Tag Archives: france

Business/Economics, International, Technology

Nuclear Disaster Reactors: Damage to Belgian reactor impossible to repair?

16 August 2012, after an emergency meeting was held, officials decided it was likely that the Doel nuclear plant in Belgium will be shut down permanently.

But this means dozens of other nuclear reactors throughout western Europe could be shut down as well.  The whole thing started in 2004 when France inspected two reactors and found perpendicular micro-cracks in the containment vessels.

The perpendicular cracks were not from age, but had been there from day one. It was a design flaw!

Belgium decided to check their reactors, since they were the same design, and found even more micro-cracks. The boss of Belgium’s Federal Agency of Nuclear Control told the emergency meeting that they found “something else”; thousands of parallel cracks as well as the perpendicular cracks.

The defects are so numerous that Belgium officials say it is unlikely they can be repaired.  Belgium will shut down two reactors, and continue investigations. A final report will be presented in October.

International, U.S.

World War 3: The real reason France is getting out of Afghanistan; retake former colony Syria, French troops now on the Syrian border.

09 August 2012, France has revealed they are sending troops to the border between Jordan and Syria. Syria was a French colony between World War One and World War Two.

Officially the first French troops are medical personnel, supposedly to treat refugees, but other sources say they are to treat wounded rebels: “There will be many wounded who have crossed the Jordanian-Syrian border, those wounded by gunfire who will need surgery.”-Colonel Gerard Dosseh, French military

The Italians have also set up medic facilities along the Jordanian-Syrian border.

Syrian rebels, including those claiming to be with al Qaeda, are reportedly being trained by the infamous U.S. corporation now known as Academi (aka Xe Services, Blackwater USA and Blackwater Worldwide).

Business/Economics, Idaho, International, Technology, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Hewlett Packard to layoff 300 British employees, government officials calling it a “quarterly cull”! HP has too much debt, turns to GE for help!

“This is not part of the global program, it’s just a quarterly cull.”-unnamed government source

03 August 2012, news media in the United Kingdom have discovered that Hewlett Packard (HP) has told the British government they will let go at least 268 employees.

British law requires companies that are laying off more than 20 employees to notify the government.

Despite the unnamed government official’s statement, some analysts believe this is part of the planed layoff of 27,000 HP employees by October 2014.

HP officials in France and Germany said they’re planing to cut their workforce by 10%.  In Sweden it could be as high as 14%.  Italy and Spain are still awaiting HP’s layoff estimates.  Even the announced 268 layoffs in the U.K. are not considered the final cut.

Unions in Britain are claiming that HP will end up laying off at least 1,600 employees.  CEO Meg Whitman, refused to answer British media questions.

On 30 July 2012, the Wall Street Journal reported that HP was finding it harder and harder to get credit default swaps on its debt.  The cost of such swaps has quadrupled for HP since last year.  That’s because more and more investors are worried that HP will end up busted.

Also, HP’s debt load is now at $21 million USD, no thanks to its recent purchase of a company called Autonomy.

As a result HP has turned to General Electric (GE) for financial help.

On 02 August 2012, GE Capital announced they will offer credit to HP resellers. The offer includes 60 days of no interest re-payments: “Resellers of any size can view this kind of financing as working capital that they can use to help grow their markets and expand their businesses. We’re pleased to be working with HP to support its resellers.”-Mike Marcolina, GE Capital Commercial Distribution Finance

 

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: Turkey helping Al Qaeda get into Syria! More proof Al Qaeda is a tool of the United States!

22 July 2012, a rebel group claims to have taken a third Syrian controlled border crossing with Turkey.

But as thousands of Syrians flee the fighting, there are reports that hundreds of al Qaeda fighters are streaming in to help the U.S./Israeli/Saudi backed rebels!

Most are coming in through the rebel captured border crossings with NATO member Turkey.

Regional reports say the al Qaeda fighters are coming from the French puppet Algeria, the Russian puppet Chechnya, the U.S. puppet Egypt and the U.S. ally Saudi Arabia.

Just want to remind everyone in the United States that 15 of the 19 hijackers on 11 September 2001, came from Saudi Arabia, not from Afghanistan, not from Iraq, not from Libya, not from Syria and not from Iran (in fact none of the attackers were from those countries).

So who’s side is your government really on?

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Corporate Evil & Global Food Crisis: Monsanto found guilty of poisoning farmers! New study confirms Roundup destroys soil, reduces crop nutrition!

“I am alive today, but part of the farming population is going to be sacrificed and is going to die because of this.”-Paul Francois, victim of Monsanto’s LASSO 384

In February 2012, for the first time, a French court found Monsanto guilty of chemically poisoning a farmer who used an herbicide called LASSO 384. The active ingredient is called Alachlor.

This is the first court case that directly links Monsanto’s products with illnesses.

In 2004 the farmer suffered sever neurological problems that included memory loss, stammering and headaches, after using LASSO.  In 2007 the French government banned LASSO.  France has the largest agricultural economy of the European Union.

In 2003 Monsanto quietly paid a settlement of $700 million USD to victims of poisonings in Anniston, Alabama.

To add to the court cases, a recent study found that Kanup 480 SL (aka Roundup) actually destroys the soil it’s used on.  No shit Sherlock!!!  I’ve worked in landscaping for long enough to see the damage it causes to soil, and actually got in trouble with my bosses for refusing to use Roundup!

The study was published in Current Microbiology, and says the active ingredient, glyphosate, destroys beneficial microorganism that live in the soil, and results in crops with less nutritional value!  (I wounder if this has anything to do with mass colony collapse in bees?)

For example, the microorganism used in yogurt, Lactobacillus cremoris, has actually disappeared in areas where Roundup was used extensively.  The study also said such destruction occurres with much lower doses of Roundup, than what is recommended by Monsanto.

But it was discovered that many farmers end up using more and more Roundup, year after year, to fight the growing number of super weeds.  The results are huge tracks of farmland that are producing crops with very little nutrition!

 

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? U.S. job creation crashing! European unemployment holding at record high! Production falling in China! Japan going down! Government bonds at record lows! Dow Jones erases all gains of 2012!

1 June 2012, bad news for everyone, that is bad news for everyone playing the western (U.S./British dominated) game of capitalism (including the “communist” Chinese)!

Employment numbers did not live up to the expectations of experts in the United States. The U.S. Department of Labor reported that only 69,000 net jobs were created in May.  Employment experts in the private sector expected at least 150,000 new jobs.

To top that, the Labor Department revised the April and March employment numbers…down!  For the two months before May, the number of net jobs created was revised downward by 49,000!

In the past labor officials said that in order to have an economic recovery unAmerican Corporate America must create 200,000 net new jobs every month.  That hasn’t happened, and now it’s worse!  The latest estimates are that 362,000 net new jobs must be created every month, for three years straight!  That would bring down the unemployment rate to 6%.

Here’s some factual numbers: At least 12.7 million people in the U.S. are “officially” unemployed.  At least 100,000 million people are “unofficially” unemployed!  Both those factual numbers come from the U.S. Department of Labor!

As one of the many Low Income workers who recently went back to work, working for the Man in the U.S. (after two years of unemployment), let me just say this: No Shit Sherlock!

We Low Income workers, still with jobs, have seen the unAmerican Corporate America bullshit first hand, on a daily bases.  It’s now to the point many of us see it on an hourly bases!  Nothing has changed, people!  If anything the glorified, deified, well educated, well financed leaders of our country are only picking up speed with their snowballing moronic decision making!  Need proof?  How about JP Morgan Chase  (I now work for a contractor who lost a contract with Chase, now I think we know a major reason why Chase canceled the contract)?  Wake up people!!!  UnAmerican Corporate America is the cause of our economic decline!

Now for Europe.

The 17 member European Union held onto its record unemployment rate for the second month in a row. The latest report is for the month of April, and it stands at 11%.  When you break it down by EU member countries it gets worse: Italy  10.2%, Portugal 15.2%, Greece 21.7% (stats for February only).

But how about that Spain?  24.3% unemployment!  When you look at just youth unemployment (workers under 25 years of age) it’s 51.5%!!!  Can you say “get ready for civil war”?

The result of the collapse of the EU is causing the euro to crash & burn, and forcing the Japanese yen to increase in value.  Not only that, but today was the first day that China and Japan began trading their money (in order to avoid the U.S. dollar) and the yen gained in value over the Chinese yuan!

That will kill Japanese business.  Japan is a country whose economy depends on international trade.  Since 2011 the yen has gained in value, and has already caused major harm to Japanese companies.  Yesterday Toyota announced that it was selling $2.5 billion USD in bonds to raise cash, because they believed another credit crash was coming (funny how the U.S./British mainstream media misreported the news).

China is reporting a drop in the Purchasing Managers’ Index, down 2.9 points from April.  The drop is caused by a combination of decreased sales internationally, and domestically.  It means China’s economy is slowing down, and if China is the manufacturing center of the western capitalist world, then it makes for a good canary in the western capitalist economic coal mine.

Oh, let’s not forget those stable government bonds.  On 1 June 2012, U.S. ten year bonds hit a record low of 1.5% interest!   German government bonds hit a record low of 1.1%!

The result of all this doom & gloom, based on factual data, is that all the stock markets in Asia went down.  In the United States the Dow Jones Industrial Average (aka Wall Street) lost all its gains for January to May 2012, falling more than 200 points in one hour and 30 minutes!

Business/Economics, Idaho, International, Technology, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Problems, and hopes, for east Idaho’s Eagle Rock owner; Areva

Back in March, Areva announced a $3.2 billion USD loss, which is what it would cost to build the planned Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility near Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Now Areva, based in France, is struggling to raise cash just to survive.  But there is also some hopeful news for Areva.

29 May 2012, Areva announced “outstanding” performance results from their Steam Generator Repair Services crew.  They just finished work on the Indiana Michigan Power Donald C. Cook nuke plant:  “Constant monitoring and good peer checking by our team were the key factors that contributed to zero safety incidents and very low dose [radiation exposure].”-Mike Jefferson, Field Operations Manager

 

 

29 May 2012, Finnish media reporting that Areva is five years behind scheduled, for completion of Finland’s third generation nuclear power plant.  Areva officials blame it on the fact that no nuclear plant has been built in Europe for 20 years, resulting in troubles finding reliable supply chains for proper construction materials.

28 May 2012, The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency started taking final public comments on the possibility of Areva operating a uranium mine located 700 kilometres north of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

15 May 2012, Areva announced that it will partner with Japan’s Mitsubishi to search for uranium in Australia.

2 May 2012, Areva announced it was selling its nuclear radiation measurement unit in Australia, to raise needed cash.  CEO, Luc Oursel, says the company needs to raise at least 1.2 billion euros by the end of 2013, to make up for huge loses!  He plans on doing that by selling off Areva assets.

At the end of April 2012, the country of Jordan announced that Areva and Mitsubishi were being considered to build the country’s first nuclear reactor.

 

 

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: Afghans say cops behind violence. More explosions and deaths. France to support puppet government in a “different way”.

May 19, 2012, in Afghanistan’s Khost province at least 13 people were killed by a suicide bomber.  The target of the bomber was a police check point.

In Kandahar Province two would be suicide bombers were captured.  Officials say they confessed and said they were trained in Pakistan.

Seek & destroy/capture operations were conducted in Kabul, Nangarhar, Nuristan, Baghlan, Kandahar, Helmand, Zabul and Uruzgan provinces.

Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry said Afghan and U.S./NATO occupying forces captured a suicide bomber on a motorcycle in Farah Province, on May 18.

Battles also raged in several provinces.  Afghan and occupying forces killed nine Mujahideen throughout Afghanistan in the past 24 hours.

Afghan officials say two of their soldiers were killed, and six wounded in Farah Province.  One killed and two wounded in Helmand, and, one killed and one wounded in Kapisa provinces.

Afghan officials claim they captured three members of the Mahaz Mullah Dadullah group.  They are Mujahideen believed to be connected to the  “Taliban”, however, Taliban reps claim no such group is connected to them.

The Independent Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan issued a new report that says U.S. supported corrupt police are behind a lot of the violence in Afghanistan.

The report does say that some provinces have become stable after the creation of local police forces, but in other provinces violence has gotten worse: “… causing further insecurity and human rights violations. Many of such cases as murdering, robbery, extortion, insecurity and disorder, rape and harassment of people is mentioned in this report.”

New French President, Francois Hollande, reminded U.S. and NATO that he was pulling out French troops early, but said France will support the occupation of Afghanistan in other ways: “We will continue to support Afghanistan in a different way. I’m pretty sure I will find the right means so that our allies can continue with their mission and at the same time I can comply to the promise I made to the French people.”

For the second day in a row ISAF did not issue their usual 24 hour Joint Command Morning operational update.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? European economies crashing and burning! Greece -6.2% GDP! IMF wants Mo Money! China in trouble!

May 15, 2012, the Group of 20 industrialized countries (not for long maybe?) will be meeting in Mexico, in June.  Already Mexico and Japan are calling for G-20 members (mainly those of the BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) to give the U.S. based International Monetary Fund another $430 billion USD!!!

This is because the European economies are crashing and burning. Italy reported a minus 0.8% GDP for the January to March quarter. That’s three quarters in a row of declines! Spain reported a minus 0.3% GDP, for the second quarter in a row. But Greece reported a huge minus 6.2% GDP!!!

The only “good” news came out of Germany, which reported a stagnant 0.5% GDP. And Germany is supposed to be the economic powerhouse of Europe!  Of course main stream western media reporting it as a “bounce back” in the economy, idiots!

Overall, the entire 17 member European Union reported a stagnant 0% GDP for January to March 2012!

To make matters worse, China is reporting that European investment into China has declined for six months in a row!  Chinese officials admitted that their country’s explosive economic growth can only be driven by foreign investment (like unAmerican Corporate America shipping U.S. jobs to China).

From January to April 2012, European investment into China dropped 28%.

 

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: More U.S./NATO deaths. More civilian deaths. U.S. investigation finds Taliban are stronger than ever. French elections threaten NATO in Afghanistan.

May 7, 2012, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said at least three U.S./NATO personnel were killed in eastern Afghanistan, by an explosion.

Around 147 NATO service members have been killed in Afghanistan since the beginning of 2012.

In Helmand Province local officials say a U.S./NATO airstrike killed a woman and her five children.  In Badghis Province five people were killed and 11 wounded, after U.S./NATO airstrikes.  ISAF has not commented on the reports from local officials.

Girls at yet another high school were poisoned on May 7.  More than 31 girls were treated for poisoning in Bamiyan Province.  Officials are concerned because the school was already under 24 hour security watch.

Hospital officials say the girls breathed toxic gas.

Officials from Paktika Province say four Mujahideen were killed on May 6, after a firefight with Afghan police.

The four Mujahideen had taken a provincial compound, and 32 people hostage.  Police claim only one civilian was killed.

Also on May 6, ISAF announced that two U.S./NATO personnel had been killed.  One was blown up in eastern Afghanistan, and the other was shot by an Afghan army soldier in southern Afghanistan.

Elections in France has some NATO officials worried.  Right wing warmonger, Nicolas Sarkozy, lost the election.  Socialist Francois Hollande is the new President of France.

One of Hollande’s campaign promises was to get French troops out of Afghanistan now: “I believe that, without taking any risks for our troops, it is the right thing to withdraw our combat troops by the end of 2012.”

On May 6, FOX News interviewed Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman, Democrat Dianne Feinstein. She stated: “I think we both say that what we found is the Taliban is stronger.”

House Intelligence Committee Chairman, Republican Mike Rogers, backed up her statement.  Their report contradicts the Defense Department’s claim that “Obama’s” increased troop deployment to Afghanistan has weakened the Taliban.

Oddly ISAF has not issued the usual 24 hour report for May 7, yet.

Here’s a very skimpy 24 hour seek, destroy or capture report, and update to previous reports, for May 6, 2012: A “leader” was captured in Kandahar on May 6.

Weapons captured or destroyed in Uruzgan Province on May 5.

In Helmand Province U.S./NATO/Afghan forces were attacked by Mujahideen on May 3.  Several Mujahideen killed.