like a powerful FedEx they tried not to allow competitors on their more profitable long-haul routes.
What if one of thier competitors showed up? I thought they would STOP them - the article said they would stop thier rivals from passing through the choke points. So what did UPS do? just turn around and go home - packaged undelivered?
I remember an SNL skit where a DHL deilvery truck shot down some iraqi airforce jets. HAHA - it was on dennis millers news report.
I am here around a lot of these greek guys in tarpon springs - they always gloat about thier shipping.
washdateline.mgnetwork.com
Carrier bound for Caribbean exercise
By JAMES W. CRAWLEY
Media General News Service
WASHINGTON – With rhetoric between Venezuela’s leftist leader and United States heating up, the Navy will send a flotilla of warships, led by the carrier George Washington, to the Caribbean next month for military exercises.
The U.S. Southern Command in Miami announced Monday that the Norfolk, Va.-based carrier, along with three smaller warships, will conduct Operation Partnership of the Americas from early April to late May in the Caribbean.
The deployment, the first in three years to the region by an aircraft carrier, likely will send mixed signals, said Dan Erikson, a Caribbean analyst for the Inter-American Dialogue, an independent think tank in Washington..
“It could be both a positive signal to Caribbean and Latin American countries (because joint exercises could be seen as a goodwill gesture), as well as a bit of a warning sign to Venezuela and China,” Erikson said.
“The U.S. military is not particularly popular in Latin America these days with Iraq and Guantanamo,” he added.
American officials have criticized Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for his claims that the United States plans to invade his country and for the nation’s purchase of Russian military helicopters and guns.
Chavez said Sunday, “It’s our responsibility to prepare ourselves for a war of resistance.”
U.S. officials deny any plans to invade Venezuela.
Venezuelan government spokesman Eric Wingerter said Monday he was unaware of the planned naval exercises. But, he said, “The sentiment in Venezuela is very skeptical towards the U.S. military.”
The upcoming naval exercise will include training with several Latin American navies, focusing on drug interdiction, narco-terrorism and human trafficking, said military spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Chris Loundermon. He would not name the countries involved, he said, because planning is still ongoing.
The George Washington, its air wing of about 75 aircraft, along with the cruiser Monterey and destroyer Stout, based in Norfolk, and the frigate Underwood, based in Mayport, Fla., carry about 6,500 sailors.
No carrier has visited the Caribbean since the training area on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques closed, but smaller warships and Coast Guard cutters routinely patrol the area searching for drug runners.
Venezuela, the third largest supplier of petroleum to the United States, has used its oil wealth to bolster relations with Cuba, Iran and China.
Since Chavez won a recall election in 2004, the name-calling between him and the United States has simmered.
Chavez has called Bush a donkey, a drunk and an assassin. Last month, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld likened Chavez to Hitler.
strategypage.com
Britain and France Build Robocarrier
by James Dunnigan
March 25, 2006
Discussion Board on this DLS topic
Britain and France finally signed the deal to build three new aircraft carriers. This followed several years of negotiations. What's surprising about all this is not the large size of the carriers (about 58,000 tons, the largest ships ever for both navies), or the unique cooperation (two of the carriers are British, one is French, and both nations will cooperate on design and construction, with the Brits taking the lead.) No, what is amazing about all this is the aggressive plans for automation. These "Queen Elizabeth" class carriers are planning on having a ships crew of 800 (or less) and an air wing complement of 600 personnel. Currently, you need a ship crew of about 2,000 for a carrier that size. The reduction in size of the air wing personnel is even more aggressive.
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