Target Centermass

Against the odds, against the water and most definitely against the clock, the Brits involved now talk about their decisive role in the this weekend’s rescue of a trapped and desperate Russian submarine.

The Royal Navy-led team, which received a heroes’ welcome at Prestwick Airport, said they had repeatedly struck the mini-submarine with their remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) to reassure the Russians that a rescue was under way.

The submariners, entombed for three days in 600ft of water at the bottom of the Pacific, responded by tapping on its hull, rather than speaking, to conserve oxygen.

Go give it a gander. It’s short — too short, really, as I look forward to more.

Let’s see what the Silent Service bloggers have, shall we? Chapomatic has links to three interview stories from the stranded. Meanwhile, Lubber’s Line at Ultraquiet No More has links to several stories covering the opening of what would seem to be a great big Russian blame-storming session.

Dr. Rusty Shackleford at the newly-remodeled Jawa Report is on the case of an apparent bus bombing in China. It’s mighty hard to believe that the Chinese would ever try to quash a story.

Don’t cry for him, Argentina.

Milan Lukic, one of the most wanted war criminals from the carnage in Bosnia, was due to appear before a judge in Buenos Aires yesterday after being captured on Monday.

After seven years on the run from war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Lukic was seized outside his apartment in Argentina, after collecting his wife and daughter at the airport.

“When he got out of the taxi, police appeared everywhere,” said the superintendent of the building. “He had lots of money on him – dollars, euros.”

Lukic is unlikely to be transferred to the tribunal for several weeks. Argentina is not party to the fast-track transfer agreements that former Yugoslav and some European countries have agreed with the tribunal.

Lukic was first named and his alleged crimes detailed in the Guardian in 1996, and he was charged two years later. The indictment accuses him of the “extermination of a significant number of Bosnian Muslim civilians, including women, children and the elderly”.

[...]

Lukic’s chosen hiding place has fuelled investigators’ suspicions that Argentina is becoming a safe haven for Serbian fugitives, as it was for Nazi war criminals. Most of Lukic’s fellow indictees have hitherto gone underground in Bosnia, Serbia or Russia, but he is the second alleged war criminal from the former Yugoslavia to be found in Buenos Aires. In June, extradition from Argentina to Serbia was agreed for Nebojsa Minic, wanted for war crimes in Kosovo. “There may be a network there,” said one official close to the investigation.

Argentina — still the destination of choice for war criminals on the lam.

The latest installment of the Life, Liberty, Property community‘s Carnival of Liberty is up over at Fearless Philosophy For Free Minds. Go read another fine collection of posts from a libertarian slant.