Anne-Marie Slaughter
Robert Samuelson
Paul Krugman
Japan has been able to cool down two reactors that were in trouble, leaving four that still could undergo a core meltdown at any minute. When the tsunami hit the mainland, it knocked off the electricity. In the short time it took to turn on their back-up generators, the fuel rods had already been exposed to air, creating an immense amount of heat and boiling away the liquid that normally acts as a coolant.
They are pouring in seawater, but it is boiling off before it gets to the fuel rods, so the reactor core cannot cool down and become stable. Notice the incredibly low-tech approach and solutions they are using, it's as if the nuclear industry has been frozen in time since the late 1940's... This critical condition could happen for a long time, until some 6th grader comes up with an obvious solution, or until all of the water in the ocean becomes contaminated from radiation; then, I guess it doesn't really matter... Unfortunately, temperatures are slowly rising, and it looks like the meltdown scenario will happen. Over the weekend the Japanese government deliberately tried to obscure the issue by giving out contradictory facts, even when the second hydrogen epxlossion occurred until even the anchors on CNN started to complain:
"Japanese reactor operators now have little choice but to periodically release radioactive steam until the radioactive elements in the fuel of the stricken reactors stop generating intense heat, a process that can continue for a year or more even after the fission process has stopped. ... That suggests that the 200,000 people who have been evacuated may not be able to return to their homes for a considerable period and that shifts in the wind could blow radioactive materials toward Japanese cities rather than out to sea."
From our past experience, we know how dangerous one reactor meltdown can be, but here in Japan, we are talking about four reactors, all going off in a daisy-chain. Gee, talk about a set-back for the nuclear industry. If these do meltdown, I'll bet that the Western countries will turn an about-face, and encourage Iran to build as many nuclear reactors as they want in their country. Gone are the computer viruses, the US and Israel will be making sure that everything works efficient and smoothly, all the while focusing their Tesla coils and high frequency radio transmitters used in the HAARP project on the hills of northern Iran... I can see Gakona, Alaska from my front porch...
It's scary enough that the coastal landscape of Japan now looks like the apocalyptic scenes from various mangas, but if these reactors go off it will look like the background in the Babycart From Hell series, the Japanese psyche may never recover, the world as we know may well end in 2012, and Moammar Qaddaffi is revealed as the Anti-Christ... Welcome to the New World Order... please supersize mine...
Robert Samuelson's opinion piece, linked above, wonders what factor did the price of rising food staples have in the current Middle East protests and upheaval? The answer, of course, is a lot. The threat of starvation, along with no prospects for jobs when over half of the population is under 30, and the oppression and casual torture of just about everyone by the police, private armies, drug smugglers, and petty government officials mixed together into one angry soup. Yes, it tasted bitter.
But the worst is yet to come, and it may not matter if the government is democratic or run by benevolent despots. The region is drying up and soon countries will be migrating and fighting over water rights. Yemen may become the first country to run out of water within the next five years. All of the major rivers and bodies of water are drying up, including the Red Sea, the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Jordan River, and the Nile. It's another problem that we know is developing, but choose to ignore it until it's too late, because that would mean these petty rulers would have to learn to co-operate and act in favor of their citizens and not just their immediate families...
At least someone other than myself is now complaining about Iraq's Prime Minister and how he is grabbing power like it were the last few items on the buffet cart. He has beaten the crap out of protesters while vowing to not seek a third term. Wow, I'll bet he will declare a state of emergency by then and follow the inspiration of a young Hosni Mubarak, try to stay for another 30 more years... In an editorial, the NY Times claims that: "Mr. Maliki has still not filled all his cabinet positions — most notably, he has not named a defense minister or interior minister. Instead, he is personally overseeing the powerful, and often abusive, army and police forces.
That concentration of clout is corrosive, especially to a fragile, new democracy.
Mr. Maliki needs to quickly appoint competent professionals to run the two institutions and let them do their jobs in a fair, impartial manner. The reported torture and other abuses by security forces must stop now.
Mr. Maliki’s thirst for power doesn’t end there. In January, Iraq’s highest court — which is far too cozy with the prime minister — agreed to let him take control of three formerly independent agencies that run the central bank, conduct elections and investigate corruption. (Last week, the court issued a “clarification,” insisting the agencies would remain independent; we’re eager to see if that proves true.)
Six months earlier, the court — at Mr. Maliki’s request — ruled that only the prime minister or his cabinet, not members of Parliament, could propose legislation. Democracy requires checks and balances. They are fast disappearing in Iraq."
It's too easy to sit back and let this situation develop. Time for Defense Secretary Robert Gates or General Petraeus to visit Mr Maliki. Or better yet, recall General Stanley McChrystal and make it his special assignment to to babysit Nuri al-Maliki, maybe translate The Pat Tillman Story into Iraqi for the man who would be king...
The spokesman for the State Department, PJ Crowley, bid a fond farewell and resigned his position this morning, after thin-skinned spin doctors in the White House and Defense Department took offense at his sensibly expressed opinions on the jail situation of accused wikileaker Daniel Manning. Even President Obama, who has been resembling a pod person more and more lately, made the pronouncement that he was assured by the mighty Defense Department itself, that Pfc Manning was being treated under normal guidelines, and the reason they made him sleep naked in his rat infested cell, with the spiders and bedbugs, was NOT because they wanted to punish him for being gay and a traitor; no, they wanted to record how an admittedly gay soldier reacted to that dark and scary place... But they told Obama that he was treated normally, no special treatment during his 23 hours of solitary confinement each day...
Robert Samuelson
Paul Krugman
Japan has been able to cool down two reactors that were in trouble, leaving four that still could undergo a core meltdown at any minute. When the tsunami hit the mainland, it knocked off the electricity. In the short time it took to turn on their back-up generators, the fuel rods had already been exposed to air, creating an immense amount of heat and boiling away the liquid that normally acts as a coolant.
They are pouring in seawater, but it is boiling off before it gets to the fuel rods, so the reactor core cannot cool down and become stable. Notice the incredibly low-tech approach and solutions they are using, it's as if the nuclear industry has been frozen in time since the late 1940's... This critical condition could happen for a long time, until some 6th grader comes up with an obvious solution, or until all of the water in the ocean becomes contaminated from radiation; then, I guess it doesn't really matter... Unfortunately, temperatures are slowly rising, and it looks like the meltdown scenario will happen. Over the weekend the Japanese government deliberately tried to obscure the issue by giving out contradictory facts, even when the second hydrogen epxlossion occurred until even the anchors on CNN started to complain:
"Japanese reactor operators now have little choice but to periodically release radioactive steam until the radioactive elements in the fuel of the stricken reactors stop generating intense heat, a process that can continue for a year or more even after the fission process has stopped. ... That suggests that the 200,000 people who have been evacuated may not be able to return to their homes for a considerable period and that shifts in the wind could blow radioactive materials toward Japanese cities rather than out to sea."
Robert Samuelson's opinion piece, linked above, wonders what factor did the price of rising food staples have in the current Middle East protests and upheaval? The answer, of course, is a lot. The threat of starvation, along with no prospects for jobs when over half of the population is under 30, and the oppression and casual torture of just about everyone by the police, private armies, drug smugglers, and petty government officials mixed together into one angry soup. Yes, it tasted bitter.
At least someone other than myself is now complaining about Iraq's Prime Minister and how he is grabbing power like it were the last few items on the buffet cart. He has beaten the crap out of protesters while vowing to not seek a third term. Wow, I'll bet he will declare a state of emergency by then and follow the inspiration of a young Hosni Mubarak, try to stay for another 30 more years... In an editorial, the NY Times claims that: "Mr. Maliki has still not filled all his cabinet positions — most notably, he has not named a defense minister or interior minister. Instead, he is personally overseeing the powerful, and often abusive, army and police forces.
That concentration of clout is corrosive, especially to a fragile, new democracy.
Mr. Maliki needs to quickly appoint competent professionals to run the two institutions and let them do their jobs in a fair, impartial manner. The reported torture and other abuses by security forces must stop now.
Mr. Maliki’s thirst for power doesn’t end there. In January, Iraq’s highest court — which is far too cozy with the prime minister — agreed to let him take control of three formerly independent agencies that run the central bank, conduct elections and investigate corruption. (Last week, the court issued a “clarification,” insisting the agencies would remain independent; we’re eager to see if that proves true.)
Six months earlier, the court — at Mr. Maliki’s request — ruled that only the prime minister or his cabinet, not members of Parliament, could propose legislation. Democracy requires checks and balances. They are fast disappearing in Iraq."
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