World View: U.S. Sends Polar Star Icebreaker to Free Russian Ship, Chinese Icebreaker

World View: U.S. Sends Polar Star Icebreaker to Free Russian Ship, Chinese Icebreaker

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

  • U.S. sends Polar Star icebreaker to free Russian ship and Chinese icebreaker
  • Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in control of Fallujah

U.S. sends Polar Star icebreaker to free Russian ship and Chinese icebreaker

Chinese helicopter ferries the Shokalskiy passengers to safety
Chinese helicopter ferries the Shokalskiy passengers to safety

The United States Coast Guard is sending the Oregon-based icebreakerPolar Star south to the Antarctic to free a Russian research ship thatgot trapped in the ice, and also to free a Chinese icebreaker that gottrapped in the ice while trying to free the Russian ship. AnAustralian icebreaker also was unable to help. The 399-feet longPolar Star can break ice that’s six feet deep, at a continuous rate ofthree knots.

The Russian ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy with 52 passengers was on afour-week expedition to follow the path taken a century ago byAustralian explorer Sir Douglas Mawson.

One aim of the expedition was to track how quickly the Antarctic’s seaice was disappearing because of global warming, but a blizzard andthick ice caused the expedition to be abandoned on Christmas eve,despite the fact that it’s the height of Summer in the Antarctic.

A Chinese icebreaker, the Xue Long (Snow Dragon), tried to free theShokalskiy, but got trapped in the ice before it reached theShokalskiy. An Australian icebreaker, the Aurora Australis, also madean attempt, but turned back before getting trapped. The passengersand crew of the Shokalskiy have never been in danger, with plentifulsupplies of food and water. Last week a Chinese helicopter ferriedthe passengers to the Australian ship, though the Russian crew willremain where they are, hoping that the Polar Star can free them.Seattle Times and Telegraph (London)

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in control of Fallujah

More than 100 people were killed on Friday in Fallujah and Ramadi asIraq’s army battled fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria(ISIS or ISIL), leaving ISIS in control of Fallujah and parts ofRamadi on Saturday.

Fallujah and Ramadi were two of the main battlegrounds in the Iraq warin 2005-2008. In 2007, President Bush’s surge, in conjunction withthe “Anbar Awakening,” defeated al-Qaeda in Iraq, ISIS’s predecessor,but since the withdrawal of American forces in December, 2011,al-Qaeda has been surging in strength. ISIS Iraq, has taken controlof large sections of eastern Syria and of Anbar province in westernIraq. There is no longer any effective border between the twocountries. However, ISIS is not monolithic, as there are al-Qaedalinked militias fighting one another for power within the region.France 24 and Al-Jazeera

KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Oregon, Polar Star,Russia, MV Akademik Shokalskiy, Sir Douglas Mawson,China, Xue Long, Snow Dragon, Aurora Australis,Iraq, Fallujah, Ramadi, Anbar AwakeningIslamic State of Iraq and Syria, ISIS,Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, ISIL,Al-Qaeda in Iraq
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