I think this is the beginnings of an economy based on perpetual growth and fossil fuel energy running headlong into geological energy constraints. Basically I see an undulatory downward path for the rest of my life. From here out, I think any rallies in our economic condition are going to be met with spiking commodity prices that knock us right back down.
Joined: Oct 23, 2004 Posts: 5928 Location: New Jersey
Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 6:51 am Post subject: Five Soldiers Killed in Nigeria as MEND Attacks/Kidnaps
Quote:
Soldiers Killed as Workers are Kidnapped in Nigeria
Gunmen kidnapped five South Koreans in an overnight raid on a gas plant in southern Nigeria owned by Shell, the militants and officials from the company and Seoul's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
Several Nigerian soldiers and one of the assailants were killed in a firefight during the raid, according to the Movement for the Emancipation for the Niger Delta, which claimed responsibility.
MEND, the main militant group in Nigeria, has been responsible for a wave of attacks and abductions this year in the country's oil-rich southern delta. The militants say impoverished southern Nigerians aren't getting enough of the oil revenue.
Hostage-takings are common in the volatile delta, and most captives are released unharmed.
An official at the Nigerian arm of Royal Dutch Shell PLC said the hostages were working as contractors at the Shell plant near Nigeria's oil hub of Port Harcourt. Shell said it has shut down the plant, which has capacity of 150 million cubic feet of gas a day.
Kidnappers in Nigeria have attacked a Shell-operated oil facility in the Niger Delta, killing at least five soldiers and taking five foreigners hostage. It comes amid rising militancy in the impoverished area, just days after eight foreign oil employees were taken hostage and then released at the weekend. Security incidents so far this year have shut down a quarter of oil output from OPEC member Nigeria, the world's eighth-biggest crude exporter. Violence in the Delta has complex causes. Most of the inhabitants are poor and have seen few benefits from the region's oil riches, while extraction work has polluted their air and water. A coalition of three groups has claimed responsibility for today's attack, which, it says, was in response to a court decision to deny bail to a jailed militant leader.
Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 7:05 am Post subject: Re: Five Soldiers Killed in Nigeria as MEND Attacks/Kidnaps
MEND hasn't claimed responsibility, as far as I can see, something they always do right after each action. They denied involvement in last week's kidnappings. You risk becoming part of a smear campaign by automatically using their name, a campaign Shell and the government would be pleased to sponsor.
Joined: Oct 23, 2004 Posts: 5928 Location: New Jersey
Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 7:13 am Post subject: Re: Five Soldiers Killed in Nigeria as MEND Attacks/Kidnaps
Quote:
Nigeria: MEND Claims It Abducted Koreans
June 07, 2006 11 12 GMT
Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) militants said they killed five Nigerian soldiers and abducted five South Korean workers June 7. Three of the South Koreans work for the engineering firm Daewoo and the others are employed by Korea Gas Corp. MEND said it would swap the abductees for the imprisoned militant leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari. MEND said the soldiers died when militants sunk an army boat.
Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 8:51 am Post subject: Re: Five Soldiers Killed in Nigeria as MEND Attacks/Kidnaps
Yup, you're right, I see it on Reuters and AP as well now.
No disrespect, it's just that MEND have been pretty 'bloodless' so far. Guess they've stepped it up a notch, as they said they would. Their stated intention is to shut down all production. That may mean much less light crude on the market soon.
Joined: Oct 23, 2004 Posts: 5928 Location: New Jersey
Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 3:29 pm Post subject: Re: Five Soldiers Killed in Nigeria as MEND Attacks/Kidnaps
Update: (more casualties):
Quote:
In Wednesday's pre-dawn raid, MEND said it captured and burnt a houseboat used by army and police assigned to protect the Cawthorne Channel natural gas plant, and several security forces were killed in a fierce firefight.
The militants then kidnapped the five Koreans, whom they said had been taken to a MEND base where they were safe and would not be harmed unless the base was attacked.
As the militants left the facility, they came under attack from four Nigerian army boats. The militants said they sank one of the boats, killing at least five of its six occupants, while the other boats suffered an unknown number of casualties.
A security source said nine navy staff and a policeman were killed. Military spokesmen confirmed four dead.
MEND said one of its fighters was killed, but a navy source said they fished four enemy corpses from the water.
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