pirates

Ten pirates released from a Russian warship 300 miles out to sea may have drowned, according to Russian officials and colleagues of the pirates, raising fears of retaliation against other vessels plying East African waters.

The pirates were captured last week after they hijacked the Moscow University, a Liberian-flagged, Russian-operated oil tanker sailing off the Somali coast. A Russian warship came to the ship’s rescue and apprehended the pirates. But after determining it would be too difficult to obtain a conviction, Russian officials said that they dropped plans to take the pirates to Moscow for trial.

Instead, like many other warships that have intercepted pirate skiffs, the Russian marines released the pirates — but not before removing weapons and navigation equipment from the boat several hundred miles from shore. Russian officials gave no explanation for removing the navigation equipment

Russian officials claimed they considered bringing the pirates to Moscow for trial but decided not to because of the uncertainties of international law.

So the Russians say they placed the pirates in a boat without weapons and after taking away the pirates navigation equipment cut the small boat loose. While removing the weapons makes sense to many people, leaving the pirates at sea without navigation equipment strikes some as senseless.The Moscow University tanker was hijacked on May 5 by a gang of pirates, according to the European Naval Force Somalia, which patrols these waters and monitors hijacking attempts. It said the crew members locked themselves in the rudder compartment as the pirates boarded the ship.Officials initially said they would be taken to Russia for trial, but the Defense Ministry said Friday they’d been released because of “imperfections” in international law. The statement was met with skepticism, especially in light of a comment made by the Russian president.
“We’ll have to do what our forefathers did when they met the pirates” until the international community comes up with a legal way of prosecuting them, Dmitry Medvedev said on the day the ship was stormed.

biden

Joe Biden’s son hospitalized

White House: Vice President Joe Biden’s oldest son was hospitalized Tuesday, the White House said, but it did not say why.
Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, 41, was admitted to Christiana Hospital on Tuesday morning.
“He is alert and speaking with his family and his doctors,” said his spokesman, Jason Miller. Miller did not provide any details on the attorney general’s condition but said he had been in the office Monday for meetings.
Hospital spokesman Bill Schmitt referred questions to the vice president’s office. A state trooper was stationed at the main entrance of the hospital and several black SUVs and men in suits with earpieces were nearby.
“Beau Biden is a great leader with a great family, and I’m glad they’re with him right now,” said Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, who referred questions about Biden’s condition to his family.

“Beau Biden is a great leader with a great family, and I’m glad they’re with him right now,” said Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, who referred questions about Biden’s condition to his family.

Biden, 41, had considered running for the Senate seat his father held before becoming vice president, but decided against it.

In 2009, the younger Biden returned from a yearlong deployment to Iraq with his Army National Guard unit. He was a captain and military lawyer in the 261st Theater Tactical Signal Brigade.

The vice president traveled to Delaware on Monday afternoon for a previously scheduled trip. He did a round of morning show interviews from Wilmington Tuesday morning, and was supposed to return to Washington later in the day for his weekly lunch with President Barack Obama and a series of meetings on Afghanistan.

Beau Biden announced earlier this year that he would not run for the Senate seat previously held by his father. Ted Kaufman, Joe Biden’s former Senate chief of staff had accepted the appointment to Biden’s Senate seat as a temporary “place holder”, until Beau was able to run for the seat.
Biden’s biological mother was killed, along with his infant sister when a tractor-trailer broadsided their station wagon when they were out shopping for a Christmas tree. Beau was seriously injured in that accident, along with his brother Hunter.

Joe Biden F Bomb Video

Joe Biden F Bomb Video  updates :- Just before a press conference to announce President Barack Obama’s signing of the health care reform bill on Tuesday morning, VP Biden is heard saying, “This is a big fucking deal,” in Obama’s ear as the pair embraced.

OMG politicians say naughty words?? Oh boy, do you think they go potty too?

Apparently, Biden wasn’t aware that the President’s mic had already been turned on. Obama didn’t say anything in response, but he did smile at Biden as he took to the podium.

Biden Most Worried About Pakistan

WASHINGTON: US Vice President Joe Biden has said al Qaeda was moving in the direction of smaller but “devastatingly frightening” attacks and he viewed the chance of another September 11-style mass assault as unlikely.

In an interview with CNN’s “Larry King Live” program, Biden also said the situation in Pakistan worried him more than that of Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.

“It’s a big country,” Biden said of Pakistan. “It has nuclear weapons that are able to be deployed. It has a real significant minority of radicalized population. It is not a completely functional democracy in the sense we think about it. And so … that’s my greatest concern.”

Biden, who was the chairman or ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the decade before becoming vice president, said Iran’s nuclear program was a “real concern.”

“If they continue on the path of nuclear weapons and were able to gain even a modicum of the capability, then I worry what that does … what pressure that puts on Saudi Arabia, on Egypt, on Turkey. … To acquire nuclear weapons, that’s very destabilizing,” he said.

Although U.S. intelligence chiefs testified before a congressional panel recently that new al Qaeda-backed attacks are certain in the coming months, Biden said he thought any attempt would be small-scale.

“The idea of there being a massive attack in the United States like 9/11 is unlikely, in my view,” he said, referring to the September 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks on New York and Washington, which left nearly 3,000 dead.

“If you see what’s happening, particularly with al Qaeda and the Arabian Peninsula, they have decided to move in the direction of much more small bore but devastatingly frightening attacks,” Biden said.

He said a likely model was the attempted Christmas attack on an airliner headed for Detroit. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, is accused of trying to blow up the Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight with a bomb sewn into his underwear.

“The concern relates to somebody like a shoe bomber or the underpants bomber, the Christmas attack or someone just strapping a backpack on them with weapons … and blowing up,” Biden said.

Asked if an attack like that would actually happen, he said, “Well, I think there are going to be attempts.”

The vice president expressed optimism about Iraq, saying it could end up being “one of the great achievements of this administration.”

“You’re going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer,” Biden said. “You’re going to see a stable government in Iraq that is actually moving toward a representative government.”

He said he had visited Iraq 17 times, going every two or three months.

“It has impressed me,” Biden said. “I’ve been impressed how they have been deciding to use the political process rather than guns to settle their differences.”

---

Biden Most Worried About Pakistan was first posted on February 11, 2010 at 10:39 am.

jean biden funeral

TrendPK.com jean biden funeral:Funeral Services: President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will join Vice President Joe Biden and his family in Wilmington, Del., today to attend the funeral of Biden’s mother, Jean Biden, who died Friday at the age of 92.
Take Two: The U.S. House reconvenes today for the [...]

mark gastineau

TrendPK.com It’s been more than two decades since Brittny Gastineau’s father Mark, the legendary New York Jets player, left Brittny’s mom Lisa for actress Brigitte Nielsen. But it was not until last week that Brittny met the fruit of that union: her half-brother Marcus Killian Gastineau, who’s now 20.
Brittny had never before [...]

Pakistan’s stability is main goal, US

US Vice President Joseph Biden says that Obama administration is focused on improving Pakistan’s stability, safeguarding its nuclear weapons program and defeating al-Qaida militants, but officials first must ensure that the Afghan government does not fail.

In an interview, Biden said that the United States would be in real trouble if the neighbouring Afghan government collapses and creates a power vacuum. He said it would be difficult to guess the response from countries such as Iraq, China or Russia. The vice president also praised Pakistan for its ongoing military campaign against Pakistani Taliban groups, but he said the country still is not doing enough.

---

Pakistan’s stability is main goal, US was first posted on December 16, 2009 at 9:52 am.

Pakistan’s stability is main goal, US

US Vice President Joseph Biden says that Obama administration is focused on improving Pakistan’s stability, safeguarding its nuclear weapons program and defeating al-Qaida militants, but officials first must ensure that the Afghan government does not fail.

In an interview, Biden said that the United States would be in real trouble if the neighbouring Afghan government collapses and creates a power vacuum. He said it would be difficult to guess the response from countries such as Iraq, China or Russia. The vice president also praised Pakistan for its ongoing military campaign against Pakistani Taliban groups, but he said the country still is not doing enough.

---

Pakistan’s stability is main goal, US was first posted on December 16, 2009 at 9:52 am.