UPDATE:
According to the ship's crew, Somali terrorists are still holding one American crew member hostage. Earlier reports indicated that the hostage is the captain of the vessel and that he's being held not on the ship but in a life boat. An updated report can be found here. This is the first time in 200 years that an American flagged ship has been the victim of piracy. It is an indication that far from being under control, the situation off the east coast of Africa remains volatile at best.
THURSDAY UPDATE:
The USS Bainbridge has arrived on the scene and the FBI is engaged in negotiations with the terrorists. (I thought we didn't negotiate with terrorists)
Mogadishu, Somalia (AHN) - FBI hostage negotiators have arrived at the scene in the Indian Ocean where the captain of the briefly hijacked container ship, the Alabama, is still being held hostage in a lifeboat by four armed pirates.
Hostage negotiators are aboard the USS Bainbridge naval destroyer warship, which is near the Alabama and its lifeboat. Naval authorities have been conducting constant surveillance.
The ship's 28-foot lifeboat is reportedly out of fuel and drifting. The captain is in radio contact with his ship, but the batteries won't last forever. There is enough water for three days and food for 10 days, according to reports.
And words of assurance from our fearless leader on the subject.
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has declined to answer a question about the hostage situation off the coast of Somalia.
The president was asked about the incident as he met with U.S. homeowners about refinancing mortgages. At the close of a Roosevelt Room event, the president was asked by a reporter if he were concerned about the piracy incident.
Obama responded: "Guys, we're talking about housing right now."
Reporters were then ushered out of the room as they usually are after such events.
Obama has yet to comment publicly on the incident.
... Woops, I guess there's nothing on the teleprompter yet!
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America DOES have an arrogance problem, Mr. Obama! It's YOU!
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He *really did!
LONDON (AP) — It's not every day the American president's driver is told to move his bulletproof car.
But Queen Elizabeth II's handlers made the request Wednesday after President Barack Obama's reinforced Cadillac limousine was found to be blocking the garden entrance driveway at Buckingham Palace.
After it was moved, Jaguars carrying Prince Charles and other members of the royal family pulled up for the queen's reception for leaders attending Thursday's G-20 summit.
Obama and his wife, Michelle — wearing a black and white dress, pearls and a black coat — were two of the first dignitaries to meet the queen, who wore a salmon-colored dress and her trademark pearls.
During their private meeting, President Obama and first lady gave the queen a personalized iPod with video footage of her 2007 visit to Washington and Virginia. She was also given a rare songbook signed by composer Richard Rodgers.
In return the queen and her husband, Prince Philip, gave the Obamas a signed portrait of themselves.
If they'd been paying attention, the Obamas might have known that the Queen already has and iPod.
[June, 2005] Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II has joined the iPod generation. UK tabloid The Sun reported Friday that she is now the owner of a silver 6GB iPod mini, and that Prince Andrew, fourth in line to the throne, was behind the move.
“The Queen loves music and was impressed by how small and handy the iPod is,” a royal insider told the paper. “Obviously it is quite complicated to download songs, but I’m sure one of the courtiers will do it for her. Prince Andrew will probably also help out because he’s a real dab hand with gadgets.”
Anyone know a good locksmith in the D.C. area? I say we take this opportunity to have all the White House locks changed.
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The American president, he said, must stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons—and quickly—or an imperiled Israel may be forced to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities itself.
“The Obama presidency has two great missions: fixing the economy, and preventing Iran from gaining nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu told me. He said the Iranian nuclear challenge represents a “hinge of history” and added that “Western civilization” will have failed if Iran is allowed to develop nuclear weapons.
In unusually blunt language, Netanyahu said of the Iranian leadership, “You don’t want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs. When the wide-eyed believer gets hold of the reins of power and the weapons of mass death, then the entire world should start worrying, and that is what is happening in Iran.”
History teaches Jews that threats against their collective existence should be taken seriously, and, if possible, preempted, he suggested. In recent years, the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has regularly called for Israel to be “wiped off the map,” and the supreme Iranian leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, this month called Israel a “cancerous tumor.”
But Netanyahu also said that Iran threatens many other countries apart from Israel, and so his mission over the next several months is to convince the world of the broad danger posed by Iran. One of his chief security advisers, Moshe Ya’alon, told me that a nuclear Iran could mean the end of American influence in the Middle East. “This is an existential threat for Israel, but it will be a blow for American interests, especially on the energy front. Who will dominate the oil in the region—Washington or Tehran?”
Netanyahu said he would support President Obama’s decision to engage Iran, so long as negotiations brought about a quick end to Iran’s nuclear ambitions. “How you achieve this goal is less important than achieving it,” he said, but he added that he was skeptical that Iran would respond positively to Obama’s appeals. In an hour-long conversation, held in the Knesset, Netanyahu tempered his aggressive rhetoric with an acknowledgement that nonmilitary pressure could yet work. “I think the Iranian economy is very weak, which makes Iran susceptible to sanctions that can be ratcheted up by a variety of means.” When I suggested that this statement contradicted his assertion that Iran, by its fanatic nature, is immune to pressure, Netanyahu smiled thinly and said, “Iran is a composite leadership, but in that composite leadership there are elements of wide-eyed fanaticism that do not exist right now in any other would-be nuclear power in the world. That’s what makes them so dangerous.”
He went on, “Since the dawn of the nuclear age, we have not had a fanatic regime that might put its zealotry above its self-interest. People say that they’ll behave like any other nuclear power. Can you take the risk? Can you assume that?
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