US Arms Salew ti Saudi Arabia..[ 1907 ]

US Confirms $60 Billion Arms Sales Package for Saudi Arabia

Photo: US Air Force  /   An F-15 fighter jet (file photo)

VOA News
David Gollust | State Department 20 October 2010

The Obama administration announced plans Wednesday to sell up to $60 billion worth of advanced fighter aircraft, helicopters and related weapons systems to Saudi Arabia.  The package is aimed at helping Saudi Arabia deal with potential threats from Iran and regional terrorism.

The outlines of the arms deal - the largest in U.S. history - had been known for some time, but the administration withheld an official announcement pending consultations with the U.S. Congress.  Under its terms, the United States will provide Saudi Arabia with 84 advanced F-15 fighter planes with electronics and weapons packages tailored to Saudi needs.  An additional 70 F-15's already in Saudi hands will be upgraded to match the capabilities of the new planes.

Saudi Arabia will purchase a huge fleet of nearly 200 Apache, Blackhawk and other U.S. military helicopters, along with a vast array of radar systems, anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles, and guided bombs.

Officials put the total value of the sales package at as much as $60 billion but said it could be less if Saudi Arabia elects not to exercise purchase options over the 15 to 20 year span of the deal.

At a press event announcing the sale, Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Andrew Shapiro said it reinforces the existing long-term U.S. military relationship with Saudi Arabia.

Shapiro said a potentially-nuclear armed Iran is one threat the package is designed to deter, but that there are others, including terrorist threats to Saudi Arabia's oil facilities, and border problems such as recent incursions of tribal militants from Yemen.

"It's not solely about Iran.  It's about helping the Saudis with their legitimate security needs, and they have a number of legitimate security needs.  They live in a dangerous neighborhood and we are helping them preserve and protect their security in a dangerous neighborhood against legitimate security threats," said Shapiro.

Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Alexander Vershbow said the buildup of Saudi capabilities could eventually reduce the need for U.S. military deployments in the Gulf region.

"When one looks at future challenges, having allies throughout the Gulf region who are inter-operable with U.S. forces, who are capable, who have trained together with our forces, it means we have partners and allies we can look to in future contingencies," said Vershbow.  "So it means we may have to station fewer forces on a continuing basis in the region."

Vershbow said the United States has had high-level consultations with Israeli officials on the pending sale, and that Israel does not object to it.

Israel has long had U.S. F-15 fighters in its arsenal and recently has committed to purchase new F-35 strike fighter jets, which U.S. officials say will preserve Israel's qualitative military advantage in the Middle East.

The U.S. Congress could block the Saudi arms deal.  Assistant Secretary Shapiro said, however, that contacts with key House and Senate leaders make administration officials confident that Congress will not be a barrier to the completion of the sale.

NASA Image of the Day, Oct 20th..[ 1906 ]

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

Sun and Moon

On Oct. 7, 2010, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, observed its first lunar transit when the new moon passed directly between the spacecraft (in its geosynchronous orbit) and the sun. 

With SDO watching the sun in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light, the dark moon created a partial eclipse of the sun. 

Image Credit: NASA
Τετάρτη, 20 Οκτώβριος 2010 7:00:00 πμ

Hi-tech experts ..[ 1905 ]

Russian hi-tech experts to visit U.S.

A delegation of experts from Russia's Rosnano hi-tech government corporation will visit the United States on October 20-22, Rosnano said on its website.

 TREND //// ., 20 Oct 2010

The visit will take place within a meeting of the U.S.-Russia Business Council (USRBC) scheduled to take place on October 20-21 in San Francisco, RIA Novosti reported.

Innovations, their role in the modernization of Russia's economy and Russian-U.S. cooperation in the high-tech sphere will be a focus of talks between Rosnano officials and their U.S. colleagues.

During the meeting, Rosnano chief Anatoly Chubais will deliver a report on cooperation between Rosnano, venture funds based in the Silicon Valley and U.S. high-tech companies.

Russian President Medvedev, who seeks to diversify the Russian economy by reducing its dependence on oil and gas exports, has made developing hi-tech sectors and encouraging research the focal point of his economic agenda.

The Russian government approved in March 2006 a program to create technoparks to incorporate high-tech enterprises in the sectors of nano- and bio-information, and other types of technology, as well as scientific research organizations, educational institutions and other related ventures.

Skolkovo, dubbed Russia's Silicon Valley, is being built from scratch just 20 kilometers west of Moscow. The hub will focus on five research areas: energy, information technologies, communication, biomedical research and nuclear technologies.

Glaciers flow downhill,..[ 1904 ]

Susitna Glacier, Alaska

Google Earth file (25 KB, KML) acquired August 27, 2009

 

 

Posted October 20, 2010

  

Like rivers of liquid water, glaciers flow downhill, tributaries joining to form larger rivers. But where water would rush, ice crawls. As a result, glaciers gather dust and dirt, and bear long-lasting evidence of past movements. That was the case on Alaska’s Susitna Glacier on August 27, 2009, when the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite passed overhead.

This false-color image looks similar to an areal photograph, except that vegetation is red. Susitna Glacier’s surface is marbled, combining dirt-free pale blue and dirt-coated dark brown ice. Infusions of relatively clean ice push into the glacier from tributaries flowing from the north. The glacier surface appears especially complex near the center of the image, where ice from a tributary has pushed ice in the main glacier slightly southward.

A photograph taken by the U.S. Geological Survey and archived by the National Snow and Ice Data Center shows an equally complicated surface of Susitna Glacier in 1970, with dirt-free and dirt-encrusted surfaces forming stripes, curves, and U-turns.

Susitna Glacier flows over a seismically active area. In fact, a 7.9-magnitude quake struck the region in November 2002, along the previously unknown Susitna Glacier fault. Although geologists surmised that this and other earthquakes left steep cliffs and slopes on the glacier surface, the complex glacial surface apparent in this image results from surges of tributary glaciers.

Glacier surges—typically short-lived events where a glacier moves many times its normal rate—can occur when meltwater accumulates at the base of the glacier. The water provides lubrication that quickens flow. This water may be supplied by meltwater lakes that accumulate on top of the glacier, and melt ponds appear on the Susitna Glacier, in the lower left corner of this image. The nature of the underlying bedrock might also contribute to glacier surges, with soft, easily deformed rock leading to more frequent surges.

1. References

2. Crone, A.J., et al. (2004). The Susitna Glacier thrust fault: Characteristics of surface ruptures on the fault that initiated the 2002 Denali Fault earthquake. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 94(6B), S5–S22.
3. Eberhart-Phillips, D., et al. (2003). The 2002 Denali Fault earthquake, Alaska: A large magnitude, slip-partitioned event. Science, 300(5622), 1113–1118.
4. Photojournal. (2010, September 7). Susitna Glacier, Alaska. NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Accessed October 19, 2010.
5. U.S. Geological Survey. (1990). Largest rivers in the United States. (PDF file). Accessed October 19, 2010.

NASA Earth Observatory image created by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using data provided courtesy of NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team. Caption by Michon Scott.

Instrument: Terra - ASTER

B, Obama 'will not visit Golden Temple..[ 1903 ]

Barack Obama 'will not visit Golden Temple over Muslim photo fears'

Barack Obama has reportedly abandoned plans to visit Amritsar's Golden Temple during his visit next month to India over fears photographs of him with his head covered would revive false claims that he is a Muslim.

 

By Dean Nelson in New Delhi
Telegraph co. uk.,: 11:00PM BST 19 Oct 2010

According to Indian officials, Barack Obama's plans to visit Amritsar have been abandoned because of 'logistical' problems Photo: ALAMY

Members of Mr Obama's White House team reportedly visited India last month and told Indian officials they were concerned that if the president wore the traditional headscarf during a visit to the Golden Temple, the photographs might be used to portray him as a Muslim, according to the New Delhi-based Indian Express.

Mr Obama, whose father was a non-observant Muslim, has been dogged by rumours regarding his faith since his battle for the Democratic presidential nomination against Hillary Clinton in 2008. He has highlighted the fact that his middle name is Hussein at times to boost his credibility abroad since becoming president.

 

In August, a poll conducted by Time magazine found that almost one in four Americans thought he was a follower of Islam. The results came days after he waded into the dispute over controversial plans to build a mosque near the site of the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York.

Temple sources said on Tuesday three teams of officials from the US embassy in New Delhi had visited them in the last six weeks but they were unaware there was any concern over wearing a headscarf.

According to the Express, one American official had told his Indian counterparts that Mr Obama had to remind the United States "each day that he should not be mistaken for Muslim just because his middle name is Hussein."

A compromise was reportedly explored in which the president might wear a "modified baseball cap" but it is unclear whether this would have been acceptable to Sikh traditionalists.

The temple's head priest Giani Gurbachan Singh was quoted saying a baseball cap would not be allowed, but Dalmir Singh, secretary of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee, the Sikh governing body, said the president could wear anything to cover his head.

"Whatever he wishes to wear, he can. Our concern is to make sure he does. We don't have problem even if he wears a baseball cap or Muslim skull cap. We are all set to welcome him. It will a great honour. If the visit is cancelled just because of American politics, its will be disheartening," he said.

But according to Indian officials, plans to visit Amritsar have been abandoned because of "logistical" problems.

A spokesman for the American Embassy in New Delhi said no plans to visit Amritsar had ever been announced and there would be no comment on whether wearing a headscarf had been a consideration. "We are not in a position to say whether there was a discussion about it," she said.

Mr Obama last month spoke at length about his faith during a visit to New Mexico when he was asked why he was a Christian. The president said he had chosen Christianity as an adult because "the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead – being my brothers' and sisters' keeper, treating others as they would treat me," Mr Obama said, adding that his public service is "part of that effort to express my Christian faith.