February 12, 2012
Al-Qaeda has come out in strong support of the Syrian opposition and becomes a strange bedfellow for the US and Western European nations who have aligned themselves more against President Assad than for anybody in particular.
Just how the US and France and UK and others will now be reconciled with Al-Qaeda jumping into bed with them remains to be seen. But it seems that Al-Qaeda has been fostering the rebellion in Syria for well over a year. Perhaps they have always been in that Syrian bed and have only recently been joined by the others?
Last week the Russians and Chinese exercised their vetoes in the UN to stop a resolution against the Syrian regime and which called for President Assad to step down. Initially I felt that the Russians and Chinese had balked at the idea of supporting any resolution supporting regime-change since this could someday be turned against them. They claimed that their vetoes were primarily because the resolution was unbalanced since it did not condemn opposition groups for the use of violence and for causing some of the bloodshed. Now with the Al-Qaeda support for the opposition “giving” them the right to use whatever means they saw fit to get rid of a “cancerous regime”, it begins to look as if the picture in Syria is not as one-sided as it has appeared.
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Tags: AlQaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Bashar al-Assad, Syria
Posted in Politics, Syria, UN | Comments Off on “The enemy of my enemy …” makes for strange bedfellows in Syria as AL-Qaeda joins with the US
February 11, 2012
zu Guttenberg is back and has friends in high places. Baron Cut and Paste rides again.
This might be considered ironic but being the European commission I put it down to plain stupidity. To have a plagiarist who was brought down by net activism but who then bought his way out of criminal prosecution (by paying €20,000) as a special advisor on net activism illustrates the stupidity and the corruption at the centre of the European Commission.
Stupid is as stupid does.
From TechDirt:
European Commission Vice-President Neelie Kroes has invited Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, a former Federal Minister of Defence, and of Economics and Technology, in Germany, to advise on how to provide ongoing support to Internet users, bloggers and cyber-activists living under authoritarian regimes. This appointment forms a key element of a new “No Disconnect Strategy” to uphold the EU’s commitment to ensure human rights and fundamental freedoms are respected both online and off-line, and that internet and other information and communication technology (ICT) can remain a driver of political freedom, democratic development and economic growth.
Of course, that’s rather rich coming from a region where France already allows disconnections as punishments (HADOPI), and where the UK has legislation in place that will allow it to do the same (Digital Economy Act). But it turns out that the ironies are even deeper.
The reason that Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg — once seen as a likely successor to Germany’s current Chancellor, Angela Merkel — is no longer the Federal Minister of Defence, and of Economics and Technology, is that he resigned when it emerged that he had plagiarized significant parts of his doctorate.
After initial denials, Guttenberg was forced to admit the extent of his plagiarism thanks largely to a crowdsourced wiki called GutenPlag (original German) offering “collaborative documentation of plagiarism”, which went through his thesis searching for passages taken from elsewhere without acknowledgement. In total, it claims to have found “1218 plagiarized fragments from 135 sources, on 371 out of 393 pages (94.4%), in 10421 plagiarized lines (63.8%).” There’s even an interactive, color-coded visualization of what happened where.
A petition against this stupidity can be found here: zu Guttenberg must leave the European Commission
Tags: corruption, European Commission, European Union, Germany, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, Neelie Kroes, Plagiarism
Posted in Corruption, Ethics, European Union, Germany | Comments Off on Plagiarist zu Guttenberg invited to join the European Commission
February 10, 2012
Though David Cameron and the other leaders of the four country consortium which manufactures the Eurofighter Typhoon (UK, Germany, Spain and Italy) have all been somewhat whiny about the selection of the French (Dassault) Rafale for the 126 aircraft Indian MMRCA deal it seems highly unlikely that the Typhoon can make a comeback.
The life-time cost of the contract is evaluated at about $20 billion with an initial contract value of about $10-12 billion. The ToI reports that the Rafale deal was evaluated as being $5 billion (about 25%) cheaper than the Eurofighter. Though the evaluation probably considers a total of about 189 aircraft (126 +63 in phase 2) it still represents a life-cycle cost difference of some $26 million per aircraft and not just the $4-5 million lower initial acquisition cost per aircraft (bid-price). It seems almost impossible for the Eurofighter to match this difference. The first 18 aircraft have to be delivered in “fly-away” condition from mid-2015 onwards. The next 108 aircraft will have to be delivered from HAL in India at about 6 per year initially going up to 20 per year.
Exclusive negotiations between Dassault and the Indian Ministry of Defence start next week.
Times of India:
It was the “substantially higher cost” of acquiring and operating the Eurofighter Typhoon that led to its ejection from the almost $20 billion MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) project to supply 126 fighters to IAF.
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Tags: Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, India, MMRCA competition, Rafale, Typhoon
Posted in Aviation, Defense, India | 1 Comment »
February 9, 2012
What now Pachauri?
Back in November 2009, Rajendra Pachauri and the IPCC were accusing those who were not true believers in climate scientology and the loss of Himalayan ice as being “arrogant”.
This article in The Guardian today reports on new measurements which show zero loss of ice over the last 10 years.
Perhaps the climate scientologists and the global warming brigade should pause to consider their own amazing arrogance of belief (and by corrollary – their lack of science).
(Image above from EU Referendum)
Tags: climate scientology, Glaciergate, global warming, Himalayan glaciers, IPCC, Rajendra Pachauri
Posted in Alarmism, Climate, Science | Comments Off on The arrogance of belief: What now Pachauri?
February 8, 2012
This is probably something characteristic of tax authorities and not just the crazy Russian legal system at work. The unfortunate Sergei Magnitsky died in pre-trial detention 2 years ago after being denied urgent medical care but a presidential human rights commission found last summer that charges against him had been fabricated. But the taxman won’t give up.
It does seem like a case of “kill him in detention” and then sue him!!!
Reuters:
MOSCOW PLANS TO PUT DEAD LAWYER ON TRIAL
Russian investigators have said they may prosecute a dead lawyer who worked for a foreign investment fund in the latest bizarre twist to a case that has come to exemplify investor fears about Russia’s rule of law.
Source: Financial Times: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ef3b4172-51b5-11e1-a30c-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1llc77Qbh
Tags: behaviour, Russia, Taxation
Posted in Behaviour, Russia | Comments Off on Russian taxman sues dead lawyer
February 8, 2012
We have been down to -22°C over the weekend and it’s -10°C today. The cold spell is likely to last another 10 days or so. There are few clouds and day time temperatures are 10+°C higher than at night.
It’s only weather of course but a timely reminder that – anywhere in the world – daily temperature variations are of the order of 10-15 °C and seasonal variations every year are of the order of 30 – 50 °C. And this variation is entirely due to the effects of the sun and the winds and the cloud cover. The effects of carbon dioxide and climate scientology are insignificant. But it’s only weather.
An extract from the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) for 4th February makes the point:
SMHI:
All of Sweden has had it much colder than normal for the season.
In parts of northern Norrland it was more than 20 °C colder than normal. It was coldest in Kvikkjokk-Årrenjarka in Lapland with a temperature of -42.7 °C, which is the lowest temperature recorded there since surveys began in 1888. It was 25°C colder than what is normal for the season where “normal temperature” means the average daily temperature between the years 1961-1990.
The reason for the extreme cold was the northern and easterly winds in combination with very clear weather. Without any insulating cloud cover night-time temperatures plummeted.
For the country as a whole it was a fairly even distribution of about 20 °C colder in the north to over 10 °C colder than normal in southern Götaland. At the Norwegian border, with Lakes Vänern and Vättern and along the Östergötland and Småland coast, it was between 8 and 10 °C colder than normal. It was mildest in southern Öland, with temperatures of only 6 to 7 °C lower than normal.
Sweden temparature anomalies on 4th February 2012 - SMHI
Tags: climate scientology, daily temperature, global warming, SMHI, Sweden, temperature anomaly
Posted in Climate, Sweden, Weather, Winter | Comments Off on The big freeze: Sun and wind and clouds – not climate scientology or carbon dioxide
February 3, 2012
As Europe freezes in Siberian weather and people die it is not so difficult to imagine what life would be like in the throes of a Little Ice Age. Humans have endured and survived during the ice ages but have only developed and thrived and expanded when the Earth goes through its interglacial periods.
It is global cooling and the potential for a little ice age that poses the real threat to humans. Not some fantasy about anthropogenic global warming. The demonisation of carbon dioxide in the assumed – but unproven – belief that it contributes to global warming will turn out to be one of the most wasteful contentions of modern science.
If only it was that easy to change the climate!
NoTricksZone reports:
Germany’s no. 1 daily Bild (by circulation numbers) reports on the Killer Cold now paralyzing Europe and Asia, and calls it the worst in 25 years. The cold has hit Eastern Europe especially hard, with temperatures plummeting to -30°C throughout the Ukraine and Poland. So far the cold has claimed 139 lives, with 3 in Germany.
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Tags: coldest winters, Europe, global cooling, global warming, Little Ice Age, winter
Posted in Climate, Solar science, Weather, Winter | Comments Off on Hundreds die as cold wave in Europe provides a taste of what a little ice age could do
February 1, 2012
Well now!!!
Perhaps this just panders to my opinions but I find this more convincing than the Hockey Stick.
Bicentennial Decrease of the Total Solar Irradiance Leads to Unbalanced Thermal Budget of the Earth and the Little Ice Age by Habibullo I. Abdussamatov, Pulkovo Observatory of the Russian Academy of Science, St. Petersburg, 196140, Russia
Applied Physics Research ISSN 1916-9639 (Print) ISSN 1916-9647 (Online)
Abstract
Temporal changes in the power of the longwave radiation of the system Earth-atmosphere emitted to space always lag behind changes in the power of absorbed solar radiation due to slow change of its enthalpy. That is why the debit and credit parts of the average annual energy budget of the terrestrial globe with its air and water envelope are practically always in an unbalanced state. Average annual balance of the thermal budget of the system Earth-atmosphere during long time period will reliably determine the course and value of both an energy excess accumulated by the Earth or the energy deficit in the thermal budget which, with account for data of the TSI forecast, can define and predict well in advance the direction and amplitude of the forthcoming climate changes. From early 90s we observe bicentennial decrease in both the TSI and the portion of its energy absorbed by the Earth. The Earth as a planet will henceforward have negative balance in the energy budget which will result in the temperature drop in approximately 2014. Due to increase of albedo and decrease of the greenhouse gases atmospheric concentration the absorbed portion of solar energy and the influence of the greenhouse effect will additionally decline. The influence of the consecutive chain of feedback effects which can lead to additional drop of temperature will surpass the influence of the TSI decrease. The onset of the deep bicentennial minimum of TSI is expected in 2042±11, that of the 19th Little Ice Age in the past 7500 years – in 2055±11.
The full paper (pdf) is here: Abdussamatov App Physics Research
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Tags: Abdussamatov, climate change, global cooling, Little Ice Age, Pulkovo Observatory, Russian Academy of Science, solar effects on climate
Posted in Climate, Solar science | 1 Comment »
January 31, 2012
Finally the winner of the Indian MMRCA competition has been announced (or at least the L1 bidder) and it seems that the French dumped their prices for the Rafale to beat the Eurofighter by $4-5 million per aircraft. The performance of the Rafale in the Libyan adventure was also to its benefit compared to the Eurofighter Typhoon. Normally in the procurement process, the L1 bidder is called for final discussions to settle the contract and some further price negotiations can be expected. The contract will not be settled till the next fiscal year (after April 2012) and it would be very unusual for the evaluated L1 bidder not to get the contract. This contract is particularly important for Dassault since not only did the Rafale need a boost but also because they are guaranteed a market with the Indian Air Force for at least the next 15 years.
Economic Times:
French company Dassault Rafale on Tuesday bagged India’s biggest-ever contract for supplying 126 combat aircraft for the air force, edging out European competitor EADS in the multi-billion dollar deal.
The French firm was declared as the lowest bidder, according to which it will get the contract under India’s defence procurement procedure, sources said. “The French firm Dassault Rafale has emerged as the L-1 (lowest bidder) and cheaper than its european rival EADS (maker of Eurofighter) in the tender and will be offered to supply the aircraft to the IAF,” the source said.
They said the representatives of Dassault here were informed about the development in the morning and further negotiations on price will be held with them in the next 10-15 days.
The contract will be signed only in the next fiscal. According to the Request for Proposal (RFP), the winner of the contract will have to supply 18 of the 126 aircraft to the IAF in 36 months from its facilities and the remaining would be produced at HAL facilities in Bangalore.
Six companies including American F-16 and F-18, Russian MiG 35, Swedish Saab Gripen alongwith Eurofighter and Dassault Rafale were in the race in the beginning. But in April last year, the Defence Ministry shortlisted Dassault and EADS, evicting the American, Russian and Swedish bids.
The process was started with the issuing of a global tender in 2007 after which all the six contenders were subjected to extensive field evaluation trails by the Indian Air Force at several locations across the globe.
The Defence Ministry had earlier cleared the way for opening commercial bids of Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon by approving their offset proposals.
Tags: Dassault, Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, India, Indian Air Force, MMRCA
Posted in Aviation, Defense, India | 5 Comments »
January 28, 2012
This piece appeared in the WSJ signed by 16 scientists:
No need to panic about global warming
There’s no compelling scientific argument for drastic action to ‘decarbonize’ the world’s economy.
Editor’s Note: The following has been signed by the 16 scientists listed at the end of the article:
A candidate for public office in any contemporary democracy may have to consider what, if anything, to do about “global warming.” Candidates should understand that the oft-repeated claim that nearly all scientists demand that something dramatic be done to stop global warming is not true. In fact, a large and growing number of distinguished scientists and engineers do not agree that drastic actions on global warming are needed. ….
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Tags: Alarmism, climate alarmism, global warming, IPCC
Posted in Alarmism, Climate, scientific misconduct | Comments Off on No need to panic about global warming
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