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Monday, May 14, 2012
Russian plane goes missing in Indonesia, dealing blow to aviation industry
The late-model Russian Sukhoi SuperJet-100 was meant to revive Russia's aging and accident-prone airplane fleet. It disappeared on a demonstration flight.
In what is likely to be a terrible blow for Russia's struggling aviation industry, a Sukhoi SuperJet-100,?the first completely new post-Soviet jetliner, went missing during a promotional tour in Indonesia.
Skip to next paragraph Fred WeirCorrespondent
Fred Weir has been the Monitor's Moscow correspondent, covering Russia and the former Soviet Union, since 1998.?
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The plane is?presumed crashed, although Russia's official RIA-Novosti agency said that darkness and fog have prevented search teams from reaching the site where the plane is believed to have gone down during a demonstration flight near Mt. Salak, about 50 miles from Jakarta.
The SuperJet, a half-dozen copies of which are already serving with two Russian airlines, is supposed to replace the fleets of aging Soviet-era Tupolev, Antonov, and Yakovlev mid-range aircraft that serve hundreds of far-flung regional routes across Russia and which have?suffered a rash of catastrophic accidents in recent years.?The situation became so bad last year that then-President Dmitry Medvedev ordered two regional workhorses, the Tupolev Tu-134 and the Antonov An-24,?to be permanently grounded.
Great hopes have been invested in the SuperJet, which was developed by Russia's famous producer of fighter planes,?Sukhoi, with input from several top Western aviation firms, including Boeing, Snecma, and Honeywell. The plane meets all the latest global aviation standards, and production models should be able to carry almost 100 passengers with an operating range of up to 2,500 miles, which makes it an ideal replacement for a wide range of?troubled Soviet aircraft?on Russia's multitude of outback routes.
There are also high hopes that the plane might do well on international markets, particularly in Asia, where its $35 million price tag makes it a tough competitor for similar-sized jets produced by the Canadian Bombardier Inc. and the Brazilian Embraer SA.
The SuperJet, which has sailed through testing and certification, has also been relatively accident-free in its development stages. The only serious mishap so far occurred in March, when a SuperJet operated by Aeroflot was forced to abandon a flight from Moscow to the Caspian city of Astrakhan due to problems with its undercarriage. Airline officials said passengers were never in danger.
But Russia's airline industry has been hit with a series of scandals, including revelations that many engineers working in aircraft factories have inadequate or fake diplomas.?
Many Russians can recall, often with a shudder, how a catastrophic crash of the Soviet Union's "Concordski" Tu-144 supersonic jetliner?at the Paris air show in 1973?destroyed the USSR's reputation as a worthy competitor of the West in aviation. All eyes will be on the investigation into today's SuperJet disappearance, and everyone will be hoping it does not reveal fundamental flaws in the plane's design.?
Some reports said there were 44 people on board, others 50, including its eight-member Russian crew. Many of the passengers were aviation journalists and representatives of Asian airline companies that have been considering purchases of the new aircraft. The plane had previously visited Myanmar, Pakistan, and Kazakhstan. After Jakarta it was supposed to go to Laos and Vietnam.
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Why does Norway's Breivik invoke the Knights Templar? (+video)
Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in a twin terror attack in Norway last July, claims to be a member of a reborn 'Knights Templar.' What's the symbolism?
One of the highlights of today's testimony in the trial of Anders Behring Breivik, who is accused of the murder of 77 people during a bombing and shooting rampage in Norway, was the prosecutor's efforts to challenge Mr. Breivik's purported membership in the "Knights Templar."
Skip to next paragraph A sociologist for the defense talks about Andrew Breivik's world view.Breivik claims to have helped "refound" the ancient military order as a force to fight immigration and multiculturalism in Europe. But why turn to a long-gone Christian order to symbolize his agenda today?
The Knights Templar, or "Templars," were a Christian order founded in the 10th century. Named for the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the Templars initially protected pilgrims traveling through the Holy Lands, but eventually evolved into a powerful military force that waged war against the Muslims during the Crusades.
The Templars became so powerful, however, that European leaders grew to distrust the order. Early in the 1300s, King Philip IV of France launched a crackdown on the Templars that, with the help of Pope Clement V, eventually spread Europe-wide, destroying the order. Many members were tortured and tried for heresy by the Catholic Church.
But despite, or perhaps because of, their ancient history and sudden demise, the Templars still hold a solid grip on modern imaginations and pop culture. They are frequently depicted as the mysterious controllers of the world in books like Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum" and movies like "National Treasure." "The Da Vinci Code" and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" set the Templars up as secret keepers of the Holy Grail. They even appear as the enemies in video games like "Assassin's Creed."
Certainly, the organization that Breivik claims to be a member of is equally mysterious. Breivik describes the organization as "a leaderless network, made to be self-driven cells.? He said that ?For militants, [Knights Templar] is meant to be a version of Al Qaeda." He has yet to name another member of the group, claiming that to do so would risk their being caught, though he has indicated that his "English mentor" can be found in London and that a Serb "war hero" living in Liberia is among the group's ranks.
Whether or not the Templars in which Breivik claims membership are real, the name is likely meant to evoke both the mysterious nature of the original Templars and their open war against Muslim forces during the Crusades. The historical Templars' modern reputation and supposed influence makes a strong symbolic counterpoint to terrorist groups like Al Qaeda.
Monitor guest blogger James Bosworth suggested that the use of the name may also be meant to legitimize the group as a moral one.
Last July, Mr. Bosworth noted that Breivik was not the first violent criminal to invoke the Templars: A Mexican criminal gang has also adopted the name and some of the associated symbolism. But Bosworth concludes that "The Mexican Knights Templar code of conduct appears to be a false appeal to Mexico's citizens," something that could also be argued of Breivik's use of the Templar mythology. "The Knights Templar label is a failed attempt to grant historical legitimacy to a violent act that truly has no justification," Bosworth wrote.
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Sunday, May 13, 2012
Pebble ties itself up in Twine: sounds so rustic, couldn't be any less (video)
Take an e-ink smartwatch that's got plenty of willing customers, throw in a WiFi-connected sensor box and well, imagine the possibilities. The founders behind Pebble and Twine hope you are, because they have announced that the pair will be connectable through the latter's web-based interface. This means you'll be able to setup text notifications to your wrist when your laundry's done, when someone's at your door and plenty more mundane real-world tasks. A brief video explains how it should all go down, but try not to get too excited -- pre-orders are sadly sold out.
Continue reading Pebble ties itself up in Twine: sounds so rustic, couldn't be any less (video)
Pebble ties itself up in Twine: sounds so rustic, couldn't be any less (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 May 2012 16:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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