The destruction of a BP oil rig in the Gulf Coast has led to a lot of speculation and rumor-mongering on the Internet, focusing on the possibility that rogue Communist dictatorship North Korea was at fault.
An explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20th killed 11 people and eventually collapsed the rig into the Gulf, sending 5,000 barrels of oil a day out and into the water.
Oil is still spilling out into the Gulf at that rate as of this writing.
BP PLC chairman Lamar McKay has blamed “a failed piece of equipment” for what many are saying is a greater natural disaster than the 1989 USS Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
While an oil-drilling procedure known as cementing has come under scrutiny as the most probable cause for the catastrophe, bloggers and conspiracy-theorists have taken to their keyboards to fill in alternative explanations. Some point to the convenient out it gives Barack Obama from drilling domestically, as his core constituency is against the “drill, baby, drill” efforts pushed by Republicans.
Many have concluded that the platform sunk due to sabotage of some nature. No oil spills happened when Hurricane Katrina hit the area in 2005, they note. A curious point leading people to think sabotage was at fault is the fact that US President Barack Obama has ordered SWAT teams to inspect all platforms and rigs:
This conclusion has been spurred by alleged Kremlin reports that the Obama Administration has ordered a news blackout, preventing reporters from gaining access to the area or discovering information that would confirm or disprove the charges. At least one mainstream news outlet, television station WRAL in Raleigh, North Carolina, has reported the story that quotes heavily from the Russians.
The political angle has not been missed by Republican bloggers and even more supposedly responsible talk radio hosts, like the neo-conservative Mark Levin:
While some say environmental extremists, who have committed acts of terror in the past are responsible, the dominant theory that has emerged is that a North Korean sub torpedoed the rig. The Deepwater Horizon oil platform was owned by Transocean, the largest offshore drilling contractor in the world. It was also built and financed by South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., which leads many to think about a North Korean attack.
North Korea has been increasingly aggressive since announcing it has developed nuclear weapons last May. It has waged a heavy cyberwar against the United States, arrested and later released two American journalist it accused of espionage, and has been caught shipping military cargo to rogue African nations. North Korea has also become the clear suspect in the March sinking of a South Korean battleship.
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Look, I also thought it was contrived when I first heard of the oil rig explosion, even before all the conspiricies hit the web. Obama made a jesture to open up off shsore drilling to apease the right wing. He knew it would never happen from the get go. The EPA would have put a stop to it through the courts and if they had Obama would have had an excuse. He would have been abel to say " Sorry I tried but, you see, the EPA wouldn't let me do."
It's too coincidental that a few week after he made that announcement, this happens.
Remeber the left said, Let's not wase a good crisis.
Either way, we the people are not in control anymore.
And my ex-wife wants to get back together with me. :)
I don’t know why there is a seperate North and South Korea. Why don’t we clear all the land mines, get out of the peninsula and I am confident they will both be kissing and hugging in no time.
If this indeed turns out to be an international event then what we’re talking about is an act of war. Are we (The US) prepared to go up against the Korean’s million man army at this time? I don’t think so. In the end of what we consider to be The World, we’ll have to destroy ourselves to save ourselves……..
The most chatter I’ve seen pegs environmentalists. They actually have a motive and the circumstancial, is well, just creepy. It is the ultimate convenience for an oil well to biblically explode Earth Day Eve and for the oil to wash up all over Katrina territory.
And although as an empirical man I would accept this was an accident, the successive failure of so many passively safe systems seams to indicate something was horrifically wrong.
Yet BP does not appear to be acting as if it is expecting to be blamed for some horrific malfunction in the rig. Although they’re keeping their mouths shut, it seams almost as if they know someone else is going to get tagged for it.
I have a problem believing NK did it. Mainly because I don;t think they could have navigated over to tte Gulf to do it. I think it is much more likely that Venezuela or Russia did it.
Since the Russians are spreading the story it is probably them.
Nonsense
To say North Korea was responsible is Propoganda at it’s worst.
This is only a smoke screen for incompentance.
A planted story to keep the Wars going.
Wake up America you are again being lied to.
kim lee – you are a deluded moron.
It's time. Time to drop a fu***** nuke on the whole middle east. I'm sick of this.
"NYC’s Most Dangerous Callers to Talk Radio give The RIGHT Perspective on their own show!"
To the Left contrary thought is "dangerous" Wow. Really. Wow.
This media campaign seeks to demonise the DPRK, it is a means of
psychological warfare against the DPRK. It is actually part of US
imperialism’s oppression of the DPRK, to isolate it, to justify sanctions and military pressure against the DPRK even possible military aggression against the DPRK. It aims to block any influence of the DPRK and its friends. Interestingly a journalist from the reputable FT admitted that most of the material they used about the DPRK comes from Seoul!
As well recycling the lies and slanders of the south Korean
puppets, Western media propaganda against the DPRK encompasses the twin
themes of cold war anti communism and anti Korean anti oriental
racism. Thus the DPRK is attacked for being of the few remaining socialist countries; a country which has refused to submit to the US imposed “new world order”. Stereotyped anti communism about ‘repression of religion’,'regimentation’,'independent trade unions’ is employed. Even famous MI5 informer and colonial policeman Orwell’s work 1984 is invoked against the DPRK. The massive cold war propaganda machine became redundant when the Soviet Union disappeared in 1991 but now it has been revived and is deployed against the DPRK.
The DPRK is attacked for being an oriental country with different culture and values to the West. In Asian culture great stress is placed on family relationships and respect for elders. In Asia and many third world countries it is not unusual for political leaders to come from the same family, for example India described by the BBC as the world’s “biggest democracy” was ruled Nehru, then his daughter Indira Gandhi and the her son Rajiv Gandhi. Even in the UK at one time the Liberal party parliamentary group consisted largely of the Lloyd George family. Yet the DPRK is pilloried constantly over family relationships in the leadership.
A lot of attacks in the media on the DPRK border on racism.
I don’t like conspiracy theories much. I would be inclined to dismiss the notion that the NK or any other country was in on this disaster. However, where are the interviews of all of the surviving rig workers? Why send SWAT teams to offshore rigs? There are probably a number of controls on multiple levels that would have to fail in order to cause a disaster like this.
Mr. Lee (very common Korean surname) uses certain keywords and phrases and the ever so slightly broken English that I've heard too many times coming from the North. He is very clearly a North Korean propagandist.
Jeff says… “If this indeed turns out to be an international event then what we’re talking about is an act of war”
well doh! because south korea refuses to sign any peace treaty.. the are still officially at war… therefore, if it was north korea, then they attacked a legitimate target.
Our enemies (Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela, and North Korea) smell weakness in Obama and are testing him right now. I have my suspicions that this rig explosion was the handywork of one of those nations.
Points to consider:
1. The Chinese, Russians, and Vietnamese have oil rigs in this area. By taking out our rig, they effectively reduce competition from us. Not to mention, this will almost assuredly make the environmentalists come out agianst any further drilling by the U.S… if we dont drill, more oil for the them.
2. Why would Obama send SWAT teams to investigate an oil leak? I don’t recall any SWAT teams being sent to check out the Exxon Valdez when it ran aground in ’89?
3. The rig was built and overseen by Hyundai, a South Korean company. By destroying it, the North Koreans could cause billions of dollars in losses to the South Korean and U.S. economies. The NK’s sank the South Korean sub last month. Why would it be a stretch to think they wouldn’t try to pull this off? Not to mention, NK and SK are still at war due to the treaty signed in 1953.
4. North Korea is the puppet of both China and Russia. Despite our helping both of those countries gain access to the WTO and enrich themselves with untold billions, they hate us and want us destroyed. The Russian leaders still operate as if they were the Soviet Union, with the U.S. as their primary targets. While the Chinese see themselves as the rightful heirs to rule the world, to be the world’s ONLY pre-eminent superpower. They have seen themselves as the “center of the universe” for hundreds of years and that mindset didn’t just dry up over night. They want the U.S. taken off the world stage and by working through North Korea, they could potentially do just that, because the West is weakened with corrupt, pusilanimous leaders starting with Obama.
5. If a NK sub really did do this, and the Chinese and/or Russians are supporting them, you know damn well that Obama would do everything in his power to make sure the Americans dont call for retaliatory acts. Because he’s too scared to provoke either of them, especially the Chinese.
I’m surprised you didn’t play the clip of the mark levin show when I guy who was on the rig called in. It cleared up any doubts I had about a malfunction of the rig. It was not north korea or greenies. The guy levin had on his show was very convincing.
Kim Lee appears to be a North Korean propagandist. So gi mah, so gi mah, mi gook tampeh issuh!
You fucking morons, all of you. If you bothered to check any of the sources you’d realize that they all point to one person, Sorcha Faal, at whatdoesitmean.com. Sorcha Faal, aka David Booth is well known for spreading hoaxes and is definitely NOT a trusted source at all.
April 15th 2010 was the 98th birth anniversary of the great leader
President Kim Il Sung. Born into a humble and poor family he became a
fighter against Japanese imperialism taking up arms at an early age. He
authored the Juche idea in the course of the anti Japanese armed struggle. He liberated Korea from the iron rule of Japanese imperialism going through many hardships to achieve this. He led the people of the DPRK in the 1950s to defend the country against the invasion by the US imperialists and south Korean puppets.
On the ruins of war he build a powerful socialist country of Juche, of independence, self sufficiency and self reliance in defence.The Korean people came to enjoy great benefits of socialism such as free education, free healthcare and full employment. Illiteracy and poverty was wiped out in the DPRK.
The great leader comrade Kim Il Sung firmly defended the independence of the DPRK and insisted on self reliance. When the split in the socialist camp occurred in the 1960s he maintained a course of independence between the 2 big socialist countries.Self reliant industries were created in the DPRK such as Vinalon which is a fibre made from
limestone.
For all of these achievements he enjoys the boundless respect and reverence of the Korean people. The DPRK designates the day when Comrade Kim Il Sung was born as Day of Sun. It is celebrated not only in Korea but by friends of Korea and progressive peoples throughout the world.
The world is disintegrating right now. Until I hear any information to the contrary I believe this wholeheartedly. Why would Obama need to order military protection to all the other rigs if this was just due to a “Faulty Valve”?
This is possible, but I doubt it. A torpedo would probably have only sunk the drilling ship, unless it was refitted with high-explosives. Seems like a lot for the North Koreans to go through, for very little in return.
It’s much more likely that Obama was behind it in some way. Too much is coming out about the timing, the administration response, and the circumstances of the incident, for me to conclude otherwise. There is some speculation that this is to prevent the oil drilling Obama promised a couple months ago, but more likely it is to contribute to a plan to nationalize the oil industry.
As for BP, I have nothing against private industries in general. I believe in free markets. I only don’t like when they get involved with government on the level of GE supporting the takeover of our healthcare. There is a possibility that BP could have been conspiring with the administration to do this. Let’s see if any sweetheart deals come their way soon, and we might have more of an idea. So far, no reason to believe that BP was culpable, unless it was just an accident.
“how would that work? A submarine capable of transiting the entire Pacific, rounding Cape Horn, then going north all the way to the Caribbean (presumably they couldn’t go through the Panama Canal) to launch a torpedo attack on an oil rig seems a bit out the capabilities of N. Korea.. that sub would have to be nuclear and I doubt they have one of those.”
Controversies aside, I would speculate that whoever was responsible for the 3 bombs within the US over the weekend, they would probably know what caused the BP oil rig to explode.
the only thing more insane than this speculation are the respondent’s…. ugh. anyone want to guess how a north korean torpedo made it to the gulf of mexico????
Sounds plausible to me . . . when are we going to get some news about what caused the explosion?
@Frank: You may not be aware of this but Kim Jung Il was NOT born in Korea but in Russia in the village of Vyatskoye, near Khabarovsk in 1941 where his father, Kim Il Sun and mother were in exile from the Jap invasion. His name was Yuri Irsenovich Kim. There are older Russians still living there who remember him. He is Korea's foreign occupier. Check it out. He did not return until 1945 when he was 3 or 4 years old.
There was some report that a NK ship left Cuba two days before the explosion??? Suppoesdly, instead of sailing, as usual toward Argentina, it was suppose to have directly toward this rig, Within 150-200 mls??? It could have dropped a small sub and made the attack with torpedoes having a possible 250 mile range??? I do not know, but lots and lots of QUESTIONS???
Comrade Kim Lee, you are a propagandist lackey and ideological hyena of the running dog of China, Kim IL Jong. Your country is a shithole, run by a shithead! The howling hyena, Kim IL Jong. In fact this bastard, born in a back alley filled with rats and vermin, so his father and “mother”, felt at home giving birth to him there. N.Korea is an outhouse of political polution. Since Kim IL Sung became a “good red”, i.e: DEAD, the outpost and last shithole of Marxist/Leninist/Bullshit is STILL being run by Kim IL Sung! He is still the president of the Shithole of Asia. A nation ruled by a dead man! Propagandist lackey and howling hyena of N.Korea, why didn’t you say so? Are you ashamed? I know that all normal people would be! His bastard son, a.k.a. the fat little turd, is afraid of his own offspring. So no one knows who is going to fill in when HE becomes a good red. In fact, such is stupidiocracy that runs said shithole of Asia. Juche is a failure, for it is another word for theftocracy. The Kims are a crime family, who sell drugs, guns, counterfit money, and kidnapping. Move over Tony Soprano, you’re small time pal! They run N.Korea, you run just N.Jersey! So running dog and political whore of the Kim Krime Family, get the fuck off this board, you’re so full of shit it’s coming out of your ears!
The DPRK will mercilessly punish anyone who behaves recklessly, daring
challenge its supreme dignity and system.
So Kim Lee the lunatics you call hero’s who have enslaved the north Korean’s so badly they are illegally immigrating to China of all places? What about the 10 million N Korean’s Kim Jung il has starved to death to pay for his nuclear toys?? What about those little girls Kim Jung rapes while dressed like Elvis?
Our enemies including Iran and Venezuela's Chavez are extremely tempted and foaming at the mouth to hir us while the novice and wet behind the ears obama is in office.
Here's todays latest example of daily incompetence by the US government which tempts our enemies to make their move now more than ever.. The temptation is too much for them to resist.
(From ABC News)
'Authorities said that despite the manhunt, his passport had not been flagged and he was able to buy a ticket with cash and clear airport security'
I'm not a North Korean agent or apologist, and nor do i believe that the oil rig was sunk deliberately by anyone. But the uninformed right wing ranting here was hilarious, especially the idiot who wanted the entire "Middle East" to be "nuked". The Koreas are in North-East Asia, you idiot; and your nation's precious ally, the Zionazi pseudostate of "Israel", is bang in the middle of West Asia, which you Yamerikkans love to miscall the "Middle East".
I wouldn't actually mind seeing the war criminals ruling the US start a few more wars, say with the Koreas, to add to those they're already losing. Anything that impoverishes and isolates the Evil Empire can only be a good thing.
This article explains all your questions and should also make Kim Lee go ballistic. :-)
"Possible North Korea target: Deepwater Horizon oil platform"
http://www.helium.com/items/1822086-possible-nort…
Most of these posts are downright frightening. Is this country so full of misinformed, irrational, imbeciles? Or is it just this blog's readership?
that is freakin stupid we are at war
Since when does south Korea have any “battleships?” I think it was a destryoer that was sunk. Very big difference and in that light throws a question of credability on your whole article.
Wildman – the article says SKorean PATROL ship. not battleship.
Holy moly, what a bunch of nut jobs posting on this article.
Nex time I hear a Southerner whining about the total destruction of the Gulf of Mexico (which I'll probably never hear because there's not many Southerners here in the Great Wet North) I'm gonna say "Do you drive a CAR, boy? Is there plastic wrap around the package of weenies in your fridge? Do you live in a cave in the woods where you forage for nuts and berries wearing clothes made of tree bark and animal skins? Because if the answers are Yes, Yes and No, then you owe your LIFE to OIL!"
And if you owe your life to oil, you should just shut your clabbertrap before you say anything critical of anything involving God's most precious gift from the days of the dinosaurs. You should drive your SUV to the nearest BP station and buy a couple quarts of 10W40 and pour it all over your lawn and then roll in it, just to show how thankful you are. You should take your summer vacation at the beach in Pensacola this August and inhale deeply as the 102-degree temperatures cook up the smell from those irridescent foamy bubbles that never pop on the tideline. And if the fumes set off your asthma or COPD and cause you to die, well you're dying with the smell of progress in your nostrils.
This is war against the U.S and if we do nothing and allow this administration to cover it up what does this say about our country. Weak!
Both South Korean Ship sink and Oil Rig torpedo was done by US.
Therefore US was actively involved helping South for the case.
It is made to trigger a war between South and North.
Stop and think for one second. If there is any plausibility whatsoever to the notion that the rig was torpedoed by the North Koreans (or bombed by eco-terrorists), BP would be all over that and disavowing any responsibility for the clean up. Get a clue!
ANYTHING TO RAISE THE PRICE OF FUEL — LEST' IMMIGRATE BACK TO KENYA AND USE DUNG TO COOK WITH.
We are at a crossroads. The degenerate lackeys and howling hyenas of shithole N.Korea have declared WAR!! First they sink the S.Korean ship in an act of unmittagated agression, but like the cowardly maggot ridden scum that they are, they deny it. COWARDS!!!! Shall we shirk from our God given assignment to destroy tryannies wherever they crop up in world? Shall we let a scumbag pervert like Kim Jong IL continue to committ crimes from this illegal shithole? The lunatics with the filthy towels around their heads in Parthia continue to arm themselves illegally with nuclear weapons to be used on peace loving peoples? The ANSWER IS NO!! Stop these subnormal insects before they can cause more suffering!! N.Korea murdering it's own people, and Parthia, killing it's own people! Since they have no respect for the lives of their own slaves, they'll do the same to us!! Smash these despotic cancers before they can spread!
Come on foks?!
#1 – if “North Korea” was able to get a sub into the gulf and close enough to “torpedo” one of our Oil Rigs – then, the obvious question arrises “WHY ONLY ONE?!”
#2 – Greenies?! – and how do ya’ll suppose they swam out a mile into the gulf?! Or do they own subs?!!!
#3 – The sun of a gun is a MILE DEEP – it is PERFECTLY beleavable that something could have gone wrong below that the folks on top didn’t see/recognize until it was to late!!! “NEVER hit the panik button unless you know something is wrong”!!!
There’s a lot of BS going on in the World for sure – but, may be it’s just the plain and simple fact that G-d is removing His protecting hand from America, as our Government and the sheeple continue to push Him out…. may be it’s just that G-d has decided to no longer protect the rebellious little brats that we have become?!!!
I suspect MUCH more – that will make folks MISS the good-ol-days of the “little oil spill” is dead ahead!!!
Quit FREAKING OUT and try “Praying”!!!
That’ll never happen in this country (to far gone) – but, is the only thing that MIGHT save the Flag now!!!!
G-d Bless Israel!!! And our American Troops!!!
Maybe I know too many frugal folk; but, I admit I’m astounded at how easy it appears to be to hustle you ignorant gits. More power to Peter Goodman – I guess.
He should start an evangelical church next and get in on the real money.
The last time I checked the North Korean’s don’t have nuclear powered submarines. So that leaves them with diesel boats to cross the Pacific, cruise around the tip of South America, and then head up to the gulf to blow-up the oil rig! Do you think they refueled in Pearl Harbor then Los Angeles or San Diego? Environmentalists did it, the same group that spiked trees in the Pacific Northwest or the one’s that burned a ski lodge near Aspen, Colorado?
I think it’s a s-t-r-e-t-c-h. How about equipment failure, or someone no paying attention to the controls, or an adequate design that caused the explosion/fire.
Okay…someone has opened the gates to the nut-house! Please people…it was a tragic accident. NOT EVERYTHING IS TERRORISM!!!! Good grief.
Okay…someone opened the gates to the nut-house!!! Please people….it was a tragic ACCIDENT!!! Maybe in negligence, but nonetheless…an ACCIDENT. NOT EVERY TRAGEDY IS AN ACT OF TERRORISM!!!! Good grief…..
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/safety_fluid_was_removed_befor.html
“We had set the bottom cement plug,” the caller said. “At that point the BOP stack, the blowout preventer, was tested. I don’t know the results of that test. However, it must have passed because at that point they elected to displace the marine riser from the vessel to the sea floor. They displaced all the mud out to the riser preparing to unlatch from the well two days later. So they displaced it with sea water.”
Bickford’s client went on to say that the crew opened a valve on the well head, allowing a huge kick of gas to push the seawater out the top of the marine riser and all the way to the top of the rig tower, 240 feet in the air. The resulting explosion probably instantly killed his colleagues who were in the path of the gas, “James” said.