http://www.wikio.com/search=Richard Fernandez Wikio - Richard Fernandez http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=69391651 SALE Sharks wrapped up their pre-season preparations in emphatic style at Edgeley Park. Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:03:17 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=69391651 2008-08-29T10:03:17Z http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=69161464 Townhall links to a video in which civil rights activist Percy Sutton claimed he was asked by a certain “Dr. Khalid al Mansour”, supposed adviser to ‘one of the richest men in the world’, to write a letter of reccomendation on behalf of Barack Obama to help him gain acceptance to the Harvard Law Review many years ago. Mansour was raising money for Obama at the time,according to Sutton, a circumstance strange enough in itself. Townhall identifies the Mansour in question as a preacher from Islam Studios Full Article... Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:36:00 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=69161464 2008-08-27T14:36:00Z http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=69147733 Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:49:59 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=69147733 2008-08-27T13:49:59Z http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=69142198 Hot Tomali, Vancouver strike again - posters for Pardons Direct Inc. read more Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:05:43 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=69142198 2008-08-27T13:05:43Z http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=68739870 PJM’s Xpress bloggers weigh in on Obama’s VP selection. Roger L. Simon: “Scenes from a Marriage — The Modern Sequel” Ron Rosenbaum: “I have to admit I’m in a state of shock.” Roger Kimball: “Should I be nervous? … Obama is not stupid, neither are his handlers.” Richard Fernandez: “Both Obama and Biden are senators, and neither has held [...] Sat, 23 Aug 2008 17:19:37 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=68739870 2008-08-23T17:19:37Z http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=68393194 Richard Fernandez Most of Russia’s current power and influence comes from its production and control of energy. According to the DOE, “Russia’s economic growth over the past seven years has been driven primarily by energy exports, given the increase in Russian oil production and relatively high world oil prices during the period.” “Russia’s economy is heavily dependent on oil and natural gas exports. In order to manage windfall oil receipts, the government established a stabilization fund in 2004. By the end of 2007, the fund was expected to be worth $158 billion, or about 12 percent of the country’s nominal GDP. According to calculations by Alfa Bank, the fuel sector accounts for about 20.5 percent of GDP, down from around 22 percent in 2000. According to IMF and World Bank estimates, the oil and gas sector generated more than 60 percent of Russia’s export revenues (64% in 2007), and accounted for 30 percent of all foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country.” Russia’s major market for natural gas is Europe. These Department of Energy maps depict the existing and proposed routes of Russian pipelines not only to Europe, but to all points. One key difference between Russia’s pipeline-based natural gas distribution network and a system based on tankers is that Russian gas has to transit sovereign countries. This is contrast to the shipping which enjoys freedom of navigation on the world’s oceans. Pipelines must be protected continuously and persistently along their entire length unlike shipping which occupies a moving dot on the vast ocean and around which defenses can be concentrated. Pipelines moreover, cannot be easily rerouted. Ships, by comparison, can select alternate routes in responses to changes in the weather or obstruction. Russia must resort to a combination of bribery and threat to ensure that its energy exports get safe passage. Natural gas is used primarily for heating and electrical power generation. Nuclear power, which fills a similar market niche, produced half as much as conventional thermal generating power in Europe in 2005. For North America it was only over a quarter. Nevertheless Europe is a heavy user of Russian natural gas. But nothing stands still and Russia’s natural gas production will decline unless it can successfully develop new fields and new routes. The DOE writes: Gazprom’s natural gas production forecast calls for modest growth of 1-2 percent per year by 2010. Russia’s natural gas production growth reflects its aging fields, state regulation, Gazprom’s monopolistic control over the industry, and insufficient export pipelines. … Based on EIA analysis, Gazprom’s production from its largest four fields is expected to decline by around 1,800 Bcf in the next four years. Gazprom’s targeted production for 2011 is an increase of around 1,000 Bcf from 2007 levels. … Domestic gas prices in Russia are only around 15-20 percent of the market rate at which Russia’s gas is sold to Germany, and Gazprom lost around $420 million in 2006 on domestic natural gas sales. Low prices have impacted the gas industry’s ability to finance capital spending and have hurt incentives to increase efficiency. As old fields decline and production moves to fields in Siberia and the Barent’s Sea, Russia’s logistical calculus will become even more complicated. Selling off a depleting resource in order to fund a transitory condition of prestige among sullen neighboring countries and to keep domestic prices low may prove a difficult strategy to sustain. Recent reports for example that Russia is distributing passports in the Ukraine to people of Russian ethnicity may support Moscow in the short term. But in the long term it bodes ill for relationships in the area. In the medium to long term, the containment of Russia will focus around diplomatic efforts to draw countries around its periphery into arrangements with the West and to do with energy policy. Energy is Russia’s strength and its Achilles’ heel. August 18, 2008 http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez RSS 2.0: http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'alt=rss Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:30:00 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=68393194 2008-08-20T17:30:00Z http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=68286548 One choice would be hailed as brilliant. Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:55:18 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=68286548 2008-08-19T21:55:18Z http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=68272085 Why treating success as a form of failure is wrong. Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:08:30 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=68272085 2008-08-19T19:08:30Z http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=68134371 Is the sex tape business played out already? Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:02:55 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=68134371 2008-08-18T17:02:55Z http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=68089915 Who will replace him? Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:07:01 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=68089915 2008-08-18T10:07:01Z http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=68063840 Ireland's first Olympic tri-athlete Emma Davis finished 37th of 55 in the final in Beijing this morning, eight minutes and one second behind winner Emma Snowsill of Australia. Mon, 18 Aug 2008 04:26:24 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=68063840 2008-08-18T04:26:24Z http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=68051353 Ukraine has offered NATO a pair of Soviet-era radar bases that have presumably sat idle since the breakup of the Soviet Union. This is the latest countermove in an increasingly tense tit-for-tat triggered by the invasion of Georgia. At the blog Belmont Club, Richard Fernandez and his numerous commenters place the new development in context. Sun, 17 Aug 2008 23:42:55 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=68051353 2008-08-17T23:42:55Z http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=67772373 Nicholas Walter Grey, 22, and Alysondra Rose Cohen, 18, both of Incline Village. Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:23:16 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=67772373 2008-08-14T18:23:16Z http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=67573756 Romain Dumas (France), who shares the #7 LMP2 Penske Racing Porsche RS Spyder with Timo Bernhard (Germany), and Jorg Bergmeister (Germany), who drives the #45 GT2 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR with Wolf Henzler (Germany), both broke the track qualifying records in their classes, but it wasn’t quite enough to capture the pole [...] Wed, 13 Aug 2008 06:39:27 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=67573756 2008-08-13T06:39:27Z http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=67483163 Tue, 12 Aug 2008 11:20:00 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=67483163 2008-08-12T11:20:00Z http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=67384899 The best joke I've seen is that the Russians won't make it past Macon, let alone enter Atlanta. But, the Russian invasion of the other Georgia, on the other side of the world, really isn't funny. It's quite a bit... Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:26:45 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=67384899 2008-08-11T16:26:45Z http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=67071991 The Onion News Network reports the Pentagon's unmanned spokesdrone completes its first press conference mission: Pentagon's Unmanned Spokesdrone Completes First Press Conference Mission Thanks to Richard Fernandez for the tip. Fri, 08 Aug 2008 08:36:27 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=67071991 2008-08-08T08:36:27Z http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=66665923 Richard Fernandez (aka Belmont Club) has a great, link-filled post on the most recent airstrike within Pakistan - ...yet another missile struck al-Qaeda in the Pakistani border area. "One of al Qaeda's top chemical and biological weapons experts was killed in an air strike by a CIA pilotless drone," according to CBS News. Abu Khabab Al-Masri is dead, according to al-Qaeda website. Several other men were killed in the strike. Al-Masri's central roles in both Al Qaeda and the lives of any frequent flier are pretty impressive - ...The LA Times says al-Masri was behind the failed post-September 11 plot to blow up airplanes en route from Britain to the United States, an event now memoralized in the restrictions on passenger-embarked bottles of fluids. The innovative techniques required special instruction. Masri envisioned his operatives injecting the liquid explosives, a highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide mix, with a syringe into the false bottoms of innocuous containers such as sports drinks, sneaking the components aboard and assembling bombs after takeoff. ...The Associated Press also credits al-Masri with training the suicide bombers who attacked the USS Cole. This strike is only the most recent in 5-6 other high profile hits in the past few months. Tellingly, the daily, operational grinding that is being inflicted on Al Qaeda in Pakistan is also evident and likely played a crucial role in finding al-Masri - ...With the decimation of his henchmen, the master bomber was forced to venture out himself and train volunteers who were often of indifferent quality. Masri assumed more control. … Last spring, he taught bomb-making in compounds in North Waziristan to aspiring suicide attackers, including a 21-year-old Pakistani living in Denmark and a 45-year-old Pakistani-German, according to U.S. and European officials. U.S. anti-terrorism source sees Masri's role as a symptom of decline. "The fact he trained them himself shows you some of the limitations of the network," the source said. A recurring topic for me on SM is how so many of our notions of civilized state behavior get chucked out the window when dealing with technologically- / globalization-charged 21st century terror orgs. In the nice, predictable Westphalian world , terrorism was a police operation and American cops / FBI (or, more directly Afghan cops) would make a quick call to their neighboring jurisdiction and expect 'em to dispatch resources to nab the perps. Rogue states and the like certainly existed but tech & travel made it difficult for them to seriously reach out and touch comfy, cozy Westerners. In Pakistan we see all those assumptions about diplomacy, soft power, sovereign respect, and high minded rhetoric tested in ways that leave many uncomfortable. Once armed with solid intel on al Masri's whereabouts, should the US have respected international law and simply passed the data on to Pakistani authorities? What if there wasn't enough time to act? Or what if the "authorities" had only minimal control of the territory in question? Or even worse, what if the authorities themselves were part of the problem? In a world fed up with American bullying, unilateralism, and "act first, get permission later" behiavor, it sadly appears that there would have been no other option for nailing al-Masri. Regardless of the path by which we got to this state of affairs (and many argue that it's the more "natural" one relative to our "historical slumber" in the world of diplomats & cops), the issue is still what to do when the next al-Masri moment presents itself. And aside from some international law theorists, I venture that in this case, we are all better off for the path chosen. vinod at 11:41 PM in Short T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k link Tue, 05 Aug 2008 04:41:08 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=66665923 2008-08-05T04:41:08Z http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=66609385 The U-18 Men's National Team was defeated by Venezuela, 1-0, in the opening game of the U-20 International Tournament in Trinidad, Uruguay. Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:31:47 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=66609385 2008-08-04T16:31:47Z http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=66603813 Richard Fernandez sums up a reality many have already come to grips with, with many yet to grab hold. He writes in The battle of the ghosts : The lethality of information may eventually modify the role of the traditional armies from that of being the primary delivery mechanism of force to that of protecting the gatherers of information. One reason why ground forces will remain vital into the 21st century is that they alone are capable of providing security for people. In a counterinsurgency campaign where the population itself becomes the primary source of “tips”, protecting the people protects the fountainheads of information. Once the information is in hand, the lethal force can follow, often within seconds. This probably one reason why the Surge worked. The security provided by US forces and new Iraqi units yielded vast information dividends. And information is fatal to al-Qaeda. Perhaps it is fallacious to believe that intelligence operations and diplomacy can be neatly separated from military activity in the age of terrorism. Intelligence work and diplomacy -€” even law enforcement -€” cannot long survive without security. It will be interesting to watch how the US conducts its virtual maneuvers in Pakistan; its tenuous net of informers, signals intelligence and high-tech strike assets forming an invisible force against the phantoms of al-Qaeda. Its a battle of the ghosts on the roof of the world. He’s spot on, of course. I like best the ‘battle of the ghosts’ analogy for some reason. Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:58:20 GMT http://www.wikio.com/search/Richard+Fernandez?rinfoid=66603813 2008-08-04T15:58:20Z