JOHN COLEMAN - GLOBAL WARMING IS A SCAM

John Coleman is perhaps the best known meteorologist of the United States. Founder of Weather Channel U.S. and has over 40 years managing weather programs.

Based on Coleman's statements he claims global warming is a complete hoax and that there are monetary motives behind it all.

"It's the greatest hoax in history. I'm amazed, appalled and offended by this. Many scientists with political motives have manipulated the data to create the illusion of an imminent global warming. Other then have pointed to the car saying that support these 'investigations '. later they began to get political and government funding to keep this movement, and soon sold us that there was a consensus' "



The whole article of John Coleman:

It is the greatest scam in history. I am amazed, appalled and highly offended by it. Global Warming... it is a SCAM.

Some misguided scientists with environmental and political motives manipulated long-term scientific data back in the late 1990's to create an illusion of rapid global warming. Other scientists of the same environmental-extremism type jumped into the circle to support and broaden the "research" to further enhance the totally slanted, bogus global warming claims. Their friends in government steered huge research grants their way to keep the movement going. Soon they claimed to be a consensus.

Environmental extremist, notable politicians among them then teamed up with movie, media and other liberal, environmentalist journalists to create this wild "scientific" scenario of the civilization threatening environmental consequences from Global Warming unless we adhere to their radical agenda.

Now their ridiculously manipulated science has been accepted as fact and become a cornerstone issue for CNN, CBS, NBC, the Democratic Political Party, the Governor of California, school teachers and, in many cases, well informed but very gullible environmental conscientious citizens. Only one reporter at ABC has been allowed to counter the Global Warming frenzy with one 15 minutes documentary segment.

I do not oppose environmentalism. I do not oppose the political positions of either party.

However, Global Warming, i.e. Climate Change, is not about environmentalism or politics. It is not a religion. It is not something you "believe in." It is science; the science of meteorology. This is my field of life-long expertise. And I am telling you Global Warming is a nonevent, a manufactured crisis and a total scam. I say this knowing you probably won't believe me, a mere TV weatherman, challenging a Nobel Prize, Academy Award and Emmy Award winning former Vice President of United States. So be it.

I suspect you might like to say to me, "John, look the research that supports the case for global warming was done by research scientists; people with PhD’s in Meteorology. They are employed by major universities and important research institutions. Their work has been reviewed by other scientists with PhD’s. They have to know a lot more about it than you do. Come on, John, get with it. The experts say our pollution has created an strong and increasing greenhouse effect and a rapid, out of control global warming is underway that will sky rocket temperatures, destroy agriculture, melt the ice caps, flood the coastlines and end life as we know it. How can you dissent from this crisis? You must be a bit nutty.


Allow me, please, to explain how I think this all came about. Our universities have become somewhat isolated from the rest of us. There is a culture and attitudes and values and pressures on campus that are very different. I know this group well. My father was a PhD-University type. I was raised in the university culture. Any person who spends a decade at a university obtaining a PhD in Meteorology and become a research scientist, more likely than not, becomes a part of that single minded culture. They all look askance at the rest of us, certain of their superiority. They respect government and disrespect business, particularly big business. They are environmentalists above all else.

And, there is something else. These scientists know that if they do research and the results are in no way alarming, their research will gather dust on the shelf and their research careers will languish. But if they do research that sounds alarms, they will become well known and respected and receive scholarly awards and, very importantly, more research dollars will come flooding their way.

Remember the United Nations had formed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in the late 1980's with the mission of accessing and countering manmade climate change. The UN had established this global bureaucracy on climate change. It had become the "world series" or "Olympics" for Climatologists and Meteorologists and scientists in related fields. You had to strive to be accepted, invited to present and review papers and travel to international meetings of the committee. Otherwise you were a nobody in your field.

So when these researchers did climate change studies in the late 90's they were eager to produce findings that would be important and be widely noticed and trigger more research funding. It was easy for them to manipulate the data to come up with the results they wanted to make headlines and at the same time drive their environmental agendas. Then their like-minded PhD colleagues reviewed their work and hastened to endorse it without question.

There were a few who didn't fit the mold. They did ask questions and raised objections. They did research with contradictory results. The environmental elitists berated them and brushed their studies aside.


I have learned since the Ice Age is coming scare in the 1970's to always be a skeptic about research. In the case of global warming, I didn't accept media accounts. Instead I read dozens of the scientific papers. I have talked with numerous scientists. I have studied. I have thought about it. I know I am correct when I assure you there is no run away climate change. The impact of humans on climate is not catastrophic. Our planet is not in peril. It is all a scam, the result of bad science.

I am not alone in this assessment. There are hundreds of other meteorologists, many of them PhD’s, who are as certain as I am that this global warming frenzy is based on bad science and is not valid.

I am incensed by the incredible media glamour, the politically correct silliness and rude dismal of counter arguments by the high priest of Global Warming.

In time, a decade or two, the outrageous scam will be obvious. As the temperature rises, polar ice cap melting, coastal flooding and super storm pattern all fail to occur as predicted everyone will come to realize we have been duped.

The sky is not falling. And, natural cycles and drifts in climate are as much if not more responsible for any climate changes underway.

I strongly believe that the next twenty years are equally as likely to see a cooling trend as they are to see a warming trend.

Read more »

NOAM CHOMSKY - TOP 10 MEDIA MANIPULATION STRATEGIES

Noam Chomsky, the distinguished American philosopher, political activist and professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has compiled a list of the ten most powerful and efficacious strategies used by “masters of the world” to establish a manipulation of the population through the media.

The strategies are so well-elaborated that even the countries with the best educational systems, succumb to the power and terror of those mafias. Many things are reported in the news but few are explained.


The journalistic tendency to balance stories with two opposing views leads to a tendency to ‘build stories around a confrontation between protagonists and antagonists’ (Ricci 1993: 95). Issues such as garbage and sewage sludge only get coverage, despite their importance, when there is a fight over the siting of a landfill or incinerator and the coverage is then on the ‘anger and anguish of affected citizens, or the conflicting claims of corporate spokesmen, government regulators and environmental activists’ rather than the issues and technical background to them (Gersh 1992: 16).

The job of media is not to inform, but to misinform: Divert public attention from important issues and changes decided by the political and economic elites, by the technique of flood or continuous flood of distractions and insignificant information.

Journalists who have access to highly placed government and corporate sources have to keep them on their side by not reporting anything adverse about them or their organizations. Otherwise they risk losing them as sources of information. In return for this loyalty, their sources occasionally give them good stories, leaks and access to special interviews. Unofficial information, or leaks, give the impression of investigative journalism, but are often strategic manoeuvres on the part of those with position or power (Ricci 1993: 99). ‘It is a bitter irony of source journalism … that the most esteemed journalists are precisely the most servile. For it is by making themselves useful to the powerful that they gain access to the “best” sources’ (quoted in Lee and Solomon 1990: 18).


The 10 Strategies:

1. The strategy of distraction

The primary element of social control is the strategy of distraction which is to divert public attention from important issues and changes determined by the political and economic elites, by the technique of flood or flooding continuous distractions and insignificant information.

Distraction strategy is also essential to prevent the public interest in the essential knowledge in the area of the science, economics, psychology, neurobiology and cybernetics.

“Maintaining public attention diverted away from the real social problems, captivated by matters of no real importance. Keep the public busy, busy, busy, no time to think, back to farm and other animals” (quote from text Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars).


2. Create problems, then offer solutions

This method is also called “problem -reaction- solution.”

It creates a problem, a “situation” referred to cause some reaction in the audience, so this is the principal of the steps that you want to accept.

For example: let it unfold and intensify urban violence, or arrange for bloody attacks in order that the public is the applicant’s security laws and policies to the detriment of freedom.

Or create an economic crisis to accept as a necessary evil retreat of social rights and the dismantling of public services.


3. The gradual strategy

Acceptance to an unacceptable degree, just apply it gradually, dropper, for consecutive years.

That is how they radically new socioeconomic conditions (neoliberalism) were imposed during the 1980s and 1990s:

• the minimal state
• privatization
• precariousness
• flexibility
• massive unemployment
• wages
• do not guarantee a decent income,

...so many changes that have brought about a revolution if they had been applied once.


4. The strategy of deferring

Another way to accept an unpopular decision is to present it as “painful and necessary”, gaining public acceptance, at the time for future application.

It is easier to accept that a future sacrifice of immediate slaughter.

• First, because the effort is not used immediately
• Then, because the public, masses, is always the tendency to expect naively that “everything will be better tomorrow” and that the sacrifice required may be avoided

This gives the public more time to get used to the idea of change and accept it with resignation when the time comes.


5. Go to the public as a little child

Most of the advertising to the general public uses speech, argument, people and particularly children’s intonation, often close to the weakness, as if the viewer were a little child or a mentally deficient.

The harder one tries to deceive the viewer look, the more it tends to adopt a tone infantilizing.

Why?

“If one goes to a person as if she had the age of 12 years or less, then, because of suggestion, she tends with a certain probability that a response or reaction also devoid of a critical sense as a person 12 years or younger.” (see Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars)


6. Use the emotional side more than the reflection

Making use of the emotional aspect is a classic technique for causing a short circuit on rational analysis, and finally to the critical sense of the individual.

Furthermore, the use of emotional register to open the door to the unconscious for implantation or grafting ideas , desires, fears and anxieties , compulsions, or induce behaviors …


7. Keep the public in ignorance and mediocrity

Making the public incapable of understanding the technologies and methods used to control and enslavement.

“The quality of education given to the lower social classes must be the poor and mediocre as possible so that the gap of ignorance it plans among the lower classes and upper classes is and remains impossible to attain for the lower classes.” (See Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars).

8. To encourage the public to be complacent with mediocrity

Promote the public to believe that the fact is fashionable to be stupid, vulgar and uneducated…


9. Self-blame Strengthen

To let individual blame for their misfortune, because of the failure of their intelligence, their abilities, or their efforts.

So, instead of rebelling against the economic system, the individual auto-devaluate and guilt himself, which creates a depression, one of whose effects is to inhibit its action.

And, without action, there is no revolution!


10. Getting to know the individuals better than they know themselves

Over the past 50 years, advances of accelerated science has generated a growing gap between public knowledge and those owned and operated by dominant elites.

Thanks to biology, neurobiology and applied psychology, the “system” has enjoyed a sophisticated understanding of human beings, both physically and psychologically.

The system has gotten better acquainted with the common man more than he knows himself.

This means that, in most cases, the system exerts greater control and great power over individuals, greater than that of individuals about themselves.


References:

Article written by Sylvain Timsit, collected in Pressenza: “TOP 10 MEDIA MANIPULATION STRATEGIES. Paris. September 21, 2010. The article is derived from: http://www.syti.net/Manipulations.html

Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars. This document dated May 1979, was found on July 7, 1986 in an IBM copier bought at an auction of military equipment. Negligence or intentional leak, this text has been in possession of the secret services of the U.S. Navy. For safety reasons, the document does not include the signature of the organization where it came from. But information and dates clippings left believing that these Bilderberg Group, a " discussion club " that meets the extremely powerful worlds of finance, economics, politics, the armed forces and services secrets. Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars was published as an appendix to the book "Behold A Pale Horse" by William Cooper, Light Technology Publishing, 1991.

Gersh, D. 1992, ‘Covering solid waste issues.’ Editor & Publisher 125(29 August): 15-6.

Lee, M.A., and N. Solomon 1990. Unreliable Sources: A guide to detecting bias in news media. New York: Carol Publishing Group.

Read more »

THE GREAT MAJORITY OF SWISS CITIZENS DO NOT WANT TO JOIN THE EUROPEAN UNION

The speech delivered on March 16, 2009 at the Head of Missions Lunch Meeting of His Excellency Boris Lazar, Ambassador of the Czech Republic in Bern, by the late Swiss-Lebanese entrepreneur, co-founder, CEO and chairman of the Board of the Swatch Group, Nicolas G. Hayek, still has a strong influence in all spheres of Swiss people.

Hayek emphasized the lack of true democracy in the EU and its economic unattractiveness for Switzerland. Somehow he suggested that the EU is not the modern, efficient and successful model in which many believe and instead, called for it to correct its mistakes and starts a real change.

The whole speech of Nicolas G. Hayek:

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Mr. Ambassador Lazar,

When Ambassador Boris Lazar asked me to address you to try to explain “why the majority of the Swiss citizens do not wish to join the European Union”, I decided to follow his invitation in the spirit of contributing to a better understanding between the European Union and the average and constructive Swiss citizen that I will try to represent today. Please consider what I say not as a scientific research presentation but as the views and positions of one Swiss belonging to the majority I mentioned.

When it was created in 1957, and for a long time afterwards, I considered what has now become the European Union a magnificent and wonderful achievement. I was at that time a relatively young man. Much later, the then European Commissioner Jacques Delors, who was a passionate European, invited me regularly to his office in Brussels. I discussed first with him alone and then together with many Europeans, at that time mainly German and French industrialists and entrepreneurs. The discussion was about how they could overcome competition from Japan, then called Japan Incorporated, without financial government aid or the help of the European Union, as we did in Switzerland with the Swiss watch industry that had been severely under pressure from the Japanese watch industry. Jacques Delors always called my appearances “L’histoire de la montre” – the story of the watch.

He also repeated at many of those meetings that I, the Swiss, was for him the most typical and true European because of my language capabilities and because of the deep cultural understanding for the various European entrepreneurs during such meetings. The most memorable of these meetings took place in Evian, with the heads of the top industries of Germany and France. It was an unforgettable experience for me. At that time we dreamed – at least I know I did – that Europe’s aim was to become a big Switzerland. Not so much because I believed that Switzerland was the ideal version of paradise, but because I was convinced that this was, despite many weaknesses, the best of all possible alternatives for Europe to achieve a wonderful common future at the same time as keeping its rich diversity and overwhelming cultures. It should be a common future not only for its own people, but also a strong example for a democratic and peaceful development for all people on our planet. In fact at the start, Jean Monnet and Robert Schumann declared that Switzerland was a model for a future EU: “La Suisse représente un modèle pour l’Europe” – Switzerland represents a model for Europe. Joschka Fischer, Jaques Chirac, Göran Persson and also Václav Havel have been repeating this in the last years. By the way – what a coincidence that Monnet, this highly respected European, died exactly thirty years ago on March 16.

My connection with the EU in Brussels was maintained later on for example with Romano Prodi, who I knew and who also asked my opinion in some committees. The harmonization and improvement of the economic and partly financial sectors in Europe has not disappointed me up to now, even though it is far from being perfect. The fact that wars between these great nations, France, Germany and Britain which had devastated Europe and shocked the rest of the world were resolved once and for all is no doubt one of the most magnificent and great achievements of the European community.

But the progress in the shaping of structure suddenly stopped. The EU did not continue the process of creating a strong, democratic and peaceful community, involving in every important segment of our life and society the emotional participation and commitment of every one or at least a majority of its citizens. At that time the number of member countries was limited and would then have permitted these few nations to create a federal state similar to that of Switzerland or the United States. This development stopped because the questions and problems it brought along were not easy to solve among politicians and nations who did not want to give up a significant part of their sovereignty and certainly not their privileges.

Instead of working in depth on the important problems to develop and shape future structures, they decided to act on the surface and add as many countries as could be found… and this without asking the people of the countries who created the first phase of Europe whether they agreed or not. It was apparently very important for the political establishment to involve as many millions and millions of people and countries as possible in a Europe that was not even defined, except in some very limited areas of the political systems. The most important incentive for these new countries was the possibility to cash in on economic and financial rewards. This enlargement would have been more than welcome after finalizing the structure of a more or less federal Europe. It was then that my hopes were dashed for a strong, powerful, democratic and peaceful Europe in the near future…a Europe that would help improve the quality of life for this whole world, for all of us.

It appeared to us then as a heavy, bureaucratic more or less chaotic and isolated mixture of ideological, social, economic and partly financial concepts, while everything else seemed to be left to chance, God and future generations. This, however, does not exclude at all the possibility that the EU, like most extraordinary human constructions, will be a fantastic achievement in the 22nd or the 23rd century, but I hope this will happen much sooner, in this century.

The euro as a currency is a strong example of another very good achievement that was efficiently but not completely put into practice. Britain, for example, refused to adopt the euro, but it was in a position to do so, while many other countries were not in an economic situation to join the currency system. So the European Union has a strong currency for some countries, but not for all. The financially weaker countries adopting the Euro in the present financial crisis might become a liability to support. Nevertheless, the euro is in itself so far one of the best achievements of the EU and can be considered a success.

But how about harmonizing very important decisions regarding foreign policy, defense and war? For a Swiss citizen it is absolutely inconceivable that part of Europe supported without any hesitation the policy of the Bush administration and joined the United States in the war against Iraq. Britain, Spain and other European countries sent troops under the US military fighting contingent, while France, Germany and others absolutely refused to join. For us, it was an example of a weak common foreign policy.

In addition and against the wishes of Germany and France, other EU countries for example, signed an agreement with the US government permitting US or NATO radar and rockets systems to be installed in their countries, directed officially against Iran. Russia considered these installations a threat against its territory. Also on this important point, the members of the European Union failed to agree. The foreign policy of Europe is not visible, anywhere. It’s everything and nothing, and the impact regretfully for all of us, is weak.

The European Union with so many unique democratic and strong countries might, however, have consolidated the whole system by achieving a consensus, clearly defining and agreeing about the direction it wanted to go in Europe and in the rest of the world, and identifying the targets to strive for in all important functions, needs and wishes of our human society and our political systems.

Yet before all that, the European Union decided to enlarge this incompletely defined system as much as possible, inviting several countries to join and possibly also partly in the Near East. It would mean expanding, after the eventual Turkish adherence, to the borders of Syria, Iraq and Iran . Is the goal of the EU to open the door to a future maybe stronger and more viable European and Middle East Union? Remember that Cyprus is only a few miles from Lebanon where lots of European crusaders had once taken refuge. If we take this a step further, you might include and bring peace to the entire Middle East with Israelis and Palestinians as part of the EU. What a miraculous achievement this would be for the whole world. Is there any valid reason to stop this development? Not only some Swiss but many Europeans, too, have been asking themselves the same question.

But in the meantime let us come down to Earth again. According to the information I have, the Swiss are among the people best informed about role and activities of the European Union. I am quoting Andreas Gross, a member of our House of Representatives and a Swiss citizen, who published an interesting article in the Swiss newspaper NZZ Neue Zürcher Zeitung on February 6, 2009, just two days before the Swiss people voted in favor of various contracts (among them the freedom of movement of new EU citizens) with the European Union, thus confirming the will of the Swiss people to continue along the bilateral way rather than enter the EU. Switzerland has had more referendums or votes about Europe than any other European country. Many votes, more than 50, about the European Union were held in several European countries during these last decades. The six founding members of the European Union or Community created in 1957, however, never asked their people for their agreement about shaping the European Union, except Britain successfully eighteen years later in 1975. In 2005, 48 years later, France asked its citizens if they wished to accept the European constitution. They refused, as did later Dutch citizens in 2006, and finally the Irish in 2008. Based on their direct democracy system Swiss voters like those in Denmark, are the people that are best informed about EU issues in Europe. Now let’s find out why the majority of the Swiss voters refuse to enter this EU.

Besides the facts already mentioned, no clear vision of Europe’s future is apparent in all the declarations, contracts and developments we have seen so far. The Swiss have no social, political, economic or financial incentive to join – on the contrary, they are and will be required to contribute heavily into the EU coffers. Chancellor Helmut Kohl for whom I worked as a member of his strategic industrial Committee for Germany, honored me with a private visit in Switzerland. During this visit he said “Nicolas Hayek, you have some credibility with the people of Switzerland. Why don’t you help convince them to join the EU?” I answered “Chancellor, why is it so important for the EU to have tiny – seven and half million – Switzerland on board?” And his answer came without hesitation and faster than a bullet “because you have a hell of a lot of money that we plan to put to good use”.

Swiss culture, mentality and education play a very big role in the natural reaction about the EU as we experience it today. Swiss society is one that completely despises power and violence, and violence through power. It is a society that loves peace and is absolutely against all physical violence. A concentration of too much power in one person or political party, for example, is not tolerated. Christoph Blocher of the Swiss People’s Party might be a typical and probably the most obvious recent example. His political party has the largest number of voters in Switzerland. It was widely agreed that he was an efficient minister but in an attempt to accumulate too much individual power he was voted off and stopped in his tracks by our House of Representatives and the Senate. Freedom and individual liberty for everyone have been imprinted in the Swiss soul since the country’s beginnings in the 13th century, long before the French revolution brought them to the fore. Individual freedom of the citizen is often more important than the state. To express it more clearly: the state has to serve the citizen, and not the citizen the state. They are part of the basic fundamentals cherished by the Swiss. It is no coincidence that Voltaire and many others fled to Switzerland to be free to write and speak. This is probably at the basis of the very rich tradition of political and financial shelter (such as banking secrecy), a right that the Swiss hold in such high regard.

Don’t forget also that it was a Swiss who created the Red Cross movement. Henri Dunant could not accept what he had seen on the European battlefields of Solferino in the late 19th century. The Red Cross is a typical Swiss creation, and it can only have the impact it has because the Swiss are considered and accepted worldwide as really neutral. What is more they are regarded as totally democratic and respectful of human rights.

May I also remind you that tiny Switzerland is a sizable industrial power with one of the strongest currencies in the world. It is also a financial power, and this will most probably also stay so in the near future, even if banking secrecy laws may be substantially modified or in the improbable worst case even abolished. The strong currency and political stability together with a deeply democratic and neutral environment will consolidate the safe haven message of a Switzerland with an honest financial industry cleaned of illegal criminal excesses.

In addition, the country never had the tendency to invade foreign countries in Africa, Asia, South America or elsewhere to create colonies, unlike many other but not all European countries. Not only Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal, but also the Netherlands and Belgium were involved in creating colonies and occupied distant countries for many years. The Swiss have never considered having colonies desirable also because the Swiss mentality and society genuinely and fundamentally respect human rights and the integrity and sovereignty of each person and community in the world to a very high degree. Countries which previously had colonies did indeed also respect human rights but considered, at that time, colonies under a different aspect.

That is why Switzerland’s popularity and reputation in this respect are positive among the new emerging countries. This brings us to our neutrality. Even if our culture is really very similar if not the same as that of our neighbors and relatives in France, Germany, Austria and Italy (there is hardly a Swiss who does not have close relatives in Europe), Switzerland has been neutral since 1815; it does not belong to NATO or any other military union. Switzerland has been one of the very few countries that have been able to integrate minorities without restriction or compromise with exactly the same rights and possibilities. If you take Ticino, the Italian speaking part of Switzerland and look back at how many cabinet ministers of Switzerland have originated from that part of our country, you will be amazed at the impressive number. Without any exaggeration we could probably claim that in Switzerland, the minorities actually often have more rights than the majority. We are inclined to call it positive discrimination.

Another characteristic of Swiss society is that the Swiss have no desire for creating a personality cult around any individual or worshipping a politician, a minister superwoman or superman. Dominant personalities make the Swiss suspicious. They accept and vote for intelligent, experienced, efficient citizens who can carry out their duties as honestly as possible, who are careful spenders and users of taxpayers’ money. That is why our taxes are generally lower than in many of our neighbor countries even though the investments into our social institutions and infrastructures are higher than or at least as high as those of our neighbors. The Swiss use their democratic referendums and voting rights every time important decisions have to be taken at the level of community, towns, cantons and the confederation. This is direct democracy. Taxes have to be fixed or accepted by the tax payer. When it comes to budgets for example, we have a control system that is working quite well, even though we cannot claim that everything is under control nor that waste does not exist. We have our share of problems in this regard, too.

All my professional life I have openly criticized some destructive and / or illegal aspects of banking and financial systems. I also regularly criticized these issues in speeches and interviews in Switzerland and abroad. I am one of those Swiss citizens who over the years have kept a healthy suspicion about a large part of the financial economy worldwide in general and also naturally more specifically in Switzerland, in the USA and the United Kingdom.

However, many Swiss do not have a highly-developed sense of crime when it comes to declaring every bit of tax income. They rather tend to consider it a minor illegal offense (or as we say Kavaliersdelikt). The average Swiss government member, I repeat it, treats and manages the money of the tax payer as if it were his own, in a thrifty way. The Swiss didn’t appreciate the hypocritical excesses of the bailiffs and provincial governors from centuries ago who insisted on getting as much tax money from their subjects as they could, if necessary with brutal force of arms, often using this money against the interest of their subjects. I’m thinking now for example of the Swiss national hero, William Tell, in the play written by Germany’s Friedrich Schiller.

That’s why – let us call it a “forgotten” – income declaration was viewed as a rather minor illegal action without suspecting that it could be a serious criminal activity, as allegedly practiced lately by at least one very important Swiss bank. However, Switzerland or at least some officials claims to have the citizens with the lowest tax evasion percentage of all industrial nations. For each Swiss it is natural that every case of tax evasion, even “conveniently” forgotten, should be punished. On the other hand the punishment should be consistent and proportionate to the “crime” that is committed and not exaggerated and blown up to a dimension it does not deserve. As we all know, this kind of situation is gathering strong controversial momentum at this very moment. The protection of the personal sphere against the unlimited curiosity of the governments if legitimate is still considered of major importance by the Swiss, but not only be them. Other European countries lately joined battle with Switzerland over this issue.

Not only the personality cult around a superwoman or superman could not exist in Switzerland, but the government of Switzerland has absolutely no medals or decorations to honor citizens for outstanding performance. Yet, some Swiss citizens are proud of receiving decorations from foreign governments. The Swiss government is one of the most stable in the world. Practically all the important political parties are involved, thus resulting in a large acceptance by the people of Switzerland.

They all work together even in conflict situations and despite differing ideas, it is remarkable that they achieve an agreement, a compromise. We call it concordance. It does not always work as some people would like, but in the end, a solution is always democratically accepted by all, even though sometimes rather reluctantly. The people’s decisions are respected by all, I repeat by all, even by the most conceited minister or president.

The Swiss have a remarkably strong currency. Switzerland keeps a monetary discipline that makes the Swiss Franc one of the two or three most stable currencies in the world. It is even the currency that has been stable for the longest period in modern times.

We also have an amazing capacity for negotiating and finding compromises. It is one of the very central reasons for the stability of our political and social system that we always find acceptable compromises for everybody without having to fight an internal war. This is evident as I mentioned before, in the concordance. Or in the relations with our labor unions with whom we have found an agreement whereby strikes – destructive for both the economy and the work force and disturbing for the public – are almost non-existent. It is an amazing experience to be involved in tough negotiations which at the beginning show that the positions are miles away from each other, and yet after a few weeks or months of talks, everybody more or less happily agrees.

The result is for all a better and higher income than in most other countries, and a high standard of living for practically all. This creates a bridge between the practically non-existing levels of Swiss society that amazingly has no proletariat with big social differences between its people, no matter how big or low our income is, we feel all very equal and consider ourselves as full members of society. It might be dull for many young citizens, but for the stability and the health of a nation it is good to know that at the end no violence is necessary to come to an acceptable solution.

The Swiss are more global than most nationals of this world. Based on their education, the culture of Switzerland and the multilingual knowledge of many citizens as well as the small size of the country, a big majority of the Swiss travel extensively and know the rest of the world very well. They are highly respected for their behavior, for their mentality and for the quality of their work and products.

A very solid apprenticeship education, in addition to the universities, engineering and training schools based on the solidarity of industry with the people and between the generations, the excellent know-how of craftsmanship enriched with modern technology and the sense of beauty and for high quality are unique. Only few countries can claim a similar system. In Switzerland, these structures have been honed almost to perfection over many years in all sectors of the economy, from the locksmith, the plumber, from the carpenter to the cook and the patissier – all have an enhanced reputation of good Swiss work. Switzerland’s universities are among the best in the world: the Federal Institutes of Technology in Zurich and Lausanne, as well as the universities located in Berne, Basel, Geneva, Lausanne (where a Jean Monnet foundation for Europe has its home) Neuchâtel, Fribourg, Lucerne, Lugano, Zurich and so on. Switzerland also has one of the largest Nobel Prize winners’ list in the world compared with the size of its population.

Furthermore, Switzerland uses the militia system for its army and adopts the principle also to politics – in some smaller cantons an official has a part-time job, carried out in the spare time of the appointed minister. And amazingly – every army member can keep his or her weapon at home. This encourages the feeling of security and the nearness of the Swiss people to the army. However, the storage issue is presently under discussion and the system might change soon. We shall see.

Switzerland is a very modern community, and in practically every corner of its mountainous terrain the same modern infrastructures are developed as in all other areas. Social security at all levels, and health and invalidity insurance are among the most efficient in the world.

When talking about Swiss infrastructure I have to mention also the highly-acclaimed hospitals, the railroads that almost always run on time, and the high-quality research and development centers, genuine temples of knowledge. Let me add that the clean environment is another proof that the Swiss have the greatest respect for ecology, the beauty of the landscape and Mother Nature.

For all these reasons, and because of the absolute neutrality of Switzerland, the United Nations and many international organizations have set up a base in Switzerland. The International Olympic Committee, FIFA, the International Rowing Federation, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the nuclear research center Cern – and many others have chosen the neutral and secure ground of Switzerland for their headquarters, as well as some 1.6 million foreigners living happily and peacefully here. Switzerland has one of the highest if not the highest percentages of foreign citizens in the world. More than one person out of five is a foreigner mainly from the EU. This percentage is always increasing not least because of the life quality and high standard of living. And in this count the many frontaliers, the daily frontier commuters from France, Italy, Austria and Germany are not included.

Switzerland was created in the 13th century by three cantons and over time these states were complemented by 23 other cantons. Over hundreds of years, they have maintained a very strong sovereignty at the canton level. The Swiss government, as you all may know, is not very powerful compared with other countries, even though it has the power to decide and put into practice foreign policy, infrastructure and defense matters and many other important sectors of our life. But the Swiss don’t appreciate a strong central power, and even less so if it should be in a Brussels that is perceived as constantly seeking more power and influence.

We Swiss, like all human beings, also have lots of shortcomings, disadvantages and weaknesses, and yes, we make our fair share of mistakes. But we don’t have the need or the time today to talk about them because they are irrelevant in our decision-making process about Europe. In addition, they could not destroy the dynamic message of Switzerland. It is considered a pearl.

Entering the EU with our heart and soul might destroy a big part of this pearl. And this would neither be in the interest of the Swiss, nor in the interest of the people of Europe, let alone the interest of the rest of the world. Switzerland is no doubt European, it is in the heart of Europe, and nobody, not even the Swiss themselves, can cut us out of this wonderful and beautiful European map and landscape. That is why trade between Switzerland and Europe is paramount. We buy more from Europe than we sell to Europe, but both exports and imports are very substantial and absolutely vital as you all know. It would be a very big mistake if one of the two partners would try to blackmail the other on the issue of this very positive economic exchange.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, these are the frankly presented, and I have to admit one-sided and perhaps overly positive views of an average Swiss and motivated European.

Now tell me, please, if you were Swiss, would you want to join this EU now? I even suspect very strongly that after listening to my speech, you would probably refuse to accept Switzerland in the EU should it wish to become a full member. But let’s keep the dialog open. Remember we can always find a constructive compromise.

Source: http://www.swatchgroup.com/en/services/archive/n_g_hayek_s_speeches/nicolas_g_hayek_about_switzerland_and_the_european_union

Read more »

GENDER AND JUSTICE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF SUSAN OKIN

Susan Moller Okin (1944-2004) was professor of political science at Stanford University (USA). She was the author of important works that stand between Gender and the Family, Fort Multiculturalism Bad Women and Women in Western Political Thought.

Okin was always very emphatic when she said that liberalism, as a theory, offered the necessary tools for criticizing the significant difference between women and men. She stated that the inequality between the sexes in matters relating to public and domestic issues, should be addressed legislatively. Her feminist political thought was well-recognized internationally.

What is feminist political thought?

According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, feminist political philosophy is an area of philosophy focused on understanding and critiquing the way political philosophy is usually construed, often without any attention to feminist concerns, and to articulating how political theory might be reconstructed in a way that advances feminist concerns. Feminist political philosophy is a branch of both feminist philosophy and political philosophy.

The bases of feminist political thought, according to its public importance are the personal appearance, sexual intercourse, domestic work, childcare and family life.

Okin attributed mainly to the way work is distributed within the family, inequality of opportunity between men and women, stating that the best solution to ensure equality for immigrant women is the abandonment of one's own cultural tradition and able to adapt to the standards that have adopted Western societies.

When talking about abuses against women, the first place we see is almost always the Middle East. We can’t say that gender inequality is a situation that only happens in the Middle East. We can see gender inequality in rich, poor, industrialized and non-industrialized countries. Surprisedly, in many industrialized countries the chances that a woman is in charge of great importance are unexplained low, although these countries each year are promoting gender equality, the reality is very different, as happens in the most "powerful" country in the world, USA, that has never had a woman as a President.

Definitely, women have fewer opportunities than men. In many cases, women are considerable talented, smart, brilliant, buy even under these arguments; they do not reach the basic support to get important positions of political and economic authority and power. For that reason, many people who have influential positions are men who have a very distant relationship with their children due to lack of time, or women who relinquished motherhood altogether in order to pursue their professional work.

It is inconceivable that in the XXI century there are still stereotypes that still promote the "very old tradition" that, only people who come from "very select families", have the potential to assume leadership roles and thus impair the possibilities of all those people, who based on effort, sacrifice, and honesty, have overcome obstacles.

The great discrimination and stereotypes that lead to women have lower wages than men for doing the same job; help to strengthen the traditional male thought that sees domestic work only for women. Women are victims of machismo, sexual violence, abduction, among others. In some countries, violence against women has become a "national sport", without mention that the same laws "guarantee" the superiority of men over women as if it were a divine mandate.

Occurrences generated of gender inequality is just one of many issues, ranging from family life, business environment, to the political arena, where thousands of women have little chance of being selected, and the problem magnifies particularly mothers with small children.

Okin noted that the current system makes that women in most societies, economically dependent on their husbands or simply accept positions that demand simple little time and effort, in order to raise their children. What future generations can learn if they see their parents live a relationship of dependence and subordination, not of love and understanding?

Many children have grown up in a hostile environment, where physical and verbal aggression is characteristic of everyday life. The sense of justice should inculcate children into the family first and not to wait the schools are responsible for carrying out this work to them when that is parents' responsability. If very young human beings see as men abuse women, as the women are helpless for not having laws that support and protect them, and where women who dare to report the physical abuse suffered by their boyfriends or husbands, are brutally murdered by them, then we are simply justifying those conducts, even worse when we do not punish the abuses that those women suffered. Many authorities are idly because there are no laws to punish violence against women or simply, these do not apply.

Physical abuse toward humans, even to animals, should be strictly punished. In this regard, the government is responsible for drafting laws to enforce the rights of us all, without any preference. If we develop a little empathy, which is nothing to learn to take the place of another, surely we would have better results because people somehow feel that many women feel when being just that, women are marginalized in many professional areas.

Personally, I believe that the desire of Okin's work was to contribute to the end of gender inequality and to the creation of a more just society and not, as some academics say, to abolish gender. She, as a liberal theorist, recognizes the importance that privacy has for society and how women and men are essential for society. Okin proposed to prevent women who perform domestic work are financially dependent on their husbands to get their pay they could recognize both spouses the same right to salary and divide it equally.

It is vital to the welfare of families, the work of women and men. Domestic work, mostly done by women, and the work of men in other areas are complementary. If there were someone to do domestic work, many men may not go to work and earn their wages so that one spouse stayed home to raise children, educate them and do the housework and in return, the law could reward all those people who do this work, allowing the family income is divided, making directly or indirectly both, woman and men, are rewarded.

In part, women are responsible for the current gender inequality. Some of them only think of marrying a man who fulfill all their wishes and look for her forever, and thus neglect their profession, their education, their friends and family, and when for some reason or another their husband leave them, comes the desperation to get money because economically always depended on their husbands. Women are the ones who must lay the foundation stone in this fight and not allow the system to dictate what they should do.

During her career, Okin got various awards, including the American Political Science Association's Victoria Schuck Prize for the best book on women and politics in 1989 for Justice, Gender and the Family, and the Allan V. Cox Medal for Faculty Excellence Fostering Undergraduate Research in 2002.

Okin lived with great passion advocating for women's rights, peace and justice, showing that passion in both, her academic work and in her philanthropy.

Okin was considered the best feminist political philosopher in the world. She was 57 when she was found dead at her home in Massachusetts, USA, on March 3, 2004.

Read more »

LET THE CITIZENS DECIDE

The countries of the European Union are seen as democratic countries. But more than ever the sound for a bigger influence of citizens on government is noticeable. In Italy people hit the streets demanding their prime minister to stop creating laws that make him untouchable for the law, still a majority in parliament approved the laws made by the prime minister. In the Netherlands 84% of the citizens are against a new mission in Afghanistan and as if the voice of citizens doesn’t matter, a majority in parliament agreed with the new mission to Afghanistan. 

The word democracy descends from the two Greek words: δῆμος (dèmos) “People” and κρατέω (krateo ) “to rule”. So a democracy is a country in where the citizens, the people, rule the country. So why aren’t the members of parliament (chosen by the citizens as their representative) listening to the people, as those countries claim to be a democracy. The most absurd aspect of this behavior is that the members of parliament often claim that they are representing the citizens but those citizens don’t have the knowledge to decide what is best for themselves nor their country. Simply said they claim the citizens of their country are a bunch of morons, who can’t make correct decisions and who need to be leaded like little children. 

A more democratic way of ruling a nation can be found in Switzerland. In Switzerland the citizens are given the right to vote on all issues, which normally are only discussed in parliament. This can range from international affairs like contributing to the war in Iraq, to immigration laws and improving infrastructure of Switzerland. An example is the referendum held in 1992 on the Swiss accession to the European Union, it was rejected. Untill now Switzerland is not a member of the European Union.

The form of government used in Switzerland is called direct democracy. With this form of government the citizens get the following instruments:

·         The right to petition -- A small number of collected signatures can force the elected parliament on a particular topic to discuss on a particular topic and vote on it.

·         Binding referendum on people’s initiative --  This is a referendum in which the signature threshold is higher than the right of petition, and where the voters can adopt or reject the citizens proposal, or bill of parliament. The result is binding.

·         Legally binding referendum -- This is the so-called plebiscite, the government or a sufficient number of MPs can propose a proposal to the voters. In Switzerland, a plebiscite is not allowed.

·         Deposition Procedure – Also called called recalls. An authority figure can be deposited when a majority of voters want that.

·         National Assembly -- This is the original form of direct democracy as it emerged in classical Athens: theekklesia, in many communities and two cantons in Switzerland National Assemblies are still held.

·         Online democracy – Parties communicate with their supporter through internet which could lead to a vote.

It’s time to follow the Swiss or not. In many European countries there are parties trying to make the democracy of their county a bit more democratic. Somehow those parties are not winning enough votes to make a change and let alone make their country a direct democracy. Let’s hope that the countries claiming to be a democracy will turn in to a real direct democracy, where it citizens have the power and not some elite. 

Read more »

THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA

The media are tremendously important not only as informative but also as formative. In that sense, they can raise awareness to the masses, build trust, and especially serve as a bridge between government and citizens. Sadly, the media many times are manipulated and thwarted.

In countries where the media and government, without ever having a perfect relationship, have more independence from each other; work much better because they have understood they are a decisive factor in the development of their nations.

The media can play a crucial role being the eyes of countries on their long-term strategy. Without the pressure made ​​by the media, there is no development. Democracies depend on what media say and teach citizens, but when they lie, all democracies are affected cause they touch our sentiments and drives us as they want. Sensational and superficial are the two main descriptions we can give today's media.

The media sometimes represent large corporations which of course have a direct profit motive. They have the basic function of social communication but when that basic function battles with the private purpose that those corporations have, a great conflict comes out and in most cases, the prevailing desire for profit wins.


Journalists who accurately report what their sources say can effectively remove responsibility for their stories onto their sources. The ideal of objectivity therefore encourages uncritical reporting of official statements and those of authority figures. In this way the biases of individual journalists are avoided but institutional biases are reinforced (Ryan 1991: 10,176). ‘Professional codes ensure that what is considered important is that which is said and done by important people. And important people are people in power. Television news thus privileges holders of power’ (Kellner 1990: 113-4).

Many magazines and newspapers are mouthpiece of some political parties, doing the task of informing with objectivity very difficult. So, people have to judge on their own by looking different channels for the same news and just then form a conclusion.

Many people do not trust the media. Or it is that maybe they all accept the self-contradictory definition: "Media: 99,99% of what happens is not on the news"

The information we all get from the media, is indispensable for the growing of democracies for three main reasons:

1.- Information provided by the media help to see if governments popularly elected are doing everything they promised in campaign.

2.- Every country that wish to become a very strong democracy must have strong and empowered citizens who are willing to participate actively in political discussions, and to meet in all their civic obligations.

3.- The media can guide and empower citizens to take action as they are a very powerful weapon used to target not few but large masses. The media can also help build peace and social consensus.

The media are sometimes called the fourth branch of government, just after the executive, legislative and judicial power. Basically, we can assume the media have four main roles to play: inform, enlighten, entertain, and educate.

It is fundamental that media are the guardian of countries cause its participation in the development process can decide many things such as establishing objectives, in reflecting public opinion, and in building a decent environment of criticism because constructive criticism is always appreciated, specially for the role it has in helping governments to rethink their decisions when they are not the best for the future of their countries.

The media as a whole have to operate under precisely the same rules without preferential treatment in the licensing process. The influence of the media are enormous as never before in the history of our planet, but if that influence is not used correctly; we could have irreversible consequences.

In words of James Wolfensohn, ex-president of the World Bank, “Freedom of expression and freedom of the press are surely essential elements in the development process.”

Contradiction?

No wonder that the media are campaigning one day quite "aggressive"against cigarette consumption and its terrible consequences, and another day are broadcasting commercials of different brands of cigarettes. This is where many of us wonder, are there contradictions in the current model of communication?

The media should be giving us fair analysis and factual information and not as happens most of the time, where the media have their own agenda which is to avoid people knowing the truth. Needless to say, they do not always represent the interests of citizens. The media tend to represent groups of powerful spokespersons. That's why people say that they are a key to changing consumer habits of a society.

Environmental problems are poorly reported in the media because of the need to provide entertainment rather than political awareness, to attract audiences for advertisers, even in news and current affairs programs. This occasionally affects a specific item of news but more generally affects the sorts of stories that are covered and the way they are covered. News editors are reluctant to deal with controversial political and social issues that might alienate potential consumers. As a result news has become bland and neutral and ignores issues that concern large portions of the population who are not considered to have or exercise much buying power (Bagdikian 1983: 180-1, 201-2).

The great dilemma of the developing and poor countries is that people do not know that their basic rights are and if they know, they don't know about where to go and what to do. They don't know what their collective strength is because they tend to act separately. Even they don't know how to protest and what the importance of protests is.

What is fundamental in every country is that we all, with the pluralism that surrounds all nations; can bring together the forces for being used in favor of our countries and not against it. When the media start doing their homework in the right way; we will start looking at them as a real watchdog with a very high credibility among the public.


References:

Bagdikian, B.H. 1983, The Media Monopoly. Boston: Beacon Press.

Kellner, D. 1990, Television and the Crisis of Democracy. Boulder CO: Westview Press.

Read more »

THE DISASTERS THREATENING THE WORLD

If the speed of light would not exist; if the star closest to our sun would not be four light years from the Earth, the only inhabited planet in our system; if ETs really existed; the imaginary visitors to the planet would continue their voyage without understanding all that our humankind is suffering.

Just a few centuries ago in the millennial history of Man, nobody knew what was happening on the other side of the globe. Today, we can find out what’s happening right away and sometimes they are hugely transcendental events that affect all the peoples of the world.

Without more preamble, I shall limit myself to the most important news during the last two days.

“TeleSUR, March13, 2011: Volcano eruption in Japan triggers new alarm

“The Japanese Meteorological Agency informs that the volcano Shimoedake, located on the island of Kyushu to the south-east of Japan, spewed ash and stones this Sunday to a height of four thousand metres, after two week of relative calm and two days after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that lashed the country.”

“…it became active last January for the first time in 52 years…”

“According to a BBC report, buildings in a radius of 4 kilometres were damaged and hundreds of persons fled from the vicinity, panic-stricken.”

“The […] seismic movement with a magnitude of 9.0 on the Richter Scale, according to the Meteorological Agency of Japan, has already had repercussions on other volcanoes…”

“Japan crushed by the quake, tsunami and explosions at nuclear plants

“SENDAI, Japan, Mar.14, 2011 (AFP) – A double explosion on Monday in Reactor No. 3 at the Fukushima 1 nuclear plant fed the rumour of an atomic disaster in Japan, a country already overwhelmed by a quake and a tsunami that may have left more than 10,000 dead.

“Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), operator of Fukushima 1 (250 km to the north-east of Tokyo), also admitted the possibility that the fuel of Reactor 2 had entered into fusion because of damage to the cooling circuit. The government, for its part, minimized the possibility that an important explosion should be produced in that reactor.

“Rescue teams found approximately 2,000 corpses on the coast of Miyagi Prefecture (north-east), while millions of Japanese were attempting to survive without water, electricity, fuel or sufficient food and hundreds of thousands were forced to take shelter at emergency centres because of the tsunami that destroyed their homes.”

Aid workers from around the world arrived in the archipelago to collaborate with more than 100,000 soldiers that are trying to give aid in a country that continues to be shaken by earthquake after-shocks and lives in permanent fear of false alarms about new tsunamis.”

“Fear of a nuclear disaster was being added to the agony caused by the devastation. The quake, the tsunami and the explosions at the plants place the country into its “most serious crisis (…) since the end of WW II”, stated Prime Minister Naoto Kan.”

“An explosion had occurred on Saturday in Reactor No. 1, taking the life of one technician and injuring eleven.

“Fusion is produced on account of the reheating of the bars of fuel that start to melt just like candles.”

“Authorities declared a state of emergency at a second nuclear plant, the Onagawa Plant in the north-east…”

“Another nuclear plant, Tokai, suffered damages to its cooling system…”

“An 8.9-magnitude earthquake, and the following tsunami with a height of 10 metres, ripped through the north-eastern coast of the Japanese archipelago on Friday.”

“More than 10,000 persons may have lost their lives in the coastal prefecture of Miyagi (north-eastern Japan)…”

“At least 5.6 million homes are still without electrical power…”

“DATA- What’s happening in the Japanese nuclear reactors?

“March 14 (Reuters) – A second explosion shook the Japanese nuclear plant damaged by an earthquake, where authorities are working desperately to prevent nuclear fusion in the reactors.”

“The nucleus of a reactor consists of a series of tubes or metal zircon bars that contain pellets of uranium fuel stored in what the engineers call the fuel equipment.”

“Back-up refrigeration had problems several times during the last three days in Reactors 1, 2 and 3 at the Fukushima plant.”

“However, natural degradation of radioactive materials in the reactor’s nucleus continues to produce heat, called residual heat, falling to a quarter of its original level during the first hour and then disappearing more slowly.”

“Usually that heat is eliminated by refrigeration pumps that, in the Fukushima Plant, lost its emergency energy supply due to the earthquake, tsunami or both.”

“It was that hydrogen gas that caused the two explosions in the Fukushima Plant, in Unit 1 on Saturday and in Reactor 3 on Monday, according to experts and officials.”

“If a steel dome should break inside a reactor, the radiation levels will rise. But at this point now the heat is not enough to destroy them, experts say.”

“The risk is still there that the nucleus could melt and that could make removal of the fuel really difficult, or even impossible; that’s what happened on Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979.”


“EFE March 14th: “US moves its vessels further from the Japanese coast after detecting radioactivity in 17 soldiers”

“The Pentagon informed today that 17 soldiers who are participating in assistance work in Japan registered “low levels” of radioactivity and it ordered its Seventh Fleet vessels based in the Japanese city of Yokosuka to be temporarily repositioned.”

“The USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier was 160 kilometres to the north-east of the plant at the time of the escape after the tsunami following the quake with a magnitude of nine points on the Richter Scale that shook Japan.”

“Fighting to cool down Fukushima Reactors 2 and 3 and number of dead grows”

“International News, Mar 14 (EFE).- Those in charge of Reactor 2 at the Fukushima Plant in Japan are trying to cool it down, after it may have suffered partial fusion as a result of over-heating; they are also cooling down Reactor 3 where there was an explosion that did not cause any radioactivity to escape.”

“While authorities struggle to control the nuclear risk, the number of dead increases as a result of the earthquake that has caused the worst tragedy in Japan since WW II.”

“The tremor could be felt powerfully in Tokyo, the largest city in the world with more than 30 million inhabitants, where the mood is one of sadness and citizens are using alternate transportation such as bicycles in the face of fuel shortages.”

“The country’s Meteorological Agency has warned the Japanese about a week of after-shocks and of a 70 percent possibility of a 7-point earthquake in Japan by this Wednesday.”

“Germany cancels plans for nuclear extension for three months”

“Berlin, Mar 14 (dpa)”

“The accident recorded this weekend at the Japanese Fukushima Plant as a result of the earthquake and later tsunami that devastated the Asian country on Friday ‘has completely changed the global situation’, Merkel stated.”

“‘Accidents in Japan show that what we thought impossible is possible and the risks we thought were improbable are not so improbable’, she went on to specify…”

“AFP. Yemen: Three demonstrators dead, among them a 12-year-old boy”

03/12/11

“SANAH (AFP) – Three demonstrators died, among them a 12-year-old boy and hundreds were injured on Saturday in Yemen where the protesters accused the police of having used toxic gases to disperse them.”

“A demonstrator died and approximately 300 were injured or intoxicated by the gases…”

“According to the UN, 37 demonstrators and at least six police died since the unrest began in Yemen.”

“ABU DHABI, March 14 (Reuters)”

“The price increase for crude and the recent and sudden reduction of the existence of cereals in the world could indicate a supply crisis, FAO Director Jacques Diouf told Reuters…”.

“‘The high prices are worrying and we have a huge decrease in their existence’…”.

“LONDON (AP) — British-based defense contractor BAE Systems PLC bribed Saudi officials in return for lucrative arms deals in Saudi Arabia, according to a newly released secret U.S. diplomatic cable.”

“…BAE, Europe’s largest defense contractor, paid more than 70 million pounds ($113 million) to a Saudi prince.”

“EFE. Ashton does not dismiss the possibility of imposing a no-fly zone over Libya

“In Cairo today, Catherine Ashton, in charge of EU Foreign Policy, does not dismiss the possibility of imposing a no-fly zone over Libya after meeting with Arab League Secretary General Amro Musa.”

“TRIPOLI, 14 (ANSA) – The forces of Muammar Kadafi today attacked Ajdabiya, in eastern Libya, and Zuwarah in the north-east, while the opposition National Council assured it would recover positions and said that it has international commitment to establish a no-fly zone.”

“The Council assured today that it obtained the commitment of the United States, Great Britain and France to set up a no-fly zone.”

“General Abd al Fattah Yunis, member of the rebel military council, assured that they would recover positions on the coast and in the country’s Eastern region…”

“‘We shall recover those cities and you will soon hear that our army advances towards Sidra and Tripoli’.”

“100 THOUSAND VOLUNTEERS HAVE JOINED GADDAFI FORCES

“TRIPOLI, 14 (ANSA) – Some 100 thousand volunteers have joined Libyan armed forces since the start of combat between troops backing Muammar Gaddafi and the rebel groups, government sources stated today.”

“Bahrain: opposition denounces “occupation” after the arrival of Saudi soldiers.



“MANAMA, March 14, 2011 (AFP)”

“‘The people of Bahrain is facing a real danger: that of a war against the citizens of Bahrain with no declaration of war’, seven opposition members emphasized, including Wefaq chiita, in a report.

“‘We consider the entry of any soldier, any military vehicle, into the land, air or sea space of the Kingdom of Bahrain to be a flagrant occupation of the unarmed people of Bahrain and a violation of international treaties and agreements’, the opposition added.”

“MORE PROTESTS YEMEN, BAHRAIN AND MOROCCO

“MANAMA and ADEN, 13 (ANSA) – Protest demonstrations continue today in Yemen, where three people died, and in Bahrain and Morocco, against the governments of those countries, local sources informed today.”

“…in Saudi Arabia, dozens of persons met today in the vicinity of the Ministry of the Interior headquarters in Riyadh to demand the liberation of a group of activists being held by police.”

“MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Tens of thousands of Bahraini protesters encircled one of the royal family’s palaces Saturday, shouting calls for political freedom and the king’s ouster a day after a similar march triggered a violent response from security forces.”

“Protests in Bahrain modeled on the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.”

“Bahrain holds particular importance to Washington as the host of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet…”

“United Arab Emirates to send troops to Bahrain

“DUBAI, March 14 2011 (AFP) – The United Arab Emirates announced on Monday they are going to send troops to Bahrain to contribute to “preserve order and stability” in that neighbouring country where the Saudis have already arrived with the same military purpose.”

“MANAMA, March 14 2011 (AFP) – The opposition in Bahrain stated on Monday that ‘any foreign military presence’ shall be considered to be ‘an occupation’, in their reaction to the arrival of Saudi troops in the Kingdom.”

“More than a thousand Saudi soldiers, part of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) common forces, arrived in Bahrain, swept by a wave of demonstrations, according to statements to AFP by a Saudi in charge.”

“MEXICO (AFP) – The so-called US ‘Operation Fast and Furious’ that presumably allowed the deliberate entry into Mexico of almost 2,000 weapons, placed relations between the two countries into a delicate position, according to experts, and caused the unanimous irritation of Mexican legislators.”

“‘If the US acted without including any Mexican authority, we are dealing with totally unacceptable interference and a clear show of non-confidence’ by Washington in the Mexican police, former Ambassador to the US Jorge Montaño commented to AFP.”

“Mexico is facing unprecedented spiralling violence that has left almost 35,000 dead since December of 2006 in confrontations between drug traffickers and anti-drug police, as well as around a hundred victims caught in the cross-fire.”

“The Mexican senate described ‘Fast and Furious’ as an ‘aggressive and unilateral’ operation and an ‘insult to the sovereignty’ of Mexico.”

“IPS March 14 15:04”

“Tonight we were informed that Reactor No. 2 at the Fukushima 1 Plant was melting after emergency cooling systems failed, and this aggravated fears of radioactive contamination. On Saturday and this Monday there were explosions in Reactors 1 and 3.”

“Reactor No. 2 is functioning with a fuel known as Oxide Mix (MOX fuel) that contains plutonium, a particularly harmful substance for health.”

“ROME, 14 (ANSA) – There is a total of 442 active nuclear reactors in the world, concentrated in 29 countries and constructed by no more than ten companies.

“Europe, […] where governments today began to review their policy in the sector, has 148 active reactors in 16 countries.

“To those […] already active, we can add 65 that are under construction…”

“The world record for the number of functioning nuclear reactors is held by the United States with 104, followed by France with 58, Japan with 54…”

Last minute news just heard in Cuba informs that there was a third explosion at Fukushima:

“EFE March 15 20:13: There is fear of radioactive leaks due to the nuclear fusion of a reactor at Fukushima

“Tokyo, March 15 (EFE).- The company operating the Fukushima Nuclear Plant (north-eastern Japan) today acknowledged that it fears radioactive leaks due to a possible fusion in the nucleus of Reactor No. 2 which this morning suffered an explosion.

“Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) admitted that radiation may have been released after the structure enclosing Reactor No. 2 was damaged while radioactive levels in the area registered 8.217 microsieverts per hour, as opposed to the allowed 500.”

We can observe the complex situation prevailing in the Arab world where a revolutionary wave has been unleashed by its peoples.

The Saudi King supports the NATO war in Libya; while in Bahrain, NATO supports the Saudi invasion. The blood of the Arab peoples will be spilt to benefit the great trans-nationals of the United States while oil prices reach unpredictable heights as wars are unleashed in the areas producing the most oil and nuclear disasters in Japan multiply the resistance of peoples to the proliferation of nuclear plants.

Wastage and the capitalist consumer societies in their neo-liberal and imperialist phase are taking the world into a blind alley, where climatic change and the growing cost of foods lead billions of people towards more acute poverty levels.

Fidel Castro Ruz
March 14, 2011
9:35 p.m.


Source: http://www.cubadebate.cu/

Read more »