Bush and British PM focus on Iraq (click here for video). Let's hope they continue to focus on issues of The Middle East and promoting PEACE rather than inflammatory international conditions that 'aid terrorists' while destabilizing international infrastructure.
BP's Russian partnership turns sour (click here)
BP's reputation in Russia came under withering attack yesterday when the billionaire oligarch at the centre of a row over the company's troubled Russian joint venture accused BP of "arrogance" and Nazi-style behaviour.
Mikhail Fridman said the oil venture TNK-BP had performed "dismally" since BP took a 50% stake in the company in 2003. Fridman owns half of the venture with three other oligarchs.
He also implicitly compared BP's chairman Peter Sutherland to Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda chief. Sutherland last week suggested that Fridman and the other Russian shareholders were trying to grab control of TNK-BP, in a 1990s style corporate raid. Asked whether he planned to usurp BP, Fridman told the business daily Vedomosti: "That's in the best tradition of Goebbels propaganda." Fridman insisted he was not a "typical cash-grabbing oligarch"....
ANOTHER OIL WAR IN THE MAKING !!!
BP accuses Russian tycoons of corporate raid attempt on TNK-BP (click here)
MOSCOW, June 12 (RIA Novosti) - British oil major BP said on Thursday that the Russian tycoons owning half of oil venture TNK-BP are attempting a corporate raid on the company, and that the Kremlin is failing to stop them.
Earlier in the day the Russian shareholders in TNK-BP, Russia's third-largest oil company, said they would start legal proceedings against BP, reportedly over management and strategy issues.
BP Chairman Peter Sutherland told reporters in Stockholm: "It is unfortunately a much simpler dispute over control, and perhaps ultimately ownership of the company."
"This is just a return to the corporate raiding activities that were prevalent in Russia in the 1990s." ...
Dark Green - Ratified
Light Green - Signed, but not yet ratified
Grat - Did not sign
Ratifying the "Law of the Sea" by the USA would eliminate any confrontation. It is a treaty. The USA plays with being responsible by signing the treaty, no different than Kyoto, but simply doesn't have the 'backbone' to ratify treaties, just 'in case' the Neocons can instigate still another crony war. That's Republicans for you.
The Trouble Makers of the USA are arrogant (click title to entry) and 'enforce' the idea that 'any conflict will do.' Those are the Neocons for you.
...Last month at the Arctic Ocean Conference (AOC) in Ilulissat, Greenland, high-level diplomats from the United States and the other four nations that border the Arctic region--Canada, Denmark, Norway, and Russia--met to discuss territorial claims regarding the Arctic Circle. At the conclusion of the meeting, the five countries issued a joint statement declaring that, "[b]y virtue of their sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction in large areas of the Arctic Ocean," each nation was in a unique position to address the exploitation of natural resources in the Arctic....
Russian Strategic Bombers Fly Routine Patrol Over The Arctic (click here)
..."Two Tu-95 bombers have started a regular patrol flight over remote areas of the Arctic," Lt. Col. Vladimir Drik said. "The aircraft will perform a variety of tasks, including midair refueling from two Il-78 aerial tankers based at the Dyagilevo airbase [also in central Russia]."...
An F-15C Eagle from the 12th Fighter Squadron at Elmendorf Air Force Base flies next to a Russian Tu-95 Bear Bomber during a Russian exercise Sept. 28, which brought the Bear near the west coast of Alaska. The Eagle took off as part of North American Aerospace Defense Command’s reaction to this training opportunity provided by the Russian 137th Air Army.
Elevation :: 33 ft / 10 m
Local Time: 12:56 PM AKDT
Lat/Lon: 58.8° N 137.0° W
Temperature :: 57 °F / 14 °C
Conditions :: Overcast
Humidity :: 67%
Dew Point: :: 46 °F / 8 °C
Wind :: 4 mph / 6 km/h / 1.5 m/s from the NW
Pressure :: 30.06 in / 1018 hPa (Rising)
Visibility :: 10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV :: 3 out of 16
Clouds:
Mostly Cloudy 3000 ft / 914 m
Mostly Cloudy 3500 ft / 1066 m
Overcast 5000 ft / 1524 m
(Above Ground Level)
