Category Archives: International

International

Mexico’s biggest wild fire in their history

So far nearly 43 thousand hectares (106,255 acres) of Coahuila, Mexico has burned. The fire still rages.

“This is an unprecedented display. Surely we have not had so much equipment and so many people working in a fire.”-Juan Manuel Torres Rojo, CEO of the National Forestry Commission (Conafor)

Rojo says wildlife is being killed by the fire. They found a black bear that died from smoke inhalation. So far mostly wild grasses and similar plants have burned, but now the fire is getting close to Arizona Pine forest.    


International, U.S.

Another broken Obama Promise, Gates says we will stay in Iraq

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was in Iraq today. He gave a speech to U.S. troops, but it wasn’t about leaving Iraq, it was about staying.

U.S. forces are scheduled to be out of Iraq by the end of 2011, under a 2008 deal negotiated by George Bush Jr.

But Gates told troops that the Iraqi government now wants the U.S. to stay longer, and Gates said: “We’re open to that.”

About 10,000 Iraqis protested Gate’s visit, demanding that U.S. “get out”.

 

International, U.S.

Iraq attacks Pro-U.S. Iranian base

Iraq invaded the base of the Pro-United States People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran. The base is located inside Iraq, and has been there for 25 years (even during Saddam Hussein’s time, more proof how much the U.S. was involved with Saddam).

The U.S. has been supporting, covertly, the People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran for decades, in their attacks against the Islamic Republic of Iran.  Even though the U.S. supports the Iranian rebels, the U.S. also lists them as terrorists.

Iraqi forces claim they attacked the Iranian rebels because they rioted, and started throwing rocks at them. There’s no explanation of why they rioted.

The Iranian rebels say the Iraqi government was acting on the behalf of the Iranian government.

Iraqi forces say they killed at least 25 Iranian rebels, and wounded 320.

International, U.S.

NATO says No Military Solution to Libya, avoids questions about arming Rebels in violation of UN Resolution

In an interview on al Jazeera NATO secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said the solution to the civil war in Libya will come only through political discussions.

For some reason al Jazeera (who supports the UNSCR 1973) did not mention the statement in the text of their posting. You have to watch the video of the interview. It’s about 1:50 into the interview.

“I hope to see a political solution, sooner rather than later. Obviously there’s no military solution, solely.”-Anders Fogh Rasmussen

Al Jazeera then pointed out that despite the arms embargo, which is part of the UNSCR 1973, Libyan rebel leaders openly state they are getting weapons from the UN coalition (which includes NATO). Rasmussen was asked why, seemingly, NATO was not enforcing the UN arms embargo when it came to the rebels.

“We participate in the arms embargo, and to my knowledge there has been no bridge to the arms embargo.”-Rasmussen

Al Jazeera pressed the NATO leader about the arms embargo, while showing video of rebels receiving new weapons. They also pointed out that UN coalition member Qatar (which is Wahhabi Arab, same as al Qaeda), is openly providing weapons to the rebels. They tried to get a simple yes or no answer, this is what they got: “We participate in the enforcement of the arms embargo in strict conformity with the text of UNSCR 1973.”-Rasmussen

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Toyota says planned North American plant closures will last 5 days in April

“There are problems with parts supply. But each day, we are doing our utmost to improve the conditions so that we can deliver cars to many customers.”-Akio Toyoda, Toyota President

Toyota is having trouble getting around 150 components, but that’s down from 500 components after the March 11 quake.

Toyota said it will halt North American production starting on April 15.  It doesn’t look like production will be shut down for five days straight, instead it will be spread out, one day here, one day there.
Assembly line workers may report for training, use vacation days, or take unpaid time off.

Business/Economics, International

While the U.S. economy stagnates, Chile’s grows 7.2%

Chile’s economy continues to awe outsiders. For the month of February, 2011, Chile’s economy grew by 7.2%.

Chile’s Central Bank said it’s due mainly to exports. The top export from Chile is copper. Right now copper is trading for $10,000 per ton.

Other exports helped Chile: Fruit, timber and fishing.  Chile also got a boost from it’s transport industries.

The down side is inflation. The Central Bank says it’s inevitable that with such explosive growth inflation will follow.  Currently inflation in Chile is at 4.3%.

Business/Economics, International

If eating well is a sign of a good economy, then Venezuela is doin’ fine

From 1998 to 2008 Venezuelans increased their caloric consumption by 55.5%. That’s according to a study by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

Also, between 70-75% of the food is produced locally. It reflects Venezuela’s focus on increasing domestic production.

Venezuela also has a law that says the government must keep three months worth of food, for an estimated 27 million people, stocked up for emergencies.

International, Opinion

40,000 Mexicans protest Drugs War

“We urgently need to restore dignity to this nation and fight violence with education, culture, poetry and employment.”-Javier Sicilia, son was killed last week

In Mexico City at least 40,000 people protested the drugs war, pointing out that most deaths make no sense as they are mainly innocent bystanders, or people who have no proven connection to drug dealing, or the government.

Recently mass graves were found. They did not contain the bodies of drug gang members, or the Mexican military or police, but of migrant workers.  A similar mass grave was found last year, again migrant workers were the victims. The Mexican government said a drug gang was responsible. Why would drug gangs want to massacre migrant workers in Mexico?  Are they afraid they’ll take their jobs?

To the people of Mexico, this so called drugs war launched by a pro-Bush President, is looking more and more like a war on everyday civilians.