Welcome to Sott.net
Fri, 15 Oct 2021
The World for People who Think

Puppet Masters
Map

Light Saber

Stuxnet, EPIC FAIL: Iranian nuclear power station begins generating electricity

Image
© Bagher Nasir/AP
The reactor building of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, 750 miles south of Tehran.
Long-delayed Bushehr plant joins national grid, according to state TV

Iran's first nuclear power plant has started adding electricity to the national grid after years of delays, according to the state news agency.

"The Bushehr nuclear power plant joined the national grid on Saturday at 11.29pm (6.59pm GMT) with the power of around 60 megawatts (MW)," the Isna news agency said.

Hamid-Khadem Qaemi, a spokesman for the country's Atomic Energy Organisation, told Iran's Arabic TV station al-Alam that the plant would be officially inaugurated by 12 September, by which time it would be operating at 40% capacity. The agency was not immediately available to comment.

The $1bn (£616m), 1,000MW plant on the Gulf coast is the first of what Iran hopes will become a network of nuclear facilities that will reduce its reliance on its abundant fossil fuels.

Coffee

He Who Gets Slapped: The Progressive Perpetuation of Past and Present Evil

iraq isahaqi massacre,
© 9q9q.com
Five years ago, I wrote several articles about a horrific massacre of Iraqi civilians in Ishaqi. Credible evidence and eyewitness testimony indicated that American soldiers, in the course of a raid, had executed unarmed civilians -- including several small children -- then called in an airstrike to destroy the house, and the evidence of these murders.

At the time, these articles were criticized by some for putting the "worst case" construction on the evidence. After all, in the "fog of war" -- that clapped-out rhetorical trope which has hidden a multitude of sins down through the years -- who could know what really happened? Yeah, some mistakes might or might not have been made -- crossfire, collateral damage, etc. -- but surely no one could believe that American soldiers would deliberately do such a thing. My take -- and that of this blog's co-founder, Rich Kastelein, who put together a devastating flash film on the incident -- was just the usual overblown, knee-jerk, anti-war hissy fit, etc.

But thanks to a recent WikiLeaks revelation, we now know that at least two other groups of knee-jerk, anti-war freaks were also pursuing the "worst-case" interpretation of the massacre: UN investigators, who delivered a detailed report on the evidence to the American occupation forces -- and the invaders themselves. It turns out that American authorities regarded the UN evidence very seriously; so seriously that they took immediate, decisive action .... to cover it all up.

Cowboy Hat

UK: Bosses' Bonuses Up by 187% Since 2002

Bank notes

The Commission says complicated bonus structures can mask real rises in pay
Average bonuses for directors of FTSE 350 companies have risen by 187% since 2002, without a corresponding rise in share prices, new research suggests.

The High Pay Commission said on Monday that average annual bonuses were worth 48% of salary in 2002, but are now 90%.

Commission chairman Deborah Hargreaves said it was a "myth" that big bonuses meant companies performed better.

Bell

Gerald Celente: Economy is Going to Get Much Worse

A recent report reveals that the US created zero new jobs last month. The last time this happened was in 1945.


The unemployment rate is still at 9.1% and projected numbers for the next year show the average unemployment rate at about 9%. With these numbers, many Americans question if President Obama's jobs creation plan, due to be unveiled next week, will have any effect on the economy. Gerald Celente, director at Trends Research Institute, helps us peer into the future.

Vader

Cheney: US Different if Hillary Clinton President

Image
© The Associated Press / Richard Drew
Former Vice President Dick Cheney, left, is interviewed on the Fox & friends television program, about his book in My Time, in New York Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011.
Hillary Rodham Clinton isn't president, but Dick Cheney says that if she were in the White House rather than Barack Obama, then things might be different today in the country.

Cheney isn't getting into specifics, but he does think that "perhaps she might have been easier for some of us who are critics of the president to work with."

The former vice president tells Fox News Sunday that it's his sense that the secretary of state is "one of the more competent members" of the Obama administration and it would be "interesting to speculate" about how she would have performed as president.

Clinton lost the 2008 Democratic nomination to Obama, who went on to beat Republican John McCain in the general election. Obama named Clinton as the country's top diplomat.

Binoculars

Tony Blair is godfather to Rupert Murdoch's daughter

Image
© Unknown
The former prime minister was reportedly present in March last year when Murdoch's two daughters by his third wife were baptised on the banks of the Jordan.

The information was not made public and its disclosure in an interview with Mrs Murdoch in Vogue will prove highly embarrassing for Mr Blair.

His close ties to the Murdochs could explain his reluctance to condemn the News International phone hacking scandal.

In July, it was reported that he asked Gordon Brown to put pressure on Tom Watson, the Labour MP who helped expose the scandal, to drop his investigation.

Mr Blair's spokesman categorically denied the allegation.

People

US: police again in the crosshairs of Anonymous

anony123
While police in the UK continue to make arrests of suspected Anonymous and LulzSec members, over on this side of the pond law enforcement groups don't seem to be faring as well.

First the group hit police agencies in Arizona, then they turned their attention to the police who patrol the Bay Area Rapid Transit system. Now, it seems cops in Texas are the target of the hacktivist group.

Anonymous is currently taking aim at the Texas police chiefs association. The site was defaced by hackers not once, but twice on Thursday. In addition to defacing the site, Anonymous also says it has obtained information from police systems.

The group posted the following message on the defaced web site:
"For every defendant in the anonymous "conspiracy" we are attacking two top Texas police chiefs, leaking 3GB of their private emails and attachments. Mind you, we don't expect a sane response. Even a few insults would have been better than the way you cowards hide behind protocol, innuendo, and your badge."

Display

UK: Plods to get dot-uk takedown powers - without court order

Why? 'Cos we're the bleedin' law, you slaag

Police in the UK could get new powers to suspend internet domain names without a court order if they're being used for illegal activity, under rules proposed to .uk registry manager Nominet.

A Nominet volunteer policy team has recommended the creation of an "expedited" process for shutting down addresses when the police say "the urgent suspension of the domain name is necessary to prevent serious and immediate consumer harm".

The proposed rules, if adopted, would apply to any address ending in .uk, such as example.co.uk.

Shutting down a domain name effectively shuts down the associated website and email.

In order for a domain to be grabbed under the policy, a law enforcement agency would have to file a declaration with Nominet that a seizure would be "proportionate, necessary, and urgent".

Stormtrooper

Revealed: The mysterious US organisation that has killed more enemies than CIA since 9/11

JSOC
© unknown
The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and paramilitary forces may have killed dozens of al-Qaeda leaders and thousands of its foot soldiers, but there is another mysterious organisation that has killed even more of America's enemies in the decade since the 9/11 attacks.

According to the Washington Post, since the September 11, 2001 attacks, this secretive group of men (and a few women) has grown ten-fold while sustaining a level of obscurity that not even the CIA managed.

"We're the dark matter. We're the force that orders the universe, but can't be seen," a strapping Navy SEAL, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said in describing his unit.

The SEALs are just part of the US military's Joint Special Operations Command, known by the acronym JSOC, which has grown from a rarely used hostage rescue team into America's secret army.

Light Saber

'We won't give up UN bid': Palestinians

nabil shaath
© AFP
Leading Fatah official Nabil Shaath, seen here in 2010, has said the Palestinians will not be deterred from seeking United Nations membership, after reports Washington was trying to head off their bid

The Palestinians will not be deterred from seeking United Nations membership, a senior official said here Sunday, after reports Washington was trying to head off their bid.

"The Palestinians are going to the UN Security Council to ask for recognition for the state of Palestine on the 1967 borders... and there is no turning back or other choice than than this one," said leading Palestinian official Nabil Shaath.

"There is no alternative to this decision and no going back on it and if the United States vetoes it, we will continue to knock on the door of the UN Security Council seeking full Palestinian UN membership," he told AFP.