|
Our
friend Pierre-Paul was excited to have taken this photo of
the entire
cloud structre of a supercellular storm on June 28. He says
it is the first time
that such a picture has been taken in France. Congrats, PP!
Copyright
2005 Pierre-Paul
Feyte
The Dangers of Ignorance |
SOTT
02/07/2005 |
|
Pippin
Misses The Point |
Today (Saturday) 200,000 people marched through the streets
of Edinburgh, Scotland in a protest against "Third
World" debt. The march was timed to coincide with
today's "Live 8" concerts and next week's G8
summit in Gleneagles, Scotland. One of the speakers at
the Edinburgh rally was Billy Boyd, better known as Pippin
from the Lord of the Rings Film trilogy. Boyd told
the crowd:
"With so many people here today, the leaders
have to do something."
If only.
The history of the 20th century shows that when people
rise up and step out to demand that their leaders change
their course of action, they are studiously ignored
by said leaders. Oh sure, the politicians will applaud
their efforts and laud the wonderful demonstration of
Democracy in action, but they do so, only because they
are confident that the only thing that will result is
Democracy inaction. Take the world-wide anti-war marches
of 2003 for but one example. 11 million people, by all
accounts constituting the majority of public opinion
in Europe, North America (maybe), Latin America and
Australia, demanded that their elected officials NOT
wage what was clearly a needless war for profit on Iraq.
The result?
Celebrities such as Boyd do the public a great disservice
by refusing to recognise the reality of our predicament
- that Democracy in industrialised nations is no more
representative of the will of the people than the Islamic
regimes that the leaders of industrialised nations are
so eager to demonise and overthrow. To perpetuate the
fantasy that the people have any power to reverse the
decline of our society simply serves to lull the average
citizen even further into complacency.
The greatest weapon any of us possess is our ability
to wake up to the truth about the true nature of the
so-called "leaders of the free world" - that
they are not even fit to be our leaders, let alone exponents
of true freedom and true Democracy. |
On Saturday 2 and Wednesday
6 July, the multiple line-ups for Live 8 will attract
a massive worldwide audience.
Rarely mentioned on these occasions are the equally,
if not more impressive numbers of people who will not
be tuning in.
I will be one of them.
I watched Live Aid. I was depressed by the mullet-headed
music, that puzzling logo of a fretboard protruding
from the African continent, and resented being browbeaten
by multi-millionaires to empty my pockets.
And then there was the euphoria of the crowd, which
reached a worrying zenith when they clapped along to
Queen's Radio Ga-Ga.
What were they feeling so victorious about? Did they
actually think that Africa had been saved by David Bowie's
gracious decision to appear onstage alongside Status
Quo?
They appeared to labour under the sort of collective,
intoxicating delusion that overcomes any mass of people
when they gather together and feeling triumphs over
thinking.
'No sea change'
Live Aid had the best motives. But to pretend this
emotional, ad hoc response to the complex and chronic
problem of famine in Africa made a positive difference
was naive, rooted in a fictional idea that rock changes
the world.
It cannot and it did not in 1985.
Money from Live Aid saved lives but, as aid expert
David Rieff recently argued, it may also have led to
the loss of just as many lives.
There was no sea change in attitudes. That wave of
compassion did not stop millions voting for right wingers
like Thatcher, Bush and Kohl in subsequent elections.
Today, Africa is, if anything, worse off.
Now we are about to go through it all again. This time
the emphasis is on debt cancellation rather than aid,
but still I am sceptical.
I simply do not think it is right that ex-pop star
Bob Geldof should be the human catalyst for one of the
biggest problems facing mankind - it is beyond the wisdom
of Solomon, let alone Geldof. He is not up to the job.
He is making the same mistake in 2005 as he did in
1985 regarding black acts, surprising for someone so
passionate about feeding Africans.
His argument that the dominance of white faces among
the Live 8 line-up reflects the need for big names ignores
the importance of symbolism in mass spectacles like
this.[...]
Geldof has been a spectacularly tireless fundraiser.
But inevitably, given his profession, he is addicted
to the spotlight and despite his reputation as a plain
and profane speaker, rather too chummy towards the powerful
over the years - be it Prince Charles, the Pope, Mother
Teresa, Tony Blair or George Bush.
But these people front the very institutions - church,
empire, Western states - that can be argued have done
little to alleviate African misery.
They should be interrogated, not cosied up to. Geldof's
un-punkishly conciliatory stance to these people creates
the illusion that, as with the tsunami, "no one
is to blame".
Ultimately, however, I will not be watching Live 8
because the bill is pretty dire.
Apart from the reams of has-beens and rock icons turned
cabaret acts, there are the present-day brigade such
as Coldplay and Dido, whose hugely popular yet unthreatening
music signifies rock's decline into corporate functionalism.
These people will not solve the problem. They are the
problem.
Instead of watching Live 8, I will be doing something
considered morbid in these emotionalist times - I am
going to go upstairs and have a good think. |
LUSAKA, July 1 (Xinhuanet)
-- Hundreds of Zambians from civil society organizations
marched through the capital Friday, urging the world's
rich nations to act on promises to help African countries
get out of poverty.
The march, coming ahead of the Group 8 club of industrial
nations meeting in Britain next week, is part of a global
call for action against poverty, debt and trade injustice
demanded by poor nations. [...] |
New Delhi - Some 60 percent of
all announced international aid does not exist, global
pressure group ActionAid said Thursday, singling out
the United States and France as the main culprits in
"phantom" aid.
A "classic example" of real versus phantom
aid is money pledged for victims of last year's Asian
tsunami disaster, John Samuel, Asia director of ActionAid
International, told a news conference.
He cited Australia, which he said
had so far only managed to give seven percent of the
money it had pledged. He also named France, Germany,
the Netherlands and the United States as among other
countries who have not delivered on their tsunami promises.
"In 2003, total aid announced by developed countries
was 65 billion dollars of which 50 billion dollars was
(pledged) by the G7," Samuel said.
"How much money actually reached the receivers?
Only 27 billion dollars, or just 0.1 percent of the
countries' combined national income," Samuel said
while releasing "RealAid", a report on the
status of global aid mechanisms.
"For the United States and France,
two of the world's largest donors, almost 90 percent
of their contributions are phantom aid."
The activist said figures quoted in the report were
based on official data of aid given and aid received
apart from field studies. These had been vetted by top
experts.
"Over the last two years,
most of the aid has been directed towards buying arms
and ammunition," Samuel said. "As we
speak today, 30,000 children are dying of malnourishment
and 800 million are going hungry. We demand accountability
and transparency from the G8."
"Aid diversification for military purposes is
being done by the donors, particularly the US, especially
after 9/11," he said.
The G8 countries - Britain, Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, the United States and new entrant Russia
- are due to hold a summit from July 6 to 8 in Scotland.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has also been
invited to attend.
In a recent decision, the group decided to write off
total debts of 18 poor nations, a move which organisations
like ActionAid say was due to their pressure tactics.
Samuel said more than 300,000 people are expected to
take part in a "white-band" protest in Edinburgh
on July 2 as part of a "Make Poverty History"
campaign. |
A handful of Northern California
collectives take cues from an innovative Basque cooperative
in Northern Spain. But can they really make a difference?
As pizza counter guys go, Willie Perez is unusually
cheerful, especially for the middle of a lunch rush
that, by all rights, should be tailing off. At half-past
one on a spring Tuesday, a line of hungry customers
is snaking out The Pizza Collective storefront on Berkeley's
Shattuck Avenue, the ovens are gusting heat into the
kitchen and flushed workers in aprons and tennis shoes
are darting about in what appears to be barely organized
bedlam. This is not the best time for an interview,
I think, as I make my way to the front. But Perez's
face breaks into a huge smile of welcome, he greets
me like an honored guest and I am ushered to a table
with a delicious slice of organic vegetarian pizza.
Thin and quick, with guileless blue
eyes and Tiggerish enthusiasm, the 28-year-old father
of two has good reason to be happy. He's making close
to $30 an hour, gets medical benefits for his family,
enjoys four to five weeks paid time off each year and
believes passionately in his work. Not the work of making
pizza, particularly, but the work of running, along
with 38 other people, a thriving worker-owned cooperative
built on the principles of democracy and economic fairness.
"I have a personal mission," Perez confesses.
"I want to see more cooperatives."
Worker's Paradise?
It's easy to see why Perez is a tireless proselytizer
who has worked to establish three spin-off coops, the
Arizmendi bakeries in Oakland, San Francisco and Emeryville.
To anyone who has slogged through a wage-slave job or
had a domineering boss, a collectively run cooperative
sounds like a workers' paradise. It has no hierarchy
and no supervisors because everyone is an owner. Everyone
makes the same amount of money and everyone is responsible
for making the business work. Everyone does all the
jobs. No one gets summarily fired. Decisions are made
by consensus. At the end of the year, some money goes
to charity and some is invested back into the business.
The rest of the profits, instead of enriching one or
two individuals, are returned to all the worker-owners
-- a rising tide lifting many boats.
This level of emotional and financial investment creates
a radically different attitude toward work, Perez says,
one emphasizing personal responsibility and flexibility.
"If we don't have a boss and I tell you to turn
out the lights when you leave, you're going to do it
because it means more money for all of us," Perez
says. "But if someone is breathing down your neck,
you might not."
He says he used to work at a big-box retailer. "Corporate
America, okay? They don't treat you like human beings.
They treat you like robots. Your opinion is not appreciated."
Terry Baird, 59, a member of the Arizmendi Cooperative
on Oakland's Lakeshore Drive since it opened in 1997,
jokes (or not) about the effect of this. "If you
work here and go somewhere else, you're kind of wrecked
for the traditional work environment," he says.
"The first time you say to your boss, 'Let's vote
on this,' they're gonna look at you funny."
There's something else about cooperatives. In an economy
with a lot of coops, the number of well-paid, self-directed
workers would mean a larger, wealthier middle class,
and therefore a healthier community. The goal is a society
in which all people, not only the fittest, enjoy economic
security.
The Pizza Collective and its parent coop, the Cheese
Board, recently brought in a member in his sixties.
"And it was, well, this is physical work. Do we
want to bring in an older person?" Perez recalls.
"But he helps us, we help him, we help his family
-- and that's one less family left to the wolves of
Corporate America."
The Miracle of Mondragon
In the United States, some 300 business concerns operate
as worker-owned collectives, according to the National
Cooperative Business Association. Some are relatively
high-profile, like the Eugene, Ore.-based Burley Design
Corporation, which manufactures distinctive yellow-and-blue
bike trailers for children. Most,
however, are local, and they are few and far between.
Here, the worker-owned society is a dream, but in the
Basque country of northern Spain it's become a reality.
The Bay Area's Arizmendi cooperative bakery/pizzerias
take their name from a remarkable young Basque priest
who ignited a movement from the rubble of Spain's ruinous
civil war. A defeated revolutionary who had entered
the priesthood, Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta arrived
in the Basque town of Mondragon in 1941 and soon set
up a technical school where he taught the skills necessary
for Spain's reconstruction. There he also taught Catholic
Social Doctrine, with its emphasis on human dignity
and better conditions for laborers.
In 1956, a handful of Arizmendi's students, determined
to put those principles into action, opened a worker-owned
stove factory. Three years later, they opened a credit
union, and the seeds of the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation
were born. Today the 500-plus cooperatives that make
up the MCC employ 72,000 people (about half are worker-owners,
with more in the pipeline as membership catches up to
rapid growth). The group posted 15 percent growth in
profits last year to reach $612 million. It pours money
into education, incubates new cooperatives, and provides
worker benefits and collateral so members can buy houses.
When Perez visited Mondragon several
years ago, he was stunned by the collective response
to a fire that had leveled a refrigerator factory. The
refrigerator factory workers were given jobs in other
coops, even though that would almost surely mean lower
profits for everyone at the other coops. "They're
so unselfish in the way they run their business,"
Perez marvels.
The Cheese Board, which started in 1967, and the Pizza
Collective, which opened in 1990, are attempting to
replicate the MCC on a very small scale. They have helped
establish the three Bay Area Arizmendis through training
and recipe sharing, but each coop functions independently.
They all, however, shovel four percent of gross profits
back into the Arizmendi Association -- seed money to
help start other coops and cushion economic blows.
A World Without Bosses
All the Arizmendis have needed help in learning to
function as collectives. Not
all cooperatives are collectives. Sunkist, for
example, is a typical agricultural cooperative; it consists
of a number of citrus growers who market their products
as a group under the Sunkist label. A collective, on
the other hand, is a flat organization with no hierarchy,
no fatherly arbiter to say: "You're right, and
you're wrong," which means people have to cooperate.
Which is hard.
Lisa Bruzoni, who at 50 has been at the Cheese Board
for 15 years, acknowledges that the $18 an hour the
members make, plus the $9.99-per-hour profit-sharing
bonus everyone got last year, is attractive. "Twenty-eight
dollars an hour sounds like a great amount of pay, especially
for what we're doing," she says. "But there
are certain people who would want to work in a cooperative
and certain people who wouldn't. It can be very frustrating."
Without exception, all the people interviewed for this
story said the hardest thing about their jobs was learning
to get along with others in an environment where no
one -- or everyone, really -- is the boss.
For one thing, big decisions at these businesses must
be made by consensus (that means everyone must agree
that they can live with whatever is decided), and the
only opportunity to do this is at monthly board meetings.
Consequently, it takes a long time to get anything done.
"It took us three years to write a book,"
says Bruzoni, who co-authored The Cheese Board Collective
Works along with several other members. "Anywhere
else, it would have taken a year and a half, but we
kept having to check with the coop."
The gritty problem of personality conflicts is also
wearing. Elizabeth Medina, 27, describes joining the
Pizza Collective as "the most stressful thing I've
ever done in my life." It was during her six-month
probation period that some personality conflicts emerged.
Knowing that any member could single-handedly block
her bid to join, made the pressure that much worse.
"It was so tough. I felt like I was totally under
a microscope. I remember going home to my husband and
crying and saying, 'Oh my God, this person doesn't like
me.'"
Since most people join a collective for a long period
of time -- the $1,000 buy-in at the Cheese Board and
Pizza Collective is meant to foster commitment -- there's
a sense that the relationships cannot be escaped. That
seems to force people to figure out how to get along.
"This place will humble you," says Perez,
"because a lot of people aren't willing to say,
'Hey, can you cut pizza for me today?' to someone they
had an argument with yesterday."
Then there is the more deeply personal issue of self-motivation.
"Everybody thinks they don't want to have a boss,"
says Baird of the Oakland Arizmendi. "But what
they haven't thought about is they don't want to be
a boss, either. That is maybe the most revolutionary
aspect to what we do here. People have to become in
charge of themselves, and not everybody's equipped to
do that."
Cooperatives, especially the collectively run variety,
are a rarity. Even in the Bay Area, as progressive as
it is, there is only a handful. This begs the question
of whether they can make a difference.
Baird has given this some thought. "Sometimes
I wonder, what is the meaning of all this?" he
muses. "I enjoy the work, and I can live on the
pay. But is it really gonna change things? And I think
it does. When I read biographies about exceptional people,
it never comes from nowhere. Rosa Parks wasn't just
some lady; she was active in the civil rights movement.
So yeah, I think we do good work. We do work we like
and in a democratic fashion, and maybe it rubs off on
people."
Traci Hukill is a freelance journalist based in
Monterey, Calif. |
On the propaganda front, it's
been another tough week for Washington's warmakers.
But for them, where there's hope there's death.
Let's address the Iraq war directly:
It's too soon to know whether the Bush administration's
new PR offensive will do anything for you in terms of
public opinion. But rest assured that the U.S. military
effort in Iraq won't be curtailed anytime soon. Despite
the downward trend of public backing for the war --
and in spite of the mass media's inadequate yet significant
widening of debate in recent weeks -- a combination
of factors is in place to sustain your deadly momentum.
One key dynamic is the U.S. military's institutional
adrenaline for fulfilling its mission of mass destruction.
To a large extent, war correspondent Michael Herr's
description of the Vietnam War is an apt summary of
the perpetual motion that the Pentagon keeps implementing
in Iraq: "We took space back quickly, expensively,
with total panic and close to maximum brutality. Our
machine was devastating. And versatile. It could do
everything but stop."
On the home front, another pivotal
aspect of the Iraq war is that President Bush's solid-core
constituencies are still in his corner. Despite
some spin from mainstream and progressive media, the
prominent Republicans who are making critical noises
about the war are rarely doing more than mumbling their
misgivings.
Yes, Sen. Chuck Hagel did say:
"The White House is completely disconnected from
reality." But he's complaining about the efficacy
-- not the morality -- of the war effort. And
while the moral basis for this war is hopeless, for
many the hope that the U.S. military fortunes in Iraq
will improve is apt to spring eternal.
Fortunately for a continuation of the occupation-driven
carnage in Iraq, there's a huge disconnect between the
massive problem and the mincing remedies being most
widely promoted. While outlets like the New York Times
have editorialized their discontent with Bush's speech
Tuesday night, the biggest underlying beef is that the
U.S. forces aren't winning.
So long as enough Americans
go along with the phantom goal of "victory,"
you get to keep killing in Iraq. To that end,
a massive PR operation is underway.
"The White House recently
brought onto its staff one of the nation's top academic
experts on public opinion during wartime, whose studies
are now helping Bush craft his message two years into
a war with no easy end in sight," the Washington
Post reported Thursday. "Behind the president's
speech is a conviction among White House officials that
the battle for public opinion on Iraq hinges on their
success in convincing Americans that, whatever their
views of going to war in the first place, the conflict
there must and can be won."
What about most Democratic critics of the war on Capitol
Hill? They keep saying that they want the U.S. military
to succeed in Iraq, too. Here's Sen. Joseph Biden midway
through this week, cheering on the war under the guise
of critiquing it: "I really do think it's winnable,
but you've got to keep the American people following
with you. That's why I urged them to give the speech.
He told us the why. He didn't tell us the how. Business
as usual won't get us there. I think he has to change
some policy or alter some policy."
And what about the Chuck Hagels of the political world?
Well, listen to what Hagel had to say after Bush's much-drumrolled
June 28 speech: "I have had differences with the
administration over the planning and execution of our
postwar policy in Iraq. However, we all are working
toward finding a way to succeed in Iraq."
And what about organizations like MoveOn.org, now featuring
Hagel's purported dissent in a new TV ad? Running to
catch up with its antiwar base after many months of
absenting itself from the antiwar movement, MoveOn did
a poll of its email recipients as summer began -- offering
them an up-or-down vote on a congressional measure so
weak that even if it became law, the U.S. military would
be unimpeded from continuing its catalytic role in Iraq's
carnage for a very long time.
Consider the much-hyped and somewhat repentant "Freedom
Fries" congressman from North Carolina, Rep. Walter
Jones. He's moving in a good direction, but where's
his ballyhooed congressional measure really at? Jones
had this to say at a June 16 news conference: "The
resolution I am co-sponsoring will do no more than call
on the president to set a plan and a date to begin reducing
the number of troops we have in Iraq. It does not in
any way, shape or form set a date certain for complete
withdrawal."
Under the terms of the measure,
withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq would begin no later
than October 1, 2006. That's right. Withdrawal of troops
would BEGIN in autumn 2006. On Capitol Hill,
that kind of scenario might seem drastic -- but for
the militarized productivity of the grim reaper, under
the circumstances, it's a pretty good deal.
So, here's an executive summary of this memo to the
Iraq war: As long as the main issues revolve around
how you can be won and how you must not be quickly halted,
there's a lot of death left in you.
Norman Solomon's latest book, "War Made Easy:
How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death,"
will be published in early summer. |
|
Karabila -
damage to property in the town following a recent
US offensive against insurgents (photo: IRIN) |
KARABILA, 28 Jun 2005 (IRIN) - Thousands of residents
are gradually returning to the town of Karabila, 325
km west of the capital, Baghdad, after fleeing a heavy
US-led attack two weeks ago but for many there is little
to go back to.
Nearly 7,000 residents were displaced to the desert
near the Syrian border during the fighting, according
to the Iraq Red Crescent Society (IRCS). The town, which
is home to 60,000 people, showed signs of extensive
devastation following the battle, a five day operation
which ended on 22 June. Nearly 1,000 residents are still
displaced and living in the desert.
"I couldn't find anything left of my house. It
has been totally destroyed and my family has become
homeless and dependent on humanitarian support,"
said Salua Ibraheem, 42, a Karabila resident who had
her home completely destroyed.
"People started to go back trying to get what
is left from their destroyed homes. Based on information
from our volunteers inside the village, near 40 percent
of the village buildings have been partially or totally
destroyed," Mazeen Saloon, general secretary of
the IRCS, said.
The offensive, named "Operation Spear", was
designed to root out insurgent strongholds. According
to US forces, about 90 insurgents were killed and others
detained for interrogation and they are calling the
operation a complete success.
The IRCS reported 65 deaths and 85 injured as a result
of the conflict, mainly civilians. But the bodies of
many residents lie under the debris and rubble and their
deaths have not been recorded, according to local officials.
"It is complicated to get exactly numbers of dead
and injured because many people have already been buried
and the hospital does not give the right number,"
Sallon explained.
Utility services have been destroyed and now thousands
of families are without power, clean water or sewage
according to local officials.
"My husband was killed in the battle and I returned
back to my house and found it dirty, without water and
electricity. My two children are sick because of the
dirty water and my baby is without milk and I don't
have anywhere to go to search for help," Yasmin
Rawi, a Karabila resident, told IRIN.
According to Sallon, the only hospital in the area
is located in the town of al-Qaim, 3km from Karabila.
"We have been helping the hospital with supplies
but since the last fight in the area, the hospital has
been working over-capacity and requires urgent support,"
he said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross in the
Netherlands has sent a convoy of medical supplies to
the area to help with the supply shortage.
|
Iraq's ambassador
to the UN has demanded an inquiry into what he said was
the "cold-blooded murder" of his young unarmed
relative by US marines.
Samir Sumaidaie said his 21-year-old cousin was shot
as he helped marines who were carrying out searches at
his village in the restive Anbar province.
Mr Sumaidaie said the ramifications of such a "serious
crime" were enormous for both the US and Iraq.
US officials said the allegations would be thoroughly
investigated.
Meanwhile, a suicide bomber has killed at leat 20 people
outside a special police recruiting centre in the capital
Baghdad.
It is the latest in a spate of attacks targeting the
country's security forces.
English exercise
In a letter to colleagues, Mr Sumaidaie explained in
detail what happened to his cousin Mohammed al-Sumaidaie
on 25 June in the village of al-Sheikh Hadid.
He said Mohammed, an engineering student, was visiting
his family home when some 10 marines with an Egyptian
interpreter knocked on the door at 1000 local time.
He opened the door to them and was "happy to exercise
some of his English", said the ambassador.
When asked if there were any weapons in the house, Mohammed
took the marines to a room where there was a rifle with
no live ammunition.
It was the last the family saw him alive. Shortly after,
another brother was dragged out and beaten and the family
was ordered to wait outside.
As the marines left "smiling at each other"
an hour later, the interpreter told the mother they had
killed Mohammed, said Mr Sumaidaie.
"In the bedroom, Mohammed was found dead and laying
in a clotted pool of his blood. A single bullet had penetrated
his neck."
The US military said the allegations
"roughly correspond to an incident involving coalition
forces on that day and in that general location".
Maj Gen Stephen T Johnson said the allegations were being
taken seriously and would be thoroughly investigated.
Acting US ambassador to the UN, Anne Patterson, had "expressed
her heartfelt condolences" to Mr Sumaidaie, said
a spokesman.
She has urged the Pentagon and state department to look
into the matter immediately.
"All indications point to a killing of an unarmed
innocent civilian - a cold blooded murder," said
Mr Sumaidaie in his letter.
"I believe this killing must be investigated in
a credible and convincingly fair way to ensure that justice
is done, and the sense of grievance is mitigated, and
to deter similar actions in the future." |
The
lies behind the lies
Roy Greenslade salutes Dilip Hiro's Secrets and Lies,
a depressing but magisterial assessment of the reasoning
that led to the invasion of Iraq |
Saturday July 2, 2005
The Observer |
Secrets and Lies:
The True Story of the Iraq War
by Dilip Hiro
564pp, Politico's, £9.99
Millions across the world who marched in the hope of
preventing the invasion of Iraq were angered by the fact
that their opposition was ignored. If they read this book
their anger will be redoubled. But the people who will
surely feel even more embittered are those who were taken
in, having been persuaded by the arguments of President
Bush and Prime Minister Blair to support the war.
Dilip Hiro coolly dismantles the political lies, distortions
and obfuscations that allowed the United States and Britain
to launch an illegal invasion of Iraq. That he does the
job so meticulously - even, arguably, in too detailed
a fashion on occasion - makes his overall indictment even
more powerful than the scatter-gun approach of other war
critics, such as Michael Moore.
Hiro brings to the subject a thorough knowledge of the
Middle East, having written extensively about the region
in several of his previous 26 books. Here is an author
for whom, to paraphrase Bush's secretary of defence, Donald
Rumsfeld, there are no unknown unknowns. He has made it
his business to know exactly how Bush's White House team
managed to prosecute a war based on a giant fabrication.
That, of course, was the claim that Iraq's dictator, Saddam
Hussein, had defied the United Nations by holding on to
weapons of mass destruction that presented a threat to
global stability. In order to support the central lie,
to give it the semblance of credibility, there were scores
of intertwined supporting lies. Saddam was not linked
to al-Qaida and was not, therefore, responsible for 9/11.
He did not buy uranium oxide from Niger. Iraq did not
have a fleet of unmanned aircraft nor did it have mobile
labs to produce chemical and biological weapons. Nor was
it operating poison factories.
Hiro is painstaking as he holds up every piece of fake
intelligence to scrutiny, revealing both its falsity and
the propaganda use to which it was put. Every excuse advanced
by Bush and Blair for the invasion is shown to be hollow,
as they seek to conceal the main reason for their pre-emptive
strike: the desire for regime change. In some of the most
telling passages, Hiro reveals the key roles played by
the sinister group who surrounded Bush, such as his deputy,
Dick Cheney; Rumsfeld's deputy, Paul Wolfowitz; the under
secretary of defence, Douglas Feith; the defence adviser
Richard Perle; the president's chief political adviser,
Karl Rove; and, of course, the national security adviser,
Condoleezza Rice. Meanwhile, the senior man, Colin Powell,
the secretary of state, was largely isolated from Bush's
gung-ho squad. Despite his policy disagreements however,
he performed important tasks on behalf of the warriors,
none more so than his lengthy speech to the UN Security
Council in the build-up to the invasion. Hiro's point-by-point
rebuttal of Powell's allegations is masterly.
In similar fashion he destroys the so-called evidence
in Blair's now infamous dossiers on WMD and the far-fetched
claim about Iraq being able to deploy such weapons within
45 minutes. Evidently, even the Americans scoffed at the
statement, though they grew less concerned themselves
about the WMD reasoning because they had successfully
convinced their public that Saddam was one of the 9/11
culprits.
Hiro mounts convincing evidence that Bush was determined
to invade Iraq on virtually any pretext soon after his
first election victory. He also shows how, some seven
months before the war, US special forces were operating
within Iraq at the behest of Rumsfeld. Their work was
specifically linked to an invasion that had not even been
raised with the UN and while its weapons inspectors were
still carrying out their tasks with what later transpired
to be great efficiency.
The geopolitical manoeuvres are certainly riveting, but
the more human, and inhuman, story emerges in the passages
that tell of the invasion itself. There are several examples
of just how badly the civilian Iraqi population suffered
as the Anglo-American forces swept through their country.
But the haunting moments come, just as they did in the
revelations about the reality of the Vietnam war, when
one discovers that neither politicians nor military leaders
ever tell the truth. For example, the Pentagon strenuously
denied that it had used napalm in Iraq, despite an Australian
correspondent witnessing its use. That wasn't napalm,
said a spokesman, it was a Mark 77 firebomb. As Hiro observes
this statement was "cynical sophistry", since
the Mark 77 is a mixture of kerosene and polystyrene,
while napalm is a mixture of jet fuel and polystyrene.
The result is just the same: death in a fireball.
There were also official denials about the use of lethal,
and indiscriminate, cluster bombs. Yet Hiro is not only
able to state that 1,566 cluster bombs were dropped along
with more than 20,000 cluster munitions, he also reproduces
a map to show exactly where they were used.
In the greater scheme of things it was a small lie, just
one among so many. The promulgation of pre-war lies was
followed by further lies during the war. Now Bush and
Blair tell us that life in post-Saddam Iraq is improving.
But why should we believe them? |
NEW YORK (CNN) --
A Republican congressman from North Carolina told CNN
on Wednesday that the "evidence is clear" that
Iraq was involved in the terrorist attacks against the
United States on September 11, 2001.
"Saddam Hussein and people like him were very much
involved in 9/11," Rep. Robin Hayes said.
Told no investigation had ever found evidence to link
Saddam and 9/11, Hayes responded, "I'm sorry, but
you must have looked in the wrong places."
Hayes, the vice chairman of the House subcommittee on
terrorism, said legislators have access to evidence others
do not.
Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said that Saddam was a dangerous
man, but when asked about Hayes' statement, would not
link the deposed Iraqi ruler to the terrorist attacks
on New York, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania.
"I haven't seen compelling evidence of that,"
McCain, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee,
told CNN.
On Tuesday night, President Bush mentioned the September
11 attacks five times during his address on the war in
Iraq, prompting criticism from congressional Democrats.
The 9/11 commission, appointed by Bush, presented its
final report a year ago, saying that Osama bin Laden had
been "willing to explore possibilities for cooperation
with Iraq" at one time in the 1990s but that the
al Qaeda leader "had in fact been sponsoring anti-Saddam
Islamists in Iraqi Kurdistan, and sought to attract them
into his Islamic army."
The 520-page report said investigators found no evidence
that any "contacts ever developed into a collaborative
operational relationship."
"Nor have we seen evidence indicating that Iraq
cooperated with al Qaeda in developing or carrying out
any attacks against the United States," it said.
President Bush said in September 2003 that "We've
had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with
the September 11 [attacks]."
Nevertheless, Hayes insisted that the connection between
al Qaeda and Saddam and "folks who work for him"
has been seen "time and time again."
"Nobody disputes 9/11," Hayes said. "They
would do it again if not prevented." |
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- According to
an article published Friday by Editor & Publisher,
Assistant to the President, Deputy Chief of Staff and
Senior Advisor Karl Rove is the confidential source
who outed Valerie Plame to reporters as a CIA operative.
E&P reported that during a syndicated McLaughlin
Group political talk show, senior MSNBC political analyst
Lawrence O'Donnell said: "What we're going to go
to now in the next stage, when Matt Cooper's e-mails,
within Time Magazine, are handed over to the grand jury,
the ultimate revelation, probably within the week of
who his source is.
"And I know I'm going to get pulled into the grand
jury for saying this but the source of...for Matt Cooper
was Karl Rove, and that will be revealed in this document
dump that Time magazine's going to do with the grand
jury."
Retired ambassador Joseph C. Wilson already named Rove,
back in August 2003, as the White House insider who
leaked his wife's identity to the press.
Given Rove's track record for dirty-tricks and questionable
ethics, few will be surprised.
In February 2005, Bush said: "Karl Rove is a long-time
advisor and trusted member of my team. His hard work
and dedication have been invaluable. I appreciate Karl's
willingness to continue to serve my Administration in
this new position."
While we wait for confirmation by the grand jury following
Time magazine's decision to hand over subpoenaed records,
it will be interesting to see
how George W. Bush responds to the likelihood that his
turd blossom may be headed to a federal prison. |
WASHINGTON - Justice Sandra Day
O'Connor, the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court
and a moderate conservative who often cast the decisive
vote on abortion and other contentious issues, announced
her retirement on Friday, and a political battle immediately
began over her successor.
"This is to inform you of my decision to retire
from my position as an associate justice of the Supreme
Court of the United States, effective upon the nomination
and confirmation of my successor," O'Connor, 75,
said in a letter to President Bush.
O'Connor gave no reason why she was resigning from
the nine-member court, whose decisions play a central
role in shaping the social, cultural and political fabric
of the United States. It has been closely divided on
such hot-button issues as abortion, the death penalty
and church-state separation.
A court spokeswoman cited O'Connor's age and said the
justice, who is one of America's most powerful women,
needed to spend time with her husband. He has Alzheimer's
disease, people close to the family have said.
"It has been a great privilege, indeed, to have
served as a member of the court for 24 terms,"
O'Connor said in the one-paragraph letter released by
the Supreme Court.
Her resignation was announced four days after the end
of the court's term. There had
been widespread speculation that Chief Justice William
Rehnquist, 80, who has thyroid cancer, would resign
at the end of the term, and even some of her colleagues
did not think O'Connor would be leaving.
Her resignation allows Bush to make
his first appointment to the high court, which must
be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Bush held off naming
a replacement for at least a week but urged lawmakers
to give his nominee "fair treatment."
Who Bush nominates could trigger a fierce fight between
Republicans and Democrats and threaten a shaky truce
over judicial nominations that has kept intact the minority's
ability to block a controversial candidate.
Foreshadowing the likely battle over her successor,
Bush came out into the White House Rose Garden with
a message for lawmakers.
"The nation deserves and I will select a Supreme
Court justice that Americans can be proud of. The
nation also deserves a dignified process of confirmation
in the United States Senate, characterized by fair treatment,
a fair hearing and a fair vote," he said.
O'Connor's departure, the first in more than a decade,
could shift the balance of power on the court, which
has been closely divided between the conservative majority
and a more liberal faction. Her announcement immediately
set off a flurry of comment and activity among interest
groups and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, a leading liberal in the Democratic
Party, immediately challenged Bush.
"If the president nominates someone who threatens
to roll back the rights and freedom of the American
people, the American people will insist we oppose that
nominee, and we will do so," the Massachusetts
lawmaker said.
O'Connor has been a key vote to preserve the constitutional
right to abortion and to allow race to remain a factor
to be considered in admissions at universities.
BUSH TO BE 'DELIBERATE, THOROUGH'
Bush pledged to be "deliberate and thorough"
in naming a replacement and said he would announce a
nominee in a timely manner in hopes of having the new
justice start work when the court reconvenes for its
new term in October.
One possibility is Attorney General Alberto Gonzales,
the former White House counsel and a longtime Bush aide
dating back to when Bush was governor of Texas. Bush
may want to make history by selecting the first Hispanic
American for the Supreme Court.
Other possible candidates are conservative U.S. Appeals
Court judges J. Harvie Wilkinson, J. Michael Luttig,
Michael McConnell, John Roberts, Samuel Alito and Emilio
Garza.
If Bush wants to name a conservative woman, possibilities
include federal appeals court judges Edith Jones and
Edith Brown Clement and Judge Janice Rogers Brown of
the California Supreme Court, who was recently confirmed
as a U.S. appeals court judge.
O'Connor's resignation triggered dueling news conferences
and speeches by Senate Democrats and Republicans as
they jockeyed for position in the pending confirmation
contest.
Simultaneously, special interest groups from the right
and left revved up their multimillion-dollar radio,
TV and Internet campaigns that will seek to shape public
opinion and thus Senate votes on whoever Bush ultimately
picks.
Sen. Arlen Specter, the Republican head of the Senate
Judiciary Committee that will take up the nomination,
said he would hold hearings in August if necessary.
"The judiciary committee is prepared to proceed
at any time," he said.
Senate Democrats, who blocked 10 of Bush's appeals
court nominees during his first term, urged the president
to consult with them before picking a Supreme Court
candidate. Bush promised to consult with senators but
was not specific.
Traveling in the Midwest, O'Connor got off a flight
at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, preceded
by Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad, who told her, "I
hate to see you go."
"I hate to go too," she replied. "It's
been a real privilege." |
|
Henry
Kissinger - next stop the Primordial Soup |
Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has expressed
regret over anti-India comments he made to former US President
Richard Nixon.
"The Indians are bastards," Mr Kissinger
said shortly before the India-Pakistan war of 1971,
it was revealed this week.
Mr Kissinger also called former Indian Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi a "bitch" during the conversation.
At the time, the US saw India as too close to the Soviet
Union.
The conversation was revealed in documents the US State
Department declassified this month on US foreign policy
of the time.
According to the documents, President Nixon called
Indira Gandhi an "old witch" in a conversation
with Mr Kissinger.
'High regard'
Mr Kissinger, 82, has now told a the private Indian
television channel NDTV that his comments did not reflect
American policy during the 1970s.
"I regret that these words were used. I have extremely
high regard for Mrs Gandhi as a statesman," he
said.
"The fact that we were at cross purposes at that
time was inherent in the situation but she was a great
leader who did great things for her country."
One key conversation transcript comes from the meeting
between President Nixon and Mr Kissinger in the White
House on 5 November 1971, shortly after a meeting with
the visiting Indira Gandhi.
"We really slobbered over the old witch,"
says President Nixon.
"The Indians are bastards anyway," says Mr
Kissinger. "They are starting a war there."
He adds: "While she was a bitch, we got what we
wanted too. She will not be able to go home and say
that the United States didn't give her a warm reception
and therefore in despair she's got to go to war.
Mr Kissinger told NDTV that this was not a "formal
conversation".
"This was somebody letting off steam at the end
of a meeting in which both President Nixon and I were
emphasising that we had gone out of our way to treat
Mrs Gandhi very cordially," he said.
"There was disappointment at the results of the
meeting. The language was Nixon language."
Relations between India and US have strengthened since
Mr Kissinger's days.
"The US recognises that India is a global power,
that is a strategic partner of the US on the big issues,"
Mr Kissinger said.
However, President Nixon and Mr Kissinger's remarks
have angered India's ruling Congress party.
"It is shocking that the head of state of a country
and his principal adviser chose to use such intemperate
language against a popularly elected prime minister
of another country," party spokesman Anand Sharma
said.
"These words have no relevance today... we hope
the present US leader also rejects these remarks which
were definitely in very poor taste. |
Gun sales in the United States
are shooting up, according to current and projected
firearms sale figures from gunmaker Smith & Wesson
Corp.
The 153-year-old Massachusetts company Wednesday said
firearms sales for fiscal 2005 are expected to increase
by approximately 11 percent over fiscal 2004 levels.
"We expect fiscal 2006 revenue growth in our core
business in the range of 10 percent to 12 percent, with
gross margins continuing to improve over the course
of 2006," said Michael Golden, the company's chief
executive.
"We plan to support this growth with incremental
revenue from new products, including shipments of our
award-winning Model 460-XVR revolver, named Handgun
of the Year by the Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence."
Smith & Wesson is one of the largest gunmakers
in the world. |
Agents' use of commercial
mobiles gives Italian police detailed picture of how
Muslim cleric was abducted
"I was walking down Via Guerzoni with my little
girl and I saw a man with a long beard and a djellaba
being stopped by two westerners with a mobile telephone.
They were asking him, in Italian, for his documents,
the way the police do," the witness said.
"At the junction with Via Croce Viola there was
a pale-coloured van on the pavement," she continued.
"Then, all I heard was a loud noise like a thud.
The van suddenly shot backwards and then set off again,
away from the mosque, passing me at high speed. And
the three people I'd seen, they weren't there any longer."
One of them was Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, otherwise
known as Abu Omar, a radical Muslim cleric living in
Milan and under investigation by the Italian authorities
on suspicion of involvement in Islamist terrorism.
His disappearance, in February 2003, caused an inquiry
that attracted worldwide attention last month when a
Milan judge ordered the arrest of 13 American secret
service agents accused of the cleric's abduction.
Details from the inquiry have provided a unique glimpse
of the way in which the CIA seizes its foes abroad.
The prosecutors in charge of the inquiry claim that
Abu Omar was the target of what the US terms an "extraordinary
rendition", the seizure of a suspect by agents
for dispatch to a third country, often one in which
torture is common.
Washington says it obtains guarantees that suspects
grabbed in this way will not be tortured. But, in a
call to his wife last year after he was released and
before he disappeared again, Abu Omar said he had almost
died under torture in an Egyptian jail. His current
whereabouts is unknown, though associates say he was
rearrested last year.
By ploughing through hundreds of thousands of mobile
phone records, tracing hotel registrations and bugging
phone conversations, the Italian police have built up
a picture of the CIA's operation that offers several
surprises.
According to the police version of events, the CIA's
special removal unit (SRU) can whistle up private jets
to fly its captives unseen across international frontiers.
A Learjet allegedly took Abu Omar from the joint US
base at Aviano in Italy to another US base at Ramstein,
Germany, then a chartered Gulfstream V whisked him to
Cairo. Yet barely a dollar was spent on making the team's
communications secure.
The secret agents used ordinary mobile phones. Italian
investigators put names to the abductors by matching
their calls to the phone contracts they had signed.
And they could be sure of the team's movements because
they could see when the calls had been made and from
which mobile phone.
In at least one case, calls were traced to a phone
that was apparently returned to a US diplomatic pool.
After a silence it was reactivated by an American citizen
using the antenna 100 metres from the US embassy in
Rome.
Investigators suspected Abu Omar was taken to Aviano,
on discovering three calls made after the abduction
by the apparent leader of the SRU to the mobile of the
base's then security chief.
A second surprise is the numbers involved. The Italian
investigators say they have identified 23 members of
the operation, and have been able to put names to 20
of them. At least six were women and - a third surprise
- there seem to have been intimate links between male
and female colleagues.
SRU members made several, apparently recreational,
trips within Italy as they waited to seize Abu Omar
and, on at least two occasions, couples booked into
double rooms.
Most of the names on their passports were false. But
two are not, and one belongs to the man the Italian
prosecutors claim was the coordinator of the operation.
The suspected operational leader of the SRU remains
unidentified.
The inquiry showed that the biggest number of calls
converged on the phone of someone identified in court
papers merely as X.
On the day of the abduction, as the coordinator monitored
events from his office at the consulate, X deployed
his team.
Italian investigators concluded that the lookout was
one of the women, a 33-year-old; and that a six-strong
team actually carried out the abduction and delivered
Abu Omar to the entrance to the A4 motorway where a
second team of six was waiting to speed him to Aviano.
The last trace of X is a call the same day to Virginia,
the state in which the CIA has its headquarters.
But the coordinator's Italian mobile sprang to life
again on March 3 2003. And the company's records show
that by then he, like Abu Omar, was in Egypt.
Yesterday, Mel Sembler, the US ambassador to Rome,
who had been out of Italy, returned after being summoned
to explain to the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi,
an operation about which the Italian government insists
it was never informed.
Mr Berlusconi demanded that the US "fully respect
Italian sovereignty".
The US embassy declined to comment on the kidnapping
allegations, though it did say yesterday that relations
would continue to be underpinned by "mutual respect". |
Palestinian Authority Minister
of Civil Affairs Muhammad Dahlan, who is in charge of
coordinating with Israel the withdrawal from the Gaza
Strip, on Wednesday accused Jewish settlers of "poisoning"
the lands in the settlements slated for evacuation.
Dahlan told reporters in Gaza City that the aim of
"poisoning" the lands was to cause severe
damages to them so that the Palestinians would not be
able to use them after the Israeli pullout.
"We have information that the
Israeli settlers are poisoning the lands in order to
damage them and to prevent Palestinians from using them
in the future," he said.
Dahlan, said that the Palestinians regard the withdrawal
from any piece of land as a "victory" for
their will and an "achievement accomplished through
the sacrifices of thousands of martyrs and wounded."
He warned, however, that Israel was planning to turn
the Gaza Strip into a "big prison" after its
withdrawal, noting that the PA was insisting that all
border crossings into the area be handed over to the
Palestinians.
"If Israel doesn't relinquish its control over
crossings and terminals, this means that Israel is not
withdrawing from the Gaza Strip; it means that Israel
is deepening its occupation," Dahlan added.
Dahlan said that coordination with Israel was focusing
on three issues; the Rafah border terminal, the safe
passage between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and
the Palestinian airport and harbor.
He said the coordination talks were also focusing on
the assets inside the settlements and the "legal
status" of the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank
after the withdrawal.
According to Dahlan, the coordination with Israel does
not mean that the Palestinians should make any concessions.
Dahlan complained that Israel was continuing its policy
of foot-dragging with regards to the coordination process,
pointing out that the Israeli government was refusing
to hand over to the PA full information on the settlement
assets.
"In principle, Israel will evacuate the border
crossings, but details about that was not discussed
and they didn't give clear answers about it. The Israeli
government will keep the Karni [commercial] crossing
working as it is now but with introducing some advanced
technologies," Dahlan claimed.
He also claimed that Israel was not interested in having
contiguity between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank
because it prefers the current situation to remain as
it is after the withdrawal. "The Israeli government
doesn't understand the issue of the airport and they
don't want us to use it or fix it or even reopen it
after the withdrawal," he said.
Asked about the smuggling operations across the Egyptian
border, Dahlan suggested that a third party should be
involved in this issue to make sure that no weapons
are smuggled into the Gaza Strip.
He described the recent meeting in
Jerusalem between PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon as "bad," adding that
it had increased Palestinians' fears that Israel was
planning to renege on the understandings reached earlier
this year at the Sharm e-Sheikh summit.
Dahlan urged all Palestinian factions to coordinate
with the PA their moves ahead of the withdrawal.
"These factions have not given responses yet as
to whether they want to work with us," Dahlan said,
adding that the "window of opportunity" was
still open for all the groups.
Dahlan also called on Hamas and Islamic Jihad to consider
joining a PA "national unity" cabinet. |
As Jewish settlers
become more violent in the Gaza Strip, even Israeli
PM Sharon is calling yesterday's brutal attack on a
Palestinian boy in Mawasi, "a barbaric, wild and
heartless act."
Hilal Majidi is critical condition in the hospital
after 40 settlers began attacking him after taking over
a Palestinian home in the southern Gaza Strip. The settlers
had nearly beaten the 18 year old to death before an
Israeli journalist and cameraman pulled him away.
Israeli television broadcast images of Israeli settlers
throwing stones and iron at the bloody boy while he
was on the ground and an occupation soldier stood to
the side and watched. Majidi tried to get up yet suddenly
lost consciousness. An Israeli radio station reporter,
Nisim Kanal, was an eyewitness. He reported that the
Israeli soldiers prevented Palestinian ambulances and
medical crews from reaching the boy. Another Israeli
journalist, Itzik Saban, ran behind the soldier and
pulled the injured boy away. |
Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon said Thursday evening that disengagement
from the Gaza Strip remains on track to be implemented
on August 15, in accordance with the timetable previously
approved by the government.
Speaking at the Caesarea Economic Forum in Jerusalem,
Sharon said that he initiated the disengagement plan
because he believes it is the best way to create needed
national change.
"Disengagement from the Gaza Strip will have important
effects on all aspects and issues in the state,"
Sharon said. "It will improve the situation in
Israel, and might motivate the Palestinians to stop
violence."
Sharon added that Israel decided to withdraw from the
Gaza Strip because it is an area which will not have
a Jewish majority and will not be part of Israel in
any future solution.
"Therefore, we decided to increase the Jewish presence
in the Negev, the Galilee, Greater Jerusalem (including
east Jerusalem), settlement blocs in the West Bank,
and all security zones," said Sharon.
"Now the whole world knows that Israel is ready
for painful concessions,"
Sharon said, adding that his plan strengthened the "coalition
between the United States and Israel." He referred
to the letter he received in April 2004 from US President
George Bush, approving Sharon's plan to annex settlement
blocs in the West Bank and his rejection of Palestinian
refugees' right of return. |
Condoleezza Rice hailed
the understanding between Israel and the Palestinian Authority
on the need to destroy the homes of the 8,000 Jewish settlers
in Gaza as a historic step on the road to peace. This
is a fatuous statement by one of the most vacuous US secretaries
of state of the postwar era.
American foreign policy has habitually displayed double
standards towards the Middle East: one standard towards
Israel and one towards the Arabs. To give just one example,
the US effected regime change in Baghdad in three weeks
but has failed to dismantle a single Jewish settlement
in the occupied territories in 38 years.
The two main items on America's current agenda for the
region are democracy for the Arabs and a settlement of
the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. America, however, insists
on democracy only for its Arab opponents, not for its
friends. As for the peace process, it is essentially a
mechanism by which Israel and America try to impose a
solution on the Palestinians. American hypocrisy is nothing
new. But with Dr Rice it has gone beyond chutzpah.
With Ariel Sharon, by contrast, what you see is what
you get. He has always been in the destruction business,
not the construction business. As minister of defence
in 1982, Sharon preferred to destroy the settlement town
of Yamit in Sinai rather than hand it to Egypt as a reward
for signing a peace treaty with Israel. George Bush once
described his friend Sharon as "a man of peace".
In truth, Sharon is a brutal thug and land-grabber.
Sharon is also the unilateralist par excellence. The
road map issued by the quartet (US, UN, EU and Russia)
in the aftermath of the Iraq war envisaged three stages
leading to the establishment of an independent Palestinian
state alongside Israel by the end of 2005. Sharon wrecked
the road map, notably by continuing to expand Jewish settlements
on the West Bank and building an illegal wall that cuts
deep into Palestinian territory.
He presented his plan for disengagement from Gaza as
a contribution to the road map; in fact it is almost the
exact opposite. The road map calls for negotiations between
the two sides, leading to a two-state solution. Sharon
refuses to negotiate and acts to redraw unilaterally the
borders of Greater Israel. As he told rightwing supporters:
"My plan is difficult for the
Palestinians, a fatal blow. There's no Palestinian state
in a unilateral move." The real purpose of
the move is to derail the road map and kill the comatose
peace process. For Sharon, withdrawal
from Gaza is the prelude not to a permanent settlement
but to the annexation of substantial sections of the West
Bank.
Sharon decided to cut his losses in Gaza when he realised
that the cost of occupation is not sustainable. Gaza
is home to 8,000 Israeli settlers and 1.3 million Palestinians.
The settlers control 25% of the territory, 40% of the
arable land and most of the water. This is a hopeless
colonial enterprise, accompanied by one of the most prolonged
and brutal military occupations of modern times. Bush
publicly endorsed Sharon's plan to withdraw from Gaza
and retain the four main settlement blocks on the West
Bank without consulting the quartet - a reversal of the
US position since 1967 that viewed the settlements as
an obstacle to peace. Last year Sharon proposed handing
the remaining Israeli assets in Gaza to an international
body. Now he proposes to destroy the homes and farms.
The change of plan is prompted by Israeli fear that Hamas
will claim credit for the withdrawal and raise its flag
over the buildings vacated by the settlers. This is inevitable
both because Hamas, not the PA, is the liberator of Gaza
and because Israel is refusing to coordinate its moves
with the PA. Another fear is that Hamas, supported by
35-40% of the Palestinian population, will emerge as a
serious electoral challenger to Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah
movement.
This is Condi's conundrum. If she is serious about spreading
democracy in the Arab world she must accept the outcome
of free elections; in most of the Arab world they would
produce Islamist, anti-US governments. Israel has contributed
more than any other country to this sorry state of affairs.
Condi and the American right regard Israel as a strategic
asset in the war on terror. In fact Israel is America's
biggest liability. For most Arabs and Muslims the real
issue in the Middle East is not Iraq, Iran or democracy
but Israel's oppression of the Palestinian people and
America's blind support for Israel.
America's policy towards the Middle East is myopic, muddled
and mistaken. Only a negotiated settlement can bring lasting
peace and stability to the area. And only America has
the power to push Israel into such a settlement. It is
high time the US got tough with Israel, the intransigent
party and main obstacle to peace. Colluding in Sharon's
selfish, uncivilised plan to destroy the Jewish homes
in Gaza is not a historic step on the road to peace. |
As far as self perception
is concerned, those who call themselves Jews could be
divided into three main categories:
1. those who follow Judaism.
2. those who regard themselves as human beings that happen
to be of Jewish origin.
3. those who put their Jewishness over and above all
of their other traits.
Obviously, the first two categories specify an harmless
group of people. We do tend to respect religious people,
as they are generally expected to be living inspired by
their beliefs and are expected to abide by some sort of
a higher spiritual code. Needless to say, we have no problem
with the second category as well. One cannot choose one's
origin. We agree that people must be respected and treated
equally regardless of their origin or their racial and
ethnic belonging.
However the third category is
largely problematic. Clearly, its definition may sound
inflammatory to some. And yet, bizarrely enough, it is
a general formulation of Chaim Weizmann's view of
the Jewish identity as expressed in his famous address
at the First Jewish Congress: "There are no English,
French, German or American Jews, but only Jews living
in England, France, Germany or America."[1]
According to Weizmann, a prominent Zionist
figure, Jewishness is a primary quality. You may be a
Jew who dwells in England, a Jew who plays the violin
or even a Jew against Zionism. But above all else you
are a Jew. And this is exactly the idea conveyed by the
3rd category. It is all about viewing Jewishness as the
key element in one's being. Any other quality is
secondary.
This is exactly the message the early Zionists were interested
in promulgating. For Weizmann, Jewishness is a unique
quality that stops the Jew from assimilating within the
nation he is a citizen of. He will always remain an alien.
This very line of thinking was more than apparent in most
early Zionist writings. Jabotinsky, the founder of right
wing Zionism, takes it even further. He is more than firm
that assimilation is impossible due to some biological
conditioning. Here is what he had to say about the German
Jew: "A Jew brought up among Germans may assume German
customs, German words. He may be wholly imbued with that
German fluid but the nucleus of his spiritual structure
will always remain Jewish, because his blood, his body,
his physical racial type are Jewish." (Vladimir Jabotinsky,
'A Letter on Autonomy', 1904). The reader may notice that
these outrageous racist ideas predate Nazism. Jabotinsky
wasn't alone, even the Marxist Ber Borochov who
refers the Jewish condition to some historical and material
circumstances is suggesting a remedy that is particular
to Jewish people, i.e. Jewish Nationalism in which Jews
will practice some proletarian activity, namely production.
As it seems, Borochov lets Jews be separated from the
international proletarian revolution. Why does he do this?
Just because Jews are uniquely Jewish or at least the
Zionists tend to believe they are.
However, one may rightly ask whether it was the Zionists
who invented this 3rd category?
In fact, it is not that way at all.
Seemingly, Shakespeare had noticed this very pattern
three hundred years earlier. Shylock, the famous money
lender from Venice was a proper 3rd category Jew. He clearly
admits that more than anything else he is a Jew who possesses
many human features. ‘I am a Jew' says Shylock,
"Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs,
dimensions, senses, affections, passions?" And yet
Shylock insists that he shares many human features: "Fed
with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject
to the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter
and summer, as a Christian is." Shylock claims to
be essentially similar to the entire humanity: "If
you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we
not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?...."[2]
Noticeably, according to Shylock the Jew is as vulnerable
as an ordinary human being and yet he is primarily Jewish.
This is indeed the essence of Zionism, The Zionist is
first and foremost a Jew. He can't be just an ordinary
British citizen who happens to be of a Jewish descent.
He is rather a Jew who dwells in Britain. He is a Jew
who speaks English, he is a Jew who gets his health services
from the NHS, he is a Jew who happens to drive on the
left side of the road. He is the ultimate Other. Generally
speaking, 3rd category Jews are the ultimate Others. Just
because they are always somewhere at the margins of or
apart from any given human condition or human landscape.
Zionist agents
As it seems, Shylock was a Zionist, he fitted perfectly
into Weizmann's model. He was a 3rd category Jew.
However, Shylock didn't make it to Palestine. He
didn't engage himself in confiscating Palestinian
land. He wasn't even an Israeli soldier. In fact
the 3rd category Jew doesn't have to move to Palestine.
Apparently, dwelling in Zion is merely just one possible
practice within the Zionist philosophy. In order to become
a proper Zionist you don't have to wander. Sometimes
it is actually better if you stay exactly wherever you
are. Let us read what Victor Ostrovsky, an ex-Mossad agent,
is telling us about 3rd category Jews.
"The next day Ran S. delivered a lecture on the
sayanim, a unique and important part of the
Mossad's operation. Sayanim - assistants - must be 100
percent Jewish. They live abroad, and though they are
not Israeli citizens, many are reached through their
relatives in Israel. An Israeli with a relative in England,
for example, might be asked to write a letter telling
the person bearing the letter that he represents an
organization whose main goal is to help save Jewish
people in the diaspora. Could the British relative help
in any way?.....There are thousands of sayanim around
the world. In London alone, there are about 2,000 who
are active, and another 5,000 on the list. They fulfill
many different roles. A car sayan, for example, running
a rental agency, could help the Mossad rent a car without
having to complete the usual documentation. An apartment
sayan would find accommodation without raising suspicions,
a bank sayan could get you money if you needed it in
the middle of the night, a doctor sayan would treat
a bullet wound without reporting it to the police, and
so on. The idea is to have a pool of people available
when needed who can provide services but will keep quiet
about them out of loyalty to the cause. They are paid
only costs." [3]
I assume that it must be clear that sayanim are basically
3rd category Jews. People who regard themselves primarily
as Jews. The sayan is a man who would betray the nation
in which he is a citizen just to satisfy a bizarre notion
of a clannish brotherhood.
Zionism, an International Network
We are now starting to realise that Zionism shouldn't
be seen merely as a nationalist movement with a clear
geographical aspiration. It isn't exactly a colonial
movement with an interest in Palestine. Zionism appears
to be an international movement that is fuelled by the
solidarity of 3rd category subjects. To be a Zionist means
just to accept that more than anything else you are primarily
a Jew.
Ostrovsky continues:
"You have at your disposal a non-risk recruitment
system that actually gives you a pool of millions of
Jewish people to tap from outside your own borders.
It's much easier to operate with what is available on
the spot, and sayanim offer incredible practical support
everywhere….Now one might suggest that, for example,
Great Britain could use a similar system and recruit
among WASPS around the world. But they don't, because
they can't. It takes an extraordinary degree of racial
solidarity and racial motivation to develop and maintain
such a "non-risk recruitment system" and see
to it that it works properly. Remember, all of these
activities are spying, with long prison sentences if
caught. Americans of English, Irish and Italian ancestry
may have some residual loyalties to the old "mother
country." But this residue is nothing like the
racial solidarity of the Jews. Such racial feelings
are so strong and so pervasive among Jews that the Mossad
knew in advance that their recruitment system was "non-risk."
Britain, Ireland, Italy and the Vatican know better
than to try to implement such a thing. [4]
Ostrovsky is talking here about ‘racial solidarity'.
But in fact, Jews are far from being a single race. As
funny as it may sound, most Palestinians are more racially
Jewish than the Ashkenazi Jews.
So if it isn't a racial solidarity, what is it
that leads the sayan to run the risk of years of imprisonment?
What did Jonathan Pollard have in his mind when he clearly
betrayed his country? What do those 2,000 sayanim here
in London have in their minds when they betray their Queen?
I assume that we are left here with one possibility: the
solidarity of the 3rd category Jews. It is namely a solidarity
of the people who regard themselves primarily as Jews.
I tend to regard Ostrovsky's testimony as a very
reliable report. As we know, at the time, the Israeli
government was using every possible means to stop the
publication of his books. In fact, this strange Israeli
activity was more than an affirmation that Ostrovsky was
indeed a Mossad agent and that the story that he is telling
is rather genuine.
In a radio interview Joseph Lapid, at the time an Israeli
senior columnist, opened his heart and told the world
what he thought of Ostrovsky: "Ostrovsky is the
most treacherous Jew in modern Jewish history. And he
has no right to live, except if he's prepared to return
to Israel and stand trial."[5]
Valerie Pringle, the journalist on the other side of
the line asked Lapid: "Do you feel it's a responsible
statement to say what you've said?"
Lapid: "Oh yes, I fully believe in that. And unfortunately
the Mossad cannot do it because we cannot endanger our
relations with Canada. But I hope there will be a decent
Jew in Canada who does it for us."
Pringle: "You hope this. You could live with his
blood on your hands?"
Lapid: "Oh no. It's to...only it will not be his
blood on my hands. It will be justice to a man who does
the most horrible thing that any Jew can think of, and
that is that he's selling out the Jewish state and the
Jewish people for money to our enemies. There is absolutely
nothing worse that a human being, if he can be called
a human being, can do".
Lapid, later a member in Sharon's cabinet, makes
it more than clear: to be a Jew is a deep commitment that
goes far beyond any legal or moral order. It is far more
essential than any universal ethical perception. Clearly,
for Lapid, Jewishness is not a spiritual stand, it is
a political commitment. It is a world view that applies
to the very last Jew on this planet. As he says: the Mossad
can't really kill Ostrovsky, thus, it is down to
a ‘decent Canadian Jew' to do the job. As
is evident, a Zionist journalist is expressing here the
most outrageous of views. He encourages a fellow Jew to
commit a murder in the name of the Jewish brotherhood.
In short, not only does Lapid affirm Ostrovsky's
report about the world of sayanim, he also confirms Weizmann's
view that from a Zionist point of view, there are no Canadian
Jews but only Jews who live in Canada.
I think that the above leaves us with enough room to
conclude that at least in the Zionists' eyes, Jewishness
is basically an international network operation. Ostrovsky
calls it ‘racial solidarity', I call it 3rd
category brotherhood and Weizmann calls it Zionism. But
it all means the very same thing. It is all about commitment,
a global agenda that pools more and more Jews into an
obscure, dangerous fellowship. Apparently, Zionism is
not about Israel. Israel is just a colony, a territorial
asset violently maintained by a mission force composed
of 3rd category Jews. In fact, there is no geographical
centre to the Zionist endeavor. It is hard to determine
where the centre of Zionist decision making is. Is it
in Jerusalem? In the Knesset, in Sharon's cabinet,
in the Mossad, or maybe in the ADL offices in America?
It might as well be somewhere in Wall Street? Who knows?
But then, it is of course more than possible that there
is no decision making process at all. The beauty of a
network operative system is that not a single operator
within the network is fully familiar with the network
but is only aware of his personal role within it. This
is probably the biggest strength of the Zionist movement.
Looking at Zionism as a global network operation would
determine a major shift in our perspective of current
world affairs:
The Palestinians, for instance, aren't just the
victims of the Israeli occupation, they are rather the
victims of 3rd category Jews who decided to transform
Palestine into a Jewish national bunker. The Iraqis, are
better seen as the victims of the those 3rd category Jews
who decided to transform the American army into a Jewish
mission force. The Muslim world should be seen as a subject
to some neo-conservative 3rd category tendency to make
Nathan Sharansky's Democratic ideology into the
new American Bible for the 3rd world.
It is pretty depressing indeed.
The Jewish humanist
The Palestinian activist Reem Abdehadi, when asked for
her opinion about Jewish anti Zionist campaigners, said
sarcastically: "they are very nice, all fifteen
of them…"
We must admit that not many Jews are there to fight against
Zionism. However, amongst those few who engage themselves
in this battle we find some people who insist upon doing
so under the Jewish banner, e.g. Jews Against Zionism,
Jews for Justice for Palestinians, etc.
While writing this paper I have started to ask myself
what category those Jewish leftist groups belong to. Clearly,
they do not fit into the 1st category. Jewish left is
a ‘religious' atheist tendency. They really
don't like to involve God in politics or in anything
else. In most cases they are hostile to Judaism and even
to those Orthodox Jews who happen to stand up to Zionism.
But it isn't only Judaism that they dislike. They
aren't fond of Islam or Christianity either. Those
amongst them who endorse the idea of a one state solution
do insist that the future Palestine must be ‘a secular'
and a democratic state'. Not that I am in any position
to suggest what the future Palestine is going to be, I
would just try to propose that it must be down to the
citizens of this future state to decide what type of kingdom
they prefer to live in.
Anyhow, those Jewish leftists fail as well to fit into
the 2nd category. They do not regard themselves as ordinary
humanists who happen to be of Jewish descent. If they
were, they would simply join the Palestinian Solidarity
movement like other Jews who prefer to act mainly as humanists.
But then, rather than joining the Solidarity Campaign,
they form some exclusive political cells that allow them
to operate under the Jewish banner.
Consequently, we must admit that they all belong to the
3rd category. In fact they prefer to regard themselves
as ‘Jews who hold some leftist views'. Clearly,
amongst those groups you will find some wonderful people
who genuinely believe that Zionism is wrong, that Zionism
is racist and nationalist. But in fact these people are
themselves operating as 3rd category Jews. They all act
politically under a Jewish banner. In practical terms,
they all follow Weizmann's school. Rather than being
Humanists who happen to be Jewish (2nd category), they
are Jews who happen to be Humanists. But then, since acting
politically under a Jewish banner is in fact the very
definition of Zionism, it is reasonable to deduce that
all Jewish left activity is in practice not more than
a form of left Zionism. One may ask whether it is really
possible to be a left Zionist? Is there left and right
in a network group that is set primarily on a racial category
and clannish brotherhood?
The answer is no. There is no left and right within Zionism
but rather different right wing political apparatuses.
Some Zionist political calls are adopting the shape of
left discourse. I had noticed for instance that Jewish
Marxists insist upon calling each other comrade. In fact
they are mainly engaged in Marxist verbal rituals. But
apparently, this isn't enough. Ideology is more
than a mere language game. In reality, those Jewish left
clubs are operating as the body shield of the 3rd category
identity. This may explain the fact that as far as the
Palestinian Solidarity Campaign is concerned, those groups
are primarily engaged in guarding some 3rd category Jewish
interests that have very little to do with the Palestinians
and their daily misery.
If to be more precise, those Jewish left groups are engaged
mainly in searching for ‘anti-Semites, Holocaust
deniers and Jew haters. Somehow, they always find them
amongst the most active and devoted 2nd category Jews.
As it seems (to me at least), for these Jewish sporadic
cells, Palestinian solidarity is just another instrument
to draw attention to the myth of Jewish humanism. I will
try to be very clear and transparent here. There is no
Jewish secular humanism. No doubt many humanists happen
to be Jewish and yet there is not a single Jewish secular
humanist theorem or text.[6] This is mainly because Jewish
secularity is not a philosophical position. It is rather
a complete abandonment of God. Jewish secularity is a
form of ethnicity based merely on some exclusive tendencies
and a vague collective memory of some ritual heritage.
So, is there a Jewish Conspiracy to
run the world?
Not really. First it must be clear that 1st and 2nd category
Jews have nothing to do with all the above. For 1st category
Jews, being Jewish means practicing Judaism. To follow
a spiritual call and to obey God's law. As we know,
Zionism is still far from being popular amongst ultra
orthodox Rabbis. However, I must admit that some would
rightly argue that following the teaching of the Talmudic
law many religious Jews do regard themselves as a chosen
category. For me, this simply means that they fall into
the 3rd category rather than the 1st one. This probably
applies to the orthodox sects that allied with Zionism
throughout the course of time.
The second category Jews have no intention of taking
part in any global Jewish networking. They regard themselves
as an ordinary and liberated human beings with no special
privilege. Amongst the 2nd category Jews we find the most
enlightening emancipated humanists. Those very great intellects
that contributed to 20th century liberal and humanist
thinking. As we all know, hardly any of them came from
Israel or a Zionist faction.
When it comes to the 3rd category, we
are faced with a slight problem. I tend to believe that
the 3rd category Jews are mutually acting together. But
then whether they are fully aware of it or not is a big
question. Throughout the years they have formed a network
that operates as a global Zionist body shield. They simply
act in harmony, they protect each other. Even when they
fight against one another, they depict an image of pluralism.
I think that this is the essence of Zionism's miraculous
success.
A week ago I read a brilliant insight by Rowan Berkeley
on Peacepalestine website. Rowan, a Londoner whom I know
vaguely, had been flirting in the past with the idea of
becoming a Jew. In the following comment he is aiming
to explain the common Jewish take on Zionism. In fact,
without realising it, he describes the 3rd category tactic:
"First they ask, Do you believe that (Jewish) Nationalism
is a Good Thing, or a Bad Thing?
"If you say it is a Good Thing, they will direct
you to the Jewish Right, which will tell you that Jews
have as much of a right to be nationalistic as anybody
else does.
"If you say it is a Bad Thing, they will direct
you to the Jewish Left, which will tell you that you are
not allowed to protest against Zionism on any basis other
than Marxist or Anarchist Proletarian Internationalism
- thus disqualifying almost all the actually existing
anti-Zionist movements in the Arab world.
"They can get away with this ideological shell
game because each individual discursive arena is controlled
by one or another Jewish faction."[7]
Yes, I do believe that Rowan's insight hits the
nail right on the head. He is absolutely correct. But
then, unlike Rowan I do believe that Jews Against Zionism
are genuine. They simply fight Zionism without realising
that they themselves are Zionists. Without realising that
they are the most orthodox followers of Weizmann's
school. If they are really interested in bringing Zionism
down, their tactics are obviously wrong.
I wrote to some of them about the subject before, I have
seen some discussion about my views in many different
Jewish left circles and yet, I have never come across
any argumentative response from any of those sporadic
exclusive groups. Rather than being confronted with my
thoughts, they are solely engaged in labeling. I have
already been: ‘a self hating Jew', ‘a
Christian fundamentalist', ‘a Holocaust denier',
‘an apologist for Holocaust deniers', ‘a
neo-nazi', ‘a Stalinist', ‘a Zionist
agent', ‘an anti-Semite' and many more.
Two weeks ago, a small group of Jewish leftists picketed
against me in front of a Marxist bookshop. I tried to
write to them arguing that if Palestine is on top of one's
agenda, a protest in front of the Israeli embassy or any
other 3rd category Jewish institute would be far more
effective. They dismissed my call.
I am fully aware of the fact that crucifying me and burning
my books is no doubt a proper 3rd category practice, but
unfortunately it isn't going to help the Palestinian
at the checkpoint. It isn't going to help the millions
of refugees who have been living for almost six decades
without elementary rights.
Israel is an inhuman political setup and we therefore
must fight it as human beings rather than as sporadic
ethnic or religious groups.
--------------------
[1] (Chaim Weizman, First Zionist Congress
1897).
[2] (Shylock, The Merchant of Venice by
William Shakespeare).
[3] By Way of Deception", Victor
Ostrovsky , St. Martin's, 1990 pg 86-7
[4] Ibid pg 87
[5] http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/0195/9501017.htm
[6] If anything, Zionism in its early
days was aiming towards the establishment of such a philosophy,
a form of Jewish secular ethics. Obviously such an attempt
was doomed to failure. Just because Zionism is unethical
by definition, being that it engages in the continual
ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Palestinian people.
[7] http://peacepalestine.blogspot.com/ |
Ministers "bullied"
academics who wrote a report criticising plans for identity
cards, the director of the London School of Economics
(LSE) has alleged.
The LSE report sparked a row after it claimed the cost
of ID cards could reach three times the government's estimate
of £6bn over 10 years.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke said the study was "technically
incompetent".
In a letter to the Times, LSE's Howard Davies said the
government had adopted a "bullying" approach
to his team.
Mr Clarke said the findings of the study, published earlier
this week were "fabricated" and did discredit
to the LSE's reputation.
In a Commons debate on the subject, he also accused one
of the academics who helped to prepare the report of being
"partisan" because he was already set against
the cards.
The report was the result of six months' work, involved
the contributions of more than 60 people and had been
overseen by a dozen professors from LSE, Mr Davies said
in his letter.
'Honest views'
Mr Clarke had branded the study as "mad" before
he had even seen it, Mr Davies added.
"The report is not, of course, a corporate LSE document,"
he said.
"It does, however, represent the honest and considered
views of a team of experts.
"It is unfortunate that, on an issue where the civil
liberties concerns are so serious, the government should
have chosen to adopt a bullying approach to critics whose
prime motivation was to devise a scheme which might work
at an acceptable cost."
'Details leaked'
The LSE report also claimed plans for ID cards were too
risky and lacked the trust of the public.
And the government's proposed system was so complex it
could itself become a target of terrorists, the academics
warned.
Responding to the letter, a Home Office spokesman said
Mr Clarke stood by his comments last week.
"Details of the LSE report have been leaked to the
media over a period of two weeks," he said.
"The Home Office was repeatedly asked to comment
on those details and it therefore seemed appropriate to
ask for a copy.
"Despite numerous requests, the LSE refused to provide
one."
|
Nobody
has nothing to hide
Identity cards will deprive the innocent of one of their
most basic rights |
Muriel Gray
Saturday July 2, 2005
The Guardian |
Years ago, we lived
next door to a delightful old bachelor called Charlie.
In his 60s when we met him, he told us he'd been an RAF
pilot in the war, had never married and was spending his
nest egg by constantly touring Scotland on luxury coach
trips on which he invariably befriended coiffured ladies.
It was only on his deathbed that he told our flatmate
his name was not Charlie. The fighter pilot tales were
true, but he had been married with two daughters and,
in a disquieting parallel with King Lear, had been so
appalled by their behaviour during his wife's illness
and after her death that he fled, changing his identity
to ensure that they would never find him to lock him in
a home and steal his money. He died peacefully under his
invented name, having had 10 years of joy and freedom.
I also recall Mary (let's call her that), who worked
in television production in London, but came from rural
Ireland. It took years to come out, but she eventually
revealed to trusted friends that she lived under an assumed
identity. Two male family members had sexually abused
her since childhood, which her mother refused to believe.
When she left she knew the entire family were searching
for her with a vigour that included private detectives.
The fear that they would find her and make themselves
part of her future children's lives was too terrible to
contemplate. Life as someone else was a chance to start
again, a chance she grabbed with huge courage.
The reason for recalling these cases is that in the continuing
debate over the government's baffling adherence to its
insidious identity card scheme, its defence boils down
to one cliche: if you're innocent you have nothing to
hide. This is not simply an outrageously stupid statement,
but also plain wrong. Charlie and Mary were entirely innocent
but they had plenty they wished to hide.
The argument for and against compulsory ID cards has
so far focused mainly on the delicate relationship between
state and citizen, concentrating on the very real potential
for the government to betray our trust and covertly use
the information for its increasingly barking mad purposes.
What has been ignored, however, is that the inevitable
commercial and practical implications of a compulsory
card will have consequences just as far-reaching as the
MI5 man being able to idly scan your hospital appointments
to see when your warts were burned off.
There is no question whatsoever that, should compulsory
cards be introduced and their production required to access
government services, commercial services will immediately
follow suit. Regardless of Charles Clarke's weak assurances
on the card's limited application, we can be sure that
it will quickly become impossible to book a hotel room,
hire a car, open a bank account or make any kind of significant
commercial transaction without producing the card.
Currently, you or I can open a bank account under any
name we wish. We can procure a credit card under that
name. We can have gas, electricity and telephone lines
brought to our home and pay for them under that name.
We can book into a hotel as Donald Duck or travel round
our own country by air or train as Pocahontas, all of
which will be rendered impossible when the commercial
sector decides to exploit a scheme that ensures customers
can hide nothing.
Never again will a couple book into that Cornish hotel
as Mr and Mrs Smith and fail to show for breakfast. The
staunch defenders of the ID scheme question why one would
wish to fabricate such deceptions, but the reason is that
the enigmatic stranger is a keystone of the British notion
of freedom. The romantic ideal that anyone can be who
they wish to be is so stitched into our mythology and
literature - from strangers on trains to millionaire philanthropists
posing as paupers and ambitious youngsters escaping class
restraints by altering their identity - that its loss
would be a tragedy.
The "innocent have nothing to hide" cliche
implies that it is only the guilty who wish to deceive,
to be deeply secretive, when in fact the innocent also
have plenty of valid reasons to wish to do so. Since it
will be the commercial demands for the proof of identity
that will bring about the practical and daily curtailment
of freedom, the government will be able to hold up its
hands in mock horror and say: "But we never insisted
you show your ID card to join a health club or buy a TV
set." Yeah, right.
Ironically, criminals will be ably assisted by the ID
card, which they will doubtless forge with great skill.
Meanwhile those of us who like our secrets kept will be
exposed by market forces when they bully us to conform.
The innocent have much to hide. It's called a private
life. |
Describing his ailing Social Democrat-led
government as torn by dissent and without trust in his
policies, Germany's Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder,
has deliberately lost a parliamentary vote of confidence
in a move that opens the way for early elections this
autumn.
In a long-awaited and dramatic session of the Bundestag
yesterday, MPs voted against the government by 296 votes
to 151 with 148 abstentions after Mr Schröder delivered
a damning account of his coalition's inability to pursue
his economic reform programme.
The vote of no-confidence, a tactic last employed by
Mr Schröder's predecessor, Helmut Kohl more than
20 years ago, allows President Horst Köhler 21
days to decide whether to call an early general election,
likely to be held on 18 September.
Opinion polls suggest that the opposition
Christian Democrats are on course to oust Mr Schröder's
coalition of Social Democrats and Greens and sweep Angela
Merkel, the conservative leader, to power as the first
female chancellor.
Looking pale and visibly distraught, Mr Schröder
told the Bundestag that his government was in effect
a lame-duck administration unable to pursue its policies
at home, in Europe or abroad. "Without a new mandate
my political programme cannot be carried forward,"
he said. "We need the support of voters to continue
what has been begun."
The Chancellor's decision to call for a general election
this autumn, a year earlier than planned, was prompted
by the shattering defeat suffered by the Social Democrats
last May in elections in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Mr Schröder's party was ousted by the opposition
conservative Christian Democrats for the first time
in 39 years in the country's most populous state. The
vote was widely seen as massive popular rejection of
his attempts to reform Germany's sluggish economy and
reduce the burden of 4.7 million unemployed.
The Chancellor provided an insight yesterday, into
the shortcomings of his own Social Democrats, a party
torn by arguments over his Agenda 2010 economic reform
programme and filled with left-wing dissenters threatening
to quit and join a new left-wing party.
"The defeat in North Rhine-Westphalia has led
to heated debate within the party about its future course.
It is simply come down to the question of whether the
Agenda 2010 reforms are necessary at all or whether
they should be revoked," he said.
"The steady confidence that I need to carry out
my reforms is no longer present even within my own coalition
government. Dissent and criticism of my policies are
on the increase. This is a high price to pay for reform."
Mr Schröder's merciless portrayal of his own administration
was welcomed by Mrs Merkel. She described his decision
to call for an early election as " an unavoidable
course of action which will spare months of tortuous
debate".
Yet despite the gravity of the
occasion, Germany's first prospective female chancellor
managed to cause outbursts of laughter and jeers in
the Bundestag after making a series of embarrassing
slip-ups in her speech. Mrs Merkel's attempt
to savage Mr Schröder for his "inability to
rule effectively" came out as "I offer my
respect for your ability" and was met by a chorus
of laughter.
Her later attempt to say that her conservative CDU
could govern more effectively became: "The CDU
together with the SPD", earning more laughter,
jeers and an ear-to-ear smile from an otherwise exhausted-looking
Mr Schröder.
"Don't laugh too soon" was Mrs Merkel's retort.
|
Shipping costs for commodities
such as iron ore and coal fell near the lowest since
September 2003 as the global fleet expanded and Chinese
steel mills reduced imports, cutting expenses for mining
companies and steelmakers.
About a third of the dry-bulk vessels scheduled for
delivery from shipyards this year have been sent to
owners, according to Paris-based shipbroker Barry Rogliano
Salles. Steel mills in China, the world's biggest importer
of iron ore, held 40 million metric tons of reserves
in April, equal to about three months of production,
UBS AG said in a May 27 report.
"There was clearly an oversupply of iron ore held
in China, which has reduced demand on long haul routes
from Brazil,'' said Colin Cridland, director of research
at London-based Braemar Seascope Group Plc. Brazil is
the second-biggest iron ore exporter after Australia.
Companies such as Melbourne-based BHP Billiton, the
world's biggest mining company, and Rio de Janeiro-based
Cia. Vale do Rio Doce, the world's biggest iron ore
producer, use ships to transport their products. Falling
freight rates cut raw-material transport costs for mining
companies and steel producers.
The Baltic Dry Index, which measures the cost of hauling
commodities on ships of several sizes and routes, fell
50 points, or 1.9 percent, to 2586, the lowest since
Sept. 23, 2003, according to the Baltic Exchange in
London. The index has slumped 58 percent from a record
6208 points on Dec. 6.
Share Decline
Shares of Golden Ocean Group Ltd., an Oslo-based owner
of dry bulk ships, closed at 3.60 kroner (55 cents)
in Oslo, down 0.09 krone, or 2.4 percent.
Steel production in China rose 36 percent in May, Beijing-
based Mainland Marketing Research Co. said June 15,
hurting prices worldwide. Benchmark steel in Europe
slumped 13 percent this month to $465 a metric ton,
according to Metal Bulletin.
China's industrial production rose a faster-than-expected
16.6 percent from a year earlier to a record 570 billion
yuan ($69 billion), the Beijing-based National Statistics
Bureau said on its Web site yesterday.
"I expect we may see weaker numbers in the statistics
for June and July,'' said Jarle Hammer, chief economist
at Oslo-based shipbroker Fearnleys.
Dry-bulk shipping rates also slumped
last year, dropping 54 percent from a peak in January
to a six-month low of 2622 points on June 22, as measured
by the Baltic Dry Index. Freight rates are set to rebound
in the second half, Hammer said.
'Probably Pick up'
"The market will probably pick up sharply,'' Hammer
said. "It's not like China is being turned off.
They are taking a breather before hurrying along again,''
About 124 dry-bulk vessels were sent to owners so far
this year, Barry Rogliano said. Another 219 vessels
are scheduled for delivery during the rest of the year.
Freight rates for Capesizes transporting iron ore from
Brazil to China's Beilun and Baoshan ports fell 19 cents,
or 1 percent, to $18.67 a metric ton, according to the
Baltic Exchange, down from a record $46.56 a ton on
Dec. 8.
Capesizes are the largest dry-bulk ships and carry
as much as 170,000 tons of cargo.
The Baltic Capesize Index, which measures rates for
ships loading 150,000 tons of cargo or more, fell 2.3
percent. Panamax ships fell 2 percent to 2619 points.
The biggest ships that can navigate the Panama Canal,
they load about 70,000 tons. Handymax vessels, loading
about 50,000 tons, fell 1.4 percent today.
China has fueled a boom in shipping demand that has
lasted more than two years. Surging demand for coal
and iron ore has caused congestion at ports, tying up
capacity. |
BOCA GRANDE, Fla. - A shark bit
an Austrian tourist on the ankle Friday while he stood
in chest-deep water in the Gulf of Mexico, the state's
third shark attack in a week.
Armin Trojer, 19, of Baden, Austria, was airlifted
by helicopter to a hospital in Fort Myers, where he
was in good condition, hospital spokeswoman Pat Dolce
said. He is scheduled to have surgery Friday to repair
torn ligaments and tendons.
"It is a confirmed shark attack," Lee County
sheriff's spokeswoman Ileana LiMarzi said. "Someone
else in the water saw a shark."
Paramedics also indicated the wound was consistent
with a shark bite, she said. The man was bitten near
the lighthouse at Gasparilla Island Beach.
"We are out there right now letting people know,
notifying people on the beach about what happened,"
LiMarzi said. The beach was not closed to swimmers as
no other sharks were spotted during helicopter flights
over the area.
Two other young people have been bitten since Saturday
along Florida's Gulf Coast. Friday's incident was about
280 miles from an attack Monday on a 16-year-old Tennessee
boy who lost his leg and about 350 miles from the spot
where a 14-year-old Louisiana girl was killed Saturday.
Experts believed bull sharks attacked both teens in
the Florida Panhandle. The type of shark involved in
Friday's attack was not immediately determined.
Florida averaged more than 30 shark attacks a year
from 2000 to 2003, but there were only 12 attacks off
the state's coast last year, said George Burgess, curator
of the International Shark Attack File at University
of Florida. |
PASADENA, Calif. - A NASA spacecraft
was speedily closing in on its target Friday, a comet
scientists hope to smash open this weekend, producing
celestial fireworks for the Independence Day weekend.
But the real purpose is to study the comet's primordial
core.
Mission scientists said the Deep Impact spacecraft
was 1 1/2 million miles away from Tempel 1, a pickle-shaped
comet half the size of Manhattan.
"We're closing in very rapidly, but we're still
very far away," said Michael A'Hearn, an astronomer
at the University of Maryland and principal investigator
of the $333 million project.
The cosmic fireworks will not be visible to the naked
eye. But skygazers with telescopes can view the collision
83 million miles up from parts of the Western Hemisphere
- in the United States, west of a line from Chicago
to Atlanta, around 2 a.m. EDT Monday if all goes as
planned.
Launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., Deep Impact began
a six-month, 268-million-mile voyage Jan. 12 toward
Tempel 1. If all goes well, it will be the first time
that scientists have ever peered into the heart of a
comet.
The collision will not significantly
alter the comet's path around the sun and scientists
say the experiment poses no danger to Earth. [...] |
Deep Impact |
SOTT Commentary |
It's all over the news
and the internet: the US, which loves big explosions and
light shows, is celebrating the Fourth of July this year
with the rendezvous between spacecraft "Deep Impact"
and the comet Tempel 1, at which time Deep will shoot
a projectile into the comet's surface in order to, as
the PR department puts it, "solve one of the mysteries
of the solar system".
Exactly what they will discover or are hoping to discover
is a little vague in the popular
accounts. "Scientists expect the collision to
blast a crater in the comet and hurl the pristine subsurface
material out from the pit. Comets are considered remnants
of the solar system's building blocks and studying them
could provide clues to how the sun and planets formed
4 billion years ago." The scientific objectives are
spelled out more clearly here
on at the mission web site. The idea is that seeing beneath
the surface of the comet will give us a look into the
deep past of our solar system. For a contraian opinion,
see the next article.
Whether the data confirms or contradicts the established
views, it is good that we will have new data. Whether
the data that is released to the public is accurate or
has been massaged by NASA to conform to the results it
wants, is, of course, a different question. Our own research
has shown us that much data from our study of the heavens
disappears into the black hole of, well, who really knows,
and is not available, even to specialists in the field.
The Deep Impact mission is the first time that earthlings
have attempted to smash into a comet, in this case using
a 350-kg (770-lb) copper mass impactor that is expected
to create a spectacular football field-sized crater, or
a less spectacular crater the size of an SUV, seven stories
deep on a comet 6-km (approximately 4 miles) in diameter,
or maybe only 2 stories high.
That's what the mainstream astrophysicists expect. So
far so good. Most of today's "accepted" astronomy/cosmology
is based on the assumption that electrical fields, currents,
and plasma discharges are not important in space. Only
gravitational and magnetic fields are important.
But is this picture of the universe, how the astrophysicists
describe it, and what we learned at school, a correct
view? Not according to the proponents of the theory of
the Electric Universe, which proposes that the cosmos
is highly electrical in nature. They hypothesise that
99% of the universe is made up not of "invisible
matter", but rather, of matter in the plasma state.
Electrodynamic forces in electric plasmas are much stronger
than the gravitational force.
Could this have an effect on "Deep Impact"?
According to the EU theory, yes, indeed, and Deep Impact
is becoming something of an experiment to test their theory,
even if it was not intended that way by the designers.
The representatives of the electric universe propose
this
scenario:
[...] The electrical model suggests the likelihood
of an electrical discharge between the comet nucleus
and the copper projectile, particularly if the comet
is actively flaring at the time. The projectile will
approach too quickly for a slow electrical discharge
to occur. So the energetic effects of the encounter
should exceed that of a simple physical impact, in the
same way that was seen with comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 at
Jupiter. Changes to the appearance of the jets may be
seen before impact. The signature of an electrical discharge
would be a high-energy burst of electrical noise across
a wide spectrum, a "flash" from infra-red
to ultraviolet and the enhanced emission of x-rays from
the vicinity of the projectile. The energy of a mechanical
impact is not sufficient to generate x-rays.
If the arc vaporizes the copper projectile before
impact the comet will not form the crater expected.
On the other hand, any copper metal reaching the surface
of the comet will act as a focus for an arc. And copper
can sustain a much higher current density than rock
or ice. There would then be the likelihood of an intense
arc, with possibly a single jet, until the copper is
electrically "machined" from the comet's surface.
Copper atoms ionized to a surprisingly high degree should
be detectable from Earth-based telescopes. Electrical
discharges through the body of a poor conductor can
be disruptive and are probably responsible for the breakup
of comets. It is not necessary for them to be poorly
consolidated dust and ice and to simply fall apart.
So there is some small chance that astronomers will
be surprised to see the comet split apart, if the projectile
reaches the surface of the comet and results in an intense
arc.
What will be the results? We aren't into prophecy or
prediction when we don't have the necessary data. Perhaps
Monday we'll have some more.
Welcome
to the Electric Universe
The
Electric Universe |
The July 4 "comet
shot" is expected to yield data dating back 4.5 billion
years, when most scientists believe the solar system was
formed out of an interstellar cloud of gas and dust. Since
the frozen interiors of comets are thought to possess
information from that time, it is believed we can learn
more about the original cloud of gas and dust by sending
a projectile into the core of a passing comet.
Not so, says Dr. Oliver Manuel, professor of nuclear
chemistry at UMR.
"Comets travel in and out of the solar system,
toward the sun and away from the sun, losing and gaining
material," Manuel explains. "But the building
blocks that made the outer parts of the solar system are
different from the building blocks that made the inner
solar system."
For the record, Manuel believes the sun was born in a
catastrophic supernova explosion and not in a slowly evolving
cloud of space stuff. According to Manuel's model,
heavy elements from the interior of the supernova created
the rocky planets and the sun; and the lighter elements
near the surface of the supernova created the outer, gaseous
planets.
Therefore, Manuel says, data from Deep Impact won't be
useful.
"The comet data will show a mixture of material
from the inner and outer layers of the supernova, but
it won't tell us anything about the beginnings of the
solar system," Manuel says. "NASA still says
the solar system was born in an interstellar cloud and
that the sun is a ball of hydrogen with a well-behaved
hydrogen fusion reactor in the middle of it. But it's
not, and that will color the data from Deep Impact. It
will appear to confirm a flawed theory about the birth
of the solar system."
Manuel says the sun is the remains of a supernova, and
that it has a neutron star at its core. According to a
paper he presented last week at a nuclear research facility
in Dubna, Russia, neutron emissions represent the greatest
power source ever known, triggering hydrogen fusion in
the sun, generating an enormous magnetic field, explaining
phenomena like solar flares and causing climate change
on earth.
Findings published by other researchers last year in
Science magazine (May 21, 2004) suggested that, in fact,
a nearby supernova probably did contribute material (Iron-60)
to an ambiguous cloud that formed the solar system. What
Manuel reported 27 years earlier in Science (Jan. 14,
1977) is that the supernova blast created the entire solar
system and all of its iron.
"So Deep Impact is NASA's big cosmic fireworks
show for the Fourth of July, but they're going to
end up using smoke and mirrors to help validate this theory
about a big cloud of dust that supposedly made the solar
system," Manuel says. |
Comets have inspired
dread, fear, and awe in many different cultures and societies
around the world and throughout time. They have been branded
with such titles as "the Harbinger of Doom"
and "the Menace of the Universe." They have
been regarded both as omens of disaster and messengers
of the gods. Why is it that comets are some of the most
feared and venerated objects in the night sky? Why did
so many cultures cringe at the sight of a comet?
When people living in ancient cultures looked up, comets
were the most remarkable objects in the night sky. Comets
were unlike any other object in the night sky. Whereas
most celestial bodies travel across the skies at regular,
predictable intervals, so regular that constellations
could be mapped and predicted, comets' movements have
always seemed very erratic and unpredictable. This led
people in many cultures to believe that the gods dictated
their motions and were sending them as a message. What
were the gods trying to say? Some cultures read the message
by the images that they saw upon looking at the comet.
For example, to some cultures the tail of the comet gave
it the appearance of the head of a woman, with long flowing
hair behind her. This sorrowful symbol of mourning was
understood to mean the gods that had sent the comet to
earth were displeased. Others thought that the elongated
comet looked like a fiery sword blazing across the night
sky, a traditional sign of war and death. Such a message
from the gods could only mean that their wrath would soon
be unleashed onto the people of the land. Such ideas struck
fear into those who saw comets dart across the sky. The
likeness of the comet, though, was not the only thing
that inspired fear.
Ancient cultural legends also played a hand in inspiring
a terrible dread of these celestial nomads. The Roman
prophecies, the "Sibylline Oracles," spoke of
a "great conflagration from the sky, falling to earth,"
while the most ancient known mythology, the Babylonian
"Epic of Gilgamesh," described fire, brimstone,
and flood with the arrival of a comet. Rabbi Moses Ben
Nachman, a Jew living in Spain, wrote of God taking two
stars from Khima and throwing them at the earth in order
to begin the great flood. Yakut legend in ancient Mongolia
called comets "the daughter of the devil," and
warned of destruction, storm and frost, whenever she approaches
the earth. Stories associating comets with such terrible
imagery are at the base of so many cultures on Earth,
and fuel a dread that followed comet sightings throughout
history.
Comets' influence on cultures is not limited simply to
tales of myth and legend, though. Comets throughout history
have been blamed for some of history's darkest times.
In Switzerland, Halley's Comet was blamed for earthquakes,
illnesses, red rain, and even the births of two-headed
animals. The Romans recorded that a fiery comet marked
the assassination of Julius Caesar, and another was blamed
for the extreme bloodshed during the battle between Pompey
and Caesar. In England, Halley's Comet was blamed for
bringing the Black Death. The Incas, in South America,
even record a comet having foreshadowed Francisco Pizarro's
arrival just days before he brutally conquered them. Comets
and disaster became so intertwined that Pope Calixtus
III even excommunicated Halley's Comet as an instrument
of the devil, and a meteorite, from a comet, became enshrined
as one of the most venerated objects in all of Islam.
Were it not for a Chinese affinity for meticulous record
keeping, a true understanding of comets may never have
been reached.
Unlike their Western counterparts, Chinese astronomers
kept extensive records on the appearances, paths, and
disappearances of hundreds of comets. Extensive comet
atlases have been found dating back to the Han Dynasty,
which describe comets as "long-tailed pheasant stars"
or "broom stars" and associate the different
cometary forms with different disasters. Although the
Chinese also regarded comets as "vile stars,"
their extensive records allowed later astronomers to determine
the true nature of comets.
Although most human beings no longer cringe at the sight
of a comet, they still inspire fear everywhere around
the globe, from Hollywood to doomsday cults. The United
States even set up the Near Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT)
program specifically to guard us from these "divine"
dangers. However, although they were once regarded as
omens of disaster, and messengers of the god(s), today
a scientific approach has helped allay such concerns.
It is science and reason that has led the fight against
this fear since the days of the ancients. It is science
and reason that has emboldened the human spirit enough
to venture out and journey to a comet. It is science and
reason that will unlock the secrets that they hold. |
A Japanese-U.S. joint research
team has found a planet covered by a thick layer of
gas like Jupiter but which has an unusually large core
of rocks and ice -- a discovery scientists say could
overthrow the established theory of planet formation.
The planet, belonging to the Hercules constellation
about 250 light years away from Earth, does not fall
into the category of either Jupiter-type, gas-covered
planets that have low density, or high-density, Earthlike
planets.
The discovery, made by a research team including experts
from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
(NAOJ) and San Francisco State University, was reported
in the July 1 issue of Astrophysical Journal, a U.S.
science magazine.
The research team used Japan's Subaru telescope in
Hawaii to observe the planet when it passed a fixed
star. By analyzing the fixed star's light as the planet
passed it, the team successfully clarified the density
and size of the planet.
The mass of the planet is 1.2 times that of Saturn
but its diameter is only 0.86 times that of Saturn,
meaning it is dense and covered in a thick layer of
gas. The mass of its core, made up of Earthlike rocks
and ice, is 70 times that of Earth.
It is one of several planets whose structures have
been defined from among about 150 plants outside the
solar system.
If the mass of the core of a planet that consists of
rocks reaches 10 to 20 times the mass of Earth, its
gravity is believed to gather massive amounts of gas,
thereby forming a planet covered by a thick layer of
gas, just like Jupiter and Saturn, according to Associate
Prof. Shigeru Ida, a member of the team. Scientists
believe this layer of gas prevents rocks from entering
the planet's surface from outside.
The mass of the cores of Jupiter, Saturn and several
planets outside the solar system whose structures have
been defined is estimated to be about 10 to 20 times
that of Earth.
Ida pointed out that the unique structure
of the newly observed planet could overthrow the established
theory of formation of planets.
"Once a planet is covered by gas, it's technically
impossible for rocks to enter its surface from outside.
It's a mystery why it was not covered by gas until the
mass of its core reached 70 times the mass of Earth.
We need to reconsider the theory
of planet formation." |
MARSEILLE, France -- Fires fanned
by strong winds and probably started deliberately on
Friday swept through hundreds of hectares (acres) of
woodland and scrub in southeastern France and the Mediterranean
island of Corsica.
Corsica was particularly hard hit, with flames sweeping
through some 1,400 hectares (five square miles) in the
north of the island.
"There is no doubt about the criminal origin"
of the fires, a senior government official in northern
Corsica told AFP, saying that the blazes had been deliberately
started three kilometres (two miles) apart.
With winds gusting to 90 kilometres (55 miles) an hour
the flames spread swiftly Friday despite the efforts
of more than 260 firefighters and aircraft dropping
water.
Two babies, among 50 people who had taken shelter in
a church, suffered mild problems from smoke inhalation.
There were no reports of loss of property. Local people
were asked by the authorities to take shelter in their
homes or in churches.
In Provence, in southeastern France, a fire broke out
Friday and fanned by a strong northern mistral wind
devastated 200 hectares (495 acres) of scrub and pine
forest.
This blaze was also thought to be of criminal origin,
as it started in two separate places. Two main highways
were cut and isolated houses were evacuated.
In another part of Provence, where 160 hectares had
been hit by fires Thursday, a further 100 were ablaze
Friday.
North of the port city of Marseille between 40 and
50 hectares were on fire.
Weather forecasters said that the wind should drop
in Corsica Friday but the mistral would continue to
blow in Provence until Saturday. |
Parched meadows and water
shortages indicate France is already facing a summer
drought. Meanwhile, its scientists are warning killer
heatwaves will become the norm.
Just west of Parthenay in the rolling grasslands of
western France is a panorama that could be Pembrokeshire
or the west of Ireland. Here, in the département
of Deux-Sèvres, amid lush, green meadows, you
find low hills, hedges, clumps of trees and granite
outcrops. Except that, this summer, the meadows are
not lush or green. They are a dusty and sickly yellow-grey.
The meadow grasses and wild flowers have died back to
their roots, as if scorched by a giant hair-dryer. They
have been "grilled", in the word of a local
sheep farmer, Jean-Louis Chamard, by a winter and spring
with virtually no rain and a blazing early summer with
temperatures reaching 35C (95F) day after day.
A little further north lies the Cebron reservoir, a
lovely artificial lake that supplies the centre of the
département with drinking water. It
is normally two-thirds full now, and a breeding ground
for two species of tern, which come to this sheltered
spot from the shores of the Atlantic 100 miles to the
west.
This year there are few terns. The
lake has been reduced to a large, mud-rimmed pond. Despite
severe restrictions - no farm irrigation, no lawn sprinkling,
no car washing, no filling of swimming or paddling pools
- the nearby town of Parthenay has warned its citizens
that they may run short of tap water by later summer
or early autumn.
Deux-Sèvres is one of the three or four worst
afflicted areas but a drought
has already been declared in 28 of the 94 départements
in metropolitan France. Even before the hottest
and thirstiest months of the summer, France is running
short of water.
This is not a drought as Africans, or even Australians,
would recognise the term. The grass has died back but
not turned to dust. The trees are in glorious leaf.
There are no dead sheep or cows in the fields.
All the same, something odd is happening.
Many of the worst-affected areas are along the western
seaboard of France - from the Oise north of Paris, to
Eure in Normandy to Charente-Maritime around La Rochelle.
Many easterly and southerly parts of France are also
suffering, but they are more used to dry winters and
scorching summers. The départements of the west
and centre-west - beloved of British tourists and exiles
- are not.
Jacques Dieumegard, 60, a retired science teacher who
is in charge of water supplies in the Parthenay area,
said: "We always used to teach that France was
a temperate country. Now, with a run of hot summers
and dry winters, with periods of drought but also periods
of intense cold, tropical downpours of rain and flash
floods in the south, the experts are beginning to ask
whether France can still be described as temperate."
A study by weather futurologists
at Météo France warned that by the second
half of this century stifling summer months, like the
August of 2003 that killed 15,000 old people in France,
could become the norm.
France has had droughts before. In 1976, sheep and
cows did die in the fields. It is impossible to say
for certain whether this year is a one-off dry season
or a sign of a radical change in rain patterns. Four
years ago France had a torrential winter. Since then
most winters have been unusually dry, especially in
the west.
The great western drought of
2005 - said by many to be worse than 1976 - does, however,
fit a wider pattern of climate change, which goes beyond
the western seaboard of France. It might have
been useful to bring President George Bush to Deux-Sèvres
for the G8 summit next week, rather than to the green
fairways of Gleneagles.
Wildlife is adapting. Many French swallows and house
martins did not bother to emigrate to Africa last winter.
For several years now, unusual species of butterfly,
normally found in Africa, have been appearing farther
and farther north. People find it much harder, especially
farmers. In the great western drought of 2005, farmers
are among the worst-hit victims. They are also, according
to some local campaigners, the greatest water-hogging
villains.
Farmers are not responsible for the change in the weather.
They are, however, partly responsible for the acute
shortage of water and especially the disastrous fall
in the level of underground water-tables in some parts
of western France.
Deux-Sèvres, like many neighbouring départements,
used to be animal-rearing country, with small fields,
hedges and trees. In the rocky centre of the département
that pattern remains. In the south and east, however,
there has been a steady conversion in the past two decades
to large fields growing wheat and maize to take advantage
of subsidies for cereals farming.
Maize, especially, demands huge amounts of water -
about 1,000 cubic metres, or two-thirds of an Olympic-sized
swimming pool, for every acre. Long, humped-back watering
machines, metallic Loch Ness monsters, have become a
familiar sight in northern and western France in the
past 20 years.
In the summer months in Deux-Sèvres in a "normal"
year, farmers use twice as much water as domestic consumers.
Just under half of all the water used in France is now
taken by farmers (not including private farm ponds and
wells, which further lower the water table.)
Cereal-growers have been banned from using public water
supplies in Deux-Sèvres since April. Many took
the public-spirited decision not to plant maize this
year after the dry winter and spring. Others, less far-sighted,
are furious, staring at their stunted maize fields and
complaining that farmers in neighbouring areas are being
allowed to irrigate regardless.
Several cereal farmers in Deux-Sèvres refused
to speak to me, partly because I was British and they
regarded me as an emissary of Tony Blair. Beyond that,
they said, they were too angry to speak to an unsympathetic
press, British or French.
Jean-Pierre, a 50-something farmer,
south of Parthenay said: "There is a lot of resentment.
Many people are talking about violence but I don't see
how that would help us. We are not asking for the right
to use water to make big profits. We accept that some
maize fields are done for. We only want to grow enough
maize to feed our own animals in the winter. Otherwise,
I don't see how some of us can survive."
Some local environmental activists are calling for
a permanent ban on farm irrigation on Deux-Sèvres.
Even moderate local politicians, such as M. Dieumegard,
say that it is time for farmers to accept their part
in responsibility for the acuteness of the drought.
"The change in farming methods has had two effects,"
M. Dieumegarde said. "Water tables have been pumped
out faster than they used to be. But the larger fields
for cereal farming have also meant the building of more
elaborate and efficient systems of field drainage. That
means much of the rain that does fall runs off straight
into streams, rivers and then the sea, rather than sinking
into the sub-soil and the water tables, which supply
reservoirs such as Cebron."
Jean-Louis Chamard, 52, the sheep farmer with the "grilled"
meadows, west of Parthenay, accepts there is "some
truth" in this argument. He does not grow maize;
his rocky terrain does not permit it. He is already
feeding his winter supplies of hay to his 1,200 ewes
and 800 lambs.
"There is nothing for them in the fields,"
he said. "There has been a little rain this week
but the soil is so dry that the rain just vanishes on
contact. It would take 10 days of continuous rain to
bring some grass back. If that does not happen, we will
have used all of our winter feed in the summer and we
will be in serious difficulties."
M. Chamard, a local farm union activist, says it is
easier to point the finger at cereal farmers than to
offer an alternative. The movement to bigger farms means
that growers have to earn larger amounts each year to
pay off their loans. It would not be possible for all
farmers in Deux-Sèvres to go back to animal rearing
(for which the profits, and EU subsidies, are smaller).
"It is all very well for ecologists
and others to say irrigation should be banned,"
M. Chamard said. "Maybe some restrictions are justified,
but 20 per cent of the jobs in this département
depend on farming, directly or indirectly. What is going
to replace those?"
The reverse side of that argument is that 80 per cent
of jobs in Deux-Sèvres - one of the least urbanised
départements in France - do not depend on agriculture.
Forty years ago, the figures would have been reversed.
Even in small towns such as Partnenay, whose prosperity
depends partly on the farmland all around, there is
much resentment of farmers. Isabelle, a 35-year-old
mother of three, emerging from a local supermarket,
said: "My friend told me that farmers were still
watering their fields at night, while we're not supposed
to fill a paddling pool for our kids. That's not right."
[...]
The tensions within Deux-Sèvres suggest that
farmers can no longer expect to get their own way politically
in France - not even in La France profonde. One up to
Mr Blair. On the other hand,
if permanent climate change becomes reality, the present
arguments about agricultural subsidies may come to seem
quaint and academic in the years ahead.
The whole pattern of our agriculture
will have to change, from Africa to northern Europe.
The problems of irrigating maize fields in Deux-Sèvres
may be a harbinger of much greater problems of food
production still to come. And food, as we know, is not
just an issue for farmers. |
Extremist parties on
the far right and left will flourish across Europe unless
the EU embraces radical reforms to tackle high levels
of unemployment, Tony Blair warned yesterday.
In a sign of his determination to shake up "Old"
Europe's cherished social model, which Britain blames
for pushing unemployment up to 20m across the EU, the
prime minister will host a special summit to assess its
"sustainability".
To the delight of Downing Street, the European commission
president Jose Manuel Barroso announced that his commission
will review the social model ahead of the informal summit
in October.
Speaking at the launch of Britain's six-month presidency
of the EU, Mr Blair issued a blunt warning of the need
to reform what he regards as hidebound labour markets.
"If sensible moderate people
on the centre ground do not grasp the challenge of change,
what happens is that the extremes start peddling solutions
to the public that are not actually fair solutions at
all," the prime minister said at a joint Foreign
Office press conference with Mr Barroso.
"People say the problem is all immigration or the
problems are all globalisation. You will end up with the
extremes on the left and the right taking the agenda."
Downing Street wants to place economic reform at the
heart of Britain's EU presidency, which was launched yesterday.
In a ritual, which takes place every time the presidency
changes hands on January 1 and July 1, the 25 European
commissioners met the cabinet yesterday.
Amid the imperial splendour of the Foreign Office's Durbar
Court, Mr Blair said: "Europe is not just about free
trade and it is not just about the economy, but it is
no use us trying to compete in the tough, changing world
unless we are prepared to make the changes necessary,
including not abandoning our social model, but updating
it and modernising it." Mr Blair admitted that he
was "taking a risk" in raising the issue of
the social model because Jacques Chirac blamed the no
vote in the French referendum on the EU constitution on
the "Anglo-Saxon model" of free markets.
But Mr Barroso has agreed that his commission will carry
out a report into the "sustainability of the social
model in Europe in the light of the changes that are happening
all around us today". [...] |
BEIJING, July 1 (Xinhuanet)
-- China will continue to ban imports of cow, beef and
related products from the United States following confirmation
of the country's first homegrown case of mad cow disease,
a spokesman with the Ministry of Agriculture said on Friday.
Jia Youling, the spokesman, said the ministry will adopt
strict measures to prevent the occurence of the disease
in China. |
MOSCOW, July 2 (Xinhuanet)
-- The death toll in Friday's terrorist blast in southern
Russia rose to 11 and the number of wounded was found
to be 27, the Itar-Tass news agency reported on Saturday.
Earlier reports said 10 servicemen were killed and about
20 people, a mix of soldiers and civilians, were injured
in the blast in Makhachkala, capital of Daghestanian Republic.
The death toll rose as a soldier, who was seriously
injured, died. All the killed servicemen were from troops
of the Russian Interior Ministry.
Some injured people were taken to the Daghestanian Interior
Ministry's medical center on Friday evening and one of
them had been transferred to Moscow overnight, Itar-Tass
quoted hospital sources as saying.
Eight civilians remained in hospital until Saturday,
it said.
Terrorists set off two bombs near a bath house at the
city's Atayev Street at 2:15 p.m. local time (1015 GMT)
on Friday, as the soldiers were passing by.
The Daghestanian prosecutor's office has launched an
investigation into the attack. But the search efforts
for the perpetrators were so far unsuccessful. |
HANGZHOU, July 1 (Xinhuanet)
-- China will start to fill its strategic oil reserve
in the fourth quarter of this year with its own oil, according
to sources with the administration of one of the reserve
bases on Friday. [...] |
The pilot who crashed his small
Cessna airplane into Hamburg Mountain on June 19 had
what appeared to be a routine takeoff from Sussex County
Airport - but crashed only minutes after achieving his
maximum altitude, a preliminary report released Friday
says.
The report, by the National Transportation Safety Board,
says pilot Roland Melanson of Wantage had refueled just
before taking off around 7:30 a.m. Melanson, who was
bound for Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Bridgeport, Conn.,
had filed the required flight plan and was cleared to
fly at an altitude of 3,000 feet, the report says.
Minutes after takeoff - at 7:34 - Melanson radioed
that he was at 3,000 feet. That was last time the plane
was heard from, as it disappeared off the radar screen.
The plane spiraled downward and crashed into a thickly-wooded
side of Hamburg Mountain, about six miles southeast
of Sussex Airport, the report says. The plane came to
rest upside-down, its cockpit destroyed and its wings
sheered off, the report says.
Melanson was found amid the wreckage when a search
and rescue team spotted the plane four days later. His
body was removed by the Sussex County Medical Examiner's
for an autopsy, which will determine if Melanson experienced
a sudden illness in the sky which may have led to the
crash. Results of that autopsy have not been released.
Investigators from the
NTSB examined the engine, which had been torn from the
fuselage, but so far have not
found any signs of mechanical failure. The report
says both fuel tanks had been torn open by the impact
of the crash. There were no signs of fire, before or
after the crash.
Weather also did not appear
to be a factor. Although skies were overcast
that morning, visibility was 10 miles and the wind light,
the report says.
The plane crashed into a remote section of Hamburg
Mountain, about a mile from Silver Lake swamp. The dense
foliage and rough terrain hindered searchers.
Resident Nan Storm told a reporter that she heard a
plane flying low around 7:30 on the morning of June
19. Storm said she then heard the plane engine cut out,
followed by the sound of crackling wood. Storm said
she thought a plane had crashed, and mounted her own
search on foot. But she turned back after being confronted
by a black bear. |
NEW YORK - A plane in Bowline Pond
remained submerged yesterday as authorities continued
an investigation into the crash that sent a Manhattan
man to Nyack Hospital.
The same incident had sent eyes upward when a rocket
on the plane exploded to free a parachute that helped
slow the craft's descent to the water.
Ilan Reich issued a Mayday and deployed the parachute
on his four-seat Cirrus SR22 airplane at 4:40 p.m. Thursday.
He escaped through a window and the craft quickly sank
into the Hudson River cove.
The 50-year-old Reich suffered a fractured vertebra
in his back and remained in Nyack Hospital last night,
state police said.
State police, Haverstraw village police and the Federal
Aviation Administration are leading the investigation.
It is the owner's responsibility to arrange for removal
of the plane, state police said.
But Reich got help yesterday as authorities worked
to assist the effort. It appeared last night that Town
Boat USA of Tarrytown had been approved by Reich's insurance
company to retrieve the plane, said Senior Investigator
Kevin McGrath of the state police.
The hope was to get a barge and crane to the pond at
first light this morning and to have the plane removed
before afternoon, he said.
"We want to get it done as soon as possible,"
McGrath said.
The plane was leaking gasoline into the water, but
a small amount and not enough to raise serious safety
concerns, McGrath said.
As a precaution, special buoys were placed to prevent
any contamination from entering the intake values at
the Bowline Point power plants, which use water from
the river for cooling equipment.
The plane's manufacturer, Cirrus Design Corp., sent
an accident investigation team to assist in the recovery
effort and aid crash investigators. The team also will
tell recovery workers how best to raise the aircraft.
Once lifted, the plane will be inspected by the FAA,
agency spokeswoman Holly Baker said. The National Transportation
Safety Board may then step in and take over the probe,
she said. [...] |
ALABAMA - A plane
crashed while taking off at the Fort Payne Municipal
Airport Thursday morning. Two people were in the twin-engine
Navaho airplane when it went down. But, luckily neither
was seriously hurt.
The pilot tells WAFF 48 News the plane had just gotten
out of the engine shop Wednesday. He says everything
seemed to be working fine until he got about 15 feet
in the air.
The pilot, 24-year-old Ryan Carter of Sylvania, says
as he was taking off he knew something wasn't right.
He says a guage in the plane showed the left engine
was losing pressure.
"As I looked at it, I watched it fall back to
almost nothing. Which means you have no power on one
side. And full power on the other side," says Carter.
Carter says when only one engine works a plane has
a tendency to roll over on its side. A witness says
that's what started to happen.
J.D. Crowell was with a road crew working on Airport
Road when he saw the plane crash.
"It just going back and forth and sideways. Then
it come over here in the grass," says Crowell.
"Instead of letting the plane go over and land
on its top, then I decided it would be best to shove
it in the ground," says Carter.
The road crew ran to the downed plane to help.
"They jumped the fence here and went over there
and pulled them out," says Crowell.
The plane was on fire. But the pilot isn't sure if
that fire started before or after the crash.
"I just noticed that the engine was on fire as
I was sitting in the left seat in the cockpit. And that
we needed to get out," says Carter.
Carter's passenger, 57-year-old Mike Stenson of Scottsboro,
was treated and released from the hospital.
The FAA and the NTSB are investigating the accident.
|
FLORIDA - Jerry Robinson wouldn't
change a thing he did two weeks ago today when he was
forced to crash-land his single-engine plane in a swamp
with his wife and son aboard.
"I believe that everything happens for a reason.
I knocked on God's door, and he told me to come back
later," Robinson said earlier this week as he sat
behind his desk at Preferred Realty Group in Naples.
His handling of the plane and a little luck were enough
to allow Robinson, 44, Janice, 42, and Andrew, 15, to
walk away from the crash with only cuts and bruises.
"I never gave up on the airplane," he said.
"The airplane gave up on me."
The National Transportation and Safety Board and the
Federal Aviation Administration are investigating what
went wrong before Robinson's plane crashed about a mile
from Southwest Florida International Airport.
An NTSB investigator examined the wreckage and found
a hole in the top of the engine crankcase, which encases
the engine, according to a preliminary crash report.
The flight began shortly before 8 a.m. when Jerry Robinson
climbed into the pilot seat and his wife and son fastened
their seat belts in two of the four back passenger seats.
The Robinsons were taking Andrew to Asheville, N.C.,
for a three-week stay at a nearby camp. Robinson said
he hates to drive long distances and prefers the four-hour
flight to the two-day drive.
Everything seemed fine as the Cherokee PA-32-300 climbed
to 5,000 feet. Robinson had just received his squawk
code, which identifies his plane on radar, from Southwest
Florida International Airport when he felt the engine
change.
He checked his gauges. The oil pressure, temperature
gauge and tachometer were normal. Then, a pressure gauge
caught his eye as it briefly spiked and alerted him
to a problem in the engine.
"I radioed the airport and told them I needed
to make an emergency landing," he said.
Airport officials directed him to runway 240, a strip
he saw in the distance as the engine's rattle got worse.
"Something gave in the engine, and something started
to vibrate the yoke or the steering mechanism of the
airplane," Robinson said. [...] |
INDIANA - A former military pilot
who crashed his single-seat airplane in rural Putnam
County Thursday night escaped with minor injuries.
Vernon Bothwell, 54, Cloverdale, crashed minutes after
taking off near I-70 and Ind. 243, Indiana State Police
said.
Bothwell took off from the Clover Nole Airport -- on
his own property -- at about 7:30 p.m. His engine failed
at about 300 feet, said Trooper Chris Harcourt of the
State Police's Putnamville post.
Bothwell turned the single-engine, 1982 Stewart Headwind
around to try to land on the Clover Nole airstrip, but
the plane nose-dived into the ground and flipped over,
Harcourt said.
When State Police arrived, Harcourt was strapped in
his seat with a cut on his head but was conscious and
talking.
Bothwell had served as a pilot in the military, Harcourt
said.
"I'd say Mr. Bothwell is very lucky," Harcourt
said. "He has some angels up there."
Bothwell was taken to Putnam County Hospital in Greencastle
in good condition, police said. |
WASHINGTON -
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration
issued a second public warning today that adults who use
antidepressants should be closely monitored for warning
signs of suicide, especially when they first start the
pills or change a dose.
Much of the concern over suicide and antidepressants
has centred on children who use the drugs. The FDA last
fall determined there is a real, but small, increase in
risk of suicidal behaviour for children and ordered the
labels of all antidepressants to say so.
A year ago, the FDA issued a warning that adults, too,
may be at increased risk. The agency began reanalysing
hundreds of studies of the drugs to try to determine if
that's the case, and told makers to add or strengthen
suicide-related warnings on their labels in the meantime.
Since then, several new studies have been published in
medical journals about a possible connection. Citing them,
FDA issued a new public health advisory reminding doctors
and patients to watch closely for suicidal thinking or
worsening depression and seek medical care if it happens.
It's a difficult issue to sort out because depression
itself can lead to suicide and studies show that antidepressants
have helped many people recover.
But there are concerns that antidepressants may cause
agitation, anxiety and hostility in a subset of patients
who may be unusually prone to rare side-effects. Also,
psychiatrists say there is a window period of risk just
after pill use begins, before depression is really alleviated
but when some patients experience more energy, perhaps
enabling them to act on suicidal tendencies.
In addition to the advisory, the FDA also updated its
website with a notice about a higher-than-expected rate
of suicide attempts in research with the newest antidepressant,
Eli Lilly's Cymbalta.
Those studies were in women trying Cymbalta as an incontinence
treatment; it was never approved for that use. The FDA
insisted when it approved Cymbalta last year that studies
of depressed patients showed no suicide link. |
Summary: If an influenza
pandemic struck today, borders would close, the global
economy would shut down, international vaccine supplies
and health-care systems would be overwhelmed, and panic
would reign. To limit the fallout, the industrialized
world must create a detailed response strategy involving
the public and private sectors.
Michael T. Osterholm is Director of the Center for Infectious
Disease Research and Policy, Associate Director of the
Department of Homeland Security's National Center for
Food Protection and Defense, and Professor at the University
of Minnesota's School of Public Health.
FEAR ITSELF
Dating back to antiquity, influenza pandemics have posed
the greatest threat of a worldwide calamity caused by
infectious disease. Over the past 300 years, ten influenza
pandemics have occurred among humans. The most recent
came in 1957-58 and 1968-69, and although several tens
of thousands of Americans died in each one, these were
considered mild compared to others. The 1918-19 pandemic
was not. According to recent analysis, it killed 50 to
100 million people globally. Today, with a population
of 6.5 billion, more than three times that of 1918, even
a "mild" pandemic could kill many millions of
people.
A number of recent events and factors have significantly
heightened concern that a specific near-term pandemic
may be imminent. It could be caused by H5N1, the avian
influenza strain currently circulating in Asia. At this
juncture scientists cannot be certain. Nor can they know
exactly when a pandemic will hit, or whether it will rival
the experience of 1918-19 or be more muted like 1957-58
and 1968-69. The reality of a coming pandemic, however,
cannot be avoided. Only its impact can be lessened. Some
important preparatory efforts are under way, but much
more needs to be done by institutions at many levels of
society.
THE BACKDROP
Of the three types of influenza virus, influenza type
A infects and kills the greatest number of people each
year and is the only type that causes pandemics. It originates
in wild aquatic birds. The virus does not cause illness
in these birds, and although it is widely transmitted
among them, it does not undergo any significant genetic
change.
Direct transmission from the birds to humans has not
been demonstrated, but when a virus is transmitted from
wild birds to domesticated birds such as chickens, it
undergoes changes that allow it to infect humans, pigs,
and potentially other mammals. Once in the lung cells
of a mammalian host, the virus can "reassort,"
or mix genes, with human influenza viruses that are also
present. This process can lead to an entirely new viral
strain, capable of sustained human-to-human transmission.
If such a virus has not circulated in humans before, the
entire population will be susceptible. If the virus has
not circulated in the human population for a number of
years, most people will lack residual immunity from previous
infection.
Once the novel strain better adapts to humans and is
easily transmitted from person to person, it is capable
of causing a new pandemic. As the virus passes repeatedly
from one human to the next, it eventually becomes less
virulent and joins the other influenza viruses that circulate
the globe each year. This cycle continues until another
new influenza virus emerges from wild birds and the process
begins again.
Some pandemics result in much higher rates of infection
and death than others. Scientists now understand that
this variation is a result of the genetic makeup of each
specific virus and the presence of certain virulence factors.
That is why the 1918-19 pandemic killed many more people
than either the 1957-58 or the 1968-69 pandemic.
A CRITICAL DIFFERENCE
Infectious diseases remain the number one killer of humans
worldwide. Currently, more than 39 million people live
with HIV, and last year about 2.9 million people died
of AIDS, bringing the cumulative total of deaths from
AIDS to approximately 25 million. Tuberculosis (TB) and
malaria also remain major causes of death. In 2003, about
8.8 million people became infected with TB, and the disease
killed more than 2 million. Each year, malaria causes
more than 1 million deaths and close to 5 billion episodes
of clinical illness. In addition, newly emerging infections,
diarrheal and other vector-borne diseases, and agents
resistant to antibiotics pose a serious and growing public
health concern.
Given so many other significant infectious diseases,
why does another influenza pandemic merit unique and urgent
attention? First, of the more than 1,500 microbes known
to cause disease in humans, influenza continues to be
the king in terms of overall mortality. Even in a year
when only the garden-variety strains circulate, an estimated
1-1.5 million people worldwide die from influenza infections
or related complications. In a pandemic lasting 12 to
36 months, the number of cases and deaths would rise dramatically.
Recent clinical, epidemiological, and laboratory evidence
suggests that the impact of a pandemic caused by the current
H5N1 strain would be similar to that of the 1918-19 pandemic.
More than half of the people killed in that pandemic were
18 to 40 years old and largely healthy. If 1918-19 mortality
data are extrapolated to the current U.S. population,
1.7 million people could die, half of them between the
ages of 18 and 40. Globally, those same estimates yield
180-360 million deaths, more than five times the cumulative
number of documented AIDS deaths. In 1918-19, most deaths
were caused by a virus-induced response of the victim's
immune system -- a cytokine storm -- which led to acute
respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). In other words,
in the process of fighting the disease, a person's immune
system severely damaged the lungs, resulting in death.
Victims of H5N1 have also suffered from cytokine storms,
and the world is not much better prepared to treat millions
of cases of ARDS today than it was 85 years ago. In the
1957-58 and 1968-69 pandemics, the primary cause of death
was secondary bacterial pneumonias that infected lungs
weakened by influenza. Although such bacterial infections
can often be treated by antibiotics, these drugs would
be either unavailable or in short supply for much of the
global population during a pandemic.
The arrival of a pandemic influenza would trigger a reaction
that would change the world overnight. A vaccine would
not be available for a number of months after the pandemic
started, and there are very limited stockpiles of antiviral
drugs. Plus, only a few privileged areas of the world
have access to vaccine-production facilities. Foreign
trade and travel would be reduced or even ended in an
attempt to stop the virus from entering new countries
-- even though such efforts would probably fail given
the infectiousness of influenza and the volume of illegal
crossings that occur at most borders. It is likely that
transportation would also be significantly curtailed domestically,
as smaller communities sought to keep the disease contained.
The world relies on the speedy distribution of products
such as food and replacement parts for equipment. Global,
regional, and national economies would come to an abrupt
halt -- something that has never happened due to HIV,
malaria, or TB despite their dramatic impact on the developing
world.
The closest the world has come to this scenario in modern
times was the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome)
crisis of 2003. Over a period of five months, about 8,000
people were infected by a novel human coronavirus. About
ten percent of them died. The virus apparently spread
to humans when infected animals were sold and slaughtered
in unsanitary and crowded markets in China's Guangdong
Province. Although the transmission rate of SARS paled
in comparison to that of influenza, it demonstrated how
quickly such an infectious agent can circle the globe,
given the ease and frequency of international travel.
Once SARS emerged in rural China, it spread to five countries
within 24 hours and to 30 countries on six continents
within several months.
The SARS experience teaches a critical lesson about the
potential global response to a pandemic influenza. Even
with the relatively low number of deaths it caused compared
to other infectious diseases, SARS had a powerful negative
psychological impact on the populations of many countries.
In a recent analysis of the epidemic, the National Academy
of Science's Institute of Medicine concluded: "The
relatively high case-fatality rate, the identification
of super-spreaders, the newness of the disease, the speed
of its global spread, and public uncertainty about the
ability to control its spread may have contributed to
the public's alarm. This alarm, in turn, may have led
to the behavior that exacerbated the economic blows to
the travel and tourism industries of the countries with
the highest number of cases."
SARS provided a taste of the impact a killer influenza
pandemic would have on the global economy. Jong-Wha Lee,
of Korea University, and Warwick McKibbin, of the Australian
National University, estimated the economic impact of
the six-month SARS epidemic on the Asia-Pacific region
at about $40 billion. In Canada, 438 people were infected
and 43 died after an infected person traveled from Hong
Kong to Toronto, and the Canadian Tourism Commission estimated
that the epidemic cost the nation's economy $419 million.
The Ontario health minister estimated that SARS cost the
province's health-care system about $763 million, money
that was spent, in part, on special SARS clinics and supplies
to protect health-care workers. The SARS outbreak also
had a substantial impact on the global airline industry.
After the disease hit in 2003, flights in the Asia-Pacific
area decreased by 45 percent from the year before. During
the outbreak, the number of flights between Hong Kong
and the United States fell 69 percent. And this impact
would pale in comparison to that of a 12- to 36-month
worldwide influenza pandemic.
The SARS epidemic also raises questions about how prepared
governments are to address a prolonged infectious-disease
crisis -- particularly governments that are already unstable.
Seton Hall University's Yanzhong Huang concluded that
the SARS epidemic created the most severe social or political
crisis encountered by China's leadership since the 1989
Tiananmen crackdown. China's problems probably resulted
less from SARS' public health impact than from the government's
failed effort to allay panic by withholding information
about the disease from the Chinese people. The effort
backfired. During the crisis, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao
pointed out in a cabinet meeting on the epidemic that
"the health and security of the people, overall state
of reform, development, and stability, and China's national
interest and image are at stake." But Huang believes
that "a fatal period of hesitation regarding information-sharing
and action spawned anxiety, panic, and rumor-mongering
across the country and undermined the government's efforts
to create a milder image of itself in the international
arena."
Widespread infection and economic collapse can destabilize
a government; blame for failing to deal effectively with
a pandemic can cripple a government. This holds even more
for an influenza pandemic. In the event of a pandemic
influenza, the level of panic witnessed during the SARS
crisis could spiral out of control as illnesses and deaths
continued to mount over months and months. Unfortunately,
the public is often indifferent to initial warnings about
impending infectious-disease crises -- as with HIV, for
example. Indifference becomes fear only after the catastrophe
hits, when it is already too late to implement preventive
or control measures.
READY FOR THE WORST
What should the industrialized world be doing to prepare
for the next pandemic? The simple answer: far more. [...] |
TORONTO (CP) - They
religiously monitor Asian newspaper articles, devour World
Health Organization reports, scan medical literature.
They debate the principles that drive the evolution of
influenza viruses and critique government preparations
for a flu pandemic.
But they aren't virologists, microbiologists, epidemiologists
or public health leaders. (Well, most of them aren't,
anyway.) They are regular folk - housewives, writers,
college instructors - who share an obsession over what
they believe is the looming threat of a flu pandemic.
Meet the Internet's dedicated and growing community of
flu bloggers.
Some blog to educate themselves. Some blog to inform
others. Some blog in the hopes of spurring public officials
to action.
"We're like a little tribe of hunter-gatherers and
we're kind of scattered around looking for things to eat
under rocks," explains Crawford Kilian, author of
a blog entitled H5N1 and an instructor of communications
at Capilano College in North Vancouver.
"And once in awhile we find something: 'Hey, get
a load of this iguana.' And everyone takes a look. And
then we go scattering off looking for more iguanas. And
in the process, we kind of keep each other informed."
The community is tiny, but the number of hits the sites
are getting is on the rise, perhaps signalling a burgeoning
public awareness of the growing concern in the scientific
community that the H5N1 strain could be poised to trigger
the first pandemic of this century.
"The blogosphere is making these issues a little
more permeable," Kilian says. "It's slowly spreading
the news."
The blogger or bloggers who run a site called Effect
Measure first seized upon avian influenza's potential
to spark a pandemic - and the seemingly anemic response
to that threat - as a metaphor for the state of the U.S.
public health system.
"Here's a freight train coming down the tracks and
nobody's doing anything about it," says one of the
editors, who post from behind the alias "Revere."
"I wanted to sort of goad people. Get some action
at the leadership level."
That blog bears the disclaimer that the editors are well-known
public health scientists or practitioners who choose to
obscure their identity for maximum freedom of expression.
(The Revere quoted here is indeed a recognizable name.)
Melanie Mattson is the author of Just a Bump in the Beltway,
a proudly left-of-centre political and public affairs
blog with a strong interest in pandemic flu.
A self-employed writer from Falls Church, Va., Mattson
is an avid amateur epidemiologist who has been following
developments with H5N1 since 1997. That's when the bird
virus set off scientific alarm bells by becoming the first
known strain of avian flu to directly infect humans.
She scours the web for flu science, sharing finds with
people she deems to be "rational actors" and
eschewing those she feels are trying to use the subject
to support fringe views.
"This is citizen journalism at its best. And also
its worst," she says. Why worst? "Because there
are the people out there who are saying it's a CIA conspiracy."
Mattson, the Reveres and the blogger behind The Next
Hurrah this week launched a Flu Wiki, a resource guide
that will evolve from entries written and edited by visitors
to the site. The wiki (the term is based on wiki wiki,
the Hawaiian word for quick or informal) has been averaging
about 1,500 hits a day since it launched, with the average
reader viewing about 15 pages of the text per visit.
In general, the flu blogs and discussion boards that
they interact with contain a broad mix of up-to-the-minute
news, science, opinion and advice. Effect Measure recently
ran an item on how long different foodstuffs last, for
those putting aside supplies on the assumption the food
distribution network could be severely disrupted by a
pandemic.
Other discussions relate to how or whether to try to
put aside personal stockpiles of oseltamivir, a prescription
antiviral drug that blunts the blow of human flu and is
believed to be effective against H5N1 as well.
One frequent contributor, known in the flu cyberworld
as CanadaSue, constructed a lengthy scenario - posted
on the Flu Wiki - that details what life could be like
in her hometown, Kingston, Ont., during a pandemic.
CanadaSue - Sue Smith, a homemaker and former nurse -
thinks people need to start putting some thought into
how they might deal with the hardships a pandemic could
provoke.
"My position is that individuals need to be thinking
about it themselves and thinking about what they're going
to do in their individual circumstances. Yeah, that might
be food in the basement. For some it might be Tamiflu,"
says Smith, who adds she's not a proponent of personal
stockpiles of the drug.
"I'm trying to make the public, those who are interested
- and frankly, not that many are yet - I'm just trying
to get them interested in thinking: OK, how will this
affect me? How will it affect my family? How will it affect
my job?"
Mattson shares that view.
"I think that it's responsible for people to know
that there is this threat lurking out there," she
says.
"Trying to strike the balance in tone between saying
'My God, we're all going to die,' and saying 'This could
be nothing, it could be something, probably you should
know about it,' is the daily balancing act that I'm trying
to walk."
Kilian too worries about balance. In his case, it's the
balance between opinion and fact - and whether blog surfers
know how to distinguish one from the other.
"Just because I'm out there, shovelling this information
onto my blog does not mean that I know what the hell I'm
doing or what I'm talking about," he admits.
"And yet because the information's there and the
blog looks kind of tidy it acquires a sort of false aura
of expert knowledge. And that in itself can be a real
hazard. That can be a downside of the web and blogging
in particular. And that is that just because you're out
there and you're shooting your mouth off, people start
treating you like a guru."
Some blogs which focus on pandemic influenza:
-Crawford Kilian's H5N1, http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/h5n1/
-The Flu Wiki, http://www.fluwikie.com/index.php?nMain.HomePage
-Effect Measure, http://effectmeasure.blogspot.com/
-Melanie Mattson's Just a Bump in the Beltway, http://www.node707.com/
-Epidemica, http://www.epidemi.ca/
-Avian Flu, http://avianflu.typepad.com/
|
MANAGUA, July 1 (Xinhuanet)
-- An earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale jolted
Pacific waters near Nicaragua late Friday.
There have been no reports of human injuries or material
damage.
Nicaragua's national earthquake network said the epicenter
was in the Pacific Ocean, about 142 km southwest of the
capital Managua. Tremor could be felt in Managua and a
number of cities along the Pacific coast. The quake was
followed by several aftershocks, the strongest of which
had a magnitude of 5.
The official network said the quake was caused by plate
collision. |
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