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Archive für 31.7.2008

Die älteste Rechenmaschine der Welt: Der Mechanismus von Antikythera

 31.07.2008    08:39 Uhr

Mechanismus von Antikythera

Uhrwerk Olympia

Der uralte Rechenapparat von Antikythera diente zur Vorhersage von Sonnen- und Mondfinsternissen - und zeigte die Zyklen von Gestirnen und sportlichen Wettkämpfen.
Von Mark Hammer


vergrößern Das zentrale Fragment des Mechanismus.
Foto: Antik. Mech. Research Project

Zwei Jahrtausende lagen die Überreste des Mechanismus von Antikythera am Meeresgrund neben der gleichnamigen griechischen Insel im Wrack eines römischen Frachters.

Im Jahr 1900 entdeckten Schwammtaucher das Schiff, im Jahr darauf wurden die verwitterten Bronzeklumpen des Mechanismus geborgen. Das antike Wunderwerk diente zur Vorhersage von Sonnen-, Mond- und Planetenbewegungen sowie von Sonnen- und Mondfinsternissen.

Nun sind neue Schriftzeichen aufgetaucht, die unter der Patina verborgen waren. Wissenschaftler eines internationalen Forschungsprojekts haben sie mit Tomografen sichtbar gemacht (Nature, Bd.454, S.614, 2008).

Auf den Scheiben des Mechanismus sind demnach nicht nur die Bewegungen der Gestirne abgebildet, sondern auch der Vier-Jahres-Zyklus der olympischen Spiele und der mit ihnen zusammenhängenden panhellenischen Spiele.

Die Spiele waren ein wichtiger Bestandteil der Kultur im antiken Griechenland und stellten eine Grundlage für Zeitrechnungen dar. Auch zum möglichen Ursprungsort des Mechanismus fanden die Forscher neue Hinweise. Bisher hatte man angenommen, dass das Gerät aus Rhodos stammt.


Mehr zum Thema

Archäologie

Taschenrechner der Antike


High-Tech und Antike

Tiefe Einblicke in ein 2000 Jahre altes Geheimnis

Nun entdeckten die Forscher auf einer Scheibe korinthische Namen der zwölf Monate. Die Scheibe zeigt den Metonischen Kalender, eine vom griechischen Astronomen Meton 432 v. Chr. entwickelte Zeiteinteilung mit einem Zyklus von 19 Jahren in 235 Monaten. Die Entdeckung der Monatsnamen legt nahe, dass das Werk in Korinth oder einer seiner Kolonien wie etwa Sizilien hergestellt wurde.

Die Fundstücke erhielten nach ihrer Bergung zunächst wenig Beachtung. Erst fünfzig Jahre später begannen Wissenschaftler mit genauen Untersuchungen - und fanden Erstaunliches.

Das Gerät ist Zeugnis eines mechanischen Geschicks, das man den alten Griechen bis dahin nicht zugetraut hatte: An die 40 Zahnräder arbeiteten in dem Gerät; inklusive einem Differentialgetriebe, von dem man glaubte, es sei erst im Mittelalter erfunden worden. Zur Untersuchung der Fundstücke ließen Forscher Röntgengeräte und Tomografen im Museum von Athen aufbauen, weil der empfindliche Mechanismus nicht von dort entfernt werden durfte.


Rahmen
Bildstrecke “Mechanismus von Antikythera” Rahmen
Rahmen

(SZ vom 31.07.2008/mcs)

Archäologie

Taschenrechner der Antike


High-Tech und Antike

Tiefe Einblicke in ein 2000 Jahre altes Geheimnis

The Swiss CIA - Nuke Connection (Friedrich Tinner, owner of a Swiss firm named PhiTec AG)

Donnerstag, 22. Mai 2008


The Swiss CIA - Nuke Connection

ukWayne Madsen - Plame leak damaged a major CIA investigation linking senior Bush administration officials to WMD proliferation. U.S. intelligence insiders have pointed out that the White House is using “Rovegate” and “Who in the White House said what to whom?” as a smoke screen to divert attention away from the actual counter-proliferation work Mrs. Wilson and her Brewster Jennings & Associates team were engaged in.

The arrival of Timothy Flanigan as Patrick J. Fitzgerald’s boss is likely related to the mountains of evidence Fitzgerald has now collected to indict senior White House officials, particularly, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, for criminal conspiracy in exposing a sensitive U.S. intelligence operation that was targeting some of their closest political and business associates. Libby, it will be recalled, was the attorney for fugitive global smuggler and Clinton-pardoned multi-billionaire Marc Rich, someone who has close ties to the Sharon government and Israeli intelligence.

Scooter-Libby
Lewis “Scooter” Libby

It is no coincidence that FBI translator-turned-whistleblower Sibel Edmonds uncovered nuclear material and narcotics trafficking involving Turkish intermediaries with ties to Israel at the same time Brewster Jennings and the CIA’s Counter Proliferation Division was hot on the trail of nuclear proliferators tied to the Israeli government of Ariel Sharon and the A. Q. Khan network of Pakistan.

Feith and Libby: Ultimate targets of CIA counter-proliferation team?
An arrest in early 2004 points to the links between Israeli agents and Islamist groups bent on producing weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons. According to intelligence sources, this was a network that was a major focus of Edmonds’ and Valerie Plame Wilson’s work.

The South Africa Connection
In January 2004, FBI and U.S. Customs agents arrested Asher Karni, a Hungarian-born Orthodox Jew, Israeli citizen, and resident of Cape Town, South Africa, at Denver International Airport for illegally exporting 200 electrically triggered spark gaps — devices that send synchronized electrical pulses and are used in nuclear weapons — to Pakistan via a New Jersey export company named Giza Technologies of Secaucus (owned by Zeki Bilmen — whom the FBI has identified as a Turkish Jew who was already under surveillance by the CIA team). The cargo manifest listed the equipment as electronics gear [lithotripters used to break up kidney stones] for the Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, South Africa. However, the initial shipment of 66 triggers did not go to the hospital but to Karni’s Top-Cape Technology of Cape Town, South Africa.

Top Cape, in turn, sent the triggers to AJKMC Lithography Aid Society in Islamabad, Pakistan through Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Top-Cape “officially” traded in military and aviation electronics equipment. It was during the summer of 2003, when Valerie Plame and her team — at a critical stage of their investigation of the A. Q. Khan network — were outed by White House officials Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, and at least one other individual (possibly Elliot Abrams), that Karni received an e-mail from his long time Pakistani associate Humayun Khan (no relation to A. Q. Khan) asking for 200 triggers to be sent to his Islamabad-based company, Pakland PME.

After initially attempting to purchase the devices from a sale agent in France — an attempt that proved unsuccessful when the French agent demanded a U.S. export license for the triggers because the end destination was Pakistan — Karni managed to obtain the triggers from Perkin-Elmer’s manufacturing plant in Massachusetts through Giza Technologies. Karni’s e-mail traffic to and from Khan was being intercepted by a covert agent in South Africa and being forwarded to U.S. authorities.

It is not known whether the covert agent was a Brewster Jennings’ asset but it would not be surprising considering Karni was an important link in the A. Q. Khan nuclear smuggling network. By the time the initital shipment of 66 triggers were sent to Karni’s Cape Town office, U.S. and South African intelligence were already closely monitoring the transaction and the key players involved. It is also noteworthy that Karni previously worked for a Cape Town electronic import firm called Eagle Technology but was fired after it was discovered by his boss that he was making secret deals to ship nuclear components to Israel, India, Pakistan, and possibly, North Korea.

khan
A.Q. Khan link to Israeli smuggler: Designed to speed up Iranian nuclear development to justify U.S./Israeli attack on Iran.

Karni had been in South Africa for 20 years after arriving from Israel. His time in South Africa coincided with the apartheid government’s rapid development of its own (since disestablished) nuclear weapons program and very close military ties between South Africa and Israel.

As for Humayun Khan, the Los Angeles Times discovered that the Pakistani “businessman” had been involved in nuclear weapons smuggling since 1975 when he was engaged in business with a former Nazi named Alfred Hempel, who was the kingpin in a global nuclear smuggling network active throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Hempel died in 1989. In an interview aired by PBS’s Frontline on July 26, Humayun Khan said he never realized Karni was Jewish, stating that the Israeli masqueraded as a Muslim.

However, what is clear is that an Israeli-based network, involving key neo-conservatives in the Bush adminstration, were attempting to speed up the clock on the delivery by the A. Q. Khan network of prohibited nuclear material to countries like Iran, thereby justifying a pre-emptive U.S. (and Israeli-supported) attack on Iranian nuclear installations. It was this network that attracted the attention of the CIA and when it realized some of the “men behind the curtain” were in the Pentagon, they had their smoking gun evidence of double dealing by Bush administration officials and their compatriots in the Sharon government.

Although AJKMC, the Pakistani company, said it merely printed copies of the Koran, U.S. investigators pointed out the initials also stand for the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference, an Islamist opposition party that supports groups allied to Al Qaeda in Kashmir. Some anti-terrorism experts believe that Osama Bin laden may be hiding in Kashmir.

Swiss Connection
A Malaysian link was also discovered in Karni’s network, which is significant in light of developments involving Brewster Jennings’ exposure by Rove and Libby. A Swiss citizen named Urs Tinner was arrested by German authorities in October 2004. Tinner was accused of supervising the manfucture of centrifuge components in Malaysia. The United States demanded Tinner’s release, which led to speculation that Tinner was a U.S. intelligence asset who penetrated the A.Q. Khan network and may have been part of the Brewster Jennings operation.

passtinner
Tinners Swiss Passport. The Swiss Authority destroyed Documents proofing the link between the CIA and Tinner

According to FBI insiders, wiretaps of phone calls in the Giza-Bilmen-Karni smuggling ring yielded the name Douglas Feith, the Undersecretary of Defense for Plans and Policy and one of Donald Rumsfeld’s chief advisers, and Turkish MIT intelligence members of the American Turkish Council, a lobbying group which represents some of America’s largest defense and private military contractors.

In May 2005, Der Spiegel magazine reported that Tinner was, in fact, a CIA agent. Germany announced that Tinner would be extradited to Switzerland, something that Der Spiegel reported was the result of a “deal” cut between Germany and the United States. A February 2004 Malaysian police report named both Urs Tinner and his father, Friedrich, as principal engineers in overseeing the machining of uranium-enrichment centrifuge components at a Scomi Precision Engineering (Scope) plant in Malaysia. Friedrich Tinner, owner of a Swiss firm named PhiTec AG, was named in an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report as one of many Swiss individuals involved in shipping nuclear components to Libya and Iran.

Swiss authorities had previously cleared Friedrich Tinner of charges that he shipped centrifuges to Iraq. Friedrich Tinner’s other son, Marco, owned a firm called Traco that was also reported as a supplier of equipment and services to Scomi.

If the Tinners were working for the CIA, one subject of interest for them was a Sri Lankan businessman named B.S.A. Tahir who arrived in Malaysia via Dubai in the mid-1990s. In a February 2004 speech at the National Defense University in Washington, DC, President Bush stated that Tahir was A. Q. Khan’s “chief financial officer and money launderer.” Investigators discovered that Tahir made several trips to Germany and Turkey, the native country of Karni’s spark trigger supplier Bilmen, to meet with suppliers for the Khan network.

Israeli nuclear arms smuggler Asher Karni: His links to Bush administration and Israeli officials may have been the real reason Valerie Plame and Brewster Jennings & Associates operations were exposed.

…………….

Wayne Madsen is a Washington, D.C.-based investigative journalist, author, and syndicated columnist. His articles have appeared in The Village Voice and Wired.

Reprint from Wayne Madsen Report
linkSchweiz: Auf Druck der CIA Nuklearschmuggel Akten vernichtet
linkProzess in Südafrika und Banditen im Nuklearbereich
linkHinweis vereitelte Untersuchung eines Atom-Spionage-Ringes
linkDer Iran, das Atomprogramm und Ahmadinejad
linkIran: Der Krieg rückt näher
linkGasmasken, Giftgas und Milliardenbetrug - auf den Spuren des Moshe Regev
linkMassenvernichtungswaffen in den Iran - Schmierige Geschäfte internationaler Kriegstreiber
linkIsraels tödlicher Export – Waffen in den Iran
linkMassenvernichtungswaffen für den Iran

linkHelvetia schläft mit dem Boss! Und der Boss ist die CIA
linkIm Labyrinth der Glücksritter

http://oraclesyndicate.twoday.net/stories/4943361/

August 25, 2008

In Nuclear Net’s Undoing, a Web of Shadowy Deals

The president of Switzerland stepped to a podium in Bern last May and read a statement confirming rumors that had swirled through the capital for months. The government, he acknowledged, had indeed destroyed a huge trove of computer files and other material documenting the business dealings of a family of Swiss engineers suspected of helping smuggle nuclear technology to Libya and Iran.

The files were of particular interest not only to Swiss prosecutors but to international atomic inspectors working to unwind the activities of Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani bomb pioneer-turned-nuclear black marketeer. The Swiss engineers, Friedrich Tinner and his two sons, were accused of having deep associations with Dr. Khan, acting as middlemen in his dealings with rogue nations seeking nuclear equipment and expertise.

The Swiss president, Pascal Couchepin, took no questions. But he asserted that the files — which included an array of plans for nuclear arms and technologies, among them a highly sophisticated Pakistani bomb design — had been destroyed so that they would never fall into terrorist hands.

Behind that official explanation, though, is a far more intriguing tale of spies, moles and the compromises that governments make in the name of national security.

The United States had urged that the files be destroyed, according to interviews with five current and former Bush administration officials. The purpose, the officials said, was less to thwart terrorists than to hide evidence of a clandestine relationship between the Tinners and the C.I.A.

Over four years, several of these officials said, operatives of the C.I.A. paid the Tinners as much as $10 million, some of it delivered in a suitcase stuffed with cash. In return, the Tinners delivered a flow of secret information that helped end Libya’s bomb program, reveal Iran’s atomic labors and, ultimately, undo Dr. Khan’s nuclear black market.

In addition, American and European officials said, the Tinners played an important role in a clandestine American operation to funnel sabotaged nuclear equipment to Libya and Iran, a major but little-known element of the efforts to slow their nuclear progress.

The relationship with the Tinners “was very significant,” said Gary S. Samore, who ran the National Security Council’s nonproliferation office when the operation began. “That’s where we got the first indications that Iran had acquired centrifuges,” which enrich uranium for nuclear fuel.

……………..

nytimes.com 

USAID publish book to assist implementation of domestic violence law

Die Amerikaner finanzieren in Albanien die Implementierung der wichtigsten Gesetze und ein Buch indem die praktische Auslegung von Gesetzen etc. erklärt wird.

Das dürfte ein sehr wichtiger Schritt in einem Rechts Staat sein und ein Schritt auf dem Wege der Justiz Reform

Press release
OSCE Presence, USAID publish book to assist implementation of domestic violence law

TIRANA, 31 July 2008 - The OSCE Presence in Albania and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) published this week a judicial manual that will help courts to implement the country’s law on domestic violence.

The Albanian Judicial Bench Book on Protection Orders provides judges with guidance in interpreting and implementing the law, which entered into force on 1 June 2007. It also provides tips on how to hold protection order hearings and issue civil protection orders against perpetrators of abuse.

“While the adoption of the law was an important step, it is essential that those who are to enforce it know about its existence, are informed about the remedies it provides and co-ordinate their work to implement it,” said Ambassador Robert Bosch, Head of the Presence.

“The courts’ authority to issue civil protection orders provides victims of violence with speedy and affordable remedies and sends the message that perpetrators will be held accountable.”

The book and standard protection order forms will be distributed to judges throughout Albania. The manual can also be found on the Presence’s website www.osce.org/albania.

As part of the same project, called Women’s Access to Justice, the OSCE Presence, in co-operation with the Council of Europe, the Albanian School of Magistrates, the Justice Ministry and the Interior Ministry has trained 300 judges, lawyers, police officers and civil society representatives on the Domestic Violence Law.

The Presence also prepared and published the handbook, Seeking Protection from Domestic Violence, and assisted in the drafting of the law, the first of its kind in Albania.

Manual published by the OSCE and USAID that provides practical guidance to Albanian judges in guaranteeing effective protection to victims of domestic violence, as well as to individuals, international actors and organizations working in this area.
Seeking protection from domestic violence

Fabiola Haxhillari
Spokesperson/National Public Affairs Officer

Die neue Gesundheits Ministerin Anila Godo, will das korrupte Gesundheits System reformieren. Weite Teile der Krankenhäuser sind seit Jahren von Mafiösen Gruppen übernommen worden, welche vor allem an den Medikamenten etc.. und Baumassnahmen verdienen.

Das Mafia System wurde von ausl. Hilfs Organisationen installiert und aufgebaut, weil NGO’s fast immer nur verkappte Verbrecher Organisationen der jeweiligen Regierungen sind und damit viel Geld verdienen.

New minister says Albania’s healthcare system needs swift reforms

31/07/2008

TIRANA, Albania — Newly appointed Health Minister Anila Godo promised on Wednesday (July 30th) to reform the country’s troubled healthcare sector. “There will be changes, and I assure you there won’t be any political prejudice but only a professional approach,” Godo said while taking over her official duties. She said the system’s main concerns are poor financing and a rising demand for medical services. At a cabinet meeting Wednesday, Prime Minister Sali Berisha described the healthcare system as the country’s most corrupt.

In other news, law enforcement officials raided the southern village of Lazarat early Thursday and seized about 5,000 cannabis plants, according to media reports. Residents of the village have cultivated drug plants for years, leading to many incidents with police. (Top Channel, Balkan Web, News 24 - 31/07/08; Alsat, TVSH, Klan, BalkanWeb - 30/07/08)

Albania Bought €26 Million of Expired Drugs


Anila Godo

Anila Godo

12 September 2008 Tirana _ Albania’s newly appointed Minister of Health, Anila Godo, has accused her predecessor of buying €26 million of expired and stock medicines.

Godo on Friday said flagrant corruption had been uncovered with regard to tenders for the acquisition of drugs, bringing the health system to its knees.

A few days ago, the Mother Theresa University Hospital in Tirana suspended surgical operations, apart from emergencies, citing the lack of basic items such as anesthetics.

The new minister told the Health Commission in Albania’s parliament that she had asked the office of Internal Auditing in the Ministry of Finance and the High State Auditing Office to probe the tenders of the ministry and main hospitals.

Godo two months ago replaced former health minister Nard Ndoka, the head of the Social Democrats and a coalition partner in the government of Prime Minister Sali Berisha.

Ndoka’s acumen as manager of the Albanian health system has often been put in doubt even by members of his own party.

In May, the deputy foreign minister, Anton Gurakuqi, accused Ndoka of lacking his high school and university diplomas and of holding fakes.

Ndoka denied the accusation, saying it was political motivated.  Read more about fake degrees in Albania:  http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/investigations/8041/

 http://balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/13095/

Ecuador tells U.S. to leave base next year

Ecuador tells U.S. to leave base next year
07/30/08 10:47 PM, EDT
The Ecuadorian government has told the Bush administration it will not renew a 10-year agreement letting U.S. troops conduct anti-drug operations from the Latin American country, according to U.S. military officials.
FULL STORY

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