Macedonian Hussar Regiment

The Macedonian Hussar Regiment was a military unit involved in the Russian Imperial Army. The establishment of the Macedonian Hussar Regiment
occurred on the 10th of May, 1759. The Hussars were active in defense of Russia's southern borders, which had become volatile due to new migration and the aftereffects of the War of the Austrian Succession. Over the following decades, the regiment was disbanded and reformed frequently, before disbanding permanently in 1783.
History.
In the middle of the 18th century started a migration from the Military Frontier of the Habsburg Monarchy to the Russian Empire. Russian authorities gave these new settlers a land, which acquired names as New Serbia and Slavo-Serbia, soon after the War of the Austrian Succession. The purpose of these polities was protection of southern borders of the Russian empire as well as participation in Russian military operations near that region. Commandant of New Serbia was Jovan Horvat. On March 9, 1759, Horvat, with the permission of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, formed the Macedonian Hussar Regiment. New Serbia and Slavo-Serbia in fact were populated by a different "nationalities" and the names of the regiments formed there did not reflect exactly their national composition. Many of the refugees who formed the Macedonian Regiment were described by the imperial authorities as Bulgarians, Vlachs, Serbs and Greeks among the participants. Some were counted as "Macedonians", but also a large number of "Montenegrins" were presented there. The commander of the Macedonian Hussar Regiment was Aleksey Kostyurin.
The coat of arms of the Macedonian Hussar Regiment was approved in 1776 and represented: "A silver shield in a red field, with different decorations, and under it two crossed wooden arrows covered with gold dots." On July 26, 1761, the Macedonian Hussars were merged with the existing Bulgarian Hussar Regiment into a general Macedonian Hussars Regiment because of the small number of personnel in both the regiments. On May 10, 1763, by decree of Empress Catherine II, the Macedonian Hussar Regiment was disbanded and its personnel were assigned to the Polish, Moldovan and Serbian Hussar Regiments. On December 24, 1776, a new Macedonian Hussar Regiment consisting of 6 squadrons was created from the 9 foreign regiments established on the territory of Azov and Novorossiysk regions to protect the southern borders of the empire. On June 28, 1783, it was disbanded and his staff assigned to the Alexandrian Hussar Regiment.
Modern references.
Despite its name, the Macedonian Hussar Regiment was not composed of Macedonians. The designation "Macedonian" then was popular in Europe only in early modern cultural contexts, but was nearly forgotten in the modern-day region. Austrian and Russian Empires used it during the 17th and 18th centuries about populations coming from the Balkans and this is the case of the name of that regiment. Some modern Macedonian historians consider its existence as a confirmation of an ethnic Macedonian continuity, but such claims contradict the historical logic. However along with pointing the example of some participants' belonging to the "Macedonian nation", the historian Aleksandar Matkovski has confirmed, that it was too early for existence of such entity in the modern sense. On the other hand Blaze Ristovski has agreed, that the theories of Macedonian identity evolved outside the modern region and existed without the participation of Macedonian Slavs at least until the second half of the 19th century. According to some reports, the regiment was dominated by Aromanians (Vlachs), who were then often treated as "Macedonians", which is the reason for the regiment's name. However per two guides issued by the Russian Academy of Sciences, the first in 1861, and another one from 1910, during the 18th century as "Macedonians" were designated part of the Bulgarian refugees. According to some researchers, the idea of creating these regiments was not a project to build national units, while it preceded the birth of nationalism in Europe.


Meru (film)

Meru is a 2015 documentary film chronicling the first ascent of the "Shark's Fin" route on Meru Peak in the Indian Himalayas. It was co-directed by married couple Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and won the U.S. Audience Documentary Award at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.
Premise.
After attempting but failing to summit Meru in 2008, Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, and Renan Ozturk return to the mountain in order to conquer its peak – a 4,000 foot wall known as the "Shark's Fin". As they climb, the men also document their ascent. "You know, I'm always a climber first," said Chin on balancing climbing with filmmaking. "I'm always thinking about the safety of myself and the team. And I make that evaluation before I take the camera out." The film is a mixture of footage that chronicles both attempts (the failed 2008 and the successful 2011) while crafting a narrative about the climbers' attempts to face their demons. After suffering a horrific accident while filming on location with Chin, Ozturk has a mere five months to recover before their second attempt, battling near-fatal injuries. Four days after Ozturk's accident, Chin returns to the filming location to finish but is caught in a catastrophic avalanche that he miraculously survives with barely a scratch. Anker wrestles with bringing his mentor's dream to fruition and the loss of both him and his climbing partner many years ago. During the successful 2011 summit, Chin and Ozturk shared a Canon 5D Mark II and a Panasonic TM900 camcorder to capture footage that would be used in the film.
Reception.
On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, "Meru" has an approval rating of 90% based on 73 reviews, with a rating average score of 7.4 out of 10. The site's consensus reads, "Gripping visually as well as narratively, "Meru" is the rare documentary that proves thought-provoking while offering thrilling wide-screen vistas." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score of 77 out of 100 based on reviews from 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
The film made $91,279 from 7 theaters in its opening weekend. It expanded to 35 theaters in its second weekend, making $562,786. During its fifth weekend, it earned $416,701 from 176 theaters, bringing the total box office gross to $2,334,228.
On December 1st, the film was selected as one of 15 shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.


Shebaa Farms

Shebaa Farms, also spelled Sheba'a Farms (, ""; , "Havot Sheba‘a" or הר דוב, "Har Dov") is a small strip of land at the intersection of the Lebanese-Syrian border and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The territory is about long and wide. Both Islamic and Jewish tradition hold that a location in the Sheeba farms, called Maqam 'Ibrahim al-Khalil in Arabic and Makom Habětarim in Hebrew, is the site of the covenant of the pieces, God's first covenant with Abraham, in the biblical land of Israel.
The territory is currently disputed, in part from the failure of the French Mandate administrations and later the Lebanese and Syrian governments, to demarcate the border between Lebanon and Syria. Documents from the 1920s and 1930s indicate that inhabitants paid taxes to the Lebanese government. However, from the early 1950s until Israel's occupation of the Golan Heights in the Six-Day War, Syria was the "de facto" ruling power. In 1978 Israel invaded and occupied Southern Lebanon, and in 1981, the Golan Heights, including the Shebaa Farms, were annexed by Israel, a move only recognized by the United States.
The territory has been a flashpoint for violence since Israel withdrew from Lebanon in May 2000. Hezbollah claimed that the withdrawal was not complete because Shebaa was on Lebanese – not Syrian – territory. Following the Israeli withdrawal, the United Nations Secretary General issued a statement proposing the area for the operations of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon; in the statement the controversy was described, with 81 different maps being studied; the UN concluded that there is no evidence of the abandoned farmlands being Lebanese, but proposed to maintain the existing boundaries of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force in Syria (which had included the Shebaa Farms since 1967) "without prejudice" to any future agreement between Syria and Lebanon.
Low level conflict continued in the area from 2000-2006 and in early 2015. In August 2008 the president of Lebanon, Michel Suleiman, stated: "The countdown for liberating the rest of our lands has begun. And today I confirm the [use] of all available and legitimate means to achieve this goal".
Geography.
Shebaa Farms is an area of about 9 km (5.5 mi) in length, and 2.5 km (1.5 mi) in width, coming to about 22 km2 (8 sq mi; 5,400 acres). The area contains 14 agricultural farmlands. Shebaa Farms is located about 3 to 12 km (2 to 7.5 mi) southwest of the Lebanese village of Shebaa, and about 5 to 7 km (3 to 4 mi) northwest of the Druze village of Majdal Shams.Shebaa Farms is situated on the southeastern side of a long, broad ridge descending to the southwest from Mount Hermon. The northwestern edge of the area corresponds to the international Lebanese-Syrian border recognized by the United Nations along that ridge. The southeastern edge follows Wadi al-Asal (Nahal Si'on), a 16 km long wadi that flows into Israel, draining a portion of the relatively precipitation-rich Hermon ridge in the northern Golan Heights. These "edges" are connected by the Shebaa Farms' northeastern limit 2.5 km east of IDF military camp at Har Dov as defined by a 2007 UN report.
The same report defines the southwestern limit as a line roughly following the foot of the ridge and starting at just over a kilometer northwest of Banias, then running northwest to the international Lebanon-Syrian border's sharp turning point 3.4 km east of Ghajar and 1.0 km "south of the (Lebanese) village of El Majidiye." This southwestern limit of Shebaa Farms comes within about 1 km of the 1949 Armistice Line, international border between Israeli and Syria. The only overland route between Lebanon and Syria south of the Mount Hermon ridge used to run between these two lines. The small farms in this area have not been used since the Six-Day War. The area includes heights overlooking parts of southern Lebanon and Israel to the west. Elevations range from about 250 to about 1,500 m (825–4,940 ft).
Terminology.
Lebanese press and officials often refer to the northern, higher part of the Shebaa Farms, just southeast of the Lebanese village of Kafr Shuba, as the Kafr Shuba Hills. The wide mountainous ridge in that part is called Jabel Rus (the mountain of the heads) in Arabic.
Israel refers to this northern, higher part as "Har Dov" (Mount Dov) after Dov Rodberg, an IDF officer killed there in 1970.
History.
Documents from the 1920s and 1930s indicate that some local inhabitants regarded themselves as part of Lebanon, but after the French mandate ended in 1946 the land was administered by Syria, and represented as such on maps of the time, including 1949 Armistice Agreement maps and Syrian and Lebanese military maps. Shebaa Farms were then occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. Syria accepts the Lebanese claim on Shebaa Farms, but refuses any binding demarcation.
When Israel captured the Golan Heights in 1967, Shebaa Farms was considered Syrian territory. Lebanon was not an active participant in the war. In 1981 Israel extended Israeli law to the region under its Golan Heights Law. The United Nations Security Council declared this extension of "[Israeli] laws, jurisdiction and administration... null and void and without international legal effect" in Resolution 497, which was not passed with Chapter VII enforcement powers.
A controversy arose following the from Southern Lebanon on 24 May 2000. On 18 June 2000, the United Nations affirmed that Israel had withdrawn its forces from Lebanon, in accordance with Resolution 425. Syria and Lebanon disputed the United Nations certification that Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon was complete. Hezbollah cites the occupation of Shebaa Farms as one reason for its continued attacks on Israel.
Between 2000 and 2005, Hezbollah attacked the IDF at Shebaa/Har Dov 33 times, resulting in seven Israeli soldiers killed in action, three taken prisoner, and dozens wounded.
For decades the international diplomatic community has requested that Syria and Lebanon take steps to determine the exact boundary and officially register the demarcated border with the United Nations. However, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has refused to do so. On 31 October 2007, the definition of the physical extent of the Shebaa Farms area by former UN cartographer Miklos Pinther was released by the UN. This could be a prelude to an eventual negotiated demarcation of the territory. However, as of October 2013, neither Israel nor Syria had given an official response to the proposal.
Territorial dispute.
The dispute over the sovereignty of Shebaa Farms resulted in part from the failure of the French Mandate administrations, and subsequently the Lebanese and Syrian governments, to demarcate the border between Lebanon and Syria. Documents from the 1920s and 1930s indicate that local inhabitants paid taxes to the Lebanese government, while French officials expressed confusion as to the actual location of the border. One French official in 1939 declared that the uncertainty was sure to cause trouble in the future.
The region continued to be represented in the 1930s and 1940s as Syrian territory, under the French Mandate. Detailed maps showing the border were produced by the French in 1933, and again in 1945. After the French Mandate ended in 1946, the land was administered by Syria and represented as such on maps of the time.
The maps of the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Syria and Israel also designated the area as Syrian. However, border disputes erupted from time to time, also with respect to land ownership in other border villages. Syria and Lebanon formed a joint Syrian-Lebanese border committee in the late 1950s to demarcate a border between the two nations. In 1964, the committee suggested that the area be deemed the property of Lebanon and recommended that the international border be reestablished consistent with its suggestion. However, neither Syria nor Lebanon adopted the committee's suggestion, and neither country took any action along the suggested lines. Thus, maps of the area continued to reflect the area as being in Syria. Even maps of both the Syrian and Lebanese armies continued to demarcate the region within Syrian territory.
A number of local residents regarded themselves as Lebanese but the Lebanese government showed little interest in their views. The Syrian government administered the region, and on the eve of the 1967 war, the region was under effective Syrian control.
In 1967 most Shebaa Farms land owning farmers lived outside the Syrian-controlled region, across the Lebanon-Syrian border, in the Lebanese village of Shebaa. After the Six-Day War, the landowners were no longer able to farm it.
Operation Litani.
In 1978 Israel invaded southern Lebanon in Operation Litani. The UN Security Council passed Resolution 425, calling on Israel "to withdraw forthwith its forces from all Lebanese territory". The phrase "all territory" was used in Resolution 425, in contrast to the language in Resolution 242 (1967), which led to semantic disputes.
On 22 May 2000, Israel completed its withdrawal from southern Lebanon in accordance with Resolution 425. The UN certified the completion of Israel's pullout.<ref name="SC/6878"></ref>
Lebanese claims.
In 2000, Lebanon disputed Israel's compliance with Resolution 425. Lebanon claimed that the Shebaa Farms area was actually Lebanese and demanded that the Israelis should therefore withdraw from there as well. Lebanon asserted that the UN certification of the Israeli withdrawal was "invalid", because of Lebanon's claim to the farms.
Lebanese officials point to land deeds, stamped by the Lebanese government, that were held by a number of area residents in the 1940s and 1950s. The Lebanese claim to this area is asserted by Hezbollah for its hostilities with Israel and its cross-border attacks after the Israeli withdrawal. Senior Lebanese officials also linked the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Shebaa to Hezbollah's disarmament. "If the U.S. and friendly countries help us achieve the withdrawal of Israel from Shebaa Farms, this would make it possible for the Lebanese forces to be the sole owner of weapons and arms in the country", Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora said. Those comments were echoed by Lebanese President Émile Lahoud who said that "the resistance should be kept until a just and comprehensive peace is achieved in the region", adding that "if the Lebanese army were deployed along the borders (with Israel) ... it would be turned into a police force to protect Israel's borders, and this is not acceptable."
Walid Jumblatt, a Lebanese Druze politician and leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, stated that Lebanon has no claims to the Shebaa Farms. The prime minister and president stated that Lebanon has a claim to the area. On 28 August 2006, Hezbollah fighters withdrew from positions facing Israeli occupation lines in the Shebaa Farms area.
Maps published on the Lebanese army website show different versions of the Lebanese southern border. The Shebaa Farms are not marked on the maps but it is evident from one map that the border runs north of the Shebaa Farms, while another map marks the border south of the farms.
According to the Arab newspaper, "Al-Hayat", "The issue over these farms was created to justify resistance operations from Lebanon after the UN had created the Blue Line following Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon. The Shebaa Farms were placed inside Syrian territory. Syria, which claims that the farms are Lebanese, has not presented a single document to the UN to prove it. Moreover, Syria refuses to demarcate its borders with Lebanon."
Syrian claims.
Syria has at times supported Lebanon's claim that the Shebaa Farms are part of Lebanon and not Syrian territory, at the UN and in official government press releases. But at other times it has made contrary statements. In August 1972, Syrian president Hafez al-Assad said, "Syria and Lebanon are a single country." On 16 May 2000, the Syrian Foreign Minister, Farouq al-Shara, indicated to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in a telephone conversation that Syria supported Lebanon's claim. This was made public in the UN Press Release SC/6878 of 18 June 2000 which stated "Concerning the Shab'a farmlands, both Lebanon and Syria state that this land belongs to Lebanon."
However, on 21 January 2006, the President of Syria Bashar al-Assad stated in a speech before the convention of the Arab Lawyers Union in Damascus and translated into English by SANA, the official state news agency of Syria, that there are two legal requirements for demarcating the border: first, the complaint must be registered with the UN; and second, engineers must precisely define the border. As neither Syria nor Lebanon have access to the area, Assad argues that resolution is waiting on Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territory.
In an interview with Assad reported by SANA on 24 August 2006, Assad flatly refused demarcation of the Syrian/Lebanese border near Shebaa Farms before a withdrawal of Israeli troops.
Former Vice President of Syria Abdel-Halim Khaddam, in an interview with the Lebanese Future Television on 27 August 2006, said: "Saying that the farms are occupied, and hence cannot be demarcated, is nothing but a pretext. The demarcation would not take more than an hour if there was a political will."
Israeli claims.
Israel claims that the area is not covered by UN Security Council Resolution 425, which governed Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon, stating that the Farms were not Lebanese territory. In support of that view, Israel points to the fact that the UN certified Israel's pullout from Lebanon as having been completed.
Israel says the land was Syrian when it was captured during the Six-Day War, and the dispute is being used by Hezbollah to continue its attacks on Israel.
US position.
John Bolton, in his former capacity as United States Ambassador to the United Nations, said on 26 April 2006: "I think the overwhelming preponderance of the evidence is that Shebaa Farms is Syrian territory."
In June, 2008, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Beirut, stating that "the United States believes that the time has come to deal with the Shebaa Farms issue ... in accordance with [U.N. Security Council Resolution] 1701."
UN position.
The United Nations certified Israel's pullout under Resolution 425 as conforming to the "withdrawal line" it had laid down in accordance with the maps at its disposal "for the practical purpose of confirming the Israeli withdrawal". At the same time the UN noted that its decision was "without prejudice to future border agreements between the Member States concerned," referring to Israel, Syria, and Lebanon. The UN stated:
In an 18 June 2000 statement, the Security Council noted that Israel and Lebanon had confirmed to the Secretary General, that identification of the withdrawal line was solely the responsibility of the UN and that both sides would respect the line as identified. On a fact-finding visit to the region, Terje Rød-Larsen, the UN special envoy to the Middle East, noted that both 1923 Anglo-French maps and the 1949 Armistice agreement place the area in Syria.
In April 2002, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said:
On 20 January 2005, UN Secretary-General's report on Lebanon stated:
The BBC quoted Timur Goksel, then spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) as saying that "no-one disputed that the village of Shebaa itself was in Lebanon, but most of the farms fell into an undefined area that may be either in Lebanon or Syria" and although the UN was not a "boundary marking authority [...] on all maps the UN has been able to find, the farms are seen on the Syrian side [of the border]."
In 2006, Terje Rød-Larsen, the UN special envoy on implementation of Resolution 1559, declared that "the Shaba Farms area is not part of Lebanon. Therefore, any Lebanese 'resistance' to 'liberate' the area from continued Israeli occupation cannot be considered legitimate."
Following the Israeli war against Hezbollah in 2006, U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 called for the "Delineation of the international borders of Lebanon, especially in those areas where the border is disputed or uncertain, including in the Shebaa Farms area."
Arab League.
The Arab League backed Lebanon's claim with a communique issued at Arab League's 13th session in 2001, asking for "complete Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, from the occupied Syrian Golan Heights to the line of 4 June 1967 and from the remaining occupied Lebanese territory up to the internationally recognized borders, including the Shab`a farmlands".
Historical documents.
In 2002, Asher Kaufman of the Harry S. Truman Research Institute at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, discovered previously unknown documents in French government archives. In one, French litigants in a private dispute entered into a private commercial agreement that suggested that the border should put the Farms in Lebanon. Two other documents, from 1937 and 1939, were reports from the administrative councilor of south Lebanon and the head of the Services Spéciaux in the Syrian town of Quneitra. They noted a discrepancy between the border, as determined by the 1:200,000 Ottoman map, and their view of the "reality" in the region. Collecting "unofficial information" from "various sources," they concluded that in their view the area was Lebanese. Their conclusion was based on the facts that: a) some area residents paid taxes to Lebanon; and b) three or four sheep pens in the Farms belonged to residents of the Lebanese village of Shaba.
In a book published in 1988, Moshe Brawer, an Israeli geographer, mentions two French maps published in 1932 and 1946, the former shows the farm area as being part of Lebanon while the latter shows the area as a Syrian territory.
Other people's opinions.
Former US president Jimmy Carter suggested in "the Washington Post" on 1 August 2006, that: "Israel should withdraw from all Lebanese territory, including Shebaa Farms."
Walid Jumblatt, a Lebanese Druze politician and leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, stated that Lebanon has no claims to the Shebaa Farms.


Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant

The Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant was a United States Army ammunition plant located in Ramsey County, Minnesota in the current boundaries of the suburbs of Arden Hills and New Brighton, bounded by County Road I to the north, I-35W to the west, U.S. Route 10 to the southwest, County Highway 96 to the south, and Lexington Avenue to the east. The site had 255 buildings across . Current land redevelopment involves the removal of these buildings.
The site was added to the National Priorities List as a Superfund site on September 8, 1983. The soil, sediments, groundwater, and surface water surrounding the plant were contaminated with base neutral acids, metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, volatile organic compounds, pesticides, cyanide, and explosives. These contaminants entered Rice Creek and from there the ground water in New Brighton.
Initially, the plant was known as the Twin Cities Ordnance Plant but it was renamed the Twin Cities Arsenal in 1946 and finally, in 1963, the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant.
History.
The TCAAP was a product of the government-owned, contractor-operated (GOCO) war materials production program established by the War Department during World War II. The Minneapolis-Saint Paul area emerged as a potential GOCO candidate primarily on the basis of labor supply. TCAAP was one of six GOCO plants built to produce small arms ammunition during World War II, and was operated by the Federal Cartridge Corporation under contract to the War Department.
Construction of the plant began in August 1941 and was completed with three main munitions facilities. Each main facility had five lines of production and the entire plant had a total of 35 lines.
The mission of TCAAP was to produce .30, .50 and .45 caliber ammunition. Production of small arms ammunition began on March 9, 1942, and the plant remained in production for 42 months. Between 1942 and 1945, TCAAP produced all five main small arms types: ball, armor piercing, tracer, incendiary, and blanks. In 1944 the plant opened an important small arms ammunition reclamation center. The design of the .30 and .50 caliber cartridge-disassembly machines by TCAAP personnel in the late 1940s represented a significant technological advance in small arms salvage technology. Development in ammunition salvage begun during World War II continued at the facility during the Cold War period. The work force reached its peak in July 1943, when employment totaled about 26,000 people, more than half of whom were women.
After Victory over Japan Day, Twin Cities Ordnance Plant was placed in reserve status and "mothballed". Renamed the Twin Cities Arsenal, it was operated by the US Army from 1946 to 1950, when the installation was brought back into production to manufacture small arms and artillery ammunition for the Korean War. The Arsenal remained in service until 1957 when it was again closed down. In 1965, during the Vietnam War, the plant was re-opened for the manufacture of new types of small arms ammunition. It was on standby status from 1976 through 2002. In 2002 over were declared "in excess" by the United States Army, though Alliant Techsystems continued to manufacture munitions there as recently as 2005.
Future of Site.
After a bid to make TCAAP the new home for the Minnesota Vikings failed, the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners approved the purchase of the surplus acreage that remains on the original 2,700 acre TCAAP site. This 427-acre parcel will be redeveloped in conjunction with the City of Arden Hills. Under terms of the deal, the county will pay the federal government $4.9 million for the property and agree to spend $22.6 million to clean up remaining pollution. In April 2013, the County executed a competitively bid contract with Carl Bolander & Sons of St. Paul for the demolition of all structures on site, and the full remediation of the site to residential soil values As of October 2013, Bolander and Sons had removed all of the above grade buildings but one, and had begun soil remediation activities. The county will finance the deal with $21.4 million in bonding, a $6 million transfer from its solid waste fund and $2 million in contingency funds. These dollars will be replenished through the sale of land for redevelopment.
Joint Development Authority.
Through a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA), the City of Arden Hills and Ramsey County have created a Joint Development Authority (JDA). This entity will be responsible for implementing the City and County approved Master Plan for the site, issuing Requests for Proposals (RFPs), and negotiating development agreements with private developers. The JDA meets monthly, on the first Monday of the month, at Arden Hills City Hall at 5:30 p.m.
Source of drinking water contamination.
In 1987 the TCAAP was positively identified as the source of Volatile organic compound (VOCs) contamination in New Brighton's water supply, first identified in July 1981. The contamination consisted of Trichloroethylene (TCE) at levels ranging from a few parts per billion to over two hundred parts per billion.


Smith Gun

The Smith Gun was an "ad hoc" anti-tank artillery piece used by the British Army and Home Guard during the Second World War.
With a German invasion of Great Britain seeming likely after the defeat in the Battle of France, most available weaponry was diverted to the regular British Army, leaving the Home Guard short on supplies, particularly anti-tank weaponry. The Smith Gun was designed by retired Army Major William H. Smith as a makeshift anti-tank weapon, and was put into production in 1941 following a demonstration to the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill.
The weapon consisted of a smooth-bore barrel approximately long mounted on a carriage and capable of firing both modified 3-inch mortar anti-tank and anti-personnel rounds. Despite the promising-sounding nature of the weapon, which at trials in ideal conditions achieved a "maximum range" of , it was generally regarded as a short-range weapon with an accepted effective range of between . Furthermore, it was heavy and awkward to manhandle, not simply to move around but also to tip over onto the correct wheel on firm level ground so it lay in, and remained in, the correct firing configuration.
It was also alleged to have developed 'a terrifying reputation for killing its crew' when finally issued in 1942, following production difficulties. It was issued mainly to Home Guard units and those units in the regular Army tasked with point defence, such as guarding airfields - and ammunition shortages meant that on average these units only had six or seven modified mortar rounds per gun. Despite these limitations, many Home Guard units developed an attachment to the weapon, some later claiming it was 'one of the best pieces of equipment ever issued to the force'.
Development.
With the end of the Battle of France and the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from the port of Dunkirk between 26 May and 4 June 1940, a German invasion of Great Britain seemed likely. However, the British Army was not well-equipped to defend the country in such an event; in the weeks after the Dunkirk evacuation it could only field twenty-seven divisions. The Army was particularly short of anti-tank guns, 840 of which had been left behind in France, and only 167 were available in Britain; ammunition was so scarce for the remaining guns that regulations forbade even a single round being used for training purposes.
Given these shortcomings, those modern weapons that were available were allocated to the British Army, and the Home Guard was forced to supplement the meagre amount of outdated anti-tank weapons and ammunition they had with "ad hoc" weapons, one such being the Smith Gun. The Smith Gun had what Mackenzie describes as an 'unorthodox origin', like many of the other weapons produced for use by the Home Guard. Invented by retired British Army Major William H. Smith, the managing director of Trianco Ltd., a firm of structural engineers. The Smith Gun was intended to be a cheap and easily manufactured anti-tank weapon.
When submitted to the Ordnance Board - which remained unconvinced of its merits - Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, witnessed a demonstration of the weapon in 1941 and ordered that it be put into production.
Design.
The Smith Gun consisted of a calibre smooth-bore barrel, in length, and mounted on a carriage 'like a two-wheeled baby carriage' that, unlike the average stroller, weighed some . A basic shield was provided between the two wheels to cover for the crew but one of the unconventional aspects of the design was when mobile the weapon lay on its side, so that to fire a Smith Gun had to be tipped over onto one of the wheels, which acted as a combined base plate and turntable, while the other proved some overhead protection for the crew. (This meant in firing configuration the Smith Gun resembled a miniature, rather antiquated, naval gun mount of the pre-Dreadnought era.)
This unorthodox deployment gave the Smith Gun 360 degrees of rotation which, combined with a maximum 40-degree elevation, produced a basic firing-plate-mounted field weapon light enough to be towed behind a civilian vehicle, despite not being designed for this. (Home Guard units quickly discovered this fact, having to be prohibited from doing so as it would damage the weapon's wheels (and possibly the axle), inhibiting or even preventing traverse.) Happily, ammunition shortages made the similarly-constructed limber redundant and so a source of spare parts.
The Smith Gun was capable of firing both anti-personnel and anti-tank rounds (the latter capable of penetrating some 60 mm of armour), and provided the Home Guard and local defence units with a potentially potent anti-personnel and anti-armour weapon. However, there were several flaws in its design, and as such it was not well liked by some of the Home Guard units to which it was issued. It was heavy and awkward to manhandle, particularly over rough ground and in urban areas; in the latter, it was recommended that toggle ropes be used to manoeuvre the weapon into position. The low muzzle velocity meant that shells were lobbed in a high curved trajectory, making precise range calculations and firing experience vital. This was difficult when so few rounds were available for training, a problem compounded by early batches possessing faulty fuzes that led to the Smith Gun's alleged 'terrifying reputation for killing its crew'. (This probably arises from the first fatal malfunction when, during a live-fire exercise in 1942, Corporal Cecil Edward Maynard of 2819 Squadron, RAF Regiment was killed in an explosion.
Operational history.
Production on the Smith Guns began in late 1941, but problems with their manufacture meant that it was not until mid-1942 that the first batch were delivered to the Home Guard; by the beginning of 1943, a total of 3,049 Smith Guns had been issued to Home Guard units. Production problems also affected the ammunition for the weapons; a delay in manufacturing anti-tank ammunition meant that each weapon was only supplied with six or seven rounds. A number of Smith Guns were also issued to regular army units tasked with guarding airfields. Soon after issue a malfunction caused an explosion resulting in the death of Corporal Maynard of 2819 Squadron, RAF Regiment. Similar incidents followed and all Smith Guns were withdrawn from RAF Regiment units in 1943.
One was mounted onto a Bren Carrier, although this innovation was not repeated.
Despite the many problems with the weapon, and its tendency to injure or even kill those who manned it, the government attempted to portray it in a positive light, issuing special instructions in the autumn of 1942 which stated that the Smith Gun was a "simple, powerful and accurate weapon which, if properly handled, will add greatly to the fire power of the Home Guard." After a period of initial distrust, many Home Guard units appear to have taken to the Smith Gun and attempted to make the best use of it: Mackenzie states that some units even had 'a growing sense of affection for the weapon' and describes how, when a letter was published in "The Times" towards the end of the conflict criticizing the weapon, numerous Home Guard volunteers replied with their own letters describing how satisfactory the Smith Gun had been; they also stated that it was 'one of the best pieces of equipment ever issued to the force'.
No Smith Guns were used in active service, and they were declared to be obsolete in 1945.


Scientists for Future

Scientists for Future (S4F) is an environmental initiative founded by a group of scientists in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in support of the student movement Fridays for Future (FFF).
In March 2019 the initiative issued a statement titled "Statement of scientists and scholars concerning the protests for more climate protection". The statement was signed by 26800 German-language scientists and scholars from Switzerland, Austria and Germany. The statement took place under the banner "Die Anliegen der demonstrierenden jungen Menschen sind berechtigt" (The concerns of the demonstrating young people are justified).
History.
The foundation of Scientists for Future has its genesis in the initiative taken by Gregor Hagedorn. In April 2019, a lead by Gregor Hagedorn appeared in the journal Science, in which the authors of Scientists for Future called on the research community to support the youth protest movement. In June 2019, this statement, along with an analysis of the results and plausible effects of the declaration, was published as a bilingual article (English and German) in the journal GAIA. There were similar initiatives taken by Dutch and Belgian scientists. In October 2019 Gregor Hagedorn and Scientists for Future were awarded the Award from Federal Association for Sustainability.
Facts.
The scientists list 24 established scientific facts on climate change, verifiable by reference to the scientific literature. These include facts on:


Power factor (shooting sports)

Power Factor (PF) in practical shooting competitions refers to a ranking system used to reward cartridges with more recoil. Power factor is a measure of the momentum of the bullet (scaled product of the bullet's mass and velocity), which to some degree reflect the recoil impulse from the firearm onto the shooter (see section on limitations).
Power factor is used in competitions sanctioned by the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC), United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA), Bianchi Cup, Steel Challenge and International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA).
Calculation.
The power factor is based on the bullet's momentum as it's moving through the air by measuring the "bullet speed" using a chronograph and measuring a similar "bullet mass" on a weighing scale, thereafter calculating the "power factor" by the formula:
Units.
The "power factor" can be represented using different units:
Alternative English Engineering units are slug foot per second (slug⋅ft/s) or pound force seconds (lbf⋅s).
Conversion from kilo grain feet per second to newton-seconds is trivial, since both the grain and foot is based on SI units. One troy grain is defined as exactly and one international foot is defined as , giving the exact conversion factor of .
For example:
Conversion from newton-seconds to kilo grain feet per second can lead to an added rounding error due to the conversion numbers having repeating decimals. The conversion factor from meters to feet, , has a period of 42, and the conversion factor from grains to grams, , has a period of 24288. The complete conversion factor is thus ≈ 50.63109695846926066472495437713875449407641703911215502117... (repeating period of 170016.)
For example:
Examples of different loads.
Note that the table below are examples, and for the same caliber different bullet weights can be used. Bullet velocity depends, along with other factors, on bullet weight, powder types used and barrel length for the particular firearm. Some cartridges not suitable for competition are included for reference.
Verifying during competition.
For all major practical shooting competitions, claimed power factors are checked by firing the competitor's gun and ammunition through a chronograph. The most common practice is for a competitor to provide a certain number of rounds to the Range/ Safety Officers at the beginning of the match day. During the course of the match, the Range/Safety Officers at the chronograph station will pull a bullet from the competitor's ammunition and weigh it. When the competitor arrives at the chronograph station, they provide their pistol and an empty magazine to the Range/Safety Officer who loads a number of rounds into the magazine and fires them through the chronograph to determine the ammunition's velocity. The power factor is verified against the competitor's claimed power factor. If a competitor claims major power factor and fails to achieve it, they are moved to minor and their targets are scored accordingly. If a competitor fails to make minor power factor, they generally can continue to shoot the match, but will do so for no score.
At local (often referred to as "club") matches, it is rare to verify the competitors' claimed power factor, except to ensure the minimum caliber is met (e.g., an IPSC Standard shooter using a 9 mm bullet and claiming Major power factor).
Limitations.
Measuring the power factor is a quick and easy way to measure recoil, but has some drawbacks. While the power factor measures the momentum of the fired bullet, it doesn't take into consideration the firearm weight or the contribution from the ejected propellant gases which together makes up for the total recoil impulse from the firearm. The contribution from propellant gases depends on the amount of gunpowder and the effectiveness of any muzzle brake or suppressor. The power factor also doesn't take into consideration any angular momentum or torque, i.e. any lever arm caused by an offset between the bore axis of the firearm to the contact point on the shooter. Also, recoil can alternatively be measured by recoil velocity or recoil energy instead of by recoil impulse.
An alternative formula for simplified recoil measurement which also takes into account firearm weight, gun powder weight and the velocity of the gun powder gases has been suggested:
Gun powder velocity depends on the amount and type of powder (burn rate) etc. Assuming that the average velocity of the powder gases is half the bullet muzzle velocity, the formula can be simplified to the following:
Various shooting organisations.
International Practical Shooting Confederation.
IPSC provides the two power factors Minor and Major which have different scoring points on paper targets. The IPSC Target has the three scoring zones A, C, and D, with the points 5-3-1 for Minor and 5-4-2 for Major. Good hits are scored equally regardless of power factor, while lesser hits are penalized less with Major power factor. The concept historically originates from the idea that a lesser hit with a harder hitting caliber will be more likely to end a firefight in a real life situation. However, modern ballistic studies have shown no noticeable difference in terminal performance correlating to the recoil difference between typical minor and major handgun calibers. On the other hand, the power factor requirement has been kept to award the greater challenge of marksmanship required by competitors to shoot firearms with more recoil well.
In IPSC competitions all handguns must have a power factor of at least 125 kgr·ft/s (≈ 2.47 newton seconds), and therefore almost anything of 9x19 mm or greater caliber will meet the minimum required power factor. The minimum power factor rule is designed to mitigate the speed and accuracy advantages of smaller calibers. Less-powerful cartridges have less recoil, and therefore can be fired more quickly with the same accuracy. Setting a minimum power factor value requires recoil management skills by all competitors.
Handgun.
The desire to get the benefit of major scoring has led to some competitors adopting high speed 9 mm cartridges loaded to major, such as .38 Super. The felt recoil of a normal handgun in .38 Super is similar to the .45 ACP, but the higher pressure in the .38 Super provides more gas pressure for muzzle brakes. The .38 Super caliber became popular in the early 1980s, and has continued to be popular in the Open division after its introduction in the 1993 season.
Rifle.
In both the Open- and Standard rifle divisions, minor power factor is dominating due to less recoil, and 5.56x45mm/ .223 Rem is a common caliber. Ammunition loaded to major power factor such as 7.62×51 mm/ .308 Win has a bigger recoil impulse, and is regarded as having an advantage on stages with targets at long range.
Shotgun.
In shotgun only a Major power factor of 480 kgr·ft/s is used throughout all divisions. 12 gauge is the most common caliber, and most handle the recoil well. The extra power of a 12 gauge gives the competitors better margins of error when it comes to hit steel targets. Although 12 gauge is most prevalent for both male and female shooters, it is also possible to use other calibers, such as the smaller 16 or 20 gauge. The smallest 20 gauge has the advantage that it is easier to carry and for the shooter to keep balance while shooting, thus making it easier to shoot more accurately. However the smaller caliber requires more precision, especially on small steel targets.
United States Practical Shooting Association.
USPSA also provide Minor and Major scoring based on power factor. Metric targets are divided into the scoring areas A, C and D with Minor and Major points 5-3-3-1 and 5-4-4-2 respectively, while IPSC Targets are divided into the scoring areas A, C and D with Minor and Major points 5-3-1 and 5-4-2 respectively.
In USPSA as of 2014, a value of 165 kgr·ft/s or greater is considered Major for all divisions (except Production and Carry Optics where there only is minor scoring), while values below 165 kgr·ft/s are Minor. Until a point in the late 1990s, the cut off point for "making Major" was 175 kgr·ft/s.
Steel Challenge.
A minimum power factor of 120 kgr·ft/s (≈ 2.37 Ns) was previously required to activate the stop plate which stops the competitors time, but since around 2011 the stop plates are no longer connected to timers. Instead regular shot timers that register the last shot fired are used. Therefore, the minimum power factor rule no longer applies, and competitors are encouraged to use low power factor ammo in order to preserve the steel targets.
International Defensive Pistol Association.
The IDPA also has different power factors, and they are calculated the same way, however there is no scoring distinction as in USPSA. A particular IDPA division has a minimum power factor, and the firearm/ammunition combination must meet or exceed this minimum to be legal for competition. The minimum power factor was previously set as 125 kgr·ft/s for all divisions, except Custom Defensive Pistol (which is restricted to semiautomatics chambered for .45 ACP), which had a power factor of 165 kgr·ft/s.
In all instances, it is up to the competitor to ensure his/her ammunition meets the requirements for the competition or equipment Division.
Effective 17 January 2011 the power factor for the stock service revolver division (SSR) was reduced to 105 kgr·ft/s since most factory produced .38 special ammunition available on the market did not meet the previous minimum power factor of 125 kgr·ft/s.
To correlate with commonly available ammunition for firearms within a given division, revised power factors were established, effective 1 January 2017.
NRA Action Pistol.
In the Bianchi Cup, all matches requiring the use of centerfire ammunition must meet or exceed a power factor of 120 kgr·ft/s ( ≈ 2.37 Ns).


Chapuis Armes

Chapuis Armes is a French gun-maker based in St-Bonnet-le-Château specializing in premium hunting shotguns and rifles, as well as the Manurhin-brand revolver. In March 2019, Chapuis Armes was acquired by Beretta Holding. Chapuis has been a family-owned gunmaking business since the early years of the 20th century. They specialize in side by side and over under hunting shotguns, mostly for upland game, and in big game rifles (over under and side by side double rifles, as well as break-open single shots and straight-pull bolt actions).
In the USA, Chapuis is imported and marketed exclusively by Benelli USA since January 1st, 2021. The main USA Chapuis models available are:
Most of the Chapuis offering is available in a "Classic" finish (3A wood, laser engraving) or "Artisan" (5A wood, hand engraving).
The Manurhin revolver is imported into the USA by Beretta USA.


Sunny Harnett

Annemarie Margot Elfreda "Sunny" Harnett (1924 – May 1987) was an American model, actress, and casting director. She can be found in fashion magazines throughout the 1950s — including frequently on the cover of "Vogue" — and was often a model of choice by photographer Edgar de Evia. "Harper's Bazaar" ranks her as one of the 26 greatest models of all time.
After becoming an assistant to Eileen Ford of Ford Models, she soon quit modeling. Harnett allegedly turned down the chance to represent Naomi Sims, who eventually became the first African-American supermodel, because Ford had "too many" black models already.
At some point, Harnett gained weight and underwent a mastectomy. Due to health concerns, she was later placed in a home for long-term care. According to fellow 1950s Ford model Betsy Pickering, Gerard W. ″Jerry″ Ford, founder of Ford Models, hospitalized Harnett for mental illness. Harnett died from injuries sustained in a fire at the home in May 1987 when she was 63.
She was also an actress and appeared in the film "Funny Face" (1957). An ash blonde, she was a favorite model of photographer Richard Avedon, who served as a thinly veiled model for Fred Astaire′s character of Dick Avery in "Funny Face". Avedon snapped one of the most famous photos of Harnett, in which, clad in an evening gown by Grès, she peers at a roulette wheel in a casino in Le Touquet, France. That iconic August 1954 photograph fetched $35,000 when Christie's auctioned it in October 2012.


List of military awards and decorations of World War II

This list of military awards and decorations of World War II is an index to articles on notable military awards presented by the combatants during World War II.
Allied Powers.
Soviet Union.
In the Soviet Union orders and medals were also awarded to cities, factories, ships and military units.


FR F2 sniper rifle

The FR F2 (; ) has been the standard sniper rifle of the French military since 1986. It is designed for shooting at point targets at distances up to 800 metres.
History.
In August 2018, a tender was released by the French government for a replacement to the FR F2.
Design.
The FR-F2 is an upgrade from the earlier FR F1 sniper rifle. The rifle barrel is thermally shielded along a considerable part of the barrel by a polymer shroud. The barrel is free floated and is equipped with a flash hider. It uses a different bipod-stock configuration from its predecessor, which is built just ahead of the receiver. GIAT studies lead to a new three groove conical barrel. Tapering the barrel from the throat area up to the first 100 mm of the barrel and at the muzzle end reduced barrel wear caused by propellant gasses passing the projectile in the bore.
The rifle's manual safety is located at the rear of the trigger.
It uses 7.62×51mm NATO ammunition and is equipped with a telescopic sight. French army standard issue is either an APX L806 or SCROME J8 (Army) or Nightforce NXS (Air force) or Schmidt & Bender 6×42 mil-dot (Navy). Backup sights are also used, being made standard on each F2 rifle.
The rifle is also issued as part of the FÉLIN infantry combat system outfitted with a Sagem Sword Sniper 3-in-1 optic, which serves as a telescopic sight, thermal weapon sight, and laser rangefinder. The FR F2 utilizes the same basic bolt design as the older MAS-36 infantry rifle. The MAS-36 bolt action was however extensively modified and strengthened to reduce accuracy-inhibiting flex in the FR F1 and FR F2.


Teclu burner

The Teclu burner is a laboratory gas burner, a variant of the Bunsen burner, named after the Romanian chemist Nicolae Teclu. It can produce a hotter flame than a Bunsen burner.
The lower part of its tube is conical, with a round screw nut below its base. The gap, set by the distance between the nut and the end of the tube, regulates the influx of the air in a way similar to the open slots of the Bunsen burner. The Teclu burner provides better mixing of air and fuel, which is what allows it to achieve higher flame temperatures than the Bunsen burner.


Hunters Point Naval Shipyard

The Hunters Point Naval Shipyard was a United States Navy shipyard in San Francisco, California, located on of waterfront at Hunters Point in the southeast corner of the city.
Originally, Hunters Point was a commercial shipyard established in 1870, consisting of two graving docks. It was purchased and built up in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century by the Union Iron Works company, later owned by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Company and named Hunters Point Drydocks, located at Potrero Point.
Known as "The World's Greatest Shipping Yard", President Theodore Roosevelt trusted his Great White Fleet of battleships to be serviced at Hunters Point in 1907 according to historical records.
The shipyard was purchased by the Navy in 1940, a year before the attack on Pearl Harbor. It began operations the next year as the San Francisco Naval Shipyard, and operated until 1974 when it was deactivated and renamed Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. Used commercially for a time, in 1986 it was taken over by the Navy again as the home port of the USS "Missouri" battlegroup, under the name Treasure Island Naval Station Hunters Point Annex.
The base was named redundant as part of the Base Realignment and Closure effort in 1991, and was closed permanently in 1994. Since then the site has been part of a superfund cleanup effort to remediate the leftovers of decades of industrial and radiological use. Parcels have been sold off as they were cleaned up, mostly for condominium development.
History.
The original docks were built on solid rock. In 1916 the drydocks were thought to be the largest in the world. At over 1000 feet in length, they were said to be big enough to accommodate the world's largest warships and passenger steamers. Soundings showed an offshore depth of sixty-five feet. During the early 20th century much of the Hunters Point shoreline was extended by landfill extensions into the San Francisco Bay.
Between World War I and the beginning of World War II the Navy contracted from the private owners for the use of the docks. The docks provided deep-water facilities between San Diego and Bremerton, Washington. The main naval base in the area was at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, but the continuous silting in the area made it only suitable for relatively shallow-draft ships. A Congressional hearing on Pacific Coast Naval Bases was held in San Francisco in 1920 at San Francisco City Hall, wherein city representatives, Mayor Rolph, City Engineer O'Shaughnessy and others testified on behalf of permanently siting the Navy at Hunters Point.
Navy purchase.
At the start of World War II the Navy recognized the need for greatly increased naval shipbuilding and repair facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area, and in 1940 acquired the property from the private owners, naming it Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. A bill that would have set aside $6 million for the purchase of the Hunters Point property from Bethlehem Steel was deferred in March 1939. The property became one of the major shipyards of the west coast. It was later renamed Treasure Island Naval Station Hunters Point Annex. During the 1940s, many workers moved into the area to work at this shipyard and other wartime related industries.
The key fissile components of the first atomic bomb were loaded onto in July 1945 at Hunters Point for transfer to Tinian. After World War II and until 1969, the Hunters Point shipyard was the site of the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, the US military's largest facility for applied nuclear research. The yard was used after the war to decontaminate ships from Operation Crossroads. Because of all the testing, there is widespread radiological contamination of the site. After the war, with an influx of blue collar industry, the area remained a naval base and commercial shipyard.
In 1947 an enormous gantry crane with a capacity was completed at the site by the American Bridge Company. It was the largest crane in the world, and was intended to be used to remove the turrets of battleships so the guns could be quickly replaced while the old set was being refurbished on land. The Hunter's Point crane succeeded "YD-171", better known as "Herman the German", as the largest crane in America.
In 1959 the gantry crane was the site of Operation Skycatch, where dummy Polaris missiles were fired and caught via a string of arresting cables, before being lowered to the ground for testing. Previous versions of the test had the missiles flung out into the bay and retrieved from the ocean floor. The crane dominates the landscape in the area as it is easily visible from miles around.
A large frame was erected atop the gantry crane for the UGM-73 Poseidon missile test facility; the structural members were lifted by Marine Boss in 1967. According to Peri Cosseboom, who served as supervising project civil engineer, the trapezoid shaped frame atop the gantry crane was constructed in 1985 as a system design feature for the Trident missile test launch tubes, bringing the total height of the crane to nearly . This made the gantry crane one of the tallest man-made structures in San Francisco surpassed in height by the Golden Gate Bridge.
Navy closure.
The Navy operated the yard as a repair facility until 1974, when it leased most of it to a commercial ship repair company, who used it until 1986. A copy of the planned closure list was obtained by the Associated Press in 1973. The Hunters Point Shipyard was reactivated briefly between 1986 and 1989 as an annex to Naval Station Treasure Island.
The Hunters Point Shipyard Artists (HPSA) is a community of artists who rent studios in the former U.S. naval shipyard on Hunters Point in the Bayview community of San Francisco. An artist community since 1983, the Hunters Point Shipyard is now home to more than 250 artists.
In 1987, the Navy considered reopening the shipyard as the home port for the newly reactivated , which would move from Long Beach. Rear Admiral Robert L. Toney and Mayor Dianne Feinstein signed an agreement that committed San Francisco to spend up to $1 million per year to maintain the infrastructure, including dredging and traffic improvements. After Feinstein was succeeded as mayor by Art Agnos, Agnos declared his opposition to the new home port, stating the costs would outweigh potential benefits. A referendum was held on the issue in the November 1988 general election; one proposition offered support for the Navy's plan, and another proposition, sponsored by Agnos, stated the infrastructure costs would be borne by the Navy, and 351 new civilian jobs were required to be created. Despite the passage of the proposition supporting the Navy's plan, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) recommended building the base for "Missouri" at Long Beach, San Diego, or Pearl Harbor. In 1989, the base was declared a Superfund site requiring long-term clean-up.
The Navy closed the shipyard and base in 1994 as part of the next round of Base Realignment and Closure recommendations. Besides radioactive contamination, Hunter's Point had a succession of coal- and oil-fired power generation facilities which left a legacy of pollution, both from smokestack effluvium and leftover byproducts that were dumped in the vicinity. The BRAC program has managed the majority of the site's numerous pollution remediation projects.
Shipyard Redevelopment.
As of August 2020, the former shipyard site is still being decontaminated, and has been split into multiple parcels to allow the Navy to declare them clean and safe for redevelopment separately. While developer Lennar has built and sold hundreds of new condominium units in the SF Shipyard development on the property, a number of regulators, activists, and cleanup workers have claimed that the site is still heavily contaminated and that Tetra Tech, the company contracted to handle the cleanup and testing, has repeatedly violated established cleanup protocols, deliberately falsified radiation test results at the site to falsely show that there is little remaining radiation, and fired employees who attempted to force workers to perform radiation tests as required. According to an article published in 2017, the Navy stated that at least 386 out of the 25,000+ soil samples that have been collected over the past two decades were identified as "anomalous."
New homes built on the property were set to be available to tenants in the winter of 2014/2015. The first residents began moving into homes in June 2015.
In September 2016 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) halted the transfer of additional land at Hunters Point from the Navy to the city and to real estate developers. Per a letter sent from the EPA to the Navy, the process was placed on hold until "the actual potential public exposure to radioactive material at and near" the shipyard can be "clarified."


Germany and weapons of mass destruction

Although Germany has the technical capability to produce weapons of mass destruction, since World War II it has generally refrained from producing those weapons. However, Germany participates in the NATO nuclear weapons sharing arrangements and trains for delivering United States nuclear weapons.
Germany is among the powers which possess the ability to create nuclear weapons, but has agreed not to do so under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and Two Plus Four Treaty. Along with most other industrial nations, Germany produces components that can be used for creating deadly agents, chemical weapons, and other WMD. Alongside other companies from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, India, the United States, Belgium, Spain, and Brazil, German companies provided Iraq with precursors of chemical agents used by Iraq to engage in chemical warfare during the Iran–Iraq War.
History.
World War I.
One of the major combatants in World War I, Germany was the first to develop and use chemical weapons such as mustard gas and phosgene. These kinds of weapon were subsequently also employed by the Allies.
The use of chemical weapons in warfare during the Great War was allegedly in violation of clause IV.2 'Declaration concerning the Prohibition of the Use of Projectiles with the Sole Object to Spread Asphyxiating Poisonous Gases' of the 1899 Hague Declarations, and more explicitly in violation of the 1907 Hague Convention on Land Warfare, which explicitly forbade the use of "poison or poisoned weapons" in warfare.
World War II.
During World War II, Germany conducted an unsuccessful project to develop nuclear weapons. German scientists also did research on other chemical weapons during the war, including human experimentation with mustard gas. The first nerve gas, tabun, was invented by the German researcher Gerhard Schrader in 1937.
During the war, Germany stockpiled tabun, sarin, and soman but refrained from their use on the battlefield. In total, Germany produced about 78,000 tons of chemical weapons. By 1945 the nation had produced about 12,000 tons of tabun and of sarin. Delivery systems for the nerve agents included 105 mm and 150 mm artillery shells, a 250 kg bomb and a 150 mm rocket. Even when the Soviet army neared Berlin, Adolf Hitler decided not to use tabun in a last ditch effort against the Soviets. The use of tabun was opposed by Hitler's Minister of Armaments, Albert Speer, who, in 1943, brought IG Farben's nerve agent expert Otto Ambros to report to Hitler. He informed Hitler that the Allies had stopped publication of research into organophosphates (a type of organic compound that encompasses nerve agents) at the beginning of the war, that the essential nature of nerve gases had been published as early as the turn of the century, and that he believed that Allies could not have failed to produce agents like tabun. This was not in fact the case, but Hitler accepted Ambros's deduction, and Germany's tabun arsenal remained unused.
Cold War and beyond.
As part of the accession negotiations of West Germany to the Western European Union at the London and Paris Conferences, the country was forbidden (by Protocol No III to the revised Treaty of Brussels of 23 October 1954) to possess nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. This was reiterated in domestic law by the War Weapons Control Act (Kriegswaffenkontrollgesetz). During the Cold War, nuclear weapons were deployed in Germany by both the United States (in West Germany) and the Soviet Union (in East Germany). Despite not being among the nuclear powers during the Cold War, Germany had a political and military interest in the balance of nuclear capability. In 1977, after the Soviet deployment of the new SS-20 IRBM, West German chancellor Helmut Schmidt expressed concern over the capability of NATO's nuclear forces compared to those of the Soviets. Later in the Cold War under the chancellorship of Helmut Kohl, the West German government expressed concern about the progress of the nuclear arms race. Particularly, they addressed the eagerness of Germany's NATO allies, the United States and United Kingdom, to seek restrictions on long-range strategic weapons while modernizing their short-range and tactical nuclear systems. Germany wanted to see such short range systems eliminated, because their major use was not deterrence but battlefield employment. Germany itself, straddling the division of the Eastern and Western blocs in Europe, was a likely battlefield in any escalation of the Cold War and battlefield use of nuclear weapons would be devastating to German territory.
In 1957 the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) was created to promote the use of nuclear energy in Europe. Under cover of the peaceful use of nuclear power, West Germany hoped to develop the basis of a nuclear weapons programme with France and Italy. The West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer told his cabinet that he "wanted to achieve, through EURATOM, as quickly as possible, the chance of producing our own nuclear weapons". The idea was short-lived. In 1958 Charles De Gaulle became President of France, and Germany and Italy were excluded from the weapons project. Euratom continued as the European agency for the peaceful use of nuclear technology, falling under the institutions of the European Economic Community in 1967.
Germany ratified the Geneva Protocol on 25 April 1929, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty on 2 May 1975, the Biological Weapons Convention on 7 April 1983 and the Chemical Weapons Convention on 12 August 1994. These dates signify ratification by the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), during the division of Germany the NPT and the BWC were ratified separately by the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) (on 31 October 1969 and 28 November 1972, respectively).
Before German reunification in 1990, both West and East Germany ratified the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany. Germany reaffirmed its renunciation of the manufacture, possession, and control of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. In addition to banning a foreign military presence in the former East Germany, the treaty also banned nuclear weapons or nuclear weapon carriers to be stationed in the area, making it a permanent Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone. The German military was allowed to possess conventional weapons systems with nonconventional capabilities, provided that they were outfitted for a purely conventional role.
The United States provides about 60 tactical B61 nuclear bombs for use by Germany under a NATO nuclear weapons sharing agreement. The bombs are stored at Büchel Air Base and in time of war would be delivered by Luftwaffe Panavia Tornado warplanes. As well as being a breach of the Protocols to the (revised) Treaty of Brussels (terminated in 2010), many countries believe this violates Articles I and II of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), where Germany has committed:
The U.S. insists its forces control the weapons and that no transfer of the nuclear bombs or control over them is intended "unless and until a decision were made to go to war, at which the [NPT] treaty would no longer be controlling", so there is no breach of the NPT. However German pilots and other staff practise handling and delivering the U.S. nuclear bombs. Even if the NATO argument is considered legally correct, such peacetime operations could arguably contravene both the objective and the spirit of the NPT.
Like other countries of its size and wealth, Germany has the skills and resources to create its own nuclear weapons quite quickly if desired. The Zippe-type centrifuge was, indeed, invented by captured Germans working in the Soviet Union in the 1950s, and URENCO operates a centrifuge uranium enrichment plant in Germany. There are also several power reactors in Germany that could be used to produce bomb-grade plutonium if desired.
In 2007, former German defence secretary Rupert Scholz stated that Germany should strive to become a nuclear power. In September 2007 the French president Nicolas Sarkozy offered Germany to participate in the control over the French nuclear arsenal.
Chancellor Merkel and foreign minister Steinmeier declined the offer however, stating that Germany "had no interest in possessing nuclear weapons". Due to concerns over Vladimir Putin's actions, Merkel reversed her position, stating to the German press, "As long as there are nuclear weapons in the world, we need to have these capabilities, as NATO says."
NATO member states, including Germany, decided not to sign the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, a binding agreement for negotiations for the total elimination of nuclear weapons, supported by more than 120 nations.


Sticking knife

A sticking knife is primarily an agricultural tool. Sticking knives resemble daggers in shape and function, but are made for the utilitarian purpose of "sticking" or bleeding out livestock in home butchering. In some cases the animal would die directly from blood loss, where in others the animal would be killed beforehand and hung by the hind legs to bleed out.
Description.
A sticking knife usually consists of a double edge pointed blade approximately six inches long. Blades are traditionally made of high carbon steel (such as 1095). Handles are simple, consisting usually of two hardwood scales riveted through the full, flat blade tang. Sticking knives generally lack any kind of guard.
Sticking knives are generally inexpensive and rugged, making them a viable choice for gardeners, farmers and sportsmen.
Production.
Few companies continue to produce sticking knives. Firearms have generally replaced the sticking knife in home livestock processing. Most slaughterhouses use humane killers, which project a steel rod through the skull of the animal. Because sticking knives are so infrequently used, a home butcher may choose another type of knife that would serve other purposes as well. A boning knife or narrow hunting knife is commonly used in place of the more specialized sticking knife.
The Ontario cutlery company continues to produce traditional sticking knives in their "old hickory" knife line. Some people may still want a sticking knife for chores other than slaughtering livestock. Although double edged blades are usually considered by law enforcement as weapons, in situations where they are acceptable they have a few advantages. Having twice the edge length of a single edge knife they can be used longer between sharpenings. This advantage may be offset however because the thumb of the cutting hand can't press against the spine of the blade. With a single edged blade thumb pressure is often exerted for heavy cutting chores.


Ratchet knife

Ratchet knife in Jamaica is a general type of folding knife, generally German-made, considered easy to open quickly and associated with "rude boy" masculinity, the Okapi being a favourite brand. It is also used by the local Rastafari community to grind cannabis.


5-inch gun

A 5-inch gun is a gun with a 5-inch bore. Examples include these naval weapons:


Jordan, Iowa

Jordan is an unincorporated community in Boone County, Iowa, United States.
History.
Jordan was historically called Midway and Harmon's Switch. The present name is after the Jordan River. Jordan was not officially platted.
Jordan was hit by a massive tornado on June 13, 1976. The tornado was rated an F5 by the National Weather Service, and the National Centers for Environmental Information (then called National Climatic Data Center) indicated that the damage path of the tornado was roughly or wide and long. The tornado destroyed virtually every house and business building in the community, but all residents survived. The tornado was accompanied by an F-3 anticyclonic tornado two miles to the southeast. One unusual aspect of the F5 cyclonic tornado and F3 anticyclone tornado was the simultaneous right turn made by each. Dr. Ted Fujita, the originator of the Fujita tornado intensity scale, said the tornado which hit Jordan was one of the most intense and destructive he had ever studied.


Blaser F3

The Blaser F3 is a break-action over-and-under shotgun manufactured by Blaser Jagdwaffen GmbH of Isny, Germany. It was introduced in 2004 and imported by Blaser USA of San Antonio, TX since 2008. Blaser manufactures multiple variants of the F3. Blaser has established itself in the European market in Skeet and the Olympic trap disciplines. While other competition grade shotguns require fitting when changing barrels, Blaser has a largely modular design.


List of weapons in Malayan Emergency

= Infantry weapons =
Communist Guerrillas.
Grenade Laucher.
= References =


Johann Coaz

Johann Wilhelm Fortunat Coaz (31 May 1822 – 18 August 1918) was a Swiss forester, topographer and mountaineer from Graubünden. In 1850 he made the first ascent of Piz Bernina, the highest mountain in the Eastern Alps. He also gave Piz Bernina its name, after the eponymous pass.
Life.
Coaz was born in Antwerp in 1822, the son of Wilhelm Johann Coaz, a professional officer, and his wife Salomé née Koehl. He died in Chur in 1918.
Forestry and topography.
Between 1841 and 1843 he trained at the Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry in Tharandt to become a forester, then assumed the role of mountain topographer in Graubünden in the service of the Federal Topographic Bureau. When he was 28 he became private secretary to the topographer Guillaume-Henri Dufour. From 1851 to 1873 he was chief forestry inspector of the cantons of Graubünden and St. Gallen (1873–75). In 1875 Coaz became the first Federal Chief Forestry Inspector, a position he held until 1914.
Coaz was scientifically active in the areas of forest botany, topography, meteorology, and glacier and avalanche research. He described "Larix" X "marschlinsii" Coaz, noted in Krüssmann as a hybrid between "L. kaempferi" and "L. russica" that came from the Tscharnerholz Forest Nursery, near Morat, Switzerland in 1901 (the species is now considered a hybrid between "L. decidua" and "L. kaempferi"). He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Bern in 1902.
Mountaineering.
As a climber and surveyor he made around 30 first ascents in the Alps, mostly in the Bernina Range, the Albula Alps, and the Upper and Lower Engadin. In 1846 he made the first ascent of Piz Kesch on 7 September, and in the same year he made the first ascent of Piz Languard, Piz Surlej, Piz Aguagliols, Piz d'Esen and Piz Lischana. In 1848 he made the first ascent of Piz Quattervals.
His most significant and celebrated first ascent was of Piz Bernina, at 4,049 m the highest summit in the Eastern Alps, together with two assistants, brothers Jon and Lorenz Ragut Tscharner on 13 September 1850. Their route was via "The Labyrinth" and the east ridge. Although all three were surveyors, they left their surveying equipment at the foot of the ridge. Coaz later wrote in his diary:
In 1850 he made the first recorded ascent of Piz Corvatsch, and of Piz Tschierva (on 18 August).
Bibliography.
Works on Coaz.
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2008 June Hong Kong rainstorm

2008 June Hong Kong Rainstorm was a rainstorm in Hong Kong on 7 June 2008, that caused flooding and landslides. It resulted in 2 deaths and 16 injuries. The Hong Kong Observatory recorded 145.5mm of precipitation at its headquarters from 08:00 to 09:00, setting the highest 1-hour precipitation record. 307.1mm of precipitation was recorded during the whole day.
Precipitation.
An active trough had been affecting the South China coast since May 29th, 2008. Around dawn on June 7th, rainfall arrived in Hong Kong. The rainfall mainly focused on Lantau Island, Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. The peak of the precipitation was from 08:00 to 09:00 in the morning. The Hong Kong Observatory recorded 145.5mm of precipitation, a record high, at its headquarters. Precipitation at Tung Chung for the entire day even surpassed 400mm. Former Chief Executive Donald Tsang, described it as "once in a century". The Civil Engineering and Development Department of Hong Kong estimated it as a "once in 1100 years" occurrence.
Rainstorm Signals.
An Amber Rainstorm signal was issued at 05:15, and escalated to Red at 05:55. 112mm and 101mm of rain were recorded at the Eastern and Southern Districts respectively. 86mm was recorded at Sai Kung District. The Hong Kong Observatory eventually issued a Black Rainstorm Signal at 06:40 and it was sustained for 4 hours and 20 minutes. Red replaced Black at 11:00 and was then replaced by Amber at 11:30. All signals were cancelled at 13:30.
A Landslide Warning was maintained from 01:00 June 7th till 12:00 June 8th.
New Territories (Excluding Lantau Island).
A retaining wall at Old Coffee Bay, Castle Peak Road, Tuen Mun fell and collapsed on a store with two residents. The two residents killed were cousins visiting from mainland China. Their bodies were not unearthed until 18:30 in the evening by firefighters despite efforts of nearby residents and firefighters.
Kowloon.
A section of Hung Hom Road collapsed at 13:00 on June 8th due to heavy rainfall the day before, causing detours.
Hong Kong Island.
1.5m flood was observed at Sheung Wan, as well as seawater back-flow. Village houses in Pokfulam were flooded, as were many roads, including Tai Hang Road, Pokfulam Road, Water Street and Hill Road, Wong Nai Chung Road, Tin Lok Lane and Wong Chuk Hang Road. A landslide was seen at Kennedy Town. 13 slopes were pronounced at high risk of landslide after the rainstorm.
Lantau Island.
North Lantau Highway experienced the most severe flood ever. Major landslip occurred in Tung Chung, blocking all lanes of the highway. Ground commute between Tung Chung, airport and downtown was completely halted, except for train service.
Effects.
- 326 landslips and 539 floods were reported
- 410 flights were delayed, 14 were canceled on June 7th
- Hong Kong Wetland Park and Disneyland Resort were temporarily closed in the morning
- Ngong Ping 360 service was halted
- All banks and judiciary organisations closed for the day
- The central allocation of primary school was delayed
- Many hiking trails were closed, detoured or permanently blocked, especially on Lantau Island


Skeleton knife

A skeleton knife refers to two different types of knives, a kitchen knife and an unadorned penknife.
Cheese knife.
The first type of skeleton knife is a small kitchen knife that typically has three large holes on its blade used for cutting fruit or cheese. The purpose of these holes is to reduce the surface area of the blade so that sticky foods do not cling to it. Most skeleton knives are used for cutting very soft foods.
The knife was created by a Swiss restaurant and after its creation and advertisement it was stolen by many cutlery companies and private manufacturers, and is now widely manufactured by companies like Victorinox.
Penknife.
The less commonly known type of skeleton knife is a penknife that was made without bolsters or handle material and sold to jewelers or other artisans for final finishing.
These types of knives were mostly made in the 19th century and as late as 1950. Wostenholm of Sheffield, England made many of these knives as did Imperial Knife Co. in the United States. Jewelers would finish the knives' handles in semi precious stones and in some cases gold or other precious metals in their own style.


Defense Depot Ogden

Defense Depot Ogden was a U.S. military installation located in Ogden, Utah. It encompassed with its southwest corner located on 12th Street (1200 South) and Tomlinson Road (1200 West). Its eastern border is the old Utah Northern Railroad, now owned by the Union Pacific Railroad.
History.
Prior to the establishment of what was known as the Utah General Depot on September 15, 1941, the underlying land was used for pasture and farmland. The Defense Depot Ogden Utah (DDOU) was one of seven similar facilities located around the nation. The property entered the ownership of the United States Army, under the command of the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), an agency of the Department of Defense (DOD). The DDOU was used as logistical supply and administrative support for military installations and other DOD and federal agencies. The mission included the receipt, storage, maintenance, inventory and issue of items that included food, clothing, textiles, packages, petroleum products, pesticides, pressurized gases and general medical, industrial, construction and electronic supplies.
During World War II, the DDOU was also used as an internment camp for both German and Italian prisoners of war.
The Depot had an Officers' Club that allowed Department of the Army civilian employees to enjoy the facility. A set of military houses between the front gate and the Officers' Club made it feel like a neighborhood. There was also an AAFES store, as well as clothing sales. The commander changed from one service to another with each change but the commander was always a pay grade O-6 colonel or captain.
The DDOU was listed in the Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC) of 1995. As a result, the base ceased its functions on September 30, 1997. Management of the facilities was then handed over to the Hill Air Force Base DLA, at which time the official name of the facility changed to Defense Depot Hill Utah (DDHU) Ogden Site.
Business Depot Ogden.
As early as 1995, the City of Ogden appointed a committee to research the development of the DDHU. Much of this work was towards the conversion of the area into a commercial and industrial park. The Ogden Local Redevelopment Authority (OLRA) is charged with ensuring that the City of Ogden's DDOU Reuse Plan is properly implemented. The transfer of ownership was completed in 2003, giving the facility to Ogden City.
After nearly ten years, and at the expense of $115 million, the DDOU/DDHU became the Business Depot Ogden (BDO). The transition from a former military installation to a commercial park involved many changes to the street layout and buildings.
The local Ogden newspaper, the Ogden Standard-Examiner, moved into a remodeled administrative building in the northeastern side of the BDO, investing in a new and much larger printing press for the new facilities.
Present.
The City of Ogden and Boyer Co. entered an agreement early in the conversion process that forced any and all profit from the BDO to be diverted directly into investments in the facilities. This has been instrumental in the continuing expansion and development of the BDO. In October 2006, this agreement will expire, giving Ogden City and Boyer Co. even shares of future profits. In 2004, $7 million in revenue was seen, with an expected increase in 2005.
Several notable Federal facilities continue to operate in the BDO. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) maintains a large facility on site as part of its local network of buildings in the Ogden area. The United States Army Reserve continues to operate in its facilities, and a Deployable Medical Systems (DEPMEDS) unit, responsible for the refurbishment and supply of medical units, operated until 2002, when it moved to Hill Air Force Base.
Commercial facilities on site include, among others, Autoliv, Edge Products, Barnes Aerospace, Hersheys, Homedepot, Setpoint, Lofthouse Foods, ICON Fitness, Kenco Logistic Services, and the Standard Examiner.
Two new buildings totaling and nearing completion have already been partially leased.
New road and construction area for several industrial buildings along the park's western border, and a planned cross-dock warehouse will be built on a plot near the center of the park.
Future.
The BDO is part of a larger plan to entice business to the Ogden area. As of 2005, there are already more employees in the BDO than there were when the facility was still operating as a defense depot. Both Ogden City and Weber County are investing heavily in the hopes that the BDO will be an important part of the health of the city and county for the next 50 years.
Boyer Co. has plans for both commercial and retail offerings along the busy 12th street border. This should include everything from restaurants to office buildings.
Environmental impact.
Due to soil and groundwater contamination at the site, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designated DDOU as a Superfund site and placed it on the National Priorities List in 1987. Site cleanup activities began in 1989 and continued through the 1990s. Groundwater and soil monitoring continues at the site. The U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
conducted a public health assessment of the site and concluded in 1992 that DDOU poses "no apparent public health hazard."
Included in the site history was the storage of 2,328, 55-gallon drums of hazardous waste in 1993. This was part of a RCRA permit issued by the Utah Solid and Hazardous Waste Control Board. These drums were stored in a facility called the Conforming Storage Building. Storage of these materials ended in 1997, and the building was closed.
As part of the transfer of ownership to the OLRA, two Finding of Suitability to Transfer (FOST) documents were developed and approved by state and federal agencies. A total of of uncontaminated ground were transferred to the OLRA. Further FOST activities are ongoing, and should eventually result in a nearly complete transfer of properties.


RBU-6000

The RBU-6000 Smerch-2 (Реактивно-Бомбовая Установка, "Reaktivno-Bombovaja Ustanovka"; reaction engine-bomb installation & Смерч; waterspout) is a 213 mm caliber Soviet anti-submarine rocket launcher. It is similar in principle to the Royal Navy Hedgehog system used during the Second World War. The system entered service in 1960–1961 and is fitted to a wide range of Russian surface vessels. It consists of a horseshoe-shaped arrangement of twelve launch barrels, that are remotely directed by the Burya fire control system (that can also control the shorter ranged RBU-1000). It fires RGB-60 unguided depth charges. The rockets are normally fired in salvos of 1, 2, 4, 8 or 12 rounds. Reloading is automatic, with individual rounds being fed into the launcher by the 60UP loading system from a below deck magazine. Typical magazine capacity is either 72 or 96 rounds per launcher. It can also be used as a shore bombardment system.
The system is an upgrade of the RBU-6000 system, firing the 90R rocket, which is actively guided in the water. This allows it to home in on targets at depths of up to . The warhead is a shaped charge, which enables it to punch through the hulls of submarines. It can also be used against divers and torpedoes. System response time is reported to be 15 seconds and a single-salvo has a kill probability of 0.8. RPK-8 entered service in 1991 and mounted on Project 1154 and 11356 frigates. Serial production of the upgraded 90R1 rocket was launched in 2017.
RBU-6000 were the most widespread anti-submarine rocket launchers in the Soviet Navy, used on many ship classes.
Ships.
Ship classes fitted with RBU-6000 (list not complete)


Ruhr Question

The Ruhr Question was a political topos put on the agenda by the Allies of World War I and the Allies of World War II in the negotiations following each respective war, concerning how to deal with the economic and technological potential of the area where the Rhine and Ruhr intersect. France was heavily in favor of monitoring this region, due to the perception that the economic and technological potential of the region had allowed the German Reich to threaten and occupy France during the Franco-Prussian War, World War I, and World War II. The Ruhr question was intimately associated with the Saar Statute and the German Question. There was also a close relationship between the Ruhr Question and the Allied occupation of the Rhineland (1919-1930), the Occupation of the Ruhr (1923-1924, 1925), the founding of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (1946), the Monnet Plan (1946-1950), the Marshall Plan (1948-1952), the International Authority for the Ruhr (1949-1952), the Schuman Declaration (1950), and the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community (1951). The political treatment of the Ruhr question is known as "Ruhrpolitik" in German. When one looks at the Rhineland as a whole or the attempted establishment of the Rhenish Republic in 1923, the terms "Rhein- und Ruhrfrage" or "Rhein-Ruhr-Frage" are used in German.
History.
Ruhr Occupation.
As early as the beginning of the 1920s, the "Ruhrfrage" was an important subject of dispute between France and Germany. From the French perspective, the region and a big portion of the industries of the Rhein and Ruhr, such as the arms industry of Krupp in Essen and Rheinmetall in Düsseldorf, was known as the "Armory of Germany". After France had suffered at the hands of this "armory" in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 and the First World War of 1914–1918, the negotiations leading to the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 resulted in the creation of a "security glacis" against Germany in the form of the cessation of the Left Bank of the Rhine, extensive demilitarization, armament restrictions, and the Allied occupation of the Rhineland. In addition, France was able to achieve considerable reparations from Germany after the first World War. If the German Reich could not meet the requirements of the reparations, the negotiation terms of the threatened to divide the Ruhr through forced occupation. At this time, the Ruhr was known as the "Rhine-Westphalian coal and industrial area", including Lippe in the north, Dortmund in the east, and Düsseldorf in the south. Germany defaulted on reparations, causing France and Belgium to occupy the cities of Düsseldorf, Duisburg, and Ruhrort in 1921 and the remaining Ruhr area stretching east to Dortmund in 1923. The occupation of the Ruhr, including control of the factories and coal mines, lasted until the agreement of the Dawes Plan in 1924. The confiscated of Düsseldorf served as the command center of the occupation of the Ruhr until the French withdrew on August 25, 1925.
Reorganization of Germany and Europe after the Second World War.
At the end of the Second World War, the Allies once again asked themselves how to deal with the economic and technological potential of the Rhine and Ruhr. When the French were deliberating the future of Germany, the Ruhr Question was their top priority. The industrialized area of the Rhine and Ruhr, highly stylized in Nazi propaganda as the "armory of the empire", represented for France at the end of World War II far more than merely an Industrial region. Rather, the Ruhr was "a symbol of German Power and a source of French humiliation". As early as February 5, 1945, France's provisional head of government Charles de Gaulle broadcast a speech introducing the vision of a "Ruhr basin" ("Ruhrbecken") as free from a future German state or German states. At the conferences of the Allies, the question of the Ruhr came more and more into the agenda, mostly due to French proposals. At the Foreign Minister's Conference, which took place in London from September 11, 1945 until October 2, 1945, French foreign minister Georges Bidault issued a memorandum of 13 September 1945. This memorandum stated that the separation of the Rhineland and Westphalia, including the Ruhr area of the German Reich, as "indispensable for the protection of the frontier and an essential prerequisite for the security of Europe and the world." An important consideration was that France and neighboring Western European countries had their economies supplied with coal and steel from the Ruhr and Saar regions for the purpose of postwar reconstruction. In the steel sector specifically, France intended, with the Monnet Plan to expand French steel production and impose a restriction on the capacity of German steel production. The Monnet Plan was considered a compromise from France to the other Allies, as France would have preferred to separate the industrial area from the Rhine and Ruhr region altogether. The Soviet Union, by contrast, wanted the industrial area on the Rhine and Ruhr placed under common control of all four powers, as stipulated by the Berlin Declaration (1945). The three Western Allies disliked the idea of the Soviet Union reaping the benefits of the industrial area of the Rhine and the Ruhr. Basic differences of opinion led to tensions between the Soviet Union and Western Allies over various questions concerning the re-organization of Europe and the World. These tensions caused the Allied Control Council to break down, leading to the beginning of the Cold War.
A decisive opponent of French annexation or supremacy of the Rhine and Ruhr was British Foreign Minister, Ernest Bevin. In a memorandum issued on June 13, 1946, Bevin wrote about the Ruhr question with a historical view of the Ruhr occupation from 1923 to 1925 and its consequences for the Weimar Republic:
The French side often encountered resistance to their proposals for the solution of the Ruhr Question. This was especially true in the case of the British and Americans. The British had pursued their own concept when founding the state of Northrhine-Westphalia by nearly socializing the coal and steel industry. The Americans had operated under the containment of the Truman Doctrine with the objectives of the Marshall Plan. Thus, the Americans refused to dismantle, and defused the socialization plans of the British. The Americans first came up with the concept of a "Ruhr Charter" in 1948, providing for international supervision of and international access to coal and steel products from the Rhine and Ruhr. The Soviets, however, were left out of the American-born "Ruhr Charter" concept, given no access nor oversight. The "Ruhr Charter" was the idea that served as the basis for further discussion among the Western allies. The final resolution of the Ruhr question came with the London 6-Power Conference in 1948. The three western allies and the Benelux countries agreed on the joint development of a concept for an international authority providing international access to the German coal and steel market. The next step was creating a German central government in West Germany in accordance with the Frankfurt Documents. The Ruhr office became official in 1949, setting up the "International Authority for the Ruhr" in Düsseldorf. This agency controlled about 40% of German industrial production. The Parlamentarischer Rat of West Germany rejected the "International Authority for the Ruhr" as discrimination. Karl Arnold, the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, agreed with the other Prime Ministers of the German states to accept the "International Authority for the Ruhr" on the condition that other coal and steel locations in the West of Europe were put under the same control. This condition was not met by the Ruhr statute, but discussions subsequently went in the direction of an economic union of European countries. With the Petersberg Agreement on November 22, 1949, the first federal government under Konrad Adenauer accepted the "International Authority for the Ruhr". In December 1949, West Germany officially gained voting rights in the "International Authority for the Ruhr". This laid the foundations for the Schuman Declaration of 1950, which laid the groundwork for the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951. This French-born idea of the cessation of French territory towards the creation of a "European structure" was previously laid out in a memorandum written by Jean Monnet in Algiers on August 5, 1943. This 1943 memorandum envisaged a prototype of the current Community method used to make decisions in the modern day European Union.
Historical interpretation.
The shift of France concerning Ruhr and German policy after the Second World War towards a "communalization" of the coal and steel industries, which was opened by the Schuman Plan, is explained by a cognitive process on the French side. France had gradually realized that their harsh Germany policy under the foreign minister Raymond Poincaré was ultimately the result of a personal vendetta, thus failing the ultimate goals of the French state. Another explanation of the shift in French attitudes can be found in the Marshall Plan. In order to finance their own reconstruction, France had to take part in the of West Germany. France's participation in the "Westintegration" was laid down by the American policy of containment in particular.