I have just heard on my short wave radio that in the russian city of Novsobirsk that the entire power grid failed and the Russian Red Army was trying to control rioting in the streets. I am in the Navy and we are en route to the Korean peninsula to ensure that nothing happens. What have you heard? I want to know so i can send my wife a note. In case this is TEOTWAWKI.

-- Ronald greer III (scaredboy@juno.com), January 05, 2000

Answers

Thanks for the heads up, Ronald.

*Sigh*

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 05, 2000.

Jim - would you explain that, please? I don't see anything in Diane's response that would call for your comment.

-- bw (home@puget.sound), January 05, 2000.

Hold on now -- while there's more than one Novosibirsk, the only major one seems to be deep in the Russian heartland, near to Omsk and the Mongolian border. How exactly does one unconfirmed short-wave radio report for an inland city tie in with any Navy move to the Korean peninsula? Sorry, this story sounds way goofy. I'll do a little more double checking, but frankly...

-- Ned Raggett (ned@kuci.org), January 05, 2000.

Ned, I don't think Ronald meant they were related, or that Novosibirsk was where he was headed. He thinks he got a fragment of news, and is looking for confirmation before he worries his wife. Sounds prudent, to me.

-- bw (home@puget.sound), January 05, 2000.

Hey Jim, instead of picking on the ladies for no apparent reason, why don't you come up with something constructive.

Diane, don't give him a second thought, its not worth your time.

BW, do you live near the puget sound? I have been keeping an eye on the container ships going in and out since the rollover and we are having decreased traffic on a major scale. Any observations are appreciated.

Everyone, keep those preps. Its not over yet.

-- Vincent, man of God (Vincent@manof.God), January 05, 2000.

Jim,

Lots of class. Takes a real man.

-- Infidel (Barbarians@thegate.net), January 05, 2000.

I dunno...is this legit?

I'm going to manage to be cautious regarding this particular post and hope this is a bad hoax.

Mike

======================================================================

-- Mike (notgivingitanymore@aol.com), January 05, 2000.

Fair enough, in that my dad likely would have done the same for my mom while he was in the service if something like that came up. At the same time, he's talking about going to see that 'nothing happens,' which makes it sound like they're going out because of it...which seems a bit of a stretch. There is, as it turns out, a Novosibirskoye on the island north of Hokkaido (Sakhalin, I think the name is?) -- more in the area, but it's a very tiny place. Worthy of any sort of Naval response? I have to wonder, and I have to wonder about this whole thing. I don't want to call the guy's veracity into question -- call it Navy brotherhood! ;-) -- but this doesn't make sense, combined with the fact that my understanding is Russian power is its own weird basket case anyway.

-- Ned Raggett (ned@kuci.org), January 05, 2000.

Hey Jim- Why don't you get a life man? that was uncalled for.

-- CulturePill (Holycr@p@nugget.com), January 05, 2000.

The only thing I've seen so far is:

Counterattack! Despite Claims of Imminent Collapse, Chechen Fighters Strike Back

By Yuri Bagrov

The Associated Press

G R O Z N Y, Russia, Jan. 5  Chechen fighters launched a strong counterattack against Russian forces in Groznys northern outskirts today, despite Moscows claims that the rebels were close to collapse. Rebel fighters retook parts of the Grozny suburb of Khankala, which Russian forces claimed to have occupied days ago. By this morning, Chechen militants controlled the southern half of the area.

LINK

-- karen (karen@karen.karen), January 05, 2000.

I've been to the CNN, ABC, even broke down and did a search through AOL news (which surprisingly has a large store of current wire articles.

Nada.

Claudia

-- CD (cdokeefe@firstva.com), January 05, 2000.

Some FYI about Novosibirsk

http://www.avo.alaska.edu/Input/natasha/nsk.html

-- cin (cinlooo@aol.com), January 05, 2000.

All please this isnt a joke,I m scared. We are en route from Guam at this momemtn. we have been told that we are just going to monitor situation. Nothing else. I am in a hurry to find out. Any confirmation of any thing in eastern russia near korean peninsula? plese respond quickly I will need to back to station.

-- ron greer III (scaredboy@juno.com), January 05, 2000.

Hey Jim, maybe you should read the book. God says to execute justice and judgement in your life, among other things. If you don't want to get carded, don't go calling the ladies on this forum inappropriate names for no apparent reason.

If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

-- (Vincent@manof.God), January 05, 2000.

Vincent - traffic looks normal, here. No excess ships tied up out in the bay, no unusual stacking on the wharves. Haven't seen the cranes moving, but there's a ship tied up there and it all looks ok. Got some recent excitement about illegals hiding in the containers, but everything else is standard.

-- bw (home@puget.sound), January 05, 2000.

Hi Ron:

The story sounds a little unlikely to me -- Russians aren't likely to riot over a couple of days of power-outage -- any more than Americans are.

Could you post the shortwave station you heard the report on? That might give us something to look for...

-- Anita Evangelista (ale@townsqr.com), January 05, 2000.

Ron, what shortwave freq. did you hear this on? Maybe someone else can pick it up.

-- Mello1 (Mello1@ix.netcom.com), January 05, 2000.

Cin

Thanks for the link. Power out in one of the largest Russian urban areas and also located in Siberia. Lets hope not.

-- PA Engineer (PA Engineer@longtimelurker.com), January 05, 2000.

I appologize, to both Diane and Vincent and anyone else on this board offended by my remarks. I was a soldier and the *sigh* offended me. But, still no excuse for my hurtful words. Again I am sorry.

-- CalamityJim (Facethecritic@ouch.com), January 05, 2000.

I just popped into a Moscow chatroom and asked. They say they haven't heard anything.

One thing I don't understand....Ron, you say YOU heard this on your shortwave radio and now YOURE sending an entire ship to Korea based upon what you heard? Who else knows about this?

-- cin (cinlooo@aol.com), January 05, 2000.

The power appeaars to be on at the state university in Novosibirsk

http://www.nsu.nsk.su/

it is responding to my browser

-- Helium (Heliumavid@yahoo.com), January 05, 2000.

Nothing found yet on BBC World Service. Here's a link to BBC:

BBC

-- snooze button (alarmclock_2000@yahoo.com), January 05, 2000.

Thanks for the update BW. I also heard about the illegals last night and it sounded like they were having a good time finding everyone. Also thought it was interesting that the Seattle police are asking for the mayor to step down because of his lameness during the W.T.O. riots. Guess we will see what happens.

Like to correspond, BW. I live in Kitsap County. Is your e-mail addy real?

-- (Vincent@manof.God), January 05, 2000.

Also at the city center

http://www.album.nsk.ru:8083/

see

http://www.ras.ru/map_list.html#Novosibirsk

for a list of web sites in the city

-- Helium (Heliumavid@yahoo.com), January 05, 2000.

Thanks for the follow-up, Ron. Out from Guam to monitor a situation of some sort, hm. North Korea has been under a watch for some time, at times intensely so, so going to the peninsula isn't immediately unique. *scratches head again* Still strange, given that Novosibirsk is so far inland, though. It'd be like Russia sending a ship if there was a severe problem in Des Moines. Vladivostok, I can see a lot of worry over if something so catastrophic happened there; base for the Pacific Fleet and all that. Ron, can you tell us exactly if your captain or whoever confirmed that exactly because of that report, that's why you're going? Nobody has yet heard or noticed anything on this end from anything in eastern Russia at all.

-- Ned Raggett (ned@kuci.org), January 05, 2000.

Its that dadburnd Iron Curtain again...

-- BarginTool (Scrappinforscraps@chilli.com), January 05, 2000.

Jim, no problem. Lots of vets here, VN-era for me. We all have buttons that get accidentally pushed, sometimes.

Vincent - not a real address, and I'm staying anonymous for the sake of my employer, who turns a blind eye to my Y2k activism. But we might run across each other in Kitsap ...

-- bw (home@puget.sound), January 05, 2000.

All of the sites in Novosibirsk are responding, either they have very good UPS systems, or the power is not out in Novosibirsk.

Maybe somewhere else closer to Korea?

Check your source, what Shortwave station and frequency?

What time did you hear the report?

-- Helium (Heliumavid@yahoo.com), January 05, 2000.

gotta tell you, been monitoring Pat's Hogie Shack here in Phila and must say traffic has been WAY up.

-- Larry McMurtry (ltcomm@rts.com), January 05, 2000.

hey, i just checked the weather and boy at -25 degrees AS A HIGH i would riot if i couldn't get a warm house and hot bath!!!!

-- tt (cuddluppy@nowhere.com), January 05, 2000.

Russians aren't likely to riot over a couple of days of power-outage - - any more than Americans are.

Anita, I understand that the Russians are having major infrastructure problems, and have been for years. They're used to it. But it is winter over there, and it gets cold fast in an unheated structure. Maybe the common Russian is at his/her breaking point?

Besides, it took New Yorkers mere minutes to start the rioting in 1977 when the power went out. Remember Los Angeles? With nothing at all wrong with infrastructure, all it took was a jury verdict to cause a 3 day riot.

-- Powder (Powder47keg@aol.com), January 05, 2000.

There is an alert in Korea and US personnel have increased "security" to some kind of threat (this happens a lot in Korea)... I heard that there were some people from Okinawa going over to Korea... Ron is not going because of any riots in Russia.

Power outages, or grid failures in Russia (on the other had) may not be what could affect a riot... there could be a riot for some other unseen reason... there were reports of certain "grid failures" in Russia but they were no more dire than any that occured in the US...

Noswad

-- Noswad (keepaneye@russia.com), January 05, 2000.

Shit! And I just demolished my bunker!

-- Gary Clark (garyc@mdc.com), January 05, 2000.

Well there's this...

WIRE:01/04/2000 21:58:00 ET Over 1,000 evacuated in bomb search at US base SEOUL, Jan 5 (Reuters) - More than 1,000 American soldiers and Korean civilians were evacuated early on Wednesday after a tip-off that bombs had been planted at a U.S. military camp north of Seoul, U.S. and South Korean officials said. About 200 military personnel were evacuated from Camp Edwards in Paju, near the heavily fortified border between North and South Korea, said a spokesman at the U.S. Forces Korea public affairs office, Master Sgt. Jeffery Melvin.

The evacuation was ordered after the Pentagon said the Federal Bureau of Investigation had taken into custody a former U.S. soldier who claimed that bombs had been planted in the camp, about 50 km (30 miles) northeast of Seoul.

YTN Television said more than 900 Korean civilians near the camp had also been evacuated in the middle of a cold winter's night, but were now free to return as nothing was found.

The USFK's Melvin could not confirm that. "That call has not been made yet. As far as we know, the search is ongoing."

Yonhap news agency said the former soldier in FBI custody had served at Camp Edwards for two years until the end of 1998, but the USFK public affairs office could not confirm that.

No other searches were ordered at any of the other U.S. military installations in South Korea, which include 17 army camps and a half- dozen bases, Melvin said.

The United States has some 37,000 troops stationed in South Korea as part of a mutual defence treaty, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War in which the U.S.-led United Nations forces fought against Chinese- backed North Korea.

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), January 05, 2000.

Powder:

I understand your point. However, our speculation about the possible situation in Russia is really a side issue...

So far, our friend Ron has posted an unsubstantiated claim. Research done by listmembers indicates that the Russian city has intact internet connections -- which suggests that the power actually is still up. No confirming reports on various news media have been found.

Ron still hasn't posted the alleged shortwave site on which he heard the report.

Something doesn't smell right here.

The beauty part is that this list figured it out pretty fast.

-- Anita Evangelista (ale@townsqr.com), January 05, 2000.

Ron Greer indeed. And Vincent, since you figured it out you could let the rest of them in on the hoax.

Anyone read Tom Clancy?

Keep your BS detectors on and your...

-- eyes_open (best@wishes.all), January 05, 2000.

I suppose I should have zeroed in when he said: "I am in the Navy and we are en route to the Korean peninsula to ensure that nothing happens"

I'm a Navy Vet. One thing the Navy frowns on is broadcasting your movements. On top of that, he probably wouldn't know where he was going until they were underway. (If it were an emergency deployment)

Question to current Navy: Are there realtime satellite internet links on board ships now? There weren't when I was in, but I got out before the internet explosion.

So it probably is BS, but I don't rule anything out when it comes to failures in Russia. Then again, you can't believe everything you hear on shortwave either. Lots of propaganda from all sources mixed in with the real news.

-- Powder (Powder47keg@aol.com), January 05, 2000.

I agree. The Navy gets real serious when they go "in harms way". I would doubt if Ronald greer III would have had time to use a computer if he was going off to a crisis. (for those who don't read TC: Ron Greer is apparently an allusion to Jack Ryan's friend and boss at the CIA-Admiral James Greer. Seen one of the movies? Think James Earl Jones) I once had a shipmate who almost got his liver perforated by a SP because he refused to hang up on his girlfriend during an alert (the lad was in love and snuck off to say good-bye). ...And then there was the time we were issued live amunition during a little tiff between the Chinese and the Russkies. I almost bagged a Captain that night. But, that, as the saying goes, is another story... :)

-- chairborne commando (what-me-worry@armageddon.com), January 05, 2000.

Hmmm...russians rioting due to a power outage? I kinda doubt it. Now a VODKA outage...maybe.

John Ludi

-- Ludi (ludi@rollin.com), January 05, 2000.

Bagging a Captain? Well, most navy men prefer to bag the other sex but hey "they want you, they want you, they want you as a new recruit...."

-- Major Fag (Donotask@donottell.com), January 05, 2000.

Hey dumbass, there are female captains in the Navy. put something onb your stupid is showing. ;)

-- rent-to-stone (openmouthbrainsfallout@oops.com), January 05, 2000.

Have a spooky New Year By BILL STONEHILL TMNS Contributor January 3, 2000 As usual, New Year's Day rolled around in Japan to be greeted with a big yawn. As most Japanese will hasten to point out to you, although it may well be year 2000 by the Western calendar, as far as the Japanese are concerned, next year will be year 12 of Heisei. Japan is unique in being one of the few countries that counts dates by the reign of emperors, like ancient China did. January 1st marks the 12th year of the reign of the Heisei emperor, and this is the dating system that most people use. Of course as far as most computers are concerned it will be the year 2000, but this is another question.

Don't look for any big blowout New Years Eve parties either. The only Japanese custom for New Years Eve is to eat "Toshikoshi Soba," which might be translated as "getting-over-the-year soba," soba being a type of long noodle made out of buckwheat. Supposedly the long noodle means a long life. Few places laid on any special hoopla for the Millenium, and most people watched on TV, if at all. Most of the pubs and restaurants closed for the year-end holiday, and other than foreigners, there were no New Year's Eve parties.

On New Year's Day, there is the customary first temple visit of the year, known as "Hatsumode," where everyone gets dressed up in their best clothes. For many women it is the only occasion of the year where they put on a kimono. The Meiji Jingu, the official shrine of the nation in the very tony harajuku district, is mobbed as usual every year by a rush-hour type crowd trying to push into the temple, and as usual, several people faint in the crush.

In all the banks, companies and post offices, the young women come to work on the first day of the year in their kimonos, all of them looking distinctly uncomfortable, as it is a very difficult garment to walk in unless one gets accustomed to the special pigeon-toed stride necessary. The young women are in a rush to get out of their kimonos, not just because they are hard to wear and very elaborate to put on, but also, alas, because they are so tasteless. Almost no one wears a kimono regularly, so all that anyone has anymore are garish kimonos dyed in loud colors whose only virtue, perhaps, is that they are very expensive and serve to show off wealth at a wedding or some other type of official function. Any sense of subtlety of color or design has long since been lost as the kimono really has no function left at all in daily life.

And then, as an unwanted punctuation of New Years, the bodies will wash up on the shores of Japan facing the Sea of Japan and North Korea as they have for several years now.

Every December now for the past three years -- and it may have gone on longer than this -- anywhere from 10 to 20 bodies of North Korean soldiers, usually in full uniform, wash up on the shores of Japan facing the Japan sea. This year so far six bodies have been reported, having washed up in Ishikawa Prefecture, Fukui, Tottori and Shimane Prefectures. The body that washed up in Ishikawa Prefecture was of a female North Korean soldier whose name was Pak Sunnyeo, known from the North Korean Worker's Party pocket diary found on her body.

The article reporting these mysterious bodies was buried deep in the back pages of one of the local newspapers and only given a few lines. There is absolutely no publicity given to these bodies, or to the fact that it has become a yearly occurence. The Japanese government tightly controls news in Japan and the way that it is presented, and beyond reporting the bare facts of the existence of these bodies has said nothing else. There has been no speculation, nor any suggestion of how the bodies got there, nor has there been any comment on the fact that almost all the bodies found for the last several years have been clothed in North Korean Army uniforms.

The nearest point on the North Korean coastline to Ishikawa Prefecture is over 500 miles (800 Km) away. Coastal currents would either carry any body back to the shore of North Korea, or south to the shores of South Korea. The only way these bodies could have reached the shores of Japan was if they had drowned almost within sight of the shores of Japan, and then washed ashore.

"Why?" is then the question. The bizarre and aggressive behavior of North Korea is well known. North Korean and Japanese relations are on the mend now, after the Japanese caught two North Korean spy boats within rock-throwing distance of the Japanese coastline last year and North Korea fired a rocket over Japan, claiming it was a "satellite launch." This led the Japanese to suspend all negotiations and food aid to Korea.

The only reasonable guess is that these bodies are a continuing war of nerves by the North Koreans against Japan. Either they have been purposely put into the water -- their wide distribution along the shoreline perhaps argues for this -- or they are part of regular fatalities occuring during practice by the North Koreans for invasion of Japan. Whatever it is, once again it is a spooky New Year.

-- RAT (eyesopen@watcher.com), January 05, 2000.

Where'd ya drag that in from, RAT?

-- Pinkrock (aphotonboy@aol.com), January 05, 2000.

IF and I do mean If there is any unrest in either Russia or around Korea there would more than likely be some sort of News Blackout until TPTB could get a better assessment of the situation. Note this is not saying there is a huge conspiracy controlling the media, only that information in touchy regions around touchy allies would be limited if at all possible.

Then again might be Polly baiting, I certainly hope so because as we are being told hourly y2k is a non event and is over.

-- Squid (ItsDark@down.here), January 05, 2000.

Major Fag: Navy Captain = Army/Marine/AirForce Colonel.

"bagged"-old English hunting reference. Usually used in conjunction with upland game bird hunting (as in I killed-or "bagged" X number of pheasants or quail or whatever.) When you hunt birds, you carry a cloth or leather pouch or wicker (traditional) basket slung over one shoulder.

-- chairborne commando (what-me-worry@armageddon.com), January 05, 2000.

North Korea training to invade Japan? The NK ruling circles have not demonstrated excessive rationality in the past, but this would be pushing the envelope even for them.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), January 06, 2000.

I dragged in the article from here: http://morrock.com/notsushi.htm

-- RAT (eyesopen@watcher.com), January 06, 2000.