Tag Archives: war

International, U.S.

Syria moves troops to border with Turkey, U.S. issues warning, Turkey massing troops

So what if Obama is actually going to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, they’re just going to be used somewhere else.

In response to continued attacks against Syrian police and army troops (three mass graves filled with hundreds of Syrian cops and soldiers have been found), and the fact that Turkey is allowing the build up of NATO forces on a Turkish air base, the Syrian government is massing troops along the Turkish border.

There are reports that Syrian forces attacked impromptu refugee camps along the border.  The United States is warning Syria that their actions could escalate the situation (as if that isn’t what the U.S. wants).

“Unless the Syrian forces immediately end their attacks and their provocations that are not only now affecting their own citizens but (raising) the potential of border clashes, then we’re going to see an escalation of conflict in the area.”-Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State

The Syrian refugees fled into Turkey.  Last week Turkey said it could handle the refugee situation, up to a point.  A Turkish official said they could handle about 10,000 refugees, if the refugee situation escalated beyond that Turkey would have to take action (the official didn’t specify what “action” would be taken).

According to a BBC report, Turkey (a member of the U.S. led NATO) is now massing troops on the border.

Fukushima

Doctors say don’t eat Japanese vegetables, they’re radioactive!

A group of doctors tested people living in the Fukushima Prefecture of Japan.  That’s where the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is.  They discovered people living outside the evacuation zones are internally contaminated with radiation.

The doctors tested people in two cities; Iitate Village and Kawamata Town.  They are about 40 kilometers (24 miles) from the nuclear plant.  They tested their urine, to check for internal radiation contamination.  They found the people have three times what is considered normal exposure for one year.

The doctors are telling the people of Fukushima Prefecture to stop eating the locally grown vegetables.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Obama’s order to release U.S. oil reserves is BS, 27 other countries to release oil reserves is also BS, blame war on Libya

All indicators are that global demand for oil is going down, despite the oil “experts” continuing to say it’s going up.  The fact that oil and gas prices are going down is proof of the decrease in demand.  One study says oil should be at $70.00, based on actual consumer demand.

Yet President Barack Obama, and 27 other members of the International Energy Agency, are ordering the release of their respective strategic oil reserves.

The official reason the Obama administration gives, is to ease the supply problems with oil from Libya.  First off, the U.S. is a minor user of oil from Libya, secondly the U.S. is partly to blame for the oil supply problems in Libya!

The U.S. uses about 1% of oil produced in Libya, according to a USA Today report.  The U.S. has been supporting rebels who destroyed Chinese run oil fields in Libya, according to the Chinese government.

As I’m writing this U.S. crude oil prices are at $91.00 per barrel.  Why release U.S. oil reserves now, and not back when it was more than $100.00 per barrel?

Here something interesting; the U.S. Department of Energy reports that the strategic oil reserves are at record highs, 727 million barrels to be exact.  Why would that be? Because demand is down?

The IEA (not to be confused with the United Nations IAEA) is made up of 28 oil consuming countries, including the United States.  The decision of the IEA to release 60 million barrels of oil reserves, is to benefit the countries that get most of their oil from Libya, ie Europe.  One report showed that almost all of Italy’s oil comes from Libya.

In other words, Obama’s decision to release U.S. strategic oil reserves is for the benefit of the Europeans, not the United States!

It is also totally because of the U.S. supported European war on Libya, the aggressors (U.S. and Europe) brought it upon themselves.

 

 

 

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: TEPCo shuts off wrong valves!

Yesterday I speculated that Tokyo Electric Power Company probably installed their water radiation filters backwards.  Today NHK reporting that incorrect settings of the system are the cause of TEPCo’s problems.

At least twice TEPCo had to stop their decontamination of water, at Fukushima Daiichi, because they were getting the reverse effect; an increase in radiation levels in the water.  Another time they stopped because they broke a water pump.

It turns out all those problems were caused by the incorrect setting of valves.  The result was that less than half of the filter chambers were being used.  TEPCo blames their throwaway workers for misunderstanding the “open” and “shut” indicators on the U.S. designed system!

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: 6 out of 10 towns got no Nuclear evacuation order after 11 March!

10 cities around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant were supposed to get evacuation orders immediately after the nuclear disaster, following the 11 March 2011 natural disasters.  Only four of those cities got the evacuation order.

The national government of Japan, and the prefectural government of Fukushima have apologized for the break down in communication.

Also, Tokyo Electric Power Company was responsible for notifying five nearby cities/towns of the nuclear disaster, but evidence shows that was a major ‘F’ up.  One town got 80 faxes of the notification, while another town got zero notification!

This major breakdown in communication, by TEPCo and government,  resulted in massive confusion about what people were supposed to do.

 

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: Radiation decontamination fails for the third time, reactor temperatures rising!

For the third time Tokyo Electric Power Company stopped decontamination of radioactive water at Fukushima Daiichi.  This time radiation levels on the outflow side of the massive water filter skyrocketed, instead of going down.

The idea is that water coming out of the decontamination unit would have less radiation.  The opposite is happening.  When TEPCo re-started the operation on Tuesday radiation levels were at 3 millisieverts per hour, by Wednesday, 22 June 2011, the levels hit 15 millisieverts per hour.

The result is that not only has decontamination efforts stopped, but TEPCo says it can not inject anymore water to cool reactors, for fear of massive flooding of contaminated water out of the reactors (even more than what is leaking out now).  Already the temperatures in Reactor 3 are rising.

Japanese media says the water decontamination unit was designed in the United States.  Could it be possible that the decontamination chambers are backwards?  Don’t laugh, here in Idaho in the late 1990s, on the Shoshone-Bannock Reservation boil order after boil order were being issued.  Finally, after tribal officials investigated their new water treatment system, it was discovered that all the filters were in backwards.

Fukushima, U.S.

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Radioactive Tritium leaking from U.S. nuclear reactors

A year long study of U.S. government documents, by the Associated Press, has revealed that radioactive tritium is leaking into groundwater.

Documents show that at least 48 nuclear plants in the U.S. have, or are, leaking tritium.  Tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen.  The report comes from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

At least 37 of those leaks exceeded government safe levels for drinking water.

It’s not just tritium that’s leaking from U.S. nuclear reactors; cesium and strontium are also leaking.

Strontium 90 was found leaking at Indian Point nuke plant north of New york City.

Cesium 137 leaked from Fort Calhoun nuke plant in Nebraska.  By the way, that reactor was just shut down because the Missouri River is flooding it.

There’s much more about the leaks from U.S. nuke plants in the AP report.  Maybe this explains the increase in cancer rates over the past decades?

Like I said before: Everyone living near nuclear reactors in the United States should make plans to get away.

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: Once again, TEPCo stops radiation decontamination

For the second time Tokyo Electric Power Company has stopped decontamination of water at it’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, this time they broke a water pump.

The first time was because the radiation levels were much higher than first thought, and the water decontamination system wasn’t set up to handle it.  This time TEPCo officials think it’s because they tried to force too much water through, and broke a water pump.

International, U.S.

Proof Syrian “freedom movement” is anything but: third mass grave found with bodies of Syrian soldiers

On June 20, and for the third time, a mass grave was found which held the bodies of Syrian soldiers.  This does not sound like something “peaceful protestors” would do.

This latest mass grave had 29 Syrian soldiers, who had been decapitated, and showed signs of torture.

Earlier this month two mass graves were found, containing the bodies of at least 80 Syrian policemen.

The graves are being found near a town called Jisr al-Shughour,  near the Turkish border.  Turkey is a member of NATO and has recently agreed to allow an increase of NATO troops in Turkey.

To me, this sounds like the Turkish government is encouraging Kurdish separatists to go on the war path against the Syrian government, to help “Western” plans to destabilize and overthrow the Syrian government.  Of course, U.S. media goes on and says it’s “protestors”.   There are legitimate protestors, but peaceful protestors don’t go around as trained paramilitaries killing government forces, then burying them in mass graves.

International, U.S.

Iraq and Afghan war vets suffer from lung problems, military doctors back it up

A New York Times report says as many as 80,000 U.S. war vets suffer from lung problems like asthma and bronchitis.

The report says the problems began while ‘in theater’ (while deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan), but have continued since returning home.

Causes could be anything from dust storms to toxic chemicals being used on U.S. military bases.  U.S. military medical personnel are calling for an investigation: “I’m concerned that this exposure is not getting the serious review it needs.”-Captain Mark Lyles, Center for Naval Warfare Studies in Newport, Rhode Island.