N. Korea-Bound Ship With 'Military Cargo' Detained By Panama 105
HonorPoncaCityDotCom writes "BBC reports that a North Korean-flagged ship carrying suspected 'sophisticated missile equipment' bound from Cuba to North Korea has been stopped near Manzanillo on the Atlantic side of the canal. President Ricardo Martinelli said the authorities were checking the ship for drugs when they found the suspected weapons in containers of brown sugar. Experts believe the communist state is working towards developing a nuclear warhead small enough to put on a long-range missile. Under UN sanctions, North Korea is banned from weapons exports and the import of all but small arms. The 35-member crew have been detained, including the captain who the Panamanian president said tried to kill himself during the search. Security Minister Jose Raul Mulino said the ship 'aroused suspicion by the violent reaction of the captain and the crew.' Martinelli also published a photograph that appeared to show two large green containers, adding that the arms shipment had been uncovered 'in containers underneath a cargo of sugar.'" Also at the New York Times.
Good news and bad news for U.S. govt (Score:1)
The bad news is that the "missile technology" really did turn out to just be sugar.
The good news is that Edward Snowden was on board!
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
i found it more interesting that somehow panama has a say in if cuba wants to ship "drugs"(what panama defines as drugs) to north korea. since that's what they boarded the ship for, supposedly.
(imho cuba and north korea should be able to trade whatever the fuck they want.. sure, more countries might embargo cuba for that but still, it's their choice)
Re:Blowing up like ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe it was because the ship was going through the Panama Canal.
Re: (Score:3)
They can but they can not go through Panamanian waters to do so. It probably would have raised suspicions to go around the cape and thus stay in international waters could have just used a bigger ship that would not fit.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
i found it more interesting that somehow panama has a say in if cuba wants to ship "drugs"(what panama defines as drugs) to north korea. since that's what they boarded the ship for, supposedly.
(imho cuba and north korea should be able to trade whatever the fuck they want.. sure, more countries might embargo cuba for that but still, it's their choice)
My my how naive you are.
The Panama Canal is for all pratical purposes american territory. There is your answer.
Re:Blowing up like ... (Score:5, Informative)
The canal has been under the control of the Panamanian government since 1999.
Re: (Score:1)
The canal has been under the control of the Panamanian government since 1999.
How naive you are. If the sovereign Panamanian government fell out of step with their American backers, you can be sure that a coup would bring things back in line within months. Again.
Re: (Score:2)
What was this fact downmodded? Because it sounds anti-American? The US government created Panama out of land it stole from Colombia and is in change of all of Central America. What's the beef in stating that?
Aside from that, the shippers were pretty dumb to try to take contraband through the canal. Oh well...
Re: (Score:2)
The US government......is in charge of all of Central America.
Central America would definitely disagree with you there. Seriously, do you really think Bush would have installed Ortega in Nicaragua? That's like a slap in the face to Bush.
Re: (Score:1)
Ortega is a puppet. If he doesn't do what he is told, he will be removed, kind of like what happened to Noriega and Zelaya from Honduras. I mean, has he accomplished land reform of any kind, or do anything to reduce the power of foreign 'investors'? As far as I'm concerned he's a stooge for the CIA, smuggling contraband and laundering money. As it is, he does serve a purpose, even if only for propaganda to justify US meddling in the region. The US is in complete control..
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Hey! Lucky you, friend! The mods won't let me use 'stand your ground' while I'm being trolled.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
What, me worry? I know what it's like to swim upstream... but that's where the eggs are
Re: (Score:1)
Panama Canal, Central America: 2,193 Miles South of the REAL America
Re: Blowing up like ... (Score:1)
Re:Blowing up like ... (Score:5, Interesting)
It's no different than the US having jurisdiction over shipments on US interstates between Mexico and Canada. What, did you think every cargo vehicle passing through got automatic diplomatic immunity?
Re: (Score:1)
I'm wondering where the hell the "sophisticated missile equipment" was manufactured, because it sure as shit didn't originate in Cuba.
Probably something ordered out of a skymall magazine or sharper image catalog.
Re:Blowing up like ... (Score:5, Funny)
i found it more interesting that somehow panama has a say
See, nobody ever reads the ToS for the Panama Canal either.
Remember, next time you want to ship drugs and guns across the globe, GO AROUND THE HORN.
Don't be daring and cheap at the same time.
Re: (Score:2)
You know, North Korea could get a boatload (literally and figuratively) of weapons-grade material if only they'd develop some sort of international superstar like Psy
Kim Jong-un in sunglasses and a suit singing "Pyongyang Style" or something...
Re: (Score:3)
Borgoise individualist filth. "Pyongyang Style" would involve several tens of thousands [wikipedia.org] of carefully drilled elements of the masses performing some sort of mass-gymnastic routine...
Re: (Score:2)
The North Korean Psy would be a full military uniform, and only sing old-fashioned songs from the 50's about how much Dear Leader loves us. Somehow I doubt this would be quite as catchy.
As it turns out... (Score:5, Informative)
The sugar was both the cover and the sophisticated missile technology [wikipedia.org]...
Crafty, crafty.
Re: (Score:2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMITFo66qWg [youtube.com]
Re:As it turns out... (Score:4, Funny)
Given the starvation rates in North Korea, I'm pretty sure the people would have welcomed just the sugar alone.
Re: (Score:2)
You assume the sugar would be going to the general people. Jim Jong-Un was planning on baking lots of cookies. To share with Dennis Rodman on his next visit.
Re:As it turns out... (Score:4, Funny)
You assume the sugar would be going to the general people. Jim Jong-Un was planning on baking lots of cookies. To share with Dennis Rodman on his next visit.
Jim Jong-Un is the greatest baker in the world. Great chefs from around the world come to North Korea to get his cookie making advice. His cookies are so great, flour and sugar come to North Korea on their own just to be in his cookies.
Re: (Score:2)
Jim Jong-Un is the greatest baker in the world. Great chefs from around the world come to North Korea to get his cookie making advice. His cookies are so great, flour and sugar come to North Korea on their own just to be in his cookies.
This is true, and Kim Jong-Il used to pose looking at those cookies!
Re: (Score:2)
Pretty sneaky sis.
Not cookies... (Score:2)
Jim Jong-Un was planning on baking lots of cookies.
Pretty sure it was meant for a 40-ft high fondant statue of Jim Jong-Un.
Re: (Score:3)
in the real cuban missile crisis you had russian soldiers manning the missiles that were a few minutes away from washington DC
here the missile can't even reach washington from NK
Re:Cuban Missile crisis (Score:5, Informative)
In the Cuban missile crisis Russia was delivering missiles TO Cuba. In this case the missiles were being sent to NK FROM Cuba.
Re: (Score:2)
Not really, I doubt Cuba has some magic missile parts factory, these were missiles being laundered from Russia to NK through Cuba. I'm sure China is a bit pissed at the Kremlin at the moment since the last thing they want is NK stirring up political problems while they are trying to keep their economy from going off the deep end.
Re:Cuban Missile crisis (Score:5, Informative)
these were missiles being laundered from Russia to NK through Cuba
North Korea and Russia share a border. There's no reason for them to attempt what you're suggesting.
Re: (Score:3)
That's just what they want you to think!
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
these were missiles being laundered from Russia to NK through Cuba
North Korea and Russia share a border. There's no reason for them to attempt what you're suggesting.
Welcome to plausible deniability.
Israeli made weapons based on US designs are sold to Mujahadeen via 3rd parties (I.E. in Jordan, Pakistan). Russia does the same through other deniable parties, so does France (HTF do you think dictators get Exocet missiles). Mostly it's just excess stock and end of life weapons, but a 80's era mortar is still good for blowing up Infidels/Communists/Enemy of your choosing today.
Every weapons producing nation profits dirty little wars.
Re: (Score:2)
Welcome to plausible deniability.
You don't need this if they can be driven directly to NK undetected. They could easily be hidden from satellites with other trucks in normal trade. Again, I'd argue that there's no logical reason to do what was suggested.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe the Cubans were just returning the weapons because they didn't meet their requirements.
Re:Cuban Missile crisis (Score:4, Insightful)
In the real Cuban missile crisis you had American soldiers manning missiles that were a few minutes away from Moscow. One country the missiles was in, is called Turkey.
What's good for the goose (Americans putting missiles just over the border from the USSR) should be good for the gander (Russians putting missiles just over the border from the USA). But nope. More Americunt Exceptionalism.
Re: (Score:2)
You sound surprised that the US tried to leverage geographic and political advantages during an era of tensions and proxy conflicts that, for the first time in human history, could wipe out civilization and possibly even the species, if it escalated. So yeah, damned right we didn't play fair. Even in hindsight, damned glad we did given that the Soviets built a Doomsday device (Dead Hand).
Re:Cuban Missile crisis (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
The Dead Hand, as you describe, was a semi-automatic system to protect against a decapitation first strike by the US. Basically, there was a NORAD-like bunker buried in a mountain with a hotline to the Kremlin, from which their nuclear launches were managed. Normally a nuclear launch would require separate authorizations from the head of state and a senior military commander. But if the line to the Kremlin went dead, and a network of seismic sensors detected events characteristic of nuclear detonations, con
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
These "missiles" seem to be air-to-air defense radars and components. For SA-2 Guideline air defense missiles of all things. Not exactly new technology.
Oblig Simpsons (Score:1)
"Must protect the sugar....First you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women."
-Homer J. Simpson
The Orphan Master's Son - read it. (Score:1)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Orphan_Master's_Son
Idiots! (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Bah, dog's don't care about sugar. You want to fool the dogs put a container of used kleenex on the boat and the dogs won't be interested in anything else.
uh oh (Score:2)
Oh no! He's building a calorie bomb! That's the only type of bomb Americans could easily just roll with without much damage, lol.
NSA and CIA (Score:3)
Those crazy North Koreans! (Score:1)
Re:Those crazy North Koreans! (Score:5, Funny)
No, no, no. In Soviet Russia, you sneak missiles into Cuba. In non-Soviet era, Cuba sneaks missiles into you!
This is starting to sound like a prison joke.
What about the clever ships? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:What about the clever ships? (Score:4, Interesting)
I mean, what about the ships clever enough to *not* take the Panama Canal - and follow the longer path? IOT, how many ships did we miss and How close NK is to having a working nuke?
I'll speculate here. A Hong Kong based company won a 25 year contract (still in force as far as I know) to mange container operations in the canal, so I'm guessing that the boat and its North Korean masters probably assumed basically China (let's be realistic here - Hong Kong does what China wants) was running the show there and a North Korean boat would be given a nod and a wink in terms of its cargo inspection. It could also be that the boat captain took this on himself to shorten the journey making the assumption that I previously mentioned and this was something he did on his own, so he tried to kill himself when it became clear that his cargo was going to be found. Remember that although Cuba seems to have violated the UN agreement that nothing at all will be done to them in punishment.
Re: (Score:1)
And the fact that this didn't happen indicates that China is giving NK's leash a firm tug, I assume?
Re: (Score:2)
I think the ship's master is more concerned about the punishment from the cargo owners than the UN.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
You are working from the assumption Panama stumbled across this, rather than spies knowing it ahead of time.
How to take advantage of knowledge only a spy could know is a grand strategy game. In WWII, the allies had planes "stumble" over German ships they knew about from cracked codes, that they really needed to take out, but didn't wanna show their hand at deep knowledge.
Re:What about the clever ships? (Score:4, Insightful)
Yep. This isn't the first time customs agents for various countries have "accidentally" stumbled across North Korean contraband. It's a no-brainer to conclude that US intelligence agencies are responsible.
http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/japan-seizes-suspicious-north-korean-cargo-transit-myanmar/ [nti.org]
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gQJd8FsHXjzf35GeBg4bV1JrRfHQ?docId=CNG.caf81bda72044be6c361e53dc743c2a8.3e1 [google.com]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8227991.stm [bbc.co.uk]
Re:What about the clever ships? (Score:4, Informative)
How close NK is to having a working nuke?
North Korea has and has tested multiple nuclear weapons [wikipedia.org].
Re: (Score:2)
How close NK is to having a working nuke?
North Korea has and has tested multiple nuclear weapons [wikipedia.org].
And they got their nuclear technology from Grand Fenwick [wikipedia.org], none less. Heck, if they buy missile technology from Cuba, maybe Florida should start worrying.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Quote the article:
In July 2009 a North Korean ship heading to Burma was tracked by the US Navy on suspicion of transporting weapons and subsequently turned around
Their shipping is being watched regularly.
The Rolling Stones had this to say (Score:4, Funny)
Cuban airplane bound for Kim Jong's land
Downed in a market-driven US friend
Scarred old pilot knows he's doing all right
'til he's caught by capitalists just around midnight.
Brown sugar! How come you smell so good?
Brown sugar! Just like a missile should.
Wait ... (Score:1, Insightful)
Does Cuba actually have sophisticated missile equipment?
They used to get most of their stuff from the Soviets, and I'm skeptical they have developed anything new recently. Granted, even an ancient Soviet missile could teach them a lot.
I'm also skeptical they suspected a drug shipment from Cuba ... not a big exporter of drugs Cuba.
Re: (Score:2)
Cuba may not be an exporter of drugs itself, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's a stopover point for drug smugglers due to its location.
And like you said, they could learn a lot even from a forty year old Soviet missile, so that may well be what's onboard. But it is more likely they got it from somewhere else.
Re: (Score:2)
Does Cuba actually have sophisticated missile equipment?
I would hope the answer is 'No'. Not after that little incident in 1962 anyway. I would hope that the CIA/NSA/Pentagon would make it their business to know exactly what kind of military technology is moving into/out of that country. Or they are not doing their f*king job, in my opinion.
Screw looking for online porn and tax havens. Keep an eye on the people with the nukes.
Re: (Score:3)
I would hope the answer is 'No'. Not after that little incident in 1962 anyway. I would hope that the CIA/NSA/Pentagon would make it their business to know exactly what kind of military technology is moving into/out of that country. Or they are not doing their f*king job, in my opinion.
Screw looking for online porn and tax havens. Keep an eye on the people with the nukes.
Maybe you haven't heard. But the NSA has had their hands full spying on American citizens.
Could be clearer, as per usual (Score:1)
BBC reports
It's the BBC, but that's just me being pedantic.
...has been stopped near Manzanillo on the Atlantic side of the canal. President Ricardo Martinelli
Which country is Manzanillo in? Which canal are we talking about? Which country is Ricardo Martinelli the El Presidente of?
And no, it isn't bleedin' obvious, nor should it matter even if it is. The point of "journalism" - loosely applied to Slashdot though it is - is to inform the reader, not have them play fill-in-the-blanks.
Experts believe the communist state is working towards developing a nuclear warhead
Which of the two communist states previously mentioned is now being referred to? If you can make it clearer without wasting the reade
Re: (Score:3)
Yes, it is bleedin' obvious.
Re: (Score:1)
This has to be the first case where someone read the summary but skipped the title before posting. Usually it's "read the title, post, argue, insult, check summary to see if the other guy had a point, curse Slashdot for not giving you an edit function to change your old posts."
Re: (Score:2)
You're kind of a moron, aren't you? Not even tenth grade English teachers are this nitpicky.
The country and canal is obvious from the headline.
Which communist state is obvious from the context. And any other related news article you may have read in the last five or ten years.
It's the summary of an article, not an encyclopedia entry.
Re: (Score:1)
Soon even Panama's expanding canal for "Superpanamax" ships won't be the only one. China is building an even bigger one next door for even larger ships.
Meanwhile environmentalists in the US fight deepening harbors for even just the Superpanamax ships. The center of empire has shifted. It's all over. China has learned the lesson of history -- keep the trade routes open.
Re: (Score:2)
You shouldn't be pedantic if you didn't bother to read the headline (nearly identical in TFS and TFA, but they both mention Panama). Since this is Slashdot, you can't be blamed for not reading TFA (the Beeb one), which does attribute the claim to "Panama's president" in literally the first 2 words.
That's what happens to cheapasses, Kim (Score:2)
Should've sent the boat the long way around.
Amateurs. (Score:2)
Lord of War [imdb.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Everyone knows you use potatoes. Nobody wants to root around in a container full of mouldy potatoes.
Lord of War [imdb.com]
And I'm yet to see an inspector open a crate marked "nuclear waste".
What is that thing? (Score:2)
Wisecracks aside, has anyone seen any discussion about what the thing they confiscated is? We've got a photo, and it's pretty distinctive, I'm sure some military technology expert recognizes it...
Re:What is that thing? (Score:4, Informative)
Wisecracks aside, has anyone seen any discussion about what the thing they confiscated is?
It's part of the supporting structure of a Fan Song fire-control radar. Of which NK has lots already.
geography fail? (Score:2)
What the fark would that have to do with the Panama canal, several thousand miles away?
Re: (Score:2)
no, NOT green?!?!?! (Score:1)
nice NK doesn't get those (Score:2)
but who patrols and keeps the homicidal whackjobs in washington d.c., who maim, murder and destroy for power and wealth, from having such things?
This IS actually missile equipment - part of radar (Score:2)
This is a waveguide for a SNR-75 "Fan Song" fire-control radar for the Russian SA-2 (NATO) missile system. You can learn about it here (an SNR-75 set abandoned in Czechoslovakia): http://forum.valka.cz/viewtopic.php/t/74858
And you can see the waveguide cone pictured in the AP stories and twitter here:
http://forum.valka.cz/attachments/1945/RSN-75M3_Fan_Song_E_1.jpg
And unless I miss my guess, this is the first _direct_ seizure we've seen of ACTUAL missile hardware on a North Korean ship.