Mystery Air Force X-37B space plane to land soon

CNN.com

The U.S. Air Force's mysterious unmanned space plane, the X-37B, is about to come back to Earth after more than two years in orbit on a mission the military won't tell us much about.

The X-37B is expected to land at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the Air Force said.

The base did not give an exact time for the landing, but a notice to aviators and mariners on the Federal Aviation Administration's website said airspace around the Southern California base would be closed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT Tuesday.

"Team Vandenberg stands ready to implement safe landing operations for the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, the third time for this unique mission," Col. Keith Baits, commander of the 30th Space Wing, said in a statement.

The X-37B, which looks like a small space shuttle, lifted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on December 11, 2012. At the time, the Air Force said its mission would last about nine months.

The X-37B "is designed to demonstrate reusable spacecraft technologies for America's future in space and operating experiments which can be returned to, and examined, on Earth," an Air Force statement said.

"Technologies being tested in the program include advanced guidance, navigation and control, thermal protection systems, avionics, high temperature structures and seals, conformal reusable insulation, lightweight electromechanical flight systems, and autonomous orbital flight, re-entry and landing."

But as the spacecraft has been in orbit for more than 22 months, speculation on other uses abounds, including testing of a secret space weapon or spying activities.

The previous mission of the X-37B, which landed at Vandenberg on June 11, 2012, lasted 469 days, according to the Air Force. That mission was flown by the second of the Air Force's two X-37B orbiters. The current mission is the second for the first of the orbiters, which was refurbished after it spent 224 days in orbit following an April 2010 launch.

When the current mission launched, the Air Force said it might not be the last.

"Officials anticipate multiple missions will be required to satisfy the test program objectives, but the exact number of missions has not been determined," a statement said.

The X-37B spacecraft is 29 feet, 3 inches long and 9 feet, 6 inches high with a wingspan of 14 feet and 11 inches. It weighs about 5.5 tons. It is lifted into space by United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rockets.

La Habana informó a los cooperantes que las posibilidades de no regresar son del 90%

Diario de Cuba

El Gobierno prometió pagar 8.000 dólares mensuales a los colaboradores sanitarios que luchan contra el ébola en África, así como "entregarles" una casa y un automóvil a su regreso.

Según fuentes médicas, a las que tuvo acceso DIARIO DE CUBA, las autoridades dieron a conocer las condiciones en reuniones con el personal médico. Después de una primera convocatoria, informaron que los candidatos debían tener "entre 45 y 55 años, sin familia".

"Dijeron que las posibilidades de no regresar eran del 90 por ciento", contó la fuente.

Los salarios en dólares serán "depositados" en cuentas cubanas y los empleados, en teoría, tendrían acceso al mismo a su regreso de la misión. Un médico de Santiago de Cuba dijo el sábado a Radio Martí que "se comenta que les pagarían más de 10.000 dólares mensuales".

Las fuentes no supieron explicar quién financia el envío de personal cubano a África, si La Habana o la Organización Mundial de la Salud, ni con cuánto dinero estaría quedándose el régimen cubano.

Según la Red de Comunicadores Comunitarios, los colaboradores cubanos habrían viajado con "un seguro ofrecido por la Organización Mundial de la Salud", pero el beneficiario sería el Estado.

"Son los comentarios que nos han llegado a través de gente cercana, de familiares", explicó Martha Beatriz Roque, coordinadora de la Red.

DIARIO DE CUBA reveló el viernes pasado que los médicos que enfermen de ébola no serán repatriados a la Isla.

Uno de los preseleccionados, que finalmente no viajó, dijo que los cooperantes deben "firmar un documento en el que renuncian a regresar si contraen la enfermedad en África".

La medida incluye la inhumación de los restos, en caso de fallecer, en el país donde prestan colaboración.

Raúl Castro despidió la semana pasada a los primeros 165 profesionales de la salud que viajaron a Sierra Leona para combatir el virus.

Este lunes, el medio oficial CubaSí acusó a la "maquinaria mediática terrorista contra Cuba", en referencia a la prensa del exilio, de querer "convertir a esos médicos en una amenaza para la población cubana".

"Se regodean morbosamente en la posibilidad de su muerte —toquemos madera y crucemos los dedos— e intentan desatar el pánico con los 'cuchillos largos' de la sospecha y la incertidumbre", añadió la web oficial.

"Conducta": Manipulacion neokaxtrizta

AmericaTeVeCanal41

Protesta en Santiago de Cuba contra los abusos policiales con los cuentapropistas

UNPACU

The Castros Are Responsible for Cuba's Failures, Not the U.S. - NYTimes.com

NYTimes.com

Jorge Benitez is the director of NATOSource and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. 

Let's avoid all the rhetoric about Cuba and focus on the facts. The first relevant fact is that Cuba trades with 99 percent of the world. Thus, the poor health of the Cuban economy is due to the disastrous policies of the Castro government and not because it is deprived of trade.

This is not the fault of the United States, because we have the right to prefer to trade with other countries that do not oppress their people. The poverty in Cuba is also not the fault of the Cuban people because the Castro regime has robbed them of the power to make economic decisions.

The government keeps most of the foreign money and hands out only pennies to the Cuban people. Lifting U.S. sanctions would only add our dollars to this corrupt trade.

It is the Castro regime that is totally responsible for the misery in Cuba. The most overlooked fact in this debate is that every euro, ruble, peso or Canadian dollar invested in Cuba goes directly to Castro and his cronies. Foreign businesses are not allowed to pay wages to their Cuban employees. Instead, they are required to turn the money over to the state. The Castro government keeps most of the foreign money and hands out only pennies to the Cuban people. Lifting U.S. sanctions would only add our dollars to this corrupt trade.

Another relevant fact is that since John F. Kennedy imposed sanctions on the dictator in Havana in 1962, every U.S. president and every Congress, as well as the majority of the American public have supported sanctions against the Castro government. Therefore, critics of the sanctions need to stop their racist campaign of blaming a small ethnic group for controlling U.S. policy on this issue.

The time to end U.S. sanctions is after Cuba has a democratically elected government that allows fair trade. Until then, changing U.S. policy to subsidize the Castro regime’s exploitation of 11 million Cubans will remain unpopular with the American people and against our national interests.

Cuba's Soviet Legacy: Inside the Caribbean island's unfinished nuclear power station that lays just 180 miles off the Florida coast

Daily Mail Online

Cuba is an nation full of 1950s automobiles but at one time the Caribbean island was almost a nuclear power, less than 100 miles from the United States coastline.

It was 1976 when Cuba’s revolutionary government, headed by Fidel Castro, was began looking for a solution to create a reliable and stable form of energy.

After talks between Cuba and the USSR, an agreement was reached to construct a twin-reactor nuclear plant near the southern town of Juragua.

Built with Russian money, it was suggested that just one of the reactors would provide enough energy to cater to 15% of Cuba. A new city was built in 1983 to house the site’s workers known as Ciudad Nuclear.

The United States were horrified at the idea of two 440-megawatt Soviet-built nuclear power reactors within 30 minutes flying time of the Florida coastline.

In the end, they need not have worried and it's unlikely that Cuba's nuclear power station will ever be completed. When the Soviet Union began to crumble in 1991, the completion date got pushed back to the mid-90s and the money began to dry up.

Now all that remains are the ruins of bigger political ambitions to provide true power to the people. 

Photographer Darmon Richter managed to sneak in and take some revealing photos. 

See the full collection here: http://www.thebohemianblog.com or www.facebook.com/TheBohemianBlog

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Cuba’s revolutionary government, headed by Fidel Castro, had long been looking for a solution in the form of nuclear energy

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The solution seemed to arrive in 1976, after talks between Cuba and the USSR resulted in an agreement to construct a twin-reactor nuclear plant

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The plant near the southern town of Juragua, was funded with Soviet money, with early projections suggesting that the completion of the first reactor alone would cater to over 15% of Cuba’s energy needs

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Construction began in 1983, as the foundations were lain for the two reactors along with a sizeable turbine hall at a site close to the Caribbean

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The United States, however, opposed Cuba’s nuclear program from the get-go. The Juragua site lays just 180 miles south of Florida

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The US was less than enthusiastic about having two 440-megawatt Soviet-built nuclear power reactors at their back door

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The fall of the Soviet Union had a crippling effect on the project. The money from Moscow dried up, and in September 1992, Fidel Castro announced the Juragua project temporarily suspended

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The first reactor was estimated somewhere around 90-97% complete, with 37% of equipment fully installed; the second reactor had not reached more than 30% completion

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There have been numerous talks about bringing the Cuban nuclear program back to life

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In 1995, the Russian Federation granted Cuba a $50 million loan for support work at the Juragua site. It still fell a long way short though, of the estimated $800 million required to complete the two reactors

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In 1997, an official from the Ministry of the Russian Federation stated their intention to resume construction of the Cuban nuclear power station

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President Vladimir Putin visited Cuba in 2000, and supposedly offered Fidel Castro $800 million with which to finish the project… which Castro refused

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in October 2013 Cuba’s new president, the younger brother Raúl Castro, accepted Russia’s gesture of ‘brotherly love’: and Putin cancelled $32 billion of debt owed by Cuba to the Soviet Union

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The building twisted in on itself, a labyrinthine knot of winding passages and worn stairvases

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The building contains various chambers including some with half-furnished with half-built apparatus, others open and bare

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A narrow alley runs between the security wall and the back of the turbine hall. Photographer Darmon Richter spotted a gap in the brickwork – a hole large enough to climb through, that had been hastily patched up with a few clinging strands of barbed wire

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The view from the top of the reactor on the sixteenth floor provides an overview of the doomed containment structure

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The bare chamber was riddled with deep holes and square pits that dropped away into darkness. According to some of the local stories the reactor went as far beneath the ground as above

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Other rooms contained pillars, festooned in switch boxes and wires… others with arms and frames presumably designed for holding something delicate

Susan Rice: 'No Indication' of Transfer of Power in North Korea

               
           

Also Why Kim is probably still in charge >>

Contradictions, Misrepresentations and Omissions: The New York Times' Latest Cuba Editorial

capitolhillcubans

Today, The New York Times published another one of its periodic editorials asking President Obama to "End the Embargo on Cuba."

The editorial begins by highlighting President Obama's many foreign policy crises -- or as they put it, "the dismal state of troubled bilateral relations" throughout the world.

Yet ironically, many of these crises (Syria, Russia, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, etc.) have transpired -- or been aggravated -- precisely due to foreign policies that the NYT has long advocated.

Now, as regards Cuba, the NYT claims to really know what it's talking about.

Except, clearly it doesn't.

This latest editorial was primarily penned by Ernesto Londoño [photo], a new young member of the NYT's Editorial Board, who was a fine field reporter in Afghanistan and Iraq, but whose

knowledge of Cuba policy is limited to regurgitating what his "sources" selectively told him this week.

Such inexperience on this topic leads to contradictions, omissions and misrepresentations.

Let's begin with a glaring contradiction.

The editorial itself recognizes that, "in recent years, a devastated economy has forced Cuba to make reforms."

That's right.

So why stop forcing it?

History has proven that Castro only pursues "reforms" out of necessity -- never voluntarily or out of "good-will."

So how exactly would replacing billions in former Soviet and now Venezuelan subsidies, and in plummeting European and Canadian investments, with U.S. trade and investments, further "reforms"?

It wouldn't.

As a matter of fact, many observers argue that the reason why Castro refuses to tackle major reforms is because he's hopeful that the U.S. will lift the embargo and bail-out his regime. This NYT editorial only adds to Castro's (false) sense of hope.

Now let's look at the laundry list of misrepresentations and omissions.

First, the editorial purports that lifting the U.S. embargo would "help a population that has suffered enormously since Washington ended diplomatic relations in 1961."

The Cuban population hasn't suffered enormously "since Washington ended diplomatic relations in 1961." It has "suffered enormously" since Castro installed a repressive, totalitarian dictatorship, which let's not forget -- the NYT's infamous reporter, Herbert Matthews, white-washed for years.

Moreover, it fails to explain how lifting the embargo would actually help the Cuban population.

In the last five decades, every single "foreign trade and investment" transaction with Cuba has been with a state entity, or individual acting on behalf of the state. The state's exclusivity regarding trade and investment was enshrined in Article 18 of Castro's 1976 Constitution.

Thus, how would allowing U.S. companies and tourists to transact business with Castro's monopolies help the Cuban people?

Better yet -- how have the billions in foreign trade and investment that countries throughout the world have conducted with Castro's monopolies benefited the Cuban people?

Needless to say, the NYT editorial eludes this key point.

Instead, it talks about Cuba's "new" foreign investment law.

But omits how it violates international labor law, or the dozens of foreign businessmen who have been arbitrarily imprisoned in recent years and had their companies confiscated by Castro. These include some of Castro's (now former) biggest foreign business partners, e.g. Britan's Coral Capital and Canada's Tokmakjian Group.

It talks about the new Port of Mariel.

But omits the most significant cargo to have gone through this new port: 240 tons of Cuban weapons destined for North Korea, which was found in blatant violation of international sanctions.

(Note that the editorial contains absolutely no mention whatsoever of this major Cuban arms trafficking scandal, despite it being the largest weapons shipment to North Korea ever interdicted and the first time a nation in the Americas was found in violation of international sanctions.)

It minimizes how Cuba's regime "still harasses and detains dissidents."

But omits that political arrests are at historic highs. Already this year, there have been over 7,599 documented political arrests -- quadrupling the year-long tally of 2,074 political arrests in 2010.

It lauds how "in recent years officials have released political prisoners who had been held for years."

But omits any mention of all those who are still serving long prison terms, as well as new political prisoners who have been arrested in recent years and remain arbitrarily imprisoned, e.g. The Ladies in White's Sonia Garro, rapper Angel Yunier Remon, labor leader Ulises Gonzalez Moreno and activist Ivan Fernandez Depestre.

It praises Cuba's "constructive role" in the long and inconclusive Colombian peace negotiations.

But omits how Cuba's regime has effectively undermined Venezuela's democratic institutions; wrested political and operational control of its government; and led direct a campaign of repression that has resulted in the arrest, torture and murder of innocent student protesters

It focuses on the Castro regime preparing for a "post-embargo" Cuba.

But omits any mention of a democratic transition, nor of Cuba's courageous opposition groups, including The Ladies in White, the Cuban Patriotic Union (UNPACU), the National Resistance Front, the Estado de Sats project, or The Emilia Project -- all of whom oppose the U.S. lifting the embargo.

It alleges normalizing diplomatic relations will somehow lead to a "breakthrough" in the case of Alan Gross.

But omits that the Castro regime is holding Gross hostage in order to extort the United States into releasing five (now three) spies convicted in federal courts of targeting military installations and conspiracy to murder three American citizens and a permanent resident of the U.S.

It then discusses the upcoming Summit of the Americas, suggesting Cuba has been "traditionally excluded at the insistence of Washington."

This is a complete misrepresentation.

Cuba remains excluded due to a formal commitment made at the 2001 Quebec Summit that held democracy was an "essential condition" for participation in the Summit. Surely, the U.S. should not take its formal commitments lightly.

And last -- but not least -- it wouldn't be a NYT editorial without mention of its long-standing "generational shift" argument that young Cuban-Americans hold "softer views" regarding relations with Cuba's regime.

Yet, it fails to disclose that the NYT has been pitching this "generational shift" argument since December 5th, 1965, when it first gleefully suggested that:

“The very active anti-Castro groups in Miami have faded into virtual obscurity.”

Then again, on October 10, 1974:

“Virtually all of several dozen Cubans interviewed would like to visit Cuba either to see their relatives or just their country, which they have not seen for 10 years or more; and some segments of the exile community, especially young refugees brought up and educated here, are not interested in the Cuban issues.”

And on March 23, 1975:

“For the first time significant number of exiles are beginning to temper their emotion with hardnosed geopolitical realism.”

And on August 31, 1975:

“A majority of the persons interviewed — especially the young, who make up more than half of the 450,000 exiles here — are looking forward to the time when it will be possible for them to travel to Cuba. Even businessmen, who represent a more conservative group than the young, are thinking about trading with Cuba once the embargo is totally lifted.”

And on July 4, 1976:

“A new generation of professionals between 25 and 35 years of age has replaced the older exile leadership.”

Et al.

So much for credibility.

Cuba autoriza inversion extranjera para financiar restauracion de inmuebles

La holandesa de lujo Kempinski confirmada para el proyecto que se ejecuta en la Manzana de Gómez

Las empresas extranjeras pueden ahora financiar la restauración de inmuebles con fines turísticos, como variante en la modalidad de contratos de administración hotelera.

Continuar leyendo en cubasi >>

Descubierto agente cubano que vigilaba opositores venezolanos en Chile

Oscar Suarez

Familia cubana relata sus memorias como desterrados del Escambray

Leer en El Nuevo Herald >>

What would Oscar Pistorius face if he's sent to prison?

CNN.com

(CNN) -- A stuffy, overcrowded cell. Perhaps two or three men to a single bunk. Lockdown for most of the day.

Is this what awaits South Africa's Oscar Pistorius when he's sentenced for culpable homicide in the death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp?

Legal experts say it's impossible to predict what sentence Judge Thokozile Masipa may hand down. But many will be watching to see if the Olympian's dramatic fall from grace ends with time behind bars.

  Remembering the 'Blade Runner's' career

Before and after the killing: the Pistorius I knew

If that's indeed the case, the chances are that life would not be easy for South Africa's most famous disabled athlete.

A double amputee, he needs prosthetic limbs to get around. And rights campaigners warn that South African prisons -- which they say are notorious for overcrowding, gang violence and insanitary conditions -- are often a difficult environment even for the fittest of inmates.

Nooshin Erfani-Ghadimi, project coordinator for the Johannesburg-based Wits Justice Project, a civil society group, believes Pistorius would likely receive far better treatment than the average prisoner -- as he has throughout the judicial process, she says. That means he might get a cell to himself.

Even so, she told CNN, "I don't think anyone with a disability necessarily will be able to be provided for at the moment in a way that ensures that they would have the correct medical treatment, that they have the correct physical structures."

Some of South Africa's prisons are better than others, of course.

But whichever one might house Pistorius, there's no question that conditions would be a far cry from those in the $560,000 home in the luxury Silverwoods Estate, on the outskirts of Pretoria, where he shot Steenkamp dead last year.

Pretoria Central

South Africa's department of correctional services has policies in place for dealing with physically disabled inmates, Erfani-Ghadimi said.

What's next for Oscar Pistorius?

"Policy and practice, however, are often poles apart. Unfortunately, prisoners with disabilities face the same inhumane conditions as other able-bodied inmates."

Correctional Services Department spokesman Koos Gerber previously told CNN that South Africa's detention facilities, whether for remand prisoners or those serving prison terms, "can accommodate people with any disabilities."

There's been speculation that Pistorius could be sent to Pretoria Central Prison, although no one really knows.

It's not easy for rights researchers to get access inside, Erfani-Ghadimi said. But the prison does not have the best reputation.

The Pretoria News reported last year on a case brought by six inmates who told Pretoria High Court of having to share a single cell with others, with no ventilation, dirty mattresses and no bedding. They were locked up for 18 hours a day, the court heard, and threatened with sexual violence by gangs.

Steenkamp's mother stunned by verdict, wants to meet Pistorius

Medical care 'overstretched'

On average, Erfani-Ghadimi said, South African prisons are overcrowded, putting a strain on sanitation, ventilation and medical care.

The overcrowding means three men may share a single cell, or communal cells for 40 people are jammed with double the number they were intended to hold, with men sleeping in double or triple bunks, according to the Wits Justice Project.

One of the biggest risks associated with that is contracting tuberculosis, labeled the biggest killer in South Africa's prisons in a recent report, Erfani-Ghadimi said. The disease spreads easily in packed, steamy cells with little air.

In some prisons, overstretched nurses can never see all the people needing help on any day. Inconsistent treatment regimens mean drug-resistant TB strains develop and spread, while disruptions to antiretroviral programs also impact detainees who are HIV-positive.

"Also in terms of health management we've seen stories of people who are diabetic and have gone into insulin shock because they've been arrested and haven't been able to get to their medication," Erfani-Ghadimi said.

Speaking earlier this year, Correctional Services Minister Sibusiso Ndebele said that "overcrowding at correctional facilities is a global challenge," and that South Africa's prison population had dropped over the past decade.

As of April this year, there were about 157,400 inmates, of whom nearly 28% were on remand -- a term used for pretrial custody, according to official figures. The country's total population is about 54 million.

Who is the judge that'll be sentencing him?

Double-edged sword

There's no doubt that Pistorius' case has put South Africa's justice system under the international spotlight.

While the scrutiny may have been uncomfortable at time for South African authorities, it appears to have worked in the track star's favor until now.

When he was first detained after Steenkamp's killing, the African National Congress Women's League complained that he got special treatment, both in where he was held and in access to his family.

Some impoverished suspects who can't afford a lawyer or bail spend months or even years waiting for their cases just to come to court. But Pistorius was released on bail with relaxed conditions, and his trial began little more than a year after Steenkamp's death on February 14, 2013.

Erfani-Ghadimi describes his progress through the legal system as "an anomaly" in terms of both speed and the expert resources dedicated to it.

"Other cases normally take much longer, and both the victims and the accused face the strong probability of a miscarriage of justice," she wrote in a piece published on The Conversation website.

However, when it comes to serving time in prison, the athlete's fame -- and the extra attention that goes with it -- could be a double-edged sword when it comes to getting special privileges, she told CNN.

"A lot of people are able to subvert (the system) and pay bribes and get away with things, but he hasn't been able to," she said. "But on the other hand he has been able to get advantages that other people haven't."

'Living here is very hard'

Some of these differences may be stark.

The Wits Justice Project has highlighted the case of paraplegic inmate Ronnie Fakude, held on remand for 28 months before being freed on bail earlier this year with an electronic tag, in a pilot monitoring project.

Before his release, he described his experience to Carolyn Raphaely, a senior journalist with the project.

"I'm a 50-year-old paraplegic and have been awaiting trial for more than two years since my arrest on fraud charges in December 2011. I can't walk, I can't control my bowel or bladder and have to wear disposable baby nappies which my family buy for me. I'm paralysed from level four and don't have a wheelchair," he said, according to the project.

"If I use my [crutches] I have to pull my legs and throw them to the front. That's how I walk. Living here is very hard. We are 88 men in this cell which is meant for 32. Sometimes there are more. Twelve people sleep in two bunks pushed together, that's six on the top and six on the bottom. I have my own bed on the bottom, which is a privilege. Luckily, I don't have to share because of my medical status.

"There are eight or 10 people with TB in this cell and four or five we know are HIV-positive. A guy with multi-drug resistant TB sleeps on top of me. I feel vulnerable all the time."

Erfani-Ghadimi argues that as a severely disabled man, Fakude should never have been in detention at all. And if she had her way, the same would be true for Pistorius.

Cuban children train for the circus

Ventajas politicas oportunistas en la visita de Antonio Muñoz a Hialeah

eltubeyero22

Por Andrés Pascual

Hace muy poco falleció en La Habana el ex pitcher Ernesto Morilla; sin editar, Diario de Cuba repite un par de inexactitudes escritas por el libelo digital castrista JIT y deja de colgar otros adjetivos merecidos, por ejemplo: NO DESCUBRIÓ A URBANO GONZÁLEZ, NO JUGÓ CON LUQUE Y MIGUEL ÁNGEL, NO JUGÓ “PARA LOS CLUBES DE MIAMI BEACH”, SINO PARA UNO DE ELLOS, EL CLASE D DE LA LIGA DE LA FLORIDA, PORQUE TAMPOCO VISTIÓ LA FRANELA DEL QUE PERTENECIÓ A LA INTERNACIONAL CLASE TRIPLE A.

Pero si fue chivato desde el primer día, el miliciano informante que le pusieron detrás a Fermín Guerra después de 1970, cuando el Isleño cortaba el césped de un estadio habanero hasta que salió de Cuba por el Mariel.

Como lanzador, de acuerdo a la clase histórica de la serpentina nacional, fue un “pichercito” que, aunque jugó en el champion y en otros países de la región como Nicaragua, no era gran cosa: NUNCA ALCANZÓ LA DOBLE A EN EL BEISBOL ORGANIZADO. Puede incluirlo, sin ninguna consideración ni remordimientos, en el grupo de los que “hicieron daño”, como Gilberto, Hiram González, Quicutis y unos cuantos más. “Chico” Morillas tenía 93 años.

Ahora voy hacer acto de confesión y compromiso: como a cualquier patriota cubano (fíjese que no utilizo el desacreditado “exiliado”), conocer que Antonio Muñoz se haya autoproclamado “soy de la ROBOLUCIÓN”, o “yo sí soy robolucionario” me parte en dos la gandinga. Sin embargo, tengo entendido que exageraron un poco lo que confesó. Incluso se deshizo en elogios a la Grandes Ligas y lo manipularon. Como siempre, Jorge Ebro, ni muerto, hace la pregunta caliente, SE LA DEJA AL FOTÓGRAFO.

Lo que estoy escribiendo, porque sé cosas y no solo de Muñoz, tiene como objetivo DEFENDERLO, así como lo leyó.

La tiranía castrista no puede CONVALIDAR el daño que le hicieron al pelotero con nada, salvo que hoy es un hombre enfermo grave, tiene su familia allá y le pueden quitar el tratamiento médico muerto de risa o lo matan al regreso en el mismo hospital. Yo sé que habrá quienes digan “que se quede, que aquí puede ir al médico”, pero el individuo, que llegó diciendo que diría cuánto de bien lo ha tratado un Miami que no es todo como él piensa, tendrá razones, también se retrató con el tirano…

Pero metió la mano en la candela por Cheo y acusó de movida sucia política lo que le hicieron al ex antesalista y, hace unos años, cuando no quisieron cambiarle un pantalón en una tienda porque no le dio la gana al administrador, se “mandó y se zumbío” contra esa “robolución” que ha reclamado suya.

A Antonio Muñoz (a la derecha con Marquetti en Hialeah), que es de Condado, en el Escambray, se le alzaron familiares, otros colaboraron con estos y a la mayoría los desterraron a Matanzas o a Pinar del Río, yo conocí algunos. El ex jugador JAMÁS dejó de visitarlos y me consta, no solo cuando viajaba a vueltabajo con su equipo.

Hace algunos años llamé a BORREGO ÁLVAREZ PARA HACERLE UNA PREGUNTA SOBRE EL ÚLTIMO JUEGO DE LA PEQUEÑA SERIE MUNDIAL DE 1959, EL PINAREÑO SE NEGÓ PORQUE “ME PUEDES JODER EL VIAJECITO A CUBA”. Muñoz ha enfrentado la crítica y Borrego no tuvo valor para decir que iba, a pesar de que su hermano Raúl se estaba muriendo, yo no sé usted, pero, para mi, hay diferencia de valores ¿Cuántos han sido o son como Borrego dentro del exilio? Yo conozco más de 10 casos, va y cualquier día, si me recuestan mucho, canto la Guantanamera.

Después de saber lo que todo el mundo sabe sobre Muñoz y un poco más, también sé que no hay un solo individuo que pueda señalarlo como sicario ni como chivato, eso también me consta.

En el plano deportivo yo no considero a Muñoz una gloria de Cuba, porque perteneció al deporte castrista, cuyo propietario es la tiranía y nadie puede relacionarlo con Cuba por mucho que se arriesguen, aquellas palabras (prohibidas hoy) como gusano, traidor, vendepatria…o que no puedan jugar “los que se robaron los americanos” en ese equipo que defienden algunos como representación de mi patria, debería convencer de una vez a todo el mundo.

Tampoco es una leyenda de la estatura que lo proponen, porque solo actuó para un público atípico, por lo que no es conocido en Venezuela ni en otros países de la región en los que Cuba influyó tanto que les llevó el juego.

Pero hay que tener claro, aunque sea subjetivo porque no se probó, que Antonio Muñoz y mil más no son legítimas glorias de su pueblo por efecto de la horda, aunque sé que habrá quienes pregunten “¿Por qué no se quedo?”

Gonzalo Márquez jugó en Grandes Ligas porque Muñoz y otros peloteros cubanos no pudieron jugar aquí, si nunca hubiera existido la tiranía, el 80 % de los hispanos que han actuado en las MAYORES desde 1962 No HUBIERAN LLEGADO, tampoco EL 65 A TRIPLE A, como fue siempre. Para despejar dudas, fíjese en lo que hizo Abreu sin haber jugado al duro nunca, LO QUE LE PAGAN A ESTA GENTE, o en Puig, o en Céspedes, o en Ramírez.. sin ningún tipo de duda, MUÑOZ ERA MEJOR QUE TODOS JUNTOS, MUCHO MÁS PROMETEDOR CUANDO TUVO 20 AÑOS y Casanova y Capiró…

En todo se debe ser justo, por ejemplo, yo no defiendo a nadie que haya usado esteroides, pero he sido menos duro con Canseco, porque hizo obras de caridad conocidas: llevó jugadores a Guantánamo en 1994, produjo un juego de softball a beneficio de los afectados por el huracán Andrews…estas actividades las rechazó Rafael Palmeiro, quien, como que consumió estimulantes, dejó números tan indignos como todos los otros, pero, por lo que no puedo tirarle ni una camisa vieja por los hombros al ex primera base se debe a que, cuando Canseco y un par de jugadores más llamaron a no salir a un encuentro como protesta por el secuestro de Elián González, este tipo dijo, desde el terreno donde estaba, que jugaría, que ese era un problema de “la gente de Miami” y hasta Liván u Ordonez se quedaron en el banco también.

A Muñoz hay que darle tiempo, va y el año próximo canta contra la Internacional, es decir, si está vivo y ojalá lo esté; se le debe dar el crédito que le dan a todos hasta que hable contra Fidel y Raúl, sin tener en cuenta cuánto se demoró para hacerlo, hasta que diga que estaba equivocado; claro, como hacen con todos, supongo que le gestionarán un grant, gratis no, que nadie hace nada gratis en este país y, por lo que veo, tampoco en Cuba; a fin de cuentas, después de hacer daño como 4 caballos juntos matando negros buenos en África, a Fariñas y a Vladimiro se lo aceptaron, y a Espinosa Chepe, a Huberto Mario, a Wilfredo, a Ebro, a Cuesta Morúa…y a generales y coroneles de la CI o a “altas figuras dirigentes”, todos elementos que han negado al Cristo de la verdad demostrada, que han necesitado “ver” (los billetes, los viajes…) para reconocer que estaban equivocados.

Como sé que Muñoz no se metió con nadie y todos los líderes de la oposición vividora y ghandista fueron oficialistas, IGUAL a “tuvieron que hacerle mal a alguien alguna vez”, incluso otros que no están en esos movimientos, yo le doy la oportunidad para que, cuando quiera, se cambie “de palo pa’ rumba” con un antecedente a favor: LE DESBARATARON LA FAMILIA y no se esconde.

Es un descaro que a un hombre al que han afectado numerosas veces, que en otras ha dicho allá lo que siente, quieran echárselo a lobos que, muchos de ellos, no tienen ningun valor ni ciudadano ni político, por donde quiera que se mire.

Fears: IMFC’s Tharman Says Low Growth Scenario Can Be Averted

International Monetary Fund

El Ebola y el vuelo MH-17: Una hipotesis conspiratoria

la hipotesis conspiratoria que propone EL ROBOT PESCADOR  acerca que el derribo del boeing 777 de malaysia airlines en los alrededores de la villa de grabovo en la region ucraniana de donetsk envuelta en una guerra civil entre las autoridades de kiev y los separatistas rusos y apenas a 40 kms de la frontera con rusia, habria permitido unir "diversos intereses en diferentes asuntos, algo así como una oportunidad para matar varios pájaros de un tiro” , no se sostiene argumentalmente, pues aceptando la tesis de la conveniencia de eliminar fisicamente al consultor de la oms glenn thomas, existen mil maneras distintas de cumplir con ese objetivo puntual sin necesidad de sacrificar la vida del resto de las 297 personas entre pasajeros y tripulantes y abrir una investigacion internacional sobre el derribo en una zona que en ese momento era una de las mas volatiles y convulsas del mundo.

--------------------------

EL ROBOT PESCADOR

Cada vez parecen encajar más piezas en este diabólico puzzle.

Glenn Thomas, consultor de la OMS en Ginebra, experto en sida y, sobre todo, experto en el virus del Ébola, volaba a bordo del Boeing 777 de Malaysia Airlines (el vuelo MH-17), abatido sobre Ucrania este julio de 2014.
Glenn Thomas era uno de los portavoces de la OMS y estuvo involucrado en una serie de investigaciones acerca de las operaciones de prueba con el virus del Ébola en el laboratorio de armas biológicas en el hospital de Kenema, Sierra Leona.

Universidad de Tulane

Este laboratorio estaba asociado con la Universidad de Tulane, en Nueva Orleans y colaboraba también con el Instituto de Investigación Médica de Enfermedades Infecciosas del Ejército de EEUU (US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease)

Recordemos también que en dicho laboratorio trabajaba el doctor Shiekh Humar Khan, el máximo experto en Ébola de Sierra Leona y considerado un héroe nacional por su lucha contra la enfermedad y que murió el pasado 29 de julio tras ser infectado por el virus.

Shiekh Humar Khan

Ahora que este laboratorio ha sido clausurado por orden del Gobierno de Sierra Leona, emergen detalles sobre los posibles intereses que se ocultan tras su gestión.
Bill y Melinda Gates tienen conexiones con el laboratorio de armas biológicas ubicado en Kenema, y ahora, después de la apertura de una investigación informal, aparece también el nombre de George Soros, que a través de su Fundación, estaría financiando estos laboratorios de armas biológicas.

Glenn Thomas era consciente de las evidencias que demostraban que el laboratorio había manipulado diagnosticos para que dieran positivo para el Ébola (en nombre de la Universidad de Tulane), con el fin de justificar la aplicación de un tratamiento médico obligatorio sobre la población. El objetivo final de esta maniobra sería aplicar una vacuna experimental contra el Ébola que, de hecho, infectaría con el virus a los pacientes.

Glenn Thomas

Glenn Thomas se había negado a participar en este encubrimiento y esa podría ser la razón por la que Glenn Thomas habría sido asesinado (Nota: suponemos que el derribo de dicho avión uniría diversos intereses en diferentes asuntos, algo así como una oportunidad para “matar varios pájaros de un tiro”)
Los medios de comunicación oficiales nunca han informado sobre la presencia del laboratorio de armas biológicas en Kenema, y mucho menos de la disposición de cerrarlo con el fin de detener las pruebas con el Ébola por parte de la Universidad de Tulane.

El multimillonario George Soros, a través de la Fundación Soros Open Society, ha invertido significativamente y durante muchos años en el ahora conocido como el “triángulo de la muerte del Ébola” formado por Sierra Leona, Liberia y Guinea.
Por lo tanto, Soros sería uno de los principales interesados en acabar con la vida del portavoz de la OMS Glenn Thomas, con el fin de impedir que se propagara a través de los canales oficiales la noticia de que el brote de Ébola fue creado realmente en un laboratorio de armamento biológico.

George Soros

Esto coincidiría con las denuncias de la población local, que acusaron al centro médico de Kenema de expandir artificialmente el virus, hasta el punto de atacarlo durante el verano, hecho que condujo al Ministerio de Salud de Sierra Leona a cerrarlo el pasado 23 de julio.
Quizás nunca lleguemos a conocer la verdad sobre el asunto, pero cada vez está más claro que todo lo referente al Ébola es uno de los asuntos más sucios y tenebrosos de los últimos tiempos…

Publicado por Alessandra Zavatta en Appunti Italiani
fuentes:
http://appuntiitaliani.com/morto-esperto-in-virus-ebola-sullaereo-malaysian-airlines/
http://www.informare.over-blog.it#sthash.R1VU6Qjc.dpuf
http://www.intellihub.com/italian-publication-claims-top-ebola-expert-murdered-flight-mh17-part-elaborate-cover/
---------------------------en la misma cuerda el conocido partidario de todas las conspiraciones  Alex Jones:

Antonio Muñoz en Hialeah: “Yo si soy revolucionario,..."

y se armo la de san quintin que si no se llevan al guajiro le hubiera dado un infarto. 

------------------------- 

El Nuevo Herald

Jorge Ebro

Marquetti y Muñoz, dos primeras bases de leyenda en la pelota cubana, se saludan antes del choque celebrado en el Bucky Dent Park, en Hialeah.Pedro Portal/El Nuevo Herald

Read more here: http://www.elnuevoherald.com/deportes/article2679955.html#storylink=cpy

En medio de la marea humana, Agustín Marquetti y Antonio Muñoz parecían dos torres inmensas que dominaron con su presencia el llamado Juego del Reencuentro que tuvo lugar el sábado en el Bucky Dent Park, en Hialeah, ante decenas de aficionados.

“Caramba, Antonio, ¿dónde tú estabas metido?’’, le preguntó Marquetti al Gigante del Escambray. “Tenemos mucho de qué hablar. Cuando se acabe el juego conversamos un ratico’’.

Pero Muñoz apenas pudo dedicarle tiempo al hombre que fue el dueño de la primera base de los equipos nacionales de Cuba antes de que él pasara a ocuparla, porque la gente sencillamente no se lo permitía.

Entre firmas de pelotas y autógrafos, entre pedidos para tomar fotos y compartir una historia, Muñoz –que bateó la primera pelota oficial del choque lanzada por Marquetti- no daba abasto para complacer a todos, mientras el juego pasaba a un segundo plano.

“A todos les diré en Cuba como me trataron aquí, las muestras de cariño que me han dado’’, expresó El Gigante. “De verdad que me han sorprendido con tanto calor humano, que creo humildemente me gané con mi forma de ser en el béisbol’’.

Sin embargo, Muñoz no podrá decir que todo fue un paseo sobre alfombra roja, pues en una improvisada conferencia de prensa se le hicieron preguntas difíciles que sacaron respuestas difíciles, aunque reales.

Todo comenzó cuando el fotógrafo de El Nuevo Herald, Pedro Portal, le preguntó sobre las tentaciones de los salarios de Grandes Ligas en las nuevas generaciones y Muñoz contestó que “con lo que me da el gobierno revolucionario vivo y el pueblo de Cuba’’.

Luego, Arturo Manuel del Monte, quien escribe para blogs en Internet le preguntó si era revolucionario y entonces Muñoz no pudo contenerse.

“Yo si soy revolucionario, porque nací en Cuba y jamás he criticado a nadie que venga para acá’’, dijo exaltado. “Al contrario. Aquí estamos reunidos, pero sí soy revolucionario, porque me eduqué con la revolución, vivo con la revolución y muchas oportunidades que me ha dado’’.

Y con eso se armó una discusión que terminó luego de que se llevaran a Muñoz, uno de los más grandes peloteros de las últimas décadas en la isla con los equipos de Cienfuegos y Las Villas en las Series Selectivas, que jugó durante 24 temporadas y terminó con promedio de .302, 370 jonrones -el primero en arribar a 300- y 1,407 impulsadas.

Esto sucedía mientras el partido continuaba con la presencia de algunos estelares que brillaron en las Series Nacionales cubanas e incluso Grandes Ligas, como Rolando Arrojo y Gabriel Pierre.

Todo parecía indicar que el Cuba Naranja, dirigido por Marquetti, se iba llevar el triunfo pues iba delante 10-8, pero en la séptima y última entrada Arrojo sacó una bola del parque con las bases llenas para que el Cuba Rojo venciera 10-8.

Al final los grandes ganadores fuero los aficionados.

“Mira, yo sé que Muñoz ha dicho sus boberías por ahí, pero esto trato de ponerlo a un lado y vengo a darle la mano como pelotero y ser humano’’, apuntó William Hernández, quién es de Cienfuegos. “Sé que está enfermo y se altera. Hoy no pienso en su política sino en su pelota, por hoy para mí eso basta’’.

Read more here: http://www.elnuevoherald.com/deportes/article2679955.html#storylink=cpy

One Man’s Story of Surviving Ebola

TIME

The Castro Legacy: Untold Thousands of Watery Graves

capitolhillcubans

By renowned U.S. scholar, Walter Russell Mead, in The American Interest:

The Castro Legacy: Untold Thousands of Watery Graves

More than half a century of building socialism; billions of dollars in aid, first from the Soviet Union and later Venezuela; decades of repression in the name of socialist idealism. Yet Cuba is still such a mess that tens of thousands are risking their lives to get out. The NYT reports that skyrocketing numbers of Cubans are attempting to flee their country in unsafe, homemade boats headed for the United States. It’s the largest attempted migration we’ve seen since the 1994 rafter crisis:

More Cubans took to the sea last year than in any year since 2008, when Raúl Castro officially took power and the nation hummed with anticipation. Some experts fear that the recent spike in migration could be a harbinger of a mass exodus, and they caution that the unseaworthy vessels have already left a trail of deaths.

On the whole, the Coast Guard has reported sighting 3,722 Cubans fleeing their home country for America in 2013, which is twice the number of would-be immigrants intercepted in 2012. Many of these people will die trying to make the crossing. If Fidel Castro had been more like Lee Kuan Yew, he’d be leaving a prosperous and dynamic country behind. If he had been more like Augusto Pinochet, he would still have done more good for Cuba than he has. Even a leader as repressive as Francisco Franco in some ways left Spain better off than he found it. But Castro was wrong about how the world works, about what makes countries prosperous, and how Cuban nationalism could best be secured. One thinks of the lines about Christopher Wren in St. Paul’s Cathedral, in London: “If you seek a monument, look around you.” The Castro brothers’ monument is also all around them, and untold thousands have died trying to escape from it.

Fidel Castro was a man of great personal, political and intellectual gifts, but he was dead wrong about social development and the direction of history. Now, a third generation of Cubans is paying for his mistakes.

Cuba: "In Everyone's Eyes (en todas las miradas)" - Documentary

WFPL

The 6th Annual Louisville International Festival of Film, which began Thursday and runs through Saturday evening, invites filmmakers and film lovers to experience a weekend of over 150 screenings. The LIFF screens artistic films not usually presented through commercial venues, and giving independent filmmakers a place to showcase their work.

One of those filmmakers is Lloyd Frost, a Canadian singer-songwriter, whose short musical film "In Everyone's Eyes (en todas las miradas)" screens Saturday at the Galt House. (Here's a schedule.) The film, which falls at just over six minutes, takes a subversive look at the silent politics in Cuba—where freedom of speech is obviously a contentious issue. It is based on a song of the same name written by Frost.

I spoke with the filmmaker about his process in creating the musical short.  

What specifically inspired you to produce this film?

"In Cuba, free speech and human rights don't exist, and haven't, since the revolution in 1959. If you say or do something the state doesn't like they call it counter-revolutionary, and this can affect your ability to work, or you can be detained, beaten up or even sent to prison. So most people learn to keep certain thoughts or desires to themselves, and instead put on a facade of outward happiness, even show outward agreement with the state. It's simply safer for them."

Which came first—the song or the film?

"I've made 10 visits to Cuba, and I'm impressed at how strong and resourceful Cubans are in dealing with how the state controls them, and so that's what inspired me to first write the song, and afterwards make the short film."

What was the most poignant experience you had while filming in Cuba?

"On one of my recent visits a Cuban guy told me, 'We live on a beautiful island, but it's an open prison,' and I think that's a pretty strong message."

What do you want viewers to take away from the film?

"The message of my film is hidden by a facade, just like the facade Cubans need to use so they can get by. In my case, the facade is an upbeat melody that you can dance to, and I filmed mostly in sunny, colorful places in Cuba. But the lyrics give the message: obey or else. And the infamous Modelo Prison on the Isle of Youth makes several grim appearances through the film. Today it's empty and derelict, but you see the tiny cells and the massive courtyard where the prisoners would walk, watched over by the lone guard tower in the center of the courtyard. It took very few guards to control the large cell block population."

Lloyd Frost 

Una simulación de la propagación de enfermedades infecciosas

microsiervos

En el Washington Post han preparado una Simulación de cómo se produce la difusión de enfermedades infecciosas, incluyendo infecciones víricas como el ébola, la gripe y otras tan comunes conocidas como la rubeola, el sarampión o la tos ferina.

En la simulación se utiliza una población imaginaria de 100 personas cuyos colores indican su estado: en naranja oscuro cuando se infectan, en negro si fallecen y en naranja claro si se recuperan – una aproximación que es simplista pero sirve para hacerse una idea; en la realidad los resultados dependerían en buena medida de las condiciones de vida, los tratamientos, etcétera.

Como puede verse claramente, dejando transcurrir el tiempo o moviendo el deslizador del calendario, el ébola no es especialmente rápido en cuanto a difusión. La gripe es la que más gente infecta en menos tiempo, seguida del sarampión. Sin embargo, aunque la tos ferina, la rubeola o la gripe no causan apenas víctimas en comparación, la difteria, el SARS (neumonía atípica) o la viruela son mucho más letales. El ébola deja tras poco más de dos meses más de un 50% de víctimas a su paso, mientras que en los casos de la viruela (30%) o la difteria (15%) las cifras son significativamente menores.

En conclusión, tal y como titula la simulación, «el ébola se propaga más lentamente, pero es más mortífero que otras enfermedades.»

(Vía FlowingData.)

Angel Carromero en Miami

Maria Elvira Salazar

Martí Noticias

Mira como los cogieron: Cubanos cultivando marihuana en la Florida

AmericaTeVeCanal41

Cuba asumira la formacion del personal diplomatico de El Salvador

el ministro de relaciones exteriores del izquierdista presidente de el salvador sanchez ceren, firmo con la embajadora cubana en el pais centroamericano, un acuerdo para la formacion del personal diplomatico salvadoreno en la akademia de espias que constituye el instituto superior de relaciones internacionales raul roa garcia. 

ampliar en nodal >>

Los médicos que enfermen de ébola en África no serán repatriados a Cuba

diariodecuba

Los médicos cubanos que enfermen de ébola en África no serán repatriados a la Isla, indicaron este viernes fuentes conocedoras del tema.

Uno de los preseleccionados, que finalmente no viajó, dijo a DIARIO DE CUBA que los cooperantes deben "firmar un documento en el que renuncian a regresar si contraen la enfermedad en África".

La medida incluye la inhumación de los restos, en caso de fallecer, en el país donde prestan colaboración.

La semana pasada, el general Raúl Castro despidió a los primeros 165 profesionales de la salud que viajaron hacia Sierra Leona para combatir el ébola. Según la prensa oficial, el personal médico de la Isla partió con "evidente entusiasmo" para "cumplir con el sagrado deber de salvar vidas".

El grupo está formado por 63 médicos y 102 enfermeros de todo el país, con más de quince años de experiencia.

El médico Jeovany Jiménez Vega calificó la enfermedad como "el chico malo de la virología", por lo que, en su opinión, "cualquier medida que se adopte es poca".

Sin embargo, "desde el punto de vista humano y político, estamos hablando de personas que dejaron aquí [en Cuba] a sus familias".

"Si es verdad lo del documento, una salida así no la ha dado ningún país implicado. Hay otras alternativas desde el punto de vista epidemiológico", añadió Jiménez desde La Habana.

El médico indicó, no obstante, que "está por ver" si Cuba está preparada para atender enfermos de ébola. "Lo digo por experiencia propia. Aquí hasta se recicla el material no reciclable", advirtió Jiménez.

Según la Red de Comunicadores Comunitarios, los colaboradores cubanos habrían viajado con "un seguro ofrecido por la Organización Mundial de la Salud", pero el beneficiario sería el Estado.

"Son los comentarios que nos han llegado a través de gente cercana, de familiares", explicó Martha Beatriz Roque, coordinadora de la Red.

The Wall Street Journal señaló el jueves que los colaboradores cubanos en Sierra Leona se hospedan, a razón de tres por habitación, en un hotel barato de Freetown, donde los inodoros están rotos y las moscas zumban sobre los manteles mugrientos de las mesas donde comen.

CNN 

NASA: Biggest Cap of Antarctic Sea Ice Since 1979

breitbart

By  Warner Todd Huston

A new report from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) finds that the Antarctic ice cap has exceeded 20 million square kilometers, a freeze that hasn't been seen since 1979 when the agency began to compile records.

"Sea ice surrounding Antarctica reached a new record high extent this year, covering more of the southern oceans than it has since scientists began a long-term satellite record to map sea ice extent in the late 1970s,"  the NASA website reported on October 7.

NASA went on to say:

Since the late 1970s, the Arctic has lost an average of 20,800 square miles (53,900 square kilometers) of ice a year; the Antarctic has gained an average of 7,300 square miles (18,900 sq km). On Sept. 19 this year, for the first time ever since 1979, Antarctic sea ice extent exceeded 7.72 million square miles (20 million square kilometers), according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. The ice extent stayed above this benchmark extent for several days. The average maximum extent between 1981 and 2010 was 7.23 million square miles (18.72 million square kilometers).
The single-day maximum extent this year was reached on Sept. 20, according to NSIDC data, when the sea ice covered 7.78 million square miles (20.14 million square kilometers). This year's five-day average maximum was reached on Sept. 22, when sea ice covered 7.76 million square miles (20.11 million square kilometers), according to NSIDC.

The amount of ice did surprise many, and Claire Parkinson, a senior scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, noted that "not every location on the face of Earth is acting as expected." She went on to say that the readings make scientists ask "OK, this isn’t what we expected, now how can we explain it?"

"There hasn’t been one explanation yet that I’d say has become a consensus, where people say, ‘We’ve nailed it, this is why it’s happening,'" Parkinson added.

Regardless, Parkinson and others at NASA contend that all this is still a result of global warming.

"The planet as a whole is doing what was expected in terms of warming. Sea ice as a whole is decreasing as expected, but just like with global warming, not every location with sea ice will have a downward trend in ice extent," she said.