August 3, The Iranian Atomic Energy Organization said the Bushehr nuclear plant is up and running, and connected to Iran’s power grid.
It is sending out low amounts of electricity for now. It’s scheduled for full operation by the end of the year.
The plant was built with Russian help. Russia will deliver nuclear fuel rods and retrieve spent fuel. Iran says it will build 20 more nuclear plants.
The Associated Press reported on August 31, that “…$60 billion in U.S. funds has been lost to waste and fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade through lax oversight of contractors, poor planning and payoffs to warlords and insurgents…”
According to a 2009 update of a study by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst), for every billion taxpayer dollars you spend on the military, you essentially destroy at least 3,200 civilian jobs. That’s the difference between civilian jobs created for every $1 billion in tax cuts for taxpayers, versus military jobs created for every $1 billion spent on the military.
Multiply 3,200 by the number of billions of taxpayer dollars the AP reports were wasted on the criminal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: That’s 192,000 civilian jobs lost.
The number of jobs lost is even higher when you look at spending on Education, instead of the Military.
For every billion taxpayer dollars spent on Education 29,100 civilian jobs are created, versus 11,600 military jobs. The difference is 17,500. Multiply 17,500 by the $60 billion unaccounted for taxpayer dollars lost in Iraq and Afghanistan: That’s more than one million potentially new civilian jobs lost!
Now realize the U.S. is spending tens of millions per month in Libya, and is pushing for war with Syria. You can see there will be no economic recovery for the United States.
The following is the official Cuban declaration against U.S. led NATO activities in Libya, loosely translated from Spanish:
“The Foreign Ministry has withdrawn its diplomatic staff in Libya, where foreign intervention and military aggression of NATO have exacerbated the conflict and the Libyan people have impeded progress towards a negotiated and peaceful solution, in the exercise of self-determination.
The Republic of Cuba does not recognize the National Transitional Council or any provisional authority and only give recognition to a government that is formed in that country, legitimately and without foreign intervention, by free, sovereign and single will of the brotherly people Libyan.
Ambassador Victor Ramirez Peña and the first secretary Armando Pérez Suárez, accredited in Tripoli have maintained a good character, strictly attached to their diplomatic status, have taken risks and accompanied by the Libyan people in this tragic situation. Have witnessed the NATO bombing civilian targets and killed innocent people.
With the gross pretense of protecting civilians, NATO has killed thousands of them, has ignored the constructive initiatives of the African Union and other countries and even the questionable decisions that violated the Security Council imposed, particularly attacks on civilian targets, funding and supply of arms to a party and the deployment of operational staff and diplomats on the ground.
The United Nations has ignored the clamor of the international public opinion in defense of peace, and have been complicit in a war of conquest. The facts confirm earlier warnings from the Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz and timely reports of Cuba at the UN. Now we know better what it has called “responsibility to protect” in the hands of the powerful.
Cuba claims that nothing can justify killing innocent people.
The Foreign Ministry demands the immediate cessation of NATO bombing to continue to claim lives and reiterates the urgent need to allow the Libyan people find a peaceful negotiated solution, without foreign intervention, in the exercise of their inalienable right to independence and self-determination, sovereignty over their natural resources and territorial integrity of that sister nation.
Cuba claims that the conduct of NATO aims to create similar conditions for an intervention in Syria and demanding an end to foreign interference in the Arab country. Call the international community to prevent a new war, urges UN to fulfill its duty to safeguard peace and supports the Syrian people’s right to full independence and self determination.
Havana, September 3, 2011″
“We cannot remain indifferent to the way Resolutions Number 1970 and 1973 of the UN Security Council are being fulfilled. The attaining of the main goal, proclaimed by the UN Security Council, should be started, which is the protection of the civilian population.”-Antonio Patriota, Brazilian Foreign Minister
September 4, the countries with the most powerful economies in the world, known as BRICS, announced they will work against any efforts by the United States and Europe, to launch military attacks on Syria.
BRICS stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, is in Brazil and just made a joint announcement, along with Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota, saying the BRICS will not allow another “Libya” to happen in Syria.
Lavrov said it’s obvious the NATO mission in Libya is a failure: “Unfortunately, what is happening in Libya cannot satisfy us. The main objective as mandated by the UN Security Council is to defend the civilian population but they are dying in large numbers.”
NHK reported 9 people dead and more than 30 others missing. Russian media reporting more than 20 dead and 50 missing. Canadian media, citing Reuters, reporting at least 17 dead.
The south western portion of the big island of Honshu, and the island Shikoku, suffered major flooding and landslides. Many homes were hit, or swept away by the landslides.
NHK reporting that Nara got 1,800mm (70 inches, that’s 5.8 feet!!!) of rain since late Thursday.
Talas is now tropical depression strength and is heading up the western side of Japan, in the Sea of Japan.
“A seasonal drop in exports to China was expected…But the magnitude of the fall has been greater than anticipated.”-U.S. Department of Agriculture
According to a September 1 report by Agrimoney, China has slashed its purchasing of U.S. farm products. Not by a little, by a whole lot.
Up until three months ago China was spending a monthly average of $2.5 billion, yes, $2.5 billion per month. But starting three months ago China slashed it to $800 million per month.
Historically the United States has been the biggest supplier of farm products to China, but, if current sales continue the U.S. will end the year tied with Canada.
According to a report by Agrimoney, Argentina has replaced the U.S. as the main supplier of corn to Colombia, and probably in the near future Canada will do the same with wheat.
U.S. corn exports to Columbia have crashed: In 2007 the U.S. supplied 96% of Columbia’s corn. In 2010, the United States supplied a meesley 19%!!!
But don’t blame Argentina for crashing U.S. farm exports, Canada is about to kick the United States of America’s ass as well.
Columbia and Canada signed a free trade agreement on August 15. Within ten days of the deal wheat buyers in Columbia ordered 125,000 tons of Canadian wheat!!!
On top of that, Nutresa, Columbia’s biggest cookie and pasta maker announced that their main source of wheat will now be Canada!!!
“No, things don’t work that way. The TNC has reassured us regarding African workers in Libya. We will wait and see.”– Jean Ping, African Union Chairperson
The AU is refusing to recognize the U.S. supported Libyan rebel TNC. Partly because the African Union was never consulted regarding UN resolutions against Libya, and NATO attacks on Libya. Libya is a member of the African Union.
The main reason the AU is refusing to recognize the TNC is because black Libyans, and mainly black migrant workers from other AU member states, have been targeted and murdered by Libyan rebels.
Some rebels believe that all black Africans in Libya are mercenaries working for Gaddafi.
“In attempting to combat crimes attributed to terrorists, countless further crimes have been committed in the course of the U.S.-led ‘global war on terror’. Many of those crimes have been carefully and deliberately covered up.”-Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Europe’s Rights Commissioner
Europe’s Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg, said Europe is “deeply complicit” in Washington’s counter terrorism methods, which include torture and other human rights violations.
In Japan some of the fastest selling books are how to books that show you how to get out’a town in case of a natural disaster.
The 9.0 quake of March 11 was the motivator for such books. Even though Tokyo was at least a hundred miles from the epicenter of the quake, the public transportation systems went down. About 6 million people walked or rode bikes home.
People who did well walking out had road maps, or had read the 2005 book Map for Walking Home in the Event of an Earthquake. The book was the result of experiences of the editors in a 2004 earthquake.
Amazingly the book was undergoing a revision when the March 11 quake hit. In fact one of the editors ended up walking home over the next two days, it proved to be useful in making the revisions: “For example, there were big advertising signs above the roads, which can break and fall on pedestrians, and such potentially dangerous sites we included on the maps.”-Tatsuya Nakajima, Shobunsha Publications
Since then 150,000 of the books have sold. Prior to that, 1 million copies had sold. Here’s one good reason such books are in demand, cell phones did not work on March 11: “People could not access online maps on their mobile phones right after the quake because telecom systems were overloaded. That’s probably why the demand for paper maps has increased and this book has sold well since.”-Tomoko Okawa, Shobunsha Publications
A subsidiary of Shobunsha Publications has recently solved that problem, at least if you have an iPhone, a downloadable app that does not require an active cell service to work.