September 18, Turkey announced they’re sending two military air transports filled with food aid for about 10,000 people in Bani Walid.
Bani Walid is one of the few cities in Libya that is still resisting the rebels. On September 17, rebels had to withdraw from their latest attempt to capture the city.
Despite the U.S. led NATO mandate of protecting civilians in Libya, they’ve managed to kill 2,000 civilians in the past 17 days.
NATOs been bombing the crap outta the city of Sirt, and a couple of other cities. The latest air strike, on September 18 Libya time, hit a major hotel, and an apartment complex in Sirt. At least 700 people are wounded, and 89 missing.
These numbers don’t include the people killed by the rebels!
On September 16, the United Nations Security Council approved a ground mission for Libya. The mission, called Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), is expected to last three months.
Unlike previous UN peacekeeping missions, the key element of the UNSMIL lies in its political nature.
UNSMIL is to assist and support Libyan national efforts in restoring public security and order and promoting the rule of law; undertaking inclusive political dialogue, promoting national reconciliation and embarking upon the constitution-making and electoral process; restoring public service; promoting and protecting human rights; taking the immediate steps required to initiate economic recovery as well as coordinating supports that may be requested from other multilateral and bilateral actors.
UNSMIL will include an estimated 200 political advisers.
The United Kingdom is proposing a new United Nations resolution for Libya, and Russia demands that an end to the no fly zone be part of it.
Also, Russia is demanding the Libyan rebels release Russian and Ukrainian hostages. They were detained early in August, but released on August 27, then detained again on September 7!
Chinese officials say the latest round of tariff increases in Europe have essentially closed off the European market to Chinese businesses.
On September 15, the EU placed tariffs on Chinese flooring tile, as high as 69.7%! This will directly affect more than 1,000 Chinese businesses!
Chinese officials say the Europeans are raising their tariff rates to protect European tile makers, who’ve seen a 40% drop in sales since the debt crisis began. Europeans says it’s to make up for ‘dumping’ of Chinese products on European markets.
16 September 2011, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency says the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant could have been avoided.
They say if water injection began four hours sooner there would have been no melt downs.
Anyone who’s been following the situation from day one knows that Tokyo Electric Power Company has dragged their feet on just about everything connected to dealing with the disaster. Especially at the beginning when it seemed that TEPCo officials just refused to believe that anything was wrong!
Of the plant’s six reactors, reactors 1 and 3 suffered meltdowns after losing cooling functions.
Reactor 2 suffered a hydrogen explosion on 15 March, which caused the release and spread of massive amounts of radioactive isotopes.
16 September 2011, ever since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster began, waste incinerator sites across Japan have reported high levels of radiation in the ashes of burned garbage and sludge.
The latest tests show three Prefectures still with levels of cesium contamination exceeding safe limits: Iwate, Fukushima and Chiba.
The highest measurement was 144,420 becquerels per kilogram at one facility in Fukushima!
The Japanese Environment Ministry realized that the incinerators reporting high levels of radiation contamination, are storing the garbage outside, where it can be contaminated by airborne cesium. This is also an indicator of just how much airborne radiation is being spread across Japan.
The Environment Ministry has now decided to test all incinerators sites, that store the garbage outdoors.
Read more about incinerator contamination:
“We came to Syria to express our support and solidarity with the Syrian people, and to express our resentment of the media war against Syria.”– Temir Porras, Deputy Foreign Minister of Venezuela
The South American country, who is a major oil supplier to the east coast of the U.S., said they support the current government of Syria. It’s not just Venezuela, but nine other South American and Caribbean countries who’re expressing support for Syria.
The organization is called ALBA, or Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América. It’s members are Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Venezuela.
“The moment has not yet come to give details of what will happen. What I can say with the greatest confidence is that from the moment they pass a unilateral decision there will be harsh and grave consequences.”-Avigdor Lieberman, Foreign Minister of Israel
For the second time, Israel has officially hinted at major confrontations if Palestine is recognized by the United Nations.
Back in August, Israeli officials threatened war with Syria, if Palestine became a UN member. Now they are directly threatening the Palestinians.
Unconfirmed report that the Arabic language website Syria Steps says hackers (known as Syrian Cyber Army) found documents that show that France and Britain have grand ambitions of retaking their former mandates of Syria, Lebanon, and Israel/Palestine. I wonder if this has anything to do with the new oil and gas fields discovered off the Lebanese coast?
Apparently the French have offered Turkey guaranteed membership in the European Union, and ensure that Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, remains in power for along time. In exchange Turkey will help topple the Syrian government.
The documents go on to detail how the region would be split up between France, United Kingdom and United States. Basically France and the U.K. would regain control of their old post World War 1 mandates, and the U.S. would get bases in the eastern area of Syria known as Deir ez-Zor.
The report also claims that Turkey will allow Israel to do what it wants. This makes the report suspicious given the current relations between Turkey and Israel. However, if the report is true it suggests that Turkey is putting on a big front acting like it’s ready to go to war with Israel, which could be a red herring operation.