Tag Archives: u.s.

International, U.S.

World War 3: 15,000 U.S. troops now in Kuwait, preps for Wars to come! Target Iran! Defend Israel! Invade Libya!

“The United States should preserve the model of ‘lily pad’ bases throughout the Gulf, which permits the rapid escalation of military force in case of emergency.”-SFRC report

19 June 2012, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) revealed that there are nearly 15,000 U.S. troops in Kuwait, three times more than in 2003.

The SFRC report also admits that staging troops all over the Middle East was in preparation for wars to come, possibly with Iran: “…the Obama administration is working to update the security architecture of the Persian Gulf to promote
regional stability, provide a counterweight to Iran…”

The report also admits that one of the foreign policy goals of the United States is to support Israel over any other Middle East country: “…the United States should be scrupulous in determining which weapons systems to sell in order to (1) ensure that sales contribute to regional security and do not weaken the position of Israel...”

The SFRC states that military deployments should continue in Afghanistan, as well as begin in Libya: “The U.S. Government should continue to cultivate the capabilities of GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] partners in select defensive missions, such as missile defense, combat air patrol, and maritime security, while building capacity through deployments in other theaters such as Libya and Afghanistan.”

The problem with the idea of GCC countries sending troops to Afghanistan is that most GCC countries are Arab. Afghanistan is not Arab, it does not border the Persian Gulf and it’s not in the Middle East, it’s in Central Asia! Remember the fiasco in Afghanistan when Jordanian (Arab) troops were sent in?

Then there’s Libya.  Libya may have a dominant Arab population, but it’s not part of the Persian Gulf, it’s not even Middle Eastern, it’s in North Africa. This just proves that U.S. leaders are still ignorant of the way things work in the Middle East.

The SFRC report is titled The Gulf Security Architecture: Partnership with the Gulf Cooperation Council, it is available in PDF form.

 

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

Global Economic War: China cuts back on Rare Earths. Expect your new cell phone to cost more!

20 June 2012, China claims to provide 90% of rare earth minerals to the global high tech industries.  Now they’re holding back.

Rare earths are necessary for the high tech gadgets we have.  U.S. and European officials criticized China saying their mining cut backs will cause prices to skyrocket.

China claims they’re cutting back because the mining operations are causing environmental damage.  But could it be retaliation for the Obama administration recently imposing ridiculously high tariffs on Chinese solar power products?

By the way, the tariffs quite possibly were the final nails in the coffin for Hoku Materials in Pocatello, Idaho, which could have provided hundreds of good paying jobs! Thank you Mr. President!

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Global Economic War: Japan government to insure ships carrying Iraninan oil!

On 1 July 2012, the European Union’s sanctions against Iran kick in.  This includes European shipping insurers (who dominate the market) ending insurance on ships carrying Iranian oil.

20 June 2012, the Japanese Diet has passed a law that allows the government to cover Japanese tanker ships transporting oil from Iran.

The law was unanimously passed by the Upper house, and will provide up to $7.6 billion USD in coverage.  Many Japanese insurance companies expressed concern for providing enough insurance due to the warmongering by the U.S. and EU against Iran.

The government insurance policy goes into effect several days before the EU sanctions on 1 July.

Fukushima

One Year Later: TEPCo accepts blame for poor handling of Fukushima Daiichi, but also points finger at incompetent government.

20 June 2012, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCo) published a thick report concerning the handling of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

It admits three of four damaged reactors (there are six reactors at the facility) actually went into melt down, because of total loss in cooling.

“The report admits that the company’s management of the emergency cooling system, which had been criticized by a government panel, was inadequate.”  However, “The report also blames the government for directly and indirectly interfering with TEPCO’s emergency response efforts. It says government officials disregarded what was actually happening on the ground, causing unnecessary confusion.”-NHK (nippon housou kyoukai/Japan Broadcasting Corporation)

The reactors were supplied by the U.S. company General Electric. The disaster is ongoing!

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Forced re-start of Ohi Nuclear plant backfires; emergency at Reactor 3, missing cooling water! People not told until the day after!

About a week ago the Japanese federal government forced the re-start of the Ohi nuclear power plant.  Prime Minister Noda gave the order, saying “…Japanese society can not survive!” without it.

Now, 20 June 2012, the operators of the Ohi disaster reactors, Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCo) revealed a potentially major problem with Reactor 3, and they didn’t discover it until an alarm sounded when they tried to re-start it!

Reactor 3 has lost cooling water, and KEPCo officials don’t know why.  Just like TEPCo officials at Fukushima Daiichi, they believe the water got out through leaks but so far they can’t find any!

The alarm sounded when the water dropped by 5 centimeters (almost 2 inches).  Doesn’t sound like much but realize the cooling tanks are huge and it could amount to tons of water lost!

People living near the nuclear plant (in their wisdom the Japanese officials allowed nuclear plants to be built near homes, and vice verse) are outraged because they were not told about the problem until 13 hours later.  They were already angry because most of them opposed the re-start.

KEPCo said it did not warn the residents because there is no law in Japan requiring them to do so, in regards to the amount of water lost.

Ohi’s Reactor 4 is also scheduled for re-start.  The reactors at Ohi were supplied by the U.S. company Westinghouse.

 

Fukushima

One Year Later: Government admits it was not prepared to handle Fukushima Daiichi! Ignored radiation contamination predictions from United States!

19 June 2012, NHK (nippon housou kyoukai/Japan Broadcasting Corporation) reporting that a Japanese government ‘white paper’ report on science and technology in 2011, states that the government was not prepared to respond to the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Diiachi.

“…tsunami estimates were too lenient and facilities which had been in place for nuclear safety were ineffective.  It says the way the public was notified about the spread of radioactive substances was inadequate.”-NHK

Also, on 18 June 2012, the Foreign Ministry of Japan revealed that the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) presented a map of the most likely radiation contamination spread from the GE designed reactors.

The Japanese government refused to make the radiation spread map public, until now.

The U.S. DoE map was made using data from 17 March to 19 March 2011. It was supposedly given to the Japanese Science Ministry and the Nuclear and Industry Safety Agency, via the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

“The map shows radiation spreading northwest from the accident site. Parts of the map indicate levels of 125 microsieverts per hour. The figure suggests residents close to the plant were exposed to the annual [yearly] permissible level within 8 hours.“-NHK

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? As I warned, Cosmetic prices up, as are prices for personal care products. No more cow dung for toothpaste!

“Cosmetics were very expensive back then, and a single product could cost the equivalent of a month’s salary for many office ladies.”-Chen Linlin, L’Oréal China

Linlin is talking about the not so good economic decade of the 1930s, but it looks like history is repeating for people (in North America and Europe) who just have to have makeup.

Back on 4 July 2011, I posted how Estee Lauder Group was the first cosmetic company to jack up their prices, and that it would be a trend for the whole industry.

Recently a Forbes article showed that Estee Lauder and L’Oréal are making bank in the Chinese market.  China’s internet cosmetics market is now nine times bigger than that of the United States, a 200% increase since 2006!

Last year cosmetics makers claimed that labor costs, and the costs of resources were the reasons for price increases.  Now, with China draining the supply of cosmetics, demand will ensure that prices will continue to go up.

Don’t blame China only, blame South America!  According to a NASDAQ report, the biggest market place for Avon (AVP) products is not the home base of the United States, but South America!

But, the NASDAQ report inadvertently reveals a couple of hidden reasons for the increase in your makeup prices: “AVP has turned its toehold in Latin America into a $1 billion-a-quarter business by spending a fortune on marketing and retailer incentives — if not the outright ‘bribes’ it is accused of distributing in Asia.”

However, when it comes to cosmetics that’re supposed to stop aging, it’s vain women in the United States that still take first place when it comes to anti-aging skin care products.

According to the research company, Mintel, the anti-aging skin care market in the U.S. leads the world with $2.3 billion USD in 2011 sales!

But it doesn’t stop with makeup.  One of my daughters told me that the shampoo she uses is now $2.00 USD more than it was a couple of years ago.

According to reports, the booming economy in India is creating a huge demand for personal care products that most rural people in India didn’t have access to: “In the past we used to use sticks or cow dung ash to clean our teeth. But now, just like urban people, we use a toothbrush and toothpaste. We use shampoo and expensive oils and creams. We have everything in our village that people have in towns and cities.”-Arun Mondal, a rural villager

In Canada the demand for body soap that does not contain harsh fragrances, therefore more environmentally friendly, has a Canadian soap manufacture scrambling and expanding into the retail market.

Paul Gillepsie, owner of Island Essentials wholesale, has so much business that he’s opened a retail store in Victoria, and will expand into Alberta. In 2004 his soap products were carried in 150 Canadian stores, now they’re sold in more than 250 stores.

But can we blame rising prices on rising demand in countries like Canada, China, India, and the countries of South America, and our own United States?

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the cost to U.S. consumers of personal care products has been skyrocketing ever since the 1960s! In the 1960s, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for personal care products was just under 40.  Now, in 2012, it’s at 161 and climbing.

However, looking at the Producer Price Index (PPI), aka U.S. wholesale prices,  shows that costs of intermediate goods (which are necessary for production of finished goods) have gone down from January 2011 to January 2012!

Intermediate goods were at 6.2% in January 2011, and were at 4.2% by January 2012, a 2% drop.  The cost of finished goods were at 3.6% in January 2011, but 12 months later were at 4.1% in January 2012, a half percent increase.

What’s important in the January to January comparison is what happened in the middle of 2011.  The costs of intermediate goods pegged at 11.5% in July 2011!  For finished goods the costs hit 7.1% twice, once in May and once in July 2011.

The spikes in intermediate and finished goods mirrors the cost of raw materials (aka crude materials). Overall, raw materials began January 2011 at 10.9%, and ended the year down more than 6%, at 4.5% in January 2012.  Again, the real killer was the spike in costs in the middle of 2011, topping out at 26.1% in June!

We in the United States are still paying for those spikes in the production costs of making the personal care products we can’t be without (cow dung for toothpaste anyone?).  However, the overriding decider of retail costs is still demand for such products, which seems to increase year after year, exponentially.

 

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: Egyptian military officially takes over, basically declares Martial Law.

18 June 2012, the U.S. supported Egyptian junta has officially taken on the role of government.  The Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) have given themselves new constitutional authority, giving them all the powers of an elected government!

On 14 June 2012, the U.S. supported junta dissolved the Egyptian parliament, and basically declared the recent elections invalid!

Some regional news report that the junta’s coup was backed by the United States.  The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood was winning elections and the U.S. did not want them to run the Egyptian government.

“Figures reported by local media, including state television, also put Mursi ahead of Shafiq, and the Brotherhood candidate’s supporters have already hailed him as the country’s first democratically elected president.”-Agence France Presse (AFP)

Mursi is the Muslim Brotherhood candidate.  Shafiq is a former Mubarak regime official, and regional reports say the junta made plans, backed by the Obama administration, to make sure Shafiq becomes Egypt’s president.  So much for western style democracy (and par for the course in U.S. foreign policy, just ask Iran)!

Since the 2011 Revolution began, a new constitution needs to be written, however, the SCAF now says it can veto any new constitution.

Business/Economics, U.S.

World War 3: Murder rate in Chicago proof of Civil War; more deaths than in Afghanistan! Obama needs 200 Chicago cops for protection!

“Over 80% of shootings occur outdoors and in public places.”-Roseanna Ander, University of Chicago Crime Lab

18 June 2012, according to data from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), more people have been killed in just one U.S. city, than all of the U.S. personnel killed in Afghanistan since the U.S. invasion in 2001!

The DoD claims just over 2,000 personnel have been killed in Afghanistan between the invasion in 2001 to just last week (iCasualties.org says 2012 have been killed).  The FBI says more than 5,000 people have been killed in the U.S. city of Chicago, during the same time!

On 15 June 2012, Chicago Sun-Times reported that from the beginning of 2012 at least 228 people were killed, and the murder rate jumped 35% since last year!

According to iCasualties.org, U.S. personnel deaths in Afghanistan, since the beginning of 2012, is at 203 (and some of these deaths are not combat related).   So U.S. troops are slightly safer in Afghanistan than in Chicago!

Why the seeming civil war in Chicago? Blame the economy: “Not surprisingly, they’re in poorer neighborhoods…”-Roseanna Ander, University of Chicago Crime Lab

According to Chicago Sun-Times the city “…administration has cut anti-violence programs targeting some of Chicago’s poorer neighborhoods by $9 million.”

President Obama, and his family attended a wedding in Chicago on 16 June 2012.  They needed an escort of as many as 200 Chicago cops!   If that’s not a sign of a war zone then what is?

And by the way, Chicago city officials were told that the federal government is not paying for the extra police security!  Like I said, blame the economy!

And what about incompetent city officials?  Chicago cops are understaffed, yet city officials would rather pay overtime for cops working on their days off, than hire more cops.  That doesn’t make economic sense, unless they’re trying to avoid paying out benefits for those new cops. Even then, in the long run it’ll cost the city more, because the civil war will only escalate.

International, U.S.

World War 3: On same day Obama & Putin discuss Syria, Russia sends in assault ships, the deployment was unplanned & sudden

“Two major amphibious ships, The Nikolai Filchenkov and The Tsezar Kunikov,  are preparing to be dispatched to Tartus outside of their schedule.”-unnamed Russian naval officer

18 June 2012, speculation that the two Russian assault ships are being sent to evacuate Russian citizens living in Syria.

Russia news media, Interfax, says the ships are carrying marines, and are capable of evacuating Russian nationals. According to Interfax, the Tsezar Kunikov can carry 150 marines along with weapon systems including tanks, while the Nikolai Filchenkov can carry up to 1,500 metric tons of cargo and equipment.

The unofficial announcement came as U.S. President Barack Obama, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, began talks concerning UN Security Council action regarding Syria.