Category Archives: International

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Oliver Stone, and son, to make movie in Iran, despite pissing them off with his version of Alexander the Great

On September 26 Oliver Stone will join his son Sean, in Iran. They are trying to get permission to shoot a movie there.

Stone’s last documentary was about anti-U.S. Latin American leaders: “South of the Border”.

Stone’s last big budget movie was “Alexander: Fortune Favors the Bold”, and yes like most people who saw it, Iranians did not like it.

Alexander the Great is not a hero to the Iranians, especially since he massacred most of the Zoroastrian priests, and destroyed their temples. Iran banned the movie from being shown in theaters.  Oliver Stone’s version is based on an outdated 1970’s history book.

In 2009, Stone tried to do a documentary on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but claims scheduling conflicts ended that project.  No word on what kind of movie he wants to make now.

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: True Christian Jimmy Carter says give Palestine statehood

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is calling on the Obama administration not to veto a UN Security Council vote for Palestinian statehood.

“If I were president, I’d be very glad to see the Palestinians have a nation recognized by the United Nations.”-Jimmy Carter, NPR interview

Carter does believe that if President Obama did not veto Palestinian statehood, then the powerful Israeli lobby in the U.S. would punish Obama.  The United Nations begins a new session on September 20.  The Palestinians will push for recognition this week.

International, U.S.

World War 3: Israel trys to secretly join NATO, Turkey blocks attempt, Turkey to bring charges against Israel in International Court of Justice

September 19, Turkey blocks a bid by Israel to set up an office in NATO’s Belgium headquarters.  Turkey is a member of NATO.

Turkish officials suggest the move to bring Israel into U.S. led NATO was kept secret: “Israel recently made an attempt to open an office at NATO in Brussels. We said we would veto this attempt and the issue was not even put on the agenda.”-Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey’s Foreign Minister

Also, Turkey has vowed to take action at the International Court of Justice in the Hague to challenge Tel Aviv’s four-year siege of Gaza, Palestine.

International, U.S.

World War 3: Libyan government captures British & French troops

The U.S. led NATO backed civil war in Libya is far from over.  Remnants of the former Libyan government military have captured dozen of foreign troops.

At least 17 foreign “technical experts” have been captured in Bani Walid: “Most of them are French, one of them is from an Asian country that has not been identified, two English people and one Qatari.“-Moussa Ibrahim, Libyan Minister of Information

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

World War 3: Russia acusses the U.S. led NATO of recruiting al Qaeda to invade Syria

“We have information that NATO headquarters in Brussels and the Turkish High Command are in fact drawing up plans for the first military step into Syria.  And we also know that NATO is in fact recruiting mujahedeen and jihadists to assist them in their campaign in these various countries.”-Michel Chossudovsky, Center for Research on Globalization

Members of Russia’s upper house of Parliament are currently on a fact-finding mission to Syria.

Russian officials believe outside forces (U.S., Europe, anti-Ba’athists al Qaeda, etc) are trying to destabilize Syria by funding and supporting an armed insurrection, which does not represent the majority of Syrian society.

Many Russian officials believe that any outside military intervention in Syria would immediately lead to escalation involving Israel, Lebanon and Iran.  Israel has already threatened as much. Russian companies have lost tens of billions due to U.S. led invasions of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

International

Dengue update, September 19, 2011: Tens of thousands infected, including hundreds of doctors, hundreds of deaths

The number of Dengue Fever cases continues to climb, around the world.

September 19, Sri Lanka reporting “…17,933 reported cases and 126 deaths…”.  Mosquito eradication efforts have been increased.

September 19, Pakistan not only has several thousands of Dengue cases, but now at least 100 doctors, working at hospitals in Lahore, are confirmed to have it as well.  So far 36 Pakistanis, including a hospital employee, have died from dengue.  The current flooding in Pakistan will only make things worse.

September 8, Limón, Costa Rica, declares state of emergency as 2,006 people test positive for Dengue.

August 29-September 13, two deaths in Mexico reported and the state of Jalisco is put on alert.  Jalisco has exceeded national numbers of Dengue cases. They are fighting the deadly hemorrhagic form of Dengue.

In August, Cuba is put on high alert after mosquito population jumps: “We are in a period of high alert in relation to the control of Aedes aegypti and, in general, epidemiological and environmental surveillance.”-John R. Vazquez, Cuba’s  Entomology and Vector Control, Ministry of Public Health

Bolivia reporting that at least 4,000 people are infected, and at least 23 have died.

See my earlier postings for other Dengue info.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? China invests billions into America’s backyard, the U.S. is no longer a beacon of Hope

“China represents hope for the poorest nations of the world and its impressive development springs from its own resources…not exploiting or pillaging other nations.”-Orlando Hernandez Guillen, Cuban Vice Minister of Trade and Investment

China is fast replacing the influence of the United States on Caribbean countries.

“China has become an important source of foreign direct investment for us.”–  Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s Tourism Minister

The China Development Bank will issue U.S.$1 billion in loans to countries like Cuba, Jamaica, Barbados and the Bahamas.  China has already invested billions in Caribbean countries in recent years.

China buys nickel, sugar and other products from Cuba, and Cubans buy Chinese made cars.

China is planning to invest more than U.S.$400 million to revive a beachfront resort project in the Dominican Republic.

The Chinese are helping Jamaica build new ports, a conference center, highway projects and a cricket stadium.

If anybody remembers the Cold War, or knows that history, they would know that there was a time when the U.S. government would not tolerate Chinese involvement in “America’s backyard”.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? U.S. citizens smuggling drugs in and out of Mexico

A month ago it was revealed that U.S. citizens have been smuggling prescription drugs into Mexico.  Arrests have included doctors!

Now, Mexican army officials say U.S. citizens are smuggling marijuana out of Mexico into the U.S.

They say U.S. citizens are bringing Meth into Mexico, and on their return trip they take out marijuana.  Captured drug lords say U.S. border patrol agents don’t suspect U.S. citizens, and many people in the U.S. are desperate to make extra money!

International, Technology, U.S.

Polar Ice Caps Paradox: Ice Caps melting, should raise ocean levels, NASA says the opposite is happening, launched Aquarius satellite to find out why

In June 2011, NASA and the Space Agency of Argentina (CONAE) launched a new Earth observatory, called Aquarius.  The mission: Find out why ocean levels are seemingly dropping, despite glacial melting and heavy rain.

Scientist think the ocean water levels are going down because the ocean salt levels are going up, a sign that the ocean water is evaporating faster than it can be replenished: “Based on decades of historical data gathered from ocean areas by ships and buoys, we know the salinity has changed over the last 40 years. This tells us there’s something fundamental going on in the water cycle.”-Gary Lagerloef, Aquarius Mission

Up ’till now scientists have made some assumptions about how the ocean will react to the so called “global warming”, but, they now admit they missed an important ingredient: “We’ve been missing a key element, salinity. A better understanding of ocean salinity will give us a clearer picture of how the sea is tied to the water cycle and help us improve the accuracy of models predicting future climate.”-Gary Lagerloef, Aquarius Mission

What’s amazing is that the United States and Argentina built a satellite that could measure sea salt levels from space: “One of our Argentine instruments is another microwave radiometer in a different frequency band that will measure sea surface winds, rainfall, sea ice, and any other ‘noise’ that could distort the Aquarius salinity measurement. We’ll subtract all of that out and retrieve the target signal.”-Sandra Torrusio, CONAE

On September 1, 2011, Aquarius finished successful tests of its equipment, and has started checking the Earth’s oceans for salt.  Canada, France and Italy also contributed to this global climate change mission.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Government Incompetence: Japanese Police finally uncover illegal immigrant operations, hiding in plain sight, Americans need not apply

In order to fight illegal immigration Japanese police decided to check out all those free classified ads newspapers.  They should’ve looked sooner!

40% of free newspaper ads, in Japan, are geared towards inciting illegal immigration. The number one type of add offers illegal employment, while the number two type of add offered illegal marriage as a way to stay in Japan.

The search of free newspapers involved just 58 publications, not really a lot when you think about it.

So which nationality was the most sought after?  Not people from the United States, that’s for sure, they’re looking for people with money.  The top four requested illegal immigrants in Japan are Chinese, South Koreans, Brazilians and Filipinos.