UK's Sizewell B Nuclear Power Station in Automatic Shutdown, Cause Unknown

From UBAlert (7/19/2012):

Sizewell B nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast has had its second automatic shutdown in four months. Owner EDF Energy said electricity production had ceased at 17:11 BST on Wednesday and it was investigating the cause of the stoppage. A spokesman said: "The reactor was safely shut down, with the plant responding as expected and at no time was anyone's safety at risk." The plant had an 11-day automatic stoppage in March. EDF said it was not predicting when the plant would begin generating again. The company said the March shutdown had been the first automatic one in three years and was for an electrical fault in the non-nuclear side of the plant. There was a controlled stoppage in May to fix a lubrication problem. EDF Energy said Sizewell B produced enough electricity for two million homes, or about 3% the UK's electricity needs.

Is this kind of "automatic shutdown" with cause unknown a common event occurring at nuclear power plants all over the world, but people and the media (like Reuters) have started to pay more attention because of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident?

(H/T anon reader)

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UK Home Secretary: "We'll stop migrants if euro collapses"

From UK's Telegraph (5/25/2012):

Theresa May: we'll stop migrants if euro collapses

The Government is drawing up plans for emergency immigration controls to curb an influx of Greeks and other European Union residents if the euro collapses, the Home Secretary discloses today.

In an interview in The Daily Telegraph, Theresa May says “work is ongoing” to restrict European immigration in the event of a financial collapse.

People from throughout the EU, with the exception of new member countries such as Romania and Bulgaria, are able to work anywhere in the single market.

However, there are growing concerns that if Greece was forced to leave the euro, it would effectively go bankrupt and millions could lose their jobs and consider looking for work abroad.

The crisis could spread quickly to other vulnerable countries such as Spain, Ireland and Portugal, although Britain is regarded as a safe haven because it is outside the single currency.

Details of the contingency plan emerged as the euro crisis deepened further yesterday.

Catalonia was forced to turn to the Spanish government for a bail-out and speculation mounted that Bankia, the troubled Spanish bank, would need £15  billion in state support. European markets fell again as the euro dropped in value against other major currencies.

The Home Secretary says that the Government is already “looking at the trends” to determine whether immigration from beleaguered European countries is increasing. While there is no evidence of increased migration at present, she adds that it is “difficult to say how it is going to develop in coming weeks”.

On the subject of whether emergency immigration controls are under consideration, Mrs May says: “It is right that we do some contingency planning on this [and] that is work that is ongoing.”

The introduction of immigration controls within the EU would undermine a key part of the single market. However, it is allowed in “exceptional” circumstances under European law.

Controls are most likely to include restrictions on people seeking to work in Britain, who could be made to apply for visas.

Several European governments introduced temporary immigration controls when countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic joined the EU, to stop an influx of workers. France also threatened to reintroduce passport controls at the Italian border following an influx of Libyan and Tunisian refugees during the Arab Spring.

David Cameron has already said that Britain has made contingency plans to deal with the break-up of the single currency.

They involve preparations to evacuate Britons from Greece if civil disobedience spirals out of control, and for banks to take steps to protect

The last paragraph looks incomplete, but that's what is there at The Telegraph.

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UK's Telegraph: Prepare for riots in euro collapse, Foreign Office warns

Brits are preparing for "when", not "if", euro collapses.

From The Telegraph (11/26/2011):

British embassies in the eurozone have been told to draw up plans to help British expats through the collapse of the single currency, amid new fears for Italy and Spain.

As the Italian government struggled to borrow and Spain considered seeking an international bail-out, British ministers privately warned that the break-up of the euro, once almost unthinkable, is now increasingly plausible.

Diplomats are preparing to help Britons abroad through a banking collapse and even riots arising from the debt crisis.

The Treasury confirmed earlier this month that contingency planning for a collapse is now under way.

A senior minister has now revealed the extent of the Government’s concern, saying that Britain is now planning on the basis that a euro collapse is now just a matter of time.

“It’s in our interests that they keep playing for time because that gives us more time to prepare,” the minister told the Daily Telegraph.

...

The EU treaties that created the euro and set its membership rules contain no provision for members to leave, meaning any break-up would be disorderly and potentially chaotic.

If eurozone governments defaulted on their debts, the European banks that hold many of their bonds would risk collapse.

Some analysts say the shock waves of such an event would risk the collapse of the entire financial system, leaving banks unable to return money to retail depositors and destroying companies dependent on bank credit.

The Financial Services Authority this week issued a public warning to British banks to bolster their contingency plans for the break-up of the single currency.

Some economists believe that at worst, the outright collapse of the euro could reduce GDP in its member-states by up to half and trigger mass unemployment.

Analysts at UBS, an investment bank earlier this year warned that the most extreme consequences of a break-up include risks to basic property rights and the threat of civil disorder.

“When the unemployment consequences are factored in, it is virtually impossible to consider a break-up scenario without some serious social consequences,” UBS said.

(Full article at the link.)

There are prominent fund managers who have been counting on the premise that TPTB would never let the euro collapse in a disorderly way, and have invested rather heavily in the sovereign debts in the euro zone. One of them, MF Global, decided to gobble up the Italian debt, and ended up blowing itself up along with retail investors including US farmers who were using MF Global for their commodity hedging.

It is surely an interesting time. The currency blowing up in Europe, reactors blew up in Japan, the US attacking an uneasy ally (Pakistan) while a Black Friday shopper uses pepper spray to gain advantage over the other shoppers.

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UK's Nuke Plant Shut Down Because of Jellyfish

Fukushima is on-going, Fort Calhoun and Cooper in Nebraska are surrounded by water, a French nuke plant had a fire, and a UK's nuke plant was shut down by jellyfish.

What is the world coming to?

From Reuters (6/29/2011):

(Reuters) - An invasion of jellyfish into a cooling water pool at a Scottish nuclear power plant kept its nuclear reactors offline on Wednesday, a phenomenon which may grow more common in future, scientists said.

Two reactors at EDF Energy's Torness nuclear power plant on the Scottish east coast remained shut a day after they were manually stopped due to masses of jellyfish obstructing cooling water filters.

Nuclear power plants draw water from nearby seas or rivers to cool down their reactors, but if the filters which keep out marine animals and seaweed are clogged, the station shuts down to maintain temperature and safety standards.

Britain's Office for Nuclear Regulation said power plants follow a pre-planned programme when these situations occur.

Latest plant availability data from network operator National Grid showed Torness reactor 1 would return to service on July 5 and reactor 2 on July 6, but operator EDF Energy was unable to give a restart date.

Operators often take the opportunity presented by an unplanned stoppage to carry out maintenance work.

"We are working to clear the jellyfish from the waters near the power station. This work, as well as monitoring the area for more jellyfish, is ongoing," a spokesman for Britain's largest nuclear power operator, EDF Energy, said.

Scientists say jellyfish obstructing nuclear plants is a rare occurrence in Britain, though it has happened more often in other countries such as Japan.

But since it is happening in the UK, the article has to have a scientist who blames "global warming":

Increasing fishing activity and global warming are giving jellyfish populations a boost, scientists said, potentially making jellyfish invasions at nuclear power plants located near the open sea more common in the future.

"There are suggestions from some science data that over the past few years there has been an increase in swarms of jellyfish. It's possible it's linked to climate change," said Steve Hay, a plankton ecologist who specializes in jellyfish research at the Marine Scotland Science laboratory in Aberdeen.

He may well be right, but the article ends with a more mundane conclusion:

Overfishing of small fish which feed off jellyfish leaves them less exposed to natural predators and gives them more room to reproduce, the Marine Biological Association said.

Read the whole article at the link.

(h/t Irene)

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#Japan #Earthquake: Textbook UK Bureaucratic Red Tape

UK, whose parliamentary system was copied by the Japanese when Japan opened up the country, is neck in neck with Japan when it comes to bureaucratic red tape.

BBC reports that 15 UK rescue workers had to fly back home after the British Embassy in Japan refused to issue them one piece of paper necessary for them to work in Japan.

I'm sure Sir Humphreys at the British Foreign Office are lamenting the situation but saying sorry rules are rules.

From BBC News (3/16/2011, video interview at the link):

UK rescue workers say they had to leave quake-hit Japan because they could not secure the necessary paperwork from the British embassy in Tokyo.

The International Rescue Corps said they were not given permission to work in Japan because it would have made the embassy legally responsible for them.

The Foreign Office said it was "not true" it was thwarted by red tape.

The ICR's Ray Gray and Julie Ryan told the BBC they were disappointed they could not assist with rescue efforts in Japan.

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(#Libya) BBC Arabic Team Detained, Beaten, Mock-Executed by Gaddafi's Forces

After the SAS, now it's BBC's turn. But the BBC Arabic team wasn't as lucky as the SAS, who were caught by the opposition forces.

From BBC Africa (3/9/2011):

Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi's security forces detained and beat up a BBC news team who were trying to reach the strife-torn western city of Zawiya.

The three were beaten with fists, knees and rifles, hooded and subjected to mock executions by members of Libya's army and secret police.

The men were detained on Monday and held for 21 hours, but have now flown out of Libya.

......The three of them were taken to a huge military barracks in Tripoli, where they were blindfolded, handcuffed and beaten.

One of the three, Chris Cobb-Smith, said: "We were lined up against the wall. I was the last in line - facing the wall.

"I looked and I saw a plain-clothes guy with a small sub-machine gun. He put it to everyone's neck. I saw him and he screamed at me.

"Then he walked up to me, put the gun to my neck and pulled the trigger twice. The bullets whisked past my ear. The soldiers just laughed."

They also report on the Libyan detainees and how badly they were treated:

Koraltan said: "I cannot describe how bad it was. Most of them [other detainees] were hooded and handcuffed really tightly, all with swollen hands and broken ribs. They were in agony. They were screaming."

Killani said: "Four of them [detainees] were in a very bad situation. There was evidence of torture on their faces and bodies. One of them said he had at least two broken ribs. I spent at least six hours helping them drink, sleep, urinate and move from one side to another."

A senior Libyan government official later apologised for the BBC team's ordeal.

Just a slight misunderstanding. What of some beating between good friends, anyway? Show of affection, can't you see?

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UK Protesters Try to Make Citizens' Arrest of a Judge Over Council Tax

600 protesters descended on the county court in Birkenhead (which sits opposite of the city of Liverpool) in support of a man challenging his council tax bill, and attempted to make citizens' arrest of the presiding judge.

Council tax is basically a property tax assessed by the local governments in the UK, but unlike the property tax in the US where the property owners pay the tax, anyone who actually live on the property has to pay the council tax. It could be the owner who lives there, or it could be the tenant. It was introduced in 1993 by the then-prime minister John Major.

From UK's Daily Mail (3/8/2011):

Hundreds of protesters stormed a courtroom and attempted to make a citizens' arrest on a judge in support of a man challenging his council tax bill.

In chaotic scenes, police rescued Judge Michael Peake from the clutches of a mob and escorted him safely from the County Court in Birkenhead, Merseyside.

Officers were force to scramble over court benches to control the near riot as one protester shouted to 'seal the court'. Another sat in the judge's chair at the head of the court and declared the defendant be released.

Deafening cheers and chants could be heard from the crowd outside the courts and demonstrators used mobile phones to film arrests being made.

The protesters were from the anti-establishment British Constitution Group (BGC).

The demonstration was sparked when a prominent voice in the BCG, Roger Hayes, from Wirral, faced a bankruptcy hearing for non-payment of council tax.

Around 600 chanting demonstrators had massed around the court in support of Mr Hayes. Roads were blockaded and dozens of police officers deployed to keep order.

After exchanges between Mr Hayes and the judge, protesters watching from the public gallery charged at Mr Peake to make a civil arrest, chanting 'arrest that judge'.

A stand-off followed with several demonstrators staging a sit-down protest in front of police vehicles, refusing to let them pass. Several arrests were made and police dog-handlers called to the scene.

As he emerged from the court surrounded by his supporters, Mr Hayes said: 'The judges are breaking the law in their own courts. I asked him [Mr Peake] if he was serving under his oath of office.

'I asked three times for him to confirm this and he refused, so I civilly arrested the judge and I called upon some people in the court to assist me in this.

'[The protesters] were acting lawfully and the police should not have arrested them.'

The BCG's main aim is a rallying call for 'lawful rebellion.' Leaflets handed out by the crowd said: 'We, the British People have a right to govern ourselves.

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#Libya's Rebel Forces Send UK Special Force Soldiers and a Junior Diplomat Packing

7 British Special Forces soldiers and one junior diplomat were released and quickly sent off out of Libya by the opposition in Benghazi. They are now bound for Malta, on board HMS Cumberland.

From Al Jazeera TV, BBC Radio, and UK newspapers, here's what I've heard:

• These 8 Brits claimed they crossed the border from Egypt, but their passports didn't show any stamp or any confirmation that it was the case.

• They all claimed they were diplomats, but only one of them had a diplomatic passport on him. Then they claimed 7 were the security details.

• The 7 "security details" had multiple passports from different countries (apparently fake), ammunition, explosives, and maps.

• They were seen being dropped off a helicopter on a firm owned by a Brit.

Almost sounds like a comedy, like an episode in "Yes, Prime Minister". What would Sir Humphrey Appleby do, to cover up this PR disaster? As I said in my post on this subject yesterday, he would cover it up by a bigger fiasco, by sending in more troops. That's how an accomplished career bureaucrat would work. And if the troops succeed in anything, great. If they fail, fantastic. Because by then, people won't remember this minor episode of "One Diplomat and Seven Dwarfs, oops Seven SAS who got arrested in Libya and summarily sent packing".

Sure enough, Telegraph reports:

However, William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, said the Government intended to send further diplomatic personnel soon to "strengthen dialogue" with rebel leaders.

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Rebel Forces in Eastern #Libya Hold 8 British Special Forces Soldiers

More on my post about British soldiers in Libya, here's AFP (3/5/2011):

LONDON (AFP) – A British special forces unit was being held by rebels in eastern Libya following a bungled mission to put a diplomat in touch with them, The Sunday Times newspaper said, citing sources.

The broadsheet said the soldiers, thought to be up to eight men, were captured along with the junior diplomat they were escorting through the rebel-held east.

"We can neither confirm nor deny the report," a Foreign Office spokeswoman told AFP.

The Ministry of Defence in London was not immediately available for comment, but routinely does not discuss special forces operations.

The uninvited appearance of special forces alongside the diplomat "angered Libyan opposition figures who ordered the soldiers to be locked up on a military base," the weekly said.

Opponents of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi "fear he could use any evidence of Western military interference to rally patriotic support for his regime," it said.

The newspaper said that according to Libyan sources, the soldiers were taken by rebels to Libya's second city Benghazi, held by the opposition, and hauled up before a senior figure.

It cited a source close to the opposition leadership as saying rebel officials were worried that Libyan people might think from the escort party that "foreign troops have started to interfere by landing in Libya".

British service personnel have already been involved in the rescue of British nationals working on oil installations in remote desert camps.

Prime Minister David Cameron last week said Tuesday that Western countries should be stepping up contact with the Libyan opposition to gain a greater understanding of their intentions.

Foreign Secretary William Hague held telephone talks Wednesday with General Abdel Fatah Yunis, the former Libyan interior minister who defected, about the situation on the ground.

Oh boy. So what will Britain do now?

It looks like it is opting for the time-tested "Bigger Sh_t" method - to cover it up with even bigger, you know, sh_t. They are putting the troops on stand-by, ready to be deployed at 24-hour notice.

Britain has been much more eager to "intervene", compared to other Western government. I can understand, with such a big pile of sh_t they have to somehow make disappear, thanks to the likes of Sir Tony (Blair) and his pal Sir Howard at LSE.

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Situation Takes Ominous Turn in #Libya: Military intervention, Whether Libyans Like It or Not

Have we seen this line before? Yes we have seen this line before.

William Hague, British Foreign Minister:

"There have been occasions in the past when such a no-fly zone has had clear, legal, international justification even without a Security Council resolution - it depends on the situation on the ground."

More from London Evening Standard (3/1/2011):

The Government has signalled that the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya - to protect the civilian population from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's brutal crackdown - could go ahead without the backing of the United Nations.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said that while "ideally" such action would be sanctioned by a resolution of the UN Security Council, it was not necessarily essential.

"There have been occasions in the past when such a no-fly zone has had clear, legal, international justification even without a Security Council resolution," he told the BBC. "It depends on the situation on the ground."

His intervention came after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed David Cameron's call for plans to be drawn up for a no-fly zone, saying that the idea was "superfluous". As one of the five permanent members, Russia is able to veto any resolution tabled at the Security Council.

Mr Hague acknowledged that the Cabinet would have to take "full legal advice" before embarking with allies on a no-fly zone without a Security Council mandate. "You would certainly need a very strong degree of international support," he said.

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UK Student Protesters to Prince Charles and His Wife: "Off With Their Heads!"

UK students protesting the university fee hike attacked the Rolls Royce Phantom VI carrying Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, who was in a state of shock. The protesters threw paint at the car, and smashed the rear window.

Towards the end of the video, someone started to chant "Off with their heads! Off with their heads!"

Well, the last time a royal lost his head was in 1649, when Charles I was executed.

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UK's Conservatives Acting Like Labour, Want 50% Capital Gains Tax

or like Dems under Obama.

If the UK voters thought it couldn't be worse than Gordon Brown, well they may be in for a surprise. (Just like many US voters thought it couldn't be worse than George Bush.)

Higher taxes for a million as George Osborne's emergency Budget hits investors (5/17/2010 Telegraph UK)

"More than a million people could be dragged into paying capital gains tax after George Osborne confirmed that he would use his emergency Budget to hit investors.

"The Chancellor is to increase duty on capital gains even though the plan was not included in the Conservatives’ election manifesto.

"CGT on “non-business assets”, including second homes, buy-to-let properties and shares, could rise from the current 18 per cent flat rate to a top rate of 40 or even 50 per cent, to fall in line with the higher rates of income tax.

"The move could double tax bills for hundreds of thousands of investors and has been denounced as “legalised theft”. There has been speculation that the changes may be backdated to stop a “fire sale” of second homes and other assets.

"The Liberal Democrats also want the tax to kick in below the current starting level of a £10,100 profit on any investment income. A threshold of £2,000 has been suggested. Deloitte, the accountancy firm, has estimated that that would mean the number of investors forced to pay CGT each year quadrupling to about a million." [The article continues.]

The sneaky Nick Clegg (who was talking to both Labour and Conservatives) and his party want the tax increase so that the income tax is reduced for lower income families. (Sound familiar?)

Say goodbye to any hope of economic recovery.

In the US, in Japan, and in the UK, people thought they voted for change and each got a new administration. It was a change alright, just not necessarily in the direction they hoped.

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UK Economist Wants to Tax Household Debt

Oh no, don't give any more funny idea to the US prez ...

If you think this professor's talk of "negative interest" is nuts, wait till you read this article. One of the leading British economists is proposing a tax on household debt.

Radical tax on debt put to parties (Edmund Conway, 5/1/2010 Telegraph UK)

"Households should pay a new tax on every pound of debt they owe, according to one of Britain's leading economists.

"Martin Weale, director of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research, said the winner of the election should consider the plan in an effort to wean Britain off its reliance on debt. He said that a small annual levy of 1pc on all household debt, including mortgages and credit cards, could help raise £15bn a year – more than would be raised from a 3p increase in the basic rate of income tax.

"Although the suggestion will raise eyebrows, Mr Weale runs one of the country's most respected independent institutions, so may spark speculation that it could be examined by the next government. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have both pledged to overhaul the tax system to remove the favourable treatment of debt, although neither has suggested a direct levy on household borrowing.

"However, Mr Weale said that this would not only raise extra cash and discourage families from borrowing too much, but would also provide policymakers with a new lever to control the credit market.

""You would charge households 1pc on the outstanding debt," he said, "perhaps just imposing it on unsecured debt [such as credit cards and overdrafts] at first.

""One of the beauties of the idea is that you could vary the rate depending on the state of the economy."

"Britons currently owe just under £1,500bn to banks and other lenders, with £225bn of this outstanding on credit cards, overdrafts and unsecured loans, and the rest on mortgages." [Emphasis is mine. The article continues.]

So this economist wants to levy 1% tax on all debt so that the households are discouraged from borrowing, and at the same time the government has a new, significant source of income.

It is a cynical scheme. UK's economy is not exactly booming; it's more likely that people will continue to incur new debt or will be just making enough to service the existing debt. Steady stream of income is guaranteed for the government.

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U.K. Government Snoops Enter Family Homes

It's for the children, it's for the safety ...

It's very difficult to believe that this was once a country that told its king what to do (Magna Carta for King John) and not the other way around, and even got rid of the rulers whom they deemed unfit for their kingdom (Charles I, for one, whose levying of taxes without Parliament's consent, caused widespread opposition).

United Kingdom of today is planning to allow government inspectors to enter private homes to make sure the homes are child-proof. "Nanny state" is an understatement; it should be a disgrace for the country.

Health and safety snoops to enter family homes
(Robert Watts, 11/15/09 Times Online UK)

"Health and safety inspectors are to be given unprecedented access to family homes to ensure that parents are protecting their children from household accidents.

"New guidance drawn up at the request of the Department of Health urges councils and other public sector bodies to “collect data” on properties where children are thought to be at “greatest risk of unintentional injury”.

"Council staff will then be tasked with overseeing the installation of safety devices in homes, including smoke alarms, stair gates, hot water temperature restrictors, oven guards and window and door locks.

"The draft guidance by a committee at the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) has been criticised as intrusive and further evidence of the “creeping nanny state”."

Creeping?? Don't they see it's not even creeping at all but outright staring straight in their faces?

Alas, this is also a country where people, walking on a busy street, lounging in a cafe, don't even see the surveillance cameras staring at them from every conceivable angle. And they say "Surveillance camera? What surveillance camera?" When someone points them out to them, they say "Oh I didn't even notice." And these cameras are not even deterring the crimes or solving the crimes (read the article from BBC, on 8/29/09: 1000 cameras solve one crime).

Now, since the new administration in the U.S. seems to like anything European (never mind that Europeans don't usually consider Brits European), maybe it will follow U.K. on the issue after it takes over the state and local transit system. Who can argue against "It's for the kids..." ?

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Apology for Kids Shipped from Britain to Colonies

... "but we meant well" would be their excuse.

Apology for kids shipped from Britain to colonies
(11/15/09 AP via Yahoo News)

"LONDON – As many as 150,000 poor British children were shipped off to the colonies over three and a half centuries, often taken from struggling families under programs intended to provide them with a new start — and the Empire with a supply of sturdy white workers.

"Forty years after the program stopped, Britain and Australia are saying sorry to the child migrants, who were promised a better life only to suffer abuse and neglect thousands of miles from home."

According to the article, this program was still on-going as late as 1967, with the bulk of "shipment" occurred from the late 19th century onward.

The reason?

"Authorities believed they were acting in the children's best interests, but the migration also was intended to stop them from being a burden on the British state while supplying the receiving countries with potential workers. A 1998 British parliamentary inquiry noted that "a further motive was racist: the importation of 'good white stock' was seen as a desirable policy objective in the developing British Colonies."" [emphasis is mine]

Good intention by the authority often ends in paving the way to Hell, particularly for the receiving end of that "good intention" (in this case, children).

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Housing Boom in London (No, This Is Not 2007)

with low inventory, seller's asking price all-time high.

More green shoots.

London Agents ‘Sold Out’ as Home Asking Prices Jump to Record
(10/19/09 Bloomberg)

"Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- London home sellers raised asking prices to a record high this month and led gains across the U.K. as the shortage of properties for sale intensified, Rightmove Plc said.

"The average cost of a home in the capital rose 6.5 percent, the most since records began in 2002, to 416,157 pounds ($680,000), the owner of the U.K.’s biggest residential property Web site said today in a statement. Prices climbed 2.8 percent across Britain as transaction levels dropped by half from 2007."

...and

"“There’s an acute shortage of property,” said Robert Green, a real-estate agent at John D Wood & Co. in Chelsea, southwest London. “Demand is very strong. Also mortgage availability is improving. It’s unlikely we’ll see enough supply come to the market to see prices falling.”

"Demand from foreign buyers is also helping drive up prices in central London due to the weakness of the pound, Green said. The U.K. currency has dropped about 17 percent against the euro in the past year."

(You can read the entire article by clicking on the link above.)

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New Role for Caribbean Banking Center - Home of Gitmo Detainees

So, Caribbean Banking Centers, which include Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Netherlands Antilles and Panama according to the U.S. Treasury Department, may not be just for buying up U.S. Treasuries when no one wants them. One of them, Bermuda, is playing a prominent role outside financial matters.

America's 'Bermuda Solution' angers Britain (6/13/09, Independent):

"Senior aides to President Barack Obama accompanied four Uighur prisoners as they were flown from Guantanamo Bay to the British colony of Bermuda, without the UK being informed, it was revealed yesterday.

"In an escalating diplomatic row over the transfer of the former terrorist suspects, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed the transfer with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband in what was said to be an uneasy conversation. Privately Whitehall officials accused America of treating Britain, with whom it is supposed to have a "special relationship", with barely disguised contempt.

"The prime minister of Bermuda, Ewart Brown, disclosed that talks regarding the Uighurs had been going on for a full month, with London kept in the dark..."

"The Bermudan premier denied that there had been any financial sweetener from Washington, and said that Bermuda was simply "playing the Good Samaritan" in recognition of its 400-hundred-year-old friendship with the United States."

(Why did he even bother to say that?)

Bermuda is a British colony, and Brits were kept in the dark, and they are furious.

Understandably so. But they should have guessed how the U.K. would be treated under the new administration when Mr. Gordon Brown got a set of DVDs (incompatible in UK) of Hollywood movies as a gift from the U.S., and when their Queen got an iPod with the US president's speeches as the state gift.

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