Tag Archives: u.s.

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Japanese government focusing all resources on Fukushima, is this a case of too little too late?

Almost four months after the world’s worst nuclear accident, is the Japanese government finally taking serious action in Fukushima Prefecture?

On 04 July 2011, the Japanese government announced they will take over all radiation monitoring in Fukushima, including the monitoring being done by Tokyo Electric Power Company.

This comes after growing complaints by residents of Fukushima Prefecture, that the government wasn’t doing enough.  Already several cities have begun their own decontamination efforts.  One city, Date, said they were going to bill the government and TEPCo.

Residents are also upset about the government’s targeted evacuations.  They’re based on radiation levels, however there are different groups taking those readings, and it’s confusing residents.

Before the government decision to take over radiation monitoring, testing was being done by local governments, independent groups, universities and Tokyo Electric.  Residents felt it was about time for some standardization.

The Japanese central government will use their monitoring data to determine future evacuations.

Fukushima

National Government Incompetence: City 124 miles away from Fukushima contaminated, residents will conduct self monitoring

A group of residents of the city of Moriya say they will begin monitoring radiation levels, because the central government can not.

Moriya is 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, yet it is showing some of the highest radiation levels in the area.

Residents say when they approached the central Japanese government with their concerns, they were told their government was being overwhelmed by the nuclear crisis, and did not have the man power to conduct the radiation monitoring in their area!

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

Rare Earth Minerals the ‘oil’ of the 21st Century. Who controls the most? Same old adversaries of the 20th Century

Rare earth minerals will become the ‘oil’ of the 21st century.  That’s because they’re used in high tech electronics, and the more the world becomes reliant on electronics, the more valuable rare earth minerals become.

In fact, some analysts say some of the current wars raging on the African continent are all about control of rare earth minerals.

Here are some examples of rare earth minerals: Dysprosium is used in electric motors for vehicles, and Terbium for the latest televisions.

Who’re the biggest controllers of rare earths?  Why they’re the same major players of the Cold War in the 20th century: Russia (the boss of the Soviet Union during the Cold War), China and the United States.

However, China actually controls 90% of the production/refining of rare earths.  This is where their true power comes in.

Rare earth minerals are so important that the Japanese University of Tokyo spent a lot of money conducting a search for other sources of rare earths.  Their target search area was the Pacific Ocean.  International law would prevent any monopolization by any country, of rare earths found in the Pacific Ocean.

They found plenty.  From 2000 samples taken at 78 locations, Associate Professor Yasuhiro Kato estimates there is 800 times the rare earths at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, than there is on land.

They targeted volcanic vents on the Pacific Ocean floor.  Hawaii has a lot.  The problem is that most of the high concentrations are at depths of 3,000 to 6,000 meters (9,842 to 19,685 feet).  So there are technical limits to getting at the Pacific Ocean rare earths.

Fukushima

National Government Incompetence: Japanese city will decontaminate self, will send TEPCo & the national government the bill

The city of Date, 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, will undergo intensive decontamination.  This announcement comes after the central Japanese government announced the evacuation of 113 more households.

City officials, and residents, are not happy with the central government’s targeted evacuations.  Many residents want a mass evacuation, because radiation levels are on the increase all over the city.

To try and alleviate the concerns of the people living in Date, city officials have decided to undertake decontamination efforts, on their own.  They claim they will decontaminate every building and home in the city.  They also claim they will decontaminate the surrounding mountain sides.

How are they going to pay for it?  No worries, they plan on sending Tokyo Electric Power Company, and the central Japanese government, a huge bill.

Business/Economics, Opinion, U.S.

Declare Independence from Banks: Economist says Big Banks control the United States, revolution only answer

“People think jobs create wealth, they don’t, they don’t.  It is being done by capital instruments [loans].”-Rodney Shakespeare, Trisakti University

A British economist with Trisakti University, in London, U.K., says ‘wealth’ is now actually created by big banks, and the big banks totally control the U.S.

The ‘wealth’ is created by the interest and fees the banks charge on their loans (capital instruments), and their money is fake:  “The banks do not lend existing money.  They create money out of nothing.  They add administration costs and they add interest and then they lend it for anything.   And that is where you’ve gone horribly wrong.”

The real money, the ‘wealth’, comes from individuals, governments and corporations paying back the loans the got from the big banks.  Essentially the banks are making big money for themselves, from nothing (why else do they keep reporting huge profits in a bad economy).

Over the past few decades, big western banks have been gaining control by making as many people, governments and corporations addicted to living off of their loans.  A tiny elite of people are benefiting: “Of course the banks and financial elites think this is a marvelous idea, because it effectually means that all the time they can ‘cream off’ what is essentially a ‘tax’…”

There are two answers Professor Shakespeare suggested; share the ‘wealth’ by spreading the benefits of capital instruments (bank loans) amongst the people, or: “…an uprising against what could be summarized as ‘banker occupation’.  Until that happens there’s no chance of new thinking coming into being.”

I can only think of mass default on loans to be the most destructive way to rise up against “banker occupation”.  This would involve not only individuals, but governments and corporations as well.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Chinese manufacturing stalls, not enough orders to fill, blames bad economy in United States

“Manufacturers are struggling with multiple difficulties including increased lending costs and fewer international orders.”-Zhang Shiqing, Nankai University

Chinese economics professors are warning that the Chinese economy will stall.  China has become a major exporter of products to the world, but most of the world is in financial trouble.  That is resulting in less orders to be filled.

Also, the recent revelation that local governments, in China, are in debt to the tune of $1.65 trillion, is making it difficult for Chinese companies to get loans to continue operating.  It’s now obvious that the Chinese have been running their economy just like the United States.

Surprisingly from January to May 2011, U.S. exports to China actually went up, by 31%.   “China’s industrial production has notably declined in the previous month, which is a good opportunity for U.S. enterprises to boost production to fill the gap.”-Fan Jishe, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Many Chinese industry analyst are now doing what analysts in the U.S. are doing; hoping the economy will pick up by the end of the year.

 

International, Opinion, U.S.

War on Terror will cost U.S. taxpayers $4 trillion, and that’s just for Iraq and Afghanistan

Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies “Costs of War” study says the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could hit $4.4 trillion and could last until 2020.

And for those that think war is good for the economy, the study said war spending makes up only a half a percent, per year of total GDP for the U.S.

The study also compared lives lost during the September 11, 2001 attacks, to the amount of lives lost in Iraq and Afghanistan.  2,995 people were killed on 9/11.   According to U.S. sources as many as 258,000 people have been killed, in the War on Terror, as a direct result of combat, even more have died indirectly, 365,000 have been wounded, 7.8 million people are refugees.

Realize that Iraq had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11, and that most Afghans didn’t even know about 9/11, and you really have to question the motives of our leaders.  Now President Obama wants to refocus the War on Terror onto the United States itself!

 

 

International, Opinion, U.S.

The U.S. IS a Police State: Obama refocuses U.S. War on Terror, the targets: Iran, Syria and…the people of the United States

“This is the first counter-terrorism strategy that designates the homeland as a primary area of emphasis in our counter-terrorism efforts.”-John Brennan, White House counter terrorism adviser

The Obama administration announced its new anti-terror policy.  Some confusing statements were made by Brennan, such as saying that the new policy will principally focus on “…al Qaeda, its affiliates and its adherents…”, but then went on to say that Iran and Syria “…remain leading state sponsors of terrorism.”, and that they will be targeted by the U.S.: “We will therefore continue to use the full range of our foreign policy tools to prevent these regimes and terrorist organizations from endangering our national security.”

The problem is that Iran and Syria are not partners with al Qaeda, in fact they are being targeted by al Qaeda.  Al Qaeda declared jihad against Syria because the government is secular.  And they declared jihad against Iran because most of the Iranians are Shia Muslims.  Al Qaeda members are mostly Wahhabi (aka Salafi) Muslims.

Brennan went on to say that the main focus of the new anti-terror policy will actually be…the people of the United States: “…the first counter-terrorism strategy that focuses on the ability of al Qaeda and its network to inspire people in the United States to attack us from within.”

Brennan believes al Qaeda is weakened, and that the greatest threat to the U.S. is domestic “lone wolf” terrorists.

Several countries worry that this means the U.S. will abandon them in the global War on Terror.  India considers its main threat a group called Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (aka Jamaat ud-dawa), not al Qaeda.

Is this new policy what Obama meant when he said he was going to refocus military/police action in the War on Terror?

 

 

Fukushima

Japanese children contaminated with Cesium 134!

A group of concerned parents, not happy with government response, formed an organization called The Fukushima Network for Saving Children from Radiation.  They took urine samples from 10 kids, from elementary to high school age, and had a French company test them.

The result showed that all the kids are internally contaminated with cesium 134.  An eight year old girl has 1.13 becquerels of cesium-134 per liter.  The children live in Fukushima City, which is 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The Fukushima Network for Saving Children from Radiation says this is proof that radiation is continuing to be emitted by the damaged nuke plant, and it is spreading.

 

International

France admits to violating UN resolutions, arming rebels in Libya

French military spokesman, Colonel Thierry Burkhard, admits France is violating the UN resolutions by arming Libyan rebels.  He says they’ve been airdropping weapons to the rebels.

In 2009 Nicolas Sarkozy made France a member of the U.S. led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).  Four decades ago Charles de Gaulle pulled France out of NATO, citing sovereignty issues.

UN resolution 1973 allows NATO “to take all necessary measures, notwithstanding paragraph 9 of resolution 1970 (2011), to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas under threat of attack in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.” Paragraph 9 of UN resolution 1970 imposed an arms embargo on the Libya.  Therefore France has violated both UN resolutions.

There are also reports that France supplied rebels with tanks.