Boeing Globemaster 3

Boeing Globemaster III (A7-MAB)

This aircraft has recently been flying back and forth between England and Qatar.

Iran Assassination Plots

Iran plotting to kill people in the West? Well, of course they are. 'Death to the USA' has been their line since forever. What got me is that this story appeared in Aljazeera, that bastion of Palestinians-good-Israel-bad since forever. Is the Emir of Qatar (where Aljazeera comes from) having a tiff with the Ayatollah?

UK, US and allies accuse Iran of cross-border assassination plots

UK and 13 allies have accused Iran of plotting killings and kidnappings on Western soil.

The United Kingdom and 13 allied nations have publicly accused Iran’s intelligence services of orchestrating a wave of assassination attempts, abductions and intimidation campaigns against individuals residing in Europe and North America.

In a joint statement issued on Thursday, governments including the United States, France, Germany and Canada denounced Tehran’s alleged extraterritorial operations as a flagrant breach of national sovereignty.

What's even odder is that other countries joined in on these accusations, other countries that are well known for denouncing Israel if not outright coddling terrorists. 

Africa, Religion, War

Alliance of Sahel States (AES) (Red) and ECOWAS (Gray)*

I keep hearing about largish numbers of people being killed in Africa due to terrorist attacks or tribal warfare or something. I've never heard any coherent explanation of the overall situation, so I kind of just wrote them off as just crazed third-worlders running amok. I mean, what can you expect from such backward savages?

Today I came across this piece and the author lays it out pretty clearly. Here's the first couple of paragraphs. Follow the link to read the whole thing.

Russia’s Aims in Africa by Robert Bergkvist

As the 2022 invasion of Ukraine sparked international outrage, a different picture was being drawn half a world away. Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, hosts a peculiar, life-sized statue . Honoring the defense of the city against attacking rebels in 2021, it portrays a woman and two small children, huddled together behind a line of armed defenders: Central African and Russian soldiers, holding assault rifles. Around the time that Wagner Group mercenaries were taking part in the invasion of a sovereign European state, that same group was being lauded as a protector and liberator by a crowd of Central Africans, carrying flowers and Russian flags. How did Russia’s influence in Africa grow so strong and what are its aims going forward?

One recent example is eye-catching. In the beginning of this year, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso announced their withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), instead forming an “Alliance of Sahel States” (AES). Having undergone coups in the 2020s, all three countries are now run by military juntas. There are massive security concerns: the trio is locked in a brutal struggle against  trans-African terrorists. Jihadist organisations to the North with al-Qaeda and ISIS affiliations conduct lethal  attacks  on military and civilian targets, leading to massive fatalities. As such, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are all on the top 10 list of countries affected by terrorism, according to the  2024 Global Terrorism Index . Burkina Faso is considered the most terrorism-affected country in the world with over 2,000 deaths, placing it above states like Israel, Afghanistan and Iraq.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I suspect the Islamic Jihadists that are causing trouble are being funded by Iran. Russia is cozying up to Iran on account of their being neighbors and both are declared enemies of the West. They may not like each other, but they both dislike us more. It's a fine example of the old saw "the enemy of my enemy is my friend", at least until our common enemy is defeated, then you and I can fight.

Or it might be that the Jihadists are followers of some heretical version of Islam and so in Iran's eyes they are infidels and deserve to be destroyed. But if that's the case, who's funding them? Saudi Arabia? Who else could it be? It could be some rich man, but war is an expensive hobby. Far as I know the only people can afford the cash to pay for a war are places (like countries) that have a regular, sizable income, from either taxes, oil, or drugs. Might be Qatar, they have oil.

Are all wars religious wars? Or maybe religion is applied like a blanket over the crowd that is bent on going to war and somehow this makes everyone feel better? Anyway, we've got Eastern Orthodox (Russia), the Catholics (Europe), the Protestants (USA), Islam (Shia in Iran, Sunni in Saudi Arabia, who knows what in Qatar). Thank God for the Himalayas are we would have even more wars going on.

It just occurred to me after I wrote that last paragraph, that if the Catholics are really the dominate religion in Europe, it might explain the elites plan to fucking destroy the European economy by fomenting this war in the Ukraine. Pretty sure most of the elites are either Protestant or atheist. The only way you destroy the Catholic church would be if you destroyed their base, and killing their economy just might do the trick.

*Note about the map: I like the map, because it shows members of the two, regional, competing blocks. Guinea isn't technically part of AES, but the page where I found this doesn't acknowledge the existence of the AES. 

Wikipedia refers to the Alliance of Sahel States as ASS which makes sense in English, but French is the second most popular language in that region, after the native gibberish, so in French it's Alliance des États du Sahel which is how you get E instead of S.

Wikipedia page about ECOWAS

Qatar & CIA Kissing in a Tree

Abdullah bin Mohammed al-Khulaifi was awarded the CIA's George Tenet medal this week [File: X/@AJArabic]

Aljazeera has the story. Qatar, the biggest producer of LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) in the Persian Gulf. Qatar, host to Hamas leadership. Qatar the magnificent, Qatar the despicable. And now they're in bed with the CIA. I pitty al-Khulaifi. I suspect there are a number of people who want his head, literally, but maybe growing up in a snakepit he has learned to dodge and weave.

Who is Funding the College Protests?

Bayou Renaissance Man is talking about how the protests at college campuses are being organized and funded by outside sources. These are not spontaneous, grassroots protests. They are professionally managed and run. So now I'm wondering just who is funding these protests, so I ask Google and what I get back is a lot of nonsense:

• AP - House Republicans launch investigation into federal funding for universities amid campus protests No, you're missing the point.
• Fox - Billions of taxpayer dollars fund schools with anti-Israel protests Same useless crap again.

Not till we get to The Jerusalem Post do we start getting answers:

US student protests against Israel are orchestrated by Qatar-funded groups, aiming to promote Islamist ideology and malign Saudi Arabia, as revealed by researchers.

Qatar, the same country that is playing host to Hamas leadership. 

George Soros is paying agitators who are fueling the explosion of radical anti-Israel protests at colleges across the country.

New York Post blames billionaire George Soros:

No one familiar with the state of modern academia can be much surprised by the wave of anti-Israel tent-city occupations sweeping US campuses — but that doesn’t make them 100% “organic.”

And The Post’s discovery that lefty philanthropists are funding student “protest leaders” may be just the tip of an iceberg.

Encampments at Harvard, Yale, UC-Berkeley, Ohio State and Emory in Georgia were organized by branches of Students for Justice in Palestine, which gets cash (some direct, some indirect) from the Soros family “charities” as well as the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and retired Wall Street banker Felice Gelman.

Gelman and the Soroses also give to Jewish Voice for Peace and Within Our Lifetime, two more groups intimately involved in the protests.

At least three organizers — Malak Afaneh (Berkeley), Craig Birckhead-Morton (Yale) and Nidaa Lafi (University of Texas-Dallas) — are paid fellows of another lefty-philanthropy favorite, the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights.

USCPR community and college fellows earn stipends of $2,880 to $7,800 for work organizing campaigns to demand cutting ties to Israel.

Soros and Biden, what a pair.

P. S. Beware - I don't know whether it is my computer, or the websites I linked to, but when I had all these sites open my computer slowed to a crawl. I blame Google. I'm going back to Linux as fast as my little feets can carry me.

Biden and Hamas, two of a kind

LNG tanker © Getty Images / nikkytok

Qatar is sheltering Hamas leadership. In my book that means they are supporting Hamas. Israel is currently engaged in destroying Hamas. Meanwhile the Houthis in Yemen are attacking shipping in the Red Sea, ostensibly in support of Hamas. Qatar is a big exporter of LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) and now they are worried that the Houthis are going to attack their ships. RT has the story. These guys have too much money and not enough brains.

Meanwhile fucking Joe Biden blows up the Nord Stream pipeline so now Europe needs another source of natural gas. They can buy it from the USA, which gets Joe some support, or they can buy it from other places, like Qatar, who is supporting terrorism. You can argue that blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline was an act of terrorism, so fucking Joe Biden has made the USA another terrorist organization, just like Hamas. What a piece of shit.

Blog List

I just updated the list of Blogs I Read. For some reason it only shows the first ten, you have to click on Show All to see all 24 of them. There are other blogs I read occasionally, notably According to Hoyt. I generally like what she has to say, but she's not on the list because her posts are too long for me so I seldom read them.

I also added a list of media sites that I follow. ZeroHedge is written by Tyler Durden, the lead character in Fight Club. If you haven't seen that movie you should go see it. 

I used to read Aljazeera, but ever since the massacre in Israel this fall it's been all evil Jews all the time. Aljazeera is funded by the government of Qatar, and Qatar is rumored to be providing safe haven for Hamas leaders. It's too bad because they used to have some good stories. I wonder who is going to be willing to protect Qatar when the Israelis come calling. Will it be Russia or the USA? I suspect Israel won't care, as soon as they finish with Hamas stooges in Gaza they will be going after the Hamas leaders wherever they are.

Float Plane

Qatar Airways Cessna Caravan

I don't particularly like the Cessna Caravan, it's kind of ungainly. It isn't sexy or pretty or fast or cool, but people all over the world use it.

Qatar, Qatar, Qatar

The World Cup (soccer) was held in Qatar this year.  Argentina won. Cool,  I guess.

My nephew Nick has returned from a two month sojourn in India. He visited Delhi and points north up to the Himalayas. I imagine he had some good times, but his trip to the mountains was an adventure, as in an ordeal. Anyway, his flight from Seattle took him over the North Pole and Russia to Doha, Qatar. That struck me as a little weird, I mean Qatar seems to be a bit out of the way. And they flew over Russia. I guess that's okay since we aren't technically at war with Russia, are we? Whatever, let's try and plot that flight.

Google Maps makes a hash of it
That is not a polar route

Google Earth gets it right,
but at the expense of detail.
It was also a pain in the neck to use.

Well, that sucks. Surely someone out there can do this.

Great Circle Map might be technically accurate,
but the drawing is horribly distorted

GC Map did it better,
but it was awkward to use and not much detail

I swear last year plotting these kind of routes was much easier.

LNG Tanker Loading in Qatar

In other news, Europe is trying to replace the natural gas they were getting from Russia with Liquefied Natural Gas from Qatar. Someone recently tried to build a natural gas pipeline across the Mediterranean from the middle east to Europe, but Uncle Joe squashed it. Biden must hate Europe as much as he hates Russia.

Evil Russia Saves America's Sorry Ass

Oil tankers at the loading terminal of the Sheskharis transshipment complex in Novorossiysk, Russia. © Sputnik / Vitaly Timkiv

Russia apparently has more natural gas than they know what to do with. They are even converting some of it to diesel fuel and shipping it to the United States. Why would they do that? They must think that evil American Capitalists are exploiting the American proletariat who will be so grateful to the great Vladimir Putin that they will throw off the chains of our oppressors and gladly shackle ourselves to Russia. Ha, is to laugh. It's just business. Russia sees an opportunity to make money and they are taking it. Those GTL (gas-to-liquid) plants aren't cheap. Here's a picture of a Shell GTL plant in Malaysia.

Shell MDS plant in Bintulu, Malaysia, the world’s very first commercial GTL plant

The 2 million barrels of diesel coming from Russia will keep our trucks running for one day. Tomorrow we'll need another 4 tankers.

GTL Plants

There are only a handful of GTL plants in the world. I was able to locate the ones in Qatar and Malaysia (purple markers), and possibly one in South Africa.

Mohammad Gunn

Peter Gunn Theme by Henry Mancini
This tune has been popping up on YouTube lately. It's kind of a cool tune and I enjoy listening to it. Then I noticed that the group of performers is the Qatar Philharmonic Brass, which struck me as a little odd, so a-Googling I go.

Sheikha Moza bint Nasser

The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra . . . was founded in 2007 by Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, the then Emir of Qatar's consort. - Wikipedia

Sheikha got her money the old fashioned way: she married it.

[Emir of Qatar] Hamad seized power in a bloodless palace coup d'état in 1995. During his 18-year rule, Qatar's natural gas production reached 77 million tonnes, making Qatar the richest country in the world per capita with the average income in the country US$86,440 a year per person. - Wikipedia

LNG Rivers, a Liquified Natural Gas carrier

I presume the 77 million tons is an annual figure, which is a goodly quantity in anybodies book. Natural gas can be liquefied and then transported by ship, much like oil is transported in tankers. However, this an inconvenient process as the gas must be cooled to cryogenic temperatures.

Crude Oil Price since 2000

There is a process that can convert natural gas into liquid hydrocarbons. It was discovered in 1925 by some German chemists, but it also a complicated procedure that requires expensive equipment.  The run-up in the price of oil that started around 2005 convinced some people, including the Emir, that building a plant to perform this conversion was a worthwhile idea.

An aerial view of Shell's gas-to-liquid plant in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar

ORYX GTL Plant. Just down the road from the Shell plant in Qatar.

It appears that two of the biggest plants built for performing this conversion are in Qatar, a small country located on a peninsula projecting from the western shore of the Persian Gulf. Billions of dollars have been sunk into these projects which makes them comparable to the big integrated circuit factories that make our computer chips.

Qatar on the Persian Gulf

Temperatures during the summer can be 110 degrees Fahrenheit, which is not much different than Phoenix Arizona, but the humidity is much higher as you might expect being as it is surrounded by the sea. But then I checked the weather today and it is a balmy 70 degrees. So, for six months of the year it is nice, much like many places on Earth.

Previous appearance of Peter Gunn here.

St. Albert the Gaseous

Wish I could breath fire like that.

Bloomberg, via Tyler Durden and Dustbury, tells me that Al Gore is now a rich man with something like 200 million dollars at his beck and call, which puts him on the same playing field as Mitt Romney, his arch-enemy in the political game. However, Al is not a businessman of the same stripe as Romney. While Romney made his fortune through conventional rapacious Republican techniques of screwing the little guy and sucker punching the market, Al made his money through his political connections.
    Current TV, that he sold to Al-Jazeera, wasn't worth the $70 million they paid for it. Someone liked Al well enough to give him the money. Buying Current TV was just the cover story. Whether it was someone in Qatar (which is where Al-Jazeera is from) or someone who knew someone in Qatar who made that decision, we will probably never know. The only thing you can be sure is that someone has added Al to their ranks, just whose ranks those are is a little hard to tell. I mean, what has all this brou-ha-ha over global warming accomplished? Oh, that's right, tax breaks for wind power companies. I suppose that could be worth $70 million.
   The Apple stock deal was similar. Someone decided Al needed some money, so they gave him a job on Apple's board of directors, for which he didn't get paid, but he got some stock options, which he eventually cashed in. It's kind of like winning the lottery, except you don't even have to buy a ticket, you just have to know the right people.
    Apple stock is kind of like Tesla stock. Some people are just ga-ga over it. I wouldn't be surprised if both were a complete sham. Say you start a company and you issue a million shares of stock which you sell for a dollar each to your friends (pretend you have a lot of friends). Now you have a million dollars to use to start your company. Now your friends start talking about what a great company you have and how it's going to make a bunch of money and more people want to get in on the action, so they try and buy shares in the company, but nobody is selling any shares, except for your cousin Arnold who you never got along with very well anyway, but he's only got one share, and there are like a zillion people who want to get in on this deal so they start bidding the price up and eventually somebody buys Arnold's share for a $100. Now your company, which last week was worth one million dollars is now "worth" $100 million because this one share was sold. Right. Dump a a big chunk of shares on the market right now and watch the price plummet.
     Now all you have to do is wait out the SEC specified waiting period, and if people are still ga-ga over your stock, you can dump your options on the market for a nice fat windfall, without having to use any of your own money.

Title stole from Dustbury.

Time Warner Cable Drops Current TV Upon Sale To Al Jazeera

Ed Anger Says

From Michael Calderone's story on the Huffington Post:

"Some media observers interpreted the move as motivated by politics."

Ya think?

"Al Jazeera English received awards and acclaim for its comprehensive coverage of the Arab Spring protests in 2011, yet it has still faced an uphill battle in gaining cable distribution in the U.S., likely due to lingering fears of anti-American programming raised in the George W. Bush years. The Bush administration condemned Al Jazeera for its Arabic-language network's coverage of the Iraq War and broadcasting of al Qaeda tapes, even targeting its headquarters in Baghdad during the Iraq War. Perceptions that the news organization, which is funded by Qatar's government, is anti-American continue even as U.S. political leaders such as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) have praised the network's reporting abroad."

I luvs me some stoopid people. Wait a minute, Calderone? Haven't I heard that name somewhere before?
The picture is from Weekly World News, which should tell you something. Inspired by Dustbury.

Update December 2022 replaced missing picture.