Tag Archives: police

International

Libya agrees to ceasefire, U.K. & France preping for military action

Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa announced that Libya will accept a ceasefire with rebels.

Libyan officials believe the UN Security Council resolution allows the Libyan government to use force in order to protect civilians.

France and United Kingdom say they are preparing for military action. Spain and Norway announced they are prepared to join the enforcement of a no fly zone.

President Obama will make an announcement this afternoon.  It is expect that two Arab nations will be named as taking part in the no fly zone operation, Qatar is expected to be one of those countries.

The United States, United  Kingdom, France are members of the UN Security Council, and voted for the no fly zone.  China, Russia, Germany, India and Brazil are also members, but abstained, they will not help with the no fly zone.

Fukushima

For first time Japanese Military will help survivors

NHK reported that for the first time since the quake/tsunami disaster the JSDF (Japanese Self Defense Force) will help supply survivors with food, water and other necessities.

They will  begin by sending out helicopters to shelters to determine what is needed. This action is being taken after more than 6 days since the 9.0 quake/tsunami struck.

Until now, the JSDF was involved only with rescue/recovery operations.

This is another example of how unprepared the Japanese government is.

Fukushima, Opinion

Lesson from Japan; you can never prepare for Mother Earth

Not only can you never be prepared enough for Mother Earth, but you can not rely on your government for help.  Time after time, natural disasters through out history proves this.

It is clear that any disaster preparations in Japan, prior to the 9.0 quake/tsunami, were not enough.  In several coastal towns the sea barrier walls did not stand up to the tsunami.   Previous ideas of how long people would have before a tsunami would hit, after an earthquake, were shattered.  There are coastal towns that have signs demarcating where the expected limits of any tsunami would be, but it’s now clear the tsunami blew past those expected limits.

It is also clear that the national government is not prepared for something like this, but we have to remember it is dealing with the nuclear disaster as well.  As a result, local governments are being burdened with dealing with the natural disasters, and many local officials are saying they are not equipped to do so. Local governments had expected the national government to handle such large natural disasters.  This is not a good sign for the rest of the world because Japan had always been looked up to as a shining example of disaster preparedness.

The residents of coastal towns and cities, that can be considered the ground zeros of the tsunami, could have never prepared enough.  Stocking up on food and water,  medical supplies, or any other item considered essential for survival, is a waste of time because it was all swept away by the floods.  Everything was destroyed.  However, in the periphery of the disaster, where many of the emergency shelters are, it is clear that preparations were not enough, as they have started running out of food, water, heating fuel and medical supplies.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t prepare.  People outside the disaster areas are now dealing with food, water and fuel shortages.  This is an example of why everyone, everywhere should have a stockpile of food, water and fuel.  You never know, you might just survive that big disaster, and that’s when you’ll need the basic necessities.

Clearly disaster preparedness in Japan shows signs of underestimating potential disasters, overestimating the effectiveness of preparations, and overestimating any government assistance.

Technology

Russia to Create Multi-Use Cards: ID, passport, debit, insurance all in one

President Medvedev has ordered the creation of a multi-use card, that will act as ID, passport, insurance, drivers license and debit card.

The cards will contain micro-chips.  It’s part of a plan for a “…better digital culture…”.  A new national payment system will be created, so people can use the IDs for bill payments.

The system could cost Russia $5 billion, and it’s hoped to get it up and running by January 2012.

Business/Economics, Fukushima, Opinion

Japan Disaster start of Global Great Depression

For a third day, the DOW fell big, along with other U.S. stock markets.  Stock markets around the world being affected. This is because Japan has become the “parts” supplier to the global economy.  Auto parts to electronic chips are made in Japan.  This production has come to a virtual stand still.  One analyst said that if this situation lasts a few weeks (best case) consumers can expect noticeable increases in prices.

It must be remembered that the Great Depression, that hit the United States in the 1930s, was not solely caused by the investment/finance crash of ’29.  What put the U.S. into a Great Depression was the loss of its main industry at the time; agriculture. Because of the quake, tsunami, and now nuclear disaster, Japan has essentially lost its main industries.

Until the Second World War, agriculture was the biggest industry in the U.S.  Most Americans worked in farming, or agriculture related jobs.  The industry was hit by a disaster that was a combination of Mother Earth, and man made.  The plain states, and mid west, had been dealing with a major drought, and,   farming techniques destroyed the top soil.  This is where the term “Dust Bowl” came from.

The result was that hundreds of thousands of Americans lost their jobs and their homes, just from the collapse of the agriculture industry. Combined with the losses of the finance/investment industries (which affected manufacturing) this created the Great Depression.

The World is already in a major financial crisis, bigger than what hit the world prior to the Great Depression in the U.S. (other countries, like Germany had already experience a depression). Now we have the natural/man made disasters that could push the World into a Great Depression.

Never before have the economies of the World been so tied together.  We have a dominoes situation. Japan, being a major parts supplier, could be the dominoe that starts the fall.

Fukushima, U.S.

U.S. Military issuing Iodide Pills to Aircrews, U.S. taking Radiation Readings

The United States military is issuing Potassium Iodide pills to helicopter crews flying operations in Japan.  The crews take the pills before their missions.

U.S. nuclear experts now in Japan will start taking their own radiation readings.  Officially this is to “help” Japan with the Fukushima nuclear disaster, but I think it’s because U.S. officials don’t trust what TEPCo, and Japanese officials, are reporting.

Fukushima, U.S.

West Coast U.S. buying up Iodide Pills

A Miami Herald article says people living on the West Coast of the United States are buying up anti-radiation pills.

nukepills.com, in North Carolina, has sold 6,500 orders of iodide pills (it is still being incorrectly called iodine pills) in four days. Normally they sell only 100 in the same time period. Most of the orders came from Washington state, Oregon and California.

The problem with Iodide, is that it can be a health hazard if misused.  Iodide builds up in the thyroid, and can cause health issues.  Another problem is that the more Iodide is used the less effective it is.  Radioactive Iodine-131 causes thyroid cancer.

When Iodide and oxygen mix you get Iodine. So Iodine is a byproduct.

Fukushima

France tells Citizens to Leave Japan

On 13 March 2011, the French embassy in Japan told French citizens to leave.

The memo described a worst case scenario that had most of Japan being hit by radioactive clouds.  The memo also warned of overuse of Radiation Pills (Iodide), “Excessive repeated use can be harmful to your health.”

 

 

 

Fukushima

Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Rods on Fire Again

NHK is reporting that Fukushima plant 1 (Daiichi), reactor 4, is on fire for a second time. NHK is also reporting that currently no flames are visible.

Late last night/early this morning officials said the fire burned itself out.

Plant officials are saying they can not fight the fire because of the high levels of radiation. They are asking for firefighting help from the government.

There is a growing number of nuclear experts, around the world, that are becoming extremely concerned over the fact that spent fuel rods are exposed and/or burning.

Earlier today NHK reported that reactor 4 has 783 spent rods stored in a “pool” above the reactor.  Spent rods are still highly radioactive.  It has also been admitted that the survivability of the spent fuel rod pools, in event of natural disaster, was never taken into account.

An official interviewed by NHK admitted that they don’t really know what is going on.  This makes sense because there is a skeleton crew at the plant (which probably have been exposed to deadly levels of radiation), and the “officials” are not at the plant.  Most employees evacuated the plant after the earthquake.