The United States just wants us all to know it is watching your every movement. There is no other explanation for this blown out of proportion story (a lot of those lately. What are we being distracted from?), imho.
Which begs the question: How are they missing that truck pulling up in the Af/Pak foothills and unloading weapons, or how are the drug dealers moving their product all over the place?
"Panama seizes N. Korea ship and weapons parts; Equipment hidden beneath Cuban sugar" by Rick Gladstone and David E. Sanger | New York Times, July 17, 2013
NEW YORK — It started with a tip: A rusty North Korean freighter, which had not plied the Caribbean in years, was carrying drugs or arms amid tens of thousands of sacks of Cuban brown sugar.
It ended with a five-day, eventually violent standoff between Panamanian marines and 35 North Korean crew members, armed largely with sticks, who were subdued and arrested while their captain, saying he was suffering a heart attack, tried to kill himself.
Underneath all that sugar were parts for what appeared to be elements of an antiquated Soviet-era missile radar system that was headed, evidently, to North Korea — a country that usually exports missile technology around the world, rather than bringing it in.
That's the "weapons?"
On Tuesday, US and Panamanian officials were still trying to solve the mystery of the vessel, the Chong Chon Gang, and to understand why its crew had fought so hard to repel a boarding party as it attempted to traverse the Panama Canal.
I think I've solved it, and maybe the crew just didn't like the idea of sovereignty violated. Or maybe they thought it was Panamanian pirates.
After all, the equipment they were protecting, and which US officials speculated was headed to North Korea for an upgrade, would make a nice exhibit in a museum of Cold War military artifacts....
And the POINT being KOREA is NOT a THREAT!
The episode also offered a window on the desperate measures North Korea is taking to keep hard currency and goods flowing, at a time when its ships are tracked everywhere, old customers like Syria and Iran are facing sanctions and scrutiny, and its partners have dwindled to a few outliers.
Tracked everywhere? By who?
The role of Cuba is a particular element of the mystery — at a time when Washington has talked of relaxing restrictions and Cuba’s leadership has seemed more eager to improve its ties with the West than to strengthen relations with Cold War-era partners.
Even by the measure of bizarre stories about North Korea’s black market dealings, the events of the past five days in Panama set some records.
In recent times North Korean shipments to Myanmar and the Middle East have been tracked and in some cases intercepted, a testament to how closely US spy satellites follow the country’s aging cargo fleet.
Related: Burma Has the Bomb
No wonder the U.S. has chummed-up to Myanmar (that and its importance as a drug-producing and transit station).
But rarely have North Korean sailors tried so intently to stop a boarding and inspection, in this case cutting the cables to cranes that move cargo, in an apparent effort to keep the cargo buried under sugar.
Officials were wondering whether the sugar was a barter payment for work on the radar system.
“What I can say for sure is that, looking at illicit North Korea trade, their ships in particular, these guys are stumped for money; they are incredibly poor,” said Hugh Griffiths, an arms trafficking specialist at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. “Business deals that might look silly to us don’t look ridiculous to them.”
Actually, when one thinks of it, this doesn't look ridiculous at all.
Panama’s president, Ricardo Martinelli, who visited the vessel after the crew had been subdued, announced the discovery in a radio broadcast Monday, making it clear that the North Korean ship was in blatant violation of numerous UN sanctions.
He even posted a photograph of the contraband on his Twitter account....
“One possibility is that Cuba could be sending the system to North Korea for an upgrade,” IHS Jane’s said in a statement. “In this case, it would likely be returned to Cuba and the cargo of sugar could be a payment for the services.”
But IHS Jane’s added that the radar equipment could also have been en route to North Korea to augment North Korea’s air defense network, which it said was based on obsolete weapons, missiles, and radars....
And yet just a few months ago I was being told by my newspaper here that Korea threatening war! And HOW ODD that THIS COMES as they are TALKING PEACE?
HMMMMMMMM!
There was no comment Tuesday from North Korea or Cuba on the seizure of the vessel.
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"Another ship from N. Korea made trip to Cuba last year" by Rick Gladstone | New York Times, July 18, 2013
An aging North Korean freighter similar to the one impounded by Panama for carrying concealed Cuban military equipment made the same voyage last year without attracting suspicion, passing through the Panama Canal and calling at the same two Cuban ports, an international maritime traffic monitor said Wednesday.
Translation: this is a totally staged and scripted announcement by the mouthpiece media. Happened before, no one said anything.
Readers, this is propaganda at is best (or worst, depending on your point of view).
The monitor, IHS Fairplay, said that both vessels — the 390-foot Oun Chong Nyon Ho, which made the voyage last year, and the 450-foot Chong Chon Gang — normally worked much closer to North Korea, making their trans-Pacific trips to Cuba even more unusual.
“They don’t normally make these ocean passages,” Richard Hurley, a maritime data specialist at IHS Fairplay, said in an interview from the group’s London offices. “It’s intriguing to see two fairly small ships making the same pattern.”
He said a new review of IHS Fairplay tracking data showed that the two freighters were among just five North Korean vessels that have traversed the Panama Canal since 2010, underscoring the rarity of North Korean shipping in the area.
I thought it was U.S. satellites that nailed them. Are you telling me we also have contracted out $atellite $urveillance $ervices, too?
The revelation of what Hurley called a “mirror image” voyage in 2012 by the Oun Chong Nyon Ho added a new twist to the intrigue surrounding the impounded ship, which has been docked at the port of Manzanillo, Panama, since Sunday. Its captain and crew were detained at a naval base after they violently resisted a boarding party of Panamanian marines acting on a tip that the ship was carrying contraband.
From who? The same people who said Snowden was on Morales's jet?
The marines discovered a load of Russian-built military equipment owned by Cuba, including antiquated Soviet-era radar gear, hidden among more than 200,000 sacks of Cuban brown sugar. After two days of silence, Cuba acknowledged the cargo Tuesday night, describing it as “obsolete defensive weapons” sent to North Korea to be refurbished.
Oh, now it is a LOAD of EQUIPMENT, and something the Cubans will want back (why one can only wonder)!
Angry Panamanian officials have protested the attempt to ship the clandestine cargo through the canal as a violation of UN Security Council sanctions on North Korea, which has yet to comment publicly on the entire episode.
Well, it is widely-known that Panama is a U.S. puppet. One guy tried to stand up to us once and ended up in a Miami (then French) jail.
The shipment also threatens to derail recent efforts by the Cuban government to ease its prolonged estrangement from the United States, where some lawmakers are already calling for retribution.
Hmmmmm! Cui bono?
At the United Nations on Wednesday, a spokesman for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that he was aware of the impounded ship’s reported cargo, but that it was the responsibility of the Security Council’s sanctions committee to determine violations.
There was none.
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"Panama charges seized freighter crew; North Korea calls action violent, demands release" by Rick Gladstone | New York Times, July 19, 2013
Panama brushed aside North Korea’s demands that it release an impounded North Korean freighter and its 35-member crew, pressing criminal charges Thursday against all aboard for endangering public security by attempting to transport a concealed cargo of Cuban weapons through the Panama Canal....
I don't know how an air-defense system and radar becomes weapons, but okay.
The vessel was impounded Sunday after the crew, armed with what officials called sticks, tried to fend off Panamanian marines investigating whether it was carrying contraband. They found old radar and missile components buried in the hold of the ship, underneath more than 200,000 bags of Cuban brown sugar.
A statement by the prosecutor’s office said that all the accused had exercised their right to remain silent when the charges were formally lodged. The crew was expected to remain in detention while Panamanian authorities finished unloading the vessel, which could take days.
The criminal charges were disclosed only hours after North Korea broke its silence over the impounded ship and demanded that Panama let the vessel and crew depart.
A statement by the North Korean Foreign Ministry asserted that the ship had been transporting the Cuban weapons to North Korea for refurbishment under a legal contract.
Wow. This was all a LEGAL BUSINESS DEAL!
The North Korean statement also criticized Panama for using what it called the pretext of searching the vessel for narcotics and for Panama’s violent treatment of the crew.
The seizing of the vessel has cast a light on the clandestine maritime trading practices of North Korea, one of the world’s most isolated and impoverished countries, which has been further hobbled by UN sanctions over its nuclear weapons and proliferation activities....
The North Korean statement came a little more than a day after Cuba acknowledged that it owned the weapons.
In addition to the criminal charges against the crew, Panama has requested that the UN Security Council investigate the cargo as a violation of sanctions that prohibit North Korean trading in war materiel.
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I hear Panama is a good place to retire.
"Low cost of living, nice weather luring US retirees to Panama" by Juan Zamorano | Associated Press, June 05, 2013
PANAMA CITY — With its miles of beaches, lush rainforests, and welcoming colonial towns, Panama — like much of Latin America — has become a hot spot for American retirees. They come for the scenery, the weather, and, perhaps more important, the low cost of living.
‘‘We were looking for a simple, cheap life,’’ said Linda McKee, 61, of Bonita Springs, Fla., while enjoying a glass of wine with her husband, Eric Carlson, on the porch of their home in Boquete, a mountain town in western Panama where many US retirees live. The couple moved to Panama six years ago after first trying Costa Rica.
International Living magazine, which for 30 years has published a ranking of the top 10 ‘‘havens’’ for retirees, included six Latin American countries in its most recent ranking, in December. Ecuador was number one, followed by Panama. Mexico was in fourth place, Costa Rica fifth, Uruguay sixth, and Colombia seventh.
‘‘Panama is safe, stable, and friendly,’’ the magazine said. ‘‘It boasts the best health care and infrastructure in Central America . . . Its wildlife is abundant, with most of the bird species in North America, and its pristine natural setting is an eco-tourist’s dream.’’
US retirees began arriving in droves in Latin America in the early 2000s, and the numbers have picked up since the US economic crisis in 2008, tourism authorities said. As many as a million US retirees live in Mexico, they said, and thousands in Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Panama.
They escaped the tyranny.
Panama’s government has worked to attract them, making it simpler to qualify for permanent residency. The only requirement is that foreign retirees receive a pension of at least $1,000 a month.
‘‘With this, I can live here for an indefinite period. The process is very easy,’’ said Robert Braun, 67, of Lincoln, N.H. He said he came to Panama for the fishing, the weather, and safety.
The US dollar has been the local currency in Panama since it became an independent country in 1903, and there are dozens of banks that let foreigners manage their home accounts from here. Foreign retirees can bring in items valued at $10,000 or less tax-free and can bring in a car without having to pay taxes. Benefits include discounts of 25 percent on utility bills and lower medical costs.
‘‘US retirees come because they see Panama as a place where they can have good quality of life and low living costs, a place that has everything,’’ said Ernesto Orillac, deputy administrator of the Panama Tourism Authority.
In Boquete, a high-end development project called Hidden Valley includes residences, a small hotel, and a golf course. The town of about 20,000, in a region where a popular Panamanian coffee is grown, has a cool climate, with frequent light rain. When the skies clear, there are breathtaking views of green and blue mountains.
Town authorities estimate that about 3,000 retirees live in Boquete, mostly Americans. There are other communities of American retirees elsewhere in Panama, including near beaches.
McKee and Carlson, a 57-year-old former contractor, say they have never considered going back to the United States, although they do miss friends and family in Florida.
Between their pension and what they make working on a jungle conservation project in Rambala, about two hours from their home, they have enough to live comfortably.
‘‘We like that people are very quiet and security is not a problem,’’ said McKee, whose son Daniel, 27, visits twice a year to surf on Panamanian beaches. ‘‘This is our new country, our new life.’’
Renting their two-bedroom house in Boquete costs $550 per month. Dinner in a nice restaurant, with wine, usually costs about $30 for the two of them.
‘‘It’s fun,’’ said Carlson with a wide smile.
As for medical care, there are several hospitals in David, a city about 45 minutes away by car. Panama City is less than an hour from there by plane.
Braun, who had an Internet business until he retired 14 years ago, first traveled to Nicaragua, where he lived for five years before heading to Panama. He lived for several years in the seaside resort of Pedasi, then in a village near the Panama Canal, and finally to Boquete, where he enjoys photography, hiking, and bird watching.
‘‘Here we can live with less than $1,500 a month and go at least once a week to dinner at nice restaurants, something that cannot be done in America,’’ he said.
Retirees also have easy access to healthy, organic food grown by local farmers.
See: Roll Me Over in the Clover
Every Tuesday, there is a farmers market, and McKee makes and sells soaps and creams made with coconut oil and lemon grass.
See: Family Feud in Market Basket
Retirees cannot work in Panama, but they can have their own businesses.
‘‘Everything is possible in Panama,’’ she said.
Yeah, it's all good!
--more--"
"Panama holds fugitive ex-CIA agent" by Frances D’emilio and Juan Zamorano | Associated Press, July 19, 2013
PANAMA CITY — A former CIA base chief convicted in the 2003 abduction of a terror suspect from an Italian street has been detained in Panama after Italy requested his arrest in one of the most notorious episodes of the US program known as extraordinary rendition, Italian and Panamanian officials said Thursday.
He picked the WRONG PLACE for RETIREMENT!
See: Mixing an Italian Martini
Hey, don't knox it!
Robert Seldon Lady, the former CIA chief in Milan, was detained after he entered Panama and unsuccessfully tried to cross the border into Costa Rica, according to an Italian official familiar with Italy’s inquiry of the rendition of cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr.
Lady was sentenced to nine years in prison by an Italian appeals court in Milan after being tried in absentia in that case.
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What is so amazing here is seeing PANAMA and ITALY stand up to the U.S. on this, something unthinkable a few years ago.
Your government is losing its grip on the empire, Americans, and you better WakeTF up now!
Also see: Group effort landed Copa service
That what the CIA is using for rendition services these days?
