Kyodo News reporting that in Miyagi Prefecture alone there could be 15,000 dead. That’s according to local police.
National police say the number of dead and missing is around 20,000. That doesn’t add up when compared to what local officials are reporting, especially when Miyagi Prefecture is reporting 15,000 dead.
The mayor of Otsuchi in Iwate Prefecture, Koki Kato was found dead. He had been missing after the tsunami hit on March 11.
Japanese officials say they support the U.S. & European attacks on Libya, and it shows in Japanese media reports.
National Japanese media has been toning down their coverage of the quake/tsunami/nuclear power plant disasters, and are shifting to reporting the attacks on Libyan government forces.
Russia has fired its ambassador to Libya. No official reason given so far.
A Russian newspaper speculates the ambassador was fired for failing to understand Russia’s interests in Libya.
Russia is against the UNSCR 1973.
A Libyan government official said they will discuss oil contracts with China, India, Russia and Brazil.
This is to gain support against “neo-crusaders”, taking military action against Libya, through the UN resolution.
China has already condemned the military operation against Libya. 20,000+ Chinese were evacuated from Libya at the end of February.
Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh said he wanted to see Libyans make their own decisions “free of outside interference.” India evacuated 18,000 workers from Libya.
Will Russia resume weapons sales to Libya? Russia stopped weapons sales, but only on the condition that military action would not be taken against Libya. “In Moscow, we regret this armed action within the hastily passed UNSCR Resolution 1973,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich.
Brazil’s newly elected president, Dilma Rousseff, said Brazil expects more of the United States, criticizing American protectionism. Brazil opposes military action against Libya. Brazil has also evacuated citizens from Libya.
Brazil, Russia, China and India are now the world’s strongest economies.
WikiLeaks reveal documents that showed U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Carlos Pascual, had criticized Mexico’s handling of the Drug War.
Mexico’s President, Felipe Calderon, retaliated by pointing out that the various U.S. security forces, in Mexico, repeatedly fail to coordinate with each other and actually view each other as competitors. This makes them useless to Mexican security forces fighting the drug gangs.
President Calderon also said, in a newspaper interview, that U.S. Ambassador Pascual is ignorant and continually distorts the facts. Calderon says weapons being used by Mexican drug gangs are still coming from the United States. He has repeatedly asked the Obama administration to remove Pascual.
Hillary Clinton admitted that Pascual’s resignation is meant to keep attention away from Calderon’s accusations; “…to avert issues raised by President Calderon that could distract from the important business of advancing our bilateral interests”.
When Japan got hit by the massive quake/tsunami, and then the nuclear power plant disaster, world oil prices dropped. By a lot.
Prior to the Japan event, on March 10th, Brent crude oil closed at $115.60 per barrel. U.S. light sweet crude closed at $104.25. Oil prices had been going up, and the “Libyan crisis” was blamed. “…mainly fueled by regime-toppling instability in the Middle East and North Africa.” -CNN/Money
March 11th, the Japan event and immediately oil prices began falling. Brent crude fell to $113.67, U.S. crude $101.16. By March 15th Brent crude had fallen to $108.52, U.S. crude $97.18.
From March 10th to March 15th Brent crude prices dropped by $7.10, U.S. crude dropped by $7.07.
Then, suddenly, the United Nations announced it had passed a resolution authorizing any military action necessary to get rid of Gaddafi (an historic resolution by the way, it’s NOT a no fly zone). This seemed to come out of no where. What happened to oil prices? Immediately oil price shot up: March 16th Brent crude closed at $110.62, U.S. crude $97.98. March 17th: Brent crude $114.90, U.S. crude $101.42. “The Middle East unrest outweighed concerns about radiation from a Japanese nuclear plant…” -Bloomberg
Another evidence of war mongering by speculators is that oil prices fell when Gaddafi announced a ceasefire. March 18th (ceasefire announced) Brent crude closed $113.90, U.S. crude $101.07.
I speculate that British Brent crude prices are more sensitive because the British, along with the French, have a big stake in gaining control of Libya’s eastern oil fields. After all, who got the biggest oil contract in Iraq? BP (British Petroleum).
Since the turn of the 20th Century there have been only 5 monster quakes registering 9.0 or higher.
1952 Soviet Kamchatka 9.0
1960 Chile 9.5
1964 Alaska 9.4
2004 Sumatra/Indonesia 9.1
2011 Japan 9.0
They are all related; they are all on, or connected to, the Pacific Ring of Fire.
The time between each quake is not equally spaced so it’s not possible to predict when the next one will hit (using that method). 8 years between Kamchatka & Chile, 4 years between Chile & Alaska, 40 years between Alaska & Sumatra, 7 years between Sumatra & Japan.
War monger Sarkozy said “If there is not an immediate cease-fire and withdrawal of the forces that have been attacking civilian populations in the last few weeks, our countries will have recourse to military means.”
French President Sarkozy made the statement around 17:30 (5:30pm) Libyan time, yet, while he was demanding a ceasefire French aircraft were already in Libyan airspace attacking Libyan aircraft. Shortly after Sarkozy made the statement regarding ceasefire he admitted they were already attacking Libya: “As of now, our aircraft are preventing planes from attacking the town. Our French aircraft are ready to intervene against tanks.”
Earlier in the day rebels apparently shot down a Libyan Su-24 (might have been a single engined MiG-23) attack aircraft. The Sukhoi Su-24 is made in Russia (as is the MiG-23). Also, there is video of rebels armed with the latest brand new short range anti aircraft missiles, it is not possible they “captured” them from Gaddafi’s forces. Some rebels are wearing brand new U.S. BDU (Battle Dress Uniform, no longer used by U.S. forces) style desert camo uniforms. To me it is clear that this “revolution” in Libya was planned by outside, non-Libyan parties.
President Obama told the U.S. Congress that the military operations against Libya would days, not weeks or months. He better be right. Don’t forget, his predecessor (Bush Jr) made similar comments about Iraq.
Alexei Arbatov, the head of the International Security Center of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said attacking Libya will prove that obtaining WMDs is necessary to keep from being attacked by the West.
“An attack against Libya would be a gift for all violators of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. If Libya becomes an object of a military operation, it will lead some countries to believe that no one would think of threatening Gaddhafi with a military operation now if he had not voluntarily given up his nuclear program several years ago.”
In order to receive financing from western countries, and gain favor from western governments, Gaddafi revealed his WMD program and allowed international inspection and dismantlement of that program. That’s why President Bush Jr removed Gaddafi from the terrorist list. Now the West is about to attack him.
Arbatov says “This will lead Iran, Syria, and some other countries violating the non-proliferation regime to make a new powerful step towards obtaining nuclear weapons.”
Technically a no fly zone simply means that no aircraft can fly in a specific area. At the most this should mean that if an aircraft is found flying in such area it will be shot down. But the current United Nations resolution against Libya is NOT a no fly zone.
The resolution allows any force necessary, that would mean air strikes, and even troops, on the ground. That is NOT a no fly zone. This is what UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “The resolution authorizes the use of ‘all necessary measures’, including a no-fly zone to prevent further casualties and loss of innocent lives.” In other words a no fly zone is just one part of the military operations that will take place.
Ed Luck, a special adviser on the protection of civilians, said this current resolution is historic : “This is the first time that the council has taken Chapter 7 enforcement measures specifically to ensure the responsibility to protect.” He added that it “…authorizes a much greater use of coercive force if necessary.” In other words the UN (at the urging of France, United Kingdom & United States) has just moved closer to being willing to go to all out war with member nations.