Given that the memories of that
classified DAP fiasco are still fresh on our brains, this one's a bit less shocking than it might otherwise be. Sure, we've heard of scatterbrained MI6 agents
selling confidential digital cameras on eBay, but it's another thing entirely to see multiple US Army laptops making their way out to unsanctioned trading posts in Pakistan. A new report over at
Military and
GlobalPost explains that some high-tech gadgets are being confiscated on supply routes and from within vehicles, and from there, the wares are making their way to black market shops for anyone to buy. Anything from ruggedized computers to stabilized binoculars to night vision mounts have been spotted, and there's plenty of pictures to prove it. We must say, we're a bit worried about detailed war schematics slipping so easily into the hands of the enemy, but who knows, maybe they're just looking for a little Minesweeper action to take their minds away from it all.
[Thanks, Jamie]
Read - Gear on black market
Read - Pictures to prove it
posted Feb 15th 2009 3:03AM
I cheat at life
the cake is a lie
Links are broken for a reason? lol
Did you guys get scared and pull out on those read links or something?
Man up.
The links got confiscated on the way to engadget
you will find them in the blackmarket.com
reports that Darren Murph has gone missing in what is the third Technoblogger kidnapping this week.
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/02/military-laptop.html
Read Links Don't Read.
I saw this on the Huffington Post. But I'm sure we are seeing just the surface of it all.
Who knows what War Lords are getting away with.
Yes, and every idea on HuffPo is straight-up awesome truth, with no crazy conspiracy theories or fringe ideas. Was the headline "W Selling Military Equipment Possibly to Raise Money For War on San Francisco"?
Seriously Engadget, what is up with the broken links?
That last quip in the post was typical pig-headed American rubbish. Are you aware of the implications of specifically siting Minesweeper? Your lack of sensitivity, whilst also suggesting that Pakistan is the enemy astounds me. This is the biggest part of the reason that the whole of the thinking world finds America repugnant; your ignorance.
Stole my words there.
Clue me in, when did Pakistan become an enemy? I'm Pakistani and I never had a clue.
Ah you know their talking about minesweeper the game right??
Yes i do. Think about it for a second.
Only on the internet are people so eager to be offended. First off the "enemy" the article mentions is presumably the thieves/militants who are scoring this gear.
Your last sentence kind of baffles me. All the residents of the US must be ignorant because you think Darren made an ignorant comment (he didn't)? Or does all of our collective ignorance somehow influence Darren into posting ignorant remarks, thereby tarnishing our image worldwide?
I think misunderstanding an article and then judging 300+ million people based on your misunderstanding would be the definition of ignorance, but that's just me...maybe I'm ignorant.
haha, it's funny how you say 'rubbish.'
"Your lack of sensitivity, whilst also suggesting that Pakistan is the enemy astounds me."
Because, you know, there's not several international terrorist groups currently harboring inside Pakistan or anything... Nowhere in the summary did it mention that the sovreign gov't of Pakistan is our enemy. Although, they're certainly not our buddies either.
You're only ignorant ones are those who take this seriously.
I know this is supposed to be funny, but I'm still not finding the humor. Did you mean "citing" instead of "siting?"
@Dave if there are several virus in my body, am I a virus?
Bashing America is the cool thing to do in the rest of the world, so anything, no matter how asinine it looks or sounds, automatically earns a "high-five" from somewhere, someone, who was waiting for it to happen.
By the way, how the fuck does playing Minesweeper, which is an obvious time-killer and nothing more, correlate into world politics and what our enemies do when they are doing their "thing" (whatever it may be)?
The goods just end up for sale on the black market in Pakistan, you morons. They get 'confiscated' in Afghanistan, by corrupt people who obviously have no love for Western forces. They are the 'enemy' the article mentions, not the Pakistanis.
The world would be a more civil place if people actually read and understood things fully before deciding that they are offended.
you know what, sit back and think about this for a second.
maybe the reason the world hates America isn't the fact that American's were ignorant
that was said for so long that even Americans almost believed you, but this comment proved differently.
before you read on, i think i should inform you that I'm actually a Canadian and i dont mean to suck up to america or anything
its just i dont like it when things are bashed for the wrong reasons.
you guys just need a way to twist things into however they could be against america.
sure, an informal news post on a tech news site refering to a minesweeper game obviously meant they want Pakistani people (who are apprently the enemy) to die from actual mine-sweeping. and even on top of that, the act of mentioning such was obviously an act of ignorance, because even if done intentionally, it would take no knowledge to know of world issues such as Pakistan's involvement in the American wars. if anyone is "ignorant" here, its the people blaming americans for things they havent done... listening to media and thinking that america is arrogant, thats ignorant, never being to america or meeting an american and saying america is a bad country, thats ignorant. saying that america is only causing bad things in afganistan and thinking that afganistan could survive and overthrow the taliban without america's help, thats ignorant. saying the word minsweeper on a blog post, no, thats not fucking ignorant.
i think you just want an excuse to make america look bad, because really, i can see why one would be jelous, or misunderstanding. i think its high time that american's stop caring, eventhough they didnt before. because the world will never stop complaining. let the world know what actually happens when america goes ignorant and doesnt care anymore....
lets fuck this guy's inbox over bad. engadget-commenters unite.
To all pakistani: Yes the US-powered dictator is gone and they now all but officially declared you enemy, they are just waiting for a for them opportune time before they attack you full scale, and yes obama will, and yes all the weasly western countries will help, so dig in.
P.S. You can't trust us westerners, we are a nasty bunch and nothing you do will change that, it's probably genetic.
@oli D: No... but you're harboring viruses, and would be seen as a threat to other people. Think about it. No school, no work, no human contact until it's taken care of. Care to draw some political parallels from that?
Hating America is fashionable, this jerkoff is just cashing in like everyone else. I hope talking out of your ass makes you feel superior and cool.
He might be pushing it in relation to this article, but you must be very sheltered from news to not know there are moves against pakistan afoot, in fact the US forces already attacked border posts, and obama publicly as good as said he might eventually start a war with pakistan, long before he was president even.
So I'd not call that 'america bashing' perse, although as I said I agree that in this instance it was a jittery reaction.
Regarding ignorance, your reading comprehension could use some improvement. The article says refers to "unsanctioned trading posts in Pakistan", then later talks about "war schematics slipping so easily into the hands of the enemy". That is not the same as calling Pakistan the enemy, it is saying that this equipment could wind up anywhere, including in the hands of the enemy. It seems you are reading way too much into things.
Engadget's lack of an edit button is the real enemy.
Where's the read link :(
Making me cry now.
broken link is broken
no, the broken link is functioning perfectly.
woosh
http://digg.com/world_news/US_Military_laptops_on_Pakistani_Black_Market
http://www.prxreleases.com/wire/index.php/2009/02/12/globalpost-reports-us-military-laptops-are-being-sold-in-pakistan/ and http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/02/13/military-laptops-for-sale-on-the-black-market/
Oh, please! This is old news!
I've had a US military grade laptop for quite some time now. It's pretty cool too; with all the latest NSA software, as well as a remote control trigger; which allows me to denote it's C4 lining should it fall into the wrong hands, or if I decide I just don't like the person in the room with it. I was tempted to blow it last night when my wife was pissing me off. But, I decided against it, because I'd have to clean her guts off of the living room furniture - messy job, that.
I got it from my friend, Raoul, who's Pakistani - well, he says he's Pakistani. But, one can't really be sure with these black market type guys. And, he said he got it from some Taliban guy, who get it from some Al Qaeda guy, who got from some guy named Bin something or other. I forget the exact name.
Anyway, yeah, it's a cool laptop. I can get you guys one, if you want!
you are my idol
/
Now that, is a ToughBook
Stuff like this ALWAYS happens.
Not news.
i think the fact that it happens so frequently is what makes it news...
Back in the late 80s/ early 90s the Friday Bazaars in Pehsawar and Islamabad were chock full of soviet military gear (boots, belts, gas masks, etc) from Afghanistan. No surprise here. Hopefully we'll be the first invader in history to make it back out intact.
is Oliver North behind this too???
yeah this happens too often to be considered news
This wouldn't be such bad thing if they contained embedded tracking devices...
I want my Jericho missile.
you know what'd be really amazing on America's part?
making laptops with fake plans and information
and then letting them get stolen by the actual enemy.
show the world what WWII was all about America
make the united states (and Canada please) proud.
I'd sooner expect it to be the other way round, remember all those computers with 'al queda' plans they just happen to find all the time? Enough said.
I know the Brits were fabulous at that stuff in WWII. Operation Mincemeat, I think:
http://www.espionageinfo.com/Vo-Z/World-War-II-Allied-Invasion-of-Sicily-and-The-Man-Who-Never-Was.html
There is a lot of Islamic fundamentalist terror activity in Pakistan, which the Pakistan government seems unable to control. Large scale support of terrorism in Afghanistan by way of supplying the Taliban with weapons, terrorists, and intelligence. This is probably with the tacit support of a good deal of the Pakistani secret police, who openly supported the Taliban before the US came in to overthrow them.
There is a serious problem with Islamic fundamentalists in Pakistan. They are taking over the universities and using fear, terror, assassination, torture, and other techniques to impose totalitarian Islamic rule. There are probably a lot of modern non-Islamist people in Pakistan, but they are in a precarious position, like the Iranians, because it is the brutal Islamic fascists who can take power by using terror and violence, whereas the moderates are, well, moderate, and cannot effectively fight back. The Islamic religious provides a cover for the religious fascists to kill and intimidate, in the name a "pure Islamic state".
So yes, I regard Pakistan as the enemy, on average.
At the rate you guys are adding one country to your list of enemies each year,
I think by 2050 half the planet will be your 'enemy'. Keep it up!
P.S. The militants are a pain in the back and I hate how they make the Pakistani Government look weak. But Pakistani itself has got nothing to do with it. The government is stuck , hard to decide whether to listen to the U.S. and destroy the whole Taliban-ridden area with missile (+all the innocent kids, people there) OR listen to what their people say and act moderately with the talibans and try to find some other solution.
The so-called Talibans in the SWAT valley cant be MUSLIMs for sure becuase half the things they do (like brutally kill innocent people) are clearly everything but ISLAMIC. A 12 year old kid who has studie 7th grade Islamic-Studies in school knows if that kinda stuff is 'good' or 'bad' in the religion.
I cant believe how easily you guys blame one whole nation just caz of a few people who DO NOT EVEN BELONG here (they're mostly from Afghanistan and other places, and have fooled some illiterate locals by molding the islamic teachings and their point of views of what Islam is)