Mais não por favor…. Estou a começar a rezar…

Report: U.S. ‘preparing the battlefield’ in Iran

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Bush administration has launched a “significant escalation” of covert operations in Iran, sending U.S. commandos to spy on the country’s nuclear facilities and undermine the Islamic republic’s government, journalist Seymour Hersh said Sunday.

An Iranian flag flies outside the building containing the reactor of Bushehr nuclear power plant, south of Tehran.

White House, CIA and State Department officials declined comment on Hersh’s report, which appears in this week’s issue of The New Yorker.

Hersh told CNN’s “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer” that Congress has authorized up to $400 million to fund the secret campaign, which involves U.S. special operations troops and Iranian dissidents.

President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have rejected findings from U.S. intelligence agencies that Iran has halted a clandestine effort to build a nuclear bomb and “do not want to leave Iran in place with a nuclear program,” Hersh said.

“They believe that their mission is to make sure that before they get out of office next year, either Iran is attacked or it stops its weapons program,” Hersh said.

The new article, “Preparing the Battlefield,” is the latest in a series of articles accusing the Bush administration of preparing for war with Iran.

He based the report on accounts from current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources. 

“As usual with his quarterly pieces, we’ll decline to comment,” White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told CNN.

Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad, denied U.S. raids were being launched from Iraq, where American commanders believe Iran is stoking sectarian warfare and fomenting attacks on U.S. troops.

“I can tell you flatly that U.S. forces are not operating across the Iraqi border into Iran, in the south or anywhere else,” Crocker said.

Hersh said U.S. efforts were staged from Afghanistan, which also shares a border with Iran.

He said the program resulted in “a dramatic increase in kinetic events and chaos” inside Iran, including attacks by Kurdish separatists in the country’s north and a May attack on a mosque in Shiraz that killed 13 people.

The United States has said it is trying to isolate Iran diplomatically in order to get it to come clean about its nuclear ambitions. But Bush has said “all options” are open in dealing with the issue.

Iran insists its nuclear program is aimed at providing civilian electric power, and refuses to comply with U.N. Security Council demands that it halt uranium enrichment work.

U.N. nuclear inspectors say Tehran held back critical information that could determine whether it is trying to make nuclear weapons.

Israel, which is believed to have its own nuclear arsenal, conducted a military exercise in the eastern Mediterranean in early June involving dozens of warplanes and aerial tankers.

The distance involved in the exercise was roughly the same as would be involved in a possible strike on the Iranian nuclear fuel plant at Natanz, Iran, a U.S. military official said.

In 1981, Israeli warplanes destroyed an Iraqi nuclear reactor.

Iran’s parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, warned other countries against moves that would “cost them heavily.” In comments that appeared in the semi-official Mehr news agency Sunday, an Iranian general said his troops were digging more than 320,000 graves to bury troops from any invading force with “the respect they deserve.”

“Under the law of war and armed conflict, necessary preparations must be made for the burial of soldiers of aggressor nations,” said Maj. Gen. Mirfaisal Baqerzadeh, an Iranian officer in charge of identifying soldiers missing in action.

E uma notícia/boato:

Top US commander briefed on IDF’s four-front strategy in potential Iran war context

http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5386

June 29, 2008, 9:08 AM (GMT+02:00)

Top US commander Adm. Michael Mullen sees for himself

The visiting Chairman of the US Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen, carried out a guided tour of Israel’s borders with Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip over the weekend. It was led by the IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi and OCs Northern and Southern Commands, Maj. Gens. Eisenkott and Galant.

He was briefed on IDF tactics in a war on all these potential flashpoints in the context of a comprehensive conflict with Iran and then held long conversations with defense minister Ehud Barak and Ashkenazi.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that it is very unusual for the top American commander to carry out a close, on-the-spot study of Israel’s potential war fronts. It was prompted on the one hand by skepticism in parts of the US high command of Israel’s ability to simultaneously strike Iran’s nuclear installations and fight off attacks from three borders while, at the same time, Adm. Mullen showed he was open to persuasion that the IDF’s prospective tactics and war plans were workable.

Military circles in Washington, commenting on the large-scale air maneuver Israel carried out with Greece earlier in June, have opined that 100 warplanes are not enough for the Israel Air Force to destroy all of Iran’s secret nuclear sites; more than 1,000 would be needed. Israel military tacticians in contact with US commanders have countered that, while Iran’s secret nuclear locations are scattered and buried deep, still, every chain has weak links and is therefore vulnerable.

The tough threats issued by Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Mohamed Ali Jafari on Saturday, June 28, were prompted by the Adm. Mullen’s Israeli border tour, word of which was flashed to Tehran by Syrian-Iranian observation posts inside Syrian and Lebanese borders.

(The Sunday Times added that Iran moved its ballistic Shihab-3 missiles into launch positions, with Israel’s Dimona nuclear plant among its possible targets.)

Saturday, DEBKAfile reported:

The IRGC chief, Mohammad Ali Jafari issued Tehran’s toughest and most explicit threats yet in response to recent reports of Israeli preparations to strike Iran’s nuclear installations.

Hinting at an American attack, he said: “If there is a confrontation between us and the enemy from outside the region , definitely the scope will reach the oil issue.”

After this action (of imposing controls on the Gulf waterway), the oil price will rise very considerably,” he said.

Speaking to the Iranian newspaper Jam-e Jam, Jafari differentiated between Iran’s responses to possible American and Israeli attacks.

The oil weapon would be applied in reprisal for the former – “and this is among the factors deterring enemies”, he said, while “Israelis know if they take military action against Iran… the abilities of the Islamic and Shiite world, especially in the region, will deliver fatal blows.”

Jafari noted that Israel was in range of Iranian missiles.

He said Iran’s “allies in the region” could also retaliate, referring to those living in “Lebanon’s heartland of South Lebanon,” without naming Hizballah.

US forces were “more vulnerable than the Israelis” because of their troops in the region. “Iran can in different ways harm American interests, even far away,”

Jafar warned Iran’s neighbors not to let their territory be used.

“If the attack takes place from the soil of another country … the country attacked has the right to respond to the enemy’s military action from where the operation started,” he said.

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Eles já têm um texto prontinho para aprovação no congresso deles…. Chiça

will the US Congress ratify the Bush Administration’s Decision to launch a War on Iran? Text of Congressional Resolution awaiting ratification by the congress:

US Congress

110th CONGRESS 2d Session H. CON. RES. 362 Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the threat posed to international peace, stability in the Middle East, and the vital national security interests of the United States by Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and regional hegemony, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES May 22, 2008 Mr. ACKERMAN (for himself and Mr. PENCE) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs CONCURRENT RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the threat posed to international peace, stability in the Middle East, and the vital national security interests of the United States by Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and regional hegemony, and for other purposes. Whereas Iran is a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), has foresworn the acquisition of nuclear weapons by ratification of the NPT, and is legally bound to declare and place all its nuclear activity under constant monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Whereas for nearly 20 years, in clear contravention of its explicit obligations under the NPT, Iran operated a covert nuclear program until it was revealed by an Iranian opposition group in 2002; Whereas the IAEA has confirmed such illicit covert nuclear activities as the importation of uranium hexafluoride, construction of a uranium enrichment facility, experimentation with plutonium, importation of centrifuge technology, construction of centrifuges, and importation of designs to convert highly enriched uranium gas into metal and shape it into the core of a nuclear weapon; Whereas Iran continues to expand the number of centrifuges at its enrichment facility, as made evident by its announced intention to begin installation of 6,000 advanced centrifuges to enrich uranium, in defiance of binding United Nations Security Council resolutions demanding Iran suspend enrichment activities; Whereas the November 2007 National Intelligence Estimate reported that Iran was secretly working on the design and manufacture of a nuclear warhead until at least 2003, but that Iran could have enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon as soon as late 2009; Whereas an Iranian nuclear weapons capability would pose a grave threat to international peace and security by fundamentally altering and destabilizing the strategic balance in the Middle East, and severely undermining the global nonproliferation regime; Whereas Iran’s overt sponsorship of several terrorist groups, including Hamas and Hezbollah, and its close ties to Syria raise the possibility that Iran would share its nuclear materials and technology with others; Whereas Iran continues to develop ballistic missile technology and is pursuing the capability to field intercontinental ballistic missiles, a delivery system suited almost exclusively to nuclear weapons payloads; Whereas Iranian leaders have repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel, a major non-North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally, and a member of the United Nations; Whereas the United States, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany have offered, and continue to offer, to negotiate a significant package of economic, diplomatic, and security incentives if Iran complies with the United Nations Security Council’s resolutions demanding that Iran suspend uranium enrichment; Whereas Iran has consistently refused such offers; Whereas as a result of Iran’s failure to comply with the mandates of the United Nations Security Council, taken under Chapter VII of the United Nations’ Charter, the international community has imposed limited sanctions over the past 2 years that have begun to have an impact on the Iranian economy; Whereas Iran’s rapid development of its nuclear capabilities is outpacing the slow ratcheting up of economic and diplomatic sanctions; Whereas Iran has used its banking system, including the Central Bank of Iran, to support its proliferation efforts and its assistance to terrorist groups, leading the Department of Treasury to designate 4 large Iranian banks proliferators and supporters of terrorism; Whereas Iran’s support for Hezbollah has enabled that group to wage war against the Government and people of Lebanon, leading to its political domination of that country; Whereas Iran’s support for Hamas has enabled it to illegally seize control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority, and to continuously bombard Israeli civilians with rockets and mortars; Whereas Iran continues to provide training, weapons, and financial assistance to Shi’a militants inside of Iraq and antigovernment warlords in Afghanistan; Whereas those Shi’a militant groups and Afghan warlords use Iranian training, weapons, and financing to attack American and allied forces trying to support the legitimate Governments of Iraq and Afghanistan; Whereas Iran is further destabilizing the Middle East by underwriting a massive rearmament campaign by Syria; Whereas through these efforts, Iran seeks to establish regional hegemony, threatens longstanding friends and allies of the United States in the Middle East, and endangers vital American national security interests; and Whereas nothing in this resolution shall be construed as an authorization of the use of force against Iran: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That Congress– (1) declares that preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability, through all appropriate economic, political, and diplomatic means, is vital to the national security interests of the United States and must be dealt with urgently; (2) urges the President, in the strongest of terms, to immediately use his existing authority to impose sanctions on– (A) the Central Bank of Iran and any other Iranian bank engaged in proliferation activities or the support of terrorist groups; (B) international banks which continue to conduct financial transactions with proscribed Iranian banks; (C) energy companies that have invested $20,000,000 or more in the Iranian petroleum or natural gas sector in any given year since the enactment of the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996; and (D) all companies which continue to do business with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; (3) demands that the President initiate an international effort to immediately and dramatically increase the economic, political, and diplomatic pressure on Iran to verifiably suspend its nuclear enrichment activities by, inter alia, prohibiting the export to Iran of all refined petroleum products; imposing stringent inspection requirements on all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains, and cargo entering or departing Iran; and prohibiting the international movement of all Iranian officials not involved in negotiating the suspension of Iran’s nuclear program; and (4) urges the President to lead a sustained, serious, and forceful effort at regional diplomacy to support the legitimate governments in the region against Iranian efforts to destabilize them, to reassure our friends and allies that the United States supports them in their resistance to Iranian efforts at hegemony, and to make clear to the Government of Iran that the United States will protect America’s vital national security interests in the Middle East.

Quem teve mais lucros com ele não ter sido adoptado. Os suspeitos do costume….

Who Killed the Electric Car? is a 2006 documentary film that explores the birth, limited commercialization, and subsequent death of the battery electric vehicle in the United States, specifically the General Motors EV1 of the 1990s. The film explores the roles of automobile manufacturers, the oil industry, the US government, batteries, hydrogen vehicles, and consumers in limiting the development and adoption of this technology.

Ver Video

Corrida entre um carro eléctrico, um Porsche e um Ferrari. …

Reconverta a sua moto para uma moto eléctrica!

E os ricos e famosos já têm um carro eléctrico à disposição deles! O Tesla Roadster.

O Altér-real é uma raça Portuguesa relativamente desconhecida que foi desenvolvida para servir a realeza. Foi trazida para o Brasil por D. João VI, no tempo de seu reinado.

História

O surgimento da raça Altér-real começou em 1748 pela Casa de Braganza em Villa do Portel. O objetivo era prover cavalos para os Estábulos Reais em Lisboa que eram excelentes cavalos para equitação clássica, e também, para carruagem. Depois de 8 anos a coudelaria foi transferida para Altér, uma cidade conhecida por terra rica mineral e um alto conteúdo de nutriente em seus pastos. Isso explica a primeira parte do nome, como para Real que é em função da realeza portuguesa.

A primeira coudelaria tinha 300 das mais finas éguas andaluzas levadas para Portugal da região de Jerez de La Frontera, o mais famoso centro espanhol de criação e, garanhões Árabes. Floresceu em Alter, fornecendo montarias para a corte, e a raça ficou conhecida graças às apresentações promovidas em Lisboa. No começo do século XIX, todavia, muitos dos cavalos se perderam ou foram roubados com o saque do haras pelas tropas napoleônicas do general Junot (1804-14).

Em 1834, outros desastres sobrevieram e culminaram com o fechamento dos estábulos reais. Uma reorganização chegou a ser ensaiada sob D. Maria Pia, no fim do século, com a introdução de sangue estrangeiro – inglês, normando, hanoveriano e, principalmente árabe.

Os experimentos foram mal sucedidos e a raça quase se arruinou. No final do século a raça foi salva pela importação de cavalos andaluzes. Os arquivos dos estábulos foram destruídos com o advento da republica (1910). Quando a monarquia em Portugal acabou, a coudelaria também acabou, e por conseqüência a raça, teria desaparecido. Dr. Ruy d’Andrade, a maior autoridade eqüestre de Portugal, previu isto, então ele continuou com uma pequena criação de Altér-real, e seus sucessores surgiram de 2 garanhões.

Em 1932 o Ministério da Economia tomou a iniciativa de reconstituir a criação dos alter-reais. Desde então a raça foi melhorada selecionando éguas adequadas e usando só os melhores garanhões. Ainda não há muito Altér-real, mas eles não estão em perigo de extinção. Esta raça é uma parte da herança cultural de Portugal.

Características

Dizem que hoje o Altér-Real se parecem a raça original do início de 1700 e, a despeito das vicissitudes por que a raça passou, o alter moderno, virtualmente andaluz outra vez, sobrevive como um cavalo valente, de extravagante, vistosa, altamente apropriada à Haute Ecole.

Sua altura esta entre 15 e 16 hh e, as cores primárias são baía, marrom e cinza. O pescoço é curvado, musculoso, pequeno e naturalmente alto. A cabeça se assemelha ao Andaluz o e é freqüentemente definida como nobre mas comparativamente pequena, com perfil reto ou levemente convexo. Um jarrete poderoso, bem colocado. A cauda é de crina farta , luxuriantes. O corpo é compacto e curto e a garupa se inclina com rabo de baixo inserção. Eles são inteligentes, sensíveis de grande coragem e seu caráter é próprio e inconfundível.

* mais um post do caricoroa, esse miserável híbrido Luso-Brasileiro!

JN

Camiões incendiados e combustível a escassear

09h18m

O protesto dos camionistas parece estar a endurecer. Durante a madrugada, 12 camiões terão sido incendiados, presumivelmente, quando tentavam passar pelos vários bloqueios que marcam muitas estradas do país. Acrescem os apedrejamentos, apenas com estragos materiais.

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Camionistas contra o aumento dos preços dos combustíveis

Paralisação está a criar rupturas de produtos

A continuação da paralisação, ontem anunciada, vai ter impacto negativo em vários sectores, da distribuição à indústria. Estão em risco mercadorias e largos milhões de euros.

O caos que tomou conta dos centros de distribuição da Sonae, da Jerónimo Martins ( JM) e da Auchan, no Carregado, durante o dia de ontem, foi até ligeiro quando comparado com as consequências que o bloqueio vai trazer já hoje para empresas e consumidores. “O abastecimento de perecíveis será crítico e muitos produtos não estarão em condições de comercialização”, afirmou José António Rousseau, presidente da Associação Portuguesa de Empresas de Distribuição (APED).

A JM, dona do Pingo Doce e Feira Nova, que viu os seus 400 camiões bloqueados, foi a única que admitiu “falhas de abastecimento”. Sonae Distribuição e Auchan afirmaram que o dia correu dentro da normalidade. Cenário que parece “improvável” à APED, dada “a forma agressiva com que os camiões foram, ilegalmente, impedidos de circular”.

Os produtos perecíveis, como é o caso do leite que não pode ultrapassar as 12 horas dentro das cisternas, podem ser os mais afectados. A Leicar apelou a que seja aberta uma excepção aos seus camiões, apesar de se dizer solidária com os motivos da paralisação. E recorda que os produtores não têm capacidade para armazenar o leite que diariamente recolhem, pelo que seria necessário “destruir milhares de litros de leite”.

Também o sector de alimentos para animais diz que se a situação se prolongar por mais dois dias faltarão rações às explorações. Segundo Jaime Piçarra, secretário-geral da Associação Portuguesa dos Industriais de Alimentos Compostos para Animais, as empresas não só não estão a poder ir buscar as matérias-primas – 80 por cento é importada – como não conseguem entregar os produtos nas explorações de animais. “Já há fábricas de moagem paradas”, acrescentou.

Outro dos grandes receios vem dos postos de combustível, em risco de “secarem” já hoje, sobretudo se houver uma corrida ao abastecimento. Augusto Cymdrom, presidente da Associação Nacional de Revendedores de Combustível, afirmou que há postos que têm de ser abastecidos todos os dias mas, regra geral, a maioria fá-lo pelo menos três vezes por semana. Como isso aconteceu na sexta-feira, teriam de ter voltado a ser abastecidos ontem, o que não aconteceu.

A falha na entrega e o cancelamento de encomendas é a maior preocupação da Associação Nacional das Indústrias de Vestuário e Confecção. Cada dia de paralisação representa perdas de 100 milhões de euros para as empresas, “porque, numa indústria exportadora, ninguém vai esperar que isto chegue ao fim para receber os produtos”, referiu fonte oficial. Durante o dia de ontem, as fábricas “reduziram a laboração por falta de matéria-prima” e, hoje, dependendo dos stocks de cada empresa, “é provável que muitas parem”, acrescentou.

O impacto desta paralisação deve-se à forma como a actividade logística está organizada. Os stocks são reduzidos ao mínimo, por isso, não demoram muitos dias a que um país seja paralisado com protestos como o de ontem. Há regiões mais expostas, como as ilhas, que são sobretudo abastecidas por navios que não estão a ser carregados. “A manter-se a situação, temos o país completamente parado dentro de três ou quatro dias”, antecipou Belmar da Costa, secretário nacional da Associação dos Agentes de Navegação de Portugal.

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Camiões da Jerónimo Martins escoltados pela polícia

Um grupo de camiões da Jerónimo de Martins está a ser esta terça-feira escoltado pela polícia, partindo da zona da Azambuja em direcção a Aveiras de Cima, ultrapassando o bloqueio imposto pelos camionistas, disse à «Lusa» fonte policial no Carregado.

O piquete da paralisação no Carregado disse que não se oporá à passagem dos camiões da Jerónimo Martins (cerca de uma dúzia): «Vamos bater palmas quando eles passarem», disse um elemento presente no local.

A Jerónimo Martins alertou esta manhã que poderão já esta terça-feira faltar produtos essenciais em algumas lojas do grupo caso o bloqueio se mantenha, apelando às autoridades para que «actuem» e deixem trabalhar os motoristas de camiões que o queiram fazer.

Contactado pela «Lusa», fonte do comando geral da GNR confirmou que há militares da Guarda Nacional Republicana que estão «a acompanhar» algumas viaturas, entre as quais se contam camiões da empresa Jerónimo Martins.

«Estamos a acompanhar pontualmente algumas viaturas para garantir que as coisas correm normalmente», disse à Agência «Lusa» o tenente coronel Costa Lima.

A paralisação dos camionistas contra o aumento do preço dos combustíveis arrancou segunda-feira às 00:00.

Com todos estes piquetes pelo caminho é difícil fazer entregas!

Um dos melhores documentários que vi na minha vida! Retrato sobre a Venezuela e a tentativa de golpe em 2002.

Não acreditem em tudo o que vêem na televisão!!!!!

Vamo-nos a eles!!!!!!