Monday, June 29, 2015

Sunday Globe Special: French Calypsos

I've noted in the past how the Sunday Globe sometimes carries a theme forward over a series of Sundays, and they seem to be on to a French theme now. 

Look, if I were the elite of Bo$ton or those up in New England before heading back to the New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, later on Sunday, this would be very appetizing fare. But I'm not, and thus it holds very little interest. Sorry.

"Once a symbol of adventure, Cousteau ship rots in oblivion" by Alissa J. Rubin New York Times   June 27, 2015

The NYT and its brethren heading the same way.

CONCARNEAU, France — In its day, the Calypso was more than an oceanographic research vessel. It was the constant companion of the famed French explorer Jacques Cousteau, as the ship and its captain logged more than 1 million nautical miles together from the Red Sea and the Amazon to Antarctica and the Indian Ocean.

Now, all that can be seen of it is a skeletal hull, extending outside a warehouse in this small port town on the coast of Brittany in western France.

It is difficult to recognize it as the same boat that starred in award-winning films and televised adventures beginning in the mid-1950s and extending into the 1980s. Over those years, the Calypso and Cousteau turned into icons of a vibrant ecology movement, raising awareness of the wonders and fragility of the world’s oceans.

Today, the Calypso rots in the warehouse where it was brought to be repaired in 2007. Stripped of the metal and wood that once encased it, weeds curling among the wooden beams of its frame, the ship is now a symbol of how Cousteau has faded in the collective memory and how despite France’s sailing tradition, neither the government nor his heirs have found a solution for its restoration.

Cousteau, the country’s premier oceanographer and environmental advocate, was as much showman as scientist, and he astutely recognized that in order to get funding, scientific research had to appeal to a popular audience. By refining underwater filming, he did just that, creating a wealth of documentation of life beneath the oceans’ waves.

But he left little clear direction about what should become of the vessel that accompanied him in his explorations for more than 40 years when he died at 87 at his home in Paris in 1997.

Still in use in 1996, the Calypso was in the Singapore harbor when a barge accidentally rammed into it, sinking the boat to the seafloor. It took days to bring it to the surface and much longer to bring to France.

Although the Cousteau Society, a nonprofit environmental organization founded by the explorer, set out to restore it after his death, there have been lawsuits and disputes that have left the boat weathering away.

“It is depressing to see that no one has come to be its patron,” said Pascale Bladier-Chassaigne, the managing director of the Association for Maritime and Fluvial Patrimony, describing the ship as “mythic” and “emblematic” for France.

In 2014, the association designated the Calypso as part of the country’s maritime cultural heritage, but it has yet to be considered a national monument by the state.

The neglect is hardly surprising, said Gérard D’Aboville, the captain of PlanetSolar, a solar-powered research vessel. Despite France’s ample seacoast and its many island territories, the government has never shown much enthusiasm for preserving the country’s ships, he said.

The Calypso’s chances for government sponsorship have also diminished as its fame recedes into memory, he noted.

“If you ask the younger generation in France, they don’t know about it at all,” D’Aboville said.

The unresolved fate of the Calypso raises questions about what should happen to a ship when it reaches the end of its working life, especially a boat that was groundbreaking in its day.

Yet the frequent practice of chopping a boat into bits for recycling strikes many as a painful insult to a boat with such an august history.

No one was talking about such a dire option when the boat arrived in Concarneau for a complete restoration in 2007.

“When we learned that the workshop had succeeded in obtaining the order for the renovation of the Calypso, it was greeted with great joy and pride,” recalled Bruno Quillivic, the deputy mayor for ports in Concarneau, referring to the workshop of Piriou Naval Services, one of the largest employers here and one of France’s biggest shipbuilders.

But by the beginning of 2009, the Cousteau Society decided the renovations were inadequate and stopped payment. Piriou stopped working on the boat and a series of court actions ensued.

A judge ruled in favor of Piriou, saying the Cousteau Society needed to pay the shipbuilder $300,000 and to remove the boat from the Concarneau warehouse. Piriou said that if the Cousteau Society failed to remove the boat by mid-March, it would take steps to auction off the Calypso.

That date has come and gone and no sale has taken place. It is not clear if the company has the right to sell the boat and, even if it did, if there would be a buyer.

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I don't know where he last sailed, and I'd call you a cab except French transport looks real bad now.

I suppose you will just have to walk (no veil, please) and be graceful about it (she apparently didn't exist before 1946 when she just showed up! Must have been a three-week performance. Either that, or the Globe got to the ballet rather late).

"French search home of beheading suspect; Prisoner brought in bid to find any terrorism links" by Alex Turnbull Associated Press  June 28, 2015

SAINT-PRIEST, France — Police investigators wearing masks escorted a man accused of a beheading to his home in southeastern France on Sunday, searching for a possible international terror link to the killing after he sent a photo of the victim to a contact in Syria, a security official said.

OMG, this is to try and get into SYRIA, where I'm sure the French will be patrolling their former area of influence. Empires die hard, and they never real die!

Yassine Salhi, 35, was handcuffed and wearing jeans, a knee-length djellaba robe, and a loose towel over his head when judicial police led him into his residence in the town of Saint-Priest, outside the city of Lyon.

The official said police were searching for Salhi’s passport, to determine if he had traveled abroad before Friday’s attack, which authorities are calling France’s first deadly terror attack since a killing spree in the Paris area in January.

According to earlier propaganda, he was well know to French authorities and was being watched.

Salhi, a truck deliveryman and father of three with a history of ties to Islamic extremists, admitted earlier to the killing of the manager of the transportation company that had employed him since March, officials said.

The official also said Salhi had sent a macabre ‘‘selfie’’ photo of himself and the victim to a man identified only as Younes, who reportedly has been in war-torn Syria since last year. Investigators have found no links to any international terror group.

They should ban those self-centered instruments.

The suspect and police spent about an hour in Salhi’s home. It wasn’t immediately clear if police found what they were looking for. Sirens blaring, the police returned him to the Lyon police station where he was initially questioned.

Another security official said authorities were looking into initial claims by Salhi to police that he had recently argued with his wife and employer, was suicidal, and had wanted to make a media splash with a killing that had the markings of terrorism.

HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!

The severing of the head appeared to imitate the practice of Islamic State militants, who have beheaded prisoners and displayed their heads publicly. 

Except all those videos are ridiculous fakes!

The killing came after the militants urged attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. French authorities say Salhi had links to radical Salafists in the past.

Yeah, coming during Ramadan is a real false flag stink, and it smells mostly of Israel.

The suspect is accused of crashing his truck into a US-owned chemical warehouse on Friday, setting off an explosion, and hanging his employer’s head on the factory’s gate. He was quickly arrested. Officials had previously said he sent the selfie of himself and the victim to a Canadian mobile phone number. 

???????????

French police on Sunday lifted a 48-hour secure perimeter around the site of the warehouse in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier near Lyon. Images show the damage sustained in the blast.

Like I would believe images and photos I see cited or featured in a propaganda pre$$. Sigh.

Also Sunday, after two days in custody for questioning in Lyon, Salhi’s wife and sister were released, said the officials. They spoke only on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls said ‘‘we cannot accept barbarity’’ and estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Salafists — who preach an ultraconservative form of Islam — were present in France.

 No, but they can deliver it with military operations.

‘‘We are living under a major terrorist threat, and this terrorist threat is going to last,’’ Valls told i-Tele TV. ‘‘We should know we’re going to fight this terrorism over the long term.’’

Aaaaah! A French neo-con $ociali$t!

The chemical warehouse attack highlighted the scope of the threat facing France. Five months after three homegrown extremists killed 17 people in and around Paris, officials were warning the nation to brace for more terrorist attacks.

Then ALL THE SPYING and ALL THE SURVEILLANCE and ALL the LOOT  to keep them safe means NOTHING, huh? 

They KNOW IT'S COMING, but NOT WHERE, NOT WHEN, NOT HOW, NOT WHO, only WHY!!!!

Ooooooohhhh!

In April, Valls said authorities had, in recent months, foiled five terrorism plots.

All false flag patsies, I'm sure.

France has taken steps to bolster its counterterrorism efforts and to prevent radical recruitment, including a sweeping surveillance law passed in recent days. But analysts say the security problem confronting the country outweighs the ability of the nation’s intelligence services to respond.

Well, NSA has been SPYING on the FRENCH so maybe they could lend more of a hand?

So you SEE WHY the French needed to be exposed to a fictional beheading and false flag at this time, right?

France, which has Europe’s largest Muslim population, has seen more of its nationals and legal residents — over 1,200 — leave in recent years to join radical Islamists fighting in Syria and Iraq than have left from any other nation in the region.

BLAH, BLAH, BLAH!

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The propaganda is calypsoing as fast a WTC tower into its own footprint.

And across the sea:

"2,900 migrants saved off Libya" Associated Press   June 29, 2015

ROME — Italian coast guard ships and vessels from a multination naval mission and humanitarian organizations rescued at least 2,900 migrants Sunday from 21 boats launched by smugglers from Libyan shores, authorities said.

The coast guard said the rescues were carried out by military vessels from Italy, Spain, Ireland, and Britain, as well as a boat run by humanitarian personnel.

The Irish naval vessel Le Eithne was involved in at least six of the operations Sunday, rescuing nearly 600 migrants from inflatable rubber dinghies that needed help in the waters northwest of Libya, according to an Irish military statement.

About 100 of the migrants were being taken to the tiny island of Lampedusa, off Sicily. Authorities were determining which larger southern Italian ports would receive the others Monday.

Libyan-based smugglers tend to wait out spells of rough seas and then launch many of their boats, either unseaworthy wooden fishing boats or motorized dinghies, when the Mediterranean is calmer.

Satellite phones are used to call for help from the Italian coast guard, which then requests that naval vessels or cargo ships in the area come to the migrants’ aid. Some days this year have seen thousands of migrants rescued from many boats.

Print copy ended there.

So far this year, some 60,000 migrants saved by ships in a multination search and rescue mission have been brought to Italian ports.

Many seek asylum from wars or persecution in Africa or the Middle East and hope to reach families in northern Europe.

Italy wants northern European countries to take in fixed numbers of migrants. EU discussions about Italy’s appeal have so far yielded plans for such help on a voluntary basis.

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Hitting the other shore:

"Tunisia launches search for attack accomplices; Authorities say lone gunman had help beforehand" by Elaine Ganley Associated Press  June 29, 2015

SOUSSE, Tunisia — The student who massacred vacationers on a Tunisian beach and at a resort hotel acted alone during the attack but had accomplices who supported him beforehand, an Interior Ministry official said Sunday.

Yeah, massacre. Have you seen the pictures they have presented? 

And this whole LONE GUNMAN EVERY TIME, that's been sooooooooo played.

Police were searching nationwide for more suspects after the slaughter of at least 38 people in Sousse on Friday, in Tunisia’s deadliest such attack.

Yeah, and two posts below will tell you why this staged and scripted event was necessary.

The attacker’s father and three roommates were detained and being questioned in the capital, Tunis, Interior Ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui said.

The attacker has been identified as Seifeddine Rezgui, a 24-year-old graduate of Tunisia’s Kairouan University, where he had been living with the other students. The attack was claimed by the radical Islamic State group.

‘‘We are sure that others helped but did not participate,’’ Aroui said. ‘‘They participated indirectly.’’

Related: TUNISIA HOTEL SHOOTINGS MYSTERY

Investigators believe the suspected accomplices provided the Kalashnikov assault rifle to Rezgui and helped him get to the scene, Aroui said.

And he hid that under a T-shirt and shorts.

Authorities have yet to suggest a motive for the carnage. 

I have.

A security official close to the investigation said the student frequented an ‘‘unofficial’’ mosque in the Tunisian holy city of Kairouan for the past two years.

The official said a swimmer found the attacker’s cellphone in the Mediterranean.

This.... sigh.

The phone showed the attacker spoke with his father just before his assault, the official said on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.

Uh-huh.

Friday’s attack on the Imperial Marhaba Hotel shook this North African nation that thrives on tourism and has struggled since its 2011 revolution to be the one Arab Spring country that succeeds in transitioning from authoritarianism to democracy.

I already touched on all that. The Arab Spring is not what you think. Anytime the agenda-pushing pre$$ gives something a cute name.... 

The bloodshed shocked European nations across the Mediterranean worried for the safety of their citizens who populate Tunisian beaches — and about what it may mean for their own countries in an age of globalized terrorism.

This is such agenda-pushing slop and fear-mongering it's outing itself. 

Of course, the bloodshed their NATO militaries are bringing to the world.... aaaah, no biggie!

British counterterrorism police official Mark Rowley said Sunday Britain has mobilized more than 600 officers and staff — one of the force’s largest counterterrorism deployments in recent years — in response to the attack.

Then nothing better happen.

*********

Tourism Minister Selma Elloumi will meet with foreign ambassadors to lay out new security measures for tourists.

That is what this is all about: the elite closing the tyranny just a little tighter to keep you poor and downtrodden away from their play.

Queen Elizabeth II said the attack left her and her husband, Prince Philip, shocked. The royal couple sent condolences to the families of those killed.

And just after they visited a concentration camp, too, those incestuous germs (shocking, I know. Live, you bastard).

Britain’s Foreign Office updated its travel advice to Tunisia, urging vigilance and warning that further terrorist attacks there are possible.

Get the hell out of Tunisia, NOW!

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"Islamic radicals attack Malian village near Ivory Coast border" by Baba Ahmed Associated Press  June 29, 2015

BAMAKO, Mali — Gunmen identified as Islamic extremists attacked and briefly occupied a village in southern Mali near Ivory Coast on Sunday before security forces drove them out, officials said.

The attack was the second in Mali’s southern half over the weekend by suspected Islamic extremists, and President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita convened a meeting of defense officials in the capital, Bamako, on Sunday to discuss security. 

The ghosts and phantoms of ISIS™ are everywhere!

Sunday’s attack targeted the village of Fakola, 9 miles north of Ivory Coast.

Don't they have a war crimes issue?

Mamadou Tangara, mayor of the regional capital of Sikasso, said the attackers arrived on motorcycles.

The attackers carried “a black flag of jihadistsand shouted “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great” in Arabic, a military police official said. 

Oh, now I'm convinced this is all pure truth.

They burned administrative buildings as well as a building being used as a local base for military police, although those officers had left the village before the attack began, the official said.

Casualty information and details on the identity of the assailants in the attack were not immediately available.

In a separate development Sunday, officials in Chad said they have arrested 60 people, including suspects from Cameroon, Nigeria, and Mali, in relation to an attack earlier this month in N’Djamena, the Chadian capital.

A series of suicide bombings initiated that attack on June 15, killings dozens of people and wounding more than 100 others.

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That's more sub-Saharan Africa, but it's within the French theater of operations so....

Related:

"Suicide bombers kill 23 in attacks on Chad capital" by Dany Padire Associated Press  June 16, 2015

N'DJAMENA, Chad — Suicide bombers on motorcycles simultaneously attacked two buildings including the national police academy in Chad’s capital on Monday, killing at least 23 people and wounding more than 100 others, witnesses said. It was the first assault of its kind since Islamic militants threatened the country earlier this year.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but suspicion quickly fell on Boko Haram, the Islamic militant group based in neighboring Nigeria that already has attacked Chadian villages along the lake dividing the two countries.

Chad has been a major military ally with Nigeria in the fight against the insurgent group. Boko Haram’s leader has publicly threatened the Chadian president with retaliation.

Information Minister Hassan Sylla Bakari called Monday’s violence ‘‘an appalling and barbaric attack.’’

‘‘These attacks aimed at striking fear in people’s hearts will not diminish Chad’s determination and commitment to fighting terrorism,’’ he said. ‘‘The government will relentlessly pursue the fight against criminals whose intention is to spread death and desolation in Chadian families.’’

I'll explain that in a moment.

Officials said there were four attackers — two at each building, he added.

One of the bombers on a motorcycle blew himself up after security officers fired at him outside a building where the national police chief is based. The second explosion went off at the headquarters of the national police academy, witnesses said. 

Meaning it had to have been planted, indicating an inside job.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a statement, condemned the bombings and praised Chad’s ‘‘courageous role’’ in fighting Boko Haram.

Print copy ended there.

In Nigeria, Boko Haram was blamed for two suicide bombings Monday that killed at least 11 people in the northeastern town of Potiskum, according to self-defense fighter Adamu Isa and an AP count of bodies.

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That's the first (and last) I've seen of it.

NDU:

"UK prime minister vows response to attack in Tunisia" by Stephen Castle New York Times  June 29, 2015

LONDON — Shocked by the deadliest terrorist attack on Britons in a decade, Prime Minister David Cameron promised a “full spectrum” response Monday to the assault, which killed 39 tourists at a resort in Sousse, Tunisia, on Friday.

OMG! So that was another part of the agenda regarding this fake ruse.

At least 18 of the victims, and possibly as many as 30, were British.

Cameron sent security officials and government ministers to the scene and promised to intensify the fight against extremism in Britain. Theresa May, the home secretary, and Tobias Ellwood, a Foreign Office minister, went on Monday to Tunisia, where British officials are working with the local authorities to assess security at beach resorts frequented by European tourists.

In concrete policy terms, Cameron’s reaction was cautious, and he did not promise any immediate antiterrorism measures at home or any increase in Britain’s military involvement in fighting Islamic State militants.

So it's just a psyop?

A gunman, identified as Seifeddine Rezgui, was killed at the scene Friday, but witnesses say that more than one person was involved in the attack.

Apparently, a Mossad hit team landed on the beaches.

The Tunisian interior minister, Najem Gharsalli, said Monday that security forces had arrested several people but gave no specifics about their number or the charges against them. Local news accounts suggest that Rezgui may have had as many as 10 people help him prepare for the attack.

The Associated Press quoted a person close to the investigation as saying that seven people were arrested in at least three Tunisian cities and were being questioned in the capital Monday.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve of France, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere of Germany, and Interior Minister Jan Jambon of Belgium joined Gharsalli and May on the beach in front of the Imperial Marhaba hotel for a tribute to the victims Monday.

That was where my propaganda pre$$ left it, the fake photo-op further exposing this pos operation as a mind-bending piece of psyop propaganda for the pile.

Britain is stepping up its consular operations in Tunisia and has sent police officers to work with the authorities there, including 16 senior detectives, forensic specialists and family liaison officers. London’s Metropolitan Police Service said in a statement that “over 600 officers and staff” were at work in Tunisia and Britain concerning the attack and its repercussions. 

But nothing concrete in terms of policy actions(?).

Beyond those practical steps, Cameron cast his response in terms of a battle of ideas. He called militant Islamist ideology “an existential threat” to the West and said Britain was confronting “the struggle of our generation.” 

OMG, he's sounding the Zionist neo-con clarion call for war based on this poorly-crafted slop propaganda.

“It’s a battle of our values and our narrative against their values and their narrative,” he told the BBC, comparing the conflict to the Cold War.

“We have to deal with this appalling radical narrative that’s taking over the minds of young people in our country,” Cameron said. “We have to get that right, as well as the military end of things.”

Folks, I'm sick of responding to the hyperbolic and over-the-top bleating of fear from these f***ers. You know a sh** shovel when you see it. 

I'm beginning to understand how a Soviet citizen would have had to read Pravda.

The assault at the resort in Sousse was the deadliest terrorist attack involving Britons since July 7, 2005, when 52 commuters in London were killed by four suicide bombers.

Also see:


About a dozen of the victims in Tunisia who are thought to be British had yet to be identified as of Monday morning. Cameron’s office said that because the victims had been at a resort hotel’s private beach, many of them had not been carrying identification. 

???? Walking around without wallets and purses? Really? That $tinks.

The Tunisian health ministry said Monday that in addition to the 38 deaths, 39 people had been wounded in the attack, the state news agency reported. Thirty of those injured were treated and released, it said, while nine remained in care. The report added that so far, in addition to the British victims, the ministry had identified one Belgian citizen, one German, one Irish, and one Portuguese among the dead. 

Even the reported numbers of casualties sounds strange, almost as if they were made up.

Four Britons who were wounded in the attack were scheduled to be flown home on a British military plane Monday, while others returned on separate flights. Cameron’s office said they would all be back in Britain within 24 hours.

The attack has prompted hundreds of other British tourists to cut short their vacations in Tunisia. The Foreign Office cautioned that “further terrorist attacks in Tunisia, including in tourist resorts, are possible, including by individuals who are unknown to the authorities and whose actions are inspired by terrorist groups via social media.”

However, after a meeting of top security officials Monday, the government decided against advising travelers to stay away from Tunisia. 

They care more about things other than your $afety, $ee?

As the authorities assessed the situation in Tunisia, officials acknowledged that Britons might be vulnerable in several other countries as well. The government’s national threat level is “severe,” meaning that a terrorist attack is considered highly likely

Yup, the same tyrannical intelligence and surveillance systems are saying the same thing over here, although such things are absent my printed Globe today. 

Of course, with all the spying that, when caught they say was all for your protection, keeping the terrorists from attacking, blah, blah, now turns out to be utterly useless as they Chicken Little it again. 

Ignore the Greek crisis that is now suddenly serious, ignore the never-ending escalations of wars, ignore the political cla$$ living their lavish lifestyles at your expense, ignore the pillage and looting of your futures, the government-created, funded, and directed terrorists are coming or are already here in the form of white men.

Well, IF IT DOES HAPPEN then it will be time to DISMANTLE ALL the TYRANNY because it DIDN'T WORK! Can't have it both ways, guys.

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