Question: Do we have time to [reduce] carbon emissions to save ourselves from climate change?
Lovelock: Not a hope in hell. Most of the "green" stuff is verging on a gigantic scam. Carbon trading, with its huge government subsidies, is just what finance and industry wanted. It's not going to do a damn thing about climate change, but it'll make a lot of money for a lot of people and postpone the moment of reckoning. I am not against renewable energy, but to spoil all the decent countryside in the UK with wind farms is driving me mad. It's absolutely unnecessary, and it takes 2500 square kilometres to produce a gigawatt - that's an awful lot of countryside.
Question: What about work to sequester carbon dioxide?
Lovelock: That is a waste of time. It's a crazy idea - and dangerous. It would take so long and use so much energy that it will not be done.
Question: Do you still advocate nuclear power as a solution to climate change?
Lovelock: It is a way for the UK to solve its energy problems, but it is not a global cure for climate change. It is too late for emissions reduction measures.
Question: So are we doomed?
Lovelock: There is one way we could save ourselves and that is through the massive burial of charcoal. Memo to self: google process for turning Greenpeace etc. to charcoal.
Question: It's a depressing outlook.
Lovelock: Not necessarily. I don't think 9 billion is better than 1 billion. I see humans as rather like the first photosynthesisers, which when they first appeared on the planet caused enormous damage by releasing oxygen - a nasty, poisonous gas. As is CO2. What we need is a xenon atmosphere
It took a long time, but it turned out in the end to be of enormous benefit. I look on humans in much the same light. For the first time in its 3.5 billion years of existence, the planet has an intelligent, communicating species that can consider the whole system and even do things about it. They are not yet bright enough, they have still to evolve quite a way, but they could become a very positive contributor to planetary warfare welfare.
Question: Are you looking forward to your trip into space this year?
Lovelock: Very much. I've got my camera ready! Boggle. And what is the carbon footprint of this flight? Talk about your noxious gases!
Question: Do you have to do any special training?
Lovelock: I have to go in the centrifuge to see if I can stand the g-forces. I don't anticipate a problem because I spent a lot of my scientific life on ships out on rough oceans and I have never been even slightly seasick so I don't think I'm likely to be space sick. They gave me an expensive thorium-201 heart test and then put me on a bicycle. My heart was performing like an average 20 year old totally sedentary geek, they said.
Question: I bet your wife is nervous.
Lovelock: No, she's cheering me on. And it's not because I'm heavily insured, because I'm not. But at least she'd be rid of the old SOB
#1
"2500 square kilometres to produce a gigawatt" > Iff only there was a FRANKEN/ZILLA SCIENTIST-PERT whom can combine TESLA'S FREE ENERGY CONCEPTS WITH DIRIGIBLE-BASED AIR-WIND POWER PLANTS IN HIGH EARTH ORBIT???
* FUTURAMA > the World in the Year 3000+ will go to hell once it begins to regulate its mad Mad MAD M-A-D MMMMMAAAAAADDDDDD "MAGNIFICIENT BASTARD" MAD SCIENTISTS, espec Madonna Fans from GUAM???
Atmospheric and oceanic conditions reflect La Niña.
Negative equatorial SST anomalies persist across the central and eastern Pacific Ocean.
Based on recent trends in the observations and model forecasts,La Niña conditions are likely to continue into Northern Hemisphere Spring 2009.
-----------------------
This is from a noaa slide show. There is a statistical correlation with La Nina in the NH winter and drought in the southwest and southeast.
#6
@#$%$@^$*&#$ La Nina means another four or five years of drought for Colorado. The last eight or ten years have been drought conditions 70% of the time or greater. Combined with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and no sunspots, it means cold, dry, and harder to live in. Combined with an Obambi presidency, life's going to get rough for a lot of people. Mamma never said life would be easy, but this is getting ridiculous.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/23/2009 12:55 Comments ||
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#7
Dust Bowl?
Who knows. But either way things are gonna be interesting (and not in a good way) for the next 4 years.
For the first time in the history of Islam, Muslim leaders have agreed to regulate the issuing of fatwas, or religious edicts, according to press reports Wednesday.
More than 170 Islamic scholars attending the International Conference on Fatwas convened at the Muslim World League in Mecca, Saudi Arabia agreed to a charter intended to curb disruptive and unauthorized fatwas, the London-based Asharq al-Awsat reported Wednesday.
The charter details the rules for issuing fatwas and discusses the disruption caused by fabrications and misinterpretations of the Quran and Sunnah, the prophet's teachings.
Several infamous fatwas issued last year provoked outrage in the Arab and Western media, such as a rulings calling for the death of Mickey Mouse, banning yoga and permitting the killing of satellite television broadcasters.
Mickey Mouse became the subject of a fatwa
The new rules prohibit calling a Muslim an apostate without a flagrant violation of Islamic laws and forbid rulings in cases where a particular matter cannot be judged according to Islamic law.
The charter also advises Muslims not to follow fatwas that sanction bloodshed.
According to the charter a fatwa must be written clearly to avoid ambiguity and facilitate understanding by Muslims and non-Muslims alike by avoiding unnescesary detail.
The conference cautioned the media to exercise caution in propagating fatwas and to consult expert scholars in order to avoid the dissemination of unauthorized and unauthenticated edicts.
The charter states the requirements of the position of mufti, a religious jurist who interprets Islamic law. A mufti, who must be a Muslim male, should be wise and fully aware of his surroundings and the context in which the fatwa is issued. He also must have the ability to apply the text to real life situations and should be knowledgeable of the methodologies of previous muftis.
The conference called upon Islamic educational institutions to compile contemporary fatwas and incorporate them in their syllabi as well as hold seminars that explain to students the benefits, as well the dangers, of fatwas and the rules that have to regulate the issuing process.
The attendees also called on Muslim countries to appoint muftis throughout their lands to help Muslims solve contemporary problems in accordance with Islamic laws.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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The attendees also called on Muslim countries to appoint muftis throughout their lands to help Muslims solve contemporary problems in accordance with Islamic laws.
Polls were suspended in five upazilas and at over 50 polling centres of other upazilas due to deterioration of law and order, intimidation of voters and irregularities in the yesterday's upazila polls held across the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Okay... according to my calculations, carefully arrived at over the course I 5 yrs of Rantburgery... I can now maker the announce!
Upazila = Precinct!
Wait... no, maybe Ward... hummmm...
Damn, I had the Triumph all tuned up with airintires.
Pro-Awami League (AL) candidates won the chairmanship of most of the upazilas, according to unofficially results of yesterday's upazila parishad elections received early today.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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The UK is officially in recession. Confirmation came this morning when figures published by the Office for National Statistics showed the economy shrank by 1.5pc in the final three months of last year.
It follows a 0.6pc fall in the third quarter of 2008, and is the steepest quarterly contraction since 1980. Economists had been predicting a 1.2pc fall for the final quarter.
Sterling tumbled on the news and was down almost 3 cents against the dollar at $1.3570 shortly after 9:30am and was also almost a penny weaker against the euro.
"The sheer fall in GDP is staggering, " said Stephen Gifford, Chief Economist at Grant Thornton. "Financial meltdown has probably been averted but the economy has now entered a recession which is sure to be as bad as the early 80s."
Economists and policymakers have been predicting the recession - which technically occurs when the economy contracts for two successive quarters - for months after the collapse in the once-booming housing market triggered a crisis in the banking system.
Rising unemployment, business failures and bleak news from the manufacturing and services sectors have all followed in waves.
The Government has twice bailed out the country's battered banks and the Bank of England has slashed interest rates as they together try to pull the economy back from the brink.
"The government and the Bank of England have their work cut out to provide enough stimulus to prevent deflation and depression, " said George Buckley, an economist at Deutsche Bank.
The crisis that began in 2007 in the US housing market has now spread to almost all sectors of the UK economy, hitting businesses and consumers alike. Experts are now trying to predict how deep and how long this recession will be.
Most believe that it will be longer than the recessions of the early 1980s and 1990s, when GDP shrank for five successive quarters, but the jury is still out.
"Until recently we have felt this recession was as bad in scale and duration as the early 1990s, but not as bad as the early 1980s. We've moved beyond that now," said John Cridland, deputy director general at the CBI. "The main difference now is that this is truly global. That is a worry because normally one market pulls up another. But when it is global, everyone suffers," he added.
The hope had been that the recent weakness of sterling would help make Britain's exports more competitive. However, the downturns in Britain's key export markets - the US and Europe - has meant the boost has been negligible so far.
The recession is also likely to drive unemployment to levels not seen since at least the 1980s as companies cut back in the face of falling demand. Unemployment jumped by 131,000 in the three months to November to reach 1.92m the highest level since September 1997. It is expected to peak at more than 3m in 2010.
An official has barred Marines from visiting Tijuana as the California border town's drug violence soars.
Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton has restricted travel to Mexico for the unit's 44,000 members, USA Today reports.
"The situation in Mexico is now more dangerous than usual," Mike Alvarez, the unit's civilian public information officer, told the paper. "The intent is just to look out for the Marines' safety and well-being."
Last year, 843 people were killed in Tijuana, up dramatically from its 2007 death toll of 337. Many of the murders were execution-style and the bodies were found decapitated, the paper said.
The Marines said the order was first put in place for the Christmas holidays. USA Today said the order was extended indefinitely last week.
#1
I believe that Juarez has been off limits to the soldiers from Ft. Bliss for several years.
Had many a good time there when I was stationed at Beumont/White sands in 72.
#7
Tijuana has always been dangerous - when my son was stationed at Pendleton, he went down there and got his girlfriend's name tattooed on his shoulder. Unfortunately, he broke up with her. And his wife has a different name.
My comment was that I had been married to his mother for almost 30 years, and that MAYBE in another 10 or 20 years, I would think of getting her name tattooed on my shoulder, because by then I would be sure that it was going to last.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/23/2009 18:21 Comments ||
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Figured we could all use some good news for a change...
HAVANA -- A new photograph released Friday shows Fidel Castro looking less gaunt than in his last image two months ago, but the ailing Cuban leader said he doubts he'll make it to the end of Barack Obama's four-year term. ...and then big tears rolled down his cheeks.
Castro, 82, hasn't been seen in public since undergoing abdominal surgery in July 2006, and he formally turned over the presidency to his brother Raul last year. On Thursday night, he instructed Cuban officials to start making decisions without taking him into account. In a column titled "Reflections of Comrade Fidel," he suggested his days are numbered, saying Cuban officials "shouldn't feel bound by my occasional 'Reflections,' my state of health or my death." Okay, El Jefe, we'll do that...
"I have had the rare privilege of observing events over such a long time. I receive information and meditate calmly on those events," he wrote. "I expect I won't enjoy that privilege in four years, when Obama's first presidential term has ended." Okay, El Jefe...
"I have reduced the 'Reflections' as I had planned this year, so I won't interfere or get in the way of the (Communist) Party or government comrades in the constant decisions they must make," he wrote. Okay, El Jefe, we get it, okay?
Despite stepping down from the presidency after nearly a half-century as Cuba's supreme leader, Castro's periodic essays have continued to carry weight. They are diligently read in full at the top of midday and nightly radio and television newscasts before any other national or international story. Coming up next..."Who Wants to be a Hundredaire", followed by "Chico and the Man". Then your local news. Again.
The bulk of the column was devoted to praising Obama, the 11th U.S. president since the Cuban revolution, in part for his decision to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. Castro recalled his thoughts Tuesday as he watched Obama assume the "leadership of the empire. The intelligent and noble face of the first black president of the United States ... had transformed itself under the inspiration of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King into a living symbol of the American dream," he wrote. Wow. He could have a show on MSNBC...
Castro praised Obama as honest, writing: "No one could doubt the sincerity of his words when he affirms that he will convert his country into a model of freedom, respect for human rights in the world and the independence of other nations." Ah, if only I was 20 years younger. I could have him for lunch...
However, Castro suggested Obama would succumb to threats greater than his own qualities: "What will he do soon, when the immense power that he has taken in his hands is absolutely useless to overcome the unsolvable, antagonistic contradictions of the (American) system?" I guess he din't hear about "Hope" and "Change"?
#1
I'd bet on that. I thought the old bastard was dead last year. How about a double-double. We don't need Raul around either. They need to get Roland down there quick, as a tombstone consultant, to design something appropriate which would consume the balance of Cuber's meager treasury. Might as well go out with flash.
SANTA CRUZ, BOLIVIA -- A television ad that has aired around the country opens with a photo of Bolivia's leftist President Evo Morales dressed in the garb of a traditional shaman. An image of Jesus Christ arrives to knock Mr. Morales off the screen, and a document labeled "New Constitution" appears amid flames. "Choose God. Vote No," the ad advises.
The ad, funded by an evangelical church based in this stronghold of the political opposition, points up how religion is playing a growing role in the latest chapter of Bolivia's sometimes bloody fight over a new constitution, which is up for a national referendum on Sunday. The religious fight marks a deepening of the country's political split under Mr. Morales, an Aymara Indian who leads the ruling party, the Movement to Socialism. The conflict has pitted poor, heavily indigenous western areas where Mr. Morales is revered against whites and mixed-race mestizos in the natural gas-rich tropical lowlands. More than a dozen people died in clashes last year related to the constitutional text.
If approved, Bolvia's constitution would allow Mr. Morales, elected in 2005, to seek a second consecutive five-year term, reshape congress, and extend the state's power -- marking a victory for the strongly anti-American leader who recently expelled the U.S. ambassador, nationalized the country's energy supplies, and whose key patron is Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
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Posted by: Steve White ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Pachamamma and the effect of La Nina. Thank God for Wikipedia.
Georgia has rejected a Russian request to inspect Georgian military facilities under the 1999 Vienna agreement on confidence and security-building measures in Europe. In announcing its decision, Georgia's Foreign Ministry cited provisions of the Vienna agreement permitting a country to reject such inspections if it feels they could harm its security. The ministry also cited the sweep by Russian troops into Georgia last year as well as what it called Russia's gross violations of cease-fire accords and continued occupation of Georgian territory.
The Georgian ministry said its refusal to allow inspections of Georgian military facilities is aimed only at Russia, not at other members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
In Moscow, Russia's Foreign Ministry called the Georgian decision proof that the country has something to hide about the deployment of its military units.
Meanwhile, Georgia announced plans to resume natural gas supplies to South Ossetia cut off as a result of damage done to pipelines during the conflict.
Let the Russians supply the gas. They have plenty ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Russia, leave Georgia alone now for F*** Sakes.
#3
Last I heard the Georgian president had been abandoned by his entire wartime Cabinet, and had less than 15% popular support. There is more support for accomodation with Russia.
Posted by: Bob Spise6110 ||
01/23/2009 14:51 Comments ||
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#4
Where did you get that number B.S.6110? I have a hard time finding any popularity poll numbers for 2009. I believe he fired his cabinet, they did not abandon him. I don't think we have really seen why the cabinet was reshuffled, besides the obvious. Saakashvili still enjoys popular support, but Georgia's inability to act, backed by European impotence, against Russian violations of the ceasefire agreement are putting a tremendous stress on the population. It is curious he has announced there will be no third term after Obama's innauguration. I also find it curious that the BBC led on the internet with a story about a dispute over a Georgian TV show 2 days ago, but I have seen nothing from the BBC on the policeman killed by a sniper 3 days ago.
A Shanghai shipping company has rewarded 30 of its seamen with 10,000 U.S. dollars each after they successfully fought off a pirate attack off Somalia in the Gulf of Aden.
Each crew member of the cargo ship, Zhenhua 4, was being rewarded for their bravery and courage, said Guan Tongxian, president of Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Co. The crew received the reward in a commendation ceremony at Changxing Island Port, after their vessel returned to Shanghai on Thursday morning to be welcomed by crowds of people.
Nine pirates armed with rocket launchers and heavy machine guns boarded the ship on Dec. 17. The crew locked themselves in cabins, using fire hoses and self-made firebombs to keep the attackers at bay for six hours. Foreign warships and helicopters were contacted and helped Chinese seamen beat back the pirates later. No one was injured in the attack.
Captain Peng Weiyuan, 57, attributed their success to careful training. Peng began a drill to fend off a possible pirate attack 10 days before the ship entered the Somali waters.
...The LSE economist Robert Wade addressing a protest meeting in Reykjaviks cinema recently warned that the world was approaching a new tipping point. Starting from March-May 2009, we can expect large-scale civil unrest, he said. It will be caused by the rise of general awareness throughout Europe, America and Asia that hundreds of millions of people in rich and poor countries are experiencing rapidly falling consumption standards; that the crisis is getting worse not better; and that it has escaped the control of public authorities, national and international.
#5
I have no idea who Wade is, but 2009 may well see one hell of a 'summer of discontent'.
One fact for you consider. As private sector payrolls everywhere contracted in 2008 and government revenues plunged, governments everywhere, at all levels hired more people.
We now have far more government than we can afford and reducing the size of government will be a wrenching social change. And those like Obama not capable of facing up to the challenge will go down the path of hyperinflation by printing money to pay for government no longer supported by tax revenues.
#6
Things will get ugly. I don't know if they will be as ugly as people say or they were in the 1930s, but we can expect large amounts of anger and frustration from populations.
#7
We now have far more government than we can afford..
Note well and welcome to the socialist collective, all done for your own good. Of course, we could move most of the intermediate often white liberal middle class bulk of the 'supervision' to off shore bidders, in the name of diversity and cost savings [a twofer].
Italy is to introduce far-reaching restrictions on where demonstrations can be held after a row over recent protests by Muslims outside cathedrals in Rome, Milan and Bologna, Italian newspaper reported Thursday. The ministerial directive will ban demonstrations in front of all places of worships, barracks, commercial or cultural centers, highly populated areas and other "sensitive zones," the Italian daily La Repubblica reported.
Interior Minister Roberto Maroni will send a circular to all regional governors to ensure that "events like those that took place in front of Milan Cathedral do not happen again," the daily Corriere della Sera reported. A ministerial directive on the issue will be ready by February, an interior ministry spokesman told AFP, without saying anything about its contents.
On Jan. 3, several hundred Muslims protesting the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip knelt down for prayers led by an imam for several minutes in front of cathedrals in Milan and Bolgna, provoking outrage among the Italian right. A similar prayer protest took place in Rome on Jan. 18 when Muslims participating in a demonstration passed the Colosseum and bent in prayer facing the Qibla, which is towards the ancient monument.
Leaders of Milan's Muslim community subsequently apologized to the Archbishop of Milan Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi over the Milan prayer.
Maroni is a member of the anti-immigration Northern League, which is part of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's right-wing coalition government. Just a month earlier Maroni's party had proposed to freeze the building of new mosques, a move that outraged Italy's Muslim leaders and opposition groups because it essentially criminalized being a Muslim. Italy has about 1.2 million Muslims.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Latest news from Italy are encouraging. Even Corriere della Serra (remember Sgrena affair?) seems to be siding with Israel.
#2
Inform the goat f**kers that an assemblage of three or more Muzz is considered a riot and will be dealt with by appropriate military force, including their complete elimination , if necessary.
JSOCS ACHILLE LAURO RESCUE MISSION
by Charles P. Tappero, Colonel, USAF (CCT) Retired
OCTOBER 7, 1985 - Four men members of Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) take control of the Achille Lauro cruise ship - while it was sailing from Alexandria to Port Said - in Egyptian waters. The hijackers had been surprised by a crew member and acted prematurely. Holding the passengers and crew hostage, they directed the vessel to sail to Tartus, Syria, and demanded the release of 50 Palestinians then in Israeli prisons. When refused permission to dock at Tartus, the hijackers shot one wheelchair-bound passenger a Jewish American named Leon Klinghoffer, and threw his body overboard. The Achille Lauro headed back towards Port Said - and after two days of negotiations - the hijackers agreed to abandon the liner for safe conduct and were flown towards Tunisia aboard an Egyptian commercial airliner.
The plane was intercepted by United States Navy fighters on October 10 and directed to land at Naval Air Station Sigonella, a NATO base in Sicily, where the hijackers were arrested by the Italians after a disagreement between U.S. and Italian authorities. The other passengers on the plane (possibly including the hijackers leader, Abu Abbas) were allowed to continue on to their destination, despite protests by the US. Egypt later demanded an apology from the US for forcing the airplane off course.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will undergo heart bypass surgery over the weekend, officials say, after blockages were found in his arteries.
The 76-year-old leader will enter hospital in Delhi on Friday for the surgery on Saturday, a spokesman said.
Mr Singh previously had bypass surgery in the UK in 1990.
The new surgery will raise questions about Mr Singh's participation in the upcoming general elections, which must be held by May.
Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to take charge of prime ministerial meetings while Mr Singh recovers from the operation, reports say.
Mr Singh underwent tests earlier this week after he complained of chest pains.
He will undergo "coronary artery bypass graft surgery" performed by a team of doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, India's top state-run hospital, and the Asian Heart Institute in Mumbai, a government official said.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/23/2009 17:24 ||
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India has said that it will not sign Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) or Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) even if the Barack Obama administration presses it to do so.
In the midst of a busy diplomatic calendar when India is using coercive diplomacy against Pakistan, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told India Today Editor Prabhu Chawla in Seedhi Baat programme on Aaj Tak and Headlines Today, "We will not sign CTBT or NPT. We are committed to the bilateral agreement with the US and India-specific safeguards with the IAEA."
In response to a question related to remarks made by US Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton that the US may insist on reviving the CTBT, Mukherjee said that India will continue to maintain its independent foreign policy. Mukherjees remarks came just ahead of the inauguration of the new US President Barack Obama on January 20. During her Senate confirmation hearing, Hillary had reportedly stressed that the US will make CTBT and Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) as the priority of the US administration.
Way to go, Hilde. Dubya got the Indians on our side and you're going to drive them away ...
Analysts believe that the Democrat regime under Barack Obama would strongly advocate a more hawkish approach on CTBT and New Delhi and Washington may cross swords over this.
rest at link
Posted by: john frum ||
01/23/2009 15:38 ||
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#1
Good for India. If I was them, with a hostile Islamic and nuclear armed world all around me, I would politely tell Bambi to piss off too.
Aswat al-Iraq: People claim that cards for family meals at restaurants in Baghdad, presents, canned food, leather-made agendas and other things are being allegedly given out by political entities and figures for citizens in exchange of their votes. Some sources have even included refrigerators and cash to get citizens' votes.
Some political entities and candidates are pursuing these ways to get votes after failing to come up with ambitious electoral platforms that should attract voters.
Abdulameer al-Mijar, political writer, says bribes and presents given by some political entities and candidates to get voters' attention render a very important phenomenon with both moral and legal responsibilities. "Those political entities have no assets within the Iraqi popular circles," al-Mijar told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "Platforms create public agreement with a political entity or candidate," he said.
Al-Mijar believes that after 2003 political blocs relied on the sectarian and ethnic aspects to gain people's support. "At that time, Shiites voted for Shiites, Sunnis for Sunnis, Kurds for Kurds, and so on," he explained. "It was not a real electoral process; it was like a referendum," he proceeded. "People now want parties and entities that serve them, not those that represent part of their identities," he added.
Abdelsattar Jabbor, a political commentator, deplored reported political parties' attempts to bribe voters. "We are sorry to hear that some political entities and candidates are offering electrical appliances and cash to buy citizens' votes although we do not have statistics figures in this regard," Jabbor said. "This indicates that those political blocs are unable to create and maintain public grounds," he added.
According to Jabbor, "It is now high time Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) should activate its surveillance role and establish an honest and healthy electoral culture in Iraq".
For her part, Ahlam al-Kenani, the editor-in-chief of the state-owned al-Aqlam Magazine, said "Such practices do not help a candidate at all".
"They only reflect how the candidate does not trust himself/herself to run the post he is competing to occupy," she noted.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Here we just make it a trillion dollars and call it the 2009 Reelection Stimulus Package and Barney Frank Subprime Loan Billout Act.
Fears are growing over the fate of 126 Rohingya boat people thought to be in Thai military custody after the government said it no longer had any of the migrants from Myanmar within its borders. Amid persistent reports of a shadowy arm of the army towing 992 Rohingya out to sea last month in engine-less boats and leaving them to die, the U.N. refugee agency asked Bangkok on Tuesday to see the 126, most of whom it said were in army custody on an Andaman Sea island.
The Foreign Ministry said that was no longer the case, citing the army's Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), which admits to overseeing the arrest and detention of the group of Rohingya, a Muslim minority from northwest Myanmar. "The latest information that we have from ISOC is that there are no longer any Rohingya left in Thailand," deputy ministry spokesman Thani Thongpajkdi said. He refused to answer repeated questions about the current whereabouts of the 126, or say where, when and how they left the country.
The ISOC colonel at the heart of the abuse allegations has denied any wrong-doing, but consistent reports from survivors who washed up in India's Andaman Islands and northwest Indonesia suggest as many as 550 of the 992 towed out to sea are dead. Survivors also reported being beaten by Thai security forces, and a Rohingya rights group said four men who refused to board the boats were thrown into the sea with their hands bound.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Bangkok said on Friday it was still waiting for a formal response to its request on Tuesday to see the 126. Thani denied Bangkok was stalling and said officials were "trying to arrange a meeting" with the UNHCR.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who has repeatedly stated a commitment to human rights and the rule of law, said on Thursday there were "quite a large number" of Rohingya in Thailand but that they were illegal immigrants and had to be "sent back." In a separate statement, Bangkok proposed a meeting of Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Malaysia to try to resolve the issue of the Rohingya, who have been persecuted for decades by Myanmar's military rulers.
UNHCR says as many as 230,000 Rohingya are now living a perilous, stateless existence just over the border in Bangladesh.
Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said Jakarta believed 193 survivors who washed up near Aceh on Jan 7 were economic migrants, but was having difficulty working out what to do with them. "To return 193 people is a decision that we should think about carefully," he said. "We have sent a person who can talk in their Myanmar language but communication has not gone well."
#1
The Rohingya are white construction workers. Please see that they get nothing!
Posted by: Robert Reich ||
01/23/2009 7:31 Comments ||
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#2
If they're boat people, why don't they 'sail on' instead of getting wiped out slowly by the gov?
Don't get it.
I'd be putting some miles between me and Thailand.
#3
Just a slow-motion invasion that Thailand decided wouldn't be allowed. I hope they're not dead, but that's Thailand's business. With all the problems they've had in their southern provinces, I wouldn't want any more muslims of any type in my country, either.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/23/2009 13:19 Comments ||
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SINGAPORE, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Oil fell by more than $1 a barrel on Friday after U.S. weekly oil stocks data showed U.S. crude and products stocks builds, signalling a further weakening of demand in the world's top consumer. A string of bearish economic indicators in the U.S. and Asia added to the gloom.
U.S. light crude for March delivery CLc1 fell 92 cents a barrel to $42.75 by 0144 GMT, having slid by as much as $1.08 earlier. London Brent crude LCOc1 fell 73 cents to $44.66 a barrel.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Let the oil ticks eat their oil. Folks in the exporting countries are in for a world of hurt when Americans really cut back on their consumption of all products.
I hope the pain they feel causes the Rulers in these countries to lose their heads...literally.
#3
Not necessarily a good idea to twitch at every jog in daily trading. It's still up eight bucks from the other week's trough. Keep an eye on trading bands, rather than the current day's price. Right now, it seems to be rattling between $35 and $45, the same way that the Dow's been bobbling between 7900 and 8500, give or take, since the election.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/23/2009 8:52 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
An official has barred Marines from visiting Tijuana as the California border town's drug violence soars.
