26.02.2012

Update to "More news…"

Christoph R. Hörstel wrote in another text: "It is obvious, that this media system is now in immaculate sync with secret “special operations” (NATO jargon: “special ops”) and military action plus political steps, for example sanctions, embargoes etc. That all has become a well-oiled, fine-tuned, high-revving oppressing and killing “machine”. It causes rifts and disunity in societies, paves the way to civil wars, brings about small, well-aimed secret military operations by night plus helicopter or drone attacks, overthrows governments and, should this all fail: conducts wars. All in full justification by an unparalleled corrupt mainstream media choir in NATO countries."

A piece by Steven Erlanger in the New York Times on February 25 is a perfect example for this illumination. Erlanger writes war propaganda, camouflaged as factual reporting, and he defies any ethical standards of journalism. His piece is a meaningless repetition of commonplaces which serves only the purpose of setting the tone with certain embedded phrases that are now the standard repertoire of every Western journalist. Like for instance.

"As the dead pile up…"
"…in the months since Syrians revolted - and as Mr. Assad has unleashed his army against them…"
"...the burgeoning civil war in Syria…"
"Mr. Assad’s crackdown, which has killed at least 6,000 civilians..."
"...the upsurge in deaths in Idlib and Homs"
"...military units under government control had killed civilians"
"the longer Mr. Assad holds on to power, the more people will die"


The main purpose of Mr. Erlanger’s “report” and all similar reports is to implant and engrave these phrases into the brains of the media consumers, thus converting them from unproven assertions or outright fabrications into presumed facts.

There is no need to check the credibility or seriousness of sources, no need to even refer to sources. There is no need to weigh claims and counter claims and no need to discuss the plausibility of presented news. All it takes to make editors and owners happy, is the constant, relentless repetition of the phrases from the standard repertoire.

A fabrication that is repeated a hundred times will mutate into a fact, and it can then be used as basis for reasoning and decision making like any “hard” fact. The reporting of the NY Times or the Washington Post or any other Western media enterprises is not a public service, is not information and education. The reporting of Western media enterprises is brain washing, mind control, re-education, is propaganda at its best. It is admirable for its resourcefulness, brilliance, and craftsmanship, yet despicable and utterly immoral for its purpose.

Because the purpose is: War, meaning more profits for the “Military Industrial Complex.”



P.S: 

Turkey just confirmed that it will buy 100 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin for 16 billion US$ despite misgivings about not getting access to the source code of crucial software. 

Saudi Arabia is the leading buyer of US weapons, receiving equipment worth 29 billion US$ between 2003 and 2010. Further acquirements with a value of 60 billion US$ are planned --  it will be the biggest arms deal in the history of weapons trading. The purchases include fighter jets, helicopters, tanks, warships, and missiles.

The UAE have signed a deal worth 36 billion US$ to buy 100 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile interceptors and 80 F-16 jet fighters. Oman plans to spend 18 billion US$ on F-16C/D jets. Kuwait 7 billion on various arms and upgrades to its Raytheon Patriot missile defense systems.

The six Gulf monarchies plus Jordan are set to spend an estimated 68 billion US$ on weapons in 2011, a figure that is expected to rise continuously in the following years reaching 80 billion by 2015.

Past Christmas the USA and the Gulf monarchies announced a plan for arms sales over the next year worth 123 billion US$.

Israel doesn't have to worry that these weapons will ever be used against the IDF. There are fail-safes incorporated, for instance advanced sensors and software on the new Saudi F-15s to prevent them being used against Israeli airplanes. Israel will of course also receive 100 F-35, at a considerable discount and earlier than anybody else. The first 20 F-35As are expected to be delivered by 2016.

If only Syria would also switch to US weapons….
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25.02.2012

More news from the alternative media universe

This is a relayed post from http://nsnbc.wordpress.com and it will be interesting to find out if the included predictions become reality.

NATO organizes a full-scale war in Syria – covertly under the table

By Christoph R. Hörstel  Hoerstel.Ch

Terrible background information comes from reliable sources in Amman and Ankara/Istanbul.

40 - 43,000 mercenaries are ready in Jordan to attack Syria. (1) Turkey has openly set up a mercenary recruitment office in Amman’s Mecca Street. Since last early summer they are active in finding personnel to do dirty jobs in neighboring Syria. This would certainly not have been possible under King Abdullah’s father Hussein.

But the youthful son, lacking the father’s truly exceptional political skills, obviously and simply falls victim to the bankruptcy-driven impetus of US-led NATO and their corruption-led Arab allies. Where is the much-beleaguered Ummah, where the oft-belittled Arab solidarity?

Once more the awe-stricken spectator is drawn to watch muslims kill muslims on Washington's behalf. Unless this lesson is not only learned but heeded by anybody directing her or his prayers to Mecca, there is no happy future for the Middle East.

Tomorrow's referendum day will be used for heavy strikes. The constitution reform project, ending the Baath single-party rule, is a historical project born prematurely and under heavy strain. Very often these children die, especially if the right treatment and care is not available to both mother and child. The US-led NATO plus aggressive Arab partners, all with certain credibility gaps in questions of democracy and legal appearances, will use the ensuing bloodshed to put the full blame on the Assad government. The latter is caught in the ancient quagmire to either let go and step down in favor of Washington’s ill-advised, misguided and unstable patchwork “opposition,” or sacrifice their own people. The honest reform-oriented opposition finds itself in the worst place, caught in the middle.

The obstacles against the honest Syrian leader, Bashar al-Assad, who did not only not strive to get this most difficult and unrewarding job, but actively pursued a very different medical career in his youth, are high: Syria has not enjoyed much media freedom, power participation of the masses was traditionally low. How is he to counter inner and outer enemies, helped by foreign interference plus hostile irregular forces pushing in, doubled up by sanctions, secret payments to traitors, covert killings, terrorism of all kinds. Father Hafez ruled by listening closely, applying shrewd common sense and balancing the necessary evils. Another genius at work -- but under somewhat easier circumstances, it seems.

Nowadays all experience is relative: The twin super power competition granting stability is long gone. Master plans for sure-fired ways to steer through multi-challenges, like muddy and churned-up waters in bad weather between a rock and a hard place -- these are rare.

Tomorrow's “referendum battle” will be used to push for "humanitarian corridors," which in turn will be misused as influx roads of the mercenaries -- and to literally cut Syria to pieces. Already the “Red Crescent” commandos have reached the battleground of Homs. The author remembers well, how he toured Soviet-occupied Afghanistan in Saudi-paid spy-team driven ambulances, rattling with weapons and ammunition for the Mujahideen – more than twenty years ago.

That makes it clear: NATO is not considering any challenge to Russian and Iranian naval forces in Tartus. US-led NATO and Arab allies bank on irregular forces for their regime change effort. Plus heavy employment of special commandos and spies.

The author learned through his network of relatives and friends, that German special forces were active in the bloody Iraq-Iran war of the eighties on the side of Iraq’s dictator Saddam. German army personnel in US uniforms served in the last two Iraq wars -- and now German special forces do short-time jobs in Libya. All of this happens without any knowledge -- let alone approval -- by the parliament. The Libyan case is especially interesting: Germany abstained in the UN SC vote 1973 (allegedly for establishment of a no-fly zone over Libya, in truth to support the mercenary and NATO war against Gaddafi) -- and now joins in.

In the Syrian case Germany always supported Washington’s position, we therefore may suppose, Germany puts its forces on the ground where its mouthpiece is: Pity is allowed with the sad fate of the German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle, who lost his position as coalition party head seven days after failing to cast his vote in the Security Council, the way Washington wanted it.

Germany in fact has a long tradition of secretly “doing jobs” alongside US special forces all over the globe, even as far as South America in the sixties. It is not to be assumed, that this tradition is severed in the Syria case. Rarely these issues come up in the media, but they do. Germanys spy ship “Alster” cruises off the Syrian coast line since November last year -- to the active dismay of a Syrian war ship, which pointed some barrels of its heavy gun turrets right in the face of the surprised Germans early January this year. (2) The author learned from Syrian sources, that German participation in secret operations on the ground inside Syria was considered fact, including German foreign secret service BND activity around the suicide bomb attack on al-Midan place in downtown Damascus on January 6 this year.

Syrian forces have captured so many French personnel at last, that Paris had to ask their already withdrawn ambassador back to his old office to sort out the trouble, say Syrian sources close to the government. As well as for other western colleagues, another part of his difficult duty may be to close down the embassy premises and prepare for war, with or without symmetry. That is another historical joke: US military think tanks had it, that most of the warfare of the future is asymmetric: CoIn, “Counter Insurgency” warfare, is the challenge of our times. Well, the US and willing allies, well-experienced in holding down occupied countries, make use of their opponent’s expertise, often gathered under torture, to do a little destabilizing “Counter-CoIn” themselves. (3)

Funny CoIncidence, that NATO now openly joins hands with “Al-Qaeda”: Forget about any heated debates on “conspiracy theories” around the 9/11 case. Ten years must be more than enough for the pathological forgetfulness of western societies.

And despite the present appearance, as even the US defense minister and ex-CIA chief Leon Panetta, alongside army chief Martin Dempsey deny any actual Iranian nuclear weapons program, thus helping to relax war fears for the gulf region: Syria, as the gateway into an Iran war scenario, remains under attack. Chaos in Syria appears a sufficient war enabler against Iran.

In the case of Libya, Gaddafi’s credibility was undermined by early and obviously well-orchestrated defections of ambassadors all over the world, especially in western countries. In the case of Syria, this does not happen. One reason may be, that they do not defect as easily. Another reason has not been much debated yet: Early open defections waste, among other considerations, a lot of potential data gains. Silent secret defections might be much more efficient in multiple ways.

Helpful steps out of the present Syrian deadlock could include:
  • humanitarian aid should only be applied by China and Russia, and only upon invitation by the Assad government
  • if Russia and China wish to come out of the defensive, it might be helpful they put the Jordan case to the UN Security Council after an appeal by Damascus
  • it appears necessary to start implementation of balanced punishment to any country co-operating in this anti-Syrian, anti-peace NATO-Arab-Al-Qaida scheme.
But most of all, it is necessary to immediately step up counter-propaganda media work, to wake up NATO’s unwitting majorities, before it is too late. Because present NATO is a paper tiger: Once the betrayed people get to know the realities on the ground, war efforts will not win blank checks, parliamentary disregard and general denial of detail as easily as nowadays.
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Some pray for peace….

On this day 18 years ago Dr. Baruch Goldstein, a Brooklyn-born physician, killed 30 worshipers and injured 270 more during al-Fajr (Dawn) prayer in the Al-Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.

At Goldstein's funeral, Rabbi Yaacov Perrin claimed that even one million Arabs are "not worth a Jewish fingernail". Samuel Hacohen, a teacher at a Jerusalem college, declared Goldstein the "greatest Jew alive, not in one way but in every way" and said that he was "the only one who could do it, the only one who was 100 percent perfect."

His grave in Meir Kahane Memorial Park in Hebron became a site of veneration for Jewish settlers, with a plaque praising “the holy Baruch Goldstein, who gave his life for the Jewish people, the Torah and the nation of Israel.”

The shrine that supporters built at the grave mushroomed into a pilgrimage site. Jewish admirers of Dr. Goldstein from Israel and abroad would pray at the grave, kneeling and kissing the tombstone.

To avoid further embarrassment, Israel dismantled the shrine and the prayer area around the grave in 1999, but admirers of Goldstein still pray on his grave.


Dr. Goldstein would have been proud, that his crime not only divided Israelis and Palestinians further, but also gave the occupation authorities an excuse to close Shuhada Street, a main connection and an important commercial street which was housing the Hebron vegetable market. Successively 520 shops in the surrounding area were shut down by the Israeli military over the years.

440 settlers live in the eastern part of Hebron in the midst of 180,000 Palestinians. The settlers are "guarded" by approximately 1,600 to 2,000 Israeli soldiers. Tanks surround the city of Hebron, which is divided into areas called H-1 and H-2. Israel has control over security and public order in area H-2 where 20,000 Palestinians and 200 settlers reside.

Jewish settlers are permitted to walk on Shuhada Street while Palestinians are not allowed to use the once busy access road.

Yesterday 300 Palestinians, 200 Israelis, and some international peace activists, hoisting Palestinian flags and chanting anti-occupation slogans, gathered in Hebron to protest the 18-year closure of  Shuhada Street.

As they attempted to approach the street, police forces dispersed the rally by throwing stun grenades, shooting tear gas, and spraying “skunk” liquid. Three demonstrators -- one Israeli and two Palestinians -- were arrested, dozens of protesters were treated in the two Hebron hospitals for injuries resulting from tear gas and skunk liquid. Most cases of injuries were asphyxiation by poison gas and burns.

Israeli-Palestinian Knesset member Mohammed Barakeh of the Jewish-Arab Hadash party was injured by soldiers, which shot a sound bomb at his right leg.

At one point, Israeli soldiers used new noise technology to break up the rally and the demonstrator could listen to the following announcement: “This is a test of the long-range device LRAD from American Technology Corporation.”

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23.02.2012

News from the alternative media universe

The media campaign for war against Syria is progressing as expected. Here are some information bits from the alternative media universe. Caution:

From a practical point of view: These reports are probably biased and partisan — or to put it in a positive light: Committed to a cause and caring about the outcome.

From a philosophical point of view: There is no unbiased and non-partisan (fair and balanced) reporting possible. Every journalist has her or his conviction and value system, every journalist has her or his personal agenda.

From a cynical point of view: These reports are most likely biased and partisan, while the concerted mainstream media campaigns for war (Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and now Syria) always were and still are honest and truthful.

Advice for “true non-believers”: Read between the lines, make up your mind by yourself, don’t forget to check your memory about past media campaigns.

News about Libya:
http://libyanfreepress.wordpress.com/2012/02/23/libyan-resistance-war-news-2223-february-2012-text-eng-ita-3-video/

Israeli news agencies seem to be the most reliable news sources (which is logical, because they have with Mossad the most capable intelligence service at hand). Russian news agencies follow in second place. Arabic media sources and bloggers are most times exaggerating or overly enthusiastic.

Western agencies are the worst, but they know how to twist and turn the facts and how to build illusions and write good fiction. This is the craftsmanship of Hollywood, honed in a century of film making = dream making, or to say it more candid: Honed in a century of propaganda. This is the craftsmanship of Hollywood, brought to good use for the MIC (Military Industrial Complex) and Wall Street. The American Dream is alive, at least on the movie theater screens, the TV screens, and the computer screens.

So we could all dream on happily ever after and be assured, that US policy makers take bold steps to get crude oil and essential minerals as cheap as possible so that we can enjoy our car rides and air travels and all the other pleasures of Western consumer society.

We could all dream on happily (at least for a few years until the inevitable ecological collapse), but unfortunately there is one snag: This could become immensely dangerous. This could become a confrontation between NATO and Russia, as dangerous as the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. This could become the slow start of WW III. Maybe WW III has already begun.

I desperately hope, that I am exaggerating as well.
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22.02.2012

Business as usual -- Part 1

Who did say that the four reactor meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi were a wake-up call? It was maybe a wake-up call and a worry for some tree huggers but not for the mainstream media consumer and for sure not for the pundits and planners, the decision makers and power brokers of the money elite (working behind the curtain) and their puppets (the politicians in front of the curtain).

The planners continued planning new plants, the power brokers continued to cut deals, the puppets kept a low profile and didn't mention nuclear energy for half a year. The propagandists did not even have to increase the amount of bribes because mainstream media is solidly controlled by the money elite and every journalist who wants to have some kind of a career knows very well what he or she has to write.

All appeals, petitions, protests, sit-ins, occupations, accompanied by thousands of inspirational, well-meant and heartfelt articles in the alternative media and in the blogosphere, as well as millions of bold, defiant, rebellious Twitter and Facebook messages were as consequential as a wolf packs concerted howling to the moon.
This text here (my personal howling with the wolves) is published on one of 160 million public blogs and will therefore be inconsequential as well, but I write it nevertheless and hope, that some readers will amplify it and spread the word beyond my small readership. 

The Nuclear Renaissance
On February 17, UK and France signed a nuclear energy agreement at a summit between Prime Minister David Cameron and President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris, intended to strengthen co-operation in the development of civil nuclear energy. 

The British Government issued the following statement: “This joint declaration will signal our shared commitment to the future of civil nuclear power, setting out a shared long term vision of safe, secure, sustainable and affordable energy, that supports growth and helps to deliver our emission reductions targets.”

France’s state-owned nuclear reactor maker Areva and Britain’s Rolls Royce signed a 100 million pound (120 million Euro) deal at the summit. Under the terms of the deal, Rolls Royce will supply equipment and engineering services for the construction of Britain’s next new nuclear reactor at Hinkley Point in Somerset, led by Areva’s partner EDF. Areva will supply the core of the  reactors.

The pact has an option to be extended to 400 million pounds (480 million Euro) if EDF plans to go ahead with its proposed four new nuclear reactors in Britain. The British government said the atomic agreement reiterated the UK’s commitment to nuclear energy “as part of a diversified energy mix”.

This deal is a desperately needed boost for Areva, which in December announced a 1.6 billion Euro loss and plans to cut 2,000 jobs, reduce investments by 34 percent and sell off assets.

Last June, the British government confirmed a list of eight sites it deems suitable for new power stations till 2025, all of which are adjacent to existing nuclear sites. The sites are: Bradwell, Essex; Hartlepool; Heysham, Lancashire; Hinkley Point, Somerset; Oldbury, Gloucestershire; Sellafield, Cumbria; Sizewell, Suffolk; and Wylfa, Anglesey.

After the Fukushima incident some nations (Germany, Switzerland, Japan) cut back their nuclear programs and looked for safer sources of energy. However France remains committed to nuclear and even plans to increase nuclear energy generation. 78.8 percent of France’s energy is currently produced in 58 nuclear reactors. In June Sarkozy committed an extra one billion Euros (1.36 billion US$) to his nuclear energy sector stating that “there is no alternative to nuclear energy today.”

The UK currently only produces 16 percent of its energy in nuclear reactors, but hopes to increase this figure significantly. Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron said at the summit “As two great civil nuclear nations, we will combine our expertise to strengthen industrial partnership, improve nuclear safety and create jobs at home."
On February 9, the US NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) approved the combined construction and operating license application (COLA) for Southern Company’s Plant Vogtle near Augusta, Georgia, clearing the way for adding two AP1000 nuclear reactors to the two existing units. This will be the first nuclear reactors to be built in the USA since 1978.

The AP1000 reactor design was just approved by the NRC in December, over the objections of numerous scientists and engineers, who saw claims of innovation insufficient to counter the inherent dangers of Pressurized Water Reactors. Many of the so called “improvements” to the AP1000 look more like ways to cut construction costs. Even so, a single  AP1000 will cost between 8 and14 billion US$.

The Obama administration has pledged 8.33 billion US$ in federal loan guarantees to cover construction of the Georgia reactors, since without government backup no private money would be invested in such a high-cost, high-risk project. The two existing Vogtle reactors took over 15 years to complete, were 1,200 percent over budget, and resulted in an enormous rate hike for Georgia's electricity consumers.

SACE (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy) filed a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request about the details of the deal but after two years of stonewalling in which the administration presented just a few heavily censored documents the only fact that could be unearthed is, that the risks for Southern Company are minuscule as it is only promising to pay a token credit subsidy fee of what could be as little as 0.5 to 1.5 percent of the total loan principal.

The Vogtle plants will not be the last nuclear projects, There are plans for over twenty new reactors and 12 combined construction and operating license applications for these are under review. In addition to that 60 old reactors have been granted license renewals which extend their operating lives from the original 40 up to 60 years, and operators of most other reactors are expected to apply for similar extensions.

The nuclear budget of the US DoE (Department of Energy) includes the authorization of an additional 36 billion US$ in federal loan guarantees. Together with existing loan guarantee authorizations for 18.5 billion US$, this would be enough to support the construction of 9 to 13 new nuclear reactors. The budget also includes support for nuclear energy research and development, including a 97 million US$ request to support research into small modular nuclear reactors.

There are only a few countries where nuclear power is in retreat (Germany, Switzerland, Japan), many nations intend to start or increase nuclear programs. Most notably and most consequential: China is planning an increase in nuclear capacity up to 80 GWe by 2020, India wants to add 20 to 30 new reactors by 2020.

430 plants are operating worldwide, 60 new reactors are in construction, some 140 are planned to come online during the next ten years, and over two hundred projects are in discussion.

The International Atomic Energy Agency in its 2010 report significantly increased the projection of world nuclear generating capacity. It anticipated at least 73 GWe new capacity by 2020, and then 546 to 803 GWe in place in 2030 -- much more than previously projected, and 44 to 113 percent more than the 376 GWe actually operating now. OECD estimates range up to 816 GWe in 2030. The changed predictions are based on specific plans and actions in a number of countries, including China, India, Russia, Finland, and France. The IAEA projections would give nuclear power a 13.6 to 14.6 percent share in global electricity production in 2020, and 12.6 to 16 percent in 2030.


The nuclear industry is confident, one could even say, jubilant. Fukushima Daiichi was not a wake-up call for the public and not a significant boost for the enemies of atomic energy. Whatever the ecological consequences may be, for the industry the Fukushima meltdowns were not a severe impediment, they were only a minor bump in the road.
There is growing evidence that the traditional ways of voicing public dissent doesn't have any impact. There is growing evidence that the appeals, petitions, protests, sit-ins, and occupations are a waste of time and energy. The political system works well for a tiny minority of corrupt and reckless people (the plutocrats), it is not working in favor of the rest of humanity. The present political system harms humans and their fellow animals, the system is an imminent danger to all life on the planet.

The present system seems incapable of adjusting to the challenges of habitat destruction, mass extinction of species, increasing chemical and radioactive contamination, climate change, and overpopulation. Urgent action would be needed to limit or alleviate looming catastrophes but nothing sensible is done -- at least not at government levels.

If anything is done at all, the steps lead into the wrong direction. The only answer to the current ecological and social crisis, that politicians of all colors are able to find is the resurrection of nuclear power, proven in six decades as a dangerous, costly, and inefficient technology.

Consequently the only conclusion to be drawn from their inadequacy is, that anything short of a complete demolition of the old system and its replacement by new and very different structures, that anything else than a conscientious and systematic preparations for such a process is useless and a waste of time.

New business opportunities
(I posted this already when Fukushima happened but it seems opportune to repost it here)

We live in exiting times and we live in a constant changing environment. This means that new business opportunities emerge every day for the truly creative and innovative entrepreneur who is on top of the game and who is able to take the chances as they come. Things are changing at an increasingly fast pace and only the ones who are alert and always on guard will succeed, the procrastinators will lose out.

For the courageous and intrepid entrepreneur: Here are a few ideas for new business ventures that in the wake of recent developments could yield solid profits:

Creating a "certified low radioactivity" brand of food to be sold in supermarkets right beside the organic food.

New advertising campaigns for double-fortified (iodized) salt. Also breads and crackers, desserts and snacks, cheeses and many other kinds of manufactured food will benefit from advertising its high amount of iodized salt.

Offering new car models with special lead shielding.

Offering new lines of garments with incorporated radiation shielding. Lead aprons and lead gloves are already available but until now not widely used and only for sale in special shops.

Offering special "Low Radioactivity" menus and  "High Iodine" menus in restaurants.

Setting up factories in Antarctica or at alpine glaciers to harvest radioactivity free water for food and drink manufacturers.

Creating new varieties of bottled water from "1000 year old glacier ice" or "Antarctica ice".

Geiger counters are in short supply in most countries and it is for sure a good move to increase production and also develop new models. For instance a "Volks-Geiger counter" which does not have all the bells and whistles of advanced models but nevertheless allows accurate measurements, that show which food is safe to eat and when it is appropriate to leave the house. Such a Volk-Geiger counter could be sold in big numbers at a reasonable price.

Offering Geiger kits for electronic hobbyists in stores like RadioShack or Maplin Electronics.

Developing and selling Geiger counter add-ons for iPods, iPads, and iPhones, special edition cell phones with integrated Geiger counters, and USB-Geiger counters for universal use with laptops.

Selling weather stations which include a Geiger counter in addition to thermometer, barometer and hygrometer.

Offering decontamination toolsets in hardware stores.

Founding specialized companies for refurbishing and decontaminating.

Founding educational institutions which offer training for "certified decontamination experts" and courses for "Low Radioactivity Live Style" counselors.

Launching a new weekly "Nuclear Times" in both online and print editions.

Launching a "Weather and Radioactivity Channel".

Launching a new entertainment company under the motto: "Better Radioactive Than Radiopassive".
Or alternatively: "Carefree, Scare-free Radioactivity".

Starting a hard rock band "Smashing Atoms" and introducing a new style "Radioactive Metal"

Offering online courses and tutorials:

How to choose and cook low radioactive food
The low fallout tourist
How to use a Geiger counter
How to decorate and decontaminate your home
Coping with thyroid cancer, bone cancer, and leukemia

Selling DVDs with interactive courses about all this

Writing self help books with the following tittles:

Living with Radioactivity for Dummies
How to Live Carefree with Radioactivity
All About Radioactivity in 30 Minutes
Low Radioactive Diet
The Low Radioactivity Cook Book
Thyroid Cancer for Dummies
Pro-active, not Radioactive
Geiger-Counters for Dummies
Build Your Own Geiger Counter
Home Improvement and Decontamination
The Decontamination Primer
Radioactive - So What?
Carefree (Radio)activity
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18.02.2012

Dare to love (a response)

Dare to love life

This text started as a comment to the post of a fellow blogger about the hundreds of thousands of seal pups, that are drowning in the Gulf of St. Lawrence this season because the pack ice on which harp seal moms give birth has been too thin to provide the shelter the pups need to survive. This is the post: http://bethechange2012.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/dare-to-love/

The text has grown too big now to post it as comment but it is nevertheless a comment and should be read after and in context with the mentioned post. The post, which is thoughtful and well written, contained the sentence "It’s one thing to kill animals for food. Human beings are carnivores, after all." This statement was disputed by another commenter and I start the text building on this other comment. 

==============

We are omnivores indeed but for some people it may be not so easy to change their diet from one day to the other. My first wife converted me into a vegetarian already 30 years ago but I always liked to drink milk and eat lot of cheese. I try to overcome my dairy product addicting now since 10 years, making slow progress. I'm not completely vegan yet, but at least I have reduced my intake of animal protein to about 200 gram cheese per week. Milk is replaced by herbal tee. My doctor tells me that a slight but persistent iron deficiency and an occasional tiredness is caused  by my vegetarian diet but I can cope with such mild symptoms.

My son Alexander never did eat meat and changed to a vegan diet with 18. He takes dietary supplements (which are industrially produced and therefore don't exactly match my dietary ideals). A vegan diet can cause deficiencies of vitamin B12, iron, choline, and calcium. Until now I don't need supplements, but I really long for B12 producing sunlight especially in these dark and dreary days!

Reading list:
Mark Hawthorne Striking at the Roots
Carol J. Adams Vegetarian's Survival Handbook
Carol J. Adams Pornography of Meat
Lisa Kemmerer Sister Species
Juliet Gellatley The Silent Ark
Juliet Gellatley Born To Be Wild

Unfortunately until now I was not able to persuade my cats to eat vegetarian food. Lack of taurine would not be a problem, because they eat enough of their natural diet from the adjacent forest. Vegan cat food is only available as dry food and it is expensive and heavily processed. I try to mix it with their other food (which is organic of course but nevertheless meat) but when I mix in more than 20 percent my cat friends tell me clearly and unmistakably their displeasure.
The cats and I are as close as individuals of different species can get. Three cats are just around me, sleeping/resting in various positions. The other two I would find in the sitting room on the couches there. In winter they are indoor cats, in summer outdoor cats. 

This is the first year that most of them want to continue with our walks in the forest even on the coldest winter days and recently they even told me that we have to make two walks a day, one in the morning after I wake up, one in the evening before I go to bed. I hardly have any time left to play music or write blog posts.

How did they let me know that they want to make two walks? They simply wait in the hall and when I come they look at me with a certain expression of anticipation and demand and then they look at the entrance door. They make sure that I don't overlook them and miss their message!
My cats are lovely and I would not know what to do without them, but they are brutal killers. They catch mice, voles, moles, squirrels, all kinds of birds, even frogs and lizards. They slaughter their pray mercilessly in the best of cases and in the worst they play with their hapless victims till the poor animals die from exhaustion or from inflicted wounds.

Shall I abandon my cats? Lock the cat flap? Throw them out or bring them to an animal shelter? Feral cats are not getting old, after maybe three to four year they die from various epidemic diseases. My cats would not likely find new homes because there are only few neighbors around and all of the neighbors have already enough pets.

My 14 years old cat lady Sumo would not survive for long. She still fetches mice, but not many, she prefers the ready made food from cans. No, I could not put Sumo out into the cold, I could never do this!

Life is suffering (the Four Noble Truth of Buddhism).

Sometimes it comes to my mind that most creatures in this world don't have the luxury of palliative care. Most creatures die painfully from sicknesses, are eaten alive by predators, or starve to death. Even the ones who enjoy a long and healthy life eventually get old and weak and are caught and eaten or killed by diseases. For most creatures life ends in terrible and unimaginable pain.

Most creatures suffer and humans suffer as well. Many human lives end in terrible pain, on battlefields, in torture chambers, in disaster areas. Many people die abandoned and forgotten by their fellow humans.

Could this also be the end of my own life?

I would of course prefer to pass away without pain (who would not?), but this outcome is not guaranteed. I could be crushed in an accident, slowly dying from internal bleeding. Or I could die in a fire. I would most likely suffocate from smoke then, but what if the wind disperses the smoke, letting me breath long enough to smell my burning flesh and feel the pain when my skin is peeling off?

I could drown, drowning would at least not take too long.

Or I could be kidnapped by a gang of sadistic hunters during one of my walks with the cats (the adjective "sadistic" in this content is redundant, hunters are sadistic by definition, because only sadists can enjoy to shoot and kill the beautiful creatures of the forest). 

The cats would not be able to defend me and I would indeed rather like them to safe their own skin by running away and hiding in the underbrush.
The gang of hunter could take me to a secret place in the wilderness, a hut or a barn, slowly torturing me to death there. They could beat me and water board me for a start and then they could pull out my fingernails and burn holes into my skin with a gas powered soldering iron. They could peel off my skin in small stripes and drill holes into my body with a battery drilling machine. They could cut off my arms and legs in small pieces with a chain saw till I finally would pass away in agony.

Though kidnappings and bestial murders are commonplace in war zones they are fortunately not yet common in my part off the world and the risk to die in this way is low. It is much more likely that I will die of cancer caused by the steadily increasing environmental contamination.

I'm prepared for that, I envisioned this possibility often enough and made plans and even once wrote a little prayer about it. This was at a time when I was not sure if I should consider myself an agnostic or an atheist. Today, as I have realized that I'm an average, unremarkable atheist, I would not write a prayer or at least I would not call it a prayer - I would not even call it a Buddhist chant or mantra.

Anyway, here it is:

The Final Prayer
I don't want to commit suicide
Life still is too interesting
I don't want to miss the rare days of joy
That could be still in my cards
I don't want to miss the rare moments of bliss
That still could come my way
Death is the final solution of all problems
No heaven or hell, just nothing
This life with all it's suffering and pain
Wouldn't "just nothing" be better?
But I don't compare anything to nothing
Just going on as I'm programmed by evolution
I'm sitting on the terrace
The plants in the garden are growing
In the first days of spring
My lovely cats are sitting around
purring
My wife, the love of my life
Is whispering sweet words of comfort
Into my ear
Life is much too short
To achieve anything meaningful
In anyway: what is the definition of "meaningful"?
To alleviate the suffering and pain
Of me and my fellow animals
Is that meaningful?
Life is much too short
To achieve anything lasting
In anyway: nothing will last
And the humans will be extinct
There will be no heaven or hell, just nothing
Just nothing, silence, empty space
I'm sitting on the terrace
In the mild morning sun
I'm praying my daily prayer:
"Please doctor, don't let me suffer
Please give me enough morphine
To spend the remaining days of my life
Without pain"

When Lizzy, the cat love of my life, was about to die, I spent a whole day and a whole night with her, sitting beside her, talking with her, caressing her. She loved it and she constantly purred. Lizzy was an 18 year old cat with only three legs, who had experienced her fair share of pain and suffering in her life.

In the last night of her life I slept not more than two or three hours and I was completely exhausted afterwards but I felt elated and calm. I had helped a little cat die peacefully.
Maybe I will get the chance one day to do this service for a human being as well. Whatever my legacy will be, this then would undoubtedly be one of the biggest achievements of my life.

The Four Noble Truths
1. Life means suffering.
To live means to suffer, because the human nature is not perfect and neither is the world we live in. During our lifetime, we inevitably have to endure physical suffering such as pain, sickness, injury, tiredness, old age, and eventually death; and we have to endure psychological suffering like sadness, fear, frustration, disappointment, and depression. Although there are different degrees of suffering and there are also positive experiences in life that we perceive as the opposite of suffering, such as ease, comfort and happiness, life in its totality is imperfect and incomplete, because our world is subject to impermanence. This means we are never able to keep permanently what we strive for, and just as happy moments pass by, we ourselves and our loved ones will pass away one day, too.
2. The origin of suffering is attachment.
The origin of suffering is attachment to transient things and the ignorance thereof. Transient things do not only include the physical objects that surround us, but also ideas, and -in a greater sense- all objects of our perception. Ignorance is the lack of understanding of how our mind is attached to impermanent things. The reasons for suffering are desire, passion, ardour, pursuit of wealth and prestige, striving for fame and popularity, or in short: craving and clinging. Because the objects of our attachment are transient, their loss is inevitable, thus suffering will necessarily follow. Objects of attachment also include the idea of a "self" which is a delusion, because there is no abiding self. What we call "self" is just an imagined entity, and we are merely a part of the ceaseless becoming of the universe.
3. The cessation of suffering is attainable.
The cessation of suffering can be attained through nirodha. Nirodha means the unmaking of sensual craving and conceptual attachment. The third noble truth expresses the idea that suffering can be ended by attaining dispassion. Nirodha extinguishes all forms of clinging and attachment. This means that suffering can be overcome through human activity, simply by removing the cause of suffering. Attaining and perfecting dispassion is a process of many levels that ultimately results in the state of Nirvana. Nirvana means freedom from all worries, troubles, complexes, fabrications and ideas. Nirvana is not comprehensible for those who have not attained it.
4. The path to the cessation of suffering.
There is a path to the end of suffering - a gradual path of self-improvement, which is described more detailed in the Eightfold Path. It is the middle way between the two extremes of excessive self-indulgence (hedonism) and excessive self-mortification (asceticism); and it leads to the end of the cycle of rebirth. The latter quality discerns it from other paths which are merely "wandering on the wheel of becoming", because these do not have a final object. Craving, ignorance, delusions, and its effects will disappear gradually, as progress is made on the path.
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15.02.2012

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It seems that every editor of a Western media enterprise has got a new entry on his or her morning checklist consisting of making sure that the obligatory daily report about atrocities of the Syrian government is already in the works.

While most media outlets (Fox, CNN, USA Today, Dallas News) are forceful, blunt, and unconcerned about plausibility or coherence, others (NY Times, Guardian) are more sophisticated and subtle. Which approach ultimately is chosen depends on the assumed intelligence of the audience.

We will see a barrage of horrifying witness reports about atrocities committed by the murderous Assad regime, becoming more and more intense and culminating in the unified outcry of all decent and caring people to end the bloodbath and stop the genocide and call the good samaritans from NATO or the Gulf states to bomb the monstrous thugs into pieces and liberate Syria.

We (the media consumers) will be furious and horrified about the reported monstrosities and we will feel glad and blessed that we can live in free, equal, and just societies where the governments protect and benefit all citizens and are spending taxpayers money wisely.

Some of us will be critical and skeptical though, some will notice contradictions and paradoxes, some will remember similar media campaigns with unexpected and unexplainable outcomes (Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya). If you belong to this category of media consumers, I invite you respectfully to continue reading.

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The Syrian government was criticized for it's poor human rights record in the past, and it seems likely that the Syrian security services commit human rights violations. As stated in a preceding blog post, police and security forces are corrupt as well as incompetent. Prison conditions are reportedly harsh and do not meet international standards for health and sanitation.

In 2001/2002 the CIA was deporting at least nine terrorist suspects to Syria, where they were held in Far Falastin prison near Damaskus. Maher Arar, a man with Canadian/Syrian citizenship was detained and reportedly tortured for almost a year but then released by the Syrian government which stated, that he is completely innocent. German officials were also involved in interrogations at Far Falastin, it is not known, if they took part in torture.

Syria was not the only destination for terror suspects, the USA deported detainees also to Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan, all countries with a poor human rights record and a reputation for mistreating prisoners.

It seems likely that there are human rights violations and it also seems likely that inexcusable acts of violence are committed against the opposition. The Shabiha militia, integrated in the fourth division of the army but largely independent, is comprised of uneducated, unemployed youths, released criminals, and former members of Rifaat al Assads defunct Defense Companies. The Shabiha has a reputation of drug smuggling, racketeering, and other criminal activities, brutality and lack of discipline. It is reported, that even Iran is concerned about the Shabiha and has advised Syria to restrain and pull back Shabiha fighters.

Shabiha fighters were sent to Homs, because the clashes in this town became a sectarian struggle between Sunnis and Alawites. Armed insurgence of the FSA (Free Syrian Army), which is clearly a Sunni militia with Salafists from Iraq and northern Lebanon and members of the LIFG (Libyan Islamic Fighting Group) got a stronghold in the Sunni neighborhoods of Homs.The Syrian government initially didn't want to involve the military which is comprised of mainly Sunni conscripts and Alawite officers (80 percent), fearing defections and a negative impact on moral and loyalty.

The Alawite domination of Syria is the major weakness in the present political structure. The government tried to appease critics by promoting Sunnis to high ranking positions: General Ali Mamluk commander of the General Security Directorate and part of Bashar al-Assad's inner circle, is a Sunni, Deeb Zaitoun, head of the Political Security Directorate, is a Sunni. But these are only first steps and have not changed the public perception of Alawite domination at the highest levels of power.

The danger of a Sunni uprising seems to be subsiding for now and the fall of the Inshaat district in Homs rendered the position of rebel forces in their central hub, the district Bab Amr untenable. Regular army troops have moved in and are conducting house to house searches. The Red Crescent and Red Cross announced that volunteers are “distributing food, medical supplies, blankets and hygiene consumables to thousands of people” in Homs.

The insurgence are reportedly regrouping in the district Rastan, west of Bab Amr.

I've discussed the outlines of the Syrian conflict in two previous posts, I only want to mention some news bits from mainstream media, that could give food for thought:

A BBC reporter who was invited by the FSA, got to know that captured members of  the Shabiha militia and Hezbollah are customarily beheaded. The captives lay face down on the ground, hands tied behind their backs and one-by-one, their heads are cut off.

Mohamed Ahmad Al-Dabi, the Sudanese general who lead the Arab League’s team of observers resigned in protest. He told Reuters: "I performed my job with full integrity and transparency but I won’t work here again as the situation is skewed." He was heavily criticized after he reported that the level of violence in the country had diminished since the arrival of the observers. He also said his mission had only observed 136 death cases, contradicting much bigger figures from opposition activists. The report noted general cooperation by the Syrian government and stated, that the media has greatly exaggerated the amount of violence in Syria. The report was subsequently suppressed but has leaked now. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NB04Ak01.html

The Israeli news site Debkafile reported:

British and Qatari special operations units are operating with rebel forces under cover in the Syrian city of Homs just 162 kilometers from Damascus, according to debkafile’s exclusive military and intelligence sources. The foreign troops are not engaged in direct combat with the Syrian forces bombarding different parts of Syria’s third largest city of 1.2 million. They are tactical advisers, manage rebel communications lines and relay their requests for arms, ammo, fighters and logistical aid to outside suppliers, mostly in Turkey.
Our sources report the two foreign contingents have set up four centers of operation -- in the northern Homs district of Khaldiya, Bab Amr in the east, and Bab Derib and Rastan in the north. Each district is home to about a quarter of a million people.
The presence of the British and Qatari troops was seized on by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan for the new plan he unveiled to parliament in Ankara on February 7. Treating the British-Qatari contingents as the first foreign foot wedged through the Syrian door, his plan hinges on consigning a new Turkish-Arab force to Homs through that door and under the protection of those contingents. Later, they would go to additional flashpoint cities.
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The Western media propaganda blitz, disgusting as it is, has enabled me to sort out the bad apples and discover the hidden gems in the information garbage dump. I was aware since long time, that renowned news organizations like Washington Post, New York Times and New Yorker were only a shadow of themselves and adhering to no other moral standards than the morality of money and wealth. Something similar to a Watergate investigation would be impossible today, investigate journalism is dead (at least in the corporate media domain) and has been replaced by "embedded journalism."

In the last years Western media outlets have become increasingly "gleichgeschaltet" (brought into line) and in addition to that have refined the process of suppressing, distorting, fabricating news and creating a virtual reality that keeps the masses sedated and the money elites pleased. The motto is not anymore: "All The News That's Fit To Print" as stated in the upper left hand corner of the front page of the New York Times, it rather is: "All The News We Print To Fit."

What I did not comprehend fully until now -- though I noticed the signs -- was the corruption of the liberal and progressive media enterprises. Many of them are not more than news aggregators who are just parroting Reuters and Associated Press. I never believed in the Huffington Post or AlterNet, but I used Guardian, The Independent, Mother Jones, Salon, The Nation, Democracy Now, Common Dreams, among others as news sources.

I'm finished with that now. I still hold Amy Goodman in high regard, she deserved the Right Livelihood Award in 2008 and her achievements are indisputable but it appears that she has lost her sharp analytical mind and judgement. I'm sad about Common Dreams, Lina Newhouser would have deserved a better legacy. Mother Jones was always boring but Salon, though somehow clownish and geekish was worth a visit because of Glenn Greenwald and David Sirota.

I will not waste my time anymore with these sites. It appears that many American intellectuals, who consider themselves as liberal or progressive -- whatever that means -- until now have not realized or did not come to terms with the realization, that they are still a part of the problem and not a part of the solution. They will remain a part of the problem as long as they don't change their elitist, supremacist, exceptionalist attitude and their consumer-oriented lifestyle. But that is another issue for another blog post.

I have updated the link list on the right side of my wordpress blog , the links in the "Politics" category are the news sources who passed the test. Please have a look!

Back to the Syrian crises:

This conflict is becoming immensely dangerous. The USA has invested so much prestige that a failure to bring down the Syrian government and install a pro-Western puppet regime would be seen as major defeat, would strengthen Americas's adversaries, and impede the implementation of a new global strategic plan.

Admiral William H. McRaven, who leads the Special Operations Command, is pushing for an increased presence for his elite units in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, he also asks for autonomy to position his elite units and their equipment around the world. At presence more than 80 percent of the units are in the Middle East.

The Special Operations Command employs 66,000 people (including Defense Department civilians) -- a doubling since 2001. Its budget has reached 10.6 billion US$, up from 4.2 billion US$ in 2001. The US military is reconfigured and shifting its priorities from military bases, monster embassies, and occupation troops to elite special operations units backed by drones and other high-tech weaponry, which will cross borders as they please and transform the whole planet into a US free-fire zone.

The CIA will bribe, assassinate, stir sectarian and ethnic division wherever possible, and deploy weapons to all parties. US drones and special forces will operate from small bases or from aircraft carriers, the new developed Advanced Hypersonic Weapon or DARPA’s Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 will reach every point on the planet in less than an hour.

No more invasions, no boots on the ground, no more counterinsurgency, but an undeclared, creepy, terrifying war against the world community by the biggest rogue nation on the planet. 

Hugo Chávez, a prominent name on the US hit list, said it pointedly: “The saddest thing is that on its quest to rule the world, the US empire and its European allies are actually setting it on fire.”

He could be terribly right and this could be the slow start of World War III. Or more correct the slow progression of the war, because World War III has already started with drone attacks, clandestine operations by special forces of the USA and her allies, hacker intrusions, and economic warfare. Many countries are already destroyed (Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan, Libya), many more will follow.

The only chance to stop the carnage is to counter the propaganda, the media brain washing, the mind control, and tell the truth to anybody who is still able to listen and think independently. Please, please spread the word!
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