Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Obama's hidden war: US intensifies drone attacks in Pakistan
Editor's note: This is the first in a three part series reported from North Waziristan that looks into the issue of the continuing U.S. drone attacks on Pakistani soil. In the second part, locals in North Waziristan say that the drone attacks, which have killed hundreds of civilians, are sowing sympathy for the militants operating there and actually bolstering their ranks. In the third part, reporter Aamir Latif looks at how the United States and Pakistan, in the wake of Osama bin Laden's death, are cooperating like never before.
MIRAMSHAH, Pakistan — Based here in the remote, weathered hills of North Waziristan, is the Haqqani Network, a group of insurgents closely aligned with the Taliban that has long provided a safe haven for Al Qaeda.
The Haqqani Network is believed to be one of the greatest threats to U.S.-led NATO forces operating in neighboring Afghanistan.
This is a region ruled by tribal law and allegiances, making it difficult for even a Pakistani from outside to travel freely. It is a Wild West where everyone is watching everyone else, a semi-autonomous region where, according to the country’s constitution, normal judicial and criminal laws don’t apply.
There are no police here, no army and no courts. Pashtunwali, a centuries-old tribal code, rules day-to-day life and is the law of land. All disputes are resolved through a Jirga, an assembly of community elders, whose word is final.
Security analysts say North Waziristan is the most important route for militants moving back and forth across the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where they persistently attack NATO troops. And before Osama bin Laden died in a neighborhood not far from Islamabad, North Waziristan is where many thought he would be hiding.
U.S. President Barack Obama has long claimed that winning the war in Afghanistan will require that this region — and the Haqqani Network that rules it from the shadows — be brought back into the fold. The Haqqani Network is thought to command about 3,000 trained militants.
“If America wants to stay in Afghanistan, or safeguard its interests in case of a proposed pull-out, it has to tame North Waziristan,” said retired Maj. Gen. Shafiq Ahmed, a Lahore-based security analyst.So Obama — who made winning the war in Afghanistan and catching bin Laden two of his central campaign promises in 2008 — has stepped up the use of unmanned drones in North Waziristan. The drones are operated by the Central Intelligence Agency and were first authorized by U.S. President George W. Bush in 2004.
Global Post
Japanese superquake moved ocean floor 79 feet sideways and 10 feet up
The ocean floor shifted sideways by 79 feet in the Japanese earthquake in March - much further than scientists originally predicted.
And researchers are warning that immense amounts of seismic stress remain stored in the area, putting it at risk of further devastating earthquakes.
The journal Science has published three new papers about the effects and causes of Japan's March 11 mega-quake, which paints a picture of an earthquake hot spot much more complex and potentially dangerous than scientists had ever anticipated.
n one paper, the Japanese Coast Guard has released data from five geodetic instruments that in 2000-04 they had placed underwater along the fault line responsible for the colossal quake.
One of the instruments had actually been placed almost on top of the epicentre of the Magnitude 9.0 quake, at a station called MYGI.
Measurements taken in the week following the earthquake showed that at the MYGI site, the sea floor had moved about 79 feet to the east-southeast since the previous measurement in February. It had also risen about 10 feet.
Dr Mariko Sato, a geodesist with the Japan Coast Guard in Tokyo, believes almost all this movement happened during the quake.
The scale is almost double that estimated only from the terrestrial data,' Dr Sato told BBC News.
Under the seabed, the movement may have been even greater - perhaps 160 to 200 feet, by some estimates.
In another study sure to raise alarm in Japan, scientists from the California Institute of Technology have reconstructed how the Tohuku-Oki earthquake unfolded using GPS data recorded at more than 1,200 sites.
Their data showed that - contrary to previous opinion - the area had built up massive amounts of strain prior to the earthquake.
Earlier, there had been general agreement among researchers that the 'Miyagi segment' of the fault line was not under the stress of other segments along the Japan plate boundary, where large earthquakes occur at a regular basis. But Professor Mark Simons' team showed that this assumption was deeply flawed.
This raises questions about other sections of the fault line that had previously been considered low risk - including areas further south, closer to Tokyo.
This 'Ibaraki segment' of the plate boundary has been thought to behave in similar fashion to that of the Miyagi segment, and Professor Simons says it may likewise hold large amounts of seismic stress.
In recorded history, this southern area has experienced only one set of quakes larger than magnitude 8 - which means the region could be ripe for its own rupture.
The quake may also have destablised nearby areas of fault line, making them even more vulnerable to a catastrophic rupture.
'We have to entertain the possibility this area can produce a large quake,' Simons said. 'This area will warrant a lot of attention in the near future.'
The earthquake and subsequent tsunami left more than 24,000 people dead or missing, and wiped out entire towns.
Daily Mail
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1389247/Japan-earthquake-Ocean-floor-moved-79-feet-sideways.html#ixzz1NCnuu9NI
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Historic Severe Outbreak to Affect 80 Million in Metros
If you tried to draw a severe weather threat map over most of the population of the Eastern U.S., you couldn't do much better than this government forecast. One worry everyone seems to have this year (and for good reason in a Spring with record tornado deaths) is: Will my city be hit by a tornado? (It seems to be happening a lot lately).
As you can see from the map above, which shows cities in black, nearly every major metropolitan area in the heart (and east coast) of the country is under a severe thunderstorm threat today. I tabulated the major metropolitan centers only, and came up with a number of 70 million city folks who are in the Slight Risk area, with 11.5 million in the Moderate or High Risk areas (where tornadoes are most likely to occur).
Accuweather
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