Tag Archives: war

Fukushima

Rice planting banned in Japan, Cesium to blame

Thanks to the nuclear crisis, rice planting has been banned in Japan.

The problem is that the areas directly affected by the 11 March 2011 quake, actually sunk. Add to that the tsunami destroyed the sea walls. Now high tides have been flooding the land with ocean water contaminated with cesium-137 (as I warned in an earlier posting). There is also airborne cesium being detected, falling onto the ground.

The Japanese government will now test farm soils for cesium contamination. Any farm found to have cesium will be banned from planting. Cesium contamination is why Chernobyl city is still uninhabitable almost 30 years after that nuclear accident in Soviet Ukraine.

Rice planting normally begins by May. Rice is important to Japan: 8.5 million tons of rice were produced in 2010, and almost all of it stayed in Japan. The current situation will now make Japan dependent on foreign sources of rice.

Cesium is still found in soil in Germany, Austria and France 25 years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Chernobyl is 1,160 kilometers (720 miles) from Germany.

Fukushima

Erecting Steel Fence around nuke plant, Radiation Levels too high!

Tokyo Electric Power Company says workers are now building a steel fence around the water inlets and outlets of the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

They are attempting to block highly radioactive isotopes from getting out into the currents of the Pacific Ocean. They are also using silt fences.

One report says the steel fences are seven steel sheets thick, and the fence will cover an area 120 meters (393 feet) wide.

Recently officials admitted that radiation reports were faulty because the radiation levels are so high that monitoring devices are basically wigging out, and unable to give accurate readings. They stopped short of saying the levels are so high that they peg their meters.

They are hoping to use a UAV (drone) to monitor levels over the plant. It depends on the weather, unmanned aerial vehicles need good weather to fly.

International, U.S.

Another broken Obama Promise, Gates says we will stay in Iraq

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was in Iraq today. He gave a speech to U.S. troops, but it wasn’t about leaving Iraq, it was about staying.

U.S. forces are scheduled to be out of Iraq by the end of 2011, under a 2008 deal negotiated by George Bush Jr.

But Gates told troops that the Iraqi government now wants the U.S. to stay longer, and Gates said: “We’re open to that.”

About 10,000 Iraqis protested Gate’s visit, demanding that U.S. “get out”.

 

International, U.S.

NATO says No Military Solution to Libya, avoids questions about arming Rebels in violation of UN Resolution

In an interview on al Jazeera NATO secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said the solution to the civil war in Libya will come only through political discussions.

For some reason al Jazeera (who supports the UNSCR 1973) did not mention the statement in the text of their posting. You have to watch the video of the interview. It’s about 1:50 into the interview.

“I hope to see a political solution, sooner rather than later. Obviously there’s no military solution, solely.”-Anders Fogh Rasmussen

Al Jazeera then pointed out that despite the arms embargo, which is part of the UNSCR 1973, Libyan rebel leaders openly state they are getting weapons from the UN coalition (which includes NATO). Rasmussen was asked why, seemingly, NATO was not enforcing the UN arms embargo when it came to the rebels.

“We participate in the arms embargo, and to my knowledge there has been no bridge to the arms embargo.”-Rasmussen

Al Jazeera pressed the NATO leader about the arms embargo, while showing video of rebels receiving new weapons. They also pointed out that UN coalition member Qatar (which is Wahhabi Arab, same as al Qaeda), is openly providing weapons to the rebels. They tried to get a simple yes or no answer, this is what they got: “We participate in the enforcement of the arms embargo in strict conformity with the text of UNSCR 1973.”-Rasmussen

 

Fukushima, Idaho, U.S.

Idaho RadNet 2 Days Behind, confusing info!

I’ve been checking the Idaho RadNet web site and have gotten frustrated because it’s become clear Idaho DEQ is not updating the site. I checked it today, 08 April 2011, @ 11:00AM Mountain Time, and the RadNet posting is still for 06 April 2011.

Recently the Associated Press reported how the RadNet monitors are not reliable.

On top of the Idaho RadNet web site not being updated, the text portion seems to be the same as it was last week, or, Idaho is still getting hit with iodine-131 and xenon-133.

The numbers that RadNet posts are in Beta counts per minute, which is how a Geiger counter reads. The problem, reveled by University of California Santa Cruz professor, Daniel Hirsch, is that there are no set universal standards regarding how much radiation exposure is “bad”.

One source says they consider 100 counts per minute as “bad”. Well, if you look at the Idaho RadNet web site, you’ll see counts as high as 300. However, if you try to use the RadNet web site explainer pages, to figure out if you’re safe or not, you only get more confused.

 

Fukushima, U.S.

Don’t trust EPA RadNet radiation monitoring, No set standard in Radiation Exposure Limits

“The monitoring system isn’t functioning fully.”-Daniel Hirsch, University of California Santa Cruz

Hirsch said that EPA is too slow in releasing data about the radiation from the nuclear accident in Japan.  Some RadNet monitoring systems have been offline for months.

The Associated Press, quoting the Environmental Protection Agency’s own website, said as many as 20 of the RadNet sites were down. Also, 38% were under “review”.  When a RadNet site is under review, it means that the officials are doubting the readings.

Daniel Hirsch pointed out that radiation exposure standards from one government agency to another are different, which adds to the problem of letting people know if they are at risk or not. It also explains why some “experts” disagree with other “experts” about the dangers from Japan. There is no set standard for radiation exposure!

This explains a lot of the confusion in Japan during the first two weeks of the nuclear disaster. I remember watching press conferences where it seemed  officials from one agency contradicted officials from another agency. You’d think when it comes to nuclear power there would be a set universal standard regarding radiation exposure!


International, Opinion

40,000 Mexicans protest Drugs War

“We urgently need to restore dignity to this nation and fight violence with education, culture, poetry and employment.”-Javier Sicilia, son was killed last week

In Mexico City at least 40,000 people protested the drugs war, pointing out that most deaths make no sense as they are mainly innocent bystanders, or people who have no proven connection to drug dealing, or the government.

Recently mass graves were found. They did not contain the bodies of drug gang members, or the Mexican military or police, but of migrant workers.  A similar mass grave was found last year, again migrant workers were the victims. The Mexican government said a drug gang was responsible. Why would drug gangs want to massacre migrant workers in Mexico?  Are they afraid they’ll take their jobs?

To the people of Mexico, this so called drugs war launched by a pro-Bush President, is looking more and more like a war on everyday civilians.

Fukushima, U.S.

U.S. nuke plant not safe

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission studied the safety of nuclear plants in the United States. The Peach Bottom nuclear plant in Pennsylvania is not safe from a natural disaster.

The report says if a power loss occurs for a long time, fuel rods in the reactor could be damaged, releasing radioactive isotopes within two days.  It is the same General Electric design as Fukushima Daiichi.

Not surprisingly, Congress told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to double check their findings.

International, Opinion, U.S.

More proof that the Libyan Civil War is about Oil, not Freedom

Libyan rebels have been focusing all their attacks on cities tied to the oil industry. They have already made oil deals with several countries including Qatar, and, they have received their first payment for oil apparently from China.

Now the rebels are complaining that they are losing three oil fields they recently took control of.  Why so upset? They admit they want the oil money.

Just who attacked the rebel held oil fields is unknown. The Libyan government say the British bombed the rebels by mistake (plausible because NATO has done it, twice now). The rebels say some of the attacks where from artillery.

In any case the rebels are really upset about losing control of any oil production that they have captured.  Mmmm. I didn’t realize that oil was an integral part of freedom and Democracy?

International, U.S.

“low likelihood” Libyan Rebels can win, even with NATO support

The U.S. general in charge of the United States Africa Command, Gen Carter Ham, says Libyan rebels probably will not win, even with NATO help.

General Ham also says we should not be arming the rebels until there is “a better understanding of exactly who the opposition force is”. There is evidence that some of the rebels are al Qaeda, the group we’re supposed to be at war with.