News & views …
Back to Main
April 7, 2012
Open Thread 2012-10
Comments
Ssssshhhhhhh………..
Don’t tell anyone about this. We wouldn’t wanna jeopordize the large amnounts of money that the nuclear industry puts in the pockets of the human excrement running this country….
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/04/the-largest-short-term-threat-to-humanity-the-fuel-pools-of-fukushima.html
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Apr 7 2012 18:12 utc | 1
[…] I asked top spent-fuel pools expert Mr. Robert Alvarez, former Senior Policy Adviser to the Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary for National Security and the Environment at the U.S. Department of Energy, for an explanation of the potential impact of the 11,421 rods.
I received an astounding response from Mr. Alvarez [updated 4/5/12]:
In recent times, more information about the spent fuel situation at the Fukushima-Dai-Ichi site has become known. It is my understanding that of the 1,532 spent fuel assemblies in reactor No. 304 assemblies are fresh and unirradiated. This then leaves 1,231 irradiated spent fuel rods in pool No. 4, which contain roughly 37 million curies (~1.4E+18 Becquerel) of long-lived radioactivity. The No. 4 pool is about 100 feet above ground, is structurally damaged and is exposed to the open elements. If an earthquake or other event were to cause this pool to drain this could result in a catastrophic radiological fire involving nearly 10 times the amount of Cs-137 released by the Chernobyl accident.
The infrastructure to safely remove this material was destroyed as it was at the other three reactors. Spent reactor fuel cannot be simply lifted into the air by a crane as if it were routine cargo. In order to prevent severe radiation exposures, fires and possible explosions, it must be transferred at all times in water and heavily shielded structures into dry casks.. As this has never been done before, the removal of the spent fuel from the pools at the damaged Fukushima-Dai-Ichi reactors will require a major and time-consuming re-construction effort and will be charting in unknown waters. Despite the enormous destruction cased at the Da–Ichi site, dry casks holding a smaller amount of spent fuel appear to be unscathed.
Based on U.S. Energy Department data, assuming a total of 11,138 spent fuel assemblies are being stored at the Dai-Ichi site, nearly all, which is in pools. They contain roughly 336 million curies (~1.2 E+19 Bq) of long-lived radioactivity. About 134 million curies is Cesium-137 — roughly 85 times the amount of Cs-137 released at the Chernobyl accident as estimated by the U.S. National Council on Radiation Protection (NCRP). The total spent reactor fuel inventory at the Fukushima-Daichi site contains nearly half of the total amount of Cs-137 estimated by the NCRP to have been released by all atmospheric nuclear weapons testing, Chernobyl, and world-wide reprocessing plants (~270 million curies or ~9.9 E+18 Becquerel).
It is important for the public to understand that reactors that have been operating for decades, such as those at the Fukushima-Dai-Ichi site have generated some of the largest concentrations of radioactivity on the planet.
Many of our readers might find it difficult to appreciate the actual meaning of the figure, yet we can grasp what 85 times more Cesium-137 than the Chernobyl would mean. It would destroy the world environment and our civilization. This is not rocket science, nor does it connect to the pugilistic debate over nuclear power plants. This is an issue of human survival. […]
http://enenews.com/nuclear-expert-fukushima-spent-fuel-85-times-cesium-released-chernobyl-destroy-world-environment-civilization-issue-human-survival-former-adviser
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Apr 7 2012 18:25 utc | 2
Tokyo, March 25, 2012
Dear Secretary-General,
Honorable Ban Ki-moon,
I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude for your considerate letter dated 2 March, 2012. Your moral support for a United Nations Ethics Summit will remain a constant source of encouragement for my activities.
Please allow me to pay a tribute to your great contribution to strengthen nuclear safety and security. The current Nuclear Summit in Seoul is no doubt greatly benefiting from the high-level meeting you convened last September.
I was asked to make a statement at the public hearing of the Budgetary Committee of the House of Councilors on March 23. I raised the crucial problem. of N0.4 reactor of Fukushima containing1535 fuel rods. It could be fatally damaged by continuing aftershocks. Moreover, 50 meters away from it exists a common cooling pool for 6 reactors containing 6375 fuel rods!
It is no exaggeration to say that the fate of Japan and the whole world depends on NO.4 reactor. This is confirmed by most reliable experts like Dr. Arnie Gundersen or Dr. Fumiaki Koide.
Please allow me to inform you of an initiative being taken by a former UN official who is endeavoring to have the Nuclear Security Summit take up the crucial problem. of N0.4 reactor of Fukushima. He is pursuing the establishment of an independent assessment team. I think his efforts are very significant, because it is indispensable to draw the attention of world leaders to this vital issue.
I am cooperating with him, writing to some of my Korean acquaintances that this issue deserves the personal attention of President Lee Myung-bak. I have written today to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. I asked him to consider taking the initiative of mobilizing human wisdom on the widest scope to cope with the Fukushima reactor No.4 problem, fully taking into account the above-mentioned “independent assessment team”.
The world has been made so fragile and vulnerable. The role of the United Nations is increasingly vital. I wish you the best of luck in your noble mission. Please accept, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the assurances of my highest consideration.
Mitsuhei Murata
Former Japanese Ambassador to Switzerland and Senegal
Executive Director, the Japan Society for Global System and Ethics
http://enenews.com/ambassador-murata-writes-secretary-general-exaggeration-fate-japan-world-depends-4-reactor-appeals-independent-assessment-team
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Apr 7 2012 18:27 utc | 3
Twice now I have successfully posted the letter cited at this website….
http://enenews.com/ambassador-murata-writes-secretary-general-exaggeration-fate-japan-world-depends-4-reactor-appeals-independent-assessment-team
…..only to discover that it dissappeared from MoA shortly after posting. Did you remove it, b????
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Apr 7 2012 18:35 utc | 5
– China’s Military Rise, a good article summing up the history of China’s military buildup, including how its new economic wealth is building it into a modern force.
Source: http://www.economist.com/node/21552193
– “How Russia Plays the Great Game” looking at Russia’s policy in Central Asia.
Source: http://the-diplomat.com/2012/03/27/how-russia-plays-the-great-game/?all=true
– Good article by Teju Cole on the White Savior Industrial Complex.
Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the-white-savior-industrial-complex/254843/?single_page=true
Posted by: Colm O’ Toole | Apr 7 2012 18:48 utc | 6
As if we didn’t already know; POA #1. I guess we should be elated that they shut down San Onofre. However even if the 7 doesn’t hit Fukushima, there is always another one ready for the Mac Truck to come wheeling into the fray. The psychopaths from Entergy are still keeping Yankee running thanks to the sell out by Federal Judge Murtha. We may be lucky. We have a governor here in VT with the cajones to stand up to the mother fuckers (I hate that epithet but sometimes nothing else seems to fit).
Posted by: juannie | Apr 7 2012 20:54 utc | 7
The above was before I even read your #2 POA. I’ve heard it oft repeated that present day humans embody a death wish. Seems to be absolutely true for the controlling corporate elites in our world.
Posted by: juannie | Apr 7 2012 21:04 utc | 8
From DU on radioactive wave headed for California from Fukushima:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101720799
Posted by: ben | Apr 7 2012 22:09 utc | 9
Colm O’ Toole [5]
*China’s Military Rise, a good article summing up the history of China’s military buildup, including how its new economic wealth is building it into a modern force.
Source: http://www.economist.com/node/21552193 *
that piece from the right wing rag *economists* could be summed up like so.
*amerika the world cop is belatetely *responding* [sic] to this rising chinese *gunboat policy* [sic]
btw, i didnt finish reading that crap
chinese *gunboat policy* ?
coming from the brits, that sounds a bit rich innit ?
i’m tired of responding to such unending anglo hypocrisy
especially when i couldnt say it more eloquently myself
so here’s good ole charley again,
http://tinyurl.com/my7hl8
[one of my standard template ]
Posted by: denk | Apr 8 2012 3:57 utc | 10
I guess this is why the US gov. are uping their disaster preparedness. The combined Fukushima & climate situation that is. Following debris from Japan, we should check for radiation too.
Posted by: Alexander | Apr 8 2012 5:01 utc | 11
Colm @ 5.
Thanks. All good reads.
With the Yankees shining a spotlight on their China=Threat agenda, the Economist article provides a relatively brief background summary of the relevant issues without taking sides.
The Agonist attempts to explain, in half a page or so, how it all happened – and almost succeeds:
http://agonist.org/steve_hynd/20120407/china_plays_the_game
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 8 2012 6:45 utc | 12
Fukushima Nuclear Accident Update Log
The last update is…June 2, 2011! Nothing added since then. This is the goofy international organisation that is supposed to be the world’s nuke cops! They are supposed to be protecting us. They are the ones the US and Israel have been using heavily to howl at Iran nonstop. But is this criminal outfit yelling at Japan?
Posted by: hans | Apr 8 2012 6:57 utc | 13
@ 11
China
China has invested economically, while USA has spent all resources on their war of terror. It is apparent what has been most productive.
Posted by: Alexander | Apr 8 2012 8:14 utc | 14
@ Denk
I agree that some of the wording is the usual “China threat” language that you see in all US-EU mainstream publications. The main line that annoyed me in the article was “In contrast, a decade of conflict has honed American forces to a new pitch of professionalism” an absurd statement, given US behaviour.
However it is easy to overlook these empty words and get to the bulk of the article which contains an impartial rundown of Chinese military development from the 1950’s onwards and the philosophy that is guiding their policy, namely rolling out a high tech assymetric force by 2020. That is why I thought it was worth mentioning despite some of the language.
@ Hoarsewhisperer
Indeed good link to the Agonist. While the US is off futily trying to secure the Middle East, China is moving Africa and South America into its corner. I’m suprised at how the US has being paying so little attention to South America since 2000. Hopefully it lasts long enough for an Anti-Imperialist bloc to form and challenge the Washington Consensus in Latin America. The American obsession with the Middle East will likely be what brings the Empire down.
– Also hasn’t been mentioned much but the P-5+1 talks between America, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and Iran over the nuclear issue take place next Friday in Istanbul. It always a big deal when the US and Iran actually meet up. Obama appears to be offering to allow a civilian nuclear program in exchange for larger inspections, with the Iranians open to compromise if sanctions get rolled back. Sounds like a good deal for Iran although the devil is in the details (ie would Iran be able to continue enrichment at 20% under the civilian nuclear program).
One Source on the talks here: http://paktribune.com/news/Obama-offers-to-accept-Irans-civilian-nuclear-programme-248933.html
– Good article and video of Hillary Mann Leverett on Obama’s “pivot” to containing China and is impact on Iran. “Iran, China’s Rise and American Strategy”.
Source: http://www.raceforiran.com/iran-chinas-rise-and-american-strategy
Posted by: Colm O’ Toole | Apr 8 2012 13:54 utc | 15
All this talk of a BRICK nations vs. the West, begs the question, how long before they link hands with the cabal of world elites to impose the new “Global Plantation” on workers?
Posted by: ben | Apr 8 2012 14:17 utc | 16
something different: Privatizations in Greece.
Interview of Costas Mitropoulous. Chief of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development fund, created by the UE, in consultation with the Greek Gvmt, the IMF and the ECB. (from newspaper Le Temps) him , /me/
To be sold: Hellinikon airport Athens, a license for the national lottery, a large commercial center, lots of land, golf clubs and casinos on Rhodes and Corfou, the National Gas Co, 35% of the biggest refinery…etc.
We are preparing … 29% of the Gaming Society, 49% of the National Railway Co., 39% of the Postal Service…Plus, we will sell highways, the water Co. of Thessaloniki, 12 commercial ports + 850 regional ports, 15 marinas, Larco Nickel, biggest nickel mine in Europe, with its port, Cruise Cos. and Garbage management…
/To our potential buyers/ we stress we are not the Gvmt. and the Gvmt. cannot interfere in whatever /plan/… at present we own 3% of the land of Greece…
———————
All this is a mixture of outright sales, lease-backs, long-term concessions, and participation in the new public-private entities. C M also states that the long term plan for these is 34% State participation. (?)
At their site, the section on Real Estate lists e.g. the Ministry of Culture, of Education, of Justice, of Health, of Internal Affairs, the Athens Police Headquarters, the Chemical State Laboratory, etc.
http://www.hradf.com/en/real-estate/sale-leaseback/ministry-of-culture
http://www.hradf.com
I needn’t stress the importance of controlling land, buildings, public buildings to boot, transport routes, even if it is only a minor part…not to mention key public services like water…And recalled that when GR entered the EU it was a country ‘occupied’ in part by a non-EU foreign power (Turkey – Cyprus), a strange situation that was shuffled away.
Posted by: Noirette | Apr 8 2012 14:25 utc | 17
Make that BRIC. The elites in the world have made China a world player by sending a good portion of world manufacturing there. Despite the Chinese military build-up, I believe they won’t threaten that relationship.
Posted by: ben | Apr 8 2012 14:28 utc | 18
ben says, @18…
“The elites in the world have made China a world player…”
are you saying that the chinese had no choice in the matter?
what if the chinese realized that they’d have to industrialize, learn technology stuff from the west, to be able to defend themselves from the west…
for instance, how long’s it gonna take the chinese to swicth from manufacturing $50 DVD players to making $50 shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles that will shoot down a couple hundred millions’ worth of american jet fighter? …how’s that for “asymmetrical”?
i’d bet the chinese got their fill of western “benevolent global hegemony” from the brits in the 1800s.
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 8 2012 14:44 utc | 19
Make that BRIC.
Or BRICS, as long as we’re in correction mode. There’s a South Africa on the tail-end. I still haven’t figured out why…
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 8 2012 14:52 utc | 20
b….are you deleting posts???
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Apr 7, 2012 2:31:04 PM
No – your post was caught in an automatic spam trap and manually released by me some hours ago.
@ Colm O’ Toole.
Yes, I’ve seen the Leveretts latest. They’re good at exposing contradictions and ‘laying bare the facts.’ The remark about the China specialist is short and sweet.
I had no problem with the Economist’s comment about the ‘honed’ US military. It’s so ludicrous it had to be tongue-in-cheek – and feeding their own balderdash back to them never does any harm when dealing with Yankees. They LOVE it. And it keeps doors open.
Imo, Iran cannot and should not make concessions on its nuke program even if offered a complete lifting of sanctions (Iraq, Libya), while the completely untrustworthy Yankees are calling the shots. The only offer worthy of serious consideration by Iran would be one which included watertight guarantees that Zion would be constrained and inspected PLUS a pledge by powers with military clout to come to its aid if attacked. And neither of those will be ‘on the table’ or anywhere near it.
Iran should go no farther than offering to ‘mothball’ the program it now has IF the Zion, defense, and sanctions issues are signed, sealed and delivered. A current Govt an any country has a duty to future govts, and generations, not to compromise future national choices and options.
The imminent PS + talks will sound more like blackmail or an ultimatum than negotiations, and will go nowhere except as a vehicle to ramp up tensions.
Also, it’s obvious to me (and only me, apparently) that Israel hasn’t got any nukes which is why they don’t want inspections.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 8 2012 15:54 utc | 22
Easter, 2012
plastic eggs
he has risen indeed
and his ghost trapped
in plastic and chocolate
demands release
bird song drifts
in through the window
eggs and hashbrowns
sausage and orange juice
Jesus it’s delicious
Christ if you come
again, could you bring
a reason to sing
the earth beneath our feet
back into prominence?
we split the atom
stepped on the moon
but still remain blind
to truth, beauty
and the unifying breath
that reaches beyond death
pulling those inner sparks
out our porous skin
too long condemned as sin
that dark desire to touch—
to love
-William Skink
Posted by: lizard | Apr 8 2012 16:33 utc | 23
Ostara’s Hare – The pagan origins of the Easter Bunny
Happy fertility festivities to all.
great poem, mr skink, who has only a passing resemblance to a lizard, i presume.
in the same vein, only shorter…
candy is dandy, but liquor is
quicker
-ogden nash
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 8 2012 16:48 utc | 25
Special report: the documents that prove Britain initiated rendition
In 2004, Fatima Bouchar and her husband, Abdel Hakim Belhaj, were detained en route to the UK, and rendered to Libya. This is the story of their imprisonment, and the trail of evidence that reveals the involvement of the British government
Who says morality’s gone?
Who says religion’s all done?
Yeah, let’s leap on the god camp
stab ’em all with our mod stamps
show ’em all how we’re lifted above
all that marginal stuff
where this sect trumps that love.
Yeah, we’re all about showing
morality’s got no jump
on any of the stuff we complain about,
or pump.
Absolutes are what makes the world turn
and churn, and yearn, and burn,
but why is it that none of what we’ve got to say
provokes those folks to turn?
Or change? Or learn?
Easter’s here. It’s a day for kids
to join up with parents, and play with song
like time is theirs, a future bright,
to give each human a lamp to light
the way to life, away from night,
away from blight.
Ah, but wait: religion’s evil,
the source of bigotry, the weevil
that worms its way into our brains
and covets hate far more than same.
Yeah it’s religion
that’s the smidgen
that makes life seem
such a dudgeon.
Give it all up, let’s make it small:
You’re on yours, i’m on mine,
we’re on ours, let’s get on science.
Women are butch, men are Hollywood,
let’s pretend like we should, and
nobody admit we’re not.
Posted by: china_hand2 | Apr 8 2012 17:35 utc | 27
@PoA re: Fukushima…
It has been noted that these reports are mistakenly (intentionally?) using ‘rods’ and ‘assemblies’ interchangeably, when in fact there are thousands of rods in each assembly. So, the 1,532 assemblies in SFP #4 actually contain some tens of thousands of rods! I think the total count for all spent fuel assemblies on-site was 400,000+ rods.
The ‘media releases’ on this have been a year-long panic reaction, so at this point I’m assuming the worst. However, I refuse to become a morlock. Yesterday I took a bicycle ride in the nearby San Gabriel Mountains. I don’t care if it eventually kills me…I WON’T RELINQUISH THOSE THINGS THAT MAKE ME FEEL HUMAN!
PoA, if I recall you’re also here in SoCal. Good luck to you and yours.
Posted by: Dr. Wellington Yueh | Apr 8 2012 20:33 utc | 28
Hoarsewhisperer [ 12]
*Thanks. All good reads.
With the Yankees shining a spotlight on their China=Threat agenda, the Economist article provides a relatively brief background summary of the relevant issues without taking sides.*
the economist is a fukus establishment mouth piece, its editorials n write
ups have been anything but neutral
even if according to colm ol toole, it has chronicled an accurate picture of
the chinese military development, its overall narrative is typical fukus
hogwash
i could pick on 1001 points but just this would suffice
*In the western Pacific, that would mean targeting or putting in jeopardy
America’s aircraft-carrier groups and its air-force bases in Okinawa,
South Korea and even Guam. *
why not?
considering that us spy planes that frequently *probed* china’s air
defence are based on okinawa ?
n amerika is building another military base in jeju, where its missiles can hit
beijing , shanghai in mins ?
*The aim would be to render American power projection in Asia riskier
and more costly, so that America’s allies would no longer be able to rely
on it to deter aggression or to combat subtler forms of coercion. It would
also enable China to carry out its repeated threat to take over Taiwan if
the island were ever to declare formal independence.
China’s military build-up is ringing alarm bells in Asia and has already
caused a pivot in America’s defence policy* [sic]
really ?
has it occured to the dear editors that may be , just may be, the chinese
are bulding up feverishly to prevent the usn from using the tw straits n south china sea as its private pond, to thwart further GUNBOAT POLICY n provocation at its doorstep, to counter us orchestrated *ring of fire* , to prepare for
possible us outright aggression ?
anyone who describe us foreign policy, especially when it comes to
china, as *defensive* must be either a moron or rightwing nut
may be i should’ve written to the economist instead of ranting here,
trouble is, those icons of *free speech*, the likes of the economist,
[ditto the diplomats] never once publish my challenges to their bs.
my very first three posts to the economist were deleted within 5 mins.
so there, i’ve zero respect for the assholes there
Posted by: denk | Apr 9 2012 2:14 utc | 29
@denk – released
—
Former Taliban leader flees for safety
Abdul Sallam Zaeef, ex-Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, takes shelter in UAE after US troops attempted to raid his home.
A source close to Zaeef told Al Jazeera that American forces had tried to search his Kabul home twice over allegations of involvement in an international terror plot, but his government-provided bodyguards had prevented their entry.
“He found life in Kabul difficult, and he is currently in the United Arab Emirates. Twice they came to get him, who knows if they might kill him the third time,” the source said.
An Afghan intelligence official confirmed that US forces tried to enter Zaeef’s home this month, but were prevented.
“The checkpost outside his home belongs to us, so we were contacted when the US forces arrived,” the officials said.
“We denied them entry, and we sent back-up security to the area.”
Is this the U.S. military is trying to make peace talks in Afghanistan impossible?
b :- “Is this the U.S. military is trying to make peace talks in Afghanistan impossible?”
after more than 10 years, you’re still asking this? 🙂
Posted by: Hu Bris | Apr 9 2012 15:15 utc | 32
OK, re: #28…major math fail. My fault, agitated, please forgive me.
Here’s a page describing in relative detail the internal workings of the BWRs at Fukushima:
http://blogs.nature.com/news/2011/03/fukushima_crisis_anatomy_of_a.html
The math regarding the fuel stock is a bit vague, but I’ll conservatively guess 50 pellets per rod, and the site says 100 (approx) rods per assembly, and there are 1,532 assemblies in SFP #4 alone. That makes for 153,200 rods in the pool, for a total of something like 7.6 million pellets. Extrapolate to include SFPs for each reactor (6), plus one common SFP said to hold 6,000+ assemblies, and you come to the conclusion that there is a $#!+-load of high-level waste just lying around there. A lot of this has already been burned into airborne soot or exploded into aerosolized particles. How much of this is left intact on-site? How much has already become a ‘background’ component in our atmosphere?
Posted by: Dr. Wellington Yueh | Apr 9 2012 22:29 utc | 33
We may not have to wait for the 7 quake to hit our karma from 1945 plays out.
Fukushima to Burn Highly-Radioactive Debris
Fukushima will start burning radioactive debris containing up to 100,000 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram.
…How much radiation is that? It is a lot. Nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen has said that much lower levels of cesium – 5,000-8,000 bq/kg (20 times lower than what will be allowed to be burned at Fukushima) – would be sent to a special facility in the United States and buried underground for thousands of year. See this and this. It is comparable to the levels of radioactivity found within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. See this and this. And even the Japanese – who have raised acceptable levels of radiation to absurd levels – would normally demand that material with this radioactivity be encased in cement and buried:
Posted by: juannie | Apr 10 2012 12:28 utc | 34
would be sent to a special facility in the United States and buried underground for thousands of year.
Sais something about how grave this disastrous situation really is. THere’s too much conterminated material to handle in a traditional manner.
Posted by: Alexander | Apr 10 2012 13:41 utc | 35
one reptile faces another: Zunes and Evans are both guilty of seeking the overthrow of sovereign states:
http://www.alternet.org/world/154807/why_one_of_the_world's_leading_peace_advocates_threatened_to_punch_me_in_the_face?page=entire
does Alternet appreciate the black irony/
the past returns to haunt R2P founder gareth evans….and given his doctrine has now killed > 100000 people in Libya, this is one can of worms reopened we can be thankful for…and to think its Stephen Zunes who did it!
http://indymedia.org.au/2012/04/07/gareth-evans-%E2%80%93-an-apologist-for-genocide
Posted by: brian | Apr 10 2012 14:16 utc | 36
Another earthquake off the Indonesian coast, in Ache quake was measured to 8.5 on the Richters scale. It has been issued tsunami-warnings in India and all over the region. I guess we are going to see lots of these things this year. With the increased temperature, rock deeper in the ground is expanding, and consequently continents are frictioning against eachother.
Posted by: Alexander | Apr 11 2012 9:12 utc | 37
US tzunami-warning says to expect 6 meter waves in the Indian ocean.
I suspect the extreme temperatures this month is a direct consequence of the North-sea methane blow-out, which is still in progress.
Posted by: Alexander | Apr 11 2012 9:25 utc | 38
The quake was a 8.7 on the richter scale, for 4 minutes, 25 km below the surface 450Km southwest off the coast of Banda Acheh. Probably just a horizontal movement, so no tzunami was created, just a small few inches wave. No major destruction. This one went ok.
Posted by: Alexander | Apr 11 2012 10:36 utc | 39
yulia tymoshenko, aka “the gas princess”, the heroine of ukraine’s orange revolution which was sposored by the usual suspects, who got rich stealing russian gas and became prime minister of ukraine, denies murder changes from jail, wheres she’s been since being convicted of tax evasion.
picture of a gas princess…
you will no doubt remember that ukraine, after the highly televised “orange revolution”, was one of the main players in PNAC’s efforts to restrict russian access to european energy markets.
putin, devil that he his, brought this trouble on himself by chasing the oily israeli russians out of russia, and the noecons will never forgive him.
too bad ukraine has since tilted back towards russia.
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 11 2012 10:55 utc | 40
Yeah, Russians are looking good these days, that gas princess with the trademark hairtangle too..
Posted by: Alexander | Apr 11 2012 11:07 utc | 41
speaking of “oily israeli russians”…
mikhail khodorkovsky, the one hat didnt get away, has his plea for pardon rejected and will stay in a russian hoosegow, as one of his fugitive business partners is charged with tax evasion.
khodorkovsky’s most famous partner, leonid nevzlin, was convicted in absentia for five murders after he fled to israel, but apparently attends parties at the white house.
*shrug*
leonid is not nearly as pretty as yulia, but they’re birds of a feather.
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 11 2012 11:14 utc | 42
alexander,
you got to wonder why, here in america, the bastion of justice, freedom, massive handwringing about human and civil rights, and all that jazz, we continue to let shitheads like perle, wolfowitz, cheney, rumsfeld and the rest of that rotten troop walk the streets.
more of gunter grass’s hypocrisy, i guess.
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 11 2012 11:18 utc | 43
It is noteworthy that the ICC only goes after the black ones. I’ve tried finding anything on Bush and the rest of the crew and war-crime charges, but every page looks at least 4 or 5 years old.
Posted by: Alexander | Apr 11 2012 11:23 utc | 44
well, grass nailed it… the western hypocrisy…
as things progress and the body count rises, i imagine the aemerican neocons are sweating bullets, hoping that the empire holds together long enough for them to die a natural death.
it’s possible, i guess, if things shake out quick enough, that there’ll be bands of neocon hunters roaming the planet, rooting these guys out of their hiding places.
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 11 2012 11:28 utc | 45
With money you can buy yourself a good standing in the US political elite, and then you are immune against crime charges.. And everyone has their price. Even Obama.
Yeah, I’m not American, so I don’t appear as unpatriotic when I say, I hope the US hegemony crumbles along with its economy. Something good has to come from this economical trouble.
And by the way, the economy can’t be sustained by building weapons, that is by nature not constructive or a productive area of investment. The USA would be well advised to invest in something else, like alternative energy and elctricity production from different forms of weather, which will be plentiful in the decades to come..
Anyways… here is what i found by retreatingbladestall links.:
Convicted felon of Murdering 5 People invited to the White House by Obama
Posted by Jacques Martin on Nov 26th, 2009
In his lively introduction of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the recent General Assembly in Washington, Leonid Nevzlin reminded the audience just how unexpected and unusual a role this was for him.
“There was a time not so long ago when I couldn’t even imagine standing here in this place, in this country, only blocks from the decision-making capital of the world, with this responsibility,” Nevzlin said, describing his life as a businessman and apathetic Jew in Moscow before he made aliyah in 2003 and became a heavyweight among Jewish philanthropists.
His prominent speech — which earned him a standing ovation by the collected leadership of the American Jewish federation world — was the privilege given to him as international chairman of the yearly gathering and its major sponsor. And though the exact figure has not been disclosed, organizers of the G.A. have told the Forward that his money played a significant part in making the three-day event happen. Nevzlin’s charity, NADAV, was also conspicuous as one of the main organizers of the conference’s many forums and workshops.
The speech represented a crowning moment of what has been a complete rebranding effort by Nevzlin, 50, erasing his past as a Russian oligarch who just narrowly escaped jail, convicted in absentia last year in a Moscow courtroom to life in prison for ordering the murder of five people. A recent article about him in Forbes magazine — which estimated his wealth in 2004 to be $2 billion — was headlined, “The One Who Got Away.”
Israel, which has refused repeated attempts to extradite him to Russia, has helped greatly in this transformation. He has become an important philanthropist there, using his charity to fund projects that promote “Jewish peoplehood” and to gain influence and respectability in the process. This past September, he made a donation of $6 million to establish the Museum of the Jewish People, a new iteration of Beit Hatfutsot, Tel Aviv’s Diaspora Museum.
Now, with a very visible onstage handshake with the Israeli prime minister and a visit with President Obama at the White House as one of 50 invited guests during the G.A., Nevzlin is effectively positioning himself to become a philanthropic force in the United States, as well.
According to Dede Feinberg, co-chair of this year’s G.A. and former president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, Nevzlin’s problems with the Russian authorities were not an issue in granting him the chairmanship. “I did not know about it. And it was only after the G.A. that I asked,” Feinberg said. “And I learned that he was completely exonerated by courts in Israel. I said, okay, good enough for me.” Feinberg was referring to Israeli courts’ refusal to extradite Nevzlin.
—
Misha Galperin, executive vice president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, said he was responsible for the marriage between Nevzlin and the Jewish Federations of North America, organizers of the G.A. He thinks that Nevzlin’s appearance at the gathering marks his entrance on the American Jewish scene. “Many people were quite taken with him,” Galperin said.
Asked if Nevzlin’s past had been an issue, Galperin bristled and wondered whether one would ask the same question of Natan Sharansky, the new head of the Jewish Agency for Israel who was accused by the Soviet Union of being a CIA agent and sentenced to 13 years in jail. “The two cases have absolutely the same validity,” Galperin said, “none.”
I never heard of such things before..
Posted by: Alexander | Apr 11 2012 11:50 utc | 46
By the way, why not use the US understanding of international laws, and assume Bush, CHeney and all the bastard war-criminals are guilty, and fire missiles at them from drones, that would be a good solution to getting rid of both the war-criminals, and the criminal precedence of extrajudicial killings in one go. Because, if someone white gets killed by a drone, they would have to reevaluate the whole legality of killing.. I mean assassinations by satellite and computer-games.
Posted by: Alexander | Apr 11 2012 11:58 utc | 47
i dont see how this can go on much longer… people, even lobotomized americans, simply will not put up with it forever.
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 11 2012 12:07 utc | 48
my dad brought home a bunch of pictures from ww2, official army photos… hundreds of them, mostly airplanes and GIs goofing off…
but there were a few pictures of mussolini and clara hanging by their heels, and a couple pictures of mussolini in his coffin after the italians got done with him.
i’ve been wondering for 50 years why my folks let us kids look at those pictures.
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 11 2012 13:19 utc | 49
Hu Bris I understand your exasperation. You can’t argue with spam propaganda. That’s pretty much what it is. Increasingly the comments are inundated with repetitive propaganda from a few posters namely Alexander and retreatingbladestall. For whom do they work? That’s the question.
Posted by: Sultanist | Apr 11 2012 13:22 utc | 50
if you guys had a leg to stand on, you wouldnt have to shoot the messengers, would you?
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 11 2012 13:29 utc | 51
I don’t work for anyone. I might state the obvious, too many times, but what interest do I seem to propagate?
Posted by: Alexander | Apr 11 2012 14:29 utc | 52
sultanist, I think you’re not right, nobody would employ them. They are just too stupid. Look at what this “Alexander” just wrote wrt the Sumatra earthquake, global warming etc.pp. It’s comparatively easy to get a glimpse on what causes an earthquake, but they are even too stupid to use the internet.
They comment on everything but don’t know anything.
“Another earthquake off the Indonesian coast, in Ache quake was measured to 8.5 on the Richters scale. It has been issued tsunami-warnings in India and all over the region. I guess we are going to see lots of these things this year. With the increased temperature, rock deeper in the ground is expanding, and consequently continents are frictioning against eachother.
Posted by: Alexander | Apr 11, 2012 5:12:23 AM | 37
US tzunami-warning says to expect 6 meter waves in the Indian ocean.
I suspect the extreme temperatures this month is a direct consequence of the North-sea methane blow-out, which is still in progress.
Posted by: Alexander | Apr 11, 2012 5:25:19 AM | 38”
lol
Posted by: thomas | Apr 11 2012 14:41 utc | 53
You don’t think atmospheric/ocean temperature influences volume of rock?
Posted by: Alexander | Apr 11 2012 15:04 utc | 54
the temps at 20 miles underground are probably so hot and so insulated from the surface that it would take thousands of years for surface temps to affect temps that far underground, if ever.
but, i got to say, it’s nice to see so many supporters of the PNAC project declaring themselves, and it’s even nicer that they cant do anything but attack the messengers.
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 11 2012 15:13 utc | 55
apparently these people that are taking potshots at the messengers are too stupid to realize that their tactics are exposing them…
first, they’re exposed as supporters of the PNAC project, and the radical zionists who dreamed this project up.
second, their attack on the messengers rather than the messengers’ arguments is an admission that the messengers are right.
oh well
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 11 2012 15:22 utc | 56
so, what it boils down to is this: the debate is over, the neocons lost…
but the debate never counted for shit in the first place, because the neocons’ basic belief is, might makes right.
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 11 2012 15:48 utc | 57
so I wonder if MoA now rates 3 trolls or if it is just one with sockpuppets. morocco bama – sultanist – slothrop – and now thomas choose to defecate in public. cheering each other on….why? what kind of crusade is it?
rather pathetic isn’t it? useful idiots for someone I suppose or maybe they really are that detached.
Posted by: dan of steele | Apr 11 2012 20:13 utc | 59
rather pathetic that someone like yourself needs to virtually covort with others with whom you always agree.
I really don’t understand the whole “troll” accusation. I like this blog, for the most part. I just think a lot of the commentators here are really stupid. I would say about five years ago, this wasn’t actually the case
Posted by: slothrop | Apr 11 2012 20:57 utc | 60
Sultanist posts almost identical comments as Morocco Bama over at Pat Lang’s blog.
He’s an American nationalist trying to save his country from the evil thoughts of all of us in that scary place known as “the rest of the world”.
Not that there aren’t some stupid opinions out here in this backwater.
Posted by: nobodee | Apr 11 2012 22:36 utc | 61
Clearly Sultanist is the same as Morocco Bama, the style is the same. And the thomas-character looks like a slothrop-clone.
Posted by: Alexander | Apr 12 2012 2:47 utc | 62
Today’s Earthquake Fact
There is no such thing as “earthquake weather”. Statistically, there is an equal distribution of earthquakes in cold weather, hot weather, rainy weather, etc. Furthermore, there is no physical way that the weather could affect the forces several miles beneath the surface of the earth. The changes in barometric pressure in the atmosphere are very small compared to the forces in the crust, and the effect of the barometric pressure does not reach beneath the soil.
However, climate changes, notably crust temperature changes from air and especially water, and melting snow and ice with the change in weight-pressure, probably will have effect. The planet really isn’t so big that these things, and the gravitational pull of the moon, and weight-distribution of tide, and probably a whole lot of other things, can not matter.
Posted by: Alexander | Apr 12 2012 11:39 utc | 63
@ denk | Apr 8, 2012 10:14:27 PM | 29
Sorry I missed your rant but I don’t spend much time on Open Threads.
And sorry you forgot to establish yourself as a ‘friendly’ commenter at The Economist before slithering into attack-dog mode. How is that a clever way get your pov published on a hi-profile site?
But anyhow…
i could pick on 1001 points but just this would suffice
*In the western Pacific, that would mean targeting or putting in jeopardy
America’s aircraft-carrier groups and its air-force bases in Okinawa,
South Korea and even Guam. *
why not?
considering that us spy planes that frequently *probed* china’s air defence are based on okinawa?
n amerika is building another military base in jeju, where its missiles can hit
beijing , shanghai in mins?
*The aim would be to render American power projection in Asia riskier and more costly, so that America’s allies would no longer be able to rely on it to deter aggression or to combat subtler forms of coercion. It would also enable China to carry out its repeated threat to take over Taiwan if the island were ever to declare formal independence.
China’s military build-up is ringing alarm bells in Asia and has already
caused a pivot in America’s defence policy* [sic]
really ?
has it occured to the dear editors that may be , just may be, the chinese are bulding up feverishly to prevent the usn from using the tw straits n south china sea as its private pond, to thwart further GUNBOAT POLICY n provocation at its doorstep, to counter us orchestrated *ring of fire* , to prepare for possible us outright aggression?
anyone who describe us foreign policy, especially when it comes to china, as *defensive* must be either a moron or rightwing nut.
…or tongue-in-cheek, as I suggested to C O’Toole, about the bone he had to pick with the article. There’s no doubt at all in my mind that the ‘dear editors’ are perfectly aware of just how fatuous the claims made by the US really are. But it’s true that the US has swung its focus from the ME to China (and Africa to thwart China’s ambitions there (read the latest post at Race for Iran – there’s a link in MoA’s blogroll). But they’re too late. Russia and China can’t afford to cede any more independence/sovereignty to the US and it’s partners in crime – imo.
may be i should’ve written to the economist instead of ranting here,
trouble is, those icons of *free speech*, the likes of the economist,
[ditto the diplomats] never once publish my challenges to their bs.
my very first three posts to the economist were deleted within 5 mins.
so there, i’ve zero respect for the assholes there.
If you were honest with yourself you’d be able to admit that you
(a) didn’t expect the Economist to publish what you wrote
OR
(b) you went about it the wrong way.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 12 2012 17:14 utc | 64
Steve Gowans’ explanation of the policies of Psychos R Us toward Iran, its people, and its non-existent Nukes.
http://gowans.wordpress.com/2012/04/12/the-uss-barbarous-policy-on-iran/
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 13 2012 6:08 utc | 65
@ 65
Excellent analysis piece. Well worth a read. This sums it up good:
The reason, then, for punishing Iranians with new and more debilitating privations is not because their government has a secret nuclear weapons program —which no one in the US state believes anyway—but because a developing Iran with independent energy, economic and foreign policies threatens Washington’s preferred world political order—one in which the United States has unchallenged primacy.
Posted by: Alexander | Apr 13 2012 11:25 utc | 66
iran needs an excuse to attack israeli america, so we’re giving them the excuse… iran probably wont attack israeli america, because that would be suicide.
nevermind… as long as they have a reason to attack israeli america, israeli america can attack itself and blame iran for the attack, and people will think that iran finally reached the end of its rope, and snapped.
and how is israeli america gonna achieve “unchallenged primacy” if they dont control the oil? …especially oil going to china? …because china’s seen the handwriting for decades now, and they’re deliberately industrializing to be able. technologically, to defend themselves from israeli america…
and they’re doing this with the certainty that, down the road, they’re gonna pay a horrible price for industrializing, because they’re gonna have to ship all those industrial workers back to the farm as the oil runs out… and there’s gonna be hell to pay for that.
but apparently the chinese are willing to kput up with all that as the price for self-determination, rather than knuckling under to israeli america’s “benevolent global hegemony”… the chinese have had experience with round-eye benevolence, and that wasnt so pretty, either.
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 13 2012 12:10 utc | 67
Hoarsewhisperer [64]
*…or tongue-in-cheek* [sic]
i suppose the economist was also *tongue in cheek* when it praised *our kind of guy suharto* as a man of peace ?
+The West, unsurprisingly, was delighted to do business with Indonesia’s new “moderate” leader, who was “at heart benign,” the Economist declared+
http://tinyurl.com/7xyvud8
or when it exonerated class a war criminal tony blair ?
+The Financial Times and The Economist (part of the Pearson TV group) put the media consensus most clearly:
With his name cleared, Tony Blair can go on to become President of Europe.+
http://tinyurl.com/73522u9
just 2 examples of the economist’s *sense of humour*
as per hoarsepower
Posted by: denk | Apr 13 2012 15:24 utc | 68
@ denk.
OK, I get the point.
I didn’t say I’m a big fan of, or criticise your opinion of, the Economist; I said I liked the article C O’T linked to. And I still do, despite its perceived flaws. The only Economist articles I’ve ever read (until now) have been good enough to be recommended by sources I respect.
Maybe they’ve got NYT syndrome – plenty of bs on Page 1 & 2 and just enough careful, truthful stuff down the bottom of Page 17 to cover their asses?
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 13 2012 16:58 utc | 69
Btw denk, what’s [sic] about tongue-in-cheek?
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 13 2012 17:13 utc | 70
Hoarsewhisperer [70]
didn i say the economist is a
fukus establishment mouth piece ?
there’s nothing *tongue in cheek* in its deadly
pro west ,pro war tirades
btw
some of ur snide remarks are incomprehensible n totally uncalled for…..
*And sorry you forgot to establish yourself as a ‘friendly’ commenter at
The Economist before slithering into attack-dog mode. *
*If you were honest with yourself you’d be able to admit that you
(a) didn’t expect the Economist to publish what you wrote
OR
(b) you went about it the wrong way. *
wtf ?
Posted by: denk | Apr 14 2012 2:40 utc | 71
Yes, the Gowan piece is excellent. For me, this is key piece:
“Given that bankers, corporate lawyers and top corporate executives hold key positions in the US state and given that they fund and contribute to elite policy formulation organizations, it can be concluded that the point of US primacy is to secure the financial and corporate class’s profit-making interests. These include: creation of conditions for low-wage labor; the elimination of infant-industry protections; bans on subsidized pricing of necessities; upward redistribution of income; privatization of heath care and education; weakening environmental and health and safety regulations; and so on; in other words, all that is necessary to make profits fatter, and at the same time, all that makes the lives of ordinary people—in Iran and the West–meaner, poorer, shorter, and more uncertain.”
Posted by: ben | Apr 14 2012 3:16 utc | 72
denk @ 71.
The remarks weren’t uncalled for.
You called for them by embellishing a (justifiable) opinion that the Economist is a ‘fukus establishment mouth piece’ with some sour grapes about denk’s fatal collision with their comment policy.
It’s a completely different issue and I addressed it as such.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 14 2012 5:14 utc | 73
i had wanted to rest the matter but …..
just to set the record straight,
Hoarsewhisperer[73]
*You called for them by embellishing a (justifiable) opinion that the Economist is a ‘fukus establishment mouth piece’ with some sour grapes [sic] about denk’s fatal collision with their comment policy*
*sour grapes* eh
so u finally admit the economist is a fukus mouth piece
yet u seem to suggest that i am at fault for getting censored by the assholes there
*And sorry you forgot to establish yourself as a ‘friendly’ commenter at
The Economist before slithering into attack-dog mode. *
*attack dog mode* ?
u dont even know what i sent to the economist
so pray tell,
whats the *correct way* to get my comments posted at the economist ?
how would i insinuate myself with the *dear leaders* there as a *friendly commentator* ?
*If you were honest with yourself you’d be able to admit that you
(a) didn’t expect the Economist to publish what you wrote
*
god damn
now u question my honesty for reporting a simple case of msm censorship ?
if u’re honest with urself
u’d admit that
firstly, u display a lack of comprehension by interpleting the fukus piece as *neutral*
then u compound ur mistake with the bizzare rationale that the economist was being *tongue in cheek*
[or may be u’re the cheeky one here ?]
to top it all,
u blame me for getting censored by the fukus mouthpiece
like i say
wtf ?
Posted by: denk | Apr 15 2012 1:26 utc | 74
u dont even know what i sent to the economist
I admit it, denk, I was guessing.
u blame me for getting censored by the fukus mouthpiece
I’ve just been back to C O’T’s Economist link (@6). There were 469 comments.
There’s no shortage of negative reactions and it’s pretty obvious that you can’t get deleted from the Economist’s Comment Page for merely disagreeing with them.
If it wasn’t your fault you were ‘censored’, whose fault do you think it was?
Don’t bother answering that.
I’ve got a couple of bruised ribs and it hurts when I laugh…
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 15 2012 7:19 utc | 75
[75]
in the first place
i say *may be i should’ve sent this rant to the economist*
meaning….. i didnt !
coz my first attempt posting there was wiped out
u just make another wrong assumption !
as for ur briiliant deduction [sic]
lots of folks, me included, experience censorship at the huffpost
especially after the change of ownership
but we must all be lying according to hoarswhisperer
coz u find some dissenting voice there lol !!
yeah u just keep digging a deeper hole for urself there
what puzzles me is why u seem bent on defending that
fukus mouthpiece while shooting barbs my way, even casting doubt on my integrity
for no reason
*bruised ribs* u say ?
more like bruised ego i think
anyway it has been a waste of time
i rest my case
Posted by: denk | Apr 16 2012 1:08 utc | 76
http://www.cnbc.com/id/47058108
Article on Spain experiencing the predicatble effects of auterity measures: economy tanking, unemployment soaring — and the bond holders now demand even higher interest rates.
How is it that supposedly educated people in the leadership positions in the EU and US do not realize why Keynes came up with his ideas for lessening the intensity of economic recessions? Why do they think that what does not work will work if they just keep doing it?
What the hell is wrong with these people? Other than they have a desperate need to appease their Big Money overlords?
Posted by: jawbone | Apr 16 2012 16:02 utc | 78
Btw, denk, you wouldn’t just happen to be Den K (TRAK) would you?
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 16 2012 16:05 utc | 79
nevermind
it’s just another symtom of peak oil
Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Apr 16 2012 16:06 utc | 80
Michael Hastings/Rolling Stone The Rise of the Killer Drones: How America Goes to War in Secret
Re the Rolling Stone article, America’s 1% and their lackeys are as dangerously stupid as they are pitifully cowardly.
This bit, from page 3, stood out…
“We can do drone strikes without any help from the Pakistanis,” says the official, noting that the missions also provoke no “political cost” in the US…
I wonder what he sprinkled on those words to make them easier to digest when the time came to eat them?
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 16 2012 20:11 utc | 82
when the africom was setup
some pr type [a *civi*] came to shill on moa
his routine includes such fun trip like
*jogging 10 miles to visit the oldest man in the world
only to find him sleeping soundly*
how charming !
barely 6 yrs later
this benign outfit has become the hq to
recolonise *the dark continent*
Posted by: denk | Apr 17 2012 3:04 utc | 83
Incident at Idaho Falls nuclear facility, apparently a fire in the roof of a spent fuel tank facility, like the one in Fukushima. This only 6 months after the last time this facility had a radiation incident with 16 workers exposed when moving plutonium. It seems US nuclear facilities are badly in need of closer attention, maybe IAEA should look more to the US than Iran.
Fire prompts evacuation at nuclear research lab in Idaho
(2012-04-16)
The Idaho National Laboratory, Materials and Fuels Complex, is shown in this September 9, 2009 file publicity photograph
(Reuters) –
SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) – A welder’s torch ignited a small fire on the roof of a building at a nuclear research laboratory in Idaho on Monday, prompting an evacuation, but no one was hurt and no radioactive material was involved, lab officials said.
Nearly 100 employees were cleared from the building, part of a complex that includes facilities housing spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste at the Idaho National Laboratory, the U.S. Energy Department’s leading facility for nuclear reactor technology.
The fire damaged 4 square feet (0.4 square meter) of the roof and was extinguished about 2-1/2 hours after smoke was first detected, the lab said in a statement.
No radioactive material was affected or involved in the fire, and there was no release of radiation, the lab said.
The complex of buildings where the fire erupted sits near the edge of the sprawling 890-square-mile lab site in the high desert of eastern Idaho, about 38 miles from the city of Idaho Falls.
In November 2011, 16 Idaho lab workers in an adjacent building were exposed to radiation during an accident that occurred while they were preparing to remove an old plutonium fuel cell from a decommissioned reactor.
The building whose roof caught fire on Monday houses research laboratories but no spent fuel or radioactive waste, lab spokeswoman Misty Benjamin told Reuters.
Several thousand employees and contractors work at the Idaho National Laboratory, the U.S. Energy Department’s leading facility for nuclear reactor technology.
Posted by: Alexander | Apr 17 2012 6:31 utc | 84
It will be interesting to see if the conjectured new deal regarding the terms of the Iranian uranium enrichment program will indeed come to pass, or will, rather, be scuttled by a neocon-Likudnik wrecking crew. The two links come from sources well connected to Washington appartatchiks. By the way, the second link contains the comment
Salehi seemed to be reviving a 2009 Turkish plan to export Iran’s low-enriched uranium abroad, and receive back 20 percent fuel for its Tehran research reactor, supposedly to make the isotopes. That earlier deal collapsed because of opposition from Khamenei, who apparently is now ready to bargain.
which, it seems to me, conveniently forgets that the 2009 plan was cosponsored Turkey and Brazil, and that its failure to gain traction was rather more a consequence of a pronounced lack of enthusiasm on the part of the U.S. than of Khameneni’s opposition.
In fact, if one googles “Turkey Brazil Iranian nuclear enrichment” one gets ample documentaion along these lines, although it may well be that the 2009 plan mentioned by
Ignatius was a forerunner to that cosponsored with Brazil. (Here I am giving Ignatius the benefit of a doubt, and am perhaps too charitable in doing so.)
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Apr 18 2012 14:45 utc | 85
87 minutes of North Korea’s recent big military parade.
Look at 15 min in (or watch it all if you are interested). They have some 25 battalions marching in lockstep. An amazing discipline of a division+ size crowd with zero mistakes. I have to admit I am impressed.
—
Iran sanctions going well? Saudis replacing Iranian oil deliveries? Yeah. Sure.
Iran Boosts Output, Exports of Crude as Saudis Cut, JODI Shows
Iran increased output and exports of oil in February as Saudi Arabia cut back on production and shipments, official data posted on the Joint Organization Data Initiative’s website showed.
…
@b #86
Thanx for posting this b, it is interesting to watch how disciplined they are. I know western media portrays these people as oppressed and poor and have no voice but I am skeptical about the info we recieve and wonder how much is it just western crap as opposed to this is the way these people feel about their country and what they had to endure from americans and other countries during the korean wars.
Case in point, just lately we al read about how the world is angry with North Korea for testing a long range missile and everyone around it was up in arms threatening and calling them names, while just today India does the same thing, and not a whimper from any western country.
Posted by: ana souri | Apr 19 2012 17:58 utc | 87
@ 87
And as another case of point regarding India not receiving criticism, India isn’t even part of the Non Proliferation Treaty. Makes me wonder what is to be gained by signing up for it.
Posted by: Alexander | Apr 19 2012 18:20 utc | 88
b @ 86
Obviously the previous large shipments from Saudi Arabia to the USA came from cached oil, and is in no way sustainable. It was only meant to look sustainable. The JODI data indicate most oilproducers have to compensate for Saudi-Arabias lacking output this month.
Posted by: Alexander | Apr 19 2012 18:28 utc | 89
@slothrop “I really don’t understand the whole “troll” accusation. ”
For once (in the last decade?) – you give us something to chuckle about.
Posted by: DM | Apr 19 2012 21:20 utc | 90
This website is becoming more and more mad, from nazi shit to wet dreams of marching masses…
“b: 87 minutes of North Korea’s recent big military parade.
Look at 15 min in (or watch it all if you are interested). They have some 25 battalions marching in lockstep. An amazing discipline of a division+ size crowd with zero mistakes. I have to admit I am impressed.”
Oh b, please show me how to march “in a division+ size crowd discipline” to the Alabama Song, maybe Wehrmacht instructors could help??
BB will turn in his grave for his song’s misuse
Alabama Song
Oh, show us the way to the next whiskey bar!
Oh don’t ask why,
Oh don’t ask why!
For we must find the next whiskey bar
For if we don’t find the next whiskey bar,
I tell you we must die!
Oh moon of Alabama
We now must say goodbye
We’ve lost our good old mamma
And must have whiskey
Oh, you know why.
Oh show us the way to the next pretty boy!
Oh don’t ask why
Oh, don’t ask why!
For we must find the next pretty boy
For if we don’t find the next pretty boy
I tell you we must die!
Oh moon of Alabama
We now must say goodbye
We’ve lost our good old mama
And must have boys
Oh, you know why.
Oh show us the way to the next little dollar!
Oh don’t ask why,
oh don’t ask why!
For we must find the next little dollar
For if we don’t find the next little dollar
I tell you we must die!
Oh moon of Alabama
We now must say goodbye
We’ve lost our good old mama
And must have dollars
Oh, you know why.
Bertolt Brecht
Posted by: thomas | Apr 20 2012 11:44 utc | 91
@thomas – my guess is that you are off base regarding the NK clip. As an antidote to Trey Parker’s smug world view, it shows why the US can’t win against these people.
Posted by: DM | Apr 21 2012 1:37 utc | 92
Iran Decodes US Drone Intel
“Senior Iranian military officials announced that the country’s experts have decoded the intelligence gathering system and memory hard discs of the United States’ highly advanced RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft that was downed by Iran in December after violating the country’s airspace. ”
Posted by: claudio | Apr 22 2012 11:33 utc | 94