31 May 2012, Japan’s Bridgestone Tires, and a food company call Ajinomoto, have worked together to create rubber without the use of oil or rubber trees.
The process uses fermented starches, and other sugars, from food waste, or biomass. The process is able to extract a necessary ingredient in making rubber; isoprene.
If everything works out Bridgestone hopes to mass produce the fermented tires by 2020.
30 May 2012: International Security Assistance Force reports two U.S./NATO personnel killed by Mujahideen attacks, and explosions in southern Afghanistan.
At least 172 occupying personnel killed since the beginning of 2012.
According to local security officials in Badakhshan Province, at least eight cops were killed and two wounded after an attack by Mujahideen. Several police officers are missing. The attack began late on 29 May and continued into the early hours of 30 May. Local police officials claim they killed six Mujahideen. The Mujahideen launched coordinated attacks on three police check points.
In Herat Province, Mujahideen attacked an Afghan army check point, killing one soldier and wounding four others. Officials claim they killed four Mujahideen.
In Farah Province one Afghan soldier was killed, and another wounded after an explosion.
In Nangarhar Province about eight civilians were killed. Five people were killed after their house was attacked with grenades. Three other people were killed when they drove over a mine.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of the Interior reports that in the past 24 hours 30 Mujahideen were killed or wounded in battles in the following provinces: Kabul, Nangarhar, Faryab, Helmand, Uruzgan, Logar, Ghazni, Paktika and Paktia.
29 May 2012: Another school was targeted with poisoning of the female students. At least 120 girls became sick. This is the third school poisoning in Takhar Province in the past two weeks. The “Taliban” are being blamed, however, “Taliban” reps swear they’ve had nothing to do with the poisonings. Public health officials say blood tests are not revealing what poison (if any) is being used. “Taliban” reps say the Afghan government is behind the poisonings.
Another tribal elder was assassinated while praying in a Mosque in Ghazni Province. Also, in Ghazni city, Mujahideen attacked the eastern part of the city and wounded between three and seven people.
The United Nations reported that only 5% of the Afghan population is involved in producing more than 5,800 tons of opium, or 90% of the World’s illegal opium! The UN also said that so far less than 2% of the opium produced is being captured and destroyed. That’s par for the course when you study the lack of success in the 30+ years of the U.S. War on Drugs!
In Nangahar Province two potential suicide bombers were killed, and three wounded after the car they were in exploded. Officials think there was a mechanical problem which caused one of their bombs to go off too soon.
International Security Assistance Force is claiming they killed an al-Qaeda “leader” in Kunar Province. They said he was from Saudi Arabia, an ally of the United States.
In Baghlan Province, Afghan officials claim they killed two Mujahideen “commanders”.
28 May 2012: International Security Assistance Force said at least one U.S./NATO soldier was killed by Mujahideen attack, in southern Afghanistan. Two other U.S./NATO personnel were killed when the helicopter they were in went down in eastern Afghanistan.
Five police officers in Baghlan Province were killed when they drove over a mine.
An Afghan government official was arrested on murder and rape charges. The former deputy chief of the Afghan Passport Department is accused by several people from Badakhshan province of raping and killing women.
In Helmand Province, at least three people were killed when they drove over a mine. Local officials said they arrested a man suspected of planting the mine.
ISAF, Afghan Ministry of Defense, and Ministry of the Interior, report six Afghan soldiers killed, and between 21 and 38 Mujahideen killed in the past 24 hours. The battles took place in Laghman, Paktiya, Baghlan, Kabul, Kunar, Nangarhar, Kunduz, Faryab, Kandahar, Ghazni, Khost, Helmand, Uruzgan, Maidan Wardak and Logar provinces.
International Security Assistance Force claims two “leaders” were captured in Kandahar and Paktiya provinces.
I was upset by a Memorial Day report on one of the mainstream U.S. national TV news programs, ’cause they reported gas prices down across the country! Wait a minute, I live in the United States and gas prices actually went up where I live!
I noted that the mainstream media report focused only on the eastern half of the United States. I checked the internet for reports concerning the western half, and sure enough fuel prices have been going up here!
In the Pacific Northwest U.S. state of Idaho gas prices average $3.64 USD, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). But here in eastern Idaho it’s more like $3.77 per gallon. In Mackay (pronounced Mac-Key), Idaho, it’s $3.90.
In the U.S. state of California prices are more than $4.00 per gallon. Gas prices have not come down in the past few weeks, even though oil prices have!
What’s going on? Why have fuel prices come down in the eastern half of the U.S. and, in some cases, actually gone up in the western half?
For one, the eastern half has a glut of oil, from the fields in the U.S. state of North Dakota, and from the northern country of Canada. However, in recent months there was a lot of predictions that fuel prices would actually go up for the eastern half of the U.S., because several major refineries were being permanently shut down.
Two of those refineries are located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Fears of skyrocketing fuel prices turned to joy when it was revealed, towards the end of April, that Delta Airlines and Energy Transfer Partners will buy those refineries, and keep them up and running!
Also at the end of April, it was revealed that a new refinery, also in Pennsylvania, was up and running on the Delaware River! It’s primary source of oil is shale oil from North Dakota and Texas. This is important because it turns out that many of the older refineries can not handle refining shale oil.
Another important fact is that finally new oil pipelines are opening up, helping to get that bottlenecked glut of oil in North Dakota, and from Canada, down to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico, and to ports in Portland, Maine.
Finally, there was a recent report that a new diesel fuel refinery will be built near Williston, North Dakota!
So what’s happening in the western half of the U.S.?
On 22 May it was reported that U.S. oil supplies were at a 21 year high. However, when you look at refined gasoline and break it down between eastern and western U.S. you get a different picture, because you’ll see that having a lot of oil does not translate into having a lot of gasoline.
The very next day, 23 May, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released a report which stated: “PADD 5 gasoline inventories at 24.1 million barrels on May 18, about 5.1 million barrels (17 percent) below typical levels for that date, the lowest for the region since March 1999.”
The DOE explained: “Abnormally low refinery runs on the West Coast since February tightened local gasoline markets, causing both wholesale and retail gasoline prices to rise.”
The DOE blamed reduced fuel supply to the western U.S. on that fact that several refineries were shut down for maintenance. One of those refineries, British Petroleum’s Cherry Point, in the U.S. state of Washington, should be re-starting.
The DOE also explained that the western half of the U.S. sees higher fuel prices because of a lack of pipelines: “While unplanned refinery outages generally cause retail product prices to rise, the West Coast market is especially sensitive to such shutdowns. That is because the West Coast market is relatively isolated. Given the West Coast’s lack of significant pipeline connections to other markets and relative distance from the active physical trading markets….”
According to the DOE, it takes six weeks for any change in the price per barrel of oil plus any shortage or surplus of refined fuel, to be reflected in western U.S. fuel prices at the pump, but, if there are no further interruptions in western refinery operations prices should start coming down.
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.
29 May 2012, The Japan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) suspended a commission which was reviewing the Japanese government’s official nuclear policy.
A number of members of the commission discovered that the policy review was being unfairly influenced by other members who were actually employed by the nuclear power industry.
On top of that, it was discovered that since May 2011 those members who are pro-nuke, or actually employed by the nuke industry, were holding secret closed door meetings with government leaders!
Demands were made that a independent third party investigate the closed door meetings. Instead the JAEC simply suspended the policy review commission, with a promise that they would create a new review commission that did not have pro-nuke industry panelists.
On 28 May 2012, Spanish media reported that a Colombian drug lord, Javier Antonio Calle Serna (aka Comba), and his parents, sister, wife and kids, are now living a new life in Spain.
The drug lord worked in the Norte del Valle cartel before forming his own drug gang, known as the Rastrojos. He surrendered to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) on 6 May.
He was supposed to stand trial in New York City, however, the Spanish newspaper, El Mundo, says Spanish authorities also wanted the drug lord for drug dealing and money laundering in their country.
In the end the drug boss agreed to tell everything he knew, in exchange for a new life in Spain, thanks in part to the U.S. DEA. What’s interesting is that the Spanish media reports his whole family arrived in Spain back in April!
A new study published in the journal Antiquity, reveals a new factor in the collapse of the Mayan Empire. You can now add ‘bad economy’ to social unrest, disease, warfare, drought and deforestation.
The bad economy was due to a shift away from inland centers of business, to coastal centers. Researchers at the University of Illinois say the main product the Mayan’s traded was obsidian. It was used for making tools, as the Mesoamericans had not yet learned how to make metals strong enough for tools.
Researchers say Mayan maps show that the obsidian, and other products, were increasingly sent to coastal areas for trade. They are not sure why, but speculate that military/political/social/environmental problems inland could be factors. Also, methods to ship over water probably improved.
I think they are correct, because if you study the demise of the Islamic Caliphate you realize that it was a combination of internal political disputes and, mainly, the ability of the Europeans to sail directly to Asia, thus avoiding the traditional Silk Road.
The invasion of North Africa by Napoleon, and finally the demise of the Ottoman Empire, were only the end result of a long period of decline for the Muslim Empire.
From the beginning of the Caliphate there were always internal problems arising out of differences of opinions as to how the Empire should be run, but that’s typical with all societies. The true cause of their collapse is economic. The Muslim Empire controlled most of the famous Silk Road trade routes, and the Christian Crusades were attempts by Europeans to regain a piece of that pie (of which they had since the time of Alexander the Great, forget the rhetoric about religion and god).
It actually began in earnest when the Portuguese, followed by the British and Dutch, were able to finally sail around Africa to the point where the Silk Road actually began, in a sense cutting out the middle men who controlled the trade routes through the Muslim Empire.
What’s been going on since the discovery of oil in the Middle East, is an attempt by Western societies to maintain control of the region, and prevent the locals (who have radically different ideas about politics/religion/economics) from regaining a position of economic power.
So, as usual, most wars are economic, that is, an attempt to monopolize international trade. As one infamous U.S. President said, before he became president: “It’s the economy, stupid!”-Campaign slogan created for Bill Clinton, by James Carville, criticizing then U.S. President George H.W. Bush
“Afghanistan would sign long term partnership agreement with the People’s Republic of China and the agreement will probably be inked during President Hamid Karzai’s participation at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit on June 6-7 in China.”–Zalmai Rasoul, Foreign Minister of Afghanistan
China will join United States, Britain, Germany, India, Italy and Australia in long term “strategic” pacts with Afghanistan.
27 May 2012, local officials in Paktia Province are now confirming that a U.S./NATO airstrike, on the night of 26 May, has killed eight civilians, and that not a single Mujahideen was killed.
Earlier, reports said as many as 20 Mujahideen were killed by the U.S. led airstrike, but when local officials investigated all they found were the bodies of one man, his wife and their six children!
Also on 27 May 2012, Afghan Ministry of Defense says five of their soldiers were killed, and 13 wounded in battles in the following provinces: Kapisa, Kunar and Laghman.
The Ministry of the Interior claims that six Mujahideen were killed, two wounded, and nine captured in the following provinces: Kapisa, Kandahar, Maidan Wardak and Khost.
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) says three U.S./NATO personnel were killed by Mujahideen attacks in eastern Afghanistan, on 27 May. ISAF also confirmed that four U.S./NATO personnel were killed by explosions on 26 May. ISAF did not give much info (SOP) other than the explosions were separate incidents.
About 169 occupying personnel have been killed since the beginning of 2012.
In Baghlan Province, five people wearing police uniforms tried to steal a truck hauling oil. They were arrested. Owners of the oil tankers are praising local authorities because hi-jackings of tankers by people wearing police uniforms has been ongoing on Baghlan-Samangan highway.
26 May 2012, in Kabul Province two police officers were arrested and accused of helping alcohol and drug traffickers. Officials say one of the arrested cops is a high level officer.
The counter-narcotics and intoxicants court, in Kabul city, says in the past month at least 50 people have been detained. Compare that to last year when a total of 53 people were detained. Now realize that those 53 people included 33 cops!
Also on 26 May, officials in Ghazni Province say local civilians, and the local Mujahideen group Islamic Party of Afghanistan (Hezb-e-Islami), repelled an attack from an outsider group.
The local civilian militia, and Hezb-e-Islami, claim to have killed 12 and captured 15 of the outsider militants. The report also says the attacks took place in at least five villages. Other sources say the attacks took place weeks ago and are only now being reported.
The new French President, Francois Hollande, has pulled an Obama! Just weeks ago he sounded like he was getting France out of Afghanistan altogether. Now he admits that even after the official French withdrawal there will still be 1,400 French troops in country, to help the United States with training and logistics.
On 23 May, one member of the Afghan Parliament (National Assembly of Afghanistan), Qorban-Ali Erfani, said the United States was bribing officials with money and promises of immigration to the U.S., if they would approve the midnight military pact signed by Obama and Karzai on 1 May.
On 26 May the parliament approved the pact. But wait, there’s more! Of the 249 members of parliament only 183 were present, and only six of them voted against it. Where were the other 66? Unnamed sources say the 66 who were no shows were threatened because they were openly against the Obama/Karzai pact.
25 May 2012, Japan’s Fishery Ministry reports a huge decrease in fish catches. Blame the 11 March 2011 disasters.
The reports says the fishing industry in the northeast of Japan was hit hard by the disasters, and has not been able to recover enough to supply Japan with enough fish. Supplies of local fish to Japanese markets is at about 78% of what it was before the disasters.
About 70% of the fishing boats damaged or destroyed have been repaired or replaced.
And don’t forget the fish that are radioactive.
As a result Japan has increased imports of Pacific saury (aka mackerel pike) by as much as 74%. Oyster imports are up 20%.
On 17 May 2012, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ filed a suit against the U.S. government’s sanctions on Iran.
25 May 2012, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ said they’ve officially restarted transactions with Iran, after a U.S. court decided in their favor.
The whole thing was because of a U.S. federal judge deciding that Iran was responsible for the 1983 bombing of the USMC barracks in Beirut, after the U.S. invaded Lebanon. Their is little evidence to back up such a claim. And by the way, shouldn’t the invader (the United States) by held responsible?
Attorney’s for Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ argued that the U.S. court ruling is not valid under Japanese law.
It’s estimated that the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ handles 70-80% of Japan’s transactions with Iran.