Well then let's trigger it again.

Russia: Too Early to Consider Exchange of US Spy Suspect

MOSCOW – Russia's deputy foreign minister is brushing back suggestions that an American being held in Moscow on suspicion of spying could be exchanged for a Russian.

Paul Whelan, who also holds Canadian, British and Irish citizenship, was detained in late December. His arrest has led to speculation that Russia could be using him as a pawn to exchange for Maria Butina, the Russian who pleaded guilty last month to acting as a foreign agent in the U.S.

But deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said Saturday that discussing the issue would be premature because Whelan hasn't been formally charged, according to Russian news agencies.

"As to the possibility of exchanges of one sort of another, it's impossible and incorrect to consider the question now, when an official charge hasn't even been presented," he was quoted as saying by the state news agency RIA-Novosti.

"Charges will be presented in the near future," he said, according to the Interfax agency.

Some Russian news reports earlier had cited unnamed sources as saying Whelan had been indicted on charges that could bring 20 years in prison if convicted.

Officials haven't given details of Whelan's suspected activities and he was initially identified only as an American. His other citizenships became known on Friday.

U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman Jr. visited Whelan on Wednesday in Moscow's Lefortovo Prison, a 130-year-old facility noted for its strict conditions. Britain, Canada and Ireland have applied for consular access to him.

The 48-year-old Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who left the military with a bad-conduct discharge, is global security director for a U.S. automobile parts manufacturer.

His family back home says his presence in Moscow was nothing more than a visit to attend a wedding. In a Washington Post op-ed published Friday, his twin brother, David, urged the U.S. government to pressure Russia to release him.

"Paul is a kind and considerate brother, son and uncle, and a generous and loyal friend," he wrote. "He travels as often as he can, both for work and pleasure. He is many things to many people, but he is not a spy."

Paul Whelan established an account on VKontakte, a social media service similar to Facebook that is popular among Russians, which showed he had scores of contacts in Russia. Many attended universities affiliated with the military, civil aviation or technical studies. Many share his interest in sports and firearms.

>https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/01/06/russia-too-early-consider-exchange-us-spy-suspect.html

This is FUBAR.

Contaminated Groundwater, a Toxic Legacy of Georgia's Air Bases

For decades, the United States Air Force used a toxic firefighting foam that contaminated water near bases and exposed communities to chemicals linked to cancer and a variety of other health problems.

Recent tests at Georgia's three air bases show extensive environmental contamination of groundwater caused by the foam.

Despite Air Force assurances that Georgia's drinking water is safe for the thousands of people living around its installations, experts and neighboring residents are questioning those findings, claiming the military's review was too narrow and failed to test any water off-base.

"Given that there are concentrations of these compounds on site, over time they're going to move off of the site. That's just common sense," said Jamie DeWitt, an associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at East Carolina University. "No contaminant obeys property lines."

In more than a dozen other states, the Air Force has acknowledged contaminating drinking water in communities close to its bases.

Over the years, Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Cobb County, Robins Air Force Base in Houston County and Moody Air Force Base in Lowndes County used the firefighting foam in training exercises and to put out fires when planes crashed. The foam also sometimes leaked out of its storage tanks.

All told, thousands of gallons of foam soaked into the ground or washed into creeks and wetlands, killing fish and imperiling those who use the affected waterways for fishing, swimming and boating.

The contamination, which is linked to a class of chemicals known collectively as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, was laid out in a series of site inspection reports completed by the Air Force last year.

Those reports concluded that despite high levels of groundwater pollution, there was no immediate risk to human health through contamination of drinking water.

That claim was met with skepticism, particularly in rural areas where many people rely on wells for drinking and irrigation.

"Everything in this area depends on groundwater," said John Quarterman, the Suwannee Riverkeeper in Lowndes County, where Moody is located. "I'm not saying that Moody necessarily did make enough contamination to be a problem, but I can't tell from this report, and I don't think it's our responsibility to determine that they didn't."

In a statement, the Air Force said its response is constrained by a lack of regulation for PFAS chemicals. The two that are the focus of most testing are known as PFOS and PFOA.

"Because PFOS/PFOA are unregulated and Georgia or federal entities have not established standards for non-drinking water sources, we cannot expend government resources on those water sources," the Air Force said.

Its authority to mitigate contamination "does not extend to risks posed to livestock and agriculture, to include indirect threats to humans through ingestion of plants and animals," it added.

Swimmable, fishable, drinkable waters

Surrounded by cotton fields and low-lying wetlands, Moody recorded the highest levels of groundwater contamination out of the three Georgia installations – more than 5,000 times the screening level.

tl;dr sauce

>https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/01/06/contaminated-groundwater-toxic-legacy-georgias-air-bases.html

Other 2 Q posts re: Tunnels.