R i g h t a r d i a

This blog is dedicated to progressive and liberal thought. It also discusses new technology, how technology affects privacy and developments in Russia, China, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Rightardia fully supports the rights of workers to organize, the feminist movement, and all Americans regardless or ethnicity, sex or gender.It uses humor, satire and parody to expose conservative thought for what it truly is: BS! Rightardia contributes to the DNC, DCCC, DSCC and MoveOn.Org.

Showing posts with label piracy. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Russians deny Artcic Sea was carrying S-300 missiles

'RIA Novosti' newswire 16:4808/09/2009

MOSCOW, September 8 (RIA Novosti) - Russian investigators said on Tuesday they had searched the Arctic Sea vessel and found only lumber registered in the ship's cargo log.

"The Arctic Sea vessel is currently in the open sea. Investigators have thoroughly searched the cargo on board the ship, and found only lumber. No cargo has been found except that registered in the consignment log," the Investigation Committee of the Prosecutor General's Office said in a statement.

"A group of investigators will work aboard the ship for several more days," the statement said.

Russian and international media has been rife with rumors that the ship manned by a Russian crew could have been involved in an arms-smuggling or trafficking operation on a state level, including suggestions that Russia attempted to deliver missiles for S-300 air defense systems to Iran or Syria.

However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed these rumors on Tuesday as "a complete lie."

He said Russia would conduct a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the ship's disappearance.

The Maltese-flagged vessel, officially carrying lumber from Russia to Algeria, was reportedly boarded by a group of eight men on July 24 and mysteriously disappeared in the Atlantic

It was discovered off Cape Verde on August 16 by Russia's Ladny frigate and is currently being towed to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk. The ship will not make port calls on the way and is due to arrive at the Russian port in late September.

Four crew members remain on board, while the other 11 were flown to Moscow last month to be questioned by the Russian authorities amid speculation that they may have been in cahoots with the alleged hijackers. They have reportedly now returned home to the northern Russian city of Arkhangelsk.

Eight men, including citizens of Russia, Latvia and Estonia, have been arrested and charged with piracy and kidnapping.

Malta, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Latvia have set up an investigation team to look into the incident. They have agreed that any other suspects in the case will be tried in their home countries.

Representatives of Russian, Finnish, Swedish and Estonian investigation authorities, each carrying out their own investigation into the incident, met last Thursday in Moscow.

S-300s are considered one of the world's most effective all-altitude regional air defense systems, comparable in performance to the U.S. MIM-104 Patriot system.

S-300PMU2 complex

Russia has dragged its feet on implementing a 2007 deal with Iran on the supply of S-300s. The contract, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, has met with strong international opposition.

Israel and the United States have been making proactive diplomatic efforts to influence Russia to drop the plans. They suspect the Islamic Republic of secretly seeking to build nuclear weapons, and have refused to rule out a military strike on its nuclear facilities.

Rightardia comment: It is also possible that the S-300 missiles were either removed for exploitation by US or Israeli scientists or dumped overboard before the ship was recovered.

Rightardia doubts that criminal elements were exporting these missiles. It could have been an attempted delivery by the Russian government.

Of course, this does not explain why eight hijackers were left on board unless this was a double cross in which the US or Israel was trying to to put the blame for the caper on the eight men who were captured.

It is also possible that the hijackers thought there was something of value on the ship and they discovered there was only timber.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090908/156061214.html

Get 30 days of free traffic analysis simply by going to Web-Stat: http://www.web-stat.com/?id=2955

Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu

Netcraft rank: 10118 http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.comRightardia.blogspot.com

Sunday, September 6, 2009

“Arctic Sea” intercepted by Israel over missiles cargo?

Rightardia comment: It appears the Arctic Sea was carrying S-300 missiles bound for Iran according to the Times of London.The Russians had indicated they had intended to supply these missiles to Iran in the past. These missiles would have significantly complicated an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Sources in Tel Aviv and Moscow claimed the ship had been loaded with S-300 missiles, one of Russia’s most advanced anti-aircraft weapons, while undergoing repairs in the Russian port of Kaliningrad, a port notorious for arms smuggling.

Mossad, supposedly tipped off the Russian government that the shipment had been sold by former military officers linked to the underworld. Rightardia believes this story is probably bogus. Russia had agreed to sell the S-300 to Iran in December, 2007.

Maritime reporter Mikhail Voitenko, was also forced to flee Russia after receiving threats for his suggestions about the cargo contents of the hijacked merchant vessel Arctic Sea. He moved a second time from Bangkok from Istanbul.

Admiral Tarmo Kouts, former commander of Estonia’s armed forces and the European Union’s rapporteur on piracy, infuriated Moscow by saying that the ship was transporting weapons.

The story about the hijacked Russian-crewed cargo ship grows ever more mysterious. Time magazine is alleging that the “Arctic Sea” was intercepted by Israel as it carried weapons to the Middle East.

The allegations began with Admiral Kouts, a former commander of the Estonian armed forces who now heads the European Union’s piracy watch.

According to him, Israel is the country most likely to have carried out the hijacking on the ship to prevent missiles being delivered to countries in the Middle East.

Time writes that in an interview with the magazine, Kouts said “only a shipment of missiles could account for Russia's bizarre behavior throughout the month-long saga.”

"There is the idea that there were missiles aboard, and one can't explain this situation in any other way," he is quoted as saying. "As a sailor with years of experience, I can tell you that the official versions are not realistic."

The official word, however, is that the “Arctic Sea” was transporting timber from Finland to Algeria. In response to Kouts’s allegations, Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s envoy to NATO, said he should stop "running his mouth."

Meanwhile, the majority of Israel’s population does not believe their country was in any way involved in the situation.

So, if Israel was involved in the hijacking of the Russian-manned vessel, why did it not draw attention to it?

According to Ronen Bergman, an investigative journalist at the Yediot Aharonoth newspaper, “Israeli intelligence would create the framework in which, for example, international police force would seize the ship.”

He said they’d “embarrass Russia or the company supplying the S-300 [Russian long range surface-to-air missile systems] to either Syria or Iran” by drawing the world’s attention to their actions and saying “Look, we caught them!”

S-300 missile system

In Russia, the Israeli involvement version has not met much support either.

“Look at the faces of the men who stormed the “Arctic Sea” and their backgrounds – they are criminals. Not a single security service in the world would ever deal with such people,” said Russian opposition politician Aleksey Mitrofanov. “The whole incident looks like score settling between the ship owner and his partners.

However, those who believe the allegation that Israel was involved in the interception of the ship say that no other country is more willing or more able to carry out an operation like that on such a professional level. Another question that some people keep asking is why Israeli President Shimon Peres visited Russia just a day after the hijacking.

So, it looks this story is far from the end.

Times of London source: http://tinyurl.com/kwlvfg

http://www.russiatoday.com/Top_News/2009-09-03/arctic-sea-intercepted-israel.html#

Get 30 days of free traffic analysis simply by going to Web-Stat: http://www.web-stat.com/?id=2955

Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu

Netcraft rank: 11179 http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/124719

Rightardia.blogspot.com

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Suez Canal revenues fall due to recession and piracy

Downturn hits Suez Canal revenues

The Suez Canal is one of Egypt's main foreign
currency earners [Gallo/Getty]

Annual revenue from Egypt's Suez Canal, which allows shipping to pass between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, has dropped by 7.2 per cent to $4.72 billion.

Ahmed Ali Fadel, the Suez Canal Authority chief, said on Sunday that the fall was largely due to the financial crisis, while "slight" concerns about piracy off the Horn of Africa played a lesser role.

"The global economic crisis which began in September had a strong impact on our operations," he told Al Jazeera.

"It came just after the Suez Canal had recorded its largest ever revenues in August 2008, with $504 million earned that month.

Fadel said 19,354 ships passed through the waterway in 2008/09, compared with 21,080 in 2007/08, showing an 8.2 per cent decline.

IN VIDEO

Egypt suffers from Suez Canal revenue loss

The government has said shrinking canal revenues, one of Egypt's main foreign currency earners, were one of the main factors that caused Egypt's economy to grow by just 4.7 per cent this year - compared to growth of seven per cent over the past three years.

However, Fadel said that the impact on shipping from piracy in the Gulf of Aden off the Horn of Africa had been exaggerated.

"Piracy is a threat that affects not only the Suez Canal, but is also present in many other parts of the world," he said.

'Worst is over'

Fadel was optimistic that things would improve in the coming months.

"We've seen the worst the beginning of this year, though since March things are slowly picking up," he said.

HC Securities wrote in a research report early this month: "Although canal revenue has dropped precipitously over the last two quarters, the upturn in global activity suggests the worst is over for the decline in revenue."

But Reham el-Desoki, an economist with Middle East-based Beltone Financial, said global trade would likely take some time to rebound.

"We expect revenues to inch up to $4.8 billion in fiscal year 2009/10, as we do not expect a significant pick-up in Europe yet," she said.

Egyptian officials announced in 2005 that ships passing through the Suez would be subject to a three per cent increase in tariff charges.

"If the Authority raises its transit fees, it would not have an effect on revenues before April 2010, when new transit fees are usually implemented," Desoki said.

Meanwhile, canal officials are optimistic that new infrastructure improvements will translate into an increase in oil vessel traffic in the coming months.
Fadel said the authority had financed a project to deepen the canal, which is 96 per cent complete.

When finished, the canal will be 66 feet deep, from the current 62 feet, allowing it to handle ships over 240,000 tonnes, up from the current 200,000 tonne limit.

Source:

Al Jazeera and agencies