“If a resolution leads to a further escalation of a civil war by any means, including outside intervention, we will not be able to support this.”-Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister
Russia is demanding that military strikes stop, and that peace talks begin following a ceasefire. Russian officials indicate that they will move from a neutral stance on UNSCR 1973 (Russia abstained from voting on it), to officially opposing it, if NATO doesn’t back off.
President Juan Manuel Santos says the current flooding in Columbia has now become that country’s worst natural disaster in its history.
Heavy rains, for just this month, have so far left 67 dead, 36 wounded and eight missing, 98,000 injured with 183 homes destroyed. For the year, so far, the totals are 90 dead, 15 missing and 208,581 people affected.
It’s being blamed on La Nina, but this isn’t the first time for the La Nina weather pattern. The unprecedented flooding in Columbia is part of the intensifying global climate change.
Chinese companies have lost at least U.S.$20 billion as a result of the Libyan “rebellion” and U.S. led NATO attacks.
75 Chinese companies, including 13 Chinese government operations, have folded in Libya since the “rebellion” flared up.
Read my previous posts:“Former U.S. official supports…”, and “European Leaders Lie…”
The U.S. embassy in Syria has started evacuating personnel, April 26.
The U.S. State Department is also recommending all U.S. citizens to leave Syria ASAP.
After President Obama’s anti-Syrian speech, that was so similar to his anti-Libyan speech that it had to be a rewrite, he now is calling for sanctions. I told you…
White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Monday, April 25, the U.S. is pursuing a range of possible options, including targeted sanctions, such as freezing assets held by senior Syrian leaders. Can you say “cookie cutter” war policy?
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced that Italy will now take part in air strikes against Libya. He says the order came from U.S. President Obama.
Italy previously said it would not join bombing raids, because of its “friendly” relationship with its former colony. But Obama, in a phone call, convinced Berlusconi to take military action. What was that Obama said about this NOT being a U.S. led operation?
Ford is temporarily closing plants in Taiwan, China, and South Africa. The Taiwan plant will be closed for about two weeks. The plants in China and south Africa will be closed for one week.
Ford did not say whether the lost production would be made up later, or if it would adjust its global output forecast for 2011. The current global economy is not only a threat to the average worker, but the disaster on March 11, in Japan (the “just in time” supply center of the global economy), showed that is bad for big businesses as well.
Toyota has already lost its number 1 ranking, no thanks to the March 11 disasters in Japan. Now its heading down to number 3.
General Motors is now the number 1 world producer of cars, not just because of what happened in Japan, but because GM’s sales are taking off in China. Who’s about to become number 2? Volkswagen.
VW is expected to produce 7 million cars by the end of 2011, right behind GM.
Japan is now rethinking its “just in time” supply system. The March 11 disasters reveled the inherent flaw in the system, especially without any back up systems in place. A “just in time” system is a house of cards, just pull one or two, and the whole house comes down.
Iranian media continues to release confusing reports on Iran’s military hardware. Recently they reported on a “sokho-24 missile”. The article jumps back and forth from calling the “sokho-24” a missile, and an aircraft.
In researching this I realized that what happened is the Iranian journalists confused a military press statement. The Iranian military had announced that their upgrades to the Sukhoi-24 attack jet had been completed, and that they have successfully launched a new air to ground missile from the Sukhoi-24 aircraft. The military went on to say that testing with new longer range missiles, launched from the Sukhoi-24, will be next.
The Sukhoi-24 is very similar to the U.S. F-111 Aardvark swing wing attack jet.
Iran will be hosting its second classic car show. The show will open April 28, in Tehran.
It’s not that big, only about 80 classic cars, but for the second effort by Iranian car collectors, it’s good enough. “Most of the cars are being displayed for the first time. Some have never even been used before.”-Fariborz Ensafi, Touring and Automobile Club
Private collectors will show off German, French and, of course, American automobiles. Motorcycles and bicycles will also be on display. The show will run until May 2.