shifted. It's all over. China has learned the lesson of history -- keep the trade routes open.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
You shouldn't be pedantic if you didn't bother to read the headline (nearly identical in TFS and TFA, but they both mention Panama). Since this is Slashdot, you can't be blamed for not reading TFA (the Beeb one), which does attribute the claim to "Panama's president" in literally the first 2 words.
Wisecracks aside, has anyone seen any discussion about what the thing they confiscated is? We've got a photo, and it's pretty distinctive, I'm sure some military technology expert recognizes it...
these were missiles being laundered from Russia to NK through Cuba
North Korea and Russia share a border. There's no reason for them to attempt what you're suggesting.
Just another day in Paradise
What the fark would that have to do with the Panama canal, several thousand miles away?
That's just what they want you to think!
What was this fact downmodded? Because it sounds anti-American? The US government created Panama out of land it stole from Colombia and is in change of all of Central America. What's the beef in stating that?
Aside from that, the shippers were pretty dumb to try to take contraband through the canal. Oh well...
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Jim Jong-Un was planning on baking lots of cookies.
Pretty sure it was meant for a 40-ft high fondant statue of Jim Jong-Un.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The US government......is in charge of all of Central America.
Central America would definitely disagree with you there. Seriously, do you really think Bush would have installed Ortega in Nicaragua? That's like a slap in the face to Bush.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Two green containers? This means WAR!!!
Ortega is a puppet. If he doesn't do what he is told, he will be removed, kind of like what happened to Noriega and Zelaya from Honduras. I mean, has he accomplished land reform of any kind, or do anything to reduce the power of foreign 'investors'? As far as I'm concerned he's a stooge for the CIA, smuggling contraband and laundering money. As it is, he does serve a purpose, even if only for propaganda to justify US meddling in the region. The US is in complete control..
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
These "missiles" seem to be air-to-air defense radars and components. For SA-2 Guideline air defense missiles of all things. Not exactly new technology.
but who patrols and keeps the homicidal whackjobs in washington d.c., who maim, murder and destroy for power and wealth, from having such things?
Hey! Lucky you, friend! The mods won't let me use 'stand your ground' while I'm being trolled.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
The Dead Hand, as you describe, was a semi-automatic system to protect against a decapitation first strike by the US. Basically, there was a NORAD-like bunker buried in a mountain with a hotline to the Kremlin, from which their nuclear launches were managed. Normally a nuclear launch would require separate authorizations from the head of state and a senior military commander. But if the line to the Kremlin went dead, and a network of seismic sensors detected events characteristic of nuclear detonations, control would be devolved to the bunker. To work around even a total communications disruption, they could then launch a set of rockets which would cruise over the USSR broadcasting a signal to all the surviving missile silos which they would interpret as a signal to launch.
If you're interested, read the book. It's fascinating.
"95% of all Slashdot
This is a waveguide for a SNR-75 "Fan Song" fire-control radar for the Russian SA-2 (NATO) missile system. You can learn about it here (an SNR-75 set abandoned in Czechoslovakia): http://forum.valka.cz/viewtopic.php/t/74858
And you can see the waveguide cone pictured in the AP stories and twitter here:
http://forum.valka.cz/attachments/1945/RSN-75M3_Fan_Song_E_1.jpg
And unless I miss my guess, this is the first _direct_ seizure we've seen of ACTUAL missile hardware on a North Korean ship.
I'm wondering where the hell the "sophisticated missile equipment" was manufactured, because it sure as shit didn't originate in Cuba.
Probably something ordered out of a skymall magazine or sharper image catalog.
Unless these are cold war missiles no longer owned by Russia or forgot about by Russia, in which case Cuba had control of them. Russia probably isn't crazy enough to give nukes to NK, but Cuba may be. It may not even be functional. NK just needed something to base new designs off of.
Don't worry, the down-mods went both ways.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
What, me worry? I know what it's like to swim upstream... but that's where the eggs are
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Maybe the Cubans were just returning the weapons because they didn't meet their requirements.
these were missiles being laundered from Russia to NK through Cuba
North Korea and Russia share a border. There's no reason for them to attempt what you're suggesting.
Welcome to plausible deniability.
Israeli made weapons based on US designs are sold to Mujahadeen via 3rd parties (I.E. in Jordan, Pakistan). Russia does the same through other deniable parties, so does France (HTF do you think dictators get Exocet missiles). Mostly it's just excess stock and end of life weapons, but a 80's era mortar is still good for blowing up Infidels/Communists/Enemy of your choosing today.
Every weapons producing nation profits dirty little wars.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Welcome to plausible deniability.
You don't need this if they can be driven directly to NK undetected. They could easily be hidden from satellites with other trucks in normal trade. Again, I'd argue that there's no logical reason to do what was suggested.
Just another day in Paradise
It is not. It reverted to Panamanian sovereingty after the Torrijos-Carter treaty in the seventies.