Steven Birn - Wal-Mart CEO Bill Simon says inflation is going to hit hard beginning in June. Simon claims that prices will begin rising dramatically, though he doesn’t say what markets will be affected the most. We can only presume he’s speaking about markets that Wal-Mart sells a lot of such as clothing and food. This isn’t a surprise to folks who pay close attention to commodity markets. Cotton prices have doubled in the last year, corn us up 75%, meat is up 25-50% depending on animal, butter is up 25% etc.
Meanwhile gas prices have doubled since Obama took office. Gas prices averaged $1.79 when Obama took office, they now average $3.58. Here in Michigan gas is around $3.69, in California it’s over $4.00 a gallon. I’ve seen diesel for $3.99 in Michigan, which means transportation costs are through the roof. Gas prices, particularly diesel, are going to lead to the price increases Wal-Mart is concerned about. Today oil is over $106 a barrel, the highest it’s been since Obama took office. If that price holds, gas prices will go even higher.
I have been concerned about inflation since Bush’s bailout in 2008. The Bush bailout and the Obama stimulus helped launch this country into a massive budget deficit. Obama has done nothing to cut the deficit, in fact Democrats are busy declaring that Republican desires to cut a measly $40 billion from the budget are “extreme.” Worse, the Fed is busy printing money like cut rate counterfeiters. That’s what’s really killing us. For each dollar they print, the money we earn each day becomes worth less. This means we can buy less with our money when prices rise.
Obama is clearly uninterested in inflation, he’s barely discussed the matter at all. I said a couple years ago that inflation would be the biggest issue in the 2012 election. Don’t be surprised if it is right up their with jobs. Obama has ignored this problem, going so far as to pretend it doesn’t exist. Those of us who go to the grocery each week have watched inflation in action over the last year as prices for just about everything have increased substantially. Everyone has seen the price of gas increase dramatically over the past year.
What is the solution to this inflation mess? First, the Fed has got to stop printing money. The Fed has printed billions over the past two years and it’s negatively affecting prices and making savings worthless. Second, government needs to make substantial cuts in spending. Their out of control spending is part of the reason why the Fed is printing money, those two issues go hand in hand. Third, government needs to cut taxes so that the costs of inflation are offset for the middle class and in fact for all taxpayers. Fourth, government needs to reduce regulations, especially on small businesses. A reduction in regulations, including the simplification of the corporate tax code, will spur the economy and ultimately offset inflation for most Americans. Fifth, Obamacare needs to be repealed.
Instead of doing what I suggest, Obama will continue to propose more government intervention in the economy. He’ll create more boogy man bad guys like those wicked oil companies or the banks or Wall Street or pick your big business that doesn’t donate to Democrats. Those tactics, which Obama has employed for years, will not halt inflation and will not help the middle class. More government planners dictating the economy from on high in DC will not fix inflation and will not make things easier for the middle class. Only a reduction in government and stopping the Fed printing press will halt inflation and make things stable for us in the middle class.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Project Gunrunner: Rep. Issa Jumps Into Scandal After State Dept. Stonewalls Sen. Grassley
Matthew Boyle - Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican, the chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, demanded that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton produce documents regarding an alleged connection between operation “Fast and Furious,” a gunrunning scandal the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) partook in, and the Dec. 14 shooting of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.
According to a CBS News investigation, ATF was allowing weapons smugglers to sell American guns to Mexican drug cartels in the hope that they could gain more information about the weapons and drug markets’ major players by tracing their connections through ballistics and guns’ serial numbers as shootings happened.
Specifically, Issa is asking for information relating to meetings Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, his deputy, and then-U.S. ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual, among other officials, had last summer in Mexico City. Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican, first asked the State Department for the same documents on March 4, but got the cold shoulder from President Barack Obama’s administration.
Issa is requesting, “meeting minutes, briefing notes, e-mails and cables relating to any such meeting or meetings that may have occurred from June through September 2010.” Issa also asks Clinton to “please explain in detail the reasons behind your refusal to answer the Senator directly.”
The reason he’s joining Grassley’s request, Issa wrote, is because he thinks, “given the gravity of this matter, this refusal is simply unacceptable.” Unlike Grassley, Issa does have subpoena power he could choose to use if Clinton refuses to provide the requested information or if she doesn’t acknowledge the request.
“I understand that you have yet to respond and are likely to refuse Senator Grassley’s request for information without a letter from the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee,” Issa wrote to Clinton. “This refusal is mystifying in its own right, given Senator Grassley’s standing as the Ranking Member of that Committee. More inexplicably, your refusal stands in stark contradiction to the promise of transparency promoted by President Obama.”
In an interview with CBS News on Tuesday, Issa said this isn’t a political issue and members of both parties should be concerned about ATF’s decision-making process and who made the decision. Issa also clarified why he and Grassley are asking for information from Clinton and the State Department, as ATF falls under the Justice Department and reports to Attorney General Eric Holder.
“In this case, this is about specific context with the Secretary [of State] that we want to know and we want to know about that action,” Issa said. “But, moreover, it’s part of a larger investigation, one in which we have to get to the bottom of – what were they thinking and how could they for a moment think that a thousand, or many thousands of weapons, could be allowed to go into Mexico, not being tracked, fully functional, and not lead to the death of innocent people.”
Issa also said he believes the decisions for “Project Gunrunner,” were ones that, “go to the highest level of this administration’s political appointees – that they either knew or should have known or had the ability to know and allowed this cover-up to go on – and continue until this day.”
Obama said he and Holder didn’t approve ATF’s decisions to allow the guns to make it into drug cartels’ possession, but Issa says, he doesn’t “say what somebody else did or didn’t know.”
“It will be up to the Attorney General to say whether he knew or not,” Issa said. “Right now, the president’s word about what somebody else knew would not be acceptable. As much as we love the president, we can accept him at his word – he didn’t know. The Attorney General is going to have to say what he knew and when he knew it – and, if he didn’t know, who in his hierarchy did know and when did they know it?”
Issa gave Clinton until 5 p.m. on April 12 to provide the documents.
According to a CBS News investigation, ATF was allowing weapons smugglers to sell American guns to Mexican drug cartels in the hope that they could gain more information about the weapons and drug markets’ major players by tracing their connections through ballistics and guns’ serial numbers as shootings happened.
Specifically, Issa is asking for information relating to meetings Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, his deputy, and then-U.S. ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual, among other officials, had last summer in Mexico City. Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican, first asked the State Department for the same documents on March 4, but got the cold shoulder from President Barack Obama’s administration.
Issa is requesting, “meeting minutes, briefing notes, e-mails and cables relating to any such meeting or meetings that may have occurred from June through September 2010.” Issa also asks Clinton to “please explain in detail the reasons behind your refusal to answer the Senator directly.”
The reason he’s joining Grassley’s request, Issa wrote, is because he thinks, “given the gravity of this matter, this refusal is simply unacceptable.” Unlike Grassley, Issa does have subpoena power he could choose to use if Clinton refuses to provide the requested information or if she doesn’t acknowledge the request.
“I understand that you have yet to respond and are likely to refuse Senator Grassley’s request for information without a letter from the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee,” Issa wrote to Clinton. “This refusal is mystifying in its own right, given Senator Grassley’s standing as the Ranking Member of that Committee. More inexplicably, your refusal stands in stark contradiction to the promise of transparency promoted by President Obama.”
In an interview with CBS News on Tuesday, Issa said this isn’t a political issue and members of both parties should be concerned about ATF’s decision-making process and who made the decision. Issa also clarified why he and Grassley are asking for information from Clinton and the State Department, as ATF falls under the Justice Department and reports to Attorney General Eric Holder.
“In this case, this is about specific context with the Secretary [of State] that we want to know and we want to know about that action,” Issa said. “But, moreover, it’s part of a larger investigation, one in which we have to get to the bottom of – what were they thinking and how could they for a moment think that a thousand, or many thousands of weapons, could be allowed to go into Mexico, not being tracked, fully functional, and not lead to the death of innocent people.”
Issa also said he believes the decisions for “Project Gunrunner,” were ones that, “go to the highest level of this administration’s political appointees – that they either knew or should have known or had the ability to know and allowed this cover-up to go on – and continue until this day.”
Obama said he and Holder didn’t approve ATF’s decisions to allow the guns to make it into drug cartels’ possession, but Issa says, he doesn’t “say what somebody else did or didn’t know.”
“It will be up to the Attorney General to say whether he knew or not,” Issa said. “Right now, the president’s word about what somebody else knew would not be acceptable. As much as we love the president, we can accept him at his word – he didn’t know. The Attorney General is going to have to say what he knew and when he knew it – and, if he didn’t know, who in his hierarchy did know and when did they know it?”
Issa gave Clinton until 5 p.m. on April 12 to provide the documents.
OPEC Set For A $1 Trillion In Oil Revenues
(FT) -- Opec, the oil producers' cartel, will reap $1,000bn in export revenues this year for the first time if crude prices remain above $100 a barrel, according to the International Energy Agency.
The cartel has been one of the main beneficiaries of high oil prices, which have soared in recent weeks amid the civil uprisings in the Middle East and north Africa.
Brent crude was trading at $115 a barrel on Tuesday.
Fatih Birol, chief economist at the IEA, said a new assessment by the rich nations' oil watchdog showed that the total number of barrels exported by Opec in 2011 would be slightly lower than in 2008, when cartel oil revenues reached $990bn. But if average prices remain around $100 a barrel, Opec's oil revenues will still reach a record of $1,000bn this year.
"It would be the first time in the history of Opec that oil revenues have reached a trillion dollars. It's mainly because of higher prices and higher production," Mr Birol said in a Financial Times interview. "However, Saudi Arabia has made substantial efforts to calm down the oil markets by increasing production and hinder prices from going higher."
The estimate, based on total Opec production including natural gas liquids, does not take inflation into account. "Depending on your choice of specific inflation adjustment, the 2008 number may be slightly higher [in real terms]," Mr Birol said.
Many of Opec's biggest producers are using the price gains to increase public spending, partly to guard against popular unrest. Saudi Arabia announced a multiyear spending package of $129bn and is expected to spend about $35bn in 2011.
This largesse means the country now needs an oil price of $83 per barrel in order to balance its national budget this year. "The more they earn, the more they tend to spend. So the oil price they need is ratcheted up," said Leonidas Drollas, chief economist at the Centre for Global Energy Studies in London.
Brad Bourland, chief economist at Jadwa, an investment house in Riyadh, predicted in a note to clients that "unless the [Saudi] government takes measures to reduce spending . . . we assume this breakeven price will rise in subsequent years".
Another beneficiary from high oil prices is Russia. Mr Birol noted that if oil prices remain at an average of $100 a barrel, Moscow's oil and gas revenues could increase by about $100bn to $350bn -- equivalent to 21 per cent of Russia's GDP.
High oil prices have "started to hurt the global economy", Mr Birol said, adding that he is "very worried for OECD countries, especially Europe".
The IEA is also concerned about the impact the current unrest is having on oil-sector investment in the Middle East and north Africa, which it expects to contribute about 90 per cent of production growth over the next 10 years.
"For this to happen, we need to invest now but I see the current geopolitical situation as a major handicap for making the right amount of investments," Mr Birol said.
The cartel has been one of the main beneficiaries of high oil prices, which have soared in recent weeks amid the civil uprisings in the Middle East and north Africa.
Brent crude was trading at $115 a barrel on Tuesday.
Fatih Birol, chief economist at the IEA, said a new assessment by the rich nations' oil watchdog showed that the total number of barrels exported by Opec in 2011 would be slightly lower than in 2008, when cartel oil revenues reached $990bn. But if average prices remain around $100 a barrel, Opec's oil revenues will still reach a record of $1,000bn this year.
"It would be the first time in the history of Opec that oil revenues have reached a trillion dollars. It's mainly because of higher prices and higher production," Mr Birol said in a Financial Times interview. "However, Saudi Arabia has made substantial efforts to calm down the oil markets by increasing production and hinder prices from going higher."
The estimate, based on total Opec production including natural gas liquids, does not take inflation into account. "Depending on your choice of specific inflation adjustment, the 2008 number may be slightly higher [in real terms]," Mr Birol said.
Many of Opec's biggest producers are using the price gains to increase public spending, partly to guard against popular unrest. Saudi Arabia announced a multiyear spending package of $129bn and is expected to spend about $35bn in 2011.
This largesse means the country now needs an oil price of $83 per barrel in order to balance its national budget this year. "The more they earn, the more they tend to spend. So the oil price they need is ratcheted up," said Leonidas Drollas, chief economist at the Centre for Global Energy Studies in London.
Brad Bourland, chief economist at Jadwa, an investment house in Riyadh, predicted in a note to clients that "unless the [Saudi] government takes measures to reduce spending . . . we assume this breakeven price will rise in subsequent years".
Another beneficiary from high oil prices is Russia. Mr Birol noted that if oil prices remain at an average of $100 a barrel, Moscow's oil and gas revenues could increase by about $100bn to $350bn -- equivalent to 21 per cent of Russia's GDP.
High oil prices have "started to hurt the global economy", Mr Birol said, adding that he is "very worried for OECD countries, especially Europe".
The IEA is also concerned about the impact the current unrest is having on oil-sector investment in the Middle East and north Africa, which it expects to contribute about 90 per cent of production growth over the next 10 years.
"For this to happen, we need to invest now but I see the current geopolitical situation as a major handicap for making the right amount of investments," Mr Birol said.
Fukushima Nuclear Plant Now in Full Meltdown
Kurt Nimmo - Reactor number two at the Fukushima Daiichi has gone into full meltdown, although this is not being reported by the corporate media. The core has melted through the floor of the containment building and is now releasing large amounts of radiation.
Richard Lahey, who was head of safety research for boiling-water reactors at General Electric when the company installed the units at Fukushima, told the Guardian on Tuesday workers at the site appeared to have “lost the race” to save the reactor.
“The indications we have, from the reactor to radiation readings and the materials they are seeing, suggest that the core has melted through the bottom of the pressure vessel in unit two, and at least some of it is down on the floor of the drywell,” Lahey said. “I hope I am wrong, but that is certainly what the evidence is pointing towards.”
On March 12, the Japanese government assured its citizens there was no possiblity of a nuclear meltdown. Five days later, Japan’s nuclear agency raised tbe severity rating of the nuclear crisis from a Level 4 to Level 5 on a seven-level international scale.
On March 29, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said his government is in a state of maximum alert over high-level radiation leaked from the plant.
Also on Tuesday, it was reported that deadly plutonium had leaked from reactor number two. Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency insisted the leak was not harmful to human life.
Sakae Muto, Tokyo Electric vice-president, said the amount of plutonium-238, 239 and 240 released into the atmosphere was on par with past nuclear tests. “I apologize for making people worried,” he said.
Record-high readings of contaminated sea water were found near the plant, Bloomberg reports. Radioactive iodine in seawater rose to 3,355 times the regulated safety limit yesterday afternoon from 2,572 times earlier in the day, agency spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama said. Nishiyama said the radiation is not a threat because there is no fishing in the area.
Experts say a reactor in meltdown will stop at or before the underlying soil of the containment structure, but will release massive amount of radiation into the atmosphere and ground causing extensive damage to plant and animal life. This process is now underway at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Meanwhile, there appears to be problems with a second nuclear plant. Tokyo Electric Power Co. said smoke was reported coming from the turbine building of reactor No. 1 at the Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant earlier today. The Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant is about 6 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Richard Lahey, who was head of safety research for boiling-water reactors at General Electric when the company installed the units at Fukushima, told the Guardian on Tuesday workers at the site appeared to have “lost the race” to save the reactor.
“The indications we have, from the reactor to radiation readings and the materials they are seeing, suggest that the core has melted through the bottom of the pressure vessel in unit two, and at least some of it is down on the floor of the drywell,” Lahey said. “I hope I am wrong, but that is certainly what the evidence is pointing towards.”
On March 12, the Japanese government assured its citizens there was no possiblity of a nuclear meltdown. Five days later, Japan’s nuclear agency raised tbe severity rating of the nuclear crisis from a Level 4 to Level 5 on a seven-level international scale.
On March 29, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said his government is in a state of maximum alert over high-level radiation leaked from the plant.
Also on Tuesday, it was reported that deadly plutonium had leaked from reactor number two. Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency insisted the leak was not harmful to human life.
Sakae Muto, Tokyo Electric vice-president, said the amount of plutonium-238, 239 and 240 released into the atmosphere was on par with past nuclear tests. “I apologize for making people worried,” he said.
Record-high readings of contaminated sea water were found near the plant, Bloomberg reports. Radioactive iodine in seawater rose to 3,355 times the regulated safety limit yesterday afternoon from 2,572 times earlier in the day, agency spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama said. Nishiyama said the radiation is not a threat because there is no fishing in the area.
Experts say a reactor in meltdown will stop at or before the underlying soil of the containment structure, but will release massive amount of radiation into the atmosphere and ground causing extensive damage to plant and animal life. This process is now underway at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Meanwhile, there appears to be problems with a second nuclear plant. Tokyo Electric Power Co. said smoke was reported coming from the turbine building of reactor No. 1 at the Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant earlier today. The Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant is about 6 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
In 2009 Col. Muammar Gaddafi Proposed Nationalizing Libya's Oill
Kurt Nimmo - The Coalition of Globalists are not interested in sheltering the Libyan people from Muammar al- Gaddafi. The no-fly zone and attacks on the Libyan military by NATO and U.S. have nothing to do with democracy and free elections.
It’s about oil – and who owns it.
In 2009, Gaddafi uttered the “N” word – nationalization. Not only for Libya’s oil, but all oil in the region. For the globalists, this made Gaddafi a dangerous mad dog renegade who needed to be replaced.
“The oil-exporting countries should opt for nationalization because of the rapid fall in oil prices. We must put the issue on the table and discuss it seriously,” he declared. “Oil should be owned by the State at this time, so we could better control prices by the increase or decrease in production.”
Predictably, Gaddafi’s pronouncement set off alarm bells at Anglo-Dutch Shell, British Petroleum, ExxonMobil, Hess Corp., Marathon Oil, Occidental Petroleum and ConocoPhillips, the Spanish Repsol, Germany’s Wintershall, Austria’s OMV, Norway’s Statoil, Eni and Canada’s Petro Canada.
The year before, the Libyan state oil company, National Oil, prepared a report on the subject in which officials suggested modifying the production-sharing agreements with foreign companies in order to increase state revenues, according to a report posted on the Pravda website.
After implementing contract changes, Libya gained 5.4 billion dollars in oil revenues.
Gaddafi’s plan was reported on by Reuters and the corporate media.
In addition to calling for nationalization, the Libyan leader called for support of his proposal to dismantle the government and to distribute the oil wealth directly to Libya’s 5 million citizens.
State bureaucrats, however, rejected the idea because they feared for the loss of their cushy jobs and also feared the wrath of transnational oil corporations and the banks that own them.
Prime Minister al-Baghdadi, Ali al-Mahmoudi and Farhat Omar Bin Guida, of Libya’s Central Bank, told Gaddafi the measure would wreck the country’s economy in lead to “capital flight,” in other words the globalists pulling their money out of the country.
“The Administration has failed and the state’s economy has failed. Enough is enough. The solution is for the Libyan people to directly receive oil revenues and decide what to do with them,” Gaddafi said in a speech broadcast on state television. To this end, the Libyan leader urged a radical reform of government bureaucracy.
The government, however, voted to reject Gaddafi’s plan to turn ownership of the country’s oil over to the people. 64 ministers from a total of 468 Popular Committee members voted for the measure.
“My dream during all these years was to give the power and wealth directly to the people,” said Gaddafi in response to the rejection.
In 1953, the United States and Britain plotted to overthrow the democratically elected government of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, who had promised to nationalize the British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and give the profits to the Iranian people. Mosaddegh attempted to negotiate with the AIOC, but the company rejected his proposed compromise.
In order to sell a coup, Britain persuaded Secretary of State John Foster Dulles that Iran was going over to the Soviets. Then president Truman was cool to the idea, but in 1953, when Dwight D. Eisenhower became president, the UK convinced him to a joint coup d’état. The CIA was dispatched to destabilize the country, get rid of Mosaddegh, and install the brutal dictator Mohammad-Reza Shah Pahlavi and his secret police, the SAVAK.
For the mistake of suggesting oil profits be returned to the Libyan people, Muammar al-Gaddafi is now suffering a likewise fate.
It’s about oil – and who owns it.
In 2009, Gaddafi uttered the “N” word – nationalization. Not only for Libya’s oil, but all oil in the region. For the globalists, this made Gaddafi a dangerous mad dog renegade who needed to be replaced.
“The oil-exporting countries should opt for nationalization because of the rapid fall in oil prices. We must put the issue on the table and discuss it seriously,” he declared. “Oil should be owned by the State at this time, so we could better control prices by the increase or decrease in production.”
Predictably, Gaddafi’s pronouncement set off alarm bells at Anglo-Dutch Shell, British Petroleum, ExxonMobil, Hess Corp., Marathon Oil, Occidental Petroleum and ConocoPhillips, the Spanish Repsol, Germany’s Wintershall, Austria’s OMV, Norway’s Statoil, Eni and Canada’s Petro Canada.
The year before, the Libyan state oil company, National Oil, prepared a report on the subject in which officials suggested modifying the production-sharing agreements with foreign companies in order to increase state revenues, according to a report posted on the Pravda website.
After implementing contract changes, Libya gained 5.4 billion dollars in oil revenues.
Gaddafi’s plan was reported on by Reuters and the corporate media.
In addition to calling for nationalization, the Libyan leader called for support of his proposal to dismantle the government and to distribute the oil wealth directly to Libya’s 5 million citizens.
State bureaucrats, however, rejected the idea because they feared for the loss of their cushy jobs and also feared the wrath of transnational oil corporations and the banks that own them.
Prime Minister al-Baghdadi, Ali al-Mahmoudi and Farhat Omar Bin Guida, of Libya’s Central Bank, told Gaddafi the measure would wreck the country’s economy in lead to “capital flight,” in other words the globalists pulling their money out of the country.
“The Administration has failed and the state’s economy has failed. Enough is enough. The solution is for the Libyan people to directly receive oil revenues and decide what to do with them,” Gaddafi said in a speech broadcast on state television. To this end, the Libyan leader urged a radical reform of government bureaucracy.
The government, however, voted to reject Gaddafi’s plan to turn ownership of the country’s oil over to the people. 64 ministers from a total of 468 Popular Committee members voted for the measure.
“My dream during all these years was to give the power and wealth directly to the people,” said Gaddafi in response to the rejection.
In 1953, the United States and Britain plotted to overthrow the democratically elected government of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, who had promised to nationalize the British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and give the profits to the Iranian people. Mosaddegh attempted to negotiate with the AIOC, but the company rejected his proposed compromise.
In order to sell a coup, Britain persuaded Secretary of State John Foster Dulles that Iran was going over to the Soviets. Then president Truman was cool to the idea, but in 1953, when Dwight D. Eisenhower became president, the UK convinced him to a joint coup d’état. The CIA was dispatched to destabilize the country, get rid of Mosaddegh, and install the brutal dictator Mohammad-Reza Shah Pahlavi and his secret police, the SAVAK.
For the mistake of suggesting oil profits be returned to the Libyan people, Muammar al-Gaddafi is now suffering a likewise fate.
Gallup: Pres. Obama 44% Approval Rating On Libya
Ed Morrissey - Gallup polled adults over the weekend, before Barack Obama’s speech, to determine the support the President had for his adventure in Libya. He’d better hope that his speech moves the needle, because Obama only managed to eke out a tie, 44/44, on his handling of the crisis. The poll also shows a deep distaste for major involvement in military action in Libya:
Americans are evenly divided at 44% in their reaction to Obama’s handling of the situation in Libya — similar to his overall job approval rating in Gallup Daily tracking in recent days — with Democrats much more likely than Republicans to approve of how he is responding to Libya.
The “much more likely” is relative. Obama only gets a 61/28 from his own party, almost the exact opposite of the Republican 26/63. Independents split towards disapproval, 42/45. On another point, Republicans and Democrats are closer to agreement: both would prefer to see the US military remove Gaddafi from power rather than just enforce a no-fly zone (50/43 GOP, 50/37 Dems). Independents and self-described moderates and liberals prefer the no-fly zone approach.
When it comes to a preferred role in the Libyan military action, though, only Republicans favor a leading or major role over a minor role or no role at all (52/47). Among both independents (60%) and Democrats (63%), and among all ideological self-identifications, the majority want the US to only play a minor role or withdraw altogether.
Of course, that’s what Obama promised last night in his speech, but the AP points out that even relabeling the effort as a NATO mission doesn’t change who’s firing weapons into Libya:
OBAMA: “Our most effective alliance, NATO, has taken command of the enforcement of the arms embargo and no-fly zone. … Going forward, the lead in enforcing the no-fly zone and protecting civilians on the ground will transition to our allies and partners, and I am fully confident that our coalition will keep the pressure on Gadhafi’s remaining forces. In that effort, the United States will play a supporting role.”
THE FACTS: As by far the pre-eminent player in NATO, and a nation historically reluctant to put its forces under operational foreign command, the United States will not be taking a back seat in the campaign even as its profile diminishes for public consumption.
NATO partners are bringing more into the fight. But the same “unique capabilities” that made the U.S. the inevitable leader out of the gate will continue to be in demand. They include a range of attack aircraft, refueling tankers that can keep aircraft airborne for lengthy periods, surveillance aircraft that can detect when Libyans even try to get a plane airborne, and, as Obama said, planes loaded with electronic gear that can gather intelligence or jam enemy communications and radars.
The United States supplies 22 percent of NATO’s budget, almost as much as the next largest contributors — Britain and France — combined. A Canadian three-star general was selected to be in charge of all NATO operations in Libya. His boss, the commander of NATO’s Allied Joint Force Command Naples, is an American admiral, and the admiral’s boss is the supreme allied commander Europe, a post always held by an American.
Call this a NINO operation — NATO In Name Only. As Americans learn this through observation, don’t expect a big bump for Obama in the next few iterations of this poll.
Americans are evenly divided at 44% in their reaction to Obama’s handling of the situation in Libya — similar to his overall job approval rating in Gallup Daily tracking in recent days — with Democrats much more likely than Republicans to approve of how he is responding to Libya.
The “much more likely” is relative. Obama only gets a 61/28 from his own party, almost the exact opposite of the Republican 26/63. Independents split towards disapproval, 42/45. On another point, Republicans and Democrats are closer to agreement: both would prefer to see the US military remove Gaddafi from power rather than just enforce a no-fly zone (50/43 GOP, 50/37 Dems). Independents and self-described moderates and liberals prefer the no-fly zone approach.
When it comes to a preferred role in the Libyan military action, though, only Republicans favor a leading or major role over a minor role or no role at all (52/47). Among both independents (60%) and Democrats (63%), and among all ideological self-identifications, the majority want the US to only play a minor role or withdraw altogether.
Of course, that’s what Obama promised last night in his speech, but the AP points out that even relabeling the effort as a NATO mission doesn’t change who’s firing weapons into Libya:
OBAMA: “Our most effective alliance, NATO, has taken command of the enforcement of the arms embargo and no-fly zone. … Going forward, the lead in enforcing the no-fly zone and protecting civilians on the ground will transition to our allies and partners, and I am fully confident that our coalition will keep the pressure on Gadhafi’s remaining forces. In that effort, the United States will play a supporting role.”
THE FACTS: As by far the pre-eminent player in NATO, and a nation historically reluctant to put its forces under operational foreign command, the United States will not be taking a back seat in the campaign even as its profile diminishes for public consumption.
NATO partners are bringing more into the fight. But the same “unique capabilities” that made the U.S. the inevitable leader out of the gate will continue to be in demand. They include a range of attack aircraft, refueling tankers that can keep aircraft airborne for lengthy periods, surveillance aircraft that can detect when Libyans even try to get a plane airborne, and, as Obama said, planes loaded with electronic gear that can gather intelligence or jam enemy communications and radars.
The United States supplies 22 percent of NATO’s budget, almost as much as the next largest contributors — Britain and France — combined. A Canadian three-star general was selected to be in charge of all NATO operations in Libya. His boss, the commander of NATO’s Allied Joint Force Command Naples, is an American admiral, and the admiral’s boss is the supreme allied commander Europe, a post always held by an American.
Call this a NINO operation — NATO In Name Only. As Americans learn this through observation, don’t expect a big bump for Obama in the next few iterations of this poll.
Monday, March 28, 2011
WaPo "Radiation Levels 1000,000x Normal Radiation Levels" At Fukushima
Chico Harlan & Brian Vastag - As radiation levels at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant reached a new high Sunday, workers contended with dark, steamy conditions in their efforts to repair the facility’s cooling system and stave off a full-blown nuclear meltdown. Wearing respirators, face masks and bulky suits, they fought to reconnect cables and restore power to motor pumps the size of automobiles.
Leaked water sampled from one unit Sunday had 100,000 times the radioactivity of normal background levels, although the Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the plant, first calculated an even higher, erroneous, figure it didn’t correct for hours.
Tepco apologized Sunday night when it realized the mistake; it had initially reported radiation levels in the leaked water from the unit 2 reactor as being 10 million times the norm, which prompted an evacuation of the building.
After the levels were correctly measured, airborne radioactivity in the unit 2 turbine building still remained so high — 1,000 millisieverts per hour — that a worker there would reach his yearly occupational exposure limit in 15 minutes. A dose of 4,000 to 5,000 millisieverts absorbed fairly rapidly will eventually kill about half of those exposed.
The latest confusion in the operation to stave off a full-scale nuclear meltdown at the crippled facility underscores the immense challenges for the several hundred workers in a desperate battle to restart the critical cooling systems. Seventeen workers have been exposed to high levels of radiation, including three who were hospitalized last week, as technicians conducted highly nuanced electrical work in dark conditions that one nuclear industry expert termed “hellish.”
Japanese authorities say efforts to control Fukushima’s overheated reactors will take months and during that time radiation will continue to leak into the environment, extending a nuclear emergency that already ranks as the world’s most serious in a quarter-century. Several hundred workers now shoulder the responsibility for limiting the crisis, amid potentially lethal radiation levels, and on Saturday the chief of Japan’s nuclear agency called on Tepco to improve its worker safety.
On Monday morning, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano made a plea to residents from the 12-mile radius evacuation zone surrounding the crippled nuclear plant to please stay away "until safety is confirmed."
Police stationed in the area have noticed more people returning to gather belongings and “there is a risk” of returning home now, Edamo said. Many families fled quickly after the earthquake and tsunami struck more than two weeks ago with only the clothes they were wearing.
Evidence of rising contamination in and around the plant has tempered optimism from a week ago, when engineers began work to restore power to the first of the damaged reactor buildings. Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Sunday that a new measurement of seawater taken about 1,000 feet from the facility showed an iodine level 1,850.5 times the legal limit, higher than a reading taken the previous day.
The dangers in unit 2 merely add to the growing challenges. Radioactive water is pooling in four of Fukushima’s six turbine rooms, and engineers have no quick way to clean it up, although they have begun to try in unit 1.
While a Tepco spokesman said Sunday that he did not know how the radioactive water was leaking from the reactor cores, Yukio Edano, chief cabinet secretary, said in a televised interview Sunday morning that the reactor itself had not been breached.
He said it was clear that water that could have been inside the unit 3 reactor had leaked but the reactor had not been breached. Still, he said, “Unfortunately, it seems there is no question that water, which could have been inside the reactor, is leaking.’’
Unlike in newer reactor designs, the older boiling-water reactors at Daiichi are pierced by dozens of holes in the bottoms of their reactor vessels. Each hole allows one control rod — made of a neutron-absorbing material that quickly stops nuclear fission inside the reactor — to slide into the reactor from below, as happened when the earthquake shook the plant March 11. During normal operations, a graphite stopper covers each hole, sealing in highly radioactive primary cooling water, said Arnie Gundersen, a consultant at Fairewinds Associates with 40 years of experience overseeing boiling-water reactors.
But at temperatures above 350 degrees Fahrenheit, the graphite stoppers begin to melt.
“Since it is likely that rubble from the broken fuel rods . . . is collecting at the bottom of the reactor, the seals are being damaged by high temperature or high radiation,” Gundersen said. As the graphite seals fail, water in the reactor will leak into a network of pipes in the containment buildings surrounding each reactor — the very buildings that have been heavily damaged by explosions. Gundersen said that this piping is probably compromised, leaving highly radioactive water to seep from the reactor vessels into broken pipes — and from there into the turbine buildings and beyond.
To stabilize the facility, workers are trying to repair the elaborate cooling system, necessary to keep the reactor cores and spent fuel pools from overheating. For now, they are conducting this work in dark, steamy conditions. Nuclear safety experts say they must shift out of the most dangerous areas every 30 minutes to an hour, to prevent radiation overexposure.
Meanwhile, they are racing to repair motor pumps. Their environment resembles a cavern of cables. Some of the equipment was damaged during the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Other equipment has been corroded by salt water, which was poured into the facility during earlier efforts to cool the reactors.
“To a layman, you’d be scared to death,” said Lake Barrett, a nuclear engineer who directed the cleanup of Three Mile Island. “You’re working with salt water around your feet. This is not the way electricians usually work.”
The number of workers at the Daiichi plant fluctuates from day to day, ranging between 500 and 1,000. But Tepco employees account for only a part of the labor force. Last Tuesday, for instance, there were 700 people at the plant, a nuclear agency official said. The figure included 500 Tepco employees, 100 subcontracted workers, and 100 members of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces or the Tokyo Fire Department.
One subcontracted worker who laid cables for new electrical lines March 19 described chaotic conditions and lax supervision that made him nervous. Masataka Hishida said neither he nor any of the workers around him was given a dosimeter, a device used to measure one’s exposure to radiation. He was surprised that workers were not given special shoes; rather, they were told to put plastic bags over their street shoes. When he was trying on the gas mask for the first time, he said, the supervisor told him and other subcontractors, “Listen carefully, I’m only going to say this one time,” while explaining how to use it.
When Hishida finished his work shift, an official scanned his whole body for radiation. He came up clean, except for the very tip of his beard. He was sent into a shower where he lathered up and scrubbed his beard. He was tested again and passed.
A few days later, still worried about the extent of his radiation exposure, he trimmed his beard.
Leaked water sampled from one unit Sunday had 100,000 times the radioactivity of normal background levels, although the Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the plant, first calculated an even higher, erroneous, figure it didn’t correct for hours.
Tepco apologized Sunday night when it realized the mistake; it had initially reported radiation levels in the leaked water from the unit 2 reactor as being 10 million times the norm, which prompted an evacuation of the building.
After the levels were correctly measured, airborne radioactivity in the unit 2 turbine building still remained so high — 1,000 millisieverts per hour — that a worker there would reach his yearly occupational exposure limit in 15 minutes. A dose of 4,000 to 5,000 millisieverts absorbed fairly rapidly will eventually kill about half of those exposed.
The latest confusion in the operation to stave off a full-scale nuclear meltdown at the crippled facility underscores the immense challenges for the several hundred workers in a desperate battle to restart the critical cooling systems. Seventeen workers have been exposed to high levels of radiation, including three who were hospitalized last week, as technicians conducted highly nuanced electrical work in dark conditions that one nuclear industry expert termed “hellish.”
Japanese authorities say efforts to control Fukushima’s overheated reactors will take months and during that time radiation will continue to leak into the environment, extending a nuclear emergency that already ranks as the world’s most serious in a quarter-century. Several hundred workers now shoulder the responsibility for limiting the crisis, amid potentially lethal radiation levels, and on Saturday the chief of Japan’s nuclear agency called on Tepco to improve its worker safety.
On Monday morning, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano made a plea to residents from the 12-mile radius evacuation zone surrounding the crippled nuclear plant to please stay away "until safety is confirmed."
Police stationed in the area have noticed more people returning to gather belongings and “there is a risk” of returning home now, Edamo said. Many families fled quickly after the earthquake and tsunami struck more than two weeks ago with only the clothes they were wearing.
Evidence of rising contamination in and around the plant has tempered optimism from a week ago, when engineers began work to restore power to the first of the damaged reactor buildings. Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Sunday that a new measurement of seawater taken about 1,000 feet from the facility showed an iodine level 1,850.5 times the legal limit, higher than a reading taken the previous day.
The dangers in unit 2 merely add to the growing challenges. Radioactive water is pooling in four of Fukushima’s six turbine rooms, and engineers have no quick way to clean it up, although they have begun to try in unit 1.
While a Tepco spokesman said Sunday that he did not know how the radioactive water was leaking from the reactor cores, Yukio Edano, chief cabinet secretary, said in a televised interview Sunday morning that the reactor itself had not been breached.
He said it was clear that water that could have been inside the unit 3 reactor had leaked but the reactor had not been breached. Still, he said, “Unfortunately, it seems there is no question that water, which could have been inside the reactor, is leaking.’’
Unlike in newer reactor designs, the older boiling-water reactors at Daiichi are pierced by dozens of holes in the bottoms of their reactor vessels. Each hole allows one control rod — made of a neutron-absorbing material that quickly stops nuclear fission inside the reactor — to slide into the reactor from below, as happened when the earthquake shook the plant March 11. During normal operations, a graphite stopper covers each hole, sealing in highly radioactive primary cooling water, said Arnie Gundersen, a consultant at Fairewinds Associates with 40 years of experience overseeing boiling-water reactors.
But at temperatures above 350 degrees Fahrenheit, the graphite stoppers begin to melt.
“Since it is likely that rubble from the broken fuel rods . . . is collecting at the bottom of the reactor, the seals are being damaged by high temperature or high radiation,” Gundersen said. As the graphite seals fail, water in the reactor will leak into a network of pipes in the containment buildings surrounding each reactor — the very buildings that have been heavily damaged by explosions. Gundersen said that this piping is probably compromised, leaving highly radioactive water to seep from the reactor vessels into broken pipes — and from there into the turbine buildings and beyond.
To stabilize the facility, workers are trying to repair the elaborate cooling system, necessary to keep the reactor cores and spent fuel pools from overheating. For now, they are conducting this work in dark, steamy conditions. Nuclear safety experts say they must shift out of the most dangerous areas every 30 minutes to an hour, to prevent radiation overexposure.
Meanwhile, they are racing to repair motor pumps. Their environment resembles a cavern of cables. Some of the equipment was damaged during the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Other equipment has been corroded by salt water, which was poured into the facility during earlier efforts to cool the reactors.
“To a layman, you’d be scared to death,” said Lake Barrett, a nuclear engineer who directed the cleanup of Three Mile Island. “You’re working with salt water around your feet. This is not the way electricians usually work.”
The number of workers at the Daiichi plant fluctuates from day to day, ranging between 500 and 1,000. But Tepco employees account for only a part of the labor force. Last Tuesday, for instance, there were 700 people at the plant, a nuclear agency official said. The figure included 500 Tepco employees, 100 subcontracted workers, and 100 members of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces or the Tokyo Fire Department.
One subcontracted worker who laid cables for new electrical lines March 19 described chaotic conditions and lax supervision that made him nervous. Masataka Hishida said neither he nor any of the workers around him was given a dosimeter, a device used to measure one’s exposure to radiation. He was surprised that workers were not given special shoes; rather, they were told to put plastic bags over their street shoes. When he was trying on the gas mask for the first time, he said, the supervisor told him and other subcontractors, “Listen carefully, I’m only going to say this one time,” while explaining how to use it.
When Hishida finished his work shift, an official scanned his whole body for radiation. He came up clean, except for the very tip of his beard. He was sent into a shower where he lathered up and scrubbed his beard. He was tested again and passed.
A few days later, still worried about the extent of his radiation exposure, he trimmed his beard.
"Obama" Who Are The Lybian Rebels?
W.James Antle - Ross Douthat mostly hit it out of the park with today's column on questions the president must answer about Libya. But one question I wished he'd have lingered on longer is: Who are the rebels? Byron York writes:
Evidence is emerging that United States forces are waging war in Libya on behalf of rebels whose ranks include jihadis who fought against the U.S. in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Britain's Daily Telegraph reports that Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, a leader of U.S.-supported rebel forces in the fighting around Adjabiya, went to Afghanistan in 2002 to fight against the "foreign invasion" -- that is, U.S. troops who invaded Afghanistan in retaliation for the September 11 attacks. The Telegraph says al-Hasidi told an Italian newspaper, Il Sole 24 Ore, that he was captured in 2002 in Peshawar, Pakistan. "He was later handed over to the U.S., and then held in Libya before being released in 2008," the Telegraph reports. Al-Hasidi also told the Italian paper he recruited about 25 Libyan men to fight against U.S. forces in Iraq.
Now, we don't really know how representative this is of the Libyan rebellion as a whole. Maybe it's not all. But really should know before intervening militarily on behalf of these rebels. A major flaw of U.S. military interventions from Kosovo to Iraq is that we've simply asked if the ruler we're intervening against is a bad guy, without considering what kind of guys we'd be empowering.
Evidence is emerging that United States forces are waging war in Libya on behalf of rebels whose ranks include jihadis who fought against the U.S. in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Britain's Daily Telegraph reports that Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, a leader of U.S.-supported rebel forces in the fighting around Adjabiya, went to Afghanistan in 2002 to fight against the "foreign invasion" -- that is, U.S. troops who invaded Afghanistan in retaliation for the September 11 attacks. The Telegraph says al-Hasidi told an Italian newspaper, Il Sole 24 Ore, that he was captured in 2002 in Peshawar, Pakistan. "He was later handed over to the U.S., and then held in Libya before being released in 2008," the Telegraph reports. Al-Hasidi also told the Italian paper he recruited about 25 Libyan men to fight against U.S. forces in Iraq.
Now, we don't really know how representative this is of the Libyan rebellion as a whole. Maybe it's not all. But really should know before intervening militarily on behalf of these rebels. A major flaw of U.S. military interventions from Kosovo to Iraq is that we've simply asked if the ruler we're intervening against is a bad guy, without considering what kind of guys we'd be empowering.
Who Is Really Responsible For The Afghan "Killing Teams"
Jazz Shaw - Another disturbing story from the war front this week, covering what is being dubbed as the “Kill Teams” – rogue elements of US forces accused of intentionally killing unarmed Afghani civilians. Rather than a new item, this is apparently a story which took place more than a year ago and has been under investigation by the Army since last summer.
Early last year, after six hard months soldiering in Afghanistan, a group of American infantrymen reached a momentous decision: It was finally time to kill a haji…
While the officers of 3rd Platoon peeled off to talk to a village elder inside a compound, two soldiers walked away from the unit until they reached the far edge of the village. There, in a nearby poppy field, they began looking for someone to kill. “The general consensus was, if we are going to do something that fucking crazy, no one wanted anybody around to witness it,” one of the men later told Army investigators.
The poppy plants were still low to the ground at that time of year. The two soldiers, Cpl. Jeremy Morlock and Pfc. Andrew Holmes, saw a young farmer who was working by himself among the spiky shoots. Off in the distance, a few other soldiers stood sentry. But the farmer was the only Afghan in sight. With no one around to witness, the timing was right. And just like that, they picked him for execution.
While nobody is implying that this is US military policy, nor anything more than members of – potentially – a couple of forward units gone bad, the Rolling Stone article seems to imply that the investigation has been wide ranging. It also carries the flavor of something of a cover-up.
But a review of internal Army records and investigative files obtained by Rolling Stone, including dozens of interviews with members of Bravo Company compiled by military investigators, indicates that the dozen infantrymen being portrayed as members of a secretive “kill team” were operating out in the open, in plain view of the rest of the company. Far from being clandestine, as the Pentagon has implied, the murders of civilians were common knowledge among the unit and understood to be illegal by “pretty much the whole platoon,” according to one soldier who complained about them…
Even before the war crimes became public, the Pentagon went to extraordinary measures to suppress the photos – an effort that reached the highest levels of both governments. Gen. Stanley McChrystal and President Hamid Karzai were reportedly briefed on the photos as early as May, and the military launched a massive effort to find every file and pull the pictures out of circulation before they could touch off a scandal on the scale of Abu Ghraib. Investigators in Afghanistan searched the hard drives and confiscated the computers of more than a dozen soldiers, ordering them to delete any provocative images. The Army Criminal Investigation Command also sent agents fanning out across America to the homes of soldiers and their relatives, gathering up every copy of the files they could find. The message was clear: What happens in Afghanistan stays in Afghanistan.
First of all, I’m not here to excuse the actions of the soldiers in question. While none of us should question the bravery and integrity of our armed forces serving in harm’s way, any organization that large will occasionally attract some bad or unstable actors who slip through the cracks. Extended tours in a war zone can certainly serve to bring out these worst elements, which is a great loss, but it looks like the Army has already moved to eliminate the problem.
The real question here crossed my mind while watching more than an hour of television coverage of this story this morning, as well as reading the Rolling Stone article which is more than eight pages and I don’t know how many thousands of words long. Many names are mentioned, ranging from the individual soldiers involved and their direct supervisors all the way up to General McChrystal. But one name seems to be conspicuously absent from all of this coverage. Can you guess who it is? I’ll give you a hint… his initials are B.H.O.
When I suggested this to a friend this morning he responded by saying, “I don’t really agree that it’s right to hang every act of soldier misconduct on whomever is president. If a soldier gets drunk on leave, drives drunk, and kills a motorist, is it the president’s fault?”
It’s an important point. The president is definitely not responsible for every single action by every soldier acting badly such as in the example he cited. However, as the article points out, the Army seems to have been going to great lengths to keep this quiet and the investigation ran well up the chain to the highest ranks.
During Iraq, though you may disagree with me, I feel it was proper to hang the Abu Ghraib mess around the necks of President Bush and his top staff. It was a systemic problem of policy and responsibility for such things goes straight to the top. While these killings were certainly not Army policy, the investigation – and possible cover up- went so far up the chain that if the President didn’t know about it then something else has gone horribly wrong. So what was he doing about it for the last year? These seem to be the questions which are not yet being asked.
Iraq is still not “Obama’s War” in my opinion, since he opposed it from the beginning and has essentially continued Bush’s plans to draw down and exit. But by quickly doubling down and expanding our efforts in Afghanistan, Barack Obama has “bought” that war from George W. Bush and now owns it lock, stock and barrel. As such, he must be held to the same standards as his predecessor for the warts and rough patches as well as any potential victories.
Strangely, though, his name seems to be entirely missing from this conversation thus far.
Early last year, after six hard months soldiering in Afghanistan, a group of American infantrymen reached a momentous decision: It was finally time to kill a haji…
While the officers of 3rd Platoon peeled off to talk to a village elder inside a compound, two soldiers walked away from the unit until they reached the far edge of the village. There, in a nearby poppy field, they began looking for someone to kill. “The general consensus was, if we are going to do something that fucking crazy, no one wanted anybody around to witness it,” one of the men later told Army investigators.
The poppy plants were still low to the ground at that time of year. The two soldiers, Cpl. Jeremy Morlock and Pfc. Andrew Holmes, saw a young farmer who was working by himself among the spiky shoots. Off in the distance, a few other soldiers stood sentry. But the farmer was the only Afghan in sight. With no one around to witness, the timing was right. And just like that, they picked him for execution.
While nobody is implying that this is US military policy, nor anything more than members of – potentially – a couple of forward units gone bad, the Rolling Stone article seems to imply that the investigation has been wide ranging. It also carries the flavor of something of a cover-up.
But a review of internal Army records and investigative files obtained by Rolling Stone, including dozens of interviews with members of Bravo Company compiled by military investigators, indicates that the dozen infantrymen being portrayed as members of a secretive “kill team” were operating out in the open, in plain view of the rest of the company. Far from being clandestine, as the Pentagon has implied, the murders of civilians were common knowledge among the unit and understood to be illegal by “pretty much the whole platoon,” according to one soldier who complained about them…
Even before the war crimes became public, the Pentagon went to extraordinary measures to suppress the photos – an effort that reached the highest levels of both governments. Gen. Stanley McChrystal and President Hamid Karzai were reportedly briefed on the photos as early as May, and the military launched a massive effort to find every file and pull the pictures out of circulation before they could touch off a scandal on the scale of Abu Ghraib. Investigators in Afghanistan searched the hard drives and confiscated the computers of more than a dozen soldiers, ordering them to delete any provocative images. The Army Criminal Investigation Command also sent agents fanning out across America to the homes of soldiers and their relatives, gathering up every copy of the files they could find. The message was clear: What happens in Afghanistan stays in Afghanistan.
First of all, I’m not here to excuse the actions of the soldiers in question. While none of us should question the bravery and integrity of our armed forces serving in harm’s way, any organization that large will occasionally attract some bad or unstable actors who slip through the cracks. Extended tours in a war zone can certainly serve to bring out these worst elements, which is a great loss, but it looks like the Army has already moved to eliminate the problem.
The real question here crossed my mind while watching more than an hour of television coverage of this story this morning, as well as reading the Rolling Stone article which is more than eight pages and I don’t know how many thousands of words long. Many names are mentioned, ranging from the individual soldiers involved and their direct supervisors all the way up to General McChrystal. But one name seems to be conspicuously absent from all of this coverage. Can you guess who it is? I’ll give you a hint… his initials are B.H.O.
When I suggested this to a friend this morning he responded by saying, “I don’t really agree that it’s right to hang every act of soldier misconduct on whomever is president. If a soldier gets drunk on leave, drives drunk, and kills a motorist, is it the president’s fault?”
It’s an important point. The president is definitely not responsible for every single action by every soldier acting badly such as in the example he cited. However, as the article points out, the Army seems to have been going to great lengths to keep this quiet and the investigation ran well up the chain to the highest ranks.
During Iraq, though you may disagree with me, I feel it was proper to hang the Abu Ghraib mess around the necks of President Bush and his top staff. It was a systemic problem of policy and responsibility for such things goes straight to the top. While these killings were certainly not Army policy, the investigation – and possible cover up- went so far up the chain that if the President didn’t know about it then something else has gone horribly wrong. So what was he doing about it for the last year? These seem to be the questions which are not yet being asked.
Iraq is still not “Obama’s War” in my opinion, since he opposed it from the beginning and has essentially continued Bush’s plans to draw down and exit. But by quickly doubling down and expanding our efforts in Afghanistan, Barack Obama has “bought” that war from George W. Bush and now owns it lock, stock and barrel. As such, he must be held to the same standards as his predecessor for the warts and rough patches as well as any potential victories.
Strangely, though, his name seems to be entirely missing from this conversation thus far.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Hypocrite Biden Threatened Pres. Bush Impeachment Over Unconstitutional War
Kurt Nimmo - How things change. In 2007, then presidential hopeful Biden stated unequivocally that he would work to impeach Bush if he bombed Iran without first gaining congressional approval. Now Biden is dutifully ringing up the royalty in United Arab Emirates and cajoling them to support Obama’s unconstitutional war waged on Libya and kicked off without congressional approval.
Joe didn’t mean it in 2007, of course. He was running for president, after all. The hand-picked minions of the elite who are permitted to pretend they will run the country always tell lies. It’s in their job description. Most Americans understand elections are all about promising the moon and delivering nothing but an IOU. Still, they turn out to vote for these guys.
The elite and their brokers at the United Nations wanted this shabby little war waged against Libya. Biden is simply taking orders, as usual. It does not matter an iota what he said in 2007. And the corporate media, of course, will not hold him to that comment. It found the memory hole long ago, only to be relived by the alternative media, the only media telling the truth in a time of Big Lies of the sort Hitler told.
Joe didn’t mean it in 2007, of course. He was running for president, after all. The hand-picked minions of the elite who are permitted to pretend they will run the country always tell lies. It’s in their job description. Most Americans understand elections are all about promising the moon and delivering nothing but an IOU. Still, they turn out to vote for these guys.
The elite and their brokers at the United Nations wanted this shabby little war waged against Libya. Biden is simply taking orders, as usual. It does not matter an iota what he said in 2007. And the corporate media, of course, will not hold him to that comment. It found the memory hole long ago, only to be relived by the alternative media, the only media telling the truth in a time of Big Lies of the sort Hitler told.
Obama Maybe Qaddafi Can Stay If He Believes In "Change We All Can Believe In"
JustOneMinute - I understand that Obama is trying to not lead a fractious coalition of the uncertain, but this is ridiculous:
Obama says Qadhafi could stay
President Obama indicated on Tuesday that Muammar Qadhafi may still have an opportunity to “change his approach” and put in place “significant reforms” in the Libyan government.
Asked by NBC’s Savannah Guthrie what the U.S. commitment is in Libya if Qadhafi remains in power but continues to pose a threat to his people, Obama appeared to leave the door open for political reforms.
“You are absolutely right that as long as Qadhafi remains in power, and unless he changes his approach and there are significant reforms in the Libyan government that allow the Libyan people to express themselves, there are still going be potential threats against Libyan people—unless he is going to step down,” Obama said.
Obama did manage to backpedal during his own comments; its reassuring that at least Obama is still listening to himself.
The White House also emphasized that the military misson is to enforce the UN resolutions with respect to protecting civilians; regime change is a separate task left to the diplomats, or something. Quite a distinction.
Maybe there is a subtle plan is all of this - if Qaddafi becomes as confused as our allies, maybe he will be afflicted with disabling migraines.
WHY WE FIGHT: Obama is focused on a feel-good humanitarian mission; the Euros are fighting to stave off a wave of illegal immigration from Africa.
Obama says Qadhafi could stay
President Obama indicated on Tuesday that Muammar Qadhafi may still have an opportunity to “change his approach” and put in place “significant reforms” in the Libyan government.
Asked by NBC’s Savannah Guthrie what the U.S. commitment is in Libya if Qadhafi remains in power but continues to pose a threat to his people, Obama appeared to leave the door open for political reforms.
“You are absolutely right that as long as Qadhafi remains in power, and unless he changes his approach and there are significant reforms in the Libyan government that allow the Libyan people to express themselves, there are still going be potential threats against Libyan people—unless he is going to step down,” Obama said.
Obama did manage to backpedal during his own comments; its reassuring that at least Obama is still listening to himself.
The White House also emphasized that the military misson is to enforce the UN resolutions with respect to protecting civilians; regime change is a separate task left to the diplomats, or something. Quite a distinction.
Maybe there is a subtle plan is all of this - if Qaddafi becomes as confused as our allies, maybe he will be afflicted with disabling migraines.
WHY WE FIGHT: Obama is focused on a feel-good humanitarian mission; the Euros are fighting to stave off a wave of illegal immigration from Africa.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
What They're Covering Up At Fukushima Nuclear Plant
Doglas Lummis - Hirose Takashi has written a whole shelf full of books, mostly on the nuclear power industry and the military-industrial complex. Probably his best known book is Nuclear Power Plants for Tokyo in which he took the logic of the nuke promoters to its logical conclusion: if you are so sure that they're safe, why not build them in the center of the city, instead of hundreds of miles away where you lose half the electricity in the wires?
He did the TV interview that is partly translated below somewhat against his present impulses. I talked to him on the telephone today (March 22 , 2011) and he told me that while it made sense to oppose nuclear power back then, now that the disaster has begun he would just as soon remain silent, but the lies they are telling on the radio and TV are so gross that he cannot remain silent.
I have translated only about the first third of the interview (you can see the whole thing in Japanese on you-tube), the part that pertains particularly to what is happening at the Fukushima plants. In the latter part he talked about how dangerous radiation is in general, and also about the continuing danger of earthquakes.
After reading his account, you will wonder, why do they keep on sprinkling water on the reactors, rather than accept the sarcophagus solution [ie., entombing the reactors in concrete. Editors.] I think there are a couple of answers. One, those reactors were expensive, and they just can't bear the idea of that huge a financial loss. But more importantly, accepting the sarcophagus solution means admitting that they were wrong, and that they couldn't fix the things. On the one hand that's too much guilt for a human being to bear. On the other, it means the defeat of the nuclear energy idea, an idea they hold to with almost religious devotion. And it means not just the loss of those six (or ten) reactors, it means shutting down all the others as well, a financial catastrophe. If they can only get them cooled down and running again they can say, See, nuclear power isn't so dangerous after all. Fukushima is a drama with the whole world watching, that can end in the defeat or (in their frail, I think groundless, hope) victory for the nuclear industry. Hirose's account can help us to understand what the drama is about. Douglas Lummis
Hirose Takashi: The Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident and the State of the Media
Broadcast by Asahi NewStar, 17 March, 20:00
Interviewers: Yo and Maeda Mari
Yo: Today many people saw water being sprayed on the reactors from the air and from the ground, but is this effective?
Hirose: . . . If you want to cool a reactor down with water, you have to circulate the water inside and carry the heat away, otherwise it has no meaning. So the only solution is to reconnect the electricity. Otherwise it’s like pouring water on lava.
Yo: Reconnect the electricity – that’s to restart the cooling system?
Hirose: Yes. The accident was caused by the fact that the tsunami flooded the emergency generators and carried away their fuel tanks. If that isn’t fixed, there’s no way to recover from this accident.
Yo: Tepco [Tokyo Electric Power Company, owner/operator of the nuclear plants] says they expect to bring in a high voltage line this evening.
Hirose: Yes, there’s a little bit of hope there. But what’s worrisome is that a nuclear reactor is not like what the schematic pictures show (shows a graphic picture of a reactor, like those used on TV). This is just a cartoon. Here’s what it looks like underneath a reactor container (shows a photograph). This is the butt end of the reactor. Take a look. It’s a forest of switch levers and wires and pipes. On television these pseudo-scholars come on and give us simple explanations, but they know nothing, those college professors. Only the engineers know. This is where water has been poured in. This maze of pipes is enough to make you dizzy. Its structure is too wildly complex for us to understand. For a week now they have been pouring water through there. And it’s salt water, right? You pour salt water on a hot kiln and what do you think happens? You get salt. The salt will get into all these valves and cause them to freeze. They won’t move. This will be happening everywhere. So I can’t believe that it’s just a simple matter of you reconnecting the electricity and the water will begin to circulate. I think any engineer with a little imagination can understand this. You take a system as unbelievably complex as this and then actually dump water on it from a helicopter – maybe they have some idea of how this could work, but I can’t understand it.
Yo: It will take 1300 tons of water to fill the pools that contain the spent fuel rods in reactors 3 and 4. This morning 30 tons. Then the Self Defense Forces are to hose in another 30 tons from five trucks. That’s nowhere near enough, they have to keep it up. Is this squirting of water from hoses going to change the situation?
Hirose: In principle, it can’t. Because even when a reactor is in good shape, it requires constant control to keep the temperature down to where it is barely safe. Now it’s a complete mess inside, and when I think of the 50 remaining operators, it brings tears to my eyes. I assume they have been exposed to very large amounts of radiation, and that they have accepted that they face death by staying there. And how long can they last? I mean, physically. That’s what the situation has come to now. When I see these accounts on television, I want to tell them, “If that’s what you say, then go there and do it yourself!” Really, they talk this nonsense, trying to reassure everyone, trying to avoid panic. What we need now is a proper panic. Because the situation has come to the point where the danger is real.
If I were Prime Minister Kan, I would order them to do what the Soviet Union did when the Chernobyl reactor blew up, the sarcophagus solution, bury the whole thing under cement, put every cement company in Japan to work, and dump cement over it from the sky. Because you have to assume the worst case. Why? Because in Fukushima there is the Daiichi Plant with six reactors and the Daini Plant with four for a total of ten reactors. If even one of them develops the worst case, then the workers there must either evacuate the site or stay on and collapse. So if, for example, one of the reactors at Daiichi goes down, the other five are only a matter of time. We can’t know in what order they will go, but certainly all of them will go. And if that happens, Daini isn’t so far away, so probably the reactors there will also go down. Because I assume that workers will not be able to stay there.
I’m speaking of the worst case, but the probability is not low. This is the danger that the world is watching. Only in Japan is it being hidden. As you know, of the six reactors at Daiichi, four are in a crisis state. So even if at one everything goes well and water circulation is restored, the other three could still go down. Four are in crisis, and for all four to be 100 per cent repaired, I hate to say it, but I am pessimistic. If so, then to save the people, we have to think about some way to reduce the radiation leakage to the lowest level possible. Not by spraying water from hoses, like sprinkling water on a desert. We have to think of all six going down, and the possibility of that happening is not low. Everyone knows how long it takes a typhoon to pass over Japan; it generally takes about a week. That is, with a wind speed of two meters per second, it could take about five days for all of Japan to be covered with radiation. We’re not talking about distances of 20 kilometers or 30 kilometers or 100 kilometers. It means of course Tokyo, Osaka. That’s how fast a radioactive cloud could spread. Of course it would depend on the weather; we can’t know in advance how the radiation would be distributed. It would be nice if the wind would blow toward the sea, but it doesn’t always do that. Two days ago, on the 15th, it was blowing toward Tokyo. That’s how it is. . . .
Yo: Every day the local government is measuring the radioactivity. All the television stations are saying that while radiation is rising, it is still not high enough to be a danger to health. They compare it to a stomach x-ray, or if it goes up, to a CT scan. What is the truth of the matter?
Hirose: For example, yesterday. Around Fukushima Daiichi Station they measured 400 millisieverts – that’s per hour. With this measurement (Chief Cabinet Secretary) Edano admitted for the first time that there was a danger to health, but he didn’t explain what this means. All of the information media are at fault here I think. They are saying stupid things like, why, we are exposed to radiation all the time in our daily life, we get radiation from outer space. But that’s one millisievert per year. A year has 365 days, a day has 24 hours; multiply 365 by 24, you get 8760. Multiply the 400 millisieverts by that, you get 3,500,000 the normal dose. You call that safe? And what media have reported this? None. They compare it to a CT scan, which is over in an instant; that has nothing to do with it. The reason radioactivity can be measured is that radioactive material is escaping. What is dangerous is when that material enters your body and irradiates it from inside. These industry-mouthpiece scholars come on TV and what to they say? They say as you move away the radiation is reduced in inverse ratio to the square of the distance. I want to say the reverse. Internal irradiation happens when radioactive material is ingested into the body. What happens? Say there is a nuclear particle one meter away from you. You breathe it in, it sticks inside your body; the distance between you and it is now at the micron level. One meter is 1000 millimeters, one micron is one thousandth of a millimeter. That’s a thousand times a thousand squared. That’s the real meaning of “inverse ratio of the square of the distance.” Radiation exposure is increased by a factor of a trillion. Inhaling even the tiniest particle, that’s the danger.
Yo: So making comparisons with X-rays and CT scans has no meaning. Because you can breathe in radioactive material.
Hirose: That’s right. When it enters your body, there’s no telling where it will go. The biggest danger is women, especially pregnant women, and little children. Now they’re talking about iodine and cesium, but that’s only part of it, they’re not using the proper detection instruments. What they call monitoring means only measuring the amount of radiation in the air. Their instruments don’t eat. What they measure has no connection with the amount of radioactive material. . . .
Yo: So damage from radioactive rays and damage from radioactive material are not the same.
Hirose: If you ask, are any radioactive rays from the Fukushima Nuclear Station here in this studio, the answer will be no. But radioactive particles are carried here by the air. When the core begins to melt down, elements inside like iodine turn to gas. It rises to the top, so if there is any crevice it escapes outside.
Yo: Is there any way to detect this?
Hirose: I was told by a newspaper reporter that now Tepco is not in shape even to do regular monitoring. They just take an occasional measurement, and that becomes the basis of Edano’s statements. You have to take constant measurements, but they are not able to do that. And you need to investigate just what is escaping, and how much. That requires very sophisticated measuring instruments. You can’t do it just by keeping a monitoring post. It’s no good just to measure the level of radiation in the air. Whiz in by car, take a measurement, it’s high, it’s low – that’s not the point. We need to know what kind of radioactive materials are escaping, and where they are going – they don’t have a system in place for doing that now.
He did the TV interview that is partly translated below somewhat against his present impulses. I talked to him on the telephone today (March 22 , 2011) and he told me that while it made sense to oppose nuclear power back then, now that the disaster has begun he would just as soon remain silent, but the lies they are telling on the radio and TV are so gross that he cannot remain silent.
I have translated only about the first third of the interview (you can see the whole thing in Japanese on you-tube), the part that pertains particularly to what is happening at the Fukushima plants. In the latter part he talked about how dangerous radiation is in general, and also about the continuing danger of earthquakes.
After reading his account, you will wonder, why do they keep on sprinkling water on the reactors, rather than accept the sarcophagus solution [ie., entombing the reactors in concrete. Editors.] I think there are a couple of answers. One, those reactors were expensive, and they just can't bear the idea of that huge a financial loss. But more importantly, accepting the sarcophagus solution means admitting that they were wrong, and that they couldn't fix the things. On the one hand that's too much guilt for a human being to bear. On the other, it means the defeat of the nuclear energy idea, an idea they hold to with almost religious devotion. And it means not just the loss of those six (or ten) reactors, it means shutting down all the others as well, a financial catastrophe. If they can only get them cooled down and running again they can say, See, nuclear power isn't so dangerous after all. Fukushima is a drama with the whole world watching, that can end in the defeat or (in their frail, I think groundless, hope) victory for the nuclear industry. Hirose's account can help us to understand what the drama is about. Douglas Lummis
Hirose Takashi: The Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident and the State of the Media
Broadcast by Asahi NewStar, 17 March, 20:00
Interviewers: Yo and Maeda Mari
Yo: Today many people saw water being sprayed on the reactors from the air and from the ground, but is this effective?
Hirose: . . . If you want to cool a reactor down with water, you have to circulate the water inside and carry the heat away, otherwise it has no meaning. So the only solution is to reconnect the electricity. Otherwise it’s like pouring water on lava.
Yo: Reconnect the electricity – that’s to restart the cooling system?
Hirose: Yes. The accident was caused by the fact that the tsunami flooded the emergency generators and carried away their fuel tanks. If that isn’t fixed, there’s no way to recover from this accident.
Yo: Tepco [Tokyo Electric Power Company, owner/operator of the nuclear plants] says they expect to bring in a high voltage line this evening.
Hirose: Yes, there’s a little bit of hope there. But what’s worrisome is that a nuclear reactor is not like what the schematic pictures show (shows a graphic picture of a reactor, like those used on TV). This is just a cartoon. Here’s what it looks like underneath a reactor container (shows a photograph). This is the butt end of the reactor. Take a look. It’s a forest of switch levers and wires and pipes. On television these pseudo-scholars come on and give us simple explanations, but they know nothing, those college professors. Only the engineers know. This is where water has been poured in. This maze of pipes is enough to make you dizzy. Its structure is too wildly complex for us to understand. For a week now they have been pouring water through there. And it’s salt water, right? You pour salt water on a hot kiln and what do you think happens? You get salt. The salt will get into all these valves and cause them to freeze. They won’t move. This will be happening everywhere. So I can’t believe that it’s just a simple matter of you reconnecting the electricity and the water will begin to circulate. I think any engineer with a little imagination can understand this. You take a system as unbelievably complex as this and then actually dump water on it from a helicopter – maybe they have some idea of how this could work, but I can’t understand it.
Yo: It will take 1300 tons of water to fill the pools that contain the spent fuel rods in reactors 3 and 4. This morning 30 tons. Then the Self Defense Forces are to hose in another 30 tons from five trucks. That’s nowhere near enough, they have to keep it up. Is this squirting of water from hoses going to change the situation?
Hirose: In principle, it can’t. Because even when a reactor is in good shape, it requires constant control to keep the temperature down to where it is barely safe. Now it’s a complete mess inside, and when I think of the 50 remaining operators, it brings tears to my eyes. I assume they have been exposed to very large amounts of radiation, and that they have accepted that they face death by staying there. And how long can they last? I mean, physically. That’s what the situation has come to now. When I see these accounts on television, I want to tell them, “If that’s what you say, then go there and do it yourself!” Really, they talk this nonsense, trying to reassure everyone, trying to avoid panic. What we need now is a proper panic. Because the situation has come to the point where the danger is real.
If I were Prime Minister Kan, I would order them to do what the Soviet Union did when the Chernobyl reactor blew up, the sarcophagus solution, bury the whole thing under cement, put every cement company in Japan to work, and dump cement over it from the sky. Because you have to assume the worst case. Why? Because in Fukushima there is the Daiichi Plant with six reactors and the Daini Plant with four for a total of ten reactors. If even one of them develops the worst case, then the workers there must either evacuate the site or stay on and collapse. So if, for example, one of the reactors at Daiichi goes down, the other five are only a matter of time. We can’t know in what order they will go, but certainly all of them will go. And if that happens, Daini isn’t so far away, so probably the reactors there will also go down. Because I assume that workers will not be able to stay there.
I’m speaking of the worst case, but the probability is not low. This is the danger that the world is watching. Only in Japan is it being hidden. As you know, of the six reactors at Daiichi, four are in a crisis state. So even if at one everything goes well and water circulation is restored, the other three could still go down. Four are in crisis, and for all four to be 100 per cent repaired, I hate to say it, but I am pessimistic. If so, then to save the people, we have to think about some way to reduce the radiation leakage to the lowest level possible. Not by spraying water from hoses, like sprinkling water on a desert. We have to think of all six going down, and the possibility of that happening is not low. Everyone knows how long it takes a typhoon to pass over Japan; it generally takes about a week. That is, with a wind speed of two meters per second, it could take about five days for all of Japan to be covered with radiation. We’re not talking about distances of 20 kilometers or 30 kilometers or 100 kilometers. It means of course Tokyo, Osaka. That’s how fast a radioactive cloud could spread. Of course it would depend on the weather; we can’t know in advance how the radiation would be distributed. It would be nice if the wind would blow toward the sea, but it doesn’t always do that. Two days ago, on the 15th, it was blowing toward Tokyo. That’s how it is. . . .
Yo: Every day the local government is measuring the radioactivity. All the television stations are saying that while radiation is rising, it is still not high enough to be a danger to health. They compare it to a stomach x-ray, or if it goes up, to a CT scan. What is the truth of the matter?
Hirose: For example, yesterday. Around Fukushima Daiichi Station they measured 400 millisieverts – that’s per hour. With this measurement (Chief Cabinet Secretary) Edano admitted for the first time that there was a danger to health, but he didn’t explain what this means. All of the information media are at fault here I think. They are saying stupid things like, why, we are exposed to radiation all the time in our daily life, we get radiation from outer space. But that’s one millisievert per year. A year has 365 days, a day has 24 hours; multiply 365 by 24, you get 8760. Multiply the 400 millisieverts by that, you get 3,500,000 the normal dose. You call that safe? And what media have reported this? None. They compare it to a CT scan, which is over in an instant; that has nothing to do with it. The reason radioactivity can be measured is that radioactive material is escaping. What is dangerous is when that material enters your body and irradiates it from inside. These industry-mouthpiece scholars come on TV and what to they say? They say as you move away the radiation is reduced in inverse ratio to the square of the distance. I want to say the reverse. Internal irradiation happens when radioactive material is ingested into the body. What happens? Say there is a nuclear particle one meter away from you. You breathe it in, it sticks inside your body; the distance between you and it is now at the micron level. One meter is 1000 millimeters, one micron is one thousandth of a millimeter. That’s a thousand times a thousand squared. That’s the real meaning of “inverse ratio of the square of the distance.” Radiation exposure is increased by a factor of a trillion. Inhaling even the tiniest particle, that’s the danger.
Yo: So making comparisons with X-rays and CT scans has no meaning. Because you can breathe in radioactive material.
Hirose: That’s right. When it enters your body, there’s no telling where it will go. The biggest danger is women, especially pregnant women, and little children. Now they’re talking about iodine and cesium, but that’s only part of it, they’re not using the proper detection instruments. What they call monitoring means only measuring the amount of radiation in the air. Their instruments don’t eat. What they measure has no connection with the amount of radioactive material. . . .
Yo: So damage from radioactive rays and damage from radioactive material are not the same.
Hirose: If you ask, are any radioactive rays from the Fukushima Nuclear Station here in this studio, the answer will be no. But radioactive particles are carried here by the air. When the core begins to melt down, elements inside like iodine turn to gas. It rises to the top, so if there is any crevice it escapes outside.
Yo: Is there any way to detect this?
Hirose: I was told by a newspaper reporter that now Tepco is not in shape even to do regular monitoring. They just take an occasional measurement, and that becomes the basis of Edano’s statements. You have to take constant measurements, but they are not able to do that. And you need to investigate just what is escaping, and how much. That requires very sophisticated measuring instruments. You can’t do it just by keeping a monitoring post. It’s no good just to measure the level of radiation in the air. Whiz in by car, take a measurement, it’s high, it’s low – that’s not the point. We need to know what kind of radioactive materials are escaping, and where they are going – they don’t have a system in place for doing that now.
Obama's Foolish And Unconstitutional War
Pat Buchanan - "The president does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation."
So said constitutional scholar and Senator Barack Obama in December 2007 – the same man who, this weekend, ordered U.S. air and missile strikes on Libya without any authorization from Congress.
Obama did win the support of Gabon in the Security Council, but failed with Germany. With a phone call to acquitted rapist Jacob Zuma, he got South Africa to sign on, but not Brazil, Russia, India or China. All four abstained.
This is not the world's war. This is Obama's war.
The U.S. Navy fired almost all the cruise missiles that hit Libya as the U.S. Air Force attacked with B-2 bombers, F-15s and F-16s.
"To be clear, this is a U.S.-led operation," said Vice Adm. William Gortney.
"In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies," said Winston Churchill. Obama is a quick study.
In his Friday ultimatum, he said, "We are not going to use force to go beyond a well-defined goal – specifically, the protection of civilians in Libya."
Why, then, did we strike Tripoli and Moammar Gadhafi's compound?
So many U.S. missiles and bombs have struck Libya that the Arab League is bailing out. League chief Amr Moussa has called an emergency meeting of the 22 Arab states to discuss attacks that have "led to the deaths and injuries of many Libyan civilians." We asked for a no-fly zone, said Moussa, not the "bombardment of civilians."
What caused Obama's about-face from the Pentagon position that imposing a no-fly zone on Libya was an unwise act of war?
According to The New York Times, National Security Council aide Samantha Power, U.N. envoy Susan Rice and Hillary Clinton flipped him. The three sisters feel guilty about us not invading Rwanda when Hutu were butchering Tutsi.
They did not want to be seen as standing by when Gadhafi took Benghazi, which he would have done, ending the war in days, had we not intervened.
While Obama is no longer saying Gadhafi must go, Hillary insists that has to be the outcome. No question who wears the pants here.
As U.S. prestige and power are committed, if Gadhafi survives, he will have defeated Obama and NATO. Hence, we must now finish him and his regime to avert a U.S. humiliation and prevent another Lockerbie.
The Arab League and African Union are denouncing us, but al-Qaida is with us. For eastern Libya provided more than its fair share of jihadists to kill U.S. soldiers in Iraq. And jihadists are prominent among the rebels we just rescued.
Yet, even as Obama was announcing U.S. intervention to prevent "unspeakable atrocities," security police of Yemen's President Saleh, using sniper rifles, massacred 45 peaceful protesters and wounded 270. Most of the dead were shot in the head or neck, the work of marksmen.
Had Mahmoud Ahmadinejad done this in Tehran, would U.S. protests have been so muted?
In Bahrain, 2,000 Saudi soldiers and troops from emirates of the Gulf have intervened to save King Khalifa, whose throne was threatened by Shia demonstrators in the Pearl roundabout in Manama. The town square was surrounded, the Shia driven out, the 300-foot Pearl monument destroyed.
This crackdown on Bahrain's Shia has been denounced by Iran and Iraq. Grand Ayatollah Sistani, most revered figure in the Shia world, ordered seminaries shut in protest. This is serious business.
Not only are the Shia dominant in Iran, and in Iraq after the Americans ousted the Sunni-dominated Baathist Party, they are heavily concentrated in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, where the oil deposits are located.
They are a majority in Bahrain, where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based. Shia Hezbollah is now the dominant military and political force in Lebanon.
Riyadh must have regarded the threat to Bahrain a grave one to have so exacerbated the religious divide and raised the specter of sectarian war.
Yet, again, why are we bombing Libya?
Gadhafi did not attack the West. He faced an uprising to dethrone him and rallied his troops to crush it, as any ruthless ruler would have done. We have no vital interest in who wins his civil war.
Indeed, Gadhafi has asked of Obama, "If you found them taking over American cities by force of arms, what would you do?"
Well, when the South fired on Fort Sumter, killing no one, Abraham Lincoln blockaded every Southern port, sent Gen. Sherman to burn Atlanta and pillage Georgia and South Carolina, and Gen. Sheridan to ravage the Shenandoah. He locked up editors and shut down legislatures and fought a four-year war of reconquest that killed 620,000 Americans – a few more than have died in Gadhafi's four-week war.
Good thing we didn't have an "international community" back then.
The Royal Navy would have been bombarding Lincoln's America.
So said constitutional scholar and Senator Barack Obama in December 2007 – the same man who, this weekend, ordered U.S. air and missile strikes on Libya without any authorization from Congress.
Obama did win the support of Gabon in the Security Council, but failed with Germany. With a phone call to acquitted rapist Jacob Zuma, he got South Africa to sign on, but not Brazil, Russia, India or China. All four abstained.
This is not the world's war. This is Obama's war.
The U.S. Navy fired almost all the cruise missiles that hit Libya as the U.S. Air Force attacked with B-2 bombers, F-15s and F-16s.
"To be clear, this is a U.S.-led operation," said Vice Adm. William Gortney.
"In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies," said Winston Churchill. Obama is a quick study.
In his Friday ultimatum, he said, "We are not going to use force to go beyond a well-defined goal – specifically, the protection of civilians in Libya."
Why, then, did we strike Tripoli and Moammar Gadhafi's compound?
So many U.S. missiles and bombs have struck Libya that the Arab League is bailing out. League chief Amr Moussa has called an emergency meeting of the 22 Arab states to discuss attacks that have "led to the deaths and injuries of many Libyan civilians." We asked for a no-fly zone, said Moussa, not the "bombardment of civilians."
What caused Obama's about-face from the Pentagon position that imposing a no-fly zone on Libya was an unwise act of war?
According to The New York Times, National Security Council aide Samantha Power, U.N. envoy Susan Rice and Hillary Clinton flipped him. The three sisters feel guilty about us not invading Rwanda when Hutu were butchering Tutsi.
They did not want to be seen as standing by when Gadhafi took Benghazi, which he would have done, ending the war in days, had we not intervened.
While Obama is no longer saying Gadhafi must go, Hillary insists that has to be the outcome. No question who wears the pants here.
As U.S. prestige and power are committed, if Gadhafi survives, he will have defeated Obama and NATO. Hence, we must now finish him and his regime to avert a U.S. humiliation and prevent another Lockerbie.
The Arab League and African Union are denouncing us, but al-Qaida is with us. For eastern Libya provided more than its fair share of jihadists to kill U.S. soldiers in Iraq. And jihadists are prominent among the rebels we just rescued.
Yet, even as Obama was announcing U.S. intervention to prevent "unspeakable atrocities," security police of Yemen's President Saleh, using sniper rifles, massacred 45 peaceful protesters and wounded 270. Most of the dead were shot in the head or neck, the work of marksmen.
Had Mahmoud Ahmadinejad done this in Tehran, would U.S. protests have been so muted?
In Bahrain, 2,000 Saudi soldiers and troops from emirates of the Gulf have intervened to save King Khalifa, whose throne was threatened by Shia demonstrators in the Pearl roundabout in Manama. The town square was surrounded, the Shia driven out, the 300-foot Pearl monument destroyed.
This crackdown on Bahrain's Shia has been denounced by Iran and Iraq. Grand Ayatollah Sistani, most revered figure in the Shia world, ordered seminaries shut in protest. This is serious business.
Not only are the Shia dominant in Iran, and in Iraq after the Americans ousted the Sunni-dominated Baathist Party, they are heavily concentrated in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, where the oil deposits are located.
They are a majority in Bahrain, where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based. Shia Hezbollah is now the dominant military and political force in Lebanon.
Riyadh must have regarded the threat to Bahrain a grave one to have so exacerbated the religious divide and raised the specter of sectarian war.
Yet, again, why are we bombing Libya?
Gadhafi did not attack the West. He faced an uprising to dethrone him and rallied his troops to crush it, as any ruthless ruler would have done. We have no vital interest in who wins his civil war.
Indeed, Gadhafi has asked of Obama, "If you found them taking over American cities by force of arms, what would you do?"
Well, when the South fired on Fort Sumter, killing no one, Abraham Lincoln blockaded every Southern port, sent Gen. Sherman to burn Atlanta and pillage Georgia and South Carolina, and Gen. Sheridan to ravage the Shenandoah. He locked up editors and shut down legislatures and fought a four-year war of reconquest that killed 620,000 Americans – a few more than have died in Gadhafi's four-week war.
Good thing we didn't have an "international community" back then.
The Royal Navy would have been bombarding Lincoln's America.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Food In Japan Contamined With Traces Of Radiation
MSNBC.com - Japan confirmed the presence of radioactive iodine contamination in food products from near a crippled nuclear plant and ordered a halt to their sale, the U.N. nuclear body said on Saturday.
"Though radioactive iodine has a short half-life of about 8 days and decays naturally within a matter of weeks, there is a short-term risk to human health if radioactive iodine in food is absorbed into the human body," the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement.
Earlier Japanese officials said radiation levels in spinach and milk from farms the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex exceeded government safety limits.
The food was taken from farms as far as 65 miles from the stricken plants, suggesting a wide area of nuclear contamination.
While the radiation levels exceeded the limits allowed by the government, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano insisted the products "pose no immediate health risk."
The tainted milk was found 20 miles from the plant, a local official said.
Quake risk at nuclear plants
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has estimated the risk for each nuclear reactor in the U.S. of an earthquake damaging the reactor's core. Geologists estimate that the risk of earthquakes in the central and eastern U.S. is much higher than previously thought. The 104 nuclear reactors and their risk estimates are ranked in this investigative report from msnbc.com.
The spinach was collected from six farms between 60 miles and 75 miles to the south of the reactors.
Those areas are rich farm country known for melons, rice and peaches, so the contamination could affect food supplies for large parts of Japan.
More testing was being done on other foods, Edano said in Tokyo, and if tests show further contamination then food shipments from the area would be halted.
Officials said it was too early to know if the nuclear crisis caused the contamination, but Edano said air sampling done near the dairy showed higher radiation levels.
Cesium 137 found
Iodine levels in the spinach exceeded safety limits by three to seven times, a food safety official said.
Tests on the milk done Wednesday detected small amounts of iodine 131 and cesium 137, the latter being a longer lasting element and can cause more types of cancer.
But only iodine was detected Thursday and Friday, a Health Ministry official said.
Officials from Edano on down tried to calm public jitters, saying the amounts detected were so small that people would have to consume unimaginable amounts to endanger their health.
Edano said someone drinking the tainted milk for one year would consume as much radiation as in a CT scan; for the spinach, it would be one-fifth of a CT scan. A CT scan is a compressed series of X-rays used for medical tests.
"Can you imagine eating one kilogram of spinach every day for one year?" State Secretary of Health Minister Yoko Komiyama said. One kilogram is a little over two pounds.
Meanwhile, just outside the bustling disaster response center in the city of Fukushima, 40 miles northwest of the plant, government nuclear specialist Kazuya Konno was able to take only a three-minute break for his first meeting since the quake with his wife, Junko, and their children.
"It's very nerve-racking. We really don't know what is going to become of our city," said Junko Konno, 35. "Like most other people, we have been staying indoors unless we have to go out."
She brought her husband a small backpack with a change of clothes and snacks. The girls — aged 4 and 6 and wearing pink surgical masks decorated with Mickey Mouse — gave their father hugs.
Low levels of radiation have been detected well beyond Tokyo, which is 140 miles south of the plant, but hazardous levels have been limited to the plant itself.
"Though radioactive iodine has a short half-life of about 8 days and decays naturally within a matter of weeks, there is a short-term risk to human health if radioactive iodine in food is absorbed into the human body," the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement.
Earlier Japanese officials said radiation levels in spinach and milk from farms the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex exceeded government safety limits.
The food was taken from farms as far as 65 miles from the stricken plants, suggesting a wide area of nuclear contamination.
While the radiation levels exceeded the limits allowed by the government, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano insisted the products "pose no immediate health risk."
The tainted milk was found 20 miles from the plant, a local official said.
Quake risk at nuclear plants
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has estimated the risk for each nuclear reactor in the U.S. of an earthquake damaging the reactor's core. Geologists estimate that the risk of earthquakes in the central and eastern U.S. is much higher than previously thought. The 104 nuclear reactors and their risk estimates are ranked in this investigative report from msnbc.com.
The spinach was collected from six farms between 60 miles and 75 miles to the south of the reactors.
Those areas are rich farm country known for melons, rice and peaches, so the contamination could affect food supplies for large parts of Japan.
More testing was being done on other foods, Edano said in Tokyo, and if tests show further contamination then food shipments from the area would be halted.
Officials said it was too early to know if the nuclear crisis caused the contamination, but Edano said air sampling done near the dairy showed higher radiation levels.
Cesium 137 found
Iodine levels in the spinach exceeded safety limits by three to seven times, a food safety official said.
Tests on the milk done Wednesday detected small amounts of iodine 131 and cesium 137, the latter being a longer lasting element and can cause more types of cancer.
But only iodine was detected Thursday and Friday, a Health Ministry official said.
Officials from Edano on down tried to calm public jitters, saying the amounts detected were so small that people would have to consume unimaginable amounts to endanger their health.
Edano said someone drinking the tainted milk for one year would consume as much radiation as in a CT scan; for the spinach, it would be one-fifth of a CT scan. A CT scan is a compressed series of X-rays used for medical tests.
"Can you imagine eating one kilogram of spinach every day for one year?" State Secretary of Health Minister Yoko Komiyama said. One kilogram is a little over two pounds.
Meanwhile, just outside the bustling disaster response center in the city of Fukushima, 40 miles northwest of the plant, government nuclear specialist Kazuya Konno was able to take only a three-minute break for his first meeting since the quake with his wife, Junko, and their children.
"It's very nerve-racking. We really don't know what is going to become of our city," said Junko Konno, 35. "Like most other people, we have been staying indoors unless we have to go out."
She brought her husband a small backpack with a change of clothes and snacks. The girls — aged 4 and 6 and wearing pink surgical masks decorated with Mickey Mouse — gave their father hugs.
Low levels of radiation have been detected well beyond Tokyo, which is 140 miles south of the plant, but hazardous levels have been limited to the plant itself.
The Great European-American Gaddafi Deception
LewRockwell.com - One has needed a score card to keep up with the twists and turns of the situation in Libya and what will follow over the weekend is still unclear. My point is while we wish the people of Libya and their color revolution victory over crazy Gaddafi, they have likely been the unwitting pawns in a major deception by Washington to hide a dramatic Middle East foreign policy shift.
Highlights and Timeline
2/15 – Libyan color revolution begins.
3/3 – Obama finally says “Gaddafi must go” following previous two weeks of “It’s up to the people of Libya to decide”.
3/11 – US Intelligence chief says “Gaddafi will prevail”.
3/14 – Troops from Saudi Arabia & forces from U.A.E. are invited by Bahrain to invade and martial law put into effect while Saudi government cracks down on opposition at home.
3/16 – Sudden policy shift, after opposing No Fly Zone, Obama Administration urges quick acceptance and UN resolution to use force.
3/17 – Gaddafi has warns Benghazi residents “We are coming tonight…There won’t be any mercy”.
3/17 – This was followed by UN Resolution authorizing No Fly Zone and use of force against Gaddafi.
3/18 – Libya proclaims ceasefire & halts military operations toward Benghazi after Gaddafi reoccupies most of oil fields.
Most of us are not old enough to have lived through the two greatest military deceptions of World War Two but you probably missed a similar operation during the last two weeks. The first was Hitler’s threat of an invasion against England which actually masked plans for Operation Barbarossa against the Soviet Union and Stalin fell for it. The second was an American deception for D-Day called Operation Quicksilver to convince the German High Command that the allies would invade France at the Pas-de-Calais instead of Normandy. The General Staff believed the ruse, while Hitler did not but acquiesced surprising to the military and the rest is history.
I’m writing about what I will call “The Great Anglo-American Gaddafi Deception” and today in the age of the internet and immediate news and opinion, this deception is not against a military enemy. Rather for several weeks it has served to mask a major American foreign policy shift from both the American people and our former allies in the Middle East color revolution movement.
Gaddafi: A Freak Sideshow Deception
I seriously doubt this change will receive any mainstream media coverage at all because the evidence of a policy decision to allow Gaddafi to survive along with possible genocide and retribution to take place inside his controlled territory is not a pretty picture. This is a sideshow and modern-day, bread-and-circus directed event to capture the attention of the public and news media. Again, forget the talking head experts on cable, as the real story is not about Libya but rather about Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and the danger the color revolutions present to Anglo-American interests in the Middle East and the continued world reserve status of the US dollar.
What happens now in Libya is anyone’s guess because it has served its purpose well and the delays provided the time necessary for Saudi Arabia and the Gulf council to invade tiny, insignificant Bahrain. The nation’s only importance is the opportunity for use as an Iranian bridge to Saudi oil.
The small island nation produces little oil but
it like the major oil-producing region of Saudi Arabia is home to a regional Shiite majority which could ally with Iran. Washington and London, controlled by Anglo-American elite financial interests have decreed that the color revolutions must end at the edge of the Sunni/Shiite oil-producing regions.
Simply put, the out-of-character US delays and back-and-forth statements and policy changes on Libya which provided Gaddafi free rein to advance and almost defeat the rebels was all a sideshow and diversion. Remember this was thought necessary before the sudden earthquake and tidal wave in Japan to keep the Saudi invasion, threat of genocide in Bahrain and against Shiites in the Saudi oil region off the front pages and cable news shows until the revolutions there could be contained.
It’s All About the Dollar
The fiat US dollar only survives as the world’s reserve currency because the majority of the oil producers demand payment in dollars. The important significance of this was detailed in Anthony Wile’s recent “Mid-East Conflict Not Exactly About Oil” which appeared last week in The Daily Bell. Although Iran now sells oil in other currencies, the other major oil-producing nations still demand payment for oil in US dollars thus requiring ALL nations to utilize dollars as a reserve currency. Quoting Tony, “That is if they wanted to buy any oil – as dollars were what the Saudis and the rest of the OPEC members would accept. This created the effect of an ever-growing demand for dollars. And like any Ponzi scheme, you need an ever-expanding base of demand, or else it crumbles, which they all eventually do.”
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates dispatched forces to Bahrain on Monday to protect the Sunni ruling family in power from the Shiite majority in Bahrain which if successful could threaten Saudi oil reserves in eastern Saudi Arabia. While Gaddafi is a madman and the Saudi Royal Family are one of the better ruling elites in the region, the case could just as easily be made for a UN resolution against Saudi Arabia and the UAE actions as the Libyan situation if this were in the best interests of the Anglo-American foreign policy and monetary interests.
While the mainstream news and propaganda talks incessantly about the sudden Obama Administration policy shift toward Libya on Thursday, the real policy change took place several weeks ago with the color revolutions sweeping the Arab world. Washington and London have decided the greatest threat to the Anglo-American control and their power structure are the freedom revolutionaries in the Middle East.
It is not that they oppose freedom or favor authoritarian regimes. Rather this new movement is decentralized, internet and social media based and outside their control. This threatens the oil and dollar schemes they have been running in the Middle East but impacting the rest of the world for over 60 years and hence the reason for the policy shift.
Therefore, if you are following the news over the weekend whether the UN approved use of military force takes place against Gaddafi or he digs in and sits on his oil resources while the West gets mired down in another Middle East intervention, remember the real action is taking place elsewhere.
The important and in their view, necessary actions are happening in and around Saudi Arabia as Washington together with the oil producing countries near Iran are taking care of business to maintain their control over oil resources, the payment in dollars and to contain the freedom revolutions which threaten their interests. Remember, it’s all about the dollar being maintained for a while longer as the world reserve currency and oil resources. The establishment of democratic forms of government or whether the people will have a decision over their future in the area is immaterial to the survival of the status quo in Washington and the region.
Highlights and Timeline
2/15 – Libyan color revolution begins.
3/3 – Obama finally says “Gaddafi must go” following previous two weeks of “It’s up to the people of Libya to decide”.
3/11 – US Intelligence chief says “Gaddafi will prevail”.
3/14 – Troops from Saudi Arabia & forces from U.A.E. are invited by Bahrain to invade and martial law put into effect while Saudi government cracks down on opposition at home.
3/16 – Sudden policy shift, after opposing No Fly Zone, Obama Administration urges quick acceptance and UN resolution to use force.
3/17 – Gaddafi has warns Benghazi residents “We are coming tonight…There won’t be any mercy”.
3/17 – This was followed by UN Resolution authorizing No Fly Zone and use of force against Gaddafi.
3/18 – Libya proclaims ceasefire & halts military operations toward Benghazi after Gaddafi reoccupies most of oil fields.
Most of us are not old enough to have lived through the two greatest military deceptions of World War Two but you probably missed a similar operation during the last two weeks. The first was Hitler’s threat of an invasion against England which actually masked plans for Operation Barbarossa against the Soviet Union and Stalin fell for it. The second was an American deception for D-Day called Operation Quicksilver to convince the German High Command that the allies would invade France at the Pas-de-Calais instead of Normandy. The General Staff believed the ruse, while Hitler did not but acquiesced surprising to the military and the rest is history.
I’m writing about what I will call “The Great Anglo-American Gaddafi Deception” and today in the age of the internet and immediate news and opinion, this deception is not against a military enemy. Rather for several weeks it has served to mask a major American foreign policy shift from both the American people and our former allies in the Middle East color revolution movement.
Gaddafi: A Freak Sideshow Deception
I seriously doubt this change will receive any mainstream media coverage at all because the evidence of a policy decision to allow Gaddafi to survive along with possible genocide and retribution to take place inside his controlled territory is not a pretty picture. This is a sideshow and modern-day, bread-and-circus directed event to capture the attention of the public and news media. Again, forget the talking head experts on cable, as the real story is not about Libya but rather about Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and the danger the color revolutions present to Anglo-American interests in the Middle East and the continued world reserve status of the US dollar.
What happens now in Libya is anyone’s guess because it has served its purpose well and the delays provided the time necessary for Saudi Arabia and the Gulf council to invade tiny, insignificant Bahrain. The nation’s only importance is the opportunity for use as an Iranian bridge to Saudi oil.
The small island nation produces little oil but
it like the major oil-producing region of Saudi Arabia is home to a regional Shiite majority which could ally with Iran. Washington and London, controlled by Anglo-American elite financial interests have decreed that the color revolutions must end at the edge of the Sunni/Shiite oil-producing regions.
Simply put, the out-of-character US delays and back-and-forth statements and policy changes on Libya which provided Gaddafi free rein to advance and almost defeat the rebels was all a sideshow and diversion. Remember this was thought necessary before the sudden earthquake and tidal wave in Japan to keep the Saudi invasion, threat of genocide in Bahrain and against Shiites in the Saudi oil region off the front pages and cable news shows until the revolutions there could be contained.
It’s All About the Dollar
The fiat US dollar only survives as the world’s reserve currency because the majority of the oil producers demand payment in dollars. The important significance of this was detailed in Anthony Wile’s recent “Mid-East Conflict Not Exactly About Oil” which appeared last week in The Daily Bell. Although Iran now sells oil in other currencies, the other major oil-producing nations still demand payment for oil in US dollars thus requiring ALL nations to utilize dollars as a reserve currency. Quoting Tony, “That is if they wanted to buy any oil – as dollars were what the Saudis and the rest of the OPEC members would accept. This created the effect of an ever-growing demand for dollars. And like any Ponzi scheme, you need an ever-expanding base of demand, or else it crumbles, which they all eventually do.”
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates dispatched forces to Bahrain on Monday to protect the Sunni ruling family in power from the Shiite majority in Bahrain which if successful could threaten Saudi oil reserves in eastern Saudi Arabia. While Gaddafi is a madman and the Saudi Royal Family are one of the better ruling elites in the region, the case could just as easily be made for a UN resolution against Saudi Arabia and the UAE actions as the Libyan situation if this were in the best interests of the Anglo-American foreign policy and monetary interests.
While the mainstream news and propaganda talks incessantly about the sudden Obama Administration policy shift toward Libya on Thursday, the real policy change took place several weeks ago with the color revolutions sweeping the Arab world. Washington and London have decided the greatest threat to the Anglo-American control and their power structure are the freedom revolutionaries in the Middle East.
It is not that they oppose freedom or favor authoritarian regimes. Rather this new movement is decentralized, internet and social media based and outside their control. This threatens the oil and dollar schemes they have been running in the Middle East but impacting the rest of the world for over 60 years and hence the reason for the policy shift.
Therefore, if you are following the news over the weekend whether the UN approved use of military force takes place against Gaddafi or he digs in and sits on his oil resources while the West gets mired down in another Middle East intervention, remember the real action is taking place elsewhere.
The important and in their view, necessary actions are happening in and around Saudi Arabia as Washington together with the oil producing countries near Iran are taking care of business to maintain their control over oil resources, the payment in dollars and to contain the freedom revolutions which threaten their interests. Remember, it’s all about the dollar being maintained for a while longer as the world reserve currency and oil resources. The establishment of democratic forms of government or whether the people will have a decision over their future in the area is immaterial to the survival of the status quo in Washington and the region.
Helen Thomas Tells Playboy: Jews "Control" America
Drew Zahn - Helen Thomas, the former "dean" of the White House Press Corps who lost her position over a string of anti-Semitic comments, is interviewed in the April issue of Playboy, renewing her criticism of Israel and Jews in "control" of America.
"[The Jews are] using their power, and they have power in every direction … power over the White House, power over Congress," Thomas told Playboy Contributing Editor David Hochman. "Everybody is in the pocket of the Israeli lobbies, which are funded by wealthy supporters, including those from Hollywood. Same thing with the financial markets. There's total control.
"It's real power when you own the White House, when you own these other places in terms of your political persuasion. Of course they have power," Thomas continued, then addressed Hochman: "You don't deny that. You're Jewish, aren't you?"
The 90-year-old journalist was a correspondent with United Press International for 57 years, an opinion columnist with Hearst Newspapers for 10 years and the senior White House reporter, covering every president since Eisenhower, until damaging comments last year pushed her to retirement.
Thomas resigned in June after telling a rabbi on camera that Israelis should "get the h--- out of Palestine" and "go home" to "Poland, Germany and America and everywhere else."
Though Thomas published an apology for her statements last year, writing, "I deeply regret my comments," Thomas expressed a different sentiment in her interview with Playboy:
"I knew exactly what I was doing – I was going for broke. I had reached the point of no return. You finally get fed up," she told the magazine. "I finally wanted to speak the truth."
Part of that "truth," Thomas told Playboy, is her claim that Israel is perpetuating its people's victim-of-the-Holocaust status to escape criticism over wrongdoing against the Palestinians.
"The slaughter of Jews stopped with World War II. … They were liberated since then. And yet they carry on the victimization," Thomas told the magazine. "American people do not know that the Israeli lobbyists have intimidated them into believing every Jew is a persecuted victim forever – while they are victimizing Palestinians."
She continued, "Sure, the Israelis have a right to exist – but where they were born, not to come and take someone else's home. I've had it up to here with the violations against the Palestinians. … [The Palestinians] are incarcerated and living in an open prison. I say to the Israelis, 'Get out of people's homes!' ... I mean, they're living there and these people want to come and take their homes and land and water and kill their children and kill them."
Still, Thomas insists, she doesn't hold any hatred for the Jewish people.
"Oh, I know what they're going to say: 'anti-Semite.'… The truth is, I don't hate anybody. I care deeply about people. I care for the poor, the sick, the lame, the harmed, those who've been treated unjustly," she told Playboy. "I think [the Jews] are wonderful people. They had to have the most depth. They were leaders in civil rights. They've always had the heart for others but not for Arabs, for some reason.
"I'm not anti-Jewish," she explained, "I'm anti-Zionist."
Thomas, therefore, explains why she blames Israelis for Palestinian terror attacks:
"Of course I don't condone any violence against anyone. But who wouldn't fight for their country? What would any American do if their land was being taken? Remember Pearl Harbor," Thomas told Playboy. "The Palestinian violence is to protect what little remains of Palestine. The suicide bombers act out of despair and desperation. Three generations of Palestinians have been forced out of their homes – by Israelis – and into refugee camps."
Following her comments last year, made on the White House lawn during American Jewish Heritage month, President Obama criticized Thomas' statement, supporting her departure from the White House press corps.
"Her comments were offensive," Obama said. "It's a shame because Helen's someone who has been a correspondent through I don't know how many presidents, was a real institution in Washington, D.C. But I think she made the right decision. I think those comments are out of line, and hopefully she recognizes that."
Earlier this week, however, Editor & Publisher reports, Thomas told a national conference of campus journalists from College Media Advisers, "I want an apology from the president."
"I also heard from Jimmy Carter," Thomas revealed. "He called a few weeks later. Basically he was sympathetic. He talked about the Israelis in the Middle East, the violations. It was very nice of him to call, but I don’t want to get him into trouble."
She also reiterated her statements that Israelis should leave homes occupied by Palestinians prior to 1948, only this time suggesting they come to the U.S., rather than "go home" to "Poland, Germany and America and everywhere else."
"[The Jews are] using their power, and they have power in every direction … power over the White House, power over Congress," Thomas told Playboy Contributing Editor David Hochman. "Everybody is in the pocket of the Israeli lobbies, which are funded by wealthy supporters, including those from Hollywood. Same thing with the financial markets. There's total control.
"It's real power when you own the White House, when you own these other places in terms of your political persuasion. Of course they have power," Thomas continued, then addressed Hochman: "You don't deny that. You're Jewish, aren't you?"
The 90-year-old journalist was a correspondent with United Press International for 57 years, an opinion columnist with Hearst Newspapers for 10 years and the senior White House reporter, covering every president since Eisenhower, until damaging comments last year pushed her to retirement.
Thomas resigned in June after telling a rabbi on camera that Israelis should "get the h--- out of Palestine" and "go home" to "Poland, Germany and America and everywhere else."
Though Thomas published an apology for her statements last year, writing, "I deeply regret my comments," Thomas expressed a different sentiment in her interview with Playboy:
"I knew exactly what I was doing – I was going for broke. I had reached the point of no return. You finally get fed up," she told the magazine. "I finally wanted to speak the truth."
Part of that "truth," Thomas told Playboy, is her claim that Israel is perpetuating its people's victim-of-the-Holocaust status to escape criticism over wrongdoing against the Palestinians.
"The slaughter of Jews stopped with World War II. … They were liberated since then. And yet they carry on the victimization," Thomas told the magazine. "American people do not know that the Israeli lobbyists have intimidated them into believing every Jew is a persecuted victim forever – while they are victimizing Palestinians."
She continued, "Sure, the Israelis have a right to exist – but where they were born, not to come and take someone else's home. I've had it up to here with the violations against the Palestinians. … [The Palestinians] are incarcerated and living in an open prison. I say to the Israelis, 'Get out of people's homes!' ... I mean, they're living there and these people want to come and take their homes and land and water and kill their children and kill them."
Still, Thomas insists, she doesn't hold any hatred for the Jewish people.
"Oh, I know what they're going to say: 'anti-Semite.'… The truth is, I don't hate anybody. I care deeply about people. I care for the poor, the sick, the lame, the harmed, those who've been treated unjustly," she told Playboy. "I think [the Jews] are wonderful people. They had to have the most depth. They were leaders in civil rights. They've always had the heart for others but not for Arabs, for some reason.
"I'm not anti-Jewish," she explained, "I'm anti-Zionist."
Thomas, therefore, explains why she blames Israelis for Palestinian terror attacks:
"Of course I don't condone any violence against anyone. But who wouldn't fight for their country? What would any American do if their land was being taken? Remember Pearl Harbor," Thomas told Playboy. "The Palestinian violence is to protect what little remains of Palestine. The suicide bombers act out of despair and desperation. Three generations of Palestinians have been forced out of their homes – by Israelis – and into refugee camps."
Following her comments last year, made on the White House lawn during American Jewish Heritage month, President Obama criticized Thomas' statement, supporting her departure from the White House press corps.
"Her comments were offensive," Obama said. "It's a shame because Helen's someone who has been a correspondent through I don't know how many presidents, was a real institution in Washington, D.C. But I think she made the right decision. I think those comments are out of line, and hopefully she recognizes that."
Earlier this week, however, Editor & Publisher reports, Thomas told a national conference of campus journalists from College Media Advisers, "I want an apology from the president."
"I also heard from Jimmy Carter," Thomas revealed. "He called a few weeks later. Basically he was sympathetic. He talked about the Israelis in the Middle East, the violations. It was very nice of him to call, but I don’t want to get him into trouble."
She also reiterated her statements that Israelis should leave homes occupied by Palestinians prior to 1948, only this time suggesting they come to the U.S., rather than "go home" to "Poland, Germany and America and everywhere else."
Nuclear Plant Chief Cries As Japanese Gov't Admit That Radiation Serious Enough To Kill People
The boss of the company behind the devastated Japanese nuclear reactor today broke down in tears - as his country finally acknowledged the radiation spewing from the over-heating reactors and fuel rods was enough to kill some citizens
Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency admitted that the disaster was a level 5, which is classified as a crisis causing 'several radiation deaths' by the UN International Atomic Energy.
Officials said the rating was raised after they realised the full extent of the radiation leaking from the plant. They also said that 3 per cent of the fuel in three of the reactors at the Fukushima plant had been severely damaged, suggesting those reactor cores have partially melted down.
After Tokyo Electric Power Company Managing Director Akio Komiri cried as he left a conference to brief journalists on the situation at Fukushima, a senior Japanese minister also admitted that the country was overwhelmed by the scale of the tsunami and nuclear crisis.
He said officials should have admitted earlier how serious the radiation leaks were.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said: 'The unprecedented scale of the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan, frankly speaking, were among many things that happened that had not been anticipated under our disaster management contingency plans.
'In hindsight, we could have moved a little quicker in assessing the situation and coordinating all that information and provided it faster.'
Nuclear experts have been saying for days that Japan was underplaying the crisis' severity.
It is now officially on a par with the Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania in 1979. Only the explosion at Chernobyl in 1986 has topped the scale.
Deputy director general of the NISA, Hideohiko Nishiyama, also admitted that they do not know if the reactors are coming under control.
He said: 'With the water-spraying operations, we are fighting a fire we cannot see. That fire is not spreading, but we cannot say yet that it is under control.'
But prime minister Naoto Kan insisted that his country would overcome the catastrophe
'We will rebuild Japan from scratch,' he said in a televised speech: 'In our history, this small island nation has made miraculous economic growth thanks to the efforts of all Japanese citizens. That is how Japan was built.'
It comes after pictures emerged showing overheating fuel rods exposed to the elements through a huge hole in the wall of a reactor building at the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant.
Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency admitted that the disaster was a level 5, which is classified as a crisis causing 'several radiation deaths' by the UN International Atomic Energy.
Officials said the rating was raised after they realised the full extent of the radiation leaking from the plant. They also said that 3 per cent of the fuel in three of the reactors at the Fukushima plant had been severely damaged, suggesting those reactor cores have partially melted down.
After Tokyo Electric Power Company Managing Director Akio Komiri cried as he left a conference to brief journalists on the situation at Fukushima, a senior Japanese minister also admitted that the country was overwhelmed by the scale of the tsunami and nuclear crisis.
He said officials should have admitted earlier how serious the radiation leaks were.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said: 'The unprecedented scale of the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan, frankly speaking, were among many things that happened that had not been anticipated under our disaster management contingency plans.
'In hindsight, we could have moved a little quicker in assessing the situation and coordinating all that information and provided it faster.'
Nuclear experts have been saying for days that Japan was underplaying the crisis' severity.
It is now officially on a par with the Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania in 1979. Only the explosion at Chernobyl in 1986 has topped the scale.
Deputy director general of the NISA, Hideohiko Nishiyama, also admitted that they do not know if the reactors are coming under control.
He said: 'With the water-spraying operations, we are fighting a fire we cannot see. That fire is not spreading, but we cannot say yet that it is under control.'
But prime minister Naoto Kan insisted that his country would overcome the catastrophe
'We will rebuild Japan from scratch,' he said in a televised speech: 'In our history, this small island nation has made miraculous economic growth thanks to the efforts of all Japanese citizens. That is how Japan was built.'
It comes after pictures emerged showing overheating fuel rods exposed to the elements through a huge hole in the wall of a reactor building at the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
U.S Government Cannot Be Trusted On Radiation Threat
Paul Joesph Watson - Given the brazen contempt with which the EPA lied to ground zero workers in telling them that the air was “safe to breathe” on 9/11, government agencies cannot be trusted to give accurate information about the Fukushima radiation plume, which is set to reach California on Friday according to the United Nations.
This is the reason potassium iodide pills and geiger counters have sold out and it goes to the heart of the whole Fukushima catastrophe. Governments worldwide have proven themselves completely deceptive and untrustworthy, which is why no one believes their assurances about “harmless” radiation, and have taken steps to prepare themselves for the worst case scenario.
“A United Nations forecast of the possible movement of the radioactive plume coming from crippled Japanese reactors shows it churning across the Pacific, and touching the Aleutian Islands on Thursday before hitting Southern California late Friday,” reports the New York Times.
“Health and nuclear experts emphasize that radiation in the plume will be diluted as it travels and, at worst, would have extremely minor health consequences in the United States, even if hints of it are ultimately detectable. In a similar way, radiation from the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 spread around the globe and reached the West Coast of the United States in 10 days, its levels measurable but minuscule.”
The same people telling us that the levels are miniscule and the radiation “harmless,” are from the same organizations who assured us that the Chernobyl disaster only killed 9,000 people, when in reality it exposed 550 million Europeans, and 150 to 230 million others in the Northern Hemisphere to notable contamination and led to nearly a million deaths.
Given the fact that Japanese authorities have overseen a clear cover-up of the amount of radiation being spewed by the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, added to the fact that the EPA and the White House, both of which conspired to engage in a cover-up on 9/11 in claiming that the air was safe to breathe at ground zero (aided by establishment media outlets like the New York Times), which led to chronic illnesses and deaths of thousands of Americans, also cannot be trusted, the fact that the UN is making assurances that the radiation plume will be “harmless” should be treated with the utmost suspicion.
As the Washington Blog notes, “If we could rely on the Japanese and American governments to inform us of any danger, we wouldn’t have to be so vigilant.”
“But given the American government’s cover up of the severity of the BP oil disaster, the health risk to New Yorkers after 9/11, and numerous other health issues, we will have to educate ourselves.”
There are numerous people on the west coast who are streaming continuous live pictures of geiger counters to the Internet. One example is embedded below. Normal background radiation can range from 5 CPM to 60 CPM – anything above 100 should raise an alarm.
This geiger counter is based in Santa Monica.
Assurances that the majority of the radiation plume will disperse over the Pacific Ocean are also glib, given how the Chernobyl radiation cloud smothered most of the northern hemisphere within a week. Remember, experts are calling this crisis “Chernobyl on steroids,” if the worst comes to the worst the radiation cloud could affect the entire globe.
The history surrounding both 3 Mile Island and Chernobyl give us a clear warning that governments and “trusted” authorities habitually lie about the threat posed by radiation as part of their supposed effort to “prevent mass panic” amongst the population.
The false claim that there were no “deaths or long-term health effects connected to the accident,” at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant, which is again being parroted by the corporate media, is based on deceptive assurances made at the time by authorities that levels of radiation emitted were harmless.
In reality, cancer rates in children and infants living Dauphin County, where Three Mile Island is located, are significantly higher than the national average.
Similarly, the devastating long term health impacts of Chernobyl have been routinely downplayed.
As a 2010 book published by the New York Academy of Sciences documents, “Nearly one million people around the world died from exposure to radiation released by the 1986 nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl reactor.”
The book, written by Alexey Yablokov of the Center for Russian Environmental Policy in Moscow, and Vassily Nesterenko and Alexey Nesterenko of the Institute of Radiation Safety, completely demolishes claims made by the WHO and the IAEA that the disaster only lead to only 9,000 deaths.
“Drawing upon extensive data, the authors estimate the number of deaths worldwide due to Chernobyl fallout from 1986 through 2004 was 985,000, a number that has since increased.”
Janette Sherman, MD, the physician and toxicologist who edited the book, notes that the consequences of Chernobyl “were far worse than many researchers had believed”.
Numerous governments, including the French government, “deliberately suppressed information about the spread of radioactive fallout.” In parts of France, thyroid cancer surged as the population didn’t take steps to protect itself having believed their government that the radiation cloud was harmless.
The book also reveals how, “Americans also consumed contaminated food imported from nations affected by the disaster. Four years later, 25 percent of imported food was found to be still contaminated.”
Let us not forget either the disgraceful legacy of Project Shad, wherein the US Department of Defense exposed unwitting and unwilling participants to deadly biological and chemical weapons. Similarly, under the atomic soldiers program, US troops were ordered to walk directly into the shockwave of nuclear bombs.
Given the documented history of governments, and particularly the White House, routinely lying to their populations about the severity of health threats, particularly radiation, anyone who believes assurances about the “harmless ness” of the plume of radiation which will reach the west coast tomorrow is not only foolish, but is putting their own life and the lives of their loved ones at risk.
Watch the video below to get an idea of how Chernobyl impacted the whole of Europe and beyond. The clip tracks the path of the radioactive cloud over the course of 7 days.
This is the reason potassium iodide pills and geiger counters have sold out and it goes to the heart of the whole Fukushima catastrophe. Governments worldwide have proven themselves completely deceptive and untrustworthy, which is why no one believes their assurances about “harmless” radiation, and have taken steps to prepare themselves for the worst case scenario.
“A United Nations forecast of the possible movement of the radioactive plume coming from crippled Japanese reactors shows it churning across the Pacific, and touching the Aleutian Islands on Thursday before hitting Southern California late Friday,” reports the New York Times.
“Health and nuclear experts emphasize that radiation in the plume will be diluted as it travels and, at worst, would have extremely minor health consequences in the United States, even if hints of it are ultimately detectable. In a similar way, radiation from the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 spread around the globe and reached the West Coast of the United States in 10 days, its levels measurable but minuscule.”
The same people telling us that the levels are miniscule and the radiation “harmless,” are from the same organizations who assured us that the Chernobyl disaster only killed 9,000 people, when in reality it exposed 550 million Europeans, and 150 to 230 million others in the Northern Hemisphere to notable contamination and led to nearly a million deaths.
Given the fact that Japanese authorities have overseen a clear cover-up of the amount of radiation being spewed by the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, added to the fact that the EPA and the White House, both of which conspired to engage in a cover-up on 9/11 in claiming that the air was safe to breathe at ground zero (aided by establishment media outlets like the New York Times), which led to chronic illnesses and deaths of thousands of Americans, also cannot be trusted, the fact that the UN is making assurances that the radiation plume will be “harmless” should be treated with the utmost suspicion.
As the Washington Blog notes, “If we could rely on the Japanese and American governments to inform us of any danger, we wouldn’t have to be so vigilant.”
“But given the American government’s cover up of the severity of the BP oil disaster, the health risk to New Yorkers after 9/11, and numerous other health issues, we will have to educate ourselves.”
There are numerous people on the west coast who are streaming continuous live pictures of geiger counters to the Internet. One example is embedded below. Normal background radiation can range from 5 CPM to 60 CPM – anything above 100 should raise an alarm.
This geiger counter is based in Santa Monica.
Assurances that the majority of the radiation plume will disperse over the Pacific Ocean are also glib, given how the Chernobyl radiation cloud smothered most of the northern hemisphere within a week. Remember, experts are calling this crisis “Chernobyl on steroids,” if the worst comes to the worst the radiation cloud could affect the entire globe.
The history surrounding both 3 Mile Island and Chernobyl give us a clear warning that governments and “trusted” authorities habitually lie about the threat posed by radiation as part of their supposed effort to “prevent mass panic” amongst the population.
The false claim that there were no “deaths or long-term health effects connected to the accident,” at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant, which is again being parroted by the corporate media, is based on deceptive assurances made at the time by authorities that levels of radiation emitted were harmless.
In reality, cancer rates in children and infants living Dauphin County, where Three Mile Island is located, are significantly higher than the national average.
Similarly, the devastating long term health impacts of Chernobyl have been routinely downplayed.
As a 2010 book published by the New York Academy of Sciences documents, “Nearly one million people around the world died from exposure to radiation released by the 1986 nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl reactor.”
The book, written by Alexey Yablokov of the Center for Russian Environmental Policy in Moscow, and Vassily Nesterenko and Alexey Nesterenko of the Institute of Radiation Safety, completely demolishes claims made by the WHO and the IAEA that the disaster only lead to only 9,000 deaths.
“Drawing upon extensive data, the authors estimate the number of deaths worldwide due to Chernobyl fallout from 1986 through 2004 was 985,000, a number that has since increased.”
Janette Sherman, MD, the physician and toxicologist who edited the book, notes that the consequences of Chernobyl “were far worse than many researchers had believed”.
Numerous governments, including the French government, “deliberately suppressed information about the spread of radioactive fallout.” In parts of France, thyroid cancer surged as the population didn’t take steps to protect itself having believed their government that the radiation cloud was harmless.
The book also reveals how, “Americans also consumed contaminated food imported from nations affected by the disaster. Four years later, 25 percent of imported food was found to be still contaminated.”
Let us not forget either the disgraceful legacy of Project Shad, wherein the US Department of Defense exposed unwitting and unwilling participants to deadly biological and chemical weapons. Similarly, under the atomic soldiers program, US troops were ordered to walk directly into the shockwave of nuclear bombs.
Given the documented history of governments, and particularly the White House, routinely lying to their populations about the severity of health threats, particularly radiation, anyone who believes assurances about the “harmless ness” of the plume of radiation which will reach the west coast tomorrow is not only foolish, but is putting their own life and the lives of their loved ones at risk.
Watch the video below to get an idea of how Chernobyl impacted the whole of Europe and beyond. The clip tracks the path of the radioactive cloud over the course of 7 days.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Has Radiation From Japanese Plant Reached Alaska?
Kurt Nimmo - Related: Alert: Fukushima Coverup, 40 Years of Spent Nuclear Rods Blown Sky High
Radiation from the Fukishima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster may soon reach Alaska, according to the state commissioner of health and social services in that state. He said the state could detect a “very small increase in radiation levels – well below levels that would be a health concern.”
The KTVA article headline reports “Radiation Levels In AK Elevated But Not Harmful” and the article then states that radiation has yet to reach the state, a clear contradiction. We are trying to obtain clarification from state authorities in Alaska on whether radiation has reached Alaska or just if it could reach Alaska.
“Right now, we don’t expect any radiation to affect Alaska,” Chris Laborde, the state’s emergency program manager, told KTVA in Alaska.
The Japanese government has consistently misled the public on the radiation threat and we should expect the federal and state governments in the United States to follow suit.
Moreover, state bureaucrats failed to note that the amount of radiation descending upon Alaska is from the smaller magnitude release from the stricken plant last week. Since then, the plant has released considerably more radiation after explosions and fires ravaged the site in Fukushima. It takes several days for prevailing winds to deliver the radiation across the Pacific Ocean.
State officials describe monitoring radiation levels at stations throughout the state – in Juneau, Anchorage and Fairbanks – with technology that transmits the information to state and federal computers.
Earlier in the week, a nuclear expert noted that the large quantity of irradiated nuclear fuel released from the Japanese plant would make the disaster far worse than the Chernobyl nuclear reactor catastrophe of 25 years ago.
“Up to 100 percent of the volatile radioactive Cesium-137 content of the pools could go up in flames and smoke, to blow downwind over large distances,” warned Kevin Kamps. “Without cooling water, the irradiated nuclear fuel could spontaneously combust in an exothermic reaction.”
Alex Jones’ flagship news websites, Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com, warned that the calamity now unfolding would be far worse than government and the corporate media said last week. Although government – including the state government of Alaska – continues to downplay this unprecedented disaster, the corporate media seems to be coming around, albeit slowly.
In the days ahead, the monitoring stations in Alaska and elsewhere in the United States will begin to report drastically elevated levels of radiation and bureaucrats will be obliged to tell the truth.
Radiation from the Fukishima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster may soon reach Alaska, according to the state commissioner of health and social services in that state. He said the state could detect a “very small increase in radiation levels – well below levels that would be a health concern.”
The KTVA article headline reports “Radiation Levels In AK Elevated But Not Harmful” and the article then states that radiation has yet to reach the state, a clear contradiction. We are trying to obtain clarification from state authorities in Alaska on whether radiation has reached Alaska or just if it could reach Alaska.
“Right now, we don’t expect any radiation to affect Alaska,” Chris Laborde, the state’s emergency program manager, told KTVA in Alaska.
The Japanese government has consistently misled the public on the radiation threat and we should expect the federal and state governments in the United States to follow suit.
Moreover, state bureaucrats failed to note that the amount of radiation descending upon Alaska is from the smaller magnitude release from the stricken plant last week. Since then, the plant has released considerably more radiation after explosions and fires ravaged the site in Fukushima. It takes several days for prevailing winds to deliver the radiation across the Pacific Ocean.
State officials describe monitoring radiation levels at stations throughout the state – in Juneau, Anchorage and Fairbanks – with technology that transmits the information to state and federal computers.
Earlier in the week, a nuclear expert noted that the large quantity of irradiated nuclear fuel released from the Japanese plant would make the disaster far worse than the Chernobyl nuclear reactor catastrophe of 25 years ago.
“Up to 100 percent of the volatile radioactive Cesium-137 content of the pools could go up in flames and smoke, to blow downwind over large distances,” warned Kevin Kamps. “Without cooling water, the irradiated nuclear fuel could spontaneously combust in an exothermic reaction.”
Alex Jones’ flagship news websites, Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com, warned that the calamity now unfolding would be far worse than government and the corporate media said last week. Although government – including the state government of Alaska – continues to downplay this unprecedented disaster, the corporate media seems to be coming around, albeit slowly.
In the days ahead, the monitoring stations in Alaska and elsewhere in the United States will begin to report drastically elevated levels of radiation and bureaucrats will be obliged to tell the truth.
Food Prices Jump 3.9% In Feburary, Highest Increase In 36 Years
Ed Morrissey -If grocery bills seem higher, you’re not imagining things. Thanks mostly to a sharp increase in fuel prices, the cost of food rose faster in February than in any month since November 1974 — not coincidentally, during a previous energy crisis:
Wholesale prices jumped last month by the most in nearly two years due to higher energy costs and the steepest rise in food prices in 36 years. Excluding those volatile categories, inflation was tame.
The Labor Department said Wednesday that the Producer Price Index rose a seasonally adjusted 1.6 percent in February — double the 0.8 percent rise in the previous month. Outside of food and energy costs, the core index ticked up 0.2 percent, less than January’s 0.5 percent rise.
Food prices soared 3.9 percent last month, the biggest gain since November 1974. Most of that increase was due to a sharp rise in vegetable costs, which increased nearly 50 percent. That was the most in almost a year. Meat and dairy products also rose.
Energy prices rose 3.3 percent last month, led by a 3.7 percent increase in gasoline costs.
The good news is that the price of oil has declined after the disaster in Japan, going down to $97 a barrel. However, with Japan’s nuclear reactors under scrutiny and the crisis ongoing at their Fukushima Daiichi plant, Japan will need to boost its other sources of electricity. Nuclear power accounts for more than a third of it now. Japan will have to import raw materials for other sources to boost production, and whether that means oil itself or coal, increased transportation demand will eventually mean higher prices even while Japan recovers from the destruction.
Reuters reports that the price increase surprised economists, and it’s not the first time either:
[The overall rise in wholesale prices] was more than double economists’ expectations for a 0.7 percent rise last month. In the 12 months to February, producer prices increased 5.6 percent, the biggest rise since March, after advancing 3.6 percent in January.
The report came a day after the Federal Reserve said it expected the upward inflation pressure from energy and other commodities to prove transitory but that it would keep a close eye on inflation and inflation expectations.
Economists said given the huge amount of slack in the economy, they did not expect the strong producer prices to pass through to consumers any time soon.
My good friend Scott Johnson at Power Line blames the Fed’s QE2 policy in part for the problem, and points to this WSJ editorial yesterday warning of a rise in inflation:
The Federal Reserve has been on a media campaign to sell its monetary policy to average Americans, but this hasn’t always gone smoothly. Witness last week’s visit to Queens, New York, by New York Fed President William Dudley, who got a street-corner education in the cost of living.
The former Goldman Sachs chief economist gave a speech explaining the economy’s progress and the Fed’s successes, but come question time the main thing the crowd wanted to know was why they’re paying so much more for food and gas. Keep in mind the Fed doesn’t think food and gas prices matter to its policy calculations because they aren’t part of “core” inflation.
So Mr. Dudley tried to explain that other prices are falling. “Today you can buy an iPad 2 that costs the same as an iPad 1 that is twice as powerful,” he said. “You have to look at the prices of all things.”
Reuters reports that this “prompted guffaws and widespread murmuring from the audience,” with someone quipping, “I can’t eat an iPad.” Another attendee asked, “When was the last time, sir, that you went grocery shopping?”
Scott cleverly titles his post, “Let them eat iPads.” I’m not sure I’d draw a line between QE2 and what has happened in food and oil prices, at least not as a primary factor. The effect of QE2 will be to weaken the dollar, which will hike the cost of imports, to be sure, and that may account for a little of the large price jump. If it was the main factor — if the dollar had been weakened to that extent — then prices would be up across the board, especially on imports. At least according to today’s report from the BEA on the trade deficit, that doesn’t appear to be the case.
The real source of this problem is America’s continuing refusal to exploit its own energy sources. We remain too dependent on imports for energy while deliberately sidelining at least hundreds of thousands of potential high-paying jobs by refusing to extract our own oil and natural gas. When the unstable countries that produce oil go through political paroxysms, it spooks investors and sends commodity prices soaring on the increased risk to distribution. Those price increases mean higher transportation costs, which impacts all goods and services that require transport to get to consumers. It’s a multiplier factor that we have seen a number of times over the last four decades, and which our political class continues to pretend doesn’t exist.
Update: Gabriel Malor reminds me that prices of imported goods went up 1.4% in February as well, so the QE2 effect could be a larger part of this than I argued — but not the most pressing cause.
Update II: Yes, it’s definitely worth pointing out that Sarah Palin predicted this in November of last year:
So, imagine my dismay when I read an article by Sudeep Reddy in today’s Wall Street Journal criticizing the fact that I mentioned inflation in my comments about QE2 in a speech this morning before a trade-association. Here’s what I said: “everyone who ever goes out shopping for groceries knows that prices have risen significantly over the past year or so. Pump priming would push them even higher.”
Mr. Reddy takes aim at this. He writes: “Grocery prices haven’t risen all that significantly, in fact.” Really? That’s odd, because just last Thursday, November 4, I read an article in Mr. Reddy’s own Wall Street Journal titled “Food Sellers Grit Teeth, Raise Prices: Packagers and Supermarkets Pressured to Pass Along Rising Costs, Even as Consumers Pinch Pennies.”
The article noted that “an inflationary tide is beginning to ripple through America’s supermarkets and restaurants…Prices of staples including milk, beef, coffee, cocoa and sugar have risen sharply in recent months.”
Wholesale prices jumped last month by the most in nearly two years due to higher energy costs and the steepest rise in food prices in 36 years. Excluding those volatile categories, inflation was tame.
The Labor Department said Wednesday that the Producer Price Index rose a seasonally adjusted 1.6 percent in February — double the 0.8 percent rise in the previous month. Outside of food and energy costs, the core index ticked up 0.2 percent, less than January’s 0.5 percent rise.
Food prices soared 3.9 percent last month, the biggest gain since November 1974. Most of that increase was due to a sharp rise in vegetable costs, which increased nearly 50 percent. That was the most in almost a year. Meat and dairy products also rose.
Energy prices rose 3.3 percent last month, led by a 3.7 percent increase in gasoline costs.
The good news is that the price of oil has declined after the disaster in Japan, going down to $97 a barrel. However, with Japan’s nuclear reactors under scrutiny and the crisis ongoing at their Fukushima Daiichi plant, Japan will need to boost its other sources of electricity. Nuclear power accounts for more than a third of it now. Japan will have to import raw materials for other sources to boost production, and whether that means oil itself or coal, increased transportation demand will eventually mean higher prices even while Japan recovers from the destruction.
Reuters reports that the price increase surprised economists, and it’s not the first time either:
[The overall rise in wholesale prices] was more than double economists’ expectations for a 0.7 percent rise last month. In the 12 months to February, producer prices increased 5.6 percent, the biggest rise since March, after advancing 3.6 percent in January.
The report came a day after the Federal Reserve said it expected the upward inflation pressure from energy and other commodities to prove transitory but that it would keep a close eye on inflation and inflation expectations.
Economists said given the huge amount of slack in the economy, they did not expect the strong producer prices to pass through to consumers any time soon.
My good friend Scott Johnson at Power Line blames the Fed’s QE2 policy in part for the problem, and points to this WSJ editorial yesterday warning of a rise in inflation:
The Federal Reserve has been on a media campaign to sell its monetary policy to average Americans, but this hasn’t always gone smoothly. Witness last week’s visit to Queens, New York, by New York Fed President William Dudley, who got a street-corner education in the cost of living.
The former Goldman Sachs chief economist gave a speech explaining the economy’s progress and the Fed’s successes, but come question time the main thing the crowd wanted to know was why they’re paying so much more for food and gas. Keep in mind the Fed doesn’t think food and gas prices matter to its policy calculations because they aren’t part of “core” inflation.
So Mr. Dudley tried to explain that other prices are falling. “Today you can buy an iPad 2 that costs the same as an iPad 1 that is twice as powerful,” he said. “You have to look at the prices of all things.”
Reuters reports that this “prompted guffaws and widespread murmuring from the audience,” with someone quipping, “I can’t eat an iPad.” Another attendee asked, “When was the last time, sir, that you went grocery shopping?”
Scott cleverly titles his post, “Let them eat iPads.” I’m not sure I’d draw a line between QE2 and what has happened in food and oil prices, at least not as a primary factor. The effect of QE2 will be to weaken the dollar, which will hike the cost of imports, to be sure, and that may account for a little of the large price jump. If it was the main factor — if the dollar had been weakened to that extent — then prices would be up across the board, especially on imports. At least according to today’s report from the BEA on the trade deficit, that doesn’t appear to be the case.
The real source of this problem is America’s continuing refusal to exploit its own energy sources. We remain too dependent on imports for energy while deliberately sidelining at least hundreds of thousands of potential high-paying jobs by refusing to extract our own oil and natural gas. When the unstable countries that produce oil go through political paroxysms, it spooks investors and sends commodity prices soaring on the increased risk to distribution. Those price increases mean higher transportation costs, which impacts all goods and services that require transport to get to consumers. It’s a multiplier factor that we have seen a number of times over the last four decades, and which our political class continues to pretend doesn’t exist.
Update: Gabriel Malor reminds me that prices of imported goods went up 1.4% in February as well, so the QE2 effect could be a larger part of this than I argued — but not the most pressing cause.
Update II: Yes, it’s definitely worth pointing out that Sarah Palin predicted this in November of last year:
So, imagine my dismay when I read an article by Sudeep Reddy in today’s Wall Street Journal criticizing the fact that I mentioned inflation in my comments about QE2 in a speech this morning before a trade-association. Here’s what I said: “everyone who ever goes out shopping for groceries knows that prices have risen significantly over the past year or so. Pump priming would push them even higher.”
Mr. Reddy takes aim at this. He writes: “Grocery prices haven’t risen all that significantly, in fact.” Really? That’s odd, because just last Thursday, November 4, I read an article in Mr. Reddy’s own Wall Street Journal titled “Food Sellers Grit Teeth, Raise Prices: Packagers and Supermarkets Pressured to Pass Along Rising Costs, Even as Consumers Pinch Pennies.”
The article noted that “an inflationary tide is beginning to ripple through America’s supermarkets and restaurants…Prices of staples including milk, beef, coffee, cocoa and sugar have risen sharply in recent months.”
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Japanese Prepare For Potential Radiation Catastrophe
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan faced a potential catastrophe on Tuesday after a quake-crippled nuclear power plant exploded and sent low levels of radiation floating towards Tokyo, prompting some people to flee the capital and others to stock up on essential supplies.
The crisis appeared to escalate late in the day when the operators of the facility said one of two blasts had blown a hole in the building housing a reactor, which meant spent nuclear fuel was exposed to the atmosphere.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan urged people within 30 km (18 miles) of the facility -- a population of 140,000 -- to remain indoors amid the world's most serious nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986.
Officials in Tokyo -- 240 km (150 miles) to the south of the plant -- said radiation in the capital was 10 times normal by evening but posed no threat to human health in the sprawling high-tech city of 13 million people.
Toxicologist Lee Tin-lap at the Chinese University of Hong Kong said such a radiation level was not an immediate threat to people but the long-term consequences were unknown.
"You are still breathing this into your lungs, and there is passive absorption in the skin, eyes and mouth and we really do not know what long-term impact that would have," Lee told Reuters by telephone.
Around eight hours after the explosions, the U.N. weather agency said winds were dispersing radioactive material over the Pacific Ocean, away from Japan and other Asian countries.
As concern about the crippling economic impact of the nuclear and earthquake disasters mounted, Japan's Nikkei index fell as much as 14 percent before ending down 10.6 percent, compounding a slide of 6.2 percent the day before. The two-day fall has wiped some $620 billion off the market.
Authorities have spent days desperately trying to prevent the water which is designed to cool the radioactive cores of the reactors from running dry, overheating and emitting dangerous radioactive materials.
They said they may use helicopters to pour water on the most critical reactor, No. 4, within two or three days, but did not say why they would have to wait to do this.
"The possibility of further radioactive leakage is heightening," a grim-faced Kan said in an address to the nation earlier in the day.
"We are making every effort to prevent the leak from spreading. I know that people are very worried but I would like to ask you to act calmly."
Levels of 400 millisieverts per hour had been recorded near the No. 4 reactor, the government said. Exposure to over 100 millisieverts a year is a level which can lead to cancer, according to the World Nuclear Association.
The plant operator pulled out 750 workers, leaving just 50, and a 30-km (19 mile) no-fly zone was imposed around the reactors. There have been no detailed updates on what levels the radiation reached inside the exclusion zone where people live.
"Radioactive material will reach Tokyo but it is not harmful to human bodies because it will be dissipated by the time it gets to Tokyo," said Koji Yamazaki, professor at Hokkaido University graduate school of environmental science. "If the wind gets stronger, it means the material flies faster but it will be even more dispersed in the air."
A Reuters reporter using a Geiger counter showed negligible levels of radiation in the capital.
Despite pleas for calm, residents rushed to shops in Tokyo to stock up on supplies. Don Quixote, a multi-storey, 24-hour general store in Roppongi district, sold out of radios, flashlights, candles and sleeping bags.
In a sign of regional fears about the risk of radiation, China said it would evacuate its citizens from areas worst affected but it had detected no abnormal radiation levels at home. Air China said it had cancelled some flights to Tokyo.
The U.S. Navy said some arriving warships would deploy on the west coast of Japan's main Honshu island instead of heading to the east coast as planned because of "radiological and navigation hazards".
The risks of the U.S. relief mission have been illustrated by the growing number of U.S. personnel exposed to low-levels of radiation. Still, a Navy spokesman said exposure levels of returning crew were well within safety limits and that operations to assist close ally Japan would continue.
Several embassies advised staff and citizens to leave affected areas in Japan. Tourists cut short vacations and multinational companies either urged staff to leave or said they were considering plans to move outside Tokyo.
"Everyone is going out of the country today," said Gunta Brunner, a 25-year-old creative director from Argentina preparing to board a flight at Narita airport. "With the radiation, it's like you cannot escape and you can't see it."
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON"
Japanese media have became more critical of Kan's handling of the disaster and criticised the government and nuclear plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) for its failure to provide enough information on the incident.
Kan himself lambasted the operator for taking so long to inform his office about one of the blasts, demanding to know "what the hell is going on?", Kyodo reported.
Kyodo said Kan had ordered TEPCO not to pull employees out of the plant.
"The TV reported an explosion. But nothing was said to the premier's office for about an hour," a Kyodo reporter quoted Kan telling power company executives.
Lam Ching-wan, a chemical pathologist at the University of Hong Kong, said the blasts could expose the population to longer-term exposure to radiation, which can raise the risk of thyroid and bone cancers and leukaemia. Children and foetuses are especially vulnerable, he said.
"Very acute radiation, like that which happened in Chernobyl and to the Japanese workers at the nuclear power station, is unlikely for the population," he said.
Nuclear radiation is an especially sensitive issue for Japanese following the country's worst human catastrophe -- the U.S. atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
There have been a total of four explosions at the plant since it was damaged in last Friday's massive quake and tsunami. The most recent were blasts at reactors No. 2 and No. 4.
Concerns now centre on damage to a part of the No. 4 reactor's core known as the suppression pool, which tries to cool and trap the majority of cesium, iodine and strontium in its chilled water.
Authorities had previously been trying to prevent meltdowns in the complex's nuclear reactors by flooding the chambers with sea water to cool them.
Murray Jennex, a professor at San Diego State University in California, said the crisis in Japan was worse than the Three Mile Island disaster of 1979.
"But you're nowhere near a Chernobyl ... Chernobyl there was no impediment to release, it just blew everything out into the atmosphere," he said. "You've still got a big chunk of the containment there holding most of it in."
VILLAGES AND TOWNS WIPED OFF THE MAP
The full extent of the destruction from last Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that followed it was still becoming clear, as rescuers combed through the region north of Tokyo where officials say at least 10,000 people were killed.
Whole villages and towns have been wiped off the map by Friday's wall of water, triggering an international humanitarian effort of epic proportions. A 6.4-magnitude aftershock shook buildings in Tokyo late on Tuesday but caused no damage.
About 850,000 households in the north were still without electricity in near-freezing weather, Tohuku Electric Power Co. said, and the government said at least 1.5 million households lack running water. Tens of thousands of people were missing.
Toshiyuki Suzuki, 61, has a heart pacemaker and takes seven kinds of medicine a day. He lost all of them when the waves swept away his home, along with his father and son.
He cannot go to hospitals because there is no gasoline at local fuel stations. "I am having problems with walking and with my heartbeat. I absolutely need medicine."
Kan has said Japan is facing its worst crisis since World War Two.
Hiromichi Shirakawa, chief economist for Japan at Credit Suisse, said in a note to clients that the economic loss will likely be around 14-15 trillion yen ($171-183 billion) just to the region hit by the quake and tsunami.
Even that would put it above the commonly accepted cost of the 1995 Kobe quake which killed 6,000 people.
The earthquake has forced many firms to suspend production and global companies -- from semiconductor makers to shipbuilders -- face disruptions to operations after the quake and tsunami destroyed vital infrastructure, damaged ports and knocked out factories.
"The earthquake could have great implications on the global economic front," said Andre Bakhos, director of market analytics at Lec Securities in New York. "If you shut down Japan, there could be a global recession."
The crisis appeared to escalate late in the day when the operators of the facility said one of two blasts had blown a hole in the building housing a reactor, which meant spent nuclear fuel was exposed to the atmosphere.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan urged people within 30 km (18 miles) of the facility -- a population of 140,000 -- to remain indoors amid the world's most serious nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986.
Officials in Tokyo -- 240 km (150 miles) to the south of the plant -- said radiation in the capital was 10 times normal by evening but posed no threat to human health in the sprawling high-tech city of 13 million people.
Toxicologist Lee Tin-lap at the Chinese University of Hong Kong said such a radiation level was not an immediate threat to people but the long-term consequences were unknown.
"You are still breathing this into your lungs, and there is passive absorption in the skin, eyes and mouth and we really do not know what long-term impact that would have," Lee told Reuters by telephone.
Around eight hours after the explosions, the U.N. weather agency said winds were dispersing radioactive material over the Pacific Ocean, away from Japan and other Asian countries.
As concern about the crippling economic impact of the nuclear and earthquake disasters mounted, Japan's Nikkei index fell as much as 14 percent before ending down 10.6 percent, compounding a slide of 6.2 percent the day before. The two-day fall has wiped some $620 billion off the market.
Authorities have spent days desperately trying to prevent the water which is designed to cool the radioactive cores of the reactors from running dry, overheating and emitting dangerous radioactive materials.
They said they may use helicopters to pour water on the most critical reactor, No. 4, within two or three days, but did not say why they would have to wait to do this.
"The possibility of further radioactive leakage is heightening," a grim-faced Kan said in an address to the nation earlier in the day.
"We are making every effort to prevent the leak from spreading. I know that people are very worried but I would like to ask you to act calmly."
Levels of 400 millisieverts per hour had been recorded near the No. 4 reactor, the government said. Exposure to over 100 millisieverts a year is a level which can lead to cancer, according to the World Nuclear Association.
The plant operator pulled out 750 workers, leaving just 50, and a 30-km (19 mile) no-fly zone was imposed around the reactors. There have been no detailed updates on what levels the radiation reached inside the exclusion zone where people live.
"Radioactive material will reach Tokyo but it is not harmful to human bodies because it will be dissipated by the time it gets to Tokyo," said Koji Yamazaki, professor at Hokkaido University graduate school of environmental science. "If the wind gets stronger, it means the material flies faster but it will be even more dispersed in the air."
A Reuters reporter using a Geiger counter showed negligible levels of radiation in the capital.
Despite pleas for calm, residents rushed to shops in Tokyo to stock up on supplies. Don Quixote, a multi-storey, 24-hour general store in Roppongi district, sold out of radios, flashlights, candles and sleeping bags.
In a sign of regional fears about the risk of radiation, China said it would evacuate its citizens from areas worst affected but it had detected no abnormal radiation levels at home. Air China said it had cancelled some flights to Tokyo.
The U.S. Navy said some arriving warships would deploy on the west coast of Japan's main Honshu island instead of heading to the east coast as planned because of "radiological and navigation hazards".
The risks of the U.S. relief mission have been illustrated by the growing number of U.S. personnel exposed to low-levels of radiation. Still, a Navy spokesman said exposure levels of returning crew were well within safety limits and that operations to assist close ally Japan would continue.
Several embassies advised staff and citizens to leave affected areas in Japan. Tourists cut short vacations and multinational companies either urged staff to leave or said they were considering plans to move outside Tokyo.
"Everyone is going out of the country today," said Gunta Brunner, a 25-year-old creative director from Argentina preparing to board a flight at Narita airport. "With the radiation, it's like you cannot escape and you can't see it."
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON"
Japanese media have became more critical of Kan's handling of the disaster and criticised the government and nuclear plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) for its failure to provide enough information on the incident.
Kan himself lambasted the operator for taking so long to inform his office about one of the blasts, demanding to know "what the hell is going on?", Kyodo reported.
Kyodo said Kan had ordered TEPCO not to pull employees out of the plant.
"The TV reported an explosion. But nothing was said to the premier's office for about an hour," a Kyodo reporter quoted Kan telling power company executives.
Lam Ching-wan, a chemical pathologist at the University of Hong Kong, said the blasts could expose the population to longer-term exposure to radiation, which can raise the risk of thyroid and bone cancers and leukaemia. Children and foetuses are especially vulnerable, he said.
"Very acute radiation, like that which happened in Chernobyl and to the Japanese workers at the nuclear power station, is unlikely for the population," he said.
Nuclear radiation is an especially sensitive issue for Japanese following the country's worst human catastrophe -- the U.S. atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
There have been a total of four explosions at the plant since it was damaged in last Friday's massive quake and tsunami. The most recent were blasts at reactors No. 2 and No. 4.
Concerns now centre on damage to a part of the No. 4 reactor's core known as the suppression pool, which tries to cool and trap the majority of cesium, iodine and strontium in its chilled water.
Authorities had previously been trying to prevent meltdowns in the complex's nuclear reactors by flooding the chambers with sea water to cool them.
Murray Jennex, a professor at San Diego State University in California, said the crisis in Japan was worse than the Three Mile Island disaster of 1979.
"But you're nowhere near a Chernobyl ... Chernobyl there was no impediment to release, it just blew everything out into the atmosphere," he said. "You've still got a big chunk of the containment there holding most of it in."
VILLAGES AND TOWNS WIPED OFF THE MAP
The full extent of the destruction from last Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that followed it was still becoming clear, as rescuers combed through the region north of Tokyo where officials say at least 10,000 people were killed.
Whole villages and towns have been wiped off the map by Friday's wall of water, triggering an international humanitarian effort of epic proportions. A 6.4-magnitude aftershock shook buildings in Tokyo late on Tuesday but caused no damage.
About 850,000 households in the north were still without electricity in near-freezing weather, Tohuku Electric Power Co. said, and the government said at least 1.5 million households lack running water. Tens of thousands of people were missing.
Toshiyuki Suzuki, 61, has a heart pacemaker and takes seven kinds of medicine a day. He lost all of them when the waves swept away his home, along with his father and son.
He cannot go to hospitals because there is no gasoline at local fuel stations. "I am having problems with walking and with my heartbeat. I absolutely need medicine."
Kan has said Japan is facing its worst crisis since World War Two.
Hiromichi Shirakawa, chief economist for Japan at Credit Suisse, said in a note to clients that the economic loss will likely be around 14-15 trillion yen ($171-183 billion) just to the region hit by the quake and tsunami.
Even that would put it above the commonly accepted cost of the 1995 Kobe quake which killed 6,000 people.
The earthquake has forced many firms to suspend production and global companies -- from semiconductor makers to shipbuilders -- face disruptions to operations after the quake and tsunami destroyed vital infrastructure, damaged ports and knocked out factories.
"The earthquake could have great implications on the global economic front," said Andre Bakhos, director of market analytics at Lec Securities in New York. "If you shut down Japan, there could be a global recession."
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