Bill Sykes' Newsletter from America.
(December 2001)
An ex-Brit gives his views-(without fear
or favor)---of the American Scene
Current news from the home front.
Disaster Strikes Again!
 Yesterday
the 12th of November, 2001, a further disaster struck
the city of New York from the air.
An Airbus A-300 departing Kennedy airport crashed four
minutes after take-off, with the loss of 265 lives.
Nothing can be ruled out at this juncture, as to the
reason for the crash, until a full investigation has been
concluded.
 There
are many factors to be considered, such as bird strike
ingestion into the engine air intake causing compressor
and/or turbine blade failure with catastrophic results,
or any other type of mechanical and/or structural failure
of the aircraft's major components.
Of course, in this day and age, the ever present threat
of possible terrorist action has also to be considered.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator's
initial conclusion appears to favor that wake turbulence
from a JAL Boeing 747, which departed immediately ahead
of the ill fated Airbus 300, possibly caused the shearing
off of the vertical stabilizer and subsequent loss of
control of the aircraft.
The Oil Price Situation.
The price of oil related products, such as gasoline, has
declined considerably.
This caused me to wonder why.
 In
a world at war with mid-east terrorism it is inconceivable
that the price of oil would drop so dramatically when
one would have thought that the reverse would have occurred.
Unless of course we take into account the reduced usage
of petroleum products due to less travel.
When I investigated further I came across this very
interesting item.
It has long been known that the Soviet Union has vast,
untapped reserves of oil in the Arctic region of Russia.
 Chevron/Texaco,
(apparently part of a Caspian pipeline consortium), are
exploiting these vast reserves, and at a recent ceremony,
(which was attended by Chevron VP Richard Matzke), the
consortium celebrated the opening of a 982 mile pipeline
from the Tengis oil fields to the Russian port of Novorossiisk.
The consortium will now link the new oil fields of Russia
to the international markets of the world.
Very interesting.
No wonder Mr. Putin is being wooed by China, the United
States and Great Britain!
 Currently
Mr. Putin is visiting the Ranch of Mr. Bush, in of all
places, that great oil producing state of Texas .
I would imagine that there are many oil executives on
the VIP guest list. Wonder why. !!!
Subterfuge or Deception.
Mr. Bush recently issued an executive order restricting
access to thousands of pages of documents associated with
the Bush (Snr) and Reagan Presidencies . Wonder what he
is trying to hide?
Human rights.
Mr. Bush has apparently approved an order that "Military
Tribunals" will try all accused foreign terrorists.
The question of our past Human Rights declarations in
which we have accused nations, such as China, of breaches
of such rights, now comes to the forefront.
I would assume that the American Civil Liberties Union,
(ACLU), will certainly have strong reactions to this edict.
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