Timothy,
I am from Portugal, a country of seamen, and my
thoughts, too, go for those sailors.
Let's hope they are alive and that this sad episode
will help us all in the right direction.
Carlos S� �kauva5@yahoo.com�
--- "Terry W. Colvin" <fortean1@frontiernet.net>
escreveu: > -The US Navy had announced that it had
registered
> two explosions the second much
> greater than the first. This has now been confirmed
> by Norwegian Seismologists
> who say there was one explosion at 0728 and 27 sec
> registering about 1.5 on the
> Richter scale. The second at 0730 and 42 sec
> registering about 3.5 on the
> Richter scale (equivalent to one to two tons of TNT
> explosive detonated
> underwater)
> -There where 10 senior naval officers on board as
> observers.
> -There has been a lot of contact between NATO (and
> some NATO members
> independently) and the Russians on this matter.
> There have even been two visits
> from Russian representatives at NATO headquarters.
> - 2/3 of the crew could have been killed by the
> explosion that sunk the sub
> according to Jane's.
> -The K-141 Kursk was one of the Russian subs with
> the best trained crews, and
> was soon to be deployed in the Mediterranean as part
> of a carrier group. This
> deployment is/was planned as a show of force, to
> remind the world that Russia is
> still a world power. The major exercise in which the
> Kursk was taking part was a
> prelude to this deployment. Interestingly this task
> force is to be led by the
> Aircraft carrier Kuznetsov, which had to be towed
> back to port a few months ago,
> while taking part in another such deployment.
>
> Why did they wait?
> -The hatches on the Kursk are compatible with the
> LR5 rescue submarine sent by
> the British. And the Russians were very likely to
> know that from the beginning.
> - The first estimates had said there should be
> enough air left until early
> friday, why take risks? Knowing 48 hr at least were
> needed if everything went
> well to get outside help.
> -Why was the 'foreign' rescue mission not allowed to
> land and depart from the
> military base, which was closest but had instead to
> take a longer route.
>
> <specualation>
> Putin is being heavily criticized at home for his
> apparent lack of interest in
> the matter.
> Russian military Top brass seem to be resisting
> foreign 'interference' and even
> leaking 'rumors' of foreign responsibility in the
> accident with Defense minister
> Sergeyev (ex-commander of strategic rocket forces
> (nuclear forces), and a noted
> anti western) backing these stories (i.e. US sub
> 'ramming' the Kursk, reports of
> another sub resting on the sea floor then secretly
> limping back to norway
> etc...). If so, Putin is likely to have at least not
> resisted the military,
> because he is a strong supporter of a 'strong'
> Russia. We may have seen some
> political infighting, with some supporting foreign
> help and openness while
> others, backed by the defense minister and the
> military preferring to keep the
> lid on the accident and avoiding 'outsiders'
> meddling in their affairs. The
> decision may have been to try and keep the lid on
> the whole story (the story was
> only revealed 2 days later and not by the government
> or the military), and the
> military would try it's own rescue.
> Either they had to concede to a Wednesday deadline
> (+ 48hrs needed for foreign
> help to arrive would coincide with the first
> estimates on amount of air left ,
> which was early Friday)
> Or they were forced into accepting foreign
> assistance because of the public
> outrage.
> In any case everyone seems to have lost in this
> affair, first and foremost the
> sailors of the Kursk, of course. The military and
> government leaders (including
> Putin) have now to endure the public outrage,
> because they have not done
> everything that could be done to save the sailors,
> and on the international
> front Russia will have lost face and prestige,
> because of having to rely on its
> 'enemy' for help. Ironically the image that NATO is
> still the great enemy that
> they have themselves in a large part created for
> their political purposes, will
> now work against them.
> I just wonder if (or hope that) the Sailors, if any
> are still alive, and their
> families know that even the 'enemy' thinks of them
> as men, and that our thoughts
> go with them.
> Timothy
>
> --
> Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) <
> fortean1@frontiernet.net >
> Alternate: < terry_colvin@hotmail.com >
> Home Page: <
>
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/8958/index.html
> >
> Sites: Fortean Times * Northwest Mysteries *
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 02 2000 - 17:36:14 MDT