Category Archives: International

Fukushima, International

Russia offers Nuke Sub Cleaner to Japan

Russia is offering a ‘water cleaner’ used on decommissioned nuclear submarines, to Japan.

State-run Rosatom corporation, which is involved with taking apart old nuclear submarines, has a device that ‘cleans’ low level radiation from water.  TEPCo has to periodically release low level radioactive water into the ocean, to maintain operational safety at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Also, Reactor 2 continues to dump high level radiation contaminated water into the ocean.  However the Russian water cleaner can not handle the higher levels of radiation.

The Russian water cleaner is a 65 meters (213 feet) long floating platform that was build with money from Japan. Rosatom officials say they are ready to tow it to Japan, if requested.

International

Miyako City hit with highest tsunami so far; 125 feet high

University of Tokyo Associate Professor Yoshinobu Tsuji, along with others, have surveyed damage at the coastal city of Miyako.

They’ve concluded that the height of the March 11 tsunami, in that area, was 38 meters (125 feet) high, and swept 200 meters (656 feet) inland.

The wave height was due to the geography of the coast line.  Associate Professor Yoshinobu Tsuji expects that they will find evidence of even higher wave action in the surrounding area.

International, U.S.

Dengue Fever spreading like wild fire in South America, Hawaii getting hit, thank climate change & humans

Dengue fever is spread by Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes, and thanks to the extra rain South America is getting, those mosquitoes are breeding like flies.  Even Hawaii, in the Pacific Ocean, is reporting cases.

Brazil is the hardest hit, so far, already more than 30,000 cases, just in the state of Rio alone, and at least 23 dead. The capitol city Rio de Janeiro is reporting that so far this year, cases have skyrocketed 2059%, compared to the same time last year.

Argentina is already warning of the spread of Dengue to other South American countries as the wet weather continues.

In Paraguay, so many people have crowded into hospitals with Dengue that officials canceled elective surgeries to free up beds. So far this year 18 people have died of Dengue in Paraguay. Compare that to all of last year, when they had 15 deaths.

The U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) has confirmed at least four cases in Pearl City, Oahu, Hawaii, with 12 more suspected cases.  In Hawaii Dengue is spread by the Asian Tiger mosquito (Aedus Albopitus).

CDC officials say Dengue originates in humans, but is spread by mosquitoes.  Tracking Dengue fever is more about tracking where infected humans travel. Most people show no symptoms. The CDC website has more information.

Dengue cases are hitting all over the world, in mainly humid climates, or areas that are getting more rain than usual.

 

Business/Economics, International

Despite claims, Looting is taking place in Japan

I watched an economic forum on what will happen to the Asian region, economically, on NHK.  During the introductions, one of the representatives talked about how well behaved the Japanese are after their March 11 disasters.  She used an example of “no looting going on” as proof.

Well, guess what, looting is taking place.  Hiroshi Takagi, of Miyagi Prefecture, says his pharmacy has been robbed three times since March 11. Locals have been forced to create their own neighborhood watch groups, patrolling the streets at night. Even the Japanese National Police admit crimes in the disaster areas are becoming a problem. They say calls to police have increased 60% since the disasters.

International, Opinion, U.S.

Japanese government holding up Aid Moneys, Red Cross frustrated

‘‘Although it is not the duty of the central government to decide how to distribute the funds, we would like to devise some sort of guidelines to enable speedy distribution.”-Yoshihiro Katayama, Internal Affairs and Communications Minister

In another example that shows Japan is not prepared for disasters, billions of donated money is sitting around waiting for the national (central), and local governments, to figure out what to do with it.  Which is amazing because they were able to deal with a similar situation after the 1995 earthquake, what’s the problem now?

Local governments are complaining about how the money is going to be issued. Also, government officials say they are waiting for the charities to recommend how the money should be used. Did anyone tell the charities?

International, U.S.

3 day search ended, only 78 bodies found

After three days of intense searching by about 20,000 U.S. and Japanese military personnel, only 78 bodies were found.

It was hoped the low tide would reveal more of the missing.

At this point, Japanese national police say there is more than 15,000 people missing. And that is based on reports from living relatives. Police say that the actual number is much higher, because entire families were washed away in the March 11 tsunami, leaving no one to report them missing. Also, documentation of residents in the hardest hit prefectures, were also washed away.

The death toll, so far, going by numbers presented at the prefectural level, is more than 10,000. Again, that is expected to go up as bodies are found.

International, U.S.

Mexican Drug War front for War on Human Rights Activists

According to Human Rights groups, and the United Nations, thousands of people in Mexico have been disappeared since the Drug War began, and the Mexican government is one of the suspects.

Those people being disappeared are not drug dealers, or drug runners, but human rights activists, oil workers, journalists and even migrant workers.  The traditional ‘right’ leaning Mexican government has always viewed human rights activists as left wing commies, and more of a threat than illegal drug dealers.

To put the current situation in perspective, Mexico’s own National Commission on Human Rights, documented the disappearance of 532 people (disappeared by the government) thought to be rights activist in the 1960s-1970s (during the Cold War).  Since 2006 more than 3,000 people have been disappeared.

In 2006, right wing President Felipe Calderón, went on the war path, officially against the drug lords. Is it a coincidence that the Mexican government’s so called war on drugs is actually killing and disappearing civilians?

The facts are that since the Mexican Drugs War began, the people being targeted are civilians, including U.S. citizens.  Far more civilians have been killed than drug dealers. Keep in mind these killings are not from aerial bombing, but from shootings and beatings, and other means, by police, soldiers and drug gangs.  That means the killers had to specifically target the victims.

To put it in perspective: In all of Afghanistan, in 2010, there were 2,421 civilian deaths (Congressional Research Service). In just one Mexican city, Ciudad Juarez, there were 3,111 civilian deaths. That’s one Mexican city compared to all of Afghanistan.

Total deaths in the Drugs War, according to Mexico’s Federal Attorney General’s office, just for 2010, is 12,456 people by the end of November.  And that does not count people disappeared.

In the city of Saltillo, there are 118 documented cases of disappearances since 2007.  The government security forces are believed to be involved in at least 25 of those.  Human Rights Watch documented 12 cases of disappearances in the state of Nuevo León, in which government military personnel and police are believed to be involved.

Hypocritically the Mexican government signed the UN International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, in 2008.  To be fair, not all disappearances are linked to the Mexican government, but it sure is strange that there should be skyrocketing numbers of civilian killed and disappeared, since the Drugs War started in 2006.  Are both the Mexican military and police, and the drug gangs, that bad at finding their targets?

International, U.S.

Libyan Rebels say they Already are being trained by the United States

Al Jazeera says rebels told them they are being trained at a secret base in eastern Libya (by the way that’s where most of the oil fields are).

The al Jazeera reporter stated that the rebels where being trained how to use weapons: “He said these were state-of-the-art, heat-seeking rockets and that they needed to be trained on how to use them, which was one of the things the American and Egyptian special forces were there to do.”-correspondent Laurence Lee

The reporter went on to question calls for arming and training the rebels by coalition forces, “…when in fact they [rebels] are already being armed covertly.”

According to the report, the Libyan rebels say they are getting training and equipment from Egypt and the United States. This is not the first time the rebels have made such claims. 

International, U.S.

More Proof we’re NOT protecting civilians, not even the REBELS, in Libya. Obama either a Fool or a bold faced lier

UN Security Council Resolution 1973, supposedly is about protecting Libyan civilians, yet there are many claims that civilians have been attacked by the UN mandated NATO led coalition forces. Even the Christian Vatican says civilians are being bombed.

Now the Libyan rebels say coalition aircraft have bombed them!

Rebels are reporting several different attacks on their forces, by NATO. In one attack a convoy of vehicles were bombed, in another rebel positions in an oil town was bombed. At least 13 rebels were killed.

NATO says they’re investigating, and implied that the rebels shot at their aircraft first.

This is so messed up. President Barack Obama insists this is about protecting civilians, which has proven false, or impossible to do. Obama has stated, even before the UN resolution, that he wanted Gaddafi out, so far that’s a failure. Obama said the U.S. would be out in a mater of “…days, not weeks!”, it took at least a week and a half to “officially” turn Operation Odyssey Dawn over to NATO (by the way the U.S. still controls NATO, so did we really give up control?).

I have presented many examples, in other postings, that this is all about oil for Europe, not promoting democracy. It’s so clear that the UN mandated coalition forces have no clear goal.  How could the Commander in Chief of U.S. forces (that’s Obama for those who don’t know) rush into such a tar pit?  Obama is either a fool, or a bold faced lier. (Given his INEXPERIENCE, I think he just a fool)