Memo to NATO - Try harder when you're responding to complaints about dead civilians.
Last week a NATO gunship helicopter whacked nine Afghan boys out gathering firewood. The bad news: they've done it again. The good news: they only killed two kids this time.
The two boys, 11 and 17, were tending their family's farm when a helo showed up and took them out. NATO's response? The crew "may have unintentionally engaged civilians who were working on road and field drainage." Guess what? There's nothing remotely unintentional about lining up a person in your sights, squeezing the trigger and sending them to Allah. The death could be mistaken, negligent, criminally negligent, even murderous but the one thing it's not is "unintentional." I'm sure the crew didn't mean to kill kids but they did mean to kill those two.
Can we go home now?
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
When Gaddafi Unleashes His Armour on Pro-Democracy Protesters We Call It A "War Crime."
But when the King of Bahrain and his Saudi backers unleash their heavy machine guns against unarmed Bahraini pro-democracy protesters our leaders just dummy up. Nobody in holier-than-thou Washington is condemning the Bahraini king for crimes against humanity. No one is calling for his regal ass to be hauled before the International Court of Justice.
Hypocrisy? You betcha. But, it's not the same. After all, the Bahraini protesters are Shiite Muslim, the same faith as those buggers in Iran. They're not the good guys, the Sunni Muslim, the side that filled all those planes that flattened America's embassies, bombed the USS Cole and brought the World Trade Centers down into what became known as "ground zero."
As was pointed out rather well today on Al Jazeera, Shiite Iran wasn't really a factor in Shiite majority Bahrain - not until WE turned our backs on the pro-democracy protesters. Now, however, as our guys gun down the Shiite protesters in Bahrain's streets we've created a situation in which Iran is the only country siding with the protesters. We have handed yet another unearned victory to Iran, one Tehran could not have achieved without our direct help.
You see, hypocrisy is a huge problem when you're no longer the world's only superpower and have people believing your military is invincible. Once that global power illusion bursts the munchkins get all uppity. It's a lesson that hasn't sunk in with Washington, even after a change of management. They still believe they can pull this shit with impunity. Ah - wrong.
Now we're the ones that have to straighten up and fly right. If we keep playing schoolyard bully we're going to get called out and that's a fight we can no longer win.
Hypocrisy? You betcha. But, it's not the same. After all, the Bahraini protesters are Shiite Muslim, the same faith as those buggers in Iran. They're not the good guys, the Sunni Muslim, the side that filled all those planes that flattened America's embassies, bombed the USS Cole and brought the World Trade Centers down into what became known as "ground zero."
As was pointed out rather well today on Al Jazeera, Shiite Iran wasn't really a factor in Shiite majority Bahrain - not until WE turned our backs on the pro-democracy protesters. Now, however, as our guys gun down the Shiite protesters in Bahrain's streets we've created a situation in which Iran is the only country siding with the protesters. We have handed yet another unearned victory to Iran, one Tehran could not have achieved without our direct help.
You see, hypocrisy is a huge problem when you're no longer the world's only superpower and have people believing your military is invincible. Once that global power illusion bursts the munchkins get all uppity. It's a lesson that hasn't sunk in with Washington, even after a change of management. They still believe they can pull this shit with impunity. Ah - wrong.
Now we're the ones that have to straighten up and fly right. If we keep playing schoolyard bully we're going to get called out and that's a fight we can no longer win.
Dickens Workhouse Saved
It doesn't look like much but this was an 18th century workhouse said to have inspired Charles Dickens to write Oliver Twist. At the time, a young Dickens lived just nine doors away.
The run down building had been slated for demolition but Britain's Heritage Minister intervened at the last minute to preserve what he described as "an eloquent reminder of one of the grimmer aspects of London's 18th-century history''.
For Some, It's Much More Than Collective Bargaining
We're all aware that collective bargaining is under fierce assault by the radical right in America. I had collective representation, in one form or another, for almost all of my working life. That ranged from unions and guilds to professional associations and societies. In their way, they were all variations on the same theme.
But to some, collective bargaining has an extra dimension. For American blacks it was a vehicle to overcome institutional racism and discrimination. That's why Color of Change has instituted a campaign in defence of collective bargaining. You can give them a hand by signing their petition here.
But to some, collective bargaining has an extra dimension. For American blacks it was a vehicle to overcome institutional racism and discrimination. That's why Color of Change has instituted a campaign in defence of collective bargaining. You can give them a hand by signing their petition here.
Hey Fellas, Be My Guest
My blog was just visited by the US Army Intelligence Center. They're shown as having checked out two posts. One was the recent piece on Gwynne Dyer calling for urgent Egyptian military intervention to stop Gadaffi wiping out the uprising and butchering the rebels and their families. The other was my piece from February 22 calling for urgent Egyptian military intervention to stop Gadaffi wiping out the uprising and butchering the rebels and their families.
Hey guys, glad you could stop by. I'm even waiving any claims to intellectual property on these ideas. Be my guest, help yourselves, go for it. You're still giving those Egyptians billions of dollars in military aid. Time you called in a marker or two.
Hey guys, glad you could stop by. I'm even waiving any claims to intellectual property on these ideas. Be my guest, help yourselves, go for it. You're still giving those Egyptians billions of dollars in military aid. Time you called in a marker or two.
The Cost of Democracy In Our Ally, Bahrain
Here's video of how our good Sunni ally, Bahrain, Kingdom of, embraces peaceful protest. The pro-democracy group, armed only with placards, marched on Bahraini armoured vehicles in their path
This allows you a bit of perspective of how the protest would have been seen by Bahraini/Saudi soldiers manning their heavy automatic weapons from their armoured vehicles. About halfway through the clip is the scene where, after the killings, the protesters return and sit down right in front of those same armoured vehicles.
Oh well, I suppose Canada should really keep its nose out of this. It wouldn't do for an emerging fossil fuel superpower to criticize another rancid petro-state.
This allows you a bit of perspective of how the protest would have been seen by Bahraini/Saudi soldiers manning their heavy automatic weapons from their armoured vehicles. About halfway through the clip is the scene where, after the killings, the protesters return and sit down right in front of those same armoured vehicles.
Oh well, I suppose Canada should really keep its nose out of this. It wouldn't do for an emerging fossil fuel superpower to criticize another rancid petro-state.
Japan Nuke Fiasco - Winners & Losers
Wow, throw "nuclear" into the mix and suddenly an enormous natural disaster is turned into an atomic Armageddon even if it's nothing of the sort. There are thousands, possibly tens of thousands of dead folks in Japan right now. How many of them died in the nuclear plant explosions? Two thousand maybe? Five thousand? Ten?
Hey, Chicken Licken, how bout a little perspective?
It was a wall of sea water and debris that killed those thousands of Japanese, not their nuclear reactors. It was that same tsunami that knocked out their reactors, not the earthquakes. So, take a deep breath, grow up and unbunch those panties.
Besides, think about all the winners that are coming out of those nuclear plant failures - Big Oil, Big Coal, Big Gas, Muammar Gaddafi among them. Gaddafi, what does he have to gain from this? Plenty. While the world's mono-tasking attention is riveted to some remarkably disinteresting reactor buildings where no one is actually dying (inconvenient that, sort of), the democracy revolution that had been sweeping the Middle East is being swept under the carpet.
If it's the death of innocents that gets you all lathered up, how can a natural disaster in Japan that occured last Thursday compete with a mounting man-made disaster underway in the Muslim world? We're not responsible for the tectonic plates that lie beneath Japan but we will be for the butchery about to spread through the oil lands of the Middle East while we look the other way.
As Gwynne Dyer argues, Muammar Gaddafi is about a week away from handing the world a massive, bloody fait accompli achieved while we sat around with our thumbs up our asses.
Hey, Chicken Licken, how bout a little perspective?
It was a wall of sea water and debris that killed those thousands of Japanese, not their nuclear reactors. It was that same tsunami that knocked out their reactors, not the earthquakes. So, take a deep breath, grow up and unbunch those panties.
Besides, think about all the winners that are coming out of those nuclear plant failures - Big Oil, Big Coal, Big Gas, Muammar Gaddafi among them. Gaddafi, what does he have to gain from this? Plenty. While the world's mono-tasking attention is riveted to some remarkably disinteresting reactor buildings where no one is actually dying (inconvenient that, sort of), the democracy revolution that had been sweeping the Middle East is being swept under the carpet.
If it's the death of innocents that gets you all lathered up, how can a natural disaster in Japan that occured last Thursday compete with a mounting man-made disaster underway in the Muslim world? We're not responsible for the tectonic plates that lie beneath Japan but we will be for the butchery about to spread through the oil lands of the Middle East while we look the other way.
As Gwynne Dyer argues, Muammar Gaddafi is about a week away from handing the world a massive, bloody fait accompli achieved while we sat around with our thumbs up our asses.
Gwynne Dyer Calls for Egyptian Intervention in Libya
Back on 22 February, I did a quick analysis and concluded the fastest, surest and least bloody option for ridding Libya of the mad tyrant Gaddafi was for Egypt's air force and army to intervene. Libya operates small forces of 60's and 70's-vintage armour, artillery and combat aircraft, ample to crush the rebels but not much else. Egypt, by contrast, fields 240 F-16s and regiments of US-built M-1A1 tanks that, between them, could make short work of Gaddafi's firepower advantage.
Yesterday Gwynne Dyer added his endorsement of the Egyptian option. Given Gaddafi's comeback of the past three weeks, Dyer argues that Egypt represents Libya's last chance.
What happens to the rebels and their families after active resistance is crushed will be much worse. When political prisoners in Abu Salim prison staged a protest at jail conditions in 1996, Gaddafy had 1,200 of them massacred. All the people now fighting him, or helping the Libyan National Council that organises resistance in the east, or just demonstrating against him, will be tracked down by his secret police. They and their families are doomed.
The collapse of the democratic revolution in Libya will also gravely damage the prospects of the “Arab spring” elsewhere. Rulers in other Arab countries where the army is also largely made up of foreign mercenaries (Bahrein and several other Gulf states, for example), will conclude that they can safely kill enough of their own protesters to “restore order.”
How can this disaster be prevented? Condemnation from abroad, including from the Arab League, will not stop Gaddafy. An arms embargo is too slow-acting, as are economic boycotts and freezing Libyan government assets overseas. Gaddafy is fighting for his life, probably literally, and he knows that if he wins, the embargoes, boycotts and asset freezes will eventually be lifted. Libya has oil, after all.
Even the famous “no-fly” zone over Libya (now endorsed by France, Britain and the Arab League) would not stop Gadaffy’s advance. It’s not that destroying or grounding the Libyan air force, which is poorly trained and badly maintained, is a problem. Neither are Libya’s decrepit, last-generation-but-one surface-to-air defences. It’s just that Gaddafy can win without his air force. Tanks and artillery beat courage and small arms every time.
...What is actually needed is active military intervention on the ground and in the air by disciplined, well-trained Arab forces, sent by a revolutionary Arab government that is in sympathy with the Libyan rebels. So where is the Egyptian army when the Libyans need it?
Egypt has an open border with the rebel-controlled east of Libya, and just one brigade of the Egyptian army would be enough to stop Gaddafy’s ground forces in their tracks. The Egyptian air force could easily shoot down any of Gaddafy’s aircraft that dared to take off, especially if it had early warning from European or American AWACS aircraft.
The Egyptian army would probably not need to go all the way to Tripoli, although it could easily do so if necessary. Just the fact of Egyptian military intervention would probably convince most of the Libyan troops still supporting Gaddafy that it is time to change sides.
Arab League support for the intervention would not be hard to get, and the Libyan rebels are now desperate enough that they would quickly overcome their natural distrust of their giant neighbour. As for internal Egyptian politics, what better way for the Egyptian army to establish its revolutionary credentials and protect its privileged position in the state than by saving the revolution next door?
It is very much in the interest of the Egyptian revolution that Gaddafy does not triumph in Libya, and even more that the forces of reaction do not win in the broader Arab world. For the first time since Gamal Abdul Nasser in the 1950s, the giant of the Arab world would also be its moral leader.
...Egypt would be enough on its own. Only do it fast. A week from now will probably be too late.
Recently I was chided by some radical progressives for advocating this very sort of Egyptian military rescue, essentially called a war monger. It's their type who would sit back self-righteously and allow the rebels, their wives and children to fall into the hands of Gaddafi's murderous security butchers.
I expect that's why I never have and never will support rightwing or leftwing politics. Both are the refuge of rigid ideologues, radicals and extremists who demand a world that conforms to their worldview. They're a minority certainly but they're welcome in those parties nonetheless. I guess that makes me an avowed centrist, albeit of the centre-left.
Yesterday Gwynne Dyer added his endorsement of the Egyptian option. Given Gaddafi's comeback of the past three weeks, Dyer argues that Egypt represents Libya's last chance.
What happens to the rebels and their families after active resistance is crushed will be much worse. When political prisoners in Abu Salim prison staged a protest at jail conditions in 1996, Gaddafy had 1,200 of them massacred. All the people now fighting him, or helping the Libyan National Council that organises resistance in the east, or just demonstrating against him, will be tracked down by his secret police. They and their families are doomed.
The collapse of the democratic revolution in Libya will also gravely damage the prospects of the “Arab spring” elsewhere. Rulers in other Arab countries where the army is also largely made up of foreign mercenaries (Bahrein and several other Gulf states, for example), will conclude that they can safely kill enough of their own protesters to “restore order.”
How can this disaster be prevented? Condemnation from abroad, including from the Arab League, will not stop Gaddafy. An arms embargo is too slow-acting, as are economic boycotts and freezing Libyan government assets overseas. Gaddafy is fighting for his life, probably literally, and he knows that if he wins, the embargoes, boycotts and asset freezes will eventually be lifted. Libya has oil, after all.
Even the famous “no-fly” zone over Libya (now endorsed by France, Britain and the Arab League) would not stop Gadaffy’s advance. It’s not that destroying or grounding the Libyan air force, which is poorly trained and badly maintained, is a problem. Neither are Libya’s decrepit, last-generation-but-one surface-to-air defences. It’s just that Gaddafy can win without his air force. Tanks and artillery beat courage and small arms every time.
...What is actually needed is active military intervention on the ground and in the air by disciplined, well-trained Arab forces, sent by a revolutionary Arab government that is in sympathy with the Libyan rebels. So where is the Egyptian army when the Libyans need it?
Egypt has an open border with the rebel-controlled east of Libya, and just one brigade of the Egyptian army would be enough to stop Gaddafy’s ground forces in their tracks. The Egyptian air force could easily shoot down any of Gaddafy’s aircraft that dared to take off, especially if it had early warning from European or American AWACS aircraft.
The Egyptian army would probably not need to go all the way to Tripoli, although it could easily do so if necessary. Just the fact of Egyptian military intervention would probably convince most of the Libyan troops still supporting Gaddafy that it is time to change sides.
Arab League support for the intervention would not be hard to get, and the Libyan rebels are now desperate enough that they would quickly overcome their natural distrust of their giant neighbour. As for internal Egyptian politics, what better way for the Egyptian army to establish its revolutionary credentials and protect its privileged position in the state than by saving the revolution next door?
It is very much in the interest of the Egyptian revolution that Gaddafy does not triumph in Libya, and even more that the forces of reaction do not win in the broader Arab world. For the first time since Gamal Abdul Nasser in the 1950s, the giant of the Arab world would also be its moral leader.
...Egypt would be enough on its own. Only do it fast. A week from now will probably be too late.
Recently I was chided by some radical progressives for advocating this very sort of Egyptian military rescue, essentially called a war monger. It's their type who would sit back self-righteously and allow the rebels, their wives and children to fall into the hands of Gaddafi's murderous security butchers.
I expect that's why I never have and never will support rightwing or leftwing politics. Both are the refuge of rigid ideologues, radicals and extremists who demand a world that conforms to their worldview. They're a minority certainly but they're welcome in those parties nonetheless. I guess that makes me an avowed centrist, albeit of the centre-left.
With Nuclear Down the Tubes, We're Going to Have to Get More Radical About Alternative Energy
Modern, fourth and fifth-generation nuclear energy was, until the past week, about the only viable option to ease our transition from fossil fuels. The nuclear option was the only one capable of delivering the amounts of energy required within the ever narrowing window for weaning our civilization off oil, gas and coal. Solar, wind, tidal and geothermal technologies simply aren't scaleable as yet. They won't do the job in time.
Japan's ongoing nuclear meltdown has made the nuclear option a non-starter. The criticisms are simplistic, unfair even, but that really doesn't matter. The argument is closed.
So, without the nuclear safety net, we're down to some awfully tough choices. Either we stay with the existing, destructive but cheap fossil fuels or we prepare ourselves to pay a vastly greater portion of our incomes for alternative energies. When many who were once secure in middle classdom now on the ropes, the cost of survival just became an awful lot tougher.
The Japanese fiasco has been music to the ears of Big Oil, Big Coal and Big Gas, especially as it has the Left taking to the streets with torches and pitchforks demanding an end to the nuclear option.
I don't know how many people, if any, will lose their lives to the Japanese reactor disasters but I know that many millions will lose their lives this century to global warming if we paint ourselves into a corner with the fossil fuel industries. It's a tough choice and, right now, much of the public is indulging itself in an orgy of self-gratifying fear. Somehow I have this feeling that the 21st won't be a pleasant century for the timid and the hesitant.
Japan's ongoing nuclear meltdown has made the nuclear option a non-starter. The criticisms are simplistic, unfair even, but that really doesn't matter. The argument is closed.
So, without the nuclear safety net, we're down to some awfully tough choices. Either we stay with the existing, destructive but cheap fossil fuels or we prepare ourselves to pay a vastly greater portion of our incomes for alternative energies. When many who were once secure in middle classdom now on the ropes, the cost of survival just became an awful lot tougher.
The Japanese fiasco has been music to the ears of Big Oil, Big Coal and Big Gas, especially as it has the Left taking to the streets with torches and pitchforks demanding an end to the nuclear option.
I don't know how many people, if any, will lose their lives to the Japanese reactor disasters but I know that many millions will lose their lives this century to global warming if we paint ourselves into a corner with the fossil fuel industries. It's a tough choice and, right now, much of the public is indulging itself in an orgy of self-gratifying fear. Somehow I have this feeling that the 21st won't be a pleasant century for the timid and the hesitant.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Shades of Hungary, 56 - Czechoslovakia, 68, Bahrain 2011
A military force from Saudi Arabia is reported to have entered Bahrain to supress anti-government demonstrations.
Mohammad al-Maskati, president of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, said several of his fellow activists had seen the troops arriving.
The opposition statement said it considered the arrival of any soldier or military vehicle “an overt occupation of the kingdom of Bahrain and a conspiracy against the unarmed people of Bahrain.”
Anti-government protesters remained in the streets of Manama, the capital, on Monday, a day after thousands clashed with security forces in the worst day of confrontation since demonstrations began a month ago. The protests are part of the regional turmoil against autocracy but are fed in Bahrain by tensions between the majority Shia population and the Sunni royal family and elite.
The demonstrators on Sunday effectively shut down the roads leading to the capital’s financial sector and held rallies at the main campus of the university as well.
We didn't hesitate to condemn the Soviets when they crushed pro-democracy movements in Hungary and Czechoslovakia. What are the chances we'll do the same to Saudi Arabia?
Sorry, I must have been daydreaming. What was I thinking? The protesters are Bahrain's Shiite majority, Shiite as in Shiite Iran. This all somehow ties in with Iran and that ties in with nuclear weapon proliferation. And besides, our buddies are the Sunnis and the anti-democratic rulers of Bahrain are Sunnis and let's not forget the oil factor and - oh well, screw oppression! Heck, it's probably good for them.
Mohammad al-Maskati, president of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, said several of his fellow activists had seen the troops arriving.
The opposition statement said it considered the arrival of any soldier or military vehicle “an overt occupation of the kingdom of Bahrain and a conspiracy against the unarmed people of Bahrain.”
Anti-government protesters remained in the streets of Manama, the capital, on Monday, a day after thousands clashed with security forces in the worst day of confrontation since demonstrations began a month ago. The protests are part of the regional turmoil against autocracy but are fed in Bahrain by tensions between the majority Shia population and the Sunni royal family and elite.
The demonstrators on Sunday effectively shut down the roads leading to the capital’s financial sector and held rallies at the main campus of the university as well.
We didn't hesitate to condemn the Soviets when they crushed pro-democracy movements in Hungary and Czechoslovakia. What are the chances we'll do the same to Saudi Arabia?
Sorry, I must have been daydreaming. What was I thinking? The protesters are Bahrain's Shiite majority, Shiite as in Shiite Iran. This all somehow ties in with Iran and that ties in with nuclear weapon proliferation. And besides, our buddies are the Sunnis and the anti-democratic rulers of Bahrain are Sunnis and let's not forget the oil factor and - oh well, screw oppression! Heck, it's probably good for them.
There Goes the Baby Out with the Bathwater
There are plenty of highly intelligent, eminently reasonable people who advocate nuclear power not just as a viable alternative to our fossil fuel addiction but as the only viable alternative, if we're to step back from the edge of runaway global warming.
Like many of us, at first I was dismissive of this pro-nuclear business. Many of us have become wrapped up in the "Ban the Bomb/Dr. Strangelove/Three Mile Island/China Syndrome/Chernobyl" matrix of adamant anti-nuclear sentiment. Yet, as I opened my mind and read a lot more about the nuclear option and corresponded with some nuclear-power proponents such as Australian professor Barry Brook (www.bravenewclimate.com) it became apparent I had a lot to learn.
Nuclear power is about as loaded a topic as can be imagined. Yet most of us, including the media, fail to grasp the difference between early nuclear technology and today's fourth and fifth generation, "fast" reactors. I won't go into a sales pitch here but I will toss out a few things you might not have known.
Old technology reactors are trouble. Not only do they produce enriched nuclear waste (the stuff that can be further processed into "weapon grade" material) they're also enormously inefficient, getting just a fraction of the energy from their fuel rods which thereafter have to be safely buried for thousands of years. Because old technology reactors are so inefficient there is genuine doubt about how long the world's remaining reserves of uranium would last.
New technology reactors solve many of these problems. They can consume those "spent" reactor rods that we have to scrap and extract most of the energy from them. They can likewise consume weapons grade fissile material. In other words, they can clean up the mess that otherwise isn't going anywhere. Best of all, they don't create enriched waste that can be processed for nuclear weaponry and, of course, they don't produce a lot of greenhouse gases either.
Despite the considerable promise of fourth and fifth-generation nuclear power, the fiasco in Japan may render it all for naught. There are many conflicting opinions on the severity of the problem at the Japanese nuclear plants. We're just going to have to wait to see what happens at the end of the day but, long before then, we're already turning on nuclear power of any variety. The media may have filled enough empty minds with glowing visions of nuclear Armageddon to kill the nuclear option for all time. In coming decades we may pay dearly for that.
Like many of us, at first I was dismissive of this pro-nuclear business. Many of us have become wrapped up in the "Ban the Bomb/Dr. Strangelove/Three Mile Island/China Syndrome/Chernobyl" matrix of adamant anti-nuclear sentiment. Yet, as I opened my mind and read a lot more about the nuclear option and corresponded with some nuclear-power proponents such as Australian professor Barry Brook (www.bravenewclimate.com) it became apparent I had a lot to learn.
Nuclear power is about as loaded a topic as can be imagined. Yet most of us, including the media, fail to grasp the difference between early nuclear technology and today's fourth and fifth generation, "fast" reactors. I won't go into a sales pitch here but I will toss out a few things you might not have known.
Old technology reactors are trouble. Not only do they produce enriched nuclear waste (the stuff that can be further processed into "weapon grade" material) they're also enormously inefficient, getting just a fraction of the energy from their fuel rods which thereafter have to be safely buried for thousands of years. Because old technology reactors are so inefficient there is genuine doubt about how long the world's remaining reserves of uranium would last.
New technology reactors solve many of these problems. They can consume those "spent" reactor rods that we have to scrap and extract most of the energy from them. They can likewise consume weapons grade fissile material. In other words, they can clean up the mess that otherwise isn't going anywhere. Best of all, they don't create enriched waste that can be processed for nuclear weaponry and, of course, they don't produce a lot of greenhouse gases either.
Despite the considerable promise of fourth and fifth-generation nuclear power, the fiasco in Japan may render it all for naught. There are many conflicting opinions on the severity of the problem at the Japanese nuclear plants. We're just going to have to wait to see what happens at the end of the day but, long before then, we're already turning on nuclear power of any variety. The media may have filled enough empty minds with glowing visions of nuclear Armageddon to kill the nuclear option for all time. In coming decades we may pay dearly for that.
Never Send a Meteorologist to Do a Seismologist's Job
I found this brainstorm at CBC News. In a report on the Japanese earthquake, CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe opined:
" A magnitude 8.9 quake is actually 8,000 times more powerful than a 7.2 quake," said Wagstaffe. " Because the earthquake occurred under the ocean floor, massive amounts of water were displaced above the shaking ocean ground, generating a tsunami."
8,000 times? We know the Richter scale works on factors of ten. An 8.0 magnitude quake, for example, would be ten times greater than a 7.0 tremblor. Hence a 9.0 quake would be one hundred times more powerful than a 7.0. What beggars belief is how Wagstaffe comes up with the math than an 8.9 quake is eight thousand times more powerful than a 7.2.
If anything, meteorologists know far less about seismology than climatology. They're trained to guess whether it's going to rain tomorrow, not whether you've got a tsunami in your future. Yet when a story like the Japanese quake arrives, everybody and their cousins get to weigh in, even if they really know squat.
" A magnitude 8.9 quake is actually 8,000 times more powerful than a 7.2 quake," said Wagstaffe. " Because the earthquake occurred under the ocean floor, massive amounts of water were displaced above the shaking ocean ground, generating a tsunami."
8,000 times? We know the Richter scale works on factors of ten. An 8.0 magnitude quake, for example, would be ten times greater than a 7.0 tremblor. Hence a 9.0 quake would be one hundred times more powerful than a 7.0. What beggars belief is how Wagstaffe comes up with the math than an 8.9 quake is eight thousand times more powerful than a 7.2.
If anything, meteorologists know far less about seismology than climatology. They're trained to guess whether it's going to rain tomorrow, not whether you've got a tsunami in your future. Yet when a story like the Japanese quake arrives, everybody and their cousins get to weigh in, even if they really know squat.
So Much for Libya
He may be as mad as a hatter but Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi knows how to turn around events.
At first it seemed like Gaddafi & Sons was finished. By some accounts the old bugger was reluctant to deploy his land forces fearing they might turn on him if they saw defeat inevitable. Then Muammar caught a lucky break in the form of international hesitation. All the talk about a "no fly zone" over Libya turned out to be just talk.
Gaddafi the survivor seemed to grasp that he was being given a window of opportunity in which he could suppress the revolt, reclaim domination of Libya and hand all his foreign critics a fait accompli. That was when loyalist forces, including units under the command of Gaddafi's sons, were unleashed on the rebels and began rolling them back toward the Egyptian border.
And then along came the Japanese earthquake and tsunami that mesmerized the world. At seismic speeds, Libya dropped off the world's radar screens. Now that we're all riveted to Japan's nuclear cataclysm (that may be terrifically overblown in the media), Muammar can confidently redouble his efforts. This probably is, after all, his last, best shot at restoring his power and the security of his family's wealth.
update - latest reports have Gaddafi forces massing to assault and retake Benghazi. That will pretty much be game, set and match - except for the retribution that will follow once the regime's security apparatus returns. Well at least we didn't have to sully our hands with some half-assed no fly zone.
At first it seemed like Gaddafi & Sons was finished. By some accounts the old bugger was reluctant to deploy his land forces fearing they might turn on him if they saw defeat inevitable. Then Muammar caught a lucky break in the form of international hesitation. All the talk about a "no fly zone" over Libya turned out to be just talk.
Gaddafi the survivor seemed to grasp that he was being given a window of opportunity in which he could suppress the revolt, reclaim domination of Libya and hand all his foreign critics a fait accompli. That was when loyalist forces, including units under the command of Gaddafi's sons, were unleashed on the rebels and began rolling them back toward the Egyptian border.
And then along came the Japanese earthquake and tsunami that mesmerized the world. At seismic speeds, Libya dropped off the world's radar screens. Now that we're all riveted to Japan's nuclear cataclysm (that may be terrifically overblown in the media), Muammar can confidently redouble his efforts. This probably is, after all, his last, best shot at restoring his power and the security of his family's wealth.
update - latest reports have Gaddafi forces massing to assault and retake Benghazi. That will pretty much be game, set and match - except for the retribution that will follow once the regime's security apparatus returns. Well at least we didn't have to sully our hands with some half-assed no fly zone.
Arms Race Update - India Surges Ahead
India's economy may be smaller than its regional rival China's but its appetite for advanced weaponry isn't. For years to come India is set to be the world's #1 buyer of foreign weaponry, primarily state of the art hardware from Russia.
With defence spending for the coming year pegged at just under $33-billion, India remains light years behind the debt-ridden United States where military spending throughout its vast military/industrial/civilian-warfighting complex is estimated to exceed a trillion dollars annually.
India, which has its own, indigenous military/industrial sector capable of designing and producing advanced missiles and even nuclear powered submarines, builds a lot of Russian equipment, especially aircraft, under licence. The country is positioned to be Russia's main export customer for its new stealth fighter-interceptor.
China now appears to be locked into a major arms race with India. Fueling this are border disputes, particularly involving Himalayan headwaters; US/India containment threats; and Indian domination of the Indian Ocean, a major sea lane route for Chinese access to the Middle East. China employs Pakistan as a proxy to ramp up pressure on India and, in turn, threaten India's access to Middle East and Central Asian fossil fuel resources.
The estimates of India's arms appetite come from the Swedish International Peace Research Institute. SIPRI (www.sipri.org) has found that, while India accounts for 9% of all weapons imports, close behind are China and South Korea at 6% each followed by Pakistan at 5%.
The United States continues to dominate weapons exports followed by Russia with 23% of the global trade, Germany at 11% and France at 7%. Arms shipments from 2006 to 2010 were up 24% over the period 2001 to 2005.
With defence spending for the coming year pegged at just under $33-billion, India remains light years behind the debt-ridden United States where military spending throughout its vast military/industrial/civilian-warfighting complex is estimated to exceed a trillion dollars annually.
India, which has its own, indigenous military/industrial sector capable of designing and producing advanced missiles and even nuclear powered submarines, builds a lot of Russian equipment, especially aircraft, under licence. The country is positioned to be Russia's main export customer for its new stealth fighter-interceptor.
China now appears to be locked into a major arms race with India. Fueling this are border disputes, particularly involving Himalayan headwaters; US/India containment threats; and Indian domination of the Indian Ocean, a major sea lane route for Chinese access to the Middle East. China employs Pakistan as a proxy to ramp up pressure on India and, in turn, threaten India's access to Middle East and Central Asian fossil fuel resources.
The estimates of India's arms appetite come from the Swedish International Peace Research Institute. SIPRI (www.sipri.org) has found that, while India accounts for 9% of all weapons imports, close behind are China and South Korea at 6% each followed by Pakistan at 5%.
The United States continues to dominate weapons exports followed by Russia with 23% of the global trade, Germany at 11% and France at 7%. Arms shipments from 2006 to 2010 were up 24% over the period 2001 to 2005.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
What Hedges Said...
War correspondent, author, theologian Chris Hedges has been busy these past years chronicling the decline of his country. His latest piece is entitled, "This Time, We're Taking the Whole Planet With Us." An excerpt:
As food and water shortages expand across the globe, as mounting poverty and misery trigger street protests in the Middle East, Africa and Europe, the elites do what all elites do. They launch more wars, build grander monuments to themselves, plunge their nations deeper into debt, and as it all unravels they take it out on the backs of workers and the poor. The collapse of the global economy, which wiped out a staggering $40 trillion in wealth, was caused when our elites, after destroying our manufacturing base, sold massive quantities of fraudulent mortgage-backed securities to pension funds, small investors, banks, universities, state and foreign governments and shareholders. The elites, to cover the losses, then looted the public treasury to begin the speculation over again. They also, in the name of austerity, began dismantling basic social services, set out to break the last vestiges of unions, slashed jobs, froze wages, threw millions of people out of their homes, and stood by idly as we created a permanent underclass of unemployed and underemployed.
The Mayan elite became, at the end, as the anthropologist Ronald Wright notes in “A Short History of Progress,” “… extremists, or ultra-conservatives, squeezing the last drops of profit from nature and humanity.” This is how all civilizations, including our own, ossify and die. The signs of imminent death may be undeniable. Common sense may cry out for a radical new response. But the race toward self-immolation only accelerates because of intellectual and moral paralysis. As Sigmund Freud grasped in “Beyond the Pleasure Principle” and “Civilization and Its Discontents,” human societies are as intoxicated and blinded by their own headlong rush toward death and destruction as they are by the search for erotic fulfillment.
The unrest in the Middle East, the implosion of national economies such as those of Ireland and Greece, the increasing anger of a beleaguered working class at home and abroad, the growing desperate human migrations and the refusal to halt our relentless destruction of the ecosystem on which life depends are the harbingers of our own collapse and the consequences of the idiocy of our elite and the folly of globalization. Protests that are not built around a complete reconfiguration of American society, including a rapid dismantling of empire and the corporate state, can only forestall the inevitable. We will be saved only with the birth of a new and militant radicalism which seeks to dethrone our corrupt elite from power, not negotiate for better terms.
A year or two ago I might have said this was crazy talk, that Hedges had lost it. Now I'm anything but sure.
As food and water shortages expand across the globe, as mounting poverty and misery trigger street protests in the Middle East, Africa and Europe, the elites do what all elites do. They launch more wars, build grander monuments to themselves, plunge their nations deeper into debt, and as it all unravels they take it out on the backs of workers and the poor. The collapse of the global economy, which wiped out a staggering $40 trillion in wealth, was caused when our elites, after destroying our manufacturing base, sold massive quantities of fraudulent mortgage-backed securities to pension funds, small investors, banks, universities, state and foreign governments and shareholders. The elites, to cover the losses, then looted the public treasury to begin the speculation over again. They also, in the name of austerity, began dismantling basic social services, set out to break the last vestiges of unions, slashed jobs, froze wages, threw millions of people out of their homes, and stood by idly as we created a permanent underclass of unemployed and underemployed.
The Mayan elite became, at the end, as the anthropologist Ronald Wright notes in “A Short History of Progress,” “… extremists, or ultra-conservatives, squeezing the last drops of profit from nature and humanity.” This is how all civilizations, including our own, ossify and die. The signs of imminent death may be undeniable. Common sense may cry out for a radical new response. But the race toward self-immolation only accelerates because of intellectual and moral paralysis. As Sigmund Freud grasped in “Beyond the Pleasure Principle” and “Civilization and Its Discontents,” human societies are as intoxicated and blinded by their own headlong rush toward death and destruction as they are by the search for erotic fulfillment.
The unrest in the Middle East, the implosion of national economies such as those of Ireland and Greece, the increasing anger of a beleaguered working class at home and abroad, the growing desperate human migrations and the refusal to halt our relentless destruction of the ecosystem on which life depends are the harbingers of our own collapse and the consequences of the idiocy of our elite and the folly of globalization. Protests that are not built around a complete reconfiguration of American society, including a rapid dismantling of empire and the corporate state, can only forestall the inevitable. We will be saved only with the birth of a new and militant radicalism which seeks to dethrone our corrupt elite from power, not negotiate for better terms.
A year or two ago I might have said this was crazy talk, that Hedges had lost it. Now I'm anything but sure.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Great, Just In Time for an Election, a Liberal Senator Convicted of Fraud
Thanks for nothing, Raymond Lavigne. The senator was convicted today of fraud and breach of trust. I'm sure we'll be hearing about him again in the coming months - from the Tories.
We'll have to wait a couple of weeks to find out if Ray gets booted from the Senate but I'm betting the Tory-majority would like nothing better, especially as that would give Harper the opportunity to appoint yet another Conservative, this time from Montreal.
Two former staffers testified that Lavigne filed bogus expense claims for their travel and pocketed the reimbursements. The judge also found that he used a staffer to cut trees on Lavigne's Wakefield, Que. cottage.
Maybe it's time to start a new, genuinely liberal, Liberal Party from the ground up. Right now who can reliably say how much rot is in the existing one?
We'll have to wait a couple of weeks to find out if Ray gets booted from the Senate but I'm betting the Tory-majority would like nothing better, especially as that would give Harper the opportunity to appoint yet another Conservative, this time from Montreal.
Two former staffers testified that Lavigne filed bogus expense claims for their travel and pocketed the reimbursements. The judge also found that he used a staffer to cut trees on Lavigne's Wakefield, Que. cottage.
Maybe it's time to start a new, genuinely liberal, Liberal Party from the ground up. Right now who can reliably say how much rot is in the existing one?
Forget Boycotts, Who Are The Good Guys?
Much as I like the notion of punishing right wing outfits I realized there's probably more impact to be had in figuring out what firms and individuals are actually on the progressive side. Worrying about which firms not to deal with, what places not to frequent is kind of meaningless if you just take your business to another place with the same leanings. Besides, it's easier to remember the names of the good guys than to have to also memorize the names of the bad guys.
So, what are the top progressive businesses in Canada? Who should we all be supporting? We all have to find our own way a bit on this. Many of the good guys are local businesses and surely they deserve priority. Others may be regional or national. But we need to know.
So, how about listing businesses that support progressivism in Canada? Let's start putting together a list.
So, what are the top progressive businesses in Canada? Who should we all be supporting? We all have to find our own way a bit on this. Many of the good guys are local businesses and surely they deserve priority. Others may be regional or national. But we need to know.
So, how about listing businesses that support progressivism in Canada? Let's start putting together a list.
Think BC Hasn't Had Earthquakes Recently? Think Again
Here's a chart showing earthquakes that have hit British Columbia in the past 30 days.
Japan Hit - Yet Again?
The Globe & Mail is reporting that yet another earthquake, a magnitude 6.6 tremblor, has hit Japan. That would make it three major quakes in three days beginning with a mid-7, then a high-8 and now a mid-6 magnitude earthquake.
This, following in the wake of the Christchurch earthquake, seems more than a little unusual. Depending on the epicentre even a magnitude 6 quake can be pretty devastating.
The Globe also has another item speculating on whether a "supermoon" event is triggering this spate of earthquakes. Apparently the moon is nearing its closest approach to Earth in 18-years although scientists appear to be dismissing that as irrelevant. The moon will be at its very closest on March 19th. Just to be on the safe side I think I'll lay in an extra stock of freshwater for the balance of the month.
This, following in the wake of the Christchurch earthquake, seems more than a little unusual. Depending on the epicentre even a magnitude 6 quake can be pretty devastating.
The Globe also has another item speculating on whether a "supermoon" event is triggering this spate of earthquakes. Apparently the moon is nearing its closest approach to Earth in 18-years although scientists appear to be dismissing that as irrelevant. The moon will be at its very closest on March 19th. Just to be on the safe side I think I'll lay in an extra stock of freshwater for the balance of the month.
And This Is How You Fight Back
Corporatism's favourite weapon is money. They use money to make more money. Often that comes in the form of financing compliant legislators or skewing, even perverting public opinion. It's the time tested way of overcoming or sidestepping inconvenient democratic restraints. Oh, let's be honest - call it democracy rape.
Well you can fight back. Just ask Wisconsin's firefighters. A number of them discovered that Madison's M&I Bank, recently acquired by Bank of Montreal, was one of the major financial backers of union-busting Wisconsin governor, Scott Walker. And so they marched on the bank in protest. And then they marched into the bank and withdrew their savings. Bank drafts all around! Cashier's cheques please.
It seems the M&I bank branch went catatonic, shutting its doors and closing for the day at 3 p.m. Two retired firefighters withdrew $600,000 between them. Now M&I is losing those deposits but it also knows its competition is getting that money. Ooopsie, not nice.
That's how you fight back or at least it's one way. There are others. What if even a quarter of Liberal and NDP supporters took the time to identify Harper's biggest corporate supporters and walked out on them, forever? At the very least they would have to think twice, knowing that they're not "consequence free" any longer
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/515607/awesome%3A_wisconsin_firefighters_shut_down_bank_that_funded_walker/#paragraph3
Well you can fight back. Just ask Wisconsin's firefighters. A number of them discovered that Madison's M&I Bank, recently acquired by Bank of Montreal, was one of the major financial backers of union-busting Wisconsin governor, Scott Walker. And so they marched on the bank in protest. And then they marched into the bank and withdrew their savings. Bank drafts all around! Cashier's cheques please.
It seems the M&I bank branch went catatonic, shutting its doors and closing for the day at 3 p.m. Two retired firefighters withdrew $600,000 between them. Now M&I is losing those deposits but it also knows its competition is getting that money. Ooopsie, not nice.
That's how you fight back or at least it's one way. There are others. What if even a quarter of Liberal and NDP supporters took the time to identify Harper's biggest corporate supporters and walked out on them, forever? At the very least they would have to think twice, knowing that they're not "consequence free" any longer
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/515607/awesome%3A_wisconsin_firefighters_shut_down_bank_that_funded_walker/#paragraph3
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