Blue Crab Boulevard

Are not, apparently, prevailing over the Mumbai train bombings. The Guardian reports that India says Pakistan had a "hand" in the bombings. Talks between the two nations have been postponed. Frankly, the Bush administration better get out it's carrots and sticks real fast here to keep two allies from going at one another.

The peace process between India and Pakistan fell victim to the Mumbai bombings yesterday as talks scheduled for next week were reportedly delayed because New Delhi said it had evidence that its neighbour had a "hand" in the attacks.

Top civil servants of each country's foreign ministries were to have discussed seemingly intractable border disputes. New Delhi TV reported that the talks would be postponed, although no new dates were mentioned.

Police in Mumbai named the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba as prime suspect for Tuesday's wave of blasts in India's commercial hub in which almost 200 people were killed.

Photographs of two Muslim suspects, named as Sayyad Zaibuddin and Zulfeqar Fayyaz, who it was claimed were key operatives in the bombing, were shown on television. The nationalities of the two young bearded men were not given, nor was it clear where the photos - headshots which appeared to have been taken for identification documents - originated.

The news of the delayed talks brought a sharp reaction from Pakistan's foreign minister, Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri. He said India should be careful about trying to attribute the attacks to Pakistan-based militants.

"There are attacks in other parts of India, there should not be a knee-jerk reaction that everything happening in India starts in Pakistan," he said.

This is not a heartening development. One hopes both sides can figure this out and reach a good outcome. Especially since there is likely another hand in what is going on (read Iran). Don't let's get at each other's throats. That is exactly what some people want.

Remember the tunnel from England to France under the English Channel? An engineering marvel when it was completed. Years and years in the speculation, design and finally building.

And a financial disaster.

The operators of the tunnel have been forced to ask for bankruptcy protection. Revenues have never been close to projections and traffic has never reached estimates.

Eurotunnel last night warned it could cease trading in January after last-ditch talks with a group of creditors collapsed in the early hours and it applied for court protection from bankruptcy. However, the company was accused of setting false deadlines.

Jacques Gounon, chief executive, warned it had only until the end of September to reach a comprehensive deal with creditors and that customers could only be sure of booking shuttles through the channel tunnel until Christmas. But it would be "business as usual" until then.

Mr Gounon, who made a "final, ultimate" proposal to cut the company's £6.2bn debt to £2.65bn, launched a savage attack on Deutsche Bank's City-based investment bankers for rejecting his plan and "jeopardising" Eurotunnel's survival.

He warned that the bank's shareholders could turn on it over damage to its image. "I fail to understand how an institution such as Deutsche Bank has maintained its unreasonable demands without taking into account the consequences on the 2,300 employees and 800,000 shareholders of Eurotunnel."

Someone present at the meeting said considerable progress had been made - not least by Deutsche - but it had not been possible to reach an agreement "due to the deadline imposed by Mr Gounon". Sources made plain that senior creditors had not agreed to his latest plan and stood by the original deal of mid-May to cut debt by 54% to £2.9bn.

Mr Gounon, however, accused Deutsche of failing to give any reason for rejecting his plan which also included a hybrid bond of £1.275bn convertible into equity. He accused the bankers of simply walking out. "My plan is very close to the requests of the bondholders they represent and has been accepted by the majority of creditors."

But Mr Gounon indicated that Deutsche and the so-called junior bondholders, who are owed £1.9bn, objected to his proposal to retain the 13% stake held by shareholders, including 150,000 in the UK, and found it "too generous".

I think this is one of those projects too long in the planning, too slow in the building. In the years that intervened, technology caught up with the concept and it was obsolete before it was complete. Too bad in a way.

Iran has made an open threat against Israel. I'm a bit surprised as I honestly thought Iran intended to let it's proxies take all the heat - and all the casualties - in the war they are provoking. That fact that should be obvious to everyone by now.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday an Israeli strike on Syria would be considered an attack on the whole Islamic world that would bring a "fierce response", state television reported.

"If the Zionist regime commits another stupid move and attacks Syria, this will be considered like attacking the whole Islamic world and this regime will receive a very fierce response," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying in a telephone conversation with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The president made the comments after Israel struck Beirut airport and military airbases and blockaded Lebanese ports in reprisals that have killed 55 civilians in Lebanon since Hezbollah gunmen captured two Israeli soldiers a day earlier.

"He (Ahmadinejad) also said it was a must for the Organisation of the Islamic Conference to become more active regarding the new crisis created by the Zionist regime," state television reported.

If I were Bashir Assad, I would not feel real confident right now, though. Psychos intent on bringing about the end of the world don't make real reliable allies. And in a really stunning move, the Saudis are actually blaming Hezbollah and, by extension, their masters, the Iranians.

Saudi Arabia on Thursday blamed "elements" inside Lebanon for the violence with Israel, in unusually frank language directed at guerrilla group Hezbollah and its Iranian backers.

"A distinction must be made between legitimate resistance and uncalculated adventures undertaken by elements inside (Lebanon) and those behind them without recourse to the legal authorities and consulting and coordinating with Arab nations," a statement carried by the official news agency SPA said.

"These elements should bear the responsibility for their irresponsible actions and they alone should end the crisis they have created."

Never saw that one coming at all. This is actually very big news, I think.

The problems with Boston's Big Dig that became obvious when a woman was killed by falling ceiling panels are rapidly becoming even worse. Inspections have shown that more than four times as many defects as were originally suspected are present.

BOSTON - Inspectors on Thursday quadrupled to 240 the number of possible ceiling bolt problems in a Big Dig tunnel where a woman was crushed by falling concrete, adding to the urgency of the growing debate over who should ensure the safety of the troubled project.

The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority said inspectors found additional bolt assemblies that were separating from 3-ton concrete roof panels, raising the number of defects over previous inspections that found 60 defects. The earlier defects were enough for officials to order a sweeping review of every roadway, tunnel and bridge in Boston's entire highway system.

Michael Lewis, director of the Big Dig, said inspectors found 68 suspect bolt assemblies over the westbound lanes of a connector tunnel providing the main route to Logan Airport. Forty-five more were discovered in a lane carrying carpool traffic, as well as 69 in ramps connecting two interstate highways.

Legislative leaders expressed support for Romney's plan to give the governor authority over when to reopen the tunnel, which has been closed for three days.

The governor has already called for the resignation of the head of the Turnpike Authority, which currently oversees inspections of the Big Dig, the nation's most expensive highway project.

"When it comes to an issue of inspecting the tunnel system, to have the person who's been responsible for it for the last several years say, 'I'm going to inspect it' and tell us, 'It's now safe,' that's not enough," the governor said. "The public wants to see an independent inspection effort."

He added: "There should no longer be any doubt that the Turnpike Authority has failed to do its job effectively."

Lewis said the road may remain closed for weeks, until federal officials review the panels and workers fix any needing repair. "It will be reopened in segments, not all at once," he said.

On Wednesday, Attorney General Tom Reilly said the contractor and state officials were warned of problems with the tunnel ceiling as far back as 1999, when five bolts came out during tests. But it remained unclear Thursday what, if anything, was done to resolve those problems.

Now I had a commenter on my original post on this subject that blamed the failures on Republican governors. Only it turns out the governor has had no authority over the project from the get-go apparently. Mitt Romney is trying to get a bill passed that would give him some control of the project.

Romney's legislation would give the executive branch the authority to oversee inspections of the failed ceiling system in the tunnel, which has been closed since the accident Monday night that killed 38-year-old Milena Del Valle and injured her husband, who was able to crawl out of the mangled car.

The bill also provides for a $20 million safety audit of the Big Dig project, which has been plagued by leaks, falling debris and other problems linked to faulty construction. The state is seeking millions in compensation from companies that managed the project.

Romney warned: "At some point, the pressure builds and builds and builds, and the public gets angry enough, that they say, `You know what? This really is wrong.' The governor said the process "is reaching a boiling point, and hopefully steam will begin to rise very soon.'"

Top lawmakers sided with Romney.

The people of Boston must be really happy with their politicians right about now.

A fashion show in Toronto featured the usual leggy, impossibly built models strutting the runway vamping for the ceaseless flashes of the photographers. Many famous designers, many unique creations, many models, many flashes. One thing different: the clothes were all made from sugar-based polymers.

The one-of-a-kind outfits created by big name designers Oscar de la Renta, Stephen Burrows, Elisa Jimenez and others included a strapless beige ball gown, a cream baby-doll dress with ribbon and sheer overlay, and a pink and yellow taffeta skirt with a silver recycled polyester bustier.

"There are three steps to get from the corn sugar to the polymer, which is used to make clothing," Christopher Ryan, chief technology officer of Natureworks LLC, the maker of the "biobased" fibre, said after the fashion show at the World Congress on Industrial and Biotechnology and Bioprocessing.

"First, the sugar is fermented into lactic acid, then that is converted into lactide," Ryan said. "Then lactide is converted into PLA, or polymer. It takes a matter of hours, but longer than that to get through our plant."

PLA polymer is most commonly used as a plastic in packaging for environmentally friendly products, but can also be used as a versatile fibre that can be made to have the appearance of silk, polyester, leather or elastic.

Natureworks, a subsidiary of U.S.-based agribusiness giant Cargill Inc., has branded its PLA fibre as Ingeo, and is the first company to use biodegradable polymers produced from renewable resources for commercial products.

Now why do I have this picture in my head of men asking their dates to take a walk in the rain?

Today, my ongoing mission to visit one member of the fighting 101st each day led me over to Abracadabra. Alcibiades is pretty well as gleeful about the Plame lawsuit as I am. As in fact a lot of bloggers are. Alcibiades also blogs at Kesher Talk, by the way. Which is why the name was familiar. Or it might have been that Greek guy.

There may be pressure building to drill for oil in the last great untapped wilderness on earth. Antarctica.

Pressure to exploit the pristine, icy continent could become irresistible, Ali Bakhtiari, a former senior adviser for the National Iranian Oil Company, said at a meeting of international Antarctic specialists in Hobart, Tasmania.

"I hope it will not happen because that would create enormous difficulties, but when you have the enormous price increase that I can foresee governments and companies will want to find oil anywhere," he said.

"There is now only one frontier province left and that is Antarctica," he was quoted as saying by Australia's national news agency AAP.

More than 850 delegates are in Hobart this week for the combined meetings of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research and the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs.

Bakhtiari predicted the world's oil production rate would peak this year at 81 million barrels per day and decline to roughly 55 million barrels per day by 2020, pitching oil prices to "stratospheric levels".

"In the next 14 years, if my predictions are correct, one third of today's oil supply will be gone. Wait until you see these pressures that are coming up," Bakhtiari said.

Ok, before you go getting your knickers in a knot, this is coming from an Iranian, a former senior adviser to the Iranian oil company. And who is stirring up trouble all over right now? Keep in mind there have been dire predictions of shortfalls in the past which have not come to pass. This may well be disinformation.

Besides, if we really need oil, we don't have to drill. All we have to do is boil up a mess of penguins.

The South Korean government has stopped all humanitarian aid to the North until the Pyongyang government returns to the negotiating table to hammer out an agreement on nuclear nonproliferation. This appears to have been what made the North Koreans storm out of negotiations as I noted here.

The decision to postpone consideration of a North Korean request for 500,000 tons of rice marked the South's first punitive action against its impoverished communist neighbor since it defied the international community and test fired seven missiles, including a long-range Taepodong-2, on July 4.

The move came as the administration of South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun has come under sharp public criticism at home for what many there viewed as a weak response by Seoul to the North's missile tests.

South Korea on Thursday reiterated its deep opposition to a push by Japan and the United States to impose broader sanctions on North Korea through a draft resolution at the United Nation's Security Council. Seoul has also vowed to maintain its "sunshine policy" of engagement, which has fostered the warmest ties between the Stalinist North and capitalist South since the Korean War divided them in two more than half a century ago.

But the decision to follow through with a previous threat to suspend food aid if North Korea tested missiles — a threat many experts doubted the South Koreans would stick to — displayed a new willingness by the South to use its significant economic clout to apply pressure on the North.

The North Koreans — for whom economic assistance by South Korea is topped only by China — appeared jolted by the decision. At talks being held in the South Korean city of Pusan that were originally scheduled to end Friday, Pyongyang's delegation abruptly departed Thursday afternoon.

Also, the South Koreans made it abundantly clear that they were not at all happy with the North.

South Korean officials, who in recent years have rolled out the red carpet for their visiting North Korean kin, this time offered them a simple meal and welcome bereft of customary sightseeing excursions and photo opportunities. When the North's representatives understood they would not be returning with promises for more food aid, they simply left.

"The North Korean side expressed their position that additional negotiations would be unnecessary under the circumstance that additional humanitarian aid they need would be impossible," Lee Kwan Se, a South Korean Unification Ministry official, told reporters.

From what I know of Korean culture (which is not a huge amount, but a bit) this is a pretty big deal. The culture there is all about "face" and this was a deliberate slight by the South. Right about now, I'd love to be a fly on the wall in Kim Jong Il's office. Methinks there's a midget throwing a major snit in there. The problem is, of course, that he's already quite insane. This won't improve his mental health.

Valerie Plame has filed a lawsuit against Vice-President Cheney, Karl Rove and Scooter Libby accusing them and other White House officials of conspiring to destroy her career.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Valerie Plame and her husband, Joseph Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador, accused Cheney, Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby of revealing Plame's CIA identity in seeking revenge against Wilson for criticizing the Bush administration's motives in Iraq.

Several news organizations wrote about Plame after syndicated columnist Robert Novak named her in a column on July 14, 2003. Novak's column appeared eight days after Wilson alleged in an opinion piece in The New York Times that the administration had twisted prewar intelligence on Iraq to justify going to war.

The CIA had sent Wilson to Niger in early 2002 to determine whether there was any truth to reports that Saddam Hussein's government had tried to buy yellowcake uranium from Niger to make a nuclear weapon. Wilson discounted the reports, but the allegation nevertheless wound up in President Bush's 2003 State of the Union address.

The lawsuit accuses Cheney, Libby, Rove and 10 unnamed administration officials or political operatives of putting the Wilsons and their children's lives at risk by exposing Plame.

This should be highly amusing once Joe and Val find out what they just exposed themselves to. The discovery phase will likely be more embarrassing for Plame and Wilson than they will ever believe possible. I think Joe and Val just got themselves enough rope.

UPDATE: AP coverage here.

UPDATE: Others ranging from amused to gleeful to outright ROFL and hurting themselves: Mac's Mind, Captain's Quarters, Just One Minute, Ankle Biting Pundits, StrataSphere, OTB, Wizbang, Protein Wisdom, In Search of Utopia does not see the minefield Plame just stepped into - hint: accusations need to be backed up in court, David (and I don't mean that snarkily).