Tropical storm Talas, directly south of Japan, is heading right for the center of the nuclear damaged island nation.
It’s predicted that by 29 August 2011 Talas will be a category 1 typhoon. Japan is still recovering from the 11 March 2011 quake and tsunami. Also, the damaged nuclear plant Fukushima Daiichi could get hit.
The Daily Telegraph quoted Ministry of Defense officials, saying the SAS (Special Air Service) is on the ground and taking part in the battle for Tripoli.
Not only that, but the British officials admit they’ve had “boots on the ground” for several weeks. The British SAS dress like civilians and use the same weapons the rebels are using.
It is a violation of the Geneva and Hague Conventions, for soldiers to dress like civilians.
Under the Geneva Convention, soldiers who wear civilian clothes are considered “illegal combatants”, and can be treated the same way that the United States is treating prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay (GITMO), and other prisons in Afghanistan, Iraq and other secret locations. A “legal combatant” must wear a uniform, or an obvious sign indicating they are a government soldier.
The Hague Convention states that soldiers “…have a fixed distinctive emblem recognizable at a distance.”
However the Hague Convention says any civilians defending their territory from invasion (like the U.S. invading Afghanistan & Iraq) are considered “legal combatants” even if they’re wearing civilian clothes. If captured they must be treated as an official “Prisoner of War”, under Hague Convention POW rules, as a uniformed soldier would be treated.
Since Libya was not invaded, under the Hague Convention the civilian rebels are not allowed the same rights as a uniformed soldier, even if the rebels are wearing a uniform.
The rebels have been officially recognized by many countries, giving the Trans National Council the status of a government. This means the TNC should have issued some kind of standardized uniform, or sign, for their “soldiers” to be legal under international law. On top of that they are not defending from an outside invader.
So, the Libyan rebels, and the civilian clothed British SAS, are “illegal combatants”. After all, isn’t the United States about the rule of law?
Rebel officials offered a million dollar reward for the capture of Muammar Muhammad al-Gaddafi.
Rebels are also offering amnesty to any government supporter who kill or capture him.
Pakistan has given the U.S. embassy 40 days to remove 250 U.S. officials.
Pakistan says the U.S. officials are involved in high-level espionage and anti-state activities.
U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan, Cameron Munter, cut short his vacation to deal with the situation. The situation has gotten worse in Pakistan, because the United States has greatly increased the number of drone attacks. Pakistani officials, and independent observers, say the majority of people killed in the U.S. drone attacks are civilians. In some cases the target of the attack is totally missed, and dozens of bystanders are killed. U.S. officials have dismissed independent investigations that show that several hundreds of children have been killed.
The United States, Europe and other countries are pushing for the United Nations to unfreeze billions in Libyan assets. This is on top of what the U.S. is unfreezing.
A Libyan rebel official admitted in a press conference they needed the money “…for supplies…to pay salaries.”
From the beginning the African Union has been oppossed to the NATO action in Libya. Libya is a member of the African Union, and the AU wasn’t even consulted by the the United States and Europe, before the United Nations was tricked into approving military action against Libya.
South Africa, one of the most powerful members of the AU says it will vote no on unfreezing Libyan assets.
Reports that the Bab al-Azizia military compound in Tripoli, is under intense attack by government forces.
The fighting has been going on for hours. Initially rebels found hidden tunnels under the compound. Government forces were hiding inside and began attacking the rebels.
Then in the early hours of the next morning government forces appeared on the streets of Tripoli, heading towards Bab al-Azizia. Witnesses say government forces surrounded the compound, the rebels having to fight government forces from inside, and outside the compound.
Libyan government forces let at least 35 reporters go free. They were hold up in the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli.
It happened after Mahmud Nacua, the Libyan charge d’affairs at the Libyan embassy in London, urged the government forces to let the journalists go free.
CNN’s Mathew Chance said the government gunmen “…literally cast away their weapons and said they were sorry to us.”
South Korean news agency Yonhap, says their ambassador’s residence in Tripoli, was attacked by about 30 people. They stole “television sets and other gadgets”, but no-one was hurt during.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, is urging peace talks between rebel and government forces. Medvedev says Russia will consider establishing formal relations with the rebels if they can unite the country.
The Non-Life Insurance Rating Organization of Japan said insurance companies gained more than 2.51 million new earthquake contracts, since the 11 March 2011 megadisaster.
Not surprisingly the biggest gains were in the areas hardest hit: Fukushima Prefecture saw a 49.6% increase. Iwate Prefecture 26.4% increase. Miyagi Prefecture up 22.3%.
The Japanese government is about to vote on a standardized decontamination plan.
Here’s a list of suggested decontamination procedures for cities and towns:
High pressure washing of homes and buildings, including rain gutters.
Trimming of outer leaves and branches on bushes and trees.
Pulling up smaller plants and removal of top soil.
Washing roads, including flushing joints on asphalt and concrete roads, removing mud and dirt along roadsides.
All removed soil and plant material must be treated as nuclear waste.
The Japanese government will vote on a standardized plan on 26 August 2011. The amazing thing is that it’s been more than five months since the start of the ongoing nuclear disaster, and they’re just now coming up with a standardized national government decontamination plan.