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unhappycamper
unhappycamper's Journal
unhappycamper's Journal
March 30, 2014
Whether we like it or not, foreign policy choices increasingly have domestic consequences in the post-Soviet world.
Anne Applebaum: Russian ideology is a mishmash with legs
Anne Applebaum | March 29, 2014 | Last Updated: Mar 28 3:50 PM ET
Halfway through an otherwise coherent conversation with a Georgian lawyer in Tblisi — the topics included judges, the court system, the police — I was startled by a comment he made about his country’s former government, led by ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili. “They were LGBT,” he said, conspiratorially.
What did that mean, I asked, surprised. Were they for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual rights? For gay marriage? Were they actually gay? He couldn’t really define it, though the conversation meandered in that direction for a few more minutes, also touching on the subject of the former president’s alleged marital infidelity, his promotion of female politicians, his lack of respect for the church.
Afterwards, I worked it out. The lawyer meant to say that Saakashvili — who drove his country hard in the direction of Europe, pulled Georgia as close to NATO as possible, used rough tactics to fight the post-Soviet mafia that dominated his country — was “too Western.” Not conservative enough. Not traditional enough. Too much of a modernizer, a reformer, a European. In the past, such a critic might have called Saakashvili a “rootless cosmopolitan.” But today, the insulting code word for that sort of person in the former Soviet space — regardless of what he or she actually thinks about homosexuals — is LGBT.
It was an eye-opening moment. Like Ukraine, Georgia is a post-Soviet republic that has tried to pull itself out of the Russian sphere of influence. Unlike Ukraine, Georgia does not have a sizable Russian-speaking population, and Georgians even have cause to fear Russia. Since their 2008 invasion, Russian troops have occupied the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, about one-fifth of the country. Russian tanks are parked a few hours’ drive from Georgia’s capital.
Anne Applebaum: Russian ideology is a mishmash with legs
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2014/03/29/anne-applebaum-russian-ideology-is-a-mishmash-with-legs/Whether we like it or not, foreign policy choices increasingly have domestic consequences in the post-Soviet world.
Anne Applebaum: Russian ideology is a mishmash with legs
Anne Applebaum | March 29, 2014 | Last Updated: Mar 28 3:50 PM ET
Halfway through an otherwise coherent conversation with a Georgian lawyer in Tblisi — the topics included judges, the court system, the police — I was startled by a comment he made about his country’s former government, led by ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili. “They were LGBT,” he said, conspiratorially.
What did that mean, I asked, surprised. Were they for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual rights? For gay marriage? Were they actually gay? He couldn’t really define it, though the conversation meandered in that direction for a few more minutes, also touching on the subject of the former president’s alleged marital infidelity, his promotion of female politicians, his lack of respect for the church.
Afterwards, I worked it out. The lawyer meant to say that Saakashvili — who drove his country hard in the direction of Europe, pulled Georgia as close to NATO as possible, used rough tactics to fight the post-Soviet mafia that dominated his country — was “too Western.” Not conservative enough. Not traditional enough. Too much of a modernizer, a reformer, a European. In the past, such a critic might have called Saakashvili a “rootless cosmopolitan.” But today, the insulting code word for that sort of person in the former Soviet space — regardless of what he or she actually thinks about homosexuals — is LGBT.
It was an eye-opening moment. Like Ukraine, Georgia is a post-Soviet republic that has tried to pull itself out of the Russian sphere of influence. Unlike Ukraine, Georgia does not have a sizable Russian-speaking population, and Georgians even have cause to fear Russia. Since their 2008 invasion, Russian troops have occupied the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, about one-fifth of the country. Russian tanks are parked a few hours’ drive from Georgia’s capital.
March 30, 2014
Accused of having spied on the Senate, the CIA is asking the president for help. Obama must decide what to do. Otherwise, there is the risk of new revelations coming out …
The CIA’s Espionage and Obama’s Secrets
Panorma, Italy
By Michele Zurieni
Translated By Sabrina Chapman
12 March 2014
Edited by Gillian Palmer
When we enter the labyrinthine game of mirrors that is politics and espionage, there is the risk of finding ourselves in front of a door that doesn’t open. The right path is either next to us or behind us. But the shadows, the lights and the reflected images have been misleading. Constantly moving, even so, sooner or later we will find it and leave — maybe after we have found another door, one that we were not looking for. The U.S. Senate, the CIA and the White House are all struggling with this game. It is up to us to work out where it is leading.
Dispute between the Senate and the CIA
Since yesterday, a serious constitutional crisis looms over Washington. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, has accused the CIA of spying on employees of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, trying to steal documents and putting undue pressure on her staff. This is the culmination of an almost year-long arm-wrestle between Langley and the governmental organization that has investigated the CIA’s activities since 9/11. But it is only another quarter of the match; it is not the end.
The point of contention is a 6,300-page report that the committee drafted over three years, from 2009 to 2012. The report was completed in December 2012 and approved with a majority vote: nine in favor and six against. After this vote, the CIA sent a 120-page memorandum to contest the foundations of the report: Years of coercive methods in the fight against terrorism have not produced a single bit of (useful) information for Intelligence. Kidnappings, torture, imprisonments: all useless. To defeat the enemy, more is (was) needed.
The Report on the CIA’s Prisons
The committee has always refused to change these foundations. It has made them on the basis of thousands of CIA documents contained in a classified database. Names; dates; events; methods used in interrogations. Paperwork that should have only been in the hands of those at the head of the CIA instead ended up on the computers of senators. The pressure started then. Langley sought to find those responsible for these documents, telling the committee’s staff members that they committed a crime the moment they came into possession of them. The dispute had been going on behind closed doors when Dianne Feinstein decided to make it public.
The CIA’s Espionage and Obama’s Secrets
http://watchingamerica.com/News/235823/the-cias-espionage-and-obamas-secrets/Accused of having spied on the Senate, the CIA is asking the president for help. Obama must decide what to do. Otherwise, there is the risk of new revelations coming out …
The CIA’s Espionage and Obama’s Secrets
Panorma, Italy
By Michele Zurieni
Translated By Sabrina Chapman
12 March 2014
Edited by Gillian Palmer
When we enter the labyrinthine game of mirrors that is politics and espionage, there is the risk of finding ourselves in front of a door that doesn’t open. The right path is either next to us or behind us. But the shadows, the lights and the reflected images have been misleading. Constantly moving, even so, sooner or later we will find it and leave — maybe after we have found another door, one that we were not looking for. The U.S. Senate, the CIA and the White House are all struggling with this game. It is up to us to work out where it is leading.
Dispute between the Senate and the CIA
Since yesterday, a serious constitutional crisis looms over Washington. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, has accused the CIA of spying on employees of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, trying to steal documents and putting undue pressure on her staff. This is the culmination of an almost year-long arm-wrestle between Langley and the governmental organization that has investigated the CIA’s activities since 9/11. But it is only another quarter of the match; it is not the end.
The point of contention is a 6,300-page report that the committee drafted over three years, from 2009 to 2012. The report was completed in December 2012 and approved with a majority vote: nine in favor and six against. After this vote, the CIA sent a 120-page memorandum to contest the foundations of the report: Years of coercive methods in the fight against terrorism have not produced a single bit of (useful) information for Intelligence. Kidnappings, torture, imprisonments: all useless. To defeat the enemy, more is (was) needed.
The Report on the CIA’s Prisons
The committee has always refused to change these foundations. It has made them on the basis of thousands of CIA documents contained in a classified database. Names; dates; events; methods used in interrogations. Paperwork that should have only been in the hands of those at the head of the CIA instead ended up on the computers of senators. The pressure started then. Langley sought to find those responsible for these documents, telling the committee’s staff members that they committed a crime the moment they came into possession of them. The dispute had been going on behind closed doors when Dianne Feinstein decided to make it public.
March 30, 2014
Decisions on a new European climate and energy policy for 2030 are relegated to autumn as heads of state are caught up in the Ukraine crisis. At their spring summit in Brussels, EU leaders gave centre stage to energy dependence. First climate change, then competitiveness, now security of supply: the shifting priorities of member states show that a holistic vision and policy for climate and energy is there on paper but not in practice. Sonja van Renssen reports on the latest EU summit
Ukraine Crisis Is Connected To Climate & Energy Policy
Originally published on EnergyPost.eu.
By Sonja van Renssen
“This is not only a summit about Ukraine,” EU council president Herman Van Rompuy told journalists at half past midnight on Thursday 20 March in Brussels. Yet what was originally intended to be a summit where EU leaders agreed the main tenets of a new EU climate and energy policy for 2030 became instead an urgent discussion on what the EU should do about Ukraine and Russia after President Putin’s annexation of Crimea. The 2030 debate became an energy security debate, yet diplomats did not look much to the former to deliver on the latter.
“It {the Crimean crisis) will catalyse a much stronger debate on energy independence, security, foreign policy and Europe’s strategic relationship with Russia,” one EU diplomat said in the run-up to the summit. He did not suggest that the European Commission’s 2030 package could be a vehicle for aspects of this debate. Van Rompuy did slightly better on Thursday night, predicting “a strong focus on reducing energy dependence” for Friday morning’s discussion on climate and energy proposals that are “also essential”.
Energy security only
But EU leaders’ conclusions focus heavily on energy dependence. They invite the Commission to propose, by June, “specific interconnection objectives” for 2030, to be agreed by October. They also call for further action on the Southern Gas Corridor and an examination of how to facilitate gas exports from the US, including through the transatlantic trade talks (TTIP). The EU gets about a third of each of its fossil fuels – oil, gas and coal – from Russia today. It spent €412bn on energy imports in 2012 – more than Poland’s GDP.
Heads of state call on the Commission to present “a comprehensive plan for the reduction of EU energy dependence” by June 2014 [after an] in-depth study of EU energy security”. The plan “should reflect the fact that the EU needs to accelerate further diversification of its energy supply, increase its bargaining power and energy efficiency, continue to develop renewables and other indigenous energy sources and coordinate the development of the infrastructure to support this diversification”.
Ukraine Crisis Is Connected To Climate & Energy Policy
http://cleantechnica.com/2014/03/27/ukraine-crisis-connected-climate-energy-policy/Decisions on a new European climate and energy policy for 2030 are relegated to autumn as heads of state are caught up in the Ukraine crisis. At their spring summit in Brussels, EU leaders gave centre stage to energy dependence. First climate change, then competitiveness, now security of supply: the shifting priorities of member states show that a holistic vision and policy for climate and energy is there on paper but not in practice. Sonja van Renssen reports on the latest EU summit
Ukraine Crisis Is Connected To Climate & Energy Policy
Originally published on EnergyPost.eu.
By Sonja van Renssen
“This is not only a summit about Ukraine,” EU council president Herman Van Rompuy told journalists at half past midnight on Thursday 20 March in Brussels. Yet what was originally intended to be a summit where EU leaders agreed the main tenets of a new EU climate and energy policy for 2030 became instead an urgent discussion on what the EU should do about Ukraine and Russia after President Putin’s annexation of Crimea. The 2030 debate became an energy security debate, yet diplomats did not look much to the former to deliver on the latter.
“It {the Crimean crisis) will catalyse a much stronger debate on energy independence, security, foreign policy and Europe’s strategic relationship with Russia,” one EU diplomat said in the run-up to the summit. He did not suggest that the European Commission’s 2030 package could be a vehicle for aspects of this debate. Van Rompuy did slightly better on Thursday night, predicting “a strong focus on reducing energy dependence” for Friday morning’s discussion on climate and energy proposals that are “also essential”.
Energy security only
But EU leaders’ conclusions focus heavily on energy dependence. They invite the Commission to propose, by June, “specific interconnection objectives” for 2030, to be agreed by October. They also call for further action on the Southern Gas Corridor and an examination of how to facilitate gas exports from the US, including through the transatlantic trade talks (TTIP). The EU gets about a third of each of its fossil fuels – oil, gas and coal – from Russia today. It spent €412bn on energy imports in 2012 – more than Poland’s GDP.
Heads of state call on the Commission to present “a comprehensive plan for the reduction of EU energy dependence” by June 2014 [after an] in-depth study of EU energy security”. The plan “should reflect the fact that the EU needs to accelerate further diversification of its energy supply, increase its bargaining power and energy efficiency, continue to develop renewables and other indigenous energy sources and coordinate the development of the infrastructure to support this diversification”.
March 30, 2014
The Shame of American Politics: GOP Presidential Hopefuls now Trek to Las Vegas seeking Adelson Blessing
By Juan Cole | Mar. 30, 2014
A series of pro-corporation Supreme Court decisions and the latter’s disingenuous equation of money with speech, including “Citizens United”, have turned the United States from a democracy to a plutocracy. It is not even a transparent plutocracy, since black money (of unknown provenance) has been allowed by SCOTUS to flood into elections. These developments are not only deadly to democracy, they threaten US security. It is increasingly difficult to exclude foreign money from US political donations. We not only come to be ruled by the billionaires, but even by foreign billionaires with foreign rather than American interests at heart.
The most frightening scenario is for corrupt money to dictate our politics. Casinos may no longer be mobbed up the way they were in the 1950s and 1960s, but they ( http://tinyurl.com/k7jy544 ) are still significantly implicated in government corruption.
The perniciousness of this growing plutocracy was on full display on Saturday, as GOP governors Scott Walker, Chris Christie and John Kasich trekked off to Las Vegas in an attempt to attract hundreds of millions in campaign donations from sleazy casino lord Sheldon Adelson. Since Adelson is allegedly worth $37 billion, he could fund the Republican side of a presidential election (which costs $1 billion) all by himself. In the last presidential election he is said to have donated $100 million.
There is no way to mince words here. These practices are absolutely disgusting.
The Shame of American Politics: GOP Presidential Hopefuls now Trek to Las Vegas seeking Adelson Bles
http://www.juancole.com/2014/03/politics-presidential-blessing.htmlThe Shame of American Politics: GOP Presidential Hopefuls now Trek to Las Vegas seeking Adelson Blessing
By Juan Cole | Mar. 30, 2014
A series of pro-corporation Supreme Court decisions and the latter’s disingenuous equation of money with speech, including “Citizens United”, have turned the United States from a democracy to a plutocracy. It is not even a transparent plutocracy, since black money (of unknown provenance) has been allowed by SCOTUS to flood into elections. These developments are not only deadly to democracy, they threaten US security. It is increasingly difficult to exclude foreign money from US political donations. We not only come to be ruled by the billionaires, but even by foreign billionaires with foreign rather than American interests at heart.
The most frightening scenario is for corrupt money to dictate our politics. Casinos may no longer be mobbed up the way they were in the 1950s and 1960s, but they ( http://tinyurl.com/k7jy544 ) are still significantly implicated in government corruption.
The perniciousness of this growing plutocracy was on full display on Saturday, as GOP governors Scott Walker, Chris Christie and John Kasich trekked off to Las Vegas in an attempt to attract hundreds of millions in campaign donations from sleazy casino lord Sheldon Adelson. Since Adelson is allegedly worth $37 billion, he could fund the Republican side of a presidential election (which costs $1 billion) all by himself. In the last presidential election he is said to have donated $100 million.
There is no way to mince words here. These practices are absolutely disgusting.
March 30, 2014
GM Wants To Ban Direct Tesla Sales In Ohio
Originally published on Gas2.
In the battle between Tesla Motors and entrenched car dealers, reinforcements have arrived for the status quo in the form of General Motors. With the recent setback in New Jersey, the battlefield has shifted to Ohio, where another proposed ban on direct car sales awaits authorization.
According to Automotive News, GM’s Selim Bingol, VP of global communication sent a letter to Ohio governor John Kasich urging him not to allow Tesla to operate under “a completely different set of rules.” Ohio has become a place of contention after an underhanded effort to ban Tesla sales failed at the last minute, just like the successful New Jersey ban that snuck through at the last minute.
Meanwhile, though, states like Texas and Arizona are changing their tune in regards to direct sales, as Musk’s proposed battery Gigafactory could bring thousands of jobs and millions in tax revenues to the sunny states. Most major automakers have remained quietly on the sidelines though as the Tesla saga unfolds, and GM ‘s letter is one of the first public statements on the matter.
If you need any further convincing that the dealership model only benefits car dealers and makers, well, here’s your sign.
GM Wants To Ban Direct Tesla Sales In Ohio
http://cleantechnica.com/2014/03/29/gm-wants-ban-direct-tesla-sales-ohio/GM Wants To Ban Direct Tesla Sales In Ohio
Originally published on Gas2.
In the battle between Tesla Motors and entrenched car dealers, reinforcements have arrived for the status quo in the form of General Motors. With the recent setback in New Jersey, the battlefield has shifted to Ohio, where another proposed ban on direct car sales awaits authorization.
According to Automotive News, GM’s Selim Bingol, VP of global communication sent a letter to Ohio governor John Kasich urging him not to allow Tesla to operate under “a completely different set of rules.” Ohio has become a place of contention after an underhanded effort to ban Tesla sales failed at the last minute, just like the successful New Jersey ban that snuck through at the last minute.
Meanwhile, though, states like Texas and Arizona are changing their tune in regards to direct sales, as Musk’s proposed battery Gigafactory could bring thousands of jobs and millions in tax revenues to the sunny states. Most major automakers have remained quietly on the sidelines though as the Tesla saga unfolds, and GM ‘s letter is one of the first public statements on the matter.
If you need any further convincing that the dealership model only benefits car dealers and makers, well, here’s your sign.
March 30, 2014
Ryan Unsuited to Lead ‘Adult Conversation’ About Poverty
March 29, 2014
by Greg Kaufmann
These days, a favorite talking point of Republican Congressman Paul Ryan’s is calling for an “adult conversation” about poverty.
“It’s time for an adult conversation,” he told The Washington Post.
“If we actually have an adult conversation,” he said in remarks at the Brookings Institution, “I think we can make a difference.”
The problem is that a prerequisite for any adult conversation is telling the truth and it is there the congressman falls monumentally short.
Ryan Unsuited to Lead ‘Adult Conversation’ About Poverty
http://billmoyers.com/2014/03/29/ryan-unsuited-to-lead-%E2%80%98adult-conversation%E2%80%99-about-poverty/Ryan Unsuited to Lead ‘Adult Conversation’ About Poverty
March 29, 2014
by Greg Kaufmann
These days, a favorite talking point of Republican Congressman Paul Ryan’s is calling for an “adult conversation” about poverty.
“It’s time for an adult conversation,” he told The Washington Post.
“If we actually have an adult conversation,” he said in remarks at the Brookings Institution, “I think we can make a difference.”
The problem is that a prerequisite for any adult conversation is telling the truth and it is there the congressman falls monumentally short.
March 29, 2014
Army veteran Julio Bernal from Takoma Park, Md., works with others from Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America to place 1,892 flags representing veteran and service members who have died by suicide to date in 2014 on the National Mall in Washington, Thursday, March 27, 2014. The event also marked the introduction of The Suicide Prevention for America's Veterans Act by Sen. John Walsh, D-Mont., which calls for greater access to mental health care.
Flags on National Mall represent veteran suicides
By Jada F. Smith
The New York Times
© March 28, 2014
WASHINGTON
Volunteers in dark green hooded sweatshirts spread out across the National Mall on Thursday, planting 1,892 small American flags in the grass between the Washington Monument and the Capitol. Each flag represented a veteran who had committed suicide since Jan. 1, a figure that amounts to 22 deaths each day.
Civilians stood among the waving flags in solidarity with veterans like Michael Blazer, a former sergeant in the Army who had a friend commit suicide when he got back from Afghanistan.
“He shot himself in the same room as me and a friend of mine,” Blazer said. “I’ve been diagnosed with PTSD because of that, so a lot of these issues are what I’ve personally been dealing with. But above and beyond, I’m out here in memory of him.”
The event was part of an awareness campaign mounted by members of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, an advocacy group focused on issues affecting the nation’s newest veterans. They are in Washington this week as part of their leadership development program, Storm the Hill, and to support the introduction of legislation aimed at preventing suicides and providing more mental health resources for service members home from combat.
Flags on National Mall represent veteran suicides
http://hamptonroads.com/2014/03/flags-national-mall-represent-veteran-suicidesArmy veteran Julio Bernal from Takoma Park, Md., works with others from Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America to place 1,892 flags representing veteran and service members who have died by suicide to date in 2014 on the National Mall in Washington, Thursday, March 27, 2014. The event also marked the introduction of The Suicide Prevention for America's Veterans Act by Sen. John Walsh, D-Mont., which calls for greater access to mental health care.
Flags on National Mall represent veteran suicides
By Jada F. Smith
The New York Times
© March 28, 2014
WASHINGTON
Volunteers in dark green hooded sweatshirts spread out across the National Mall on Thursday, planting 1,892 small American flags in the grass between the Washington Monument and the Capitol. Each flag represented a veteran who had committed suicide since Jan. 1, a figure that amounts to 22 deaths each day.
Civilians stood among the waving flags in solidarity with veterans like Michael Blazer, a former sergeant in the Army who had a friend commit suicide when he got back from Afghanistan.
“He shot himself in the same room as me and a friend of mine,” Blazer said. “I’ve been diagnosed with PTSD because of that, so a lot of these issues are what I’ve personally been dealing with. But above and beyond, I’m out here in memory of him.”
The event was part of an awareness campaign mounted by members of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, an advocacy group focused on issues affecting the nation’s newest veterans. They are in Washington this week as part of their leadership development program, Storm the Hill, and to support the introduction of legislation aimed at preventing suicides and providing more mental health resources for service members home from combat.
March 29, 2014
U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Annamarie Ellis arrives at Lackland Air Force Base for her trial on malt raining and maltreating basic trainees charges, Monday, March 24, 2014.
Former Air Force instructor gets 8 months in prison
By Sig Christenson : March 28, 2014 : Updated: March 28, 2014 9:06pm
~snip~
The judge presiding over the case of an abusive Air Force instructor will begin deliberating her fate this afternoon.
Col. Donald Eller Jr.listened to testimony from the final witnesses this morning in the trial of former instructor Staff Sgt. Annamarie Ellis.
Ellis pleaded guilty earlier this week to abusive treatment of recruits under her command in 2009. Eller has listened to stories from several of the recruits, and from witnesses testifying on behalf of Ellis, over the last three days in the sentencing phase of her trial.
~snip~
San Antonio — BREAKING NEWS
Judge just sentenced former Lackland instructor Staff Sgt. Annamarie Ellis to eight months in prison. She had faced up to 43 years after she pleaded guilty to abusing recruits in 2009.
Former Air Force instructor gets 8 months in prison
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/military/article/Former-Air-Force-instructor-gets-8-months-in-5357496.phpU.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Annamarie Ellis arrives at Lackland Air Force Base for her trial on malt raining and maltreating basic trainees charges, Monday, March 24, 2014.
Former Air Force instructor gets 8 months in prison
By Sig Christenson : March 28, 2014 : Updated: March 28, 2014 9:06pm
~snip~
The judge presiding over the case of an abusive Air Force instructor will begin deliberating her fate this afternoon.
Col. Donald Eller Jr.listened to testimony from the final witnesses this morning in the trial of former instructor Staff Sgt. Annamarie Ellis.
Ellis pleaded guilty earlier this week to abusive treatment of recruits under her command in 2009. Eller has listened to stories from several of the recruits, and from witnesses testifying on behalf of Ellis, over the last three days in the sentencing phase of her trial.
~snip~
San Antonio — BREAKING NEWS
Judge just sentenced former Lackland instructor Staff Sgt. Annamarie Ellis to eight months in prison. She had faced up to 43 years after she pleaded guilty to abusing recruits in 2009.
March 29, 2014
This July 8, 2013 file photo provided by Surete du Quebec via the Canadian Press, shows wrecked oil tankers and debris from a runaway train in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, Canada. U.S. transportation officials say the oil industry is not giving up needed information needed to gauge the danger of moving crude by rail. Several oil train accidents, including one in Quebec, have highlighted the explosive properties of crude coming from booming oil shale fields on the Northern Plains.
US government: Industry hampering oil train safety
Associated Press Updated: March 28, 2014 at 7:45 pm • Published: March 28, 2014
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — U.S. transportation officials rebuked the oil industry Friday for not giving up information regulators say they need to gauge the danger of moving crude by rail, after several accidents highlighted the explosive properties of fuel from the booming oil shale fields on the Northern Plains.
Department of Transportation officials told The Associated Press they have received only limited data on the characteristics of oil from the Bakken region of North Dakota and Montana despite requests lodged by Secretary Anthony Foxx more than two months ago.
"The overall and ongoing lack of cooperation is disappointing, slows progress and certainly raises concerns," the agency said in a statement. "We still lack data we requested and that energy stakeholders agreed to produce within 30 days."
The DOT said "a handful of individual companies" have offered the information being sought but would not provide specifics.
US government: Industry hampering oil train safety
http://gazette.com/us-government-industry-hampering-oil-train-safety/article/feed/103435This July 8, 2013 file photo provided by Surete du Quebec via the Canadian Press, shows wrecked oil tankers and debris from a runaway train in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, Canada. U.S. transportation officials say the oil industry is not giving up needed information needed to gauge the danger of moving crude by rail. Several oil train accidents, including one in Quebec, have highlighted the explosive properties of crude coming from booming oil shale fields on the Northern Plains.
US government: Industry hampering oil train safety
Associated Press Updated: March 28, 2014 at 7:45 pm • Published: March 28, 2014
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — U.S. transportation officials rebuked the oil industry Friday for not giving up information regulators say they need to gauge the danger of moving crude by rail, after several accidents highlighted the explosive properties of fuel from the booming oil shale fields on the Northern Plains.
Department of Transportation officials told The Associated Press they have received only limited data on the characteristics of oil from the Bakken region of North Dakota and Montana despite requests lodged by Secretary Anthony Foxx more than two months ago.
"The overall and ongoing lack of cooperation is disappointing, slows progress and certainly raises concerns," the agency said in a statement. "We still lack data we requested and that energy stakeholders agreed to produce within 30 days."
The DOT said "a handful of individual companies" have offered the information being sought but would not provide specifics.
March 29, 2014
The Soviet Union began training dolphins in the 1960s
Ukraine's spy dolphins switch allegiance to Russia
The Telegraph • Updated: March 26, 2014 at 5:43 pm • Published: March 26, 2014
Russian forces completed their takeover of the Ukrainian navy’s assets in Crimea with the storming of the minesweeper Cherkessy.
The Ukrainian navy has been reduced to only 10 vessels, with the other 51 it held at the beginning of this month, including its only submarine, now flying the Russian flag.
But of all the Ukrainian military assets Russia has seized during the annexation, none is quite as unusual as the combat dolphin program.
The Soviet Union began training dolphins and other marine mammals to locate mines, mark underwater and obstacles and detect – and if necessary kill – enemy frogmen in the 1960s.
Ukraine's spy dolphins switch allegiance to Russia
http://gazette.com/ukraines-spy-dolphins-switch-allegiance-to-russia/article/1517141The Soviet Union began training dolphins in the 1960s
Ukraine's spy dolphins switch allegiance to Russia
The Telegraph • Updated: March 26, 2014 at 5:43 pm • Published: March 26, 2014
Russian forces completed their takeover of the Ukrainian navy’s assets in Crimea with the storming of the minesweeper Cherkessy.
The Ukrainian navy has been reduced to only 10 vessels, with the other 51 it held at the beginning of this month, including its only submarine, now flying the Russian flag.
But of all the Ukrainian military assets Russia has seized during the annexation, none is quite as unusual as the combat dolphin program.
The Soviet Union began training dolphins and other marine mammals to locate mines, mark underwater and obstacles and detect – and if necessary kill – enemy frogmen in the 1960s.
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