Australia, ATSB and MH 370 - Printable Version

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RE: Australia, ATSB and MH 370 - Kharon - 08-06-2015

Three degrees of separation; or, how to cover your arse.

Abbott speak: “Let’s hope this does turn out to be the first bit of specific evidence for the whereabouts of the plane,” Mr Abbott told Radio 2SM on Friday.

Truss speak: “But what this will do clearly is alert the world to the fact that it’s possible even after all of this time that wreckage could be washed ashore in parts of Africa or on islands¬ such as Madagascar, and that anything that is sighted should be taken seriously,” Mr Truss said.

Beaker speak: “..chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is leading the search for the passenger jet, said "the discovery did not mean other parts would start washing up on the island"...

JACC speak: “……………………………..”

What on earth is happening, Truss and Abbott elegantly step around mentioning Dolan or the absent Folly, Beaker is generating his own one line statements which are at odds with the ATSB ‘Tweets’.   Is the dim bulb of political awareness flickering into life?

Ring Joe Hattely; go on, you know you want to.  We can at least then rely of some investigative probity and common sense.

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RE: Australia, ATSB and MH 370 - Gobbledock - 08-06-2015

The issue here is that the finding of the flaperon is a step towards a possible full recovery, so every man an his dog wants to attach his name to this 'positive' development - the Miniscule, the Beaker, The PM, old Mother Hubbard and Elvis!

So Dear Kharon there is most certainly an abundance of 'speak' of late, lots of chatter and a smattering of mi mi mi. In fact only yesterday I had the Houseboats radio tuned into 0.666 and I detected a lot of activity!
You just wish that they were all across the same page and united in their mumblings.

Doc


"Safe waffle for all"

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RE: Australia, ATSB and MH 370 - ventus45 - 08-06-2015

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2015/s4283776.htm

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RE: Australia, ATSB and MH 370 - Gobbledock - 08-06-2015

Herr Ventus, not sure of the point of your link? That's an old news.

Gobbles

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RE: Australia, ATSB and MH 370 - Peetwo - 08-06-2015

(08-06-2015, 05:53 PM)Gobbledock Wrote:  Herr Ventus, not sure of the point of your link? That's an old news.

Gobbles

I can see a couple of reasons for ventus re-hashing that ABC World Today news piece.

First there is Joe Hattley's no bullshit, no weasel worded statement, on the actions that he'd already taken (forwarding flaperon phots to Boeing). Also the investigatory process that he believed would now be followed by the French BEA to establish the provenance of the flaperon.

Quote:RACHAEL BROWN: The French safety agency, BEA, (Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses) has sent photos to its counterpart, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, who's been leading the search in the southern Indian Ocean.


The bureau's Joe Hattley says he's forwarded the photos to Boeing.

JOE HATTLEY: There are two different numbers that we would be looking for. One is a part number that's common to all the parts that are manufactured the same.

And then it may or may not have a serial number. If we can get a serial number off it, then we may be able to match it up to a specific aircraft.

RACHAEL BROWN: How long could this take?

JOE HATTLEY: I'm sort of thinking it's going to take several days at this stage because we will need to work with our counterparts in France to get the component suitably examined by technical specialists

Agree with "K", enough of the bollocks & bring back Joe...

Next Ginger Beer Peter M, states what many MH370 followers already strongly suspect:
  

Quote:RACHAEL BROWN: Mr Marosszeky still thinks certain authorities might be withholding vital information


PETER MAROSSZEKY: I'm inclined to think that there is, there could be a country that is aware of where that aircraft might have gone down, but they're very disinclined to reveal it for security reasons so as not to reveal the accuracy of their satellite imaging systems, or in fact, basically end up in a legal issue about surveillance over foreign territories.

  
But for mine the biggest revelation from that World Today report was in the brief exchange between CSIRO Oceanographer David Griffin and reporter Rachael Brown:

Quote:RACHAEL BROWN: The Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister, Warren Truss, has released a statement saying, "in the event the debris is identified as being part of MH370, it would be consistent with other analysis and modelling that the resting place of the aircraft is in the southern Indian Ocean".


The CSIRO agrees, referring to its modelling of currents, winds and waves.

CSIRO oceanographer David Griffin explains how the wing debris could've travelled from this predicted splash point off to Reunion Island.

DAVID GRIFFIN: So something landing off West Australia, sort of, you know, when you look at the whole Indian Ocean, that's our half of the Indian, things would just generally move sort of first northwards. There's a sort of a seasonal things came a bit towards Australia initially and then, as the seasons change, we think that things then moved into the central Indian and then, with the relentless of south-east trades, anything poking up above the sea surface would then keep going to the west along the equator and Reunion Island is very close to the equator.

RACHAEL BROWN: Mr Griffin was part of the MH370 drift model taskforce until it finished its work in May last year. He says any find, now 16 months on, will be welcome.

 
The part in bold would seem to reveal that the findings & modelling for possible debris drift has been publicly withheld since May last year up until two days ago...

I'm totally with Paul Howard on his response to an ATSB tweet today: 

Quote:ATSB ‏@atsbinfo 12h12 hours ago

#MH370: New drift modelling video by @CSIROnews https://youtu.be/PZ7yQ1u2rqw  via @YouTube

Quote: Paul Howard‏@Paul_playwright 9h9 hours ago
@atsbinfo @PAIN_NET1 @CSIROnews And why do we only see this now ? What happened to Sumatra ? Pull the other one, it plays jingle bells.

 
---Love it!

MTF..P2

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RE: Australia, ATSB and MH 370 - ventus45 - 08-07-2015

Correct P2.

Also:-
The "original modeling" was "allegedly wrong" because "winds" (not currents) were "incorrectly modeled".
Error was apparently "discovered" by independent group of oceanographer modelers (not identified).
This "fact" was "known, but "withheld" for months.
Source: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/05/the-mh370-cover-up-searchers-knew-debris-predictions-were-wrong.html

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RE: Australia, ATSB and MH 370 - Kharon - 08-07-2015

Underhanded Down Under – Clive Irving explains the Beakerites why Australia is not just famous for underhand bowling and has lost much of it's international standing.  Thank you Muppets, well done..  

Quote:That’s an unprecedented challenge: It took two years to find the black boxes of Flight 447 even though they were lying with the main wreckage only 6.5 miles from the point on the flight path where the airplane was known to have disappeared.

What? that was brilliant; two years, a stellar effort.  Australia has waited six years for the recovery of a black box set which is within swimming distance of a pub in 50 meters of cool, clear, sheltered Pacific ocean water.  Can someone lend us a snorkel?

Shame, shame, shame…

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RE: Australia, ATSB and MH 370 - Gobbledock - 08-07-2015

Former 777 driver Byron Bailey has given the alphabet soup organisations a spray. And he has a particularly noticeable, and justifiable, dislike for 'he who is obsessed with his facial follicles', as follows;

http://m.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/the-experts-have-no-idea-on-mh370/story-fni0cwl5-1227473091527

Small extract from Byrons article;

"The head of ATSB even said some time ago that the reason there was no debris from the crash when MH370 ran out of fuel was that it entered the water cleanly, nose first, in a vertical attitude. Isaac Newton must have been rolling in his grave at the rewrite of the laws of physics and gravity"

Byron, choccy frog is in the mail, and your third row seat on the houseboat to watch the upcoming senate estimates has been reserved. Welcome aboard the IOS good sir.

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RE: Australia, ATSB and MH 370 - Kharon - 08-08-2015

Good one Byron, the points made re “experts” are spot on.  The Ben Sandilands  Plane Talking article is as usual drawing comments: these

Quote:11) Probably well known now that the French Ministry of Defence is taking over coordination of the search for parts or MH370 through the Prefect of Reunion. France is allocating more assets to the search, including a CASA aircraft, helicopters and unspecified maritime.

12) And I forgot to mention that the above was at the request of the President and Prime Minister of France, which gives some weight to bring the search and presumably its publicity under a measure of control and validation before release of any results.

from Aero Eng Aviator brings IMO the best bit of MH 370 news to date; finally a chance of probity and expert assistance.  Gods know, the investigation could use it.  Choc frog to Aero. 

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RE: Australia, ATSB and MH 370 - Gobbledock - 08-08-2015

The Frogs launch land and sea search

Looks like the French have truly had enough of all the bullshit waffle and postulation and want to get on with it;

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33815009

"France  has launched air, land and sea searches on and around the island of Reunion in the hope of finding more debris which could be linked to MH370".

Poor old Beaker and the Miniscule will be most unhappy if the Frogs find something first as that will steal Australia's limelight.

Oh Mr Hart, what a mess.....

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RE: Australia, ATSB and MH 370 - Peetwo - 08-08-2015

(08-08-2015, 05:13 AM)kharon Wrote:  Good one Byron, the points made re “experts” are spot on.  The Ben Sandilands  Plane Talking article is as usual drawing comments: these..

Quote:11) Probably well known now that the French Ministry of Defence is taking over coordination of the search for parts or MH370 through the Prefect of Reunion. France is allocating more assets to the search, including a CASA aircraft, helicopters and unspecified maritime.

12) And I forgot to mention that the above was at the request of the President and Prime Minister of France, which gives some weight to bring the search and presumably its publicity under a measure of control and validation before release of any results.

from Aero Eng Aviator brings IMO the best bit of MH 370 news to date; finally a chance of probity and expert assistance.  Gods know, the investigation could use it.  Choc frog to Aero. 

Australia, ATSB & MH370 - "..le ver se tourne.."

Excellent stuff Ferryman & indeed kudos to Aero Eng Aviator, plus Byron Bailey courtesy the Daily Telegraph:

Quote:The ‘experts’ have no idea on MH370

August 7, 2015 12:00am
Byron Bailey- The Daily Telegraph

Pilot Byron Bailey.

I AM staggered to find Australia sent an “expert’’ to France to assist in the identification of the ­flaperon washed up on a beach on Reunion Island.

There are already B777 experts aplenty in that part of the world, along with Boeing reps. What ­more assistance could he provide and who approved this?

It’s bad enough with the politicians stretching their taxpayer funded ­entitlements but these government department employees are exceedingly well paid. The flaperon is from MH370, as revealed in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Why was another expert needed?


If one was required, I have colleagues in Qantas, British Airways and Emirates and between us we have hundreds of thousands of hours on B777 and Airbus aircraft. You will not find any of that kind of ­experience among the desk-bound warriors of Air Services, CASA and the Air Transport Safety Board and we seem to have a lot of ex-RAAF types, some who were pilots, but do not have experience on modern, ­computerised, glass-cockpit aircraft.

It does not make sense to me that the former head of CASA was a ­former fighter pilot, like myself, but with no civil experience.

Thirty years as admin staff officer in the RAAF does not qualify you to be able to head a body that through excessive regulation financially ­restricts the industry.

The new head of CASA is also a former RAAF fighter pilot.

I was interviewed live last weekend by CBS News Los Angeles and very quickly it became apparent the interview was fixated on one point and could not see the bigger picture.

As I pointed out on a Channel 9 live interview there are four facts, not theories, concerning MH370.

Fact 1: The captain was the last voice heard in the sign-off to Kuala Lumpur ATC.

Fact 2: Immediately after this all communication equipment was ­disabled so MH370 disappeared off ATC radar. (Radios, transponders, acars, etc, are triplicated and on ­separate electrical buses, so to quote the head of Emirates, the world’s largest B777 operator, “pilots should not be allowed to turn off communication equipment in-flight” ).

Fact 3: MH370 was found by analysis of military radar to have tracked west along the Thai border and up the Straits of Malacca and then a left turn around the tip of Sumatra.

Fact 4: The aircraft flew south for seven hours.

Everything else is conjecture — even the almost absolute certainty that it was under control to the end.

It is frustrating to continually hear on TV about a large debris field lying on the floor of the Indian Ocean or some ATSB expert talking about the crash of MH370.

The head of ATSB even said some time ago that the reason there was no debris from the crash when MH370 ran out of fuel was that it entered the water cleanly, nose first, in a vertical attitude. Isaac Newton must have been rolling in his grave at the rewrite of the laws of physics and gravity.

Byron Bailey is a former B777 captain and now flies corporate jets

 BB QON? - "..It’s bad enough with the politicians stretching their taxpayer funded ­entitlements but these government department employees are exceedingly well paid. The flaperon is from MH370, as revealed in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Why was another expert needed?.."  Why indeed? And why is it necessary for our media craving MH370 super sleuth, ATSB Chief Commissioner, Martin Dolan; to be in attendance in Toulose? From the ABC's World Today 2 days ago - MH370 debris brings little consolation to families of missing passengers & MP3 download

Quote:..LINDY KERIN: Martin Dolan is the chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.


He's been with the French team in Toulouse examining the piece of debris and he's continuing to lead the search for the main wreckage.

MARTIN DOLAN: In terms of some certainly about the aircraft, it's good news, tragic news for those on, the families of those on board the aircraft of course.

LINDY KERIN: the debris is still being examined, and Martin Dolan told News Radio it could still be some time before there's more information about how the flight ended

MARTIN DOLAN: We have one of our experts in materials failure in these areas working with the team in Toulouse and we will see what the flaperon reveals about the last stage of the flight of the aircraft. Close examination is what's necessary to assess how much we can learn...

Presumably Dolan would have flown business class (at least) & is holed up in some reasonable digs until such time as the French announce confirmation on the provenance of the flaperon. But for what possible purpose - other than holding the investigator's hand - is Dolan over there and at what end cost to 'us', the taxpayer?? Well at least the French authorities won't have to go far to deliver the subpoena (or worse)...

While on the bureau CC Martin Dolan  - Quote from the Time magazine article linked to by Kharon on the SMH thread:

Quote:Australian Transport Safety Bureau chief commissioner Martin Dolan denied his agency, which is leading the search, had misled anyone or withheld information. And though the search area was changed several times as officials revised the scant data available, it has been the same since October, he said.


“As soon as new or changed information comes to light, we make it available,” Dolan told The Associated Press on Friday.

The ATSB has also faced criticism for making a mistake in its original drift modeling, which initially predicted debris would wash ashore in Indonesia, rather than the area east of Africa where the flaperon turned up. The bureau issued a statement this week saying a revised analysis showed that, in fact, debris could be carried by currents to the area near Reunion Island.

Dolan said the ATSB didn’t withhold that error, and instead had been working with Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, to recalculate the drift area after noticing flaws in the model in November.

“We had to work with CSIRO to check the facts and as soon as we had something that was checked, we published it,” Dolan said. “We were in the process with CSIRO of publishing that revised drift modeling when the flaperon turned up at Reunion.”

  
Perhaps the Worldwide MSM should take the time to contact Senators Fawcett & Xenophon when testing the veracity of the ATSB Chief Commissioner's weasel words (above):


From  Chapter 3 of the  PelAir Senate Inquiry report:

Quote:Committee view

3.64      The committee finds the ATSB's refusal to retrieve the FDR incongruous and questionable. Furthermore, the committee takes a dim view of the ATSB's reliance on a version of ICAO Annex 13 that only came into force in late 2010, nearly a year after the accident, to justify this decision. Mr Dolan's evidence in this regard is questionable and has seriously eroded his standing as a witness before the committee.  Flight data recorders are routinely recovered around the world despite the existence of surviving crew. They provide objective records of how events transpired, and allow speech specialists and psychologists to determine stress levels and what was going on in the cockpit at the time.[43] This could offer valuable lessons for the whole aviation industry, not just about why an accident occurred, but, in this case, how such a successful ditching was executed under extremely difficult circumstances.

Definitely MTF...P2

Ps For the benefit  of Tango et.al off Ben's blog post, the following is extracted from page 3 of the minutes of the - Third Meeting of the Asia/Pacific Regional Search and Rescue Task Force (APSAR/TF/3)

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RE: Australia, ATSB and MH 370 - Gobbledock - 08-08-2015

P2;

Why was another expert needed?.."  Why indeed? And why is it necessary for our media craving MH370 super sleuth, ATSB Chief Commissioner, Martin Dolan; to be in attendance in Toulose?

I couldn't agree more. In this era of budget cuts and government penny pinching it is bad enough that our high profile Pollies are misusing and rorting travel in a multitude of ways, but now we have the upper echelon bureaucrats like 'he who adores facial hair' flying around the world here and there, on a whim, with no tangible benefits. These guys do travel business class internationally as a minimum, plus they stay at 5 star accommodation and receive generous daily allowances, and then meal, travel and sundry expenses. A 5 day trip for just Beaker would see no change come from $20k worth of taxpayer money.
To start with Beaker can offer no technical input. He is not an accident investigator from the field, and never will be. He is a public servant who worked for Comcare and other minion littered bloated government departments. In fact having Beaker over in France is just adding distraction to the real workers and probably slowing up the process. Why can't Beaker do a Skype hook-up and patch in for a teleconference? It would save $20k, he could relate the information to a footstool who could then flick the transcript/minutes through to the Miniscules minions or Sluggers beloved PMC for careful scrutiny and re-wording lest they say something wrong. Keep the bearded one at home. Job done. Money in the bank. Sensible, fiscal management of our fu#@ing money when all of us taxpayers are getting screwed, rather than wasting it on Australia's Muppet show.......

P_666

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RE: Australia, ATSB and MH 370 - Kharon - 08-09-2015

Blomberg.

Quote:"Was the flaperon extended, which would indicate that it was flown under pilot control?" Weber said. "Sounds crazy, but there is no scenario for this accident that doesn't have some crazy aspect to it."

Quote:Tango” #18 Plane Talking  “Once you try to interject logic to the actions you are off track”.

Nicely framed by Tango “Once you try to inject logic, etc”.  Logic is the only tool available; and it is logical to start with the end options – controlled ditching (my pick); or, the out of fuel spiral? To resolve even that puzzle is fraught with peril.  Due to lack of ‘evidence’, facts and probity, it’s all still more speculative than logical and any given scenario stretches the imagination.  The whole thing is off the wall, not helped by a deepening suspicion of the Malaysian and Australian handling of the entire project, from the outset.  The initial air search and proceedings when AMSA were involved was, I believe, legitimate and honest.  It’s the period following that which seems to cloud clear vison.  

One inch of gaffa tape will retain the ELT momentary switch in the reset position, one more mystery for speculation.  Here’s another, would the crew not try to activate the ELT during the cruise portion?; a couple of minutes on every so often would have alerted the world; was the crew disabled, complicit, not in control? The questions endless; the answers so very, very few.  Well, let’s just hope the French can shed some light and a little more evidence is found which can assist the Boffins.  

But for my money, the answer still lays with who and why, not where and when.

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RE: Australia, ATSB and MH 370 - P7_TOM - 08-09-2015

One of the many things that troubles about MH 370 is the lack of a cohesive, comprehensible ‘story’ line.  Take a clue; any clue you like and try to link it with another to get a start point; I can’t and I have tried.  No matter where I begin, I run into a ‘black hole’ in which nothing exists, even with a stretch of imagination.  Every theory or narrative winds up ‘in the bin’.  Frustrating. I leave it alone for a while, then some stray ‘what-if’ surfaces and I try to run it down to make a tale I can believe.  Same result, zip, bupkis, nada.  

I’ve tried the simple, practical, pragmatic approach – Bin.  The complex, convoluted – Bin.  Hell I even dabbled with some of the less ridiculous (and I confess) more ridicules conspiracy theory– Bin.

Perhaps that is a theory in itself; almost every tangible clue has been short circuited; designed to end with a full stop – Bin.  

My waste paper basket is now full; pencil needs sharpening and it’s time once again to put the jigsaw back into the box.  I shall content myself with pictures of Beaker dining in splendour, enjoying a Cassoulet, followed by Croquants, washed down with a solid Burgundy under the autumn sun, bathing what is a very beautiful city.  It’s what I’d be doing.

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RE: Australia, ATSB and MH 370 - Gobbledock - 08-09-2015

Tommy boy;

"I shall content myself with pictures of Beaker dining in splendour, enjoying a Cassoulet, followed by Croquants, washed down with a solid Burgundy under the autumn sun, bathing what is a very beautiful city.  It’s what I’d be doing"

Tom, picturing Beaker? Sir, you are a sick unit!!! However, i am curious, in your fantasy does the atrabilious one have the beard or no beard?
Tom, if you start to mi mi mi I am afraid the BRB will be forced to review the continuation of your IOS membership!

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RE: Australia, ATSB and MH 370 - P1_aka_P1 - 08-09-2015

GD - TOM did say Autumn sun; August is high summer in that neck of the woods. There may just be a message there.

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RE: Australia, ATSB and MH 370 - P7_TOM - 08-10-2015

Unable to resist - Mea Culpa.

Solid Gold from skyship007; shamelessly lifted from Pprune out of 463 posts; someone with a delightful SOH.  Many a true word spoken in jest.  FWIW, it makes more sense than a whole load of ‘other’ theories.  Henry Crun tops it all off.  Worth a look – HERE .

Quote:OK, so here is my dubious theory:

1/ The UK and US governments know exactly what happened to this flight.
That's cos 2 nuke subs turned up and would have found the EPIRB signal, as their gear when below the marine isothermal layer is incredibly sensitive. All oceans have fixed acoustic detectors on the sea bed that would have got additional bearings to fix the initial impact point. So even if the RN and USN chaps had been too busy drinking rum or surfing the net, the Langley boys would have hit the alarm bell with a very good fix.
One of those boats had a deep diving RV fully capable of retrieving the black boxes. Both subs had the ability to read both the CVR and FDR with help from base for the latter.

2/ If they ever find the wreck, the black boxes won't be found.

3/ The reason the UK or US governments will not say anything is simple, as I think it was another lone wolf left on the flight deck with one of the pilots either not playing with a full deck of German cards; OR, suffering from a partial decompression brain failure. An anti Chinese terrorist is another possibility, but less likely.

Now I expect some of you are wondering why the 2 governments might keep the facts secret. It's simple to understand why, cos both know that the only solution to real flight deck security is 3 crew (One trainee pilot) AND moving the WC door to allow direct access from a no door flight deck. El Al said all that in a big pre 911 report and it's just as true now as it ever was.

The computers are always on in the FAA and CAA, but in reality no one is home IF the problem is flight safety and the solution costs more than the airline industry pays their masters in political back handers each month.

Now the other question you might have is how have I jumped to this absurd conclusion. Simple, my father worked for the UK admiralty designing "Bits" for nuke subs and he and his old geeky mates are convinced that the impact would have been audible to the RN sub that was on patrol in the Indian ocean and at 50kts it would have arrived the same day as the US boat.

Even if the EPIRB failed, their combined capabilities would have found the wreck and black boxes. Their detection gear is an order of magnitude better than anything our friends down under are playing with, assuming they are even looking in the right position in the first place and not busy making another Veggimite sani and drinking a few cold ones.

The early EPIRB pings reported in the press would have been calibration tests from the subs, not the real thing (The press hinted at that). One sub sends a few test pings to the other to allow the range of any new signals to be calculated in a more accurate way.

Can't wait for part 2.

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RE: Australia, ATSB and MH 370 - Gobbledock - 08-10-2015

Tommy boy, as much as I hate to do it, I simply had to follow the link to this fascinating hypothesis. Suffice to say he is correct regarding Sub technology, it is robust indeed. It's good to see an interesting post. However, in true UP style, his post has been met with mockery and calls for the egotistical wanna be superstar Mods to stop him posting. Pity skyship007 doesn't come and play in our backyard as we are fully supportive of robust discussion and even a little edgy riff raff!

Indeed, bring on part 2!

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RE: Australia, ATSB and MH 370 - P1_aka_P1 - 08-10-2015

GD; I've just won my first beer, ever, from P7.  I fully intend to enjoy every drop.  Part 2 may be published on AP, should 007 choose to.  

Do  I need a PC sign off ?

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RE: Australia, ATSB and MH 370 - Peetwo - 08-12-2015

Slightly off topic but still very relevant to the bigger picture of world geopolitical diplomacy in the SE Asian region (ASEAN); in the Senate yesterday Senator Xenophon gave this passionate speech directed towards the Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and the Abbott government:

Quote:Senator XENOPHON (South Australia) (20:48): Events are moving fast in our near-northern neighbour Malaysia. I have spoken several times in this place since 2012 about how successive Australian governments have simply not been interested in encouraging democratic standards in our region with one of our most significant neighbours, seemingly turning a blind eye to blatant gerrymandering, voter fraud, intimidation, and a lack of a free press.

Democracy in Malaysia is currently on life support. The outrageous five-year jail term handed out this February to the country's opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, on trumped-up charges of sodomy marked a new low for this troubled country. Anwar is recognised as a political hero in our region if not in Australia. He was an outstanding finance minister and deputy prime minister. He shepherded Malaysia through the 1997 Asian financial crisis. He fell afoul of then Prime Minister Mahatir Mohamad, no doubt because of his strong democratic values and his efforts to rid the ruling UMNO party of corruption. He is a lightning rod for cleaner elections and works with the Bersih movement—'Bersih' meaning clean, in Malay—which must eventually prevail against the stale, corrupt and increasingly repressive regime of Prime Minister Najib Razak.

I am proud to count Anwar as a friend. On the day he was sentenced he rang me twice from the courthouse. On the second occasion, when he was about to be led into the courtroom for sentencing, he begged me that Australians not forget the plight of the Malaysian people. He has been in solitary confinement, his health has been poor and medical treatment has been denied or delayed. I have no doubt that Anwar was jailed to silence him ahead of what the Malaysian regime knew would be a torrid period of scandal and controversy. The second part has turned out to be true, but Anwar has not been silenced. In the past month, Prime Minister Najib and his party have been rocked by a scandal that, if it had happened in any true democracy, would have led to the fall of the government within days. That was not so in Malaysia. As revealed in The Wall Street Journal last month, Malaysian anticorruption investigators have found that payments of nearly US$700 million from shady overseas sources into the government's development fund, known as 1MDB, were redirected to Najib's personal accounts and spent on election campaigning in the rorted 2013 election. Much of the funds remain unaccounted for.

Incredibly, rather than resign in disgrace, Najib's regime called The Wall Street Journal article 'political sabotage' and had the country's chief prosecutor, called the Attorney-General, sacked in blatant breach of the Malaysian constitution. My sources in Malaysia suggest that the Attorney-General was sacked on the eve of laying charges of corruption against Prime Minister Najib.
 
Incredibly, Malaysian police have been raiding anticorruption investigative bodies to prevent further revelations emerging. The scandal continues to grab headlines and cause deep consternation around the world. Amazingly, Najib vigorously denies any wrongdoing. He remains at the helm of the regime, along with his wife, Rosmah Mansor, known for her luxury shopping sprees and dubbed by many Malaysians as 'Mrs 10 Per Cent'. But, as an editorial in The Economist magazine on 25 July put it:

WHATEVER the truth of them, the accusations levelled against Najib Razak … have astonished a country that some had thought inured to scandal.

In desperate moves to shore up his position, Najib recently has sacked four ministers, including his Deputy Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin. Responding to the revelations from his tiny prison cell, Anwar penned an explosive column published in The Wall Street Journal just two weeks ago. In it he warns the region that Malaysia was descending to the status of a failed state, with increasing corruption and sectarianism, race-based privilege, political repression, a state-controlled media and blatant breaches of the constitution. Anwar warned:

… there is real danger ahead. Middle-income nations like Malaysia—after several decades of economic mismanagement, opaque governance and overspending—can devolve into failed states.

Anwar set out how in the past 18 months more than 150 Malaysians have been arrested and many charged with sedition for making public statements criticising the regime. They include students, academics, journalists, lawyers, politicians and a cartoonist.

And what does the Australian government say or do about this unfolding tragedy? While Foreign Minister Julie Bishop expressed disappointment and raised human rights concerns when Anwar was jailed in February, Australia's position is currently woefully inadequate.

In our foreign minister's speech in Kuala Lumpur just four days ago, she lauded our growing defence and trade ties with Malaysia and flattered her Malaysian audience instead of levelling with them. She said:

Our strong economies and stable societies owe much to the robust public institutions and legal frameworks that our parliamentary democracies share.

It might be right for Australia, but it is not right for Malaysia. I have a lot of personal respect for our Minister for Foreign Affairs, but I cannot respect her silence on Malaysia's worsening democratic crisis and the corruption that is engulfing that nation.

In 2012 I joined a fact-finding delegation to Malaysia which examined the electoral system there. The delegation found that elections in Malaysia were open to rorting and vote tampering, and voters were subject to bans on assembly during an unusually short so-called campaign period of just 10 days. Electoral rolls were incomplete and easily defrauded. Sadly the fears I expressed in this place following the 2012 delegation have come true, and the hopes I raised, that Australia would play a role in improving democratic freedoms and elections in Malaysia, appear dashed.

Yesterday, 10 August, was Anwar's 68th birthday. He will be well into his 70s when he is eventually released, if he is released. Yesterday also marked the publication of a powerful joint letter of leading academics and journalists from around the world. Writing in support of the jailed leader and his movement, these experts and writers labelled the trial of Anwar as 'biased and unfair' and condemned the rising political repression in the country.

I join them today in calling for the unconditional and immediate release of Anwar Ibrahim, who has been declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.

Global concern about Anwar and the deteriorating political situation in Malaysia was highlighted this month by United States Secretary of State John Kerry. Mr Kerry told the media he had raised the imprisonment of Anwar during talks with Najib and 'raised concerns about freedom of expression'. As a nation, we must speak out on this. Australia must assert itself on this festering issue. We should have the courage to call a spade a spade, especially to a great friend such as Malaysia. My argument is not with the Malaysian people, for whom I have the greatest respect, but with a corrupt and rotten regime that threatens to destabilise the region.

Why does it matter to Australia? Australians and Malaysians have a long and positive history together. We helped Malaysians fight off a communist insurgency in the 1950s and again in the mid-1960s. More than 300,000 Malaysians have studied in Australia, starting with the Colombo Plan many years ago. Since 2002 more than 90,000 Malaysians have studied here. More than 116,000 Malaysian-born people live in Australia, and many hundreds of thousands of Australians travel to Malaysia, and many expats live there too. Sadly I can no longer travel to Malaysia.

Our government must show regional leadership to say it like it is. This corrupt and despotic regime is closing down media it does not control; it imprisons political opponents; it jails opposition leaders. An opportunity is coming up for Australians to show their support for democratic freedoms in Malaysia. The Saturday night of 29 August will see a series of solidarity rallies in Malaysia and across the world, organised by Malaysian reform group Bersih 2.0, the movement for free and fair elections in Malaysia. Rallies will take place overnight in Kuala Lumpur, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu and other places, and Malaysians living overseas are planning rallies throughout the world. I look forward to attending one of the rallies in Australia and invite my parliamentary colleagues to do the same.

Many Malaysians are just fed up with the corrupt regime and are saying so. But there are concerns that Najib will become increasingly repressive. The world community must support Malaysians who want to bring about a peaceful return to democracy and the rule of law in Malaysia. My plea, in the week of Anwar Ibrahim's 68th birthday, is for more Australians to get involved and support our Malaysian friends for a peaceful, democratic transition, for a government that is free of corruption, a government that Malaysians can truly be proud of and a government that will enhance, not compromise, the stability of our region.

  
Hmm...now might be a good time for the Abbott government to start getting some distance between itself & the Najib government. Perhaps the MH370 investigation/search, now under a French Judicial investigation, would be a good place to start demanding the truth from the Malaysians. And with Julie Bishop's past performance against the Russians with the MH17 investigation, she could be the perfect formidable opponent to crack the obvious Malaysian obfuscation & apparent cover-up of MH370  - indeed food for thought...
MTF...P2   

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