The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists announced the signifigant movement of their historic clock. For the first time non-nuclear issues, namely climate concerns, have pushed things along in addition to the obvious nuclear concerns.The most recent issue of their journal gives a sobering look at issues confronting humanity, nukes, climate, biologicals, pollution, and emerging technologies.Anyone you might vote for should have coherent answers to these issues. Don't settle for less.
Across the country Americans voiced their opposition to the fiasco in Iraq. Huge demonstrations took place in larger cities. Smaller towns however had their own observances and mine was no exception. There were about 30 or 40 intrepid individuals with the audacity to exercise freedom of speech assembeled in our local downtown. There was an interesting mix of ages and backgrounds including veterans, young people, elderly, and a young man from Hanoi.
Whether any of this will alter the arguably psychopathic administration's behavior is debatable however to be free act free.
Via Vyzglyad and Der Spiegel, the Vatican is the most criminalized per capita city in the world, beating out such contenders as Compton, the south Bronx, and Lyubertsi. Admittedly fleeing across the border to avoid the law is not that difficult.
The timing of GWBs latest twist in Iraq makes more sense when one considers legislation about to be introduced (rammed through) the Iraqi parliment. This legislation refers to several unusual points including "production sharing agreements" which allow foreign companies access to Iraqi oil for upto 30 years, slice of the profits while costs are recovered amounting to 60 to 70 per cent, and 20 per cent afterwards. Iraq's ability to dispute agreements would be limited to international arbitration rather than Iraqi courts. The agreement preserves the appearance of national sovereignity while giving control of the revenue stream and development to the Western ( American and European) oil Goliaths.
Much in the manner of the U.S. Part D medicare benefit this jewel of legislation was developed by those who will benefit most, notably groups representing U.S. financial and petroleum interests. In this case a spin off of KPMG, BearingPoint , which so far has made 240 million on its Iraq work.
If this doesn't unite the Shias and Sunnis I don't know what will.
Two seemingly unrelated events point towards what may be the dystopian future resulting from diminishing carbon based energy and the global warming resulting from the unrestrained use of such energy.
A 42 square mile chunk of the Ayles ice shelf detached itself from Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic during the summer of 2005.
Meanwhile officials in Kuwait announced that the 2nd largest oil field in the world, Burgan, in Kuwait has passed its prime, giving increased credence to the concept of "peak oil". The uncertainty of the actual supply of petroleum reserves in the mideast was the subject of "Twilight in the Desert" by Mattew Simmons and argued that many of the oil industry's predictions regarding supply are optomistic to put it mildly.
The world is increasingly confronted by the specter of a sudden catastrophic climate change or "climate crash" and a simultaneous depletion of petroleum.Unfortunately for Americans the current government is uniquely unqualified to deal meaningfully with either of these problems.
It was with some sadness I read of Saparmurat Niyazov's unexpected demise. Besides being a post-communist despot in the best tradition of central asian newly liberated Soviet Republics, he was an author offering free advice in his latest book which I, myself helped hype. It was with a sense of frustration that I looked for a copy in our local library.Hopefully in the future we can understand what he really meant.
In the meanwhile Satan flies again in the skies of Siberia. SATAN in this case is a NATO designation of the most feared Russian ICBM, a true killer of worlds which contains 10 multi-megaton warheads on each rocket. Five of them would take out every state capitol in the U.S. or all of Texas. Merry Christmas.
Recent articles detail how huge deluges caused by (take your pick) meteorites, asteroids, or comets occur every 5000 years or so and destroy huge swaths of land. So much for geological gradualism, catastrophism seems much more likely and scientifically more believeable than the usual apocolyptic religious stuff trotted out by the the worlds' monotheistic death cults.
There is much talk about the ramifications of the recent Democratic resurgence in America and what it actually might mean. Some see this as an "adjustment" to the center, a mid-course correction without meaningful change. The same corporate interests continuing to milk the ever diminishing middle class, no real boat rocking, no radical reform of the electoral process, health care system, or American foriegn policy.
For Americans' sake and the world one can only hope more is afoot here. A little noticed article released days before the election detailed the continuing concentration of wealth in America. I can only hope that the ever downtrodden members of America's middle class have begun to realize that the only force with their interest at heart is they themselves. Forget the so-called "culture wars", the phony tax cut benefits, and the phony wars on "terrorism" "drugs" and "Islamofacism". Don't let the Democrats default to "Republicanism Lite".
I never cease to be amazed at the "parallell universe" quality of Russian and American societies. The latest example is the march today in Moscow by a variety of groups headed by the "Movement Against Illeagal Immigration". This group with tacit support from the government is headed by a fellow named Alexander Byelov , who states,
"The rights of Russians are being infringed in their own land and we intend to stop it."
If this guy isn't a soul brother to the American Minutemen group I don't know who is.He should probably be made an honorary member. Everyday Americans and Russians seem to have more in common, massive numbers of nukes, nationalist (neo-con) kooks, failed wars, and a curious indifference to their own civil liberties and democracies. Привет Товарищ по несчастью!
I love the article in Asian Times Online by Nicolai Petro, former special assistant for policy for the Soviet Union under George the Elder.The nerve of Putin to suggest that Russia does things that the West has done for years as normal business as usual has upset not only the typical hysterical Russophobes in the U.S. but also the even bigger hypocrites in Europe.As a consumer I don't know why it's worse to be ripped off by Lukoil rather then say by Exxon Mobil. Hey, if they charged less I'd be first in line. If only Canada had a more proprietary interest in its resources.
Lastly the effects of the latest Korean crisis documented by Arms Control Wonk is interesting to say the least. There's always been something phallic about missiles and bombs.
Condoleeza Rice, in an act of stomach churning hypocrisy and political opportunism, castigated the Russians over the recent tragic murder of Anna Politkovskaya and concern over the state of Russian media. Coming from a country that doesn't find itself rolling back individual freedom and protection from the government, plus being in a war which arguably has been based on lies from the outset, these comments might carry some weight. Instead the self-serving nature of of Dr. Rice's visit is apparent to even the most brain-dead Russian alkofan.
An administration that can't meet the mother of a dead soldier and benefits quite nicely from media concentration here in the U.S. is not the source of moral rectitude in the world when it comes to these matters anymore. Instead it's painfully obvious that the oiligarchy's failure to cash in on Russian and Central Asian energy deals has more to do with the current state of U.S.-Russian relations than an army of dead soldiers or anti-war reporters.
The Exile, as usual, has the most coherent take on the whole disturbed situation.Meanwhile I need to get some compazine.............
It's easy to forget about the escalating conflict in Afghanistan when compared to the on going fiasco in Iraq.The fighting there however is as harrowing as can be imagined. The following article from The Independent gives a rare glimpse into a less well known horror story.
"We headed off to what can only be described as the Wild West." Those are the words, not of a beleaguered British squaddie, but of a Canadian officer in a unit sent to help rescue our troops in the lawless Afghan province of Helmand. His account, emailed to family and friends back in Canada, is the most detailed to emerge from what commanders have called the most desperate fighting British troops have seen since the Korean War." more....
Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative journalist for Novaya Gazetta , has been found murdered in the elevator of her apartment building in central Moscow Saturday night. Her murder has the hallmarks of a professional asassination with the murder weapon being left at the scene with expended cartridges.
Sadly her death comes as no surprise as she had established a reputation for journalistic courage and integrity with her unflinching work documenting abuses committed by the Russian military in its lenghty campaign in Chechnaya. As a result she was recipient of numerous threats against her life.
She has a number of works published in English including "A Dirty War" , "A Small Corner of Hell", which document the most recent Chechen conflict. Her latest book,"Putin's Russia", subtitled Life in a Failing Democracy took aim at a broad slice of unsavory aspects of Russian life and laid the blame on Putin's doorstep.
Unfortunately she joins a lenghty list of now deceased Russian reformers including Galina Starovoitova, Andrei Kozlov, Paul Klebnikov, and Dmitri Kholodov The International Press Institute has a depressing list of murdered journalists for those interested.
Nils Petter Molvaer has a great new album of remixes that is well worth the time to check out. If I could have become a transcendent trumpeter, which was quite unlikely in 1971 in the Franklin Jr. High band in Des Moines, this is how I'd like to sound now.
While there may be various motives for publicizing your arsenal, the latest from Russian Strategic Rocket Forces is interesting to say the least. My previous info from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists gives differnet numbers but whatever it is seems like more than enough for general world destruction.
A new NASA study on climate change indicates the Earth is on the verge of global temperatures not seen since the Pliocene era 1,000,000 years ago. Based on the above map Paleo-conservatives may want to ditch the Florida condo before it's too late.
Meanwhile in another distrubed Earth story a "mud volcano", possibly started by human gas drilling activities may last a hundred years or more. So far the boiling mud has consumed half a dozen villages and 20 factories since its eruption in May.
Have you ever wondered how many nukes there are in the whole world? An article in The Bulletin of The Atomic Scientists attempts to answer this almost existentialist question.The number is about 27,000, of which 12,500 are operational. As it turns out 97% are in the hands of Russia and the United States.
A new wrinkle is the Bush administration's effort to cover up the U.S. history of the arsenal. These numbers of course are well known to our adversaries so from whom are they being hidden? The only answer can be the the people of this country. The creation of a "memory hole" only benefits the state in its effort to stifle discussion of security and freedom. No knowledge no argument. Welcome to the funhouse.
While the U.S. frets over the possibility of Iranian nukes leftover nightmares from the cold war persist.
One issue is accidental launch of nuclear weapons, a subject visited by Pavel Podvig in the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces' blog. Here are some their concerns:
"There are several scenarios that can lead to an unintended launch of nuclear-armed missiles. It can be an unauthorized launch of a missile or a group of missiles (e.g. missile regiment or a submarine), a malfunction of a command and control system component that triggers missile launch, or an authorized launch in response to a warning provided by the early-warning system."
Another new problem is the American idea to put conventional warheads on ballistic missiles as part of the "war on terrorism". Concerns with this include the idea that countries will not be able to differentiate between nuke carrying missiles and the conventional warheads leading to nuclear catastrophe .Donald Rumsfeld is a big proponent of this idea which is not so far being enthusiastcally endorsed by other nuclear powers.
"Tell me what keeps you up at night and I'll tell you why it should."
Its hard for to me to imagine how the administration keeps its grip on the American people in terms of security. Lies on lies to convince us somehow we are better off with their leadership (or lack of it). Recent examples include the report of the Physicians for Social Responsibilty on the consequences of nuclear attack that concludes that nothing has been has been done to make us safer in the last five years in spite of the invocation of "mushroom clouds" by our local warmongers.
Another aspect is the continual degradation of our armed forces as evidenced by recruiting difficulties, well documented by Nick Turse in "Coaxing the Unwilling" in Asia Times Online's great article. We essentially have a mercenary force increasingly made up of fugitives from justice, education, and "normal American values". How these guys keep getting re-elected is amazing in itself. I'm looking for some foreign election monitors to save the next fraud of an election.Either that or a new place to live.
The recent observance of "Patriots' Day" raises uncomfortable questions about what the U.S. will or won't accomplish in the "War on Terror". A good example of what is meant by victory or democracy can be seen in news about Al-Anbar province. Is it lost due to too few troops or a failure to grasp basic counter-insurgency techniques. A recent report from Marine intelligence suggests a lack of resources among other things. On the other hand a basic distrust of Iraqis perhaps has led to failure as well .
Another hitherto unthinkable thought might be what happens if an Islamic Caliphate were to be established. Such a possiblity was raised in Thomas Ricks' otherwise thoughtful "Fiasco". Here he postulated a "worst case " scenario of a charasmatic Islamic leader overthrowing the present nonrepresentative governments of the Arabic MidEast and establishing a state from north Africa to Iraq. As a precedent he cited Saladin, the greatest hero of the Islamic world at the time of the crusades. It's time to start thinking outside of the box. Here might be a place to start.
