Portal talk:Current events/2011 January 5

January 2011
=Saudi Arabia 'detains' Israeli vulture for spying=

This is a story about a bird tagged by scientist to track its whereabouts not realizing it was crossing an international border! It's not a spy story. If you want to post it, make that obvious. Both sources make this really clear and in fact, the Economic Times source quoted filed this story under its "Wild and Wacky" section!:


 * "The device does nothing more than receive and store basic data about the bird's whereabouts, and about his altitude and speed," a bird specialist at Israel's Park and Nature Authority told the newspaper.


 * The data would be used to improve understanding of the endangered species' behaviour.


 * The griffon vulture was carrying a GPS transmitter bearing the name of Tel Aviv University, prompting rumours it was part of a Zionist plot.


 * A vulture tagged by Israeli scientists was "arrested" on suspicion of being a Mossad spy after the bird strayed into Saudi Arabian territory.


 * Conspiracy theories quickly began circulating in Saudi newspapers and on websites that the bird was involved in espionage.

If there's any real story here, it's about how easily far-fetched conspiracy theories spread in the Arab world! If it weren't so sad, it would be funny. PopularMax (talk) 23:29, 5 January 2011 (UTC)