Quote:
Originally Posted by Butterfly
BF,
If you approached something really big, I bet your first survival tactic would be to swallow it :smileylaughing:
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Butterfly
BF,
If you approached something really big, I bet your first survival tactic would be to swallow it :smileylaughing:
stop whining like a little bitch,
to quote you,
more shit in serious... 15-07-2012 12:12 PM Carrabow Ditto, leave me alone and I will give you the same
I hope they start with France and Belgium.Quote:
Originally Posted by Butterfly
Quote:
Originally Posted by harrybarracudaI hope they start with France and Belgium.Quote:
Originally Posted by Butterfly
Fook Harry!
That would take one landing... Thank god he likes boys :) More Girls for the Men :smileylaughing:
They seem to have a hard on for Cameron these days, and since the Ayatollah were residing in England before 1979, they will probably go back there first for old time sake,Quote:
Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
Quote:
Originally Posted by Butterfly
Good God BF!!!
Friggin Stop
I am trying to help you.
Never mind... You can't fix stoopid
Your knowledge of history is right down there with your knowledge of computing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Butterfly
You garlic munchers had him, you dumb fuck. You could have topped him in the '70s and saved the world all this shit.
Quote:
As protest grew so did his profile and importance. Although thousands of kilometers away from Iran in Paris, Khomeini set the course of the revolution, urging Iranians not to compromise and ordering work stoppages against the regime.During the last few months of his exile, Khomeini received a constant stream of reporters, supporters, and notables, eager to hear the spiritual leader of the revolution.
Idiot - Khomeini was exiled in France. The Shah's secret service should have topped him there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Butterfly
Litle bit of friction building between the USA and China.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/in..._131753855.htm
U.S. sanctions on China's bank ridiculous, counterproductive
English.news.cn 2012-08-01 17:36:35
"BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. sanctions imposed on China's Bank of Kunlun, accused of providing financial services to Iranian banks, are ridiculous and counterproductive, and risk hurting the normal economic links between Beijing and Washington.
The U.S. government said Tuesday that the Bank of Kunlun would be denied access to the U.S. financial system, alleging it has facilitated transactions with Iranian banks that were blacklisted by Washington for their alleged involvement in developing mass destruction weapons.
The latest round of penalties came as Western countries have blamed Iran for trying to develop nuclear weapons, an accusation strongly denied by Tehran.
However, the new measure, purportedly designed to curb Iran's nuclear program, in fact lacks legal grounds and violates the norms of international relations, as sanctions on the Chinese bank and international transactions were made pursuant to the U.S. domestic laws.
As a matter of fact, bilateral economic activities between Kunlun and the six Iranian banks were conducted in line with a string of UN Security Council resolutions and other international standards.
Moreover, the legitimate cooperation between China and Iran in the areas of energy, economy and trade featured by openness and transparency has nothing to do with Tehran's nuclear program and will by no means harm the interests of any third party.
Rather it is the U.S. practice of attempting to extending its domestic law to other countries that would obviously undermine China's interests and bilateral ties as well.
The fourth round of the China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue held in Beijing in May has yielded positive results and set the tone for expanding strategic cooperation and promoting mutually beneficial relations.
However, Washington's sanctions on the Chinese bank would lead to nothing but an hindrance to bilateral cooperation.
Furthermore, history has proved that the West's practice of pressuring Iran through sanctions has come to no avail and will only add to the tensions between the two sides.
China has always attached great importance to the issue of nuclear security and firmly opposed nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism, and is ready to work with other relevant parties including the United States to push for a proper settlement of Iran's nuclear issue.
Thus, it's highly advisable for the United States to revoke the sanctions on Kunlun as soon as possible. And Washington should take concrete measures to enhance mutual trust and bridge differences with Tehran in the quest for a solution to the decade-long Iranian nuclear crisis.
Related:
China urges U.S. to cancel sanctions on Chinese bank
BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday urged the United States to cancel its sanctions on the Bank of Kunlun and stop damaging ties between the two nations.
"The U.S. side imposing sanctions, in accordance with its domestic law, on a Chinese financial institution has severely violated the principles of international relations and impaired the interests of the Chinese side," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement, voicing "strong dissatisfaction" and "resolute opposition" to the U.S. move."
I wouldn't be moaning, they can simply tell the Iranians they are unable to pay for all that cheap oil they're getting.
:)
Iran loses $133 million a day on embargo, buoying Obama
Posted on August 2, 2012 at 6:49 am by Bloomberg in Iran
inShare
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2012/08/245.jpg Oil pumps work at sunset Monday, Jan. 2, 2012, in the desert oil fields of Sakhir, Bahrain, in the Persian Gulf. Iran test-fired a surface-to-surface cruise missile Monday in a drill its navy chief said proved Tehran was in complete control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the passageway for one-sixth of the world's oil supply. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)
U.S.-led sanctions against Iran are costing OPEC’s third-largest producer $133 million a day in lost sales without raising global crude prices, handing President Barack Obama an election-year foreign-policy victory.
Shipments from Iran have plunged by 1.2 million barrels a day, or 52 percent, since the sanctions banning the purchase, transport, financing and insuring of Iranian crude began July 1, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Annualized, that would cost President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s country about $48 billion in revenue, equivalent to 10 percent of its economy.
While Iran’s threats to disrupt the flow of oil through the Persian Gulf sent crude to a three-year high in March, increased production from Saudi Arabia, a U.S. output boom and the slowing global economy have left prices 0.7 percent lower in 2012. That’s helping Obama avoid steeper domestic fuel costs before the November presidential election. Iran has to contend with a weakening currency and rising unemployment.
“It’s been an unqualified success,” Mike Wittner, head of oil-market research for the Americas at Societe Generale SA, said in a telephone interview from New York on July 25. “There were a lot of concerns sanctions could backfire by causing an oil-price spike, but in the end the U.S. and Europeans got their cake and they ate it too, because volumes are down and prices are down.”
Concern Drops
Voter concern about fuel costs has plunged since Republican Mitt Romney, Obama’s presumptive challenger, called for firing top officials he blamed for rising gasoline prices in a March 18 interview on “Fox News Sunday.” In a monthly Gallup poll on the most important issues facing the U.S., 1 percent of respondents cited fuel or oil prices in questioning July 9-12, compared with 8 percent in an April 9-12 survey.
Regular unleaded gasoline at the pump, averaged across America, fell 10 percent to $3.534 a gallon on Aug. 1 from the 2012 high of $3.936 reached on April 4, according to data from Heathrow, Florida-based AAA, the largest U.S. motoring group.
Brent oil has dropped 3.7 percent to $106.51 a barrel since Jan. 23, when European Union ministers approved a ban on the purchase and insurance of Iranian oil. The U.S. is paying 6.2 percent less than a year ago for imported crude as domestic fields produce the most in 13 years, driving stockpiles to all- time highs, Energy Department data show.
Hormuz Passage
Crude futures in London rose as high as $128.40 on March 1, an advance of 20 percent for the year, after Iranian officials threatened to order the closing of the Strait of Hormuz. The Gulf waterway, 21 miles wide (34 kilometers) at its narrowest, is a conduit for 20 percent of the world’s traded oil, according to the Washington-based Energy Information Administration.
Prices retreated as Saudi Arabia boosted output. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ biggest producer is pumping more than 10 million barrels a day, the most in three decades and 22 percent more than at the end of 2010, according to the International Energy Agency. The Paris-based adviser to the world’s biggest industrialized economies cut its forecast for global oil use four times this year, to 89.9 million barrels a day.
Iran is exporting 1.1 million barrels a day of oil, according to the median estimate of 10 analysts compiled by Bloomberg, down from an average of 2.3 million in 2011. The lost sales are valued at $133 million a day, based on the 2012 average price of $110.60 a barrel for Iran Heavy crude in Asia, according to Bloomberg data.
Struggling Economy
Daily output fell 9.5 percent in July to 2.86 million barrels, the lowest level since February 1990, a Bloomberg survey showed last month. Iran dropped to third among OPEC’s biggest producers, after holding the No. 2 spot since May 2000.
Prices of meat, rice and bread have spiraled in Iran as the rial lost a third of its value against the dollar on the open market since November. Inflation accelerated to 22.4 percent in the 12 months through June 20, according to the central bank. Unemployment reached 13.5 percent in March, the Shargh newspaper reported, citing figures from the national statistics bureau. The jobless rate was 11.9 percent in 2010, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Economic growth will slow this year to 0.4 percent, from 2 percent in 2011, the IMF said July 16. Gross domestic product is expected to accelerate to 1.3 percent in 2013, with unemployment set to rise over the two next years, according to IMF forecasts.
The international sanctions are “the harshest ever imposed on a country,” Ahmadinejad said on July 3. Oil accounts for half of Iran’s government revenue, according to the EIA.
Cutting Access
U.S. and EU sanctions have a global reach, thwarting financial transactions with Iran’s state entities and blocking insurance for oil shipments to Asia, the biggest market for Iranian crude. A U.S. law that took effect June 28 threatens to cut access to dollars for any foreign bank settling oil trades with Iran. China, Japan, India and 17 other countries received renewable 180-day waivers for reducing imports.
Obama announced an executive order on July 31 extending sanctions to buying Iranian petrochemical products, providing material support to the National Iranian Oil Co. or Central Bank of Iran, and acquiring U.S. bank notes or precious metals by Iran’s government. The Treasury Department also said the Bank of Kunlun in China and Iraq’s Elaf Islamic Bank (BELF) helped Iranian firms conduct transactions worth millions of dollars and blocked the offenders from the U.S. financial system.
Congress is set to give final approval to legislation aimed at preventing Iran from repatriating oil revenue, with measures against everything from conducting oil-for-gold swaps with the country to helping it mine uranium.
1979 Origins
The U.S. has limited dealings with Iran since 1979, when militants took 52 hostages at the American embassy in Tehran. The United Nations levied four sets of sanctions against Iran starting in 2006. None had the teeth to curb sales, and in 2007 the country’s crude exports rose to an 11-year high of 2.6 million barrels a day, according to Energy Department estimates.
Restrictions on supplying equipment and technology have stymied plans to modernize refineries and develop the world’s second-largest natural-gas reserves. Iran lacks the expertise to build the liquefaction plants needed to boost gas exports and prolonged sanctions may hurt its ability to maintain and expand oil production, according to Robin Mills, head of consulting at Dubai-based Manaar Energy Consulting and Project Management and a former Iran specialist at Royal Dutch Shell Plc. (RDSA)
Shipping Impact
The EU ban prevents most tankers from sailing to the country because the global marine-insurance industry is concentrated in London. All but 5 percent of the world’s fleet is insured by members of the London-based International Group of P&I Clubs, and the Islamic republic doesn’t have enough ships of its own to compensate, according to Dahlman Rose & Co., a New York investment bank.
China, Iran’s biggest customer and an opponent of sanctions, imported more crude from the Persian Gulf producer in June than its monthly average for 2011. Since the July embargo, Iranian tankers able to carry at least 20 million barrels have signaled for the Asian nation, ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show. The world’s second-largest oil consumer hasn’t sent any of its own ships since July 1, and the government in Beijing hasn’t said if it will insure cargoes.
“The future of Iran’s oil exports hinges on whether China is going to use its own ships,” said Nigel Prentis, the London- based head of research at HSBC Shipping Ltd. “That’s what we’re waiting for, because there’s nothing stopping them aside from the insurance issue.”
India, Japan Insurance
India, the third-biggest buyer of Iranian oil before the sanctions took effect, will start offering state-backed insurance to tankers carrying the crude. Insurers have agreed to give as much as $100 million of cover per voyage, Shipping Corp. of India’s chairman, Sabyasachi Hajara, said without giving a timeframe. Japan, the second-largest customer, is already providing sovereign guarantees and this month will load its third Iranian cargo since the embargo.
The U.S. and Europe are pressuring Iran to stop a nuclear program they say is aimed at developing arms. The International Atomic Energy Agency says it has evidence the country studied making nuclear weapons, for which Iran would need uranium enriched to 90 percent. The nation defends what it calls its right to process uranium, after achieving 20 percent enrichment for the first time in 2010. The government says it needs atomic capabilities for energy and medical purposes.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said July 24 that the country won’t bow to foreign pressure or sanctions, according to Fars.
“We could be looking at a very significant economic contraction in Iran over the next year,” said Crispin Hawes, director of Middle East and North Africa research at the Eurasia Group consultant in London. “It will take longer to see the impact on Iranian policy.
Clearly the government isn’t going to throw their hands in the air and say, ‘You’re right, we give up,’ but undeniably the pressure is going to grow.”
Poor Ron is fighting against 421 brain washed idiots.
Quote:
Rep. Ron Paul was a lonely voice of reason on Wednesday after the US Congress voted 421-6 on a bill that the congressman calls the “Obsession with Iran Act 2012.”
The Iran Sanctions bill, which changes the existing sanctions law by adding penalties for those that aid Iran’s petroleum, petrochemical, insurance, shipping and financial sectors, is what Paul views as an unnecessary step towards war with a country that in his opinion has no intention to produce nuclear weapons.
“A vote for this … will show that it’s just one more step to another war that we don’t need,” the congressman said in an Aug. 1 speech against the bill. “We have not been provoked, [Iran] is not a threat to our national security and we should not be doing this. For the past 10 to 15 years we’ve been obsessed with this idea that we go to war and try to solve all the problems of the world. At the same time, it is bankrupting us.”
At a time when the US has spent billions of dollars on a war with Iraq and Afghanistan, further involvement with Iran would just hurt the country – and especially the economy, he said.
Imposing sanctions and blockading a country are an act of war – and the US fights too many that it can’t afford.
Additionally, there is no evidence that Iran has ever enriched uranium above 20 percent – and the IAEA and CIA have determined that the country is not on the verge of building a nuclear weapon, Paul said. By pressuring Iran to close down its nuclear power plants, to the point where the US repeatedly imposes tough sanctions, Americans are simply preoccupying themselves with a country that has no intention of going to war.
“What we continue to be doing is obsess with Iran and the idea that Iran is a threat to our national security,” the congressman said. “Iran happens to be a Third World nation. They have no significant navy, air force, or intercontinental ballistic missiles.”
And even if Iran did have the resources to go to war with the US, the country has no history of invading its neighbors, aside from its involvement in the Gulf War, he said.
By voting for the Iran Sanctions bill, America is engaging in another costly mistake that mirrors the war against Iraq – a war that was a façade, based on a false idea that the country was hiding weapons of mass destruction, Paul said.
In his speech, the congressman also expressed his opposition to US intentions to fight for civil liberties in Syria. Earlier this year, President Obama signed a secret order authorizing clandestine aid to the rebel forces in the country.
But before concerning itself with civil liberties abroad, Paul thinks the US should reflect on its own actions.
“Do you think we’re protecting civil liberties by arbitrarily dropping drones or threatening to drop drones any place in the world, with innocent people dying?” the congressman said. “If we want to really care about civil liberties in Syria, why don’t we really care about the secret prisons we have and the history of torture we have in this country?”
While the US is making kill lists, it is preaching for civil liberties abroad and “poking our nose in other people’s affairs, just looking for the chance to start another war," this time in Iran, Paul said.
But disregarding the congressman’s speech, the overwhelming majority in the House of Representatives voted to impose further sanctions on Iran on Aug. 1, thereby increasing tensions between the two countries.
Too bad. Honest politicans never last long.
The crusader coalition continues to starve a nation. That worked well in Iraq eh, millions of unarmed civilians dying for the sake of cheap oil and gas, a wonderful business model. Didn't the NAZI's have a similar outlook on some population groups in the last century. But hey the Israelis have gotten away with it for many years now with the direct support of the US citizens who continue to vote for the political leaders who advocate these genocides all around the world.
Yes, it's time for the Iranians to overthrow the oligarchy of beardy psychopaths that rule with an iron fist and have put them in harms way, and for them to establish a proper democracy that doesn't make terrorism and murder their primary export.Quote:
Originally Posted by OhOh
Which country spends more on it's arms industry per capita than any other in the world - yep you've got it in one, the UAE. The second is USA and the third Israel
Quote:
Originally Posted by OhOh
Awww, upset because they don't buy them off your Russian heroes, are you?
Fars News Agency :: Iranian MPs, Commanders to Discuss Security in Strait of Hormuz
"TEHRAN (FNA)- Senior Iranian army and IRGC commanders are due to go to the parliament to discuss the latest conditions, developments and security of Iran's Southern waters and the strategic Strait of Hormuz in a meeting with the members of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission.
The commission members said they are scheduled to hold meetings with the commanders of the Army and the IRGC naval forces on Sunday and Tuesday.
The meeting will focus on the latest developments, conditions and security in Iranian coasts in the Southeastern country as well as the Sea of Oman, the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf.
Situated between the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz is a passageway for 40% of the world's oil production, including much of the crude extracted in Saudi Arabia.
Iran has threatened to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the oil-rich Persian Gulf if its nuclear program is targeted by air strikes that Israel and the United States reserve as an option.
In July, Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Major General Hassan Firouzabadi announced that the country has drawn a plan for closing the Strait of Hormuz, but meantime stressed that Iranian forces will not shut the waterway before they receive the needed permission from the Supreme Leader.
"We have a plan for closing the Strait of Hormuz, but executing the plan needs the permission of the Supreme Leader," Firouzabadi told reporters on the sidelines of an annual gathering of the IRGC commanders in Tehran at the time.
"The Armed Forces have their own plans for every subject, but the decision to close the Strait of Hormuz lie on the Commander-in-Chief (Ayatollah Khamenei), who also receives consultations from the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC)," he added.
The general dismissed the western states' claims that Iran is not able to block the Strait of Hormuz, and said, "They allege that we are bluffing in a bid to appease themselves."
"Of course, we don't want to block the Strait of Hormuz, but we have a plan for closing it, which is a clever and wise one," Firouzabadi said."
Oh dear, it sounds as if he has been watching BlackAdder.
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2012/08/390.jpghttps://teakdoor.com/images/smilies1/You_Rock_Emoticon.gif
Before
https://teakdoor.com/images/smilies1/You_Rock_Emoticon.gif
After
https://teakdoor.com/images/smilies1/You_Rock_Emoticon.gif
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US Destroyer comes off second best with an Oil Tanker.
All that high tech radar and global communication kit and they missed an oil tanker.
Sensors and
processing systems:
AN/SPY-1D 3D Radar
AN/SPS-67(V)2 Surface Search Radar
AN/SPS-73(V)12 Surface Search Radar
AN/SQS-53C Sonar Array
AN/SQR-19 Tactical Towed Array Sonar
AN/SQQ-28 LAMPS III Shipboard System
Ah, here is the problem
Electronic warfare
and decoys:
AN/SLQ-32(V)2 Electronic Warfare System
AN/SLQ-25 Nixie Torpedo Countermeasures
MK 36 MOD 12 Decoy Launching System
AN/SLQ-39 CHAFF Buoys
No 280,000 ton, 2M barrels of oil anti tanker warfare/countermeasures.
Are tankers confused with the anti- tanker chaff system one wonders.
:rofl:
Talk about shooting oneself in the foot. Just another US$ 2 Billion for the Chinese to pay for.
The stop and search request was lost in a language problem.:) Hillary will be foaming at the mouth.
Was it carrying Iranian crude?:confused: It doesn't look as if the Iranians will need to block the straights after all.
Since this happened at 1am, I am sure the Iranian military will now be planning all of their tactical operations to take place at night.
Nobody on the bridge with binos.Quote:
Originally Posted by OhOh
I wonder if they actually managed to stop the tanker in question?
If they cant see a tanker what chance of a rubber dinghy?
The panamanian crew had a "request" from thier neighbour, Venezuala, to ignore any "requests" from the US 7th, 8th and 9th fleet.:)Quote:
Originally Posted by Flight19