Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Dubai: The Assassination Of Hamas Scumbag Mahmud al-Mabhuh, Caught On CCTV
Monday, February 15, 2010
Maritime Security: Defending Ships From Pirates ‘Slightly Smacks Of Vigilantism’, What?
Small, fast boats with a handful of armed mariners are an “emerging way to handle the [piracy] problem in a safe way,” said Jim Jorrie, CEO of Espada Logistics and Security-MENA, a San Antonio-based company offering such services.
But shipping industry experts frown on the practice.
“It slightly smacks of vigilantism to me,” said Tony Mason, secretary general of the International Chamber of Shipping and International Shipping Federation.
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Yet again, who the hell does this Tony Mason dude think he is? This kind of leadership and commentary, is exactly what has made the piracy problem flourish in the first place. Where is the mention of the right to self defense? Or does Tony not care about this basic human right on the high seas? This attitude just kills me, and it is guys like this that keep promoting it.
If a company wants to protect it’s boat and people from armed pirates, then they should have every right in the world to do so. If they want to put armed guys on a boat, or hire out the Yemeni Coast Guard to protect their goods and people, then so be it.
And where does Mason get off on calling this Vigilantism? What a terrible choice of words, and it is this attitude that got the shipping industry into the trouble it is in today. You have pirates who are applying a business model that works, and is only empowering them to do more, and you have a shipping industry that would much rather roll the dice with pirates, or just pay the ransom. It is this attitude of ‘non-action’, which is allowing this vile practice of piracy to flourish. Pffft. I call arming the boats self-defense, and certainly the right of all companies that care about the lives of their people.
The other point that I wanted to mention, is the Yemeni Coast Guard and the Tanzanian Navy both being hired by shipping corporations, is pretty wild. Talk about pre-Westphalia. lol –Matt
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Hired guns secure ships, stir controversy
By Sandra Jontz, Stars and StripesEuropean edition, Monday, February 15, 2010
NAPLES, Italy — As the world struggles to stop piracy in the waters off the coast of Africa and the Middle East, several companies have stepped forward to provide armed escort boats for commercial ships.
Small, fast boats with a handful of armed mariners are an “emerging way to handle the [piracy] problem in a safe way,” said Jim Jorrie, CEO of Espada Logistics and Security-MENA, a San Antonio-based company offering such services.
But shipping industry experts frown on the practice.
“It slightly smacks of vigilantism to me,” said Tony Mason, secretary general of the International Chamber of Shipping and International Shipping Federation.
Law Enforcement: The Heroin Road–A Lethal Business Model Targets Middle America
Fascinating. These guys have definitely tapped into a drug dealing business model that is far more superior than the major cartels. Small de-centralized businesses, all getting their heroin from one region in Mexico, and distributing it ‘pizza delivery style’. lol And get this, they are focused on customer service and satisfaction. Did the Xalisco Boys read the Toyota Way or something?
So how do you defeat this is my question? You could create doubt about the product they sell, kind of like how the fuel peddle issue is really tweaking Toyota right now. But eventually the product issues will be hashed out, and rumors squashed and business would crank up again.
Another way, is to decentralize the drug war. If you want to eradicate small groups, you need small groups who have the incentive to go after them. A team of bounty hunters, if given sufficient authority necessary to go after these folks, could do the job just fine. And if you attach a sizable bounty that makes this profitable for the hunters, or implement an awards system based on seized assets, then you could create an industry out of capturing these small time thugs. To really amp up the effectiveness of bounty hunters, they need to be able cross state lines. Issuing Letters of Marque could be one way to give them that authority, or having some federal agency deputize these hunters. Perhaps some federal and state laws could be modified in order to make bounty hunting more effective? In either case, you need to give bounty hunters protections that will give them sufficient authority to really go after these dealers.
Like with the military and issuing Letters of Marque to individuals, law enforcement can have problems relinquishing authority to bounty hunters. It’s one part Max Webber, and one part ego. I happen to think that both groups can exist just fine, much like the Post Office and Fedex exist in the same market, and I think it is an excellent idea to create industries out of killing or capturing terrorists and pirates, or create industry out of capturing drug dealers. What bothers me about what the Xaliscos are doing, is they have decentralized the drug trade and have a business model that is scary efficient. Decentralizing the drug war against these folks is something that should be looked at if we want to keep pace with this business model. –Matt
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THE HEROIN ROAD
A lethal business model targets Middle America
Sugar cane farmers from a tiny Mexican county use savvy marketing and low prices to push black-tar heroin in the United States.
By Sam Quinones
First Of Three Parts
February 14, 2010
Immigrants from an obscure corner of Mexico are changing heroin use in many parts of America.Farm boys from a tiny county that once depended on sugar cane have perfected an ingenious business model for selling a semi-processed form of Mexican heroin known as black tar.Using convenient delivery by car and aggressive marketing, they have moved into cities and small towns across the United States, often creating demand for heroin where there was little or none. In many of those places, authorities report increases in overdoses and deaths.Immigrants from Xalisco in the Pacific Coast state of Nayarit, Mexico, they have brought an audacious entrepreneurial spirit to the heroin trade. Their success stems from both their product, which is cheaper and more potent than Colombian heroin, and their business model, which places a premium on customer convenience and satisfaction.Users need not venture into dangerous neighborhoods for their fix. Instead, they phone in their orders and drivers take the drug to them. Crew bosses sometimes call users after a delivery to check on the quality of service. They encourage users to bring in new customers, rewarding them with free heroin if they do. (more…)
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Weapons: Some Thoughts On Battlefield Lasers
Since November 2008, the 3rd ESC has had 64 laser incidents reported in Iraq, resulting in 45 documented injuries to soldiers. Two of those injuries were permanent — one soldier is now legally blind in one eye, Hayes said.
Both Multi-National Corps—Iraq and 3rd ESC Commander Brig. Gen. Michael Lally are stepping up laser safety and training efforts, including confiscating some unapproved lasers and establishing green laser training requirements and detailed safety accident reporting and training, officials said.
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These two articles below brought up a couple of interesting points that guys in war zones are going to have to think about in the future and even now. Having a pair of sunglasses or goggles with laser protective lenses is going to be more important to have, as lasers develop and find their way onto the battlefield in new and interesting ways. The military is already experiencing laser injuries with basic laser aiming devices, and I only see that increasing on the military side of things. But are there statistics on contractor injuries, and is the industry ready for this coming evolutions of battlefield lasers?
In the first article below, they discuss weaponized lasers and how the DoD wants to purchase Revision eyewear for the troops. We will probably see many offerings of laser protected lenses coming on to the the tactical eyewear scene, as it should. As for companies issuing this type of protection, who knows. More than likely it will take numerous injuries before they react and do the right thing. Or it will take a mandate by the DoD, much like with body armor and helmets, in order to operate on the battlefield. Until then, it will more than likely fall back on the individual contractor to decide if they want to wear the stuff.
Which leads me to my next point. Perhaps the laser coating or whatever protective element to the glasses, should become standard for tactical eyewear? Like under new Milspec standards, ballistics protection would include protection against lasers. I know this is nothing new and is being talked about in military circles. The military even has a manual on laser range safety. But that is for laser range finder/pointer stuff, and this new generation of battlefield lasers are just a tad bit more lethal.
And as the second article on laser injuries indicates, those dazzling green lasers that you see the troops use all the time, are actually causing blindness and eye injuries. Yikes. With that said, I wonder how many contractors have been hit with green lasers intentionally or accidently while on the battlefield? How many guys coming up on check points manned by overzealous guards, were zapped by those things? Laser protective eyewear should be something to think about.
With the really big stuff coming on to the scene, the problems I could see, is the accidental reflection maybe? A large beam hits a car mirror and reflects it onto a convoy or something? Or they bounce a laser off of a satellite reflector or a drone reflector, and now you have ‘death rays’ coming from the sky. lol
If they get that Boeing 747 with a laser in the nose operational, then they could be throwing beams from that. On the plus side, these lasers will be much more precise than dropping a bomb, but I wonder if an enemy could use a mirror and use that large beam to their advantage? Or the enemy could get into making really high powered green or blue lasers, and try to blind soldiers or ignite gas tanks and fuel stations from a distance. They could also start wildfires with the things, in order to entrap patrols with fire. There are plenty of DIY hacks on youtube in order to make such lasers, and their uses are only limited by their imagination.
Now another thing I was thinking about, is using these high powered lasers to target individuals. It’s one thing to use them to destroy jets, mortars, rockets, and whatnot in the air. But to take one dude out, in a group of people, with a well placed laser shot, would be impressive. It would trump using a Hellfire, and taking out entire villages to just get one guy. I could see bouncing a laser off of a reflector, guided by satellite, and right into the cranium of some Taliban leader who is surrounded by women and children. That would pretty much destroy the enemy’s ability to protect themselves with human shields, or to use collateral damage for propaganda purposes. You could also use the thing to take out IED’s, snipers or machine gun emplacements. Now that I think about it, I could totally picture a drone circling the battlefield, and using the onboard targeting system to feed into the satellite reflector, and zapping enemy combatants like flies. Who knows, but one thing is for sure, lasers on the battlefield are on the rise and they are just one more thing to think about out there. –Matt
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Ray Guns Real: Army Betting Big on Laser Weapons
Gene J. Koprowski
January 21, 2010
The military envisions a future of laser warfare — ultra-precise weapons based on devastatingly powerful beams of light. It’s only a matter of time until the U.S. Army fights terrorists and other enemy combatants with laser beams, engaging in battles seen previously only in movies like ‘Starship Troopers’ and ‘Star Trek.’
The ray gun is real … or at least it will be soon.
The U.S. Army is betting big on laser warfare — designing, testing and perfecting ultra-precise weapons based on devastatingly powerful beams of light. And given recent developments, it’s only a matter of time until the military has in its arsenal a weapon that until now has been the staple of science fiction — the ray gun.
Set your phasers to kill.
Boeing, one of the Pentagon’s top contractors, already has a laser weapon that will improve the military’s ability to counter artillery, mortar, drone aircraft and even rockets, a spokesman tells FoxNews.
Boeing’s is the highest-profile program of all of the projects under development for the Department of Defense, and last week it took a step closer to reality. At its facility in Huntsville, Ala., Boeing accepted a military truck built by Oshkosh Defense that will carry its laser beam control system into battle.
